My fast for Body and Soul

“Only in quiet waters do thing mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world.” – Hans Margolius

I think fasting from time to time is important for everyone of us. But what most people do as fasting, (not eating this, starving, not eating that, etc) is not what I have in mind.

My kind of fast should be more life supporting, it should have a long lasting positive effect on my physical and (more important) psychological health.

I am inspired by various articles I read on blogs about minimalism. One of them is about A Media Fast on the zenhabits blog. I did something similar last year, when i put away my laptop for 2 weeks and did not have a cell phone anyways. But this time I want to set myself some clearer goals for the fast.

The goal is to get rid of all these little addictions that form my life like caffeine and sugar. But also get rid of all these little habits that influence me, like spending too much time in front of the computer, cluttering my life and not getting enough physical exercise.

Some of the media fast stuff will not be too hard for me, since I do not have a TV, a radio, DVD player. No newspaper is coming to my door every day and  I don't go to the theater very often. But on the other hand my computer has become my all in one doorway to the media world. I watch movies and TV series on it, I read newspapers and blogs on it, I use it for communication and for listening to music. (And during my internship I sat in front of it 8 hours a day during work)

That has to change. Therefore the most important part of my fast is to reduce the time I spend in front of my computer from currently 8 - 10 hours a day down to 30 mins a day maximum. But there are other things I want to change too. Currently I am drinking something with caffeine every day. Also I think that I am running around with my headphones plugged into my ears too much. So, to summarize it, I listed my does and don't s for the fast.

What I will not do in these 2 weeks:

• No Caffeine
• No extra Sugar
• No Alcohol
• only organic, fresh, vegetarian food
• No TV
• No Music (meaning: not using my mp3 player  and other music devices to distract me)
• minimize Cell phone use (not sure how, but probably turn off the whole day and only use when really necessary)
• use Computer max 30 mins a day
• go to bed before 11 pm

I assume through these changes there will be a tremendous amount of "extra time" that i will have every day. Therefore here is a list of things I want to accomplish with this "extra time".

What I will do:

• de-clutter my possessions and give away everything i do not need anymore
• create a vision board
• spend more time with people that are important to me
• be active, do sports (Volleyball, Soccer, Riding my bike, etc)
• Solitude: get more clear about who i am and what i want
• meditate twice a day
• finally start learning to play guitar
• do whatever else I want to do and does not conflict with the rest of my fast

I am sure that there is a million other things that i will discover while doing the fast that i will want to do. I will try to do all of them as long as they go along with the rest of my fast. 

Moderation in F.E.A.S.T.

The Vaidya

yesterday I finally managed to get my Vaidya Consultation here in Lancaster with Vaidya Jagdish Vaidya. After filling out what felt like a 15 pages health form I was invited to his office, where he looked through my form and asked me a lot of questions for clarification.

"Moderation in F.E.A.S.T.

Food - Entertainment - Action - Sleep - Thinking

Definition of Moderation is Balance.

That is, not too much, not too little, not at all,  healthy, wholesome, timely.

For each element of F.E.A.S.T., follow each one of these definitions of moderation.

This is YOGA.

The result of this is no more suffering, no more pain, no more imbalance."
-Vaidya Jagdish Vaidya

he made me smile :)

so simple but so profound...

New York, New York

As many of you know, I spent a few days in New York last week.

It was amazing, exhausting, transforming, interesting, fun, and everything else you can possibly imagine.

I had a great time being in this busy city, seeing some really amazing sights (Statue of Liberty, Times Square, Union Square, MoMa, Highline Park Rockefeller Center) and meeting some amazing people.

I spent one evening with Amine, enjoying an awesome dinner, walking through Union Park and Manhatten.

Amine, Mr. NY, showing me Union Square

Also I met Nick, who showed me the Moma and its exciting Matisse exhibition,  High-line Park, other parts of Manhatten and Brooklyn, as well es Williamsburg -the hippster district ;-)
 Together with Nick and Shannon I had great Indian food, somewhere in Manhattan

Nick in his apparment in Brooklyn

Nick and a friend on Highline Park, Manhatten

Shannon and a piece of me during lunch in an Indian res

taurant

At the Entrance of Moma.

 Also I had the awesome opportunity to stay with Vedas family! They were so great, and gave me much more then I ever hoped for! They even took me to their temple on saturday! It was amaying!

 Inspired by Josh Adams I also took some Videos.
One is of the probably best street artists I have ever seen playing in a Subway station! I was sooo sad when the train entered the station, cause i did not want to leave them...

 

Sooo, it was an amazing time, and i hope to come back to NY soon!
love

My Vision 2010

My Vision for 2010 - 11:
Learn with every fiber of my body

Recently I had some time to think about my life and my goals, and cause i read some business books that where all about "having a vision", I spent some time thinking about my own, personal vision.

I had always been really bad at stuff like that, cause I never really knew what I should do with my life, but this one day last week it suddenly was so clear to me. Clearer than it ever was. And I understood, that I have had problems expressing it, because my goals never were something like: "i want to reach this and that, I want to have so much money, and this car, and that house, etc", but much more in a general direction way. Ideas that i want to explore, values that i want to uphold, directions i want to reach out.

But getting clear on that, my vision becomes very simple. I found out that I have a very clear goal for next year and that my values have always been there. I just did not consciously know them. So I started writing them down.

My Vision: Learn with every fiber of my body


I am aware and conscious in every moment. Through that I learn and grow mental, emotional physical and spiritual with everything I do. I trust my intuition to guide me spontaneously in the right direction. I understand that only by doing I learn and grow and integrate. Therefore I accept and embrace challenges as opportunities to grow and see mistakes and errors as a part of the learning process. I live in tune with nature and all its richness and opportunities because only by living in line with nature I can truly grow.

Core Values: 

• learning takes place through doing. Through doing I grow and expand
• By being in tune with nature, i am also more in tune with my self. This includes living in a sustainable way as well as following natures patterns
• reduction: I reduce my consumption to things that are necessary and life supporting
• physical well being promotes mental well being
• these values are not dictating my life, my life is creating my values - i constantly rethink and reevaluate my Core Values and adopt and change them to fit to my life.

Action Steps:

• Mental
• at MUM: I try to get the best out of every class. If a class does not come up to my expectations I do not lean back and just sit through it, but rather challenge myself, my teachers and my classmates to make the class better
• GSC/World Congress/Bornell Project: I know that only through doing and practicing I really learn and I see my work as an opportunity for learning by doing. I train my skills by actively participating, stepping up when necessary and observation when possible.
• I take my time to be clear about what i want and do not want and follow my passions.
• Emotional
• I keep on working on my personal development through shadow work, 
• I am opened to building close relationships and open myself.
• Physical
• I train and explore my own body. I am physical active in as many different areas as possible. First of all: riding my bike whenever possible; but also doing yoga, soccer, volleyball, rock climbing, tree climbing, running, walking, skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing and everything else that is fun
• I commit to one kind of exercise and do it on a regularly basis (ex: go to jiu jitsu, Tai chi, or any other kind of martial arts).
• Spiritual
• I meditate on a regular basis to continuously work on my spiritual development and evaluate the effect of meditation on my wellbeing.
• I am opened to other spiritual practices, try out what sounds interesting to me and evaluate them on a subjective basis.
• Sustainability and contentment 
• transportation: No car, no motorbike, but riding my bicycle. Use public transport whenever possible
• food: I stick to organic, local, seasonal, unpacked, fresh food whenever possible
• waste: I avoid plastic bags, plastic bottles, and all disposable items. Whatever is not avoidable I try to recycle
• lifestyle: I reduce consumption. before I buy something I ask myself if I really need it or if I just want it and rethink my decision.
• I prefer to buy from companies that reflect my values: Sustainability, Fair Trade, Open Source, Responsibility, etc...

The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life

This is from the book: "The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life" by Leo Babauta.

You can find it here.



What is a minimalist life?


It's one that is stripped of the unnecessary, to 
make room for that which gives you joy. 


It's a removal of clutter in all its forms,
leaving you with peace and freedom and
lightness.


A minimalist eschews the mindset of more, of
acquiring and consuming and shopping, of
bigger is better, of the burden of stuff.


A minimalist instead embraces the beauty of
less, the aesthetic of spareness, a life of
contentedness in what we need and what
makes us truly happy.


A minimalist realizes that acquiring stuff
doesn't make us happy. That earning more
and having more are meaningless. That
filling your life with busy-ness and
freneticism isn't desirable, but something to
be avoided.


A minimalist values quality, not quantity, in 
all forms.

Marketing 101: Effectiveness vs efficiency

I know we are all already tired of this. We all know the words from Peter F. Drucker (who happens to be Austrian):

“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”

this picture actually has nothing to do with the post. i just
like it and the post i stole it from

So here is my story:

Right now, I am interning in the Maharishi Ayurveda Spa in Lancaster. A place that was famous, back in the good old days when deepak was still here, and all the celebrities from NY came here to retreat. 

Not too long ago, this place made 40.000 Dollars a month - minus.

In the last 2 years it had 6 different "general managers" and since one year a new president. 

Investments where made; renovation, marketing strategy, new people.

sounds good.

Just do something

When I came here, I first figured out, that there is no written down vision or mission statement. No goal, except for the presidents plan of making this a profitable place again. Well... I am just an intern...

I was told that there are several projects they are working on, one of them was the online presence. 

Since I know some stuff about that already, i thought this would be a good project for me to help with.

So, i started collection infos about a blog, started a facebook group, a youtube channel, and provided all sorts of information for my boss.

Then they desided they want to change the website. So i was asked to drop the social media stuff and get started with the website.

well... i am just the intern...

I spent the last 2 weeks creating a new sitemap, moving content from A to B, writing new texts, suggesting ideas, implementing stuff, uploading new pictures and so on.

Now, they tell me the website project is canceled for now.

Aaah well... I am just the intern.

They wasted 4 weeks of me being a valuable help for them for 2 projects that did not even get started. But I am not even worried about my time. I am worried that they are going to continue this kind of working until its too late.

At least i have learned my lesson. Think before you do.

Often it seems easy to know the difference between effectiveness and efficiency, when in fact most of the people only look at doing things right, but don't spend much time on thinking what the right things are.

I am curious if there are any other project that they want me to get started on. And I will be a nice employee and do it without asking the only real question: "Why?"

As a matter of fact, I just spent some time last week on writing down my vision and values for next year and made some interesting discoveries. But more about that another time :) 

P.s. I just started reading more about Peter F. Drucker and started to getting really interested in his work. There might be more to come on him too :)

The Lucid Lynx experience

So, i just stumbled over "Lucid Lynx" a few days ago. Sounds like a drug! - something new from the eastern European drug laboratories!

But NO - its a operating system. Based on Linux. Open Sources. Managed by a company who's only income comes through Customer Services. With a huge community in the background.

How awesome is that?!?!

I have been thinking about changing my Software usage in a direction that reflects my values for a long time.
Something that's based on a service oriented, sustainable, opened values.
Something not like Microsoft. And not like Apple (honestly, anybody still believes that Apple is "different")

But i did not know where to go.
In my darkest hours (my laptop needed about 10 minutes to boot) i started googleing, and i stumbled over "ubuntu".
ubuntu?!?!
what's that... sounds african...
"humanity towards others"
interesting.





Ubuntu:

Ubuntu (pronounced /uːˈbuːntuː/ or /uːˈbʌnˌtuː/) is a computer operating system based on the Debian GNU/Linux distribution and is distributed as free and open source software with additional proprietary software available.

Ubuntu provides an up-to-date, stable operating system for the average user, with a strong focus on usability and ease of installation. 

Ubuntu is sponsored by the UK-based company Canonical Ltd., owned by South Africanentrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth. By keeping Ubuntu free and open source, Canonical is able to utilize the talents of community developers in Ubuntu's constituent components. Instead of selling Ubuntu for profit, Canonical creates revenue by selling technical support and from creating several services tied to Ubuntu.

source: wikipedia 



how awesome is that!?!
a software company that is in line with my values of how to run a business. It's open source, free, easy to use and service oriented!!

Soo, i installed it.
took 5 minutes! (maybe 10... but short)
and it runs PERFECTLY FINE!

Their newest version is called "Lucid Lynx". What a name!!!
It comes with Firefox, OpenOffice, a Social Media interface, an Email interface and a shit load of plug ins and ad ons you can install (Gimp, vlc player, skype, and and and)
Also, you can install it parallel to your actual operating system (what i did).
At the beginning of each boot you just select which ever you want (in my chase windows xp vs. ubuntu) and then it starts.

I'll gonna test it for about a month before I will finally erase my Windows XP and just run Ubuntu Lucid Lynx)

I am soooo exited!


you can find more info here:
http://www.ubuntu.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubuntu_(operating_system)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_Lynx