There are many things that impress me deeply but one in particular comes to my mind today due to a discussion I had last week with some friends; and that is: seeing an old person, having a hard time walking (maybe leaning on a stick), feeding pigeons in the park (or wherever). I know that there are disputes regarding this kind of activity and that feeding birds had been prohibited lately in many cities due to the diseases they spread, the mess they do, the damages they bring to the historical buildings, etc but still… I cannot remain untouched when I see elders feeding pigeons. This image always melts my heart while many thoughts cross my mind. I cannot stop thinking of the old age and the very few things that brings people joy in their later years, I think of the loneliness of old people (and not only) and the need to love and to be loved, the need to feel that somebody still needs you, the need to be taken care of and to take care of someone, being that a person or the birds of the sky… Some elders face fines for feeding the birds, but some of them don’t stop, regardless. For them feeding the birds might be one of their last available pleasures in life, the little thing they still can do to feel they matter, to feel they contribute with something to this world. And maybe the birds that rest on their shoulder, their arms, their laps are the only beings with whom they interact to all day long, maybe they have nobody else, maybe the love they get from the pigeons is the only drop of love they get in this world. Who knows what story lies behind their refusal to stop feeding the birds…
Thank you for stopping by. Have a lovely, happy day, full of love and lots of friends.
Last week, I have re-watched Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” followed, a day after, by a documentary on the History of Earth and Life.
Being under the impression of Kubrik’s film while watching the documentary, I have realised, once more, that people have “eyes wide shut” not only in relationships like in the movie, but in many aspects of life, not to say in almost everything. We kinda live on auto-pilot. We see the world, but we don’t really see it. We hear things, but we don’t really hear them. We know things, but we don’t really know them. Take me, for example, I had lived decades knowing that the troposphere, the lower layer of the atmosphere, is only about 10 km thick (its thickness varies seasonally and geographically, though) but, actually, not truly knowing it, not in all the complexity of that knowledge. For me it was just a number, a piece of information I learned in school. Watching the documentary, something happened. That was the moment when I had realized that the layer of the atmosphere where we spend our life in, the one that contains apx 75-80 % of the mass of the entire atmosphere, the air that we breath, is just a narrow band and that the distance from the earth’s surface to the upper end of the troposphere equals the distance from my door to the restaurant where I use to drink my morning tea sometimes. And that is a small distance! I cross it in no time. Visualizing that, I had suddenly felt things differently. This thin circle of air and the planet it covers became more fragile to me and I understood even more than before how easy it is for us to break the balance of everything and put life on Earth at risk. Every one of our actions gained so much more weight in my new understanding of things. Every step we make had suddenly become of much greater importance.
Feeling a little overwhelmed by this new understanding of things, I felt the need to take some time to reflect on all these. I didn’t want to shut myself in my room, instead I wanted to go in a place with a different visual perspective on Earth. Up on a cloud seemed a good idea, as watching everything from a higher point of view was just what I needed for the kind of thoughts that troubled me. I asked Ala, a dear bear friend, to come join me, as I hadn’t seen her in a while and I missed her dearly. She is busy with her cubs, lately, and she doesn’t have too much time for anything else. But, lucky me, the little bears were asleep and, besides, that, Ala likes blueberry tea more than fresh blueberries, so she couldn’t say no to the invitation.
We climbed up in the sky on a rope ladder (made from rope that an Indian magician gave me once) and we got comfortable on some puffy clouds with a cup of warm tea to keep us warm as the atmosphere is colder up there. And we started talking about the things that concerned me, but the panorama was so spectacular from up there that we had soon stopped talking and just stood there, enjoying the view, the silence and the tea. Luckily, no plane crossed the sky to hassle us, but a few birds stopped by and asked for biscuits. Good thing they did, as my disturbing thoughts flew away with them, leaving me totally relaxed, enjoying my time with Ala. I came to the conclusion that there is no better way to reflect on the importance of things than from up on a cloud, with a new perspective over everything, with a cup of tea, with a bear friend near and having a such impressive view in front of our eyes! Magical! Only good things can come from spending a morning like that! You must try it! Or another different perspective at your choice.
PS: Do you know that we hear sounds because of the atmosphere? In empty space, humans would not be able to hear any sounds! I thought that there is silence in space as there are no motorcycles there, but no. It is because there is no air. Or water. Or any other medium.
Thank you for stopping by! Have a magical tea time this week and always!
This is a personal post, so skip it if you consider that it is irrelevant to you. I’ve just felt the need to share a bit of my life with you, so you get to know a bit better the person behind the crazy paintings like “The girl with the bird feeder hat”.
Four weeks have passed since I had to put my dear Nemo to sleep. It was such a hard decision but I couldn’t stand seeing his suffering any more. He stepped onto the path that lead to the angels’ realm and he didn’t want to leave it no matter how hard I’ve tried to lure him back. The light from the angels’ land was too peaceful and warm bright. And maybe he thought that I could use another angel friend to help me from above. I talk to him from time to time. He’s ok. He met Tara, and Micky, and Cody, and Didi, and Kiki, and Maya, and Rex, and Piciu, and Corsa, and Lady. He has more friends there than he had here. He’s in good company. As for myself, as you can see, I have an army of angels watching over me. I’m in good paws. I miss Nemo’s physical presence a lot, though. But my dear Nasuki (his name is a made up one, a mix I’ve made from Nose and Suki-that means beloved in Japanese), who is now the man of the house or the head of the pack, whatever you want to call it, feels the hole left in my soul by Nemo’s depart and he is so cute in his attempt to filling it. He surrounds me with his love more than ever before. Every night he comes to dream with me. Lately, I call him my “dream buddy”. He often falls asleep on my shoulder or on the pillow near me. The girls, Lala and Nera, keep me company during the day, Nasuki, during the night. It is like they have split their responsibilities. Funny, cute, loving dogs. I would say that I have the best four-legged friends in the world, but I am sure everyone feels the same about his own furry companions. So, I guess I am just another one in the crowd that is blessed with the unconditional love of her best friends.
In the first 3 photos you can see Nasuki, who came to share his dreams and love with me last night, adopting different positions according to his dispositions. At first, he used me as a pillow and, of course, I had to stay still, not to disturb his sleep in any way. In the end, he embraced his favourite sleeping position: on his back, legs up, kicking the air every time he dreams himself running. The pictures are not very good. They were taken in the dark, but you get the idea. In the 4th picture, I am with Lala, who is poking my head with her bent leg. I often lie down on the floor when I am tired. I find it very relaxing. And it would be, but, every time, at least one dog, if not all three, comes to keep me company. And their idea of keeping me company is different than mine. They come, lie somewhere near me, and start kicking me with their paws or noses to make 100% sure that I am aware of their presence and start, at once, fulfilling my duties that are, of course, to stroke them … preferably on their bellies. Why else would I lie down if not for that, they wonder? Such opportunistic best friends I have. It is said that one has what one deserves! I have poking dogs.
Thank you for taking the time to read these lines. They represent a part of me, a part of my thoughts, a part of my life, which is, mostly, split between my art and my dogs.
I would loooove to read about your own experiences (happy or sad) with your furry friends. Much love to you all!
This piece is dedicated to my dear Nemo, who passed away 2 weeks ago. Until we meet again, we dance together in the rain, in my dreams and in my thoughts.
Yesterday my brother paid me a visit. He was on a short motorcycle ride and he stopped by on his way home to say hi. I offered to make him some pancakes but he refused as he was in a hurry. I insisted. He refused me again. I insisted more (I am really pushy sometimes. I must work on that) telling him that they will be ready in no time. He again refused my offer and told me that he promised his wife he’d be home before the night fall. She doesn’t like knowing him riding his motorcycle during the night time. I understand her completely so I wished him a safe trip and thanked him for stopping by. He did not get home on time. Only 15 more km to go and he got a flat tire.
The moment he called me to tell me what happened I had suddenly realized just how much we depend on luck, fate, God… whatever you want to call it, in our daily life. For me, the simple things, the more or less ordinary moments of life have that special power of opening my eyes if they come at the right moment, in the right circumstances, in the right “shape”. And it seems that my brother’s motorcycle had the perfect shape”! Of course I was aware that we don’t have complete control over our lives, but that was the “A-ha” moment that had short-circuited my lazy neurons irreversibly and made me realize at a much deeper level not only the idea of , let’s say, fate, but the importance of embracing it instead of fighting it or complaining about it. We might want things, we might make plans, and, when things don’t go according to our plans, we might fight, we might struggle, we might rebel but, in the end, we have no control over anything, we are in fate’s hands. The sooner we embrace this idea, the better. The only thing we can control is the way we perceive things, the way we respond to life. Well… this perception might also be an illusion but I leave the discussion for another time . Anyway, instead of fighting, or lamenting, or seeing ourselves as victims of life’s circumstances, we might as well try to embrace life as it is, to see the light in everything and try to perceive every misfortune as a possibility for growing. I know I don’t say anything new. We have all met this idea many times on the internet, in movies, in books, but for me this was the moment in which this simple knowledge permeated my every cell and became part of me.
On the subject, Nietzsche once said: “My formula for greatness in a human being is amor fati: that one wants nothing to be different, not forward, not backward, not in all eternity. Not merely bear what is necessary, still less conceal it…but love it”.
I liked the phrase that he used to express his idea. Amor fati comes from Latin and it is rooted in the wisdom of the ancient Stoic school of Greece, that means “love of one’s fate”. It describes an attitude in which one sees everything that happens in one’s life, including suffering and loss, as good or, at the very least, necessary. Well… I don’t know if suffering is necessary, but it, for sure, help us grow if we are inclined to introspection. If we aren’t, then there is the risk that we are suffering in vain and nothing good comes out of it. And it really is a pity to suffer and not learn something of it or do something out of the situation. A kite, at least, or a paper crane, or a house for lady bugs. Anything. For our own good or for somebody else’s.
The same idea we find at Epictetus, who, two millenniums ago, said: “Ask not that events should happen as you will, but let your will be that events should happen as they do, and you shall have peace.“ There you go: the key to peace of mind, according to the slave turned philosopher, is accepting one’s fate: with good and bad, with chaos and order, with wins and loses, with everything.
The idea is not about becoming passive and accepting everything with resignation. Not at all. It is about working with the situations. Together. As a team. And instead of letting yourself crushed by the wave of “misfortunes” that has just come upon you, or instead of trying to resist it, to fight it when it hits you, just acknowledge it, jump on it, ride it, make the best out of it. You’ll end up with a wave-ride and, most probably, you’ll catch a big fish. But really… only riding a wave would be awesome with or without the fish. So… why not try the experience?
For example, next time when you are on your summer holiday on a wonderful beach in Greece and it doesn’t stop raining for days, don’t get mad, don’t blame fate. Embrace the situation, turn it into something to remember. Dress yourself beautifully, for a special occasion, get out and dance in the rain, dance with the rain. Let the water drops kiss you, kiss them back, give the rain a big hug, make it your dance partner, thank the sky for this blessing. Because rain is a blessing. In moderate quantities.
And this is how this “Amor Fati or Dancing in the Rain” piece was born. It all started with a flat tire. I leave the neuroscience to decipher the intricacies of my brain as I have abandoned this task long ago.
Paula Belle Flores 