I might have interpret this book in a different level or tone but I just write according to my own understanding.It's hard to really understand sometimes considering the difference in terms of age and time.I might have not understood it the way the book was supposed to be understood but still,I have learned so much about self cleansing and letting go.It really is thought provoking hence I wrote really long PERSONAL REFLECTION PER CHAPTER. The book felt it's my very own heart and soul.I'm physically here in this modern age but my heart and my soul belongs to the old times.This book is a huge inspiration for me.I just don't know but there's something in this book that makes me want to read it over and over again. I also just read her biography and she has indeed a very interesting life to begin with.:0 V111] THE BEACH AT MY BACK
"HERE & NOW" The world is rumbling and erupting in ever-widening circles around us.The tensions,conflicts and sufferings even in the utmost circle touch us all,reverberate in all of us.We cannot avoid these vibrations.The inter-relatedness of the world links us constantly with more people than our hearts can hold.Or rather-for I believe the heart is infinite-modern communication loads us with more problems than the human frame can carry. We brought up a tradition that has now become impossible,for we have extended our circle throughout space and time.We are forced to make some compromise.Because we cannot deal with the many as individuals,we sometimes try to simplify the many into abstraction called the mass.Because we cannot deal with the complexity of the present,we often over ride it and live in a simplified dream of the future.Because we cannot solve our own problems right here at home,we talk about problems out there in the world.An escape process goes on from the intolerable burden we have placed upon ourselves. When we start at the center of ourselves,we discover something worthwhile extending towards the periphery of the cycle.PATIENCE-FAITH-OPENNESS,is what the sea has to teach.SIMPLICITY-SOLITUDE-INTERMINACY...but there are other beaches to explore.There are more shells to find.This is only a begging.. REFLECTION It's just so sad how sometimes I keep on yearning for more without realizing I have too much already.Our world today is very competitive as ever.It is the rise of modern technology.It is the era of internet,cellphones,ipods,cameras,online games and computers.It so hard for a working person to find the luxury to just enjoy the simplicity and beauty of nature.It's just so hard to enjoy the luxury of nature and silence when there are a lot of distractions. Sure,I met a lot of people who is into travelling but I'm beggining to conclude that a lot are more excited about the photo's they can take home so they can proudly post it on FB or TWITTER.Sometimes the main purpose of that travel or vacation is being ruined because we are so busy gathering what we can take home instead of enjoying such glorious moment. Here and now.Why are we so obsessed about the future when we have such present moment to enjoy.Personally.aside from my personal worries I had to get life insurance.Apart from life insurance,there's medical insurance,retirement plan,pension etc..etc...And most of the sales agent are so crafty that It's easy to believe what they are selling.The downside of being advance can bring us to obsession.I experienced getting depressed over things that didn't happen. under circumstances,sometimes we are so much ahead that we forget our limits.People teach us to go beyond our stretch but they haven't set our expectation of what might possibly happen along the way.We live our lives anyway as if we own the world.We live our life as if we are unstoppable.We sometimes can take things under our control but when natural calamities or disaster occurs,we came running asking GOd why such things happen.All of a sudden,we acknowledge the divine presence of a creator who has the real control and power and richness.Isn't that so vain ?! I am so guilty about this.In fact,I have forgotten the feeling inner joy of a morning prayer .I desperately want the humility of a heart and soul that was so dependent on Him. This chapter taught me one thing ; "take a break from everything" and take time to enjoy a moment of my time by freeing myself from much distractions .It made me realized that instead of expecting big on the outside,why not start from the inner self going outside.If we are good inside then I bet everything will follow.Its really proven.People who are naturally happy and relaxed on the inside carry that atitude with them in everything.So I guess,I have to wrestle with myself first before I even go any further. V11] A FEW SHELLS "SIMPLICITY" One cannot collect all the beautiful shells on the beach.One can collect only a few,and they are more beautiful if they are few.For it is only framed in space that beauty blooms.Only in space are events and objects and people unique and significant-and therefore beautiful.A tree has significance if one sees it against the empty space of the sky.Too many activities,and people,and things.Too many worthy activities,valuable things ,and interesting people.For it is not merely the trivial which clutters our lives but the important as well.We can have a surfeit of treasures-an excess of shells,where one or two would be significant. When you love someone,you do not love them all the time in exactly the same way ,from moment to moment.It is an impossibility.it is even a lie to pretend to.And yet this is exactly what the most of us demand.The only real security is not in owning or possessing,not in demanding or expecting,not hoping,even.Security in a relationship lies neither in looking back to what is in nostalgia,nor forward to what it might be in dread or anticipation,but living in the present relationship and accepting it as it is now.For relationships,too,must be like islands.One must accept them for what they are here and now,within their limits.The sea recedes and returns eternally.Communication becomes communion and one os nourished as one never is by words. Islands select for a person socially.It's small circumference cannot hold too many people.in the suburbs of a large city we tend to see people of the same general age and interests.That is why we chose the suburbs,because we have similar needs and pursuits.One thing is fairly certain; we usually select the known ,seldom the strange.We tend not to choose the unknown which might be a shock or disappointment or simply a little difficult to cope with.And yet it is unknown with all it's disappointments and surprises that is the most enriching.The multiplicity of the world will crowd in on me again with its false sense of values.Values weighed in quantity,not quality; in speed,not stillness;in noise not in silence; in words ,not in thoughts ; in acquisitiveness not beauty.Simplicity of living ,as much as possible,to retain a true awareness of life.Balance of physical,intellectual and spiritual life.Work without pressure.Space for significance and beauty.Time for solitude and sharing.Closeness to nature to strengthen understanding and faith in the intermittency of life: life of spirit,creative life,and the life of human relationships. REFLECTION Lesser is better.Less talk less mistake and so does simplicity.But still we are in the world of complication.Complicated choices.Complicated life.Even relationship status is so much complicated.Contentment I guess is rare these days.One envies a successful businessman.Others kill in the name of politics.One envies the life of celebrities while some dream of becoming instant millionaires.I personally envy such artistic intelligent people who travels around the world to gain experience and wisdom. This world is indeed complicated.Morality also got complicated.It seem so hard to determine what's done in good and bad motive.Our laws got complicated and so we hire lawyers to simplify it.We've got ourselves into the most busy routine and sometimes how I wish I can go back and undo what I did. Simplicity I think rarely exists.Even simplicity in beauty is so rare these days.I wonder how people use this now.Is it use literally or is it used mostly in the form of hope and wishful thinking. Simplicity even in our environment.Basically most chose the city life because it is where the "so called life" exists.I choose the city for its modernized world.I didn't appreciate the simplicity of my hometown not until I have experienced living for so long in the city.I have been longing for so long to go home to enjoy the moments of silence. Simplicity is vast on its context.Simplicity can also be observed when communicating.it doesn't necessarily mean we have to communicate in words but we can just commune in our thoughts and feelings.On a peaceful isolated environment,one can communicate effectively as long as we can afford the luxury of silence.I guess this is one of the most sought after in life from busy workaholics like me.Just a moment of silence.Just a moment of simplicity.The simpler,the better.... MY REFLECTION This chapter reminds me of one person-MOM.I can't imagine how she managed to survive each day as a mother to 11 kids.I can't imagine how she have to face each day.She raised 11 kids and more likely she's use to our cries and laughters and shouts in the house.Then just one day,most of us left home.It was almost empty .It was never the same.ANd since I'm not that close to her,I never got the chance to ask how she's doing each day.I know it must be real hard.Thus,made her the strongest woman I have ever met.She got married too young.She was given the responsibility of life while she's still a child.No one thought her about parenting.And yet we survived.We were fed by her own works.We were never fed of something that she didn't work for. I don't have much to say on this chapter but I have learned much from this chapter.Nothing is permanent,even promises need to be adjusted from time to time. V1] ARGONAUTA "INTERMITTENCY" QUOTABLE QUOTE " In speaking of the ARGONAUTA one might as well admit one has left the usual shell collections.But with this rare and delicate vessel,we have left the well -tracked beaches of proven facts and experiences.We are adventuring in the chartless seas of imagination. PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS have no ulterior motive.They are not based on particular interests.They do not serve partial and limited ends.Their value lies entirely in themselves and for the same reason transcends all other values.A relation according to Rilke is meant to be of one human being to another.And this more human will resemble that which we are with struggle and endeavor preparing,the love that consists in this ,that two solitudes protect and touch and greet each other.There are many signs of interest in the new woman today,chiefly in the form of mechanistic studies of her as a female animal.Woman must come of age by herself- to learn how to stand alone.She must learn not to depend on another,nor to feel she must prove her strength by competing with another.She must find her true centre.She must become whole. Perhaps,both men and women may hunger in our material ,outward,active,masculine culture,for the supposedly feminine qualities of heart,mind and spirit-qualities which are actually neither masculine nor feminine,but simply human qualities that will make us whole ,and will enable he individual to become world to himself.But the tree is still one,and it's different and separate parts contribute to one another.The two separate worlds or the two solitudes will surely have more to give each other than when each was a meager half.According to Rilke, a complete sharing between two people is an impossibility and whenever it seems ,nevertheless,to exist,it is a narrowing a mutual agreement which robs either one member or both of his fullest freedom and development.But,once the realization is accepted that,even between the closest human beings ,infinite distances continue to exist,a wonderful living side by side can grow up,if they succeed in loving the distance between them which makes it possible for each to see the other whole and against a wide sky! For we are actually pioneers trying to find a new path through the maze of tradition,convention and dogma.Our efforts are part of the struggle to mature the conception of relationships between men and women-in fact all relationships.In such light,every advance in understanding has value.Every step,even a tentative one counts. Morning is for mental work.Afternoon is for physical tasks,the out -of-door-jobs.But evening is for sharing ,for communication.Is it the uninterrupted dark expanse of the night after the bright segmented day,that frees us to each other? Or does the infinite space and indefinite darkness dwarf and chill us,turning us to seek small human sparks?Work is not deformed by pressure. Relationship is not strangled by claims.Intimacy is tempered by lightness of touch.We have moved through our day like dancers,not needing to touch more than lightly because we were instinctively moving to the same rythm.A good relationship has a pattern like a dance and is built on some of the same rules.The partners do not need to hold on tightly,because they move confidently in the same pattern ,intricate but gay and swift and free,like a country dance of Mozart's.One cannot dance well unless one is completely in time with the music,not leaning back to the last step or pressing forward to the next one,but poised directly on the present step as it comes.Perfect poise on the beat is what gives good dancing and its sense of ease,tiredness,of the eternal.The spirit alternates between total vision and absolute blindness. V] OYSTER BED "MIDDLE AGE" "YOU never find two alike.Each is fitted and formed by it's own life and struggle to survive.So most couples in the growing years of marriage struggle to achieve a place in the world.Love does not consist in gazing each other but in looking outward together in the same direction(St Exupery).For in fact,man and woman are not only looking outward together in the same direction ; they are working outward.But the bond-the bond of romantic love is something else.It has so little to do with propinquity or habit or space or time or live itself.It leaps across all of them,like a rainbow-or a glance.In the oyster stage of marriage,romantic love is only one of the many bonds that make up the intricate and enduring web that two people have built together.Married couples are apt to find themselves in middle age,high and dry in an outmoded shell,in a fortress which has outlived it's function.Perhaps,middle age is a period of shedding shells;the shell of ambition,the shell of material acumulations and possesions,the shell of the ego.Perhaps,one can shed at this stage of life as one sheds in becah-living ;one's pride,one's false ambitions,one's mask,one's armour.But in the middle age,because of the false assumption that is a period of decline,one interprets these life-signs,paradoxically,as signs of appraoching death.Instead of facing them,one runs away;one escapes-into depressions,nervous breakdowns,drink,love affairs,or frantic thoughtless,fruitless overwork.Anyhting,rather than stand still and learn from them. Beautiful as it was,it was still a closed world one had to out grow.And the time may come when-comfortable and adaptable as it is-one may outgrow even the oyster shell. MY REFLECTION Maybe,I have outgrown some things in life that's why I don't find them attractive again.I definitely have any say on this topic coz obviously I'm just halfway to middle age but it's good to be knowledgeable about the realities of life specially from women of wisdom.At least,I've got to have an idea of where I'm heading.It's like having a peak to my future.Well,it's easy to make fun of women undergoing some middle age changes when you're young but for sure,my time will come.My own "outgrown" story will always be renewed each day.Those were the days when one has to worry about being left alone.Children getting married.Relationships needs restoration.A time in life where one has to deal with wrinkles.Though its very possible to seek medical assistance to stay younger.I find it actually weird how people these days settle for it but there bodies can't stand up for their facial age.Nothing is impossible today specially when it comes to outside beauty.But one has to deal with the fact that,you can look young and beautiful but your bones can't be repaired once it's brittled.Age measures us,how come we still did everything we can to avoid it.These beauty products can promise us temporary repair but doesn't have any say about the side effects. IT's really annoying sometimes how celebrities are so much into medical repair and even endorsing it that even those who rarely can afford really spent lots of money just for it.One has to seek medical help as they grow older.Sometimes its too ridiculously too much!Can you imagine a face that can look as young as 30 but has bone flexibility as that of a 60 years old.They might be young on the outside but they have fears inside because they have to slow down.Their physical look doesn't even match the physical activity that they are supposed to be dealing with. It reminds me of my prayers for the moment.I so thought I'm ready for such a committed life but after thinking over,there's part of me that is reserved,scared in a way.I have my own ugly and maybe deformed shell as it needs to be formed and tested in years.I haven't achieved the tenacity of life.In fact,I'm not even halfway.I'm still the wanderer whelk who left its shell thinking maybe life is better of without my protective covering.I mean it in a spiritual sense.I had uncovered myself.Wandered away with the reason of trying to validate what I choose to believe and be part of.Maybe,i'm still a new shell by the sea shore.I still need the morning sun to soften me.I need the noon time tide to strengthen me.I need the shadow of the moon to mirror myself.In short,I'm still halfway to mid life.I may or may not be there.What matters is now.How I should consider each opportunity to grow and mature.Yet,it doesn't scare me at all.It is so much interesting! I know that time will come for me to.Even right now,there are things that have outgrown me.Though at times,I took it on the wrong way without realizing that I just outgrown it.Like when I was a kid,I was so much into fairy tales.Then in High school,I was into HARDY BOYS and NANCY DREW mystery sort of thing.Then in college I was into DANIEL STEEL,SYDNEY SHELDON,NICOLAS SPARKS -really romantic books.Then right now,I'm into reality books.See,my taste has been changing as years go by! 1V] DOUBLE SUNRISE "RELATIONSHIP" PURE RELATIONSHIPS-the smile,the act,the relationship is hung in space,in the immediacy and purity of the present;suspended on the still point of here and now;balanced there,on a shaft of air,like a seagull.Every relationship seems simple at its start.The simplicity of first love,or friendliness,the mutuality of first sympathy seems,at it's initial appearance.There are no others in the perfect unity of that instant,no other people or things or interests.It is free of ties or claims,unburdened by responsibilities,by worry about the future or debts to the past. One resents any change,even though one knows that transformation is natural and part of the process of life and it's evolution. But though men and women are absorbed in their specialized roles and each misses something of the early relationship,there are great difference in their needs.With each partner hungry for different reasons and each misunderstanding the other's needs,it is easy to fall apart or into late love affairs.The temptation is to blame the situation on the other person and to accept the easy solution that a new and more understanding partner will solve everything. "going into one's own ground and knowing oneself" is found in the creative activity springing from within.It is found paradoxically,when one loses oneself.One must lose one's life to find it.Woman can best refined herself by losing herself in some kind of creative activity of her own.Only a refound person can refined a personal relationship.Obviously,some relationships can never be recovered.It is not just a question of different needs to be understood and filled.In their changing roles the two partners may have grown in different directions or at different rates of speed. Is it all right to wish to be loved alone,mutuality is the essence of love.it is only in the time-sense that is wrong.It is when we desire continuity of being loved alone that we go wrong.For there is no one-and -only,there are just only one-and only -moments.All these moments of together-aloneness are valid,but not permanent.one comes in the end to realize that there's no permanent pure-relationship and there should not be.It is even something to be desired.The pure relationship is limited ,in space and in time.In its essence it implies exclusion.It excludes the rest of life,other relationships,other sides of personality ,other responsibilities,other possibilities in the future.It excludes growth.Life must go on! The race on the beach together renews one's youth like dip in the sea.But we are no longer children;life is not a beach.There's no pattern for permanent return,only for refreshment.One learns to accept the fact that no permanent return is possible to an old form of relationship; and,more deeply still,that there's no holding of a relationship to a single form. VALIDITY need have no relation to time,to duration,to continuity.It is on another plane,judged by other standards.It relates to the actual moment in time and place.The sunrise shell has the eternal validity of all beautiful and fleeting things MY OWN REFLECTION Though this chapter talks more about husband-wife relationship,it also covered the other kinds of relationship thing.Her insight made me realized and I do admit that sometimes,a good relationship is destroyed because either I am so fixated to the old self or the old us that we use to be.I have issues of letting go.I have difficulties or challenges when it comes to moving on.It's also an added knowledge from a married woman who says men commit adultery more likely than woman.It means that both man and woman may encounter the same challenging situation it's just that women handles it better than men .Woman are natural talker.Woman has a natural survival instinct.They are expressive.They have friends to talk to.Women find ways to fix their own problems.Women find ways to mend their brokenness and pull themselves together.They can't just give up.They always were selfless usually to mothers.Unlike men,they find an outlet to escape and one of them is to have secret affairs.She also gave a good illustration as to why man commit adultery more likely than women.it's just that women are good in shedding of their baggage when it comes to family matters. When it comes to relationship like FRIENDSHIP,I guess I really have to keep this in mind" there's no pure-permanent relationship" because I agree.The relationship might be permanent but the state of having not to change is impossible.I am always a victim of this that's why I hurt the most.I didn't experience heart breaks from having a relationship with the opposite sex but I experienced a lot of times being hurt when A friend seemed like they totally forgot me.I felt like they just used me.I felt like I'm always the one chasing them.What I failed to realize is that there's no permanency.There's nothing like same as always.I should stop using that phrase.I just have to learn from the moon shell,there's no permanency in relationship so that I can move on each time.Though there might be,it was said that it's very rare. I'm saddened by the fact that sometimes such beautiful relationships were ruined by either selfishness or jealousy. Personally.Personally,I loose a friend just years ago because my heart was over taken by jealousy. A.A certain feeling of being unimportant pushed me until I became too selfish and forgot what I am supposed to be.I loose a good friend because I allow my heart to be corrupted.I was so fixated to how we used to be forgetting that everything changed already.I'm also in the verge of loosing another one when I realized,friendship shouldn't be based on just feelings at all.It is the intimacy that matters.That certain unexplained connection between two people.It is something special.Because of such attitude,it made me loose a friend instead of being a protective friend I claimed I was. I was really very thankful that I find such a book with so much wisdom.I came to understand little by little what's causing those pain in my heart. At least,I had a clear explanation as to why I feel the way I feel.I have been struggling with the feeling of being abandoned or forgotten or being left behind.I so thought that way.What I didn't realize is I failed to consider that there's no such thing as pure permanency in this world.I have issues about letting go and accepting changes I supposed.I have a vague understanding towards being loved and important to someone else.Just like she said,there's no pure -permanent relationship.Accept and move on! I realized that I was boxed in a certain idea that a person could be the same always.I was boxed in a certain desire that needed validation.When It comes to marriage thing,I guess I can only speak for my mom.I have felt her pain and suffering of having to survive each day for her 11 children.In fact,my respect and admiration for my mom grew deeper.Not only because of what I read from this book but also after having to hear those mom stuff everyday from my shift mates. Sure,we have issues.Sure we argue or even fight a lot but when it comes to the strongest woman I've ever know,it would be my mom.The strongest woman and I' m proud of her! She might be imperfect in a lot of ways and so am I! She might not be able to fulfill all the mother role as she was supposed to based on the standard of the world.When I was younger,I hated her for being so uptight and close minded.I never admire her in a way not until now.I appreciated her.I guess,it's also part of the no permanency thing.Our feelings are never constant.We mature each moment and each experience and every thing that happened to us can either teach us a lesson or encourage us.In my case, it indirectly changed me . . 111] MOON SHELL "SOLITUDE" I call this chapter "SOLITUDE" because it taught me about the importance of seeking solitude from time to time.It felt like this book is very powerful because it's based on experience.I mean the author is like one of those painters who really paint the beauty of nature naturally.She had written every bit of it like it's alive and I felt like I was actually there.It was very creative,intimate and peaceful as I go along.I guess,one secret to affecting other's lives is speaking from experience because she sounded like she knew her craft very well. A book written by a woman .She defined the details of the sea like the character of a woman.Strong,complicated,vulnerable yet strongest when it comes to protecting those they love-family,husband children and parents.The author had is obviously a lover of nature.She can communicate with nature by reflecting on it.These are compiled reflections of a woman who once searched for solitude through the sea.The sea that was so full of meaning and messages.And those were simplified in this book.And so after I read this,I made up my mind today.As much as I want to surround myself with good humored friends,I should still be not ashamed to seek solitude from time to time. Even before I read this book,I am a woman who finds comfort in solace.When stress,I usually pull myself from the crowd and find the most silent place I can be to pull myself together.I get comfort in solitude. QUOTED ISLANDS - "the past and the future are cut off; only the present remains.Everyday,every act is an island,washed by the time and space,and has an island's completion.People,too,become like islands in such an atmosphere,self-contained,whole and serene;respecting other people's solitude,not intruding on their shores,standing back in reverence before the miracle of another individual.I feel like we are all islands in a common sea. "We are solitary-not something that one can take or leave.Naturally,one hates to think as one self alone.One avoids it.It seems to imply rejection or un popularity.Instead of planting our solitude with our own dream blossoms,we choke the space with music,chatter,and companionship to which we do not even listen.It is simply there to fill the vacuum.When the noise stops,there's no inner music to take it's place.We must RE-LEARN TO BE ALONE.And it seems to me that when separated to my own species ,that I was nearer to others.Yes,I feel closer to my fellow men too,even in my solitude.For it is not physical solitude that actually separates one from other men,not physical isolation,but spiritual isolation.It is not the desert island nor the stony wilderness that cuts you from the people you love.It is the wilderness in the mind,the dessert wastes in the heart through which one wanders lost and a stranger to oneself then one is estranged from others too.If one is out of touch with oneself,then one cannot touch others.We are hungry,and not knowing what we are hungry for.we fill up the void with endless distractions,always at hand -unnecessary errands,compulsive duties,social niceties.And for the most part,to little the purpose.The more possessions we have,the more diversions to fill the void.In other words,the answer is not in the feverish pursuit of centrifugal activities which only lead in the end to fragmentation.Woman must be the pioneer in this turning inward strength. " Beauty of earth and the sea and the air meant more to me.I was in harmony with it,melted into the universe,lost in it,as one is lost in a canticle of praise,swelling from an unknown crowd in a cathedral " "A woman's function is to give.Woman instinctively wants to give,yet resents giving herself in small pieces.Basically,is this a conflict? I believe that the woman who resents is not so much giving herself in pieces as giving herself purposely.What we fear is not so much that our energy maybe leaking away through small outlets as that it may be going down the drain.Purposeful giving is not as apt to deplete one's resources; it belongs to that natural order of giving that seems to renew itself even in the act of depletion.The more one gives,the more one has to give.Even purposeful giving must have some source that refills it.But in our recent efforts to emancipate ourselves,to prove ourselves the equal of man,we have ,naturally enough perhaps ,been drawn into competing with him in his outward activities ,to the neglect of our own inner springs.You will remind me that woman must be still as the axis of a wheel in the midst of her activities;that she must be the pioneer in achieving this stillness,not only for her own salvation,but for the salvation of family life,of society,perhaps even our civilization" "The world today does not understand ,in either man or woman,the need to be alone.What if one says,"I cannot come because that is my hour to be alone,then one is considered rude,egotistical or strange.What a commentary on our civilization,when being alone is considered suspect; when one has to apologize for it.Make excuses,hide the fact that one practices it-like a secret vice! But women need solitude to find again the true essence of themselves.The problem is how to still the soul in the midst of it's activities.In fact,the problem is how to feed the soul.For it is the spirit of woman that is going dry,not the mechanics that are wanting. If we had our contemplative hour at home we might be readier to give ourselves at church and find ourselves more completely renewed.For the need of renewal is still there.The desire to be accepted whole,the desire to be seen as individual,not as a collection of functions,the desire to give oneself completely and the purposefully pursues us always,and has its part in pushing us into more and more distractions,illusory love affairs,or the haven of hospitals and doctors offices. MY OWN REFLECTION SILENCE.ALONE BUT NOT LONELY.Truly,the best moment for me is when I withdraw myself from the crowd or simply take an off from my busy schedule.But usually I would receive comments such as "you're such an emo" or a loner etc..etc..Some would even pity me for it and I don't understand why they feel that way as probably they don't understand me as well.Maybe,our world is really used to noise pollution.I have to admit that most of my silent time comes with listening to music.It is soothing to the soul specially when I'm surrounded by the beauty of nature.Well,we our the masters of our own.We know how to deal with stress.We know what works for us.What I enjoy most might not apply to others.I wonder though if those so called "socialite or it girl" are sometimes the loneliest people on earth because they are use to being surrounded by people.I wonder if they also withdraw from the crowd from time to time.It just felt like today,when there's no music,mp3's or ipads or laptops,once all these things are gone,the silence would be ridiculously insane to most of us .Because we are not use to silence anymore.I guess,we have to live by that reality.So I made a note to myself .Something that will serve as a reminder for me. "note to myself" Enjoy silence.Don't repel it.Stop trying so hard to fill the void.Find solitude from time to time.You might be considered as a "certified emo" but remember, you can be closer to your friends even in solitude. As for me,SOLITUDE is like a blood suppliment. It.It helps me follow and enjoy the natural flow of life.Just like the island,alone but never lonely. 11] MOON SHELL DISTRACTIONS!!! 1] THE BEACH AND THE CHANNELED WHELK THE BEACH - is not the place to work;to read,write or think.I should have remembered that from other years.Too warm,too damp,too soft for any real mental discipline or sharp flights of spirit.One never learns.The sea does not reward those who are too anxious,too greedy,or too impatient.To dig for treasures shows not only impatience and greed,but lack of faith.Patience ,patience,patience is what the sea teaches.Patience and faith.One should lie empty,open,choice less as a beach-waiting for the gift from the sea.... REFLECTION I was so surprise of the statement of the author about the sea and have it read repeatedly maybe I have misunderstood it.Maybe,the author mean the other way around.After reading repeatedly,I might have seen this on a different way but I want to settle for something else.To my understanding,maybe the author was suggesting instead of focusing too much from what I can get from the sea,why not try to simply approach the sea as it is and enjoy its beauty and serenity.I have to admit,the best or ideal place for me to write and be in complete "emo state" is on the seaside.Either by facing the sea or travelling the sea,there's inner peacefulness with in that makes me wanna write endlessly.It's my source of inspiration,my source of calmness.A place to eliminate distraction.But it never occurred to me that I can be actually so distracted even to the place that I thought I am peaceful.I never realized that until I came across this beautifully written inspired book. And just the effect of the sea to me,it's peacefulness and calmness teaches me patience too.Patience when the sea is on the high and low tide.Patience while waiting for the sun to come up or to come down.And just like a vast open beach,life is an open space too.Life is full of choices.And I open my arms wide open and patiently wait for the life that awaits me. OPEN WHELK What is the shape of my life? But I want first of all-in fact,as an end to these other desires -to be at peace with myself.I want a singleness of eye,a purity of intention,a central core to my life that will enable me to carry out these obligations and activities as well as I can. DISTRACTION-is always has been,and probably always will be ,inherent in woman's life.The pattern of our lives is essentially circular.We must be open to all points of the compass. I begin to understand why the saints were rarely married women.I am convinced it has nothing inherently to do,as I once supposed,with chastity or children.It has nothing to do,as I once supposed,with chastity or children.It has to do primarily with distractions. The problem is not merely one woman and career,Woman and the Home ,Woman and Independence.It is more basically: how to remain whole in the midst of the distractions of life; how to remain strong,no matter what shocks come in at the periphery and tend to crack the hub of the wheel. STEPS IN ELIMINATING DISTRACTIONS 1) SIMPLIFY LIFE BY CUTTING SOME OF THE DISTRACTIONS * find balance somewhere ,or an alternating rhythm between these two extremes 2) LEARN THE ART OF SHEDDING *CLOTHES -one needs less anyway.You have less worry what to wear *SHELTER - one does not need the airtight shelter one has in the winter in the north.I don't worry about the impression I have to give to other people.I'm laying down my pride. The most exhausting thing in life,I have discovered,is being insincere.That is why so much of social life is exhausting; one is wearing mask 3) SIMPLIFICATION OF AN OUTWARD LIFE IS NOT ENOUGH.The complete answer is not to be found on the outside ,in an outward mode of living,This is only a technique ,a road to grace.The final answer,I know,is always inside.But the outside can give a clue,can help one to find the inside answer. MY REFLECTION From the perspective of a woman,a mother,probably a working mother.Not that she's complaining but it sounded like she's trying to make balance between the busy life as a mother and the difference from being a woman.My question is,Is it selfish of me when I'm scared to enter a married life or even motherhood for the same exact reason mentioned by the author? I know it's weird but I have my own fears.And I think,it doesn't only apply to mothers but to every person be man or woman out there who's got goals in life.It speaks for people out there who were so focused on their goals but somewhere along the way they failed.I guess it has something to do with internal distractions.Distractions in our feelings and thoughts.And personally I would say I agree because I'm currently struggling from it.The more I challenged myself to meet and exceed what ever goal that I have to achieve,the more I'm failing.Only then that I realized,I have been too distracted from the inside that it clogged my concentration. I think it goes with my possessions as well.Just the other day,I was really putting lists of "to buy" .I realized that I have not much clothes already.and I was kinda bothered because It's hard for me to buy clothes.Shopping is the hardest part for me coz I'm too picky and my taste for clothing's is unusual.Besides I'm not comfortable shopping specially if I'm with someone .Maybe I'm pressured by the fact that I have to catch up with the glamours of my office mates. It reminds me of my SHELL? What does it look like? What is the shape of my shell?Is it clear?Can it be reach by the sunshine?Can I still watch the moon and the stars? Can I still feel the fresh morning air?Can I still enjoy my environment? Or did I totally used my shell to cover me? Or Am I just one wanderer vulnerable because I have left my shelf somewhere...I don't know yet.Like a WHELK,I should be happy to face whatever gift life has to offer me...
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