Edit your life frequently and ruthlessly. It's your masterpiece after all. - Nathan W. Morris
Around the corner from my house is Jal Gua Cafe, on Queen Street, in between Jarvis and Sherbourne. The cafe lies across the street from Toronto's Moss Park. To the south of Jal Gua, an assortment of boutique condos. To the north, one of Toronto's more precarious neighbourhoods. Moss park is one of few remaining havens for those with no homes. Jal Gua is a gateway between both worlds, it seems.
On my way to meet a friend one sunny spring day, I came across a crowd of people in front of Jal Gua. I stood, momentarily shocked. I can't remember the last time I saw a crowd of people gathered, laughing and joking, outside of a cafe. At least not in my neighbourhood. The Market area in Toronto is lovely, but residents generally keep their distance. Curious, I looked around and recognized my friend Kim in the crowd. "This is the meditation class I was telling you about,".
Kim's smile and energy echoed through my day. Class? It looked more like a marvellous tribe.
It's been three weeks since I began Emmanuel Jal's class called My Life is Art. Jal's classes are a combination of meditation, gratitude practices and strategizing your own potential. In the first 15 minutes of the first session, I was thrust into a space of expression and sharing that I had not encountered in many years. I could feel a solid part of me dissolve, and I sat back in disbelief.
We in North America are surrounded by self-help books, theories on how to be better, craft better insights, listen more deeply to ourselves. And each one of these resources can offer something to you and to me.
Yet I've never been privy to such a clear strategy on how to actually program yourself, each day, each morning, each night, until you change the fabric of your being, and become the person who so often remains out of reach to you.
This must be the ultimate innovation, the ultimate human-centred design - that we can, by sheer virtue of our desire, our vision and Grit, re-do our own hard-wiring. As a first step in my own re-programming, I've chosen to focus on Focus. Each morning, and each night, for 30 days, I sit down for a few minutes, and I tell myself that I am Focus. That I can in fact become focus. I can decide where to project my energy. Next up will be Discipline, and following that, Being Enough.
Each person has their own recipe for accessing their potential. However, unlike other self and personal development resources, Emmanuel's class does not keep you waiting, hooked, counting down the days to the next meditation or the next lecture. He gives you the tools. It's up to you to create a life reflective of your innermost goals.
A post-smartphone, post-Snapchat world is one which yearns for connection. We need and want to connect with ourselves, alongside of connecting with others. We want to live our best selves, we're just not sure how to do so. Toronto is so often a powerplay between connection and disconnection, proximity and space. We all negotiate how much we can give to others, what we can or should give to ourselves, and how to keep this seeming binary in balance. But sometimes, we become so good at the space game, that we end up locking down the lines that border our inner and outer relationships. We tell ourselves that we cannot do that thing, travel there, make that happen...because, well, we can't.
This is where My Life is Art is a true gem. Emmanuel's life experiences as a South Sudanese Child Soldier deepens his curriculum. In very little time, he brings you to your own truth. His steadfast commitment to perseverance and passion leaves you with actionable strategies and tools to create an incredibly meaningful life.