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Thursday 23 December 2010

You Cannot Be Serious

"Dullness is the coming of age of seriousness." Oscar Wilde.






















Today was a funny day. It’s almost Christmas, a time for this, a time for that. In fact, almost everyone seems to have something to say about what Christmas should be a time for. A time for reflection, a time for religion, a time for many serious things. 

Well for some strange reason, today I just didn’t feel serious. I found myself laughing at many silly little things, seeing the humour in things that weren’t even really funny, everything seemed to amuse me. 

I sat down to write a very serious post on how we are all just guests in this world, but no matter how hard I tried, today I just didn’t have space for seriousness. Maybe that post will appear sometime later.

I think much of the time we are way too serious and often it doesn't help matters. We’re in a unique position as humans, we all know our fate, there’s no big surprise. So really there’s no need to be so serious as if everything really mattered so much. 

We brought nothing into this world and we can take nothing out of it, but it would be good to leave behind the echoes of our laughter. Many of the ‘serious’ problems we have in the world are just that, problems from being too serious.

Saturday 18 December 2010

Look Both Ways

"Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us." Hal Borland.














A rabbit’s vision is something quite amazing. Apparently the size and position of its eyes mean that it has a field of vision which spans almost 360 degrees. That makes it one of the few creatures that can look forward and back at the same time.

In general I tend to write a lot about living in the present so just for a change I thought I’d write something about looking forward and back, or looking both ways.

It’s traditional in December to start thinking about the old year that’s passed and the new one that’s soon to arrive. 

For some it can be a time of celebration and for others a time of dejection. Like most people I’ve experienced both but with the benefit of hindsight, I do think that wherever we are right now, we can use this time in a positive way. 

So I’d like to share a very simple exercise we can use for looking back at the old year and forward to the new one.

Thursday 16 December 2010

The Courageous Seed (multimedia version)

For some time I've wanted to represent the 'courage of the seed' visually and the other day I came across the perfect footage, shot in time-lapse by Neil Bromhall. So here it is. You can read the original post on which it's based here.

Sunday 12 December 2010

Stand by Me

"No matter who you are, no matter where you go in your life, at some point you're going to need somebody to stand by you." Roger Ridley - Musician.  

An amazing video put together Playing for Change - an organization that brings people together from all over the world through their music.

Saturday 11 December 2010

Walking on Ice

“We all live amid surfaces, and the true art is to skate well on them.” Ralph Waldo Emerson. 









During the last ten days or so, England has been in the grip of a severe cold snap. Temperatures have hit -18 degrees and stayed well below zero even during the day. 

We’ve had more snow than I’ve ever seen here in my lifetime. It’s almost as if someone just cast a sparkling white blanket over the entire world. All that snow and freezing weather has caused quite a few problems.

Within a couple of days, the pavements turned into thick sheets of ice, compacted and polished by thousands of marching feet. That turned the normally routine act of walking into something of a mission. I hit the ground on more than one occasion!

As I was walking I started to notice how different people deal with icy pavements. I noticed four different types of walkers.

Wednesday 8 December 2010

Imagine


“Life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friends.” John Lennon
















Some of my favourite quotes from the great man.


“A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality.”


"Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted."


"There are two basic motivating forces: fear and love. When we are afraid, we pull back from life. When we are in love, we open to all that life has to offer with passion, excitement, and acceptance.”


"Reality leaves a lot to the imagination."


 “When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life."

 
“I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you."


“Once a thing's been done it's been done, so why this nostalgia - I mean for the '60s and '70s, you know, looking backwards for inspiration, copying the past - how's that rock 'n' roll? Do something of your own. Start something new, you know? Live your lives now. Know what I mean?"



John Lennon 9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980


Image uploaded by Affendaddy

Tuesday 7 December 2010

One Thing at a Time

The Student asked, 'What is Zen?' the Zen Master replied, 'Zen is doing one thing at a time.' Unknown











Today, as I walked along the snowy pavements for my usual 30 minute trek to work, I got a lot of things done.

In my head, I composed 5 e-mails, considered various responses and their likelihood and composed a further 15 replies depending on the nature of the response. 

At the same time, the sun, golden and smoldering was furtively edging above the horizon, casting a dancing beam of sunlight through the snow laden trees. I didn’t see it.

In my head, I talked with 3 people to get some important information, I made 2 phone calls and replied to 4 text messages. 

At the same time, I passed through the park and a plump red robin sung its merry tune with all its might, every warble an invitation to seek him out, to cast my eyes on this bundle of joy and feathers. I didn’t hear him.

In my head, I tidied my desk, I organized the files on my computer, I bought my lunch and had afternoon coffee. 

At the same time, my feet crunched on the soft snow, powder white, like sand on a paradise beach. With every step, I molded, squeezed and pressed new tracks on a virgin white landscape. My steps, I didn’t feel them.

Sunday 5 December 2010

Memory Maker or Moment Maker?

"Enjoy your memories...but don’t forget that memory is like salt, the right amount brings out the flavour in food, too much ruins it." Paulo Coelho

Several years ago I was visiting Paris for the first time and since no visit to Paris is complete without a visit to the spectacular Louvre, on my first morning I headed straight there.

I have to say I wasn’t disappointed, as I entered the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, with its magnificent architecture and sparkling glass pyramid, I knew this was a special place.

Once inside I headed straight for one of the main attractions, the original painting of the Mona Lisa. I went into a large room and saw a surprisingly tiny painting at one end housed in a glass cabinet and protected by a security guard.

In front of me was a melee of several hundred people with cameras and mobile phones held aloft as everyone tried to grab that precious snapshot, that precious memory. I dived in, camera first and flashed away until I was satisfied with my own tiny burred image, my own special memory, and then I moved on.

Later, that experience and a number of others made me realize something surprising:

Saturday 4 December 2010

Throw out the New Year's Resolution - Make an Old Year's Resolution


“I'm going to stop putting things off, starting tomorrow!” Sam Levenson 













January the 1st, the first day of the New Year, and in my opinion probably the worst day of the year to start a new resolution. 

I know plenty of people completely disagree with me. In fact, so many people disagree with me that a whole tradition exists of starting a ‘New Year’s Resolution’ on exactly January 1st every single year. So I had better explain my slightly obscure reasoning.

When we’re trying to start something new or give up something old, it’s usually not easy. That’s why we haven’t managed it up until now and so we decide to throw our most powerful weapon at it, ‘The New Year’s Resolution’. How could anything possibly stand in its way? 

Friday 3 December 2010

Just Dance

"All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.” Molière - French playwright and Actor

I think this is an inspirational clip. If you're not one of the 33 million who have apparently watched it, check it out. It's a great reminder that we are all unique, and yet, underneath we are all really very similar.