Book delivery

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I ordered some books last week and picked them up today. Oh, how I long to get started on them. Summer is saved.

As if my book case wasn’t already jam-packed with books I’m longing to read!

books

 

Here’s a quick rundown of these books:
* Synchronicity by Joseph Jaworski I read a month ago, and it made such an impact I just knew I had to buy it (I’d borrow it from a friend). So I’m gonna read it again. And likely, again, and again, and then again. You get the picture!
*The Tibetan Art of Positive Thinking by Christopher Hansard comes highly recommended from a friend, who’s opinion I hold in high regard. I can’t wait to read this one.
*Letters to a young poet by Rainer Maria Rilke is a book that I’ve heard Krista Tippett refer to in numerous episodes of On Being, my absolute favorite podcast, so I finally got around to ordering it too. I haven’t quite figured out what kind of a book this is, so it will be an adventure to dive into.
*My coach Carla have read poems to me, by both John O’Donahue and David Whyte and they have touched my soul. So now I have two books of my own, to dive into. The invisible embrace of Beauty and The house of belonging, respectively. I’m not a very skilled reader of poetry, but I’m practicing, and enjoying myself!
*And finally The Parents Tao Te Ching by William Martin. Pages from this book have floated around Facebook, intriguing me a bit. So I figured – why not give it a go, maybe I will find something there?

If these are the only books I plan on reading this summer? No. Not by a long shot. But it’s a good start, don’t you think? Have you read any of these? If so – what feeling were you left with after reading them? Based on this selection, do you have any other book recommendations for me?

 

 

 

 

 

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?

 

The event horizon

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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.

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?

Goodnight Sun @ Västra Hamnen

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What a magnificent afternoon and evening. Will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Utsikt över sundet vid Scaniabadet

View over the sound at Scaniabadet

Förberedelser inför Goodnight Sun av och med Peter Tegnér, skicklig musiker och gitarrist. Definitivt ett måste!

Preparations before Goodnight Sun by and with Peter Tegnér, skilled musician and guitarist. A definite must if you are in Malmö in July!

Västra Hamnen i Malmö - människor flanerar, fikar, äter glass, badar, skrattar och har kul. Lever livet helt enkelt!

Västra Hamnen in Malmö – people walking, snacking, having an ice cream, taking a bath, laughing, having fun. Living life!

Titanic, populärt ställe att utmana sina egna rädslor. Så också för denna turistande yngling. Jag messade fotot till honom när han kom upp igen!

Titanic, a popular place in Västra Hamnen for challenging ones fears, as this touristing outh discovered when his friends brought him here. I texted the photo to him afterwards, because it turned out so good.

Sprattlar lite med benen under Goodnight Sun

Wiggling my legs during Goodnight Sun.

Mor och son myser.

Mother and son snuggling close.

Rätt upp och ner

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Rätt upp och ner. Här är jag. På Scaniabadet i Malmö, Västra Hamnen.

vindblåstSatt där och såg mig omkring, och påmindes om ett blogginlägg jag läste förra sommaren. Om kroppar. Om hur olika de är. Hur vackra de är, just på grund av sina olikheter. Och hur stor variationen verkligen är. Det var en mamma som skrev och uppmanade just andra mammor att visa sig, på stranden, i baddräkt, i bikini, och att inte skämmas för gäddhäng och sträckmärken på mage och lår, stora eller små eller ojämna bröst, eller inga alls för den delen. Magar och rumpor som putar ut eller in. För det är ju så, att genom att visa att jag är ok med den jag är, så som jag ser ut, så skickar jag signaler till omgivningen, inte minst till mina egna barn. (Minns du vem som skrev det där så får du gärna länka i kommentarerna nedan, skulle så gärna läsa det igen, och ge cred!)

Det där satt jag och tänkte på idag. Så jag tänkte bjuda lite på mig själv. Rätt upp och ner. Med slapp mage som huserat två barn, orakade armhålor, små bröst och håret på ända. I den mån det framgår vill säga. Kunde kanske bett maken ta foto, men jag är ju en selfie-fantast, så ni får stå ut med lite udda vinklar och vrår.

jag

Det här är jag. Oretuscherad. Precis som jag är. Älskad! Av både mig själv och av andra.

Undrar lite om det är det förstnämnda som är anledningen till att jag vågar skriva/visa detta? Alltså, att jag faktiskt älskar mig själv. Hade jag vågat stå rätt upp och ned framför dig, här på bloggen, om jag inte var trygg i att jag älskar den jag är?

Speaking vs Listening

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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?

13,79 and 275 km later – #becauseIsaidIwould

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For a couple of years now I’ve set Runkeeper goals for myself, for walking, bicycling and swimming. This years I’ve switched from yearly to quarterly goals, to ensure I don’t end up like last year, having a huge backlog to deal with the last weeks of the year. Today was the last day for the goals of this quarter, and I got done with the bicycling goal a couple of weeks ago, so that’s not been an issue. The swimming hasn’t gone too well, I only went swimming once, so only 10% of that goal (1/10 km) got done. But I had a fair chance at the walking goal of 275 km, with a total of 13 km to go today to reach 100%.

runkeeper doneWhen I woke up to a beautiful blue sky and sunshine, I got my clothes and shoes on and headed out. Got almost 9 km done then, and after that I’ve been inside working all day. So it felt quite nice to get into my shoes again after dinner, to get the remaining 4+ km done. Which I did. Of course. I reached my goal #becauseIsaidIwould

Now, you might argue that I am a bit wobbly with keeping to my goals, since I totally bombed the swimming-goal of 10 km, while walking 13,79 km total today to reach the walking-goal. And yeah. You’re right. It is wobbly. #becauseIsaidIwould reach the swimming goal as well. Or at least I aimed to. But life hasn’t been such that swimming has been a large part of my days this past quarter. And that’s fine. I am not sticking to these goals solely to stick to the goals. I set them because I want to move, because I like to see the numbers stack up, percentage after percentage, and because I have some odd trait of really enjoying keeping records. Some records at least, the time tracking for work is no fun at all, actually…

So all in all, I am very happy with myself. I got two out of three goals done. Yeah me! When I reached the biking goal I decided not to start a new challenge for myself over the summer, and I feel the same about the walking. I’ll pick up on goal-setting again in the fall, I think. Or maybe not… who knows?

Gräsrotsrörelse av idag

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Jag är så stolt över #skolvåren​ som i detta nu ligger på nr 31 på http://socialmediachart.com i #Almedalen:s brus. Jag vet inte om du vet hur #skolvåren funkar, men i princip är det ett löst nätverk av människor som alla, av en eller annan anledning, brinner för skol- och därmed för samhällsutveckling, och som nånstans i grunden inser att frågan som åtminstone måste finnas med nånstans i loopen är #VarförSkola. (Skrivet på det sättet är det twitterifierat. Jag brukar utveckla det till att det handlar om att få folk i gemen att börja fundera över vilket samhälle vi vill leva i, och därmed, vilket samhälle vi tillsammans ska skapa!)

socialmediachart 29JUN2015#skolvåren har i princip inte några intäkter överhuvudtaget, utan går runt fullt ut på ideellt engagemang. Så klicka dig in på socialmediachart och kolla de 30 företag/organisationer/regioner osv som ligger på platserna 1-30 och jämför förutsättningarna. Snacka om att #skolvåren verkligen är en gräsrotsrörelse. Det är helt sanslöst vad man som gräsrotsrörelse kan åstadkomma idag, jämfört med för bara tio år sedan.

Vill passa på att puffa för de walk n talk’s som #skolvåren-gänget på plats i Almedalen ordnar, gerilla-style (eftersom Almedalsguiden inte släpper in ett evenemang som detta, då det inte ”passar kriterierna” så i år är #skolvåren än mer gräsrot än tidigare! Då gäller det synas i bruset, och därför behöver jag din hjälp – snälla sprid detta!):

Måndag 29/6 gick första walk n talk:en av stapeln, och tisdag 30/6 – torsdag 2/7 har du chansen igen! Fredagen den 3/7 håller #skolvåren en längre workshop på Fenomenalen. Besök FB-eventen för mer info:

Tisdag 30/6 16.00 – 17.30 http://korta.nu/afkAlmedalen2

Onsdagen 1/7 10.00 – 11.30 http://korta.nu/afkAlmedalen3

Torsdagen 2/7 16.00 – 17.30 http://korta.nu/afkAlmedalen4

Fredagens workshop på Fenomenalen, 9.00 – 12.00 http://korta.nu/afkAlmedalen5

Jag är inte där, fysiskt, men gissa om jag är det i ande och själ. Och vet du – pengar är inte allt. Det har denna 2,5-åriga resan visat, gång efter annan. När jag hittade socialmediachart och såg placering 31 så twittrade jag ut en rad om det. Fick ett svar som gör mig fantastiskt glad, för det visar att känslan bakom engagemanget märks. Läs själva:

 

Ta chansen du med att bidra med dina svar på årets Almedalsfråga, som lyder:
Är skolan svaret på frågan? 

Podcast 26/52 – on lies

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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

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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 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?