Sunday Quote of the week (13/03/2011)

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“The worst realities of our age are manufactured realities. It is therefore our task, as creative participants in the universe, to re-dream our world. The fact of possessing imagination means that everything can be re dreamed. Each reality can have it. The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”


-Ben Okri

Sunday Quote of the week (13/02/2011)

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And a youth said, "Speak to us of Friendship."
      Your friend is your needs answered.
      He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving.
      And he is your board and your fireside.
      For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.
      When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay."
      And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;
      For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed.
      When you part from your friend, you grieve not;
      For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.
      And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit.
      For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.
      And let your best be for your friend.
      If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also.
      For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill?
      Seek him always with hours to live.
      For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness.
      And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures.
      For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. 


--Khalil Gibran

©1923 Khalil Gibran 

Gratitude Post: LOVESTORY SPECIAL -Love SUCKS...or does it? (11/02/11)

For someone who is insatiably romantic at heart, I get awful cynical  this time of year. Eleven months of year I'm all pink hearts and flowers, but the first 2 weeks of February arrive and my heart is the Arctic: frozen, cold and deadwood. Why? Well the pink bunny commercialism makes my skin crawl, and I've never seen the inside of a Valentine's card, so I just switch off, every February.
But this year, 4th of Febuary comes along, and clearing out my papers, I stumbled upon a poem, a BEAUTIFUL poem about the true meaning of friendship, that a friend had copied out for me 5 years ago. I'd forgotten about that! I found myself smiling as I read said poem, and weirder still I found my hand reaching for the telephone, as if automatically, and dialling the number of ANOTHER friend. "What the hell am I doing? I thought as I proceeded to recite the poem onto her answer phone machine. "It's February.This is wrong." At the last syllable, I put the phone down in disbelief. The ice had started to melt.

Then today,  I had builders round, dust flying everywhere, noise the lot. I couldn't write, so I decided to go the park across the road which is something I never do. But it was cold, so first I went to the unromantic local greasey spoon and ordered a takeaway tea. All was well. But as the tea lady handed me my tea on its card board tray - I was OFFENDED! "There you go!" She dazzled. "And there's some chocolate hearts there for Valentine's Day we're giving them to all our customers.-Happy Valentine!" I couldn't believe it - this was a greasey spoon! I'd asked for a cup of tea, not a marriage proposal! I wanted to politely tell her where she could shove her commercial tokens of meaningless affection, but as I looked down at the chocolate hearts -and looked up at her face beaming back at me - that warm feeling came over me again -and I just couldn't!

Finally I'm in the park - no loved up commercial crap could bother me here. Let the sulking begin. But before I could sulk, I noticed how the birdsong was unusually clear and annoyingly beautiful as it filled my eardrums. In panic I turned around to see the tallest man, with a scary face, a skin head, and a big dog walking towards me, commenting on 'what a beautiful day it was' and 'didn't the birdsong sound extraordinary?' I wanted to cry out: "Shouldn't you be mugging me or something? What's wrong with you?" What's wrong with the world?"

But before I could reply the HUGE labrador dog ran over and started licking my hands and put his paw on  my lap! And at that moment - the cynic died. The ice thawed. Puppy love.

So this year, despite a life time of reservations - I have to say - I AM  even grateful  for Valentines celebrations - I suppose. ;-)

written and posted by Nadia O'Connell

Gratitude Post: The unconditional gift

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The times we live in are fraught with conflict, immense upheavals, and international struggle. We see it on the news, hear it on the radio, and watch it on the Telly. The more we see it, the more we want to help. And yet the more we see it - we feel powerless. I've felt like that many a time. Then a friend wrote on her site last night reminding us of the need to pray for people in Egypt who are undergoing so much at the moment. And I am really grateful for that because she got me thinking how lucky we are to be able to do that.  Much like breathing, we take it for granted. But in the same way that breath keep our bodies alive, prayer also empowers our souls. It empowers us to send good intentions to others - it empowers us to love. Just think about it - if you can't walk, you can pray; if you are blind, you can pray; if you are unable to verbalise, you can speak with your inner voice.


You know, I have friends who are locked in prison in places like Iran because of their beliefs. There is so much that they and their families are not allowed to do: they are not allowed access to education, they cannot have jobs, have their own businesses, often times they cant even meet up with each other in their homes, because the government there won't allow them. But there is one freedom that cannot be taken away from them. The freedom to pray. Even if their hands are bound in chains. Because really, prayer is a gift of the soul. It doesn't require feet or hands to make it powerful. It just needs love and the faith to do it. 


Don't you think that's amazing? How in an age where you don't get something for nothing -we all have this free gift? The power to connect our own hearts to all others, so that suddenly neither we nor them are alone.  So in these times, when the world seems to be tearing itself apart, and when disaster after disaster seems to strike, know that you are a very powerful being and that there is always something you CAN do.


written and posted by Nadia O'Connell

Quote of the week Sunday 16/01/2011

Everybody can be great. Because anybody can serve.
You don’t have to have a college degree to serve.
You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermo-dynamics to serve.
You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Martin Luther King