Dalai Lama

“Instructions for Life” by The Dalai Lama

Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.
Follow the three R’s: Respect for Self, Respect for Others, and Responsibility for all you actions.
Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
Spend some time alone every day.
Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.
Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
Live a good, honorable life, then when you get older and think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it second time.
A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
Share your knowledge. It’s a way to achieve immortality.
Be gentle with the Earth.
Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.
Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
Judge your success by you had to give up in order to get it.
Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Sunscreen

I have come across those lyrics in a song I heard on the radio and it somehow fascinated me..
Page Four

'Wear Sunscreen' was written by Mary Schmich, a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Originally printed in a newspaper column, this now famous poem was e-mailed around the world, identified as an M.I.T. commencement speech by author Kurt Vonnegut. The false attribution was never explained, but the poem became an Internet favorite; it was later set to music and released on an album by Australian director Baz Luhrmann.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.
Oh, never mind.
You will not understand the power
and beauty of your youth until they've faded.
But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of
yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much
possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.
You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future.
Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as
trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things
that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that
blindside you at 4 pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts.
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy.
Sometimes you're ahead,
sometimes you're behind.
The race is long and, in the end,
it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive.
Forget the insults.
If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters.
Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know
what you want to do with your life.
The most interesting people I know didn't know at
22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some
of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees.
You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't.
Maybe you'll divorce at 40,
maybe you'll dance the funky
chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself
too much, or berate yourself either.
Your choices are half chance.
So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body.
Use it every way you can.
Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it.
It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance,
even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions,
even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines.
They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents.
You never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings.
They're your best link to your past and the people
most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go,
but with a precious few you should hold on.
Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle,
because the older you get, the more you need the
people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it
makes you hard. Live in Northern California
once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths:
Prices will rise.
Politicians will philander.
You, too, will get old.
And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you
were young, prices were reasonable, politicians
were noble, and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you.
Maybe you have a trust fund.
Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse.
But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the
time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy,
but be patient with those who supply it.
Advice is a form of nostalgia.
Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal,
wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts
and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Mary Schmich
( newspaper columnist with the Chicago Tribune )

Flow

A discussion I had with a friends today, lead to the following statement I consider important. The writer of which has published several books..
If we agree that the bottom line of life is happiness, not success, then it makes perfect sense to say that it is the journey that counts, not reaching the destination.Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, born in 1934, is a psychology professor, the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago. He is noted for his work in the study of happiness, creativity, subjective well-being, and fun, but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow and for his years of research and writing on the topic. He is the author of many books and over 120 articles or book chapters. He is one of the most widely cited psychologists today, in a variety of fields related to psychology and business.
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Flow, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Csikszentmihalyi outlines his theory that people are most happy when they are in a state of flow
In his seminal work--a Zen-like state of total oneness with the activity at hand and the situation (see Flow (psychology)). The idea of flow is identical to the feeling of being in the zone or in the groove. The flow state is an optimal state of intrinsic motivation, where the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing. This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by a feeling of great freedom, enjoyment, fulfillment, and skill--and during which temporal concerns (time, food, ego-self, etc.) are typically ignored.
In an interview with Wired magazine, Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high-ee)... described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."
To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur.
Also, the flow state also implies a kind of focused attention, and indeed, it has been noted that mindfulness meditation, yoga, and martial arts seem to improve a person's capacity for flow. Among other benefits, all of these activities train and improve attention.
In short; flow could be described as a state where attention, motivation, and the situation meet, resulting in a kind of productive harmony or feedback.
References
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row. ISBN 0060920432
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1996). Creativity : Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention. New York: Harper Perennial. ISBN 0060928204
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (1998). Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life. Basic Books. ISBN 0465024114 (a popular exposition emphasizing technique)
Gardner, Howard, Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, and Damon, William (2002). Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet. New York, Basic Books.
Geirland, John (1996). Go With The Flow. Wired magazine, September, Issue 4.09.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi"Flow Theory"
The Thinker of the Year Award has been awarded to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a professor and former chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago who has devoted his life's work to the study of what makes people truly happy, satisfied and fulfilled.Mr. Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high-ee) is chiefly renowned as the architect of the notion of flow in creativity; people enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction. Mr. Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."
Martin E.P. Seligman, President of the American Psychological Association, describes Csikszentmihalyi as the world's leading researcher on a subject that is near and dear to his heart, positive psychology. He says Csikszentmihalyi's work on improving lives has been important in his own effort to encourage psychologists to focus on building human strengths. 'He is the brains behind positive psychology, and I am the voice,' says Seligman. Csikszentmihalyi is working with Seligman to engage young leading psychologists to focus on prevention and building human strength.Csikszentmihalyi is also a leading researcher on creativity. Csikszentmihalyi explored the lives of more than 90 of the world's most creative people, such as author Madeline L'Engle and scientist Jonas Salk, to find out how creativity has been a force in their lives. He's discovered that some highly creative people find satisfaction by inventing a career or job for themselves, like a scientist who creates a new field of study. These findings are described in his book 'Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention' (HarperCollins, 1996).
Dr. Csikszentmihalyi has published over 120 articles or chapters, some of his books include: "The Evolving Self: A Psychology for the Third Millennium," "Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life," "Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention," and "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience."

Winterthur

Some street-pictures from Winterthur, where we walked through town after visiting the highly impressive exhibition by American photographer Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson

The special art-trip today lead us to Winterthur, a town in Switzerland about 20 km from Zurich.
An exhibition took place there by the American Photographer Gregory Crewdson (3 pictures you can see here).
His photographs which all have a magic area about them show stills, all concerning broken human relationships, people looking desperate, with no hope, trapped in various situations where there seems no escape.
Although that might sound quite negative, still there is an ironic aspect to these pictures.
Some scenes are so unreal, he almost gives the impression he is exaggerating a single situation widely, adding some surreal facts and details to them.
Thats what it is all about. The dark side of the human unconsciousness.
Gregorys father worked as a psychoanalyst, thats why he came in contact with the human soul at quite an early age.
Those memories and impressions he seems to cope with in his highly arranged pictures which often appear to be dream inspired.
There is a long story you could tell to each photo, it is the world of broken dreams, tablets, nature, family,tragedy, end of romance,people who resigned. All that is done in highly quality photographing, with sharp and beautiful colours,often dimmed, the light is always perfectly set in scene as it has a central meaning in his work.
The set consists of a huge number of people, actors, etc.. each picture is not just a quick shot but a well organized, deeply constructed interaction of all people involved. I could hardly take my eyes off these fascinating photographs which totally inspired my fantasy, each picture is so complex it makes you want to tell a story.. If you get the chance to see his work, go there, you won't be disappointed!

Rose Ausländer, a great poet

Let me introduce Rose Ausländer, one of my favourite poets to you:
She was born in 1901 in Czernowitz, Bukovina, then part of the Austrian Empire, later part of Romania, and now part of the Soviet Ukraine. Her first book appeared in 1939 in Czernowitz, but nearly all copies were destroyed during the war. She lived hidden in a cellar during the Nazi occupation, and managed to survive, as did another poet who was to become important in German literature after the war: Paul Celan. 90% of the large Jewish population of Czernowitz perished. In 1946 she left the Russian-occupied city for the USA, where she lived for several years, and where, for a couple or years, she wrote in English.
Here is one of her poems in both English and how it was originally written: German

The Strangers
Railways bring strangers who disembark
and look lost In their eyes swim
fearful fishes.
They have strange noses sad lips.
No one comes for them
They wait
for the twilight that makes no distinctions
Then they can visit their relatives
in the Milky Way
in the moon’s trough
One plays the mouth-organ -strange melodies
The instrument possesses another scale:
a never-ending succession of solitudes


Die Fremden

Eisenbahnen bringen die Fremden
die aussteigen und sich ratlos umsehen.
In ihren Augen schwimmen
ängstliche Fische.
Sie tragen fremde Nase
traurige Lippen.

Niemand holt sie ab.
Sie warten auf die Dämmerung
die keine Unterschiede macht
dann dĂĽrfen sie ihre Verwandten besuchen
in der Milchstrasse
in den Mulden des Monds.

Einer spielt Mundharmonika –
seltsame Melodien.
Eine andere Tonleiter wohnt
im Instrument:
eine unabhörbare Folge von
Einsamkeiten.