16 simple pleasures of a week away

We just spent a week on an island in the South of France and around Marseille and I just wanted to share a few simple pleasures with you that I encountered there.

1. Building sand castles with my boys.
2. Naked baby butts crusted with sand.
3. The silence of an island with no cars.
4. Running through a new landscape.
5. Naked feet in flip flops all day long.
6. Discovering new restaurants.
7. The smell of pine trees in the heat.
8. The never ending sound of crickets.
9. The sun's red ball sinking into the sea.
10. Not having 'to do' anything.
11. Looking for pine cones, perfect pebbles, seed pods...
12. Sitting outside at the end of September at 10 pm and it's still warm.
13. Squealing kids in the trailer while mountain biking on wobbly trails.
14. Husband in swimsuit...
15. The healthy tiredness from being outside all day.
16. No television, no news.
    

Read more...

Children see... Children do...Make your influence positive

This is a very thought provoking video about the influence we have on children.

Children learn by copying the behavior they see around them. And if you are a parent, you know this very well at the latest by the time you hear your three year old say a word he isn't supposed to even know in his sweet innocence.

But also other family members and friends have their influence.
Wherever you are in sight of a child, your behavior is being watched and maybe copied.

And if you don't want to feel like you're living in the Big Brother house, the best way is to always behave impeccably.

Utopia?
Maybe.

But awareness alone can make a change.
Be that change.

Read more...

The future belongs to right brainers

I have recently read Dan Pink’s book, “A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future”

Lawyers. Accountants. Computer programmers. That's what our parents encouraged us to become when we grew up. But Mom and Dad were wrong. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of "left brain" dominance, and the Information Age that it engendered, are giving way to a new world in which "right brain" qualities-inventiveness, empathy, meaning-predominate. That's the argument at the center of this provocative and original book, which uses the two sides of our brains as a metaphor for understanding the contours of our times.

Here’s a simple mind map of the book for those of you who want a brief overview.

Here is a ten minute video created by Steve Cunningham which contains an excellent summary of “A Whole New Mind”:

Dan Pink's site

Read more...

Introducing Rufus and Lele

You may have read that I have been working on a children's book.

It is almost ready and before I go campaigning :-) I wanted to lift the tip of the veil and introduce you to the main characters:
my son Loïc (in the book named Lele) and his best friend/stuffed lion Rufus.

The book is based on a real event and is written in both prose and rhyme. It will be launched as an e-book first and being the fan of 'real' paper books, I hope it will one day make it to print.

I have discovered a lovely collaboration space where writers and illustrators meet and create children books together. If you are interested in this space, have your own story or images and are only looking for another half to make it come to life, Memetales is the place to go (simply sign up to be included into the magic world or join the group on Facebook)

So if these two chaps look charming to you, be patient, you will soon be able to read the whole story.

Read more...

On being creative - and finding your passion

Being creative is so much fun. It definitely fills my cup at the moment.

And I haven't even been painting much lately.

My creativity was concentrated on setting up a third session of my Creative Workshops at work and have them taken up in the company's training catalogue (Yay!).

I have also worked on a corporate social responsibility project that I would like to get off the ground at our workplace. So far we are well on track.

And my first children's book 'Rufus' first night alone' is almost finished in both prose and rhyme. You will hear about the launch soon.

And I am equally excited about all of the above - which explains why my blog lately goes from one Sunday laugh to another without much substance in between. The fun is clearly happening outside of blogging world.

Lately I have been talking with people about creativity a lot. And these discussions have led into many different directions: from how creativity relates to quantum physics to how one can find one's passion.

And I think the last one is the secret of creativity:

PASSION = CREATIVITY

If you find your passion, you are bound to be creative independent of the field your passion is in.
Whether you love to create images on your computer that look real but do not exist or whether you can see yourself entering the delicatessen world.

The secret is realizing what your passion is and then pursuing it. And when it comes to pursuing it, most people never get off the ground. They seem to find themselves so many reasons to remain in their status quo. They see their passion, their plan as a big elephant, as the big project and they just do not know how or where to begin.

And it is so very easy: Baby steps.

Just start by doing one thing (attend that delicatessen fair, or buy that computer program which allows you to manipulate your pictures).

And when that baby step is done and you have had the satisfaction of ticking it off your list, choose the next one (working out one product line of delicatessen, publishing one picture on a dedicated website). And so on.

We often get held back because we only see the big elephant project. But even an elephant moves by setting one foot in front of the other.

So what is your passion?

What are you doing to get closer to living it?

What are the baby steps you can do now and achieve?

Read more...