A space for another life

You know how it is: every day almost the same morning routines and then the bus or the car or the tram to the office, working nine to five with an intermission of a quick lunch break, then heading for home with the usual speed and the usual question about what to eat for dinner ringing in your head. Hurrying in to the grocery store, looking at the same pieces of meat or sausages or deep-frozen fish as usual, home, cooking, eating, watching TV, reading a few pages in the book, back to sleep. Sounds fun?
But there is also another space for another life. I found it twenty years ago, when I became a member of the Swedish physical exercise association called (in Swedish) Friskis&Svettis, meaning Healthy & Sweaty. I became hooked by this hour of training to music, and was invited to learn to be an aerobic instructor in 1991. This is a very important part of my life, bringing me energy and inspiration for all other parts of life. So I want to make a recommendation that of course looks like an advertisement: Find out if you have a gym or another kind of workout place where you live. Join in. You will find another space for another life. Add it to your common life. It will soon become a necessity.

Games, movies and the so called reality

Many questions have been raised about how people, particularly the young ones, are influenced in their attitudes, thinking habits and general behaviour by attending and playing all internet and video games, sometimes all nights long, and by looking at all movies that contain dark and tough violent scenes. Some researchers, and a lot of those game- and movie lovers, declare that there are no risks for such influences. They say that there are clear cut borders between fiction and reality. Really? I would not sign such a statement. The border between fantasy landscapes and all those things we call reality is a very, very, thin line. There are lots of people moving around that line, sometimes here, sometimes there. My belief is that we, all of us, are constantly affected by all messages and basic values that are embedded in all those new productions: games, videos, DVD:s, movies, advertisements that penetrate our daily life all the time. And we are changing part by part, and we do not exactly know how, and partly we change our behaviour and our attitudes and our relations to others, and in this meaning we are also changing the so called reality, all the time. Follow me? But are we changing for good or for bad? Well, this is a question for you to think about, and, please, think hard.

The unsheltered sensitivity

Sensitivity is often called for as something wished for. A sensitive person is supposed to notice and to listen to events and to other people around in a way that is evaluated as very good. The insensitive one could walk straight forward without seeing anything, or smelling anything, or hearing anything of all things on the outskirts of the road. But sensitivity is also “thin skin”, meaning that the one that is very sensitive is quite unprotected against all dangers and against all threats out there. The sensitive person has also developed a sharp tool to listen to lots of signals arising from his or her internal, physiological systems. To cope with all these parts of information he has to use some imaginative skills, trying his best to figure out what is going on. This is not an easy process. The thin-skinned could become overwhelmed by feelings and could become forced to react in ways that are not always so very well appreciated.

A day for remembrance

I have memories of how it was to live during the Second World War. My parents covered the windows at early evening as no light was permitted to leak out. It could become spotted from any presumed enemy aircraft. The lamplights in the street were bluish, pointing strictly downwards. And I even remember the bombs that were dropped by russian aircraft and fell in Eriksdalslunden in the southern part of Stockholm city. Refrigerators were not yet on the market when I was a child, and I was almost twenty years before we could install our first TV. I had my drivers license when I was 18 and the family bought its first car, a Citroën B11 Sport, built in late 40’s. All these memories appear in my mind this day when I have become 69 years of age.

Coaching managers

Is it possible to transfer experiences and knowledge from the athlete arenas to the company arenas? A lot of people seem to think so. I don´t understand why some companies otherwise hire some athlete coaches for quite a lot of money to teach directors and managers about coaching and teambuilding. But according to my point of view there are enormous differences between very strong motivated athletes, who really want to compete and to fight and to become number ones, and the common employed people in a common company. The coaching techniques must be very different and can not possibly be compared on the same day. I have the privilege to act now and then as a “speaking partner” and a coach for some top management people. I have also some of my engagements in sports movements, and I can easily see the differences. Can you?

Business and psychology

There are a lot of people, who look at psychology as any object. If you could sell a car or a house or a boat, or a sausage, or a chicken, or a book or whatever, why not sell psychology? What is then psychology? It is a science and an area of applied scientific know-how regarding the inside of man and the human dynamics of groups and organisations. Selling psychology? Well…of course you could, and should, have your fee if you appear as a skilled psychologist and when you provide the organisation or the company or the individual with your time and your expertise. But that is not the same as appearing as a salesman, using your energy and your smartness in order to sell yourself. I have met several young business oriented psychologists, now and then dressed in suits, white shirts and ties. They give me the creepes. They are more concerned about making money than of exploring and assisting people, who really are in need of psychological knowledge in order to cope with strange situations in a better way. I have met those business oriented and business thinking guys – and dolls. They appear as they could sell everything: their aunts, their cousins, their friends. Money is everything. Money and the false glory. Be aware of those people!

Every chain has a weak link

I feel young, but I am not. One of my weak links is, strange as it may seem, my left heel. Straining it too much – and it will suddenly call out: “Please do not!”, and it hurts and the pain is growing faster and it becomes swollen, and….well I have to cure it by taking it more easy and by eating those damn pills that I don´t like to eat. And I have to find someone, who could stand in for me in my next aerobic class. But this is also a part of life. Life is never simple and it is not a plain, straight, forward road. Drawbacks and hindrances are everywhere. Human development is connected to challenges and to ideas of how to overcome all those obstacles that are in front of us. A few (very few) we can see, meaning that we are able to make preparations to meet. Most of the events turn up suddenly, not at all expected, and …. well, then we have to come up with something creative enough, or we lose.

Preparations and starting up

It is like starting an engine. You have to empower it to make it run smoothly. It takes energy. So, during these up-start-days of January we have had meetings, discussing future strategies and more. And I have to create a new aerobic exercise program. Puh, it takes a lot of time. New music has to be found, new movements have to become created and trained… Already tomorrow I have to enter the aerobic hall, standing in the middle of the circle of all those who have come for their physical exercise, music starting…. I guess that this is like an actor entering the stage…. adrenalin rising, nerves…. Come on, let´s do it!

This is the day for making your mind up

It is the first day of the new year. The very first introduction of this day was a mixture of joy, good friendship – and the inhalation of toxic fumes. Who says that the air from all fireworks is not dangerous? I can´t remember that I have heard or read anything about it. But fireworks contain quite a lot of poison gas including heavy metals. I am afraid that we, all of us, are encouraged to think and to act on a very short term basis: luck is for you here and now. Future is for someone else to care about. But this first day of the new year ought to be a day for contemplation and for planning – not only concerning this very day or this very week, but this year. What do you want? What are your goals? How about the strategy to reach your targets? Questions like these ones are not easy, but why choose the easy way? Without straining yourself you are certainly not going to win any victories at all.

So, what about me, myself? I have not made up my mind yet. But I will do it. Before sunset of this very first day of the new year. Happy New Year!