Daniel Shaw

Because life is too small not to always look for exceptional thoughts, people & experiences...About

The Walk Of Life (Added to notion)

“I walked 26000km around Europe for 3 years and only felt lost once I arrived home.”

It was a crazy idea. But I just had to get out there again, and find myself, God, or at least… something. I felt so hollow.

So in late November of 1995, with just a rucksack, spare socks, underwear, a map of Europe and a bible, I caught the ferry from Hull in England to Zeebrugge in Belgium, and started walking.

I basically crossed the West of Europe along the canals to the river Rhine, followed the Rhine down to the Alps, crossed the Alps & back, then through Eastern Europe over the river Danube to Russia.

Problems on the border of Georgia, stopped me travelling further, so I returned to Slovakia to then walk North through Poland and Scandinavia.

Once again in Slovakia, I then covered from a point I left off in Italy (Mestre by Venice in the North) and set off walking down through the Balkans up to the Serbian Border.

Cars would stop beside me in the pouring rain, and ask if I wanted a ride to the next town.

“No thanks, I must walk to Jerusalem” I answered.

This was usually met with a blank stare, and off they drove.

At first I covered 20km each day, then built it up to 30-50km per day, the longest being over 100km when I walked day and night to find suitable shelter in Croatia.

Finally becoming tired of walking daily, I settled in Slovakia.

Bujinkan (Added to notion)

Bujinkan is dedicated to the study and promotion of traditional Japanese martial arts as taught by Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi in Noda-shi, Japan.

The Bujinkan martial art comprises nine different but complimentary martial arts traditions that encompass all aspects of personal combat and self-protection skills. The training consists of unarmed and armed personal combat techniques, as taught in Japan. This martial art is truly martial in that it is centred on centuries-old, combat-tested techniques. It’s not a sport martial art, nor are competitions between practitioners arranged.

While this sounds very serious, and indeed it is, Bujinkan is also about self-knowledge, improvement and living without fear.
As Hatsumi-sensei says, “…to become people that can live.”

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Daily Rituals Summary (Added to notion)

By Mason Currey

In this entertaining, if somewhat repetitive, collection of daily rituals of nearly 200 of some of the greatest minds of the last four hundred years, you’ll hear the daily routines of famous writers, thinkers & artists.
I listened to the book on Audible, usually during short driving trips. Here’s the link if you’d like to buy the Daily Rituals Book for yourself or as a gift.

Obviously, having a reoccurring daily routine such as a morning ritual is a pre-requite to achieving any long-lasting success at a chosen craft or skill, but here is a list of the themes that seemed to appear with each of these 161 inspired and inspiring folk:

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Minimalism (Added to notion)

Let simple be the mantra:

Make your contracts brief, small, and simple.
Make your projects short, finite, and clear.
Make your deliverables obvious, simple, and measurable.
Make quality a higher priority than quantity (if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it)

I believe that living simply – the art of minimalism – is a basic human need.

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Confessions of a Conjuror (Added to notion)

By Derren Brown

Brilliant, hilarious and entirely unlike anything else I have ever listened to before on Audible, Confessions of a Conjuror, read by Derren Brown himself, was a complete and utter joy.

This is not strictly an autobiography but more a combination of a collection of personal stories, comedic observations, and magic tricks. Derren Brown has a writing style like no other celebrity, or possibly anyone since the days of Dickens and Melville, as the book is told through the intricate process of performing a single magic trick, using the minute observations and feelings experienced throughout performing this trick to Segway into amusing anecdotes, self-help tips, and embarrassing confessions.

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What makes you weak (Added to notion)

Refuse, reject, eliminate the lifestyle, the habits and the circumstances that weaken you.