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Ten Lessons from 2016


"If we are to love our neighbors, before doing anything else we must see our neighbors. With our imagination as well as our eyes, that is to say like artists, we must see not just their faces but the life behind and within their faces. Here it is love that is the frame we see them in."  -FREDERICK BUECHNER



Some highlights of 2016: Finishing my degree. Gruesome Playground Injuries 2.0. The Cave Canem Island road trip (minus all the puking). Jasper family vacay. The daily shenanigans at our house. Dexter. Meeting Travis Barker. Brand New & City & Colour concerts. Surfing, kayaking, kiteboarding sessions. Aunt & Uncle moving their family to the island. Dating CM! 

 Lowlights: Existential crisis + burn out. My god awful sleeping schedule. World Politics. Social Media. Getting hit by a car. 


I have spent the latter half of 2016 in deconstruction mode and have learned some things. Here's 10: 


1. Who you are is not what you say or what you believe - it's what you do. 


2. It is better to focus on developing a value based character ethic than giving in to the throws of personality. 

 3. Acting is inherently and necessarily self involved. Action must be taken to balance this. (Career = Inward  Vocation = Outward) 


4. Religion serves multiple functions - some having to do with mankind's relationship with itself and others actually involving the divine. Distillation is required. 

 5. For progress to be made the pendulum must swing far. However, on the farthest end of the pendulum lies contradiction. 

 6. The curiosity and uncertainty of a live improv are required for scripted acting. 

 7. Seeking the divine for wisdom allows for the autonomy of free will. A constant need for revelation is anti-human. 

 8. An artistic life requires sabbath.

 9. The centre is where my curiosity lives. The grey zone. The balcony. The vantage point that enables me to examine multiple points of view. 

 10. Faith is different than belief. It involves doubt and choice. 

 BONUS: Social Media makes some things better and most things worse.







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