🍫 Chocolate and Coal

🌈🦥✨️ People who display behavior or performance that is inexplicable from your perspective still deserve the usual respect, regardless of the lack of an explanation.

🏗🧱🏁 If I haven't said anything about something, there's no need to make anything up about it.

🗣📢🏘 But now I have potentially informed my entire town.

🧪🦥🔜🐗 Slander works by spreading lies that, combined with inexplicable peculiarities, create an apparently coherent picture. However, these falsehoods often do not lead to a discussion with the slandered person but rather to changes in behavior.

🙀💬🤨 Confrontation is unpleasant, after all, and people generally avoid it by talking behind someone's back instead. You only notice it through strange comments and odd behavior, which are explained with so-called secret knowledge (people become condescending and mysterious, or even aggressive when you ask how they came to that conclusion, or they reply with "everyone knows").

😖🤝🤨

Everyone is greeted normally, but I get a pause:

"I don't know how to greet you?" - "No idea, maybe you can do a handstand?"

✨️🤸🏘

I simply have ADHD and am treated like a severe case of autism (I am denied basic skills).

🎲🃏👾 However, anyone who still dares to speak about me in this way now risks encountering people who are already informed. Because either they know me – in which case the question arises why they are speaking about me in such a manner – or they don’t know me – in which case the same question arises.

💪🧠🌈 The problem with these people is that they don’t understand how confidently I have integrated my neurological condition into my identity and that I never have an issue talking about my weaknesses—at least the real ones.

🤴👸🦄 This challenges their proud expectations, which they have in that seemingly superior moment, and apparently, such things easily turn into underhanded nastiness.

🪷🤽‍♂️🏐 No one needs to tell me the phrase "don’t listen to what others say". That’s immature and dismisses my experiences and my right to live in a neighborhood where I receive the usual respect and decency, just like any other person.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

Sloths are known for their extreme slowness and calmness, while ADHD is associated with hyperactivity, restlessness and impulsivity. The idea that an animal notorious for its laid-back lifestyle is suddenly agitated or overactive creates a comical discrepancy. I enjoy living out opposites and being unique. You could say I'm possibly the fastest sloth in town. In fact, I have the ADHD mixed type.

ADHD can be broken down as follows:

🦦 1. Predominantly Inattentive Type:

Often still referred to as ADD (though this is an outdated term).

Symptoms include difficulty sustaining attention, forgetfulness, and being easily distracted, often without hyperactive or impulsive behavior.

🐒 2. Predominantly Hyperactive-Impulsive Type:

Marked by excessive energy, restlessness, impulsivity, and difficulty sitting still or staying quiet.

🦥 3. Combined Type (Mixed ADHD):

This includes significant symptoms of both inattention and hyperactivity-impulsivity.

🎨 ADHD Combined Type means a person can experience both patterns simultaneously or in cycles. For instance:

👾 One moment, you might feel a burst of energy that makes you restless and impulsive. The next, you could find yourself daydreaming or struggling to follow through on tasks due to lack of focus.

👾 You may start a task with high energy but then lose track of details or find it hard to finish because your attention shifts elsewhere.

⭐️ Hyperactivity might mean you're full of energy and enthusiasm, helping you tackle challenges with gusto (even if it's sometimes hard to sit still).

⭐️ Inattention might look like zoning out, but it can also mean you're incredibly creative, with a mind that makes unexpected and original connections.

⭐️ Impulsivity might cause struggles with planning, but it can also make you adventurous and spontaneous, willing to dive into new experiences.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

🐞🏘☃️ Why are ladybirds often found indoors in winter? Because the warmth attracts them. The problem is that there is no liquid or food in the house. A trap! Put ladybirds outside, even when it is cold. They will hibernate and wake up again in the spring. It is best to release them where they are not far from a protective hiding place, for example small gaps between objects outside that are protected from rain.

🔥✨️ Intuition isn't always positive or helpful. It relies on instinctive or automatic processes that don't always align with the current situation. The example of ladybugs seeking warmth in winter and dying because they end up in houses instead of going into hibernation illustrates well how intuitive responses can sometimes lead to negative or even fatal outcomes.

🧐 Why Intuition Can Be Flawed:

1. Evolutionary Basis: Intuition and instinctive behaviors are often rooted in mechanisms that have been evolutionarily advantageous. However, they are not always flexible enough to adapt to novel or artificial situations (like human homes).

2. Misinterpretation of Stimuli: Ladybugs perceive warmth in a house as a potential refuge, even though this misinterpretation of environmental cues can be deadly.

3. Automated Behavior: Intuition doesn’t involve conscious, reflective decision-making. It relies on patterns that often—but not always—lead to success.

Humans also experience flawed intuition. A well-known example is the availability heuristic, where people overestimate a danger because they've recently heard about a similar event, leading to irrational decisions.

Its effectiveness depends on how well the underlying patterns match the current situation.

In both cases—whether it's the ladybird seeking warmth in the wrong place or a person making a decision based on an emotional reaction rather than careful analysis—intuition can be both helpful and hazardous. Recognizing the limits of intuition, especially in new or unfamiliar situations, is key to making more informed decisions.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

⛰️🏞 A stream in the distant lands of South America begins deep within a dense forest, hidden beneath the canopy where the air is thick with moisture and secrets. It is a quiet revelation, an inexhaustible whisper emerging from the earth as if the world itself seeks to tell its innermost story. So too, does the human mind.

The stream is not a mighty river, not the Amazon carrying cities or feeding oceans. It is a modest origin, a winding thought between roots, rocks, and moss. Yet therein lies its strength: it understands what remains hidden. Its water, clear and cool, reminds us that the inconspicuous often harbors the most essential things.

The stream mirrors the mind of someone with ADHD. Its flow is unpredictable, leaping from one point to another, changing pace and direction, as if it searches for a path with no clear destination. But like the stream, this mind has a deeper purpose, an inner harmony that reveals itself only to those who look closely.

The dense forest symbolizes the societal prejudices, the misunderstandings surrounding it. It is thick, a labyrinth of opinions and stereotypes, threatening to swallow the stream whole. Yet the denser the forest, the clearer the truth becomes: the stream cannot be stopped. It carves its path because water must flow—it is its nature to move.

Elementally, the stream is a metaphor for the relentless force of life. Water, finding its way through obstacles, is the symbol of the mind that unfolds despite pressure and constraint. It may seem wild, impulsive, and chaotic, but it carries within it a purity and depth that can only be revealed through movement.

And when the stream leaves the forest, uniting with other waters and finally emerging into the light, it is no longer the small, chaotic trickle it once was. It becomes part of something larger, a river that gives life and connects worlds.

Just as the human spirit with its uniqueness: every impulse, every curve, every sudden turn drives it forward—toward a greater understanding, a deeper current that unites it with the world.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

🌬🦥 Life is like a feather in the wind. But sometimes, even the wind takes a break. In these moments, mindfulness allows us to observe the forces that move us and recognize patterns we might otherwise miss.

🕊🪺 Bias is one such force. It often operates silently, shaping our thoughts, actions, and decisions without our conscious awareness. Mindfulness is the practice of pausing, noticing, and becoming aware of these influences. It’s not about judging ourselves for having biases—bias is a natural part of being human—but about noticing them so we can choose how to respond.

🌬🪽 But mindfulness is not a constant state, nor should it be. It’s part of an inner cycle that includes trust in yourself and your instincts. While mindfulness offers clarity, it also helps us recognize when to let go of overthinking and trust in our natural ability to navigate life. Constantly questioning every thought or feeling can lead to doubt or inaction. Instead, mindfulness works best as a tool we pick up when needed, complementing moments of intuition and self-reflection.

🌬🍃 By weaving mindfulness into this cycle, we create a balance—aware of biases when they arise but confident in our ability to move forward. We pause to notice, but then we act with trust in ourselves. This rhythm ensures that we are neither carried blindly by the wind nor held motionless by fear of misstep. Instead, we move deliberately, awake and anchored, yet always free to soar.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

🦥🌞 Not even the sun does the same thing every year.

🌌 Some years it is higher, sometimes lower - sometimes more intense, sometimes less. What is usually too subtle to notice, the sun has shown us all this year with the colorful lights it painted in our sky.

I tried something similar.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

Is Dakota, my corn snake, giving you nightmares?

This is a synthesis of Cherokee stories told to James Mooney in the late 1800s, primarily by Ayúnini ("Swimmer"), a Cherokee storyteller.

🌽 The Story of Corn and Medicine

In the beginning, the world was all water and darkness. Animals lived above the sky but moved to earth when it was formed from mud brought up by the Water-beetle. The soft earth dried over time, shaped into valleys and mountains by Buzzard's wings. When the land was ready, animals and humans came to live there.

Some animals set the sun in the sky and stayed awake for seven nights, granting owls and other enduring animals the power to hunt at night. Similarly, evergreen trees gained the ability to stay green year-round.

Among the first humans were Kanáti ("The Lucky Hunter") and Selu ("Corn"), who had a son. They also adopted a "Wild Boy" born from game blood. The boys discovered Kanáti’s secret cave of animals and accidentally released all the game, forcing humans to hunt ever since.

When Selu’s secret for creating corn and beans was revealed—she produced them by rubbing her body—she and Kanáti knew they would die. Before her death, Selu instructed the boys to drag her body around a circle in front of their house seven times and then across the soil inside the circle. This act would bring forth a crop of corn. The boys, however, only partially followed her instructions, dragging her body twice and clearing just a few spots. As a result, corn only grows in specific places and requires cultivation. Still, the boys stayed awake all night, and by morning, corn had grown. To this day, it takes months to grow, symbolizing the lost ease of life.

As humans multiplied and harmed animals, the animals retaliated. Deer sent rheumatism to hunters who killed without asking for pardon. The Little Deer visits bloodstains to ensure hunters have prayed. If not, it cripples them with disease. Snakes resolved to plague humans with nightmares, and birds and insects created various illnesses. To balance this, plants offered remedies, introducing medicine to counteract the animals' revenge and help humanity survive.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

🤕🦎 Where is my tail? Oh, there it is!

🗓 The pictures show the regeneration from day 4 to 60 after his tail was shed.

🍃🌱 The cycle of life does not ask what was lost, but what can emerge from it.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

Bruce with Loki 🙃🙂

🗓⏰️😴 My leopard geckos are kept in the basement every winter from December to February. There I can ensure the optimal temperatures so that the geckos follow their internal clock. Many animals and plants take a break in the winter. This is called dormancy.

🌡📉😴 Dormancy, from the Latin dormire (to sleep), refers to periods during which the development of organisms or biological processes slows down or temporarily halts. These periods can be triggered by external factors but are also influenced by genetic and hormonal mechanisms. Dormancy plays a vital role in helping animals and plants survive harsh environmental conditions.

☃️🦎 For ectothermic animals like lizards, the cold-induced state of inactivity differs from the hibernation seen in endothermic species. To describe this distinct phenomenon, the term brumation was introduced in the 1920s.

🍁❄️ Reptiles typically enter brumation in late autumn, though the exact timing varies by species. During this state, they may periodically wake to drink water but refrain from eating and return to their dormant state. Prior to brumation, reptiles often consume larger amounts of food, but as temperatures drop, their appetite diminishes, and they may stop eating altogether. However, they must continue to hydrate. Brumation can last anywhere from one to eight months, depending on factors such as ambient temperature, the reptile's size, age, and overall health. In their first year, many young reptiles do not fully enter brumation; instead, they exhibit reduced activity and eat less frequently. Like hibernation, brumation is triggered by cooler temperatures and shorter daylight hours in winter.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.

🌐👾 Monster Planet (2006)

The shapes appear chaotic, almost like a struggle between order and decay. The separation of the areas through colors and textures suggests a contrast between different states: life and death, clarity and confusion, nature and destruction.

🤗 For a more nuanced discussion, please feel free to use the comments section, private messages or the anonymous contact form on my website.