Life-changing journeys for talented human beings offered by a some zen dude with the brain of an advertising guy and the body of a nightclub doorman. Welcome to Atalwin's blog!
I went to the gym and trained hard and focused under the guidance of friend and trainer Mike.
When I left the locker room, freshly showered and my body buzzing I walked along the Keizersgracht to my next appointment. This was when my moment came. I felt strong, calm, open, present and aligned. I had the idea that I was 2 centimeters taller than usual. Not because my ego had swollen but because my back felt straighter than normal.
Today I visited the company that I worked for last year. 9 months ago they gave me the assignment to try to transform the introversion of a large part of their staff. It is a well-known cultural problem in Hong Kong companies: the introversion of the Chinese part of the staff versus the extraversion of the Western part of the staff. I found during my work here that the discrepancy is caused by deep-rooted differences in the way children are brought up in China and in the west. This combined with my experience that the effects of a workshop can be temporary, especially when people did not sign up out of free will, made that I would not have been surprised if the results of my efforts would have been hard to measure. But this was not the news I received. The managing director told me that the problem had completely and permanently vanished! Wow! We created lasting change by doing 3 consecutive 3-hour workshops! I am so proud!
I gave a little workshop in the holistic shop of a friend of a guy who contacted me through CouchSurfing. My participants spoke only Spanish and my CouchSurfing friend translated for me. A lady who just walked into the shop randomly was sent upstairs by the owner and all of a sudden found herself in my meditation workshop. She told me she had been dreaming of doing something with meditation for years and now it just happened. She shared with the group that it felt as a very important moment in her life. Another participant told me that she finally understood what meditation is about and realizes that it is valuable and beneficial for her too. I love to see those pennies drop. It totally makes my day.
I am in Peru! Last night we crossed the border with Ecuador. It is amazing how different this country is. Although I only walked around for half an hour twice today, I had soup in Piriu and took the bus to Chiclayo where I had a sandwich before I jumped in the next bus to Trujillo in which I am now, the atmosphere, the climate and the surroundings are completely different. The food is better, it looks very deserty outside (Ecuador was very mountainy), traffic is louder and more impatient and it is hotter.
I feel quite fit and rested. I wonder how many hours I was effectively asleep. When I sleep in a bus or a plane I often have the feeling that I am never really asleep because of the physical discomfort. Trying to sleep semi-upright screws up the blood circulation; my hands and feet start to hurt after a while and not much that I can do about it.
I have made it into a sport and a way of life to be continuously aware of my feelings and thoughts. I still don’t feel fully at ease with being me. One of the things I am aware of is how I alternate between feeling useful and useless every day. But I feel a lot more useful then before. Ha, yes! Now that I think of it: my experience of feeling useful is growing. Now that I think of it I can’t remember a time that I felt more useful then now. Generally speaking that is, I might have days in the past where I felt more useful then today.
This is amazing. It rarely happens that a post takes such an uplifting turn so soon.
There is something fascinating about this city. I feel I could be successful here. If I would stay a little bit longer I think my client base would grow pretty fast. This is not just because I gave a couple of good workshops, it is also the energy of the city.
Yesterday I attended an event organized by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong. There were many Dutch people and by now I know a handful. It was interesting to see how fast connections were made and how connections lead to immediate action. One guy would say to other: “I did a workshop with him. It was super cool! You MUST do it too!” and the other guy says “ok” and he pulls out his agenda. We will meet on Monday.
When our life seems to fit into a scenario we should be warned. Yesterday I learned an important lesson for at least the second time this year. I had rejected a certain possibility because I felt it would create an impossible scenario (to love two women at the same time). I got stuck in the ideas my mind created about life and didn’t allow myself to feel beyond what I thought is acceptable to feel. When we limit ourselves to a particular scenario or version of the truth fear is at work. Every time I venture into ‘the impossible’ new worlds open up because I open up. Why am I saying this? Because this is my big lesson of today’s writing exercise: It is not about getting stuck in a negative self image or a positive self image but about opening up to whatever truth is there for us. By overcoming our fear to explore the impossible the impossible becomes possible. Opposites can be embraced. Fear can be replaced by love. The moment love enters the boundaries disappear and space arises.
