The Ashtray

Health and Wellness - My Path So Far

History

• I never cared about looking after my body or what I ate until I started taking competitive Squash more seriously (up to August 2010).
• I researched several schools of thought on health through scientific journals, consulting my GP, a naturopath, a dietician and a couple of books before deciding to try some new habits out (September to Novermber 2010).
• I tested these beliefs by completely transforming my diet to one of 3-4 meat meals per week whilst living alone for 7 weeks over summer - “Approaching Vego” and stuck with this for several months. It worked very well overall and my base energy levels were higher and more consistent than ever - no sugar crashes or carb slumps. I also started going to a Chiropractor regularly and began to develop a more intimate knowledge of the signals my body gave me (December 2010 to February 2011).
• I traveled to Vietnam and ate everything I wanted without any restraint as a test of whether my new way of eating was actually great or completely imagined. I ate like a pig and drank almost every day, noticing that my energy levels were consistently decreasing (February 2011). 
• I went back to ‘Approaching Vego’ and felt nice and healthy again (March 2011).
• I then went vegan after watching Food Inc and completely fucked my health up by not eating diversely enough or in great enough quantities. I also started to learn about blood types and started to question the appropriateness of veganism for someone who is O-positive - the blood type of those with ‘primal’ genealogy (April to May 2011).
• At this point I moved back toward my Approaching Vego diet and reduced emotional pain suffered by allowing myself to eat crap in moderation (May 2011).
• The next stage was to move towards eating many more unprocessed foods. I only heavily limited intake from the food group of ‘junk’. Otherwise I just bought the best quality of everything I could find, targeting organic food whenever possible and affordable (June 2011 - Present).
• Next, I dropped wheat and gluten and had a period of NEVER having felt better in my life. I’m still not certain it’s the gluten that is fucking my body around, but I am starting to believe it’s more than likely (first done in July 2011 and intermittently tested since).
• From the 2nd half of 2011 to the present I’ve greatly increased my commitment to improving fitness and athleticism, so my understanding of what makes my body function well has improved greatly. I’ve also experimented with Bikram Yoga, Pilates, Osteopathy, Physiotherapy, Meditation, Pilates and undergoing regular blood tests to improve my understanding of the body. I tend to assimilate what is useful from each area and then ditch the rest until I feel a further look is warranted. Of course, it’s an ongoing process and I’m always looking to learn and test further.
• I currently subscribe to the below great lessons learned, try to consume consciously, rest and recover well, and make smart choices as often as possible.

The Best Lessons I’ve Learned So Far

1. Eating unprocessed, fresh and organic food (in descending order of absolute importance) is THE universal rule of eating well. Almost everything else is contentious.
2. Different diets ‘work’ for different people. Humans are extremely diverse in our physiological and biochemical makeup, and thus no one size fits all.
3. Although the optimal ratio between Carbohydrate:Fat:Protein varies amongst us, we ALL need some of each macro-nutrient. What really matters is the sources from which we obtain these essential compounds - the building blocks of our bodies.
4. Total health is cumulative. Despite the fact that your present state of health reflects your past choices, you can always transform your future by taking action in the present. If your health is terrible now, there is hope. If it’s fantastic, don’t get complacent or you risk a lot of suffering.
5. Western and Eastern medicine both have nuggets of gold to offer to people, if only they’d be open-minded enough to entertain ideas from many sources.
6. When it comes to sport, gym or any other kind of exercise, if you’re feeling good, train hard to improve further. If you’re feeling shit, let the body rest and feed it well. I’m sure that’s sensible to most people, but I know I’m guilty of screwing myself over in that area at times.

If you find this valuable, please consider sharing it with someone. Thanks.

Doing What Matters To You

A few nights ago I was feeling really deflated. I’d lost my prior momentum, passion and overall compass. In a moment of clarity I realised that there were two habits I’d become really slack with: 

1. Planning my days effectively (FUTURE POST).
2. Failing to regularly ask myself (and answer) important questions at regular intervals.

To get back on the horse, all it took was for me to answer this question: “What do I really love in life?”. This is what I came up with:

I love meeting a new person and immediately knowing that we have a story to live out together.
I love the dizzy feeling that hits me when I see one of ‘those’ girls. The thrill of flirting, the warmth and natural scent, the intimacy shared and the overall warping of my perspective that her presence creates. Women slay me.
I love it when I’m able to genuinely feel grateful for the life I’ve inherited from circumstance.
I love the days in which I wake up, hit the street and can do no wrong.
I love the burning hot sun at all times.
I love doing stuff that matters to me, even if everyone else thinks I’m crazy.
I love tinkering with every aspect of the space I inhabit.
I love creative exploits that are offered to the world - on the street, at festivals, gigs, classes, sporting events and anywhere else.
I love the smell and energy of the forest.
I love the tranquility of the beach and ocean.
I love the excitement and uncertainty that explosive technological development brings to life.
I love timeless and stirring speeches made by champions of the human spirit.
I love to learn broadly and challenge what I believe to be true.
I love to dream and wonder what tomorrow might bring.
I love to curl up and get lost in a great book.
I love to clap after seeing an amazing movie, as tacky as it may be.
I love the giddiness of being tipsy, in which my inner voice is silenced and I see both social dynamics and primal desires much more clearly.
I love the spectrum of physical, emotional and spiritual responses that music can co-create with me.
I love it when an impeccably stylish person turns everyday life into a Hollywood movie.
I love looking into a dear friend’s eyes and knowing that for a moment our thoughts are aligned and we are one.
I love it when the often disparate parts of my life merge into an ocean of effortless flow.
I love seeing people doing what they’re most passionate about.
I love seeing superstar athletes annihilate their opposition.
I love going to war with an opponent on court and earning respect for each other.
I love it when I’m told I profoundly changed someone’s life for the better.
I love the rare occasion in which I choke on my words. The nervous response tells me that I give a fuck.
I love being a work-in-progress. I think we all are, and those who see ‘arrival’ or a ‘destination’ as the sole target are missing the point.
I love it when I trust my intuition and it proves much wiser than my conscious decision making.
I love it when I win because I worked hard to earn it.
I love it when I lose but don’t lose the lesson.
I love the peaceful feeling that sets in as I run, drive, sail or fly away from the bubble of home life.
I love returning home to my family, friends and everything else that only home can provide.
I love being willing to share my inner thoughts publicly.

Cool Poem, Bro

I’m going to write about this in more detail in the future (How/Why To Keep A Journal), but putting shit down in words is POWERFUL. It will:

• Help you get clear on what matters to you.
• Help you solve your problems.
• Provide both perspective and accountability to yourself when you read what you wrote later on.
• Get lots of repetitive thought patterns and ideas out of your head and into a more tangible form. Sidebar: I’ve read from several sources that the majority (around 70%) of our thoughts are composed of a relatively small pool of repetitive strings (stories if you will - that we tell ourselves). I don’t have hard objective evidence, but I am WAY more chilled and aware of my thoughts and emotions than I was before I kept a journal.

An Quick and Interesting Exercise (2 minutes of practice, 3 minutes of analysis)

Sit somewhere completely alone with no aims for 2 minutes. No music, phone, conversation or any technology can be used. No distractions. Come back and read the following afterward.

What will happen to most people in Gen Y is a variant of this pathway:

1. Your stream of thoughts will chop around wildly, and you’ll get both restless and edgy. Stress from every possible avenue and stream of your life will arise. Where at leisure you would normally be doing something somewhat soothing and distracting to keep the inner voice at bay (cooking, reading, exercising etc.), you are now faced with a vacuum in which everything can hit you. At this time, there will be a very strong compulsion to distract your brain in some way.
2. If you can hold on, you will gradually calm down and start to see things as they are. Thoughts are just thoughts. Emotions are just emotions. You don’t need to be reactive to everything. In fact, you can start to see patterns forming that you can actively question and improve. Baby steps, nobody’s perfect.
3. When you spend more time in this calm and observant state, you WILL become more productive and creative when working. Productivity will come from gleaning perspective about what matters. Creativity will come from reducing consumption and increasing the time you spend tapping into your ingenuity. NB: You’re either consuming or creating at any given time. Without regular breaks from intensive sensory input (changing gears), we are doomed to be both manipulated by others and overloaded with information.
4. Congratulations, you just practiced mindfulness :) It can be ridiculously hard at first, but like anything else, deliberate practice can make a champion of you.

If this article helps you in any way, consider sharing it with someone who may also benefit. Thanks.

Consulting Your Intuition

WHAT is it?

I define the process of consulting intuition as triggering in one’s conscious mind to access the unique intelligence of the subconscious mind.

WHY bother?

Most people recognise that they are terrible multi-taskers. A small percentage can capably do two things at once if they’re REALLY sharp, well hydrated and nourished. Simultaneously focusing on three things at once? Maybe 1% of people can do that proficiently.

Although our conscious mind has the great strength of allowing us to realise self-awareness and logically solve problems, it is very limited in terms of how much information can be accessed and processed at any given time.

Conversely, the subconscious mind is not designed for ‘thinking’, but rather for processing enormous amounts of information regarding the sensory input that we absorb. The subconscious mind is also responsible for regulating behaviour like breathing and whichever functions we do automatically without thinking. After all, if we had to consciously focus on breathing, it would be a massive struggle to think through anything else for most people.

The subconscious is also the part of your mind that is engaged whilst dreaming. Like me, I’m sure you’ve had some INSANELY vivid dreams. Back in school, I actually thought for almost an entire day that I was dating my crush :S Later on, when I experimented with lucid dreaming (expect an article on this in the future), I became dissociative from reality, since I could engineer my dreams with conscious control, just like in the movie Inception. I quickly got freaked out and stopped exploring lucid dreaming, but several years later I’d return to the realm in a very different context.

Any time you want to figure out something important in life, doesn’t it seem like a good idea to be able to access the genius of your past life experiences to assist you?

HOW on earth can I do this?

For people who cannot comfortably bridge the conscious/subconscious barrier, it’s like being a computer with a tiny capacity master hard-drive (your conscious mind), with a set of hundreds of hard-drives (your subconscious mind) inside the computer, but not connected to your power cables.

I recognise that this may sound like voodoo magic, but it’s actually really simple. Here are the two methods I was taught:

Writing Method:

Get comfortable in a quiet place and sit alone, armed with pen and paper. Write your question(s) down. Treat it like a job interview, as though your subconscious mind is the interviewee. Be nice.

Whatever bubbles up into your conscious mind, scrawl it all down. ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. If you have a whole series of questions, this could take a while. The answers you ‘receive’ to your questions may come in the form of unclear thoughts, images, sounds, emotions etc. and you’ll have to practice to be able to transform these signals into words that you can write down. Like song lyrics, these pieces of information often make little sense outside their medium, so be sure to do the best you can.

Be aware: it can take at least 15 minutes for a beginner to really get the conscious -> subconscious connection flowing smoothly. If you’re carrying resistance and telling yourself that it’s bullshit, it probably won’t work at all.

Remember, you can ask ANYTHING you like. Eventually, what you’re looking for is a dance and effortless discourse between conscious and subconscious. If you’re REALLY in the zone, your flow will be outrageous. It will feel like speaking to an old friend. Try not to get too bugged out that you’re connecting one part of your psyche to another.

Visual Method:

Alright, I’m naturally a really analytical person, so this isn’t my standard method to use, but the one time I did this it was really cool.

The main difference in this method is that this one is all in your head. Daydream and let an image pop into your mind. Just let it flow and come to life. Don’t rush it. Let it all play out. Whatever occurs, whether 5 seconds or several minutes long, commit that visualisation into conscious memory.

Now, ask your subconscious mind what each aspect of the video/image represents. The answers and realisations arising from these questions will paint an all-together different set of understandings gleaned from the scene that plays out in your mind.

In Summary: Ask a question. Let an image/scene play out. Ask what each aspect of the scene represents. Analyse the scene to make sense of it.

Once again, I’m a wordy guy, so I prefer the other method. But for the ‘visual types’ this is probably a great winner.

Building Trust in Following Your Intuition

I recognise that many readers may believe intuition is an old wives tale. A total wank. An inexplicable occurrence that can be filtered under the ‘intuition’ label, half as a joke. I completely disagree, and I’d encourage you to TRY it thoroughly and make up your own mind. Also remember that most new skills aren’t easy at first, and that PERFECT PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT!

In only the last month or two, I’ve gradually deferred more of my decision-making process to my intuition. Somehow it just seems to know me way better than I know myself. I keep a daily journal, and whenever I’ve really got stuck into the above processes, my writing jumps off the page as more powerful, emotive and truthful.

Final Reasons to Respect Your Subconscious Mind

Any time you’ve consciously decided: I want to live this dream OR I want to smash this goal OR I really want to kiss that girl/guy OR I really want to get into the gym and get strong…

How come we don’t always succeed at this stuff? (If you do, please write to me). To me, this is because the subconscious mind is too powerful, and it screws around with our intentions if we don’t plant them deeply enough. It often knows more than we can consciously access, and deep conditioning, fears and addictions can often get in the way of getting what we want.

That’s yet another reason why it’s worth trying to communicate with your subconscious. The healing process. By allowing conscious/subconscious communication, they can also negotiate and ‘sync’ you on a deeper level. In the past I experienced a lot more conflict between my thoughts and deep-seated actions and behaviours. This process has been one of my top two methods of gradually improving in this area (the other is keeping a daily journal - look for a detailed article on that as well).

Enjoy!

Efficient and Effective Ways to Save Your Money

Although I’m much more focused on earning cash than scrounging to save pennies, there are a few tweaks that provide great opportunities to save a LOT of money per hour of effort exerted. Truly, money that doesn’t leave your pocket is exactly like going home every week with extra pay. You can use it for fun stuff, investments, taking your friend Ashley out for dinner or just sticking it in the bank to gradually compound.

In short, most companies and industries are in the game to earn profits, and often, they are gouging you for a much higher price than you could be paying. If you enjoy being gouged, please close this window right now. Otherwise, read on.

A) Optimise Your PRIVATE HEALTH COVER

Time spent: 20 minutes research + 40 minutes on forms + 45 minutes on emails = 1 hour and 45 minutes.

I saved: $252/year and got MUCH better extras cover. $144/HOUR SAVED.

Explanation:

The best advertised and glitziest health cover often has the most expensive premiums and returns a lower percentage of benefits for services claimed. Generally, you’ll want to go for a fund that is run as a non-profit, for very obvious reasons.

1. Search for “compare health insurance” and use one of the services listed. I used iSelect, and they did a great an OK job for me. If you don’t want them to earn a commission from the health insurer for any reason, just use the website to find your best deal, and buy it independently. I now recommend this, as iSelect have proven to be quite inept.
2. Otherwise, you can get an operator on the phone to talk through EVERY single thing you are likely to claim, and they will painstakingly sit there to earn their pay. As you speak to them, monitor each deal on the website to ensure they haven’t forgotten anything important. We’re all human after all.
3. Don’t try to barter with them directly, as they have no power to give you a better deal - these intermediary companies don’t actually earn margins on anything they sell you, and only earn their commissions by acting as another marketing agency for various health cover funds.

• NB: Make sure you ask the phone operator where the nearest ‘No Gap’ dental clinics are for your new policy. All good funds should provide a lot of options.
• NB: Transfer forms and government rebate forms will either come via email or snail mail, and can quickly be returned to the new insurer. Send these back ASAP, or you’ll have a short lag before you can next make a claim. What I mean is, they won’t activate your card until you’ve officially transferred.
• NB: Do this process every few years to ensure you’re not getting screwed. 
• NB: In case you don’t have Private Health Cover at all, be warned that if you don’t have an active policy when you turn 31, you will be liable to pay a permanent extra Medicare loading on top of your tax bill.

B) Optimise Your GAS and ELECTRICITY

Time spent: 40 minutes research + 1 hour on forms + 1 hour on the phone + 15 minutes on emails = ~3 hours.

I saved: ~$1250/year. $208/HOUR SAVED.

Explanation (same process for both Gas and Electricity):

• In both the gas and electricity industries, the wholesale supplier is one of very few companies, but they only deal with the public for occasional meter readings. You buy your gas/electricity instead from a multitude of retail companies who earn a VERY healthy cut on top of the raw wholesale cost of providing the resources.
• Regardless of which company (or companies) you’re with at present, begin transferring to any other company, and expect a prompt call from your current provider. If this doesn’t happen, call them up yourself before you sign any new contracts.
• Inevitably, your current company will offer you a discount. Depending on your negotiation skills, you could get a 20% discount or even slightly more.
• NB: Due to the INSANE rate at which energy costs are rising, it’s worth doing this process around once every 6 months. That or getting high quality solar panels, but I’ll research that more heavily before claiming it’s a better solution.

C) Optimise Your BANKING (for a debit card - NOT a credit card)

Time spent: 15 minutes on the phone = 15 minutes.

I saved: ~$60/year. $240/HOUR SAVED.

Explanation:

If you’re no longer a student, you might find that your once-friendly bank has decided to charge you fees just for storing your money in digital form. What a laugh. Since competition has increased significantly in the last few years (in Australia at least), there are smaller banks and credit unions that would be more than happy to have your business and not charge you bullshit fees.

You see, even though they pay you interest on a savings account, banks make money by loaning their reserves (your savings & their profits) at a higher rate than they pay you in interest. That way, they can never lose, and they are ALWAYS happy to have more money under management, even if they charge you $0 in fees.

1. Call your bank and tell them you’re not happy with the account fees you’re being charged. If they won’t remove them, tell them that you’re moving your funds to a credit union or another bank that doesn’t charge fees.
2. If you have any sort of negotiation skills, they will waive the fees and refund you whatever they’ve charged previously.
3. If they don’t budge, explain word for word what I wrote above. Remember, they can’t lose!

• NB: Credit cards are another ball-game all together. Maybe I’ll write about them in future.
• NB: If they bank ever starts mooching fees off you again, repeat the above process. Bam.

D) Optimise Your MOBILE Spending

Explanation:

Although most people I know are now pretty savvy regarding mobile bills, I thought I’d add this to help out those of you who are not. Let’s play a little game of ‘choose your own adventure’:

IF you are happy with your provider:

1. Grab your last 3 bills (assuming your recent usage has been around your average) and call up your provider.
2. Speak to the sales team and get them to run through your exact options in terms of cap plans, combined plans, pre-paid plans and so on. Give every bit of information you can and they will help you out. Over in Mumbai they’re nice folks.

IF you are NOT happy with your provider:

1. Grab your last 3 bills (assuming your recent usage has been around your average) and call up your PREFERRED provider.
2. Speak to the sales team and get them to run through your exact options in terms of cap plans, combined plans, pre-paid plans and so on. Give every bit of information you can and they will help you out. After all, they want your business.

• NB: If you’re on a contract, you may need to number crunch to determine the best way to proceed. If you have a bit of spare time, go to your provider’s local physical branch and get a sales assistant to help you out.

E) Optimise Your PETROL Spending

Time spent: 0 seconds. Yes, 0 seconds. I’ve done the research for you.

I save: ~$75/year.

Explanation:

One day around a year ago I spent about an hour reading every possible source on this. From petrol companies to motoring enthusiasts, I formed this contention.

Quite simply, unless your car explicitly states that it MUST run off 95 or 98 octane petrol, you are pissing your pennies away every single time you fill up. The main kind of car that is tuned to run on higher Octane fuel is a turbo or a high performance sports car. If you drive any other modern car, stick with 91/92 Octane fuel.

Straight from Wikipedia:

A common misconception is that power output or fuel mileage can be improved by burning higher octane fuel than a particular engine was designed for. The power output of an engine depends in part on the energy density of its fuel, but similar fuels with different octane ratings have similar density. Since switching to a higher octane fuel does not add any more hydrocarbon content or oxygen, the engine cannot produce more power.

NB: If you drive A LOT, consider getting an LPG tank installed. I don’t drive enough to make it worthwhile, but do the research if you’re interested.

F) Optimise Your DISCOUNTS (almost anywhere)

Whenever you strike up rapport with a staff member on an item that could reasonably be discounted, ask;

a. Is that your best price?

b. Could I get a discount on that?

c. I saw it for $$$ at XYZ.

• The key to this is adopting a attitude of chutzpah, warmth and charm. Think hustle without any sleaze or desperation. I rarely pay RRP, and have literally saved THOUSANDS of dollars from adopting these little techniques and improving the way I read salespeople over time. The more you do it, the easier it becomes.
• NB: Don’t lie about prices at other stores! Salespeople are usually savvy and won’t appreciate being shit-talked. If you’re at a store that offers better service and/or warranties but an inferior price, that is where you want to be negotiating. That, and remember that people are running a business and trying to earn a livelihood to feed and clothe themselves. Be ballsy, but don’t be a ball-breaker.

In Sum…

All of the above is really easy to implement and I hope everyone who reads this saves some money and enjoys doing whatever they want with it. I’m sure some readers will say I’m some sort of arsehole for trying to get a better deal. Good for them. A big part of my life is contributing to people and causes that I see as worthy, and unsurprisingly, large banks, petrol companies and insurance companies are not on my Chrismukkah lists.

Obvious disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for any actions you take regarding the above information. It’s a friendly courtesy based on personal experience and nothing else. Seriously, if I get a message telling me that I lost you money, I’ll probably excommunicate you from my life.

Being a Polymath

Ever since I was a young boy, my unyielding obsession in life has been the acquisition of knowledge. Through all forms of sensory input, thinking and experience, my thirst is unquenchable. Diverse patterns of absorption, analysis, and assimilation or rejection of information turns me on like nothing else.

Diverse Learning

I have dabbled in almost a dozen sports; created short films, midi-based beats, wood-work, paintings, sculptures, creative stories, blog posts, journals, travel diaries and 100 million lists; constantly philosophised with almost anyone who cared to share a conversation with me; traveled overseas several times, staying in all kinds of accommodation, talking to all sorts of people about all sorts of topics and eaten almost anything put in front of me at least once; gained and lost hundreds of friends and acquaintances; explored intimate relationships with several lovely girls and made love, lust or settled with a bunch more; cheated on one of the most amazing girls I ever had the joy of knowing, because I lacked the requisite courage at the time to be honest about my true desires and split up with her (too good to leave, too sad to stay); adopted inverse to conventional hours and rampant degeneracy for months on end; experimented with a bunch of illicit drugs; played poker live and online, sold rejected clothing stock at an outer suburbs market, worked in kitchens as an underpaid dish-pig and waiter, telemarketer, video game salesman, premium sms service respondent, and as a sole-trading contract cleaner, traded the foreign exchange market and coached students at the art; studied and practiced personal development of: habits, productivity, relationships, intimacy, spirituality, personal style, financial abundance and all aspects of health and wellness; redesigned my room countless times, purging possessions ruthlessly; conducted childhood regression; saw counsellors and psychologists from several disciplines for childhood trauma, emotional barrenness and creative therapy; visited physiotherapists, chiropractors, naturopaths, osteopaths and doctors to glean more perspectives regarding the way human beings function; researched human psychology, technology, science, engineering and creativity with endless fascination. I’ve wasted thousands of dollars on poor purchases in just the last couple of years alone. I’ve experimented with vegetarianism, veganism, paleo and a whole host of dietary supplements. I’ve read classics, autobiographies, self-help, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, crime and kids books. I’ve played innumerable amounts of video games. I’ve listened from korean pop -> rockabilly -> IDM -> sleepy jazz. I’ve watched hundreds of films and dozens of documentaries. I’ve gone to cultural and music festivals, art galleries, house parties, commercial nightclubs, hipster gigs, pretentious cocktail lounges, soulless bars and filthy pubs. I’ve alternately loosened/tightened the amount of assumptions I make about other people before having direct experience interacting with them. I’ve tried on various metaphysical lenses, with which I’ve interpreted and experienced my existence with varying levels of accuracy. I’ve been a believer, an atheist, an agnostic and one heck of a nihilist. I’ve felt the identity-crushing numbness of existential crisis for days on end. I’ve bounced between countless social groups and never been content or able to snugly fit into any them for long.

I love it, as evidenced by the giddy smile that often runs across my face. I completely accept all of the above and am gradually learning to embrace my undeniable weirdness and uniqueness with aplomb. I think you should be alright with yours, too. I also believe that you should question the choice to commit a large proportion of your time to any one specialised set of behaviours, at the risk of missing out on so many amazing things that you can experience.

Why Do Anything?

My compulsion for doing anything at all comes from embracing the journey and the pursuit of acquiring knowledge, much more than achieving outcomes. I take what I desire from a hobby, activity, project or job and move on, perhaps returning later on if the interest is strong enough. Historically, whenever I’ve achieved a decent level of competency and understanding, I’m strongly compelled to abandon it (although once a fixation) immediately.

ALTHOUGH, whilst I continue to ditch the majority of interests as they lose resonance, I find myself integrating an increasing proportion of tested behaviours and activities into my life on a more permanent basis. Could it be? Am I in fact learning about my nature at a very deep level from trying so much random shit?

I believe so. Simply, my experience (self-imposed nurture) is allowing me to better learn my core essence (nature). Since I’d argue that the bulk of one’s nature is hidden deep within many superficial layers of ego and conditioning from society and upbringing (inherited nurture), I see no coincidence in the fact that my life feels a lot more authentic and within my control than ever before.

“Quitters never win and winners never quit!”

Fuck that! I quit TO win. You may label me a ‘a dreamer’ or secretly hope that I’ll ‘grow up one day’. Although I probably cannot convince you otherwise, I simply don’t care anymore. I owe those who choose to judge me absolutely nothing. One’s decision to pigeonhole me is their own fallacy, and I will no longer indulge such perversions. Maybe you get off by sticking to one career path that you love for your whole life. Maybe you think that the ideas of consistency and specialised focus are the optimal way to live. Good for you, but that makes me want to strip off naked and convulse on the floor while covering my body with tar and feathers.

Aldous Huxley once stated;

“A child-like man is not a man whose development has been arrested; on the contrary, he is a man who has given himself a chance of continuing to develop long after most adults have muffled themselves in the cocoon of middle-aged habit and convention.”

Unsurprisingly, I agree with the great man. Instead of locking down a solid career right now and putting the bulk of my energies into it, I’m more interested in exploring what sorts of adventures I can get up to with those that I love, how I can continue to develop in the way I desire, how I can make a positive contribution to humanity, how I can turn my dreams into reality and how I can get paid for sharing my passions.

A Friendly Warning

I’ll make my contention very clear. The spectrum of my interests and personal development is highly dynamic. I am getting better at many aspects of life really quickly, because the breadth of my disciplines grants me the power to connect dots between disciplines and frameworks. I don’t think I’m ‘better’ than others, but I think I will be better equipped for the many challenges that we will face in the future.

I’m a slow-builder who is in it for the long haul. I also live with the added benefit of gradually becoming more courageous and choosing the road less traveled instead of the one tread many times before. I can’t state it yet, but I plan to die without regrets, and that won’t happen unless I go with my intuition on this one.

Although my way of approaching life may not be fashionable or acceptable yet, I have no intention of stopping. I see a rapidly approaching future in which many ‘specialists’ are left behind. Machines and computer programs will take your jobs, and you will have to innovate and grow a broader set of abilities, or join the bread-line. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Give It Away

One of my closest friends recently told me some interesting information about (Red Hot Chili Peppers front-man) Anthony Kiedis’ autobiography, in which he explains his philosophy on dealing with material possessions. Inspiring the song and title of this post, he quite simply gives away everything that does not make him happy at regular intervals. Frankly, I love that approach. My growth path has lead me towards greater simplicity and the shedding of material things that do not bring me significant pleasure or learning.

Benefits

1) Less physical mess correlates with less stress. I know very few people who want more stress in their lives. There’s real science proving this somewhere. Regardless, I’d be surprised if anyone disagreed with my assertion based on their own experiences with messy areas.

2) Objects that are lacking in meaning or conveyance of happiness to you may have the opposite effect on others. Why wouldn’t you want to cultivate a greater aggregate level of pleasure, contentment, happiness, peace, pride, joy etc. in the world?

3) Giving stuff away helps to cultivate a more abundant mindset in regard to your capacity to attract more relevant and useful material objects to you.

The one detrimental risk of giving things away is that you may lose something that you didn’t value temporarily, but actually value highly most of the time. For this reason, I’d advise that you don’t give stuff away unless you have at least 3 separate instances of feeling that it’s time to move a possession on. Keep in mind that most items can be repurchased, so this is rarely a big problem.

My Giveaways

Recently I have given away:

a) Several t-shirts, two pairs of shoes, a jumper, a bag.

b) An 80GB iPod.

c) A digital camera.

d) 4 months in a row of fixed charity donations.

I feel as though some bizarre karmic laws are in play whenever I persistently give things away. It was my birthday around one month ago, but I’ve been continuously receiving practical gifts. I’ve actually received more birthday presents than for many years (since my childhood birthdays), and they have all been awesome. I’m also getting discounts and free stuff all over the place, almost every day. I don’t see any capacity to measure causality, but I’m alright with that.

Working with Passion

Is there anything more disheartening than the ineptitude and apathy that so many people exhibit whilst doing their 5-day-a-week job?

Anytime you see someone doing a job that they clearly hate and/or suck at, please encourage them to try and commercialise a passion or try another line of work. You’ll get bullshit excuses thrown at you a ton of the time. Maybe they’re not ready. Maybe they never will be. I’d still suggest politely trying to help your fellow man out though.

How to start diversifying your income…

The model I use to achieve this is something like;

1) Think of anything you’re passionate about or good at that you don’t yet generate income from (or only a very meagre income).

2) Brainstorm thoroughly to envisage ways that you could leverage your spare time into creating a viable business out of this passion.

eg. Use <www.elance.com> or another similar service to hire a contractor to help build your dream website/page/database. Learn SEO or find someone who is great at it to learn how to build traffic up for your site.

eg. Make sales calls and do store drop-ins as often as possible (hustle!) to retailers to help get your product(s) into stores.

eg. Work for free initially and ask clients to spread the word about you if they like your service.

3) If you’re enjoying your new project and face sufficient market demand to increase the hours spent on it, phase out some of the hours of your primary job (unless you’re a full-timer at a very strict company, try to reason with your boss).

My Way

I learned how to profitably trade the Foreign Exchange (Forex) markets within a year whilst I was a full-time University student, part-time employee, close to many family members and maintaining a busy social life, actively training in Squash and pursuing a significant amount of personal growth in my other downtime.

It would be fair to say that most people would have considered me a very undisciplined and flaky person only a couple of years ago. The choice I made to follow an interest and desire actually had the co-benefit (besides income) of teaching me the importance of implementing some regular positive routines into my life. There’s a lot of potential for learning, character building and joy in pursuing anything unfamiliar or difficult.

If you have a strong enough desire to make something out of an interest or passion, you have a very decent chance of succeeding. The first step is being honest with yourself and pulling yourself out of a complacent state of mind as often as possible. Remember to be kind to yourself also, and not expect brilliant results overnight.

Good hunting.

Routine 101

I define routine as “habits, activities and behaviours that are regularly repeated and strongly integrated into one’s life”.

It would be fair to say that most of us spend each stage of our lives ensconced in some form of routinely structured behaviour. Most people I know have experienced a pervasive set of controls from preschool (age 3) until high school graduation (age 17). At this point the paths tend to diverge, with wildly variable results.

The Paths

Some will move straight into full-time employment, and continue a super-structured routine with the standard weekend of one’s academic life continuing (LOW VARIABILITY ROUTINE).

Others continue their academic and/or practical education with a trade or tertiary study. Their routine is likely to be more loosely structured; with scope for more activities extraneous to their career development (LOW-MEDIUM VARIABILITY ROUTINE).

Another group will move into running their own trade or service-based businesses. It will obviously depend on the exact projects undertaken, but this is generally a more free-form approach to living than the prior two paths (MEDIUM-HIGH VARIABILITY ROUTINE).

The final clear pathway I can envisage is that of the people who flow in the present. These people vary from monks to hippies to world travelers. (VERY HIGH VARIABILITY ROUTINE).

And what of these paths?

I don’t believe that any of these paths are fundamentally wrong, but I personally find excessively controlled and low variability routine structures to be extremely dis-empowering and boring. As the great man, Bruce Lee, once said;

The meaning of life is that it is to be lived, and it is not to be traded and conceptualised and squeezed into a patter of systems.

Overly managed routines feel like a contrivance, whereas I see life as such a whimsical experience, so full of unpredictable events, that it seems absurd to force so many exacting boxes to be ticked on a regular basis. Limiting one’s routine is analogous to shutting off the possibility of perceiving alternative opportunities and possibilities.

The Structures We Choose and Why

The duality at play here is: the basic human need for regularity, certainty and security (roof over one’s head, regular meals, steady job/paycheck) versus uncertainty and variety (new experiences/adventures, exploration of new relationships, broad-based learning). Different types of people will likely benefit from a tweak to their routine structure as such:

Who benefits from more structured routine? Those that are lost and uncomfortable with flowing in the present, those that desire a sense of control, those that are unproductive and undisciplined.

Who benefits from a less structured routine? Those that are bored, boring, lacking in passion, overly stressed, unwell/unhealthy, unable to find time to do the things they want to do.

My Way

I’m constantly refining a balance between goal-oriented behaviours, regular daily habits and short/medium/long-term plans that seek to promote huge personal growth, great health, mental focus and discipline; alongside maintaining appreciation of the present flow of opportunity. This is an extremely difficult process to manage in a way that feels authentic and empowering, but it is both an art (qualitative perception) and science (quantitative measurement) that I am committed to for the length of my natural life.

If anybody wants to further explore what I’m writing about, look out for my new consultation business coming in 2012!

Paradigm transcendence and other joys

Here’s a light read about some significant life changes I’ve experienced over the past week (some recap of prior entries). I have:

1. Moved from my 3-month-long state of saying ‘no’ or otherwise resisting new business opportunities to settling on the commitment of training a contractor to take over all the work for my business. The humbling feeling and impressive hourly income rate of both managing and employing myself as a  corporate office cleaner have lost meaning to me completely, with absolutely no peace or growth experienced any longer. I’ve reached my threshold and need to move on.
2. Transcended my Agnostic/Skeptical belief system regarding the nature of reality, with literally all threads severed. I’ve moved to something like this; “Consciously aware, open-minded, experiencing and embracing existence as it unfolds”. Here’s a fantastic reference point from one of my favourite sites on the Internet - I cannot possibly recommend this man’s work highly enough: http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2006/08/the-death-of-skepticism/
3. Refined my core values from 21 down to 8 block groups with sub-values that run alongside the core. See below.
4. Consciously recognised and accepted my primary purpose in life and put it into words. See below.
5. Spent at least 30 minutes in the sun every day with no specific distracting tasks whilst doing so.
6. Returned to regular Bikram Yoga practice - I’m buying my 50 class pass tomorrow morning.
7. Drafted the specifics of how I can manage my life to achieve the goal of playing at least 1 hour of Squash every day for 30 days.

Core Values

1)    Vision (Expression / Creativity / Genius)

2)    Honour (Humility / Gratitude / Integrity)

3)    Devotion (Passion, Discipline, Productivity)

4)    Exploration (Curiosity / Adventure / Style)

5)    Playfulness (Fun / Adventure / Sense of Humour)

6)    Caring (Compassion / Kindness / Generosity)

7)    Prosperity (Abundance / Wealth / Accept Consequences)

8)    Intimacy (Honesty / Openness / Sharing)

Primary Purpose

ü  To cultivate a persistently enlightened state of consciousness, fostering the deepest love and appreciation of my existence.

ü  To regularly smash perceived physical and mental barriers, allowing me to be the best version of myself possible.

ü  To compel every person on Earth to enter a new Enlightenment era; with free thought and creativity encouraged, social and environmental responsibility being the norm, creating an equitable and sane global financial system, with a unifying goal of furthering the development of the human race.