ta>"Life ain't what  it's meant to be.

We were meant to see

A new horizon 

every day.     - Steven Hutchison

I can't get enough of this.

Sometimes I lay under the moon
And I thank God I'm breathin'
Then I pray don't take me soon
'Cause I am here for a reason

Sometimes in my tears I drown
But I never let it get me down
So when negativity surrounds
I know someday it'll all turn around because

All my life I been waitin' for
I been prayin' for, for the people to say
That we don't want to fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play, one day

It's not about win or lose 'cause we all lose
When they feed on the souls of the innocent blood
Drenched pavement keep on movin'
Though the waters stay ragin'

And in this life you may lose your way
It might drive you crazy
But don't let it phase you, no way

Sometimes in my tears I drown
But I never let it get me down
So when negativity surrounds
I know someday it'll all turn around because

All my life I been waitin' for
I been prayin' for, for the people to say
That we don't want to fight no more
They'll be no more wars
And our children will play, one day

One day this all will change
Treat people the same
Stop with the violence down with the hate
One day we'll all be free and proud
To be under the same sun
Singing songs of freedom like

Find Yourself

My friend Kelly is amazing. She compiled some already-created images with some newly-created (or tweaked) ones and produced this:

Epic!

What do you live for?

A friend and classmate of mine makes beautiful collages. Below is one of my favorites:

All I Really Want by Alanis Morissette

Do I stress you out
My sweater is on backwards and inside out
And you say how appropriate
I don't want to dissect everything today
I don't mean to pick you apart you see
But I can't help it
There I go jumping before the gunshot has gone off
Slap me with a splintered ruler
And it would knock me to the floor if I wasn't there already
If only I could hunt the hunter

Beautifully dreadful

I'm super excited.

So my hair has been driving me crazy lately. Tyler used to give me fun new haircuts pretty much each month during first semester, but he graduated. I haven't had a real haircut since November (I think). So naturally my hair is going all bonkers, which makes me go bonkers. I've been meaning to find a friend with clippers (I feel like going to a salon for such short hair is a waste). People have asked me if I'm going to grow it out, and I always respond that I would probably only grow it out to dread it.

Science and Buddhism/Meditation

 I found this excerpt about an article dealing with the interactions of the right and left side of the brain on The Buddhist Blog:

Enlightenment has been described in many ways, but what is common to most descriptions of enlightenment is a change in the sense of ‘self,’ and a sensation of a release from suffering. An enlightened person is said to no longer identify with herself as the individual she once was. She is also said to no longer experience negative thoughts.

Our feeling part of our Self is located in the limbic system, in this case the amygdala. In most people, the left side feels pleasure or positive emotions, and the right side experiences negative emotions. In each case, the right (positive) and left (negative) components are synaptically ‘wired’ to each other. Thoughts and emotions are communicated back and forth between both sides of the the brain along the synapses. Now here is where meditation impacts these processes. Most meditative practices involve techniques to de-emphasize, defuse or reduce negative thoughts. Over the long term, what this means in the brain is that the transmission of electrical impulses into both the right side (negative) of both the amygdala and hippocampus is reduced. Fewer negative feelings and thoughts, less activity along those pathways.

Published studies support the idea that long term meditation works by ‘starving’ the brain of negative emotions and expectations. So meditation not only trains us not to respond as intensely and frequently to negative thoughts and emotions, it also causes an ‘atrophying’ of our brain’s ability to process those thoughts and emotions. But the caveat here, is that it takes a lot of consistent practice over the long term.

Calvin and Hobbes

.ohfortheloveofgaia.

Today is difficult. I just want a cigarette. In one more week I'm going to buy a houseplant to reward myself for making it one month. It will represent health: for the environment, for my body, for the state of my soul (peace of mind).

Fishies :-)

Claudia hooked me up with three lovely guppies (I think that's what they are called) and a slew of snails. I'm very excited! I've been trying to think of what to name the fish (The Three Musketeers seemed to glorify violence too much for my taste). Although I don't believe in the traditional, literal implications of Buddhist mythology, I'm completely intrigued by mythology in general. When it comes to Buddhist mythology, it is very easy for me to transfer their words of a literal spiritual presence into a metaphor for what the particular bodhisattva represents. I also believe in the power of our choices, and what sort of energy we choose to put out into the world.

With this in mind, when I found the name Tara I was pretty excited.

:-)

It's been a while since I've felt how I feel now.

While the last -who knows how long- hasn't found me as tense and agitated as I felt today, I still haven't felt this balanced since the beginning of school. I feel good. Completely at peace. I want to go more into depth, but don't really know what to say. What else needs to be said? Confusion has vanished, and my tension along with it. Although some days humanity's harsh inhumanity makes me cringe, there are nights like tonight that I cannot begin to describe people's capacity for warmth, comfort, understanding, empathy, love. People like Michael, Tiffany, Kaity, and Z.

Maybe that doesn't even make sense. I suppose it doesn't really need to. All that needs to make sense is my appreciation of this new-found peace.

Humanity

The sun shines down,
and its image reflects a thousand
different pots filled with water.

The reflections are many,
but they are each reflecting the same sun.

Similarly, when we come to know who we truly are,
we will see ourselves in all people.

-amma

I found this on the website World Prayers, which my friend Kelly shared with me. I have a feeling I'll be posting much of what I find on their pages.