Message to wake up to

On my voicemail this morning:
Giggle, giggle 'I was just about to write you a text but I didn't know how to put it...! giggle giggle I have done it!'

Done what? It doesn't really matter. But to wake up to a message full of giggles and happiness doesn't happen very often. Makes me think about the boring messages I leave on people's voicemails. Should probably giggle more. Or only leave messages when I have happy news. Or else quit leaving messages full stop. Eventually the boring message will catch up or else it was unnecessary in the first place.

(By the way, I know what it was!)

Formed by my favourite

Tonight's yoga teacher: 'Have you been practicing for Sofia? (my favourite teacher)
Me: 'Yes, how did you know?'
Yoga teacher: 'I can see it on the precision of your asanas.'

OK, yoga is all about the inside, I know that, but it's still nice that the effort is noticeable on the outside once in a while. A very welcome energy boost for a tired body that was tempted to spend the evening on the couch!

A reminder that NY is a fantastic place and I haven't been for very long

Experiment in pjs

In London I sometimes left the flat in my pjs. Not very often, but it happened in the weekends. Just to get the Sunday newspaper and a latte from Pret A Manger.

I've never done it in Stockholm and it's actually one of the examples I use when I talk about the differences between living in London and living in Stockholm. In London no one will raise an eyebrow if you do. In Stockholm I imagine you would be shot (by judging gazes).

But I was wrong. I tried it this morning and it was fine. I didn't go very far mind you, but I managed to get to the local bakery to pick up some fresh croissants.

Today's learning: Stockholmers can take pjs in public without shooting judging gazes. At least the three people who were out at this particular hour.

Saturnus

We both have a need to be without planning, to stroll without a goal, to just sit. Two exhausted friends meeting over a spontaneous late breakfast at un café français. We met only a couple of weeks ago but it felt like months when we started to catch up. That's an obvious evidence of how fast life is spinning sometimes. Just like the rings of Saturn. And it's OK. It's just the way it should be right now.

Exporting clogs

Swedish fashionista: 'What do you know about Swedish fashion?'
Sarah Jessica Parker: 'Swedish fashion??.... Clogs! Hasbeens. I order them on the internet for all my friends!'

And now the sales will reach the sky!

Getting ready

A one hour PR trick where a Swedish fashionista is filmed outside selected venues in NY, mixed with carefully picked film clips (seen on You Tube etc. before) and some interviews with the stars.
But it works. I'm all warmed up for tomorrow's Sex and the City 2 movie experience.

The four characters make up a complete woman. We all have some of it in us. More or less. I'm still a Carrie wanna be.

A chessboard full of vibrant colours

Call it keeping your personal life and professional life separate. Call it integrity. Or call it suppressing part of your personality just because you are afraid of showing the whole of you.

May be because of perceived expectations of how you should behave in a certain role, may be because of fear of not being accepted for who you are. Whatever the reason is, and most of the time our participants left the question unanswered, it is not sustainable in the longrun. It drains you from energy, it holds you back and stops you from developing as a person.

I think one of the best metaphors came from the participant who painted a chessboard to describe what he stands for, his values and his life. And then he added the comment "If I could paint the back of my painting it would be full of vibrant colours." My question was how to integrate the vibrant colours in the chessboard, on the front of the painting. He wasn't sure.

When in life do we decide to leave part of our personality hidden? What drives the fear of really being who you are at all times? Interesting discussion that will continue no doubt in module 2.

Presence and leadership

My key take away from today's delivery of training is that a guided meditation doesn't require a script but it requires total presence. So the well prepared one pager was abandoned and I went with the flow. It was amazing to take a group of fifteen to a different state. A shift of energy and harmony in the whole room. Now I'm hooked. The discussion continued to the importance of presence in leadership. It becomes more and more clear that multitasking is out and presence is in!

In the hands of international transport restrictions

If it isn't the ash cloud, then it is a BA airline strike. If it isn't a BA airline strike, then there are the SAS delays. Travelling isn't easy. A clear sign to start thinking of alternatives!

I'm still not sure when my co-pilot from London is arriving and if worse comes to worst, I'm on my own with fifteen eager participants who are just about to start their leadership programme. I'm pretty sure that would be stretching my comfort zone way outside the normal range.

Childhood friends in a new set up

In one house two radiant pregnant women and a cool first time mother with a toddler. In the other house three sophisticated women who completed the pregnancy and toddler experience almost a decade ago.

Hundred meters and seven years apart. In one context very close and in another very far away.

Both houses full of drive, ardour and energy.

The fascination of life experience and what it does to a person. Getting married and getting a divorce and somewhere in between getting children. Starting a business and closing it, moving abroad and coming back. Open one door when another door closes. Staying in the room without knowing which door to open next. Facing fear without looking down. Being there. Understanding. Growing.

An evening that left me allured with a new admiration for forty plus something women.

Adorable golf

Sleepover in Gothenburg

The focus of the trip shifted from work to friendship. We were back to where we left it in no time. I think one of the reasons Little Miss Happy is the sweet and harmonious person she is, is because she manages to be present. She has been through difficult times, faced her challenges and landed on the other side. Being with her is contagious and all of a sudden it's easy to be open to new possibilities, to have a positive attitude, a relaxed mindset and embrace change.

After at least ten times in Gothenburg and a post-tapas-dinner night stroll, I finally understand where the famous Avenue is... Having a sleepover with a girlfriend puts the otherwise quite sterile business hotel in a completely different light.

May be Gothenburg is not so bad after all. I've already booked my next sleepover!

Learning from Buddha

Ebb and flow. Photosynthesis. Seasons. Day and night. The common theme is intrinsic change. Why are we so often fighting and resisting change when it is the foundation of life?

The greatest happiness, according to Buddha, is to know peace unchanged by changing conditions.

Travel treat

Gothenburg here I come.

And yes, a new Marabou chocolate. Review: lethal.

More news

There seems to be agreement that Christian Louboutin is the new Manolo Blahnik.

I need to update my contact list where I recently found the number to the Manolo boutique in London. I only used it once but the experience was exquisite and the number stays in my mobile as a dear reminder when I need to cheer up an unglamorous situation.

According to Monsieur Louboutin his biggest customer is Danielle Steel who has hundreds (or was it thousands) of shoes of his design. I don't know. Somehow Danielle Steel doesn't really do it for me. But the shoes certainly do.

On top of the news

Kate Moss gives up smoking to try for a baby and
Jude Law and Sienna Miller are getting married this summer.

Important to stay up to date with my second home country. Oh yes, that's true, there was some mention of an election too.

Restorative practice?

Yoga can do wonders, but can it cure a really bad hangover? I'm just about to find out!

The die is cast

No return. People around me are turning forty whereas my mental age is still far from it. Well, my physical age too - there is actually nineteen months left so plenty of time. And even more time after the age of forty. Even so, the threshold between thirty something and forty something is higher than last time I entered a new age decade.

May be it's the realisation that I'm now entering an age group that I can remember when my parents entered. I was almost a teenager when my dad was given two sheep for his forties. We were thrilled as most children would have been. Not as much fun for my parents. The sweet revenge appeared a couple of weeks' later at the big dinner party where the donors were served lamb chops and everybody else beef... My parents promised us that it wasn't Gusten and Grållen on the plates. I believed them, but the donors did not, resulting in two untouched plates...

Heaven

Or at least one version of it, in the heart of Sörmland.

Contrasts

Icecream in the park followed by giant pizza and beer. I'm clearly moving between the extremes of the lifestyle continuum where yoga and naked oats make up the other end. The joy of variation.

Always too expensive

What I don't want to spend money on:
* Parking fines
* Overcooked and unreasonably priced city lunches
* Any kind of flat tires

Well, at least I didn't get a parking fine today as the car stayed at home. In the expensive garage. Another thing that always feel a wee bit too pricey.

Naked oats

My new favourite replacing any kind of pasta, bulgur or wheat. Apparently incredibly healthy too, flooded with antioxidants! I just learned that when the naked oats are harvested the shell falls off, hence the name naked...

Feeding the horses with too much oat I remember that they got wild and unpredictable. I'm wondering if naked oats have the same effect on people. May be my excessive naked oat intake is to be blamed for yesterday's sleepless night? And if I continue at the same rate I suppose I will get out of control.

'Sorry, can't help myself, had too much naked oats you know...!'

Communication issue

I don't know how, but I have clearly managed most of my life without muscles between the shoulder blades. Interesting. Now trying to find them is incredibly difficult. How do you exercise muscles that don't exist? The brain has no one to send the signals to. It's like facing the wild sea, crying to the horizon and hope that someone hears you.

My whole body is shaking after today's yoga class. So I have obviously exercised some muscles. Just not the ones between my shoulder blades. Especially not around my right shoulder blade.

Finding clarity

The words of wisdom can be read all at once, but have more power when they appear little by little. Read, digest, internalise, grow. Timing and readiness are imperative. I'm being mollycoddled by 'Thought for Today' and their wise words. Sometimes they are OTT and sometimes they hit the spot. Today they hit the spot.

'Clarity happens when you turn your mind within and allow it to be still. In stillness, there’s clarity - you know exactly what it is that you have to do.'

Getting ready for tonight

Ra Ra-ah-ah-ah
Roma Roma-ma

GaGa
Oh la-la

Now the big question is what headgear to wear. Somehow I don't think the hat I last wore at Royal Ascot will be quite right.

Equal opportunities by architect

Stockholm Waterfront Congress Building got it right. After the site inspection with a personal tour guide, there is no doubt that this building is The Place to be.

Not only is the view stunning and the interior design state of the art. They even calculated the number of ladies' rooms necessary compared to men's. I'm not sure what the secret number is, but for sure the number of ladies' rooms is significantly higher than men's.

Equal opportunities don't mean having the same number of loos for both genders. Equal opportunities in this particular area mean not having to spend more time queueing to the loo than the opposite gender.

(I'm still not a feminist.)

Psychological experiment or flippant behaviour

This is the set up:
Time: late morning
Place: headhunter's office
Purpose: discuss a potential role as a leadership slash talent management director

I arrive just in time for the meeting, which was initiated by the consultant. I'm put (yes, put) in a meeting room by the receptionist. Ten minutes later no one has arrived. I decide to leave if they keep me waiting for another five minutes. After twelve minutes the consultant arrives and makes her excuses for keeping me waiting.

That's when I decide to try out the approach of not providing her with the automatic "don't worry, it's OK" response. I decide to say nothing. Because it's not OK. And she knows it. She gets seemingly uncomfortable and she works hard to get rapport after the awkward start. To her credit, I think she is doing pretty well and I decide to change my attitude.

After two hours of grilling, scrutinizing and reasoning we wrap up and again she apologizes for the late start. This time I forgive her.

Major bonus

A pleasant side effect of the commuting is the quality time now made available to spend with Little Miss Happy. To end a busy workday with coffee and homemade cake in a garden overlooking the fields, with the sun in my eyes and a four year old on my lap – what else can you wish for? May be a man. Well, Little Miss Happy had seen to that too.
Cooked dinner, red wine and thought provoking conversations until the late hour. I was on thin ice more than once, which was a pleasant thrill. A number of questions were planted like seeds, now growing inside waiting to be nurtured.

Commuting reality

Six hours on the train for three hours of meetings and a lunch to bond with the team. My new life as a weekly commuter to Gothenburg. One hour of work in each direction tops. Can’t blame a flat PC battery or the mobile phone free zone. It’s all down to the motion sickness and the trick is to either sleep or eat. Today I’m practicing the eating trick, which should protect me from a green face and cold sweaty hands for a couple of hours. But the yoga class tonight will be out of balance, that’s for sure.

Sunday manicure with my lovely god daughter

The Westbourne

Celebrating good old times at one of our Notting Hill favourites. The English pub culture is so relaxing and yet quite sophisticated. If you pick the right venue that is. Hugh Grant will arrive any moment I'm sure.

Street of my dreams

One day may be...