Saying what you have to say

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Say what you have to say in the fewest possible words.
~ Sir Arthur Bryant

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To Colour Or Not To Colour?

When children first start to draw, we teach them to colour in between the lines. We reward accuracy rather than interpretation. Neatness, not expression. This says a lot about our own predispositions.

The problem with kids’ colouring is also that often their elders guide them not to use certain colours for certain objects and come to teach them that they have to colour skies in blue and not in green or red for example.

Last few years the publishers sought it also right to print colouring books for adults where they now also have to feel the restriction to colour between the lines.

Perhaps fine motor skills may be trained by colouring between the lines, but it does not give so much freedom to self-expression, and that is much more important to stimulate.

We even interfere with ” to hold a crayon correctly” as if we do know the best way to hold a pencil or pen. (This reminds me how we as children got a tick on our hands when we dared to write or draw with our left hand.)
How many of us did not get directives on how to fill in a blank piece of paper. Some of us got to learn we always had to keep a white border and should not have the drawing pass the paper.

We should give all children the liberty to express themselves freely. Why not present the sky to be green, mauve and not blue, the grass being red and not green, clouds being blue or orange?

Many people are so ingrained in calibrated settings and dare not allow ideas other than those as we perceive things in real life.

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Related

• Stop Conforming – Day 302 of 365 Days to a Better You

 

justabitfurther

The past few days at the start of 2022 has reminded me, that “putting away the crayon box and/or colouring between the lines” may actually be the most devastating move I could make at the moment. A strange opening, but hang in there with me.

Generally, most of us would agree that rules are necessary in a wide expanse of situations. You know – “stop at a red light”; “wear a life jacket when canoeing”; and the oldie but goodie “don’t eat yellow snow.” You get the idea.

Rules(real and imagined) can be a good thing, but they can also be the most restricting and strangling when it comes to who we are and should be as an individual.

Often family, society and/or our upbringing force; slot or “passive-agressively suggest” this is how we “should be or act or live our OWN lives.”

Conformity has it’s place. But, it…

View original post 1,043 more words

For One More day

Problem for those who have found their 7th or 8th decade on this world, finding they start loosing the capability to remember words from the many languages they could speak before they retired. (Is it dementia causing such problems in our head?)

I do agree at times, we can feel exhausted with words we are looking for or with looking for ways how we can say what we want to say. Half a century ago we could play with words and write poems, but this seems all to have gone at a certain age (and for me after some serious accident where I encountered even loss of memory in 1997 and was parallelised for half a year. After getting movements back it looked like the language-capability got paralysed.)

So, when we got the feeling of being drained out to write a sentence, which could gradually accumulate into paragraphs, and many other paragraphs which finally would have helped us to create an article worth reading, our head can be bouncing like mad of frustration or wondering if it would come over like it is intended?!?

What my problem is by reading my own texts is that I often read what should have been written their, so at first I do not notice the faults … only days later, after having taken distance of the article I am more able to see the shortcomings and faults.

For me, never would I like to compare my writings with legendary writers, because I consider my scrabbles just personal musings and furthermore thoughts to have others to get moving or doing something. We need more people taking action in this world, and that is my concern and on religious level I only hope with those more religious articles I write to bring people closer to the Most High Divine Creator. (Me just offering myself as a servant to Him.)

As the writer Josh, of this re-blogged article rightly noticed “what matters the most is the one who cares for us, not the one we care about.” We must be very careful not to be blinded by those who are against us or do not like our ideas. The world is full of people who would love to silence the others. For them we may be a nobody. It would be wrong in this chase, to forget to see the ones who are there for us and care for us. If we can find time (which there is a shortage of) it can be lovely to have books to remind us of that and to show us how precious each moment of the day is.

When I was younger I always had to laugh with those retired people when they said that had not enough time. Now being already a few years in the same boat I too must admit I have not enough time to do what I think I need to do. For sure I have not enough time to read the many books I would find or could be useful to read.

We should be careful when saying (like Josh does) “That is why I always say: Books are better than people. ” because it is always better to go in real conversation with people; and no human book can surpass the Bestseller of all times, the Bible.

To delve into the bags of memories and post some magical books that may impact many lives positively I would recommend the writings of some of my favourites like Charles Dickens, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky,Boris Leonidovitsj Pasternak, Rabindranath Tagore, Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, Knut Hamsun, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Thomas Stearns Eliot, Charles Baudelaire, the Brontë Sisters, Jan de Hartog, Jan Terlouw and Toon Hermans.

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To remember

• writer’s block: Josh like to use that term to accentuate and make it sound like some cool gadget > we at times are lazy while at other times we are emotionally overpowered by the words + we are scared about damaging our reputation by writing the unedited version of the out-pouring of our emotions.
• take a pause + increase reading time
• writers who make you feel encouraged + push you to write <= by use of their simple + powerful usage of words => Their works make it more comfortable for your pen which in turn starts to fill the paper with emotions => that makes you feel free.
• Ruskin Bond, Cecelie Ahern, Nicholas Sparks, + Mitch Albom are the ones who make Josh feel great after muddling an emotional breakdown.
• Mitch Albom works: The Time Keeper + For One More day => He’s like that friend with whom though you wouldn’t talk much, yet he comes and stands with you when you need it the most.

Be who you are

“Be who you are and say what you feel,
because those who mind don’t matter,
and those who matter don’t mind.”

― Bernard M. Baruch

Dutch version / Nederlandse versie > Wees wie je bent

A World Made of Sentences

We can talk and talk, and for that we use sentences. We order words and do hope the one opposite us, listening to us can understand us.

We try to bring our knowledge into the open, and try to convey others of thoughts. All of our knowledge about anything we try to construct in any language known to us and can only be found in sentences.

Without language there is no knowledge (at least of the common type) about anything. {A World Made of Sentences, Part I: Sentences and the Perception or Reality}

We have our feelings when we see things. Those feelings we like to express and therefore we use our body language and the spoken language. It is just not for nothing, but has often a serious meaning for us to be able to express ourselves.

We should realize

Language does not act like a mirror, reflecting to us a perfect depiction of reality, it acts like a filter, it makes us see reality in particular ways. The way language is constructed and the popular usage of language at any given time in history and in any given culture on earth will create a different perception of what is real. {A World Made of Sentences, Part I: Sentences and the Perception or Reality}

Jeff Carreira does not see reality as it is. He writes

I see reality as an American male at the beginning of the 21^st century sees it. Some of what I am seeing may be objectively accurate, much of it may not be. And I think it is very, very important to know the difference. That is why the contemplation of the relationship between our perception of reality and language is so important. If knowing what is real is important to us then we have to deconstructed how our current perception is being shaped by the sentences in our heads. {A World Made of Sentences, Part I: Sentences and the Perception or Reality}

We are often confronted with the problem that we are not good enough in expressing ourselves with words, placing one letter after the other in a certain order.

many of us who have tried to share our mystical revelations with others have found the language we commonly use woefully inadequate for the job. Many, many people have ventured out into the further reaches of human experience only to find fewer and fewer people that they can share that experience with. The language we have is just not adequate to allow us to share the mystery that has grabbed a hold of our hearts. {The Language of We-Mysticism}

How often do we not find that the language we are used to is too specific, too rigid and to literal and when we try to express ourselves with it the listener sometimes may understand it differently than we wanted it to come over. We have grown up with one or an other language and got it rooted in our current level of thinking. Constantly it is being fed and continually words come and go, some even changing of meaning (by time).

So many of us would love that our feelings are expressed so clearly that nobody can misunderstand them.

Our goal is not to speak about our experience, but to give our experience a voice. We are not looking at our experience and describing it. We are allowing that experience to take us over and speak through us so that even we are amazed at what comes out of our mouths. When this direct communication happens in more than one person simultaneously a spontaneous process of divine discourse unfolds. The higher mind … now has control of the conversation. It is thinking out loud though the voices of the individuals. It is spiritual improvisation of the highest order.   {The Language of We-Mysticism}

Please do come to find out how Jeff Carreira looks at language and thinks

Our language conditions our perception. It shapes the way we see things.

… Language chops reality into distinct pieces and creates distinctions. The distinctions that exist in any given language are those that are important for the people using that language. Our languages have evolved to organize and optimize human perception and human behavior. If circumstances change, or if you change your circumstances, the language you had before may no longer be optimal. In fact, your old language may have become a detriment. {A World Made of Sentences, Part I: Sentences and the Perception or Reality}

When we begin to suspect how much language might be influencing our perception of reality our fundamental conception of what is real and true starts to unravel. Have we been wrong to assume that language is an accurate reflection of reality? Is there even a ‘reality’ out there to be reflected back to us in the first place? In our journey toward deeper truth even these assumptions must be dragged into the illuminating light of inquiry.{A World of Sentences, Part 2: Language and the Reality of Reality}

Continue reading:

• The Language of We-Mysticism
• A World Made of Sentences, Part I: Sentences and the Perception or Reality
• A World of Sentences, Part 2: Language and the Reality of Reality

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Further reading

1. Let’s talk about language (and this bird)
2. Language, Learning and Logic
3. Language Matters: Communication at The Heart of Successful Collaboration
4. An emic exploration to language barriers
5. Economy of language, Eros, meaning, the public, and its problems
6. Pay attention to actions…
7. What’s your voice vibes?
8. Turn to the Webster’s
9. Some skepticism
10. #36alive 194: 5 Reasons To Learn A New Language Today!
11. Words
12. What is disrationalia?
13. Descriptivists vs. Prescriptivists
14. English Grammar in Ruins
15. British schools: kids, commas, and tests
16. Queers, language and the nature of reality
17. Japanese Notes – how to express a position in Japanese?
18. Paying attention…are you?
19. A Baptist Shouts “Learn the Language”
20. Body language
21. It’s Not What You Say That Counts; It’s What You Don’t Say
22. Seven Tricks For Reading Body Language Like A Pro
23. Body Language of Modi and Trump
24. The Handshake Analyzed ‘Round The World
25. Body language expert analyzes G-20 world leaders
26. Putin Exposed the Plot to Destroy America and Pedophilia & What Body Language Reveals [videos] ~ July 9, 2017
27. World Leaders May Lie, but Their Body Language Tells All

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Putting your feelings into words and sharing them

Beings with feelings

Let’s Talk About Feelings (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

All human beings have feelings. We have to cope with them. There are many ways to cope with them.
We also see lots of things happening around us. We are touched with what we notice, and we also want to give a voice to our feelings. We all want to be heard as well.

You too may find that putting your feelings into words and sharing them with a sympathetic listener will make it easier to deal with them.

Writing can also be a helpful release. Some who find it difficult to talk about their feelings may find it easier to express themselves in writing.

Looking at old writings

Most of the things today are not written for education, but we still should find time to look for writings that can edify us. We can take time to look at the old writings which were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope. In the very old books we can find people who wrote down their thoughts so that others also could hear about them. But they also put their feelings in their writings to get freedom in their inner soul.

Following the death of Saul and Jonathan, the faithful man David wrote a deeply mournful song in which he poured out his sorrow. This emotional dirge eventually became part of the Bible book of Second Samuel.—2 Samuel 1:17–27.

Crying may also serve as an emotional release. “For everything there is an appointed time, even . . . a time to weep,” says the Bible. (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4) To be sure, the death of someone we love is “a time to weep.” Tears of grief are nothing to be embarrassed about. The Bible contains many examples of faithful men and women who openly expressed their grief by weeping. (Genesis 23:2; 2 Samuel 1:11, 12) Jesus Christ “gave way to tears” when he neared the tomb of his dear friend Lazarus, who had recently died.—John 11:33, 35.

Working through grief takes patience, for you may feel that you are on an emotional roller coaster. Remember that you do not have to be ashamed of your tears. Many faithful individuals have found that shedding tears of grief is a normal and necessary part of the healing process.

Sharing is helping

Putting down words of feeling can help you but also can help others.

It is a matter of sharing love for each-other that we should share thoughts with each other. We, by bringing matters to attention, can bring others to think about that matter. By publishing our own story we might show others they are not alone having those feelings or having to go through the same struggle.

Social networking Web sites

Image via CrunchBase

The last few years several placed their little pieces   and their little stories on Facebook. Recently they added Twitter to give some shouts into the internet world, or they threw in a nod to Google+ or Circles. We may even find pets with Facebook pages and politicians’ Internet campaigns and etiquette for R.S.V.P.’ing to events and the best way to wish someone happy birthday without feeling like an exclamatory fool! Social networking Web sites are the latest and greatest way to interact with other users on the Internet. Thirty-five percent of adults on the Internet now have a profile on at least one social networking site, and 51 percent have more than one. Three-quarters of users between the ages of 18 and 24 have an online profile.

CrazyFriendz is the free online social networking service. The service allows users to make new friends and manage existing relationships. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Pew Research Center found that 89 percent of these people use the sites to keep up with friends, 57 percent to make plans with friends and 49 percent to make new friends.

There are articles that tell us that sharing is the most popular form of internet use today. But what is being shared and how? As the world of P2P file sharing grows and evolves, various torrent search sites distinguish themselves. Some bands don’t mind if you share their music, and they even encourage it. But what about reading material? Who wants to share interesting reading material? Who wants to let others know he  or she did find something interesting to read?

This UML diagram describes the domain of LinkedIn social networking system. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Friendster, Urban Chat and Black Planet are just a few of more than 100 Web sites connecting folks around the world who are eager to share their thoughts and feelings. But just like in real life, there’s such a thing as sharing too much information (TMI). It’s easy to get caught up in the social aspects of sites like Facebook, but what you choose to share is there for all to see if you don’t limit who can view your information. The same study by Pew Research found that 40 percent of users have open access to their profiles, allowing anyone to view their information. The other 60 percent restrict access to friends, family and colleagues. Sharing personal information with strangers can be dangerous business, and there are some things you should definitely put on your “do not share” list.

Crossover, public and genres

With 51 percent of social network users taking advantage of more than one site, there’s bound to be some crossover from one to the other, especially if you have the sites linked. Sometimes we may find interesting bits or would like to talk or discuss matters not on our own private blog, because it could bring an other site of us in the forefront we do not want to be known directly, before our friends and bosses, or want to make sure no connection is made endangering our work.

Many do not mind sharing lots of things on Facebook, but are afraid to share real serious material on their blogs or on other blogs which reserve a place to contribute stories, like this site does.

Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace cater to a smorgasbord of users while people using sites such as Subeta and Neopets are mostly teens. Social networking sites can be very specific, too. For instance, you’ll find sites for just about every type of car, sport and sports team or music genre. And one of the largest groups of specialized social media sites is dedicated to parenting.

Many men and women will be, are or hope to be parents. That’s why social networking sites for parents are growing all over the Internet.

Communities and chit chat

Friendster (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How many sites will you be able to find about the way of life, or how to help each other, working to get a better living together? You may find lots of “Communities” where is being chit-chatted about little things of the world or materials things, like puppets, cars, games, etc.. but who wants to take time to share something about the beauties of nature. Sharing about the beautiful ladies, we may find enough, but about the plants and animals we shall find less. Mothers, fathers, gamers, fun or entertainment-park users, all have some sites where they can meet each other. They all have their own social networking sites aiming toward connecting, like minded of from the same sort, online. Users on those sites can choose to navigate in different easy to use areas including Discussions, Groups, Things to Do, Photo, Video, Coupons, Marketplace and My Stuff.

Some do not mind to pay to have a “Family’s home” on the internet. Other sites, like Minti, ask to join discussions and offer advice to others in search of the answers to the perpetual questions that come with raising children, providing a forum for parents to share advice and network with parents with similar interests, problems or questions regarding parenting.

Focus of the writers

At those social network-sites the focus of the writers is mostly on themselves. From Guestwriters has no pretension to become also a social network site. It does not aim to bring the focus to particular writers. Instead of aiming themselves in the picture, the writers on this site do want to bring subjects and things they find interesting into the picture. The focus is on the material and not on persons or individuals. The material presented here wants to be undone from the writer, bringing thoughts which could be for everybody and should move many.

Here we want to confront issues and not so much persons. the aim is to give place to matters which should interest many and which should be of importance for human beings. The people joined here, do not want to put themselves on the first row. They want to approach others with sympathy and respect. They might approach the sharing of their or your thoughts and feelings with others. This they want to do with an attitude of respect for them-self with respect for yourself and for the other persons.

We are aware that not many people are interested to take time to read deeper going articles or poetry today. But we can only hope enough interested people would come along and would not mind giving their ‘contribution’. We would love to find a place where there may be created a healthy discussion atmosphere. But this site is not in the first place a discussion forum. No, it wants only to be a place where different thoughts may be uttered next to each other, without anybody taking a grudge or being disturbed or scandalized. We do not want feelings over the presented material to run high. We do not want to find polluting or poisonous words, but spiritual feeding words. We do not want to present destructive powers on this site. Contrary we would love to see building up material, presenting positive material.

Peace loving agreement to disagree

We would like to find all peace loving people over here. We may all want to have change, but we do not want to get change by violent actions. The general idea is to come to a place of peace with each other. We do know that peace at any cost is not peace and that we should work for it. We shall have to dare to put wounds open to be able to let them heal. We shall have to point the finger to the ulcers in our community. We shall have to face the illnesses in our community. Yes, to get on our way together, to find peace and a nicer world to live, we shall have to see the good and the bad things in the world, and be able to talk about them. It is over those good and bad things we would like to see writings on this site, by different people, who might have very diverse opinions. We want not restrict such divergent ideas nor a diversity of interests. Varied opinions may be sharply, but over here we do not want them to hurt any body. We all want to accept that each writer may present things from a different viewpoint. though we may differ from opinion we do not mind sharing together those different viewpoints and enjoying such a variety of ideas. (Imaging all wearing the same grey uniforms, all using the same words in the same order.)

We do not want to be blind for the different views there are in the world, but also do not want to ignore the different solutions which could be possible. In case a conflict would be shown it does not mean that such conflicting views would not allow a good relationship. It is not because we may have different opinions we do not like each other. We do not mind to admit there is conflict and consider the way we handle it more important and part of enjoying the peace in our relationship. Looking and discussion about the differences always keeping an open mind and having a willingness to work it out to come to a place of peace, shall give both parties fulfilment.

It may surprise you, but it should not, that we allow different opinions to exist next to each other. Presenting such different ideas also does not mean we would like to provoke argument nor agreement. We want to show that people can live together in peace even with different ideas and believing in agreement to disagree.

Willing to come together

Our hopes are that we may find enough people willing to share ideas and to taste the different flavours others might present here. It would be lovely if we can bring a pallet of different writers from all over the world. Perhaps it might be the nostalgic feeling of what we had in our children time, which was called in Dutch “poëzie”, an album of verses, little stories, uplifting texts and pictures.
The big differnce now being that in that album everything might have been centred to ourselves, now the focus goes to the others around us.

As adults we have come to see that the world doesn’t revolve around us and the world doesn’t revolve around the person. One of the keys to success in relationships is learning to yield to each other. Over here we would like to offer a place where everybody can come along and find material that can feed him or her to go on. In case many persons do not mind sharing positive ideas and inspirational thoughts, those who want to write on this site would be pleased to offer a source of inspiration and spiritual guidance.

Providing a warm, supportive environment

We all get some nice but also very unpleasant moments in our life. at the darker moments in life either we can get in our own little corner or look for a place where we can enjoy some light. We do hope this site might become such a place where many people shall be able to find some comfort, peace, tranquillity and find some inspiring notes, which can help them to get above the garbage they are feeling in.

We do not want to be pretentious squirts. We make no pretensions to expert knowledge. We have not the presumption we can solve all problems. But we do think we can help each other in different ways. The writers as well as the readers can find support in each other and build up a relationship of good feeling.

We want to offer stories of many people by showing an interest in their journey. We love it to share those voyages throughout the world. Not to walk alone is much nicer than staying in our recluse. We prefer not to be lone wolfs, but to find many people willing to live together in peace on this beautiful earth.

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Join us today by becoming a reader or, why not a contributor as well?

Step in the van or in the bus and go on a nice voyage with us. (By Clicking on the picture you may find out more about the Bloggers for peace.

In case you have already your own blog, why not contribute now and then to this one and presenting some of your writings?
In case you also write regularly about love and peace, you might consider also to become a Blogger for peace.

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Additional reading:

1. Words in the world
2. Helpful words
3. Words to inspire and to give wisdom
4. Spring in sight
5. Hope
6. Working of the hope
7. Hope does not disappoint us
8. The true hope of eternal life!
9. Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark
10. Hope as long as you live

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1. Living With(out) Regret and Negative Feelings
2. Words are important
3. Liberty-human-rights – article 10 – freedom of expression
4. Twitter, Outrage, and Jesus
5. 10 Powerful Tips For Sharing Thoughts and Feelings
6. Did You Ever Wish for a Fast Way to End an Argument?
7. Relationship Help–Allow Someone to Struggle to Get Strong

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