Happy Soul Food Friday!
This week enjoy some glimpses of:
- Getting out in nature does wonders to restore your sense of balance and soulfulness
- Living a purpose-filled life?
- Young people changing the world
- Poor memory actually being a benefit
- Future proofing and revisiting your relationship to money
- Further musings on the relationship between money and happiness
- Magnificent steps around the world including; Ecuador, India, Germany, Columbia, Hawaii, Peru, Spain and China
Keep Climbing!
Love,
Neville
What’s your Mission?
People who lived purpose filled lives are clearly happier and more fulfilled.
If you can link your purpose to your vocation, you are even luckier!
I am blessed to work for a double bottom line, purpose-driven organization that gives back to our community.
Being a generator of value rather than an extractor will ensure we create value and advance the collective good…
Passage to Bollywood
It is inspiring when we hear about kids changing the world!
Here is a great example of a local high school student thinking global, and demonstrating how and why Gen Next are the most societally- conscious generation on our planet
How Good is Your Memory?
Aging has its limitations but rightly understood, poor memory might actually be a benefit.
Enjoy this re-framing thanks to my brother at HRG
http://us5.campaign-archive2.com/?u=8498bc1a4a768f7aa94cc3102&id=934dc33c15&e=5f435af334
Future proofing and Revisiting Our Relationship to Money
Here is an excerpt from my remarks at the UCSD True Triton Brunch as it relates to future proofing…
What the heck is future proofing?
It is the process of trying to anticipate future developments, so that action can be taken now to minimize possible negative consequences, and to maximize opportunities. It is about building a strong enough foundation to ensure long term, sustainable success.
Here are some future proofing factoids:
If you are working, your job is your #1 investment.
Your education is your second most important investment.
If you are serious about future proofing, invest more time building a legacy than an inheritance.
If you cultivate the proper work ethic and relentless passion for lifelong learning, and develop a culture that focuses on generators of value not just extractors of value, the next generation will produce their own annuity.
Money doesn’t cause problems, your bad relationship to money causes problems. Most of us have a lousy relationship with money. The same sadly is even truer with time. Most of us have a lousy relationship with time.
How do I know? Well, we kill time, we waste time, and we spend time but rarely invest time. Lousy relationships with both money and time cause a lot of problems both in the present and by extension in the future… Maybe it’s time to revisit our relationship with time and money.
Interestingly, if you think about this in the context of volunteering, time is more valuable than money. You can lose all your money and earn it back, but you never get the time back. Today is unprecedented. Today is unrepeatable. We never get today back so invest it wisely. Do give BACK! Invest your time giving back. Giving back is highly correlated with healthier and happier people.
“Gratitude is the ultimate antidote for materialism”
We ARE spirits in a material world as Sting and the Police remind us…
Apparently, I am not the Only One Thinking this Way…
This post reinforces similar ideas about money and happiness
http://willmarre.com/blog/more-is-less/
Climbing Half Dome years ago, like any committed undertaking requires adequate preparation and taking the steps
These steps all around the world, should give you some perspective…
In mountaineering, “Going up is optional, Going down is MANDATORY!”
For many, the stairs are something to avoid, unless you’re determined to lose some weight.
But lovers of nature and spectacular views are more than used to climb steps and more steps to experience the view.
Caution: This list of steps might be a challenge for those who get a little dizzy with heights…
Peldaños del Cañón
Where you are: Pailon del Diablo, Ecuador
Where are they going?
Designed to descend to the bottom of one of the most famous waterfalls in South America, along the way, lost in the fog in many cases, it is extremely slippery and steep for tens of meters to a lookout where you can see a dramatic effect, accompanied by hummingbirds, gulls and other local birds
El pozo de Chand Baori
Where you are: India
Where are they going?
The decline of these steps leads to a huge pool, built in the tenth century to overcome the lack of rainfall in the region and store water for long periods. The structure has a total of 3,500 steps, and down to a depth of 30 meters.
Stairs Elbe Sandstone Mountains
Where you are: Dresden , Germany
Where are they going?
Stairs carved into the stone itself of these mountains.
They date from the 13th century and have been eroded by wind and water, but there are still being used daily by tourists. 487steps, though not enough, were restored and expanded in the eighteenth century to facilitate transit.
The Rock of Guatapé
Where you are: Antioquia , Colombia
Where are they going?
The rock is an authentic stone monolith of 220 meters.
The steps are constructed with cement, directly on the rock.
Some 702 steps are to be followed to reach its peak.
The ladder Haiku
Where you are: Oahu , Hawaii
Material: metal
Where are they going?
On the small island of Oahu there is this tremendous journey of 3922 steps, climbing, crossing and descending a hill of 850 meters.
They were created to facilitate the installation of a satellite in 1942. Originally made of wood, they were modernized in the ’50s, but since 1987 are closed to the public.
The Inca Trail
Where you are: Peru
Where are they going?
An ancient trade route linking the city of Cuzco to Machu Pichu.
For the rugged geography of the area, the Inca Trail and forced detours shift between hills and mountains.
The result: miles and miles of stairs, in some cases very precarious, as this famous floating staircase.
Ladder Via Crucis
Where you are: Bermeo, Basque Country, Spain
Where are they going?
This endless row of stairs attached to the rock coast where a small church dating from the tenth century and seems to be of Templar origins.
To reach the hermitage of San Juan de Gaztelugatxe you have to climb 231 steps and there are gaps in the steps that are identified as the footsteps of St. John himself, giving different healing powers. For example, you have to put your feet in them as a solution for corns or leave hats, scarves or chapelas, to cure headache.
Spiral staircase in the Taihang Mountains
Where you are: At the boundary between the provinces of Shanxi and Henan , China
Where are they going? This spiral staircase of almost 100 meters have been installed recently in an attempt to attract thousands of tourists each year to the beautiful Taihang Mountains .
Before undertaking the ascent visitors are asked to sign forms to ensure they do not have heart or lung problems, and are under age 60. And that narrow metal ladder can certainly can serve as your stairway to heaven- think Led Zeppelin.
Wayna Pichu
Where you are: Machu Picchu , Peru
Where are they going?
Stairs carved into the rock that crown a climb of about 360 meters from Machu Picchu itself.
In some sections, the ascent is complicated to pass through narrow sections and small eroded steps.
The rise time is calculated at one hour and 30 minutes.
90 minutes climbing stairs! Access only allowed to 400 tourists a day and is closed from 1pm on, just in case you were planning on heading out soon…
Thanks this week to my work mates, my vacation mates, my UCSD mate, my brother Paul, Will M, Larry H, and you for climbing the steps that will carry you to a higher plane of living, knowing and loving!
Pay it Forward.
Love,
Neville
“Being challenged in life is inevitable, being defeated is optional.”
— Roger Crawford
Happy Soul Food Friday! 