Category: life

Am I a creature of habits or just a prisoner to my rituals

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I wake up straight away when the alarm goes off

I never hit snooze or go back to sleep

Leaping out of bed wide awake

Perhaps a legacy of working ten years as a first responder

My first task is taking my daily medication

Counting the pills and identifying each one individually

Disregarding the fact that I had carefully preloaded them into a weekly container

Then its off to hunt for my favorite mug

Tea does not taste the same in anything else

I watch the kettle heat up close to boiling

Switching it off before 190F for my green tea

I always make a second cup for the wife even if she is still asleep

If the dishwasher has run I always unload the top tray first

The bottom tray is next with the cutlery last

I put them in the cutlery drawer like little soldiers standing to attention

Knives are first in followed by forks and spoons

The dishwasher is always reloaded in reverse order

If its a bike riding day I will pump up the tires next

I always pump up the rear tire first

I imagine the front tire would eject the air if inflated before the rear

All my riding gear will have been neatly laid out the night before

No need to hunt for anything in the morning

Next up is my protein shake

I line up the ingredients in the same order every time

Allowing myself a few minutes of browsing while drinking the shake

Now its time to load my drink bottles on the bike

The front bottle always in the holder first

Clipping on the rear flashing light before the front

Next is a quick shower with its own set of ablution rituals

I always shave my face before shaving my head

It seems like the essential order of grooming

Now its time to get dressed for riding

My left foot always greets the first sock

Not sure why because my right foot is dominant

My right leg is always first inside my shorts or pants

Once ready I wait to the same exact same daily time before opening the door

It would not feel right to be a minute early or late

Wheeling my bike outside into the fresh air

I always take a few breaths to meditate before riding

My right leg swings over the bike to mount up

I have never tried mounting from the other side

My left foot clips into the pedal first soon followed by my right foot

Next task is to verify all the sensors have connected to the bike computer

I could not imagine myself riding with a sensor was missing

Once rolling I change the gears up and down and test the brakes

My helmet rear view mirror must be perfectly aligned

I never start a ride without all these “pre-flight” checks

Before coming to a stop I always unclip my right pedal

Leaning the bike to the right as my right foot finds the ground

I would probably fall off the bike if I tried to stand on my left foot

Pushing off with my right foot when moving again

The end of my right bike shoe is almost worn away from starts

My left shoe is unblemished

My conscience is seriously blemished by all these OCD rituals

This child of the 70’s has finally grown up

Ian Hunter1 Comment

I have always identified myself as a child of the 70’s

Those late teenage years bonding with rock music

Leaving home and going to university in the 70’s

Graduating and starting my career in the 70’s

Getting married and buying a house in the 70’s

I kept the 70’s spirit with me at all times as my life evolved

Setting ambitious goals and striving for perfection

Always reaching for higher than before

Continually learning new things and reinventing myself

Taking big but calculated risks

Recognizing opportunities and seizing them

Emigrating to a new country and learning a new language

Working hard and reaping the rewards

Designing and building a large dream home

Pushing myself to write something every day

But something has happened recently to change it all

I still love 70’s music and strive to have fun

But I am less focussed on material possessions

My priorities in life have all been reevaluated 

Making a conscious effort to slow down and smell the roses

Downsizing to a smaller but comfortable home

Spending more time with family and loved ones

Riding my bike for pure fun rather than breaking my speed and distance records

Leaning more towards experiences and less towards acquiring stuff

Taking longer vacations and relaxing cruises

Only writing when I have something meaningful to say

No longer saying yes to everything

Recognizing that time is a precious resource

Letting go of my perfectionism

Not worrying if things on the todo list are made to wait

Decluttering my possessions and decluttering my mind

No longer rushing through daily activities

Having a leisurely breakfast and savoring every morsel

Taking more time to marvel at sunsets and the nocturnal stars

Finding inner peace through forgiveness

This child of the 70’s has grown into a child in his 70’s

When a butterfly flaps its wings

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rain drops

bountiful crops

floods prevail

crops fail

sun shines

grapes wine

sun bakes

desert makes

wind blows

oxygen flows

wind roars

damage occurs

politician sneezes

stockmarket freezes

dictator talks

investors balk

terrorists attack

markets crash

Profits galore

Markets soar

wife fertile

husband’s smile

new dawn

baby born

butterfly flits

life exists

butterfly tires

plant transpires

butterfly dies

sad goodbyes

Embrace your situation

Ian Hunter1 Comment

We are all on a journey in life

Sometimes things take an unexpected turn 

If you view every situation as an opportunity for growth and learning

If you embrace your situation

If you seek guidance from your soul

Then, even during the most scary events that you encounter

You can find surprises and miracles

You can emerge from the darkest of times

With hope and confidence to face the next challenge

Embrace your situation

Good health but short memory

Ian HunterLeave a comment

good health

most of us take it for granted

until you get sick or injured

then you realize how truly precious it is

you start praying for a speedy recovery

making promises that you will change your lifestyle 

if you get well its a real blessing

suddenly you feel reborn again

fleetingly toying with goals to exercise more and eat a healthier diet

you slowly creep back into your old routine

you get busy and forget about your good health

bad lifestyle habits creep back in

until the next time your health deteriorates

break this cycle

before it breaks you

your poor lifestyle is not the problem

its your memory that needs fixing

Self meditate is better than self medicate

Ian HunterLeave a comment

I remember a time way back in my 30’s

Working long hours to support my family

Young kids and all the demands of home ownership

There was never enough time in the week to relax

Occasionally meeting with a friend for a drink and a chat

He listened to me babbling on about my busy life

Then he said something which shocked me to the core

You have become too boring

Your work has taken over your life completely

You try and devote the remaining time to your family

But you have hardly any down time for yourself

What do you suggest?  I asked

Take a day off and we will go fishing

I remembered fishing as a kid 

I had doubts that it was a good way for adults to pass the time

He insisted so we took a day off to go fishing

We did not catch much but it was a fun day out

Fresh air and nature all well away from the office

I went back to work refreshed the next day

Deciding to try another fishing adventure

Soon it became a weekly ritual

A necessary therapy for my busy lifestyle

Now I had a new rhythm in my life

Work/Family/Fishing

I enjoyed each one more than the old Work/Family

Strangely my performance increased too

I made better decisions at work and had more family fun times

Fishing was initially nothing more than meditation time

Then I became obsessed with being a better fisherman

Learning all about the science and technical skills of fishing

Catching a lot more fish as I applied this knowledge

As my fishing skill improved, my work and family life was more rewarding

It took me a while to figure out what was really going on in my life

Family and work was a constant stream of issues to resolve

By taking time away from them I was able to meditate

My subconscious was figuring out all the solutions while I fished

So next time you feel very stressed and looking for a better work-life balance

Hesitate before accepting the medication your doctor might offer

Put down that self medicating second drink

Don’t rush off to see an expense therapist

Buy a cheap fishing rod and self meditate 

What is your sole purpose in life? – A story inspired by our guest author Tick Huzzah

Ian Hunter1 Comment

Before humans evolved, the earth was mostly covered in vegetation

Plant life had reached a plateau of evolution so plants started to investigate ways to farm other lifeforms

Plants got together and brainstormed ideas for evolving further

They elected leaders and formed a system of governance

Plant evolutionary committees developed plans and made recommendations

The elected plant president reviewed the plans and made policy decisions

The first step was for plants to provide targeted food and shelter to insects that helped pollinate and disperse seeds to generate more prolific plant life

So plants started to farm insects for their own benefit

Later they reached another evolutionary plateau which needed a massive jump to make plants grow faster and more widespread

The plant president recognized the potential for farming humans

He saw their capabilities to cultivate the land and create more space for planting

He oversaw the research and development of new plants suitable for human consumption

Plants then provided nutritious food for humans to help their brains develop further

The plant president knew that humans need to work and to play

So he implemented policies that would create plant species for human recreational drugs

Hops were developed so that humans could make beer and get drunk

Cannabis plants provided drugs for humans to get high

Despite being drunk and high for most of their waking moments, humans learned to mechanize and industrialize the growing of plants

Plants noticed that humans liked to play sports, especially on grass

Plants also acquired a love of spectating these sports so they developed special grasses

Plants now have the best views at Wimbledon, at every golf Masters and all soccer stadiums

Sport thrives because of perfect playing surfaces and plants get to see it all for free

Human populations grew but they became vulnerable to sickness and diseases

Pandemics wiped out huge sections of human population

One day the chief scientific plant asked to see the plant president

He urged the president to undertake research to improve the health of their farmed humans

Plants were specifically developed to provide medicine for humans

Human health improved and they were able to grow vast quantities of plants all over the planet

Plants allow their farmed humans to live for around 70 years or so

Expired humans are either buried to create plant compost or burned to make plant fertilizer

Plants allowed humans to falsely claim they had invented agriculture to farm plants

Humans like to feel that they are in control of their own destiny, even if its not true

Plants recognize that at some point,  the earth will no longer be able to sustain human life

This might be through human induced climate change and global warming

Or it could be from a natural disaster like a huge meteor strike

It may even be through the human stupidity of mutual destruction in a global nuclear war

In every case,  plants will survive all such disasters

Their human farming experiment will one day come to an end

Plants will regroup and find some other species to farm

So next time you look at a field in the countryside

Don’t be fooled into thinking that humans are farming that field

Remember that you are just a simple farmed animal

You sole purpose in life is to help plants grow

Life is a journey

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It starts off with somebody caring for you

Providing your basic needs of shelter and food

Hopefully loving you and teaching you how to love others

You acquire skills through learning

You grow both physically and emotionally

Leaving the nest to venture out into the big wide world

There are many paths to follow

Lots of forks in the road

People pulling and pushing you in all directions

Its hard to know which is the right path to take

Sometimes you take the wrong one in error and face up to danger or bad stuff

You have to turn back and find another path

Follow your heart and your instincts

Having a soulmate can help guide you along

You can motivate each other and give support when needed

If you are blessed with having children, the journey gets tougher

Having to care for them while following your own path takes a lot of energy

You try and pass on to them what you learned on your own journey

Giving them better opportunities than you had growing up

Eventually your children leave your nest to find their own paths

You can only offer them love, guidance and support

Hoping they will find the right path for themselves

As empty nesters you start to discover more unchartered paths

Ones that you had no time to explore during your parenting days

You might take vacations with other empty nesters

Exploring places at a different pace

Seeing things in a different way

Appreciating the true beauty of nature

Hopefully finding long lasting love with your soulmate

Acknowledging that you will have less options on the number of paths to take as you age further

Perhaps you will be on a path that helps you understand the true meaning of life

This will be a time for you to find inner peace and be at one with yourself and the universe

Eventually you will be on a path that will end your journey

With good fortune, you will have some time to pause and look back to say

That was one hell of a ride!

A brief history of the earth

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Billions of years ago a huge cloud of cosmic dust wandered around The universe

These dust particles joined together and became so big they collapsed into a star we call the sun

Dust clouds swirled around the sun and eventually condensed into planets including the one we call earth

Chemicals in the atmosphere combined when lightening struck forming the building blocks for living organisms

Through evolution, many life forms thrived and a species we call humans emerged

Today we occupy almost every part of earth consuming its resources to generate energy for warmth and growing food to nourish us

Eight billion people now live on this planet, many in poor conditions without access to clean water or a sustained food supply

Wherever you are today take a few moments to marvel at the miracle of your journey from cosmic dust to a living being

Take a few deep breaths

Be humble

Smile

Then hug somebody

lots of reasons to be happy on a Tuesday

Ian HunterLeave a comment

today is Tuesday

most likely nothing spectacular will happen to you today

you probably will not become super wealthy by winning the lottery 

you are unlikely to be on a luxury vacation around the world

if you believe these are the only things that could make you happy today

then you will probably be unhappy for most of your life

here are some things to do that could add to your happiness today

enjoy making breakfast

be entertained listening to books on tape during your commute

get satisfaction from your job

sing along to music while doing routine chores

have a good laugh with friends 

pause to smell the roses with a big smile smile

make an effort to be extra kind to somebody

if you repeat these daily

then there is a very good chance

that you will be happy for most of your life

Happy Tuesday