Sunday Morning Thoughts – January 14, 2024

Ooops, a bit late

It’s not that I didn’t have any thoughts earlier today. I just couldn’t drag my butt out of bed. I had to finish a book I was reading. And did you know that for breakfast in bed to work, somebody has to actually get up and make breakfast? Very uncool. And you understand that by “somebody” I mean … ME.

Anyway, before I started writing I went a bit overboard telling a friend (the far away kind) where in Europe to go for beautiful castles. I mean Switzerland might not be your most obvious choice, but there are many castles. Come check them out. Here are some other places/areas/countries I mentioned – in no particular order: Scotland (or the UK in general), Denmark (check out their round churches too), Sweden (also great for the walled city of Visby), Luxembourg, Germany (Bavaria for Schloss Neuschwanstein), France (Alsace not as famous for its castles as the Loire valley, but the top of a hill kind are fun to explore). I think that’s where I stopped myself, then I remembered the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland (Krakow) and Prague. And let’s not forget Liechtenstein or Italy.

I haven’t been to southern Europe much or at all (Italy is the exception). Feel free to add other European favorites in the comments. For now let’s look at the word “castle” real quick. As you know I’m not looking up things for my Sunday morning thoughts, but I know that a friend who lives in Scotland will totally factcheck me on this if I get it wrong.

This one reel kept popping up on my Instagram. It’s where a pretend American (she’s German and we all know it) is confused by German having several words for “castle” – her examples were Burg and Schloss. If you google translate those you get “castle”. I would say that a Burg is more of a fortress (German also Festung) that was used to protect a town and its people where people might have lived within castle walls. A Schloss would be more where nobility or rich people lived. There’s a big BUT though. I mean what do we do with Schloss Lenzburg for instance? We call it Schloss yet is was clearly a fortress up on top of a hill and the name of the town Lenzburg suggests that it was thought of as a Burg at some point. Are you following this?

People were then shown pictures of castles and they had to decide whether it was a Burg or a Schloss. Some of them were easy, like Neuschwanstein. If you don’t know it – look it up. Some of them nobody could agree on. It’s all very similar to the cake fiasco. When is it Torte? When is it Kuchen? And then the Swiss have stolen the word cake and use it for a very specific shape of cake - yes, you read that right SHAPE of cake. Also Kuchen can be pie (savory or sweet) in certain dialects. It’s madness out there. Stay safe and away from cakes everybody.

How did I get here? I swear sometimes my fingers just type.

Oh, this brings me to mindfulness. What a lovely transition that was. I would like a medal, please. Thank you very much. Mindfulness was on my mind because I read book four from the “Achtsam Morden” (literally murdering in a mindful manner but I think mindful murder is close enough) series. The author is Karsten Dusse. I’m not sure if the translations are any good, but the German original is brilliant.

Pair reading this book with being told that you can only practice mindfulness if you sit still in a quiet room and clear your mind, keeping all thoughts out, just you and your empty mind – now there’s a trigger. Plus there’s all these seminars trying to make a lot of money off of people who want to learn to clear their minds.

Question to my readers: what does mindfulness mean for you? I would like to understand better what people mean when they say “empty mind” or similar things. What are the benefits of this “empty mind” – if that’s even what people mean when they say it.

I used to try and clear my mind. There were mindfulness classes that were included in my gym membership, so I gave it a go or several goes. Didn’t work. Not even close. Now, neurodivergence might well be a factor here, but also why would I want to clear my mind? My mind is brilliant, fascinating, quick – like a race car. One with no breaks though. Could this be the reason clearing my mind doesn’t work?

Bear with me – to me mindfulness just means paying attention to what’s going on in your mind and body. That’s it. I can be mindful while doing the dishes, even if there is a lot of swearing going on in my mind at that time. I can definitely be mindful when out walking. Feeling the sun, wind, rain, cold etc. on my skin, paying attention to how all this makes me feel. I can sit down and take it all in. I can even let me thoughts wander in a mindful manner. Give your mind permission to just wander and see what happens. It’s fascinating.

I also love yoga and tai chi even if I sometimes have to stop and dump a page full of ideas out of my brain onto paper. My brain has the best ideas when it’s all relaxed and my body is moving. It’s not that I think about anything in particular other than my breathing and the gentle movements. But suddenly it feels like my mind might burst if I don’t release the thoughts and idea. And then I’m surprised at what ends up on paper. Also, does anybody else have a water-resistant pen in their bathroom so they can write stuff on the tiles while in the shower? Just me? Okay then. I got really tired of having the best ideas in the shower and then forgetting about them right away. Works for me!

Now, I’m picturing those thoughts that are locked out and are getting angry that they can’t make themselves known. Poor thoughts! They could just be acknowledged and then float by. They don’t have to stick around. Keeping them out completely seems cruel.

That’s my thoughts for today.

I would really love to hear about everybody’s favorite castles. I’m counting on Scotland to provide other English words for castle. You reading this? And I would also like to hear about your take on mindfulness. Fascinating subject and I’m not sure I’m getting what everybody is talking about. As ever, comment publicly or by email.

Have a lovely Sunday! This is a picture of me thinking deep thoughts standing next to a castle on top of a hill in Ticino yesterday - all while wearing a bobble hat.

Castello di Sasso Corbaro, Bellinzona