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Björk, Human Behaviour
October 18th, 2010 by Align Within
If you ever get close to a human
And human behaviour
Be ready, be ready to get confusedThere’s definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
To human behaviour
But yet so, yet so irresistibleAnd there’s no map
and a compass
wouldn’t help at allThey’re terribly moody
And human behaviour
Then all of a sudden turn happyBut, oh, to get involved in the exchange
Of human emotions
Is ever so, ever so satisfyingOh oh, and there’s no map
Human behaviour, human
Human, human behaviour, human
Human, human behaviour, human
Human behaviour, humanAnd there’s no map
And a compass
Wouldn’t help at allHuman behaviour, human, human
Human behaviour, human,
Human behaviour, human,
Human behaviourThere’s definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
Human, human
Human behaviour
HumanThere’s definitely, definitely, definitely no logic
Human, human, human, human.
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Raw Vegan Adventures
September 3rd, 2010 by Align Within
The New York August heat with over 60% humidity may not sound like a sanctuary, but for a veteran vegan looking for the opportunity to go raw, the sweltering summer of Brooklyn was the perfect refuge for me. Who wants to eat hot, cooked food when water-rich salads, cold beans and refreshing smoothies are available to cool the body down?Situation:Visiting New York for 5 weeksAll alone for 3 weeks; house sittingAmazingly hot and humid weatherFeeling sluggish and dumpyAlready vegan and flirting with high raw
GLiving Blog Post > Raw Sanctuary: NYCThe New York August heat with over 60% humidity may not sound like a sanctuary, but for a veteran vegan looking for the opportunity to go raw, the sweltering summer of Brooklyn was the perfect refuge for me. Who wants to eat hot, cooked food when water-rich salads, cold beans and refreshing smoothies are available to cool the body down?
Situation:
Visiting New York for 5 weeks
All alone for 3 weeks; house sitting
Amazingly hot and humid weather
Feeling sluggish and dumpy
Already vegan and flirting with high rawRead entire article on GLiving.com > Raw Sanctuary: NYC
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The RV Experiment
September 11th, 2009 by Align Within
Featured Article 3: The RV Experiment
My husband and I sold everything; our car, our furniture, and most of our belongings. We vacated our apartment and moved into a twenty year old, 22 foot RV that we found on craigslist. Our reasons for undertaking such an endeavor were multiple, which only reinforced that we had made the right decision. For every concerned family member or friend, we had a cheerful and confident answer.
Too small? The outdoors is our living room!
RV is too old? We’ll renovate it to make it look new!
How will you work? We are freelancers and work from home anyway. With the proper internet connection, this will work, no problem!
How will you receive paychecks and mail on the road? PayPal – and an awesome RV mail service that ships your mail to wherever you are.
Where will you stay? In campgrounds and state parks and we will try this off-the-grid-boondocking idea of staying in areas with no hookup to save money.
We had it all figured out. We were embarking on our own little sustainability project. We weren’t trying to prove anything to anyone else, we were just experimenting, having fun and seeing the country.
As anticipated, greater appreciation was found for:
nature.
water resources.
electricity.
cheap hotels when your RV breaks down.
taco bell.
the iphone.
helpful family members.
But here are the areas of appreciation that I had perhaps not given original thought to – areas that were accentuated because of our experience.
Public Resources. City parks, libraries, welcome centers.
Public resources have been around forever – well, forever to me – my entire lifetime, but it was not until I depended on them that I truly grew fond of them. When we had drained our electricity in the RV and the campgrounds were full, we found complete refuge in city parks, public libraries and interstate welcome centers. Several work deadlines were met because each of these public places had electrical hookups AND were available to us. They were there for us to use as needed. Wow. It kind of made me proud to be a tax payer. They truly were crucial to our well being.
The Internet.
I have been online since the early 90’s and have worked exclusively online since 1999, so the internet is not new to me. However, I have new found appreciation for the internet. We have paper maps and camping and interstate books, but nothing is more immediate, accurate and satisfying as finding what you need online. Grocery stores, restaurants, gas stations, campgrounds, auto-stores, important phone numbers, weather reports – all within seconds. Quick email correspondences with family members and clients online was also a huge perk while on the road. I think I was expecting the internet to play a significant role, but I did not realize how much I would appreciate it.
Utilities.
In the RV we closely gauged our 40 gallon water tank and our 250 amp hour house battery. We were highly aware of every drop of water we used, and every minute of electricity we consumed. Now we stay in an apartment where electricity, including cold air conditioning, water and cable are all included in the rent price. It’s a free-for-all! We can use as much as we want with no (personal or short term) financial consequence! And while we have never been “wasteful” people (by egocentric western standards), we find ourselves being quite frugal, despite the “free” utilities. We use the AC sparingly and go the beach to cool off. I find myself unplugging my computer when shutting down – an absolute requirement in the RV. But I guess what I truly appreciate is our utilities system and infrastructure. Plumbing (we no longer have a sewage tank to dump), instant electricity, clean water – all simply wonderful. I do not want to get political, and I realize there are serious issues with our precious resources, but now I feel like helping to find better ways to generate power and smarter ways to source clean water. I am more thankful now for what we have and more eager than ever to take what we have and make it even better.
My Husband’s Resourcefulness.
From buying the RV to renovating the RV to maintaining the RV, my husband KK was a genius. I already knew he was a genius but his sheer resourcefulness during our entire RV experience amazes me even more in hindsight. We had a very tight budget for purchasing, renovating, maintaining and living in the RV. We did all of the renovations ourselves. When something went wrong, which it often did, KK gave it some serious thought and while under pressure, created a solution and then carried it out. Cool and steady – like a pro. Financial restraints, scarce resources, lack of illumination, severe weather conditions – nothing stopped him from getting us to a better place, each and every time. I have never appreciated him more than I do now.
Funny how the end result of my lessons learned are not truly RV related. The RV was simply a catalyst. We did not learn about conservation or roughing it – we thought we would, but because we expected to rough it, we were prepared. These other four areas of appreciation are where I learned my true lessons. They are each something and someone that I have had in my life for a while, but now I appreciate them much more and from a much broader perspective.
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We lived in our RV for one year and sold it in May 2009. For additional highlights of our RV adventures, check out our blog on NoDestination.org
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The Real Competition Is Yourself
August 24th, 2009 by Align Within
Featured Article 2: The Real Competition is Yourself
Outside my second story window is a gorgeous palm tree. A little lizard comes to the window every now and then and perches himself on the long spiny leaf. He slowly gets closer and closer to the window. The window is darkly tinted, making it easy to see out but very difficult to see in. The lizard sees his own reflection in the window – so clearly that he thinks he is seeing another lizard. Every day he displays his dew lap, which is a vibrant redish color, which means he is probably defending his territory. He gets so worked up about it, bouncing up and down with little pushups on the leaf. On occasion he even leaps to the window with the intent of attacking the other lizard. I guess he feels somewhat threatened when he sees his opponent flex his dew lap at the exact same time!
Animals are very competitive; regarding territory, resources (food) and mates. Humans are very competitive; regarding territory, resources and mates. Human displays of competitiveness can also be seen in sports and business. In business, most companies feel the need to size-up the competition. How can we do things better than the other guy. How can we prevent the other guy from stealing our business. How can we protect what we have so the other guy cannot take advantage. If the other guy is doing well then this somehow reflects poorly on us, regardless of how well we are doing. We can only feel good when the other guy is not doing well.
Why can’t both businesses just do well and be happy about it?
Seeing that lizard defending his territory got me thinking. What if we only compete against ourselves and we do not even realize it? What if our biggest fears in business have nothing to do with anyone else and our fears are a reflection on our own insecurities and vulnerabilities?
A few years ago I had a business associate totally freak out on me because she thought I was interested in stealing her business model. This was the last thing on my mind. We had decided to no longer work together and she was relentless in the accusations and I kept reassuring her that it was impossible for me to threaten her business. (Both with intention and with ability – I had neither) While I was no longer interested in working in the same industry as her, she acted as if she owned the market and I had no right to be there. Where does this thought process come from? What if I did become her competitor in that market? She had all of the experience, the connections, the track record. How could I ever impact her business negatively? I found it to be a seriously bazaar experience.
Was she like the lizard? Was she simply afraid of what she saw in herself? Why was she being so territorial? She certainly was not defending a territory because I had no interest in it. There was no threat. Was she fighting with herself? The answers are still unclear. Fortunately, I have not thought of that episode too much over the years, but the visits from the lizard sparked the memory.
Isn’t every argument and every war about the need to be right and not the need to be understood? If we realized that there is enough for everyone, would we be so competitive? We have enough food to feed the world. We have enough of everything for the world to be in balance. Greed, competition and the need to be right change the equation, creating imbalance. Power, religion, valuable resources (which all equate to greed and the need to be right) are the things that create wars. In business, greed and the need to be right creates fierce competition.
How am I like that lizard? Do I have territories to defend? Am I fearful of things “out there” that are really “in here?” I am sure the answer is yes. The lizard has taught me that my biggest fears are not about what others can do to me. The lizard has also taught me that when I am being defensive, it is because I want to be right, I want to justify some position.
This little lizard spends a great deal of time and energy against himself, proving nothing to any other lizard. Hmm……
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Frias Alberto Sleeping Pod
August 20th, 2009 by Align Within
Stuff I’d Like To Buy If I Liked To Buy Stuff
Not sure if it is because I am part Pterodactyl or the fact that I love the idea of a Pod, but if I liked to buy stuff, this would be on my wish list. I have always appreciated small tents or tiny private spaces to sleep (i.e. bottom bunk with sheets pulled down on the sides from the bunk above.)
The designer Alberto Frias describes it as “a full-immersion light, sound, and space transport meant for meditative use—basically it’s an unbelievably comfy nest that’s all about tactile synchronization, with a motion- and temperature-controlled water bed inside, sound by Anthony Gallo Acoustics, and an integrated LED system by Color Kinetics.”
I found this on the Dwell website.
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Ten Years of Freedom
August 18th, 2009 by Align Within
Featured Article 1: Ten Years of Freedom
This summer I am celebrating 10 years of freedom. I have not been a full-time employee for a company since 1999, and I must say I am extremely happy about this. I value the prior 11 years of corporate life, working for the man. I learned so much about business, other people, myself and human nature. Without those early years I would have never been able to sustain a steady career as an entrepreneur.
While the outside world may gauge success based on a business’ revenues and profits, I have learned that true success is experiencing good health and happiness. I have had high earnings with poor health and unhappiness and those times are not nearly as satisfying as the years when my income was very low, but I was very happy with my health and relationships. I have experienced prosperity in all areas and even at the same time! Our society may reinforce that compromise is required in finding prosperity, but I have chosen to believe that trade-offs are most effective, not compromises.
To compromise is to meet in the middle. Each side of the situation decides to yield or change its position in order to reach an understanding or agreement. While this is a way to find a middle ground, both parties are not satisfied and neither party is represented; it is some hybrid version of each. Compromises usually occur when two parties are not congruent, when they do not belong together. We see this frequently in marriages, employment arrangements, in business deals and in many pockets of our society. Compromise usually takes its toll and creates weaknesses, stress and vulnerabilities for the arrangement. I used to compromise all of the time, but I now reserve compromises for the little things, not the significant things.
On the contrary, a trade-off is not a middle ground. A trade-off is losing one quality to gain another quality. A compromise is taking a lower salary in order to keep your job. A trade-off is quitting your job and starting something new. You trade your current income for either freedom and no income, or a new job.
So on this 10th anniversary of liberation, I encourage you to reconsider the areas in which you compromise. Do you ever feel truly liberated and free with continual compromise? I realize now that my spirit was broken in 1999 and my resolve to no longer compromise in that particular arrangement allowed me start fresh and new. Breaking away from the conventional corporate lifestyle was a significant thing. It also, for the first time probably, allowed me to acknowledge the power of a trade-off and the vulnerability of a compromise. We all have a choice.
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Side Note: I realize the dictionary and thesaurus use the words Compromise and Trade-off interchangeably as synonyms, but I must respectfully disagree. I looked up each word on Wikipedia and found definitions that coincide with my article and how I use these words.
The entry for Compromise mentions tolerance and surrender. “In human relationships ‘compromise’ is often said to be an agreement that no party is happy with.” Trade-off is a situation that involves losing one quality or aspect of something in return for gaining another quality or aspect. It implies a decision to be made with full comprehension of both the upside and downside of a particular choice.
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Flashback: Trade-offsThe year was 1978 and I was in elementary school. Oh how we loved it when the teacher pulled the blinds, turned out the lights and wheeled in the television on an elevated cart. A couple of times a month, we’d watch educational shows created by some student channel network. I found the shows very interesting and I also loved being in the quiet classroom with the lights dimmed. It seems like the trouble makers always fell asleep with their arms crossed on their desk tops. How rewarding when we’d have a pop quiz afterwards testing our retention of the episode.
The one series of shows that impacted me the most over the years was a volume titled: Trade-offs. The last time I saw the show was 30 years ago, and I would love to see it again. Writing this article sparked the memory and I have now realized how significant that show was to me. Its attempt to instill fundamental problem solving and reasoning skills continues to persuade me today. I do not think the series is available to view online but I did find it here on this Agency for Instructional Technology website. http://www.ait.net/catalog/index.php?cPath=8_158
Anyone else familiar with the student show: Trade-Offs?
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