Alive

In January I wrote about doing a whole month of challenges. A couple of people laughed at me, ‘yeah right, get a life and stop dreaming, you won’t do that anyway’. You know what? I did it and it was fantastic! Regarding those encouraging comments, I'm reminded of a sticker I have on one of my guitars: "Those who say it cannot be done shouldn't interrupt the people doing it."

The challenge consists of doing every day one of four things, for a whole month. The four things are: 1) something you fear, 2) something you’ve been putting off, 3) something you’ve never done and 4) something selfless. If you want to feel really alive, I highly recommend you to do it! Here are a few reflections which you may find helpful:

• Write a list – it’s a good idea to prepare a list of possible challenges BEFORE day one. Try to have at least 10 things on the list, or even better 20.
• Value both big and small – it doesn’t always have to be a massive challenge, there’s no need to jump out of a plane every single day! Sometimes simple things can be great too, like helping a neighbour taking the shopping in or trying some new food.
• Be patient – my challenge started rather slow, at the beginning I didn’t do many exciting things and I had to really think about stuff that I could do. But as the month rolled on, the challenge picked up speed and became more and more intense.
• Stay open – always look out for spontaneous opportunities to challenge yourself. Life is full of them!

I’d like to give thanks again to Jordan Lejuwaan from HighExistence.com who inspired me to do this challenge. And in case that you need some more inspiration to start yourself, here are a few of the things that I’ve done in February:

• I’ve donated blood
• played a 100-year old cello in Berlin
• re-designed my photo website – fotomikosch.com
• one month no alcohol and no cannabis (ongoing)
• started working on my new book
• I hosted a one-hour radio show without any preparation – Miedo (in spanish)
• collected lots of rubbish from a dry riverbed
• wrote a new song – Immer Richtung Meer
• quit smoking (again! I’m getting good at this...)
• planted five trees
• did a brand new DJ mix with only Spanish artists – Mr Mikosch - Espana
• overcame superstition and got on a plane without prayer (much harder than it sounds)
• went busking in Málaga, singing consumer-critical songs in front of a big shopping mall
• cleaned out my room and gave lots of good stuff to a charity shop
• added reviews to the website of my Ayahuasca book – A call from the unknown
• told an old friend the truth about a silly thing I once did
• visited Barcelona for the first time in my life (loved it!)
• took some important decisions regarding the food I consume – Eating people

And then, with a few days left, thinking that it was going already pretty well, I received an email which provided the biggest challenge of all: for February the 27^th a place had been reserved for me on a Vipassana course. It’s a 10 day meditation retreat, you have to remain silent for the whole time, no distractions allowed (ie no books, no music, no phone, etc), getting up at 4am and meditating 10 hours each day. I had been wanting to do it for almost 15 years, but somehow I had always managed to avoid it… Needless to say that this time I didn’t have any excuses and so I travelled to the Catalonian countryside and faced this last challenge on my list. More about this incredible experience in the next blog. For now just this: 

With all its pains, hardships and broken dreams – life is beautiful! And I’m grateful for being here.

Eating people

I’ve spent the last two weeks questioning my diet. What am I eating? Why am I eating what I’m eating? Is it right? Wrong? Does it matter?
As far as I can see, there are three areas which have to be considered when looking at food:

• health (own health)
• sustainability (planet’s health)
• respect (for other living beings)

Health  
This is a fairly obvious one: If you want to be reasonably healthy, don’t eat crap food! A defrosted microwave meal is far inferior to a plate full of fresh ingredients. Organic oranges are far superior to those cheap ones that have been sprayed with highly toxic chemicals. It’s your choice what you put into your body, and your body will respond accordingly. Some things are less obvious though, for example milk. Over 75% of the population can’t digest lactose properly. Still we’re led to believe that a glass of milk will do us a lot of good. Any chance that this has to do with the influence of the dairy industry?

Sustainability
Without a functioning planet, we’re killing ourselves in the long run. Yet by eating the wrong food, we contribute heavily to the destruction of our living space. We litter the soil with pesticides and herbicides so that not even worms survive; we cut down the rainforest so that we can plant monocultures of GM crops to feed all those tasty cows and pigs and chickens; simple foods such as onions and grains are shipped around the globe so that a few big companies can maximise their profits – who cares about the cheap fossil fuels that are burnt in the process? All this is simply not sustainable. Either we change it voluntarily, or nature will change it for us, and that’s gonna hurt!

Respect

According to the church, it’s fine to eat animals. They’re soulless creatures who only exist to fill our stomaches. Needless to say that this is bullshit! We like to think that we are something better than all other living beings. But who gives us the right to think this way? Even worse, we abuse animals in a way that is embarrassing for the human race. Just because we don’t see with our own eyes the cruelty happening in industrial animal farms, doesn’t mean it’s a fairy-tale. Go and be a factory chicken for a day, with no light, no room to turn around, standing knee-deep in your own shit and not even getting a thank you for your services. Is this really the best we can do?

Here’s what I thought about all this the other day:

What to do?

As self-proclaimed civilized and conscious people, ethically we should all become at least vegans. The question is though: where do we stop? Eating meat, we kill animals. Eating dairy products, we steal the calf away from its mother. Eating potatoes, we destroy the plant. Maybe we should all get into sun gazing...

However, not doing anything isn’t a solution either. Now, I can hear already the masses screaming, ‘but I don’t have enough money to change!’ Well, if we’re really honest, most of the times it’s not about money, at least for the vast majority of us. Let's get it straight: We have enough cash to buy an extra pair of fancy shoes, the latest phone and more t-shirts to fill an already overcrowded wardrobe. But when we have to pay 1 or 2 Euros more for organic eggs, local honey or fairtrade coffee, we say we can't afford it? Yeah, right… Strange choices we make in life.

Each one of us has to make his or her own decisions. Some prefer radical changes, others a more flexible approach. Whatever you choose, let’s do something! As a consumer we have the power to change the world - by changing our own habbits. So here’s what I’ve decided for myself: As of now, I’m going to eat in a more respectful way. More respectful towards animals, the planet and myself as well. So I’ve established some basic rules concerning the food I consume:

• Meat – no factory animals. Period. If the animal had a decent life and was killed without torture (eg without bleeding to death), I’ll consider it.
• Fish – only locally caught fish. Nothing imported, nothing from big industrial trawlers.
• Dairy – reducing the amounts I eat and using alternatives. Less cheese, less butter; more olive oil and more soya and milk from other plants (almonds, rice, etc.).
• Eggs – only organic eggs, ideally from small farms. (I’m lucky because where I live, we have 20 happy chickens who share their eggs with us, not voluntarily, okay, but they’re treated very well. Plus, as I was told, eggs are a waste product – unless sat on...).
• Honey – only from small-scale beekeepers.
• Plants – if possible, local, seasonal and organic produce.

It’s not perfect, but I feel it’s a step in the right direction. Staying stuck in the status quo is not an option. And heading back towards cannibalism, hm, maybe not...

"I have no doubt that it is a part of the destiny of the human race, in its gradual improvement, to leave off eating animals, as surely as the savage tribes have left off eating each other when they came in contact with the more civilized." – Henry David Thoreau

New challenges

So the world didn’t end – damn it! No aliens who came to rescue us, no natural disaster which sent us to paradise, no big bang that caused instant collective enlightenment. And now what?

I guess many of us have put some hope in our new year resolutions. So how you doin’ with them? Personally, I failed miserably this year: I had only one resolution, to not smoke any spliffs for a while. And well, on new year’s day I got up at 2 in the afternoon and had the first joint at 3.30pm. Silly really, these resolutions.

Anyways, to make up for my weak will I will embark on a month of challenges and I want to invite you to join me. Month of challenges?

Here’s the idea: for one whole month, EACH DAY you have to do ONE of the following:

1. Something you fear
2. Something you’ve been putting off
3. Something you’ve never done
4. Something selfless

I was inspired to do the challenge by Jordan Lejuwaan from HighExistence.com – check out the blog he wrote about his experience, Epic challenge – 30 days of fear!

As I love minimalism, I’ve selected the shortest month of the year for my challenge – February. 28 days to get my lazy bones and mind into action, 28 days in which fear and procrastination are banned. What about you? Can you think of any better way to head towards spring?

Get a list ready with some ideas of stuff you can and want to do, and once we hit February the 1st – off we go! 2013 is here. WE GOTTA LIVE IT!

“…rather than watching others live their lives, you are suddenly right in the middle of living your own. And that’s what it’s all about – experiencing life first hand! Trying something new makes you feel alive.”

(A CALL FROM THE UNKNOWN – free pdf download @ www.experiencing-ayahuasca.com)

Celebrating the Apocalypse

4 days to go, less than 100 hours til the end of the world… How exciting!

So what will happen? According to Hollywood, on the 21^st of Decembre 2012 there will be massive earthquakes, tsunamis, wild storms and possibly a bad-humoured meteor hitting our planet. We will all go up in smoke and humanity will be history – the end of everything, the ultimate apocalypse.

Apocálypsis, from the Greek ἀπό and καλύπτω, meaning 'un-covering'. Revealing that which has been ‘hidden from human knowledge in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception’ (Wikipedia).

Strange, there’s no mention of disaster, no doom & gloom at all. But don’t the Mayas talk about THE END? Yes, they do. But they have a different concept of ‘end’. Like many other ancient cultures, they believe that life consists of cycles – the end of one cycle always means the beginning of a new one. Death is not seen as something bad and fatalistic; it’s a transition, a change.

Look at the world we’re living in: Is this the best we can do as a human race? Really? So much greed, so much ignorance, so much hate and fear, so much separation. A few days ago I saw a post on Facebook which summed up our situation perfectly:  

I'm not afraid that the world might end. 

I'm PANICKING that it might stay the same.

Whether you take the Mayas seriously or not, whether you believe in cosmic energy patterns or not, it doesn’t matter: The world is changing because it needs to change! You can try to ignore it all, you can laugh about it and fight against it, but you won’t stop the change from happening. Just as the universe is expanding exponentially, so is our consciousness. All the locked doors in our minds and hearts are being opened and we are flash-flooded with truth. Either you drown in it or you ride the wave – it’s your choice!

The great awakening of 2012 and beyond is about opening our eyes to who we really are. It’s a journey of discovering our true potential as human beings, of finding all the hidden treasures that we carry inside. The mission is simple: Uncovering love!

It’s time for a new beginning.

Daily war

Thank God they are fighting again in the middle East! It’s been ages since I’ve seen bombs and blood on the news. Don’t you agree that there’s nothing better than watching a few blown off legs and dying children while having dinner?

Edwin Starr said it already a long time ago: “War – what is it good for? Absolutely nothing!” So why is it still happening? Apart from ruthless power games being played, there are two strong emotions that trigger these fierce battles: fear and hate. One party feels threatened and attacks, while the other calls for revenge. And on it goes...

Considering that the events in the macrocosmos are just a reflection of the microcosmos, we have to recognize that our daily life is filled with constant fighting too. Perhaps less bloody than in Gaza, but equally hateful. Businessmen, neighbours and parents are at war with each other, relentlessly. Nobody wants to give up, everybody wants to win. But winning what?

Sometimes it’s important to fight, no doubt about that. But most times wars between people and countries are totally unnecassary. The problem is that somebody gets hurt and wants to hurt back – yet hurting back never solves a problem, it only increases suffering. I have a sticker in my room which sums it up quite well: “Bombing for peace is like fucking for virginity!”

Here’s a common example of microcosmic war: A friend has told me recently that when walking through town and bumping into her Ex she’s getting nasty looks or, if lucky, is ignored. Even years after the relationship ended, hate is still carried around and there’s no sign of healing. Quite frankly, this is pathetic! And I think I am qualified to say this as I am best friends with my Ex (who dumped me) and today I even live under the same roof with her parents. In fact, I am on good terms with all of my ex-girlfriends. Why shouldn’t I be?

We all fuck up at times and do things wrong. But what point is there in hating ourselves or others for something that has happened in the past? Seriously – what’s wrong with forgiving?

I think the world needs profound healing, desperately! And this can only happen if we start to let go of what was, learn the lesson and move on. Hatred needs to be replaced with compassion. Otherwise wars will continue.

Now call me a hippie if you want. Even though that makes you a cold-hearted cunt, I shall forgive you ;-)

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A CALL FROM THE UNKNOWN – the new book by Claus Mikosch, available as a free pdf download. Get it now and if you like it, please share it! 

www.experiencing-ayahuasca.com 

“Honest, moving, scary: I felt really tense and afraid during the hellish bits and moved to tears during the beautiful bits. I don’t know if I’d have the courage to take ayahuasca, but I do know that I have thought, felt and wondered about all the emotions you experienced and come to some similar conclusions myself. Thanks for a fascinating read!” (Sanchia H-S)

Advertising love

The human mind tends to be rather forgetful, hence we need reminders of what to do and how to live. But unfortunately we are being reminded of the wrong things...

It’s no secret that our society is ruled by profit. Much of what we see around us is designed so that we keep on buying things for the sake of buying. Most CEO’s and marketing agencies don’t care if you are happy or not; all that they are interested in is to sell their products.

Not surprisingly, TV commercials and billboards send out constant messages that remind us to consume more. They suggest that we are lacking something, that we need to get a new car and the new ipad or else we will feel unsatisfied. A desire is created which soon becomes irresistible – crisis or not, on most days the parking at shopping malls is full.

Imagine a world in which profit was not the highest goal in life. Imagine there was space for different kinds of advertisment. Opening the online newssite in the morning, you might be reminded that, “if you go shopping today, remember to take a bag from home”; you scroll down and see a big banner, “Smile! It could be the best day of your life!” Then you leave the house and a bus passes by, bright letters on it saying that “Cyling rules! It’s better for you and the planet.” After lunch you switch on the TV and just before the 3 o’clock news you watch a three minute long promotion for a new ethical bank that invests in organic farms and solar energy projects. When you come home at night you read your favourite magazine and on the second page there’s an ad talking about the importance of eating a healthy diet. On page fifteen only two words are printed: “Live now!” And so on…

Imagine what kind of world we would be living in. Imagine what each one of us would feel like if we were constantly reminded of good things.

You might think that this is a utopia, that it’s not possible. But the question is: why shouldn’t it be possible? Why can’t we live in harmony with the enviroment and in peace with each other? Why can’t we change and make the world a truly beautiful place? Who says we can’t?

True, right now it’s impossible to change the profit-driven commercial ads that we are surrounded by. But what we can do is to make publicity ourselves. We can post positive affirmations on facebook; send good news by email; wear t-shirts with meaningful messages; have a coexist sticker on our car; put on a happy smile…

We could become human billboards, advertising love!

Jellyfish, or the story of cause and effect

I was sitting in my kajak, counting – 1...2...3...4,5,6...7...8, 9, 10, 11, 12... Then I stopped counting. There were jellyfish all around me! Small red ones which moved gracefully through the Mediterranean sea, causing nice little burns if you came in direct contact with them. Swimming was definitely not an option.

This summer there has been a huge plague of jellyfish all along the coast of Southern Spain. Thousands of these slimy creatures were infesting the water and covering the beaches, mainly small ones but also some with tentacles as long as 10 metres. Bad news for tourism! The big question was – where had they all come from?

Here are the two most popular explanations I’ve heard: 1) it was the fault of global warming; 2) bad luck was blamed. Yet neither global warming nor bad luck are responsible for the sudden and unprecedented invasion. Higher water temperatures certainly don’t help, but the main reason for the dilemma is a different one – lacking competition! Take the natural predators of any species away and they will multiply without control. Just look at us humans! It’s like a cancer, an eco system out of balance.

The biggest enemies of the jellyfish are sea turtles and tuna. I don’t know about turtles in the Mediterranean, but I do know that over 90% of all tuna have disappeared from the sea in Southern Europe in recent years. Coincidence?

We’ve decided to consume all tuna and now there’s noone left to eat the jellyfish and keep the tourists happy. Bad weather and bad luck are blamed for our spoilt vacation, when really it’s our greedy and unsustainable way of living which makes swimming impossible. What goes around, comes around. Cause and effect. Simple.

A few days ago a friend of mine went out with some local fishermen to spend a night at sea. He left with excitement and returned depressed. Large quantities of fish were caught, but only the ones which had a high market value were kept. All the others were thrown back into the water, dead. Common practice, he was told. To make things worse, when my friend asked where to put the plastic rubbish from the food he had brought, well, guess which bin he was directed to? Yep, the big blue one right next to the boat.

So let’s get this straight: We take all the nice stuff from the sea to get cheap and tasty protein and we return dead fish and plastic, and then we complain about evil jellyfish invading the coast... Seriously, if I was Mother Nature I’d make those jellyfish walk so they’d invade the land too!

Here’s a question: Who is buying the fish?

I wonder… When will we finally learn that we can’t keep on blaming others for our problems? Not the weather, not the neighbour, not God and not even politicians and bankers. It’s us! All of our actions influence our daily reality. Every time we consume something, we decide what kind of world we want to live in. And considering that we have free choice, we therefore also carry the full responsibility for our decisions. As Nina Simone has said: “If I die and my soul be lost, nobody’s fault but mine!”

What world do you want to live in? With, or without jellyfish on the beach?

It’s our choice. Every day!