March 05, 2012

Dream

It is always miraculous to see a dream take shape and form. Dreams in themselves are made of the chiffon of our hopes, desires, and aspiring. There may be no limit to their fabulous unfolding, rich in all the magic of the fantastic. A dream may be held at the focal point of one’s mind and heart until it takes over the total process of one’s thinking and planning, until at last we become the living embodiment of what we dream. This is the first miracle: we become our dream; then it is that the line between what we do and are and our dream melts away. A new accent appears in how we think, the signature of our dream must guarantee the integrity of our every act. (Howard Thurman, 1899 – 1891)

[found on Greendrinks]

Collage


collage / opkrabbelen
Originally uploaded by macchi.

I'm slowly working through the book Opkrabbelen which has a lot of different assignments and questions and all kinds of stuff.

One of them is to make a collage, moodboard, or whatever you want to call it. This is mine.

I like it. I think I'm going to stick it up on my fridge or something because there are a few things on here that are good reminders for me.

What stands out for you? (I realize most words are Dutch). Curious to hear what you see in this (and maybe that will help me a little bit more again).

March 04, 2012

Some thoughts on work (2)

Think about this for a moment: when introducing yourself to unknown people (outside of work, so imagine a date - or dating website -, first lesson of a language course, a party, anything social really), what do you talk about? Place you live, work you do, hobby's you have?

My theory is that about 9 out of 10 people will talk about work. And if you don't start talking about it yourself, the other person will ask you about this - most likely in one of the first questions.

Why is this? Why is the work we do such an integral part of our identity in this society?

The type of work you do clearly is a way of cutting out your place in this world. And for the other person, it is a way of deciding where on the social ladder to put the person you are talking to. And the more I think about it, and the more I'm in situations that this is happening in, it is starting to annoy me more and more.

Work is an easy identifier: everyone works or is trying to get work. So in a way it is a 'safe' topic as everyone can relate. Talking about other interests that you may have outside of work are most likely more difficult as a conversation opener: chances are that the person you are talking to doesn't have that same interest and it will take longer to find a mutual topic to talk about. But isn't half the fun talking and finding that mutual interest? And aren't those other topics so much more interesting to talk about and get to know the other person?