Kategoriarkiv: Lärandeprocess

Afraid of otherness?

Publicerad den av
Svara

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 and second suggestion here.

BoldomaticPost_As-you-welcome-whatever-you-fThe third suggestion is: As you welcome whatever you find alien within yourself, extend that same welcome to whatever you find alien in the outer world.

There is no other, that is not also a part of you.

I’ll write that again: There is no other, that is not also a part of you.

So be hospitable, curious and meet the world with the same sense of adventurous journey of discovery that you hopefully have embarked upon within yourself. There is no need to be afraid of otherness. Or rather, you do not need to act upon the fear. You can see it, witness it, and let it pass through. Because you are meeting yourself, when you come across someone, something, which you do not recognize, that feels new and different and unknown to you. That is how to grow. That is how to benefit the world. And that is where my hope for the future lies. Just imagine what will be made possible when we no longer fear otherness. I can see it in my minds eye. Can you?

Grannehörande

Publicerad den av
3

Bloggade ju om bygglovsförfarandet som gjorde mig smått förundrad och en liten smula frustrerad. Fick fantastiskt bra respons från kommunikationsdirektören på Stadsbyggnadskontoret och fick en inblick i både de möjligheter och de utmaningar som en förvaltning såsom Stadsbyggnadskontoret står inför. Att det finns en viljan att göra förfaranden som dessa enklare och smidigare för medborgare, det uppfattade jag definitivt.

Jag cyklade så småningom till stadshuset, besökte Stadsbyggnadskontoret och tittade på de där handlingarna. Hade inget att erinra, men fick min nyfikenhet stillad åtminstone.

grannehörande

Och så, för några veckor sen, så trillade det in ett Grannehörande i brevlådan. Till både mig och maken. Dvs två brev till hushållet. Men ritningar för påseende, om en tillkommande carport på granntomten.

Och då blev jag förvirrad igen. För varför fick vi nu hem ritningar? När vi förra gången bara fick information om var vi kunde titta på ritningar (hos Stadsbyggnadskontoret, i Malmö Stadshus)? Handlar det om att det initiala bygglovet handlade om fler ritningar och denna gången var det bara ett par stycken, och att det därför känns ok att skicka hem ett par papper men inte en handfull? Och varför skicka till både mig och maken separat? Ifall ifall vi inte kommunicerar med varandra, eller? 🙂

Men lite flyt får jag ett svar denna gången också, men jag har inga problem med att vänta på svar tills efter sommaren. Inte för att det är mycket väder att njuta av just för stunden (känns som hösten kom snabbt, 14 grader ute och hällregn). Jag ser dock fram emot ett svar, för jag är verkligen nyfiken och förundrad, och skulle så gärna vilja förstå skillnaden i förfarande mellan dessa två olika typer av kommunikation som kommit mig tillhanda.

Och för den delen, kanske någon annan än en stadsbyggnadskontorsanställd kan veta svaret på min fråga?

Dramaträsket

Publicerad den av
8

Vet du vad jag menar med dramaträsk? Du vet, när någon blivit lämnad, lurad, plastikopererat sig, köpt flådigaste huset, bytt jobb tre gånger senaste året och snacket drar igång. Det är svårt att värja sig och så lätt att falla in i det:

Har du hört? 

Har du sett? 

Visste du att?

Hur är det möjligt? 

Jag skulle väl aldrig…! 

Hur kan hon se något i honom?

Nää, har du sett så misslyckad operationen blev? 

Hon är ju värsta hoppjerkan och snart kommer hon bli portad från branschen om hon fortsätter så där!

Känslorna vallar höga, indignation, avundsjuka, skadeglädje, missunnsamhet.

Än värre är det ju om man själv är del i ekvationen. Den som blivit lämnad, lurad, sparkad…

Snacket går, ältandet, tyckandet, dömandet. Intriger och hämndplaner, strategier och utfrysningar. Vilda drömmar, både dag- och nattetid. Känslorna vallar än högre. Och välbefinnandet är långt borta. Fast lite av en adrenalinkick kan det onekligen ge att fastna i dramaträsket. Blodet hettar, pulsen rusar. Men välbefinnandet är långt borta. Ron, friden, känslan av samhörighet finns inte på kartan. Åtminstone inte min.

BoldomaticPost_Vet-du-att-du-har-ett-val-attHar du tänkt på att det är ett val du har, att kliva ner i dramaträsket eller ej? För så är det. Du har ett val.

Ju mer sällan jag väljer träsket, desto obehagligare upplever jag det de gånger jag medvetet eller omedvetet faller ner i det. Ju mer sällan jag väljer träsket, desto mindre lockar det, känslosvallet sparar jag gärna till annat, till känslor som verkligen ger mig äkta glädje, samhörighet, och ökat välbefinnande.

Dramaträsket. Funkar verkligen som ett riktigt träsk. När du väl trillat i, så fungerar det så att ju mer du sprallar, desto djupare sjunker du. Lösningen för att ta sig ur ett träsk är att stillna, att lugnt fördela vikten på så stor yta som möjligt och sakta men säkert sträcka sig mot, dra sig ålandes, till fast mark. På det viset tar jag mig lugnt och målmedvetet ur dramaträsket de gånger jag halkar dit. För mig har dramaträsket nämligen helt förlorat sin tjusning. Jag vill inte vara där. Alls. Lockar det dig?

Podcast 27/52 – Philosophize this!

Publicerad den av
1

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?

 

The event horizon

Publicerad den av
4

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.

BoldomaticPost_As-you-integrate-ignorance-anThe 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 suggestion here.

The second suggestion is: As you integrate ignorance and failure into your knowledge and success, do the same with all the alien parts of yourself.

What I hear him say is that each of us is a complex individual, with lightness and darkness within. A friend of mine talks to me about black holes, something I know very little about. As I understand it, the boundary between so called normal universe and a black hole is called the event horizon.

That is just about the most poetic description of an edge that I have ever heard. When I heard Parker Palmer speak of the alien parts of me, I saw the event horizon before my eyes. It’s within me. Light. Shadow. Both exist, and are invaluable to me. And we can only ever know ourselves, if we acknowledge and cherish all parts of ourselves. It’s along the edges where magic happens, where light and shadow meet.

So when we utilize our full self, with light and shadow both, there is no end to what we can accomplish. That’s how the impossible becomes possible. And when we dare to see both our light and our shadow, our power is increased. Have you claimed and named your shadow?

Speaking vs Listening

Publicerad den av
Svara

I have a right to speak up, to voice my opinions. And that is a right I hold dearly.

But sometimes, I wonder if we’ve collectively forgotten about the other side of this coin? If and when I speak up, I would like to be listened to. If everyone is so busy speaking, who’s doing the listening? Hence, perhaps it’s time to start to talk about the right, or maybe even the duty, to remain silent and listen as well?

Now, I don’t have to listen to everything, of course not. I’m not saying you need to either. You get to choose. It’s totally up to you! But at least once in a while, stop talking and practice the art of listening instead, and see what happens. You might learn something new, you might be strengthened in your current beliefs, your world might totally flip-flop due to what you hear. But if you don’t listen – you are missing out on many opportunities to grow, to expand your awareness, to get a new sliver of knowledge, and thereby getting another piece of the puzzle in place. The puzzle that is life, wisdom, the meaning of life. The kind of puzzle that has no edge-pieces. An eternal puzzle, where you can add piece after piece, for your entire life.

So don’t limit yourself by talking talking talking so much that you forget the art of listening. Because if you do, you place a limit on yourself. And I know, because I’ve been a lousy listener for parts of my life. So lousy in fact, that I didn’t want to hear any opposing views, because I thought that meant I was no good. If I wasn’t ”in the right” I had to be ”in the wrong” you see.

I totally missed the deeper truth, that by listening, and looking within, at my beliefs, norms and habits, questioning them once in a while, I enter the road to a better life. That’s how to grow as a person. Realizing a few years ago that other peoples opinions don’t have any bearing on whether or not I am good or bad, sure made it easier for me to start to take in what they said, made it easier to start to listen, to dare to look at what happened within me when listening.

I hope I never forget this. I hope I always continue to practice the art of listening, so that my eternal puzzle can grow and expand, in all sorts of forms and shapes and patterns, totally wild, and nothing at all lika a traditional 1000-piece puzzle of a house in the Alps. *Fairly certain the image in my minds eye of that house in the Alps is fairly similar to the image in your minds eye.*puzzle

If you go for the house in the Alps, go for it with all your might. No two puzzles are ever the same, and we should never strive for that either. I want (my!) life, my puzzle, to be something else. Unpredictable. Going for the unknown. Willing and wanting to expand and grow. While being totally at peace with the here and now. Loving myself in the here and now, but childishly curious as to what might come, what might be, what might happen in the here and now of tomorrow?

Podcast 26/52 – on lies

Publicerad den av
Svara

The TED Radio hour from NPR is great. I haven’t listened to the show for a while but figured it was time to provide a new flavor in my podcast recommendations.

I love TED Talks, and have done for a long time. I’ve been watching them for years and years, and almost wonder if it can be as long as it seems, more than 8 years, I know that for a fact. And I also love getting a bit more depth to a TED Talk, and that’s what the TED Radio hour provides me with.

BoldomaticPost_Lying-is-a-cooperative-act-ThThe TED Radio hour on lies is very interesting to listen to. And interestingly enough, although I am a big fan of TED Talks, here’s a collection of five talks that were all new to me! They all center on understanding various aspects of why we lie, and I had more than one aha-moment while listening.

For instance the realization that lying is a cooperative act. Now. I know I live in the experience of my thinking, but I just never really zoomed in with that understanding to the concept of lying before. So yeah, of course the power of a lie comes with someone believing it.

That makes it really interesting though – am I sometimes more likely to believe a lie than not? Surely. Are there people who’s lies I tend to believe more often than others? I would think so. And when am I more prone to lying than not? What are the factors behind my own lies?

Be reckless

Publicerad den av
Svara

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 said/shared.

BoldomaticPost_Be-reckless-when-it-comes-toThe six suggestions Parker provides on living a life worth exploring are simple. And powerful. So powerful I feel an urge to split this recommendation into six consecutive blog posts.

The first suggestion is: Be reckless when it comes to affairs of the heart.

He urges us all to fall passionately in love with life. And to go boldly, not fearing the vulnerability that is a certain companion when living a life worth living. When we give of ourselves, there will be times when we risk getting hurt. But the alternative, of holding back, of not giving of ourselves, of not letting that happen through me, that is mine to give the world. That’s just too sad to even contemplate.

So – go out there, and be reckless. Love. Live. Create! Because if you are anything like me, you are more afraid of regretting what wasn’t done rather than that which was done, when lying on your death bed. Or?

 

Breeze against my cheeks

Publicerad den av
Svara

Went for a slow walk. Actually, I’ve almost forgotten how to walk fast. Me and my family have been in training to revert to the way we humans are supposed to move, in sync with the ground, rather than opposing it with every step. Tommy Olausson of Runfeeling have been helping us. It’s a process of unlearning the old ways of attacking the ground, and learning a new way, the way of the child actually, forgotten since years and years.

And I’ve been practicing. I’ve added a few of the calf-strengthening exercises to my daily Seven-routine. And I try to walk very deliberately, trying to avoid stomping around, and rather meeting the ground gently. As I’ve become more and more aware of how hurtful it is for my body to stomp around, my walking pace has slowed down.

Yesterday I had to walk a bit faster to avoid getting late for a ferry ride, and it’s like I’ve forgotten how to do it. I guess the reason is mostly because I haven’t learned the skill of gentle walking fully yet, and when I’ve got that down, I’ll be better able to up my tempo while still meeting the ground without jolting all the joints of my body. But so far, if I need to walk faster, it’s very easy to go back to my old way of walking, heel hard on the ground. Cushioned by sneakers, enabling me to continue battering my joints, step by step.But here’s a tip: Put your fingers in your ears, blocking outside sound. And then walk. Normal. I promise you’ll get a shock from hearing the jolt when your heel hits the ground! Then try to walk without making any internal sound. And then call Tommy, to make sure you learn properly!

gentle breezeAnyway, returning to the slow walk of the evening. I stopped to take a photo of the long grass with wild blooming flowers, and heard the birds singing as well. Stood still, closed my eyes, and just took it all in. The sounds. The smell. The faint breeze against my cheeks.

As I am slowing down to the speed of life, I notice more both within me, and outside me. And as I notice more, I enjoy life more than before. It get’s richer, fuller, more vibrant.

When did you last feel the breeze against your cheeks?