Posts Tagged ‘Gratitude’

Day 484: A real day!

Friday, August 27th, 2010

Yesterday I went to bed early enough to get a good night’s sleep before today’s morning call. Couldn’t really fall asleep and soon I was wide awake hearing/seeing/feeling a highly persistent flow of ideas. Inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert (see her awesome TED-talk at the bottom of this post) I internally proposed a suggestion to the full-on flow going something like this:

“Thanks for coming to me, I understand that it’s time to take you on now. Yes, I promise, I get it this time, I’ll do it – but can you please come back tomorrow? I really want to sleep now, to get up in time for my early call”. The flow insisted, so I once again grabbed pen & paper, sat myself down on the couch and started scribbling.

A website sketch, a keynote plan and a OneNote outline later I moved back to the bed, noticing that the phone said 4am. Woke up in time for my call with Ivan, made the great decision to have two calls per week, of which one is for the sole reason of introducing people to each other. High five to us!

Headed to the gym for another surprisingly powerful session and came back home for my next call, this time with Richard. Yay, was I talking ’til his ears fell off. Had this urge to fill him in on my current theories and he’s one of the best people I know to freely chat away with. How awesome it is to have friends like that! :)

The day kept going, I checked more things off my list, I talked with dad again who’s back here in Patong in… 36hrs or so and I cooked, ate and read. Had a quick talk with Angelina, who I haven’t spoken with since we met in Toronto about a year ago. I found myself interrupting her in the middle of a sentence, just to say that she speaks like a book. Absolutely beautiful hearing her talk. I couldn’t imagine a better couple on a stage giving a keynote together than Ivan & Angelina. Come on guys, you have so much to share! :)

This day feels like a real day, both because I’ve connected, connected & connected with people and because I’ve been up since morning and I’ll sleep early tonight. For real. I’ll treat myself with a massage from my favorite chick down our road, that’ll get me sleepy. They’re open until twelve and I’ll make sure to have my massage well before that. Then bed. Then sleep. Then waking up calm and well-rested. Sounds like a plan. :)

Over and out.

Elizabeth Gilbert on nurturing creativity

Love, love, love this talk. (Thanks Kaoru for showing it in NYC!) :)

Day 482: Dancing through my musical

Thursday, August 26th, 2010

Didn’t make it to the bed until it was 5.30 am yesterday, but boy did I sleep once I put myself between the sheets! Woke up, had a look at the phone saying 2.22 pm, went back to sleep and woke up at 5.55 pm. I like numbers like that! Got out of the bed with a smile on my lips.

“Breakfast”, shower, gym gear on and I took off to lift weights. The usual “hi”, “how are you”, “have a good day”, “yes, on my way to the gym” to the street vendors and restaurant workers that I meet during my 20 min walk.

Did surprisingly good with the weights and found myself dancing from one exercise to another. Enjoyed the feeling of my abs working during my sit-ups and smiled for myself when I started dancing, hanging upside down between the sets. Drank my protein shake and danced my way through the stretching routine.

Walked home, skipping & smiling. The young Indian woman who runs a tailor store on Bangla Road threw a high five my way, I returned it and kept walking. The young watch salesmen asked how my day was. The tuk tuk driver grabbed my arm. “Where you been? Not see you many days. Look for you. I miss you.” Smiled, answered, shook his hand and walked on. “Went to Malaysia. All good, I’m back now. Have a great evening!”

I didn’t see the driver who usually hooks his arm into mine, walking arm in arm until we’ve exchanged the regular sentences. Instead I got another high five, this one from a young man on the beach road. Someone else smiled and stated the obvious “done fitness!” as I walked by.

The joker is the guy on our street, outside a Thai restaurant, who’ve chosen the creative sentence “I want bombom. Tonight?” to put on repeat (in your dreams, baby, in your dreams). Then staying outside the Indian restaurant, catching up with the Pakistan men for a minute or two. Moving on, smiling, waving, nodding, saying hi to the women outside the three massage places.

Coming back home, having a shower, making chicken wok for dinner, dancing in the kitchen. Eating in front of the computer while talking with dad who’s soon leaving Sweden to come back here. Answering a few of the many, many emails in my inbox, listening to music, dancing in my chair. Checking things off my list, writing this blogpost, dancing even more.

I really appreciate my life! It feels like I’m dancing through my own musical, filled with an amazing set of characters. The world is my playground, the world is my stage, the world is my dance floor. :)

Let’s dance!

“Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.” – George Carlin

Day 481: Insane road trip & awesome videos

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

Intense Malaysian visa run – a mashup:
9 visa runners, 2 drivers; 3 women, 8 men; an unexpected array of my (direct & indirect) experiences. UK-dominated group including one outrageously rude dirty old bastard, one Arnold Schwarzenegger look-alike with hypnotizing voice, two entertaining party girls, one “reunionist”, one soloist, one passive-aggressive Asian, a quiet French guy & a water-drinking Swede.

Mischievous shots, party mood, happy energies, random talk & casual bonding. Louder & louder, Sangsom & Valium, lack of sleep, built up inner frustration, dirty energies, fight-picking swearword-saturated shouting, near-pissing-in-a-bottle-experience, close encounter, panic attack, overflowing inner anger, unstable death threats & Thai driver with serious Muay Thai skills.

In & out of passport controls, new stamps, filling out forms. Memory loss, spewing the guts out, alcohol poisoning. Walking & talking, Zen conversations, vacuum definitions & creative thinking. Tossing & turning, late-night-mind-reading/writing & tiny English speaking Malaysian cockroaches in the bed.

3 am hotel receptionist savior, solo food-hunt, awesome waiter from Bangladesh, Malaysian old man, double kindness, unfortunate jealousy & lucky payback. Mohammed Ali on bike rides, room service hookers from The Boss (via credit card) and Thai “culture” stories.

Late-night-drunken-overseas-call-to-ex-partner, sleeping with phone off the hook, 15 000 Baht phone bill. Massive road trip, smiling drivers, food, food, food, smoking, smoking, smoking. Asian toilets, wet floors, moths, spiders, geckos & frogs. Movies, music, girl talk and spontaneous she-male mission. Laugther, Facebook, pictures, phone numbers & see you later.

[imagine suiting header here] <— (“but I’m le tired”)
I loved the talk between us women that went from the phenomenon of lady-boys into the planning of a she-male mission. We got all jazzed up and one of them said “oh, listen, we’re talking just like a group of blokes”. Suddenly I got a new understanding for the whole Bangla Road circus, about the fun and the playfulness. How’s that for an eye opener.

[imagine another header right here]
Oh! There’s so much I’d like to share, it was such a crazy and insanely unexpected journey. Then I came back, started my laptop to write this post and stumbled upon a video clip called “The empathic civilisation” via Pamela von Sabljar. I was surprised by how well it connects to what I’ve experienced and also have written about during our wacky road trip (most of all the content of the zen convos & the late nate writing, but also the state transferral or shared experience (i.e. me experiencing the same thing as someone else, just because my brain reacts even if it’s someone else’s experience)).

Went on to check out another one: “21st century enlightenment” from the same creator and found even more similarities. I love how synchronicity works! I love how much there is to learn and how freaking awesome any situation can be, when I choose a perspective that moves me forward in the direction I fancy. See the videos below and see what insights they bring to you. Think big. It feels good.

The empathic civilisation

Notice how the monkey brain reacts to the human act of nut-eating.

21st century enlightenment

“To live differently involves to think differently”