OLS Reflections Ottantaquattro

 

• We teach by learning as we learn by teaching.

We cannot expect to serve humanity and help it evolve as long as our cup is empty. Fill it with whatever virtues — and vices — you may see fit, then you can do The Work. Go out and do, learn from the doing, then share your findings while teaching from the knowing. Without inner substance, you see, there is nothing to pour. And nothing gives a man more credibility than saying “I have been there”. For experience cannot be studied or bought, which is why it is the mother of all wisdom. Make it a conscious choice to replenish your cup… until you become the cup.

• The strongest souls are those who help others through their storms while they themselves are going through their own.  Sometimes they may actually help release others from their chains and fetters while still on their way to emancipate themselves from theirs. The strongest also tend to be the gentlest.

Seemingly paradoxically, to be whole with a strong resilient character means to likewise be somewhat fluid, flexible, fragile — just like water. Rather than rigid and unyielding, being brave and tough includes being tender and sensitive… as well as a certain level of softness.

Those who are truly aware of their own strengths are comfortable in their own skin. For they have nothing to prove to themselves before the world, you see. That raw honesty, that courageous nakedness, also makes them vulnerable, which is not some kind of weakness as sometimes portrayed. 

 

Vulnerability here is actually a sign of strength and a highly attractive quality in humans. It makes them relatable, familiar, and accessible to their fellow Earthlings, allowing both sides to connect with each other on deeper, more authentic levels. This very transparency equally offers the opportunity to see a reflection of oneself or parts of oneself in others.

Vulnerability is powerful as it is sexy.

“Be soft. Do not let the world make you hard. Do not let pain make you hate. Do not let the bitterness steal your sweetness.”

― Kurt Vonnegut, a WW II army veteran



• The only reality in which you will truly fit is one you have created yourself. Be a Light unto yourself and Love one another. 



• Engaging in intellectual conversations can be quite erotic. When you seduce the mind, you thereby add fire to the heart. The body may then follow.



• Modern time societies have become the embodiment of what toxic means. City life with its concrete jungles, CCTV cameras, bright lights, noise, traffic, pollution, the news among all the frenetic hustle and bustle of our mighty civilisation tends to render humans unwell — mentally, emotionally, and consequently also physically. That is, for ones who have a certain sensitivity towards their environment. But those leading automatic existences don’t seem to mind the chaotic commotion nor the disconnection much. Because they keep themselves busy within the safety of their own bubbles — with ambitious competition, jobs, taxes, weekends, consumption, entertainment. They are trying to survive the toxicity by ignoring it or perhaps by not even acknowledging it. Truly, we can become so neurotically distracted to the point of rarely ever stopping to smell the flowers, to reflect on what we are really doing with our lives. Many are merely sleepwalking towards a fateful end.

On the other hand, a man living in a small and quiet laid-back town may come across a gorgeous praying mantis in the early misty morning, serenely resting in the shadow of the gate. He watches it for a while, snaps a photo, then bids it farewell. Sitting silently under a tree, he listens to the colourful melodies of the singing birds. Later he feeds a herd of local goats roaming in the street. Just breathing in life moment by moment, as it is rather than as we want or wish it to be.

When living among nature, you see, one has the inner peace and mental clarity to be constantly indulging their sensations. This unparalleled simplicity of a magical hour spent watching the glorious sunset along with the curling waves with feet planted in the sand — or of communing with another being — has a unique charm to it, which keeps one blissfully content and richly fulfilled. While nature remains a timeless inspiration for awe and wonderment, the naturally arising child-like delight is a reminder of life’s essentials.

Same world, different locations, but also different frequencies. Nature speaks. 

• Transcend all bullshit, especially your own. And while floating up there you can also transcend the social ladder — by choosing to levitate.  

• Heal ThySelf to a
HealThy Self
NowHere other than
Now Here.

We cannot really heal, save, or awaken anyone. Essentially, we can only inspire them to find out for themselves how to become their own healer and saviour. So they may own their truth, independently of a healer, guru, spiritual figure. This is not established through any associations nor formal teaching, advice, instructions, rituals or ceremonies. But instead, by sharing our bliss, grace, peace, passion, sensibility, awareness, groundedness — our energy. It remains up to them to integrate what they experience in such presence into their lives. It is their journey after all, during which their own answers are to be unveiled and revealed.

Looking for radical, fundamental change? Change yourself rather than trying to change others. You want awakening? Awaken all of yourself rather than trying to awaken humanity.

Verily, the divine spark you seek is already within you. Allow it to shine through you unobstructed and it becomes a torch that eternally lights The Way.

Love is The Way. 

• Truth is the cure to many diseases. Yet truth without love may seem unbearable at times. 

• One essential key to a full and fulfilling life is to never lose the wondrous curiosity or childlike enthusiasm. To be a creative adult requires just the same.

• Dare to create your own rituals. Not for anyone else to follow, but for your zen well-being.

Zen simply means meditative absorption. The word Zen is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese ‘Chán’ [ 禪 ] quietude, which originates from the Sanskrit ‘Dhyāna’ [ ध्यान ] meditation, absorption, or thought.

“Zen” is traditionally a proper noun as it usually describes a particular Buddhist sect. In more recent years, the lowercase “zen” came to be used when discussing a worldview or attitude that is peaceful, calm, serene. The word was officially added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary in 2018.

Whether meditating, drumming, dancing, walking, or doing the dishes, it matters not what kind of activity or practice allows one to embody this peaceful state of consciousness. When the mind is still, there is a certain intuitive attentiveness that naturally filters out the distractions, allowing us to remain flowing in the Zone without interruptions… interrupting ourselves, that is.

This echoes the words of Alan Watts: “Zen does not confuse spirituality with thinking about God while one is peeling potatoes. Zen spirituality is just to peel the potatoes.”

Now, if we agree that the present is where time essentially exists, that it is when nothing and everything are happening, each and every moment becomes an eternity in its own. The essence of a life well lived lies in fully living the multitude of this timeless Here and Now — what there is and all there is. Becoming completely engaged in whatever we are doing in the moment is the secret to a quintessential existence.

Zen emphasises a direct insight into one’s own true nature, along with the personal expression of such insight in daily life for the benefit of others — all sentient beings as well as nature.

It likewise emphasises the apprehension of the true nature of reality, Satori [ 悟り ]: A Japanese Buddhist term for the experience of awakening — enlightenment, illumination; also comprehension, understanding. Through self-actualisation, one cultivates the ability to allow everything to be as it is without resisting or imposing, to purely observe, including our own thoughts and emotions.

A zen life is not much about meaning; it is more about being — fully mindful of the present Here and Now.

 

 

ALSO VIEW:

OLS Reflections

OLS Reflections Deux

OLS Reflections Vier

OLS Reflections Khamsa

OLS Reeflections Yedi

OLS Reflections 八

OLS Reflections Ten

OLS Reflections Onze

OLS Reflections 13

OLS Reflections Quince

OLS Reflections Sixteen

OLS Reflections Dix-Huit

OLS Reflections تسعة عشر

OLS Reflections Veinte Uno

OLS Reflections 22

OLS Reflections Dreiundzwanzig

OLS Reflections Twenty-Four

OLS Reflections Vingt-Six

OLS Reflections Ventisette

OLS Reflections Veintinueve
 
OLS Reflections 30

OLS Reflections Einunddreißig

OLS Reflections  إثنان وثلاثون

OLS Reflections Thirty-Three

OLS Reflections Trentaquattro

OLS Reflections 37

OLS Reflections Trente-Neuf

OLS Reflections Forty  

OLS Reflections Einundvierzig

OLS Reflections — The Spiritual Edition 

OLS Reflections Cuarenta y Cuatro

OLS Reflections 45

OLS Reflections Quarantasette

OLS Reflections — The Unpublished Edition

OLS Reflections Forty-Nine

OLS Reflections 50 

OLS Reflections Cincuenta y Dos

OLS Reflections Cinquantaquattro

OLS Reflections पचपन 

OLS Reflections 57

OLS Reflections Cinquante-Neuf
 
OLS Reflections Sesenta y Uno
 
OLS Reflections ثلاثة وستون 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Cinq

OLS Reflections 67

OLS Reflections Sixty-Eight 

OLS Reflections 69 

 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Douze
 

OLS Reflections Settanta­quattro

 

OLS Reflections Seventy Six

OLS Reflections 77

 

OLS Reflections Setenta y Ocho

 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Dix-Neuf

OLS Reflections Ottantaquattro 

OLS Reflections 82

 

• Getting married for the wrong reasons is often rectified by getting divorced for the right ones. 

 

 

 

• Being a decent and sensitive human being who aspires to do the right things in life has nothing to do with nationality, ethnicity, religion, skin colour, or creed. It mainly depends on the level of empathy and compassion you possess; how you treat others, including old people, children, and animals, also the weak, the vulnerable, and the less fortunate. To be kind and gracious in one’s relations and interactions without expecting anything in return — be it a divine reward or otherwise — and without fearing retribution of any sort. For it’s not our beliefs that actually matter, it’s our behaviour. Love is all there is.

 

 

 

• Drumming for me is not just mere fun. It is a cathartic, therapeutic, meditative practice, even spiritual. Without playing at least once a week, usually on the beach, my thoughts become discombobulated — full of words and concepts and analysis, including some nonsense, too. Music then comes to the help by lighting up the neurones of the brain which start firing up as soon as I decide to go drumming. And natural highs don’t have lows. Rather than thoughts, drumming is how I connect with my emotions, process and regulate them. I also get to commune with Mother Nature and its great outdoors. Like poetry in motion, the system is then alchemically recalibrated… until the next jam.

“The highest goal of music is to connect one’s soul to their Divine Nature, not entertainment.”
— Pythagoras

• Seeing yourself as half a person who can only become whole through being completed by another half is a waste of essence and potential. It is the greatest of illusions as it is an inevitable way to spend your entire life feeling incomplete and insecure. Someone fixated on being completed by a partner already feels incomplete. Even in a relationship, they would still feel they’re not good enough. The reality is, none of us is truly or essentially incomplete. Rather, we are works of art in progress — constantly evolving. If you must seek, look for another awakened whole so that you may amplify your wholeness together.

 

 

• Nature Is Fully Alive. Are You? 

There is something ethereally soothing about the sight and sound of rolling waves. Like poetry in motion, they seem to have some sort of magical ability to wash away our worldly troubles — as tears cleanse the soul. It is like the Earth is breathing: Inhale, Exhale. Add a luminous sunrise to the scenery and you’re set for one rejuvenating show.

Perhaps because bodies of water have existed on this Pale Blue Dot for millions and millions of years, they simply expose most of the worries and inner conflicts as petty and inconsequential. While soon the troubles will likely be forgotten or may cease to exist altogether — in our minds — the same water will keep flowing, probably for many more millions of years ahead.

The sheer magnificence of nature lies not in sole aesthetics. But also in its bewitching ability to alter your perception as well as consciousness simply by immersing yourself in it, which leads to an awe-inspiring sense of dissolution and oneness and interconnectedness between you — the consciousness of mankind — and her. The more we commune with nature, the more its transcendental serenity and wildness flow into us, permeating our every nerve ending. For we ARE it. I leave you with the sobering words of Thoreau: “We can never have enough of nature.”

 

• Keeping alive the inner child

Untamed and wild

Full of questions and wonder

Curiosity survives lightning and thunder.

 

 

 

• May you always value and cherish the simple little things in Life. For they make a big difference and hence are the most essential. Simplicity, in actuality, tends to be deeper than complexity. ‘Tis the reason why that which is simple often passes unperceived by the complex. If we look around us, we’ll find that the more one masters a certain domain the more simplification they will strive for.

 

 

 

• You are a sage and you are a lunatic. You are also the One capable of transcending this seeming duality just by observing the observer. 

 

 

 

• Everyone has a story if we are willing to listen. Similarly, behind almost anything and everything there is some interesting story awaiting its storyteller. 

 

 

ALSO VIEW:

OLS Reflections

OLS Reflections Deux

OLS Reflections Vier

OLS Reflections Khamsa

OLS Reeflections Yedi

OLS Reflections 八

OLS Reflections Ten

OLS Reflections Onze

OLS Reflections 13

OLS Reflections Quince

OLS Reflections Sixteen

OLS Reflections Dix-Huit

OLS Reflections تسعة عشر

OLS Reflections Veinte Uno

OLS Reflections 22

OLS Reflections Dreiundzwanzig

OLS Reflections Twenty-Four

OLS Reflections Vingt-Six

OLS Reflections Ventisette

OLS Reflections Veintinueve
 
OLS Reflections 30

OLS Reflections Einunddreißig

OLS Reflections  إثنان وثلاثون

OLS Reflections Thirty-Three

OLS Reflections Trentaquattro

OLS Reflections 37

OLS Reflections Trente-Neuf

OLS Reflections Forty  

OLS Reflections Einundvierzig

OLS Reflections — The Spiritual Edition 

OLS Reflections Cuarenta y Cuatro

OLS Reflections 45

OLS Reflections Quarantasette

OLS Reflections — The Unpublished Edition

OLS Reflections Forty-Nine

OLS Reflections 50 

OLS Reflections Cincuenta y Dos

OLS Reflections Cinquantaquattro

OLS Reflections पचपन 

OLS Reflections 57

OLS Reflections Cinquante-Neuf
 
OLS Reflections Sesenta y Uno
 
OLS Reflections ثلاثة وستون 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Cinq

OLS Reflections 67

OLS Reflections Sixty-Eight 

OLS Reflections 69 

 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Douze
 

OLS Reflections Settanta­quattro

 

OLS Reflections Seventy Six

OLS Reflections 77

 

OLS Reflections Setenta y Ocho

 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Dix-Neuf

OLS Reflections Ottanta­tré 

OLS Reflections Eighty

 
The first list-article from the OLS Reflections series was published on 22 August 2014. Little did I know that it will last for ten years and counting. In it, I mention that the Pages Reflections file was 121 pages long and consisting of 38,998 words. A decade later today the same file is 2846 pages sporting 888,145 words — close to a million!

The series is the largest ongoing one on One Lucky Soul here. It is comprised of reflections, introspections, observations, and philosophical poetry, as well as lessons learned through life experiences. There are also some thought-provoking questions and the occasional language-related joke or pun. Some 130 of them made it to Goodreads as quotes. Woot Woot.

I equally mention how the reflections may be grouped according to their level of seriousness. This eventually led to creating the humorous subcategory, the (un)fun sibling: OLS Reflections — The Unfun Ones, which for now makes up about 23 of the total 80 articles.

Links to the entire collection can be found below. Now Onward Forward: Here is the latest...

 

• Being alone tends to be feared by many as it’s widely regarded as the worst and scariest thing that could happen to one’s life. But it isn’t so. Lying to oneself is worse and scarier; because when done long enough people end up believing their own lies, failing to distinguish between the delusions and their actual inner truth. What follows, in the words of Fyodor Dostoevsky, is that “they lose respect for themselves and for others. And having no respect they cease to love”. A life without love then means bitter, alienating loneliness — especially with one’s own company and therefore also among others. That, my friends, is the real miserable tragedy.

Those on the other hand who learn to value and cherish their solitude end up becoming a celestial force of nature. 

• The sun does not apologise for its vibrancy

Nor the wind for its gust

The moon does not feel guilty that its lunacy

Does not always appear perfectly full around the crust

Brother, forget the ‘should’ and the ‘must’

Do what thou wilt with love and self-trust

Stay true to thyself, shine on with beaming lust

Keep flowing and glowing like our ancestors, the primordial stardust.

• There is something absorbingly soothing about listening to the sound of rolling waves while welcoming the rising sun. It has this magical ability to wash our spirit clean from all troubles and conflicts. In actuality, every sunrise signifies a new beginning; whether to be the best version of ourselves, to lead a more conscious, empathetic, compassionate existence, or to stop suffering.

You see, the very possibility that we can go to bed one night to never ever wake up ought to be that one catalyst enticing us to enjoy life to the fullest. That is, today, in the present Here and Now. Simply because life has an expiration date and tomorrow may never come. One way to do so is to connect with Nature; to build a lasting relationship with it. For we ARE Nature. We only seem to temporarily forget it — due to the distractions of life. But truly, it is the sobering realisation of the inevitability of our own mortality that tends to lead to awakening. 

Shine On & On.



• Poetry is whispered magic for the listening hearts. As an art form, it uses language to alter consciousness — allowing us to transcend reality as we know it. My inner chaos is simply a song to which I’ve learned to drum and dance.

• When what you love doing in life requires a certain degree of solitude and seclusion, there is a high chance that at some point it becomes addictive. These are the activities that inherently make one glow while radiating unfiltered passion right out the core of their every nerve ending. The reason being is that this kind of inner — and outer — meditative peace of mind and soul is rarely ever found around others. The same goes for drama, or lack of it. For the creative person such a Flow State of being remains essential.

By embracing solitude with open arms you naturally come to know yourself better. Another reward for digging deep into oneself is coming to equally know that, somehow, you are everyone and everyone is you — the consciousness of mankind. Then you are never truly alone, even when you are. Echoing with what Mark Twain had succinctly worded. Fortunately, aloneness and loneliness remain two different things.

Get into yourself and you will discover wonders.  

• Make it a habit to every once in a while spend time with people over 80 and children below 10. The experience of seeing the world through their eyes tends to enrich our palette of perspectives. 

• Forgive. Because you deserve to set yourself free. However, it is not always about forgiving others or being forgiven by them. Sometimes to be able to carry on living we must learn to forgive ourselves — for not knowing what we didn’t know at a certain point in time. Forgiveness then tends to breed empathy, compassion, and eventually self-love. 

• The feeling of being loved, even by your own self, catalyses a certain joie de vivre. People then tend to become better versions of themselves. In return, it makes loving others a much more natural and empathetic process. Truly, learning how to love yourself is the ultimate gift to yourself as well as to the world.

 

You see, love will never cancel or annihilate hate. It just helps forging us in a way that allows us to live in a world where both exist and yet empowers us to choose love — every time.

• “It must be strange to be considered normal or ordinary. It must be absurd not to see through the absurdities of life. But what is normal, ordinary, or absurd anyway? Who gets to choose or define these societal concepts, as in according to who? And do normal, ordinary people seem normal and ordinary because they like to see themselves as such? Because they strive to fit it within the societal status-quo norm of their time and place, hence project the corresponding image of their seemingly acceptable, polished-up, edited-out persona unto the outside world? Is that why certain people feel included and represented while others excluded and marginalised?

• She dances with her demons
While her angels sing along
Wears her skin so boldly and beautifully
Juggling two rights with every wrong. 

 

ALSO VIEW:

OLS Reflections

OLS Reflections Deux

OLS Reflections Vier

OLS Reflections Khamsa

OLS Reeflections Yedi

OLS Reflections 八

OLS Reflections Ten

OLS Reflections Onze

OLS Reflections 13

OLS Reflections Quince

OLS Reflections Sixteen

OLS Reflections Dix-Huit

OLS Reflections تسعة عشر

OLS Reflections Veinte Uno

OLS Reflections 22

OLS Reflections Dreiundzwanzig

OLS Reflections Twenty-Four

OLS Reflections Vingt-Six

OLS Reflections Ventisette

OLS Reflections Veintinueve
 
OLS Reflections 30

OLS Reflections Einunddreißig

OLS Reflections  إثنان وثلاثون

OLS Reflections Thirty-Three

OLS Reflections Trentaquattro

OLS Reflections 37

OLS Reflections Trente-Neuf

OLS Reflections Forty  

OLS Reflections Einundvierzig

OLS Reflections — The Spiritual Edition 

OLS Reflections Cuarenta y Cuatro

OLS Reflections 45

OLS Reflections Quarantasette

OLS Reflections — The Unpublished Edition

OLS Reflections Forty-Nine

OLS Reflections 50 

OLS Reflections Cincuenta y Dos

OLS Reflections Cinquantaquattro

OLS Reflections पचपन 

OLS Reflections 57

OLS Reflections Cinquante-Neuf
 
OLS Reflections Sesenta y Uno
 
OLS Reflections ثلاثة وستون 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Cinq

OLS Reflections 67

OLS Reflections Sixty-Eight 

OLS Reflections 69 

 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Douze
 

OLS Reflections Settanta­quattro

 

OLS Reflections Seventy Six

OLS Reflections 77

 

OLS Reflections Setenta y Ocho

 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Dix-Neuf

OLS Reflections Ottanta­tré 

 

 

 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Dix-Neuf

 

• In a world consumed by lies, fakery and deception, being true to and with yourself is one of the most daring, courageous, rebellious acts there is. 

 

 

 

• Surround yourself with those who celebrate the fiery light shining out of your soul. Those who feel summoned to fan your flames and dance within them. Truly, there is nothing like finding fellow humans who vibrate at similar frequencies and whose passions vibe with ours. Shine On and On.

• The price to pay for being referred to as an ‘expert’ or ‘specialist’ in a certain field is spending your entire life learning more and more about less and less. Naturally, you come to know it quite well. But it’s still one reality tunnel. When recently re-reading Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra it was compelling to find him mentioning said men, only succinctly describing them as: “Those who had too little of everything and too much of one thing”; “Men who lack everything except one thing, of which they have too much” and “Men who are no more than a great eye or a great mouth.”

You see, it is always remarkable to come to know some good people who excel in their professional “occupational” fields yet appear to have almost zero knowledge in other more human fields. Like how to cook, how to dance, to create, to talk and woe and flirt; how to simply BE. It seems many of those experts and specialists are exceptionally good at following what’s already been established. But stepping outside these realms doesn’t concern or even interests them. They are missing out on living life in its most general sense. And for what? Money, possessions, titles; really, mundane materialistic stuff. All the while trying to prove — to yourself before the world — that you’re “a man” or even that you’re worth it. Well, you yourself are enough, despite what the outside world attempts to convince you.


Following ten years of employment starting my early 30s, I began to eclectically reckon that there are many more colours and flavours to life than having a specialised “career”. Even when then I took art in general and writing in particular as vocations, I didn’t see myself boxed in as just a writer, or poet, or photographer. But rather, just a human being using a colourful variety of art forms to express his humanity, as well as to heal. The multitude keeps one sharp, curious, and rejuvenated. This child-like wonder towards the universe and the entirety of existence also keeps the creative juices flowing unobstructed. It equally keeps you young at heart.


Nevertheless, practically we still need experts and specialists to run our everyday world. Yet to add balance to the flux we likewise need those liberated, non-conformist minority who being ones doesn’t interest them.

• It seems that being childless compels me to connect with my own inner child and its playful, sometimes mildly mischievous nature. But also to connect with random kids I sometimes bump into — with the wide-eyed novel, curious looks. I always take it as a chance to get a glimpse of the sheer unfettered innocence and the undiluted simplicity most of them still possess. The experience often does add you with perspective, usually about the essentials of life. It is why I say make it a habit to every once in a while spend time with people over 80 and children under 10. For this heartwarming “Young at Heart” energy is highly contagious, intoxicating even. After all, we’re all looking for those whose inner child know how to play with ours — whether we’re conscious of it or not. The more we mature throughout life, the more keeping the spirit of that child alive becomes an existential choice: Between slowly decaying from one side and keeping us young in heart and mind, therefore creative and enthusiastic from the other. Love your inner child.


Keeping alive the inner child
Untamed and wild
Full of questions and wonder
Curiosity survives lightning and thunder. 

 

 

 

• When we carefully observe how random stray dogs communicate with us ‘strangers’ as well as among themselves, contemplating the fact that some people may live their entire lives fearing canines — even also felines — becomes rather remarkable. But what are they really afraid of? If they were not bitten by maybe the neighbour’s dog as children nor developed a certain phobia, then it seems they are afraid from that which they do not know. Certainly, they had never had a relationship with  a dog — or cat — to know better. So we’re back to fear of the unknown: One of the oldest, most neurotic, persisting, destructive kind of fear. Feating the end of the “known” tends to freeze many of us. When, however, our perspective shifts from fear and replaced by curiosity, almost everything changes for the better — including all our relationships, bet it with humans, dogs, cats, or even with insects. 



Truth is, there is absolutely nothing to fear from such gentle, loving creatures. 

 

 

 

• May you always value and cherish the simple little things in Life. For they make a big difference and hence are the most important. Simplicity, in actuality, tends to be deeper than complexity. ‘Tis the reason why that which is simple often passes unperceived by the complex. If we look around us, we’ll find that the more one masters a certain domain, the more simplification they will strive for.  

 

 

 

• The strongest souls are those who help others through their storms while they themselves are going through their own. They may actually help release others from their chains and fetters while still on their way to emancipate themselves from theirs. The strongest also tend to be the gentlest.

 

 

• Humans are the only creatures who are officially called Beings. You don’t see dog — canine — being or tiger — feline — being. A dog is just a dog as a tiger just a tiger. I wonder if that very naming we, human “beings”, have given ourselves puts a certain pressure on us to constantly want to be or become someone or something. 

 

 

 

• There is something so soothing about listening to the sound of waves while staring at the rising sun, it seems to have this magically ability to wash away all our troubles.  

 

 

 

• Whenever someone shares with you a sad personal story or tragic event while still keeping up their smile and sense of humour, be certain they have died inside many times over. Yet, they have somehow come to find a way as well as the will to transcend the numbness caused by the tragic sadness and reach a certain reconciliation with the self and with the reality of things. When it comes to matters we have no control over in life, changing perspective can indeed do wonders. And nothing like humour to help us rewrite our story while integrating the experience into our own lives, hence get past it. “Let go or be dragged”, as the Zen proverb reminds us. 

 

ALSO VIEW:

OLS Reflections

OLS Reflections Deux

OLS Reflections Vier

OLS Reflections Khamsa

OLS Reeflections Yedi

OLS Reflections 八

OLS Reflections Ten

OLS Reflections Onze

OLS Reflections 13

OLS Reflections Quince

OLS Reflections Sixteen

OLS Reflections Dix-Huit

OLS Reflections تسعة عشر

OLS Reflections Veinte Uno

OLS Reflections 22

OLS Reflections Dreiundzwanzig

OLS Reflections Twenty-Four

OLS Reflections Vingt-Six

OLS Reflections Ventisette

OLS Reflections Veintinueve
 
OLS Reflections 30

OLS Reflections Einunddreißig

OLS Reflections  إثنان وثلاثون

OLS Reflections Thirty-Three

OLS Reflections Trentaquattro

OLS Reflections 37

OLS Reflections Trente-Neuf

OLS Reflections Forty  

OLS Reflections Einundvierzig

OLS Reflections — The Spiritual Edition 

OLS Reflections Cuarenta y Cuatro

OLS Reflections 45

OLS Reflections Quarantasette

OLS Reflections — The Unpublished Edition

OLS Reflections Forty-Nine

OLS Reflections 50 

OLS Reflections Cincuenta y Dos

OLS Reflections Cinquantaquattro

OLS Reflections पचपन 

OLS Reflections 57

OLS Reflections Cinquante-Neuf
 
OLS Reflections Sesenta y Uno
 
OLS Reflections ثلاثة وستون 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Cinq

OLS Reflections 67

OLS Reflections Sixty-Eight 

OLS Reflections 69 

 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Douze
 

OLS Reflections Settanta­quattro

 

OLS Reflections Seventy Six

OLS Reflections 77

 

OLS Reflections Setenta y Ocho

 

OLS Reflections Soixante-Dix-Neuf

OLS Reflections Ottanta­tré