To Hope, To Wish, To Endure

I also, like so many more, want to believe that the goodness will prevail in this world of ours.

Yet, though it is hard to see, good people seem to suffer more, the wicked seem to win, the unloving, the uncaring, the ruthless, the merciless seem to get even more brutal and bold, and the gentle majority seem to live with the pain of being treated unjustly.

It is kind of sad how the loving and peaceful world that we hoped for still seems to be the wish of the younger ones who are facing a seemingly even more cruel world.

Let me get the record straight, I am not a pessimist at all. On the contrary, I believe that behind the seeming chaos of life, there is an order that supports good intentions.  This belief of mine is not only about the trust in the divine without a bias for a certain religion, but more of a belief in the unproved and for me the tested by time rules of the universe which at its own timing favors the good and just. With hindsight, this all is very true to me; the hard to endure part is the 'divine', the 'earthly and cosmic' timing.

The instinctive reaction to being faced with injustices is to retaliate. For many of us.  It takes a lot of courage, compassion and patience to endure the desire to reciprocate the cruelty.  If one gives in to that desire, the innately kind and loving suffer even more.  Therefore, for the true believers in goodness, there is no other way that being true to their heart and soul which want and desperately try to believe in kindness. 

No one truly knows what the after life is like if there is one; yet, for those who are able to do no harm and succeed in staying honest and loving, the gift is a peaceful heart and soul from having won an indescribable inner war.

May life protect all of those who are pure in heart.

Breathe

 As we tend to forget, before our next steps, let's remember to breathe...

A Song

And, yes, like so many have done before, it is possible to fall in love with a song...

Love

Once in a while we will see an old couple walk hand in hand will a calm and sweet demeanor that feels as if time has stopped or was they are forever flowing or they shine with a different brightness regardless of their age, something different that we become aware of them, even when they are just walking slowly in front of us. 

At those magical times, we are probably witnessing something extra special.  

A time of witnessing two parts of a soul meeting as a couple in this lifetime.  

Though some of us may have experienced that in the pages of our past, some of us still are to discover that special feeling of belonging and love.

May life give us many joyful chances to discover happiness and love. 

Where Do You Think You Most Belong?

 This morning I came across an interesting quesiton in an online class that I was following.

The question was:   Where do you think you most belong?

As I was trying to grasp the meaning of the question, I realized that the answer to this question has changed over the years. Maybe as it should.  

However,  the difference or range of all of the places, groups and ideas that I thought I belonged to really changed over the years. As I grew and as I changed. In a way.   

At times I was surprised to find myself in a group of engineers, at times with a meditation group in England or a group in Japan. And many more. They all seemed to point out the path that I have walked along the way and although they were different, I came to acknowledge that all of them define a part of me, all of them were about the things that I wanted to 'touch'.

…

The journey of discovering ourselves continues every day. With ups and downs.  With new awakenings, with unconscious knowledge becoming conscious, with simplified desires, as well as more defined preferences. With more detailed expectations and with letting go of expectations. With gratitude, as well as regrets.  All seems to make up what we call the ever changing living.

...

My journey with this question of belonging will probably continue as well.

We

It all adds up to 1,

Our joys and sorrows,

You smile as you cry,

I give thanks as I secretly rebel to what is.

The Life in the Cloud

The fat, white cloud appearing behind the old olive trees,

You know me,

We have met before,

In the waves of the Mediterranean sea

we have embraced many a times,

with joy and fear,

In the air that I breathe,

In the dampness that I wipe off,

the jasmine that I love to smell,

the salamender hiding in the corners,

the coffee, the cake, the icecube in the rosé wine,

…

The water flowing in my body

feels the freedom of the sky.

Looking For A New Chapter

It surely does become more difficult to write with years. 

Because I become more and more aware of the ripple effects of each and every word.  

Good intentions are important, yet more insufficient than I would have hoped for.  

Still, as I am always very grateful for all the words, feelings and thoughts that have reached me, moved me, changed me, that made me question, challenge, trust, hope and surrender, I would like to share their resonance in me and how life seems from that perspective that currently lives as me. 

Maybe, just maybe, as it is for me, someone might also need to, or would like to, hear that which I may channel through.  

And maybe, that is the reason there is hopefully still some room for some new words to be told on this world of ours.

May what I have shared over the years, and from now on, be gentle on my and your soul.

Breadcrumbs

Have you also had the experience of not recognizing your own words when you read your dairies or your old blog posts?

This realization years ago was one of the reasons that I knew that I had to write.  Not only really wanting to write, but feeling the strong pressure from realizing that if I do not write, I will not remember the me at that time or the moments that really meant something.

Some people are very good with remembering the past with many intricate details.  For me, only some of those moments remain  intact and clear with all of the events, thoughts and emotions that come with them.  Others, sort of blend with who I am.  

I believe that all of our experiences and encounters actually stay with us.  Those moments are not really lost, but still I value being able to return to those moments.

Family and friends make life also precious by creating bridges to our past.   Maybe for that reason, I feel like each loss and each connection severed diminishes who I am. For who I am seems to be also defined by what I am able to remember.

And then I write. Write some more.  Then I stop and start again.

  

When I stop, it is not totally because I am scared of the effort and the vulnerability that comes with exposing who I am, because we do go through those waves of emotions and thoughts like everyone else.  I learned how difficult it really is to decide to share what we write when I started to write my newspaper columns and when I published my previous eight books.  However,  writing is making a choice.  It is taking a stand, however naive or ‘innocent’ the topic and content may be.  And it is about making sure that we are sincere and are truthful to who we are.

Sometimes my friends and family members ask me how I know that what I write is meaningful for others, if it is worth the effort?  I personally cannot say that writing brought me a lot of financial returns. It is more about believing in the positive ripple effects of our intended positive contribution. It is about that unstoppable feeling that takes us to the computer or makes us rush to find that notebook and pen.  

And also, time again I receive an email, a phone message from a friend or a reader that I did not know existed who encourages me to continue to write and share that it made a difference in their lives.  Each time I receive such a message, I am humbled, but also grateful.  Because then, even though they do not share the details, I know what might have touched their heart.  They become a compass that shows me the way.  

Whether we acknowledge it or not, we actually do know when we write well, however, we also do know that to be able to write that unique and worthwhile piece, we need to keep on writing, keep on trying to decide what our unique contribution is and to let that message take form. 

And to continue to leave those breadcrumbs leading us back to our soul.

The Then Future

I always assumed I liked the sun more than the snow.

Then again,  I was always more pulled in by the surprise than the acknowledged.

Under the shadow of approvals, I was the the timid rebellious.

If only you knew me.

If only you did.

Past could have been different. 

And so the now, which was then the future.

Ertugrul

This memory appeared interestingly after over 10 years.

I had had the privilege to visit the temple that some of the Turkish soldiers were treated and taken care of in, after their ship Ertugrul sank in a typhoon on September 16th, 1890 at the rocky shores of the Ooshima Island in Kushimoto, Wakayama, Japan.

532 soldiers had lost their lives and 69 could survive thanks to the search and rescue efforts carried out by the local people, the Japanese authorities and the German ship Volf and the Japanese ship Buci Maro.

I am and will always be deeply grateful to Lion Mr. Seiji Mukaiyama, a member of the Wakayama Lions Club for taking me to Kushimoto and Ooshima, to the Memorial Site for our soldiers, the Turkish Museum on the Island. Mr. Mukaiyama even introduced me to the mayor of the town in this visit. Thank you Mr. Mukaiyama. ありがとうございました.

It was very touching and heartwarming to see how the Japanese people are still so gently caring for our soldiers who are resting there with utmost respect for their memory.

That day will always be one of the most precious days of my life.

And I hope in the future I can visit the Ooshima Island and our soldiers again. May they rest in peace.

Back to Writing in English

On August 6th when I wrote in my blog in English, I realized that it had been 1 day short of four years since I published anything in that blog. 

In 2016, I had been elected to serve as the Second Vice District Governor in our Lions Clubs District in Izmir. It meant that I would be on the board for four years and serve as the District Governor and the Federation President for one year. 

I knew that these positions would take a lot of time, however, this commitment required even more of my personal time than I expected.  What made it more difficult was the fact that I lived in two cities, Istanbul and Fethiye, simultaneouly.   And since apart from one Club in Fethiye which I am a member of, the rest of the 64 Clubs were scattered in various cities and towns in Western and South Western part of Turkey, mainly in Izmir and Antalya.  

And since our District’s headquarters were in Izmir, it meant a lot of travelling and a lot of time spent away from home.  Especially during my year as the District Governor, apart from work which I had minimised for that year, and my voluntary work for Lions, I had almost no time for anything else.

I had an amazing four years with our Lions District.  I met hundreds of wonderful people in my District, in Turkey and in the World. I learned a lot.  I almost grew up in some aspects.  I feel very lucky and deeply grateful, therefore I am not really complaining.  Yet in hindsight, I realized that it meant that I had to put some of the things that I love to do on hold.  Like writing.

During those four years, except for the year I served as the District Governor of D118R of Turkey, I continued to write in Turkish, even though not as much as I used to before. 

However, I did not write in English at all. 

I love writing. In Turkish and in English, as well.  I wrote two of my books in English. They are not translations for my books in Turkish.  I really like learning and using the English language.   I used to write some of my journals in English, however, I started to write in English when I started to write a weekly column for a local English newspaper.  If I remember correctly, I wrote for that paper for at least three or four years.  I also remember how difficult It was to express what I wanted to say at first, and how the ideas and words started to flow more easily after the first year.

Today, as I decide to start to write in English again, writing feels awkward.  I find myself looking for words and they are not coming to me easily.   I feel that I will need to accept to live with this feeling of incompetence for a while.  I know from past experiences that, sometimes, even though English is a foreign language for me, I am able to express myself better.  Sometimes it really happens, or at least happened, that way. 

For that reason, I want to give it a try again.  Whlle doing that, I think, for a while, I might have to find a way to make peace with accepting my inabiliy to express myself as I would like to.  

Therefore, let this be a new beginning.

In my column in English, I used to share a quote and an affirmation each week.  I would like to continue to do that.  I hope that their message and energy will give you support.

With love and light,

Zeynep

Affirmation of the Week:

“I calm my thoughts and I am serene.”

By Louise Hay

Quote of the Week:

“Surround yourself with people who respect and treat you well.”

By Claudia Black

For Love and Peace

Most of you know that, in our before Covid life, I loved to travel. Seeing new places always intrigues and uplifts me, also makes me aware how we are all connected. I love that feeling of oneness. 

There have been only two places that have been to that left me with a different feeling of deep sadness. 

One was Sarajevo. In that beautiful city with its beautiful people, I experienced a different sadness that seemed to still linger in that city, and I had one of the most restless nights of my life without almost any sleep. My prayers are always with Sarajevo.

The second place was a museum. 

The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. 

I have been to Japan many times and my visit to Hiroshima was on my fourth or fifth visit to Japan. I had been to a Lions Club Convention in Fukuoka and after the convention, we were travelling in Japan with the Turkish Delegation. When we arrived in Hiroshima that day in July 2016, I was moved in general to visit to this city, and yet I was happy to be able to visit this city and in a way, I am not sure how to express this properly, but I was happy to be able to have the chance to to send love and blessings to this city that has been through great suffering. 

The city seemed to have a gentle energy and I was amazed at how peaceful and pleasant the city was given what it had been through.

Yet, what I would experience shortly would be drastically different.

We were to visit the Peace Memorial Museum. 

Shortly after we entered the Museum building and started to look at the exhibits, I stared to feel this strange rush of feelings. Feelings of pain, of sadness that seemed to overwhelm me. It took me a while to understand what I was feeling and experiencing. It felt like I was suffocating. 

I drank a little water and not to disturb anyone I decided to move a little faster. We were a group of almost 100 people, yet the feeling was getting stronger and stronger. I realized that I was not able to look at the images and exhibits any more. It was just too much. 

And I found myself almost runnig out of the building.

I still remember as I went down some stairs and outside, it felt as if I was running for my life. And I also still remember the relief that I felt as I was finally outside.

It took me a few minutes to collect myself, trying to understand what had just happenned.

After about five minutes, I looked at my phone to check the time. I had over half an hour before we were to get together with our group. And I spent the next half hour strolling in the Memorial Park in which the Museum was located. At one point, I found myself looking at the Atomic Bomb Dome from a distance, the only building that was left standing from the 1945 explosion, which was now a World Heritage Site. What I was feeling or rather experiencing at that point was more of an incomprehension. Incomprehentsion of what had taken place and how it could have. 

I love being in Japan. It is one of the places that I feel most peaceful and happy. The gentleness and kindness that I experience there, with people that know and that I do not know is so comforting, it is impossible not to miss that feeling.

On this anniversary day of one the most heartbreaking days of human history, my heart and soul wishes and prays for peace for all on our beautiful planet.

Love & Gratitude

 

Wishing you days in which you will always remember the power of words.

With Love & Gratitude.

...

Change

I have been listening mainly to one song for the last two, three weeks.  I listen to the radio in my car in Istanbul and in Fethiye there is a CD that I have been listening to for the whole of last year.   However, in the last three weeks regardless of which city or town I was in, there was only one song for me.  Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

This happens to me sometimes. I seem to find comfort in the words, sounds or the frequencies of one particular song that I keep playing over and over again.  I listened to various versions of this song and Jeff Buckley’s is the one I keep listening to.

And I cannot help but think and wonder why I did not go to the concerts that Leonard Cohen gave in İstanbul in the last few years.  I knew about the concerts.  I knew his songs, but for some reason I had not listened to “Hallelujah” up until a month ago.  Then I heard three different versions of this song one after the other by coincidence.  “Hallelujah” changed Leonard Cohen for me.  That song made me feel what Cohen is all about. Especially through Jeff Buckley’s voice.

I remember that I had a similar but more intense experience about 8 years ago. I kept listening to one song over and over  for two or three weeks right after my Dad passed away.  I kept listening to the same song. Again over and over.  And I also painted. I painted with the same set of tones of blue, listening to the same song, until I could not anymore. Then first the colours, then my music changed.

There are many ways to heal ourselves. There are many techniques.  Sometimes all we need is the frequency of a song washing our body and soul.

*

A friend of mine posed a question a few days ago. His question was “Why do we change if we ever do?” His follow up question was “Do we ever realize and admit that we are wrong, and how often do we do that?”  With these simple questions in a group discussion I found myself looking back.  Surely I did change my life of forty something years. Why did I change when I did? Not only where I live, what I do for a living changed, but also what I believe in, my inner world also changed quite dramatically.

What made me change the most? The main reason was probably pain.  The pain of the not so pleasant experiences of my life.  I changed because the way I was did not work for me. I also changed because of my regrets of the pain that I caused in other people’s lives.  It is not easy to accept that we could be the reason for the sadness and disappointment in other people’s lives.

And what made me change even more drastically was seeing people whom I have hurt - mostly unknowingly, but who did not seem to have any resentment or anger for me.  The people who let themselves be hurt by me until I discovered what I am doing. They taught me the most.

I am listening to “Hallelujah” again tonight. I realize that two days ago, as I was listening to the same song from my laptop computer in my living room in Arnavutköy in İstanbul, it was difficult to hear the music.  The sound of the traffic at the Bosphorus, the sounds of the boats, the sounds of the big city, the hum had made it difficult to hear, even with my windows closed.  And I had thought that the sound system of my computer was not good enough.  I had thought the recording was probably not good enough as well.  Two nights later in Fethiye, suddenly the same music from the same computer is almost too loud.  Hallelujah.

*

Living in two cities simultaneously makes me continuously aware of differences. In the weather, in sounds and colours, in relationships, in friendships, in what is meaningful. The list goes on.  So much is different between Fethiye and İstanbul, and so much is different in my lives there.  I travel at least once a week; sometimes I find myself in airplanes five or six times in one week.  I am not exactly in the position of the famous CEO who gave his most permanent address as 3D, his favourite and most common spot in the plane.  But routines are almost non-existent in my life.  Something is always changing. But, when life is constantly changing, what happens to me?  Does this allow me to change, does this make me change or resist change?

I found some of the answers to those questions in NLP.  Not all, but surely some. Those of you who are familiar with NLP Neuro-Linguistic Programming and meta models/meta programs will remember who all of us have different sets of inherent inner rules or rather codes that we seem to use as we steer our lives. Some of feel safer and happier when things are continuously chancing and someone of would rather have the same dish at the same restaurant at the same time of every week.  There is no right or wrong way of being.  And once we discover the thinking and belief system that we use to operate, then we can start to use our mind to create new programs, to ways to respond and act.  Hopely to make our lives happier and more satisfying.

I would like to share about NLP in the coming weeks.  If used with proper caution and understanding, NLP can be very effective in discovering the true positive power of our minds.

*

Finally I will end by sharing some quotes from a tiny yellow pocket book that I received as a gift.  “The Little Book of Confidence” by Susan Jeffers.  Some are more easy said then done; however, maybe the power of these words do make it easier. Here are some of her suggestions:

-          The Higher Self:  Inside you is a place filled with joy, creativity, intuition, peace, power, love and all good things.  I call it the Higher Self.  Whenever in this place, your confidence soars and all seems right with the world.

-          The Lower Self:  Inside you is also a place filled with self-doubt, fear, anger, helplessness, scarcity and all negative things.  This is the Lower Self.  Whenever in this place, your confidence disappears, and all seems wrong with the world.

-          Lower-Self Thinking is a Habit:  Yes, Lower-Self thinking is only a habit.  The good news is that habits can be broken. By practicing a Higher-Self way of thinking, your fear diminishes and your confidence rises.

-          Become a Higher-Self Thinker:  Your task is set before you... It is to take the steps necessary to become a Higher-Self thinker.  Many of these steps are embodied in this little book of confidence. (ZK: Of course I will not be sharing all of Susan Jeffers’ suggestions here, but doesn’t even just focusing on love, peace, love and our positive experiences make us enjoy life more? Isn’t self-acceptance is one of the measures of inner happiness?)

-          Say ‘Yes’ To It All:  Real positive thinking is saying YES even to the fear and pain – realizing you will always get to the other side. And when you reach the other side, you notice your confidence has grown enormously.

-          You Can Handle It All: As you continue pushing through fear and doing it anyway, you learn to trust your ability to handle whatever life may hand you. Trust me on this one!

...

Thank you Susan.

*

I wish all you joyful days in March. Best wishes,

Zeynep

Quote of the Week:

“As you teach so will you learn. If that is true, and it is true indeed, do not forget that what you teach is teaching you.”               

                                                                                                              From Course in Miracles

Affirmation of the Week:

“Everything that happens in my life is for the best.”

The Inner Voice

I was in Bodrum for four days last week to attend Lions Clubs International Turkish Council meetings.  Before moving to Fethiye eight years ago, I used to go to Bodrum more often. Especially during the summer.  Before going to Bodrum last Wednesday evening I have been travelling in various cities in Eastern Turkey. Especially Malatya and Elazig. I have been going to Malatya since 1992.  And To Elazig since 1981.

I usually travel alone.  Travelling gives me time. To think, to question, to observe.  Mostly the thoughts in my mind. I like travelling.  Some call it waste of time. For me, travelling gives me the space to slow waiting there, being in the plane, at all these times, I am not able to do much.  Maybe I read or talk on the phone, or check my e-mails, but usually I have more time than these can fill up.  I use these times for Reiki and distant healing a lot.  I give Reiki to myself, check how my family is doing.  I check the energy of my clients.  I always remind my Reiki students to make the most of the idle times of waiting, in a taxi, at a doctor’s office or in a line in a bank.  These are idle times that can become precious through Reiki or other self-help and healing methods.

And I can catch myself in moments in which there are no thoughts in my mind.  My hand might be  on my chest or leg, I would be giving Reiki to myself and I would find myself looking into my thoughts and I would see an clean white page in front of me. I usually get this image or ideas that excite me start to come up and I realize that I was not thinking about anything prior to these new ideas. Unexpectedly, I would be coming up with solutions that were not that apparent with my regular mind.

Meditation is one of the methods that give us that space to hear our inner voice.  Meditation slows down our thoughts and allows the thoughts that we were not aware of to appear.  Allows a breathing space for them.

As I had more and more of these “aha” moments, I started to realize that my travelling times were my meditation times. While waiting at the airport, or sitting in a plane or a shuttle bus, out of nowhere I get clarification.  Maybe that why I am able to travel this much.  There are rewards to the continuous packing and unpacking.

In all that we do, there are rewards.  There is an intention behind most of all our thoughts and actions.  Not always.  Sometimes other people’s thoughts and intentions affect us, control us, manipulate us.  Maybe I’ll write about these effects in the coming weeks; however, there is a positive intention behind most of the good and bad that happens in our lives.

I fall an hurt my ankle.  I have to rest for weeks while work piles up.  Bad luck? Could be.  But also maybe I needed the compulsory rest.  Maybe I was not able to say not to the demands of my family or my boss.  If we are not able to say no to things that we really do not want to do, or that we cannot handle, usually we find other ways to say no.  And the other way is usually “making ourselves ill”.  We are not aware of it.  Our subconscious knows. Our soul, our energy knows.

The biggest gift we can give ourselves is to say no when we need to and want to.  We may refuse to do a thing and still have to do it.  Yet, this is different than seeming to agree and accept what we simply can’t.   This is one of the topics that we work on with most of my clients.   This is one of the most important healing points in my own life.  Saying yes to what we want to say no to kills our inner voice that we desperately need.

For the next few weeks, I would like to leave you with some more questions and observations:

1-      What traumas, injuries, negative events do you share with other people regularly?

2-      How often do you do this?  What is the intention behind sharing these?

3-      What would you most like to have happen in your life?  Be specific and describe in as much detail as you can.

4-      What is the most pleasurable and fulfilling thing you could to with your day tomorrow?

5-      What kind of people do you have the most trouble with? How do they make you feel?

6-      What are your common feelings?  Track and jot down your changing feelings for a day or longer to observe the changes.

*

We will look into the answers of these and other questions in the future.  May you have many pleasant discoveries.

With love,

Zeynep

Quote of the Week:

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”                                                                                                                                                                                                              Howard Thurman

A Time for the Body, Continued...

The night that I came to Istanbul from Fethiye was not a great night for Istanbul.  I had had a good and pleasant flight.  There were many familiar faces on the plane, most of who were going to Istanbul for the Emitt East Mediterranean Tourism & Travel Exhibition 2013, which took place in Istanbul from January 24^th to January 27^th at the TUYAP Exhibition Centre.

After I got off the plane, I called the shuttle service that I usually use to go home in Istanbul.  Shortly after I got in the minivan, I checked my Twitter account. That’s when I learned about the big fire that had started in one of the historical buildings of Galatasaray University at the Ortakoy Campus. 

Soon my phone began to ring.  Friends and relatives who knew I was coming to Istanbul that night were calling to warn me and tell me which roads were closed due to the fire on my regular way home.  I shared the news with the driver of the shuttle who interesting had not heard of the fire yet.

I live in Arnavutkoy in Istanbul.  As we arrived in Ortakoy that evening there was heavy smoke, even in th back streets.  I took a different route to Arnavutkoy.  When we were near my apartment building, I saw many police cars lined up by the waterfront near the Arnavutkoy Pier.  Twitter gave me news.  A boat had caught up fire and had recently been put out.  There were casualties. This had nothing to do with the big fire at the Galatasaray University. An unfortunate coincidence.

Istanbul felt unsafe.  Not dangerous per se.  However, just did not feel safe enough.  I had never felt that was about Istanbul.  Well, almost never.  May be the first time the city scared me was during the time of the Golcuk earthquake on August 17^th, 1999.  Apart from that Istanbul was my home and was good as it is.

As I spend more weeks, months and years in Fethiye, I am becoming more and more aware that my home is changing.  Istanbul is becoming a place that live in, that I go to, that I work in.  Although I still spend more time in Istanbul, Fethiye is really becoming home.

*

In the hectic and beautiful city of Istanbul, it seems to be rather important to have a positive mindset. To succeed, to surmount, to survive.  There is always something around that overstrains the body, the mind and the soul.  Affirmations are some of best tools to keep me positive and motivated. 

As some of you might remember I started to share a body work by the famous author Louise L. Hay’s body awareness affirmations. I would like to continue with her affirmation program.

Previously I had shared seven affirmations. This time I would like to share seven more. You may use them over the next few weeks, using one affirmation a day.

Louise Hay is known for her work in mapping out the relationship between our though patterns and our health.

The recommended way to use this affirmations is as follows:

-          Use one affirmation a day in the first round of working with the affirmations.

-          Repeat each affirmation for at least ten times every morning and every evening.

-          Write each affirmation at least ten times every day.

You may also write the affirmation and place it where you can see during the day. The next week, either do another round of the seven affirmations or during the second week every morning look at the seven affirmations and choose that you feel will serve you the most.

For those who have missed the previous articles, the first seven affirmations:

Day 1 - Affirmation 1:  I Love My Mind

My mind enables me to recognize the beautiful Miracle of my Body.  I am glad to be alive.  I affirm with my mind that I have the power to heal myself.  My mind chooses the thoughts that create my future moment by moment.  My power comes through the use of my mind. I choose thoughts that make me feel good.  I love and appreciate my beautiful mind.

Day 2 - Affirmation 2:  I Love My Scalp

My scalp is relaxed and peaceful.  It is loose and easy. It provides a nourished bed for my hair. My hair is able to grow freely and luxuriously. I choose the thoughts that massage my scalp with love.  I love and appreciate my beautiful scalp.

Day 3 - Affirmation 3:  I Love My Hair

I trust the process of life to take care of my every need, and I grow strong and peaceful. I relax my scalp and give my beautiful hair room to grow luxuriously. I lovingly groom my hair and choose the thoughts that support its growth and strength. I love and appreciate my beautiful hair.

Day 4 - Affirmation 4:  I Love My Eyes

I have perfect vision.  I see clearly in every direction.  I see with love my past, my present and my future.  My mind chooses the way I look at life.  I see with new eyes. I see good in everyone and everywhere. I now lovingly create the life I love to look at.  I love and appreciate my beautiful eyes.

Day 5 - Affirmation 5:  I Love My Ears

I am balanced and poised and one with all of life. I choose the thoughts that create harmony around me.  I listen with love to the good and the pleasant.  I hear the cry for love that is hidden in everyone’s message. I am willing to understand others, and I have compassion for them.  I rejoice in my ability to hear life. I have a receptive capacity of mind.  I am willing to hear.  I love and appreciate my beautiful ears.

Day 6 - Affirmation 6:  I Love My Nose

I am at peace with everyone around me. No person, place, or thing has any power over me.  I am the power and authority in my world.  I choose the thoughts that recognize my own true worth.  I recognize my own intuitive ability.  I trust my intuition, for I am always in contact with Universal Wisdom and Truth.  I always go in the right direction for me.  I love and appreciate my beautiful nose.

Day 7 - Affirmation 7:  I Love My Mouth

I nourish myself by taking in new ideas.  I prepare new concepts for digestion and assimilation.  I make decisions with ease based upon the principles of Truth. I have a good taste for life. I choose the thoughts that enable me to speak with love. I speak up for myself, secure in my own true worth.  I love and appreciate my beautiful mouth.

*

The new seven affirmations:

Day 1 – Affirmation 8:  I Love My Teeth

My teeth are strong and healthy I bite into life with joy. I thoughtfully and completely chew all my experiences.  I am a decisive person. I make decisions with ease, and I stick to them. I choose the thoughts that create a solid inner foundation.  I trust my inner Wisdom, knowing that I will always choose what is best for me at any given moment.  I love and appreciate my beautiful teeth.

Day 2 - Affirmation 9:  I Love My Gums

My gums are the picture of health. They support and protect my teeth with love. It is easier for me to stick to my decisions. I back up my decisions with spiritual convictions. I am strongly centred in Wisdom and Truth. I choose the thoughts that create only right action in my life. I love and appreciate my beautiful gums.

Day 3 - Affirmation 10:  I Love My Voice

I voice my opinions. I speak up for myself.  I sing the praises of love and joy.  My words are the music of life.   I choose the thoughts that express beauty and gratitude.  I proclaim my oneness with all of life.  I love and appreciate my beautiful voice.

Day 4 - Affirmation 11:  I Love My Neck

I willingly and turn to acknowledge other viewpoints and other ways of doing things.  I am free to acknowledge it all. I am willing to change.  I choose the thoughts that keep me flexible in my ideas and in my creative expression. I express myself freely and joyously. I am safe. I love and appreciate my beautiful neck.

Day 5 - Affirmation 12:  I Love My Throat

My throat is my avenue of expression and creativity.  I keep it open and free. I sing with great joy.  I choose the thought that allow me to express my creativity. I lovingly declare to the world my self-worth and my self-esteem.  I love and appreciate my beautiful throat.

Day 6 - Affirmation 13:  I Love My Shoulders

I shoulder my responsibilities with ease.  My burdens are light – like feathers in the wind. I stand tall and free, and I joyfully carry my experiences.  My shoulders are beautiful and straight and strong.  I choose the thoughts that make my way easy and free. Love releases and relaxes.  I love and appreciate my beautiful shoulders.

Day 7 - Affirmation 14:  I Love My Breasts

My breasts are the perfect size and shape for my body.  They are healthy and will always be healthy. I always nourish and take care of myself before I take care of others.  I choose the thoughts that nurture me in every way.  I love and appreciate my beautiful breasts.

*

I have many friends and clients who struggle with various health problems.  Using affirmations seem to lighten the load.

May the year 2013 bring you lots of love and blessings. 

Zeynep

Quote of the Week:

“I always say that incurable means ‘curable from within.”

                                                                                              Dr. John Demartini

Monet, Japanese Gardens and a City Called Istanbul

I was in Fethiye when the Monet exhibition “Monet’s Garden” opened at the SSM Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul.  I saw the exhibition twelve days later on a sunny and relatively warm Wednesday morning.  And I was not sure if this exhibition was about Monet’s paintings.  It seemed to be more about a man wanting to be known better.

I had seen Monet’s paintings in different parts of the world before.  At the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In Paris.  Even in Japan, at the Ohare Museum of Art.  I had various books on Monet, including a huge one by Sandro Sproccati as well. Yet, on the day that I visited this exhibition, seven days after this French painter was born in Paris in 1840, I was realizing that when I am faced the energy of his paintings, he was becoming alive.

I have been to different museums around the world.  I had encounters with paintings that did take my breath away.  Pictures that moved me even days after I visited them.  I saw paintings that touched me beyond description when I saw them with my bare eyes even if I knew them so very well through books and the media.  J.M.W. Turner is one painter that I fell in love with after seeing his paintings in an exhibition in Zurich.  When standing in front of one of his paintings, it is impossible to resist the charm of the effect of the light. He is surely “the painter of light.” Seeing a Turner with your own eyes cannot compare in any way with seeing a Turner painting in a book or on paper or on screen.  There is something is his paintings that no camera seems to be able to capture.

With Monet, I had always loved his paintings, since I was a kid.  They were everywhere.  The water lilies especially.  Who would not love Monet? With the pastel colours, with the pinks and the greens, the purples with dashes of white and the shades of the sun?

Well, as I was looking at the paintings at the exhibition, which were brought to Turkey from the Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, I was being faced with the fact that the Claude Monet that I thought I knew.  Here was a man infatuated with nature, with his garden.  A man who wanted to capture what he loved to be near and what he loved to see, but seems to be losing himself in what he was looking at when he is painting.

I cannot say the the paintings at the “Monet’s Garden” exhibition are even the best of Monet that I had seen.  For me, it was not one of those exhibitions where a painting really captures my heart and soul.  There were very few paintings that had a special light, a special energy for me.  It was more like feeling Monet’s heart, and may be more if his sad days than the happier ones.  Seeing his paintings as a part of big exhibitions in different museum, Monet had reflected feelings of serene joy and peaceful happiness for me. Until the day I visited the exhibition in Istanbul.

As I was looking at the painting one after the other, I felt the heart of a man who wanted to be remembered.  It was as if we were faced not with the energy of his paintings, but the energy of his own soul.  I looked and looked again to be impressed, and I was faced with the same message.  It was him not his paintings that wanted to be known.

So that evening, I found myself collecting all of the books that I have on Monet as well as the “Monet’s Garden” exhibition book, as well as book on Japanese Gardens, to understand this man as well as trying to understand what he might have wanted to bring into his wife with “The Japanese Bridge” which he depicted in so many of his painting in the ever growing fabulous garden of his.

...

As I was driving back from the exhibition to my apartment in Arnavutkoy, I passed by  Japanese Garden in Baltalimani.  I remembered how frequently I think of Japan, how I love Kyoto and the gardens of the temples in that beautiful city.  I found myself wondering if Monet had ever made it to Japan and what was behind his admiration with the Far Eastern Culture.

...

I love Japan.  There is no doubt about it.  My soul finds a hard to define peacefulness there.  Yet, I love Fethiye as well.  I feel strangely complete in this small city.  I cannot not come back. 

And then there is Istanbul.  A city full of people struggling. People fighting with themselves as well those that they love.   A city that makes us forget what we are made of.  I was born in Istanbul.  I was raised there.  I lived there.  It was all that I had before Fethiye.  I did not have a home town, another home city that I could go to or go back to . Neither did my mother or my late father have.  Istanbul was all that we had. And maybe it is still all that we have in this beautiful and complicated country of ours where our heart, mind and soul face its demons, joys, questions and triumphs.  It will continue to be a city that many of us run away from but also cannot help from coming back to.

The “Monet’s Garden” Exhibition will be on display until January 6^th, 2013 at the Sakip Sabanci Museum in.

2012, A Time for the Body

I am not an expert on body work.   In high school I was in the track team, but I cannot say I was very good.  I had a couple of injuries and although I was a very fast sprinter, I never got to live my love of running. 

I always loved dancing.  In college I would dance for hours, especially on Saturday nights when life at Cornell University gave me a short break.  I started to do Yoga and body building seriously when I was in college.  I was very healthy and fit when I graduated from college.

I returned to Turkey after college.  I was planning to stay for a masters degree in engineering.  However, my father had been ill since his by-pass surgery during my sophomore year and he needed support at our family construction company.  After I returned to Turkey, I worked almost nonstop for eight nine years.  Then I was not that well anymore.  I had various problems with my health as well as many problems with my husband.  My father and mother were experiencing serious health problems, too.  Everything looked good on the outside.  Business was good.  I was married, travelling around the world although for much shorter times since I was working very hard, driving very nice cars.  I was able to buy and do more or less all that I wanted.  I was also helping a lot of people during those years.  Giving financial help was what I knew to do.   Today I have a little different understanding of helping another person.  We learn best my doing and especially by making mistakes.  However, maybe what I did then protected me during the couple very dark years that followed.

Anyway. My path led me to energy work and various healing methods.  I never looked for a method to heal myself or my life.  As l looked for healing methods to help others, I was to discover a whole new way of life for myself.  At all phases of my life there were people who told me how foolish it is to try to help others.  Surely there were times when I was hurt and betrayed by the people that I helped, however, I believe that trying to help with a pure heart can never truly hurt us.   As long as we know our boundaries. As long as helping does not turn into satisfying our own ego.  Help should be about empowerment. Again, today I have a different of definition of what really helping another means. No one is a victim.

Although I learned many different personal development and healing tools, energy work has always been my favourite.  The more I advanced, I found myself doing less and less body work.  Although I did not have any health problems, at one point I realized that I was losing the awareness of my body and that I was gaining weight.  Gaining weight is a common symptom among many energy healers.  If we are not careful about grounding ourselves, we start to use food and eating as a means for grounding.  Naturally many healers end up gaining weight.

Also, spiritual work is important, but if we have been born on this planet, I believe that it means we need to work with our body, mind and spirit. With spiritual work, it is easy to look down upon material needs and all that is material including the body. I have been doing mental and spiritual work deeply, but not enough body work.  To find a new balance I needed to focus on my body again.  That is when I turned to Louise Hay with a different focus.

Good diet and physical exercise are essential for good health.  Deep awareness of our body is another level of body work.  A topic that I want to start sharing more.  Actually in some of my previous articles I had shared some body affirmations as the affirmations of the week.  Now, I would like to recommend to you using Louise L. Hay’s body awareness affirmations in a systematic manner.  Louise Hay has mapped out the relationship between our though patterns and our health.

-          I always thoroughly use any technique that I recommend to my family, friends and clients.  The body affirmations that I will share will certainly heal and strengthen your body immensely. There are seven affirmations given in this article.  Of course, there are many more for the other parts of our body. 

The way to work with the following affirmations, suggested by Louise L. Hay:

-          Use one affirmation a day in the first round of working with the affirmations.

-          Repeat each affirmation for at least ten times every morning and every evening.

-          Write each affirmation at least ten times every day.

You may also write the affirmation and place it where you can see during the day. The next week, either do another round of the seven affirmations or during the second week every morning look at the seven affirmations and choose that you feel will serve you the most.

Day 1 - Affirmation 1:  I Love My Mind

My mind enables me to recognize the beautiful Miracle of my Body.  I am glad to be alive.  I affirm with my mind that I have the power to heal myself.  My mind chooses the thoughts that create my future moment by moment.  My power comes through the use of my mind. I choose thoughts that make me feel good.  I love and appreciate my beautiful mind.

Day 2 - Affirmation 2:  I Love My Scalp

My scalp is relaxed and peaceful.  It is loose and easy. It provides a nourished bed for my hair. My hair is able to grow freely and luxuriously. I choose the thoughts that massage my scalp with love.  I love and appreciate my beautiful scalp.

Day 3 - Affirmation 3:  I Love My Hair

I trust the process of life to take care of my every need, and I grow strong and peaceful. I relax my scalp and give my beautiful hair room to grow luxuriously. I lovingly groom my hair and choose the thoughts that support its growth and strength. I love and appreciate my beautiful hair.

Day 4 - Affirmation 4:  I Love My Eyes

I have perfect vision.  I see clearly in every direction.  I see with love my past, my present and my future.  My mind chooses the way I look at life.  I see with new eyes. I see good in everyone and everywhere. I now lovingly create the life I love to look at.  I love and appreciate my beautiful eyes.

Day 5 - Affirmation 5:  I Love My Ears

I am balanced and poised and one with all of life. I choose the thoughts that create harmony around me.  I listen with love to the good and the pleasant.  I hear the cry for love that is hidden in everyone’s message. I am willing to understand others, and I have compassion for them.  I rejoice in my ability to hear life. I have a receptive capacity of mind.  I am willing to hear.  I love and appreciate my beautiful ears.

Day 6 - Affirmation 6:  I Love My Nose

I am at peace with everyone around me. No person, place, or thing has any power over me.  I am the power and authority in my world.  I choose the thoughts that recognize my own true worth.  I recognize my own intuitive ability.  I trust my intuition, for I am always in contact with Universal Wisdom and Truth.  I always go in the right direction for me.  I love and appreciate my beautiful nose.

Day 7 - Affirmation 7:  I Love My Mouth

I nourish myself by taking in new ideas.  I prepare new concepts for digestion and assimilation.  I make decisions with ease based upon the principles of Truth. I have a good taste for life. I choose the thoughts that enable me to speak with love. I speak up for myself, secure in my own true worth.  I love and appreciate my beautiful mouth.

In the coming weeks, I will share more of Louise Hay’s body affirmations for better health and a happier life.

May love and light always be with you.

Zeynep

Quote of the Week:

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude.”

                                                                                                              By William James