red letter days in our lives

There are red letter days in our lives when we meet people who thrill us like a fine poem, people whose handshake is a brimful of unspoken sympathy and whose sweet, rich nature imparts to our eager impatient spirits a wonderful restfulness … perhaps we never saw them before and they may never cross our life’s path again; but the influence of their calm, mellow nature is a libation poured out upon our discontent, and we feel its healing touch as the ocean feels the mountain stream freshening its brine …

- Helen Keller

stream of consciousness / gleaning of knowledge

google: 500 Days of Summer > zooey deschanel > franny & zooey > JD Salinger > Glass Family > Zachary Martin “Zooey” Glass – He is characteristically misanthropic which he attributes to Seymour and Buddy’s imposition of their college-age infatuation with Eastern mysticism on himself and Franny as children > misanthropy > *action* pulling my copies of Franny & Zooey and The Catcher In The Rye off shelf + place within easy reach for re-reading

Misanthropy

Misanthropy is a general dislike, distrust, contempt, or hatred of the human species or a disposition to dislike and/or distrust other people’s silent consensus about reality.

A misanthrope is a person who dislikes or distrusts humanity as a general rule.

While misanthropes express a general dislike for humanity on the whole, they typically have normal relationships with individual members of society.

Misanthropy may be motivated by feelings of isolation or social alienation, or simply contempt for the perceived prevailing characteristics of humanity.

A great number of false negative tie-ins are often associated with the term. An extreme misanthrope may indeed hate the human species generally, but it does not necessarily entail psychopathy.

Misanthropes can hold normal and intimate relationships with people, but they will often be very few and far between.

They will typically be very selective with whom they choose to associate. This is also where their aversion is most prevalent, because their perspective may show an overriding contempt towards common human faults and weaknesses in others and, in some cases, themselves.

It is because of that aversion that most misanthropes will often be categorized as loners, living in seclusion. They may not find solace or effective functioning in society as a result of their perspective.

However, effectively functioning in society may have little or no value to the misanthrope, and the prospect of fitting into their culture may seem unnecessary or undesirable.

Misanthropy can often be characterized as disillusionment with what is perceived to be human nature. The misanthrope, having grown to expect humanity to assume a romantic and simplistic ideal, is consistently confronted with conflicting evidence.

On the other hand, the object of a misanthrope’s dislike may be a pervasive culture which is perceived as denying human nature. In both cases, the misanthrope may view him/herself as somehow distinct from a majority of the human species.

Many misanthropes often express a highly sarcastic sense of humour, and often have a preference for various forms of social or political satire.

Easy

Is an ‘easy life’ enviable?

“Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger men. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be the miracle.”

Passive-Agressive Behaviour

So I’m listening to this new podcast called Zenisstupid (which I’m finding very interesting and also informative) and there’s an episode (#27 on transformation) where they talked about receiving flaming comments from listeners/readers etc. I think naturally people in such a situation, upon reading the comment, would automatically get hurt, then angry, then defensive. Perhaps all in a split second. So the Gwen half of Zenisstupid says that she immediately catches herself getting almost kinda like agressive angry then she consciously tells herself let it go by bringing the mind away from the emotion and to something else. Which the Partrick-half responds by saying this is much healthier then how some people might react by completely shutting the content out (i.e. quashing the emotion by forcing self to ignoring) and thinking that they’re above it all which leads to passive-aggressive behavior. I totally agree with this and I’ve actually noticed peoples’ reactions to negative external stimulus and really, when there’s a fierce dog barking outside the door, and its just left to bark and one just shuts their ears (not physically possible. As is being above it all), the barking never goes away, it just gets stacked under defence and denial because it’s never taken and released. Hmmm. Once again just something which happens and is known but somehow never put in words.

Still making rounds on the internet; endearing indeed.

…But there’s something else Susan Boyle awakens in us as we watch her come out of her shell: our own selves. Who among us does not move through life with the hidden sense, maybe even quiet desperation, that we are destined for more? That underneath our ordinary exterior lies an extraordinary soul? That given the right opportunity, the right stage, the right audience, we would shine as the stars we truly are?

That promise underlies most successful advertising campaigns: the desire to transform from caterpillar to butterfly. Maybe if you buy that (fill in the blank), people will see you for the sophisticated, cool, gorgeous, talented, lovable person you know you really are.

It’s easy to admire Susan. But it’s far more interesting to be transformed by her. “There is grace,” a friend recently wrote to me, “in being molded by your own gifts.”

To allow yourself to be molded by your own gifts takes courage. You have to be willing to stand there, exposed and authentic, while the audience rolls their eyes at you and sneers, expecting failure. And then, of course, you have to fail, laugh or cry, and keep going until, one day, they stop laughing and start clapping.

Note to self: C o u r a g e

And she had her mother.

“She was the one who said I should enter ‘Britain’s Got Talent.’ We used to watch it together,” Boyle told the British paper The Times of her mother, who died in 2007, “She thought I would win. … I am doing it as a tribute to my mum, and I think she would be very proud.”"She was the one who said I should enter ‘Britain’s Got Talent.’ We used to watch it together,” Boyle told the British paper The Times of her mother, who died in 2007, “She thought I would win. … I am doing it as a tribute to my mum, and I think she would be very proud.”

If we’re lucky, we have parents who encourage us. Nothing really replaces a mother or father who believes in you. But even if you don’t have parents who believe in you, it’s important to have someone. Someone you trust, enough that when they offer criticism, you know it’s to draw you out more fully, not shut you down even partially.

The above are extracted from an article on Susan Boyle I came across on CNN.com , written by a Peter Bregman. Seemed like a man with interesting thoughts so I clicked on the link to his How We Work column on HarvardBusiness.org and after a quick scan of the page, immediately subscribed by RSS.

Have a good weekend!

How difficult is it to paint a SHOE, OMG. Help.

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I came across this quote on Design Crush and found it to be quite touching.

I was wanting to paint an elephant, only, which I had envisioned to be in bright pops of colours. But the only ready-stretched canvas I had was really too big for just a singular elephant and I somehow decided to incorpoate bits of the quote above. Ta daa!

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I read the whole of Siddhartha within 24 hours of getting it from a friend. It’s left haunting and long-lasting impressions. I like this book, a lot. Fit current frame of mind exactly.

And now I’m onto Fear of Flying and it’s definitely one of the better reads I’ve had of late:-

“Really, I thought, sometimes I would like to have a child. A very wise and witty little girl who’d grow up to be the woman I could never be. A very independent little girl with no scars on the brain or the psyche. With no toadying servility and no ingratiating seductiveness. A little girl who said what she meant and meant what she said. A little girl who was nether bitchy not mealymouthed because she didn’t hate her mother or herself.”

“…tried to explain how dishonest I felt for always using seductiveness to get what I wanted from men.”

“Women using sex appeal to manipulate men and suppressing their rage and never being open and honest.”

“When I look back on my not yet thirty-year-old life, I see all my lovers sitting alternately back to back as if in a game of musical chairs. Each one an antidote to the one that went before. Each one a reaction, an about-face, a rebound.”

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Really. How do the Japanese churn out such style, in such voluminous treasure-troves we call magazines.

File for future reference. Mental Note for when I do start learning and playing golf!

slicing away at the unhealthy qualities, from shyness and lack of confidence to…

Extracted from The Red Book by Sera Beak

When I first encountered the fierce Hindu goddess Kali by way of a vibrant poster that one of my professors had pinned up on the blackboard, I was immediately hit by a sort of kinesthetic whap. I had no idea what or who she was, but I did know she my heart flutter and pay attention, so I decided to check her out. I took a class on Indian goddesses, read some books. And eventually even lived in India for a while, and for my birthday that year was given one of the fiercest-looking goddess icons I’d ever seen. For a while, my ishta deva (my personal deity or divine face of choice) was this intense Indian warrior-goddess, a four-armed, sword-wielding, completely naked (well, except for a skirt made of human limbs and a necklace of human skulls) female deity who actually predates Hinduism. Kali’s blood-soaked tongue sticks out at us (as my favourite transgressive professor Jeffrey Kripal would say); she has wild hair, likes to be on top, and, if she so chooses, can dance the universe to death. Unlike most Hindu deities, she is not married, she traditionally likes to be worshipped in cremation grounds, and she pretty much scares the bejesus out of neoconservative Texans and those who are not willing to face all of themselves in order to become enlightened. But for those who worship her, she appears beautiful and loving. (In this case, beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.)

To worship Kali – or maybe a better way of saying it is, to embrace Kali mojo in your life, is to tap into a swift transformative energy that’s all about cutting through illusions – like all your personal issues and fears and domineering ego – so the real you (divine self) can come out to play.

Meditating on Kali and being intentionally aware of her wild energy as I remained a modern American gal and went about my daily grad school business was not always easy. Obviously, she ain’t your typical soft-focus, pink ‘n’ fluff goddess type. No matter my stress level or relationship status, Kali kept me slicing away at the unhealthy qualities, from shyness and lack of confidence (in the classroom and the bedroom) to fear of change (and elevators) to unhealthy eating habits and a whole host of other personal crap I consciously or unconsciously clung to.

To this day, she encourages me to write – to live – fiercely and from the heart.

Elusive

Very much like the perfect handbag, happiness is seemingly elusive. The search is ongoing. There just is no singular bag which halts the process. Perhaps then, its the path and not the goal?

Sometimes, a poem sums it all up concisely. I came across this while clicking around the Selby (Ingrid Schram) and thought to share:-

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly, and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be
greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career
however humble;
it is a real possession in the
changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you
to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.
Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit
to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore, be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham,
drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.

Sound

Rustling leaves and the first raindrops on a zinc roof

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The musician may sing to you of the rhythm which is in all space, but he cannot give you the ear which arrests the rhythm nor the voice that echoes it. – Kahlil Gibran