Vintage
These articles are written for the original Jam Kitchen blog. They are written between 2012 and 2018
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When inspiration streaks (or how I became a composer)
If someone had told me even one year ago that I would be recording an album with my own songs I would have laughed. Sure, I´ve been playing piano for a long time – and improvising has been part of that for many years. But still – “composing” seemed very far away, not to mention the patience to practice… But isn´t that the beauty of being a scanner – you never know what waits around the corner! One day in late May 2017 I received a very unusual gift – and this changed everything: Like many times before, I sat down by the piano and started to play. Two hours later I had recorded 12 totally…
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The surprising reason you’re a night owl
Being a night owl can be a serious obstacle for success in work and life. Why does everything have to start so god damn EARLY?! That horrible feeling of hearing the alarm in the distance, calling you to leave your sweet dreams, when your exhausted body cries for mercy, since you once again went to bed “too late” according to societies standards…. Wheater you’re a night owl or “lark” is often an important part of your identity, and I once read an interview with a lady running a dating company who claimed this was one of the more important things to get right for a successfull match making. Funnily, though,…
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The meaning of life (REALLY!) and the most important factor for a happy life
When my oldest daughter Julia was 6 years old, she once asked my then boyfriend what the book he was reading was about. “It’s about a man trying to figure out what the meaning of life is” he tried to explain. “Oh”. my daughter answered, in a tone revealing she found the subject highly uninteresting. “So, what do you think is the meaning of life?” my boyfriend asked her. “Att leva och ha det bra” * (literally translated: To live and to have it good, which sort of means “to live happily” ) she answered in an obvious tone, without hesitating for one second. At the time, I think…
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Not enough willpower? This seemingly crazy thing could fix it!
Willpower is often considered the magic quality that separates winners from losers – the thing that makes you stick to your goals and help you say yes to hard work and no to those cookies. In order to succeed we “just” need willpower. But what is it really, and how can we get more of it? I’ve recently discovered that willpower seems to have little to do with character or mental training – and a LOT to do with what we eat. But the solution is not about following a calorie depraved, supposedly “healthy” diet, as you might expect. The depressing cycle It’s funny, isn’t it, how those goals…
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How to get un-stuck
Feeling stuck? I’ve recently found that tweaking a well-known morning practice can help you get un-stuck in no time. The best part? You don’t even have to get out of bed! Winston Churchill is supposed to have said that the best way to make something difficult is to postpone it. Whether it was him or someone else, for me it stands as one of the truest things ever said. Still I make the same mistake over and over again – I decide that the best time to do something is TOMORROW. Now unfortunately, the next day I tend to come to the same conclusion, and for every day that passes…
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Is this why you’re not taking time for your creative projects?
Have you ever wondered why it’s so much easier to help other people with their problems than to fix your own things? You just can’t help lend a hand when someone close to you – or even a stranger – is in need. You spend hours and hours listening to other peoples problems and trying to help them out – but when it’s time to work on your own projects – whether it’s painting that painting, cleaning your desk or working on your website – you mysteriously lose both focus and confidence. You start questioning yourself, you start looking for something else you’d rather do. In theory, you know you…
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No time for your creative projects? Try this!
Being in the creative flow, painting, playing the guitar, crafting, or perhaps gardening, is really among the times you feel happiest. The problem is, you hardly ever find the time to do it these days. You sometimes look at those long forgotten art supplies collecting dust on a shelf (or did you put them away in the attic?) and sigh. If you only had more time, you could do more of those things that you so love. But adult life is too demanding, full of important chores. After working, commuting, taking care of kids, cooking, cleaning and all those other things that just need to be done, there’s no time left for YOU, and for…
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What to do when life sucks
Sometimes, everything is just crap. Plain and simple. You don’t get the results you want at work – or you can’t seem to find a job no matter how hard you try, you feel stuck in your relationship – or every date you go on turns out to be a disaster, everybody wants something from you and there’s no time to do what you really want, your home looks like a mess, the kids are screaming, and on top of that, you’re out of toilet paper. When you feel like this, it doesn’t help much that the sun is shining and the birds are twittering. All you want to do…
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Why having fun could literally save your life
It’s funny, isn’t it, how hard it can be to cut out time for having fun. While looking at that overwhelming to-do list, spending time on a hobby, or even meeting up with a friend, can feel like a total waste of time. For sure you should be doing something more important, something more URGENT, right? In one of the lovely children’s books about the little boy Alfie Atkins (Swedish: Alfons Åberg) Alfie’s father keeps asking his son why he “always has to act so childish”. Alfie, in return, ask his father why he always has to act so “grown-uppish”. In this particular story, Alfie manages to persuade his father to forget about…
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No energy to do all those things that really should be fun? Here’s what might be missing.
You have so many ideas about things you would like to do – but when the daily duties are done, you’re too tired to even think about getting creative by picking up that instrument, working on your website, doing a bit of crafting, or whatever it is you’re planning and dreaming about. For anyone having to handle the challenges of everyday life – caring for a family, earning a living, commuting…. it can feel impossible to fit in those OTHER things we also want to do. And for multi-passionate scanners it’s even more difficult – since we want to do SO MUCH! It’s easy to feel frustrated & disappointed. But…
