“The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.”
― Jon Kabat-Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus, Massachusetts Medical School
Antalya town sits on top of a rocky outcrop on the Mediterranean coastline.
Walking in the gardens after breakfast, I spot a wooden dhow sailing out.
As the wind pushes the dhow, it whispers its secrets of days gone by. Of, Attalos II the King of Pergamon founding this strategically important port city more than two millennia back. Of pirates seeking refuge in the steep rocks and mountains, biding their time to loot the arriving merchant ships. Of the waxing and waning of Christianity as the Byzantine forces fought and lost naval battles to the Arabs in these waters. I listen entranced as I watch the gardeners lazily tending to the shrubs. Can they not hear these whisperings?
Strolling through Hadrian’s Gate and into the old historical quarters, I…
A simple and simply wonderful post from writer and positive thinker, Eva Tenter (Power of Postive Thoughts: Positive Thoughts, Inspirational Stories & Mental Health Advocacy). Nicely done, Eva~ Jamie
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog. Thanks to all for your support, contributions, comments, and reading.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 28,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 6 Film Festivals
“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
– Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970), American musician/singer-songwriter
Whether you celebrate the holiday season religiously spiritually in a secular fashion or not at all Best Wishes as we close one year and open another Thank you for reading, sharing your work and being the best possible you that you can be
The phoenix mythology is one of my favorites. I was delighted when California artist, Gretchen Del Rio, recently shared her visual interpretation. With her permission, I present it here. Enjoy, but please be respectful of this copyrighted work. Jamie Dedes
Earlier this year Thoithoi O’Cottage started a new literary journal, rather ambitious in its goal to deliver an international panel of talented writers. I’m pleased to announce his effort here, however belatedly. One of the things I love about this growing collection of works by creatives from diverse backgrounds is the extraordinary pleasure of reading English in its many-colored manifestions: Indian; British, Asian, American. Clearly, however we may use our language, which has proven so versatile, we share a love of beauty, courage, and purity of spirit. Such delight. With this publishing effort, Thoithoi salutes the creative spirit in all of us.
Thoithoi is a writer and translator living in India. His personal blog is Lake Bard (http://lakebard.wordpress.com/). Please take some time to link through and enjoy the journal – Cottage Reader – and to visit Lake Bard. Jamie Dedes
The question whether the world needs another journal of art, culture, literature and philosophy, etc. added to what it already has more multitudinously than we can devote our whole life to the reading of does not hold us back from launching our long-dreamed-of journal, because the answer, of course, is an emphatic ‘YES’. All of us read the journals and magazines of our own trades, and many of us contribute to a few or several of them, but that’s clearly not all, because we know that the world has not ended—perhaps not even history—and our élan vital incessantly continues to drive us, forcing us to live creatively where we are, allowing life’s mostly-held-back vital property of growing/developing rhyzomatically in as yet unthinkable directions and proportions to commit itself to being and becoming. This does not necessarily mean that every act of living following every other act of living is new…
This lovely piece (peace!) from Genie at “Palestine Rose.” When I reblogged this post of Genie’s on “The Cat’s Meow,” Genie wrote this in response to one comment: “With a sad heart and shaky nerves from not sleeping well since the attack on Gaza, I find refuge in knowing there is a cure for war and hatred. I am glad I wrote the poem before ‘israel’ attacked Gaza full scale, it helps remind me that on a personal level we must all be gentle as lambs and strong as lions. And as Savannah, said so eloquently: ‘Thank [Goodness] for the ability of animals to show humans what acceptance and appreciation of differences can do to enhance every life.'” I recommend regular visits to Genie’s blog. In spite of all that is going on in her homeland, you will find peace and beauty in our heroic poet, “Palestine Rose.” Jamie Dedes
Here Shakti Ghosal writes of his shock and pain at the loss of the family home due to a gas leak. At first he asks – as we all might – “why me?” and then he asks – as perhaps few of us would – “why not me?” Now seems a good time to share such pondering here on Bardo. In a world that still wars and copes with increasing numbers of “extreme” weather events – this is an experience too many people currently have in common. No matter the cause – weather, war, faulty building practices, or fire – there is overwhelming pain: financial ramifications, a sense of dislocation, a loss of family treasures, records, and even the loss of life … In metta for Shakti, his family, and all the people who are rebuilding their lives after the distruction of their homes. Jamie Dedes
What do you say when you leave your home for work and come back to find it gone? What do you say when all that you have lovingly acquired over the years lie broken and anguished in the space-time continuum which was once your home?
***
It was the summer of 2006. My wife and I were hunting for a new home. So when we came across 1C- V2 at Muscat Oasis Residences, it was love at first sight. Built into the curvature of the complex, 1C- V2 was a duplex apartment allowing comfortable living space coupled with great poolside and mountain views. So it came about that as we moved into a spanking new home, 1C-V2 also embraced us, resplendent in its new furnishings and trappings. Come weekends and party time and 1C-V2 would be all welcoming as it waited for the guests, with its lights and shadows.
My young friend Nae’s life is dark with cancer and chemo but, as you can tell from the colors and poems on her blog, she has a radiant spirit. These days are difficult for her and today she asks for our prayers and metta. Please take a few minutes from your day to visit her blog with a few words of support and some time for prayers (or whatever is your spiritual practice) on her behalf. Thank you. Jamie Dedes
I have one more chemo treatment, then I have a 3 week break. At that time, I go for a PT Scan which will tell us whether the cancer is gone, spread or whatever.
The last couple of tests (different ones) have shown the cancer getting smaller. So there is a possibility that is shrinking. We haven’t actually seen pics of it yet.
Anyway, basically I will have to wait and see what the pt scan says before we know what is next for me–surgery, more chemo, or who knows what. I only know I do look forward to a break from the chemo.
The chemo is getting more and more difficult for me, leaving me weaker and so sick. I often wish for an end, even if it means my life to end. Well, I do not want to whine about myself. I am asking…
This is a story that make its point in a charming and memorable way. Its oft told on blogs and in emails, but not always with the charm invested by Kate. J.D.
A professor stood before his philosophy class with a large empty jar and and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar, of course the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “yes.”
The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.
“Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things like your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favourite passions — things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.
“The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.
The sand is everything else –the small stuff.”
If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner.Play another eighteen holes. There will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented. The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked,” he said.
“It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a cup of coffee. “
Kate ~has been blogging as subtlekate since December of last year and in that time she has garnered an impressive array of awards. She’s a doctor and a mom and says she’s “very much in love with a sexy bald man.” She lives by the sea in Australia. Kate writes quite a bit about writing and reading and is participating in goodreads 2012 reading challenge.
Today is the Dalai Lama’s 77th birthday. “Tenzin Gyatso was born in Taktser of Qinghai on July 6, 1935. While recognised by Tibetans as being the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama two years later, he was formally given the status of the 14th Dalai Lama only on November 17, 1950, at the age of 15. ” ~ dnaindia.com
There are many people who want to celebrate this man, his kindness and promotion of non-violence, but there are many who still cannot because of harsh government oppression.
“According to the Associated Press, exiled Tibetans in Nepal were banned from observing His Holiness’ birthday, and were blocked by police from entering the school where a birthday party was to be held. The reason being that Tibetan ceremonies and observances can lead to anti-Chinese protests. ” ~ Huffington Post.com
Yes, the United States considers China an ally, but you really…
Fluidity and discontinuity are central to the reality in which we live. (1990), Mary Catherine Bateson(b. 1939), American writer and cultural anthropologist
The other day, I sat leafing through the yellowing pages of that half a century old Peter Drucker classic, ‘The Age of Discontinuity’. This book never ceases to amaze me at the prescient feeling it can generate even after so many decades. Drucker of course could not have envisioned the internet and today’s information flows but his book does ask the question, “As technology becomes ubiquitous, how would we need to cope?” He also challenged us “to be prepared for the complexities”. Big discontinuities that he saw so many years back……. as yet unresolved.
Since the dawn of history, Mankind has experienced discontinuities brought in by adoption of learnt skills and technology. As the first human learnt how to seed and grow plants, Mankind did a makeover from a wandering lifestyle to that of settlers on land. Then with the successive arrivals of the steam engine and electricity, the agrarian lifestyle started morphing into industrial clusters and an associated urban way of life.
And so has been the cycle. A periodic massive disruption of the way we live, the way we work, the way we trade, all leading to a discontinuity. But always, Mankind returned back to stability. Adjusting back into the equilibrium of a new socio-economic format, till the next bout of discontinuity.
But methinks we now have reached a different arena. A space and time where technologies are no longer stabilizing. If at all, they seem to be changing at a faster and faster pace. One needs to just see what is happening to computing, information and communication to appreciate this.
As I reflect, I am left wondering if we are facing the mother of all discontinuities, a shift to a world without stability. A world in which extreme social and economic disruptions become the norm. Be it the ongoing financial turmoil in the global markets. Be it increasing volatility in commodity prices. Be it companies losing out their leadership positions at an increasing rate. Be it product life cycles becoming shorter and shorter. I wonder if these indeed be the symptoms of a world becoming increasingly unstable.
So how do we, the individuals, cope with such constant discontinuities and loss of stability? Wired as we are to cherish stability and continuity in life, how do we retain our balance and sanity?
I think of the Chinese concept of Shi. Simply put it signifies a propensity based on situation. So whenever there is the propensity to play out to an extreme, there also occurs the tendency to self correct and reverse course. And herein lies the magic of Shi- embodying the spirit of dancing in the moment.
Shi is a belief. It promotes lightness and a dynamic view of our world. In Shi, everything is in a state of becoming. So as we focus on the flows and the lightness of the moment, we lose our obsession with discrete people, objects or situations. Shi allows a holistic appreciation of the complex webs of relationships among people, objects and the broader environment.
In a world fast losing traditional reference points, the future may well belong to those who adopt a Shi mindset. Those who embrace the lightness of relationships and flows rather than the heaviness of resource ownership. I believe it would be these ‘dancers of the moment’ who would lead the world in this era of uncertainty and discontinuity.
Acknowledgements:
1 The Age of Discontinuity: Guidelines to our changing society
by Peter F Drucker,1969.
2. The Propensity of Things: Toward a History of Efficacy in China
Shakti Ghosal ~ has been blogging (ESGEE musgings) since September 30, 2011. He was born at New Delhi, India. Shakti is an Engineer and Management Post Graduate from IIM, Bangalore. Apart from Management theory, Shakti remains fascinated with diverse areas ranging from World History and Economic trends to Human Psychology and Development.
A senior management professional, Shakti has been professionally involved for over twenty-five years at both international and India centric levels spanning diverse business areas and verticals. With a strong bias towards action and results, Shakti remains passionate about team empowerment and process improvement.
Shakti currently resides in the beautiful city of Muscat in Oman with wife Sanchita, a doctorate and an educationist. They are blessed with two lovely daughters, Riya and Piya.
Not the easiest thing in the world to transition to an entirely plant-based diet, but it’s the ideal presented by many spiritual paths and advocated by increasing numbers of health providers. This “maven” tells the story of her transition. She signed up for a month, then went on to a second, then a third …… I’ve reblogged her story here because her sensible strategy might work for others who are caught between habit and ideal. J.D.
This post by the Dutch artist and craftsperson, Paula Kuitenbrouwer, puts me in mind of our recent discusions about not forgetting the importance of touch over technology in human relations, however beneficial technology may be. J.D.
Link to the rest of Paula post by clicking on the “Reblogged from Mindful Drawing.”
The BeZine 