Basic Goodness – Page 43

Dreams and intentions for 2011 (and beyond)

January 25, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon 5 Comments

It is actually only since I’m back at work that it dawns on me that we have a new year ahead of us. Of course I had noticed when it was New Years Eve but that night was the night that my buddy Mike was at the lowest point of his sickness. I was filled with worries then. The next day we started traveling again and I never really took the time to stand still by the intentions and dreams that I might have for the 2011.

The idea is to write down as many things as you wish to be or do in 2 minutes if there were no boundaries of time, money and space. I might give myself 4 minutes, as I can’t type very fast.

Here we go:

I want to be happy

I want to travel

I want to learn to type faster

I want to work internationally (and get flown in there business class)

11 reasons why you should unravel the secrets of your life

January 22, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon Leave a Comment

Would you like to know what the secret is of living mindfully? Or don’t you even know what that means but you are curious? Do you want to find the doorway to inner peace and feel a Universal connectedness? Let me take you by the hand.

Take an upright position and straighten your back. It can be on your bed, in your chair on the couch or on the floor, wherever you are sitting right now with your laptop, smart phone or iPad. Now relax into this uplifted position, enjoy the goodness of sitting upright and having a straight spine for a couple of moments. This is you being you, feel the simplicity and the dignity of that.

Healing in Bali

January 20, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon Leave a Comment

Everybody can make any holiday into a healing journey. More so, we can make every day into a day of healing. By tuning in to our hearts, letting come up what wants to come up and then act accordingly we heal all our wounds. 26 days in Bali changed my life, so if just one billion of us start doing this today we can change the future of our planet in three months. I totally believe that. Think about it.

I feel blessed for the journey we made. By making this journey to Bali I realize again that life is a journey. It’s not just my journey. We are here together, all of us on this planet. And we are all making our own journey simultaneously with all the others. Let’s just reflect on the possibilities we have how to make this journey awesome for everybody.

For my little brother

January 18, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon 1 Comment

Yesterday my brother told me he never felt as if he had a brother, or that he never felt that I was a brother for him. As I write all this down, for the first time drawing the complete picture for myself, I feel we never had a chance. I’m naming now three major influences that drove us apart but I can think of more. It breaks my heart when I oversee all the suffering we went through and I can only imagine how lonely and rejected my little brother must have felt during his childhood, often alone in his room.

I wish I could just turn back the clock and do it all over again. I wish I could make all the beatings and humiliations undone. But I can’t. I regret that from the bottom of my soul. It is very tough for me to see how tough my brother has become. I feel very guilty and intense grief. I sob behind my laptop

Raw and tender warrior heart

January 17, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon 2 Comments

We recovered in the hot springs, meditated under the cold waterfall next to the spring, went to a cock fight afterwards and have the pictures to proof it. How good can it get?

Maybe it can get even better. Because I feel also sad. Everytime I arrive at a place that is even more beautiful than the previous one I wish I could have shared these moments with the girl I love. Now it is the sadness and the desire to share, love and be loved that make it real. This realness combined with the realness of the astonishing view, the experience of the goodness of nature makes me feel tender and raw. Walking away from that rawness would make me live less than my truth. I just can’t make a conscious effort to betray myself anymore, it is just not how I want to live. Sadness is a part of me, allowing myself to be sad makes my heart soft. Realizing that made me see that my sadness makes this experience even more beautiful.

And now it’s time for some synchronicity: I brought with me the birthday present Mike gave me. It is a book called “Smile at Fear, Awakening the True Heart of Bravery” by Chogyam Trunpa. My eye just fell on this quote:

“Warriorship is so tender, without skin, without tissue, naked and raw. It is soft and gentle. You have renounced putting on a new suit of armour. You have renounced growing a thick, hard skin. You are willing to expose your naked flesh, bone and marrow to the world.”

Reading that brings tears to my eyes and a smile to my face. Simultaneously.

Aligning with life, Tirta Empul part II

January 14, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon Leave a Comment

This is the domain of the heart, the soul and the divine. This experience is what is meant with basic goodness. It is in all of us but we cannot posess it, we can experience it but we cannot grasp it. This is why I feel that it is of absolute importance to do this stuff even when the rational mind cannot grasp it (or especially when the rational mind cannot grasp it): it is an opportunity to reconnect with our innate basic goodness. Experiencing that goodness feels so good and so true that it doesn’t matter what the judgments of the ego are about the weirdness of the things we need to to do to find that place. Breathe, pray, stretch yourself like a dog (downward), or submerse yourself in holy water, it’s ok. It is more than ok, it is fundamentally good. For you, for me, for others, for the planet. Because it aligns us with life.

The miracle of Tirta Empul

January 13, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon 1 Comment

Today was again special day. We got up early to go to a sacred place and meditate there. The name of the temple was Tirta Empul and it was about 30 minutes driving with the motorbikes. The idea was to get there before the many tourist filled busses would arrive. But even though we were later than expected we were also a bit too early. We wandered around the complex, feeling a bit lost because there was nothing (no signs, no brochures, no guides) to give us some explanation or direction. So we decided to leave and go find the waterfalls that were mentioned in the Lonely Planet to take a swim.

The dance of life

January 12, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon 2 Comments

At the end of the day we met up with other friends at the Yoga Barn for a Biodanza workshop. It was my idea to do it. I had done some sort of try out class 4 or 5 years ago, couldn’t really remember what it was like but knew it was with lots of dancing and was pretty sure that we didn’t have to squeeze our bodies into impossible postures. That sounded like music to my ears.

Biodanza is the dance of life, explained our teacher Simon. To make a long story short: it was amazing, sexy, sensual, heart warming, vulnerable, intimate and profound. And all these experiences came from dancing together. By experimenting with different distances, movements and ways of touching different people we get to know ourselves and experience ourself in relationship to others and in relationship with our bodies.

Thank you

January 10, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon 4 Comments

I’m thinking now “what have I learned today?” because it feels that I haven’t learned anything, that I’m merely letting you know I’m just happy. But on second thought I realize that I am harvesting now. I have said before that happines is not something we should strive for, it is a side effect caused by living from the heart. So I guess I’m letting you know that now and then everything falls into place and meditation, writing, yoga, being honest and trying to serve as good as one can lead to having a very beautiful day. And I wish to thank you for that. Because without you, the Universe would be incomplete.

How and where to start your path

January 9, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon Leave a Comment

We are about to leave Lebongan and packing our bags. Mostly, we just had a lazy time, but with beautiful moments and nice conversation. When we left Scallywags (best restaurant in Lebongan, do not go to Indiana’s, the self-proclaimed 3 Michelin star chef is an imposter) we just knew that it was time to move on. I always find that an interesting phenomenon: that we just know when a conversation or phone call had ended. How do we know that? Anyway, this was something similar. We will be heading to our next destination in a couple of hours.

Are you ready to become a Warrior?