Audiostretto 59/4/24 English

We know the saying, "If your only tool is a hammer, all the world looks like a nail." The meaning is obvious: if we only know one way to deal with certain situations, in our perception all situations are the same and we always behave the same way. But that is not always good. If you find yourself in a situation today that causes you stress because you know it and you know that you will not feel well afterwards: try a different approach than you are used to, i.e. use a different tool. Then you may no longer be dealing with a nail, but with a slab of wood to be ground, so to speak - which perhaps requires sensitivity and evenness instead of strength of words (as with a hammer). And so the outcome of the situation can be quite different and hopefully more pleasant for you and for everyone - without you getting a wood splinter while sanding. I wish you an extraordinary day!

To make progress on your bike, you need a few basic components that work well together. This includes the bicycle chain. If this is not well adjusted or is old or otherwise limited in its function, it can be a hassle. I experienced how a colleague's chain broke on a bike tour. We were somewhere in the middle of the countryside. He had no choice but to hold on to someone who was pulling him. The chain must also be well matched to the cogs on which it lies and which ensure the drive via the power transmission. If a tooth is missing, it may still work, but if the sprockets are old and blunt, this can also damage the chain. Either way, good maintenance and a check-up from time to time is a worthwhile investment. This also applies to us mentally, physically and spiritually. It's no coincidence that Sunday is a day of rest and not a "I'll do what I couldn't do otherwise" day. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Every now and then I am woken up in the morning by the birds and their chirping. It's nicer than being woken up by a construction machine. But what I have noticed is that the chirping is totally mixed up. I had the impression that none of the birds were listening to each other, they were all chattering wildly and without interruption. Why do they do that? Is birdsong also a form of communication, like language? In any case, it got me thinking, or rather it made me want to dedicate an episode to this aspect: When we speak - is it just about us or me, or is it also about the other person? Is it about being allowed to react to my speech and do I allow this, do I give it space or do I only do this when the expected or hoped-for reaction occurs? Can I be quiet sometimes or do I have to communicate without interruption? How do you deal with such questions? I wish you an extraordinary day!

Life is constant change or continuous change or everything in a state of flux - and whatever the phrases are called. The fact is: very little stays the same. Not only is this world subject to time and therefore to decay, but the process of change is sometimes very actively pursued and is even decisive here and there, sometimes even life-saving. However, change is not easy for everyone. For some people, things happen too quickly or they would like things to be the way they used to be - whatever that means... when and how exactly? Others love change and standing still makes them nervous and restless. Innovations are also part of this area of change and the fact that they exist has changed humanity enormously. We may debate whether it is for the better or not and whether innovation is good in itself or not. Either way, it happens and has already brought a lot of good. Can you also see the positive in change? I wish you an extraordinary day!

Asparagus is only available for a short time each year. Unlike many other natural products that are available almost all year round, albeit often imported from far away, asparagus is only available here in spring. The harvesting work is time-consuming and, as far as I know, cannot be done by machine. Unfortunately, the asparagus is harvested by cheap labour imported from Eastern Europe. This manual labour is necessary for good quality. It is therefore not possible to speed up or automate the harvesting process at will. In addition, the harvested asparagus must also be well cared for after cutting to prevent a loss of quality. There are things in life that only happen at a certain time and under certain favourable conditions. Blessed are those who can accept everything in life as it comes and then let it go again. Everything has its time. King Solomon already knew this several thousand years ago. I wish you an extraordinary day!

There is a salt shaker on many tables. At least in the restaurants. It is used to add salt to the food. Salt has the effect of enhancing flavour. If you use the salt shaker, there should be a good match between the size of the salt grains and the holes in the shaker. Otherwise, it can either result in no salt escaping - if the grains are too coarse - or too much salt escaping if the holes are too large. Both are undesirable. In the first case, nothing happens, in the second, the food becomes oversalted - which is no longer good. A healthy balance. This is necessary in many areas of life. And as healthy and valuable as salt is: without it we are missing something, too much of it is unhealthy, despite the fundamentally good properties of salt. Jesus once said that his followers are the salt of this world, something that protects them from destruction. But too much piety is not everyone's cup of tea either... I wish you an extraordinary day!

We all know from our own experience that life is not always on the sunny side. There are good times, but there are also less pleasant times and sometimes life can be really tough and challenging. We often perceive circumstances as problematic and challenging and secretly or non-verbally it is the circumstances, the things we cannot influence, that we blame for such difficult phases. We are the victims of circumstances, so to speak. In this context, I read the following quote as a kind of contrast: Suffering comes from man's own nature like a whirlwind of sparks from a fire. This is what Eliphaz from Teman, a friend of Job, says. I got stuck there and asked myself: is that really the case? Of course, this suddenly put our own responsibility at the centre and challenged us. I am no longer the victim, but the perpetrator. What does this quote trigger in you? I wish you an extraordinary day!

The German term heilig probably goes back to the Old High German word heilag and originally had the meaning of "own" or "property". In certain translations of the Bible, the term "set apart for God" is also used. Holy is therefore something that is set apart for God, set apart for his ownership. This makes sense if you imagine that saints are people who have placed their lives entirely at God's disposal or things that belong exclusively to God or are only used for him in worship rituals. But now you can also turn the tables: think about what you have set apart in your life or chosen for special people or occasions or people etc. This could give you a clue as to where you might have your hidden gods. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Over the course of time, man has controlled surface waters, particularly in urban areas, by means of structural measures. For example, canals have been used to control the course of rivers. This makes the remaining land easier to plan and utilise - whether for housing or agricultural land. This is an optimisation that would not be possible if nature were left untouched. This works well as long as there is no heavy rainfall. In such cases, canals can turn out to be boomerangs, because they allow the increased water masses to flow faster, causing the water level to rise higher. This leads to unwanted flooding. In the context of human relationships, many people also want to have control and steer things in a targeted manner. As long as everything is peaceful, this works well. But in conflict situations, this can have a boomerang effect, just like with the canal. It is then more advisable to give freedom instead of control. If this concerns you... I wish you an extraordinary day!

In pressure cookers and probably other cooking utensils, there are inserts that prevent the food from lying directly on the base of the pan. This ensures that there is no or much less burnt food or the inserts are used to ensure that the food is not directly or only barely in the water and can therefore be steamed by the rising water vapour. The inserts are easy to insert - but they can only be removed if, for example, there are large enough holes in the support surface through which you can grip the insert with your fingers and then pull it out. How good that someone has thought about this and found a practical solution. What initially looks strange - this insert with large holes - ultimately proves to be extremely valuable in use. Nowadays, when everyone thinks they know everything better, trusting experts is not an option. But every now and then it really does pay off. I wish you an extraordinary day!

When I was a teenager, the little bottles of fruit juice from a particular brand were all the rage. They came in many different flavours with different fruits and fruit combinations. You gave the bottles a good shake, then twisted the cap and there was this "click" sound that was unique to the product. This happened because there was a slight vacuum in the bottle and when you turned the lid this was released and the metal lid made this clicking sound - an unmistakable sign that the bottle had been opened for the first time and the juice was still fresh. This was not recognisable from the outside. When buying or choosing, you had to trust that nobody had actually opened the bottle before. You only knew when you turned the cap yourself. So it was only when you used it that you realised it was still intact. That's how it is sometimes in life: we only find out whether something is good when we use it. I wish you an extraordinary day!

Time is one of the most precious commodities, especially in our industrialised world. In production, for example, shift work is carried out in order to minimise unused time. We organise ourselves in such a way that we often pack as much as possible into a day or a week, and even on holiday we try to see or experience as much as possible - in other words, to maximise the density of experiences per unit of time. And then there is a word that is used crosswise in this context: on time. As the name suggests, it means: at the right time. Not too early, not too late - but just in time. In nature, in a healthy farm, fruit is harvested when it is ripe - at the right time. A farm that only wants to maximise yield without quality is an annoying stone in its shoe. Can you stand it if you have to wait for the right time in your life? I wish you an extraordinary day!

A fuse is the part of an explosive device that is first brought into contact with the part that sets the fire. It then leads this fire to the explosive and causes it to explode. The fuse must be dry and can be of any length. The fuse allows the detonator to ignite the explosive device without it exploding immediately. There is therefore a time delay between setting the fuse on fire and explosion. This time is needed to get to safety and not be injured by the detonation itself. The length of the fuse defines this time delay. Unfortunately, we do this from time to time in everyday life. We say things or do or fail to do something in the knowledge that this will later trigger an emotional or other violent reaction. In the meantime, however, we have already taken refuge. Do you pay attention to the explosive power of your behaviour towards those around you? I wish you an extraordinary day!

You have probably seen pictures in which a cone of debris was visible that was created by a landslide or an avalanche. Enormous amounts of material are set in motion and then stop at some point. At best, they leave no damage other than changes to the landscape; at worst, they cause great destruction and claim human lives. As far as I know, it is only possible to estimate in advance where this mass will end up and how great the threat will be. Preparations can therefore only be made to the extent that a potentially endangered area is warned in advance, sensitised and, where possible, sensible safety precautions are taken. You can't control the rest, neither the timing nor the extent. But an alert awareness is the best preparation in this case. It is precisely this comparison that Jesus needs when he speaks of his return. Are you appropriately alert for this event? I wish you an extraordinary day!

In German, we talk about something being annoying. And this term obviously contains the word "nerve". A nerve reacts to a stimulus. If we touch something with our skin, it reacts thanks to the nerves - and protects us from burns, for example, if we touch something that is very hot: we withdraw our hand very quickly and thus avoid worse skin damage. If something annoys us, it may be because we ourselves are overstretched or overwhelmed or because it really is something that is - well - annoying, something that gets on our nerves as we say, i.e. provokes a reaction that makes us want to distance ourselves from it. Such impulses are not annoying, but important to pay attention to. Why does it annoy us? Isn't this impulse part of our entire nervous system, even if not physically, but mentally or spiritually? So annoying can also be prophylactically protective! I wish you an extraordinary day!

When the air pressure changes, this has a direct effect on temperatures. I didn't realise that a high-pressure area has so much influence that its higher pressure compresses the air to such an extent that it causes temperatures to rise. I hardly notice the increased air pressure, but I do notice the higher - or in the case of a low pressure area - lower temperatures. So if I just look at the temperatures and how they can change quite frequently during seasonal transitions, for example, I would conclude that the weather is simply very moody again. This is caused by alternating areas of low and high pressure. Perhaps you are one of those people who are said to be moody or perceive yourself to be so. If so, the weather example could help you to understand why you or others quickly change your mood: Namely, changing external pressures. I wish you an extraordinary day!

I'm a city kid and therefore not familiar with everyday agricultural matters. But I imagine that when sowing different plants, the farmer doesn't ask himself what they will grow into, but knows that this grain or this seed will become this or that and nothing else. The layman cannot see this in the seed - but the seed contains everything it needs to become a particular plant. I believe that this law also applies to us humans: what we sow - in a figurative sense for those of us who do not work in agriculture - becomes what it is: Words, actions, looks etc. carry the DNA with which they were sown, i.e. our attitude, and will trigger the corresponding behaviour. That is why it is important that our attitude and our heart are correspondingly good and pure - because it is transferred to what we have sown and reaches our environment. How do you achieve this purity? I wish you an extraordinary day!

In our western world, the law is often represented by Justicia, who holds a pair of scales in her hand and is blindfolded so as not to be biased in her judgement. The scales used have two scales. Only when both scales are equally weighted is there balance, in this case justice. It is obviously about weighing up all the relevant factors - or to put it more subjectively: everything that has weight and influence and could be used and in the end it is a relative decision: relative, because it is not about the absolute weight of the offence, but only about a comparison with something else. Other scales work in such a way that they have their pan on a spring and then the absolute weight is measured and shown on a scale. This seems fairer to me because it is based on a standard that applies to everyone and not on freely chosen judgement weights. Law should remain law. I wish you an extraordinary day!

I recently went out to eat and ordered a Vegi Dürüm at a place where I've never eaten before. As a dürüm is rolled up in a pastry bag, you can't see what's inside from the outside. I cut the dürüm open because I was sharing it with my dining partner. When I saw what was inside, I was shocked. It looked like meat and because the waitress hardly spoke any German, I assumed she had brought me the wrong thing. It turned out that the supposed meat was well-cooked aubergine. This situation held up a mirror to how quickly I can become insecure and how much I obviously want to be in control and how quickly my trust is lost in the process. Always wanting to control everything is not only extremely stressful, but also impossible. If we take a close look at our lives, we should actually realise how little we can control ourselves and how relaxed it is to live in faith. I wish you an extraordinary day!

As the saying goes, where there's smoke, there's fire. But you can't recognise the fuel by the smoke alone. It could be a campfire with a lot of damp wood or a pneu factory that produces a lot of toxic fumes during a fire. From a distance, this can only partly be correctly interpreted from the colour of the smoke. The closer you get, the clearer it becomes - and most clearly when you are standing in front of the fire itself. It is the same with us humans: what drives us, i.e. what fire burns within us, can only rarely be correctly interpreted from a distance or by simply observing our words and actions. But if we get closer to people, we can judge much better what really drives their actions. For example, supposedly good deeds can come from bad motivation or with devious intent. Where there is smoke - take a closer look. But you should also keep checking yourself to see what fuel you are using to feed your own inner fire. I wish you an extraordinary day!