Tuesday 24 March 2020

CORONAVIRUS -- A STORY THAT CAN HELP YOU, AN INSPIRATIONAL MESSAGE

A MESSAGE AND A STORY
We are following what is happening in the States and are sorry, but unfortunately not surprised. Surprises are happening every day, there, here, and at a certain point, I at least had to ask myself, "Now, what can I do to feel better, what can I do?"
Because, you have to do something! Activitiy will be your cure. You can only take so much news, so much negativity. Both physically and mentally it is wearing on body and soul.
Please, friends and family, take a pause, and do something nice for yourself.
Some people, I know, are terribly fragile. I see people asking when this will be over. Who can possibly know the answer! There are unknowns here, and the decisions made by the various governments will make a huge difference.
I look at it like this, at least I try to. I see that this is my life. Strangely, who would have ever imagined, THIS is the life of the whole world right now. It is as united in ONE THING as we could ever be. So, actually, I realize that I am extremely fortunate. With all my own personal problems or concerns, worries or fear, I am fortunate. In fact, a lot of my real displeasure right now is for those who are in horrifying situations, the ones who before all of this were already the sufferers in the wordl: war, hunger, health problems. No homes, no family, disease, handicaps, etc etc So, I am fortunate. AND since this is my life right now, I aim on making myself as strong as I can be. This is a priority.
Right now our real selves will be shown and expressed and we will discover a lot about ourselves. People will be able to take it, harden up their shell and get on with their lives somehow, and get something done. Whatever it is, they will use action to help solve their lonliness, sadness, depression. Being inactive could be very serious right now, it is not something to follow -- the desire to just hide, or watch tv all day, or sleep all day or drink. These things could lead to something more negative and that would be a shame and could be very dangerous.
Please read this extraordinary story someone posted today, I do believe it should be adopted by all in order to have a clearer starting point, a wiser place to begin to make this "adventure" worthwhile, in a way. Here it is. And good luck, but please, read the message with an open mind. I find it very helpful right now.
“Captain, the hub is worried and very agitated about the quarantine that they imposed on us at the port. Can you talk to us? " "What troubles you, boy? Don't you have enough food? Don't you sleep enough?" "This is not it, Captain, I can't stand not being able to go ashore, not being able to embrace my loved ones." "And if they let you down and you were contagious, would you bear the guilt of infecting someone who can't stand the disease?"
I would never forgive him, even if this plague was invented for me! " "Maybe it is, but if it doesn't?" "I understand what you mean, but I feel deprived of freedom, Captain, they have deprived me of something." "And you deprive yourself of even more things, boy." "You are making fun of me?" "Not at all ... If you let yourself be deprived of something without responding adequately, you have lost". "So, in your opinion, if they take something from me, do I have to take other ones off to win?" "Sure. I did it in the quarantine of seven years ago." "And what did you deprive yourself of?" "I had to wait more than twenty days on the ship. I had been waiting for months to enjoy the port and enjoy some spring on land. There was an epidemic. In Port April they forbade us to go down. The first days were hard. I felt like you. Then I started to respond to those impositions by not using logic. I knew that after twenty-one days of behavior a habit is created, and instead of complaining and creating terrible ones, I started behaving differently from all the others. I began to reflect on who, in deprivation, has many and for all the days of his miserable life, to get in the right perspective, then I worked to win. I started with food. I forced myself to eat half of what I normally ate, then I began to select more easily digestible foods, which would not overload my body. I went to feed on foods that, traditionally, contributed to keeping man healthy. The next step was to combine this with a purification of unhealthy thoughts, to have them ever higher and nobler. I forced myself to read at least one page a day of a book on a topic I didn't know. I forced myself to do physical exercises on the bridge at dawn. An old Indian had told me years ago that the body is empowered by holding its breathI forced myself to take deep breaths every morning. I believe my lungs never reached such a force. The evening was the time for prayers, the time to thank some entity that rules everything, for not giving me the fate of having serious deprivations for my whole life.
Always the Indian advised me, years before, to get into the habit of imagining light entering me and making me stronger. It could also work for loved ones who were far away from me, and so this practice also made an appearance on every day I spent on the ship.
Instead of thinking about everything I couldn't do, I thought about what I would do once I got off. I saw the scenes every day, lived them intensely and enjoyed the wait. Everything you can get right away is never interesting. Waiting serves to sublimate desire, to make it more powerful.
I had deprived myself of succulent foods, of many bottles of rum, of blasphemies and curses to be listed in front of the rest of the crew. I had deprived myself of playing cards, of sleeping a lot, of lazing around, of thinking only of what they were depriving me of. "
"How did it end, Captain?"
"I acquired all those new habits, boy. They made me get off after much longer than I expected."
"Did they also deprive you of spring, anyway?"
"Yes, that year they deprived me of spring, and of many other things, but I had nevertheless flourished, I had brought spring inside, and no one could have stolen it anymore".
Alessandro Frezza - from the diary of Donatella Anna Maffei

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WHO AM I??

WHO AM I??
The best way to know who I am is to see what I create. Take a look at this blog or my other one regarding my art.

Double images....

Double images....
LOVE the double or triple image maker on my Nikon D80. Just set it, and then take two or three pics.

What's the weather like now in Perugia?

Cold one day, sunny the next. Cold in the house. But we still need our coats or lightweight ones or padded jackets outside. Chilly, and not sunny. I like it like this, no problem for me.