You’ll know

There is a sensation that overwhelms you the first time you lock eyes and you share a conversation. You know. It doesn’t take more than a few seconds – minutes top – but the feeling arrives. Or it doesn’t. You know.

With every person you meet, you can tell from the start if the continuation will be good, or at least worth pursuing. Be it out of simple curiosity, you might give it a chance. But the intuition is real and often it is much more aware of the situation you’re in than you yourself. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

Be it with friends you’ve grown out of sync with, or with potential flirts that have nothing more to offer than a few interesting initial conversations, your psychosomatic signs will make you understand when it’s time to move on and find others who might be more of an intellectual stimulation as well as a pleasant company.

As we mature, as we make our way through life, we acknowledge that there’s always much more to living than simply scraping the surface. You quickly tire of people who cannot hold an intriguing or interesting conversation with depth that has nothing to do with gossip or daily routines, but rather something genuinely attention-grabbing: things you read, or simply thoughts you catch as they fleet instantaneously from your mind and may be interesting to share. From the slightest silliness to the most bizarre thing you heard, anything out of the ordinary can actually be a measure of how much there is to discuss with anyone after all has been said and done.

We tend to seek more out of the people around us. Because if we ourselves are active and in constant search of a higher level in everything we do, we want to surround ourselves with like-minded, goal-oriented, perceptive people. We help each other grow, evolve, be better. That’s how (healthy) relationships work.

We encounter so many people in our lives. Some for a while, others come and go, and few remain. But each time, if you think back to that first happenstance, you feel it. You sort of know how important or not they’ll be.

There are people whom you keep forever and hope to hold on to. Because that feeling is mutual.

But there is an even stronger emotional bond to those who entered your life, disappeared for a while, but searched their way back in. It’s as if there is an invisible thread uniting your lives and drawing you back together wherever you’ve been. It’s those people you feel most comfortable with. It’s people like that we need but rarely find. Who ignite that special feeling. And you just know.

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Moments of time

There are 86400 seconds in a day. But one is enough to change an entire life.

An instance is what you make of it – it can last entire minutes, losing track of time itself when you’re having fun; or it can be so small that it cannot even be measured when something tragic occurs.

It’s all a matter of perspective. And what we do with what we have.

William Penn had said that “time is what we want most, but what we use worst”.

Lao Tzu in turn uttered that “time is a created thing; to say ‘I don’t have time’ is to say ‘I don’t want to’”.

We often spend our days appearing busy, too much even for our own sake. We make lists, set schedules, post-its, reminders, afraid of missing something, of not having time to do everything we need to or want to. We miss calls from family and friends, postponing their return-call or desired meeting to a later time when we won’t be so pressed. We cram as much as we can in those 86400 seconds of the day, and we still feel they are not enough.

But when something happens – when those few seconds suffice to capsize everything, what matters the most? The clients we gained, the money we earned or the friends we lost and the moments we sacrificed along the way?

It only takes an instance to make us stop and reconsider everything we do. What is of true value, what is significant in those seconds we waste or exploit in our daily lives?

It is up to us to prioritise what we spend time on, how we organise the seconds we have to keep our minds and souls healthy and thriving.

Occasionally we have to make time; we have the way if there is the will to do so. Otherwise we will come to regret the time lost, the time we could have spent with loved ones, making memories and filling our days with joy; and that is something we cannot retrieve.

Remember: time is not measured by clocks, but by moments. Particularly those in which you feel happy to be alive.

Soothing voices

If you think about it, we become accustomed to the sound of voices even before we enter this world, from inside our mother’s uterus. We hear the voices of those preparing for our arrival, as we are safely tucked away inside our nurturer.

And when we are born, much before we are able to respond to them, we hear all sorts of voices from people greeting us, trying to strike up conversations with us, talking to us.

We associate certain voices with the feeling they evoke in us. Our mother’s voice is one that always generates safety and reassurance. Because you know it’s the source of unconditional love. Our father’s voice is one that offers courage when you’re in despair, but also the one that soothes you and calms you down when you can’t control your outbursts.

For some, the voice of your storyteller – whomever parent it may be – is the one that helps you pacify your agitated state and consequently puts you to sleep. That was the purpose, after all, when you were a child.

It’s remarkable how, as we grow older, the sound of these voices remain imprinted in our memories. And how we continue to yearn for them. Perhaps it comes with growing up, the need to feel as safe, loved and nurtured as you felt as a child. And in the most uncertain and ‘lifeless’ of times, that feeling of childlike innocence, bewilderment and pure joy is what is lacking most.

We should be grateful that the sounds we’ve registered in our minds are those of spontaneous laughter, fun and games, storytelling and amusement. Some are not so lucky, and instead recall the sound of war, bullets flying, soldiers yelling, explosions, ammunition burning and worse.

We should be grateful that we remember what it was like to live freely, without so much concern, stress and worry, without disinfecting every part of our body every couple of minutes; and without the awkwardness of not being able to be close to or hug a loved one.

Ultimately, it’s the voices we grew up with that inhabit our heads. You’re the one who chooses how much to listen to them.

Childish excitement

This was her favourite time of year. Not because of the festive holiday season and the magic that spread everywhere, but because she loved the feeling of snuggling up somewhere warm with a hot beverage and good company.

He shared the feeling. Because it reminded him of how wonderful it was to feel like a child again. To be excited with the little things, to play without caring what others thought, and to rekindle his lust for life.

She brought that out in him. She made him happy.

And he made her forget everything that bothered her. He turned her negative obsessions to positive aspirations.

That night of a new moon, he took her hand and led her to a Christmas market. There were jingles in the air, the smell of roasting chestnuts, happy cheers and lots and lots of bright lights.

And in the midst of it all was that magical place.

A carousel.

He helped her onto a plastic almost life-size horse and his eyes sparkled as he saw her smile lighting up her entire face. Her eyes were two diamonds in the night. And he knew he was simply lucky to be there.

It is the people who rekindle that feeling of being a child who are most deserved to be loved by you. Because they remind you of that lost innocence and of that bewilderment at every single thing in life. Witness things as a miracle and you have found happiness.

“Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it” – Roald Dahl

The palace of her heart

©Sandra Crook

It was when she entered that building when she truly became a queen. That was the day her beloved partner taught her to dance the waltz.

It was at an official ball of the French embassy to which he had been invited as an external collaborator. She felt it was an honour simply to have been asked to escort him.

But he wanted more.

He always did.

And after their majestic-fairytale-ball, he did what every little princess dreams of: he fell onto one knee and presented her with a little black velvet box.

She had officially become his queen.

Also part of Friday Fictioneers

Making a house a home

“Home is not a place it’s a feeling”. It’s the sense you get that you are exactly where you want to be. With the people you want by your side. To create the memories that will last a lifetime. It’s the starting place of love, hope and dreams. It’s your refuge, your retreat, your safe haven. It’s the place where your heart will always be.

It may take bricks to build a house, but it takes so much more to build a home. Perhaps that is why it becomes all the more important when after roaming around countries and houses, you may finally decide on settling somewhere and begin to think longer-term. You start planning for a future without that sense of insecurity of “who knows where I’ll be by then”; when you’ve found where you want to be and want to build a home there.

We are the ones who create the homes we live in. We fill them with love, with dreams, with memories and the longer-term prospects that a beautiful story can start from right there.

“Life takes you to unexpected places. Love brings you home”.

Caged

We all love going to the zoo. It’s a fun-filled entertainment park where you get to view all these amazing animals from all around the world. Animals that otherwise you would rarely have the chance to encounter. But what makes you wonder when at the zoo, is how these creatures, these animals who were literally born to be wild, can remain confined in the closed spaces they have been assigned. Caged. Just look at the lion, the “King of the jungle”, the beast of beasts, wandering restlessly inside its cage. The tigers spend most of their time “drifting” and then lying down as if admitting defeat and falling asleep. And every so often you hear complaints that “they aren’t really doing anything exciting”. But how can they? They really don’t have anything to do. All they look forward to in their days is for the gamekeeper to come along during feeding time. Back in the wild, they would have been running countless of miles, chasing their own food and experiencing the thrill of being alive. No wonder the Penguins of Madagascar keep plotting their escape from the zoo.

Living in a closed society, in a country that considers itself to be as entertaining and glamourous as a big city, but at the same time can’t shake off all the negative perks of a close-minded village, is very much like being caged.

There is hardly anything new or exciting to do, because it all just seems too pretentious. And it most often is. People attend events, concerts and openings etc, merely to appear in the relevant magazine section. Simply to be seen. It is a society that obliges you to have a broad network of contacts in order to get anywhere or get any work done. But at the same time, it is one which criticizes and talks about you consistently, as if you are the only one people should occupy their time with. And there are people who believe that you shouldn’t be seen doing pretty much anything, exactly because of the gossipers.

It is tiring most of all to deal with this stagnation when you know you have a restless spirit. When you know that this way of life has become stale and it is simply not good enough anymore. There is something better out there and you need to chase it. The point of feeling alive is to gain new experiences, to taste new things, to meet new places, to constantly learn. To smile more than you frown. To feel your heart flutter with excitement at the thought of going anywhere or doing anything. Once you lose that, then there is pretty much nothing left.

We were born to move around, to explore, to discover, to live and then settle.

In societies like those closed-up in their shell, people behave as if they are constantly the centre of it all. As if in the seven billion people that occupy the Earth, these are the ones that matter. And in some surprising way and as unwelcome as it may be, no matter how far you manage to fly away, they always manage to clip your wings and pull you back, like a tamer tugging at your leash. It is alight, even entertaining for a few weeks, but then, you sort of run out of reasons to get up in the morning and while you do enjoy the comfort and safety of this home, you crave experience and the new adventures that await out there. After all, when birds fly out of the nest, they (usually) don’t get pulled back in.

Like this amazing article states, “starting over isn’t about changing your scene, but the way you’re living in it. It’s about opening your eyes again, walking to the ledge and looking up, down and across, once again comprehending the vastness of life that sits openly waiting for you”.

Every now and then we all need a fresh start. Somewhere new. In order to get your pulse racing again. To vividly feel and inhale everything around you. To reignite your passion for life. To garner new life moments and new friends. To be reborn and keep moving on. To simply feel alive again.

 

Also part of Daily Prompt: Make It Anywhere (“If I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,” goes the famous song about New York City.)

In the silence of a word

 

 

 

 

 
It is said that the power of words lies not in what is said but what is left untold.
In what lies in the depths of your soul,
What torments you,
What in the night tosses and turns you.

In the thoughts that come to mind when you sit alone
In silence.

In the images that skim your thoughts
That make you laugh at a single memory
At the remembrance of a phrase,
A gesture,
A face.

In the force of love that torrents in your heart
In the acts that make you fall even deeper
In the love that that very one shows
At the most unexpected of times
In the sweetest ways.

In the serenity that overwhelms your being.
In the calmness that ripples over your psyche.
In the tranquility that grips your presence.
In the silence of all the things you need not utter.

 

Also part of Weekly Writing Challenge: The Sound of Silence

Fighting back Pandora’s Box

Have you ever found yourself surrounded by people, yet felt so alone? It’s as if you’re standing in the middle of a crowd, but you can see, feel or hear no-one. As if you’re encased in a vacuum, a glass case, and left feeling more lonely than you could ever be. It’s as if you’ve trapped yourself.

So how do you get out?

Sometimes it’s good to be alone. It’s actually healthy to spend periods of time alone. Doing something you want, without having anyone to disturb you. Spending time to re-engage with your own feelings, thoughts and desires.

But as the ancient Greeks admitted, humans are social beings and need to spend time around other people.

A well-known author (Jodi Picoult) wrote that loners are not alone because they enjoy solitude, no matter what they profess. They are alone “because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.”

But being disappointed with the world is no reason to step away from it.

Disillusionment is a natural feeling in today’s world. People grow up with dreams, of how the world would be like, of how their own (ideal) world would be, and of the part they would play in it. And suddenly the harsh reality sets in, making them see that the real world isn’t all sunshine and roses. Because Pandora’s Box had a lot of grief, evil and wrong hidden inside, and that spilled onto mankind, and is still continuing to diffuse all the more. And despite efforts of some to “fix” the world, there are claims we are at a point where some things simply cannot be changed. Hope, though, shouldn’t be lost as easily. Because even the most earth-shattering tremours, eruptions, tsunamis, storms, hurricanes and tornadoes come to an end. And the sun still shines the next day.

It may be true that sometimes “we live as we dream, alone”, but more often than not we should try a little harder to shine behind the clouds…

 

Also part of Daily Prompt: Cut off