growth-arkiv - Malix.se

The Power of Words in Everyday Life – When the Numbers Start Speaking

The blog is growing, the words are finding new paths – and I just cut off thirty centimeters of hair.
This post is about the power of words in everyday life, about how we choose to see life, the weather, and ourselves – and how our words shape reality.

Don’t Miss Friday’s Post

Friday’s post will be one that stirs a little.
It’s about jealousy – that feeling so often mistaken for love, but which in truth is rooted in fear.
About how trust can fall silent, how love can be suffocated, and what happens when we dare to look behind control.

It’s personal, honest, and important.
Published Friday morning here on malix.se.

Read this post in Swedish:

Ordens kraft i vardagen – När siffrorna börjar tala

The Power of Words – When the Numbers Start Speaking

Over the past few days, I’ve followed my Google statistics with curiosity.
Not to chase results, but to understand what happens behind the scenes.

Posts I wrote long ago are coming to life again.
People are searching for words like self-healing, gratitude, and feelings stuck in the body – and they end up here, with me.

That means the texts live on – taking a life of their own in the quiet rooms of the internet.
Google doesn’t just show numbers. It shows what people seek, and what truly moves them.

When someone stays for a while, when someone returns, when the words carry something real – the algorithm understands that there’s something here worth showing to more people.

That’s what I want to create: a space where authenticity grows slowly, in its own rhythm.

Before and After – When Thirty Centimeters Get to Rest

@carinaikonennilsson
♬ originalljud – carina

Yesterday, thirty centimeters of hair fell to the floor.
What remained was me – a little lighter, a little freer, but still me.

Carina Ikonen Nilsson smiling after cutting thirty centimeters of hair, reflecting the power of words and how change can feel both light and freeing.

It feels wonderful to have shorter hair. I can’t wait to wash it and feel how light it is.

When the Power of Words Shapes a Conversation

Hairdressers have a special way of keeping conversations alive.
We talked about life, work – and finally, the weather.
That gray, rainy heaviness that so many mention these days.

I heard myself say:

“The more we talk about the darkness, the darker it feels.
We can’t control the weather, but we can choose how we feel about it.”

And there, among hair strands and mirrors, it struck me – our words create our reality.

If I choose to see November as a time for rest, warmth, and light, then that’s what it becomes.
When I light candles, wrap myself in a blanket, and drink tea, I feel gratitude instead of gloom.

It’s the same with everything: how we speak about life shapes how we experience it.
If I say something is heavy, it becomes heavier.
If I say there’s light, I often find it too.

When the Blog and Life Grow Side by Side

Just as hair needs care, so do words.
Right now, the blog feels like a living process – growing in rhythm with me.

The statistics show more visitors, but it’s not about numbers anymore.
It’s about trust – between me and you who read.
That my words find their way to someone who perhaps needed them that very day.

AHA – Between the Lines

It’s not about the weather, the hair, or Google.
It’s about focus – choosing what to see and what to give meaning to.
When I choose light, gratitude, and rest, the world itself doesn’t change – but my experience of it does.

Reflection – Between the Lines

I’m reminded of the power of words in everyday life – how small shifts in language and thought can change the feeling of an entire day.

Maybe it’s right now, in November’s darkness, that the biggest transformations take place.
When we cut away the old, let words rest, and choose new thoughts.
That’s when the light finds its way in – even if it comes from a candle rather than the sun.

Closing Words

Yesterday has already settled into history.
Tomorrow waits somewhere ahead.
But right now – this is where life happens.

A Little Reminder

Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow.
I’ll be exploring jealousy – that feeling that can tear apart both relationships and the individual.
A topic that touches, stings, and perhaps awakens recognition.

Support My Writing

If you enjoy what I write and want to support my work, you can do so here:
Support via PayPal

Or subscribe so you won’t miss new posts:
Subscribe to malix.se

Dreams and self-reflection by the lake – a wooden pier glowing in the morning light.

Dreams and Self-Reflection – When Everyday Life Speaks and Learning Comes Alive

Av Carina Ikonen Nilsson

den 21 oktober 2025

i Personlig utveckling & tankar, Reflektion & självläkning, Skapande & kreativitet, Utbildning & samtalsterapi

When the Cookbook Becomes Life’s Manual and Every Page a New Understanding

Dreams and Self-Reflection

Dreams and self-reflection sometimes weave together in the most unexpected ways.
Last night I remembered my dreams – two images that felt so close to what I’m living right now.
It’s about growth, learning, and turning pages – both in books and in life.
And perhaps most of all: about trusting the process where knowledge and experience slowly turn into inner safety.

Read this post in Swedish ->Drömmar och självreflektion – när livet blir lärande

Dreams and Self-Reflection – The Language of Dreams

First, I dreamed of little Emilia, my granddaughter.
We were sitting together with a cookbook, tearing out pages and putting the recipes in a new order.
It may sound strange, but it felt symbolic – as if we were creating new structures, new flavors in life.

Then came another dream: a book, and I turned the pages, one by one.
A simple act, yet filled with meaning.
I think those two dreams belong together – a reminder of how dreams and self-reflection can guide us through change.

Dreams and self-reflection in nature’s silence – mist rising between mountains and lake.

Between the mountains and the sky – where thoughts and dreams meet in silence.

Dreams and Self-Reflection in Motion

When I think about it, maybe the dreams weren’t that strange after all.
The cookbook Emilia and I worked on felt like an image of what I’m doing now – I’m not tearing knowledge apart, I’m simply rearranging it.
I’m moving recipes, trying new ways, and letting old wisdom take on new flavors.

That’s exactly how my studies feel – like a living form of dreams and self-reflection in motion.
I use everything I’ve learned over the years, but I do it in my own way now – with my voice, my experience, my heart.

And that other dream – the one where I turned the pages – is probably about trusting the process.
Letting life show its pages one at a time, without rushing to the end.
It’s the same feeling I carry in my education: not everything needs to be understood at once.
The important thing is that I’m in motion, in learning, in growth.

The dreams feel like confirmation.
I’m creating my own cookbook – not with recipes for food, but with recipes for connection.
Conversations, empathy, presence.
What I’m learning now isn’t new in itself – but the way I’m learning it anchors the knowledge deeply in my body.

Dreams and Self-Reflection – When Knowledge Takes Form

I’ve always had a lot of practical knowledge – steady, intuitive, natural.
But now, during my training as a therapeutic counselor, I’m gaining something I’ve missed: the chance to weave together experience and theory.

I notice it in every lesson. I get full marks on the assignments, not because I’m better than anyone else, but because I’ve carried this understanding in me for so long.
The difference now is that I understand why I do what I do.
It’s as if knowledge is moving from being learned to becoming integrated in the body – it lands, matures, and deepens.

But it’s more than that. It feels like knowledge has now found its home inside me, resting safely on a foundation that’s been reinforced.
As if I’ve drained away the surface-level knowledge built on others’ interpretations and begun to read between the lines within myself.

I no longer read just the back cover or someone else’s summary.
Now I build my understanding from within, from all the conversations I’ve had through the years working in treatment and care.
That’s where my foundation grows – from real people, real meetings, real emotions.

Previous courses gave me tools.
This education gives me depth, grounding, and confidence in what I already know – but now with language, theory, and awareness that make it whole.

I now feel more one with the knowledge – as if it has become part of my breathing, a way of seeing, listening, and understanding.
It’s as if I’m no longer standing beside the conversation – I’m inside it.
Knowledge is no longer something I carry – it carries me.

A Cold Swim and a Warm Heart

Of course, there was a swim today.
My lake sisters and I braved rain and wind – the water must have been below ten degrees, because it bit sharply at the skin.
But that’s the point: to breathe, feel, and be here, now.
When you step out of the water, endorphins meet the body’s defense, and everything becomes warm and still inside.

The swim, just like my studies, reminds me that growth happens through contrast.
The cold awakens warmth, discomfort leads to strength, and stillness carries learning.

Dreams and Self-Reflection – Rearranging Inside and Out

When I got home, the little one arrived – sniffly but happy.
Between nose blows, he helped me rearrange the living room – again.

My husband will probably shake his head and say, “What you can’t change inside yourself, you change on the outside.”
Maybe he’s right.
But I think it was me who planted that thought in him from the beginning – even if he’d never admit it today.

And maybe that’s how it is: every time I rearrange the furniture, something small inside me finds its place too.

Reflection

Maybe the dreams, the swim, the studies, and the rearranging all connect.
It’s all about movement, change, and allowing things to shift – both in thought and in space.
Last night I turned a page.
Today I rearranged the room.
And somewhere between those moments, a deeper understanding grew – a quiet calm that tells me I’m on the right path.

Everything is movement, change, and dreams and self-reflection woven into everyday life.

In every layer of mist lives a thought longing to be understood.

AHA – Between the Lines

What I feel most strongly right now is that I am part of my own development – right in the middle of what has always fascinated me most: the power of conversation.
Conversations heal.
They carry, lift, and mend – both the listener and the speaker.

I’m beginning to truly understand that it’s about trusting the process – not forcing, not knowing everything, but resting in the fact that it unfolds anyway.
Knowledge has taken on both body and soul.
And somewhere between theory and feeling, the conversation becomes a living space where people can truly meet.

“Yesterday has already found its rest in history, tomorrow waits farther ahead.
But right now – this is where life happens.”
— Carina Ikonen Nilsson

Want to read more reflective texts?

Subscribe here: Subscribe to malix.se

Support my writing:
PayPal – malix.se971

Oskar Series – Understanding

Av Carina Ikonen Nilsson

den 10 oktober 2025

i ADHD och neurodivergens, Oskar-serien – NPF & Skola, Personlig utveckling & tankar, Reflektion & självläkning

Morning

Morning again, and with my coffee beside me come thoughts of the Oskar Series understanding – how we meet, learn, and grow as adults.
The two lamps that once belonged to my grandmother cast a warm light in the darkness. The cat is outside, the house still asleep, and the morning is calm.

Read this in Swedish ->Oskar serien bemötande och vuxenansvar i vardagen

Today I will wrap the Christmas gifts my daughter and I bought in Ullared – a day filled with laughter, bargains, and reflection.
At the same time, my thoughts wander to the Oskar Series understanding and adult responsibility – how we, as adults, can meet children with empathy and help them grow in their abilities.

Coffee cup in morning light – reflection on the Oskar Series, understanding, and adult responsibility

This post is a personal reflection, inspired by experiences and thoughts about adult responsibility and the way we meet others.
It is not about a specific event, but about the inner process that awakens when we want to protect – and then realize how important it is to meet with calm and understanding.

A Day in Ullared

The trip to Ullared became more than just shopping. We found shoes, clothes, boots, and gifts – almost everything ready for December.
I even made a real find: a pair of Sketchers boots that usually cost around 1,500 SEK, but there – only 800.
They were so comfortable that it was impossible not to buy them.

My little boy got new pajamas, clothes, and a cap that made him happy.
My little girl received a few small Christmas gifts and a pair of cool boots.
It was a long day – we left home at seven in the morning and didn’t return until nine in the evening.
But now almost all the gifts are wrapped, and the feeling of being prepared brings a quiet peace.

Have you ever felt that mix of exhaustion and gratitude after a long, good day?

When the Tiger in Me Awoke – a Thought on the Oskar Series and Adult Responsibility

In the middle of everyday joy, something unexpected happened.
An email, not particularly kind, awakened something inside me – the tiger.
Suddenly, all the children I’ve ever met stood before me.
Not only my own, but also the young people I’ve had the privilege to work with over the years.

It was about understanding and adult responsibility.
About how adults sometimes put the blame on children – as if they alone carried the weight of what went wrong.
I felt my whole being rise up.
For me, it’s clear that when we work with children, we adults always carry the greatest responsibility.
We are the ones who must see, listen, and understand.

Children don’t misbehave out of malice. They act in the only way they can – based on their experiences, their capacities, and the safety or uncertainty that adults have created around them.
Do you recognize that feeling, when your concern for a child wakes the lion within you?

Afterward – Oskar Series, Understanding, and Adult Responsibility

In hindsight, I regret my own behavior.
I let the tiger take over and, for a moment, forgot my responsibility as an adult.
I should have stood firmer in myself and spoken about what really matters – the adult responsibility.
To create conditions for children to grow in their ability, not to remind them of what they cannot yet do.

In reflection, I see how I would rather have met the situation with a calm, soft voice.
I wish I had said:

“I want us to find solutions. How can we, together, help, see, and allow the child to grow? What can I do to make things easier? What is my responsibility?”

I wish I had offered to come, to explain what works and what doesn’t.
I wish I had said:

“We’re doing this together. I am in my role and you in yours – is there something we can do to make the path easier?”

Being an adult means carrying the ultimate responsibility: to meet children with respect, patience, and belief in their potential.

At the same time, I believe reflection is something we all need – even the other adult in that situation.
Sometimes we are so busy defending our own perspective that we forget to pause, breathe, and see the child together.
I should have invited the other person into the dance of reflection – that quiet movement where curiosity replaces defense.
But I didn’t. Perhaps it’s because I haven’t yet learned to dance, and that’s exactly what I need to practice.

When I read that email, I suddenly saw all the children I’ve met – those who struggled, those who carried heavy things.
I could almost feel them standing behind me, whispering: Don’t forget us. Keep speaking for us.
That’s what the Oskar Series, understanding, and adult responsibility is really about – seeing the child behind each reaction and realizing that we all have something to learn.

Oskar Knocks Again! Oskar Series, Understanding, and Adult Responsibility in Everyday Life

All these words – they’re really about little Oskar.
You know, Oskar from the NPF & School series, now resting for a while.
Maybe it’s him knocking again?
Perhaps it’s time to continue writing – about how important it is that we adults take our responsibility, dare to see the child behind the behavior, and stay present in the meeting.

How often do your own “Oskar moments” knock at the door? Those moments when your heart says: See the child behind the words.

AHA

Sometimes our strongest reactions don’t come from anger but from love – from the wish to protect.
Yet the way back to calm reminds me of something even more important: even adults, just like in the Oskar Series, understanding, and adult responsibility, must keep practicing how to grow.

Between the Lines

When calm returns and the tiger within me rests, I see that it’s not about winning a war, but about understanding why we react as we do – and what that reveals about what we care to protect.
It also reminds me that my own reaction must remain calm.
For all the children who once stood before me, hoping I would keep fighting for them – I need that calm.
Because it’s in calmness that the real work can be done, it’s there that change begins.

Reflection

Now the coffee stands beside me again. The soft glow from my grandmother’s lamps fills the room.
The day lies untouched before me, with wrapping paper and ribbons waiting.
Outside, the sky begins to brighten.

Maybe it’s Oskar whispering: See me, understand me – I’m just trying to make it through another day.
And I whisper back: I’ll keep practicing being the adult – the one who helps you grow.
That’s part of the Oskar Series, understanding, and adult responsibility – a daily exercise in seeing, understanding, and growing together.

What This Taught Me

This meeting – between emotion and responsibility – became a reminder that calm isn’t always there from the start, but it can always be found again.
I learned that adults, too, need to keep practicing how to grow, to face their own reactions, and to choose presence instead of defense.
Perhaps it’s right there, in the stillness after the storm, that real learning happens – for both the children and for us adults.

Live today, right now.
The day before yesterday was the tiger, yesterday the reflection, today the action, and tomorrow will be the rest.
Maybe I’ve already learned something – perhaps even right now.

– Carina Ikonen Nilsson

Support the Blog
Support the blog via PayPal »
Subscribe to receive new posts directly in your inbox and help the words keep finding their way.

This text is a personal reflection, not a description of any specific person, place, or situation. Its purpose is to inspire understanding and shared responsibility in how we meet children.

Autumn colors by the lake and an empty pier waiting for the next swim – a quiet morning near Morkulla, reflecting on the Kay Pollak workshop Morkulla.

Kay Pollak Workshop Morkulla – A Dream About Growing

Av Carina Ikonen Nilsson

den 7 oktober 2025

i Kay Pollak & välja tankar, Malix – personligt & bloggen, Personlig utveckling & tankar, Reflektion & självläkning, Utbildning & samtalsterapi

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Right now is the best day of the rest of my life.
The joy of getting full marks on my first assignment was the beginning. It ended in reflections about a dream. I dream to one day take part in a Kay Pollak workshop at Morkulla.

Läs det här på Svenska ->Kay Pollak workshop Morkulla – en dröm om att växa

A morning swim.

Before I sat down to write this post, I actually made it out for a morning swim.
I have such thoughtful swimming sisters, and today we talked about swim times.
Nothing has changed yet – it’s still light outside – but I think it would suit me better to swim a little later in the mornings.
That will have to wait until it gets darker at dawn.

The swim was wonderful. The air and the water were almost the same temperature, maybe a degree warmer in the lake. 11 degrees Celsius at land and 12 in the water.
It was bubbly, soft, and such a gentle way to wake up.
Autumn colors have started to settle around the lake, painting the scene in warm, quiet beauty.

@carinaikonennilsson
#blog #malix #Motivation #vinterbad
♬ originalljud – carina

My first assignment i my therapist training program

I just received the results for my first assignment in my therapist training program.
The maximum score was ten points – and I got them all.

I was so happy that I had to call my husband right away. The first assignment, done and passed.
It might not have been the most difficult task, so maybe others got full marks too.
But still – what joy it brought! It also became proof that I have chosen the right path.

Laptop and coffee cup in the living room where the blog malix.se is open on the screen – a moment of reflection and writing about the Kay Pollak workshop Morkulla.

A quiet morning in my living room. Coffee, words, and the blog – all at once, right where the day begins.

A Kay Pollak Workshop at Morkulla I Would Have Loved to Attend

That wasn’t really what I had planned to write about today.
What caught my attention was a workshop that Kay Pollak will be holding at Morkulla.

I’ve just spent quite a bit of money on the education I’m taking right now, which means I can’t afford to attend this workshop.
But oh, how tempting it would have been.

To spend an entire weekend with others who, like me, strive to live more consciously, honestly, and authentically.
I believe it would have been both exciting and deeply meaningful – to meet people who dare to take off their masks and be completely themselves.

Kay Pollak Workshop Morkulla

I’ve never attended anything quite like that before, but the thought of it stirs something within me.
To live with Kay’s words for an entire weekend – to open channels for new thoughts, to be reminded that thoughts are just thoughts, and that they can be replaced.

Moreover, I often practice questioning my own thoughts:
Are they true? How might someone else see this? What proof do I really have that what I think is true?

It’s an exercise that changes a lot, and perhaps that is the essence of Kay’s philosophy – to dare to choose thoughts that serve you.

Earlier, I wrote about how gratitude in everyday life can transform an entire day.
This reflection feels like a natural continuation of that – seeing how thoughts and gratitude are connected.

Kay Pollak and the Idea of Choosing Thoughts

Many years ago, I attended a lecture where Kay spoke for three or four hours.
What hours they were.

I remember laughing at myself, at my own small limitations – and at the same time, I grew.
Those hours made me grow as a person, as a colleague, and as myself within myself.

By then, I had already read his books and watched his films, but seeing him live, in that very moment when the words happen, was something else entirely.
It was inspiring, warm, and deeply insightful in a way that has stayed with me.

Longing for a Kay Pollak Workshop

I wish I had a few extra thousand kronor right now – I would have gone.
But perhaps another opportunity will come.

One day, I want to sit there in the stillness between words, practicing even more to choose the thoughts that give me energy.
Until then, I continue my journey here – in my studies, in everyday life, and in the words that help me grow.

“I practice replacing the thoughts that don’t serve me with those that help me grow.”

AHA – Between the Lines

It’s easy to think that personal growth requires big steps or trips to new places.
But often, growth begins in the small things – in a thought that changes, in a new way of seeing yourself.
Choosing your thoughts is taking responsibility for your inner life. That’s where transformation begins.

Between the Lines – My Voice

When I wrote this, I felt both gratitude and longing.
Gratitude for having come this far, for studying something that feels right in my heart.
But also longing – for deeper conversations, more genuine meetings, and to keep growing in authenticity.
Maybe that’s where I am right now – in the middle of a movement toward something larger.

Subscribe to the Blog

Would you like to get my posts straight to your inbox?
Click here to subscribe to malix.se

Support My Writing

If you enjoy what I write and want to support my continued work:
Support me via PayPal

Question for You

Have you ever attended a workshop or lecture that truly changed something in you?
Or, like me, have you longed to take part in something but had to wait?
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

Live today, right now.
Yesterday no longer exists, except in traces of what was.
I can’t redo anything from yesterday – but today, right now, I have the chance to influence tomorrow.
It’s in all the “nows” that I live and breathe.

– Carina Ikonen Nilsson