This film is about a lonely desk toy, who longs for escape from the dark confines of the office. So, one night he decides to take a cross country road trip to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can – using a toy car and Google Maps Street View. I think we can all relate to this in the sense that every now and then we all have the desire to break free from something. And every now and then we all long for something that is beyond our reach. So, lets be inspired by the power of creativity that ultimately gets this toy to where he wants to be. Or in the words of Albert Einstein: “Logic will take you from A to B. Imagination will take you everywhere”. You can read more about that in this post.

Sometimes, when you face a difficult decision, thoughts and feelings can get you all mixed up. The pressure and the importance of making the right call, make it unclear for you to know what’s best. In that case: Shssst. Be still, for silence is the temple of our purest thoughts. Sarah J. Hale said this and I think it’s really inspirational. Instead of running after your thoughts, trying to sort them out, simply take a moment to sit down and be all quiet. Then your purest thoughts will present themselves to you. Or as Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods”.

How a simple tone, a single chord or a solid sound, can hit you like magic, is just incredible. It can give you a feeling of homesickness to a time and place where you’ve never been. I just came across a band called ‘Snowmine’. I never heard of them before, but man, they seem really cool. In the sense that they seem truly aligned with each other as people (in the first place), as musicians with different talents (second) and with creating multiple layered sounds (third). That not only sounds really nice, it also looks very nice. And that’s what congruency is all about. Congruency, in human behavior, means that what you say, corresponds with what you show (or do). It means you’re aligned. And it’s actually quite hard to be congruent yourself, let alone being in a band. Yet these guys, have a band. They are a band. I sure do like to hear more of them. If you like, download their song ‘Curfews’ (it’s what you hear in the beginning of the video) for free. I did, and I hope you enjoy it as much I do.

It’s amazing what a little space can do. For instance, going from ‘nowhere’ to ‘now here’ is just a matter of pressing the spacebar 1 time, yet a whole new reality arises as you go from ‘nowhere’ to ‘now here’. Let’s zoom in on that. ‘Nowhere’ is defined as: Not anywhere. To no place or result. As in: “This road leads to nowhere”, what sounds kind of negative? ‘Now here’ on the other hand can be defined as: At this moment, in this place. It’s not judging in any way, it simply states that at this moment, you are in this place. That’s much more positive since being in a place means you are somewhere, instead of nowhere. Also, nowhere seems externally orientated: you’re looking around finding yourself nowhere. Whereas ‘now here’ is more internally orientated: you turn to yourself as the starting point of everything with all options open. So in life, whenever you find yourself in a situation you’d rather not be in, see if you can find a spacebar. Press it and a new reality is created.

Worldwide there were many wonderful initiatives on 11.11.2011. In a way, it was a day like any other and yet many special things happened. I guess it was that many people were aware. Aware of each other, the world we live in and the need for openness, kindness and love. This short video is a part of that flow. It was shot and edited in Cape Town, South Africa in 11 hours on 11.11.2011. Wonderful images, with a powerful poem from Spanish poet Pedro Salinas (1891-1951). Enjoy.

The following story is classic, probably told in many cultures. I found it thanks to a friend of mine, on Paulo Coelho’s Blog. Here it goes: There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small village. As he sat, he saw a fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish. The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?” The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.” “Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said. The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?” The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies for a drink – we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

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This is a short inspirational documentary: you’ll meet writer turned knife maker Joel Bukiewicz of ‘Cut Brooklyn’. It opens with Joel talking about how his dream to become a writer didn’t work out. How afraid he was to lose his passion for writing and how that ultimately transformed into his life’s work: making knives. He talks about the human element of craft and the potential for a skill to mature into an art. And in sharing his story, he alights on the real meaning of handmade – a movement whose riches are measured in people, not cash. Anyway, step into the life of somebody with a passion.