New addition to My London

Bill's in Covent Garden. Just waiting for scones, jam and clotted cream to arrive...

London snog

Highlights from yesterday included a number of new yoga outfits, scented oils from Neal's Yard, lunch at Pret a Manger and... dessert at Snog! A lovely dinner party in Clapham and then back to my hotel. Now planning today's shopping spree. First out is COS.

Lipstick purchase before seven thirty

You know it's going to be a good day when it starts with a
new lipstick in a spring colour. Setting the tone for the weekend.

Ready to start

Just waiting for the group to arrive.

My London

This is where I will be checking in tomorrow. A full weekend in London to do anything I like. No plans, with the exception of a dinner party on Friday night. The rest of the weekend will be filled with me time...

Aftermath

We dived straight into the essentials. No polite talk about weather, family or fashion. In a sophisticated environment, next to business travelers, ladies who lunches and birthday parties, we created a bubble. In that bubble we aired our hearts, in a mutual understanding that the bubble would not burst. We would not take this anywhere else. To listen to a dear friend, knowing that we all create our own destinies and we all have different aspirations. You can't feel what somebody else is feeling. You can't judge somebody else without judging yourself. You can only listen and express your deeepest intention that comes with wanting what's best for the people you love.

Good to great

Good is the enemy of great. To quote Jim Collins. That's why so few things are great. We simply stop at good. And good seems to be good enough. Finally I'm starting this book that I should have read long time ago. A must for people in my industry...I'm planning on speed reading through some of the American add-ons that may be a bit exaggerated for my European taste.

Old fashioned flipcharts

Prepping for a workshop later this week and one of my favourite methods (beats all PPT slides in the world!) are flipcharts. Here is a taster! And no, I don't think perfect drawing is a must. Sometimes the opposite is an even better trigger for the mind. It's all about learning of course.

How often does it happen...

...that you pick up two friends on a Sunday afternoon to go to the maternity ward? It's not reallly a regular Sunday hang out. But today that's what we did. Took the car to the hospital and sneaked in without observing the visiting hours. Having been there two days earlier, I felt like an insider who knew the quickest way in without passing through the reception and the secret code to the backdoor. Adorable mum, Adorable baby. A little princess was born a couple of days ago. A delight for so many and a most longed for treasure for her mum.

Making conversation

Trying to engage my nephew in a fashion discussion:
Me: "What do you think about this dress?" (pointing at a picture in a magazine)
Him: "I like Coke!"

Well, well...I obviously picked a boring conversation topic.

Date night

I'm waiting full of anticipation for my Saturday night date. What should we do? Eat in or out, watch a movie or just talk? I know already he will stay the night - we spoke about it last night on the phone. However, having been warned about his sleeping habits, he will probably have to stay in the guest room.

My three year old nephew is on his way!

On my bedside table

Business literature meets yoga literature. The choice of language may be different, but there are actually some messages where the essence is very similar.

Because it's worth it

£ xx later, my car is shining. This is the car month; all of a sudden my neglected friend needs everthing. Summer tires, service and a good clean. Thinking of the summer plans when we are most likely going on a tour to the south, little car certainly deserves some TLC.

Happy moment...

...when a mum, one of my regulars, brings her adult daughter to my yoga class this morning to share a precious moment. A warm feeling in my heart watching mother and daughter doing their practice next to each other, following my instructions but even more... following their synchronised breath.

Equinox

Although it's snowing today, we know that all this is soon to come... Sweet joy to spot signs of change in nature, feel how the temperature changes and how life is brought back to cold and dark rooms.

Spring sky

Missing out?

"You can only be in one place at any moment in time. If you feel you are missing out on something then you are. But it's not the party, or being with another person that you're missing, it's your own life. As long as you are thinking of where you could be, you are marking yourself absent from where you are now. Which means you are nowhere. Many people spend their entire life in 'nowhere'. Not a wise choice!"

From Thought For Today, March 18

Sometimes you wonder

What is it with men who are so impressed by themselves and think that an interesting conversation consists of them talking about their jobs and their abilities? Is there a receptor missing for signals clearly indicating "couldn't care less" or would they happily talk to a mirror? I sometimes think they would. At yesterday's drinks party, otherwise in a perfect set up, I got stuck with one of the prime versions of exactly this. No, I'm not impressed by people who know famous people. And I'm not impressed by the number of events or trips included in a job that could perhaps be described as interesting from a different angle. How does his sweet wife put up with him?

Had I been in the company of Little B or Adorable, we would have slaughtered him. But as it was, I bit my tongue and behaved.

Have a browse

A cup of tea, a bowl of sweets, a soft blanket and a comfy couch. Time to browse. Browsing is perhaps my major allurement when procrastinating. Tonight there is absolutely nothing I have to do so tonight I'm indulging in browsing of the blogosphere, the internet, the telly and any magazine I can find. It's not a time filler. It's a carefully selected activity. Exactly what I want to do right now.

Busy busy busy

Having a lie-in. Until six thirty. This week has really tested me as a morning person. Every morning I've been up before six. One morning I even got up at four. No, not by choice. A week of tremendous work pressure. In the midst of the hurricane there is still something that is triggering my drive to learn. At a close distance I've observed the fifty plus men in action and negotiations. I have once more seen people's reactions to unexpected change. How they go through the phases of chock; denial, anger, sadness. Some are already in the acceptance phase, but far from all. To top up the week, I'm carrying a spring cold just like everybody else.

I know the coming Easter holiday at the country house will be a welcome break.

Yet another breakfast picture

Actually, this precious moment is possible every day of the week. But somehow it only happens on Tuesdays in between my yoga class and the day's first business meeting. How to make the most out of the time in between. Precious Tuesdays.

Click and buy...again!

Just as I decided to have a shopping ban until the end of the month...

St Anton

Couldn't be better.

After ski

Weather didn't permit any glorious mountain views today, but we have plenty of snow and it keeps coming. As always, beer in skiing resorts tastes exceptionally good. Now time for Wiener Schnitzel.

May be the last catch up in this form

A very rare afternoon rendez-vous at one of the city's oldest coffee houses. The other guests were primarily tourists with the courage to travel to Stockholm in March and sweet ladies almost twice our age (well, may be not quite). A nice cuppa and a blissful apple cake covered in vanilla sauce, knowing that next time there will be a little baby girl joining us.

Energy awareness

There we were, about seven or eight of us, quietly relaxing in the yoga shala waiting for the class to begin. A room full of bolsters, blankets and extra mats to support the yinyang session where the focus is very much to move slowly, land in the body, relax the mind. Breathing and meditating.

All of a sudden the energy in the room changes as a late arriving student arrives. She moves quickly, her heals are sharp against the floor and every step she takes creates a vibration like a ripple on the sea. She fumbles with her props, huffing and puffing. Finally she lies down, but even her big yawn is loud and stressed.

Then the energy changes once more. The yoga instructor enters the room. You can't hear her, but you can feel her energy. It is filled with harmony and presence. With loving kindness. The fragile group dynamic that for a moment was disrupted by a stressed student is now restored. Her energy is such a relief and contrast compared to what came into the room a few minutes earlier. It's like we can all let go of the state we came from to fully embrace the moment together with her.

It made me think (at the same time as I worked on not entertaining any thoughts at all) that we are energy fields. Wherever we go, wherever we are, our bodies give us away. The energy we are surrounded with tells our surrounding so much about us, if they are open to receiving. We can transmit our energy to the people around us. It works whether we are aware of it or not. Enter a room filled with happy energy and you will be embraced with happiness. Enter a room with stress and negative energy (how did you feel when you last entered the tube in rush hour?) and your mood will quickly change to mirror the surroundings. Unless you have an unbreakable shield around you, which I guess makes you inhuman.

One of today's highlights

Yes, I know it already. I love breakfast and time for breakfast. The time of the day when everything is still possible. Before anyone can steal your energy. Before you get caught by action. A moment to reflect. A moment without any demands apart from enjoying a delicious coffee.

A little bit of everything

A little bit of work, that hardly felt like work, as I finished and sent off a proposal for a team day for civil servants of the Government. Then preparations for next week's yoga class. New music and new theme but familiar flow not to impose too much change on an early Tuesday morning.

A little bit of nature as family dog is staying with me for a couple of days. We went to the nearby forest where you can still enjoy trees without zig-zagging between pushchairs.

A little bit of cooking while trying a new receipe for salmon stroganoff.

And finally a little bit of socialising when sweet friend of my sister's stopped by to talk about training to become a yoga instructor. What style and what regime? She got me thinking of one of my aspirations to go to the US and train for the inspiring teachers who are based in NY or on the west coast. One day.

That pretty much sums up my Saturday, moving into Sunday.

Yoga, telephone, long walk and movie. That's the plan. A day filled with calm rest.

To control or not control

Some things can't be controlled, but others can. Organising documents into neat and logical files and piles is immensly rewarding once it's done. All of a sudden in control of a previously uncontrolled part of life.

Workshop in the countryside

Yesterday my office was changed from the traditional city environment, where I've spent too much time lately, to the Sörmlandish countryside. I packed the car with flipcharts, handouts and books. And also with the family dog, comfortable shoes and extra jackets. Off I went to the country house of my client who had taken his team on a kick-off to discuss everything but business deals. So we dived into the world of Myers Briggs and analysed each and everyone of them to then move on to the impact their individual profiles have on the team as a whole.

All this going on while family dog was snoring next to my chair. I think she disarmed everybody of any kind of defensiveness.

The normal office lunch was exchanged for BBQ premier. Burgers in the sun. It is March after all and spring has officially arrived.

Part of me is now ready to move out to my country house to stay there until next winter and enjoy the healing and energising impact of nature. But reality kicked in and I took my car and the dog and travelled back to the city in the evening.