What is an Expert?

15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy

Here is a list of 15 things which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and much, much happier. (Original article from World Observer Online here.) We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering – and instead of letting them all go, instead of allowing ourselves to be stress free and happy – we cling on to them. Not anymore. Starting today we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go:

1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong – wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain, for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question: “Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?”Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you – situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.

“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning.” Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.

“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive.” Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind” Elly Roselle

6. Give up complaining. Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, maaany things – people, situations, events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It’s not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.

8. Give up your need to impress others. Stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not just to make others like you. It doesn’t work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you’re not, the moment you take of all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.

9. Give up your resistance to change. Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change – don’t resist it.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell

10. Give up labels. Stop labeling those things, people or events that you don’t understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open. “The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don’t know anything about.” Wayne Dyer

11. Give up on your fears. Fear is just an illusion, it doesn’t exist – you created it. It’s all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. Give up your excuses. Send them packing and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even real.

13. Give up the past. I know, I know. It’s hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening, but you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for – the past that you are now dreaming about – was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After all life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.

14. Give up attachment. This is a concept that, for most of us is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too, (it still is) but it’s not something impossible. You get better and better at with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things, (and that doesn’t mean you give up your love for them – because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another,  attachment comes from a place of fear, while love… well, real love is pure, kind, and self less, where there is love there can’t be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot coexist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words.

15. Give up living your life to other people’s expectations. Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them, they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them, to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people’s expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need….and eventually they forget about themselves.  You have one life – this one right now – you must live it, own it, and especially don’t let other people’s opinions distract you from your path.

30 Abandoned Places That Look Truly Beautiful

More specifically, an eerie tone of beauty which lies in the mystery of human desolation. Because we are mortal beings, we are an amnesic species from generation to generation; and our past is nearly as mysterious as our future. What we can remember, marks the capacity of human knowledge. What we have yet to learn, marks the capacity of human potential.

Incredible. Isn't it?


Craco, Italy.

Groundation - Weak Heart

"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me!"

Is there even a shred of truth in this rhyme? I understand that it is supposed to teach children to take the high road or to not take it to heart when taunted by a bully. But what is this rhyme teaching the bullies?* And what kind of lesson are we teaching the youth regarding the value of their spoken words?

Perhaps our society would be a better place if people understood that the words they speak do indeed have a powerful impact on the lives of others: that as a speaker they control the power to do much good or much evil with their very words.

So instead of the old "Sticks and Stones" saying,
what if we taught our youth a different message?

What message would you teach?


*Not to mention the apparent increase in the amount of attention this society is giving bullying. It leads one to wonder what the correlation is between our culture's general social mentality and the growing severity and numbers of "bullies."

20 Gentle Quotations From Mister Rogers

Today marks the 85th birthday of Mister Fred McFeely Rogers of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. And in honor of his life's work and dedication to educating the public, particularly the youth, I would like to share some insightful pieces of wisdom from Mister Rogers himself. Additionally, below is a re-shared post of the most excellent audio/visual production by melodysheep for PBS Digital Studios called "Garden of Your Mind." Enjoy, neighbors! 

Mister Rogers | Garden of Your Mind | PBS Digital Studios

Michio Kaku: The Universe in a Nutshell

It's Monday, time for some mental exercises in theoretical physics! If you have 42 minutes and just the smallest ounce of curiosity, you will definitely enjoy this entertaining lecture by the popular Japanese-American physicist, Michio Kaku, as he delivers a more practical approach to appreciating a world full of cultures full of physics. It is the cornerstone of all the fields of science after all. Stay curious my friends, and be enlightened!

Reinventing Yourself

The Overview Effect

Perspective really does create a vehicle of radical enlightenment as it is quite the profound metaphor for ourselves as individuals as well as a collective species. Push yourself and your mind to think beyond your own immediate scope of knowledge and undertake the mental stretches required to strengthen your capacity for personal growth. The Overview Effect that these scientists discuss verges on the spiritual connectedness that ties together all life contained within our tiny blue orb of energy floating in space. Take care of one another, and together we can take care of the Earth. Brought to you in HD. Enjoy!


OVERVIEW from Planetary Collective on Vimeo.

There Your Heart Is

Be Convicted

And don't forget: Repetition is the Mother of all Learning~

Success: How Bad Do You Want It?

Mai makaʻu i ka hana; e makaʻu naʻe i ka moloā.
Do not fear work; fear laziness.
...
Everybody wants the secret to success, but when the steps to success are revealed and demystified by hard work not everyone is eager to act. Effort, perseverance, and heart shall be the dividing line between the perpetual dreamers and the doers in this world. Which one are you?

Be both, my friends. Hiki nō! You can do it!

Expand Your Mind

Josh Heinrichs Ft. BW - Stand

 "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything."


My friends, in light of the MLK holiday I would like to encourage you to take up and champion a cause if you have not already.  You just might be surprised how much positivity will be ushered into your life when you strive to live selflessly. 

Aloha mai kākou a e kū mau!  :)

The Garden

In the garden ideas sprout and ideas grow.
Some yield fruit
harvested to nourish the body
& soul.

Others bud, and bloom
into bright, colorful flowers.
Their pollen is collected
taken beyond the garden on the wings of knowledge.

But let us not forget,
that among the flowers and the fruit
weeds spring up with the slightest change in winds
stealing nutrients and spoiling the soil.

Who is planting the seeds in your garden? And have you tended your garden today?

Undefined: Pursuing Enlightenment Through Humility

Humility must take precedence over enlightenment if one is to successfully expand his own cognitive capacity; for it is impossible to grow if the mind refuses to acknowledge its own gaping inadequacies.  The list of the unfathomable and the impossible is infinite to a static mind and the very thought of being challenged lest he is proven incorrect - to have one's own paradigm, one's own truth, flipped upside-down, or worse - torn to shreds, proves to anger and to offend the ordinary man.  New and foreign ideas endanger his own blind allegiance to the ideas already trapped within the confines of his small world and therefore threaten his pride. To this man, philosophy embodies psychological violence. To him, the very possibility that his own meaning his own reality is not in fact truth, shakes him to the core. His doubts create fear.  His fear puts his mind in shackles.  So he remains unmoved.

On the other hand, the man who sets down his pride to reach outside the paradigm with a clear mind and an open heart is the one who endeavors to learn and mature.  For he does not ignorantly refuse nor does he tacitly accept the first news that reaches his senses, but instead he continuously examines further evidence on his own accord.  It requires a degree of wisdom to accept that alternate possibilities exist; that they just simply lie beyond the periphery of one's own consciousness.  This, my friends, is the the first step that must be taken before you can endeavor to expand your own universe.    

Blessed is the man who is true to himself.


Clear Conscience & Friends - Undefined (feat. Aaron Borowitz of Thrive!)