Loving Life Blog

It Makes Me Feel Love April 11, 2012

Filed under: coaching,Health — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 5:25 pm
Tags: alive, alive inside, alzheimer, dance, dreams, leadership program, Love, Music, video

…what is it that you love that would bring your voice and life back should you be in this position?

For me – music, yoga, dance. If you ever see me with my head down – that would lift me up. And even if I know it, it is easy to forget. Even without Alzheimer.

It’s not a coincident that I together with Emma, my partner in crime in a Co-Active Leadership Program, created a workshop called “Dance to the voice of your core”.

May we never forget. Put on the music and get movin’! Do you feel that spring is in the air?! 😉

Enjoy,

Johanna

AND DO SEE this movie. To the end. – The full article is in today’s Mashable.

Love is in the air. Do do do, do do do….

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The Baby or The Bone April 9, 2012

Filed under: coaching,Herringbone — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 6:04 pm
Tags: communication, Easter, Fish Pose, Happy Baby's Pose, herringbone, rusty wells, Urban Flow, yoga

Yes, No or Always?

Life is full of choices. Some choices are easier to make than others. For some people it is easier to make a choice than others.

At the end of the yoga class with Rusty Wells this past weekend we, the students, were given the choice:

1) Happy Baby’s Pose

or

2) Fish Pose

It made me think back of the time when I chose my business name. Herringbone. Symbolism is of importance to me – that name is loaded with symbols and “the reason why”. I wanted to make sure that it also made sense for the yoga community. What I had in mind to create with Herringbone did also apply to them. In the middle of a yoga class back then, we were guided to some movements – I misunderstood, and thought that another name for Happy Baby’s Pose was Fish Pose. What a perfect coincidence! I thought. Even better is that, Fish Pose has an impact on the fifth chakra in yoga which is located in the throat and focuses on communication. Herringbone is about communicating, and making voices heard for positive change.

And to quote Rusty: “If you choose Fish – don’t eat one – be one.” The good thing with being a foreigner in another country is that you can make sense of things, the way it relates to you or your language. This one fully does. Be a Fish – communicate well. It’s obvious – no?

If you have difficulties to make choices, one approach to get out of that is to simply make powerful choices. Make them fast and clear – feel how they feel – stay with it, or make a new one. This is – by the way – coming from the practicing master ;).

Or Happy Easter Pose?

If you want more choices than the Fish Pose or the Happy Baby – check out this image – it’s all yours, it is Easter after all.

If you want them all – go for it! Why cut ourselves short if we don’t have to?

Johanna

The story about The Bone – I might have to save for later…

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The Sweetest Kiss March 29, 2012

Filed under: coaching — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 10:24 pm
Tags: birthday, home, kiss, Love, relationships, skype, Sweden, sweetest, travel, USA

At first he wasn’t interested at all. Clearly not.

“No – I’m watching TV.” [Breathe – don’t take it personally.]

After a little bit of begging and trying to get his attention he comes around to say hi for a second. Maybe two.

Hanging around a little longer… asking a few questions… about the day, the special event, celebration…

He gets a little excited and wants to share what he had gotten. A helicopter. I would be too.

And then it was time to go to bed. It had been a really long day. So before rushing off I try to connect onces more.

Calling his name calmly ones, twice… three times. He looks at me finally and I throw him a kiss. He lights up and does the same thing back at me!

Then he expresses “no, closer…” and climbs over the table and computer and kisses the screen on the other side.

Mm. The sweetest kiss. That one will last with me for a long time. My nephew has turned 3.

Johanna ❤ ❤ ❤ Wille

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Blondelicious March 28, 2012

Filed under: Entrepreneur,Promotion — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 10:49 pm
Tags: amsterdam, gifts, hosting, hub, Hub bay area

Exactly what I needed to hear!

Great gifts from Tatiana Glad and Marieke Pluk visiting San Francisco for the Global Gathering of Hub Founders.

Do Nut Worry – Cake it Easy.

Thanks Blond! – [check it out! Cool site.]

And you see what you want…

Cake it easy! Do not worky! That’s what I needed to hear. For now. A cup of tea anyone?

Johanna

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Happy to Meat You! March 12, 2012

Filed under: coaching,Entrepreneur — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 7:42 am
Tags: Benefit meet in person, catrine näsmark, change agents, Entrepreneur, INC Magazine, meat, restaurant AG, San Francisco, Stockholm

I came across an INC Magazine article about “5 reasons your need to meet in person” – which reminded me about a meeting with The Artist Catrine Näsmark in Sweden about a year ago. Read the full article here – and here comes the abbreviated version:

These are the 5 reasons to meet in person:

1. You’re off the record.
Avoid phone conversations in non-private offices.

2. Make use of not-so-small talk.
Build relationships over personal topics through small talk.

3. Make an impression.
The example is a new pink handbag becoming a topic for conversation. (I would say shoes…;)

4. Read the body language.
Facial expressions often communicate so much more than words.

5. Learn where the action is.
By visiting the office you get much more information from the environment.

When it comes to coaching and consulting I have found that meeting in person is of course very nice. I would say, to the extent you can, always meet once for an intake/introductory session. The time and effort required for meeting in person is a different equation, why we at Herringbone have decided to differentiate our offerings based on virtual/Skype meetings or in person. That way, we can offer our services to a larger audience, and meet the needs and budgets they – maybe you! – may have.

Catrine Näsmark at Restaurant AG

The reason why this article originally made me think of Catrine Näsmark is because when I met her in Sweden a year ago, she made an impression with a pink handbag – at a restaurant that took pride in serving high quality meat. Very obvious as you face the meat fridge by the end of the red carpet leading up from the street entrance.

Since then I have had this blog post title and photo in my mind. (Imagine how much is still stored up there…) Taking the photo, I was thinking – this set up of a restaurant would not happen in San Francisco. Although – the title of the blog post is taken from a blog Nice to Meat You originated in San Francisco, by a local entrepreneur friend Willo O’Brien with WilloToons.

Thank you for finally letting me share it! 😉 Puh.

So happy to meet you!

Johanna

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Lady in Red | Come with me and I’ll take you places March 10, 2012

Filed under: coaching,Inspiration,Social Media — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 4:06 pm
Tags: Blog World, Dan Safkow, Helene Vik, herringbone, Johanna Nilsson, Kärleken förde oss samman, Lady in Red, New Profile, overcome your stage fright, stage fright, tell your story, Ylva Elias, YouTube

In 15 days I will celebrate my 5 year anniversary on YouTube. You know – it’s nothing I really have thought of celebrating – but there are a few reasons why.

When I created the YouTube account 5 years ago, the reason was to share a rehearsal recording from a wedding ceremony with a friend in Paris who was inquiring for singing at her wedding, and the file was too large to email, and I decided to try a new channel…
When uploading the video I had the option of making it public or private. I remember selecting the public setting, with a mixed feeling of excitement and fear. This was the first time I had performed in a trio – and that was a very big thing.
When viewing the videos on YouTube I hid behind the computer screen, almost underneath the table – the few people whom I showed it to can attest. And yes, my face turned red, blushing, too – that is part of my signature at times.
In a conversation on this topic with video marketer expert Dan Safkow at Blog World in LA in Nov 2011, I realized that I have YouTube to thank for partly getting over my stage fright.
My first video uploaded today has 27,652 views. My channel has 63,309 views in total. 23 Subscribers. And I am not hiding below the table 😉

I joked about that I would start a YouTube channel or video series called Lady in Red. Lead the way and show others that they could do the same thing. Break through stage fright. So here it is. I say as my Norwegian room mate in San Diego – actually – the man who got married in the wedding we sang at: “Come with me and I’ll take you places”.

Please join me in the celebration by doing 3 things… 😉

Subscribe to my channel: click here
Create your own YouTube Channel – and announce in the comments below what the link is so, that we can subscribe to yours.
Ask for Herringbone’s services for help, if you want to optimize yours. YouTube moved all accounts to their new profile set-up this past March 7. There are quite a few nifty things you can do.

This is the YouTube Debut Song, Ulf Lundell’s “Kärleken förde oss samman” (Love brought us together) featuring Helene Vik (now 3rd team – not yet announced – member at Herringbone) and Ylva Elias (Biotech Sales Professional and Singer, San Diego).

Enjoy,

Johanna

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The Artist March 7, 2012

Filed under: Herringbone,Promotion,Social Media — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 10:04 am
Tags: "Facebook timeline", "portrait of the artist", Art by nasmark, catrine näsmark, entertainment, hollywood, Jean Dujardin, Johanna Nilsson, media queen, mother of twins, Oscars, portraits, Royal Painter, San Francisco, The artist, US Exhibition

Jean Dujardin and Bérénice Bejo in The Artist

It’s been a long time since I have expressed my self out loud. In this forum. But there’s been a lot of acting. Watching the movie The Artist, gave me the segway back to the blogosphere…

Below are some interesting facts about the movie – and by now we know that The Artist won 5 Oscars: Best Picture, Directing, Actor In a Leading Role, Costume Design, and Music (Original Score).

Compared to the movie Hugo, that also was awarded five Oscars, The artist was ten times less expensive. According to IMDB the estimated budgets were: $15,000,000 (The Artist) compared to $170,000,000 (Hugo) per vikisecrets.

Notes to self:

– Silence is golden

– Less is more

– A picture says more than 1000 words

All along watching the movie I couldn’t resist relating to The Artist in my world. Without spoken words, she can capture a whole timeline in her portraits. She can convey a story that is both moving deeply, and make you laugh loudly. She incorporates objects and details that are unexpected and humoristic. Her art is original, optimistic and well received.

She recently visited San Francisco for some meetings and introductions, planting seeds for her first US exhibition.

As expressed in a letter back to Sweden by one of the private event participants:

“Great to connect after all these years now when the mystery with the secret Royal painter from Sweden has been unraveled by Johanna Nilsson, the social media queen of San Francisco. Catrine swept in like a whirlwind in the Bay area and people are stepping on oneanothers toes to grab her before somebody else does… WAO, a painter, actress, comedian, entertainer, wife and mother of twins – she should have her own TV show now when Oprah is gone…. Greetings to the entire family from Karl L”

If Jean Dujardin can entertain in words like Catrine Näsmark, is still a secret to me. But I am sure he, or any other Oscar winners would appreciate their own portrait done by her. Just like I am sure Marc Zuckerberg would appreciate the portrait Catrine Näsmark has done of him in her last exhibition “United Statements of America”, and how she captured his Facebook Timeline in a quite brilliant way. It’s in the details. Can’t wait for her art to actually take stage in San Francisco.

With regards to social media queen or not… I do know that I love what social media offers when it comes to communicating something of importance and meaning, to an audience that needs to hear it and love to share it. Building relationships in a transparent and authentic way across all kinds of borders. Allowing for private and corporate ideas, and dreams to be realized through the traction and support they gain and make them thrive.

With that said: may I introduce you to The Artist. Catrine Näsmark – click here.

And, to quote Jean Dujardin:

“With pleasure”,

Johanna

Final note to self: if something seems old and stale – add a dance and you bring back life to it!

http://youtu.be/ZoDXc7I__Vs

1. Director Michel Hazanavicius, 44, fantasized about making a silent film for many years, both for the image-driven nature of the format and because many of his favorite filmmakers emerged in that era.

2. Hazanavicius studied many silent films to find the right technique in order to make the story comprehensible without the use of too many title cards.

3. The dog actor in the film, Uggy, won the Palm Dog Award for best canine at the Cannes Film Festival in France. The honor can be awarded to live or animated dogs or a group of dogs in films presented at the festival. (The name of the award is a pun on the Palme d’Or, the festival’s highest honor). ‘Up”s Dug is a previous winner.

4. The stars of the film, Berenice Bejo and Jean Dujardin, had to learn to act in an 80-year-old style that has not really been used since the 1920s, and they both had to learn to tap-dance at a professional level for the film.

5. The Weinstein Company’s publicity strategy of plugging ‘The Artist’ into every film festival and letting word-of-mouth seems to be working. The film has won audience awards in at least three film festivals around the world so far.

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I Have a Dream January 16, 2012

Filed under: coaching — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 11:12 pm
Tags: dream, herringbone, I have a Dream, Jante, Martin Luther King, Michael E Gerber

One year ago I got the question asked: “Name three things you would do when you become a millionaire.”

I think we had 5 minutes – it was in a group setting. These were my answers:

1) Eradicate the Jante Law in Sweden and create an entrepreneurial retreat center at the farm house my father left behind in the middle of the forest in Småland, Sweden.

2) Realize the vision of the Herringbone platform, selecting a true Herringbone story from Africa and turn it into a musical on Broadway, NYC – with performing cast from Africa.

3) Enjoy life with family and kids.

Someone said you should Dream Big… Michael E. Gerber always says: “Dream big, think small, and act even smaller”. If you don’t, it can be rather over whelming!

What is your Dream? Start sharing it – otherwise it will never happen. And watch out – someone will ask you “by when” – and then you are hooked.

Enjoy the ride, and Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

Johanna

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Me, a Fighter? January 14, 2012

Filed under: coaching — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 1:24 pm
Tags: Bone up!, fighter, herringbone, internship, jävlar anamma, LIttle Boy, Martin Johansson, Power language

"Little Boy" by Martin Johansson, Malmo, Sweden

There were a few incidents last year, when I in response to invitations where I expressed my vision for something got in response a stream of comments of the kind:

“Oh, Johanna, you are so kind…”

“Sweet Johanna,… ”

“Thank you Johanna, that is so nice of you….”

I guess, being seen as nice, sweet and kind is really good – and I am absolutely sure that all comments were sincere and well meant. However, it mobilized a different feeling in me. “Jävlar anamma” would be the Swedish expression. When searching for a good translation/explanation of the expression I found:

1) There is book called “Power Language – the book with “jävlar anamma” (“Makt Språk – boken med jävlar anamma!“) by Lars och Martin Melin

2) Boden Fortress Radio Bunker (Swedish: Radiobunkern i Boden) is a communications bunker, part of Boden Fortress, outside the city of Boden, Norrbotten, in northern Sweden. It was used for the first radio broadcast in Swedish history. […] At 15:00 local time on 12 July 1921,^[6] the first radio broadcast in Swedish history was sent from the bunker.^[3] Radio commissioner Axel Jenner conducted this historic broadcast, with the Swedish king Gustav V listening some 35 km away in Luleå.^[2] Due to a misunderstanding between Jenner and his radio telegrapher, the first words uttered in the broadcast were “jävlar anamma”, a Swedish profanity in the style of “damn” or “darn”, literally meaning “embrace the devils”.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This week was the last of two weeks having a Swedish high school student for an internship in the Herringbone office. Read about her experience in the Herringbone blog – bone up! I am not sure what in our conversation led up to her statement: “You are a fighter.”

This week I also went through stuff from the office of my prior job of 8 years, and found the photo in this post that I used to have on my wall. I guess it was the fighter in me that was inspired by this piece of art called “Little boy” by Swedish artist Martin Johansson.

I think there is a fighter in all of us. Sometimes it is more present and visible than other times. Many of us let the fighter sleep. If need be, the fighter can be mobilized instantly. If well taken care of, the fighter turns more into a flow of force. More like an intentional way of being based on an embraced inner knowing. Still – a little bit of edge is always good and some “skin on the nose”, as we say in Swedish. So…

Here’s for some jävlar anamma – not to a fight, but to the fighter in you – for what you believe in.

With love,

Johanna

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Coldplay from Heart January 4, 2012

Filed under: coaching,Inspiration — Johanna C. Nilsson @ 5:08 am
Tags: coincidents, Floyd Pellom's 57th Street Gallery, Intention, jam, jazz, new year, Oakland, rizults, Singing, Valena

Life is wild sometimes. These golden moments that pop up when you least expect…

So I am celebrating New Years Eve with the friends of Foster Goldstrom, in this beautiful Maybeck designed house, filled with exquisite art and interesting individuals. The New Year is greeted and toasted at 9pm PST and the music starts to play. There is maybe 10 people dancing in one end of the living room – so I join them. This groovy, almost 30 year older [outrageous, you would NEVER believe], African-American woman, dressed in black with a cool hat is starting to mirror me with a smile saying “oh you are so tall, and slim and can dance in such a cool way [stiff]” – which is like pulling a Norwegian joke on me [pulling my leg big time] – so I let loose and start mirror her. Which makes her crack up and say “I need to leave for another party – but I need to give you my card – we should go out party in San Francisco!”

I am following up the next day with an email and she emails me back – and calls me back next day eager to work on her social media. We decide to meet for dinner. “Oh – I had already committed to this jazz event, but if you don’t mind I can give you a free ticket.” So we go.

Entering this gem in Oakland – art gallery combined jazz club – I get the question: “Do you sing?” There is no way out – name on the list. #34 – probably too late in the game, so I am not too worried. [This is a love – hate situation – but for several reasons, I could not say no to this one.] This is a really cool place. Musicians are really good, and the majority of the singers as well. My dear new friend introduces me to a number of people passing by – and I start to realize that by now all the organizing people and half the band knows me [as number 34]. What the heck would I sing? And can I the lyrics? What happens if I don’t? The singer next to me, Lady Sunrise, responds to the last question and says “Just sing from your heart baby”. [At my dance school growing up in Sweden, we were always told “if you forget the lyrics, sing the Norwegian National Anthem” – not much love in that one…]

If you knew where I came from, you would appreciate the stretch and excitement this situation had. At Christmas we had a table card game going with various questions. One was “Which is the #one fear that you want to overcome?” My response: “Singing in public.” Solo that is. Hiding – and LOVING – singing in choirs is no problem. But I have had a desire and intent for a long time. Was I prepared now? Not really. But in some ways it felt like it. At one point my friend Valena and I was looking at each other smiling and saying in chorus: “This is not a coincidence”.

Second last at 11pm: “-Which song? – Summer time. – Do you know which key? – No”. This is how it went.