Sometimes life can be pretty tough. Things change, people leave, things don't work out the way they should. I am sure everyone gets into such situations from time to time. I have been there, too. When I was a kid I kept asking myself why so many persons I love, had to leave me? All my friends went to weddings and christenings, but I had to go to funerals. And I still wonder sometimes, if I bring some kind of misfortune to my loved ones?
This jellyfish looks like our planet Earth and
symbolizes life's beauty.
pic by Steve Jurvetson
Life comes and goes. I have learned that. And it was not only once that I had the wish to live in a perfectly harmonious world. Like shown on TV. I have never had a group of friends who were like my second family and I could share everything with. Or that I met the same guys daily. I only met one friend daily, now it became monthly, and sometimes not even that works out, due to work and that she is already married and has the cutest daughter on earth.
So seeing my friends only a couple of times a year, and that they all don't really know each other coz I met them in different places of my life, I sometimes wish to be back at school. Back to the times when you didn't have to worry bout money, your future or even the next day. You never thought of anything but just lived day after day.
In one of the latest Simpsons episode Homer wanted to live in Lego world, a place where his kids never get old, no one gets hurt and nothing ever changes. And in season 7 finale of The Big Bang Theory Sheldon deals with too much change in his life, too. He runs away, probably like many would love to. But is this the right way to deal with problems? Homer figured out that time with his kids is limited and exactly that makes it special. They will always love him but keep growing too.
Change frightens everyone. We love to do things we got used to, things we know quite well. When it comes to new things, we start analyzing. We wanna figure out the risks, what could happen. And we all feel more comfortable in things that had always been this way. But would it be really good being a kid again, going to school? I would miss many people in my life that I wouldn't have met if I ever stayed that young. Experiences you cannot make. Life is not always easy, as bad as it can be, never close your eyes for the good things too. I am sure there is much in your life that you are proud of. Focus on that. And don't forget:
it is not important what but who you have in your life.
My current fave German song is about life, its beauty and everything that is still ahead of you and me. Future can be scary, but should not be. If everything stays the same, would this really be a life worth living?
Yesterday Conchita Wurst from Austria won the Eurovision Song Contest, a huge music celebration in Europe. Once a year every country can send an artist to represent her country at the Song Contest. It gives everyone the chance to hear music they might never heard otherwise. Winning this competition in 1976 was huge for Abba, because afterwards they had an amazing and very successful career. Their songs are still heard and they are some sort of role models for everyone taking part these days.
We are like ballons - colorful and unique
and wanna be free.
pic by gwaar
But it is not only about the music anymore. Sure, music connects people. They can sing in their own language, and you don't have to understand every word to understand what they sing about. The Eurovision Song Contest unites Europe in the most positive way. And this year it also sets a political statement.
The winner comes from Austria and is a guy, dressed like a girl but having a beard. His actual name is Thomas Neuwirth, who is an Austrian singer and drag artist. What looks strange at first has a good reason why he does it like that. Because it doesn't matter the way you look or who you are, as long as you simply be yourself.
He has called himself Conchita Wurst, because there is a German saying that goes "es ist wurst" which means "it doesn't matter". So what does it mean that he/she won this? That it is okay to be you, and you will be loved for being who you are. There will always be people who try to put you down. But if there is anyone out there calling you ugly, she will be the ugly one. Because ugly is an attitude, it's someone who doesn't want to accept other people but are only self-centered.
Everyone is beautiful. Your beauty lies within you.
When I ask people who they think is beautiful they always name girls like Heidi Klum or any other top model (I don't really know many models because i don't like that business that reduces everyone to her looks). Actually I always wonder why people mostly care about someone's eyes or body or whatever. It is when I read magazines or some forums on the internet and the same people discuss the same things over and over again. No matter what is on TV, it is mostly about how someone's dressed and looked instead of writing about what she said. That must be the reason some "celebrities" like the Kardashians exist in the media.
Why did we become people who mostly care about the hair, makeup, body, etc and also drive ourselves crazy by thinking we aren't perfect the way we are? Why do we reduce people to how they look? Imagine the show "The voice" was real life, and you only hear a person's voice, and then think about if you wanna get to know her or not, and after that decision you see her face, would you think differently about her than just seeing her? The character of a person is much more important. But no one sees anyone's character. The clothes you wear, gives strangers a first impression of who you might be. She then thinks of other guys she met who looked similar than you and so put you into some sort of box. It is based on our experience what we see in people. It is caused by evolution and good to prevent us from people who could harm us. But it also can let us being prejudiced against some people, when there is no reason to be. We only see what we wanna see and close our eyes for what is really there.
Have a look at the video below. Maybe close your eyes and just listen to Conchita's voice and then watch her. The eyes are the biggest liars, we can see more clearly with our heart. So back to her winning the ESC yesterday: Europe accepts people no matter what. And that is good. Because if there is one thing we all want, it's freedom. And how do we become free? When we get the chance to be who we are and being accepted for that. And this makes someone really beautiful: when she dares to be herself and also accepts and respects others for being who they are.
What happened? What am I doing here? I open my eyes, but it's like they are still closed. I can't see anything. Am I blind? Is it dark? I start thinking. What is the last thing I remember? How do I come here? Where am I? I can only feel the floor, it feels like stones, ice cold. I try to get up, try to get on my feet. I have to get out of here. I touch the wall and I start to walk. I want to leave the darkness, I want to see. I want to hear something, I want to feel something that is not cold. I walk, and I think of my goal.
I walk and walk and walk. I am exhausted, I can barely breathe. Where am I? How do I get out of here? I finally wanna see again. I wanna hear something. I wanna feel something that is not lifeless and cold. Having that wish is what keeps me walking. I won't give up. It's my dream. A simple one. I don't wish for a pot of gold or the crap most people are looking for these days. Who cares about fame? Someone can be successful today, and a beggar tomorrow. Money means nothing. It might be not as cold as these stones on here, but as lifeless. Not many guys understand what's really important. I am looking for that. I look for happiness.
I have a dream. Yes, I dare to still have a dream. Mostly live their lives the way they were taught to. But who wants to live a life of someone else? When I'll be a Grandma one day, I will tell my kids about my life, what I have done, and not what others told me to do. No, I don't know where I am, I only know where I want to be. Out of the dark. I wanna see the light. My life has to have a sense. Where is it? Where can I find it? I keep walking. I don't know if it's the right direction, but it feels right in that moment. A voice within is telling me keep going.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris is for many people a symbol of love
picture by D. Sharon Pruitt
And then, suddenly it happens. What is this? It's beautiful. I feel like an insect flying to something sparkling. The first thing I can see. I am not blind. It gets brighter and I feel something. A tingling in my stomach. I get excited. The closer I go, the brighter and warmer it becomes. I do not only see again, I also feel again. I know the goal is near, I am almost there. The long walk, the cold, the darkness, it's all over. I don't know what's gonna happen, I can't describe what I see but it's the most beautiful I've ever seen.
I see colors, all the colors of the rainbow. It is warm, I can feel it on my skin. The dark and grey fade away. I can hear birds singing, I can hear the trees rustinling in the wind. I can see the blue sky, I feel the sun rays embracing my whole body. I reached my goal. Some might have stopped, lost their faith on their ways, but I had a dream. And now I found what I was looking for. The place where I am safe. I found you.
I look at you, and you look at me. Smiling happily. You just stand there, don't say a word. But you don't need to. Words are a bad way to use for communication, it often leads to misunderstandings. You are like my mirror, when I look at you I see me, only clearer and brighter and happier. You are the other half of me, you let me see, hear, and most important feel. I feel free, I feel safe, I feel me. I finally arrived. I am at home in this beautiful place, your heart.
It was Justin Timberlake's song "Mirrors" that inspired me writing this short story. It's a beautiful song about finding love, the one and only we are all looking for. The one person that understands you without words, that shows you the beauty of life that you was unable to see before. Love is what keeps us alive, and statistics say people who live in a happy relationship live longer and get less sick. I guess when I keep walking I'm gonna find this beautiful place, home, one day. I do believe in true love and the power that it has and gives you.
Do you believe in true love? Have you found your true love? What is love for you? Do you think you just feel when the right person is next to you?
Every girl loves pink. Is it a stereotype or really true? When a woman gives birth to a baby girl most of the presents and congratulation cards are in pink. The girl gets pink dresses, skirts, ribbons, plush toys and so on. Girls live in a pink room, sleep in a pink bed. Okay, not all of them, and luckily I had a white room without any pink when I was a kid. But why is pink the girl color? Why is the first thing we think of when we hear the word pink little girl's stuff? Okay some might think of the singer, but for the most I guess it's girl's stuff.
The meaning of the color pink is unconditional love and nurturing.
There are so many colors which are all neither male nor female, except light blue for boys and pink for girls. When you go to a toy store and look for girl's stuff, you get a pink shock: everywhere you look it's all pink. Mostly Barbie dolls. But why do girls love Barbie? Almost every little girl plays with that doll. I was one of them who couldn't have enough. And girls do not only want the dolls; they also want the dresses, cars, houses, horses. Barbie has everything, a beautiful, perfect life in a pink girl's bubble.
Is pink a typical girl color?
picture by tanakawho
What would a girl do if she could be one of Barbie's friends and live with her on the pink side? Such a dream can come true in the Dreamhouse which is permanently in Sunrise, Florida, but also touring through Europe. This week Barbie Dreamhouse opened in German capital Berlin and will remain until August 25. But not everyone loves this pink dream. Some protested against the house, against Barbie. According to them the doll is the reason why many girl's don't like their bodies and have an unhealthy beauty obsession.
“Fewer and fewer girls feel comfortable in their own skin, with eating disorders having increased drastically because of figures like Barbie,” Stevie Schmiedel from the “Pink Stinks” Initiative said as quoted by SAPA.
But is it only that doll that let girls think they only have to look good to become popular and special? Is it only that doll that shows them to be extra thin? I doubt that. It's also the whole Hollywood life shown on TV that gives the impression of size 0 is a good thing. Celebrities have to look just perfect, but even they only look 'perfect' thanks to Photoshop. So is it really the doll which created the picture of a little girl who likes everything pink? Can it be blamed for the whole thing? Why do girls admire Barbie? Because of her look? Because of everything is pink? Back in the 1920s pink was a male color due to its close associations with red. Until the 1940s blue was seen more dainty and so the girls color. But then it changed. Since then the color pink represents compassion, nurturing and love. It relates to unconditional love and understanding, and the giving and receiving of nurturing.
Do you think pink is a girl color or is it mostly because of Barbie? Do girls really like that color or did they just get used to it because their parents gave them many pink stuff and so even later they feel more comfortable with everything pink? And do girls really wanna look like Barbie? Does she represent all the typical girl stereotypes?
What makes someone beautiful?
picture by Robby Mueller
These days it seems like everything is possible and there are no limits anymore. When we don’t like something, we just change it. Also the look can be changed very easily. And I mean not the clothes you are wearing. More and more people love to put on some makeup, and feel better afterwards. It’s not a big thing and also I love to wear some mascara, that everyone can see I have eyelashes, because they are that bright that without mascara someone might think I don’t have any, and that looks weird. But in my mind kids shouldn't wear that. And I have seen a few moms who dress their kids like ladies, and also let them wear lots of makeup.
Some guys love other colors, like tattoos. Pictures can be drawn all over the body, and so people can even get addicted to them. They feel in a way empty without the tattoos. I think tattoos are okay. I once actually thought about having a small one on my own, but I don’t think if I could dare to do that. I guess when people want one, the tattoo should have a meaning for them. I thought of a butterfly holding a key. The key is the symbol that I can open every door, so when a door closes in my life, another door will appear and I have the opportunity to open that. And a butterfly came out of the dark, had finally learned to fly, is independent and colorful.
Some guys even go further. I only have to say two words: plastic surgery. If they don’t like their nose, their chin, their breast or whatever, they go to the doctor and let it change the way they want it to. Plastic surgery exists way longer than some of you might think of. Even Marilyn Monroe let some parts of her body correct by a surgeon. For me this goes a bit too far. I mean when you broke your nose and want that it looks again like it did before that happened, such surgeries are great. A surgery is always a risk, but people don’t think about that. It lets me think of how far would some people go to look perfectly, and can this perfect look ever be reached? I mean it’s like an addiction, once started they want more and more. It’s like when you have something, and then you wanna change it, improve it, make it better or just different. But is this really necessary? Can you understand these people? How far would you go for your beauty? Ever considered one or two of the mentioned things? And why do you think is the look of a person so important these days?
