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Personal favourites: Laura Mercier's lipgloss, Clinique's mascara and Redken's conditioner. Sometimes a little extravaganza makes a rainy day and a heavy heart a little bit lighter.

Mentorship kick off

Tonight's activity: facilitation of the kick off of a mentorship programme.

Potpourri from le weekend

In no specific order:
Quadratus lomborum, i.e. the lower back, works too hard when gluteus medius and maximus (nice names for the buttocks) are a sleep. Which they are most of the time for anyone with a desk job. A few tricks with a tennis ball and the situation can be much improved. So a new must have in the handbag, on the office desk or at least in the yoga tool box is a set of tennis balls.

You can't give something away that you don't have. And you can't expect to receive something from somebody that they don't possess.

Accept change gracefully, even if it means inviting another star to sing your hit song while you are the back up singer.

Don't cry somebody else's tears. It won't help them and it definitely won't help you.

Sometimes you need a little guidance to your subconscious mind, your friend who speaks from a different place in a language understood only by you.

Cold season started

Pretty but early. This is not the reason why I live in Sweden.

Leadership yoga

Turning a conference center into a yoga room.

Leaves and life experiences

Beautiful J said: "On your walk, relax, study the leaves on the trees. No leaf looks exactly like another. Now imagine that every leaf is a life experience to be had." 

Then I came to a field of gold. Experiences of gold waiting to be found. 

Ending a relationship

Two weeks of weaning. A relationship that started ages ago. Slow at the beginning but got quite serious after a few years. That's when we hit it off.

My relationship with coffee is on a break. Someone challenged me and I realised I've never stopped my coffee intake. Except during times of an odd tummy bug, but otherwise I've provided my body with caffeine for the last twenty plus years.

So how long does it take before you stop thinking about the lovely taste of a perfectly made latte? I'm still to find out. Although my body is probably free from caffeine, my mind isn't free from the longing of everything that comes with that latte. It's so much more than caffeine. Somehow a cup of tea doesn't provide the same experience.

We'll see for how long this break will last. It's a proven fact that it takes twenty one days to create a new habit. The question is if I want a coffee-free life.

May be you have to accept a little toxicity in your relationship. May be you can add some milk to make it smoother. In the end of the day, it's about being true to yourself and accept that nothing is perfect. Not even a great coffee. 

A cup of tea, a cup of wisdom

One more reason to practice yoga?

The new mailman

As opposed to the old mailman, the new mailman can also deliver feelings and reactions. The new mailman is loaded through telepathy; it's a quick and painless process. Just snap your fingers and your feelings and reactions will be transferred and the process is started. Should you wish to do so, you can also change receiver or feelings half way through. It could be that your feelings change when you have downloaded them to the mailman and that the receiver is therefore less served by the mail you first intended to transfer.

From an exercise in creative writing or was it the function of the brain?  Five years ago I wrote this little piece which was a given task (which I can't remember in detail) to provide an example of how the brain's association works. I remember the exercise being timed, and I remember being surprised by the result of my writing.

Going through old diaries and notebooks, this is what can be found. Among pages after pages filled with exhaustive self analysis, questions, feelings and decisions. It's like talking to a younger version of yourself, realising some things don't change.

Missing my friend

The trial shut down proved I wasn't really ready to let go of this format. But it was a good way of realising what I was missing. My daily reflection of what to write (and what not to write). The play with words. The settling (and sometimes unsettling) feeling of being read. A place to store random thoughts and pictures from life as it is on a certain day. A way of meeting myself.

So we are back for a while. 

Time to pack up?

There is an end to everything. May be also this blog. May be it is time to close this to open something else. Three years of writing, three years of selected observations from my life, from where I was right there and then. Which is not where I am here and now. But it's part of my history forming who I have grown to be. And it will continue. But may be it is time to take the writing elsewhere, just as I intended to when I first started in this format. May be it is time to share my observations in another shape.

Sometimes my observations have been cherry-picks. When there is too much going on at different levels I have given room to something completely different on my blog. Sometimes to give myself a break, a momentary escape, to rest the mind.

Sometimes my observations have been in the moment expressions of a feeling that goes through me right there.

Sometimes my observations have been a play with language, an advice to myself, a note to remember. 

Above all, they are mine but by no means all of me.

So if I were to read them all, ask myself if this is the majority of my life in the last three years, I will know what is not there. May be because I didn't want to share it in a blog, or may be I couldn't share it when I was still processing.

Either way, it's time to decide where to next. So very soon, this blog will be closed.

Labyrinth

Somebody said that life is a labyrinth. You have to get lost a few times before you find your way. He (yes, I think it was a man; I actually think it was Buddha) didn't say how many times you have to get lost before you get on the right track. But may be that's where karma comes in.

The path I'm on right now is a bit dark and lonely and I do feel I have tried quite a few different ones. When you look at the labyrinth from above, it's so easy to see which way to turn. When you are in the middle of it however, it's a completely different story.

Coming soon - The Kate Moss Book

Read about the evolution from new girl with potential to one of the most iconic models of all time. Or just look at the timeless fashion photos.

The working week

Since I became self employed I have aimed to establish a weekly rhythm to become more efficient and to have days without meetings.

Monday is completely dedicated to (traditional) work. In my world that means a full day in an office, at least four or five meetings, producing documents, answering emails, being available.

Tuesday is a back up for Monday. There are weeks when Tuesdays are very similar to Mondays, but usually with a different client and usually that means delivery of some sort. The other difference is of course the early start as I teach yoga every Tuesday morning. Also part of my job.

Wednesday is kept away from my largest client, dedicated to business development, new opportunities and networking. If I had coaching clients (which I don't at the moment), this would also be the perfect day to coach.

Thursday is a day when I aim to work from home for half of the day. Often a good day to design and develop something creative (workshops, meetings, training programmes). Also a good day for writing and reading. No lunch meeting as I teach another yoga class at that time.

Friday is my day. Very rarely do I have any meetings on this day. The whole idea is to keep it as open as possible. To allow time to attend a class somewhere. To prepare next week's yoga classes. To may be treat myself to a massage. This is when new ideas start to grow. It's like the brain needs some space for them to surface. Fridays are very much a day to wind down, to enter weekend mood.

It doesn't always work out. But if I can, I know that this is a rhythm that gives room to all parts of my life. Forty hours per week in the same office with the same people just doesn't appeal to me. May be I work less than I used to in number of hours. But I'm pretty sure those hours are much more efficient and productive.

What was I thinking?

The idea of a PT for a while seemed like a good idea when I decided to sign up for a number of sessions. Here I am. Dreading the hour of torture starting in five minutes. I'm even paying for it. Imagine sittning in a café with a latte and the morning paper.

Standing in

Things you can do on a Tuesday with a sweet five-year-old: have a sushi takeout, try on wigs and watch a number of Smurf episodes on the DVD in bed. And it's perfectly alright to go to bed early together; no shoulds or musts waiting.