Some thoughts...
Lately, I’ve been giving the subject of ‘habits’ some thoughts. In an overall sense of the word and on a more specific level. For instance: the habit of getting out of bed in the morning.
For a long time - years, I guess - I’ve envied the early risers. As the most natural thing in the world, these people would wake up really early, get out of bed, and take on the world. Sometimes I’ve succeeded in getting up early myself, and I must admit that I really enjoyed it. But… ”I am not an early bird”, I’ve been telling myself, I don’t have it in me; it simply doesn’t fit my personality and things like this.
However, of course, there are ways to change that. Like setting the alarm clock for whatever time in the morning, you like to wake up - and accordingly go to bed early in the evening. It’s not rocket science, as they say, it’s a matter of habit. Nothing more. If you want to change a habit or establish a new one, just do it. However, it can be easier said than done.
If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you, says the author of the best selling book ‘Atomic Habits’, James Clear, the problem is your system. (Oh, what a relief!) And Clear even has a solution. You need to take small steps when executing your (new) habit and then repeat it every day. Every single day. Small steps.
I now get up early, and it works for me. There are, of course, lots of ways to organise your day, and, no less, a lot of inspiration out there on the subject. The 14th and current Dalai Lama gets up at 3 a.m. after six hours of sleep, while, back in his days, the English mathematician, astronomer and physicist, Sir Isaac Newton didn’t sleep for more than 3-4 hours daily (at times he worked so hard and so long, often without sleep for days, that he became ill with exhaustion). On the other hand, his colleague, Albert Einstein, apparently slept a lot; 10 hours daily, and as for the French writer, Marcel Proust, it is said that he never got out of bed but stayed in most of the day working on his novels (since his youth, he'd suffered from insomnia).
Oh well, I hope you have the habits that fit you the most. If not, then remember it is not you but your system that needs some adjustment ;-)
Here’s to you, a Handful of History - 5 exciting things on history I thought were worth sharing. Enjoy!
When listening to the podcast 'Pitch' the other week, I learned about Gwenno. She's a Cornish-Welsh musician who, a couple of years ago, released an album in Cornish, 'Le Kov' (meaning 'a place of memory'). She was - partly - inspired to record the album due to the British government's decision to cut funding towards the Cornish language in 2016.The song 'Eus Keus?' (Is There Cheese?) is fab.
"Although tears and weeping are closely associated with sadness, Charles Darwin noted that tears could be produced under the influence of quite opposite emotions – happy ones as well as sad ones – and also under the influence of no emotion at all – for instance when we yawn or slice onions." So, tears...What are they for? What do they mean? 'A Cultural History of Weeping' is looking for some answers.
Even if it is the shortest month in the calendar, it's like February has gone on for ages. Anyway, now we can see an end to it, and perhaps that's a good thing since some pretty gloomy things have happened exactly in February throughout history.
In 1902, a French company made a set of playing cards that imagined "Women of the Future", showing photographs of women dressed as a soldier, firefighter, doctor, lawyer, journalist and more. Considering the womens' rather cute look, it's obvious that the cards were made to appeal to men rather than empower women. But still, women were actually holding many of the positions at the time.
Eye candy. I stopped by Botanica Etcetera's page and saw these lovely vintage Vogue covers, antique posters of theatrical costumes, botanical prints, title pages from atlases and poetry books and more. Oh, joy!
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Majken xx
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Meet Carmen Amaya! "The greatest Flamenco dancer ever”.
Amaya was the first female flamenco dancer to master footwork previously reserved for the best male dancers. Here’s a glimpse of her story.
Carmen Amaya was born in 1913 in a poor neighbourhood in Barcelona, Spain. When she was only 4 years old, she started going out with her father at night. He accompanied her on the guitar while she performed. Afterwards, they begged and picked the small change that the public would throw on the floor.
Soon though, she started to appear in some lesser-known theatres, and at the age of 6, she made her debut at the Spanish Theatre in Barcelona. Slowly she worked her way up, and after some time, she was rubbing shoulders with celebrities in Hollywood. In 1941, she performed at Carnegie Hall in New York and even had the opportunity to meet Franklin D. Roosevelt, who invited her to dance at the White House.
Carmen Amaya died in 1963, 50 years old.
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