It’s been about a month since I’ve been “back” here at A Boundless World and things seem to be going rather smoothly. I’ve been pleased with the progression especially as I’ve been working 40 hour weeks and taking two college courses online. 8 posts this month puts it at the third most active month since the site began which is pretty nice.

I’ve been pleased to hear how many people are glad that I’m back home and writing in my unique style. Quite honestly, I’m amazed at how much I was missed here, and knowing this keeps me humble.

One thing I’m hoping to accomplish here over the next few months is becoming more focused in what I write here at A Boundless World. That being said I’m looking for a nice tagline to go along with the A Boundless World theme. As of right now I have a few ideas but am really liking “A Boundless World: Breaking Limits of Marketing, Relationships, and Life.” Though I’m open to reader suggestions. I want to keep my focus a bit broad but at the same time I don’t want to be going all over the place.

This year I expect my online “business” to finally begin to take form, so I’ll be sure to share those experiences along the way. I’m also hoping to tackle some more in depth topics such as spirituality and relationships something I haven’t been able to do much of yet. While I’ll be running an occasional list post, my aim with this site is to go beyond just “tips” and have deep thought embedded within my words.

I’m intend to push myself as a writer which as you may know, involves taking risks and trying various styles. You may have noticed I’ve had a few very short, but powerful posts this past month along with an occasional lengthier one. When all is said and done I know you’re looking for value and I hope to provide that for you.

One thing I’ve also noticed is that I’ve been missing in action as far as commenting on other people’s blogs. This isn’t something I’ve done intentionally it just hasn’t been my main focus. I enjoy seeing up and coming bloggers see success as much as the next person and I quite honestly miss some of the connections I had when I was regularly on commenting blogs. I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things in a way that I’m able to connect but at the same time not going overboard.

Also I’ve been working very hard a little something I know you will dig. It won’t cost you a penny so I’m hoping you’ll stay tuned. Hint: If you’ve ever had your ass kicked by fear you might like this.

Goals for this next month:

1. Consistency
2. Tagline
3. Connect

What are you guys and gals up to? Anything exciting? Feel free to say hi.

Post from: A Boundless World

One Month Update Tag Lines And Goals

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Living in Shanghai has allowed me to experience many firsts, attending an international school, learning the Chinese language, and daily interaction with cultures from all over the world.

While each of these experiences have made me a much more conscious individual, there is another encounter that has made me grow tremendously.

Riding the subway in Shanghai.

The Subway

Today I decided to meet my father up for lunch as he soon leaves for a business trip and as you may have guessed, I’m taking the subway.

As a matter of fact,  I’m writing this very post on my i-Phone.

When I first moved to Shanghai, the thought of taking the crowded transportation system intimidated me greatly. Fortunately, my good friend (and experienced subway rider) Mike, turned me on to the great benefits of riding the subway.

At first I rode the subway sparingly , but it wasn’t long before I became a regular user, especially when I visited my girlfriend in downtown Shanghai.

Because riding the subway was a simple way of saving money and it allowed me to reduce my carbon footprint, becoming a regular was a no brainier.

While it took a while to get used to, before long I  actually started to rather enjoy riding the subway. Not only does taking the subway give me time to reflect  but I also enjoy the interaction with the hundreds of people who ride the subway.

Connectedness

One of my favorite reasons for riding the subway is I can’t help but feel connected to humanity when I do.

I  absolutely love the energy of the subway. Each day the energy is noticeably different. Sometimes it is negative, while other days  I can’t help but feel the positivity of the passengers aboard.

I love experiencing the ups and downs of human emotion.

Riding the subway gives me the chance to fully immerse and connect with the thousands of people who use the subway daily.

While it can often times be crowded, I have come to thoroughly enjoy my time on the subway.

A positive habit I have adopted is to give my seat up to someone who looks as if they need it. Not only does this make me feel better but it also gives me an opportunity to make someone’s day.

I am regularly amazed at the politeness of (some) Chinese who gracefully refuse the seat.

(Ironically, I was just pushed out of the way by an elderly Chinese woman I kid you not.)

I love watching people interact with each other and am often greeted with smiles. I also enjoy watching the plethora of little kids I routinely come across.

I do my very best to smile at as many people as I can and sometimes start some small talk with some of the passengers ( my Chinese is still fairly weak.)

Many of my most euphoric moments have occurred during the walk home from the subway. This no doubt is the result of the connectedness I often feel when riding the subway.

Personal Development Express

Not only does riding the subway give me time to connect with humanity, I also use it as a time of growth.

Because I am often on the subway for 20-30 minutes, I quickly realized the potential of using the time to better myself as a human being.

Luckily, unlike when I’m in the car, I am able to read with out getting sick; therefore I take advantage of the 20-30 minutes and often read a book.

If I’m not feeling in the mood to read I also have enough time to fit in a 20 minute motivational podcast to boost my spirits. I often listen to a  Philosopher Note or two.

I also sometimes take out my I-phone and jot ideas down for future posts.

Riding the subway often gives me sudden spurts of inspiration as well. I can’t tell you how many post ideas have come to me during a subway ride.

Taking the subway also gives me time to simply slow down. Sometimes I simply focus on my breathing and zone out. And while the subway isn’t quiet enough for me to experience full scale meditation, I occasionally  listen to some meditation tunes.

I can’t tell you how valuable the 20-30 minute subway rides have benefited me as a person. I’ve written numerous articles, read an entire books (obviously in not one trip), and took sometime to contemplate some of lives most difficult questions.

The subway truly has been my personal development express. 

Taking the subway

Having grown up in the suburbs of Texas it wasn’t often ( OK never) that I found myself taking the subway.

Living in Shanghai has really opened my eyes to how convenient  taking the subway can be.

While I don’t always take the subway I do my very best to use it as often as possible.

Do you regularly use the subway? Or are you a subway virgin?

Assuming there is a subway near you, I  highly suggest you give riding the subway a try.

Post from: A Boundless World

Why I Love Riding The Subway And You Should Too

No related posts.

First lets take care of some business shall we?

New Theme:

If you haven’t noticed ( you’d be crazy if you haven’t), my blog has been completely redesigned.  The design was done by David Wright (better known as Blogger Dad.) He also runs the blog I Draw Comics as well as coauthors the blog Collective Inkwell. Not only does the design look professional but it’s simplicity stands out and fits my blog perfectly. I can honestly say he is Thesis master.

David specializes in Thesis design, so if you’re looking for a wonderful custom Thesis design, I can happily recommend him. You can contact him here.

This design is here to stay and I couldn’t be happier with the way it looks. If you’re reading this, thanks again David it was a pleasure working with you.

Graduation:

Now for something even more important:

As of last Thursday, I officially entered the transition between being a senior in high school and a freshman in college. I will be attending Mizzou this fall.

Aside from the many goodbyes I’ve had to say over the past few days, I couldn’t be happier. Graduation was sweet

Summer Plans:

I expect my summer to be very busy.  Starting the 20th my friend from Texas will be visiting followed by another buddy of mine on the 26th. The three of us are like brothers so I’m excited to see them. It’s the first time either of them have been out of the country (USA), so it will be interesting to see how they react to the wonderful city of Shanghai.

Not only are my two friends visiting, my summer to do list is almost over flowing. I have a bunch of projects I wish to start, as well as about two dozen books I wish to read. Because I’ll be doing a lot of reading, you can expect I will have a lot of material to contemplate and reflect on , which means more blog posts! I also plan on setting a week or two aside, to finally go through my photoreading course.

Because one of my buddies also likes to meditate, we might also take a quick trip into the Chinese mountains. It should be fun.

Although I’ve been in Shanghai for two years, I have yet to visit Beijing so that’s definitely something me and my friends will do. If time permits we might also take a quick trip to Hong Kong. I expect to be doing a lot of traveling,  so that means a lot of pictures.

My friends will be staying with me until July 9th so we will have plenty of time for some fun.

The Future of A Boundless World:

Although I’ll be busy traveling with my friends, you can still expect to see two or three posts a week. And if you find me slacking off I expect to see some emails holding me accountable. I take this blog very seriously.

Over the next few months I plan on writing  an e-book, one that I know my loyal fans will love. Pull out your credit card and toss it aside because this beauty won’t cost a thing.

I’m super excited to be bringing you such a powerful e-book  that I know will be of tremendous benefit too you. As I’m of right  now it’s still in the planning stages but If you have any suggestions for topics you’d like to see covered in the e-book, just head over to the contact page and let me know.

As of right  now it looks like the title will be :

A Boundless World
Consciously Creating
The Life of Your Dreams

I will be putting a lot of time and effort into the making of this free e-book over the next few months and I know you will find it valuable. Many e-book’s today are drowned in hype and filler, but I can safely say my e-book will not be fluff free.

Not only am I working on the e-book, I also expect to be doing a few interviews with some top notch personal development bloggers to give you a more complete perspective of the topics this blog discusses. If you would like to be interviewed for A Boundless World just send me an email through the contact page.

Over the next few months I also plan on ramping up my guest posts to get my name and my blog out into the bloggersphere. The infancy stage of this  blog is no more. If you would like me to contribute a guest post or interview send me an email.  Provided your blog has more than a handful of readers I’m likely to comply.

Although  I won’t be on the computer as much as I normally am,  I will still read your comments and respond to your emails daily.

Because the conversations with my friends tend to be highly philosophical, expect my posts to follow suit.  If you’ve thought my past posts were deep, you haven’t seen anything yet. I hope you don’t get offended very easily because my purpose is to help you grow.

I also plan to begin monetizing this blog in the near future, but I’ll leave those details for another post.

Just thought I’d keep you guys in the loop with what’s going on. I’m really excited about seeing this site bloom to it’s full potential.  I can honestly say, it’s only the beginning. After all we do live in A Boundless World

Post from: A Boundless World

Summer Ramblings

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I would like to wish my readers a Happy Thanksgiving. I sincerely hope each and every one of you is able to have some alone time to reflect on your current life path and your abundant blessings.

My hope is that on this day you become aware of your blessings and give the appropriate thanks. I for one am extremely grateful for a great deal of things Without them I would be nothing.

Overall today was a fairly productive day. I woke up early this morning to do a quick work out with my dad. Afterwords I was feeling a bit ill and coughing a great deal, so I decided it was in my best interest to stay home from school (we had a half day today due to the Thanksgiving holiday.)

I went back to sleep until about 10. I awoke feeling refreshed and very motivated. I did some stretching and then proceeded to format my website. I changed my theme in hopes of making my site a bit easier to read and navigate. I still am not completely satisfied with the way it looks, though I’m hoping to finish tweaking it later tonight.

I did a fair amount of de-cluttering today, which left me feeling great. I was able to get through my desk in a decent amount of time. Although I still have my closet and bookshelf left, it was nice to get my desk out of the way.

I have devoted a nice slot of time tomorrow to take on my closet and bookshelf. I hope to donate my unused clothes and book to those in need. These past few weeks I have put a great deal of effort into simplifying my life, and I am quickly beginning to notice the positive benefits.

This past week has been one of my best weeks in recent memory, and with out a clear noticeable cause, I believe it to be the result of my less cluttered room.

Currently I am reading a magnificent book by Deepak Chopra entitled Synchro Destiny Chopra is a legend in the self-improvement field, yet this is the first book of his I’ve read. I am about half way through and find myself fascinated with it.

As far I know this is one of Chopra’s least well received novels to date, which I find very encouraging, because if this is his worst, I can’t wait to see his best.

I am most definitely going to add his books to my Christmas wish list. The only thing I can find wrong with it (this far) is it is a bit new agey, which could turn some people off. Since beginning this book, I placed significant emphasis on focusing on the little things in life, my breathing, thoughts, little sounds etc.

Perhaps this correlates with my recent week of feeling content.

The concepts and idea’s discussed in this book deserve a post in it’s self, so look for that in the coming weeks.

Today I spent a decent amount of time meditating; much of my meditation was blessings related, so after finishing I felt a great sense of peace. Though a particular moment of my meditation caught me off guard. I was focusing my attention on Thanksgiving and all of a sudden a surge of anger engulfed me.

Why do we have to have a day devoted to giving thanks? Shouldn’t every day be Thanksgiving? Now this isn’t to say I’m against a day of giving thanks, quite the opposite actually. I wish we had more days of giving thanks. You see, having a day devoted to thanks kind of down plays the importance of being thankful everyday.

I began to think.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have gratitude and thankfulness embedded into our every day lives just as eating, sleeping and socializing? Is that even possible? I would like to think so.

Since developing the habit of expressing gratitude daily, I have seen profound changes in the person I am. I find myself full of energy, less angry, and a more warmhearted individual. Does this mean I’m perfect? Nope, I’m far from it, in fact I make as many if not more mistakes than many of you.

I have days in which all the stuff I swear by go goes straight down the drain. Days in which I use phrases such as “ I hate my life” “ I’m so unlucky” “I wish I had…” But you know what? Since I’ve become more conscious in expressing my gratitude, I have found I have had these days significantly less.

Is this a coincidence? I’ll let you be the judge.

You don’t have to wait till the 4th Thursday in November to express your thanks. Instead, try to make everyday Thanksgiving, minus the turkey of course.

Post from: A Boundless World

Make Everyday Thanksgiving

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It has been almost a month since I last posted here A Boundless World:

I could attribute my lack of posts to many things. Too much schoolwork, not enough time, college applications, the lazy factor, the list goes on and on. I could grab a handful of excuses from an abundant stockpile, and convince my conciseness I’m only human.

That would be easy enough. I could hold myself too a lower standard of living, one of merely existing. I could continue to put off the things I love. Exercising, blogging, socializing, spending time with family, and continue to wallow in an unmotivated state, going absolutely nowhere.

But that’s not who I am. Yet unfortunately for the past few weeks, I did fall into that state of mind, literally coming home from school, studying (procrastinating), and then going to bed. I kept telling myself, that I would do all the things I wanted to do if only the conditions were right.

For four weeks the checks and balance system inside my head, failed to raise a red flag in my way of thinking. Consciously I knew that I shouldn’t continue waiting for the “perfect” day to do all the things I needed to do, yet there I fond myself continuing to wait.

While waiting, I found my self-being unusually unhealthy. Staying up late doing absolutely nothing of good use, eating multiple pints of ice cream in one sitting  (talking 1500 calories.)Not doing pushups and sit-ups like I normally do. Failing to improve myself on a daily basis all because I was under the illusion I would be rescued by a single perfect day.

Guess what?

The perfect day never came; only recently did I wake up and become aware of my error in thinking. Waiting for a day that never came, made me depressed.  I knew that if I didn’t change something, soon I would continue to move further and further away from the individual I hope to become.

You see regardless of all the things that have left me feeling overwhelmed, I have no excuse, for not continuing to write my blog, for not exercising, for not spending enough time with my family. I

knew my ways were wrong, yet I lacked the will power to take action. Many of us fall into this trap. We know what were doing is wrong yet we continue to do it. Why?

Because many us believe it is ok to quit on ourselves, we think it’s ok to sell our self short. I would lay awake at night, meditating on all the things I wanted to do, all the things I wanted to talk about, and on and on and on, yet I failed to put these ideas into place, something that is essential in creating change.

You can think all you want, but it is the action that implements the thought.

The irony of this all, is we just completed Hamlet in my literature class. We spent a couple of weeks examining Hamlet in depth. “Who cares about Hamlet” I often caught myself thinking.

He can’t take action. So what?

Then one day, a comment from my friend, hit me like a rapier. “Bud your Hamlet” he exclaimed. Laughing, I continued on my day. But those words just kept ringing in my head.

Was I Hamlet? I found myself not caring about Hamlet, did that mean I did not care about myself?

That night, I went home and reflected on what my friend said, and I came to the conclusion he was right. I had been so caught up in myself that I didn’t even realize the error in my ways. I got so far ahead of myself with my concepts and my ideas; I forgot the most basic part, taking action.

I don’t think my friend knew his comment would fuel me, but it most surely did, for it opened my eyes, and made me evaluate myself in an honest fashion.

Since having my epiphany of sorts, I have been attempting to slowly implement some positive habits into my life. From my previous experience I now know, that a perfect day will not come. I have fallen into this trap multiple times, for example when I procrastinated in starting my blog.

So instead I am choosing to focus my energy and direction into small steps today rather than bulk tomorrow. In terms of my health and exercise, I have begun eating healthier and I have already begun to feel the difference in my energy levels. Not only have I been eating healthier I have been watching what I eat as well. No more late night freezer raids resulting in pints of Ben and Jerry’s S’mores ice cream being consumed. : D

I also recently purchased an exercise film, in hopes of establishing a routine, to keep my body in tiptop shape. I’m still sore from one of the videos I did two days ago, which I think is a good sign. Another habit in which I have paid special attention to is the organization of my room. I have found that the neater it is, the more productive I become.

Yes I know, the only thing I have to clean is my desk, as my room is cleaned by my lovely maid Dolly (bless her heart) but none the less I have put special effort into keeping my desk er room clean. In terms of blogging I now hope to spit out a good 3 or 4 articles a week.

I think that is realistic in regards to my goals, so I’m hoping to implement that. One month without blogging, regardless of me being busy is unacceptable. That will not happen again. Although I still have a ways to go in terms of bonding with my family, having made tremendous leaps in other area’s of my life, I’m in no rush.

These past few weeks have been a disaster from a productivity standpoint, but from a personal development standpoint it has been rich in lessons. It’s essential that we stay focused on our goals. But most importantly we must strive to take action each and every day. What are you waiting for?

Begin that 10-page essay. Complete that to do list. Implement a new positive habit. Go for that run. Clean your room. The world doesn’t need another Hamlet. Quit waiting for that perfect day. Trust me it never comes.

Post from: A Boundless World

I am Hamlet

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