I am not a human being
trying to have a spiritual experience.
I am a spirit being
mastering the human experience.

Monday 28 February 2011

Book quotes

I love reading. Reading takes me through time and space and allows me to 'experience' how life and love is to others. I laugh and cry, I hurt and heal and by reading I learn and grow, sometimes with the characters in the books but just as often when they don't. After my Family, reading means the world to me.
I like writing too and perhaps I'll write a book one day, share with other's some of what I've learnt...pass it forward if you will... :)


Here's what a some other folks have to say on Books:

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counsellors, and the most patient of teachers.
- Charles W. Eliot (21st President of Harvard University)

A single book at the right time can change our views dramatically, give a quantum boost to our knowledge, help us construct a whole new outlook on the world and our life. Isn't it odd that we don't seek those experiences more systematically?
- Steve Leveen

When I read a book I seem to read it with my eyes only, but now and then I come across a passage, perhaps only a phrase, which has a meaning for me, and it becomes part of me.
- W. Somerset Maugham (English playwright, novelist, and short story writer)

Give me a man or woman who has read a thousand books and you give me an interesting companion. Give me a man or woman who has read perhaps three and you give me a dangerous enemy indeed.
- Anne Rice (American novelist)

Any book that helps a child to form a habit of reading, to make reading one of his deep and continuing needs, is good for him.
- Maya Angelou (American poet, memoirist, actress, director, and civil rights activist)

You cannot open a book without learning something.
- Confucius (Chinese thinker and social philosopher)

Sunday 27 February 2011

Friendship quotes

"A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same."
- Elbert Hubbard

"An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind."
- Buddha

"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud".
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace."
- Kahlil Gibran

"Friendship is a single soul dwelling in two bodies."
- Aristotle

"If it's very painful for you to criticize your friends - you're safe in doing it. But if you take the slightest pleasure in it, that's the time to hold your tongue."
- Alice Duer Miller

"Friendship is a union of spirits, a marriage of hearts, and the bond thereto virtue."
- William Penn

"Friendship doubles our joy and divides our grief."
Swedish proverb

"Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great."
- Mark Twain

Tuesday 22 February 2011

Simple Woman's Daybook

FOR TODAY
Outside my window... Freeeezing cold, ice and sunshine... :) An acquaintance of mine said that one of the strange things she found about Sweden when moving over here (besides the darkness of our winters) was the fact that as soon as the sun broke through the clouds people would stop in their tracks and lift their faces towards the sun, like sunflowers, soaking up as much as they could. :) I'll tell you there was plenty of that happening today! :) :) I don't think I've ever longed for Spring as much as I am right now.

I am thinking... a) that Spring can't come soon enough for me. b) Feels like I can't seem to get warm at all today. c) Course literature is stupidly expensive!
I am thankful for... Family. ♥

From the learning rooms... Lots and lots on how kids learn to read and write at university right now. Superinteresting stuff!

From the kitchen... nothing inspiring, just the sound of the dishwasher.

I am wearing... A long nude coloured, comfy long sleeved tee and white leggings, my (red, purple, white) argyle patterned knee high socks and grey, warm!, woolly slippers.

I am creating... a better me?

I am going... into the unknown.

I am reading... Strength in Weakness by Gil Skidmore and just bought Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert (I loooved her witty writing style in eat, pray, love) even if the subject itself might not be the best...considering... :]

I am hoping... I'll get back on the 'best me'-path soooon! This thing, right here and now, is not good! :/ Bread and chocolate is not the way to go! I know this yet I'm doing it...not very clever.

I am hearing... Dishwasher's in the kitchen, tv's on in the living room, kiddies playing/fighting with each other and/about the duplo. Little Man is a wis at building robots. :)

Around the house... Nothing out of the ordinary. The usual messy-tidiness, what you'd expect from us. ;)

One of my favorite things... Books! Books! Books! After, or at the same time as, the bread and chocolate, I turn to books for comfort.

A few plans for the rest of the week... A few lectures, get started on my paper due in on Friday (it will not be in on time!) and having Family over to give us a hand on Saturday.

Here is picture for thought I am sharing...


The image is from allposters.com and the quote says:

One's mind,
once stretched,
by a new idea,
never regains its,
original dimension.


-Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.

For more daybook entries go to The Simple Woman's Daybook.

Thursday 17 February 2011

Hey Soul Sister!

Heart and Soul
Open hearts, sharing souls, trusted friends.

I've got a soul sister. She's a one-of-a-kind-awesome-woman who speaks the words of my soul, she moves me and inspires me. We've know each other for a looong time now. :) We've never met face-to-face as I'm over here in snowy (nooo it's not snowy over here all the time! ;)) Sweden and she's waaaaay over on the other side of the planet (almost) in sunny (yeah! all the time! ;)) California. We're close despite the physical distance between us and we 'talk' all the time via facebook, blogs, mail and even old fashioned letters. :)

Yesterday was the first time that I picked up the phone and heard her voice. :) :) :) After about 5 seconds on the phone I'd forgotten all about what she's sounded like in my head for all these years ;) and now I hear and feel her even more true in my heart. ♥

For a fantastic 2, and a bit, hours we were talking in true girlfriend-style, :D about everything! ;) We touched on subjects like American history, genealogy, cookie baking, democracy, U.S (and international) politics, socialism, geography, education... and that's on top (or at the same time as) of all the 'usual' family stuff. :) FAB!! :D Just exactly what I'd imagined it to be... ♥ Perfect.

Thanks for the chat sis ♥ and thank you for being the awesome you that you are! ♥
Speak to you again soon!

Wednesday 16 February 2011

Thomas Merton

Via Master Coelho's blog I found this prayer by Thomas Merton.


My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going,
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,
and the fact that I think I am following your will
does not mean that I am actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.

I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

__________________________________

in Thoughts in Solitude


It made me curious to know more about Merton (see wiki-link above) and his words. I found a lot! :)

Here's 'a little bit' of what I found:

"To say that I am made in the image of God is to say that Love is the reason for my existence, for God is love.
Love is my true identity. Selflessness is my true self. Love is my true character. Love is my name."

"The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings, which are all part of one another, and all involved in one another."

"Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. That is not our business and, in fact, it is nobody's business. What we are asked to do is to love, and this love itself will render both ourselves and our neighbors worthy if anything can."

"It is almost impossible to overestimate the value of true humility and its power in the spiritual life. For the beginning of humility is the beginning of blessedness and the consummation of humility is the perfection of all joy. Humility contains in itself the answer to all the great problems of the life of the soul. It is the only key to faith, with which the spiritual life begins: for faith and humility are inseparable. In perfect humility all selfishness disappears and your soul no longer lives for itself or in itself for God: and it is lost and submerged in Him and transformed into Him."

"Life consists in learning to live on one’s own, spontaneous, freewheeling: to do this one must recognize what is one’s own—be familiar and at home with oneself. This means basically learning who one is, and learning what one has to offer to the contemporary world, and then learning how to make that offering valid."

"We stumble and fall constantly even when we are most enlightened. But when we are in true spiritual darkness, we do not even know that we have fallen."

"...to love another as a person we must begin by granting him his own autonomy and identity as a person. We have to love him for what he is in himself, and not for what he is to us. We have to love him for his own good, not for the good we get out of him. And this is impossible unless we are capable of a love which 'transforms' us, so to speak, into the other person, making us able to see things a he sees them, love what he loves, experience the deeper realities of his own life as if they were our own. Without sacrifice, such a transformation is utterly impossible. But unless we are capable of this kind of transformation 'into the other' while remaining ourselves, we are not yet capable of a fully human existence."

(here's what I have to say on Love)

"The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant things begin to torture you in proportion to your fear of being hurt."

"A life is either all spiritual or not spiritual at all. No man can serve two masters. Your life is shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire."

"We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent,
and God is shining through it all the time...
He is everywhere,
He is in everything,
and we cannot be without Him."


- Thomas Merton



For more Merton quotes follow this link.

Monday 14 February 2011

It's Valentine's Day!
Here in Sweden it's called Alla hjärtans dag, meaning All Hearts' Day. Sweet enough but I think I most prefer the Finnish Ystävänpäivä, which means Friend's Day. A day not just for your sweetheart but for all who are close to your heart!

Hyvää ystävänpäviää to you all!

Sunday 13 February 2011

Immauel Kant

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) - German philosopher from the Prussian city of Königsberg. He published important works on science, religion, law, and history, believing himself to be creating a compromise between empiricism and rationalism (simply put - experience and reason combined rather than being each other 'opposites').



"Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end."

"There can be no doubt that all our knowledge begins with experience."

"He who is cruel to animals becomes hard also in his dealings with men. We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals."

"Seek not the favor of the multitude; it is seldom got by honest and lawful means. But seek the testimony of few; and number not voices, but weigh them."

"Everything good that is not based on a morally good disposition, however, is nothing but pretense and glittering misery."

"Live your life as though your every act were to become a universal law."


- Immanuel Kant

Friday 11 February 2011

Egypt is free!

This is History people! Mubarak has stepped down.
I hope and pray for a continued successful/peaceful progress towards democracy for the people of Egypt.

Monday 7 February 2011

I don' wanna! *pout*

I really, really, really, really, really don't want to be a 'grown up' right now... :/ I want to leave all my decision-making to be done by my mum so that I can be allowed to have a proper tantrum when I decide that she's made the 'wrong' one...! I don't wanna...!

Why do I have to choose? Why does the decision have to be mine...? I want life to be lighter, not darker and harder...

Why am I being forced to surrender...? I know why, but I don't wanna!! How do I know that my choice is the right one...? How do I live without regret...? I know how...but I don't wanna... :´/

Give Me Strength...

Please...

Sunday 6 February 2011

Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability

Whoa! Wow! Listen to this! It made me laugh and cry (specifically at 16:20 and 18:00) and smile... It's a 20 min. talk, take/make the time to hear it!

"To feel vulnerable is to feel alive..." wow...


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