The Sunday-Quote: William James on Cheerfulness

 

"The path to cheerfulness is to sit cheerfully and to act and speak as if cheerfulness were already there."

This is one of the rare cases that I found a quote in German, loved it, and looked it up in the works of William James - brother of famous author Henry James. 

Believe me or not: I love the German translation even more! 

"Um gute Laune zu kriegen, muss man sich vergnügt aufrichten, vergnügt um sich schauen und sich so verhalten, als wäre die gute Laune bereits da." 

Re-translated (and please don't be to rigorous with my grammar) it goes like this: 

"To get into a good mood, one has to to cheerfully straighten oneself, look around cheerfully and act as if cheerfulness were already there." 

(Maybe it is "straighten oneself" contra "to sit"?)

The Storks are Back!

 

Well, well, well - NOT the best photo ever taken...one can't even see their long red beaks - but I had (as often) only my cell-phone with me. The storks are back - the little Bavarian town has many of them, building their heavy nests - if possible - on the same place every year.  

People tell that they are very faithful not only to their home but to their partners too - though sadly :-) I discovered a scientific article which hummed "Needles and Pins" and diminished this soothing myth - ah, the world is such a tough place!  

And the storks become a bit lazy (shall I draw a parallel there to us Europeans - no, "Cobbler, stick to your trade!"), - many of them stayed here all winter long, deciding that the grass is not always greener on the other side - a very rare insight.  

Sometimes a herons visits, or, seldom, the oh so beautiful Chinese egret. 

Now follows an early morning photo through my window, just before the sun rises - lots of mists, and when they rise it reveals a beautiful white hoar frosted valley. 

When I tried to find a better photo of storks I found a screenshot from myself, 2016 - staring into the mists of the future after my personal tsunami. 

9 years are long time to test the limits of my resilience -  

well, till now I put up a good fight I believe.