Love – Awareness Compassion Pancakes

Seek those who fan your flames

“Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.” – Rumi

Spending time with people who fan your flames, is a key component in a happy life. At least it is to me!

I spend time with a lot of people, and I enjoy the company of most of them, but there are some who stand out and really fan my flames.

These people inspire me, I find pleasure in their company and they challenge me to grow as a person. And I sense that they feel the same way

Awareness, compassion, inspiration, synergy, love, pleasure and meaning are words I would use to describe the essence of these relationships.

I am sure that if you look at the people surrounding you, you will also be able to pin point some of them as “special” in that sense.

It is only recently that I have proactively been seeking the company of people who I can relate to in this way. Attending TED Global in Rio last year was probably the first time I made it a priority. But it is something that I now value and strive to integrate in my life much more than I have done so in the past.

Don´t take this the wrong way – I am in no way devaluating the relationship I have with most of the people I know – I am just acknowledging, that some relationships or connections, or whatever you choose to call them, have a special quality and intensity that stand out.

As I have mentioned a couple of times before, I have not been the most social person you can imagine, so initiating new relationships is not something that comes natural to me. BUT in respect of my (new) life rule about taking a step forward and not backwards, when I hesitate in a situation – I try to do the same in my interaction with other people.

I am no longer (that) afraid of telling someone, that I value their company, that I find them inspiring, and that I would love to spend more time with them.

And what has the consequence been? My life is on fire!

You can do it to! Prioritize the people you already know who fan your flames, and seek to find more.

“The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.”
– Carl Jung

Enjoying the transformation, I wish you all a great weekend!

P.s. Feel Free

The paradox of a restriction making me feel free, inspired me to write this P.s. to my post A Silent Perspective.

The 2 hours of Silent Sightseeing guided by Bastian Overgaard reminded me, that awareness and selfobservation are key to understanding, that the thoughts in our heads do not define who we are. They are thoughts – thats all! And we are all free to agree or disagree with them, and free to choose our own actions in response.

Being restricted to silence very quickly made me aware of how often my thoughts just turn into speech. The urge to react to my own thoughts by saying something became crystal clear, and having to stop myself from speaking changed my focus and gave room for awareness.

“When you recognize that there is a voice in your head that pretends to be you and never stops speaking, you are awakening out of your unconscious identification with the stream of thinking. When you notice that voice, you realize that who you are is not the voice — the thinker — but the one who is aware of it.

Knowing yourself as the awareness behind the voice is freedom.”

– Eckhart Tolle

This is the point, that the silent experience reminded me of. And yes, we do need to be reminded. Well, at least I do!

There is a big difference between knowing something to be true – because you have read and understood it – and then experiencing it to be true. And sometimes we forget a little..

Inspired by silence and feeling free – let me end this post with another quote;

“Man is condemned to be free; because once thrown into the world, he is responsible for everything he does.”

– Jean-Paul Sartre

With freedom comes responsibility…

Wondering about the flowers in my hair? I felt free!

Iceland my love

There is nothing like the forces of nature to force you into the present moment, inspire awareness and make you feel love in every cell of your body. Iceland my love, how you do just that!

For the last three days I have traveled Iceland, and enjoyed the amazing scenery, fresh air and good company.

Visiting a place like Gullfoss makes you feel insignificant in a good way, and it made me feel grateful and humble at the same time.

Water falling, and water rising – the Geysir was absolutely worth a visit. I enjoyed watching people SO present just focusing on the surface of the geysers not knowing, when it would do its magic and spray high in the air.

There is something about perspective! And seeing things from above gives you a whole other impression. We went on a small plane ride for 40 minutes overlooking the Reykjavik area, and it was beautiful.

I you want to hear sweet music that best describes the love of Iceland – take a few minutes, and listen to this:

Iceland my love, you will always have a place in my heart – and I haven´t even tasted your pancakes yet..

Kids and compassion in the kitchen

Some of my favorite childhood memories involve cooking with my grandparents and eating pancakes. How about yours?

My childhood was far from picture perfect, but I do have some very clear and happy memories, and a lot of them involve my grandparents, cooking, and pancakes.

In many ways I find, that cooking with kids, and cooking for kids, is an act of compassion.

I remember feeling challenged and valued at the same time, when I was allowed in the kitchen, and allowed to take part in the cooking.

I was very focused – especially when knifes where involved – and very eager to learn. And most important I think, I experienced cooking as something we did together! We cooked with each other, and for each other.

And the pancakes….

I remember my sister and I sitting in the living room, reading, drawing or maybe watching TV (one channel black and white) – and then suddenly we would smell the pancakes. “Mom is baking pancakes!”

The surprise because she had said noting about it, the joy because we loved pancakes – but primarily the feeling of love and compassion.

Don´t get me wrong, I am in no way saying, that cooking is the primary way of showing kids love and compassion – you can do that in so many ways – but for me, those are the memories that stick. And probably why I love eating and baking pancakes so much.

And then the dog said…

…. It is always now!

Well, he didn´t really say that, but close enough.

The story about Katrine is a hard one to follow. So I thought I would mention my daily inspiration to live in the moment, and to remember that; It IS always now!

Victor is my dog. And he is that inspiration. Just look at him.

Animals are a great reminder of living in the moment and being present. The present moment is where they live their entire lives. They don´t get caught up in thoughts about the past, or thoughts imagining the future – like most of us humans do.

It has been about 12 years since I first realized, that “now” is all there is, all there ever has been, and all there ever will be. It is always now.

I realized this, reading the book “The power of now” written by Eckhart Tolle. A book that I can highly recommend if you need to really understand this very important fact of life.

So what does Eckhart Tolle has to do with my dog?

Nothing really, but he did write the words to this great cartoon about the spiritual teachings from our cats and dogs.

I have taken the liberty to show you just this one of the cartoons – it is my favorite;

Just remember; it is the NOW now!

Let me tell you about Katrine

Katrine is really the essence of Awareness Compassion Pancakes.

I know a lot of wonderful people, and Katrine stands out as one of the most aware, compassionate and pancake loving of them all.

I met Katrine many years ago, she was a student of mine, and she worked at my company for a couple of years.

Even at a very young age, she amazed me with her level of awareness and always positive attitude. She has her own strong believes – and at the same time she is incredibly unprejudiced. Something that is rarely seen.

With Katrine “what you see is what you get” – and WOW you get a lot.

Katrine is a master of self-compassion and compassion for others, and I think, that her ability for both is what makes her a great therapist. Katrine runs her own business and offers reflexology, massage and acupuncture as some of her services.

No no – I am not forgetting the pancakes!

At my Afternoon Pancakes #1 Katrine was the one who ate the most – and with the biggest smile!

When she came home that night, her boyfriend was a little jealous of all the pancakes she had had, so what did she do? Well, she baked the family pancakes of course!

Just the other day she posted this picture on my Facebook page. Do you see the heart?

I am grateful to know Katrine. I don´t see her as much as I would like, but whenever I think of her it brings a smile to my face.

You can learn more about Katrine HERE

A bit of Awareness

With the Pancakes really taking of on this blog, I would like to share a bit of awareness. Well at least some of my thoughts on the subject.

For many years I have read books, studied, taught and been curious on what makes us happy and which factors influence our wellbeing.

I have read books on philosophy, psychology, spirituality, health, business management, self-help etc. I have talked to a lot of people and the knowledge I have gained, combined with my own experience, and the experiences of others, has resulted in 4 “awareness-tags” that I always keep close to mind;

Awareness is the key
It is always now
This to shall pass
All is well

I will make sure to go into depth with all of them in the time to come, and explain why they have become the reminders that keep me sane and being well.

When it comes to Awareness, one author/teacher has really stood out and that is Anthony De Mello. One of his books Awareness is my favorite on the subject, and the book I keep coming back to, when I need to set my head straight – so to speak.

“Wisdom tends to grow in proportion to one’s awareness of one’s ignorance.” – Anthony De Mello

De Mello focus a lot on awareness, but also on love. I will love to share more of that in future posts as well.

For now I will leave you with this:

“If what you seek is Truth, there is one thing you must have above all else.” “I know. An overwhelming passion for it.” “No. An unremitting readiness to admit you may be wrong.”
– Anthony De Mello