Happiness is now a serious business.

When David Cameron was first elected PM, he stated that he believed that the government should start measuring the UK’s national happiness level, as well as our economic  performance (GDP).  He was mocked and criticised by many people and now that the idea has generated an £8 million invoice, even more people are unhappy with the gross national happiness concept. 

Even the American Guru, Martin Seligman, who inspired Cameron, is now not so convinced that a generic term like happiness can be properly measured or is even the right thing to measure in the first place.

Well big Dave is not really my cup of tea, but I think he is on to something.  Socrates (the philosopher - not the one who captained the Brazilian football team) said that “The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being”.  

Universities like Harvard  are taking happiness very seriously as a subject.  Tal Ben-Shahar taught at Harvard on “Positive Psychology” and wrote a number of books on the subject including “Happier” which was given away free with The Observer last week.  I found this book very interesting and was really pleased with its focus on meditation. 

Shawn Achor also taught “Happiness” at Harvard and this week his TED Talk entitled “The Happy Secret to Better Work” was uploaded on the TED site.  This is definitely worth 12 minutes of your time.  He is very funny and makes a simple but profound point:  Don't expect your achievements to make you happy, focus on happiness and you are likely to achieve more and enjoy the journey on the way. 

Like Tal Ben-Sharar, all Shawn’s recommendations are based on research (as you would expect form a Harvard fella).   His key message is that small changes can make a big difference to your life. (See his recommended actions on the graphic below).

Also this week,  the philosopher Alain De Botton published his new book:  “Religion for Atheists”.    He wants atheists to learn from the positive aspects of religion, rather than focusing on trying to win the argument about whether God exists or not.   I agree that the hectoring nature of Richard Dawkins and his self-righteous band of fundamentalists really puts me off atheists.  They don't seem to really be bothered about making the world a better place, just to be right.  

I like the idea of a religion for people who don’t believe in God, but who want to the make the world a better and happier place. 

Alain, I am in!

I've felt a nagging guilt over the last 4-5 months, that I have not updated my blog.  Yes I could make excuses like having young kids, lots going on at work, blah, blah, blah.  However  if I am honest with myself it's because I've been too lazy.

I started this blog to document my journey to enlightenment as I try to become a better human being.  So on the positive side, I have made some progress against some of the goals I set myself that at the start of the year.  Let's focus on the most of those important goals: meditation.

I set myself this goal at the start of the year:  Meditate at least 20 minutes every day.  

Now that is a pretty big goal for someone who has never meditated at all really.  I have used meditation CDs in the past but mainly this was to get myself to sleep and I don't really see that as proper meditation.  Meditation is about strengthening the ability to focus your attention on a single aspect like your breath or on being in the moment.  CDs can be a great way to start, like stabilisers on a bike, but at some point you need to move on. 

So although I have not meditated every day this year, on average I probably meditated for 20 minutes 3-4 times a week.  According to my meditate app (which I use to time myself) I have meditated over 200 times.  Therefore I think I can say it's become a habit and I have definitely noticed a difference. I usually meditate last thing at night and it has helped me go to sleep much quicker than before.  Generally I feel calmer and my mind is not as busy (although it still has its moments!).

I have read a number of great meditation books to keep my motivation to practice regularly strong.  I think my next challenge is to try to meditate every day (ie in the morning) which is difficult with young kids in a small flat.  Also I am trying to bring a sense of being in the moment (breathing spaces) more frequently during my day.  

Good Deeds

I am taking part in Movember.  Please sponsor me!

Voluteered last week at old people's centre.  More on that later.

Enlightenment

See above.  

For the last 9 years, I have practised Bikram Yoga on average about 2-3 times a week.  I have practiced in most of the London studios but also in New York, Las Vegas, San Diego, Dublin and Ibiza.  Bikram yoga is a 90 minutes yoga class which takes place in a heated room and it is always the same  series of 26 yoga poses.  It is very physically demanding but you feel great afterwards and I cannot live without it.  You could say that I am addicted to it.  

So when I heard that Bikram Choudhury, the man behind this yoga was coming to lecture in London for the first time, I knew I had to attend.  Well, his "Evening with Bikram" Event was last Friday in a university near Russell Square.   Bikram is a controvesial figure within the yoga world as he is very outspoken and in many ways the polar opposite to what the West expects from its Indian gurus.  

Humble he ain't!!

Firstly a few words on Bikram himself.  He was born in India in 1946 and has been practicing yoga since he was 3 years old.  He has built a multimillion dollar business around the world and has lived in Hollywood for the last 30 years.  

Well the evening did not start well as he was nearly 45 minutes late.  The theatre was pretty packed with Bikram devotees and I could see a few familar faces in the crowd (abeit with their clothes on).  He explained he was late as he was choosing his suit for the evening.  And what a suit it was.  In his words, he looked like a yoga gangster.  

For a man in sixties, he looked incredible. Amazingly fit, energic and full of health.  He then spoke for 3 hours!  Clearly he has amazing knowledge of yoga but he is delivery is like no other yoga guru in the world.  He swears, he is very very funny and has a very big ego and loves to name drop.  Wow, does he love to name drop....Elvis, Michael Jackson, George Harrison, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reegan, Richard Nixon, Diana Ross, Martin Sheen and Charlie Sheen (one of his few failures) were just a few of the names mentioned.  He also bizarrely claimed to have invented disco and launched the first disco club!!  

However depsite the showmanship, which was very entertaining, he outlined his philosophy of life:

*  The ultimate goal of every individual is self-realisation.  

* To achieve this you need mastery over mind and body.  The body is owned by your spirit.  

* The mind is everything in life.  For most people it is their number 1 enemy.

What I learned from the lecture (and practising bikram) is the key to a happy, successful life is discipline.  The mind and body are connected and so to have a healthy mind you need a healthy body. A healthy body requires discipline.  Going to bikram on a regular basis helps build health and personal discipline.  

If you don't believe me, ask any of the millions of people who practice bikram daily.

A couple of months ago I was luckily enough to attend THE digital conference in the world - South By South West, Austin, Texas. It was a fascinating and worthwhile experience both from a professional and personal point of view. There were lots of interesting and inspiring presentations and discussion panels but also lots of opportunity to network and drink! Business and pleasure at its best. 

One of the big themes of the conference was the tremendous focus and effort to use digital innovation and technology for social good. This is a quite a controversial area as at the end of last year, the influential writer Malcolm Gladwell dismissed the power of the internet, and particularly social networks, as a kind of upgraded version of social activism. His argument in the Small Change piece in The New Yorker is that social media creates lots of small ties between people but when real activism takes place people are forced to take high risks. Since his article was published there have been big changes in the Middle East. Obviously people are taking huge risks, but without doubt social media has allowed the protesters to become better organised and spread their message faster. 

Last year at SXSW 2010, in the closing key note speech, Bruce Sterling, challenged the digital native generation to use digital innovation and the social web to help improve the world's problems. In my opinion, many people at SXSW 2011 listened and responded to that speech. Maybe I am an just an optimist like Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, who Malcolm Gladwell criticised in his Small Change article, but the sheer number of presentations and panels on Social Good was incredible. 

The most inspiring presentation I saw was by Blake Mycoskie, the founder of Tom's Shoes.  For every pair of shoes it sells, Tom's Shoes donates a pair of free shoes to a child in need. Blake's message was that giving was an excellent business strategy. He delivered his speech with humour, modesty and real passion.  He was good looking bastard too!  Like his blog, he challenged the audience to introduce giving or volunteering to every business. 

So at the company where I work, we have a plan to introduce a volunteering programme.  Watch this space!

My Good Deeds:

• Have sponsored a friend of mine (Bruce Sandell) who recently ran a marathon.
• Contributed to the Japan earthquake appeal.
• Bought the Big Issue regularly over the last few months.

Enlightenment

I have meditated 124 times using the Insight Timer mobile app since I started this blog.  Also have meditated regularly without the app (on tubes and trains).  I am still more bloke than buddha, but it definitley has become part of my routine.  Also I am reading Autobiography of a Yogi as recommended by Bikram Chouhdury (see last post).    Attending 3 yoga classes a week. 

My last post was about my resolutions for the new year.  Note to self, add "blog more frequently" to resolutions!  Anyway I thought it would be good time to measure my early progress.

• Meditate at least 20 minutes every day. 

I have been pretty disciplined with this.  I am probably meditating for 15-20 minutes 5-6 days out of 7.  In fact, I would say now it has definitely become a habit and without doubt helps me sleep much better.  I find the best time to meditate is just before I go to sleep as the mornings are difficult with two young children in a small flat. They can be selfish bastards at times, which leads me nicely on to my next goal.

• Be a more patient parent.

Difficult to measure but I am trying to do more activities with my 4-year-old daughter when I get home from work. Usually after a full on day at work, its tempting to crash in front of TV but I have started to involve her in my next resolution.  (I am writing this very early on Saturday morning as she got in our bed and woke me up at 5am.  Now she just interrupted my creative flow, ironically on this point!  Have to stop to read her Go To Bed, Doodlehead.

• Learn to draw.

Definitely have made a start with this.  I am probably drawing for 10-15 minutes about 3 times a week, usually with my 4-year-old, so progress is slow, but fun for us both.  I am following the instructions from The Complete Book of Drawing which is a very comprehensive and really inspiring.  Like my meditation practice, I am trying to follow a little and often routine rather a few hours every few weeks (as that free time will never occur).  When I am happy with my progress and ready to share some of my work, I will write a blog post about this experience.

• Always buy The Big Issue when I walk past a sales person (unless I already have that issue).

I have not done this but I can honestly say I have not seen any Big Issue sellers this year.  Therefore I have just donated £20 to The Big Issue via Just Giving.  

• Join a meditation class.  

I have attended two meditation classes over the last few weeks run by the Meditate in London group.  It is a Buddhist organisation and has been very interesting.  More in my next blog post.

• Make a donation to everyone person who ask me to sponsor them. 

I have made two sponsorship donations and both requests came within days of each other and I was starting to think this could be an expensive resolution.  The first was a colleague, that I mentioned in the last post and the second was someone I have only met a few times through work a number of years ago.

• Always help any lost tourist in London.

This is not easy to achieve as I no longer work in the West End of London, however I have helped a couple of people over the last few weeks.

• Attend a minimum of 2 Bikram Yoga classes a week.  

I have actually only been to an average of 1 bikram class a week but I am also going to a generic yoga class at my local gym.  As I am playing my first football match in nearly 5 years next week, I am on a health kick so I am cycling as much as possible using Run Keeper.  I have cycled over 60 miles in the last few weeks, but I need to start running if I am to survive this match.

• Volunteer for a charity event.  

This is the only resolution where I have failed to take any action.  Disappointing as really this was my original purpose of bloke to buddha.  It is still early in the year and I have been quite busy, but I think I lack a little bit of courage here.  

• Always make an effort to look at waiters/sales people in the eye.  
•  After reading The Power of Eye Contact I was very focused on this.  In a busy city like London where everybody is rushing around, it is easy for people to lose that little bit of civility. I think friendly eye contact is a simple way to show a tiny bit of humanity.  I am better at this than I was after reading this book, I need to be mindful of this, which leads me to my last resolution.

• Try to be more mindful in everyday life.  

This is without doubt the hardest resolution to live up to.  The regular meditation is definitely a bit help but it is easy to be caught up with the business of life and the pressures and worries of work.  I think living in the moment is the secret to a happy life and something I have always struggled with, hence why I have always been attracted to meditation.  

One other goal I have added to my resolutions, since I my last post, is learning some magic tricks. Like drawing it is something I have always wanted to do and another activity I can share with the kids.  

I know most people sneer at New Years Resolution, but I think it is a good time to start afresh and look to commit to improve various aspects of your life.  So here are my Bloke to Buddha goals for the 2011.  

• Meditate at least 20 minutes every day. 

• Be a more patient parent.

• Learn to draw.

• Always buy The Big Issue when I walk past a sales person (unless I already have that issue).

• Join a meditation class.  

• Make a donation to everyone person who ask me to sponsor them.  

• Always help any lost tourist in London.

• Attend a minimum of 2 Bikram Yoga classes a week.  

• Volunteer for a charity event.  

• Always make an effort to look at waiters/sales people in the eye.  (I am currently reading The Power of Eye Contact).

• Try to be more mindful in everyday life.  

Good deeds:  This week I have sponsored a friend at work  (see resolution point 6 above) who is climbing Killimanjaro for a good charity (Friends of Aschiana).  

Enlightenment progress:  Following on from a recent illnesses, I am back to meditating everyday last thing at night.  Its helping that I am also off the booze this month. Also just finished reading an interesting book called Mindfulness Manifesto.  

Apologies for the radio silence on the Bloke to Buddha front.  Its been a tough couple of months. 

Firstly I have been ill for nearly 3 months, with a virus that has caused on-going diarrhoea.  Nasty! 

I found it very difficult to meditate during this period, as I was too busy feeling sorry for myself.   Also ironically the week the diarrhoea was at its worst was also World Toilet Day.   Although I did make some glib tweet about this at the time, it did occur to me afterwards that if I lived in poverty in a Third World County, it is likely that I would have died.   So it certainly has made me look at that event in a different way.  It is pretty sad, it took a few months of going to the toilet 20 times day to appreciate the seriousness of this issue.  By the way 50 times was my worst day and probably a record in Camden Town, although obviously I am not boasting. 

I am disappointed in myself that during this period that I did not continue to meditate.   There is more and more scentific research proving the health benefits of meditation.  Scientist, Jon Kabat-Zinn, has spent a lifetime exploring how mindfulness can help people with chronic health problems.  Meditation is becoming more mainstream, and it is slowly being introduced into the NHS.  Therefore I commit that next time I am ill I will continue to mediate! That is the lesson I have hopefully learnt though this experience. 

On a more positive, my wife and I had our 2nd baby duing this period.   So the odd sleepless night and crying baby are some additional challenges on the meditation front. 

Anyway its good to be back in the blogsphere!

Natmaste

Good deeds:  Donation to World Toilet Day.

Englightment Progress:  Zero!

Here is my story of Spurs v Inter Milan game.

• I forgot to buy my usual seat for the the most glamorous and important home game in decades.  

• So instead of paying £50 to sit with my mates, I bought a ticket through an agency for £275 to sit on my own.

• As there was a tube strike starting on the day of the match, I thought I would take my bike on the train to get there and cycle home afterwards.

• Left work and cycled to Liverpool Street.  The station was chaotic and it was nightmare.  All trains to White Hart Lane were running late.

• Suddenly they announced that the next train was on platform 2 and there was a mad rush.

• The ticket inspector would not let me on the train with my bike.

• It took me ages to get out of the station.  Taking a taxi was a non starter,  as the traffic was completely gridlocked.

• So I decided to cycle to the match.  It was about 8.5 miles.  

• I was wearing a jumper and a thick winter coat, and therefore was sweating like a bastard after 5 minutes of cycling.

• As there was a tube strike, the roads were chaos but overall I was making good progress.

• Until I got to Amhurst Park, where a car unexpectedly and without any signal turned left and knocked me off my bike.

• I went arse over tit and lay prostrate on the road.  In my bag were headphones which were completely smashed, so I must have hit the ground hard.

• The driver got out of the car and did not say a word - just inspected his car for any damage. He was big, hard and looked like he had served time. Probably a gooner.

• Then he said menacingly that I had scratched his car, which was probably worth less than my bike (which is crap and 20 years old).

• I don't remember the next few moments as I was still dazed, but I found myself getting back on my bike and slowly carrying on cycling.

• Suddenly the nutter starts shouting and screaming for me to come back.  A bloke in a smart car in the traffic jam just shouts GO, GO.....

• I started cycling like crazy and the hard lunatic starts chasing me.  

• I cycle like mad for 20 minutes and am nearly involved in two more accidents.

• I go to the usual pub when my mates always go before the game. For some reason, they don't make it.  

• I cycle to the ground and a plastic bag gets caught in my chain. I spend the next 10 minutes trying to fix it.

• I get in to the West Lower stand just as the game is about to start. I am very tired but suddenly excited that I have actually made it to this game

• The game, the atmosphere, the Spurs performance and the result are incredible.  Truly amazing!

• I thought all the above were signs that I was not destined to go this match.  However the god of football was just testing my love for Spurs. And how he repaid my persistence.  

There has been lots of negative coverage in the media this year about English footballers.  Wayne Rooney's conduct with his contract negotiations and his extra marital liaisons with a prostitute (s) while his wife was pregnant seems to typify what is wrong with our beautiful game.  Well not all footballers are like this.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Jody Craddock.  

He plays for Wolves in the English Premier League, but has come to prominence because he has another talent apart from football.  He is a painter.  No, not a painter and decorator, he is an artist.  He even has his own art website.  

Last week I had read that in the US, celebrities were being paid $10,000 per tweet by brands. That's interesting I thought, probably worth a tweet.  Let's try and be funny, so I wrote if that is what top stars in the US are getting what is @mrjodycraddock worth?  I chose Jody Craddock because he was in my eyes a journeyman Premiership player in an unfashionable team and only 5000 followers. Plus Craddock is quite a funny name. Probably a cheap gag but, might raise a smile.  

Well Jody (as I like him to call him now) responded to my slightly offensive tweet in a friendly and open way.  We exchanged 4 or 5 tweets over the next day and he came across as a top bloke.  In the end, I think he thought I was trying to promote a brand.  So I said if you RT this message about Action Aid (a charity I have supported for a while) I will give them £50.  Just as I sent this tweet, Wolves scored to go 2-1 against Man City (Spurs rivals for CL Football).  Win this game and I will make it £75 I quickly tweeted.  When Wolves won the game Jody RT my message below:

Good deed 2:  Gave up my Saturday to help with an Action Aid research project.

Enlightenment progress:  Meditation sessions up to 20 minutes per day.  

On Friday there was a programme on BBC2 called The Big Silence.  It's a documentary about 5 people who go on a silent retreat for a week in a monastery in Surrey.  It is a 3 part series and this first episode introduced the different participants and gave them an initial introduction to Worth Abbey in Surrey. This is the same abbey that was featured in a similar programme called The Monastery in 2005, which also featured Abbot Christopher Jamieson who is the guide on this spiritual adventure.  

The Big Silence, like the Monastery, is a great programme and I cannot wait for the next two episodes. It is a reality programme for grown ups, which I guess means very few people will watch it.  Even though the Monastery is over 5 years old, I still remember a moving scene involving a Londoner called Tony and a monk called Brother Francis. Tony was a troubled soul who worked in media and was a recovering alcoholic.  He seemed to be carrying around a lot of anger and then after a number of weeks at Worth Abbey, he had a spiritual breakthrough.  He struggles to describe this experience, to put it into words, and Brother Francis simply says kindly "I wouldn't bother" (meaning that words weren't necessary, to experience it and feel the emotion was enough).  See clip here (after 5 mins).  That scene has stayed with me and was the highlight of the series.  In many ways, Tony was an inspiration for this blog as he was a normal "bloke" looking for some meaning in his life.  

After that TV show, I thought this would lead to more shows that aim to develop the human spirit but instead we have just had more talent and DIY programmes. Therefore I am delighted that The Big Silence is now on.  Brother Christopher Jamieson says that silence is the path to our soul and our soul is the path to god.  Well I am not sure if I am trying to find god but it would nice to first find my soul!   

Anyway you can watch the first episode here on the iplayer and this is useful resource to learn more about silent retreat.

Good deed of the week:   I have been an utter failure this week.  Need to carry out at least two good deeds next week.  

Enlightenment Progress:  Meditating for 15 minutes about 5 times a week.  Struggling to go more than 1 Bikram yoga class a week.