celebrate instead of define. One phrase stood out this morning during mass: We tend to waste far too much valuable time defining our roles, relationships, personalities, failures, achievements, goals instead of celebrating them. I stared at the Dominican priest as if he suddenly sprouted three purple dragon heads. Those three words hit me right where it needed to, as I have been in an emotional slump these past few days, battling some unwanted demons of my past. He was absolutely right – I have spent the last five decades listening to roles being defined for me, my life being defined…
Category: Nostalgia
Ripe For Change
If anyone is ripe for change that would be me. Not that my life has been boring in the last 50++ years, but I could definitely use a holiday and a change of pace. My soul needs re-charging, the kind that doesn’t come from sleeping or shutting the world out. In spite of the fact that I cut back on work (for health reasons), the extended weekends seem to be designated to catching up on everything else I neglected to do during the week. Bills and all sorts of obligations pile up on my desk, and this is the time…
“Have You Googled It?”
Gather around the virtual fireplace children, and let me tell you a story… Once upon a time, many bites ago, in a long-forgotten analog world, humans used to gather around tables or camp fires and have conversations about life, family, school, work and the burdens of the soul. Families had home-cooked meals together, parties were organised through invitations, soirees required pearls, ties and heels, and the grandparents were not dumped in nursing homes. Lurking in the nearby dark forest of Technology lived the beast called Internet. There was a myriad of magnificent myths and legends that surrounded this monster who…
Bossa Nova To Chase the Blues Away
The fusion of samba and jazz born in the 1960s that became known as the music genre Bossa Nova is something I found very soothing to study to while I was still in college, along with smooth jazz. Later on, once the travel bug bit me, I began associating Bossa Nova with warm, sultry tropical weather and places like Boracay, Koh Samui, Phuket, and even Goa. This particular genre calms me down, and in some inexplicable way, dispels the ghosts of homesickness. So even though I live in Germany, where Bossa Nova is not as popular as in Asia or…
Because I Stopped To Look…
When despair for the world grows in meand I wake in the night at the least soundin fear of what my life and my children’s lives may beI go and lie down where the wood drakerests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.I come into the peace of wild thingswho do not tax their lives with forethoughtof grief. I come into the presence of still water.And I feel above me the day-blind starswaiting with their light. For the timeI rest in the grace of the world, and am free.– The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell…
Have I Dared To Pray?
Every morningthe worldis created. Under the orange sticks of the sunthe heapedashes of the nightturn into leaves again and fasten themselves to the high branches —and the ponds appearlike black clothon which are painted islands of summer lilies. If it is your natureto be happyyou will swim away along the soft trails for hours, your imaginationalighting everywhere. And if your spiritcarries within it the thornthat is heavier than lead —if it’s all you can doto keep on trudging — there is stillsomewhere deep within youa beast shouting that the earthis exactly what it wanted — each pond with its blazing liliesis a prayer…
It’s Always The Small Things
That annoy me… * the selfish commuter on the bus who blocks a seat with a backpack * the unfriendly service at a shop or restaurant * the nosey person at the next table who asks an indiscrete (rude) question * the drunk on the metro leering at the women * the plant that withered because it wanted dry soil * the dish that was short of being delicious simply because I was short of something * the budget that came in short this month because another bill was bigger * a lost file (this probably should be in the…
