Family/ Familie

I am grateful not only for friends, but for their families, too. Today the Quilty family comes to mind: the in-laws of my high school friend Des who welcomed me when life was changing. I visited the farm, shared the home fire and experienced the warmth of family extended. I'm grateful to Pat for books and encouragement. I am also grateful to Anke and the rest of the Krefts with whom I shared my first German Christmas. I still have the silver tin her grandmother gave me with crisp, rolled homemade waffles. Yum. Thank goodness for people like that who are simply kind.

When I grow up, I want a home like theirs that's warm and welcoming. Happy turn of the years to everyone.

Meine erste Deutsche Weihnachtszeit erlebte ich mit einer Familie namens Kreft nahe der holländischen Grenze. Sie waren so offen und warmherzig, ich habe es nie vergessen, obwohl es nun über 20 Jahredn zurückliegt. Danke für herrlich nette Familien! Allen einen guten Rutsch.

Actually, it's Wednesday/ Mittwoch

Thank goodness for friends.

Yesterday an "old" friend from med school came by. We chatted about our lives. The parallels are amazing, the differences intriguing and the silence in between--healing. We went for a walk by the river where things are never the same, neither at different times on the same day, nor the same times on different days. We watched dogs racing in the wind, felt the heat of physical exertion, peeped into other people's front rooms when they turned on the lights at dusk. And then we came back and had tea. Life could hardly be better.

Es sind die einfachen Momente und Dinge, die manchmal am meisten Spass machen. Gottseidank für alte Freundschaften und insbesonders heute für Alex.

Solitaire/ Solitär

I am pretty bad at solitaire. I play for the fun of it. I don't care that much if I win or lose, so I often end up losing. But one day, I got ambitious. Instead of accepting a loss, I backtracked to where I had made a bad choice, and corrected it. The funny thing was, I had felt the uncertainty when I made the move, but went ahead anyway. But if I had chosen right the first time, I would have missed the fun of turning back after playing out the bad move.

We can't always correct mistakes in life. But we do have a chance to reflect and learn from them. One mistake I don't want to make is not to forgive when I am able to. And the person who needs my forgiveness most is me. After all, in life, as in solitaire, it's me who makes the moves and choices. Oh, and for the record, that last solitaire set? I won it.

I am grateful for the people who design these games. The thank count goes up another notch.

Ich spiele gern Solitär, Bejeweled und andere gehirnlose Computerspiele. Ich bin dankbar für die Gelegenheit, auch aus solchen Spielen zu lernen. Denn das tue ich ebenfalls gern. Täglich kommt eine neue Lehre, ob ich gewinne, oder verliere ist weniger wichtig als die Chance, weiter zu spielen.

Flies/ Fliegen

Today we're trying natural methods for controlling those little flies that inhabit potted earth in room plants.The flies are actually a normal, healthy part of the ecosystem and help to break down plant rests to compost. But they like swimming in coffee and flying up nostrils, too. I need to find the balance between appreciating the good they do and avoiding the annoyance. If I could give up the annoyance right now, there would no longer be a problem... Thank goodness for flies and the lessons I can learn from them.

Der Fliegenbefall aus Zimmerpflanzenerde ist wohl ein bekanntes und sehr verbreitetes Problem, jedenfalls lassen die tausenden von Einträgen bei Google dies vermuten. Ich war besonders fleissig beim Giessen letzter Zeit und nun haben wir überall diese kleinen Fliegen. Es scheint, meine Vergesslichkeit was das Bewässerns der Pflanzen anging hatte auch seine Vorteile. Nun probieren wir es mit andecken und austrocknen lassen wie von Experten im Google empfohlen. Mal sehen wie es wird. Ich bin dankbar für die Fliegen und die Leute, die wissen, wie ich damit umgehen kann.

Post

Funny, nowadays "post" means something completely different from what it meant ten years ago. I am grateful to the postmistress of the post office where the beggar Brady sat. And to all the women who worked there. I am also grateful to the women and men around the world who still keep us connected in the old-fashioned snail mail way. I got a real pen for Christmas and I think I'm gonna use it...

Gottseidank für die Deutsche Post und alle anderen Postämter um herum, sogar für die jamaikanischen, die manchmal Sachen (besonders Geld und Geschenke) einkassieren anstatt sie auszuliefern. Also bedanke ich mich für alles, was sicher ankommt.

Brady/ Der Bettler

Er saß vor dem kleinen Postamt in Runaway Bay und starrte vor sich hin. Solange er keine Antipsychotika intus hatte, war ein himmlicher Ausdruck auf seinem Gesicht. Ich hätte ihn für Jesus gehalten, wenn ich vor 2000 und Jahren gelebt hätte. Der gesegnete Bettler, der mich befreundete und die Gelegenheit gab, großzügig zu sein.

I am grateful for a man named Brady who sat in front of the Post Office and asked nicely if I had anything to share. I did. We became friends. And one day, after I'd given him food, money, T-shirt, shoes (which he ordered courtesy of my mom) and other miscellaneous things, he offered me a couple oranges he had to spare. That shocked the shoes off passersby and made my heart smile. If I believed in reincarnation, I'd say Brady was Christ returned to earth. But I don't take that sort of thing too literally. Each and everyone has a bit of God-ness inside. Thanks to all the people and things that help me recognise the divine.

Patch

With the Thank Count at 970+ I need a whallop entry to reach my goal for Christmas. And I have one. Today's thanks goes to Patch Adams and the 40 clowns I met on his Healing Tour of Russia in 2003. Yay! With that, the thousand thanks have been exceeded!

It was Patch who taught me the gratitude Spiel. The first time we did it with him, folks had trouble finding things to be grateful for. But once he showed us how, we could scarcely stop the gratitude. It's a permanent fixture now. It's a wonderful way to brighten up a day; a satisfaction guaranteed mood modifier. Because a grateful heart cannot be depressed. Sure, we can be sad, but gratitude lends emotion another dimension. You lose the self-pity that always makes things unbearable. Even at the worst moments, there's more to be grateful for than not.

On Christmas Day, but every other day too, may every breath that is in me be filled with thanks and praise. A blessed day to everyone with much love!

Mit Patch und die anderen, die ich in Russland kennen und lieben gelernt habe, bin ich durch eine Herzenstransformation durchgegangen. Es dauerte zwar aber heute bin ich wirklich dankbar für alles, was mein Leben ausmacht. Allen eine schöne Festzeit!

In-Laws/ Ex

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. How time has flown! I'm grateful for 2009, a year of growth and change. Yay! But some things remain the same. Like the kindness of my in-laws. Thanks to Ulla, my first mother-in-law who rings to share news and recipes. She set us up with kitchen towels and warm clothing our first year here. Simone shared her pullovers and Ulla's partner Walter baked delicious cake. I didn't see Basti and his new family, but I'm grateful to him too for his acceptance as a teen. And Flori, faithful Flori came by when I visited his grandma's house. Thanks also to Silvia and Rolf for welcoming me in their home over half a decade ago. And to Siegmar for more than I can mention here.

Thanks to my new in-laws and family, too: Annelie, Horst and Clarissa for their generosity, to Klaus and Ingrid for their willingness to open up. Thanks to Susanne, Jasper and Christian. And special thanks to Tante Anneliese who made family come together for me.

Meine Schwiegefamilien haben mich immer gut behandelt, bei denen fühle ich mich zu Hause, und dafür bedanke ich mich heute.
Thank count: 972.

Room/ Mitbewohner

Heute bin ich allen dankbar, die mit mir zusammen gewohnt haben. Insbesondere denke ich an diejenigen, mit denen ich einst ein Zimmer geteilt habe. Es ist nicht leicht, täglich so nah bei einander zu sein. Ich bedanke mich für deren Toleranz, Verständnis, guten Willen und dafür, dass wir uns trotz Mangel an persönlichem Freiraum nie in die Haare gekriegt haben.

Thanks to all the people who have roomed with me at one point or another over the years. To Shae Lawson, who's brought out a book at www.funnywares.com by the way, and who still makes me laugh with her crazy comments, to Maureen B, to Camille R, to Janet, to the rest of the boarders in the pink elephant, to Hoda and Greta, to Holly, Ange and Colleen, and of course to the Berkley exiles Lucile, Lu and Beth. To Bill, Mrs K, to all the folks at the Studentenwohnheime in Göttingen and Lübeck. When you share space, you share lives. It wasn't always the biggest or the most impressive space, but we made the best of it. Thanks to all of you.

Thank Count? Indefinite, but I'll add 20 to it in my room- and flatmates' honour.

Time/Die Zeit

It's Monday morning at 5 o'clock. But when I post this, it'll probably say Sunday. My blog's in another time zone somewhere. It's amazing how our world works.

This entry is for people who have been my mentors over the years. I've already mentioned Dr Wolfe, the Davises, the Henrys, the Hettlings, Cloval Anderson and others from work. I'd also like to thank Sister Maureen Clare Hall OSF, our head mistress in high school, all the teachers and staff at Immaculate, especially Mrs Browne my first homeroom teacher, Mrs Robotham who made me love maths, Sr Pat, Sr Marie Emmanuel, Sr Josette, Miss Ramsey, Miss Lawrence, Mrs Fong Kong and Miss Issa whose UWC information altered the course of my life.

There were the UWC mentors: Nat Mann and his wife Dottie, Neil and Anita, Andrew who mediated and taught me the basic philosophical principles on which I've built my own, Charles who taught us economics (ha!) Susan, Maria Elena and Andy,(whom I've thanked elsewhere, too), the Mullers, my getaway family, especially Michelle. Later, there was Jim, my freshman counselor at Yale and Chris who wasn't my counselor, but helped anyway, Harvey from fencing, Anke who's been consistently kind, the biochem Professor in Göttingen who wrote the recommendation for the scholarship I got, the nephrologist in Marburg who got me to become an organ donor, Klaus and Marianne Grawe, Barbara Heiniger, Professor Steinhausen, Frau von Aster, Dr Andreas Sarasin, PD Julian Schilling, Prof Gutzwiller, and Prof Margerete Dunitz Scheer.
And to Monika Schäppi who mentors and inspires me still.
The thank count's at least 935.

Eigentlich bin ich dankbar für viel mehr als ich bislang aufgezählt habe. Je mehr ich daran denke, umso mehr Menschen und Situationen fallen mir ein. Soviel kann ich am Morgengrauen gar nicht schreiben, wenn die Arbeit ruft. Heute ruft sie nicht, denn die Gruppen haben Ferien und das bedeutet, auch ich. Hurra!

ELT/ Englisch

With Christmas tapping at the door, snow stains on the floor, and the thank count at 796 it seems a shame to stretch the Thousand Thanks out until the end of the year. Don't put off until tomorrow what you can put off forever, it is said. So I'll finish the thousand thank count by Christmas, for the challenge of it. But I will also keep the thank count as an integral part of this blog. I may start other blogs for other purposes. But this one will be a record of what I'm grateful for in life.

Today my thanks goes to people who have helped me with my language training career: Izzy, Anthony, Vivienne, Nick, Heather, Charuka, Sensei Katie, Rasheed, and the others in my CELTA course, Julia, Monika (for helping me stay sane), Gwendolyn, all the students in the teacher training classes, Nikki K, the people at the companies with whom I've worked, Josephine, Lila and Lena especially for their excellent organisational and coordination work, Sascha for showing me the money and Adrienn for the corrected invoice, Fiorella, Teresa and the others in the office, too many names to recount, to the people at prolinguis, members and staff alike...The face count makes at least 119. And as usual, I'm being modest so as not to cheat. So many people have helped me carve out a new career. Thanks to all of them and blessings for the coming years.

Heute bedanke ich mich für die Möglichkeit, eine weitere Karriere zu fortgeschrittenem Alter anzufangen. Es gab viele Menschen, die mich ermutigt und geholfen haben. Und jene, die meine Dienste bezahlten (VIELEN DANK): allen gilt einen riesigen Dank!
Thank count now 915.

Pershon/ Patient

Someone once asked why doctors call what they do "Practice." It's probably the same reason we call the people they treat "Patients." Unfortunately, practice doesn't always make perfect.

One of the first patients to express gratitude for my caring was a woman named Betty. She sent me a bright Thank You card after her release (another telling word) from hospital signed "your pershon, Betty." I've forgotten what ailment she had, or how I helped, but it was a rare, special feeling to know I'd done something she found worthwhile.

I was never sure of the effects of my treatments. It is impossible to gage the full consequences of an action. Life isn't as neat as the statistics we base therapeutic decisions on. I have a healthy portion of skepsis about those statistics and the glowing publications they inspire.

Today, I am grateful to all the patient people who entrusted their lives to me, shared their most intimate stories, enured my prodding, and let me poke my fingers into unspoken orifices. I thank them for suffering my requests, forgiving me my shortcomings and sharing the triumphs of recovery, too. How many? Innumerable. But I'll add a round 200 to the thank you count and Betty's variation on patient to my vocabulary. Pershon is like a hybrid between patient and person. It sums things up nicely and feels a lot more human to me.

Heute bedanke ich mich bei allen Patientinnen und Patienten, die sich von mir behandeln liessen.

Me/ Danke mir

Almost two thirds of the way through the thank count and it suddenly occurrs to me that I could thank myself. Ha! I certainly am grateful for myself and to myself for taking life by the--an anatomical part that may or may not be kosher-- and living the best I can. Yay! Persistent efforts at self-improvement and development, while being aware of and caring for others at the same time: those are the characteristics I appreciate most in myself. And the sense of humour along the way, of course. Heh. Perhaps especially that.

Man, have I been working hard to be a better person so I can make a better world. And I know how earnest I am about this. Who better to be grateful for my efforts than me? Hurray!

Sich selbst zu bedanken wirkte etwas befremdlich. Doch je länger ich mich damit beschäftige und die Idee im Kopf herumdrehte und damit spielte, umso genialer erschien sie mir. Hurra! Ich bin dankbar für mich, für das Leben, das ich mir erarbeitet habe und immer noch liebevoll gestalte. Wer kann das besser als ich? Niemand! Also: ganz herzlichen Dank an mich!!!

Ol friends

Thanks to the friends who shared my childhood days. To Janice, Johnny Megoo, all my classmates in prep school. All the children at Pringle home. Altogether about 50. Which brings the count to 595.

Heute habe ich nicht viel zu sagen. Ich schreibe nur um die Regelmässigkeits halber.
Schönen Tag und alles Gute!

Bleigiessen/ Fate

The classes I mentioned yesterday got me a "Bleigiessen" set as a farewell gift. It's a German tradition to pour melted lead into water and read the future on New Year's Eve or Christmas. It sounds a bit like reading tea leaves. I love that kind of thing because it gets my fantasy revving. In my heart, however, I know my fate is my own making.

The trainees also gave me a signed group picture. That's precious as my memory is beginning to fade. It's always been a good one, and I still retain more than some people are capable of in their prime. But as I do my thank count, it becomes more and more obvious how many names I've forgotten. If I'm lucky, I recall the faces. The last thing to go are the associated stories. Without a story, a person no longer exists. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.

Today I give thanks for the unknown stories, the shadow faces, the memories that no longer exist. They may be a bigger part of me than I'll ever know. Oh, and I'll get back to counting tomorrow.

Irgendwann mußte es aber gut sein mit der Selbstverwirklichung and Entwicklung, meinte ein Bekannter von mir. Dieser Zustand der Ungewissheit, des sich ständig neu erfinden, müsse doch ein Ende haben, nicht wahr? Da bin ich mir nicht so sicher. Ich ahne, dass es sehr wohl ein lebenlang so laufen könnte, und vielleicht sogar darüber hinaus. Es ist unmöglich, mich an alles und alle zu erinnern, die mir zu dieser Lebzeit geholfen haben. Wahrscheinlich ist mir vieles nicht einmal bewußt. Für dieses grosse Unbekannte bedanke ich mich heute.

Adieu

Finally, a really "good" bye.
I've been working for a company where things often end abruptly. I'm accustomed to endings, but these have been harsh, fraught with conflict and unease. "Sometimes you have to take it as it comes," the boss of the company says. And she's right. I get too cushy in my expectation of a predictable life.

Today I ended three classes I've had for over a year. I could probably train them indefinitely. But it wouldn't be right. I have given my best, done what I needed to do. It wasn't just English training. It's about experiencing other people, their stories, their dreams, becoming a thread in their lives for a while. These groups have been a rewarding part of mine. They've made every Monday morning for the past year worthwhile.

Thanks to: Simon, Alide, Jan, Krischan, Nicole, Anja, Mirco, Fabian, Marcel, Niklas, Juliane, Irina, Janine, Jana, Janne, Anika, Nicole, Oliver, Julian, Janina, Julian, Lina, Alex, Frederike, Sandra, Sebastian and Svea, as well as anyone whose name I've forgotten.

Heute unterrichte ich an einer bestimmten Firma zum vorerst letzten Mal. Ich verlasse den Job nicht weil er schlecht ist. Im Gegenteil, alles läuft gerade ganz gut. Eine gute Zeit, die Sache zu beenden. Ich habe das erreicht, wozu ich dort hingegangen bin. Ich liebe die Schweizer Art, Adieu zu sagen. Natürlich ist es Französicher Herkunft, aber die Schweizer sprechen es viel süsser aus: "Addi" sowie sie "Salli" am Anfang einer Begegnung sagen. Auf jeden Fall sicherer als Auf Wiedersehen. Wer weiß, ob wir uns jemals wiedersehen? Aber die anderen in die Hände Gottes übergeben (a Dieu), das finde ich schön.

prn/ Gebrauchsanweisung

It was F11 that made my screen jump the other day. It had to be one of 3 choices, F10 to 12 were all in the range of the slipped finger. I tried F11 and my usual screen reappeared. Although I'm not brave enough to experiment with the Fs systematically, I could get a manual and read what the keys are capable of. But I don't need to, yet.

I generally do things prn. That's medical jargon in Latin pro re nata or "as needed". My whole life is based on prn. I don't often judge what's needed with the same criteria as anyone else. That's what makes us unique individuals.

I could easily finish the thank count today. But you know what? It's growing on me. It's what gets me up at 5 am to blog before work. I spring out of bed thinking "Who shall I thank today?" Sometimes, I lie in bed before the alarm goes off, pondering the content of the blog. And I get warm feelings from recalling the good in my life.

Today's blog is dedicated to my clown friend Sean whom I met on the 2003 Patch Adams Healing Tour of Russia. Sean has a powerfully sweet spirit and is one of the best huggers I know. And believe me, I've hugged hundreds, if not thousands; just check my thank count for the evidence. Sean had an accident that impaired his long-term memory. But he phoned me once to announce that he remembered me.

He recalled a moment in a pub in St. Petersburg. I'd gone over to join him as he stood by himself. And we stood there, together until our guide Olga joined us. Then the three of us just stood there in what you could call companionable silence. And two years later, he remembered. Nothing unusual you think, but for him it was special.

Sometimes the most memorable moments are quiet.

Mein Blog ruft mich morgens zum Erwachen und fordert mich auf, den Tag mit Dankbarkeit zu beginnen. Ich kenne schlechtere Wege, einen neuen Tag anzufangen...

Fire!/ Joe Vitale

Wow! Yesterday I doubled my December income with a single tweak of the mind. And I accomplished a financial/ career goal I thought was out of reach: to double my monthly income by the end of the year. Yay!

The guy who helped me do it was Dr Joe Vitale with a free (yes, really!!!) pdf version of his book Attract Money Now which you can get just by asking for it--and giving your email address--Check out his homepage http://www.mrfire.com/ for details. Yay! So today he's usurped all other thoughts of thanks and I just want to tell everybody about him. In fact, I'm going to buy his book for friends/ family because it's more than worth its weight in gold. So big, big thanks to Mr Fire. Whee! (I'll check the count tomorrow).

Falls Ihr Englisch lesen könnt, kann ich das kostenlos (wirklich!!!) angebotenes Buch von Joe Vitale herzlich empfehlen. Es geht nicht nur um Geld, obwohl das als Beispiel benutzt wird. Es geht um spirituelle Verwandlung und war für mich wahnsinnig effektiv. Noch bevor ich das Buch zu Ende las, hatte ich eine Rechnung geschrieben, die mein Dezember Einkommen innert Sekunden, na ja, vielleicht dauerte es ein paar Minuten, verdoppelt hat. Vielleicht funktioniert es nicht immer so rasant, aber mir hat es sofort geholfen. Ich las das Buch an einem Tag durch und werde es jetzt kaufen, obwohl ich das nicht müsste. Ich will es nämlich anderen verschenken.
Hurra!Hurra!

Choices/ Auswahl

People do what they want--and so they should. I'm glad I don't have to deal with anyone else's stuff. We do what is right for us, or the best we can under the circumstances. Even God didn't hinder the working of free will. You know why? Because it's the best way for the optimal result to come out of individual parts. Whatever we do is part of a greater whole and that's how the big plan works. At least that's what occurred to me just now. I could be wrong, but who cares? I'm only responsible for my part. And apparently, my part was to write that bit.

Who to thank today? Big choice, there are so many possibilities. A lump sum thanks to a big group, individual thanks to some special people? How I love choices!

Today I choose a whopper thanks to my mates from UWC. That's about two hundred students from the years 1982-1984 at the UWC in Montezuma. Plus the trickles of ex-UWCers I have met since then. Plus all the teachers and tutors and mentors we had. Plus the alumnae coordinators and the staff who have run the place since I left. Plus all the students who have gone there. Plus all the people who have ever attended a UWC or worked at one since the movement began in the 1960s. Wow. We're looking at tens of thousands here folks. But I'll only count the two hundred I know and love from our precious time together as kids growing into adults.

Als ich 16 war gewann ich ein Stipendium, um auf einer internationalen Schule in den USA zu studieren bzw. die High School dort fertig zu machen. Es hat mein Leben radikal verändert. Aber tut das nicht jeder Schritt? Für jede Sache, die ich mache, gibt es unzählige Varianten, die ich nicht gemacht habe und so zeichnet sich ein Leben aus. Und so funktioniert das ganze Große auch. Wir alle zusammen kreieren unsere gemeinsame Realität.
Schönes Wochenende!
Thank count 516: WHOOPEE!

Autonomy/ Gestern

The Thank Count is at 287, I think.

I just pressed a key accidentally and my whole computer screen changed. I love and hate when it does that. On the one hand it's amazing that this machine is capable of such fabulous feats. On the other hand, I'm a little uneasy with the speed and autonomy. I don't even know which button it was, a slip of a finger in the F row somewhere and bang! an entirely new screen. Wow!

Anyway, we had a funtastic class yesterday, one of those days when you're exhausted afterwards, but the warm glow in your belly says you've done a great job. Thanks to the trainees in that course: Stefanie, Steffi, Stephan, Irina, Karin, Alex, Harun, Marc, Miriam, Marzia, Nele, Elisabeth, Susanna, Sven, Jürgen, and to Verena, Claudia, and Wiebke who were away. Also thanks to Berit, Axel, Cathrin, Robin, Lutz, Gisela, Joaquin, Martina, Peter, Romanita and Dennis, who passed through the course along the way.

We reached a flow state yesterday. We were discussing negotiations, not my particular strength. But the group brought in resources I could never have imagined, making it a truly valuable discourse on human exchange. The participants took it away. Yay! That kind of autonomy doesn't scare me, it's great! It's what being human is all about.

Gestern habe ich wahre Zusammenarbeit im Klassenzimmer erlebt. Da meine "Studenten" mehr über das Thema wussten als ich, durfte ich etwas dazu lernen, während sie ihre Kompentenzen vorzeigen konnten. Deswegen bezeichne ich mich lieber als Trainerin als Lehrerin. Denn eine Trainerin kann auf die Fähigkeiten der KlientInnen bauen, ohne das Gesicht zu verlieren. Wahrhaftig war es eine wunderbare Sache, die gestern geschah.
PS: Thank count=316.

Focus/ Zielstrebig

When you set yourself a goal, your brain comes up with ways to achieve it. Take a simple thing like my thank count. Initially, I worked whimsically, and the thanks dribbled in one by one. But once I decided to finish by the end of this month, my focus changed. I began to think in new categories. Suddenly, I began to recall large groups of people to be grateful for instead of the occasional individual.

It's easier than I thought. There really are thousands of people I can be grateful about. And I have come up with three times as many in the last few days as I did in the three months before I changed my focus.

One very special person I am grateful to is Dr Heribert Wolfe who cared for me when I was a child and inspired me to become a physician, too. He died when I was ten and could not witness how deeply he had impacted my life's direction. Or could he? Bless him. I don't know how many thanks that makes, but today, it doesn't really matter.

Der Schwerpunkt bestimmt, welche Ziele man wie erreicht. Solange ich diese Dankaktion ohne großen Antrieb durchführte, fielen mir auch nur wenige Beispiele ein. Sobald ich mir jedoch vornahm, bis Ende des Jahres damit fertig zu werden, hatte ich plötzlich täglich Hunderte von Menschen auf der Liste. Ich denke nun in anderen Kategorien, um mein neu definiertes Ziel zu erreichen. So kann es auch sonst funktionieren. Doch muß man zuerst glauben, dass etwas überhaupt möglich ist, um es zu verwirklichen.

Work/ Arbeit

My supervisors and colleagues have been great motivators. Each job I've had has been rewarding and good, even those that had their tough times.

Thanks to Aunt Sheila and Aunt Roma for my first paid employment. Thanks to the people at Eastern Airlines in Montego Bay, to Marsha at the Yale Cabaret and my waiting buddy Bruce. To the guys with the paper route, to Bill at American Bartending School, to the Irish bar where I worked, to the World Yacht folks, to the staff at Yale New Haven Hospital, to the New Mexico State Hospital people, to medical and nursing staff in Göttingen and Lübeck, to everyone at Grenada General, to the people at KMC, to Julian Shilling for hiring me, to the Check Bus team for the excellent working climate, to Prof Gutzwiller for supporting my doctoral thesis, to Jörg Püschel for his guidance, Regula Häne for her care, all the Panzerknacker colleagues at the PONS, the entire staff of the psychiatric ward and the rest of the Kantonspital Obwalden, all my colleagues at the KJPD Zürich, and everyone I worked with as a clown in Jamaica.

So many people, in so many places; a head count would easily exceed a thousand, but if I think of thanking even one tenth of them, I can easily up the count by 100. I am grateful for the cloud of goodwill that has encompassed all my working life. Hurray!

Arbeit macht frei? Kann sein. Die Arbeit hat mich auf einer besonderen Art und Weise erfüllt. Ich habe den Sinn des Lebens (teilweise) darin gespürt. Ich bin für jeden Job dankbar, den ich jemals gemacht habe und für die Menschen, die mir diese Arbeit ermöglichten.

Familiensinn

I am grateful for my family and all its extensions. Many people have cared for me over the years. My article It Takes a Village in Oneup magazine describes this in detail.

I am grateful to Rev Hettling and his wife and children (David and Elizabeth) for putting me up in Highgate. Thanks to my aunts and uncles for loving support: Carol, Ditta, Enid, Jule, CC(RIP), Del, Godfrey, Ivan , G. Michael, Ranny and Cas. I'm glad for my stowaway uncle Roy in Bristol, his wife Sue, her sister Jill and nephew who put us up on our England trip and the new aunt nobody knew about until my uncle C's funeral three years ago.

Thanks to Robert and Cloval Anderson, their children Delano, Craig and Natalie whom I lived with in Kingston. Thanks to the Goodisons who gave up a childfree existence to take care of me. Thanks to the Whitemans Aunt Leila, Ruby, Etta and Daphne. And Uncle Burchell and his wife and daughters. I am grateful for my cousins Caron, Michelle, Natalie, Stuart, Yanique, Maureen and their kids--but I have exceeded my thirty for today, so I'll be grateful for the kids another day.

Finding a bunch of people to be grateful for and to is not as difficult as one might think. I have 39 today and my thousand thank count is up to 186!

Ich habe eine grosse Familie. Und die Anzahl der Menschen, die sich um mich gesorgt haben ist noch größer. Ich bin dankbar dafür.

Hooked on Books/ Bücher

Thank God it's Sunday. I love the Sunday grey as much as I love the Sunday sun. The sky looks like it hasn't made up its mind about whether to rain or shine.

Today I'll thank 30 or more authors and their books for enriching my life:
Thanks to Benjamin Hoff and A.A. Milne for the Tao of Pooh and the original which remind me of innocence. Thanks to Sögyal Rinpoche for the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying which helped me through the valley of death. Thanks to Redfield's Celestine Prophecy that jumped off a bookshelf at me in Geneva, for Lao Tsu's Tao which I read over and over again, to Hafiz for soul inspiration, to Khalil Gibran for the same, to Eckhart Tolle for The Power of Now and A New Earth, to Louise Hay for her books on healing, to Prof Steinhausen for his child and adolescent texts, and to Frau von Aster for her book on playing.

To Barbara Cartland for scores of historical romances, to Sara Craven for happy Mills and Boons days, to Liane Gentry Skye and Saranna de Wilde on Textnovel, to Stephenie Meyer for superior heart and soul writing. To Agatha Christie for a world of mystery, to Tess Gerritson for the thrills, to Steven King for chills, to Tolkien for hobbits and rings, to Charles Dickens for most of his things. Thanks to Rainer Maria Rilke, to Erich Kästner, to Goethe and Shakespeare, too. Andrew Davidson's Gargoyle was an unexpected treat, David Burns guided my therapy interventions with Feeling Good. Gabriel Garzia Marquez, Miguel Cervantes, and Jorge Luis Borges formed my Spanish literature backbone. That's already 30 and I can still go on. But I'll close with thanks to David, Ruth, Solomon and John, as well as Mark, Matthew, and Luke and all the rest who wrote and rewrote the Bible with some of the greatest lessons I've ever heard.

It seems a good book to end with on a Sunday. The thank count is 147.

Die Bücher, die mein Lebenspfad informiert haben sind ein wichtiger Teil meines Daseins. Ich bin dankbar für all die Autoren, die sie geschrieben haben. Einen frohen 2. Advent!

Lead/ Führung

Thank God it's Saturday. After a week of being regular, I considered taking a break from the blog, but the thing's growing on me. Looks like habits may form faster than they say. It all is a matter of choice, of course. We can do anything we set our minds to.

Today I'm grateful to my classmates from first form (grade 7/27) who gave me my first leadership role by electing me as class rep. The gratitude count goes up by 21 for those who voted for me. But it also goes up by another 20 for those who tolerated my awkward leadership even though they hadn't voted for me. I was a terrible monitor, too strict and stiff, expecting too much from everyone, especially myself. I used to take myself and the world very seriously then. Thank goodness I've grown up. And that takes the gratitude count to 110: Yay! I wonder if I can make it to one thousand by the end of the year? That would be thirty thanks a day for the rest of this month. Hey, maybe I'll try it. It certainly can't hurt.

Als ich elf war wurde ich zum ersten Mal Klassenvertreterin. Ich habe das alles fürchtbar ernst genommen, war eine Furie, die immer darauf bestand, die Regeln strikt einzuhalten. Dabei hätte ich das alles viel lockerer nehmen können. Tja. Was man nicht wusste...doch ich weiß es jetzt. Ich bin für mich verantwortlich und sonst nichts. Das reicht aber dicke. Und das Leben ist nun viel schöner.

Entstehungsgeschichte: The Birth of a Blog

I met Eggert Staben at a self-employment fair thanks to a tip from Frau Russamondo at the ARGE in September 2007. We had just come back to Germany and were trying to establish ourselves. One thing was certain, after the initial experience with the gruff ARGE receptionist, it was not a place I wanted to deal with again. But Frau Russamondo was helpful. She wanted to study psychology and I'm sure she'll do well.

Mr Staben liked my clown. We chatted, he smiled and gave me his card. I followed up on his introduction to Dr Michael Hoppe, a member of the senior mentoring group of which Mr Staben was the president. After a couple mentoring sessions, I translated much of the website Steps for Children into English as a contribution to his pet charity. In return, Dr Hoppe told me about Kai.

"Why do you want a website?" Kai asked. It was an excellent question. I didn't know why. Because other people thought I needed one? The truth was, I liked being a homeless web entity, floating from site to site, leaving subtle clues of my existence through collaboration with others online.

"You don't need a website," Kai told me. "Why don't you set up a blog?"
I didn't have a clue. So Kai showed me. And within minutes, this blog emerged, crafted by Kai's skillful hands. He even added the clown face picture he had painted--symbolic of the clown spirit he and I shared. And suddenly, I had a blog which had pretty much evolved by itself.

Kai gave me an angel massage afterwards. It made my spirit soar. And when I came down to earth again, it felt like a new place. Check Kai out at http://www.engelmassage.de/ He's a great guy with magic fingers and a beautiful spirit.

And if I thank Kai, Michael Hoppe, Herr Staben and Frau Rossomondo for their help, that brings my thank count to 69. Yay!

Dieser Blog entstand per Zufall bzw. ist dank einer Folge von interessanten Begegnungen enstanden. Ich bin allen dankbar, die mir dabei geholfen haben, soweit zu kommen. Hurra!

Ending/Aus

Thanks to the two Spanish ladies who hugged me and each other after witnessing the kindness of the stranger who helped me with my luggage at Victoria Station in 2003.

I love good endings. We had one yesterday. A lot of people finished the language course. We watched a fun video where some Australian asks people on the street about their purpose in life. One of my purposes--I have many--is to bring things to good ends. And the way I achieve that is by making them good all the way. That doesn't mean this course didn't go through tough times; we had our crises and problems, too, but we sought and found resolution as we moved along. Now it's over with no regrets. We did our best.

We can move on happily to whatever's coming next. Yay!

Gestern ging ein Kurs für einige Teilnehmende zu Ende. Wir haben vom Morgen bis abend gefeiert mit Blumen, Kuchen und ein Haufen von Schokolade. Vielleicht waren wir nicht besonders strebsam im Unterricht, dafür hatten wir viel Spaß. Und das ist doch auch was wert.

Bonus

Thanks to the stranger who helped me with my bags at Victoria Station in London in November 2003.

Minimal change. Have I mentioned how I made a leap of faith and gave up one job before I officially had another? It was the right decision. I knew it was time to change. Things were turning sour at the old place. I got a job one stop earlier on the same train line, beginning one hour later, earning one Euro more for the day. But the big difference was that I knew it was a job that suited me to the Tee.

Well, now we've been given a big bonus for our good work. One Euro more became 10, which means my income changed suddenly and unexpectedly by 30% and I'm really grateful that the minimal change has had such a big impact. Do the right thing. It's worth it.

Ich habe unerwarteterweise einen erstaunlichen Weihnachtsbonus erhalten zum ersten Mal seit ich in Deutschland arbeite. In der Schweiz war das gang und gebe. Aber ich schätze diesen mehr, denn ich kann es gut gebrauchen und es kam überraschend. Hurra! Gottseidank.