Holidays...

Is there a better time for reinventing the self?

Well, as a matter of fact, I'm having a precious time for myself, being able to write 1500 words minimum each day with plenty of time, and making some incursions into poetry.

Maybe this blog has been the collateral victim. (I hope I will come to terms with some time to keep bloggin')

Anyway, August is being a time when I have thrown my tie to the wardrobe and have put on my writing clothes in a more relaxed, more convinced and instinctive way. I have taken another turn of the screw in my creative life, and it feels great!

Sure there is plenty for you to do this summer, don't just wait for things to happen. Be active. Change your life. Begin now. You have time.

Turn your holidays into a beginning of.... what? Your new writing career? Your new student life (we should always be studying something...)? What is it that you want to do with your life and don't find time to? Shoot, let's do it now!

Keep on. Reinvent.
Alex

1. Get rid of everything that drains your energy. Remember: your fuel is limited. Avoid anything that can waste it -try to break out from unnecessary worries and barriers. Stop lamenting. Do something about it. Then, send it to the wastebasket.

2. Renew yourself everyday. Meditate. Do some exercise. Take care of your hygiene. Introduce color and odor in your life. Wake up earlier. Set up a time on your own when no one can disturb you. Keep your senses alert and allow your body to react to what they tell you.

3. Keep. Things. Simple. Really, do it. Do not take things the easy way. Rather make things easier for you and the ones surrounding. You will save energy for the really relevant issues. The key is, again, to listen to your body. Whenever you feel that the mountain is too high, step back. Consider what's next. Concentrate on it. Remember that the longest walk begins with a single step. Micro-Do, if necessary.

4. Read/Write/Hear/See just what is basic for your day-to-day survival. I mean, do you really need all those RSS feeds, Pods, del.icio.us bookmarks, et al.? Do you really have to be informed about everything and anything ocurring everywhere? Think about it. The more information you have, the more your head is fed-up, the less space you have left for your creativity to arise.

5. Don't Worry. Above all, DO NOT WORRY. Follow the Chinese proverb: if it can be solved, why worry? If it cannot, then, again, why worry? We here in Spain say something  more down to earth -and even frightful: everything has a solution. Except Death. So, let's live a little.

6. Set Goals. This should be subject to be taught at elementary school, don't you think?. We all are here for some purpose (hey, some purpose that stems from a powerful inner source, so don't take the easy way of giving responsability to someone above or out there). Find it. Come to terms with it. Begin to walk the way towards it. Uh, and write it down. Draw the map of your life. It's the best antidote to avoid a sense of personal misdirection.

7. Discipline yourself into habit. What separates routine from habit is the conscious compromise and effort one takes to achieve something. When into routine, one does act under a sleepy conscience, and meanwhile, time passes by. When habits loom up, one is consciously driving life towards its harbor. Let me tell you one more think on this respect: do not try to climb eight mountains each day. Be humble. Acquire step by step. Work towards consistency -personal consistency.

8. Goals + Habits = Personal Satisfaction. I would very much like to urge you to destroy this horrible word: SUCCESS. If you look for success, you look for approval -whatever it is supposed to be. When you seek your OWN UNIQUE PERSONAL SATISFACTION, well, that's it. You and what you have achieved. You don't need anything else.

9. Avoid Violence. This is essential. I have had to work hard on this respect. When I mean violence, I am not only referring to violence against others. What about the violence we inflict upon ourselves? All the shame we bear, all the limits we set upon ourselves, all the disbelief and potential for wrong we enforce through not giving ourselves what we deserve -what are they but violence we inflict upon ourselves? There are many ways to suicide, and many end up not in death. Love yourself. Believe in what to do. Build a circle of people that appreciate you and what you do, and who dare to tell you so as many times as necessary.

10. The Magic Two: Ask & Listen (but not to yourself!). Do you try to translate what you hear into your personal experience? WRONG! Forget about yourself  for a while. Try to walk in the other person's shoes. I mean, you can. Try to see their problems from their side, let them talk the 80% of the time, and the 20% left, just make questions, ask, get deep into the other persons life, views, beliefs; be deeply concerned for the person you are talking to. You will then trascend the limits of the self, and leave an inmutable trace on the other who will respect you and consider you. As a sales manager, I encourage my people to try and do one thing at one point of the sales process (normally, when the thing gets tough): Stand up from the chair, walk around the table, and sit besides the prospect/client. Then ask him: What is it that we are facing here? Then, try to reach a solution from parallel perspectives. The most amazing: IT WORKS!!

 

1. Earth is showing signs of exhaustion.

2. Self is showing signs of consumption.

3. Excess numbs us.

4. We are overinformed.

5. We are overwhelmed.

6. We are misdirected.

7. Routine spreads. Just like a desertization of the self.

8. No purpose. No direction. No control.

9. Violence Rules.

10. Interpersonal Misunderstanding -as the natural output of a dialectic of egoism.

 Don't panick. No place for pessimism here.

Next post will deal with the other side of the looking glass: 10 Tips on Reinventing the Self.

Alex

Intuition is buried nowadays under loads of trash-info, will-to's, have-to's, might-to's. With all such junk flooding in our minds and in our days, it's hard to listen to oneself.

It should be a question of daily habit: learning to unlearn. Dismount the junk mountain of excess we are surrounded with and learn to live with the simplicity of the here and now.

Thus, everytime our guts spoke to us, we would be fresh to hear them talk.

What do you think? Are you going intuitive? Please, let me know.

I grew up being someone disheartened, frightful and doubtful of eveyone. I always told my mates that I knew where Good and Great were, but the road towards them was so harsh to follow... I considered the price too high.

Then, something happened. In my case, it was love, affection and comprehension. For you, it might be otherwise. Anyway, what matters most: the results -you reengage the walk of life in a new and fresher way. Grew confident. Believe you can (anything it is that you are to do). Prove yourself you can.

 And life turns out to be no more and no less than a great canvas upon which to cast your greatest colors -even black if necessary.

 Hope you have had this experience. Else, don't resign. There's plenty still to be done!

Just re-invent yourself.