...

I'm in a bit of a crappy place...still...
I seem to be virtually unbreakable. Which I guess should be seen as a good thing...? I think I've reached my "limit" so many time now that it surprises me that I'm still standing, walking, talking... For anyone else I would have totally allowed for relapsing back to smoking, eating or picking up drinking...
God! How pathetic... Why am I such a martyr...?!

Don't worry, my struggles are of the emotional kind rather than physical and as I said - virtually unbreakable...?

This post was going to be about something completely different...
*over and out*

Jason Reeves - The End

...it's not over 'til it's over...?

Maya Angelou quotes

Feeling a bit bored... Seems like everyone is doing what they're supposed to do today, while I just sit around just not able to be bothered. Gosh! Sounds depressing! :[ Sorry! :) Is not that bad...just having an off day.
So I waste (yeah waste! I so could be doing other stuff!) my time surfing the web, hunting for more fab quotes/saying/proverbs. I "always" seem to "get stuck" on a certain person or theme when I go in these hunts, today I got stuck on Maya Angelou. :) Don't mind that at all! :D Here are a few of gems I found...


Hope you're having a better day than me!


"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
- Maya Angelou

"Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean."
- Maya Angelou

"While I know myself as a creation of God, I am also obligated to realize and remember that everyone elseand everything else are also God's creation."
- Maya Angelou

Eat, Pray, Love

I looooved the book!
I'm not crazy about Julia Roberts but I'm still going to want to see this movie! Out in cinemas now, in Sweden not until October 1st... *pout!*

Have you seen it? Are you going to see it? How did you like it?? Share! :)

Lifting and Leaning

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

There are two kinds of people on earth today,
Just two kinds of people, no more, I say.

Not the good and the bad, for 'tis well understood
The good are half bad and the bad are half good.

Not the happy and sad, for the swift-flying years
Brings each man his laughter and each man his tears.

Not the rich and the poor, for to count a man's wealth
You must first know the state of his conscience and health.

Not the humble and proud, for in life's busy span
He who puts on vain airs is not counted a man.

No! The two kinds of people on earth I mean
Are the people who lift and the people who lean.

Wherever you go you will find the world's masses
Are ever divided in just two classes.

And, strangely enough, you will find, too, I ween,
There is only one lifter to twenty who lean.

In which class are you? Are you easing the load
Of overtaxed lifters who toil down the road?

Or are you a leaner who lets others bear
Your portion of worry and labor and care?

To Make This Life Worth While

I LOVE words, I dream of being an artist of words but... *blushing* I'm not a big fan of poetry, I most often find it too hard and too difficult. :/ Most other type of writing is "better", easier...to the point even if it's long...! :) Poetry is, a lot of the time, a bunch of fancy words, hidden meanings and too weird to have the heart that I find in other writing...

But! :D There are of course exceptions to this preconception of mine! ;) Sometimes poetry is bursting with heart, truth and beauty that no in no other way could be shared but in the poetic form...

To Make This Life Worth While
~ George Eliot

May every soul that touches mine-
Be it the slightest contact-
Get therefrom some good;

Some little grace; one kindly thought;
One aspiration yet unfelt;

One bit of courage
For the darkening sky;

One gleam of faith
To brave the thickening ills of life;

One glimpse of brighter skies
Beyond the gathering mists-

To make this life worthwhile

Karen Armstrong

...a provocative, original thinker on the role of religion in the modern world.



Religious thinker Karen Armstrong has written more than 20 books on faith and the major religions, studying what Islam, Judaism and Christianity have in common, and how our faiths shaped world history and drive current events.

A former nun, Armstrong has written two books about this experience: Through the Narrow Gate, about her seven years in the convent, and The Spiral Staircase, about her subsequent spiritual awakening, when she developed her iconoclastic take on the major monotheistic religions -- and on the strains of fundamentalism common to all. She is a powerful voice for ecumenical understanding.
(text taken from TED.com)

Charter for Compassion

http://charterforcompassion.org/

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensible to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.

...

I'm going through, experiencing, a bit of a rough spell at the moment and therefore most of the words that seem to "find me" right now are ones of heart ache, difficulites and sorrow...

Yep...that's where I'm at! ...or "worse" actually... I'm in heart ache limbo, sounds cheesy but feels true, not knowing where things are heading and confused as to what might follow...

Some words are quite dark and grim while others are perhaps more hopeful about lifes adversities - focusing on the nessecity of pain to be able to grow... I tend to go more towards those ones. Although, right here and now my spirit feels quite bruised and battered and my heart is unsure of what to do/feel...

"You need chaos in your soul to give birth to a dancing star."
- Friedrich Nietzsche


hoping to give birth to a dancing star...

More Coelho...! Declaration of principles

1] All human beings are different. And should do everything possible to continue to be so.
2] Each human being has been granted two courses of action: that of deed and that of contemplation. Both lead to the same place.
3] Each human being has been granted two qualities: power and gift. Power drives man to meet his destiny, his gift obliges him to share with others that which is good in him. A man must know when to use his power, and when to use his gift.
4] Each human being has been granted a virtue: the capacity to choose. For he/she who does not use this virtue, it becomes a curse – and others will always choose for him/her.
5] Each human being has the right to two blessings, which are: the blessing to do right, and the blessing to err. In the latter case, there is always a path of learning leading to the right way.
6] Each human being has his own sexual profile, and should exercise it without guilt – provided he does not oblige others to exercise it with him/her.
7] Each human being has his own Personal Legend to be fulfilled, and this is the reason he is in the world. The Personal Legend is manifest in his enthusiasm for what she/he does.
Single paragraph – the Personal Legend may be abandoned for a certain time, provided one does not forget it and returns as soon as possible.
8] Each man has a feminine side, and each woman has a masculine side. It is necessary to use discipline with intuition, and to use intuition objectively.
9] Each human being must know two languages: the language of society and the language of the omens. The first serves for communication with others. The second serves to interpret messages from God.
10] Each human being has the right to seek out joy, joy being understood as something which makes one content – not necessarily that which makes others content.
11] Each human being must keep alight within him the sacred flame of madness. And must behave like a normal person.
12] The only faults considered grave are the following: not respecting the rights of one’s neighbor, letting oneself be paralyzed by fear, feeling guilty, thinking one does not deserve the good and bad which occurs in life, and being a coward.
Paragraph 1 – we shall love our adversaries, but not make alliances with them. They are placed in our way to test our sword, and deserve the respect of our fight.
Paragraph 2 – we shall choose our adversaries, not the other way around.
12A] We hereby declare the end to the wall dividing the sacred from the profane: from now on, all is sacred.
14] Everything which is done in the present, affects the future by consequence, and the past by redemption.
15] The impossible is possible

/Paulo Coelho


I just read this on Coelho's blog and went...wooow...! WOW! This man is just a awesome... It's a bit mind boggling that there's this person out there, right here and now, writing/speaking such obvious truths, the truths of my own heart and soul... Even if some things might not be completely "in tune" with my spirit I have yet to find (and believe you I'm looking!) something that's off...!

My favourite principle is Everything which is done in the present, affects the future by consequence, and the past by redemption. ...that and Each human being has the right to seek out joy, joy being understood as something which makes one content – not necessarily that which makes others content. And! ...from now on, all is sacred. it's just...aaah! Wow!

Elizabeth Gilbert

I really have to have a closer look at ted.com...!

I found this inspiring speech by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of amazing "Eat, Pray, Love") on another blog and wow, it is so worth the 19 min and 32 sec it takes to hear it!
Especially if you are a creative spirit or dream of releasing the creativity within you...



Olé!