Instead of telling you about the revelries of 31 dec, I shall describe the first day of the New Year 2011 which has begun very well.The morning though cold had a special glow to it. One hears the seagulls and magpies in this part of the world. If you get up early enough you still can see the lamp shining from the Lighthouse of Quiberon. The coast of Brittany is famous for its Lighthouses including the tallest one in Europe at Ille verge in the north of Brittany.
It is good to begin the day with a nice thought and who better than Rolling Thunder to tell us about being responsible for our thoughts.
"People have to be responsible for their thoughts, so they have to learn to control them. It may not be easy, but it can be done." |
-- Rolling Thunder, CHEROKEE |
We control our thoughts by controlling our self talk. At any moment we choose we can talk to ourselves differently. The fight comes with the emotions that are attached to our thoughts. If our emotion is high and seems to be out of control, we can say to ourselves STOP IT!, take a few deep breaths, then ask the Creator for the right thought or the right decision or the right action. If we practice this for a while, our thought life will be different. To feel positive about all our plans for the coming year is very important. The year 2010 had ended up with greater joy and anticipation and pleasure and accomplishment than expected with the usual minor disappointments. some one had sent this quote from Mary Kay? If you think you can, then you can; if you think you can't, then you are right. While doing Pranayama with a deep sense of solittude and meditation that cuts all but inner awareness, I knew in my heart this year has begun well, not only for me, but all those 12 good friends and 80 odd acquaintances (thus telling you that I have fully used up my brain's capacity for intimate and casual friendships, according to Medical Research). A simple but tasty and good looking lunch. Reminded me of the chinese friend in Brunei who said to me, after he drove 30 miles to get the right sort of fish for dinner that night (this after a sumptous yum cha in the mid morning, remember in Brunei 30 miles is a long way, in fact almost 1/3 of the length of the country!): for us Chinese: the food has to look good, smell good and taste good. (no wonder they are healthier than the other asians in SE Asia) A drive around this peninsula which in pre historic times was an island and a visit to the Penthivre Castle built by Louis XIV where unmentionable atrocities were committed by the Nazis just a few months before their defeat in 1944-1945. I said Kaddish for those martyrs many of them from one village Locmine near Kiberen. The pleasure of having friends strewn all around the world is that it gives me great pleasure to think of them, even though I may not see them as often as I would like. But my best friend in KL said to me: I see you more often than some of my corporate type friends who live right here. So wherever there is desire, there is the greatest gift one can give, the gift of TIME. |
