The ACE Philosophy

The Beauty of the Counter Attack

When my car broke down (slowed quietly to a halt on the freeway) on November 17^th, I really got angry at my ‘less is more’ philosophy.  I was pissed off at momentarily having ‘less’ car!  And the only thing ‘more’ I had, was walking!  But I can’t write a book and not truly test the principles I adhere to.  So I challenged myself then and there, at 2am, to see if I could see the beauty the in situation.  Turn defence into attack.

I had talked about how to react to a broken down car previously and we decided that your only thought process after your car breaks down should be ‘oh, that’s weird – I’m going to have to walk places now’ – because we decided that there are more important things to worry about.  BUT!  Can you actually do this IN the actual situation.

I opened the hood for an obligatory look, saw some pink goo, smelt the smell of burning and decided to don the oversized Sombrero I had recently acquired from a tacky but taco Mexican restaurant.  Me and Kate took photos of us gallavanting down the freeway. We stopped at the 7Eleven to get whatever our taste buds decided.  We got snakes and Vitamin water and chocolate and wheeled the suitcase down the road 2km to my house.  I actually felt happy!  It was memorably funny.

The next day when I had it towed to a repair shop, I had to walk home.  It was then I walked through North Melbourne (I got a day off work as well!)and  I came across ‘Elevenses’,  this perfect cafe . Everything that happens to me in that cafe from now on is a result ofmy car breaking down.

And what has happened since then is that I have taken all of my friends to this café.  I have seen live music form artists I still follow and it’s unequivocally my number one Happiness Hub in Melbourne.

Good coffee.  So my car breaking down has lead to more of my favourite pastime. Cafe`-ing

So what good has come from having lost my car?  Is less truly more?

Less car = more money. I don’t have to pay Rego, insurance, fuel, license and I can’t possibly get fined for a traffic infringement.

Less car = meeting more people, public transport/carpooling.  This could lead to listening to more Britney Spears on CD though since I won’t have stereo jurisdiction in cases of car-pooling.

Less car= more time to read and write – on public transport – waiting for cancelled trains!

Less car= more coffee from Elevenses.

Less car= the more I will enjoy driving the next time.

Jonathan

The Most Perfect Tattoo

I believe that humans can overcome all adversity.  The proof is that I am here writing and YOU are here reading.  Hardship is entirely relative.  Your worst hardship is as terrible as mine, as terrible as his.  We are all still here.

I have ‘LIFE’ tattooed on my heart, the most sacred of vessels.  The letters emblazoned on thee expand with every breath.  Millimetre by millimetre, I am soaking up life.

THAT breath you just took is incredible.

I believe that less is more.  That we already have everything we need but we will never get everything that we want.  That’s why they’re called ‘wants’.  I ask myself what I need more of, not what I want more of.

I believe that the embodiment of the love of my life is outside my door right now.  I believe that life can change in an instant and that that instant is just as likely to happen now as in 23 years time.  That gives me instant hope. 

I believe the endlessly curled indentations on my fingertip harbour everything necessary to leave an indelible imprint on my world.

I believe that I can handle so much love that I can be both sung up to and listened down upon in the same lifetime.

I am today.

I would rather lose money than value.

I would rather lose a job than myself.

I would rather ‘be’ than want, but I would rather strive than stagnate. I believe the manifesto of my prophecy is imperfect.

Make the intangibles inside of you tangible as soon as possible.  And as soon as you can, recognise that you are alive.

How To Do Anything In Two Steps

1. Dedicate a drawer to it

If you have any outdoor furniture settings that you use in summer and cover over in winter, you are much more motivated to use it when it isn't covered over, when you can just go outside and sit without taking the covers off.

If your goal this year is to write more hand-written letters and you spend more time looking for a pen, buying stamps and looking up people's addresses - then you are much MORE unlikely to finish your goal, let alone start it.

The entire top drawer of my desk at home is now a CAVE of CORRESPONDENCE.  It houses an endless supply of pens, envelopes, people's addresses and an unhealthy and financially troubling amount of stamps! For me to sit down and write now takes a total of 3.5 seconds.  Not only have I dedicated an entire drawer to it, I have dedicated my TOP drawer to it.  I feel like my internal priorities are more and more becoming my external realities.

I write a lot now.

So whatever your goal is, dedicate your top drawer to it.  Fill up your top drawer with gardening magazines, with newspaper articles, with paintbrushes, with guitar picks - whatever will physically get you closer to your goal.

Make your TOP DRAWER your TOP PRIORITY. 

And when should you start your own Cave of Correspondence for your specific goal? Well you should...

...2.  Choose your start time for doing your project from the clock below*

*Image from an American Express advertising campaign.

Jonathan, February 15th, 2010

Climb A Tree, Have a Candle-lit Dinner, Stare Out Over The Ocean and Do Something New & Free

I just had the best week of my life. 

No grandiose item of good news came upon me.  No awe inspiring spiritual enlightenments.  No pleasantly obscene gesture from another.  I DID however climb a tree and have an impromptu candle-lit dinner.  I also fell asleep on the beach, went swimming and stared out at the sun setting.  Tonight, a walk around the block turned into free lawn bowls in the rain.

The simplest week of all time proved to be the best.  I should remember this when I'm yearning for an overseas holiday or some miraculous life changing event.  Maybe in life I should be SIMPLY STRIVING for weeks and days and moments like these.  What would happen if my goals in life revolved around getting as many days and weeks like this?

Simple days and simple weeks are always attainable, and, I feel like they are the best.

I'm looking forward to the water balloon fight.

Jonathan

Just read the best book I ever have.

"Guardians of Being" by Eckhart Tolle and Patrick McDonnell

Every other animal on the planet has surrendered to life and has given in to the moment.  Through pictures and wise words, the book reminded me that we've forgotten how to live life simply.

Why ACE?

ACE is the acronym for my three key operating philosophies:

Accept yourself and others

Communicate and celebrate

Expect Happiness

There has not been one instant of perceived hardship that I haven't overcome using one or all of these notions. And usually, when I find myself in a happiness trough or feeling flat-ish, it is usually because I am NOT adhering to one of these three key ideas.

If I'm anxious about a decision I've made or about the behaviour of others, it means I am not truly accepting myself and others.  Similarly, if I'm in a rut, it means I'm probably not communicating what the problem is, either by way of talking, writing it down or expressing it.  And it also almost definitely means that I'm not CELEBRATING what I DO have in my life.

And today, I want to talk about EXPECTING HAPPINESS.  I'm getting pretty good at it, and really, if you are truly expecting happiness to be around the corner then you're not worrying about the outcome of a decision or a potentially negative situation arising.  However, lately, I have been expecting happiness so much that I feel I am getting lazy in my decision making.  'It doesn't matter what I decide - I'll turn out being happy anyway'. This kind of 'baseless confidence' seems good for a while, it seems positive, but I feel like maybe I'm placing less importance on the actual decision then I am on coping with it.  I feel this is great in theory, but I don't want to get to a point where I make only old decision and just remotely hope that it will turn out amazing.

I have to remind myself:

I'm am well equipped to handle situations that arise out of my control

A 'bad' decision can by mitigated by making the most of the situation

A 'bad' decision will invariably teach you something

Not to get lazy in decision making with the mantra of 'expecting happiness' to guide me anyway - I must actually stop and think what the best choice is in terms of my priorities in life and then if it turns out seemingly wrong, then I will remember the first three points I've written here.

Jonathan

PS  Plus, I see the ACE acronym everywhere in society, on posters, signs, companies, everywhere!  It sticks out to me and whenever I see an 'ACE Hardware' truck or an 'ACE Laundry Services' sign, I remember my philosophies. It's amazing how many times I see it!

I Am Today

One week ago I decided I would deliberately SAVOUR every single day.  Sounds noble without being actually achieveable right?  Wrong.  I feel like I am on a ridiculous streak of both happiness and CONTENTMENT.  I don't even feel like I have to touch wood to keep it going either.

I start every day by handwriting todays date in my book (which is just over-glorified notes, musings and general streams of consciousness).  I stare at it and make sure I realise how amazing it is to be here at all, let alone here.

I truly believe that 'I AM TODAY'.  That's all we are anyway!

I remind myself to 'not walk past beauty again' and to make sure I stop and recognise the (at least) 99 miracles that happen every single day.  The ability to walk, talk, breathe, drink are the bare miracles!  How about the miracles to laugh, spend time with friends, eat chocalate, walk in the sun, taking photos, comfort, the beach etc!!!

On day one of my CONTENTMENT and SAVOURING, I went on a walk at 8am to get some coffee and wander past book shops in Kensington.  I walked past a street called 'New Street'.  I really noticed this and took it as a sign and as a sign that this is a NEW start!  I walked past the book shop and saw a book in the window that I had been looking for for weeks.  Also, on the door were free bookmarks that I needed.  I have about 15 half-read books in my shelf! Next to the bookmarks was an A4 manifesto of someone's thoughts on life, love and living in the present.  I read it intently.  I loved it. I took photos of it to remember key parts. 

Getting up early to SAVOUR that day was the start of an amazing transition towards contentment.  I have genuinely never felt better.  Every day feels great.  Not only do I feel that I've chased down happiness, I feel like I've unlocked CONTENTMENT.  I also believe happines and contentment can exist side by side!  Deliberately doing one thing at a time, not rushing, and savouring as many miracles from each day as possible has had an everlasting impact on me.I want every day to be a replica of the last.

And as always, it's the simple things right?

I'm just doing so many more SIMPLE THINGS every day now.  Picnics, walks, taking photos, writing, reading...

What's on YOUR list of simple things?

Jonathan.

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Start With The Man In The Mirror

I love discovering meaningful lyrics from old songs like this one..

SOUND ADVICE 

It's an amazingly poignant song for me and really, for anyone.  I don't think anything about our lives is really going to change unless we start with ourselves.  Looking in helps us to look out, and it's nothing but hypocritical if we start to change the world before ourselves.

I've undergone a lot of changes in myself lately.  My 'no rush' policy.  My 'talk less, but talk on MORE occasions' undertaking.  My 'be annoyingly positive' campaign.  My 'do one thing at a time' mantra.  My 'more letter writing' promise.

The list of almost annoyingly empowering choices goes on and I have never felt better.  And I've noticed the world 'coming to me' more since I've changed myself.  Things are turning for the better. I'm more relaxed, so so is the world.  I smile more, so so does the world.

There is no better place to start than with the Man in the Mirror.

TURN TODAY INTO THE GREATEST!

Jonathan

The Living in the NOW Argument

The Living in the NOW Argument

NOW backwards is ‘WON’.   I truly believe that living right NOW means you have WON.

Living in the now.  It’s a great ideal that is technically flawed.  The argument against living in the now is of course, how do you plan a surprise birthday party for Melissa AND truly live in the now? You can’t.  And, if you lived in the NOW, you would eat out every meal because you would not plan meals ahead!

I have been super content lately and for me, living in the now can sometimes just be about NOT RUSHING.  Doing ONE THING at a time and doing it well.  Multi-taskers are mediocre I reckon.  I haven’t rushed anywhere for anything for nearly a whole week and I feel great.  I have deliberately given the things around me due respect, rather than concocting and scheming for the future in my mind.

 So how can you ascend to that lofty ideal of living in the now as well as being able to throw  Melissa a kick-ass surprise party?

Well, you could…

*Plan to make plans.  Set aside time to make plans – shopping, diary, schedule, upcoming events and THEN live in the now when you have planned that awesome trip around the world for next year.

*Set aside time to live in the now.  Look, listen and read without the guilt that you’re wasting time.

*Plan to achieve your goals, but don’t be set on exactly HOW just yet.  Doing something NOW that meaningfully moves you forward to your goal.  This is a great way to live in the now that also has a lasting impact on your future.

*Know where you’re going.  If you’re committed and have built the train track – there is no way you can go off track, even if you feel like you’re not making progress. Respect the process, by not jumping too far ahead.

*Do one thing at a time and do it well!  If you’re planning on getting to a future goal, the best step to take is the next one!!

NOW=WON

I’m on a crusade to NOT rush as much as possible, because it’s made me very content of late.

J

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Return To Greatness This Year

I am lucky enough to be travelling at the moment and I've seen some pretty amazing things that have inspired me to return to greatness this year, even though '09 was amazing!

How are YOU planning on returning to greatness next year?

I may not add this to my official goals for 2010, but I'm going to have a quiet chuckle to myself every time I 'laugh something off' this year.  I'm going to see how many tough situations I can laugh off.  It's SO good for the soul and it sets an incredible bar of awesomeness for those around me.  Staying with friends has been a major positive factor in my contentment growth so far this year (that's right, I said 'so far'!) 

The last few weeks have been amazing and I've often found myself falling asleep laughing, or in the very least, laughing before going to bed.  Falling asleep content has been far more achievable since I have been residing on top of couches and blow-up mattresses at friend's places.

At home in Australia, I'm often confounded by my own thoughts in an empty house just prior to falling asleep - but travelling and staying in packed houses with friends often causes P.M. hilarity and it leaves you sleeping with those thoughts in mind!  I've noticed quite a remarkable shift in my contentment as I fall asleep. 

Currently I am NOT inundated with thoughts of the future, regrets of the past or shortcomings of the present, just memories of the last few hours. Sleep over at a friend's house soon.  Change up your sleeping arrangements if you can't find peace at night.  Share a joke, a game or ridiculous conversation before sleeping.  Laugh before bed and a peaceful sleep is nigh. 

So not only am I going to laugh off as many tough situations as I can this year, but I am going laugh before bed as often as possible!

Goodnight!

Jonathan