Archive for the 'Zen Bytes' Category

I love it when I’m surprised into seeing the things around me in a fresh and different way. The best art does that. You go through life thinking a a broom is for sweeing, match is for striking a light, a chair is for sitting on, a newspaper is for reading. But then one day, you see that no, they are all much more than that. They are musical instruments. Or rather percussive instruments. And you can make dance and rhythm out of anything!

Stomp is the brilliant musical/ percussive show that opened my eyes. Each piece often opens with one performer - sweeping, or reading a paper, or sitting on a chair - and then builds as he/ she starts tapping or beating or crinkling the paper to create, first, noise, then rhythm. And other performers join him/ her each creating rhythm from every day noises.

Heck, it’s easier if you just see for yourself.

This video shows them using brooms:

I love this piece, using metal folding chairs. It’s a slow build to an amazing piece of theatre:

For days afterwards, I found myself tapping and trying out rhythms on all kinds of things around me - my stapler, plastic bags, pages of books…

What has made you see things in a new way recently?

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I love this annual event! Earth Hour encourages everyone on earth to switch of their lights at 8.30pm local time for an hour - tonight, Saturday 26 March. The aim is to take a stand on climate change. It began in 2007 in Australia and has become a global phenomenon - last year, “A record 128 countries and territories joined the global display of climate action. Iconic buildings and landmarks from Asia Pacific to Europe and Africa to the Americas switched off.”

(Thanks to my friend Mei W. for sharing the above video with me)

The aim of this year’s Earth Hour is “to go beyond the hour, so after the lights go back on think about what else you can do to make a difference. Together our actions add up.”

Why do I love this event? When the lights - and other electronic gadgets go out - we are left with ourselves and each other. We must fall back on our own resources - conversation, old fashioned games (like Charades), our own thoughts, our selves. The softness of candle light replaces the harsh glare of electric lights. We are reminded of the dark - it is part of the natural world and the cycle of life. We can see the stars and contemplate the universe. We can contemplate eternity - a time before humankind, and also a time beyond humanity. It can be fun, awe inspiring, scary, moving.

Isaac Asimov’s haunting short story Nightfall is a cautionary tale that comes to mind during Earth Hour. It tells the story of a fictional world which has never known darkness - it has several suns so there is constant light. Except once in 2000 years. In that one moment, the planetary bodies line up in such a way that there is an eclipse and there is total darkness. Civilisations have risen over generations on this world - and fallen every 2000 years when nightfall occurs, because the people are so terrified by the darkness, they panic and go into a tailspin of mutual destruction.

Historian and archaelogist Ian Morris* references the term Nightfall as a metaphor for the moment when our civilisation here on Earch may collapse and humankind be wiped out. He reminds us how fragile the stability of our globalised and interconnected world is - our economies, our food distribution system, our reliance on depleting fossil fuels for energy, our dependence on natural forces remaining benign… Looking around us today at the crisis in Libya, unrest in the Middle East, the disaster in Japan, the volcanic ash from Iceland last year, Haiti’s and China’s earthquakes, flooding around the world, Nightfall seems to hover on the edge of our world of bright lights and noisy electronic wizardry. This year, Earth Hour can be a time to reflect more deeply on the turmoil and tragedies besetting our world and what each of us can do in our small part to make a difference. Our blazing lights and electronic toys comes at a cost, to the Earth and also to our consciousness and humanity. Will we party away in an illusory cocoon of neon lights till Nightfall takes us by surprise or can we re-connect with ourselves, each other and this fragile Earth to keep Nightfall at bay?

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*In his book Why the West Rules for Now.

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I’ve spent much of 2011 so far offline - not blogging or podcasting, not tweeting, not Facebooking. To many who know me, this has come as a big surprise - I’m a social media fan, after all, and I’ve written a book on social media, no less! So, no, it’s not because I’ve suddenly had a change of heart about the benefits, advantages and joys of blogging. It’s part of reshaping how I want my life to flow this year.

All these online activities are about creating content, communicating, putting myself, my thoughts and ideas out there. I’ve been doing it every day or every other day for several years now and it’s about giving, sharing, connecting - an outflow of creativity and energy. Reviewing 2010 during the Xmas period and looking ahead to what I wanted in my life for this year and I realised that I needed an inflow of energy. Two words came into my meditations and they have now became my theme for 2011: Nurture and Nourishment.

They are just the right words for my coaching practice as I take on the role of nurturing and nourishing my clients. It feels like a privilege to be given this role by them as we work together towards the fulfillment that they want to bring into their lives and businesses.

Equally, they are important words for me to inhabit in my own life - as a coach here at ZenGuide, in my management role in the City and in my personal life. So I make a habit of asking myself often this year: what is nurturing and nourishing me? Or, how is this nurturing and nourishing me? Because, without nurture nourishment myself, how can I presume to nurture and nourish others?

Going offline for a few months has been part of this nourishment plan. I’ve also trimmed some of my obligations and commitments and prioritised how I spend my time. All this has given me the space - in both time and energy - to replenish my creativity, to stare into space, to redevelop my deep thinking, to enjoy time away from the computer - spending time outdoors, running, in my garden, with friends and family - and to enjoy being digitally silent while absorbing others’ creative content in the form of books, films, theatre, real life conversations. Books I’ve read and shows I’ve seen have prompted me to look at this world and my ordinary surroundings in a new way. Running has got me fitter again and reminded me how much I love that pain and exhiliration of pushing myself physically. Spending time with good friends, making new friends and hanging out with the people I love makes me feel connected and fulfilled. I’ll be sharing some of these moments and insights with you in upcoming blog posts.

So going forward, I’ll be blogging again but you may not find me so often on Twitter or Facebook. I hope that my posts will bring some of the fruits of this year of nurture and nourishment to share with you.

I hope that you’ll also share your Zen moments with me. What nurtures or nourishes you? Do leave a comment - I love learning from other people’s experience!

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Photo: thanks to pbev on flickr.com (CCL)

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