904, 2013

Bullying, yogi bear & the garbage man, pork chops & karate chops and … beauty

By |April 9th, 2013|Miscellaneous|1 Comment

Shane Koyczan was bullied a lot when he was a kid. So he took that pain and made this stunning video – a spoken poem.  It’s powerful and confronting. Its passionate and beautiful.

  • At 1:10, he talks about the unfair question grown-ups always asked when we were kids.
  • At 1:41, he walks through his career choices.
  • At 2:11, some adults tell him something awful.
  • At 3:00, he decides on an impossible career.
  • At 3:48, he blows my mind.
  • At 4:50, he quotes an line from a cartoon. I never knew how epic that line was.
  • At 6:00, the audience realizes something tragic and funny.
  • At 7:36, he rips my heart out.
  • At 8:41, something awful is said.
  • At 9:15, he preaches the truth.
  • At 10:00, he has a message to every kid who was ever bullied.
  • At 10:49, you have to do what he says.
  • At 11:28, he gets to the beautiful, beautiful point. And everybody gives him a standing ovation.

So if you’ve ever been bullied (and I was) then take heart from what Shane says. If you can’t see anything beautiful in yourself then use another mirror. Look harder. Stare longer. And adults were wrong when they said that “sticks and stones might break your bones but names would never hurt you”. Words can hurt deeply. But … the people that threw around those words have to be wrong because why else would you be here. Why else would something inside you push you to keep trying. And why would God have created just you with your unique personality, talents and gifts. You are not what you were called. You are beautiful for everything that God creates is good !

And to bullies out there – may you be challenged to use your tongue and words to build up not tear down. To magnify not diminish. To encourage not ridicule. To compliment not criticise. To not have to make yourself feel better by making others feel worse. As you grow up and mature you’ll realise that that is one of the marks of real strength and character.

And if you have dreams, then don’t let anyone define to you what they can be. Like Shane points out – so often we’re asked what we want to do or be. And then when we dare share those precious personal thoughts and dreams, we are so often shot down and told they are impossible, foolish, stupid, impractical, unrealistic. We are told what we can’t be or can’t do, instead of what we can be or can do. We are asked to accept the identity others want to give us or asked to accept their own limitations of what’s possible. Show me anyone who has achieved something great and left a mark on this life and I will show you someone who refused to be limited by what others told them. Instead they trod their own path … and the rest is history. May you be encouraged to do the same.

 

 

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1202, 2013

A Father's Love

By |February 12th, 2013|Miscellaneous|0 Comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8DLTW2OSrA

You can choose your friends but not your family.
And that can be a great thing or it can be a bad thing. For many, family is a source of frustration, anger, sadness, fighting and hurt. But that is not how it is meant to be.

Family is supposed to be a greenhouse of love, laughter, support, encouragement, learning, teaching, sharing and fun. And on that account, I feel very blessed. I come from a big family. Both my grandmothers on either side of my family were twins. And as a result no family event is small. But not only that, we are close. My immediate family is an incredible source of love and encouragement and support. We are a tight-knot family and love spending time together. If I can be half the parent that my parents have been, then I’ll be happy.

This video makes me count my blessings. I hope it does the same for you. To help us all be grateful and thankful for the family that we have. And if you’re family isn’t one of those blessings that you count, then my hope is that this video drives you to make your other family (your friends or the one you create with your wife/husband etc) how it is supposed to be – a place of love, support, caring, encouragement, nurturing … the way God intended it to be.


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1311, 2012

A good lesson taught by a mayonnaise jar

By |November 13th, 2012|Life lessons, Miscellaneous|0 Comments

I was watching a really interesting show on TV last night about the Amish. In the show a number of university students went and lived with the Amish and experienced their traditional lifestyle – one of simplicity; of no mod-cons such as TV, cars and phones; of family; of the bible; and of working the land. What was particularly interesting for me was to see how the students opinions changed as they understood and appreciated the Amish lifestyle, and just as fascinating was to see how the Amish reacted when exposed to things like iphones, Facebook, Twitter, shopping malls, advertising etc. Most interesting and surprising was to see how they didn’t feel like they were badly missing out. Instead they gained an increasing appreciation for the good things about the lifestyle that they lived and adopted.

And it reminded me of a good lesson taught by a mayonnaise jar and a professor in a philosophy class …

When the class began, the philosophy professor wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full … they agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full … they agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full … the students responded with a unanimous ‘yes.’

The professor then produced two beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed..

‘Now,’ said the professor as the laughter subsided, ‘I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

  • The golf balls are the important things – your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions. If everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
  • The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.
  • The sand is everything else – the small stuff.

‘If you put the sand into the jar first,’ he continued, ‘there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children. Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18. There will always be time to clean the house and mow the lawn. Take care of the golf balls first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled and said, ‘I’m glad you asked.’ The beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers with a friend !

Challenge
We’ve heard it before. But it really the simple and important things in life that make our world go around and not the small stuff. So may you keep the main things the main things this week !

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3010, 2012

It makes you want to drink – the world’s best bartender !?

By |October 30th, 2012|Miscellaneous|0 Comments

Seriously how good is this guy?!
Hope this made you smile. Have a good day …

 

 

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409, 2012

Bullying

By |September 4th, 2012|Miscellaneous|0 Comments

Forget the last 2 lines and the associated guilt trip. But think about everything else that this picture says. You never know what’s going on underneath the surface or behind the scenes in someone’s life do you? And pity to the person who needs to make themselves feel better by putting someone else down – by bullying in any manner !!!

Challenge
Let’s be those people who build up not tear down. Let’s be people who use our words powerfully for good – to encourage and inspire and educate and comfort and  rally and forgive … and not the opposite.

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1508, 2012

How to marry a Finnish girl

By |August 15th, 2012|Miscellaneous, Travel|0 Comments

Well that got your attention didn’t it !

This week’s blog is a bit different. More like a journal / diary blog rather than the normal blog I write which I purposely aim to be more inspirational or challenging.

I’m writing it in honour of jetlag and having just flown in from Finland this morning. Why ? Well I certainly never ever thought I’d go to Finland for one and I’m tipping most of you haven’t been either (after all I can only think of places like Iceland and Greenland that could possibly be further away) so I thought you might find it interesting if I shared some thoughts and observations with you from my 2 weeks there.

Observation 1 – They really love their saunas !
Sorry. Correction. They really, really love their saunas. And they enjoy them naked ! Just like in the photo below – truly. It is just like that. And when in Rome … so, yes, I had a sauna in the buff too. There’s even some G-rated proof for you below. And what’s more – it felt pretty good actually. They don’t slow cook themselves for 20-30 mins in like people seem to do here. Just a good 5-10 minutes in, then out for a swim or shower or a relaxed beer whilst sitting in the colder air. And then they might head in to the sauna for another round and do it again. I’m starting to become a fan (except for the branches which they reckon are relaxing and therapeutic as you hit yourself with them ?!). All in all though, the saunas really do feel great when done properly … Boy, I never thought I’d say that !!

Observation 2 – All Finns are blonde
Ok, perhaps this isn’t strictly true, but I’m sticking with it. After all, look at my two samples – Viktor – the son of one of the families I stayed with, and my girlfriend as a child (when she lived in an igloo).

Observation 3 – berries are king !
It’s true. The Finns love berries. Berries grow everywhere in the forests around their summer cabins and you will find the Finnish happily wondering the forest, basket or bucket in hand, collecting berries to then be used in all manner of things. Is it possible to overdose on anti-oxidents? If not, the Finnish must be very healthy …

Observation 4 – Finnish is the second hardest language in the world
Seriously – what’s with this language? I’m sure there is a harder language out there but from my point of view, could they make it any harder. Can I feel any stupider when trying to speak it?
Finnish comes from the Finno-Ugric langage family which includes other easy languages like Hungarian and Estonian. Now, take that as the foundation to learn from and then add the following facts that I’ve noticed …
1) It can only be spoken in a monotone. No gestures like the Italians.No pompousness like the french. No gutteral sounds like the Germans. No ear-piercing intonation like the Chinese. No fairytale sounds like Estonian. Just plain old devoid of life monotone. (Interestingly when I did add my own little bit of spiced up intonation to an expression when asking a little child in a pram how he was, the kid looked up at me startled and everyone in the lift laughed – ah one of life’s moments!). Guess I’ll stick to monotone.
2) It seems like the aim is to link the most number of vowels, the letter ‘K’, and umlauts.
3) Speaking should be done with minimal eye contact. So good luck trying to use facial expressions to help.
3) Finns love their compound words. Just look at the photo below which I took of the outside of a shop advertising something. Or consider the word Hurskastelevaisehkollaismaisellisuuksisaankohankin. I mean – seriously – c’mon ! Are you having a lend of me ?

Observation 5 – Shrek lives in the beautiful city of Tallinn in Estonia
Tallin is the capital of Estonia which is a couple of hours ferry ride across the Gulf of Finland / Baltic Sea from Helsinki. I did a quick trip over there (to do some rally car driving of all things) and was so pleasantly surprised. Tallinn is without doubt one of the most beautiful towns I have visited in Europe. And that is saying something after having lived in Italy and travelled as much of Europe as I have throughout my bobsledding days. Picture an old medieval city, cobbled streets, colourful buildings, nice parks etc. I highly recommend a visit there if you just happen to be in the area !? And who would have thought that whilst there I would unexpectedly run into Shrek and Donkey? So not only does Santa Klaus live in Finland, but Shrek is a neighbour !

Observation 6 – Australians would feel at home here – the Finns love a good booze run
The Finnish are big drinkers and often travel to neighbouring Estonia (where Shrek lives) to buy their alcohol tax free and keep on doing what they do well – drinking – even out of casks. (I thought we stopped that when we were 15 in Australia ?!). It was absolutely classic watching people pile off the ferry with trolleys and cars ladened with booze.

Observation 7 – The game of Mölkky/Finska is alive and well
Finska (or more accurately in Finnish – Mölkky – pronounced Mool-ker) is an old Finnish log throwing game. I stumbled across it at a golf day and bought it for my flatmate as a Christmas present. But the funny moment was when my Finnish girlfriend and her friends saw it at my place … I have never seen people so happy with cries of – ‘Oh – Mölkky !!’
It seems that every good Finnish household has this game. The twelve numbered pins and throwing pin are crafted from solid birch and each person take turns to throw the throwing pin/peg/log from 5m away. If you knock more than one peg over, you score the number of pegs knocked over. If you knock only a single peg over, you score the number on that peg. The aim of the game is to reach 50 points exactly, but don’t go over (think darts), or you will lose (go back to 25 in this case). Who would have thought you could have so much fun with a lump of wood ?!

Observation 8 – Endless summer nights have their pros and cons
Being so far north, it is amazing to experience the long summer nights. When I was there during the past couple of weeks it got dark at around 10pm and light around 5am. The photo I took on the left is from about 8:30pm I think. It really does mess with your brain (and your sleeping habits). And what surprised me is that no-one seemed to have big curtains to black out the light – they just adjust and get used to it seemingly, unlike our/my body clock which adjusts very quickly to things like daylight saving.
The negative of the endless summer nights of course is what winter is like. The photo on the right was taken at 2pm last January in northern Norway (Alta). I had just retired from bobsleigh after some training in Lillehammer and so headed north up in to the Arctic Circle in search of the northern lights. Another thing you should put on your bucket list and do !

Observation 9 – I hope you like coffee and cake
Apparently addiction  to caffeine in Finland is the highest in the world. The average person consumes 1.3kgs of coffee each year. The average Finn consumes 12kgs each year.  Now, imagine that you are catching up with friends or chilling at your summer cabin and someone asks if you’d like a coffee. You accept of course … and then cake is served ! You sit around (which is what the Finns seem to me to do very well) chatting or whatever and the next thing it is mealtime, in which case you eat your meal and then have a mandatory coffee and cake. And the cycle continues. Now you’re trapped.

Observation 10 – You can take the boy out of Australia but you can’t take the Australia out of the boy
What can I say? Finland is great but above all I love Australia. And as the saying says – you can take the boy out of Australia but you can’t take the Australian out of the boy … Example 1 – I may have been in Finland but Weetbix is Weetbix and breakfast should not be messed with. I mean, I was happy to adapt to Scandinavia and use blueberries instead of sultanas on top, but why why on earth would I want to have thick brown bread with meat and cheese etc on it for breakfast instead? That’s just not cricket !

And just to make sure that there is no doubt in my mind that I live in the best country and one of the best cities in the world – as I arrived home from the airport and drove into my driveway this morning, I saw 3 whales swimming merrily along from Manly to Freshwater. Now how about that as a welcome home down under !

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1007, 2012

How to determine the price of anything

By |July 10th, 2012|Life lessons, Miscellaneous|0 Comments

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it”


It’s true. When I was training for my first Olympics everything came second – relationships, work, my social life, my finances. Sure I would try to create balance in there and juggle all the balls in the air as best I could. BUT, if it came down to it, I knew which decision I’d make. It was clear. I would sacrifice and give up to reach my goal / dream. I exchanged a lot of life to achieve that goal. It extracted a high price … but it was worth it.

It’s funny though. I saw the other side recently. I went to the London Olympic Games athlete farewell dinner. It is always inspiring and motivating as you see videos and hear interviews with current and past athletes. (Bring on the London Olympics !)

Olympic athletes farewell dinner video

In fact at one of these dinners 3 years ago I remember hosting a corporate table (each athlete is assigned to host a corporate sponsors table) and I remember thinking – “I don’t want to be one of these business guys sitting here on the table – there’s plenty of time for that. I want to be the athlete. And in any case, when you’re retired, you’re retired for a long time !” And in that moment I decided to come out of retirement and began training for Vancouver 2010 … And despite what happened in the race in Vancouver, I have no regrets. I’m glad I did it. The price I paid was fine. The life I exchanged for achieving my dream was worth it – despite the way it turned out.

So there I was at this London Olympic team athletes farewell dinner, having just recently retired a few months ago. I was inspired. I was motivated. But I knew that this time I wasn’t going to come out of retirement as the price was too high. I wasn’t prepared to sacrifice my career any longer; or commit all those hours to that hard training; or put relationships second; or to put all that money into training / travelling / equipment; or to always make apologies for social events or leave early if I did go. Simply put, the price was now too high. The opportunity cost was too high.  I was and am no longer prepared to exchange that same amount of life in order to get to my 3rd Olympics in Sochi.

And don’t we see this in all areas of our lives … we see marriages breaking down as people work longer hours and are never home. They exchange a lot of life to be successful in business – but is the exchange and the price you paid worth it ? We see people become stupidly body conscious. We see people pursuing money at any cost – even of their own integrity. It’s always an exchange isn’t it.

“It’s true … the price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it … food for thought !”

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1906, 2012

Life lessons – Part III

By |June 19th, 2012|Life lessons, Miscellaneous|0 Comments

Do you remember two recent posts of mine that contained some wonderful life lessons
20 lessons from a mother to a son
If I should have a daughter, instead of mum, she’s going to call be Point B

Well in celebration of that, I thought I’d continue with that. After all wisdom is to highly valued and as my mum used to tell me “knowledge is no burden to carry !”. So here are 45 life lessons that Regina Brett wrote in celebration of her getting older. This is her most requested column ever.

1. Life isn’t fair, but it’s still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short – enjoy it.

4. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick.
Your friends and family will.

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don’t have to win every argument. Stay true to yourself.

7. Cry with someone. It’s more healing than crying alone.

8. Its OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won’t screw up the present.

12. Its OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn’t be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye But don’t worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn’t useful. Clutter weighs you down in many ways.

18. Whatever doesn’t kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It’s never too late to be happy. But it’s all up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don’t take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don’t save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don’t wait for old age to wear purple.

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words ‘In five years, will this matter?’

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive but don’t forget.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn’t do.

35. Don’t audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative — dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. Accept what you already have not what you need.

42. The best is yet to come…

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn’t tied with a bow, but it’s still a gift.”

Here’s to living an amazing life – life to the full !

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2205, 2012

20 things a mother should tell her son

By |May 22nd, 2012|Life lessons, Miscellaneous|1 Comment

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1505, 2012

"If I should have a daughter, instead of Mum, she's gonna call me Point B … "

By |May 15th, 2012|Life lessons, Miscellaneous|0 Comments

Something a little different for your this week … spoken poetry – by Sarah Kay.

What I hear you say. Jeremy – you’ve changed ! Ah, but be careful not to judge a book by its cover – it is not everyone who gets a standing ovation when they give a TED talk !

So, enjoy and don’t forget the lessons here contained amongst the verse. May it challenge, inspire and encourage.

If I should have a daughter

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