Power and Sustainability

I had a phone call from my friends in Qld and they have the power back on and the water on again. This means that they can now make phone calls and that they can now find out via TV or radio what is happening around them. We are so dependent as a country on electricity it is ridiculous! Why do the politicians bury their heads in the sand and refuse to have any forsight whatsoever?

Surely we as the people need to think about these things and put the pressure on the powers that be to look at the possibilities that are no doubt out there. Anyway I have spoken about this in a previous blog but it gets my dander up so much I feel like I need to say it again.

The other thing that I find frustrating is that in so many aspects of my own body I have to be dictated to by money spinners. I bought glasses about two to three years ago and now they have been ever so slightly bent and I have to replace them. They cannot guarantee that they can straighten them. The transition film seems to be coming off anyway. I have always used the cleaning liquid that they gave me. These were a six hundred dollar plus pair of glasses. All the issues regarding repairs etc. were not explained to me prior to my purchase! I also get cross about this with regard to sustainability. It takes resources to make glasses. Why do people keep imagining that the worlds resources can never run out, in order to make more money. Haven't they learnt that money cannot be taken with you. There is no point at all in leaving your children loads of money if there are no resources. Mother Nature is just not responsive in any way to bribery.

I find that I am becoming more and more firm in my belief that we should treat everything on this earth with more respect. I think all you have to do is look at the havoc created in Queensland by Mother Nature and see all the people totally at the mercy of her to realise that humans are nothing but self delusional if they think that they can manage her!

I had an interesting discussion with someone today who says that they hate it when people make them feel stupid. I couldn't tell her that how she feels is totally her responsibility as that would have made her feel stupid!

It is an interesting and complicated world but we must make the most of it!

Short but Sweet?

I am going to make this a very short post today. I am impressed when I read some of the Blogs that I follow and see how much they write and the photos that they use. I have got to a stage where I have a camera with me most of the time but it is not always easy to find a topic to discuss on this page. I have spoken about balance and what I see as the slipping of transition traditions. I often speak about the environmental issues that are out there. I often look at those issues and try to find a spiritual way of thinking of them.

 So sometimes I am inclined to wander from one point of view to another. This is why I am always happy to get a comment as this means that I know that I am making  a difference to you and your thinking. It doesn't matter if you agree or disagree it just means that you have thought about the thing I am writing about. I love to talk and think about all sorts of different things. I love to hear all the different points of view. I long ago came to the realisation that there can be as many points of view as there are people in the world.
I just heard Dr. Phil say that 'reality is your perception'. Wow! That is such an interesting thought. To really think about that is to say that you can have the reality that you want. If in your perception you need to have all the 'stuff' that is advertised in order to be fulfilled, then that is your reality. My reality is that all that advertising is merely to fill someone else's purse. At the same time it empties mine and I have to do more to keep it filled. What a thought! Let me be happy with what I want from my point of view and not take on other people's opinions.


I had a lovely talk with a long time friend last night and she touched my heart with the love that flows from her. For me but mainly for her family and extended family. It was so touching to hear how happy/sad she was to have caught up with a family member who lives overseas. Sometimes we love someone so much that it hurts. To keep that vulnerability is to keep your heart open and welcoming to all the experiences of life and to feel them no matter what. Hard to do but infinitely more profound and real. My view!

It is cool today and the humidity has gone. A lovely day to be in the garden. If you are as lucky as me then I hope you are enjoying your day. I am before I head back to work.

Transition and Balance.

I am off up to the city today to have lunch with friends for their daughter's 21st birthday. It is not really a party at all but just a small gathering. For an old fashioned person like me it is sad that we don't have the symbolic transition to adulthood as in times past. She has been living with her partner for at least two years so she is already doing 'grown up' things and has established a home. She is doing what she wants so I guess that is the bottom line but it seems to me that we are losing so many defining moments of life. However in other countries there are different transition ages. In Finland it is 18 and in Nicaragua it is 15. I guess the times they are a'changin' as Mr Dylan sang so mournfully so many years ago! Maybe it should be 18 here too and forget about 21!

I also struggle to come to terms with why designers make small adult fashions for young children, especially girls, and then older children dress like mature women and mature women dress like what would once have been described as girls' fashion. It is a very strange and undisciplined world we live in from my point of view. There is a huge blurring of boundaries in many areas of life. Is this a good thing or not so good? Any thoughts welcomed.
I am old fashioned in some areas of life but not at all in others.

In looking at the flood coverage on the TV I have had been thinking about givers and takers in the world. It seems to me that people, generally speaking, are either givers or  takers. The people who are in the SES and such organisations do so as they truly want to give their help to others in whatever way is needed at any time. Then there are the people who are just busy wanting to know who is going to help them and what are they going to be given and when? In actual fact I think we should all be striving to be a balance of both these types.  I am a giver and I do myself no favours at all by being so bad at taking. I also do not do the right thing for those friends of mine who wish to give, by being so bad at gracious acceptance of their gift. I apologise to all those who I have offended by not acknowledging the true extent of my gratefulness for your friendship and giving.



My greatest gift in life and I am always grateful for her.

I had a discussion about this topic of giving and taking and I have identified that there is taking and receiving. Sometimes it is about as I said, gratefully and graciously accepting an offer of some sort from someone and at other times it is actually about taking or at least not giving. We may have to say NO I cannot help you or I do NOT want to listen to your woes today as I need time for myself or just time free of other people's moans and groans. Often the givers are not good at NO when something is asked of them and perhaps the takers are not good at YES when something is asked of them. The balance is to have as many of each overall.



Sunshine and clouds, towns and country - but are they in balance?

The ideal for all of us is to find the delicate balance of both. I think it is this that all religions, philosophies and spiritual beliefs are actually trying to address. The Bible talks of asking and you will receive and of doing for others. Personally I think as humans delivering these wisdoms we often get it wrong. The book 'The Secret' says that if you want something badly enough you will get it! I always ask why have none of these 'gurus' ever wanted good health for the planet that they live on or for good health for the people of Sudan or wherever.  Why do they all say 'look at me, I wanted lots of money and houses and now I have all that!'
That is another subject that could have no boundaries and be discussed vigorously for some time.

To change the subject I have had another day of preserving. This time with apricots and they look as gorgeous as the cherries did! Once again this pleasure was shared with a lovely lady and we had such fun and talk and laughter through the afternoon. We finished up with a walk through the park and it was a day to be thankful for. Humidity, heavy rain and sunshine, it all was of no consequence to our enjoyment of shared activities.

                                                    
In the picture above Judi is wearing an apron that she made. She made one the same for me for Christmas. I love it! I feel like a different person when I put it on. I become my grandmother or one of those farm women whom I loved and admired so much when I was a child. It is symbolic to me of a gentler and simpler time when different things were valued. When it meant that one could wash the apron and not the clothes as it was easier and cheaper to replace a ruined apron than a dress or shirt. How sustainable and simple. When did society decide that it was a symbol of feminine repression? Why is being a good homemaker a symbol of being suppressed? Is there a middle line, a balance (there is that word again!) between the woman who is proud and happy to run a thrifty and sustainable home and the woman who is working outside of the home. Can't 'having it all' mean that instead of one person having it all, that all can have what they want? Both men and women could spend more time at home keeping their own homes and possessions running well and then people wouldn't all need so much money to pay for everyone else caring for their things. It seems like a dog chasing it's tail somehow. A mere fifty years ago men repaired their own shoes, grew a large proportion of their own produce, looked after the basic repairs of house and machinery and also earned money. My father did this and he was a bank manager!

Once again it seems to me that people thought that they were not getting their fair share of the money so they have charged after that but not stopped to think that there is a balance point in everything - is there a natural law about that? - and many are now finding that they don't like life at the other end of the scale any better!

I think we have to start with ourselves though and then we can move on to the bigger picture very naturally. As we all start to find our own balance then we will move in to the balanced place in the world that we fit in. That will move others to another place, like it or not. Just as soon as we start moving things around in one place we are affecting things in another place. This can so often be in ways that we do not immediately notice but that doesn't mean it isn't happening. If we move the sofa closer to the window then we change the pattern of wear on the floor, we change the flow of light into the room which may mean we change the length of life of the plant in the room. It may mean something that we don't even really see like there may be dirt in the carpet that can't be vacuumed up and now we start to break it up by walking on it regualrly and that means that someone starts to get a bit of asthma. Would we stop to think it might be caused by moving the couch over a metre? We all live in a web of life even if we don't see it or understand it! I am pretty sure that is a natural law!

P.S. Have been to the 21st! It was very nice and the special girl looked lovely!