since i'm keltsa too...

Austin has the most fabulous world music. And I fell in love with the celtic festival at first sight two years ago. Have a web-ride here. Enjoy the sample music. (Listen at least to LIZ CARROLL and DÁITHÍ SPROULE) I was in awe listening to the storytellers, they charm you, you can't escape. They dance with you, perform, do crafts, share their traditional cooking and parade all the place with their beer. Very friendly and picturesque people, like in the old days! That's where I'll be this weekend.

By the way for those who don't know, on my father side, I have celtic ancestors from Galicia in Spain. That's where my name came from.

AC

What's the matter with these people? I endured the whole summer under an artificial temperature of 55º F under the roof that froze my bones to the marrow, while other people looked happily ever after. Now that fall is giving us a slight 50º F, the same people dare to say, "it's sooooooooooooooooo cold!" What's the matter with you?

What's life after all?

Isn’t life about creation, transformation, decay, destruction and re-creation? Still human beings have a hard time accepting destruction, in the form of death, decomposition, disintegration, or simply change of any kind. We may not remember it when we most need it, but humanity is a live entity, alive, therefore always changing, going from health to sickness to death and back all the time. Why are we so shocked when crises hit us?

Californians and people inhabiting the Earth belly prominence may be oblivious about this, but I find it amazing how nature “falls” for a season of the year only to “spring” back later! Where does the life force go? Is it busy destroying? Has someone studied the way that atomic vibrations behave, how the molecules organize themselves during this stage? There should obviously be a change in their physical functioning that makes those live beings look dead! What does it make them re-organize, what does it trigger the back to life leap?

Today’s news reverberates in all people’s conversations all over the world. This is no news for the reader! “The world is crumbling down” –is the leiv motive. It may be time we develop the capacity and the will to accept that Winter comes once in a while; that night gets very dark before dawn; that natures’ debris has to rot before it serves as fertilizer for new life. Yes, our acceptance should include recognizing that Winter gets very cold, sometimes unbearable for some with very little fat storage like me, that some get scared when night gets really dark, that rotting things smell really bad and we try to avoid them as much as possible.

On the other hand, who was the guy who stated, “nothing is lost, everything is transformed”? There is an imperative need to look for the life force that is hidden behind this fall. Life with the purity of new buds is dormant in the decay. Realizing this does not save us from the illusive feeling of loss, the mourning, the pain that disintegration involves, but it can open our eyes about the work we can do to redirect the life force to where we would like it to go. A friend of mine likes cultivating tulips, she cares for those bulbs like others do for gold. They look dry, inactive, dead! Although she waters them once in a while, they take a good nap under the soil all winter. And right at the dawn of rebirth season, they spring in Technicolor.

Shouldn’t we keep busy in a project of re-creation instead of lamenting the death of the world’s mess? I need to confess that I like to see the end of deterioration; I like this opportunity we have to bury the decay deep in the soil to feed a new life that will be fresh, pure and radiant. Can we dare to dream? Can we dare to work for the dream? Can we stop mourning for something it does not serve us anymore? Are we ready to re-create life?

See what you can

What do you see? Does it frighten you?

One day I was walking down a street with one of my missionary companions at dusk and we noticed the moon was big. I said, “tomorrow we’ll have full moon”, she said, “I think it’s already full”. “Well -I tried to convince her, it’s missing just a bit, one more day, that’s it.” “No, no -she asserted, it’s full already!” The following month she received a new pair of glasses and soon discovered that her feet were farther from her head, she felt taller and some other significant changes. We saw the moon again and we remembered the first incident. She accepted, “you were probably right then”. People see what they can. Some can see very far away and high above. Some see their environment in blurry, bigger, smaller or distorted images. Some can only see shadows of the objects surrounding them. Others can only see what they have in front of their eyes. Everyone has his or her own version of what it is.

“Grown-ups always need to have things explained.”

Similarly, people often perceive their world, relationships and circumstances under the lenses of their own context, values, assumptions and prior experiences (their ability to understand). They go as far as just accepting what is understandable and conceivable for them. “They must be discriminating against me (interpretation) because I’m green looking” (context). “It must be that he tells this to me (interpretation) because he trusts me” (assumption). “She must lust after me (interpretation) because I’m so handsome” (assumption). And many of you certainly remember how Don Quijote took the windmills for an army, a countrywoman for a noble lady, and a barber's washbowl for a helmet among other misinterpretations of reality.

Our lives are full of sophisms like these, reasoning on false premises. Is there a way to have a sound reason always and never get it wrong? I’d like to know how to actually see what is true, things like they are and not as we see them. It will solve our problems of faith, trust in people, decision making, and knowing the world… the universe. Do we have the capacity of seeing right? How this ability would change our human condition?

What a queer planet!

Many think, The Little Prince is a children's book. On the one hand, it could be. On the other hand, however, it has many levels of meaning that children can't see.

"Quelle drôle de planète!" Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

For example, today this is my picture: "good morning" he greeted the world, but only did the echo answer, "good morning, good morning" so the LP concluded that "People have no imagination, they repeat whatever one says to them". Usually,- I'm guilty too, we are so busy making a life and surviving that we forget to live, to be human beings, to relate to one another, to make true connections. We send e-mail chains that say nothing about ourselves, we text and phone people that we could visit because they're not that far after all.

I wonder if this crumbling down economy is not the result of a crumbling down humanity. We live closer and closer together in the cities while we draw farder and farder apart. I remember some years ago when my sister lived in the countryside, her closest neighbor lived 3 km away. They often walked or rode a horse once a day to pay them a visit and have a chat over a shared piece of fresh bread, or cakes. Now, I never see the face of my neighbor whose house is just a few feet away. We have no spare time? What's the matter with us? Do we prefer to talk to "rocks" that just repeat what we say? Or worse, are we afraid of each other? This week I'm thinking about changing. Shall I?

turtle in its own right

I’m a turtle, all right,
All you see is just outside
Nice colors, well combined, nicely designed,
often like any other rock by the road,
The sun shining on my back
Because it’s so cold inside.
Of course there’s where I hide
And only come out when it’s safe
moving slowly but steadily,
enjoying every moment of the ride,
observing all details of the landscape.
Occasionally some people messed me up
And put me upside down;
That was the hardest times trying to get back on my feet.
Thank mother Turtle for the flip back, cool!
I’m back up and racing,
with plenty of time to hear the birds sing,
the water flow, the trees whisper,
the gravel crunch tiredly under my feet,
to watch the feet of the oblivious passing byers,
the still road signs talking to me,
to see your eyes looking at me from your high tower.
Mine’s a race for wisdom, the slower, the better.
“Seeing and learning–my grandma used to say,
from people’s ways."
truth is that learning and wisdom only comes from inside,
that’s why I go there often, and for a while, hide but not idle.
A brewing race –I’d say.
Sorry, mine is no competition.
May we share the spot sometime?
I delight in company!

si pudiera bailar tango así

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRQzkDT8bdY
¿cuántos años llevará bailar el tango así?

Yellow butterflies in Austin

This may sound much of poetry for some. By the way my purpose for the racing turtle blog is to show that there is beauty everywhere, anywhere. Most of us need to find the eyes to see it. I learned this trying to overcome my tendency to always see the negative part of life. How the stock market falls and is about to break, how moody you are today, why have you done this to me and that sort of observations, always the bad part of life. Instead I'm learning to appreciate the fact that I have enough air to breath, the sun comes up every day even when I don't see it. Get it? Things that we really need to live, and we do not lack. Sometimes I focus on my loneliness when I am just alone, but not really. See, I found geckos in my house, and I strongly believe that they keep me company. Years ago I couldn't conceive that the simple things of life could make me happy, but I strongly believe it now.
Today I enjoyed a gorgeous day in Austin. The sun, the temperature, the wind were perfect. I went to my favorite park and lied on the grass like the Little Prince waiting for his friend the fox. A few ants kissed me, a squirrel came sniffing, a dragonfly fluttered around a bush, and then I saw them: the yellow butterflies all over. It was life in paradise! I was lying uphill by the creek bed, so I lay downhill and let all my blood run to my head. Then I wanted to fly my kite that I always carry in my car's trunk.
And I ask myself if other people enjoy things like that, or am I a weird bug?

Trees in the wind

Have you seen how the trees handle the wind? What an uninvited company! It comes unexpected and probably unwanted. It bends them over, shakes them from root to top, brushes their branches sometimes bare. They take it so naturally, and let it go thru easily. They stand whole and endure it. They come out stronger, they renew later and regrow.
Things come to life the same way, expected or not, wanted or not. I got some strong winds lately. At first I protected myself, resisted, try avoiding it. Of course, It did not work. I discovered that the key is learning from the trees to accept it, take it with integrity, let it shake you thru, and let it do. I'm still working at standing whole under this wind. So far so good though. This also will pass... maybe... one day. This is a loving wind : will make me stronger, help me renew and grow from inside out. Especially because It makes me feel alive and flowing in life.