Saturday, June 23, 2012

On hanging upside down

Hallo everybody-

We have recently been watching a fantasy television series called the Game of Thrones, quite a good one, we certainly got sucked in, after being quite sceptical initially. The reason I mention this is because I had the kind of day in which I felt I had a little fire-spitting dragon on my shoulder, searing my brain with stupid unconstructive negative thoughts, and burning my eyes with the smoke. I kept throwing the little creature off, only to find him clinging on again like an angry lizard a few minutes later. 

I had a good presentation today, prepared with the help of my super trusty loved one, and although I was busy, it was a good day, things flowed well. Yet still this little monster by my ear would not let me be. Whispering doubts from the past, uncertainties from the future and generally spoiling the now.   I dressed for yoga with my eyes welling with tears, and was determined to go and do a good job of it, flinging this thing off me by swinging upside down long enough on the ropes.

I walked into Shilpa's courtyard where the people sat waiting and noticed that 4 of the ladies were wearing different shades of pink T-shirt, very pleasing. The chrysanthemums in the flower bed were a wonderful cerise pink too. Suddenly I had the feeling they were calling me. I was drawn to sit on my haunches beside them and look closely at their beauty. You guys are going to think I am going a bit balmy with all these stories of voices, but I am sure I heard them whispering to me, "Be gentle, be gentle, be gentle". Maybe it was a message from  the fairies living under their petal canopies.
I immediately relaxed, drawn into the natural world, feeling their wonder.

The baby dragon started giving cute little snores on my shoulder, and when he fell off as I was hanging upside down in the ropes, I gentle picked him up and carried him to the car. He was after all a reminder of my humanness, my vulnerability, my fallibility, my tendency to think too much, to worry in the early morning hours, to be jealous for no reason, to entertain unnecessary drama. I am a human and he is part of me, if I treat him gently and with compassion, he will be an asset, a teacher to me. He, too, holds a certain beauty.

Be gentle with yourselves, dear companions, and accept your imperfection, it is often this very vulnerability that makes us strong to live in this world.

Hi handsome, my name is Rose.

Thanks to my dear girlfriend from Windhoek who sent me this story. I don't know who wrote it, but would love to share it with all of you here. Thanks to the author for this great inspiration.

The first day of university our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.
I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, 'Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?'
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, 'Of course you may!' and she gave me a giant squeeze..
'Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?' I asked. 
She jokingly replied, 'I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids....'
'No seriously,' I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be  taking on this challenge at her age.
'I always dreamed of having a college education and  now I'm getting one!' she told me. After class we walked to the student union building  and shared a chocolate milkshake. 

We became instant friends.Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this 'time machine' as she shared her wisdom  and experience with me.Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she  easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she revelled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up. 

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on  the floor.

Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, 'I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me!  I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.'
As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, ' We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.. 

There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy,  and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humour every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.  

We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!  

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.  

Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets. 

The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets..' 

She concluded her speech by courageously singing  'The Rose.' 
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those months ago. 

One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you  can possibly be. 

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a living by what we get. We make a Life by what we give.

Dear friends, I am remembering today that if I take good care of myself and give from my abundance, I can never give too much. And what i give, comes back in ways better than my wildest dreams.





Thursday, June 21, 2012

On the solstice and stilettos

Hallo everybody! I can't believe that half this year has gone already. It is the longest day, the day of the summer solstice. Through history it has had many associations, rituals and traditions attached to it. I believe that the Scandinavians use it as an excellent excuse to party as only they can. So, it is a time to be joyful, to experience the warmth of the sun and your friends, laugh well, and bask in God's magnificence.

It is known as 'All Couples' day. So if you are in a loving liaison, it is a good time to give thanks for that love and renew the bonds of love in any way you would like- for me a lovely kiss did it! Enjoy the company of your loved one, physically or in your thoughts.

If you are single, it is an auspicious time to renew your commitment to calling your true love to you. On a higher level it is a day to focus on seeing the Creator in all things and renew your commitment to any higher power or  source of Divine Love you believe in.

I have been so wrapped up in my physical tasks, especially at work- setting exams, invigilating, marking, going to meeting and workshops- that  I have definitely been feeling a bit swamped. In these situations, I find that I allow the pressure to affect my inherent happiness. I woke up one morning with a pounding heart, my to-do list cramped into my head, running over and over like a stuck record. I had backed myself mentally into a little corner.

The usual morning fear is quite a challenge as it is, and this was really quite difficult. I just wanted to pull the blanket over my head and pretend I didn't exist. I don't know who or what it was (I certainly can't take credit for it!) but there came a soft yet clear voice through the fog,
"It is possible to be really busy and really joyful at the same time".
With the words decended peace and a huge archway opened in front of me, and I went to the shower with a smile.

That evening at work we paid tribute to our Academic Director who is leaving us to join her husband in Shanghai. She is a Swiss physicist, and is what I would describe as a workaholic in the best sense of the word. A person who is interested and committed to making a difference at every level of the organisation and who is willing to put in all the hours and energy it takes to bring her visions to fruition. She has time for each person and each issue, and has a way of cutting through the unnecessary crap with agility. No matter how many emails, no matter how many phone calls or meetings or hurdles, or even minor catastrophes, I never once heard her complain or say she was tired. As I was listening to her farewell address, I thought that this lady was certainly a role model to me. In fact, she really does live the maxim that I had been told in such unequivocal words that very morning.

Another quality of hers I admire, is her ability to wear really high-heeled stiletto shoes, and make them look really elegant and comfortable. I doubt I would ever be able to do that!

On this 21st day of June, the day of letting go of the old and taking on new energy, I am sure that my director won't mind if I share with you this quote from her memorable farewell speech:

"We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love... and then we return home"

Australian Aboriginal.


Sunday, June 17, 2012

Golden droplets on the canvas of eternity



I am sitting quietly in my purple room playing over the images of the this lovely restful long weekend in my mind. I am saying a prayerful thank you for each moment. It was so normal, nothing exciting happened at all. We went swimming in the sea in the evenings, we put my portable pool up outside, we watched television programmes of our choice and napped and cooked delicious food and surfed the net, finding answers to questions coming up in conversation. I felt as though I had a chance to catch up a little on my life.

On Wednesday in the late afternoon, we went down to the sea, to our usual place of the fishing boats resting like great hippos on the beach and the street lamps guarding us and peace descending at the call to prayer. We were quite silent, enjoying the water which is now lukewarm bath temperature. I turned my head to look at my loved one and in that moment a small wave broke against him, sending small splashes of foamy water into the air. These pearls of liquid caught the sunlight, became golden and crystalised against the sky. His chest glistened and around his head and torso these luminescent drops became a kind of halo and this moment froze in time.

This timeless spaceless image will be etched in my mind always.

Later in the weekend, we were clearing the area under the carport and moving the furniture to put up the pool, when I noticed the bell hanging down over the table. This is a camel bell from Pushkar in Rajastan, from a very different era of my life.  I hung it there to regularly wake myself up on a soul level when I am sitting in that spot.

 The sound I associate with that 'freezeframe' picture in the sea, is the crystal-clear cling of a Buddhist bell, pulling me sharply into the present. It reminds me that every mundane, seemingly-routine moment of my everyday life  is sacred; they all contain magic and ripples of blessings.

Although my senses are sometimes dulled and my intuition not switched on, and I put junk in my body and swear at the motorists, it is times like these that remind me not to take one single miracle for granted.
Dear friend, may you find the split second of quiet between your thoughts today, and know within that every moment is a gift to be cherished.






"There are two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."
~ Albert Einstein