Now I don’t own a pair of Levi’s jeans and this commercial won’t make me buy one either. Still, I really like the commercial. It’s actually a mini movie. The images are beautiful, the voice-over is soothing and the words spoken remind us of what’s so easily forgotten: to live life, your life.
“If you worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on”, said Lance Armstrong. The seven time Tour de France winner knows like no other that in order to win, you must focus on what you want, not on what you don’t want. As for Danny Macaskill… well, he for sure is focussing on what he wants. It’s amazing what he does with his bike, how he does it so precise and how he makes it look so easy.
Feel like having a break from the concrete world? Watch this film. In just 3 minutes and 8 seconds it will clear your mind. The film is called The Mountain. It displays just awesome and peaceful images of the ‘El Teide’, a volcano on Tenerife, Canary Islands. Its 3718m summit is the highest point in Spain, the highest point above sea level in the islands of the Atlantic, and it is the third highest volcano in the world measured from its base on the ocean floor. Not only the mountain itself, also the stars in the sky above are breathtaking. The film is made by Terje Sørgjerd who also made this film.
You’ll enjoy this video, especially when you are familiar with Eckhart Tolle’s book The Power of Now and like Jim Carrey. As it turns out, the famous Hollywood movie star is a friend of Tolle. In this video we see Carrey at the opening of the 2009 GATE Event, introducing his friend to the audience. But before doing so, he shares his own experience with what’s called ‘Awakening’ (in The Power of Now) and also he’s openly discussing his pursuit for meaning and purpose. Oh, and he’s funny too.
When the stakes are high, you sometimes go low. This scene from the movie Jerry Maguire, proves exactly that. Tom Cruise’s character Jerry Maguire is at the verge of a nervous breakdown. He just got fired and tries desperately to keep as many of his clients on board, for his yet to start company. Too bad, everybody let’s him down. He’s in a free fall and with his least valuable client on the phone, wasting his time, he’s about to hit rock bottom. But the great advantage of hitting rock bottom is that you can’t fall any deeper. And so, as the story unfolds, this ‘least valuable client’ turns out to be his most valuable client in many ways. But as you’ll see in this scene: Jerry isn’t aware of that yet.
Yep, we all want to do ‘Great Work’. But what is it exactly? And can we all do it? Because in a way, doing ‘Great Work’ sounds… difficult. Well, it doesn’t have to be. See this video to find out why.
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.
