A rather interesting conversation, this weekend between my kids and their friends while walking outside: Kids: “We will have ICT* lessons and then we will work on computers, that will be fun.” Me: “Do you know what ICT stands for?” Kids: “Yes ipad, computer, telephone – I, C and T; we will use all three of them, how […]
Four years ago I wrote below piece on my personal blog. It caused some controversy with some people but still today I stand to those points, today perhaps even more so then ever. I therefore decided to dig the piece out, adjust it here and there and to publish it again. It is a longer
The other side of an expat life Read More »
Summer holidays are coming to an end and when talking about them I can’t help but review a little on how they went. I will start with my outcome from this summer experience, my lesson learned so to say: While I strongly do believe that is important to take time for yourself and your things
Letting go of (summer holiday) expectations Read More »
We are coming towards the end of summer and often changes come along, too. Children may start new schools, leave their home for studies, start working; this all may be close to home, further away or even overseas. Some brush such changes off easily, are joyful and excited, others may be a little bit more fearful
I admit right from the start that I have not tried the game but the sheer thought of what is behind the new hype of “Pokemon Go” almost infuriates me. And I may be alone here, but that is ok! Aren’t most of us complaining about too much attention and time spend on electronic devices?
Often mudras are put into connection with Yoga, sitting in meditation. But it is more to them as they can as well help to bring more “meaning to our awareness and into our expressions” (Mudras of India, book) and help our body and mind to heal. I tend to use them at times when I
Mudras – Hand Gestures Read More »
At the moment “mindful” seems to be one of the buzzwords and a lot of truth lies behind this simple word. Especially in today’s environment, when everything and everybody is rushed and multitasked and nothing seems to be good enough. It is important to halt, to breathe, to be aware, to allow to feel both
The buzzword – mindful Read More »
I know some people, and include myself here, who cringe when they hear the word meditation. Hearing that word doesn’t put us at ease, instead, it creates tension. This visual image of sitting in lotus pose or at least crossed legged for a long time. Peacefully, no moving nor thinking! “No way, not for me!”
Meditation – don’t let it scare you! Read More »
Happy Sunday! Not much more to add to the below message. I fully agree – it is all about the balance!
All about the Balance Read More »
Life has all sorts of colours, bright, shiny, dark and dull. To live a truly colourful life we need to allow us to live through all the various shades. Aim to make your life as colourful as you can. Don’t hold back! Accept the darker shades, life through and feel them, no matter how painful. Embrace
Do you notice all the small trucks and the “ritsch-ratsch” sound when you walk down the streets these days? Yes, it summer time and that means a lot of people are on the move again, packing up their belongings into boxes and arriving at new destinations and unpacking them all. It is especially predominant in
Summer time – moving time Read More »
I recently went to an official launch of a friend`s webpage called Sharing Seeds. Together with a friend of hers they started this project: “Life is a series of interwoven stories, not a set of concepts. Sharing seeds collects contributions from all over the world because any kind of story can become a seed of
A day with a twist – sharing and writing Read More »
“There is more to life than simply increasing its speed.” ~Mahatma Ghandi~ And yet we reached a time where most things seem to be about speed. Everything needs to go faster, quicker. The joy of the journey is often left behind. Even when it comes to a cup of coffee. Something a lot of
Today just a quick ‘Food for Thought’ that I read in a Yoga book, but transferrable to all aspects of life! “Those of you who are really bad at Yoga, you’re in the right place. I hope everyone will allow themselves to be really crappy today, to walk away from being perfect. The real Yoga
Learn from not being perfect Read More »
A friend recently mentioned this saying to me. I found that this phrase has been used by many but the origin goes long time back to Rabbi Hillel. It is so simple and so true – and so universal. If we are really honest, don’t we often put things of and/or ‘blame’ others or the circumstances for
In one of my recent quick post on my At Ease Facebook page I asked you to go out and get inspired. I now want to go a bit deeper, what can inspiration give us and where and how can we get inspired? Let’s have a look into a few aspects for both areas: Inspiration will give
The beauty of inspiration Read More »
“There is a crack in everything. That`s how the light gets in.” (by Leonard Cohen) We often strive for perfection, the perfect home, family, job, outfit, figure, the list can go on. But this strive often puts us under pressure. We may even appear and behave different than how we actually feel inside, and we
The beauty of a crack Read More »
When was the last time you took time to let your mind wander. When was the last time you really allowed yourself to let some (new) thoughts / ideas drift through your mind? Food for Thought is not for healthy eating habits, it is for healthy habits in general. It is to allow ourself to digest an
We do not need to venture far to find something good! Stand strong and tall like a tree! Yoga poses mainly relate back to nature and animals. If we start to not ‘just do’ the Asanas (poses), but look behind and feel them they can give us some advice and help us in our daily
Advice from a Tree Read More »
Spending time with my family, friends, starting my business idea, regular blogging, finishing onlinue studies, sports, broaden my horizon and getting out of my comfort zone with new experiences, learning Japanese, exploring the city and country we recently moved to, really dedicate time to my kids one-to-one, keeping the house clean, organized and sorted, and some me-time. ”
A lot is out there and being said about being mindful and whether you agree or disagree, it is important to cherrish the small things, to reconnect what is around us and to find joy in day to day things. So last night instead of just rushing into the dinner, bedtime routine and playing catch
I am not a big reader on parenting books, as mostly our family set up works, common sense solves issues and talking with friends usually helps to realize that some issues are just normal even though I may get grey hair thinking about it. But I reached a point where it was all getting
Parenting – How to talk so kids will listen… Read More »
Some weeks just seem longer than others, and that is ok. It is the excitement of life that nothing is always the same – and struggles are part of it. Nevertheless, sometimes it is nice to say ‘good bye’ to a stressful, hectic, emotional, unsatisfying, exhausting or tiring week. If you had one of those
I recently came across this and whereas my initial thought was – yeah right, my immediate second one was ‘hang on a minute, this is totally wrong and a lame excuse’. The saying in the picture implies that kids only played like this before technology. If that is really the case don’t you think we fail
Everyday all over the world somebody packs up his/her belongings and moves to a new place. Today we are one of them again. The house is closed down, the furniture neatly packed into a container, suitcases and bags standing ready for boarding. Nerves are kicking in, a mixture of fear, worry and excitement. Only time
I recently learned a hard lesson that even long-lasting friendships do not have to be what they appeared to be. While moving around one does make a lot of different kind friendships, some last longer, some last hopefully forever, some are there for a certain period or situation. All are valuable friendships in their own
Friendship! Friendship? Read More »
…a Starbucks card that can make the day! A few weeks ago I lost my Starbucks card, obviously not THAT important, but still, it had credit on it and it was lost. A stranger found the card, traced me down on FB and asked me if she should give it to a Starbucks outlet or
Sometimes it is a card… Read More »
It was time to dust the champagne…and time to post something on my personal blog again…Life is a journey indeed – have a look where it will take us.
We are getting closer to the summer holidays and often busy and crazy times are ahead. The kids tend to pick up that the school year is nearly over – even if there are still some weeks to go. They tend to get a bit more tired, a bit more excited, a bit more crazy
Most of my friends and family know that I struggled and still struggle by being back “home”. At least back home in the country I was born and lived most my life. But as the saying goes “Home is where your heart is”, and even after 2.5 years my heart is not here. I am better,
The often underestimated the struggle of repatriation – moving back home Read More »
Today a different “Food for Thought” as I will refer you to a petition from Jamie Oliver where he asks for help to fight for Food Education in schools. One might think on or the other way about Jamie Oliver but what I like a lot about him is his passion on food education. Obesity is
Help to Fight Obesity Read More »
It is such fun to just click away, make endless pictures and have loads to choose from, isn’t it? It is not so much fun though when it comes to de-cluttering, sorting or even worse trying to find specific pictures on the vast array of sheer endlessness. I constantly procrastinate – or perhaps I should just
The joy of digital pictures – or digital procrastination Read More »
Accept that another person can have different opinions, feelings or emotions. Don’t criticise or even demean someone else for thinking different. Desperately trying to change or to insult the other one won’t achieve anything – well, it might achieve that this person stands stronger and taller!
How often is it that we plan or intend to start or finalize something, but we do not move into the right direction. How often is it that something gets in between that holds us back? How often is it that we allow to let something come up that won’t let us start? How often is it
Some years back I started weekly emails that I called ‘Food for Thought’ for my Yoga participants. The email could be something purely Yoga or Fitness related or something random that might help my participants in certain situations or even just something to make them smile or to inspire. Anything that comes to my mind
