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A Good Future

The 1st Tango Bassoon Competition is coming! Are YOU coming?
We would love to have you here! We are not sure if we will ever repeat this adventure. So take advantage of this unique offer – until it’s too late and we close doors.

Recently I was pondering on the importance of caring for the young in our society. The future depends on how we as adults teach them to conduct themselves and treat others.

 

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Open the Magical World

First things first:
The 1st Tango Bassoon Competition is coming up! No grey November ahead, but lots of soulful music making instead. Are YOU in?
We’d love to hear YOU. Come and participate! The jury and I are cheering you on :o)

There is nothing to lose, but so much to win! Prizes – of course, but also a precious experience that money can not buy. You will be proud all your life.
Send us your Tango video, we’d love to have you here!!

 

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Ps and Qs of Being Human

Minding your Ps and Qs is an oldfashioned way to say, try to be your best self. It matters! It matters that we are truly human, that means warm hearted people who care about the consequences of what we are doing.

My grandmother was a lady who used to wear white lace hand gloves – even at home. And every day she painted beautiful eyebrows on her face, even if she would be alone all day. She showed me how much grace a life full of good manners has.

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Learning Through Contrast

Warren Buffet, one oft the richest men, still lives in a small house together with his wife. He sais: “You only have to do a few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong.”

I like this idea. Many of us torture ourselves, because we have the mistaken idea being perfect in everything and all the time would be the goal. This concept causes us to harm ourselves and puts pressure on our loved ones. Which makes things complicate.

Life is about contrast. We learn through the experience of doing stuff wrong to find out how it is done correctly.
Sounds very straightforward, without mystery or complexity.
And still, we put so much stress on our shoulders to be the super hero with no mistakes. The – illusionary – perfect human without flaws.

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Concrete Mind

Music and Sports have many things in common. I have always been fascinated by that. They both are about forging the will power, executing a plan no matter what, endurance, breaking through personal barriers, strength, experiencing severe disappointments, failure and little – or not so little – emotional catastrophes.

Boxing legend Muhammed Ali said: “Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill. But the will must be stronger than the skill.”

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Hurdles That Make Us Jump

When I was a kid, I often spent time with my grandmother. She excessivly taught me to say please and thank you and did even go so far that she would throw things on the floor to see how long it took until I would rush to pick it up. She wanted me to be well mannered and prepared to be a good human.

Even though she was a well educated lady the thing she valued the most was creativity. Here is what she said over and over: “You are smart and can create something out of nothing. Just do it! In wartimes we baked cake out of nothing but flour and water. But we did it. You can do the same!”

Today I suspect, she actually did not see that much creativity in me, but she wanted to see it. When we form a sense of self that demands certain values from us, we tend to rise up to the occasion.
I guess she hoped that some day I probably eventually would get creative. And her little trick on me did it’s thing.

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One Plus One Equals …?

Aiming to be perfect is a nice goal. But unless we turn into machines, we will never achieve it. Like NEVER ever.
Why? Because there is a difference between theory and life.
Let’s take a look at this.

You won’t hear me talk about math very often. I was invited to drive an extra round when I graduated from school because my math skills were that lousy.

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Relationships are everything!

Getting a lot of emails made me chuckle how vain I am.
There is one magic word that makes me read with interest and an open heart.
If this little magic is missing I skip over the words and read mechanically.

Can you guess what that word is?

A thank you in the first line makes me perk up, I feel appreciated.
I automatically want to give this appreciation back.
Without a thank you I feel more like an email responding robot that is doing their job ;o)

 

What if this vanity is somehow baked into human nature?
What if everybody has it to some extent?>>

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Living A Catalogue Life

Recently I got a beautiful interieur design magazine in my hands.
Every page was polished with the most beautiful livingrooms, bedrooms and kitchens and I was wondering if our home would ever look the slightest something like these real estates.

The interesting thing about this magazine was that everything in it was on purchase. Every item in it was for sale. I could grab the phone and say, hej there, please send me the fancy table cloth on page 84, please add the salad spoon and the doormat as well. And two days later I have them delivered.

We live in a small home and I love that. Heating some unused ballrooms in the winter is equally stressful to me like having to vacuum for hours on end every week.
What I especially like is that a small home does always ask one important question.
It says: Do you really need THIS?>>

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The Right Thing

Let’s talk about right or wrong.
I love this topic! It’s so basic and so complex at the same time.
So, what’s the right thing to do? Today – in life general?

Is it doing what feels good?
Yes, sometimes.
Eating chocolate feels a-ma-zing, but makes us fat.

Is it doing what makes sense logically?
Not a bad idea.
But unfortunately life does not work like math.

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