Etikettarkiv: On Being

DAY 2 #NAJOWRIMOPROMPT: What inspired your creative self?

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Yesterday you wrote about ways you express yourself creatively. For today’s journal entry, write about you creative influences. Who and what makes you feel creative. Who and what do you draw creative inspiration from?

Creative influences. Now that’s a questions I can probably provide a multitude of answers to, but nobody but me can make me feel creative!

I find it a bit odd that I read thousands upon thousands of blog posts (most notably school-related ones as well as Seth Godin, Leo Baubata, Arvind Devalia and the likes) up until I started blogging myself. Then, I basically stopped following blogs. I still read some occasionally, but I haven’t followed a blog for years. With one exception, that of my friends Wivan and Anders, as it’s one way to ensure I know what’s going on in their lives as they travel the world.

Since I started blogging myself, I listen to podcasts. (So yeah, I wouldn’t be surprised to see myself pick up podcasting and then cease to listen to other podcasts?!) All through out this year, my Sunday blog post has been, and will be, a podcast tip from me. My absolute favorites are On Being, One You Feed and Good Life Project. There are other as well, some Swedish ones, such as 100%-podden by my friend Charlotte Rudenstam (there are a few episodes in English as well, so do check it out) and Värvet with Kristoffer Triumf, but also English ones such as Freakonomics Radio, Peak Prosperity Featured Voice and several NPR shows with Invisibilia and Serial as my most loved ones. And yes, I draw an immense amount of creative inspiration from these podcasts!

appleNature is also something from which I draw creative inspiration. Walking about. Sitting down. Looking at a tree, a lake, a rock, a straw of grass, ants in an ant hill… anything and everything, nature is a marvelous source for inspiration!

And family and friends of course, it’s like having my very own treasure chest full of creative inspiration! I like to witness and observe, both the ongoings of my family and friends as well as what happens within me when I am in interaction with the ones close to me.

Since I’ve stopped reading blogs so much, perhaps you think I no longer get creative inspiration from written material. Well. That would be a faulty assumption. I read books, I love books, and I get a lot of inspiration from them. Fiction is more to let my mind just be, without triggering it too much, but I also read a lot of non-fiction, which definitely does just that, triggers my creativity, my curiosity, a wish to sit with a certain question or topic, and see what happens within as I do so. A lot of that comes out as blog posts.

Do I have other sources for creative inspiration. You bet. I could jot down another ten sources, easily, but no, I’ll stop here. But what about you? Who and what do you draw creative inspiration from?

Podcast 40/52 – the act of noticing things

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My friend Laura told me she’d listened to Ellen Langer on On Being, and suggested I check it out. So I did (and would have anyway, since On Being is a favorite show of mine. But I am so happy for the suggestion!), and once finished, pressed Play immediately, to listen yet another time. And actually, I’ve listened to the episode more than three times by now! It’s definitely a very good show to listen to, at least if you are in any way interested in mindfulness, or mindlessness, for that matter. Ellen Langer has a purely scientific take on it, and I really like her definition of mindfulness: “the simple act of actively noticing things”

Because that is really what it is all about. And she does have a point. I mean, how do I DO ”being in the present”? How do I know I am ”being in the now”? And she is spot on with her definition. You are present when you notice things. That is how you know you are in the present moment, and not off on a mental tangent somewhere or other.

Now that’s just one of many precious gems in this episode of On Being, and I will just pinpoint one more, before letting you head on over to On Being to listen for yourself.

Fairly early on in the show Ellen speaks about perspectives, and what she said really got me thinking. She points out how nobody truly believes there is just one way to look at the world at large or a specific detail (unless they are a fundamentalist, my addition), and yet, we so often go through life doing just that. And she gave me a much needed nudge, to look at a specific person in a fairly periferal position of my life, who still somehow seem to take up more energy and space than I want. And wham. All of a sudden, I could see what for me seems like very petty and begrudging behavior, in a totally new light. I all of a sudden developed a lot of empathy for said person, because I realized that a likely cause for the behavior is loneliness and a fear of not having any friends.

noticing things

It’s so amazing when those shifts occur, it’s as if a door opens that I had no clue was there in the first place. And that my friends, is definitely an example of the simple act of noticing things.

So. Stop. Pause. Look around you.
Notice five new things about the space you are in?

Podcast 39/52 – Chickensoup for the soul

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Thursday to Sunday have been a long enjoyable chickensoup for the soul-moment for me, as I’ve been travelling in England with my choir. England have greeted us with the most magnificent fall weather, and we’ve taken in the sights, sounds and smells of Oxford and its surroundings. On Saturday we sang in Enstone parish church of St Kenelm’s, and it was a joy. Good accoustics and an attentive audience, including both a touch of royalty (as the Swedish princess Margareta attended, being a resident of Enstone) as well as one sweet soul who let out the most appreciative ahhh at the end of each song. (And no, it wasn’t someone in pain, trust me, I know the difference!)On Sunday (today that is) we will sing in the service at 11 am in St Paul’s chuch in Covent Garden, also known as the actor’s church, as well as give a repeat concert at 1 pm.On account of all this music, as podcast tip 39/52, I wanted to share a special episode of On Being with you, the one featuring Yo-Yo Ma, world-reknown cellist. And, as it turned out, an extremely interesting human being, with such a great knowing of why he does what he does. 

I’ve listened to this episode, both the edited as well as the uncut version, many times, and each time I am left with the most lovely sensation of deep inner calm coupled with a great appreciation for the wisdom available to us all. Yo-Yo Ma personifies this for me, and I hope you will take the time to listen. And don’t be fooled by all this talk of music, it’s definitely a conversation spanning a wide array of life, including music, but really centering on Yo-Yo Ma’s love and interest of humanity.

Music is what happens in between the notes, Yo-Yo Ma says, and I can only agree. In between the notes, my soul is restored, my mind can take leaps of joy as well as sorrow, and it is truly chickensoup for the soul. For me, listen to, or creating, music is definitely one of my favorite pastimes to sooth as well as vigorate my soul. What’s the best chickensoup for your soul?  

Podcast 38/52 – Stillness

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I remember the first time I came across Pico Iyer. He gave a TED Talk on The Art of Stillness that captivated me. His words, his way of showing up in the world, his message. All captivating, and performed in such a way, that something opened up within me.

Stillness was never a word I used to describe myself. Before. Perhaps I’ve been more still in a bodily manner, but definitely not mentally. Mental chatter, constant, busy busy, chatting away at all times. Never knowing how to shut it up, or to stop paying attention to it. Never a still moment. Almost.

Now. I revere the stillness that I find, now and again, often on a daily basis. Meditating for instance. But also in micro moments throughout the day, discovering something beautiful, sensing a smell, or a sound, or even the absence of sound. Captivated, for just a microsecond, as if time stops, ceases to exist, like pressing a pause-button.

Pico Iyer also had a conversation with Krista Tippett, On Being, on the Art of Stillness, and I thought it would be an excellent companion to the reflections on being aware, that have dominated the blog this week. Pico Iyer travels the world, and then travels within his inner world, deciphering the first kind of travels through the second. In a sense, becoming more aware of what goes on outside, by a raised awareness of what goes on inside. travel to be moved

This is what my life journey have started to feel like, a travel, a journey of discovery, of expansion as well as stabilization, of awareness. And the more I travel, roaming the landscape and continents within, the more I am moved by moments of pure presence, in me, as well as outside of me.

Today I will be traveling, and Pico is spot on. I am not traveling for the sake of moving around, I am traveling with the hope of being moved. And I know I will be.

Why do you travel?

 

Podcast 37/52 – mindblowing podcast on intelligence

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Oh. Perhaps you are getting fed up with the podcast tips I’m providing every Sunday. It’s almost solely Good Life Project or On Being that I’ve featured lately. But heck, those two shows are simply so good. Honestly, if you have yet to actually click on one of the links I’m inserting into these podcast tip blog posts, you really should give it a go.

And, yeah, of course, you’ve probably guessed by now that I’m gonna write about one of these shows today as well. And you’re right. I will. You see, I’ve been listening over and over to an extremely fascinating conversation between Krista Tippett and educator Mike Rose on the intelligence present in all kinds of work.

Mindblowing. Mike describes the intelligence of a waitress, and made me realize what a fenomenal memory many waitresses have. The intelligence of a plumber, who perhaps works in limited surroundings, making it impossible to actually see with his or her eyes what the issue is, but through the help of probing fingers and an ability to paint an internal picture, can solve it. There’s beauty and, indeed, intelligence in all the millions of different work activities that goes on, through out the day and night, all over the world.

MindblowingI’m even fascinated by my fascination over this! And I’ve got a treat saved up for myself as well. There’s an unedited version of their conversation that I’ve yet to listen to. Oh goodie!

Anyway, check it out, and please pay extra attention the last 10-15 minutes of the episode, as Mike and Krista then touch upon a topic very close to my heart, that of the purpose of education, of learning, of schooling. I usually twitterify the question as #WhySchool, and, guess how happy I got when I heard Mike speak about why he thinks it’s so important to be very clear about the purpose of schooling and education. Oh, and if you want to, please let me know what pops up for you as you listen to this episode. Id love to hear your thoughts on the topics raised in this show. Ok?

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?

Podcast 28/52 – Stewardship, not disruption

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I’ve not followed Brain Pickings a lot, but now and again I stumble upon something coming from that site, and it’s almost always magnificent. Making me wonder, kick-starting my curiosity and often being very inspirational. Then I listened to Maria Popova of Brain Pickings in a conversation with Krista Tippett from On Being.

Guess what happened after I was finished listening? I pressed PLAY once more, and took in the entire episode once more. I believe I’ll listen to it over and over again. Because there’s so much interesting stuff in this podcast, beautiful sentences, phrases, stories about Marias grandparents, and much else. It’s hard to pick out one or two things, because it’s truly an episode worth listening to in full.

But the sentence below, which is a quote by a friend of Marias, really hit home. Perhaps because I’ve been talking about the need for personal stewardship with a friend of mine. How it’s a word, and an activity, that we seem to have forgotten, I believe.

BoldomaticPost_Culture-needs-stewardship-not

Sitting here looking at that quote ”Culture needs stewardship, not disruption”, my mind took a leap. To cultivation itself. To the no-dig no-till practice of cultivation put in use by Paul and Elizabeth Kaiser, that I got so enthralled by in the Peak Prosperity podcast. They explained how disruptive it is for soil structure, and hence, for soil-living creatures such as a majority of all wild pollinators, when we dig, till and uproot plants from the ground. They work with nature, rather than against it, and boy, are they rewarded!

There’s more for me to discover here, I can sense it lurking just beneath the surface. So I’ll sit with it, letting it take its time. Sooner or later it will emerge. I won’t try to dig for it, because that would likely just disrupt the process.

Does this quote evoke anything in you?

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 25/52 – a punch in the nose

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Oops, I forgot. Sundays is my recommend-a-podcast-day here on the blog, and I simply forgot. Luckily, I can make up for it today. And I will make it up by giving you a punch in the nose… sort of. The one doing the punching is life though, and not me.

BoldomaticPost_Life-is-a-contact-sport-Its-aJonathan Fields runs Good Life Project, which is one of my top three podcasts (accompanied by On Being and One You Feed), and I often listen more than once to them. This specific pod first emerged as a blog post and if you don’t have 6 minutes to listen, take the time to read it. It’s well worth it!

So here’s Jonathan with a short riff on how life is a contact sport. If I am so afraid of what the contact might result in perhaps I also shirk away from life itself. I mean, in life, the occasional bruise and blister is certain to occur, and I might be unlucky enough to get a concussion or a broken bone, but I also might not. I don’t know in advance, do I?

Hiding, in a state of non-living, afraid of what might or might not happen if I engage. Desiring a warm welcoming hug. Dreading being punched in the nose.
And when dread and fear outgrows that which I desire and want, inaction is the likely outcome.

Is there anything more sad than a life not lived, on account of fear?

Podcast 23/52 – the wisdom of tenderness

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I can’t help it. Here’s another On Being-episode that I so hope you will listen to. Krista Tippett in a conversation with Jean Vanier, an episode recorded in 2007 when he was 79 years old. Jean is the founder of L’Arche, just having celebrated it’s 50th anniversary, hence the re-broadcast of the interview. And I am grateful for that, since I might not have discovered this particular episode in the archives of On Being otherwise.

(But there’s a thought – how many other gem’s are hidden in the archives? I might just set my mind to listening through all of On Being, every episode produced…. now there’s a quest!)

Being very interested and involved in the school debate and the educational system, I found this bit especially interesting to listen to:

The balance of our world frequently is seen as a question of power. That if I have more power and more knowledge, more capacity, then I can do more. […] And when you have power, we can very quickly push people down. I’m the one that knows and you don’t know, and I’m strong and I’m powerful, I have the knowledge. And this is the history of humanity. And that is all of what I’d call the whole educational system, is that we must educate people to become capable and to take their place in society. That has value, obviously. But it’s not quite the same thing as to educate people to relate, to listen, to help people to become themselves. 

BoldomaticPost_It-s-the-realization-of-how-t

There’s something to ponder, for me, and others, of whom I ask the question Why school? The reason for asking, for me, is to get people thinking about the society we create, through the whole educational system (as well as other structures, but for me, the educational system and family are the top two factors.), and if we are creating that which we want to see more of. Like Jean Vanier said, capable people taking a place in society is all fine and dandy. But then what? What else is needed/desired?

L’Arche, which centers on sharing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, is new to me, as Jean Vanier is. I get intrigued, as I listen to what Jean speaks about, which is the thing I dream of. A world of people becoming themselves, relating and listening, sharing tenderness and love. A culture of welcoming. To and of all.

Fascinating to listen to the wisdom of tenderness this old gentleman has, towards life, all of it, regardless. And to hear him speak of growing older, and absolutely loving it. Witnessing the increasing frailty of his own body, being in total acceptance that his mind no longer can keep up as it used to, that his body demands an afternoon nap and so on. It’s just pure love. Magnificent.

What if…. I met the world from the wisdom of tenderness? What if…. we all did?