Tag: meditation

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china contemplations morning coffee talk Photography shanghai street photography

Morning Coffee Talk~ 13/365

‘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.

Categories
animation contemplations inspiration Photography

You Stand in Your Own Patch of Diamonds~

an experiment in animation

Sometimes when all seems to be overwhelming, the speed of life, the long ‘to do’ lists, the strong feeling of not being able to catch up or not having enough time to do what we want to do, it is good to take a moment. By taking a moment, I mean really take it, stop!

I tried that this morning, where I just stopped and made a deal with my brain that we will get to think in a few minutes, but for now let’s just stop.

An amazing thing happened… I could feel so much more, hear more, see more, and a sense of gratitude overcame me. We already have too much by the simple fact of being able to realise it. Most of the time, we are our own slave drivers and if we could just let go for a moment and be kind to ourselves, we finally see that no matter how we paint the picture to ourselves about our lives, we do stand in our own patch of diamonds.

Categories
contemplations myanmar Photography

Reading the runes of today~

In a world where impressions and information bombard us from all directions as soon as we open our eyes in the morning, how do we make sense of what is happening in the world?

In a single day you hear of a president resigning, a new scandal unfolding with another president, a child shooting other children, Olympic Games, your own private messages and communications, other local news, advertisements in your mailbox, and so much more to process in one single day.

Makes me wish for a life when news came from watching a starry night sky (as a friend mentioned she did yesterday to start her day), a walk on the beach, a meditation, a good, long and deep conversation with a good friend…

How great it would be to see the world from a higher place, at least once a day.

Day 46 of 365~

Image taken from a balloon at sunrise in the magical kingdom of Myanmar.

Categories
art contemplations Iphone Photography Uncategorized

Xitang~ An Old Water Town

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A  90 minute drive from the bustling Shanghai Metropolis, lies one of several old water towns where life carries on with a completely different rhythm. Water has this way of slowing things life down to a gentle meander, and it magically transforms reality into gentler ripples of dream like visions. Blue and soft in nature, it allows for a place in oneself of deep contemplation. The old walls seem as thought they are speaking to the visitors, telling tales of times that have been and predicting the tales that will inevitable come to be.

All images taken with iphone 7, edited with snapseed.

Categories
lebanon life Photography story

Day 26~ February 26th~ Lebanon

young fishermen

More than half of my life In Lebanon was spent by the beach. We used to not even wait till school was over before moving to our summer little home by the seaside. With life on the shores of the Mediterranean came certain traditions, like swimming one hour-long to reach a cargo ship and jump from its deck, take a knife and a lemon on a ‘haske’ (a flat wooden row-boat), and dive to some nearby rocks to loosen sea urchins from the rocks, open them, clean them with seawater and then finally garnish them with some lemon juice before scooping out the orange caviar and humming our enjoyment. I can say for certain that life by the beach was always the highlight of the whole year for us children. This past summer I wanted to relive another special excitement from my childhood, which was waking up at dawn and joining the fishermen for 5 or 6 hours to witness the process of their daily catch. There is no meditation as soothing as those early morning hours spent rocked by slight movement of the boat, warmed by the early rays of morning sun and serenaded by fishermen’s songs as they dive in and out of the water in search for their sea dwellers.

the cage