Beauty Forgiveness Healing: January 2013

Monday, January 28, 2013

Bending

There could be another storm cycle like this coming up within two months. We had the devastating Brisbane and Ipswich floods just two years ago and now this. I really feel for the surf life savers and helicopter rescuers and all the others, especially the volunteers, that are dedicated to saving human lives. Many of the people they saved did not follow the given evacuation or other instructions in the first place. But that is the way it is, some people save lives and some people put others at risk. A cycle.

Here is an image of a rose that is not giving up.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Surviving

The storm is moving to NSW now but it is still rainy here. I have been reading Lucy Irvine´s book Castaway for the past week. She and her companion G were so unprepared for their one-year-long island experience in the Torres Strait that it baffles me. What were they thinking?? And it was G´s third attempt... Some people do not seem to learn from their experiences... Lucy and G´s adventure sounds like a suicide mission. Anyway, they were suffering from lack of water at some point. I have not got to that part the wet season starts... In Tom Neale´s book Tom was very well prepared, maybe that is why it is a pleasurable read; I do not have to get frustrated for him. He knew what he was doing whereas Lucy and G are incompatible and ill-prepared. Lucy´s motive to pair up with G never comes clear, or least I am not that far in the book, but maybe it was her desire for fame? Which does not seem like a good motivation to move to a deserted island with a whinging verbal abuser for a year. On the other hand there are always two sides to the story... Anyway, why I am writing about the these books (again) is that when these huge rainfalls torment us at the moment I just try to imagine how would it feel to be on an island in the middle of Pacific, and not sure whether the hut is going to take the beating, and wheather the beans and tomatoes are going to survive, not to mention if a giant swell would swipe me away...

The good thing is, naturally, that there is a lot of useful debris on the beaches after the storms. Heheh.

Here is an image of an flower on a beautifully dry day.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Wet

It is raining here. Yesterday the motorways were stuck (I witnessed a huge truck in the ditch so I assume the bumper-to-bumper traffic here and there was all due to several accidents due to rainy weather). Today I am expecting my friends to cancel the brunch meeting we planned a while back. If I am not meeting with friends I am torn between watching a movie or dusting and organising the bookshelves...

The art project(s) have got wind under their wings. It looks like there could be funding for it. It is always fun and exciting to come up with an idea that is worthwhile and doable...

I am very excited about starting the art therapy studies in a month's time. Good stuff!

The forecast predicts a bit of sunshine for Wednesday...

Friday, January 25, 2013

Indoors

The rain has arrived. I keep burning candles to keep the house a bit more pleasant and dry. It is flooding up north.

Here is an image of my only indoor plant. Orchid.

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

White

I just watched a documentary called The Cats of Mirikatani. It is about an 80-year-old Japanese Grand Master Artist who lived on the streets of New York until the documentary maker asked him to move in to her apartment after 9/11 because the air was toxic outside. It is an amazing story on many levels. It is sad, it is funny, it is healing.

I photographed this flowering bush during Christmas holiday on the island. I do not know the name of it. It is beautiful, like a summer bride.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Pushing through

I took this photo a couple of months ago when my long-suffering mulberry tree started to show signs of life... She looks like she is going to open her wings and fly...

Monday, January 21, 2013

Fresh

I am feeling fresh today although the weather is hot and humid. I think the freshness comes out of the fact that everytime after I go to volunteer at the support service, like I did today, I really feel I have contributed in some way to the wellbeing of others. I then come home and I do not feel down although I still do not have a paid job yet. I know I will find a job in one of these days. And most importantly I am very aware that my issues are really minuscule compared to many other people. I am not physically sick, I am mentally ok, I have a house, I have food, nobody is after my life and my loved ones are doing ok. I even have a piece of chocolate-beetroot cake left that I made yesterday! So what is there to worry about?

Here is an image of flowering ginger. Fresh!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Layers

There is so many layers to life. There are layers to our every thought, to every action. For instance, the layers of happiness. At the moment I am happy although there is stuff that could go better for me. But, regardless, I am happy. Yesterday I felt really strongly that I really, really would not want to be anyone else, or in anyone else's situation in life. I am happy with mine, and whatever it is that I have to deal with, I will deal with it. I know I can. Because these are my layers.

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Suddenly the stars appear

Today's projection looks much more hopeful. There is yellow in the picture. Flowering succulents. Stars reaching towards you. Hey, how easy, you do not have to reach for the stars anymore, just accept that they are there reaching out for you if you care to look.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Projection

I took this photo a while back when I was walking along the streets nearby. I think this flower is beautiful, yet a bit scary looking. Some of the shots I took of this flower seem to scream like Munch's painting. I did not want to publish any of them even though they are technically better than this. Maybe the flower reminds me too much of anxiety-filled feelings, and I cannot fully like this flower. But it is not the flower's fault, of course. It is my feelings that I am projecting on this image at the moment.

I just wish I found a decent job. That is all.

A bit of blue

Here is a bit of blue from a hanging basket at my backyard. Originally the plant was given to me by a friend who moved back to Finland a long time ago. It would be nice to see her again. I wonder how she is doing. If I have to take a guess, I would say that she is doing splendidly! I think of her as one of the wonder women of this world who could tackle any obstacle.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Need for others

I feel that I need to find others to meditate with. They say that meditation is stronger in group. I might latch onto a local group of vipassana meditators and sit with them once a month, or once a week.

As I have not been able to find a job yet I am currently volunteering in a domestic violence place as an intake person. I like it there. I wish they had funding to hire me for a couple of days a week. Yesterday I felt I really contributed to the wellbeing of others. It is so important to get satisfaction from the work you do, and to be able to do the work in a supportive, non-judgemental environment.

I photographed this flower around the time I went to the 10-day vipassana meditation course. This is one of those 'look deeper' shots that I enjoy taking.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Energy issue

This plant, which grows next to my front porch, used to flower madly years ago. It does not do it anymore. Maybe the trees around it are taking so much of the root space and therefore it does not have energy to produce flowers.

I read about Matt Damon yesterday when he was young and filming one of his first movies. He had to lose almost 20 kilos for the role. His adrenalin glands did not like it and he went on medication for a year and half afterwards. Tom Neale writes in his book An Island to Oneself that he was without energy for a long time, not only because he had not had [red] meat, except weekly roosters and daily fish, for a long while, and his diet was very simple (although fairly healthy), but also because he ran out of tobacco. He used to smoke one cigarette a day and when there were no cigarettes anymore, he fell into depression. He came out of it after finding a huge turtle on the beach and eating turtle meat for a week.

Maybe I should feed a turtle to my plant?

Monday, January 14, 2013

Floating

This is how I have been feeling lately - floating like a worn-out leaf on the surface of unknown waters, not knowing what will happen next, where will I go, which direction. Oh, the uncertainty - what a pain in the ass you are!
I took the photo yesterday morning. I can feel the anxiety trying to take hold of me. I will not give up! No way! After the morning´s meditation I feel much, much better. "Everything flows; nothing remains." Everything changes - just have to accept it. Otherwise unhappiness takes over. And who would like to be unhappy?

I am reading a book called An Island to Oneself by Tom Neale. He wrote it in the 1960's after having lived on a deserted island in the Pacific Ocean for years. It is a really good book.

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Communicating

I took this photo yesterday at my backyard. This is a plant that was given to me by an old man. He was an eager listener of the community radio programs that I used to deliver. He gave me feedback; lent me a book actually, advicing of a certain Finnish dialect. I went to visit him once with my family. He had a beautiful, big garden. He had made tiling an art form around the self-made pool and the paths around the garden. He gave me plants as I had next to nothing growing on my yard. I have been given a lot of the plants that grow on my yard. I remember the people through the plants. I wonder if the old man is still around. The plant is thriving. It seems to multiply now more than ever.

Saturday, January 12, 2013

Dreamy

The TV shows cyclone in Exmouth area in WA. We are lucky in this bit of the world. The weather is very nice at the moment. This is the first non-sticky morning for a while.

I am posting one of the first images I took when I got the camera a couple of months ago. A dreamy shot of flowers on my front yard.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Need for green

I feel like I need something to freshen up my morning. It is quite hot and humid here at the moment. Unpleasant. I did not sleep well - actually I was awake for about four hours during the night. Now that I have had my morning doze of meditation and breakfast, I feel better. But as for the images in this blog today, I am posting something green and fragile. Something cooling.

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Sunshine!

Here we go. My reluctance towards creating another web-based album was unnecessary as it seems I had it already. Picasa is being created automatically when I add pictures in the blog. Or something. I really dislike learning how to use computer-based technologies. Really. But luckily they make it easier and easier as times go by for dummies like me. The only worry is that you do not have any control of anything anymore. Not after clicking yourself in the internet the first time. But there is no point fighting against it. It just makes you unhappy. And me! :) We, our lives, are now for anyone to be seen, and there are no secrets anymore. Not really. Everything can be dug out if need be. So what to do? To live a life of good morals and ethics. I cannot think of anything else. Can you?

Contemplating

I am contemplating what to do with regards to this image loading issue...

An hour ago I heard we had 29 degrees outside. It is overcast but really sticky. I can smell smoke. Maybe it is coming from Bribie Island... There are so many bushfires currently around Australia it is not funny. It has been a few good years without big fires and this summer looks like they are everywhere.

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

My friend

My friend (in the comments) is suggesting I keep blogging for a while and see if Blogger lets me post photos from my computer again later on. It happened to her, so I live in hope!

I have not been photographing for a while now. One of the reasons might be that I know I cannot publish them anywhere. I am not the one to take photos for myself. I need an avenue to share. Yeah.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Still no photos

Sorry. This seems not to work for me. I was given an advice to upgrade to Google+, which I did, but the system does not still let me upload images from my computer. It looks like I would need to create an album in the internet and download from there. Honestly, I do not know if I can bother. Plus I feel reluctant to creating an album that I only use for feeding the blog. Dumb system, if you ask me! What was wrong with loading from the computer? Anyway, that is enough of complaining. I am just a little bit upset as I really wanted to have a photo blog. Are there any other easy-to-use platforms that I could use instead of Blogger?

Friday, January 4, 2013

No images...

It seems Blogger has changed its image publishing policy. I cannot download images from my computer anymore. Sorry.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Looking like an orchid

While I was taking this photo, having twisted myself outside the steps that took to the beach, a man walked by and informed my son that the flower is called North Stradbroke Island Orchid by the locals. I still do not know the real name of it. It is beautiful though. It can be found everywhere on the island.

It is very hard to live here and now, in the moment. In my mind I keep going back to the meditation course missing the predictability and stillness. And I keep going back to the island... thinking of the sun and the sea and the white sand. Maybe I should start planning to live on a deserted island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean for a while. I could combine the two then.

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Exposed for enjoyment

These trees are called grass trees. They usually hide in the under shrub but because there had been a bush fire recently on the island, the grass trees were well exposed. In some areas there were masses of them. I think they look cute, like a group of little men having a corroboree.