Tag: 90 days of blogging
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Forcing oneself & Procrastination – not a problem, but a signal
My view and judgements on procrastination has shifted over the last year and I’m becoming more increasingly aware of my tendency to delay or postpone certain tasks until pressure builds up. My observation is that sometimes for certain projects or tasks I put it off until (more or less) the very last minute. One example…
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Wow, you have good memory
To me, I like to think I’m somewhat self-aware (who doesn’t think that about themselves but according to one study, only 10-15% are actually self-aware). But from my own perspective, it does not seem abnormal — to me — to remember little details of conversations. That being said, about at least 3 times in the…
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Weekly Review – November 25th to December 02
Normally, I conduct my weekly reviews on Sunday, on a weekend where I am less pressed for time, a period of time that I can sit down and reflect. However, I had Elliott this past weekend — at the moment, alternating weekends — and by the end of Sunday evening, at 5:00pm, when her mother…
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Gold nuggets on developing self confidence
Developing confidence is an area that I naturally find myself gravitating towards. I find the whole topic fascinating and ironic because I feel confident in some areas in my life while feeling insecure in others. What’s up with that? Confidence: A non transferable skill and domain specific I recently finished a book titled “Mastery: The…
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Vibing with Xinobi’s “Searching for” song
I’ve been listening — on repeat – to the song “Xinobi – Searching for”, one that was suggested by Spotify. It’s not only the melody and harmony but it’s the lyrics, the lyrics cause me to turn inwards, to introspect. Just so many beautiful lines including: Another reason I love this song is that this…
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On experiencing joy and love when watching my own recap videos
On the days I don’t see Elliott (my beautiful 5 year old daughter), I often find myself (re)watching recap videos of us on my iPhone, short little clips that I stitch together to capture a moment in time, a snapshot aimed to honor our relationship (as well as share with some friends and family). Right…
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Created my first YouTube playlist for House Dance Class Recap videos
Creating YouTube Playlist on my channel serves multiple purposes. First, doing so in a way for me to practice my organization skills. Second, a playlist enables me to chronologically view my dance journey. Third, playlists help viewers (subscribers and non-subscribers) paint a better picture of what dance classes in studios look and feel like. Now,…
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I ran out of iPhone storage … or so I thought
In the middle of recording a video during yesterday evening’s dance class, my iPhone popped up an alert, a message notifying me that I ran out of disk space and that the current video recording was halted. After seeing the notification, I had mentally prepared myself to visit the Apple store to trade in my…
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On being liked: Being yourself vs betraying yourself. A four quadrant analysis
All the time, we all hear the following: “Just be yourself.” On the whole, I concede that these words form sage and sound advice. In fact, as someone who historically shaped shifted throughout his life in order to conform to social expectations, I mindfully practice being myself every day. The act of being oneself is…
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Daily Review (Tuesday) October 15, 2024
Best part of my day yesterday was when Elliott handed me over a little drawing (see featured image above) that she drew with a pen and 8×11 printer paper that was folded in half. I felt joy wash over me and had asked her to what drawings on the card were: “That’s you. That’s me.…
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The motivation to reflect and my 1:1 dance private reflection
Throughout my life, I’ve been described by others as a “go-getter”, someone who “gets things done”. While I appreciate both the positive feedback and while I am grateful in my ability to get shit done, one other area I’d like to devote more time and attention to is the act of reviewing — reflecting. Sometimes…
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Dance week in review: Reflections
I am returning to the practice of writing up reviews and reflections. Sometimes daily. Sometimes weekly. The review itself is not the goal. In fact, the act of reflecting (for me) provides the most value. It’s a practice. Overview Bounce technique modification Seems like such a simple move: the bounce. However, because I tend to…
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U.S. friend visiting me in London: weekend reflection
My Seattle based dance friend named Mateus flew in Thursday evening and stayed at my flat (goodness I’m so British now) with me until Sunday morning, when he flew back and returned to the states. These past days, I felt a lot of joy and love and gratefulness. Now, I just rode the bus with…
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Harry Mack on mastery, art of practicing, and flow state
I recently listened to a podcast episode by Harry Mack — a very gifted freestyle rap artist — named “Flow State” and I want to share a few key insights I took away regarding the art of practice. Though the discussion around his beliefs and advice revolve around freestyle rapping, I believe the principles can…
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On restarting a meditation practice, reducing anxiousness, and overcoming sensitivity to other’s opinions
Today I meditated for an entire 20 minutes. For me, that’s a long time, as someone who struggles to still. Here’s what went down for today. The first 10 minutes was basically a paired muscle relaxation (PMR), tensing muscles (e.g. hamstring, glute, bicep) and releasing them, silently and mentally whispering the word “relax” to myself.…
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Daily Review: September 23, 2024 (Monday)
I’m struggling to type this out because right now, my intestines are inflamed due an irritable stomach caused by 5 trips to the toilet in the last couple hours yesterday evening. Though in severe pain, I am grateful right now that Elliott has returned to her mother’s care — Elliott alternates weekends between her mother…
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Daily Review – September 22, 2024 (Sunday)
Initially woke up at 4:00am and felt it was a bit too early so gently put myself back to sleep with a couple deep breathes. It’s now 5:18am and feel much more fresh. I have about an hour and 45 minutes (maybe less) before Elliott wakes up. As a single dad who has his daughter…
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Waking up from a nightmare at 4:00am
When I was a young boy, from about 5 to 13 years old, I used to dream horrible nightmares that would wake me up in the middle of the night. For those 7-8 childhood years, the nightmares themselves centered around Chucky the Doll (do not recommend), a film that I had accidentally watched (a family…
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A simple solution to “Damn, I forgot to buy XYZ at the grocery store”
Ever find yourself frustrated that you forgot to pick up something from the grocery store? I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve experienced frustration when I returned home, after forgetting to pick up some item (e.g. ketchup), despite writing down the item on a sheet of paper that I ultimately forget is neatly…
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House Dance Reflection and Review: Jevan (August 15, 2024)
Took the class yesterday night and while still fresh in my mind, brain dumping. Best part of the class for me was witnessing my freestyle classmate light up with joy midway through her freestyle round when she went for a move, caught a groove, and her face beamed up. Note: As usual, I’m recalling the…
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Ask yourself questions when coming up with a (digital, physical, mental) organization solution
Generally speaking, I struggle with keeping things organized: files on my computer (digital), items in my house (e.g. physical), and my thoughts (i.e. mental). To help combat my organization challenges, I signed up for an online course (i.e. Waves of Focus). In that course, I learned about a tool called the poet compass , which…
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House Dance Class (August 13, 2024) – Review and Reflection
Below is a short review and recap of Ani’s house dance class (beginner/intermediate) that takes place in London every Tuesday night at 6:00pm over at Pineapple Studio. Though I enjoy taking this class every Tuesday, this instance of the class was special because my friend Will (from Seattle, who was visiting London) joined me and…