Bits of yellow around the house

ochestra

13 years old. so charming. too talented. crushhh!!!!!!!

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.

gotta love her

Q: What do you find boring?
A: Mediocrity.

A Conspiracy of Improbabilities

The stone…after the throw

The word…after it’s said

The occasion…after it’s missed

The time…after it’s gone.

The Time Traveler’s Wife

Such a lovely movie. Love story. Love.

I never quite got into the book as, to me, it simply defied logic and I couldn’t understand how many of him there were at one time, and how, if its in the chronological order of her life, he can meet her half-way through the book when she’s young again! However, I thought to myself, I’ll just watch the movie without analysing the technicalities of it. So I did. Perhaps that how some things should be appreciated, simply as they are. The film is lovely. Must watch.

He can travel back in time and meet who people who have since passed, and she tells him thats such a good thing. He says it doesn’t make a difference; he can’t change things, whatever happens to them will still happen to them. So true.

Striking

All images from The Selby

pre-destination vs self-determination

For the longest time, I’ve questioned whether life is to be self-determined or is there pre-destination/luck/fate/destiny/serendipity/affinity. Largely because there are things which I have not been able to reach and I could not figure out whether it was because there’s something I wasn’t doing or whether, despite me having done the best of my abilities, there is a element of ‘luck’ beyond effort and beyond my control and that I simply had to accept.

Yesterday, this came up in two different books and one podcast. Too much of a coincidence, I thought.

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Destiny, I feel, is also a relationship – a play between divine grace and willful self-effort. Half of it you have no control over; half of it is absolutely in your hands, and your actions will show measurable consequence. Man is neither entirely a puppet of the gods, nor is he entirely the captain of his own destiny; he’s a little bit of both.

We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses – one foot is on the horse called “fate”, the other on the horse called “free will.” And the question youhave to ask every day is – which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it’s not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?

- from Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

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“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.”

- Dr Reinhold Niebuhr, quoted in Putting the Power of Your Subconscious Mind to Work by Joseph Murphy

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Kathy Freson was on an episode of Oprah’s Soul Series where they got around to talking about individual theme songs. Oprah says hers is ‘Amazing Grace’, Gayle’s (King) is ‘Walking on Sunshine’ and Kathy Freston said hers is ‘Que Sera Sera’.

She says a part of her always tries to manipulate life and to control consequences. Then her theme song sometimes pops up in her head and reminds her, que sera sera, whatever will be, will be; Accept what is, as it is.

She also talks about the balance between accepting, being, the ‘what is’ on one hand and being pro-active on the other.

Balance between the truth of what is (be it illness, divorce, getting fired), not denying this and being pro-active in taking specific steps such as meditating, visualising, meeting healers, reading a book which will ‘pop (her) mind into a new place’, surround myself with positive people etc.

Wouldn’t I love to live in a space like this!

Came across on MadeByGirl

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.”