Mindfulness for those who would rather not
Writing
For many of us, when we do something, we want to nail it. The drive towards perfection is a strong one, and we’re conditioned, through things like television and social media, to accept nothing less. So when we write, we write when we feel like we’ve got something really, really important to spill, when we…
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Just Words
I understand the significance of language, but I still overlook it’s subtleties. I’ll labor over word choice and structure (not grammar, at which I simply guess) to convey a meaning, but then, when it really counts, I’ll overlook the same effort in the message of another and screw something up. Sometimes I’m just oblivious, or…
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As Punk As
In a lot of ways this has just started, but in others it’s been going on a hell of a long time. There are aspects of my personality that put me at odds with a lot of things. I grew up being kind of a little shit, a mouthy know-it-all (I still know it all…)…
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It’s There
If there is one aspect of being me that sucks, it’s the unreliable nature of my strengths. When I am strong, I have incredible fortitude. And when I am able to focus, I’m afforded great insight. But if depression is one thing, it’s fickle. I can have long periods of productivity; weeks running or riding…
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Misdirection
The past few months have been a challenge for me. I don’t easily go through any of my days, but something in the last while has been creating friction between me and everything else. Something is unsettled more now than in better times, and it’s a sticky one. We see so much these days. The…
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Give Yourself a Break
During your workday its easy to forget about getting things done for ourselves. We lose our thoughts and clarity as tasks and conversations pile up. We need to take a moment to stop and get grounded. This exercise is simple and can take as little as, you guessed it, 20 minutes. Sometime during your day…
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The Day Off
There, it’s decided. I’m giving myself the day off. I can’t imagine that sounds revolutionary. And if I were to be honest I did go into work today (although the office is closed for the holidays), and I did check my exercise output for the week so far to see if I’d still be able…
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The Bunkhouse, An excerpt
There is no wind tonight. The heat from the fire in the woodstove hums through the chimney, air racing into the flue to feed the flames and then racing again, tempered and smoky out of the metal chimney and into the night sky. Tenaya is cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, her night for the…
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As Plain as Day
Toward Morley on the Trans-Canada highway, out of the mountains to the west of the reserve and then the foothills, passed the casino sitting blank with flashing lights and waiting on the future for its payday to come home, along the ragged asphalt watching pickup trucks on the reserve roads dragging dust clouds behind them,…
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In the Shadows
In the Peaks of Grassi the elk have been gathered for weeks. They lay in the hydro cut in the cold with the wind coming through Whiteman Pass. When they are still over the night hoarfrost grows white crystals on their fur. And in the night, if the clouds part in the sky and the…
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