staying away and stepping back

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Dublin, Henry Miller, Ireland, new beingings, photography, photos, quote, stepping away

Trying to figure a few things out often means spending time away from what you usually do. By changing your routine you free up time and can tackle all those questions that swirl around in your mind. By stepping away you can step back and take a new look at what the issues are. But no matter how far away you step, eventually, you need to step back into your ‘normality’, whatever that may be.

And while it is sometime hard to step back into your routine, one step at a time seems to be the best way, even if the progress is slow at least it means you are moving forward. And if you set yourself some goals (or write long to do lists) they seem to guide you like the light of a lighthouse in the distance.

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.

Henry Miller

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making us believe

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believing, cognitive fluency, Oscar Wilde, quote, truth, truth and lies

What is the truth? Something you can prove with fact! But what if there is no book knowledge or facts to support what you believe to be true? And how easily are we swayed to trust in something untruthful?

Studies have shown that advertisers, politicians and even journalist use repetition to make people believe them, and interestingly enough it works. The reason behind this is something called cognitive fluency, basically how easy is it for the brain to think about something. When something is familiar we need less effort to process the information, which means we are more likely to believe it to be true.

This obviously makes it harder for us to believe complex thoughts or ideas. If our brain has to go into overdrive to compute elaborate and manifold thoughts we become distrustful, our minds confusing new with wrong. The only way to bypass this default setting in our brains is to repeat the information, even just once helps, but three to five times is optimal.

However we don’t just blindly believe something we hear again and again if we concentrate, when we actively process the information presented we are less likely to fall into the “I’ve heard it before so it must be true”-trap. This means that advertisement benefits from the fact that we are normally too distracted to really compute what we hear, making it easier for us to just except it to be true, instead of using precious mind power to think about it.

Another trick advertisers use to make us believe that what they have to say is true is imagery.  When we hear words and see a picture of the topic at hand at the same time we are more likely to trust the statement. Somehow our brains associate pictures with proof, turning it into a fact and we believe it.

So maybe if we want that pay-rise or an extra day leave we should just keep telling or boss about it, hold up a picture of a pile of money or a beach while we do so and wait for moments in which  he/she is distracted. Maybe then he will believe it and give in to what you know to be true!

After all as the wonderful Oscar Wilde once said:

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple

no timer on timing

Tags

chance, perfect timing, photos, quote, sleep, snooze, time, timing

As I have an early class today this morning everything is down to the perfect timing. After all I didn’t want to sacrifice those precious extra minutes of snoozing in my warm cozy bed.

So yesterday as I set the alarm I worked out how many minutes I needed for the different morning activities: getting dressed, brushing my teeth, breakfast, packing my school-bag (I’ve owned a lovely leather satchel since my first year in secondary school), make tea and walk to the bus-stop.

But when I woke up this morning I realized that perfect timing is something you really just can’t work out. Life is not an egg, that you can let boil till it is exactly the way you like it, in my case the white hard the yoke soft and creamy, but life is a little bit trickier than that. After all we can’t calculate the trips and bumps that we encounter on a day-to-day basis.

But while I was contemplating the matter of timing while sipping my tea I realized that it is exactly those minutes we can’t plan that make life exciting and interesting. Bumping into that cute guy on the bus could mean meeting your future partner, or sitting in traffic may end up with you having a life-changing idea,  meeting an old friend could give you that little bit of “friendly  gossip” that makes you smile or send a much needed compliment our way, and reading “just one more blog” may just make you happy, think or even give you exactly the information you were looking for.

So with all that said time is running out for me this morning and I need to get going and hope that timing is with me today. But as you can’t set the timer on timing, and you never know what the day will bring I will follow some unknown thinkers advice:

Don’t wait for the perfect timing, take the time and make it perfect

The World Time Clock in Berlin- different places different times.

Weekly Photo Challenge: H2O

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H2O, Isak Dinesen, Karen Blixen, photo, photography, quote, Weekly Photo Challenge: H2O

The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea

author Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen)

Weekly Photo Challenge: Pure

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flowers, photography, photos, Pure, quote, Stéphane Mallarmé, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Pure

Lone and erect, beneath light’s primal flood – a lily! And pure as any one of you

French poet and critic Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-98)

 

 

to dust or not to dust

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clean home, cleaning, dust, dusting, home, house, photo, quote

We’ve been having the most beautiful weather for the past week and with that my household duties have been more than just neglected – forgotten and ignored would be more apt. But since my mother will be visiting for a few nights and the sun is exposing all that the shadows normally hide I think it is time to whip out the duster and get to it.

The only problem is that I hate dusting – cleaning in general. After all it always feels somewhat pointless, as as soon as you put down the broom dust begins to accumulate again. And then of course there is the added issue of small urban dwellings, with dirt literally just outside your door and fumes in the air it is hard to keep those floors sparkling and shelves polished.

But since I do have a lot of knick-knacks, bric-a-brac or memories stored in items dotted around the place, dusting always turns into somewhat of a marathon. Maybe that is what so many chose to live with ‘clean lines’ and ‘white surfaces’  and avoid the more cluttered up look. However no matter how appealing that may seem when it comes to cleaning I love surrounding myself with bits and pieces of my life and don’t think I’ll ever change that.

And as much as I hate cleaning, I do love a clean and tidy house.  So with that in mind I’d better put on my bandana and dust the morning away. With the help of some loud sing-a-long music I’m sure I’ll have dusted away the cobwebs in no time – and who knows, maybe by doing so my mind will be free to allow an uncluttered path for my still absent muse.

The objective of cleaning is not just to clean, but to feel happiness living within that environment.

Marie Kondo

getting ready to swing the mop

just wondering

Tags

bee, determination, photo, quote, thoughts, Wayne Dyer, wondering, writing

This morning I was watching a  bee flit around the flowers on my windowsill and marveled at how she seemed so filled with purpose and determination. Her weight bent the stalks of the blossoms but she held on and crawled inwards as far as she could go. After a while she flew off and left me wondering.

Wondering about why the bee knew with such certainty what she wanted and how she was going to get it when I often struggle with that. Not the knowing what I want, more the ‘how I’m going to get it’. Seeing how the bee allowed the stalk to bend to the point that it would break, but it didn’t made me wonder if maybe I just give up to quickly sometimes.

With that in mind I will keep staring at the blinking cursor on my screen and hope that my attempts at getting this book done will be rewarded, without me breaking or me breaking my laptop first!

There is no scarcity of opportunity to make a living at what you love; there’s only  scarcity of resolve to make it happen.

 Wayne Dyer

 

lost hour and a short week

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day light saving, long weekend, lost hour, quote, short week

I love having Mondays off – not only does it lengthen the weekend it shortens the week as well. The extra day day gives me some extra time that I desperately need at the moment – 24 extra hours to do with as I chose, no commitments to distract me.

But since we lost an hour over the weekend – the clocks went forward and the night became shorter – I really only gained 23 hours, but that is still a gift I won’t say no to.

Sadly, instead of going out and enjoying the Easterly sunshine, I am still stuck behind my desk, desperately trying to catch up with my studies and my work. However, at least, I cam look out my window and enjoy the light that come streaming in.

And while of course I’d love to run out and play there is something quite inspiring about looking up and out into the sunshine, work just becomes that little bit easier. The only problem is, time is passing by too quickly – the lost hour seems to have invited a few friends and suddenly the week feels too short, as I schedule my appointments and try and fit everything in.

Daylight saving time: Only the government would believe that you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket.

Anonymous

 

 

distracting Saturday

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distractions, quote, trying to write, Winston Churchill, writing

Why is it that I sit down brimming over with good intentions but when I open up my laptop and stare at the neat rows of letters in front of me everything around me becomes immensely important – more so than the task at hand?

I get up and potter about, return to my mac and sit down, hands hoovering over keys, thoughts forming to only be led down an endless row of rabbit-holes:

The Saturday newspapers need to be read – oh and look a Sudoku yet to be solved – mmmh I think a cup of tea is needed – and what about my emails – oh and I did want to read that post/blog/online article. Every movement outside my window – even the violas bobbing in the breeze – catch my eyes and distract me.

And I so need to write, time is running out before I have to hand in my end of year assignments, but my mind has other ideas, one that seem to stray far away from my novel. But what to do?

Keep trying – I suppose!

You will never reach your destination if you stop to throw stones at every dog that barks.

Winston Churchill

HAPPY NEW YEAR

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2016, happy new year, New Year, quote, Rainer Maria Rilke

I would just like to wish you all a very happy New Year and hope that 2016 brings all that you wish for. And since I have several wishes of my own – some are actually more like demands – I hope that 2016 will grant me mine too.

And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.

Poet Rainer Maria Rilke