Random Thoughts

Life is like a butterfly, it goes where it pleases and it pleases where it goes.

Life is truly full of surprises, and it never stops from teaching us lessons as long as we’re willing to learn.

I continue to learn things about myself regularly, some good, some bad, some outstanding and some disappointing. But disappointments are everywhere; we can’t escape them so it’s up to us to decide what we take from them.

There are many lessons that life has offered me so far and some were more monumental then others, and what’s more to come will be as such I suspect. One very important lessons I learned some time ago is that It's easy for anyone to be happy when all is going well, the real challenge is to be happy when things are difficult and confusing.

It's important to be happy within, it is imperative in fact, however we're are happier when we love, and when we give. I think that is true happiness.

Am I happy? YES, I am.

I believe “happiness” is often a choice and not circumstances, however we do let those dictate much of our happiness most of the time, because we’re humans.

Speaking of human, that is another thing I’ve learned, struggled with and accepted - the complexity of us humans, one that no other living specie on this planet has. We, Homo sapiens, are the most complex living creature ever existed. We can do as much good as we can do damage; we can love as much as we can hate; we can give as much as we can take away. No other living creature has the capability of such actions, emotions, and influence. What WE do, affects the whole planet. We are capable of great things, but also of disastrous ones.

I’ve learned that you can love in all directions, and that we are like wells of infinite love to give – there is plenty for everyone (as I always say), however, I’d be a hypocrite and arrogant if I said that the love I have to give is spread equally. It isn’t. And if that were the case then I wouldn’t be human, I’d be a robot with a chip called love that feeds equally at all times. I think that would make us emotionless.

A mother (father) loves her (his) children to no end, unconditionally.

Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible.

A mother understands what a child does not say.

A mother’s love never tires.

A wise man said to me yesterday when I peeked his brain about some feelings I was having: “Marianna, why do we plant olive trees? Not for ourselves, but for our children, our future. By the time an olive tree is ready to provide the fruit we have already gone. We plant it for the intention to pass it on – to our children.

I thought that was beautiful, especially for someone who doesn’t even have children.

It’s like marriage, marriage it’s meant to be forever, we make a bond of love and a commitment that’s supposed to last to the end of our days, yet that’s not always the case anymore.

The most talked about thing is love. The most lived and felt emotion is love. So many beautiful songs, poems, books and movies and yet I look around and wonder if we write and talk about something so much because we all long for what in reality is very rare to come by. Can one person make you feel like you’re the key link to true love and happiness? Are we asking for too much? Are we asking to feel something that we don’t even fully understand? The love of Romeo and Juliet – Marc Anthony and Cleopatra, was it as intense as we write about?

In any soul mate relationship, we need to let go of the illusion that there is a perfect person waiting for us who will fulfill our every expectation and give our personality everything it desires once we are together. Do not expect your ideal soul mate to be someone who is always loving and easy to get along with, who agrees with everything you say or do, and who brings you a life of ease and comfort. We may experience our soul mate in this way at times, and at other times this person may challenge us to love as your soul does through his or her unevolved expressions of love. Soul mates always bring you growth and give you many chances to awaken your heart centers. Sometimes this process of growth is easy, and sometimes it is not. Soul mate relationships offer you wonderful opportunities to work at the soul level.

I’ve looked up the term soulmate and its definition:
Soulmate (or soul mate) is a term sometimes used to designate someone with whom one has a feeling of deep and natural affinity, friendship, love, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality and/or compatibility. A related concept is that of the twin flame or twin soul – which is thought to be the ultimate soulmate, the one and only other half of one's soul, for which all souls are driven to find and join.

Someone who has a special mission or influence on one's life


And with whom you are deeply connected and share a common path and purpose. Your soul mate may be someone who has come to be with you and learn similar lessons. Or, it can be someone who has come to assist you in your spiritual growth by showing you more about yourself and offering you ways to open your heart.

Incompatible, it don't matter though
'cos someone's bound to hear my cry
Speak out if you do
You're not easy to find

Is it possible Mr. Loveable
Is already in my life?
Right in front of me
Or maybe you're in disguise

Who doesn't long for someone to hold
Who knows how to love you without being told
Somebody tell me why I'm on my own
If there's a soulmate for everyone

Here we are again, circles never end
How do I find the perfect fit
There's enough for everyone
But I'm still waiting in line

Who doesn't long for someone to hold
Who knows how to love you without being told
Somebody tell me why I'm on my own
If there's a soulmate for everyone

If there's a soulmate for everyone

Most relationships seem so transitory
They're all good but not the permanent one

Who doesn't long for someone to hold
Who knows how to love you without being told
Somebody tell me why I'm on my own
If there's a soulmate for everyone

Who doesn't long for someone to hold
Who knows how to love you without being told
Somebody tell me why I'm on my own
If there's a soulmate for everyone
If there's a soulmate for everyone

[Song title “soulmate” by Natasha Bedingfield]

Even animals such as apes and elephants understand the true meaning of love amongst themselves, and it’s evident from how they mourn the death of one of their own, yet, most humans diminish the importance of our own and are always in search for something else, a greater and higher reason of our existence – searching for the truth as some may say (or as I recently watched the movie “into the wild”). I can’t decide if it’s arrogance or ignorance.

Moses was told to take two of every specie from earth, a female and male, on to his ark, I often wonder if most of us truly get it.

WE ARE ONE

Until we can love one another for who and what we are , there can be no peace.

There for love one another , we are One family.

"Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man."


I think there are many paths to the top of the mountain and that everyone has a perfect right *not* to take any of them. I *do* chose to travel to the top of the mountain, though it is on my own path. I'm not even sure there is anything *at* the top of the mountain, but I think the journey is worth it.

A Moment of Happiness

A moment of happiness,
you and I sitting on the verandah,
apparently two, but one in soul, you and I.
We feel the flowing water of life here,
you and I, with the garden's beauty
and the birds singing.
The stars will be watching us,
and we will show them
what it is to be a thin crescent moon.
You and I unselfed, will be together,
indifferent to idle speculation, you and I.
The parrots of heaven will be cracking sugar
as we laugh together, you and I.
In one form upon this earth,
and in another form in a timeless sweet land.eet

Remember tonight...for it is the beginning of always.

I carry your heart with me by E. E. Cummings

i carry your heart with me (i carry it in
my heart)
i am never without it (anywhere
i go you go, my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate (for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world (for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart (i carry it in my heart)

Love IS the Sweetest Thing

Someone once said: the most important thing in life is LOVE...

I recently read somewhere "Our mother is the teacher who first teaches us love, the most important subject in life". "Without my mother I could never have known how to love. Thanks to her I can love my neighbors. Thanks to her I can love all living beings. Through her I acquired my first notions of understanding, loving unconditionally and compassion."

"Sometimes we must ignore what others know of ourselves as seen through their eyes and the world around them, and delve deep into our own selves to find who we truly are. In order to be truly capable of loving another human being one must remember that it's not necessary to search for meaning in other people or their own agendas; just be confident of your own distinct gifts, challenges and dreams".

There are many different ways to love someone (even yourself), love is the continual act of unconditionally putting the needs of others before your own.

As I listen to this song tonight (for the millionth time), I sit in awe, deeply immersed in my own thoughts. I've never heard lyrics so beautiful! The best words ever written to describe what love truly is.

Tingles in silly places

"be more open to the mystery of LIFE and be open to thinking the mystery IS where you'll find love AND peace."

Somewhere I have never travelled, gladly beyond

somewhere i have never travelled, gladly beyond

any experience,your eyes have their silence:
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,
or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look will easily unclose me
though i have closed myself as fingers,
you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens
(touching skilfully,mysteriously)her first rose

or if your wish be to close me, i and
my life will shut very beautifully ,suddenly,
as when the heart of this flower imagines
the snow carefully everywhere descending;
nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals
the power of your intense fragility:whose texture
compels me with the color of its countries,
rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes
and opens;only something in me understands
the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)
nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

[ee cummings]

My Sister, My Angel.

21, that's how how old you would've been today. I miss you. I miss the 2 and a half year old sister I had running around, calling my name, singing my songs, repeating 'bad' words. What would life have given you had it not been taken away? I wonder, but it's impossible to imagine. You look down and see what life has given us so far, and I'm sure you're smiling. Sometimes I wonder why it is that those who have lost so much are still able to smile and why is it that those who have been given so much are unable to.

I smile, a lot. Most of the time. I am thankful and I have peace in my heart for the most part. But we wouldn't be human if we didn't lose ourselves on occasion. It's in the weak, vulnerable moments that we are truly reminded of how fragile we can be, it is also in those moments that we are reminded of our strengths. Thanks to you I am strong and I've learned to see life for the beauty it has - even when that beauty is on occasion clouded with smoke. You have given me a life's lesson that has changed me and bettered me for ever. Your death has thought me how to truly love. Fair trade? Afraid not, however the greatest gift I've ever been given.

I miss you and I carry you in my heart, always, my little Chicca.
TVB

The Call

I have heard it all my life,
A voice calling a name I recognized as my own.

Sometimes it comes as a soft-bellied whisper.
Sometimes it holds an edge of urgency.

But always it says:
Wake up my love. You are walking asleep.
There's no safety in that!

Remember what you are
and let this knowing take you home to the Beloved with every breath.
Hold tenderly who you are
and let a deeper knowing colour the shape of your humanness.

There is no where to go.

What you are looking for is right here.

Open the fist clenched in wanting and see what you already hold in your hand.

There is no waiting for something to happen, no point in the future to get to.

All you have ever longed for is here in this moment, right now.

You are wearing yourself out with all this searching.

Come home and rest.
How much longer can you live like this?
Your hungry spirit is gaunt, your heart stumbles.
All this trying. Give it up!

Let yourself be one of the God-mad,
faithful only to the Beauty you are.

Let the Lover pull you to your feet and hold you close, dancing even when fear urges you to sit this one out.

Remember- there is one word you are here to say with your whole being.

When it finds you, give your life to it.

Don't be tight-lipped and stingy.

Spend yourself completely on the saying.

Be one word in this great love poem we are writing together.

© Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from 'The Call', 2003

[Thanks to Jon for introducing me to this brilliant brilliant author]

"Children are always a good thing, devoutly to be wished for and fiercely to be fought for."

Pray tell, my brother,

Why do dictators kill

and make war?

Is it for glory; for things,

for beliefs, for hatred,

for power?

Yes, but more,

because they can.

INFANTICIDE:
In law, the killing of a child under 12 months old, and more generally, any killing of a newborn child. It is often seen as a method of population control, especially among hunter-gatherers and nomadic societies where it may be impossible for a mother to carry around more than one small child and still perform the tasks necessary for survival.

In some societies, especially in India and China, more girls are killed than boys because of the higher value placed on male offspring. It is estimated that more than one million children worldwide are killed each year because they are born female. Infanticide may also be practiced on deformed or sick infants or for religious or ritual purposes; in some African societies twin births are thought to be supernatural and the twins are left to die. Although relatively rare, cases of infanticide today receive wide media coverage. The number of children killed by their parents is probably much higher than statistics suggest, however, as many infant deaths are never officially recognized as infanticide. Women offenders are usually perceived as being psychologically unstable and receive non-custodial or psychiatric sentences, while men almost always receive prison sentences.

In China it is important to have boys, as only boys can carry on the family name and honour the ancestors. This preference for male children has led to approximately 10,000 female infants being killed in China each year (1996), and along with the abortion of female fetuses has resulted in a sex ratio of 131 males to 100 females (1997); worldwide the ratio is 105 males to 100 females. In rural areas of China it is even higher; in one county, the ratio of live male births to female in 1995 was 316 to 100. In China, couples are permitted one, at most two, children. Too frequently a girl is a disappointment. But Chinese society is throwing away its little girls at an astounding rate. For every 100 girls registered at birth, there are now 118 little boys - in other words, nearly one seventh of Chinese girl babies are going missing. "Some of those girls are alive, they are just not registered," says Professor Zhai Zhenwu, of Beijing's People's University. "Some are abandoned, but many are aborted when the parents find out the fetus is a girl. Stop the quiet killing spree in India, China, and other countries that practice female infanticide and feticide.

The following photos are heart breaking but I feel it is important to show that such barbaric, savage, inhuman events take place nearly every day and it would be too convenient and too easy neglecting them. The world needs to see, and people need to be informed of the atrocities that take place. Is this how we value human life?

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-women2jan02,1,2391876.story?track=rss

vergognoso!!!!


OGNI COMMENTO E' SUPERFLUO!!!!

Le immagini che seguono sono estremamente dure, però riteniamo doveroso mostrarle, perché fatti così gravi non devono passare inosservati. Il mondo deve sapere, la gente deve essere informata di quanto accade in Cina, di come possa disumanamente divenire normalità il disprezzo per la vita.

Una bimba appena nata giace morta sotto il bordo del marciapiedi, nella totale indifferenza di coloro che passano.
La piccina è solo un'altra vittima della politica crudele del governo cinese che pone il limite massimo di un solo figlio nelle città (due nelle zone rurali), con aborto obbligatorio.
Nel corso della giornata, la gente passa ignorando il bebè.
Automobili e biciclette passano schizzando fango sul cadaverino.

Di quelli che passano, solo pochi prestano attenzione.

La neonata fa parte delle oltre 1000 bambine abbandonate appena nate ogni anno, in conseguenza della politica del governo cinese.
L'unica persona che ha cercato di aiutare questa bambina ha dichiarato:
'Credo che stesse già per morire, tuttavia era ancora calda e perdeva sangue dalle narici'.
Questa signora ha chiamato l'Emergenza però non è arrivato nessuno.

'Il bebè stava vicino agli uffici fiscali del governo e molte persone passavano ma nessuno faceva nulla... Ho scattato queste foto perché era una cosa terribile...'
'I poliziotti, quando sono arrivati, sembravano preoccuparsi più per le mie foto che non per la piccina...'

In Cina, molti ritengono che le bambine siano spazzatura.
Il governo della Cina, il paese più popoloso del mondo con 1,3 miliardi di persone, ha imposto la sua politica di restrizione della natalità nel 1979.
I metodi usati però causano orrore e sofferenza: i cittadini, per il terrore di essere scoperti dal governo, uccidono o abbandonano i propri neonati.
Ufficialmente, il governo condanna l'uso della forza e della crudeltà per controllare le nascite; però, nella pratica quotidiana, gli incaricati del controllo subiscono tali pressioni allo scopo di limitare la natalità, che formano dei veri e propri 'squadroni dell'aborto'. Questi squadroni catturano le donne 'illegalmente incinte' e le tengono in carcere finché non si rassegnano a sottoporsi all'aborto.

In caso contrario, i figli 'nati illegalmente' non hanno diritto alle cure mediche, all'istruzione, né ad alcuna altra assistenza sociale. Molti padri vendono i propri 'figli illegali' ad altre coppie, per evitare il castigo del governo cinese.
Essendo di gran lunga preferito il figlio maschio, le bambine rappresentano le principali vittime della limitazione delle nascite.

Normalmente le ragazze continuano a vivere con la famiglia dopo del matrimonio e ciò le rende un vero e proprio un peso.

Nelle regioni rurali si permette un secondo figlio, ma se anche il secondo è una femmina, la cosa rappresenta un disastro per la famiglia.
Secondo i dati delle statistiche ufficiali, il 97,5% degli aborti è rappresentato da feti femminili.
Il risultato è un forte squilibrio di proporzioni fra popolazione masch ile e femminile. Milioni di uomini non possono sposarsi, da ciò consegue il traffico di donne.
L'aborto selezionato per sesso sarebbe proibito dalla legge, però è prassi comune corrompere gli addetti per ottenere un'ecografia dalla quale conoscere il sesso del nascituro.
Le bambine che sopravvivono finiscono in precari orfanatrofi.
Il governo cinese insiste con la sua politica di limitare le nascite e ignora il problema della discriminazione contro le bambine.

Alla fine, un uomo raccolse il corpo della bambina, lo mise in una scatola e lo gettò nel bidone della spazzatura.