If you had the chance to send a message to the small boy with a dream to go to space, what would you say to him? And if your future self writes a message to you, what do you think he would tell you now?
I think the advice would be exactly the same: that you are the result of your own decisions. You turn yourself into who you're going to be whether you mean to or not. By the decisions that you take every day, you turn yourself into who you're going to be tomorrow, the week after that and the year after that. So think about where you're going in life, choose roughly where you want head and then try and make all the little decisions that push your life in that direction. And be confident in it, recognize that all of those little decisions can collect together into some amazing life experiences and some amazing discoveries. So be confident in your decision making. It's amazing where life can lead you.
*Excerpt from my interview with Chris Hadfield – First Canadian Astronaut to walk in space. Read more how the life on Earth looks like from the space here, on the beauty of a spacewalk here on the on the difference between fear and danger here, on how fear of failure affects our life here and what does it mean for us like human race to be able to go to space here

Space hero Chris Hadfield on the possibility of space tourism




How soon private citizen will be able to go to space?
I think space travel will continue just like travel and exploration has continued everywhere historically. Initially it's dangerous and difficult, I mean if you're the first person to walk across the Alps or the first person to sail across to Australia, or sail the ocean, those are dangerous things. And it's complicated and normally it takes a big organization to get that going, like a government or or the expedition of Columbus or whatever. But then once we've done it enough in the explorer phase then we figure out ways to make it more safe and therefore cheaper. And then eventually it becomes commercially worthwhile to go. And that's happened all over the whole planet and that's the stage where the space flight is as well right now. It's still very dangerous and very complicated but it's just now maybe starting to be possible for private citizens to be able to pay for a very short but actual flight to space. And that's an important transition, that that's an early stage of transitioning from government and National Space Exploration down to private space exploration. It's a natural process and the first person really doing this is Richard Branson with Virgin Galactic. *Excerpt from my interview with Chris Hadfield – First Canadian Astronaut to walk in space. Read more how the life on Earth looks like from the space here, on the beauty of a spacewalk here on the on the difference between fear and danger here, on how fear of failure affects our life here and what does it mean for us like human race to be able to go to space here

For one year Greta Taubert gave up everything as part of an experiment to live life without money. The German freelance journalist renounced consumer society to survive on little more than what she could produce, make, recycle or barter for herself. She has written a book about the experience - "Apokalypse Jetzt!" -- German for "Apocalypse Now".


"My generation never had to deal with anything existential. We don't know how to barter, to repair, to grow, to harvest, to heat, to be self-sufficient. All we know is how to go the supermarket and the shopping mall. This keeps us very dependent on the fact, that everything stays as it is. That we consume, consume, consume. Because that's the base of our system. But we just can't go on with this hyperconsumerism: Our hunger for new goods grows, but resources are limited. We will be confronted with a situation of less - sooner or later. Why should we wait until misery forces us to act?"


"I knew nothing about growing food or collecting fruits or hunting when I started. The mushrooms I tried to grow in my shower cabin perished, my own attempts of urban gardening in my backyard were not very fertile. And I'm also not allowed to use a gun to shoot an animal. There was no way round that I find people to help me. And I did. I went fishing, hunting, collecting mushrooms and learned some basics about agriculture".




"Trash is the ugly mirror of our society. At the end of shopping day you see the sad leftovers of this perverted logic of "anything-at-any-time".




I talked with Greta on Skype about her experiment.

Greta, how someone could live without money?
It was not that I was planning or intending to live without money. Because i don't think that money itself is the problem. Money is like a hammer - you could destroy somebody's head or something beautiful, so it was not about money but more about this more and more, this hyper consumption that is obviously tearing us down in the end. It's not a criticism about capitalism and stuff, it's a very basic idea of what do we do if we don't have this comfort and this hyper consumption no more. So I was looking around in my flat that I'm sitting right now and recognize that the table, the chair, the things I eat, the things I wear, I don't have any connection to them, I don't know how they are produced or even how to build a chair or what it takes to to sew something that you can wear or tailor. So I try to get back to that basic things, to do them by myself.
Why this was important for you?
Because if we don't appreciate what we have, it's clear that we have the desire to just consume it, use it and throw it away. You start to get back to the value of things because you do them yourselves or you get to know the procedures and then you you're able to appreciate it much more.

Tell me more about the experiment itself. How did you manage to live without money for a year?
The long-term experiment during one year was not to go shopping anymore. All the clothes, accessories, furniture, technology, I try to get in different ways like bartering, sharing, mooching, not sealing by the way, or doing it all by myself, growing stuff. It was very important for me to get also back to the topic of food. I made several experiments. For example I I tried to have my own garden on the balcony, in my bathroom tried to grow mushrooms, and I went for collecting mushrooms here in the area of the urban gardens and woods. I went hunting with a hunter in a city. And because I still had appetite, I still had hunger, I started to join the community that's called Community Supported Agriculture. we are a group of around 40 people that produce our own vegetable and fruits. So I started as a normal meat-eating woman, went to vegetarian, went vegan and also finally went to row food that I could only collect and find. So it's a special diet. Basically I only ate herbs and fruits during that time.

What was the most difficult thing during the experiment?
Almost everything. I got to the point where I said: I can't take it no more.
The physical aspects of it. Hunger for example. It's just normal when you only eat herbs, nuts and fruits. There have been psychological issues like "How do i get into that world of for example Freeconomy Community, people that don't use money, that live from the dumpsters, that are free in the world and try only to do hitchhiking, mooching on the streets. This was also very hard for me - to drop the thought: "Okay, I'm an independent woman, I'm emancipated, I can solve any problem I want, but then you realize: No, if you don't use money or if you don't join the community of Freeconomy, you have to put yourself out there and ask people for help all the time. You have to knock on the door of your neighbors and ask them: "Okay, can you borrow me this and that?" You have to ask people- experts whether they can show you how to build a lamp or how to repair your technique and stuff. So I was in the position of begging people all this time to help me and this was exhausting also. And I'd say this was always a big step or a barrier to jump over all the time.


Is a life without consumption possible?
Everything is consumption. The question is how do we consume. And there is a lot of things we can do and that we can work on because what we see right now in our societies, and that's not just Germany, that's all Europe, and that's all the Western woel,d, is a hyper consumption. And the logic of consuming more and more and more in order to waste more and more and more. Because this is the logic of capitalism. We have to grow constantly in our productions so there is no real normal basic needs no more. And we we have to really find out what we need, and mostly control of the waste that we produce. Because it's clear that I'm not going out to say: "Come on, go hunting or just grab your own fruit that you need". That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying: "Take care of what you really need and what you put aside later on".

"Several years ago, I was 30,000 feet in the air with tears running down my cheeks. On the surface, I had everything most people would associate with success: I’d built a multi-million dollar business and sold it to a Fortune 500 company; I had a loving partner and a beautiful three-year-old; I was even teaching yoga classes on the side. 
 All the boxes were checked…but underneath, something still wasn’t right......"




















This is how Laura Coe found herself on the path to dive back into her authentic self. 
"Why was I unfulfilled even if I had achieved the things we equate with success?", she asked herself. "Because my pursuit of success wasn’t based on an inner sense of purpose or fulfillment but on others’ definitions of success. All the justifications to remain in a life that I hadn’t chosen from my authentic voice had piled on in layers over the years until I had lost my true self somewhere deep inside. I had become emotionally obese". 
So Laura committed herself to find something more authentic. She dove back into the philosophy, took the useful ideas and used her life as a science experiment to see what worked and what didn’t. "Over time, I found success".
Laura currently devotes her energy toward writing, coaching, helping others implement spiritual teachings in their everyday lives. She wrote her first book, Emotional Obesity and she is the host of the popular podcast, The Art of Authenticity. 

I talked to Laura to understand how we become emotionally obese, how could we get emotionally fit, what hold us back in life and how could we master the art of authenticity.

Laura, what is an "emotional obesity"? How do we become "emotionally obese"?
Have you justified an unfulfilling job or stayed in a relationship you wanted to leave?
We've all been there. We may have justified it by telling ourselves it's what we have to do, others will approve, or guilt sways us. These justifications pile up to create a life we didn't choose.
Without our awareness, these ideas pile up on top of our true desires--we become weighed down. We become emotionally obese.
Our lives are the outcome of a steady diet of thoughts that are not aligned with our authentic desires and goals.
How does the analogy help us?
Most of us understand what it means to have gained a few unwanted pounds and their impact on our health. But we have not questioned the unwanted thoughts and beliefs that dictate our life decisions.
The analogy gives us something we are used to thinking about--physical weight--to anchor the abstract concept of the thoughts that weigh you down. If you can start to think of some thoughts as unwanted "fat" that needs to be shed and "work them out," life can stop being heavy and start to feel lighter and more free.

How can we tell if we’re “emotionally obese”?
Life takes on a quality where we feel weighed down. We look around and the life around us doesn’t reflect on inner sense of who we are. Stress, dread, overwhelm, seeking approvals become the mainstay of our lives.

What are the junk food thoughts that we consume mostly? 
The most common are fear, approval seeking, self-criticism, but there are many. I created a scale for anyone who wants to pinpoint exactly what stands in their way. http://emotionalobesity.com/scale_quiz/emotional-obesity/

How could we replace junk food thoughts with nutritional thoughts? 
Note what your junk food thought is. What do you say to yourself that disempowers you? From there, decide if this thought is true. Is there any other way I'm seeing the same moment. Can you insert compassion, gratitude, create space, let go, surrender.. it is situation dependent? But the goal is accept the moment as it is and then decide how to interpret it in a way that empowers you, rather than disempower.

How could we keep ourselves in emotional shape every day? Is there something like mind fitness that we could practice each day? 
Yes. Every day we need to cultivate awareness. Check in to see how you feel on a daily basis. Then, take responsibility for the state of mind you are in. If you are stressed, own it. If you are angry or resentful, own it. From there, you can start to allow the emotional state to exist without trying to change it while questioning, getting curious why you are in the state you are in. Ask yourself, “Why am I angry? Why am I resentful?” Perhaps you need to exercise or you did not get enough sleep. Maybe you have a conflict in your life that needs attention. Maybe you need to change jobs. Your emotional life leaves clues for you to follow. To begin the process, try to live in your truth for one day. Just attempt to be honest with yourself, maybe not even others, for one day. Notice how often you want to justify, seek approvals, feel guilty. These are all signs that you have neglected your authentic voice for the voice of others.

How could we discover what hold us back in life?
Ask yourself what you want. This question is really effective in bringing up our junk food thoughts. See if you can answer that question. If you struggle, the voice that you hear, the thoughts in your mind are what holds you back. Take note of them and see if you can reframe them in way that is more supportive of your goals.

I think most people have problem with this thought: „I trust that my path will become clear, even if it is not obvious now“. How can we be sure that it will become clear? 
That is the question of all questions. We cannot be sure which is why we don’t attempt to trust our inner wisdom. In part, we lack the faith in ourselves that we know what we want. In part, this idea has been explained in way that mistakes passion with action. Every day we are in motion. We are on a path. Some of us are not on our paths; we are on the path of others. We know because something feels off. Something doesn’t match what we think life looks like and the life we have built. Every day, every choices must feel like the right choice. When you do that you are on your path. Now, we all want the outcome right away. The job we crave to manifest; the relationship we desire; the financial success. Those things may take time. So don’t mistake the path with the outcome. Be patient.

You mention in your bio that at some point you checked all the boxes but deep down you felt something was not quite right. How did you manage to become emotional fit again?
My emotional fitness came the hard way. I dove back into the philosophy that I loved in college and graduate school. I read and re-read the best self- help, spirituality, and philosophy. I took those ideas and I used my life as a science experiment to see what worked and what didn’t. Over time, I found success. Now, I teach those lessons to others in my coaching practice.

In which cases, do you think, we lose our authentic voice mostly? 
Mostly, we lose our voice within our family of origin. Our parents don’t mean harm, but they impose their values so intensely that we lose our selves. Once that occurs, we just add on more layers around our voice from there until we can no longer communicate with our truth.

How can we master the art of authenticity? 
Great question. Mastery comes through daily practice. Learn to lose the guilt, resentments, anger, judgment, etc. From there, daily awareness about the origins of your thoughts are necessary. Are they coming from your truth or are you out of alignment with your values? Simple in theory. Difficult in practice only because we are making choices all day. The ability to pause and find your truth takes time. But once you do, you are truly free. You find life takes on a different texture. Life becomes calmer, easier, and you feel grounded despite the external world.

In 2012 the British journalist and author Ann Morgan undertook a journey through the 196 countries in the world.  It was a very unusual and ambitious journey. She wanted to read a book from every country, in just one year.
A Year of Reading the World from Vloop on Vimeo.
Looking at her bookshelves, Morgan was saddened to see they were dominated by British and North American authors. So she decided to read her way around all the globe’s 196 independent countries – plus one extra territory chosen by her blog visitors. The challenge she set herself to was enormous. Reading an average of about four books a week, while also working full-time, was just the first hurdle. Finding an English-translation from every country was also very tricky – just 4.5% of works published in the UK each year are translations.

But what did she learn from this experience?  Find out from my Skype interview with her
The main things was the power of stories and the way that they can take you into someone else's head and show you the world and their perspective, which I don't think anything else quite has the power to do. Еven film don't quite do the same thing. And it's it's possible to look at the world through someone else's eyes when you're reading a story, and lose yourself, not entirely, but to a large extent. And I think that's a great way of breaking down barriers and helping people understand each other. And also it was very interesting for someone growing up in the UK - we have a very particular perspective on the world - Western perspective, and to see the world through other people's eyes and to realize how things look differently and to people in different places. There was a book that I read from Qatar and which was one of the first novels to be first Qatari novels to be translated in English. It was called The Corsair by a writer Abdulaziz Al-Mahmoud and there was a sentence in that book which stuck in my mind where a character says: "You would think differently if this land was your land and if these people were your people". And I think that summed up the project to me and realizing how differently things look from other perspective.