Finding the Being Within: 2011

Most of its 800 million users don’t realize it, but every single piece of information that is uploaded onto our “Facebook page” marks an impression that is forever recorded and stored in cyberspace. This is why I sometimes find it perplexing and amusing to read on my “Newsfeed” the different types of information (including pictures of course) which some people consciously choose to upload.

Now, I’m not here to judge or tell people what I think they should post or refrain from posting. After all, it’s their time, their life, their reputation. Nevertheless, what I AM saying is that it is worth considering how that information may come back to hunt us at a later date (pictures of the Vancouver riots that followed the Stanley Cup Final a few months ago are a case in point). To say nothing of comments addressed to third parties such as “Dear kid sitting three feet from me at the back of the bus, please refrain from playing your iPod so loudly. It’s annoying me. Thank you”. Wouldn’t it be more effective to let the kid know in person to please turn the volume down? Just a thought. :)

In any event, I recently discovered that all Facebook users have the ability to download their entire profile database if desired. This file includes each and every post one has ever uploaded on his/her respective “wall,” including the comments that others (“friends”) have made about them. In addition, it includes all of our pictures along with their respective comments, and our entire inbox of “privately” sent/received messages.

Believe it or not, if you have been a user for say 5 years (since 2006), and you were to copy and paste all the information you have posted on your account onto a Word/Pages document, the number of words and pages that it will take up easily exceeds 500,000 (trust me, I tried it already...).That is a humongous book. What’s more, it compiles a detailed history of all you have done, said, thought of, and publicly shared over the last x# of years of your life. Fascinating, to say the least.

Now, consider for a minute the number of active users that Facebook currently has (about 800 million). Now picture taking all of that information and publishing a book with it. What would you end up with? Would an accurate and detailed personal history of the great majority of human beings who currently have internet access and engage in social networking across the globe come close to that picture? Is this fact scary? Intriguing? Disturbing? Insane? ________? I’d say, all of the above.

The fact of the matter is... if you are not on it, you are certainly missing out on a bit chunk of the pie. Namely, the connections that are continually being formed, reinforced, transformed, and expanded second by second (along with the wealth of information both relevant and/or irrelevant for our particular situations).

Whatever your take on it may be, I think that if you are smart enough to post things that you know can’t hurt you later on... then there really isn’t much worth worrying about. Personally, I have nothing to hide, and the reason why I write and post things up is not to complain, but to contribute. If I can say or share something that is going to give that extra push to someone out there who needs to be inspired, then I’ve done my job. Ultimately, that is the very reason why I post what I post - to let all those who need and want to hear, that they too can live a life they can be proud of by not letting their dreams just be dreams.

If you are up for it, I would strongly recommend downloading that file. If you are worried about someone getting a hold of it, you can always “delete” it right after you’ve had a quick read over your entire history (though in actuality, it is never really deleted). Nevertheless, one of the most fascinating things about going over "your file," is that it really lets you see how much your life has changed over the past number of years. In other words, it allows you to see very clearly how one thing led to the next, how each point connected to another and another... guiding you to where you stand in life today. Moreover, it provides you with an outline of how much your habits, interests, outlook, and general attitude have either changed or remained the same in accordance to what life has unexpectedly thrown at you.

I should note that I began writing this post a few weeks ago, long before Facebook had officially announced their newest update known as “Timeline,” which many of you have probably updated into by now. Although “Timeline” will certainly reinforce what I just wrote above, I still think “your file” is a more effective way to look at what you’ve posted since it organizes everything into different categories (i.e. wall, pictures, messages, etc) rather than showing you everything on your page for each specific year all at once. Not to mention that once you’ve downloaded it, there is no need for an internet connection to browse through it.

In closing, I’d like to make a re-post of some of the most inspirational “status updates” that I’ve posted since I decided to fill out my very first blank page on the book of “Facebook” back in 2006. These include quotes written by both influential and unknown individuals, as well as personal insights and points of view over various topics. I hope you enjoy them as much as I’ve enjoyed writing and publicly sharing them on this so-called “social network” as it floats throughout cyberspace.

I sincerely hope the following quotes speak to you as much as they have to me over the last few years (and continue to do so till this day). I truly believe that quotes can often be used as navigational maps for life of all those who have gone before us and/or currently walk among us. I encourage you to share, quote, learn, and grow through them. Nevertheless, remember that all of these are merely words, it is in the meaning hidden within them where their true value resides.

Sincerely,

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

My most cherished "Status Updates":

“Learning has greater value when we share what we learn.”

- Simon Sinek

“Happiness [is] only real when shared.”

- Jon Krakauer, (Into the Wild)

“Each individual, each thing, each instant: a unique, incomparable, incommensurable reality.”

- Octavio Paz

“There is only one thing that separates those who challenge the status quo and those who embrace it: courage.”

- Simon Sinek

“I’d rather have a mind opened by wonder than once closed by belief.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we've planned,so as to have the life that is waiting for us.The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.”

- Joseph Campbell

“To be what are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”

- Robert Louis

“Success can be defined in many ways, but lately I have come to understand it as the moment when reality catches up and surpasses your imagination.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Becoming familiar with fear means looking it right in the eye - not as a way to solve problems, but as a complete undoing of old ways of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and thinking. The truth is that when we really begin to do this, we're going to be continually humbled.”

- Pema Chodron

“The world is all gates; all opportunities - strings of tension waiting to be struck.”

- R. W. Emerson

“When you invest in the process as opposed to the outcome, every moment in and of itself is miraculous. Life rearranges itself in such a way that all your mental projections about the way you think things should be... lose their momentum; thus, leaving you with nothing else but the purest notion of the joy of being alive - namely, true freedom. It starts within you.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Although it is often difficult to connect the dots looking forward..., there comes a time when looking backwards lets the picture be seen - as if by magic everything appears to fall into place. Every moment gets you closer. Every thought and action makes a dot connection. Slowly... but surely, the picture emerges.”

- Inspired by Steven Jobs

"In the book of life, the answers aren't written on the back.”

- Charlie Brown

“The more we witness our emotional chain reactions and understand how they work, the easier it is to refrain. After all, there's nothing one can say that can make another be more or less than what he/she already is. Words are empty in and of themselves; it is we who attribute meaning and thus... "reality" to their sound. Once you see this, it becomes a way of life to stay awake, to slow down... to notice.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“My favorite part of the day is... every second.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Life's too short to limit your options. Go. Explore. Be.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“What is here is also there; what is there, is also here.”

- The Upanishads

“In the end, you may come to find that each gets what she/he calls for over the wireless telegraphy of the mind.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Look down from as high as possible. Look ahead as far as you can see. And then decide what to.”

- Simon Sinek

“Say YES to life. You never know where it will take and get you to do.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“One thing life has taught me is that if you are genuinely interested and open to what each moment brings with it, you never have to look for new interests. You can never be "bored" per se... for new interests come to you by doing nothing but being open.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Nothing is unthinkable, nothing impossible to the balanced person, provided it comes out of the needs of life and is dedicated to life’s further development.”

- Lewis Mumford

“In the end you may come to find that it doesn't matter how much you know. It matters how clearly others can understand what it is you know.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The best things in life are the simple ones... period.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The goal is not to bend or change ourselves so we fit the norm; the goal is to find the group in which we are the norm.”

- Simon Sinek

“Not sure how most people define "success", but as far as I see it, it means being able to live in the present (the here & now) fully, in kindness, in gratefulness, in peace, and without regret. Everything else is secondary.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“We may not have the power to make life "fair", but we certainly have the power to make life joyful.”

- Jonathan Lockwood Huie

“Never question the ways of the universe. All comes in it's due time.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Leaders don't convince people to follow them. Leaders walk forward alone, and those who want to go down their path decide to follow.”

- Simon Sinek

“It's mind blowing to know that history repeats itself over and over by the very factors that are within our control, and yet... we often find excuses to blame those factors that are not in anyone's control. It takes ONE individual and a small group of followers to write endings that will never be forgotten... for better or for worse.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The mark of a moderate man is freedom from his own ideas. Tolerant like the sky, all-pervading like sunlight, firm like a mountain, supple like a tree in the wind, he has no destination in view and makes use of anything life happens to bring his way.”

- Laozi, (Tao Te Ching)

“The most fleeting thought obeys an invisible plan, and may crown, or inaugurate, a secret design.”

- Jose Luis Borges

“In a country well governed, poverty is something to be ashamed of. In a country badly governed, wealth is something to be ashamed of.”

- Confucius

“In today’s deeply interdependent world, war is outdated and illogical. All regions, and all peoples, are interconnected environmentally, economically, and politically. War, oppression or civil strife inevitably affects people in other parts of the world.”

- Dalai Lama

“Life is but a dream... flowing into another.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Beauty, like happiness, occurs frequently. Not a day goes by in which we don't, for an instant, live in paradise.”

- Jorge Luis Borges

“To affect the quality of the day, that is the greatest of the arts.”

- Henry David Thoreau

“There is no doubt in my mind that if everyone were to stop wasting their precious and limited time on distractions and the pursuit of dull ambitions, and instead invested their time to truly SEE it all (to FEEL it), the way in which we currently treat the planet and each other would profoundly change... for the better.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The past few years have shown me that anything & anywhere can be a starting place for something. Life is nothing else other than a process of becoming. Thus, it is wise to do what you can, with what you have, where you are. Let the rest follow.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“We are defined by what we do, by where we go, and we can't go anywhere without opening the door. Thus, sooner or later you come to realize that it's never too late, nor too early to be whoever you want to be. Start whenever you want. You can change or stay the same; there are no rules to this thing. You can make the best or worst if it. I hope you make the best of it. Live your life fully.”

- Inspired by “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”

“Today I said goodbye to another 180 students I've had the pleasure to get to know, see grow, and learn a thing or two over the past 19 months. May the road rise up to meet them.”

I’m convinced more than ever before that "life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans.” Unreal how life works sometimes.

“It's all about the "right Now" moments.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“When you can wake up in the morning and feel successful whether some end goal is realized or not...THAT is true success.”

- Simon Sinek

And the warm wind blows in that same old sound

And the water below gives a gift to the sky

And the clouds give back every time they cry

... makes the grass grow green beneath my toes.

And if the sun comes out...

I'll paint a picture all about

The colors I've been dreaming of

The hours just don't seem enough

To put it all together

Maybe it's as strange as it seems.

- Jack Johnson

“He enjoys true leisure who has time to improve his soul's estate.”

- Henry D. Thoreau

“You may believe that you alone have no role to play in world affairs, but the fact of the matter is... you do. Your voice and name alone can go a very long way, and in the end you may find that it is because of the actions that you take each day that someone you may never come to meet may live to see the sun rise again tomorrow. In sum, be thankful about your situation, and be mindful of all those who aren't in such a fortunate position.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Peak performance in life isn't about succeeding all the time or even being happy all the time. It's often about compensating, adjusting, and doing the best you can with what you have right now.”

- Ken Ravizza

“Being driven is not the same as being passionate. Passion is a love for the journey. Drive is a need to reach the destination.”

- Simon Sinek

“We do not learn by experience, but by our capacity for experience.”

- Buddha

"It isn't what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.”

- Dale Carnegie

“Whether it is the time or the method, true labor is half initiative and half knowing how to let things proceed on their own.”

-Deng Ming Dao

“Life has a curious way of fulfilling our expectations, and at times... even exceed them. May your year be full of joy and happiness regardless of the circumstances you find yourselves in.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“You know you are playing your cards well when you find inspiration from your own self and actions. Each of us already has what each of us needs.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“If you want to achieve greatness, STOP asking for permission.”

Don't hold back. Let your uniqueness flow freely. Let the rest follow.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Just a quick reminder: Life's too short, so get out there and enjoy it. All else is only secondary.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I think the best part about life is the spontaneity of it all which occurs in each second.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

When was the last time you said thank you to your friends just for being your friends? Fact is, good friends are irreplaceable gifts.

It's just polite to say... YO! Thanks! :)

Happy Thanksgiving wherever you are.

Peace.

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

"You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go... Oh, the Places You'll Go!"

- Dr. Seuss

“You may not be able to stop the wave, but you can always learn how to surf.”

- Kabat-Zinn

“It's never too late or too early to be who you wanna be. There are no rules to this thing. Go. Be.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Some people feel the rain... others just get wet.”

- Bob Dylan

“No matter what happens... Never Stop Believing - Life is what YOU make of it.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“In the end, life is nothing more than a game of insight - the game of discovering who you are beneath the social masks.”

- R. H. Blyth

“Go lightly, simply. Too much seriousness clouds the soul. Just go, and follow the flowing moment. Try not to cling to any experience. The depths of wonder open of themselves”.

- Frederick Leherman

“Make each day epic without following predetermined plans.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Give to the world the best you have and the best will come back to you.”

- Madeleine S. Bridges

“If your life is as interesting as the moon and the stars, why not strive to make sure that no day passes by that is anything less than extraordinary?”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I have learned much and I’m yet to learn much more, but there's one thing I'm absolutely certain of - Happiness attracts happiness. There is absolutely no reason why one cannot be happy at any given moment. Take a look at what you've got in front of you. If there's something you don't have... you don't need it now. Drop the excuses and enjoy your life like it's always been meant to be - FULLY.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Amidst this chaos there is harmony, throughout these discordant sounds there is a note of concord; and he who is prepared to listen to it will catch the tone.”

- Swami Vivekananda

“Can you hear the ongoing music all around you?”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Ask and you may receive. Demand and you get nothing.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Just be glad to be.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“If your mind isn't clouded by unnecessary things, this is the best season of your life.”
- Wumen

“I’m convinced that my own company is my greatest asset.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Whether there be sun or rain, LIFE is what you make of it. Don't say 'later will be better'... get out there and enjoy it.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I left Vancouver 365 days ago and am celebrating my first (of many)

year(s) living abroad. Excited for what this new year will bring in the Land of the Rising Sun.”

“I’ve come to realize that there are as many ways to live life as there are people on this planet. I'm happy with my way.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“No one escapes the adventure. We only work with it differently.”

- Kabat-Zinn

“Those who have the middle own the whole.”

- Zen saying

“What time would it be if all clocks stopped?”

- Zen saying

“I've got no time that I've got to get to where I don't need to be. Japanese Alps expedition in T-11 days. Life is beautiful. Always.”

“I believe that there are plenty of ways to make the world better without the need of fancy titles. After all, leadership is about action, NOT position.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Whatever tomorrow brings... I'll be there. With open arms and open eyes.”

- Incubus

“Don't wait till the water runs dry. [Flow].”

- Boyz II Men

“If you wanna fly, you got to give up the shit that weighs you down.”

- Toni Morrison

“If you ever feel like meeting the most interesting and exciting person you will ever know, find a way to introduce your-self to YOU. You will not be disappointed.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The world is all gates, all opportunities - strings of tension waiting to be struck.”

- R. W. Emerson

“The state of your life is a direct reflection of your state of mind.”

- Wayne Dyer

“Forgive me my nonsense as I also forgive the nonsense of those who think they talk sense.”

- Robert Frost

“You don't need a curriculum to know you are part of the math.”

- J. Ivy

“We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them.”

- Kahlil Gibran

“Carpe diem quam minime credula postero.”

“Today I celebrate the first year since the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one. Amazing how much can happen in just a few months when you leave the safe harbor and sail into the unknown.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

- Pema Chodron

“It never ceases to amaze me how much a professional sports team's victory or defeat can make or break some people's day. Trully unbelievable.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I think the important thing in life is not so much about what you do, but rather WHY you do it. That is what defines you at the end of the day.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“All those who wander are not lost.”

- J.R.R Tolkien

“Do not suffer from loneliness. Go outside, go away! Pick a spot on the horizon and head straight for it. Go to your favorite place again and again. Not because it fuels your independence, but because it reminds you that you're part of something bigger. [Go. Explore. Be].”

- Nike ad

“The traveler is active; he goes strenuously in search of people, of adventure, of experience. The tourist is passive; he expects interesting things to happen to him. He goes ‘sight-seeing’.”

- Daniel J. Boorstin

“Use a mirror in difficult times - you will see both cause and resolution.”

- Deng Ming-Dao

“Throw off your fears and embrace the morning air. The road is well lit before you.”

- Runes

“The places that I see are often better than what I can imagine... and so goes the story of my life.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Whether we are awake or asleep, alert or day-dreaming, living or dying... there is an infinite presence that encircles and comes in and out of us in every breath.”

- Unknown

“Be fully aware of the unforeseen opportunities which lie before you.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The perfect man has no self; the spiritual man has no achievement; the sage has no name.”

- Chuang Tzu

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“In the end, life has nothing to do with trying to figure out where it is you are going and everything to do with where it is you are at. Smile.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The world is your arena. Life is your event. It all starts with a question: Who do YOU want to be? You've got one shot at it; don't be left wondering what IF. NOW is your moment. Go BIG.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“When you change the way you like at things, the things you look at begin to change.”

- Wayne Dyer

“I often wonder what it would feel like to experience everything that's happening in this very instant across the planet, the galaxy, and beyond. After all, everything that was, is, and ever will be is inherent in every moment. This nowness. This.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Good fortune naturally visits the gate where there is laughter.”

- Chinese cookie

“Starting a new life half way across the world = $15,000; knowing that you are exactly where you are supposed and want to be = joy at every moment; celebrating half a year since arrival while proving 3 of your students that foreigners can use chopsticks as well as they can = PRICELESS.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Loosen the restrictions of your own perception; you'll be amazed with the places this will take you.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“What you resist... persists.”

- The Secret

“What we are looking for is what is looking.”

- St. Francis of Assisi

"Power is given only to those who dare to lower themselves and pick it up. Only one thing matters, one thing; to be able to dare!"

- Dostoevsky

“If you are reading this message... you should consider yourself fortunate. It means that you aren't currently in Haiti, and although your life may seem to go on as if nothing tragically has happened... that is NOT the case. In fact, things are going to get much worse in the weeks ahead. The good news is that you have the POWER to get up and do something about it. Anything helps. It all starts with YOU. NOW.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“As long as you seek for something, you will get the shadow of reality and not reality itself.”

- Shunryu Suzuki

“The more things change, the more they remain the same.”

- Alphonse Karr

“I travel not to arrive... but to MOVE - for it is in the place between places where I've learned to see broad, wholesome, and charitable views. Lately, however, I've come to see that wherever I go, there I am.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“You know it's a good day when you come home to face your bonsai blooming in all its glory despite the rain.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects the winds to change. A leader adjusts the sails.”

- William Arthur Ward

“If your life were a book, what would you entitle the chapter you are in right now?”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

“I am not born for one corner; the whole world is my native land.”

- Seneca

“Find comfort in the emptiness of the sea. No past. No future. Nothing but each moment... @ the NOW o'clock.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

- Jon Krakauer

“To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts... all that is important is this one moment in movement. Make the moment vital and worth living. Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused.”

- Thoreau (“Walden”)

“Life is more interesting when you stop all the "doing" and you shift into the "being mode" (even if for a moment). Be like the rock that lies in your path whenever you take a stroll around your neighborhood; the timeless and eternal witness that accepts each moment without trying to change it at all. Now... do you feel, see or hear anything differently? Quiet your mind, accept things just the way they are. Be free.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Life consists not in searching for the right card(s) but in playing well those you already have.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“March to the beat of your own drummer.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Attempts to get an iPhone and a Japanese driver's license = 4 months of being lost in translation and walking out empty-handed, but having been given the power to explore Japan's hidden gems via my car today = PRICELESS!!! Lesson learned: All comes in it's due time so just sit back and enjoy the ride of your present situation. Be not afraid.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Nagoya = another weekend, another city, another karaoke night, another stay at a Manga Cafe, another castle, another great dinner with Japanese friends, another interview, and my first Pizza in Japan!!...oh, and after 4 months of being "phoneless"... I finally came back with one! Conclusion: Life is sweet whenever you let SPONTANEITY direct your nowness. Always willing. Never fearing. Always Being.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Train ticket to Kyoto and Osaka 2,000 yen; registering for the Fukuchiyama Marathon 5,000 yen; completing my first full Marathon along with 10,000 Japanese runners: Priceless!”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The best way to get somewhere is to let go of trying to get anywhere at all. "Wherever you go... you are THERE.”

- Jon Kabat-Zinn

“There are some things money can buy, but if you truly want to enjoy the ride... just let "spontaneity" grab you by the hand.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Stop constructing. Start seeing. Just look now and let it be.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Live the dream on a moment-to-moment basis.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.”

- Shunryn Suzuki

“Stop merely existing. Start living.”

- Unknown

“I AM because we ARE.”

- Documentary Film produced by Madonna

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”

- Henry David Thoreau

"On the road of life, there are passengers and there are drivers.”

-VW

“Life is movement. The more life there is, the more flexibility there is.”

- Arnaud Desjardins

“Life can sometimes be challenging... in BRILLIANT ways.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The best things in life are those that are available to everyone on a moment-to-moment basis. Learn to appreciate these... and the road will forever rise up to meet you.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I have come to the conclusion that each day that passes by is the first and best day of the rest of my life.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“We're all searching for the ox without realizing... we're already riding it.”

- Zen saying

“I think that awarding Obama with the Nobel Peace Prize without having accomplished anything yet other than making substantial "promises" just goes to show how "politicized" the world is. Clearly this is a time where there is much on the window... yet the room remains empty... of what we truly need.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“What matters is being, pure being. Accept what you are. BE who you are. The rest will follow.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Expect the unexpected (and it will find you).”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“When you accept all that comes your way with open eyes and open arms, without doubt and without fear... you can rest assured that the road is well-lit before you. In other words, flow to the rhythm of the moment and you will continually be pointed in the right direction. Always.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Close the language-door and open the love-window. The moon won't use the door, only the window.”

- Rumi

“According to Ernest Holmes, “a moment’s insight is sometimes worth a lifetime of experience”. Based on the experiences I have lived over the past forty-five days since my departure from Vancouver, I can certainly attest to what Holmes tried to encompass in such words of wisdom.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Life's all about being happy on a moment-to-moment basis.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Everything that you have consciously learned, all of your knowledge, emanates from within you. Thus, when you become your activity, the "I" is forgotten and in the moment there is only music, a sense of oneness that is everywhere and everything.
- Unknown

“Imagine that the room you are in right NOW is your entire life. This is IT! This room, where you truly ARE, has no doors or windows. There is nowhere else to go; you'll never leave HERE. In fact, you'll never arrive either for you are already HERE. There's nowhere else to go. No exits, no escape routes. Prison or palace? Your call alone.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Enjoy what's in front of you, the best things in life are FREE.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Live NOW. Be concerned with the present rather than past or future. Live HERE. Deal with what is present rather than what is absent. Stop living in the confusion and illusion of things. There is a reality. You are that reality. When you know that, you will know that you are nothing, and, in being nothing, you are everything. Nothing less; nothing more. That is all.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The question is simple: What do you want for yourself? Which are the moments that take your breath away? Stop waiting for it to happen, you're your one and only obstacle.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“When you're in control and time doesn't concern you... you can literally FLY. After all, time is nothing else than our very own fabrication for discovering the space in which we are TRAVELING.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“There are some things money can buy, but for EVERYTHING ELSE... there's your STATE OF MIND.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“He who loves the world as his body may be entrusted with the empire.”

- Lao-tzu

“Many are the wise men and masters who have lived on water since the distant past. Among those who live on water, there are some who fish for fish, there are some who fish for men, and those who fish for the ‘way’. Yet, every once in a while some are themselves fished.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“What time do you think it would be if all clocks suddenly stopped working? I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure the time would be NOW, and as far as I'm concerned there's no better ‘time’ than that.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Your future begins now, but don't try to foresee it... your task is to ENABLE it. Today is the first day to the rest of your life. Live up to it.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

I am not born for one corner; the whole world is my native land.”

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca

“If you had one shot; one opportunity to seize everything you ever wanted, one moment, would you capture it or just let it slip?”

- Eminem, (“Lose Yourself”)

“Strive for excellence, not perfection.”

- H. Jackson Brown Jr.

“Heal the world, make it a better place, For you and for me and the entire human race, There are people dying, but if you care enough for the living, Make a better place for you and for me.”

-Michael Jackson

“To know is to be.

Water knows.

Water is.”

-Dr. Masaru Emoto

“I like to work behind the scenes; quietly... in tune with it all.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“If you never try... you'll never know. This is it. Right here. Right now. Don't let another moment pass you by. Fly. Go. Be. The only obstacle...is YOU.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The wheels just keep on turning,

The drummer begins to drum,

I don't know which way I'm going,

I don't know which way I've come.”

- Chris Martin

“As strangers we met, we parted as friends.”

- Unknown

“You're not your job. You're not how much money you have in the bank. You're not the car you drive. You're not the contents of your wallet. You're not your fucking khakis. [Nope...] You're the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world...”

- Fight Club

“I will not say I failed 1000 times, I will say that I discovered there are 1000 ways that can cause failure.”

- Thomas Edison

“Life is a song meant to be sung...

So let yourself live...

And [BE] what you're meant to be.”

- Shiloh (“Alright”)

“Exhaust the little moment. Soon it dies. And be it gash or gold it will not come again in this identical guise”.

- Annie Allen

“There is never nothing going on! There are no ordinary moments; therefore, the most important thing in life is this very MOMENT.”

- Dan Millman, (Peaceful Warrior)

“Make each day your masterpiece.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“When it comes to your life, only YOU know how to run it properly. All that matters is that it works for YOU - let everyone else deal with it however they want.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Park your Karma. Curb your Dogma. Put your mind on a leash. Just BE.”

- Zen saying

“Seek silence-the lack of sound, the absence of so much useless chattering coming from your mind, the place where you can truly be open. Silence is golden. Enjoy it.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The sound of the water says what I think.”

- Chuang Tzu

“I go to where I am called. Not just to open new doors, but also to close them behind me. Knowing that the place I have left will always be there awaiting my return. For now, I patiently wait in the place between places.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“A path to 'nowhere' always leads somewhere.”

- Unknown

“Nothing stays the same. Not for a day. Not for an hour. Not for a minute. Embrace change and you'll be happy for the rest of your life.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Just flow. The rest will follow.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Do yourself a favor and put your monkey-mind on a leash.”

- Zen saying

“Causality is from the past, and nothing is acting from the future. There is no script, no pattern to walk into. Everything that happens happens in the NOW. It is HERE to explore it. Touch it. Swim it. Drink it. Contemplate it. Make of it whatever you like.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“A ship in port is safe; but that is not what ships are built for. Sail out to sea and do new things.”

- Grace Hopper

"Nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a 'secure' future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

- John Krakauer (“Into the Wild”)

“Down the middle drops one more grain of sand, they say that today's ‘Earth Day’ and so people go out and celebrate, some are even thankful, yet shamefully tomorrow most of us will go back to our concerns and subjectivities, forgetting that Earth Day is EVERY DAY!!!”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“How shocking is to know how little we actually know. The realization that we are clever yet clueless, amusing yet confusing. Yes, nothing but moments which come and go... looking for answers to the questions we'll never know... yet perhaps have always known.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Take the preconceived from underneath your feet and you'll see the world as you've never seen it before. A place where there's still hope between dreams and the weight of it all blows away with a breeze from where time just can't go.”

- Jack Johnson

“If could sum up the most important lesson I took away from my five-year degree, I would put it like this: ‘Everything is a tradeoff’. The hard part is choosing which side of the equation you want to stand on.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I am both water and stream. My mission: to flow... to the highest of the high and the lowest of the low; to be ONE with it all.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“At the end of the day ladies and gents, "There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all Crew.”

- Buckminster Fuller

“Do not tire of crying out with the joy of being alive and you will hear no other cries.”

- Taureg Proverb

“Have you ever realized that right in this instant you have the power to be both the author or the victim of your life? That anything and anywhere can be a starting place for something? It starts in your mind; begin where you are. You are exactly where you are supposed to be.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“It all starts with a paperclip. What's yours like? What do you have to offer? What sets you apart? It all starts NOW. You can go anywhere from HERE! So what are you waiting for? Go the distance! Play. Dream. BE.”
- Inspired by Kyle Macdonald’s “One Red Paperclip”

“When you look at yourself in the mirror; do you see yourself standing there? Or the illusion?”

- Zen saying

“Every advantage in the past is judged in the light of the final issue.”

- Demosthenes (384 BC - 322 BC)

“Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel the artistry moving through, and be silent.”

- Rumi

“In the end, it may very well be that you're playing a part on a great stage with only yourself as audience.”

- John Steinbeck, “East of Eden”

“The real voyage of DISCOVERY consists not in seeing the landscapes that someone else has already seen,but in thinking and seeing these same things in a NEW way.”

- Marcel Proust

“There's words of wisdom all around us, why is it that so few ever seem to listen?”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Death is not the enemy of life, but its friend, for it is the knowledge that our years are limited which makes them so precious. It is truth that time is but lent to us which makes us, at our best, look upon our years as a trust handed into our temporary keeping. [Live each moment fully.]”

- Joshua Loth Liebman

“Don't stand in front of me and call me a follower. Don't stand behind me and call me a leader; rather stand next to me and call me brother.”

- Beta Theta Pi

“Whatever you do...try to separate your observation from your preconception. Indeed, seeing things are they ARE is much wiser than seeing them as you expect.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

"Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.”

- Corita Kent

“Dirt, mud, stars, water - I know you as if you were myself. How could I be afraid?"
- Mary Oliver

“Why do you stay in prison when the door is so wide open? Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking. Live in silence.”

- Rumi

“Why consider yourself an oyster when you are nothing less than a pearl?”

“I’m convinced that the best way to escape time is by exploiting the wealth of the lived instant (aka spontaneity).”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Life is NOW in session. Are you present?”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Life is Change. Growth is optional. Choose wisely.”

-Mark Victor Hansen

“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

- James Baldwin

“Stop. Now. Look. It is in front of your nose. In the palm of your hand. In the light in your eyes. Whatever you seek is hiding in plain sight. Look no further.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“There are those who say "dare to dream"; as a result, there are many 'dreamers'.... and so I like to dare you to "BE!" Don't let those dreams just 'be' dreams.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Your entire LIFE is none other than a mere reflection of your state of MIND; therefore, change the COLOR of your mind and live a rainbow of a life.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.”

- Logan Pearsall Smith

“Don't stand and wait, don't leave it until its much too late; rather live for today, never stop moving...keep walking home.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“All things are in the Universe, and the universe is in all things: we in it, and it in us; in this way everything concurs in a perfect unity.”

- Giordano Bruno

“We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.”

- Lao Tze

“For every door that closes and new one gets opened. There's no exceptions. It's right in front of you! Can you see it? Go into it and never look back.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“And in the end, it’s not the years of your life that count . It’s the life in your years.”

- Abraham Lincoln

“It all comes to this. Reading these words. Look no further. Right in front of you. Just this. Here. Now.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

Go. Play. Be.

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“One day your entire life will flash before your eyes; make sure it's worth watching.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Wherever my travels may lead, paradise is where I am.”

- Voltaire

“The more you think and ponder on what you should do, the closer you'll be at not doing that at all.”

- Unknown

“All that arises passes away; there is nothing less and nothing more. THAT is all.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

"99% of all failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”

- George Washington

“Some say one should think inside the box; others that we should think outside of it, but seldom do we hear someone tell us to simply BE the box!”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Don't let school interfere with your education.”

- Mark Twain

“At the end of the day you’ll either get it or you won't. You’ll either stand or fall.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“TIME is the companion that reminds us to cherish every moment since it will never come again. What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.”

- Jean Luc Picard

“Sometimes the best way to reach the right answer is to be unafraid of asking the question sideways.”

- Jonathan Haidt

“Todo lo que fui es todo lo que soy y lo que dije ayer es con lo que me voy.”

- Alejandro Sanz

“What will the history books have to say about today in the future?”

-Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“It is not what you SAY but rather what you DO that defines who you are. Make your actions reflect your words.”

- Rachel Dawes

“Every step you take can be your biggest mistake; your choices are half chance and so are everybody else's”.

- From “Wear Sunscreen”

“I think one of the greatest things you can do for yourself is to doubt.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

"To BE or not to BE", THAT is the question.”

- Shakespeare

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

- Albert Einstein

“Our doubts are traitors and make us lose the good we often might win, by fearing to attempt.”

- Shakespeare

“Don't mourn for the past, worry about the future, or anticipate troubles... just live in the present moment wisely and earnestly and you'll learn how to live.”

- Buddha

“I wish that I could take the preconceived from underneath your feet, see what there is to see, and show you how time is nothing but a melody.”

- Jack Johnson

“If all these dreams might make their way into my day to day scene, I'll be under the impression I was somewhere in between.”

- Jack Johnson

“You can close your eyes to the things you do not want to see, but you cannot close your heart to the things you do not want to feel.”

- Unknown

“Ride each wave as if it was your last and you'll learn how to live.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

”Be more than a name or a face in the crowd and rather than worrying... just taste every moment; live IT out loud for this is the TIME of your life.”

- David Cook, (Time Of My Life)

“Say what you mean to say.”

- John Mayer

“You don't know nothing, but you don't need to know! The wisdom is in the trees, not the glass windows.”

- Jack Johnson

“This is not the end; in fact, this isn't even the beginning of the end. This is the end... of the beginning.”

- Sir Winston Churchill

“I suppose life isn't about having what you want, but rather about wanting what you already have.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

"Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is Mystery, but TODAY is a GIFT. That’s why it’s called the PRESENT.”

- Unknown

"What is here is also there; what is there, is also here.”

- The Upanishads

“Hey you know what? Don't worry, be HAPPY! Life is too short to be anything but unhappy.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“The fish and dogs know what I’m saying...”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“There are those who say "Cease the Day", but I tell you this: "The Day is TODAY, get out there and enjoy IT.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Embrace every circumstance, own every fault, contemplate every mystery, explore, use your NOW Moment for the Highest Purpose, namely, the creation of Who You Really Are."
- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Hey you know what? It's a beautiful day, get out there and enjoy it.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“”I’m beginning to see how everything is falling into place and loving every minute of it.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I’m in the eye of the storm and enjoying every minute of it.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I’m flying with the wings I’ve never lacked.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

If "One is all and all are one, what reason is there for holiness or wisdom?"

- Seng Ts’an

“Ultimately it's what YOU believe which matters most.”

- The Matrix

"All power comes from WITHIN, and is therefore, under OUR control.”

- Robert Collier

“It’s right HERE, right NOW.”

“In times like these... and times like those... what will be will be... and so it goes....”

- Jack Johnson

“DO or DON'T....there is NO TRY.”

- Master Yoda

"To be a master of your own mind might just be the ultimate end in life.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Whether you think you CAN or CAN'T do something....you're RIGHT!”

- Henry Ford

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”

- Desmond Tutu

“I’m convinced more than ever before that we all need to WAKE UP to the truth. We need to open our eyes; it's right in front of us... right HERE, right NOW. That’s it.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

"Only those who dare to fail greatly, can ever achieve greatly.”

- Robert Francis Kennedy

“Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance under it.”

- Unknown

“Change the world with your own two hands.”

- Jack Johnson

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Sitting, waiting, wishing, [being, living].”

- Jack Johnson

“I’d like to say THANK YOU to all those who’ve made (and are yet to make) an appearance in my life over the past “quarter of a century”. Regardless of who you may be, know that it's been a pleasure to include you in the pages of my life. Whether your impact has been large or small, you’ve helped me realize who I am today and that in itself is the greatest gift I could ask for.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“We all only see the world from our perspectives, yet the truth cannot be revealed from a single perspective.”

- Simon Sinek

“I’m determined to INSPIRE; to share the experience.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I'm often amazed at how many times I hear the word "paradise". Lately, I've began to understand that paradise is no place you can look for, because its not where you go, it's how you feel for a moment in your life when you are a part of something much greater than yourself. It's letting life bring you the realization that you are nothing but a small... yet indispensable part of it all.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“So long ago, I heard the call of the journey. It beckoned to me in a dream. With all the courage I could muster, I answered the call. Now I close the door forever on the past of myself. I walk now in the present and slowly, into the future - into the unknown. Here, new knowing awaits.

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“From the top of the first page to the end of the last page be sure to write down your story. It's your life; live it fully.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be, and so are you.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and, after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.”

- Logan Pearsall

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

- Mahatma Gadhi

“Life is NOW in session. Are you PRESENT?”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“If you wanna be happy... just be.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“It’s all here, in THIS moment. Prison or palace? Your call alone.”

- Iker Gomez Goroztieta

“Lo sagrado esta en todas partes.”

- Paulo Coelho

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought.”

- Buddha

“Perspective is everything.

Finding the Being Within

Saturday, December 31, 2011

Remembering the Year of a Lifetime

Friday, December 30, 2011

Thoughts On Facebook: A Wrap Up

Reflections:

Blog Archive

Profile

Followers

International Relations: Building Bridges