Time to NOW

14 unique clocks

2009-11-30T21:22:00.000+01:00

This is quite an interesting overview of very unique clocks. I love the whiteboard clock - design every day a new clock. I tried to order one but they are not shipping to Europe. Mmm, maybe I'll have to buy one next year on one of my US-trips I guess.

Beautiful - drawing in sand - timeless

2009-11-26T20:00:00.000+01:00

It's quite incredible what this lady does with sand.

Here you'll find the video.

It reminds me of a poem that a participant of the 'Week without clock' shared with us:

“The mind is like the wind, and the body is like the sand;
if you want to know how the wind is blowing, look at the sand."

Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

Week without clock

2009-11-21T13:12:00.002+01:00

On November 14th, 11 people go to a big house in the 'Ardennen' (Belgium) for the experiment - a week without the clock organized by Mieke Koldewee and Cyriel Kortleven. No clock, no laptop, no mobiles, nothing that can distract us and bring us in contact with the clock. And the experiment is a big succes. At 18:18 the clock was banned and experience time took over.

The NO-W-ALL gets created with all kind of questions, challenges, offerings, and nice-to-know-things about all kind of time perspectives. Our special cook Raoul (who appeared to be a natural zen-master) makes sure that we don't have to worry about food and he creates lovely and healthy food whenever we are hungry. Groups are formed and split again; theoretical models are build and the body takes over; deep conversations where we listen hard to each other; the heart takes over and the mind gets silent; self-reflection is mixed with easy-going exercises and all kind of movies about time. We loose the clock-time completely and have no clue at what time we get up or go to bed. People sleep, eat, walk, draw, talk, dream, reflect, play, write, read, use their fantasy, ...

For me, it's one of the biggest presents that I gave to myself in the previous years. Deepak Chopra was aboslutely right when he said: 'Yesterday is history, tomorrow a mystery, but today is a gift, that's why it's called the present!'

Nice article - climbing mountain of now

2009-11-07T18:15:00.002+01:00

Nice article about the mountain of now and all the obstacles we finf on our way when we want to climb the mountain: illusions, excuses, judgement, the past and the future. All kind of obstacles that keep us away from the now.

And a nice picture of an ad that I found in the subway of London.

The mysterious DJ

2009-09-06T20:58:00.002+02:00

Absolutely one of my favorite you tube movies. Would be quite cool if we could stop the time sometimes and go back a few moments and then change something small ;-)

Enjoy the movie here.

Art of Hosting Berlin - the chaordic field

2009-08-12T21:03:00.007+02:00

I am just back from a four-day training - the Art of Hosting - in Berlin. It was absolutely a great experience to work together with more than 45 people around meaningful conversations. We experienced methods like WorldCafe, Open Space, Appreciative Inquiry, circle work, ... and applied them on very powerful questions.

I'm starting to call myself an experienced facilitator but being an host of such an 'event' goes a step further. Because we were in Berlin and it's 20 years after the 'Berlin wall' came down, we worked around the topic to bring our inner walls down that keep us seperated. I liked the part about the chaordic field because it relates a lot to the creation and innovation work that I do. The chaordic field is the area that emerges from being between chaos and order. That's where the deep learning happens. It's also the field of not knowing (U-theory). When a system/society puts too much attention on order, you get a system of control. And that's a very rigid system but a big part of our current society is build on control. The other side is too much chaos and then you get into the destructive chaos. New awareness and solutions emerge from the chaordic field. This field is also sometimes related to the groan zone - you feel resistance, you don't know what you're doing, you want to step out of the process but this is the moment where you need to be self-confident and have trust in the process.

I recognize this zone a lot in creative sessions. This is the moment where the 'logical' ideas have been harvested and people get stuck in the ideakillers (yes, but; too crazy; not fo our clients; ...). The best ideas are found if you can 'survive' this groan zone. I have been in the groan zone a few times during the intense training - struggling with my mind and emotions; not knowing what I should do but every time I got through it and discovered a very nice insight. The next picture (the result of an open space session outside) is maybe the answer on the question - what will you discover if you bring your inner walls down?

(quite funny to become conscious -just now- that this graffiti image was made on a wall -the Berlin wall??? behind a fence)

I can absolutely recommend this experience to other people who are interested in exploring really deep conversations and want to learn all kind of methods and a philosophy to host big groups with powerful questions. Thanks to all the great participants and the art of hosting team who helped me to break down some of my inner walls and discover the beauty of some other walls that represent my values and strengths. And thanks to the Hub Berlin for being such a nice host for this event. Very interesting concept for all self-employed people out there who want to become part of a bigger community.

Back to the past - black/white camera

2009-08-05T11:02:00.004+02:00

I'm just back from a few days visiting Barcelona and a very nice project Can Nova. In Barcelona I was playing a bit with my camera (and selecting some different colors) and you get immediately an effect of going back into the past. When you look at the pictures, you can imagine that you travelled back in time (to the thirties or forties) and be a passer-by.

And sometimes you get a special effect - especially the pigeon in the front looks quite bizar. So maybe you can do some time-travels yourself when you edit some of your holiday pictures.

How naked are you prepared to be?

2009-07-25T19:22:00.001+02:00

Nic Askew is many things. Film-maker, storyteller, musician, composer. I discovered his work through a friend who said that I would like his stuff. And yes, ... it is absolutely very powerful and touching.

For me, Nic is a great artist and every movie has a specific message. Not a moral message but a message that makes you wonder, reflect, think, feel, ... You can find his stuff on Soul Biographies where he captures the experience of being human. He make you laugh and he makes you cry. I have just watched a movie where he interviewed Dominic Miller - guitarist of Sting (a more famous person or is he also just a normal guy) about the story that's out there waiting to be told by you.

How naked are you prepared to be?

The ages of female energy

2009-07-11T08:09:00.003+02:00

They have asked me to 'facilitate' a track on a creativity conference in Greenwich next week. The purpose of the track is to give a short introduction on the topic, work 2 hours with a 1/3 of the participants and have a creative presentation at the final day to 'summarize' our insights. The track that they asked me to facilitate is 'power and influence'.

My first thoughts were 'Mmmm, is this really my thing because 'power and influence' don't look to fit in my portfolio where I focus on creative skills, experience time and interaction with bigger groups. But my creative attitude 'stimulated' me to postpone judgement and let the topic rest for a while. My first associations with power and influence were linked with hierarchy, authority, dominion, strenght, reaching goals, superiority, leadership, a person showing muscles, ... all more masculin associations. But then (after a while) other associations became present ... networking, connecting, guidance, impact, effective, standing straight, openess, listening, ... a bit more feminin words.

By the way masculinity and femininity have nothing to do with the difference between men and women. Everybody has the potential to develop both kind of skills. And we absolutely need both sides of the paradox. In the last decades, we have developed a society with male energy where things like efficiency, a high status, planning and goals, logical thinking are appreciated. And a lot of these things have helped us to get prosperity and a wealthy economy but at this moment, it looks like the balance is gone. Too much male energy leads to a society that is rigid, political and hierarchy battles, loss of the humaninity in a lot of processes. And if you look at the world at this moment, the economic system is in a crisis; people who still think that they can go on with only masculin skills are struggling to survive; organizations

And apparently, more people think that we need more female energy into our system. Two weeks ago, I was on the future summit where 4 futurists gave their vision on the next decades and in all of their stories, the importance of a better balance between femininity and masculinity was mentioned. So I'm quite sure that the whole system needs more female energy (caring, loving, listening, waiting, developing, connecting, ...). Keeping those things in mind, the track 'power and influence' becomes more appealing to me and I would like to explore - together with the other participants - the topic power and influence from different perspectives. I will keep you updated.

Pecha kucha presentation 'Time to NOW' in Maastricht

2009-06-30T17:43:00.000+02:00

No time to be a pessimist

2009-06-27T09:34:00.001+02:00

I hope that this is already old news for most of you but I just saw this video about the biggest artwork ever – the movie ‘Home’ from Yann Arthus-Bertrand. Absolutely fabulous so I’m not going to spend more words and discover it for yourself (movie lasts 1,5 hours but it’s the best time investment that you can do).

The art of doing nothing (and everything)

2009-06-20T12:09:00.001+02:00

Yesterday, I went to an IAF-conference (International association of Facilitators) in the Netherlands and the main theme was '3 times nothing'. The purpose was to explore the value of doing nothing at certain moments in a training or workshop. And the consequences that would have on your group. Some facilitators are convinced that you as a facilitator are responsible for the outcomes of a group. I don't think that's true, you are responsible for the process and setting the right atmosphere where a team or group of participants can discover new content or work towards a common goal. So it is not necessary as a facilitator to be responsible for the content and keep a discussion or flow going. Some facilitators start to work very hard if the participants are a bit more passive. But of course, they love it if the facilitator is going to do the work that they should do. So at the conference, all the workshops had something to do with 'nothing'. In the first workshop, I was in a group were we explored two different paths - one content part - what is nothing, why does it have an added value, ... and a very nice dialogue started about this topic. But a second path was more reflective and personal. They challenged us to not do something at certain moments. Eg if you wanted to add an example to a discussion, don't do it and see what it does with yourself. You could write down the thing that you hadn't said or done on a paper and decide if you would share this paper or not. So what was very interesting to notice a different track of discussion on the papers.

It became a bit chaotic because some people could only concentrate themselves on one track. So there was getting some tension in the room and some people were almost at the point of leaving the workshop. For me it was very interesting to notice the balance between calmness and tension and it became clear that nothing was exactly in between. If I would react to the tension to relieve it, then the 'nothingness' was gone and if I would do anything, probably some people would have left the workshop. So how far can you go? That's probably different for everybody but I think it's also an art - the art of doing nothing (and everything). In a lot of cases, when you do nothing, you are probably doing a lot somewhere else. So the topic is still going on and we didn't come to one conclusion and I guess that's very good. Leave the open space so nothing can happen ;-)

A new idea for a few minutes of your time

2009-06-06T07:26:00.002+02:00

Through a colleague, I found a very interesting and creative businessmodel. Christine Santora and Justin Gignac are a couple from New York City who started with quite a special project: they have defined some wants for example - an Iphone, chicken wings, some sleep, ... and they create a painting about that need (so they paint an IPhone or some chicken wings). The price for the painting is exactly the price for the item that they want. So if you buy 'a slice of peperoni', then you have to pay 3 dollars and they buy it and enjoy it.

They have a list of things that they want and also a list of things that they already have. It's quite funny that they already went to Vegas and people have paid for their hotel, some gambling money, an all-you-can-eat-buffet, ... and people have paid for each item and got a painting about the item instead. More info about their project here.

This is real entrepreneurship for me and let me take you a step further. If they can do it (and even find some customers), why don't we expand their model and use it for your own profession. Eg, if you are into music, maybe you can make a song about your wants? I am a creative facilitator so I will come up with ideas about a topic that I want and sell my ideas for the 'real' stuff. So I want to have an old pocket watch, I can do a brainstorm about this topic and 'sell 100 ideas' to get an old pocket watch - worth 100 dollars?

And going even further, you don't have to want physical things. I want to have contacts in the communication and event business in cities like New York and London so for every contact that I'll get, I'll send you an idea to broaden your own network. Mmm, very interesting concept, I let it grow a bit further and maybe I start my own 'idea-shop'.

And why not selling ideas for a few minutes of your (clock)time, if we can trade ideas for money or for contacts, then we can also trade ideas for time to spend with each other. You will get ideas how you can spend more time with friends, if you spend a few moments with me ;-)

A timeless moment

2009-04-17T17:54:00.001+02:00

A very nice moment ... unexpected, nice story and emotional.

Britains got talent - 2009 - singing woman

Earth hour - the big picture

2009-04-09T17:47:00.004+02:00

I discovered this blog just a few minutes ago -The Big Picture. They show news stories in pictures from big events that have happened in the world. I immediately subscribed. And I also found this series of pictures of Earth Hour and I quote their text to explain it:

"Started in Sydney, Australia in 2007, Earth Hour quickly grew into a global observance. More than 1,000 cities in over 80 countries observed Earth Hour 2009 on Saturday March 28th, as homes, office towers and landmarks turned off their lights for an hour starting at 8.30 pm local time to raise awareness about climate change and the threat from rising greenhouse gas emissions. Collected here are a series of before-and-after photographs - which (starting with the second one below) will fade between "on" and "off" when clicked."

This is the end

2009-04-08T09:33:00.000+02:00

And also the end of Internet. Enjoy your day.

Discovered a spooky pub in Brussels

2009-02-27T11:27:00.004+01:00

Quite close to the 'Grote markt' from Brussels, you can find the quite morbide pub 'Le cerceuil'. You have to get in through a small long pathway - very dark - and then you get to a dark spooky place where you can drunk from skulls and enjoy 'dark music'. You can put your drinks on the 'coffin-table'. Wooeeeeeaaahahaaaaaahahahahaaaaa ...

Nice event about coaching - Belgium

2009-02-25T15:21:00.002+01:00

A colleague of new shoes today is organizing a very nice event for people interested in coaching.

Have a look at http://www.newshoestoday.com/site/we/more_we/Martine/14maart2009/

It will be in dutch.

I'll be there and also some Knights of NOW!

new inspiration blog

2009-02-08T15:28:00.003+01:00

At the end of March, I'll be going to the US to do some workshops there (I'm probably visiting Atlanta, Chicago and New York). For the workshop in NY, I'm working together with Amy Frazier - a friend from Seattle. And we've set up an inspiration blog. Have a look at the inspiration wall.

How do you get into the NOW?

2009-01-31T11:01:00.003+01:00

A few weeks ago I did a Time to NOW workshop and we made a NOW-all (or NO-Wall) with all kind of activities that people do to get into the NOW. Here are the responses that the participants gave. What do you do to get into the NOW?

Making love; headset and music; taking a shower; dance; lean backwards with head in your neck; looking at chickens; having an aperitif; go running; standing in my garden and looking to the horizon; treat my feet, just muddle a bit; tell a story to my kids; play football; read a book; go swimming; go and get a bread with my bike - even if the other bread isn't finished yet; walk to the back of my garden; making a risotto; do the dishes; stretching; reading the newspaper; doing a sudoki that's just too difficult; clean some stuff; play with the kids (if they're in the mood); tacking pearls; sewing; smoke a cigaret; take a bath; following yoga; cooking; give a big hug to my children; flower arranging; listen to the radio; diving; drinking a coffee; meditate; wander around; shop; draw with a pencil; closing eyes and enjoying the moment; seeing the sea in my imagination; making a fruit salad and breathing.

Keep the sun in your hands

2009-01-18T11:53:00.001+01:00

Today's menu

2009-01-18T11:52:00.001+01:00

Twitter - faster and shorter

2009-01-18T11:27:00.003+01:00

Curious and inspired by some colleagues, I started to twitter. Twitter is a service for friends and all the people who would like to know to stay connected through the exchange of quick messages. They claim that they are the 'solution' between sms and blogging. People say what they are doing at this moment.

My first idea was: nothing for me ... people don't have to know what I'm busy at this moment. And it gives the impression that we have to speed up even more. Why would anybody want to know what somebody else is doing right now.
If you're doing something important, you can follow a blog or get a mail or text message but apparently, more than a million of people think different. For me it's a bit of an experiment but also curiosity. Twitter can also be linked to other technologies like facebook and plaxo and I saw that a friend from the US was coming over to Europe. Normally you wouldn't share that kind of information because he was only here for a few days and in another country but coincidently (or not) I had to be in that country the same week. Now, it didn't work out to meet each other but the chance of meeting each other became bigger. And a very good blog from Erno Mijland (in dutch) also posted a good blog about twitter so that convinced me to give it a try.

So now you can follow me everywhere anytime (if I want to share where I'm going ;-)). And I'm thinking about a new technology - Twaiter where you can only post one message a year.

Project 777 - challenge 1: running a marathon

2009-01-10T14:01:00.006+01:00

For my 'Project 777' I have chosen 7 domains in which I have defined several actions and paths I would like to fulfil. One of the domains is body and mind where actions like 'eating healthy food', 'doing sports twice a week', 'go running', 'follow a big training/conference every year + several workshops', ...

But I have also defined one big goal for every domain - where the purpose is not the goal in itself but it gives me a good direction and drive for 'project 777'. The big goal for the 'body and mind'-domain is running a marathon. I have never run a marathon before so I have already scheduled some running tours to prepare myself ;-)

I don't think I can keep up with Stefaan Engels - a quite crazy Belgian guy who's going to run a marathon every day to promote sporting in general!

5,75 big questions

2009-01-05T14:46:00.003+01:00

Michael Stanier of 'Box of Crayons' has also a nice way to let you think about your plans in 2009 - check out his video.

'Project 777'

2009-01-02T18:07:00.004+01:00

Happy NewDay,

Today, a new day has started so happy newday. Unforeseen, a new year has also started so also a happy new year. This period is always a good moment to reflect and look back at the beautiful things of the last year. And imagine all the dreams and wishes for the next moments.

Inspired by some colleagues (Karl Raats - pinching the ostrich and Marc Heleven - 7 ideas) I have a dream - I want to invest time and energy in 7 projects in 7 different domains in a period of 777 days.

So I've started on January 1st, 2009 and I hope to finish my projects before February 16th, 2011. The most important project is 'Just be it' and it means that I just want to enjoy the way and accept the things that will come on my path. It's not about the destination, it's about the path. But it helps me to have some goals to strive for. Every goal has also a lot of sub-goals and consequences on the everyday choices that I have to make. I'll explain a bit more about this process and my goals in the next posts. Enjoy today!

Relax ... nothing is under control

2008-11-30T11:19:00.001+01:00

7 minutes of clocktime - Creativity World Forum

2008-11-20T21:23:00.005+01:00

Today I had 7 minutes of clocktime to speak for more than 1.200 people at the creativity world forum. People were invited to estimate 1 minute of clocktime and the first person was already sitting after 21 seconds ;-) Further I made the 7 minutes a bit more interactive by letting people share their way to get into the present. I got some nice reactions but don't know if everybody got the concept of now.
I presented in the pecha kucha way (20 slides - each 20 seconds) so that was really a big challenge. It was not that easy to stay into the now with this fixed time frame but it was a nice experience.

If there are some CWF-attendees who want to get some more background info about Time to NOW, please drop me a line and I'll send you some more info.

You'll find here some more pictures of the creativity forum.

Creativity World Forum

2008-11-04T13:12:00.005+01:00

Very interesting news (at least for me ;-)), I will be one of the quick share presenters of the Creativity World Forum that will be held in Antwerp on November 19 and 20. More than 1.200 people will gather there for some very good speakers like John Cleese, Steve Wozniak, Tom Kelly, Dan Heath, ...
And I will give a pecha kucha (20 seconds - 20 slides) about the combination of my two passions: creativity and Time to NOW. Woehoe!

Going on a holiday in 2012 ...

2008-11-02T12:11:00.003+01:00

On my trip back to the airport, I took the bus. It was really a great bus driver Anthony. Did I already mention that the people from Chicago are very friendly and ready to help. This guy told a bit about his past and visits to Europe for a previous job and I enjoyed his open and enthusiastic story. I had never had such a great talk with a bus driver. But one of the things that he told me astonished me, his next big holiday (to a friend in Europe) was probably in 2012 or 2013 because in the US it's normal that you don't take a lot of holiday. Partly due to the legal system but also it doesn't fit in their culture, to take long holidays.

There is even a community - take back your time to tackle this 'problem'. Take back your Time is a major U.S./Canadian initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time famine that now threatens our health, our families and relationships, our communities and our environment.

Chicago - Applied Impro Network conference

2008-10-28T16:47:00.003+01:00

Hello everybody, I'm still alive but my blogging stopped for quite a while. I'm now my last day in Chicago and leave to Belgium again in a few hours. So I'm going to time-travel again. I was here for an Applied Impro Network conference. More than 60 people gathered from all over the world to share insights, exercises, ... about using impro in a professional context (eg, training, coaching, workshops) and it was absolutely great. So many open, creative people who were all willing to share their 'secrets'. I loved it. One of the bigger principles of impro is staying in the present otherwise your mind start to take over and you're in the past or future and then you can't interact well with other players. So I also got some very interesting things to use in my time to now workshops.

Why always ...

2008-05-12T17:32:00.003+02:00

... rushing. Do you know when your work is finished?

Willem Hussem - dutch poet

Silence ...

2008-05-03T11:22:00.003+02:00

It might look that my blog isn't alive anymore but it's like these flowers. Sometimes you need silence before something big is going to happen ...

And the sun is too nice to ignore ...

Enjoy!

2008-03-05T08:58:00.001+01:00

"Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans."

John Lennon

Knights of NOW in action - Faculty Club

2008-02-24T10:37:00.003+01:00

A few days ago, the Knights of NOW were present at the Faculty Club. More than 80 guests came to Leuven (Belgium) to have a timeless evening. It was also the relaunch of my workshop 'Time to NOW' where I'm challenging some paradigms of time:

Live goes faster and faster
The clock is the instrument to measure time
Time travel is impossible
The past is known, the future is open
You can't escape from the rush of life

Every assumption is challenged to see if other options are possible. More info will follow ...

2008-02-07T19:45:00.000+01:00

Go and search if you want to.
Search and search, until you're blue in the face.
And meditate
And watch your breathing
And practice yoga
And undergo years and years of psychotherapy
And try to become more present
And think positively
And attempt to 'manifest your destiny'
And eat vegetarian food
And move to India and worship a guru
And have wonderful spiritual experiences

But the search of a lifetime only ever
brought us back to Here, to this moment.

Jeff Foster

A new baby is born (book 'En ... Actie!')

2008-02-05T17:53:00.000+01:00

Yep, yep, again a moment to be very proud ... my first 'real' book is on the market. The book is called 'En ... Actie!' (only avalible in dutch - at this moment) which means 'And ... Action!'. It is a book I've written together with my colleague Joost Kadijk.

The book is addressed to trainers, consultants, team leaders who want to get their participants/employees to move (literally and figurative) .

I was quite nice to experience the process of writing a book (with a colleague). It took us almost a year from putting the first words on paper until the moment we could touch the first 'printed' copy. Joost and I are very proud to be the parents ;-)

Time Management for creative people

2008-01-27T18:26:00.000+01:00

Mark McGuinness is the author of the free e-book 'Time Management for Creative People'. At first, I was a bit reluctant to read the book but I discovered that I have a strong resistance against the words time management.

But I have started to read the (small) book and I like it. It is mainly focussed on clocktime whereas my focus is more on experience time but there is nothing wrong with some good time management tips.

The most interesting tip for me was 'getting things done by putting them off till tomorrow'. It was inspired by Mark Foster (Do it tomorrow). He advices to put a buffer between incoming demands and our response. For most people, email is a never-ending activity that gives you a lot of stress because just when you are almost ready with a task, a new one is already waiting. His advice: you only answer the mails of yesterday and don't concern yourself about the mails that come in today. So create a folder in which you put the yesterday mails and that's your task for today. By doing this, you create an ending list of mails and you answer them all in one batch. Then the e-mail work is over for today and you can concentrate on other (creative) tasks. More information and detailed advice in the book.

Here you can download the free e-book 'Time management for creative people' from Mark McGuinness.

Pecha Kucha

2008-01-20T23:16:00.000+01:00

Tonight I went to the second Pecha Kucha evening organized in Brussels. Pecha Kucha - which is Japanese for the sound of conversation - is a series of show-and-tell evenings for designers, architects, artists and creative people. The concept exists of 20 x 20 = 20 slides of 20 seconds. The restricted schedule is really great because everybody gets the same time frame for his/her presentation.

What's quite funny is that some people aren't that good in talking fast in 20 seconds or try to put too much i nformation on every slide which causes that they start talking about previous slides and it gets a total chaos. I love it.

There's a big change that I can do a Time to NOW experiment on one of the next Pecha Kucha evenings. I have already some good ideas how I can play with experience time in the strict clocktime schedule. If you have the opportunity to check out one of the Pecha Kucha evenings, I can certainly recommend it. More info here.

Always Now

2008-01-11T23:06:00.000+01:00

The ego will always insist that it needs more time. But if your intention to evolve, to become enlightened, is more important to you than anything else, you won’t need time. If there is integrity in your spiritual aspirations, you will be ready now. Good intentions for the future only flatter the ego. When you’re serious, the time is always now. Unless you intend to do it now, you won’t do it. Evolutionary Enlightenment — which is the experience of consciousness beyond ego in a developmental context — only emerges when now is the only time that means anything to you.

- Andrew Cohen

Focus and concentration

2008-01-05T14:11:00.000+01:00

I've just read a nice piece about focus and concentration - written by Christopher Richards (author of the 'slow down now' blog. It is about the subtile resistance to focus and concentrate on one task. Just check your mails before you start working or just drink another glass before you go home, ...
And what happens is that you never get to the real task you wanted to do.

Christopher calls his resistance Brenda and sees her as a beautiful woman who distracts him from the real tasks. I like this metaphor and was wondering what kind of image my resistance would be. I think it would get the shape of a small boy who wants to play and enjoy life instead of working. Being conscious of your 'resistance' and try to get a conversation with it already helps a lot and sometimes your 'resistance' even gives you time & space to work for a while on your task but don't ignore it.

How does your 'resistance' look like?

You'll find the whole article here.

Silence ...

2007-12-31T12:31:00.000+01:00

An image tells you more than 1000 words,

A silence shows you more than 1000 images.

C'Real, famous time explorer

Powers of ten - distance & time

2007-12-29T21:50:00.000+01:00

The power of ten is a great movie to show how small we are ... and how big ...

Very nice to reflect and enjoy a moment of silence at the end of this astrological year.

Movie 'Life is short ...'

2007-12-13T21:44:00.000+01:00

Great movie to show that 'Life is short ...'

Enjoy today!

Nice poem about Time

2007-12-08T21:47:00.000+01:00

We occupy our time, say we,

with the passage of time,

while we keep time,

or mark time,

and try not to be behind the times;

still we find ourselves taking our time,

or wasting time,

or even killing time.

So it is no surprise that

time after time,

we run out of time,

and regret we didn’t have more time.

We learn then, over time,

to try to make time,

by using time-saving devices,

or shortcuts that help us to make excellent time,

so that if things work out, we can end up being on time,

or even ahead of time,

most of the time.

And when we have time on our hands,

we have a pastime,

wherein we try to have a good time,

even a great time,

or perhaps the time of our life…

BUT

…yes, that day will come

when our time is up,

and we are out of time.

Then to whatever realm we go,

the memories of us will linger here

in the hearts of those we left behind,

and we will at last

be timeless…..

(from the book Talent in Action - Georges Anthoon)

Sometimes I would like to stop clocktime for a moment ...

2007-12-06T21:28:00.000+01:00

It has been already too long ago (in clocktime) since I have written on my blog. I have to say that everything is going (very) well in experience time. I am doing a lot of interesting assignments and Time to NOW is getting more and more attention.

The website is completely refreshed (with real English - excuses for my lousy English by the way) with the latest information and more and more people find their way to the weblog. That's a very good reason to update the blog more often. I will make 'prioritime' for a more inspiration like quotes, poems, sites, personal experiences, ... I also want to share some new insights I got from the experience workshops I gave in the last months.

But it will probably always be a challenge to find a good balance between experience time and clocktime. I have to admit that it is quite a challenge (for me) to find a nice equilibrium in doing my job (creative consultant, Knight of NOW, giving presentations en workshops in creative skills & experience time, master of ceremony) and the additional stuff (exploring the web, writing on my blog, reading books). Maybe I have to integrate those activities in my daily life because there's a very thin line -for me- between work and private life.

Change-ability

2007-11-13T16:17:00.000+01:00

At a creativity conference in Greenwich - a few months ago, I met my friend Steve Unwin again. He was one of the key note speakers at the conference. Steve has a nice blog about change-ability - how people can develop the ability to change.

One of the main thoughts of the concept of change-ability is that in this world of incessant change there are no answers, only questions; nothing we must do, only things we must be. The presentation of Steve is also full of quotations because he don't want to give the answers. You have to go through the learning by yourself and for some people, this is already the right moment to learn and others will discover things in another time. We had some really nice discussions and insights about time and we both felt that something will develop soon but ...

"Give everything the time it needs"

Mobiles in train - annoying or inspiring?

2007-10-29T15:38:00.001+01:00

Most of the time I find it quite annoying when people are calling in the train. It starts most of the time with an 'irritating' ringtone and then you become part - if you want or not - of their personal or professional lives ... I'll be late for dinner ... It was a boring day in the office ... That guy from the neighbours is seen with a new girlfriend ...

But today a girl was telling about her emotions & the tension for her blind date later that evening. In the beginning it felt a bit awkward but she was telling her story in such an enthusiastic way so you didn't feel like an intruder. It was quite a funny story and gave some insights about her perspective of a blind date.

The conversation also made me reflect on the fact that a mobile is quite a good time & space-travel-machine. It brings you in no time from here & now to there & then. So I got inspired to develop a mobile that helps you back to the here & now.

So from now on, I try to look at mobile-train-conversations as a way of inspiration instead of an annoying activity

... Ring ring ...

Slow Down Now

2007-10-22T17:10:00.000+02:00

This is a very nice site & weblog about slowing down. Christopher Richards is the founder of the International Institute of Not Doing Nothing (IINDN) with a lot of articles, a guide to live slower, the suggestion to start up 'how-to-get-out-of-bed'-classes and the promotion of minimal effort.

Take your time to read & discover it.

Real Age Calculator

2007-10-09T08:00:00.000+02:00

Poodwaddle clocks is a website where you'll find all kind of clocks: alarm clocks; world city clocks; a world clock (amount of births, deaths and lots of other details every year/month/day); and you can calculate your real age. Also interesting is the relaxation and meditation timer.

The Knights of NOW

2007-09-30T11:12:00.000+02:00

The Knights of NOW are a group of enthusiastic people (7 people at this moment) who want to make the world more conscious of experience time and other forms of time. The Knights of NOW perform short -improvised- acts to inform, amuse, congratulate, offer a moment of reflection and confront the audience with different forms of time. We are modern knights and wear a special suit - the back is the same as the front and we have some other specialties integrated in the suit.

On September 25, it was the first time that the Knight(s) of NOW became present. I was on my own this evening because they asked me to give a Time to NOW workshop on the Ecademy-meeting (online network community). More than 50 people participated the workshop and it went very well. You can find a picture report here.

One for NOW, NOW for everyone!

Back to Reality Time

2007-09-21T11:22:00.000+02:00

And after the absolutely fabulous trip to Canada & the Burning man, I'm back in Belgium. I could say that this is the reality again: my work, my home in Antwerp, my friends, my volleyball, ... getting used to the usual things again (I have to say that I don't feel that my life is so 'normal').

But I wonder if the life of travelling around; meeting new people and places every day; no fixed home; no fixed work; ... is not a reality. I know a lot of people who started to travel and never stopped. For some of us, it will be tiring after a while but for others, it is a wild dream. And that dream isn't that unrealistic ... it takes a lot of guts, risk-taking, some money to start (but not that much) and an open mind.

I've already heard from a lot of people that I'm lucky that I could go on such a long trip and they are right, I'm lucky but if you ask them why they don't do the same, you get answers like: no time, difficulties with the work, I don't think my partner wants to travel, ... all excuses to stay at home. If you really want to go, you'll find budget; you can arrange something with your company to get a long holiday (maybe, you take an unpaid holiday?); you can make arrangements with your partner or family to find a good solution; ... but yeah, you will have to invest in it. But most of the time, the motivation isn't big enough or they are afraid for the barriers (which they have created by themselves) in their life.

For me the whole trip was amazing (I was completely in experience time) and I have lots of inspiration to keep on writing on the Time to NOW blog. A lot of new things are going to happen in the next weeks and months with Time to NOW but more about this in a next blog. You can already check out my website to get some more information.

And finally the trip back

2007-09-10T05:56:00.000+02:00

I have to say that it was quite hard to say goodbye to Black Rock City (I'm sure I will be back) but the trip back was also quite amazing. Still in the atmosphere of the palya we picked up some hitch-hikers and friends we've met so instead of going back with 3 people, we ended up with 9 people in 1 mobilhome. It was absolutely great ... Tx Cameron, Alix, Alison, Jeremy, Cody, Andrew, Stef and Zusje!

The exodus from Black Rock City ... some long waiting lines to leave on the dusty road of the temporary city.

Our first hamburger again after the burn. Man, I never longed for a stupid hamburger as I did on that moment.

We had a great trip to some hot springs and in that area we did a terrific hike into the mountains.

And after two days of travelling and adventures, we arrived in Seattle (tx to Cameron and his sister where we could stay. Hope that the test went well.)

And in Seattle we could meet up with Amy again - a person who's becoming a good friend and maybe business partner in the US for our network new shoes today.

And then Stef and I could jump into the car again (one (maybe the only one) of the disappointments of the whole trip is that the engine of Stef's car is totally messed up - was it the playa dust???) but we managed to drive in 15 hours straight from Seattle to Calgary. We arrived last night at 4 o'clock at night.

And it also means that my last week of my Canadian & US adventure is coming to an end. I've one week left in Calgary but probably I have to prepare some jobs and start my 'normal' life again. But I guess there will be one more update of this absolutely great trip.

The Burning Man

2007-09-10T05:27:00.000+02:00

As I already said before, you can't explain the burning man experience. You have to be there to feel the incredible special energy. It is a combination of several things:

art - artworks, art-cars, everybody is dressed up or off (10% of the people walk around naked)
a loving and giving community - first time in my life that I could walk around a whole week without paying for anything - everybody is sharing drinks, food, even clothes and lots of hugs and friendships
a community that has no rules - except of having respect for other people and nature (if somebody sees a cigarette or a piece of paper on the playa, you stop and pick it up; no public garbage bins; clean toilettes; ... It's really amazing to see that it works
a lot of spiritual energy - there are quite some places where you can escape from the crowd and noise. One very special place was the temple of forgiveness (see other post)
extremes, extremes, extremes - people who party day and night on one side and on the other side all kind of workshops about meditation, massages ... people who live at night, people who live during the day ... Young people (you don't see a lot of children and that's a good thing because the desert can be hard) and old people ... people who create enormous artworks and others who just sing a song or give something from theirselves in a small way ...

Our Belgian camp

Black Rock City from the air (only picture which isn't mine)

Just one of the hundreds of art-cars

Still building up the artwork 'crude awakenings'

The Man standing in all it's glory

I'm now ready and dressed up as a LampLighter (those where the people who carried the lanterns just before sunset). I volunteered and was one of the chosen ones ;-)

We had two big dust storms. It's really crazy, you can't see a meter in front of you. In the beginning quite scary but after a while (equipped with ski-masks, flashlights, protecting clothing), it was quite an adventure to be out on the playa when a dust storm passed by.

Taking a bath in the middle of the playa

Another great art-car 'The Dragon' in front of the Temple of Forgiveness

The burn of the man (a very emotional and beautiful moment)

Yep yep, the trip to the burning man has started

2007-09-10T05:11:00.001+02:00

Because it is so difficult to explain what's the Burning Man about, I'm going to give some pictures that might give an impression. But I can say that it was a mind-blowing, unbelievable, totally crazy, one-in-a-lifetime experience! If you want to experience real experience time, go to Black Rock City and 'the Man' will make sure that you have no notion of time anymore.

Our RV (mobilhome), quite big, he.

First we had to stop to buy some stuff because we would be at least 8 days in the desert without the ability to buy stuff (we bought more than 500 liters of water = 8 liter water/day/person)

And then we were ready to go for the long trip from Seattle to Nevada - destination: black rock city. Highway I5 was our main road for a very big part of the trip.

And a real photo-shoot!

It was a long ... long ... trip but at 4 AM we arrived at black rock city (no pictures of the moon eclipse that happened that night (but I have the great experience of being present at that moment).

And now on our way to the burning man

2007-08-27T09:03:00.000+02:00

Yep, and now, another peak in my Canada trip will take place ... The burning Man. Yesterday evening (September 25), we met with Zusje, Hans & Jeremy and were now staying at a camping place on our way to the burning man. Still 10 hours driving to the black rock dessert tomorrow but I wanted to give you an update because I won't be able to internet or communicate by mobile phone in the next week because I don't think that they have wireless internet in the dessert.

So next update around September 7 or 8!

Burn, burn, burn!!!!

We bought 11 big water bottles to survive the heat of the burning man!

A shoot-out (with our cameras) on a parking ;-)

And some bikes on Interstate 5 ... the highway we'll have to follow a long, long way ...

Conference International Organisation Development Association

2007-08-27T08:46:00.001+02:00

Stef and I were participants of the IODA conference in Sun Peaks (a very cool place in the neighbourhood of Kamloops). It was a very nice hotel (also quite expensive but yeah).

We got some Canadian history.

And Stef and I were asked to facilitate the community building sessions in the morning and it was absolutely great. Everybody liked it and we're now in the history books of IODA known as the Three Bee's - The Bald Belgium Boys ;-) And at one moment, we managed to do an exercise where the whole group (more than 150 people) spoke in 1 voice.

One of the workshops I followed was getting 'connected to the forest' and we did some blindfolded walking in the woods. Quite an experience.

And here a picture with some Thai friends.

And a cool party picture ... ;-)

The Rocky Mountains

2007-08-27T08:23:00.000+02:00

On our way to Kamloops (for the IODA Conference - see next post), we've driven through the Rocky Mountains (and the great place Jasper).

Our car was packed very efficiently

(just take out the bikes and you can see our bed for the camping place).

On our way, we saw a group of people rafting on the river. Quite cool.

And even 'more' cool. When we were passing Kamloops and the river, it was the period when the salmon returned -four years after their birth- to the birth place. It's a very special moment because it only takes place during a few days a year and we could be a witness of this special event. When the salmon is born, it lives for one year in the river to grow up and then it goes on a journey to the ocean. After 4 years, it returns back (so swimming against the stream) to get 'pregnant' and give birth to a new generation of salmon. It's a very hard journey back and only a small percentage of the salmon will survive the trip.

This is one of the toughest waterfalls they have to conquer to get back to their birthplace. We have seen a few salmons jump out of the water against the waterfall. It was really fabulous to be a witness of this special event.

Trip to Banff

2007-08-12T02:47:00.001+02:00

Lake Louise with glacier in the back

Singing in the bus

Shawn building some stone statues

Beautiful flower on the mountain path

The teahouse on top of the mountain

Another lake on our path

A dog on a horse

A curious chipmonk

2007-08-12T02:10:00.000+02:00

Yep, time flies and two weeks have past. Two weeks of playing improvisation, meeting very nice people, having a lot of parties, learning a lot about myself, drinking a lot of Canadian beers, performing scenes, being present and fun, fun, fun ... It was definitely great! Dennis and Shawn are great teachers.

The two weeks have really passed quickly and were very intense. Last Tuesday we made a nice trip to Banff and lake Louise. We hiked to a teahouse, high in the mountains. Really lovely but I'll put some pictures of the trip in another post.

For the rest is everything going very well. Stef & I will be preparing some stuff in the next weeks for the other adventures that will be coming (conference on organisation development and then the burning man). Here are some more pictures to give an impression of the impro course!

Warming up game

A servant-master game

Speaking in one voice and seducing a girl

Welcome in my restaurant

Mask workshop - my face has changed a bit ;-)

Three bald guys

Photo shoot

Finding balance with our heads

2007-08-03T23:22:00.001+02:00

The schoolbus that picks us up every day to go to the theatre.

Moving faster, faster and faster ...

A warming up game

Telling a story while you can't see a thing.

Scene at the bench.

Loose Moose improvisation theatre

2007-08-03T23:14:00.000+02:00

Everything is going very well here in Calgary. My improvisation class started last Saturday and will last two weeks. It's very interesting and the teachers are very good.

We are with 16 people (a lot of Scandinavian people) and we will perform a show next Friday. I've also met the founder of impro, Keith Johnstone (woehoe!)

I will give some more picture impressions of the course in another post. I'm now living at Stef's place and have my own room so that's cool. Today, I also will get a bike so then I can go everywhere I want.

Yesterday, we had a party at the Loose Moose theatre (the beers are okay, of course they can't compete to the Belgium stuff but ...).

So I'm enjoying myself, it will be quite busy until next week but I'll try to give an update once in a while.

Have a great time in Belgium, the Netherlands or wherever you are in the world! Cyriel

A new look

2007-08-03T22:56:00.000+02:00

Yep, my hair is a bit shorter ... euh ... it's gone. It feels quite weird but yeah, now I can go faster on my bike ;-)

Take a rest and enjoy

2007-07-28T00:44:00.001+02:00

Slow down!

2007-07-28T00:42:00.000+02:00

Calgary at sunset ...

2007-07-28T00:41:00.001+02:00

My first days in Calgary

2007-07-28T00:30:00.000+02:00

I arrived very good in Canada (31° at this moment, not bad, eh!). I had my first, personal pickup at the airport, woehoe. Stephanie is a 'soulmate' from the Loose Moose improv group and works as a circus artist. Stef is still travelling around so I couldn't get into his house but Stephanie & her grandparents were so nice to let me stay a few days in their house.

So I'm amusing myself there and have visited Calgary city already a few times. It's a nice city and I will post some pictures later. Tomorrow will start the improvisation course so I'm very excited. In experience time, I'm still a bit in Belgium because I have to finish some 'urgent' jobs. So I've also been a good visitor of the local internet pubs to work a bit. But those jobs are almost finished and certainly with the course that's gonna start, the experience time of holidays & Canada will take over.

Canadian greetz, Cyriel

Tx Stephanie for the pickup & the stay and check out her website

Waiting at airport

2007-07-24T10:28:00.000+02:00

Yes yes ... I'm now waiting at the airport (still in Belgium) for my connection to London and then 4 hours waiting for my transfer to Calgary. I will arrive 2 o'clock at night Belgium time (18h Canadian time) so it will be a long day. Tx to the modern technology, I can already put my first 'travel' story and picture on the blog.

It stays weird that time (clock & experience) will be messed up during plane flights. Clocks are switched; rhythms are changed; the biological clock is getting crazy ;-) But the world keeps on turning at the same speed as ever ... Or not, if we believe our good friend Einstein & his relativity theory, the speed depends on the place where you stand. So for us it looks like the world turns at the same speed but did you know that our world is turning around it's own axis around 1.000 km/h. And the world is turning around the sun at a speed of 100.000 km/h and it even can get going faster ... our solar system is flying through the universe at a speed of 1.000.000 km/h.

So for all friends and family who stay in Belgium & the Netherlands, don't be jealous at my trip, you're also flying at an enormous speed through the universe so imagine that you're also travelling a bit in the universe. i'm just at another seat ;-)

I'll give an update when I will arrive in Calgary ... Big kiss & hugs & handshakes & 'Spek' (for the volleyball-insiders)

Big experience & clocktime trip - Canada

2007-07-16T11:50:00.000+02:00

On July 24 I will take the plane from Belgium to Calgary (Canada) to visit my friend Stef who's already living there for 2 months (and will stay at least for a year). I will stay for 7 weeks in Canada so it will be a big trip.

The start will already be spectacular because we will follow the Loose Moose improvisation theater summerschool. A course of 2 weeks of improvisation with 18 people (11 different nationalities) so I will really be brainwashed after those 2 weeks. Afterwards, we will need 2 weeks of rest to get a 'normal' life again ;-)

Then Stef & I will do the warming up of more than 150 people on the IODA conference (International Organizational Development Association) and we'll give a Time to NOW workshop.

And then, last but not least, we will be part of the Burning Man event - a completely crazy festival/event/happening in the Nevada dessert. 6 people will join us (flying over from Belgium & Netherlands) in 2 campers and it will be mind-blowing. More than 25.000 people will be taking part of the event.

I will use the Time to NOW weblog to publish my Canadian & Burning Man stories so it will be a bit more a personal experience-time blog for a while but I hope this can interest you too.

And now my last week in Belgium to prepare all kind of things ...

Picture from Cyriel (front) and Stef (back)

The fisherman story

2007-07-11T11:08:00.000+02:00

A businessman went on vacation to get new energy and he was walking in a small village. He walked every day in the village and discovered that one fisherman was probably the happiest man in the village. He went to the fisherman and asked him why he was so happy.

The fisherman replied that he would get up in the morning, have breakfast with his family, fish for a few hours so the family had enough to eat and then he would rest a bit. After dinner, they would make a walk on the beach with his family and looked at the sunset when the children where playing in the sea. The businessman was astonished.

And that's the way how you live every day? asked the businessman.
Yes said the fisherman, almost every day.

And do you catch a lot of fish?
Yes, there is a lot of fish in the sea so it isn't a problem to catch enough for dinner.

And do you think you could catch more fish if you wanted it?
Yes, of course, but when I have more fish then I need for my family, I throw them back into the sea.

But why don't you catch more fish and sell the fish. In that way, you can buy a second boat where you can hire another fisherman to help you. I'm quite sure that your business would boom and in a few years you would have more boats and maybe your own business in the big city. Maybe start an international business if ten years if everything is going well!

The fisherman laughed at the businessman and asked 'But why should I do that?'

For the money ... you would earn lots of money and after 20 years or so, you don't need to work anymore.

Oh, okay, said the fisherman, and then?

You could do whatever you want!

Euh, for example having breakfast with my family?

Yes, you will have a lot of time.

And just fish a few hours a day and then rest the rest of the day?

Yes, that's also possible. There won't be as much as fish as now but yes, that is possible.

And walk with my family at the shore and watch the sunset?

Yes, I guess that your children will already be a bit older but that's also possible.

The fisherman laughed and wished the businessman a lot of luck with his holiday.

Path or road?

2007-07-07T20:50:00.000+02:00

Milan Kundera makes a difference between a path and a road. On a road, cars are driving and it’s a line between two dots. A road has no meaning on its own. The start and the finish have a meeting but not the part in between. The path is an ode to space. Every piece of the path has a meaning and asks us to stop for a moment. The road is a devaluation of space - distance becomes a barrier for the human movement – a waste of time.

Before paths disappeared from the environment, they disappeared from the human minds. The human kind didn’t want to walk anymore. We don’t see our lives anymore as a path but as a road – a line from one place to another, to reach a higher status in the hierarchy. The time to live into the now become a barrier which should be bridged faster & faster.

From the book ‘Immortality’ written in 1990 by Milan Kundera, a Czech writer

Belgium experience-time beers

2007-07-03T20:12:00.001+02:00

This weekend, two of my friends (Den & Jane) came over to visit me. They live in the neighbourhood of Manchester and I know them from my trip to Australia (two years ago). They are lovely people with a great taste of humor.

And all the trips we made, were really in NOW-time. Everything was very relaxed and we had great conversations, laughed a lot, did see a lot of Belgium and enjoyed the good stuff from Belgium: lots of different kind of beers (Jupiler, Stella, Duvel, Leffe, Kriek, ...) and good food (chocolate, waffles, fries, spare-ribs, ...).

It was great fun and a perfect example of how experience time can survive easily two years of clocktime.

Picture made in nice pub in Antwerp (where we drunk too many beers ;-))

New 'Time to NOW'-projects

2007-06-24T10:43:00.000+02:00

The last days (weeks) have been very busy. Running from train to train, lots of work, meetings and so on ... I've chosen to give priority to these things but the weblog was always on my mind. And a lot of Time to NOW projects have been set in motion.

In a few days, you will be invited to visit the brand new website Time to NOW with all kind of offerings: a workshop; a XLperience event; a free time voucher to get more time and a new circle of brave men & women has been founded:

'The Knights of NOW'

So prepare for a lot of new projects & initiatives and if you want to receive the irregular (3 times a year) newsletter Time to NOW, send a mail to this address.

Royal Observatory Greenwich - GMT

2007-06-13T11:29:00.000+02:00

Some moments ago, I was at the creativity conference in Greenwich. Greenwich is of course a special place if you're busy with the topic time. At the Royal Observatory Greenwich you find a museum of astronomical and navigational tools.
The GMT - greenwich mean time - was measured here.

The Observatory also has a timeball - a large wooden ball that drops at a predetermined time to enable sailors to check their marine chronometers, to check their longitude at the sea.

Another special thing at the observatory is that it sends a green laser at night marking the Prime Meridian line. This line marks the longitude zero degrees. This is of course an arbitrary line and it's funny to know is that even the Greenwich meridian line has changed four times. In October 1884, it has become an international standard.

Waste of time

2007-06-09T16:27:00.001+02:00

Who believes that doing nothing is in fact doing more? Are we already so far disconnected that we believe that doing nothing is a waste of time? It is like something we don't know: you should have done it, to understand it.

Everybody can make some time free, no excuses. The problem is: do you really want to make some tie free? And you have to believe that doing nothing can be worthwile. People who have never took time to do nothing, will wonder how they have to fill the empty space. But that's too ambitious, too productive. Just be, let yourself go, be in the moment: that's already difficult enough. Don't forget that you still can use your senses while you're doing nothing (see, smell, listen, feel). With a little bit of exercise, you can banish the thoughts in your head.

Overkill, burn-out, stress, headache and other work-related diseases aren't caused by doing nothing. The opposite is true. It is an art to create some space & time in your brain and you will have a double benefit: it gives some new clearness and a fresh sense of starting over.

Translated and adapted a bit from 'On expedition to yourself' from Dixie Dansecour, Julie Brown and Herman Vanaerschot

A great time at the Greenwich University

2007-06-03T11:15:00.000+02:00

Last week, I was a guest at the University of Greenwich - a lovely place with beautiful buildings and a great atmosphere. The event was the Applied Business Creativity Conference. Together with 60 people from all over the world, we gathered to share the newest insights and techniques in the domain of creativity. I was also a presenter and gave a workshop about 'Time to NOW'. I got some very nice reactions and the workshop went very well. Tx to the organisers and all the participants. It was again a great conference!

Time to NOW stone

2007-05-24T09:21:00.000+02:00

The Time-to-NOW-stone is a stone that you’ve discovered on a special place or moment. You take the stone with you (every day) in your pants or in your bag. It works in two ways. At irregular moments you will feel the shape of the stone and wonder why you took the stone. At that moment you will stop with what you were doing and thank the world for the opportunity that you could do this activity. So it is a moment of reflection. Every night, just before sleeping, you hold the stone for a short moment and run in your mind through your day and thank the world for at least two nice moments during that day.

Once upon a time ...

2007-05-15T10:45:00.001+02:00

... there was a time when animals could speak but times have changed and at this moment, animals don't speak anymore but they have become DJ's ...

Everything evolves ...

Picture from 'start festival about animals & humans' in Antwerp

Slow is not lazy

2007-05-09T16:20:00.000+02:00

A lot of times, people think that the slow-movement is about getting rid of technology and live again like in the middle-ages. But that's one of the biggest misunderstandings of slowness. Here's a quote of one of my favorite websites:

"Put simply, slow or slowness is balance. Our worlds can often be moving so quickly that we forget what it is we are actually doing, carried away as we all are in the activity. Slow asks us to step back just a little and create a bit of space...only then can we get a better view of what is going on.

Slowness is about hurrying when you need to hurry and not rushing when you do not need to.

Slowness is about doing everything in the appropriate manner, to the increased benefit of both yourself and those around you. Slow does not mean lazy."

Quoted from SlowLondon

The end of internet

2007-05-05T15:07:00.000+02:00

Even if we thought that internet would grow forever, we were wrong. Everything will end ... here is the last page of internet.

Weird coïncidence???

2007-05-02T11:07:00.000+02:00

Please read first my previous post of today to get the whole story. I was at the trainstation to get my ticket to travel to my appointment in the Netherlands. There was a long queue in front of me because there was only one office window open for international traffic. People were getting annoyed and I also discovered some stress & annoyance inside myself because there was a chance that I would miss my train.

I tried to relax and get into experience time - it wouldn't be a catastrophe if I should miss the train - even if I had to wait for another hour for the next one. I had planned some 'extra' travel time and could give a call to my appointment & work a bit in the trainstation. At that moment, the time schedule showed that my train had 10 minutes delay. Yes ... looks like a good intention is working.
While I was waiting in the line, my phone rang but I didn't pick up because I was the next one to buy a ticket. I bought my ticket and ran to the track of my train. I still had a few minutes so I listened to my voicemail and what happened - it was the person of my appointment to ask if we could reschedule the meeting because of an unexpected situation. So I was really lucky that my train had 10 minutes delay so I wasn't on the train already when the call came. And even better, because I could stay in 'experience time', I remained friendly to the person at the office window and she even returned my money fo the ticket without making trouble.

Coïncidence? I don't believe in coïncidence anymore and the more experiences I get (like this one), I'm more and more convinced that staying connected to yourself & don't be rushed by the clock & social pressure, things will happen to you. I wish you a very happy day!

Train or car?!

2007-05-02T08:12:00.000+02:00

In the last months, I've taken the train quite often. I like to travel by train because it gives a sense of being in experience time. Once you're in the train - the minutes before can be quite hectic because we always arrive just in time - you have to let go your clocktime control because you can't influence the speed or the track of the train.

In a car, you still have an imaginary feeling of being in control of clocktime. It's crazy to see how many people take life endangering risks to 'win' three minutes. The car navigation is again a good example how the modern technology 'helps' us in getting more control of our time (ahum ahum???) The car navigation is really a wonderfull technology and I've already been glad that I have one myself but I've also noticed that it stress me more when I'm already late for an appointment. For a lot of people, it is getting a 'sport' to try to 'win' a few minutes of the estimated travel time. If you drive faster and/or take some risks, you can reduce the travel time by 2 or 3 minutes ... a bit crazy if you look at it from another perspective. Wouldn't it be safer, easier, more relaxed if we should leave 10 minutes earlier to an appointment.

Maybe that's an unconscious reason why I like to take the train ... I don't have to rush in the train, don't feel an urge to control clocktime & can relax with a good book or preparing some stuff in my experience time. Have a nice trip!

Take back your time

2007-05-01T09:08:00.000+02:00

Today is labour day in a lot of countries. Nobody works - only the entrepreneurs ;-)

Maybe also a good moment to spend a blog to 'take back your time' - an American initiative to challenge the epidemic of overwork, over-scheduling and time poverty. The initiative started in 2003 and every year they take another theme. This day takes place on October 24.

In average take the working Americans a bit more than 2 weeks holiday compared to 5 to 6 weeks as the working European. Take back your day challenges the American to take some more time to relax and have more family time.

Companies can organize activities on October 24 to make people more conscious about their time spending. There's also a nice list of 50 pretty quick things you can do to take some time back.

The jetlag-watch

2007-04-26T17:59:00.001+02:00

The jetlag-watch is a watch with variable speeds. It's meant for international travellers to offer them a gentle transition between time zones. You have to enter the time at destination, the length of your flight and the jetlag-watch will adjust its speed to ease you into the new time zone over the course of your flight.

Even if it sounds quite crazy & I can only see it as a 'smart' (?) marketing-gadget, it makes me wonder if it could be the start for a real experience time watch. A watch that goes faster or slower in clocktime depending on your experience time. So a boring meeting will only last 5 minutes and your holiday will last forever.

A very special moment: I have become uncle

2007-04-23T07:35:00.000+02:00

I have become an uncle. My brother's wife has given birth to a son (Vic). Everything is allright with the child & the mother and the parents are very proud. And I am also very proud! Without doing something, I have become an uncle ;-)

A new life will start for a new person. A whole new discovery will start: eating, talking, listening, walking, enjoy the love of his parents, learning 1000 new things, connecting with other people, discovering his passions & dreams, his strenghts, his weaknesses, making friends, ... finding the path which is meant for him.

Every discovery will take time the needed for it and I hope I can be part of a lot of those moments & enjoy it together with Vic.

Welcome Vic!

Call conscious!

2007-04-19T07:23:00.000+02:00

In Ode (dutch version) - a great magazine by the way (I certainly can recommend it - for intelligent optimists) - they have written a nice article about time. The article is about the speed at which we ive and that we are more & more influenced and dominated by the new technologies. All these technologies should help us to get more free time but we're only busy with learning new technologies and trying to do more in less time.

It is quite difficult to resist an immediate reaction to our continuous reachableness. We are in contact with the whole world but do we still have contact with ourselves? Lots of people have lost contact with their inner self, the experiences of your body and thoughts. By being in constant contact with others, it is very difficult to live here & now because one could ask the question: Are you on the beach when you're calling? Are you present when you're walking on the street and calling with somebody else? Isn't it better to be a bit more present and ask yourself how you're feeling, what you're experiencing right now, be alone with yourself for a moment.

A funny example is the person who calls his family or friends saying 'I'm getting on the train right now?'. What's wrong with getting in the train without giving this essential (?????) information to others. Maybe you should tell to yourself 'I'm getting in teh train' and be alert of your physical appearance but is it necessary to tell it to others?

The purpose of the article isn't to throw away technology (it is great and very used-full in lots of situations) but it looks like the balance between the outer & inner world is disturbed. It is important to build a strong inner-connection. Otherwise we will become robots and have no time anymore to experience all the things that we're doing.

Adapted from the article in Ode (fragment from the book 'Coming to our senses' from Jon Kabat-Zinn)

Monastère de Chevetogne

2007-04-17T18:27:00.000+02:00

I'm just back from three days at the monastery of Chevetogne (halfway between Brussels and Luxemburg). The community wants to be a bridge between the liturgical prayer of the East and the West and it has two churches where the prayers take place.

This is one of my ways to get into experience time. Even if it looks like clocktime is dominating in the monastery (because of the strict time schedules - get up at 5.40, fixed prayer time-tables and lunch & dinner time), after one day, my rhythm is in experience time. The silence, great nature, lack of disturbing technologies (mobile, mail, internet, television) cause a deep feeling of rest. I've walked a lot, read some books and even wrote a bit. In a few weeks I will give an overview of my experience time book that I'm writing.

Now I'm ready again for the faster pace of life.

Burnout in the bloggerworld

2007-04-10T11:43:00.000+02:00

There is a nice blog on 'Meditation Photography'. It is one of my favorite blogs because it is a nice form how you could get in experience time. Suresh is a great photographer who combines his pictures with some philosophical questions. It's really worth to check out his blog from time to time.

This time, he brings up the topic blog burnout - apparently, 100.000 bloggers quit every month with their blog. Blogging looks very nice in the beginning but persisting in keeping writing is something else. The thing is - and Suresh can express it more beautiful than me - that you have to blog for yourself. It is a kind of private conversation with yourself. I think Suresh is right about this.

If I look at the 'Time to NOW' blog, it isn't really a personal blog about my life (sometimes, parts of my personal view on time are expressed) but most of the time I can give an impression of books, websites, happenings which have made an impression on myself & I want to share.

One of the purposes of this weblog was to collect a lot of different information about time and maybe it could result in a book. I'm now writing for more than 6 months on the blog and I can say that the book is on its way. It will be a quite different book than that I first had in mind but I'm getting a lot of energy of it. I will be very proud if I can present it here in a few weeks/months (it is already ready in my experience time ;-)).

So I can conclude that at this moment, I'm not suffering from the blogger burnout. But Suresh triggered me with some of his questions so maybe in the future, here & now, I will share some more personal experiences about my experience time. To be continued ...

Tx to Cinders for bringing this site again under my attention

A dot for every second in a day

2007-04-09T19:46:00.000+02:00

This site gives a nice visual overview of a day. A dot symbolizes a second. It's quite funny to see this visualisation of clocktime but it also gives me some stress because I want to try to stop the dots from disappearing. But I know that experience time can stretch so maybe is one dot already enough to experience a great time forever.

Happy talent day - aboriginals

2007-04-06T11:47:00.000+02:00

After the happy day-day (instead of birthday), the happy new day (instead of newyear), we can now celebrate the happy talent-day:

The book 'Mutant down under' from Marlo Morgan is about a woman who gets/takes the chance to go on a 'walkabout' with a group of aboriginals in Australia. The ancient aboriginals don't celebrate birthdays because they don't believe it is anything special to be a year older in time. They celebrate for honoring someone's talent. They believe that the purpose for the passage of time is to allow a person to become better, wiser, to express more and more of one's beingness. So if you are a better person this year than last, and only you know that for certain, then you can call for a 'celebration'.

Should be a great idea to introduce in our culture! The rest of the book is also very inspiring.

Contributed by Cinders

What is your style in time urgency?

2007-04-03T19:49:00.000+02:00

A lot of people 'suffer' from time urgency - the struggle to achieve as much as possible in the shortest period of time. Robert Levine (author of 'A geography of time') described several factors that influence your preference of time urgency. Check out what your kind of preference is:

Concern with clocktime - do you frequently check your watch or do you sometimes even forget what day of the week it is?
Speech pattern - what's the speed of your speech compared to other people? Do you sometimes feel that people are talking very slowly? Do you accept interruptions?
Eating habits - are you often the first people finished eating at the table? Do you take time to eat three meals a day in a slow & relaxed manner?
Walking speed - do you walk faster than most people?
Driving - do yo get annoyed in slow traffic? Do you try to 'win' time by driving faster?
Schedules - do you like to work with schedules and good planning? Do you give yourself a fixed amount of time for a specific activity?
Listmaking - do you often make lists? Do you have a to-do-list? Do you make a list of stuff to take with you on a trip?
Nervous energy - do you become irritable when you sit for an hour without doing something?
Waiting - do you get annoyed when you've to wait some minutes in a bank, restaurant or a store? Have you already walked out of these places if it takes too long for you?
Alerts - do others sometimes alert you to slow down? Do friends sometimes say that you've to relax more?

86.400 coins

2007-03-31T14:25:00.000+02:00

Imagine there is a bank that credits your account each morning with 86.400 coins. It carries over no balance from day to day and it deletes whatever part of the balance you failed to use during the day. I think that most of the people would draw out every coin and enjoy it.
Each of us has such a bank. The name of the bank is time. Every morning, it credits you with 86.400 seconds. It carries over no balance. It allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night it burns the remains of the day. There is no going back. There is no drawing against the "tomorrow". You must live in the present on today's deposits. Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success! The clock is running. Make the most of today.

Great video on Carl Honoré - slow-movement

2007-03-27T14:13:00.000+02:00

Carl Honoré is the author of 'in praise of Slow' - a great book about the slow-movement in all kind of domains: food, cities, mind, medicine, sex, work, leasure, children, ...

You can see & hear the presentation of Carl Honoré on 'TedTalks' (a big event in California) where he explains the advantages of living in a slower pace. It's quite funny that he's talking quite fast about 'living slow' but it's absolutely worth taking some clocktime to listen to his message.

According to Carl, the most important reason why we are always in a hurry is our view how we look at time: in most European countries & the US we look at time as a linear line. You have to use it or loose it. And because we look at time as something scarce, we have to speed up and use every moment efficient. It looks like we're striving to complete everything before the finish line. But we aren't thinking what this finish line could be - is it the end of our human life and aren't we pulling this finish line, closer to us by living like 'rats'. Or isn't there a finish line and is life about enjoying all the things that we do, having a higher quality of life and enjoy it now ...

Thanks to Erno who attracted my attention to this video!

What is Taoism and how does it work?

2007-03-23T20:11:00.001+01:00

Chuang-tse put it this way:

Consciousness wandered North to the land of Dark Waters and climbed the Unnoticeable Slope, where he met the Speechless Non-Doer. "I have three questions for you," Consciousness said, "First, what thoughts and efforts will lead us to understanding the Tao? Second, where must we go and what must we do to find peace in the Tao? Third, from what point must we start and which road must we follow in order to reach the Tao? Speechless Non-Doer gave him no answer.

Consciousness traveled South to the land of the Bright Ocean and climbed the mountain of Certainty, where he met the Impulsive Speech-Maker. He asked him the same three questions. "Here are the answers," Impulsive Speech-Maker replied. But as soon as he started to speak, he became confused and forgot what he was talking about.

Consciousness returned to the palace and asked the Yellow Emperor, who told him, "To have no thought and put forth no effort is the first step towards understanding the Tao. To go nowhere and do nothing is the first step towards finding peace in the Tao. To start from no point and follow no road is the first step towards reaching the Tao."

Copied from 'The Tao of Pooh' written by Benjamin Hoff

Start a new life

2007-03-20T11:49:00.000+01:00

Today is a special day ... A good friend of mine is going for a new life. It is the last day at his old job and his new life is finally getting ' the official start'. His decision is already made a few months ago and he's going abroad for (at least) a year. Why did he take that decision?

Because apparently something has changed inside him ... something from deep inside did get awake and it caused this change of life. Maybe it was only one little moment of total consciousness and getting in touch with the real passion but it has already led to a lot of choices. Quiting his job, renting his house, leaving a lot of old stuff behind, going abroad for a long time, maybe a new career & life is waiting for him. I'm 100% sure he's on the right path - you can see that at his eyes, they sparkle. And you know what is a bit weird, I'm also really happy that his new life is starting today! It remind me a lot of my own big decisions that changed my life. And I'm really happy that I listened to that little innervoice. I'm learning to listen to it more & more but it isn't always easy. You can only hear it when you're really silent ... and you have to take your time.

Good luck mate! Enjoy the new life ;-)

Picture from flickr

Slow London

2007-03-18T18:07:00.000+01:00

Slow London is a website where they invite people to live in a slowness manner. It doesn't mean that you have to do everything slower than normal but more in balance. Don't rush when it isn't necesarry. Slow London wants to be a community where people can share experiences to live in a more balanced way. You can find a slowgallerie, a commuterblog, a slow-test and even a slowcoach to help you with busy questions.

Further you can find a library, a list of cool links and a dictionary for new slow terms. One of the new words that I like is horrorscope = a quick glance in your diary at your jam-packed week ahead and the associated panic & dread that swiftly follows ;-)

Enjoy & take the time to visit the site.

Doing nothing - a waste of time?

2007-03-15T20:52:00.000+01:00

Who believes that doing nothing is in fact doing more? Are we already so far disconnected that we believe that doing nothing is a waste of time? It is like something we don't know: you should have done it, to understand it.

Everybody can make some time free, no excuses. The problem is: do you really want to make some time free? And you have to believe that doing nothing can be worthwile. People who have never took time to do nothing, will wonder how they have to fill the empty space. But that's too ambitious, too productive. Just be, let yourself go, be in the moment: that's already difficult enough. Don't forget that you still can use your senses while you're doing nothing (see, smell, listen, feel). With a little bit of exercise, you can banish the thoughts in your head.

Overkill, burn-out, stress, headache and other work-related diseases aren't caused by doing nothing. The opposite is true. It is an art to create some space & time in your brain and you will have a double benefit: it gives some new clearness and a fresh sense of starting over.

Translated and adapted a bit from 'On expedition to yourself' from Dixie Dansecour, Julie Brown and Herman Vanaerschot

How long lasts a cloud?

2007-03-12T23:09:00.001+01:00

How long lasts a cloud?

How long lasts a painting?

How long lasts a tree?

How long lasts a meeting of two lovers?

How long lasts a silence?

...

Time travel - twins paradox

2007-03-10T13:39:00.000+01:00

One popular example in science fiction stories is the twins paradox. One brother of the twins is taking a spacecraft and travels at the speed of light to a very far destination. The mass of the astronaut & spacecraft will grow and time will go slower than the earth-time. When he returns to earth, the earth time will have passed and compared to the astronaut, ages will have passed and his twins-brother will have died. You also have the grandfather paradox - where the grandson travels to the past and murders his grandfather. But by doing this, the grandson would never exist because his father or mother are never born because the grandfather is dead. It's really a nice paradox - Carl Sagan (famous scientist) explains this and some more things about time travel here.

Very possible in science fiction but at this moment, most scientist have a lot of questions to these kind of stories. Travelling at the speed of light won't be possible because the mass of the 'time traveller' will grow to an eternal value when it reaches the speed of light. And even if we'll develop technologies where we can approach the speed of light, another problem would be how the time traveller will get back. Because it would be impossible to slow down the speed of light once we've reached that speed.

I have won ... two hours of clocktime

2007-03-04T18:16:00.000+01:00

I'm just back from a visit to my parents (one hour drive from Antwerp) and I discovered that I forgot my wallet. That wasn't very smart of me because I didn't have any money with me so the only solution was, get back in the car and 'lose' two hours of driving. I was already a bit upset because I wanted to do some other things in that time but ... it was my own mistake.

So I called home and asked if they had already discovered my wallet. But they couldn't find anything so I did a third check of my luggage and my wallet was wrapped up between some clothes. It felt like a little miracle and a sense of joy & happiness came over me ... I just had won two hours. I accepted this great gift of time and decided to spend the two hours to do some nice stuff (reading a bit, writing some things on my weblog, do nothing for a while, ...).

This time gift also inspired me to finish the time-cheque. A cheque which gives you the right to use some time only for something which you've chosen 100% by yourself. I'll hope to present the cheque in a few weeks on this weblog. So, give yourself also some 'time'.

Time to NOW

14 unique clocks

Beautiful - drawing in sand - timeless

It's quite incredible what this lady does with sand.

Here you'll find the video.

It reminds me of a poem that a participant of the 'Week without clock' shared with us:

“The mind is like the wind, and the body is like the sand;if you want to know how the wind is blowing, look at the sand."

Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen

Week without clock

Nice article - climbing mountain of now

The mysterious DJ

Art of Hosting Berlin - the chaordic field

Back to the past - black/white camera

How naked are you prepared to be?

The ages of female energy

Pecha kucha presentation 'Time to NOW' in Maastricht

No time to be a pessimist

The art of doing nothing (and everything)

A new idea for a few minutes of your time

A timeless moment

Earth hour - the big picture

This is the end

Discovered a spooky pub in Brussels

Nice event about coaching - Belgium

new inspiration blog

How do you get into the NOW?

Keep the sun in your hands

Today's menu

Twitter - faster and shorter

Project 777 - challenge 1: running a marathon

5,75 big questions

'Project 777'

Relax ... nothing is under control

7 minutes of clocktime - Creativity World Forum

Creativity World Forum

Going on a holiday in 2012 ...

Chicago - Applied Impro Network conference

Why always ...

Silence ...

Knights of NOW in action - Faculty Club

A new baby is born (book 'En ... Actie!')

Time Management for creative people

Pecha Kucha

Always Now

Focus and concentration

Silence ...

Powers of ten - distance & time

Movie 'Life is short ...'

Nice poem about Time

Sometimes I would like to stop clocktime for a moment ...

Change-ability

Mobiles in train - annoying or inspiring?

Slow Down Now

Real Age Calculator

The Knights of NOW

Back to Reality Time

And finally the trip back

The Burning Man

Yep yep, the trip to the burning man has started

And now on our way to the burning man

Conference International Organisation Development Association

The Rocky Mountains

Trip to Banff

Loose Moose improvisation theatre

A new look

Take a rest and enjoy

Slow down!

Calgary at sunset ...

My first days in Calgary

Waiting at airport

Big experience & clocktime trip - Canada

The fisherman story

Path or road?

Belgium experience-time beers

New 'Time to NOW'-projects

Royal Observatory Greenwich - GMT

Waste of time

A great time at the Greenwich University

Time to NOW stone

Once upon a time ...

“The mind is like the wind, and the body is like the sand;
if you want to know how the wind is blowing, look at the sand."