Serendipities in the Rough

 

Adversity is like a strong wind. It tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that we see ourselves as we really are.
—Arthur Golden

 

Life random, it is constant and ever moving.  It leaves no chance to go back and try again. Our journey in this what we call existence is wrought with surprise. We can never know what is just around the bend. Our experiences are accidental. We can cross our fingers and hope for the best. We can rely on a steady hand to guide the way, we can watch out for rocks but common pitfalls will befall us and so will other things too…

Einstein once said that in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.

 

Those words stared at me, written in my own hand. Stuck up on my computer at work. I stared at those words on that day a few weeks ago before I crumpled up the paper and dropped it silently into the trash. Our entire department was being downsized or outsized…whatever. I was out of a job. 

We were being paid for the day. It was ten o’c lock Monday morning and I was “free to go.”

A first for me; A layoff and fresh into my new independence in my new apartment. A fear rose up in me. A dread. A panic. I went home and cried.

I would like to say at this point I straightened up and used this setback as an opportunity to take on a newer and better adventure. I’d like to say I conquered hardship and myself but really I fell into another job without really trying. And now two weeks in I am finding the hidden “dangers” in taking the safe route. And I wonder if I have taken full advantage of my situation…

 

 

It is how we look at it all which makes the most impact on our lives. There can be hidden gems in rough serendipities. And something that may for the quick moment seem to be a setback could in reality be a spring forward.

 

 

Nature makes way for the new. An emptiness must be created in order to fill it. A tree sheds it’s leaves in the Autumn. They fall to the ground; becoming one with the earth, helping provide nourishment to the tree to grow its new leaves in the spring. Nature is constantly giving birth to itself. And we as part of nature are constantly being reborn. Every day we are alive this happens. With every experience we become a newer version of ourselves.

 

Every flower must grow through dirt. —Proverb

Life is like that. All our experiences; good and bad make us who and what we are. We can glean wisdom from this. Scars heal and can make us stronger. We can look back at our very survival as proof of that.

 

Kintsugi, The Japanese Art of Fixing Broken Pottery With Gold.

 

There are many who are “broken” in this world of ours. We are legion. Seldom, if ever, can anyone escape unscathed. Some say that a dose of hard times in one’s life makes one more sympathetic to the plight of others and more grateful too.  I think this is true to a great extent.

Tragedy is tragic and unfair as it is, we must salvage what we can from it. If only in order to save ourselves and others.

There are many forms of tragedy that exist. Much of it out of our control. I don’t have to tell anyone how troubled this world is. It’s easy for me to say that good can possibily ever come from bad.  I have lived a relatively fortunate life. I have not truly suffered like many have. But I do know something of hope and often it is born out of a human heart and spirit and nothing else.

There are going to be low days.  It’s inevitable. but it is those low days that prepare us for the high ones, these are inevitable too. I think this when I’m having a bad day; that I’m somehow paying my dues or paying it forward for later. I feel that in the law of averages my “bad luck” will turn to “good luck” Wishful thinking? Perhaps. But this has a magic all its own.

 

Nothing is perfect. My new job isn’t either but it does afford me more time to spend with a very important person to me who makes me feel wonderful and in that maybe it is all for the best…perhaps I will seek some rough and very soft serendipities there for a time…

♥

~nlm

 

Related Articles

 

 

 

Whatever does not kill us: cumulative lifetime adversity, vulnerability, and resilience.

The Illusion of Choice

 

 

 

 

 

 

We live in interesting times with one foot dragging behind mired in the memory of a gilded past and the other poised to go off the edge into a dark unknown abyss. It’s preferable to focus on the comfortable illusion of sameness, ignoring the obvious signs of change especially if the change is not so good.

Our planet is in trouble and so is our spirit and our collective soul.  In a world with a swelling population and dwindling resources it’s easy to zone out on the meaningless and glaze over that gnawing feeling with yet another distraction and there ate plenty distractions to keep us occupied.

 

“All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.” ― Noam Chomsky

We are bombarded with messages everyday, bits of information, much of it totally useless that invade our minds on constant basis. Most of us are used to this constant stream of stimuli. Some of us thrive on it, and depend on it.

These messages are unimportant useless fluff that disguise themselves are dire. They cover up what is truly important. They lull us into complacency, we are not required to think, they do that for us.

They provide our heroes. the dreams and the ideals that we as responsible consumers should aspire to.They also tell us who to point the finger at and there are endless sources of blame to go around.

They give us our scapegoats. They prey upon our fears which they too have cleverly crafted.

 

Art by Banksy

We are managed and manipulated by a system that has become rigged against most of us to benefit a privileged very few. Our lovely planet that belongs to all of us is becoming more and more privatized and profitized used to feed an bulging worldwide economy with a hearty appetite that never stops being hungry.

We are told we must have endless war. That we are not safe.

We are told that the worthiness of a human life is measured by one’s assets. We are told a lot of things.

They distract us. They divide us. We are told what and who to fear. They are very good at this because they have been doing it for so long.  They provide the illusion of choice.

 

Treated like children we are presented with limited choices, usually two. This team or that team?  Coke or Pepsi? Red or Blue? Republican or Democrat? Left wing or Right?  When in reality it’s the same damn bird.  They who control what we see and and hear they would let us believe these are the only choices but they are not, far from it.  We do have real choice and we can make the world a better place for us all.

There are forces that would polarizes us. They divide us with their illusion of choice.

They want to keep us from finding common ground. Pitting one side against another, distracting us from our common enemy. Because as drastic as that sounds there is an enemy and it those who pull the crooked strings, those in the shadows, the ones that have the game rigged.

 

 

 

They manipulate everything they can. There is no pie they haven’t already eaten most of and they are still very hungry.  We are being forced to share what little is left. They distract us with this and that. They divide us. And they are very good at it.

Most of us exist on the bottom of a great pyramid where those very few on the top live on the backs of those on the ever widening bottom. The very top depends on this arrangement and pretty much always has, we the people are waking up to that illusion of choice; that our much touted and much admired democracy is an outright and blatant lie and has been for a long time.

 

 

 

 

Art by Banksy

 

“Our economy is based on spending billions to persuade people that happiness is buying things, and then insisting that the only way to have a viable economy is to make things for people to buy so they’ll have jobs and get enough money to buy things.” ― Philip Slater

 

Together we are powerful.  A force to be reckoned with. And we can remake the world into what we want it to be. We can heal our planet and ourselves. We can take back what rightfully belongs to ourselves and future generations.  We can refuse to play, to go along with the idiocy of the day.

We need to focus on what we agree with not what do not, this separates us. We need each other; divided we fall but united we stand strong.

“We can change the world with every thought we have and every word we speak.” –Alberto Villoldo

 

We can get back to basics. Turn off the damn TV. Go outside. Go for a walk and leave your car behind.  Talk to your neighbors. Grow some tomatoes.  Don’t buy anything you don’t really need. Open your mind. Open your heart. Question what you are being told. Speak up and speak up for others who cannot.

Topple their false idols and render their marketplace a ghost town.

How did this become our God?

 

Perhaps we can break out of the illusion and make our own choices. I do think we do have a choice and despite what one may hear about rigged elections and the like, I know for a fact that money talks. Don’t buy what you are being sold. Question what you are being told. Listen to what your inner voice tells you.

Encourage free thought. Listen to those who may have a different view that you. Seldom if ever is one side 100% right or 100% wrong for that matter. Listen to those who may be supporting a different presidential candidate than you. Many of us have friends and family members who fit that category and it is easy to be confused at their choice or their lack of choice at all but there can be found nuggets of universal truths and wisdom everywhere and in everyone, seek that out. Let us not be separated from each other at a time when we need each other the most. In reality we are all on the same side. No matter who is elected to any public anywhere. It is we the people who matter and it we the people can make a difference.

 

~NLM

“Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies.”

― Suzy Kassem

Related articles and stuff

These 6 Corporations Control 90% Of The Media In America (businessinsider.com




Coca Cola Commercial - I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony) - 1971

The Beauty in Chaos

We are born of Chaos. A  singularity known as the Big Bang  sent forth into being an ever expanding commencement of all things.

Clouds of dense gas and swirling universes come together and are pulled apart….Stars  are  born, they shine and explode and then die. Black holes devour all they touch. Galaxies collide spraying stars into eternity. Particles are continuously being created and destroyed; blinking in and out of existence akin to a ginormous Schlesinger’s Cat.

We are born of  hydrogen and oxygen, of nothingness and of everything. We are truly stardust come down to Earth.

 Our home this planet has had a violent past and without all that disarray and upheaval we would not be here today.

We come from chaos and someday we’ll return there too. This is how infinity perpetrates itself.

We are a part of that.

As we are a part of everything.

“It’s a cruel and random world, but the chaos is all so beautiful.” ― Hiromu Arakawa

Albert Einstein once said that in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity. He knew that a stirring of the waters can sometimes conger up the fish. We know from history that many a good thing can result from many a bad thing indeed and if necessity is the mother of invention then perhaps chaos can be the father of the creative thought that sparks that necessity.

Fate forces our hand and we must act, even inaction is a form of action or reaction. We can go with the flow or fight it. Life is a raging river, never standing still, always moving, never the same…change is the only constant.

The death of one can come about the birth of another

We are the inheritors of a wonderful world, a beautiful world, full of life and mystery, goodness and pain. But likewise are we the children of an indifferent universe. We break our own hearts imposing our moral order on what is, by nature, a wide web of chaos.” ― Colin Meloy

Chaos is raw violence. It rips apart what was to make room for what will be. In it’s upheaval change does not waiver. It is indifferent to fate. It just is. Change devours the status quo. In its varying degrees it can make quite an impact. Life ebbs and flows.  Stability returns with the growth that follows upheaval. Life is but a dance between the two extremes seeking to find an undulating balance between them.

35 years after Mount St. Helens eruption, nature returns

Music interrupts silence and color disturbs the black and white. The peanut butter in my ice cream has only increased it’s tastiness to me

Imagine a world that never changes, a river that never flows, a planet that has lost its spin. Imagine a world without the audacity of   daybreak. Imagine a blank piece of paper where words will never be. Imagine the leaves never falling off the trees, or crying babies never being born, imagine the butterfly never emerging from her chrysalis and becoming the butterfly she is meant to be…

This is why we need chaos you see…

Despite the pain of  upheaval. Wonderful things can be found among the ruins. Sometimes it can be oneself.

I am myself at a time in my life where I have found the courage to make some drastic life changes. I write this as I sit in my new apartment, my name on the lease. It is mostly devoid of things for now but it holds the most precious thing of all: Love. The love that this place abounds in. I am truly blessed to have people around me that love me and encourage me to be the best me I can be. An unexpected butterfly landed on my shoulder one day last February and I haven’t been the same since. I found the strength to leave a situation that was not healthy for me or my children.  I have taken upon myself to change this situation that I had lived with for many years. I will continue to keep you posted. Suffice to say I am happy and excited!!

~NLM

 

 

---

 

 

 

Look deeper through the telescope
and do not be afraid when the stars
collide towards the darkness,
because sometimes the most beautiful
things begin in chaos.”
― Robert M. Drake

Related Articles

Debussy, Clair de lune 

 

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35 years after Mount St. Helens eruption, nature returns

 

 

 

Fresh Quotes: 7 Deadly Sins

 

 

 

In the interest of gritty and honest hard-hitting journalism I am out to sin and not just once but seven times!  You guessed that right my friends, I am out to commit the Seven Deadly Sins and no one can stop me!

 

Theda Bara as the star of Cleopatra

Just to clarify; the seven deadly sins are something the Catholics came up with, along with other lists as well.  I’m not going to get into all that but suffice to say these particular sins seem tame as sins go. They are not so deadly; no killing or maiming or any bloodshed at all. They can’t be all that bad I’m reasoning to myself. Not enough to get struck down by lightning or anything drastic. Maybe some light finger-wagging by the guy upstairs??   And really what better time to go out and conquer sin?  I’ve spent the great part of the last 20 years lost in some sort of June Clever-ish world, immersed in a certain domestic passivity that has separated me from anything even vaguely resembling sin.  That being said, I think that it’s high time to embark on a wondrous journey of mild debauchery.

But then again…

 

The truth is that I am too lazy to go out and commit SIN

It is wintertime and the downtown area of Portland where I was planning to sin gets mighty cold this time of year.  Perhaps I will wait for the summer when it is HOT.

I will just have to get by with some light preliminary sinning from the comfort of my home.  My favorite chocolate chocolate ice cream with chocolate and whipped cream sounds like a great start.  I think I’ve got the sloth and gluttony down!  RIGHT ON!!

…and while I think of other ways I can mildly sin from home let’s explore the world of THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS through the following quotes and images:

 

~NLM

 

“But I don’t want comfort. I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom, I want goodness. I want sin.”

~Aldous Huxley, Brave New World

*

~ ♦ ♦   The 7   ♦ ♦ ~

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Pride

 

 

Is pride, the never-failing vice of fools.

~Alexander Pope

 

 

“I would always rather be happy than dignified.”

~Charlotte Brontë

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ENVY

 

“I envy
the cup of coffee
that gets
to kiss
your sleepy lips
awake
every cold and
bitter morning.”

~Sade Andria Zabala

“Success makes so many people hate you. I wish it wasn’t that way. It would be wonderful to enjoy success without seeing envy in the eyes of those around you.”

~Marilyn Monroe

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GLUTTONY

“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best,” and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called.”

~A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

There is no love sincerer than the love of food.”

~George Bernard Shaw

 

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SLOTH

“You know, sloth is a sin,” he says softly.
“I prefer to think of it as an adorable animal.”

~Ella James

*

“Progress isn’t made by early risers. It’s made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something.”

~Robert A. Heinlein

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WRATH

“The peace of God is with them whose mind and soul are in harmony, who are free from desire and wrath, who know their own soul.”

~Anonymous, The Bhagavad Gita

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GREED

Cree Indian Prophecy

*

“Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.”

~Albert Einstein

*

‘The Last Supper’ by Art Young (January 1,1920)

 

“Look at the orators in our republics; as long as they are poor, both state and people can only praise their uprightness; but once they are fattened on the public funds, they conceive a hatred for justice, plan intrigues against the people and attack the democracy.”

~Aristophanes

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LUST

 

“Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can’t strike them all by ourselves”

~Laura Esquivel

 

“Desire is the kind of thing that
eats you
and
leaves you starving.”
~Nayyirah Waheed

 

*

“Sin lies only in hurting others unnecessarily. All other “sins” are invented nonsense.”

~Robert A. Heinlein

****

In Roman Catholicism, the Seven Deadly Sins, also known as the capital vices or cardinal sins, are a list of the worst vices that cut a person off from God’s grace. In Latin and English, the Seven Deadly Sins are: superbia (pride), avaritia (greed), luxuria (extravagance, later lust), invidia (envy), gula (gluttony), ira (wrath), and acedia (sloth). Each of the Seven Deadly Sins corresponds to one of the Seven Holy Virtues (see below), and together these lists were the moral standards and tests of the early Catholic Church.

 

The Roman Catholic Church recognizes the seven virtues as opposites to the seven sins:

Sin	Virtue
Lust (undesired love)	Chastity (purity)
Gluttony (overindulgence)	Moderation/Temperance (self-restraint)
Greed (avarice)	Generosity (vigilance)
Sloth (laziness)	Zeal (integrity)
Wrath (anger)	Meekness (composure)
Envy (jealousy)	Charity (giving)
Pride (vanity)	Humility (humbleness)

• http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/

 

Fresh Quotes: REBEL

REBELS with Bobs—Flappers’ behavior was considered outlandish at the time and redefined women’s roles.

There is a rebel lurking inside us all.  A defiant dreamer that dares to question what we’ve been told. A searcher, a seeker that yearns to know more, to find out for oneself, to do something different and not just blindly accept the status quo.

Rebellion does not have to be violent or messy or loud; there can be quiet rebellion. a shift, a change. An insistent force of good can overcome the dark.  To love can be an act of rebellion, to care about each other in a world that does not care for itself.  To think for yourself in this world; that is an act of rebellion.

Lead me into darkness, I will not follow. Show me the light and I will embrace it. Shine your light and together we shine like the sun.

 

 

 FIGHT the Power and have a nice day!

~Nancy

♦

 

 

 

Johnny Cash “The Rebel

“I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It’s still my symbol of rebellion — against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others’ ideas.”
― Johnny Cash

Ann Margret does Freedom Road

Rebellion is the only thing that keeps you alive!

~Marianne Faithfull

Clint Eastwood

“There’s a rebel lying deep in my soul. Anytime anybody tells me the trend is such and such, I go the opposite direction. I hate the idea of trends. I hate imitation; I have a reverence for individuality.”
― Clint Eastwood

Banksy is a pseudonymous United Kingdom-based graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter. His satirical street art and subversive epigrams combine dark humor with graffiti executed in a distinctive stencilling technique.

The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.

~Albert Camus

Ron Finley is a man who will not sit still and watch a problem take root. Having grown up in the South Los Angeles food desert, Ron is familiar with the area’s lack of fresh produce. He knew what it’s like to drive 45 minutes just to get a fresh tomato.In 2010, he set out to fix the problem. Outside his front door, that is. Ron planted vegetables in the curbside dirt strip next to his home. And quietly, carefully, tenderly started a revolution.

.

THE EARTH NEEDS REBELS!

~David Icke

Martin Luther King Jr. — March on Washington

It doesn’t take a majority to make a rebellion; it takes only a few determined leaders and a sound cause.

~H. L. Mencken

The thing worse than rebellion is the thing that causes rebellion.

~Frederick Douglas

“Humanity has advanced, when it has advanced, not because it has been sober, responsible, and cautious, but because it has been playful, rebellious, and immature.”
― Tom Robbins

No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots.”
― Barbara Ehrenreich

 

 

The Sounds of Rebellion 

 Johnny Cash “The Rebel” 

Duane Eddy – Rebel Rouser

Irish Rebel Song – Come out and Fight

Free Hugs

I came across a picture today.  It was a drawing made by a someone I don’t know. I saw it online, I think it was in my Facebook inbox.  The artist’s name is written in the side. It is basic but genuine and to me conveys the most achingly beautiful sentiment.

and it sparked something…

I will sometimes get an idea for a post, but I won’t know actually how it will turn out.  It starts with a message I want to convey, whether it be simple or complex. Sometimes it can take days, weeks, months even. it just rolls around in that crazy head of mine waiting for something… a spark?  Something to give it life. Incidences will happen; little things, really of no significance but then one day–wham! It all fits together. This picture was a catalyst.

We share a collective consciousness. The good, the bad, the everything contained therein.

The best and worst of us is inside us all. We share so much. One important need is to give and receive love. We are an empathetic species that thrives on mutual understanding and cooperation. We need togetherness.

Newborn babies can die if denied love, it is ingrained in us, the need to reach out and be held. It is a basic and human need we first receive usually from our mothers and fathers. And it this need to touch to be touched lasts through our lifetimes. It is beyond sexual desire which in itself is powerful. It is grounding, it is humbling and uplifting.

The nurturing touch of a hug builds trust and a sense of safety.  Hugging relaxes muscles; releasing tension in the body. They can take away pain and soothe aches by increasing circulation into the soft tissues.  Hugs balance out the nervous system and boost oxytocin levels, which heal feelings of loneliness, isolation, and anger.

“We need four hugs a day for survival. We need eight hugs a day for maintenance. We need twelve hugs a day for growth.”

~ Virginia Satir

Hugs are wonderful. They are warm and innocent expressions of affection.  To me hugs are magical events.

They are hopeful. They are happy. They spread happiness.

We have a human need to be wanted and valued and accepted. A hug is a demonstration of that.

There is much to be said about the power of a hug. I have noticed a trend as of these last few years of people with signs giving out free ones. It is a novel thing. it creates a bit of a spectacle and maybe it isn’t all that serious but it does make people happy. and it sends out a terrific message.

I have noticed with the passage of time that hugs are becoming more freely given and socially acceptable. When I was a child one rarely would see two men hug, these days it is commonplace. This is a wonderful thing.

It is such a wonderful thing and so is a kind word, a pat on the back and a smile.

Sometimes we don’t know the burden another may be carrying and cannot fathom how one simple act of encouragement from someone; a stranger even and what sort of positive impact that it can have.

If we all made a point of doing this;  reaching out to others even sometimes going  the extra mile to tell another person you care; whether it’s just an ear to listen.  Sometimes all people need is a release; someone to talk to and a little sympathy.  Sometimes it is a stranger, a person you will never encounter again, this does not lessen the quality of the interaction. Every positive interaction we have with another person makes them feel good and makes us feel good. it’s all good!

And just like rabbits these positive interactions spread and before you know it the room is of full of rabbits.

Try it you’ll like it. Hug someone today.

♥

Strawberryindigo.

.

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” 
― Albert Einstein

English: ‘FREE HUGS’ in a marketplace, Chile (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

References and Related Articles

Why we need at least 8 hugs a day (mindbodygreen.com)

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5756/10-Reasons-Why-We-Need-at-Least-8-Hugs-a-Day.html

5 Ways to Hug  (wikihow.com)

 Miracle/soulmate (helioshub.wordpress.com)

Entangled Particles and the Certainty of Love

We are star dust.  We are atoms, molecules, particles and quarks. We are flesh and bone and hearts and minds. We are human and we live in a complex universe full of mystery. I am an artist, a writer and poet.  I have many varied interests which mix in my brain and leads me to think some pretty interesting thoughts.

For years I have been curious about the universe at large and how it became to be. As I mentioned before, my mind is slanted toward the more creative side of the spectrum, but physics, especially quantum physics is a subject that intrigues me. I have read about a dozen books on the subject; ones that are written for the layperson like myself.  Contained therein these books are concepts which are very difficult for my creative and whimsical mind to grasp.  One of these is the subject of Entangled Particles.

Einstein, one of my heroes and an altogether fascinating and smart guy called the subject of  entanglement “spooky action at a distance.”

“Inside the atom, electrons exist in orbits around the central nucleus. And just as the Earth spins daily on its axis while orbiting the sun, electrons also have spin. That Particles such as electrons can also become ‘entangled’, so that any measurement of the spin of one of them is correlated with the spin measured on the other – no matter how far apart they are! The ‘non-locality’ of this entanglement means two particles can be considered as a single object, even though they may be separated by some distance.”

To me, in my silly mind, this is not so much spooky as it is romantic….and it just gets better; no matter how far these entangled particles get from each other, they stay intertwined and behave as one, even on opposite ends of the universe;  Star-crossed lovers if I’ve ever heard of them.

We humans are made up of these countless particles.  

This makes me think of these two particles; together as one until one day out of the blue and from no doing of their own…they are split apart… just like that. And hurled into opposite ends of the universe.  I know what you’re thinking; how tragic!

Isn’t that just the way. I have seen many romantic movies with the same plot.  Boy meets girl and boy loses girl…just like that. These entangled ones are so “into each other” they keep acting the same no matter how far apart they get from each other. He may be in the jungles of South America and she may at her country estate on  the moors of Wuthering Heights but they never forget how it was to be together and long for each other like crazy.

In the cold reality of space we know these entangled particles will never meet again but in the affairs of the heart we know that often love finds a way.  So say a million billion trillion years pass and these entangled particles meet again somehow; would they recognize each other?

Ah…as Shakespeare would say; that’s the rub and this is my point….

Ever meet someone who you already knew? Someone you could fall into and float with forever?  Maybe that’s why; it may be our particles recognize each other.   Spooky?  I say not….I say it’s a Quantum Romance.

Just a few thoughts from the mind of a “nutcase”

♥

Strawberryindigo.

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“Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.” 
~Rumi

****References and Related Articles****

      Quantum Entanglement (wikipedia.org)

Spooky Action at a Distance (pbs.org)

Spooky Action at What Distance? [Uncertain Principles] (scienceblogs.com)

Quantum Computing Moves Big Step Closer To Reality As Scientists Teleport Data Across Chip (huffingtonpost.com)

The first quantum entanglement of photons through space and time (wikileaks-forum.com)

Fresh Quotes: MAY~The words I live by

Credit: Einstein, Mother Nature and SBI

I found this quote a couple of years back. I was at a crossroads in my life, I was lost and searching for answers. I felt time was ticking away and eating at my soul. I felt empty and answerless. I was searching….searching for something…I did not know what. Answers perhaps…meaning, at least a direction. I was spiritually and physically low but ready for something…I didn’t know what at the time…and then I ran across this quote. It was contained in a quote book I picked up at the library, before that I wasn’t one for quotes. They seemed old and stuffy. I could not see how they could be the least bit interesting;  old rehashed bits taken out of context…but for some reason I checked the book out, brought it home and opened it up. I thumbed through a few pages before I came to this one above….I admit I took extra care in looking at it because it had Einstein’s name attached to it but it was the clutter part that piqued my interest. I read the quote in it’s entirety….again and again. It was as if I had discovered something…it hit me like a ton of bricks and it seemed to be speaking just to me; telling me what I needed to hear at the very time I needed to hear it….every word of the quote was essential. It was a blueprint; a map to where I needed to go…it seemed so complex yet so simple and I proceeded to follow it to the letter and I still do. That quote changed my life, literally and for the better. Before I could never comprehend how the wonderful could be hidden smack dab in plain sight right in the middle of the awful, but there it was….there it is…as strange as it sounds before that I felt unjustly persecuted by the events in my life…it all seemed so unfair and all I could do at the time was selfishly think of myself…I will admit this. It is something I am ashamed of now, but it is the truth. Of course I thought of my kids and the people I loved but that was it, as far as I was concerned the rest of humainty….all those people I didn’t know…all those strangers, what did I owe them anyway…these strangers I had never met….they never did any thing for me…and I wasn’t doing so hot myself. I had just found out  I was Aspergers and I had nowhere to turn. I was alone but I couldn’t see why…this is when that quote came out of the blue like that and struck me.

Since that time I have changed dramatically. I started this blog and started reaching out into this wonderful wide world of ours and I have found so much wonder, awe and compassion in myself that grows daily. Just the other day I took these wise words written by such a wise man, printed them into a photo of the sky I had just taken and merged them together. This photo now hangs on the wall at work, right next to my computer. I look at it many times during the day and I take each word to heart.

I am now a quote person. I have many favorites and have learned so much from them. I don’t know why I never caught on to this before but I suppose the time came when it needed to . I have amassed quite a collection. For this month’s edition of Fresh Quotes I will be including my all time favorites; the very words I live by…I hope you find some  you like too…

By the way, HAPPY May, yes, it is May already.  😀

~SBI

Me before the “big job interview.” I was scared witless but I went anyway and got the job! Now it’s just a place I go to and complain about…haha.

“DO ONE THING EVERYDAY THAT SCARES YOU.”

~Eleanor Roosevelt

November 9, 1989, jubilant crowds celebrated the opening of border crossings along the Berlin Wall.

“Many small people, who in many small places do many small things, can alter the face of the world”

(By anonymous, found on a piece of graffiti on the Berlin Wall.)

Credit: Public Domain

“Hope is the thing with feathers That perches in the soul And sings the tune without the words And never stops at all.”

~Emily Dickinson

Credit: Public Domain

“Life is short, Break the Rules.

Forgive quickly, Kiss SLOWLY.

Love truly. Laugh uncontrollably

And never regret ANYTHING That makes you smile.”

~Mark Twain

Credit: Hulton-Deutsch

“FORGET SAFETY.
LIVE WHERE YOU FEAR TO LIVE.
DESTROY YOUR REPUTATION.
BE NOTORIOUS.”
~Rumi

Credit: Public Domain

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”
~Mahatma Gandhi

Credit: Pixelcharlie

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

 ~Neil Gaiman

Credit: Public Domain

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP.”
~Winston Churchill

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• Enlightening quotes are the best source for gaining inspiration. These type of quotes can be bought in the quotation dictionary and quotation treasures. Enlightening quotes could be in different category and my favorite category is life quotes. The reason (sgblogging.wordpress.com)

Fresh Quotes: April TAX

I have been torn about the theme of this month’s fresh quotes. At first I planned to do it on  fools, as in April Fool, but at the last-minute I changed my mind and decided on taxes. As I write this, I find the two to be somehow pathetically linked.

A fool and his money are soon parted and I know some of us feel like fools after immersing ourselves in these inane and overcomplicated tax forms and to add injury to insult, we then shell out our hard-earned money for the privilege while some corporate fat cats pay nothing. It’s enough to pull one’s hair out! UGH!

I can only speak for Americans here but that dreaded day will be soon upon us and I better get on with it!  I have a shoebox full of receipts and big bottle of aspirin, or would a bottle of Tequilla do it?  Wish me luck….and while I am wading through this insane minutiae, take a gander at some quotes I have collected; perfect for the occasion…

~SBI

“Isn’t it appropriate that the month of the tax begins with April Fool’s Day…”

~Rob Knauerhase

Credit: Public Domain

“Be wary of strong drink, it can make you shoot at the tax collector…and miss.”

Robert A. Heinlein

Credit: Public Domain

“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”

Thomas Jefferson

Credit: Public Domain

“The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return.”
~Gore Vidal

Credit: Wikicom

“WE DO NOT PAY TAXES. ONLY THE LITTLE PEOPLE PAY TAXES.”

Leona Helmsley

Credit: Public Domain

“The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.”
― Albert Einstein

Credit: Public Domain

“Tomorrow you’re all going to wake up in a brave new world, a world where the Constitution gets trampled by an army of terrorist clones, created in a stem-cell research lab run by homosexual doctors who sterilize their instruments over burning American flags. Where tax-and-spend Democrats take all your hard-earned money and use it to buy electric cars for National Public Radio, and teach evolution to illegal immigrants. Oh, and everybody’s high!”
― Stephen Colbert, I am America

Credit: Public Domain

Fresh Quotes PEACE March

There is a movement afoot called Bloggers for Peace. It is a crazy dream started by my friend Kozo from Everyday Guru’s. Kozo is a big-hearted person who believes that we can achieve this dream of living life in peace. I happen to agree and the more people involved the better. This blogging for peace is growing and growing and with every post published, we inch our way closer and closer to achieving this seemingly farfetched goal.  It had to start somewhere and Kozo wasn’t the first person to yearn for peace and he won’t be the last. Perhaps this is futile after all, but peace is a beautiful song and the more people who sing it the more beautiful it becomes and all the more powerful.

Please join us. Add your wonderful voice, let it be heard. All that is asked of you is devote your talents and energies to at least one post a month for peace. The details are here.

So in honor of Peace. I thought this month’s helping of Fresh Quotes would be devoted to this lovely cause.

Much happiness to you my friends, 

Strawberryindigo.

Life is beautiful!

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
~Buddha~

Flower Power

“I offer you peace. I offer you love. I offer you friendship. I see your beauty. I hear your need. I feel your feelings.”

~Mahatma Gandhi~

Sgt. Shane Pudgett hugs his wife goodbye as his son, Bryce, age 5, sheds a tear.

“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.”
~Albert Einstein

Peace + Love=Happiness

“Imagine all of us living in peace, it’s too beautiful to just be a dream.”
~John Lennon~

We can all do our part!

“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.”

~Eleanor Roosevelt~

The faces of War

What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”
~Mother Teresa

PEACE is the word

“Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.”

~Francis of Assisi~

Just say “NO!”

“NEVER GIVE UP…No matter what is going on…Never give up…Develop the heart… Too much energy in your country…Is spent developing the mind…Instead of the heart… Be compassionate…Not just to your friends…But to everyone…Be compassionate …Work for peace…In your heart and in the world…Work for peace…And I say again…Never give up…No matter what is going on around you…Never give up”

~Dalai Lama

Our future lies in the heart of a child

” If we are to teach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real war against war, we shall have to begin with the children.”
~Mahatma Gandhi~

Click to join!

Related Peaceful Articles

**The post that started it all**

****We can make a difference right here right now (everydaygurus.com)****

♥ Kozo and Cheri asks you to always link to this post (bloggers4peace.wordpress.com) ♥

Monthly Peace Challenge: Marching towards Forgiveness (everydaygurus.com)

Sharing Some More Thoughts (Inspirational) On “The War For Peace” (peacepursuit.wordpress.com)

Bloggers for Peace on Facebook (facebook.com)

The Peace Garden (picturesinlivingcolor.wordpress.com) **My other blog**

B4Peace – February (sarahneeve.wordpress.com)

 Living My Dream: I will fight for you people (summer4soul.wordpress.com)

PEACE is Possible (strawberryindigo.wordpress.com)

Peace & Love Are Eternal… (spiritualworldtravelerblog.com)

Spiritual Peace (motherwifestudentworker.wordpress.com)