Christmas tales...

Someone asked me yesterday if I like Christmas and at first I had to think for a few seconds in order to reply.In the past I must admit that I did not like Christmas very much because I did not like this seasonal exploitation where you are supposed to consume not because you really want to but because you have to.I did not like that you were suppose to eat with your parents at that time but the rest of the year it didn't really matter if you ate alone.

From the moment that I was able to decide what I want to do for Christmas then Christmas became my favourite season. I am spending my Christmas with the people I want, I am not pressured to follow traditional gatherings and relatives (I can eat with my parents and then go or I can go away for holidays).I can have an unconventional tree and I buy presents not because of the season but because I want to.

Christmas was never a melancholic season for me.Even if I had difficulties in the past and it was that season the whole festivity mood and the light in the streets always cheered me up.I have also many funny stories to remember Christmas adventures that always make me laugh.

When I first came in England my first relationship was with an English guy.He was really superficial (I did not realise it at that time) but I had fun with him.I met him in a punk rock concert and we started dating the next day.I really liked him but what he liked about me was my looks.We would go out with his friends where he would treat me like a trophy.Well I must admit that I liked him bragging about me until I realised that he didn't want to know me any better.By that time 3 months had past and it was Christmas.On Christmas day we went to a dance festival and it was the first time that I went to such an event as at that time I listened only to metal and punk.He listened to punk but I was happy he was open-minded with music.Anyway we went to this festival were everyone was so friendly, I had never seen anything like that.At that night he said to me for the first time that he loves me and didn't stop hugging me.A week later we split up.I realised that what made him love me that night was ecstasy!

I am going away for a little trip on Christmas to relax and explore. I think that people who have lived a lot have a lot of memories.If you want, share a story about your previous X-mas or what you plan to do.I wish you to have a great wonderful time.Merry Christmas everyone!

art by ploop
photography by nighty

On the Press and Freedom

If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all.

Noam Chomsky

I always considered the press to be the best way of acquiring information that was not as directed and controlled as the television. Since I was 14 I used to buy the newspaper that I thought was more independent from the others and read; something that I did especially on Sundays that I had free time.

Growing up I realized that the press was not as independent as it should be and that it did not offer the freedom of speech and structural pluralism that was suppose to (the extent to which the community has an open structure that permits minority voices and opinions to be heard). That was obvious as people who owned the largest newspapers also owed multinational companies, followed a political line something that created a bias and often lead to censorship. This of course is the case for the so called independent newspapers as the press imposes a limit and does not encourage independent writing. Nevertheless, this did not prevent me from reading and relying on the press for obtaining information.

Yesterday I started reading a newspaper and I really started questioning why I continue buying newspapers. Surely, inside newspapers we can read some nice articles but I have the impression that they get fewer as the years go by. On top of that they are filled with advertisements, cds, dvd’s and lack critique and diversity.

On the internet and inside blogs I have started realizing that I am reading more critical articles that are diverse and I also learn faster about the news that interest me as the internet does not select for me the topics that I should read but I make the selection. Of course the writers of the articles may also exhibit personal biases in their articles but on the internet one has the opportunity to discover pluralism. Different articles for the same topic can exhibit different opinions something that the press always lacked. The press could never successfully distance itself and present different views and opinions for the same incident.

I feel that the internet could be a tool that could empower people to express themselves. We can’t always rely on journalists to choose what could be interesting for us to learn. The news is made by people and can be distributed by the people whose opinions are not censored by their editor. I only fear that when governments realise this potential, they will start censoring internet pages as even though our constitution is based on the freedom of speech when the word freedom is mentioned there is always a person that tries to place a limit on what freedom represents.

(art by dorothy shoes)

The dream factory

“Yet it is in our idleness, in our dreams, that the submerged truth sometimes comes to the top.”

Virginia Wolf

Every night we close our eyes and an extraordinary thing happens. We shift into a different state of consciousness were we meet new and strange people and face challenging situations. This is when we forget our reality and enter a magical world made of dreams.

It is not a surprise that human beings always were concerned with understanding the nature and purpose of dreaming. It begun with people viewing dreams as a message send by the gods and with eyes filled with superstition. Aristotle was the first to believe that dreams could have a function and pointed out that they reflected a human’s bodily health. Scientists have being arguing over the decades concerning the purpose of dreaming and until today we have not an agreement upon the nature of dreaming, just theories and assumptions.

Freud was the first thinker that emphasized that dreams are the guardians of our sleep. He believed that we manufacture dreams in order to escape from environmental stimuli (i.e the noise, the temperature in the room) but also to escape from internal stimuli such as our personal worries and anxieties that would keep as awake. He believed that our unconscious desires are depicted in our dreams and reveal things about our subconscious. The forbidden wishes are not apparent in our dream but are often hidden behind symbols and this is when he developed dream analysis that is often incorporated as a part of psychoanalytic therapy.

Physiologists argue that dreams do not carry a hidden or secret message. During sleep our consciousness is suspended and this occurs during the two major stages of our sleep (NREM and REM).They believed that the experience of dreaming occurs during the REM (rapid eye movement) stage. The REM sleep is often called paradoxical sleep as the activity of the dreaming brain is similar to the activity of the waking brain. At this stage there is no cognitive responsiveness to stimuli and as if we were paralyzed. However, this is the time that we have our most vivid dreams and if we wake up at this stage we would remember them.

Allan Hobson proposed his own theory the Activation Synthesis (AS) denies that dreams have a meaning. The theory supports that because our brain is active when we are dreaming we activate some neurons randomly. In order for the brain to interpret what just occurred it creates a narrative and dreams are produced.

So far, there is not a lot that we know about our dreaming brain as we still rely on theories and it’s your choice what you like to believe in. I believe that dreams have both a bodily and psychological function. I have the sense that dreams are images constructed that are released so that they can throw the garbage of the day (things we have heard or seen that are insignificant) and clear our head. At the same time they often express anxieties, wishes, impulses that we are many times unaware of. I don’t believe that the symbols in our dreams carry a certain symbolism as Freud but I value that he is the one that emphasized the importance of dreaming. I believe more in the theory of existentialism that we all have different personalities and experiences so it would not be possible for a symbol to carry a certain meaning. Moreover, another proof that there is a psychological meaning in dreaming is the example of the repetitive dreams and dreaming after trauma.

An integration and a synthesis of the biological and psychological functions of dreaming could be useful in truly investigating the nature of dreaming. I am interested in your opinion as we all carry a dreaming factory in our brain.

(art by krecha)

Pixie's day

4 brief reasons that make this day pixie's day:

I love the slight drop in temperature that makes us stay at home and enables us to concentrate on ourselves.
The Christmas is near so this means a break from work.We can also start planning on our Christmas presents. It’s a nice excuse to buy more presents for the people we love without making them feel uncomfortable. It’s my birthday and so far at least they bring me joy, another chance to celebrate and be with people I love.
I wish I could invite you all…

(art by celinemeisser)

The fallacy of political correctness…

“Political correctness is a term used to describe language, or behaviour, which is claimed to be calculated to provide a minimum of offense, particularly to the racial, cultural, or other identity groups being described.”

The belief for employing political correct language was derived by the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that aimed to bring to awareness biases that we make in our everyday speech. The term that was originally used by Marxists-Lenists in the early 80s was used by right-wing activists that wanted to challenge communists’ dogmatism. In the mid to late 80s the term was used by conservatives who thought that by using a politically correct vocabulary democracy would be protected. Will Hutton mentions that “"Political correctness is one of the brilliant tools that the American Right developed in the mid-1980s as part of its demolition of American liberalism...”
Today the term political correctness is been used widely and brought changes in the language that we use and brought the emergence of the politically correct dictionary and many revisions on the classic ones.

Politically correctness gave birth to a constant use of euphemisms. Euphemisms are words that describe something unpleasant in the most polite way often metaphorically so as not to disturb the listener. Politics and diplomacy are full of euphemisms. Moreover, the influence for the need to use language that is politically correct has given way to a wide and many times unconscious use of euphemisms. Of course euphemisms are not stable over time; they change as what is politically correct today might not be politically correct tomorrow. For example:
negro → colored → black → African-American→ People of Color
lame → crippled → handicapped → disabled → differently-abled
Shell shock (World War I) → battle fatigue (World War II)→ Operational exhaustion (Korean War) → Post-traumatic stress disorder (Vietnam War).Observe the extreme euphemisms of People of Color and differently-abled.

I think that the use of politically correct speech is creating more problems than it is actually solving. The use of politically correct language in my opinion gave birth to a different form of conservatism that would attack anything that strays for what is proper. Also, it generates difficulties in communication and comprehension. Language is supposed to be a tool to aid communication and not to hinder it. This is what happens when you need to find the proper word in order to speak; not to mention that its also a way for the lawyers to get richer. Moreover, it is a wooden speech that is used mostly by politicians that as they speak instead of using one word they use a whole paragraph. Also for me it is a language of pretense and lie. You might call someone old because he is old, and I wonder what the big deal is. The politically correct word is chronologically gifted. For me chronologically gifted pays more attention to a persons age than old. Similarly, the term minority groups is not politically correct, the term Members of the World's Majorities now is.

I oppose to the use and evolution of politically correct vocabulary. Language should be a bridge to unite people and not to separate them by employing pretense language. My view is that one can be sensitive and polite towards ones view without using all this politically correct language that is adopted by a hypocritical society. I don’t think that is a mistake to name things as they are. I believe that it’s not the word that you use but the way you use that word.

(Art by hockeychick)

Abandonment

“The act of abandoning, or the state of being abandoned; total desertion; relinquishment.”

I have to explore the feeling of abandonment through photography. Abandonment is a feeling that we have all felt once in our lives. Maybe we have lost someone that we care about physically or metaphorically maybe we have felt abandoned by people or maybe we have acknowledged the existence of this feeling as we observe an abandoned house or an abandoned place.

The interesting thing is that when I heard about our new exploration in photography I felt a bit numb as I could not remember my self feeling completely and absolutely abandoned. I have felt in the past alone, left, lonely, but I am not sure if I have really felt the real meaning of the word abandoned.

I am a social creature, a person that needs others and wants to be needed. I have so much need of intimate contact that I value and honor friendship. Its important for me to be able to express my self my feelings close to people I love and have meaningful conversations as well as fun. I don’t know how to hide my feelings and rarely do things that pressure me. Thinking about it loneliness must be my greatest fear as for me it is important to share and live not alone but with.

There were times in my life where I have felt lonely, in my mind comes the time when I had to stay in England alone and all my friends were gone. I have also felt lonely metaphorically, alongside with people that we had nothing in common. I have felt heart-broken and left after a break up but I never believed that I was been abandoned. Maybe I am a positive person and the adversities can only make me a stronger or a more experienced person. Maybe it scares me to believe that I was abandoned and I just describe it as being left. Maybe I am too arrogant to believe that I was ever abandoned and maybe all of the above. Before I capture this feeling in my camera I need to search it within my self. It is easy to characterize something as being abandoned but its so damn difficult finding it within yourself.

(art by krecha)

In the mind of Gondry

“When people are very original, sometimes they are original to resist the mainstream.”

Michael Gondry.

Michael Gondry is the director of the “Eternal sunshine of a spotless mind” (Η αιώνια λιακάδα ενός καθαρού μυαλού) and soon his new film “The science of sleep” will be released in the cinemas. Before that he created a great number of short films before he embarked in his first long film endeavor called “Human Behaviour.”

When I think about Gondry I think about a man that refuses to grow up in a world of pretenses and I see a man that not only hasn’t lost the child inside him but dares to expose it. As he said in an interview “childhood occupies the biggest part of your brain so a lot of my memories subconsciously and consciously enter the videos I do.”

He was born in France in 1963 and apart from a very talented film director he has directed music video clips that are innovative, imaginative, surreal and deeply thought provoking. He was always listening to music and performed as a drummer in a band. Describing the meaning of music in his life he mentioned in an interview that "we listened a lot to pop music, rhythm and blues, and my father was a big Duke Ellington fan. So I never got into music as some sort of reaction to my parents. I didn't have to use music to throw shit back at my parents. They gave me lots of freedom in thinking. I just listened to the music I had always liked.” He has collaborated with Bjork in many of her videos (Isobel, bachelorette, human behavior), Beck (cell phone’s dead), Massive Attack’s (protection), Radiohead (Knives out), White stripes, Chemical Brothers and much more. It’s worth seeing his videos as they remind me of short films where he is presenting through images imaginative stories.

His films are deconstructing reality and incorporate our memories, our dreams and the importance of storytelling is emphasized. His videos and films are thought provoking and have something to tell. He has also participated in various exhibitions where he introduced his ideas by using video installations. The world of Gondry is a world for all the adults that will always feel young and question the certainties of this life. Discover him and make your own deconstructions about this world and don’t forget to travel with your imagination as a vehicle.

Link: Gondry

(Image by Gondry in Bjorks video,photo by rachel owens)

Inside carton boxes

For the past few days I have been helping a person to move house. Those of you that have moved or helped someone move are aware that it is an exhausting experience that makes your back hurt and sends you early to bed. However, I think that more importantly, it can be a rediscovery of ones self.

The difficult part in a moving is that we have to separate all of our possessions that we have been accumulating over the years. This is the time that we relive past memories as they are projected through all the sentimental objects that we have collected over the years. We discover letters that we have kept, photos that were misplaced, presents that we did not like but still have kept and many things that we keep holding on to that sometimes are buried in our closets.

Inside carton boxes our lives are laying there and we can observe ones personality not only from the belongings that they have but more importantly from the things that they hold on to. We can stumble on people in our past that still affect us and we can not let go, we can find out about what makes sense in our lives and observe the attachments that we form with objects.

Carton box after carton box we can also detect the changes that have occurred in our lives. We may throw away objects that once were significant while keep objects that we never needed before. We can observe our habits, our sentiments, our behaviours and their course throughout the years.

Moreover, we can also recognize our own sense of materialism and observe our attachments with materials through our reactions in a moving. We can note our reaction when something that we love breaks and we can notice our reactions if we have to get rid of some things when we have to move to a smaller house.

Moving is an experience that can be very self rewarding. Apart from moving to a new place which is always exciting, there is all these realizations that you can make about your self and can help in your emotional growth and awareness. If a friend is moving you can always find something more about them and challenge your own views on materialism. For all this reasons and because change for me is something exciting I perceive moving to be a very rewarding and fun experience!

(art by magooey)

Suspicious minds...

I don’t know if you have noticed that lately when you ask someone what they do in their spare time they say I watch television. When watching television has become a hobby? It is amazing that not only we spend a lot of the time watching television but to describe it as a hobby it’s something new.

A hobby is a spare time recreational pursuit. The essence of a hobby is that some kind of activity takes place that is physical or mental. We can play a sport that involves a lot of action, we can paint and express our artistic needs or we can read a book and exercise our brain. A passive television viewing I wonder how it can constitute of a hobby.

For me the problem is not watching television is more about opening the television when we are bored. This is the time that we are fed with all kinds of trivial information that could be potentially damaging. This is when viewing becomes a state where our reality becomes determined by our TV set. This is when people stop being critical and accept the reality that the various programs of the television broadcast.

Inside the TV reality people start feeling unsafe, anxious scared, and entangled in a vicious circle of misery. They are afraid that something bad will happen to them they become suspicious and they become more and more introvert. Then their world becomes dependent from the images that are showed on the daily news that crave for blood, fear, sex and gossip. The world becomes unsafe and there is no one you can trust. So, you stay inside your house and watch some more. Besides the TV is the world and it’s always a nice topic for conversation at work. This is when TV becomes a hobby.

Our little box rarely broadcasts nice things as they don’t sell well to the audience. I am not saying that we are living in an angelic world but we tend to forget that most events that are broadcasted especially on the news are exaggerated, one-sided and many times manufactured. Watching TV is not bad as long as we watch actively and critically and don’t let them choose for us what we want to see.

(art by gnato)

A suitcase...

Our most vivid memories and recollections come from our childhood. We can remember sounds, smells and images so vividly that can affect as even today in our adult life. Many of our memories revolve around our parents; some are sweet and others are bitter.

I feel that the most difficult communication of all is the communication between a parent and a child. The parents fail to perceive children as having independent identities and even when they become adults they frequently treat them as children. Sometimes parents perceive children as their successors so they pressure children either to be like them or to do the things that they never did. Other times they have a lot of expectations from their children as they always wanted the perfect child. Other times a child is simply a parent’s property that should do what is told. Of course there are the times that parents are sweet and our memories smell of jasmine but we tend to remember the pain.

The negative feelings tend to be remembered especially when the pain comes from our parents. I feel that no matter how far away we are or how old we are our parents will affect as one way or another. Some of us carry a large heavy suitcase that is called memories. Some of the memories there are so heavy that we can barely drag our feet. Then we remain still and dwell over the past. For others the memory suitcase is lighter and they can walk easier. They stopped and they removed some of the nasty memories that laid there asleep and now they can move on.

The only time I feel defenseless is when a parent’s behaviour hurts me even though I was always independent. I think that this happens not only because our parents affect us but also because when they hurt us they re-open this suitcase with the nasty memories. I feel that the more we have coped with these nasty memories the easier it will be to communicate with ourselves and with the world.


Ένα παιδί ονειρεύεται ότι το αγκαλιάζουν
Είναι ξαπλωμένο κάτω από ένα δέντρο
και μέσα από τα φυλλώματα διακρίνει μια ηλιαχτίδα.
Είναι η μέρα που παίζει κρυφτό με το δάσος.
Ένα παιδί ονειρεύεται ότι το εμπιστεύονται.
Είναι ανεβασμένο στο δέντρο και ατενίζει τον ορίζοντα
Νυχτώνει, τα αστέρια λάμπουν
και το σεληνόφως λούζει το δάσος με φως
Ένα παιδί ονειρεύεται ότι το αγαπούν.
Κάθεται πάνω στα κίτρινα νεκρά φύλλα
που έχουν πέσει από τον άνεμο
Δεν είναι μέρα ούτε και νύχτα
Είναι στο πουθενά
Κοιτάει ψηλά το δέντρο και βλέπει την καρδιά του να κρέμεται από ένα κλαδί
Η καρδιά ταλαντεύεται και ο άνεμος με ένα φύσημα την ρίχνει κάτω, στον σωρό με τα ξερά φύλλα
Τόσο απλά σταμάτησε η καρδιά του γιατί το ευχήθηκε
Στο δάσος ένα παιδί ακόμα ονειρεύεται…

Behind avatars

The 'drifting apart' from each other is intense and felt all the way, everyday. It is evident, even by this very act of 'blogging' and communicating in depth with avatars hiding real persons we will probably never see, touch, or smile to. I have encountered more 'soulmates' in blogs and chat-rooms than in my entire life...

dawkinson

I started the blog because I love to write about the things that bother me, inspire me and make me feel in general. I always used to write since I was a little girl .I never liked diaries where people record the daily happenings as I considered them boring. I wrote small texts, songs even conversations on small pieces of paper and then I would lose them. I thought that the only reason that I started the blog is because I wanted to replace a notebook with an internet page. However, the reasons seem to be more profound and have to do with the need to communicate with people that care about what is happening around them. It has also to do with the idea of sharing; something that tends to become so alien in modern society. People often are reluctant to share their thoughts and initiate the simplest conversation.

Inside blogs a community is created with people that I feel care about what is happening around them and share their souls without barriers through their posts. Some dare to write their surname and some hide behind avatars. I hide behind an avatar or better I think I am just using a cute avatar. People who know me will realise that I am the person writing this blog as what I write is consistent with my personality. My close friends know about my blogging experience and sometimes I tell them excited about something I read or something that I wrote. At the same time I can explore my own thoughts and have a meaningful conversation with my blog friends who sometimes I feel they observe some things that my friends don’t notice.

Every day I discover something new about my blog friends through their posts and they learn something new about me. I often try to imagine them living their daily routines while they steal some time to type hastily on their keyboards their next post.
I like them and with some I am more attached, I am interested on what they have to say and at times I feel their emotional upheaval as they can feel mine. Some of their posts touch me emotionally; others inspire me and I will never meet them in my life. It’s not a surprise when people encounter soulmates behind avatars as profound communications can develop.

What I like about the blogging experience is that no introductions are needed. Someone is reading fragments of your soul. Maybe this is why people don’t use their real names because it would make them feel too vulnerable. There are times that I feel vulnerable when I write something emotional but I would never deny or lie about who I am. Mainly my avatar protects me from the intrusion as I don’t want my next door neighbours to be able to enter my thoughts with a click of the mouse.

Inside blogs there is profound communication going on and I feel that our need for something meaningful is increasing. A meaningful conversation, a meaningful communication, a meaningful existence…


(the post was inspired by dawkinson’s meaningful comment)
(art by freckledfaced)

Looks like a human...

Many people that know me are aware that I am fascinated by Japanese culture. I love the food, fashion, manga comics and their anime series. In their comics and anime a recurring theme is stories that refer to cyborgs. Cyborgs are robots that comprise both human and mechanical parts. Cyborgs because of their human parts can experience a wide range of emotions like love and sadness that are similar to human emotions. The models can be used as maids, companions, partners or they can be adopted children. There is one thing that these different models have in common; they are loyal. Of course this is fiction; a product of their imagination that is a popular theme in Japan.

Today I read in the newspaper that Android Repliee Q2 was created in Osaka University. An android is a robot that resembles a human being and behaves in a human way. They can interact with people; they can respond to human touch and look like they breathe. Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro predicts that “as lifelike androids become cheaper and more sophisticated, some of their first uses will be as companions for the elderly and as guides for people in railways stations or museums”. It is still early but as his remarks refer to a near future we could foresee that cyborgs could be existent at a distant future.

Technology is advancing rapidly and even though I am positive on the advancement of technology in general I am skeptical on the android development. I feel that the Japanese obsession with cyborgs and androids has to a great extent do with the lack of human communication that is apparent in their vast culture. In all their stories the robots are loyal, respectful and fill a void in a human soul: that of companionship. When humans are abandoned or heart broken there is a cyborg there that will never leave by their side and that it will accept them for who they are.

People sense more and more the lack of communication amongst people and they feel incomplete. However, robot companionship could never replace human companionship. Something that can look, smell or act like a human is not a human being. Something that can obey our orders and act accordingly to our needs could never make us happy and complete as it lacks something very important: A human soul and free will.

(art by bluefley)

The dreaming city...

I have to imagine of a dream city a place that would make me happy and create it in a photography dark room. This makes me feel a bit restricted because my dream city would definitely have a lot of color which is what our grey cities need.

A dream place would have parks where I could take long walks. I would go there alone and read a book or with my friends and play guitar. A dream city will have more animals that are not afraid to walk amongst people and beautiful lakes. A dream city would also care about the environment and try to develop recourses that depend on solar or wind energy. My city would not be covered by ugly block of flats and grey cement. My dream city would be able to breathe.

In a dream city my neighbors would feel less scared and they would go out more often. My dream city will have some lovely people that don’t turn their look away when you look at them; scared. They would also be more open-minded, more relaxed and they would not judge someone easily. They would not care about political parties but they would be political and environmentally aware. They would not be so scared to love and be loved and they would hug others more often. My dream city is an actual dreaming city because people have dreams that drive them to creativity and they rarely see these haunting nightmares. It is a city that is dreaming because it has a future and because people have a quality of life.

How should I create my dream city? I think I would start using my color pencils, some fairy dust and a lot of positivism. And I would need some habitants to live with me.

I will start right away…my dreaming city.

(art by bellalee)

Fortune and misfortune

The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose. (Quote from the film Match Point)

This brilliant movie by Woody Allen made me contemplate a lot on how important luck can be in ones life so much that a man preferred to be lucky than good. If you think about it in many cultures when a baby is born they wish that the baby is lucky in their lives. Not only in African and Indian tribes but also in our culture there are many superstitions concerning luck. Finding a penny or finding a four leaf clover is supposed to bring luck whereas a black cat crossing a street and breaking a mirror is supposed to be unlucky. I don’t believe in superstitions but because they exist for so many centuries I can only assume that for many people throughout the years luck was considered to be fundamental.

There a lot of things in life that we can not control and many times no matter how hard we try we can’t achieve our goals. This is where luck comes into place. Being at the right place at the right time and vice versa can be defining. Avoiding an accident or a disaster by simple luck can have an effect. Winning money in a lottery, meeting by chance the love of your life, finding by chance the opportunity of your life whereas others are working hard for the right opportunities during their whole lives can all be caused by luck.

What part do you think that luck plays in one life and what if someone has run out of luck? There are always people in our lives that we consider them unlucky and misfortunes happen to them all the time. What about them? Why do you think disasters attract some people and others not?

Rationalist philosophers deny the effect of luck and they believe that it’s only poor reasoning. Statistically speaking a person will get some luck eventually. Psychology also emphasize that believing in luck is derived by the need to be able to achieve a greater control in ones life and disguise the fear of the unknown. Jean Paul Sartre believes that people who believe in luck just try to avoid responsibility on things

For me luck was never an issue as I always believed that life is what you make of. However I can’t deny that luck plays some part and influence the cause of events. But I don’t believe that this is always an accident. My name of luck is positive thinking that when you have it you can attract good things happening to you not out of superstition but because you are positive to situations and bad things are not viewed as disasters. Moreover, maybe someone is not lucky but really capable and he doesn’t know it. When I think about a friend that attracts disasters she is always so negative and miserable. Or maybe because I am lucky I never thought about it before.
Then one day comes where luck comes to refute you and look you in the eye when by luck you escape from an accident or a natural disaster.

What are your thoughts on luck?

(art by pesare)

Surreal conversation

The phone rang.
Who are you he asked me?
Who are you I answered, you called me!
I am someone that you used to know 10 years ago.
I have your telephone number in my phone book and I can’t get some rest until I find out who you are.

This person is someone I used to know 10 years ago. So I checked my old phone book and I had his telephone number but not a clue of who he is or how I met him. Now he lives abroad and for some reason it is important to him to gather his memories and gather all his friends that he used to had. But I was never his friend as if we were close I would remember who he was. By talking to him I realized that we used to go to the same places and that we used to know the same people and listen to the same music. Nothing more comes in mind and I surely can not recollect his face. He asked me to send him a photo of how I was 10 years ago so that he can get some rest as he told me that my name is haunting him for the past years. Talking about a surreal conversation!
In the end I realized that he was just a person feeling lonely and homesick, trying to gather all the people that he left behind in case he comes back.

Any strange phone conversations that you want to share?

(art by incolorwetrust)

Interpreting or misinterpreting?

There is nothing neither good nor bad but thinking makes it so

Shakespeare

People carry their own personal history, their own personal constructs, ideas and personalities. This is the reason that there are always different views and interpretations about the things that happen around us. This of course is something beautiful when you realize that human psyche is so complex and unique but it can shock you when you realize that you can be a victim of someone’s interpretation of facts.

I don’t know if you have noticed that one day you describe to your friend, to a family member or an acquaintance an incident and at the time they express that they have comprehend what you said. Days later you realize that they have made their own interpretation of what you said and they got it completely wrong. Imagine then what can happen when you explain to a group of people something and later the whole group makes their own interpretation of facts.

You can tell me that this may happen because you did not explain something well and in a consistent manner. However, I have come to realize that the way we view things is very subjective and that our personal distortions interfere with our judgment. For example you may have said to someone that you don’t want them to see them right now because you are tired and let’s assume that you mean it. A person may think that you don’t want to see them and feel bad because they think that you try to avoid them, another person might think that you are actually tired, another person may think that you don’t know how to say no so you find an excuse etc. But remember you were actually tired but a circle of misunderstandings can occur.

This is when our own personality constructs interfere with reality and blur our judgment. The way that we think is that makes all the difference and not the way that we feel. For example when we believe that we are boring or uninteresting then when someone is saying no to us we blame ourselves. We forget that this person that says no might actually be tired and their denial has nothing to do with us. Of course there is the chance that we are boring to some but for others we will be interesting and we make overgeneralizations that harm us.

A way to be come more objective I think is actively listening what the other person says and ask if unsure. Similarly, in order to become more objective is to minimize the hypothesis that we do and try to view what someone says through their eyes not through ours. Because we would feel and think in a certain way does not mean that the other person will.

We are so complex and unique as personalities and I think that this is our beauty. It helps when we try to perceive someone’s experience from their point of view and forget ours.
Let me show you the world through my eyes...


(art by thundercake)

Time Heals

Seeing my friend not being able to cope after her break up I remembered this initial feeling of emptiness and abandonment that one feels when they separate from someone they love. We have spent the whole week driving in my car at night, going from one place to the other while she is crying and I comfort her. She has cried for a thousand rivers, she is desperate and the entire human psyche is exposed. All the vast variety of human emotions is there: Anger, sadness, fear, doubt and despair all in one.

I always believed that nothing and no one in this life should be taken for granted. What happens when you devote your whole existence into someone’s hand is that if they leave you your world collapses. Besides that the relationship becomes unhealthy and dependent. This is what happened to my friend. She stopped going out with her friends and everything she did revolved around him, never for herself. When she met him she stopped evolving and nobody should ignore their wants and needs.

Now the desperation is followed by desperate acts. She is calling him every day, she is following him and she is disturbing his friends. I am too proud to do something like that and I tell her that this is not helping her situation .For me, if someone says then its over no matter how I feel inside.

No matter what anyone says to her I know that only time can heal. You don’t realize it at the time as you believe that it’s impossible but after sometime the healing begins. Then you realize that you are stronger that you thought.
Have a little faith my friend and I am here for you. Time heals.
Trust me. ..


(art by marti)

The illusion of voting

Lately when I go out I see many people outside their house sitting and talking with others. They left their house and start socializing and this is not because they decided to do something about the alienation in the big city. They are there with a cause: winning votes for the municipal elections that will occur.

Everyone is so social lately and nice. They come to you with their business cards and ask you to vote them. There are young candidates that have started talking with this wooden language as if they are in politics for years. They come and they promise so many things that they can not deliver to the point that it gets ridiculous. But somehow many people believe them. Maybe it’s the hope they have, their arrogance or their blind support to a political party.

The slogan lately in the advertisement campains is directed at youth and asks them to vote because their vote counts. Does it really count? I have never seen anybodies vote making a difference because all the candidates are the same. No matter what believes they say they have (right wing, social party, left wing, ecological parties) when they get elected they act in the same way. Greed for power, money becomes their only drive. They try to exploit their chance of gaining easy money, they get rich and then the next one that gets elected does the same.

In theory in the municipal elections a person that loves their town could make a difference by making a few things that are needed like making parks and reconstructing roads. However, the candidates of the municipal elections always have the support of a certain political party. Even those candidates that are supposed to be independent ask the support of both big political parties in order to get elected because they are clever. And they all pretend to strive for their town problems and say that they are ideologically flawless.

The illusion of voting for me at all kinds of elections is that your vote really counts. I believe that it only points which individual or party is going to get rich at the given time. Nothing else. Hypocritical people, empty words and promises and fancy suites are what elections is all about. They want you to think that you are actually having a freedom of choice when you actually only can choose the same thing. The illusion of living in a democracy.

One step further...

There are times that we all become indecisive of what we should do concerning a matter. Every day we are all faced with small or big decisions that we have to take in our lives. But for some making a small step is perceived as being a giant leap that needs to be calculated over and over again. I felt that even though people are faced with uncertainties in the end they become clear and can solve every day problems. Lately I have realized that I was wrong as I can see that we have become hesitant to solve even the smallest things, we are often unclear of what we want and leave the decisions to others.

A friend is searching to buy a house for the last three years. For many reasons it is eminent that she moves as soon as possible but buying a house has become the biggest risk of her life. She always finds an excuse or a reason for not buying the house that she has just seen. She has even started to believe in omens that tell her that it will be unlucky to buy a particular house. When she decides to buy the house and gives a deposit she regrets and loses her deposit. She is stuck and can not move on because she is too afraid that she will regret it in the future if she realizes that she did not make the best choice. Therefore she is stuck and tormented with the mere thought. She is the person that can not study because she thinks she will fail or the person that stays with her boyfriend because maybe no other person will love her. And it’s not just her.

The difficulty of taking decisions and risks is intensifying. Hesitance has expanded like a virus. We seem unable to trust our instincts and logic and ask everybody of what they think in order to do something. I think a reason that people do that is in order to shift responsibility to others. If something goes wrong then we can blame someone else as others have influenced our decision. And usually always something goes wrong when we are hesitant.

Taking risks and making mistakes is what living is all about. I think that this is how we learn about ourselves, how we develop coping mechanisms and grow. This is what life is about and this is called living. Indecisiveness can lead as to a vicious circle from which we can not escape and become dependent and unable to rely on ourselves.
When has it become so difficult making mistakes and why our every choice has to be so damn perfect anyway?
One step further is all that's needed.

(picture by adnil)

My life in a blog

This blog has become a part of my life.A recollection of my thoughts,feelings and ideas are reflected in these pages.I thought that writing a blog was something like a hobby but I was so wrong. It has become an expression.
I realised it today that I lost it.

Today I lost my blog.
Something happened and I could not open my central blog page.The posts were still in the edit page but they couldn't be republished from the start. As a result I had to delete my blog and copy all my previous posts into a new blog with the same name. Notice that all the posts are archived in September but I started in April. I was certainly lucky that the posts were saved!

When I lost the blog I felt I lost a part of me. What bothers me most is that I lost the comments of my blog friends.I know that more will come in the future but I wanted to be able to read them and reflect on them.Its strange that you never know some people but you look forward to hear their views even though you have not met them. How did I get attached to this?

My life in a blog. A part of my life now.
How do you feel about your blog? What if everything got lost?
I think that we do give more of ourselves than we really think we do!

(image by krecha)