Mindfulness &

how to be aware in an unaware world

Tag: reflection

  • Time

    Time

    “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
    – Steve Jobs

    Looking at what Apple has become today, we can see that Steve’s vision has been more than realized since his death. He spent his time living his own life, doing what he loved: innovation and entrepreneurship.

    And he’s right, we only have so many waking hours in a day (about 14-16 hours), so why not use them efficiently?

    It’s less about the number of hours outside work and necessities than about utilizing those free hours available.

    Strangely, I find myself utilizing my free time most efficiently when I have a crunch time to do it (like 4 hours or so after or before work) (like Tim Ferriss famously advocates).

    Reflection

    As unproductive as it sounds, doing nothing allows us to be more efficient in all we do.

    It’s kin to an engine that runs all day and all night, for hours on end, without pause for oil and cooling. At that rate, it will overheat and burn out.

    The same applies to us, we must pause to replenish and restore our mind and body by, well, doing nothing.

    As we practice awareness, we find that balance between all that consumes our waking day, that balance of work, life, and all that falls through the cracks.

    Since I like to get personal on here, I’ll just lay out my day as an example. (My secret? Pen, Paper, and a little orange app called Streaks):

    07:00-08:00
    *Wake Up
    *3min Cold Shower
    *Workout
    Meditation
    Journal
    Vitamins, Minerals, and Breakfast

    08:00-18:00
    Work
    Protein, Carbs, and Lunch

    18:00-22:00
    *Swim and 40min Sauna
    Fruits, Veggies, and Dinner
    Blog Post & Electronic Mix
    *Practice Spanish
    *Meditation
    Read for an hour
    Wind Down

    I’ve starred the activities I need to focus on much more as this is my ideal day, not necessarily my every day right now.

    Something to keep in mind is when we miss an activity, it’s much better to forgive ourselves and focus on getting it done the next day rather than stress out and beat ourselves up over it (at least that’s what I do).

    Encouragement

    Try pausing a few times throughout the day, even for 3-5 minutes, to notice how the mind and body feel.

    Write down a rough draft of what you want to accomplish throughout the day, starting with the items you need to especially focus on.

    Do you feel you’ve gained a little more awareness of where your time is going?

    Thanks

    I’m changing things up a little here by shooting for shorter posts and aiming to release them at a more consistent rate.

    Thank you for reading these and emailing me all the encouragement ya’ll! I realize that not everyone has the time to read, so I’m working on audio versions of these posts that I hope will turn into a podcast soon, so stay tuned!

    Links

    1. Revisiting “The 4-Hour Workweek” | The New Yorker
    2. 5 Science-Backed Ways Taking a Break Boosts Our Productivity | HuffPost Life
    3. Streaks App
    4. Tim Ferriss: Smash fear, learn anything | TED Talk
  • Wilderness

    Wilderness

    “In wilderness is the preservation of the world.”
    – Henry David Thoreau

    I love this quote as it reminds me of when I was in a deeply transitory time in my life. It reminded me then as it does now to step into the wild, without hesitation, without expectation, and I will find myself there.

    Reflected in nature are our growth and vitality, doubt, and decay. Mirrored there in the forests, cliffside, mountain vistas, and expansive desserts is our very existence.

    We are only separated from nature when we separate ourselves, there is no natural inclination to move away from these scenes, that allure is artificial.

    Also, every known invention man has conceived was found in nature, being used by other animals and insects long before we showed up. I included a few of those inspirations in the links at the bottom!

    Reflection

    Why do we feel at such ease in wild places? Discomfort is sure to bubble up too, but beneath that, we are oddly complete, away from the buzzing lights, sounds, smells, and the feeling of pressure.

    In retrospect, I was deeply fortunate to grow up in an active, adventurous family, observing the wild while hiking, biking, skiing, climbing, camping, and road-tripping all over the world.

    My parents were actively seeking discomfort before I was even born, and instilled in us wee children how important that feeling is.

    I remember as a child following my mother on a pair of skis in a naughty blizzard somewhere in the Swiss Alps. At some point I lost all sight of her and fell into a massive tree well, it was pretty unclear what happened next, but I was told a ski patrol guy found my skis sticking up just barely above the snow and helped me down the mountain.

    Now, was this careless parenting or just bad luck (well maybe a little of both), hell, I survived the tell-the-tale and I would have rather had a mother lose me on a mountain than lose me in the mall any day (the later happened too, of course, I was one curious child).

    But the point is, I learned to be at ease in the wild. With so many other memories of camping with the fam or spending the whole day out on a long hike or out in the open ocean, I learned so much about myself, and my ability to appreciate nature.

    Nature restores us. It does not judge or criticize but it does provide and support us endlessly, if only we listen to her attentively

    Encouragement

    I can’t encourage us enough to get out. I mean way out. Into the wild. Away from noise pollution, light pollution, and pollution pollution.

    Go on a hike, go camping, go rock climbing, throw a hammock up, or just be present in the preservation of the world. Trust me, it’s worth it!

    Thanks

    Every time I share my blubbering stream of consciousness, I am reminded of why. For all who have and continue to read my posts, I thank you for that.

    As always, feel free to leave a comment or share this post. You can also Buy Me a Coffee if you are inclined to do so. Thank you in advance!

    Links

    1. 10 Modern Inventions Modeled After Nature
    2. Why Go Camping?
    3. Ryan Phelan: The intended consequences of helping nature thrive | TED Talk
    4. Cabin Alone in the Alaskan Wilderness  – Dick Proenneke
  • Gadgets

    Gadgets

    “Love people and use things because the opposite never works.”
    – Joshua Fields Millburn

    Growing up in a sprawling suburbia, I would spend so much money, time, energy, and attention span on Amazon, Walmart, and just shopping online.

    My father used to remark on all the ‘gadgets’ I had accumulated through the years, saying how ridiculous they all were, which I can look back on now and appreciate.

    The useful and purposeful ‘gadgets’ I found were only about 10% of the ‘gadgets’ I spent hard-earned money obtaining.

    It was a small problem when I was spending more than I was making and a big problem when I was making more money just to spend it on shit I truly didn’t need.

    I look back today and think, how could I be so consumed with consumption? How could I not have seen the trajectory of this behavior leading ever deeper into a hole of debt and depression?

    Reflection

    And then, on a crisp summer afternoon in college, I was flipping through Netflix (mindlessly) until a title caught my attention, ‘MINIMALISM: A Documentary About The Important Things’

    I thought, “Well that sounds interesting, I’m filled with a lot of unimportant things in my life right now and I kinda need answers to this dilemma” (which I assumed it would provide).

    And boy did the now cult favorite independent film provide answers, but not in the way you would think.

    It was after that movie, after the tears of realization and reflection, that I’d been living my life all wrong, and after talking it out with my friends and family I decided to make a change (but I’ll get back to that).

    This movie lays the groundwork for a philosophy that has been around for thousands of years and is really just an evolved term for intentional living or valued-based living (a way of life that used to be incredibly commonplace).

    Minimalism itself is not a new idea: the concept dates back to the Stoics, to every major religion, and, more recently, to Emerson, Thoreau, and Tyler Durden. What’s new is the problem: never before have people been more seduced by materialism, and never before have people been so willing to forsake loved ones to acquire heaps of meaningless stuff.

    For most of history, people didn’t even think about having more than they needed because they didn’t have the means to accumulate stuff and were therefore content with what they had.

    But during the industrial revolution, modern marvels became cheaper and cheaper to make, therefore cheaper and cheaper to price.

    It took just eight or so years for the smartphone to become both cheap enough for anyone to buy and accessible enough for anyone to get.

    But in the wake of this paradigm shift in society, towers and towers of waste began to form (evidently the main byproduct of modern capitalism).

    I saw, for the first time, that waste was thrown out and piled up everywhere (literally and metaphorically). And once I saw it, I could not unsee it.

    I had been so consumed in shopping for shit I never needed that I did not see the shit lying all around me, the same stuff I was spending so much money on.

    I had had enough, so I did three things that fateful afternoon:

    1. I took on the minimalist challenge to sell, give, or try and recycle all the shit that I did not value.
    2. I started writing about my decision and the implications it had on me, which led to this very blog!
    3. I changed my spending habits to reflect my values, vowing to be mindful of where, when, and how I consume anything.

    It has been a rocky road since then and I have not been entirely faithful to those rules I set, but for the most part, I have remained changed at my core.

    It was also through the practice of focused attention that I began to see the train before it departed, with all its gadgets and gizmos (as my father would say).

    Encouragement

    I encourage us to ask the hard questions today, questions like, “Is this stuff lying around me both useful and valued in my eyes?” or “How long have I even used this thing?”

    List those things that you probably should get rid of, sell, or recycle. If you share a lot of that stuff, write the list together with your partner.

    A million excuses will get in your way, but trust me, it is better to begin this questioning earlier than later when you suddenly open your eyes in retirement to the fact you have so much stuff.

    Through deeper questioning, we find deeper meaning and begin to shape our lives in new ways.

    Thanks

    I am thankful for the minimalists and their continuous influence on me to live a more intentional life.

    And I am thankful for all who continue to read this blog, to which I have really just begun, thanks for taking this journey with me!

    As always, feel free to leave a comment or share this post. You can also Buy Me a Coffee if you are inclined to do so. Thank you in advance!

    Links

    1. MINIMALISM: Official Netflix Documentary (Entire Film)
    2. Resources – The Minimalists
    3. David Carson: Design and Discovery | TED Talk
    4. Why We Buy Things We Don’t Need