Tag: friendships

Serendipity, the menace of planning?

Serendipity
It a zoo of a world out there – pick your animal and go!

It’s a mishmash, a little of this and a little of that. However, that is kind of what it feels like these days.  There’s drawing, there’s writing, there’s the Beasties, the books, this website: All have components/efforts “out there” in the fields of hope and hard work ….and and and… We all know the feeling. A bit overwhelming. Creatures are expanding and appearing all over the place! So I created the above piece to try to visually express the chaos and the excitement of some of the pieces trying to at least get into the same frame!

We make plans; we use planers-we set out with the BEST OF INTENTIONS! Then-poof-Serendipity happens and our best-made plans at times go kaput. Is that good? Is that bad? Does it matter?  Interestingly enough – the origin of the word  Kaputt is German and means something is destroyed.  The origin of the German is borrowing from the French: être capot, literally ‘to be bonnet’ or figuratively ‘to be defeated’. (At least according to Wikipedia.) Here, in English, it means done, broken, useless, and most probably destroyed. So even the word has serendipity in its flow and the roots of languages.  The paths we take, the roads we follow-they fork and they zigzag; that’s all part of the journey, the fun (hopefully), and ultimately is our individual ‘walk of life.’ The directions may seem obscure at times, but somehow things usually seem to work out.  So if your resolutions have already been ‘adjusted’, unknown/uncharted paths have already opened, new ideas are forming, new friendships are building, and new adventures await you-try to stay open to the possibility that serendipity keeps it all just that much more interesting! Try it out-for really, what have you got to lose?

Friendships can lead to life transformations

I’m back to the topic of friendships. The power of friendships….

I just read a great article. (http://bit.ly/1nGa3Y7) It is called TRANSFORMATION AND TRANSCENDENCE: THE POWER OF FEMALE FRIENDSHIP. (Authored by Emily Rapp)   It has moved me to write this post…It happens to be about woman friendships, but I believe these same bonds, can indeed be between men, and men and woman. As I enter what is my wedding Anniversary day, I feel confident in saying, I KNOW it can be between a woman and man. A husband and a wife….

One of the take aways from the writing I am referring to is – “…that it’s possible to transcend the limits of your skin in a friendship. That a friend can take you out of the boxes you’ve made for yourself and burn them up. This kind of friendship is not a frivolous connection, a supplementary relationship to the ones we’re taught and told are primary – spouses, children, parents. It is love.”

I am also thinking of my dear friend, Deidre. She is ravaged with a horrific battle of her body and organs-mercilessly.  It is very painful, for her I am sure, her husband, as well as us watching from the sidelines. For me it brings up many of the issues of losing a loved one. Many of you know, but I suppose not all of you know, that I lost my husband, to a brain aneurism in 2012. I believe this may be the first time I have actually said those words on this blog. It has certainly been a journey that without friends (I include my family in as my friends) I would be much worse for the wear. I think about love, life, lose, friendships, life again, and trying to remember what is really the important stuff verses the “non-essential” quite a bit. It usually comes down to people first, friendships and love. Naturally ones needs things like money and a home etc-I know and acknowledge that as well. There is no question that money makes many things easier. (But that’s a whole different blog post for another time!) The above mentioned reading is primarily about 3 woman, who quietly and consistently tried to help the world and others for over 20 years. They were working out of Geneva  “…to assist people in real need in countries around the world…. Together. They understood, together, as friends, and apart, as individuals in the world, the urgency of compassion, and that it often goes unnoticed but that this doesn’t make it any less important or vital or difficult to sustain and cultivate. And they also understood that you could try as hard as you possibly could, and disaster could still strike – mercilessly. Without warning, without fairness, and with fatal consequences.”  I am drawn in by the words and thoughts of “compassion” and the concepts that sometimes “disaster strikes- mercilessly.” I have recently been thinking about what I am calling strong/tough hearted people vrs soft hearted ones, the concepts and realities of empathy, compassion, and love…. A friend said to me something along the lines of-“It would be so much easier for you at times if you weren’t so soft hearted, but then again, that is what makes you YOU.”  I completely agree, I think it was actually a lovely compliment, and I wouldn’t trade my sometimes pain for a harder heart, but man oh man, sometimes a heart shield sure would make things a bit easier! Thank you and Thank Goodness to my friends who have indeed picked me up and helped me stay together when needed, and as if by magic, have been there when called upon. I hope I provide the same for them.

“Support, salvation, transformation, life: this is what women ( My note- woman and or men)  give to one another when they are true friends, soul friends, what the Irish call anam cara. It’s what the Wrinklies (you will have to read the piece to understand this reference) did for one another, what the French resistance fighters in Auschwitz did for one another, what women (friends) do for one another in real relationships with real consequences in real time, every day, what my friends do for me. We help one another other live and sometimes, we watch – and help – one another die. It happens in movies, sure, but it also happens every day, in real life – now, tomorrow, yesterday. It is transformative and transcendent. It is real. It is love.”

 

Here’s a toast to transformative and transcendent. Friendships. Life. Love. To all my friends. Clink the glasses now. 

Link to the article:  http://bit.ly/1nGa3Y7 or http://therumpus.net/2012/01/transformation-and-transcendence-the-power-of-female-friendship/

 

Friendships, DNA, Love, Life and Science- WHAT!?!?

4FriendsOxygen

Where would we be without our friends?  I don’t know about you, but I would definitely be a little lost. I have long time, well established/embedded into my life and heart friends, and newer friends who are also “very near and dear.” Time evaporates when I am with these “tried and true” wonderful people. Years slip away, and memories often flood. I recently read your DNA may be able to hold some memories!

“New research from Emory University School of Medicine, in Atlanta, has shown that it is possible for some information to be inherited biologically through chemical changes that occur in DNA. During the tests they learned that the mice can pass on learned information about traumatic or stressful experiences – in this case a fear of the smell of cherry blossom – to subsequent generations…This suggests that experiences are somehow transferred from the brain into the genome, allowing them to be passed on to later generations. ” (Whole article here)

How amazing, and wonderful, if ones DNA was to somehow “know” a little about some of the people I love, and have loved, in my life! It gets a little Science Fiction like and a little weird…but, I do know there are experiments going on about stuff just like this! That is not what the above article is about-but this blog, today, is. It’s about friendships and the amazing value they add to life. Those really close friends are imprints – their words, their expressions, our shared experiences are indeed part of the fabric of my personal DNA. How could that not be true? For myself, it seems as if it must be true. Those that we love are in our systems, in our minds, and in our hearts. Maybe that’s the (or at least mine) definition of a friend? Websters Dictionary defines a friend as-

: a person who you like and enjoy being with
: a person who helps or supports someone or something
: a favored companion

I think that’s all true as well, but I like my definition better! Websters is more like what I would define as a close acquaintance- maybe a friend “to be.” My definition (and my friends) all seem to have much stronger legs, more heart and much more soul than Websters words.  How about you? How do YOU define friendship?

Thanks to all my friends- you all know who you are. This is pretty much how I feel about knowing you, and sharing our friendship(s)

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art… It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.” – C.S. Lewis

…and you know, I think Art and Philosohy are vital, and that Quality Survival is Where It’s At, and that’s what makes my world turn each day!
And so I close this blog post.

 

Friends

Friends

“The people who are close to us bring untold meaning and value to our lives. When we are with the people who we care the most about, our social activities become something that is not only fun but also that contributes to our overall sense of interconnectedness and well being – for it is though our friends that we see just how rich and abundant our lives truly are. Inviting our friends to do things with us is one simple way to allow this feeling to infuse our lives with this sense of bounty. Being grateful for what your friends add to your life will let you recognize the gifts that the universe has given you today.” -Daily OM

“An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.” – Buddha

“Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief”. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

“The language of friendship is not words but meanings.” – Henry David Thoreau

“Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.” – Woodrow T. Wilson

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.” ― Linda Grayson”

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” – Marcel Proust

“A friend is one that knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts what you have become, and still, gently allows you to grow.” – William Shakespeare

Got it? Get it? Enough said…
Thanks to all my friends and…
Thanks to all the friends of The Botanical Beauties Community.