Yoga, Business, Life And Coffee
I thought I would do something different today and share my typical day with you today. I went to bed with a problem. The problem isn’t the woman lying next to me – my wife – the problem is my shoulder is killing me. Not a disaster but a problem all the same.
Last week my trainer put me on dips. It’s the first time for a long time I’ve done them but I’m strong so it wasn’t a big deal. It is now. My should is killing and feels like a nerve of some kind might be trapped rather than muscle or bone pain.
YOGA
When I have a problem of any kind the silence is always where I find my solution. Despite resisting as I have a lot to get done for clients we started the day with Yoga – HOT YOGA. This is the kind of yoga I love. I feel pumped after it but I didn’t want to make my shoulder any worse.
I am extreme by nature. My mother has always called me extreme with everything in life. I think she's right as mothers usually are of course.
So here's my problem.
I want to train and when I train I train like crazy.
I feel I need to rest but when I rest I want to move my body.
Today I have a real problem that is called PAIN in my right shoulder.
In Yoga, something always happens and it is this. My body is relaxed but my mind is active. It’s active not in a woo-woo way but active as in I am trying to fight the movements we are about to do due to fear of creating more pain.
Yoga has finished and I am alive. Not only am I alive but I feel 100 times better than when I left and headed to the class. My mind feels fresh and my body feels stretched. And of course, in the quiet moments in class, I am in silence where any problem can be solved.
BUSINESS
Business has been insanely busy. I cannot remember a start to the year like this one. The list has been relentless of what has been solved, fixed and delivered results.
That makes me feel good in a way that I feel like I am giving back on a bigger scale. My life is filled with experience. That experience has taught me many lessons. Some lessons have just been huge. The biggest thing I can share with you in business is this.
Never forget you are dealing with humans beings not consumers of buyers. The labels detach the personality. In turn, this makes the transactions of business cold and less human. Treat humans the way they want to be treated. If you need more sales it really isn’t as hard as you might think. Forget selling to your customers and simply enter their current conversation. The conversation they are having is very real. This is the conversation that they are already having with themselves. All you do is SERVE them they way these buyers- consumers –
HUMANS want to be served.
Don’t forget we all want to be loved. Love your customers and they will love you back.
SELLING UP AND FORCING CHANGE
Last year was a year of DELIBERATE RECREATION for me. It was amazing and resulted in yet another new book.
This year I made a conscious decision to run with the theme of simplification and intuition. This resulted in me looking deeper into my own life and life patterns. I have to say the year has been boundary-less yet super productive.
This has also led to us taking yet another intuitive approach which sees us doing something really radical.
We decided to ell absolutely everything we own and I mean everything. This includes giving up our beautiful penthouse.
Why?
I have learnt that to paint a new picture you need a blank canvas. The only way we can create something new is to create this blank sheet and start again.
So once everything has gone we will spend our summertime maybe until September at our other house in Tbilisi, Georgia where a more intuitive approach to our life can be enhanced.
This dramatic change has always been a thing of mine. It allows me to see everything with new eyes. Those new eyes can make changes that can be profoundly impactful. Those impacts can carry me through years and always affect others around me.
It’s good to understand things are just things. It’s good to remember that family, friends, people are what we really have. Its good to never forget that. It’s good to never forget that what we give we get back ten-fold. This is a law of life I think and I hope to God I am sharing what I can share. The next few months will unravel more.
When we are home in Georgia (Republic of Georgia) we go to a home we have in the mountains. It is perched on top of a large hill and part of a communal village of maybe 10-houses. We pick grapes and eat them. We pick figs and eat them. We are surrounded by herbs and nature. The mountains in the distance and just wonderful. The days are blistering, the nights are cool and the animals – including snakes – are pretty well all around.
When we go I like to sit and do nothing. The last time we went I chopped down around 100 small trees but that was an exception. This time we are going to just get back to humanity and real life without any bells and whistles.
Here's also what's cool.
I have what I need to carry on my life and business.
There's a reason I love Apple and it is this.
I can carry on doing what I need to do from my iPhone, my Mac, my iPad or my MacBook... they are all intuitively connected and this allows me to work, communicate and stay in touch h with my clients even if I am sitting atop a mountain.
AN OLD MAN
Just sitting opposite me in the coffee shop is an old man.
I just scribbled this to share with you.
The old man was old.
When I say old I would guess over 75 years of age. Not truly old yet old enough to be an old man. He caught my eye as he sat on the table just across from where I was drinking my coffee.
He put his hand on his forehead and the other arm, his right I think fell to his side. Slowly it looked as though any moment the weight of his body would propel him beyond a slow momentum until he lay on the floor.
I was ready to jump up and help him if he fell. I did notice a huge bruise on his left hand that covered all of his hand apart from the fingers. I also noticed he seemed unaware of his surroundings for a moment. He stared at the wooden floor until he eventually slowly lifted his head and for the very moment his eyes met mine. I smiled at him. His reaction was no reaction. He simply looked through me until he finally managed to stand upright.
Not upright as a man stands upright but upright as an old man with a weak, bent and creaking back stands.
Everything from this point was done and seen in slow-motion, almost like the man leaving the module only to take a slow weighted walk in a weightless world. The old man struggled to put on his brown padded coat.
Eventually after one arm and then the other arm he finally had his coat, his scarf and his old batter fedora on and ready to protect him from the cold outside. I had to smile when I saw his bright lime green trousers. Only in England! His walking looking painful, like a struggle through mud and over broken glass. One hand reached for the wall whilst his other hand held tight to his one and only walking stick. I have to say as he approached the stairs that lead down to the ground floor and the then the street. Would he fall or could he manage? He managed very slowly whilst people walked past him going down and passed him coming up the stairway. He was a sad sight. Every step looked painful.
It made me think.
That man was born. That man was a child. That man was a youth That man was a young adult. The man was a father. That man is probably a grandfather. That man is closer to death than he was to live. Yet, there was a time in his life when he sat and looked at old people feeling the way I feel for him right now. Age is a cruel curse that has cursed all men. I am cursed, you are cursed we are all cursed. Some will say the body is simply a vessel to carry the consciousness. Others will say other mind enlightening things. The reality is the end of life is a curse for all men and a curse that comes from birth, life and then a weakened body until the final day itself.
In a way, I am happy to see the man today. The man made me think about outcomes and the curse of life itself.
EASTER
Finally, it’s Easter.
What does this mean?
No religious sermon here because what it means to you and anyone else is always very different to anyone else. If you are having a day off – enjoy every minute of it. I am just doing my own things and that own thing will be decided once I wake up tomorrow.
Finally finally.
CREATE YOURSELF
Your business or your life really can be whatever you want it to become.
You have your own book and canvas so you need to fill it.
Have you ever thought about this?
You are living history right this second.
Whatever it is you do in life now your children will create a pictorial history of you. And if you have no children those that know you will do just that.
Look after yourself. Look after those around you. Show love and respect to others. Serve and give when you can.
Live your life well and stay happy.
Peace.
Alan
