It is amazing how our thoughts can own us. They can take over our affective states and disable our ability to function at a high level or even normally. Incessant thoughts bombard us at tremendous speed with each one vying for a piece of our attention. If our attention is too full the unnoticed thoughts burrow themselves into our subconscious waiting to be projected at a later time.

Unfortunately, our "monkey mind" is patterned and habituated to run constantly and unabated. It is not helped by the fact that in our modern society, our mind space is under constant attack from external information and messaging. The only way reclaim our mind space is with a conscious practice that silences the mind, in other words, meditation. For many, the word meditation connotes Buddhist monks, hippies and new age yogis and that is unfortunate because meditation is probably one of the most beneficial tools available to humans looking to develop themselves (and improve their lives). Meditation allows the brain to rest and renew itself, it helps us recognize and objectify the bombardment of thought-feeling running through us, and it helps us tap into intuition as a way of knowing. In short, it helps us develop as human beings.

"A spiritual religion of humanity is the hope of the future. This does not mean what is ordinarily called a universal religion, a system, a thing of creed and intellectual belief and dogma and outward rite. Mankind has tried unity by that means; it has failed and deserved to fail. The inner spirit is indeed one, but the spiritual life insists on freedom and variation in its self-expression and means of development. A religion of humanity means the growing realisation that there is a secret Spirit, a divine Reality, in which we are all one, that humanity is its highest present vehicle on earth, that the human race and the human being are the means by which it will progressively reveal itself here. It implies a growing attempt to live out this knowledge and bring about a kingdom of this divine Spirit upon earth. By its growth within us oneness with our fellow-men will become the leading principle of all our life, not merely a principle of cooperation but a deeper brotherhood, a real and an inner sense of unity and equality and a common life." -- Sri Aurobindo

Anyone else remember this commercial?:

This made me laugh. It kind of reminds me of my friend Cam at the Pennywise concert in Portland Oregon circa 1994

I hate to admit it, but this goal made me scream like a 12 year old girl at a Justin Bieber concert:

Nice to see the now middle age white men still laying down excellent music. The new album is called "Hot Sauce Committee Part Two". I love that they just uploaded the whole album to sound cloud for anyone to listen to in its entirety.

Here's the whole album...

As the Vancouver Canucks prepare for game seven with the Chicago Blackhawks, I can't help but think that the negative energy and pessimistic attitude of Vancouver fans and media has played a role in this teams recent losses.

I have been around sports long enough to know that the energy from not just the crowds at the games but also the fans in the city, plays a huge role in helping or hindering a team. Energy fields are real things and self-fulfilling prophecies are real phenomenons.

An example of how this works to the detriment of the team can be seen with the British world cup football (soccer) team. A plethora of horrible, paparazzi style media in the UK is constantly searching for the slightest issue to turn into a massive negative story. This constant negativity combined with the high expectations of UK football fans creates a highly charged negative atmosphere that constantly hangs over the team. Englands results at World Cups over the last 40 years speak for themselves.

An example of how positive energy from fans and a city can support a team can be found most recently with team Canada's performance at the Olympics. If you were in Vancouver durring the Olympics, then you know that the positive energy that I am talking about is a real thing. Team Canada's win in the hockey gold medal game is now legendary, but without the positive energy that permeated this city, I am convinced that the pressures on the team would have been too great to overcome. The "I believe" campaign worked; we did believe.

I once was part of an Ultimate frisbee team that won the Canadian university championship. We had a skilled team but it was on the mental side that we really excelled. The team openly preached something we called PMA: positive mental attitude. PMA means never getting down, it means staying light and having fun, it means never yelling at a teammate when they make a mistake, it means believing in yourself and your teammates.

Canucks fans that want to see the team win need to embrace a PMA. We need to consider ourselves as part of the team. If you were on the team, would you yell "Luongo, you fucking idiot" if he let in a bad goal? Would you boo and cat call from the bench if things weren't going the teams way? Would you say out loud "Oh no, here we go again, were're going to lose". If you did those things, you would be kicked off the team pretty damn quick.

Of course, as a fan, you have every right to yell and scream whatever you want and to think however you want. But if you want this team to win, then you will be best served thinking the way you'd want the players to think: positively. If you want the players to believe in themselves, then you have to believe in the players... you can't have it both ways.

Those of you who check out surf forecasts regularly will appreciate the magnitude of this wave model. It's hard to comprehend just how much wave energy was released; it covers almost half the earth.

You won't see this add on regular cable but on an internet that is thankfully not regulated by the FCC (or in Canada the CRTC), add agencies have the freedom to make the commercials more provocative, more creative, and this case, more humorous.