Nel mezzo del camin de mia vita

That's it, Wednesday the 17th of October, I have decided that I have lived half of my life. THis will give me another 42 years, totalling a reassuring 84 years. That's fine. I was quite pleased with this observation. And here comes the second half!

Don’t be afraid of the OM

Suddenly the yoga teacher appeared ill at ease

            ‘Do you mind if we do a bit of chanting?’

Through the following seconds of silence, I felt suspicion rising in the class.

            ‘If that’s ok with you, we’ll chant “OM” three times’

Does she want us to sing praise to Shiva, Krishna or some kind of a blue elephant?

In case you wondered, here is what OM is not: a tribute to a pagan god.

In Asian traditions, such as the yogic, Buddhist and Hindu traditions, OM represents simply the frequency, the fundamental energy of Nature, our world, the universe. By chanting OM you try to connect to this energy, to fuse with it. ‘Yoga’ means ‘union’. The yoga practice, of which postural pretzel-bending is just a part (one of the eight ‘limbs’), has the aim of calming the constant chatter of the mind, so that we can feel that we are One. Chanting OM is one of the means to calm and focus the mind, and reconnect with your self.

Although this concept may not make immediate sense to our Western minds, the benefits of chanting OM are instantaneous. Probably nothing huge, at least not in the beginning, but focus and good vibrations. Try it out. Don’t be afraid of the OM (*).

* But if you still are, just chant A(O)MEN, or A(O)MIN

stop shouting into my eyes and ears

Driving our of Denver, CO, we both suddenly felt relaxed, even though still on the freeway. After some wondering, we found it to be caused by the absence of the usual myriad of billboards and advertisement panels along the street. It seems that the mental energy required for our brains every day to read all the panels along our ways and then discard the 95 % useless information from the few necessary ones (concerning directions and traffic announcements) is gargantuan. But we don't even notice it anymore - it just makes us tired. If ever you get to, say Finland, you'll notice how much our eyes constantly fly through our environment and overload our brain with all sorts of mostly useless information. You'll notice in Finland, because there, our eyes read the letters, but our brains can't make any sense of them, which bring this process to our consciousness.

Sitting at home in Houston on a Sunday, I suddenly feel stressed. It doesn't take much wondering to find out that again, one of those noisy planes is dragging a huge advertisement baner in agonising circles over our heads. Again and again, for hours. Will they ever stop?

I completely understand that advertisement is part of our economy. But if it is so much that it actually makes us sick and tired - how much does this advertisement hurt our economy?

Long term efficiency

Last week, I saw a woman taking a 1-hour yoga class with her cell phone in hand. The next day a colleague discussed his efforts to fit a 2-hour vacation into his work schedule. This prompted me to think about a scientific and controlled test:

For 40 years (the duration of our work life), Group A does the above, whereas Group B turns off their cell phones when focused on certain activities (including driving, seminars, sleep) and takes, say, 25 days of vacation per year. At the end, we will compare both groups for:

-total work output & achievements

- innovation at work (for that’s what our nation will most need to remain competitive)

- days of sick leave

- number of times the world has collapsed in off-times

- percentage of divorces

- financial burden to society due to medication (such as against high cholesterol, blood pressure, anxiety, but also days of hospitalization because of disease or (car) accidents, and medical consulting)

-   rating of person’s intelligence and social impact by others

- personal happiness

This comparison should allow maximizing our long-term efficiency with respect to the above parameters.

Are there any volunteers for Group A or Group B?

The American Dream #2

Male sport teams have female cheerleaders, and female sport teams have male cheerleaders.

The American Dream #1

You know you're living the American Dream when 'deadline' sounds much more like 'dead' than like 'line'.