Zencitiv

The Work You Love is Waiting For You

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 18:53:00 +0000

When I wake up in the morning, I can’t wait to start writing.
It’s not that I’m productivity-driven, or a workaholic … it’s that I love what I do.
And I’ll tell you a secret to loving what I do: if I think my work will help someone, there’s no better motivator.
I see lots of people, every day, who don’t like the work they’re doing. If I could help a few of them find work they love, it would make my year.
So this is a mini-guide to finding the work you love. Because it’s waiting for you — you just need to find it and go get it.
We’re going to do this in 3 simple steps.
Ready? Let’s go!
Step 1: Believe in yourself. The main reason people don’t try to do work they love, don’t even look for it, is because they don’t think they’re good enough. That’s hogwash. We’ve been bamboozled and hornswoggled into believing we are insufficient, that it’s scary to fail, when neither is remotely true.
You are not only sufficient, you are perfect. And failure is inevitable, but it’s how you succeed. Failure is how we learn to get better. It’s a step towards success.
I highly recommend you watch this TEDx talk from Scott Dinsmore for some inspiration … it’s the best 18 minutes you could invest in your life right now:

Step 2: Find the work you love. This is probably the most difficult step for many people, because they don’t know what they want to do. Luckily,I’ve written a guide for you.
Actually, this step is the fun part. You get to try different things. Fail often. Explore yourself. Learn about what you’re good at. Help people.
Step 3: Take the leap. It’s the scariest, most exciting thing ever to take the leap and do work you love. I call it JoyFear. It’s totally worth it.
Luckily, I’ve written a guide for this too.
Making a living doing what you want isn’t exactly easy, but it’s not as hard as you might think. Create something that will help people. Do it the best you can, and keep getting better. Make it uniquely you, and tell your story. Don’t be a marketer or push yourself on people, but really help them and they’ll come to you.
Two more things to read when you have the time:

What are you waiting for? I’ve given you three steps, so you should be taking the first step already. If not, get moving!
The work you love is out there. Waiting for you. But it won’t find you — you have to go looking for it.

Post written by Leo Babauta.

A Journey Without a Goal

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 01:20:00 +0000

Nearly every activity we do has a purpose, a goal in mind.
We drive to get to work, to the store, to a class or party. We walk for fitness, or to get to a specific destination. We work to achieve something, to reach certain numbers. We workout to get healthier, to get a nicer body.
But what would happen if we gave up the goal?
What would a journey without a goal be like?
Imagine setting out for a walk with no particular purpose — you might go in one direction because there’s a nice explosion of flowers over there, but then explore a different direction when you see someone playing music, then go in another direction because you’re curious about what’s there.
No destination in mind. Nothing to achieve. Just curiosity, fun, not knowing.
What would it be like to work without a goal? You might write something for fun, because you want to get it out of you, without knowing what the effect of the writing would be. You would figure out the work as you go, without knowing what the finished product would look like.
What would it be like to live life without a fixed plan? Without knowing where you’ll be living in five years, or what you’ll be doing, or what you want to achieve?
I don’t know the answers, but I do know that I’ve been freer as I’ve learned to let go of goals, fixed plans, fixed destinations.

How to Flow

I’ve long been a planner and a goal setter, but I’ve been learning a different way over the last few years. It’s a radical shift in thinking and doing, to a freer-flowing mode of being.
How does it work? Well, to be honest, there’s no one way. But it goes a little something like this:
You wake up, excited about being alive. You wonder, “What do I feel like doing today?” You aren’t constrained to anything at this point, but the question is important.
So you get started, doing something you’re excited about, having fun doing it. Is that thing you’re doing a destination, a goal? Well, in some ways, yes, but it’s not fixed. There’s no set plan, and the destination doesn’t matter as much as the process, the journey.
You start, but you might shift as you go, depending on the flow of ideas, on working with others who might have ideas you didn’t foresee, on things that happen along the way. You couldn’t have predicted these things when you got started, so you have to adapt — no plan can anticipate all of this, no goal would be adequate to the task.
You might even completely shift, if something new comes up, if a new opportunity presents itself. You let go of your idea of what today was going to be, because these ideas of what should be are lightly held. They mean nothing, really, and the important thing is the flow.
You learn to be flexible instead of set. You learn to be good at change and uncertainty, instead of fearing it.
As things arise, you adapt, and let go of your plans and goals. You move with the flow of water, with the changing landscape. You are free to do this because you don’t care where you end up — you just want to be present in your journey, be compassionate with each step, have fun each moment along the way. The destination becomes irrelevant.
No destination or goal matters if they are all good. Each step along the way, then, becomes the destination, and is exactly where you should be.

Courtesy : Leo Babauta.

The Habits That Crush Us

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 07:48:00 +0000

Why is it that we cannot break the bad habits that stand in our way, crushing our desires to live a healthy life, be fit, simplify, be happier?
How is it that our best intentions are nearly always beaten? We want to be focused and productive, exercise and eat healthy foods, stop smoking and learn to get rid of debt and clutter, but we just can’t.
The answer lies in something extremely simple, but something most people aren’t aware of:
We don’t know how to cope with stress and boredom in a healthy way.
The bad habits we’ve formed are often useful to us, in dealing with stress and boredom. Consider the bad habits that fit this bill:

Smoking
Internet procrastination
Eating junk food
Drinking
Being rude/angry/depressed
Watching TV or playing video games (if you become addicted & sedentary)
Shopping (getting into debt, building clutter)
Procrastinating on finances, paperwork, clutter (too stressful)
Inactivity (avoiding exercise is a stress avoidance technique)
Biting nails, chewing hair, clenching jaw

This isn’t a complete list, but all of these habits fill a strong need: they are ways to cope with stress and/or boredom. We have formed them as coping mechanisms, and they stick around because we don’t have better ways of coping.
So what if instead, we replaced them with healthier ways of coping? We’d get rid of the problems of these bad habits, and start getting the benefits of better habits.

Better Coping Habits

How can we deal with stress and boredom instead? There’s no one answer, but the habits we form should be ones that lead to healthier results. Some ideas:

Walk/run/swim/bike
Do pushups, pullups, squats
Yoga/meditation
Play with friends/kids
Create, write, play music, read when we’re bored
Learn to enjoy being alone, instead of being bored
Take a daily walk and enjoy nature
Deal with finances, clutter, paperwork immediately, in small steps, so that it doesn’t get stressful
Take control of a situation: make a list, get started in baby steps, so things don’t get stressful
Learn to be mindful of your breathing, body tension, stressed-out thoughts
Get some rest
Learn to savor healthy food that you find delicious
Slow down
Take a hot bath
Learn to live in the present

These are some good examples. Each habit above will help cope with or prevent stress or boredom. If you replace the bad habits with these, your life will be less stressful and healthier. You’ll have less debt, less clutter, less fat, less disease.

Changing the Habits

The old habits of coping didn’t build up overnight, and they won’t go away overnight either. We built them up through years of repetition, and the only way to change them is also years of repetition.
But an important start is to realize why we do them — stress and boredom, largely — and realize that there are other ways to deal with these two problems. We need to be aware when stress and boredom start to kick in, and instead of being afraid of them, realize that they are problems easily solved by other habits. Let’s take the fear out of stress and boredom. Let’s learn that we can beat them simply, and prove that with repeated good habits.
Once you have that realization, follow the usual Zen Habits steps to changing a habit:

Pick one habit at a time.
Start very small – just a minute or two, if you want it to stick.
Use social motivation like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or email.
Be very conscious of your triggers, and do the habit consciously every time the trigger happens.
Enjoy the new habit. You’ll stick with it longer if you do.

We have been crushed by the habits we’ve formed out of fear of stress and boredom. We can fight back, by learning to breathe, to smile, to go slowly. We can humble these giants that crush us by turning them into mere gnats to be shooed away with a smile.

Source: Leo Babauta.

Simple Sports Nutrition

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 03:03:00 +0000

For those of us who are very active – whether due to job or just by choice things change. nutrition and eating has to change as our bodies start to work in a different way. Usually this is as simple as following our intuition but for many people who are into health and fitness this intuition is spoiled by bouncing from theory to theory over how and what to eat.

If you are doing lots of sports, cycling to and from work, have an active job or whatever it is that increases activity levels it is key first and foremost to eat more. And eat more calorie dense food. The alternative is to seriously slow down your metabolism and impact your hormonal health through calorie restriction caused by over exercising and under eating - ultimately eating away muscle, making you feel sluggish and maybe even weight gain.

When you exercise lots it is not only the immediate effect of the calories you are burning that you need to take into account but also the after burn, and hormonal impact that extra activity causes – making the body almost machine like in its ability to churn through food.

Here are some practical tips that can help you figure out how to improve your nutrition when more active than normal.

How much more you need to eat. Technically this should take care of itself, but due to many factors it is sometimes hard to listen to appetite. I find it is a good idea to eat three main meals a day – and at each one keep eating until your body actually tells you it is full. This means a sensation of fullness at the top of your stomach and literally not wanting to have another bite. Not to say you should stuff your face but learn to listen to your bodies signals of saying ‘I’m Full!’.

Focus on Starchy Unrefined Carbohydrates and Fruit. When active the body needs glucose. Your muscles are like sponges waiting to soak up all those starchy roots and grains. As always try to stick mainly to a philosophy of unrefined carbs (roots, rice, beans, lentils, whole-grains etc) this will not only give your body what it needs to recover but also give you a feeling of fullness as Insulin levels rise and trigger satiety.

Easy to Digest Food. Think well cooked and easy to assimilate foods – good examples are oatmeal with lots of fruit and made with milk. Pizza is good after a hard exercise session. The truth is that sometimes eating too clean when being very active just isn’t enough – maintain flexibility with your diet and allow yourself less clean foods. Food is life and without enough calories, especially well assimilated calories you won’t recover or feel your best.

Smoothies are also a good idea after exercise – make them simple think bananas or dates/figs, oats, milk and berries.

Snack Well. When hungry between meals don’t go for any junk – try to keep your desk, bag or kitchen stocked with healthy snacks. Fresh Fruit, Yoghurt, Cottage Cheese, Whole Grain Crackers, Wholesome Granola Bars. Also drink enough water….

Always follow hunger, even if you are hungry just after eating. EAT AGAIN. Sometimes after lots of activity hunger seems to go beyond what is normal. As in even after eating what seems a substantial meal there is still an empty void or a nagging hunger. This is quite normal – just follow your appetite and eat some more. Try and feel out for what your body wants and eat what you crave.

When exercising or being especially active it is important first and foremost to eat more. This can be in the way of bigger meals or eating more often – whatever suits you. Remember that our bodies are smart and will normally guide us, really being in tune and listening to the signals is hard though. Just be sure to eat enough if you are being especially active – this will make your body strong and robust rather than weak and frail.

source: Zen to Fitness.

3 age-old eating rules you can use to your benefit!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:34:00 +0000

Editors Note: This is a post from our contributor Megha Mehta
Here’s a mini quiz to get you thinking about the rules we’ll talk about

- if you’re a fiery ambitious easily irritable person who doesn’t take well to hot weather and ur in the middle of this desert town and have been eating spicy barbecued food for the last one week – guess how ur going to be feeling?

- imagine a working executive who lives in a highly urbanised town surrounded by concrete most days of the week and feels burned out and has low energy levels. what food group do you think he will benefit from?

Here’s a reminder that will help you answer the above and many such questions – each food has a specific personality n character – it actually informs us of what it can do! And depending on your personality, environment, body type, lifestyle and weather influences, your body will demand and benefit from certain kinds of foods more than others.
Our first example - the person who has a fiery personality because of which he/she doesn’t particularly enjoy hot weather and has been gorging on hot spicy food. This person is probably as of now super heated. This imbalance will most likely make him/her feel easily irritable, have a heated or upset stomach, allergic reactions, hyperacidity and so on…and these very same imbalances over a longer period of time might result in more severe issues like hypertension, liver disorders etc.
And in second example of a person who is burnt out and has no energy left is probably not getting enough clean air because of the environment he is living in. Living and being around greenery is a great way to supply higher levels of oxygen to your body which in turn makes your blood richer with nutrients and your organs have more vitality and energy.

Whatsoever was the father of a disease, an ill diet was the mother. ~ George Herbert

If you’re unable to get that benefit from your environment then you will probably do well to include dark leafy greens in your diet. They have the very quality that is the opposite of what our lungs do – take in CO2 and release O2. So these can work wonders to one’s respiratory system and consuming them regularly can give you higher levels of oxygenated blood which in turn gives more energy and vitality to all your organs.
So here are some basic rules to get you started on these rules that can allow you to make smarter food choices.
1. Eat as per season
One of the best ways to ensure you’re giving your body the right foods is to buy foods that are fresh and in season. That means not buying the mangoes in the middle of winter cos they’ve probably been frozen through months and have come out to be sold now. If you eat fruits in the season they’re naturally produced you automatically ensure nature is working to balance the factors that your body needs now and you’re making sure you get freshest and highest quality foods!
So think watermelons in summer, kiwi and oranges in winter and pineapples and lychees during the spring.
2. Consider your personality and temperament
Remember that your personality type has a huge role to play in choosing balancing nourishing foods. If you’re feeling cold n dry and have been anxious n stressed lately – your body is probably giving you signs in the form of dry cracked skin. What you need at that point is balancing grounding warm foods. That means you should favour soups, stews, and cooked foods more than raw salads.
3. Time of the day matters
You can digest heavier food better during the day because your metabolism and digestive fire is higher then. Eating your last meal 2 hours for you sleep is a great way to ensure your digestive system has done its work in time and you will be able to sleep more peacefully and wake up refreshed and energised. A light nourishing fibre rich meal for dinner will keep your stomach happy and constipation will never be an issue!
Megha is a Holistic Health Counselor helping busy working executives to eat healthier and achieve their ideal weight, energy levels, and body type. She also blogs about health tips, interesting recipes, natural remedies etc… at http://www.backtobasics.com.sg/ You can follow her on Facebook and Twitter.
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Source: Zen to Fitness.

Clearing Your Life for a New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:22:00 +0000

Every January, people rush out and get a gym membership, set a list of goals or resolutions, and get ready to take on a new year of frenetic activity.
Unfortunately, we don’t often clear space to make room for all this new stuff.
The beginning of the year is a great time for renewal of energy and taking on the things we’ve always wanted to tackle — clutter, fitness, work we’re passionate about, debt, and so on. But it’s also a great time to clear out your life, starting out the year on a blank page that’s ready to be filled.
While everyone’s life is different, I’ll share some of what I do to clear out my life.

Review the year to think about what I learned, what mistakes I made, what I accomplished.
Clear my schedule as much as possible. That often means saying no to people.
Wrap up old projects, end commitments to people, so that my work plate is clearer than normal.
Toss out old fitness and eating plans, to make room for new experiments.
Clear my email inbox. If I haven’t answered the email recently, it’s probably not important, so I archive it. Act on or answer other emails, so that my inbox is emptied.
Clear out other inboxes. That might be an inbox on a social network, or a list of things I wanted to do or read, or any kind of list really. File them away under someday, or delete or archive. Anything that’s taking some mental energy because I know I need to get to it, gets cleared.
Clear my computer files. Usually this means deleting a bunch of files I don’t need, but I also just consolidate files into one folder or put them in an online archive (like in Dropbox).
Clear paperwork. I rarely have any papers these days — I’ve slowly turned everything digital. But I still get things in the mail sometimes, so if I have any lying around, I dispose of them to clear out any remaining paperwork.
Clear clutter. If there are areas that have become cluttered, I clear them out. Often it just means taking a box or bag of things that I’ve been meaning to donate to Goodwill.
Clear my errands. I’ll make a list of all the errands I’ve been putting off, and do them in one afternoon.
Clear my finances. I’ll take a few minutes to review my checking and savings accounts, Paypal, investments, etc. and make sure everything is in order. If there are little things that need taking care of, I do them so that my mind is cleared.
Clear pantry and refrigerator of junk. Old crap that’s been lying around. Junk food if there’s any there (I don’t usually have any anymore, but I used to). Left with just good whole ingredients for healthy foods.

This might take a couple days, working off and on in little bits. For some, it might take longer. But when you’re done, it’s amazing. Your mind is clear and refreshed. You feel like you’re ready to take on anything.
To be honest, I do these things regularly throughout the year, and it’s great to keep a clean slate most of the time. But the new year is always a perfect opportunity to clear everything at once.

Courtesy: Leo Babauta.

A Compact Guide to Creating the Fitness Habit

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 03:46:00 +0000

A new year, a new slate of resolutions.
Perhaps the biggest resolution at New Year’s is to get fit — start exercising, start eating right, and all that jazz.
But resolutions never last. As you might already know, I’m not a fan of resolutions.
Instead of creating a list of resolutions this year, create a new habit.
Habits last, and they lead to long-term fitness (and more). They require more patience, but they are worth the wait.
As some of you know, fitness habits are what started me along the path to changing my life. I quit smoking, started running. Then I started eating healthier, became vegetarian (now vegan), quit the junk food addiction, started doing other types of workouts (bodyweight, weights, Crossfit, anything that was fun).
And six years later, I’m nearly 39 years old and in the best shape of my life. I have less bodyfat than any time since high school, more muscle than ever in my life, and I can run and hike and play longer than anytime in the history of Leo. That’s not to brag, but to show you what can be done with some simple fitness habits.

Reshaping Through Habits

The appealing thing about many fitness programs is that they promise quick results. You see testimonials from people who have gone through the program and lost 30 lbs. and gain a washboard stomach in just 4 weeks!
That’s all complete crap.
First, most people won’t achieve those results. Second, and more importantly, if you do get quick results, you’ll reverse those results very quickly … because you haven’t created new habits. You’ve just done something intense and unsustainable for a short period of time. That’s nearly worthless.
You should be focused on long-term results, and more importantly on a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle starts with changing your habits and ends with long-term results.
Changing habits takes time. I recommend one habit at a time, and give yourself about a month per habit. That takes patience, but you shouldn’t try to see amazing results in just 30 days. You should enjoy your new lifestyle, which will be an amazing result in itself that you can achieve immediately. In a matter of months and years, your body and health will change too.
Let’s say you change one habit at a time, one per month or so. You’ll have 12 new habits every year. Even if you only formed 6 habits that stuck and that you loved, you’d be amazed at what kind of changes those 6 habits would create in your life and fitness. If you did 6 habits a year for three years, you’d be transformed.
If you don’t have the patience to change one habit at a time, or focus on enjoying your new habits rather than getting quick results, you should stop reading now.

Which Habits to Choose

So let’s say you’re just starting out … what habit should you start with?
My favorite habit is daily exercise, but if you’re looking to lose weight probably the most important habits relate to eating.
In truth, which habit you choose first matters very little in the long run. You will be changing many little habits over the course of the next few years, and the order of those habits is unimportant. What matters is that you start.
Here are some habits that I’d start with, if you haven’t created them yet:

Exercise for just 5 minutes a day, adding 5 minutes per week. Make it a fun exercise.
Drink water instead of sweet drinks.
Replace fried foods with vegetables.
Eat fruit and nuts for snacks.
Eat lean protein, including plant proteins, instead of red meat.
Add strength exercises to your routine — pushups, pullups, squats, lunges.
If you’ve been doing all of the above for awhile, add some weights — compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, dips, chinups, overhead presses and rows.

I’ve found that losing weight is simple: eat lots of veggies and plant or lean protein, reduce calories, do some kind of cardio, lift some weights to preserve muscle.
Gaining muscle is also fairly simple: eat lots of veggies and plant or lean protein, increase calories, do some kind of cardio to preserve heart health, lift heavy weights to grow muscle.
The weights should be compound lifts and heavy, the cardio should be enjoyable. Getting “toned”, btw, is just gaining muscle and losing the fat that covers the muscle, whether you’re a man or woman.

Forming the Habit

These are my top principles for forming habits. If you’ve read my writings on habits before, this won’t be new to you, but often it’s good to review these principles for things you’ve missed:

Make it social. This is an incredibly powerful too. I highly, highly recommend Fitocracy to everyone, as it’s a way to make exercise fun and social (invite code: ZENHABITS). It turns fitness into a game, and you log your exercises, get points, encourage others, complete fitness quests, get props for workouts you’ve done. Other great ways to make your habit change social: report on your daily progress to friends and family through Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or email, find a workout partner, get a coach, join a running group, join online fitness forums, join a class.
Do one habit at a time only. People often skip this one because they think they are different than everyone else, but I’ve found this to be extremely effective. You increase your odds of success with just one habit at a time, for many reasons: habits are hard to form because they require lots of focus and energy, having many habits means you’re spreading yourself too thin, and if you can’t commit to one habit at a time, you’re not fully committed.
Make it your top priority. People often put off fitness and diet stuff because they’re too busy, too tired, to stressed out by big projects or the holidays, etc. But in my experience, those are great reasons you *should* be exercising. So make your new diet or exercise habit one of your absolute top priorities for the day. If you don’t have time, you need to make time.
Enjoy the habit. This is extremely important, and most people ignore it. If the habit is fun, you will stick with it longer. And even better, if you are enjoying it, you immediately win. You don’t need to wait for a bunch of pounds lost or other results — you get instant results because you’re enjoying the change. I find activities I enjoy, I join challenges or races to make exercise fun, I enjoy a conversation with a friend during a run, I eat healthy foods that are delicious (berries — yum!) and focus on savoring those foods. Focus on the enjoyment, and don’t make the habit change a big sacrifice.

Final Recommendations

Many people set fitness goals for the year. I’ve done it myself, but lately I’ve found that I can get fit without them. For one thing, when you set goals, they are often arbitrary, and so you are spending all your effort working towards a basically meaningless number. And then if you don’t achieve it, you feel like you failed, even if the number was arbitrary to start with.
You can create habits without goals — I define goals as a predefined outcome that you’re striving for, not activities that you just want to do. So is creating a habit a goal? It can be, or you can approach it with the attitude of “it doesn’t matter what the outcome of this habit change is, but I want to enjoy the change as I do it”.
So enjoy the habit change, in the moment, and don’t worry what the outcome of the activity is. The outcome matters very little, if you enjoy the journey.
The journey to fitness can have an infinite number of paths, and setting your path in advance by setting goals is limiting. Allow yourself to change course on a whim, without guilt of not achieving a goal, and you’ll find new paths you’d never have anticipated when you set out.
But the most important step of the journey is the first one. After that, the most important step is the one you’re presently taking. So take that step, and enjoy it.

Courtesy: Leo Babauta.

Be Zencitiv

The Essential Zen Habits of 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 04:19:00 +0000

It has been a year of contentment for me, and Zen Habits.
Zen Habits has just finished its 5th year of existence, and every year has been better than the last. This year has been no exception.
Zen Habits grew from 200,000 to more than 230,000 subscribers, had more than 12 million unique visitors, and was named by TIME magazine as one of the Top 50 websites in the world.
But beyond those numbers, it was an amazing year for me, personally and professionally:

I publicly wrote, and then published, my new book The Effortless Life.
I also wrote and published The Little Guide to Un-Procrastination.
I co-created, along with Katie Tallo and Barrie Davenport, The Habit Course.
I co-created, along with Courtney Carver, the Clutterfree ebook and course.
I became fitter than ever in my life, with a simple vegan diet and the habit of daily exercise.
I completed a half marathon, won my age division in a 6.7-mile race, completed the Urbanathlon, and finished the Goruck Challenge.
I traveled to London & Paris for the first time with my wife Eva, spent a month on the beautiful island of Guam, spent 10 days in New York City for the first time with my daughter Chloe, spoke at the World Domination Summit in beautiful Portland.
Moved to a sunnier part of San Francisco, while exploring the city by foot and fork.
Continued to enjoy a car-free life.
My other blog, mnmlist, grew to 15,000 readers.
I created an entirely new design for Zen Habits by hand, stripping away all but the essentials.

I did this mostly without goals, without copyright, and with contentment.
Most of all, I have to thank you, my dear readers. You have made my job fun, my work rewarding, and my life full of joy. Thank you for everything.

The Best Zen Habits Posts of 2011

Without further ado, these were the best posts from Zen Habits in 2011, as judged by me:

And more

For more best of Zen Habits:

Courtesy: Leo Babauta.

12 Tips For Beating the Social Overeating Habit

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 03:08:00 +0000

While I’ve learned to eat much healthier over the last six or seven years, one of my biggest challenges has been overeating on social occasions.
There are holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but there are many more: my kids’ birthday parties, going out to dinner with my wife Eva, get-togethers with friends, social gatherings of business colleagues, drinking with best friends.
I’ve always tended to overeat, because:

I am distracted by conversation and so I eat mindlessly; and
unlike at home, where I’ve created a healthy eating environment, I tend to be surrounded at these occasions by boatloads of tempting but unhealthy foods.

I’ve gotten better recently, though, and have been teaching myself healthier habits.
My main habit is simple on the surface: mindful eating.
Mindful eating is simply being aware of your eating, of your body’s actual hunger signals as opposed to your brain saying “eat all that sugar and fried stuff!”, of your urges to eat more when you’re not hungry, of your snacking even when your stomach isn’t asking for more.
Mindful eating is eating slowly, fully tasting the food, appreciating every bite, being conscious of what you’re putting into your body, savoring but not overdoing.
Mindful eating, though, can be tough to do when you are distracted by talking to friends and family. So I asked readers (on Google+) to share their tips for beating the social overeating habit. You came up with some great ones.
I share these tips in hopes that you’ll find use for them during these holidays, and beyond.

Constant awareness of bodily feedback and sensation. Ask yourself, “Am I hungry? Do I need more? Etc.” Being aware of your body’s hunger signals is a skill that has been overridden by years of overeating due to food reward properties like sugar, salt, fat, etc., but it’s a skill that can be relearned with practice. (from Brian Johnson)
Don’t go to an event hungry. Eat something healthy and at least somewhat filling before you go. This way you’re less likely to mindlessly snack. This was one of the most popular tips submitted by readers, including Cyndi Pauwels, Cameron Chapman and many others.
Eat until you’re 80 percent full. This is a cultural habit that the Okinawans have, and it famously helps them stay healthy well into old age. (from Leo)
Don’t linger near the food table. Make a conscious choice to eat whatever you want to eat, but don’t eat just because other people are eating or because it’s convenient. (from Cameron Chapman)
Actually engage socially with someone. If your mouth is talking, it can’t eat. (from Kenneth Cummins)
At a standing event, keep one hand in your pocket, and the other holding a glass of water. Unless it’s a high-end, Roman-esque event with personal serving maidens, you can’t eat what you can’t pick up. (from Kenneth Cummins)
Cheat without guilt. For one or two occasions a year, allow yourself to eat as much as you want, which doesn’t necessarily mean to stuff yourself, but to eat without thinking too much about consequences. Two big meals on Christmas or similar occasions don’t spoil a year-long habit of healthy eating. Don`t overanalyze, just enjoy, without any bad conscience. (from Alessandro Shobeazzo)
Plan behavior beforehand, and plan it specifically. If going to a place of feasting (holiday, buffet, free lunch, etc), make a specific plan for what you will allow yourself to do. For example, plan to eat a good portion of protein, one starch, and lots of green vegetables. With your plan, you can then acknowledge the urge to overeat, but not give in. Make sure to make a specific plan BEFORE the event and NOT on an empty stomach. (from Jonathan Pishner)
Place your two palms together. Whatever fits in between is the approximate size of your stomach. Project that on to your plate and put only this much food on it. (from Ivan Staroversky)
Drink lots of water and eat s-l-o-w-l-y. Eating slowly allows you time to hear the faint but clear ‘enough! enough!’ cries coming from the belly. (from maggie dodson and Sujit Kumar Chakrabarti)
Get over the idea of finishing your plate and be stubborn about stopping when you’re full. Most people are conditioned from childhood to finish everything on their plate so will keep eating when full. Be warned though that other people will sometimes get upset at you for not eating everything. Stick to ‘it was great but I can’t fit anymore in’ until they move on. (from Rhiiannon Dwyer)
Try to count up to 15 chews per each mouthful. That will really slow you down. (from Hudson Gardner)

Courtesy: Leo Babauta.

What Is The Herbalife Weight Loss Challenge?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 03:30:00 +0000

Can Joining The Herbalife Weight Loss Challenge Get You The Results You're Looking For?
Herbalife weight loss products and Herbalife together stand behind their products, and their ability to give you the results that you are looking for however, this article will in no way shape or for try to promote Herbalife or the Herbalife Weight Loss Challenge. Its only purpose is to educate you on the company and ways that you can take advantage of the program.
The basis of any healthy lifestyle is good nutrition and programs that ignore this fact can actually do a lot more harm than good. Trying to lose weight by depriving yourself from essential nutritious elements can lead to binging or other health related problems. There are many stories of people that lose a few pounds just to gain even more after a short while. These types of programs will not only have a negative effect on your body but could also influence your mental attitude towards weight loss in a negative way.
Choose the healthiest option
When you decide to choose weight loss by Herbalife and join the Herbalife weight loss challenge then you have the potential to loose weight and look after your health at the same time. The expertly designed system will focus on keeping you healthy while working towards your ideal weight. There is no joy in losing weight by sacrificing your health in the process.
If you deprive your body of essential nutrition you could fall victim to binging sessions due to cravings. Your body will fight to survive and if it lacks certain elements, it could cause you to crave certain foods. These cravings could be stronger than your desire to lose weight and lead to binge eating.
The advantages of Herbalife products
With the Herbalife weight loss challenge, you will get to know the products that can help you to lose weight and then to maintain your weight on a healthy level. The products that you will use are not intended to suppress your appetite or to burn fat in any unnatural way.
An essential part of a healthy lifestyle is a healthy self-image. Constant failure with get thin quick schemes can lead to depression and a negative self-image. The Herbalife weight loss challenge may be something to look into if you have tried getting too thin, too quick in the past.
Your health is in your hands
The most important factor in how to reduce weight is that the choice is yours and yours alone. Nobody else can decide to lose your weight. With proven methods and achievable goals, the challenge is a way for you to test yourself. You can set your goals and you can decide to live a healthy life. Through living a healthy life and the expertise at your disposal, losing weight can be easy.
The important thing to remember is that the Herbalife weight loss challenge is not a competition with others, it is a system designed to help you achieve your goal of looking and feeling great every day.

Jonathan Hottle is an International Grow Specialist Who Counsels Network Marketers and Home Based Business Owners On Ways To Maximize Growth In Their Organizations, And How To Build Organizations From The Ground Up. Jonathan is currently in the process of helping several Herbalife Distributors from all over the world to maximize their potential and allow them to gain financial freedom. Jonathan encourages you to visit his website to uncover the secrets to Herbalife Success.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jonathan_Hottle

Sitting and Watching

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 04:30:00 +0000

Have you ever felt that we are rushing through life, that we get so caught up in busy-ness that life is passing us almost without notice?

I get this feeling all the time.

The antidote is simple: sitting and watching.

Take a minute out of your busy day to sit with me, and talk. Take a moment to imagine being in the middle of traffic — you’re driving, stressed out by the high amount of traffic, trying to get somewhere before you’re late, angry at other drivers who are rude or idiotic, completely focused on making your way through this jungle of metal on a ribbon of asphalt. Now you’ve gotten to the end, phew, you made it, wonderful, and you’re only a few minutes late … but did you notice the scenery you passed along the way? Did you talk to any of the other people along your path? Did you enjoy the ride?

No, probably not. You were so caught up in getting there, in the details of navigating, in the stress of driving, that you didn’t have time to notice your surroundings, the people nearby, or the wonderful journey. This is how we are in life.

Now imagine that you pulled over, and got out of the car, and found a grassy spot to sit. And you watched the other cars zoom by. And you watched the grass blown gently by the wind, and the birds making a flocking pattern overhead, and the clouds lazily watching you back.

Sit and watch.

We don’t do this, because it’s useless to do something that isn’t productive, that doesn’t improve our lives. But as Alan Watts wrote in The Way of Zen:

“As muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone, it could be argued that those who sit quietly and do nothing are making one of the best possible contributions to a world in turmoil.”

It’s interesting, too, what we see when we sit and watch. We will notice others rushing, and worried, and angry, and in them see a mirror of ourselves. We will notice children laughing (or crying) with their parents, and remember what we’re missing when we rush to improve our lives.

More interesting is what you see when you sit and watch yourself. You learn to step outside yourself, and act as an observer. You see your thoughts, and learn more about yourself than you ever could if you were rushing to take action. You see your self-doubts, and self-criticism, and wonder where they came from (a bad incident in childhood, perhaps?) and wonder if you are smart enough to let them go. You see your rationalizations, and realize that they are bullshit, and learn to let those go too. You see your fears, and realize what hold they have over you, and realize that you can make them powerless, by just sitting and watching them, not taking action on them.

By sitting and watching, you come to know yourself.

You learn the most valuable lessons about life, by sitting and watching.

And as we know from the observer effect in physics, by watching, we change what we watch.

Take a few minutes today, to sit and watch. It might change your life.

Courtesy : Leo Babauta.

The Secret Rule of Changing Anything

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 05:50:00 +0000

I’ve learned a lot about changing habits over the years, and have taught thousands of people how to do it.

The hardest habits to change, by far, are the ones people can’t seem to control. They want to change, but can’t seem to find the “willpower” (a term I don’t believe in).

For me, some of the things that seemed out of my control: smoking, eating junk food, overeating during social occasions, procrastination, anger, patience, negative thoughts.

I learned one little secret that allowed me to change it all:

When you are aware, you can change it.

OK, don’t roll your eyes and stop reading yet. That secret might seem obvious to some, or too simplistic. So let’s go a bit deeper.

When we have urges to eat something we know is bad for us, we often give in. But is it that simple? The truth is that our mind is actually rationalizing why we should just eat that cake, why it’s too hard to not eat it, why it isn’t that bad to eat it. It asks why we’re putting ourselves through pain, why can’t we let ourselves just live, and don’t we deserve that treat?

All of this happens without our noticing, usually. It’s quiet, in the background of our consciousness, but it’s there. And it’s incredibly powerful. It’s even more powerful when we’re not aware it’s happening.

It beats us all the time — not just with eating, but with anything we try to do and end up quitting, caving in, doing it despite our best efforts.

How can we defeat this powerful force — our own mind?

Awareness is the key. It’s the start.

1. Start by becoming aware. Become an observer. Start listening to your self talk, observe what your mind does. Pay attention. It’s happening all the time. Meditation helps with this. I also learned through running — by not taking along an iPod, I run in silence, and have nothing to do but watch nature and listen to my mind.

2. Don’t act. Your mind will urge you to eat that cake (“Just a bite!”) or smoke that cigarette or stop running or procrastinate. Listen to what your mind is saying, but don’t act on those instructions. Just sit still (mentally) and watch and listen.

3. Let it pass. The urge to smoke, eat, procrastinate, or quit running … it will pass. It’s temporary. Usually it only lasts a minute or two. Breathe, and let it pass.

4. Beat the rationalizations. You can actively argue with your mind. When it says, “One little bite won’t hurt!”, you should point to your gut and say, “Yeah, that’s what you said all those other times, and now I’m fat!” When it says, “Why are you putting yourself through this pain?”, you should say, “It’s painful to be unhealthy, and it’s only painful to avoid the cake if you look at it as a sacrifice — instead, it can be a joy to embrace healthy and delicious foods, and fitness!”

There are lots of times when “willpower” fails us. These are the times we need to become aware of our minds.

When we are aware, we can change it. This is a small secret, but it’s life changing. It changed my life, because I can now change anything. I watch, and I wait, and I beat it. You can too.

Post Courtesy: Leo Babauta.

Get Back on Track

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 04:31:00 +0000

People trying to get healthy and fit all around the country are feeling guilty today after indulging way too much on Thanksgiving — and if you’re outside the U.S., you’ve had this experience on holidays of your own.

You had a great feast, but you feel like you overdid it. And you feel guilty as hell, and you feel like crap.

Toss all those feelings out. And get the hell off your ass and back on track.

I indulge myself nearly every holiday, and feel guilty too — for about a minute. Then I realize that guilt does nothing to get me fitter. I realize the only thing that will get me fitter is eating healthy today — yesterday doesn’t matter — and being active and working out today.

Here’s why yesterday doesn’t matter: one day of overeating makes almost no difference over the long term. And the long term is what really matters, isn’t it? Are we trying to be healthy and fit on one day, or for a lifetime? Over a lifetime, one day means nothing, but what you do on the vast majority of days is what counts.

And so stop the guilt-fest, stop the worrying, and start eating right. Today. Start working out … today.

If you’ve been doing great, that one day was just a day of fun, and you deserve it. Get back on track, and you’ll be great.

If you haven’t been doing great, and you overdid it, you should now have more than enough fuel to start exercising today. Go for a walk, and enjoy the outdoors. Play a sport with family. Do some pushups, squats and lunges instead of sitting around all day. It doesn’t matter what you do, but start moving.

Yesterday came and went, and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Today, you will rock. Today, you are the master of your fitness.

Courtesy : Leo Babauta.

Four Simple Fitness Fundamentals

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 03:44:00 +0000

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Chris of Zen to Fitness.
Health and Fitness have always been meaningful to me as I work in the industry and have always been fascinated by the topic. Nowadays I see too many people push themselves too hard, use bad form and quite simply overdo it with exercise or trying to be healthy in the quest to be fit.
We also have a tendency to make health and fitness much too complicated …
From this I came to think about a few fundamentals – things I find really important in living a healthy lifestyle. I came up with just four, sure there are others but these are the ones I feel everyone who wants to live a healthier lifestyle or be fitter should know.
Bodyweight is King. The Squat and Pushup should be mastered before you move onto other weighted exercises or doing resistance training using weights. This is something I have learnt in my years personal training – the majority of people cannot do a bodyweight squat with good form or weight distribution. As for pushups few people can do 10-15 with good form – these two movements are the starting point and should be practiced and strengthened before doing anything else.
The best thing is amazing workouts can be made up of just running, squats and pushups.
Cardio is Great. Not Essential. Some people love to run, others don’t. Some like to go on long bike rides to release stress others don’t. We are all different and this is most true when it comes to cardiovascular fitness and training – some of us love it and find it to be a great tension and stress reliever, while others find it boring, monotonous and strenuous.
Learn to love and live with yourself. If you love doing cardio (running, jogging, crosstrainer etc etc) then do it, if you don’t there are plenty of other ways to stay fit – whether it be bodyweight intervals or playing sports with friends. Find what you are into – the truth is that there are many many ways to gain cardiovascular fitness. Pick what works for you.
Walk Everyday. Find Rhythm. Walking gives rhythm to our lives – it helps us think, re-aligns the body and limbers up the knees and hips. If you live in a city walking should be your main form of transport, I always say that if the distance is walkable do it by foot.
If you live somewhere more remote walking can be harder as it is sometimes hard to gather motivation to walk without a real purpose. Try listening to a podcast or music while walking – this helps time pass by and gives you a time to listen to what you want without distractions.
For optimal health I always say the two most essential things are walking and stretching – neither are to be obsessed over but if you can fit in at least 20 minutes of walking everyday and start or end your day with a good total body stretch out you are on the right path.
Live an Invigorating Life. Last but not least – living an invigorating life is probably the most essential thing when it comes to health and fitness. This means living a life that we get strength or energy from – something that gives us a reason to be active and move.
Whether this energy comes from doing a job you love, being around people you have fun with, travelling or just doing stuff you love. We need something in our lives to gain strength from. Excitement and passion change things up and gives us the motivation to exercise, eat well and most importantly makes us feel good.
I would even go as far as saying one of the best ways to stay fit is just to live life – be active, play with your kids, play tennis, touch football or whatever sports you enjoy, do some bodyweight exercises in the morning, walk lots and eat lots of wholesome food. In all honesty that is how most of the healthiest people I know live.
Integrate the fundamentals then go from there.
Of course it is great to take things to the next level but first gain a foothold on your health by doing the basics right.
Chris is the author of ‘All About Fitness’ and writes about staying fit while living life at Zen to Fitnes

When Willpower is Trumped by Bad Habits

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 02:41:00 +0000

Have you ever set out to start a new habit or goal, but found your willpower lacking?

Many new ventures are foiled by the morning email habit, for example — we want to exercise or write or meditate, but we can’t resist checking out email for just a minute … and then we’ve gotten lost, down the rabbit hole.

How can we build the willpower to beat these bad habits?

Reader Shanna Mann recently wrote:

“I’d love to see how to get over willpower being the final word on goal-setting :). I was doing morning pages this morning, and in spite of enjoying it, valuing the clarity it brings, and being able to quantifiably measure how much more productive they make me, I find it so hard to write them instead of check my emails first thing in the morning.

What the hell am I missing here?”

Shanna, of course, is talking about Julia Cameron’s suggestion to write three long-hand pages of free-flowing consciousness every morning, no matter what, before you do anything else. I’m kinda doing that right now, as I write this post.

It’s a beautiful habit. But Shanna is tripped up by the urge to check emails first thing every day. Is she lacking in willpower to achieve her goals?

In a word: no. It’s not a lack of willpower, but a very strongly ingrained (possibly bad) habit that’s beating her goal. Checking email first thing is a habit that has been repeated daily for years probably, with a positive feedback loop (I have new email! I’m productive!) that has reinforced the habit until it’s a very strong urge that’s hard to beat.

There’s also negative feedback for not doing the habit: you feel like you’re missing something important if you don’t check email, and so you go through withdrawal. It’s exactly how drug addiction works.

How to Beat the Addiction

So what’s the answer? Replace the bad habit with a good one. You can’t just stop a bad habit, because then you’re left with a gaping hole and nothing to fill it.

Bad habits fill real needs. In this case, email fills a need to be up-to-date, to feel important. You have to figure out what the need is first, and then come up with a strategy for filling that need in some other way. I would suggest replacing it with a habit that helps you to feel important (perhaps the morning pages) and maybe learning that you don’t need to be up-to-date right away — you can do it an hour later and still be fine.

There are several steps to beating a bad habit:

1. Figure out what your trigger is. For Shanna, her trigger for checking email is waking up in the morning. Every habit has a trigger — something in our routine that directly precedes the habit. For smoking, I used to have multiple triggers — drinking coffee, eating a meal, stress, drinking alcohol with friends, meetings, waking up in the morning, etc.

2. Find a replacement habit. A small, positive habit to replace the old habit. Ideally it fills at least some of the needs of the old habit. Start very, very small in the beginning or you’ll be facing an uphill battle. If you want to write morning pages, don’t try to write three long-hand pages — do just five minutes. If it’s small, you beat the obstacle of dreading to do the new habit. When you check email, for example, you don’t say, “I’m going to do an hour of email now!” You say, “I’ll just check it for a second.” It often turns into more, but the point is there is a very low entry barrier.

3. Engineer positive & negative feedback. If positive feedback has built up your old habit, and negative feedback is stopping you from quitting the old habit, you need to make these powerful forces work for you and not against you. You can’t beat them, so use them. Engineer positive feedback for your new habit: make the writing (for example) really enjoyable, with a cup of coffee and a quiet, peaceful setting, and focus on the enjoyability of it, not the hard parts. If you want to meditate, focus on how relaxed it makes you, not how difficult it is.

Do the same for negative feedback for not doing the new habit. If you don’t do the new habit, what’s the consequence? Usually, nothing. You check email, feel a little guilty, but no one knows, nothing bad happens. So engineer a different consequence: tell the world (or a small group of friends) you’re going to change — announce it through Twitter, Facebook, G+, email, blog. And report your success (or failure) every single day. When the world is watching, you want to succeed. Have accountability partners. Don’t let yourself slide secretly.

4.Do the new habit immediately after the trigger, consistently. If you can do it for a month, you’ll probably have a new habit. A new habit is built by doing an action immediately after a trigger, repeatedly, for a certain number of repetitions. There is no set number — it depends on how easy the habit is (which is why I suggest starting as easy as possible) and how consistent you are in repeating it. Report to your accountability group after you do the habit.

5. Beat the urge to do the old habit. The urge will come, I guarantee you. This is where you say, “But I don’t have the willpower!” Yes, you do. Everyone does, but they just don’t know the tricks. I’m going to teach you the tricks so you have no excuses:

Pay attention to the urges. The urges win when you let them go unnoticed. They have power. Pay attention.
Know that the urges come in waves. They build up like a wave, they get strong, they crest, and then they go away. You just need to wait a minute or two before you’re over the crest.
Try deep breathing. Take a few very long, slow breaths. The urge is a feeling of anxiety, tightness in your chest. The breaths help relieve that anxiety, and it passes. Try some self-massage too — massage your shoulders to relax yourself.
Walk around a bit. Physical activity helps you to get over the urges. Walk, do some pushups, some bodyweight squats, jump up and down, do some shadowboxing.
Use your accountability group. Call an accountability partner if you’re having an especially hard time. Make this person a promise that you won’t do the bad habit unless you call her first.
Give yourself little treats/rewards when changing a habit. Maybe daily, maybe once a week. It can work wonders to give yourself a pat on the shoulder, a massage, a nice dinner out, a big plate of delicious tropical fruit, for example.

Et voila. These small tricks will get you past the urges, which can be strong but will subside. And the miracle is, if you can do this for a week, you’ll be past the worst urges. They will start to get weaker and weaker, until they’re incredibly easy to beat.

Be mindful of the urges, of your rationalizations. Yes, there will be many rationalizations — our brains are very, very good at justifying doing the old action. Pay close attention. This is really the most important trick, and it doesn’t take a master of willpower to do it. We’re all capable of paying attention.

Beating old habits isn’t a matter of having a mountain of willpower. It’s a matter of paying attention, doing a small new habit in its place, and using some easy tricks to overcome the forces that work against us. Anyone can do it — I’ve done it many times, and I assure you, for many years I thought I had the least amount of willpower of anyone in the world. I was lazy, overweight, a smoker, broke and deeply in debt … the list goes on and on, but I was nowhere near disciplined.

If I can do it, you can. Willpower exists, but its importance has been built up in our minds so that when we fail at something, we blame it on lack. There is no lack, except in understanding of the forces that conspire against us.

‘I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.’ ~Mae West

Courtesy: Leo Babauta.

Effortless Decision-Making

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 11:43:00 +0000

How do you make a choice when you’re stuck at a fork in the road?

How can you decide when two or more possibilities seem equally good?

I’ve been learning (but haven’t mastered) the principles of Effortless Decision-Making. It’s a way of making decisions where you can flow through the constant stream of decisions we must make every day of our lives, without getting stuck, without being paralyzed by fear. We choose, and flow, and we let go of worry.
What follows is a very brief guide to making effortless decisions.

Let go of perfection. We’ll never make perfect decisions, and wanting to make the perfect choice keeps us paralyzed.

Get more information. Don’t let this hold you up, but if you’re stuck it’s often because you don’t have the necessary info. What info do you need? Can you easily get it? Get it now if you can, but don’t be held up by the lack of info.

Try and err. If you don’t have enough info — and that’s usually the case — just choose. It doesn’t really matter what you choose, just make a choice and let go of the idea of making the right choice. Now live with that choice for a bit, and see what happens. This is called trial and error, and it’s often the best way to get information. We try something, and see how it works out — and then we have more information to make better decisions in the future. When you look at it this way, decisions are just a series of trial and error experiments, and it doesn’t matter what the outcomes are, because any outcome is good information.

Try intuition. If you’re stuck and don’t have enough info, let go of worry and just make a choice. How do you make a choice? You could flip a coin, but you could also just go with your gut reaction. What does your intuition say? Start listening to it — often it’s an unconscious decision based on lots of factors that we can’t consciously process, so a part of our unconscious brain processes it and comes up with a split-second decision. Intuition can be wrong, but that’s still OK: we’re going to learn from the results no matter what. So just learn to hear your intuition, and go with it.

Let go of worry. If you learn the above principles, it’s easy to see that there’s nothing to worry about. You don’t need to be perfect, and a decision is very rarely the end of the world (at least, no decision has led to the end of the world yet). Sure, history is littered with the corpses of those who made bad decisions, but there are a million times more decisions that were made without any really bad consequences. You won’t die, you’ll just learn. So don’t worry — just choose.

Practice, and flow. You’ll get better at this with practice, as you learn to let go of perfection and worry and see decisions as experiments. You’ll learn to do it better, faster, with more intuition. Soon you’ll flow through your daily decisions with ease. Do it consciously at first, keeping in mind all of the above principles, but it gets easier as you go.

Making decisions is something we do all day long, and it doesn’t have to be difficult. We build certain decisions up in our minds because we think they’re incredibly important, but in truth they’re rarely that big a deal. This isn’t the Cuban Missile Crisis — we’re not deciding the fate of a nation. See choice as an opportunity to learn, and you’ll be happy for every single effortless decision that comes your way.

Courtesy: Leo Babauta

Do One Thing Well

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 06:26:00 +0000

I’m often asked how you can start doing work you love — how you can make a living doing something you’re passionate about.

I don’t profess to have all the answers, but the answer for me has been fairly simple:

Do one thing really well.

People want a more comprehensive answer than that, but in my experience, if you learn to do this, the rest will follow.

I write about simplicity. That’s all I do. Over the last 4 1/2 years of writing Zen Habits I’ve found success by focusing on that alone, and stripping away everything else that gets in the way. I’ve removed comments, I don’t do much social media (except for fun), I don’t do much email, I don’t sell ads, I don’t do consulting. I write about simplicity.

By doing this one thing over and over, I’ve gotten much better at it. Good enough, anyway, for people to want to read my work, and as the audience for my work has grown, so have the opportunities to make a living in a non-spammy way. The ways I monetize (print books, ebooks, online courses) are less important grown the audience. than how I’ve

Do one thing well.

It’s really that simple. Narrow down what you do, and do it repeatedly. Learn, grow, improve, read, watch, do it some more. When you’re really good at that one thing, people will want to pay you for it, or to learn how you do it.

It takes a lot of focus and practice to get good at doing one thing, but I’ve found that if you truly love it, it’s not really work. It’s play. And I never complain about playing at something I love.

Courtesy: Leo Babauta

How to Be Happy Anytime

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 09:57:00 +0000

My friend Barron recently asked, “If you could be anywhere right now, doing anything you want, where would you be? And what would you be doing?”

And my answer was, “I’m always where I want to be, doing what I want to be doing.”

I’ve notice that in the past, like many people, I was always wishing I was doing something different, thinking about what I would do in the future, making plans for my life to come, reading (with jealousy) about cool things other people were doing.

It’s a fool’s game.

Many of us do this, but if you get into the mindset of thinking about what you *could* be doing, you’ll never be happy doing what you actually *are* doing. You’ll compare what you’re doing with what other people (on Facebook and Twitter, perhaps?) are doing. You’ll wish your life were better. You’ll never be satisfied, because there’s *always* something better to do.

Instead, I’ve adopted the mindset that whatever I’m doing right now is perfect. If I’m writing a post, that’s amazing. If I’m reading blog posts on the Internet, that’s interesting. If I’m doing nothing but hanging out with my family, that’s incredible. If I’m walking outside, enjoying the fresh air, that’s beautiful.

There’s nothing I’m ever doing that isn’t the most incredible thing on Earth. If I’m doing something sucky (I can’t remember doing that recently), maybe that’s an invaluable life lesson. If I’m with someone boring or obnoxious, it’s a lesson in patience, or empathy, or in learning to understand people better.
The Now Mindset, In Practice

Let’s say you’re washing the dishes. Wouldn’t you rather be having a delicious meal instead, or talking with your best friend? Sure, those things are great, but they’re only better if you believe they’re better, and more importantly, the comparison is totally unnecessary. Why should you compare what you’re doing now (washing dishes) with anything else? Wouldn’t almost anything lose out if you compare it to something you like more? Will you ever be happy with what you’re doing if you always compare it with something you like more?

Washing dishes can be as great as anything else, if you decide to see it that way. You’re in solitude, which is a beautiful thing. If you do it mindfully, washing dishes can be pleasant as you feel the suds and water in your hands, pay attention to the dish and its texture, notice your breathing and thoughts. It’s meditation, it’s quiet, it’s lovely.

You can say the same of anything. Driving to work? Enjoy the solitude, the chance to be alone with your thoughts, or to listen to music you love, to see the world around you. In a meeting with co-workers? Pay attention to how people talk and interact, learn about the human mind, see yourself in everyone around you, learn to love anyone no matter who they are, practice giving up expectations of who people should be or what this meeting should be like.

I’m always happy with what I’m doing, because I don’t compare it to anything else, and instead pay close attention to the activity itself. I’m always happy with whoever I’m with, because I learn to see the perfection in every person. I’m always happy with where I am, because there’s no place on Earth that’s not a miracle.

Life will suck if you are always wishing you’re doing something else. Life will rock if you realize you’re already doing the best thing ever.

Courtesy: Leo Babauta.

The Intersection of Fit and Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 09:17:00 +0000

Many people don’t exercise or eat healthy because they think it’s hard or takes discipline.

They’re missing out on a lot of fun.

If you do it the wrong way, exercise is difficult and boring and too much work. If you do it the wrong way, eating healthy takes too much discipline. And so people (myself included, just a few years ago) often do unhealthy things, because it’s easier or more fun. It’s easy to not exercise, and to watch TV or surf the Internet instead. It’s more fun to eat a pile of nachos or fries, to eat fried chicken or sweets.

We want fun, not strict discipline and boring ness.

The trick is fairly simple: figure out what’s healthy, and figure out what’s fun. Then find the area where the two circles intersect.

When those two worlds collide, look out. You’re on your way to being fit.

Food That’s Healthy AND Delicious

When we see healthy diets as boring and bland, we can’t stick with them for more than a short while. Sometimes a week or two, sometimes only a few days.

But if you can find delicious, healthy food, it’s easy to stick with a healthy diet.

I generally eat just a few types of plant foods (no animal foods, for ethical reasons): lots of veggies, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, whole grains. Some wine, coffee, tea. I eat a few foods in modest amounts, only occasionally: sweets, processed grains, fried foods, sugary beverages.

Boring? Not if you do it right.

For example, here are some foods I find delicious:

Berries
Nut butter (almond butter especially)
Avocados
Mangos
Coconut
Steel-cut oats with flaxseeds, fruit, cinnamon
Bananas
Stir-fried veggies w/ olive oil, spices
Spicy tahini sauce on brown rice, kale, black beans
Veggie chili
Veggie curries w/ coconut milk

That’s just a start. And that’s just my tastebuds — yours are different, of course. You need to find the foods you love that are also healthy. That takes some experimenting. Also, I’ve found that tastebuds change over time. So give different foods a chance.

Fun Fitness

I don’t do boring exercise. If I hate doing something, I stop doing it. I don’t have enough life left to waste doing stuff I hate.

But I exercise almost every single day, because I love it. How did I learn to love exercise? It’s simple: I play.

I play every day, and I love it. When exercise is play, you’re not forcing yourself to do it — you *want* to do it.

Some examples of ways I play:

I go on runs with a friend, and have long conversations.
I go to the playground with my kids, and climb monkeybars with them.
I play soccer or basketball with the kids.
I throw my kids around, let them ride on my shoulders, swing them, do pushups with them on my back.
I race the kids up hills.
I throw heavy stuff around (sandbags, kettlebells, logs).
I go on hikes with family or friends.
I do races now and then, for the fun of it (no goals).

Those are just some examples, and again, they’re what I like to do. What’s fun for you will be very different. And again, it takes some experimenting to find what’s fun for you.

Don’t do boring exercise. Find where fun and fit collide. It makes a world of difference.

Courtesy: Leo Babauta.

Persistence Is The Key

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 10 Jul 2011 10:04:00 +0000

Keep On Keeping On

Persistence is the key to success. Especially when considering a goal you really want and need in life at a very deep level. No matter what the disappointment, there are always possibilities of achievement because genuine persistence works that way. There are always ways to keep on keeping on, especially when there does not seem to be. That is especially when you get genuinely creative and search outside of the "box of given options." So here is an appropriate place to quote Thomas Alva Edison near the end of his life: "Ideas come from space. This is amazing but true, Ideas come from out of space." Sure, ideas do come from inspiration, which could be interpreted as "space to grow ideas." This is where the mind is a vessel, and not an originator, in that ideas genuinely come from all around us if we just notice and think deeply about things in both an abstract and linear way all at the same time.

Thought is a thing as well as an energy. That is its power, that is its reality shaping working. But the mind itself is a vessel for this energy and thing. That is what makes the mind the greatest interpreter and controller of all, but not the best creator in that sense of actually creating energy. Crafting, yes. Creating, no. That is my point. Indeed, we must use ideas to get what we want to do, done.

Some of the best ideas are worked out when all other channels of creation seem to not work. The power of crafting ideas comes from forming them from what already has been worked out in the sense of making something better that has already been worked out like going from yelling across the prairie to the telegraph to the telephone, to the cell telephone! My point is as follows, there is always room to make things work more efficiently and better. This is not a competition, but the ultimate of creation when you really look at it objectively. Your mind is a controller and worker, not a creator, leave creation to existence.

Mental power does come from honestly using your resources to control your reality, not create it in a genuinely ineffective mystical way. What do I mean by mystical? Well, a famous politician says, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting it to work differently." That is a part of the mysticism. Genuine creativity is always a different angle on things and reality is not set in stone, time always marches on and so should persistence until you do achieve.

Courtesy: Joshua Clayton,

The Zen Habits of Teen-agers

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 03:51:00 +0000

How do you improve your life and find happiness when you’re a teen-ager, and can’t control much of your life?

You change what you can control, and let go of trying to control everything else.

Several teen-agers have written to me recently, asking for a post on how to improve their lives when they’re still under their parents’ control.

It’s not easy, I’ll admit. But there’s a lot you can do, no matter what your situation.

For example … if your parents are constantly getting mad at you, constantly negative, constantly controlling your life and not letting you do what you want to do, how do you handle that?

Try this:

Look at every interaction with your parents as an opportunity.

It’s an opportunity to practice patience.

It’s an opportunity to empathize and find compassion for others.

It’s an opportunity to let go of your expectations of what others should do.

It’s an opportunity to stop wishing things were other than they are.

It’s an opportunity to be grateful in the face of frustrations.

I know that it’s frustrating when you can’t do what you want to do. Teen-agers are rapidly becoming adults, and yet they’re not given the freedom, the respect, the rights of adults.

As a side note, this seems wrong to me. Why don’t we give teen-agers the freedoms of adults? I know most of you will have reasons, but say them out loud … and then think of how you’d feel if your spouse or friend used that as a reason to deny you of freedoms. And think of how those same reasons were used to deny minorities and women those same freedoms, not too long ago.

Anyhow, this is the world we live in. So how can teens cope with this? Some suggestions:

1. Stop trying to change what you can’t. You cannot change your parents. You might be able to change your situation with drastic moves, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Instead, let go of the wishes you have that things were different. Things aren’t different, and wishing they were different just leads to frustrations. Accept things for what they are, see people for who they are, and work with that reality.

2. Figure out what you can change. Even if you have few freedoms, there are always small things you can change. Can you spend a few minutes doing sitting meditation? Can you eat more fruits & veggies? Can you walk more? Can you watch less TV and find a few minutes to create? Can you blog? Can you do some pushups in your room? Can you learn to be more grateful in every interaction with others? Can you slow down a bit? Can you smile more? There are lots and lots of small changes you can make, even if you can’t make the big ones you’d like to make.

3. You can always change your mind. Learn to live in the moment. Learn to be mindful of your thoughts. Learn to squash negative thinking. Learn to see the opportunities in everything. Learn to see mistakes and failures as an opportunity to learn and improve. Learn to be grateful, and compassionate, and kind.

4. Learn to live without control. If you don’t control much of your life, guess what? You’re like the rest of us. We only think we have control over our lives, but it’s an illusion. Instead, learn to give up that control, and deal moment to moment with what comes.

I’m no longer a teen-ager, so what I say might seem irrelevant, presumptuous. But I was a teen-ager once, and I am the father of three teens (and one pre-teen). I am a brother to two teens and uncle to many more. I do my best to show them respect and compassion, but know that they still feel frustrations. If they could learn these few lessons, they’d be far ahead of most people.

courtesy:Leo Babauta.

Importance of Self motivation.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 17:59:00 +0000

Self motivation is very important. There are several reasons for self motivation being so important in a person's life. Everyone needs to be self motivated.

These days, with so many challenges and a lot of competition one needs to survive, self motivation works like confidence enhancer. It boosts once enthusiasm and provides energy to work.

Self motivation is known as the most important factor in your life. If you are looking for success in any area of your life, you need self motivation. Self motivation plays an important role in enhancing your self esteem. It cultivates a desire to do something in life. Experts in the past have believed and even proved that when self motivation is combined with self determination, one can easily move mountains and find water in deserts.

There are several things one can get motivated with. People get motivated by their strong belief in the almighty. They can even get motivated by an experience they have had or by any other factor. These things just encourage you to change your perspective in life. One can change in to a better person or a better business person with self motivation.

People usually go through happy and sad times in their lives. When thing go awry, you need to support yourself, your family and people around you. This needs a good amount of energy force in you. When providing support and encouragement to your family and friends, you need to be really strong.

Some people are lucky to have good support in the times of pathos. However, some are left alone and require a lot of courage to survive tough times. At such times, one need to get motivates or motivates oneself. Lack of self motivation at such times can be damaging and even complicate your life further.

Mentioned below are some strong reasons on why you require self motivation:

Self motivation is extremely important when it comes to accepting challenges and opportunities in life.
The force of self motivation helps in planning your life and easing the difficulties.
Self motivation provides a new sense of purpose and direction to your life.
Self motivation is important to provide enthusiasm in life.
Self motivation lets you live a fulfilling life.
You can empower and encourage yourself to face tough times and competition in life with the help of self motivation.
Self motivations fill you with positive energy and boost your enthusiasm.
Self motivation is important for your existence. It provides you an identity for yourself.

Motivation is a kind of driving force that encourages an individual to get going. It is a kind of boost to the self confidence, faith and inner conscience of a person. All of us look for some kind of motivation in life. It is almost impossible to face a competition, achieve success of accomplish a goal without motivation.

Courtesy: Bertil Hjert

10 Life Lessons from a Reluctant Runner

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 04:07:00 +0000

True confession: When I was a kid, I couldn’t run a mile. I was relatively athletic. Good swimmer. Deadly at 3rd base. Hiked up and down and all around.

But running? No thanks.

Until, at age 20, I started dating a runner. I decided to let him teach me. This did not go well. We fought about it, because I was constantly miserable. I tried and gave up countless times.

Now I’m 30. I’m married to that runner. And, somehow, miraculously, I caught the running bug. And learned a few things along the way …

1. Sometimes things that suck are also awesome. This is not a post that extols the many physical benefits of running — or even teaches you how to get started. I’ll leave that up to Leo. I’m not even here to tell you that I love running.

I still find it a bit miserable most days. You get all sweaty. Your legs burn. Your heart races.

And, then, when you’re finished, your endorphins come flooding in. If you track your runs, you get to feel smug about your progress.

Totally worth it.

2. It’s all mental. Typing those words, I already want to take them back! My husband used to tell me this, back when we were still running and simultaneously squabbling about it. Nothing made me angrier.

But it hurts … !

Yeah, it hurt. It often still does. But once I made that mental switch that I will get out and run, I was able to do it. The only thing holding us back is our state of mind.

3. There’s a discernable difference between pain and discomfort. When I started running, every step felt like the worst step of my life. I was whiny. I hated, hated, hated every moment.

But, as people do when they want to impress someone they love, I kept picking it up again. And, finally, I began to notice the difference between pain and discomfort.

In the last 10 years, I’ve only suffered an injury once. I was at the gym, running along, when suddenly it felt like something snapped inside me. Like a rubber band that had been stretched too far, and it finally pops. I pulled a muscle. A term that doesn’t really do the thing justice.

The miracle of it is, though, that I’m so much more in tune with my body’s signals. I’m aware when it’s craving movement, even though I’m feeling lazy. When it’s saying enough is enough. When it can go just a little longer, even though I’m ready to turn the corner and head home.

4. Equipment matters — find what works for you. For me, there are two essential pieces of running equipment. Nike Frees and SmartWool socks. Seriously, I am obsessed with these socks.

That’s it.

On the flip side, I can’t stand one of the most frequently recommended pieces of gear: the technical shirt. I cannot abide the feeling of Dri-FIT or similar fabrics on my skin. Especially on my arms. I know all the benefits. I don’t care. It makes my skin crawl.

When I started running, I went out and bought loads of these shirts. It took me a year (because I’m slow) to realize that my hatred of them was actually de-motivating me. So, now, I run in cotton tank tops. They’re cheaper anyway!

5. Take joy in small accomplishments. I wish I were sitting here writing that I ran miles and miles and miles. Wait, no. That’s a lie. For a girl who couldn’t run a mile as a kid, getting off my bum and running 3 is a huge accomplishment. Epic.

Instead of feeling shame that I’m not running marathons, I take joy in taking in the sights and smells of my neighborhood (especially in the spring … flowers!). Of turning down streets that aren’t a part of my daily routine. And, occasionally, at shouting down the barking dogs that lunge at their gates as I run by.

6. Inconsistency is OK. I face a huge barrier in becoming a better runner – Chicago’s temperature swings. I know I can suit up in the winter and strip down in the summer, but extreme temperatures make me sick. So I don’t.

Ultimately, I work out to feel good. Running, yoga, spinning, whatever. I don’t stop working out when the weather is unbearable, but I certainly don’t run outside.

This used to really bother me. How could I ever become a “real” runner this way?

Maybe I can’t, but it doesn’t matter. This spring, after a 6 month break, I ran 20 minutes my first day out. And, I’m currently running faster and longer than ever.

7. It feels good to pick up your pace at the finish. This week, I ran 30 minutes. This is pretty much my outer limit (for the present!). My average pace was 10:19. At the end, I picked it up to 9 flat. Even though my calves were burning.

It felt damn good. And, although I have no expert studies to cite, I swear it helps create an endorphin rush.

8. But, slow down at the beginning, already! While it’s a good habit to pick it up at the end, I tend to overdo it at the start. As Leo has mentioned, this is inadvisable. In my case, it’s the single factor holding back my mileage.

My body is most comfortable at an 8 minute pace. That’s when I feel like a gazelle (no, really). Except, my body isn’t yet conditioned to hold this pace. So, I start fast. And then die. The only way I’m going to improve is to intentionally hold back from the very start.

9. Play is critical. Always. The first time I ran 30 minutes, it poured. My husband and I went for a 2 mile run, and the rain started coming down in sheets just after we got home. Instead of heading inside, I looked at him and asked if he’d run a bit further with me. We added a third mile. Running down the middle of our Chicago neighborhood streets, jumping in and over puddles … it’s still my most fun run to date.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t storm every summer day. Luckily, I know how to find the parks with fountains and sprinklers set out for kids and the young at heart. Racing to catch a light works, too. Just the other day I sprinted at a 5:58 minute pace, and it was exhilarating.

10. It’s ok to trick yourself. This is something else Leo has mentioned, but it bears repeating. Sometimes you have to just get out the door. If that means telling yourself, “oh, I’ll just run a mile, no biggie,” then do it. If it means adding one or two extra blocks before you turn back home, because you’re feeling stellar, do it.

My greatest breakthrough moments were the direct result of tricks I played on myself.

Courtesy:Brigitte Lyons

A Zen Story Of The Antahkarana And The Higher Self

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 19:38:00 +0000

The Antahkarana is the communication bus, the energy of the Holy Spirit, which connects between heaven through our seven chakras into the center of the Earth.
These three represent the Trinity. The Father, the Earth Mother and the Holy Spirit or Sat Chid Ananda. We ourselves, our seven chakras, represent the Son.
The Antahkarana in terms of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus is that which communicates between the Sun and the Earth. It has these physical representations from antiquity...
o The Obelisk is the physical, artistic, objective art, representation of the Antahkarana or the tower which connects all the chakras together. The Egyptian Obelisk like Cleopatras Needle in London, from thousands of years of Antiquity.
o The Tower. The Tower struck by Lightning of the Tarot. The Rainbow Bridge which connects all the infinity of chakras from the center of the earth chakra through the seven chakras of the body and up through the infinity of chakras above the head.
o Spire, inspire, aspire - Every brick aspires to become a Cathedral
o The Sufi Inspired Minaret of the Blue Mosque in Turkey even has the representation of the chakras above the head built up the towers. But only three. Now we need to go higher.
o Buddhist Stupa showing the representation of the Jhanas, or Chakras above the head.
o The Native American Indian Totem Pole has many chakras, gods, blockages on the way up the Antahkarana to the Eagle.
In the story below the horse whip is the "finger pointing at the moon" it is the antahkarana. We do not use it because it is higher than the intellect. We are apart from it and yet it is part of ourselves. And when we do not use it or get in its way we are then the witness of its use by our higher selves. Then the flowers shower. The energy of the higher self rains down upon our crown chakras, and we are deafened by the lightning bolt of energy which energizes us from on high. Commentary, Satchidanand.
When Hyakujo first arrived at Chiang-si to pay his respects to Ma Tzu, Ma Tzu inquired, "from where have you come?"
"From the great cloud monastery at Yueh Chou," answered Hyakujo.
"and what do you hope to gain by coming here?" asked Ma Tzu.
Hyakujo replied, "I have come seeking the Buddha-dharma."
To this Ma Tzu replied, "instead of looking to the treasure house which is your very own, you have left home and gone wandering far away. What for? I have absolutely nothing here at all. (Nothing, or anatta, nirvana, is the higher self, so really he is saying, "Here I have God!!" commentary Satchidanand) what is this Buddha-dharma that you seek?"
Whereupon Hyakujo prostrated himself and asked, "please tell me to what you alluded when you spoke of a treasure house of my very own."
Ma Tzu replied, "that which asked the question is your treasure house. It contains absolutely everything you need and lacks nothing at all. It is there for you to use freely, so why this vain search for something outside yourself?"
No sooner were these words spoken than Hyakujo received a great illumination and recognized his own no-mind. Beside himself with joy, he bowed in deep gratitude.
(the treasure house is the higher self, the soul, the monad, the logos and higher, commentary by Satchidanand)
Hyakujo spent the next six years in attendance upon Ma Tzu. But as Tao-Chih, his first teacher, was growing old, he wanted to return to look after him.
Before Hyakujo left Ma Tzu, he went to pay his final tribute to him.
Seeing him coming, Ma Tzu raised his horse whisk straight up. Hyakujo asked, "are you in the use of it, or apart from the use?"
Ma Tzu hung the horse whisk on the corner of his chair. After a minute or so, he asked Hyakujo, "hence forward, how do you open those two leaves of your mouth to work for others?"
At this, Hyakujo took the horse whisk and raised it straight up.
Ma Tzu said, "are you in the use of it, or apart from it?"
Hyakujo hung the horse whisk on the corner of the chair.
Just at that moment, a great roar, like hundreds of thunderbolts falling, rained on Hyakujo's head. Ma Tzu had given a shout which, it is said, deafened Hyakujo for three days.

Director Satchidanand, is one of the leading teachers of Meditation.
He helps people worldwide reach further than they EVER thought possible, FASTER!!!

Article Source: Swami_Satchidanand

Living With Chaos

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 08:33:00 +0000

Zencitiv

Recently I wrote about the illusion of control, and living with no goals.

What I’m still figuring out is what you do if you let go of the illusion of control, and plan as little as possible.

What’s life like without goals or plans? How do we deal with the chaos?

I don’t have all the answers, but I’m learning a lot.

I went to the World Domination Summit in Portland earlier this month with few plans. I had a speech to give, a couple smaller sessions to hold, a bike tour scheduled, a plane ticket and a hotel room. But the large majority of the weekend I left open, with no plans.
Zencitiv
It was liberating. I didn’t mind giving the talks, and I loved the tour, but meeting unexpected strangers, hanging out with people I’d never met, going with the flow of the crowd — it was fun. I never really knew what was going to happen next, and that’s scary … but strangely freeing.

As I write this, I’m on a plane to Guam for a month, and I have tons of friends and family to see — they all want to hang out with Eva, me and the kids (and vice versa — we’re excited to see them). But other than a place to stay for two of the four weeks we’ll be there, we have no set plans. We don’t know what we’re doing for transportation, we don’t know what we’ll do each day, and I don’t know where we’ll be living the last couple of weeks. It’s scary, but I know we’ll be fine.

How do you live with the chaos?

You learn to embrace it.
Living Daily Without Plans
Zencitiv
I try to schedule as little as possible, and I have no goals for each day. I wake up and ask myself, “What excites me today?” And each day that’s different.

Sure, there are obligations that I have to meet, but mostly those are things I’m excited about. The ones I’m not so excited about, I’ll still do — unless I can avoid them.

But each moment I try to live consciously, in the moment, and ask myself … “What am I passionate about? And how can I handle each moment while being true to my values?”

I’ve been having an ongoing discussion about this with my friend Suraj, who lives in London and practices the Jain religion. He has clearly identified his values: friendship, appreciation, compassion, and equanimity. I love those values.

My value is compassion, which comes in various manifestations: love, kindness, empathy, gratitude. And every time a situation comes up, I ask myself, “How can I deal with this compassionately?”

I’m still learning how to do this. I don’t claim to have mastered it, and will probably be exploring this for years to come.
Why Plans are an Illusion

Living without plans might seem foolish, or unrealistic to most people. That’s fine. But if you want to be realistic, you should understand that the plans you make are pure illusions of control.

Let’s take a simple example. You have plans to write a report (or a blog post or a book chapter) and meet with a colleague or business partner today. The writing is supposed to happen at 9 a.m. and the meeting is at 11 a.m.

Let’s assume those things actually happen according to plan. Many days, other things will come up and the illusion of control is easily shattered. But some days we get lucky and the plans actually happen as we hoped.

So you sit down to write, as planned. Perhaps you’ve outlined your writing. But as you write, you think of things you hadn’t planned. You face problems as you think the writing through that you couldn’t have foreseen before you started writing. In fact, if you pay close attention, it becomes clear that there’s no way you could have planned the writing ahead of time — it has to unfold as you do it, because only as you do it do you fully think things through, and there’s no way to predict our own thinking (let alone the thinking of others).

And so things emerge from our writing that could never have been planned, and in fact if we’re open to it, we might write something entirely brilliant that we never could have predicted. Or if we try to stick to the outline, we might ignore the brilliant possibilities that come up.

So now it’s 11 a.m. and it’s time for your meeting. You meet your colleague or partner, as planned, and start talking. Of course, conversations can’t be planned, and there’s no way to predict what will come up as you talk. You might even have an agenda, but as you talk about things on the agenda, new ideas emerge, and when one of you suggests a new idea, that sparks another idea in the other person, and so on — ideas are sparked, back and forth, that couldn’t have been planned.

And so new ideas and projects and collaborations emerge from this meeting that never could have been planned. And that’s a great thing.

The two planned events, even though they happened as planned, were totally unpredictable and uncontrollable. The more we embrace this chaos, the more we embrace the brilliant possibilities that might emerge. The more we try to control our day and actions with plans, the more we limit ourselves.
Be Open to the Unfolding Moment

We try to hold onto the illusion of control, but what if we instead embraced the chaos? What if we left ourselves open to the changing, unfolding moment, and the possibilities we could never have planned for?

It’s beautiful.

Try it. Throw out your plans for the next hour. See what happens, moment to moment. Think about what excites you, what’s in line with your values.

And as you start doing things that excite you, that are in line with your values … see what new things emerge. Talk with people with no fixed intentions, and see what ideas come up from that interaction. See what new opportunities come up as you interact with people, with ideas, with your own thoughts.

It sounds nebulous, but in fact it’s as concrete as anything else. As I’ve shown, when we make plans, we think we’re setting things in concrete, but it’s always fluid — we just try to make ourselves think it’s solidly concrete.

When we acknowledge the fluidity of our lives, we learn to use that fluidity to our advantage. We flow. We are open to changing currents. We see things with open eyes, instead of trying to make the world fit to our plans and goals.

I don’t have all the answers, and in fact I’d be a hypocrite if I claimed to be able to predict what will happen when I live like this … or if anyone else lives like this.

I don’t know what will happen. Think of the limitless possibilities of that simple statement.

Zencitiv

Courtesy: Leo Babauta.