ADVENT LETTER #4
Change & Evolve goes Christmas 🎄
Saturday, December 4, 2021
📚My Poem of the Day
Polish poet, Wislawa Szymborska (1923-2012) won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1996. Readers of Szymborska’s poetry have often noted its wit, irony, and deceptive simplicity. Many times in literature Utopian societies are typically later revealed to the reader to actually be a considered dystopian. This is what happens within the poem „Utopia“ by Wislawa Szymborska.
Utopia
Island where all becomes clear.
Solid ground beneath your feet.
The only roads are those that offer access.
Bushes bend beneath the weight of proofs.
The Tree of Valid Supposition grows here
with branches disentangled since time immermorial.
The Tree of Understanding, dazzling straight and simple.
sprouts by the spring called Now I Get It.
The thicker the woods, the vaster the vista:
the Valley of Obviously.
If any doubts arise, the wind dispels them instantly.
Echoes stir unsummoned
and eagerly explain all the secrets of the worlds.
On the right a cave where Meaning lies.
On the left the Lake of Deep Conviction.
Truth breaks from the bottom and bobs to the surface.
Unshakable Confidence towers over the valley.
Its peak offers an excellent view of the Essence of Things.
For all its charms, the island is uninhabited,
and the faint footprints scattered on its beaches
turn without exception to the sea.
As if all you can do here is leave
and plunge, never to return, into the depths.
Into unfathomable life.
🎶My Song of the Day
For this poem I chose Katie Melua’s song “Perfect World”
If you love music as much as I do, you may appreciate that the songs of every Change & Evolve Letter can be found in the growing Spotify playlist. Just click and follow:
👀Impressions of the Day
Two winters ago I went for an evening walk in the deep freshly fallen snow that transforms the world into this silent and beautiful winter wonderland ❄️
💭Thought of the Day
Yesterday I wrote about how important sleep, especially good sleep is for mindfulness. A second - yes, I realise there are a lot more - essential thing towards mindfulness is eating. I have mentioned this briefly in another edition of this letter and I cannot emphasise this enough. As always I have to start with myself. My eating habits were not the best, specially in the past two years with lockdowns and frustrations running high. Food brings comfort and often it is not so much, or at least not exclusively what we eat but how we eat.
It begins with the preparation of the food. I personally love to cook. When you have fresh and good ingredients that you can turn into a delicious meal. I always included my children in the cooking process and the result is that they are both great and even ambitious cooks themselves.
Setting the table plays another part in enjoying a meal. We have had way too many TV dinners in the last two years, we got lazy and did not put as much effort into our meals any longer. It was time to change that again. Sitting at the table, no music, no distractions whatsoever. We just enjoyed the company and the food, getting a better appreciation for it.
The speed in which we eat. I have always loved eating and I really do enjoy the food. I have gone back to very deliberately tasting each bite and chewing it slowly. I know that some people struggle with that. Sometimes when you watch people literally inhaling their food, you ask yourself if they even manage to taste any of it. If you are one of these people, try the above.
If you would like to connect with me, find out more about the Enneagram and yourself, how it can transform you and your life, I would be happy to take the time for a speed coaching call that you can reserve right here , go to my website or simply hit reply and get in touch with me directly.
Wishing you a happy Saturday and a hope you take the time to thoroughly enjoy today’s meals!
Yours
Tanja 🤗
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