Kategoriarkiv: Event

In need of stillness

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Second full (and also the last) day of the Summit for Human Potential Realization is coming to a close and I am in need of stillness.Vanessa Jane Smith of Crafting Connection has been the visual facilitator throughout the summit and as always, it’s absolutely amazing having someone of her ability and talent capturing the words, feelings and energies of what is happening and turning it into something visual. And beautiful!

Right now, after 2,5 days of intense experiences and emotions, I feel an urge to do just what this little figure (drawn by Vanessa on day 1, a small sample of her artistry) is doing. Sitting on a beach, overlooking the faraway mountains, contemplating life, reflecting, integrating, being in the stillness. Know that feeling?

At a loss for words

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Yeah. I truly am. At a loss for words. I’ve given and received on so many levels, used so much of that which is available to me to use when interacting and co-creating with other souls here on Earth, accompanying them, side by side, heart by heart, that there’s nothing more to do but go to sleep. After a day of expansion, expansion, expansion, it is time to integrate, internalise and stabilise. 

  
I’ve experienced a full day in the love bubble, and the only thing remaining in me right now are a few silly giggles as I write this. And hopefully enough energy to brush my teeth and get out of my clothes and into my Indian nighty… but no more words. That’s for sure.

When were you last at a loss for words?

Being aware

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What does it make you think? Feel?
What do you associate with being aware?
Do you think of yourself as being aware? Or not?
Do you have a role model, someone who personifies being aware for you?

And how do you Do awareness?
What is the relationship between being and doing awareness?
How can you tell when another person acts out of awareness? Or when he/she doesn’t? Is it visible somehow?

Is there a limit, a point where you are fully aware, saturated, unable to become more aware? If so, can human beings reach that point? Is it even desirable?

Does it have a color? A symbol?
What is the language of awareness? Does it exist?
Or will we – together – make the language of being aware come to form?
Are there any rituals connected to being aware?
Or might we – together – create some?

What is made possible when you live life out of a place of heightened awareness?
What happens to you? Those around you? The world?
Is anything made impossible when living life out of a place of heightened awareness?

What would the world look like with a raised awareness in humankind?

being aware

Starting Sunday I will be immersing myself into being aware and I am very curious to discover what will arise from the experience. Until then, I’ll dip my toe into it, getting into the mood, tasting it, trying to get a feel for it, discovering the texture of it, recognizing and perhaps building up the energy of awareness within me.

And yes, I’ll share the process with you, here, because somehow, blogging is one way I get in touch with myself, discover myself within the words, the images, the sensations that arise within when I write. It’s a way for me to be aware.

Perhaps I’ll sit with the questions I’ve written above. Perhaps I’ll blog about what comes to mind. But I am also curious. About what comes to mind for you? Would you mind sharing your thoughts about being aware with me?

Visa er kärlek, Malmö!

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Så här med 1,5 dygns distans till upplevelsen på Swedbank Stadion i Malmö då MFF tog sig till Champions League genom att spela 2-0 mot Celtic (när de behövde vinna med ett mål för att säkra avancemang), så är det främst två saker som sticker ut:

  1. Stämningen. Hjärtklappningen. Glädjen i att se så många ställa sig bakom sitt lag och fullkomligt lyfta fram dem, med sång och klapp, trummor och hejarop. Riktigt riktigt härligt att stå mitt i det där, som en urkraft som väller över mig. Och vet du – inte en bengal i sikte (förrän när vi efter matchen utanför gick mot våra cyklar, då sprakade det till när någon tände på en bengal…), och stämningen blev inte ett uns sämre pga avsaknaden av dem!
    MFF Celtic
  2. Kärleken, se 1. Och dess motsats, hatet. Kanske för starkt ord att använda, men ärligt talat, varför möta motståndarna med burop och visslingar när de kliver in på plan? Att vilja heja fram sitt eget lag, det är jag helt med på, men måste man möta motståndarlaget med hån för det? Om man inte förmår heja på motståndarlaget, och det kan jag köpa, varför inte visa dem respekt åtminstone? Hån, hat, förnedring. Vi är större än så. Både som individer och som grupp. Vi kan bättre. MFFs klack är känd för att i stort vara en positiv kraft, som peppar (egna laget) snarare än trycker ned (motståndarlaget), och det är verkligen något att arbeta vidare på.
    MFF Celtic twitter

Genom att visa kärlek och hålla fokus där, skapas den våg av kärlek och kämparanda som lyfter MFFs spelare och får dem att vilja göra sitt allra yttersta. Och är man intresserad av fotboll är det ju det man vill, eller hur?

 

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?

#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?

How do you Do virtues?

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I listened to Parker Palmer giving this commencement address to the graduating class at Naropa University, and several times I got goose bumps and shivers. For me, those have become telltale signs that there’s something important and/or very true being shared.


The six suggestions Parker provides on living a life worth exploring are simple. And powerful. So powerful I followed my urge to split this recommendation into six consecutive blog posts. You can read my thoughts on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth suggestion here.

BoldomaticPost_Daily-keep-your-death-beforeThe sixth suggestion is: ”Daily, keep your death before your eyes.” – St Benedict

If you hold a healthy awareness of your own mortality, your eyes will be opened to the grandeur and glory of life, and that will evoke all of the virtues I have named, as well as those I haven’t, such as hope, generosity and gratitude. 

We get to chose what virtues we hold high, which ones we try to model in the world. And the beauty is, we get a new chance to do so – model it, I mean – over and over again, moment by moment. And in a strange way, there is no tomorrow. Well, of course there is a tomorrow, but postponing my way of showing up in the world until tomorrow, that’s risky business. Because you might not be around tomorrow, and that’s a fact. There will come a tomorrow when I am not here, in this form at least, and the worst thing about that for me would be if I never got around to showing up as me, with my virtues and values held high, because I kept pushing it forward to the next moment, the next moment, the next moment.

Yes, it can be tricky to live according to your values. We are only human after all. That’s why it’s so important to be gentle with ourselves in our humanness. At the same time – it will never get less tricky, less awkward, less strange and unfamiliar, if I don’t start to act in accordance with my view of these virtues. And that’s actually something to ponder as well. I mean – virtues are all fine and dandy, love, hope, understanding, generosity, gratitude and so on. But how do I do them? How to express them in the world? How do I live in accordance with them, so that my actions mimics my beliefs? How do you do love for instance? Or gratitude?

A part of being human

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I listened to Parker Palmer giving this commencement address to the graduating class at Naropa University, and several times I got goose bumps and shivers. For me, those have become telltale signs that there’s something important and/or very true being shared.


The six suggestions Parker provides on living a life worth exploring are simple. And powerful. So powerful I followed my urge to split this recommendation into six consecutive blog posts. You can read my thoughts on the first, second, third and fourth suggestion here.

BoldomaticPost_Since-suffering-as-well-as-joThe fifth suggestion is: Since suffering as well as joy comes with being human, I urge you to remember this: Violence is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering.

As Parker says, violence can be directed inwards as well as outwards. And it’s not the answer, it’s not. Hardest for me has been to stop being violent inwards. Beating myself up, verbally, in the harsh and terrifying inner chatter, that accompanied me for so long. It’s almost weird trying to look back at it. I have a hard time remembering what it sounded like, specifically, because it’s so far from the inner chatter within me right now. My mental chatter has shifted, and as a result. I don’t suffer as much either. It’s like a merry-go-round. I suffer, beat myself up over something, and then suffer more, think I’m a wimp for it, so I beat myself up over it some more…. and so on.

And now. A totally different tone. A gentleness. Towards me. And to think I only realized it was possible to be gentle towards myself around my 35th birthday. (Born in 1972, you do the maths.) When I stopped being harsh on myself (and yes, I do believe that to be a form of violence) something else became possible. Because at that time not only could I could start to take in all of my own feelings, I could also start to take you in. And with that, your suffering no longer scared me (as much anyway). Being less likely to want to thrash out, verbally or physically, at your ways to try to escape your suffering. Understanding it doesn’t say much – if anything – about me, and everything about you.

Me being ok with feelings of suffering (both my own, and yours), those same feelings seem to pass through me quicker and more easily. The rabbit holes of my past used to be so deep it took me forever to get out of them. Now I fall into them, but not as deep, and not for as long. Maybe because I no longer fight desperately to get out of them?

 

 

Podcast 27/52 – Philosophize this!

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How can you not want to listen to an episode of Philozophize this!, when this is the prompt for the podcast:

philosophize this

I have listened to the first two episodes and definitely recommend you give it a try. I have followed the advice and started with episode one. Have listened to episode two as well, which was very funny in parts, providing me with opportunities to learn new things, which is something I love doing! And as the pod is now on episode number 63 (featuring Kant), I am geared for a summer of learning, inching my way towards current day philosophers, one episode at a time.

BoldomaticPost_Its-scary-to-live-in-a-world-w

And again, as I listen to Stephen West I am reminded that I am a philosopher. As I think, and trust, you are as well. Philosophy means love and wisdom. A philosopher therefore is anyone with a love of wisdom, you see, so how can one not then be a philosopher?