All posts in My Life

Last night after salsa class, a few of us got engaged in a really interesting conversation, which extended from religion to politics to philosophy and so forth – it was incredibly interesting and one topic, which stuck with me was that of living in the now.

Once upon a time I read a book called The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle, which was a book aimed at teaching and showing the reader how to live life looking at things in the present, rather than always comparing the present to the past in order to foresee the future. I found the book fascinating and ever since I have always wondered to myself what the best way to handle life is, in terms of living in the now.

I’m the sort of person who’s extremely calculated, I like to know what’s happening tomorrow before today is over, or what’s happening in a couple years before this year is over. Now, I am obviously talking about things relative to my life, such an example which comes to mind is that of buying property – I have spent hours and hours defining a plan as to how I will be able to afford property in the next couple years.

Back to the conversation last night – We were trying to decide whether it made more sense to reap the benefits of being young and having money to spend or whether we should be saving as much as possible. When you’re 30 and you can drive around in a ambo, it’s awesome, but when you’re 60 and driving around in a ambo, it’s a little sad – Naturally that’s my opinion, but I’m sure you get it. I find myself, and friends/family, saving money continually and always worrying about something in the future, this something being undefined and unknown – which makes me wonder, what’s the point? I do believe that creating a foundation and security blanket for the future is important, but perhaps we’re all spending too much time worry about that, when in fact we should be embracing life and everything it has to offer, now. Doesn’t that more sense than limiting ourselves when we’re young, healthy and capable of doing amazing things?

Naturally our conversation went on quite a bit more than just this and tapped on topics such as, will the world actually be around in, say, 30 years? That said, imagine limiting yourself so much now for no reason at all?

What do you think? Should we live in the now, embrace life, spend money and have fun, or should we carefully calculate our, possible, futures?

A few days ago I talked about my weekend away in Talbach and how wonderful it was to leave technology alone for a while.

The more and more I talk to people, the more I hear about the requirement for holidays, massages, TLC and other stress relieving things. Most of the people I talk to are between the ages of 25 and 32, work in the technology industry and work more hours than they probably should. They’re all successful for their ages.

The reason I bring this up is because I feel that a great deal of us are working incredibly hard, the information overload is quite incredible and managing it all takes years of experience. Without finding a good balance between work, life, love, pleasure and so forth can land you in a tricky spot. Ask yourself this question – When last did you go for a massage or a weekend away, or even a walk on the beach? If you haven’t done either, then it’s probably a good time to book a massage or take a long walk :)

I want to hear from all of you though – When last did you do something really relaxing and what was it?

So tomorrow, Fe and I will be heading out of Cape Town for a couple days to a relaxing and remote location in Tulbagh called Welbedacht.

Here’s a quick write up:

Just over an hour’s drive from Cape Town, Welbedacht Nature Reserve offers a stunning retreat in the country. Amply equipped, self catering cottages tucked away in between the Reserve and orchards, offer complete privacy and a tranquil environment. Spectacular views of the Tulbagh Valley and the surrounding mountains combine with the cries of the fish eagles and the
sounds of nature.

Private plunge pools and braai areas, open fireplaces for winter nights, and large verandas for relaxing on all cottages combine to make this a special and memorable escape.

Sounds utterly delightful if you ask me, I’m tired of these fancy and trendy locations, bring on the rural living!

I can’t wait to do some fishing!

So I decided that I was too lazy to cook myself bacon and eggs, so I’m sitting downstairs at the coffee shop, writing up with post, waiting for bacon and eggs, and listening to some Cafe del Mar – I must admit, having a Lenovo S10 netbook is incredibly useful.

This afternoon I’m heading through to The Waterfront to buy some items for tonight’s Moulin Rouge salsa party – it’s going to be a fun one, there’s no doubt about that. Not exactly sure what I’m going to wear, but I really didn’t feel like going all out and renting something, so it’ll be minimalist, but hopefully good enough.

What does everyone have planned for the weekend?

I found two useful links btw:

1. 5 ways to turn your blog comments into discussions
2. 20 open source PHP CMS’s

Right, breakfast has arrived, I best be off :)