A Promise of Hope.. A Lasting Peace

After watching a short interview with President Obama in Oslo (the only one made on Norwegian soil, btw), I felt the need to share some impressions about it, so my blog came to mind. After all, it's been a while, and the blog has always been a good friend... :) thought I'd restore its rightful place, especially since there is a lot to be noted.

About the interview, now: the President spoke in high terms about his wife, Michelle, saying that she was his guiding light through the intricate political games, the most honest person he knows. He is a straight-forward man: he himself noted (critics beware!) that maybe he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize a bit early in his career. He acknowledged the fact that there is a lot to be done before one can savour such an honour - in retrospect - while acknowledging to oneself that all the work leading up to that was worth the while. Truly admirable was the plain, simple and well behaved manner in which he spoke.

After watching the short interview, I too will reach within myself for the world that could be. Congratulations, Mr President!

PS: You can find the interview here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3xMc-gIHgE

If... then...

Iată că a fost nevoie de o Raluca pentru scrie din nou pe blog :-) poate nu ar fi trebuit să îl uit de atâta vreme. Promit că mai scriu!

Dacă eram o lună, aş fi fost - septembrie
Dacă eram o zi a săptămânii, aş fi fost- sâmbătă
Dacă eram o parte a zilei, aş fi fost – dimineaţa devreme, la răsărit
Dacă eram un animal marin, aş fi fost – căluț de mare
Dacă eram o direcţie, aş fi fost - înainte
Dacă eram o virtute, aş fi fost – credința
Dacă eram o personalitate istorică, aş fi fost – Ecaterina a II-a a Rusiei
Dacă eram o planetă, aş fi fost - Uranus
Dacă eram un lichid, aş fi fost – apă
Dacă eram o piatră, aş fi fost – acvamarin sau opal
Dacă eram o pasăre, aş fi fost - colibri
Dacă eram o plantă, aş fi fost – nufăr
Dacă eram un tip de vreme, aş fi fost – furtună cu tunete și fulgere
Dacă eram un instrument muzical, aş fi fost - pian
Dacă eram o emoţie, aş fi fost - gratitudine
Dacă eram un sunet, aş fi fost – grav
Dacă eram un element, aş fi fost - Helium
Dacă eram un cântec, aş fi fost - One
Dacă eram un film, aş fi fost – The English Patient
Dacă eram un serial, aş fi fost - Medium
Dacă eram o carte, aş fi fost – Pendulul lui Foucault
Dacă eram un personaj de ficţiune, aş fi fost - Winnetou
Dacă eram un fel de mâncare, aş fi fost – Păstrăv în mălai
Dacă eram un gust, aş fi fost – acrișor
Dacă eram o aromă, aş fi fost - vanilie
Dacă eram o culoare, aş fi fost - verde
Dacă eram un material, aş fi fost - in
Dacă eram un cuvânt, aş fi fost - tu
Dacă eram o parte a corpului, aş fi fost- cap
Dacă eram o expresie a feţei, aş fi fost - zâmbet
Dacă eram o materie de şcoală, aş fi fost – analiză matematică
Dacă eram un personaj din desene animate, aş fi fost - Catwoman
Dacă eram o formă, aş fi fost - sferă
Dacă eram un număr, aş fi fost - 2
Dacă eram o maşină, aş fi fost - Mini Cooper
Dacă eram o haină, aş fi fost – o rochie albă de vară

Maddame și Andrei, voi ce ziceți? :)

No more suffering to that truth... :)

"I have heard many stories about parents who have hurt their children so much, planting many seeds of suffering in them. But I believe that the parents did not mean to plant those seeds. They did not intend to make their children suffer. Maybe they received the same kind of seeds from their parents. There is a continuation in the transmission of seeds, and their father and mother might have gotten those seeds from their grandfather and grandmother. Most of us are victims of a kind of living that is not mindful, and the practice of mindful living, of meditation, can stop these kinds of suffering and end the transmission of such sorrow to our children and grandchildren. We can break the cycle by not allowing these kinds of seeds of suffering to be transmitted to our children, our friends, or anyone else."
(Thich Nhat Hanh, Zen Buddhist author, from 'Peace is Every Step' )

Been doing some writing

By the way, some time ago I wrote an article on Innovation in Romania, which was made public only recently.

Thanks Alex for reminding me :)

I had missed this poem - about love

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Talk to strangers

You’ve probably also been told not to open up or talk to strangers, because they are evil, right? Still, it happens that you sometimes check your own assumptions against those held by strangers. You have an own situation that gives you headaches, you can’t understand it – and at some point, you feel the need of sharing it with someone. Who knows, maybe sharing will help bring out mysterious resolutions we have not thought of, at times our eyes are crying out to hear what we want to filter or maybe all we are looking for is to hear ourselves speak and relieve the pain. It happens that strangers resonate to thoughts in your head, it just happens that they speak out the words you do not allow yourself to.

So do talk to strangers, they also have stories to tell.

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's too late, tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other...
(U2, One)

Everything I know is wrong

One year ago I started a mock experiment – the experiment of being stupid. What I did during the experiment was trying to prove that using less of your brain capacity to think about stuff that seemed unimportant could translate into a happier life. Practice proved me wrong. It is not the thinking that kills us, not even the “unimportant” stuff we are trying to process. Using less than you actual mind capacity does not function either.

While experimenting for a way into a happier life, one that required less thinking and more perceiving, there were some happenings around me that were of definite help. Some will still take time to refine, some could immediately be translated into actions. All in all, the one thing that made me richer this year was that I learned to laugh heartily – at both life and myself. This was the one good side effect of being stupid – you cease taking yourself ever so seriously and start weighing the pleasures of life through other lenses. You start considering your life from the perspective of its impact in other’s people lives. Not necessarily the tags they attach for you inside their heads, but what you mean to them, how you can be of help to them. You start seeing the beauty of nature around, start being interested in the recipe of the cake you are eating at the business meeting, really enjoy the taste of the morning coffee and stop taking it for granted. You start developing others instead of just yourself and start laughing when you see others handling situations with the self-importance you once attributed to yourself. You start seeing the context rather than the individual pieces of the puzzle and you stop obsessing about what you cannot change.

In spite of all these benefits, my basis for considering the experiment a failure is that all this does not necessarily relate to thinking. Quitting thinking was not what led me to those insights, as a negative action does not translate into a positive one. It was probably love that did the trick. Unconditional, constant, foolish and vulnerable love, one that came in unnanounced, unawaited for, while the barriers of too much thinking and analysing were lowered.

The topic is complex and still needs expanding, and over the next posts I will try to write more about it. It’s just such a relief to know that I can finally continue the thinking where I left off, armed with a more powerful weapon than ever before.

And the hardest part
Was letting go not taking part
You really broke my heart
And I tried to sing
But I couldn't think of anything
And that was the hardest part

I could feel it go down
You left the sweetest taste in my mouth
You're a silver lining the clouds
(Coldplay, The Hardest Part)