A Recap of 2015 – Part 1

The first event that I spoke at in 2015 was in Dusseldorf, Germany, for a company called Trivago. Little did I know that it would affect the rest of my year and shape 2016 for me. Trivago had hired me to conduct a half day workshop for its team and the focus was on concentration since that is one of the big topics that I teach. The night before the event I had dinner with one of the founders, Rolf Schrömgens, and his wife. We talked for hours. In that conversation I learned from Rolf that “unwavering focus” was one of the core values of the company. He went on to explain further that Trivago only focuses on hotels and nothing else. They’ve been approached by other companies and have numerous offers from people to expand to other travel sectors such as flights, car rentals etc but they have been unwavering in their focus. As a result the company is doing exceedingly well. What a great lesson. Throughout 2015 I had many opportunities as I developed my business to realize how true and important it is to be unwavering in your focus. And admittedly I have not been in my business. So, since January 2015 I’ve worked hard to shape the patterns of my subconscious to adopt this principle into my business and also further into my personal life. I feel I am quite focused but one can always be even more focused. I’m glad 2015 started this way for me and I only have Rolf to thank for it.

On the 20th of January I led my largest spiritual adventure group since leaving the monastery. 28 of us went on a 11-day spiritual adventure across North India. In my 15 years of doing this I would have to say it was one of the highlight trips. Primarily because every individual in the group were really keen on learning and growing. We had an amazing time. On March 5th I led my second and last spiritual adventure for the year fulfilling a desire I’ve had for a long time which was to attend Holi, the Festival of Colors and boy, was that an amazing experience.

The rest of the months leading up to June saw me giving more talks to various companies and also a few more chapters of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).

The first half of the year ended with my wife and I heading down to Costa Rica to work on Siva Ashram, our spiritual sanctuary in the making. It was the start of the rainy season for 2015 and it is when we do our big planting. About 110 plants and trees went in the ground to add to the 148 we planted the year before. Lots more fruit trees this time around, coconut trees, flowering and spice trees, and a few vines. We also mapped and carved out 1300 feet of pathways that will be the path that visitors walk on in our spiritual botanical gardens. We designed and built two garden mounds and planted them with plants and trees. We tore down the old fence line that was along the northern border of the property and replaced it with a new fence line with cement posts that was around 340 meters in length. This involved also removing a lot of junk trees and leveling the land around the fence line. In June 2016 we will replant the fence line. It was a tremendous amount of work for 10 days. If you’d love to sponsor a tree then check out our tree sponsorship page.

Speaking at Trivago in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Group photo on the final day of our North Indian spiritual adventure in January. New Delhi, India.

Color, color and color everywhere.

Holi is by far one of the most amazing festivals I have ever attended.

Speaking to EO Los Angeles on the topic of The Art of Balancing Life.

The team putting in new fence line on the northern border of Siva Ashram.

Transplanting a Kapok tree we found on the property. These lovely trees get up to 200 feet tall or more. This one is on its way to the entrance of the property.