Dearest

Dearest,
Nothing about me is unique. I am the sum of the influences of each person I have met; each book I have read; each landscape and work of art I have observed; each song I have sung; and each word I have heard.
This journal contains words, songs, poems and pictures that catch my fancy, that make me pause, that force me to think, or that simply amuse me.
I am on a journey I don’t know the way – I cannot yet begin to guide you; however, I would be grateful for the company, even for a short way.
Namaste,
Nariane



“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” said Alice.
“That depends a great deal on where you want to get to.” said the cat.
“I don’t much care where-,” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t much matter which way you go” said the cat.

Soon I will be here no more
You'll hear the tale
Through my blood
Through my people
And the eagle's cry
The bear within will never lay to rest

Wandering on Horizon Road
Following the trail of tears

Nightwish

thinking thinky things...

We are not fully-formed, static creatures; we are works in progress continually being made, and remade, by the consequences of our own chosen actions and inactions.

It is these choices, more than our talents and abilities that show us for what we truly are.

The first step to getting what we want to out of life is to simply decide what we want. It’s not always easy; the more alternatives we have, the more difficult the choice.

I think that one of the primary core components of human growth is realization of human choice; in making choices we learn to live with decisions and consequences and we learn who we really are.

What do you think?

Also consider this…if someone is incapable of doing evil. Can they be ‘good’? They have not chosen the higher path; they simply were not capable of any other course of action.

My grandmother once said that a witch that cannot curse also cannot cure; a person must acknowledge the darkness in order to acknowledge the light.

If someone is capable of evil, but chooses another course of action, doesn’t that put them on a higher path; making them “good” as they’ve chosen to harm none?

Thoughts?

The most wasted of all days is one without laughter.

A family took their frail, elderly mother to a nursing home and admitted her, hoping she would be well cared for.

The next morning, the nurses bathed her, fed her a tasty breakfast, and set her in a chair at a window overlooking a lovely flower garden.

She seemed okay, but after a while she slowly started to tilt sideways in her chair. Two attentive nurses immediately rushed up to catch her and straighten her up.

Again she seemed okay, but after a while she slowly started to tilt over to her other side. The nurses rushed back and once more brought her back upright. This went on all morning.

Later, the family arrived to see how the old woman was adjusting to her new home.

"So Ma, how is it here? Are they treating you all right?"

"It's pretty nice," she replied. "Everyone here is so nice and helpful. There's only one problem."

"What is it Ma?"

"They won''t let me fart"

The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children. There is no way to be a perfect mother but there are a million ways to be a good one.
Sometimes the laughter in mothering is the recognition of the ironies and absurdities. Sometime, though, it's just pure, unthinking delight.

expand

Can we really afford to only dance with those we know and trust?

I can often see far more than I care to see.
I am often disappointed by those I meet and even love, but rarely surprised

We can't really be surprised by people who acting like people now can we?

Do not assume that she who seeks to comfort you now, lives untroubled among the simple and quiet words that sometimes do you good. Her life may also have much sadness and difficulty, that remains far beyond yours. Were it otherwise, she would never have been able to find these words.

~Rainer Maria Rilke

Art: Atanur Dogan

Joyeuses Pâques

Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, "Christ is risen," but "I shall rise." ~Phillips Brooks

Photo credit: Nimoloth

i did not die

Don't stand beside my grave and weep,
For I'm not there, I do not sleep,
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond's glint on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn's rain.

When you awaken in morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush,
of quiet birds in circle flight,
I am soft stars that shine at night,
Don't stand beside my grave and cry,
I am not there. I did not die.
Poem: Mary E. Frye
Photo credit: Unknown

Can you hear it?

Sometimes...just sometimes... when it's dark, and we're alone, we hear a call we cannot answer; feel a pull we cannot follow; and dream a song we cannot sing.

Late Lament

Late Lament
Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bedsitter people look back and lament
Another day's useless energy is spent
Impassioned lovers wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love and has none
New mother picks up and suckles her son
Senior citizens wish they were young

Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colours from our sight
Red is grey and yellow white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion

lyrics by the Moody Blues, 1967
photo credit: Grant Privet

I Hope You Dance

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat
But always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty handed
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes,
I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance I
hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Living might mean taking chances
But they're worth taking
Lovin' might be a mistake
But it's worth making
Don't let some hell bent heart
Leave you bitter
When you come close to selling out
Reconsider
Give the heavens above
More than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
I hope you dance (Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance (Rolling us along)
I hope you dance (Tell me who)
I hope you dance (Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)
I hope you still feel small
When you stand by the ocean
Whenever one door closes,
I hope one more opens
Promise me you'll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance
Dance
I hope you dance
I hope you dance (Time is a real and constant motion always)
I hope you dance (Rolling us along)
I hope you dance (Tell me who)
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
I hope you dance (Where those years have gone)
(Tell me who)
I hope you dance
(Wants to look back on their youth and wonder)
(Where those years have gone)
Lee Ann Womack, Lyrics

While I'm not one for country music myself - I do find this song meaningful
The heaven & faith described in this song are often interpreted in the standard christian light found in most country songs (and that is perfectly valid should that be where your particular headspace is)...but I prefer to interpret it with my own twists.

I see faith as a type of courage; the courage to endure, to build, to try, to hope, and to believe. Faith is creative force while despair is paralyzing and destructive.

Heaven can be here on earth, not merely a tenuous afterlife reward. It comes from the ability to see, and accept, what is; but never to settle.
The Sheryl Crow's lyrics (Soak Up the Sun) suggest that:

It's not having what you want

It's wanting what you've got

...and perhaps that is the key, non?

Religion is for people who are afraid of going to hell; Spirituality is for those who've been there.

~Namaste

a thought...

...But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most? - Mark Twain

The difference between pornography and erotica is lighting.

~Gloria Leonard

Pity us...

My friends and my road-fellows,
Pity the nation that is full of beliefs and empty of religion.
Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own winepress.
Pity the nation that acclaims the bully as hero, and that deems the glittering conqueror bountiful.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice save when it walks in a funeral, boasts not except among its ruins, and will rebel not save when its neck is laid between the sword and the block.
Pity the nation whose statesman is a fox, whose philosopher is a juggler, and whose art is the art of patching and mimicking.
Pity the nation that welcomes its new ruler with trumpetings, and farewells him with hootings, only to welcome another with trumpetings again.
Pity the nation divided into fragments, each fragment deeming itself a nation.
Kahlil Gibran

I would rather have a mind opened by wonder than one closed by belief.

Gerry Spence







The weekend awaits...enjoy!

~Namaste~

small comfort

Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.




If you don't change your beliefs, your life will be like this forever. Is that good news?



(Douglas Noel Adams)

Well, spring sprang.
We've had our state of grace and our little gift of sanctioned madness, courtesy of Mother Nature.
Thanks, Gaia. Much obliged.
I guess it's time to get back to that daily routine of living we like to call normal.
(Northern Exposure, Spring Break, 1991)



'tis the Vernal Equinox. Happy Ostara!

As the newly reborn sun races across the sky, the days become longer, the air warmer and, once again, life begins to return to the land. Twice a year, day and night become equal in length. To the elders, the equinoxes were markers in which seeds would be planted and then harvested.

The Vernal Equinox is a time of renewal, both in Nature and in the Home.

.........and nothing says renewal like a Cadbury mini-egg.

Go dtaga do ríocht

Here's wishing you the top o' life without a single tumble.
Here's wishing you the smiles o' life and not a single grumble.
Here's wishing you the best o' life and not a claw about it.
Here's wishing you the joy in life and not a day without it.

Here's to lying, stealing, and cheating!
May you lie to save a friend;
May you steal the heart of the one you love;
and may you cheat death.


Have a good weekend

a ghrá mo chroí

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
May the rains fall soft upon your fields.


May you be poor in misfortune, and rich in blessings.
Slow to make enemies, and quick to make friends.
But rich or poor, or quick or slow,
May you know nothing but happiness from this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home,
And may the hand of a friend always be near.

May your thoughts be as glad as the shamrocks,
May your heart be as light as a song.
May each day bring you bright happy hours,
That stay with you all year long.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you.
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.