Someone who cares

Shine

Personal Tales

by Madisyn Taylor

Painting by Josephine

We all have a story to tell whether we publish it or keep it for just ourselves or family; allow yourself to be heard.

Everyone, at one time or another, has wanted to express his or her story. Writing a memoir to read privately, share with family or friends, or publish is an emotionally satisfying way to gain perspective on your experiences while sharing your unique voice. We’ve all experienced feelings and events in our lives that we are longing to write down. Giving in to that urge can give you an outlet for purging any frustration, anxiety, or long-dormant feelings. No one else has to read it. You may even want to write your story without reading it right away. Satisfying the need to tell your story is not predicated upon your writing ability. It does, however take effort to write down the truth in detail. Your memories, captured on paper as descriptive scenes, sights, sounds, and scents, may at first seem disconnected or incomplete. But rest assured that you possess the ability to shape your recollections into stories.

Everyone wants to be heard. Reading your story to others can meet that need. Writing your story can also help you understand your life experiences. And when you finish writing, you may be surprised at what you have accomplished. Your story can encompass as much or as little of your life as you prefer. You may surprise yourself with new insights, or you may find yourself exploring your roots, your identity, and your future through your words. Allow your writing to guide you and write as truthfully as possible. Don’t worry about what others will think of your personal journey, your style of writing, or your words.

Research has shown that writing a personal narrative filled with feelings and perceptions can create long-term health benefits. As you write, remember to have compassion for yourself, particularly when writing about traumatic events. If you are a young person, you can add to your life story as you grow older. Your writing may help family members know you better, or they may understand themselves more through reading about your experiences. More importantly, you are expressing yourself in a permanent way, giving a gift to yourself, and letting your voice be heard.

Sowing the seeds of Love

if you want to win hearts,
sow the seeds of Love.
If you want heaven,
stop scattering thorns on the road.
~Rumi

For I am a pure flame

"Begin to speak the truth to your heart
And write its music upon your vision and
Soft pink tongue.
Soak all your prejudices in oil -
I would consider it a favor.

Bring and sing to me your darkest thoughts,
For my whole body is a blazing emerald wick,
I am a pure flame
Who needs and loves to burn your trash.

We should lean against each other more
In a strange world as this."

~Rumi

Bewitching

 “The day before” – by Leon Alegria

"Pure love” – by Metamorphosys

Evening time

 

Painting by Cathy Delanssay

Evening time is often overlooked in our busy lives, but is an important time of day for reflection on our day's actions.

From the beginning of time, a richly colored twinge of dusk touching the eastern horizon, the lengthening of shadows, and the appearance of the evening’s first star have let us know that it was time to rest, relax, and retire from the pressures of the day. For human beings and other living things that tend to be most active in daylight, evenings can be less hectic and more relaxing, as we prepare for sleep and spend quality time with our loved ones. But evenings are about much more than dinner and the feel of a cool, soft pillow. Evenings are a wonderful time to catalog the events of the day without distraction, to revel in gentle solitude or silence, to end the day in serenity, and to commune with your inner self.

There are many ways to turn the evening into a nurturing and soul enriching experience. A simple stroll through the realms of dusk and darkness can show you two different worlds: one winding down and one just coming to life. In the evening, the sounds we humans make begin to diminish, and the sounds of earth’s more nocturnal creatures and nature itself become more apparent. As night slowly falls, scents change, and the smell of the soil and greenery become magnified. Sky gazing in the evenings can be a meditative activity – one that reminds us that we are only one part of an infinitely complex and vast universe. Each night, the different phases of the moon show us the passage of time and the waxing and waning of life, as its glowing visage – whether in the shape of a circle, crescent, or a smile –bathes the world in an ethereal, wistful glow.

As crickets chirp and night birds cry out, evening rituals and routines can make your day feel complete, help you unwind from the day’s busyness, and pave the way for rejuvenating sleep. Rituals and routines help you say goodnight to the present day, so you can look forward to the next one. While the sun sets, try doing a series of stretches, lighting some candles, or watching the daylight fade. The soothing, natural beauty of each evening can be your backdrop, as you meditate, quiet your soul, and relax into the peace and stillness that can be found at day’s end.

by Madisyn Taylor

A Reason to Be Alive

Photo by Alex Stoddard

By Kate Carpenter

“100 years from now – all new people.” – Anne Lamott

Think about that for a minute. Everyone in the world right now will be gone. Will they have left their mark — had an impact — made a difference? Maybe.

How much can one person matter when there are almost 7 billion people on the planet? At any rate, the people who remember them — were impressed by them, disgusted by them, helped by them, hurt by them, loved by them, hated by them — will all be gone, too.

What matters most to each of us is what happens to us today … here … now. The “long run” is of very little consequence. As Ms. Lamott points out — and as John Maynard Keynes is often quoted (out of context) as saying — in the long run, we’ll all be dead.

So why are we here at all? Not even the most brilliant minds on the planet have been able to come up with a definitive answer, although conjecture has made for some very interesting debate. It would seem we’re not meant to solve the riddle during our lifetime.

So we all have to come up with our own reason. All we can do is guess. Maybe we’re here to earn our way into some version of heaven. Maybe we’re here in one of many incarnations, reaping karma and learning lessons.

Maybe we’re being tested, maybe we’re atoning, or maybe we’re just being punished — or rewarded. Maybe we’re a fluke of nature: we live, we die, and that’s it – no real point to it whatsoever. Who knows?

I assume that if there is a reason, that reason must be the same for everyone on earth. But how can that be when there is so much disparity among the people on the planet? From the billionaire who lives in Trump Towers with a Jacuzzi and room service to the Ugandan who lives in a mud hut with no electricity or running water, what is it that we all have in common?

Love and suffering.

I know there will be those who’ll argue that life doesn’t guarantee suffering, and that only pessimists and naysayers would suggest such a thing. But I have to disagree. Every human being develops attachments to people, places, and things that can — and ultimately will — be lost to them.

A basic premise of Buddhist teaching is that it is this very attachment to earthly things (including our own life) and the ultimate loss of these things that causes all suffering. Every faith from Judaism to Islam recognizes suffering as part of earthly life. And the very foundation of Christianity is the suffering of Jesus, Mary, and even God Himself.

The only antidote for suffering is love. Compassion, caring, sympathy, empathy, kindness, concern … these emotions are meant to alleviate the suffering of those around us. The lack of love is itself a form of suffering. Love is what we all ultimately have to offer if we want to matter in this lifetime. Nothing else we accomplish, acquire, or become is of any importance at all in the end.

So maybe it’s that simple, and this is the purpose of life: to care enough for others to try to alleviate whatever suffering they are going through — to make a positive difference in their lives in whatever way we can, whether it’s through giving money or inspiring hope or simply spending a little time to listen.

If we all lived by this principle, life would be both richer and easier for every one of us. Both the giving and the receiving would bring the happiness that material possessions promise but never deliver.

And if, at the end, we discover that there was some other “purpose,” for our life, at least we will have made the journey more bearable for each other while we were here.

About the Author:
From Kate Carpenter: I became a simple living groupie in college when I read Living Poor with Style by Ernest Callenbach in 1972. I started writing about it in 1998. I left the rat race to do it full time in 2010. I love stripping life down to its fundamentals without any distractions or complications blurring the focus. My goal every day is to make something simpler, smaller, or more clearly understood. Life shouldn’t have to be so hard!

Friendships in Nature

The light inside

Painting by Cathy Delanssay

"Made of stardust, we share the same cosmic history as the lions at the savannas and the lavenders on the fields. We are all connected through time and space, and thus connectedly interdependent. Just breathing links us to the rest of humanity - the billions of oxygen molecules that we inhale with each breath have some time or other been inside the lungs of each of the 50 billion individuals that have live on Earth. This cosmic and planetary perspective emphasizes not only our interdependence, but also how vulnerable our planet is, and how isolated we are among stars."~ Trinh Xuan Thuan, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Virginia

We are all relatives

We are made of sunlight, particles, water and so on. Of course we are also made of the food we eat, our parents, our friends and our experiences.

Like the weather, we constantly change. Sometimes it´s winter inside and our thoughts are cold and unfriendly, but the thoughts will melt down and new one will rise...

New experiences will start new habits - some parts of you are still a small child, but as an adult you can take care of that inner child.

But, like a flower, it's good to have a rich soil and a lot of sun sunlight and water - because we ARE that sunlight and that water, and we ARE the oxygen that we inhale which produced by the plants.

We have a name and a personal history, and it's good to have that and sometimes tell the memories to other people, because, that's our identity.

But in a deeper sense, we are not our name and history - we are more like the flower in my window; radiated by light - the light has for a while manifested itself as a flower together with water and so on - so the flower - and you - ARE light. And do you know that you and the flower share about 50% of the genes with each other.

The light inside
 
Don't be afraid. Don't be ashamed of yourself.  Sometimes this life is tough, really tough. It is meant to be, meant to be experienced the hard way. But in the end everything is going to be okay. Let the light guide you. In the end everything will be okay - if there is an end...

When life is tough, you learn, so you probably will learn all life. But you better watch out not to be pessimistic or bitter, there will always be happy moments - intermezzos between the learning time.

Try to do the things you like to do, try to be thankful. Try to think that life is rich of experiences. Try to be aware of every moment, even when you are just walking. Feel the foot meeting the ground. Feel the wind in your face, hear the dog barking, the bird singing ....

Trouble and dark moments will come again, but with awareness, even of your own thoughts, you can handle it with care. You can take care of the dark moments and thoughts as if it were a crying child...

Contrast

Life is built by contrast; black and white, sorrow and happiness, long and short, right and left, and so on. And of course, the contrasts are dependent of each other.

Thich Nhat Hanh use to give an example by a piece of paper; if the right side of the paper has not been there, the left could not exist. And happiness, symbolised by the white colour could not be seen without the dark colours.So don not be afraid of the dark times, they are needed for the coming happiness.

But be prepared to change. Sorrow is a sign for that something is wrong. Perhaps a belief that no longer is needed. For the times are really changing, and you better follow it or turn to a stone.

Religious doctrines and fundamentalism are really old age, so are the belief that we are the masters of the earth. The earth will be all right some thousands of years after we have polluted it too much - but probably we will not ...

Tomas