what will be your future?

           Many people still have a hard time believing that their thoughts create the world around them, their experiences, even their afflictions.  But look around you, look at your friends, look at the place where you live, look at the stuff you own, look at your job and your hobbies.  Haven't you created all of it?  If you have a beautiful garden you love gardening and you created it.  If you have a negative friend and don't appreciate him/her reflect on why that person is in your life, then make a decision.  It's your intentions, your efforts, your thoughts and beliefs, what you did and did not do, what you did and did not think and believe that is reflected in the world around you, individually and as a culture. 

            If you don't like what's happening with the environment you need to do something about it on a personal level, change apathy and acceptance to thoughtfulness and action. If you don't like what you see, if you don't like what and who you are, dig deeper to uncover why and how you have created what you have created.  Inspect the underlying beliefs and thoughts that went into it.  It takes some work, it might be tedious.  But who said it was easy?

            Today's thoughts create your future.  If you think the same thoughts today that you thought yesterday your future will look like today.  If you don't like today you need to change your thoughts and beliefs today to create a different future.

            So what would you like your future to look like? 

going on an adventure

          I find it really important to periodically get out of what I'm in.  Seeing the same people, doing the same things, following the same routines, reading the same kinds of books, not only gets boring but also keeps you in the same mindset. Creativity arises out of fresh inspiration.  That's why we travel, that's why we take a pottery or ballroom dancing class, or anything else that's a bit out of our comfort zone, just for shits and giggles.  Key here is "out of our comfort zone."  It's about building some new brain synapses.  It'll always be more comfortable to stay home and relax, aka vegge out.  But going on an adventure is energizing. 

            This past Sunday the weather was miserable, it was actually pouring, and I was recovering from a bad cold.  A good day to stay in, right?  But we had tickets to two dance performances at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. So we went.  Lo and behold, I was soooo glad we went for soooo many reasons.  First of all we got to see Frank Gehry's architectural masterpiece.  Second, we watched two zany contemporary dance theatre performances unlike anything I had ever seen before, one of them unanticipatedly participatory.  Thirdly, we discovered the teeny tiny cute and trendy town of Tivoli.  Fourthly, someone in Tivoli gave us a recommendation for the nicest restaurant we ended up for dinner.  Fifthly, I came back feeling way better than in the morning, more energized, and totally inspired - and I still draw from it.

            Moral of the story, sometimes you've got to pull yourself up by the boot straps and go off on a limb.  You'll never know how much of life you miss out on if you don't get out of bed and live it.

chaos or not?

             Nature can seem messy and disorganized. Gardening for example is not nature because we impose our sense of order on that little landscaped piece we call garden or backyard. 

            When our life is turned upside down due to a sudden change or upset we perceive it is chaotic because the order and patterns we have created are undone.  "Chaos is order without predictability," my yoga teacher so wisely said recently.  The universe has laws, nature has patterns, but we don't always understand or see them from our down-in-the-trenches perspective.  When things become unpredictable we call them chaotic.   Change can seem scary because we wade into unchartered territory; sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel remains very dim or even invisible for some time.  We wish for control and certainty because change requires us to shift, think differently, get out of our comfort zone, change patterns and ways of doing things.  

            But chaos and confusion can also be seen as full of opportunity, like a pregnant pause, a nudge from the universe to rearrange things.  In hindsight messy upsets usually and eventually reset themselves into new patterns that make sense once again.  Meanwhile, sometimes we just have to trust the universe for being wayyyy ahead of us and seeing the bigger picture.

dull Jack

            The well known proverb "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" is something to contemplate in our culture that is so focused on making the next buck, answering your work cell on week-ends, and generally racing towards retirement when you can finally collapse.  Not so fast!  Actually, please come to a screeching halt. 

            In general, Europeans don't have to be taught to go play, have fun, go on vacation, attend cultural events and read a book every once in a while.  But here, where it's virtuous to be a good corporate soldier, we need a reality check every once in a while. 

            When you're in a rut your productivity goes down, your motivation goes down, and the excitement of waking up every morning and creating a brand new day with a million possibilities vanishes.  If your stress level is always on HIGH, if you're always ON, your pleasure hormones can't get through because the stress hormones are on a chronic ON.  Not only that, you become a dull person with a single focus - work. 

            Instead, why not develop an activity or an interest that intrigues you?  Research it, immerse yourself, become an expert.  Something else to talk about when you get together with friends.    Always work talk is boring.  When you meet someone new in Europe the first question will almost never be "so what do you do?"  In fact, people usually talk about everything but work when they get together socially.  

            Something to consider.

om

                 Sound baths have gone mainstream, as the NY Times reported in an article last year.  I am listening to one as I write this - these days you can find anything on the internet, in this case YouTube, even a sound bath.    Sound can be every bit as healing as say a massage, or a pill, or acupuncture.  Sound is of course frequency and our bodies all vibrate at a particular frequency.  A healthy body vibrates above 62MHz.  Darker emotions (sadness, anger, frustration) are an expression of lower frequencies by the way, as is illness, lighter emotions (pleasure, joy, contentment) of higher ones.  The higher on the frequency scale we operate the"holer," the more whole or healed we become.    Sound and gong baths  help to realign us with our natural frequency.  In sound baths Tibetan singing bowls or crystal bowls of different sizes are made to vibrate at different frequencies when a wooden mallet is rubbed around their rims.   While listening our body attunes to the frequency of the bowls.  Read more here about the science behind sound and gong baths.

say yes!

            "The secret of change is to focus all your energy not on fighting the old, but on building the new," Dan Millman's fictional counselor Socrates said in Millman's Way of the Peaceful Warrior.  This is profound and cannot be said often enough - I must have written several blog posts along those lines, all saying the same thing in different words.

            The universe doesn't hear the word "no," it leaves it out, it simply ignores it; so do animals, people, and especially young children.  Guess what they do when you say "Don't jump around on the couch."  Guess what your cat does when you keep saying, with a look towards that couch, "Don't scratch that couch!"  Guess what you do when the boss says "Don't do it this way."  You'd rather not listen because it doesn't feel good being criticized.  Besides, the boss didn't define how he actually wanted it done.  But guess what you do when the boss says "That report was written just the way I wanted it, thank you for a job well done."  You listen, you acknowledge, and you do more of the same because you love being praised and praise feels good.

            So - when it comes to anything, be it children's behavior, employee behavior, your own health, life, define clearly what you want, not want you don't want, and move in that direction.  Move forward instead of looking backwards.  That way you get more of what you want because the universe gets it.

making time work for you

            Intent is everything because it puts forth a desired outcome.  Instead of letting life take its course - que sera sera - predefining what you want helps to transport you towards your goal.  In time management this kind of intent can be very helpful.  A while ago I wrote a blog post on the elasticity of time.  This elasticity comes to play in time management.   Setting a goal of what you want to accomplish within a certain timeframe sets the framework, after that let the universe help you.  You need to be very clear, though, in stating what exactly you want to accomplish, and define the timeframe clearly.  Putting it in writing, such as on your to-do-list, is better than just thinking it in your mind.  An example might be "I must get to the airport by 1PM," or "I will finish answering all my emails from yesterday by 10AM."  Give it a try, I know it works.

do you kythe?

            This intriguing word kything means telepathic communication.  My daughter and I previously took a workshop in animal communication because we were interested in "speaking" with our cats.  We weren't too enthusiastic because it seemed to require a lot of practice.  Recently a kything workshop came up locally.   Kything is usually used to communicate with non-verbal people (i.e. in a coma, severely autistic, or otherwise unable to speak) or deceased loved ones; but I inquired whether it could be useful in communicating with animals and was told it was. 

            Lo and behold, it's not too difficult, although practice makes perfect of course.  We practiced dropping from the head into the heart, just like you would for meditation, and getting out of the way of our mind's chatter.  Then we established a line of communication by simple thought - name the animal or person and hold them in your mind.  Next we learned to offer a positive loving thought about our partner to establish heartfelt communication without agenda.  This needs to be a constructive thought about what your partner might need emotionally, such as "You are loving kindness," or "You are radiantly healthy." Keep repeating it mantra style in your mind.  With animals just like with people it is crucial to formulate your "mantra" in the affirmative. "You are whole" instead of "You are no longer sick," or "Your heart is open" or "I miss you" as opposed to "Don't shut me out of you heart."  One of our cats came from the shelter several years ago and still gobbles treats up so fast that he regurgitates them out of fear that there might not be enough.  So my daughter put out " There is enough." You may get a message back right away, or not.  Keep trying.  Both my daughter and I established channels with our cats and with each other quite quickly, and you know it's not your imagination when you feel your partner's energy.

            Try it sometime.  Our cat kept his tuna fish treat down yesterday.

grasshopper or ant?

             You may remember LaFontaine's fable of the ant that strategically planned its food reserves during the summer in preparation for winter, and the playful grasshopper who ended up without food because it played all summer long. 

            Short-cuts don't always work, and it often takes hindsight to realize it.  We have taken many short-cuts on environmental and agricultural issues in favor of quick monetary gain.  Whether fracking, pesticides, factory farming or a host of other quagmires, the money comes quick, but then.....there is always always always an ugly hidden cost, and in the end it costs much more. 

            Take the recent dramatic drop in oil and gas prices, which almost immediately led to people buying fewer electric and fuel efficient cars.  While buying that less expensive vehicle right now, deferring getting those solar panels or better insulated windows, or delaying insulating your house, may indeed save you money this year, the long-term consequences are no savings.  Take the purchase of solar panels for example.  Payback is around 6-8 years.  That means that after 6 to 8 years your electricity will be free for the life of the panels, which is around 20 years or so.  So you get 12 years of free electricity!  And keep in mind that the cost of electricity keeps going up.  In addition you are helping to cut down on the pollution caused by burning fossil fuels, which contributes to the warming of our planet.  Win-win for all. 

            The hook?  It requires an investment and a short-term material sacrifice in favor of long-term environmental and monetary gain.   What's so bad about that?  You do the same for retirement.  You sacrifice something now for gain down the road. 

            Think like the ant, think long-term!

2016 resolutions

             Oh those fashionable New Year's resolutions.  Do you make them?  Do you keep them?  Do you drop them?  Yesterday, while in Manhattan, I was interviewed on the street by a Japanese TV station about New Year's resolutions.  I told them that I don't make them, and that the success rate of keeping to them isn't terribly encouraging.  According to the Statistic Brain Research Institute about half of Americans make them, and about half of those maintain them for the first half of the year; 39% of people in their twenties achieve them, while only 15% of people over 50 do. 

            All of that doesn't mean that I am without gumption and don't have goals.  It's just that I don't feel I need to wait until December rolls around to make a plan, although better December than never.  In order to stick to a resolution you have to make it a habit, and a habit builds after about a month of doing something regularly.  And the resolution has to have a deep and long-term meaning so it's still attractive come February or March.  Another piece to the success of any resolution is some kind of a contract with yourself so that you cannot back out so easily.  You might announce your plan out loud to some family members or friends.  That way it becomes more difficult to pull out than if you kept it to yourself.  Or reward yourself for sticking with it.  Earlier this year I absolutely wanted to finish the third-to-last chapter of my upcoming book and I love shoes.  The contract with myself was that I got to buy a new pair of shoes once I finished that chapter.  It got done pretty fast!