Micro Habit Challenge 2.0

Hold on – this is a tough one! šŸ˜‰ I already introduced you to the concept of the micro habit challenge a few weeks ago. The last time I challenged myself with three new habits, this time it is only one: I donā€™t want to drink caffeine for one week.

This might sound like an easy challenge, but for me as a “coffee person” this is definitely a challenge.

Why do I want to reduce my consume?

  1. I noticed that the monkey in my head breaks free after too much coffee. Sometimes I canā€™t even focus on chores like washing the dishes.
  2. Usually I have a strong coffee in the morning. It puts me instantly in a good mood but it can instanly switch into anxiety or small panic attacks – especially if Iā€™m not in the best mood. Sometimes I even get a bit aggressive.
  3. The crazy monkey in my head hinders me from going to sleep at times.

Caffeine acts as a serious central nervous system stimulant. As soon as it reaches your brain it puts your body in a state of alertness – you feel more awake and your heartrate is increasing. At least for a certain time this might be useful, but when the caffeine level drops, you are even more tired than before and your body wants more.

Of course – probably there are other causes of these issues, but I believe that caffeine has a massive impact on my psyche. And because I like to adopt brutal measures I decided to cancel all sorts of caffeine (coffee, mate, green tea, guarana, energy drink,…) from now on for one week and see how it goes.

What happened so far?

Today is actually already day four of my challenge. I want to continue until the weekend with this challenge. So far I already feel the positive side effects of my cold withdrawal: I was in a better mood today. My midday low was not that heavy and my mood didnā€™t drop the bottom in the afternoon as it every so often does. And: It is nearly 10 pm and Iā€™m sitting here writing this article.

I keep you updated by the end of the week…

 

Days of Clarity

Itā€™s just one of those days. Itā€™s one of those days when the fog is lifting and you can finally breathe again.

Itā€™s one of those days when you see the truth behind your contradictions. Itā€™s one of those days when you acknowledge your strengths and you accept your weaknesses.

Itā€™s one of those days when the whole world is sorted. You finally arrive in the presence. You finally get to feel yourself again. You feel like life is right in front of you. You just have to grab it. Nothing can stop you anymore.

Itā€™s one of those days when you are endlessly happy. This feeling of joy warms your chest. You are as happy as a child awaiting christmas or its birthday party.

Itā€™s one of those days when the mosaic of your experiences, the snippets of your memories, the fragments of your emotions create one picture. Every failure makes sense, because every stumble led you in the right direction – where you are now. Your inner judge stops judging your frailties.

Itā€™s just one of those days of relief – when anxiety yields security and monochrome turns multi-coloured.

In these moments of clarity you breathe in the energy of the universe. Try to conserve it in your emotional memory as an island of peace. The next time when you feel down, when the fog of self-doubts is clouding your clear sight again, you can come back to this peaceful gem in your chest.

Love life <3

 

Confusion Coma

My perfectionism disables my productivity – the fear of failure makes me powerless. Paralyzed I scrape around – unable to get started.

When decision making becomes a torture every idea turns into a burden.
When opportunities become obstacles, openness closes doors.

I donā€™t see the wood for all the trees, because my senses are occupied by self-consciousness.

There is no way forward – as long as I don’t ā€œmake wayā€. Unfortunately nobody can help me with this.

Deep inside of me I know that I have to push through. Deep inside of me there is wisdom beyond that pain. The pain that is part of humanization. The pain that demands to be felt.

But from time to time and often enough I ask myself: Why? Why do I ask all these questions without answers?

 

Wake Up Call

Our human nature had turned into a monstery ā€œthingā€ headed by technological progress, productivity and consumption. From early on we are programmed to act “economically”. Productivity became our purpose, “consuming” our occupation and “being busyā€ our obsession – Thinking became a rarity.

We consider ourselves to be safe as long as we “fit in”, but in reality the system oppresses us. It oppresses us until we feel nothing but fear – let’s call it “glorified slavery”. Our inability of feeling something else than fear makes us unable to make our own decisions.

We live in fool’s paradise. Instead of learning to think for ourselves we are getting lost in diversion.Ā Like an addict we jump head over heels from one temporary satisfaction to another not noticing, how we are already trapped in a vicious circle.

We fill our lives with a lot of responsibilities, but we forget to take responsibilty for our own life. Instead of listening to our inner voice we are only listening to the call of duty. We are working at least eight hours a day for dubious purposes, we are saving money for our pension hoping for a happy end, but do we live in the meantime? Are we truly alive?

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”

Albert Einstein

We disregard our nature. This way we will never reach our full potential as a human being. What do I mean by that? Iā€™m not talking about our economical potential. Iā€™m talking about our potential to spread love, care for each other, to make each other smile, to ease each others pain.

Between industrialization and digitalization we lost one essential thing: Love. We lost our ability to truly love and truly be loved.

There is not one person, one government, one country, one continent responsible. We are responsible – it is up to us. Do we want to keep on carrying the destructive heritage of our forefathers? I donā€™t.

ā€œI am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become.ā€

Carl Jung

Letā€™s share our knowledge and become experts of life again. Letā€™s rediscover our senses and finetune our intuition. Letā€™s update our consciousness instead of our mobile phone apps. Letā€™s cherish our human relations, patch our social network (in the real world), stop exploiting our planet like there is no tomorrow and finally cure our own lives.

ā€œYou never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.ā€

R. Buckminster Fuller

We can only change the world, if we change ourselves first. It all starts with positive thinking. This is the reason, why Iā€™m willing to change my destructive behaviors. Self-destruction is the beginning of the end. A new world order arises from positivity not from productivity.

Let’s stop following the beaten track and leave our own footprints.

 

Collective Burnout

Red eyes – blinded.

Faces like wax.

Lips pressed to a pale line enclosing fears.

Back bended dragging a heritage.

Distracted by diversion we are sliding into non-existence.

Soul-destroying lovelessness is soaking up our energy.

Iced-hearted we are burning out – collectively.

 

 

Dissolution

Sometimes I feel like Iā€™m not experiencing the world, but Iā€™m absorbing it. It feels like all the external influences are dissolving my body and my whole existence into nothingness.