by Elisabet | Apr 8, 2009 | English Blog
Have you ever wondered what it is that makes some people so successful? Aren’t you sometimes curious about how they think, what they do to be so successful? Me too. I’m fascinated by people who seem unfaced by what’s going on around them and can fully focus on their task and do their best. There’s like a calm, a quiet focus, a presence that takes over and makes it possible for them to just be at their best.
That’s the case with Remix, one of the best female barbershop quartets in the world, who became European champions a couple of weeks ago in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.
When I observe the Remix members – Camilla, Marie, Hillevi och Marie, I notice a couple of specific things.
They have great musicality, they’re professional, focused and goal orientated, and yet that isn’t what makes them stand out the most. No, what I see as a big part of their success is their joy – they love what they do, they are proud yet humble, they give and by giving they contribute to the world around them.
And despite all their success they don’t take themselves too seriously. They don’t think they are better than anyone else, they keep both feet on the ground (or all eight of them!)
They know that their success isn’t dependent on the world around them, they don’t let themselves be impacted by all the stuff out there. They find their inner strength and they know to enjoy every second, they let go of expectations of exact outcomes, they know that they will do their best and that their best is good enough – regardless of what others do. And when things don’t go as well, they willingly take the feedback, learn, brush themselves off and go on – stronger and wiser.
And when I observe these fantastic girls, I wonder if it isn’t so that they have found the key to success – joy, presence, peace of mind, and an endless giving – not just for themselves, but because that’s what we people are about, aren’t we – giving, contributing, making a difference.
I think we can all learn from this. The more we can find the joy in what we’re doing (regardless of what it is), and take control of our state (of mind), the more satisfied and successful we can be.
And as far Remix goes – look out world, they’ve got more to give! And we gratefully recieve:-)
by Elisabet | Mar 16, 2009 | English Blog
I saw an ad for T-Mobile on TV a while ago. It was a train station somewhere in England, with hundreds of people passing through a large atrium. All of a sudden music starts playing and people start dancing, at first just the ones that were in on it, and then some of the others. Surprised, startled and happy. It looked like so much fun – heart warming, fun and uplifting.
OK then, if you haven’t seen it and you’re curious – here’s the link to You Tube and the video clip…..
A bit like in a musical…
You know what it’s like in a musical – all of a sudden everyone just starts to dance, the traffic stops, everyone knows the steps, the music just washes over you – “Fame, I’m gonna live forever”! Yeah well, you know what I mean.
Wouldn’t it be cool if life was more like a musical? If people smiled more, laughed more, danced more, jumped on car roofs more, were a little more spontaneous Or at least looked more at each other on the tube, the bus, the train.
Let’s start a revolution! Smile at at least one stranger today! Dance a few steps on your way to the bus! Laugh for no reason! What’s the worst thing that can happen? 🙂
by Elisabet | Mar 5, 2009 | English Blog
Heard on the English news this morning that a 71 year old (or young!) man had been accused of reckless rollerblading. Marvellous! You couldn’t make it up, even if you wanted to!
Apparently he had been blading in his hometown for a long time but had now expanded his view and gone to another little town, where he had been caught on CCTV, blading down a pedestrian street. The footage shows how he swerves in and out amongst pedestrians and apparently people have felt threathened by his movements. Absolutely marvellous! I’m saying absolutely marvellous as I think it’s so out of the ordinary.
We often have set views or expectations of how people should be, children are expected to be or behave a certain way, teenagers another and so on. A teenager being accused of reckless rollerblading would have been more in line with expectations. Isn’t it fantastic when people make a mark, stick out a bit, surprise a bit, raise our spirits a bit!?
I had a big smile on my face when I heard and saw this on the news. They interviewed the man on TV, he had his rollerblades on and you could see how he was rearing to go the whole time! What joy he was displaying! He seemed to be having such a good time. And I don’t think he was particularly dangerous to his surroundings. I do think he broke the pattern of our expectations of a 71 year old though.
Good, I say! Break the pattern! Keep your “joie de vivre”! Do what’s right for you – as long as it doesn’t hurt others and the world around you. There’s nothing wrong in stirring things up a bit or staying away from stereotyping for that matter.
So now I’m wondering what I can do to break the expectations of what a 40+ mum with small kids and her own company should be like…..
All suggestions are welcome:-).
by Elisabet | Feb 26, 2009 | English Blog
May last year I travelled to Treasure Island, Florida to attend a three week long NLP Trainer certification programme.
NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) is a behavioural technology that helps people achieve better communication, better goal achievement, greater happiness – well simply to create the life, the relationships and the situation that one wants. I don’t know what it’s like for you, but I’ve found that often when I’m a bit unsure or nervous or just not myself, I typically don’t do my best or make the best impression. My head starts spinning with various thoughts:
“what if I make a fool of myself”
“I hope no-one will see how nervous I am”
“what if it all goes to pot”
and the more I think that way, the more I become focused on myself and my own feelings. I just become less focused on what I can contribute to the world. It all becomes quite ego focused, just on ME, ME, ME. And it feels rubbish, doesn’t it? Because then it’s as if it’s all up to me, as if I have to have all the answers, as if I have to be perfect (horrid thought:-))
Something happened during those weeks in Florida.
I learned to focus more on the world around me and less on myself. I learned to be just “in the moment”, to focus all my attention outside of myself and in doing so I found a new calm, a new presence. A calm that tells me that everything is OK. That I can’t make a fool of myself (that’s all just in my head). When I focus on the world around me, I have access to more of my resources, my instincts, my wisdom.
If you would like to experience the same thing, then practice focusing on the world around by expanding your visual field. Instead of staring firmly at something, try relaxing your eye muscles and take in more information through your peripheral vision. Do it every day and especially whenever you feel tense or worried.
You’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I’m not saying that it’s constantly like this for me now, but I do have short moments without my ego involved and in those moments I feel better than ever before. I know more, I achieve more – everything just falls into place.
And I love every moment! I intend to have more of those!
by Elisabet | Feb 16, 2009 | English Blog
Yes, I know that Christmas has just been and that it’s 10 months to the next one, but it can’t be too early to start influecning, can it….? I mean, to increase your chances…..
This year I won’t ask for another handbag, there are limits to how many handbags a person can have, even for me:-).
No, this year I wish for TED. How wonderful it would be to attend TED.
If you haven’t discovered TED yet, then it’s a yearly speaker’s conference where creative, inspiring and aspiring people share their knowledge, ideas and visions. Imagine being showered by inspiration for several days by some of the world’s best thinkers and doers! About 50 people speak for 18 minutes each during 4 days! Wow! Talk about bombarding yourself with possibilities!
I’m keeping my fingers crossed. And I promise to be good of course!
In the meantime I will continue to listen to all these fantastic inspiring people at TED Talks – hundreds of video clips from these conferences. At times I hardly dare visit their website as I know that I so easily get hooked and then don’t get anything else done.
One of my favourite clips is with Sir Ken Robinson who talks about creativity and how we need to teach our children differently than we do today. Wonderful! If you want to laugh and be inspired – here is the link.
Although, isn’t it so that our entire lives are one big TED conference, with inspiration and possibilities. When I look around at all the people I meet, I am awed at the contribution everyone makes.
Think of how you inspire and influence those around you. Every day. Isn’t that something!
