Peaceful Hurricanes and Chaotic Stillness

Some days things “just” happen. Good and bad, big and small, important and not so much.. Some days one minute we laugh and cannot contain our joy in our physical bodies and another we feel below the sea level. On such days peacefulness is threatened by the most hazardous chaos and emotional hurricanes elevate to never before seen (and probably felt) levels. I am sure you have gone through this a significant number of times.

I would like to share my observations what works when hurricanes take over and chaotic stillness becomes annoying. I will share only 3 very simple possible steps you can take (there are so many more of them!) to change the situation. Start with these 3 steps as, I believe, they are the foundation of all the other ones that are in between:

1. Calm down. It might sound a little bit way too simple but stop doing whatever you are doing, put aside everything, walk away from your computer and find a peaceful place where you can come back to your body and your peaceful mind. One of the possible things to do is to make yourself a cup of tea and while drinking it concentrate and think only about the tea, the smell, the flavor, observe the color and texture of it. Let it be all about the cup of tea. Let all the thoughts and worries slide away. Find something what you enjoy and what takes 2-5 minutes out of your busy day. Enjoy the moment and observe every millisecond  of your peaceful return to pure happiness filled Earth. Try this!

2. Remember and decide what is important to you, deep in your heart, not in your brain. There are days when too many things happen at the same time and we lose a grip of what is important to us and what our priorities are. Don’t take the path that puts everybody’s responsibilities and faults on you.

TED x Berkeley Experience

Today I attended TED x Berkeley. What an experience! I love (really love) ted.com. I find TED speeches to be inspiring and I feel that most of them are so rich in content that it is impossible not to learn something new.

It was quite an experience to participate in one of the TED events today. I learnt few new things and I met few new people. Shore Slocum, Anat Baniel and Gopi Kallayil presented ideas that made me wonder and think deeper. Shore Slocum was encouraging the audience to let go off things, accept opportunities, step through the opened doors and not to be afraid of changes. He was saying that situations unfold without us trying to control them and they leave us at a better place than we could have ever imagined to be.. At times he felt like a mini Tony Robbins. I found Shore to be truly inspiring.

Anat Baniel gave a talk about brain plasticity and led a 2 minute exercise session after which I could reach my toes with my straight legs effortlessly. What a complex and magical mechanism our brain is and how many ways there are to present information to it to get different outcomes/results. I was skeptical before Anat’s 2 minute exercise and was amazed and inspired to learn more after. Anat defined nine essentials that the brain requires in order to grow and develop new patterns and possibilities for lifetime fitness of mind and body to achieve true personal empowerment.

There was so much information today that I cannot really recall who said exactly what but I liked Gopi’s approach on self and how little things can lead to big changes. One step stood out a lot to me – taking 1 minute out of your day to do things that make you feel “yourself” and make it a routine. I feel there are so many people who set goals that are not achievable and 1 minute sounds not only doable, but also enjoyable. Gopi’s point was that in time 1 minute will become 5 minutes and after a while you might find out that 1 minute transformed into all 30… Isn’t this exciting?

I also learnt about biochar from Lopa Brunjes and about synesthesia of living organisms from Bryan Alvarez. All speeches were inspiring and none were better than other. All of them were so unique and heart felt that it was hard not to participate and engage with the speaker. I am so glad I had an opportunity to participate at TED x Berkeley. I admit, my day was geeky and so much fun!

 

Miniature World

Oh how I admire little pretty things. Not only they make the fantasy world more real but also provide comfort that the Fantasy Land does not exist… Here are the three little things I am in love with today:

Little white flower bear with green

Rabbit diet. With tomato. Brooch.

Miniature bunny

Collection of Stories

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,500 times in 2010. That’s about 4 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 18 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 41 posts. There were 44 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 14mb. That’s about 4 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was April 20th with 76 views. The most popular post that day was Myself.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were twitter.com, facebook.com, art.scene.lt, hootsuite.com, and WordPress Dashboard.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for flowchart to my heart, expressing feelings in flowchart, beautiful drawing, healthy earth flowchart, and spectacular beautiful.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Myself July 2009
10 comments

2

Painted Skies January 2010
2 comments

3

The Architect of Dreams January 2010

4

Who You Are Matters April 2010
3 comments and 1 Like on WordPress.com,

5

In Case of Marriage, Swallow Pill August 2009
3 comments

Happy Holidays ~

Another year is on the verge of changes, new beginnings, happy endings, new romances for single and more mutual understanding for coupled ones.

Christmas is just around the corner and although this has been not so great year on Wall Street and Santa is on a budget, it will still be merry and happy Christmas for all – small and big. Be nice to each other, listen to each other, don’t take anything for granted and enjoy the happy spirits of this festive holiday season ~

Much Love,

ieva

Purple and Other Nuances

I have been a bad bad “mama” for my Geographic Delight blog. Not on purpose. There were so many things on my plate that I ran out of energy to take care of my Geographic Delight baby..

My main concentration and writing for personal purposes happens on my personal website www.ievute.com. Visit me there and say “hi.” I also have been spending more time biking and making things for friends, Christmas and myself. One of my projects, how to make recycled envelopes from paper grocery bags, can be found here. I also opened Etsy shop and was/am trying to organize things as much as possible.

Oh, and how could I forget, from the last time I checked in here, I changed my hair color twice. I am brunette now. I was purple/pink in between..

Sunday Eye Candy: PomPoms

It is cloudy and drowsy today where I am so I am browsing through Etsy and admiring people’s ideas and the craftwork that takes ordinary days to a higher unexplored level where colors play circles and shapes become lucid.

My pick of a moment is an artist called dadaya and the oversized colorful pompoms of her. I want one. What about you?

HOW TO: own your choice

I am sure you, like me, numerous times have been in multiple situations when you had to choose and when all choices were meaningful even after the most precise thoughtful weighting you have done. I am sure you were not once puzzled and confused – what to choose?

Lately I ran into people who didn’t know much about personal boundaries and where business and personal spaces meet. People who decided to be deceitful instead of transparent. I took part in situations when I chose to ignore things that bothered me and situations when I stepped up and stood up for the things and people that mattered to me at that particular time.

Life is full of choices. It is almost like a jigsaw puzzle when the whole experience of a day or a particular moment is constructed of smaller pieces that if matched correctly produce a beautiful picture that is rewarding at the end (of a day). Everything we do is a choice. Our choice. Getting up at 7:30 am instead of 7 am. Getting a medium coffee instead of small latte at a local coffee shop on the way to work. We choose how hard to work, when to rest, who to talk to, whose emails to respond to first and so on. The list of the choices we make throughout the day is infinite and none of the lists are exact and the same.

My biggest concern has always been how to make the right choice. The truth is, there is no right or wrong as long as you feel good about your choice. It shouldn’t matter what others think and what they say; you made the choice for yourself and not for them. Trust yourself that if you honestly thought through and if deep in your heart  you feel good about your choice then it was the right choice at that particular moment. It doesn’t mean that you will have to make the same choice the next time you run into the same situation. That is the beauty of the moment – nothing repeats twice and it is never the same.

Own your choice and be proud of yourself.

Invest time to say sorry and communicate to people if it was an unpleasant situation and somebody had to be let down. Treat others you would like to be treated and remember, what goes around, comes around. Be generous, helpful and honest. Say what you mean and give as much as you can. Own your choices and feelings. Even the feelings like guilt and shame.

I would be happy to hear more insights about choices (possible and already made) from my readers!

Have You Ever Walked a Labyrinth?

Labyrinth is such a literate and magical symbol. One moment it can mean a puzzle and another carry an important meaning about one’s journeys – inward and outward.. I always admired walking-labyrinths from afar, mostly, because I grew up in a country where they were existent only in a “puzzle” form. Only recently while working with one of my clients I realized that I live very close to one. Now I only have to pick a day, time and enjoy the journey..

I am also curious if anybody have walked any labyrinths and what experiences did you have?