“I have let my impatience become my master.”
And such statements reveal one thing:
All too often I succumb to my pain, my shortcomings, my defects, my flaws. I allow it unfettered access to my domain.
Instead, I must ask: How can these pains become my teacher?
It is entirely too easy to latch onto negative feelings and thoughts about yourself. This is a narcissistic tendency. Instead, the productive thought would be to look at these “downfalls” about yourself and ask how it can become your teacher. Where do these insecurities stem from? Root it out. Examine it. Discard it.
Big personal announcement:
As promised in last month’s edition of the retrospective, I have a yuge personal announcement to make! On theme with the crypto/blockchain heavy nature of last month’s edition, I am exhilarated to announce that I have started a new position in a blockchain R&D firm called ChainSafe! I will be assuming tasks related to technical writing and communications with the Toronto-based startup. You can take a look at my Instagram long-form post here to learn more about my motivations and excitement for starting and working in blockchain. Personally and professionally, it is a MAJOR milestone, and I have never been more excited to start work!
ChainSafe is a global leader in blockchain protocol and infrastructure development for Web 3. The team actively contributes to major, and I mean MAJOR crypto ecosystems like Ethereum (Eth 2 client called Lodestar), Polkadot (Golang implementation of the Polkadot Runtime called Gossamer), Filecoin (implementation in Rust called Forest), Cosmos (implementation of the Ethereum Virtual Machine as a module in the Cosmos Software Development Kit and as a Zone), and many, many more.
The position comes at the intersection of two BIG passions (writing and blockchain), and being able to nail down a position is frankly — and pardon the cliche — a bit of a dream come true.
If you’d like to see more of my work, please follow the ChainSafe Medium publication where I will be contributing, as well as the ChainSafe Twitter account which I will be co-managing!
Read of the month:
For those of you whom are big Naval maximalists, or are generally of the Libertarian/free-markets leaning variety, the Sovereign Individual is probably already a volume you are familiar with.
For those of you whom aren’t, well, Sovereign Individual will likely be a mindblowing read for you. This book is well-regarded for many reasons, but none more than its incredibly prescient predictions back when it was written in 1997. The authors (James Dale Davidson & Lord William Rees-Mogg) precisely keyed in on how the dawn of microchip processors and indomitable cyberspace would change the logic of violence, and forever throw off the balance of power in favour of “sovereign individuals”. Their opposition? Large, cumbersome nation states & welfare governments.
Although I haven’t finished the book yet, the number of times I have made highlights in my Kindle have probably far exceeded any other books on my Kindle so far. Such is the power of some of the statements and cases made in this book.
Of particular note is its comparison of the transition of ages from the Industrial into the Information, with the transition from the Medieval into the Industrial. The authors compares the large, cumbersome nation state institutions with the likewise large, cumbersome Episcopal institutions of the Medieval Ages. Both were necessary at the beginning of its respective eras, acting as equalizing forces in an age of increasing returns on violence, but later on became bloated, extravagant, and unnecessary vacuums on economic productivity.
It makes for a fascinating read, especially for the crypto-oriented crowd — some the predictions in this book hit dramatically close to home.
Tweet of the month:
Pardon me for tooting my own horn, but as the primary manager of the ChainSafe Twitter now, I feel grateful that I am entrusted to speak on behalf of the company, in a community I have highly respected for many years now. ChainSafe put on CSCON[0] in early December, a mini-conference showcasing 45 speakers across 19 organizations over 3 jam-packed days. A lot of insightful content was recorded for asynchronous viewing on YouTube, and I’ve been helping ChainSafe write the tweets promoting some of the speakers and the organizations they represent.
When I had the chance to write a tweet for Emin Gun Sirer’s talk from CSCON[0], I felt humbled and honoured. Emin Gun Sirer is an OG blockchain luminary that co-directs The Initiative For Cryptocurrencies and Contracts (IC3), is a current Cornell professor, and is known for his contributions to decentralized peer-to-peer networking systems. Had you told me 3 years ago (when I was still a fledgling blockchain investor in it for “number go up”) that I would be tweeting and representing Emin Gun Sirer, I would have laughed at you. Now, I regularly promote blockchain veterans like it’s my job — and it is 🤯.
Impermanence
Wisdom is said to be understood in three forms. You have wisdom from being book-smart. Wisdom from critical and rational thinking. And then wisdom from direct experience. Which wisdom is preferable?
One of the most important lessons you will learn at the Vipassana meditation retreat (a 10 day, 100 hour silent sojourn) is the concept of impermanence. In Pali, the word roughly translates to Anicca (ah-knee-cha). That is, change is the only constant.
Impermanence. Nothing lasts forever. Change is the only constant. Your perceptive and sensory experiences is a river — a constant flow. You learn the concept of impermanence in Vipassana because you have nowhere to go BUT through the fire of direct experience — all the sensations of physical and mental pain, or physical and mental pleasure and comfort. When you realize you have nowhere to hide in the retreat of your mind, the lesson of impermanence becomes wisdom, insight. You realize nothing lasts forever. So you observe dispassionately. And in this forge you build a resilience unlike any other. Emotions no longer rule over you.
I say this because all too often I still get caught up in emotional turmoil about anything. And then I remember my direct experience of impermanence. Life is but a short blip. Literally the best and most critical thing you can do is be present in the current moment. I still take for granted the moments of being together with family and friends. The opportunity to live a good life.
This here is it.
Milestones:
- January is my birthday month, but it’s a cop-out milestone.
- As I moved onto my new journey in blockchain, I also said goodbye to my previous journey at ORCID — a non-profit community creating persistent identifiers for researchers and academics. I am thankful and grateful for the opportunity they provided for me — and they gave me my first taste of a truly remote-first organization! Honestly, remote is the way to go. Pseudo-remote (where you are still expected to be living in the same city) is bullshit. Get remote.
- A group of 7 of us have been living in Kelowna, B.C. since January 8th, 2021. For most in the group, it will be our first true communal-living experience. It. Is. AWESOME. Weekly check-in’s with psychological safe space, proper scheduling of cooking and cleaning, mature handling of situations, and enough space for all 7 + guests without feeling a lack for space — this is the way to go. The commune experience is the premium experience. Being able to snowboard together in champagne powder snow is the cherry on top. I… I don’t think I can go back to the ice coast…
- I am streaking at over 100 days in a row for meditation. I have my rock solid routine to thank for the consistency.
- This isn’t so much my own milestone, but I wanted to celebrate it here anyway. My partner, Alssa, completed her first 10-day Vipassana retreat back in the 嘉義 (Chiayi) centre. Any time someone completes a 100 hour journey deep within, that is worth celebrating.
That’s all folks! A bit late for January, but still got it done! See you next month! ❤
Hey! If you actually made it this far into my story, then thank you from the bottom of my heart for your consideration, patience, and love for reading so much of my work. Words cannot express how much I appreciate it.
They say ‘writing = clear thinking’, so I am on my own journey to crystallize my thinking (and thus my writing). If you enjoyed this story, you can find more of my work on Medium here. I also occasionally make long form blog-style posts on Instagram here. You can also find me blabbering on Twitter here. Finally, be sure to visit my website.
What were your major lessons learned in January? Please do share! :-)
