walking thoughts

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autumn, dreaming, Friedrich Nietzsche, photography, photos, planning, quotes, walking, wondering

All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking

Friedrich Nietzsche

Dublin is a great place to walk around. The inner city is small enough to allow you to wander from a to b quite easily and it is really quite flat. So when I left my afternoon appointment yesterday I decided to let my feet do the walking and my mind wander.

My brogue clad feet tapped on the path as I walked, a steady tattoo of sound my  companion as I walked down the leafy streets of a south side Georgian terrace. For the first time in months I had to shrug a jacket on to stop the wind from chilling my bones and  maybe it was my imagination playing tricks on me but I thought that the air smelt colder, announcing that Autumn had truly arrived.

Unlike so many others I quite enjoy this time of year: the riot of colours in the parks and lining the streets; the comfy cardigans; hot plates of soup and the first lit fires of the season I sit next too while I knit.

As I walked my thoughts changed, plans made way to dreams and I allowed myself to be excited by possibilities, no matter how unsure or far away they seemed. So, while I know the rain and winds that this time of year brings may dampen my mood at times, I am quite looking forward to the next few months, and I hope that for me autumn won’t just be the end of something but also the beginning. And if not – well at least it also means Christmas isn’t too far anymore.

leaves changing colours

Weekly Photo Challenge: Pure

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flowers, photography, photos, Pure, quote, Stéphane Mallarmé, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge: Pure

Lone and erect, beneath light’s primal flood – a lily! And pure as any one of you

French poet and critic Stéphane Mallarmé (1842-98)

 

 

Max Richter at the National Concert Hall

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classical music, Dublin, film music, Kafka, Max Richter, music, National Concert hall, quotes, sleep

Yesterday a good friend whisked me off to the National Concert Hall to experience the music of Max Richter. This German-born composer grew up in England and is possibly best known for the stunning score he composed for Shutter Island (On the Nature of Daylight) and his scores for the TV series The Leftovers.

We had front row seats and the ebb and flow of a mix of classical and contemporary music washed over us without any barriers. The violins lamented and soared, the cellos moaned and exalted, the piano sang, hummed and often led the way.

The concert started with The Blue Notebooks, inspired by Kafka, and the  words of Kafka led into imagined worlds of sound. After a short break we were treated to 90 minutes of Sleep. Max Richter calls it an eight hour long lullaby or cradle song and while listening it is easy to see why. Sleep is an exploration of the unconscious, which both music and sleep are doors into. The melting of strings and wordless vocals in a high, clear soprano, with the piano echoing, conjured up dreams and gave flight to the imagination.

It was a wonderful night out and the experience will linger with me for a while, just like the notes played lingered in the air.

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything.

Plato

simple smiles

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happiness, Phylis Diller, quote, smile, smiles, to-do list

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.

Comedian Phylis Diller

When your day starts with a smile it is always a sign about things to come – so today promises to be a good one. And the thing that makes me smile even more is that I have myself to thank for my own happy mood.

As I sat down at my desk this morning I was rewarded with a clean tidy space and an already very ‘ticked-off’ to-do list already waiting for further treatment. There is something very satisfying about following up after a very busy day, I already feel a few steps ahead, very unlike my perpetual few steps behind.

With so much already done the rest seems more manageable, less daunting – and who knows maybe I will manage to finish my entire list this week, it would be the first time in ages and a goal to aspire to.

So, still smiling I am checking of my to-list and enjoying the sense of accomplishment it leaves me with – simple pleasures are often those we overlook but are also often those that give the most joy. And instead of waiting for those few momentous moments in life that make our hearts burst with happiness it seems to make sense to take the simple smiles as they come.  Small practice runs for those precious exhilarating experiences making every day happier and filled with smiles.

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge- Symbol

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John Donne, letters, photo challenge, photography, photos, quotes, Symbol, Weekly Photo Challenge, Weekly Photo Challenge- Symbol, writing

Symbols are things that stand for something else, sometimes in very obvious ways, sometimes a little more hidden and sometimes only a select few know what it means. And sometimes one symbol can mean very different things for several people.

But no matter where you look we are surrounded by symbols everyday – some of us even wear them as jewellery or have them embedded in our skin in ink.

As a writer, for me, the most important symbols are letters. Each one holds the key to different meanings and when arranged and rearranged they spell out emotions, ideas, instructions, information and stories.

More than kisses, letters mingle souls.

English Poet John Donne (1572-1631)

contemplating ‘C’ words

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acceptence, compliment, compliments, interior photography, photos, quotes, rejection

Yesterday, I got a compliment and I have to admit that I didn’t quite know what to do with it. Being criticized is easier as I don’t need to except it, can argue it or I can learn from it, even if it initially hurts.  But compliments are somewhat different and do tend to make me feel a little bit awkward.

There are three main ways to deal with compliments: acceptance, rejection and deflection. It seems that most of us have a hard time with just gracefully or humbly accepting a compliment paid, as we often feel it makes us come across as boastful, proud or conceited.

But we also know that to reject a compliment outright isn’t the way to go either, as it is just plain rude. So what I do, like so many others, is deflect or dilute the compliment paid. A little “really – I didn’t think it was that great” or a “oh this old dress, nothing special – got it at Pennys”  or even a “but you did so much better” , takes the wind out of that compliment sail and calms the hurricane of emotions within.

But I can’t help but wonder that, maybe, deflection is just as rude as rejection. In a way by diluting a compliment you are telling the giver that you don’t really rate their opinion, you are putting them down as you don’t respect their input.

Maybe this stems from low-self esteem, of lack of self-worth or some odd sense of wanting to seem polite, courteous and unpretentious, but that doesn’t make it okay. So, the more I think about it, the more it becomes clear: accepting a compliment when given, is the only right way to go.

I suppose the trick is in how to do it  properly and possibly there is only one way to do so. No shy looking away, no “buts”, no deflecting or playing compliment wars, just look the person in the eye, maybe smile and say two simple small words: “thank you” .

The happiness of life is made up of minute fractions – the little, soon forgotten charities of a kiss or a smile, a kind look or heartfelt compliment.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Back to normality

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New Year, photography, photos, quotes, Rainer Maria Rilke, thoughts, Zingst

And now we welcome the new year. Full of things that have never been.

Poet Rainer Maria Rilke

After nearly three weeks (unpaid) of being away from my desk today things go back (somewhat) to normality. My hectic schedule is taking hold again and my thoughts wander back a few days – weeks.

Christmas was lovely, relaxing and filled with fun and friends. An adorable little tree graced my living room and spending time with people I like and love was a daily occurrence, interspersed with time spend reading in front of the fire or watching way too much TV.

New Years was wonderful. I flew over to Germany on the 28th of December and spent time with my family up north. Daring to hire a car and embark in driving on the ‘other’ side of the road I sped down the motor way and negotiated curvy roads to Zingst (former east Germany), a  beautiful seaside town on the Baltic Sea, about an hour up and across from Rostock. Spending the last evening of 2014 with friends was a perfect ending to the year and watching fireworks paint colourful stars into the midnight sky across the sea a stunning way ti greet 2015.

And while I have been back in Dublin for a week today I can’t help but feel I haven’t quite stepped into the new year just yet. Maybe my reluctance to flip the page on my calendar is the result of unfinished projects and goals still a little out of reach.

So with that in mind I will start this week with the resolve to not only organise my desk and classes, but to  take the time to try and organise my thoughts too.

Here are some photos of my new years walk: