Today at the dog park I met a mother and her 6 or 7 year-old daughter with their 7 month-old hunting dog, a real runner.

For her dog to drink, the little girl emptied all the filthy water buckets that are provided, to fill them with fresh water. Except she didn’t refer to it as ‘fresh water’. She called it ‘beautiful water’.

What a creative use of the concept of ‘beautiful’.

It made me think: Which water would I consider to be beautiful? And why?

Here are the types of water that came to my mind:

• a murmuring brook in a forest – its lively energy
• the clean cool water of an alpine lake in summer – the refreshing sensation when you dive in after the sun got you really heated up.
• the Mediterranean around the Balearic Islands – it is home to Posidonia which makes the waters appear in different shades of blue, green, and turquoise
• drip irrigation – because those droplets feed the crop
• the water that comes out of my faucet – because it is clean, untreated, and it is there

Not necessarily in itself ‘beautiful water’, but always ‘beautifying water’:

• a scenic lake, surrounded by mountains
• water surrounding an island (which wouldn’t be an island if not surrounded by water) or lapping on a beach (again, a beach wouldn’t be a beach w/o water)
• snow – a white blanket that mercifully hides the ugly and enhances the beautiful

What types of beautiful and beautifying water comes to your mind? And why?

I learned that ABN is the thing and NAB is just a posture:

Without your assets lined up, the narrative you want to scream at the world is just that: a scream.

Be conscious of your assets, their boundaries, and THEN develop the narrative.

Turn the process on its head and get burned.

We ask these questions
and that is
all good

Yet
we also have to find
and speak
some answers

even
if they were
found
a long time ago

by somebody else

Which
we need
to remind
ourselves
of

and then everyone else

at times

Where does this
come from
asks the mind

From my deep well
says the soul

now suck it
and try
resist

you’ll fail
better

work with me
and

prevail

Pass through me
to arrive
at simplicity

and thrive

The depths of
The Soul

Are a scary realm

Have I lost my way
Or am I just about
to find
it?

It’s too dark to see
which is why
I have to feel
not see
my way
forward

Not see
But feel

My way
Forward

We need to let go and
start something new.

Agnostic Theism

Agnosticism

Constraints: If I didn’t have them, I’d probably do NOTHING. Doing nothing would make me so light that I’d float off into the ether.

That is why I seek out constraints, to anchor me. And still, I constantly try to break from them. Is that my past, a habit, a soul thing?

How do you feel about, and deal with, constraints?

I’m a good skier. Difficult runs and/or difficult snow conditions, crappy gear: not a problem. However, I suck at wind-, kite- & surfing (in that ascending order), no matter how easy the conditions.

Why? Because snow is frozen water – the ground might be bumpy, harsh, challenging, but it’s solid underneath its surface fluidity. Surfing is different. Water always moves and I can accomplish only so much, even with the most supportive gear.

In a similar vein, I manage OK with difficult business situations as long as the ground is stable. When it’s not and I’d have to surf, I suck. Which is one of the many reasons I landed in a business in which the ground shifts more like snow and less like water.

In water each second there is a different wave, movement, and you have to keep the momentum to stay afloat.

On snow, the run is going to be different from day to day, but not from second to second. The change is slower and hence easier to adapt to. One can afford to stand still and rest for a while.

I know that at times I am asked to be a surfer. But, hell or high water, I’m a skier. Which is why I am grateful when water is frozen -> snowy runs. And for those other times of ultimate fluidity I’ll continue to reach out for the most supportive gear.