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Despite the two approaching typhoons, I just landed in Tokyo Narita airport. Again.
Intercontinental travel is still tricky … but I get the hours needed to write you this letter.
Below as always I share a mix of personal updates, learnings & creations.
I wish you well!
Miguel
CREATIVITY:
Vietnam train from Hanoi to Ninh Binh. Tottie fell asleep – and I forgot my Moleskine notebook. A month later the train manager sent it back to Tokyo!. Trains are the most civilized way of transportation. Dreaming of week-long train trips, if you have recommendations let me know…
Facing the thunderstorm while sipping soba noodles at the Okada Museum of Art in Hakone.
Torii gates are found at the entrance of a Japanese Shinto shrines, where they mark the transition from the mundane to sacred. I’m coming to suspect the extreme respect that this culture shows to all objects is born in the Shinto tradition, where everything has a sacred “essence”. Perhaps this is also why robots here are seen as friendly instead of with fear?
Sometimes you make. Sometimes you bring makers together and step back. Delighted to see the aftermath of Campus Creativity Week led to this superb collaboration with international sculptor Juan Garaizabal, photographer Juan Herrero and Tilt Brush team’s Rami Jawar.
INSIGHT:
Morning & Evening habits: I was invited me to give a workshop by the Global Leadership Incubator, a student organization about Youth Development for the young generation in Toyo University and Japan. I wondered what would have had the most impact to learn back at university… and daily habits was the answer. Here you can get the handout I prepared for them.
Articles:
–Rubic’s Cube creator: He lamented, ”Success has taken away from me the time necessary for looking inside, together with silence and peace … People always ask me if I will surpass the Cube. What can I answer? I did not plan to make the Cube. I did not plan the success. I wanted nothing else than to make the object as perfect as possible … A good puzzle, it’s a fair thing. Nobody is lying. It’s very clear, and the problem depends just on you. You can solve it independently. But to find happiness in life, you’re not independent. That’s the big difference.”
–Smartphones vs your happiness: “There’s not a single exception. All screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all nonscreen activities are linked to more happiness.”
Books:
–Letting Go: “It is not the external stimulus, then, that is the cause of stress, but our degree of reactivity. The more surrendered we are, the less prone we are to stress. The damage caused by stress is merely the result of our own emotions.” This book taught me how to meditate all the time – not just when sitting in the cushion.
–Musonius Rufus: “How much others put up with for the sake of gain, and again how many ills some suffer in pursuit of fame. And yet, all these people undergo all this hardship of their own accord. Is it not amazing that they would put up with all this on account of dishonorable things, but that we—to gain a noble character, to escape the wickedness that ruins our lives, and to acquire virtue which provides for all good things—would not readily withstand every pain?”
–The Handbook (The Encheiridion): “Begin therefore with little things. A little oil is spilled, little wine is stolen: say, “This is the price of tranquillity; this is the price of not being upset.” Nothing comes for free.”
Documentary
Even when I fall: Inspiring documentary of trafficked children in Indian circuses. Once freed they create Nepal’s first circus and devote themselves to helping others avoid the fate they suffered.
Friends helping friends
Amisha: my BurningMan friend Amisha Ghadiali has launched an inspiring podcast: The Future is Beautiful. If you like alternative points of view, I recommend you give it a listen.
Ryoko: I get compliments on my shoes all the time. I say “they are better than you think”. Why? My fiancees’ sister, Ryoko Yokota draws each by hand, no two are alike. Check or buy as a gift.
Rachael: my fellow SearchInsideYourself facilitator Rachael O’meara is running a “pausecast”, check out episdoe 11 with Daniel Goleman (who wrote the “Emotional Intelligence” book).
NEXT
Interested in establishing a daily meditation practice? If you want to make meditation as consistent as brushing your teeth, I expect to run the 1st pilot of a habit setting program next month. Just hit reply “yes” if interested – the first 10 will be included in the pilot.
In the months ahead I will likely be traveling to:
Taipei, Taiwan, ROC
Toronto, Canada
Cleveland, USA
San Francisco, USA
Madrid, Spain
Granada, Spain
PS: Want more frequent insights? join WeeklyWisdom.
Walking the streets of Tokyo, I never get tired of such scenes… tradition & modernity in one.
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