The art of cleaning your arse

Our conversation was heading towards a dead end road. Why? Because my friend had just pulled out what seemed the final, unbeatable argument: Money!

We were discussing why people fail to make ethical choices when they are shopping and he said that most of us simply can't afford to buy organic food, fairtrade clothes and other so-called 'green' products. To make his point he used the example of toilet paper:

“I would love to buy eco toilet paper”, he said, “but it's ridiculously expensive.”

True, it costs about twice as much as normal toilet paper. But still – shouldn't we make an effort to care for the planet that hosts us?

“You only have to buy toilet paper once in a while”, I replied. “If you drank one beer less per month you'd already be able to afford it. Just a question of priorities.”

I use this argument quite often in similar discussions, yet for some strange reason it rarely works. Most of the time I get a look saying, 'Yes, but...'

A healthy planet or more beer – indeed, tough decisions we have to make.

Anyway, some people might not have enough money for neither beer nor eco toilet paper. So is there nothing else you can do? Well, there is something but just like with many other problems we are facing today the solution requires some lateral thinking – and a willingness to get rid of old habits.

If you can't afford eco toilet paper, or if you don't want to spend your precious money on it, then maybe it's an idea to question toilet paper itself. Do we really need it? After all, over one billion Indians live happily without it. And for those of you who have never been to India: No, they are not all dirty pigs over there. I've actually found that Indians look much better after their body hygiene than most Europeans.

How did my friend react to my suggestion?

“But I don't have money to get a bidet installed in my bathroom.”

Yes, sorry, I forgot: All Indians have a bidet, especially those living in little mud huts.

Right, here's what you do: First, get a plastic jug. This one I just got for myself:

Fill the jug with warm water (or cold water, depending on personal preference) and pour it over your lovely bottom using your left hand to do the cleaning. Using the left hand is quite important if you want to avoid potentially awkward situations (since the right hand is commonly used to greet people). Finally, if you don't fancy wet underpants use a towel. That's it. Done.

I don't know if my friend is still laughing at me (which he did at the time) or whether he perhaps got himself a jug too. Who knows... Fact is: Cleaning your arse with water is cheaper, more hygienic and more environmentally friendly than any toilet paper could ever be.

In summary: If we want to find an excuse for not having to change, we'll find one. But likewise, if we want to find a solution, we usually find one too.

Going on a journey

Writing or talking about change is relatively easy: You wrap a few thoughts into some fancy words, post them online or add them to a random conversation, that's it! But what about putting change into practice?

In order to explore this question a bit more and also to prove that, at least sometimes, I actually listen to my own advice, I'm going to go on a journey. Have a look at this video to find out more:

Sometimes you have to find the courage to take the first step.

To choose a direction. To make a decision. And then to stop thinking and simply start.
www.thelittlebuddha.net

The best is yet to come

On the 1^st of January I received a message from a friend: “All the best for the new year”, she said, and added: “You know, once you've told me that we should give each year the chance to be the best year of our lives. Every new year's eve I think about this.”

While she remembered my advice, I had forgotten.

2015, the best year ever – really? Let's see: I've just turned 39, next up is 40. Not sure if that is a reason to feel excited... Aches and pains are invading my body, my knees hurt, eyes are getting worse, my skin seems to dissolve in many places, digestion struggles, teeth are dying... My bank account is racing towards the big Zero – wasn't I supposed to be rich by now? Each night I've got a bed to sleep in, yes, but I feel pretty homeless – do Nomads always have to live a nomadic life? And true romance – completely out of sight!

Meanwhile, many are worried about a war with the new favourite enemy called Russia, about attacks by Muslim fundamentalists and Christian governments. The next economic crisis is waiting because greed ain't dead yet and because the illusion continues that our problems can be solved with more shopping malls offering more stuff to fill our houses and wardrobes and all those empty spaces deep within. And then there's our beautiful planet which is being raped on a daily basis – when will it fight back? More and bigger ecological disasters are only a question of time.  

In summary: 2015 has the potential to be really really shit. Sounds negative? Well, it is. But of course this doesn't mean that the opposite isn't possible. Life is full of surprises, so who knows? The seeds of change have been sown – will they grow? Will WE grow?

Maybe 2015 will be indeed the best year ever.

Doubts remain, but let's give it a chance.

Finding happiness

Do you also feel sometimes that happiness is hopelessly overrated? 'All I want is to be happy', nothing else matters. And so we search and try and take all sorts of desperate measures (like jumping out of planes and getting married) to somehow trap happiness and call it forever ours. Just as looking for true love, the search for happiness becomes like the search for the holy grail. Yet truth is: It doesn't exist. There are happy moments, but constant happiness is merely a Hollywood illusion.

The problem is that the feeling of happiness is a powerful drug and hence it is highly addictive. Again, it's the same with romance: Once you've experienced being in love you want more of it! Once you've felt overwhelmingly happy you end up chasing this feeling as if it was the air you need to stay alive. Human obsession.

I'm tempted now to write an ode to sadness and melancholy but...maybe another time. Instead, I'll ask you a simple question: What makes you happy? Because if you know what you're looking for the chances are much higher of actually finding it...

Over the last 6 weeks I've asked the same question to lots of different people and filmed their answers. The result is a little video which I'm using to promote the re-release of the English ebook of THE LITTLE BUDDHA – more information @ www.thelittlebuddha.net

Here's the video. Enjoy!

Enjoy the ride

Remember happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. (Roy Goodman)

Blablabla... Sometimes I hate all these stupid quotes! They can sound so real and promising when you read them but reality is often a totally different story.

November in Cologne, Germany. I want to visit a friend in Barcelona and am checking out my travel options. Number 1: taking a two hour flight with a crappy Irish airline – cheap, but I will probably get annoyed about being treated like shit and giving money to a company whose business model I don't agree with. Number 2: jumping on a train and spending much more cash and especially more time than I would if I was flying. Option number 3: hitch-hiking. But in winter? Em, no thanks.

To change the habit I decide on taking the train. Seems like a good idea – in times of climate change and with the fast-paced life all around us it's nice to slow down a bit and use a slightly more sustainable form of transport.

At 4 o'clock on a Monday afternoon I leave home and head for the station. It's cold and wet, my back is hurting and I am tired – the perfect conditions to embark on a 16-hour long trip! Desperately I'm trying to remember why I didn't buy a plane ticket...

The first part of the journey takes me with up to 300km/h via Brussels to Paris. Pretty straight forward. However, what I'm not looking forward to is the fact that I have to change stations in the French capital. Good timing too – I'm set to arrive for the evening rush hour which means a hopelessly overcrowded Metro is waiting for me. And there's potential for even more stress: All that it takes is that my train gets in late and I'd miss my connection in the other station. 'Stay positive', I try to convince myself.

To my surprise the positive thinking works for once: the train arrives on time at Gare du nord and the Metro is pleasantly empty. In my wagon there's just me, two handfuls of other passengers and a colourful Dude singing a folky version of 'Don't worry be happy'. Nice!

Thirty minutes later I'm in Gare d'Austerlitz, with over an hour to spare. I walk around the station which is again much quieter than I've anticipated. Who said travelling in big cities has to be stressful? After indulging in a fresh croissant I decide to have a little walk outside. Leaving the entrance hall I cross the road and find myself right on the banks of the Seine. It's 9.15pm, full moon has just risen and the river is flowing by peacefully in front of my eyes. I call my sister and report happily, “I'm in Paris!”

Soon after I go back into the station building and make my way towards the platform where I encounter the next surprise: a piano! Yes, that's right – next to where my train is waiting there's a piano and a young guy is playing classical music. On top of the piano a sign reads: “This piano is for everyone – please use it!” Wow... In most places across Europe music in public is increasingly getting banned; here it's being promoted – instead of impatient moods, art is shared!

At 10pm I get on the train, feeling uplifted by the brief yet beautiful experience in the city of love. I squeeze through the very narrow corridor and am wondering how often it happens that some overweight person gets stuck in the aisle. Maybe they don't want fat people to take trains...? Anyway, I head for my cabin where I find my travel companions for the night: a Japanese traveller who doesn't say a single word; a really nice guy from Ecuador, a musician and a writer who has come to Europe to find inspiration for his first novel; and Miguel from Argentina who, as it turns out, is the ex-guitarist of The Gypsy Kings. While Mr Japan keeps hiding on his bottom bed the three of us spend several hours making music and exchanging philosophies about life. Train travelling at its best!

Arriving in Barcelona the next morning I'm feeling melancholic because my journey has come to an end already. Instead of an ordeal it has turned into a wonderfully enriching experience. And you know what? I doubt that a fast plane trip would have provided similar pleasure. It almost seems that you have to travel slowly to really get something joyful out of it, to allow for special things to simply happen.

I guess Mr Goodman was right after all: Who cares about the destination when all the fun is happening along the way?

In search of inspiration

John Lennon, Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Charlie Chaplin, Hermann Hesse, Nelson Mandela, Buddha – apart from being men, they all have three things in common:

        1) They inspire us

        2) They are famous

        3) They are dead

Of those alive today, who is inspiring us? Who is wise and brave enough to speak the truth? Surely not the famous – Barack Obama? The Pope? Justin Bieber? It's so sad, it's almost funny.

Anyone who is trying to find true role models with a heartbeat is facing really hard times. Of course there are some left but usually they are unknown heroes – they don't make the headlines and don't appear on TV shows or book covers. So I guess we just need to look for them in other places...

I'm lucky, I've found one. He lives just down the road from me – a simple guy with a bunch of priceless messages. Have a look for yourself, I've done a little documentary about him:

JOSÉ – A man of the land

Ten times happiness

It's Monday, late September – another weekend gone, another summer too. I feel tired, slightly melancholic and kind of bored. The news is filled with wars and greed and the new iphone 6 and somehow it just all seems to go round in circles, spiralling downwards.

Last month I wrote a blog about peace and when I checked the statistics page earlier on, I saw that it got less than a third of the usual hits. In fact, it was the least popular article since I've started blogging 4 years ago. Makes me wonder: Are people not really interested in peace?

So maybe I should talk a bit more about all the misery going on around us. Let's see... There are the children in the Middle East who are trying to walk through life without legs. There are millions of modern-day slaves wasting their precious time producing cheap clothes, one-way headphones and plastic toys no-one needs; billions of animals are locked away in dark factories to feed fat people and old habits; despite leading richer and more comfortable lives than ever before, depression in the West is spreading far quicker than Ebola. Food is turning to poison, forests to deserts and oceans to seas of rubbish. There's Nestlé, Primark, Ikea, Monsanto and McDonalds. Corrupt politicians, selfish businessmen and hateful priests; ignorant consumers and heart-broken dreamers. Shall I continue?

I could, but I won't. After all it's Monday and I like Mondays. So to counteract the rising winter blues, here are 10 reasons why I feel grateful in this very moment:

1. There's music – how amazing is music!
2. And sunsets!
3. I have a warm bed to sleep in tonight
4. I'm able to go and buy organic food if I want to
5. I share a house with good friends
6. Autumn rain has arrived (check out the Pluviophile)
7. I'm a Dad with a beautiful daughter
8. When I look outside my window I see trees
9. Each day, more people help to create a better world
10. Possibilities are endless

In summary: Life on this planet sucks at times but being alive is truly wonderful!

PS: What about you? What are your 10 reasons to feel grateful and happy today?