Reverie is the state of daydreaming. You stare off in the distance, submerge in a hidden world where ideas float in your mind and fantasies are being lived to the fullest. As the French philosopher Gaston Bachelard has said: “Reverie is not a mind vacuum. It is rather the gift of an hour which knows the plenitude of the soul.” And so behind the next little window of our Advent calender we find:
December 5, 2011: Reverie
The word of the day illustrated by our Advent calender photo of the day is relish. It respresents great enjoyment or appreciation. The sensual touch is being relished with great pleasure. And yet, there is more to happiness than just pleasure. As the Scottish philosopher David Hume has put it: “Human happiness seems to consist in three ingredients; action, pleasure and indolence. And though these ingredients ought to be mixed in different proportions, according to the disposition of the person, yet no one ingredient can be entirely wanting without destroying in some measure the relish of the whole composition.”
December 4, 2011: Relish
Fervor is a indescribable feeling. It conveys a sense of feverish indulgence, a sort of fierce surrender that displaces the people involved in it to another world. It pulls them into a space of devotion where there’s nothing but emotions and senses. That’s what showed behind door number 3 of our Advent calender:
December 3, 2011: Fervor
Nude or naked doesn’t mean erotic. Eroticism is much more of a feeling, a mood, a look, something very particular in a moment. Photos that can capture such moments are truly erotic. Let’s see what’s behind the shutter of the second window on our Advent calender. So there we go:
December 2, 2011: Looks
On time for the Christmas countdown, there comes a somehow different Advent calender, a little late yet outstanding. The idea: someone once asked me what I find tasteful erotic photography. Therefore, the tasteful erotic series starting today. Let’s find out what is behind the doors of the first December days.
December 1, 2011: Food
In November 2010, Firefly Millward Brown conducted and released the first global qualitative research on consumers’ general attitudes and behaviors towards brands in social media. The study included in-depth discussions with organizations as well as hundreds of consumers across 15 countries. The results are still valid and provide companies with valuable insights into the right way to navigate social media more effectively. In order to build up your brand through social media and use social media as a research tool, the following 10 rules for engaging customers in social media are recommended:
1. Let the consumer come to you.
2. Be interesting/exciting.
3. Listen first, then talk – foster dialogue.
4. Be relevant and personal.
5. Speak like a friend, not a corporate entity.
6. Offer something of real value.
7. Give up some control to the consumer.
8. Be open, honest and transparent.
9. Give the brand a face – humanize.
10. Let the consumer promote the brand for you.
Aqua Creations is in my opinion one of the most innovative lighting and furniture design ateliers in the world. Its sensual and original works are inspired by natural shapes and are characterized by individual artisanal manufacturing. What I particularly like about Aqua’s lamps is their softness of light and the voluptuous athmosphere they create. Just one of these lamps makes any home look not only special but extraordinary.
Do you happen to come around people who are living clichés? I do a lot. Newest example: The nosy neighbor. She’s snoopy, she’s old, she’s bored, she lives alone with two cats, she owns two or three pieces of clothing but she’s washing all day long and she’ll use your washing day if you’re not around. She’ll also drop by on the day you move in to complain about how much noise you make, even if it’s only a 10-seconds-noise, and she sets the rules for the whole house, even if she’s not the owner, the landlord or anyone of importance…But everything has to abide by her reign. You can’t come or go without her noticing. You’ll never alone in the stairwell, in fact you’re simply never alone. Big brother is always watching you.
Until one day you come home and there’s a cooking pot in your mailbox with a note on it which says: “I’m a cooking pot, someone left me in the stairwell, I had to undergo a thorough cleaning because I started stinking…” etc. etc. Upon which you take the pot out of your mailbox and post a note on it saying: “Dear neighbors, happy holidays to all of you! This pot doesn’t belong to me. I know my pots by heart and they do not tend to take leave or bunk but stay at home and behave. So I kindly ask you not to put the pot in my mail. Thanks a lot!” And then, there’s your mother of course, who’s very emotional, meets the nosy neighbor in the stairwell and asks her if she knows what privacy means. This leads to the nosy neighbor threatening you with an order for your mother to stay away from the house, signed by all the other neighbors.
My snoopy neighbor’s wish didn’t come true. Our landlord send us a notice of termination of our rental contract due to an upcoming complete refurbishment in spring 2012. So, dear neighbor, you can take your threats with you, when you leave and threaten your future neighbors in the next house you’ll live in, if someone will have you…
Isn’t life funny: All of us, we have the one or other bizarre story to tell, our very own little “pot stories”. You move in and before you know, you have to move out again. You find someone nice and before you know, you have to revise your first impression. But that’s life. We live and we learn. Long live the pots that make us learn! What do we learn? To love it, change it or…leave it!
Peter R. Drucker describes the core concepts of self management. The principles are very simple and very convincing: Only managers who understand their co-workers and communicate their expectations can succeed. Before they do that, they first have to explore themselves and find out what they’re best at. These are the questions we have to answer for ourselves:
1. What are my strenghts?
2. How do I perfom?
3. What are my values?
4. What should I contribute?
5. What can be expected from me?
Once you have the answer to these questions, you should communicate it to your co-workers and ask them to do the same self-analysis and communication. This way, you’ll get to know yourself and the others better. Because working relationships are as much based on the people as they are on the work.
Read Peter R. Drucker’s essential article on self-management here
