by Vishnu | Jun 24, 2012 | Inspiration, Motivation
Are you shaking things up?
“If you could pick one rule to experience amazing things, I suggest: If it feels uncomfortable then you’re doing something right. When you’re uncomfortable, you’re growing.” Scott Dinsmore
Are you living a comfortable life?
A life that’s within your comfort zone? A life without much variety or challenge?
Is life becoming boring, monotonous and preventing you from growing further.
Why shake up your life?
I wrote my last post on why to shake up your life on purpose and encouraged you to get out of your comfort zone and take more risks. To take on more challenges and try more uncomfortable things.
One reason I suggested to purposefully shake up your life is to help you embrace the impermanent nature of things and changes that life brings your way.
In addition to embracing change, shaking up your life can inspire further self-development and growth. As my friend Adrienne says, having an adventure allows us to discover more about the world, each other, and ourselves.
As Live Off Your Passion author, Scott Dinsmore, says, “It takes courage to try new things. It takes courage to blaze your own trail.The crowd lives in comfort. An extraordinary life thrives in testing the limit.”
Shaking up your life and getting out of your comfort zone can also be fun, exciting and challenging all at the same time.
5 ways to live a life shaken, not stirred. How to take action and challenge yourself.
1. Determine why you want to shake up your life.
You can shake up your life due to simple boredom and blandness.
You can also do it to challenge yourself, overcome a fear, take on new challenges and grow as a person.
For example, you may be terrified of traveling alone and being uncomfortable outside of the city you live in and the language you know. So travel to overcome your fear.
You may be a terrible dancer because yo were never taught. Take lessons to show yourself you can improve and master a skill.
You hate writing because it requires you to express yourself. Start blogging so you can overcome your reservations.
Don’t have a midlife crisis or go jumping out of airplanes for no reason. Know why you’re shaking things up in your life.
2. Choose activities outside your comfort zone.
The idea here is to challenge yourself and grow as a person.
If you do activities that you’re already doing, you’re not giving yourself the opportunity to grow and develop.
If you love meeting people, you’re not challenging yourself by ‘forcing’ yourself to the company party.
If you practice silence every day of your life because of monastery rules, being silent out in public is no big deal.
If you think about an activity and it makes you feel uncertain, anxious, fearful or uncomfortable, that’s the activity you should pursue.
As Ali Luke suggests, the question to ask yourself is, “what makes you nervous” in life? Those are the things to do in order to test your comfort level and challenge yourself.
3. Do your research.
I decided to leave a comfortable job, friends and a place I was becoming comfortable with. A year before I did so, I started doing research.
I found out how much it would take financially to take a work “sabbatical”. I calculated how much it would take to live in different parts of Central and South America. I researched the various countries I was going to travel to and prioritized them
With the power of the internet, you can research anything today. No matter what it is. From starting an online bookstore to selling tea online, to traveling the world or pursuing an acting dream. There are bloggers, writers, and experts in the field showing you how to do what you want to do. Find out how much things cost, and evaluate the pros and cons before you shake up your life.
4. Plan ahead.
Before you leave for an around the world journey or try to become enlightened or launch your music career, have a plan.
Just like doing your research, a plan is important for your journey to shake up your life. If you don’t have a general idea of where you’re going and how you’re going to get there, you’re not going to get very far.
Figure out how many months or years you’re going to pursue your project or passion. Figure out how you’re going to get around and what kind of transport you’ll use.
If you’re going to need the support of friends and family, know when and who to ask.
If you’re going to move to become a ninja, you have to figure out how to save up to get to Japan, find a dojo and master you skill.
If you’re going to start a web design freelance business by returning to the motherland, the Philippines of course, have a plan on how you’re going to deal with the challenges of moving back and working there.
For me, it took planning but that’s why I can now share these Nicaraguan pics with you:)
A view of the city of Granada
A fountain in a lovely garden.
Colorful streets of Granada, Nicaragua
5. Evaluate your progress.
Once you start your journey to shake up your life, evaluate your progress regularly. If you set out to overcome a fear or grow as a person, check in and see how you’re doing.
Are you getting more comfortable in your adventure or less?
If you’ve nailed it and successfully become the person you wanted to be or overcame the obstacle you were facing, maybe it’s time to shake up some of the other areas in your life.
Consciously monitor the progress of your new activities and see if it’s making an improvement in your life and helping you become the person you’d like to be.
If you are the new ‘you’, great! If you’re not and you’re spending a lot of time on it, it could be time to move on.
Here are a few folks I know who have shaken up their lives in different ways:
♦ Janet quit her job and move to the Philippines to start her own online freelance business.
♦ Amy is a personal trainer who regularly challenges her clients to get out of their comfort zone with working out and life.
♦ Wendy Irene strives to live a life of wellness and took on the Gunnar challenge, witth her husband, to lose weight.
♦Irving, or the wise Vizier, has embraced change in his life and blogs about the many lessons life’s taught him on his blog, Han of Harmony.
♦ Penelope left the city, married a farmer and is raising two kids on a farm, while writing, blogging and helping young professionals manage their careers.
♦ Milo, Therese and Izzy quit their jobs. Milo is now an international man of copy and is trying to dominate the world . Therese helps you get unlost in life so you find your career path and Izzy is going to become a ninja. (laugh at your own peril here)
♦ Lori runs an engaging community blog and made a leap to publish her own e-book on kindle without going through traditional publishing channels.
♦ Keith started his own blog recently and is about to break some habits. (and takes us along for the ride)
♦ Caroline, Meg, David & Maria are each shaking it up by traveling, taking on life and blogging about it.
♦ Razwana has made a couple major job changes to London, then Paris and started a blog to help others find their ideal jobs.
Have you shaken up your life by doing something new, challenging or different? Please share your experiences in the comments below and what steps you took to shake things up.
by Vishnu | Jun 13, 2012 | Nature, Personal Development, Spirituality
Be careful when you scream 'shark'!
Hi there virtuous people!
Just a quick post to let you know about my guest post at Everyday Gyaan.
Have you falsely yelled “shark” when taking surfing lessons and had beach police show up? NO?
Oh, never mind. Please do read the guest post anyway as it’s about how to remain calm like the ocean floor when life confronts you with killer waves and challenges.
Thank you so much to my new blogger friend, inspirational writer and life coach, Corrine, for the opportunity to guest post on her wonderful blog, Everyday Gyaan.
Attention all tree-lovers and tree-huggers – enchanting Muir Woods photos!
Although I’m in Costa Rica at the moment and soon heading to Nicaragua, I did want to share some photos with you of a spiritual paradise in Northern California.
Although I grew up in Northern California, I didn’t spend as much time in this place as I should have until recently. Muir Woods is a sanctuary for the ancient redwood trees. These trees are majestic. Did you know they can grow up to 379 feet tall and they are 2000+ years old? The tallest tree at Muir Woods is 252 feet, 1000 years old and 14 feet wide.
These trees flourish in California’s fog belt where the summer fog supplies the necessary moisture for these redwoods to thrive in California. The next time you’re in the San Francisco area, head over 12 miles north of the Golden Gate bridge to Muir Woods and pay homage to this cathedral of redwoods.
“The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness” conservationist John Muir.
Some photos from my recent Muir Woods trip:
by Vishnu | Jun 8, 2012 | Inspiration, Spirituality
Dude, where’s my car?
Where’s your car dude?
Dude, where’s my car?
Where’s your car dude?
— legendary Hollywood (should have been Oscar-winning movie) Dude where’s my car?
Ashton Kucher and Sean Scott spend a full 90 minutes looking for their cars in the epic movie, Dude Where’s My Car after a full night of intoxicated partying. They wake up in the morning looking for their lost car and spend an entire movie trying to track it down.
This post is not about finding your car.
But I would say, on a side note, that I’ve had plenty of trouble finding my car.
You know that feeling when you park at a shopping center and walk out 8 hours later carrying 12 luxury shopping bags filled with necessities from Gucci, Saks 5th Avenue, & Nordstroms? And all 4 sides of the shopping center look EXACTLY the same?
You walk up and down the parking lot trying to unlock every car that looks like yours? And in the process are surrounded by armed security guards asking you to put your hands over your head and then cite you for disturbing peace when you try to run away?
Oh…never happened to you…Ummm.. moving on…
You may not have searched for your car in the shopping center parking lot or after a night of drunken stupor but what are you searching for in your life? (what a transition!?!)
Don’t we all spend our lives looking for something? Paris romances? Dubai riches? Hollywood glamor? Thrills of driving a Maserati?
Not you?
Okay, how about your own search for what you think will make you happy and bring you inner peace?
I think it’s safe for me to say that I was searching for work success, advancement, glory, riches. And spent the 12 to 14 hours of my working life every day trying to get ahead.
Why eat with others when I can eat and read journals about the next big ideas and great inventions?
Why drive, listening to music I enjoy, when I could listen to movers and shakers talking about leadership and achievement on CD?
Why go home early to see the family when I never know who I’m going to meet at the next business networking event?
Of course, when we spend all this time in our life in pursuing the wrong things – climbing the corporate ladder, chasing the next promotion or raise at work, pursuing Hollywood fame, achieving social standing, things tend to come to a crashing halt.
When do you search for inner peace?
Each of us at different point in our lives come to the same realization – “hey, I don’t know if want I’m pursuing in my life is really want I want! There’s something missing in my life.”
“I’m pursuing external achievements, milestones, relationships, and material possessions that really don’t make me happy or bring me peace.”
“This job, this relationship, this car, this house, this business isn’t really what I wanted.”
Or maybe you did want those things but you’re still feeling a big void in your life – you’re not at peace with yourself. Your mind is a worried and scared, you’ve lost meaning in what you thought you wanted or life throws you a nasty curve ball that brings you what appears like insurmountable problems and challenge.
Sometimes, it takes one or all of those things, to start your search for inner peace, calmness, and stability.
It might take a life changing event or tragedy for you to realize that you cannot be controlled by outside circumstances anymore. You will not let the outside world determine your peace of mind. You will refuse to bullied by life’s circumstances and events.
Why are you looking in all the wrong places? And the secret to finding inner peace.
When you do start looking for inner peace, many of us go awry and get lost in the journey to inner peace. We seek healers, gurus, spiritual leaders, books, religions, cool cults and other practices that we think will help us achieve inner calmness and awareness.
Just like how you previously traveled along the road of life towards external destinations, achievements and goals, you now believe that the road to inner calmness and peace comes through external means.
It doesn’t.
Unfortunately, it takes us a long time to realize that inner peace is something that’s…how should I put this…INTERNAL!
As scary, uncertain, and daunting as that may seem, the journey to inner peace begins within ourselves.
We can be guided by spiritual practices or guides but ultimately the state of inner peace is journey that begins within. The journey to inner peace is a daily choice that confronts us with hundreds of daily circumstances. As my friend Wendy points out, it’s how we react to daily challenges.
We can use external tools and methods on the journey to inner peace but the trip requires us to go within ourselves and strive to find peace in each moment of our lives. If you’ve started on your inward journey towards peace, here’s 10 practical steps you can take today on your journey to inner peace.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself”.
Are you looking for inner peace within yourself or searching for it like you’re at a buffet line at your favorite restaurant? What path are you pursuing to find inner peace?
To learn more about my book about spirituality and resilience, Is God Listening?, click here.
Photo courtesy of Danny McL
by Vishnu | Jun 2, 2012 | Inspiration, Motivation, Personal Development
A cow traffic jam can ruin your morning.
A rush hour traffic jam.
Traffic jams and accidents in the pueblo, or village, take on a life of their own.
Earlier this week, I traveled from the Costa Rican pueblo I’m living in for the summer, Biolley, to another nearby pueblo, Las Tablas. We went in my friend’s truck to pick up a student volunteer who was joining us at the farm for a couple of weeks.
It was a typical morning in Costa Rica; heavenly! The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, the greenery was as vibrant as ever. We even left 2 hours early for the 30 minute ride down to the Las Tablas bus stop, trying to capture the beauty of this region with our cameras.
As we drove down the last winding turn towards a straight road that would take us into Las Tablas, we approached a trailer full of cows sitting in the middle of the bridge! (see photo above) The trailer could not make it up the small uphill climb because of the weight of the cows.
Indiana Jones to the rescue.
Since the trailer was stuck in the middle of the narrow bridge, cars couldn’t travel either way. 8 am in the morning, a trailer full of cows in the middle of the road, traffic stopped on both sides, what would you do if you got stuck on this traffic jam?
Exactly. Stop the engine, get out of your car and chit chat with all your neighbors from the village who you hadn’t seen in weeks. As we commiserated and tried to find the humor in this situation, we realized our cell phones didn’t have reception in the area to make calls or communicate with anyone.
At that point, we didn’t know how many kilometers away the actual bus stop was and it was nearing 8:30 a.m, the time the student volunteer was to arrive. As we looked out into the sea of cows stomping with restlessness in the trailer, a frustrated driver who couldn’t figure out how to move his heavy trailer, and no cell phone reception, I volunteered to do the only thing I could do in that situation.
Walk across the bridge to the bus stop.
My Indiana Jones-like tactics required I tip toe without falling into the river behind me and without getting a kiss from the agitated cows whose faces were literally a couple inches away from mine.
I had to walk past the entire trailer, clutching onto the rails with my life, to get over to the other side of the bridge. Once I made it across, I started to walk towards the bus stop. I commenced my long and treacherous uphill journey, uncertain of how many kilometers away the actual bus stop was located.
When you move forward past the initial road blocks, the obstacles seem to disappear.
I made it past the cow-filled trailer and began to walk towards the bus stop.
To my relief, the bus stop was only 1.5 km from the derailed cow trailer. I reached the bus stop exactly as the bus arrived. The student volunteer and I started walking back to our friend’s truck.
A local merchant in a van pulled over and offered us a ride back to the bridge. He rolled his eyes at us when we tried to explain to him a trailer full of cows had broken down back at the bridge. He drove us back to the bridge, where we jumped out and trekked back across the bridge, holding onto the rails with our lives.
Without falling in the ditch again or exchanging kisses with the cows, we got back to the other side of the bridge. Our friend was able to make a u-turn with her truck and we headed back home to the farm.
What does a broken down cow-filled trailer have to do with life? Well, if you confront an angry-cow filled trailer traffic jam, you have 2 choices. You can sit there and wait it out or try to move forward despite the obstacles.
All I did was decide to cross the bridge to walk to the bus stop.
From there, I found that it was just a short distance to the bus stop. The bus also arrived exactly when I did. A local merchant gave us a ride back and we were able to head back home a lot sooner than if we had sat in the traffic jam until the driver had figured out the physics of moving his cow-filled trailer.
When facing obstacles and challenges, you just have to move forward. While I could have ended up kissing a cow or falling into a river, I didn’t. And once I showed the situation I was willing to take a smooch from my four-legged friends, the other obstacles just disappeared right in front of me.
What about you? What do you do when facing a trailer full of cows? How about other life obstacles? Have you noticed that obstacles tend to fall away when you take them on? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
A couple other photos of the scenery that morning.
Costa Rican scenery
River from afar
Another couple of cows (not in the trailer)
