July 2021

I seem to be just generally late with posting... but I am at least sticking to it. It is my only writing practice, better than nothing I guess...

QUOTE

I have come across this quote and it brought me closer to people around me:

Zadie Smith in 'Intimations': 'But when the bad day in your week finally arrives - and it comes to all - by which I mean, that particular moment when your sufferings, as puny as they may be in the wider scheme of things, direct themselves absolutely and only to you, as if precisely designed to destroy you and only you, at that point it might be worth allowing yourself the admission of the reality of suffering...'

TRAVELING

This month started with an exciting event of travelling out of Bremen. I went with my family to Denmark to visit my husband’s relatives. It was a powerful trip for us. To do different things, be different places, eat different food and engage with different people. My daughter came back exhausted and enriched by connection with her cousins. Because of corona-pandemic we are living so isolated from our roots that we forgot how much more peaceful life is if you embedded in your family’s networks. And I mean it despite all the obvious tensions that are part of its web. We look forward to go again which we plan to do next month.

GENERAL

The trip to Denmark was just the beginning of the recharging life energy summer. Right after coming back my parents visited which started a wonderful time of sleeping more, because they help with child-care. The aspect of sleeping more is not something our kids care about but me and my husband cannot get over the fact that we can slumber in bed till 10 am on some of the days. It might not sound that crazy unless you put it in the perspective of our default 5 am ;)

My reading didn’t pick up that much pace as I hoped but I have reached the goal of finishing three books this month.

BOOKS

'What happened to you?' by Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry

This book has changed how I think about people. It made me more connected to human beings; Broaden my perspective on mental health and how our childhood influences who we are and what we struggle with. Full of wisdom and scientific facts, but written in a very approachable warm way as a dialog between Winfrey and Perry.

‘How to talk so little kids will listen’ by Joanna Faber and Julie King

I have reached my limits as a mother and I needed tools. THIS BOOK IT GREAT! I probably have to read it again or something similar in a half a year or so when I forget how to talk to my little one but for now I feel more prepared for dealing with challenging issues like convincing my daughter that it is time to go to bed... (it is not easy but I am able to go through it way more gracefully... for now at least... I am sure my 4 year old will surprise me with yet another way of resisting sleeping...Yay)

‘Prepared’ by Diane Tavenner

It made me hungry for more information how to educate future generations. In itself it is mostly a story how Tavenner with many others created revolutionary high schools based on taking a responsibility for the future of every single child entering those schools. I wish I went to her school...