‘Wondering’ is defined as: feeling or expressing awe, admiration, amazement, or surprise. You ‘wonder’ when you’re being curious and eagerly set out to investigate something. Personally, I love to wonder, because only then I can discover new things. Just one tip: wonder without getting hit.
The door to 2012 is closing, the door to 2013 is opening. I would like to thank my 2466 followers for their interest in focusNjoy. I wish you all a happy, healthy and inspirational 2013. Love, Stijn.
To me, the 21.12.2012 ‘End of the World’ idea is above all a symbol. The world on this particular day offers challenges and opportunities, just like any other day. But what is special today, is that a large number of stars are aligned. This marks the start of a new time and thus the end of an old time. But how this resonates varies from person to person. And so does the effect it may have. A factual ‘End of the World’ will not happen, of that I’m sure. At least not today. And besides: people are born, people die. Sometimes in love, sometimes in pain. Just saying: the world starts and ends every day.
Yes. You know. It can be your ‘boss’, your ‘manager’, your ‘client’ or your ‘whatever’. Point is, nobody owns you. The whole idea of somebody owning you is just crazy. Think about it. Like what? You are a slave? With a ‘boss’? No! He or she may have something to say or demand, but that’s only within a certain context. Outside of that, you’re free. FREE! So always feel free, in your mind, heart and spirit.
How do you know if you’re walking the way? You know when the way appears. How do you know when the way appears? You know when you experience inner peace, in the outer world. Now obviously inner peace can only be found within yourself and only in the present moment. For it to manifest you need to stop thinking, because thinking guides your attention to the outer world and to the past or future. Just observe your thoughts and it becomes clear. Instead, all you need to do is focus on your breath as it goes in and out. Your breath is your guide to inner peace. Your breath is always with you, and always in the present moment. So keep following your breath and like a little mountain stream destined to find it’s way to the ocean, you are destined to find your way to inner peace. Inner peace already is inside of you: waiting for you to discover it. And once you have, the way has appeared.
Let us try not to worry, shall we? I’m telling you, all will be fine and it’s not because of your worrying. The majority of you problems today are long forgotten within a year from now. And if you can’t fix a problem, don’t worry about it. You can’t fix it anyway and worrying about it only makes it worse. If you can fix it, don’t worry either, but fix it! Again, worrying won’t help. Read more on this in this column.
Oscar Wilde said: “Be yourself, everybody else is already taken”. So be yourself. Being tolerated is not enough. Be celebrated. For who you really are. If you’re in a relationship where you can’t be yourself, break up. If you have a job where you can’t be yourself, quit. If you have friends where you can’t be yourself, they’re not your friends. Always be yourself. Spread your wings and fly.
People are vulnerable as individuals and as a species. And fighting vulnerability is useless. No matter how hard you try. Simply because you can’t control everything and so your life can turn upside down at any moment of any day. You may be the King of the World, the Smartest Woman in the Universe or the Sexiest Man Alive; it won’t help. You can however hide from it. And most of us do. Behind a fancy job title, nice car or house. Interesting friends, a busy agenda, designer clothes or healthy hipster life style, but sooner or later vulnerability will find you. So what can you do? Well, it’s simple.
Simply face it and embrace it. Because when you embrace it, you no longer need to fight it. You no longer need to run or hide from it, by keeping up appearances and putting energy in this hopeless attempt to avoid the discomfort of feeling it. You can now be as you are, vulnerable, instead of pretending not to be. The way I see it: vulnerability is indestructible. So by letting it in and become a part of you, in a way that makes you indestructible. Daring to be vulnerable gives you power to be.
From time to time it’s good to ask yourself: “Am I alive?” Because it’s not uncommon to just be busy doing what you’re always doing. To be caught up in a routine. And that routine may very well result in hours, days, weeks, months or even years of living, without actually being alive. Because there’s more to living, than just breathing. Imagine someone in a coma and it becomes clear… I recently attended a re-birthing workshop and I experienced the difference between A) normal breathing: a mostly shallow, kind of mechanic and unconscious way of getting the bare minimum of oxygen ‘shots’ and B) breathing with full awareness, in a rich flow, organic and fully open to receive life’s energy in all it’s splendor. It let me experience the meaning of the phrase: “Just because you breathe, doesn’t mean you’re alive”. And so I challenge you, as I challenge myself, to wonder: am I really alive or mostly just busy breathing?
I guess you’re familiar with this sensation: one moment you feel great, and the next… well not so great. I sometimes feel like I’m nothing and sometimes I feel as though I’m everything. It’s a really fine line, much like it is with being crazy or brilliant. John Lennon had a nice way of putting it. He said: “Part of me suspects I’m a loser. The other part of me thinks I’m God Almighty”. I wrote a post about that one too. Anyway. A couple of days ago, I stumbled upon the “I, a universe of atoms…” quote by the American physicist Richard P. Feynman (1918 – 1988). And it’s stuck in my head ever since. Because to me his words are both mind blowing and heart warming. The thought of “I” being a tiny, stand alone atom – and an infinite, whole universe at the same time, blows my ego off it’s socks. Because “I” isn’t (only) the ‘earthly me’. “I” is a single atom and an entire universe, completing one another. Think about that when you’re looking at yourself in the mirror. So yes, it’s a quote I gratefully meditate on. It’s so simple and yet so deeply profound. It makes me feel humble and larger than life at the same time – it’s liberating. Look at us humans. Look at you, look at me. We are both nothing and everything. Again. That’s just… wow.
Imagine you’re looking for something, but you can’t find it. Annoying. Yes. Very. But then, maybe you’re not supposed to find it. Or maybe you’re just looking in the wrong place. Or maybe… you already found it, but you don’t realize it yet. Whatever the reason is, you might want to stop searching. Why? Well think about it: as long as you’re busy searching – you’re not… finding!
Dear friends, it’s been more than a year since my last post! Honestly, I needed the break but a lot of good things have happened to me in the meantime. Apart from a great time at Eyeworks Netherlands, where I worked as a Senior Creative with some great people at the Program Development Team, it were exciting times for me personally as well. Too much to tell you in one post. But I will share more in the coming months, because it’s been truly transformational.
I’m planning on a brand new start of focusNjoy at the end of April. And this time, I intend to actually make some money haha – because running an ad-free blog is great, but from a financial point of view it wasn’t a success and one of the reasons for me to get back to television. Later in 2014 I intend to finally start with my workshops in Amsterdam. I’m super excited about that but let’s see how things develop. Anway – I’m back and I’m feeling fresh. Hoping to hear from you – always feel free to send me an email and say hi!
Love, Stijn.
