Category: Travel

Dear World…

Scenario: Imagine sitting down and writing a letter to everyone on the planet that will not be opened and read for 25 years. It’s an expression of what you hope has happened in that time. 

This was the opportunity given to me by the book Truth, Growth, Repeat by Mike Edmonds – an awesome book with a practical application for anyone in business, start-up mode or even just wanting to work out your purpose and what to do next.  There is a reason it’s title includes the statement [a business manual for generation why] and I highly recommend it.

Leadership Quote

I figure there’s no need to pussy foot around, it’s self explanatory as to what this is all about so here goes…

Dear World…

In 2019 there were fears about the jobs of the future, distrust of capitalism and because of Industry 4.0 in addition to Society 5.0 massive uncertainty for humanity’s ability to adapt, embrace and expand with the universe instead of spiraling into a black hole of unconsciousness. I had faith, belief, a knowingness that conscious capitalism, our endeavor for meaning and oneness would prevail and it has. The basic needs for all beings have been met, the UN Sustainable Development goals were delivered and then some… The spark of innovation, creativity and compassion continues to drive changes in our society, through community engagement, economic empowerment and personal growth… What started as a concept for a consortium approach to upgrade humanity from the top down was successful because we never wavered from delivering on our commitments, we were unfuckwithable, self assured, future focused and through continual learning we achieved our targets within just 3 short years. What started as a concept, developed into a business and eventually became a movement that drove humanity forward at a pace equal to technology. R. Buckminster Fuller was right, the relay race was touch-and-go and I’m eternally grateful for the wonderful humans who led the charge, reminded those around them of just how brilliant they were too and how collectively we helped make it to Utopia.

Love Always Ms Susanne

I’d also like to share with you my journal entry (one year from now) which is another way to put it out to the universe and start to manifest the reality you want to see in the world.

Journal Entry

Date: …..30/07/2020………….

I am so grateful for the last year. In the last year I have achieved so many of my goals, I feel energized by my environment as it inspires and supports me and my family; I am surrounded by positivity, love, abundance and success.  I am part of a community that values diversity, inclusion and empowerment.  I have an abundance of time for myself and those I love and there is an element of fun in everything we do. 

My personal cash flow has increased and now enables me to pursue travel, adventures and growth experiences that were just not possible a year ago… it all seemed so restrictive and precarious back then and at the same time I knew I had put myself in that situation so I could learn from it and develop the grit to leverage my value if ever the opportunity presents itself again. I’m so grateful I can also now speak to this and share my knowledge with others.

My personal wealth has tripled, and I am now actively engaged in projects that educate and drive humanity forward also this has enabled me to support and encourage other humanity and environment plus enterprises and start-ups.

I love myself unconditionally, I am enough, and I have achieved this through exposing myself to continual learning experiences, becoming the servant leader who attracts and works with such amazing individuals that support me in my life and growth.

My business has taken off in ways I never thought possible, the groundswell and support proves to me that humanity is heading in the right direction, there are enough conscious individuals on the planet that are driven to making changes in society through community engagement, economic empowerment and personal growth.

My customers are my tribe, as is my team, our partners and our suppliers – the whole ecology is symbiotic and self-perpetuating.  I have developed my relationships through affinity, communication, a shared reality and understanding.

I am healthy physically and mentally, nourishing and being kind to myself every day, my daily practices provide me with ongoing growth through experience of self and others because I am constantly in choice of my thoughts, words and actions.  This enables me to engage with, learn and see all the beauty this world has to offer.

I schedule regular adventures that I haven’t had before, some of them just everyday activities like walking down a different street to get to a known destination and because of my wealth I am able to share in my love of adventure, my abundance and success with those closest to me.  Throughout these adventures I actively contribute to the environment I am in so to support and promote engagement with the community, communicating with presence, intention and a desire to understand.

My net wealth is a direct result of my network and I have grown and support the community I am in, investing 10% of my wealth (time + money) to education, skills development and experiential based learning for all.

My next year is going to continue to be filled with the experiences, growth and contribution that speak to my heart and enable me to continue sharing my love with the world, my fellow human beings and the universe…

Even if I achieve only one tenth of what I am working towards [note: this shit doesn’t just happen by sitting in your room and ‘wishing’ or repeating it in some kind of affirmation] I will be very proud of myself because I’ve taken a step towards the future, my future, the one I envision and I want to manifest with all my heart and a burning passion that means I get up early; read absorb and implement; talk to, collaborate and engage with the kind of individuals who have been there and done it… [that’s the action bit you want to do if you actually want to make this shit happen]

I hope this has rattled your cage and awakened something in you to get down your own vision for the world.  Now this is the point at which you get to choose your next adventure… MOFO or Missed the G Spot or just as awesome would be if you share your thoughts – you can add them below or engage me direct susie@mssusanne.com.au

If you’re not ready to take your next adventure now then you can always subscribe and come back later…

smileykiss

Hell on Earth

Day 8 had been blissful, my meditation practice was in flow and I felt connected to my environment.  However as is the nature of life, nothing lasts forever and so it was the very next day I found myself struggling to control my mind, over-exerting myself and enduring more pain than before.  I had a laser focus, I was determined to sit in my chosen position without moving, during the hour long meditation sittings.  I believed this was the way to learn.

Not to dissimilar to my ethos for life, having been brought up on the cultural and parental expectation that we must work hard to earn a living.  It’s interesting don’t you think how this brule* (bullshit rule) doesn’t serve us, in fact it only serves to disempower us and blinker us to the prospect that we can be happy in work and life without having to endure pain.

The lesson at the end of Day 9 was in how we cling to happiness and therefore how this can be just as destructive to our ability to control our mindset as is the focus on the negative.  The Vipassana technique talks to being equanimous and as had been the case with each passing day, the teaching and review of what we were learning at the end of each evening was the timely reminder of the experience I was going through. The day previous I was in bliss and had become attached to this feeling, which led me to feeling disappointment in not being able to achieve bliss again in the following day.  I’m particularly prone to seeking out positivity, ever the optimist but it became clear to me that this has at times clouded my judgement and led me to feeling more disappointment at points throughout my life.

Thailand.jpg

Khao Lak – Takua Pa District, Thailand 2011kK

The expectation of happy families for one… At two years of age (so I was told) my mother left me, left Australia and went back to Thailand to be with her family, having struggled to make this place her home.  I don’t believe my Dad put up much of a fight although he made it clear I wasn’t going with her.  For the next 24 years of my life I had no idea where my mother was, other than in Thailand, until one day I got the call – they’d found her.  My expectations were high, I was finally going to meet my mother (having no memory of her because I was so young when she left).  Optimistic of our future together, with gifts in hand and a presumption in my heart that I wanted to support her financially because it was the right thing to do, I flew to Thailand to meet her and my half brother and sister.

The reality though is that there’s nothing quite as crushing as the level of expectation…    I have always believed that because my expectations have been positive, optimistic and therefore have intentions that will provide a ‘brighter future’ that somehow they deserved to come true.  That’s not equanimity though is it, in fact it’s a level of expectation I hadn’t really been willing to face before.  Who me?? I don’t have expectations – it was as if just because my thoughts were focussed on the positive, on the optimistic point of view, that those thoughts weren’t expectations at all.  What’s that saying ‘rose coloured glasses…’

Since I was a young child I can’t tell you where I got the philosophy but I was vocal in my belief that both heaven and hell existed not in the after-life but here on earth.  We were born (without choice) into one, the other or somewhere in between but what I have since actively sought, is to find out if we have since that birth, the option to be reborn in our own image, defined by our own drive and purpose.  That I now believe is true, not because I have my rose coloured glasses on but for the first time I have taken them off and want to see all the world as it is, not just how I want it to be.  The difficulty of this choice is that I am not always happy, I am what I perceived as withdrawn, solemn, introspective or some other adjective that describes the opposite of optimistic.  Yet the reality though is I’m content, I am an evolutionary woman unfolding and discovering the next stage of life.

Evolution is a process of continuous branching and diversification from common trunks. This pattern of irreversible separation gives life’s history its basic directionality.

— Stephen Jay Gould

This is the point at which you get to choose your next adventure… Misery to Happiness or Back to Nature

I’d also love it if you choose to share your thoughts – you can add them below or engage me direct susie@mssusanne.com.au

If you’re not ready to take your next adventure now then you can always subscribe and come back later…

smileykiss

Missed the G Spot

Wednesday the 19th December was Day 1 of our Eastern Europe G Adventures tour, starting in Berlin. For those that haven’t been on a group tour before, Day 1 is when you meet the rest of the group and your tour guide leads you in a Welcome and Here’s What You’re in For type of thing… and on this little two-week adventure we had the pleasure of spending Christmas together so our illustrious leader had arranged for a Secret Santa, so we were given Xmas cards with another (yet unknown) member of the group’s name to whom we would be providing our little ray of Christmas cheer to. Great idea I thought and with his instruction that he wanted us to make an effort to get to know that individual too I felt at ease that the tour guide had given some foresight to our trip but it wasn’t long before I started to doubt this presumption.

After our introductions, as is also customary, we had the option to head out to dinner together. We were told it was a traditional restaurant, not too far that played Jazz and for those so inclined they could dance the night away. Sounded interesting enough and as we’d planned already we were keen to go along and get a chance to acquaint ourselves with our fellow travellers, some (hopefully) good food and a few drinks. The first cracks started to show though as we seemed to walk aimlessly around Berlin streets with our illustrious leader asking us to stay in one spot whilst he toddled off to ask for directions. Luckily we were close enough because where we stopped was just outside the premises, through a little open area that during the summer months I imagined teamed with communal tables and chair, drunk herr and frau.

G Day1

Day 2: We were unsure as to whether to brave the orientation given this first nights experience but with optimism we thought surely he had something worthwhile to share. Given the large amount of ‘optional’ activities listed on our tour information and with the promise that our CEO (as they’re called by G Adventures, standing for Chief Experience Officer) had even more ideas, we just needed to ask, we rocked up at the designated 0930 start. Only to have our CEO drag his heels, chat aimlessly to two other gullible’s – I mean travellers and actually get going closer to 1000 because I insisted we could walk and talk at the same time. At the train station we had to be further bemused by our illustrious leaders lack of interpretation skills of the ticketing machine and what platform to depart from. Directed to what we were told was going to be the best Christmas markets in the city we proceeded to arrive at a few stalls that I knew wasn’t where we were supposed to have been. As the day before we’d already frequented the markets which the CEO eventually, with some local directions again, managed to walk us to.

Our orientation continued around the outside of the markets as they weren’t yet open (surprise surprise) onto an area described as housing the historical architecture (deliberately reconstructed as such after the war) and the oldest church in the city that was untouched.  It was a lovely part of the city and I was glad we’d made it there but further dismayed at our CEO’s lack of what I would deem basic tour guide experience, given he walked us to an information board on the church and proceeded to READ it to us.  After persisting through a coffee shop stop that really didn’t need to be part of the orientation and then enduring a trip into a souvenir shop I’d had enough.  We advised the CEO (let’s call him Mark, to protect the name of the not so innocent) that we were off to do a bike tour, having spotted a sign close by the souvenir shop.  To which our other weary travellers departed, I heard later, shortly thereafter too.

I think at this point I’ll let you imagine what transpired on the rest of the tour.  It certainly makes the mind boggle but we never let it spoil our holiday and we made damn sure we tried to help the other travellers not let it ruin theirs either.  In fact that was one of the highlights from this little adventure, our group rallied to keep spirit’s high, laugh at the absurdity of the effort or lack thereof from Mark and simply choose how we would react to the situation.  Sure it was a challenge at times and at different points throughout the next 12 days someone in the group had a lot to say about how bad the experience was but that’s what galvanised us as a group, we were all going through it together and at the same time we made sure to remind each other of the wonderful places we were visiting, the beauty, history and adventures we were having.

Your mindset is exceptionally powerful and an aspect you have (if you choose) control over.  This little adventure that clearly missed the G spot on this occasion was just such an example.  Which is what I also want to make very clear, this was an unusual case.  I have been on a number of G Adventure tours and I highly recommend them – still do because at the end of the day I prefer to not throw out the baby with the bath water as they say, I choose the glass half full / it can be refilled type of mindset.  What I love about G Adventures tours that I tell everyone, is that they are small groups; this was the largest of them I’ve been on (16) usually it’s about 10-12 and the people we have met have been everything from 20’s to 60+ from all parts of the globe; personalities as you would expect vary but G people I’ve found understand travelling isn’t linear and the best bit is you use public transport to get around, enabling you to stay in some really cool accommodation in historical parts (where big buses can’t get to) and the other CEO’s I’ve experienced have been organised, researched and are passionate about travel and making your experience the best it can be.

As always though you have to make your own mind up, choose you’re own adventure and I wish you much happiness.  You could always choose your next adventure now… Heaven on Earth or Misery to Happiness.

It would also be awesome would if you could share with me your thoughts – you can add them below or engage me direct susie@mssusanne.com.au

If you’re not ready to take your next adventure now then you can always subscribe and come back later…

smileykiss

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