On Anita Moorjani’s book “Dying to be me”

Written by oceana on January 7th, 2013

This book is so much more than just a memoir of another cancer survivor or about another NDE life changing event. It may be a very good reminder for any patient / health care worker / therapist on essence of a thorough healing.

 

However, one may also might find this book a useful read whether researching influences of cultural/social environments on life of an individual or looking into various aspects of importance of healthy (open) mind which leads to healthy emotional and physical life.

 

For some (yes, “some”: bearing in mind we are all divinely different in sameness) Anita Moorjani’s book “Dying to be me” may be a reminder of various ways of regaining health or reaching (mind the gap) that bespoken Inner Peace. How about rediscovering deepest, joy-without-a-cause? Letting go of habitual fears? Becoming aware of the freedom to express one’s authentic self?

 

For many it will reveal nothing new (“miraculous healings” that leave certain scientists scratching their heads, happen often, don’t they?), nothing but a… maybe differently inspiring way of understanding illness, dis-ease? For some it may make more sense, for some less.

 

One may even experience that between the lines of Anita’s story there is a sort of an “explanation” of effects of releasing techniques such as EFT and Lester Levenson’s Sedona method. Some may find a deeper meaning and direction of those four questions behind Byron Katie’s Work that is helping many transform their beliefs and thus their lives.

After reading this book one may even make more sense of the dr Hew Len’s “zero point” and Ho’oponopono “cleaning”.

 

Brene Brown may find this book interesting for her further research on shame and authenticity and the consequences of living life in fear.

 

However, none of the above (therapeutic methods and techniques) are mentioned in Anita’s book – she experienced the release of fear and awareness of love, awareness of living in the present moment in her own way, sharing yet another example how sometimes what seems like the biggest tragedy turns out into the most influential turning point in opening up to a fulfilling life.

 

 

Reading this book, some may feel deeper understandings of various ancient scripts (regardless of the religious connection). Some may find a connection with Eckhart Tolle’s reminders on letting go of fearful imaginations of one’s ego.

 

Some, if this book is the first time they encounter such views, may wish to explore more on effects of beliefs (via works of Paul Solomon and Bruce Lipton to David R. Hamilton and many, many more) and some may not see any of these at all and will find something else that will inspire them as this is not a book about laid out “answers” or recipes, it is “just” a story of someone’s experience in shaking off inherited masks and roles and revisiting one’s own authentic essence – origins of that indescribable, expansive, life bearing, omnipresent Love that is quintessence for joie de vivre.

 

Or… Maybe none of the above will be triggered and it may be just an interesting read for one wintery evening.

 

The choice is, as always, wide open.

 

 

And it feels appropriate to add this in this topic: see Lissa Rankins’ talk “Is there scientific proof we can heal ourselves?”

 

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Womex in Thessaloniki

Written by oceana on October 25th, 2012

 

If one ever doubts the necessity of nourishing cultural diversity, if one ever thinks an uniformed world would be a good idea, one may only need a visit to Womex to be reassured.

 

Where else today can in one place one experience music (culture in general) enthusiasts from all around the World in various roles – from volunteers to professionals, from artists to those who do anything that those artists have opportunity to share their message.

 

Concerts, film screenings, discussions, soul-family reunions….

From Albanian polyphonic choir whose performance brought a purifying sound shower that particular night to vivacious Polish mazurka.

 

 

 p.s. Hover over each photograph to see the name of the performer(s).

 

This year Womex was held in a unique city of Thessaloniki in Greece. How much the site matters was palpable at every step. The warmth of climate spreads the hearts wide open as well – those of the locals and us, the visitors. I’ve been going to Womex since 1999 and this was one, if not the one, of my favourite editions.

Not only for the choice of artists that were presented but also for everything else that made our stay more pleasant than usual. Starting from the helpful locals who answer every question with a dedication and go that extra bit to help you with whatever you need, the most polite and cordial security professionals, the delicious food in restaurants where we felt like eating at our aunt’s and not some “this is business” establishments. The list is much longer yet have to mention one more “group” that usually has challenging reputation anywhere – the taxi drivers. According to our own experience they deserve a special praise in Thessaloniki.

All in all, being in one city for the first time and feeling so “home” contributed to the overall experience of Womex 2012.

“Womex is a lung. It is a place that we gather in to breathe, to replenish ourselves to go back refreshed. It is about music, but it is about a lot more than that. It is a shared community of ideas, values and ideals…”. This statement from Lemez Lovas at the closing ceremony on Sunday, the last day of Womex, describes what Womex means to so many of us.

 

Here are also a few snapshots of the fair:

Photo Gallery

p.s. The song is by Kristi Stassinopoulou and Stathis Kalyviotis

 

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On Revelations (Naked Eye Art Gallery, Brighton & Hove)

Written by oceana on September 30th, 2012

Sometimes, someone…

Sometimes someone, I or you… we get into a silent circle, alone or in a crowd… to ponder, recuperate, or to just sit still and breathe.

However, staying long in such a position may bring forgetfulness on our true nature – the ability to rise above any challenges…

 

 

…we may forget we have the wings we do not see yet are strengthen by our faith – not any particular religion – just faith in purity of a human heart, belief that the deepest natural state is being at peace and in love.

 

The faith is nurtured in our hearts that is our eyes and ears, our source of communication, all our senses connected in a wide and creative space.

 

It is not about shutting the mind down and running headless around, on contrary, it is about directing the almighty machine to focus on what really matters and then to manifest that what we call dreams yet are just reality in a process of conception or even gestation.

 

Sometimes, someone…

 

I or you… we can just allow ourselves to trust our own goodness, enoughness in isness and…move, in stillness.

p.s. Hover over photo to see the title of the photographed piece and the name of the artist.

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Mediterranean revisited

Written by oceana on September 2nd, 2012

It was warm, sunny and…have I mentioned – warm?

Hundreds of photographs are awaiting – reminders on many joyous events; from the Ethnoambient Salona festival, via several memorable concerts and soul-family reunions to one wedding, various inspirational encounters and lights that travelled on many roads.

 

One of joys was an assignment that was especially fragrant; handy scented items for home: lavender filled little cotton bags and clothes hangers, bath sea salt with rosemary and many other Mediterranean delights, all made by one lovely lady who is based in the city of Split but spends every available moment on the island of Hvar where she gathers majority of the aromatic plants she works with.

 

It was a joy to chat with her and get to know her family who also seems to be deeply involved in research and cooperation with the the world of herbs and plants and grow them or pick them in the wilderness to create herbal infusions or yet another product that will bring some closer to (their own) nature.

 

Here are a few scenes as my reminder on that photo session.

 

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On Weather…it seems…

Written by oceana on July 1st, 2012

 

 

It is challenging to trust there is a balance when only considering one part of the whole.  If I focus on my aching feet I may experience my entire body is in disfunction. However, a long walk resulted in a stronger back,  tonified skin, calmer mind and reenergized body as a whole (yes, again, except for the feet that will need some time to feel the beneficial effects of the momentary overstimulation).

 

It is July 1st. The central heating is on in my current home as it has been for the entire month of June. Transportation of summer clothes proved to be a waste of space and weight on the airplane. My sunglasses are useful though as they save my eyes from various particles the inexorable wind and rain keep bringing in their vicinity.

 

On the other part of this mysterious planet of ours, some of my family and friends are praying for a gust of wind and a drop of refreshing water from the sky. As much energy I use for warming up, they spend on cooling down. Parts of extreme…

 

However…

 

In the wholeness of this enchanting earthly globe, those two extreme circumstances seem just like two aching feet in the entirety of one body, unaware of the uncomprehending vastness of Life, awesome in its diversity, intriguing in its mystery.

Yet another storm is over. I can go out now and work on training my eyes to adjust to different environment, hoping the new experiences will soften my heart to embrace what I know as unusual. More walking may result in losing the archetypal fear of the ego and it may, above all, strengthen my feet…

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For T.

Written by oceana on January 11th, 2012

Dear T.

whenever I need a reminder on any essential facts of life, I find it in the Nature. I take a walk and just observe, inhale, let go of any presuppositions and assumptions and just allow myself to… be. It often feels like taking off the layers of inherited or adopted cloaks, capes and robes or like relieving a lens from various filters that are supposed to protect its delicate and expensive inner structure or enhance/improve/change what is, all in the name of “adapting to circumstances”.

All very useful yet not at that particular time when “being in the Nature” means being in tune with the lightest part of me, the one that judges not and asks for no approval of its being, the one that needs no protection and needs not to protect, control or supervise yet just…is. Such Nature includes a walk by the sea, around trees as well as synchronistic events involving people – experiencing human nature and the nature of a tree as a naked creation of joyous, light, smiling vibrations.

And all is well and all is a well of one extraordinary, nourishing reality.

 

It works for me, for you, something else might be a source of a relief, reassurance, energy, pure joy… Something you can pull out when those “It’s too much” feelings shake the imaginary reality. I can’t say I created those moments, they sort of happen once I…yes, now I’ll put in the famous “let go” expression… Just recently I felt overwhelmed with many changes (some sudden, some expected) in my life and one particular visit to the sea, the vastness of space in which mighty waves were rolling and splashing in an ever-changing mode, was a perfect reminder how change is inevitable, how the sea is constantly changing, how every wave is different as so is every moment on this planet and how natural change is as a process of life whether we comprehend the circumstances or not.

Just by observing the waves crashing on the shore felt like each of them carried a relieving gust of wind that threw away hindering thought patterns and redundant beliefs, allowing space for new adventures and skills, new experiences and opportunities to learn more about the world and about myself, the world in me and me in the world. Isn’t it great that we always have a choice of perspective – as it is said: we can moan that rose has thorns or celebrate that thorns have roses.

Hope this letter answers your question, dear T. and that in your time and space you will allow yourself to rediscover your own reminders and experience your very own naked truth that will change the perspective of powerlessness and scarcity into one of strength and… Enoughness? 😉

Hugs

A.

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November in the Mediterranean

Written by oceana on November 15th, 2011

 

The meaning of November is different in the Mediterranean, especially this year. It’s warm, sunny and beautiful, particularly when we get to spend more time in the nature like last week.

Several joyous days in Marin and Zeljka’s garden; picking olives from the gorgeous trees that have a marvelous view to the sea on one side, hills on the other and a carpet of wild beauty under their fertile branches…

 

And each of those days, the Sun would give us a sign when it’s time to leave the garden rest for the day…

 

Golden retriever Koko in the golden garden at the golden hour of the golden day…

While writing this we are packing our bags for another trip to the North where November has different meaning and Nature is already resting, withdrawn in the state of dreams…

 

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Ordinary people, extraordinary moments

Written by oceana on October 3rd, 2011

„…Society increasingly depends on ordinary people taking responsibility for doing extraordinary things.“ This simple statement in today’s post from A. Gawande, a surgeon and The New Yorker’s columnist, triggered a thought about many people I know, those who even may not be aware how extraordinary and inspirational their deeds are.

 

Many of them are daily present on social networks and we connect via Facebook and Twitter, many don’t even use such things and e-mail is the furthest they’ll go as far as digital communication is concerned and some don’t even own a computer or a telephone. Regardless, they are present in my mind, even if we don’t exchange a word this way or another for months, they pop up at the right time when in need for an energy boost.

 

Whenever I get that awesome feeling of gratefulness for the richness of my life there are always several and many of them included in that feeling. Even when I contemplate some ideas or past actions that to someone would seem I had done on my own, there is a flow of memories of indirectly inspirational and even directly supportive thoughts or deeds of some of my friends, acquaintances, teachers, family members, researchers of various fields of interest or perfect strangers on the streets of this or that village, town or city. Some of them will probably never know how strongly they’ve triggered something nourishing in me, how one word or a glance produced an entire story – a non-fiction trigger for a fiction wrapped outlet.

 

I’ve learned more about myself through them, more about what I can or don’t want to, about what feels more or less right to my authentic self, so many valuable insights, so many playful moments, so many lives…

Even when I choose solitude for a longer period of time in order to get deeper into something I’m researching, I do not shut down the channels for synchronicity, I do not put a lead curtain on the path of telepathy – for so many times I’ve witnessed how precious those unexpected guide-lines can be.

 

There is a saying that the books in our home library are our biography. Yes, various reads influence our thoughts and thus our realities yet even more influential are people with whom we interact,  people we admire and (sub)consciously use as a model on various paths we walk through different periods in life. Those people may seem “ordinary” as individuals yet may have done extraordinary, inspiring, awesome things that may have changed our way of thinking, our way of forming the Reality or simply triggered a smile, a nourishing substance in that particular, extraordinary moment.

 

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Reminder for T.

Written by oceana on September 23rd, 2011

Dear T.,

Once you get a muscle fever from “only” doing exercises  in your mind the day before, you get your proof on the power of thoughts or…how “your thoughts shape your reality”… Once you know a person who had surgeries on her knees and they are still painful as well as her joints and many other parts of her body while she always succeeds to tell you a repetitive story of her struggling childhood when she had to carry heavy buckets of water from a remote well, you get your proof how “what you carry inside manifests outside” … Once you hear and witness numerous stories on healing of any dis-ease “only” due to a change in the belief system and vice versa, you get your proof how important it is to question your thoughts and decide what you believe – whether it appears in your mind or you adopt it from someone else… Once you start paying attention to the words you use in everyday communication and notice how a person who keeps mentioning “being stuck in life” develops some kind of foot disease and can’t walk without pain you know how to find a way to release your own “pains in the neck”… Once you become more aware of the quality of thoughts to which you devote space and time or the pictures you create in your mind, you become more aware of how’s and why’s of your reality and you know how to change it for the better, in your own, unique, authentic way, using your own discernment on everything, this letter included  – take it on if it resonates with your deepest self regardless of the fact we’ve talked about such things so many times before and this was just a reminder more than an answer to your question this morning. As usually: all in your own time, in your own truth :).

Hugs and love,

A.

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Friendship

Written by oceana on September 11th, 2011

I have an amazing friend who is so patient with me, tolerates my sudden pauses in the middle of a sentence or when I stop abruptly during our walks… She understands why I sometimes stand like a statue unable to take my eyes of some scene in the nature… and she waits…

Yesterday we took a walk by the sea, a few people still on the beach, catching the warm rays just before the Sun was about to embrace the hill and the scenery in front of us was amazing…The stones emerging from the sea looked like made of gold, purified by a silvery-blue water… Wonderful contrast of tints, shades and tones…Once I got my breath back I started to look for a place to stabilize my camera… Nothing flat was around on the position I wanted to place my camera and the shade was approaching the golden stones…

“Ah, look at that light and the waves…and I can’t find a flat ground to take a longer exposure…”

A few moments later, a perfect, flat piece of stone appears by my side.

“Would this help?”, she asks handing me the stone.

It did help… She did.

The scene gracefully mirrored into my camera… I got my reminder on yet another blissful moment in the nature.

This photograph will always remind me of her patience, as well, of her acceptance of the fact that when it is two of us it’s always one more, my camera, and thanks to her tolerance it never feels like there is a third wheel and I never feel I’m failing her; she waits for either mine or her paused sentences to be completed a bit later, understanding how much those wanderings of light in the nature are magical to me…

Friendships are precious, soul family that heart chooses… One of the definitions of unconditional love…

Friends intuitively feel us even when thousands of kilometres away and send text messages asking how we are in the times no one knows we’ve shut down during painful moments of growth… Friends are our family with whom we learn, share, support each other and exchange shoulders to lean on and with whom we celebrate and rejoice.

Friends expand our hearts and help us open our minds a bit more every time. They support us in learning more about our authentic selves.

We broaden paths and expand the roads for each other… We hand each other a torch when in need or… find a way to help regain the balance – and sometimes it is not about metaphors and life defining choices, sometimes it is just about a piece of the right stone at the right time…

 

 

 

 

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