05 Mar

Posted at 12:00h in Blog

I’m in the middle of my 10 day Image Streaming challenge now and it’s simply amazing! What is Image Streaming and why would I choose to spend time doing this?

get-into-the-depths-of-the-unconscious-paulo-zerbatoHere is my own description:

Image Streaming is a technique used to provide answers to profound questions utilizing the unconscious mind. During this process, participants somewhat dream while they are awake and are shown how to draw meaning from describing what they see in their mind’s eye. This is done based on a specific question that they choose to focus on.  It is an excellent way to get directly to the “third third” of creative ideas in a short period of time. Typically this is performed in pairs with one person recording information while the other person does the Image Streaming. Individuals can also do it with a voice recording device but the best results come from pair work. Finally, participants analyze what they saw and make sense of the metaphor that is inevitably presented to them.

The benefits of repeatedly Image Streaming include peace of mind, amplified creativity and it has even been documented to increase IQ!

From my own personal experience, simply amazing things happen while Image Streaming. Specifically, new business opportunities have come up, I feel extremely relaxed and am thinking more clearly. These benefits feel similar to how I’ve felt after a deep guided meditation however somehow even more practical. I think that’s because with Image Streaming I get to literally ask my unconscious mind ANYTHING I want to. And it turns out that my mind always has the answers. I also seem to have an increased sense of intuition which is extremely helpful when it comes to any type of decision making.

Image Streaming

Put your unconscious mind to work!

If you’d like a chance to try Image Streaming, come to the next Innovative Thinking Experience and we will take you through this and show you how it’s done.

The best description that I have of this process comes directly from the creator of this and many other fascinating techniques, Dr. Win Wenger. Here is a link to the description of it on his site.

Of course it can be a little shocking and surprising what I see inside my unconscious mind, but I’m willing to take that chance to increase my productivity and intelligence.

Are you?

30 Dec

Posted at 22:05h in Blog, Tony's Tips Videos
Canmore Sunrise

Canmore, Alberta sunrise

Do you have fears? Of course you do. We all do. That’s part of what makes us human and what makes life so spicy and delicious!

In today’s short video I get to ride on a slope that was impossibly challenging and terrifying for me 12 years ago. That was the last time that I snowboarded on Paradise Cornice at Lake Louise Ski Resort in Alberta, Canada. It was an extreme source of fear for me as an inexperienced snowboarder. But to say that I snowboarded the last time is an overstatement. Petrified, I slid down on my bottom and felt my heart racing as I just hoped to not fall off the mountain and begged for it all to end.

But on this past December 27th the experience was quite different. After actually learning to snowboard in different countries over the past several years (please ask me about how amazing the snow is in Japan), snowboarding has turned into a passion for me. I not only successfully rode down this double black diamond run, but loved it! Now this previous fear has become something extremely enjoyable and is a source of inspiration for me. This inspiration has enabled me to expand my creativity and utilize more of my talents and abilities.

Can you think of a challenge or fear that you currently have that could eventually become a source of inspiration for you? Why not choose to play towards overcoming that fear in the new year to see how you might benefit?

Happy New Year!

 

22 Dec

Posted at 17:22h in Blog

My absolute favourite thing in the world to do is to snowboard. This was one of the reasons that I decided to move from Toronto to Calgary this year. I’ve been fortunate to hit the slopes 6 times so far this season and expect to have several more adventures in the near future.

Here is a video of what some friends and I have been up to so far.

 

Do what you love to do to feel truly alive!

Happy Holidays!

 

19 Oct

Posted at 16:03h in Blog, Tony's Tips Videos
Creativity Feast Milan

Creativity Feast Milan

I was very fortunate to spend the past 11 days in Europe. I got to meet the friend who taught me to juggle over a decade ago and his wife as well as their new baby boy, Alec. Congratulations Jon and Elena! They are living in Santander, Spain and they showed us just how beautiful that part of Spain really is.

Next we popped into Milan to see some Italian friends and were treated to some amazing hospitality and very delicious food and wine.

And then it was time to get to Florence. That was the location of another very good friend’s wedding. I was an usher for this celebration and as such there was a suit rented for me. We all looked sharp and had a wonderful time. But on the following day, the suit got left behind with me by accident. The best man needed to take it back to the UK but with all of the goodbyes etc, it slipped his mind. I didn’t want to mail this thing to him from Canada! So what could I do?

Well, I knew that he and some other friends were flying back to England from Pisa, so I arranged to get myself there in another car. I did so and gave those friends a call. But there was no connection and no answer. “Hmm, how could I be sure that our paths crossed in Pisa so that I could make this delivery?”, I thought. “I’ve got it! I’ll juggle by the tower until they get there”. That would be hard to miss, right?

Knowing that they would certainly visit this heavily photographed monument, I decided to do so but also added a social media challenge to the situation. I posted a status update on Facebook that tagged each of the people in their car. The experiment was to see if they would just bump into me in the square or if they’d see it on Facebook first.

What do you think happened? This short video explains how it all rolled out.

While the computers in our pockets can be helpful, we don’t need to remain glued to them at all times. Keep your head up and have human conversations. You never know what you might find out.

Stay human.

27 Sep

Posted at 16:46h in Tony's Tips Videos

Bow River KayakingGood day! Here’s a short video of me in a kayak. On this day in Calgary,  Alberta, Canada. I learned the value of taking a break even when I thought I didn’t have time for it. Could you benefit from taking a break?

I’m heading to Italy this weekend for a good friends’ wedding and to connect with some of the most important people in my life.

Be awesome!

 

Thanks for watching. Please share this message if it speaks to you.

Tony Esteves

04 Jul

Posted at 23:37h in Blog

Getting out of one’s shell does not have to be an extreme event. You can experience desirable results with small adjustments in your behaviour or lifestyle.

On this beautiful June day in Kananaskis, Alberta I decided to try something new. In my case, it was somewhat of an extreme event. As I love the mountains I signed up for another hike with Meetup.com and went out with the intention of learning how to use a mountaineering axe.

Here’s a look at the video from that day. It was more challenging and more rewarding than I expected, and the views of the mountains from 2800 m were spectacular!

I challenge you to think about how you might try something new in your life or business. The benefits could be far reaching not only for you but also for those around you.

Tomorrow is the official start of the Calgary Stampede, so it’s time for me to take off. Thank you very much for reading and viewing. If you enjoyed this please pass it on.

05 Jun

Posted at 01:36h in Blog

Snow up topOne of the primary reasons that I came to Calgary this summer was to spend time in the mountains. I really love the mountains! I lived in Kananaskis, Alberta in the Canadian Rockies for a year and have also enjoyed living in or near mountains in Japan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. I figured that part of this year’s shake up should involve some mountainous experiences. With only brief visits to these mysterious mammoths in recent years I’ve missed them. Today I’ll talk about a recent hike I did with some fantastic outdoor enthusiasts in the stunning Canadian Rocky Mountains.

It should come as no surprise that it took just 17 days from my arrival in Alberta for me to get on a hike with a group of new friends who I met through Meetup.com. I found the group called, “CORA” – The Calgary Outdoor Recreation Association – and saw that they hosted multiple hikes and events. This particular hike looked challenging enough to be really interesting to me, so I registered and was put on the waiting list. I was impressed to see that the organizers require that you prove your experience level before being allowed onto the more challenging hikes. They seemed well organized and they were.

600_243411172I graduated from the waiting list to the ‘RSVP’d’ list and met up with the group at 8 am on a very rainy Sunday June morning at the University of Calgary. We carpooled out of the city and got to know each other a little on the drive.

Although I’ve done some moderate to advanced hiking in my life, I didn’t come to this one completely prepared. To date, all of the hiking that I’ve done in snow has been by surprise. But I covered the essentials with a new pair of hiking shoes and by bringing 3 litres of water, protein snacks and enough food for a horse. I was told to bring gaiters but didn’t own any (or even know what they were). I was told to bring waterproof clothes, but left my jacket in Ontario. I was told to bring micro-spikes, but also didn’t own any. How much snow could there be? After all it’s already June! It turns out that doesn’t matter at 2500 metres in the Canadian Rockies. There was plenty!

Fortunately, the group of friendly, advanced hikers were happy to share equipment and I was all decked out and ready to go.

Even before starting the hike I felt invigorated. It was exciting to drive towards the mountains, to see them getting larger, and then to finally be on a windy road that lead to our secluded trail head. There is just something about mountains that brings me to life no matter what the weather is saying. And on this day, the weather was crying! Yes, we were going to be getting wet on this hike but it didn’t matter. Everybody shared their enthusiasm for the opportunity to get to the top of Tiara Peak. It took us just 2 hours and 10 minutes to arrive to the top of Belmore Browne Peak, but then we had to decide if we could continue along the ridge and up towards Tiara Peak despite the poor weather…

If you can’t view this video, click here.

This was my first hike since Table Mountain in South Africa last year and I didn’t know or really even think about how my body would respond. From past experience, I have found that if I just feed the machine, it will produce. It did.

Without too many more words about this hike, I’ll just invite you to view my video about it. This video is a slideshow followed by some video clips of our adventure. We got thwarted very close to the summit due to some speedthunder and there was quite a bit of snow. Of course we wanted to summit, but when someone’s hair stands up – because the cloud that you are hiking in the middle of is so charged with static electricity – it’s time to head back down! So that’s what we did.

And by doing so, we were rewarded with some really fun glissading – sliding down some snow – as part of our descent. We enjoyed this so much that all 11 of us actually hiked back up part way to do another run, as the video will show.

Long story short about 750 words later: I know what invigorates me, it’s mountains. What invigorates you? Find what inspires you and GO DO IT! (or at least take the first step by signing up to that course / class / program / [fill in your blank] that you’ve been avoiding starting). It’s not selfish and it’s not wrong.

Exploring your interests leads naturally towards allowing you to make your greatest contribution on this planet.

600_243408162We all play and work at our highest levels when we are truly inspired by what we are doing.

Now get out there and PLAY!

600_243751992

28 May

Posted at 03:22h in Tony's Tips Videos

After much contemplation and concern, I finally took off from Toronto on Wednesday, May 15th. I was moving out to Calgary, Alberta to visit my sister and to see what opportunities I could create for myself over the summer. Of course I was nervous, but I thought I could benefit by shaking things up.

Have you ever sat next to someone on a flight and just known that you could have a good chat with them? Do you more often feel the opposite? I’ve felt both but on that day I knew immediately that I could connect with the character who ended up sitting next to me. I’m intentionally one of the last people to get on flights as I like to reduce the time I spend in that giant metal tube. But this guy had me beat as he was one of the final passengers to make it to his seat.

Click the image to view the video

As he arrived he had a bag that needed to be passed over me to put at the foot of his seat. He said, “I’m sorry” as he squeezed past some other passengers jockeying for overhead storage space. As I stood up from my aisle seat I said, “Please don’t apologize. We don’t yet know how we might be able to positively influence each others’ lives”. He chuckled quietly and sat down.

Flow: The Psychology Of Optimal Experience

An older book worth reading

We didn’t speak for several minutes. I fell asleep after take off and got into my book called, “Flow – ThePsychology of Optimal Experience”. But shortly after that something magical happened: these two strangers on a flight from Toronto to Calgary… started a conversation! It was immediately interesting.

Several minutes into our talk he casually mentioned that he was a musician and told some incredible stories about sharing the stage with locals in the Philippines, auditioning in front of public officials in China and playing ping pong. I shared some travel stories of my own from when I did military logistics in Uzbekistan and my bike tour across Canada. The conversation was fast and I felt as if there was not enough time for me to communicate all that I wanted to. As we spoke I made a conscious effort to listen more than I spoke, which has been a challenge for me in the past. I was rewarded in those few hours by hearing and learning many things from an exceptional individual even though I didn’t yet recognize who he was.

We spoke about creativity, running, unexpected connections, cancer, entrepreneurship, cycling and many other things. It was invigorating! After reflecting upon this experience I found it ironic that during our talk I was in a ‘flow state’ which is when one loses sense of time because they are having an optimal experience. It just so happened that I would read about precisely that the following day in the book that was in my lap during most of our conversation.

This gentleman looked like he was in his early 50s and had clearly led an extra-ordinary life. There was something about his energy, and his conversation style that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. He was soft-spoken and full of vitality. It was a complete pleasure to have spoken with him.

Dan Hill

Dan Hill

Just before landing, I asked if I could keep in touch with him. He said yes, so I took down his email address and gave him my card.  As people were scrambling for their luggage I said to him, “Do you remember how I said that we might positively influence each others’ lives at the beginning of the flight?” He said, “Yes, I was just thinking about that.” “Well I think that’s what we’ve just done!”, I concluded with excitement that my earlier statement could not have been more correct.  It was a fun moment, and then he gone. He got swept away with the stream of disembarking passengers as I had to turn back to collect my – almost forgotten – bag.

Before I made it to the luggage carousel, I plugged his name into Wikipedia. I had to find out who this person

was. So I entered, “Dan Hill” into my iPhone. Ooooh it was Canadian award winning singer / songwriter, Dan Hill. Ah, I see!

This brought a smile to my face because I was then even more grateful that he had been so open and generous with his time and space. Here’s an entertaining story that he wrote for the Globe and Mail about how one of his Junos was stolen!

So the next time you are on a flight and feel like having a chat, be sure to do so. You never know who might be sitting next to you or how you might be able to positively influence each others’ lives.

His advice for me given all that we talked about was to finish my book! Thank you Dan. I am writing again and will do so this year.

Take Off

It is becoming increasingly clear to me that sometimes you really need to take risks to take off.

10 May

Posted at 18:19h in Blog, Tony's Tips Videos

 

Are you afraid of change? I don’t think that I am, but perhaps I’ve been avoiding it recently. In today’s Tony’s Tips Video my guest is first assistant director, John Board. I speak about how I’m about to shake things up in a big way in my own life. This comes from listening to my own advice in a recent blog post.

Shake Things Up

Shake Things Up

I am temporarily moving to Calgary, Alberta next week!

I expect that changing my space will positively change my experience and lead to some great opportunities. I believe that human face-to-face relationships are increasing in value as they decrease in frequency. So this trip will be highly valuable for me as I will get to re-connect with my fantastic, inspirational twin sister, Ayesha!

So goodbye for now Toronto. I’ll be back in August in time for Mindcamp.

Do you need to shake things up? What would that look like for you?

02 May

Posted at 22:01h in Blog
Zombie-March-crew

“Blog about your own interests” Ian Ord

While blogging about unexpected connections to help people with their goals and dreams, I also intend to take the advice of a very successful blogger and good friend, Ian Ord. He suggests that bloggers be sure to write about things that are important to them personally as well as professionally. Ian is a travel blogger who now lives in Thailand and is doing very well. He used his zombie blog post as an example. It had nothing to do with travel, but sent thousands of people to his page. After all, as Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you sell, they buy what you believe”. (See his inspiring TED Talk here). Very cool.photo(4)

So here is what I have in mind today. It is about my recent dining experience at this very unique restaurant called “ONOIR”.

At this restaurant – which has locations around the world – diners eat in complete darkness and are served by blind people. As expected, this was an amazing experience. Our group enjoyed some drinks in the softly lit lobby while we placed our orders. When our table was ready we were brought in by Gavin, our server through a door and into the blackness. When the first door closed behind us we went through the second door on our left. I immediately noticed two things: 1. That the blackness was extreme and that the room we were going into was noisy! It sounded like there were a hundred people in there.

EarWith a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of me, we were instructed to keep one shoulder on the wall as we were guided – in absolute complete darkness – to our table. It was a little uncomfortable to begin with but at the same time very stimulating. Gavin told us what to expect and gave us some guidelines. No problem. We were told that it’s common for people in this setting to speak louder than normally. It turns out that there were only 36 seats in this particular dining room which was one of three that they have.

Gavin would touch us on the left shoulder any time he had something to deliver to us and we’d meet his hand with ours. This worked well. I would not describe myself as ‘touchy-feely’, but when Gavin spoke to the group, he’d touch our backs or shoulders and could direct our attention with his physical gestures as well as his words. This was new for me, but it felt comfortable. I felt that I was really getting to experience a part of how blind people communicate.

Throughout the evening, I was happy to notice that it seemed my sense of smell was enhanced.nose

My roasted red peppers and grilled vegetables with goat cheese – appetizer was amazing but I found that I had to use my hands to be sure that I’d eaten it all. Buttering my bread roll was not the easiest either, but it was fun.  I could taste everything in more detail than normal. Looking up towards the ceiling through the blackness while people spoke to me felt liberating.  At one point I even had my arms sprawled across the table while people chatted away. In silence I enjoyed focusing my listening to different conversations at our table and around the room. I think that active listening is something that we most often take for granted.

A highlight of my fillet Mignon dinner was how by the end of the meal I could recognize the difference between stabbing a piece of meat or a piece of potato.  To start, I had to use my fingers to figure out what I was actually feeding myself. It was so interesting to be forced to pay attention to these other senses.

Our group of 6 became so comfortable at ONOIR that we sat and talked in the dark for another 15 minutes after we finished eating.

Aside from the delicious food and the totally unique experience, the service was fantastic and I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to experience what being blind is like for a couple of hours.

hands

I am so grateful to have all of my senses and this experience has inspired me to do more with the gifts and abilities that I have available to me today. Despite the challenges in your personal, financial or professional life, I invite you to take some moments to be grateful for the gifts that you currently have.

Often we are so much more fortunate than we think we are.