Daylight saving

Tonight we are going to move the clock an hour forwards, so we have an hour more light at night. I love it as the day just feels so much longer and we can go for little walks at night. It will be harder to get up an hour earlier though.
A note for my family and friends in Holland: From tomorrow we will be 11 hours ahead in time. It will become easier after 27 October 2013, when the clock goes backwards in Holland than there will be exactly 12 hour difference.

The first one to propose daylight saving was entomologist George Vernon Hudson. He would like to collect more bugs after hours and presented a paper in Wellington in 1895 and followed it up with another one after considerable interest came from Christchurch.

I had a nice walk and lunch with one of my best friends. She is going to her family in Atlanta for a few months but will be back by the end of the year. On our walk I shot this picture. The walkway reminded me a bit of home as it was all flatland and cows and horses were grazing in the paddocks.

 

My husband did a lot of gardening lately and as you see it is looking great.
Today we bought some pots and flowers. I can't wait till they all come up.

We Are The Sum Total Of Our Choices

 

 

I love quotes and inspirational stories. The quote above is simple and complicated. Every day, we make many, many choices. We have the freedom to choose between good and bad. Sometimes we make a wrong choice and are not aware that it is wrong. We do it unconsciously, because that is how we learned to do something when we were young. By learning the hard way, by becoming aware, by reading quotes and by being honest to ourselves, we get many chances again to make a better choice and move in the right direction (or not). It is hard though. We are attached to material things, to our ego and to wrong habits. If we are making increasingly the right choices this will result eventually in a better future. All the choices, good or bad made us into what we are now.  When we become more aware and choose more consciously, the more in control we are.

This is what I think is also what karma means. When something bad happens to me I say jokingly "Oh it is bad karma"  Karma is however not something that overcomes us and is not simply a matter of retribution or reward. It is more a matter of cause and effect I think.

When you look at the beautiful story in the next movie than I see that the cause is that the man in the storie unconditionally gives to others. He had a positive live changing effect on the young boy as we see later. When the boy became a man it enabled him to do what he did and be very appreciative. We don't always know what effect we have on people.
I think that if we can positively change the lives of others just a bit than we are doing well and we become better at it each time. If we all would try that than we could change the world. :)  Enjoy the story!



Tivoli, Lazio

I came across this panoramic image of the Tivoli gardens at Villa d'Este in Lazio about 30 km of Rome. I went there a bit more than a year ago with my mum and my son and a whole group of Dutch people. It was very hot, about 43 degrees Celsius. There was however lots of refreshing water and I forgot the heat when I saw this amazing garden and fountains.

   

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

"The fountain of content must spring up in the mind; and ... he, who has so little knowledge of human nature, as to seek happiness by changing any thing, but his own dispositions, will waste his life in fruitless efforts, and multiply the griefs which he purposes to remove."
Samual Johnson

Truth a matter of perception

Does the truth set you free?  But what if the truth is different for each person. Being an immigrant I had to rethink the whole concept of truth.
When you come to a new country you suddenly learn that they do things differently and have different values. Your truths are shaken.
When you grow up you learn values and knowledge from your parents, teachers, society. Did you test it if it was true. No you just took it on. If you challenged "the truth" you were sometimes told of. Most people learned to take everything on face value.

In ancient Greece, Socrates encouraged people to think for themselves and let them question their dogma's and beliefs. I think this is a healthy thing to do. Even the scientists don't know it all. I have done a psychology diploma. I remember that I sometimes found opposing research and than choose the one which fitted most with my own experience. This makes the flowing quote true for me:

"Man is the measure of all things: of things which are, how they are, and of things which are not, how they are not" Protagoras

So truth is a matter of perception.  Our knowledge is filtered by experience, culture, education, our genetic inclination etc. I have worked with children with learning disabilities. They quickly tell you that they can't do anything. If you get to know them you know that is not true. Some things which are simple for most people are very difficult for people with LD. Therefore they are often told that they are stupid and can't do anything right. They start to believe this and get anxious when they are asked to do something and subsequently do it wrong, which fits their believe.

So people see an aspect of the truth and think it is the whole truth and therefore make it into a believe. Other people who have different believes are by some thought to be ignorant or evil by distorting the truth. I think people are often afraid that their truth and therefore their being gets challenged and  that they might loose part of themselves if they admit that others ideas are be true. Their ego might get a punch. Often though all people are partly right and all have it wrong as the gorgeous poem underneath explains.

Blind Men and the Elephant

John Godfrey Saxe

It was six men of Indostan,

To learning much inclined,

Who went to see the Elephant

(Though all of them were blind),

That each by observation

Might satisfy his mind.

The First approach'd the Elephant,

And happening to fall

Against his broad and sturdy side,

At once began to bawl:

 "God bless me! but the Elephant

 Is very like a wall!"

 The Second, feeling of the tusk,

 Cried, -"Ho! what have we here

So very round and smooth and sharp?

 To me 'tis mighty clear,

This wonder of an Elephant

Is very like a spear!"

The Third approach'd the animal,

And happening to take

The squirming trunk within his hands,

 Thus boldly up and spake:

 "I see," -quoth he- "the Elephant

Is very like a snake!"

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,

 And felt about the knee:

  "What most this wondrous beast is like

Is mighty plain," -quoth he,- "

'Tis clear enough the Elephant Is very like a tree!"

 The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,

Said- "E'en the blindest man

Can tell what this resembles most;

 Deny the fact who can,

This marvel of an Elephant Is very like a fan!"

The Sixth no sooner had begun

About the beast to grope,

Then, seizing on the swinging tail

That fell within his scope,

  "I see," -quoth he,- "the Elephant

Is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan

Disputed loud and long,

 Each in his own opinion

Exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right,

 And all were in the wrong!

Evaluate your truth and that of others carefully and realise that we often don't know the whole truth.
We do have some truth's where most of us agree upon for example around the values what is good and what is bad. I think that we instinctively know that, if we are honest to ourselves. Being aware of all this could take us on the road to free ourself.

Spring has started

The dance of Spring

The land, dressed
in pink and yellow
shouts "wake up,
arise from the darkness"

A breeze swirling
playfully, whispers
"come celebrate,
  live, laugh
Let the soft sun ray
 caress you,
energise you.

Join us to spread
warmth and light
among all
who remain in the shadow.
Than they too can grow
and take part
in the dance called Spring