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Creative, my word for 2026
The start of each new year always brings a moment of reflection — looking back at my life, what was successful and what could have been better. For quite a few years now, this reflection has been connected with choosing a word for the year. The word that came to me for this year is “creative”. I have a need for creativity coded in my brain and body but in practice, I’m not very creative… Sort of a paradox, isn’t it? Because when I want to express my creativity, I can’t seem to find sufficient skills in my toolkit. I used to try forcing the expression of creativity by setting…
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Caught in my tracks
When you’re bored, sad, or lonely, you can handle it in many different ways. The other day, I turned to something unexpected: asking AI to write a short story with me. I would start a sentence and AI would shortly complete the idea and vice versa. It was not an attempt at creating a literary piece, it was just fun. And it led me to genuine surprise. Here is part of the story as it was created: AI: The water seemed to shimmer, and the stone… Me: … looked like a riddle of sorts. I poured the water over the stone… AI: … and as the liquid touched its surface,…
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Embrace, my word for 2025
A few days ago I found myself reflecting on how I’ve grown more willing to embrace the imperfections in objects, actions, people and circumstances. Accepting flaws has been my life-long struggle but as I am getting older, I find it a little bit easier to accept the faulty side of things. As I need to deepen this practice of acceptance and the word EMBRACE speaks to me loudly these days, I nominated it to become my word for the year 2025. I chose this word once before, back in 2017, but then it was about embracing myself – who I am and who I’m not. This time it’s directed outward, toward the…
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Balance, my word for 2024
A few days ago it occurred to me it was time to start looking for my word for the year 2024. You know, I always just start listening to my mind what word will speak to me and this time I was not waiting for long. I heard the idea of BALANCE addressing me… Nevertheless, I have to admit that the word did not click with me right away and I thought I would give it a few more days to see this was really meant to be. Yet the word stuck in my mind and refused to let go so eventually I accepted it is the one I need…
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Spiky
You wouldn´t find many black & white photos in my archive but surprisingly enough, this year I created quite a lot of them. I didn´t shoot the photos with the intention to get the b&w result but when I was editing them, the limited colour range brought out the voice they spoke to me with. Like the image above. I took the photo at a maize field where the patterns and structures caught my attention. I still like the original colourful photo. I also like the b&w version I transformed it into. But I went even further to create this contrasting image and realized this was the voice I heard…
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Ideas lost and forgotten
I commute to work daily and on my ways there and back, often the dots connect and I have ideas that capture my attention. Sometimes also words of a song I am listening to on the radio along the way trigger a train of thoughts I am glad to get on. I believe the brain works in a different mode at that time… And I often think “this would be interesting for my blog to ponder and write about…” But when I come home, the ideas are usually long forgotten, replaced by happenings at work and home routine and then in the evening I stare at the empty screen of…
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Showing through
What can you see behind window panes of your life reflecting everything around? Trees covered in lush green leaves or dry bare branches waiting for new life? Fresh blue sky inhabited by flying birds or overcast nothingness letting you down? Sometimes it takes much effort not to see just the negatively obvious but let the supporting and the encouraging show through Yet when it happens, it feels like nothing else in the world…
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Dedicated, my word for 2023
Just imagine that you are on a walk, enjoying beautifully frosted trees and grass around you when all of a sudden a hen appears from nowhere obvious and photobombs the scenery you’ve just been trying to capture in your photo. Well, you may try to be quick enough to recompose the image and create something unexpected, even though perhaps not that perfect as you are more surprised than ready, right? It might definitely be worth the try… But what I am here today for is another matter. The new year will arrive in a few days so I started to think about what word will accompany me through it and…
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Playful water lilies
Yesterday I was asked what definition I would assign to a “photograph” and after some pondering, I came up with this: A photograph is a rendering of reality that may be documentary but also emotional, abstract or even somewhat imaginary, yet still preserving the core of that reality. Well, but what is that core, you may ask, it sounds sort of vague. And I would say that it is the hard-to-grasp distinction between a photo and an image… and we would be at the beginning again. You know, some people say that photography excludes digital art. But digital art has many faces, right, and some of it may preserve the aspect of…
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Thoughtful
I wish my blogging was more regular and more frequent but sometimes I’m lazy, many times I feel like having nothing interesting to share, other times life itself gets into way. And then when I have an idea I would like to write about I sometimes catch myself in time not to share something angry, complaining, negative. It’s somehow easier to let our anger or dissatisfaction speak aloud on our behalf but well, I prefer looking for balance and positive mindful thinking in this place. I want me to grow when writing the posts and you to be enriched and inspired when reading them, I do not opt for sinking…
