2012 is the year of the Dragon! Do you have an idea for a product that you've been dying to create?  Something you know people would love but you don't have the know-how or the capital to even dream about beginning?  Well... guess what?  You live in the 21st century so you don't need know-how OR money!  One of the latest methods of raising private money for your projects is a concept called "crowd-sourcing".  Basically, if the idea is a good one you can create a summary of your idea, with a video, put it out there for the world to see and offer people rewards (that you will give them in the future) or allow them to pre-order a product before it's made in order to raise enough money to make the product come to life.  One of the most popular websites out there that supports this type of fund raising is www.kickstarter.com.  They have developed a platform that allows people to create "campaigns" for any sort of artistic project or product with any monetary goal for whatever it is you need money for, and people can become "backers" for your idea.  They put up a little bit of money and are allowed to pre-order something or they get some other sort of kick-back from becoming a sponsor.

I have recently created a campaign for a dual-language children's book that I am writing and I am offering it on Kickstarter.  The books are not printed, but as soon as I reach my goal (of $2400 for publishing) the books will be printed and shipped to all of my backers.  Other rewards include things like a kids' puzzle with some of the illustrations on it, a printed book tote bag, a mousepad with the book character on it, etc.  But if I don't reach the $2400 goal, all the money is returned to the backers and I don't get to print the book!~  Take a look at this video I made and if you know anyone who might be interested, PLEASE forward it along to them!  The campaign has been on the website for about a week and a half now, and I have already raised over $700 toward my goal.  

So if you have a project that you've been wanting to get underway, I would strongly encourage you to check out this website for your own benefit.  Take a look at what is on the site now, get a feel for the things that are being successfully funded, and try to figure out how your product could succeed in this type of campaign.  There are also other crowd-sourcing websites out there like:  www.indiegogo.com 

Good luck!

I studied Capoeira for some time and before and after every class we would repeat in unison, this phrase in Portuguese:

"Cada dia que pasa, estou melhor em tudo que faso."

It translates to: "Each day that passes, I am improving everything that I do."

So simply put that it leaves no more to be said. In every facet of your life, if you live by this mantra, you have no option but to succeed. It doesn't matter who you are, what your goals are or where you are in life. If you are alive, you have daily actions that you do to survive, and if you strive to do them better, you will be improving who you are in increments that are perfectly suitable and attainable by you. Whether you are a gymnast, a pirate, a bingo caller, a business owner or a rockstar, this phrase is relevant to you and you can immediately apply it to improve your life and improve your health.

How are you sitting right now?  Is your posture correct? 

How much time have you spent in front of the computer today?  Too much?

What is your typing speed?  Think you can make it faster?

Who was the last person you hurt?  What it necessary or could you have used a better tactic?

What did you do for your health yesterday?  Have you done it better today?

These are just a few of the questions you can apply to your actions to push you toward becoming the best human being you can be.  I've mentioned "being all you can be" several times in this blog, and I've never served in the Army, but I believe that the fact that we're here on Earth is an amazing gift and we should all be making the best of it.  Fundamentally speaking, if we want to make the best of our lives, we should first be the best person we can be.

Another interesting benefit of applying this mantra to your daily life is the fact that in order to successfully apply it, we first have to be AWARE.  We need an awareness of our personal limits and we need to fundamentally understand what it will take to improve those limits. 

Everyday, I try to workout a little bit harder than I did the day before, give more of myself, learn something new that I can apply to my life goals, or understand a new concept or strategy relevent to my current project.

What will be the next step to improving your daily life?

Our greatest instrument for understanding the world—introspection . . . . The best way of knowing the inwardness of our neighbor is to know ourselves. Walter Lippmann (1889-1974)

So you go about your daily life and might not think too much about your every action.  In martial arts we say that "He who conquers others is strong, but he who conquers himself is mighty."  In order to really understand the world around you and make it work for you, you must first understand - and conquer - yourself.  Conquer your fears, answer your own questions, find truths that are critical to your existence and understand them.

Easier said than done?  Indubitably.

In my last post I suggested that you "question everything".  And didn't really explain it.  Sorry about that.  What I mean is:

• Question the answers you're given even if it is from a "reputable source".  No one is perfect and if the world is to be your oyster, you must be the one to understand the answers.  If that requires that you create your own answers then that is the best way.

• Question your own capabilities.  At first this will lead to doubt --> then understanding --> then confidence.

• Question your own solutions to problems.  How did you come up with that solution?  How were you influenced?

• Question your own subconscious actions.  Why do you sit in a certain place at your dinner table?

• Get out of your routine.  Take a different route to work.  Read something that you would normally be put out by.

• Keep an objective attitude.  Don't be put out by anything.  Don't fall back on reactions you would normally use.  Treat each moment as if it is entirely new and create responses to situations as if you had never experienced them before.

• Put yourself in someone else's shoes.  Erase all of your notions of someone you interact with and create entirely new notions as if you were THEM observing YOURSELF.  Watch yourself objectively as you proceed to live your life.  Notice the details of your movements, your thoughts, your reactions.

Question yourself like you question others.  Forgive others like you forgive youself.

It's only when you understand why you do the things you do that you will start to see better ways.  Be open minded and take influences for problem solutions from anywhere you can.  Don't let pride get in your way - immediately admit when you are wrong, or when you start to question yourself.  No one is perfect, so learn from your surroundings.

Man has come a long, long, long way over the process of evolution and development of our kind.  From communication to simple tools to building large structures, creating and adhering to political infrastructure, creating currency, creating and supporting new businesses, venturing into outerspace, etc etc…  Through all of this, it would be pleasing to think that mankind, by nature, has “good” intentions overall with respect to life and the universe on a broad scope.  What that means exactly, I’m not sure, but I’m fairly certain that it’s false. 

Over the course of evolution in any species, beings tend toward actions and behavior that best contributes to their individual survival or the survival of their family, loved ones or species.  Currently, the speed of our technological development (otherwise known as “physical impact and modification to life and the universe”) is increasing very rapidly.  Currently we are at a very volatile juncture in our development.  We are at the “knee” in the curve, or the turning point where population, technology, knowledge and impact will be increasing far more rapidly than ever before.  If we can see the errors of our ways and look beyond our own personal prosperity and look beyond the prosperity of our species, we will be able to identify a better way to live life that is less impactful to the universe and will make us a stronger more intelligent species in the long run.

Developments have been made over the millennia that, if gone unchecked, could mean the downfall or worse yet, the corruption or our species.  Below, I’ve listed some of these developments and ways that you can address them in your life in order to take control of your part of the universe and the development of your offspring.

• Blind faith in technology.  Don’t use or support a product until you know everything about what it does and how it works.  This includes how it was made, who will be impacted by its use, who was impacted by its development and construction, negative impacts to yourself when using the product.

• Reliance on others.  Due diligence means finding your own solutions to problems and personally making sure that all of the details have been covered in a manner that is satisfactory.  Relying on others’ choices, products, opinions means that you have made the assumption that you agree with all of their beliefs.

• Question everything.

• Find your own answers to every question.  Don’t be satisfied with an answer you’ve been given even from a trustworthy source.

• Write down the elements of humanity that are important to you.  Writing them will solidify them in your mind and they will emerge in your actions.
  

• Keep yourself physically and mentally healthy in order to be able to make clear decisions and also be able to act on them.

• Acknowledge a major personal flaw.  There's got to be ONE!  Personality traits, over-eating, violence, lying, cheating, sub-optimal performance, etc...  Acknowledging a flaw is an absolutely critical step to take in fixing it.  Once you have acknowledged it, you will find it immensely easier to make realizations on how to fix it.
• Never take anything for granted.

• Whatever you do, act as if the whole world was watching.

• Always aim for improvement

• Double check all actions against your ethical beliefs.  You may be in the habit of doing something that is contrary to your ethics, and not even realize it.  Double check your every move and you'll most likely find things about you or your actions that you would just as soon change.

Everyone has the choice to enjoy every single day as it comes.  No matter how you’re feeling or what your circumstances are; no matter what has happened or what is happening in the immediate future or immediate past, as a human being, you have the privilege to make the choice to appreciate the present moment.

When I was about 16 years old, I realized that I could make a choice at any given moment that would determine whether I was content or unhappy.  If I made the right choice, I would be absolutely content with myself and my surroundings no matter what.  If I made the wrong choice, each moment of anger and misfortune would be compounded on one another as the day went on.  I would be more prone to hurting myself, breaking things, making mistakes, etc.  I never really knew what the “choice” was, or how to define it but, with practice, I knew that it was as easy as flipping a switch.

I stood in the parking lot this morning stretching in the cool morning mist, as I like to do after the commute to the office, and as I took a nice long breath of fresh air, a van came careening into the parking lot and pulled into a spot right beside me.  Even thought there was no one else in the parking lot, the van still missed the spot and had to pull out and pull back in.  Then I listened as the front bumper crunched up onto the curb and was dragged off when the driver pulled back.

He got out of the car and shook his head, saying to me “It’s gonna be one of those days, isn’t it?”  Then proceeded to walk quickly toward the building with his briefcase in hand and head down at the sidewalk.  He walked past this: 

and this: 

and this:

Had he not noticed what a gorgeous morning it was?  What was he thinking about so hard that took his attention so far away from his surroundings (not to mention his driving…)?  Always thinking about the previous mishap, misfortune, or feeling, he was never present enough to prevent the next.  I can imagine what kind of a day he is having today (although I’d rather not).

To this day, I continue to practice flipping this switch.  It doesn’t always work perfectly, but it comes more easily every day.  And I can often see this turning point in others’ days as well.  A point at which, if they closed their eyes, wiped the chalkboard clean of all the past misfortune and anguish, took out a fresh piece of chalk and opened their eyes, that they would be able to start fresh from this moment on. 

It is man’s natural state to be content, it requires only attentiveness.

There will always be discomfort in your life.  On some level, in some facet, either physical, mental, social or otherwise, discomfort will always be a part of our lives.  Is discomfort uncomfortable?  By definition... yes.  Does it have to be all bad?  No.  Here is a list of items that will hopefully help you to keep your eyes open and see some of the benefits that your discomfort can provide you.

1. Learn about the world around you. 
Where does it come from?  When did it begin?  What are all of its constituents?  Can you learn anything on the basis of observation alone?

2. Ponder interconnectedness.
What is the direct and indirect impacts of this discomfort on you?  What is its impact on others?  Is this discomfort caused by others?  Is it caused by you?

3. Realize how your accommodations can improve. 
Look around.  Are there other methods or strategies that could be implemented that would not require the problem to be solved, but rather would render the situation non-existent?

4. Practice awareness. 
Practice bringing attention to the situation in order to really understand it before trying to rectify it.  Bringing your attention to a particular sensation and avoiding other thought patterns can help you to isolate the problem.  The sensation of having a rock in your shoe is far different than the thoughts of "Why do I always get rocks in my shoe?"  or "I really can't afford a better pair of shoes".

5. Understand your tolerance for pain. 
This can apply physically or mentally.  Ask yourself.  "Okay, how much is this really bothering me?"  See Pain is Only What You Make It.

6. Increase your tolerance for pain. 
While pain is a signal to your brain that your body is in danger of being damaged, it often overcompensates.  After understanding what your pain tolerance is, make it a personal challenge to ride that line and accept it as a simple indicator to your brain.

7. Brainstorm a solution. 
What can you build/make/modify, to rectify the situation?  Think about the items at your disposal.  Try to challenge yourself to come up with an inventive and unique solution.  By patching the problem with a carelessly thought-out solution or something that won't quite work, you're only giving yourself something to complain about and fix again later.

8. Practice "creative experimentation"
Example:  There's a painful wart on my foot.  How can I change my stance, foot placement, stride, etc to ease the pain?  Are there other objects nearby that I could be supporting some weight on to take it off of my foot?  How many helium balloons do I have to hold to alleviate the pain?  This will help you with creativity, as well as take your mind off the situation and it may also provide a reasonable solution.

9. Practice acceptance
Harboring "The serenity to accept the things you cannot change" is a very powerful skill.  You may need to find something, a phrase or thought, to constantly remind yourself of the goal of being more accepting to avoid getting frustrated with the practice.

10. Harbor compassion
Somewhere out there, there is someone with the same discomfort as you.  Somewhere else, there is someone far worse off than you.

Commonly, people pose the question: "What would I do if I had only 1 day left to live?" Answers are generally comprised of places they would go, things they would accomplish, and people they would visit.  This is a good way to help you understand the things and people that are really important to you.

Imagine now, that I told you that you have only 30 seconds left to live...

Wait, you're still alive!  Keep reading!

In Bushido, the philosophy of the Samurai, death is always imminent.  They lived their lives as if each moment could be the last, savoring every step of the journey and always putting their best foot forward, whether it be on the battlefield or training ground, or playing with their children or drinking tea.  Death is held in the highest regard and is never forgotten by the Samurai.  All the moments in our lives lead up to it.

This exercise can help you gain a better understanding of the intrinsic nature of your human being-ness. Not really having enough time to prepare for imminence, every moment must be lived completely.  What would change about your life if every 30 seconds was your last?

Do you commute to and from work every day listening to the radio or spacing off thinking about useless things? I was on my way home from work the other day and I approached a turn trying to guess how many times I had made the turn. It was far more than I wanted to admit, so I shut off my blinker and kept going straight.  It was a road I hadn't travelled before; I'd never had a reason to.  And as soon as I strayed from my normal route my eyes and ears awoke to new sights and sounds that weren't necessarily awe-inspiring, but they were new and different. And the turns I made were new as well; they weren't a part of my muscle memory.  I instantly starting paying more attention to my driving and became more aware of the things around me.

I saw some kids playing by the road whom I'd never seen before, and I drove by an old barn that looked like it would make a great martial arts school for when I am ready to open my school.  This got me thinking about what the school will be like, and all of the details that I love to daydream about anyway.

I only drove a couple miles down the road, turned around in a driveway and headed back home, but it made such an impact in my commute to have discovered a new part of the world, and also to have triggered new thought patterns about my future martial arts school plans.

The point is:  Do something different.  If you've become complacent with anything in your life, mix it up a bit.  Give your mind something new to think about.  A new perspective can awaken new thought patterns and stir up mental and physical energy in a very healthy way.

What is Mind Mapping? 

Mind mapping is a method for organizing thoughts that can be used to improve the way you think about your life, tasks, workflow and even how you relax.  It helps categorize and associate different thoughts with one another and makes it easier to memorize and recall complex thought structures.  Mind mapping in some form was originally conceived and used by Leonardo DaVinci but is commonly used by thousands of people today.  I was introduced to it from the book How to Think Like Leonardo DaVinci by Michael Gelb.  From a very broad level, mind mapping starts with one thought or concept and allows you to create a physical map of other associated thoughts.  Very little structure is given to how the actual mind map is formed giving your mind creative freedom, and it is encouraged to let your mind wander within reason and record how it wanders.

How can Mind Mapping Help Me Live a Better Life? 

By organizing your thoughts in a mind map you are able to gain a better understanding of how your mind works and look at the big picture of:

1. how certain things in your life effect other things,
2. why certain thought patterns may arise,
3. what to do to short-circuit thought patterns,
4. how to memorize different associations between thoughts
5. how to anticipate thoughts before they arise by understanding how your brain works. 

All of the above are very powerful big-picture tools to use in every facet of your life.  Other benefits of mind mapping, that will help you live a better life on a more detailed level are:

1. realizing different methods of achieving short-term goals,
2. laying out the direct and indirect benefits of performing certain tasks,
3. visualizing the interconnections of many thoughts and ideas,
4. creating representative imagery that will be easy to associate with later,
5. realizing how you can accomplish multiple goals with one activity or at least how you can combine short-term goals.

Why is Mind Mapping so Effective? 

Mind mapping combines thinking strategies of both right-brained and left-brained thinkers.  This makes mind mapping easy to conceptualize for both types of thinkers, but more importantly, by combining these right and left-brained strategies we’re able to unleash our mind’s full creative and conceptual potential.

How to Create a Mind Map

Getting Started

It’s best to create a mind map with a pen or pencil on a large piece of paper.  Start with one word that represents a thought, goal, idea, problem, etc.  If you need more than one word that’s okay, but try to keep it VERY simple.  Write this word in the middle of the paper and create a quick doodle or symbolic graphic that represents your central word.  It’s great to use colors and be as creative and vivid as you can, this will help with recollection later, and will also help to unleash the creative prowess not generally used when planning or organizing.  Next, write down associated words around the center word and connect them to create appropriate associations.  Continue using color and creating symbolic graphics for each word.  Outside of those words create more words and associate them appropriately.  Soon, you will see a complex network of associations all related to your central word.

Expanding the Map

This network of relationships is your mind map for this particular topic.  You can expand on it infinitely so be careful not to stray too far from the intended relevancy.  Once you have added a good deal of content to your map take a step back and look at the big picture.  Look at all of the tiers you have most likely created.  Try to look at each word on its own and determine whether it can be associated with anything else on the map.  Create lines between all associated content, and if lines are not practical, use graphical indicators or numbers to indicate a connection between two things.  Eliminating the need for tiers of information that only have one “parent” is one of the main principles of the mind map.

Direction

Don’t focus on one word at a time when you are making the map.  Keep looking at the big picture and come up with any word that is associated with any other word in the map.  Jumping around from place to place will keep all of the words fresh in your mind and will make associations easier.  If you see your mind map taking on a different direction, think about taking one of the words from your map and creating a new map with that word as the base word.  This can be done for any word.

Conclusions

Look at the mind map and try to determine the various paths through which any two things are related.  How are they related?  Which other items do the relationships pass through?  Are there multiple thought processes, ideas or tasks that lead to the same outcome?  Is one path shorter than the other?  Is one path more important than the other?  Does one path address more elements than the other?

Examples of Mind Mapping for a Better Life

Vacation Mind Map

Create a mind map about all things related to a day off, or a vacation.  This can help you prioritize your next vacation plans.  It can also give you insight into how you can accomplish multiple things at one time thereby making your vacation time more effective.

House Work Mind Map

This mind map will most likely start with items like “Cleaning”, “Maintenance”, “Organization”, “Projects” etc..  this map will help you realize how these things are interconnected (ie. Cleaning & maintenance might have many interconnections) and will help you to better optimize your efforts around the house.

Shopping Mind Map

Creating a shopping mind map may be a little bit large, so it might be better to start with “clothes shopping” or “consumables”.  Organize these mind maps, not by individual item, to avoid over-complication, but by category or other properties.  For instance, consumables could be interconnected by timeframes like “daily”, “weekly”, “annually”, or by importance like “critical”, “needs”, and “wants”.

Health Mind Map

A health-oriented mind map could help to align and associate different critical elements of your health, such as diet, exercise, anxiety level, enrichment, etc.

Work-Life Balance Mind Map

Create a “work-life balance mind map” that helps you to organize your short term and long term goals, your time, and other important criteria between your work life and your social life.  By creating these interconnections between these two large facets of your life you will start to realize how, or if, your goals are in line with both of these areas.  You will also be able to visually see how compartmentalized your life may be in these different areas, what is contributing to its compartmentalization, and new methods of improving the effectiveness of your pursuit of happiness in any faculty.

Problem Statement Mind Map

If you have an obstacle you’re struggling to overcome, put a very simple problem statement in the center of a mind map and write down all associated items.  Other similar problems, similar solutions, tools that might be helpful, methods of solving problems… etc.  Get creative.  These associations will inevitably lead to a new solution.

My “Vacation” Mind-Map Example

Above is an example of a mind map that I created the other day when sitting at the lake.  I didn't have a large peice of paper or colored pencils so it's not as extravagant as it could be, but it gets the job done.  If you read through it, starting with "Vacation" in the middle, you can see that I've used "Play" "Accomplish" and "Explore" as some of my subcategories.  If I were to re-draw it, I would probably lump "Beach" and "Sun" into one "Relax" subcategory. 

As I drew the map, the evolution surprised me more than once, in that the ends of the branches linked up to one another, creating a "bridge" of sorts between two subcategories.  It was interesting to look at these "bridging" elements from both different perspectives.  For example, the branch:  "Accomplish > Housework > Improve > Landscaping" leads to the same place as "Sun(Relax) > Outside > Landscaping".  This tells me a few things... 

1. First, it means I must enjoy landscaping. 
2. Second, if I find myself landscaping, I can be aware of the fact that I am both, accomplishing housework, as well as relaxing.
3. Also, if it is Saturday afternoon and I know I should be doing housework, but I'd really rather be relaxing, this is something I could consider doing in order to cover both bases.

These bridging elements occured in several places on my mind map and are indicated by a number in a square.  Some other bridges are:

1. "Play > Kung-Fu > Practice > Workout > Dynamic > Games" and "Sun(Relax) > Frisbee"
2. "Explore" and "Sun(Relax) > Outside"
3. "Explore > Nature > Swimming / Kayaking" and "Play > Kung-Fu > Practice > Workout > Dynamic > Swim/Kayak"

Imagine if the mind map had been any bigger!  And this exercise probably took about 30 minutes to complete with all the doodles.  Not very long, and creating the mind map in itself was quite relaxing as well. (doodling has always been relaxing to me)

For me, creating a mind map was very eye-opening and I’m excited to explore more maps to re-create the important parts of my mental structure in a form that I can see and comprehend.  I also plan to use mind maps as a tool at work or around the house for organizing workflow and chores. 

Give it a try and let me know what you think!  Is this a tool you can see yourself using?

Life is an incredible platform for existence. Every day we meander through our lives at slower or faster paces performing hundreds, even thousands, of tasks that are completely second nature to us and require no conscious thought. This is an incredible capacity and should be wholly appreciated.

People who teach meditation and life improving techniques often discuss awareness. Practitioners are encouraged to meditate on their breathing, their sitting, their walking, their immediate physical surroundings, etc. These awareness meditations can have a profound mental, physical and spiritual effect on a practitioner. However, it can be difficult to comprehend the intention of these exercises. It’s a foreign, ambiguous concept for most people to “be fully aware” and I think it is often misunderstood or misconstrued.

Reduce the learned simplicity of tasks

Here’s a different method to raise your awareness in a more physical, understandable way. Take for example talking on the phone, flipping a light switch, handing someone money, drinking tea, using utensils… etc. These are tasks that you’re probably not very well aware of because you learned to do them at such a young age and have become complacent in doing them.

Today try performing all of these simple tasks with your left hand. Performing these tasks with the left hand will bring you back to the time of your youth when you were still learning coordination and everything was a new experience. Things like dialing the phone, eating, and using a computer mouse took more concentration on the task at hand and, therefore, gave you more awareness of what you were doing. Try this and let me know how it feels!