Is there a way to break free from what is still holding you back? Is there a key to unlock this way for you? And how do you start? What is the first step? What comes next?
I believe that there is a personal path, regardless of were you come from or where you are. And it’s not just fate or luck. I believe and know from my own experience, that it’s very straightforward: a step-by-step process that is still very individually but everybody can go through to realize his potential. But what we need is a guide through those steps, something that helps us authentically to build that way.
This blog was originally inspired by the philosophy of C.A.N.I. CANI means Constant And Never-ending Improvement, a way of living for continuous openness, learning, improvement and growth with the goal of self-realization. Read more about CANI here.
I will try to make this blog as practical as possible, so that everybody can get benefits from it, wherever you are in your life. This blog shows ways to improve your life situation and have fun with it, since you can experience the joy of your own advancement and success. By practical I mean to try to avoid getting to far ahead and to give real entry-points to everyone, so that you can get a real value for your way out of this blog.
My Motivations and Goals with MyrkoThum.com
Since I was little I always was the creative type. I always wanted to build something with structure and meaning, and yes, something that others like and benefit from somehow. Later when I started my professional life I wanted to create something outstanding. It should be successful in a way that it helps and inspires a lot of people.
Those are the same motivations for MyrkoThum.com, Personal Development that Transforms, today. And I want to share my experiences and what worked for me. That’s why I created this site, which is always a work-in-progress, but I hope to create something outstanding in the end that has the potential to inspire.
Myrko Thum – An Introduction of the Author
I grew up in the split Germany near Berlin. As the unification of Germany has arisen, I was about to start university education in Computer Science in Berlin. Computer Science was just about to take off with the growing popularity of the internet and I had and have the fascination for creation and the creative power we have with computers, as for instance expressed in computer games. Shortly after starting studying, I experienced something like a minor stroke, where I could not see and talk properly, which was pretty disturbing with 19 years of age. What followed was the development of a clinical depression, since I was surrounded by complete inability to help me by doctors, parents of friends. I was really believing I was going to die to a serious illness and nobody was making any effort. This state of depression went on in lessening degree for nearly eight years, and it was the first major learning in my life-time: You are responsible, nobody else.
I quit studying, which was not that fulfilling, especially with the disadvantage of my lessening, but ongoing depression, followed my heart and started the internet and games company ingame GmbH in Hamburg, Germany together with people I got in contact with over this passion for games and the internet.
Running this company was my second major-learning through expand by demand. Especially demand on myself, and I started not only learning and applying management and vision, but also the the whole process of personal development through willingness to grow. Changing limiting beliefs , raising energy -levels and creating by goals and vision are personal developed habits. On the inter-personal level, working and being with other people, there were challenges in leadership, inspiration and of course, just getting things done together.
After a deeper realization of what the reasons for success are and how something like a company can naturally grow there came the question of “Where do I grow now?” There is the obvious answer: “Just do the things you do better!” And this is a good answer, it means to contribute and give value to others. And I wanted and want this answer to apply. But somehow it wasn’t satisfying enough.
I always had the feeling, that beyond the earning for success and affluence, there is another dimension, a spiritual dimension. And so I first looked into spiritual pathways to success and then into spirituality itself.
The whole approach of Personal Development is the approach to live inside-out, to look inside and to express that what is there for the benefit of the world. I experienced a rising of joy, of juice in my life, which was the result of me freeing myself from limits in my mind. I experienced a strong glimpse of an awakening, the realization of my essence, of what we all have inside and are.
As always the journey continues, for me as well as for you. Let’s make the best out of it!
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I just found this blog and LOVE what you have to say.
I’m originally from Japan. I walked off college there because I could not find anything of value there. But this was an extremely unusual thing to do in that old country. Eventually, I came to the US to complete my college education and rebuild my life. I am also a new entrepreneur now.
Blogging has helped my to connect with so many interesting and inspiring people. I see a lot in common with you, and look forward to read more.
Blessings,
Akemi Gaines
Akemi “spiritual entrepreneur” @ Yes to Me’s last blog post: Gratitude Friday, Edition 13, Gratitude And Train For Humanity
Hello, I just found this site on Zen Habits. I’ve been enjoying what I’ve been reading so far. Keep up the great work. =)
Hi Jonathan, thanks. I think I have to rewrite some of my early postings though :) I also visited your http://illuminatedmind.net, I can remember a posting “Enlightenment is overrated” that I found earlier :)
Hi,
Do you have a contact address?
Thanks.
Hi Dan, yes. Sorry the formular plugin was deactivated. You can just use it now, and I’ll get it instantely :)
Akemi, what a breath of fresh air in the world of personal development. So many flood the net with lists of external actions as a means of personal growth. Many claim to be Zen founded, though their interpretation is distorted with their inability to detach from their indoctrinated, western mindset and still work from the outside in. Kaizen philosophy applied to one’s body, mind, spirit cultivation is Zen in its purest sense. It will be my pleasure to follow your blog, as your voice is one of love based wisdom.
Where have you gone, my brother? I just found your site, and enjoyed, the rare privilege of mindful writing, and contemporary Zen application. Check out my blog. I am not very organized, or experienced as a web master, but I am a true urban Zen master, living a life of mindful action ,and joyful service. I was raised on the mean streets but have a heart cultivated to express love. You might enjoy what I have to say. I’d love to guest post, but my main intention for this communication is to encourage you to post.
Ciao
Hi Myrko,
I just wanted to write and let you know that I really like your website! I will continue to read it in more detail. I was just wondering what program you used to create this blog.I am writing a book and would like to start by posting a blog.
Thanks for the inspiration!
Sincerely,
Betsy Henry
Betsy, it’s WordPress, like most other blogs. You can find and download it for free at http://www.wordpress.org. Good luck! :)
Hi, Myrko! Would you mind shooting me an email? I tried to use your contact form but no captcha image came up for me to type in. :-( I just wanted to see if you’d be interested in being part of a book tour for Conversations with Richard Bandler. Thank you!
Hi there, really like your site, recently came across it through Twitter!
I’m run a youth and non-profit blog called Speak Up for Change (http://www.speakupforchange.ca) and we’d really like to re-post your “Top 10 of Barack Obama’s Quotes of Change”.
We’ll give you all credit and link to your Twitter and blog. Please let me know if this is possible at all!
Hello Speak Up for Change. Ok, you can repost this with a backlink please to the original article. Looking forward hearing from you about it! :)
Stumbled on your blog searching for Zen.
Your blog is easy on the eyes and mind.
Hope your blog serves the purpose of de-conditioning the human mind as well.
And Wish you introduce more spiritual authors too.
All the very Best!!
Hello Myrko,
First of all congratulations on your website. You have very useful information. For example, the article about time management really “resonates” with my aproach to time management: value and integrity dictate priorities. Somehow, sometimes in the past I felt I was the only one that agrees with that way of thinking. So, reading it now it is really conforting.
I am starting a consulting business in Margarita Island,Venezuela and I’m putting together a brochure (less than a 100 copies) to promote my services. I was wondering if I could use your image of the compass. You can also visit my website; Is under construction, feel free to use a photo if you think it would be useful for you.
Your image will only be used for the brouchure. Thanks in advance if I you let me use. It would be of great help (is a good one) and therefore greatily appreciated!
Thank you.
German Franco
Hi German (nice name! :)), sure from my standpoint you can use this compass-image (I guess you mean the lower one, the top one is on flickr, so you would have to check there). I dont have any copyrights on this image, so please check if there are any other ones you have to know of. I cant give you their permission, if other copyrights exist for using it commercially.
Regarding Time-Management, I’m sure you are aware that Stephen Covey is also promoting this Time-Management model. You can’t always go where the masses go, so if you get resistance, most of the time that it good. :)
Hi Myrko,
I am giving a speech on the topic of “carpe diem” and I came across your website. For this speech I am required to interview an expert on the topic “carpe diem,” so I was wondering if I can just ask you a few questions through email. Please let me know if you can as soon as possible.
Thank You!
I just had the greatest shock (on-line experience) that I think could possibly happen… Just today I completed posting at the site listed above a a’teaching’ that just came to me a day or two ago, my thoughts on this is that I just sort of made this up from my own experience of the subject matter. Much to my surprise I found using the search engine literally millions of hits on sites that discussed similar ideas and not even one that was my site. I too blown away to say more, if there are any further comments by others it woul be of interest to me..
Regards,
Bill
Since starting my website, AReconnecting.com, which is about my spiritual passion and beliefs, I have been looking around the internet for people I can connect with who have similar beliefs. I am always thrilled when I find someone like who, with a blog that talks about love and connecting. Keep it up, great thoughts and fantastic blog.
Thanks Karen! Looking forward hearing more from you …
Love your blog! Stumbled on it looking for Confucius quotes and one thing led to another and here I am. Inspiring!
MYRKO A comment with my sincere thanks for the straightforward advice on the subject of personal development. I have long been a student of personal development and avid reader of the late and great Jim Rohn, Earl Nightingale, Andrew Carnegie and so on and have added you to my ‘must read’ list as a great source of focussed detail on the subject.
I love your site and look forward to reading the posts and replies.
How did I miss your site before I ask myself but it is true that “when the student is ready the teacher appears” so thank you.
John
John, really nice to read your feedback, thank you from all my heart!
Guten Abend aus Paris !
I just discovered your website.
It feels good. Lovely energy. Will read my way though :-)
Much Love,
Caro
Bonjour Madame, thanks Caro! I’m visiting your spiritual website right now too! Hope to keep you around!
Hi myrko, i like very much your blog. I am from monterrey mexico. Unfortunaly my work is only in spanish but i invite you to visit my broadcast fanpage si yo puedo tu puedes (if i can, yo can). I share thoughts every day in this fanpage. I love my mission:inspire people to explore interior empowerment i am very glad to find people like you and be inspired by your work. I send you a hearthug (acorazonado, is a word i created to send hearthugs)
jorge, nice to have you here
Myrko, your blog has been a revelation for me. I have been reading your articles for a while and find them to be most inspiring.
I keep coming back to this blog to be inspired, motivated and energised. A million thank yous Myrko and keep up the good work.
Nadeem, that means a lot to me. Thanks you very much and I’m glad to have you as a reader!
Hi Mr Myrko,
Im a little bit sleepy now.i read some of your articles last night and finished it by 1:3o am philippine time.triggered by my excitement ,now im back once again reading some of your articles comments.ive found out that we,(followers of your blog) have all these common comments:you have that straighforward yet charismatic approach of teaching.it really penetrates deep in my mind and heart.ill be finding many many more packs of insights,wisdom,and inspiration in your website.continue inspiring more people!may GOD bless you always…i hope i can see you here in phillippines…
Hi Myrko,
Great website format and quotes from the sages! I was looking for quotes form Confucius when I hit your website.
Your personal story is profound truth what stress can do to personal health. It reminded me my “bottom crash” psychological health issue when I was changing life-styles, countries and languages. I became a Christian born from the Spirit and self-healed through yoga and prayers. I live in the US. Many conservative and religiously blind people I met are confused.
How come you didn’t select quotes form the Bible?
There is a path we follow to fulfill our destinies. I am planning to be a life-coach after changing many careers. Personal development is related to coaching. It is hard to succeed in life without a mentor. Good luck!
Pauline
Thanks Pauline, yes maybe I select something from the Bible or Jesus in the future. Good luck to you too!
It is such a wonderful gift that you have this talent of helping in the transformation of people through your well organized ideas distilled from the experience of life itself. Will continue to read and will tell you more. Thank you.
Thanks Meg, I’ll continue to do me best! :-)
Hi Myrko
Just wanted to thankyou for a wonderful blog. I discovered you when I was reading an article by Robert Anthony about raising energy levels, and Googled to find out more and came across your post on ways to do that.
I find one of the signs of a good blog is when not only the article you read first is relevant to what you are looking for, but you also want to click on the other links too and I actually got to a point on your blog when my brain said okay! okay! Just slow down and take this information in a bit at a time.
I have loved what I have read so far and look forward to reading the rest of your work in the future.
Craig, that’s really the best compliment you could make! Thanks a lot!
Do you ever host weekend retreats? My personal interest is in how to re-build life and reevaluate priorities in the wake of a life-altering tragedy.
Hello Ray. Not at the moment, but I’m working on a video course which will be a complete personal development system. It may be something for you. It will be out in this year (still have no final date). If you are on my newsletter, you won’t miss it.
Hi Myrko,
It was few months back I accidentaly discoverd this blog. I read you article, “How to Seize the Day”, and I cant find words to explan what I felt after geting through it. Noting I have ever read got deep in to me. Then after I explord more of your articles I desided it was time to get off my lazy ass and change my life. Using your articles as guid lines, I set up various life goles, both long and short, then got down to business. I started applying more effert in school, I re-started working out and pushed my limites to explore my passion, which is the guitar. Now Im a top student and I earned the wide shoulders and huge arms I always wished for. And Im also a kick-ass guitarist. I can say im a very happy person now and in the future, if I ever face anything above my strength, I know I can always turn to your blog for help. Please feel proud in knowing you have changed the life of an Ethiopian kid forever! Thank you man. Keep up the good work.
Ras, really GREAT to read your story! Thank you very much for sharing it with me. Awesome! :-)
Hi Myrko,
I incidentally discovered your blog via Linked In, and I am so glad. After a long career in finance I took a break to see if I can found what I am so desperately looking for. I have now done all the necessary learning to train and facilitate and the first thing that came up was to do something about forgiveness, :-) So I am very excited. I would love to receive your newsletter and learn from you.
Regards
Esme
@Esme, sounds perfect, I’m happy for you. Let me know how it goes!
If you haven’t done so yet, you can always get my free 5 day mini-course here.
Hi Myrko, thanks again for your great work, i have not been on your blog in awhile. but today i didnt feel too well (different sorts of fears kept on creeping in) and i decided to come by at your blog. i was actually specifically for one thing you have written in the section about you. at the time i red it the first time, it really caught my attention and left with me ever since and was always at the back of my mind when i needed to encourage myself. you said that you reached a point on your journey, where you stopped being fearful that depression would come back, it just was no longer at the back of your mind. i am sure i remember correctly, but could you confirm that? do you still feel the same way? i am just always waiting to reach this stage, but i guess what i am already doing wrong is i am living in the waiting. still need some work to get done…
anyway great job, really appreciate it.
@Dalia, yes that’s true. I wasn’t fearful that it’s coming back because a) I went through it and knew the triggers of depression (for me) so I would be more aware of them and b) I could clearly remove my original cause for my depression (which was thinking I could be terminally ill and the incompetent people around me didn’t notice it).
What really helped me to totally and finally get rid of the last traces of depression in me was finding a new challenge in my life. My new passion challenged me to personally grow and see valuable and enjoyable goals in there, which is kind of the antidote to depression. I now think finding that kind of meaning in life helps a lot to stay on the good side.
You have a gift. I read the excerpt from your book and was blown away at the simplicity of how you explain complex ideas. And tonight for the first time ever, I was able to successfully meditate and understand why I was meditating. I just kept still and forced on each moment. The light, my breathing, nearby sounds, the weight of my body, etc. I noticed my mind wanting to take over with thinking chatter. It made me laugh. And back I went to each moment. It was beautiful. I get it. You have a gift and you gave it to all of us. Thank you. So very much.
I’ve just discovered your blog and website and find the information very helpful. However with your German background I was wondering if you also have all this information available in German? I have lots of German speaking friends whom I think would benefit from your exprerience and information. Thanks for taking the time to share your insights and inspire others as living proof that your ways work.
@Denise, for the time being, I don’t have it in German. I focused on English in order to reach the most people possible really. But that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t publish something in German later on. But English has and probably will always be my priority.
Thanks for your kind words.
Hi Myrko
Good vibes still coming from this old post! Been quietly watching your work for a while now. Are you aware of Mark McGuiness and Lateral Action? What I notice about the difference between you and he is that he says how he makes his living, whereas you don’t. I’m not prying but do you think this is important (to say it) and if not, why not?
I just had to get a day job even though I’m a very motivated entrepreneur…
Many thanks and much respect.
Jonny
Jonny, just looked at Lateral Action which seems to be focused on creative people.I know it can be a challenge to make it financially when your main focus is on your creativity. At least it can take a lot of patience. I personally come more from the business side although creativity is very important for me as well and one of my top 10 values in life. I think it’s important to have a sound plan, follow through with it, and not to be afraid of marketing your creativity. When it comes to making money from it I think it’s better to think of your service as a business, not as a creative work.
So although you can’t see anything here right now, I’m working on fulfilling my plan for the last 1/2 year intensively and that will get more obvious within 2 to max. 3 month.
Hi
Its seven in the morning and I haven’t slept all night, just been doing mindless things that I’m not really interested in any more. But I decided to get into bed and try and go to sleep so that I could get up in time not to waste this day, However, I spent an hour lying there thinking about how I’m finding it really hard to think and remember stuff lately. So I did something that I usually do. Go on my phone and check sky news or Google stuff to pass the time.
I haven’t been feeling myself or happy in a long time and I have had a hunch that its depression, so I sometimes Google it and look at symptoms and stuff. This morning though I decided to Google “What does coming out of depression feel like” and I found your page. I couldn’t believe what I was reading, it was like reading it as if I had wrote it, except I was walking home from my job and all the weird stuff (weird vision, tingling, I couldn’t talk etc…) happened. I thought I had a tumor, I couldn’t think properly for months and I thought that any moment I was going to keel over and start having a fit or something. This all kind of faded away after a while but I think the fallout of believing that I Was going to die, and in such a way to boot, had a pretty bad effect on my outlook on life i.e. contemplating the point of it constantly, which all came to head massively last year when I was home alone for a week and I just felt unbelievably low. Then on I just felt numb about everything, old hobbies, drawing, games, TV shows. Everything just didn’t/doesn’t matter to me anymore even my Uni work is a real struggle to get started, I just have zero motivation.
But this morning, reading through your post just made me feel hope and a whole lot better. It has really shown me that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. I know that I’m definitely not over this yet, but what you wrote has DEFINITELY put me on the right way.
Thanks again, sorry if this was to long/boring/melodramatic etc but its nice to know that my mind wasn’t crumbling to dust after all :)