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Black and white
Before Christmas I was making an appointment and on that occasion I was speaking with an assistant over the phone, with a woman I had not known. Her voice was pleasant and friendly and when I was to meet her finally, I was looking forward to that meeting. But expectations are deceiving troublemakers so when I actually saw her, I could not believe it was the same person. I did not like her appearance and felt disappointed. After exchanging the words we needed to say I got back to my car and went home. While driving, it began to dawn on me that my what-I-felt-at-first-sight perception was quite silly. She…
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Unplanned
Before I got married, my favourite styles of music had been contemporary folk and classical music. Then my husband-to-be entered my life and brought his favourite rock music into our household. I discovered quite a new musical world but did not find it overwhelmingly appealing. I did like some rock ballads and from time to time a rock song but did not enjoy and often could not stand those lengthy instrumental interludes my husband was speaking about passionately. A few weeks ago he bought a CD. He did not tell me a word about it but I noticed it playing one day and as its music aroused my curiosity I…
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Decision-making issues
Here and there I read local job advertisements and quite a few of them require good (or rather excellent) decision-making skills. The potential employers want the potential employee not to be afraid of making decisions and be willing to take responsibility for them, probably in situations and under conditions which may be very stressful and difficult. Without hesitation, I put these ads aside. I know I am not that kind of person. I do not make my decisions easily. Not even the most trivial ones. Imagine me, standing in a shop, not able to choose a T-shirt. I like a few but I am not sure which one looks good…
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Charm of mnemonics
There are so many pieces of information we need to know, there are so many pieces of information we need to remember. None of us is able to remember everything and sometimes we may get into trouble when forgetting something important. But there are techniques coming to our aid and probably all of you met and used the art of mnemonics which makes it easier for our brain to remember and recall the important pieces of information. There are many mnemonic devices and you can find plenty of them on the Internet but I would like to mention just a few practical uses which have stuck in my (Czech) mind.…
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Faces of denial
A few months ago, Dan Brown’s Inferno was released, which is his latest novel. I have read all of his novels and felt curious what he would come up with now so I bought the book as soon as I saw it in a book store. Frankly, I have been disappointed in many respects. Nevertheless, there is mentioned a theory of denial in the story and I had to think about it a lot. It has stuck in my mind… The theory says that our human mind protects itself against feeling unbearable stress which could be faced when thinking too much about possible threats. We could be permanently afraid of…
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Beads of memories
When I was in my twentieth, I had a pair of friends who used to organise evenings of reading in their flat for a bunch of young people. I do not remember if there was served any food (probably just what participants brought with them) but there was always prepared a big pot of strong black tea with a pinch of cinnamon, the flavour was very unusual to me at that time. The reading was voluntary and everybody was welcome to participate in it. One could choose any book and any section of it to read it aloud to the others. To make them think, discuss the matter or laugh,…
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Though seen, hidden to our eyes
A few days ago, I was watching a celebration of the ninetieth anniversary of the local Volunteer Fire Company. It was a wonderful opportunity to try and take another type of photos than I am used to. The firemen were dressed in official light or dark blue uniforms, fire engines and equipment – both new and old – were displayed in the local pitch and procession was walking through the village including a small band playing to set a marching step. I was absorbed in the celebration and focused on taking the photographs as the light was changing all the time, people were moving, regrouping, talking, so much to figure…
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Following trail markings
“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift.”― Albert Einstein When I was going home from work last week, I started to think about Felix Felicis, a potion playing an important role in Harry Potter’s adventures… Well, I need to insert a little intermezzo here. Afterwards I pondered about the occurrence of that idea in my mind, why Harry Potter all of a sudden? And I realised that I could start many of my posts with the words “When I was going home from work, it occurred to me…”. I…
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Perspective
“We are set in our ways, bound by our perspectives and stuck in our thinking.”― Joel Osteen The other day I was going home from work, driving my car and listening to the radio. I was in a bad mood because I made a great deal of effort at work and credit for it was given indirectly to my colleague. I was listening to the broadcasting, both news and music and was drowning disappointment in self-pity. Then a song started and though I wasn’t listening to it carefully, I suddenly heard two words prominently among other words. True seeker. TRUE SEEKER. The words were screaming in my mind and I…
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Meeting warmth
One of the things that make me happy in my garden is a little clump of chives that I love to add to soups or to scatter them on boiled potatoes. They are best in late spring or early summer before hot days dry their juiciness out. I usually cut them a lot at that time prior to their flowering and keep them in our freezer for later use. I’ve learnt to use more herbs and spices lately and a week ago I remembered a spice mixture which I used to buy years ago. I decided to buy and taste it again so I made a mental note and when…
