stepping around my innerer Schweinehund

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Annette Louisan, desk duty, innerer Schweinehund, music, songs, work

For a week now I have been working around the piles of unorganised paperwork and stacks of corrections that are towering around my desk. This unpleasant sight  not only invades my workspace it has now started to creep into my dreams, never a good sign.

So today I have decide, reluctantly and with a lot of inner tantrum trowing, to finally deal with my desk, tidy up and give myself some space.

While my intentions are good, I have to admit that I am struggling to get my procrastination off the easy-chair and into gear. In German there is a word for that inner battle between what you want to be doing and the inability to get a move on –  ‘innerer Schweinehund (inner pig-dog)’.

An ‘innerer Schweinehund’, is that metaphorical sloth, that lounges around and daydreams, it’s the absence of that ‘get up an go’ – it probably ate it for breakfast.

Some of us seem to only have a toy version of a ‘innerer Schweinehund’, it just yaps around their ankle and is easy enough to step over and ignore, other have reared a sizable specimen, a boar of hog, big tusks and loud grunts impossible to overlook and even harder to get around.

So to help me get moving and shimmy and shake around my bully of a ‘Schweinehund’ I have put on some music and this song by German singer/songwriter  Annette Louisan may just be my anthem of the day !

extra special The Hose Presents with The Winters

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Annesley House, Devils vs Angels, halloween, House Presents, music, night out, Parisian Paul Pechenart, songs, spirit of Halloween, The House Presents, The Winters

Last night I wandered around the corner and into my local pub, “Annesley House”, to enjoy an extra special evening with The House Presents.

Someone had decorated the quirky upstairs room and it exuded the spirit of Halloween. The theme of the night was Devils vs Angels and some of us even dressed up and pick a side.

Over some long drinks or beer, a few nibbles on the side, we enjoyed the soulful lyrics of The Winters and the quirky guitar riffs of Parisian Paul Pechenart – my french is too bad to have been able to thoroughly enjoy his funny songs!

It was a great night and a perfect prelude to the night that is today – Halloween! I may not have a costume and I am too busy to try and create one last minute but I will still go down the Mudisland Community Garden, enjoy the fireworks and food with friends, ghouls and other freaks.

The Winters -Real Lies

hearing things – the psychology of sound

Tags

hearing things, music, psychology, psychology of sound, songs, thoughts

Yesterday a sound made me jump. It wasn’t loud, nor was it scary, just a sound that vibrated through my home when I was all alone, making me react, whether I wanted to or not.

I was watching a film, sipping my tea, when a noise surprised me and made me leave my seat and explore. It had been a sort of rustling dong, or a scrapping plonk, a definite downward drop. At first I thought it had come from the kitchen, but I couldn’t find anything out of place, so I wandered upstairs and the only thing I could see was my dressing-grown lying on the ground. Somehow it had jumped of it’s hook and decided to take a nap on the floor.

As I hung the blue offender back up I started to wonder about sounds and how they influence and alert us. We all do that sudden head upwards jerk when we hear an unexpected sound. We all let ourselves get distracted when a song filled with memories makes it’s way out of the radio. We’ve all experienced how the score in a film makes our heart beat faster or brings tears to our eyes.And some of us have sounds that remind them of certain events.

For me, for some odd reason, the sound of the washing machine hon a high spin-cycle always reminds me of summer and makes me happy and I really don’t know why. The first time I hear “Last Christmas” on the radio I know Christmas is near and my heart skips an excited beat. The sound of a train rattling by makes me think of holidays and adventures and the flip-flop on my sandals on the grown makes me feel like skipping down to the beach.

Scientist have known for a long time that sound is closely linked to our emotions. And studies in neuroscience have shown that no only is the Hippocampus (helps form memories), the Amygdala (processes memories and emotional reactions) and the Insular cortex (regulates the heartbeat and is connected to empathy, pain and social awareness) closely linked to sounds, but so are the Cerebellum (motor function and learning) the Thalamus (regulates data and sleep)  the Prefontal cortex (linked to personality and decision making) and the Broca area (affects language comprehension).

When you look at this list it no longer seems surprising that sounds effects us in so many ways, why people react to sounds and particularly music. Our brains are hardwired to listen and often let our ears decide what we think and feel.

With that in mind and the sun shining outside I will now put on some music, let my feet find the beat and dance in the hope that happy thoughts and shook up body will help me find my muse for the day.

 

 

 

 

 

no milk today

Tags

Anatole France, dreams, hopes, hopes and dreams, miscellaneous, music, quotes, random, songs

No milk today, which means no porridge and that means not a very happy start to this cold morning. It may not be the end of all my hopes and dreams as in that famous Herman Hermits song but it doesn’t make the day look too promising either.

As I rummaged around for something to eat and then stood waiting for a slightly stale bagel to pop out of my toaster my mind pondered what hopes and dreams I do have for the day. Nothing as big as saving the world, finding the cure for cancer or campaigning for world peace seem to be on the top of my list, but the hope that I will find the time to buy milk does seem to outrank everything else, closely followed by the dream of a little more sleep.

Of course I hope that my students will learn something today, that what I have to say sticks and that maybe, just maybe it may change their future, get them that job them hope for, spark an idea for a future they dream about or even just help them pass the course, the year, their degree.

My bigger hopes and dreams seem to be on the back burner for the day, patiently waiting for me to find a little bit more time to pursue them, but constantly reminding me with fleeting ideas and nagging thoughts that they are there and won’t be forgotten. After all what would we be without dreams that make us aspire and hopes that drive us on? As the Parisian noble prize winner, journalist and poet Anatole France once said so well:

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream: not only plan but also believe

So I will plan to go to the shops and believe I will find the time and tomorrow my day will start with hot porridge again, a dream I know I can achieve today, making everything else seem  little bit more possible.