#TATuesday – Where I Go to Think in Oslo

Make the Choice!

Life will feel like it’s screwing you over at times. Out of nowhere, the shit that you had no idea was midair will hit that fan and you won’t be able to duck away from the shitstorm! In those moments, you have a choice. You can sit there, covered in all of the shit and sulk…. OR you can scream a little and then use your frustration and turn it into motivation.

A few days ago I got a bit of a shitty surprise that came out of nowhere, and it made me sad and angry. What exactly happened is not really important, and I won’t get into any details here. But after being a bit shocked, and then trying to make sense of it, I decided to turn it all into action. I chose to write about it, to plan new stories and films. I turned my tears and my anger into motivation. A drive to growth and moving way beyond. To not focus on the hurt, but still be mindful of it. To let my creativity work with the senseless. Because the fact of the matter is this; Life is too short to spend a lot of time and energy on the people or the actions that pull you down.

I choose to walk out with a smile, and to keep doing what I love most! We can all make the choice to see the positive of a shitty situation. It can be hard as hell though, I know! But it’s so worth it❤️

Staying positive and grateful can be really challenging at times. I’m not even going to try to say that I manage to do so every day. I have days where staying strong for too long gets to me and I will isolate myself for a day (or a weekend) and just get it all out. But I have to say that the choice to stay as grateful as I possibly can have definitely changed my life for the better. And the universe has granted me so much more of what I’ve asked for too.

So make the choice to make the most out of your life. Smile, stay positive and grateful! Allow yourself to be sad and angry too, but don’t stay in that negative space. You might find inspiration there, but it’s not where the magic happens ❤️

Love you my dear lovelies!

Just What I Needed!

My Friday so far has been exactly what I needed. I got off work at half past two and at the moment I walked out the doors from work, my body felt drained and my brain fried. I couldn’t drag my ass home fast enough.

As soon as I got inside I put on my comfy pants. I made some delicious coffee and some food, put on a sappy movie (The Holiday… Don’t laugh!) and I just relaxed completely. Let my mind drift and enjoyed the movie and the quiet around me. There’s been so much going on lately (as you may have noticed) and my brain doesn’t really have an off switch. So for me to finally have some peace and quiet, without much planed at all for an entire weekend feels bloody fantastic.

I’m going to write, be lazy, meditate and just do whatever I feel like doing. This is just what I needed! I have now slumped down on my couch, made myself a cup of tea and I’m watching Eat, Pray, Love (a movie that always makes me smile) and I intend to stay here for the rest of the night.

I want to send a special thank you to teapigs Norway for sending me a care package with lots of tea 💛 Right now I’m enjoying a cup of Chamomile tea. Perfect for my relaxed Friday night!

I hope you’re all having a wonderful Friday!

Walk It Off!

Whenever my mind feels a bit too full and in need of a break, there’s always one thing that helps it to calm down and get things sorted a little. That one thing is going for a walk.

Lately (as you guys know) my mind has been a bit all over the place, and at times it felt like it was just spread as thin as it could possibly get. I knew it was time to do something about that. Needed to get back into the good routines that I used to have. Or maybe it was just time for some new ones.

Then I had a thought. The place where I’m working now is one that I always take public transportation to and from. First I take the subway, and then I change over to a bus. It takes me about 30 minutes from the moment I walk out the door, depending on the traffic. But how long would it take me to walk?

So I sat down and started looking at different routes recommended by Google Maps, and found that it didn’t look so bad. I hadn’t really decided that I was going to actually do this until the morning on my birthday (two days ago) when I got up at 5 am and started my day off with 20 minutes of meditation. Just to get such a good start to the day made me highly motivated to try to make more out of the day, and I decided to take the walk.

The 8 km walk (5 miles) took me about an hour and a half, and it felt so good! My mind felt so much calmer and clearer by the time I got to work, and I held a steady pace for the whole walk, so it counts as a bit of good exercise as well! My best friend Kirsti picked me up after work for our Birthday Pyjama Date, so I didn’t walk home that day. Wednesday I had a day off work, but today however I thought it was time to do the walk both to and from, and I did!

Now I’m not saying that walking fixes everything. My brain is constantly filled with way too much that goes on at the same time, but the walking helps me to sort it. To be able to be on the move, and at one with my thoughts, it just makes it so much easier to see the difference between the important thoughts and the unnecessary ones. To differ between voices and noise.

I don’t think that I will be walking to and from work every day, but from now on, I will definitely do it more often.

There’s something so very therapeutic about going for a walk, and I sure as hell needed it! Most of us could, from time to time.

The Mindful Vlogs ❣ #1 Less is More

I was thinking about being alone…

Tonight I took myself on a movie date. It’s something I like to do for myself from time to time. And every time I do so, either high on fiction or lost in thought, I end up wandering around the streets of Oslo. I watch the city come to life at night, the people going from one place to another and I watch their faces and difference in moods. They give a swift glance of unknown stories. And as I walked around the city that was draped in a slightly see through blanket, protecting it from the darkness, I was struck by the feeling of wonder. I thought about being alone, and how it means something so completely different to me than it might do to most.

I thought about how we confuse being alone with being lonely.

I stood still and was surrounded by the noises nighttime offers and the blanket wrapped comfortably around me. People passed me and vanished into their own futures. I marveled at the unknowingly sharing of presence. And in a moment where I was completely lost in my own thoughts, a single tear found its way towards the ground I was lost on. Not one of sadness, but one of an overwhelmed mind. An old man and I shared a connection of souls through eyes at the very moment it happened. I offered him a smile, and got one in return. Momentarily rooted to the spot, having chosen to walk around alone, I felt surrounded by wonder and love. No person was any longer a stranger, for they were all faces connected to places that made us all cross paths.

In a world where you are everyone, and everyone is you, being alone doesn’t mean you have to be lonely.

I’ve grown to love the time I choose to share with all the people I have not yet come to know. Cherishing the time that I feel inner peace, even though I’m surrounded by the sounds of everyone else’s lives happening all at once.

I encourage you to be alone. I dare you to enjoy time with yourself. And I challenge you to come to terms with the fact that being alone and being lonely are like two completely different worlds. That lonely is a state of mind, alone is a choice of presence.

We are all surrounded by stories, by faiths and by connections. And only when you’re truly comfortable with standing on your own, only then can you open up a real invite to connect with the world around you.

We all feel lonely from time to time, and there’s nothing wrong with that! But the undeniable truth of it all, is that we’re all in this together.