The famous American Indian legend from which we can learn a profound message to better understand and overcome our inner conflicts.

The story tells of a wise old man teaching his grandson the story of the two great wolves that live inside us.

 

 

The grandfather tells his grandson: “You see, inside everyone there is an incessant war in the mind and heart, as if there were two wolves fighting inside us, one white and one black.

The white wolf is good, kind and loving, living in harmony with everything around him.
The white wolf only fights if it is necessary and when he has to protect himself and his family, he is very careful with all the other wolves in his pack and never deviates from his own nature.

 

The black wolf in us, on the other hand, is very different: he is overbearing, angry and discontented.
He is overbearing, angry and unhappy. The smallest things provoke him to anger and he quarrels with everyone. This wolf looks for trouble wherever he goes, so he finds it easily, trusts no one and has no real friends.

 

Sometimes it is difficult to live with these two wolves, because they both fight hard to dominate our souls.”

“Which of the two wolves wins, Grandpa?” asks the grandson.

Note: At this point, the version of the story I knew ended up with Grandpa answering, “the one you feed.” However, there seems to be another version of the story that goes like this….
“Both,’ replied Grandpa.

 

“You see, if I choose to feed only the white wolf, the black wolf will be waiting for me to take advantage of some moment of imbalance, and will attack the white wolf, causing a lot of trouble; he will always be angry and fighting for the attention he demands.
But if I give him a little attention because I understand his nature, if I recognise his powerful strength and let him know that I respect him for his character, he will be happy and the white wolf will also be serene, and both will win”.
Confused, the boy asks, “I don’t understand, Grandpa, how can they both win?”

 

The wise grandfather, continues:
“You see, the black wolf has many important qualities that I may need in certain circumstances: he is reckless, determined and never gives in; he is intelligent, cunning and has very sharp and honed senses, which only those who look with the eyes of darkness can appreciate. In the event of an attack, it can be our best ally.”
Then he takes out two pieces of meat and throws them on the ground, one on the left and one on the right. He points to them and says:
“Here on my left is food for the white wolf, and on my right is food for the black wolf. If I choose to feed them both, they will never struggle to dominate my mind and I will be able to use each one in the way I need.
And since there will be no war between the two, I will be able to listen to the voice of my deepest conscience and choose which of the two will best help me in every circumstance.
If you understand that there are two great forces within you and regard them with equal respect, they will both be victorious and live together in peace; and peace, my nephew, is the ultimate goal of life.
This beautiful story teaches us that in each of us there is black and white, male and female, beautiful and ugly, peace and war, just as in the Tao symbol.
So if we accept this and silence our inner conflicts, then from the peace of mind we can better hear the voice of our consciousness.
To do this we have to be aware of this and above all we must not be afraid of the ‘black wolf’!

 

100 ideas of things to do when you’re bored

During this quarantine period, you’ve probably asked yourself several times what to do when you’re bored.
And there are two options: get caught up in the discouragement and fear of the future or use the days to do everything you’ve ever wanted to do ( okay maybe not quite EVERYTHING) and enjoy the isolation as much as possible.
We can all make excuses like:
* I’m lonely
* I don’t have any money
* I’m afraid to go out
* There’s nothing to do around the house.
* I have to work remotely
* I have to clean the house
…And certainly some of this is true, but we have never had so much free time in our lives and we always complain that we can’t devote time to what we want so this situation is an opportunity.
We can explore new activities, deepen the ones we already know and use this moment for our personal and spiritual rebirth.
All of man’s troubles come from not knowing how to sit still in a room.

Here’s what to do when you’re bored around the house

Fun pastimes

Exercise with weights, rubber bands, football or simple equipment like chairs or steps to keep fit

Buy something you’ve never used like jump rope, a meditation mat, a class, food items.

Anything that you are curious about and have never experienced.

Sudoku or crossword puzzles, even on an app

Create a playlist to get your juices flowing

Look for some new apps that will entertain or teach you something

Buy a magazine at the newsstand to support local businesses and learn or explore something that interests you.

Renew something.

Look for an old chair, picture frame, box and unleash your creativity using Pinterest

Play video games

Take an online course or simply video courses and tutorials on youtube

Make a Puzzle

Review photo books from past vacations or old videotapes and soak up the memories

Search for a dance or martial arts or kickboxing video on youtube and get moving!!!

 

Discover a new recipe in a kitchen or prepare something that brings you good memories like grandma’s cake or homemade pasta

I suggest you The recipes of grandma Bibo:

 

 

Cleaning, rearranging spaces, creating room for new things to bring new energy to your home
Read a book
Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time, serenity, that nothing is.

Aperitif.

Alone, with your partner, with family. Pull out a beer, olives and tarallini and create a special moment

I suggest you : https://lovenergy.nl/product-category/wine/
A collection of Italian wines from Puglia, not to be missed!

And to accompany and create your own Italian-style aperitivo :
https://lovenergy.nl/product-category/taralli/
A snack for every moment of the day

 

 

Cuddle, even these to children, pets, partner, mom and dad, whoever you are lucky enough to be able to hug since not everyone has this luxury
Get a massage from your partner

Look for new Artists you might like.
Music, movies, art, books, discover someone new
Take a walk and pick up a bouquet of fresh flowers

Dress nicely, put on some makeup, shave, something that makes you feel good and forces you to take off the suit

I suggest the course – Fashion Advisor for Your Soul – .
That will allow you to go deeper, showing you how a simple outfit can help you live your day better, be happier and have a better self-esteem, while remaining casual elegant and refined at the same time.

Contact us for more information about this course and we will be happy to show you the program:
https://lovenergy.nl/contact/

 

If there are two or three of you at home get out the cards or board games
Get out your old guitar or keyboard and with some youtube tutorials learn an easy song

If you like cooking start working on something that takes time and you usually can’t do.
Try making sourdough, some pickled or oiled vegetables, tomato puree, homemade bread, liqueur, etc.
If you don’t feel like making a tomato puree, but are looking for quality products that will warm your soul,

I suggest :
https://lovenergy.nl/product-category/deli/
https://lovenergy.nl/product-category/confetti/
https://lovenergy.nl/product-category/pasta/

Make your dishes delicious by tasting real tomato puree with Italian taste.

 

Have a chat with friends near or far on zoom or house party or some group chat app
Start an Art Project like drawing, oil painting or water colors or work on your calligraphy.

 

Have a chat with friends near or far on zoom or house party or some group chat app
Start an Art Project like drawing, oil painting or water colors or work on your calligraphy.

I suggest a course that we have done in this regard:
– Paint with your Soul – .
A path made of beautiful shades, in which you can learn to express your emotions and work in a therapeutic way while having fun.
Free yourself from what you no longer need.
It will be a unique experience.

Contact us and ask for more information about it we will be happy to show you this part of the program:
https://lovenergy.nl/contact/

If you have never had an artistic spirit but would like to try, start by painting mandalas to print.
I suggest you our Mandala 4 elements to download for free in our site:
https://lovenergy.nl/mandala-4-elements/

 

Take a nap. You know all those times you wished you could sleep in or doze off after lunch?
Today you can

Watch a documentary
Pull out photos from a trip and prepare an exotic dish you sampled on that vacation
Discover new craft activities such as DIY, sewing, jewel making, origami
Find a challenge you like on social. Fresh juice every morning at breakfast, split in 15 days, choose the one you enjoy the most and launch it, maybe involving your friends

 

Make a list of restaurants, museums and destinations you’ll visit at the end of the lockdown

Candlelight dinner and romantic night out

 

Make someone’s birthday special who is celebrating at home alone. Sing them Happy Birthday, send them a gift, write them a letter like old times, make them feel special

Make a photo book online or order prints

Give yourself a gift

Sunbathe on the terrace

 

Spiritual Exercises

There is no better time than now to dig into your life and work on yourself. If you don’t know what to do when you’re bored, here are some tips to deepen your self-knowledge:

Wake up early in the morning, find a ray of sunshine, sit around ’til sunrise and meditate. If you are not used to meditate you can explore guided meditation.

I suggest you try our personalised guided meditation, based on what you need most right now.
Contact us and write down what you need:
https://lovenergy.nl/contact/
I remind you that the meeting will take place online and will be free!

 

Begin a personal journal.
Address the topic of values. Determine what are the important things to you and the non-negotiable values in your life.

Create your vision board or inspiration board. Find motivational phrases, images, your own photos and anything else that inspires you to create a vision board.

 

Ask yourself effective questions, use your time to think deeply about what we can learn in this time and how we can bring our new habits into the future

Work on your mental programming and positive affirmations. Think about your inner dialogue and what messages you communicate to yourself.
Eliminate limiting beliefs

In this regard I suggest our program
– Connect with your Soul – a completely free 28-day program that will change your life and connect you with the deepest part of yourself.
Contact us and ask for more information:

 

Create new positive habits and figure out how you can incorporate them into your new post-coronavirus life

Take some time to take a warm bath with essential oils and Epsom salt. Relax and enjoy the moment
Visualization. You can use the visualization to prepare for job interviews, college exams, athletic competitions or simply imagine your progress in the coming years.

Write a post on your blog, a book, a facebook post,
a product review.

Start writing down everything you remember about your dreams as soon as you wake up in the morning. Keep a journal and pen on your nightstand and take notes that you can tidy up throughout the day

Write a bucketlist with all the desires you want to accomplish once you get out of quarantine

 

Set yourself new business or personal goals and start drafting a schedule with dates to achieve your desired results
Take a day off from your cell phone.
Turn it off, don’t read email, don’t be tempted by instagram or facebook.
Spend a day in total silence.
No TV, no radio, no calls.
Find all the quotes and motivational phrases that inspire you the most and write them down somewhere

Make a day of fasting
Observe your emotions. How do you feel these days? What pulls you up and what brings you down?

Do something useful

If you are smart working or you know you will probably continue to spend a lot of time at home in the coming months, set up or create a home office.

Find a comfortable work chair, set up somewhere the webcam can’t see the wife, husband, kids and cats, buy some stationery and create the right situation to work in.
Fix and update your PC and electronic devices.
Reorganize photos, folders, delete junk files and unused apps.

Find a blog or video on a topic such as memorization techniques, speed reading, body language, NLP, motivation.
Study finance and economics. If you have some money to invest, look online for information on what would be the best solution for you.
You can also go further and send emails and make calls to start investing your savings.

Read a book or some blogs on topics related to your work. If there are new technologies or any kind of advancements in your field make sure you are informed when the doors open again.

 

Volunteer in your area with civil defense .
Fix something broken in your home or car.
Look for a video that explains how to do it.
Find out about different diets and eating regimens. See if there is anything that interests you and that you can experience right now.

In cleaning out your home decide what you want to sell and put it online. Take pictures, set a Price, ask friends if they are interested or put them on some bulletin boards.

If you are unhappy with your work or don’t know if you will have a job at the end of quarantine, update your cv and Linkedin page. Look for posts, mark the names of companies that interest you, and be prepared for when they resume business
Plant a vegetable garden in your backyard and grow food at home

 

Study languages. English, French, Spanish, whatever language you might need for work or passion. Buy yourself a kindle in the language, download an app, write a short story or email, watch a movie or cartoon if you’re new to it.
You can also look for a lecturer to give a conversation on skype.
Give private lessons online. Teach what you know or offer consulting services to those who may need them.

Change your closet and donate any clothes you no longer use.
Check out your fridge and cupboards and write a well-organized shopping list so you don’t have to go back to the supermarket for at least a week.

Make your life more sustainable. Eliminate plastic, look for reusable containers, examine how you can improve your life and have a smaller impact on the environment

Listen to a podcast
Create a file with your monthly budget to calculate expenses and savings
Check the water, oil, and window fluid in your car and start the car so you don’t drain the battery.
While you’re at it, fix it up however you can.

I’m bored- Conclusions on what to do when you’re bored

After reading this post you will have no excuses!
Dedicate yourself to something that gives you satisfaction and enjoy your quarantine.
Step out of your comfort zone

 

Trees secretly talk to each other underground.

They’re passing information and resources to and from each other through a network of mycorrhizal fungi—mykós means fungus and riza means root in Greek—a mat of long, thin filaments that connect an estimated 90% of land plants.

Scientists call the fungi the Wood Wide Web because ‘adult’ trees can share sugars to younger trees, sick trees can send their remaining resources back into the network for others, and they can communicate with each other about dangers like insect infestations.

This BBC News video by 2D animator and illustrator Jules Bartl explains. Plus, from The New Yorker:

The relationship between these mycorrhizal fungi and the plants they connect is now known to be ancient (around four hundred and fifty million years old) and largely one of mutualism—a subset of symbiosis in which both organisms benefit from their association.

In the case of the mycorrhizae, the fungi siphon off food from the trees, taking some of the carbon-rich sugar that they produce during photosynthesis. The plants, in turn, obtain nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen that the fungi have acquired from the soil, by means of enzymes that the trees do not possess.

 

 

providing resources

siphoning resources

The revelation of the Wood Wide Web’s existence, and the increased understanding of its functions, raises big questions—about where species begin and end;

about whether a forest might be better imagined as a single superorganism, rather than a grouping of independent individualistic ones; and about what trading, sharing, or even friendship might mean among plants.

 

 

The wood wide web

wood wide web

Next, watch A Forest Year: Time lapse videos of Earth’s cycle of the seasons, collecting some 350 fungi specimens in the Ecuadorian Andes, and Think Like a Tree.

 

Plus: What’s the biggest organism on Earth?,

How do trees survive winter?

and How Do Trees Transport Water from Roots to Leaves?

This Webby award-winning video collection exists to help teachers, librarians, and families spark kid wonder and curiosity.

 

 

TKSST features smarter, more meaningful content than what’s usually served up by YouTube’s algorithms, and amplifies the creators who make that content.

“We need to collaborate with the power of nature left free, doing as much as possible and as little as possible,”

said Gilles Clément, the great French landscape architect.

 

In the following article I wanted to give space to one of the most beautiful gardens in Ireland written by Kathleen Becker taken from Speak up:

“An hour’s drive from Dublin, Powerscourt Gardens is home to romantic lakes, beautiful statues, delicious food, a children’s museum and the country’s highest waterfall.

It’s a paradise to discover, with a history dating back to the 13th century.

Did you know that Country Wicklow is called “ the Garden of Ireland ?”

Wicklow also has the best garden in Ireland to visit:

Powerscourt, an aristocratic place, full of beauty, variety and educational value.

Up to early summer, the rhododendrons impress with pinks and purples.

The famous roses follow soon after.

 

UNDER THE MOUNTAIN

Powerscourt is a fine mix of Italian and French design, Irish charm and the attention to detail associated with the English gardening tradition.

The garden paths, made up of small granite chips, dazzle in the sunlight.

The harmonious design aims to set the garden in its wider context , the iconic Sugar Loaf mountain.

JAPANESE

The garden has many sculptures. Life-size metal horses guard the big lake. Small stone cherubs, deep in thought, frame a bowl of pansies. The iron gates are very photogenic. Visitors can discover small ornamental plants and large ancient trees – there are 250 types of trees here. The Japanese Gardens is very pretty. Last but not least, the Pet’s Cemetery has touching inscriptions on its gravestones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THAT’S THE SPIRIT!

A castle stood here from the 13^th century onwards. But a new era commenced in Elizabeth times.

After a viuctorious battle , Queen Elizabeth I offered Richard Wingfield a reward.

He only requested “the scarf that Your Majesty wears”. Obviously, that modesty paid off: Richard Wingfield became a Sir and was given Powerscourt. The house was rebuilt in the 1730s.

A century later Powerscourt was reshaped by the sixth Viscount of Powerscourt . The new garden were designed by influential architect Daniel Robertson. Robertson suffered from gout, directing operations from a wheelbarrow, fortified by a bottle of sherry.

When the sherry bottle was empty , work ceased for the day.

 

DISASTROUS

In 1961 the estate passed to the Slazenger family, the owners of one of the oldest surviving sporting brands. In the 1970s, they were preparing to open Powerscourt to tourism, when disaster struck. One night in 1974 a fire broke out and destroyed the house. Only an empty shell was left. The planned opening had to wait for nearly a quarter of a century. In 1996 a major golf course opened.

A year later Powerscourt finally opened to the public.

It attracts some 200.000 annual visitors.

 

BACK TO NATURE

Gardening is seen as a typically English pastime, but there are also plenty of beautiful gardens in Ireland. The best is probably Powerscourt in Country Wicklow. This was once the property of Lord Powerscourt, but it is now owned by the Slazenger family, who are famous for making sporting equipment.

 

Powerscourt has Japanese gardens but, as head gardener Michael Byrne explains, pride of place goes to the

They were started around 1840, and they took about 30-40 years to complete.

Now, so they were finished in about 1875. The actual design of Italian garden and the terraces comes from a villa in Sicily.

So the design was there , and the architect was a chap called Daniel Robertson, quite a famous architect. It took about 50 years, and it was 100 people working here over that time, 12-hour days. And it was all dug out by hand. So you can imagine the amount of work and labour that went in when we have machines these days to do everything.

 

Before we only had wheel-barrows and spades. So a real credit. And the whole idea of laying out the Italian gardens was a vista basically, and a backdrop to the Sugar Loaf mountain, which we can see in the distance. And basically, the whole garden was landscaped and designed around the mountain.

Lord Powerscourt wanted to come out and have his breakfast here and that’s the view he wanted.”

 

 

 

“Take care of your home, of your body, do not lose the spiritual dimension of this crisis, become like the eagle that sees everything and sees more widely. Through joy one resists.

Have faith, you have been prepared to overcome this crisis.

When the storm passes, you will be very important in the reconstruction of this new world, you have to feel good and be strong.

For this reason, it tries to maintain a high, happy and bright vibration. Take advantage of this time to exercise your vision and seek your rituals. This is what you can do: serenity in the storm. Establish a routine to meet the sacred every day, good things emanate what you emanate, now is the most important thing. Sing, dance resist through art, joy, faith and love. ”

Message from White Eagle, Indigenous of the Amerida Tribe.

 

If you are been looking for a good reason to Treat Your Self, you probably don’t do it often enough.

A 2-month holistic yoga retreat isn’t necessary either.

You can get nourishment simply by putting on the radio and shakin’ what your mama gave you for a few minutes.

Putting “me time” on the back burner is a big part of why we can all feel run-down, frenzied, and overwhelmed. Enter self-care, who cuddles you and tells you everything’s alright.

Even during COVID-19, when many of us have more free time than we know what to do with, self-betterment became difficult after the seventh day in pyjama bottoms.

It seems that 21st-century life revolves around working ’til your eyes bleed or spending months on lockdown with nothing to do. However, it’s more important than ever to be kind to yourself and make self-care a priority.

 

What’s the deal?

Often ignored but totally necessary, self-care is any action or behaviour that helps a person avoid health problems. We forget to listen to our inner voice: we forget what our real needs are, what are our aspirations, our talents, we give up our dreams. We forget ourselves and struggle to make the difference between what feeds us and what makes us more and more lazy, tired, unhappy.

We often remember ourselves when the mental burden becomes too overwhelming, when the body collapses, when the heart, wounded and exhausted, falls in front of the last loss. We remember too many sacrifices made when it is too late or when it hurts.

 

Excessive stress may increase your risk of heart problems, for example. So, by definition, stress relief can help someone keep their ticker ticking.

Self-care also helps us sharpen our mental and physical health through better self-esteem, stress management, and overall well-being.

These behaviours help provide balance in an increasingly overstimulating world. Self-care forms an essential part of a lifestyle that keeps us healthy, happy, and more in tune with our minds and bodies.

It’s easy to confuse self-care with self-indulgent behaviour. This mentality might make us feel guilty for thinking we need to take a break from our lives to do something that, simply put, makes us feel better.

However, it’s also important not only to be kind to yourself and allow good, nourishing things into your life but also to know your own line. Self-indulgence involves little quick fixes that feel better temporarily.

These are fine in moderation, and who doesn’t love a treat? But quick bursts of indulgence are not a sustainable route to health and happiness — and they can affect others too.

A 2019 study, for example, found that student nurses may neglect their own health and wellness needs while training to look after others — and this might, in turn, reduce their effectiveness when providing care.

That’s why taking the time to check in with your mind and body isn’t a bad thing.

In fact, the pursuit of health and happiness is far from selfish.

When we take good care of ourselves, we’re likely to see an improvement in many aspects of our lives, including our physical health and relationships. And this puts us in a better position to serve as a pillar of support for people we love.

 

There’s only one corner of the universe you can be sure you can improve, and that’s you.

-Aldous Huxley-

 

We can return to inhabit ourselves, to inhabit all that we are, to fill our lives with our presence

 

Our needs: the Maslow pyramid

In psychology, the need is the perception of the lack of one or more elements that constitute the well-being of the person; not responding to needs implies undermining this well-being, but what are our needs?

Around the 1950s, the psychologist Abraham Maslow conceived the hierarchy of needs, which he represented schematically with the pyramid that still bears his name today: Maslow’s pyramid.

 

The Maslow pyramid consists of 5 levels of needs:

– First step: Physiological needs (food, breath, etc.).

– Second step: safety and protection needs.

– Third step: needs of belonging.

– Fourth step: needs for esteem, for success.

– Fifth step: needs for fulfilment.

 

But in addition to Maslow’s pyramid, there are other models of representations of needs, including Virginia Henderson’s grid of 14 fundamental needs, which takes into account not only the needs mentioned by Maslow but also the desire for freedom of the person and his individuality: each of us has different needs.

Virginia Henderson’s grid is still used today in nursing care.

“While it is important to establish that there are needs common to all, it is equally important to realise that these needs are met according to the different ways of conceiving life, of which there are infinite varieties.

(Virginia Henderson)

So there are many ways to take care of yourself, but all emerge from the same matrix, that is, to respond to your needs.

The needs of a being are not limited only to the physical, material sphere, such as having what is necessary to live healthy, safe, protected; the real needs of a human being range from feeling loved, respected, a member of a peer group, feeling to have a place in the world, a useful role for the community, being able to live new experiences that broaden the spectrum of his perceptions, being able to rely on intellectual stimuli, etc.

Each of us has specific needs and ignoring them can lead to not living well, not feeling complete and fulfilled.

The mistake is to confuse the minimum necessary to live well with exclusively material needs (the first step of the Maslow pyramid) because they are the most concrete and visible, and consequently, to forget that we are beings made of emotions, feelings, thoughts, ideas, creativity, instincts.

You can always start to listen to yourself to make up for it, you can always start to find the middle way between your concrete needs in everyday life and your inner needs, to get to know you better, to respect and love you in your plural being and to walk with dignity in the world. With kindness and attention to your being.

Taking care of you is the first step to make in order to live well

You can take care of yourself by also observing the nature around you: trees do not give up taking from the earth what they need to grow strong, vigorous, trees do not take the narrow-mindedness essential to survive (barely); they take what they need to live well, to grow and bear fruit.

“Take care of yourself.

Whenever growing up, you feel like changing the wrong things into the right things, remember that the first revolution you have to make is the one inside yourself, the first and most important. Fighting for an idea without having any idea of yourself is one of the most dangerous things you can do.

Every time you feel lost, confused, think of the trees, remember how they grow.

Remember that a tree with lots of foliage and few roots is uprooted at the first blow of the wind, while in a tree with lots of roots and few foliages the sap hardly flows. Roots and foliage have to grow in equal measure, you have to stay in things and stand on them, only then can you offer shade and shelter, only then can you cover yourself with flowers and fruits at the right season. And when many roads open up in front of you and you don’t know which one to take, don’t take one at random, but sit down and wait.

Breathe with the trusting depth with which you breathed the day you came into the world, without being distracted by anything, just wait and wait and wait. Be still, silent, and listen to your heart. When it speaks to you, stand up and go where it takes you.”

(Taken from the book “Go where your heart takes you”, by Susanna Tamaro)

It is very likely that when you come back to answer all your needs, to take care of yourself, you will feel a subtle joy: not the one you feel in the absence of problems but the one you feel despite the problems.