Månadsarkiv: augusti 2015

Zara Larsson och tomaten

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Idag framträdde Zara Larsson på Stora Scenen på Malmöfestivalens avslutande kväll.

Zara Larsson

I ett av mellansnacken sa hon:
”Men så gulligt, där är en kille där borta [och så pekade hon ut i publikhavet] som tog med sig tomater. Tänk så fint. Han har gjort sig sånt besvär, gått till butiken och handlat tomater, kommit hit, ställt sig bland publiken, bara för att kunna kasta tomat på mig.”
Och det var ju ett bra sätt att rycka på axlarna, men samtidigt känns det så vansinnigt snurrigt. Varför skulle man få för sig att kasta tomater på någon? Och inte minst på en konsert, gratis, öppen för alla, och därmed också väldigt enkel att inte gå på, om man nu inte uppskattar Zara och/eller hennes åsikter -för det verkar vara åsikterna och frispråkigheten som gör att folk går igång?

stortorget

Vad är det som gör att människan dras till att uppehålla sig vid sådant som man inte tycker om, som man irriterar sig på, blir förbannad över, avskyr? Varför väljer man det, istället för att djupdyka i något som man älskar, något fascinerande och intressant, sådant som gör att man mår bra i hela kroppen och knoppen? Hur mycket energi går åt till det förstnämnda, som skulle kunna göra gott i världen om det lades på det sistnämnda istället?

A full year of Seven

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On Tuesday I did my 366th consecutive seven-workout, as logged on my #SevenApp, which you can see from the check mark after the ”There is no 7 month goal”-challenge.

full year sevenI’m at day 368 today, so I will just keep on going. One day at a time. And it’s interesting to do this, every day, because of my observations from day to day. Sometimes I am so tired, weak, my body heavy and almost immovable, making it feel very hard. Other days I am bouncing around, feeling light and strong, pushing myself and loving it. But I don’t do my seven-routine based on my daily mood. If I did, I would not be at a full year of daily seven’s, not even close! My daily seven-routine is done from another angle, from my desire to treat my body good, to give it a bit of a workout every day, stretching my muscles, getting my heart pumping, pushing my limits.

In short: my success is due to my long-term desire, rather than my in-the-moment-mood. Is it even possible to achieve something like this if the underlying driver is mood-based?

#theconf – day 2

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Today marked day 2 of #theconf, and it started in the best possible way. Nina Persson and Motoboy kicked it off by performed an amazing version of Lovefool, listen to a snippet here:

Then Suleiman Bakhit entered the stage and blew me, and the rest of the audience, away, with a story on (hate and) heroism. I can only say this: watch it!

Here’s a positive force in the world, skilled in telling a story, his story, a story of heroism and the positive effect it can have, which you simply have to see. Because what Suleiman gave us this morning and what he gives (especially Arabic) children and youth around the world, is just what we need: positive stories of making a change, on an individual but simultaneously collective level. So do me, and yourself, a favor and watch it!

suleiman

Do you believe in heroes?

#theconf – day 1

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Today I attended the first of two days of the conference called just that, The conference, hashtagged #theconf.

I’ve never been to #theconf before, and there’s tons of things I could share with you…. except, it’s been such a busy jam-packed day that I am absolutely beat, head filled up, all I want to do is lie down and read a book for a few minutes before nodding off to sleep and dream sweet dreams.

how to like peopleHowever, I will share one of the highlights of the day, namely Derek Sivers, who gave short snippets of just a few minutes at the start of the keynote sessions, in the morning and again after lunch.

In the morning, Derek spoke on the topic: How to like people, and as that’s something I’ve been thinking a bit about these past days, especially concerning Twitter, I was ripe for the picking so to speak, really digging Dereks little food for thought. And you’re in luck. That snippet has been uploaded on #theconf website, so check it out!

how to prepare for unknowable futureAfter lunch, the topic Derek mused on was: How to thrive in an unknowable future, and again, a topic that I’ve been contemplating a lot for the past years, as I’ve to a large extent let go of any notion of being in control. (Modified with link 19AUG2015.)

If you don’t want to wait for me to blog more about #theconf, check out the twitter-feed, to which I have contributed throughout the day. And remember to do the same tomorrow, for day 2.

Until then, I leave you with Derek’s questions:
How to like people?
How to prepare for the unknowable future?

Hope as a verb

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Spent the afternoon yesterday in a Masterclass with Alan Seale of Transformational Presence Leadership and Coaching, and the class centered around hope. How hope in and of itself can both be a passive noun, a wish, but also be an active verb, to have hope.

hope and vision

masterclassI truly enjoyed the conversation around hope, how it can be passive, being something I wish for, but honestly don’t take any steps to making it come true. And how it can be active, when I give it a bit more flesh, if I transform it into a vision, into something more than a simple wish.

For me, the afternoon was the third piece of a puzzle that opened up for me on Monday a week ago, and it kind of felt like I sealed the deal here. There is no way back, I know my vision and I know what it will take to get there. When I build on the hope, enlarging it, turning it into something more concrete, it’s also much easier to ask myself: So, what is my next step?

Podcast 33/52 – On Beauty

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Inspired by my coach Carla, I recently bought the book Beauty – the invisible embrace by John O’Donahue. Haven’t started to read it yet, but I will. In the meantime, I’ve listened to the podcast from On Being, where Krista Tippett is in conversation with John just a few month before he died, way to early, at 52 years of age.

This is another one of those podcasts where I, after listening to it, simply press PLAY again, to listen once more. And then once more. And so on. Every time I hear something new, pick up on a different vibe, moved by a phrase, a word, an emotion arising within me.

BoldomaticPost_beauty-is-not-a-luxury-but-IThere is just too much beauty, wonder, insight and laughter in this podcast to even begin to try to characterize or label it. It’s simply too rich, too overwhelming, too beautiful.

I absolutely adore Johns Irish accent so I could re-listen to this podcast many times, solely for the joy of hearing John speak. It’s beautiful, there’s a rhythm and song to it, that gathers me up, holds me, in warm arms. And beauty is, after all, one of the theme this entire conversation centers around. John gives some wonderful suggestions on how to ensure you have beauty in your life, no matter what physical surroundings you live in, suggestions that are profound in their simplicity.

Now, at the end of this interview (which I truly hope you will listen to!), John talks a bit about conversation. He asks a question, which I will leave you with:

And the question is: when is the last time that you had a great conversation, a conversation which wasn’t just two intersecting monologues, which is what passes for conversation a lot in this culture. But when had you last a great conversation, in which you overheard yourself saying things that you never knew you knew?

Tales of the Otori

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I just finished reading the fifth book on the Tales of the Otori, by Lian Hearn (pen name of Gillian Rubinstein). I’ve read three of the five books in Swedish and the other two in English, and luckily it was not too tricky to switch languages (books 2 and 5 I read in English). I did that with the Harry Potter-series as well, and that was trickier, because of all the make-believe words, which when translated made it a wee bit hard to reference between the two languages. But here, no problem, luckily.

otori

The first three books – Across the nightingale floor, Grass for his pillow and Brilliance of the moon – were the original trilogy, followed by the sequel The harsh cry of the heron and finally by the prequel Heaven’s net is wide. I read them in that order, and read the last pages of the prequel this morning, finally coming full circle.

To give you a clue as to how fascinating and riveting these books all were, I’m actually considering following my instinct of picking up book number one again, to start to read them all over again. I read a lot, but I can guarantee you that’s very seldom the reaction I have after finishing a book. It happens that I really don’t want a book to end, but to want to just go back from the beginning and start over… I’m not sure I’ve ever had that inclination. Have you? And if so – from what book/book series?

 

Academic intelligence – at the cost of what?

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Every day kids go to school they become less intelligent. That’s what Eddy spends his talk on, and I’m telling you, Eddy Zhong is someone to keep an eye on. I stumbled upon his TED Talk after watching Todd Rose on The Myth of Average. And, as I’m guessing you’ll be as well, was intrigued. Watch it, and revert here afterwards, please.

As academic intelligence is pushed and encouraged within the confines of educational systems across the globe, creative intelligence is rapidly diminishing each passing year, turning creative children into teenagers unwilling to step outside the box.

Eddy leaves us with this final thought to ponder:
No one has ever changed the world by doing what the world has told them to do. 

Now. Those aren’t my words. They are the words of an 18-year old mediocre high school kid, if by mediocre we mean his academic achievements in school. Because after listening to this speech, I have to say there’s nothing mediocre about him at all. And given that he’s just finished going through school, isn’t that precisely the type of voice we should really pay close attention to? What is he really saying?

Listen closely.
What do you hear?

A threefie and four twofies.

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Was away last week and a young IPhone wiz showed me and the other adults a superduperfun IPhone photo trick. This is how my session turned out, a threefie with myself:

Threefie

Today, what with lovely weather and a car to make the most of (we’re car-sitting), we made a vegan quinoa salad with curry from Veggie Weekend (and it was DELICIOUS!) and packed ourselves and dinner into the car. We ended up at Krankesjön, at the top of the bird tower. And after dinner, I asked if the family wanted to have a bit of fun. Here’s the result, a series of twofies of the Roth family:

Mr B

Anders

Alma

Twofie

Wonder how it’s done? Well, it’s actually really easy. Use Panorama-photo, get the first pose ready, start to panorama (here from right to left, the Panorama can be switched, doesn’t have to be from left to right. Another thing the young wiz taught me!), and once you’ve gotten the first pose, the object runs BEHIND the photographer and gets into a new pose, while the photographer just holds the camera/IPhone still. Once the object is in place again, resume the panoramic movement. At the top, we did three poses (hence a threefie selfie), here, since we only had 4 meters to play with or so, we only did two (a twofie selfie).

I learned something new, and had a blast while doing it. Best kind of learning there is. And if you are anything like me, once you see these shots, you’re eager to try it out yourself. Right?

Puttes äventyr i Blåbärsskogen

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Idag har Putte, dvs jag (ett av makens smeknamn på mig), varit på äventyr i Blåbärsskogen tillsammans med barnen och goda vänner. Mellan 10-16 blandade vi nytta med nöje, plockade, åt och umgicks så det stod härliga till. Vi var gröngölingarna, som på ungefär fyra effektiva plocktimmar *för man måste ju både luncha och fika också!*  lyckades få en fångst om ca sju liter blåbär. Totalt skulle jag tro att hela sällskapet landat en 28 liter, möjligen något mer eller mindre. Och det syntes knappt. Naturen ger oss gåvor!

putte blåbär

Så fort vi kom hem så rensade vi bären, innan vi rasade ihop i vars en hög. Skogen tar hårt, måste jag säga. Kroppen säger högljutt till mig ”Du vännen, nu har du använt muskler du inte nyttjar allt för ofta under en hel dag!”. Vi hade dock tur, maken antog vår vädjan om kvällsmat på amerikanska pannkakor med färska blåbär, så det fixade han. Satt som en smäck!

Nu är med andra ord några blåbär uppätna, tre liter infrusna, andra ligger i svamptorken som något av ett experiment och ett par liter står i kylen för kanske kanske jag får ett infall att göra lite sylt eller en paj eller nått imorgon.

Nu är Putte trött efter dagens äventyr i blåbärsskogen och ser därför fram emot att få krypa till sängs. Kanske kommer det drömmas blåa drömmar?