donkeys of Oman

Just been 2500 metres up a mountain in Oman with some feral donkeys and executives from a big and famous company (not the same thing I must hasten to add). I was there initially to speak about leadership, adventure and the natural polymathy of a homemade expedition. After that we sat round the camp fire and heard the wild donkeys bray. One Omani told me a national proverb, "If your motive is good, a farting donkey won't hurt you." I took that to mean 'a man with a clear conscience will be untroubled by petty alarms'. Though having walked up a mountain before in the wake of a farting mule I can say it is hardly an optimum mode of travel. But windy business aside, this trip to Oman is proving a great way to get a first glimpse of a place with possibilities for all kinds of adventurous travel.

walking outside increases creativity

It's official! What we have always known - that nothing beats a good long outdoor walk for boosting and bettering ideas has now been asserted in a scientific rather than anecdotal way. Dr Marily Oppezzo and Daniel Schwartz report in the article 'The positive effect of walking on creative thinking' (Journal of Experimental Psychology, April 21 2014) that walking improves GAU measures of creativity by 81%. GAU (Guilford's Alternate Uses test) measures the subject's ability to think up as many different uses for an object- something that correlates meaningfully with being creative. The tests were performed using treadmills indoors and also going on outdoor walks- in contrast with being seated. They found that outdoor walking produced 'the most novel and highest quality' results of all.

breathe and the world breathes with you

Many mystical traditions talk a lot about breath and breathing. Yoshinkan Aikido is known for its founder's adherence to the idea of kokkyu rokkyu- breath power. Buddhism in its many variants has meditation exercises based around observing your own breathing. And then there are the stories of 'chosen' children being breathed on by enlightened folk, a passing on of knowledge or wisdom it is presumed.

But few really vaulable things can be presented except through a shape shift, a metaphor or analogy or story. So what is the analogy for breath? Expanded sensations of conciousness, where connectedness and wellbeing rather than excstasy are self-observed, bring forth the insight that 'the world breathes', 'conciousness breathes in time with all living things'; you can breathe more 'deeply' by being more 'open' to the experience. Your own breathing has nothing much to do with this cosmic breathing except to provide a way of understanding it.

People become obsessed by breathing exercises partly because oxygen starvation/overload can cause pleasurable or strange mental states. But this is a dead end. Breathe to stay alive and breathe to connect with the idea of a universe of connected consciousness.

all wars are wars of attrition

Von Clausewitz the famous strategist characterised wars into those of attrition and those that strike a decisive blow. Now this probably depends on the level of technology available. Dropping an A bomb certainly ended WW2 pretty quickly- but then only one side had them. Modern wars, messy and confused with policing and government and terrorist issues all seem to be attritional. I think, in fact, that the attritional mindset is needed even for a war that might be over very quickly. And if you think of the war metaphor (the war on drugs, on poverty) then the attritional mindset is the only one that makes sense.

We can also use the war metaphor when dealing with our own objectives. I think putting on an attritional 'head' is required because otherwise you might be tempted to give up at the first reverse. Thinking of something as a 'war of attrition' puts you in a more comfortable long term frame of mind. You emanate calm rather than bluster and haste. You plan your move ahead. If you think of all 'wars' as wars of attrition you will probably win more of them.

Nat Geo article

Check this out: http://natgeotraveller.co.uk/how/features/332575/

an article in Nat Geo traveller about a rubber boat journey in cairo a few moons back

Happiness

"Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them."

Tolstoy.

straight lines again

It has taken me a shockingly long time to work out that straight lines are poisonous and unnatural but very tempting. Very tempting indeed. Going round the houses is not only more interesting, it's often obligatory...in the end. The world is full of modern straight lines, which only serve to confuse us...after all if a skyscraper goes straight to the point why not us too? I'm so convinced of this now I like to plan every mission with a first step in the opposite direction...

What else? Oh yes, Aikido master Ueshiba sensei used to say that in his day a student had to steal a technique from the teacher, it wouldn't be given, let alone 'taught'...in other words he eschewed the direct approach which says students should be rammed head first into what they ought to know. Instead take the opposite line...hide it from them, make them desire it and hunt it down, steal it if necessary...