This Moment

This morning I continue reading “Stoep Zen” by Antony Osler.  A beautiful book about Zen life in South Africa. A book filled with phrases and passages that evoke childhood memories and fill me with laughter.  A book filled with short essays, haiku-like poems and photographs that invite me to live my life as simply and as profoundly as I can. A book that invites each reader to be fully present to whoever or whatever is before them. A call to find the heart of each moment. 

When Zen master Su Bong came one year for his retreat he had his usual bag of presents for Tongo and his family. Tongo was digging out thistles near the earth dam. Su Bong gave him the gifts. Tongo thanked him, picked up his spade and started digging again. Su Bong was so impressed. ‘That’s the way to live your life,’ he said that night. ‘You don’t need monk’s robes, just say thank you and get on with your work.’

As I reach the last few pages of the book, the tumble drier sounds its song. Whereas normally I might be tempted to “just quickly finish the last few pages”, I put down the book and go to the tumble drier.  I empty it, fold his socks and place them in the drawer.

As I do so, I fully realize that this is what I am doing. 

This might sound simple. It is and it is not. It is mundane and it is profound.

After closing the drawer, I decide to tweet.  

I fold his socks, then place them in the drawer. #thismoment

— Linda Hollier (@lindahollier) May 7, 2013

Continuing the musings I have been engaging in lately on the usage of Twitter to promote mindfulness, I am struck once again by the incredible potential it has to aid one in becoming aware of what is happening right now.  Often when I watch and note to myself what I am experiencing it sounds like a tweet!  

I return to my book, finish it, and then decide to write this blog.  

In preparation, I pick up my ipad, read many of the tweets with the hashtag #thismoment and then google the concept too.  

I discover an article from two days ago, in which the CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo, urges graduates to “Be In This Moment”.

Ironically, Costolo didn’t learn this lesson while at Twitter, a platform which in many ways embodies the very philosophy of “being in this moment.” He learned it as an improvisational comedy student in Chicago before, as Costolo puts it, “the internet happened.”

Listening to the video incorporated into the article, I am aware of synchronicity, and then realize it is always there but we do not always see it. 

Making my way to my laptop, my mind begins to wander and I note its wanderings. 

I recall the the piece I once wrote entitled, “The Dalai Lama and Synchronicity” after I saw him in The Hague. I think about impermanence and then recall that I noticed upon my return to Dubai last week that the old "Hard Rock Cafe" is no longer standing. That blog must be about a year old.

Not wanting to hold onto these wanderings too long, I note them, let them go, and then sit down to type.

The mind throws in one last attempt - Remember the blog “Booma Dollies and Onions”; you wrote this piece about watching the mind! Seated at my laptop by now, I look it up, but its message very quickly brings me back to this moment. 

And so I write this blog and you read it. Are we separate? Are we different? Are we one? Are we the same?

Or is there a point where we can go beyond labels and opinions? A point where we can see differences but move past them? That is the point when the wonders of life make themselves known without a need for understanding. 

Right now, this moment, the words appear on my screen as my fingers tap out the letters.  Your eyes move across the page as you read.

I turn to glance out the window

The Burj Khalifa stands tall

The sun is shining.

Trend Blue

Blue perches on the edge of her cybermobile, races down the information highway, turns the corner, and then barely screeches to a halt before shooting off again.

Accustomed in her youth to sitting still , then later travelling on horseback, ships or aeroplanes,  this kind of travel is exciting to her and she has taken to it like a duck takes to water. 

At last she has come of age and is no longer limited by the confines of distance and time. A thrill of excitement ripples through her at the very thought of the avenues of opportunity that have opened to her.

Now at last she can shout out from the rooftops and be heard by others instantaneously. 

Blue, by another name, is Communication, and in the current age has a voice unheard-of before.  Aided by technology and most importantly social media, Blue is the newly acquired voice of the collective.

Never before has the collective been so able to participate in bringing about change despite the many unhealthy structures still existing in some parts of society. The collective has in a sense, truly found its voice.

The collective has widened its embrace and individuals willing to open themselves to new perspectives and different world views, find themselves part of a much bigger We than that to be found in their family, their tribe, their town, their country, their religion, or even their species. And this We has a voice.

I have called this voice Blue for many reasons.

All colors have frequencies and when exposed to them we resonate with them in ways we are often unaware of. At the same time our evolving energy levels probably cause us to be drawn to colors existing at the same frequency. 

In the study of colors, blue is related to self expression. It symbolizes speech, and the ability to communicate our needs and requirements.  

Blue, the color of conversation, is said to absorb and release sound. In his book, “Born on a Blue Day”, Daniel Tammet, one of the very few people alive with synesthesia and autism, describes how he sees “the sound of loud voices arguing” in blue. 

When one studies the chakra system, the fifth chakra associated with the throat, is the chakra of communication, expression and creativity. The color associated with it is blue. Not only are there the seven chakras for the individual, but there are also said to be seven planetary chakras. According to some schools of thought, the fifth planetary throat chakra is said to be at the Great Pyramid of Giza located just outside of Cairo - interesting, when one considers recent events in Egypt and the action that was able to be initiated through the use of social media.

In an interconnected world, trends in one area keep popping up in others. Blue at the moment is in.

Twitter’s official logo is in blue. Blue, light blue and sky blue variations of the twitter bird, although not their official business logo, are used as style elements on their website.

The ribbon promoting freedom of online speech is blue, and it is said that blue is becoming the new green.

At the end of the Milan Fashion Week, Giorgio Armani presented his Spring/Summer Collection for 2011. Inspired by the nomadic Touaregs, known for their wearing of blue, the show, entitled La Femme Bleue, had models wandering out of a desert backdrop in shades of blue from cobalt, through navy to royal and midnight blue.

I have referred before to the rise of what I call global nomads in the current world culture we are part of. This collection was a reminder to me once again of the need for finding new and diverse ways of communicating in this century of mobility and in a world where the centre is constantly changing.

If you have the time to watch the fashion show that follows, be sure to look out for Blue. She is definitely on the catwalk!

Storytelling and Scheherezade

Up until a little while ago, Scheherezade and Linda had never met. Separated by distance and time, their paths had failed to cross. 

A child of the east, Scheherezade came into being, once upon a time, before the 9th century. Born in Africa in the 20th century, with ancestors from Europe, Linda was very much a child of the west.

Once, when she was a young girl, Linda had attended a symphony concert. Fascinated by Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" she went out to buy the record. Each time the needle met the vinyl disc, the haunting sounds of the music would issue forth, and Linda would feel herself caught up in another world.

She did not know that Scheherazade was the name of the daughter of a vizier, or even that Rimsky-Korsakov was Russian. No one told her, and because she did not have easy access to one, she did not research any of this in an encyclopedia.

Many years later, air travel made it easier to cover great distances, and Linda found herself living in the Middle East.

One morning, while waiting for her coffee in a Starbucks, Linda picked up the magazine section of a daily newspaper, only to be confronted with a picture of Scheherazade on the front cover. Their paths had crossed anew. 

After reading the article, Linda immediately went home to google Scheherazade and learn more about her. Memories of music once loved, came flooding back, and YouTube allowed Linda to relive them.

She found the newspaper article online and continued her research.  

At one stage, to take a break,  Linda stepped into her Twitter stream. To her amazement, she was met with these tweets: 

@qsedki “King in 1001 Nights represents the reactive rash part of us. Shehrazade represents the thinking considerate part.” - Chris Payne #TEDxAlain

@qsedki “I think Shehrazade didn’t have stories beforehand. I think she conjured them up right at that moment.” - Chris Payne #TEDxAlain

@qsedki “We can either be reactive or we can think and consider how we want to live our lives and take the necessary risks” - Chris Payne #TEDxAlain

Very much conscious of synchronicity, iPad in hand, she mailed the tweets to herself for later use.

Technology had brought two women together and allowed them to meet. By means of it Scheherazade was able to tell Linda her story. She could recount how she had offered to spend the night with a king who, angered by his wife's infidelity, had taken to marrying a virgin ever day and then having her beheaded! 

She told Linda how on that first night she began telling a story but then did not complete it. His curiosity sparked, and wanting to hear the end of the tale, the king spared her life for a day. The next night she not only finished telling the tale but began another, stopping yet again before its completion. Her stories fell into many genre and often she incorporated tales within tales.

This continued for a thousand and one nights, by which time the king had fallen in love with her and she had borne him three children. Made a wiser and kinder man by her presence and her tales, the king spared her life and made her his queen.

Linda listened in awe. And then it struck her!

Each one of us is a Scheherazade. Each one of us has a story to tell and today's technology makes it possible for each story to be heard. The space we inhabit here, allows each one of us to be not only the audience but also the storyteller. This is global theatre and global storytelling on a grand scale.

Scheherezade told stories within stories. Digital storytelling is able to contain links within links. Storytelling becomes visual, oral and written simultaneously, and interactive technology allows teller and listener to merge.

It is an age where individuals and thereby whole cultures can meet on a daily basis. Stereotypes can be broken down and  perspectives broadened, as we discover how the "other" is not so "other" after all.

Linda turned to Scheherazade and asked her if, for the purpose of her blog, she might allow her to change her name to Schere2herezade. 

She only smiled. The story had begun again :)