Leading the way on sustainability

Anyone that knows me well knows I'm a massive Google fan. For me, it's hard to imagine life without Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, and the plethora of other products Google build; they're the bread and butter in my attempt at an organised world. Whatever Google does, it seems to do so well. I never have any issues with any of the products, and things just seem to get better and better as features roll out week on week, month on month, year on year. If they'd have me, on be on their payroll in a shot.

But one of the things I admire — and that inspires me — most about Google does is their focus on, and commitment to, sustainability. This video shows a little of what I mean:

Notes on The Power of Now

Last week I finished reading The Power of Now, by Eckharte Tolle. The Power of Now is a book about living in the present moment, because, as the book explains, the present moment is all we ever have. It explores how we as humans spend our moments worrying about what has happened in the past, and what might happen in the future, struggling and fighting against what we have in the current moment:

Accept — then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy. This will miraculously transform your whole life.

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you ever have. Make the Now the primary focus of your life. 

Tolle explains how we have become all consumed by our thoughts and our mind, and how we seek to define ourselves by and in them. I've read a number of books lately with a similar theme, exploring the idea that our thoughts are in effect killing us, and that the only way to achieve a level of peace an happiness in our our lives is to surrender them. In order to do this, we should spend more time in a meditative state, or in activities which create a fully immersed experience, sentiments observed by Tolle:

The reason why some people love to engage in dangerous activities, such as mountain climbing, car racing, and so on, although they may not be aware of it, is that it forces them into the Now — that intensely alive state that is free of time, free of problems, free of thinking, free of the burden of the personality.

There are a number of related themes throughout the book: anxiety about the future and worrying about the past, meditation and focus, breathing, awareness of the the light and energy that surrounds you. The author also explains how we define and judge ourselves and others in our thoughts, which he describes as the egoic mind:

When you are present, you can allow the mind to be as it is without getting entangled in it. The mind in itself is not dysfunctional. It is a wonderful tool. Dysfunction sets in when you seek your self in it and mistake it for who you are. It then becomes the egoic mind and takes over your whole life.

As long as the egoic mind is running your life, you cannot truly be at ease; you cannot be at peace or fulfilled except for brief intervals when you obtained what you wanted, when a craving has just been fulfilled. Since the ego is a derived sense of self, it needs to identify with external things. It needs to be both defended and fed constantly. The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often also political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.

I thought the book was helpful and insightful. In certain parts it was a little difficult to read; some of the concepts and definitions, which are capitalised throughout the book, — Being, the Now, and Presence, — get a little convoluted and hard to follow. But the right amount of repetition, explanation and examples gets the message across in the end.

Here are a few more of my saved Kindle snippets I saved:

If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally... If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences. No excuses. No negativity.

 And the Buddha taught that the root of suffering is to be found in our constant wanting and craving.

Nothing that is of value, nothing that is real, is ever lost. 

So do not be concerned with the fruit of your action — just give attention to the action itself. The fruit will come of its own accord.

Don't let the crowd cloud your Why

When you are disciplined enough to follow through on your goals — getting up early, working out, eating healthy etc. — the resistance, and the views of others, try bring you back to the crowd. You begin to question why you force yourself out of bed on those cold mornings when everyone else is tucked up nice and warm, when you're mind is working its tricks in an attempt to keep you in bed. You question why you put yourself through the physical workouts when everyone else is sitting on the couch; wouldn't it be nicer to be relaxing? You ask yourself ‘what would be the big deal if I joined in gulping down those chips, chocolate and takeaway?’

Maintaining the commitment and the driving force that got you started on your goal is tough. Not because what you have to achieve today is any harder than what you had to achieve yesterday, or the day when you decided to create a better life for yourself. It's tough because you lose sight of why. Why is the key question that needs to remain rock solid, crystal clear in you mind. When you lose the why, you lose your way.

There are forces working against you constantly to try and cloud the why, the reason you set out on your path to a better life. The crowd is one of them. The crowd who long ago lost their drive, and the reasons they started to improve their lives in the first place; who forgot why they wanted to give up smoking, why they wanted to lose weight, why they should get up early and make the most of their day. The crowd will see you on your path to improvement and try to drag you back in. They've tried to do what you're doing in the past, and they'll be the first to tell you that it doesn't work; and they'll give you reasons and stories why. You have to be on your guard and continue to remind yourself why you started, to cling on to the reason why you are working towards your goals, or else you'll be engulfed and lose your way. 

Maintaining the clarity of why is the key to achieving your goals and living a more enriched, rewarding and happy life.