As of this blogpost my blog has moved to it’s own new domain:
I’ll continue my blogging over there and leave this wordpress.com blog as it is. Thanks you everyone who has visited this domain the last 7 months. I hope to see you on the new domain.
Christiaan
It’s taken a while but finally here’s the first major goal in my blogging experience:
I broke the 100 this weekend and again today. I’ve been blogging since March 13th 2009. That’s 219 days to get to this level. Now it’s on to the next challenges. The first challenge being: getting this blog over to its own domain. After that I’m going to persue a few more challenges:
and in the challenges not directly related to this blog I’m setting up a to do list for 2010. That one will be posted by December 31st and will hold some very tough challenges.
In short: blog++
And if you are wondering where I’m going to continue this blog: Take a look on www.mindthebeginner.net
Last Friday I had a quick 6 tweet chat with Cath Duncan from Mineyourresources about the concepts of learning, change and discomfort. It put me on a train of thought that also brought to mind a quote I posted earlier from Leito Atreides (yes, Dune):
Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.
Cath and I agreed that when you know how your mind & body habitually reacts to change, and don’t fear that, then change can be quite comfortable. In that case it’s called learning and the more discomfort of mind & body you can endure the more you learn.
Or in other words, wake up that sleeper, hand him a strong cup of coffee and snap to it.
Somewhere down the line learning got a bad taste to it. Learning was something you did in school and was no fun at all. The same went for reading, an activity related to learning and so it’s no fun. That you’re reading this blog tells me that you at least don’t mind reading and probably have no hard feelings against learning as well.
Learning however, is giving your mind a really hard time. All those new things it’s got to master, making sence of things that seem nonsensical on all fronts except what our higher reasoning thinks about it. But our brain does not get that. Take learning to play the guitar for instance. You know you want to make music, all your brain gets is that you’re trying to make your fingers do things it’s not used to do and it hurts your fingertips. Anyone in their right mind would not do something that they know will inflict pain or other forms of discomfort. It takes some effort to get your brain to do those things that are outside its comfort zone.
See your brain a bit like a muscle. Or rather, see it exactly like a muscle. If you use it and push it, it will get stronger. Using your brain can be done in a lot of ways of course. Take your pick:
The status quo is the sleeper
Keep the brain awake and always find new ways to make your brain a bit uncomfortable. It can handle it and will adapt.
It won’t have gone unnoticed by now that my posting frequency has dropped dramatically. There is a high correlation between this phenomenon and the hours I’m spending on my homework. Take this weekend for example, I’ve been working roughly eight hours spread over the last two days trying to solve SQL queries. Problogger warns against this type of post but I’m still going to put it up: I’m sorry for the lack of posts and I must confess I don’t see things lighten up in the next weeks.
So here’s the new plan:
You will get at least one (1) proper post from mere on this blog every week! I’m temporarily backing down a bit. After all, the real world still is just that bit more important than the online world. Now don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I’m working on a sure fire way to have a good income through the 9-5 way. It’s everything we lifestyle designers are against but blogging about it, or blogging in general will never support my life. I have to find better ways, and more importantly, safer ways.
I’ll be more than happy to spend weeks without working, knowing that I can get a very good paying job quickly than linger in the online world kicking against that evil wage slave world while I can’t seem to sustain myself. I’m hoping to set up some sort of side income through the online world, but I don’t (realistically) expect it to ever make me enough money to fuel all my dreams. But that’s okay, I know there are a lot of lifestyle designers out there that make it and earn more than they can spend while traveling all over the world. I’m just not one of them (yet). It’s all because I chose a different path, a traditional one and one that I want to finish before I try all sorts of crazy/insane/brilliant ways of generating a side income.
Seeing as most passive side incomes are generated through internet and I do have a soft spot for this type of income (who doesn’t) it’s not more than natural I will try this in the future. At the same time I’m currently learning all sorts of new computer skills (new to me at least) through university and I expect to be able to do some simple programming within a year from now. That alone will generate an income. Blogging will chip in a bit when I move over to my own domain.
But as things stand, this blog is put on a slow simmer with an occasional proper blogpost. After all I’m still a quality seeker and I’d hate to flood you with all kinds of bad blogposts just so you have something to read.
Actually it’s a trait I’ve been seeing develop on more blogs in this area of the sphere. Less frequent posts but the ones that do come out are good stuff. So my dear reader, that’s what you can expect on this blog the oncoming weeks/months. Less posts but “still kicking ass with a zen twist”
I was watching “Kung Fu Panda” yesterday and for those who’ve read a bit about the tao this movie is full of nice little references to it. One of the nicest quotes from the movie is from the old wise turtle/kung fu master.
Yesterday is a memory.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That’s why they call it the present.
That’s the Tao for you, it’s so overly obvious we all seem to forget it.
For most of us the present is filled with promises, ideas and beliefs about the future and pain, uncertainty and doubt the past has planted in our minds. But what if you could unpack your present and find only today in it? Without the limitations brought on by the past and the illusions from the future.
This way of thinking severely blocks the “Western” mind that’s evolved around achieving things, always seeking the next best thing and never being happy with what is going on right now… hardly even noticing what’s here right now. Receiving gifts is a skill we’ve all but forgotten.
Okay, a bit of a sidetrack here but bear with me, there’s a message here.
In the western world we tend to judge a gift by it’s value (in dollars) and by the prestige it will give us “Look at me with my new iPod.. it’s expensive as hell..” Kids who grow up in this enviroment quickly learn this way of unpacking and clearly show disappointment when the gift wasn’t exactly what they wanted. It’s not good enough.
Now we jump to Japan, and the way they treat presents. For starters the way it’s packed is as important -if not more so- that what’s in it. The gesture of giving is all others will see for presents giving on a party stay packed untill everyone goes home. You might wonder why this is but it’s simple:
- If the present is a disappointment people won’t see it
- It’s impossible for the giver to boast about what he has given. The value stays unknown
- And so every present is equal
- (It’s also good form to give a present back, bot with a slightly lower value as to not let the whole thing get out of hand.)
Now back to our present day. As soon as you project expectations onto the gift you’re bound to end up disappointed every once in a while. The Western approach of “what’s in it” is more important than the gesture. Whereas the Japanese approach is to accept every present wholeheartedly and treat it exactly for what it is. A gesture of friendship, love or gratitude that should be treated with the utmost respect. The giver after all has no intention of disappointing you or giving you less than you deserve in their eyes.
And so, treat every day as a gift, don’t be disappointed and know that you get what’s yours to receive.
