I read my own blog

I am living life everyday, I love it down here in Colombia and every time I talk to people not in Colombia, I'm inviting them to come and visit. Its not just something I say, I really mean it - I found something down here that makes life seem just a touch more enjoyable, worthwhile.

I've heard people say, that in developing countries there is a lower incidence of depression and suicide than in developed nations. Have you ever truly thought about that? While you do, here's a picture of Saturday, when I ended up lunching with 3 great ladies up in Murillo, big smiles all around and four enormous plates of delicious food (sopa y seco) that ended up costing us just 12 dollars with drinks.

I am not a self help guru, I have no desire to be your guru, and when I sit down to write a post in the morning I'm not even thinking about you - I'm thinking about me. And this morning, when I was reading yesterday's blog, and an older one I had linked - I realized that not only am I the author of these posts, I am also the intended audience.

When I say 'I read my own blog', I mean it in the sense of 'I eat my own dog food'. This is a phrase from tech development meaning to use your own product, internally. Do google emoloyees use gmail? This would be 'eating their own dog food'. The phrase sounds a bit crude, but the essence is sound - Do you take what you prescribe?

_{This guy will eat anybodies dog food, and likes to lay down next to me during morning meditation.}

Getting up early, doing some pushups, meditating, and writing - this is my new morning routine and I am just over the two week mark now. Not everyday is the same, but I have been enormously impressed with the results in just this short time. Often its not even 7:30am and I have finished a killer post for the day - sometimes I wouldn't even wake up until this time in the past. I can do a lot more pushups now than when I started, 6 sets of 20 is 120 pushups!

And I have a lot more to say about meditation, but will save it for an upcoming post. My point is, if these are the results after only two weeks, why didn't I start many years ago?

Motivation is a funny thing, in a sense we look for external motivation but it can only come from within. Discipline is the real motivation, and no amount of podcasts will give us what we don't already have.

I am motivating myself with daily discipline, and if you find it valuable in any way, good - that's a bonus. It is exactly the point that to improve yourself is to improve the world around you. And a strong, capable, disciplined and determined EcoInstant is a boon to all of those I connect with, starting with the smiling faces around me.

Today I woke up on Buena Vista, our beautiful corner of the world that seems to continue to grow more beautiful everyday. After many years of road work, I drove my car right up to the door and walked in.

Building our own road, with the entire community, was an act of discipline. I 'gave up' more than once over the last 8 years, but we always continued, almost whether we wanted to or not. It makes me realize how ephemeral are the 'wants of the moment', because although I never stopped wanting a road, I often didnt want to move any more rocks.

So we must move our understanding of 'want' from "What I want to do in this moment" (sleep, eat, smoke, tv) to "What are the results I want to see in the future" (road, healthy body, productive business, respect from peers).

This morning I am truly thinking that we can have anything we want, as long as we sacrifice the hedonistic and lazy loser wants of the moment. I know its true, I can see my car.

Some say that life is all about cause and effect - and to a great extent this is true. But to see it in only the mechanistic sense is to lose the essence -the great cause in our lives must be the creative spark inside of us - the ability to visualize a better future and the discipline to make it a reality.

There is no time to be depressed, there is too much good work to do.

Freedom and Friendship