El Misti Volcano Is Calling!

The first time I landed at Arequipa airport in August 2015, I was immediately captivated by the surrounding panorama. The beautiful ‘White City’ of southern Peru is surrounded on almost all sides by volcanoes; their jagged peaks forming a crown around the city. By far the most impressive, capped in year round snow, is the stratovolcano El Misti; known to locals as Señor Misti. And since August 2015, thirty years after he last erupted, the señor has been calling to me.

If volcanoes were rated for their natural beauty, Misti would be near the top of the list. The perfectly symmetrical cone provides a stunning visual backdrop from all parts of the city. Throughout my stay with my wife Yesi’s family in Arequipa, ever time I glanced up and saw El Misti reaching for the sky, a feeling of adventure rose within me.

El Misti Volcano towers over the city of Arequipa, Peru

El Misti is not a climb for the faint-hearted. At it’s peak above the main crater, Misti stands at 19,101 feet. To put that in perspective, Misti rises to about two thirds the height of Mount Everest. On one of the climbing routes, the overnight camp is named Monte Blanco, as it sits at the same elevation as the highest peak in the Alps. And still, despite the magnitude of Misti, I am tempted.

The overnight camp on El Misti, is at the same elevation as Mont Blanc in the Alps. Image source: www.peruadventuretours.com

I have never been much of a climber. Until now, my adventures have been on a bicycle and a train across America, and on a boat across the Atlantic. I love to hike, but have never really climbed. In fact, the 2,464 foot tall Mount Errigal in my home county Donegal is probably the highest mountain I have climbed. I have been to high peaks, most notably Monarch Pass in the Colorado Rockies, but I cycled up a road. Climbing is a different story.

El Misti volcano near Arequipa in southern Peru, rises to 19,100 feet above sea level. Image: volcanocafe.wordpress.com

To climb Misti I will need a guide, oxygen, and a head for heights. Right now I don’t have any of those. But the urge to try climbing to the top of El Misti is strong. I have about 2 days to decide if I will try it, and then to make the arrangements. As well as a strong urge to climb Misti, I am curious as to how far mental preparation can bring me. I am not prepared physically, or in terms of equipment. The challenge is to see to what extent mindful meditation  and concentration on motivation can be used to face challenges. Misti is definitely a challenge. Even in Arequipa, at 7,661 feet, the effects of altitude are noticeable. The air is thin, the sun burns hard and strenuous activity is difficult. I have no idea what 19,100 feet will feel like, but my fascination with El Misti means I want to find out.

The modus operandi for a cargo voyage is to get freight to it’s destination as quickly and cheaply as possible. But as a passenger on a container ship, the journey is of much greater interest. That was certainly the case for me, as I sailed from New York to Liverpool, via Baltimore, Portsmouth and Nova Scotia.

This is the second of a two-part post, recalling my voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on a container ship.

Trans-Atlantic Cargo Voyage

Watching the last slither of Nova Scotia sink beneath the horizon conjured up a little nervous excitement. The enormity of the voyage was now revealed in its entirety. Under darkening skies, the North Atlantic Ocean loomed large. It would be, weather permitting, an eight day crossing to Liverpool.

That feeling of anxiety, and learning to overcome it, was exactly why I was riding a cargo ship across the Atlantic Ocean. The challenge was to experience how it felt to completely relinquish control for a prolonged period of time, and learn how to cope with that. Heading out into a vast ocean was as good a way as any of creating those conditions. You cannot turn back when riding a cargo ship.

Mother nature sent her first oceanic phenomenon on that first night. Just off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, is an infamous body of water named The Grand Banks; so called because of what lies beneath. Great underwater plateaus rise to around 300 feet beneath the ocean’s surface, resulting in a compression of water. This occurs just at the point where the cold Labrador Current from the north meets the much warmer Gulf Stream from the south. The result is often messy sea conditions and a reputation as the foggiest place on the planet. The Grand Banks are also infamous because they are adjacent to where the Titanic went down. Eighty years later, the Andrea Gale, the fishing trawler which inspired the movie The Perfect Storm, also floundered in these waters. So, for the first three days out of of Nova Scotia, we sailed on a heavy swell, through fog so dense that it was impossible to see the front of the ship. It was so surreal (and a little worrying) to see the front starboard corner of the ship drop into a foggy abyss; not knowing how far it would sink before correcting itself.  Even at midday, it was darkish, silent and a little eerie. Only the periodic lament from the huge fog horn on the bow broke the silence. And still we sailed onwards.

Looking forward, but the ship’s bow is lost in the fog

In the absence of sea views, internet or phone connection, cabin fever and boredom are unrelenting foes which must be kept at bay. But boredom, I learned, is a perception. The down time aboard the ship offered ample opportunities to write, and more importantly, to meditate. When I felt boredom nipping at my consciousness, I immediately called to mind the frenetic lifestyle in New York City. This gave a better perspective, and led to an appreciation of the silent nothingness aboard the Atlantic Star.

Cargo ship travel consists of skeletal routine, and little else. Three hearty meals a day provide some structure, but the remaining time is free time. For those so inclined, the opportunity to completely switch off, including digital detox, is the main attraction of traveling on a container ship. For those who need to be entertained and kept busy, a voyage might seem like slow torture. Thankfully, I am the former.

Voyage Through the Dead Zone

On the third night at sea, Jim (a fellow passenger from Montana) and I made our now nightly visit out onto deck to take in the fresh sea air. As we climbed the external stairway to the upper deck, for the first time on our voyage the fog rolled back, revealing the most spectacular night sky. Away from the artificial light of towns and cities, our vantage point revealed thousands of extremely bright stars. They speckled the entire sky from one horizon to the other. It felt like we might be at the bottom of a recently shaken snow globe. The star filled sky was dissected by the The Milky Way, which formed an arc right over the ship. I watched shooting stars and even got to see the International Space Station pass overhead. It was tranquil beauty on a grand scale; a demonstration of how vast the earth is, but yet, how minuscule that vastness is in comparison to the infinity of the universe.

In most graphical representations of the night the Titanic went down in the North Atlantic, the scene is presented under an unusually bright starry sky. It is particularly apparent in James Cameron’s 1999 movie Titanic. I was always of the opinion that this night sky was greatly over exaggerated. Maybe it is to a certain extent. But there is no doubt that in this part of the Atlantic, if the fog clears, the stars shine brighter, and are visible right the way down to the horizon in all directions.

A depiction of a bright night sky, under which the Titanic floundered in the early hours of April 15th 1912. Image Source: Ultimate Titanic.

Stimulated by the magnitude of the night sky, I paid a visit to the bridge to talk with the chief officer about our location. At that point, we were in what is known as ‘The Dead Zone’. We were between 700-800 miles from the nearest land, ship or communications. Even the satellite communications system was down at that point. We were beyond the point where the coastguard could swoop down and save us. In an emergency situation, even the closest ship would take the most of two days to reach us.

Beneath the hull was 20,000 feet of ocean water; vast mountain ranges and valleys which man has yet to see, other than on computer screens. Those who bemoan the fact that the entire planet has been explored, would do well to take a slow voyage across the ocean. Again, the magnitude of the voyage, the expansiveness of the ocean and the infinite mysteries of the universe brought on a strangely calm feeling when combined with meditation. There is a relationship between meditation and the ocean which is incredibly strong, beautifully natural, and quite unexplainable.

With the fog now behind us, every walk out onto the deck revealed a beautiful seascape. Broken low cloud provided a polka dotted filter for the sun, which cut through at different intensities in different places. As it did so, the sunbeams cast a wonderful pattern across the surface of the water. Mirroring the sky above, some patches were grey and dull, while others sparkled brightly against the light from our closest star. The three days spent sailing through the eastern reaches of the north Atlantic Ocean were peaceful in a way that words simply cannot convey.

Brighter skies were more frequent on the eastern section of our north Atlantic voyage.

To see nothing but water against a 360 degree horizon is as difficult to process as it is serene. The magnitude of the ocean is impossible to grasp, even when crossing it on a large ship. One day as I stood in thoughtless contemplation, I noticed a lone bird sitting on the surface of the ocean. How it got there, where it nests, and how it survives in the dead zone is a quandary I have yet to solve.

The ocean swell remained moderate right the way across the Atlantic. By night it rocked me to sleep. By day, being so high above the center of the ship on the upper deck, it was a little disorienting to be out of earshot of the engine to the stern and the crashing of the large Atlantic waves against the bow. Disorienting, but nice. Thankfully my sea legs held up well. I later learned from the captain, that we had weaved a narrow passageway between two large storms right the way across the ocean. We got lucky. In silence I would stand, hand on rail, as the huge ship pitched and rolled, heading steadily eastwards towards the coast of Ireland.

One Last Onward Voyage!

After six thoroughly enjoyable days and nights at sea, I awoke two hours before dawn to again go out on deck. This time, the mission was not to admire the enormity of the Atlantic Ocean. On the port side, I stood staring toward the horizon. Finally I saw what I was hoping to see. Just barely visible between the blackness of the ocean depths and the cloudy night sky were the unmistakable beams from several lighthouse; each with their own distinctive pattern. The lights of Ireland were calling me home! It had been 10 long months since I had seen the beautiful Wild Atlantic Way on the western coast of Ireland.

By far the most impressive of the light beams, and indeed the first to pierce the dark horizon, was that of Fastnet. Often referred to as Ireland’s tear drop, because it was the last point on the homeland that many immigrants saw en route to America, Fastnet stands mightily strong against the many Atlantic storms bound for Ireland. Content that I had finally laid eyes on Ireland, I returned to bed. When I woke for breakfast at 6:45, daybreak revealed the southern Irish coast in all of it’s splendor. But I was to pass by my homeland. Getting there would require another shorter voyage.

After breakfast, I was treated to a tour of the ship, first to the stern, where we watched up to twenty dolphins playfully surf in the ship’s wake, and then to the bow, where I leaned out through a mooring porthole to peer down to where the ship was cutting through the water. Both perspectives were thoroughly enjoyable. I was even given a tour through the engine room, and some of the cargo holds below deck, where trucks and diggers and enormous machines were tied to the deck. Through the afternoon, we edged further along on the Celtic Sea, before rounding Carnsore Point and entering the surprisingly calm Irish Sea. By sundown, the Atlantic Star was anchored off the mouth of the River Dee, waiting for the Mersey pilot to guide us into Liverpool.

The following morning I woke early, and upon looking out through my cabin window, saw thousands of shipping containers. We had arrived in Liverpool. That night I completed my journey to Ireland by taking a taxi out of Liverpool docks, a train to Chester, a connecting train to Hollyhead, and finally a ferry to Dublin. I had a date to keep; my wife Yesi was arriving by plane from New York, into Dublin Airport. How strange that she had made a journey in six hours that had taken me 8 days.

Thousands of shipping containers greeted our arrival in Liverpool docks.

But while I was disembarking in Liverpool, the crew, many of whom are Filipino, were busy trying to connect to the internet to make Skype calls to their wives and children on the other side of the world. Hearing the children excitement at seeing their fathers on the computer screens would bring a tear to even the coldest eye. I had taken a two week cargo cruise for fun, but these brave men were preparing to turn around and do it all over again. They are at sea for around 9 months at a time. Every time I now see products shipped from one part of the world to the other, I think on those hard-working men and the sacrifice they make to put goods in our stores. They really are the heroes of the seas.

A Filipino crewman passes a sleepless night on the ocean by watching a DVD in the mess-room.

Traveling on a cargo ship is by no means efficient, but it certainly is enjoyable. In a world which is now constantly connected, constantly buzzing with activity, generating stress and little time to reflect, hitching a ride on a cargo ship offers a throwback to the days when travel took time, and involved disconnecting from both origin and destination, with little choice but to sit back and enjoy the journey.

Would I travel on a cargo ship again? Absolutely! But I will probably do it in summer, and pick a different route next time. There is a line from south eastern Australia up through Asia and into the Indian Ocean. It then passes through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean, and after rounding the Iberian peninsula, terminates at Southampton on the south coast of England.

But the voyage which is really calling my attention is the trans-Pacific from California to Japan. Were I to take that voyage, and then connect to China by ferry, I could then ride the trans-Siberian, or trans-Manchurian railroad all the way to Moscow, and then connect via St Petersburg to Paris. From there, the channel tunnel train would take me to London, from where I could ride one last train to Liverpool. Having cycled across America in 2016, and crossed the Atlantic Ocean in 2018, the Pacific voyage and trans-Siberian railroad would complete a circumnavigation of the northern hemisphere without having taken a plane. I’ll keep you posted!

Part One of this post is available here.

The modus operandi on a cargo voyage is to get freight to it’s destination as quickly and cheaply as possible. But as a passenger on a container ship, the journey is of much greater interest. That was certainly the case for me, as I sailed from New York to Liverpool, via Baltimore, Portsmouth and Nova Scotia. This is the first of a two-part post, recalling my voyage across the Atlantic Ocean on a container ship.

Planning the Voyage

When I announced that I would be making a 4,200 nautical mile Atlantic voyage on a cargo ship, it was greeted with a tepid response. Freighter travel certainly isn’t conventional. But traveling on a container ship differs only from cruising in that it demands that you must your own entertainment. There are many hours to be wiled away while rolling on the ocean waves. That is exactly what attracted me to freighter travel. There are no lines, no steadfast rules, restricted areas, crowded decks or noisy night-clubs. What is lost in terms of organized entertainment during cargo travel, is regained ten-fold by tranquility.

Growing up in Donegal, I was always fascinated by the ocean. Watching sunsets over the Atlantic, I often wondered what lay beyond the horizon. In my thirties, I surfed (badly!) on Donegal’s Atlantic coast, and was again drawn by the mystery of just how far those waves had traveled across the ocean to wash up on Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. In 2014, I found meditation while sitting on a clifftop high above the ghost fishing village of Port, in south west Donegal. Once again I felt lured by the great watery beyond.

Sunset over the Atlantic, in Donegal Ireland.

But the moment when I really decided to take a voyage across the ocean came thousands of miles from Donegal – and far from the ocean. I was in Utah; the third state on my solo bike ride across America on Trans-Atlantic Cycle. It was over 100 degrees in the Great Basin Desert and the Canyon-Lands, and I was in serious trouble. Dehydration and sickness had slowed my progress, yet somehow I had to keep going. To distract myself, I visualized the Atlantic Ocean. My body was suffering, but I hydrated the mind by meditating and visualizing the ocean. Later, while recovering in Moab, where the temperature hit 110 degrees, I had a dream about crossing the ocean to Ireland. And that is how the notion of taking a freighter ship first took hold.

After a little bit of searching, I found a company in New Zealand called Freighter Travel (NZ). The owner, a Scot named Hamish, hooked me up with passage aboard the Atlantic Star. What had started out as a visualization was now becoming a reality.

Setting out on the Voyage

On the day of departure, New York City gave me one final reminder as to why I was heading out into the ocean. Traffic, public transport delays and weather conditions all threatened to sabotage my embarkation. Somehow though, I made it to the dock on time, and hauled my suitcase up the five-story gangway.The Atlantic Star sits dockside like one of the many co-op apartment buildings where I live in Jackson Heights, Queens. Indeed, at three times the length of a football pitch, the large container ship is comparable in size to an entire New York City block.

At 100,000 tonnes and capable of carrying 3,800 containers and 1,300 automobiles, the Atlantic Star is about the length of a New York City block!

Exhausted, I made it to my spacious en-suite cabin, and was then shown to the ‘Mess Room’ where ‘Messman’ Lucio, and the ships cook, ‘Jose Castillo Jr’, had lunch ready and awaiting my arrival. I was then free to wander out onto the deck at my leisure, from where I watched the sunset. Finally, I could relax.

My spacious en suite cabin on the Atlantic Star

The only other passenger to board was Jim from the state of Montana. He had recently returned from a two year Peace Corp post in Mongolia. Before settling back into a political administration job in Washington DC, Jim was setting off to travel the world. Or at least as much of it as he could see before his money would run out. That would not be for some time if continuing to travel on a container ship.

The captain of the Atlantic Star and two of his officers were from Bulgaria. There was a single Russian officer on board. His only communications offering was to wish everyone a “good appetite” upon entering the Mess Room. The remaining two officers and crew were Filipino. Coupled with the English registered ship operated by an American company on behalf of an Italian family, it was quite the international affair. Especially since the Atlantic Star would be calling in Canada, Belgium, Germany and Sweden.

Leaving New York City to begin the Atlantic voyage

After the sun had set over New Jersey, the ship was slowly cajoled from her berth by a pair of hard-working little tug boats. She was nudged around in situ, and then under her own steam, began to weave her way past Staten Island, and out into New York harbor. As  darkness fell, the Manhattan skyline came out to wish us a bon voyage. Several minutes later, the Atlantic Star passed under Verrazano Narrows Bridge. In silence, and against the reflected colorful lights of Coney Island, we left New York behind and sailed into the night.

Voyage to Chesapeake Bay

Freighter travel is far removed from other forms of transportation. Container ships have dynamic schedules, based on where they can do business. Cargo takes precedence over people, so you just have to kick back and roll with the random stops. With port calls, weather and sea conditions in a state of flux, one or two things remain constant. There is always rolling and pitching on the ocean swells, and there are always three meals a day; breakfast at 7am, lunch at noon and dinner at 6pm. Everything else is subject to change at short notice. In the case of my voyage on the Atlantic Star, we first had to sail southwards along the Jersey shore. Two stops awaited in Chesapeake Bay, before once again calling in New York, and then onwards to Nova Scotia. Only then could I finally cross the Atlantic Ocean. I had been disappointed to hear about this improvised itinerary, but the ocean has no tolerance for impatience. As it transpired, the voyage along the eastern seaboard was one which was very well worth taking.

Taking it easy on the deck of the Atlantic Star container ship

View from the top deck of the Atlantic Star ship

On our first day at sea we sailed under a beautiful late summer sun. I pulled out a deck chair and basked in the golden warmth until I fell asleep. In the moments before I drifted off to sleep, a feeling of complete relaxation and serenity submerged any lingering New York stressors. Meditating while rolling on the ocean waves certainly had a magically transformative effect. While my sleep may have been short, it eclipsed the majority of sleeps I have had on land. That is exactly the essence and beauty of freighter travel – the world is a world away.

I awoke when the sun careered along on it’s arc at an usual rate, casting a sudden shadow on my bliss. While I had dozed peacefully on deck, the ship’s big propellor had come to a standstill. We were now drifting, which explained why the sun had switched sides! Was it now on the port or starboard? Alas I was not yet fluent in ship-speak. The Atlantic Star now lay in wait at the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, slowly rising and falling over the swell. Later in the evening, a pilot climbed aboard, and guided the ship up through Chesapeake Bay. Watching the pilot boats arrive alongside the huge ship, and seeing the brave pilot step onto a vertical rope ladder to climb up the outside of several decks was one of the most amazing sights of the entire voyage. Quite remarkably, these brave men have been steering ships into the Chesapeake in one form or another since 1640.

Surprisingly, while at the busy Dundalk Marine Terminal in the port of Baltimore, the Atlantic Star was officially christened, despite having already been at sea for over two years. I took this as a good omen ahead of my epic voyage! During the ceremony I rubbed shoulders with senior figures from the local shipping industry. I also exchanged pleasantries with the owner of the ship, a Mr Grimaldi from Naples, Italy. This little party on the bridge afforded me the opportunity to learn a great deal more about the Atlantic Star, and her role within the shipping industry. Over canapés, my Irish accent was the cause of some hilarities. When asked by a freight forwarder what my role was on the ship for the christening, I replied that I was a passenger. Somehow, my Donegal twang caused a kink in communications, and for some time a group of people thought I was the pastor!

Moving containers around like playing Lego or Tetris!

As a crewman swept up the broken glass from the champagne bottle on the deck of the ship, several huge gantry cranes, aided by an assortment of trucks and machines on Baltimore’s spacious docks, loaded and unloaded hundreds of containers. It was quite a show. The ships ramp was also lowered onto the dock, to accommodate loose freight on trailers, and an small yet eclectic mix of vehicles. It was at this point that I learned we would be sailing across the Atlantic at about half capacity. America’s import/export imbalance with Europe was laid bare on that dock in Maryland.

Cat diggers sitting on the dock at Baltimore, dwarfed by the size of the Atlantic Star.

Containers, Containers, Containers!

The following morning, we set sail back down the bay and passed through (over?) Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. An engineering masterpiece, the bridge spans eighteen miles of water, twice dipping into mile-long tunnels in the middle of the bay. For many, the unique challenge of making such a bay crossing develops into a phobia. Amazingly, many people pay a premium toll charge to have an driver take their car across. Presumably these paying customers then close their eyes while crossing the bridge. How strange it was to look on both sides to see the bridge and highway suddenly plunge into the Chesapeake depths, and to know that cars and trucks were busy crossing beneath the waters that the ship passed over.

The Chesapeake Bay Bridge plunging into one of two mile long tunnels under the bay

Changing weather on Chesepeake Bay. As it turned out, this was also summer giving way to fall.

Later, under a blanket of heavy grey cloud, we slipped through the major US Naval base at Norfolk, Virginia, to an overnight berth at Portsmouth docks. Here, just as in Baltimore, cargo was loaded/unloaded by giant gantry cranes. Watching the 40 foot containers being lifted up and moved around was like witnessing a giant game of Tetris.

Before dawn we left the Chesapeake behind, returning to the Atlantic and sailing back up along the US coast, this time through inclement weather. A first taste of ocean conditions was revealed, due to the large swell coming in against the starboard side. I was no up to speed with ship-speak, having had the first of many interesting conversations with the ships officers. I was welcome on the bridge at any time and made full use of the invite to ask a plethora of questions about the ship, the seascapes and the shipping industry. It was interesting to hear the officers reveal that they did not know what was being transported in each of the thousands of containers stacked up on the decks. Presumably someone in the shipping company would know, but it was irrelevant to the crew. Whether it was three pick-up trucks stacked one with its front wheels resting on the others bed, a priceless art collection on route to a new museum, or a bunch of heavy parts for machinery mattered little at sea. On the ocean wave they are all but containers.

ACL has the admirable record of not having lost a container at sea for over 30 years. This is not the case for other companies. My friend Johnathan, who has worked for a yacht delivery company, and in the process sailed around the world, told me before my departure from New York that floating containers in the ocean represent a serious danger to yachts. I even heard of cases where valuable BMW motorcycles had once washed ashore in shipping containers on the south eastern coast of England. Apparently there wasn’t a farmer on that twenty mile stretch of coastline but who was now the proud owner of a touring motorbike. I was later told by a fellow passenger that almost none of the many and frequent shipping accidents make it into the news. With few eyewitnesses and insurance provided by a sole insurance company (Lloyds of London), containers slip silently into he depths, or worse still, lurk semi-submerged in the pathway of other ships.

A lost shipping container floating on the ocean surface

The ten degree rolls off the Jersey shore served as a marine lullaby, rocking me to sleep like a baby in a crib. An experiment with a drug called dramamine, which prevents motion sickness had caused drowsiness, so I abandoned the dose at that point. My sea legs were holding up just fine anyway, despite the increasing swell and the stories of unreported shipping accidents.

When docked once again in New York, Jim and I joined several crew members on a trip ashore. It felt so strange to be in the New York metropolitan area as a passing visitor. The weather had really taken a turn for the worse now, with non-stop torrential rain and high winds. No one as much, but I think we all wondered what lay in store on our Atlantic voyage. Onwards the Atlantic Star ventured though. After clearing Montauk on the eastern end of Long Island, and sailing north east off the coast of Cape Cod and Martha’s Vinyard, the ship docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Again, the weather was foul. I did manage to venture ashore though, motivated by what would be a brief first visit to Canada.

Nova Scotia and the Titanic Graves

The main attraction in Halifax, apart of course from the beautiful city and harbor panoramas, is Fairview Lawn Cemetery. This leafy graveyard serves as final resting place for the majority of those lost during the sinking of the Titanic. Among the many graves is a headstone with the inscription “J. Dawson”. There is a distinctly worn patch of lawn right in front of the stone. Apparently, many visitors stop by the grave, assuming it to be that of Jack Dawson – the character played by Leonardo diCaprio in the 1997 blockbuster movie Titanic. Alas, the J. Dawson in Fairview Lawn Cemetery was but a 23-year old crewman, who had shoveled coal to the furnace men deep in the bowels of the Titanic, as she sailed towards her fatal collision with an ice-berg. The Jack Dawson from the silver screen is entirely fictitious, despite what thousands of romantic movie-loving visitors to Nova Scotia would like to believe. The irony of visiting graves from a famous shipwreck just hours before setting off to cross the Atlantic Ocean was not lost on me, particularly given the stormy weather conditions.

Titanic Grave Site at Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Five More Passengers!

The terrible weather had caused a pair of Canadians, who had been due to board the Atlantic Star in Halifax, to abort their voyage before it had even begun. Five more passengers did board though. A likable 82 year old German man (who Jim from Montana and I secretly called “Helmut”) was joined by French and Italian couples. Michele and Robert Gailleton, from near Lyon, were returning to Europe having just finished touring the Americas and Canada. They had arrived in Uruguay via Senegal with their 1995 Land Rover camper van two years previously. Unsurprisingly they had many tales to share about their epic journey. Their adventure can be tracked here.

The 1995 Land Rover Discover, used by Michele and Robert Gailleton on their tour of the Americas.

Giuesspe Altinier and Sandra Verzola from Venice, were also returning home after having clocked up 40,000 Km’s in six months of touring across the United States and Canada, again by camper van. They had focused primarily on visiting America’s great national parks. “Helmut” was by far the veteran old man of the sea though. He had spent his entire life exploring the worlds oceans. Born and raised on Germany’s North Sea coastline, he started out as a young trawler fisherman, venturing as far north as the east coast of Greenland. He then spent time in the Merchant Navy before moving on to work on oil tankers and managing refineries. He spends his retirement taking voyages around the world on container ships, to relax and reminisce about his life at sea.

Atlantic Star passengers (L-R): Giuseppe Altinier (Italy), Jim Frisk (USA), Sergia Verzola (Italy) and Michele and Robert Gailleton (France). Missing from the picture is “Helmut” from Germany.

As darkness fell we left our sheltered berth in Nova Scotia. Slowly the tree covered islands which dot the entrance to the harbor slipped by, as we set out to cross the Atlantic Ocean on the world’s largest ro-ro container ship. Watching the ever weaker lighthouse beam from Nova Scotia slip beneath the blackened horizon, served to throw up a few moments of anxiety regarding the enormity of the voyage that lay ahead. These brief thoughts were soon quelled by mindful meditation. A cargo voyage is about enjoying whatever unexpected sights and experiences might rise up from the horizon up ahead, so I fully committed to sit back and enjoy the ride. I had little choice in the matter, given that I was now finally in the Atlantic Ocean.

Part two of this post is coming soon!

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to cross the ocean in a cargo ship? Me too! That is why I am sailing(?) across the Atlantic Ocean out of New York City. I am hitching a ride on the worlds largest roll-on/roll-off container ship – the Atlantic Star. It will be what is referred to as a cargo cruise. Not only will I be traveling towards home, but it will also be a digital detox, and a chance to meditate.

What is a Cargo Cruise?

A cargo cruise is when someone travels overseas on board a cargo ship. It is very different from a traditional cruise in that it is generally longer, and does not come with all of the trappings of a cruise ship. Passenger numbers generally do not go over 12, because that is the magically number beyond which a cargo ship would need to provide a doctor and medical facilities onboard. The adventurous passenger must make their own entertainment on board, but can wander around the ship and even go up onto the bridge. Meals are shared with the officers at the captains table.

Who Goes on a Cargo Cruise?

A very good question! First and foremost, the passenger will need a sense of adventure, and must really like the ocean. Passengers also need to have a flexible schedule, and be content in their own company for long stretches. They are generally people who write or like to read, and want to experience travel without busy airport check-ins.

My Cargo Cruise

Growing up in beautiful Donegal, Ireland, which has over 700 miles of Atlantic coastline, I was always fascinated by the ocean. Voted ‘Coolest Place to visit on the planet’ by National Geographic Traveler in 2017, Donegal has a spectacular coastline, with many untouched golden beaches. I was raised on a farm along Lough Swilly, the longest inlet on that coastline. Our family would often “walk down to the water”, stand on the banks, and watch cargo ships slowly edging up the Swilly at high tide. Most were carrying coal or timber, and were unloaded at ‘the port’, where Polestar Roundabout now stands on the outskirts of Letterkenny.

Over the years, I have enjoyed surfing and swimming in the Atlantic waters around Donegal. Mostly though, I liked to walk along the beaches and clifftops, stopping to look out over the waves to the Atlantic horizon.

It was on one such visit, while perched on a clifftop near the beautifully traditional village of Glencolmcille, that I meditated for the first time. That moment changed everything. From always wanting to be somewhere else, but never going anywhere, I realized that if I embraced the present moment, I could work towards being anywhere I really wanted to be. Soon after, I met my wife Yesi, and set off out over those western horizons for a new life in New York.

Amid the frenetic lifestyle of New York City, I often think of the Atlantic coastline in Donegal. The images have stayed with me. Sometimes while meditating, I visualize that coastline and can almost spell the fresh air, and hear the sound of the big waves. This visualization helped me to deal with the homesickness I felt when I first left Donegal.

My love for the Atlantic Ocean around Donegal, and the idea to sail towards it became most apparent in a vastly different environment. While cycling through the Great Basin Desert of Nevada and Utah, on a previous adventure called Trans-Atlantic Cycle, the temperature reached a dangerous 110 degrees. Water and freshness were rare commodities as I cycled alone through the lonely desert. I often took my mind of the heat by meditating and recalling the beauty of Donegal’s Atlantic coastline. Once I finished my cycle ride from San Francisco to New York, I started thinking about how I could cross the Atlantic by boat. After doing a little searching online, I found Hamish, a shipping agent from New Zealand. He owns a company called Freighter Travel (NZ), and was able to book my passage aboard the Atlantic Star.

Cargo Cruise Expectations

After discussing the schedules and options, I eventually settled on a rather roundabout way of crossing the Atlantic on my cargo cruise. After leaving Newark port in New York harbor, I sail south, calling at Baltimore Maryland and Portsmouth Virginia. A few nervy days of tracking Hurricane Florence threatened to derail my adventure plans. But thankfully the big storm weakened as it made landfall in the Carolina’s.

I am expecting peace, tranquility, lots of reading time, the opportunity to write and to meditate, while enjoying the swell of the Atlantic ocean. The entire cargo cruise from New York to Liverpool will take 14 days.

Cargo Cruise Digital Detox

One of the main attractions of a cargo cruise is that it offers the opportunity to undertake a digital detox. With our lives becoming busier and ever more reliant upon our digital gadgets, there are times when it feels as though the vast majority of our time is spent staring into a screen. I have often wondered what it would be like to totally detach from that activity for a period of time, and embark on a digital detox combined with meditation.

A cargo cruise is the ideal chance to disconnect on a digital detox, as there are no cellular networks available just a little bit off the coast, and most ships do not have wifi. In case of emergency, I will be able to send an email from the bridge, but it costs money, as the connection is data based via satellite. I intend documenting my experiences of spending 2 weeks without digital communications while on my cargo cruise.

Cargo Cruise Meditation

By far the biggest attraction on a cargo cruise is the chance it affords the adventurous traveler to kick back, relax and meditate. This is something which I feel the busy digital work (especially in New York) does not normally offer us. As well as having abundant time and a clear schedule, the cargo cruise also offer the chance to enjoy the healing and transformative effects of the ocean. Just as the salt water heals or skin, we get a greater mental benefit from meditating in or near the ocean. The vat expanses of water, which make up 71% of the earths total surface, is quite literally older than the hills. Perhaps the reminder about how brief our flirtation with this earth is by comparison to long it has been here, and will continue to be here after we are gone, is enough to jolt us into enjoying the present moment more.

I am really looking forward to sitting on the deck in meditation, while enjoying the sound of the passing waves and the invigorating freshness of the ocean air. All being well there should be a little sunshine too. But even if there isn’t, having a clear line of sight to the horizon to enjoy sunrise and sunset each day is something which I am really looking forward to. Cargo cruising is quite unique in that it allows the passenger a long stretch of time to relax, while also traveling over a great distance. That seems like a great metaphor for meditation to me.

Unless you have, rather ironically, been disconnected from technology of late, the term digital detox is now one with which you will be familiar. But what is digital detox? Why do we need it? And how do we do it?

The Digital Detox Perspective

Im of a certain vintage; younger than a ‘Baby Boomer’, but older than a ‘Millennial’. I’m what sociologists refer to as a ‘Baby Buster’. As a 1972 baby, I’m right in the middle of the busters; part hippie and part hipster. Maybe this spanning of the generations gives us seventies babies dual perspective. We feel for the oldies, who as adults had to grab on to the runaway train that was the internet and all of it’s connected devices, for fear of being left behind. But we can also identify with the younger crew who see ‘LOW BATTERY’ and ‘SEARCHING FOR NETWORK’ notifications as signs of an imminent apocalypse.

Regardless of whether we clumsily transitioned or seamlessly entered, we are all caught up in the digital age. Which is great. Except, scientists are now starting to notice that all of this modern, cool, sophisticated gadgetry is having an adverse affect on how we live. Cell phone and internet addiction is now being linked with anxiety, behavioral problems, depression and even digital dementia.

Digital Detox Generation

Somehow, within just two decades of initial smartphone evolution, we are now so entangled in the mobile digital web, that we shudder to think what it would be like to actually break free. When the first iPhone arrived in 2007, we entered a fast-track to ‘always-on always-connected’ media. Back then, this baby buster was taking a Masters in Computing and Design at University of Ulster, focusing on Human Computer Interaction. I wasn’t impressed by where the shift towards pervasive computing was taking us. I wrote some essays outlining what I felt was a lack of social consciousness when it comes to technological design, and gradually alienated myself academically in the process. Having studied cognitive science, and the connections being used to merge neural circuits with “smart” devices, I like to think I saw a problem emerging with direct people to people communication, and a tampering with our natural evolution.

What we need to understand s that it is no coincidence that we feel a compulsion to constantly check our cell phone for social media updates. Platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram tap into the same neural circuitry used by slot machines and cocaine, to keep us hooked. This has led to former Vice-President of User Growth at Facebook, Chamath Palihapitiya to make a startling confession. “I feel tremendous guilt”, he told students at a Stanford University digital consumer behavior talk. “The short-term, dopamine-driven feedback loops that we have created, are destroying how society works.”

This baby buster, who has since traded a life in computing for a life in self development through meditation, thought he would be long gone before the social and behavioral problems associated with excessive smartphone use became abundantly clear. But thankfully, a new trend is emerging. Digital detox is a thing these days. Many people are getting in on the act – possibly just in time. We are now entering the age of digital moderation and digital detox, and it might just be our best advancement yet. Merging self-awareness and meditation with our smartphone and internet use could greatly change our lives for the better.

Why Digital Detox?

We could make a case for digital detox on a number of levels. Let’s start with safety. Texting while driving, walking on a street without looking up, loosing vital spatial awareness skills, not to mention the strain on our eyes and brains. The list could go on, but you get the point.

Digital detox is also beneficial (some would say vital) from a behavioral standpoint. How often do we lose interest in conversation with close friends or family, by responding to a notification, which then triggers a spell of related cell phone use? Here’s the scary part: there doesn’t even need to be a notification. Phantom calls, texts, updates or notifications pull our attention away from relationships, non digital skills and even our study and work. The statistics for the number of times the average person checks their cell phone daily is going up ad infinitum. Our behavior, which is bordering on addiction, is changing the way we think, concentrate, communicate and feel about ourselves.

It will get worse. Machine learning and smaller, smarter sensor-based devices are bringing more digital information into our everyday lives. Social media has actually endangered more friendships and relationships than it has nurtured or preserved. We crave validation, then reject it when it arrives. We are disappointed when others do not immediately respond to us, which is making us very impatient and poor listeners. This is especially so when we can see that the other person is online, or that they have read our message but have not responded. This media business isn’t very social after all, is it?

The fundamental message here is that technology, the internet and social media are not necessarily bad things. These technical innovations have deeply enriched our lives. But there is a tipping point; the place at which enjoyment and convenience becomes a stressful burden. Our ability to find calm uninterrupted space for ourselves is diminishing. Face to face communications is failing. Attention spans are declining. In fact, the entire cognitive process is being shoehorned into a pressurized digital environment, where stress prevails. Digital detox affords us a way out. It offers an opportunity to disconnect; to enjoy our own company, to smell the flowers and feel the sun on our faces. Digital detox allows us to appreciate our families and experience life with a greater sense of awareness. When we eventually come back to our digital world, we do so feeling refreshed and ready to use the power of technology for it’s true intended purpose.

How to Digital Detox

There is little point in disconnecting from our devices if we do not also disconnect our niggling feeling of attachment to them. Learning to calm the seemingly incontrollable urge to reach for our device is the key to a fruitful digital detox. This is where mindfulness and meditation enter the equation. To successfully digital detox, we should:

1. Accept that this moment is the only moment that matters.
2. Accept that no call, message, notification or alert could improve this very moment.
3. Embrace the uninterupted silence. This is like turning our minds onto Airplane Mode.
4. Come to realize that we do not need anyone’s approval to be happy and calm.
5. Become aware of the stretching of time. We have so much more time to do things than we would if we were checking our phones.
6. Reconnect with the natural world. Breath the air, feel the immediately positive benefits of the sun’s rays. Imagine a reconnection with the natural rhythm of the world. The pace of life is much more relaxed than what we imagined it was.
7. The most enjoyable aspect is the realization that freedom from network connectivity, battery charging points etc, offers us a sense of freedom.

Need Help with Digital Detox?

in8 Motivation offers Digital Detox and Mindfulness seminars/workshops in New York City and Ireland. Corporate and individual packages are available, as are specially discounted rates for schools, veterans, and non-profit charitable organizations.

The Benefits of Ocean Meditation

Ocean meditation is perhaps the most naturally therapeutic gift that the world has to give us. Both the ocean and meditation bring a certain amount of peace. But when both gifts are used in harmony, the result can be a depth of tranquility that we just cannot garner from any other source.

In my personal experience, ocean meditation has been completely transformative. I first meditated while overlooking the ocean along the Wild Atlantic Way, in County Donegal, Ireland, and since then have been enjoying the benefits. Ocean meditation comes in many forms, and can be enjoyed in many different ways.

That we humans are so innately drawn to water is of little surprise. Scientists believe that up to 60% of our body is water. In the case of our brain and heart, the figure is as high as 73%. Our lungs, which power our breathing that is so closely aligned with meditation, are up to 83% water.

Water enables cell growth and repair, allows us to remain hydrated, grow crops, digest food, maintain hygiene, control internal body temperature and dispose of waste from the body. At our very origin in the embryo we are surrounded by water. We are not just given life by water; we are water.

Ocean Meditation and Breathing

Any visit to the ocean is reinvigorating due to the freshness of the sea air. Given that meditation is so closely aligned with breathing, ocean meditation offers the perfect combination of natural healing remedies. While any breathing exercise is beneficial while near the ocean, I have always found that either looking at or visualizing big waves in slow motion provides an excellent framework on which to align breathing. The in-breath mimics the rising of the wave. A pause greets the first white horses, as the wave begins to spill over under its own weight. And the out breath is louder, more deliberate, churning out the filtered air and negative thoughts with the surf. Practicing this technique while overlooking the ocean during a big swell is the ideal scenario, but even closing the eyes and imagining the waves and then breathing in unison with them is a really strong meditation technique.

Turbulence and Tranquility

The ocean is a pretty good metaphor for life. It is almost unimaginably vast, relatively unexplored and can be either friend or foe depending on our attitude and the respect we give it. Ocean meditation can evolve through time and experience to include many sea conditions. The ocean has the power to erode rock, sink ships, wash away dunes and throw spray far overland.

The Atlantic Ocean has thrown up waves off the west coast of Ireland that have peaked at over 75 feet. The ocean can be extremely turbulent, angry and unpredictable. However, regardless of how high the waves peak, the ocean will always return to calmness. Ships regularly alter course and ride out a storm, until such time as the waters have calmed. There is great hope in that realization. No matter how turbulent our lives appear, we can think of the ocean retuning to a calm state as we accept that ‘This too Shall Pass’.

New Horizons

One of the most exciting things about taking to the ocean is that it can bring us all around the world. With a clear line of sight to the horizon, and by following the stars the sun and the winds, we can navigate our way to where we want to be. This is a great metaphor for positive thinking and motivation. Instead of wallowing in a slow whirlpool in some darkened backwater, we can surrender to the natural currents until we are in open water, from where we can reach anywhere we want to go.

Digital Detox

Ocean waves travel thousands of miles before breaking on our coastlines. And they have been doing it for much longer than the coastlines existed as we know them today. This eternal quality predates modern stressors, and is a great way to become aware of our place in time and our place in the world. We are passing through, and the waves will be crashing on our coastlines long after we are gone. Getting in touch with this perspective through ocean meditation is a great way in which to unplug from our busy lives. Furthermore, much of the open ocean is not within cell phone towers and masts. Taking to the seas is a great way to enjoy a digital detox – something which we are going to hear much more about in years to come, as scientists come to terms with phenomena such as digital dementia.

Be Water My Friend!

The great Bruce Lee compared fluid movement and the power of awareness to the qualities of water. “Be water my friend“, he famously proclaimed. He was certainly on to something. At times when I want to delve deeper into consciousness, I begin with aligning breath to the waves. After several minutes, I will allow myself to feel the rise and fall of the passing waves. Gradually, this visualization is taken further, to a place where the physical body is no longer representative of who I am. Instead of floating on the water, I slowly imagine that I am dissolving into water. Becoming water. The fluidity that this brings, frees me from the shackles of body, self and all thought. I am free to dive under the surface for prolonged periods, without worrying about breathing because my lungs are no longer physical.

Ocean meditation offers limitless benefits, as we move toward total bliss and pure consciousness. This is where all good things are born, such as motivation, creativity and innovation, the power to build strength of convictions and make positive personal changes. All of this happens unconsciously of course, because while in meditation, there are no thoughts, no restrictions, no fears and no limits. When we reemerge from this deep dive into ocean meditation, we are ready to work towards our goals in a more meaningful, mindful and fearless manner.

Why Awareness is so Important

Living (or existing) without self awareness is akin to gambling. It is like going all in on a poker hand when you have not even looked at your cards. Living this way can make life seem chaotic. Self-Awareness is important because it gives us the power to more accurately determine what we are able to achieve, based on how and where we are at any given time. We make better choices because we know ourselves better. Our choices are better ones, and so self awareness boosts confidence in our own abilities. These are the fundamental building blocks of motivation.

Awareness and Motivation

We are all inspired. Some are inspired to do something, or buy something so that they can compete with others. Some take on huge challenges to fill the void. But those who first get to know themselves before looking for inspiration are at an advantage. Awareness of self when working towards a goal offers clear benefits. We know that we want what it is that we are working towards. We know that whatever else happens that is beyond our control, we won’t quit because of self-doubt. We won’t give up because we get half way through and come to realize that we don’t want to achieve the goal. We will keep going until we have achieved what we set out to achieve.

Self-Awareness and Self-Doubt

Everybody has them. Negative thoughts can appear from nowhere. They can certainly take a lot longer to pass than they do to appear. Whether it is for self-motivation to complete a task, or for inner-peace, it is virtually impossible to give our best if we entertain negative thoughts. What defines us depends entirely upon how well we bat those negative thoughts away. Being aware and using mindfulness brings us back into the present moment, where the negative thoughts are deprived of the fuel they need.

Self-Awareness and The Watcher

When practicing any sort of self-development, we will encounter obstacles. Perhaps days when we are not at our best. Being able to observe our thoughts, and how those thoughts determine our moods, and how those moods restrict our performance is a powerful tool to have to call upon. This ability to watch our own thoughts and actions is referred to as being the observer, or the watcher. Learning to self-critique in this way allows us to understand ourselves better, and from there we can give a much better account of ourselves. Guru Eckhart Tolle describes this ability to self observe as employing the powers of ‘the silent watcher.’

“Be the silent watcher of your thoughts and behavior. You are beneath the thinker. You are the stillness beneath the mental noise. You are the love and joy beneath the pain.”

Analogy for Awareness

To help us better understand how awareness can help us, think of it as being like the GPS system in a car navigation system. The screen on the dashboard, the maps it displays and the address we enter as our destination, are all of little use unless we first pinpoint where we are. Practicing self-awareness techniques such as mindfulness helps us to ping the satellites and determine where we are in our physical and emotional world. Once we have our true starting position, we are much better equipped to set out to achieve our destinations and goals.

10 Benefits of Mindfulness at Work

There was a time when mindfulness and meditation were seen as eccentric and obscure. Not any more. Mindfulness  has moved into the mainstream – and into the workplace, and the results are impressive.

With increasingly busy lifestyles, where many couples juggle hectic work schedules, parenting, financial obligations, the need to stay fit, and deal with instant access to vast amounts of digital information, the need to identify and deal with stress is becoming critical. Thankfully, there is a simple solution. And the beautiful thing about it is, all we need to do is… NOTHING!

Here, we look at 10 benefits of Mindfulness in the workplace, and why they are driving a new work-life balance.

1. Stress Prevention/Treatment

Whisper it no more – stress is finally being openly discussed. Practicing mindfulness in the workplace has been proven to reduce and prevent stress, which improves performance and boosts the bottom line.

Dr Elizabeth Hoge, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, says mindful meditation makes perfect sense for treating anxiety and stress. “People have a problem dealing with distracting thoughts that have too much power. They can’t distinguish between a problem solving thought and a nagging worry that has no benefit.”

When we declutter our thought process we eliminate stress, because stress by definition is when we think we have more problems than we have solutions. Reducing these unnecessary thoughts allows us to focus only on the task at hand, ignoring the cluttered thinking which raises stress levels.

2. Ability to Deal with Illness

Mindfulness may not be able to directly heal the illness, but studies have proven that a mindfulness based approach to dealing with symptoms makes dealing with illness more manageable. Studies of mindfulness among cancer patients for example have been encouraging. The answer may be connected to what Deepak Chopra refers to as the mind-body relationship, or the power of positive thought.

3. Improved Management Perfomance

If managers are multi-tasking to ensure that employees are happy and productive, they are already busy. Adding  unnecessary thought processes by attempting to micro manage, creates confusion not only for the manager, but for the resources he/she manages. Clarity of management process and effective delegation is one of the main benefits of mindfulness in the workplace.

4. Job Satisfaction

Job satisfaction is critically important for employers and employees. Unhappy staff generally think about moving on. This can be passive or active. If active, the company is in danger of losing key resources which they have invested in, and the resultant staff turnover burdens time and budgets. Passively looking to move on is in many ways worse, as it directly impacts performance and ultimately, the all important bottom line. If employees are constantly thinking about being elsewhere, concentration levels drop. This in turn requires a greater level of micro-management and human resource intervention. Mindfulness keeps us focused on the present moment. This has been proven to improve performance.

5. Reduced Procrastination

Procrastination happens when we worry about a particular task to such an extent that we avoid this unwanted feeling by distracting ourselves with other tasks. Worse still, we do nothing, and become entangled in anxiety about the task at hand. Mindfulness focuses our attention on the task at hand, reducing the likelihood that we will sidestep tasks by becoming distracted or stressed.

6. Neuroplasticity

When practicing mindfulness, every time we complete a task, we are sending messages to our brain, telling it “Ive got this.” When we next begin that task, we find that we already have confidence in our ability to complete it successfully. This confidence and clarity allows us to free our minds to explore better ways to complete tasks. We go from repetition to refining. Thanks to mindfulness, we have increased our capacity to learn new tasks. Which brings us to the next benefit…

7. Creativity and Innovation

We are often our own worst critics. All too often, we allow unnecessarily negative thoughts to clutter our thinking. We might never share an innovative idea, because we have talked ourselves down by introducing doubt. Will my boss think this is a waste of time? Will my co-workers think I am trying to win favor? These questions and more are the result of cluttered thinking, by recalling past instances and projecting what the creativity will mean in the future. Mindfulness brings the benefit of clearing our thinking, eliminating the ‘what if’ type of negative questions, and allows us to focus on the innovative thought with greater clarity and self-assuredness. This is where we exhibit greater creativity.

8. Better Communications

Sometimes, overthinking the reason behind a question, can completely change the true nature of the answer. And sometimes, we are so busy seeking reasons for a question, that we fail to listen effectively, and therefore misunderstand the question. When we practice mindfulness, we have the ability to focus only on the question at hand, in a factual manner. This not only improves the timelines of communications, but leads to greater clarity among co-workers and management. When we deal with facts, we can contribute in a more transparent and efficient manner.

9. Greatly Improved Work Life Balance

Have you ever noticed that time seems to go so much more quickly on the weekends? Have you ever craved Friday for several days, only to celebrate it’s arrival by falling asleep on the couch? A healthy work-life balance allows us to distribute our energy more evenly throughout the seven day week. We have more energy for our weekends, therefore we maximize our much needed time away, and return to work on Monday feeling much more refreshed, and ready and willing to perform at our best. Mindfulness, if practiced regularly, knows not if a day is a week day or a weekend day. We become more consistent when moving between our work life and our personal time, therefore our performance and enjoyment of both roles greatly improves as a result.

10. Improved General Health

Mindfulness has mostly been credited for its benefits in maintaining positive mental health. But recent research has suggested that practicing mindfulness regularly can also greatly improve general health. One study has found that Mindfulness encourages behavioral patterns conducive to better general health. It suggests that the practice nurtures a psychological change in motivation such as being aware of the importance of regular check-ups, getting regular exercise, being mindful of negative impacts on health such as nicotine or alcohol and spotting symptoms early enough to be treatable (Jacobs, Wollny, Sim, & Horsch, 2016).

Another study found physiological benefits of regularly practicing mindfulness, such as improved cardiovascular health and a healthier body mass index (Loucks, Britton, Howe, Eaton, & Buka, 2015).

Mindfulness has also been associated with lower blood pressure (Tomfohr, Pung, Mills, & Edwards, 2015).

The above health benefits are not only great news for individuals who practice mindfulness, but also for employers, who see the benefit of encouraging a culture of mindfulness in the workplace.

Lifelong Learning at The School of Practical Philosophy

Finding the School of Practical Philosophy in Manhattan has been something of a revelation for me. By the age of 39, I might have thought my days of learning were over, certainly in a school environment. But after 23 years in full time education, I still had so many unanswered questions – not so much about the academic material I had covered, but about the important things in life. Like life itself. And how to live it.

In traditional schools and colleges, I had learned mostly about computers; how they talk to one another, how they store data, convert it to information, and process huge amounts of information instantaenously. For my masters I studied how people can more affectively interact with computers. All of this was of course very interesting, but it had little bearing on how I viewed life, which is something which is very definitely on the cirriculum at the School of Practical Philosophy. There was though a lesson to be learned from those computers though.

Non-technical people often view computers and software as complex things. They are exactly the opposite. You build a computer and program it once, and the machine then proceeds to deal with enormous workloads, under all kinds of external circumstance. And computers manage to do all of this without altering course. Without questioning purpose. We humans on the other hand, are a lot more complex, often muddling through tasks while in a state of flux. Without some sort of focus, we can drift and recoil, digress or rebel. What defines us – our ability to reason, and experience emotions, often somehow works against us, to block our pathway to true happiness. And that is exactly what the School of Practical Philosophy aims to explore: finding a true path, and staying on course through all of life’s tribulations.

In early 2015 I very unexpectedly had reason to visit New York City. By late 2016, New York had become my permanent place of residence, and the visits were now to my home in Ireland. It was a seismic change; one which brought as many difficulties as opportunities. The skyline in Manhattan was otherworldly when contrasted with the farm on which I was raised in the north west corner of Ireland. That first winter in the city was tough. While waiting for a green card and permission to work, I wandered around the city, the idea bing to familiarize myself with this new place that I would call home. Part of me believed I was sightseeing, but I was actually looking on with trepidation at the new life I had to carve out for myself, and the pressures that life might bring. In some ways, the more I wandered, the more lost I became. Like many other New Yorkers, I had noticed advertisements in the subway from the School of Practical Philosophy, offered ‘The Gift of Happiness‘. Curiosity got the better of me, so I signed up for the introductory classes. If nothing else, it would pass the time. For $10, I had little to lose, I reasoned.

Subway advertisement, summer 2016

The night before the first class, I had just returned from riding Amtrak trains right across the United States. And back again. Peering out through the railway car windows, it occurred to me that it was representative of my long periods in my life; that is to say, sitting watching passively, as life passed by. The previous summer, I had cycled across the America, from San Francisco to New York. I was weary, and seeking focus. As I listened to an outline of what the school had to offer, I was only mildly convinced that I would get value for my $10 at the School of Practical Philosophy. That was my first mistake. I was expecting to find life’s purpose and meaning in a building. I might never find it, but I know now that the direction in which I should set off looking is not within a building on the upper east side, it is within myself. On that first night, I would have been well served in recalling a quote I had benefited from in the past:

“There is a principal which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance – that principal is contempt prior to investigation.” – Herbert Spencer.

Like most types of education, the School of Practical Philosophy will only really deliver knowledge if the student is willing to listen with an open mind. (From the Latin origin Educare, the concept of education is to Lead Out what is already there). That was indeed my experience as I sat through through initial classes. But I continued to attend, and continued to sit. And by learning to sit still, I eventually found myself moving in a positive direction. A little cliched perhaps, but I found a light, and began to move towards it.

One of the many beautiful rooms, at the School of Practical Philosophy. Manhattan, New York

Having now completed six terms, and having been introduced to the joy that is mantra-based meditation, I now know that I have found a fountain of knowledge at the School of Practical Philosophy.

Walking through the front doorway of the school’s beautiful 7 story Manhattan townhouse, I often experience the sensation that I am entering a universal citadel of wisdom and knowledge; a calm oasis in an otherwise frenetic city and life. Here, I have met people from many different countries, backgrounds, social standings and perspectives, yet  everyone finds common ground together. That common ground is awareness, simplicity and shared consciousness; topics of which I am still only developing an understanding of. I may never find the answers I have always been looking for, but the questions that demand those answers are bothering me less with each passing term.

The School of Practical Philosophy, E79th St, Manhattan, New York

The teachings on offer at the School of Practical Philosophy are mix of eastern and western philosophy. No-one is asked to believe in anything in particular, only to have an open mind and to embrace the stillness that meditation offers. In doing so, a sense of togetherness and universal connectivity is nurtured, explored and enjoyed. We wonder together, and it is so much more enjoyable than to wonder alone.

When I showed up on east 79th street, the greatest thing I learned is that I have so much more to learn. And that’s ok. I am in good company. The volunteers who help the whole school to function, are extremely giving and knowledgeable, and that provides the cornerstone for shared growth.

As complicated as we can make life, it is always amazing to discover that the best route towards peace and serenity is to let go. The simpler the philosophy for living, the more in sync we are with the world’s natural rhythms. That, at least in simplicity terms, is the message the School of Practical Philosophy strives to share with students.

So far, my experiences at the School of Practical Philosophy have been enjoyable, rewarding, and have had a positive impact on my life. Shared experience and knowledge is so much more beneficial than muddling through alone. To try to make sense of, and find peace in life, can be an incredibly difficult and downright frustrating business when embarked upon alone. But finding shared purpose makes the pursuit of happiness seem more attainable. I would highly recommend the experience on offer at the School of Practical Philosophy. There are schools in many countries around the world, and classes are also available online.

For further information:

The School of Practical Philosophy, 12 East 79th Street, New York, NY 10075.
Telephone: (877) 744-5669

Website: www.philosophyworks.org
Email: info@philosophyworks.org

Two hours before I wrote this, I had a great conversation with two amazing people as we were leaving class at The School of Practical Philosophy in Manhattan. During the course of that conversation, the mirror of truth was held up, and I realized that I have been procrastinating because of fear.

Fear can be overwhelming…if we allow it to be.

I had stopped updating my blog largely due to fear of what people would think about the changes I have been through and the plans that I have made as a result. Thankfully, I now realize how stupid it is to allow fear to prevent me from being a better me.

In June 2016, as I stood on Fishermans Wharf in San Francisco, ready to cycle alone across America, I was completely without fear –  and I had one of the best experiences of my life. Some fear is a positive thing, for example the instinct that keeps us safe when crossing a busy road or the care we take to protect our valuables. But if we allow fear to get in the way of being our true selves, then it is absolutely a bad thing. This is especially so when it comes to living life to our full potential.

I had no fear when I set out from San Francisco

I procrastinated because of fear. When I came to New York, the noise, lack of physical space, the cut-throat job scene, cost of living, the subway and intensity of life here all conspired to subdue me.

Somehow, I allowed the frenetic pace of the city, the opinions of people back home in Ireland, and mostly my own insecurities to manifest themselves as fear. Instead of forging ahead on my planned quest without fear as I had done right across America, I delayed and downsized my plans and dreams.

Thankfully, the conversation outside of the philosophy school helped me to see the truth. Fear is a liar! Some of the greatest things I have done in my life involved ignoring and overcoming fear. It isn’t easy, but if we trust in our intuition, and the true essence of the universal good that exists all around us, we can summon the power to see fear for what it really is – a hindrance to our ability and desire to evolve into something better.

Before I cycled across America, before I got married, before I made the decision to stop drinking and on a few other occasions I felt fear but chose to see it for the liar it really is. Fear makes us miss out on opportunity, sell ourselves short and procrastinate to the point where our dreams get thrown on to the scrapheap in our mind. This is the scrapheap that fear uses as evidence when it next shows up to tell us lies. Fear presents fast failures as a way to deter us from grasping happiness and success. But, when we think about it, this is fear in perpetual motion. And that is a really sad thing.

Taken at Machu Picchu, about 30 minutes before I proposed to Yesi! No fear!

After a settling in period in New York City, where at times I felt completely overawed, overaged and under-funded, I am going back to where I was on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Im going back to where I was at Machu Picchu when I got on bended knee and asked Yesi to marry me. Im going back to where I was when I put down that last drink. Im looking fear in the eye and calling it out for the liar that it is. Fear is not real. Life is real, and it is to be enjoyed, so bring it on!