Breakthrough

.
A breakthrough: a sudden, dramatic, and important discovery or development.

I suspect we are all experiencing breakthroughs of some kind in this day and age... Whether it is in our personal lives, or at work; emotional, physical, material, in research... In this point in time it seems that there are many breakthrough’s happening ~ whether we are fully aware of their impact or not.

Personally, I like the word: Breakthrough.
Because in the most literal sense it tells how those discoveries, developments and subsequent changes come about ~ they happen because we break through something.

This implies that before there was something that was limiting us. Something that prevented us from seeing what else was there. Perhaps even something that kept us in the place we had been in for a long time ~ not because we were unwilling to go anywhere else necessarily, but more because circumstances, or even something within ourselves is holding us back from trying.
In other words, in order for a true expansion to occur in our lives, there often is something we need to break through first...

I could list a lot of things that often can hold us back, but the most important ones seem to be:

• Believe
• Attitude
• Confidence

In order to break through into that more expansive space that can lead us to discoveries and developments ~ we first and foremost need to believe that we can! We can do it!!
Then, to be willing to actually step into that new environment that can be so beneficial to us ~ we need to have an open mind that says that there are many ways to accomplish the goal. In other words, we need to adjust our attitude from ‘this is the way I have always done it, it works, so why change’, to  something like: ‘Let’s come up with four or five more ways in which I can get this done; if only to prevent boredom to take over...’
And finally, we need to have the confidence that whatever we may find after we break through whatever limits we are facing is a good thing. Something that will help us move forward on our path. Something that makes our lives easier, happier, more interesting, more fulfilling.

Like most of us, I tend to be quite apprehensive when faced with an imminent discovery or development. At some level there is the realization that once I step through that door, the moment I break through whatever limitation that was holding me back ~ there is no returning.
As soon as you have seen or experienced that other, more expansive space and have made the breakthrough ~ life has changed forever...
.
.

Cat Burglar

.
Returning from a working vacation, we found our three black cats mightily upset and the house in disarray... On top of that one of the neighbor’s cats apparently had claimed our house as her own; pretty much telling our cats off.
Unexpected, and definitely not the way I envision ‘the order of things’ to be.

For the cats to be upset with us leaving them to take care of the house ~ they are guardians after all ~ is not uncommon. Yet this time things were different.
Put two and two together and the only logical conclusion is that the cats and our house suffered from a cat burglar.
In the most literal sense of the word.
As in a cat sneaking in ~ most likely through the cat door ~ and eating the food, laying down in the best places in our house.

In a subsequent fight, a big plant got knocked over ~ leaving the scene as if a more traditional burglary had taken place.
Luckily no such thing happened, and after clearing up the mess everything is back the way it should be.

And that is where it would end; except for the fact that our black threesome is experiencing the emotional aftereffects of the cat burglar’s visit. Just like it can happen for us humans, they are jittery and continuously checking if everything is still alright. Making sure no unsolicited visitors are sneaking in... And being ultra careful when going outside themselves.

Given the fact that the cat door ~ as opposed to all other doors and windows ~ is unlocked, and therefore freely accessible to any neighborhood cat who dares enter our threesome’s territory; I suspect that the other cat made numerous visits while we were away.
And, getting bolder as things seemed to work out for her, she eventually got caught ~ and was fought off.

In a sense it is what can happen to us when we are not clear about our boundaries.
Someone may step over our boundaries, ‘pushing’ us into doing things for them, taking time away from what we really want or need to do ~ and when that situation is not arrested right there and then ~ it may evolve into a situation where our personal boundaries are disregarded on a regular basis, perhaps even to such extend that our energy, our time are decided over by others in an ever bolder fashion...
Until finally there is that point when enough is enough; the other is caught in the act and fought off.
Leaving our lives in disarray.

And then ~ whether one is human or cat ~ it takes some time to recover, to get our confidence back to step out into the world...
.
.

Back in time

.
Have you ever longed for a simpler life? A life less chaotic, with more time to enjoy the things that really matter to you? And have you ever thought that going back to an earlier time might give you just that? Well, I have...

And then I went on vacation to a place abroad that is in essence just as advanced as the country I live in ~ except that in this country the quietness is highly valued. The fact that there are not a whole lot of people around you. Which means that not many roads are necessary; and the roads that are there are country roads ~ two lane roads that bend from village to village, and curve around rivers.
Out here, a scenic route means that the road winds its way through a scenic landscape ~ not particularly that one can actually see that beauty from the car as tall hedges line the narrow roads.

It gives me a sense of having stepped back in time.
To a time and place without rush hour. To a society where drivers of slow traffic actually signal to help you pass them safely.

But there is another aspect of this stepping back in time...
While here too smart phones are wide spread, the internet is an entirely different thing. Which is surprising as almost everybody talks about using skype or a similar ‘voice over IP’ service. Yet reliable internet connections seem to be harder to come by than one might expect.

And it is at that point that I realize how wonderful the internet really is!

For sharing pictures on facebook, for sending an e-card rather than an actual ‘paper-and-envelope-card’ as the e-card will actually make it in time for the occasion. For keeping track of emails, and as such of what is happening in my ‘real life’ back home.

Now one can make the argument that it is a good idea to leave all that behind when on vacation. To really allow yourself some time away from it all... But does that really give the peace of mind we are after while on vacation?
I guess that depends... For some people it would, for others it might not.

All in all, stepping back into a more quiet, simpler time is not quite as simple as I thought it would be. It brings with it an entirely different structure, a different frame of mind to get things done ~ which in a way can be every bit as hectic as my regular life at home.

I guess the simpler, less chaotic perspective is ~ like so many other things ~ a choice to be made within oneself rather than for it to be found some other place or time...

.
.

A nation divided

.
There are many things that can divide a nation, a country, a town, or a family.
They can be the ‘big topics’, like politics. But more often it is about much smaller things...

This past week a sentence has come up in conversation that sort of stuck in my mind. It was about the difference between living in the ‘big city’ and living in the country ~ and although it may not have been meant that way, it did give me a feeling that it pitched ‘us’ against ‘them’.

While it is often true that different groups of people have different priorities, desires, and perhaps even needs in life ~ as soon as it becomes a matter of ‘us’ versus ‘them’ these priorities, desires and needs seem to be valued as less than our own.
And pretty soon ‘us’ versus ‘them’ becomes ‘right versus wrong’. Of course we are right. How can it be possible that this other way of thinking, this other way of living could be just as good as the way we put our lives together? Let alone ever be better...

Of course there is nothing wrong with really liking life the way we live it. That is the way it should be!
Just like other people with different mindsets, live their lives differently ~ the way they like living their lives. And that is the way it should be...
Us and them, living side by side, and by sharing our differences making a nation, a country, a town stronger.

On a much more personal level, thinking along lines of ‘us and them’ can really put us in a space we don’t necessarily want to be in...
Because on a personal level it evolves often easily into the thought that what is happening to us ~ especially the things that we perceive as making our lives hard or difficult ~ is not of our own doing. After all, we don’t want those things in our lives. So it has to be ‘them’ doing it to us.

If you follow a spiritual line of thought, there is an intrinsic problem with this perspective, as it would state that anything that happens in our lives is of our own making. Not because we want to go through difficult times, but moreover because we on our personal path of spiritual growth requires ourselves to learn certain things.

So maybe it is not a nation divided ~ in whatever way ~ that takes our strength. Perhaps it is how we are divided within ourselves ~ feeling that ‘they’ are better, worse, or even the cause of our predicament ~ that ultimately makes it hard for us to show our true strength.
.
.

Working vacation

.
If ever there was a contradiction in terms, it is the ‘working vacation’. After all, shouldn’t it be work or vacation? Isn’t vacation the things you have to rest from busy work schedules etc.? And doesn’t ‘vacation’ simply doing nothing ~ or if you rather have a more active vacation, doing those things you don’t get to do while you are not on vacation?

But what if the work you do truly is your passion? Then vacation can become a time that is boring; something that brings restlessness rather than rest in such a way that stress levels can soar. Then again, no matter how much fun your job is ~ everybody needs a break every once in a while. If only in order to be able to step back from the day-to-day running of things and keeping track of our often overfilled calendars. When we take a little time to take that step back, we can come back to our jobs refreshed, even seeing the work we so love doing through new eyes...
It is something we benefit from; just as the work we feel so passionate about does.

So, if taking time off; time to give ourselves a breather is so important to us ~ why then the working vacation?

It all hinges on how much work is involved on the vacation.
If it is a lot of work, then suddenly the cost of our vacation become work related expenses and as such a tax deduction. Is the time off mostly vacation, it can point to an inexpensive research trip which in the future may lead to more extensive work in that area.

The third perspective can be just as interesting, although from a slightly different perspective...
What if the things you do in your work; the things you are passionate about are widely varied to the point that some of them have a tendency to fall by the wayside every once in a while. Then a working vacation can be a terrific way to pick up on that activity and explore new manners of incorporating it into your regular ‘work’ again.
Even if that just means that the pictures taken on your working vacation provide the new artwork for the office walls...

That being said, personally I still feel a little bit ambiguous about the working vacation. Even as the working vacations I have been on always have been a great lot of fun ~ as I get back to every day life; back to work, I never quite know whether what I have done in the past week or so has been work or vacation.
Somehow, in my mind I keep having trouble merging the them...
.
.