“Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom”

Aristotle

Good morning

I trust everyone has been relishing the weather and finding opportunities to get outside and enjoy the fact that spring is upon us!

For those not familiar with Functional Medicine, it’s worth discovering. The functional medicine model is an individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach that empowers patients and practitioners to work together to address the underlying causes of ailment and focuses on promoting optimal wellness. It requires a detailed understanding of each patient’s genetic, biochemical, and lifestyle factors and leverages that data to direct personalized treatment plans. As Central banks across the globe continue to use “functional medicine” to tackle the impacts of covid, particularly inflation, we are all feeling the side effects.

Much like a Functional Medical practitioner seeks understanding, I have developed some areas of focus that we should all reflect upon to ensure we are positioned in a purposeful way.

Our Five Influences of Balance

• Balance sheet
• Budget
• Brain
• Body
• Boundaries

What better year for us to step back and evaluate your Five Influences and to be mindful of how we are growing our wealth, advancing ourselves, and prepared to absorb the atmosphere as it comes.

As author Ryan Holiday once said, “If you have a strong body, but you don’t have a strong mind, it’s not going to do you any good. Life is unfair, life is unpredictable. Pace of change is merciless. The amount of adversity and difficulty that can happen is endless. A Stoic has to cultivate not just the physical to be able to withstand all that, but the mental strength, the fortitude, to be able to not just survive it, but thrive inside of it.”

“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are”

Carl Jung

In my everlasting continuous quest for knowledge, awareness, and self-reformation, I am currently 4 weeks into a wellness journey with my friend and wellness coach Dr. Kristijana Rakic, Founder of Functional Medicine Uptown.

It’s quite fascinating how in such a short amount of time, one’s eyes can be opened to new mindset techniques, nutrition rhythms, and self-awareness.

Dr K is a firm believer in the power of our self-identity, how our beliefs, our worldviews, our judgements of ourselves and others prove to shape our habits. Dr K and my wellness coach Gloria have reinforced the need for habits in my pursuit of growth and happiness, they have reminded me that, as Dr K says “true behavior change is identity change”. She’s written that “in order to successfully make lasting change and develop lasting habits, we have to change our identity, our beliefs and values so they are in congruence with our goals. In order to make lasting change and build lasting habits, we must consider our self-identity, who we are becoming? What are the values and beliefs of this new improved version of ourselves? True behavior change is identity change. You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is that it becomes a part of your identity And the more pride you take in your new self-identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it”

This way of thinking is in line with the teachings I’ve established from Deepak Chopra, a pioneer of integrative medicine and an apostle of the Transcendental Meditation movement. Like many of you reading, Deepak identifies as an entrepreneur. Chopra believes that true wealth is created by balance and that “if you have wealth and generosity of spirit, it's an amazing combination”. The data on happiness shows about 10 to 12 percent of your daily happiness experience comes from money; 40 percent comes from choices you make, and choices for personal pleasure. But 50 percent comes from attitude”.

As you reflects on your Five Influences of Balance, how confident and comfortable are you with your identity and the alignment of your influences.

And now, to the Markets

Volatility remains relatively subdued as the concerns about the banking sector that arose in early March have subsided, for now. With that in mind, some of the fundamental issues that had been front and centre over the past year have understandably come back into focus. Chief among those is inflation. Below, we take a closer look at where it stands and what we expect going forward.

Inflation is a normal part of a well-functioning, and growing, economy. Inflation rates tend to vary over time despite the fact the Bank of Canada and U.S. Federal Reserve have goals of maintaining long-term inflation rates around 2%. For example, the annual change in the Consumer Price Index, or CPI, in both countries, ranged from 1% to 3% over the past 25 years, with the exception of a few occasions before and after recessions when inflation fell meaningfully only to bounce back along with a recovery in growth. All that changed, rather sharply, in 2020 with the reopening of the global economy after the pandemic-induced shutdowns. At their peak last year, inflation rates in North America surpassed 8%. These pricing pressures led to a revaluation of most asset prices. It also led to one of the more aggressive and synchronized interest rate tightening campaigns undertaken by central banks in history. Fortunately, there has been notable progress with inflation receding over the past year. For example, the most recent reading of headline inflation in Canada and the U.S. was 5.2% and 5.0%, respectively. To be clear, those figures are still elevated by historical standards, and remain a ways off of the targets of both central banks. Nevertheless, it’s an improvement, and we have clearly transitioned from a “high and rising” period of inflation to one where inflation is “high and falling”. That subtle change has translated into more stable returns across asset classes of late and it’s the primary reason the year has been more rewarding for investors so far, than in 2022.

The bottom-line is inflation trends have improved, and may remain on the right trajectory as tighter financial conditions drive goods and services prices lower over time. That should remain a tailwind for stock and bond prices. But, another issue is likely to take hold at some point in the form of a recession and the risk it poses to growth, corporate earnings, and stock prices. Nevertheless, it is arguably a more manageable challenge for central banks and investors, and something we continue to prepare for.

“You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do”

Carl Jung

As we head into the week, think about prescribing yourself some Functional Medicine and remember that difficulties strengthen the mind. It’s counterintuitive but true: one of the best ways to increase your mental capabilities is to do things that are physically challenging. As Seneca has said “Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”

We do difficult things because they are good for us. They make us stronger and more adaptive. They assert control over our bodies in a way that is transferable the next time we are tempted by some impulse or inclined to take the easier route. They make us better at doing the next hard thing that life has in store for us.

Do something difficult today, it will empower your growth.

Be well and enjoy the moments

Derek