up and running again

This was the photo of the week. Taken in Wellington! Comet McNaught.

Wish I was there to see it. Must have been quite impressive!

I tried to write in my blog the other day, but it seemed there was a firewall and I couldn't get through... however, just tried before and here I am! I always feel more inspired (ironic as it sounds), at work so I am really happy to let you know what has been going on.


Last week was quite busy, started off the week with a 2 hour massage (great deal!), Japanese lesson on Tuesday, Wednesday met up with a good friend and decided to go on the Thunder Dolphin at Korakuen (check out the site!). I was so scared that I couldn't even scream! We were right at the front too! Thursday I did some yoga and Friday met up with a friend. Saturday I did the usual thing of housework and then treated myself to an amazing Headspa and went out with good friend I. So have been spoiling myself with massages and treatments. Oh yes, also went and had a geranium bath for detoxing. That was awesome and sweated a lot! (just by having your feet and hands in the bath.) If you haven't tried it, I recommend that you do. Especially if you feel the cold and want to sweat!

These days, have been really interested in health and really enjoying learning more about what it is to keep your body free from diesease. It seems that a lot of it is to do with the alkaline balance and the pH levels that your body keeps. Too much acidity in your body can spark all sorts of dieseases off and not only cancer. If you have some part of you that is affected like ececema, psirosis, cancer, diabetes, it seems that it stems from your body by producing too much yeast and fungi in your cells. Control the amount and you can control the disease and get rid of it. Check out Robert O Young's book, Sick and Tired; Reclaim your health for further info. The book is amazing and really outlines everything, with lots of scientific facts. Definitely has made me think differently about food and my approach to the way of eating certain foods.



think happy, live happy, be happy!
me

article on love (also from the yoga journal)

What Is Love?As much as we might like to, we can't force love to happen. But we canunderstand its many levels and connect more easily to its source.By Sally Kempton
www.sallykempton.com. http://www.yogajournal.com/views/1194_1.cfm

"I know love is there," my old friend Elliot said. "My question is,Why is it that so many times, I can't feel it?"We were in the middle of a workshop I teach called "Exploring theHeart." Elliot had recently lost his father, and so I asked him, "Areyou talking about something specific?""Of course," he said. As he told me the story of his father's death, Ifelt a deep sense of recognition. The questions his experience raisedare essential ones, questions we all deal with as we probe that mostfundamental and yet elusive of all human feelings: love.Elliot and his father had been polite strangers for nearly 20 years.Yet when the father became seriously ill, the only person he wantedaround him was his son. "I knew we'd been given our big chance to openup to each other," Elliot said. "I kept thinking, 'Now he'll finallyget who I really am! We'll bond, and I'll be able to feel love for himat last!'"The problem was that Elliot couldn't dig out a single nugget of lovefor his father. He wanted to love him. He knew he should love him. Buttheir history together had formed such a habit of disconnection thathe felt nothing at all.How Love FeelsSo Elliot did the only thing he could think of to close the gap. Heasked himself, "How would I act if I did feel love for my father?"Then he acted on the intuition that arose for him.Elliot realized that when we really love someone, we're attentive toeven the smallest minutiae of that person's existence. So he practicedpaying close attention to his father.

"I wondered where that love came from," he told me. "Was it a rewardfor taking care of my father? If so, why wasn't it there when I neededit, so to speak?"I realized that behind Elliot's questions was an even deeper set ofquestions, ones that plague us all. They go something like this: Iflove is real, why doesn't it feel the way I've always heard it wassupposed to feel? Why can't I feel it all the time? And why does loveso often feel lacking, or painful, or both?

Love Is a Many-Leveled ThingMost of us have been confused about love all of our lives. In fact, weoften begin the inner life as a search—conscious or unconscious—for asource of love that can't be taken away. We may have grown up feelingunloved or believing we had to perform heroic feats to deserve love.Our parents, the movies we see, our cultural and religious milieu giveus ideas about love that go on influencing us long after we haveforgotten their source. When we read spiritual books and encounterteachers, our understanding about love can get even more complicated,because depending on what we read or whom we study with, we getslightly different takes on what love means in spiritual life.

Some teachers tell us that our essence is love; others say love is apassion, an emotion that leads to addiction and clinging.

Is love somethingwe have to feel, or is it enough to offer kindness and direct positivethoughts toward ourselves and others? And how is it that some teacherstell us that love is both the path and the goal, while others seem toignore the subject altogether?In spiritual life alone, the word love is used in at least three ways,and our experience and understanding of love will differ according towhich aspect of it we are thinking about.

It is only when love gets filtered through theprism of the human psyche that it begins to look specific and limited.It becomes veiled by our thoughts and feelings, and we start to thinkthat love comes and goes, that we can feel it only for certain people,or that there's not enough love to go around. We can't help doingthis.Our senses, mind, and ego, hardwired to give us the experience ofseparateness and distinction, set us up to think that love is outsideus, that some people and places and things are lovable and others arenot, and furthermore that love has different flavors: mother love,romantic love, love of movies, love of nature, compassionate love,sexual love, love of the cozy feeling of being under the covers at the end of a long day.In short, if the

Great Love is naturally unifying, our individual,human experience of love is subject to change and loss, moods andtides, attachments and aversions. It doesn't matter who or what welove; at some point, the object of our love will disappear from ourlife or disappoint us or stop being lovable, simply because change isthe nature of existence. So individual love is always touched withsuffering, even when the love we feel is "spiritual."I once heard someone ask a great spiritual teacher, "Will loving youcause me to suffer the way I've suffered from loving other people?"The teacher replied, "If you love me in the way you've loved otherpeople, you'll suffer." He was saying that as long as we think thatlove comes from something outside ourselves—even from God or aspiritual master—we are going to experience pain.

To say that our individual experience of love can be unsatisfying orchangeable or incomplete is not to say it is less real than the GreatLove. It is the Great Love, which has simply been subject tofiltration. The practice of yoga is about removing the filter, closingthe gap between our limited experience and the experience of greatnesswe all hold inside. That's the whole point of contemplativepractice—especially the practice of loving.Love as SadhanaThe third kind of love—love as a practice—is the medicine for theterrible discrepancy we sometimes feel between our sense of what lovecan be and the actuality of our ordinary experience of it.

Thepractice of love—actions and attitudes that create an atmosphere ofkindness, acceptance, and unity in ourselves and in those around us—isnot only the basis of spiritual life, it is also the basis ofcivilization. We can't always feel gratitude, but we can remember tosay thank you. We can't always like other people, but we can try topay attention when they talk to us and help them out when they're introuble. We may not feel good about ourselves all the time, but we canpractice treating ourselves gently, slowing down and breathing when wewant to rush, or talking back to our inner voices of self-criticismand judgment. When it comes to daily life, feeling love may actuallybe less important than acting loving.

How would I act if I were feeling love?—you willeventually discover the practice that helps melt your frozen heart, sothe love that always hides behind our emotional barricades can showits face. One of my students, caught in an argument with her stepson,asked herself, "How would I be if I really felt love right now?" Theanswer that came up was "relaxed." So she practiced relaxing with thebreath and was able to talk with her son without the clutch of fearand judgment that had been polarizing the two of them.Connecting to the Source of LoveOver the years, two practices have helped me reconnect to the sourceof love. Both cultivate the feeling of unity. And both are based onthe insight that the best way to bypass the ego, which cuts us offfrom love, is to learn how to undermine our feeling of separation.The first is the practice of recognizing that the awareness in anotherperson is the same awareness that is in me. Years ago, I had to workwith a demanding, critical, narrow-minded boss. One day, when she wasbeing particularly prickly, and I was especially aware of mydiscomfort in her presence, I gazed into her eyes, focused on thelight reflected in her pupils, and reminded myself that the awareness,the life force, the presence that was looking out through her eyes wasexactly the same as the awareness that was looking out through mine.Whatever differences there were in our personalities, our mental andemotional states, she and I were the same on the level of pureawareness. Not different but one.It amazed me to see how quickly the feeling of alienation andirritation disappeared. The practice of recognition became thestrategy that allowed me to work comfortably with this woman, and Ifall back on it now whenever I feel the absence of love.

Not feeling loved ourselves, we pass on our sense of lackto others, so that even when we try to give love, what comes throughinstead is anxiety or clinging. Yet, as Rumi says in another of hisgreat poems, love is always there, always available, always ready topour itself out to us. Whether you actuallyfeel this love or not, keep imagining that it is flowing toward youand into you.Another way to receive love is to imagine that just outside the windowof your room sits a compassionate and loving being, someone wise andincredibly forgiving. This person is watching you through the window;her glance protects you and surrounds you with sweetness.Allow yourself to receive the love that is flowing toward you fromthis being. If thoughts come up to block it—like "I don't deservethis" or "This is just an exercise; it's not real"—notice them and letthem go as you might in meditation, saying, "Thinking," and thenbreathing the thought out. Your only task is to receive.When you open your eyes, look around you with the thought that thelove you have been contemplating is still flowing toward you fromwhatever you see and from the air itself.In truth, it is. The Great Love, the love that is the kernel ofeverything, is present in everything, peeking out during every momentin which we feel a spark of tenderness, appreciation, or affection.Any glimmer of love is a spark from that fire and leads us back to it.

spiritual job and life advice (yoga journal)

Take This Job and Love It

Stephan Bodian is a Zen teacher, licensedpsychotherapist, and spiritual consultant. He's the author of severalbooks, including Meditation for Dummies and Buddhism for Dummies www.stephanbodian.org http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/1163_1.cfm

Find a more spiritual approach to your work and you'll uncover newmeaning in your life.
By Stephan Bodian

As the new year begins and many of us take stock of our lives,chances are that questions about work and career are front and centerin our thoughts. After all, most of us spend more than half of ourwaking hours at work, and our jobs deeply influence every other aspectof our lives: the time we spend with family and friends, the materialsecurity and comforts we enjoy, the education we can provide for ourchildren, the places we travel to, the people we know.

Can This Job Be Saved?Jennifer was a 32-year-old sales manager and soon-to-be vice presidentat a pharmaceutical company when she confronted many of the issuesthat lie at the heart of right livelihood. Jennifer had deferredfinding a life partner and having children until she had achieved thematerial success she'd been taught she deserved. Now that she ownedher own home in the suburbs and was earning a six-figure income, shesought my help in counseling because she found herself asking sometough and unsettling questions. (Her name and some details have beenchanged to honor her privacy.)

Jennifer definitely enjoyed her work—the contact with clients, therelationships with her boss and coworkers, the frequent travel. But as she pursued her passion for yoga and began to explore a healthy,spiritual lifestyle, she found cause to wonder whether her company wasdoing more harm than good. Her involvement with alternative healinghad led her to question whether the benefits of the drugs she was paidto enthusiastically endorse truly outweighed their risks. And repeatednews revelations of corporate malfeasance in the pharmaceuticalindustry prompted her to challenge the ethics of her own company'spolicies, including aggressive marketing that attempted to sell drugsto people who might not even need them.Jennifer was in a quandary. After nearly a decade spent building hercareer, she had begun to doubt the fundamental principles andpractices of the industry in which she worked. And as she took stockof her life, she realized that being a sales manager gave her scantopportunity to express her more creative and spiritual sides. "What should I do now?" she kept asking. "Do I need to leave my job andpursue an entirely different line of work? Or should I stay where Iam, do the inner work necessary to bring a different attitude to thework I already do, and express my creativity somewhere else?"If you find Jennifer's dilemma familiar, you're not alone.

Of course,the answers you'll find depend on your life circumstances—and on theapproach to right livelihood that resonates most with you. In recentyears, three main views of what constitutes meaningful, sacred workhave gained widespread popularity. First, teachers of Buddhism enjoinus to do no harm and, if possible, do good for others. Second,best-selling authors of personal growth books, who can trace theirintellectual lineage to the Christian tradition of "finding yourcalling," encourage us to "do what we love" and trust that theuniverse will support us in our efforts. And third, there are manyreligious traditions that teach that we can transform any activityinto sacred work by the power of our presence, devotion, andintention.As it turns out, Jennifer resolved her dilemma by drawing from each ofthese different but compatible approaches. After acknowledging thatshe couldn't continue to work for a drug company yet was unwilling togive up her material comforts, she transitioned to a new career as amortgage broker in an upscale suburb.

In this quest, examining the three main approaches toright livelihood can help us clarify a personal path toward a worklife that better reflects our deepest values and sense of purpose.As taught by the Buddha and his followers, the basic concept of rightlivelihood is simple: Do no harm.

If humans are going to survive on this planet beyondthe next few generations, the teaching indicates, we must livesustainably—that is, in such a way that we replenish what we use andgive back as much as we take. As the Native American tradition putsit, we must be aware of the effect of our actions on the next sevengenerations.What Would the Buddha Do?But right livelihood informed by such a refined sensibility oftenturns out to be easier to imagine than to implement, as Patrick Clarkand Linsi Deyo discovered. Longtime Buddhists, the couple thoughtthey'd found a perfect solution to right livelihood when theyestablished Carolina Morning Designs, a firm that manufactures andsells meditation cushions. But the couple's spiritual idealism andtheir aversion to the competitiveness of the marketplace initiallyprevented them from engaging in the business practices necessary toproduce and promote their zafus successfully. "We were naive andidealistic at first," Clark admits. "Our survival depended on gainingnew customers, but we didn't want to compete against other companieswho were also trying to do good."

At the same time, they faced difficult choices that challenged theircommitment to environmental sustainability. "Cotton is one of the most harmful crops in terms of depleting the environment and using the mostherbicides and pesticides," Clark says. "But most people, evenmeditators, are unwilling to pay the extra cost for an organic zafu.We had to shift our attitude and learn to live with the economicrealities. It's idiot compassion to believe that you can completelyavoid doing any harm. And even Buddhists need to meet their basicneeds."As Clark and Deyo quickly learned, practicing right livelihood in thepurest Buddhist sense can be difficult, perhaps impossible, given theextraordinary complexity of our political economy. At the time theBuddha was developing his teachings, many of his disciples were monksand nuns who depended on alms. And since many lay followers raisedtheir own food and made their own clothes, they could mostly avoiddoing harm, because they were able to observe the consequences oftheir actions directly.

Today, however, every act has countless hiddenramifications. "The problem," Whitmyer says, "is that every occupationrequires us to sometimes do things that compromise our spiritualvalues—for example, using nonrenewable natural resources or nottelling the whole truth. We can only do our best given thecircumstances at hand."Buddhist teacher and social activist Joanna Macy, coauthor of World AsLover, World As Self (Parallax, 1991), agrees. "Right livelihood isfar more complex now than it was in the time of the Buddha, because wefind ourselves in economic and ecological relationships that aresimply unsustainable in the long term," she explains. "To the degree that we participate in these relationships, we inevitably cause harmin some way through our work." That doesn't mean we need to relinquishour efforts, but it often means we may need to adjust our idealism andour own expectations. "In such an imperfect world," Macy says, "theclosest we can come to right livelihood may be to hold the rightintention and do our best. In this sense, right livelihood may simplymean keeping your eyes and ears open to the sources you use and theeffects of what you do, and responding to what you learn as much asyou can." In other words, perhaps the best we can manage is "goodenough" livelihood.

Finding Your Calling Although buzzwords like interdependence and sustainability appeal toour sense of social and ethical responsibility, they aren't theprimary motivation for everyone who yearns for right livelihood. Manyof us are more concerned with finding work that lights our hearts,ignites our passions, and keeps our juices flowing day after day. Fedup with a deadening 9-to-5 (or 8-to-7) grind, we're searching for acareer that gives expression to our deepest interests, talents, anddreams—creative "soul work" that lends our life meaning and purpose.While bowing respectfully to the Buddhist injunction not to causeharm, we may be more attuned to mantras like Joseph Campbell's "Follow your bliss," Carlos Castaneda's "Choose a path that has heart foryou," and Marsha Sinetar's "Do what you love, the money will follow.""Everyone is a unique being on this earth with unique gifts to share,"says Michael Toms, coauthor with his wife, Justine Wills Toms, of TrueWork (Bell Tower, 1998).

"To the extent that we contribute our gifts,the universe supports us. Finding our true work involves following ourinner voice, heeding the spiritual call, and living our passions."Toms knows something about this—he is the founding president of NewDimensions Broadcasting Network, a nonprofit foundation that producesa weekly radio program about personal and social transformation. "It'simportant to give our passions priority," he says. "If we can't do itin our work, we can begin outside the workplace, and it will graduallygrow. Sometimes a passion leads to income-producing activity,sometimes not. Often it may be necessary to subsidize your passion, aswe did for years with New Dimensions.""Meaningful work involves bringing your own unique talents and giftsto the task of serving the world," agrees career counselor SueFrederick, who teaches at Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. "Thequickest way to get people in touch with such work is to encouragethem to share their dreams—the secret dreams inside their hearts.People just light up when they talk about the work that is or would bemeaningful for them."Beneath the sanguine approach to right livelihood that the Toms andFrederick espouse lies a confidence that our deeper passions,interests, and urges naturally guide us to make a unique contributionthat sets our own hearts singing and benefits others as well. Or inother words, deeply aligning with our individual creative impulsesbrings us into alignment with the needs of the whole.But the "follow your bliss" approach raises some thorny questions.Isn't a real estate developer who destroys environmentally sensitivehabitats to build new golf courses and expensive condo complexes following her passions?
Doesn't Osama bin Laden heed the call of hisinner voice when he organizes and launches terrorist attacks? How canwe know, in other words, whether our deepest calling will trulybenefit others? Don't we need other guidelines, such as the yamas(restraints) and niyamas (prescribed observances) of yoga, the ethicalprecepts of Buddhism, or the injunctions of the Ten Commandments?"The 'do what you love and the money will follow' approach can bebased on ignorance," Macy says. "The work that we love and the moneywe earn may have some pretty nefarious sources and consequences. Youcan be an awakened, conscious person in service of an unconscioussystem. Unless you are attuned to the consequences of what you do, youare not practicing right livelihood, no matter how much you love thework."Whitmyer concurs that the "follow your bliss" model of rightlivelihood requires careful calibration. "Do what you love and themoney will follow—if you're doing the right thing," he says. "But youneed to explore 'love' and 'right' in great depth to fully understandthis saying. The exploration begins in the center of your being, witha conscious effort to improve your mental, emotional, and physicalhealth.

You need to cultivate a level of awareness that allows you tonotice your emotions and become less reactive, and you need to hangout with people who are similarly conscious and aware."The challenge in the 'do what you love' approach is to access adeeper level of being, beyond the ego," he continues. "When we dropinto the center of our being and let the ego rest, what we really wantis identical with what's wanted. But unless we do that, the ego's incharge."Want What You HaveThe third primary tributary in contemporary ideas about rightlivelihood is one that flows against our mainstream culture ofmaterialism and individualism. In our country's growth-obsessed socialclimate, we tend to promote a view perhaps unique to the UnitedStates: that each of us has not only the capacity and the opportunitybut also the obligation to do and become whatever we set our heartson. We forget that we may have limited control over our careertrajectories due to the constraints of money, resources, energy,health, familial support, and social status. Instead, we are taught tobelieve that we should be the masters of our fates, and we'reencouraged to feel guilty, restless, inadequate, and dissatisfied ifwe don't succeed in living up to our most ambitious expectations.In contrast, the Indian culture that gave rise to the wisdom teachingsof Buddhism and yoga generally embraced the idea that each person isdestined to fulfill a particular role, or dharma, in life. From thisperspective, our job is not to maximize our potential or shop aroundfor work that's personally fulfilling, but to create right livelihoodout of the work we've already been given—by dedicating ourselves toit, mindfully and wholeheartedly, for the sake of God and the greatergood.

As the Buddha taught, the secret to happiness is to want what wealready have instead of wanting what we don't have. In keeping withthat teaching, any truly dharmic approach to right livelihood willhelp us find both peace and fulfillment in whatever job situation wecurrently face. Indeed, the Buddhist literature is replete withstories of people who used the power of their intentions to makesacred their work as butchers, street sweepers, prostitutes, tavernkeepers, and other seemingly undesirable, and even unsavory, occupations.Perhaps the most exalted expression of this traditional approach toright livelihood comes to us from the Bhagavad Gita, one of theseminal scriptures of Hinduism and a bible for the practice of bothkarma yoga (selfless service) and bhakti yoga (devotional yoga). Inthe Gita, Lord Krishna, an avatar of the god Vishnu, expounds the viewthat only action performed as worship of the Divine, without anyattachment to the results, brings lasting fulfillment.Responding to Arjuna, a warrior who agonizes over whether to fulfillhis duty even though it means he will end up killing his ownrelatives, Krishna teaches that "those who perform their duty with noconcern for the results are the true yogis—not those who refrain fromaction. Right action requires that you renounce your own selfish willand act without attachment to objects or actions."Of course, most of us in this day and age have a great deal moresocial mobility and choice than the men and women of ancient Indiadid—and thus we have more freedom to consider our ethical concerns andpersonal passions as we seek right livelihood. But all of us canbenefit from an approach to work that incorporates Krishna's advice.The path of selfless action that Krishna recommends can transform any activity into spiritual practice; it serves as a blueprint for a trulyyogic approach to right livelihood. When we view our work as anopportunity to stop clinging to a personal sense of what we need,want, or deserve—surrendering our limited ideas of what needs to bedone to the mystery of the Divine as it unfolds...

not just my way of thinking (royal family in Japan)

This is what I had been thinking about the birth of the new prince.. (Found this in an article on a website the other day..)

The Little Prince At LastAfter over forty years of spitting out only X chromosomes, the Royal family and thousands of ultra-conservative Japanese nationalists havereceived a bundle of joy a few weeks ago when Princess Kiko, wife ofthe Emperor's second son Prince Akishino, delivered a baby boy.The first announcement of the Princess' pregnancy came, suspiciously,the day Prime Minister Koizumi was bringing to the Diet a proposal tochange the succession rules and allow females to once again sit on theChrysanthemum Throne. This has led scores of people (i.e. your humbleeditor) to suspect a major conspiracy. To wit: Princess Kiko was keptout of the public eye during most of her pregnancy and when she didventure into public she didn't seem especially pregnant. A monthbefore her due date she was diagnosed with placental previa andconveniently hidden away in the hospital and the baby was eventuallydelivered via caesarian section. Even the news reports were muddled:"The baby was delivered minutes after a successful C-section." Yourhumble editor doesn't consider that news . "The baby was deliveredHOURS after the successful C-section." THAT would be news. Also, yourhumble thought a successful C-section WAS the delivery.Barely a week later, the princess walked out of the hospital lookingas thin as she had before her pregnancy, showed about one third of thebaby's face to the cameras and ran for her car. Your humble editorsuspects 1) the royal family bought a baby boy or 2) they swapped thebaby girl Kiko actually had for a boy or 3) we should all be on thelook out for a grave with a dead jackal in it.Either way, the issue of changing succession rules seems to be on thebackburner for at least another 40 years. Especially as almost 80% ofJapanese have said they would support a female monarch.

sleepy mornings

These days I feel just liked doing what this cat is doing. This cat is rather special to me as he used to always come over to my apartment. How did I know he came over, I would here a very faint little meow by my door. He was also a very special cat as he only had one eye, so I called him appropriately "one eye". A lovely ginger fluffy boy, who would sometimes take over my futon and make himself quite comfortable. Many an afternoon which I would just play around with him in the sun that would team into my living room. (That was way back when I had my apartment in Musashikosugi..)

It has been quite cold, although not as cold as it should be for mid winter. I'm not complaining and quite enjoying the mild winter. Still cold enough to wear my long coats (including my cashmere one! hee hee..) Have been trying to get myself a bit more motivated this year and did visit the company's sports centre! (Well, a few treadmills, weights which is about it really..) But good to make a start and hopefully will try and carry on with a routine there. It really should be made the most of as it is just a few floors down from my office! That and combining it with swimming and yoga of course.

Met up with Z for lunch today at my favourite sandwich place and then also for a coffee, which was great. Definitely helps to break up the day that is for sure. Always really nice to meet up with good friends and makes you feel not so homesick for the holidays and home. Has been a different kind of week, sometimes so happy to be back, and other times really wondering what I am doing here and where my life is going. Just have to take one day at a time, but there are decisions that need to be made and life to be lived.

Oh yes, have put up some very cool cream curtains in my apartment that very good friend A gave me. They have made quite a difference and my room looks more cozy AND is more cozy! So really happy about that. So my apartment is looking quite good. Need to really clean it up - all those small crooks and crannies that you don't do when you normally clean. (The Japanese have a thing over here for cleaning and that the BIG CLEAN should be done over the new year's break). Mine will be a bit delayed but will get round to it within this month!

Also, I had my birthday too for those that remembered. Thanks for all the special birthday wishes. Really means a lot. Must remember to keep a better track on birthday's and special events. This year I ended up going on the boat (sea) and caught my first fish! Was a great thrill. Then went for a swim in a very secluded, tranquil beach (will post photo later of the place I swam), and then was taken out to a beautiful dinner and had Striped Trumpter (fish name) for dinner! Was very spoilt. Saw some great spots in Tassie and really recommend it as a place to visit. Not crowded, very few people and just amazing beaches. Most impressed. Thanks J for all your tourguiding and spoiling me!


There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.
George Sands

another new year upon us

This is my first entry for 2007. Looking forward to an interesting and exciting year. Haven't made any resolutions, as I don't know really know any. I think I just make self-resolutions and try to not "name" them new resolutions. I do want to do a few things and I do want to continue to do yoga, and be organised with my time. I was reading that if one says they are too busy to fit things in, it is just because they are lazy with their use of time. So if I can help it, I want to try and not say I am too busy to do things and send parcels and letters on time, pay bills on time, meet my friends on time, small things like that for starters I think. Also try and embrace Japan life a bit more creatively and get into what I enjoyed when I first came here, looking out at flea markets, antique markets and the like. Apart from that, I just want to live in the moment and enjoy what the day brings and accept what it brings. Try to be flexible with different opinions and comments and try not to be too hard on myself or others too for that matter. Stick up for myself where I should, and believe in myself. Don't take things too seriously if they aren't worth it and try not to dwell on matters that aren't worth it (people too for that matter). Most of all, just enjoy what embraces you every day, every moment and remember to smile to even the cleaner. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have a clean office, clean halls or even sidewalks to appreicate. Appreciate all that there is in life and live to the fullest.

The thing always happens that you really believe in;
and the belief in a thing makes it happen.
Frank Lloyd Wright