Kategoriarkiv: #English

Is the universe a friendly place?

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I follow Marianne Williamson on Facebook, and stumbled upon this today. I immediately emailed the link to myself, to make sure I wouldn’t forget about it:

”I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’ This is the first and most basic question all people must answer for themselves. “For if we decide that the universe is an unfriendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to achieve safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that which is unfriendly and I believe that we are getting to a place where technology is powerful enough that we may either completely isolate or destroy ourselves as well in this process.

“If we decide that the universe is neither friendly nor unfriendly and that God is essentially ‘playing dice with the universe’, then we are simply victims to the random toss of the dice and our lives have no real purpose or meaning.

“But if we decide that the universe is a friendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to create tools and models for understanding that universe. Because power and safety will come through understanding its workings and its motives.”

”God does not play dice with the universe,” – Albert Einstein

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I’m not sure I’ve always believed the world a friendly place, but I do now. I do, fully…. and yet, sometimes I stumble. It happens that I forget the sun is always there, behind the clouds, and at times like that, the world can seem like a really cold, hard and unfriendly place. I know when I wake up tomorrow, or the day after, that thought will be gone, and a new one, affirming my belief that it IS a friendly place, will pop up. I also know, if I cling to the thought of the world being an unfriendly place, a new thought will take longer to appear.

And truth be told, it’s easier for me nowadays, knowing it’s all thought, to rest in the feeling of the day, whether or not if it makes me feel high or low. But all the same, I’m only human, and right now I sure long for a new thought to pop into my conciousness, because I really really don’t like to hang out in the cold, hard, unfriendly universe at all, do you?

Beautiful Sweden

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In the middle of Sweden, lenght wise, about 40 km north/inland from Sundsvall, that’s where I’ve been these past days, and I have to say, I’ve been in paradise.

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I live at the very southern most tip of Sweden, in Malmö, and I love the scenery in the south as well. Being such a long country, Sweden have such a wide range of natural environments, and I’ve never before been this far north in the summer time. The sun sets, but barely, and that means that it doesn’t get dark at night, see the top picture, taken around midnight or so. Amazing!

I feel recharged and refreshed, and hereby make a promise to myself to return. And I’d love to bring my family as well, because I want to show my kids more of the beauty of Sweden!

Have you ever been to a place like this, that feels like paradise?

Why aren’t we awesomer?

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Michael Neill participated in TEDxBend and I just got a hold of his talk. I laughed, and figured that I no longer have to ponder what to post today. Here it comes:

As a student on Supercoach Academy 2014 I have the pleasure of spending time with Michael, and I have to say, this is the best investments I’ve ever made! And you know what really rocks my world? That I’m investing in me. That’s a fab feeling (stemming from a thought!), let me tell you!

Have you ever given any thought to thoughts (yours or in general)?

Where do thoughts come from?

Can I control what thoughts I think?
(Spoiler: No you cannot! Thought come, thoughts go, and that’s all there is to that!)

What do they result in?

If thoughts lead to a feeling (Spoiler number two: My feelings comes from thoughts. All of them. All.), do I have to believe in that feeling?

Do I have to act upon it?
(Spoiler number three: No you don’t. And acknowledging that what I feel – which is genuine, the feeling is there – stems from a thought, makes it much easier for me to act, rather than react! Try it out and see for yourself.)

So, why aren’t we awesomer? What’s your take on that question?

Let a Thought Flower

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I give a lot of thought to thought, and blogging is a part of that. Take this post as an example, where I had the quote below that I wanted to share, but without knowing what setting or context I wanted to present it in.

So what the heck, I’ll just let it rip:

Let a Thought Flower

To let a thought flower or a feeling flower requires attention, not concentration. I mean by the flowering of a thought giving freedom to it to see what happens, what is taking place in your thought, in your feeling.

Anything that flowers must have freedom, must have light; it cannot be restricted. You cannot put any value on it, you cannot say, ”That is right, that is wrong; this should be, and that should not be”, thereby, you limit the flowering of thought. And it can only flower in this awareness.

Therefore, if you go into it very deeply, you will find that this flowering of thought is the ending of thought.

– Krishnamurti, The Book of Life

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Are you familiar with the feeling of letting a thought flower?

A blessed encounter

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Yesterday I had an amazing time with a handful of friends, that rock in all sorts of ways. The foremost reason is that they all are curious about themselves. Since that’s the stage of life I am at as well, it’s a perfect match!
And it get’s extra interesting since our selves are so different, we all are living and learning on the edges of the unknown, whatever that is, for each and every one of us. Expanding my horizons and daring to step one inch into the unknown, is magic, but doing it in parallel with other brave exploring unique individuals is so enriching, because their edges and unknowns are different places to mine. And I get to take a small part in their edgy landscapes as well. And let me tell you, that is just awesome!

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Wivan-Kristina blogged about meetings and encounters this morning, inspired by our day together, and posted it on Facebook. A friend of mine commented on it, posting and linking to this beautiful text:

A blessed encounter.

We spontaneously decided to get together.
Unwaveringly and with no preamble, we delved into the core questions of existence. In great honesty. With great zest.
We were completely ourselves, we showed our yearning but also our wisdom and uncertainty, trusting and backing each other. There was a deep sense of connection, affinity, solidarity. As if our words were dancing. There was joy but also sorrow. But we allowed ourselves to embrace both, and so only pure joy availed.

“Do you feel this perfume, where does it come from?” he asked.
We didn´t know exactly what was going on, but the three of us felt a soothing feeling of coherence. Of consistency. That nearness felt like music…our words were creating a kind of Symphony – as in the Greek word symfono. Namely, perfect agreement, perfect consonance.
Heartfelt Connectedness in Wholeness.

~ Julien Matei

Honesty and zest, joy and sorrow with quite a dab of anger as well actually. And oh so much embracing! It’s a perfect description of our encounter yesterday.

I am grateful to be a part of such a context. It makes it easier to walk my path, knowing there are people rooting for me along the journey. And if need be, they’ll do more than root for me. That knowledge is priceless.

Who’s rooting for you?

Winter of the world

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I love to read. I love books. And honestly love physical books more than ebooks, however digital I’ve become in other ways. The only time I truly prefer ebooks is when I am travelling. Then they absolutely rock!Bok

Anyway, I finished a huge book last night, and I wanted to share it with you. I love to read really thick books, but it’s been a while since I read such a thick book as this one. Just over 900 pages. Yeah!

The Winter of the world by Ken Follett is about Europe during the twenties to the forties and it’s a gruesome story of power struggles, war and politics mixed with love, connections and hope. Ken Follett is an author I’ve read quite a lot by, but not for a while. And he’s productive, so I have a few more brick like books to entertain myself with over the summer. And actually, this is the second book in a trilogy, and I haven’t read the first one, so I have to get a hold of that one ASAP. I’m gonna order it at the library right away.

What’s your favorite type of book?

No vision in what is wrong

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I’ve written before about the podcast of Julia Butterfly Hill interviewed by Chris Martenson on Peak Prosperity. Find it on iTunes or here: http://www.peakprosperity.com/podcast/85294/julia-butterfly-hill-living-meaning

I had a number of oh yeah-moments listening to Julia and here’s one of them:

I tell people we need to turn off our televisions, go out into our communities and tell a vision. And that is not ”this is what is wrong with the world, that is what is wrong with the world, and this is what is wrong.” There is no vision in what is wrong.

I am a pro-person, rather than an anti-person. However, a lot of proactivity stems from a wrong, a problem, some glitch that we identify and which chafe enough so we want to act on it.

For me the glitch is the school systems, they chafe, and I am not comfortable with the way it is today. So, I act. The #skolvåren-movement in Sweden that I am a part of is one way I act, and is a good example of what Julia states. #skolvåren ask Why school? to get people to start to think about what society we want to help create and shape. And the vision we share is to create a sustainable learning society.

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For me, visions point forward, into something we want, not away from something we don’t want. Do you agree that there is no vision in what’s wrong?

Extraordinary means extra ordinary

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I’ve written before about the podcast of Julia Butterfly Hill interviewed by Chris Martenson on Peak Prosperity. Find it on iTunes or here: http://www.peakprosperity.com/podcast/85294/julia-butterfly-hill-living-meaning

Julia talks about having something worthy to give our lives to and deconstructs the word extraordinary in a great way:

I really do see so much in people, this desire to have something worthy of giving our lives to, because we give our lives to so much that really is not worthy of it. And I think even if people are not completely conscious of that, their spirits, their hearts, their souls feel it. And that is why we turn to self-medicating and numbing ourselves with shopping, over consumption, movies, television, drugs, alcohol, and all these things we do. Because there is something deep within us, even if we do not recognize it and cannot name it, that wants to have something worth giving our lives to. So there’s something powerful about that arc of what takes ordinary and makes it become extraordinary.

I tell people the only thing ”extraordinary” means is ”extra ordinary”. Extraordinary people are ordinary people who come up against something that calls out their greatness. And they choose to say ”yes” to that calling even if they do not know where it is going to lead them or how it is going to end, but they cannot choose to walk away. I call it the choiceless choice—that we could choose to not say anything. We could choose to walk away. But to do that would kill off a piece of ourselves. So even though we could say no, we have to say yes. And there is something about having something deeply meaningful to say yes to, to give our lives to.

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There is something quite liberating in the deconstruction of the word extraordinary into extra ordinary. Sometimes I think the fear of not being extraordinary makes people doubt that they have something to give to the world, that their gifts are not good enough. I disagree with that. I think a few extra doses of ordinariness is just what the world needs. What’s your ordinary gift to the world?

Getting any younger?

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My friend and SupercoachAcademy-colleague Daniel Doverland posted a link to a great song by Seinabo Sey, that I wanted to share with you:

Younger
There’s a conclusion to my illusion
I ASSURE YOU THIS
There’s no end to this confusion if you let it wish you well
SOUL TO SELL
Highest bidders, can’t you tell what you’re getting?
There is a light to all this darkness, I will tell you this
There’s redemption in you asking them just why it is
Some answers are better left unspoken when you know you ain’t getting any

Younger, younger, younger
Are you?
Younger, younger, younger
Are you?
You ain’t getting any
Younger, younger, younger
Are you?
Younger, younger, younger
Are you?

Why we fight to get on loving I’ve been wondering
How your mind will leave you hanging your heart lingering
STAY LOST
Then found by whoever stays around forgetting
There is a way to be yourself, I assure you this
There’s a way to catch your dreams without falling asleep
You might as well get it while you can, babe
Cause you know you ain’t getting any

Younger, younger, younger
Are you?
Younger, younger, younger
Are you?
You ain’t getting any
Younger, younger, younger
Are you?
Younger, younger, younger
Are you?

There is a light to all this darkness if only we
Fight against them telling us how we should be
I REFUSE TO HAVE YOU BREAK ME
When you know you ain’t getting any

So, what’s holding you back from being you?

I know what you mean!

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I walked behind two people while walking through Hyde Park, and overheard part of their conversation.

‘Sometimes I give you book on how to live a good life and sometimes I give you books with good stories in them‘, the older man told his younger female walking companion, in an acccusatory tone.

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I can spin a few different stories that might or might not have sparked that exchange. But the one that I believe is most likely, is that the women figured she knew what the man meant when he giving her a book/books over time. And perhaps she’s right. But still, how can she know? Unless she’s a mind reader, of course.

And it’s just as easy to imagine that when the woman asked the man how he picks the books he gives her, that he imagined that she was accusing him of trying to control her, or something like that. And perhaps he’s right. But still, how can he know what she thinks, what her intent was?

Isn’t it funny we have so much thinking about what other people intend? I know I let my imagination run wild now and again. And get upset, or happy, or sad, by what I believe might be what was intended. I have a few friends who have started to use clarifying questions to make sure they stop themselves from going down the rabbit hole of I know what you mean-thinking.

Because really, doesn’t it make more sense to ask and find out for sure? In a way, perhaps that’s what the lady given books tried to do. But perhaps she didn’t ask? Perhaps she accused instead? So the trick is – how to ask to avoid getting the annoyed retort the lady above received?