“Without you, the universe is not pretty.” Yogi tea.
Shell Magic
Do you remember your very first visit at a beach? Even the tiniest shell was an amazing treasure!
The years go by and tiny shells don”™t catch your attention anymore. These days they have to be big, beautiful ”“ perfect.
It”™s okay to be picky unless it extinguishes your flames of joy. The good and the bad news are: you are the boss of your break-even point of happiness!
Global Help
Merci to Ester for some Global Help!
“One day a monk fell down in the snow and cried out for help. Another monk came along and lay down beside him. The first monk got up and walked away.” Zen Koan
Happy Racing
It”™s been a hot summer day in a lovely park in Arcachon, France. The kids have fun racing around with these horse-cars over the racetrack. Except one.
Straight on was all fine, even in full speed. Changing directions suddenly was the complicated part. Since the horse-car has no steering wheel, the little boy did not know, how to give his journey the proper turn. Quick solution for him: stop-cry-SCREAM
Fast-forward: even many years later, some of us (sometimes) forget to take the reins in your own hands and consciously pull your life in the direction you want. Yes, steering is sometimes energy consuming but it is the best way to actively create your life. Happy racing!
Face the Wave
Enlightenments at the beach #2:
Waves (of life) come and go. What can you do?
- Face the wave.
- Prepare your-self for the impact, be conscious.
- Try to keep your balance.
On the next level, listen carefully to the world. Most waves announce themselves with some kind of noise… maybe one day you can just fly above them. Namaste
Keep on Moving
Enlightenments at the beach #1:
Let’s take these three components: water, earth and a human being.
- If you stand still at the beach while the waves (of life) come and go, you will sink softly into the sand.
- If you walk along the beach, the waves will erase your prints.
Conclusion: Keep on moving!
Be a Candle
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” Buddha
Cloudless
A poem I found at a wall, author (to me so far) unknown:
There should be more less for you in 2011.
The sky cloudless,
your heart carefree,
your luck wantless,
your guardian angel jobless,
your mind weightless,
your happiness limitless,
your love doubtless,
your work effortless and
the good times endless.
In German:
Im Jahr 2011 soll für Dich jede Menge los sein. Der Himmel wolkenlos, dein Herz sorglos, dein Glück wunschlos, dein Schutzengel arbeitslos, dein Gemüt schwerelos, deine Freude grenzenlos, deine Liebe zweifellos, deine Arbeit mühelos und die guten Zeiten endlos.
Jaron Lanier – Gadget
You are not a Gadget. A book by Jaron Lanier. Maybe it’s even a medical pill.
If you wonder why 500+ million people use facebook, why cloud computing (or even klout) is such a hype and why we still need intelligent individuals, then this pill is for you.
You have to be someone, before you can share something relevant.
Jaron made me think a lot about the “login effects” of life. The amount of data and information is increasing everyday. New network ports formerly known as human beings have to handle the fragmentation of _flat_ relationships; it’s never been easier to friend/ unfriend with a single mouse click.
You are not a Gadget. A Manifesto makes you reflect and re-think the patterns and networks around you. Be a real person, with your real character because your content is still king!
Thanks for the journey, Jaron!
Amazon.com You Are Not a Gadget: A Manifesto (Vintage)
Growing Up by Bar Refaeli
This is a guest post by Bar Refaeli. Bar’s Facebook Page.
Most of the time I still feel like a kid. But over the past year or so I”™ve really started to encounter some things that constitute the real beginnings of growing up. I think one of the biggest things that comes into your life as an adult, is learning how to deal with death. It is a very strong, very dark, very difficult thing to process. As a kid, and a teen death isn”™t something you have to deal with directly. You know about it, but in a very vague sense. I remember when I was 19, my Graddy passed away. It was the first family member that I was close to that died, but even at that age I didn”™t fully go through the motions of dealing with death. But just in this past year, it seems like death has found its way into a permanent place of my reality.
I”™ve never really been a fearful person. The biggest thing I”™m probably afraid of is the dentist, doctor”¦.you get the idea. But living in LA has definitely awakened my awareness of how dangerous the world actually is. Now I”™m a big stickler for not living in fear. I think that if you are constantly afraid and let that control the things you do and do not do, you will miss out on the most fulfilling things in life. But hearing about a young woman who was raped and killed less than two miles from your apartment, changes your perspective a little bit. And seeing on the news that a child was abducted in a gated community in a nice area, and reading in a magazine about a girl who was abducted and raped twice by two different men”¦ those things are scary. And they are real.
I also have a close friend, Ben Rom was a victim of cancer and he passed away 2 years. The word cancer is probably thrown around more than any other illness or disease there is, but its different when it happens to someone you know. It”™s different when its someone in your life who loses someone so important in theirs. But you know, of all the terrible things I”™ve just written, I think the hardest things I have ever had to live through is saying goodbye to my horse, Storm, who I”™ve had since I was 10 years old. Death has never been a more real and present aspect of my life until now. For those of you who aren”™t animal lovers or didn”™t grow up with pets, this may seem silly compared to a lot of other things. But honestly, that horse has been the only constant thing in my life that has never let me down, never hurt my feelings, never disappointed me, and never left me. I had a friendship with Storm that surpassed any other friendship I”™ve had. The reality that he is no longer breathing, or walking”¦ its a very difficult thing to live with.
But I guess growing up does that. It changes your perspective, it changes the order in which things matter, it changes what you value. But thankfully, the one thing that will never change, is that God is always here. In every moment, good times and hard times. Life and death”¦. God is in it all. And the peace that He brings me will get me through this life. I am so thankful for every blessing I have been given, whether they come in seasons or for a lifetime.