Patrik Olterman Rodhe's Blog, page 11

Have you no shame?

In my opinion shame is a disease in our modern society, it is a terrible evil that plagues most people whether they will admit to it or not.

The first chapters of the holy scriptures used by all the abrahamite religions paint a beautiful picture of the first humans who where: “naked and not ashamed”. This is a haunting picture of innocence and pristine undefiled creation, that I think we need to recapture for our modern times.

Shame literally means to hide or to cover up. There are so many wa...

What now? Oh, that’s what!

As I have been at this crossroads for a while now, the dust seems to settle and maybe there is a clear path ahead. It feels scary and thrilling at the same time.

I have for some time followed a path led by the divine spirit whispering in my heart the way I should go. Now as I am stepping out of the plattform into the unknown deep blue there is a sense of freedom, a sense of ease. A sense that in a way there is a path already marked out by love for me to walk together with the ones I love.

It...

In my power

It has been a long Journey for me to come from childhood to manhood. And then I am not talking about just getting old enough to call myself a man but to actually come to a place in life where I can truly say that I have come of age, and stepped into my power and maturity.

It is weird living in a society where the immature masculine and feminine rule so much of our daily interactions and it is only very rarely and randomly that we get to see a glimpse of the mature feminine or masculine in our...

Owning my desire

Being Swedish, it has always been quite a challenge for me to really own my desire. In the church desire is in general frowned upon if not outright demonised, unless of course it is the desire for god. All other desire has at least in my mind been a temptation from the dark one. A hint of shadow, a reminder of all things unwanted.

Only recently have I understood that If I want to change something about myself I must first accept it, because what you resist persists.

Acknowledging or accepting...

Get lost!

The mind is a curious thing, every time we think we know something or someone the knowledge becomes cemented, static and we file it away for storage. The trouble is that life is change and anything cemented, static is dead. This is why life can only be found in our unknowing, changeable and in the fluid.

Walking to school or work the same route we always take will allow us to shut down for the duration, we cannot be surprised or awoken, we dream walk like zombies through the static parts of o...

The kiss that never was

A kiss that never was burns brightly on my lips
Luscious lips filled with love and life
Bouncy Laughter leaps in my heart and soul
Positive bouyancy builds, I soar.
Carefully I hide my treasure away and in the dark
I longingly I bring it to my lips again and again
The kiss that never was.

I can swim!

I have spent most of my life being afraid of my emotions, not consciously as I have always seen myself as a sensitive guy, but rather unconsciously. Instead of feeling sad I have been thinking that I am sad. Instead of feeling joy, I have been thinking I am happy. Living in my head. My unconscious belief has been that if I feel the deeper negative emotions, I will drown and never again resurface. I feared that if I truly felt the emotions I would get lost and never find my way out. So I made...

Slow down!

This is my new refrain, Slow down! We are rushing through life (some more than others) at such a breakneck speed that we are missing it completely. Being and Enneagram seven, I can be so preoccupied with whatever is just over the horizon that I completely miss the now.

With so many things going on at the same time, I do not get or take the time to feel and integrate whatever experience I just had because I am already immersed in the next one.

This created a kind of emotional jetlag where soon...

I love you, now get out of my bed!

In most of my conversations with couples or persons in a couple relationship the subject of polarity comes up. It seems one of the hardest things to do is to keep polarity in a couple relationship. Partly this is simply biology. We are biologically programmed to lose sexual desire for anyone we live in close proximity to after a certain time. This is the same biological system that makes us not fall in love with our parents and siblings.

What is polarity?

Polarity is not just sexual desire,...

This is the end

So this is it, the last day at the Malmö Salvation Army, the last day as a Salvation Army officer. We are spending the day clearing out the office, which is almost like moving house.

It’s been six hard years with a lot of opposition and slow progress, but has also been the most transforming period in my life (especially if we include the time at college).

The most rewarding (professionally) has been all the people who has come to church who, according to themselves, would never otherwise set...