I don’t normally pay much attention to emails, and chains that I get sent..  Often, they’re just a waste of time, and occasionally there’s something in them, that make me stop and think about some of the choices I’ve made in my life.

I don’t know why, and I normally would never do this, but I read this, and felt like sharing it, with the readers of this blog.

Yes, it is a “chain” email that is probably doing the rounds.  And yes, there probably are a very select group of people, who I’m going to finger out, and send this email to, but for once I thought I’ll share it on my blog.  Just because it feels so “right” for me, where I am in my life ;)  Sometimes it’s good to look at things from different perspectives…

Choose Your Attitude

Michael is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say: When someone would ask him how he was doing, He would reply, “If I were any better, I would be twins!”

He was a natural motivator. If an employee was having a bad day, Michael was there telling the employee how they could look on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up to Michael and asked him, “I don’t get it! You can’t be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?”

Michael replied, “Each morning I wake up and say to myself, ‘You have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or you can choose to be in a bad mood.’ I choose to be in a good mood. Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it. Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.

“Yeah, right, it’s not that easy,” I protested. “Yes, it is,” Michael, said. “Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood. Your bottom line: “It’s your choice how you live life.” I reflected on what Michael said.

Soon after, I left the company to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.

Several years later, I heard that Michael was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, Michael was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.

I saw Michael about six months after the accident. When I asked him how he was, he replied. “If I were any better, I’d be twins. Wanna see my scars?” I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.

“The first thing that went through my mind was the well being of my soon to be born daughter,” Michael replied. “Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I could choose to die. I chose to live.” “Weren’t you scared? Did you lose consciousness?” I asked.

Michael continued, “…the paramedics were great. They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read, ‘he’s a dead man.’ I knew I needed to take action.”

“What did you do?” I asked.

“Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me,” said Michael. “She asked if I was allergic to anything. ‘Yes,’ I replied. The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled…

“Gravity.”

Over their laughter, I told them, “I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead.”

Michael lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully. Attitude, after all, is everything.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. After all, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”

You have two choices now:

1. Delete this.

2. Forward it to the people you care about.

I hope you will choose #2. I did.

ENJOY LIFE – IT’S THE ONLY ONE YOU GET !!!

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I recently changed my main twitter ID.

I used to be known as @magitam, and now I’m known, as @farhan. I got tired of having to introduce myself as both myself, and my twitter alter ego.

It all started, back at the first ever twestival in London.  If I remember correctly, I got asked by @matthagger how my twitter ID of @magitam related to my name?

It didn’t..

Magitam was a legacy reference to something I’d come up with when creating my “yahoo” account, back somewhere around 2001, or perhaps it was before that, when I first discovered IRC in 1997.  Either way it was my “handle”.  It had been something I’d been using to identify myself, anonymously when I first started to go online.  This is long before facebook, and myspace, and twitter.  This is going back to the days before gmail, when you might have had AOL as your main email account, and yahoo and hotmail were just getting started.  Days when you would hang out in IRC, because that’s where all the cool people online would be.. and this is back in those days when you would use “newsgroups”, to find stuff out, instead of RSS feeds from blogs, and news sites ;)

Back then I wanted my identity to be pseudo anonymous.  There weren’t enough people on the internet to ever think that I would ever be meeting in real life the people I’m having conversations with.  It just wasn’t something that you ever thought would happen.

Besides, you would put people through a vetting process, of getting to know them, of engaging and interacting with them virtually, and given enough time, you would start to have a familiarity with someone, you would know them, and be able to distinguish their personalities, and respective identities, as being synonymous with these anonymous tags, or handles that everyone used.

It wasn’t an internet that was meant to be real life social, or allow you to actually meet real people, it was an internet that was a refuge for the people who felt alienated and alone, or wanted to find friends with similar thinking to their own, or with common interests, who they could turn to, knowing that these were a crowd you could trust, and say and share pretty much anything, and there would be no serious repercussions.  It was a store of information, an online library, with talking in the corridors, and disused corners.  In some ways, it was a place where people would practice being themselves, with no pretense, and no barriers to being themselves, unless they chose to have them.  The worst repercussion could be that you’d be ostracised or alienated by your community, but then you would always be able to find a new group of people to connect with online.

Fast forward to 2008, and the Internet is a very different place. Now it’s a world of greater transparency, and visibility.  We now use the internet to stay connected with people we meet whilst travelling the globe.  We manage to make friends, all around the world, and now as we all travel globally, we actually try to meet the real people we made friends with online.

This is a very different world.  This is a very different internet..

Whilst I wasn’t consciously thinking about it I had actually assumed and brought forward the traits from the old internet with me to the world of Social Media.  It was cool.. My “identity” in this online world was “MagiTam” – and as I met more people, IRL (in real life), I started to build this brand and identity of MagiTam.  It was my online twitter persona, it was how people knew me.  It was all about creating this brand, this identity, associated with this label, or term, of MagiTam.  I was creating my own international brand, just like Nike, only with a team of 1 at the helm, and my logo was my profile photo of me.

Well, it finally dawned on me, that perhaps my “identity” of MagiTam just complicates things.  Having to introduce myself as @magitam and Farhan, was just double effort.  I didn’t really care to “hide” the person that I am.. And to be fair, I have my full name on my profile on Twitter, so it wasn’t like I was trying to hide my personal identity.

Then, it just clicked that perhaps I should see if I can get hold of @farhan.. and lo and behold, I asked Farhan Mannan, if he would mind terribly if I could have the twitter name of @farhan, since it was an integral part of my work, and if he wouldn’t mind terribly I’d like to be able to brand myself with that name..  Well, he kindly agreed, and a few hours later, I had set up a new account with the twitter ID of @farhan ;)  Thanks @farhanmannan!

Once I’d secured this identity (I already had @farhanrehman, in a seperate account), I realised that I wasn’t quite sure when or how to switch the name across, and if I should just switch it, or start tweeting from the new account, and re-start my twitter life. 

I happened to read recently about how @jimconnolly had just re-set his twitter account having inadvertently become a bit of a celebrity in the twitterverse, and mistakenly found himself following many internet marketers that were all asking him to tweet their websites, and share their products, or offerings.  Eventually, out of desperation, he decided to re-start, and just follow people who were clients, or actual friends.

I was going through one of these moments of desperation myself recently, where because I’ve reached a 2k limit on twitter, I can’t follow anymore people, until more than 2k people follow me back.. Which is quite annoying.. But my solution around it right now, is that I go to Twitter Karma and just unfollow people, based on who isn’t following me back.  Some people like @amanda or @paulwalsh I stay following, regardless of whether they follow back or not.  They appear to be staples of the london tech community, and so worth keeping an ear out for.  But others, who I don’t really know or recognise too well, and generally are based some place outside of the UK/London, are people who I start to unfollow, just so that I can start to follow more people who I’ve actually connected with in person, in some way shape or form.. 

The thing is, these are “real” connections, with real people, around conversations that I would actually have in person with them, if I were in the same locality.  In fact, thanks to tools like twitter, it actually makes it ever more likely that I will be able to actually meet more of these people that I engage and interact with on Social Networking platforms such as Twitter or Facebook.

With this much transparency, and this level of real world visibility, to the point that I can sometimes tell where people are, based on their tweets, and reference to events happening in and around London, I actually am looking for ever more opportunities to connect with people in person.  Especially people who I’ve spoken with, or exchanged messages with on platforms like Twitter, and Facebook.

This means that unlike Improbulus, who consciously chooses to maintain a certain level of anonymity and privacy, with regards to her real identity, I’m actually interested in being as open, visible and transparent as I can be.  Perhaps too much so, but given that my identity online is intrinsically woven into the persona of me, even if someone wanted to steal or imitate me, it wouldn’t last very long, at least I don’t think it would be.  But I guess, I just don’t go there. 

Perhaps I believe a little too much in the innate goodness of people, but one thing that I’ve found, especially more so since using twitter, is that people want to talk with people.  They want to interact with the person.  They don’t really want to speak to an “identity” without knowing the person behind it.  Those days of virtual identities, and anonymity online are starting to be of a bygone era. Now we look at ever more increasingly effective ways of using Social Media to amplify our voices, and throw our messages out into an ether, that connects it to the right people at the right time, and brings us back, so much of what we need, when we need it.

With this current day internet, and world of Social Media, you want your name on twitter to be representative of you the person.  Some people might be happier being a brand, or a product, but I think unless you happen to embody that brand or that company, you’ll probably find it easier to just be yourself.  Think of a name that you want to be known as, in real life, when you meet with someone, who you might already know really well on twitter.  Will you have to introduce yourself as something other than your twitter ID?  Do you want to or care about that?

I guess for me, especially being a Social Media Consultant, I’m often advising people and learning myself about what works.. My name works best for me.  I’m happy to be known as Farhan in real life, and now that I’m also known as @farhan on twitter, I don’t have to worry about trying to explain who I am.  Even better, when I meet people who follow me, instead of them wondering what my name is, if they recognise me from twitter, my twitter id will be enough for them to remember who I am.

I sometimes find it a challenge, when you meet someone who doesn’t have their actual name in their twitter id, to remember or figure out who they are.. Like the girl with a one track mind (@girlonetrack).  Fortunately, I’ve seen her at events enough times, that I finally figured out her name as Zoe Margolis (though sneaking a peek at her twitter profile kinda helped ;)

I guess it’s always going to be cool to have a “label” or a “cool” twitter handle, when you’re using it amongst your friends, and people who know you, but then when joe bloggs starts using it, then it may or may not be as useful, or helpful to still have the same cool, “in” joke of a nick name.

I guess in some respects, it’s not really any different to having a nickname, versus your real name.  In my case, because I use twitter with people who I would want to do business with, as well as friends, and generally just want to be remembered, I choose to now use my actual name as my twitter identity.  At least now when people come upto me and ask me if I am my twitter ID, the answer will be a resounding yes, without having to then say “and also, my real name is…” ;)  Now I just have to sort out new Moo Cards, for the new Twitter handle…

Next I have to figure out what to use for my custom flickr url, since the magitam reference doesn’t apply anymore :(  Suggestions welcome below ;)

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Jim Connolly (@jimconnolly) managed to build up an impressive network of followers, and people following him, on Twitter, with over 20,000 people in his twitter network, and discovered that he had drawn the wrong kind of attention.

He was being plagued by Internet Marketing “spammers” asking him to promote their website, and blogs, but who were very disinterested in having “real conversations”.  He wasn’t being followed by people who were necessarily interested in him, or his conversations, but were just looking to be promoted, and were DM’ing him to say so..

He’s since had to “reset” his Twitter account, in order to be able to start from scratch, and start re-building his following, and, more importantly, the people that he follows…

It’s raised an interesting conversation, in my mind, around this virtual community that can emerge, or be dissolved around your electronic identity.  Just by deleting, or closing an account, you can find yourself disconnected, unplugged, and separated from everyone else in that virtual space.  And just as easily, re-opening your account, you can quickly re-establish your identity, or be re-discovered by the friends, and familiar faces you come to encounter in these virtual worlds.

It starts to beg the question, of what defines our identity in this virtual space?? How are we truly connecting, or relating to each other, if with the flick of  a switch we can make ourselves invisible, or disconnected from each other??

Is it the conversations, and encounters we have with people that shape our use of the tools and services we use? Or are we innately just the sum product of our responses, and replies to others, on these social networks?

I’ve long been a firm believer in the power of personal connections, and meeting with people in person.. Taking the time to physically meet with people.  Take the time to talk with them.  Take the time to have real meaningful conversations, and connect with the person on the other side of the table.  But do social networks like twitter, dilute that down, or enrich the experience further?

I can see that connecting with a few thousand people in person might be less than possible, if I’m not someone like Thomas Power (founder of Ecademy), or Roger Hamilton (founder of XL Networks), people in large global social networks, who are visible advocates of their networks, jetting around the world, looking to make connections with people, and encouraging participation, that leads to them, eventually turning a profit.

But what kind of connection can you possibly have with a few thousand people? What about a few hundred people??

If it’s about quality, not quantity, then indeed, there has to be some discrimination, on each individuals part, as to who they add to their network and who they don’t.  Jim Connolloy, after his learning experience, has decided to only add people who he engages with, or who are clients, or contacts..  I think that’s an excellent approach to take, and an excellent idea, in principle… Of course, if Jim’s anything like me, and always out there looking to find new and interesting people to follow in conversation, he may happen across more people than he can reasonably follow.  I for one can’t actually follow any more people, until my following catches up with my interest in others… (there’s a Twitter imposed limit of 2k people that you can follow, until your number of people following back increases beyond that).

Nevertheless, I’m sure having gone through the hoops with Twitter once over already, @jimconnolly is already pulling in the conversation and reigning it around people, and things that interest him or engage him directly, rather than trying to cater to the masses.  Sooner or later, a message has to relate to your personal interests, to the things you like to do, to the people that you want to talk to, and less about who you think might be interesting to have those conversations with.

I wonder how long it will be before it’s going to be about having the conversations themselves, that matter, and less about the people having those conversations?

Or perhaps that would make it just too impersonal??  What do you think?

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So, I started 2009 taking a few days away from the computer, the internet, and taking some time for myself, to just start thinking about what the coming year has in store?  It’s not often, in our always, on, always connected world, that we can find the time to just step back, and think, and reflect, without having a hundred and one thoughts at the back of our minds, of all the things we need to do, or people we have to respond to, and so it was good to be able to just switch off, step back, and unplug, knowing that it would just be the jovial, merry partying, and festival spirit being carried by the internet across the world, at this time of year.

Traditionally, the Winter, is associated with retreating inwards and being introspective.  To people who manage to notice the seasons, and the changes in pace of life, and the change in nature, Winter is traditionally a time of hibernation, and deep slumber, a time when we look inwards, and re-focus our dreams, and aspirations.  It’s a time that naturally lends itself to staying indoors, and having some quiet time, given that it’s so cold out, and it’s nice to be snug indoors.

Personally I like to enter the New Year, with a clear purpose, and sense of what my priorities are for the coming year, as well as clearing the slate from the previous year, and letting go of what’s not been working so well, and coming to terms with those failures too.

So 2008 was a “huge” year, for me, in so many many ways.  I’ve grown tremendously in the last year – personally experiencing and living through an entire roller coaster of emotions at times.   I’ve had some incredible highs, and some unfortunate lows.  Some of those low’s unfortunately, are still on a downturn, and until I get some closure on them, they’ll possibly continue to keep going downhill..  There’s not too much I can say about the low’s just yet, not until some things become clearer, and I know exactly what’s happening.  But the highs, equally, have been a real joy and pleasure to experience, and perhaps everything in nature finds it’s way of balancing things out – making sure we never get too high, or too low, before we get to experience the opposite.  I will gladly reveal all, as they say, when the time is right, for now, suffice it to say, it’s been a very very tough time for me personally and as a consequence, professionally.

I started 2008, with a very clear aim and purpose – “to restore my health”.

I wanted to become physically fit, wanted to restore my body to a health and vitality which I posessed perhaps 10 years ago now, and I wanted to overcome a physical condition that I’ve been fighting for over 5 years now.  No, I’m not talking about my obesity, which is also a challenge, but I’m talking about my Lymphatic condition..

Since 2003, during my stay in South Korea as an English Teacher, I went and got ill, with a condition, that has meant that I’ve had to spend the last five years, experiencing a series of recurring fevers, pains in my leg, and an abnormal amount of swelling in my left leg, which has made it challenging at times, to even find a pair of trousers I could wear, without my leg becoming completely swollen, and painful.

In the past 5 years, I’ve worked with traditional allopathic doctors, I’ve worked with healers from Mexico, with shamans from Peru, with acupuncturists, with homeopaths, and ayervedic physicians – but it seems that no-one was able to concretely deal with my illness, or I was unable to follow through with any medications, and courses of action that I was prescribed, given how much I’ve been travelling over the last 5 years.

End of 2007, I made the conscious choice to stay fixed in London, to not go gallivanting round the globe, and to do everything I could to get my leg healed, and get back into shape…  I continue on this journey, to this day, having now decided to go at this, from every possible angle I can.. I’m religiously following the advice of my allopathic doctor, and will be consulting with some of the other doctors and healers I’ve worked with before, to attack this ill health on all fronts.  But perhaps, my health is going to resolve itself in it’s own time, and I need to choose something more appropriate to focus on now??  I realised that perhaps part of the challenge is in not having something to get healthy for, I wouldn’t be as motivated.  Perhaps just being healthy wasn’t enough of a motivation, or didn’t support me enough in my goals?

Of course, I have other goals too – but they all took a back seat last year, whilst I put all of my time, attention and energy into getting healthy.   Result? I’m healthier now than I was this time last year.  (I’ve definitely lost more weight, and the swelling in my leg has reduced).  But I’m not there yet.. I’ve not reached the goal or target that I aspired to hit.  And to be completely honest, heading into 2009, with the same overriding focus, or theme just doesn’t appeal to me anymore..

The mission to get healthy, and recover completely is still there – but I don’t feel like 2009 feels like a year I need to devote to my health and wellbeing in the same way.  I’ve learnt heaps, in the last year, and if I just continue applying what I’ve learnt, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will eventually come out of this stronger, fitter, healthier, and more alive than I’ve ever been.  So if my primary focus for 2009 isn’t going to be my health anymore what is it going to be??  For the longest time, I just couldn’t understand which to choose..

I had my pick, narrowed down, to:
1) Personal Development – I could focus on learning new skills, learning new languages, studying something, etc..
2) Personal Relationships – Investing the time and attention this year, in getting closer with family, with friends, with colleagues, and with acquaintances.  Building my network deeper, and wider, and connecting with ever more people.
3) Get a career – Choose a career – and get laser focussed with it.  I’ve been drifting between projects and ideas, and volunteering, and helping people out for a number of years now, but I haven’t had that singularity of focus, on a single vision, or a single career path, that’s yielded the results I aimed for.  When I discovered recently that a friend of mine, who graduated in the same year as I did – is now a Vice President of the company he’s been working with.. I wonder where I would be today, had I just committed, and focussed on one thing already??  Conversely, if it weren’t for the variety and breadth of exposure I’ve had in life, I probably wouldn’t be the well travelled, well rounded, and lateral thinker that I am.  So there were pros and cons to my lifestyle choices.

Ironically, I’m drawn to getting a career.  I know – most people, seeing me living my life, travelling at a moments notice, the world at my fingertips, think that I have such a “great” life, and why would I ever want to give it up?? Well, I guess I’ve done all the travelling, seeing the world, and having adventures that I want to have for now.  Yes, the thought of living on a desert island, and enjoying warm weather, and a great laid back lifestyle is all good and all – but knowing that I could at any moment get myself a job as an English Teacher in Thailand, and be “living that life”, is just not appealing anymore.  I’ve been there, done that, got the T-Shirt, and bored of it already.

With that in mind, I’m making 2009, the year that I focus on my career, and my professional development, through working, and having a job.  It’s pretty easy to do the whole job thing, but for me, the real challenge is going to be in becoming the very best in my field.  I’ve often wanted the “regularity” that comes with having a nine to five, your life takes on a basic routine, and rhythm, that allows you a certain amount of freedom and flexibility that comes with the structure that a regular working day brings.  I’ve done many of those “exercises” where you imagine what you would do, if you had all the money in the world, and whilst in the past I might have dreamt of great worldly ambitions, and lofty goals, in truth, I don’t really want any of those things.  What I want is to “work”.  That kind of work that at the end of the day, you look back on it, and get a sense of satisfaction, knowing that you’ve done a days productive work.  It’s that feeling you get, after accomplishing something, knowing that you’ve completed something substantial, and completed something productive.

I haven’t yet, learnt to “monetise” my work, and my contributions, and perhaps it’s  a reflection of the fact that whilst my contributions are useful and of value, I still have some things to learn about business, and money.  My recent reading of The Richest Man in Babylon, has made me realise just how much I love and appreciate work, and how there’s some basic fundamental principles, of wealth, and abundance that I’ve been missing out on.  The most basic being – that if you don’t love your work, then you won’t be able to get really really good at something, and then be able to command a greater salary for being ever more proficient in your field, or area of expertise.

So, 2009, I’m going to focus all my energies on becoming excellent at faciliting online community.  Managing an online Community is challenging at the best of times, but comes easily and effortlessly to people who have mastered those skills, and know how to support their colleagues or constituents in generating content, and deriving value.  So with that in mind, this year, I’ll be focussing my time, attention,  and skills to both engaging more deeply online, and also to learning and developing the skillset, or toolset that’s required to be successful in facilitating online community :)  I look forward to seeing how accomplished I become in this field, by the end of 2009.  Wish me luck!!

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– What Does the New Year Hold in Store for the Web?

I decided I was going to take a stab at what’s going to be hot and what’s not, in 2009 with regards to the Web, the Internet, Social Media, Social Networking, etc. etc.

Most people, these days have heard of Social Networking giant Facebook.  What most people probably don’t realise, however, is that Facebook is not generating any real Value for money, for it’s advertisers.  As a once frequent customer of Facebook, I used to spend countless hours on Facebook, discovering old school friends, uncovering the past, and reconnecting up with those people, but now that that’s done, and we occasionally communicate with each other, it seems like all that fuss has just gone away..

Instead, it’s been taken over by Twitter – that provides more immediacy in the conversations, more instant engagement, and more real feedback, and sense of community…  It’s like blogging, in short form – but even Twitter has yet to monetise – and therein lies the challenge…

In 2009 – I predict we’re going to start to see a number of self-monetising startups.  Built on the back of services like Twitter, and Facebook, they will increase user engagement and provide a platform for real conversations to take place, that lead to tangible results.  Peer to peer marketing,  and WOM marketing, is going to slowly start creeping into the marketplace, replacing the traditional CPC and Keyword based advertising.

Online/commercial advertising is also going to slowly start to change.  With metrics, and measures for ROI on social media, and community impact assessments starting to emerge, people will be able to directly see the difference in a pound spent, buying keywords, vs. a pound spent, thanking a vocal supporter of a brand/product.

With all this public display of conversations around brands, and products, consumers will start to get a real life line into the companies they consume from, and through concerted peer pressure, and publicly mocking, and naming and shaming those organisations with bad practices, and unsustainable models of business, there will start to be a greater shift towards companies publishing more openly and more transparently what they consume, produce, and re-sell.  Consumers will also more strongly advocate, and support companies, and examples of people doing things “right”, so the early adopters will get additional kudos, as well as experience significant positive gains, from being ahead of the curve.

Equally, this lifeline will allow companies to understand more accurately, what the clients are looking for, and prepare them to share useful information, about their work, or their services, or their products, which will then get translated into a sale.

One of the biggest changes that will come about during 2009, will be the rise of the educated, empowered consumer, who, armed with the right knowledge, connected to the right friends, can co-ordinate and organise mass rallies across the country, and internationally, whenever a wrong is enacted, or some organisation acts in a way that is inappropriate or uncalled for.

Video will see a downturn, whilst mobile micro blogging services will become even more mainstream, and start to be offered as integral to the package, as SMS, or Data.

Advances in micro-blogging will extend into the developing world, where more people with cell phone usage will be able to communicate using a hybrid blend of asynchronous communication, via a twitter like service, something akin to SMS, and a mobile handheld device.

We may also start to see more handheld devices, that act as “internet” gateways, providing access to services like Qik that let you stream audio, or video directly online, for all to see, and also permit the easy access to email, social networks, and status updates.

There will also be a clear convergence in the market place between online social networks, and messaging/email platforms, that will mean people will log on, in once place, and from there, they will be able access all their rich conversation streams.

Information will start to be referred to as flows, with different streams of information providing information about different topics, and subjects.  Individuals will start to be trusted as sources of reliable information, and their streams will be more publicly in demand, whilst people with polluted information streams will start to be more openly ignored, and blocked.

Managing information streams, and selectively filtering and distributing information flows, will become an art unto itself, and experts in various fields and different disciplines will generate these information flows, and start to publicly publish them.  As a consequence, not only will these experts be known for the quality of the work they produce, but also the quality of the information streams they generate.

Marketing, and advertising budgets will slowly start to be spent increasingly on cultivating communities around the customers, and people recommending products, and services, will start to see incomes being derived from referring, and recommending products and services, based on genuine experiences, and real authentic recommendations.

So in 2009, keep an eye out for services like SocialMedian who allow you to crowdsource your news from your peers.  Any service that can tap into your networks wisdom, and share with you the “best” wisdom as determined by the people you choose to associate with, will definitely be a time saver, and a crowd pleaser, in a world where increasingly information overload is the order of the day, watch out for more crowdsourcing tools rising to the fore in 09.

Also, watch out for services like Gist, and Xobni – who purport to save you time, in your inbox, and help you create context around, the chaos that is “email”, and messaging.  What they do, is start from your inbox, and help you find and organise, and sort the people you’re talking with, allowing you, to an extent to start to identify either other useful information about a person, or to start to help you find more of what a particular person you’ve spoken to has said.  I think these tools will have a limited shelf life, as they mature, since they aren’t necessarily tackling the problem of email in the most elegant of ways, but props to them for attempting to engage with such a behemoth of a challenge ;)

What will really start making a real impact in 2009, will be services that start helping you navigate your social graph, across social networks.  There’s potential in services like PeopleBrowsr who are looking to start bringing some of those information streams from different platforms, through a single service, and then tagging and grouping information streams, and republishing them..

But the real winners in 2009, in my eyes, are going to be the services that can help you effortlessly navigate your social graph, across any platform, and keep the information flowing, without relying on you having to set up the context of groups, and people you know in each platform.  A single login screen, that brings you all your content, in one place, and lets you see all the content from your friends in one place.

Friendfeed sort of works, in that in theory you can bring all your content into one place, but it’s interface, and usability leave a lot to be desired.

2009 is going to be the year of the “Social Browser” – helping us organise, filter, and co-ordinate our information streams, regardless of where they come from, or how they are generated.  When we want to know what people are upto – we’ll be able to find out.

So watch out 2009 – “Surfing the Web”, is soon going to become a thing of the past, and people will increasingly start to “Surf their Communities”..  Now let’s see how the year plays out..

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I’m an avid enthusiast of Twitter. I frequently tweet a few updates throughout the day, and often will reply to people’s tweets a few times each day too. Nothing extravagant. I’m not tweeting a hundred times a day, or anything ridiculous like that (at least not yet!). Without a bit of Twittering, I would feel a whole lot more disconnected, and really wouldn’t know what’s happening in the world around me, especially with my Twitterverse of Tweeple (Translations: Twitterverse=Twitter + Universe= All people I know on Twitter and Tweeple=Twitter + People= People who use Twitter!)

Now since using Twitter, and seeing how much time I spend on it, I’ve started spending less and less time on Facebook. So not wanting to be completely ignored by all my Facebook friends, I decided to link my Twitter Updates, to my Facebook Status Updates. At least that way people can see what I’m upto, and occasionally comment on thing I’m doing, or get a flavour of my life. The only problem is, most people on Facebook don’t really use the “Status Update” feature. Which means that my status updates, could potentially end up flooding other peoples Facebook Updates Stream.. Terrible I know! After all, who wants to know everything about you, all the time, on Facebook?? Yeah, not quite the same as Twitter..

So, if you, as a Facebook user, choose not to use Twitter as much, and really don’t want to see all your Twitter friends in Facebook pollute your news and updates stream, then here’s a solution for you.

Log into Facebook, and go to your feed preferences page : http://www.facebook.com/feed_prefs.php

Below the Volume Mixer type controls you’ll see the “Less About These Friends” box. Start putting your friends who use twitter too much, into this box.. That way, you’ll only see updates from your twitter friends, if nothing else is available.

Of course, if none of your other friends are doing anything, then it may still fill up with just twitter updates from your twitter friends, but hopefully that’s not the case :) Alternatively, just “de-friend” that person on Facebook, and join up twitter, to stay in touch with them :)

Hope this suggestion gets to the heart of your Twitter woes, you Facebook only users :) and if not, feel free to comment your feedback below this article, and I’ll see if I can find a better solution for you all!

Ok, back to Twittering I go!!

P.S. = Twitter hating Facebook users – feel free to share this article judiciously amongst all your fan clubs on facebook, it may help calm some of the Twitter Haters!

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I Don’t Mean to be Rude, But…

The perfect title, for the biography of Simon Cowell.. I don’t know if it was the title, or the fact that I knew of Simon Cowell from TV, but didn’t know who he really was that got me to pick up a copy of the book at my local library, but whatever it was, all I can say is that I’m glad I did :)

It had been a long time since I’d read something that wasn’t directly related to me trying to be more successful, or some Personal Development Book, or Self-Improvement Book.  I’d worn myself down, with reading so much material designed to help me, or inspire me, and hadn’t just picked up a book and read it, to just enjoy the story, to read for pleasure.

In fact, after reading so much that just seemed to fill my intellect, I was getting fatigued by it all, and had forgotten how fun it can be to read something that engages you, and draws you in..

So let me pause for a moment, before I start commenting too much on this book, and give you some background to how I had come to my knowledge of Simon Cowell in the first place. (Given that I’m fairly ignorant on most things musical, or of mainstream pop culture).

So, let me take you back to November of 2007.  I was in Johannesburg, in South Africa, and a friend shared with me a video of Paul Potts, singing his winning performance on YouTube, which was apparently being viewed by people all over the world.  Watching that video gave me goosebumps. It was inspiring to watch him perform :)

Listening to Paul Potts sing, and seeing him win Britains Got Talent, on YouTube was the first I’d ever heard of Britains Got Talent.  I’d been out of the country at the time of the finals in 2007, and whilst I’d seen Pop Idol, and X Factor, advertised, in the UK, all the time, I had kinda just ignored it for the longest time ever.  It just wasn’t my thing, and I really wasn’t all that interested in wannabe pop stars.

Then, in 2008, when Britain’s Got Talent started up again, I keenly started following it, and started to quite enjoy it.  Admittedly, I didn’t know who Amanda Holden, Piers Morgan, or Simon Cowell were, but figured that they must be some big names in the music business.

After watching Britains Got Talent, for the whole series, I got a real insight into the “character” of Simon Cowell, or at least I thought so.. He seemed to be supportive, and generally a quite nice person, though at times he was quite harsh, or direct, and I thought he could be a touch more tactful, or diplomatic.  I’m sure I must have seen him on some other program, perhaps on X Factor, though having not watched the finals of any other series, I’m guessing it was Britains Got Talent.

So now I knew of Simon Cowell (I mean one season of Britains Got Talent, is really enough to get a feel for his character, I reckon!), I didn’t think too much of him.. Figured he must have made his money, somehow, somewhere, but didn’t really know what he did, or where he did it, or with who.

So I happen to be poking around my local library, curious to see if there might be some vaguely useful or interesting books to peruse…

As it turns out, this book caught my eye, and once I started reading it, I didn’t want to put it down.

It was interesting to read about how, at a very young age, Simon had an ear for good music, and didn’t have any qualms over condemning bad music, even when he was a youngster.  As you read the book, you really start to appreciate how Simon has always gone with his instincts.  That he didn’t survive in the armed forces, and deliberately sabotaged interviews arranged by his successful father, because it wasn’t what he wanted to do.  It’s not that he was lazy, or arrogant, he just knew very clearly what he wanted, and also what he didn’t want.  A trait that appears to have served him well later in life.

In stark contrast to having interviews for well paid jobs handed to him on a platter, and rejecting it, Simon Cowell was happy doing the most menial job, of working as a mail boy, in a Music Company, simply because it brought him a little closer to his goal.

Repeatedly, throughout the book, you get to experience, and see first hand how committed, and motivated Cowell was with regards to his career.  But only when it was aligned with his real and true interests.  It’s almost like he couldn’t help himself.  I know that feeling well.. It’s been described quite vividly, and in full detail, at a few events I attended a few weeks ago.  Both Chain Reaction 08, Day 1, and The Fresh Business Thinking’s Entrepreneurs in Business event re-iterated over and over, this hunger.  As an entrepreneur, you need to have that fire, that passion.. You need to have that hunger for what you want, and be willing to do whatever it takes to get there.

I recognise that willingness of Cowells to be happy being just a mailboy in a record company, because he knew that in time, he would be able to move up the ranks, within the company.. I guess back when I was younger and wanted to be successful, I had that same mindset.  Having read enough books that expounded the virtues of being great at what you do, whether you be a cleaner, or an executive, I used to have romantic notions of starting at the bottom of some firm, and slowly working my way upto the top.. I guess where I failed in that, like Cowell, when I stopped seeing any progress possible, I tried to pro-actively change things, and got into trouble because of it.

Perhaps I identify a little too closely with Cowell’s supposedly arrogant know-it-all type attitude at times.. but I guess everyone has their strengths, and when you’re not able to properly apply the skills you have, sometimes, the undiplomatic manner of others can draw out a harsh response, or a sharp comment.

One of the things that really changed for me, in reading Cowell’s book, was this perception of Entrepreneurs, and Pop Stars.  In the past, I imagined that they were very different in so many ways, but in truth, the same basic truths apply to successful entrepreneurs as they do to Artists that succeed.

For one, as a pop star, you have to know that everyone is going to tell you you’re not going to succeed.  It’s inevitable.  Of course you’ll have your fans, and supporters, but in general, it’s actually just that inner desire, that inner knowing inside, that won’t let you rest until you make it, that will drive you to do everything it takes to become a success.. By the same token, for an entrepreneur to succeed you have to have the inner drive and determination to succeed.. You have to keep on going, knowing internally that you have what it takes, and even if you have to declare bankruptcy along the way, sometimes even more than once, you know that sooner or later you will get there, and you will reach that goal..

Equally, as a Pop Star, or celebrity, you have to be constantly learning, training, practicing, doing what you do, in order get really good at it.  You have to practice singing, dancing, and performing all the time, and it can be argued that the ones that practice the most, and rehearse the most eventually become the best..

Likewise in business, and professional careers even, when you’re convinced you’re going to succeed, and you keep on trying, over and over again, as long as you’re learning from your mistakes, and have some guidance and support, you’ll end up succeeding.  Some people will eventually “plateau”, in their professional careers, as entrepreneurs, or as pop stars.  That plateau is usually more to do with their fire having been put out, of their appetite, and hunger being satiated.  It’s inevitable, that eventually people’s priorities will change, or they’ll accomplish so much in terms of physical and material success, that they get everything they could have ever wished for.. Some people just “burn out”.  Usually, that means either they didn’t want it badly enough, or that they were not following their true passion, or their true desires.

In every way, the entrepreneur, and pop star, are so alike, and have so much in common, one with the other.  It’s almost uncanny how hard work, an internally burning intuition and a gut instinct of what will or won’t work are all collectively key to succeeding in both endeavours.  To succeed in either, you have to sell your work, or skills to many others, and success in providing value to others, leads to monetary value back to you.

As well as others being able to appreciate the value you’ve created, you also have to have the steely determination to keep on going, the mental endurance to keep trying, the physical support to make sure you don’t end up out of house and home, and the inner knowing and conviction that you’re going to succeed.  Even with all of these things, you still won’t get anywhere until you can start to fan the flames of desire within, that is the all important, burning wanting desire, and longing, without which, you just won’t be compelled to take the kind of action that will lead you to succeed.

At least that’s how far I’ve understood the process to work.  As for me.. where am I on this journey?? Well, as an entrepreneur, I know I’m going to succeed.. It’s inevitable, and I know one day I will get there.. Partly because what I envisage is something that is too complicated for most people to understand the intricacies of.  Hopefully, it’ll be simple enough to use, just complicated on the back end, to make it all work properly, and create tons of value.  However, when it comes to the burning fire, the desire, the passion.. That’s where I lack a great deal of the “drive” to succeed.  Ironically it comes to life as soon as I share my work with others, as soon as I start talking about it, as soon as I start writing about it even.. (am noticing myself starting to get more excited and enthusiastic about my project the more I mention it:).  But how to sustain that, without any external stimulus??

Is it even possible? I don’t know, is the real answer.. Perhaps, it’s not? Perhaps true success is actually a measure of how well you can work with others, to turn your dreams into reality? I’ll let you know once I come out the other side of the tunnel.  For now, I’m full steam ahead, and fortuantely, have found a few great people to help me stay enthused, engaged, and excited with what I’m doing.. Now, I just need to execute in the way I work best.. and find people to do those things that I’m not so good at.

After all success is truly defined not by what you accomplish, but by making sure that the right people are around you, so that your shortcomings never hold you back..  On that note, I just want to say a huge thank you to Simon Cowell for sharing so intimately his life’s story, and I look forward to meeting him one of these days, once I too become a success in my calling as an Entrepreneur.

If you want to learn just what it takes to succeed, be it as an entrepreneur, as a professional, or even as a celebrity, I cannot recommend reading Simon Cowell’s biography enough.  It’s a great reminder, of how difficult times are usually a part of success, and I think its really well written, and easy to read.  I suggest you pick up a copy, or at the very least add it to your reading list today.

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Heading home on the tube last week, looking over someone’s shoulder, I briefly caught a glimpse of an Evening Standard article talking about Twitter, and it possibly replacing Facebook.  It then went on to describe the authors failed experience of trying to use Twitter, and his rejection of it because he couldn’t get it to work.

It reminds me of my experience of when I first heard about Twitter, and what happened, when I first decided to take a look.  My first response was, I’m not going to tell everyone about my personal life, and chose then and there not to use twitter, and that it was for other people.. Heck, I didn’t even update my Facebook Status updates, why would I use a tool where I would just be updating my status all day?? It really didn’t make any sense, and I saw no reason to even begin to engage with this foolishness..

How little did I know..

Many months later, I happened to attend one of London’s Geek Dinners, where Moo were presenting, and happened to end the night, standing in a conversation with a group of people that were all friends. They shared their experiences of meeting people they had been in conversation with, over twitter, and the whole experience of having online friends, who they started to meet in real life.  It made me reminiscence of my youth, when watching TV, I would imagine what it would be like being a “geek” and having friends who knew me by my handle (my online nickname), and here I was meeting people in real life, who lived that dual personality.

So, spurred on by the thought of being able to at last have my online persona (of magitam) come to life, and knowing that there were people who I now knew, who I could connect with through Twitter, and start to stay connected with them, I started to use Twitter.. ..

That evening I left that event, with the contact details of those few friends I’d made, inspired by the conversation, and the idea of meeting people in person, who you already knew online.

Fast forward, 6 months, and I’m a firm advocate of Twitter… Not only do I believe it to be of great use, I think it’s invaluable, in sharing thoughts, disseminating information, and also to just gain a “loose” awareness of what friends, family, colleagues, associates, and your general twitter community are upto.

Whilst it might seem trivial to fill twitter with what you ate, or what you did, it’s strangely satisfying to be able to share what you’re doing with people who know you.  Equally it starts to become the start of “conversations” that allow you to find others that share similar ideas.. It lets you reach out and connect to more people.

Most importantly, it gives you an extension of the “Office Water Cooler”.  The informal conversations that happen spontaneously in passing.. Those chance encounters where you can never foretell or predict what might be said, or what choice piece of information might be communicated!  It’s these “choice” encounters that make for really interesting, unplanned, unexpected, but potential synchronicities for me that make it all the more worthwhile.

Aside from the water cooler effect, Twitter also has become a solid bit of support, and community for me.. As much as it would be great to have a diverse, and varied group of friends, who had similar interests, and were a mixed and varied group, sometimes I just don’t have the physical time to spend with people interested in each of those different areas.  It’s now possible to have many of those interactions in my virtual world, which helps re-inforce my interests, and means that me in person conversations are already a step further along, than they would be otherwise..  It’s great to be able to know about what folks are upto, and be able to stay current, interested and engaged with many people, without having to be always calling them and asking them!

So now turning the tabkes for a second onto you the reader, I’d like to ask you to answer the following question: – Why do you use twitter?  What do you get out of it?

If you don’t yet use twitter, then why don’t you use twitter?

Do share your thoughts, and insights in the comments below, or write your own blog post about why you use twitter, and be sure to trackback to here, so I know about it :)

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Today (Monday 17th November 2008) marked the inauguration of Chain Reaction 08, a two day conference in London which “will bring together social leaders, community activists, policy makers, business leaders, young people and people like you from around the globe to share learning and to generate new ideas for social change, locally, nationally and globally.”

Today also marches the launch of Global Entrepreneurship Week “the first worldwide celebration of enterprise, which aims to unleash young people’s enterprising ideas and address some of society’s biggest issues, from poverty reduction through to climate change.”

As the day ends in London, and all the delegates wind down, and finish up for the day, later, half way across the other side of the world, in San Francisco, there is another conversation about to begin, at The Global Summit where the question will be asked – “What will it take to build a sustainable future?”.  The Global Summit(TM) a world-wide partnership for a sustainable future, is laying the foundation for annual Summits across the globe. The Global Summit(TM) begins with a two-day symposium and culturally rich welcome reception. Outcomes include guiding principals for a sustainable world across six key social and economic sectors, a blue print for the world’s first global citizen voter platform and an online collaboration system that maximizes our collective impact. Learn more about this event by either reading this press release, or by visiting the website of the Empowerment works – the organisation responsible for putting on the event.

It seems like this week could truly mark the beginning of a significant changing tide in the world we live in today.. I’ll be personally attending Chain Reaction 08, where I’ll be socially reporting on the event, via twitter, and blogging, as best I can.  At the same time two dear friends, fellow facilitators of the Awakening the Dreamer Symposium, and former colleagues from The Pachamama Alliance where I volunteered for 9 months will be attending The Global Summit in San Francisco.  We’re planning to organise a conference call, after both events, to find out about each others experiences of what was shared, and to find out threads between the two events, that we might be able to start weaving together, between the two gatherings, half a world away from each other..

I don’t know about how much virtual engagement will occur at The Global Summit, but we’ll have plenty of resources to engage people online, coming out of the conference, so please do connect into the conversations in whatever way you feel would work best!!

Whilst clarifiying a few details for The Global Summit, I’ve discovered a few more relevant happenings this week..

This week the following related events are also happening, or did already happen:

Governor’s Global Climate Summit, Nov 18th and 19th, 2008, in Beverly Hills, California,
convened by Governor Schwarzenegger

The G-20 Global Economic Summit, on Nov 15th and 16th, 2008, in DC, organised by President Bush.
You can also read the Full G-20 Declaration.

The first pan-European Town Meeting on Climate Change, 15th Nov, 2008, simultaneously in Florence, (Italy), Cornellà de Llobregat (Barcelona, Spain) and Poitiers (France), in the context of the IDEAL-EU project, one of the ongoing Preparatory Actions on eParticipation funded by the European Commission.

So it’ll be interesting to see with all this flurry of activity, what long term sustainable social change could come out of these programs? and what actually ends up coming out of all these meetings…

If you’d like to engage with Chain Reaction 08 – we’re deliberately including an online social element to the community interactions, and so would like to extend the invitation to everyone to join in, participate, and collaborate.

You can start by tagging everything you generate with the official tag of chainreaction08 – so everytime you blog, tweet, post a photo on flickr, or just generally include anything that you would like to include in the conversation, be sure to include that tag (except if you’re replying to something that’s been said in twitter, in which case the fact you’re replying will mean that the earlier part of the conversation, as well as your response will appear in the results :)  This applies to all people who are at the event, and watching from their homes too :)

On twitter, to search for a keyword, you can use http://search.twitter.com and put in the keyword terms for Chain Reaction 08.

A comprehensive query, that includes all related variations can be found by visiting http://tinyurl.com/5pu375 – this will provide you with a complete list of all posts on twitter relating to the London Chain Reaction 08 event. (The RSS Feed for this query can be found here).

For photos, everyone’s been asked to post them on flickr, and to use the keyword tag of chainreaction08 to make sure that they are visible to everyone who is looking for images from the event.  If you’d like to see the latest photos that have been uploaded, just visit here.  If you happen to attend the Chain Reaction 08 event, and have pictures that you’d like to share with the other participants, then I’d like to invite you to create your very own free flickr account, and post the photos you’ve taken during the course of the two days onto flickr, making sure that you tag all your photos with “chainreaction08” (without the quotes, of course!)

You can also find relevant blog posts, that will help weave a connection between the participants of Chain Reaction 08.  Again, if you want to have your blog appear to other people, make sure that when you post your blog, you include the tag chainreaction08, so that other people can find it, when they are looking for related content..

Fortunately, Google has integrated it’s video search into a single interface, that comes from multiple sources, so you can also find all videos from the event, that are shared on youtube and google video using the chainreaction08 tag.

There is also content being video’d and streamed directly online, throughout the event courtesy of David Wilcox, and Qik…

Then, most importantly, we also have an active online community at http://chain-reaction.crowdvine.com/ so if you don’t happen to have been able to join the event, live, or want to join in from a distance, the online community will undoubtedly be a rich resource, that connects people together long after chain reaction 08 is over, and perhaps by chain reaction 09, there’ll be an international dimension occurring simultaneously at the same time.

If I happen to have missed any resources, please add them into the comments section below, and I’ll be sure to update this page, to properly reflect all the resources, and references relating to ChainReaction08, so that everyone can benefit from knowing where to find everything related and relevant to a matter dear to our hearts.

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I’m an avid reader of Steve Pavlina’s Blog, and an entry I was reading today, got me thinking.. I just had to post a response.

Steve Pavlina, for those of you who’ve never heard of him, is a Personal Development Innovater, who through his blog, and website is sharing his experiences with the world, with regards to his own personal growth and development.  He often experiments publicly, and shares the results in a very live, and timely manner.  At times, it’s almost as if you’re going through the trials with him, and living through the daily experiences that he shares.  His thoughts and insights are certainly truly eye opening, and I’m reminded whenever I read his blog, of just some of the wonderful qualities, that I pray one day I might posess.

He recently shared an interesting take on health.  Admittedly, it’s not the first time that I’ve heard the analogy.  In fact, my own personal inspiration towards living a healthy and active lifestyle is Jason “The Juicemaster” Vale, author of Slim 4 Life, and a man to who I owe a deep debt of gratitude, for introducing me to the juicing way of life.. Cheers Jason!

So as I was reading this blog entry, that talks about the cells detoxing, and about how diet can affect our thinking and our ability to experience peak mental and emotional states, and I wonder how consciously do I choose the food that I eat?? Do I sometimes choose to deliberately supress elevated states of heightened awareness, and deeper emotions??  I know at times I’m drawn to eating meat, partly because it makes me feel heavier, and denser, and less aware, and less conscious.  It has a numbing effect, perhaps a bit like alcohol might, for people who drink alcohol to drown their sorrows.

At other times, I’ll be drawn to carbohydrates, like breads, and rice, to give me a “heavy” filled feeling inside.  It’s almost as if it’s not enough to eat and be fed, I need to feel “full”.  But that “fullness” is sometimes something that isn’t necessarily a very empowering state.  I know that at times I’ll experience a craving, ravenous hunger, which will make me just want to continue eating, and then eventually, once I’m satisfied, I’ll have to just stop for a while and let my body digest.  Jason, talks about it as your body going comatose, whilst it deals with this influx of food, which if the body doesn’t shut down every other system, and deal with, you would end up dying.. An example being the typical Christmas post-lunch snooze, which is more a coma induced recovery period, where the body is frantically trying to process all this freshly eaten food, before it shuts the body down completely.

It might seem an intense, or extreme view to take, but having self-induced these over indulgent meals, where the body just doesn’t seem to be able to cope with the sheer quantity of food that I’m consuming, it naturally puts me in a spot, where I end up just slowing down, resting for a while, to let my body digest, and get back into being alive again a short while later.

Paradoxically, I’ve found that I can always get a comfortable “full” feeling, and not feel like I’m about to shut down completely, whenever I make sure I have lots of wholesome, fresh, raw fruits or veggies as a part of my meal (either as juice, or typically as salads).  Whenever I eat like this, then I end a meal feeling filled, but not on the verge of having to shut down, and I continue with my life.  Interestingly, my emotional and mental states seem to almost feed on these cravings, and the mood swings seem to play a key part in the emotional attachment to eating.

What I have found particularly interesting, is that when I’m working on something meaningless, and empty, the feeling inside is the same, and the desire to eat more occurs.  I used that partly to my advantage with my previous employer, where I would stock up on snacks of fruit, knowing that I would want to snack away whilst working, because of how unengaging the work was.  Equally I knew that by snacking on fruit, at least I would be positively contributing to my health, instead of allowing it to continue to deteriorate.

Conversely, whenever I complete something that’s really meaningfull, or feels like it’s a real accomplishment, I feel that same fullness inside, that I would sometimes experience with food.  The biggest difference being that when I eat something and feel full, I know I’ve been fed, on a very physical level.  When I write something, or complete some piece of work, and it’s “done”, I’m apparently still fed, since the sense of accomplishment, in writing or completing something mirrors that sense of being filled.  The difference is, that when I’m engaged with something that consumes me, all thoughts of food, and hunger become secondary, and I no longer engage with food on the same terms.  It’s almost like food becomes a distraction to my work, and I genuinely am not interested in eating anything, until I finish what I’m in the middle of doing.

Interestingly, I completed fasting for a whole month, during the Muslim month of Ramadan recently, and during Ramadan, as an observant Muslim, you don’t eat between sunrise and sunset.  What I found was that in the first few days, whilst I might notice the fasting and the hunger closer to the end of the day, by the end of the month, my body was completely adjusted to the new eating patterns, and didn’t even twinge a little, when seeing others eating food, or when the typical lunch time came around.

Now, a few months on, I’m starting to wonder.. is it because I know that I’m not going to eat, that perhaps I kept myself engaged in activities, that were sufficiently engaging, that I didn’t feel hungry??

Is hunger really a physical hunger anymore?? With the amount of processed foods we eat these days, and with a real availability of food whenever, and wherever we want it, do we really know when our bodies are truly hungry anymore??  Is part of our conditioned “hunger” response to do with some of the suggested artificial sugar highs, some of the false hungers caused by eating too much refined sugar, or white refined carbs??  What would we naturally feel hungry for, if we didn’t have chemicals, and mental conditioning to influence our natural hunger patterns?

I’m sure in time I might get to the bottom of these questions myself.  For now, I’m just going to observe Steve Pavlina’s experiment living on nothing but raw juice for 92 days, and pay more attention to the food I’m eating, and the emotional highs and low’s I’m going through.

Though it really does make me wonder.. are we as a planet, plagued by diseases like obesity, because we’re so caught up in the physical world, and have so conditioned our bodies to respond to food, as a satiating source of hunger, that we mask up and hide the true hungers of our minds need to be expressive? Of our emotions needs to be felt? and of our individual, personal need to contribute in a valuable and meaningful way??  Share your thoughts and insights in the comments below..

Now that I’ve fed my soul, time to go nourish my body, with some food ;)

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