‘In the eye of a hurricane there is quiet.’

– Lin-Manuel Miranda –

The last weeks were more turbulent than I would have ever wished for.
With the stage play, heaps of loads of work and the extensive curriculum of the apprenticeship there was little time left, to come back to the surface and breathe.
Today, the last performance took place on stage and thus, I parted from an incredible ensemble and from an era in my life, which is nicely put in its place by a stage play.

In the true hurricane of the last weeks there was these three days, where I made my dream come true. The dream to be part of a Dale Carnegie Training.
Dale Carnegie was a trainer in communication and motivation, who left us a vast legacy in regards of positive thinking. With wide eyes I once read his famous book ‘How to Win Friends & Influence People’. The rest of it is history since two weeks.

I found myself in Berlin and moved through an icy night towards the hotel using the beloved substitute traffic solutions. After the opulent breakfast we met in the room. We were about to learn skills, far from our everyday lives, helping us to succeed in it.
A composition of the most different of personal and professional backgrounds and for me personally a gold mine of examples made the group.

It was about self-development, visions for the personal life, strengthening relationships, excitement, putting ideas out there clearly, giving feedback, broadening flexibility and looking forward more.

The particular contents were preset because of the orientation along Dale Carnegie’s ways of teaching, so the focus and curiosity towards the different attendees and the great course leader got heightened attention.
It was just brilliant, to be in a room where you could look up to each and everyone with big, learning eyes and put yourself against some high bars not in reach otherwise. Part of the course was to tell appreciation to each other. I could hardly decide what was more enjoyable: Giving or receiving appreciation.

So, the course left me with far more than most valuable input to the approach of Dale Carnegie. I learned a lot about myself and life. It might sound cheesy but I mean it very seriously.

As I walked through Berlin on the third day and after the conclusion of the training, enjoyed some superior coffee inside the KaDeWe, strolled past the embassies of many nations, took a detour around all the barriers due to the visit of Barack Obama and still managed to shoot some worthy ‘Berlin pictures’, I looked at and out to the future with some other looks.

It was worth while!

Only at the theatre tonight it came through to me that the first Sunday in Advent has dawned already. Curious. There were times, when you had more time to ready yourself for this ‘tranquil’ and ‘devout’ time…
Life changes and you do, too. And you can even set the direction. That fact you tend to forget when fighting through a storm.
Those who hang on get the reward.