You better lose yourself in the moment, own it, you better never let it go You only get one shot…this opportunity comes once in a lifetime Eminem

Good morning & Happy Valentine’s Day!

I trust everyone enjoyed the weekend, and those of you that were able to stay up and watch the Super Bowl last night, I’m sure were thoroughly entertained. My daughters Presley-Mae and Dilynn loved that halftime show!

It was certainly a weekend filled with news and noise, while geopolitical tensions were coupled with tensions here in Canada, I spent the weekend reading through a number of inspirational stories that provided some reflection, particularly around the importance of enjoying the moments.

A week and a half shy of his 50th birthday, arguably one of the world’s best athletes of all time, surfer Kelly Slater won the Pipeline Pro for the eighth time to capture his most magnificent win, one he called the best victory of his life.

Kelly’s comments about the win are captivating……“I said to myself, just stay in the moment, just soak it up, even if he beats you, just love it all,” he said in the WSL interview after. “I committed my life to this. To all of this. To all of the heartbreak and winning, you know, I’ve hated lots of it, but I savor this and this is the best win of my life.”

The battle of Evermore

It’s difficult to find this Zen like ability to enjoy the moments. Our society often conditions and encourages us to look outside of ourselves for happiness. The notion that this moment is not okay encourages wanting minds and overconsumption.

In an article by Author Carley Hauck called “How to Tame the Wanting Mind” she shares some simple practices that we can help remind ourselves that we are here to enjoy the moments.

Find the optimal amount: There is a middle ground. Through investigation and awareness of desire, you will understand what the optimal amount is. True well-being coincides with ultimate satisfaction or contentment. What feels like just enough?

Savor the Moment: Take on a simple practice of savoring moments. Savor your green tea in the morning, the taste, how you feel as you drink it. Savor the laughter of children, the smiles you see that transpire between loved ones, co-workers, or friends.

True Nourishment: True nourishment is how we feed the mind, body, and heart. What feeds your mind? Thoughts of love and compassion or criticism? What feeds your heart? Knowing that deep down you are enough.

Want v. Need: We are bombarded with things to buy, read, and consume multiple times a day and if we aren’t centered, greed takes the reigns. Marketing has us believe that this latte, new pair of shoes, or new technology will make us feel lasting happiness, but this is NOT true. When you are aware of desire creeping in, ask, “Do I need this or want this?

Cultivate thoughts of enough-ness: Neuroscience has found that the brain is malleable and therefore trainable. Let go of thoughts that stimulate greed and plant seeds of enough-ness. Try practicing this thought for 90 seconds a few times a day: “I have everything I need right now.”

Being mindful of desire is a practice: The more you are aware, the habit pattern of desire will begin to lose its power. The qualities of contentment and generosity can then become stronger. To increase your motivation to be mindful of desire, take on this practice as a way to benefit all beings.

When we know we are enough and have enough, we can be more generous and let go more easily. True contentment is not about acquiring more, but being satisfied with greater simplicity and fulfilled by what you already have. It’s been said that if you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more. If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough.

You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough. Mae West

And now…..to the markets

Another runaway U.S. inflation report put markets back on edge this week as the Consumer Price Index showed headline inflation running at an annual pace of 7.5 percent, once again outpacing consensus expectations, suggesting that economists are still struggling to get a grip on underlying inflationary pressures.

And that inflation uncertainty, and associated uncertainty around the Fed’s policy response to it, is now reverberating through global fixed income markets as traders have sharply repriced the Fed’s expected policy response.

Everything in moderation

Indeed, the Fed has been late to respond to inflation over the past six months, but overreacting to yesterday’s inflation at the moment that tomorrow’s inflation may fade not only risks making a policy error but also puts a sustained economic expansion in jeopardy—which would run counter to the Fed’s ultimate goal.

The team at RBC’s base case remains that the Fed will deliver four rate hikes this year, with balance sheet reduction serving as a de facto fifth hike. We think a reasonable scenario is that the Fed right-sizes its policy rate this year to better align with the current economic backdrop before pausing the rate hike cycle to assess the future economic backdrop. The Fed’s March policy meeting will likely come with a 25 bps rate hike, but it will also come with more clarity, which should ultimately ease the market’s fears.

So while fears around Fed policy have sparked recent volatility, the historically strong and quick economic and labor market recovery has been one of the great policy success stories of recent decades. Recent market volatility around the Fed’s need to counteract some of that strength— and associated inflation—is perhaps just the price of that success and we’ll certainly be able to take advantage of the environment.

As we cruise into the week, be ready for the waves that nature swells and, as Kelly Slater suggests, stay in the moment, soak it up and just love it all.

“I know I was born and I know that I'll die, the in between is mine. I Am Mine” Eddie Vedder

Be well & enjoy the moments

Derek