Welcome to your Bubble
‘Welcome into your bubble. If you wish to leave it press the escape button.
Disclaimer: there is no turning back.’
Recently I came to think about the meaning of the so called “bubble” and though we all speak of being aware, that each and everyone lives in such a bubble, do we really know what it means and what impact it has on our lives, our ability to create abundance and grow beyond measure? I recently had to learn how much this is true and how much my bubble strained my life from taking off in ways I never even dreamed of.
But let me begin a few weeks back, when I had a call with my assistant on new products, further decision making and the inevitable to-do-stuff, we all love so much. We spoke of adjustments we thought of making, especially when it comes to the use of language. I have always been torn between using the English or the German language. Both are, to some extend, my native language. Both give me different emotional and logical opportunities in expressing myself and my offerings. Both have their very own ways in drawing pictures, that not only mean something in particular, but offer a whole world of thinking and visualising ones life differently.
Svenja, my business better half, and I discussed the recent noticable rise in natural social following, ever since I started using the German language more. Also in my co-creation at the events with Laura Malina Seiler last month, which are all being facilitated in German, I spoke to so many people who reaffirmed me, that they love her work not only for who she is and what she offers, but for the fact that she offers it in the German language. The one language that reaches native German speakers full scale, for there is no barrier between the speaker and the listener. Instead any message simply travels heart to heart, rather than heart to mind to translation to heart. When we have to translate a content, not only does some part of the information get lost along the way, but the strength of emotional wavelength, that hits the heart instantaneously, shortens and weakens at every step it’s got to take, until it finally gets to be comprehended. (Btw that counts for any native speaker in connection to their mother-tongue.)
It is scientifically proven, that every language tackles different areas of the brain and gives some sort of definition to the people, who speak it natively, to some extend. Whilst some cultures in the world think more positively per se, because their language offers more positive words than negative, you can also have cultures, that have the ability to think in complexity, because their language is build upon the laws of abstraction and multiplicity. Those people i.e. gain with their language the ability to be much more precise than others. Best example may be the German language. Which could be one of the reasons why we used to be such good engineers. The English language on the other hand knows how to make you feel. It has vivid images and highly emotionalised characteristics to it. It develops on the go, which also makes them people discover what has not been claimed yet, make it their own, and sell everyone the vision of following their path. It’s how they speak, partially makes them who they are. (This also how mantra works. The vibration of each vowel, wires the brain in a specific way, and gets you i.e. to uplift, focus, or contemplate.)
I am not saying that you cannot have either of those qualities described above, just because you may or may not speak any of the languages pointed towards, but I am saying, that your brain is wired in a certain way, and when information hits a wiring, that it knows to process well, it does not need additional energy, nor experiences any friction along the way of intake-process-transform, which is what we do with any form of information we receive.
Now back to Svenja’s and my conversation. She told me, that where she lives, rarely people are even able to hold up a sentence in the English language and I was like: “Say what?! Are you serious now?” And she answered, yes, this is the reality of living in the South-Western parts of the country, that are not indicated by big cities, but rather by smaller communities and villages. Those inhabitants, despite of what we think, still make a huge part of the population of Germany, and many other countries. Whilst us city folks always feel like we are the center of the world and our truth is every body else’s truth, those who live outside of them, do make much more than just the critical mass of 3% — to be clear in Germany it’s even more than 15%. Roughly 14 Million people live in the countryside, if not more. Not counting those who do not speak English in major cities either.
Not every city is Berlin… .
Which is, to my shame, something I wasn’t aware of, when it comes to language, until recently. And this is also where I want to go with this. Growing up in the bubble of Berlin, especially when looking at the last 10 to 15 years, it is almost hard to stick to German, for too many people won’t even bother to try to speak, nor learn it, and many who DO try, are being dismissed by impatient Germans, who solely answer in English, the moment they cannot fully define what the non-native is trying to say to them. It’s a mix of cockiness, disregarding of those who want to learn, by denying them the process of being bad, being better, being good, and over-coolness, pretending to be more than just German speaking, by pushing a language, that is not our own, even when it means, that we ourselves loose contact to important parts of our being, which I used to be one of.
Don’t get me wrong: English does sound amazing. It flows, it rings, it comes so natural. But then what?
I used to think it was so cool, to live in a place SO international, that one has to find a connecting link and hide ones background. So did I. I didn’t want people to know I was German straight away. I wanted to be one of those who have a home everywhere. Those roamers, those presumably disconnected from the liability of culture and homelands, those global nomads. I tried so hard to be recognised as one of them, calling the world my home, which is true to some extend, yet as described in my last article, is simply not the truth when honestly listening to the longings of my soul. And I am aware, just because this applies to me, it may not apply to you, yet my point is this: What I didn’t consider, was the loss of a cultural connection that is inherent in the language we speak, when we go back to those beginning days of our becoming. The language we were whispered to in the belly of the mother who grew us, in the moments of the hunger, someone fed us, in the first hugs, with the first tears, connected to the first kisses.
We, those of us who reject their own language, not only hinder those who came to experience and learn something new about our culture and with it language, but also deny ourselves to live and enjoy the bed of roses we got for free. This garden of life, upon which our thoughts are made, our abilities are strengthened, our connections are deepened. In the conversation with Svenja, I started to realise how much I applied this limiting behaviour onto my entire perception of the world, by thinking, that my language is less worth, than a language I speak almost same good, yet came a little later into my life. And in fact, isn’t it more than true, that the whole world luckily is rich of culture. The whole world luckily has different languages, behaviours, thought patterns, connections, truths. If that wasn’t the case, I wouldn’t want to be a nomad. No-one would. For this is what makes this world so magnificent.
The bubble I lived in for the last, I don’t know, 20 years for sure, if not more, has been limiting me. But it also is a blessing, now, that I know it’s not a mindset I have to serve, but becomes an asset I can use. All of a sudden my world got so much bigger, just because my perception burst my bubble. What a luck.
Therefore I will start incorporating more of the German language. Even this newsletter will be offered in both ENGLISH and GERMAN (German Newsletter will follow the English one a little later in the day — for now) . MY first book, written in German, which will be released in October and will be accompanied by a fun road-show, facilitated in English AND in German. Can’t wait. We keep you posted on this.
And of course, I love languages and I speak quite a few fair enough, to understand how much they are a door into the world. Yet, how much fun is it, to come to places where you share no words, but gestures, facial expressions, laughs, hesitations, emotions, communication going from heart to heart again, sharing mainly our humanity, rather than a ‘just’ a common language. By opening up to this feeling again, we are leaving behind the limitations of coolness and bubble behaviour, which is often seen in tourists trying to find what they know, in all unknown places, instead of looking for what it is they don’t know. The Germans and their Schnitzel. The English with their beer. The Americans with the KFC. (Yes I know, it’s heavily framed, but it’s necessary for the sake of argument.)
How about we come back, and try to consciously leave aside judgement and expectation when we encounter people from abroad, coming to our cities, trying to learn about our cultures. How about we help them gain, instead of help them loose and opportunity? Same when we encounter new lands and cultures, leaving behind shame of being misunderstood, and replacing it all, by finding a way to read the other culture the way it communicates beyond words, so we get to learn from and about them, as they can finally again learn about and from us. That’s exchange. That is the real door into the world and into the hearts.
What a prospect.
Another short one, to finish this bubble story of mine. Yesterday I went to a wonderful Bachelorette Party and in one of our many conversations we spoke of those annoying moments, when small talk arises and you already get to roll your eyes, for you know what’s next to come. One of the girls argued, how much she hated the question of: “And what is it you do?”, she thought it was limiting and uncreative and uncaring of some sorts. In her eyes, it was a blunt approach for the other party, to find out whether you are an asset to be squeezed, or a person to be ignored further on. Her perception was imprinted as negative. Her bubble refused that question.
When I said, that in my world, I never really experienced being asked this questions, she went like: “Say what?! Are you serious now?” I got to look straight into her bubble, watch it burst, witness her arise from the knowledge she thought was global and counted for all — and had to learn it simply wasn’t. Just like I did before in my talk with Svenja. You think something is universal, and all of a sudden it’s not.
I told her, that I even considered such a questions to be a compliment, for someone grants me their attention, chooses to connect with me, for whatever reason, their reasons are not my business, but how I answer to them is. And of course, they may use the easiest option to get to start to know me. But why should people have it hard, if they can have it easy?! But that’s just me.
Speaking of, if you feel caught in a bubble, yet you have no clue where it begins and where it ends, here is a thought: If you’d just start to consider, that every person is unique, and no-one experiences or thinks the same than another, it must be quite clear to you, that nothing of what you consider to be universally true, truly is. And I go on claiming, that the more you cherish and value the gifts you were given for free, when sharing them with others in the love of difference, in the love of exchanging and being interested in the differences in others, instead of just doing your business as usual, it’s pretty likely that you have already burst your bubble.
Don’t go into this world thinking you know it, meet it every day, like it’s brand new. If you get to use your English, awesome. If you get to practice your German, French, Italian, even better. If you see someone who could use some help here, go on and offer your services, even if it is just for a brief moment. Enrich others, and allow them to enrich you.
Happy bubbly Lions Gate.
Yours,
Team RISE.