cuppa tea?

Some parts of the world are still feeling the cold. Brrrrrr. In the clogcountry (the netherlands) spring is making its gentle entry.

Before getting to bed or when waking up, a cup of tea usually does the trick. Domestic Construction is a company based in Brooklyn, New York. These clustered lights made from teacups are made to order. For more info check out Domestic Construction’s website and/or their Etsy shop!

Bron: http://www.style-files.com/

Being remarkable?

Many people say they are busy. Are they really? Or do they just run around and that way they appear to be? There’s a difference between being busy and actually getting things done.

The ambitious beasties among us like to be exceptional. We fluff, puff and eventually we come across a mirror and laugh at ourselves. Does it matter to be unique? Does it matter whether we are extraordinary? Everyone likes 'different' but not too much of it.

“To be a superstar, you must do something exceptional. The next time you catch yourself being average when you feel like quitting, realize that you have only two good choices: quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers.” (Seth Godin)

Quitting continuing to build my network Quality Living made me realize several things:
1. I really have to learn to stick with my gut instinct. It’s always right.
2. That to be successful at anything, you need the market to be really excited about it. It has to 'grab' people.
3. Only true passion, belief and 150% devotion make any endeavor successful.
4. Quiting teaches the value of experience and wisdom. It's better to have tried and learned then not have done a thing at all.

Getting back to the fear of catching the common cold. Sometimes we feel there's enough of everything around. Is wanting to stand out, and be remarkable important? What does it mean? Why do we want to leave a mark on the world? Why be different?

· “Remarkable is being unafraid to stand out
· Remarkable is having a fire in your belly and an idea that won't quit.
· Remarkable is telling the truth, always
· Remarkable is knowing that a risky idea might fail, but a boring idea will definitely fail.
· Remarkable is falling often and then trying again
· Remarkable is doing more and less planning. More testing and less waiting. More dreaming and less sleeping.
· Remarkable is when you stand for something and make it happen and change the world - or your business or your life- along the way.
· Remarkable isn't up to you. Remarkable is in the eye of the customer. If your customer decided something you do is worth remarking on, then, by definition, it's remarkable.”. Seth Godin

It’s more important to follow your own way and do what your heart tells you. I found I have to learn how to listen to myself, instead of to anyone else. What I keep seeing is that you have to trust the process and keep believing in yourself. Focussing on what you love the most and doing that is always the best way to go.

So wanting to be remarkable is one side of the story, counting your blessings can be equally powerful. We tend to gloss over what we have achieved already. The most remarkable people are remembered for what they did for others in society, for what they contributed and the changes they made. 'Superstars' have been able to develop due to all the support they received.

Growing to be the best you can be and striving to work your bootie off is great. Just keep in mind what you are doing it for, and for whom. What does being remarkable mean to you? What makes you "you"?

Lo and behold

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university Professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life.Offering his guests coffee, the Prof. went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, some plain-looking and some expensive and exquisite, telling them to help themselves to hot coffee.

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the Prof. said "If you noticed, all the nice-looking, expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. That all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the better cups and are eyeing each other's cups."

"Now, if Life is coffee, then the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, but the quality of Life doesn't change. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee in it."

(source unknown)

Assumptions

The dangers of making assumptions is not just that we are, in fact, misinformed, but that we make up a story in our heads that is just plain inaccurate. We fill in the blanks where we should ask for more information. I have been known to do this and I know others who have done the same. It’s a human aspect that can get us in heaps and bounds, troubles and many exclamation marks.

Someone I haven’t met yet in person assumed she could pick something up from me on a Saturday. As a matter of fact I was working so I couldn’t have obliged. She didn’t wait for my answer but decided to head out to get what she wanted anyway. Therefore she made an assumption which didn’t help her. This of course can happen to the best of us. We usually call it a miscommunication.

We can get disappointed, in a panic, a state, a silly situation or in a fiery spirit just because we decided not to check with the other person whether our expectations could be met. Wars must have been fought and people died just because assumptions were made. It’s a funny world out there, but most of all inside ourselves.

What can we do to battle the assumption disease to avoid misunderstandings?
We confess and ASK. We CHECK. We get (as they say in StartTrek) a confirmative. Anything so we know we are on the same page with the other person and that we are in agreement. Does it matter why we assume in the first place? Maybe because we are: lazy to check, feel we know better, are complacent, good in procrastinating or in a hurry. It’s one of the ‘common’ things. The creeping into the scenario bits that we end up regretting later.

Wikipedia says:
"A judgment is something that is knowable, that is, an object of knowledge. It is evident if one in fact knows it. Thus "it is raining" is a judgment, which is evident for the one who knows that it is actually raining; in this case one may readily find evidence for the judgment by looking outside the window or stepping out of the house. In mathematical logic however, evidence is often not as directly observable, but rather deduced from more basic evident judgments. The process of deduction is what constitutes a proof; in other words, a judgment is evident if one has a proof for it."

Right.
So in other words: as long as you do not have evidence to support your thoughts: take the trouble of checking your theory. It makes for an easier life, no need to book a life coach or see a psychiatrist. No dr Freud chaise longue to drape yourself over. No boohoos in the night, no medicine on the bedside cabinet. No apologies to make to someone else. No confession time, no dramas.
Brilliant. Would we do it though? Hmm. Life will tell Holmes...

Ode to my friends

A thank you to you
My friends
Who have seen beyond
The banter and frills
The curls and the fun
The make up of me.

I appreciate your love
And support
Your jokes and your wisdom
May we continue in this life
To continue to toast to silliness
To falling on our face in laughter
To grace ourselves with Toblerone

Life isn’t serious.
Why should we treat it so?

Nature of the beast

My mums latest poetry album has been presented to the world yesterday afternoon in the most wonderful Zoo of Europe, Dierenpark Emmen, in Emmen, the Netherlands. There were also about 30 poetry writers assembled, in the housing part that hosts the butterflies, to witness the moment. Mum handed the first book to the director of the Zoo, mrs Mieke Malda who gave a speech.

Congrats mum to being the most wonderful mum in the world (to me anyway) and to your poetic genius! I'm looking forward to holding the book in my hands once it arives in the post. If you're in Holland, be sure to order the book, it's bound to be wonderful and 'animating'. Go mum go!

www.waaier.com/index.php

Young entrepreneur

Moofus’ website is run by Australian Milan Rodriguez who’s 11 years old. He sells his drawings and prints online on Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5733991

Check out his website: www.web.mac.com/katebanazi/Moofus/About.html

Goes to show that you’re never too young to be an entrepreneur. Why does Milan sell his work? So he can support the animal rescue and in particular the bears…
Good on him. His work is very mature, I love it.

The village is back

Whether you realize it or not: the world has been toured, discovered, walked about, talked about and experienced. It’s been blogged, transformed into Art, put on YouTube, subscribed to and launched in the theaters. What’s the next trend now that we have “explored” this sphere? Is the western world getting bored already?

We might think we’ve gone global and internet has made it so, still we are humans and we are in need of contact, are affected by our surroundings and always want products. The reality is that the world is now a global village and it’s become small again because of that too. Everything can touch another. It’s becoming an art form now to escape this world of ‘reachness’ as we want to be contacted on the one hand, and to live in peace and quiet on the other. Some of us want to “get back to our roots”. So what’s the story?

You can live your life in a fashion you want to. There are so many possibilities of how to live your life, it’s almost scary to scrawl through the channels. I find it lovely not be connected to television anymore. I don’t miss it either. My family would like me to set up Skype and get a dish sorted on our roof. We appreciate it that they are keen to be in touch, and to have skype again would be nice, but at the same time Nico and I like our quiet weekends and our ‘disconnection’ to town/world. It’s the pros and cons of the modern life. This luxury problem of lifestyle choices nowadays is almost embarrassing.

It’s not that long ago that a baker in a village had to maintain the quality of his bread or he’d be in big trouble. His neighbors would spit him in the eye if he didn’t treat them well and his income and family would be affected. You can decide to buy your bread anywhere in this decade but you may choose to buy it from a family owned business because you like what they make and you trust them. Do you find that the temptation to buy online doesn’t beat meeting an interesting human being? I always got to the post office to pay my phone bill as I used to go there when I lived in Dunedin and now I still do even though it’s a bit out of the way. I go there because they are always great to deal with, I have gotten to know them and they recognize me which is a charming bonus.

Some things will always remain the same whichever way the world changes.
Humans have the need to:

• Have a roof over our heads
• Trade to get goods we need to feed, clothe etc.
• Live in a social environment and context.

Where and how we live in that sense doesn’t matter as we may have Wireless internet or not, the human need is the same, to have our daily needs met, to live with other humans, to reach out and connect, even if the world has become a different place. Looking at the essentials we are all the same. What IS the difference really between a native tribe and a modern one? Only technology and knowledge. Neither is superior, they are just different. There are only choice and options in life. In my humble opinion we have too much luxury. Many of us chase it to a cost that extends the dollar value.

You wonder how much comes down to human evolution, and how much to common sense, in deciding what we want our lives to look like. Let’s hope that modern science does not take away that which makes us human in the first place.

Things to do

We all have things to do. The difference lies between the wanting to do things and HAVING to do things. Susan Jeffers, bless her cotton socks, is very good at describing how you can change your perspective from HAVING to in WANTING to. Nico my dearest would just say: it’s a matter of mind set. Both are right.

The good news is that once you can change your mindset that your life will follow! Hurrah! But why do we forget this? Because we are creatures of habit, THAT’s why. Oh.
Back to the drawing board. I learned the following over time:

1) You’re on your own in your life, no one can help you sort your stuff but yourself.
2) That changing HOW you view situations makes you able to change your behavior.
3) Behavior can be consciously changed and altered for life, therefore your experiences will change, and therefor your life will.

Now that may sound fuzzy but that’s how it worked for me. When I’m tired or stressed old things may pop up out of the woodworks but I know what it’s about and how I can let go of the response, which is just a very old one. Someone found me cynical years ago when I told him: people only change when it's in their own interest to do so. I think that's not being harsh, it's just what I found to be true.

You will be pointed in the right direction to HELP you get out of the stuff you got yourself in. If you are choosing to persist in an unfortunate situation that’s usually there because you chose to stick being there in the first place, you can only point the finger at yourself. So it comes down to the old fashioned ‘being responsible for yourself’ thing. Oh darn! You have to work for it. Yes. It can usually just be a shift in consciousness where you choose to look at things differently and picture another vision in your head. That takes like 2 seconds. Amazing and heartening at the same time. Life can be sweet after all.

There are 2 best counselors in the world for you:
a) Yourself
b) Those who say things that upset you. The fact that they have upset you means it’s touched a nerve with you. If you didn’t have that feeling then why would it be an ‘issue’ anyway? It wouldn’t. So stop griping and just admit it. I know it's not always fun but there you go.

When all fails: go on holiday, get chocolate or blubber your eyes out with a friend. And! Try again. Yes, your life is up to you I’m afraid. No easy way out. No emailing to the mighty upstairs to relieve you of your suffering. No MacDonald’s drive through solutions. Darn darn. Oh well. You’ll live. Hey! Keep smiling while you’re at it. Practice that muscle or your face will look 100 years old. That’s right! There you are you charming creature you! Give yourself a high five and make a milo with marshmallows you wonderful softie.

Love motel for dogs

A love motel in Soa Paulo has opened for amorous dogs. The love motel offers decorated rooms for dogs of pet owners who are concerned for their animal's needs.

Robson Marinho, owner of a pet shop, built the air-conditioned room on the second floor and hung a sign that reads "Pet Love Motel". The rooms in the motel, at Barra Funda, are decorated in the same way as love motels for humans, with satin sheets, ceiling heart-shaped mirrors, special control panel to dim the lights, romantic music and lots of cushions. Even the windows have thick curtains for timid dogs that want discretion.

Marinho said: "I am absolutely certain this is the first love motel for dogs in the world""The owner has to know what kind of DVD will excite his or her dog. We also have a wedding agency that matches up dogs and if the female dog doesn’t get pregnant, we offer artificial insemination services".Marinho has already received some reservations for the room. A love room for your dogs costs $41 for two hours

Source: www.stunning-stuff.com/read-weird-news-stories/132.html