Sigridur-S

Appreciating contrast

2010-04-05T10:09:00.010+02:00

I did promise to keep you posted on my documenting of things I find to appreciate in everyday life. When I contemplated my promise, I found out that in theory, I could sit for days and write pages up and down of things to appreciate and why to appreciate them.
A few of the things I´ve found to enjoy today are the smell of ocean, as I took a short trip down to the ocean with my girls today. I live about 30-40 minute drive from the ocean, so I’m not there that often in the winter time. It was both delicious for the eyes and the nose, and for the whole of my being to get out there today.

To hear the birds singing and welcoming spring, feeling the sun warm my face, knowing I still have a day off, smelling the forest waking up from its winter sleep. Even smallest things like the flower in my windowsill have been my excuses to feel good.

Remembering how life was back in the days, when life was hard and I was cranky and tired and too busy to enjoy just being alive, I realized that it might be wise to give those of you reading, that have not practiced this before, an example of how you can find something to appreciate in everything. And yes I truly mean EVERYTHING.

Of course it is sometimes extremely challenging, and you may need to give yourself some slack and wait till the storm blows over before contemplating what positive aspects you can draw from the situation.
My example for you is the weather, and I got inspired to make a short list, for the fun of it. The reason why I picked the weather is that it just is and doesn’t involve people that might happen to be in your face, and could disturb your feeling of appreciation.
• Sunshine is the obvious one for many people especially for those of us living far north of Equator. It is life giving, warming, helps to melt snow and boosts the humor. In addition we need sunshine in order for our bodies to make full use of the healthy food we eat and exploit vitamin D.
• Windstill is often very pleasant as it gives its own kind of peace to nature. No unpleasant smells from factories or farms will blow your way, and usually you will hear nature clearer.
• Wind brings you a breath of fresh air! Storm can even help you feel more in sync with nature, and more alive. It also helps produce electricity that is clean and doesn’t pollute the air!
• Rain will clear the air and wash away dust and sand, even dirt. It also, of course, nurtures both plants and animals. And where we utilize waterfalls to produce energy, it can also mean cheaper electricity in near future.
• Overclouded weather will give a stable temperature, both during the day, and at night. Where I live it can make the difference between frosts or not at night, especially in the springtime and in the autumn.
• Clear skies at night may reveal both the moon and the stars, giving you a perfect opportunity to contemplate the endlessness of the universe and your possibilities.

Of course this list is only just me scraping in the surface! The whole idea is for you to make your own list, or at least to contemplate and consider what good and delicious things you can find on your own. They may very well be pinpointed and narrowed down to details, if you wish!
Now it’s your turn to play! Have fun with it, and remember you cannot get it wrong!

Appreciation

2010-04-04T01:34:00.005+02:00

Have you ever contemplated the subtle difference between love and appreciation? As I touched on in my last post here, I started contemplating that after listening to Angela Gower-Johnson share her insight on the subject. I suppose it really isn’t anything new, to know that appreciation is a good thing, but I still wanted to share some words with you around the subject.
Most people, at least from my generation and older have been taught that we are supposed to be thankful for what we are given, and to show appreciation and thankfulness at least towards the giver. Many of us were raced by parents who tried to manipulate us to do things we really didn’t want to, by telling us that we were so much more fortunate than others. For instance: “eat up you meal! (Even if you’re full) Think of the hungry children in Africa, who have nothing to eat!” Well excuse me, but that reasoning makes no sense, and that’s probably why it didn’t help feed the hungry either. I was already full, and ate up to stop the nagging, and learned to eat with bad conscience. Of course it is horrible to see pictures of people suffering. But me feeling bad because I am fortunate serves no one. It took more than 30 years to figure that one out. Eh, well… I wasn’t contemplating it the entire time, but now I finally get why those “threats” felt so off. I know my mother meant just well, and being brought up during WW2, and in great poverty, she had come to the conclusion that throwing away food was not an option.

So, back to the core; Appreciation.
I have found out that it is quite easy to feel appreciation for something, even if it is just a small thing. It’s easiest to find many things when you are feeling somewhere between contempt and happy. With practice you’ll be able to do it, even when you are not really in a good mood. On the other hand, I find it very challenging to love anyone or anything if I am cranky. And the more one practices the easier it gets.
Abraham and many other spiritual teachers / guides / coaches also talk about the importance of appreciation. I’ve taught my kids simple practices, like writing down 10 positive things about themselves and their siblings. It is hard at first, especially for older kids but my kids loved the outcome. And they were amazed at how warmly their siblings thought of them, and that the others really saw strength where they didn’t see them themselves.
Just sitting in peace somewhere, breathing deeply and really considering what things around you you’re glad you have. It may be your chair, your clothing, the room you’re sitting in, the fact it is quiet, a beautiful piece of art, a loved one, the air you breath in, your body, mind, or whatever you can think of.
So why would you, or I or anyone take time to stop for a few seconds or minutes every now and then to appreciate the obvious things in life, that “everyone” has, or at least could have if they wanted them? It is NOT to feed the hungry or to make you feel guilty. It is so that you can feel good in the moment, and for no other reason!
Law of Attraction states: The more you feel something (any feeling you can think of), the more you get of what you´re feeling. So what could be better than finding a lot of reason to be appreciative and feel good? In my understanding that can only lead to feeling good, and thereby attracting more things to be appreciative about and to feel good about.
The more you do this practice the more things you find to appreciate! It’s quite magical.
More often times than not, I don’t write down what I appreciate, even though many teachers do recommend it. The reason why I have rarely done it is that I may find things when I’m doing other things like driving, making dinner, talking to someone and so on and so forth.
Having said that, I’ve now decided to start documenting some of the things I find during the day, so that I can remind myself of them whenever I want to. Documenting these things may also help others to find their little things in life to enjoy from a whole new perspective, because I plan on sharing them, either here, or on Facebook, or maybe both.
Now it‘s your turn my friend, to look around, focus and figure out what you appreciate. Feel free to shere with me!

Oneness

2010-03-31T13:58:00.007+02:00

Have you ever heard a spiritual teacher say that all is really ONE, that we are all one with everything and everyone? And that it so important to love everyone and everyting in order to live a whole and full life?
Well I’ve heard that a lot, wondering how on earth is that possible? I have even thought with all these stupid ignorant people, that are destructive and annoying it is impossible to feel love for everyone. And all those people that have hurt your feelings or your body in any way! Seeing things from that perspective it sure makes sense to believe in heaven and hell, and to hang on to a revengeful god and hope that karma or the justice system will one day pay them back as deserved. You might even have taken matters into your own hands and done something revengeful to another.

It has taken me many years, but I’ve finally found a place within myself where I’m able to really let go of those thoughts.

I want you to know that I too have been in a place in my life, where I blamed others for all things going wrong in my life. For a period early in my adult life, I blamed my parents for my unhappiness, later I blamed my (now ex) husband, I have blamed my siblings, coworkers, friends, strangers , the government and even my children for my own unhappiness.

So how does one go from there to this bliss of love for everything?

I think the answer to that is different for everyone. I’ve read a lot of different theories on how spiritual teachers, coaches and gurus have made that transition, and the common nominator is that they all found their own way. Some have used meditation, others prayer or they have perhaps had visions or experiences with the fourth dimension that has inspired them.
For me it has been, and still is a process and a work in progress. Through some tough times I have figured out that it all comes down to choice. We may not always feel we choose what happens to us and with us, but we do always have the free will to choose how we deal with it. That goes for EVERYTHING and EVERYONE in your life. However, having lived many years or even decades of blaming, or experiencing lack of control over your destiny, it takes time to change the pattern of thoughts that brought you where you are emotionally.

I don’t intend to tell you how to live your life, or what to do to experience love for everything, but I can provide you with some of the things that helped me on my path. I don’t feel that love all the time, and in fact I don’t know of anyone that is walking this earth that feels like that all the time!
Some of what I’ve learned has been through other teachers and some has dawned upon me long after hearing or reading about it.
So here is a list of some of the things that have dawned upon me:
• You are where you are in life, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Don’t expect quantum leaps or blame yourself for where you are. Going from feeling “off” to feeling wonderful is a process through all the emotions in between. Remember that there is nothing wrong with being angry or sad, you just don’t want to stay there too long.

• Often we have routines of thought that make us feel miserable, without us even realizing it. Start listening to what you say to yourself and you will be able to stop yourself before you lose control.

• Listening to negativity never makes us feel good. How about turning off the TV, ignoring discussions on what is wrong with everything and instead listening to music that makes you feel good? You will also find that people in general rather want to be positive, so by making positive remarks, you can help others as well as yourself turning negative discussions around.

• What you have experienced makes you unique and valuable to the world. It is your own uniqueness that is your biggest asset. Sometimes we need “bad” experiences to help us see something really important.

• Holding a grudge for another only makes YOU miserable. Just read the sentence word for word… why would you want to hold something negative FOR someone. They are capable of holding that stuff themselves, it’s not your responsibility. If you are able to see that, and chose to let go of negative emotions towards others, you are taking a big step towards controlling your experiences.

• Try focusing on the positive in everyone and everything. Often times it is too big of a challenge to do that when things are in your face, so to speak. Start with something easy, like your lover, your child, your pet or even your bed. After a while you will find that you are able to enjoy things you thought you hated, like washing the toilet or picking up trash from your driveway.

• It is of great value that we all are as different as we are. Just imagine what the world would be like if no one wanted to produce food, build houses or pick up the garbage! Isn’t it really wonderful that someone wants to serve the world by doing all the stuff you don’t want to do?

To me it was too big of a challenge to start loving everyone so I had to go through appreciation. I realized that through listening to wonderful Angela Gower-Johnson when she was a guest on Sydney Chase’s talk show, The Indigo Room.
I have mentioned the teachings of Abraham earlier in my blog, and they have influenced my life big time the past years. The core of their teachings is get happy! So I’ll round up this blog post by inviting you to contact me if you feel within yourself that I could contribute to your life in some way. Feel free to comment or send me an e-mail by clicking the envelope below.
Sigridur

What a life!

2010-03-29T17:33:00.001+02:00

It’s incredible that its 7 months since my last post here. I must have been really busy doing fun stuff! Oh, and yes I have.

I got a new job in the beginning of October, and hence quit the courses I had started at school. After all I already got my Bachelors degree, and was only attending school till the right job showed up.
I have been working on a national project for the Ministry of Health. We were originally 5 women from different backgrounds, plus a project manager who happens to be a woman too. Before getting the job, I concentrated on finding out within myself what kind of a workplace I wanted, how I wanted to feel at work, and what sort of people I would be working with. To make the story super short, I got everything I asked for.
I would never have thought of applying for that job, if I hadn’t been contacted by the national employment agency on another job. After being on an interview there, they told me I would probably get the job, but then the employer decided rather to start up a new group with all new employees and they asked me to apply for that one. That´s the job I got, and now hold. I love my group of peeps at work, and appreciate them very much. We all feel that our boss did a perfect job assembling the group, so I once asked her what was the criteria for choosing us. After all over 60 people applied. She told me she used her gut feeling this time, because she had tried not doing that on some other rounds of hiring people, and regretted it. So usin your instinct is the perfect way to hire the right people. How wonderful is that??
The work we do is very meaningful and the hours are great, the group is the best and the pay is fine.
At first we just got contracts till June 30. but have since been offered 3 more months. Now there is some negotiation going on concerning possible 3 more months.
We have had an extremely steep learning curve, and have gained knowledge and insight that is quite sought after, both within the organization and elsewhere, so we won’t have to worry about being unemployed any time soon, regardless of the lifespan of the project. In fact, for a short period of time we were 11 people working together, all new to the game and now we´re just 5 left plus the project manager. The rest have been hired full time elsewhere in the organisation.

However, I have applied for a new job, which I really hope to get!

What else have I been up to???
• Being mom to my 2 teenagers has been challenging at times and my pre-teen is really starting to show her stubborn and decisive self lately. Being their mom can be challenging at times and a wonderful learning tool too.
• Learning heaps of new stuff about me and others. I’ve been following lovely miss Sidney Chase on the Indigo Room for more than 2 years now, and keep learning new things and finding new friends. I really love those peeps! Will post more one them later.
• I went to Iceland for Christmas together with my kids. It was a wonderful time in every way. We got to visit my closest family, spent many hours talking and playing and having loads of fun.
• January 15th I attended the most memorable seminar ever, together with everyone from work.
• I have gotten closer to my dad than ever before, even though he lives on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
… and probably a whole lot more.
I figure it is best to stop here, and rather discuss some of this stuff in depth with you one on one, or in another blog post.
Love and light to you

New courses

2009-08-26T23:25:00.001+02:00

So it was the evening of yet another good day. I was at school from early morning till after lunch. A very lovely friend drove with me to school, which is about half an hour. She is the girlfriend to one of my closest partners from the Innovation studies. We always have nice chat on the way to and from school, so she’s just a delight.
At school we got to meet two new teachers, one in a course on business communications, which has both oral and written parts, and all the lectures are in English. The other new teacher we met today has lectures on communications theory, which is a part of a bigger course that also includes digital communications. All in all an interesting day at school today.
Today I also made an enquiry on a job that I’ve applied for, and would really like to get. I got quite a positive response there, so I’m looking forward to find out more before the weekend. Until then, there are always courses both Thursday and Friday, and a whole bunch of assignments to figure out.
Besides all of this I’ve had the pleasure of having nice conversations with both a good friend, and my kids. It pleases me to see that they’re all figuring it out and feeling better and better every day.

A good tuesday

2009-08-25T22:53:00.000+02:00

Today was the first proper day at school, at a new faculty. This time studying International Communication, and really looking forward to it all. I think the courses so far are interesting, and the class feels like a bunch of nice positive people. We’re going to learn to make simple web-pages, and I think that is quite exciting. Also there is a strong emphasis on English and on communication in general.

When I came home, I got a phone call from a good friend, who I haven’t met for quite some time. She invited me to join her on a short trip over the border to Sweden, so off we went. It was the most wonderful trip, as it always is when we are together.

Bonus number two came when I logged on Facebook, and found out that a new video from Abraham-Hicks was posted today. After watching it, I decided to share it with you guys!

I found it rewarding to watch, as the information is quite profound. If you don’t like it, no hard feelings! However, if you think this was interesting stuff, you can find out more at their own website.

Lazy day

2009-08-23T23:09:00.000+02:00

Today has been a quite peaceful and laid-back day. No big happenings, and that suits me just fine. I’ve spent the day watching house-makeover programs and movies on TV and listened to Abraham some. I’ve also had a nice talk to my 10 year old, about allowing others to be their own people, and how her happiness comes from her, and not from other people doing what she’d like them to do. This afternoon I had a long talk with my neighbor about life and Abraham’s approach to emotions and the emotional scale. Then tonight I had a nice talk with my sister on the phone about feeling good and allowing.

I’m so lucky to have so many people around me to discuss life and all its variety with.
Got to smile and feel the gratitude now.

I’m really looking forward to the first real days at school, and to find out what the courses are all about. Also, this week I hope to hear more from at least two employers about work, and starting on some paperwork at the job where I’m the director/manager.

Until tomorrow… Ta-ta!

Some development in my world

2009-08-22T22:27:00.000+02:00

There’s a really long time since I last wrote a blog post. In fact, it’s been so long that I’ve felt somewhat disencouraged about writing. But since I’ve started, that’s all water under the bridge. To make a long story short, I’ll just make a list of what I recall of the last few months.

JUNE:

I finished my bachelors degree in Technological Innovation and Entrepreneurship after 3 years of studying at an Engineering school. (Here is link to our project)
I was at two interviews for work, but didn’t get any of them. One was for a hotel director and the other was logistics director at a refugee camp. Neither was a dream workplace, but could have been good challenges.
I searched for job online and my main focus was on feeling good and relaxing.
We had 2 weeks of intense heat, so we spent a few days at the beach.

JULY:

My oldest sister came from Sweden to stay with me and my kids, searching for work in Norway.
The theme of the month was: “Focus and feel good”.
I kept applying for jobs, without any results. Due to summer vacation, there were not many jobs available. I’m glad I’ve had the time to relax this summer, I really needed it.
I started up a “club” for a few of the students from school, to help each other keep up good moods and positivity while looking for work. We also want to help one another with other things, or even start a business project together.
I’ve spent quite a few days making jewelry, and a good friend of mine is getting some of it to sell at her website.

AUGUST:

My brother and his wife came to visit from Iceland, and I got to go with them to a business meeting here, with a company that I had helped them to get in contact with. They are now preparing import to Iceland from that corporation.
I was asked to become the director for a company that is to import alcoholic drinks from Iceland to Norway. Since this is a company that has not worked on this before, I would need to work on this process part time for several months before seeing any paycheck. I said yes.
I have been offered two different tasks as a counselor for companies. One is assisting someone who is exporting an idea to an Icelandic high-tech company, and the other is an Icelandic company who wants to explore the possibility to open a department in my area.
I have applied for a job, working side by side with one of my best friends.
I have been to an interview for a job that is the kind of job that I wanted to have before I started on my bachelor studies.
I applied for school, for “International Communication” and got in. School has started for both me and the kids and it looks really good. I might have to put school on hold though, if my work hours crash with classes, as earning money comes first now.

I’ve also stayed in touch with my friends, and family. Three of my friends have had babies this summer, all of them beautiful and healthy boys.
Every day this summer I’ve listened to Abraham for several hours, and the result is:

I feel better being me than ever before.

Now, my goal for this blog is to write a little bit every day about what’s going on, as well as linking this blog to what I'm uppto. As you can see from this, a lot has happened, and I’m sure there’s some stuff I’ve left out.

I hope you leave a comment if you please.

Enjoy, feel good and relax!

Change of heart

2009-05-26T23:40:00.000+02:00

Have I ever had enough to do!?! The last weeks have been really busy and all in all very good. As you may have read in my blog I wanted to try out internet marketing. Well, to make the story really short, I changed my mind. I found out after exploring several different options and even paying money to earn money, that this is not the path of my heart.
So instead of using a lot of time and money on something that does not feel right, I decided to rather use the little spare time I have on something fun.
I’m finishing my bachelors’ degree on Innovation and Entrepreneurship these days, and that feels both good and a bit scary at the same time. It is a milestone in my life, and this ride has truly been a great learning experience in many ways. In the last three years I’ve learned so much about myself, and developed skills in more ways than I thought I would.
Now there are just under 3 weeks till school’s out and I get summer vacation with my kids. That will be a joy I tell you! Until then remember to smile and enjoy life!

I want to make money online, so can you help me?

2009-04-09T21:26:00.000+02:00

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Making decisions on ones future sometimes is quite challenging.

For quite some time, I’ve wanted to explore if I could make money online. As I’m not producing any products, and not selling any services at the moment, I’ve told myself it would not be possible. Lately though, I’ve come to understand that it IS possible and not very difficult to achieve. Of course Henry Ford was right when he stated that “If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right”. So in me not believing this would be possible I made things harder for myself. After I started investigating what to do and how to get started, I got quite intimidated by all the information out there.
The problem is not that there is not enough information out there. My challenge is more what to read and whom to believe. There are literally thousands of people on the internet claiming to have the best answers to both social marketing and how to get rich in 10 seconds doing nothing. Well, yes this is exaggerating, but you get my point, don’t you? So who am I to follow and what should I do? It might turn out to be a waste of my time and energy to just pick someone randomly and follow their recipe, but then again sitting around doing nothing about it might be the biggest waste. Being a fulltime student, working on my final project and getting my bachelors degree this summer, and a single mom with 3 kids, I feel my time is precious and I hate wasting it on bullshit. (Excuse the language, but that’s what pisses me off more than anything when people waste my time).

So here is my pledge to you that is really good in this field: If I can use 2-3 hours every day, what should I do to start making money quickly? I want to make real dollars, not just “paypal” money. Is this possible and how?

Please contact me on my e-mail or on twitter.

Changing World

2009-03-20T21:40:00.000+01:00

Lately I’ve noticed several signs that the world is changing. Now it is widely known, that once you set your focus on a certain theme or case, you start noticing relevant stories, products or information on just that. That might just be the case here, but since I find it fascinating it is worth writing about.
It’s probably 20 years since I first heard about how the generation that’s just starting their careers and how they would change the patterns of working and thinking in the world. After I became a mother, I noticed that more and more children were born with challenges that were not known and definitely not understood when I was a kid. ADHD and related diagnoses have flourished; every other kid has some sort of allergy or intolerance that no one had heard of 20 years back. These children need their parents, and generally their whole environment, to adapt to them, instead of vice versa.
Being Icelandic, I’ve followed the financial and political crises there closely. Now, several months into the “crises” more and more people seem to be realizing that all of this might be an opportunity to create something new and better for our societies. Maybe racing challenging children has helped us to learn how to adapt to new and surprising situations?
I think it is a pleasure to be able to follow in on new philosophies in marketing, in religious systems, changes in the way we work, read, listen to music, appreciate our families, communicate and look at the world. I do believe that we are still to see big changes in our consumption, and it seems to me that we’re finally realizing that it gives more pleasure to produce things, and to work with things that are rewarding on a personal plane.
With all of this said, it’s probably in its place to add, that I’ve not noticed the financial crises personally, and neither do I know anyone that has felt it hard in their life’s here in Norway.
I’m excited to see what the years to come will bring us! What do you think life will be like in 5 – 10 - 20 years?

Why be bored?

2009-03-10T21:43:00.000+01:00

I remember from my own childhood feeling that time went really slowly, and it seemed like an eternity between Christmases and between summer holidays. I remember many occasions when I had no idea what do with my time, and how to deal with being bored. It could be days at a time, that I’d have to figure out what to do. Having had parents that were fairly busy with other things I usually made myself some sort of a project and those were my own, and I learned a lot from them. And still the days were an eternity, and the years were so long they didn’t seem to have any end to them (and of course everyone over 20 was OLD).
I suppose that when we grow up, and get jobs and families, maybe several friends and hobbies, having money to spend and a home to tend to, most people don’t have the time to be bored. Maybe that is just a part of being a grown up? Perhaps we just find ways to avoid being bored all together, I mean… after all it is boring, so why bother?
However, over the last few months I’ve made an interesting observation. Being the mother of 3 children, I’d expect them to be bored once in a while.
I’m sure you’ve guessed that I rarely observe this with them. So I decided to discuss this with them, and not only have they informed me that they feel they’re almost never bored, but what was more strange to me, my 10 year old has commented on several different occasions that she feels the weeks go by so fast, and that a year really seems like a short time.
Why on earth is this? I wonder. I discussed this with a friend of mine the other day, and he told me he remembers his father telling him “you have to learn to be bored”. I remember hearing several grownups say it’s healthy to be bored, because that’s when you get creative. If this is true, are we running out of new ideas, or are they coming from somewhere else than the grate wasteland of Boredom? Maybe they now grow in the Bore domain?
So what do you figure? Why aren’t we bored anymore? Or are you bored, and what do you do about it then? Are we missing out on anything, or have we developed out of it, sort of like what happened with the appendix? I’d love to know.

Looking on the bright side

2009-03-10T00:50:00.000+01:00

I am a somewhat regular guest at the community swimming pool. I find swimming to be a refreshing activity that can be quite social and rewarding for my body and mind. Lately the wardrobes have been under renovation, so that access to sauna’s that are in the shower area has been limited. In an effort to pleas most of the users, men and women have had access to the one wardrobe that is finished on different days, so that everyone can use the sauna 3 days every week. The remaining days, people have had to use wardrobes belonging to a sports center that is located in the same building. All of this has resulted in me getting to see what the new wardrobes look like, and at the same time feel the difference between the old and the new.
I have to tell you people, I am amazed! Not only has the renovation taken twice as long as promised, and no one seems to know when it will be finished, but the results are out of this world. In fact, I’d guess as far as back to the times of the first moon landing. The new wardrobes have gotten all new linoleum, and that’s it! Old and ugly lockers that are hard to close after being bumped and slammed for 40 years, no place to put your make-up or hair products as you get ready to leave, old and energy consuming hairdryer (yes, one is enough for the population of 50.000). BUT, it seems that there will be to different saunas in both men’s and woman’s shower areas, and they ought to be in tip to shape and up to date one would think. Well, they are hard to use, as they are uncomfortable to climb up to, even impossible for older people or anyone who has bad back or legs. There are metal peaces sticking out, both structural and screws, making it easy to get burned, as the metal warms up a lot in a sauna.
I cannot imagine how all of this is possible. And I’m not too eager to be so understanding about all this either. At least it is obvious that whoever planed this “makeover” does not use the pool, has not considered the average user, or asked anyone with experience of doing makeovers of this sort on advice. In my town as most places in Norway, many of the tradesmen have less to do than they used to, so there shouldn’t be any reason for this renovation to take forever to finish. And it would be ideal when the times are getting tougher, if the local council would do what they could to keep up the spirits among the population by supporting everything that is healthy and might keep the citizens active. So if anyone from Sarpsborg town council would stumble upon my blog, here are my advices:
1. Keep the pool open for the general public more than 3-4 hours a day.
2. Keep it open on Sundays, as swimming is excellent activity for families.
3. Finish the renovation, and do a proper job at it within 2 weeks.
4. Join forces with the users of the pool and the employees to find out how to give best service, and how to better the offer given to the general public.
5. Market all the free or affordable services that are available, and that can help keep up the health and the sprits in general. (Library, pool, Ice-skating, arts and so on)

So what about this headline then? Is it all about pretending to be optimistic and then wining and griming? No, not completely.
What I really appreciate about this situation in particular is:
· I really look forward to the day this renovation is finished.
· It makes me appreciate the swimming pools in Iceland and the service around them even more.
· It makes it easier for me to believe that the city council isn’t wasting the tax payer’s money on unnecessary luxury makeovers.
· It becomes so obvious for me how much I have learned about customers, development, service, marketing, processes, design and so much more the last 3 years.
· Sure the price will be the same after so economic approach to a makeover.
· And since it really is the same as it’s been the last decades, I’ll have more space both in the pool and in the wardrobes.

The spring is on its way, the birds are getting enthusiastic and it is lovely to know it will soon be safe to take a walk both outside, and on the wild side.

Skipping along

2009-02-27T00:03:00.000+01:00

When I get into bed at night, I often think about the next day. I consider which day of the week it will be, what sort of routine things I have on my schedule and I quickly plan other things I’d like to do or feel I need to do. This all happens in a matter of few seconds without any special effort.
Lately I’ve also set forth intentions for a good night’s sleep, and a wish to wake up with ease. After having lived for many years as a very critical person, of everything, and in particular myself, I had also gathered a tremendous set of negative things to tell myself. I don’t know if you are aware of it, but we all continuously tell ourselves stories about everything. To really notice what you are telling yourself, you need to be aware of your thoughts and pay close attention to how they make you feel. During my grumpy years I used to tell myself all sorts of crappy things about everything. I’d probably not sleep well, I’d oversleep, have arguments with my family, struggle at work, have aches and pains in my body, be unfairly treated and overwhelmed, not appreciated and so on and so forth.
Since I became aware of my private little story sessions, I’ve been working on consciously choosing my new fairytales. Recently I’ve also noticed how much difference it makes to my days, whether I’ve deliberately planed my day as a good day, as I get out of bed and skip along into the day (at least now I do that some days).
So, what on earth does this have to do with the headline of this post, you might wonder. Well, the thing is that when we’ve been going through our lives on “autopilot” for years, not thinking about what we want to get out of our days, we haven’t needed to decide deliberately what we want either. The situation is sort of like if you would all of a sudden go from having all your meals served, every day, to having to figure food out all by yourself. Of course it is possible, and anyone can do it, but it takes some effort, when you’ve never done it before.
So in order to plan your day, you’ll first have to find out what you’d like your day to be like. I find it to be very helpful to pretend I’m already experiencing the next day, and instead of planning everything in details, I decide what I’d like to feel like. And once I’ve found the feeling place of it, I just stay there for a short while for the fun of it. (of course I don’t bother to plan anything else than good feeling things anymore). Having done this, I can enjoy (or not) all the events that lead up to me being happy and content with my day. After having practiced for a while doing this whenever I remember, I've found out that some bumps in the road don’t matter in the long run, as I know things always turn out just fine. Perspective is good to have, and the best way to know what you want, is figuring out what you don’t want.
So now I challenge you to try it out! You don’t have to be in your bed, or any special place to do this, and you don’t have to plan a whole day. It’s just as effective to plan the results of a meeting, the feeling of a conversation or a trip to the grocery store this way.
Oh, and one last warning: It might just work!

Choosing a root-canal

2009-02-23T21:28:00.000+01:00

Today I had an appointment at the dentists. I’ve been postponing this appointment for a year now, because the dentist had told me that I’d have to choose between having a root-canal or pulling the tooth and I found it quite challenging to decide. By pulling the tooth I’d get out of the whole affair fairly quickly and cheap, but would lose the tooth forever. And this was my last mole in the upper left jaw. (Excuse my dental-English!) On the other hand a root-canal is very expensive and I haven’t saved up for big dental bills, being a single mom and a student.
Anywho, today was the big day, and I asked the dentist to check out the tooth and give me an estimate on what my different choices would cost. Previous to this visit I had asked them what would be “worst case scenario” as to how expensive this might become, and was told then I might have to pay 9000 Nkr (US $ 1349).
The last year, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do, and how to pay for keeping my mole, as well as trying to concentrate on seeing my tooth whole and well. As I’m not quite there yet where I manage to visualize big changes in my “bodily reality” I didn’t expect everything to be fine and dandy in there either. However, the dentist did find out that the nerve to the tooth had died, so repairing would be painless (which was good news as I dislike the needles most of all). She also gave my price on dealing with my tooth: 1000 kroner for pulling it or 3000 for a root-canal.
Wow! I thought. No question there, fix the tooth and be happy! The price was 1/3 of what I had been told was worst case scenario. In addition I’d only have to pay half of that now.
The whole hour the dentist worked in my mouth, I kept thinking how grateful I was, that she was in such a good mood, and that she was so good at her job. How wonderful it is that someone uses many, many years of their life to learn and train to be able to help me. So I just lay in the chair, breathed deeply and enjoyed the sun shining through the window warming my face, and the dentist doing her job lovingly.
When she was finished and it was my turn to pay, I also got 10% off, without any explanation. (it was 10% off the price, not the tooth!)
So of course this was a very lovely visit to the dentist, indeed.

This was today’s biggest reason to choose an attitude of gratitude.

However….. I also had my moments of frustration that evolved around my 10 year old bunching-ball of a daughter, who lost her keys to our home twice in 7 hours today. When I got home, I got her new keys and tied them to her jacket, so now she can’t lose them. (and thats final!!!)

I wonder how I can change my view of her, to help her the most (and release my frustration). I suspect there is a great lesson to be learned for me here, much more than there is for her.

In every other way, a most joyful day working with my team at school, and enjoying the winter sunshine.

New blogger

2009-02-22T14:15:00.000+01:00

Welcome to my world, my head, my idea-and-thinking spot!
After a lot of thinking and considering I’ve finally decided to try this out.
In the last 18 months I’ve gone from thinking blogging is an egoistic and meaningless way of using up internet space, to actually think it is a good idea.
The reason I’m writing now, is to share with others, both friends and anyone who might find it interesting, what is making me and my day, any day.
As to which language to choose, I decided that English would be best for now, as most of my Icelandic and Norwegian friends read English without problems, as my English speaking friends don’t read either Norwegian or Icelandic.
I hope you all bare with me as I get comfortable in this new forum, gather information I’d like to share and figure this whole thing out.
Feel free to comment and tell me what you think and how you are experiencing my blog.
Wishing you a wonderful Sunday!