One of my favourite animated films is The Incredibles, a story about a family of superheroes that are in hiding since the world no longer 'needs' superheroes.

Once, a long time ago, there was a boy who became great friends, best friends, with a snake.

Just a reminder; It is nearly impossible to guess

There is a Zen Buddhist practice, similar to Memento Mori, that asks you to daily imagine a little bird perching on your shoulder. This little bird asks you only one question (and it is a good one),

I was listening to my friend Johan Beukes speaking about taking care of your soul this weekend, I'd thought to share some of his thoughts here.

I've been thinking about patterns this week.

"The new country is where you are called to go, and the only way to go there is naked and vulnerable" - Henri Nouwen

There are a couple of hundred people on this email list, and if a couple of hundred people start to do things differently, start to build stuff that matters, that make our country and our world a little bit better every day then that could be quite something.

It would be fair to say that I've become fairly obsessed with practices over the last decade. That is after all what 'Training Naked' means, to engage authentically in practices as to live a better life.

Autarkeia is a Greek word that means to be self-sufficient, having enough or having all your needs met.

At some point or another life will call on you to be brave, to stand up to tyranny, to defend the weak, to face the pain.

This week one of our dogs passed away, she was nearly 14 and was the first pet my wife I got just after we got married.

A friend of mine runs a fantastic Non Profit in Uganda, Uganda Shoes Trees. They also have a small coffee plantation in between miles and miles of tea plantations

Our humanity is fully realised when we share.

If you start your day well, it just makes sense to finish it well, one thing I do every day at the end of my day is a review.

"Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you." - Anne Lamott

Here is a practice, a regula, that helps me get my body and mind connected and in the right state.

Continuing the thread from yesterday,

What do you do first thing in the morning? The first thing that happens when you open your eyes?

Do you have a regula?

A regula is a rhythm of life, something that one finds in monasteries and the like, that describes the how of living and contains practices that allow for that 'how' to happen successfully.