News

We all seem to be waiting for news; preferably good news.
Whether we want to watch the news, follow the news, or are waiting for news on a topic, situation or issue that is important to us. Or even if we are coveting something new in our lives ~ sometimes as basic as new furniture, a new job, or even a new home ~ or new things to do, new experiences and adventures…
It doesn’t matter whether it is the actual news or anything new ~ it feels like time is overdue for it to enter our lives.

Funny thing though is that when we are waiting for it to happen, even watching the minutes go by before the newscast starts at TV, it may seem time is endless. Until that moment when you decide to make yourself a quick cup of coffee. When you return, a mug of coffee in your hand, the news is all but finished.
Same thing is true when you are awaiting news on a project. It can be the outcome of an exam, the result of a project, the conclusion of a situation, or the aftermath of an event ~ as long as we are awaiting word on what has happened and where to go from here, nothing seems to happen.
And yet, as soon as we grow tired of just waiting and start taking action ~ any type of action, often even unrelated to the issue or situation we are waiting to hear news on ~ chances are the phone rings, emails start piling up in our inbox, and text messages ‘ping’ into our mobile devices.
As if simply giving up on waiting on news created the opening for news to come forward…

Looking at it this way, it may not have to do a whole lot with the (type of) news we are anticipating. Chances are it has more to do with the fact that we were waiting for it to happen.

After all, waiting in and of it self has an immobility that comes with it. As long as we are waiting, we seem to be frozen in time, stagnant, without permitting ourselves to take any kind of action whatsoever. Almost as if we stop living our lives while awaiting word on how to proceed.
And therein lies the problem. As soon as we stop living our lives from within ourselves, from our inner wishes and desires ~ our passion even ~ and start waiting for something outside of ourselves to bring word, news, and permissions to move forward, we have disempowered ourselves.
This then, makes waiting a disempowering passing of time.

That is why as soon as we take back our empowerment, when we stop waiting for news and start taking any kind of action in our own individual lives; we may find the news ~ in whichever form we are looking for it ~ right at our fingertips!
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Alienation

To me, alienation is both interesting as a word, as well as an interesting concept.

Perhaps more so since talk about ‘Aliens’ in the sense of extra-terrestrials has become more commonplace. In that particular sense, it raises all kinds of interesting questions which at some point or other all seem to come down to the realization that the universe is a pretty big place, making it unlikely our planet is the only inhabited one…

However, it does show how ‘Aliens’ are not of this world. They are separate from our world and separate from us humans.
Being alienated means to become separated from a group, a culture, a way of thinking or believing, a country even. “You are not one of us because you are not like us, and therefore you are alien to us.”

In this point in time with all of its polarities, it seems that alienation has become the polarity of connectedness, or commonality. Where common interests and the desire to share are getting stronger ~ feeling connected with others ~ also a certain alienation is taking place. Sometimes because we are extremely focused on ourselves and our own lives; other times perhaps out of fear for the differences between us. Differences in language, culture, religion, and on and on, can keep us from feeling connected to that other person. And as soon as we would start pushing those that are different from us away from us, alienation has begun.

And the more we are out to defend our own ‘Kingdom’, the more ‘alien nations’ are brought into this world…

From a broader perspective it seems that we are not seeing the whole picture and not understanding what we are seeing.
It is something that can drive us away ~ alienate us ~ or intrigue us…

When it intrigues us, chances are that it awakens our curiosity and imagination. We want to know more about it ~ and while it may never become something we truly resonate with, we can on some level still feel connected to it.

In art it is called the alienation effect, when what has been depicted has become so abstract that it needs the imagination of the spectator in order to be interpreted. That in itself has a certain beauty to it, as each individual interpretation is a correct interpretation ~ for that person ~ and when all those individual interpretations are taken together, chances are that they are all connected to one another. That they together describe an experience that creates wholeness.

A wholeness that may well be the new point of balance between those polarities: alienation and commonality.
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The song-line of our lives

In Australian Aboriginal belief, a song-line a route through the landscape which is believed to have been traveled during the Dream-time and which features a series of landmarks thought to relate to events that happened during this time.
While traveling the same route, it is then important to sing the song of that particular line in order to keep that route in existence.

If we look at our lives from the perspective of a song-line, it may give us some interesting views to ponder…

First and foremost, while we may not be singing our lives into being every step of the way, the manner in which we talk about it and the way we plan the routine of our days, we seem to do just that: We keep (re)creating the same path that we have traveled for some time. Doing the same things at the same times; meeting the same people at the same events, and so on.

The question that may come up is whether the path we are walking through life at this point in time was conceived during ‘Dream-time’. In other words, are we living the life we dreamed about when we were young(er)? If so, that’s great! Than we are probably right on track!
If not; then how did we end up here? And what is keeping us from ‘dreaming up’ a new life path?

Sometimes, life just throws us a curb-ball, and we find ourselves moving in a direction that at the time seems our very best option. And as life continues, we make our choices based on where we are at, rather than based on the dreams we used to dream. And while sometimes our new path turns out way more fulfilling than the trail we dreamed about could ever have been, other times it seems that somewhere down the line we have lost our way…

If that is the case, than perhaps it is time to start singing a different song to create the line, or path, of our lives. A song that is based on dreams that we are dreaming now…
A song that has new words, and expresses new desires. A song that voices what we need in life, rather than what we want.

In other words, perhaps it is time to talk different about our lives.
A good start could be to take the words ‘but’ and ‘I cannot’ out of our vocabulary, and perhaps replace them with ‘I am going to’ and a clear ‘yes or no’. To do away with excuses, and to stand up for the things we need and desire out of our lives.
If that is going to be our new song, chances are we will create the path through life we have always dreamed about!
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Flying under the radar

When a conscious choice is made to ‘fly under the radar’, it is usually one aiming at stealth; at approaching a target unseen. To navigate a ~ perceived ~ dangerous or tumultuous situation without drawing attention to ourselves.

Flying under the radar implies that that we intent to get somewhere unseen.

The big question it raises is whether it is a strategic choice we have made ~ a conscious choice of stealth ~ or if it is because ~ to say it bluntly ~ we are too much of a chicken to face up to what we are doing or where we are going…

There are times when it is just easier to do the things we want to do in our own way, at our own time. Sometimes the most effortless way to accomplish that is to do it quietly, unseen and unheard.
Other times we may expect trouble, like arguments or opposition, and we choose to not want that in our lives. Perhaps because we are unwilling to spend our energy arguing our case; or maybe because we are ~ deep in side of ourselves ~ we somehow believe that they might be right.

And that is just the thing. When it comes right down to it, we really should be aware of why we are flying under the radar. For what reason do we desire to be not recognized? Is it just because we stealthily are approaching this one goal we have set for ourselves? Or has it become a way of life we have adopted somewhere along the line?

A good question to ask ourselves is if we, when we have achieved something; reached our goal, do we set out to tell the world? Brag about it?
Or do we downplay our accomplishments? Hide them, and when someone asks us, or even compliments us about it, brush it off as something ‘anybody could have done’. Anybody would have, or could have done that…

If we do the latter, than perhaps it is time for a reality check!
To ask ourselves why we feel we have to live our lives unnoticed, and perhaps unappreciated. And more importantly, why we may not feel worthy enough to be seen, and to be celebrated upon achieving our goals.

In other words, there is nothing wrong with flying under the radar, as long as it is a conscious, strategic  choice of stealth. But as soon as we choose to do it just because we don't want to be see; don’t want to attract attention to ourselves, then it is time to re-evaluate our reasons to do so!
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The real, the unreal, and the imagined

Perhaps today more so than, say, fifty years ago, it is a lot harder to determine what is real and what is not. Technology moves ahead at great speed, and things most of us didn’t even dare dream about fifty years ago are now commonplace.
This makes it interesting to ponder the reality of things, as it proves that what many will say is unreal, a fantasy even, can become reality for the masses in just a few short decades.

Clearly, the reality of things no longer lie in their solid existence, but rather in courageous imagination and the determination to create.
However, that is not by any means a nice sharp line; it is more of a grey area. Because what one person can imagine and ultimately create, to another person will be unreal until the ultimate creation has taken place. And to not let our imagination be dimmed by people who deem it a fantasy, an unrealistic plan that is not ever going to work, those with fertile imagination may keep their visions to themselves until the product of their creation is there for all to see. Whether it is as a finished product or as a prototype.

It makes it hard to determine whether anything we hear or read about has a foundation in reality ~ even when we cannot imagine that particular reality yet ~ or if what is being said about it is, indeed, a fantasy. Something unreal, made up by someone for reasons only that person will know for sure. Is it something invented as an innocent prank, to pull someone’s leg? Or does it have a more negative, perhaps even evil reason why it was concocted?

And yet, that is exactly what we set out to do every day. We read things, hear things; and it is up to us to find out if there is any reality, and truth to it or not. And some things that are unreal; that are bogus thoughts and ideas, built from deceptive arguments can sound very believable!

Our best approach may be to not believe everything we hear and read to be true, and to ask ourselves the question: “Is this real to me, in my life as I am living it today?”

If it is, then there is our answer! Even if it ~ in time ~ will turn out not to be factually true, at least it is part of our current ‘personal truth’.
If it is not, we may be best off with a ‘wait and see’ approach, rather than joining the fray. Giving it time to play out, before we find ourselves being part of it…
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The core

Ultimately, the only thing that truly counts is the core, the very essence of ourselves; where the heart of the matter coincides with the desires of our soul.

And while I believe this to be true, it would not be a good idea to then think too lightly about the temple we house this core of ourselves in. Nor would it be a good idea to stop respecting and valuing the things that make up our lives, only because they are physical and therefore a more outward display of who we are, and where we are coming from.
After all, if not for our physical surroundings ~ of both our core, as well as in the sense of shelter and the things we choose to keep close at hand ~ the essence of ourselves would not be able to exist in this world.

So where the two perspectives seem mutually exclusive at first, it is all about finding the balance. Not even a balance between them, where we are balancing these perspectives such that they can both be part of our lives ~ sort of. But rather finding a balance within ourselves where both perspectives fully coexist at the same time in the same space…

It is like valuing a thing of beauty, and keeping it in our immediate environment, without feeling the need to collect beautiful things for the sake of collecting, or as a status symbol.

If we place an importance on our core, on that point where the heart of the matter coincides with the desires of our soul ~ then the guidance as to pretty much anything and everything we live for should come from within, from the essence of ourselves.

This would mean that we can ask ourselves every step of the way whether whatever we are doing is because it has (inner) meaning to us, or rather because we feel we have to. Either because we feel it is expected of us, because ‘we were raised that way’, because we want to ‘belong’; or whatever the (outer) reason we come up with.
It doesn’t mean we retract ourselves from society, however it does mean that we start honoring the authentic core of ourselves.

In other words, we would still have a job, have relationships, have a car, a house; all the good things in life with ~ if we so desire ~ a cherry on top! But we would stop doing things that take us away from the very essence of ourselves.

We might even take time every day to cultivate the connection with the core of ourselves, and in doing so getting an ever greater understanding of that point where the heart of the matter coincides with the desires of our soul…

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Lost

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There are many ways in which we can get lost. The most simple manner is to just not knowing the way to where we are headed; missing the road signs, losing directions ~ and there you are; somewhere entirely different than you had in mind when you started out.
Another way to get lost is when we loose track of a line of thought, or even a the explanation of something. When it gets to be too involved, we get lost in something that we either don’t quite understand, or may not be all that interested in…

However, the most lost I have felt in a long time has nothing to do with either one of the above.
It was when a long time project was nearing its end. It had taken years of my time, not necessarily in any organized fashion. It had been more like solving one problem after another as they came up. On many occasions I just dropped everything I was doing in order to keep track of whatever was happening at that time.

And then came that first day when there was nothing left to do.

One might think it would feel like a happy time. After all, the project was finished and I could be proud to have given it everything. And yet, the only thing I felt was lost.
Nothing left to do; nowhere left to go.

Not on the ~ now finished ~ project; nor on my own stuff. The things I always so enjoy doing.

It felt like I was standing in a wide open space, with absolutely nothing around me. No sun, no moon; no differences in color, no breeze… No bright light, no shadows, and no darkness. No guidance. No directions. Just space.

Like a new beginning that lacks any roots, any foundation; nothing to start building upon. And as it turns out, without any clues as to what to begin anew with.
No inspiration, no key, no path that I could choose to embark on. No desire to do anything at all.

Lost.

I guess this happens after any project that we have given a good part of our energy and time. Once it is finished there is that space where no plans are made yet. A sort of in between that which is finished and that which is yet to start.

It is not a bad place to take a deep breath, before embarking upon a new adventure. Then again, it is not a good place to get stuck; to dwell upon the past.
Yet whether we move on quickly, or take our time before we make new plans and start our new beginning ~ eventually we will find ourselves finding new direction, making new plans, and embarking upon new adventures.
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Ancestors

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In many cultures our ancestors are deemed very important. They are honored, and even after they have passed into that other world a place will be kept for them in this world.

Truth be told, if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be here right now! So from that perspective there is no doubt our ancestors deserve our respect and gratitude. They have brought us into this world, for us to live our own lives, walk our own paths, and yes, learn our own lessons. Without them we couldn’t have made it this far.

But the reverence for our ancestors goes further than that.
It is through our ancestors that we are born into a certain culture, both a ‘family culture’ as well as the culture that is part of the area they lived in, and therefore we grew up in. Through our ancestors we were raised according to certain principles and habits; but also with a foundation of things learned, abilities and professions that often can be traced back for generations.
As such, our ancestors truly are the roots we are growing from.

That wisdom of the ancestors was passed on from generation to generation; from mother to daughter, father to son. And when we find ourselves in a situation we don’t know how to handle, we may call upon those that have more experience…

So we call our parents.
We call our mom for that awesome recipe that her mom used to make. We call our dad for advice.

And sometimes it seems like we should take the time to do that more often.
Somehow, in our zest to do everything we want to do in our lives our own way, in our desire to figure things our for ourselves, we forget that the previous generation(s) has accumulated a wealth of wisdom that we can tap into. We may even feel that how they did things was ‘backward’, outdated, and that their ways have no place anymore in today’s fast paced, digital society.

Let alone that we set a space apart for our ancestors. An alter, a closet, a little room where we can be with those who went before us. Where we can call upon the wisdom and the help of those with far more experience than we have. A place where we can remember the stories of our grandparents and great-grandparents.
A place where we can go in order to re-attach ourselves to our roots…

Perhaps that is something that just doesn’t fit our belief-system, our perspectives on life anymore. And there is nothing wrong with that. Although it might be a good idea to every once in a while pause, and realize that we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them…
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