SLOW

Much of humanity is having a slower life in many ways.

We are older before we are allowed alone, older before we leave home, older before we become adults, older before we become independent, older before we get married, older before we can get our own home, older before we have kids, older before we grow up, older before we break any rules and older before we die.

But having a slower life is not the same as choosing to live slower in a more balanced, meaningful and life-affirming way.

In an age of busyness and “time poverty” we can make a countercultural choice to rebel against the norm that “faster is better” and choose better rather than faster. We can take a longer-term view of our life and our world and not treat everything in life as disposable, including our time.

Slow living is a life philosophy, a state of mind and being that is purposeful, organic and natural creating connection with ourself, those around us and our world.

We can choose a conscious, intentional, mindful and deeper life that is easier, saner, balanced and less stressed.

#beinghuman #slowliving #philosophy

PROMISE

We post subsistence society people need money.

Money determines so much of the structure, beliefs and ways of our world.

From gold to paper, to data, money is now more and more abstract yet still at its root money is a promise, a promise we all agree to keep.
Money powers action, positive or negative and as such is part of humanity’s path to “heaven” or “hell”.

In an era of digital division, money is not just a necessary “evil”, it is a part of our shared identity, a promise, the one promise we all seem to share as money measures how we all work, produce, share and consume.

In life, we are all wanderers, searching for our own oasis in our desert. Money often drives the search and our belief that whoever, whatever, whenever we get what we want we will finally feel we have arrived… home.

But if our mind is insecure no amount of money will ever make us feel safe and may become a prison.

Money should not be a prison but an exchange connecting us to others, connecting us to the world. So, respect money but don’t get attached, let go and let the current of our currency carry us…

#beinghuman #currency #money

DOUBT

We all love to be right, but we can’t all be… right.

Hence thinking we are right, all the time is simply wrong.

Anyone with any imagination, creativity, vision and intelligence must have doubts. Doubts are an important part of human evolution. Doubts are how humanity learns and grows.

Turning human doubts into human questions develops human intelligence, empathy and kinship. Doubts help us stay open and develop the trust we need to communicate with the world. Trust in our own integrity, honesty and ability to know when we are wrong.

Suicide, homicide, genocide, ecocide along with miserliness, misery and madness happen when humans refuse to doubt, refuse to question and refuse to be wrong.

Of course, I could be wrong…

But I doubt it.

#beinghuman #creativity #intelligence

CHAT

ChatGPT is an open AI with the ability to mimic and respond to human words and thus deeply change our world.

Using natural language processing, humans interact with ChatGPT as if it were a human, as it generates original content based on what we say, “learning” over time. Open AI can already pass exams, including medical and legal, challenging the current education system, jobs and the global economy.

AI does not need food, water, sleep, compliments, sick days, childcare or holidays and is faster, more efficient, does not have an ego, never complains and is cheaper than humans.

When it was released in 2022, Google released a code red not because they saw a threat to humanity but because they saw a threat to their business model. Google is now releasing their own open AI, Bard.

But is it humanity that needs to issue a code red?

ChatGPT, like human beings, is not inherently good or bad, but it's powerful, unknown and driven by AI economics and the values of the hidden, faceless tech industry.

We need more knowledge about the humans who train the “Pre-trained Transformers”. What do founder Ryan Knutson and CEO Sam Altman believe in? What motivates them? Who exactly are we selling our digital souls to and why do they want them? Is this weapon of mass disruption being unleashed into our world by kind, caring, compassionate people?

If “knowledge is power,” then the power of ChatGPT is like nothing we have ever witnessed before in the history of humanity.

Open AI is not sentient but feels sentient.

Knowledge is not emotional intelligence, knowledge is not love and without love, this weapon of mass disruption will become a weapon of at best, mass distraction and at worst, destruction.

We all need to chat more about chatbots.

#beinghuman #chatgbt #ai

AWAKE

We all have times when we sleepwalk through life...

Distracted, preoccupied or unaware, we have times when we are not really here, times when life passes us by and times when we live in our minds' past or future.

But we also have times when we are awake, awake to the fact that all life is like a dream.

This lucidity, this dream yoga can free us up from our habits, conditioning and reactions.

Dreaming ultimately makes our lives and the lives of those we touch better.

Sleeping and dreaming help us wake up.

#beinghuman #dreamers #yoga

TOUCH

Touch is the first of our senses that comes alive in the womb.

From when we are babies bonding with our parents, to when we get older and form romantic relationships, from stroking a pet or hugging a friend, touch helps us feel connected.

Touch releases dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin, decreasing negative feelings & making us happier.

Touch prevents infection and humans who touch show fewer symptoms of stress-related illness. Touch reduces blood pressure and lowers heart rates, improving our heart health. Not only does touch help reduce illness in stressed people, but touch also reduces stress in general managing our cortisol, keeping us alert yet healthy.

So touch, be touched and find life touching....

Touch helps us trust, contact, communicate and love.

#beinghuman #love #health

SURRENDER

The idea of, surrender goes against our hard-wired, hard-earned human survival instincts. We, humans, love to rely on thoughts, logic and willpower even when the struggle can’t be won and it’s time to surrender.

But when life is beyond our control, when *** happens and **** will happen, letting go and letting life happen to us is the most logical and emotionally healthy response we can have.

If stop struggling and surrender to the fact we are not in control, life no longer feels precarious, even when it is, in fact, precarious.

Surrender is subversive, it isn’t giving up but giving way to wisdom.

#beinghuman #life #wisdom

NETWORK

How to get a PhD in networking...

Love yourself

Love what you do

Love learning about your fellow lovely human beings ....

and remember there are no real strangers just friends you've not met yet....

#beinghuman #love #networking

BRAVE

Loving is hard at times, even painful as to feel love is to feel the whole experience of life, the beauty of the world and its pain.

But when love feels exhausting, we don't have to give up on love.

We can be brave, let go of ego’s struggle and open up to a more expansive love. Connecting with this boundless love brings a way of living that is stable regardless of what others do or don’t do in the inevitable drama of life and when our habitual neuroses kick in, we are still wise.

When we remember how love feels even if it brings vulnerability, sorrow or heartbreak, we can love others even when other natural instincts of self-protection arise.

Opening our hearts awakens our courage, giving us strength, purpose and endurance as the walls we build between ourselves and others, collapse and we walk a more authentic, path in life.

#beinghuman #love #openforbusiness

PAIRS

Our confused minds love to name and pair everything. friends and foe, black and white, gay and straight, good and bad but our list often has little to do with reality and ultimately leads to bias, prejudice, discrimination and segregation…hate not love.

This love of dividing the world into pairs is at the root of so much of humanity’s problems and pain.

We do need to pair, intimacy and connection are as important as food and shelter but when we obsess, automate or exaggerate we create stories that lead us further away from the truth, as our mind becomes judge and jury imprisoning us in our bias and beliefs.

If we become aware of our mind’s habit to label everything and everyone, we start to see things differently. Instead of a divided scary world, we see a whole, friendly world, a world where we can relax, let go of our prejudice, predeterminations and predilections and simply make more friends and have more fun.

#beinghuman #labels #love

BALANCE

We are sold the myth of a perfect life, with a perfect vocation and a perfect “work-life” balance but the root of the word vocation is the Latin word vox meaning voice so our voice, or our calling, is integral to a balanced life.
 
When life is an expression of our calling, separating “work” and “life” is inherently unbalancing. Our work and our lives intertwine, blend, and flow and we need to learn to relax no matter how "hard" we work and let the current carry us to the ocean.
 
We exchange a day of our life for what we do each day, so it's essential to stay balanced regardless of who, what, where or why we are and infiltrate from within...

There is no "one" calling.

Our calling is a choir of people, places and purpose that is the paradox of a perfect, imperfect life.

#beinghuman #vocation #worklifebalance

MONEY

Relationships are complicated and our relationship with money is no exception.
 
For many of us, no matter our income level, our relationship with money is rooted in deeply ingrained unconscious emotions and habits that influence our actions.
 
When we talk about money, making, spending or saving, we often use practical, logical, mathematical language but that is just the tip of the money iceberg. Deep below, hidden and frozen since childhood, are personal, familial and cultural beliefs and emotions that run the show.
 
When we cling to them, our relationship with money becomes clingy and unhealthy. When we loosen our fixed beliefs and learn to befriend our concerns, clinging and cravings we make our relationship with money happier, healthier and more humane.
 
When we let go of what no longer works or serves us and cultivate new beliefs about money then our self-worth is so much greater than our net worth.
 
#beinghuman #money #relationships

DATA

In a world of information overload, data is the author of humanity’s stories.

Data helps us to make sense of our world. We find meaning, patterns, connections, get insights and make “informed” decisions. We seek and remember the stories that data tells us to help us make sense of our world and our lives.

But when data is an endless, valuable commodity, bought and sold across geographical and moral boundaries, data is often biased, distorted, or simply not true and serves the rich and powerful rather than the whole. We don’t really know who decides what data is important and what data is not. We don’t really know who is writing humanity’s stories but we do know in the English-speaking world, many of them are white, male and rich.

If we want to stay healthy, we consume real, organic food rather than processed, artificial junk food, if we want humanity to stay healthy, we need to consume real, organic data rather than processed, artificial, junk data. In an age of data dominance, we need to ask where our data comes from and if the data is good for us? We need to support local data, produced in local data farms, by people we know and trust. Data that has not travelled far and that supports the health and wealth of our local communities.

Data drives news, marketing, consumption and behaviour that can destroy or save humanity and the planet. Understanding data, data’s value and how data can be used to help or harm humanity helps us to make better, smarter, kinder decisions and ultimately to survive.

Data, data stories and what we listen to, watch or read matters.

#beinghuman #data #marketing

PRIME

Night & day I am older
Night & day I am bolder

Night & day I am stronger
Night & day life’s not longer

Night & day I have time
Night & day life’s sublime

Night & day I get better
Night & day I go get her

Night & day I learn
Night & day I discern

Night & day I live & love
Night & day I thank above

Night & day I am me
Night & day I am free

Night & day I still dream
Night & day in my stream

Night & day it’s time
Night & day in my prime

Night & day it’s time
Night & day we are all in our prime

#beinghuman #life #wordoftheday

CHEAT

We all cheat.
 
Our brains prefer us to live cruising on autopilot down the neural pathways of our life, making as few decisions as possible. Our brain doesn’t differentiate between a healthy or an unhealthy habit, so if a habit we "love" is bad for us our brains develop strategies to cheat so we can keep doing, saying and being who and what we "want" to be.
 
Breaking automated habits needs a hardcore reboot.
 
When our neural pathways have become major motorways complete with signposts and routes to the same familiar destinations we can’t just simply wish to change but need to go to brain boot camp and create cues that force us, like Pavlovian dogs, to tread a path less trodden.
 
We can all create a system to cheat the system.

#beinghuman #work #change

MEAN

A sense of meaning in our lives can create, build and strengthen our core.

To discover, or rediscover meaning we need to identify our most deeply held values. Only when we know what we are supposed to be doing and then go out and do it, can our actions align with the values we really care about.

Then we are empowered, whatever the challenge as meaning lifts our aspirations, supports us in adversity and helps us have a sense of who we are and what we care about in life.

Meaning builds our core strength and helps us find our edge, a concept with deep yogic roots, where we are mentally and physically challenged, but also able to find balance and ease. Meaning also helps define our actual edge, know our boundaries so we no longer feel responsible for absolutely everything and everyone. Even if life is hard, we don’t have to make it harder.

Meaning helps us let go of expectations, disappointments and the belief that control is the secret to making life work. We can have impact but we can’t command everything and everyone and we can never have absolute control. Imagining we can decide the exact outcome of our actions is like imagining we can decide to never die.

So let meaning keep us calm, connected, clever and content as we get less curious about the meaning of life and more curious about the meaning in life.

#beinghuman #work #meaning

PASSION

The belief and pressure to find our own unique passion are strong in our culture, especially in digital culture.

Passion is seen as the key to our own lock, opening up a world of fame, fortune, happiness and status.

A global coaching industry has grown around our personal passion projects as we create vision boards, make lists, journal, search and surround ourselves with people with similar passions all in the pursuit of our own true north.

But what if we called off the search, stopped distracting ourselves with the pursuit of passion and instead of thinking about what ‘I’ want to do, looked around and see what ‘we’ really need?

There is so much work to be done that nobody wants to do, some big stuff but mostly small stuff that no one will ever know you did, except you or your ‘God’.

There is pressure in the pursuit of passion and there is freedom in calling off the search and the belief that you and your life are going to be lesser without finding your perfect passion.

To change our idea of what a passion project really is we need to break our addiction to me, my and I, our addiction to dopamine, our addiction to distractions…

When we replace these addictions with an addiction to "how can I help?", right here, right now the world is a better place and we are happier.

The amazing life we are given, the people, the places and the projects call us, moment to moment, we just need to listen.

Then day by day, we build a life that is free of anxiety, worry, depression and loneliness.

A life that matters.

#beinghuman #coaching #digital

WHATEVER

Life is urgent, challenging and chaotic. We are conditioned to extremes, trained to choose, to take sides as we navigate the chaos via our likes and dislikes.

To stay sane, clear, loving and open we actually need to develop equanimity.

Equanimity is underrated and often misunderstood. For some, like a teenager's “whatever", it implies indifference and coolness. For some passivity, with the implicit dangers of being abused, lost or walked over. For others, it means constraint or suppression of emotions and a path to a mediocre, compromised life.

But equanimity means being with pain and pleasure, joy and sorrow, anger and fear with an open heart, a heart that is whole, intact, balanced and wise.

Equanimity stops us from feeling lost, giving our emotions the time and space to shift from being our enemies to becoming our allies.

Equanimity is fully present, spacious, still, stable, radiant and calm. A voice of wisdom, open to everything and able to hold everything.

Equanimity doesn’t mean we have no feelings, it’s not a state of blankness but space to recognize and relate to any feeling, any occurrence, any arising, intense or not and still be free.

Free from the emotional extremes of overwhelm, denial, reactivity and self-inflicted tyranny we can expand our awareness and choose how we respond to the wonder and chaos of life.

Equanimity sets us free.

#beinghuman #peace #freedom

FULL

Mindfulness is not meditation.

Mindfulness is a tool, not an end result.

A tool to uncover freedom in the most ordinary, every day, every way things.

A tool that simply helps us remember….

Where our mind is, where our attention is and where we have wandered to, so we don’t get lost and can always find our way home.

#beinghuman #mindfulness #meditation

MOVING

We are all trying, struggling and scheming to get happiness to come and stay forever and ever but that’s not how happiness works.

Everything, both inner, thoughts and feelings and outer, stuff & things moves, evolves and changes and happiness is no exception.

Yet we still try to grab onto anything we think is reliable, something we can trust to always be there

We will even grab onto misery to entertain ourselves and avoid the reality of moving, but even misery is unstable....

Trying to avoid moving is futile.

But if we let go, dance and embrace the movement of life, we ironically find the stillness we really seek.

#beinghuman #happiness #change