Guess Twice

                                                                     Guess Twice,
                                                      but never second guess your SELF!

That is the secret to success!
 
There is this story I like to tell, students and whoever is practising hard on something. I used to believe it had to do with technique, and the mastering of it. And it probably has to do with that too... but there is something deeper to it than had met my eye.

Some time ago - might be quite some, cause time flies and I have a very hard time keeping track with it; I used to be into the game of Squash. At the time there was a squash phenomenon ruling the courts of the world.... Khan I believe was his name, Jahangir Khan! He was interviewed once after SQUASH ing an opponent in the final. The interviewer whose land of origin was the same as the defeated player, said something like this: Wow, what a game... you were spectacular back there!!!!! BUT, you have to agree you had quite some luck today!

   At which Khan answered: - Yes, I sure had! and the more I practise the luckier I get!

I took him at his word - which is always a dangerous thing to do.
Words are devious. Words are abstract symbols that try to convey something and seldom come close to doing so. Because words, as symbols, depend on interpretation.... and therefore VERY much on the ability of the listener to do so.

I read some days ago an interesting thought, revolving around something the author called the BE - DO - HAVE paradigm. The concept being that we have interpreted it - and life, the wrong way round. Most of us seem to believe that one day we will HAVE... money, a lifestyle, etc
    which is when we will be able to DO things; travel, enjoy life, explore new hobbies.
       And then we will BE happy.
According to the author we should reverse this line of thinking - and I personally give him total credit for the insight and fully support his view.

Take the case I started today with, Mr Khan. I have no doubt he:
     1) Was (BE) a winner... and he knew it, believed it and
     2) acted upon it (DO).
             and so became the player of all times, had fortune, travelled and truly had (HAVE) anything he might desire (at least from the viewers point of view ;)

In other words, it all come down to FAITH.
   Faith in ourselves.
                 

As I mentioned before, practise at what you do might and will probably improve your self-esteem. Good technique enables you to freely rely on instinct knowing you HAVE the moves. BUT, in order to be a winner you have to feel like one! The recipe has been proven time and time again on the courts... any court for that matter.

   Take for instance Finland and its habit of loosing against Sweden in hockey finals...This has happened too many times,and finally professionals have agreed the problem is "Koppan sisällä" (inside the head). For some, many... who knows? reasons the Swedish know they are winners... and Finns feel the opposite. So now we have a special group of coaches, psychologists and other experts working on players heads =D

I don´t think it is a bad idea, but I believe we should take it as example and start raising our kids with that line of thought. BE happy - Do what you love = Have a choice life - because you will be extremely lucky!

Now, my headline of today was to avoid second guessing yourself.
   It is NOT difficult to BE happy (or any other thing you wish to be!)
       - We can start off by telling ourselves how nice it is to be healthy... or to have another day... or any simple thing that in truth matters.
The difficult thing is to avoid second guessing.... because once feeling turns into WORDS... there is a big chance of misinterpretation.
   WAIT, am I really happy? arn´t there tons of bills to pay? Its a Very grey day outside... I hate the rain.....

   Second guessing is always there... waiting... hoping to get its chance of creating doubt
          HAVOC....
Its in our logic, its in the mouth of others... its everywhere.

Try telling someone you ARE a GREAT artist =D
    OR a marvellous dancer....

                                         I am a TIGER

                                         I am KLIMT

                                                      I am SCHIELE

                                         I am the SUN

                                         I am the Creator

                         or simply ...

                                                   I am HAPPY

Here is where practise can do the trick. I mean practise in trusting yourself, believing in yourself, and following feeling.

   Feel good... then practise it (do it).

Throwing rubbish into a waste bin is not difficult. Just know the rubbish is there before it is and it will be.
       Unless you second guess yourself =D  
                  (Believe me - I have tried!)

                                         I can ride this bike! =D

What do I stand for?

                                                            "Questions are like people"
  Short but full of meaning.

For some reason we don´t like questions.

Bright minds have told us that one good question is worth more than a thousand answers... yet...
    this probably makes us afraid to ask - cause we think our question might be dumb.
    And we don´t like being questioned because we are afraid we will end up looking dumb - in front of all!

My SON, now living in Brazil, sent me the other day a whats-up with a great little thought by Arnaldo Jabor, about the village idiot. An old man considered dumb and slow by his fellow villagers. Used to go to the bar in the afternoons where the people gathered to talk about the day and... make fun of him! They had a game they enjoyed repeatedly playing with him.

They would show him two coins, a big one worth nothing (50 €?) and a small one worth quite some (2000€). To their amusement he would always pick the big one. As goes with every game at some point it got a bit boring and so they finally asked the old man: Why do you always pick the big one???? its worth is 40 time less than the small one!!!!!!! At which the old man replied: were I to pick the small one worth a fortune the game would be over in no time!
 
   So who was the fool in this story? Because of our being afraid to question things - to think for ourselves - we have a tendency to want to blend into a group and let others do the thinking (oftentimes no thinking, actually... ). We hide in groups and let the bodies around us push and shove and take us along their stream. Our gut might tell us we are wrong but we ignore it. We, as a mass, are moving forward (mostly backward). When the group gets big enough we don´t know anymore where the decisions come from or how to influence them... we just go along and pray everything will turn out right.

I say PRAY though now a days THAT is definitely out of fashion. Even though when things really DO get rough, I have a feeling most of US DO pray. I personally believe most people have stopped praying because they have been misguided and fooled into atheism =D

   Doubts have been raised... questions have been asked (quietly - to ourselves)
If God is all mighty and good - why does he condemn? why does he judge? why does he let his children die of hunger? He definitely does not sound like someone we might want to follow. Actually, he does not sound like someone we like at all. So, we find ourselves a group with the same line of pondering and... GOD becomes the old man in the story above. The FOOL.

                                                       Inda has decided if she wears a
                                                       helmet all the time she will soon
                                                       get a moped! =D =D =D

I did some thinking on this as I questioned myself the same things as above. Actually it was my Dad asking the questions. He (my Dad) presented himself as a non believer... but I always thought of him as spiritual. His biggest question derived from the story about God demanding Abraham to kill Isaac, and how the Angel stops him in the last minute telling him to proceed no more - he has proven his fear of GOD.

   Dad did not understand an all benevolent God Father asking a Father to kill his son.
   I did not understand why a benevolent God would want us to prove we fear him.

So I pondered and in my search came to one bit of truth that satisfied me. Faith. Faith is the key to all. It is something I believe everybody needs in order to want to move along. Faith motivates us, Faith supports us... Faith is energy. I am not talking about faith in God - but in something. I came to the conclusion that this energy might be LOVE.

When God became LOVE all pieces came together. It made sense to me that Jesus would be the son of love. It made sense to me that if in the valley of death (which I have named guilt) Love would be the one to pull me out. And it made sense to me that he who believes in Love will be saved (again - from himself, his guilty conscience.... since there is no wrath full discriminating GOD).

"Religion (as History, Biology and most other subjects we are being taught) encourages you to explore the thoughts of others and accept them as your own. SPIRITUALITY invites you to toss away the thoughts of others and come up with your own" N.D.W

What also made sense to me, was Jesus pointing out that we are ALL children of GOD. It feels a bit tough, because of our upbringing, to suddenly say: I am his child; therefor I AM GOD too!!!! =D
(But not half as tough is proclaiming: I AM LOVE!)

 "We are not afraid of who we are... but of what we have become!" (little may)
    "Give me back, whats mine"

For the longest time I thought we are here to learn a lesson, or many.... and thus develop into better beings. My truth now is, we are not here to learn... but to remember....
   recall what we actually know in our hearts
        which time, history and people in want of control made a mess of. 

It is time for us to clear our minds from what is being taught
                                  and ask questions.

    One of them being: "who is driving my car?"

" There is no constant truth at all; that truth, like life itself, is a changing thing, a growing thing, an evolving thing" (N.D.W)

Conversations with GOD

                                         The most beautiful picture I have seen this year -
                                                       Thank you BUA



I am currently reading a book, "conversations with God" .... by Ian Walsh??????

    hmmmmmmm... no, probably not Ian, but that does not really matter cause God mentions  as I read the book that his conversation is actually for me, and with me!
                       - And I believe HIM.
   As a matter of fact, I think all of you should read it....
                                Not because I am sure it is God speaking (actually the author at some point questions God about this, "how can I know if it is you speaking or my imagination! And God answers "Does it matter?)
                           but because the book has a LOT to ponder about and many beautiful thoughts.
I found it truly uplifting and inspiring, and today I will bring up one of the subjects he writes about: Creating and Re-Creating.

We all know we create our own lives. We wake up in the morning and start choosing what to do. Actually THAT is the fun of living! Waking up, rested and full of energy... with a blank day ahead to create into whatever we want it to.
   IN theory.

Practically I would guess we spend most of our days / years / decades... re-creating. In other words, starting from where we left and doing the same thing all over again, in the same way, with the same results and emotions felt.

That sounds to me a bit like a Craftsman... working with what he knows, becoming Very good at repeating the moves, slowly and with time arriving to a point where he can work in AUTO. Which is in a way OK. But do we really want to go through LIFE in AUTO mode?????

When I woke up today I thought about this, and wondered if it meant I should not continue with the painting I started some days ago but start a new one. Hmmmmm I thought, that would mean I would never finish a painting....
     I thought about the book and remembered God saying that we all focus too much on results and forget to enjoy the journey.
                   OK. So I don´t need to finish!
 He also said to trust feeling more than words. I felt strongly that it did sound like fun starting everyday a new painting, yet finishing what you have started might be important in practice.

 I chose to continue with what I had started but tackle it from a new point of view!

      Hei! There might be something in that! I mean, in our lives it might be practically impossible to always do new things from morning till dusk. So the secret lies in approaching the experience with a new frame of mind, new ideas and new inspiration. Which is what I tried and immensely enjoyed my time of painting.

   It feels good to think (as I do every time I decide to open the book) - hmmmm... how about I take some time to talk with GOD now?????
    I mean, would´nt it be nice if we could do so every once in a while?

This I was thinking today... as I washed my brushes, fullfilled with what I had accomplished. And then an afterthought struck me....
       might it not be MORE important to focus on just listening to what he has to say???? - instead of talking I mean =D

                                        As I opened the book I came upon some CHOICE words:

          Feeling good is your way of telling yourself  that your last thought was Truth,
                            that your last word was Wisdom
                                             that your last action was
                                                         L O V E <3