[ I saw this just a moment ago and couldn't believe my eyes, because I've said something very similar a few years ago without realising this man had already said it. No wonder I admire him! ]

I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?

-- John Lennon

[ Mahatma Gandhi had a lot of good and inspiring things to say. Here are two of them ]

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.

-- Mahatma Gandhi

You must be the change you want to see in the world.

-- Mahatma Gandhi

[ Peace is what everyone wants, and yet so few understand how to really achieve... maybe they should listen to this? ]

Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

[ I borrowed this from one of smilla's texts and translated it to English. It's just that inspiring and exactly the way I see life (or want to see it) ]

Life is a tremendous celebration - and I'm invited!

Clever = answers
Wise = questions

-- Laura Mc Donald

I feel sorry for the man who has an open relationship with a woman, and gets jealous when the woman opens up to another to the point that he ruins his relationship and ends up getting rejected by her.

I feel sorry for the man who was imposed sex by a homosexual man and ends up projecting the act on all homosexuals with hatred.

I feel sorry for all those who are consumed by ghosts in their minds and do not know the way out.

I feel sorry...

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace...

I think I've seen the sense of "the customer is always right" in a new light today. I've witnessed someone waking up earlier than normal to do a job, and when I asked why so early, I got the answer "It's a customer!" (not literally, but that was the basic sense of it), and I caught it as "If the customer says a specific time, then that's when you do it."

Now, I know far from all the facts, so I can't even come close to knowing the truth. It smacks me as a bit curious, though, that so much decision, on a Sunday no less, was left to the customer. I mean, had I heard something like "it was the most practical for all involved", I wouldn't have thought twice about it.

However, this entry isn't really about that specific deal, it's rather about a curiousity on how to relate to a customer, and most of all trying to understand how others relate to customers compared to my own way.

You see, I don't at all buy the old "the customer is always right" mantra. I do think that you always need to listen to a customer's needs and be prepared to answer them the best way you can. It's simly the respectful thing to do, as with any other kind of relationship. However, I don't think it's too much to ask the same kind of respect back, which means that the customer will have to be ready to listen for what I have to say about what they want to do, as well as what I need to do the task with the best quality possible, including timing and how that fits my daily schedule. The rest is negotiation around what's the most practical for everyone involved, myself, the customer's personel, my collegues...

How about you?

This Userfriendly strip, while being quite humorous, says a lot about the state of humankind (or at least the part I know, western civilization in general) today:

How can one be bored when there's so much life to enjoy? It "only" requires looking inside and find the joy of life that's there, opening your eyes to what there is, to the beauty of everything around you, and just being, now.

... and life has changed a lot.

Actually, there's a little bit too much life right now, so to say. I've a few things that I have to finish and release, and it's taking some time and a lot of energy, and meanwhile, the universe is regularly poking at me with new possibilities, new situations to be aware of, take care of and integrate somehow. I've opened up a lot to life, and it seems like life is pouring into me relentlessly, and there are moments when I wonder when enough will be enough and I will have to close myself a little, and at the same time, I really don't want to go there.

So, what's happened so far?

Well, for starters, Eva and I broke up almost two months ago. Very amicably, it was actually the most well grounded and well processed ending I've ever experienced. I have had my reaction afterwards, with a lot of opening up and releases of old angers, sorrows and other crap as a result, and a bit of longing back to her, as she is and will continue to be a fantastic woman that I hold in very high regard, she has been She (using the way Bernie Prior describes a deep relationship between man and woman). It's taken a while for me to trust that there is anyone else in the world for me, but I'm getting there. It's been quite a trip going through all the emotions that have gone through me for the last 6 or 7 weeks.
The separation is not completed at this point. We've just started seeing each other again and go into a friendship, and there are some bumps to overcome before it becomes well grounded.

I've (re-)discovered (on a deeper level) that I'm afraid of being alone and that I have an abandonment issue. This explains the pattern I've had through most of my adult life, to start a new relationship more or less immediately after the old one has ended. My response now is to refuse to start anything new before I've processed the fear of being alone, something I plan to do by putting myself into situations where I am alone with just myself, see and process what comes up, one at a time, on my own or with the help of supporting friends. I expect that more emotions will come up.

Those two alone are enough for me to realise and decide that I have to pace myself, and that a new relationship is far away. Months? Years? I really have no clue whatsoever.

Opening up and releasing old crap have a lot of positive effects. I've a much deeper appreciation for life and beauty around me, and trust you me, if you just take the time to look, there's a lot of beauty around us! And life becomes quite simple, a greater flow, all I have to do is follow it and do things that promote flow. Of course, there's still a bit to go before I do that fully, but it's still a step.

Meanwhile, the universe keeps reminding me that there is potential out there... or testing my resolve, I really don't know which. I get people enough inside my awareness to create a disturbance (in a mostly positive way ) and cause me to re-evaluate my resolve. So far, my resolve is strong enough, finishing the separation with Eva and resolving my fear of being alone take absolute priority, and are quite a lot of work in themselves. At the same time, I don't want to reject possibilities entirely, and this is the point where it's becoming quite a number of threads for me to keep track of... or to release them and let them decide entirely on their own what they want. Thing is, I really want to scream to the universe "Please SHUT THE FUCK UP, just for a moment!" And still, I know that if the universe was human, it would just laugh. The decision is still mine, as is how I handle things, how I let go of control, how I stay with my resolve. And when I feel strong, those are not a problem, not in the least... It's just when I falter that it becomes tough.
Sometimes, I'm longing for a friend that can catch me when I fall, hold me, comfort me and help me restore my energy. That's the 6 year old in me speaking...

It feels good writing about this.

I've just finished reading Byron Katie's book "Loving What Is", and I can only agree with a lot of what she says.

The way I understand it her is that as long as we act from a place of love and are aware of the stories that we tell ourselves in our heads and how easily we torture ourselves with them, we're doing fine. She has created a way to work on ourselves that consists of 4 questions and taking a look at turnarounds of our thoughts and beliefs, called The Work, which basically gives us the possibility to look at ourselves in relation to reality. This relates a lot with what I've learned about seriously taking responsability for ourselves and what we do instead of projecting it on others.

I may, from time to time, display my own work using her methods in this blog.