Not exactly myself

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You may be as flooded with briny emotion as a Pisces on a meandering binge. You might be as embedded in a labyrinth of your own creation as the Geminis who verge on being too clever for their own good. You may be as cagey a listener as a Scorpio who's searching for a hidden vulnerability in an ally. In other words, Aries, you're not exactly yourself. But it's one of those rare times when that's a good thing. Halloween costume suggestion: the opposite of what you think you
are.

****

What I think I am, you ask? Well, there is a lot to that question and I could think of long and detailed answers. Would any of it have to do with reality? I couldn't say, probably not.

Dito!

Seite 124 - Bedienungsanleitung meines Gehirns

Dieser Text stammt aus einem Buch des Neurobiologen Gerald Hüther mit dem wundervollen Titel "Bedienungsanleitung für ein menschliches Gehirn":

"...Kinder können einen anderen Menschen so offen, so vorbehaltlos und so um seiner selbst willen lieben. Sie übernehmen deshalb auch die Hoffnungen und die Sprache der Menschen, die sie lieben, am leichtesten. Und manchmal gelingt es auch noch Erwachsenen, einander so vorbehalt- und selbstlos zu begegnen, als wären sie Kinder.
Liebe erzeugt ein Gefühl von Verbundenheit, das über denjenigen hinausreicht, den man liebt. Es ist ein Gefühl, das sich immer weiter ausbreitet, bis es schließlich alles umfasst, was einen selbst und vor allem diejenigen Menschen, die man liebt, in die Welt gebracht hat und in dieser Welt hält.
Wer so vorbehaltlos liebt, fühlt sich mit allem verbunden und dem ist alles wichtig, was ihn umgibt. Er liebt das Leben und freut sich, an der Vielfalt und Buntheit dieser Welt. Er genießt die Schönheit einer Wiese im Morgentau ebenso wie ein Gedicht, in dem sie beschrieben oder ein Lied, in dem sie besungen wird.
Er empfindet eine tiefe Ehrfurcht vor allem, was lebt und Leben hervorbringt, und er ist betroffen, wenn es zugrunde geht.
Er ist neugierig auf das, was es in dieser Welt zu entdecken gibt, aber käme nie auf die Idee, sie aus reiner Wissbegierde zu zerlegen. Er ist dankbar für das, was ihm von der Natur geschenkt wird. Er kann es annehmen, aber er will es nicht besitzen.
Das einzige, was er braucht, sind andere Menschen, mit denen er seine Wahrnehmungen, seine Empfindungen, seine Erfahrungen und sein Wissen teilen kann. Wer sein Gehirn auf diese umfassende Weise nutzen will, muss also lieben lernen."

:)

Newsflash

Things happening in and around my life right now:

- After the parliamentary elections 10 days ago, politicians in Germany are "coaliding" to form a coalition. Some "big brother" related issues on the agenda could be crucial to the future development of personal freedom in this great nation (just auto-repeating expressions I've heard, that seem to sound good together)

- My Portuguese intensive course is over and I already speak another language. Thanks to an absolutely wonderful teacher and the small group size fast studying progress was a piece of cake for my language trained mind. Yeah, I know, I am just bragging, but seriously: Portugal and Brasil, here I come :)

- Geocaching (here) and Couchsurfing (here) both get better and better the more you get involved in them. And they can be easily combined, as I found out yesterday when I visited the so-called "Devil's Kitchen", a beautiful nature spot and clear water well not far from here. I got to pet a wild boar and found two treasures via GPS-coordinates. All the time I was accompanied by a charming Canadian travelling duo that happened to be around for the Oktoberfest and afterwards wanted some quieter down-time from partying. I think they enjoyed themselves quite a bit and will have great memories of Bavaria!

- I am having interesting conversations about spirituality these days and my belief system is being challenged and nourished by different yet inspiring perspectives on the world. Do you think that there is of benefit to imerse into end-of-the-world-scenarios or are you more adherent to the old school of utopians? What can I learn from that for my daily behavior?
Also, in the light of a recent murder of a courageous life saver by some brutal teens, how do you act in situations you are confronted with aggression? Questions for personal growth... I might lose a word or two about it in my gradauate thesis that's coming up.



May you be happy! Desejo que todos estão felizes :)

With winter coming it feels cosier to be inside with friends

Now it's not that cold yet in Augsburg, but summer definitely feels like it's over. So while my weeks are pretty busy at the moment I am here today to share some of the things I experienced in the last weeks.

There was this great project by the very talented photographer and great human being Tyler Knott Gregson which I contributed to and which was meant to show the world some love :)

Hello World, I Love You from Tyler Knott Gregson on Vimeo.

The other day I went to a café to chat and study with a close friend. As often with her I learned a lot about myself, which is always a good thing :) We talked about our childhoods, about how we became the way we are. We talked about circles of friends and how we manage our friendships. We also talked about relationships and what our ideal partners are like. So many important things that I cannot go into detail about them right now (maybe some other time), but I will recommend this to you: Just go one of these days and call a friend to spend a relaxed afternoon in some café with them, just chatting about the important things in life :)

Not only free time holds great human episodes but my university life is also full of brilliant people and interesting stuff. I am currently immersed in an intensive Portuguese course of three weeks where Spanish speakers learn all one normally learns in the course of one whole year. So it's not only intensive, but an intense
experience and absolutely inspiring. Language is my thing anyway and here I get it in compact form and enjoyably presented free of charge!! It does not get much better than that for language learners :) The teacher rocks, too.

Oh and there is my buddy Sebastian in Rome who just now started an inofficial riddle group to solve some logical puzzles together, like this easy one here: You have a 3 liter jar and a 5 liter jar. Measure exactly 4 liters. I solved it, go have a try!

For now I will leave you, I want to see some family on this Saturday afternoon! Be happy everybody!