What's REALLY happening?

What's REALLY happening? Ariane Online 2010-07-16T22:57:50Z User 618 http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/ OrgSpace NewsLog Considerations on writing

Have not published in a while.

How come? I am full of ideas, I often note them down and work on some of them.
They are in my computer and on pieces of paper, waiting to be published.

I have all kind of great visions, how my input will add to the collective knowledge of the world, how it will inspire others when they read it...
Still, I am somehow not able to publish.

And even worse, I cannot put my finger on it, why I can not.
I blogged here earlier, I also send out a newsletter and write on mailing lists - and the feedback I got is usually very positive, encouraging. No reason to back off.

It seems to be a kind of a weird writers block.

I figured, there are two equal opposing truth must be present to block the flow of me publishing.

As Niels Bohr, the Danish physicist, once said,

"A great truth is a truth whose opposite is also a great truth."

The truth I want to speak about might not be great, nevertheless it is the truth.

So I decided to put forth my considerations and thoughts openly, however silly they may seem.

I just started to list out my ideas as they come up, which I believe hold me back from blogging or publishing. They seem to be opposite enough to stop me.

Will it help? We will see soon enough.
At least I will be aware of my own limiting ideas.
Or I will see how silly they are and that might help me reconsider.
So let's start. Let my considerations come up and shine in the broad daylight of the world wide web!

Why do not I publish?

Noone or only a few folks will ever read my blogpost, so whats the use?

Too many people will read it.

What will the readers think about me?

How will I deal with the attention?

There will be no feedback.

There will be a huge reaction, many comments - will I be able to deal with it?

Noone will care anyway, so whats the use?

Some will not like what I write.

Some will not agree.

Many will like what I write, then I have to excel even more.

My writing will invite adverse reactions, even attacks.

The quality might not be high enough.

There is too high quality, then I will have to match or write even better.

If I start to publish regularly, it is expected that I continue.

I cannot exatly express what I have in mind.

It might not cover the choosen topic 100%, for perfectionist it is unacceptable.

For a perfectionist, it is never perfect.

I seem to be a perfectionist.

Sigh... :)

(If I come up with more, I just edit the article and extend it. It has got to be a Perfect List of All Reasons!)
]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000016.htm 2010-07-16T22:57:50Z 2010-07-16T23:27:27Z Happy spinning!

Don't you feel dizzy?

No, that is not only from the after effects of the new year party.

Our blue planet has just celebrated the completion
of another cycle around this local medium sized star,
called the Sun.

The planetary population signifies this special occurrence by some typical actions: in Denmark throwing dishes at friends doors, in Spain eating 12 grapes, in Italy and Hungary cooking lentils and in Brazil putting on bright yellow underwear...

What all this have to do with completing another full circle around the
Sun? Beats me. I guess we just love to think in cycles.

Of course it is a good reason to celebrate - as our home planet is still
in one piece, it was not blown up by humans, was not hit by a stray
asteroid or comet, its magnetic field is still in place - though not very
stable.

Have you realized, that we are spinning around and around, in many
different direction at once, all the time?

First of all, Earth is spinning around its axis, very fast (too fast) -
many of us would prefer to slow it down a little, so a day would last
more like 30-40 hours...

Then, Earth is cycling around the Sun, giving a good reason to have a big
party and legally explode a large amount of fireworks at midnight once a year.

But it goes further. The whole solar system, with the sun in the middle,
is spinning around the center of our galaxy called the Milky Way (no,
it's not the chocolate bar) on a complicated orbit at a pretty high speed
of 217.215 Km/s. The Solar System completes one track around the galaxy
each 226 million years, so it is unlikely that we will celebrate a new
galactic year's eve nowadays, unless we assign the start of a new cycle
as of now.

Here is some more info about all the different motions the solar system
is performing on its way.

Finally our galaxy is also spinning around on its course through the
space and dark matter of this universe... maybe the whole universe is
also spinning, on that subject I have not yet found many references - but
there are times when I have a strange feeling...

Dizzy yet?

Dizzy or not, there is almost no way to get off of this carousel ride!

So, we just keep on spinning happily - looks like one can get pretty much
used to it.

There are some interesting stellar times ahead, as it is just confirmed
by official sources that our solar system is just passing through an
interstellar cloud consisting of 6000 degree Celsius hot Helium atoms
held together by a magnetic field.

But don't trouble your mind over all this. The chance of being hit by a sizable
asteroid is pretty small, it only happens once in every 100 million years.

To end off on a lighter note, I tell you a secret that I heard new years
eve, which you can test next new years eve: standing on a table or couch,
holding your wealth in your hands and jumping off exactly at midnight,
will bring wealth and double whatever you held in your hand.

I was holding my cat accidentally, so I can certainly expect some
kittens in 2010...

HAPPY SPINNING!

]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000015.htm 2010-01-07T19:43:35Z 2010-01-07T20:29:11Z Truth or a lie?

How can you know that there is a lie involved in something?

Very simple. If that thing or situation or condition you want to change is NOT CHANGING, than you have not found and looked at the truth yet.

If any condition persists, if the state of affairs are unchanging, than you can be sure of one thing: there is a lie involved somewhere along the line in that equasion. You are not looking at the truth, however you try to believe that you do.

All too common examples

You say, that you do everything possible to improve your health. Let’s say, you want to loose weight, but you are not loosing any. You swear that you do everything, keep the diet, excercise program, go out jogging or walking more often – but that fat is not getting off. Damn! Honest, you only skipped every second training, only took one or two extra cookies or meals a day, only that little extra piece of pizza, it cannot do much harm! Well, let’s face it, the scale shows it’s not changing, so there is a lie involved...

Another example, financial situation, unchanging. Being in debts all the time. Oh, you wonder why? You find all kind of reasons, try this and that, but the debts just stay or grow. So the truth is somehow not confronted. The truth is, debts only collect up when one is simply spending more than one earns, and that for a long time.

Rock bottom

So the thing to do is to view your situation, your habits or the condition you find yourself in as-it-is. Rock bottom - that is, not trying to paint a better picture than it is. Not trying to explain it away at all. No justifications. Just look at it and see it as it is, and tell yourself straight what you see.

Painful? First it might seem like it. But not really. It is actually a relief to find out and view the real truth. You will suddenly see the light at the end of the tunnel. Your honesty to yourself will help you confront the situation for real, and it will open the door the solution and the permanent change.

Change

Your mind is such a powerful device that whatever you think will become your reality and it will affect your way of experiencing life. So it’s good to realize, that you have the power to change anything, including your own mind. Indeed, you are so powerful, that YOU are the only person who can change your mind.

But before you can change your mind about anything, you must dare to take a peek and see the truth of what is there to be changed – the existing thought, the exact truth of your considerations. You can only change your mind about something that you SEE exactly as it is!

Do you like yourself?

Next time I will write about the long term effects of self deception. Why is it that you don’t really like yourself? How can you ever find any peace of mind? ]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000014.htm 2009-12-01T02:05:56Z 2009-12-01T02:09:37Z How far can you go?

I have not written much lately, reason being that I cannot (or should not) type. One of my shoulders suffered a hard blow and got crippled last Monday in a sport accident. The doctors advised me of course not to move at all for about three to six weeks – doctors are known to give realistic, easy-to-keep advices… So here I am, after only a short week, doing the chores around the house, typing away on the computer, playing piano, gardening. As my body is not used to sitting around, I even tried some light workout, all in an effort trying to rest the bad shoulder.

So, how have I got into that situation? Truth of the matter is that I have made a mistake. Not even one, but actually a whole bunch of mistakes, resulting in the accident. It actually turned out quite lucky in compare to the circumstances. I fell under and was simply run over by my horse – and horses tend to be heavy when they trample over a shoulder.

At this time I was able to conclude from a subjective experience that one needs to omit a whole bunch of safety precautions in order to manage a nice accident. It is not enough to make just one small error. It is a whole list of things that have to be overlooked, causing trouble.

What have I learned? Well, a lesson, that in technical sports one always needs to check the equipment and take the usual precautions. Regardless of all those years of experience, one should not get too cocky. Regardless of being an expert, one just needs to play by the rules, as the physical world is cruel and unforgiving.

Yesterday I went back to my sport club and chatted to some people about what happened. In an honest mood, I confessed all the mistakes that lead to the accident. I also added that it can happen despite more than 20 years of experience.

At that point an intellectual looking college student-type girl, overhearing the conversation asked, how could one err so badly? She nailed me, telling it’s simply NOT POSSIBLE to make such mistakes, especially when one is so experienced.

So there I was, my sole reality questioned. It’s not possible. So maybe it did not happen? But it did.
Her question raised my interest. So if it’s not possible – how could it happen anyway?

I started to look at it philosophically. How come, we know exactly what to do, how to do something correctly – still we just don’t do it? How come we don’t care sometimes and go into all kind of dangerous situations, and see if we can pull it off? The proverb “to err is human” did no satisfy me. I looked for some deeper answers. Then I asked around from my friends, and the answers I got confirmed my ideas.

It seems to me there are the following reasons:

One: We like to stretch the limits.
Yes, we do. And it seems that without doing that, there is not much progress. Playing it safe has not brought any breakthroughs for mankind. Most discoveries, forward steps in history were involving some risky business.

Two: We like to learn.
The desire to learn is a deep and ancient need. It saturates most of our experiences. And how can one ever progress or learn, after having fully mastered an area, and always using “best practices”? Sometime we choose to learn by letting things slip a bit, so new situations can emerge, that we need to figure out. It involves taking risks of course, and sometimes “bad” things happen. But, some learning always results.

Three: We like surprises – to experience something new.
It’s simply not much excitement to always know the next event. After a while it’s boring to have total control. When the behavior of something is fully predictable, a large part of the fun is gone. So one needs to set up situations with some unpredictable factors, so surprise gets a chance. And so we create some fun – sometimes the outcome is a little hard on the body, but we must admit it is still fun. Ask any racer.

Actually the three reasons are very similar, coming from a basic polarity.
There are two ends of the pendulum swing: one is to keep total order, to get everything fully under control. The other end is to see how far can one go with it?
And the pendulum swings, back and forth. We learn how to control an area – then we reach a point where it is “too much”, too predictable – and we start to swing toward the other end, let it go out of control to some degree and stretch the limits.

The long and short of it, if you want to play it safe, if you don’t want surprises then learn your subject well and play by the rules. Check and double check your equipment, and do the usual.

But if you are ready for some fun, unpredictable changes, learn some new things, involving some risks, then by any means, go for it! I will not even add, to know your limits – I know it is exactly the question: what are the limits!?
]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000013.htm 2009-11-15T23:45:55Z 2009-11-16T00:03:23Z The worst lie

They say, you can lie to others but you cannot lie to yourself. Now, I can tell you from hard won experience, that this is totally the opposite. It seems that the person you are most likely to lie to on a daily basis is noone else but YOU. „Oh, that cannot be, I am so honest, how could I c...

First of all, sometimes one makes a mistake or does something harmful. And because we are natively well intentioned, such deeds need to be explained somehow, we feel a strong need to justify them. To save face, you need to dream up some reason why that deed or error was inevitable or not too bad really.

For example, you overspend your budget, then you tell yourself that it was really necessary for your survival, or you simply had to buy that pair of shoes. Or you knock off and break that precious piece – why did some idiot put it right there behind you?! Or you are overdue with a project – well, the computer broke down, and you lost some data, and that answer you expected did not arrive in time... You get the point.

What are the consequences of justifications? If you do not really look at what you did, there will be no change – the same habitual mistakes or errors will tend to happen again and again. We all have a strong urge to be right – because we ARE right – that to prove it, we are compelled to do it all over again. Strange, but true.

The second area of lies is that of apparent disabilities. We hate when we find ourselves unable to do something, so we do everything we can to dream up explanations to make it seem logical. Examples: „It is too much work, I cannot handle it” – „I cannot study” – „I cannot focus, I’m unable to concentrate...” – „ I am tired, it is too hard for me...” – „I can never learn to ...”

Fact, that you are able to learn or do anything. It is just simply cheating yourself telling you “can’t do such and so”. You are much more capable than you ever imagined. But telling that you can’t, sure gives you lots of interesting games, nice juicy problems to keep yourself busy with, to occupy your mind, and mainly to divert your attention from the real, deeper issues of your life that you really don’t want to look at.

The third large area of self deception is to be convinced that one already does everything possible. One anyway tends to go toward the least resistace, or stay in a comfort zone – while we know damn well that to achieve anything great, one needs to step out of it.

I can only say, stop kidding yourself. You can do much more than you believe. The thing to do when you think "I can’t take it anymore" is to go the opposite way. Instead of cutting down your reach, simply take on even more to do. Bravely step out of your comfort zone. Widen your sphere of responsibility – and you will grow but quick. You will suddenly accomplish much more, and your problems will diminish. You know the saying, when you want something done give it to a busy man. Sounds tough, but this is the truth.

So, in summary, if you notice you are explaining away something you did, or you pretend you are not able to do something, or when you feel “you are over your limits” – just stop for a moment, and take a good look. Are you kidding yourself?!

Look, you are highly capable. Indeed, you are so powerful, that noone can help or change you. You are the only one who can change your mind.

*

Next time I will tell you about how you can notice if there is a lie involved in something?
]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000012.htm 2009-11-07T14:52:33Z 2009-11-07T14:53:23Z You can just be

There is a little secret I want to remind you (and myself) about.

The trick to getting admiration is just being yourself.

No matter who you are, there is something special about you.
You are unique in many ways.

Maybe you're hiding it, maybe you're denying it... Maybe someone told you, that you couldn't or shouldn't... Maybe you tried your best and it was just never enough.

But underneath all that is who you really are.

Not the loser, but the winner, for you can't do anything but shine brighter than a supernova unless you allow yourself to be stopped. Noone can stop you, once you have started.

You've never been alone. The total separation of things in this universe is an illusion.

All the love you've ever wanted to share is right here for you, in you. All you have to do is speak up, make yourself known.

Those who care are listening. Indeed, we are always listening, for you have never left co-existence. And having forgotten, I now remember, as you can remember.

You can be free.

And you can.... just be.]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000011.htm 2009-11-02T11:57:13Z 2009-11-02T12:00:35Z The clouds of the Apocalypse

Very good subject for the night of Halloween. It would also fit well in a disaster movie.

Such clouds first appeared in 2009. The meteorologists have no clue how these clouds form, but of course they've put a name tag on the phenomena. They named it Asperatus-cloud, or Apocalypse-cloud. Typical way to deal with observations that don't fit into any category - in other words, mysteries.

Let's be blunt: it looks freaking scary, out of this world! But it is real. Welcome to Planet Earth, 2009.

These clouds were first observed in Iowa, while the weather was totally still, no storm, nothing. There are ideas that the phenomena has to do with gravitational vawes, but of course there is no evidence. Only guesswork and semi-scientific theories. Only one thing they are sure about: such clouds could only form if there is a huge amount of energy and humidity present in the atmosphere. But then it is even more bizarre that there was no storm, no super cell, no tornado in the area of the sightings.

And if it is not enough, there is more.

Just a few days ago, in October 2009, an even more bizarre cloud formation appeared above Moscow - a sort of bright ring. You can see a short video on YouTube.

The local meteorologists acknowledged the observation, but they only provided an short, funny explanation, that it was the sun shining in a strange angle from the West. Well, I am not a specialist, but this seems a little weak story for such a fascinating, shining cloud ring.

Of course, UFO enthusiasts went wild. But lets stay on the ground for now. There are no explanations yet, only question marks. Is this the climate that is changing? Pollution? An experimental weather influencing project? An invisible jet?
Or was it really a flying saucer that has just passed by Moscow?

I'm looking forward to hear your explanations, on this scary, dark, full-moon Halloween night!
]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000010.htm 2009-11-01T00:08:04Z 2009-11-01T00:17:56Z Life reboot - Part 3: Recognizing the trap

Part 1: Waking up Part 2: The trap Have you ever felt like you are dragging yourself through life? Well, I have. On Mondays I wished it was Friday already. When the weekend finally came I got soon bored and it passed by so quickly I hardly noticed. In the autumn I looked forward the winter...

That was how I felt most of the time, and it had nothing to do with sleep. It never happened that I jumped out of bed early, full of energy, even before the alarm went off. In fact I hardly heard the beep-beep, and when I did, I snoozed it many times before I dragged myself out of bed, still tired, having no idea why should I wake up at all?

Before I was very proud of my appearance, but when I fell into the trap of lost purposes, I took less care of my body. My clothes were getting out-dated, as it did not matter anyway – I was sitting at home, withdrawn from the world of action out there.

I did not feel like reaching out to meet new people or reconnecting with old friends. I was living a kind of withdrawn, hermit life. I explained it away, telling myself that I anyway don’t meet those that I really want to meet. I was surrounded by people who did not really understand me in my opinion – I was living in a different world.

If any of these symptoms sound familiar to you, then I can tell you now one thing: you might also have one or more life purposes that you gave up. A purpose you THINK you cannot achieve anymore.

I started to look for entertainment in the form of food, TV, sweets, or whatever addictive stuff, to get a kick out of life. I became an emotional eater, putting on weight slowly but surely, despite all the sports I pursued. I was snacking every evening, nurturing my troubled soul with some sweets or chocolate.

Don’t get me wrong: I think life is something to enjoy – I love fun and entertainment, good food and wine, sex and adventure – and all the great things life can offer.
But I caught myself using some of these things as a substitute, in place of the REAL thing, instead of passionately working on my life purpose.
At one point, I got really suspicious.

I pointed these tough question at myself:
So, what is it, that you originally wanted to accomplish in your life?
What is it you are here for?
And I suddenly remembered my purpose, which I (almost) gave up.

Oh, that was very painful first, when I really started to confront what I’ve set out to do and how far I got, in compare to where I wanted to get.

Now, that is hard to look at, especially when the purpose became occluded, invalidated, given up, and you've subconsciously decided that it CANNOT BE DONE. When you really believe, that the purpose of your life has apparently failed, and so your life also failed.

I admit, I bought the idea that it is impossibly anyway: there are extreme obstacles, insurmountable barriers preventing me from reaching that purpose. My confidence and self esteem was too low, and my fear grew too great to go against all those odds.

But when I suddenly woke up, I started to change my mind. A quote from a Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, also helped:
“It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”
I though – what the heck? I want to live. It is time to live, and it is NOW.

Ok, but those obstacles were still very real. Not only real, but they seemed overwhelming...

I am not saying it is easy.
There is no way out of any trap, if one cannot confront certain barriers.
So I realized that if I were to change, I needed to step out of my perceived comfort zone.
It turned out, that it is not even so uncomfortable as I believed it first – on the contrary, it is a lot more fun, then living imprisoned by my very own mind…

*

In the next chapter I will tell you more about the anatomy of the trap of failed purposes and give you a hint how to get out.

*

Before I leave you with your thoughts, let me complete the quote from Father Alfred D Souza, which also helped me:
"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin .

- At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.”

***
Part 4 coming soon: Why is it a trap?]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000008.htm 2009-10-31T15:09:31Z 2009-11-01T14:45:42Z Do not think!

There is so much to do! Have you ever felt like you are literally dizzy from all the things that demand your attention? But your day, as well as mine, usually consists of 24 hours, whether you like it or not. So, the smart thing to do according to most time management guru's is to learn how to ...

When you catch yourself thinking, figuring, puzzling and racking your brain over something, there is something wrong.

You cannot decide - because you did not notice what is the real barrier to your decision and action.

And if you don’t catch what is wrong or what is missing, soon the whole thinking becomes emotional, irrational, and you normally drop the whole thing altogether – or you force yourself by doing it anyway, despite your bad feelings, but on the long term that also stops you from moving forward.

Can you remember a time when you had to think, think, think, like the little bear Winnie the Pooh, about something you wanted to do? And you just sat there, and could not decide? Could not act in any direction? So, what was missing?

In those areas of life where you have to think and figure a lot, you almost always have missing data or missing knowledge.

But it can be more than one way of missing data.

If you’re already a master of that area, then it can be simply some piece of missing information, or lack of data to decide or step forward.

The most tricky one is when you are already trained in an area - or you THINK you are -, but you still miss the know-how on some points – and you tend to overlook it, as you believe you already know it. It can be missing know-how, uncertainty of sequence, technique, judgement on importances, on the point where you hesitate.

The simplest case is when you are really new in that area, you have not mastered it yet, then thinking means you have lack of knowledge, and you need to learn more – this is maybe the easiest to realize, if you are really honest to yourself.

So what to do if you notice, that you stopped and started to think instead of acting, and can’t seem to step further or decide? Just quickly check which one it is: missing knowledge, or missing information?

And you can act on it right away: whichever it is, just start gathering the data or find a way to learn the missing piece – and you are already moving forward.

It can be as simple as looking into that pile of papers on your desk, pulling up the right file in your computer, checking the data on the internet, or asking a colleague.

If you lack the know-how, you can find data on the net, find an expert to help you out, buy and read the right book, or go on a training to learn how to do it, or even enroll on a university or master training – whatever it is, you can identify it and start acting on it right away. Sometimes the help of a coach or trainer can make it much easier and quicker – finding someone who can assist you in overcoming the barrier is also an action you can do right away.

Stop thinking, start acting - that’s the way to smite time, the ogre!
]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000007.htm 2009-10-30T10:15:01Z 2009-11-02T12:09:54Z It takes only TWO points ...

...to move the entire universe. It takes at least two points. It takes the observation and comparison of two things, to observe how something is, what happens to it, what has changed or what effect have you created. We tend to focus on what is the same, holding it as only one point, be ...

It seems to be one of the basics of logics:
you can't tell how something is without something else to compare it to.

Two datums, two things, to somethings are needed
to be able to judge, evaluate anything.

So, your finances are out of control. Okay, let's try this idea I propose here.
Take another reference point. Let's say, the second point is a bumblebee.
Bumblebees have not much finance. Or do they!?

Now, notice what has changed in your idea of your finances.
Do you see the point, I mean, the two points?

You say, this is too bad... Okay, too bad, in compare to what?
That is not logical, not even comparable? The better! ;)

My recent experiences revealed the deeper workable truth behind the point
(two points) I am putting forward here.

Lo and behold, rigid ideas tend to loosen up.

It takes only two points not only to observe, but to change anything.
The first thing is to notice or become aware of something,
then compare it to something else, and then step back, and look for
what is different?

Anything that you measure is based on this principle.

The apparency of the holy idea of linear Time enters in here.
You take the same thing, and compare it against time. OK, if you really mean it,
let's suppose time is just another dimension, and you still have two points,
one in one time, the other is the "same" thing in another time.

It still takes two to tango, I mean to tangle or untangle.
Two points and noticing what is different instead of what is the same.

No, I'm not just bubbling away here, uttering wise-sounding thoughs -
I started to live the change. This concept starts to integrate into my daily life,
and my life is rapidly turning into a joyful, playfully surreal, sometimes
wild experience - anything is expected, anything is possible, anything can happen
or change on the spot.

And this is fun.

You see, if it's not fun, it's probably not right anyway!]]> http://ariane.cr8.com/index.php/_v618/__show_article/_a000618-000005.htm 2009-10-15T09:51:11Z 2009-11-01T14:28:19Z