Posts Tagged: dreams
life is now – coming back to zanzibar
I am on my way back to Zanzibar as I write this.
I left the island May 5th to travel to Toronto, Canada where I met Chris Thompson and Mike Mandel of MikeMandelHypsnosis.
On the one hand I was tired of the island, tired of the slow processes, tired of the officials who are just not willing to help for any process.
Often it seemed to me, as if people I worked with are only interested in their own corruption money and once you gave it to them forget about it immediately so you will have to start all over again.
As soon as you plan to make any fast progress it will be more than likely that you reach a point of frustration sooner or later.
On the other hand, I was so exited to go to Canada and was even more impressed to reach Canada, where it seemed to me, as if everybody was just friendly and helpful.
If there was kind of problem to appear, somebody came to immediate help. I even arrived at the airport with a number twist in my visa application. Somebody called the embassy and sorted it out.Even better was my one week training with Mike Mandel, where I had hoped to learn some insights and gadgets about Hypnosis. I thought that I might catch up some party gags that I could use to make people more curious about their unconscious mind.What I did not expect was such a profound and deep training into hypnosis as a coaching tool. We did not only learn how to hypnotize, but also how to utilize our learnings to help people improve their own life. While learning our own consciousness and unconscious mind improved dramatically.
After Canada I stayed in Germany for two weeks and then went on vacation in Ethiopia for three week where I had enough time to deepen the learnings of the one week in Canada.
Now I am on the way back to Zanzibar and am curious to see the Caveman Lodge again. It seems as if our team has done a great job and is well prepared for the Zanzibar summer. Some of the official documents that where missing when I left are still not processed, but I guess that is part of the deal when you get in exchange the life on a tropical island.Although I have experienced and seen so much, on Zanzibar almost nothing has changed while I was gone. When nothing is changing, or at least not with any recognizable speed, it just makes no sense to hurry up with whatever you are doing.So maybe, I am asking myself, there is nothing such as a universal time for all. Maybe time is only what we experience and everybody has its own.
Wherever you are, wherever you go. Take your time. What you make of now, is what you make of life.
last month’s review
As I am writing this I am sitting on the top of a mountain in northern Ethiopia (3300m). The town nearby is Lalibela and worldwide known for its wonderful churches that were carved out of the mountain. Some carved more than a thousand years ago.
Since I left Zanzibar about a month ago I have been traveling quite a bit. From Zanzibar I caught a plane to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. We had the president of Zanzibar on board who went for some meeting to Addis. This gave us the wonderful opportunity to fly around and right over mount Kilimanjaro after having stopped at Kilimanjaro airport. From Addis I flew over Heathrow in London to Toronto, Canada. I had near been to Canada before and was positively surprised. I heard Canadians speak about Toronto, as if it wasn’t there most beautiful town and still I enjoyed it a lot.
Seemed to me as if it was a City in the US, just more green, more pedestrians and even friendlier. I stayed in Kensington market which gave me the opportunity to walk to University of Toronto early in the morning for class.
There I took a one week hypnosis training with Mister Hypnosis himself: Dr. Mike Mandel. To put it shortly, it was mind blowing and had the potential for changing life. Mine as well as those who will profit from these learnings in the future.
After that amazing week I flew to Berlin to meet my brother, some friends and take care of some stuff. Three days later I left for Cologne where I had another business training. I met my parents, grandma and a good friend and his family. After three days I left for Berlin again, where I met Alex Dahms of ‚One Million Good Thoughts’. We recorded a great interview for the next ‚One million Good Thoughts‘ edition this summer.
I also had to clean up my former office at ESCP Europe and had a little farewell party at the Campus, met some more friends I hadn’t seen in ages and went to business conference for digital nomads ‚DNX‘ organized by my podcast guest Markus Meurer. Great people, great audience, great day. It was definitely worth it.
Only eight hours after the ‚DNX‘ ended I was on my way to Frankfurt to catch a plane back to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to meet Judy. We had planned to go on a three weeks vacation.
The winter season in Zanzibar was a dream that came true I would never want to miss. Still it was a whole lot of work. Judy doing her best in the Zanzibar health sector, working and teaching in three different hospitals and me building up the Lodge, mainly creating and installing processes.
When I go there I will do several things different, but for the first times I still had to learn a lot. Now I have a place at the Indian Ocean that keeps growing and expanding with a great team at work. And Judy will start her new position at the University Hospital Bern, Switzerland in July.
First it was time for some vacation for us. As I am planning some Ultra Mountain Races in Switzerland over the summer I wanted to be up in the mountains somewhere. Judy who has a personal history with Ethiopia wanted to visited the country for the first time in her life and since most of the country is above 2500m above sea level it was the place of choice. We started in Addis Ababa in a runners camp of Haile Gebrselassie whom you might know, then went on to Gonder and the Simmiens mountains for a week, where we went above 4000m for several times and I climbed the highest mountain in Ethiopia.
Now we are for some days at Lalibela to see the gorgeous historic monuments they crafted here decades ago. After we will visit Harare, the ancient muslim center of Ethiopia and then will go on to Zanzibar before we leave to Switzerland for the summer, where I will work on the online programs for happylife.coach.
I can tell you, as beautiful as traveling is, sometimes I need to rest a bit to be able to process all the learnings. I don’t know how it is in your life, but it might make sense to go for a change every once in while. And may it be only to become aware that you enjoy what you already have.
result of the last 6 month
As you may have seen on the blog and heard on the podcast, I spent my last 6 month in Zanzibar. I was living a childhood dream and realizing a little business opportunity at the same time.
Having my own little spot on the Indian Ocean and being able to share it with others. Together with my business partner Omi, we built up the Caveman Lodge and opened for the first season in December 2016.
It is indeed much more work than expected. We had a great time though and it looks as if our guests are enjoying it as well. Have a look yourself and if you like, be our guest.