Beauty Forgiveness Healing: December 2012

Monday, December 31, 2012

Beauty in the wind

I am so very lucky. During the Christmas week I went to the beach daily. I cannot remember when I have enjoyed lingering on the beach as much as this time. It was absolutely lovely.
I wish you a great year 2013 - I hope that your needs will be fulfilled!
There is a Chinese proverb that says: "A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers." I am giving you this flower. I can smell the fragrance (of beach, salt and sea) on my keyboard already!

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Happiness

I wish you will be happy and content during the holiday period! Let's aim to enjoy the little things in life - such as flowers! I will start posting again in a week. I am off to an island. Be well.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Cycle

Christmas is almost here. A year gone... again. Another starting soon.

This plant produces pretty flowers and ugly, hard balls. Just like life.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Fun

I went to a pre-Christmas party yesterday. It was fun. And this is very strange for me to say as I am an introvert. But I feel I have changed, maybe just slightly but enough for myself to feel a big difference. Or maybe I have just adjusted myself through meditation.

Here is an image of a flower that represents fun to me. It is the colour, I think, that makes me think of lighthearted living.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Grand view

Light makes all the difference, doesn't it? If the late afternoon sun did not hit the eucalypt tree trunk, the image would have been bland. Always wait for the right light to proceed with the task at hand!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Seeing things as they are

Sometimes I do not even see the plant properly when I am photographing it... This was the case with this bottlebrush (?) flower. On the last day of the meditation course I had received a permission to take a few photos of the place and this flower was one of the pictures I took. I saw the tree first, it was a scrubby, forgotten, messy-looking, no shape really, not at all photogenic, and there were only a few flowers but sort of hiding here and there. I walked closer, saw this flower, thought 'oh well, I'll take a snap'. During this time I did not really, truly realise how fantastic it looks until I saw it on my computer screen the other day. I am intrigued by it now. It looks absolutely fascinating, and the pink colour is to die for!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Beauty comes with thorns

I photographed this bougainvillea at my backyard yesterday morning. It looks beautiful with the massive bunches of flowers but be aware: it has big, thick, needle-sharp thorns running along the branches! Bougainvilleas have lots of different colour variations. I have a purple one at front, and when the light touches the petals, it simply looks gorgeaus, like hundreds of butterfly wings stuck together.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Prickly wheel

I took this photo yesterday morning. It reminds me of the wheel of life. Life that is full of miseries that go around and around.

I am not on a negative mood. I am actually on a very positive mood because I am consciously working on an attempt to cease every moment, and be aware of the moment, and not to worry about the future and not to think of the past, except only fleetingly and in an accepting and understanding way. I am slowly getting better. The Vipassana meditation really helps. I had a big meditation experience last night. I swayed and shook most of the session like a woman possessed! It is hard to explain - it has to be experienced to be understood.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Red spot

It has been a good day. I woke up super early (4am! I am obviously still on the 'monastery mode'!), meditated for an hour and then went to backyard trying to figure out what the neighbour's dog was barking at. He was up on the hill and kept going on and on. There was no apparent reason except lots of haziness in the air and a strong smell of smoke. At this time of the year there is always the worry of a bush fire. And the weather has been hot and windy, yesterday and today, which makes the conditions perfect for bush fires. Anyway, I worked on the backyard for the best part of the early morning and managed to cut down the clumping bamboos that have started sprouting again. They are beautiful and but very, very messy, especially around the pool. I will miss the sound of bamboos in the wind though... Maybe I will plant them somewhere else some other time. They grow so fast anyway.

Here is an image I took the other day at the nursery. I do not know the name of the plant but the lonely red spot caught my eye.

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Lighter

I came back today from a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation course. It was a tough challenge to say the least but... I feel so much lighter and happier now! (Please google such words as Goenka (Vipassana teacher) and Vipassana meditation centres if you are interested. There are centres around the world, including a few here in Australia and one in Finland. The service is free - you may donate some money after the course if you so wish.) Oh dear, I do not even know where I would/could start to explain what happened during the ten days... because superficially I did not do anything else but ate, slept and sat in silence but internally there were turmoils, and gross and subtle sensations at every waking moment, and that is practically 24/7 as the 'unconscious' never sleeps) but in brief: through (at times painful) meditation sessions I gained new insights to my life, behaviour and mind in a profound and powerful way.I am so thankful I came across with this type of meditation. Recommended! (Please note that this is not about religious stuff but spiritual growth and practical mind-cleansing.)

Here are some light-coloured flowers from my backyard to brighten our day!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Dancing

Here is a bit more pre-Christmas cheer... This image somehow reminds me of girls dancing in a circle and waving their scarfs.
I will be away for the next 10 days. By the time I get back the summer will be really here. Yesterday we already had a killer heat wave that really took my energy away.

Monday, December 3, 2012

Colour of love

I love these trees. Especially when I am driving a car and they have been planted along the road, and then it is spring! like suddenly spring!, and I can feel the red in me. It is like an energy buzz and I become happy for a while. And sometimes even a bit longer than just a while. Love them!

Sunday, December 2, 2012

Towards the light

Here is an image that I took at the nursery one day. I think this might be a meat-eating plant.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Crunch time

A strange sound woke me up this morning. I thought the neighbour is at the backyard drumming plastic bowls with xylophone mallets and I could not understand why he would do that... It turned out that two furious (normally these species look very calm and collected) pidgeons flapped their wings and tails against each other like there was a war between them. I am not sure whether it was a violent mating session or two males trying to show off. Or two girls fighting over a boyfriend. Or maybe it was a domestic dispute. Anyway, for a while it looked like it had started snowing. Feathers were flying everywhere.
This picture is of the bottlebrush bush in my front yard. These beautiful-looking culprits crunch away the green matter.