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Glimpse of a Glimmer: Look for shit |
Category: Articles 32 comments 8 Mar 2010 @ 09:07 by niwalen : OK."Shit happens", as they said in California in the 70s. Lol. But one can look at the world without hate. It´s a question of AWARENESS. Call me a realist when I describe the current situation of the world, NOT a "negative" person! Lol. Besides it´s easy not to "go looking" for shit these days; just open your television! You´ve got it right there, while you eat your spaghettis! And please take into account that it is possible to be aware of both at the same time : the beauty and the love AND the sheer amount of bloody SHIT! Both are the sides of the same coin that is... reality. If you think that the world is all roses just because you THINK so, you´re in for a nasty surprise!... 8 Mar 2010 @ 09:55 by scotty : wallowing in it ! couldn't agree more Niwalen ... As long as we deny that there is evil in the world and insist on only seeing ourselves as saints we'll remain powerless to transform ourselves and the world as well. Being aware of it though doesn't mean that one has to dive in over ones head and wallow in it ! Wearing rose coloured glasses won't make it look any prettier either - not to mention doing nothing for the smell ! "And please take into account that it is possible to be aware of both at the same time" - yep one has to find balance and not fall into extremes .. nothing is black or white .. one has to find centeredness and then we won't collaps into a helpless heap when the world comes toppling on our heads ! It's strange - we seldom question the fact that ugliness and evil are to be found in the world .... but we're never quite as ready to accept that life also offers unlimited beauty and potential for joy as well as endless opportunities for pleasure.... a question of focus perhaps ? If shit is the only thing we 'choose' to look at and focus upon ( seeking out every negative article one can find on the internet about all that's wrong in the world for example ) then we can't see the beauty - we can't smell the roses .. yup we've got to see the world with both eyes - and perhaps focalise on the world with the the third one !  8 Mar 2010 @ 10:17 by susannahbe : Thoughts I think that this was a point I was trying to make with this post of mine back in November: THURSDAY: "Neighbours leave freshly dug vegetables on our doorstep, the compost bin we gave them will help in next years crop. Root vegetables chopped in chunks ready for a dinnertime stew. The beautiful trees sway against the clear blue sky. Birds queue on the fence waiting for me to scatter seed. The church bells chime the hour." THOUGHTS: What would my world look like if there was no internet, no media? If all I knew of the world was what I saw in my own life, outside my own window, in my own garden, in my own village with my own neighbours. How would my perceptions alter if it was all just based on what I actually knew from my own environment. How about you? Would it be a different world for you? I agree that the internet opens up our world and I wouldn't be without it and TV has some amazing programmes and documentaries that introduce us to wonderful stuff I have never seen. But the point I was trying to make in what I wrote above was - what if you didn't have access to all this 'news' going on elsewhere (usually only negative news is reported) and you just judged the state of the world from your own physical experience! and what you saw every day in your own life - no newspapers, no tv. Would the world seem a different place? If there was anything you could see that needed fixing, it would be right there and you would have the power to do something about it, rather than watching fear inducing stuff that is transmitted through some media. If everyone dealt with what was in their immediate environment, plus seeing and appreciating the rich beauty of the everyday things around them it would seem to be a different place. Do you see what I mean? I understand what you say scotty about the crappy news sites online and in the popular media but they are so popular! I see the headlines on some best selling magazines when queing in the supermarket and think oh my goodness, who wants to read that - but people do, they are best sellers. None of these things would exist if they didn't have an audience. 8 Mar 2010 @ 10:52 by scotty : re: thoughts Vive the Internet .. for me it's an invaluable source - don't know what I'd do without it ! As you say - the internet and TV too has some amazing programmes etc .. and clearly you're 'selective' about what you want to watch . I imagine that you're also selective about what you eat - about who your friends are etc .. because what you surround yourself with has an important impact on how you live ... no ? Being selective doesn't mean denying the existance of 'undesirable' things that also make up life .. it isn't about being judgemental ! To love only the bright and the pretty and nice and the worthy is to limit ourselves to our tiny perceptions of things.. percieving the dark side can be valuable in that it's helpful in reminding us that we are both ! We choose - select - the kind of world we want to live in ;-D “Life has a bright side and a dark side, for the world of relativity is composed of light and shadows. If you permit your thoughts to dwell on evil, you yourself will become ugly. Look only for the good in everything so you absorb the quality of beauty.” ~ Yogananda 8 Mar 2010 @ 11:12 by susannahbe : Yes all sides are important otherwise you would not be seeing the whole. As Niwalen said - "it is possible to be aware of both at the same time". Duality exists but maybe it is possible to view things from above that, from wholeness, in a way that encompasses it all? I think that an excellent point that you made Scotty is about being 'selective'. That is what it boils down to - In the midst of everything WE have the choice of where our attention is placed and focused. "What we see depends mainly on what we look for." ~John Lubbock "When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." ~Friedrich Nietzche "No matter where you go or what you do, you live your entire life within the confines of your head." ~Terry Josephson . 8 Mar 2010 @ 13:33 by scotty : view things from above Love that ! Yes ! I especially like the quote "When you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you." ~Friedrich Nietzche I wonder though if some people 'need' or feel driven into staring into the abyss all the time ... ... reminds me of the old story about a man walking along the street - he was obviously in a lot of pain . When asked why he was suffering so he replied that it was because of the shoes he was wearing !!! Turns out that he always wore shoes that were a couple of sizes too small for him !! When asked why he would want to do this to himself all the time he replied that although he was suffering now - when he took the shoes off he'd have the pleasure of feeling incredible relief ! To each his 'bliss' eh !  8 Mar 2010 @ 17:32 by niwalen : It´s a difficult balance... We´re aware of so many things that we wouldn´t if we hadn´t TV and the Internet, for example. That´s true. It takes a special sort of "sifting through" everything that touches our awareness, like some hygienic routine every day to clean the inside of the head as we brush our teeth, lol! (Yes, I do that.) And yes, I also choose my TV programmes, select what I eat, and my friends and what touches my mind, - not in any fanatic way you know (that´s another possible risk, to become a "cleanliness" fanatic!) - but just to keep a balance, and stay grounded. Some people are simply not prepared to withstand the assault of so many bad news, and may go slightly cuckoo. Science is way out there, and if the mind stays behind in the nineteeth century, then we may get a lot of pain, half of it not being even ours! - I would recommend getting in touch with Nature again, just go Internet-free for a while, and put one´s nose at the level of some grass...Feel the sun, or the cold, or the rain. Get into touch with the real world again. Yeah. 8 Mar 2010 @ 19:58 by scotty : difficult balance soooo true - especially for one who perhaps feels alone and isolated. Getting back in touch with nature is a wonderful remedy ! There's nothing like being cradled in the healing arms of mother nature .. earth is where we belong - she is our home - she is where we go to and where we come from - she allows us to expand and grow and become strong. Maybe one could find or even create some kind of ceremony or something to help find a way to become closer to this 'energy' of life .. doesn't have to be complicated I don't think .. whatever 'feels' right ! Maybe just lying on the ground ... "putting ones nose at the level of some grass" sounds perfect to me ;-) "clean the inside of the head as we brush our teeth" .. I just LOVE that idea .. WOW ! I can see how it really would work .. thankyou for sharing that - funny but I feel it's really important - the working on ourselves even in the small intime things of everyday living ! Doesn't have to be complicated at all - and it can be FUN ! I love your quirks (quarks ! LOL ) Niwalen - you must be more than a little interesting to live with !!! hihihi 8 Mar 2010 @ 20:07 by susannahbe : balance yes, nature will always put us back in balance - lay on the ground or sit under a tree and let your energy attune to natures energy. :-) 9 Mar 2010 @ 02:33 by a-d : here's a positive thing we all can do! [link] been clicking now for almost a year... and the stories are Heart warming! 9 Mar 2010 @ 07:16 by scotty : positive thing !! that's great A-d ( one can find something similar on the care2.com site ) no act is too small ... like the butterfly wing theory !! "Power is the ability to do good things for others." ~ Brooke Astor 9 Mar 2010 @ 15:35 by niwalen : Actually... I´m a dragon! ;-) (I would put a gif here but alas, don´t know how, tee hee) ****************************************************************************** will this do ? 
or perhaps you prefer something a bit more 'tribal'  10 Mar 2010 @ 09:39 by niwalen : Hahahaha ...Or this ?  10 Mar 2010 @ 09:40 by niwalen : Thank you, Scotty! See? I could do it ! ;-) 10 Mar 2010 @ 09:46 by scotty : oh WOW! That is one COOL dragon you got there !!!!! I like the way his ( her?) tail seems to almost be stretching off like that hmmm makes me think a little bit of 'as above so below' .. as if the head and the tail are two entities at each end of the body - the body looks like a spiral ... a sort of elongated yin yang ! ( hmm seems like I don't just see things in clouds lol ) 10 Mar 2010 @ 10:24 by niwalen : I wanted it ...grey, not black, that´s what I asked the chief-tatoo man (one of the best of Argentina, they told me). It´s a "wyvern", a water-dragon, and it represents the energy of the water of deeper consciousness. The star is a "rose des vents", you know, like a compass, also like the eight directions (north,south, etc). Also, the Star of Dharma, and the Eight Noble Truths (I´m not a Buddhist, but a Druid). The star was the first thing I had done, ("just to try, OK?") - because I´m not really very courageous when it comes to physical pain, and since it was mostly OK, I had the dragon drawn up. We all have tattoos in the family, I was the last one...The matriarch of the family without her dragon ? Unthinkable!! I wanted a water-dragon to represent emotions and Life (The Moon in Scorpio, ouch!), there is quite enough fire in my soul, thank you very much, hahaha! (Earth of my body and Air of my mind) This year, I have an idea of joining the Dragon and the Star, and am drawing ways of doing that. It´s really fun to have this in summer, because I´m not really your youthful rebel, I´m 63 and I look it - but I can see smiles sometimes...;-) 10 Mar 2010 @ 11:05 by scotty : a "wyvern" ! A water dragon - didn't know they existed !! ( just water snakes LOL ) Water - yes really important stuff eh - from many standpoints ! It's beautiful ( must have hurt a bit though ) I think you're dead right to have wanted it done in grey - much softer - more play with the 'substance' of it ! Hope you'll show us what it looks like once you've finished the final touches ! Not surprised that you draw smiles when you're out and about - hmm ok you're maybe not really a youthful rebel .. but you sure are quite a 'remarkable' woman ! "I'm 63 and I look it" ... Felicitations ! I'll soon be catching up with you and am looking forward to it ! I'd much better be a wrinkled ( laughter lined ! ) page in a book that's full of my lifes story than a pristine blank one LOL ! The Wrinkled Coconuts "I had my new passport processed one afternoon recently. Later on that day at home, I laid two of my old passports and the new one side by side on my bed, all open to the first page where all the important information and photos are shown. I looked at the oldest photo that was taken about 14 years ago. What an antique, I thought. I was looking at the photo of an innocent girl, with no fancy earrings, untouched by sophisticated moisture booster 'anti-gravity cream' (why bother as my skin at that time was smoother than a baby's bum anyway). The word 'bule' meant nothing to me but a lack of pigmentation. Racism, sexism and knowledge of the White-Headhunter Society whose female members are mushrooming in the city's bars now, just didn't exist in my mind. Then I looked at my second photo, that was taken when Soeharto and his family seemed to have more power than God. My best years, I thought. The girl in the photo appeared to have no worries; she was a fearless, confident person who had no idea yet how to change a soiled diaper. A girl in her prime - eager to unfold any of life's dangerous mysteries: wisdom, stupidity, love and the wonders of mini pills. Then I stared at my third photo that had been taken that morning. No, I don't want to talk about the way I looked. It almost made me sob uncontrollably. The bloody cream obviously didn't work. Who would be stupid enough to buy a facial cream called 'Anti Gravity' anyway? An idiot who's in denial that she's over thirty maybe - just like me. I think walking upside down could be a more tangible anti-gravity effort. That would've worked better, why didn't I think about that before I bought the cream? While one line below the eyes is probably the end of the world for some women, a million lines in a deeply wrinkled face just adds character for guys. To overcome their fear of aging men can say whatever they want, things like 'one more wrinkle is just another inch of added vitality'. There is actually one local saying: 'Makin tua kelapanya, makin kental santannya'. The translation is pretty disgusting: 'The older the coconut, the thicker and nicer the coconut milk it produces.' Get it? Thicker milk? And why is there no local saying that is as reassuring as that for women? Something like, hmm. Prozac? Sorry, I couldn't come up with anything. Talking about aging processes, queuing to get your fingerprints taken at Jakarta's immigration office definitely qualifies as a long and torturous aging process. Well, the morning I went I was lucky enough to be standing in a queue. To avoid boredom, I pretended to be interested in the fingerprinting that was happening in front of me. On top of a long wooden table in the corner of the room laid a stack of papers which people should roll their black smudged fingers onto. Beside the papers was a big pad fully submerged with blackish thick tar-like goo, and at the end of the table was a piece of grayish rag that smelled like kerosene and gasoline, used to wipe the ink from your fingers. The officer behind a computer called the name of the lady queuing before me. The middle-aged lady was accompanied by two of her assistants. One looked like a black-belt karate-expert bodyguard, and the other assistant was a lady whose sole job was to carry a box of wet tissue, to wipe the black smudge off the obviously rich lady's fingers. "Goodness, I can't believe it!" whispered the immigration officer who was sitting beside me. His eyes focused on some numbers on the computer screen. "Do you know that the lady in front of you is already 63 years old? She doesn't look it, don't you agree? She looks more like a 40-year-old Pamela Anderson look alike," the officer mumbled to me. My eyes darted to the screen in front of him. I read: Mrs. X, born 1939. And Mister nosy officer was right - the lady looked way younger than 63., She could have been my twin sister. When my fingerprinting torture was over I, a common peasant, was ushered to the next room to have my photo taken. The camera that the immigration officers used was directly connected to the computer beside it, so they could instantly edit and print the photos to be used on the passport. "Ooh, look at my face on the computer screen! That is so dreadful. I want you to take my photo again. Wait a minute," screamed the 63-year-old lady. She looked so stressed watching her face on the computer screen. She quickly took a compact of magic powder from her bag, dabbed her face with it, and sprayed her powdered face with some 'youthful fountain in a bottle'. Then she toppled a young girl, who was already sitting on the photo chair ready to have her photo taken. The rude lady occupied the then empty chair, smiled as careful as possible so not to have any cracks appear on her face and screamed: 'Aaah, that's better!' after she saw the results on the screen. I was so furious watching her typical selfish attitude that I was close to ripping off her black-bluish wig, which was carefully placed to cover her hairline. Get it? Hairline and face-tightening surgical scar? What is it with women and the need to look young? I remember running into Shirley, an Indonesian girl from my hometown, a few months ago. She was married to a Caucasian guy 15 years her senior because she thought he had the biggest you-know-what she'd ever seen. But especially because he was much older than her, that gave her an ego boost. I said to her one evening," Remember Shirley, in the past when we were probably still attending Junior High School ." I couldn't finish my sentence because Shirley quickly cut in: "O, but darling, I'm 3 years younger than you, remember? I wouldn't have a clue about the old days that you want to talk about ." Does being younger make some women feel superior? I looked again at the passport photo of a 32-year-old girl who stared back at me. I said to myself, "Believe me girl, when I'm 63, I want to look like I'm 63." ~ Aida 10 Mar 2010 @ 12:03 by susannahbe : Niwalen! I love the tattoos - but just as much, I love the symbolism of them - "it represents the energy of the water of deeper consciousness." - just wonderful. "I wanted a water-dragon to represent emotions and Life (The Moon in Scorpio, ouch!), there is quite enough fire in my soul, thank you very much, hahaha! (Earth of my body and Air of my mind)" Moon in Scorpio - what a perfect tattoo for that! I love all this talk - just my type of thing! Beautiful images - symbolism - deeper consciousness - emotions and life - and some astrology too! Thanks Niwalen, I loved seeing and hearing all of this. :-) 10 Mar 2010 @ 18:13 by niwalen : :-) Susannah - Thanks for your kind words, they made my day! Scotty, oh yes, this writing, right up my alley! Lol. 10 Mar 2010 @ 18:39 by susannahbe : Tattoos Niwalen, I really look forward to seeing what you do to connect the two tattoos! Connecting the dragon and the star - I love the symbolism of that (thinking of the tarot symbolism of the star too.) Tarot - THE STAR - snippets about the star - The Star (or Daughter of the Firmament) is numbered seventeen and is probably the most optimistic and beautiful card in the deck. Stars have long been seen as symbols of hope, regeneration, vision and new life. Here is the truth about our power - we can join the solid earth of material existence with the flowing waters of spirit and create within ourselves a Universe. We have removed self-criticism and concentrated instead on our skills and strengths. When we regard ourselves with love, humour, tenderness and sympathy, we access the God and Goddess within and we are transformed. Rider Waite Tarot - The Star A great, radiant star of eight rays, surrounded by seven lesser stars--also of eight rays. The female figure in the foreground is entirely naked. Her left knee is on the land and her right foot upon the water. She pours Water of Life from two great ewers, irrigating sea and land. Behind her is rising ground and on the right a shrub or tree, whereon a bird alights. It has been said truly that the mottoes of this card are "Waters of Life freely" and "Gifts of the Spirit." Thanks for sharing your tattoos with us - I really look forward to seeing how you link them. :-) 12 Mar 2010 @ 07:56 by scotty : Niwalen !!!!!! I just found you some videos with some real live WYVERNS !!! [link] WOW they are soooo beautiful !! . 12 Mar 2010 @ 12:33 by niwalen : That´s "it"! Susannah: "we can join the solid earth of material existence with the flowing waters of spirit and create within ourselves a Universe." That´s exactly "it"! That´s why I want to join the two tattoos! :-D 12 Mar 2010 @ 12:37 by niwalen : Beautiful video For me the wyvern (La Vouivre) has to do with the Tarot card "The High Priestess" - the secret book of our real nature...;-) 12 Mar 2010 @ 17:40 by scotty : you ladies are a pleasure to read ! Thankyou so much for all the beauty that you bring here .. I feel like a little elf walking through the garden of your being ..  12 Mar 2010 @ 19:14 by niwalen : Scotty ...Did you paint that ? I can see you, little angel, down among the stems! ;-) Actually, I´d rather be with you down there than up on a cloud! ...*grin* 12 Mar 2010 @ 19:59 by scotty : I wish LOL ! not quite up to that standard - YET ! heheheheh Gosh what big eyes you have grandma that you were able to spot me hidden there in the stems ;-D I agree with you - I'd rather be down there than up in the clouds any day ( unless there's a spider lurking around in the undergrowth of course !!! ) 12 Mar 2010 @ 20:47 by susannahbe : Scotty I really thought it was one of your paintings too! :-) Niwalen - The high priestess (the wyvern) joining with the Star! - beautiful!! :-) 13 Mar 2010 @ 05:41 by scotty : this is one of mine {  } Charle at his best LOL
Are you going to join your Wyvern and your star soon Niwalen - have you decided on a final design ? How about a DNA helix LOL .. 
or a crop circle [link] 13 Mar 2010 @ 12:33 by niwalen : Good idea I want to add the solar symbol (circle with a point in the middle), and something like you suggest, Scotty. Thanks for the idea! 14 Mar 2010 @ 10:15 by scotty : this wee white horse seems to be a fan of tattoos too !! 
heheheheh 14 Mar 2010 @ 10:31 by susannahbe : White horse :-) . . . isn't photoshop great! :-) 14 Mar 2010 @ 16:42 by niwalen : Be smart - Be DIFFERENT! Hahaha - good one! Other entries in Articles 6 Dec 2011 @ 13:45: The 3 symptoms of killing our dreams 18 Oct 2011 @ 05:36: We seem to be living in interesting times ! 17 Oct 2011 @ 09:01: The Four Agreements 30 Mar 2011 @ 08:41: Paulo Coelho's Blog 16 Mar 2011 @ 10:04: I just found myself a new hero ! 11 Dec 2010 @ 11:33: Christmas in Paris 5 Nov 2010 @ 14:32: Listen With Your Heart 5 Nov 2010 @ 14:26: People come into your life for a reason 8 Oct 2010 @ 05:01: The Awakening 6 Oct 2010 @ 15:13: Nature in yellow
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8 Mar 2010 @ 07:16, by Scotty