What’s life without some food for thought. Here you can find inspiration columns with a link to the past. Ready to be applied in your own life.

vintage letter early 1900s

You’re used to be taken in a time machine to the past when you visit Oriental Spice and some Chocolate. However, I also like to keep you with your feet on the ground by pulling you back to the present. If you read my blog frequently, you know that I like to think outside the box. Today is another one of those days. And guess what, you can participate and do yourself a favor or make yourself laugh, It totally depends on you.

We have gone to the past and back to the present. But we never went to the future. Ofcourse we are alive and kicking in the here and now, but remember that the here and now becomes history within a second. The start of the writing of this article is already in the past. Christmas 2014 has gone by. Facebook even literally reminds you that you updated a status in the past: a few seconds ago, 15 minutes ago, an hour ago etcetera. Listening to that great song on the radio becomes the past after a few minutes. Although in this case, you can bring that moment back by going to Youtube and hitting the replay button. 100x times. We all have those moments with some songs, don’t we?

That was past talk. Literally. So let’s discuss the future. The end of the year is near. Very soon it will start raining New Year’s Resolutions. Everywhere. If you don’t like it, you may want to hide yourself in the first week of January. Especially from the internet. Personally, I don’t believe in New Year’s Resolutions. I even wrote an article about it here. If you really want something, you won’t wait until the end of the year to start making that life change. Besides that, why wait? You’re wasting precious time of your life, if you’re just waiting until the end of the year.

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oriental-spice-bumpy-ride

Realitychecks. They occur every now and then and every now and then I feel the need to share my realitychecks with you. After my not-so-serious ode to the here and now, it’s time to get serious.

This ode has to do with a story that I’ve read in a Dutch newspaper. It’s about a woman who wrote a very open article about the past with a clear (tragic) link to the here and now. In a nutshell: the article is written by a woman whose mother unfortunately took her life in 1983. The most important question after such an event is always: Why? After years her daughter was ready to find an answer to this question. And it was answered alright. Her mother had kept a diary in the past. This diary was an important source which helped the daughter understand the thoughts and feelings of her mother and how that led to her radical decision.

Rewind to the 1970s and early 1980s.
You’re a woman. Just like the decades before, your career perspective after marriage is usually: becoming a housewife and in your career perspective horizon  staying a perfect housewife is priority number 1. Do you want more? The Housewife police (society and your environment) will try to bring you to the housewife pad. Are you ambitious and would you like to have your own career? What’s wrong with you? It is unthinkable.
This state of mind actually reminds me to some “vintage humor” pictures which are literally made to mock the vintage times a little bit, but… in every  joke there is a serious amount of truth.

Flashforward to the present.

What are we?
Woman, writer/doctor/whatever you want, daughter, girlfriend, mother, wife etcetera.
What can we become?
Anything we like.
What do we want after that?
More.
When do we want it?
As soon as possible.
When can we start?
Right now

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