Reaching for dreams

This palace was built by a postman.
The story claims that he had a dream about this palace as a child
and therefore built it after this memory of the dream.This story nearly makes me want to cry.
Thanks to Mogens for the tip about the story~ Aasa

Palais idéal

Palais idéal was built by a man called Ferdinand Cheval

Cheval began the building in April 1879. He started it by collecting stones.
For the 33 years, during his daily mail route, Cheval carried stones from his delivery rounds and at home used them to build his Palais idéal, the Ideal Palace. First he carried the stones in his pockets, then a basket and eventually a wheelbarrow. He often worked at night in the light of an oil lamp.

Cheval spent the first two decades building the outer walls. The Palace is a mix of different styles with inspirations from the Bible to Hindu mythology. Cheval bricked the stones together with wire, lime and cement.
Cheval also wanted to be buried in his palace. When French authorities forbade that, he proceeded to spend eight years building a mausoleum for himself in the cemetery of Hauterives. Cheval died around a year after he had finished building it.

Why do we ration love? (A re-post)Aren't we humans strange? We hold back our love, cling to it, like it is something that should not be given easily. We put limits to our love. I cannot give it to you, not you either, maaaybe you, I will see if you are worthy. You are not funny enough, not smart enough, not handsome enough. Not enough like me.We keep this gift to ourselves and give it out in small dozes.
 
This society is so loveless, so drained for emotion and affection., Its a lot easier to be skeptic, to be ironic or judgmental. Its a lot easier to not say Hi to your neighbor, or to not openly tell people what you really feel, at least not before they do. We need to have our egos secure first. Not to be hurt or vounded. It can seem that the imageothers have of us is more important to us. We cannot seem like the weak or rejected one. That the fear of hurt is worse than not sharing, we cannot take the risk and be let down.

Does somebody really need to deserve love? Is it just of us to set a standard for who we can and cant love? The one who makes me feel exactly like this and this, I can love. The one that doesn't like me I don't like back. Are we just footballs for emotions? Getting kicked in the direction the foot leads it? Did Jesus have a point saying we should turn the other cheek?

Isn't love just something to share? Why do we build up these walls?In these western societies people live alone next to each other. We are lonely in a crowd of longing people. Fear is created. One person is afraid to give, because of old vounds, and then this person gets back what he sends out. Rejection creates rejection. We flip flop back and forth what we deeply do not want, in the fear that we will get just that. So instead of taking a risk we walk alone with our tiny group of selected people. And do we give our love truly to them? Or do we set conditions for it there as well?

Do you know somebody you care for that maybe needs to hear it?
Do you know somebody that is lonely?
Maybe you can be an exception to all this!?
~ Choose love!

¨¨°º©©º°°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°°º©©º°¨¨

From the book The PROPHET, by Kahlil Gibran:

On Love
Then said Almitra, "Speak to us of Love."

And he raised his head and looked upon the people, and there fell a stillness upon them. And with a great voice he said:

When love beckons to you follow him,

Though his ways are hard and steep.

And when his wings enfold you yield to him,

Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.

And when he speaks to you believe in him,

Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.

For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.

Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,

So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.

Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.

He threshes you to make you naked.

He sifts you to free you from your husks.

He grinds you to whiteness.

He kneads you until you are pliant;

And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.

All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.

But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,

Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,

Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.

Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.

Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;

For love is sufficient unto love.

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.

But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.

To know the pain of too much tenderness.

To be wounded by your own understanding of love;

And to bleed willingly and joyfully.

To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;

To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;

To return home at eventide with gratitude;

And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips.

¨¨°º©©º°°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°°º©©º°¨¨¨¨°º©©º°°º©©º°¨¨

Read other chapters in this book

dikt

Et lite klisjedikt av
~ Åsa

Ikke glem

Ikke glem gnisten i din sjel
det som bobler og klukker i deg
som en varm en bekk en sommerkveld
under lövkroner og blöt siriss sang

Ikke glem trangen til å leve
det röde blodet som presser seg gjennom deg
og lar deg kjenne livets sitrende hud
som kler deg med en sötlig smerte

Ikke glem underet ved det å väre
som barndommens skattekammer
fyllt med hösten gule blader og dalende snökrystaller
som dekker deg med stille smil

Ikke glem magien som kan brenne i deg
med urolig dunkende hjerte over uutforskede stier

Våkn opp! Riv deg lös! Skrik ut!
Ikke glem! Ikke sov! Ikke tål livet - men lev det!
Ikke glem å traske gjennom duggvått gress under stjerneklare vårnetter
eller å kjenne din kjäres kyss
som om det var det förste
gang på gang

dikt

flooding with lust
to take a straw
and slurp you up nice and quietly
with a friendly housewife smile
but with intense force
from my lungs
explosive inward respiration
like a cannibalistic tribute to the unknown love


˜*•.•*˜


You

Slowly, with racer sharp
precision, you take the knife and
tear away the nutshell that stings
and fold around my softness
What
is seeping out from fragile petals?
you keep surprising me


˜*•.•*˜


don't give me the sweet plum I longed for
from days far back when
Remembering tears and the anger
I suffered enough then
Don't give me the sweet juicy longings
of passion and play
I left those dreams far behind, I wandered astray

I wandered astray to the moon
where memories fade
I wandered away from those times,
they are only a shade

I was happy forgetting
I was done with it then
don't give me that sweet plum back now
I don't want it again

˜*•.•*˜



Your skin is whispering memories
it stretches out softly
like tender, careful light
that slowly flows over the dark branches of the skies edge

Finally I am starting to understand
what it means to love





˜*•.•*˜

Astronomy facts

Binary stars:

Are made of two stars that are genuinely
close to each other and bound together
by mutual gravitational attraction.

The two stars orbit around a common center of mass.
For each star, the other is its companion star.
The components of binary star systems
can exchange mass, bringing their
evolution to stages that single stars cannot attain.




Hubble image of the Sirius binary system, in which
Sirius B can be clearly distinguished (lower left).

To my beloved

SONNET 18

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
    Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
    Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
    That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
    Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
    Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
    But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
    I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

~ William Shakespeare

MÅNGA RÔSTER TALAR
- Karin boye

Många röster talar.
Din är som vatten.
Din är som regn,
när det faller genom natten.
Sorlar lågt
sjunker trevande,
långsam, tveksam,
kvalfullt levande.

Skälver som en grund
bakom alla ljud,
sipprar och silar
mot min hud,
sveper sig lent,
sluter mig inne,
fyller mina öron
med viskande minne.

Jag vill sitta tyst
där jag inte kan störa dig.
Jag vill bo och leva
där jag kan höra dig.
Många röster talar.
Genom dem alla
hör jag bara din
som ett nattregn falla.

 He walks in beauty like the night

He walks in beauty, like the night   
Of cloudless climes and starry skies,   
And all that's best of dark and bright   
Meets in his aspect and his eyes;   
Thus mellow'd to that tender light            
Which Heaven to gaudy day denies.   
 
One shade the more, one ray the less,   
Had half impair'd the nameless grace   
Which waves in every raven tress   
Or softly lightens o'er his face,     
Where thoughts serenely sweet express   
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.   
 
And on that cheek and o'er that brow   
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,   
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,     
But tell of days in goodness spent,—   
A mind at peace with all below,   
A heart whose love is innocent.   

Thoughts while I can´t sleep

- Can´t sleep...I´m sitting in the night reading poetry and thinking - about everything and nothing....There is something special about the summer-night, it has a mystic atmosphere and blue stillness. When the city is empty, the streets has their very own beauty. I nearly like it better than in daytime. The sound of silence is wrapped around every corner.
I started to think about solitude. When I peel off every layer in my conciousness, at least as far down as I can manage to go, this is often what I am left with. The stillness, the solitude.  It is not a very sad feeling, at least not anymore. It is like I have made some peace with my own solitude. And now, sitting here in the night it is almost beautiful in a way.
The feeling of not belonging anywhere. I wonder what it has its roots in? Is it just a feeling rooted in my psyche that needs inner transformation? Or it is just how it is....On the bottom of us all? A rooted feeling of solitude that we now and then dare to feel....in moments of existential bravery.
I don´t know, I just know the feeling of not fitting in. And going through the different stages of that feeling- from pride, to despair, to resignment. "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." (~Jiddu Krishnamurti).....I guess quotes like this can make you smile a little in it all. Things are not black or white and there are many answers.
I know it would be nice maybe sharing these things with somebody though. I guess this is why I write them in my blog. A way of talking to the nameless people out there that maybe feels the same way. I have tried to talk about things like these with people around me so many times, but find little understanding. Now I talk to my own words and the silent readers of my blog instead.

dikt

the real me?
I sang upon the hills every last letter I had inside of me
trying to give them tune and life
when i understood that they were only letters
cast from my mind into a net of words swimming inbetween people

how could i believe these fragments of thought?
that would change shape in fornt of any person watching them?
how it pained me until i udnerstaood
the pain was part of the singing letters too

who is the one
knowing all this?



the loving death
there is this longing to posess more
thirsting after death in overwhlmedness
to slowly drown in senses to the point
where senses are no more
like being a fetus in the womb
where perception shuts down and the only thing left
is heartbeat, warmth and everlasting closeness

eyes are closed without possibility to open
only watching inwardly
in this endless moment where the only thing
is the presence of being alive
and loved


I am not whole
cries the human soul out
in desperation
always wanting to climb
posses, feel, grab, expand, buy, chase, dream, yearn, long, struggle for

I have lived on the lip of insanity. Wanting to know reasons. Knocking on a door, it opens. I have been knocking from the inside!

I am making a new homepage
Hope you likey ;-)
Aasa

Gode alternativer til melk, gluten og sukker 
med lavkarbo tips

Jeg fikk nylig beskjed om at jeg har forhøyet blodsukker og står i fare for lavt stoffslifte. jeg ebstemte meg da for å lese mye om kosthold og finne naturlige alternativer til et helseproblem legene har svært lite tilfredstillende svar på.
En av de første tingene jeg fant ut var at det er absolutt vitalt å kutte gluten, melk (og melkeprodukter) og sukker fra kosten. Her er noen gode altenativer.

Melk:
Rangert etter anbefaling

Mandelmelk: et supert alternativ. Mandel er sunt og har en god innvirkning på mye i kroppens system. Eneste er at det er sjeldet å finne i norske butikker og dyrt. noen helskoster fører det. Men den er svært enkel å lage selv. Man kan da også lage kjeks og andre ting av mandelmassen som blir igjen.*
Havremelk: godt og enkelt, men noen kan reagere allerisk. Sjekk om den er glutenfri da ikke alle merker er det.

Rismelk: godt men har mye naturlig (ris)sukker.

Soyamelk: er godt, har praktisk talt ikke noe sukker, men man bør være skeptisk til soya - det kan virke inn på hormoner og skjoldbruskkjertelen (spesielt unngå om du har stoffslikte problemer)

*Å lage nøttemelk selv er svært enkelt. Jeg vil beskrive i neste artikkel hvordan det gjøres.

Fett:

Rangert etter anbefaling 

Extra virgin olje: Veldig sunt alternativ til steking. jeg vil anbefale dette fremfor noe annet.

Avokadoolje: også et veldig godt alternativ til steking med sunne oljer, men vanskeligere å få tak i

Kokosolje: Veldig sunt alkerternativ. Kan brukes både på brødskiva og ved steking

Smør/margarin: Blå soft margarin eller solsikkemargarin, Nutana (den inneholder ikke transfett)

Stekemargarin: Melange melkefri margarin, Milda Culinesse (kjøpes i Sverige) er flytende plantemargarin, de har en på Rimi fra Euroshopper som er flytende og melkefri.

Fløte:  

Rangert etter anbefaling
Kan kjøpes på Rema 1000(rimeligst) Meny og helsekost (dyrest)

Havrefløte (Oatly, Gogreen)

Risfløte (RiceDrea)

Soya fløte (Alpro)

Det finnes også vispbar soya og havrefløte. 

Is: Soya-is, havre-is, Ris-is.

Yoghurt: Alpro-Soya, havreyoghurter, soyayoghurter fra helsekost.

Rømme: Tofutti sour supreme eller lag egen ost/rømmeerstatning/dip av cashewnøtter

Ost: Soyaoster fra Tofutti, smøreoster av soya.

Glutenfrie alternativer:

Det finnes mange typer melmikser og meltyper man kan bruke istedenfor glutenholdig mel.

Glutenholdig mel: hvete, bygg, rug og havre(kan fåes uten) 

Rangert etter  anbefaling

Quinoa

Bokhvetemel 

Hampmel (veldig sunt og inneholder mye omega 3)

Mandelmasse fra mandelmelk

Mandelmel

Kikermel (kalles gabanza eller gramflour på engelsk)

Havre (naturlig glutenfritt finnes - test allergisk reaksjon)

Sorghum

Fava (mel av en bønnetype)

Tapioka

Teff

Kastanjemel

Amaranthmel

Rismel, både hvitt rismel og fullkornsrismel 

Potetmel

Maismel

Kokosmel

Hirsemel (bør unngås av folk med stoffskifte problemer)

Soyamel (bør unngås av folk med stoffskifte problemer)

Det beste er å blande ulike typer mel for å få det beste resultatet ved baking, da det er vanskelig å få bakevarer til å heve seg skikkelig uten gluten, men det er mange hjelpemidler man kan bruke. Som:

- Fiberhusk

Men det er også mange gode ferdige melmikser:

Semper har flere mikser, noen er naturlig fri for gluten. Noen av de inneholder hvetestivelse, og mange med glutenallergi eller intoleranse tåler dette dårlig.

Finax noen typer er naturlig glutenfri.

Schärs alle er naturlig glutenfrie (såvidt jeg vet) Jeg anbefaler særlig Mix-B, den smaker utmerket og hever seg bra.

Toro har kakemikser og brødmikser med og uten hvetestivelse.

Ellers er det mange andre typer å bestille på nett.

Jyttemel   har flere melmikser med og uten teff. Alle er naturlig glutenfri.

Sukker:

Sukker påvirker blodsukkeret direkte, noe som innvirker sterkt på vår langvarige helse. Å kutte ut sukker er en viktig nøkkel til å legge om kostholdet til en sunnere linje.
Rangert etter glykemisk indeks (effekt på blosukker, satt i parantes)

Stevia (0) Svært godt alternativ og anbefales. Svært små mengder trengs da det er veldig søtt.

Sukrin/Erythritol (0)

Yaconsirup (3-5)

Bjørkesøt (xylitol) (7) Fremstilt av bjørk eller mais, obs bør unngås av allergikere.

Kokosnektar (35)

Palmesukker/kokossukker (35)

Agavesirup (39)

Nytt liv med endret kosthold

Tidsskriftet Psykisk Helse publiserte nylig et intervju med Tor Nålby, hvor hvor han forteller om sine erfaringer rundt endret kosthold. Virkningene har vært store, og vi blir presentert for en inspirerende artikkel, som gir innblikk i et stadig voksende og aktuelt tema
Jeg har selv startet en gluten, sukker og melkefri diett, og kommer til å dele mer av egne erfaringer etterhvert. Håper dere kan dra nytte av denne artikkelen
- Aasa

Sluttet med melk og mel: – Har blitt roligere og mer sosial

– Før var jeg enten veldig intens eller jeg var helt utmattet. I dag har jeg en jevnere energi og har fått en ny ro, forteller Tor Nålby (42). Han er ikke i tvil om at det er endret kosthold som har hjulpet ham til et bedre liv.

Tekst Gro Lien Garbo
Foto Sveinung Uddu Ystad
Det lukter asiatisk mat i leiligheten til Tor Nålby i toppetasjen i blokka i Drammen. Han står på det lille kjøkkenet og hakker rutinert vårløk, koriander, thailandsk basilikum og mye annet, som sammen med rent kjøtt er ingrediensene til dagens suppe.


Nålby forteller at da han var på en lengre reise i Thailand og Indonesia for noen år siden, kjente han at han fikk det bedre med seg selv. Fra å være veldig innadvendt åpnet han seg mer og mer opp.


– Det var ikke lenger så vanskelig å snakke med folk. Sjenansen og uroen som ellers preget meg, ble betydelig dempet. Jeg ble tryggere og mer sosial, sier Nålby.
Ikke bare varmen
På reisen spiste han ris, kjøtt, fisk og frukt og grønnsaker, som lokalbefolkningen. Melk og hvetemel var ikke en del av deres diett.


– Men det slo meg ikke da at min bedrede psykiske tilstand hang sammen med maten jeg hadde i meg. Jeg gikk ut ifra at det var varmen som hadde en heldig virkning, sier han.


På stueveggen i den lyse leiligheten hans henger to masker og en svær skulptur fra Indonesia, som han har besøkt flere ganger. Fra vinduene ser vi havna og båter som seiler forbi.


– Det var fint å reise og å være i varmen, men i ettertid har jeg skjønt at det var det endrede kostholdet som gjorde utslaget, sier Nålby, som i dag er med i styret i Proteinintoleranseforeningen.


– Det var en venn av meg som tipset meg om foreningen, fordi han mistenkte at mine psykiske problemer kunne henge sammen med proteinintoleranse. Jeg tok kontakt med foreningen og fikk i tillegg tatt en urintest som påviste en høy opphopning av protein i urinen, sier Nålby.


Det er litt over fem år siden nå, og det førte til at han bestemte seg for å legge om kostholdet og leve på en melkefri og glutenfri diett.


Reagerte på melk
Tor Nålby strekker seg etter en pose med risnudler, som skal med i suppa. Han har en samling kokebøker om grønn mat og melk- og glutenfri mat og er stadig på jakt etter nye oppskrifter og gode alternativer til melk og hvetemel.


– I ettertid har jeg tenkt på at jeg har blitt fortalt at jeg reagerte negativt på melk helt fra jeg var liten. Som spedbarn hadde jeg problemer med å få i meg melk og kastet opp. Jeg har slitt med irriterte slimhinner og luftveisinfeksjoner og hatt mange fysiske plager og både muskelsmerter og anemi. Psykisk har jeg ikke fått noen diagnose, men jeg mener selv jeg har hatt trekk som likner på Asperger syndrom.


–Jeg har hatt problemer med å føle empati og med å få kontakt med andre. Kroppskontakt har vært en utfordring. På det verste slet jeg med sterk depresjon og selvmordstanker. Jeg var også urolig i mitt eget selskap. Det ble uutholdelig å leve, forteller han.


Nålby understreker at et endret kosthold ikke har tatt vekk alle de psykiske utfordringene, men at problemene nå er overkommelige, og at han i dag har et godt liv.


– Kollegene mine synes jeg har blitt lettere å snakke med og at jeg gir av meg selv på en helt annen måte enn før. Nå setter jeg tydeligere grenser for meg selv og for andre, det blir det mindre konflikt av.


– I dag engasjerer jeg meg ikke i alt omkring meg, og kan filtrere bort mer. Jeg har blitt tryggere på meg selv. Jeg kan gjerne stå foran en forsamling og holde foredrag. Det hadde jeg store problemer med for noen år siden, sier Nålby.
Abstinenser
Tidligere på dagen har han vært ute på en kort skitur for å røre litt på seg og nyte vinteren. Nålby forteller at det er en ny opplevelse og at han for noen år siden kunne gå og gå i timevis, uten egentlig å få med seg noe av naturen, lyset eller det som skjedde rundt ham.


– Jeg gikk for å kvitte meg med den indre uroen. Det var det eneste målet med å røre på seg, sier han, og legger til at veien fram til den roen han har funnet i dag, har vært vanskelig.


– Det verste var de første månedene da jeg gikk over til fullstendig melke- og glutenfri diett.


–Jeg hadde abstinenser. Kroppen ropte etter melk og hvetemel. Psykisk var jeg veldig gira, enten helt oppe eller helt nede. Jeg var vanskelig å få kontakt med. Det var nok derfor betjeningen i butikkene holdt øye med meg, slik de gjorde på den tiden.


Jeg minnet om en stoffmisbruker. Men min avhengighet dreide seg om melk og mel. Jeg kunne ligge i sengen uten å klare å slappe av. Jeg var anspent i hele kroppen, forteller han.


Etter noen måneder roet kroppen seg mer ned, men Nålby var lenge nedtrykt.
– Jeg hadde vært vant til å leve som en person som enten var påskrudd eller avskrudd. Nå skulle jeg venne meg til et mer jevnt humør. Det var ikke gjort over natten.
Var aldri mett
Mens han har fortalt, har han gjort suppen ferdig. Den smaker nydelig. Hvis vi har tid, vil han gjerne lage en sjokolademousse av avokado og mørke kakaobønner. Den skal være fantastisk god.


Tor Nålby samler på oppskrifter og lager gjerne store porsjoner så han har flere dager av gangen. Og det er ikke bare asiatisk mat, også lapskaus, ertesuppe eller rødbetsuppe, eller han steker opp noen skiver laks.


– Før jeg la om kosten, var jeg aldri mett. Det var som om jeg måtte fylle et sluk. Nå er ikke sultfølelsen den samme. Det hender at jeg må minne meg selv om at det er på tide å spise, sier Nålby, som også har kuttet kraftig ned på sukker og karbohydrater. Han mener at kroppen ikke har godt av det.


– Tidligere var jeg fullstendig utmattet etter jobb og sank bare sammen i en stol. I dag har jeg en jevn energi både om morgenen, om formiddagen og om kvelden.
Det siste året har han brukt mye krefter på å pusse opp leiligheten, både stuen og kjøkkenet.


– Før hadde jeg en vegg i stuen som var gul og en som var rød. Etter at jeg malte alt hvitt, satt jeg meg ned og pustet ut. Det er godt når alt ikke er så ekstremt, sier han og sukker:


– Jeg skulle ønske at jeg hadde lagt om kostholdet mye tidligere. Da hadde jeg vært spart for mange vanskelige år.

Del på Facebook

Opprettet: 19.04.2011 09:48:14
Sist endret: 19.04.2011 10:52:04

Dikt

I am shouting - behind mountains,
behind walls,
I am screaming to my voice breaks down

I am whispering
softly in your ear
- everything; silently, wihout words

Is this how it is to grow up?

Winnie The Pooh and a tiny bit of Taoism

--------------
Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to
watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly
know everything there is to be known.
~Winnie-the-Pooh
--------------
"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh.
"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it
What are you going to do, Christopher Robin?' and you say,
`Oh, nothing' and then you go and do it. It means just going along,
listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering."
--------------
"Rabbit's clever," said Pooh thoughtfully.
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit's clever."Piglet
"And he has Brain."
"Yes," said Piglet, "Rabbit has Brain."
There was a long silence.
"I suppose," said Pooh, "that that's why he never understands anything."
---------------
"The atmospheric conditions have been very unfavourable lately," said Owl.
"The what?"
"It has been raining," explained Owl.
"Yes," said Christopher Robin. "It has."
"The flood-level has reached an unprecedented height."
"The who?"
"There's a lot of water about," explained Owl
--------------
Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you.
And all you can do is to go where they can find you.
~Winnie-the-Pooh
--------------
Lots of people talk to animals. Not that many listen though. That's the problem.
~Winnie-the-Pooh
--------------
They're funny things, accidents. You never have them till you're having them.
~Eeyore
--------------
Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are
looking for before you begin looking for it.
~Winnie-the-Pooh
--------------
Rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there one day.
~Winnie-the-Pooh
--------------
"It's a funny thing about Tiggers," whispered Tigger to Roo,
"how Tiggers never get lost."
"Why don't they, Tigger?"
"They just don't," explained Tigger. "That's how it is."
--------------
"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit.
"No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be
when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way."
--------------
“Don't underestimate the value of Doing Nothing,
of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear.”
- Winnie the pooh
--------------

inspiration

A re-post from 2011

Today I just woke up, and went out to see how the weather was. It wasn't sunny at all, it was actually grey and raining. But after standing outside for a while, I could hear the birds chirping in the trees and fluttering around the house. I was surprised to see how this moved me, so much that I started to cry a bit. I had no idea how I have been longing for spring. And just this little preview of it made my eyes water with emotion.

There is something very special about spring. the time in year that comes after we have spent so long in cold and darkness. Spring is like a new hope,- snow melting to unveil flowers, a smile after sadness, seeing your loved ones after a long journey away, and I think that was also what touched me. I felt this new hope in my chest too - all the feelings that had been hid by the darkness of winter bubbling up and wanting to bee seen and acknowledged again,- to be set free and live. Spring is like falling in love. It melts the ice and old hurt from your heart and turns you to light and warmth.

I have never liked to favor anything, cause I don't like to treat things differently, (like they have different value). But in this case I must make an exception. Spring with all its signs of hope is definitely my favorite season.

I honestly think that if people just got some sun and hugs every day, the world would look very different :-)

Here is a beautiful song to enjoy while you are sitting in the sun

 
"Even if blame seems more than justified, as long as you blame others, you keep feeding your pain and get trapped in your own ego. There is only one perpatrator of evil on the planet - human unconsciousness. That realisation is true forgivness. With forgiveness your victim identity dissolves, and your true power emerges - the power of Presence. Instead of blaming the darkness, you bring in the light."
- Echart Tolle

When love turns painful

Does love never work out for you or really last? Are you tired of the failed relationships but dont understand why they never work out? Do you want to connect with someone but at the same time feel ambivalence about it...maybe a feeling that they will take your freedom away or try to control you? Or do you always feel that those you love stay at a distance from you, that you never can get a truly satisfying relationship where your need for love and attention is met equally with what you yourself give out?

If you answer yes to any of these questions I think this artickle might be valuable to you...

Love addiction and love avoidance
- the dance of the vounded souls

Content of artickle:

Love Addiction
-What is Love Addiction?
-Am I a Love Addict?
-What Does the Love Addiction Relational Cycle Look Like?

Love Avoidance

-What is Love Avoidance?
-Am I a Love Avoidant?
-What Does the Love Avoidance Relational Cycle Look Like?

What is Love Addiction?

Love addicts have unmet emotional needs that they seek to fulfill with either romance or relationships. Love addicts tend to form relationships with individuals who are love avoidant. Love avoidants gain a sense of relationship control by avoiding intimacy and withholding love. Together, love avoidants and love addicts engage in a dysfunctional relationship pattern that is often called the 'distancer-pursuer' relationship. Because the love addict's primary emotional fear is of abandonment, she or he is typically the pursuer in an established relationship. The love avoidant, whose primary fear is of intimacy, responds by distancing.

Both love addicts and love avoidants also have secondary fears (the love addict's secondary fear is of intimacy; the love avoidant's secondary fear is of abandonment), which fuel temporary periods of role reversal in the distancer-pursuer pattern when those secondary fears are triggered. However, regardless of who is the distancer and who is the pursuer at any given time, the pattern in the relationship remains the same.

Am I a Love Addict?

This questionnaire is based on the work of Pia Mellody. If you can answer yes to more than a few of the following questions, love addiction may be a problem for you.

• Your partner seemed too good or perfect to be true when you first met.
• He or she seemed like the person you had always dreamed of.
• Your partner seemed unusually charming and thoughtful when you first met, almost as if he or she could read your mind.
• Within days of meeting your partner you felt like the two of you had been spiritually connected for years.
• You were convinced you and your new partner were 'soul mates.'?
• Your partner's interests and hobbies seem more important to him or her than you are.
• You've started cutting activities and people out of your life because you don't want to make your partner jealous.
• You have been so obsessed with another person before that you gave up everything (e.g., job, friends, family, etc.) to be with that person.
• You have put your partner on a pedestal before.
• Your partner went from being romantic to cold and distant.
• You have said to friends before, 'He/She was so charming and thoughtful in the beginning; I don't understand why he/she changed'?
• You have tried unsuccessfully to be romantic and make things like they were in the beginning.
• Your partner seems to spend less and less time with you.
• You have been with a partner who was verbally or physically abusive.
• You have blamed yourself or made excuses for your partner's abuse.
• After long periods of unhappiness and progressively worse abuse, you still hang onto the belief that one day things will change.
• You believe if you just hang in there long enough, you can love your partner into being who he or she really is.
• You have been asked by a family member or close friend why you stay.
• You feel abandoned when a relationship breaks up, even if you were the one who ended the relationship.
• You have been in so much pain after an unhappy, troubled relationship has ended that you go back when your partner promises to change.
• After a relationship has ended, your feelings of abandonment, pain, and fear seem so severe that you think you might die.
• When you were a child, you often felt as though you were invisible.
• A parent or major caregiver died, moved away or got divorced when you were a child.
• As a child, you thought your parents or major caregivers didn't really know what was happening to you or what was going on inside of you.
• You feel like your father neglected and/or abandoned you during your childhood.
• You feel like your mother neglected and/or abandoned you during your childhood.

You can learn more about different types of love addiction from Love Addicts Anonymous.

What Does the Love Addiction Relational Cycle Look Like?

The love addict:

1. Is attracted to a person who is walled in and appears powerful.
2. Creates a fantasy about the other person as the relationship begins. The fantasy leads to feelings of euphoria for the love addict, who then becomes obsessed with the partner.
3. Uses denial to protect the fantasy. This allows the love addict to ignore the avoidant's walls and the distance in the relationship.
4. Some event occurs that bursts the denial and results in the love addict going into emotional withdrawal from the fantasy.
5. Uses strategies to either return to the fantasy, medicates the emotional distress and/or becomes obsessed with revenge.
6. Returns to the fantasy or finds a replacement partner and creates a new fantasy.

The Relational Recovery: Healing from Sex, Love and Relationship Trauma Group offers a healing community for women hurt by love addiction.

What is Love Avoidance?

Love avoidance is the systematic putting up of walls in a relationship to prevent feeling emotionally overwhelmed by another person. Consequently, it prevents true intimacy. It can be described as a form of emotional anorexia. The love avoidant perceives love as being an obligation or duty, so relationships are experienced as an emotional drain. The love avoidant tends to become involved with love addicts, and puts up walls to decrease the intensity within the relationship. However, the more the avoidant distances, the more the love addict pursues. The avoidant often responds by a pattern of deprivation within the primary relationship, while acting in ways that create intensity outside of that relationship (e.g., work, pursuing other relationships or sexual encounters, addictions, etc.). At the more extreme range of love avoidance, the love avoidant may also be intimacy anorexic.

Am I a Love Avoidant?

This questionnaire is based on the work of Pia Mellody. If you can answer yes to more than a few of the following questions, love avoidance may be a problem for you.

• You think taking care of your partner is sufficient proof that you love him or her.
• You find yourself often critical of your partner.
• You believe it is your duty to take care of your partner.
• You have a secret life away from your partner.
• You keep important information about your thoughts or feelings from your partner.
• You withhold information about yourself (at work or play) so that your partner will not get upset.
• You find yourself needing to manage and be in control of the relationship.
• You have frequently done things for your partner and then later had the sense that no matter what you did it was never enough for your partner.
• You feel frustrated because your partner doesn't understand that you've spent time with him or her and now you need time for yourself.
• You feel smothered by your partner when he or she wants to have you around so much.
• Your partner complains that he or she doesn't really know you.
• You find yourself overly critical of your partner.
• You withhold praise or appreciation from your partner.
• You feel resentful of your partner's neediness.
• You have had one or more relationships in which you felt smothered and needed to escape.
• You find yourself needing to control your partner because you know better what should and shouldn't be done.
• You control your primary relationship by silence and anger.
• When you're with your partner you feel like you're not getting your needs met.
• You feel your partner doesn't appreciate all that you do for him or her.
• You frequently feel the need to escape the relationship.
• You often feel the need to go some place where you can get attention without always having to assure the other person that you love them.
• You are spending more time at work in order to be away from you partner.
• You stay so busy that you have little to no relational time for your partner.
• You feel a sense of relief when you leave the house.
• Your drinking, drug use, or other addictive behaviors increase while you are in a primary relationship.
• You've had an affair or one-night-stand in order to get away from your relationship, have some fun, and get some attention.
• You use porn to escape from the pressure in your relationship.
• You withhold sex from your partner.
• You have become involved in relationships because you couldn't say "no" or you didn't want to hurt the other person's feelings.
• You have stayed in relationships longer than you wanted because you would have felt guilty if you ended it.
• Your relationships have often begun with you rescuing your partner from another bad relationship, poor health, financial difficulties, emotional distress, legal problems or some other difficulty.
• It is important to you that your partner thinks of you as her 'Knight in Shining Armor' or his 'Wonder Woman.'
• As a child, you sometimes thought you were taking care of mom or dad more than they were parenting you.
• As a child, you felt like mom or dad was smothering.

What Does the Love Avoidance Relational Cycle Look Like?

The love avoidant:

1. Feels compelled to take care of needy people.
2. Hides behind a wall of seduction or romance to satisfy the needs of relationship partner while avoiding being vulnerable or feeling controlled.
3. Begins to resent the other person he or she feels duty bound to take care of and moves behind a wall of anger.
4. Communicates anger in either a passive-aggressive or overtly aggressive way. Uses anger to justify a break from relationship duties.
5. Sees self as a victim of relationship partner and rationalizes seeking intensity outside of primary relationship (e.g., overworking, drugs or alcohol, compulsive eating, sexually acting out, financial risk taking, thrill seeking, etc.).
6. Either returns to relationship out of guilt or fear of abandonment, or finds a replacement relationship.

LINKS:

Building healthy relationships

Vulnerability and gentleness

Emotions and personal growth

Fear of true intimacy and being seen for who you really are at the core

Intimicy anorexia

The dance of the vounded souls

Co-dependency (Or the difference in being responsible for others and being responsible to others)
The Casanova complex

The high flyer

The Phantom / The Dracul / The shadow

Manipulative people

Freud's Psychosexual Stages of Development

Personal blog: A typical example of love avoidance behavoir

Personal blog: Typical love avoidance reasons

Vulnerability and gentleness

"I praise what is truly alive
what longs to be burned to death
And so long as you haven`t experienced
this: to die and so to grow,
you are only a troubeled guest
on this dark earth"
- Goethe


- A text about personal transformation, and relating to others. How can gentleness and feeling pain really be a powerful strength?

When we first open to our pain, it often feels as though we are bleeding. yet this kind of emotinal bleeding helps awaken the heart, allowing vital energies in us that have become coagulated to circle again. To let our pain move in this healing way requires awareness, courage, and gentleness--being present with the pain instead of believing scare stories in our mind about where it might take us, opening ourselves to the place where we hurt inside, bringing caring presence to it, and letting those we love see it as well. In this way, helping us connect with our warrior spirit, pain can become a friend and ally.

A close friend, Tracy, has told me about some of her struggles, and transformation, relating to exactly these issues, and her partner Mark. She had a long time been feeling very resentful about her partner, but during a process where she allowed her pain about it to flow, finally accepted the situation. Thus when she felt her disappointment that Mark wasn't everything she would like him to be, and let this touch her, she realized, and expressed;
"We each have differences and imperfections that hurt each other. Yet there is nothing wrong with feeling that pain. it makes me feel my heart`s blood--my openness to myself, to him, and to love itself." In proclaiming her vulnerability this way, she was stepping beyond her fear of pain and heartbreak.

Unfortunately, the word vulnerability has pejorative meaning in our culture. Associating it with weakness and powerlessness, we often think of a vulnerable person as someone who is overly sensitive to being hurt or offended. Yet sensitivity to offense is something quite different from the genuine vulnerability of letting our heart be exposed. The ego is always fragile and easily wounded. It is a brittle shell or facade, a pretense that "we are in charge", that "no one can get to us" that we are "captains of our own fate". It is fragile because life is always threatening to expose our pretense of having power over life. By contrast, acknowledging our basic, human vulnerability--our openness to reality--is a source of real power. In fearlessly allowing our-selves to be vulnerable, we embody the bravery and gentleness of a true warrior.

Tracy confessed and described, that always before, she had tried to make her partners meet her emotional needs in devious, indirect ways. She would avoid stating he real feelings and needs openly because she did not like to feel exposed. It was much safer to manipulate her partner into blaming him when he failed to do so, or just withdraw.
In every relationship, there are times when one partner wants to connect more deeply, but that other is not as emotionally available at the same moment. At first when Tracy experienced this with Mark, she would feel hurt, and then contract, protect herself, attack, or hold it against him. Then, as her hurt and resentment built up, she would start to think about leaving him. Yet in learning to be compassionate toward the vulnerable part of herself, where she felt hurt by Mark`s unavailability, Tracy could let these hard, defensive edges fall away. When she softened to her pain, she could simply tell Mark about it, instead of holding it against him or shutting down her love. Expressing her needs more openly, rather than manipulating or accusing him, allowed her love to keep flowing. And she expressed that she felt stronger: no longer did she have to live in fear of pain or feel victimized when she got hurt. In this way, thorough making friends with our vulnerability, we discover a new kind of flexibility and power.

We usually think of vulnerability and gentleness as the opposite of power. Yet the softening that happens when we work with our pain can be quite compelling and influential. We become like water, which can generate electric power precisely because it flows so willingly, without resisting gravity or the contours of the land. Water is extremely vulnerable, in a sense. It is soft, it does not resist the touch, it can be molded into any shape, and it receives whatever we put into it. Yet for wearing down what is hard and tough, nothing surpasses it. Just as water, which is so soft, and accommodating, can reduce the hardest of rocks to sand, similarly gentleness is one of the most irresistible human qualities and can penetrate even the hardest of hearts. Whereas hardness stirs up aggression, gentleness provides nothing to resist.
So when Tracy show her vulnerability by saying, "I want to feel close to you right now", or "I just need to feel your love", Mark could not resist her. Because she was so appealing at the moment, he would often want to put aside his self-involvement and give her what she asked for. And when she could expose her pain-"It really hurts me when you get so tight"-instead of trying to get him to change, this usally made him soften. No longer was she the fussy princess expecting him to be a perfect prince.

In learning to appreciate and trust her broken-open heart Tracy says she felt more connected with life than ever before, and more capable of handling the challenges of an ongoing relationship. This was a tremendous victory, which only made her stronger and more attractive.
Men can particularly have a hard time seeing that their willingness to be vulnerable is often what touches women the most. They imagine that it is a sign of weakness, and that it will lead to scorn or rejection, or that they will loose control and disappear in the feeling. However, as one woman friend of mine put it,"I find it quite magnetic, when a man lets me see his vulnerability. It only turns me off if he tries to get me to reassure him about feeling that way. If he just presents it openly, I find that courageous and admire him for it." What she is saying is that ego fragility-trying to cover up the rawness of one`s heart-is unattractive, while fearlessly revealing it can be most appealing.

Thus the rawness of the broke-open heart, which being in moments of disillusion, is the transmuting force in the alchemy of love. When we let our heart break open, a certain sweetness starts to flow from us like nectar. As the Sufi teacher Hazrat Inayat khan put it,"The warmth of the lover`s atmosphere, the piercing effect of his voice, the appeal of his words, all come from the pain in his heart." This is one of the great secrets of love. Instead of trying to ward off his pain, which is futile anyway, the lover can use it to transform himself, to develop invincible tenderness and compassion, and as the troubadours discovered, become a "gentle man" as well as a heroic warrior in the service of love.

Letting the heart break open awakens us to the mystery of love-that we can`t help loving others, in spite of the pain they cause us, for no other reason than that they move and touch us. in ways that we can never fully comprehend. Indeed, if those we love perfectly matched our ideal dreams, they would not touch us so deeply. What we love is just not their pure being, but also their heart`s struggle with all the obstacles in the way of its full, radiant expression. Although their imperfections cause us pain, they also give our love a greater purchase, a foothold, something to work with. It is as though our heart wants to ally itself with the hearts in those we love and lend them strength in their struggle to realize the magnificence of their being, beyond all their perceived shortcomings.

So, just as rocks in a stream accentuate the force of the water rising against them, the obstacles to perfect romance can help us realize the power of our capacity to love and who we truly are and what we are made of. - They force the heart to stretch so that it can embrace all of what we are.

This, more than finding the prefect relationship or having someone give us everything we want, is what can heal us.

Emotions and personal growth

"As one lamp serves to dispel a thousand years of darkness, so one flash of wisdom destroys ten thousand years of ignorance."

- Zen quote

I do not subscribe to certain popular beliefs that some feelings and emotions are negative. I believe that none of them are "negative"; they are all part of you; they are life expressing itself through you, also giving you important messages of who you are and who you were.

During the process of growing up almost all of us will

have found the need to hide are true feelings and who we felt we were for real. In order to gain self knowledge and relate in a healthy way with others and ourselves, we need to get out of such destructive cycles. They maybe helped us survive in difficult times in our past, but now they hider us in relating truly to others, and in achieving inner peace and happiness. So we need to get in touch again with our emotions. Part of this is to be honest about what we feel without judging or labeling the emotion itself. We need to let the experience of the emotion flow freely through us, without resistance. In this way, the emotions are released, which means that we do not end up clinging to them, or making them part of who we are, of our own identity.

Every human being has a right to be open and to feel the emotions that enter their body. The thing we do not have a right to is to blame others for those emotions. If you want to gain your own autonomy, strength, inner wisdom, and continue on our personal growth, this is a very important step to realize. To deeply understand that you are the one who is producing your emotions, and to take responsibility for those feelings. This way you will own your feelings as your own.

Our feelings can be our very best friends,  guiding us towards our deeper self. 

Letting your heart be open to both pain and love, two feelings which are highly intertwined.

How can you feel love, without being open to the pain it also brings? How can you feel happiness without sorrow? Or put even better in the words of Kahlil Gibrans book, "The prophet":

On Joy and Sorrow

"Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, "Joy is greater thar sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.
Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced. When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall."

Link: Read more from this book

And so it is, that without joy, there can be no sorrow, and without sorrow there can be no joy. So if you look at it, there might be no need to judge them as good or bad, but take them as they are: Two shades of the same color.

But there are also other ways of taking responsibility for your emotions. We need to see how we are making ourselves feel the different things we are feeling. they are not just something that is throw down on our heads, like snow from a full roof in wintertime. We react to a situation with thoughts, our thoughts then again creates emotional responses, and then we feel them. Some thoughts and emotions stay with us though, and gets stuck in our bodies and thought-patterns as belief-systems. Sometimes consciously, and sometimes we are totally unaware that they are there. This is why we need to find them, feel them, and let them free. It is also important then to redefine the thought-patterns they are stuck to, to make us react, think and feel in a new and healthy way, instead of the old pattern we have identified with.

Taking responsibility in this way, is also withdrawing the thought of an other person or situation "making you feel this" and taking the focus back to yourself:

Link: Redefining emotions, a short guide

If you want to express your emotion and talk it out with somebody, you might say"My feelings got triggered and felt angry when you did x" . This clearly shows you taking responsibility for the feeling, and is not blaming the other person, but is merely an expression of the situation. This allows you to work and improve to not let this situation arise again.

The opposite example would be if you said: "You made me angry when you did x" With this sentence you create blame and guilt. Emotions which often are just meant to hurt the other person deliberately, as a revenge for them maybe unwillingly hurting you. Don't get me wrong, to have a conscience is always helpful and also very valuable.

It makes you take healthy choices and consider others peoples feeling. Guilt is never healthy, for either part of a situation.

An other aspect of this situation is that the other person actually never made you angry. You made yourself angry. We need rather to look at our anger, or whichever feeling or emotion that is surfacing and see why it is making us angry, be aware of what it is saying to us. In this way we can gain in self knowledge and become the directors of our own lives! We can understand ourselves deeper and also heal old wounds from the past that complicates our lives and makes us miserable.

To be happy is not just something that happens to you when the right circumstances are there. To have a happy life is hard work; hard work of awareness!

A way to get better in touch with your emotions is meditation. It helps you to get in touch with your genuine feeling self, your intrinsic being. Counselling can help to get things off your chest and give you support to move through difficult situations. Journal writing is another excellent way to stay in touch with yourself.

Rome was not built in a day; and personal growth is a task of a lifetime. But no matter what, each step brings you closer to you, and who you really are. And each step that makes you get stronger in touch with your feelings and emotions, will allow you to feel more alive within each moment. And this is a wonderful experience. But that doesn't mean that this will be pleasant all the way, but rather the opposite.

To face yourself and all the difficult emotions you have suppressed can be quite demanding and hard. but the more you can stay open to them and let them flow, the less it will hurt you. Most feelings and emotions when accepted, even sadness end up feeling quite comfortable. If you "take the whole package" as we say; the "good" with the "bad", stay awake and accepting to what is happening, no feeling really feels negative, but flows through you sometimes almost pleasurably.

There is also something about facing emotions and letting them free, that gives us a healthier life in general. For instance, if you do not show your anger you might think that no one will know you are angry, and you avoid a difficult confrontation. Thing is; people who do not genuinely express themselves when they are angry tend either to find themselves from time to time exploding in arage or maybe expressing this rage thought passive aggression instead. Both reactions that are more difficult for both parts than the original display of anger.

Working out feelings and emotions and getting in touch with your genuine felt self offers an inner richness which is totally independent to any material wealth.

Anbefaler.på det varmeste!

Fotograf i Oslo

http://fotografioslo.wix.com/oslo-fotograf#