Back

The Lake and the present moment | Day 162 of my 2023 Journal

Cecilie Conrad·Jun 11, 2023· 3 minutes

I read about the book “Your stolen focus,” which got me thinking about my focus. How I hardly ever meditate anymore, and how my mind drifts (which is a good thing) and my focus dissolves (which is a bad thing).

In the beautiful Swedish summer, we are currently living in my husband's best friend's family house in Sweden, a former school, and a classic Swedish wooden home: Red with white windows. When we walk, the forest is rich and green, the landscape beautiful, with small houses and cute, calm cows and birds singing. In the afternoons, we have been driving to a nearby lake to swim. There is no end to how beautiful it is.

It has been lovely to enjoy life with friends, doing our thing. Swimming a bit in the lake, lying around in the sun, playing music, reading books.

One afternoon I was lying around all alone on the bathing bridge. Reminded of my lack of focus, I did a mindful exercise, which was very rewarding and spiritually interesting. I looked at the reflections in the water of trees and clouds, keeping my focus right there. Then the mind drifts; I am lost to the world, realize it and go back to the present moment. It was lovely. After a while, my husband joined. We saw the insects, the flowers, the fish, and a single snake swimming in the water. Oh, the silence. And the beauty. So soothing for the mind.

Little mindfulness and staying-in-the-present-moment exercises are good routines to pick up; I am already grateful for the book as I feel it puts me back on track.

We spent two lovely afternoons by the lake with Alexander and his daughter Ronja, and my sons' friend who joined us for the weekend, and Alexanders' partner Hannah.

Healing time in nature.

Immersed in the water with my children, sitting on the bridge with my daughter laughing, talking books with my son, doing a bit of yoga here and there, and learning new skills on my handpan.

On Sunday, they all left in the afternoon, and we had 3 hours before my sister and her family arrived.

Back-to-back Swedish happiness.

Love and light

Cecilie-Underskrift-300x133

Cecilie Conrad

More pictures on Facebook

Thank you for reading
I would love to hear from you. Listen to your thoughts and reflections - or praise :) It is often emotional to share our life like this, and we get very happy when we get feedback from you. So feel free to share a comment below 😋 

Sep 22, 2021
Are we rootless?
Do we need to have a house, a base, somewhere to call home? Will it take too much toll on the children to keep moving? Is it good for us? Read more
“Mom, you never regret the changes of the sunset. You enjoy the sunset. But you don’t want it to be the same all the time. Then it would not be a sun…Read more
"I feel sorry for people who never read Shakespeare", my 15-year-old son told me one late night in the darkness and the tiredness after just another …Read more
Life is in the moment of the things we do. Whether we are studying a language or talking to a friend, or going for a walk, the most important is not …Read more
Letting go of control and ambition is not letting go of presence and enthusiasm. We trust the flow of life, the joy of learning, the natural curiosit…Read more
Einstein apparently said the following. “If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent,…Read more
Education and learning is an intrinsic element of human life, can not be stopped, and institutions are not necessary for children to get good educati…Read more
We left a wonderful lifestyle in a beautiful city to get an adventurous lifestyle based on traveling, unschooling, community, and our open hearts to …Read more
So, we unschool. We believe in personal growth and educating yourself. Education should be voluntary and self-directed. Motivation is the key factor…Read more