How much attention we place on material items, makes me think.

Have you heard about the trend for travelling long haul with nothing more than a mobile phone and a toothbrush?

One word, Respect!

Quite frankly, I for one am sick and tired of lugging heavy baggage around, not just because it slows me down, or that my shoulders ache plus add insult to injury it costs so much to fly with over baggage. I recently found myself checking in (no idea the already limited 7kg was being shrunk to 5kg on the domestic flight in China!) with only about the same weight as a large chicken in carry-on baggage.

I was forced to re-evaluate not only my packing but my lifestyle and values! Sifting through my stuff, chucking it sucked at the time, but truth to tell, it was great not to carry so much and a good life lesson, as always gained the hard way.

All things I believed were essential to my trip, but can’t remember what they were except a favourite pair of wool shorts a heavy flask and a great book on nutrition, I somehow managed to survive without!

Total Nada. In this mode you take your passport, a toothbrush, some cash, a cell phone, the clothes you are wearing, and that’s it. It’s pretty radical. You have to be in a certain zen state to enjoy this, but like many things, once you jump in it is not hard to.The life lesson is time to get lighter.

Imagine: This guy just jumped on a plane from with nothing, a big fat zero luggage and with no return ticket…and not only got back but had an amazing adventure documented in videos and pictures of the people he met on the journey. It’s the best way to surrender ego, make friends and see the world I can think of. What he had was a blind faith, a trust in mankind, a vision of making it happen and the crazy dare devil nature to book the ticket and go and get a bit closer to enlightenment.

Taking it to the limits, of not only travelling light but having a deep and unquestionable faith in the universe, like the indigenous of Australia, who walk out every morning after their tribal sunrise communion with the powers that be. They just know that they will be provided for. They have no idea of what, when, how or where, the food will be……..But they are sure it’s going to show up and it does!

We are attracted to lighter products now; transparency, things that pack and collapse, inflate instantly and can fit into a pocket of a backpack at most. Technology has made it possible to develop such items but we are the creators and the concept was propelled by our desire to unburden ourselves physically.

Not only clothing and lifestyle items but food too… Less is more and lighter is better! Personally, I prefer soups, switched to sushi and salads as staples with smoothies, juices and the new trend for supplement waters, means are we are actually getting physically lighter. This trend toward lighter eating. Who wants to eat heavy weight old- fashioned fare?

Heavy cream sauces will be replaced with healthier accompaniments, like vegetable pureés, as part of a trend toward lighter eating. “The lighter, the fresher and brighter the ingredients the better,” says Waitrose.

Our ancestors ate huge lumps of meat, potatoes, bread and dripping just to keep the hunger at bay. They needed as many cheap calories as possible to survive, fight battles and keep the cold out. Let’s face it though guys….no one is going to fly after a roast dinner with suet sponge for dessert!

And how about lightening our minds, taking the weight off our brains!!!

The escalation of mindfulness and popularity of meditation is tackling that problem. We all have so much stuff in our brains, memories we hang onto for emotional reasons, facts people will think we are stupid if we don’t know, or information crammed for an exam we needed to pass but never used…huge quantities of names, places numbers, like old encyclopaedias and telephone directories.

No wonder we suffer from headaches and can’t sleep at night. There is no excuse and no need. Now we have apps and computers to store everything and search when we need…now we can finally start to lighten our heads too.

There will be ‘brain diet plans’ and I use the word loosely, we now know that “poor nutrition adversely affects the development of our intelligence, mental health and ultimate success” but what we don’t understand is not simply how to feed our heads but how to clean our minds. The Brain Diet I am talking about here is to restrict how much data we stuff in and then to clean out some of the old accumulated info, more like a ..like a brain detox :) Fact: In the future, we will spend as much time, if not much more learning how to empty our heads, as we spent filling them in the past!

Originally published at Mind Hero.

Chasing Enlightenment was originally published in Mind Hero on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

What is it with Super? — Why is just about Everything prefixed by the Word Super?

It’s as though nothing simply ordinary is good enough anymore …The volume is pumped up so high it seems like there’s no going back to regular anything.

Supersonic, Supercharged, Superstar, Superpowers, Superhuman!

Enter the Superhero. Superheroes; a term coined in 1917 when the old folk stories such as Robin Hood and the classic The Scarlet Pimpernel, then The Legend of Zorro become popular. This trend took off thanks to the 30’s comic books, and Hollywood as we embraced men in masks and tights on a new level. The cinema allowed these characters to become larger than life and heroes had some kind of outfit that made them stand out and as they fought villains, and the concept developed, so did their powers and those of the villains they fought. Villains became Supervillains and so it goes.

Is it the Powers and Glory that are so attractive….Or our desire to Save the World? I checked the definition of “superhero” and it’s “a figure, especially in a comic strip or cartoon, endowed with superhuman powers and usually portrayed as fighting evil or crime”. The Dictionary.com

Personally, I blame Mary Poppins, herself something of a Super Nanny!

What was Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious about anyway? It’s a nonsense word made famous from a song of the same name in the 1964 Mary Poppins film. It has an entry in the Oxford English Dictionary: A nonsense word, originally used esp. by children, and typically expressing excited approbation: fantastic, fabulous.

One up from being a waitress, the models; pretty girls who rocked the latest looks in the salons and fashion houses. It was thanks to The Shrimp, Jean Shrimpton in the 50’s, Twiggy, the iconic “Twig the Wonder Kid” in the sixties. Suddenly being a model gained fame with the fashion photographers, calling the shots; David Bailey and Irving Penn amongst others.

The fashion bomb went off in the 80’s, the Supermodel was born.

The word “supermodel” was first coined in 1981 by artist Henry Stacy Marks in an interview with The Strand Magazine. Fame and salaries skyrocketed for Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Kate Moss and hundreds more now follow. The word would be adopted everywhere to describe a seemingly different species of Homo sapien, one so tall, so perfectly formed, effortlessly chic that it’s hard to believe they’re part of the same race as people like us. But we so want to be like them, that the makeup and beauty business is one of the most lucrative to be in.

They are stars. Not just any old star but Superstars!

This term is reserved for the likes of rock dignitaries and dinosaurs such as The Rolling Stones, legends like Rihanna and beauties like Beyonce but also any star who enjoys elevated star status, awards, massive earnings, can fill arenas and manages to maintain that position.

Then there are the Super Rich.

The Super Rich are getting super-richer! Onwards and upwards, no longer satisfied with millions we have multi-billionaires, those who have so much money it’s ridiculous. We have Supercomputers that have computed pi to more than a trillion decimal places, and Supercars that go epically fast and look amazing.

Life in the fast lane indeed. Is it maybe due to the fact that the earth itself is turning faster than before, everyone seems to feel this acceleration, there are not enough hours in the day to do all we are expected to do?

The Super-mums who had to bring up kids, run the home, carve a career, cook and keep the family happy!!!

..how can I do this I hear you cry? Most people can’t, they are stressed to the max relying on stimulants, therapy, drugs and holidays to survive, sleep all weekend, party harder to ease the pressure in the short term, then crumble under the strain, get really sick and die.

There is a massive need to find a way to relax and let go and that paradoxically is in my experience how we can speed up. It seems as if we are required to upgrade and to become some kind of above human. When we get more energy we are able to do more, look better and become more successful…maybe it’s time to Super Relax!

This seems to me to be an evolutionary requirement, a natural progression and society is responding by creating Super Everything and ordinary is becoming obsolete.

Originally published at Mind Hero.

Super Everything was originally published in Mind Hero on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Who can survive the material overkill in a world drowning in throwaway fashion, built in obsolescence and designer ‘absolutely everything’?

Die Young, Stay Pretty

My own experience of being a clothes designer in Bali and running a fashion store in London was focused on what to wear, where to go and the next new thing! Health was by the way, I was young and life was short, sweet and the motto of the moment, was the neo punk nihilistic, “Die Young, Stay Pretty!”

For style junkies, everything is image and the right outfit and the right designer lifestyle in the fast lane, being young, fun, size 10, bright lights big city, travel, money and when Madonna sang about the “a material girl, living in a material world”, that girl was totally me and a million more that were intoxicated by the fantasy of fashion, high on style. Designing seemed to be way above a factory job and so much more exciting than a 9–5 office; the parties were amazing, everyone wanted to be a designer in the “me generation” of the 80’s.

What made me flip?

You may ask “What changed to flip you from being a slave to image and destroyer of health, to a calm lover, a cleaner of old genetic patterns and a follower of wellness habits? “

The point comes when we are pushed, for me personally it was a meltdown, just couldn’t hold it all together, too much pressure to be perfect and the best and no life skills to protect my health. For others it is a messy divorce or massive heart attack. Most of us can’t change until we are forced to by circumstances.

As designers we are always looking for the next thing and now everyone’s a designer, we can all create whatever we want, technology makes it possible to live the dream. We can buy anything we want from anywhere in the world in seconds online, so now the customer demand creates the style.

Is the new fashion life like we see in the movies or on Netflix?

Shiny-happy people, everything hunky dory and smooth, that’s life in the flow, in the energy zone and that is where we all wannabe now. A far out hippy Utopia or crazy Californian dream, it’s what the masses want…. but not so many know how to get there.

The truth for many is more like an episode of “Big Little Lies” where perfect couples leading fake lives are internally brewing jealousy, hatred and dark secrets with stunning settings and a compelling soundtrack?

No one wants to be old or sick or poor…!t’s just so old fashioned.

The reality of the old lifestyle is that stress, sickness, aging, broken relationships and debt are going mainstream, the bubble burst on us boomers and now we are asking the question ‘fashionistas’ ask themselves at the start of every season.“ How can we reinvent ourselves?

The quest for Immortality is ON. We need to buy more time…we need to relax big-time

It’s hard not to be stuck in our ways but for anyone born before 2000 it’s going to be a bit easier but, even for teenagers, my advise is don’t leave it too long as even babies can relax and toddlers can train energy and in fact it’s so simple the cat can do it ☺ so don’t wait to start reacting your old grandmas genes and develop habits and wrinkles that damage your aging.

Designing a new energy lifestyle; Accessories…… and we are not talking handbags here!

The newest mindfulness accessory on the catwalk is MindHero the must have guided relaxation for our digital lifestyle. Once we check in we start to make positive changes which often start on the health level, but for some it may be a money or relationship result or more importantly a feeling of deep peace and inner confidence which comes from the connection this new energy lifestyle we are designing.

So simple that cat can do it!!

Technology is in the palm of our hands and we can design our own meditation class to relax, release stress and be guided to find inner peace anywhere we can squeeze a spare 15mins, we can enter the energy zone, connect and get in the flow.

It’s a great time for anyone who always wanted to be creative but didn’t know how, by simply relaxing twice a day, to allow your empty brain to receive the creative instructions, you can start to change everything as by changing our inner world automatically the outside world around us changes.

Now that’s what I call cool.

Originally published at Mind Hero.

New Fashion Lifestyle — How to Start Designing Yours! was originally published in Mind Hero on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The lines are blurred and becoming more so…. the Thesaurus definition of “robot” is both mechanical and human.

• A machine that resembles a human and does mechanical, routine tasks on command.
• A person who acts and responds in a mechanical, routine manner, usually subject to another’s will; automaton.
• Any machine or mechanical device that operates automatically with humanlike skill.

Robots represent how we view ourselves in the future, and how we identify with our greatest dreams and fears, for humanity. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a robot is:

A machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer.

They have been, an inspiration for stories, the obsession of scientists, and have excited inventors for more than 500 years and now the stars of many movies. The current wave includes Star Wars, to Ex Machina, Ghost in the Shell and the latest Guardians of the Galaxy….the future is overrun by robots!

Human connection to the Universe — From the 16th century onwards people were fascinated by the connection between humans and the universe perhaps even earlier but documented evidence shows Astrologers already knew how complex and precise the universe was. They built working models, which explained the orbits and positions of the planets in our solar system and they wondered about the nature of humans and if they were also so complex in their design.

What makes humans tick?

Western doctors started to dissect and make models for the study of the human body, to better understand the organs and systems, which they believed ran in the human so-called ‘clockwork’ body. Already there was an observed correlation between the universe and the human. Something we have to a large extent forgotten today! What we have learnt is a lot about the mechanics and chemistry and biology of being a human which has made it possible to recreate many of the physical and mental functions, such as movement and calculation, observation, speech, even empathy to a certain degree. There are still issues with conscience and possibly morality. Some companies have tight control over what is and are not appropriate in a Robots code of behaviour with regards to children for example.

robot

[roh-buh t, -bot]

Origin

From the Czech, robota ‘forced labour’.

The term was coined in K. Čapek’s play R.U.R ‘Rossum’s Universal Robots’ (1920).

Man V Machine — The Industrial Revolution saw humans literally working like machines to keep pace with the steam engines, which ran the weaving looms.

Evolution was pushing us in the direction of the automaton, via commerce and manufacturing to mass production and uniformity and branding. Robots themselves are branded nowadays as the large tech companies race to produce the most realistic/able/intelligent/mobile “bot” about. Mechanical humans or Robots are able to perform almost everything now; long gone are the days when robots were only into manufacturing, famously more than half the cars in America are made by robots, the latest humanoid types are designed to teach children, care for the sick and elderly, greet clients, perform customer services, they have developed way beyond the production line…replacing many of our everyday white collar jobs and even skilled work like nursing and teaching along with housework is being tackled.

Some still look like machines because of their functionality the household Rhumba looks like more like a flying saucer than a vacuum cleaner, whilst others are replicas of a human physiology fueled by our desires to create the perfect being and our new knowledge of how human bodies function and advances in technology.

Sex and Robots — Special physical attributes such as gender neutrality may help overcome outdated sexual stereotypes as with REEM who is a designed gender-neutral robot. Many of the humanoid robots are specifically created in a male or female form but by developing more non- specific sex robots it may help erode stereotypes and make for a more inclusive society in the future.

What will ‘being’ human mean in the future?

Friendly hyper-intelligent and servile, or sinister and threatening human supremacy! Robots have already had a certain amount of consciousness but how about morality, cultural differences and social levels?

Will we be in the minority with augmented androids and biobots and full on robots running the day to day world, what will life be like if you are a natural human being?

Quick Fix The option to “upgrade” as depicted in “Ghost in the Shell, starring Scarlett Johansson, where the future human with no more than her original brain in a perfect construct body has the ability to dematerialize, hack into any system and perform multi tasks at high speed, all whilst looking amazing! The rest of us are buying replacement organs and getting a rebuild on an organ is available on every street corner

We are still looking for answers to disease, disability, old age amid crumbling health systems, huge health insurance premiums and we want to get special abilities; be superheroes and live forever!!

So is building a bunch of Robots a way to achieve this fantastical future?

YES or NO it’s already happening with all the big corporations and half of Silicon Valley pumping billions into building robots. Humans in the future will be challenged for supremacy in a world where sickness, emotions, and lack of ability are no longer viewed with sympathy. The need to work on upgrading ourselves now or risk becoming obsolete is more obvious than ever. The clock is ticking for mankind and it may be time to wake up!!!!

Originally published at Mind Hero.

Robot Reality was originally published in Mind Hero on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Do you want to shoot some zzzzz’s and have a good sleep? Have a look at the sleep checklist we have compiled as a result of extensive research using basics of traditional Chinese medicine and personal testing.

No need to spend 30% of our lives asleep if we follow these steps to restorative rest. Free up more time for the fun things, like being creative, fitness, redressing the work life balance with more quality time available and enjoying our families, work and social life more too.

Follow these tips and you’ll be floating off to peaceful sleep and bouncing out of bed in the morning time!

1. Limit your liquid intake after 6.30pm to give your kidneys a chance to rest and prevent the need to get up to pee in the night.
2. Eat your larger meal in the middle of the day and make supper much lighter, soups, and fruits, so that your stomach and digestive system have a chance to clear and fast 12+ hours overnight.
3. Take some gentle exercise to unwind, such as a swim, Tai Chi, Yoga, a short walk, gardening or just play with the kids.
4. Do turn off the TV and put down the book and allow yourself to relax before bedtime… try creating a custom relaxation using our Mind Hero app and let that take you nicely off to ‘the land of nod’.
5. Have a shower or warm bath before bed to wash away tension and wash the remains of the day away.
6. Prop yourself up comfortably in bed and allow your head to totally empty of the days thoughts and activities. Make a note of anything important and then forget about it.
7. Make sure your bed is warm and the mattress and pillows are comfortable, but you have a cooler air temperature in the bedroom. Sleeping in a stuffy room makes you wake up feeling heavy.
8. Keep the bedroom clean and free from clutter and distractions and do not store things under the bed, this can disturb the feng shui too.
9. Be tucked in by 11.00pm as the energy changes and becomes peak negative during the small hours so you don’t want to pick that up, if your goal is to rise and shine!
10. If you can’t get off to sleep or you do wake up in the night, tell yourself. “I must sleep now”. Repeat this until you get it as it’s a bad habit like so many things and you can give it up. Believe it is possible and practice it.
11. Go through all the things you are grateful for and thank everyone who gave you some lesson or experience today even if you felt bad at the time. Remind yourself how much you have to be happy about, let it all go and smile.

Sweet Dreams!

Originally published at Mind Hero.

11 Secrets for Good Sleep was originally published in Mind Hero on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.