Hasta La Gadget!

There are lots of ideas about spiritual life that we choose to believe and make our own. One such idea, for me, is the idea that I chose my specific parents because they would provide the ideal circumstance for me to achieve what I long for most in this life. For me, that longing is to know how to love — under all circumstances — both myself and others.

This belief about my parents has empowered me to find meaning in my own suffering, as well as the suffering I see all around me.

By *YoHana, It’s all in the Heart 2014, Mixed media on canvas, 16 x 11.5 inches

One of my big realizations on this journey was this: For me to be able to love, I would first need to access my heart. Sounds simple, I know, but this is actually quite demanding and profound. For I came to see that a lifetime of emotional and cultural programming had disconnected me — quite literally — from my own authentic experience of life.

One big result of this disconnect was my mind’s faulty interpretation of reality. I believed whatever my mind told me, and more often than not what it wished to express was faultfinding and judgment, resentment and anger — even at my own children! My mind also blamed my parents, teachers, leaders — and even God — for everything that went wrong in my life. I was not myself spared from this terrible assault; I was also filled with self-hate and self-deprecation. My emotional connection with other people, obviously, was as poor as my emotional connection with myself. And my lack of trust in myself and in life caused me more than once to take care of my own needs, heedless of the price that others paid for this.

Every day, then, my mind produced an avalanche of negative thoughts, and I believed them, unaware of the mountain of pain, despair and anguish that were buried underneath.

By *YoHana, Love story, 2014, Acrylic, glow on canvas., 12 x 12 inches.

It took years of soul searching and spiritual practice for me to see how my perception of the world and the people around me is a mirror of my inner attitudes, core beliefs and old emotional wounds. Like so many, I considered my mind to be superior to my heart, and felt that being emotional and vulnerable was a weakness. It followed, then, that having more knowledge, money, or fame were the measures of success – and even of a greater ability to enjoy life! By these yardsticks, though, I always ended up a total failure, always trying to be like those imagined superior people, but never arriving, never belonging.

To be sure, a tiny flame burned inside of me that did not need that kind of oxygen. But with no external validation of my feelings, and little inner power to champion this small bud of feeling, I could only conclude that something was really wrong with me. I therefore made choices that drove me even further from my dreams. I became what I imagined that other people liked in order to please them — to make them love me. This is truly ‘hell on earth’ — being a prisoner to inner demands that are outwardly oriented, and not inwardly, to oneself.

Fortunately, the pain that this entailed was unbearable.

My unremitting pain and anxiety became the fuel for my search to find another way to live. I didn’t know exactly what I was looking for, since I had no memory of inner experience of real love or freedom. Gradually, though, with the help of wonderful teachers and mentors, I learned to identify what was really going on inside me and to connect with myself. I learned that there was a huge difference between knowing something in my mind, and living it in my body. I became a practitioner, which meant the rigorous practice of closing the gap between where I was, and where I wanted to be.

*By *YoHana, Heart Mandala, 2014, Acrylic, glow on canvas., 21 x 21 inches.

After 58 years on this journey, I truly trust now that inner transformation is possible. Step by step I have explored the content of my heart, and step by step I have opened it wide. The intense labor of melting down my fears and negative thoughts and feelings have revealed a warm cozy inner reality that actually gives me enough space to include “you” inside of “me.”

As a Heartist I’ve learned to systematically turn everything upside down from my head to my Heart. The Heart is wise and it knows. The head always tries to understand, but cannot. If I simply ask my heart, it always gives me answers. I’ve learned to trust these answers, even if they don’t always make sense.

That’s the way I see the world now.
There are no other people; there are only hearts and we all live together in one big Heart.

By *YoHana, Life is a dance, 2014, Acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 inches

If anyone reading my story is experiencing turmoil, please know this: there is a lesson hidden within your turmoil that can bring you a better life. Look at the contents of that turmoil, and trust that the hard lessons of today can lead you to something completely different from what you now experience. We each have the ability to stand free from our habitual self.

When we do that, we surpass our limitations and make wonderful, enduring connections. Me to myself, you to yourself. And the result of this is that we make a better world for ourselves that is actually lived… today.

And that’s the sweet, sweet fruit of my life lessons: to be able to love you as I love mySelf.

*I use different names in signing my paintings: Anicca [pronounced Anitcha], Leela, Ania, YoHana and Yanna.

In the pursuit of great dialogue and facilitation I was kindly invited by Arianna Huffington to watch four of her sessions at Advertising Week in New York City. The President and Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post Media Group took the dialogues to such wonderful places that everyone in the room was engaged, interested and left wanting more. Three hours went so quickly that I was wondering how this could be a weekly event. Watching Arianna speak to University of Wisconsin – Madison Professor Richard Davidson about sleep and meditation made me realize the importance of balance in the crazy world of media, entertainment and life it self. If someone like Arianna Huffington can find balance in her life, then we should strive for the same as its all possible. The talk took a shift with conversations with the CEOs of some of the biggest corporations in the world. I was witnessing real moguls in the business of products, services, and big ideas take their commentaries around workplace balance.

A great point that was made by the President and CEO of Campbell Soup was that people should have a purpose as a person, a personal mission, but also having a purpose as a company which gives meaning to what you do and who you are in the world. Arianna’s dialogues at the event were dynamic and gave great interest to her newest work with her book Thrive. At one point she led a dialogue with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. I am not big into politics, but what I witnessed was a dialogue with two intelligent women that were very real in what they were sharing. The dialogue was relatable and left everyone seeing a side of them that was so engaging and human.

What I loved about meeting and interviewing Arianna is that she is such a down to earth woman that takes the time to listen and ask about you and your life and work. My interactions with her and her team were one of the best experiences of my life and capturing her on my lens was a great joy. I remember sitting in the Verizon Red Room waiting for Arianna to arrive. It was a big room with a lot of people. As I started to gaze around, I saw some cast members from Saturday Night Live chatting with someone in one corner, and I could only imagine who else was in the room. As I turned my eyes I focused on the one and only Sugar Ray Leonard with an amazing smile and looking youthful as ever. I was in a bit of dreamland. Then all of a sudden Arianna came up the stairs, she had so much presence and such a wonderful demeanor. I got a chance to say hello and she welcomed me to her event. She gave me the opportunity to interview her after her event and the care her team took to get me the time away from all the fans and people wanting her attention was such a humbling experience.

Watching these world-class interactions, being a person with his journalistic lens in the mix, I was drawn to a statement by Richard Davidson that will never leave me; he said that that “happier people are healthier.” If that’s the case I choose to thrive with happiness.

Justin Bieber might have had a pretty terrible year in the media, but all the drama didn’t affect his bank account.

Forbes released its list of the highest-earning celebrities under 30 and, surprisingly enough, Bieber ranks at number one, earning an estimated $80 million from June 2013 to June 2014. The 20-year-old is followed by boy band One Direction at number two and Taylor Swift at number three.

Jennifer Lawrence was the only actor under 30 to make the top 10, nabbing the seventh spot on the list with estimated earnings of $34 million over the 12-month time span.

For more details on the top 10, head over to Forbes.

Hong Kong police have begun clearing barricades and making arrests around the most volatile site in the city’s ongoing pro-democracy demonstrations. After a generally peaceful clearance of barricades during the day, clashes erupted in the Mong Kok neighborhood on Tuesday night, with police using pepper spray during confrontations with protesters intent on holding their ground.

While the U.S. remained gripped by the turmoil in Ferguson, Missouri, Hong Kong police steadily forced protesters to retreat, opening peripheral roads while leaving the protest’s epicenter intact. The police reportedly made several dozen arrests of those who resisted, including at least one Hong Kong legislator.

Moves to clear away some of the dwindling numbers of protesters in the city’s Mong Kok neighborhood promised to reopen roads that have been blocked for nearly two months, but the actions also risked reigniting tensions that could draw out more supporters of the demonstrations. Videos taken at Mong Kok show police clashing with umbrella-wielding protesters and sometimes employing pepper spray or similar substances. But after surrendering some territory during the day, groups of protesters spread out into different areas in what some are reportedly calling a “mobile occupation,” including halting and surrounding a city bus.

Hong Kong police beat back protesters in Mong Kok https://t.co/XBnH9r2vx7

— Alex Ogle (@Alex_Ogle) November 25, 2014

Moves to clear barricades stemmed from court injunctions granted to local transportation companies, which give bailiffs the right to clear specific zones with support from police if needed. Last week, the first court injunctions were used to clear a limited number of barricades near the main protest site in Admiralty, but Tuesday marked the first such attempts in Mong Kok, an area long viewed as a powder keg.

Mong Kok’s protest grounds are the grungy counterpoint to the more exuberant and artistic atmosphere at the city’s main protest site in Admiralty. The working-class neighborhood of Mong Kok is known for prostitution and organized crime, and protesters there have faced violent attacks from both gang members and locals fed up with the ongoing blockages.

Participants in the Hong Kong demonstrations, often referred to as the Umbrella Movement, are demanding the right for public nomination of candidates in the city’s 2017 elections for chief executive, the highest office in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. Earlier this summer, the Chinese government proposed an election system that would allow the first-ever popular elections for the post, but that would also effectively allow Beijing to pre-screen candidates through a nominating committee. That move set off student protests that metastasized in late September after police used tear gas on demonstrators.

Protesters and police had been locked in a stalemate for weeks before the recent clearings. Student protest leaders have found little leverage in their demands for greater democracy, and police have been cautious about taking action after previous attempts to clear protest sites only led to influxes of demonstrators. In October, police briefly retook one main intersection in Mong Kok, but that action drew thousands more participants who reclaimed the street.

But with weeks turning into months, the numbers of protesters has reportedly dropped from several thousand to several hundred, and recent public opinion polls shows strong support for an end to the demonstrations. One recent poll by the University of Hong Kong found 82.3 percent of respondents favored an end to the protests, while 68 percent supported the police proactively clearing the sites. While support for the protesters had swelled following the use of tear gas on students, the traffic and business disruptions caused by the protests have eroded support among many Hong Kong residents who see little chance of concrete gains from the actions.

During working hours on Tuesday, bailiffs cleared barricades and police made significant progress in pushing back the front lines of demonstrations. Tuesday’s actions weren’t aimed at retaking the main Mong Kok protest grounds on Nathan Road, but rather at shrinking the buffer of blocked off streets surrounding it. At times, bailiffs and police faced significantly more trouble in pushing back hordes of journalists than in dealing with protesters.

Press at the barricade Argyle St Mong Kok. Getting crowded #OccupyHK pic.twitter.com/cHUXm1CID0

— ant (@antd) November 25, 2014

But as night fell over Mong Kok, workers now free from their day jobs flooded into the area, creating greater crowd-control challenges for local police. Representatives of the local police said this time they were determined to prevent a reoccupation of cleared areas, but as crowds and police fanned out across the area the outcome appeared far from certain.

Mong Kok has long been the site of choice for more radical elements of Hong Kong’s demonstrations. In recent weeks groups calling for an escalation of protests have broken into the city’s legislative building and denounced student leaders and pro-democracy politicians for failing to represent their hardline views.

Police encroachments on the protest grounds appeared likely to continue in coming days, but it remained unclear how far local police would be willing to go in clearing the most dedicated holdouts at the occupation sites.

In an era of digital cool, I still have faith in the unifying power of brand ideas, unhip as this may be. So should we all.

Only the brand idea – Axe’s “Irresistible attraction,” or Honda Europe’s “The power of dreams” — has the power to unify disparate messages and business objectives. Tactical promotions can be aligned with thematic communications. Functional “reasons to believe” can be aligned with higher-order benefits.

Moreover, great brand ideas align traditional and digital media. The tension between different platforms – “lean in” versus “lean back,” actively- versus passively received – can be resolved.

New technology is two-way, and it enables ongoing dialog between brands and consumers. However, “engagement” needs to be carefully constructed, lest marketers lose control of their message.

Digital creative executions can too easily devolve into cheap stunts. At the 2014 Grammy awards the fast-food chain Arby’s caused a sensation when it poked fun at Pharrell Williams, an American rapper. His hat looked like the one in the Arby’s logo, so the company tweeted, “Hey, #Pharrell, can we have our hat back?” It was the most talked-about fashion moment of the show, because it reminded people of pop-culture totems, including Smokey Bear and Harry Potter. The sly move inspired 77,000 re-tweets within 24 hours, and, just like that, Arby’s became part of the zeitgeist. But there is little evidence the company sold more roast beef sandwiches.

Marketers must forge a paradigm that allows freedom within a framework, pulling off the trick of simultaneously permitting consumers to “participate” with brands while empowering marketers to manage message and dialog.

A beautiful brand idea is our holy grail. It is both “alive” – inherently capable of evolution – and meticulously constructed, a product of conceptual craftsmanship.

A beautiful brand idea is invisible yet possesses the gravitational force to unify messages across an exploding array of media, geography and cultures. It crystalizes the long-term relationship between consumer and brand that remains consistent yet, like a good marriage, deepens over time. It is inherently mutual and underpins subsequent engagement across both digital and analog media.

A beautiful brand idea is a commercial life force.

If brands are to weather today’s challenges of globalization and media fractionation, consistency should be the bedrock of everything they do. If not, things fall apart. Nike lives and breathes the “Just do it” spirit across all media. The spirit is not simply a call to participate in sports. It is a rallying cry to push against convention and defined oneself independent of society. Through Nike, through a relationship with a brand that has forged a meaningful role in life, a paraplegic can ignore preconceptions and compete in a long-distance marathon. Nike+ is a not simply a wearable technology. It is a high-tech manifestation of Nike’s soul. A fusion of innovation and conceptual precision, “Just do it” is always on.

Nike’s spirit didn’t appear out of thin air or drip from a Twitter feed. Like all great band ideas, it is the exquisitely refined vision that has been reinforced at every level and in every corner of an organization for forty years.

Great brand ideas are precise, the fruit of meticulous thinking. They possess four characteristics:

First, they are seamless fusions of insights into consumer behavior and a unique brand offer. The UBO must directly address the need revealed by the insight. Through “strong stain removal,” OMO’s “Dirt is good” resolves the tension between a mother’s wish for her kids to explore the world and the hassle of getting tough spots out of clothes.

Second, great brand ideas should be surprising, which ensures they have a long life. Until HSBC shifted its strategy from a focus on retail banking to money management, its brand idea was “The world’s local bank.” The combination of global heft and local savvy, of towering scale and cultural empathy, was unexpected. For more than two decades the unifying power of HSBC’s brand idea kept an expanding network from falling apart.

Third, the text for brand ideas must be evocative. Sometimes the brand idea doubles as a tagline. Sometimes it doesn’t. Regardless, it articulates the brand’s soul and role in life, serving as a manifesto that calls an organization to arms. Lian ziji, the brand idea of the leading Chinese sportswear producer Anta, is more electrifying than its English translation, “forge yourself.” The character for lian has a fire radical that connotes a transformation of blood, sweat, and tears into shining glory.

Finally, the brand idea must be written in a way that feels “of” a specific category. Rolex’s “Timeless champion” uses watch language, aligns that language with success, and alludes to the brand’s heritage of craftsmanship. “Live for Greatness” or “Tell History, Not Time,” two of Rolex’s recent campaigns, would never have materialized without an enduring brand idea that springs from category-specific cues.

Carefully crafted ideas–and adherence to the ABCs of brand building – must remain our lighthouse. As brand pioneers, we must explore the shoals of a new digital landscape. But let’s not become stranded by algorithmic trendiness. Timeless can be new.

This article original appeared on BigThink.com, to support the launch of my book, “Twitter is Not a Strategy: Rediscovering the Art of Brand Marketing”