Friday, 22 August 2014
Friday, 15 August 2014
BLISS
"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls"
- Joseph Campbell
Thursday, 14 August 2014
KEEP MOVING FORWARD
I dream A LOT. When I wake up, I usually remember my dreams, so if I have time I write them down.
Of course there are days/nights when I don't remember anything. But sometimes tiny visions of dreams pop into my head late in the afternoon, or during meditation.
That's exactly what happened today. I remembered someone mentioned Herman Hesse's book Siddhartha in my dreams tonight. What could that mean? I don't know.
It's been a while since I read that book, so I guess I am going to have to read it again if it has any deeper meanings to my surreal situations in the land of my dreams.
I'm pretty sure I'll understand this book a bit differently now than years ago when I first read it.
I remember when I first read Little Prince. I was just a kid and reading that book was a school necessity, so it didn't bring me anything. Maybe just a joy of reading it SO FAST, cause it's so thin and letters are big. (I was never into books that my teachers said I must read, even though I absolutely LOVE BOOKS).
Anyways, years after that... I've read it again. This time it was not a school necessity, it just happened to be sitting near me. Even though I was holding the same book, everything about it was different. Actually it was me, I was different. And I felt it so hard I started crying. I felt so shocked how could I not see the beauty of this story back then. I still remember that day like it was yesterday.
It's good to read certain things again and again, of course with long pauses in between years. The books we are holding and the stories we are reading throughout the years - they are all the same. It's just us. We change.
A lot of times certain books come to me very unexpectedly, very unplanned. Like somebody's trying to tell me something. And usually they do. I've had a lot of these strange coincidences, that I don't take them as a coincidence anymore. These are little dots in my story.
Every person, every book, every situation that comes to me spontaneously (not planned) - means something.
Wisdom, story, a chance to grow, a chance to move to another direction (the RIGHT direction), a chance to teach us something,... When you are ready, things just start happening >> "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."
We like to have things planned. Everything on a schedule. But by far the best things and the most powerful ones happen UNPLANNED.
Speaking of unplanned. This photograph is my autoportrait that I did yesterday. It happened so spontaneous. Nothing was planned. I came back home after yoga class, thinking about all my tensions that I have in my body, especially in my back. With yoga I've learned that all the emotions in our bodies are also written in our muscles, tissues,... basically our whole bodies. I was a bit scared that I am not going to handle all the hard work of letting all my tensions go. Or be persistent enough to NOT GIVE UP.
So I spontaneously turned on my camera and... time stopped. Everything just started happening. I was in the zone. It was just me, the evening and Robyn's "Monument" blasting out of the speakers - on repeat (I know creepy, but can't help it).
When I finished and checked the photos... this picture was the one that happen to catch my attention. If you look closely at the centre of my back you can see a bit of upward-pointing triangle (well I see it).
The upward-pointing triangle is also alchemical symbol of the element of fire. I've read somewhere that this symbol, "signifies upward mobility, forward motion, rising flames and aspirations to solar embodiment (in both literal and philosophical senses). To move into the energy of fire is to be utterly consumed, transformed and lifted out of limitation".
I know I am a bit of a dreamer, but I find this spontaneous, unplanned picture a good reason to just KEEP MOVING FORWARD.
To stay strong and practice, persist, breathe,... and let go.
Let it all flow. Spontaneously..
Love.
“I want to learn from myself, want to be my student, want to get to know myself, the secret of Siddhartha.”
― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha
Monday, 11 August 2014
DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT
Yesterday's full moon was magical. I was hypnotized. I just couldn't stop staring at the sky.
I wish I could have a better lens on my camera to capture the moment.
This time "moon rising" was special. It brought me something new into my personal journal. A new wisdom to let things >> keep moving forward. Some kind of a new awareness, that I hope I will keep close to the heart. It let me (spontaneously) look at things from another perspective. And it all came all of a sudden. All natural. A beautiful experience.
It was a special moon rising.
"Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better."
-
- Albert Einstein
Friday, 8 August 2014
Thursday, 7 August 2014
MAGIC
Yesterday's evening beauty.
Sky was blue and white and pink and orange... Perfect.
Silence all around, just natural evening sound was present. Refreshing.
Moon slowly taking the sky... Growing.
Wednesday, 6 August 2014
Tuesday, 5 August 2014
WHERE THE WILD ROSES GROW
I don’t know why I wrote this title. It’s just came to me all of a sudden. I wrote it and maybe something will come out of it. Today I let my free writing take over this blank space.
Through writing these first letters I think the title has a deeper meaning. A place where the wild roses grow in nature is truly a pure place. A place that is ALL natural, all spontaneous. Living free.
You can put that into human perspective as well.
A place where the wild roses grow is also in all of us. The wild rose is our HEART.
That special space opens widely when we stare into sunrises, sunsets, night sky... That’s when we feel that our wild rose is growing. And it’s growing even faster when our minds are calm.
It’s located in space where thoughts are light and imagination runs free. Lots of creative people know it, because they find ideas there. Ideas that are sometimes even crazier from their wildest dreams.
I believe that everybody can find answers to their questions there. Because it’s coming from that SPECIAL place – your wild rose – HEART.
It’s impossible to get to that place if we run around nervously, with brains overloading with information…
What is important is to have moments for ourselves. Have moments to just breathe and look around. Maybe the answers are in front of our eyes and we can’t see them, because we are running lost from one place to another.
Antoine de Saint Exupéry in his novel Le Petit Prince wrote, “… what is essential is invisible to the eye…”. If you enter to your invisible wild garden, you can get a clearer picture.
Freeing feeling can be if you take a walk, smell the flowers, nature all around you. Take a swim in the lake/ocean, dance in the middle of room on your favorite song, sing, laugh deep from the heart even though you’re going to be loud and people will notice you. Maybe you’ll make them laugh as well (my neighbor laughs really loud and every time he does it, it makes me smile. Because I can feel that his laughter comes from the heart, a place where his wild roses grow, and it’s a beautiful laughter).
Just remember the times when you’re sitting at home and boredom takes over you. You start to become pain in the ass. And then for some reason, you go for a walk, stretch a little bit … After that you feel like another person. Yes, nature is healing and it even makes your hidden wild roses grow.
Don’t neglect your wild roses. Water them with moments of beauty around you. Moments where you don’t rush. In the world of mass information we keep forgetting about ourselves, we keep thinking about time, we keep rushing. We want to do everything at once… and that’s wrong. Everything will wait if it’s meant to be. Just take time for yourself. No phones, no computers. Everything will wait.
Old philosopher and a poet of ancient China, Lao Tzu once said/wrote: "Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished".
So for couple of minutes per day, don’t hurry. Calm down. And the wild rose will grow and grow.
Can you feel it?
Photo: Personal arhive |
Friday, 1 August 2014
MY HAPPY PLACE
Water. Sea. Summer. Sun. Relax. Breathe. Inhale. Swim underneath the clear blue water. Exhale. Laugh. Let the tensions flow away. Kiss the sun rays. Touch the waves. Happy. Grateful. Living in the present moment. Calm. No worries. No pretending.
Pure.
Photo: My personal archive
Thursday, 31 July 2014
TENSIONS
Through practicing yoga and meditation, I’ve come to realize that I have a lot of tensions in my body. Especially in the upper back and neck. When practicing if feels like I constantly wear the invisible huge backpack of junk. Thankfully from one practice through another, I feel I am releasing a piece by piece of that junk. And the first step was being aware of that huge "backpack".
Everything that happens to us, all the emotions and feelings that accompany situations we come across, are not only written in our self consciousness, but also our bodies.
It’s in our muscles, it’s in our body structures – how we stand, how we sit... There’s a LOT of people who are not standing straight because they have a huge invisible weight on their shoulders, because they have a low self-esteem, because they are scared, sad,...
Everything is in the body. I believe a good masseur can feel it ALL. All the tensions. And through the touch of their fingertips I believe they can feel the energy we have stored in our body.
It is important to take care of yourself. To release those tensions, not only with a good massage, but with certain practice as well. And most importantly… to confess yourself the fears, deepest secrets that you have, because with confessing, with confronting your fears (I think) you make the most of it. A huge weight on your shoulders would just come off. And I think, you would feel … lighter.
I remember keeping so many things inside that I shared only into my journal, but there were some that I just couldn’t write down on a piece of paper, or talk about them. And then, one day that balloon of emotions just exploded. That invisible backpack on my shoulders was too full. There were just too many emotions coming in.
Thankfully I had someone to listen at that time. And who would have thought… I felt lighter after it. I felt like a HUGE piece was coming down off of my shoulders.
It was not a really good circumstance to do it at that time, but I couldn’t help my emotions. And looking back… it was worth it, because I wouldn’t be doing things as how I am doing them now. It made me who I am today. Everything happens for a reason.
Years after, I am tearing down the backpack off of my shoulders. If you also feel any tensions in your body… feel them all. Ask yourself why you have them… and write it down, or talk to someone. Release them with practice, meditation, massage, breath… Let them go! And most importantly… TREAT YOURSELF GOOD! Don’t think you don’t deserve it.
T R E A T yourself GOOD! Do it for you and for the benefit of your own health and happiness.
Art by unknown artist |
Wednesday, 30 July 2014
WHAT IF...
Lately I get a lot of “what if” moments in my head. What if here, and what if there. Why is it so hard to just let go and be in the moment? Why can’t we just trust life? Why? We all know that thinking about the future is always going to make us worry. I guess our egos are programmed this way - to keep on talking, when we want a quiet time…a clear mind… when we just want to trust life.
The most amazing moments are the ones that are not planned, they say. Which is true. And they don’t come by while thinking how’s the future going to be like. They just come… and that is where you find yourself … trusting life. You go with that moment. You catch the flow and just let go. Freeing.
And I want that, I want exactly that. To feel the moment. To let go and just trust it. Whatever is going to be, is going to be. To not care so much about the materialistic things, but make more way for the un-materialistic. The ones that matter in a heart and make you grow. Make you learn.
I want to trust. Set myself into an adventure. Book a ticket, go on a trip and just go, and not think about if there are events/projects that I’m going to miss back home. Because I will and also - on the other hand - I am missing an adventure that is out there. Adventure that might give me stories for life, might teach me something, might give me something to feed my imagination, make me grow inside … that’s where I might find myself.
Somewhere unexpected. Somewhere unknown. Life happens outside of the comfort zone, I read somewhere. This is when you can get the most stories out. Stories I want to share. Stories with which I want to build new stories. There is so much out there that I want to taste, feel, see, express… and here I am left with a big thing called – fear of letting go. Letting myself go and letting the projects that I’m afraid of losing, go.
I'm like a mountain. Stubborn like a rock. There are some good things about it, but the bad ones are the ones that are eating me sometimes. Especially when there are some big decisions coming up. I guess I’m going to have to let my mountain become a wave and just trust the moon (life) taking it to the shore.
I’ve never been so hungry for exploring the new grounds. Hungry for trusting life. Hungry for letting go and just breathe into life. Be spontaneous.
I NEED stories, not in the books, but real stories. Sunrises and sunsets of the world, beauty of the milky way on a night sky, touch of seven seas and kiss of the lands.
Knowledge and wisdom of the tradition for the experience of the today. The now.
Yes, I want to grow… within!
Tuesday, 29 July 2014
MORNING
Seize the day.
Wake up early to smell the morning air.
To catch the first rays of the sun.
To touch the starting of the day.
Listen to the nature wake up.
Have a quiet moment with yourself, while others are still sleeping/dreaming.
Breathe in, breathe out.
Mornings like these make way for a positive day.
Monday, 28 July 2014
Sunday, 27 July 2014
USE YOUR IMAGINATION
If we would travel few kilometers further – even just to the stratosphere of our planet would be enough, I think we would appreciate our planet way more than we do now. I’m sure we would do things differently. Our problems would become so small.
Our planet floating in space is like a dream to us, or a scene in a fantasy movie.
Because you can’t see it as how the eyes of an astronaut see it, we forget (or just can’t imagine) that we our living in the big blue ball surrounded by black raw space. We forget that we are IN THE UNIVERSE and that our planet is not the center of everything.
I haven’t seen our planet from up there, neither. But I was drawn to the mysterious universe since I was little. I was blown away, when my dad told me about another world that is above me. My imagination just exploded. We would go to our balcony and he would tell me about the stars, planets, he even pretend that the moving stars (objects) that I saw were comets – well it was just satellites passing us by. But he sure gave me something to feed my imagination. So, already back then, I was aware of an amazing coincidence that we are here, breathing, walking on this planet for so many years. It made me even wish to become an astronaut, just to see Earth from up there.
Summer evenings bring me back to those memories of that little dreamy girl I was. Dreaming about the stars, galaxies, raw beauty that is above us... I imagine astronauts on the moon and even though I was not even born when Armstrong took a first step up there, it still feels so surreal that years ago someone was walking up there and saw our planet, just like we see our moon.
Those scientists who have a chance to go into space, sure do come back with an amazing experience. Some of it is also shared in the video bellow.
There’s a very, very, very little chance that I will see our planet from space, but I’m pretty sure the next generations will have that amazing opportunity. I’m going to keep on dreaming and be blown away about the beauty and rawness that is presented to us by scientists, and with it I will continue to paint my own imagination of the universe. On warm summer evenings, YOU try it as well. Go up to the hill, where there’s no lights and just look at the stars… some of them don’t even exist anymore, yet there light still shines on us.
Paint your own imagination. Imagine that our sun is a little starry dot in the sky of another world (planet). Imagine our blue ball floating in the space with our little moon. It’s not hard to use your imagination. Just USE it. You’ll be blown away.
“Imagination is more important than
knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while
imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and
understand.”
― Albert Einstein
Saturday, 26 July 2014
Friday, 25 July 2014
CONNECTED
We are all connected more than we can even imagine. In some weird unexplained way we are connected with the universe above, Earth, Moon, energy…Every SINGLE part of our body is connected to another. We sometimes even feel strange connections to certain people, or beings.
Every action is connected to reaction. If you really wish for something, one day all the dots will connect and you'll get what you wished for.
Thoughts and attitude make an important role in this situation. Old Buddha quote says, »The mind is everything, what you think, you become.« So be careful about your thoughts, because they do have an impact.
Lately I’ve been fascinated about how our body is connected. How certain parts of your skin are connected to certain organs. How organs are connected with each other. How food is important because it connects or disconnects (it depends) the "communications" between the organs etc… Complicated.
Our bodies are “insane” instruments. Truly amazing. And all this knowledge is in front of us for so MANY years (like in an old eastern medicine), but we (westerns) still don’t get it. Don’t take your body for granted. “Enjoy your body, use it every way you can… It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.« (Baz Luhrman – Wear Sunscreen; written by Mary Schmich).
Everything is connected. Just open your eyes and you'll see (feel) it... Situations (the good and bad), mind, body, nature,... everything.
“Principles for the Development of a Complete Mind: Study the science of art. Study the art of science. Develop your senses- especially learn how to see. Realize that everything connects to everything else.”
― Leonardo da Vinci
― Leonardo da Vinci
Photos: Authors unknown |
Thursday, 24 July 2014
DREAM
WRITINGS IN A JOURNAL
PERSONAL JOURNAL, Archive - July, a year ago.
----------------------------------------------------------
Sitting by my home
desk, watching the moon take the place of the sky. And slowly the sky is
turning from pure blue to bright blue and in minutes it will be dark. Moon is
getting bigger and bigger and you can feel its power shining towards our
earthly sky.
Magical, it is.
....
On the nights like these I surely can feel it. The life all around and the life within. Connection with my ancestors and maybe even descendants. All historic and future eyes to the sky. Quietly staring and admiring all the sacred and historic beauty. Why don’t we take a moment and just look and be grateful for what it is all around us, for so many years. We need to, so that it doesn’t disappear. Or else in couple of years/decades we will be left with beauty locked in writings in an old journal.
On the nights like these I surely can feel it. The life all around and the life within. Connection with my ancestors and maybe even descendants. All historic and future eyes to the sky. Quietly staring and admiring all the sacred and historic beauty. Why don’t we take a moment and just look and be grateful for what it is all around us, for so many years. We need to, so that it doesn’t disappear. Or else in couple of years/decades we will be left with beauty locked in writings in an old journal.
PHOTOS: My archive |
Wednesday, 23 July 2014
INHALE EXHALE
Sit down. Relax. Let your hands fall freely. Close your eyes. Listen to the sound of your breath and the sound of the place you're staying. Inhale, exhale…. Feel the air on your skin. Ask yourself - Is it cold, is it warm?
Feel your body. Feet, legs, hips, genitals, torso, neck, arms, fingers, head, face, ears, hair… Imagine your body being pulled by gravity. You are light as a feather.
Feel the taste in your mouth.
Take a deep breath through your nose. Can you notice you're breathing more through one nostril (nose hole), than through another? Inhale, exhale… Slow down.
Now slowly listen again. Can you hear the silence in you? When you reach to that point, just breathe.
And just be… YOU. Nobody else but - YOU. Not your neighbor, not your classmate, not your idol. Be YOU!
Keep your eyes closed and breathe deeply. Don’t check what time it is. Don’t check your phone. Just be YOU! Feel the present moment.
After some time… slowly … open your eyes.
When your mind is clear, it feels like everything is changed. It's not. The change is in you. You can feel clearly, because your mind is like a calm morning sea.
Clear and calm. Ready for the adventure.
Feel your body. Feet, legs, hips, genitals, torso, neck, arms, fingers, head, face, ears, hair… Imagine your body being pulled by gravity. You are light as a feather.
Feel the taste in your mouth.
Take a deep breath through your nose. Can you notice you're breathing more through one nostril (nose hole), than through another? Inhale, exhale… Slow down.
Now slowly listen again. Can you hear the silence in you? When you reach to that point, just breathe.
And just be… YOU. Nobody else but - YOU. Not your neighbor, not your classmate, not your idol. Be YOU!
Keep your eyes closed and breathe deeply. Don’t check what time it is. Don’t check your phone. Just be YOU! Feel the present moment.
After some time… slowly … open your eyes.
When your mind is clear, it feels like everything is changed. It's not. The change is in you. You can feel clearly, because your mind is like a calm morning sea.
Clear and calm. Ready for the adventure.
YES!
“Always say “yes” to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane, than to create inner resistance to what already is? what could be more insane than to oppose life itself, which is now and always now? Surrender to what is. Say “yes” to life — and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.”
Tuesday, 22 July 2014
Tracks
“The two important things that I did learn were that you are as powerful and strong as you allow yourself to be, and that the most difficult part of any endeavour is taking the first step, making the first decision.”
― Robyn Davidson, Tracks
DISCONNECT TO RECONNECT
Remember
those summer moments as a child when everything was so unimportant, when TIME
didn’t exist. You didn’t have phone around EVERYWHERE but you could still find your
friends and mom still found you somewhere for lunch break. You didn’t have
camera around but you still remember these moments clearly, you can even
remember the smell of it, the taste of it… It was magical.
Today
the picture of summer is waaay different. Everyone is wired. Everyone is
obsessed with daily dose of morning information that they must get
before they even make themselves breakfast.
Can
you imagine a day with none of that bullshit? Or let’s say a week. No “likes”, no
“comments” and bunch of negative news… Disconnect. Just you and LIFE around you,
that you are missing while scrolling down your cell phone. It’s difficult if
you are at home, sitting and doing nothing, basically bored at everything. For
the real adventure you have to go out. To the nature, to a trip, a walk,… Just
OUT of your couch, TV, Computer etc… And yes, summer is perfect for that.
It’s
stupid what kind of a routine we’ve created. If you don’t get online, you think
you’re missing something REALLY extremely important etc… But no one has
the same kind of feeling while online (or busy making pictures) about missing
something extremely important in reality
as well. And we are missing it big time. We are missing the important touch with
ourselves and life around us. While checking all the apps on our phones or
taking dozens of pictures for these apps…, we are missing the light, the smell,
the touch, the taste, the sound all around us. We are missing the whole
picture.
While
watching one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen - while on the boat
at the seaside when the sky was so clear you could actually see the sun going
behind the Italian Alps - I wanted to capture EVERY single moment of that
magic on camera. I kept photographing it and photographing it, just like I want
to capture it, like you capture a bird and you keep it in a cage. One picture
would be IT. After a little while I just stopped. There’s no need to have all
of these pictures on my camera if I am experiencing it RIGHT NOW. The moment
will soon pass and it’s not going to be as beautiful as it is RIGHT
NOW.
Remember!
No bird (animal) is happy in a cage. And
(metaphorically speaking) the same goes for all of these beautiful moments that
you want to capture and put it EVERYWHERE so that everyone will see it and you’ll
be left with only the pictures, because you didn’t have time to enjoy the magic
of it in the present moment.
Make
one or two photos and then leave it. Those beautiful moments like “my” sunset were
not made to be captured in (a cage, or ) cell phone app, or camera… there’re made
to be captured in a heart! So let yourself go and enjoy the moment. Feel the
life around you, because it will give you a special MEMORY. The one you’ll
remember when you’re going to smell one particular flower, or hear particular
song,…
So,
disconnect to reconnect YOURSELF.
Feel
the air and sun, smell the flowers, talk with people, laugh and MAKE memories …in
your heart.
Art by VLADIMIR KUSH |
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