I don’t even know if I really understand it, but I do know that I spent most of the month becoming an expert on it.

Christopher Nolan’s stunning summer blockbuster has taken the internet by storm. There’s so much buzz, comments, discussions and articles it’s kind of ridiculous — and I love it. You may have read my previous article on how Inception is a pop-culture masterpiece dedicated to (the emerging trend of) thought-management.

Now I’ve created an Inception Tribute Info-Graphic. I initially started it because Melodie said that I’m perfectly suited to win FastCompany’s Inception Graphic Contest, because of my passion for explanation, pop-culture, art, design, and technology… and I agreed.

So I made something really cool and sent it to them. Then I double-checked the eligibility rules, and realized I’m not actually eligible for the contest ’cause I don’t live in The States, lol.

Soooooo…

Now I’m sharing it here for everyone who’d love an easier way to get a handle on a lot of the beauty packed into the movie.

Inception (For Dummies) – A fantastic movie about ideas, that’s also jammed with cool ideas about dreams, reality, relationships, creativity, thought-management and more.

A huge Thank-You to Christopher Nolan and the entire Inception Production Team for creating a movie that basically combines everything I love. A huge Thank-You to FastCompany.com for calling out for the beautiful information-designers of the world to flex their muscles and contribute even more value to the Inception phenomenon.

Inspiration Hits!
This info-graphic came together through a week of inspiration, suggested by a beautiful muse, and went through 4 drafts, 57 re-writes, and 125 layers in Photoshop. It used 4 full watch-throughs of Inception, 4 subliminal play-throughs in the background while I worked, 100s of single scene-replays, and many conversations about the movie. Not to mention the 20+ websites, blogs, and reviews I read about it.

There’s some spoilers in the graphic and it works far better if you’ve seen the movie, but I feel it conveys the main points of the plot, the characters, the themes, the dream-sequences, and the time-line all in one graphic — even if you haven’t seen it. (I debated including the number math + specifics but in the end left it out — felt too cluttered)

It felt best to make it slightly wordier than I’d initially intended, but hey, it’s pure love for Nolan and the gang, FastCompany, typography + design.

Text Link To The Info-Graphic: http://spiritsentient.com/inception_infographic_spiritsentient.com.jpg

This post was prompted by many things. a) How often I tell everyone I love Toronto, and how often I’m greeted with mild response to that statement. b) The fact that Steve Pavlina is in town and put feelers out for interesting things to do, and c) ‘Cause I’ve always wanted to give some props to all the food-places my family and I ‘collect.’

Yes, it’s another list post, but of a much different vein than we usually have. We talk about appreciation all the time, and though many claim Toronto is filled with the apathetic, ungrateful, and down-trodden — here’s some appreciation for a city that we know rocks so hard.

This may be the longest post about Toronto hot-spots and goings-on on the net. This is the compilation of years and years of sampling the city, my experience as a top-blogger for OurFaves.com, SpiritSentient’s connections around the city, and my love for attracting and sifting through the best the world has to offer. I could do this forever, and this is tip of the iceberg tapping into the amount of knowledge I have about Toronto. It’s a start for some of the places that jump off the top of my head. Enjoy!

Note: I love, love, love shared food experiences with awesome environments, company, and menus and I could go on and on about Toronto’s fantastic restaurant scene.

Warning: Long Post – Here’s some Quick-Navigation:
Parks | Restaurants | Bars | Cafes | Dessert | Hobbies | Charities | Climbing Gyms | Bloggers | Sports | Media | Events | XXX | Art | Rappers | Rockers | Books | Clothing | Clubs | Concert Venues

Toronto – Restaurants – Yum

Szechuan Szechuan – Top-notch Chinese. This is where Toronto lawyers and bay-st. businessmen go when they want Chinese. High-end fare, delivered extremely fast, with massive portions… you’d think it’d be expensive, but you’d be wrong

Dhaba – Exquisite Indian food. Chef P.K. Ahluwalia delivers a restaurant featuring stunning lunch buffets and an amazing dinner menu. Daring and varied menus, cool cocktails and an outstanding wine list. Often mentioned is that they have the winner of Most Memorable Meal award .

Fran’s – Home-cooked retro-style diner, 24 hours of goodness. Fran’s started in 1940, and has was family-owned for a long time. It eventually was sold to independent investors, who had a passion for the place that has propelled it to even greater success. My brother recommends the Shepherd’s Pie.

Bier Markt – Recently expanded to a King St. location, the Bier Markt offers over 100 beers for order. Elite, 5-star grub, and an elegant atmosphere. I recommend the strawberry beer and the flamekueches, mm.

Baton Rouge – Ribs. Sweet, sweet, fall-off-the-bone ribs (literally, I’ve tried to pick a rack up more than once and had it break.) The ribs are very rich, marinated in… some rich sauce of… richness.Downtown + Scarborough locations.

Sassafraz – I’ll never forget my experience here. It was my first introduction to celebrity-dining. This place burned down recently, but has recovered and is rocking it harder than ever. Located in the oh-so-posh Yorkville neighborhood, Sassafraz has a sumptuous environment, large vertical garden, and a dress code. I asked the waiter for a burger and he hesitated, and then told me he’d "consult the chef." He then came back and apologized because the chef "declined" to make it. Such. An. Awesome. Experience. I felt like I was in a movie, and I proceeded to enjoy the delectable penne. If you do want a high-end burger, try Bymark’s or Lobby.

Konnichiwa – If you’ve been to Japan (…and back a few times), you’ve probably hunted around for a good Japanese place. I used to go to Rikishi (also top-notch) but Konichiwa is a new fave and boasts traditional ingredients and methods of preparation.

Black Camel – Sandwiches, yes, sandwiches. Their mission is to provide good-tasting high-quality food, quickly and priced fairly. They accomplish this massively. They start with 5 foundation sandwich choice, which are brilliant on their own, but the true beauty comes from their myriad of sauces. Near Rosedale station.

Carnaval Grill – A Brazilian Grill experience, the waiters parade around with huge slow-roasted meat on skewers while belly-dancers provide a delight for the eyes.

Bombay Bhel – More indian, because, hey, I love Indian. Order a ‘Poori’ (or ‘Bhatura’ depending which waiter you’re talking to, lol), and chicken tikka masala for a treat. Many locations throughout the GTA, my favourite is Yonge + Sheppard.

Tokyo Sushi House- A small, but efficiently used space that caters to Patrick Stewart (that’s right, Patrick ‘Tea, Earl-Grey, Hot’ Stewart, when he eats in Toronto.) The sushi here is fresh and the service is fantastic. Note, I’ve heard that they do not serve alcohol. Yonge + Wellesley area.

Little Bavaria – Robust and unique European delicacies, you cannot, I repeat cannot go wrong with the schnitzel. Unless you’re vegetarian

Grill Time Korean BBQ – Gather your friends, don’t wait for chefs, enjoy the experience of laughing and chatting and watching food sizzle right in front of you on some high-end equipment. All you can eat, and the thinly-sliced, fast-cooking Korean fare keeps coming.

Bymark’s – Woo.. special-occasion dining, or perhaps run-of-the-mill dining, depending on your perspective (certain celebrities are known to frequent the place.) They serve very high-quality vodka and the plating is supremely elegant. Chef Mark McEwan deliver’s. In the middle of the banking district, a swank upscale a la carte restaurant run by a celebrity chef — the rooftop view over-looking the financial district is gorgeous. Love eating here! Check out McEwan’s other place, North44 as well! (I still want to try their gourmet poutine.)

Green Mango – A Toronto-staple for thai cuisine, the green mango’s gone through a lot. It started out as a buffet style fast-thai place, but their success caused them to expand to a separate buffet location, converting the main place into a fine, sit-down dining kinda deal. After that experiment they almost went back to their cafeteria style-roots, but kept the best of both worlds. Seat yourself facing The Brass Rail across the street (especially if on a date), for a surreal experience – I believe they’re up to 4 locations now, my favourite is Yonge + Charles.

Restaurants – Vegan

Magic Oven – Gah. So good. With many vegetarian offerings, and a slow-food philosophy, you’re in for a treat when ordering their pizza, but by far our favourite is the feta + tzatziki potato wedges, washed down with a Nickelback organic lager.They also don’t shy away from meat, selecting the choicest butcher cuts from local farms to create their famous oven-cooked pizza. No locations North of like… Bloor.

Fresh – My first introduction to vegan food, and I still love it. It expanded quickly and draws crowds, it’s also drawn gossip/controversy, but go try one of their Warrior or Buddha Bowls with brown-rice and see for yourself. They’ve got a few locations downtown. (Almond-Date Smoothie = Ballin’."

Freshly Squeezed – Similar to Jugo Juice,this juice bar has been a long-time favourite of mine. I love adding protein to their yoghurt-based smoothies. Spots all over

Live Food Bar – A nice change if you’re not feeling Fresh, and very similar. I particularly like their desserts.

Restaurants – Fast Food

Jetsun’s Juicy Burger – Fan-fricking-tastic. You really can’t beat these guys for burgers. A passionate owner, with a passionate staff, these friendly folk will make your experience grand. Our hamburgers are made from fresh 100% lean ground beef never frozen. We make every burger one at a time, cooked fresh to order because when it comes to burgers, fries and shakes, getting fresh is a good thing. In a world where food is often processed with chemicals, pre-packaged and frozen, Jetsun’s Juicyburger makes everything the old fashioned way. (Great tunes too!)

Johnny’s Hamburgers – A classic, around back when North York was mostly farmland. The burgers come out of a box but they’re oh-so-good, (order the Banquet burger for cheese+bacon, but note that this specific item is NOT display on the menu). The staff wear paper hats and service can be surly. They’re cooked hot—with fire—and dressed to order on a soft and satisfying white bun, and remember "Johnny doesn’t LIKE lettuce." – Vic Park and Sheppard

Hunter’s – Another’s words fit so well: "This is a favourite in the neighborhood, and around the city! A family owned and operated establishment, everybody who eats here swears by it. The owners are a great family, and the food is to die for. By far my favourite restaurant." I like the souvlaki, or the pizza, depending on my mood. Birchmount + Huntingwood.

Real McCoy’s – A childhood favourite and around for decades, Real McCoy’s Pizza at Markham and Ellesmere is another down-to-earth, no-seat, burger joint, and the pizza is so, so, so, so good. Greasy, but good.

Zupa’s Deli – Another oldie, tried-and-true, Zupa’s deli provides incredible taste + value. Back when I used to work at an upstart domain registry in the entertainment district, this was a staple. Love, love, love their toasted-fried-egg-sandwiches with tomato, bacon, and cheese.

Burrito Boyz – I’m pretty sure the two guys who started this have split off into two locations, one taking the name, the other the original recipe. Doesn’t matter, both locations are absolutely fantastic, like the rest of these places, the space is pretty small, minimal seating, but packs a punch for food/service/price ratio Constant line-ups.

Toronto Bars/Pubs – Chillax here.

Duggan’s BrewPub – Oh. My. God. LOVE this place. Started by one of the members of Mill St. Brewery, these guys turn out some of the most delectable brews ever. They keep things fresh and refuse to order extra stock, so they sometimes run out of flavours, but the beer is always precise. The chef’s are top-notch and the menu is eclectically awesome. From London originals like the V and Chips to the Duck-Confit Poutine, go try it. You can eat there, drink there, and walk-out with a 6 pack

The Wheat Sheaf – Est. 1849. I used to make a 2.5 hour trek every Sunday, rain or shine, to revel in the Sheaf’s easy going, celebratory environment with my friends. Plus, it’s the oldest pub in Toronto. Plus, it used to be a brothel, lol.

Mill St. Brewery – This is an old tankhouse and the heart of the distillery district. They have minimal online presence, but pretty much everyone in Toronto knows them. They were the first in the city to debut an organic lager.

Sneaky Dees – A student hang-out where the tables are all meticulously covered with unique scrawls and grafitti, that serves some of the best nachos (Try the King’s Cross) with loud grunge-punk in the background. An experience to be sure

The Madison – 3 Victorian houses meshed to become a super-pub, with 5 heated patios, pool tables, and over 100 beers on tap! Each sub-bar has a different styles that appeals to different folks.

Okay… it’s time for a break from writing all these reviews, and I’m psyched to get this out for Canada Day Weekend, so I’ll post it and you guys can contribute to it, or I’ll fill it in down the road. At least it’s a list of awesome, awesome places in Toronto. Feel the love.

Toronto Hobbies/Groups

The Laugh Resort – YukYuk’s alternative, a great experience.

Felinity – Strip-yoga/aerobics. Yeup.

MeetUp Groups – We have TONS.

ZenFinder – Yoga (GrooveYoga!) and eco-boutique.

Sacred Seed – Get all the most amazing… seeds. (Blue lotus!)

Singles Parties Networks – A client of ours, throws amazing bash’s for the 35+ crowd.

The Serene Way – Integrated reiki/yoga/dance, run by Tim White.

Tribes.ca – Their forums are jumpin’

Wu Xing Martial Arts – A tucked away little place on St. Nicholas St., this studio has an powerfully open vibe and really teaches some key, positive foundations for Kung Fu and Tai-Chi and weaponry and more. The owner, Sifu Ali, is a really positive guy, who intends great things for the people he teaches. He’s also a very spiritual sort

Vybe Dance – Arthur’s home away from home, this dance studio pulls in the Markham crowd and has a hip flavour, rockin’ top 40 tracks. Hip-hop, Breakdance, Sexy Urban Pop, Jazz, Popping and more.

Grey Region – CLOSED, sniff. Try 1,000,000 Comix instead.

Toronto Charities/Non-Profits

Well Of Change – Christine Ho’s brain-child – Trade talents for charity! This is a cool new idea based on the volunteering of skills, as opposed to straigh-out cash-donations.

Young Station – Natasha Bowes helps out the youth, inspired by her cadets group. Launching soon.

My First Wheels – Grassroots charity for a bike a child

Regensis Project – The Toronto Chapter is fronted by Claudia Larraine-Rodriguez, a tremendously cool chick with vision, and they are a grassroots foundation for environmental and social justice and humanitarian organization.

About Face Collective – A project dedicated to retro-fitting Toronto buildings resulting in an eco-friendly sustainable community.

The Remix Project – Mainly Drex Jancar’s creation, The Remix Project is an incubator for at-risk youth to develop their creative visions.

Manifesto – Manifesto Community Projects is a non-profit grassroots organization working to unite, energize, support and celebrate Toronto’s vibrant and diverse music and arts community.

*Note: there are much ‘bigger’ charities, but I felt it was time to highlight some up and comers.

Toronto Sports – So I could do better…

The NBA Breakdown – Run by Dave Mendonca and Audley Stephenson

Toronto Mike – Mike Boon consistently expounds on all things Toronto. Especially hockey

BudBlog – A hockey blog for true fans.

All Balls Don’t Bounce – Duane Watson’s un-updated basketball blog.

Hardcourt Lessons – Audley’s sports-show-cum-personal-development podcast.

Toronto Media – Love the media, please!

ThatChannel.com – Tori’s been interviewed by Huw, and my friend Josh is friends with Jay Stoyan. Not to mention Tim White of The Serene Way and Helen Goldstein of BuddhaGroove have rocked it there. Check em out.

The Edge – A radio station I could balance out with Flow 97.3 or somethin’.

Eye Weekly – Music, movies, entertainment and more.

Now Magazine – Toronto’s alternative news and resources.

BlogTO – All things Toronto!

Canoe – Canadian Content Portal

TorontoLife.com – Daily updated Toronto News.

Ecocentric Guide – Toronto’s guide to all things green, run by the fabulousfantastical Rachelle.

Torontoist – You know the theme for this section by now

Clubs – So far, I don’t club *super* often.

C-Lounge – Indoor/Outdoor, water + spa-based atmosphere, this club has an entirely sexy urban vibe.

Dance Cave – The club aspect of Lee’s Palace, draws mainly Annex locals (some eccentric.

Lobby – Stylish and sophisticated, Lobby is quality glass, polished steel, and black accents draw celebrities and socialites. (Try their kobe-beef burger!)

Premium Rhythm Lounge – Haven’t checked in on these guys in awhile, but it’s a classy joint at Yonge+Eglinton run by Lennox. A piece of SpiritSentient art may be hanging up there

Toronto Concerts – I’ve been to 100s!

The Horseshoe – An intimate venue on Queen St., 350 person capacity, the horseshoe has given so many bands a leg up, and continues to attract all kinds of amazing acts. I saw the second last performance of The Watchmen here, where Danny Greaves laid out a phenomenal acapella. So powerful… wonder what he’s up to.

The Phoenix – Broken up into multiple rooms, the phoenix has concert space, a lounge and pool tables. It’s also home to many live-to-air edge 102.1 broadcasts, and a mainstay in many bands Toronto scene.

The KoolHaus – Formerly the Warehouse (much Kooler name if you ask me ), this venue by the lake is an absolute riot. K’Naan played there this year recently, and MGMT as well. Both shows were sold out. One of my fave performances here was Moby, and his opening act, Hybrid blew us all away. I’ve also seen Econoline Crush, Live, I Mother Earth, Matthew Good, Kardinal Offishal, Our Lady Peace, and many more here.

Roy Thompson Hall – Jazz, orchestra, dance, brass. Home of The TSO, and has held performances for Queen Elizabeth. Definitely an experience, and I believe they have Anthony Bourdain coming up in Sept. lol Seats 2630.

The Opera House – Opened in 1909, this historic venue, it went from vaudeville stage, performing arts center, to concert venue, and lately has been featuring a lot of metal acts

Massey Hall – Goes hand-in-hand with Roy Thompson Hall, but much more oriented towards mainstream bands and celebrities. I saw the Tea Party perform with a symphony here before they broke up Just incredible.

Extra: I’ve been meaning to post about this for awhile – a common complaint from Torontonians is that we have inferior transits systems, and while this may be true, I find the incessant complaints to be a little overboard. We are far far past where we once were, transit-wise, and it’s currently on the cusp of growing much bigger, all it needs is some energy, some attention, some focus, some care, and some love from Toronto. Go to SaveTransitCity.ca

Seriously, our city rocks so hard. Toronto is filled with creative, talented, fortunate, blessed people who are ready to blow up. Show ‘em some support, show ‘em some love, have faith and believe they’re gonna explode into success in the next second. What I’ve listed here is only tip of the iceberg, there is so, so, so much more.

Anyway, if you found any cool new spots, or reminisced about old faves, or even found something to avoid, thanks for reading. The power of appreciation is massive, and this is me sending out a ton of love to a city I love.

Happy (belated) Canada Day / Pride Weekend!

Below are two perspectives on a simple conversation three people held on a grassy-knoll (I always wanted to use grassy-knoll in a sentence.)

Arthur’s perspective: I recently met Melodie Moore (a phenomenal hoola-hooping superstar, representing the Toronto-scene) in person, and she has quite an impressive understanding of dance in general.

Melodie gets performance. She understands performance. She lives and breathes performance.

To listen to her talk about being on stage for others, or body movement or decoration or fashion or anything to bring value to people who’re watching or giving their support and attention is riveting. She understands how with a crowd of people standing around still, and maybe bored, her energy and attitude and the love she brings to the performance can drastically change everything. She understands the value of dance, and because of this understanding, she was able to teach me how to massively improve my own dance.

Even if Melodie and I have different styles or specialties in our dance, (she focuses on hoola and me on breakdance), it doesn’t matter, because she teaches creative and inspirational core principles that apply to any performance, and really, they’re the foundation for any performance while being at same time, the advanced subtleties of it. Beginner and expert alike, can definitely benefit from paying attention to what seems to come naturally to Melodie.

She was telling me how she’s experimented with things like dancing with certain thoughts in her head: dancing with happy thoughts, dancing with sad thoughts, or dancing with no thought at all, and she pointed out how she could make so many hooping ‘mistakes,’ while performing in front of others, but the end result would still be them adoring and praising her because of the thoughts she held, and the love and heart in each movement. She also explained how to maintain an overall goal for the performance but paradoxically release it and simply enjoy every single motion and moment of the event.

These are things that may not be commonly taught in a lot of dance studios. I’m fortunate to learn from truly passionate teachers and I really love dancing at Vybe (Vybe is an awesome dance location in Markham) – the teachers at Vybe are awesome, and while they teach differently than Melodie, they also explain these concepts in their own way. They basically lead by example. When I’m watching Pryo (Pryo is a teacher at Vybe who focuses on popping and breakdancing), I can’t deny that he’s putting his heart and soul into each movement. I can’t deny that he’s inspired and truly giving his best, to teach us. And it makes a difference! He’s basically living by the principles Melodie explained to me. Some studios and magazines touch on these, but usually not as directly and clearly as in the conversation I had yesterday.

I personally feel that the concepts Melodie was talking about, enliven and awaken the true dancer in all of us and I can’t wait to spread this through the Toronto dance scene.

So to wrap up, this tale might seem simply like a personal story about dance and teachers and inspiration – and it is! But it’s more than that as well, because each interaction in life is like the movement of a dance, and there’s a natural dancer in all of us, and to give some time and attention to the presence and energy of entertainment and performance is at the heart of our culture, and our humanity.

So move your baaawwww–teeeee!

——————————-

Jason perspective: I don’t dance. At least, not often, and when I do, there’s usually only a few people around to witness the performance. Each of us have so many moments available to us in life and we have so many activities available to us in life, and there’s no way we can engage in every single option in one physical lifetime.

This doesn’t mean, that I don’t dance ever, or that I don’t love dance, or that I’m not good at dancing, or that I don’t like to watch dance (I definitely love to watch dance ). I do however attract many dancers in my life. Sometimes it seems like everyone I know loves to dance, and I like it that way. There’s an interesting trend though, and that is, that as my friends dance and grow in their dance, I see them using all the tools of creativity and inspiration that I’ve applauded since I was little.

Recently, I was privileged to witness a conversation between two dancers very close to me (Arthur, SpiritSentient partner extraordinaire, and Melodie, Self-proclaimed Spiritsentient Super-Stalker), and it was really enlightening. They talked about things that I’m used to. They talked of creativity, inspiration, purpose, and things ‘artists’ talk about.

They talked about providing value to the audience. They talked about changing peope’s moods and uplifting feelings. They talked about dancing for themselves at the same time as dancing for others. They talked about the power of thoughts and how they influence and inspire different kinds of dance, these are all things that I talk on and on about through SpiritSentient, books, artwork, day-to-day conversations, and so on. I don’t frame my ideas for dancers specifically very often, and it was refreshing to hear.

I think my favorite part of their whole discussion was when they talked about how everything is dance and everything is an art and even the conversation they were having was like a kind of dance.

Here it becomes a bit difficult to explain with words, so all I can say is that they connected, they were really into it, and they were inspired.

Inspiration, the great intangible force the assists so much…

is how I love to feel with every single thing I do. Whatever I create, whatever words I say, whatever thoughts I think, I love for them to be inspired. This is something that is a bit beyond the step-by-step, 1-2-3 that most people are looking for as they surf the web, but it’s no less valuable.

If more people in the world were able to consciously, intend and maintain their actions as inspired, like a dance or an art, and for their conversations to be inspired, could you imagine the beauty we would create?

Anyway, earlier I said I don’t dance, but it was kind of a lie, because really, I’m dancing all the f***ing time.

Rock on.

How many times in your life has it been when a total stranger meets you and brightens your day with just 3 little words? They probably weren’t the words: “I love you”, but whatever they said, it must have felt like it, right?

I’m blessed with being hit by a lot of these words everyday of my life. From my supportive family, to my awesome friends and especially strangers and even animals that I meet, I am always feeling it.

How many times a day do you shower words of light to other people, that will have a rippling impact of joy throughout them and everybody they meet in a day?

If the answer is 0, you probably aren’t having that much fun in your life.

A simple trick does it for me, when I find that I’m not having fun. I ask myself, what is the most outrageous act of kindness that I can do?

And like a bag of chips, after you have one, you can’t help but have them all

You have the most satisfying, deep, transcendent, amazing sex-life out of anyone, ever.

What’s that? You don’t? Well read on

There are millions of resources, books, and teachers on human sexuality, but none that we know of even remotely approaches the awesomeness and beauty of David Deida’s work. This man embodies the heart, soul, and evolution of human sexuality and he helps others rock.

We’ve compiled a powerful tribute to his work, gathering up many Deida audios, interviews, excerpts, and concepts, and packaging them up all nice-and-sexy for you all. This may be one of the most high-value resources SpiritSentient has share to date, and we’d really love for it to change your life.

Take a look at the launch page and get a feel for Deida here (http://deida.spiritsentient.com) or grab the 100mb, 80-resource download here (http://mediafire.com/spiritsentient/david_deida_tribute-spiritsentient.com.zip)

If you like this, you may be interested in SpiritSentient’s other free resources:

Focus Wheels (Hicks)	PlaceMat Process (Hicks)	Book of Positive Aspects (Hicks)
How To Be Genuinely Interested In Humanity Emotional Guidance Scale (Hicks)

or you may want to support us and grab our oh-so-awesome Elevation Desktop Wallpapers:

Tell Me More.

Elevation Motivational Desktop Wallpapers – What do we all want? To Feel Better. Change your feelings in a simple, passive, easy way through beautiful art, words, and ideas. (16 HD wallpapers, 25mb, PDF) Elevate Your Feelings (and Desktop!) Click to get it!

Embrace a New Renaissance, Shape the World, SpiritSentient!

Why? Just cause. And hopefully you will feel super reading it

Really, what does “Sentient” mean? Jason defines it as spirit combined with awareness, knowledge and intelligence. I define it as an expression of spiritual growth in the present moment. Or perhaps more simply, expressing love.

In the past, at SpiritSentient we’ve talked a bit about “Doing What You Love”, especially if you’ve seen our videos and whatnot. After doing quite a bit of this myself, the expression grew into something else for me. And that something else is: “Grow In What You Love”.

“You can see this progression from doing what you love to growing in what you love in a celebrity like Jay-Z. His early life started out not really doing what he loved, he was grinding away in the drug game, selling cocaine and making money yet rapidly becoming more aware that this path in life would lead to jail or death. Instead of his rap taking a back burner, he chose to pursue it with a passion and do what he loved, even if it meant sacrificing the abundant cocaine money. He made an album about his rap experience in life and drugs. He did what he loved, and the world supported him for it. Eventually though, as he mastered this and each action he took each day came from the core principle of doing what he loved, his mind was freed up to grow. He could think bigger and better things than just doing what he loved. He could think about how to provide way more value to the world and he could focus on growing and expressing love through his music, clothing empire and much more. And it shows no signs of stopping.”–Jason Fonceca

Yes, there are benefits to selling cocaine and making money from it. aaaHHH!! Not quite the point.

Oh yes, “Growing in What You Love”. I’ve found it super common for people to take a big step to push themselves further in some area of life or simply grow. And after doing this, they will hold some habitual idea or limiting belief that it’s time for rest. And they rest for way too much, and way too long. Everybody has got a friend who they’ve seen go on the treadmill for 20 minutes and then spend the rest of the month eating junk food and doing nothing.

Now when people push themselves and finally succeed, it’s like they finally got past the hard part, the crux and now they’re freed up to continue smoothly, but what do people do? Okay, our friend who has enjoyed the treadmill for a solid week has now succeeded in losing a few of those unwanted pounds and is beginning to shape up into a body they actually enjoy looking at in the mirror. Yet, he or she stops their own momentum. Halt their growth. Why?

Insert annoying, whiny voice (on repeat): “Because they need to rest”.

The whole point of growing through that difficult part is to put you on your path and to allow you to have more freedom and energy to be more. If you’ve got a new skill or make a new connection or reach a new personal best, you don’t have to rest.

You can appreciate it and start to use it immediately. Like a kid, getting a new toy. The child doesn’t just get it and discard it immediately and stare at it and go “UWAAAAAA”. The kid takes it and runs with it and he starts having the time of his life!

If you’re habitually resting every time you succeed and for long amounts of time, maybe think about changing. Check yourself.

I am a simple man and this kind of game appeals to me. Or at the very least, I was called that, and once provoked, had to of course win the game in compelling fashion, thus forcing my unfortunate opponent to eat the piece of Japanese history, forever engraved in the hearts of all who were there.

The idea is basic, best out of three, winner doesn’t have to eat the wasabi roll. It looks just like a cucumber roll, and as the name suggests, wasabi is instead in the middle.

The taste…? I wouldn’t know, because I won. Despite the jokes the recipient made of the roll’s good texture, flavor and quality of make, I don’t imagine it tasted very good.

Funny how not too long ago, I would never have dared to participate in such a game. I would have thought a million things. Probably along the lines of: What if I lose? What if I end up eating it, and spitting it out? What if I end up throwing up and making a mess in the party?

How will you ever know, the way that circumstances go?

It’s always going to hit you by surprise —Blue Rodeo

To play this kind of game, for someone who grew up in an environment of siblings where everyone had a super strong immune system, never got sick, and perhaps, for example, lived in a family where their natural foods (like Indian pickles) were much harsher than wasabi, the level of courage they need to play such a game is basically nonexistent.

In contrast, someone who grew up in a family where everybody was sick all the time, or even if they weren’t, were complaining all the time about how worried they were about eating the wrong foods, bacteria that they thought they picked up from touching a subway station seat and the fiercest of their diet consisted of a quarter teaspoon of chilli on their bowl of rice noodle, the stakes would be much higher.

In the first scenario, there is no risk. The family members have done this kind of activity a million times over and at the end of the day, this kind of contest is simply forgotten about and played off as just another fun event.

In the second scenario, the individual who has for the first time participated in this contest, win or lose, would learn a lot more about themselves, feel an incredibly energy rush and it would be such an eye opening experience that perhaps they wouldn’t be able to sleep that night. It would be something of a miracle to them.

When you look back at everything you’ve done, where do you find the most growth? What were the circumstances that gave you maturity?

I’m willing to bet that it was an encounter that you would deem a miracle. Perhaps you wouldn’t use that exact word, but you should be able to pick out a memorable time or two where you were able to say, yes, that was a good lesson learned there!

When I look back upon my own miracles, I can recall thousands of moments, so many times that somehow stayed forever in my memories as something that shone brighter than all the others. And it’s funny to me, no matter how many times I recall these miracles, I get an ever increasing deeper feeling of gratefulness, knowing that without these opportunities, I wouldn’t be the (simple) man I am today.

When I began this article, I recall how I was called a “simple man” before the wasabi contest. The way it was said was in a slightly mocking, very humorous manner. I loved it. It was perfect and set up for great laughs and good cheer for everyone involved.

At the same time, I feel that the same words, said in another way, to be called a “simple man” is one of the greatest compliments one could ever hope to receive.

Only a happy person can afford to be simple. A complicated man is often found striving, and usually not too efficiently. For example, you will often see a lot of “complicated” people reinventing the wheel when there is already a better way in place. A simple person gets from point A to point B faster and gets more things done. Sure, this usually involves putting trust in systems that exist that are not perfect, but that’s part of the fun. And in the end, it’s the simple person that creates the most value, for themselves, and for others.

Amusing. That’s what I find my title. Is it ever tasteful to judge and label others? Let’s find out by reading further.

The words one often uses in one’s daily life often shows an interesting side of one’s character. When someone reads what I write, as in this article, they get a glimpse of how my mind thinks. People who have read my words and give comment, some with genuine sincerity, others by some praise simply to be social, have had fun calling the words that flow through my hands: articulate, thoughtful, intelligent, emotional and all sorts of things based on what I write. I often reply to this, aren’t we all?

What does articulate even mean? What about thoughtful? …Intelligent? Emotional!? It’s subjective depending on the kinds of people one has met throughout one’s life and what one’s values are. And different people can use the same words and mean completely different things, depending on where they are at in life and who they are as a person.

For someone who is disproportionately logical to their emotional side, and a very fast thinker, they may find my way of writing as not concise enough or not useful enough to be worth reading (if their values are solely based on return of investment, increasing money, immediate social status, material goods).

For someone who is disproportionately emotional to their logical side, and takes more of their time to make decisions, they may only connect with some random aspect of a post that relates to them personally. If merely as a point, I wrote about family, one could state my “cheeky monkey” article as that “article on family”, and in the same article, another would congratulate or dismiss me on how much they liked/disliked the article on “smoking”.

People who are overly picky about word play in what they read may hold their appreciation back or quickly put an inordinate amount of focus on how one thing can be improved or changed. I appreciation all kinds of feedback, as it gives me a sense of what kinds of readers I have, and I get a feel from those who actually say something, their level of understanding of what I write… but this is besides the point.

This article’s focus isn’t about the types of people who read my articles, or how people criticize or appreciate them or whatever, it’s main focus is to detract people from using labeling and judging as a be-all tool in life, done in a wrong way.

Someone who goes through this article for example, and while reading the “disproportionately logical to their emotional side” phrase in an earlier part of the article and says “that’s me” or another who reads the “For someone who is disproportionately emotional to their logical side” phrase and says, “that’s me” may find that they often judge other people rather quickly, and to their own loss, creating a barrier to appreciating either the emotional side lurking just under the surface of what seems to be a logical person, or vice versa.

There are many, many different kinds of people that I have met and so far I feel I can safely say that there’s no one I’ve connected to that doesn’t have the potential to access a high level of all of the above mentioned traits, at any given point in their lives. That being said, I will use 2 rather extreme examples to clearly demonstrate the pointlessness of comparing and judging, when done poorly. And by “done poorly”, I mean with an agenda, not out of friendliness, in a manner that can be considered bad taste.

EMOTIONAL PERSON EXAMPLE:

As there existed a time when I was far more emotional than anything else… I recall often limiting my own thinking about myself, as a rather emotional person I often felt that I could not grow past my own history (perhaps a string of failures in one particular area of skill) and with this limited type of belief would not grow to overcome say, creating a piece of art elegantly, accomplishing a lot within a day, getting from point A to point B in any unknown and new given task effectively and so on and so forth.

The label that I as an emotional person may likely use would be “I’m just not that kind of person to do things quickly, or I’m not a logical person or I don’t like using logic” when confronted with a problem that obviously requires logic and some problem solving. There were many life experiences that I struggled with whereas if I was not constantly judging myself I would have sailed through and in fact enjoyed immensely.

For example, as a child I would go to these summer camps where there were these puzzles we had to solve for our crafts workshops. Making those little cars made me freeze up, as unlike playing LEGO, where I could freely create my own version of whatever struck my inspiration, I had to make a very specific object. My mind would just freeze up and I wouldn’t be able to put any passion or energy into making a quality little car.

LOGICAL PERSON EXAMPLE:

I can actually use myself again in this example, as there was a time where I completely forgone my emotional side and did everything super logically. I certainly was able to do certain tasks better than I did before, and could argue up a storm with my constant comparisons and labeling…

For a logical person, one may argue with others and oneself that one is simply choosing not to use emotion as a tool because of it`s ineffectiveness. You will often see these types of people with loveless relationships, introverted in such a way that they are comfortable with their misery, and living their life without much passion. Personally, as I was playing around with this mindset, I found myself manically depressed, bored to tears and felt that I was whittling down my own spirit, moving away from what I was truly meant to do in life.

In observing others, I find that people who choose to be logical to the point of secluding their emotional side pervert their own intelligence by not accessing the full potential of their own human organism, what nature has given them by way of intuition and do not connect with what they deep down know as best. These people often miss a deeper level of life, which they are often fine with, and many will live their entire life forgoing the opportunity to make the greatest difference in other people’s lives and their own. Joy gives way to a consistent yet accepted feeling of apathy. At the same time, some of these super logical people that I`ve met are extremely productive and in fact are successful at what they do. They simply hate their lives and don’t know what to do about it or have basically given up in trying to really change.

At a high degree of effectiveness, even a little subtle change of growth (which can be defined as having a more accurate feel of life and it’s many paradoxical truths, experiencing ones true desires and moving past one’s previous self in creating that which one used to feel impossible) may push one to move in such a way that has immediate and long term waves of benefit, which adds up in unknown goodness throughout all of one’s areas of life: social, financial, spiritual, mental.

Personally, after much growth, I actually compare and judge, people, places and things all the time. In fact, you will find this very article littered with them. I simply love to do it and pride myself in doing it well  At the same time, it took me forever to learn how to do it in an awesome way. I know that when I’m doing these things with an air of playfulness, one of which I don’t really care at all and know that I’m only using these comparisons and judgments as a tool, and not as something I’m overly identified with, they can be appreciated by not only me but also everybody I use them with around me.

And there you have it, that’s how you judge and label others well, you simply do it for fun, without an agenda, in a friendly way; I guarantee that it will result in a manner that those around you will consider your words to be of good taste if not at the very least, much better.

How does one get a mentor for something they enjoy? There are many ways. A common solution is to get into an association that is connected with their interest, which may potentially come through with giving them the teacher they desire. A friend of a friend can recommend someone. The most random stranger at a TTC stop. A professional blogger that has great content, and even though it is unlikely that you will ever meet him or her, you know they have all the ideals you long to have and you make a decision to learn from them.

A younger me

I’ve always had a strong desire for growth. In many different areas of my life, relationships, skills, spiritually, finances… so on and so forth. And in the past, I’ve always noticed a pattern in how I always started from a book or a website, to eventually finding a book/website with a high degree of quality content, then felt like I had to grind out reading the entire thing until I had enough information to set off into the real world.

An imperfect process. Though it had its time.

Then eventually, I would decide to occasionally slip into conversations with friends and strangers about what I thought about doing, for example… creating a piece of photoshop art. After some more time, I would finally download the photoshop program and create something. And, after learning a little, with some fine and dandy trial and error, I would go on and make something beautiful, co-created with some teacher I was able to find.
Now, this example is of something relevant to my own personal style of growth, a younger me. Now, I have a quicker way.

A better way

If I know which friend I have that is a pro or a passionate amateur (more often than not as good as a pro for teaching basics) of said skill that I want to learn, I’ll simply give them a call, and arrange a time to meet.

Or, I’ll simply ask people I feel might have the skill or know someone who has the skill, on my MSN or Facebook list. Even, I would simply go out into the world where there’s a relevant studio and connect with as many people who I feel may potentially want to mentor me. Maybe I would make a craigslist post about the skill in question that I would want, and attract the type of mentor I desire through that possible option. I would include my desire in nearly every conversation I have with strangers or friends or family and just about anybody awesome, really.

What matters to me is that I’m passionate about what I’m doing and willing to go out on a limb to go onto a new path that will potentially bring a massive amount of joy to myself and to others. Will I make a new best friend from going forth in this new direction? Will I make a million dollars after having this new skill? I don’t know. At the same time, I really do. I know that all my efforts, from the subtle and unseen ones, to the ones with immediate cause and effect results, contribute to the ultimate fulfillment of my real vision, which includes all sorts of new best friends and all sorts of abundance and goodness.

I know that whenever I learn a skill, I am super open to teaching others about it, whether that be breakdance, badminton, kickboxing, languages, a game that I’m good at or whatever, and as I get more and more opportunities to teach others, I get invitations to new networks of awesome gatherings, more abundant opportunities, more of everything. Like friends, skills build on one another, and as I build more skills in certain areas, the uniqueness, passion and heart of what I’m able to put into every next project expands. I am always creating and always inspired, everything helps. I think of myself as a house that is always under renovation, with every new change making the house just that much more perfect. And I make it more perfect, by always being willing to be imperfect with each change that I make. This article is an example of that. I never know who will benefit or simply dislike my little article here. And… I don’t really care, I genuinely don’t care, at all, nope, not even one tiny weensy bit. And to me, that’s what makes the experience such a delight, really.

I just do what I love. And the rest, is phenomenal.