'The image is not an end in itself; it is a start.'
Mitry 1997
Wednesday 27 June 2007
Transformation
Green leaves enveloped her small form. The woods whispered gently around her face as her eyes peeped through delicate foliage. She had lived in the depths of the forest all her life. The earthy moist brown soil underfoot was familiar. Soft lime green moss was her bed at night.
Yet one day she had climbed the tallest tree, following a thread of white light upward. The bright shaft which penetrated the canopied forest led to a cloudless heaven. She wanted the freedom of a blue sky; to soar as high as a bird above the static forest; feel the warmth of the sun on her bare skin; breathe clear air that was endless.
As long as she believed her families ancestry she would never reach liberation. Her father and mother were dwellers of the forest. They had been told they could never leave. If so, they would lose themselves; madness and chaos would follow; they would grow old quickly and die. For centuries her family had remained in darkness. It was time to break free of these beliefs.
As dawn broke silently, spreading dappled light, all was quiet. She crept to the tallest tree and began to climb again. The leaves were holding her back, clawing at her body as she travelled upwards towards the sky.
26.06.07
Juliette Llewellyn (Fairytales)
Yet one day she had climbed the tallest tree, following a thread of white light upward. The bright shaft which penetrated the canopied forest led to a cloudless heaven. She wanted the freedom of a blue sky; to soar as high as a bird above the static forest; feel the warmth of the sun on her bare skin; breathe clear air that was endless.
As long as she believed her families ancestry she would never reach liberation. Her father and mother were dwellers of the forest. They had been told they could never leave. If so, they would lose themselves; madness and chaos would follow; they would grow old quickly and die. For centuries her family had remained in darkness. It was time to break free of these beliefs.
As dawn broke silently, spreading dappled light, all was quiet. She crept to the tallest tree and began to climb again. The leaves were holding her back, clawing at her body as she travelled upwards towards the sky.
26.06.07
Juliette Llewellyn (Fairytales)
Tuesday 26 June 2007
Six Tools For Happiness
Adapted from What Happy People Know, by Dan Baker, Ph.D. and Cameron Stauth (Rodale Press, 2003).
We all want to be happy, but most of us are trapped by ways of thinking and behaving that seem to keep us perpetually dissatisfied.
SIMPLE SOLUTION: But there are six simple tools that will help us to be truly, deeply happy. Find out what they are:
1. Appreciation. This is the first and most fundamental happiness tool. Appreciation is the purest, strongest form of love. It is the outward-bound kind of love that asks for nothing and gives everything. Research now shows that it is physiologically impossible to be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time. Thus, appreciation is the antidote to fear.
2. Choice. Choice is the father of freedom and the voice of the heart. Having no choices, or options, feels like being in jail. It leads to depression, anxiety, and the condition called learned helplessness. Choice can even govern perception. Anyone can choose the course of their lives, but only happy people do it.
3. Personal power. This is the almost indefinable proactive force, similar to character, that gives you power over your feelings and power over your fate. Personal power has two components: taking responsibility and taking action. It means realizing that your life belongs to you and you alone, and then doing something about it. Personal power keeps you from being a victim.
4. Leading with your strengths.When you give in to the automatic fear reaction, it makes you focus on your weaknesses, which only reinforces your fear. But when you take the path of the intellect and spirit, you naturally begin to focus on your strengths--and start to solve your situation. People often think that fixing their weaknesses will save them, but it rarely works. It’s just too painful. Leading with your strengths feels good, and that’s why it works. Simple but true.
5. The power of language and stories. We don’t describe the world we see--we see the world we describe. Language, as the single most fundamental force of the human intellect, has the power to alter perception. We think in words, and these words have the power to limit us or to set us free; they can frighten us or evoke our courage. Similarly, the stories we tell ourselves about our own lives eventually become our lives. We can tell healthy stories or horror stories. The choice is ours.
6. Multidimensional living. There are three primary components of life: relationships, health and purpose (which is usually work). Many people, though, put all their energy into just one area. The most common choice is work, because work best assuages our survival fears of not having enough and not being enough. Other people become obsessed with relationships (because relationship is another word for love), and some people limit their lives in the name of longevity. None of this works. Happiness comes from a full life
We all want to be happy, but most of us are trapped by ways of thinking and behaving that seem to keep us perpetually dissatisfied.
SIMPLE SOLUTION: But there are six simple tools that will help us to be truly, deeply happy. Find out what they are:
1. Appreciation. This is the first and most fundamental happiness tool. Appreciation is the purest, strongest form of love. It is the outward-bound kind of love that asks for nothing and gives everything. Research now shows that it is physiologically impossible to be in a state of appreciation and a state of fear at the same time. Thus, appreciation is the antidote to fear.
2. Choice. Choice is the father of freedom and the voice of the heart. Having no choices, or options, feels like being in jail. It leads to depression, anxiety, and the condition called learned helplessness. Choice can even govern perception. Anyone can choose the course of their lives, but only happy people do it.
3. Personal power. This is the almost indefinable proactive force, similar to character, that gives you power over your feelings and power over your fate. Personal power has two components: taking responsibility and taking action. It means realizing that your life belongs to you and you alone, and then doing something about it. Personal power keeps you from being a victim.
4. Leading with your strengths.When you give in to the automatic fear reaction, it makes you focus on your weaknesses, which only reinforces your fear. But when you take the path of the intellect and spirit, you naturally begin to focus on your strengths--and start to solve your situation. People often think that fixing their weaknesses will save them, but it rarely works. It’s just too painful. Leading with your strengths feels good, and that’s why it works. Simple but true.
5. The power of language and stories. We don’t describe the world we see--we see the world we describe. Language, as the single most fundamental force of the human intellect, has the power to alter perception. We think in words, and these words have the power to limit us or to set us free; they can frighten us or evoke our courage. Similarly, the stories we tell ourselves about our own lives eventually become our lives. We can tell healthy stories or horror stories. The choice is ours.
6. Multidimensional living. There are three primary components of life: relationships, health and purpose (which is usually work). Many people, though, put all their energy into just one area. The most common choice is work, because work best assuages our survival fears of not having enough and not being enough. Other people become obsessed with relationships (because relationship is another word for love), and some people limit their lives in the name of longevity. None of this works. Happiness comes from a full life
Wednesday 20 June 2007
ONCE UPON A TIME....
...the golden sun shone brightly over a white sand beach. The deep blue sea swashed gently to shore as the clear frothy waves lapped at the edge. Seagulls nested in the tall, grey, jagged coastal cliffs and swooped daily through the salty air. Deep rock pools glistened as the rays caught their still waters, full of anemone’s, myriads of pink shells and yellow starfish. It was a calm place full of nature and excitement. Each day the sands would shift as the moon would exert its force on the tides whilst treading its way through the dark star-lit sky by night.
Juliette Llewellyn (Fairytales)
Juliette Llewellyn (Fairytales)
Take That: The Wisdom Of......
'My heart is numb, has no feeling
So while I'm still healing
Just try and have a little patience.'
Patience
'Don't let your demons pull you down
'Cause you can have it all, you can have it all'
Shine
'Don't be so hard on yourself
It's not good for your health
I know that you can change
So clear your head and come round
You only have to open your eyes
You might just get a big surprise
And it may feel good and you might want to smile, smile, smile.'
Shine
So while I'm still healing
Just try and have a little patience.'
Patience
'Don't let your demons pull you down
'Cause you can have it all, you can have it all'
Shine
'Don't be so hard on yourself
It's not good for your health
I know that you can change
So clear your head and come round
You only have to open your eyes
You might just get a big surprise
And it may feel good and you might want to smile, smile, smile.'
Shine
Monday 18 June 2007
ZooNation 'Into the Hoods'
Enjoy clips of this urban fairytale based on musical Into The Woods! Switch off my blog music first though - pink mp3 player on right of page X
More on ZooNation in My Interesting Links
Wednesday 13 June 2007
Calming Our Troubled Hearts
Adapted from Silence, How to Find Inner Peace in a Busy World, by Christina Feldman (Rodale Press, 2001).
We cannot be at peace with anything or contribute to a peaceful world unless we understand what it means to calm our own troubled hearts. Opening to our struggles with a generous heart and facing our life just as it is are the first and last steps in spiritual practice.
SIMPLE SOLUTION: The price of peace is the willingness to be still and present within ourselves. To calm our own heart and unlearn the habit of self-abandonment is the beginning of the process.
Peace is not the absence of the challenging, disturbing, or unsettling. Peace is born of our heartfelt willingness to greet the encounters and experiences of our inner and outer world, without prejudice, resistance, or fear. We learn to live in a way in which we have no enemies to struggle with and no battles to win. The challenges that come to us we no longer perceive as threats to free from, but as invitations to learn the lessons of peacemaking.
Throughout time, in all traditions and communities, countless people have trained themselves in the art of peace. The people of the past and present who have most profoundly changed the world and who stand as beacons of hope and compassion for us have all been deeply challenged, threatened, and tested in their lives.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Julian of Norwich, and Mother Teresa, to mention just a few of the mystics and dissidents of our world, have all been asked to understand the nature of peace and freedom. They have educated themselves in the universities of bigotry, tragedy, and terror. Their classrooms have been in slums and prison cells, in the midst of oppression and deprivation.
Each one of them has without doubt been asked to make a deep inner journey to understand the causes of war and peace. If we treasure and long for peace, we too are asked to make this journey and to learn from the university of our lives. We discover that peace is not a destination to be reached but a way of living, relating, speaking, and being.
We cannot be at peace with anything or contribute to a peaceful world unless we understand what it means to calm our own troubled hearts. Opening to our struggles with a generous heart and facing our life just as it is are the first and last steps in spiritual practice.
SIMPLE SOLUTION: The price of peace is the willingness to be still and present within ourselves. To calm our own heart and unlearn the habit of self-abandonment is the beginning of the process.
Peace is not the absence of the challenging, disturbing, or unsettling. Peace is born of our heartfelt willingness to greet the encounters and experiences of our inner and outer world, without prejudice, resistance, or fear. We learn to live in a way in which we have no enemies to struggle with and no battles to win. The challenges that come to us we no longer perceive as threats to free from, but as invitations to learn the lessons of peacemaking.
Throughout time, in all traditions and communities, countless people have trained themselves in the art of peace. The people of the past and present who have most profoundly changed the world and who stand as beacons of hope and compassion for us have all been deeply challenged, threatened, and tested in their lives.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama, Julian of Norwich, and Mother Teresa, to mention just a few of the mystics and dissidents of our world, have all been asked to understand the nature of peace and freedom. They have educated themselves in the universities of bigotry, tragedy, and terror. Their classrooms have been in slums and prison cells, in the midst of oppression and deprivation.
Each one of them has without doubt been asked to make a deep inner journey to understand the causes of war and peace. If we treasure and long for peace, we too are asked to make this journey and to learn from the university of our lives. We discover that peace is not a destination to be reached but a way of living, relating, speaking, and being.
Tuesday 12 June 2007
Don't Go Back To Sleep
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you
Don't go back to sleep
You must ask for what you really want
Don't go back to sleep
People are going back and forth across the door sill where the two worlds touch
The door is round and open
Don't go back to sleep
Rumi, 13th C
Don't go back to sleep
You must ask for what you really want
Don't go back to sleep
People are going back and forth across the door sill where the two worlds touch
The door is round and open
Don't go back to sleep
Rumi, 13th C
Memoir Of Madness (08/19/1990)
Video by author William Styron (Sophie's Choice / Darkness Visible) on his experience of depression. Its helpful listening....
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid245988676/bclid298680729/bctid298676211
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid245988676/bclid298680729/bctid298676211
Sunday 10 June 2007
You Must Believe In Spring
When lonely feelings chill the meadow of your mind,
Just think if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
Beneath the deepest snows, the secrets of a rose
Is merely that it knows you must believe in spring!
Just as a tree is sure its leaves will reappear,
It knows its emptiness is just a time of year,
The frozen mountain dreams of Aprils melting streams,
How crystal clear it seems, you must believe in spring!
You must believe in love and trust it’s on its way.
Just as the sleeping rose awaits the kiss of May,
So in a world of snow, of things that come and go,
Where what you think you know, you can’t be certain of,
You must believe in spring and love!
Micheal Legrand...
is a French composer, arranger, conducter and pianist. In the early 1950's, Legrand was one of the first Europeans to work with legendary jazz innovators Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davies, John Coltrane, Stan Getz and Bill Evans.
Just think if winter comes, can spring be far behind?
Beneath the deepest snows, the secrets of a rose
Is merely that it knows you must believe in spring!
Just as a tree is sure its leaves will reappear,
It knows its emptiness is just a time of year,
The frozen mountain dreams of Aprils melting streams,
How crystal clear it seems, you must believe in spring!
You must believe in love and trust it’s on its way.
Just as the sleeping rose awaits the kiss of May,
So in a world of snow, of things that come and go,
Where what you think you know, you can’t be certain of,
You must believe in spring and love!
Micheal Legrand...
is a French composer, arranger, conducter and pianist. In the early 1950's, Legrand was one of the first Europeans to work with legendary jazz innovators Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davies, John Coltrane, Stan Getz and Bill Evans.
Friday 8 June 2007
Wednesday 6 June 2007
Gayda Solo
Beautiful to listen.....switch off my blog music on the pink mp3 player on right side of page first though! X
Tuesday 5 June 2007
How To Dissolve Depression: Part 1 - Changing Your Mind
Turn off blog music on pink mp3 player on right of page to listen, thanks X
The video can take a little while to load so keep persisting or just press play again!
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