My bonus kids begged for a dog since I knew them. After years of refusal, the planted seed took fruition. The wish became a reality when someone offered us to share a dog. Car-sharing, flat-sharing, why not dog-sharing? It sounded easy enough. We could still travel. I would finally do my 10,000 steps, and we all could enjoy a family dog…

Here she was sitting when I asked how she was. Tears were faster than the answer. Oh, he dropped her after a wonderful year. It all began when she freaked out one weekend.It’s a typical scene. We are in love, and the butterflies are in full gear. All feelings turn into hopes, dreams, and clear perspectives. Then suddenly, our partner goes somewhere alone for a weekend. And our feelings get out of control.

Do you know this cloud? It is there; you sense it’s there, and sometimes it’s bigger, sometimes darker, occasionally you can ignore it, and often you are unaware of it. But it is there. Hovering over your head — and in you. The cloud goes by many names: annoyance, frustration, disappointment, regret, sadness, depression, or even downheartedness (what a great word).

Spiritual Teachers sometimes talk about “taming the mind,” meaning we calm down our all-over-the-place sensations, thoughts, and feelings with skillful means. It’s like calming a wild animal in a cage, observing and feeding it regularly — here with meditation and similar tools…

Love needs energy and change. It can't stand still; it gets stale. Otherwise, it's like an open Champagne you find the next day.

Nevertheless, we wish it never ends and try to hold on. We don't move, hardly dare to breathe. Oh, may it last! And that, unfortunately, is the end of it.

What is ego-killing? How can your ego ever dissolve being in a body? My master was pens, noisy pens sorted at 5 in the morning.

Should we relax into the flow of life? Or should we give life a direction?

What is the magic of life? What makes our lives meaningful, happy, and at ease? Worth living?

The space in between the thoughts that lets everything appear is interesting: Stille. We only have to change focus consciously. Now, space, wonder, and impermanence get the attention they deserve.

Nothing to see.

Nothing to hear.

Nothing to smell.

Nothing to feel. …

My teacher

is a freedom lover,

joyful, sparkling, fun,

driving fast, flying in the sky;

enjoys sex and love and life,

throws the rule into the air to honor the unique moment, ….

There are facts which are undeniable. There are stories based on facts and those which are invented. There are many ways to tell a story and as many viewpoints as people telling them.

What stories do you like to tell? The juicy ones? The one you look better in? The one that makes others laugh or cry?

When I was small, your eyes were full of love. You stood at my side, encouraging me to find my way. You held my hand when migraines tortured me. And when I woke up at night, you were in your armchair comforting me….

And suddenly, the birds left South. The air embraced me with a chilly coat at night. And here it was. The summer on its way out…

How often do we do things just because we have to? If we fail, we are disappointed, and it feels like a waste of time. If we succeed, we are ok.

How often do we do things for our benefit? If we fail, our ego is frustrated, and we might even blame others.

It’s about non-sticky, non-personal, non-egoic compassion. Doing what is needed — being kind and loving while joyful — and then going on.

How? …

Paris, what makes you so unique? What provokes the rise of awareness in me as nowhere else? What moments in life condition us to feel like that in certain places?

Monday morning. A new week. A new chance. A new intention. We can change our lives every moment. It is up to us what will happen. There is no faith. There is no luck and no destiny. Our body, speech, and mind form the future at each moment…

Isn’t it our suffering that provokes the wish to change? Suffering seems to be the guiding light to develop further. Being stuck. Repeating the old pattern, knowing it, and falling into the same hole until one day we find another way. And this can take a long time. If you wish to get out earlier of the hole, you need the wish to do so — even better, a kind mirror, a hand, and the energy it takes to persist.