Ok, this was just too weird so I had to share. I watched Up in the Air last night (Which, I thought was a different, pretty funny movie, if anyone is interested. It was also kind of depressing though, which is an odd combo lol.) That's not the point of this post though, the weird thing that happened was the opening song to the movie I immediately liked. It was a jazzy lady, whose voice I thought was just beautiful. I have always had a weak spot for jazzy, soulful ladies. I really have no idea where I get it from. Anyway, I thought, I'm gunna google (Which, on another completely random tangent, did you know that "google" is officially in the dictionary now? . Google has apparently tried to keep it from becoming a mainstream term, because if it loses its trademark status, then other companies may be free to use the term. I say "googling" ALL the time...)

Ok, I will get back to the original point of this post- weird happening, heard song on Up in the Air, knew I wanted to look it up and get it. Well, another source I use for new music is artists that Oprah features in her magazine. One of the artists she featured this month, and the first one I "googled" was Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. Well, waddaya know that was also the artist of the song I heard last night on Up in the Air. Strange coincidence and great song = blog post :)

This is the song. And Sharon Jones also seems like a rather special lady. She apparently tried to begin her career at a younger age, and no one wanted her (which I find unbelievable).

xkcd

Poop Senders

This is just too good not to share...

http://www.poopsenders.com/

xkcd

One of my fav xkcds.
Also, for those that know Pam Lawhead, it will make sense why this reminds me of her, for those that don't just disregard :)

Picnik

So, one of my best friends showed me the BEST photo editing site (that's right, site, not software) available. It's picnik.com. It's free, with optional upgrade for additional features, and I know what you're thinkin. Yeah, I won't be able to do anything with the free version. I have to say this is one of the few sites that fact doesn't apply to. The free effects are very good, and you can re-create pictures taken with a mediocre camera and turn them into photos that look professional. Really, you can. It's also very easy to navigate and use, and cool to view other photo-buff's works.

Now, I have recently upgraded (which is fairly inexpensive, I did the ~$5 per month), but the only reason I upgraded is I have been taking a lot more pictures lately. Many for a friend getting married, and I wanted to use a few of the premium features.

Just to show you I'm not lying about the quality of this site, here are a few examples of some stuff I've done (the first photo is I and the friend that told me about the site :) ...

And here's picnik: http://www.picnik.com/

Warrior of the Light

Ok, another deep post! Promise all of these are not going to be deep, I actually consider myself to be a pretty carefree, unemotional person most of the time. But I had to post some of what I consider to be "the greats." The stuff that really inspires me.

And Paulo Coelho is "one of the greats." He is a Brazilian writer who is a MUST-READ. He was recommended to me by a friend I had the joy of working with this summer at Notre Dame. My first read was Veronika Decides to Die, one of his newer books. It's not a light read, if you are looking for something to move you, I recommend it. It's about a girl who, you guessed it, decides to die. One part that touched me was that this young girl loses joy in all the little things that I find joy in, in life. Like her part time job working at the library and hanging out with friends. But Veronika finds no joy in those little things in life anymore, and decides she would be better of dead. So she tries to commit suicide. I won't spoil the rest of it in case you're intrigued, but lets just say that after Veronika decides to die, she finally finds a reason to live.

Anyway, the actual point of this post (I am getting there within the century I assure you) is that Paulo Coelho has a blog (well, I guess it's a blog) called Warrior of the Light. You can see is popularity by how many languages it's available in, around 10. It is a collection of his stories and thoughts, all of which I enjoy.

This is one of my favorite posts I would like to share, concerning happiness.

What is happiness?

This is a question that has not bothered me for a long time, precisely because I don’t know how to answer it. I am not the only one. Through all these years I have lived with all sorts of people: rich and poor, powerful and mediocre. In the eyes of all who have crossed my path – and here I include warriors and wise men, people who should have nothing to complain about - I have always found that there was something missing. Some people seem to be happy: they just do not think about it. Others make plans: “I’m going to have a husband, a home, two children, and a house in the country”. While this keeps them occupied, they are like bulls looking for the bullfighter: they don’t think, they just keep moving forward. They manage to get their car - sometimes even a Ferrari – and they think that the meaning of life lies there, so they never ask the question. Yet, despite all that, their eyes betray a sadness that they themselves are quite unaware of. I don’t know if everyone is unhappy. I do know that people are always busy: working overtime, looking after the kids, the husband, the career, the university degree, what to do tomorrow, what they need to buy, whatever it is they need to have in order not to feel inferior, and so on. Few people have ever told me: “I’m unhappy”. Most say: “I’m fine, I’ve managed to get all I ever wanted”. So then I ask: “What makes you happy?” They answer: “I have everything that a person can dream of – a family, a home, work, good health”. I ask again: “Have you ever stopped to wonder if that is all there is to life?” They answer: “Yes, that’s all there is”. I insist: “So the meaning of life is work, the family, children who grow up and leave you, a wife or husband who will become more like a friend than a true love-mate. And one day the work will come to an end. What will you do when that happens?” They answer: there is no answer. They change the subject. But there is always something hidden there: the owner of a firm who has still to close the deal he has always dreamed of, the housewife who would like to have more independence or more money, the new graduate who wonders whether he has chosen his career or has had it chosen for him, the dentist who wanted to be a singer, the singer who wanted to be a politician, the politician who wanted to be a writer, and the writer who wanted to be a peasant. In this street where I am sit writing this column and looking at the people passing by, I bet that everyone is feeling the same thing. That elegant woman who has just walked by spends her days trying to stop time, controlling the bathroom scales, because she thinks love depends on that. On the other side of the street I see a couple with two children. They live moments of intense happiness when they go out with their kids, but at the same time their subconscious is busy thinking about the job they might not get, the tragedies that might occur, how to get over them, how to protect themselves from the world. I leaf through magazines filled with famous people: everybody laughing, everybody very happy. But since this is a segment of society that I am quite familiar with, I know it is not like that: everyone is laughing or enjoying themselves at the moment that photo is taken, but at night, or in the morning, the story is always quite different. “What can I do to keep on appearing in the magazine?”, “how can I disguise not having enough money to afford all this luxury?” or “how can I manage this life of splendor to make it even more luxurious, more expressive than other people’s?”, “the actress whom I am seen with in this photo, laughing and having a great time, she could steal my part tomorrow!”, or “I wonder if my clothes are nicer than hers. Why do we smile so much if we loathe one another?” To end, I recall the words of Jorge Luis Borges: “I will not be happy any more, but that doesn’t matter, / there are many other things in this world”.

Not only are Paulo Coelho's books very good and interesting to read, he has led a very interesting life as well. For instance, as a child, his parents sent him away to a mental institution because he was a creative child. That's right, carted him off to countless shrinks all because he wanted to be a writer instead of a businessman or some such other occupation more acceptable in their eyes.

Warrior of the Light can be subscribed to via http://www.warriorofthelight.com/engl/index.html, and his books are available (as I mentioned) in virtually every language in any major bookstore. He has also taken advantage of making his literary works available as torrents.

Oprah talks with Thich Nhat Hanh

From an interview in O The Oprah Magazine, March 2010 issue

Lately I feel like all I do is run around. I never stop to "smell the roses," I don't spend time with the people I want,instead I fufill obligations to other people. Then, by the time I do have time to spend the time with the people I feel really matter, I'm too tired to pay attention. I stressed from my other activities. Sometimes I fear I am going to wake up and be 100 years old, never having spent time on what really matters! This article really helped, and I intend to try and incorporate it into my life...

"He's been a Buddist monk for more than 60 years, as well as a teacher, writer, and vocal opponent of war- a stance that left him exiled from his native Vietnam for four decades. Now the man Martin Luther Kin Jr. called "an apostle of peach and nonviolence" reflects on the beauty of the present moment, being grateful for every breath, and the freedom and happiness to be found in a simple cup of tea."

OPRAH: Okay. We've been talking about mindfulness and you've mentioned mindful walking. How does that work?

NHAT HANH: As you walk, you touch the ground mindfully, and every step can bring you solidity and joy and freedom. Freedom from your regret concerning the past, and freedom from your fear about the future.

OPRAH: Most people when they're walking are thinking about where they have to go and what they have to do. But you would say that removes us from happiness.

NHAT HANH: People sacrifice the present for the future. But life is available only in the present. That is why we should walk in such a way that every step can bring us to the here and now.

OPRAH: What if my bills need to be paid? I'm walking, but I'm thinking about the bills.

NHAT HANH: There is a time for everything. There is a time when I sit down, I concentrate myself on the problem of my bills, but I would not worry before that. One thing at a time. We practice mindful walking in order to heal ourselves, because walking like that really relieves our worries, the pressure, the tension in our body and mind.

Skip a bit...

OPRAH: The nature of Buddhism, as I understand it, is to believe that we are all pure and radiant at our core. And yet we see around us so much evidence that that people are not acting from a place of purity and radiance. How do we reconcile that?

NHAT HANH: Well happiness and suffering support each other. To be is to inter-be. It's like the left and the right. If the left is not there, the right cannot be there. The same is true with suffering and happiness, good and evil. In every one of us there are good seeds and bad. We have the seed of brotherhood, love , compassion, insight. But we have also the seed of anger, hate, dissent.

OPRAH: That's the nature of being human.

NHAT HANH: Yes. There is the mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus.

OPRAH: Can't have one without the other.

NHAT HANH: Yes. You can only recognize your happiness against the background of suffering. If you have not suffered hunger, you do not appreciate having something to eat. If you have not gone through a war, you don't know the value of peace. That is why we should not try to run away from one thing after another thing. Holding our suffering, looking deeply into it, we find a way to happiness.

There are so many good pieces of this interview, the entire interview is so eye-opening, I wish I could have included the entire piece here. But I will only post another question, which spoke to me.

OPRAH: And speaking of life, what about death? What happens when we die, do you believe?

NHAT HANH: The question can be answered when you answer this: What happens in the present moment? In the present moment, you are producing thought, speech, and action. And they continue in the world. Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears yours signature. Action is called karma. And that's your continuation. When this body disintegrates you continue on with your actions. It's like a cloud in the sky. When the cloud is not longer in the sky, it hasn't died. The cloud is continued on into other forms like rain or snow or ice. Our nature is the nature of no birth and no death. It is impossible for a cloud to pass from being into nonbeing. And that is true with a beloved person. They have not died. They have continued in many new forms and you can look deeply and recognize them in you and around you.

The article contains a great deal of material on Nhat Hanh's input on peaceful activism for the purpose of social reform. He, at the age of 16, opposed his own government during the Vietnam War. Just a few of the revolutionary things he did were to set up a relief organization that rebuilt bombed Vietnamese villages, set up schools and medical centers, and resettled homeless families. He created a Buddhist University, a publishing house, and a peace activist magazine- all of which led the Vietnamese government to forbid him, in 1966, to return home after he'd left the country on a peace mission. He remained in exile for 39 years. It isn't hard to see why this man was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize in 1967 by Martin Luther Kind Jr. This was an immensely eye-opening interview, if you're interested further I highly recommend it. :)