Posts by Andy Dickinson
The Book
I was chatting with one of my friends recently when he said that he has written 2 manuscripts and a number of eBooks using the now very popular AI. Writing is all about heart. It takes a lot to get your thoughts and ideas down on paper, then you have to kink it all together…
Read More2024
Martial arts are changing. I could feel the change back when Taekwondo was accepted as an Olympic sport. A few of us tried to maintain a semblance of tradition but that was short lived. With the onslaught of UFC, MMA and the BJJ studios all making unreasonable promises. Some quite ridiculous. Like all fights end…
Read MoreMy first hero.
Mr Titan. Do you remember your heroes? Even better, do you remember your first hero. When I was a boy, I struggled to find role models. With an absent father, no uncles or grandparents, I was a loose cannon for attention. My mother had plenty of boyfriends, but they were not interested in her kids.…
Read MoreA snake or the rope.
Fear and anxiety can be crippling. Living a life ruled by fear is suffering. Most of what we fear is just an illusion and what we fear never eventuates. At the time the fears seem so real. How can we differentiate whether the fear is valid? A really good way of looking at this is…
Read MoreAnxiety
Anxiety has a habit of creeping up on you. It could be part of a constant backdrop to which we relate to the rest of the world. We are unaware of its power but it can be there without us realising, Influencing everything that we do, wondering why we are under so much stress. I…
Read MoreThis is where the work starts.
I often think about the movie with Kevin Costner called “Field of Dreams.” He is told by a voice, a whisper in his head to build a baseball diamond on his farm. The whisper says, “if you build it, they will come.” I used to believe just that, if you just put a banner up…
Read MoreBusiness survival.
If you are like me, your business has been scrambled and it literally happened over night. Service based businesses including martial arts schools, yoga, Pilates and dance studios just to name a few have had to think very quickly about just how they are going to deliver their product. One option is to curl up…
Read MoreHow I survived the toilet paper frenzy.
I entered my local shopping centre with the intention of just stocking up on the essentials like a bag of rice, some tins of tuna and a couple of bags of frozen vegetables. But I crossed the line, I entered the aisle where the newest hot commodity, toilet paper used to reside. Now being an…
Read MoreSuccess is boring.
I am often asked what are the most fundamental elements of success? Success means different things to different people. For me, success is being able to spend my day, just how I choose. This means that I need to have my finances in order so that I do not have to worry about where the…
Read MoreThe Wet Blanket.
One thing that has always resonated with me, was what Clyde Campbell, founder of The Shake it up Foundation said to me when I was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. “It is important to understand that this is the start of the journey and that you can work on how you function with Parkinson’s to…
Read More10 hours in a straitjacket.
I am no snob. There was a reason that I would always spend the extra money to travel in business class. I made a promise to myself after being employed by Qantas Airways that I would never fly economy again. I understand if you are reading this and think that you are perfectly happy travelling…
Read MoreProtecting the children.
And Judge John Pickering said: “Any mother should be entitled to leave their children in a busy shopping centre and not have any belief or expectation anyone would then create harm,” he said.The comments above were from the judge presiding over the case of a security guard that was caught on cctv cameras, leading a…
Read MoreI want it and I want it now.
Patience is an almost forgotten quality. As people push to the front of the line or treat the roads like their own personal drag racing track, cutting off anyone that may be doing the speed limit, or you are just simply in their way. But it is part of our culture to line up and…
Read MoreDon’t say the “C” word.
As we fill in our time literally passing from one screen to the next, I am reminded of the Pixar movie Wall-E. The Earth is no longer habitable as the rubbish has overtaken every square metre of space. The human race now resides on cruise liners in space. The essence of being human has been…
Read MoreTrust me, I am a dentist.
Trust me, I am your dentist. Having your mouth filled with someone else’s hands and an array of needle sharp instruments that can, with one poke or prod in the wrong place, instantly put you in a world of pain, does take a lot of trust. You are at the complete mercy of the dentist.…
Read MoreThings Change
Things change. One of the biggest challenges that we have as people is coping with change and the bigger the attachment to the thing, situation or person, the more one suffers to cope with the change when it happens. We build these seemingly indestructible castles around every aspect of our lives and in the end,…
Read MoreWinning without fighting.
So, I got up and as usual sat in meditation for 30 minutes and was feeling pretty good. At 8am I decided to go to the local pool and do some laps. Now I am still in my floaties as my fitness is re building after having 3 months out after my ankle operation. I…
Read MoreGood vs Bad
Good vs bad One of my trainers last week asked me how I define good and bad. These are labels that we use to judge almost all events in our lives. Every event is in fact neutral and we give it life by the opinion that we lay over it, based on our own individual…
Read More1A Attitude
1A Attitude For many years I worked as a flight attendant at Qantas. On the odd occasion I was lucky enough to work in First Class. Back in my day the first class cabin was completely different from the modern day module like seating we have today. 1A was always the number one seat in…
Read MoreSupermarket Self Defence
There is a very thin veneer between living our lives in a community that is based on civility, good manners and being good law abiding citizens and people that live outside the bell curve of what we consider good. Evil is sometimes only a breath away and within a blink of an eye you can…
Read MoreMartial arts and money.
Martial arts and money. Attending martial arts and working towards your black belt takes time and discipline. Each class that you attend is one step closer to your eventual goal. There are no short cuts. Saving money and paying off loans is the same. Saving for the long term takes discipline and commitment. Paying off…
Read MoreFear
Fear It’s with out a doubt one of the main reasons we find ourselves stuck. Many people just roll along happy with their lot, never having the need or desire to challenge the outer edge of life. This email is not for you people. This email is for the person that has a desire, need,…
Read MoreHow I developed super powerful kicks & cured my back pain
Every morning the same thing. I would wake up and greet the day with a stab of pain in my lower back. Doubled over I would do my best to straighten out by slowly stretching. I would go to see various doctors, chiropractors, physios and oesteos that would x ray, scan and MRI and they…
Read More10 unique ways to develop a peaceful life
1. Develop a sincere curiosity. Instead of judging or criticizing replace the urge with ” that’s curious” 2. Replace negative thoughts with; the beauty of…..the beauty of sitting in traffic is that I remind myself of the beauty around the great city I live in. 3. Bathe in the present moment and give each task…
Read MoreLearning to live fully and not just exist.
Live Now. This sounds like a pretty easy thing to do…Live now, because if you are not living now then where and when are you living? In a practical way this is true, but it is important to not confuse living with existing. While the body exists in a space we are easily taken away…
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