We is Stronger than Me
When we turn the letter M upside down it becomes a W. Me and we are two sides of the same coin and we need both of them to live our lives to the fullest. When we only have ourselves to care about, life becomes dull and meaningless, but equally, if we don’t have that caring for ourselves and try to give away something we don’t have, we also find ourselves drowning in a feeling of emptiness. We need a deep faith and love in ourselves and life. A faith that doesn’t leave us when the world outside gets tough, a love that is stronger and more compassionate than the one on the soap operas and a willingness to feed that contact with ourselves – every day. When we are ‘online’ all the time, we don’t have to try things we already know do not work and we do not have to look for outside acknowledgement because we already have it - inside. We know that we are ‘enough’ and we know that who we are is more important than what we do.
Having faith in life and ourselves makes it possible for us to reach out and meet people in a complete new way. We do it out of compassion, not because we need, want or think that we have to. We do it because we know that four eyes can see things more clearly than only two and that we are much stronger in our togetherness when we go out and make this world a better place to live in. Through continual personal growth, care and compassion for ourselves and our fellow citizens we become a part of the positive force shaping a society that we can be proud of. A society without competition, but with a strong will do work towards a better world.
We is only stronger than me if we are heading in the same direction, if we are a team striving with a mission towards the same destination. We are meant to feel that spark inside telling us that ‘this is the right path, keep going’. The same thing with everything that we have in our lives, everything that doesn’t make us feel fully alive is too small for us. With faith in ourselves, other people and life we can make a difference. It all starts with us and with small actions. A smile, holding a reaching hand or honouring the beauty of nature. Slowing down to be able to digest everything we take in every day. A standing for something, saying no and saying yes. Dropping the laziness. Daring to make a difference, daring to care and daring to be a living example of peace. Changing perspective from get to give and from me to we.
January 31, 2008
January 30, 2008
Footprint January 2008
Being picky is the wisest thing
We become what we engage in. Tell me where you put your time and effort today and it will show where you will be in ten years from now. Nelson Mandela once said that a good head and a good heart always are the most formidable combination. When we step up and use the combination of logic and inner wisdom and become responsible for our feelings, thoughts and actions, there is nothing that can stop the force leading to peace. Both within ourselves and in our surroundings. Everything starts with us and with a decision on how to spend our time, how to use our energy and how to spend our money. We can come from a place of love or from a place of fear, we can focus on ourselves or we can focus on giving of ourselves to others and we can choose to be a part of the problem or a part of the solution.
Our ability to choose is the human being’s most powerful weapon. We have to choose every day, every hour and every minute, being the persons we were meant to be. When we stumble and fall we have to get up again and continue striving towards that vision directing the path that we are on. Creating space in our lives helps us to see clearly what we need to focus on to stay fully awake, alive and conscious, where we need to grow and when it is the right time to make a jump or stand still. When we let everything go and get rid of all things bringing us down we create a freedom that makes our true creativity and our true selves come out. Out of nothing we can create anything and when we create we grow.
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find all the ways we ourselves have altered. Being picky, making wise choices and being selective with what we let into our lives gives us the gift to grow and expand more than we ever thought possible. We become who we surround ourselves with. We become what we eat. We become what we focus on. John Lennon focused on spreading the word of peace through his music. Mother Teresa focused on helping the poor and the sick. Al Gore is focusing on opening our eyes to the inconvenient truth that we are the ones that have to save our planet. We become what we engage in and we express who we are by our actions. Everything starts with a wholehearted decision to engage in what is truly meaningful for us, and nothing else than that.
We become what we engage in. Tell me where you put your time and effort today and it will show where you will be in ten years from now. Nelson Mandela once said that a good head and a good heart always are the most formidable combination. When we step up and use the combination of logic and inner wisdom and become responsible for our feelings, thoughts and actions, there is nothing that can stop the force leading to peace. Both within ourselves and in our surroundings. Everything starts with us and with a decision on how to spend our time, how to use our energy and how to spend our money. We can come from a place of love or from a place of fear, we can focus on ourselves or we can focus on giving of ourselves to others and we can choose to be a part of the problem or a part of the solution.
Our ability to choose is the human being’s most powerful weapon. We have to choose every day, every hour and every minute, being the persons we were meant to be. When we stumble and fall we have to get up again and continue striving towards that vision directing the path that we are on. Creating space in our lives helps us to see clearly what we need to focus on to stay fully awake, alive and conscious, where we need to grow and when it is the right time to make a jump or stand still. When we let everything go and get rid of all things bringing us down we create a freedom that makes our true creativity and our true selves come out. Out of nothing we can create anything and when we create we grow.
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find all the ways we ourselves have altered. Being picky, making wise choices and being selective with what we let into our lives gives us the gift to grow and expand more than we ever thought possible. We become who we surround ourselves with. We become what we eat. We become what we focus on. John Lennon focused on spreading the word of peace through his music. Mother Teresa focused on helping the poor and the sick. Al Gore is focusing on opening our eyes to the inconvenient truth that we are the ones that have to save our planet. We become what we engage in and we express who we are by our actions. Everything starts with a wholehearted decision to engage in what is truly meaningful for us, and nothing else than that.
Footprint December 2007
Silence is the most powerful scream
Noise is all around us. We are bombarded with sounds of traffic, voices, machines and even our own thoughts. The world’s noise has a way of deflecting us from the deeper realities of life. It keeps us preoccupied with the superficial at the expense of the meaningful. To be able to touch souls we need silence. Solitude seeks to silence a noisy world. The more time we spend in solitude and silence, the more we get done in our periods of activity. If we only spend time in activity, we’re getting very little done.Silence heals. Silence gives many messages. When used right, silence communicates trust. It can shed light or place a veil of darkness on a conversation.
It's only silence that lends words life. Being able to use the sound of silence is one of the greatest conversational arts. Solitude and silence teaches us to love people for what they are, not for what they say. Silence can also show that we have great integrity and will not be brought into conversations that could be harmful. Dead silence can cause a conversation to feel heavy, as the speaker may not know if they were heard or understood, and the cruellest lies can be told in silence. The art of silence and the art of communication are to be learned. Life is a fine balance of releasing the right words in the right order at the right time, and deciding which words are truly better left unsaid. Sometimes we need to release the words while they still hold their meaning, before they change in silence. And sometimes we just need to stay quiet in the now and listen. The now never asks what is coming next.
Words can change the world. They can torture, heal, encourage, humiliate, inspire, sadden, give joy and they can forever change our lives. The power of the spoken word is mighty but the power of silence can be mightier still. We have to choose carefully what we say, why we say it and when the best time is saying it. It is as important to cultivate our word power as it is to cultivate our silence power. And as Martin Luther King once said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live”.
Noise is all around us. We are bombarded with sounds of traffic, voices, machines and even our own thoughts. The world’s noise has a way of deflecting us from the deeper realities of life. It keeps us preoccupied with the superficial at the expense of the meaningful. To be able to touch souls we need silence. Solitude seeks to silence a noisy world. The more time we spend in solitude and silence, the more we get done in our periods of activity. If we only spend time in activity, we’re getting very little done.Silence heals. Silence gives many messages. When used right, silence communicates trust. It can shed light or place a veil of darkness on a conversation.
It's only silence that lends words life. Being able to use the sound of silence is one of the greatest conversational arts. Solitude and silence teaches us to love people for what they are, not for what they say. Silence can also show that we have great integrity and will not be brought into conversations that could be harmful. Dead silence can cause a conversation to feel heavy, as the speaker may not know if they were heard or understood, and the cruellest lies can be told in silence. The art of silence and the art of communication are to be learned. Life is a fine balance of releasing the right words in the right order at the right time, and deciding which words are truly better left unsaid. Sometimes we need to release the words while they still hold their meaning, before they change in silence. And sometimes we just need to stay quiet in the now and listen. The now never asks what is coming next.
Words can change the world. They can torture, heal, encourage, humiliate, inspire, sadden, give joy and they can forever change our lives. The power of the spoken word is mighty but the power of silence can be mightier still. We have to choose carefully what we say, why we say it and when the best time is saying it. It is as important to cultivate our word power as it is to cultivate our silence power. And as Martin Luther King once said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live”.
Footprint November 2007
Taking life to the next level
The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person we were intended to be. To be able to take life to the next level we need to think bigger, act better and be willing to do the work. There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going and it is always better to begin building our dream in the evening than not at all. We can act now and very little can do a hell of a lot. It is our duty to expand, to act better today than yesterday and to use our energy by maintaining focus on what is most important to us. When our biggest motivation is to keep challenging ourselves we feel alive and automatically think bigger every day. The word impossible remains deleted from our dictionary, we remind ourselves that full effort is full victory and – we grow up.
We are here for a reason and it is up to us finding out why. Oprah Winfrey proposes one way to test if we are truly following our passion. Ask yourself: “Would you do your job and not be paid for it?” In asking this question herself, Oprah replies, “I would do this job, and take on a second job just to make ends meet if nobody paid me. That’s how you know you are doing the right thing.” When we use the power that comes from focusing on what truly excites us we overcome the obstacles present in our lives. And when we do we will get the confidence to go out and achieve our goals without losing touch with the present. We see all challenges that show up like gifts that force us to search for a new centre of gravity and we remain faithful that there will be sunshine after rain.
If we want to take life to the next level we must have complete mastery of our thoughts and actions and repeat all things that seem to work over and over again. If we do what we always did we will end up having what we always had. We can use every opportunity no matter how brief to practice focusing only on things that makes us expand, grow and feel proud about ourselves. We can put everything else second and know that one day at a time we raise the standard of our lives. In the end it is all about one thing: whatever we want to do, we have to do it. We decide what we are going to do. We decide that we will do it. We do it. And we act in such a way that we wouldn’t be ashamed to see our parrot on TV.
The whole point of being alive is to evolve into the complete person we were intended to be. To be able to take life to the next level we need to think bigger, act better and be willing to do the work. There are no shortcuts to anywhere worth going and it is always better to begin building our dream in the evening than not at all. We can act now and very little can do a hell of a lot. It is our duty to expand, to act better today than yesterday and to use our energy by maintaining focus on what is most important to us. When our biggest motivation is to keep challenging ourselves we feel alive and automatically think bigger every day. The word impossible remains deleted from our dictionary, we remind ourselves that full effort is full victory and – we grow up.
We are here for a reason and it is up to us finding out why. Oprah Winfrey proposes one way to test if we are truly following our passion. Ask yourself: “Would you do your job and not be paid for it?” In asking this question herself, Oprah replies, “I would do this job, and take on a second job just to make ends meet if nobody paid me. That’s how you know you are doing the right thing.” When we use the power that comes from focusing on what truly excites us we overcome the obstacles present in our lives. And when we do we will get the confidence to go out and achieve our goals without losing touch with the present. We see all challenges that show up like gifts that force us to search for a new centre of gravity and we remain faithful that there will be sunshine after rain.
If we want to take life to the next level we must have complete mastery of our thoughts and actions and repeat all things that seem to work over and over again. If we do what we always did we will end up having what we always had. We can use every opportunity no matter how brief to practice focusing only on things that makes us expand, grow and feel proud about ourselves. We can put everything else second and know that one day at a time we raise the standard of our lives. In the end it is all about one thing: whatever we want to do, we have to do it. We decide what we are going to do. We decide that we will do it. We do it. And we act in such a way that we wouldn’t be ashamed to see our parrot on TV.
Footprint October 2007
Creativity is trying things and see if they work
When we block our creativity, we lose touch with our joy and liveliness. And when we lose touch with our inner selves we often try to fill up the loneliness for our creative selves with money and things – which quite never do the job. Nothing can replace creativity in our lives – not work, not love, not children, nothing. Creativity is usually tapped when we are alone and we can not find our creative selves unless we reduce some of the clutters in our lives. We need to be quiet and have an uninterrupted stretch of time. No agenda, no deadlines, no needs of others impinging upon us. No one else will arrange quiet time for us, we have to do it ourselves. And we have to be the ones getting rid of everything that stands in our way to feeling that we have all the space in the world to express ourselves.
We are creative by nature and there are an infinite number of ways we can be creative. Watching TV, listening to music on our CD player or viewing movies can be a way of getting inspired by consuming artistic work of others. But it can also be an easy way of avoiding creating anything ourselves. Turn off the television and turn on your own inner artist. Make sure you don’t turn into a cultural couch potato who take in the effort of others but don’t create anything yourself. As we are doing the activities we love doing we have to remember that we are not doing them to get applause from others. Your primary audience is you. Don’t let criticism cripple you.
Creativity takes courage, because when we create something we open up a part of our inner selves and get vulnerable. People can criticize us and it is always safer not to take that risk. However, if we do not express our creativity we usually feel frustrated and irritable. We have a feeling of not being fully alive and that there is much more in this world to explore. All of us have areas of creativity and each of us has a unique creativity that is especially related to our talents and personality. Creativity is more than mere inspiration. It is also hard work and discipline. There are plenty of reasons why many of us are blocked and we often forget that we are created to create. Thinking and perfectionism are our biggest enemies. Creativity is not about doing something outstanding, it’s about doing. We can’t try to do things; we simply must do things fearlessly with an open mind and an open heart. We have to be willing to go to any lengths and try out new things and see if they work.
When we block our creativity, we lose touch with our joy and liveliness. And when we lose touch with our inner selves we often try to fill up the loneliness for our creative selves with money and things – which quite never do the job. Nothing can replace creativity in our lives – not work, not love, not children, nothing. Creativity is usually tapped when we are alone and we can not find our creative selves unless we reduce some of the clutters in our lives. We need to be quiet and have an uninterrupted stretch of time. No agenda, no deadlines, no needs of others impinging upon us. No one else will arrange quiet time for us, we have to do it ourselves. And we have to be the ones getting rid of everything that stands in our way to feeling that we have all the space in the world to express ourselves.
We are creative by nature and there are an infinite number of ways we can be creative. Watching TV, listening to music on our CD player or viewing movies can be a way of getting inspired by consuming artistic work of others. But it can also be an easy way of avoiding creating anything ourselves. Turn off the television and turn on your own inner artist. Make sure you don’t turn into a cultural couch potato who take in the effort of others but don’t create anything yourself. As we are doing the activities we love doing we have to remember that we are not doing them to get applause from others. Your primary audience is you. Don’t let criticism cripple you.
Creativity takes courage, because when we create something we open up a part of our inner selves and get vulnerable. People can criticize us and it is always safer not to take that risk. However, if we do not express our creativity we usually feel frustrated and irritable. We have a feeling of not being fully alive and that there is much more in this world to explore. All of us have areas of creativity and each of us has a unique creativity that is especially related to our talents and personality. Creativity is more than mere inspiration. It is also hard work and discipline. There are plenty of reasons why many of us are blocked and we often forget that we are created to create. Thinking and perfectionism are our biggest enemies. Creativity is not about doing something outstanding, it’s about doing. We can’t try to do things; we simply must do things fearlessly with an open mind and an open heart. We have to be willing to go to any lengths and try out new things and see if they work.
Footprint September 2007
The greatest power is the power of goodbye
When we stop to change we are dead. To grow we sometimes have to say good bye to things, places and people and we have to let go of beliefs, attitudes and habits that doesn’t serve us anymore. We have to jump without knowing where our feet will land and risk exposing everything that is true for us. To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else. The only way to grow is to let go even when the most frightening things we can think of is to trust our intuition and follow that trusting. We must remember that it is better to be a lion for one day than a sheep all our life. We have to stop playing around and become the people we were meant to be in all of our affairs.
If we don’t make the choices ourselves someone else will make it for us. It might feel like the easier way because then we do not have to own the consequences ourselves. The only catch is that we end up cowards living a lie. We do anything to avoid the fear of making a choice and we have somehow come to believe that security and stasis are synonymous. We have so much fear about facing ourselves and confronting the choices we need to make that we are willing to wreck our lives in order not to have to make a choice. Growth is like breathing and eating, a natural and intimately part of being human. Our lives are not set in stone. Lives, like flowers, continue to unfold and living is a process, not an event. We have options and we have choices all along the way and we will never reach the status quo where we won’t have to be responsible for our choices and actions. That is the biggest gift of being human.
We are dynamic, acting, moving and always changing no matter how hard we try to resist it. We either move toward something life enhancing or toward something destructive. We are never ever static. We avoid getting things clear because we know that when we do we will have to make big choices in our lives. The good thing is that even if we don’t make them we will somehow be pushed toward our evolution and growth because something in us struggles for clarity. That haunting sense that we might be living a lie is true and will continue to haunt us until we do what we have to do in order to live a for us truly meaningful life. It is never too late and today is the perfect day to start by making a choice that leads us in the direction of growth. What is yours?
When we stop to change we are dead. To grow we sometimes have to say good bye to things, places and people and we have to let go of beliefs, attitudes and habits that doesn’t serve us anymore. We have to jump without knowing where our feet will land and risk exposing everything that is true for us. To gain that which is worth having, it may be necessary to lose everything else. The only way to grow is to let go even when the most frightening things we can think of is to trust our intuition and follow that trusting. We must remember that it is better to be a lion for one day than a sheep all our life. We have to stop playing around and become the people we were meant to be in all of our affairs.
If we don’t make the choices ourselves someone else will make it for us. It might feel like the easier way because then we do not have to own the consequences ourselves. The only catch is that we end up cowards living a lie. We do anything to avoid the fear of making a choice and we have somehow come to believe that security and stasis are synonymous. We have so much fear about facing ourselves and confronting the choices we need to make that we are willing to wreck our lives in order not to have to make a choice. Growth is like breathing and eating, a natural and intimately part of being human. Our lives are not set in stone. Lives, like flowers, continue to unfold and living is a process, not an event. We have options and we have choices all along the way and we will never reach the status quo where we won’t have to be responsible for our choices and actions. That is the biggest gift of being human.
We are dynamic, acting, moving and always changing no matter how hard we try to resist it. We either move toward something life enhancing or toward something destructive. We are never ever static. We avoid getting things clear because we know that when we do we will have to make big choices in our lives. The good thing is that even if we don’t make them we will somehow be pushed toward our evolution and growth because something in us struggles for clarity. That haunting sense that we might be living a lie is true and will continue to haunt us until we do what we have to do in order to live a for us truly meaningful life. It is never too late and today is the perfect day to start by making a choice that leads us in the direction of growth. What is yours?
Footprint August 2007
When the fun stops it is time to move on
My favourite thing is to go where I have never been. Meeting people with different backgrounds, languages or habits to me, discover places I didn’t even know existed or finding myself in situations where “normal” people never end up. Some of us just have to find out what is around the corner. What if there is something that we would totally miss out if we didn’t go? We who can’t live with that fact usually end up with a long, interesting and kind of unstructured CV. The moving spirit for me is always growth, exploration and the pure joy of moving towards the unknown. Life is a bit like standing still in an escalator that moves downwards all the time. If we don’t walk – make mistakes, learn new things, find out more about ourselves – we automatically stagnate and start moving backwards. We have to continue walking and we have to be honest with ourselves about when our escalator starts moving backwards.
The world is plagued with enough negative people. We need tons of positive dudes who like to zero in on what is right with the world. Who can’t escape the conviction that it is great to be alive, that work is supposed to be fun and that no matter what the setbacks never loses their sense of humour. We lose many laughs if we’re not laughing at ourselves. When we see how funny we are we can also see how dear we are, perfect in our imperfectness. Laughter is like the human body wagging its tail. If something stops being fun, ask yourself why and if you can’t fix it, stop doing what you are doing. Life is way to short to do things that doesn’t make your heart sing out loud. What if you would find tons of new possibilities just by placing the fun at the top of your priority list? Have fun and both you and your business become attractive. Have fun and you will get those gorgeous laughter lines instead of the worried ones. Have fun and you have no idea what will happen – and when nothing is certain everything is possible.
People that keep stiff upper lips find that it is damn hard to smile. If we walk in the direction of fun we will eventually find it, if we want to find it. We have to put an effort into having a great life; it won’t just happen as we sit there watching our plants grow unless we don’t happen to get easily amused by plants growing. Usually there is no laughter without doing, so the shortest answer to most questions is doing. Do everything you long to do twice as often, twice as boldly and twice as openly. Do it for you. Free yourself from routines that don’t serve you anymore and just do it, whatever it means to you. When you get a chance – go for it and remember that humour is a proactive tool waiting to be used when reaching your goals.
My favourite thing is to go where I have never been. Meeting people with different backgrounds, languages or habits to me, discover places I didn’t even know existed or finding myself in situations where “normal” people never end up. Some of us just have to find out what is around the corner. What if there is something that we would totally miss out if we didn’t go? We who can’t live with that fact usually end up with a long, interesting and kind of unstructured CV. The moving spirit for me is always growth, exploration and the pure joy of moving towards the unknown. Life is a bit like standing still in an escalator that moves downwards all the time. If we don’t walk – make mistakes, learn new things, find out more about ourselves – we automatically stagnate and start moving backwards. We have to continue walking and we have to be honest with ourselves about when our escalator starts moving backwards.
The world is plagued with enough negative people. We need tons of positive dudes who like to zero in on what is right with the world. Who can’t escape the conviction that it is great to be alive, that work is supposed to be fun and that no matter what the setbacks never loses their sense of humour. We lose many laughs if we’re not laughing at ourselves. When we see how funny we are we can also see how dear we are, perfect in our imperfectness. Laughter is like the human body wagging its tail. If something stops being fun, ask yourself why and if you can’t fix it, stop doing what you are doing. Life is way to short to do things that doesn’t make your heart sing out loud. What if you would find tons of new possibilities just by placing the fun at the top of your priority list? Have fun and both you and your business become attractive. Have fun and you will get those gorgeous laughter lines instead of the worried ones. Have fun and you have no idea what will happen – and when nothing is certain everything is possible.
People that keep stiff upper lips find that it is damn hard to smile. If we walk in the direction of fun we will eventually find it, if we want to find it. We have to put an effort into having a great life; it won’t just happen as we sit there watching our plants grow unless we don’t happen to get easily amused by plants growing. Usually there is no laughter without doing, so the shortest answer to most questions is doing. Do everything you long to do twice as often, twice as boldly and twice as openly. Do it for you. Free yourself from routines that don’t serve you anymore and just do it, whatever it means to you. When you get a chance – go for it and remember that humour is a proactive tool waiting to be used when reaching your goals.
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