How do you choose to live your life? My dear friends, by now you know I love road trips. And the film you are about to see, is the road trip of all road trips. Besides truly stunning images, there is a voice-over that is not just talking to you. It is speaking to your heart. And it’s not just somebody speaking, it is the future! It’s real life, expressed in pure poetry. I say this often: give yourself the time. Do yourself a favor and watch this film from A to Z for it will make you feel good. The film was written, filmed and produced by Dan Riordan and his girlfriend Nina while traveling through Chile & Patagonia. They spent 5 weeks exploring this amazing country and this is how they chose to document it. What a life, what a life, what a life. And you too have an amazing life. When you document it, you will see.
Fear less, hope more: look at the bright side. Eat less, chew more: take your time to really enjoy what you eat. Whine less, breathe more: live in the moment. Talk less, say more: express yourself wisely. Love more, and all good things will be yours: love can transform anything into something good.
Whether you’re working hard on your career, in therapy to sort out your past, losing weight to feel fit, or using a dating app to find love, success can still feel light-years away. In life we set all kinds of goals and we want results rather sooner than later and if possible: right now! After all, life’s short, right? Yes, but… everything takes time. Great things, like making a million dollars and small things, like making it through a meeting at the office. It even takes time for the clock to tick. It can take up to 330 days before a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, you never see them being frustrated about time passing slowly. So relax, and celebrate each and every step for they are essential in reaching your final goal. Make sure to enjoy every minute of your journey, for the only time is now.
You know that situation where you expect an important email from someone but you don’t get it? At first you think the other person is busy, but soon you find yourself making up complex theories or even disaster scenarios. Usually that doesn’t help making you feel better, so next time this happens, try to keep it simple. And to help you do so, think about ‘Occam’s razor‘. It’s a philosophy principle named after William of Ockham, a Franciscan friar who studied logic in the 14th century.
The principle says that if the only difference between two explanations is how complex they are, choose the simpler one, for the one that involves the fewest guesses, is probably the right one. In other words: the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation is. Example: Two trees have fallen down during a windy night. Consider these two explanations: A) The wind has blown them down. B) Two meteorites have each taken one tree down, and after that collided and removed any trace of themselves. Even though both explanations are possible, the second needs several assumptions and is probably the wrong answer.
Occam’s razor also often comes up in medicine when there are many explanations for symptoms and the simplest diagnosis usually is the correct one. If a child has a runny nose, they probably have the common cold instead of a rare birth defect. And medical students are often told, “When you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras”.
Feel free? Choose your own way? Right, you might think, so easy for you to say, as you walk into the office on monday morning facing deadlines and seeing your boss, bossing around already. Sure, reality can be harsh. Making it seemingly impossible to feel free and choose our own way. Our surroundings can be so dominant, we sometimes think we ARE these surroundings, while instead, we are only IN these surroundings. That means we can get out of them as well. It’s not your boss making you feel not free. It’s not your deadlines making it hard to choose your own way. It’s your perception and how you deal with this, that makes you feel free or not. Reality begins in your mind. If you want to be free in reality, start feeling free within yourself. That means taking responsibility for yourself first. Don’t blame your boss, for that will make you their prisoner. Don’t blame the deadlines because that drives you away from yourself. You – is where your freedom begins. Let nothing stop you and let this picture, inspired by an original idea of Erik Johansson – fuel your sense of freedom.
