Some people live with progress according to the motto: yesterday we stood at the precipice and then progress came. By this they mean: progress leads to a crash. Others are so enthusiastic about progress that they are blind to the consequences when it comes to personal fates that can be triggered negatively. Either way, change triggers something. If you are one of the fearful ones, be careful that your fears do not lead to hardening or bitterness. I think some people demonise everything new out of fear of the new that comes with change. Existential fears. But that doesn't have to be the case. Maybe progress really does bring massive changes - for example, job cuts or the like. But there are also new doors that open up. One way or another: I believe that the basic trust in a good God, who takes good care of me in every situation, helps here. Do you know this carelessness?

I wish you an extraordinary day!

When I learned that for the Jews the new day begins the evening before, I was irritated at first. Then I took note of it. Today I find it remarkable, because during the night we process some of the things of the previous day. When I wake up in the morning, I often have an impression of whether I had a good, quiet night or whether I had to process a lot. And just as I get up in the morning, so I go into the - for us - new day. Therefore, the night actually prepares me for the coming day and therefore I find it quite wise and appropriate to define that the new day begins the evening before. So we start the new day with our night's rest. This also fits with the creation story: on the 7th day God rested from all his work. And on the 6th day man was created. This means that the first new day for man was a day of rest, the week begins with rest, the new day with night. So relaxing to know.

I wish you an extraordinary day!

there is this saying "unexpected often comes". This probably means that every now and then something happens that we had not expected and that challenges us to be flexible in our plans. Sometimes this can be very cheerful, but sometimes it can also be a real challenge because it doesn't suit us at all. In addition, some of us are more open to spontaneity and others are not, preferring a planned routine. Either way: unexpected comes, whether often or only from time to time. If today is one of those days when the unexpected knocks on your door, then be open, ready, flexible and full of expectation for what the unexpected will bring - and enjoy it, whatever it may be. See it as a privilege that the unexpected happens to you and as an opportunity to deal with it well. Have fun with it!

I wish you an extraordinary day!

We all know the beautiful beach sunset holiday pictures from the travel catalogues. There, paradise is only a question of the chosen holiday destination. Indeed: anyone who has ever been to such a great beach, spent a holiday there and recovered, will remember this place as very special. The local population, the locals, they are the lucky ones who get to live in this paradise all year round? Unfortunately, no. Often the reality is that for them in particular, life is very hard, they are poor and have to make do with the most basic things. What a contrast! Hard to imagine. This is not only the case in foreign countries: in everyday life, too, there are people whose lives we see as paradisiacal, almost perfect - but perhaps behind this lies great poverty, a lack of love, etc. Therefore, be cautious about making such a statement. Therefore, be cautious with such judgements and loving towards these people - perhaps they need it the most.

I wish you an extraordinary day!

A break is an interruption of an activity - I would say. This means I interrupt or allow myself to be interrupted in what I am doing. It is not the end of the activity, but a stop, a turning to something else before continuing with the activity I have started. We know the saying "take a break" or there was a well-known advertisement that said that the best breaks have a certain colour, namely purple. Be that as it may. This expresses the fact that we cannot simply work through or "activate". Interruptions help us to recover, perhaps also to concentrate again. They are good for body and soul and spirit. The industry has also understood this and offers a wide range of food and distraction for a special break. Either way: with a break you do something good for yourself and also testify that at that moment nothing is as important to you as yourself. That seems like good self-care to me.

I wish you an extraordinary day!

Gearwheels have teeth that are arranged circularly around a centre at regular intervals. These gears can be combined with each other. In this way, larger and smaller gears can be connected to each other and transmit movement. For example, in a watch: if you turn the crown on a wristwatch, the hands move. Behind this is a complicated system of many cogwheels of different sizes that interlock and make this possible. In this context, there is the rather negatively connoted saying that someone is only a cog in a system. What is meant is that one is lost in the masses and is insignificant. I think that is wrong. If only one cog in a gearwheel system is defective or one tooth is missing, the whole system no longer functions. So see yourself - no matter how insignificant you think you are - as special for being such a cog in a social structure. You count. 

I wish you an extraordinary day!

When it rains - well, some people get annoyed because the sun would be the preferred weather option. But assuming it didn't rain: what alternative would there be to moisten the soil in this way? Irrigation from the ground would be infinitely complex, a whole irrigation system, a drainage system would have to be invented. But this way, the clouds can simply let go of their moisture and the falling water is distributed everywhere. Ingenious. You don't even think about it. But why is it so easy? Among other things, because of gravity: if it weren't for the Earth's gravitational pull, the water from the clouds - yes, it would just stay where it was released - wouldn't be literal precipitation, but water at rest. One would then have to invent some method for this moisture to get to the ground. Again: infinitely complex. How good there is gravity, clouds and rain. An ingenious concept. Hats off!

I wish you an extraordinary day!

It is not really a compliment when someone tells another person that they are a brake block. What is often meant is that the behaviour slows down a process unnecessarily and makes them angry because things are not moving forward. Behind this, an irrational or inappropriate fear is often assumed or interpreted. Sometimes this may be true. But brake pads also have their good points. They can protect you from excessive and inappropriate speed in a situation and from the consequences that would result from not braking in time. I may remember driving down from a pass in a rented car on a winding, narrow road. More and more I felt that the brakes were giving way until they didn't work at all. I could only brake with the gearstick and hope that I could soon pull out somewhere. How I would have wished for a brake pad back then!

I wish you an extraordinary day!

There was a time when many natural river courses were straightened. So a river that meandered was corrected into a straight, man-made riverbed, often with very smooth banks or embankments instead of natural ones. The advantages of this: you could control the river and you gained a lot of space because meandering took up a lot more space and that was not infrequently precious building land. All's well that ends well? Not really. As long as there was no increased rainfall, all was well. But in the case of heavy rainfall or violent thunderstorms, these corrections turned into a boomerang: the rivers quickly burst their banks and caused massive destruction. The supposedly gained and meanwhile cultivated land was flooded. So the meander certainly had its purpose. Take this example as an impulse to give yourself and others enough emotional and mental space to move - especially for times when things get stressful.

I wish you an extraordinary day!

When you have washed dirty laundry, in most cases it is wet and needs to dry. The best way to do this is to hang or spread out the laundry. If this is not possible and the wet laundry is not spread out, it will not only hardly dry, but may even develop mould. This is worse than dirty laundry. A clothesline is therefore a great thing in this case. After all, if you don't have a clothesline or another way to hang or spread out wet laundry to dry, you're in an awkward position. There are various situations in our everyday lives that we no longer take for granted in our lifestyle. For example, what do you do when you want to eat a yoghurt but you don't have a spoon? Or if you need cash at a cash machine but only have a credit card? Etc. So for today, a plea for gratitude for the small everyday things we take for granted.

I wish you an extraordinary day!