Sunrise - unsurpassed for inspiration.
Promising possibilities as yet unknown.
A so-called Golden hour so transient,
it fades after ten or so minutes.
Seawater in hopeless defiance of the blinding solar light spurns hues of soft blues and pastel lilacs so subtle they blend indiscriminately as one, caressing the shore.
Life-giving light.
Alone without a wave for company, the water is flat, almost monotonous.
Earth's scaffold of trees, benches and the built environment photogenically frame the solar brilliance, heralding the sunrise.
The following words are not mine, but a poem by Donna Ashworth. Grief and loss can be a gut-wrenching emotion that sneaks up on a person, catching you unawares. I am reproducing Donna Ashworth’s perceptive words, in the event that they might render support/distraction/emotional reassurances to those who are suffering loss and grief.
For Ukrainian and any global refugee, for victims of conflict, violence, tragedy, family or relationship breakdowns, for those with dear ones who are missing, whereabouts unknown, and for those who are forced to deal with love in a different way than they have done before.
When I’m no longer here,
say my name to call me near.
I will calm your disarray,
move the mountains from your way.
I will dry your falling tears,
whisper comfort in your ear.
When I’m no longer here,
say my name to call me near.
When I am just a glowing star,
do not think of me as far.
I am with your inner child,
hoping you’ll embrace your wild.
Seeking joy in every day,
finding jewels of light in grey.
When I’m no longer here,
let me rid your heart of fear,
Put it down upon the floor,
I’ll take it from your door.
Give me then your worry too,
let me carry it for you.
By Donna Ashworth
but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt
Some people are nervous about travel. Particularly now, as strange virulent germs threaten our safety and confidence.
I have always loved travelling. Perhaps it comes from a Great Grandparent, who loved to travel. Perhaps it is just me.
I admit to being slightly terrified on my first overseas trip.
It was 1986.
Seated in the airport lounge, I remember being so startled when I heard the boarding call for my flight. In my panic, I knocked a full can of soft drink over my lap!
My destination was Nepal. Not exactly the most elementary of countries for an inexperienced overseas traveller to visit.
Nepal was so very different to home. It wasn’t hugely popular with tourists.
I saw jaw-dropping historic architecture, older than when my country was just a twinkle in the eye of a medieval explorer.
I saw grinding poverty and children afflicted with leprosy. I saw small blind children begging at temples. But I also saw loads of colour and many smiles on the faces of the Nepalese people.
I witnessed religious traditions of blood sacrifices of live goats, their throats cut and the blood turning the dusty ditches red. I saw open-air butchers slaughtering beasts and hanging them on hooks in the street.
A storm hours after our arrival resulted in a stampede at a soccer match killing around 80 people. Kathmandu mourned its dead.
It was confronting for a city girl from Australia. I suffered culture shock the first day or so. I frowned a lot, not from being unhappy, on the contrary, it was from feeling so utterly privileged to live in a first-world country. The contrast of what I now judged to be my luxurious life, was significant, even as one who was only just scraping into a middle-class income level.
I felt guilty about what I had at home when I saw others had so little.
Are you wondering why I chose Nepal as a destination?
I wanted to open my eyes to the world. To see how other people lived. To see something other than a duplication of what I saw on my own home continent.
Courage is not freedom from fear. It is being afraid and still continuing.
Once you have looked fear in the face and have overcome it, you can repeat that again and again and again.
Travel Advice for Nervous First-time Travellers
If it is travel you yearn for, get your mind ready before you leave.
You cannot and most likely will not have the level of control you have at home.
You can expect to be uncomfortable at times, often delayed, bored occasionally and most certainly frustrated.
Things will be different.
That is why we travel.
If you have been lucky enough to travel overseas, what was your first destination?
A shopping centre was destroyed by a bomb yesterday.
One side says the shopping centre was empty and the detonatation was due to location of enemy weapons supplied by the western powers. The other side says says 1000 people were situated in the centre when the bomb hit.
And when asked about the veracity of the information provided, the Russian Ambassador stated that reports had been corroborated by bloggers!
Bloggers!
A testament to the importance of our independent narratives!
To those of us who have become disillusioned with writing and blogging – this is a reason to persevere!
Hvornår - og hvordan skal det ende?
I krig er der kun tabere!
Nogen taber endog livet,
men vi taber alle noget!
English Translation:
When - and how will it end ??
In war there are only losers!
Some lose their lives,
but we are all losing something!
Will this remembrance plaque be the only kind of reminder of the lives that are lost and continue to be lost, in Ukraine?
Ripples of misery resonate in ever-increasing waves of grief and environmental destruction.
The price is high.
All for ego and greed,
not just geopolitics.
Life on this planet is on time we borrow,
The cup runneth over with anguish and sorrow.
Now babies might live, but mothers can die,
Children quickly grow learning to fight, kill and lie.Was itever any fun to shoot a fully loaded gun?
There’s an uncertain undercurrent washing through the world. Do you sense it too?
Citizens are upset!
They’re sad and despairing of political decisions that affect them living their everyday lives. Some people feel powerless to enact any changes and some are.
These rumbles permeate even the happy, chatty blogosphere. Its normally positive tone hamstrung by irresponsible politicians across the waves.
We don’t know where our world is headed.
Greed emerges as the new weapon controlling our fate.
The ripples of greed spread far and wide.
An unlikely source has some wisdom for us:
Vote for Ethically conscious candidates
Write (email) to your politicians – write don’t tweet
I was given a writing assignment from a community writers group:
Write 50 Words. Make the words count.
For me, that’s not easy. I ramble. I wander off topic, I am never succinct. Thus, I chose to use Ekphrastic Poetry, based on the art installation below.
A friend thought the colours reminded her of Ukraine. Maybe it applies to the wider world, too?
Progressive evolution. Time passes, change happens.
Nature swallows the weak, unhealthy, the unfit.
Humanity adapts, cherishes and supports.
Personal disruption, national conflict. No coping strategies. No acceptance.
Guns for the disturbed, deranged or those wanting a big bang.
How’s your 2022 shaping up? I haven’t seen its best face, so far. Not by a long shot.
Scarborough, Australia at Sunrise
Even so, there’s always a sense of serenity to be found, in a Scarborough beach sunrise. Australia is blessed with a multitude of beaches. They’re a perfect place for contemplation – the rhythmic waves drowning out the city sounds: a soothing poultice for troubling thoughts that tumble chaotically in the vortex of life.
Coolangatta Beach, Australia
Whether you’re seeking respite from boisterous children, noisy neighbours, barking dogs, a family crisis, unemployment, the ‘rona,’ or other sounds of city/life that might grate on one’ nerves, it’s the desire for peace and tranquillity that propels many of us to search for peace, physically and/or emotionally, somewhere we can feel calm and untroubled – a state called serenity.
Serenity – a welcome internal state brought about, in part, by external forces.
If a sandy beach is not your thing, taking a walk in nature is an excellent way to eliminate stress. Forest trails invite you to explore, to exercise, to breathe deeply and it is possible to find a sense of serenity to those who seek it.
The Nakasendo Way is an ancient walking trail connecting post-towns between Tokyo and Kyoto. This section, located in the mountains in Hakone, Japan, is a place where even the most anxious person might find serenity.
Zen Gardens
Zen Gardens are synonymous with serenity. They are minimalist-designed gardens adorned with certain elements and a lot of open space, intended to help the viewer erase the stresses of everyday life by providing him with emptiness and openness.
A serene Zen garden in Toowoomba with raked gravel
DIY Zen Gardens
If you don’t have a zen garden nearby, you could make your own version with stones, versions, dollar store miniature tools and a few rocks and cactus – this was a school project which certainly attracted a lot of attention from the school students.
Friendly Friday Challenge Prompt – Searching for Serenity
For the Friendly Friday Challenge, show me in photographs, or using words, write about somewhere that imparts a feeling of serenity – a favourite walking trail; a comfortable chair; a place where you craft or work; or home with loved ones.
A poem, a story, a report, a photograph, all are welcome contributions to Friendly Friday.
How to Join Friendly Friday Blog Challenge
Make a post relating to the prompt, “Searching for serenity,” and include the tag Friendly Friday as well as a ping back to this post.
Furthermore, please be sure to leave a comment here along with your published URL, so I can find you and read your post. (ping backs can fail more often than you realise).
Note that links to a homepage will not issue a ping back, so please copy and past your post’s url.
If you wish, you can include the Friendly Friday Challenge logo in your post. Download it here.
You are encouraged to visit other Friendly Friday entries by following their links in the comments below. It’s inspirational and you will find some cool people.
Follow the host blogs to be informed of future Friendly Friday Challenges
Bloggers sign up to write at WordPress for various reasons. To canvas their writing, poetry, photography or present their creations to the world at large.
We write to express ourselves, for cathartic reasons, to inform or to amuse and this is what the Friendly Friday Blog Challenge is all about.
It is a challenge open to all, and it’s no longer just a photographic or travel-based challenge.
We welcome narrative-based posts, as well as stories, poetry and anything that can be triggered and connected with the prompt word. It is fun and inspirational. Friendly Friday will get you posting when you lack inspiration.
Blogger friends in Australia
Blogger friends in New Zealand
When you join in with the Friendly Friday challenges, you get to discover more like-minded bloggers and grow the followers to your blog, by building a WordPress community. And that is a good thing. Right?
In 2022, the Friendly Friday Challenge is back, and we have some exciting changes to the usual format in mind. The team, Sandy, Sarah and me, Amanda, think you will enjoy exploring them. More information on the changes will be released in the coming weeks.
For now, the team is gearing up for the 2022 challenge year, and Sarah will deliver the first 2022 prompt, next Friday, on January 28th, 2022.
Something to Ponder About 