BCBusiness

ADAM BLASBERG 56 BCBUSINESS JUNE 2017 WEEKEND WARRIOR A little over a decade ago on vacation in Hawaii, my wife and kids were shop- ping, and I wandered into a music store. The fellow took a ukulele o the wall, and I almost immediately fell in love with it. I grew up on the North Shore in a big family on a wooded acreage with lots of animals and music. Both my par- ents played the piano, and my father sang with the Vancouver Opera chorus. I tried piano, alto saxophone, oboe, all sorts of instruments, none of them suc- cessfully. The ukulele struck me as an instrument I could learn and play to my kids at bedtime, et cetera. I quickly fell in love with the uku- lele's simplicity and elegance and began researching its history. I came across the world of vintage ukuleles.-These amazing ukuleles built at the turn of the last century, they're still around and still available and relatively reasonably priced compared to other vices. When you play them, they're just such gor- geous instruments. It's like being able to play a vintage violin, but these are only 100 years old and are still available. I only have about 20—it's not a crazy large collection. I try to keep it pared down. I switch in and out ukuleles because I like to play them all. I keep a few of my favourite ukuleles, includ- ing a 1931 Martin, hanging in my home o‹ce. I can pick one up and strum almost instantly. It almost serves as a work hack, giving me a break but by continuing to focus on something, almost like meditation. It leads me to a relaxed state and deŒnitely fosters creativity and productivity. Some of my best ideas have come while strumming.- I don't play much for others except for a few close friends and family who put up with it. I have a terrible voice.-Probably the best thing about the ukulele is that whenever I pull the little instrument out, people smile. And who doesn't need more smiles in their life? —as told to Felicity Stone The World on a String Andrew Strang, co-founder of the FlyOver •ight simulation ride, collects and plays vintage ukuleles THE RIGHT CHORD Strang gets some of his best ideas while strumming a ukulele In 2011, with financing from Aquilini Investment Group, former lawyers Andrew Strang and Stephen Geddes co-founded Soaring Attractions LP, which launched FlyOver Canada in Vancouver in 2013 (sold to New York Stock Exchange–listed Viad Corp. this spring) and FlyOver America in Minneapolis in 2016. WARRIOR SPOTLIGHT is a quarterly health and wellness newsletter that provides your employees with the information they need to improve their health – on and off the job – on and off the job – on and off the job ANDREA BURGERS 604.473.0305 aburgers@canadawide.com Find out more... Are you investing in your employees health? print or digital versions available health? health? print or digital versions available wellness matters Photography: iStock (unless credited otherwise) 10 FAST FACTS Pairing for Healthy Habits Choices for healthy living • nutrition • tness • well-being • health I n a perfect world, healthy habits would come as second nature, but sometimes life gets in the way of our best intentions. "Most people don't lack motivation, but they often struggle with follow through," says Sharon Kelly, certied life coach at Successful Transitions in Nanaimo, B.C. So, given the limits of motivation, how can you form healthy habits that stick? To strengthen positive behaviour, try "pairing," an old concept that was recently popularized by Gretchen Rubin, a bestselling author who studies habits and happiness. The pairing strategy is essentially to link habits you enjoy with ones that are aspirational, like practicing gratitude while you drink your morning coffee, or exercising while you watch Netix. "The great thing about pairing is that you're linking a new behaviour to one that already exists, and that helps with follow through," Kelly tells Wellness Matters. "Pairing also cuts down on decision-making time, allowing us to get out of our heads and into action," she adds. To make pairing work for you, Kelly suggests exploring and challenging self- limiting beliefs, getting clear on how new habits will benet you and making incremental changes to start. For that extra level of accountability, Kelly recommends enlisting the support of a friend or an ally, such as a life coach. summer 2 017 1 The brain uses about 20 per cent of the oxygen used by the human body 2 Your heart beats over 100,000 times per day 3 Adult lungs have a surface area between 540 and 810 square feet 4 REM sleep makes up about 20 per cent of total sleep time and is often when you have your most vivid dreams 5 Infants blink only once or twice a minute, while adults average around 10 6 Similar to ngerprints, humans also have unique tongue prints 7 Antibiotics are only effective against bacteria, not viruses 8 It takes your body around 12 hours to completely digest food 9 Bacteria are extremely small and are made up of just one cell 10 In terms of DNA sequences, all humans are over 99 per cent similar to other humans Inside 2 5 Healthy Summer Treats 3 To Carb or Not to Carb? 4 Weightlifting for Beginners 7 Cultivate a Gratitude Practice That Sticks WM_Summer2017_GS.indd 1 2017-04-27 2:40 PM Healthy Employees have better concentration and lower stress wellness matters

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