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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