Perfection is feeding chickens...

So I thought I would skip Day 5 of the blog challenge, but then something perfect happened, and I had to go back to this challenge.

The question for Day 5 was: What’s does your perfect day look like?

I have written this down for every single business program I have attended. All good fun, but sometimes it just feels so far away. Maybe mostly because I have tended to think it had to be really different from my life as it is. Those perfect days are great, but I want to remember that the process is just so much more important. That's why I do what I do - to live my life as it is happening.

Being self-employed can be challenging, I  often loose sight, get into a panic when we are low on cash, sit up too long at nights and do everything that all the really rich business people tell you not to do.  My website isn't perfect, I don't have really expensive pictures and badges. I procrastinate and drink too much coffee. I mess up and say I'm sorry a lot.

I meditate and look at the guilt I feed myself and compassion is a part of it. So do I strive for perfection or see perfection in what is. The other day it became SO clear.

Last Thursday I decided to keep my oldest daughter home from daycare. My partner had done a night shift and was sleeping. On impulse me and the two girls hopped on the bike and went for a little ride. We ended up in a little haven in the middle of Copenhagen. A little area with farm animals.

We were invited in to feed the chickens and pet the rabbits. We ate apples and had a chat with a 94 year old man. We ended up having the time of our lives.

I was behind on work, reading, napping but in those few hours my day was perfect. Just what I want - freedom, happy children, time to enjoy the little things, and the ability to let go.

In the back of my mind Lou Reed was singing "Just a perfect day"... minus images from the movie Trainspotting...

What is does your perfect day look like? 

Why do it at all?

I AM BACK - in english. :) So I joined the blog challenge over at the suitcase entrepreneur. And this is day 1... Today is all about why? Something that in business has been a great adventure the past 3 years. Why do I do what I do - and at other times "what the hell am I doing...?"

I started this blog back in 2011, because I wanted to share my story. I wanted to let people know how I use and practice meditation in everyday life. I have 2 daughters, a business, loads of friends I have neglected and a big family that I love. It is important to me that practice, integrating meditation and becoming more present in life, is down to earth. It is doable for everyone.

I feel very passionate about inspiring others to own their story, and break free from the drama of it, and use it to connect to their sense of worth and belonging. Because of that I want to share mine - honest, connected, and out loud.

That being said, I fell off the wagon. I had a good start, then business panic, then work freeze, then another baby, and bam 2 years later there hasn't been a lot of activity.

So the amazing Natalie Sisson sent me an email, gave me a push and I am back to share, listen and connect to my creativity again.

I am back on Twitter as well... Oh my. Maybe you would like to connect? I'm at @mindfulground

See you tomorrow. :)

Krig, fødsel og død...

I disse dage går vi og venter på, at vores andet barn melder sin ankomst. Det er en underlig følelse at vide, at lige om lidt så ændrer verden sig fuldstædig, vi ved ikke hvordan, men ved at det bliver stort. Det er både spændende og også lidt vemodigt. Som med efteråret der i dag viser sig fra sin bedste side, symboliserer at noget dør og noget nyt begynder. I dag er det præcis 11 år siden at jeg stod overfor en anden kæmpe omvæltning i mit liv. (Jeg er begyndt at skrive minderne ned, så småt og så dukker der en masse op til overfladen.)

Jeg stod i Københavnslufthavn, med en enkeltbillet til Sarajevo, Bosnien. Jeg havde en 6 måneders kontrakt med et Hollandsk firma "Echos" og skulle arbejde som civil på den Amerikanske hærs hovedkvarter, Butmir blandt ca. 3200 soldater fra hele verden.

Mit job var at arbejde sammen med lokale kvinder og mænd og skabe rekreationsområder for soldaterne på basen. Et eventyr jeg havde valgt, fordi jeg synes det var “once in a lifetime” chance for at prøve noget helt anderledes, inden jeg på et tidspunkt skulle blive rigtig voksen...

Der stod jeg og skulle lade mit liv som jeg kendte det dø, og et helt nyt kapitel skulle begynde.

Jeg skriver om det her, fordi at de 1 1/2 år i Balkan, hvor jeg langsomt lod mit sind, min krop, mig selv falde ud i ingenting, også blev min introduktion til mediation. Der er mange gode minder. Men jeg endte alligevel et sted, hvor det eneste jeg havde kontakt til var tømmermænd, adrenalin rushes, andres psykiske forfald, ekstrem had, fortvivelse og en dyb undren over menneskers evne til at tilgive.

Detaljerne er der ikke plads til her, men slutning kom i 2003 da jeg tog hjem for at holde jul. Chokket for min familie var stort. Jeg var mør, faldet fra hinanden, og en rastløshed styrede hver en handling. Jeg fungerede ikke længere i en normal verden. Jeg kendte den ikke længere. Jeg var mistroisk, min evne til at være del i relationer med tillid og ro eksisterede ikke længere. Langsomt tog stress, dødsangst og angstanfaldene over. Jeg havde lukket mig inde i mig selv.

Når jeg mindes de sidste 11 år, så er jeg dybt berørt over, hvor meget det er muligt at hele, tage ansvar, tilgive og hvad et menneske kan gennemgå af skift. I de tider hvor alt virkede håbløst og mit spejlbillede ikke var genkendelig, var der stadig muligheder. Jeg søgte i sin tid meditation, som en måde at komme af med angsten NUUUU. At det blev døren til så meget mere, kan jeg kun være taknemmelig for. Det har været hårdt arbejde, men at lade mig selv blive blød i stedet for hård, at være åben frem for lukket, har vækket mig i live igen.

Nu sidder jeg her 11 år senere, hormonel, sårbar, tyk, med halvveer, og er så klar til at åbne mit hjerte for et lille nyt menneske.

See you on the other side...

Letting go...

So, this summer has been a time of great change. Not so much around me, but in me. What do I wish for me and my family, what do I want for my business, and what do I want to spend my time working on. I love writing in english, and I truely feel that I have something to say. However, I have had to make a decision. What is this blog and why do I spend time writting. And for the moment I have made the choice to change this blog from an english version to a danish.

It has been a hard choice, as it means letting go of a dream I have had with this blog and what I wanted it to do. But as a lot of you know, once you do let go of something that is "weighing you down" it can feel so liberating. I have always been the kind of person who wants to change the world. I am sure I will... :) But I have to start closer to home - with me... he he. We will see how it goes.

So from now on you can read this blog in Danish. Thank you all for leaving your comments, and sharing your thoughts, it has meant the world to me.

Here's to new dreams and moments unfolding.

xox Carina

Compassion? No, sorry I’m too busy...

I was listening to Daniel Goleman on TED talks (iphone version - it’s great). It was a talk about compassion. He starts off talking about a study that was done, I won’t go into the specifics, but a group of theological students were asked to give a pratice sermon and they were given a topic. Half were if given the parable of a good samaritan. The rest had random bible topics. One by one they were asked to go to another building and give their sermon. On the way, each of them passed a man who was bent over and moaning, and clearly in need. Did it make a difference that they were contemplating the act of the good samaritan and how many stopped. It didn’t! What determined who would stop - was how much of a hurry they thought they were in, they felt that they were running late, or they were caught up in what they were going to say. So even in the proces of talking/thinking/writing about compassion, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are.

Are we really too busy to be compassionate people? Are we too busy to hold other people’s suffering not to mention our own?

Do we stop to help the elderly even if we are in a hurry, do we hold the door for disabled people, do we donate money to people in need and do we feel true compassion for others? Or do we keep running and say "I'll do it next time around"?

What are we waiting for and running towards? And is this the trend of today? Waiting for and running towards the right moment to be; compassionate, have children, a partner, get married, do something nice for others and yourself, feel happy, lose weight, give a compliment, take action, take NO action, sit down and look at the children we might have found time to have, giving a hug, forgiving, loving, letting go.

We are waiting for a right moment that is constantly passing. We have the opportunity now, and are we present in the now to take it?

We don't have to go anywhere else to find compassion. Not to a Himalayan monastery or even a meditation retreat. We don't have to sit at the foot of a guru or stand on our heads. We won't find compassion in a book or a blog or an inspirational quotation. There is only one place to practice compassion: the one you're in. You can never leave this place, but you can turn it inside out. Do you want to live in friendship or fear? Paradise or paranoia? We are each citizens of the place we make, so make it a better place. Karen Maezen Miller

Thank you Karen you said it for me.