The Glance

I began reading Rumi again lately.  I believe that the American professor of poetry and creative writing Coleman Barks has written some of the best books on Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi.  “The Glance, Songs of Soul-Meeting” is one of them.  It is as if Coleman makes a different side of Rumi visible.  The Rumi that we get to know in Turkey, through Turkish text is a little different.  Maybe the truth is that what the author believes who Rumi is, is reflected in the interpretation as well as in the energy of their books.  Isn’t that how we behave most of the time as well? Regardless of the words we use, what we mean, what we intend to say comes across more strongly.  And we share as we see and understand...

Today “The Glance” reminds me of a totally different book, “Blink” by Malcolm Gladwell.  “Blink, The Power of Thinking without Thinking”.  The main idea in “Blink” is what use in my consulting and complementary therapy work.  After years of training and working with hundreds of clients in Turkey and over the world, I have to admit that the answers to most of my clients’ questions do not come from a text book or a training or from the teachings of one of my masters.   Most of the answers come from the insights of the clients themselves.  If I feel that it is necessary, I also share what I see or sense about the situations.  My answers and theirs answers usually come in an instant.   And that instant for me usually comes in the first few seconds of meeting the client or in the few seconds after a question is asked. 

There is a special kind of knowing which may come through years of experience, but it also comes through reading, receiving information that is always available for all of us, all of the time waiting to be received.  Being aware of the fact that there is always more data than that which can be measured by our five senses, helps.  We do have another or rather other senses that feed us information, and very valuable information.  The information is always coming.  Are we aware of this inflow?  Are we listening? The answer to that question makes all of the difference.  “Blink” has a lot more to say.  As I am reading it for the fourth time, I am becoming aware of the details I had missed before.   There are parts that I would like to share in the coming weeks.

Malcolm Gladwell writes so fluently, it is not possible to admire and also a bit jealous.  How he connects all of the details is quite amazing.  The famous child and adult psychiatrist Prof. Yankı Yazgan was in Fethiye on May 2^nd this year as one of the guests of the 5^th Fethiye Culture and Art Days.  I came from and went back to Istanbul with his that day and we had a lot of time to talk and share.  I was starting to reread Blink on the plane and he told me about some of the details in the book.  Dr. Yazgan said that although the medical and research information shared in “Blink” have been known for quite some time, he also admired the way Gladwell shares so much information in a way that is both detailed, but easy to read by a wide audience.  Dr. Yankı Yazgan himself has ten or eleven books in Turkish.  One of his books is being translated into English and hopefully will be out by 2013.

*

Rumi is a lot of different things to a lot of different people.  Many people in touch with spirituality feel connected to him.  Want to connect with him, his thoughts and energy more.  I cannot say that I started to feel more and more connected to him after I started to learn energy techniques such as Reiki.  I felt more connected because it was as if his words were resonating in me, around me as I was reading the words that he left behind.  The strength of the energy of his words, especially his poetry affected me. Like the words of a special prayer, some of his poems come to my mind at the most unexpected times and I find myself reciting, quietly or out loud.  Not all of his work, not all of the words that are told to be his.  But does that matter? Not really.  Because also his energy is present in the most unexpected occasions and places as well.  There is more that what meets the eye and still it is never something I am able to totally get used to. 

*

Like cool, fresh water Rumi washes me clean from the meaningless chatter in my mind...

Stay together, friends.

Don’t scatter and sleep.

Our friendship is made

of being awake.

The waterwheel accepts water

and turns and gives it away, weeping.

That way it stays in the garden...

Stay here, quivering with each moment

like a drop of mercury.

*

Let love lead your soul.

Make it a place to retire to,

a kind of cave, a retreat

for the deep core of being.

*

Begin

This is now. Now is. Don’t

postpone till then. Spend

the spark of iron on stone.

Sit at the head of the table;

dip your spoon in the bowl.

Seat yourself next your joy

and have your awakened soul

pour wine. Branches in the

spring wind, easy dance of

jasmine and cypress. Cloth

for green robes has been cut

from pure absence.  You’re

the tailor, settled among his

shop goods, quietly sewing.

...

I wish all of you a week filled with peace and joy.

Zeynep

AKUT, Lions Clubs International, Fethiye and More

On May 26^th Fethiye had a special guest that we have been having the chance to see three or four times during the past 11-12 months.  The President of AKUT Search and Rescue Association Mr. Nasuh Mahruki was in Fethiye for a day as the guest of honour of the Lions District MD118-R Preparation Camp in Club Letoonia.

As some of you might know, I am a member of Fethiye Lions Club.  Fethiye Lions Club is a local NGO and we are also a member of Lions Clubs International.  (www.lionsclubs.org) Turkey is one of the two hundred and eight countries in which Lions Clubs are active.  I became a member of Fethiye Lions Club, a Lion in 2007 and since then I have been involved in our Club in Fethiye as well as in our Lions District MD118-R, which is the Lions Clubs District for the Mediterranean and Aegean Region in Turkey.  There are many NGOs, non-governmental and non-for profit associations active in Turkey and in Fethiye as well. Fethiye Lions Club (Fethiye Lions Kulübü Derneği) is one of them. 

Lions Clubs in the world use the motto “we serve” to describe what they do.  The aim of Lions Clubs is to create protects where service can be provided in regions needed in our communities, whether it is about health, education or about working with the disabled.  We carry out cultural projects, environmental projects and projects for the youth as well.  First Lions Club in the world was founded in 1917 and the first Club in Turkey was founded in 1963.  Next year in 2013 we will celebrate Lions 50^th year in Turkey.  Lions Clubs in Turkey are non-governmental organizations that have a broad range and area of service.  In our Mediterranean Aegean District we have over 55 Lions Clubs.

The new service term for Lions Clubs will start on July 1^st, 2012 and it will continue until June 30^th, 2013.  And from May 25^th to May 27^th, 2012 we had our Lions District Camp in Fethiye.  The head office of our Lions District is in Izmir, but have have Lions Clubs in Altinoluk, Edremit, Denizli, Manisa, Antalya, Alanya, Mugla, Bodrum, Marmaris and Kas well as many Clubs in Izmir and one club in Fethiye.  In the coming term Lions Clubs in our District want to start to work with AKUT Search and Rescue Association, to create a synergy that will continue over the years.   AKUT has over 30 rescue teams in Turkey, with 27 in full active and 5 or 6 in their startup years and some of these teams are in our region.  There are teams in Izmir, teams in Antalya, one team in Bodrum, one in Marmaris. And we have a very good and active AKUT Team in Fethiye as well. The team leader for the AKUT Fethiye Team, Mr. Sadi Çidem is a geological engineer and he is also the head of the Disaster Management Center of the Municipality of Fethiye.

About a year ago, on June 29^th, 2011 Fethiye Lions Club and many other organisations as well as the Municipality of Fethiye joined forces to support our Fethiye AKUT Team better.  AKUT Teams are composed of volunteers who are dedicated to search and rescue efforts.  Now Lions Clubs in our wider region want to support AKUT’s efforts for disaster and earthquake awareness and their teams’ needs. 

AKUT is a very special NGO in Turkey.  It has a special status which classifies it as an NGO that works for the benefit of the state (Is this called a benevolent association in English?) and recently it has received certain certifications which made it an NGO and rescue team recognized by the UN.  AKUT became a member of INSARAG, United Nations’ Search and Rescue Advising Group.  AKUT members are justifiable quite proud of the worldwide acknowledgement.  It is a very trusted and respected NGO.  I would like to recommend you to look into the work done by AKUT if you have the time.  You can check out their website or you can follow them on Facebook or Twitter.  Facebook and Twitter information are more up-to-date.  Some of the teams also have their own accounts. For example The Fethiye Team has an open Facebook group that you can join.  Some links: ( http://www.akut.org.tr ), (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKUT_Search_and_Rescue_Association )

I believe in the power of working together, in joining forces and I believe in the power of sharing information.  Fethiye is a town where it is much easier to learn about what is happening in the community when compared to many other cities and towns in Turkey.  However, there are also many times that we learn about events and activities after they are over and done.  Many people who are interested in working, in helping are not able to take part for that reason.  AKUT is an organisation where both Turkish and foreigners can support.  Actually AKUT organized a seminar for English speakers in Fethiye in the past year on earthquakes and the AKUT Fethiye Team wants to be connected with the British and foreigners’ communities in Fethiye for better disaster awareness and preparation.  The AKUT Team has regular meetings and if you are interested in supporting their activities feel free to contact the team.  There are team members who speak good English.

There are many well organised British groups in Fethiye that create and work on powerful and effective social projects.  FIG in the best known in town and there are many more.  I am aware that these social groups are aware of most of the other Turkish NGOs and groups as well.  I plan to share these various communities when the opportunity comes to create a better understanding and also a better visibility.

I am a relatively new volunteer in AKUT, but having been following the relief and rescue work they have been doing in Turkey since 1995, I feel motivated to ask for your support for AKUT with all my heart.  I trust their genuine concern for the community as well as their professional approach in service.

As a member of Fethiye Lions Club, I will also try to share our club activities and future projects as much as I can in the weeks to come.  If non-for profit organisations and groups that you are involved in are having activities in the coming weeks and months, please let me know.  I would like to share your projects.  Of course I will need to know at least a week in advance to be able to announce them here.  And who knows, may be we can create opportunities to join forces.

I hope, wish and pray that we all have the opportunities to take part in social projects that resonate with our heart, mind and soul.  May our heartfelt ideas find their way to where they are most needed.

Wishing all of you a great week, with love and best wishes...

Zeynep

_______________________________________________________________________

Affirmation of the Week:

“I live and dwell in the totality of possibilities. Where I am there is all good.”

From Louise L. Hay

Quote of the Week:

“The true mystery of the world is the visible, not the invisible.”

                                                                                              Oscar Wilde

Sailing on the Bosphorus, Sailing in Life

I was in Istanbul last weekend.  As I was looking out my window on Saturday, I started to see sailing boats with open blown sails on the Bosphorus.  This was not a common sight since sail boats can only travel with their engine on the Bosphorus. Normally. But sometimes there is a race and this special straight in Istanbul looks totally different.  No more tankers, no more big ships, but the Bosphorus is filled with racing sailboats big and small with their mostly white and colourful sails.  I felt calm and happy and lucky to have the chance to experience one of these special days on the Bosphorus.

I believe that there is always a purpose for the things that come into our lives.   This does not always mean that it is easy for me to accept what is happening.  This is a belief that there is a reason, a purpose for what is taking place.

I had trainings organised for the next six days in Istanbul and that is why I thought I was in the city.  Reiki courses, Bach Flower Remedy courses, coaching sessions.  I had thought I was in the city for work.  I had chosen the dates to be in through looking at the dates in the calendar and feelings which were the dates that felt good for me to be in Istanbul.  All of training and sessions appointments were taken afterwards.  Well, it seems that there was more reasons for me to be in Istanbul around that time.

It turns there was a big repair planned in my apartment building in Istanbul and my landlord needed to make changes and repairs in my apartment immediately.  I had not heard of the repairs since I had been away from Istanbul for two weeks and I learned this urgent news on my first morning in the city.  Since I had planned to be in the city for almost the week, this would not be a problem for me.  But if they had said this was to be done say next it would be a major problem because after that I needed to be in Izmir for four important meetings in three days. Yet, the bigger surprise for me is that I was asking landlord for the repairs in the windows, actually for her to change the old wooden style windows with single layer glasses on the back side of the apartment for almost seven years. The heat and sound insulation was quite bad and it was hard to repair the windowsill which were more than thirty years old.  I had lost hope and now it needs to be done for the other repairs in the apartment building to be done.  I am just grateful.

There are many reasons of why we need to be at a certain place at a certain time.  And there are many different ways that we decide to be at a certain place.  Sometimes it is just a feeling tells me to go to Fethiye on a certain date, without any apparent reasons.  Most of the time the reason appears on its own.  Feeling to go to different places at different times.  Like the feeling that tells us to do or not to do something, there is always a call to go or to stay as well.  The result of a meeting I had in the city of Elazığ about ten days ago explains the uneasiness that I felt in going.  The team told me that I should be there as their leader and as their boss; I had felt that with my presence we might be cornered into a decision that we were not ready for.

They insisted that I should be there.  I did not say no.  As it sometimes is, it was difficult to come with logical reasons to explain why I should not be there with my team of engineers.  With the almost twenty years of work that I had done as an engineer, I see their point.  However, with the new understanding I have as a Reiki Master, a complimentary healing therapist and coach, how I can I live ignoring my strong feelings?  The meeting in Elazığ was a quite technical meeting and my feelings had told me that I shouldn’t be there regardless of all the mental, organizational and technical reasons. 

Those of you who might have read “Missing Lady” last week might see a pattern.  Last residues of a pattern that I want to call attention to.  In the last five six years there are indeed very very few times that I do not listen to my feelings, that I do not listen to my heart anymore.  My decision to attend the meeting in Elazığ was almost simultaneous with my decision to confirm Lady’s operation that we lost her in.

If something is not calm in your heart when you make a decision, it is a sign that definitely needs to be taken into account.  Do not decide, please do not decide before understanding what it is trying to tell you.  Maybe it is to say no, maybe it is to prepare better, but surely there is part of the puzzle that still needs to be discovered.  I had been grateful for this feelings that has made me happy and that protected me I must say that kept be alive a few times. As I find myself writing about a similar approach to life again, I realize that it is not enough to be grateful anymore.  It is important for me to say that the life I am grateful for was only possible with that compass of feelings.

I have two books published in English and they are the collections of the articles I have written in the Land of Light.  For over five years I wrote in almost every issue in our Land of Lights.  And then an offer came to publish those articles.  One thing led to another and I found myself receiving such interesting email from both Turks and foreigners who have read those two books “Is It Written in the Stars?” and “Imagine Being Lucky.”  In 2006 when I had started to write for our English newspaper, I surely did not imagine that I would have two books in English that were sold all around Turkey.  I had not imagined I would have six other books in Turkish either.  One thing led to another.  One feeling, one insight led to another. 

The late Steve Jobs of Apple had said this may be better than most in his commencement speech at Stanford University in June 2005: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” May he rest in peace and may we find the strength and courage to listen to our heart.