The Zeppelin Museum and the truth about swivel chairs revealed!

The truth just occurred to me.

The truth about swivel chairs.

You know all those severe, haughty looking business men in their intimidating black swivel chairs, steepling their fingers. The ones who can barely deign to look down upon mere mortals who weren't born into a position of entitlement and privilege. You know the ones, the media barons, the mining magnates, the arms manufacturers ...

The truth is that when there's no one in the room they act up just like the rest of us when we think no one's watching! Unlike the teacher mentioned below, they just haven't been caught ... yet!

Their black leather covered, official looking, high backed, swivel chairs are really the corporate excuse for a trip down fantasy lane and into the realms of childhood!! But they probably won't admit it ;-)

... and maybe, just maybe if they could allow themselves to make a habit of enjoying the fun and fantasy and Mindfulness, (read on!) the world would be a happier, healthier place.

While on the subject of fantasy, aren't these playgrounds superb! (yes, I can see they're not covered in umpteen centimetres of soft material for the children to fall on, perhaps German children don't whinge if they fall and their parents expect them to hang on tight.) They're in Friedrichshafen Germany, the city which is home to the arty, interesting, wonder inducing Zeppelin Museum.

A kiddy sized zeppelin complete with lookout, steampunkish wheeled swan/boat, and slide; and while I was tempted to shoo the kids away and have a play, I put on my grown up face and took photos instead, secretly imagining I was in the lookout, flying over the town.

Speaking of flying, sometimes you can be really lucky. I could hear a low droning, humming sound coming from over the lake, and overhead, pushing through the clouds was ...

 ... not a fabulous building with interesting reflections, but a dinky di blimp!

It was funny to watch people diving for their pockets and dragging out their phones all with the one purpose - to take photos. I don't know if the blimp we saw was as big as this, but the models give a real sense of scale of the Hindenburg - it was HUGE.

This is just one tiny section which has been reconstructed so you can climb up, 

 walk through and get a sense of the living and sleeping quarters and the immense scale of the structure

 functional art

intricate criss crossed beams (?)

 ... and the beauty of the workmanship.

This is a different kind of fantasy and shows the result of a productive, creative imagination (and impressive engineering).

But back to playgrounds as a powerful device to promote a rich and full inner life for the young and not so young! Cogs, shells, sea creatures and propellers ...

 which could lead the imagination to who knows where ...

Clearly much loved and buffed to a lovely copper colour where countless children have sat and imagined who knows what ...

This magnificent playground is a superb example of a rich imagination, a city prepared to celebrate art and sculptures, excellent craftsmanship, and shows how playgrounds don't have to be garish plastic sanitised clones of each other.

 Weird and wonderful humanoid rabbit/seal/Idon'tknowwhat creatures

So, in the spirit of nurturing your inner child, take a moment to slow down.

Without comment or criticism, notice what your thoughts are doing. Notice what you can hear, see, touch, taste and smell.

Feel the weight of your bottom on your wheely chair.

Put aside the serious you for a moment.

Give your hips an experimental wiggle.

Feel your muscles stretch and tauten as you twist back and forth.

Feel the fabric of your clothing as it pulls against your body and the way your lungs expand with the anticipation of action.

Place your feet against the floor and feel the pressure of your feet as they push against the floor.
twist right
twist left
twist right
spin!!!!!!!

Notice how your face forms a goofy kind of smile, a little embarrassed (was anyone watching?) but oh, so satisfied!

Note the physical sensation of slight, but pleasant dizziness. There was possibly also a sense of exhilaration, of daring to do something different and perhaps a bit naughty? What would people say!?

Make room for your thoughts and feelings; allow them to flow through you. If your inner critic is wagging it's derogatory finger, observe it without buying into the "shoulds" and "oughts" for a moment.

Breathe, have a little shake and relax.

Reconnect with your values and choose a course of action.

And notice ... the desire to do it again ;-)

Immature?

You bet. But it's also ...

Mindfulness in action!

.

Belated post for 11/11/11

Thinking of all those affected by bitter, divisive conflicts both past and present in far too many nations of the world. The service men and women as well as their families: husbands and wives, children and loved ones - they cross all cultures, religions and ethnic groups.

This song seems appropriate:

Australian White Ibis

I always thought they were ugly birds, loud, clumsy. Long beak stabbing into urban grass to extract buggy, tasty morsels;

but sitting by the Brisbane River, enjoying my lunchtime picnic during the Happiness conference, observe with 'mindful' seeing eyes.

Saw instead of gangly awkwardness, a beautiful bird, bright eyed, with delicate plumes and elegant beak, displaced from its natural habitat of swamps and wetlands, suffering from the devastating effects of drought and flood, unable to forage there for insects, and other creepy crawlies. Makes the most of a lazy feed of picnic scraps. Leave their poop

and own this space.

A Drabble is a story told in 100 words. No more, no less.

.

The journey to Happiness

The goal was to head to Brisbane from Melbourne to attend the “Happiness and its Causes” conference in early June. I find the conference title a bit twee and schmaltzy, conjuring up images of falsely cheerful games show hosts with toothy smiles, but the calibre of the presenters was good so I thought I’d give it a go.

Flying would have been convenient, but lacking excitement (hopefully!) and so the brilliant idea to drive a thousand and something kilometres, and explore new (to us) National Parks on the way was hatched. A couple were somewhat off the beaten track, where the amenities included pit toilets, a river for water (with strict instructions for all water to be boiled), and not much else … no power, no internet, no electronic connection, nothing. Perfect spots to rejuvenate flagging spirits! I'll share that later on.

Two private camping grounds offered free wifi, but frustratingly it didn’t work at all at one, and at the other you had to be sitting ‘just so’ for it to work. Visualise me huddled at an awkward angle, beanie and coat protecting me against a brisk sea breeze, perched at a wooden picnic bench, bush turkeys at my feet, with the ocean in the distance, a lighthouse on the headland and dense bush surrounding the not very large campground - it was glorious.

From this ...
Thurra - no electricity, no internet, no running water

To go from that to a conference in a city, even one the size of Brisbane was a bit of a contrast – all chattering excitement and enthusiasm and radio broadcasting and high tech communication and security.

There were monks, and other religious people, professionals, retirees, actors, TV personalities, in fact people from all walks of life – nearly 2½ thousand of them, all there to learn something new, or seeking insights or reassurance or to share their own experiences.

... to this:
Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Anyhow… It’s finished, my conference handouts are dog-eared, scrawled with notes and I’m almost ready to begin sharing that aspect of my trip with you over at traverselife. I’ve also vigorously patted myself on the back for resisting the temptation to purchase a mountain of books from the extremely well stocked bookstore.

I  now have a window of almost two weeks with good, reliable internet connection, then I’m off exploring again on the way home. So I’ll only be around for a while before I’m out of range for a few more weeks – the aim is to travel inland on the way back, through some of the desert and arid country. In the meantime, it’s good to be back and see your warm comments wishing me well.

Thankyou all ☺

Going with the flow

.
a single sphere of fairy down
caught in an updraft

the ponderous meeting
can't match it for
grace and freedom


.

aros. the end

.

My love of words

long dormant

Rediscovered

during January.

To Fiona, Kaspa

and their River of Stones,

my gratitude.

A river of stones is a project started by Fiona &Kaspa to encourage people to engage with the world through writing. In 2011 they invited people to join them in writing a small stone each day during January (and July!)

aros. On writing a Pebble for the River - Mindfully

.

A breath

a pause

a sigh

I slow and see

for the first time today

what's been in front of me all along

Repeat

'till it becomes an integral part

of the rhythm 

of my days.

Mindfulness. Remember!

A river of stones is a project started by Fiona &Kaspa to encourage people to engage with the world through writing. In 2011 we invited people to join us in writing a small stone each day during January. Get involved.