This is how magic is done. By hurling yourself into the abyss and discovering it’s a feather bed.”

Winston Churchill once said, “It is not enough that we do our best; sometimes we must do what is required.” Think about what you are working toward this year. Are you doing what is required or are you looking for a shortcut?

When I am well rested and working on something I am genuinely excited about, finding time is rarely a problem

What do these activities have in common? Why do they seem ideal candidates for a practice? All involve, as an aim or intention, the effacement of the ego. All require, to achieve their highest levels, a form of psychic surrender. All are—however we might define this—”spiritual.” The aim of a practice, in my view, is to seek the spirit by way of the body. In other words, using the physical to attempt to reach the ethereal.

I’m trying produce a “work,” yes. And I want the work to be good and even to “succeed.” But the real intention is to seek a form of “the zone,” to achieve a state of “play” that is beyond effort and exertion and beyond the constraining and limiting ego.

startpunt voor Geestelijke Verzorging in Nederland  In gesprek over levensvragen

Stop acting like there is infinite time. This—the way you are living right now—is your one life.”

Ironically, most electoral arsonists never intended to start a wildfire. They merely wanted to modestly express their understandable dissatisfaction, which also entails expectations no government will ever be able to meet. Perhaps only a god could. But in the Netherlands and its surroundings, God has finally been declared dead, for ever.

Het is hoog tijd om tricksters uit het centrum van de macht te halen. Dit vraagt een cultuur waarin we oneerlijkheid, gesjoemel en misleiding keihard afstraffen. In de politieke en bestuurlijke arena, aan talkshowtafels én keukentafels. Het grootste gevaar komt niet van mensen die trickstergedrag vertonen, maar van mensen die hier niet genoeg weerstand aan bieden.

Het raakt me hoe vatbaar wij met z’n allen zijn voor bullshitverhalen, marketingtrucs, schone schijn, leugens, halve waarheden en wilde verhalen.

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi on the value of daily surprises: “Try to be surprised by something every day. It could be something you see, hear, or read about. Stop to look at the unusual car parked at the curb, taste the new item on the cafeteria menu, actually listen to your colleague at the office. How is this different from other similar cars, dishes or conversations? What is its essence? Don’t assume that you already know what these things are all about, or that even if you knew them, they wouldn’t matter anyway. Experience this one thing for what it is, not what you think it is. Be open to what the world is telling you. Life is nothing more than a stream of experiences — the more widely and deeply you swim in it, the richer your life will be.” Source: ​Creativity

One of the most widespread misunderstandings involving anger expression is the catharsis myth; many people believe that releasing anger via venting, physical actions, or writing is a healthy coping mechanism, despite a wide array of research stating otherwise (Lohr, Olatunji, Baumeister, & Bushman, 2007; Bushman, Baumeister, & Phillips, 2001). Bushman (2002) showed that venting was actually counterproductive, as it caused people to further ruminate about their anger rather than move on. Similarly, one study showed that anger actually increased when those listening reinforced participants’ venting behaviors, and decreased when the angering situation was reinterpreted by others (Parlamis, 2012). Additional research has shown that venting can be a healthy coping skill, but it must be used in a way that allows someone to release his or her anger and take a problem-solving approach to finding a solution for the cause of the anger. Nils & Rimé (2012) found that venting was only an effective coping method for dealing with anger when the person on the receiving end engaged in cognitive reframing directing the angered person toward problem-focused solutions