Wednesday 9 December 2020

December vibes



I had to take the opportunity to go out this morning and enjoy a long, misty morning walk. The mist is the most beautiful winter elements in Amsterdam and in Holland I think. This is the closest we get to the white Christmas mood. It is comforting and mysterious to walk near the water and inside a park in a morning like this. The contrast between white emptiness and the shapes of the trees, the architecture, the canals and boats just makes me smile. The people disappearing to the horizon and the houses hiding behind the curtain made of minimal water drops in the air.

It is rewarding to experience these sort of magical moments especially this winter. To keep the mind and thoughts healthy and getting some extra energy in these weird times is sometimes connected to the most simple things.
 

Stripes in Vondelpark






Mind talk

It is about choosing the perspective.
Listening and watching, letting the messages and impulses to enter to your conscious mind.
We should not trust too much on our own assumptions, every situation and every person deserves more open ground to be understood. 

The fear of unknown and the fear of loosing control is often stopping us to really listen to ourselves and to other people. 

What sort of challenge makes the unique 'me' and unique 'you' to develop?

We sometimes like to interrupt too much and we like to believe that what we say is right and the absolute truth. It can be a positive challenge to our mind to not always push our point of view in front and let it dominate our behavior. We can try to be a little bit more flexible and give a thought of the opposite way of thinking. We can be friends or have a positively challenging connection with different sort of people. We do not have to stay in our own safety bubble.

I always come back to this theme.
The communication is one of the biggest keys to our happiness in a relationship, friendships and in professional life. This includes how we talk to ourselves and how we draw the map of our mind first. The Personal goals and making plans together are equal important. The needs are changing...because we, the situations and the environmental factors  are changing all the time.

I try to develop in this skill of communication constantly and it is difficult. Sometimes I have to try to "step out of my skin" to let some uncomfortable emotion to go and to be able to understand the situation more objectively.





New perspective 

Spontaneous, inspiring sidesteps

On our many walks last months, we saw some interesting places. For example in  New West, near the little lake of Sloterplas is a local museum, Van Eesteren museum. At the moment there is an exhibition how the youth culture developed in Amsterdam during the time the rock 'n roll music started to spread around the world during the sixties. One part of the exhibition is made from the portrait photos by a Dutch photographer Gijsbert Hanekroot. He took many pictures of famous pop and rock stars during the 1970's and 1980's when they were visiting Holland. We saw some fabulous photos from Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, David Bowie, Patti Smith and many more. Many museums were closed last month, but now it is possible to plan a visit to museums again. It is better to make a reservation online, because of the limited space and capacity during this Corona winter. 

We have some limitations right now, but we can do some small, surprising, inspiring things!! 








Music 

I have always found so much energy and positive recourses from listening to music.

Sometimes I miss the times when we went to dance and had so much fun.

The following video reminds me of the mindset of the youth - BUT let's not forget.. many things are still possible at any age :). 

No one can stop us dancing and dreaming, but sadly we are sometimes our biggest negative voices. 

I have two teenagers in my house. 
Watching their friendships and listening to their stories are so big source of joy.
It gives hope and an example of the genuine, honest and pure attitude in life.

Power music for this week, great positive vibes in this video!



P.S - Insecure times

The amount of new Covid-19 cases are increasing in the Netherlands and in Amsterdam. I just got an email from the highschool of my older child that they will be closed from tomorrow on. Next week they will be back to online lessons until Christmas holiday. The government did not give any strict rules for the schools for this next period until mid January (the rule of using masks was already there),but it seems that the virus is at the moment spreading fast inside the schools as well. The restaurants and cafe's are closed at least until the mid of January. The life goes on with these "given cards" at the moment. You can have 3 visitors at home. Our christmas will be peaceful. We stay home and keep on walking in our hoods.

I wish everyone a lot of strength with the challenges and hopefully the injection process will slowly make some new perspective on this situation. 

I am happy I have my fourth session of the Sound Bowls course this weekend. I have to travel there by train, but I am happy that this opportunity is still possible. I am enjoying my new skills and I am eager to learn some more.