At the end of the day, when all is done,
When we realize there is no rewind button to press,
What’s done is done,
All there is to do is learn from the past,
All there is to make is a better tomorrow,
And no matter what, there are jewels to be found,
In the sands of yesterday…
‘The morning process’, how the day starts, what sets the tone for the rest of the day, how do we arm ourselves to handle what is planning to meet us on that day? For me, this time just upon waking is the most important of all.
Do you ever feel that you travelled to unknown places in the night and that you have to meet yourself again in the morning? I scan through my faculties in the early morning to do a check-in and see what is there that wasn’t the day before and what is no longer there that was, what feelings need to be dealt with and relegated and what strengths do I need to call onto myself that day to have balance and well being.
That extra hour is priceless for me and so necessary for checks and balances. We are constantly changing every moment on a cellular level and so is everything around us. It’s mind boggling. So the morning becomes a ceremony to look forward to, and over time I have grown to feel a sense of awe and inspiration upon waking, wondering what the day will bring from challenges to giftings.
The images above were taken in Shanghai on the Bund. It was always inspiring to see the locals at sunrise practicing Tai Chi, meditations, kite flying, fan and sword dances and to witness the atmosphere of calm and concentration before the day sped into chaos as it does in a metropolis of 30 million.
Wishing you a balanced day and a great start into this week.
There is a charm that can only be captured on a rainy day and a mood particular to that atmosphere of chilly raindrops, umbrellas and leaves blowing in the wind that I always long to photograph. It’s visual poetry that turns gloom into romance and magnifies the bit of light the day has against the dark background. I wouldn’t hide my camera from the rain, no, I would always choose to join it.
And don’t get me started on reflections…
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Happy International Women’s day to all the special ladies all over the world. You are amazing creators, care givers and balancers of this planet.
Day 66 of 365~
One of the greatest powers of being human is the ability to move on. No matter how difficult or hopeless a situation is for a person, there is always the chance that they will be looking back at it with a lighter heart. Maybe this is what gives us all the hope to keep moving and to seek the lighter side of life, because we know that there is a certainty of the good overcoming the bad and of the light overcoming the dark. It is the constant sacred dance between our nights and our days that demonstrates to us this simple law.
photo taken: a girl on the streets of Phnom Penh~ Cambodia
Beirut, one of the oldest cities known to man, destroyed by earthquakes at least 7 times, has been known by names such as Colonia, Julia, Augusta, Felix and Berythus, and was home to the world’s first law school. The teachers of Beirut School of Law helped draft the famous Justinian Code. Beirut was then named ‘Mother of Legislation’.
Despite the various total destructions and the later occupations of Beirut by Arabs, Crusaders, Romans, Ottomans, French mandate, and most recently Israeli and Syrian presences, the beautiful and buzzing cosmopolitan city was and still is referred to as ‘Paris of the middle east’. I still remember being in total awe of how many different languages are spoken on the city streets and the impressively rich culture and panorama of arts adorning its galleries and museums.
To be in Beirut is to experience all that the past as well as the future has to offer and it is about finding yourself living the moment to the extreme with people who choose to love life as a first priority. Yes the Beirut feeling is contagious and it can leave you longing to go back with every single part of your being.
On a planet of duality, of dark and light, of day and night, of sunlight and moon light, there is an eternally repeating dance between two lovers. They long for each other desperately knowing that they will never be together longer than a single moment twice a day. It is a tragic epic of love, endless, where passion is never satisfied but only barely felt as a shiver, at dawn and at dusk. At dawn it rains tears of silver and at dusk it weeps a gold dust carried by the sandman day after day with a promise of meeting again the next day.
It is getting to the time of year when the days are shorter and the darkness starts to slowly creep closer and closer to merge with the light. It is the time when we like to bundle up with a blanket, a warm sweater and a cup of tea, to light a candle and be cozy inside our homes. And the darker it gets the more attractive lights become to us and the more comforting we find them to be. I love fairy lights and in China they are just everywhere and in all the color you can imagine. I am ready for Christmas early this year, it is in the air…
To wake up excited about a new day, to find something wonderful about any type of weather, to look at mud as a potential mud pie, to view a puddle as a chance at some great splash excitement, to laugh at funny things without any inhibition including a funny face or a very fat bum, to run around exploring until your fall down in an exhausted heap, to lay in bed after a long day feeling nothing but peace and an anticipation of a great and full tomorrow…
This is the love of life, mostly exclusively available in children sizes 1 to 12. Highly contagious to open minded adults.
This was one of the days that will have a highlight in my memories, for sure it will, and not only because I am for the first time posting iphone photos in my 365 project, but because it was a day that went off course. I was flying back from Geneva to Shanghai via Doha (Qatar), and the first leg of the flight was all well and smooth. Most of us fly so much these days that we only lend half an ear to the safety instruction videos or the bored crew members demonstrations at take-off. 3 hours into the second leg of the journey (Doha to Shanghai), the monitor screen caught my sleepy eye, “hmmm we are not supposed to be making circles are we”? And what is that jet of liquid flying out the wings? Should we be concerned? Why isn’t anyone saying anything?
And many details, questions, concerns, circling plane, jet fuel thrown out of the wings, 3 extra hours packed with mystery, we head back to where we came from. Of course, no one cared to explain what was going on, and the 250 or so passengers were dropped back at the airport utterly clueless and exhausted waiting for news on another flight.
There was of course a valid reason for the plane to turn around (a medical emergency on the flight), but I realized on this day the importance of being prepared, the value of proper people handling, the need for grace under pressure, all of which were close to non existent. It made me feel a great concern for the times we live in, and for who and what and who we put our lives at the mercy of. Do we trust too much because we have no choice? Are the people put in these critical positions worthy of our trust?
Yes, strange day and important day to rethink so many things, and a day to be forced out of my routine way of going on. A great book was finished too but that’s only a side story.