MARTIN L

Category: Listening to Life

  • The Year of Creation: Mid June Update

    Hello friends! 2026 has somehow whizzed by, and it’s now mid-June. Summer is almost here! For those not in the know, at the beginning of this year I dubbed this year as my Year of Creation. The ultimate goal of this year was to create more, and consume less while exploring how the systems of creation affect the way we interact with life. In today’s post, I take the time to explore the three channels of connection, and how I’ve embraced them so far! A bit of a mid-year checkup to see if I’m on track, if you will.

    Create Connection

    Creating connection was all about creating opportunities to invite people spontaneously in your life. The opportunities were not meant to be deep introspections, but glimpses into everyone’s daily lives. This included being open to conversations, initiating hangouts, and just enjoying life with the intention of showing people in.

    Currently, I would say that I am doing well in some ways, and struggling in others. Struggling to close the deal, if you will. I don’t find it difficult to initiate conversations with people, but honestly I struggle to maintain these conversations well. Basically, I am struggling with small talk.

    The other area of focus is on sharing and relying on people for tasks (akin to a community)! Other than my cousin helping me fix my garage, I really have not let people do stuff for me. I however, have helped a decent chunk of friends and family with random tasks. It’s not a competition, but I clearly don’t mind giving and receive a lot less.

    For the rest of the year, I will continue to identify opportunities to create connections with the community. We all have our struggles, and a rising tide lifts all boats (or something to that effect).

    Create Spirit

    Creating spirit involves detaching our identity from our objects, and rather focusing on the ability to build identity through values we demonstrate in our daily lives. In other words, my identity is not attached to being a “consumer” (giant asterisk) but rather a creator (see the whole Year of Creation thing).

    For this aspect, I would say that I’m in a transitionary phase. I’ve worked on building my identity through my actions, and being a more appreciative person in general. That being said, I continue to be a victim of capitalism. In the past month alone, I have definitely thought about buying something with the mindset that “this will change my life!” Of course it never really does, but wouldn’t it be nice? Currently I am dreaming about the MUJI Wide Opening Pouch and a new laptop, both which will make my summer amazing. Update: I did get the MUJI Wide Opening Pouch and it did not really change my life. I did reduce the number of portable chargers I carry around now, so that’s great!

    At the end of the day, I am still working on building up on my values and identity. I wouldn’t say that I am making amazing progress on this particular goal, but one step at a time!

    Create Myself

    Creating “myself” revolves around the idea that what I want out of life is often spearheaded by comparisons that I make with people – the whole world at the point thanks to the power of social media. The goal with this aspect was to really hone down what drives me in life – channeling in my own values and interests into something pleasurable that I will take with me in the pursuit of a happy life.

    At this point in my year, I think the main thing I’ve honed down is the fact that I feel great when I am able to squeeze in a workout in the morning. Especially in the summer, life just feels a lot breezier when I’m able to exercise earlier. I wouldn’t say that waking up earlier is necessarily a value that I have embraced in my life, but embracing things early could be one of them.

    This summer, I am also against the vibe of hating. Don’t get me wrong, I hate often, and I hate a lot. But this summer, hating is not the energy that I want to create. Being a hater is an ugly trait that I am not trying to put out into the world. I have hung out with a lot of haters recently and I have not enjoyed it at all! I’ve noticed that I’ve adopted a more positive mindset recently and I am really appreciative of myself for doing so.

    The main goal for the rest of the year is to move more with the values that I subscribe to. Decision fatigue continues to haunt me, and when I focus on my values, I hope to reduce that fatigue and shoehorn on who I currently am.

    Just like all the other aspects of the Year of Creation, this is another work-in-progress, and will continue to be for the rest of my life. But that’s a good thing! Change is such a wonderful opportunity to live life to the fullest.

    And as always, a special thank you to our creative partners at CreativeSystems of America. The on-going support we receive is continuously appreciated and goes towards building up our Year of Creation!

  • Adopting a new city for the summer

    I’m excited to announce that I will be adopting the City of Hamilton this summer as another one of my adopted hometowns!

    Many of you may already know my love affair with Hamilton began during the pandemic, when I found out that Hamilton had a “mountain” of sorts. I still remember driving to Sam Lawrence Park and enjoying all of the sunsets and views from the escarpment – something I still love to do to this day. Hamilton stayed with me on my hiking phase, with all of the cool trails along Hamilton Harbor, the Bruce Trail along the escarpment, and the amazing Dundas Valley Conservation Area.

    Finally, Hamilton has stayed with me during my foodie phase. I didn’t realize how many cool restaurants and cafes exist in Hamilton. Places like Maipai, Fiora Pizzeria, Rosales Diner, and Grandad’s Donuts are great examples of the culinary diversity of Hamilton’s food scene.

    What I’m realizing is that Hamilton really has it all! It’s a relatively compact city with so much to do and explore. Downtown is surprisingly historic, and it’s super easy to dive into nature when you need a break from the hustle and bustle of city life. Beaches, elevation, and waterfalls – it’s like a little tropical slice in Ontario. It’s also equidistant from Toronto and Buffalo, making it a perfect pit stop and home base for all of your adventures in Southern Ontario.

    At the end of the day, don’t overlook Hamilton! It’s a city where if you’re willing to invest in it, you will see amazing returns from it. It’s a city where people care, and where people can join together despite their differences. Get off the QEW and make that detour into Hamilton, and see what Ontario’s best kept secret is all about.

    This post has no affiliation with Tourism Hamilton, or the City of Hamilton.

  • Work from park?

    It’s officially summer (at least from the weather app, which predicts multiple sunny days above 80ºF), and this is a reminder that you can 100% work from a park. In fact, I’m writing this blog post from a park picnic table right now. For most people, parks come from a sense of wanting to connect with nature. We use parks to play tennis, stroll around, shoot hoops, and up until 2024 I would use the swing sets (I now get really nauseous 😔). But why silo public spaces for specific uses?

    Instead of trying to fit nature into specific blocks of time, working from a park provides an invaluable opportunity to immerse yourself into nature. It has been proven by me that spending a day out in a park is 100% better than staying in your room that overheats because it’s on the second floor of your house which is mildly under insulated and to save money on electricity bills you have your thermostat set to 74º even though it’s definitely past 80º in the room (anyone else?)

    Anyways, I hope this post serves as your reminder to get outside and enjoy what life has to offer outside of air conditioning. If this self-described chronic sweater can do it, so can you!

  • On hold with Rogers…

    While I’m on hold with Rogers, I’d like to take this time to reflect on a whole year of writing quips on here!

    I initially started this blog because I chose to make my site a WordPress site. WordPress is probably best known for the fact that it’s used as a blogging site, so I decided to just add a blog onto here. Later on, I realized that I wanted to improve my writing skills as well. I wouldn’t call myself a proficient writer, and my goal was to make my writing more effective. I tend to use a lot of filler words in my every day writing, which really hasn’t changed much after a year of writing. So not sure how effective that has been going!

    This blog was also a great way for me to deep-dive into my interests. One of my first posts was finding out why Muni transfers were free from Daly City BART, and I’ve written more over the year! Please check them out if you haven’t done so.

    Finally, I wanted to use this place to get more real with my friends. You know how people joke about being “closed off” but people don’t really ever ask them questions? In my case, people do ask me questions but I never give straight answers. I wanted to use the blog as a introspective space for my thoughts. Hopefully I was more open! I am really aware though that I have at most two readers, since I don’t advertise this website out to most people.

    That’s all I really have on a whole year of blogging. I did fall off the metaphorical wagon a bit because of the statement of purposes I wrote for graduate school applications, but I am getting back on that horse now that I am re-invigorated and all applications have gotten back to me. Stay tuned for more content (probably all about transit).

  • 2026: The Year of Creation

    It’s time to stop consuming, and start creating.

    I’m excited to announce that 2026 is officially Martin’s Year of Creation! The Year of Creation is a year-long ethos to embrace the systems of creation, and see how creating, and not consuming changes the perspectives in your life.

    Presented by Founding Partner CreativeSystems of America, the Year of Creation will focus on three key themes that I will bring to myself and others throughout the whole year of 2026.

    Create Connection

    As its name suggests, Create Connection focuses on creating connections and communities within the spaces that I am present in. Connection is a reflection of who we are, who we care about, and what we can ultimately be. This year, we create connection by opening ourselves to the different portals of our identity – sharing knowledge, ideas, and strong emotions with loved ones, and strangers.

    Creating connection revolves around building the opportunity to interlink with others through open portals. We must ask ourselves: where can I be more mindful of opportunities to be more present with people in our lives? This may take form in written text, in-person gatherings, or a simple sought of solace of the vocalization of our problems. However this may present, it is an invitation of cognizance of life’s many small moments; ones that may present opportunities to listen and share.

    Create Spirit

    Create Spirit revolves around the ideal of an omnipresent idea that arises from our physical being. Many of us, myself included collect and curate objects that become a part of our mental and physical being. Creating spirit focuses on arising those thoughts outside of the object itself, where we build on the emotions and thoughts that come from the object and isolate it from physicality. The goal with this theme is to remove our attachments to the physical, and create a spirit using the emotions that we bring with us from the physical world into our mental sphere. In the end, our inner thoughts decompose with our physical thoughts, but the objects themselves stay stagnant – a reflection on how holding onto the past hurts the present you, evolving with life.

    Self-expression is a powerful thing, and when we create spirit, we begin to move beyond our physical attachment to objects, and towards creating an attachment to what those objects represent. We can begin to let go of the physical and enter the mental, securing our creative identity without the need for the physical.

    Create Myself

    Finally, we must embody the creation of oneself during the year of creation. While we may never erase the past, we gain an opportunity to look beyond and see how our inner self becomes one with our outer self.

    “Do we really create identity?” you may be asking. The motive is not to force the creation of oneself. Instead, you should be seeking out ways to create opportunities and safe spaces for our real identities to exist.

    We take the moment this year to see what we really want to do with our limited lives. This is the year to rid oneself of the parasocial reflection highlighted through our social media accounts. Instead of following defined paths, we take the opportunity to see where new footsteps can lead towards. This is the year we omit goals in favor of direction.

    What does this look like? We omit the consumption of what’s popular, and seek new explorations of what can be popular in our identities. We rid oneself of the pleasures of “what do you want?” and embrace standing up to what feels right in that moment. Rumination and self-reflection is pushed to ensure our movements align with our value. This is the pivotal moment to define how our value reflects upon ourselves.

    Official Logo

    To celebrate the Year of Creation, I have created a special logo to represent the theme. Although simple, the logo is a cumulation of creative enterprises emerging together to provide a graphical representation of the identity of the year.

    The logo is comprised of three separate hard blocks stacked on top of each other, each representing a creative theme for the year. Gray is a neutral palette for new colors in life – a Connection for Creation. Blue is for our liberty – the Spirit to Create. Finally, Yellow, at the bottom, represents the backbone for creation – the mind of oneself. Each block is arranged at various angles related to 26, symbolizing the year 2026. Stacking each block provides context for each theme’s strong identity, but the immersion of all in the center provides a reprieve of loneliness – each block strengthens one another. The text, composed of uppercase Helvetica blocks, provides a clear backdrop for the year’s blessings; a clear path forward for creation.

    Special thanks to our partners at CreativeSystems of America for the inspiration and logo copyrighting.