Stranger Things
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Mike Driver
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Janaina Medeiros
cherry valley forever
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Origami Around
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will byers stan first human second
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
JBB: An Artblog!
art blog(derogatory)
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KIROKAZE
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@thezenofmarshmallowroasting
Hyper local
April 16th versus March 4th.
It’s unbelievable how much the world and daily life has changed in those few weeks.
Everything is different but at the same time, everyone adapted and snapped into a new routine.
There is no more school.
No commute to work.
No big city and maddening traffic.
No walking in the woods, going fishing or playing at a playground.
Everyone is working from home.
Lots of…
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Time must be your primary unit
Time must be your primary unit
Most, if not all of us, measure success, and what we strive for in the unit of money. Even if we tell ourselves we don’t think it’s the most important thing, we subconsciously do, as we think about what money allows us to do.
The primary unit of measurement defines how you think about your priorities.
While we all believe to think about money as a proxy, and means for experiences, it becomes our…
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Mental Minimalism - Free up Your Mind
Mental Minimalism – Free up Your Mind
There is much talk about Minimalism these days. Tidying up your closets, room, houses,… That is all good and I fully subscribe to it. There is another, even more important area though that is much less talked about: Mental Minimalism.
Mental Minimalism – declutter your thoughts.
Our minds are always busy with seemingly important decisions or worrying about things in the past that we cannot…
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Digital Detox
We are out on our summer trip, road-tripping with our trailer and camping out in National Parks throughout the West, and life is good. Really good!
I was reflecting a little bit on what is different, what makes this feel so much different from the daily routines we are in.
There are several things. Obviously we don’t have to work or tend to our Honey-Do lists. We are a little further away from…
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“Making daisy chains takes my mind off”
“Making daisy chains takes my mind off”
We need to listen more to our kids, they are the true teachers.
I was making daisy chains with our daughter today – actually she taught me how to make daisy chains. Seeing her work quietly, I asked her what was going through her mind.
Her answer was worthy of a Zen master:
I don’t think anything when I make daisy chains. Making daisy chains takes my mind off.
There’s a lot to learn from her.
Be…
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Small changes can have huge impact
Small changes can have huge impact
I am not obsessed with my weight. To me, weight is just one input to an overall healthy life and lifestyle. However, I noticed that I had gained almost 15 pounds over the last half-year without really knowing why. That disturbed and frustrated me to be honest.
I did make a plan to do more sports but couldn’t follow through to the extent that I wished due to work demands. Actually I didn’t…
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The Four Burners
I read and interesting article about work life balance by James Clear (https://jamesclear.com/four-burners-theory – The Downside of Work Life Balance).
The theory
The theory is that you can compare juggling your life with four burners. One for Family, one for health, one for friends and one for career (you might notice that I sorted and prioritized them differently from James).
The statement…
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Be a Woodsman in the Summer, be a Scholar in the Winter
Be a Woodsman in the Summer, be a Scholar in the Winter
I had a long-ish list of things I wanted to prepare for our Tai Chi classes over the summer break. I also wanted to work on the new edition of our book. And while I’m super passionate about Tai Chi and it’s a big driver of purpose in my life, it didn’t happen. I just didn’t feel the drive for it.
For a while I actually felt really bad about that, but then it dawned on me – this is another…
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Learning curves
Learning is never going to stop. You die if you stop learning.
I’m in a phase right now learning something new every day. Mostly about myself. Not always something to be proud of, but I am trying to work on it. I am listening to the book “You are a Badass” on Audible right now and it totally resonates with me.
A few outtakes right now are on my mind here:
Be in the present.
Don’t be anxious.…
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Aliens
I’m outing myself here as hard-core Science Fiction Fan and believer in the existence of Aliens. No, I’m not talking about little green men or Spock like creatures. We are turning into the latter one ourselves (see “A calm Brain” by Gayatri Devi: our frontal cortex will take over). No, I have never seen a UFO except in movies and have not been abducted. But I cannot fathom that we should be the…
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Every now and then we ask ourselves the big questions: “What is this life all about? What will we leave behind? What will be our legacy?”
There are many great answers to these questions. Most of them come down to making a difference. Changing the world (for the ambitious crowd) or changing how others perceive us by getting rich, pretty(er) or famous (for the more egocentric folks out there).
What I personally really want to leave behind are fond memories and strong bonds with the people in my life that I care about most, especially with my family.
Which is a long intro to get to the point I want to make in this post: focus your time and energy on creating rich experiences, fond memories and with that strong bonds.
Focus on experiences
Making time for and investing in experiences was one of the big resolutions and promises to each other that Uli and I made when we moved to the US.
Back in Germany we were always super busy during the week, exhausted on the weekend and as a result crashed on the couch in front of the TV most weekends instead of going out and experiencing the world.
We were also living in the same area where I grew up and subconsciously we probably thought we had already seen it all anyways.
So how do you do this ‘experience thing’?
Block time, make it a priority
First of all, as for everything, you need to decide to actually do it and commit to it. Block time, protect that time. Define a measurable goal or success criteria. For us it was to commit to going outside or doing at least one fun and engaging activity every single weekend.
You need to defend that time since you will of course have errands to do every weekend that will distract you from your goal. Do it! The renewed energy you will gain from your experiences will let you blast through your other responsibilities much more effectively once you’re back.
You will also often need to kick your own behind because all you really want to do is to actually crash on the coach. Get yourself going. Get over the hump. You will feel much better afterwards. And if not, you can still get your beer and chips and decide that I suggested a really stupid idea to you.
On a side note, Uli and I don’t watch TV at all anymore – it’s too much of a time and energy sucker. The only exception is the occasional movie night with the kids, which quite frankly is much more about the experience than the actual movie when you watch Frozen for the 20th time.
Keep your curiosity
The big stuff is awesome. We love going to National Parks and spending our vacations camping in nature.
Don’t waste your time waiting for your next vacation though. There is so much to explore right here, every day. Keep your eyes open and be curious like a child. If you have a hard time doing that, watch your children, they will teach you. Rediscover your inner child and its playful curiosity and wonder for the world.
Invest in experiences
Rather than buying lots of stuff, that will soon end up at your next garage sale, spend your resources on experiences.
Instead of buying that beautiful little thing, go to your state park website and book a campsite for next weekend. Instead of renting that movie, get gas for your car, grab your loved ones and drive into the mountains. And instead of buying your kids that new toy, get them a swim suit and go to the lake.
Our biggest investment this year will probably be a new camping trailer since our old one starts to fall apart. Rather than a new TV or car or whatever status symbol we could show off to friends and coworkers, this will bring us out with our kids for irreplaceable bonding time and fun. You don’t need a trailer though, a tent or picnic basket will do just fine. The point is, focus on getting stuff that make you create experiences.
Which brings me back to closing the loop with my intro.
Leave a legacy for your kids
What really made us double down on experiences are our kids. They are still young and sometimes even listen to mommy and daddy. Sometimes.
So we still have direct influence on their lives and views of the world. That won’t last much longer though. Friends will take over as influencers. They will become more and independent and soon take off into their own lives. They will have their own families and kids and will carry forward what they picked up from us.
So what can we leave?
Teachings and rules? Unlikely to stick.
Stuff? Maybe. They will be ‘thrilled’ to have to get rid of all of the old ‘junk’ that we will leave them.
Memories? For sure. And I think experiences and shared memories will shape their lives more than any smart advice we can give them. After all teaching by example is still the most effective method of teaching (it might well be the only one that actually works).
If you only remember one thing from this post
Invest your time, energy and resources in building experiences. Through that, create strong bonds and memories with your loved ones. And have a TON of fun along the way!
Invest in experiences, not stuff Every now and then we ask ourselves the big questions: "What is this life all about? What will we leave behind?
Minimalism - Simplify your life
Minimalism – Simplify your life
I guess this is one of the basic principles in my life so far. Be it my choices in sports: Karate, Tai Chi, other Martial Arts or in arts: Ikebana, Sumi Painting, Photography or woodworking. Yes, Minimalism or Simplifying your life is a modern trend, but looking back it has been part of my life all the time. Sports and Minimalism Following a totally random choice of starting Karate (Shotokan) at…
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Forrest Bathing
Did you hear the newest scientific Study, that Forrest Bathing is good for your soul? That we have to go outside, surrounded by trees and grasses and fresh air. Just walking is enough to have significant lower stress levels. They studied Cortisol levels and sleep patterns. They started workshops and classes for Forrest bathing in Japan . You can sign up for lead nature walks to get your dose of…
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I love Rocco!
Who is Rocco? Rocco is our newest addition to the family. He helps cleaning up, is relatively quiet, get’s up and in bed on it’s own. He feeds himself, does not fall down the stairs and stays out of rooms, when I tell him to. The kids love him and even take care of him on their own. Altogether he is pretty easy to take care of. Who is Rocco? Rocco is our new iRomba and I am so glad we decided to…
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On our way back home
We are on our way back home from a short trip to Leavenworth and Winthrop, WA. It’s always a great time to sit in the car, just driving, looking around and contemplating life and love and just about everything. For me it’s always a time for thinking, planning and getting new energy to tackle the daily life. Thanksgiving was a nice day. We had our traditional turkey feast and friends over. When…
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