Not a winter gal

Preparation for New Year

Soon it is the time for resolutions again. Although a weird phenomenon, it however is not a bad idea to take stock of the past year and to think about the next. And since this is something that could be done any time, one can as well do it at the end of the calendar year.

I have been decorating the Christmas tree yesterday; it's a tinsel tree and hence I had a lot of time for contemplation while hanging these little strings.The last year was not what I would call successful, and I don't have to think hard to find a whole lot of reasons which people might call excuses. So I will not list them, focusing on a solution instead: I  have now come up with the plan to 'abandon perfectionism'. That should be interesting.

Have a good start into the week,

Love
 Rika
 xx

ILP Progress and Happy 1st Advent!

I'm doing it again!

I have entered a new 'selfish phase'. I had to!

When I started the whole Project Rika thing I imagined that at one point one would arrive, and then be THERE for good. I now have to realise, that there is no THERE. New challenges - yes, falling into old habits - as well, but there is no 'arriving'. I surely have reached a level of content which I didn't have before, but arriving would mean that I am standing still. This wonderful idea of reaching a higher level and then having my peace and basically the same comfort like before Project Rika, just without the back pain and the headaches, is just not working.

I now realise that for me standing still is almost the same as going backwards. Over time I have conceived a level of self observation which now allows me to see that slowly but surely I was on my way of being dragged back into the old ways, and not just in what I do, but in what I think and feel as well. Again, like three years ago when I set up the Lifestyle part of IL, I now feel selfish when I am not socialising as much in order to keep myself together. Again, it seems that my doings are not necessarily seen as work but as 'a phase she is in', this is at least how it feels when I excuse myself for leaving the dining table early and am told: 'Yes, you are allowed to be asocial'. I know it's a joke, but there must be something in my body language provoking that joke... and that is not good!

So my dear friends: I herewith apologize in advance for any asocial behaviour. I have a new project to run!

The aim is to bring Incredible Ladies Project up to decent levels and to win me a reputation as a writer! That means that I will have to work a lot, and that I will have to learn a lot, and that  I will have to do the right things to have something to write about. And it means that I only will go to the movies when I really need a break, or the movie is really worth watching, and altogether I will have to be rather strict in my time management. I am going back to my Incredible Ladies roots, learning from myself and inviting you to join me on that journey. Praise to Farnaz who four years ago gave me the idea to write it all down!
Love

PS: It is the 27th November 2010, 16:10 and I am sitting at my computer!

Beauty is a weird thing!

It is funny how certain subjects seem to appear repeatedly during certain periods of time. These past few days this subject for me was 'Beauty'. Some of my previous blog posts already had dealt with it, and then in one of the TED newsletters a talk with the title A Darwinian theory of beauty by Denis Dutton was advertised. Finally: Beauty and science in one boat, something I might be able to write about, giving myself an air of sophistication. His views go way back some tenth of thousands of years - watch it, it is very nicely presented - claiming that there is a universal theme of beauty due to our ancestral lifestyle. And then Detlef drops the Independent Saturday Magazine on my desk depicting an article about the 'Ugly Business of Global Beauty' which sounds somewhat pessimistic yet similar to the above, but means something very different, indeed.

While I am longing for a darker skin tone and having a sari sitting in my wardrobe waiting to be let out, girls from other cultures seem to strive into the opposite direction. Although we all seem to long for long legs and slim waists, so Denis might have a point there. When I thought about my own viewpoint in regard to beauty, and if it might have changed over time, one is not getting any younger after all, I remembered an article I wrote at the very beginnings of IL in 2007. On Myspace I had come across a theatre promoter looking for submissions of monologues to be played on stage with the subject of body image. My pamphlet on 'From Strength to Freedom' got never chosen, giving me the opportunity to publish it on IL. And in there I find confirmed that in my eyes Denis does have a point:  Beauty does lie in many things to which I would like to add 'attitude'. And 'attitude' my dear ladies is independent form any culture or age!