Sorry to keep you waiting!…

 

Photo by tiseb

I know. I know. It wasn’t the best of my ideas to leave my blog unattended for so long, but it has been worth it. Or at least I think so. I’m not done with the changes that I’m going to implement over the next few weeks, but I can give you a bit of what I’m planning for the corner.

• First of all I’m going to remove my nick from the place so it’s going to be only the Zen Corner, this is because XIII (the number) means death or change, and since the change is almost over I’m removing it and placing my name on my own About me page.

• Second. Once again I’m going to start writing 5 days a week (mostly Monday to Friday), I ask for a little patience with this since I’m almost done with university and I have a lot of school projects going on. Also I work all week. It may take me a while to actually get thing going as smooth as I can.

• Third. I’m going to use a system similar to the one Leo implemented on Zen Habits a long ago. I will limit my topics to certain days. For now I still have to choose those topics but don’t worry the Inner search and Tao sections will be here always.

• Fourth. The subscribers thing is not done yet. I still have to get a hold of RSS and mail subscriptions but don’t worry it will be done soon.

• Fifth. I love WordPress.com but I think time will come when I will move to the org effort, this means during the year I will be heading solo for a while I would love to see those few loyal readers to come with me in the independence journey!.

• Six. Thanks to all of you who have waited for this place to go well again. I promise things will get better soon.

See you around the week my friends and have a happy day!.

Merry Christmas from XIIIzen…

 

Photo by janusz I

Well today we are closing to the great day. And at least around here the dinner is almost set, anyway this is an interesting time, usually families gather around the table and share some great moments. For me it’s not much like that, world is not perfect.

I also what to make an apology because I haven’t been updating that much. Well this is because I was in another self-discovery trip, trying to find my own self again and with the lovely help of a dear friend (is that the right word?). Unfortunately that took quite a bit of my time, and so I was left with almost no time for work or to update here.

During the next weeks you will notice changes in the site. I will research a bit more on subscriptions and also try to organize the posts in a better way. It will take some time but I want to add a new flavor to the place. Also I’m thinking in placing a theme/day system. That way it will be easier to browse around. Any suggestions are welcome, remember this may be my blog but it’s the work of all those who are willing to share a bit with me too.

I’m also looking for people who is interested in posting something here. Of course I will credit you and I will post a link to your site in my blog roll. Feel free to contact me if you are interested.

Finally I would like to thank those who have supported me for this long months. It’s been a bit difficult but hey it’s been really cool. Wait for more interesting changes and better content here. Also if everything goes cool I may change from the .com to the .org, but that will take a bit more.

Anyway my friends merry Christmas and I hope this day brings a lot of the best in you.

Exercise even during holidays…

 

Photo by Cronfeld

I know it’s hard to pull off. But believe me you can’t stop your exercise routine during holidays, in fact you should never stop your routine. For me this has been the most difficult part of all the exercise thing. Keeping up with my daily stuff is by far the biggest problem. So I’m here to offer a few tips to keep you motivated and working out during the holiday season.

• Remember the goal! Do you remember why did you start to do exercise? This is the first thing that we forget when holidays are close, and in fact the first thing we forget when we start to feel tired about it. Just print it and place it somewhere you can see it daily and you will feel good about it.

• Wake up early. I know, probably, you want to kill me right now for just saying that out loud. But believe me holidays are not for getting up late, that can really screw your exercise routine. Just find keep going early beside it’s a great way to keep the good habit!

• Make it fun. God knows I hate some kind of exercises. But my brother and I try to make them fun. We make small bets on it. Something easy like 1 dollar for really making the 12 reps. We never pay each other but this makes me go without problems.

• Turkey lifting! This one is rather odd but we did it a few days ago. We went shopping for the stuff we may need at Christmas dinner. And when we were going back to the car we spotted us pulling the bags up and down to exercise a bit. We laughed a lot and made us feel good. So go ahead and do some turkey lifting!

• Receive compliments. There is nothing better than the family saying: “you look great”. That’s worth gold, it reminds me to workout even during this season. Beside it’s good to know there has been some results even if you didn’t noticed them.

• Get a training partner! I have my brother, a friend has his girlfriend, just go and get someone who wants to make exercise with you and you will eventually find that it’s really easy to do it.

I hope this few tips had been good for you. Also I thank Maximus for his comment that gave me inspiration for this post. Of course I’m not a know-it-all about exercise but over at stronglifts.com you will find a lot of exercise routines that can suit you and also info about nutrition. Have a nice weekend my friends!

10. Mysterious virtue…

 

Photo by Mr. Kris

Can one hold the soul in the body, hold the mind in the spirit, and keep them as one?

Can one concentrate the energy of life and keep it supple like a newborn child?

Can one study everything and really know everything without making a mistake?

Can one govern the nation with all the right actions and really love the people?

Can one always make a decision with the right mind?

Can one empty the mind and fill it with the brightness of wisdom and learn to step back from this knowledge?

Can one give life and grow life and yet claim no possession?

Can one supervise and benefit others, yet excercise no authority and rely on no pride?

This is what is called the mysteious virtue.

This is the tenth part of the Tao Te Ching. As you can see this time it’s filled with questions to clear your mind and soul, in order to truly answer them we must be at calm and understand what the virtue is. Take your time and read each question without haste. You will find the answers in the right time without doing anything. Peace my friends and have a nice week.

Save on christmas gifts…

 

Photo by Zeetz Jones

Well, in this time of the year I bet everyone is going around buying a lot of stuff. Giving gifts is a really nice thing to do but I bet it can kill our finances very fast. For a student like me this time of the year must be planned way before or else I would end up without a coin for the next year!. So I made up a few list of ideas to get you rolling with your gifts and also to keep your pocket with a few coins for the new year’s party.

 

• Make it yourself!. I know this is not for everyone, but there is a lot of tutorials around the net about how to make stuff. DIY is very popular and a small search around the net would help a lot. For me it’s Digital art and Origami. For you it may be something else.

• Ask around. People often give hints about what they want for a gift. Pay close attention and find out what you truly need to find. Sometimes knowing just what the gift must be helps you find a better price.

• Shop at least a couple of weeks before. I know this comes kind of late but if you start shopping a bit before you find better prices!. Just look around and you will find the best deal.

• Save in the wrapping.Be original, do you really need to pay for the wrapping or buy an expensive paper for that? Everyone knows a gift is from me when they see the newspaper wrapping it!.

• Gift a good book. Everyone loves a good book. Well not every kid does but hey it’s a way to share the reading habit and also a book is a work of art. A good novel would be greatly received I bet. And at least around here books are quite cheap.

I know there may be a lot more tips around and you may have your own tips to save during this time of the year. Now I’m off to make more gifts or else I won’t finish on time!. Good luck my friends!.

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Problems in social relationships?…

 

 Photo by the_toe_stubber 

Well if you work in an office then you know how your coworkers are like, but then again you can find one or two taht constantly blow up and try to kill the first person they are with, ok I’m exagerating. But you get the point there a re a few members of our society that coulkd blow any minute.

Let’s make a small example, you go with your coworker and for some reason he/she is pissed off, then they just try to blow the steam with you. You are the victim of someone angry right? Wait a second and let’s take this a little bit further. Did you ever thought about your coworker’s day? No, you didn’t, but don’t worry that doesn’t make you a bad person. You are just unaware of that. We asume that everyone is having a day just like ours. This is normal but then how do we avoid to make this assumption? There is no easy way but here we go.Now, the first step is trying to get to know how are the others. This is not easy but a simple question of “how are you doing?” is just fine. Most of the people will just say it’s ok. But then again there is a problem. Nobody is willing to say that they are having a bad day. Honestly, there is not much to do but be polite and careful everytime. This works for me, but not for everyone.

Going back to our small example, we ask about your coworker’s day. He/she would answer something along an “everything is fine” or a “having a horrible day”. Well being polite can aid quite a bit. Sometimes just a small sign of kindness is everything you need to improve the day of someone else. In this case it was a simple question. In others it could be simpler or a bit more complex.

This system works for me but if you are having serious troubles with someone you could try the “Defusing a Relationship Bomb” method at lifehack.org. It’s a bit more time consuming but far better to improve relationships. Of course I work with my friends so it’s easier for me but maybe you need also a way to walk away with a solution. So head over there too it’s a nice reading.

Have a nice day my friends, remember any comment is apreciated.

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