Trust your yearning

It all starts with a ‘yearning’, an obsession with a place. When I first saw pictures of the Son Doong Cave in Vietnam, I instantly knew that “I have to go there”, no matter when, how hard, no matter what it takes.

The feeling that springs from an initial idea has never deceived me. I trust its infallibility, even when many things argue against it – and that is almost always the case.

Perhaps it is precisely these many arguments against it which indicate the quality of an idea. For without fierce inner and outer resistance – and the self-effort required to overcome it – it would not be an adventure either.

The feeling always comes first. It is the first fresh impulse, the self-timer that leads me to the decision. Fears, worries, distress, concerns are the result.

By now I have become quite successful in exposing this ‘opposition of the doubters’ as natural reflexes and at reining them in. I do pay attention to them, but don’t let them overwhelm me.

For the ‘doubters’ have a weakness: they are not creative. They can only react. They themselves do not produce a good idea, they can only block it, reduce it, belittle it.

I understand the positive, protective intentions of the doubters – but they don’t contribute to becoming successful.

It is always the initial idea that creates the breeding ground from which wonderful experiences can grow. To have initial ideas is an extremely rare occasion for me – which is exactly why I trust them.

Get out of your comfort zone! Personal growth only takes place in the ‘come forward’ zone.

Grow in the ‘come forward’ zone

Adventures do not take place in the comfort zone, but always outside, in the ‘come forward’ zone. Here the personality has to show its true colours and can become a chain breaker. Only thus the personality can grow.

I live to bring out the best in myself and others. Especially the unknown. And we often encounter that in the ‘come forward’ zone.

If I don’t expose myself to the unknown, I remain stuck in my ideas, world views and fears – and learn nothing.

My fear, my concept ‘puts itself in front’ of the event, I only look at this ‘concept’, it conceals the event itself.

Fear then becomes a lie that we tell ourselves. It equates the unknown – the not-yet-occurred – with the worst possible. It projects horror films onto the screen of my the cinema in my head.

But if I muster courage, give myself inner permission, press the self-timer – then I can dissolve this pre-conception and fully engage in an experience.

This personal experience is something which cannot be replaced.

Only when I get involved in something new, feel something new, experience something new and learn from it – then a transformation, a personality update occurs – and that also enhances my mental immune system. I then feel even better prepared – for whatever the future may hold.

Under professional guidance, I confront myself with tarantulas, cockroaches, snakes and scorpions. I learn that many of my fears are due to my ignorance.

Invest in experience

“The most important things in life are not things” – that’s a widespread internet saying. Exactly my opinion. The most important things in life are feelings and experiences. Both have no weight. I call this ‘zero-gram wealth’.

Jürgen is sitting in his dream car, a Porsche Panamera worth 180,000 euros. Motorway, left lane, the speedometer shows 220 km/h. “And you know what,” he says to me, “I didn’t feel it.” He borrowed the car for the weekend, wanted to feel whether his dream would deliver what it promised. He didn’t, Jürgen didn’t feel it: “In that second I realised I saved 180,000 euros.”

It is not the car, not the thing itself, not the money – it is the feeling. Without feeling, everything is worthless. We should ask ourselves more often ‘What do I want to feel?’ and not ‘What do I want to have’.

The trips with my family and my personal adventures are the best investments of my life. They are worth many times the expense. No property, stockholding or financial investment can compete with that.

These experiences are deposits into my spiritual bank account. Over time, it has matured into a valuable treasure. No one can take it away from me. I always carry it with me. And I can draw from it at any time.

That is true wealth.

Life strives for fulfilment – and discovery is its process.

Every person can act out their personal extreme, learn from it, grow from it and be a role model for others.