Spending time reading

These last few days that we have left in Bali I am making sure that I use to the fullest. As usual I get up around 6 and drag myself by the monkey forest to the Yoga barn's "early bird yoga".

After that: the one thing that I will not really miss about Bali: the breakfast; which seems to always consist of either pancake or scrambled eggs on toast, tea and a fruit platter. I know it does not seem bad but as I usually make a real ceremony out of my breakfast ( check out Simply Breakfast for inspiration) I really am looking forward to some change. Today we travelled through the lovely landscape to John Hardy jewellery workshop and studio to see how they produce their beautiful treasures and to see the eco concsciously built lunch and showroom. It was really fascinating to see how the silver was first moulded in wax and then turned into silver and it is all done on site, unfortunately I was not allowed to take any pictures to show the incredibe craftmanship that goes into it. At noon I went out on the ricefields and painted some water color landscapes, had lunch at the Sari organic restaurant and read my book. Then we both treated ourelves to some reflexology and massage. What a hard life !

Has anyone read the book " Connected, The surprising Power of Our Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives" by Nicholas Christakis and University of California? Fascinating stuff!

They claim that everything; from whether you loose/gain weight, marry, divorce, have kids, smoke, donate money, get depressed etc is influenced by your social circle. Maybe we all knew that we were a bit inspired by some of our friends but to that extent? So much for being an individual! But thinking about it; it is actually amazing if you take into consideration what the psychologist Stanley Milgram in the 1960's said: about the whole world, on average, is seperated only by six degrees. So if you for example donate some money, your action travels like a wave, affecting thousands of other people and directing them towards happiness and charity.

I want to leave you with some extracts from " The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" by Robin S Sharma

You will never be able to hit a target that you can not see." People spend their whole lives dreaming of becoming happier, living with more vitality and having an abundance of passion. Yet they do not see the importance of taking even ten minutes a month to write out their goals and to think deeply about the meaning of their lives, their Dharma. Goal setting will make your life magnificient. Your world will become richer, more delightful and more magical" .

Enthusiasm is one of the key ingredients for a lifetime of successful living. We each think about 60,000 thoughts on an average day. By writing out your desires and goals on a piece of paper, you send a red flag to your subconscious mind that these thoughts are far more important than the remaining 59,999 other ones. Your mind will then start to seek out all opportunities to realize your destiny like a guided missile.

~ Have a clear vistion of your outcome, visualize it.

~ Create positive pressure to keep you inspired- make your goal known to the world, there will instantly be pressure on you to work towards its fulfillment since noone likes to look like a failure.

~ Never set a goal without attaching a timeline to it.

" remember that a goal that is not committed to paper is no goal at all. Go ut and buy a journal and fill it with all yor desires, objectives and dreams. Get to know yourself and what you are all about. Most people have never taken the time to know their strenghts, their weaknesses , their hopes, their dreams.

Divide the book into seperate sections for goals relating to the diferent areas of your life. Fill it with pictures of the things you desire and images of people who have cultivated the abilites, talents ad qualities that you hope to emulate. Then review this book daily, the results will startle you.