Warm or cold?

After some “poetry” in the afternoon *glowing eyes* … someone pasted a phrase to me on mIRC that put me in a philosophical mood :)

“A kid asked Jesus: ‘how much do you love me?’ Jesus replied: ‘This much’ and stretched His arms on the cross and died for us. If you believe in God you will send this to everyone on your list. If you delete this, you will have cold love in 2005”.

{ Pearl Harbor Soundtrack – Track 02 – “Tennessee” in the background; repeat on ;) }

First of all, whoever believes in God should believe that Jesus loves us so much that He doesn't need us to send these kind of messages to prove our love and belief to Him. Secondly, I believe that love can never be cold :)

Two random love quotes:
“With love all things are possible. Love gives the heart, the mind, and soul wings to fly and believe in miracles. The inspiration and power to make those dreams come true”.

"Love's pure silver flame gives each innermost spirit invisible warmth."

Ok. So (for me) Love is definitely warm. Many people conclude that Hate, which is considered to be the opposite of love, is cold. However, whilst sharing thoughts on the subject, I concluded that Hate is not cold.

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." - Helen Keller …

hmmm Hatred is felt from the heart. Hate means that you feel something for that person; it implies some sort of feeling. If there is feeling, there is warmth. The absence of feeling is indifference and thus indifference is cold. So hate and love become nothing but a continuum of which indifference is the other side of the coin.

The funny thing is, what hurts the most is when you are ignored, not when you are hated … like a piece of metal; it can't love you or hate you because it's cold and because it has no feelings … indifference is the same thing :) …

… time for another warm cappuccino!

Farewell 2004!

Finally, after ten months working like a slave, I have a whole week of leave from work. So I decided to catch up with the cleaning of my two rooms. The aim is to fare well 2004 and start the 2005 living in a decent milieu!

Honestly, I can’t believe what an extremely difficult task this turned out to be! However, I enjoyed finding things that had unexplainably wondered off and disappeared for the past few months. Cleaning up can be quite a safe but sometimes chilly way of recalling the past … forcing open crammed drawers and boxes. As usual, some things fell out from the back that I had forgotten they even existed. Amongst many other things I found a dummy a friend of mine had given me on my 18th birthday; a cd containing all my university assignments … and last but not least a set of diaries that go back to 2001! It was quite scary opening them and giving a quick glimpse at the contents!

Oh well! A new year is unfolding … I do not wish to look back at 2004 and previous years and recall the good and the bad things etc. I’d rather just look forward … I am still thinking of a New Year resolution. When I was young I remember I read a story of a certain Mr Twiddle, who was a forgetful person. He wrote his New Year resolution on a piece of paper and forgot where he put it. I think finally it was his wife who found it for him. The resolution was that he would try not to be forgetful. Interesting! … That shows that it is useless making resolutions that you are not 100% sure that you will manage to keep ... otherwise you keep passing them on to the next year! So even this year … no resolutions! :)

I wish everyone a Happy New Year, hoping it will be a prosperous one filled with happy moments and lots of love, success, red wine and giggles!

Another fresh New Year is here …
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

This bright New Year is given to me
To live each day with zest,
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!

I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree
And sing more joyful songs!

By William Arthur Ward

Christmas aftermath

Christmas Day is over! Every year I get the usual feeling … that you would have been waiting and preparing so long for the 25th December, but then ... it passes quickly like any normal day (if "someone" had to read this ... lengthy materialist-accusations would follow!!).

hmmm like every year too, my grandfather, a retired proud-to-be-an-ex-British Royal Navy Chef, prepared his special soufflé. Probably, that is the favourite part of the day for most of my family … piggying over the superb sweets he prepares! :)

Now New Year’s Eve is approaching, I wonder if maybe for once I will think of a New Year’s resolution! I have a whole week to think about it ;)

mouth-watering Christmas moments ...


photo taken on 25/12/2004 @09:27

Its winter time!

“When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks; when great leaves fall then winter is at hand” – William Shakespeare from The Tragedy of King Richard the Third (Third Citizen at II, iii)

My favourite season … winter … started today! :) … clouds and rain are usually associated with this season … and so are hot chocolates, cappuccinos and my precious rug and mittens! Time to get cosy! ;)

Cumulonimbus clouds at the port


photo taken by Caska on 21/12/04 @11:48

To be near you, to be free

This morning I was speaking to someone who has risked his life to flee from his country which is in war. He described to me his journey, how he, his wife and child were put on a small fishing boat with tens of people unknown to them … the starting point of a journey of hope. His eyes were sad when he was recounting how the situation there forced him to leave his country of origin. He said he remembers the fear when for numerous times the small boat almost overturned … how all the persons from different religions, Christians, Muslims, Orthodox, all prayed together to arrive safely on a land … any land.

“For days we were at a point between life and death. It didn’t matter what religion was the person next to you. We all prayed for a miracle to save us,” he said. Once ashore in an unknown country, they waited for their faith to be decided. “But we were safe and free from oppression. That is what mattered. So we were happy because we were at peace”.

Hearing such stories, I admire these people who have nothing materially but have everything that makes them happy anyway because they have peace at heart. This makes me wonder why I have everything and yet I always crave for more!

This song, Sailing, reminds me of that person and his family, and all the persons who are suffering and are fleeing from their countries. I wish for them peace at Christmas time and always!

SAILING – Rod Stewart

I am sailing, I am sailing, home again 'cross the sea
I am sailing stormy waters, to be near you, to be free
I am flying, I am flying, like a bird 'cross the sky
I am flying, passing high clouds, to be near you, to be free

Can you hear me, can you hear me, through the dark night far away
I am dying, forever crying, to be near you, who can say
Can you hear me, can you hear me, through the dark night far away
I am dying, forever crying, to be near you, who can say

We are sailing, we are sailing, home again, 'cross the sea
We are sailing, stormy waters, to be near you, to be free

Oh Lord, to be near you, to be free
Oh my Lord, to be near you, to be free
Oh my Lord, to be near you, to be free
Oh Lord

Christmas trains and guardian angels

There was a Christmas competition going on locally during the last couple of weeks. In order to participate, and get the chance to win a hamper (ho ho ho), all you had to do was send an sms completing this sentence in not more than ten words: "I love Christmas because ...". A work collegue of mine dedicated so much effort in trying to complete this sentence it had almost become a question of life or death to come out with something original! She finally came out with this: "I love Christmas because it brings out the child in every one of us" :)

I wonder how true this is! Many people claim that Christmas is the most commercial feast of the year during which businesses flourish while there are people in other countries in the world who are dying of hunger. Ok. I am not trying to sound like a little angel on earth! Far from it! I love presents and all the commercial stuff that Christmas brings along with it. However, I do think that it is important to remember the religious aspect of this feast, an aspect that many do not even consider. Scrooge's Christmas spirits would be working overtime if they really existed!! ;)

Oh well! Christmas also brings with it a lot of childhood memories. The sweetest Christmasy thing I cherish till today is when my Mum gives me my little train in the picture below to hang on the Christmas tree. Everyone at home knows it is my train. I also still remember when me and my sister used to try to wait awake for Christmas Father to catch him red-handed ... but we never managed! or when we used to compete who will count the highest number of window decorations on our way home from granny's :) I could go on forever.

Back to my starting point ... "I love Christmas because 27 years ago on Christmas day, my guardian angel was born, my precious sister" :) . Happy Birthday Mar! and Happy Christmas to everyone ... ho ho ho



photo taken by Caska, Christmas 2004

Silence, Stillness and Solitude

Today I was looking for a particular book ... "Talk and Grow Rich: Mastering the Art of Persuasion" by Ron Holland.

What struck me most from this book was the author's comparison of the human mind to an iceberg. Holland says that the formula you need for all the wealth, success and achievement, and peace of mind, indeed for all the answers to all your problems is the power of Silence, Stillness and Solitude. All human success and achievement stems from this one power. The secret lies in meditation. When compared to the Westerners, the people of the Eastern world are exceptionally oriented to train their minds to achieve incredible feats through meditation. "The secret of meditation is to hand over your problems to the subconscious mind, which is the master mind, the largest mind, the powerful mind, the creative mind. Think of an iceberg. You know that only one-ninth of the iceberg is visible, and the other eight-ninths of it are below the surface. That huge mass below the surface can be likened to the powerful creative subconscious mind. The small portion on top, the one ninth, is likened to the conscious mind".

Beautiful. Unfortunately, most people tend to use the conscious mind ... we hear alot of the the expression that others don't use any mind at all because they actually don't have one (but that is the starting point of a new vast and extremely delicate argument with various unqiue interpretations! :) ) . The powerful subconscious mind, however, will only operate if given periods of silence, stillness and solitude. Time to start again my meditation exercises! :)

Let the sun go down!

sunset on a little rock in the Meditteranean Sea ...


photo taken by Caska on 30/7/04 @18:44

My public secret

My first post :) how exciting! I had never thought of having a blog ... actually I did not know what the use of a blog was until someone invited me to view his! :) ... This very same person has suggested that I use this blog as my public secret.

Public secret! ... What a paradox! I have always been fascinated by paradoxes ... they make me think ... reflect on life itself, how our life can be seen as a paradox in itself! ... I recall an ancient paradox my philosophy lecturer used to emphasise on … "Only one thing is certain -- that is, nothing is certain. If this statement is true, it is also false". How true this is! or is it false? ... :)