In the world of multiple voices speaking at you through social media, apps, and ads, it’s hard to truly be authentic.

And if you somehow managed to switch off from all of the noise, there would still be colleagues, friends, and family…

So, how do you stay in touch with your authenticity?

It requires creating a space within and listening to it (and not the voices of others.)

It requires taking time out to continuously revisit what authenticity means to you and so that the voices of the environment would have less power over you.

It requires looking in the mirror every day and embracing who you are so that the need to emulate others is no longer there.

This is what we are going to work on in samurai-themed retreats in Tokyo and Lithuania:

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Your own death. The end. Inexistence.  

I do. Daily.

I am so aware of every day bringing me forward to the inevitable vanishing, that every day becomes a celebration.

Even if I am hurting or I am hurt or I have hurt; I know that the clock is ticking

Not in my favour.

And then, I know that to speak my truth is more important than to please; that to love my parents is more important than recall the past hurts; that there is no time to do what dulls my soul; that there is no time to lie to myself; the only option is to live out the given moment to its fullest.

My death scares me as much as it helps me.

Pain melts in its presence.

Daily anxieties and complaints pale in its mighty shadow.

And only in the antithesis of life does life thrive.

There is no fixed point in the future to arrive at.

You won’t be happier if you find a partner, get a promotion, go travelling, achieve this or that.

To say that you will be happier in the future is the same as to say there is not...

Recently, I spoke at an investing conference.

I'm not an investor and know very little about it.

I was asked to speak about something I believe in.

I couldn't speak about investing in Boeing in China or the geopolitical situation in Ukraine and how that affects investment.

I couldn't speak about investing in art,nor could I say anything about designing and planning urban spaces.

So, by the time my turn came to speak, I had realised that I was invited to the conference, for much the same reason that one adds spices to soup.

I wasn't the soup, but  an exotic ingredient.

And there were two choices.

Well, really, only one.

Just to pull myself together and speak about what I wanted to speak about.

‘How to cultivate excellence in your emotional life’.

But this wasn't the real topic.

It was a coded topic.

The real topic behind the code was:

How to live from the space of the heart and not the mind. (I sat in the rice fields and made a video on this as well).  

I won't...

Everyone wants to buy things: an iPhone, a car, a house, a something.

People, who are mastering their life and can buy an iPhone, a car, a house and a something, don’t prioritise buying any of these things.

Their priority is to buy more time.

How do you buy more time?

In business, it’s straightforward: it usually means hiring and delegating (or automating - but this isn’t a post about business, so I’m not going to go into detail).

A year ago I bought more time by hiring a virtual assistant to help me out with a number of ventures.  

I bought at least 60 hours’ worth of time and it made my life much easier.

But: how do you buy more time in your personal life?

For some, it could be a case of  hiring a cleaner, so they can spend more time with their children.

For example, I never cook. I choose to outsource my cooking by going out. I’m not lazy, I just know how to put those  two or three hours to use in a way that means either I enjoy...

Movement is the basis of everything.

Every film, every book, every play is driven by movement, taking the hero through a variety of situations.

Challenging him.

Testing him.

Awarding him.

Changing him.

If there were no movement, we wouldn't watch the film or read the book. It'd be dull.

Look around in nature.

There's movement - constantly.

Rivers flow.

Leaves either fall or grow.

Clouds drift.

It's never still. It’s always in process.

Your life, too, is driven by movement.

The greater the movement, the more significant the change.

The lesser the movement, the more meagre the change.

You wouldn't watch a film without much movement.

Why would you live a life without much movement?

Movement is the basis of transformation.

Transformation equals growth.

Become aware of the movement in your life, and its intensity.

Where is the movement taking you to?

What sort of changes is the movement guiding you towards?

Are you resisting the movement or going with it?

P.S. You can't control...

Imagine your life as a TV.

You’re flicking through the channels.

Work channel: struggles, goals, striving for good pay, planning holidays.

Love channel: highs and lows of love, relationship hurdles and successes.

Relationship channel: parents don’t understand, children are losing their way, lack of self-esteem.

Meaning channel: what is it all about, you buy a book or two, attend a seminar - how does the universe work?

There are also addiction channels - if you turn on one of those, it’s easy watching.

Until you wake up and have to go back to one of the above channels - then, it’s hang-over time.

But the remote control is in your hands -  always.

It’s up to you which channel to watch. Also, there is a  limitless amount of channels.

If you’re watching a boring programme - that’s your choice.

If you’re watching a complex relationship drama -  that’s your choice.

If you’re watching ER or some kind of an ‘I...

Knowledge is rarely exclusive. You can get it on Google.

Many are keen to share their knowledge and ‘the one who knows’ is often mistakenly seen as an expert.

However, stronger than knowledge is experience.

What’s experience?

Simply put: it’s knowledge in action.

Fewer are able to share it but those that can are true experts.

Above knowledge and experience, however, is feeling -  the feeling of knowing and doing.

Nothing preserves, locks in and grounds knowledge and experience better than feeling.

It is through feeling our way through facts, ideas and actions that we register and cement them on a subconscious level.

This is particularly important to know when choosing a mentor - in business, spirituality, psychology or any other field:

How deep is their knowledge?

Have they experienced what they know?

Have they felt it?

You can learn more about the difference between the three here.

Your brain, society, and the world around you are  made out of systems and thinking models.

Don’t ignore them.

Seek out patterns.

Seek out  how everything is connected beneath  the surface: whether it is the  structure of your favourite TV series, thinking models that your favourite thought-leader employs, or the way your child organises his or her thoughts.

Cracking a pattern is like cracking a code: it takes you to the next level.

It helps you formulate your own kind of thinking by deciding which systems and patterns to  ditch and which to  make your own.

For me and many other people I know and work with, writing is the best way to understand how we think and to shape and mould it accordingly. 

You can learn how to do it here.

Many travel to see sights, enjoy a cocktail in the pool of a fancy hotel and, in general, get a dose of excitement.

What if you looked at travelling as a way of expanding your mind and thinking, a tool to help you become aware of your system of beliefs, your judgments and your ideas, and to call these all into question?

Doubt them.

Investigate them.

Even revise them.

The way you connect your thoughts and points of reference determines how you see the world.

The variables that you take into account are usually influenced by your environment(s).

When you are in the process of making a decision, you call a number of variables into your mind and choose between them.

What travelling - if done consciously - can do, is give you a new set of variables that you wouldn’t have otherwise come across.

What writing - if used as a tool - can do, is simply bring forth the variables you have been toying with your whole life (so you see them more clearly) and start paving the way for new...

Whatever you do, do it with excellence.

Perfection is for amateurs.

Excellence is for masters.

You only master something by learning when to take action and then to allow it.

Mastery never reeks of struggle.

That’s perfection.

Mastery is a gently controlled flow of particular area in life, which is tamed with joy.

You can pick whether to be a perfectionist or master.

You can learn more about the difference between the two here.