One of the most interesting stories that I have ever read is the original Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi from 1881 based on a folk tale from Tuscany, Italy. It’s deepness and meaning can easily be overlooked and is not part of the Disney version, so it keeps to be mostly unknown.
While the most famous part of the Pinocchio story is the one with his truth telling nose, the most intriguing part in my view is the brilliance in the narrative itself.

Pinocchio is a wooden puppet made by a cabinetmaker named Gepetto. This old master of his craft formed with love and care this little doll and is part of the old Italian tradition of making burattinos (puppet in Italian). Wooden marionettes are made in Northern Italy for centuries and it is a special craft of its own, involving carving, chiselling, sawing and tying.

 

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Michael Endes “Neverending Story” is one of the five books I would take to the island. I already shared this passion with you right here in this column.
It is a prism of colorful narrative levels, a woven story in a story in a story. It starts at an antiquarian bookstore and it ends there. In between the covers the author so brilliantly takes us to deep truths about being human and life itself.

I have read this book several times and the core concept presented there so masterfully keeps circling back.
At the core of the saga stands the fundamental danger, presented as the Nothing that keeps eating up Fantastica and the Childlike Empress.

 

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When Teruo Higa, professor for agriculture and gardening out of Japan, researched the life of bacteria, he found something astounding.

There are three types of microbes:
– some that help life and contribute to growth and health,
– some that destroy life and make it deteriorate and
– some – and this is the vast majority – that just follow the dominant trend.

And here comes the intriguing part. It only takes 15% positive microbes to build a flourishing and life affirming setting. In other words: only a small crowd is necessary to create a strong and vibrant surrounding. Good will attract more good and override the bad.

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What would you say, if someone asks:
“What impresses you the most about Europe?”

The fantastic Architecture!
The amazing History!
The great Culture!
The unprecedented Collections of Fine Art!
Savoir vivre!
The astounding unity in utmost cultural diversity!
The cradel of humanity’s most valuable treasure: Classical Music.

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Do you remember those days when stress was something only super highpayed managers would have?
Do you remember the phone answering machine? At first, our grandmas had this job until we bought this very modern little black boxes.
When the first of my friends showed up at our house with a cell phone in his hand, we girls laughed at him and said teasingly: “You feel pretty important, don’t you?”

Today everyone is overwhelmed and available 24/7.
Most people I know say this is because of the kids: “They need to reach me.”
When we were little, there were no cell phones around – not even an answering machine and in many cases no grandma, too.

And still we managed to grow up.
How did that happen? A true miracle!!

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What do thoughts and dust bunnies have in common?

(Dust bunnies are these little creatures behind your door that have a secret life on their own. They magically appear without anybody doing anything. A truly mystical genesis! Unfortunately they don’t disappear the same way. Only when someone takes heart and vacuums them away.)

So, what do they have in common?
You can take them personally – or not.

 

Dust bunnies just appear.
We can all experience this.
Everyone who lives in some sort of a rectangular shelter – not in a yurt or a tepee! – has at some point seen those guys.
(Men usually tend to see them later, I don’t know why.)

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When Einstein was asked to explain his theory of relativity in simple terms he said: “An hour sitting with a pretty girl on a park bench passes like a minute, but a minute sitting on a hot stove seems like an hour.”

I love this quote, because it applies to just about every walk of life. We tend to think our perspective is the truth. But what it actually is, is just our perspective.

 

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The other day I read a beautiful story, told by a lady that is providing outdoor adventure camps for teens. Every evening they have this culture of sitting together at the campfire and talking about the day and their personal experience.

One evening a kid said, that her tent mate said something hurtful, a loose comment that caused pain. The lady then walked to her tent and brought a tube of toothpaste with her. She squeezed the tube and out came a little bit of toothpaste. Then she demonstrated that it was nearly impossible to get the toothpaste back into the tube.

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The renowned German Stretta Music, well known specialist and a worldwide leading online store in sheet music asked me for an interview. What an honor and privilege for me to give some of my lousy ideas and to manipulate interested folks towards being major bassoon fans! :o)

Here some parts of this interview. I hope it makes you smile here and there! I had the greatest fun answering :o) Please find the whole article HERE.

With so much love,
Anselma

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In the eastern way of thinking, we are better off in life when we stay away from extremes.
I have to admit that I initially did have trouble grasping this.

First, because in many cases only extremes lead to progress.
Change is hard. Think practicing more or eating less.
We do have habits and they get a life of themselves and don’t want to be eliminated. Only if it gets really bad, only if we experience an extreme, we are motivated enough to move our butts and invest into making progress.

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