Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

Everything has an end. On this earth, in this world, that is true. I know of no exception. This podcast began in the summer of 2021, and since then, over 1350 episodes have been released daily in German and over 1250 in English, without interruption. Now I feel that this time is coming to an end. So this episode is the last one for now. I don't know yet what will happen next, if there will be a follow-up format or if the podcast will be continued at a later date. But for now I say goodbye. Thank you for your loyalty in listening and sharing the link. I hope and believe that on some days these episodes have given some people exactly what they needed. I wish you all the very best for the future, and end - as I have every day for the past few years - with the wish that this day will also be extraordinary. Goodbye. God be with you. I wish you an extraordinary day!

A sickle in use today is used to cut small amounts of grain and grass. It consists of a concave blade tapering towards the front and a wooden handle. It differs from the scythe in that it has a smaller blade and a shorter handle. Harvesting with a scythe or sickle cuts off as much of the crop as possible - but the cut leaves the root of the plant in the ground, and with it the potential for new growth. A kind of clear-cutting without destroying the core. Clear-cutting is necessary from time to time in life. Extreme decisions in some people's eyes, perhaps, but necessary in order to put an end to what has gone before in the form of a harvest and to make room for something new. The fruitfulness of the old can serve the new and bring forth something new or related as the next step. Harvest is joy and sorrow at the same time: joy for what has been harvested, sorrow for what has grown so far. I wish you an extraordinary day!

In ice hockey, each player has a stick to move, guide and pass the puck. The goal of the game is to get the puck into the opposing team's goal. The hockey stick has a part at the end of the shaft called the blade, which is used to guide the puck. The player should only use the blade to guide the puck, not the skate or any other part of the body. Someone can be very good with the stick and the puck and be a slow skater, and vice versa, someone can be a rocket on the ice but clumsy with the stick. A good player is a combination of both, as well as being able to read the game and know where to put the puck, even before his team-mate is there. Such a player is called complete. I hope you achieve that completeness in your life's work and that you make significant progress today. I wish you an extraordinary day!

The German proverb goes: A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. This means that it is better to settle for what you can get than to aim for something uncertain. That way you know what you've got and don't get caught up in the uncertain surplus that you could potentially have. I think this is also based on the idea that I would rather make my own choices than be dependent on something that is completely out of my control. And that is the primal nature of human beings. That's why, in my interpretation, people always struggle with the Christian faith. It requires trust in a good God, who remains good, even if not everything in life goes your way. I would rather have a self-made mixture from the cold buffet of religions than something that I get involved in without being able to control it. It is not for nothing that the dove is the image of the Holy Spirit. I wish you an extraordinary day!

When light hits the sloping surface of a prism, it is refracted because the speed of light changes as it passes from one medium, such as air, to another, such as the glass of which the prism is made. This means that white light, which is made up of light waves of different wavelengths, can be refracted into its constituent parts. It can then be seen that white light is made up of different coloured components which together produce white light. I think that a good parent or other person in charge of people, a carer or a boss, is a good prism if on the one hand they recognise and promote the characteristics of the individuals in a group and yet have the ability to hold everyone together and thus form a common strength. They recognise which character is given to whom and how this can serve the whole community. Do you have such prismatic skills? I wish you an extraordinary day!

We all know the feeling of tiredness. It takes us significantly more effort to get up and do something than usual. Tiredness paralyses us. Tiredness can be the result of too little rest and sleep. In this case, the problem is quickly solved with one or two longer periods of sleep. But it can also go deeper. A general tiredness and the associated lack of motivation. Sleep and rest alone will not help with this. There is often a pathological background and the therapy can be much more complex. In this context, tiredness of life is also a bad thing - when you are tired of life, no longer feel any joy and wish it was all over. This is also linked to a lack of perspective. It is interesting to note that even people with limited vision and perspective can be very alert while healthy people succumb to fatigue. Do you have a vision that keeps you awake? I wish you an extraordinary day!

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has coined the term ‘turning point'. It became a kind of winged term and was mentioned repeatedly in many places. A powerful word, in my opinion - a turning point. But who is virtually authorised to use such a term at a particular time or situation? Who defines when times change, when they change so significantly that we can really speak of a turning point - and furthermore: a turning point towards and away from what? Sometimes, in our powerlessness and helplessness, we have a tendency to use big words instead of remaining humbly silent. Our own inability to take influential action is thus glossed over and we turn away from our powerlessness towards the impressive power of language. But this does not change anything: words can be very powerful and impressive - but without authority they are also ineffective and ultimately nothing more than empty words. Good for those who have the wisdom not to be blinded by this. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Sometimes there are chain carousels at the fair. These rotate on their own axis and have chains attached to the circumference of their round roof, with chairs on which you can sit and then be thrown through the air by the rapid rotation. Because the chain is flexible, the end of the chain always lags slightly behind the anchor point on the roof. If you looked at it from above in 2 dimensions, the anchor point would always be further than the end point of the chain in relation to the angle of rotation. Nevertheless, they belong together. In the broadest sense, this can be described as a chain reaction - that is, a delayed motion of the same object. We are familiar with this in everyday life: we are enthusiastic about something, but others take longer to follow, to join in, to get excited. Perhaps the image of the chain helps us not to give up, but to make sure that everyone is still involved so that the chain doesn't break. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Rice is one of our staple foods. But Europe has the lowest rice production in the world. So we are dependent on imports. We have Asian neighbours where the rice cooker is always on - just as we go to the bakery every day and consume bread, they do the same with rice. It's there as a matter of course - even if it's not grown here. Recent political and armed conflicts have reminded us that even this supply can quickly be put at risk. What happens then? Shortages, skyrocketing prices, or even supply cut-offs. So peace is more than just a state or a feeling without conflict. It is also the basis for functioning economic cooperation. But sometimes peace can only be received, not created. Jesus left peace as his last legacy to his friends. He was thinking of more than just rice. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Some people are described as perfectionists. This is not always understood or meant in a positive way. Sometimes it means that such people are pedantic and never satisfied with what they achieve or receive. Perfect, when translated literally, means accomplished. It means that there is nothing more that can be done to improve what you have and that your development is complete. We humans, as we all know, are far from perfect. We have our faults, our weaknesses, and we suffer from them all the time. However, it is not only we who suffer, but also our environment. So striving for perfection is actually a good thing. In the sense that you want to improve yourself and not just the environment. However, I think that such perfection in ourselves is not possible without our Creator. We need help from outside. I wish you an extraordinary day!

My father-in-law had a display case in his flat where he displayed things he had made. These objects were very beautiful to look at. They weren't as intricate as those made by an artist, but you could see that they had been carefully made. The colours were bright and you could see that someone had worked on them with passion and heart. But I kept asking myself: why did he do this? So that the objects would end up in a showcase and be beautiful to look at? Or so that children will play with them or have played with them? Some things are very beautiful to look at, but somehow remain useless if you just look at them. Other things are not perfect, but they are needed and they add value to those who use them. We invest a lot of time, money and resources in our lives. Why this investment? Just for appearance? Or for the benefit? Not just for ourselves, but also for others. I wish you an extraordinary day!

I am a cyclist at heart. And I think it's one of man's greatest inventions. But for cycling to be fun, the bike has to be in good shape and well maintained. That includes good brakes, lights, enough air in the tyres and other things. It also includes wheels that are well aligned, i.e. not twisted into a figure of eight or anything else. The spokes are connected to the hub to make this work well. It is invisible, but it is what makes the wheels turn so smoothly and evenly. No ride without a good hub. What is invisible in this sense is essential to the functioning of the whole. We also have a lot of invisible things in our lives: experiences, feelings, hunches, life patterns, ideals, principles and more. When these are right and healthy, our lives are successful - otherwise we rush through life and our joy of living is diminished. I wish you an extraordinary day!

I used to have a running shoe that was very soft at the front of the shoe, with only a thin upper part. This meant that the front of my foot could move around a lot, which felt good because it felt like I was almost barefoot. This was good when I was just standing or walking a short distance, but not so good for longer distances because my feet got tired and hurt. But when I ran in them, I found that although it was nice and airy for short distances, it was not supportive enough for longer distances. After a while, my feet got tired of holding themselves in the same position, and this led to cramping and other problems. We all long for freedom, but we also need stability. This is especially true when we're thinking about the long-term and when there are a lot of people involved. In these situations, it's not possible to have unlimited freedom. Modern man is also subject to this, whether he likes it or not. I wish you an extraordinary day!

At Christmas time, there are certain baked goods that are decorated with sugar crystals: Doughmen, which we call Grättimänner or Grittibänzen in dialect, and Drei-Königs-Kuchen. Because the sugar is sprinkled on the dough before it is baked in the oven, there is a different amount on each pastry. But there is always some on top. It's part of it, both visually and flavour-wise. If you can't see the sugar, something is missing. As if the product is imperfect or flawed or not the real thing. And yet it is nothing more than decoration. We are good at noticing when something is missing, especially when it comes to familiar things. It doesn't even have to be very visible - we have a sensorium for it. Sometimes we also notice that our mind is missing something - but this is often drowned out by distraction, diversion, consumption and other things. But the emptiness remains. Do you allow it and pursue it until you find the real thing? I wish you an extraordinary day!

Caramel is something that many people really like. There are caramel sweets or caramel fillings in confectionery or even protein drinks that have a caramel flavour, and more recently it is often combined with salt. It is sweet and has its own flavour. But if you think about how caramel is made, you might be surprised: caramel is basically burnt or almost burnt sugar. The process of burning the sugar gives it its colour and consistency and preserves the sweetness of the sugar. Who would say that they really like a burnt product? There is something bizarre about this, but also something hopeful: it shows that something good can come out of damage. So if something bad has just happened to you, don't feel hopeless or disappointed. Maybe it was a stroke of luck that it happened. I wish you an extraordinary day!

When you swim, you stand at the edge of a pool or on a diving platform or board, or in nature on a ledge with the water in front of you. In an outdoor pool, you can see the bottom of the pool because it is not very deep and the water is very clean. This is not always the case in nature, especially in deep rivers, where the water can be murkier and less transparent. Then comes the moment to jump. Sometimes you need a lot of courage, sometimes not. It's also a question of character. When we dare to do something new, something we've never done before, it's like jumping into the water from a place or height we've never jumped from before. Then comes the brief moment when the old, solid ground is no longer there and the new, water is not yet there. Although very brief, these moments are very intense and can stay with us for a long time. Courage to make choices and wisdom to exercise restraint when necessary. That's what I wish for you today. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Many vehicles and ships have a steering wheel. As far as I know, it is round and can be turned in both directions. I don't know if these wheels can be turned more than once, but at least they have no beginning or end. When you get into the car, you can't tell from the steering wheel whether the wheels are straight or turned in. Because of the circular shape of the wheel, the steering wheel is always the same and has no markings for a quasi-normal straight-ahead position. This is not the case with a bicycle or motorbike. They use handlebars and handlebars to steer. You can see immediately whether the front wheel is straight or not. Also, a handlebar cannot be turned around its own axis at will. Handlebars usually require more space and room to manoeuvre than a wheel. This is perhaps why a car has no handlebars and a bicycle has no steering wheel. Situational versatility to suit the purpose. I wish you an extraordinary day!

The other day I dreamt that I was on a train heading towards the station where I live. In my dream I suddenly looked out of the window and the surroundings didn't look familiar at all. I knew that I was on a train going to a neighbouring country. And that's obviously how it must have happened: I must have fallen asleep during the journey and missed the exit. I wasn't in the right place at the right time, and the people who were expecting me on time waited in vain. Even though I got off as quickly as I could and found the next train back, I was too late. In the wrong place at the wrong time. So it can happen that we set out on a journey and everything is right. But then we miss the right moment to recognise when that journey is over and we should leave it. Be awake, stay awake. That's how we succeed. I wish you an extraordinary day!

When I went into the bathroom the other morning, still quite tired, and just wanted to wash my hair over the bath, I turned on the water as usual to temper it before picking up the shower head. The shower was hanging in its fixture as usual, with the shower head facing me. You can guess what happened next... the setting was not as usual, so the water came out of the tap and I could then switch to the shower at the correct temperature, but the setting was already on the shower head. I was splashed all over my clothes and the bath was accordingly wet. Not an ideal outcome when you're tired and pressed for time. My first thought after the spontaneous trouble was - who was that? Certainly not me. I'll deal with that later, I thought. But then I thought. Maybe it was my fault, and I realised once again how quick we are to blame others for our failings instead of looking at ourselves first. I wish you an extraordinary day!

In winter, falling rain can hit frozen ground and freeze. This is not necessarily what you would expect. In fact, you might think: it's warm enough that it's raining and not snowing, so the rain will wet the ground, and because it's not snowing, the roads and paths will just get wet, but there will be no need for winter maintenance in the sense of shovelling snow. However, if you don't take into account that it has been cold enough the days before so that the ground is still frozen, you will misjudge the situation and literally walk on black ice, which can lead to accidents and worse. Living in the moment is a good thing. But so is not forgetting the past, history - as the example shows. So when things happen, they may be harmless in themselves - but perhaps not in the context of the past. I wish you the wisdom to judge situations correctly. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Pipettes are very useful for dosing liquid medicines or other substances in the laboratory, or sometimes for cooking and baking at home, because they allow you to dose the desired liquid drop by drop. There is usually a squeezable rubber at the end of the pipette, which is used to create a small vacuum to draw up the liquid. The same rubber is then squeezed again to dispense when the pipette is no longer in the liquid. The rubber therefore ensures that the pipette can be both filled and emptied. Squeeze to empty, release to fill. An interesting thought: when I let go, I get something. We usually have a different understanding: we think we have to actively grasp what we don't want to lose. Here it is the other way round. Perhaps this comparison will help you in an area where you need something and yet realise that you are not getting anywhere on your own. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Since the Enlightenment, the intellect has been given enormous importance in the Western world. The rule is: if it is not conceivable, it does not exist. What the mind cannot explain rationally should always be treated with caution or even rejection. This may - logically - be understandable from an intellectual point of view. But it is not right. It is only a partial truth. The mind is indeed a very good and important tool for our judgements, but if we rely solely on the mind, we become impoverished. There is also the gut, the experience, the spirit, and these are just as competent as the mind. It is not uncommon for the mind to say one thing and our gut and experience to say another, and how often has it been shown that the latter are closer to the truth and it is better to listen to them? So have the courage to use your resources holistically when making decisions. I wish you an extraordinary day!

As the saying goes, 'All's well that ends well'. But all is not always well before the happy ending. There are hurts, disappointments, losses, fears and other things that we often find difficult to bear or cope with. Thank God, there are also joys, moments of happiness, undeserved grace and many positive things. And let's face it, we don't live with an attitude that the probability of good and bad things happening in our lives is 50/50. We expect and even count on the good, and the rest are unexpected, often incomprehensible events. Why is this? People are otherwise very rational. Why is it so one-sided in our favour? I believe that this is the consequence of the state of life in which we should live according to the biblical creation story: an environment in harmony with mutual respect and good will. The longing for this home is in all of us. I wish you an extraordinary day!

It's winter, so a lot of ski sports are back in action. There are the so-called downhill races. I am always impressed when I see the speed at which these athletes go. Some of them are going faster than the speed limit on the motorway. But the athletes don't have a car body around them to protect them, they just race down the slopes. How dangerous, how risky, how perhaps even reckless. Unfortunately, from time to time, this leads to serious accidents, sometimes resulting in death or permanent disability. Why do people continue to seek greater heights, even to the point of risking their lives? Why make the equipment faster, the slopes harder, and organise races in poor conditions? For the money, the thrill, the entertainment? Can you live within your limits without always wanting more? I wish you an extraordinary day!

Some biscuits are made from more than one type of dough, and this is reflected in their different colours. There may be a light centre and a darker outer edge. I used to think that both parts had to be cut out or moulded separately and then each individual cookie had to be assembled separately. That impressed me and I thought, what an effort, what patience on the part of the person doing it! Later I read that, as in the example above, an inner light dough roll is covered with a dark dough roll and formed into a long, even roll. You then simply cut this combined roll into pieces that have the structure described - how simple! Yes, how simple. Sometimes others impress us with words or deeds or thoughts - but they may have learned it from someone else. Impressive at first, but simple in the end. So don't get impressed too much by others. I wish you an extraordinary day!

In a review of the year, the national television station presented various events, social highs and lows, as well as local, national and global events in a short retrospective. In addition to political events, natural disasters and curiosities, sporting highlights were also covered. And there were individual athletes or coaches who were particularly praised and highlighted. One coach, for example, was named coach of the tournament at a world championship by the global magazine xy. What made headlines around the world a few months ago was not even on my radar. I remember the coach's name, but nothing more about him or his work. Forgotten. We often look at others in the spotlight with a little envy. But the spotlight is very mobile, moving from one place to another. It is much more important to go your own way, even outside that famous cone of light. I wish you an extraordinary day!

We humans and all of creation are subject to the dimension of time. That is why we know the daily routine of everyday life. Sometimes boring because it's always the same, sometimes relieving because it's always the same. And yet, in all this routine, we all too quickly forget that every moment, however mundane, even if it is a moment in a daily ritual such as brushing our teeth, is unique. It has never happened before and will never happen again. This is the miracle of repetition - just as there is a sunrise in the morning and a sunset in the evening every day, so each of these events, each day of our lives, is also unique, one of a kind. To live in this dualism of repetition and uniqueness is a secret and a great gift for those who are aware of it. The combination of gratitude for the repetitive, the familiar and yet always completely new and unique. Do you have this gratitude? I wish you an extraordinary day!

Here in Switzerland we have an almost national card game called Jassen. Usually two people play against each other. The players try to score as many points as possible in order to be the first to reach the final score. Each player only sees their own cards and does not know what their opponent or partner has. It sometimes happens that you say 'if I'd known what else you had in your hand, I'd have played differently', or you get annoyed and ask 'why didn't you play this or that? Much is based on mutual trust, and even successful teams know each other so well that they can tell each other's play without words, and can guess what each other's play says about the cards they are holding. In certain situations in life, we also need to trust our partner and trust that he or she will make the best use of the resources available to them. Trust. I wish you an extraordinary day!

A radiator grille is a distinctive feature of many car manufacturers. It was originally attached to the bonnet. Famous grilles include the Mercedes star and Rolls-Royce's Spirit of Ecstasy. Did you know that the Mercedes star is the most sought-after replacement part because it is so often stolen? On a Bentley there is no star but a flying B. For safety reasons fixed figures were banned in Germany in 1959. Assuming you had your own brand or were such a vehicle, which symbol would you choose as a figure to clearly identify you and distinguish you from others, and why? Although, or rather because, we live in an increasingly individualised world, this seems to be the problem: we have forgotten who we are, where we come from and seem to long for that support. I wish you an extraordinary day!

A rope can be not only very practical, but also essential in certain situations. I'm thinking of a mountain tour where the rope holds the group together and if someone slips, the others can hold him and save him from death thanks to the rope. However, depending on the condition of the rope, this may not always be possible without injury. You may have rubbed your hands on a rope because the rope went through your hands too quickly, creating heat and causing burns or even tearing off chunks of skin. As helpful and life-saving as a rope can be, it can also be harmful. In other words, it doesn't have to save your life, but it can do so at the cost of serious injury. But you survived. It can happen that, thanks to the help of someone else, your own life is saved by the rope, but the other person suffers physical damage. This is sacrifice. Or in short: Easter. I wish you an extraordinary day!

As children, we regularly visited relatives in the former GDR. As there was no central heating, we heated the house in an oven. It was great for me to put wood in the stove, light it and watch and enjoy the warmth for hours. And there was an ash pan in the stove. It was a drawer under the grate where the wood would pile up and burn. The burnt wood fell into this box as ash and it had to be emptied regularly. There were special ash bins for this, just as we collect garbage separately today. If the ash had not been removed, it would have quickly become a mess. In everyday life, our lifestyle also produces a lot of ash due to many influences that are not always good. This also needs to be disposed of. This means forgiveness and reconciliation. In small cases we can do this ourselves. But with big lumps? Where do you find the strength? My relationship with God helps. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Are you a morning grump, or the opposite, whose energy in the morning makes everyone around you grumpy because they can't keep up with you? Many people turn to coffee or espresso as an energy boost when they feel generally tired or exhausted. The latter in particular is said to help revive tired spirits. Apart from the fact that an espresso tastes delicious, depending on the type of bean and roast, it has a revitalising effect. Mentally, at least. Drinking an espresso is also a way of saying: I want to wake up, I want the energy I need to get through the day. The will is followed by a hopeful action. Unfortunately, we don't practice this everywhere in our lives. In some cases we figuratively go back to bed, preferring the sleep of resignation. Do you have areas in your life that need an espresso? If so, what do you choose? Kick or bed? I wish you an extraordinary day!

There is a gutter in front of our front door to allow rainwater to drain away. This prevents the water from backing up and entering the house during heavy rainfall. There is a grate above this gutter. This is designed to let the water through very well, but is so narrow that you can walk on it without getting your shoe caught, not even small children's shoes. The idea is to allow some water to pass through while keeping the rest out. This is the idea of a sieve or a grid. In our society, we also try to protect people from falling through the cracks with appropriate social support measures. Nevertheless, some people fall through the cracks, others choose to do so. And sometimes our own relationship networks are so wide that we don't even notice that someone in our immediate environment needs support. How sensitive are you to such environmental needs? I wish you an extraordinary day!

They say ‘clothes make the man'. And this is not always meant in a positive - or negative - way. Clothes make the man: you can recognise someone's position or social status by their appearance. In certain situations, this may be inappropriate - if someone wants to stand out from everyone in an arrogant way. In others, it is very helpful: in a chaotic situation in the event of an accident or major incident, you are happy if you can quickly recognise the paramedics who can help. And in our everyday lives: does the outside match the inside or do we use the outside to hide or stand out in a way that is inappropriate? Do you use your outward appearance to authentically express how you feel, who you are or do you use make-up to conceal yourself? I wish you an extraordinary day!

In winter, snow falls instead of rain at higher altitudes. What makes some people happy is a pain for others, as large amounts of snow make certain areas inaccessible. Especially in the snowy regions, people have told me that they wait for the snow to melt in spring so that the snow is finally gone. This is hard to imagine for the people of the lower regions. But don't forget: Thank God there is still snow - it is an important prerequisite for the fertility of spring. When the snow melts in spring, there is enough water for the blossoming and fertility of nature. The snow is therefore a kind of reserve that is stored for a later date, so that it is available in sufficient form when it is needed. Sometimes things happen in life that we don't understand and like, but much later we are glad that they happened when they did. A wise blessing in advance. I wish you an extraordinary day!

When you learn a new physical activity, you usually learn it gradually, growing into it, until you have mastered it or you can do it intuitively. This could be a new way of swimming, a new technique for jogging, or something as mundane as brushing your teeth or closing the door with your untrained hand. It often takes a lot of practice and patience. Step by step, they say. But step by step is unpopular in today's fast-paced world. We often prefer to pay for something and then have it. I've had people on computer courses who had no idea about the software I was teaching and expected to have mastered it by the end of a two-day course. It's not that simple. Knowing something is one thing. Mastering it is another. It takes a lot of practice, practice and patience. Patience with yourself and the confidence to achieve your goal. Step by step. I wish you an extraordinary day!

In our written language, the symbol for infinity is an 8 rotated by 90 degrees, probably because this symbol could theoretically be drawn infinitely often without beginning or end. It has no beginning and no end - unlike a 5 or a 1 or a 7. But I find the word 'infinite' more exciting. I don't know of any alternative term in the German-speaking world. Infinite actually expresses the complement of finite, so it needs its opposite. For example, there is light and its complement dark, or near and far. But I only know the opposite of finite as infinite. Maybe it's because everything in our lives, in our world, actually has an end. A beginning and an end, birth and death. We all have an expiry date, we are all basically terminally ill, even if we are seldom aware of it. When I think about it, I find a contrast to finitude: resurrection. I wish you an extraordinary day!

From time to time I have to create slides for presentations or write documents that contain user manuals or other documentation. And I often support these with graphics that are as descriptive as possible. I have a lot of control over the shape, colour, fill, etc. of the graphics. Among other things, I can decide whether to draw a border and, if so, how. A border often supports the message and meaning of the element in question, because it emphasises the difference between it and other elements. Making boundaries visible is also important in life, whether in our personal or professional lives. In this way we help those around us to recognise what and who I am and where my limits are, what I am no longer able or willing to do. I like the statement: "No is a complete sentence." Saying no, not out of refusal, but for your own protection and that of the environment. Can you do that? I wish you an extraordinary day!

From time to time I ask myself: how would I feel if I lived in another place in the world or at another time? Would I even be able to live there, to survive? I think of slums or war zones. I live in such a materially and politically stable environment - what have I done to deserve it? Why me? Would I be the same and as grateful or balanced or confident in a different situation? I do not know. But I observe that there are people who are happy in very difficult and in optimal environments and others who are unhappy and empty inside. So circumstances are not everything. Resilience, strength, joy, etc. obviously come from within and determine how we deal with the outside. It is remarkable that society puts so little emphasis on strengthening, nurturing and raising awareness of this. After all, life is more than food, clothing and health. I wish you an extraordinary day!

A light source shines in all directions without being covered. As an example, the sun is ideal for radiating its light in all directions. It can only do this because it has this power of its own. A candle in our house or a lamp can shine in all directions, but not everywhere. They are blocked by themselves: the wick by the candle it carries, and the lamp by the socket it is plugged into. So anything that does not radiate completely from itself is obviously limited in at least one direction - that of the source. And so it is clear that there is dependence. We humans often think how independent we are. Especially we in the so-called enlightened West with all its high developments. But we often forget how dependent we really are. No oxygen or water - and we're finished. We are often not the light we think we are. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Almost everything that affects our lives is subject to the dimension of time. As far as I know, everything has a beginning and an end. Even radioactive radiation with its long half-life. So our actions, thoughts, feelings and plans are all subject to time. What if it weren't so? It's hard to imagine how different everything would be. The order, the sequence of events would not be the same as it is today. Certain things could happen before others and yet with or after them. Dimensions that limit us today would be exploded. It is literally unimaginable. But so it will be in eternity. This dimension, and probably others that limit our lives today, will no longer exist. So it is foolish for us to try to imagine eternity with our present minds and then think we can judge it. I wish you an extraordinary day!

When my father was in charge of lunch, we often had fruit-pies. Pies in general can be topped with various fruits and we often had apples. Interestingly, I still like it to this day. It's different with other dishes. I'm a bit over them because I had them too much in my childhood. Not with apple pies It's the same with good habits. With age comes maturity, hopefully a little more wisdom, and you learn - or should learn - to distinguish between what is good and what is not. What you should keep and preserve, cultivate and deepen, and what you can safely let go of. Perhaps you have moments like this when you think: what do I want to keep, what do I want to let go of: inner attitudes, thoughts, patterns. A dish from your childhood that you still like might help you as a reminder. I wish you an extraordinary day!

It's exciting what you can do with language that doesn't exist in reality. For example, siblings are called brother and sister in German. But you could also make a feminine form of brother using the rule that applies to other nouns. So, by analogy with farmer and farmer's wife, it would be brother and brother's wife. Although this formulation is gramatically correct it has a different meaning. Another example is the word world. There is only one world, but we still know the plural form worlds. World originally meant our planet, our habitat, not my personal little world. Now you can argue that this is a linguistic creation or an extended reality. But there are also arguments that it is nonsense or an escape from reality. Are there areas of your life where you have created a non-existent environment as an escape from reality that should be abolished? I wish you an extraordinary day!

I don't think there's anyone who hasn't made a snowman - or, to be gender-appropriate, a snowperson. Except those who have never been in contact with snow. Making snowmen is fun and you can be really creative. But we all know that snowmen only last while it's cold enough. When it gets warmer, they melt away, disappear, are no longer there, and no one can see that they were ever there. King David prays in Psalm 103: A man is like grass in his life: he flourishes like a flower in the field. When the wind passes over him, he is no more. Like the snowman. We all have a limited life. A reason for joy and gratitude, but also a reminder or warning that we can end very quickly. Without us wanting it. And Moses prays: Teach us to remember that we must die, that we may become wise. How do you feel about that? I wish you an extraordinary day!

We all find ourselves in tricky situations from time to time. Whether consciously or unexpectedly. We may feel under pressure or insecure, wondering what the right thing to do is, what the right thing to say is, what the right thing to keep quiet about is, etc. Such moments can occur at work, when dealing with clients, superiors or colleagues, in the family, in relationships or perhaps even in court. Even if you know in advance that these moments are coming, the possibility of preparation is limited and depends on the moment itself. In the Christian faith, Jesus prepared his friends for this. He warned them that they would be persecuted and treated with hostility. However, he did not tell them to memorise and recite a particular statement, but to allow the Spirit he would give them to speak out of them. Church history has shown that this support worked. Do you have such support? I wish you an extraordinary day!

Maybe you are like me: I have a very spontaneous, emotionally driven opinion about certain things. For example: I may or may not like a brand logo, product design or other offering, or I may or may not identify with a brand or product manufacturer. And the stronger this identification, the more likely I am to buy a product - even if I don't necessarily need it or if, rationally speaking, there are better products in a price-performance comparison. So which is better? To follow my feelings, which tend to go by appearances, or my mind, which tells me rationally what is better and more durable? Sometimes it's a real struggle, because the mind sometimes says: "It's not necessary, don't do it. And quite often it's right. Renunciation. It will probably never be the word of the year. But to be able to renounce is a great richness in paradox. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Most of us can read. This is an enormously important skill and competence because it enables communication that is inaccessible to illiterate people. However, we may be able to read texts but not understand them. This may be because we are not familiar with the language in which it is written, which uses the same letters, or because the content is about something unknown to us. So we have the ability to read, but not the ability to understand. You need both. It's the same with us in everyday life: we experience things, but sometimes we don't realise that there is a message in what we have experienced. That what we have experienced is not a coincidence, or we experience things and ask ourselves: why now, why here, why me or us? As a Christian, I am convinced that such moments come from God - and therefore He has all the answers to my questions. And to yours, too. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Most of us learned to eat with cutlery as children. First the food is portioned and the child picks it up with their hands and eats it. Then comes the spoon, and later the knife and fork. In Asian regions, chopsticks are still used. But I am not aware of any other utensils or types of cutlery. I find this interesting because there seems to be a kind of global consensus in this area. Across cultures and borders. Of course, in some places people only eat with their hands, but where cutlery is used, it's more or less the same. Nowadays, the concept of truth has been completely eroded and everyone has their own truth. Absolutes are frowned upon, as they might make demands on you. Perhaps the cutlery helps us to be critical and ask: what if there really are universal truths, circumstances and guidelines that apply to us all? I wish you an extraordinary day!

Animal skins are of interest to humans because, after tanning, they can be used as their own protection against the elements. Humans themselves, depending on where they live in the world, are not sufficiently protected from the outside world. However, they do not naturally have the same protection as animals. While many animals develop appropriate protection against external influences according to their habitat - I am thinking of the fat layer of penguins or the armour of rhinos, etc. - humans are equipped regardless of their location. Only skin colour and perhaps average height change. This seems remarkable to me. They obviously need extra protection, which they have to get from their environment in the form of clothing and shelter. After his disobedience to God, he is clothed with skins for protection. Even then, another creature gave its life for man's sake, so that he might continue to live. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Our eyes normally have about 150 to 250 hairs between 8 and 12 mm long on the upper part of the eye and 50 to 150 hairs between 6 and 8 mm long on the lower part of the eye. The eyelashes. They fall out every 4 to 6 weeks and are therefore renewed. Their main function is to keep dust, foreign objects and bright sunlight out of the eyes. They therefore have a protective function - and for some, an aesthetic one, in the sense of an ideal of beauty. Depending on health conditions or treatment, these hairs, like other hairs, can fall out, removing this protection. The eye is then more exposed, more susceptible to contamination and therefore more at risk. If the eye is damaged, the whole body or person suffers, depending on the severity of the damage. In other words, such a small, seemingly unimportant part of the body can have serious consequences if it is missing. The same laws apply in life, in social structures and elsewhere. I wish you an extraordinary day!

When a job application is rejected, you often get a response like the following: 'Thank you for your application and your very interesting CV. You have a lot of experience for this job. However, we have received other applications that fit the profile even better, so unfortunately we have to turn you down. This all sounds very nice and appreciative. But if you're really honest, it's often not true. It is often not true that you have the required skills for the job, and the CV is not always as interesting as it is made out to be. Honest would be: We have chosen someone else who we think is more suitable because, unlike you, he or she is stronger in ... etc. Honesty hurts sometimes. But it can also help. So honesty is a two-sided thing: it helps to tell the truth and therefore to improve, but it also hurts. But going to the doctor is often painful too. I wish you an extraordinary day!