every day, when i look out the window from the office, i can see the sign 'Public Footpath'.
pointing to the right it directs the way to shortcut behind the houses and back gardens.
how funny it is that with all our individual independence we still find ourselves following pre-designed paths. we wouldn't sneak through private gardens or jump borderline fences to get to where we want.
yet we require 'shortcuts' or pathways to speed up the journey and save ourselves time,
time we waste otherwise in useless conversations and arguments.
we could utilize that time to be fully aware of the journey we are about to endeavor.
walk the whole way instead of taking the convenient shortcut.
and enjoy the journey as it is meant to be.
but in this day in age we urge to simply 'get things done' as quick and easy as humanly possible.
the first book i ever read was called "Momo" by michael ende - it is about the concept of time and how it is used by humans in modern societies (courtesy of wikipedia).
that book captivated me like no other before. it made me think about time and people.
the start of a journey that should lead me to - which i know now - a way of philosophical thinking which i hadn't achieved otherwise.
i learned to take my time to think about all sorts of objects and subjects.
growing up in a matriarchy and not getting on to well with my 'beloved' mother i did have a lot of time spending on my own, mostly within the walls of my rebelliously chaotic mess called room.
being quiet in speech, i was rather noisy in actions and used to irate my sole entity of authority tremendously.
now, knowing of the bliss such ordeal brought up for me, i can understand the 'bottled up' anger i channeled in actions like refusing to obey at times or simply to draw myself back into mediocrity.
i can now realize this as blessing in disguise.
if i wouldn't have come across the book.
or succeeded in making my mother truly proud, maybe there was a time when i did, but with
her failing to show me positive acknowledgment, i managed to convince myself that i'm just one
of those who can't do thing right, and by thinking well, 'why bother' i played myself into a corner
where you get to annoy people and you end up spending time on your own. - thinking.
i grew to like being on my own, now, all grown up the only regret is that the big disadvantage in 'being on your own' is that you grow yourself a huge 'issue' with socializing - with that being increasingly unavoidable in this day in age, you can see the clearly forced upon compromise.
even though i find it difficult making friends, i can easily compromise big amounts of friends confined on light chit chat which mainly adds up to nothing more than nonsense.
But without any of that, my path or journey would have led me to a different door, and i would have stepped through and became a different person, and that would be a real shame, because as a different person i would have never done the things which led me to meet my lovely partner(in love and friendship!) who taught me true understanding and support, and my little darling nice(my sister-in-law's little girl) would have never shown me a type of unconditional esteem and trust i had never imagined could exist between two beings.
thank you!
just a little thank you to the blog entry which made me think back today.
on alistair's blog
it was the first picture which took me right back to being a teenager,
‘path of puberty’ went through my mind.
when the scary thought rises that being a girl is not
done by simply wearing a dress and having long hair.
you discover parts and (monthly) processes you were not aware of
before. feeling shame, trying to hide it, but thinking
everyone can see in your face whats going on.
then the door at the end..when you understand that the
path you walked was a privilege and you step through
having become a woman.
i love art when it gets you to places you won’t even
dream of anymore…
take care!
public footpath..
point of view
what i find interesting on my daily adventure is how we all tend to perceive things one way or the other.
where the cause is identical, still responses vary.
weight-loss is widely seen as a goal happily rewarded by respect and support.
the hard work is acknowledged.
but at what point does it go to far?
or at what point do we generally perceive it as 'gone to far'?
does it happen when envy sets in?
when we realize that even we couldn't do it better ourselves?
there is the health question too, yes, that is an understatement.
but in some cases opinions go as far as almost wishing for an unhealthy lifestyle, simply to pertain the 'image' they are used to, and all hard work and effort is reduced to obsession.
celebrities have a right to feel better about themselves.
if we find that hard to accept, we might have to re-focus our point of view.
ref.: stephen fry
bbc on Jay-Z
i must say, i am not the typical hip-hop, R'nB or Rap target market, but i do respect talent when i see it!
watched tonight on bbc1 - imagine feat. Jay-Z
and was really disappointed by the end.
usually bbc gets all the facts right, but in a way, mostly when the report is about any other than a 'proud to be British' artist in any kind or form, they always manage to leave a strange and bitter taste...
Jay-Z worked very hard to get to where he is right now, and coming from that background it is more likely to win the bloody lottery jackpot.
its hard enough, and you gotta work 10 times harder just to get half the success..
saying, he caused quite a stir at Glastonbury?? my [@$%&] spoon causes a stir in my cup!
he managed to raise the roof at an open air event! - open air! when the people jumped it was like the planet got resuscitated from a coma of ignorance and contempt.
times are changing and we should give those who really care to make a difference honest credit and gratitude, there are still only a few handfuls of those who ARE history, and if we make it seem like nothing because we can't bare the thread of acknowledging our own mediocrity then we are not worth of even becoming history ourselves.
its sad to see that the bbc seems to fear that thread.
i will keep watching, for the facts, and i think my mind is (still) clear and open enough to make up my own.
rappers are the true poets of our time and we should never underestimate or belittle the value of the message or the hard work behind it to get the message heard...
thank you..
that’s the atomic power of twitter…
take one infectious enthusiasm of an highly reputable and knowledgeable entity of showbiz on one side, sophisticated globally spread technology to unite and channel interest and affinities on the other, and well, there you have it..a bestseller enjoyed and celebrated by everyone.
if it weren’t for loved celebrities like Stephen and others, a fast growing interest of social technologies and ever developing IT geniuses, we wouldn’t be able to share the great works by brilliant writers all through the entire social community.
if the shrewd aim for profit of publishers means to cash in on the back of the hard earned popularity of publicly celebrated people, but at the same time gives everyone the chance to benefit from the content and the ability to widen their horizon and understanding of issues they were not even remotely interested in before, then – so be it.
its unfair to use quotes without the important value of authenticity.
a policy or terms of use may be suggested… to protect intellectual property, so if its not ’said’ it won’t be quoted.
but if the quote is genuine and true, it would be a shame to leave it off the book cover to prevent a sudden rise of sales.
the sudden rise of interest, and the acquired knowledge after consumption is far to valuable to the delicate scaffolding of our global society called common sense.
ref. blog entry by Stephen Fry
the importance of being mindful
Family ties had classified my 'religious background' as catholic, so in school when it came to the subject of 'religion' we were separated in catholic, evangelic and 'other'.
maybe to avoid cross-religion brainwashing.
or to maintain the brainwashing within a specific 'faith'.
or both - is my guess.
those belonging to the group - 'other' - had one hour of 'hanging out' or a so called "empty-hour".
i used to think of my lesson more as a bible-study.
as you wouldn't 'learn' about "religions", but you'd be taught whats written in the bible, and what it means - for Catholics, so you'd know what you are supposed to do as a 'proper' catholic.
well, more of what would happen to you if you don't.
it felt like, to have the questionable 'privilege' of getting to know Catholicism you HAD to be catholic, like an exclusive club where you make sure you are among same 'thinking' people, how very christian....keeping diversity strictly separate doesn't embody understanding and mutual respect for each other, now does it?
thank god that that's changing.
ok, now back to buddhism, whereas the basic principles are fairly straight forward and easy to grasp, it is an entire different task to live up to it in your everyday life, especially considering the diverse lifestyles in present times.
(..won't mention the credit crunch here, rather leave that to politicians for excuse purposes)
i used to think when you meditate you must maintain a 'thoughtless' mind.
kind of relaxing your neurons..
but knowing now, thinking like that seems really juvenile.
if you try to empty your mind, what happens is you actually contemplate 'emptiness', so you ARE still thinking.. and that is what its really all about.
you have to think things through to get a clear head.
we all can incorporate a little mindfulness to our daily stress...and make it seem less.
if we are conscious of what we create, consider others around us a bit more and just a little acknowledgment for events, even as banal as a car giving way, and the gesture of a thank-you-wave.
problem is: not everyone thinks the same, so you will always come across someone who won't be considerate and that really blows.
we all are very 'mindful' when we strike disappointment, we complain, we dwell, we blame, like there is no tomorrow...somehow everyone finds 'time' to focus their mind fully on aggravation.
the reason why being 'positive' seems such a struggle sometimes is that getting angry is just to easy, we never have to 'force' ourselves to get mad. it almost seems 'natural'.
but nevertheless we have the ability to be mindful.
to me mindfulness is just like water.
an element in your life you can utilize as lifesaving entity such as drinking water.
or comfort and pure joy as in a swimming pool or soothing bath.
though it takes effort to make it save to drink or gather enough to fill the bath.
uncontrolled however it will drag you away, and if you don't consist of the knowledge how to swim and there's no-one to help, drowning will be unavoidable.
But at the same time you can't do without it, you'd die of thirst.
thank you, and good night.
what a waste! or policy before trust?
ok, so i had the morning off today...
and when i got to my mac mini to check my mail i noticed that yet another has added me to their list of people to follow on twitter.
@milblogging or 'Military Blogs'
how intriguing i thought, as non of my interests or comments had anything to do that would even come close to anything 'military'.
well, i am aware a high number of twitters follow just about anyone - promotion - yes?
and having seen an add to interest people in becoming reservists in the RAF here in the UK, i thought, ok somebody is becoming desperate.
anyway, refusing to judge a book by its cover i thought, well then lets check the profile.
i ended up reading the blog entry on @milblogging's site.
here: Troops destroy beer in Iraq.
the entry displays a truck crushing beer cans left behind at the foreign compound, now occupied by the US Troop.
well, i get the policy about alcohol in a combat zone, but destruction?
why not give it to civilians?
or how about keeping it save until 'the fighting's over'?
i understand they should not consume alcohol, but i can't quite get the 'possess' part of the policy. Seems to me like lack of 'trust'.
making sure the beer is destroyed to even avoid temptation?
don't soldiers have the discipline and strength to withstand that kind of temptation?
i think its a question of trust, at the expense of good beer going to waste.
it just shows that policy has no room for faith, trust or consideration for the healthy level of common sense and understanding a good soldier should naturally possess...
personally i don't support fighting as a solution for any issues or differences,
but i understand a soldier has to do a job like we all have to, and as long as politics endorse conflict, somebody has to do the job to deal with the consequences.
but if even set policies seem to discount respect and belief in the people they are intended to protect and guide, than - to me - the whole idea of 'combat to protect all' doesn't seem right.
it is a job nevertheless and i respect anyone simply doing their job.
there is a compromise in everything we do - every day.
and we all have choices.
it would be a perfect world if we all would always choose the right thing to do, but in reality this world is simply not perfect, and we all learn at one point or another to deal with it.
thank you...
IQ - natural, or depending on personal inerest?
i believe i consist of a healthy level of common sense.
but in general i never thought of myself as highly intelligent.
average i thought.
i love puzzles and used to enjoy maths at school.
so maybe in some ways i have an interest in solving logical problems.
could that interest be a motivation to my intelligence?
and those considered 'less clever' or daft, might it just be the lack of interest
and motivation regarding logical solutions?
how about an IQ on flower arranging or fashion?
in my opinion a standard IQ test simply determines your ability in solving logical problems.
but it is seen as a measurement for general intelligence, which seems unfair to others who are simply not interested in logic or solving number puzzles.
for example, i am absolutely useless in gardening... it doesn't automatically reduces me to the level of utter daftness in general.
so, why do we consider people less intelligent (in general) who score a lower IQ than others?
just for the simple fact that they can't care less about numbers or logical problem solving?
just as i can't care less about flowers or plants..
i guess if there will be a balanced test for everybody consisting of questions covering
all possible levels and interests anyone could have, we would all score average.
anyway, if you like logic questions and numbers you might as well try the test i did.
my IQ score of 156 however just represents my interest and affinity for logical problems
and solving puzzles in that genre..
Free-IQTest.net - Free IQ Tests
..but please, don't ask me the name of the latest fashion designer or when to harvest apples, as those questions would make me seem rather 'unintelligent' ;-)
