It’s important to be well-prepared to enter a holy place, but even so, sometimes the most important thing is to enter regardless. Read more →
Tag: gratitude
Bitcoin Boom Bust – The Crypto Market Cycle: Episode 189
The Story: The four stages of the digital currency cycle
The crypto market reached 830 billion on January 8th 2018, and now by February 6th, it’s taken a sharp drop to 300 billion. Speculators all over the world are shaking their heads until they hold their heads and wondering why, what happened. Nobody has any clear answers, but it can be enlightening to look at the patterns that normally play out in this market.
- The boring phase. Savvy investors are quitely putting their cash in, developers are plunking away at their keyboards in dark basements. On the surface, nobody really cares about crypto. The only news that reaches the mainstream is sensational pieces about future technology, or witchhunts for Satoshi Nakamoto. The total market cap goes down, or sideways.
- The organic growth phase. New investors start getting involved, hobbyists and techies who see the potential of the technology. The media starts running some stories about the price action during the odd spike or drop. The market cap goes up, slowly and steadily.
- The hype growth stage. The greater public start hearing more about it, and seeing the price action makes them start sweating. They feel the fear of missing out, and they decide to invest. The market gets into a feedback loop with big media – media notices the price action, hypes it, leading to more buying, leading to more more price action and media attention. At this stage, you’ll start to see people on social media saying how Bitcoin can only go up, saying it’s a new paradigm. The market cap might jump up more than 10% in a day.
- The dead phase. Nobody knows exactly how it starts – perhaps a whale takes profits, and the price drops suddenly. Pretty quickly, all of the investors for the fear of missing out, decide they will exit based on the fear of loss. The media declares Bitcoin and digital currency dead once again, and slowly they lose interest.
Soon enough, the cycle restarts, and we enter a new 3 to 9 boring months where, from the outside, nothing seems to happen.
Of course, history never repeats exactly, but by being aware of these patterns we start to have an idea where things are headed, and wherever we are on the path we can learn to be grateful for the opportunities that we do have. Join Kurt on a roller-coaster ride of emotions from terror to gratitude in this spine-tingling, spine-rattling episode of… The Paradise Paradox!
The Eps:
Crypto Crash January 2018 – Episode 188
Bitcoin over 9000 – Time to take profits! Episode 184
Don’t get Goxxed – Bitfinex, Bittrex & Coinbase
Bitcoin’s path to ruin – Episode 185
The Links:
Crypto Crash – Lessons for the patient, and those who wish to be
The Cash:
If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit.
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Episode:
Audio PlayerTo download the audio, right click and press “save as”.
Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.
Being Grateful in Bangladesh – Episode 178
The Story: Feel gratitude for the peace around you
We took an uncomfortable 10 hour bus ride from Dhaka to Cox’s Bazar, which every Bangladeshi will tell you is the longest beach in the world. Technically, that’s not true, that honour goes to Praia do Cassino in Brazil at 250km. The rightful title of Cox’s Bazar is the longest *natural sand* beach in the world, at 120km, which is probably more impressive.
Looking around on the beach, or wherever you are, you might notice the lack of something. The lack of violence and intimidation. We are constantly bombarded with messages from the media telling us how dangerous the world is, how murder is waiting around every corner. They tell us so often, sometimes we forget to look around us and see that it’s absolutely not true – most of the time, things are peaceful. It’s good to connect with that peace every once in a while, and remember how lucky we are to live in a world where we can enjoy freedom from attack, where we can just sit silently alone or with friends.
Join me on a tale of gratitude on the next exciting episode of … The Paradise Paradox!
The Cash:
If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit.
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Episode:
Audio PlayerTo download the audio, right click and press “save as”.
Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.
Forgive your debts, change your future – Episode 174
The Story: Let go of your past and reveal new possibilities
When you hold onto your old grudges, judging people for debts unpaid and old insults, you affirm that you too should be judged for the mistakes you’ve made in the past. When you let go of your old debts, you take a firm stance that you can be forgiven, that, despite all your errors, you can create new things, and be recreated. You are not a victim of your past, and by changing your perspective on your past, you can change your future.
The Cash:
If you enjoy our posts, please become a patron on Patreon, or have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Episode:
Audio PlayerTo download the audio, right click and press “save as”.
Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.
Deported! Leaving Mexico the hard way: Part 3
Kurt explains his passion for Mexico, and why it was meaningless in the face of a bureaucrat. Read more →
See the world with new eyes – (a short) Episode 147
The Story: Three simple exercises to make the world magical again
In our dreams, we might often be surprised by events, as the things that happen might seem so unusual it might even appear that something is happening which has never happened before, that something purely spontaneous, divine and magical is happening in that moment. Yet, when we awake, we forget those important messages of our dreams – firstly that new and amazing things are always possible, and secondly, that wonder and surprise are always possible. “The ongoing ‘wow!’ is happening right now.”
Thinking about this upon waking, I scribbled down three exercises which might help us allow the wonder to enter and engulf us:
1. Easy mode – look around you with new eyes. See things as if you’re looking at them for the first time. If you had never known the building where you live, the park near your office, the ferris wheel that stoops over the city – could you have imagined them? The moment you’re experiencing is just for you, right now. What you’re seeing, what you’re experiencing has never happened before, and it will never happen again. This is just for you. This is a special gift.
To get into this state of being, you can try a classic technique from Keith Johnstone’s “Impro”. Walk around the room and point at random objects. Whenever you point at one, say a word for it – but not the usual word for that thing. Call that thing what it isn’t. If you see your sweater, call it a “neverlump”; if you see a table, name it a “noose”; if you see a shopping bag, call it “Cambridge bridge society”, and so on. After a minute or two, you will start to see things with new eyes.
2. Medium mode – thank someone. While you’re looking at those around you in that way, find something magical about what they’re doing, and thank them for it. Magical moments are meant to be shared. Gratitude is magic.
3. Hard mode – do something magical. Create a spontaneous moment for yourself and others. Walk down the street with your guitar singing, gather the family around the piano like you did when you were kids. When someone asks how you are, respond in a way that you’ve never responded before. Tell them that, by pure chance, the universe has come together to give life on Earth and you’re here living it. Do something that makes people think for a moment that they might be in a dream, and anything is possible. Because they are, and it is.
The Links:
Keith Johnstone’s Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre
The Cash:
If you enjoy our posts, please have a look at The Paradise Paradox’s page on Steemit where you can join, earn money, and upvote our posts to help support the show! You can also find a lot of additional content which is not posted on this site, with Kurt’s posts on Steemit and Aaron’s posts on Steemit.
We really appreciate all of your contributions! Every cent and satoshi we receive lets us know that we’re doing something worthwhile, that you are entertained by our program, and that you’re starting to question what you know more and more. Please be generous. Donate to The Paradise Paradox. Or buy some stuff on Amazon using this link. Or buy some of our great T-shirts here.
The Episode:
Audio PlayerTo download the audio, right click and press “save as”.
Remember to subscribe on iTunes or subscribe on Pocket Casts.
If you enjoyed the episode, don’t keep it a secret! Feel free to share it on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Reddit, or your office bathroom wall.