I realize that I'm talking about my being a scanner or about my scanner's daybook, while maybe most of you don't know what a scanner is in the first place! So let's fix that.
What the fuck is a scanner?
A scanner is the contrary of a specialist. Scanners are unable to choose one single passion or career, and if they force themselves to do so, they suffer (and their productivity suffers, too). Scanners don't have only one field of interest, they have many of them. They seem to be interested in just everything. They usually have many projects running at the same time, and permanently come up with some great new idea. They also tend not to implement their ideas or not to finish the projects they start.
A scanner is the kind of guy who works with disabled children, studies physics at the distance learning university, learns japanese, draws comics and reads everything he can find about archeology. But it's not like having a job and then a few additional hobbies. The difference between a true scanner and a specialist with hobbies is that for the scanner, nothing is a "hobby". For a scanner, all those things he's interested in are equally important and he just cannot focus mainly or spend most of his time on only one of them, which would be required to do it as his career.
The word "scanner" comes from the book Refuse to Choose! by Barbara Sher. It's a book about scanners and for scanners, to help them cope with life & career without denying the scanner in them. I totally love this book, it has changed my life.
Cyclical scanners vs. serial scanners
Barbara Sher describes different kinds of scanners she identified. The main distinction she makes is between cyclical scanners and serial scanners.
Cyclical scanners have many but stable interests and passions (from 2 to 20+), and they oscillate periodically between all of those. For example a cyclical scanner is someone who starts a painting, then suddenly abandons it to program a computer game. Halfway through the programming work, he goes back to his painting, or starts a new painting. He finishes it, or not, and goes back to program his game. This way he spends his time alternating between programming and painting. In parallel to all this, he may regularly take classes to become a massage therapist.
Serial scanners on the other hand don't go back to a project once they have moved on. They do everything once and never look back. A serial scanner could for example work in a wholefood shop for six months, then quit and take classes in creative writing. After writing a screenplay, or only half of it, she loses interest and volunteers at an orphanage in India for a few months. When she comes back, she starts a business as a self-employed graphic designer. And so on.
Of course most of us are a mix of cyclical and serial scanner to some extent. There are many kinds of scanners out there. What we all have in common is that we hate to pick just one interest and concentrate on it for a long period of time.
What's a "long" period of time is relative. The other criterium Sher uses to classify scanners is their attention span. Among both cyclical and serial scanners, some are able to focus on the same field for a long time, like the serial specialists, who can stick with one career for years till they master it, and then go look for a new challenge. Others switch interests very rapidly. The high-speed indecisives for example always find something more interesting to do after, say, two minutes.
How a scanner ticks
Being a scanner is socially unacceptable nowadays. We are all being drilled to be specialists. As you can imagine, a behavior like the above examples makes it difficult to get a job, to earn a living, or to study. We're often said to be lazy, unstable or weird. In any case we're highly suspect.
That's because most people don't understand how a scanner ticks. When scanners quit, they ARE done. They have gotten what they were looking for, the point is just that what satisfies them is not necessarily what other people would call being done. Scanners all have a good reason to do what they do and to quit when they quit. This reason varies from individual to individual, so each one of us has to find out what keeps him/her going (in both senses).
Some scanners are extremely curious and just want to understand how something works. Once they've figured out how it works, they get bored and quit.
Others get bored and quit when completing the project is only a matter of time and regular effort, but not a matter of developing artful strategies and overcoming challenging difficulties anymore. That's the case for me, for example. When the road to success looks like a highway, damn is that boring. Bye bye!
Some want to discover new things in order to compare, classify and store them in their head like in a big database. I tried out half a dozen martial arts because I enjoyed comparing their tenets and techniques, with no intention of learning any of them in depth.
For some scanners, working somewhere is a way of experiencing other people's lives. They want to know how it feels to be a baker/teacher/accountant/actor, so that's what they do for a little while, but only till they know how it is. That's the reason why I accumulate foreign languages. You don't think in English like you think in German. Learning a new language for me is a way to experience being someone else.
These are some reasons I can identify with, but there are many many more of them. Each scanner has his/her own motivation to do what they do.
Undiagnosed scanners
Undiagnosed scanners are poor devils. I know because I was one of them for many years. When you're a scanner and you don't know that you're a scanner, it's really difficult. You try to pick one thing and stick with it, but you fail. And try again. And fail again. You beat yourself up for being that inconsistent. You think you're lazy. You might even mistrust your own sanity. It can't be that difficult to pick one interest and stick with it, you think, everybody else is doing it too! So why can't you help but switch your major, get interested in things you should not get interested in, and go off-track all the time? Why do you lack concentration like this? How can it happen that you get deadly fed up with your deepest passion at times? You feel weak and completely out of control. When you try to learn discipline and to prevent yourself from going off on a tangent, you get unbearably bored, you suffer, and your productivity drops because you procrastinate like hell.
I switched majors five or six times when I was a student, and left university after many years without any diploma. I studied literature, physics, maths, computer science, law and business, and attended additional classes in psychology, theater, cinema, history, russian, chinese... It was great! I loved it, and learned a lot of very interesting things. And most of the time I wasn't allowed to take the exams because I had failed to submit my work regularly.
I couldn't stand engaging in the same activity all day long, or even every day. This alone would not have been that much of a problem, after all I was talented enough to study only half of the time and still succeed. But I also had the coercive need to ignore my studies for several weeks in a row from time to time, in order to implement other completely unrelated ideas, or to explore some fascinating questions related to my studies that popped into my mind but unfortunately weren't part of the program. This need definitely wasn't compatible with studying.
Before discovering that I'm a scanner, these repeated failures broke my heart. Especially in the case of maths and computer science that I really loved very much. I used to beat myself up a lot for what I thought was a flaw. Now that I know myself better, I can see how being a scanner is a strength and a blessing, not a flaw.
In case what I'm saying resonates with you in some way, don't beat yourself up. Maybe you're just a scanner! Welcome to the Club. :-)
How to get things done as a scanner?
First of all, it IS possible to be productive if you're a scanner. I bet most problems with not completing projects, procrastinating, and so on, stem from a lack of knowledge and/or acceptance of your scanner nature. You lose motivation when you try to force yourself into a specialist's role, when you try by all means to do only one thing at the time and to finish this thing once you begin with it. It's normal that you procrastinate and lose interest then, because this is just not who you are. Working like a specialist is for a scanner a highly ineffective way to work. But if you respect the way you function and organize yourself accordingly, then my bet is that you can very well be productive!
Conventional time management systems aren't really appropriate for scanners. We usually don't implement a project from A to Z in a linear way. We need to do many things at the same time. Working on several projects simultaneously doesn't prevent us from being productive. On the contrary, I've found it to be much more effective. I work more and also more efficiently when I allow myself to freely switch between my projects as often as I feel like switching and to neglect some of them for a while. I usually don't work on the same project on two consecutive days, and I never work on a project for longer than two hours at a single blow.
Barbara Sher developed or gathered from fellow scanners who invented them many awesome organizational tools for scanners that she shares in her book. For each type of scanner there are even particular time management techniques, life plans and job suggestions. I love some of her ideas. Generally, her more right-brained approach inspired me when I planned my new system. If you recognize yourself as a scanner, working with her tools can change your life and boost your productivity like crazy. I highly recommend to read the book. (Edit: a kitchen timer might help, too!)
The scanner's daybook
One tool that she recommends to all scanners is the scanner's daybook. It's some kind of journal to keep track of all your ideas, all your finished and unfinished projects, and of your development as a scanner. My scanner's daybook changed my life!
First, writing in it brought me an incredible relief. At last all those ideas crowding my head got out of there! The anxiety disappeared because I wasn't afraid of forgetting something anymore. The ideas were safe, they were written black on white on the page, I knew they couldn't escape anymore. I got more peaceful. It also was a big relief not to feel the need to implement all of those ideas anymore. I learned to appreciate them for what they are: ideas. I could look at them and think "oh wow, I'm creative, I have so many great ideas!" without getting nervous or thinking that an idea is worthless if no implementation follows. In that sense, writing in my scanner's daybook was a boost for my self-esteem, too.
Second, a scanner's daybook brings many insights. I learned a lot about myself! I thought I was a serial scanner (a sampler), but after journaling for a few weeks, I realized that I'm more of a cyclical scanner (a sybil). Of course I enjoy discovering new things, and I do things that I'll never do anymore. But when I look at all those ideas that I found worthy of writing down, it's quite obvious that many of them are, for example, about doing something creative, be it singing, dancing, writing, designing my own clothes or making sculptures. And many of them are related to personal development: creating PD related websites and eBooks, learning new languages, joining Toastmasters or starting a local PD club. Those I emotionally most resonate with are all about animals in some way: adopting a dog, teaching children how to communicate with animals, having a farm where old or sick animals could live in peace instead of getting killed, and so on. So even though all these projects are very different, it all boils down to only three major areas of interest. Oh wow, this was a big revelation!
Third, the scanner's daybook will help you create your reality and implement your ideas. Since I write in it, I experience many synchronicities related to my projects, even those I don't really think about. Before using the daybook, I had to remember everything and concretely take action on every single project. It was quite tiring. Now everything gets implemented simultaneously and I don't need to remember anything because the opportunities just show up. It doesn't feel like I'm the one implementing my ideas and making it happen. It rather feels like the Universe orchestrates what I write about in my scanner's daybook. I take action not because I decidedly want to but because the opportunity arises and I'm by chance there to catch it. Things just seem to happen and I witness how they happen. It's awesome. The scanner's daybook has a huge creative power!
Goals setting for scanners
If you have many goals, don't tackle them sequentially. Pursue them all at the same time. They will empower each other. Open your scanner's daybook, let your imagination soar and have fun writing everything down. Draw sketches if needed. Then close your book and take the right next inspired action. It doesn't matter to which goal this action belongs. It will all unfold magically :-)
It doesn't matter how many goals you have. You can do it all. Refuse to choose! ;-)
I realize this post is something like a book review of Refuse to Choose!. I'm going to create a new category called Book Reviews and post it in there too. Oh, this gives me the idea of reviewing other great books as well! I already know which ones I'd review. There is this one, and that one... where's my scanner's daybook??
;-)
(Edit: the category Book Reviews became the tag book reviews.)
martes, 14 de octubre de 2008
miércoles, 1 de octubre de 2008
Getting Organized
Hear ye! Rose is getting organized! All miracles are possible ;-)
I'm a chaotic and impulsive person. I've always hated self-discipline, schedules, and following rules. I still hate self-discipline, schedules and following rules... but now I need to get organized and productive.
Why?
As a scanner I always have many interests and several projects running simultaneously anyway. But lately it has gotten much worse. After defining my life's purpose and my core values, I got many ideas on how to express this message into the World. Then I experienced some more learning and growing. I gained confidence, my doubts faded. Going raw gave me the necessary energy. Eventually all those great projects appeared viable! I got more and more excited about them, and felt more and more pressure to implement my ideas.
But I was too messy to be able to take action efficiently. All those ideas! All those emails! And all those things to do! I felt completely overwhelmed. Most of my energy got lost on desperately trying to figure out what to do next, what to begin with. I was plagued by nagging feelings of guilt, and kept procrastinating out of sheer confusion.
That's why I need to get organized now. I get too many emails and have too many ideas that I want to implement, I cannot insouciantly live for the moment anymore. I know - most people first get productive and then begin to think about their life purpose and all those nebulous things. For me it was the contrary. I never could motivate myself to get productive without having an excellent reason to do so. But now that I have such a reason and know what I want to do, I can learn how to do it. I want to give myself the means to do a great job. So I need to learn a couple skills, and get highly productive!
Managing my Emails
My first step was to figure out how to deal with my emails in a more efficient way. My inbox was always full, it took me ages to reply to some emails, and the whole thing was quite draining. I asked a few people how they do it, and someone told me about the important vs. urgent concept. I think this is Stephen Covey's idea, isn't it?
Now my system is the following: I have five folders called 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
1 is for urgent and important emails.
2 is for urgent but not that important emails.
3 is for important but not really urgent emails.
4 is for emails that are neither urgent nor important.
5 is for emails that need to wait for some date or some event before they can be replied or reacted to.
When I go through my inbox, I move each email to the appropriate folder, unless it's possible to reply in just a few words, like "Thank you very much, I wish you a wonderful day" or "Get lost, you bastard". In this case, I write back immediately. After all emails have been classified, the inbox is empty. Once a day I rapidly skim through all folders to see if some email needs to move to another folder. Then when I have some free time, I go through folders 1-4 and write back, beginning with folder 1, then folder 2, and so on. If I lack time to answer all emails, at least I can be sure that the most urgent and important stuff has been processed.
That's it.
It took me two or three days, but now my inbox and all folders are empty! And I'll never create such an email mess again. :-)
Managing everything else
Inspired by this success, I decided to apply the exact same system to other areas of my life. I use plastic boxes instead of folders, and instead of emails, I work with scraps of paper.
Whenever I think of some task that I need, have or want to do, I write it down on a scrap of paper, and throw this scrap of paper in the "inbox". If I know all the steps required for some project, I write every single step on a distinct scrap of paper, put the first one in the inbox and all others in box 5, the waiting box. Every time one step of the project is completed, the next one gets taken out of the waiting box. Once a day, I check the boxes and if needed redistribute the scraps of paper. And whenever I have some time, I open the first non empty box, and get going.
The good thing is that when I open a box and look at the tasks, I'm free to choose which one I'd like to complete now. This system is not as rigid as, for example, a calendar. I feel a lot more free this way, because even though I pick only something from this particular box, I still can listen to my intuition or improvise depending on my mood, the amount of time I have, the situation... It's much more fun than a to-do list, too. Almost like a lottery! Because of the huge amount of ideas I have, there are plenty of scraps of paper in my boxes. I usually don't remember what is in there exactly, so taking them out and pondering which one I'm going to tackle now is a lot of fun. :-)
Another good thing is that when I get bored with some task, I just put the scrap of paper back in its box, and choose another one. Yippeee! No guilt over not completing a job! This system is totally flexible. I'm free to spend as much or as little time on any task as I feel like to, to switch tasks as often as I want to, and to have as many projects as I'm interested in...
I also appreciate that I can use one single system to manage just everything in my life, be it buying food for the cat, designing my first eBook, or planning my kettlebell training. Such a comprehensive system is a good match for me, because there is no distinction, in my life, between career, hobbies, private life and public life.
The boxes are even big enough to contain letters. So I just put my mail in the same boxes as the scraps of paper.
Getting clear
The challenging part of this management system is that you need to know what's urgent, what's important, and what's not. For me this is no problem, because I know what my purpose is, my values, my goals, my priorities. I have it all together, only the organizational part was missing. I was ripe.
However, I can imagine that if you're not clear about what you truly want in life, or what's really important to you, this system is too foggy. So if you'd like to try it out, first define what urgent means in your world, and what is most important to you.
Big productivity boost
Thanks to this system, my productivity has increased by something like 500% in three days. It feels like playing. I go around with a big grin on my face, loudly claiming "I'm good! I'm so damn good! Yet another completed task! This is so much fun!". To the point that my friend Tom looked at me with a telling mien and observed "Self-praise stinks". :-D
The day I decided to get organized and productive, I immediately ordered a few appropriate books on Amazon. They haven't arrived yet, I guess I won't need them? Maybe they'll teach me some other useful principles. I'll keep you posted, in case I learn something interesting.
I wish you a productive day! :-)
I'm a chaotic and impulsive person. I've always hated self-discipline, schedules, and following rules. I still hate self-discipline, schedules and following rules... but now I need to get organized and productive.
Why?
As a scanner I always have many interests and several projects running simultaneously anyway. But lately it has gotten much worse. After defining my life's purpose and my core values, I got many ideas on how to express this message into the World. Then I experienced some more learning and growing. I gained confidence, my doubts faded. Going raw gave me the necessary energy. Eventually all those great projects appeared viable! I got more and more excited about them, and felt more and more pressure to implement my ideas.
But I was too messy to be able to take action efficiently. All those ideas! All those emails! And all those things to do! I felt completely overwhelmed. Most of my energy got lost on desperately trying to figure out what to do next, what to begin with. I was plagued by nagging feelings of guilt, and kept procrastinating out of sheer confusion.
That's why I need to get organized now. I get too many emails and have too many ideas that I want to implement, I cannot insouciantly live for the moment anymore. I know - most people first get productive and then begin to think about their life purpose and all those nebulous things. For me it was the contrary. I never could motivate myself to get productive without having an excellent reason to do so. But now that I have such a reason and know what I want to do, I can learn how to do it. I want to give myself the means to do a great job. So I need to learn a couple skills, and get highly productive!
Managing my Emails
My first step was to figure out how to deal with my emails in a more efficient way. My inbox was always full, it took me ages to reply to some emails, and the whole thing was quite draining. I asked a few people how they do it, and someone told me about the important vs. urgent concept. I think this is Stephen Covey's idea, isn't it?
Now my system is the following: I have five folders called 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
1 is for urgent and important emails.
2 is for urgent but not that important emails.
3 is for important but not really urgent emails.
4 is for emails that are neither urgent nor important.
5 is for emails that need to wait for some date or some event before they can be replied or reacted to.
When I go through my inbox, I move each email to the appropriate folder, unless it's possible to reply in just a few words, like "Thank you very much, I wish you a wonderful day" or "Get lost, you bastard". In this case, I write back immediately. After all emails have been classified, the inbox is empty. Once a day I rapidly skim through all folders to see if some email needs to move to another folder. Then when I have some free time, I go through folders 1-4 and write back, beginning with folder 1, then folder 2, and so on. If I lack time to answer all emails, at least I can be sure that the most urgent and important stuff has been processed.
That's it.
It took me two or three days, but now my inbox and all folders are empty! And I'll never create such an email mess again. :-)
Managing everything else
Inspired by this success, I decided to apply the exact same system to other areas of my life. I use plastic boxes instead of folders, and instead of emails, I work with scraps of paper.
Whenever I think of some task that I need, have or want to do, I write it down on a scrap of paper, and throw this scrap of paper in the "inbox". If I know all the steps required for some project, I write every single step on a distinct scrap of paper, put the first one in the inbox and all others in box 5, the waiting box. Every time one step of the project is completed, the next one gets taken out of the waiting box. Once a day, I check the boxes and if needed redistribute the scraps of paper. And whenever I have some time, I open the first non empty box, and get going.
The good thing is that when I open a box and look at the tasks, I'm free to choose which one I'd like to complete now. This system is not as rigid as, for example, a calendar. I feel a lot more free this way, because even though I pick only something from this particular box, I still can listen to my intuition or improvise depending on my mood, the amount of time I have, the situation... It's much more fun than a to-do list, too. Almost like a lottery! Because of the huge amount of ideas I have, there are plenty of scraps of paper in my boxes. I usually don't remember what is in there exactly, so taking them out and pondering which one I'm going to tackle now is a lot of fun. :-)
Another good thing is that when I get bored with some task, I just put the scrap of paper back in its box, and choose another one. Yippeee! No guilt over not completing a job! This system is totally flexible. I'm free to spend as much or as little time on any task as I feel like to, to switch tasks as often as I want to, and to have as many projects as I'm interested in...
I also appreciate that I can use one single system to manage just everything in my life, be it buying food for the cat, designing my first eBook, or planning my kettlebell training. Such a comprehensive system is a good match for me, because there is no distinction, in my life, between career, hobbies, private life and public life.
The boxes are even big enough to contain letters. So I just put my mail in the same boxes as the scraps of paper.
Getting clear
The challenging part of this management system is that you need to know what's urgent, what's important, and what's not. For me this is no problem, because I know what my purpose is, my values, my goals, my priorities. I have it all together, only the organizational part was missing. I was ripe.
However, I can imagine that if you're not clear about what you truly want in life, or what's really important to you, this system is too foggy. So if you'd like to try it out, first define what urgent means in your world, and what is most important to you.
Big productivity boost
Thanks to this system, my productivity has increased by something like 500% in three days. It feels like playing. I go around with a big grin on my face, loudly claiming "I'm good! I'm so damn good! Yet another completed task! This is so much fun!". To the point that my friend Tom looked at me with a telling mien and observed "Self-praise stinks". :-D
The day I decided to get organized and productive, I immediately ordered a few appropriate books on Amazon. They haven't arrived yet, I guess I won't need them? Maybe they'll teach me some other useful principles. I'll keep you posted, in case I learn something interesting.
I wish you a productive day! :-)
jueves, 4 de septiembre de 2008
Wanna go raw? A few practical tips
This post is for those who already want to go raw. I don't mean to push this diet on anybody.
So you want to go raw? Here a few things that could help you.
A conscious decision
I already stressed the importance of clarity in my previous post. Please go back and ask yourself all the questions I listed there in the paragraph about clarity. Write the answers down. Take some time to think it through.
If you still want to go raw, make the conscious decision to do so, no matter how difficult it could get. I'm saying this because when you get cravings it's easy to fall back, unless you remember that you once very consciously chose to go this path no matter how difficult it could get. If your decision sounds like "I will go raw! Well, unless it becomes painful... " this won't help you much. Don't leave any backdoors open for you to escape your decision in case it gets uncomfortable.
If such a commitment sounds too radical to you, set a time limit for your raw trial. You don't have to go raw at all costs and forever now. You can choose to try it out for thirty days. Or for ten days or even for just two days. The time amount doesn't matter, but decide on it before you start. And then, for this amount of time, stay committed to your decision - no matter how difficult it could get.
A good preparation
Going raw isn't easy. You'll have to overcome a strong, daily habit. You'll have to deal with a lot of social pressure. Always having something raw to eat at hand also requires organization. Not to forget that some substances in cooked foods are highly addictive. Breaking an addiction can get tough, and you'll be surrounded with temptations everywhere. For me personally, going raw was more difficult than quitting smoking.
That's why I think it's important to prepare oneself very well before going raw, not just jump into it spontaneously. Choose a date a few weeks ahead and prepare yourself during this time. Victoria Boutenko recommends drinking green smoothies every day for several weeks before going raw, to give the body nutrients and avoid too severe cravings later. I didn't do that, but maybe it's a good idea.
Here a few more things you can do before D-Day:
A written plan
Making a written plan has helped me tremendously. I found it much easier to go raw when seeing it as a game, or war. Your goal is to beat your opponent! Prepare yourself for the battle. Develop your strategies on paper!
In case you are overweight, you will lose weight. Are you prepared for such an eventuality? Write down what you will do about your weight loss. About new clothes you'll need. About how you will deal with comments from others. Such things. Write everything down.
You're very likely to experience a noticeable energy increase when you go raw. What will you do with this excess energy? You need to find an outlet for it just in case, or else it could overwhelm you so much that you'll return to cooked foods just to stop feeling uncomfortable. Can you think of something you're dreaming of doing but hadn't enough energy to do until now? Or maybe exercising more? Or starting a new creative activity? Find out what you would do with more energy, and write that down, too.
Now the main part of the battle plan:
Observe yourself for a few days and write down what you eat, when you eat it, and why. Don't judge your eating habits, just analyze them.
Based on this, imagine all kinds of situations in which you normally would eat cooked foods, or might feel like eating something even though you're not really hungry, or might get a craving.
Then, for each one of these situations, imagine what you will do in such a moment, instead of eating something cooked. It can be eating raw food if you're being hungry, but it can also be something completely different from eating, like going for a walk, performing ten push-ups or cleansing your chakras. Just pick something that makes sense in that precise situation and keeps you occupied. Write everything down.
Visualizations
Practice visualizing these situations and your desired reaction every day before going raw (but not while you are in those situations themselves). After going raw, when you're in one of the listed situations, all you'll need to do is to apply your great plan. You'll already be conditioned to have your desired reaction. It makes it much easier!
Also visualize your life and yourself as a raw fooder regularly before going raw, as if it were now. What are you wearing, doing, feeling, being, looking like? Imagine everything in details. Here it's helpful to use this emotional main reason for going raw I talked about in my previous post. What's the emotion you're aiming at creating? How do you hope to feel once you've gone raw for this particular reason? Healthy? Balanced? Free? Light? Proud? Productive? When you're visualizing, concentrate on feeling this emotion as if it were already present in your life now.
Support and information
It helps to talk to other raw fooders, to get involved in a raw forum, to join a raw community, to read books about raw foods, etc. Go search for resources on the net. Your intuition will guide you.
Also surround yourself with supportive people in real life. Ask your family/friends to help you. Avoid people who discourage you.
Build a favorable environment for your upcoming shift already before actually making this shift.
When D-Day has come, throw all cooked foods, pots and pans out! And jump into the Unknown. What might help you after D-Day is:
Overeating
When you go raw you'll probably get a strange feeling of lightness that you're not used to. Like your stomach is empty, even when you're not hungry. This is strange enough! If you let yourself be hungry on top of that, you'll get cravings for heavy cooked things. Eating really really A LOT in the first few weeks helps. Don't worry, as time goes by you'll end up eating less anyway.
EFT
Do you already know EFT? It's an awesome technique to deal with unpleasant emotions and/or physical pain. It's often used to treat phobias or cravings. In case you get extremely strong cravings, it could be worth learning EFT and applying it to your cravings. You can find an easy tutorial for beginners (as well as many other resources) on this site.
A few failures
Bitterly failing a few times is extremely useful. I know this sounds like a contradiction to what I said above about leaving no backdoor open. But it's not. If you are fully committed and fail, you'll learn a lot out of it.
My first trial in November 2007 lasted only one week. It showed me that I feel much better on raw foods but that it's not easy. I also learned that eating raw grains is not a good idea for me! My second trial in January 2008 taught me that I had a disempowering mindset. I broke off after two weeks to fix my mindset, which took me a few months. In April, I started trial #3, this time feeling absolutely ready and firmly committed to go raw forever. Nevertheless, I wasn't able to stay 100% raw all the time. I experienced a few disappointing set-backs, and after exactly three months I had to take a break because I couldn't stand losing weight that fast. It taught me that I had unresolved issues that I needed to address first. It also taught me how addictive cooked food really is.
Failing is part of the learning process. You won't learn much if you're not truly committed to your new decision though. Be willing to fail, and give your best to succeed!
Hope this helps a little bit. Good luck :-)
So you want to go raw? Here a few things that could help you.
A conscious decision
I already stressed the importance of clarity in my previous post. Please go back and ask yourself all the questions I listed there in the paragraph about clarity. Write the answers down. Take some time to think it through.
If you still want to go raw, make the conscious decision to do so, no matter how difficult it could get. I'm saying this because when you get cravings it's easy to fall back, unless you remember that you once very consciously chose to go this path no matter how difficult it could get. If your decision sounds like "I will go raw! Well, unless it becomes painful... " this won't help you much. Don't leave any backdoors open for you to escape your decision in case it gets uncomfortable.
If such a commitment sounds too radical to you, set a time limit for your raw trial. You don't have to go raw at all costs and forever now. You can choose to try it out for thirty days. Or for ten days or even for just two days. The time amount doesn't matter, but decide on it before you start. And then, for this amount of time, stay committed to your decision - no matter how difficult it could get.
A good preparation
Going raw isn't easy. You'll have to overcome a strong, daily habit. You'll have to deal with a lot of social pressure. Always having something raw to eat at hand also requires organization. Not to forget that some substances in cooked foods are highly addictive. Breaking an addiction can get tough, and you'll be surrounded with temptations everywhere. For me personally, going raw was more difficult than quitting smoking.
That's why I think it's important to prepare oneself very well before going raw, not just jump into it spontaneously. Choose a date a few weeks ahead and prepare yourself during this time. Victoria Boutenko recommends drinking green smoothies every day for several weeks before going raw, to give the body nutrients and avoid too severe cravings later. I didn't do that, but maybe it's a good idea.
Here a few more things you can do before D-Day:
A written plan
Making a written plan has helped me tremendously. I found it much easier to go raw when seeing it as a game, or war. Your goal is to beat your opponent! Prepare yourself for the battle. Develop your strategies on paper!
In case you are overweight, you will lose weight. Are you prepared for such an eventuality? Write down what you will do about your weight loss. About new clothes you'll need. About how you will deal with comments from others. Such things. Write everything down.
You're very likely to experience a noticeable energy increase when you go raw. What will you do with this excess energy? You need to find an outlet for it just in case, or else it could overwhelm you so much that you'll return to cooked foods just to stop feeling uncomfortable. Can you think of something you're dreaming of doing but hadn't enough energy to do until now? Or maybe exercising more? Or starting a new creative activity? Find out what you would do with more energy, and write that down, too.
Now the main part of the battle plan:
Observe yourself for a few days and write down what you eat, when you eat it, and why. Don't judge your eating habits, just analyze them.
Based on this, imagine all kinds of situations in which you normally would eat cooked foods, or might feel like eating something even though you're not really hungry, or might get a craving.
Then, for each one of these situations, imagine what you will do in such a moment, instead of eating something cooked. It can be eating raw food if you're being hungry, but it can also be something completely different from eating, like going for a walk, performing ten push-ups or cleansing your chakras. Just pick something that makes sense in that precise situation and keeps you occupied. Write everything down.
Visualizations
Practice visualizing these situations and your desired reaction every day before going raw (but not while you are in those situations themselves). After going raw, when you're in one of the listed situations, all you'll need to do is to apply your great plan. You'll already be conditioned to have your desired reaction. It makes it much easier!
Also visualize your life and yourself as a raw fooder regularly before going raw, as if it were now. What are you wearing, doing, feeling, being, looking like? Imagine everything in details. Here it's helpful to use this emotional main reason for going raw I talked about in my previous post. What's the emotion you're aiming at creating? How do you hope to feel once you've gone raw for this particular reason? Healthy? Balanced? Free? Light? Proud? Productive? When you're visualizing, concentrate on feeling this emotion as if it were already present in your life now.
Support and information
It helps to talk to other raw fooders, to get involved in a raw forum, to join a raw community, to read books about raw foods, etc. Go search for resources on the net. Your intuition will guide you.
Also surround yourself with supportive people in real life. Ask your family/friends to help you. Avoid people who discourage you.
Build a favorable environment for your upcoming shift already before actually making this shift.
When D-Day has come, throw all cooked foods, pots and pans out! And jump into the Unknown. What might help you after D-Day is:
Overeating
When you go raw you'll probably get a strange feeling of lightness that you're not used to. Like your stomach is empty, even when you're not hungry. This is strange enough! If you let yourself be hungry on top of that, you'll get cravings for heavy cooked things. Eating really really A LOT in the first few weeks helps. Don't worry, as time goes by you'll end up eating less anyway.
EFT
Do you already know EFT? It's an awesome technique to deal with unpleasant emotions and/or physical pain. It's often used to treat phobias or cravings. In case you get extremely strong cravings, it could be worth learning EFT and applying it to your cravings. You can find an easy tutorial for beginners (as well as many other resources) on this site.
A few failures
Bitterly failing a few times is extremely useful. I know this sounds like a contradiction to what I said above about leaving no backdoor open. But it's not. If you are fully committed and fail, you'll learn a lot out of it.
My first trial in November 2007 lasted only one week. It showed me that I feel much better on raw foods but that it's not easy. I also learned that eating raw grains is not a good idea for me! My second trial in January 2008 taught me that I had a disempowering mindset. I broke off after two weeks to fix my mindset, which took me a few months. In April, I started trial #3, this time feeling absolutely ready and firmly committed to go raw forever. Nevertheless, I wasn't able to stay 100% raw all the time. I experienced a few disappointing set-backs, and after exactly three months I had to take a break because I couldn't stand losing weight that fast. It taught me that I had unresolved issues that I needed to address first. It also taught me how addictive cooked food really is.
Failing is part of the learning process. You won't learn much if you're not truly committed to your new decision though. Be willing to fail, and give your best to succeed!
Hope this helps a little bit. Good luck :-)
lunes, 1 de septiembre de 2008
Does it take self-discipline to go raw?
No, it doesn't.
I completely lack self-discipline. I hate self-discipline. If it took self-discipline to go raw, I'd never have done it.
So what does it take to go raw?
Clarity
Most of all, clarity, clarity, and clarity. If you want to go raw, it really helps to know exactly what you want, why you want it, who you are and what this diet change means to you.
So what do you want exactly? 100% raw? 90%? 75%? Why this number?
Why do you want to do it? What are your reasons for wanting to go raw in the first place? Write them down. Writing it down produces another result than just thinking of it. Brainstorm for a while. When I did it, I had over 20 reasons to go raw.
It helps to make it clear to yourself why you want to do it. Look at your reasons and ask yourself which one of them is the main reason, the most important one. Please don't listen to what your mind says. Your mind will pick the most "sensible" reason, the one you think should be the most important one. But that's not necessarily the one that most resonates with you deep down. Listen to your guts, because the day you have a serious craving and are about to give up, reminding yourself of your emotional main reason might save you. Reminding yourself of your logical main reason won't do much for you.
What does going raw mean to you? Is it strictly a health matter, or does it have another signification?
What does food in general mean to you? What is your relationship to cooked food? When and why do you eat exactly?
Who are you as a person? What's your life purpose? What are your core values? How does eating raw fit in?
Can you imagine yourself as a raw fooder? Have you thought of all the negative consequences of going raw? Look at them boldly, and compare with your reasons for wanting to go raw. Do you still really want to go raw?
Know all this and you won't need self-discipline.
Willingness to change
If you want to go raw, you have to welcome change in your life. Even if you choose to cut the cooked food out of your diet very gradually - there's still a point of no return where you'll have to go cold turkey at least for those foods that are addictive (like sugar, grains, meat or dairy). This WILL be a shock.
Going raw will completely mess with your life. Not only will you have to eat different foods, with all the social consequences of that, you'll also experience physical, mental and emotional changes. All raw fooders I know of report an increase in energy, creativity and clarity of mind after going raw. If you're overweight, you'll lose weight. You'll have to find a way to deal with these changes. We are what we eat. On raw foods, you will become another person entirely.
To go raw, you need to welcome this new person. If you're someone who's very uncomfortable with too radical change, you have a problem. You'll need to let go of control, let go of your identification with who you are currently being, and trust that you are safe.
Courage
Jumping into the Unknown like this requires some courage. Not much, it's not that terrible ;-) but yes, it's scary at first. I was scared, not knowing what was expecting me. I was especially scared to see my body melt and my weight drop dramatically, so much that I had to take a break. Don't worry, once you've been raw for a while, it's ok. You get used to this new food, to your new habits, your new body and your new personality and won't need any courage anymore. But at first, yes, you need some courage to jump off the cliff.
Curiosity and Strategic thinking
Absolute clarity, the willingness to change, and courage at the beginning, this is what I personally find most important for those who want to go raw. Of course it also helps to be curious, because it'll make experimenting with new foods more fun. And if you enjoy strategic thinking, that's even better. It helps to think of it like a game or a war and to make plans to beat the opponent! But I'll talk about this in my next post, as this one was more about what it takes mentally to go raw, and less about concrete strategies to do so.
I'll share a few practical tips in my next post. If you follow them, you definitely won't need self-discipline.
Have a wonderful day!
I completely lack self-discipline. I hate self-discipline. If it took self-discipline to go raw, I'd never have done it.
So what does it take to go raw?
Clarity
Most of all, clarity, clarity, and clarity. If you want to go raw, it really helps to know exactly what you want, why you want it, who you are and what this diet change means to you.
So what do you want exactly? 100% raw? 90%? 75%? Why this number?
Why do you want to do it? What are your reasons for wanting to go raw in the first place? Write them down. Writing it down produces another result than just thinking of it. Brainstorm for a while. When I did it, I had over 20 reasons to go raw.
It helps to make it clear to yourself why you want to do it. Look at your reasons and ask yourself which one of them is the main reason, the most important one. Please don't listen to what your mind says. Your mind will pick the most "sensible" reason, the one you think should be the most important one. But that's not necessarily the one that most resonates with you deep down. Listen to your guts, because the day you have a serious craving and are about to give up, reminding yourself of your emotional main reason might save you. Reminding yourself of your logical main reason won't do much for you.
What does going raw mean to you? Is it strictly a health matter, or does it have another signification?
What does food in general mean to you? What is your relationship to cooked food? When and why do you eat exactly?
Who are you as a person? What's your life purpose? What are your core values? How does eating raw fit in?
Can you imagine yourself as a raw fooder? Have you thought of all the negative consequences of going raw? Look at them boldly, and compare with your reasons for wanting to go raw. Do you still really want to go raw?
Know all this and you won't need self-discipline.
Willingness to change
If you want to go raw, you have to welcome change in your life. Even if you choose to cut the cooked food out of your diet very gradually - there's still a point of no return where you'll have to go cold turkey at least for those foods that are addictive (like sugar, grains, meat or dairy). This WILL be a shock.
Going raw will completely mess with your life. Not only will you have to eat different foods, with all the social consequences of that, you'll also experience physical, mental and emotional changes. All raw fooders I know of report an increase in energy, creativity and clarity of mind after going raw. If you're overweight, you'll lose weight. You'll have to find a way to deal with these changes. We are what we eat. On raw foods, you will become another person entirely.
To go raw, you need to welcome this new person. If you're someone who's very uncomfortable with too radical change, you have a problem. You'll need to let go of control, let go of your identification with who you are currently being, and trust that you are safe.
Courage
Jumping into the Unknown like this requires some courage. Not much, it's not that terrible ;-) but yes, it's scary at first. I was scared, not knowing what was expecting me. I was especially scared to see my body melt and my weight drop dramatically, so much that I had to take a break. Don't worry, once you've been raw for a while, it's ok. You get used to this new food, to your new habits, your new body and your new personality and won't need any courage anymore. But at first, yes, you need some courage to jump off the cliff.
Curiosity and Strategic thinking
Absolute clarity, the willingness to change, and courage at the beginning, this is what I personally find most important for those who want to go raw. Of course it also helps to be curious, because it'll make experimenting with new foods more fun. And if you enjoy strategic thinking, that's even better. It helps to think of it like a game or a war and to make plans to beat the opponent! But I'll talk about this in my next post, as this one was more about what it takes mentally to go raw, and less about concrete strategies to do so.
I'll share a few practical tips in my next post. If you follow them, you definitely won't need self-discipline.
Have a wonderful day!
viernes, 13 de junio de 2008
Don't Go to the Gym!
I've found the ultimate exercise: gardening. That's what I'm doing daily at the moment, my mother is late with her garden and needs some help.
Gardening is fantastic! It's a versatile activity, you have to perform many different tasks, walking, pushing, pulling, pecking, bending down, stretching, carrying heavy things... You train all muscle groups, I can tell! I'm permanently having sore muscles just everywhere, from the neck to the feet, even in places I didn't think I had muscles... including in my fingers! Have you ever felt the muscles in your fingers at the gym?
Gardening also trains coordination, you have to manipulate things more subtly than you do with a few dumbbells. And it'll increase your stamina. After a while of cleaning your garden, you'll feel your heart work seriously, I assure you. So it's an all-round training, encompassing cardio, muscle building and coordination.
Another benefit: you get sunlight and fresh air. That's much better than to be caged in a room with artificial light and conditioned air smelling like plastic. We need sunlight and fresh air, just like we need to move. It's vital.
Not to forget the greatest benefit: you nourish yourself with your work. You get to eat the delicious organic things you have grown yourself.
I find it really strange and a bit funny to drive to the gym with a car, do some exercise there, come back with the car, and then buy some fruit and veggies, maybe even expensive organic things because they're healthier or more ethical. You pay to exercise, then you pay to eat. Why not exercise in your garden and eat the result of your exercise? You'd save the money for the gym, and the money for the food.
As for the energy, isn't it a big waste to use a lot of gas and pollute the environment with your car in order to go spend a lot of time and energy on some machines with no other purpose and no other result than to do so for its own sake... and then to need someone else to provide you with food?
If I were a gym owner, I'd use all these machines to at least produce some electricity. Imagine all these people in all these gyms all over the country, pushing, pulling and lifting all day long, imagine how much energy gets just wasted this way! No really, what a pity.
Gardening not only is a reasonable, ethical and healthy way to exercise, it's also a fun activity. I never get bored when I'm in the garden! I'd love to have my own and to grow lots of greens and berries in it.
Gardening also strengthens our connection to Nature, that many of us have unfortunately lost.
It can even have a meditative aspect. I always use it as an excellent opportunity to practice present moment awareness, focus on what I'm doing and let go of all thoughts. I feel very peaceful when I'm gardening.
And when you get hungry while working out, you can just eat the next right thing in front of you. Can you eat your dumbbells?
Gardening is fantastic! It's a versatile activity, you have to perform many different tasks, walking, pushing, pulling, pecking, bending down, stretching, carrying heavy things... You train all muscle groups, I can tell! I'm permanently having sore muscles just everywhere, from the neck to the feet, even in places I didn't think I had muscles... including in my fingers! Have you ever felt the muscles in your fingers at the gym?
Gardening also trains coordination, you have to manipulate things more subtly than you do with a few dumbbells. And it'll increase your stamina. After a while of cleaning your garden, you'll feel your heart work seriously, I assure you. So it's an all-round training, encompassing cardio, muscle building and coordination.
Another benefit: you get sunlight and fresh air. That's much better than to be caged in a room with artificial light and conditioned air smelling like plastic. We need sunlight and fresh air, just like we need to move. It's vital.
Not to forget the greatest benefit: you nourish yourself with your work. You get to eat the delicious organic things you have grown yourself.
I find it really strange and a bit funny to drive to the gym with a car, do some exercise there, come back with the car, and then buy some fruit and veggies, maybe even expensive organic things because they're healthier or more ethical. You pay to exercise, then you pay to eat. Why not exercise in your garden and eat the result of your exercise? You'd save the money for the gym, and the money for the food.
As for the energy, isn't it a big waste to use a lot of gas and pollute the environment with your car in order to go spend a lot of time and energy on some machines with no other purpose and no other result than to do so for its own sake... and then to need someone else to provide you with food?
If I were a gym owner, I'd use all these machines to at least produce some electricity. Imagine all these people in all these gyms all over the country, pushing, pulling and lifting all day long, imagine how much energy gets just wasted this way! No really, what a pity.
Gardening not only is a reasonable, ethical and healthy way to exercise, it's also a fun activity. I never get bored when I'm in the garden! I'd love to have my own and to grow lots of greens and berries in it.
Gardening also strengthens our connection to Nature, that many of us have unfortunately lost.
It can even have a meditative aspect. I always use it as an excellent opportunity to practice present moment awareness, focus on what I'm doing and let go of all thoughts. I feel very peaceful when I'm gardening.
And when you get hungry while working out, you can just eat the next right thing in front of you. Can you eat your dumbbells?
miércoles, 14 de mayo de 2008
Beautiful Tibetan Songs
I'd like to share with you some of my favorite Tibetan songs. They're so beautiful. Don't expect meditating monks though - this is contemporary stuff.
What I noticed first is that there are many songs about the Land of Snows, its identity and its political situation. This one is a very beautiful example. Can't stand watching the images though :( Many youtube comments also reflect the current tensions, like those to this song. This one is the first Tibetan song I discovered.
A few months ago I was sitting in front of my computer doing I don't remember what, when suddenly I heard a voice in my head clearly and distinctly saying "Tibet, music". So I typed exactly this into youtube and found this song. I loved it immediately. I had never heard of Tibetan music before, and was amazed to discover how many great artists and wonderful songs there are!
My absolute favorite Singer is Om Amchok. I love his velvety voice.
My favorite song is called Ngapcho Ngachu, which means "1959", year of the Tibetan uprising. If you like it, also listen to Kyoway Mikchu and Dhel Sem Rolmoe. Om Amchok lives in exile in Canada. You'll find more info about him as well as his newest songs on his MySpace profile.
This here is interesting to watch for westerners. It's a concert with four singers and a colorful choreography in the background. I like it very much.
One of the singers in the previous video is Kunga, his songs are wonderful. Listen to Yi Re Kyo, it's deeply touching. Metok Karpo is another one of my favorites. If you like Kunga, there are many beautiful songs by him on youtube, like Waiting for mother, Drenlu, or Ama. Ama means Mother if I understood it correctly.
Here a very beautiful one by Yadon featuring Kunga: Bashe.
I love Yadon's songs too, especially Kyabjuk and Penchen Gyalwa Mi Sung. He wrote a mother song too, Makye Ama, and a particularly inspiring love song, Rigzin Wangmo.
Here we have another impressive choreography, and a very powerful, terrific song: Gangchen Pa by Drolma Kyab. What a cool guy. Windhorse is another great song. And here's a very nice one: Kyo Shay. Feel the freedom?
I also like a few of Tsering Gyurmey's creations, like Shidey Nyima and Gyatsoe Ting Gyi Norbu. And Khu Sim Sim, I suppose it's a love story with a sad ending? Hey Sonam is light, nice and sounds more like dance music.
If you enjoy such songs, you'll probably like Phurbu T. Namgyal. He lives in the USA and his music sounds way more like happy pop. Here's Kyo Lhang Lhang, Chak Sum Tsel and Nyam Du Dro. Good to dance to!
I always have to dance to this one: it's Kharag Penpa Tsering, Len Chik. This song gives me such strong movement impulses that my body just begins to jiggle and hop. Would love to dance tango to that one!
To finish with something peaceful, here is Techung. His style is more traditional. My favorites songs: Bho Bhang Kyo Lhu, Nyi Lam Nang, Losar, and Land Of Snows.
If you're interested in more Tibetan music, check tibetlink and jigdo's profile on youtube.
May Tibet find Peace and Freedom.
What I noticed first is that there are many songs about the Land of Snows, its identity and its political situation. This one is a very beautiful example. Can't stand watching the images though :( Many youtube comments also reflect the current tensions, like those to this song. This one is the first Tibetan song I discovered.
A few months ago I was sitting in front of my computer doing I don't remember what, when suddenly I heard a voice in my head clearly and distinctly saying "Tibet, music". So I typed exactly this into youtube and found this song. I loved it immediately. I had never heard of Tibetan music before, and was amazed to discover how many great artists and wonderful songs there are!
My absolute favorite Singer is Om Amchok. I love his velvety voice.
My favorite song is called Ngapcho Ngachu, which means "1959", year of the Tibetan uprising. If you like it, also listen to Kyoway Mikchu and Dhel Sem Rolmoe. Om Amchok lives in exile in Canada. You'll find more info about him as well as his newest songs on his MySpace profile.
This here is interesting to watch for westerners. It's a concert with four singers and a colorful choreography in the background. I like it very much.
One of the singers in the previous video is Kunga, his songs are wonderful. Listen to Yi Re Kyo, it's deeply touching. Metok Karpo is another one of my favorites. If you like Kunga, there are many beautiful songs by him on youtube, like Waiting for mother, Drenlu, or Ama. Ama means Mother if I understood it correctly.
Here a very beautiful one by Yadon featuring Kunga: Bashe.
I love Yadon's songs too, especially Kyabjuk and Penchen Gyalwa Mi Sung. He wrote a mother song too, Makye Ama, and a particularly inspiring love song, Rigzin Wangmo.
Here we have another impressive choreography, and a very powerful, terrific song: Gangchen Pa by Drolma Kyab. What a cool guy. Windhorse is another great song. And here's a very nice one: Kyo Shay. Feel the freedom?
I also like a few of Tsering Gyurmey's creations, like Shidey Nyima and Gyatsoe Ting Gyi Norbu. And Khu Sim Sim, I suppose it's a love story with a sad ending? Hey Sonam is light, nice and sounds more like dance music.
If you enjoy such songs, you'll probably like Phurbu T. Namgyal. He lives in the USA and his music sounds way more like happy pop. Here's Kyo Lhang Lhang, Chak Sum Tsel and Nyam Du Dro. Good to dance to!
I always have to dance to this one: it's Kharag Penpa Tsering, Len Chik. This song gives me such strong movement impulses that my body just begins to jiggle and hop. Would love to dance tango to that one!
To finish with something peaceful, here is Techung. His style is more traditional. My favorites songs: Bho Bhang Kyo Lhu, Nyi Lam Nang, Losar, and Land Of Snows.
If you're interested in more Tibetan music, check tibetlink and jigdo's profile on youtube.
May Tibet find Peace and Freedom.
lunes, 4 de febrero de 2008
Baroque Music I - Vivaldi
Guess what my computer's name is? It's Antonio, in honor of Antonio Vivaldi. I love Vivaldi. He's amazing, he's got such a power! Listen to that BOMB. So much energy, so much life! There is just everything in his music. Sometimes he's melancholic, sometimes playful and light. He's painfully sensitive at times, he can be deeply sad, express desolate sorrow, and also sound upbeat and joyous. He's enthusiastic, exuberant, funny and a bit crazy.
He's just beautiful.
I have a burning passion for baroque music in general, and Vivaldi especially. Since one post would not be enough to cover baroque anyway, I'm just going to start with him.
If you don't know this kind of music yet, please take your time and concentrate when you listen to it. You'll probably need a while to get used to it and notice how beautiful it is. At least that's what most people say. I don't know, I fell for baroque within two minutes when I first heard it.
The Four Seasons
You probably know his most famous work, The Four Seasons, even if you don't know that you know it. It's so famous that you can even hear it as background music in the supermarket from time to time, at least in France. Here's the beginning, it'll seem familiar to you: La Primavera (Spring).
There are many different interpretations of this work, this one was Nigel Kennedy. Here another piece, conducted by Fabio Biondi: L'Invierno (Winter). Isn't that totally powerful?
And this one is just amazing! Nigel Kennedy again. Listen to that energy, to that tremendous force! L'Estate (Summer).
On a side note, this last piece inspired many modern musicians. For example here's a techno-remix by Vanessa Mae, and that's Jean-Michel Jarre's version.
Instrumental music
So what did Vivaldi write besides supermarket music? Among other things, a lot of instrumental music. Some nasty people say he wrote the same concerto a thousand times. ;) He mostly wrote lots of concerti indeed, with or without a solo instrument. The Four Seasons are concerti too. Here just a few more.
His concerti generally have three parts: the first one fast, the second one slower and more contemplative, or even sad, and the third one fast again, shorter and brighter than the first one.
This violin concerto is one of the most famous ones. Here the version by Nigel Kennedy (solo violin) and Berlin Philharmoniker:
Part one, Allegro (Allegro = cheerful, lively)
Part two, Largo (Largo = slow) Listen how sensitive and melancholic....
Part three, Presto (Presto = quick, fast) The final firework!
You'll find more nice concerti to listen to later at the bottom of the page, if you like that stuff. I want you to listen to the rest first, before you reach the saturation point.
Vocal music
His vocal music is what I love most about Vivaldi. I'm a fervent fan of baroque singing, and what he created is just amazing. There are operas and other pieces with secular topics, but in my eyes his religious music is the most beautiful ever. Listening to it is for me an extremely intensive and exhalting experience.
I was very lucky to find several nice versions of the aria Cum Dederit on youtube. That's a part of the motet Nisi Dominus and one of my favorite arias ever. In this one, Cum Dederit and Amen are sung by Philippe Jaroussky, a great countertenor. I love this wonderful guy, and I love the Ensemble Matheus and conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi. It's simple, I'm in HEAVEN when I hear that!!!
Philippe Jaroussky, Cum Dederit, Amen
What you heard in the second part of the previous video is the beginning of Vivaldi's Stabat Mater. It's basically about Maria's pain when she must see her son die on the cross, so it's very sad, and that's why the singer Marie-Nicole Lemieux looks like she's suffering so much. I love the Stabat Mater! Here are two small extracts of Andreas Scholl, another countertenor, singing it. If I'm not wrong, it's with Chiara Banchini and her Ensemble 415, in case you want to buy the CD:
Andreas Scholl, Stabat Mater Dolorosa
Andreas Scholl, O Quam Tristis (which means "oh how sad")
Vivaldi also wrote some choral music. His Gloria is a mix of chorals and arias for one or two singers. This very CD with Alessandrini as conductor is the first bit of baroque music I discovered and it was a revelation. I heard it and fell in love immediately.
Gloria
Gloria, choral.
Here an extract of another version, in my opinion not so good, but just for you to hear an aria:
Gloria, Laudamus Te
You also have to hear some opera. Listen to Philippe Jaroussky in this fantastic aria, isn't he absolutely wonderful?!
And in that one, he's playing a singers fight together with Marie-Nicole Lemieux, that's SO funny, I LOL every time I watch it: Nel Profondo modified.
Well, that's my Vivaldi. If you like it, here's more material:
More singing
Here the same extracts of Nisi Dominus as above, this time sung by Andreas Scholl with the Australian Brandenbourg Orchestra & Paul Dyer:
Andreas Scholl, Cum Dederit
Andreas Scholl, Amen
I had this CD and absolutely loved it, but someone borrowed it and never gave it back, and of course I don't remember who that was, since I give my things away all the time.
And here's the complete Nisi Dominus by Sara Mingardo, with the Concerto Italiano & Rinaldo Alessandrini. Part two begins with the aria Cum Dederit that we've already listened to twice. It's very interesting to compare the versions!
Nisi Dominus, Part one
Nisi Dominus, Part two
Nisi Dominus, Part three
If you liked Sara Mingardo, the Concerto Italiano & Rinaldo Alessandrini, I found two more complete CDs:
Here's more choral singing: Magnificat. Wonderful, especially in part two the aria Esurientes. I loooove it. Listen to it very loud!
Magnificat, Part one
Magnificat, Part two
And here's a Salve Regina.
Salve Regina, Part one
Salve Regina, Part two
Salve Regina, Part three
More Concerti
This one is very nice: Concerto for 4 violins and strings (Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi).
Here a peaceful Concerto for Lute (Il Giardino Armonico & Giovanni Antonini).
This one with mandolin is so beautiful! (even though I would have played the second part much slower) : Concerto in C Major (Il Giardino Armonico & Giovanni Antonini).
I find this one heavy, suffering, and in the third part conquering and forceful. A darker side of Vivaldi. No matter how he feels, it's beautiful: Allegro - Largo - Allegro (Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi).
A light, fast and playful one: Concerto for strings "Alla rustica" (Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi).
What I love particulary are his concerti for cello. Here you have a very brilliant and elegant one: Allegro - Largo - Allegro (Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi). I don't know about you, but it makes me happy!
He's just beautiful.
I have a burning passion for baroque music in general, and Vivaldi especially. Since one post would not be enough to cover baroque anyway, I'm just going to start with him.
If you don't know this kind of music yet, please take your time and concentrate when you listen to it. You'll probably need a while to get used to it and notice how beautiful it is. At least that's what most people say. I don't know, I fell for baroque within two minutes when I first heard it.
The Four Seasons
You probably know his most famous work, The Four Seasons, even if you don't know that you know it. It's so famous that you can even hear it as background music in the supermarket from time to time, at least in France. Here's the beginning, it'll seem familiar to you: La Primavera (Spring).
There are many different interpretations of this work, this one was Nigel Kennedy. Here another piece, conducted by Fabio Biondi: L'Invierno (Winter). Isn't that totally powerful?
And this one is just amazing! Nigel Kennedy again. Listen to that energy, to that tremendous force! L'Estate (Summer).
On a side note, this last piece inspired many modern musicians. For example here's a techno-remix by Vanessa Mae, and that's Jean-Michel Jarre's version.
Instrumental music
So what did Vivaldi write besides supermarket music? Among other things, a lot of instrumental music. Some nasty people say he wrote the same concerto a thousand times. ;) He mostly wrote lots of concerti indeed, with or without a solo instrument. The Four Seasons are concerti too. Here just a few more.
His concerti generally have three parts: the first one fast, the second one slower and more contemplative, or even sad, and the third one fast again, shorter and brighter than the first one.
This violin concerto is one of the most famous ones. Here the version by Nigel Kennedy (solo violin) and Berlin Philharmoniker:
Part one, Allegro (Allegro = cheerful, lively)
Part two, Largo (Largo = slow) Listen how sensitive and melancholic....
Part three, Presto (Presto = quick, fast) The final firework!
You'll find more nice concerti to listen to later at the bottom of the page, if you like that stuff. I want you to listen to the rest first, before you reach the saturation point.
Vocal music
His vocal music is what I love most about Vivaldi. I'm a fervent fan of baroque singing, and what he created is just amazing. There are operas and other pieces with secular topics, but in my eyes his religious music is the most beautiful ever. Listening to it is for me an extremely intensive and exhalting experience.
I was very lucky to find several nice versions of the aria Cum Dederit on youtube. That's a part of the motet Nisi Dominus and one of my favorite arias ever. In this one, Cum Dederit and Amen are sung by Philippe Jaroussky, a great countertenor. I love this wonderful guy, and I love the Ensemble Matheus and conductor Jean-Christophe Spinosi. It's simple, I'm in HEAVEN when I hear that!!!
Philippe Jaroussky, Cum Dederit, Amen
What you heard in the second part of the previous video is the beginning of Vivaldi's Stabat Mater. It's basically about Maria's pain when she must see her son die on the cross, so it's very sad, and that's why the singer Marie-Nicole Lemieux looks like she's suffering so much. I love the Stabat Mater! Here are two small extracts of Andreas Scholl, another countertenor, singing it. If I'm not wrong, it's with Chiara Banchini and her Ensemble 415, in case you want to buy the CD:
Andreas Scholl, Stabat Mater Dolorosa
Andreas Scholl, O Quam Tristis (which means "oh how sad")
Vivaldi also wrote some choral music. His Gloria is a mix of chorals and arias for one or two singers. This very CD with Alessandrini as conductor is the first bit of baroque music I discovered and it was a revelation. I heard it and fell in love immediately.
Gloria
Gloria, choral.
Here an extract of another version, in my opinion not so good, but just for you to hear an aria:
Gloria, Laudamus Te
You also have to hear some opera. Listen to Philippe Jaroussky in this fantastic aria, isn't he absolutely wonderful?!
And in that one, he's playing a singers fight together with Marie-Nicole Lemieux, that's SO funny, I LOL every time I watch it: Nel Profondo modified.
Well, that's my Vivaldi. If you like it, here's more material:
More singing
Here the same extracts of Nisi Dominus as above, this time sung by Andreas Scholl with the Australian Brandenbourg Orchestra & Paul Dyer:
Andreas Scholl, Cum Dederit
Andreas Scholl, Amen
I had this CD and absolutely loved it, but someone borrowed it and never gave it back, and of course I don't remember who that was, since I give my things away all the time.
And here's the complete Nisi Dominus by Sara Mingardo, with the Concerto Italiano & Rinaldo Alessandrini. Part two begins with the aria Cum Dederit that we've already listened to twice. It's very interesting to compare the versions!
Nisi Dominus, Part one
Nisi Dominus, Part two
Nisi Dominus, Part three
If you liked Sara Mingardo, the Concerto Italiano & Rinaldo Alessandrini, I found two more complete CDs:
Here's more choral singing: Magnificat. Wonderful, especially in part two the aria Esurientes. I loooove it. Listen to it very loud!
Magnificat, Part one
Magnificat, Part two
And here's a Salve Regina.
Salve Regina, Part one
Salve Regina, Part two
Salve Regina, Part three
More Concerti
This one is very nice: Concerto for 4 violins and strings (Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi).
Here a peaceful Concerto for Lute (Il Giardino Armonico & Giovanni Antonini).
This one with mandolin is so beautiful! (even though I would have played the second part much slower) : Concerto in C Major (Il Giardino Armonico & Giovanni Antonini).
I find this one heavy, suffering, and in the third part conquering and forceful. A darker side of Vivaldi. No matter how he feels, it's beautiful: Allegro - Largo - Allegro (Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi).
A light, fast and playful one: Concerto for strings "Alla rustica" (Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi).
What I love particulary are his concerti for cello. Here you have a very brilliant and elegant one: Allegro - Largo - Allegro (Europa Galante & Fabio Biondi). I don't know about you, but it makes me happy!
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