Patrick Rhone's Blog, page 4

Right Effort

Here is what my current favorite online Buddhist resource has to say about the precept of Right Effort:

Right Effort means cultivating an enthusiasm, a positive attitude in a balanced way. Like the strings of a musical instrument, the amount of effort should not be too tense or too impatient, as well as not too slack or too laid back. Right Effort should produce an attitude of steady and cheerful determination.

In order to produce Right Effort, clear and honest thoughts should be welcomed, and feelings of jealousy and anger left behind. Right Effort equates to positive thinking, followed by focused action.

Drop a stone into still water, and the water will respond with exactly the right amount of ripples for the size of the stone. A smaller stone will produce less ripples. A larger stone will produce more. But, it will always be in proportion and never more or less. In a similar way, Right Effort encourages us to apply the appropriate amount of action dictated by the intention.

In the last few months, I have worked hard to apply this idea to my social media approach as well. I’m certainly not perfect at it. There have been many times that I have failed. But, in general, if you were to look at my feed you’d find that I try not to post too often or too infrequently. I do my best to find balance between the two. I participate when directly engaged. I try to make sure that what I’m posting is of a positive nature. I try to only post things that I believe are worth the time of those who might be reading it. I rarely engage in debate or argument— and when I do my intention is to try to learn from an opposing view, not to rebuke it. And, more than anything else, I try to be helpful in any way I see that I can be.

GORUCK Kit Bag 32L — A Brief Review

The GORUCK Kit Bag 32L is the perfect weekender style bag for those looking for something with a utilitarian vibe and, like all GORUCK bags, one built to last a lifetime.

Sometimes, you don’t need to pack light and go fast. You don’t need the hands-free benefits of a ruck. You just need a decent bag to hold a few days worth of clothes and sundries to throw into the trunk of the car or overhead bin and get away for bit. This is the perfect bag for that.

In the photo above, I have it packed for a four day trip to our family cabin. As you can see, it looks great but it is also highly functional. Besides the pockets on the side there are two similarly sized zippered mesh pockets inside. There is another inside zippered pocket that can hold small documents like a passport or Field Notes notebook. But the main draw is the spacious main compartment. A couple of pair of jeans, a couple of pairs of shorts, a few t-shirts, a couple of long sleeves, socks, underwear, and my toiletry bag are all inside with a few miscellaneous items too. This thing can hold a fair amount of stuff and not appear like it is going to break at the seams. It’s made for action and abuse.

It’s a fair price at $85.00. But, GORUCK is currently selling a great bundle deal with the Kit 32L and the Tough Bag (formerly, the Brick Bag) for only $89.00. The Tough Bag makes a great stuff sack. I roll mine up empty, pack it, and then use it for stuffing my dirty clothes in when in the road. It’s an amazing bargain for both items.

Bottom line, if you are in the market for such a bag this deserves your consideration.

Relentless — A Brief Review

Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover is a book that will either piss you off in the first few pages or completely resonate with you. It’s one of those books. For me, it not only resonated but I found myself compiling a list of others I know who needed to read it too. I even sent one as a gift to a friend only half way though. I knew they would see themselves in there like I did.

Tim Grover is a personal training coach to many top athletes — especially in the NBA. Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and many other of the game’s greatest players credit him with a large part of their success. His mission, taking players way past their perceived limits to be the very best. Not just the best in the game or the best playing today but the best of all time. He teaches them how to get into the zone and tap into the relentless and unstoppable potential that is inside us all. He’s the best at what he does and he has the clients and results to back it up. He also makes no bones about that and gives zero fucks about what you think. He is arrogant, cocky, confident, and tells it like he believes it is. Which may be off putting to many readers.

In this book, he gets into the mindset and anecdotes of what it takes to play and live a life at such a high level of excellence, who has that (very few), who doesn’t (the vast majority), and what mindset one needs. This is not a book that will teach you how to get there. This is not a how too guide. It will not teach you how to get into "the zone" and stay there. And, as he makes clear, if that’s what you want then you already don’t have what it takes so he can’t help you anyway. What it is is a litmus test. You will either recognize the qualities it takes to meet this kind of success inside of you already or you will not. It’s very inspirational to the right person or worthless hyperbole to those who don’t get it. But, at the least, you will finally be able to understand what makes a Jordan, Bryant, or Wade tick.

But, there’s also some very interesting and entertaining anecdotes for the long time basketball fan. He talks about specific moments in specific memorable games and provides insight and background to the action that only he and the player involved would know. So, even if you are not a fan of the message the author is delivering it’ll be a fun read for the NBA fan.

Almost Always Bull

The Stock Market, playing the long game, and the importance of setting long term goals.

The past couple of weeks have been a wild ride for those following news of the stock markets. Wild swings, low dips and sell offs not seen in recent years, and speculations about uncertainty in foriegn markets. To many outsiders and armchair analysts, there were fears of bubbles and overvaluations. Allusions were made to the crash of 2008 despite this being nothing like 2008. But, there are many who make profit from such FUD, so here was an opportunity to spread it.

But, those in the know pay little attention to the daily ups and downs of the market. They know that, while the Day Traders might make some fast cash to spend on hookers and blow that way, it has little to do with true wealth. Those who know the market know those folks play the short game.

The smart players, at best, see such low dips as a buying opportunity — like a retail Labor Day sale. Most just ignore it because 3% off is hardly a bargain to tell your friends about. Nay, the truly market savvy are looking far out into the future. The trends they look for are not measured in days or weeks, but years. "Let’s look at where this stock was at 5, 10, and 20 years ago" they’ll say. Because that’s how true wealth is built and measured. They play the long game.

To put it in a concrete example, if you bought $1000.00 of Apple stock in 1998 and still had it today, would you really worry if it took a 5% hit tomorrow? The correct answer is "No". Why? Because you would not only be so far ahead today in 2015 it would be silly but you know that in almost 20 more years it could easily be worth 10, 20, or even 100 times more. Why, because it is worth a hundred times more now than when you bought it less than 20 years ago. The long game is almost always "bull".

This is why it is important to think about, name, set, plan, and work towards multi-year goals. What goals do you want to achieve in 5 years? How about 10 years and 20 years? What does your life look like? What seemingly daunting yet massive, slightly scary, but oh-so awesome things are there? Have you thought about that? Have you put a name on them? Are they on your calendar? Have you mapped out how to get there and achieve them? Do you have a rough idea of the steps you need to take?

If not, you are basically playing the short game with your life. And, frankly, like a Day Trader your success and failure is at the whims of your daily to-do list. Get a lot done today and your life is a bull market. Get little done and it’s a bear market. And, like the Day Trader, your life will feel rich one day and bankrupt the next, more than partially due to forces beyond your control. A boss who dumps a project in your lap or a colleague who interupts you or the person that pulls you into a last minute meeting or the kid who gets sick or the car that breaks down. All of these can sweep in and kill the action of those without goals. Just like China screwing with their currency can send the whole world of short players into a tizzy, so can just about anything wreak havoc on the short player’s task list.

But, those with meaningful, long term goals, know to mostly ignore the fluctuations in their daily grind. That all of this is towards a larger and more meaningful goal. That success is measured in years and not days. You know that the value of that item on your list is a pittance because it will pay off one hundred fold when you finally reach that lofty goal. And if you don’t make any movement on it at all today, hey you’ve got 5,10, or 20 years, and with that much time just about anything is possible.

My Perfect Mall

Recently, my friend Garrick and I came up with the following thought exercise: If you were to design the perfect shopping mall, what types of stores would it have? The rules are simple. It does not have to be existing brands or even what one would find in the modern American mall — just types of stores. To keep it easy we limited ourselves to ten.

Most malls have become bland wastelands of fast fashions targeted towards the lowest common denominator. Beige behemoths located, usually, “out there somewhere” and easily accessible only by those with cars. Yet, the first earliest shopping malls were designed to be a destination centerpiece for the urban family around which walkable self-sustaining communities would form. That was what Victor Gruen envisioned when inventing them.

We thought the exercise would, perhaps, reveal some things about what we like and are interested in that we had not considered before. We also thought that it would expand the idea of what a shopping mall could be.

Here’s mine.

A men’s clothing store that carries well made, affordable, timeless, basics. Clothes that last long, wear well, and never go out of style.
A fine pen and stationery store, specializing in imported brands/items (Japan, Germany, etc.) with some vintage items too.
A travel store specializing in light packing clothing and gear.
A really, really, good independent book store with an excellent children’s section, a mix of universally revered classics and great new releases, an expansive selection of magazines and literary journals from all over the world, and a knowledgable staff who provide great recommendations.
A really good cooking store that sells seriously good supplies for the home chef.
A store that sells nice bags of all different shapes, sizes, materials, and uses.
A fitness center with a nice indoor running track, good modern exercise equipment, and plenty of yoga and meditation class offerings.
A museum with a nice mix of classic and contemporary art. There is a price attached to every painting — so you could theoretically buy anything assuming you have the money to do so.
A great hat store. From formal to casual and everything in between. Some good vintage stock as well.
A nice gift store with unique, interesting, useful, and fun items for all ages. The kind of place that always has that “just what I’m looking for” gift for family or friends.

There you have it. I suppose I’m not surprised by any of these. Most that know me well probably would not be either. Still, it was fun to imagine and see what sorts of things are important to me. Quality is a big one — a theme that pops up over and over again. Also interesting is what is not in my mall. One may notice there is not an Apple Store or any modern technology store in there. I’m not against those things, obviously. They just should be in someone else’s mall, not mine.

I find this a lot of fun to think about and have left room on the page I listed these in case I want to expand my malls offerings to more than ten.

Right Livelihood

Right Livelihood is the fifth precept in the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path. I have found this one the most difficult for me to find a way to apply to my online interactions and communications (and, thus, write about).

The precept is meant to speak to the way we make income or take on tasks. It discourages making any profit from those businesses or dealings which harm others, ourselves, or otherwise do not respect life. In the Buddha’s time, this spoke to things such as drug dealing, weapon manufacturing or sales, slavery, butchery, and even fortune telling. While I’m sure there are people using social media tools like Twitter and Facebook to help facilitate such transactions, I have not had any first hand experience with such. I certainly do not traffic in any of these nor do I ever plan to. Therefore, it would be easy for me to call this one "done" and move along.

But, I don’t think any of us should get off so easily when navigating the Eightfold Path. Each precept is meant as a prompt for our deeper consideration. Therefore, I feel compelled to seek any way my business dealings might be falling short of my greater spiritual goals. In a way, to borrow the popular Christian meme, I find myself asking "What would the Buddha do?".

Is the price of my products a fair one on both sides of the transaction? Am I paying too much attention to impermanent metrics like sales, downloads, or followers? Am I advertising my products and services in a way that is boastful, deceptive, or insensitive? All of these could just as easily fall under and be addressed by the concepts within Right Livelihood.

Right livelihood also stresses that we do not take our work for granted. That all of our actions, especially our daily tasks, are the result of all that came before and simply a contribution to a greater whole. That pride and hubris in our success is simply a recipe for suffering when change in such inevitably occurs so we should not dwell on it. So, to use social media to constantly promote our good work and congratulate ourselves on our own success simply makes this insecurity apparent to the world. Work that is consistently good speaks for itself.

I use the concept of Right Livelihood to remind me to keep my focus on doing work that contributes to the greater good, that is meaningful and helpful to those that choose to purchase my products and services, to humbly realize that any failures or successes will be fleeting, and that the most mindful path is to simply continue to do good work.

As the old Zen proverb says, "Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water.

The Crossroads of Should and Must — A Brief Review

In short, The Crossroads of Should and Must: Find and Follow Your Passion by Elle Luna is the best non-fiction book I’ve read in a long time.

Normally, when I read a non-fiction book I highlight key sentences and paragraphs to make it easy to find specific important thoughts so I can easily skim through the book again in the future. It is rare that I will "dog ear" a page. Because, when I dog ear a while page it means everything on the page is important and not a single word is to be missed.

If you look at the picture above you can easily tell by looking at the corner I dog eared a lot of pages reading this book. Several in a row in many cases. It’s that good.

Unlike a lot of the "quit your job and follow your dreams" books, this one is rational, reasonable, and readily admits that jumping off such a cliff is not wise. Instead, it argues that if you can make the time to do the things you should do, and we all seem to find the time to do those things that the world expects from us, you can make the time to do the things you must do. The mists being the things that you were born to do. The things that come from the core of who you are. The things that many of us push to the background for far too many reasons. That if you allow your must dos in, just a little, it will be a success no matter what because you will be allowing in the things that make you the very core of who you are.

The book gives plenty of examples of those who have done just that. A particular favorite is composer Phillip Glass who continued to work as a plumber even as rave reviews of his work were being published in the New York Times.

This is one of those books I now recommend to as many people as I can. Plus, as you may be able to tell from the photos it is beautifully illustrated. Worth getting for that alone. For this reason, you should make sure to get the hardcover. Especially since it is only a few cents more than the Kindle edition. Don’t cheat yourself out of beauty.

You should read The Crossroads of Should and Must. It’s worth your time.

Right Action

Right Action is the forth precept along The Noble Eightfold Path. The reason The Noble Eightfold Path is, well, a path, is that each precept is meant to lead to and support the next. Just as our next step follows and is predicated on the one before it. So too, before one takes action, one must have, understanding, intention, and speech rightly aligned. Because your action will be supported, flow from and be informed by all of these — rightly aligned or not.

Because I have taken some time to dwell upon and attempt to be mindful of my understanding, it motivated me to not be so quick to react to someone else’s statement or post, to take a step back and attempt to see and read things for what they are, and to identify and confront my own negativity and desires. By doing so, this informed my intentions. In other words, I engage myself in an internal dialog around what would be accomplished. Would my intention be to understand or instruct? Would it be to learn the truth of what another believes or to advance my own? Would my intention be helpful or hurtful? Only when assuring as much as I could to myself that my intention was for truth seeking, understanding, and coming from a place of compassion, my speech will then be grounded in and driven from there. This, then, would lead to a proper action if one needed to be taken.

Right Action can also be applied to the very reason we might use social media in the first place — to participate in and build healthy community. This begins with who we choose to commune with and who we may not want to. There will be those people and entities we choose not to engage for a variety of reasons. Perhaps they promote a mostly negative view of the world. Perhaps they are unwilling to engage in friendly and respectful discourse. Perhaps it is as simple as not having something to say you are interested in. Or, more simply, you simply have too many you are currently following, you are at the limit of what you can meaningfully engage with, and know that adding a single person more would reduce your capacity for the rest. All of this is not only OK, but are considerations that, in a perfect world, others are making about you.

As for me, I know that the limit of those I can effectively follow on Twitter, or any other social media platform, is around 350. And even then, it is with some allowances and caveats. For example, I allow myself to be comfortable with missing things. When I open Twitter, I rarely scroll back very far to "catch up" on what I may have missed. I figure that if it is important it will likely come up again. For instance, if someone mentions it is their birthday, because many that I follow are friends of others I also follow, I will likely see someone wish them a happy birthday. I, then, see it is their birthday and will do the same. Important news or happenings are usually important to many. Therefore, there is no need to go back and see what you "missed" because it will likely be repeated again and, in most cases, far more than you care to even read.

How we organize Twitter is part of this too. I have recently reconfigured my main timeline to be exclusively people I know and/or care about. Everyone and everything (companies, organizations, etc.) else has been unfollowed and put into a list I have named "Interesting". I dip into this list about once a day and only if I have time. The one other list I have I call "High Volume" — a list of people who’s work I wish to follow or am otherwise interested in but post so frequently that they would drown out others in my main stream and it would be difficult to feel I was taking Right Action when it comes to them. I check this list as time allows as well. What this organizational strategy has resulted in is a timeline that is much easier to engage — a place I want to visit because my friends are there.

Right Action is about how and what we post about as well. Does what you have to say add value, help another, add to the conversation, start a useful dialog, float a good idea, worth someone’s time, or otherwise spread kindness? These are all things worth your action. Negativity, argumentative responses, fear, taking pleasure in the misfortune of others, time wasting, or that which is benign or useless should be rethought.

Action, as a concept, is a dynamic word. It implies activity. It is not something that is "set and forget". Quite the opposite, in fact. A path is only a path of one use it to move from one point to the next. Therefore, all of these steps should be actively applied in all of our dealings, including social media.

How we apply Right Action when it comes to any of our social media tools begins at the root of our use of them. This starts with understanding what role they play on our lives and our intentions when using them. Hopefully, some of the ways I’ve applied the path I choose to take will be helpful to ou as well.

Right Intention

The second precept of the Noble Eightfold Path is Right Intention. The path being that, now that you view the world as it is without being clouded by desire, you can mindfully choose how you wish to engage with it.

I really like how the instruction linked to above puts it:

Right Understanding shows us what life really is and what life’s problems are composed of, Right Intent urges us to decide what our heart wants. Right Intent must come from the heart and involves recognizing the equality of all life and compassion for all that life, beginning with yourself.

Because I have not embraced Right Understanding at all times when it comes to my online interactions, and also because my choices have not always been grounded in compassion for myself and others, my ability to approach social media with Right Intention has suffered. In fact, far too often, I have no understanding or intention at all…

It happens to me more times than I care to admit. I take my iPhone out of my pocket, fully intending to do something — look up an address or take down a note to capture a thought — and suddenly I find myself minutes later deep into checking my Twitter stream or Facebook feed. And the alarming thing is that I’m not even entirely sure how I got there. The choice to check social media was a semi-conscious one born of habit. It even takes me a few seconds to remember the purpose I took my iPhone out for. It’s more than a bit embarrassing.

A similar effect is a crucial strategy in retail design. Referred to as the Gruen transfer, it is the moment when people enter a shopping mall and then are surrounded by an intentionally confusing layout and overwhelmed by choice they lose track of their original intentions. Based on my observations and discussions with others, I often wonder if there is something similar in our digital spaces as well. I know it is true for me.

Too often, I open up Twitter and find my self swept up and out to a sea of negative statements, manufactured controversies, “news” that is designed to keep us in a state of fear and worry, and idly watching the misery of others like bloodsport. Too infrequently do I find things there meant to inspire, engage me in right understanding, increase my knowledge, or show me the joy and beauty still existing in this world. It is infrequently a place I go to have meaningful conversation and connections with friends or open the potential to expand that number.

This all stems from not having Right Intention with how I have chosen to build my stream. I focus on Twitter here because, unlike Facebook that largely hands over what I see to an inhuman algorithm (a consideration I shall make separately), what I choose to engage with on Twitter is still largely under my control — my intentions are what drive the stream. These intentions need to become aligned with my understanding and compassion for self.

So, after careful meditation on this, I think the solution is to realign how I use Twitter, who I follow, and how I use the lists feature, with this goal in mind. For instance, I will be unfollowing some people and feeds to move them into a more meaningful and intentional list where I can better focus on what they have to say and share. To say it another way, I want to make sure Twitter is a mall is built to my liking, where I know where the things I’m looking for a located, and full of stores and people I’d like to run into. So that, when the transfer occurs and I find myself in a bit of a daze, it’s a place I don’t mind getting lost in for a little while.

Worn Wear

It was a few weeks ago, during an annual open street festival called Grand Old Days here in Saint Paul, MN, that I decided to pop into my local Patagonia store. I had heard they would have some lightly used and repaired items for sale in store for one day only to promote their Worn Wear initiative. Patagonia has long advocated that their clothing is not only built to last but should be repaired when wear or tear does occur, instead of replacement. They really do want you to use their stuff until it is all used up. If you can’t use it, they ask that you bring it back to them and they will repair and refurbish it to be passed on to someone that will. It is one of the many reasons I’m a fan of the company and their clothing and gear.

I perused the sale racks and, while there were plenty of good deals, I didn’t find anything I truly needed. So, I proceeded towards the exit.

On my way out one of the sales associates asked if I was able to find what I was looking for. I explained I was just browsing, had heard about the special Worn Wear sale event and thought I would check it out but didn’t find anything.

Then, he pointed to an area in the corner of the store that had a couple of people in it, a rack of miscellaneous items of clothing, and a table with a sewing machine and said, "See that guy in the blue shirt over there? That’s Andrew. He’s with our Worn Wear team. They’re doing something special today. If you go talk to him, he’ll let you pick an item in need of repair off the rack over there and show you how to repair it. What you pick and repair is yours to keep, free of charge."

I gave him my "Seriously?!?" look.

"For real! " he said. "Go talk to Andrew and let him know I sent you over."

So, to Andrew I went. Andrew repeated what they were up to and it was just as his partner at the door said. He was with a special Worn Wear team that was traveling to various stores around the country. They’re selecting people at random and showing them how easy it was to repair Patagonia clothing. In doing so, they were hoping to plant the seed and spread the word about repair and recycling of clothing and gear versus replacing them. Today was my lucky day, he said. He asked my size and pulled some things out from the rack. Nothing at Patagonia could be considered inexpensive and much of the stuff on this rack was in the $200 – $300 dollar range. Everything on there needed some repair, some minor and some a bit more major. Ultimately, I picked a Torrentshell Jacket — their best selling rain jacket. It had a small 2-3 inch rip just to the back of the left side. Andrew said it would be a pretty easy repair and, well, I didn’t have a real raincoat so it was something I was likely to use.

To repair the rip, Andrew suggested a strip of something called Tenacious Tape. It’s a super strong adhesive tape designed to fix rips, holes and gashes in outdoor gear. Therefore, it was perfect for repairing a rip in a rain coat. We eyeballed the length of tape needed against the rip and cut off a piece slightly longer than the rip. Andrew then had me cut the short ends of the tape oval — which reduces the chance of a corner getting pulled up and the tape coming off. Then, we laid the section of the jacket to be repaired nice and flat on the table. The trickiest part was trying to peel off the tape backing with no corners to manipulate while also doing all I could not to get the oils of my fingers on the adhesive, which would compromise the seal. But, eventually with Andrew’s help I got it, pressed it on, held it for a few minutes while it bonded, and, voila! One used, repaired, but still in fantastic shape rain jacket was all mine to keep.

Dare I say, jt has come in very handy in the past few weeks I’ve had it. We’ve had several large rain storms pass through and this jacket has been through the thick of them. It’s great. it packs up into it’s own pocket for easy storage and travel. It has two large side zip pockets (one with a carabiner clip-in loop) that will keep your hands and/or gear nice and dry. And pit zips to keep it from getting too clammy in warm weather. The hood even has a built in visor to help keep the rain off of the face.

The moral of this story though is how great of a company Patagonia is for putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to this stuff. For further inspiration read the many stories on their Worn Wear site of the people who own Patagonia gear that has lasted, broke down, been put back together, passed down for generations, or otherwise been used well beyond expectations. This experience has certainly made me an even bigger fan and made a big impact on me to keep clothing reuse and repair in the front of mind. Going forward, when I run into anything with a rip, stain, or blemish, I’ll look towards how to make it better.