Happy

Somehow it feels as if it's the start of something, anything new.

My attitude to my current job has changed dramatically over the last few months, I've come out of the summer with some new insights and lessons learned, and I've started two new things this week which I hope to continue with regularly.

Yay. Happy. Hopefully this will give me back some of that energy which seems to have become lost along the way.

Slow change

Why is change so slow? Why does it take so much time?

I'm not talking about collective change - it kind of makes sense that that takes a lot of time: convincing a lot of individuals to do something they've always done differently and then actually doing that. But personal change - even for things you believe in and are committed to.

Almost two years ago I took on the challenge of No Impact Week (you can also read my experiences again here). And I started making small changes, mostly focused on food: eating less meat and fish (although that really only kicked in this year) and using almost only organic vegetables. That also changed the way I cook - and am happy to say that I am still continuing with that.

Since then, I've read a lot of books on issues around sustainability. The books that have made the most impact have been:
> Collapse by Jared Diamond (actually, this is probably way ahead of the others in terms of the impact it had on my outlook on the world and its future)
> No Impact Man by Colin Beavan (from the above No Impact Project, yes)
> The Necessary Revolution by Peter Senge and others
> The ecology of commerce by Paul Hawken.

But why then, do I absentmindedly order meat ('because it's what the Slovaks eat')? Or still chose to fly even if, in hindsight, going by train would have worked equally well?

And then do it again? And again?

[Another Slovakian train of thought]

Ready, set....

Bag packed? Check
Bikini recovered? Check
Great weather forecasts? Check

Off for a few days of gorgeous Dutch seaside, yay.

... Go!

Head versus Heart

Are you someone who makes more decisions based on the Head, or on the Heart?

I'm more of a Head kind of person. And I'm trying to live more by the Heart. Trying. Because sometimes this is pretty difficult.

Or maybe the Head is better in some situations anyway?

Sigh.

Simple pleasures

Today was my last day at work for the next two weeks, which always means a long list of stuff to finish and leaving as little work as possible for the colleague who will cover for me. When I walked in to the office it turned out that all our systems were down. When this happened the last time (only last month, grrr) it took all morning for them to bring everything back online.

Cue short panic to think of how I was able to finish all that work - not a good start of the day.

The whole day has gone differently than expected. By the end of the working day my plans for tomorrow had disappeared and later my dinner company had to leave unexpectedly.

The good part? More dessert for me! I'm never a huge fan of desserts, but for tonight I made marinated strawberries (in a French liquor which has been in my cupboard mostly unused for much too long) with lime-flavoured mascarpone. Leave both in the fridge for an hour or so.

Yumm. Really really nice.

Practically Perfect

Tonight I read this article: how do you find your passion? And keep it alive?

Apart from some of the other things in there, I'm taking on his last challenge: to blog. Because, why am I not writing here anymore? More than 6 years of at least monthly writing has changed to ..... silence.

So, I am going to use this place as a type of online memobook - writing about things I see happening; things that I want to know more about; things that make me think; things that inspire and challenge.

I don't know what you will get to read (if anyone is still reading). I don't know what the result will be (if any).

That's not the point. I think I need to start putting down ideas and get them out of my head.

To be continued.