How to evoke change-Cpt.Quinn
The key to changing something is not to oppose it but rather to provide a better alternative.
-Captain Quinn
You don't need to be a pro to enjoy the show!-Cpt.Quinn
What makes someone good at something? Is it their ability to do it or have fun doing it no matter what their ability is?
-Captain Quinn
The meaning of Life-Cpt.Quinn
Two adventurers pursuing happiness.What is the meaning of life? It is a commonly asked question and many spend their entire lives searching for the answer. It has a firm place in the roots of most religions. Perhaps it is a question that we spend too much time thinking about. Is it really that hard to answer?
Most of our experiences to date will tell us that when we are happy life is better. So why not spend our entire lives trying to maximize our happiness?
Three steps to happiness
Sunset on Haida Gwaii.The first step than would be to discover the things that make us happy. The second step of course would be to pursue these things. The third step is more of a rule to ensure that happiness can be a shared experience. It is to live in a good way with others always working towards a state of harmony. Respect will prove to be the most valuable tool when trying to complete this step.
I am not going to tell you how you should live your life but I will tell you that in a world where distraction is seemingly everywhere it is easy to loose sense of what is really important.
The answer can be as simple as developing and maintaining healthy relationships with good genuine sincere people and the surrounding environment to which we all belong while living in a good way.
until next time keep on adventuring,
Captain Quinn
Intelligence is Appreciation-Cpt.Quinn
Perhaps it is human nature to take things for granted, especially when it is at our disposal. Or perhaps it is a by-product of us not recognizing the true value of things. Maybe it is an unintentional lack of intelligence. If intelligence is the ability to apply or acquire knowledge, where knowledge is the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject would it not stand to say that those who have the best understanding of a subject are the most intelligent. As we define appreciation as understanding a situation fully, we can now recognize the relationship between intelligence and appreciation. If intelligence is knowledge and knowledge is understanding which is pure appreciation, then intelligence is directly linked to appreciation. Therefore, when we take something for granted we are demonstrating a lack of appreciation and therefore a lack of intelligence.
-Captain Quinn
Change the way in which you think-Cpt.Quinn
"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children."
-Ancient First Nations Proverb
Get in Touch with Nature the Natural Way...-Cpt.Quinn
Captain Quinn getting in touch with nature while Adventurer Nate admires his attire.
Whenever someone tells me that we need money to live, I have always replied "No, we don't, we need knowledge and good work ethic." And although this may be true in the basic world, in the societies of the developed world, that our predecessors have created for us, we do in fact need money to live. But this is only so because we have become so detached from our roots. We can now look to money to provide us with the necessities of life. We trade it for food, water, clothing and shelter.
As members of these societies we are part of a system that is very efficient and seemingly simple. We get a job and in this relationship we agree to trade our time for money, possibly forgetting that our time on this planet is, well, limited. We are willing to trade five of our seven days of the week (71% of our week) and eight of our waking hours a day (50% of our conscious time) for money. This is the majority of our time and we are willing to carry on in this fashion until we are no longer young anymore with the hopes that one day we will receive more money for our devotion when we are no longer sufficiently able to give it.
To the person who is able to carry out this agreement with a sense of purpose and a general feeling of job satisfaction, well good for you, but you are a minority. The majority of the working class either don't make enough money or have little to no job satisfaction. And this is one of the many areas in which our societies are flawed.
Adventurers, left to right: Gary, Quinn, Joel, Nate.
Because we now need money to provide us with the necessities of life we have to get a job or we will die. Well, we better get a job than, but since we are going to devote the majority of our life to our job, lets pick something that pays well, we enjoy doing and that we can feel good about. This is where society interjects "uh hummm, not so fast, dreamer, we are going to need the majority of you to work for average wages in order to support the foundation of the system." In other words, when people go to trade their money for commodities we need you to be able to get the commodities to them, take their money in exchange and then plug that money back into the system. "Oh, you mean I can't do anything I want?" "Nope, sorry, you're a dreamer, now get back to work please."-"Yes, sir!"
Well, I for one am not a strong advocate of the system, yet I do see the value in it. So I guess you can call me a "dreamer" too. Dreaming aside however, we should never put our lives on cruise control. I believe that we should aim to make the most of our time on this planet because once we leave, we don't know what the next adventure will be. I believe that in order to make the most of our time here we need to have a healthy balance in our lives or as the Chinese would say, yin and yang. Furthermore, I feel that we cannot achieve a healthy balance without a wholesome taste of nature on a regular basis.
Adventurers, left to right: Quinn, Gary, Mia, Caleb, Bella, Mokie, Natty, Nate.
So leave your jobs, satisfying and well paying or not and step out into the bountiful beauty of nature for a spiritually enlightening experience. Forget your worries and maybe even your clothes. Clear your mind and refresh your soul, if only just for a day-you get seven per week! Get back in touch with your roots. Appreciate our environment and what it does for us on a daily basis, never take money too seriously because:
"Only after the last tree has been cut down.
Only after the last river has been poisoned.
Only after the last fish has been caught.
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."
-Cree Indian Prophecy
There is an entire world of adventure out there to explore, take the time to enjoy it. But even more so, take the time to appreciate it.
-Captain Quinn
The Open Mind-Cpt.Quinn
"Choose to look at an issue from a different perspective and you gain."
-Captain Quinn
Things and Stuff-Cpt.Quinn
"The thing about stuff is that it is just a collection of things. If one goes through life constantly turning things into stuff, than their life will be nothing more than things and stuff. If one chooses to recognize the simple things in life than their things are no longer just things or stuff and their vocabulary becomes open to an entirely new world of emotion."
-Captain Quinn
The Power of Thought-Cpt.Quinn
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
Adventurer Gary Fenwick tosses Gandhi a high five! This statue was given to the city of San Francisco in 1988 by the Gandhi Memorial International Foundation. The erection of this statue sparked controversy amongst certain people on the grounds that its location was an insult to the memory of Gandhi. It is located in a parking lot behind a ferry building, perhaps not ideal, but I don't think Gandhi would have cared.
The very famous Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on October 2, 1869 in Porbander which is presently known as Gujarat, India. His life's adventures would be dedicated to the wider purpose of discovering the truth, or Satya which he tried to achieve by learning from his own mistakes.
Gandhi would go on to developed Satyagraha- the philosophy and practice of nonviolent resistance, a philosophy that would later influence other historical icons such as Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. in their political struggles.
Unfortunately his life would be cut short. On January 30, 1948 Gandhi was engaged in his nightly public walk in New Delhi and was shot dead by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist. Nathuram held Ganhi responsible for weakening India and felt that was enough motive for him to pull the trigger. He and his accomplice would be tried, convicted and executed on November 15th, 1949.
Although his life was cut short he still managed to live to the ripe old age of 78 years. During these 78 years he touched society in a way that will be forever remembered. The information used to articulate the latter was gathered from "The Story of My Experiments with Truth" which is the autobiography of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. It was designated as one of the "100 Most Important Spiritual Books of the 20th Century" by HarperCollins publishers, and there is a lot more to it!
Active Thinkers
The Captain and Adventurer Gary Fenwick "kickin it". I find that if the body is not active than the mind goes stale. My most pure moments of clarity and my best ideas usually come to me following a long bought of physical exercise.
To enhance this state of mind even further one can place themselves in a setting so beautiful it could only but inspire thoughts to twist through the mind. Once I enter this state of mind and thoughts start flowing I quickly reach for a pen. Why?
Because all great things that have been, are being and will be achieved must first start with a thought.