Heavy thoughts the past days. ISIS in the PH, lingering terror from violence in many parts, malnutrition, poverty of matter and spirit, climate change. Where are we, really? What’s the way forward for all of us?
What’s brewing? Who’s brewing? How much of what goes on in the world do we really know? Is it better not to know?
I saw back-to-back documentaries on #Scientology and #Anonymous. Manifestations of strong gestures in the world: asleep/awake, individual/collective, self-interest/common good. I choose to believe that despite the felt direction of things heading south today, there is an equal and growing force that pushes upwards-sideways-all-around to offset it.
When I was younger I romanticized the idea of #battle: when is it my turn to fight? What monsters and dragons am I going to fight? I wanted to ride on a wild horse and brandish my sword, scare off invaders and fight for what’s precious to me. I look at the world today and realize we’ve never left the #battlefield. And the biggest fight of our generation is how to hold it all together inside, to remain #true and valiant to ourselves, amidst racism, political abuse, violence, helplessness, threat of extinction, indifference, despair.
It’s my big #dream to #build a #community of #creatives, #entrepreneurs and #techies on a farm next to the mountains and sea. I’ve called the concept coliving to myself for a while now and only recently learned it’s an actual thing happening all over the world! So glad this idea resonates with a growing number of people.
The idea of communal living is not alien to Filipinos (or most Asians). Most of us grew up sharing a home with our extended families, which schooled us on shared personal space early on. We have helpers who co-raise us with our parents, and we readily call people in the neighborhood, blood-relatives or not, uncle-aunt-brother-sister.
When I talk about cohousing or coliving to friends in the Philippines, I get poker faces because for the most part, it’s nothing new. If anything, it’s the default that most Pinoys want to move away from. We want fenced in houses, gated communities, thick walls between us and our neighbors. Anything that gives us more privacy, more security, boundaries.
So what drew me to coliving and cohousing to begin with?
Intention. Living together with people because of a shared vision. Like attracts like. Before I decided to build a house in Nuvali, I explored intentional communities and sought them out in the Philippines. I’m not a hippie but my brothers like to tease that my lifestyle choices make me the uncool tita or aunt. I went raw vegan for a while, love solo travel, have no television. For someone who grew up in a group-oriented culture, I’ve always been more comfortable doing things by myself. I guess I always looked for other people like me, so we could be individual together.
The definitions of coliving and cohousing stretch far and wide, but the general idea I’m taking from them is this: I wish to gather people , who more or less share my values, in a place where we can all hang out everyday (i.e. live and work). The physicality of it is important, and it is what I insist on: environment is so big in shaping daily habits, thoughts, and intentions. This is space-clearing on a group level, translated onto property or real estate development.
Collaborative Home Environments
It’s about building the shrine without to build the shrine within. Our environment shapes us and it makes perfect sense to align our everyday living environment–our homes–with our core values.
A friend who does feng shui consulting once told me that all the effort in the world to improve one’s fortune or luck wouldn’t make a difference if he or she didn’t first change or address the negative energies in his or her living space.
What would a collaborative home environment espouse?
Collaborative
Home
Environments
face-to-face
conversations
diverse
open economy
healing
beautiful
inspiring
warm
root-building
identity base
nurturing
safe space
orderly
open/flexible design
visionary
accessible
affordable/democratic
authentic
respectful
natural + high tech
complete
practical
set up to succeed
set up to nurture
set up to propel
What makes a home?
Not disconnected from nature and the cycles of life: birth, decay and death, cleaning, waste management, food production
Art-making is such an intimate distillation of spirit — going through the motions of creating a work demands concentration, dedication and courage in big and small strokes: Do you have the clarity to know what is true, the courage to choose it and stand by and behind your choices?
Imagine having this discipline so instilled in you that it translates onto all other aspects of your life — business, health, social. Right in the center is a spiritual knowing, a pulsating, moving energy of truth that infects you wholly, and those around you.
Wow.
That’s the abstract part. The grounding is in art. This is the school I want to build. A school of everyday art-making. I call it a school because it’s a place of learning and healing, but it can very well be a business, a salon for dialogue and exchanging ideas, an innovation/invention center. Art is so encompassing, that I use it interchangeably with creativity, science, spiritual. Because it is, first and foremost, problem-solving.
Who will show up?
Spiritual seekers.
Such a tricky word but I still use it because it brings with it two essentials: the asking and the spiritual.
We ask because we don’t know, and we acknowledge that we don’t know. We are moving, we are not attached to one dogma or philosophy, because we know that questions only lead to more questions. We flow.
And this asking is driven by the spirit. It is the spirit that moves and calls us. What is this spirit?
To be spiritual is [to be] alive, [it is] an activity, an impulse to pursue truth in all things — relationships, business, health. When faced with a fork in the road, the spiritual person takes out the truth radar. He decides not based on emotion or desire, but on truth: what is my truth? What is the truth of the situation? What does it ask of me, of the other, of the world? It is not an easy process to come to a truth. One has to be driven both by results and process… to be patient. To move forward but also to recognize the lull moments. The negative space. And to be there, actively waiting, preparing. Because there is a rhythm to all things. One takes as long as one takes.
To be spiritual is to acknowledge the world and be present to it 100% — in mind, body, heart. One observes and listens, but also makes sure he is equipped to do this task– so he clears the space inside and makes room for the new. All the time. He recognizes the big picture and how we exist in its context. It’s always about context. There is a greater scheme of things, a thread that ties everyone and everything together. I remember a scientific law that puts forward the same idea: Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It is transformed. You can never get rid of what you put out there — be it physical trash or a brilliant idea. It always goes somewhere, moves into a new space, a new vessel. The spiritual works under the same law: There is no real death, no delete button. Everything moves into the other. Everything is connected.
This is what it means to be spiritual: to recognize this connecting movement. Change. Transformation. The spiritual person is open; he feels for the pulse of our time over and over again, so he can respond to it over and over again.
Swap the word “spiritual” above with “creative” or “scientific” and everything still holds true.
I was introduced to the world of audiobooks and podcasts very late in the game (February 2017), and I’ve been doing a lot of catch up since then.
I set out this year with very focused goals on increasing productivity and wealth creation. All these materials are helping me with these goals, and if you’re journeying on a similar path, I hope they help you too.
Here’s a rundown of what I’ve been reading and listening to for productivity and focus:
On Clarity
I credit 100% of my momentum in 2017 to Lynn Jericho, who guided me with Inner Christmas meditations throughout the 12 Holy Nights of 2016. During these 12 nights after Christmas, the spiritual world and the physical world are closest to each other, giving anyone who puts in the inner work a powerful window to connect with his or her higher self. These nightly invitations to sit in silence gave me the clarity to make space within myself to listen to what needed to come out and come in.
Lynn has ongoing programs throughout the year, which you can find on Imagine Self.
Benjamin Hardy and his Morning Routines gave me simple and doable action steps to do every single day. Ben is a PhD student on Organizational Psychology and he writes essays on productivity and self-improvement. When he sent out an invitation to a year-long course called Life By Design: How to Live Life According to Your Values Every Single Day, I didn’t even hesitate to join. Maybe I’m an easy sell; maybe it was right timing. I have been happy with the weekly videos and readings Ben sends out, and they’ve been a great help in sustaining the momentum I started the year with. He keeps them short and on point, so they’re very manageable time-wise. He also loves quotes and is generous with his sources. Most of the books listed below are from his recommendation list. Read Ben’s works here.
Audiobooks on Productivity
I’ve finished more books in the past two months than I have in the past year thanks to audiobooks. They’re easy companions while I do menial tasks like prepare breakfast and drive through traffic, and they help sharpen my listening and concentration skills (especially useful if you’re easily distracted like me!).
Essentialism was the first audiobook I got on Audible, which meant I got to listen to it for free. It literally jumpstarted me on editing my life by saying no to what mattered less so I could say yes to what mattered more.
I’ve gone through it in full twice and still listen to it from time to time. Greg McKeown reads it himself and his smooth voice helps to keep calm in Manila traffic.
My favorite takeway from the book? If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no.
Napoleon Hill’s Outwitting the Devil feels like a primer on morality, but it is packed with simple, hard-hitting jabs. I grew up Catholic and was bombarded with literature on sin and heaven and hell, but Hill presents the Devil without the religious weight.
Written in 1938 but released to the public only in 2011, it is literally a conversation between Hill and the Devil. Perfect as an audiobook.
A great complement to Essentialism, because what do you do once you achieve clarity of mind? You don’t leave it drifting.
Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People is a classic book on good manners and just over-all niceness. I’ve been in sales for nearly two decades, and I still learned something new from listening to this.
Why is good behavior a critical component of productivity? We perform at our highest level when we are in perfect alignment in thoughts, feelings, actions. How we treat people around us is a reflection of our highest ideals, and this book reminds us ever so gently of the basics of being a good person.
Excellent narration by Andrew McMillan too. Very soothing to the ears and true to its premise: it will win you over.
To be honest when I first opened the audiobook for The Power of Habit, I got put off by how long it was: 10 friggin’ hours!
I went through them 30 minutes at a time, and finally finished the book last week, yay.
Charles Duhigg breaks down a habit into its basic parts: cue, routine, and reward, and gives many examples of figuring out which is which and how to make deliberate changes in the habit loop.
Very important skill if we want to be more productive and focused everyday.
Podcasts for the In Between
Whenever I finished an audiobook, I’d look for something to listen to that didn’t demand so much commitment (leaving a book hanging felt wrong to me), so I turned to podcasts.
How I Built This is a great podcast for inspiration on companies that went from good to great. Always makes me smile to listen to stories of innovators, entrepreneurs, artists.
On Being with Krista Tippet is one of my go to podcasts when I need to soften up and relax. It’s a show that asks the “big questions of meaning with scientists and theologians, artists and teachers” and Krista is the only female voice on this list. Good balancing energy to the go-go-go of the male gesture.
Dan Sullivan is a business coach, and I like his straightforward insights on entrepreneurship and personal development. He has five podcast series with his team at Strategic Coach. I’ve only started listening to Multiplier Mindset and 10X Talk.
Tim Ferris is the popular choice, and I included him here only because he is recommended by so many. He covers a wide range of topics from personal development to lifestyle to sports to tech trends, and he has a strong fanbase. I tried reading The 4-Hour Workweek, the book that shot him to stardom, but something about it didn’t sit well with me. Just the same, his podcast series are worth looking into. One episode that I particularly liked was on Accelerated Learning.
I hope my list of audiobooks and podcasts helps you start your own listening habits! Also check out my wealth creation journey where I list the books and courses that are helping me get to where I want to go financially.
Do you have other books or shows to recommend? Share them in the comments below!
Note: Some of the links above will give me an affiliate commission if you choose buy those books, at no extra cost to you.
The world is changing at a super fast pace and “the unpredictability…is extraordinary.” Are we prepared to handle this unpredictability? What does it even mean to be prepared for the unpredictable?
It is no longer functional to define education as a process of transmitting what is known; it must now be defined as a lifelong process of continuing inquiry. And so the most important learning of all-for both children and adults-is learning how to learn, the skills of self-directed inquiry. (Sir Ken Robinson, Schools Kill Creativity)
The good news is that this era we’re in–the information age–is heaven for self-directed inquiry.
The Education hub of Alaya.PH explores learning in this context: how do we develop this skill of meta-learning or learning how to learn in Filipino children and adults, whether in or out of the classroom?
peer-to-peer learning networks
transitioning from traditional/ academic learning to alternative models: homeschooling, Waldorf
I credit 100% of my momentum in 2017 to Lynn Jericho, who guided me with 
