Wabi-Sabi

Wabi-Sabi (noun) Origin: Japanese | The discovery of beauty within the imperfections of life and art.

This yet another Japanese aesthetic that has a very deep meaning in which life and art are viewed as beautiful not because they are perfect and eternal but because they are imperfect and fleeting.

We experience happiness as a series of pleasing moments. They come and go like clouds, unpredictable, fleeting, and without responsibility to our desires. Through honest self-work, reflection, and meditation, we begin to string more of these moments together, creating a web-like design of happiness that drapes around our lives. Tara Stiles

Every time I go home I find that everything has changed.  I mean some of the things are the same, but for the most part, it is all different.  Like in my brain that one laugh, that one smile, that one experience remains, but all of the emotions have changed.  It’s like starting over each time. Sometimes that makes me happy and sometimes that makes me sad. I try to hold on to the happy and ignore the sad.  However, it’s possible that the sadness and the anger and the misunderstandings help you to realize how fleeting the happy times are and how you should be holding on to them even tighter. These happy times are exactly the wabi-sabi that makes it all so beautiful.  That in the end, makes it all so very beautiful.

I get those fleeting, beautiful moments of inner peace and stillness – and then the other 23 hours and 45 minutes of the day, I’m a human trying to make it through in this world. Ellen DeGeneres

fleeting: Albatz; Tina; philos; ana; yamoto; xan;  barbara; swati; penross; barbara; chris; mugdha

Sprachgefühl

Sprachgefühl (noun) Origin: German | A person who has the feel for a language.

This literally translates as ‘language feeling’ from compound nouns combining Sprache (language) and Gefühl (feeling). Basically, this does not only refer to a person who has a good understanding of foreign languages but also to a person who has intuitiveness for what is linguistically appropriate.

The truth is, I have no real understanding of foreign languages.  I do have a good understanding and am very intuitive to what people are saying, meaning, or wanting though. I’m perceptive to the needs of others.  Not always accommodating but very perceptive to what they want or need.

I have taken both Spanish and Nepali courses for work.  Nepali was easier for me because it was completely not logical and did not even use the U.S. alphabet but an easier form of Hindi.  I was also able to learn the Korean alphabet when I was in Korea. However, the Spanish language was and continues to be a struggle for me.  There is something about learning a very hard language that makes the teachers a little more forgiving and makes the learning more memorable.  

As you can see, I was a very diligent student.  However, few of the measures I took helped me learn the language.  I just do not have a mind for this type of thing.  I enjoyed the role playing, the music, the movies and I could always get the gist.  But the memorizing of nonsensical words in nonsensical sentences didn’t help me at all.  It was exhausting.

After 7 months of Spanish, a few weeks in Ecuador in a language program, and many folks doing their best to help me out, I was still confusing past, present, future, imperative, gender, words in general.  I think because Spanish is everywhere and you can make out so many of the words, i felt it would be so much easier.

For me it was not.  I cannot tell you how many times I would be telling someone a story about my childhood in Spanish, and the person would look at me and say, “Wait, me?  Wait, you?  Wait, who are you talking about?”  My feelings were that if you did not understand me completely, you should at least understand if you or I had done something.. work it out man.  When i tell you a story about being attacked by a seal…. do you really have to ask “who” was attacked by a seal? I mean, unless you were actually attacked by a seal then yes, that is a great question.  Anyways.  

Once I completed my language classes, I completely enjoyed every country I visited.  I loved being able to even partially communicate in any of the languages of the countries I visited.  It completely changed the travel experience. 

Also, even though I did not quite know all the words, I was able to tell jokes, laugh at jokes, sing along, and carry on broken conversations with just about anyone. I think that having a “feel” for a language is sometimes more important than to be able to speak it perfectly.  Sadly my bosses do not always agree with my philosophy .. and sure they are at least partly right.  I do know that I had fun and I do know that people had fun with me and sometimes at my expense for my communication errors.  In my world, that means total success.

I have been to many countries at this point and in many of the countries I never spoke the language at all.  I think if you looked at all of the pictures below, you would not be able to know which countries I understood and spoke the languages and which ones I did not.  For me, the understanding came with the smiles.  It came with laughing over common states of being.  It came from eating and drinking the same food and realizing that we all had some of the same joys and some of the same sadnesses. 

I am definitely classifiable as a Sprachgefühl … if that is even a classifiable state of being.  See, not even sure if this is a real word, but you feel me, right?

Nepal

beautiful happy children in Cambodia

Egypt

India

Egypt

Cambodia

Cambodia

Nepal

Nepal

Nepal

Nigeria

Korea

Venezuela

Korea

Venezuela

Egypt

Nigeria

Nepal

Nepal

Cambodia

Korea

Themed happy hour with Adopted son – Caracas

Ghana

Someone isn’t happy – Caracas

Korea

what does the dog say?   Rochelle; Ibonoco; varnika; Rosie; Troy; Debasis; Jim; Rebecca; helen; annette; libertatemamo; albigensia; Cherie; suzanne

Yūgen

Yūgen (n.) – Origin: Japanese – Definition: An awareness of the universe that triggers emotional responses too deep and mysterious for words.

I try to honestly and emphatically embrace the mysteries that surround me.  I usually prefer  taking photos of people.  I love to look back on them and wonder what they were thinking.  If they were happy or sad or just sitting there empty minded in a way that I rarely find myself in.  However, sometimes I will catch an image of an object or place that will trigger in me an emotional response that is very difficult to put into words. When i look back on these photos, i can distinctly remember the silence, the heat, the cold, the dampness, and sometimes the awe of that moment.

I don’t know if these images created an awareness of the universe, but they definitely made me feel.

There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle. The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt is awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.

Albert Einstein

Yugen – Chowdhury; Annette; ametalk; nust: suparna; Homepaddock

Eudaimonia

Eudaimonia (noun) Origin: Greek | A contented state of being happy, healthy, and prosperous.

Sometimes, when you are in the heat of it all.  Stress and fatigue are surrounding you.  People are screaming, judging, commenting with their own opinions on your opinion.

“You should feel beautiful and you should feel safe. What you surround yourself with should bring you peace of mind and peace of spirit.” —Stacy London

You feel like the world is against you.  You feel like there is just nothing left.  It’s a spiral.  It’s a tsunami.  It’s devastation.  It’s death.  It’s destruction.  Sometimes when you feel like you can not take one more thing:

“Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.” —Dalai Lama

Close your eyes.

“Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.” —Desmond Tutu

Breathe deep.

“Not one of us can rest, be happy, be at home, be at peace with ourselves, until we end hatred and division.” —John Lewis

Listen.  Listen to your heart.

“When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.” —Jimi Hendrix

Feel.  Feel the joy you once felt.. you once felt at even one time in your life.

“Never be in a hurry; do everything quietly and in a calm spirit. Do not lose your inner peace for anything whatsoever, even if your whole world seems upset.” —Saint Francis de Sales

Remember.  Remember the surprise at the tiny little miracles of every day that some time later became commonplace.

“When things change inside you, things change around you.” —Unknown

Do.  Do something.  Anything. Anything that moves you to the better place.

“It isn’t enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn’t enough to believe in it. One must work at it.” —Eleanor Roosevelt

“If you don’t know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he’s just like you. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. It’s one world, pal. We’re all neighbors.” —Frank Sinatra

I don’t believe a happy state of mind just happens.  Sometimes it’s a lot of freakn work.  It’s not realistic to expect to be ecstatic every single day.  However, it’s realistic to be happy more than not happy.  If you are not happy more than you are happy, then you need to change your scenery.  Even if it doesn’t feel like it, you control your reality and if you don’t.  Start.  Start doing things that bring you to Eudaimonia.

“Peace comes from being able to contribute the best that we have, and all that we are, toward creating a world that supports everyone. But it is also securing the space for others to contribute the best that they have and all that they are.” —Hafsat Abiola

Eudaimonia in others:  David; Nourish; Micah; Matt; Eleanor; earthwalking; sophie; chungsoo; dream; the wave; sasi

Strikhedonia

Strikhedonia (n.) – Origin: Greek  – Definition: The pleasure of being able to say “to hell with it!”

I did it on a whim, just for the hell of it.  There was no particular reason, rhyme, or directive.  I can’t say the devil made me do it, I was not goaded into action. I didn’t have to do it. It wasn’t right or wrong.  It wasn’t even to satisfy a whim.  It was there and I did it. No apologies. No regrets.  Now, it seems, I can’t stop.

“My body is my journal, and my tattoos are my story.”
― Johnny Depp

“Believe it or not, some of us have piercings and tattoos and dye our hair because we think it looks pretty, not for any deep sociological reason. This isn’t an act of protest against cultural or social repression. It’s not a grand, deliberately defiant gesture against capitalists or feminists or any other social group. It’s not even the fashion equivalent to sticking two fingers up at the world. The boring truth of it, Gabriel, is that I don’t dress like this to hurt my parents or draw attention to myself or make a statement. I just do it because I think it looks nice. Disappointed?”
― Alex Bel

Just do it:  Abigail; Brad; Dave; Manishasky; asanta;  pied; savannah; akindheart; jojo; Michael; cat; Deb; 12raisins; jolens; nishabd; hobbo; Ray; Adrienne; Joana