New Beginnings from Deep Connections…

Last Saturday night I was visiting with one of my oldest and dearest friends, Justin (as were our dogs). Justin is the CEO of Marx Foods. He (and his two brothers) make up the fifth generation in the Marx family business, offering only the finest quality foods, ranging from meat and mushrooms to truffles and edible flowers. Justin and I go back 15 years and have been through a lot together… mostly really great times, mixed in with a little bit of “what the hell were you thinking?!” here and there. While we were roommates in the same college and both graduated from the School of Business at SUNY Buffalo, after that… well, let’s just say we walked two very different roads. He went on to travel much of the globe, graduate from law-school in DC, reunite with and marry his college sweetheart Tara, and take the family business to new heights as CEO.

Me? Well, I got knee-deep in the dot-com world for a couple of years, had done a bit of traveling… then (thanks to Justin’s wife, Tara) I went to live at my first Buddhist Zen Center. Here I discovered compassion, spirituality, martial arts, and healing of the most authentic kind. I then moved to Seattle (also thanks to Tara) for grad. school and now, 9 years later, I’m a Zen Buddhist and in the prime of my private-practice as an acupuncturist and massage therapist. Who who’d have thought?!?! In many ways that I’m sure they’re aware of and several more that I’m sure they’re not… I have the deepest gratitude toward them and their roles in where I am and what I’m doing today.

Now I could write a whole other post highlighting Tara (and I probably will), but this one was inspired by Justin. While Justin and I went on to pursue other interests, careers, and to some extent, philosophies on life… one thing Justin has always been able to do is “push” me. It was ALWAYS something out of my comfort-zone. Sometimes quite annoying and relentless, but looking back, I like to believe he always had my best interests in mind (at least to some degree!). Saturday night we were talking about our businesses… various happenings, successes/failures, visions, marketing, etc. Then we got onto the topic of blogging. For whatever reason, I have found myself resistant to it. Hence, my rather infrequent posts. In true Justin fashion (though more eloquently than perhaps during our freshman year of college), he drove the point home for me and blogging.

I came away from our conversation appreciating not only the importance of blogging for the online presence of my business, but as a way to practice communicating from an authentic place. That I can share ideas and stories in a way that people might actually like to read, and I don’t have to be consumed with the potential head-trip of “what if they don’t read it?” or “what if they don’t like what I have to say”.

That being said, I’m going to commit to posting once a week (at least)… and I welcome your comments and feedback. I may be reflecting on a conversation, a patient interaction, a colleague, a particular food, or my dog, Joshu. But whatever the topic happens to be, I will aim to offer integrity, humor, and perhaps even a bit of inspiration. Many thanks to you Justin!