Mindfulness

Birding

Bird watching is a peaceful place.

I enjoy the variety of flying colors, the sounds, the squabbles, and if you watch long enough, you’ll see a symphony of movement unfold. My local favorites are the goldfinch and blue jay. Birding is a simple pleasure, but that’s the point, eh. Quiet appreciation for the small things invites us to settle into each moment.

The world is wild and endless distractions make us feel frantic when there’s so much to do. Birding, or appreciating whatever the understated beauty may be, can help us stay centered. As this layer of mindfulness becomes part of your practice, it gets easier to slow things down just enough to ensure we don’t miss life along the way.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Replicants

Technologists and futurists have long imagined interacting with replicants. We’ve seen them in the movies. There’s no single definition for what a replicant might be, but it’s not C-3PO from Star Wars. Our replicants will be an artificially intelligent, bioengineered entity that has consciousness rooted in the human (or machine) it originated from.

This humanoid will index everything the originator ever created, map the complexity of their network, understand internalized versus externalized thoughts, have empathy for how the author matured over time, and gain contextual insight from storytelling to form a foundational identity. This identity would find purpose from a digitized consciousness, maintain essential rules, feel a mirrored personality, act the same even when nobody was watching, and stay updated without an altered foundation.

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Days feel long, but years fly by.

Replication should remain a choice, but capacity to interact with our past and future is expanding. Think of how we take photos. Look at the media being captured at any concert. We already use the moment to remember the past. We speak to holograms, watch animals play video games with their brain, grow synthetic realities, and experiment with infinity through the math and physics of big and small.

As the bandwidth of technology reaches escape velocity, what’s stopping us from pressing the record button to store every angle from every moment? At that speed, how can the linear evolution of humanity’s intelligence fuse with the exponential trajectory of machine learning? Even when it’s possible, do humans want such a reflective future?

Thinking about futuristic interactions can summon a desire to amend the way we spend time. Would you live your life differently knowing future generations may interact with your replicant? Therein lies why most of us don’t like the idea of such a daunting, forward-focused souvenir. If we’re always performative, authenticity is lost. Consistency, which most want in business, becomes a drag, and choosing less randomness, never breaking the rules, and pretending life is show would result in mental distortion and altered actions.

Constant attention is less fun, and making mistakes keeps us wild, but might we be less careless if the plan was to leave a replicant behind? This exercise might be less about technology and, instead, using replication as motivation to fully appreciate how every byte counts.

Brewed From Within
#86 📖 Technology

By Ben McDougal, ago

Feng Shui

Peace awaits those who appreciate all that is without worrying about all that is not. That said, things will not just fall into place. It takes initiative, consistency, awareness, and sacrifice to find your own equanimity.

Similar to how we decorate our environment to harmonize with nature, we can connect elements of our career portfolio to feel the benefits of feng shui.

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It’s not a rainy day. It’s free water.

The world is loud, and endless distractions make us feel frantic when there’s so much to do. Being present along with a quiet appreciation of understated beauty keeps us centered. As mindfulness becomes part of our practice, it’s easier to slow down just enough to ensure we don’t miss life along the way.

The places we visit, the people we’re with, and the art we ship all connect through us. Over a lifetime, we become a destination for others, and this becomes our gift.

When there’s passion, humor, diversity, intellectual humility, and harmony within our own environment, the impact of our gifts are lasting and the way we invest time with others will add up in the end.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Sedona Sands

We’ve all had experiences that touch our soul.

Perhaps it’s exploring the universe at an observatory, a scenic nature hike, an inspired talk from someone who seems to know just what you need to hear, or a concert that takes you to a different state of consciousness. Whatever the experience may be, we are moved in these moments, but how can we ensure the energy from such occasions don’t fade?

Perhaps adding a mental bookmark can thicken the moment? Even if it’s a short, but focused mediation in the moment of impact, might this attention make it easier to revisit the sights, sounds, and feelings of a past experience? Stories, photos, and video are fantastic reminders of what we saw, but connected meditations may provide added layers of internalization.

This story of curiosity begins in the sands of Sedona, Arizona. As we hiked the Airport Vortex, my wife and I found a shady spot to rest on the mountainside. Michael Kass, a friend, colleague, and facilitator who helps others shift consciousness one breath at a time, had given me a special gift. It was a personalized, recorded meditation for my 40th birthday, which I named Sedona Sands and minted this NFT to commemorate. As my wife and I sat together, listening to this thoughtful gift and breathing with the land, I was thankful for such serenity with someone I care so much about. I was also (pleasantly) distracted by the scenic view, with beauty that made it had a hard to close my eyes. 12 minutes soon passed and while I felt a flowing sense of gratitude, it didn’t feel like an enlightened moment at the time.

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Here are a few meditations to enjoy.

Now…for the wizardry.

Fast forward two weeks. I was visiting 1MC communities in Kansas City, Wichita, Iowa City, and Chicago. Within the whirlwind of travel, I had an evening to unwind. After enjoying a serendipitous sunset overlooking the Arkansas River, soaking in the hot tub with a good book sounded like a relaxing way to finish my day. After reading a chapter, I thought it might be interesting to shift gears by revisiting Michael’s recorded meditation. This was the first time I had listed to it since we enjoyed it in Sedona. To compliment the steam, I put a cold towel over my eyes and let cool water run through my fingers. Within an instant, the recorded meditation brought me back to that shady spot on the mountainside. The red rocks surrounding us. I could feel the desert air. My wife was with me and I was there!

This same mediation was enjoyed at a different time and place, but the energy was deeply connected. I look forward to exploring how momentary, connected meditations may allow the powers of our past to continue guiding us through the grounded energy of this great adventure called life.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Anticipation

The present is a gift, but it often feels like a window that reflects past experiences into what may come next.

For those of us who like to build, we can feel lazy if we’re not constantly evolving from things we’ve learned in the past while also actively planning for the future. While staying in the moment provides peace and limitless space to appreciate the entire spectrum of now, mashing this mindfulness with an ability to explore and create fresh things is healthy. It can also create a sense of anticipation.

Anticipation often arises as we try something new. Whether it be from the first day of school, a first date, booking travel, having a baby, or the unknowns in building a business, traversing apprehension is rewarded by experiential wisdom that comes from navigating the actions we take.

Sometimes anticipation can be confused with worrying. It’s different. Worrying is agreeing to be unhappy until the present delivers whatever originally concerned you. These feelings do have one thing in common: They are both focused on the future. That’s why anticipation shares an orbit with worrying. A key dissimilarity are the positive sides of anticipation.

One positive effect of anticipation is how it can help guide proper planning. Creating moments in a business that allow the team to feel anticipation can blend purpose, and over time this converts to a team with shared convictions. When a sustained team finds joy in their mission, progress is felt and the wild card of persistence is up for grabs.

Distractions are impossible to avoid, and agitation is hard to fend off during tough times, but the Canadian saying, “Keep your stick on the ice,” reminds us to chill, keep it simple, and be ready for anything. With our sticks on the ice, we embrace challenges, bend without breaking, push through the storm, and appreciate what makes good times great. Business potential awaits when we say yes to adventure, even when business is not on our agenda.

In business and in life, a strategic effort up front, without overdoing it or getting caught up in things you can’t control, allows the anticipation of a future moment to land exactly the way it was meant to be.

Brewed From Within
#93 📖 Life & Happiness

By Ben McDougal, ago