I went shopping today with a friend, Alan. We went to the usual haunts around the city, and I had fun ordering him around and telling him what to try on. While waiting for him to change, I noticed the sales assistant was astoundingly bored. She was polite to all of the customers queueing up, but it was that type of boredom you can sense in another person. We’ve  all been bored at some stage or another, absentmindedly willing the time to go faster, just so that you can be saved by the mindnumbimg dullness of the here and now. Well here was one girl who was probably praying for time to speed up so that she could go do something she enjoyed instead of waiting on people who showed minimal amounts of appreciation.

Much to the disagreement of many of the people around me, I am a shy person…(I am! I swear!). So the whole talking to strangers thing isn’t really something I do very often, unless I have to. But she was so bored! So i decided to strike up a conversation with her while waiting for Alan, who takes an exceedingly long time changing clothes. We talked about shopping, and the differences between shopping for girls and shopping for guys, a very brief conversation, but I was pleased at how easily we conversed. The best bit? She was smiling, laughing even. I love making my friends laugh, and I guess it was just a new experience, making a total stranger laugh (intentionally, that is).

It felt good to make someone smile like that. I wonder if she remembers me, if I made any difference to her day. I like to think that I did. But at least I had fun talking to her. I might end up doing this more often. We are surrounded by so many people everyday. Waiting in lines, sitting on trains, trams and buses (or standing on crowded Melbourne transport), there are endless opportunities to get to know the people around us, or even just to help brighten someone elses day. We all have something in common, but sometimes we act like we live parallel lives, when we are actually all interconnected and our lives are all woven together. Who knows, a stranger you talk to might end up being the one who puts a smile on your face.

Smiles and sunshine,

Scout

I was meeting some friends for dinner at this restaurant when I notice this really unattractive looking guy staring at me from across the room. I try not to make eye contact, but he continues staring and then actually starts to approach me. Im praying that he doesn’t talk to me, but of course he does and he asks, are you Angel? I thought this was a bad pick up line. I say no. He apologizes and then walks away. When my friends finally come, we get seated next to that guy’s table and his date, Angel, who also happens to be asian, except she’s got 20 lb on me.

Pretty stoked to see this, Stranger Bike’s first edit! Pretty sick street and park riding from Sean Mcintosh.

Stranger tiene este video de Sean Mcintosh en su pagina.  Sean, you made it, keep killing it!

It was late at night, I would say around 2 AM I was sitting on the park bench and smoking a cigarette. It was a long day at work, followed by ‘get together’ after work with investors which turned into late night evening in a strip club. Gray Goose vodka drinks, lap dances, and sushi were still spinning in my head. I felt turned on by the events that went on earlier. The guys we were “wining and dining” went back to their hotels, my manager closed in on “booty call from his girlfriend” and I was there, all alone, in the park. I had a little fifth of Jack with me, which I felt guilty about in a way. I knew I had to be up early tomorrow for a meeting, but fuck it…

Another long drag from a cigarette, another look at the open sky….then suddenly…

She came out of nowhere. As she was rushing through the park, she paused right in front of me, “Do you have an extra cigarette?”

“yeah…sure…”, I extended my pack of Marlboros, “need a light?”

Sitting herself down, she exclaimed, “thanks……what a fuckin day”

I couldn’t resist, had to ask.

“Sometimes, people just don’t get me”, she started, “you work hard..do everything your boss asks you, stay late, work for fuckin’ shitty pay…. And then…”, she dragged on the cigarette, “then finally you get out ..to have a fuckin drink with a friend…but he doesn’t fucking show up!!!!…. ”… she dragged on a cigarette like it was her last smoke “I am sorry….I need to chill…it’s fucking annoying sitting in the martini lounge, drinking alone….ugh!”

“Hey, it’s all right”, I grabbed her hand. Being partially carried away by unexpected “guest”, I wasn’t consciously processing what I was doing. “Listen, maybe this would help”, I extended my bottle, “have a sip”

While she killed good portion of my alcohol, I proceeded to tell her about my night, while caressing her hand.

I looked her up and down, she was beautiful. Her brown wavy hair was neatly falling on her neck, her lips were luscious, and her eager eyes were darting at my face. I looked down past her neck, and noticed three buttons of her blouse were undone, to the point I could see a bit of pink bra. The pink bra was gently covering her round chest. She was a “gifted” girl, as my friend would have put it. Trying not look obvious staring at her tits, I moved my eyes to her stomach. Pin striped blouse was tightly tucked into her skirt. The black skirt came down to her knee. Her legs were bare, with nothing but flip-flops on her feet.

We were exchanging words carrying a mindless conversation. But the real conversation was held by our bodies. I noticed her sitting up straight while arching her back towards me. Several times she took her hand out of mine to brush her hair off her neck then returned it back into my palm.

Without realizing I found myself holding both of her arms. I noticed she was facing me. I leaned in and softly touched her lips with mine…. She didn’t move away. Her breath smelled like Jack Daniels and I felt her sloppy wet lips lock with mine. My hand involuntarily traveled up her arm and around her shoulder. I grabbed her and pulled in closer.

Our tongues were playing with each other, my hand was tightly grabbing roots of her hair, and my other hand was exploring buttons on her blouse.

I felt a gentle brush across my leg. It was her arm reaching for my crotch. I pulled out of the kiss and reached for her neck. She smelled delicious; it was a combination of pheromones, afternoon lotion and evening perfume. I brushed her hair away and started gently sucking right below her ear. She was breathing heavily into my cheek. Her tongue was aggressively licking my neck and ear lobe.

Now my hand was freely exploring underneath her bra. Her hard nipples were asking to be played with. A little twisting and pinching made her exhale with a moan. Her hand was impatiently rubbing my cock through the material of my pants.

In split second my hand was between her legs, which she obediently moved apart. Even before I reached all the way in, I felt the the warm air coming out. Her entire body was pulsating with desire. It felt like this pulsation was generating between her legs, deep in her tight wet pussy, and traveling all the way through her veins.

My fingers ran into silky thong and without hesitating a minute I moved it to the side. My fingers fell into a gushing river of her pussy juices. I effortlessly slipped inside…It felt extremely tight and swollen. I could hear it throbbing and pulsating. Her pussy was fully shaven and juices made a swooshing sloppy sounds. While massaging her clit with my thumb, I reached deep inside to find the back wall. With a “come-here” motion I started rubbing inside of her. She gasped several times and clenched her hands into my shoulders.

I pulled out of her embrace, and grabbed her arm. Without saying one word she followed me. I didn’t care where we were going; I just wanted to get into dark part of the park.

I pushed her on the ground in the wet grass; she pulled me in with her. I felt myself between her legs. My head moved towards her chest, and my mouth found her nipple. I started sucking on it. Her breasts were completely exposed. They were large and evenly round. Her erect nipples were standing straight up in the air. I felt like I couldn’t get enough of the flesh. She moaned even louder when I started to bite it and flicked it with my tongue… Slowly working my way up to her mouth, I kissed, sucked, liked, and bit every inch all the way up.

Her fingers were fondling with my belt buckle. For a split second, I didn’t think she’d figure it out, but I felt my hard cock fall right out of my boxers. I couldn’t believe how turned on I was. Her hands barely covering half of my dick were working hard rubbing it up and down.

I jacked up her skirt a little bit and pushed myself between her thighs. She gasped and clenched her finger nails into my back. I extended my hand behind her head and pulled hear head in to expose her neck. I was slowly penetrating her. She was slippery but unbelievably tight.

My dick was spreading her pussy walls by forcing its entire length and girth in. She moaned in my ear as I pushed even further. I was deep inside of her, I could feel her pussy tightly wrapping around my cock. She rolled her eyes back as I pulled out and pushed back in. “Ahhhhhh!!!!”, came involuntarily out of her wet mouth. I was nearly hurting her, I knew that. To make things better I redirected pain by pulling her hair by the roots at the back of her head. I knew she wanted me deeper and faster when she wrapped her legs around my hips lifting herself up a little.

I went in and out several times increasing pace with each movement. Her heavy breathing was intoxicating. Her wild tongue was licking my neck up and down as I kept pounding her. Her pussy was getting tighter as I kept increasing rhythm of our fucking. The whole experience was drowning her in gush of emotions that she couldn’t express verbally.

We locked lips and I went deepest i have ever been in her…. Her eyes opened wide….she looked into my eyes..”Ahh! Ahhh!! Aaaaaaah!!! ……Uhhhh!!! “, she was gasping for air…, I pulled out and pushed myself back in…forcing my dick to stretch her pussy even more. She looked like she was having hard time handling me inside of her. She was ready to explode. Watching her shake under me in near orgasm brought me closer to the edge… I felt my cum already dripping out of my cock into her drenched pussy while mixing with her precum juices.

I grabbed her with all the force I could. My hand pulled her head backwards by the hair, arching her back, and my other hand was under her hips pulling her closer to me. I was ready to lose it…

I erupted!

My cum came out with fierce force piercing her walls and drowning her insides. Like a hot volcano, I was spitting my hot juices deep inside of her. As I was cumming I pulled herself closer and our lips locked into motionless kiss. Intense sucking of each other tongues sent my head spinning….

I felt a wet gush between her legs. She drenched my cock with her cum. I knew that feeling my cum filling her up and hitting her deep walls would make her get off all over me. She came while shaking and catching her breath in my ear. Sweat from our bodies was mixed between us. Our cum mixed together, our tongues tightly interlocked, our lips concealed in strong sucking kiss, her finger nails pierced into my back. I felt her pussy dripping with our cum. She wrapped her legs tight around my hips pulling my dick even deeper into her gushing pussy.

We laid there for a minute. Then I got up without saying a word. I pulled up my pants and buttoned my shirt. She re-adjusted her thong and buttoned up her blouse. She came closer, on her tippy toes, reached for my mouth and kissed me.

“Thank you so much, I needed that!”, she whispered as she turned around and walked away swaying her hips side to side.

While standing there with my mouth open, I lost sight of her, in darkness of the street.

Ah, life. That thing that happens when you’re busy making plans. A lot has changed since March, I’m sure, but I’m not going to worry about filling in the gaps.

The last few months have provided the usual hotchpotch of business, love, charity and disintegrating relationships (in reverse order of financial gain, and – hopefully – ascending order of personal growth). The Pirate and I are done, in the friendliest way possible, and even have our own break-up song:

There was a brief relationship with a new man, which was an incredible re-awakening of my romantic senses, and a subsequent break-up caused by his arguing style. So damn repetetive. I like my arguments to have the decency to appear to be moving in a forward-like direction.

I realise now… blessed hindsight… that the two years I spent with the Pirate had little to do with love, and more to do with a lack of disgust, as Eoin Colfer succinctly puts it in the next episode of the thrilling Hitchiker’s series. I do feel a little wiser than I did this time two years ago, but I also feel cynical and disillusioned, which will hopefully pass.

Cynicism aside, I’m enjoying the freedom of being alone again… and knowing that I don’t need anybody else. I had one of those rare moments of insight on a bus last week, when I suddenly wanted to sing and embrace the person sitting across from me. I managed to hold back from hugging strangers, but I did smile the whole way home.

So life is moving on, and I’m trying to keep up with it.

How have you been?!

Last summer I was sitting on the train going home from a 24 hour shift at work in Väsby, it was a Sunday night and I was going to meet my best friend A at my place for a relaxing movie night. Working with teenagers for long shifts can be a handful even if I love my job, so I was already longing for the 35 min ride home to be over when I entered the train. On the same train was a dark haired girl that had been on the same buss as me towards the train station. She had to run so she wouldn’t miss the buss and consequently the train that only goes once every half hour, I remember that I thought she was pretty and wondered for myself where she had her roots since she looked like she could have the same origin as me. She stumbled on to the buss while putting her shoes on, which she had taken off to run faster and now sat down in front of me. While trying to catch her breath she smiled and said – I made it! I smiled back and can now not remember what I replied to her but the conversation ended there, with me still wondering where she got all her colours. After we got of the buss I lost her in the crowd. 

Not more than five minutes after the train had rolled of the platform it stopped, not even getting to the next station. The voice from above (the driver, not god!) announced; “we will be standing here for a minute”. My first thought was; GREAT probably someone has jumped infront of the damn train again! Just my luck being tired and going to meet my friend… why does this always happens when I AM taking the damn train! Around ten minutes later the voice said that it looks like we would be standing here for a while, making my prediction become true (it was not the first time this happened to me, nor was it the first time this specific summer). I messaged my friend that I would be late and after sitting there for some time being pissed about why people didn’t choose to take their life in a simpler, less painful and less annoying to others way, I got restless and walked through the train cart to the beginning of it, inside of course since we were all held hostages until further notice. From the window I got a glance of the guy before they covered him up with black plastic, one part of him was lying further away detached. I turned back and started walking towards my seat again feeling ashamed for thinking of the inconvenience this caused me when a person, a fellow human being actually was feeling so unhappy with life that he choose not to be a part of it anymore…

So why do people choose to take their lives?

According to Emile Durkheim a sociologist active in the late ninetieth century who studied suicide statistics, the suicide rate of different countries are fairly stable over time, i.e. if around 20 people choose to take their life in Sweden and 35 in England this year there will be about the same amount of people choosing to take their lives next year as well. What this means is basically that there is a predetermined rate of people that will take their own lives, that there are people walking around not knowing not aware of the fact that they will commit suicide. Even though Durkheim’s study has some methodological problems with some countries not willing to report the actual suicide rate, foremost due to religion where it is considered a sin to commit suicide, he drew the conclusion that the rate of suicide in different countries were a reflection of the level of integration in society. Basically meaning that the more people felt connected to other people the less chance of them committing suicide… So I reckoned if loneliness, the feeling of not being integrated with others was the reason to commit suicide then I would probably jump in front of a train as well, making people acknowledge the fact that I was there and they didn’t take the time, forcing them to take the time even though it was to late…

As I was walking towards my seat in the train I saw the girl from the buss, I sat down next to her and we started talking about the man lying outside the train. The girl from the buss told me that she came from Iraq and was studying to be a doctor. The voice from above (still not god people!) announced that we would be turning back to the station we came from and that there would be busses going from there. I called my friend that had gotten tired of waiting for me and had started to drive towards where I was. I told her what station to meet me at and when we got there she was already waiting in the car, on the way to my place we dropped of the girl from the buss at her boyfriend’s house just before changing FB names. When we got home I thought what a precarious day… someone taking their life perhaps because of involuntary isolation from other people caused two strangers to become friends. The death of a man making a connection between strangers, giving them a reason to start talking, giving me a opportunity to ask the question I was bouncing in my head from the moment I saw this stranger. I felt angry with myself for needing a reason to start a conversation with a stranger, angry because I felt I needed a reason to speak my mind, angry for the damn norms speaking through me telling me what was and was not appropriate to ask strangers, angry that someone didn’t break those norms before it was to late for the stranger lying on the track.

Cum ar fi ca fiecare dintre noi si fiecare dintre cei care urmeaza sa se nasca sa primim/primeasca dreptul de a iubi de trei ori in viata?!

Oare am fi toti mai cumpatati si am alege cu mai mare grija persoana pe care am vrea sa o iubim si sa ne iubeasca?

Ar fi trist sa realizezi ca ai ajuns la varsta de 37 de ani si nu mai poti iubi, ai avut trei sanse si de acum va trebui sa ramai gol si sa schimbi ritmul inimii tale; altfel bate cand iubeste; altfel bate cand traieste cu adevarat.

Nu stiu cine a zis:  ,,Sa iti traiesti viata este ceva foarte rar. Majoritatea oamenilor doar exista.”

….

ca bine a zis!

Tot in zona temei discutate mai sus ar fi si ideea tragi-comica ca omul e atat de limitat si atat de orbit de anumite evenimete din trecut incat, anumite trasaturi ale anumitor persoane pe care le-a iubit candva o sa il urmareasca indealungul vietii asteia marunte. In busul cu care circulam zilnic urca si coboara fel de fel de oameni si, daca esti genul de persoana careia ii place sa observe comportamente si expresii omenesti (atunci cand el nu stie ca e observat)  poti intalni la anumiti straini unele caracteristici care iti amintesc automat de o persoana pe care cunosti deja. Creierul e rapid si asociaza destul de repede ceea ce vede cu ceea ce cunoaste deja si, desi nu stim cine-i strainul din bus, ne-a facut sa ne amintim de o persoana care ne-a fost draga candva si care are unele trasaturi comune cu omul de langa noi, omul care se  afla in raza noastra vizuala in acest/acel moment.

SO, stranger si nu tocmai

I have finally compiled the result of my kitten experiment.  After hours (ie. 45min) of rigorous testing, I have come to the conclusion that my hypothesis was correct, apart from one point.  Children in the company of adults didn’t speak directly to me, but instead directed kitten-related comments to their adult companions.  One drunk man did make a comment about the kitten, but only in passing.  The only other adults who spoke to me were those who also had cats, and were therefore cat people.  Comments about my cat were invariably accompanied by anecdotes about their own cats.  I feel that I have found sufficient evidence to conclude that even with a kitten, it is near impossible to elicit a reaction from strangers.

In other news, today I had to speak to an excruciatingly annoying creationist, who tried to sell me his book about dinosaurs.  The basic premise of the book was that dinosaurs and their fossils are not in fact as old as most people would assume, but instead roamed the planet at the same time as our human ancestors.  He stated some shoddy reasoning about how some dinosaur bones have been found with red blood cells still intact – and how if you bury a chicken or cow bone, there will very soon be no blood cells left within the bone, therefore dinosaur bones aren’t really all that old.  I told him I wouldn’t be interested in buying his book, and he said that the reason I’m “afraid” to read it is because I am a biologist, and apparently biologists are always afraid that their “fake atheist theories” will be refuted.  An interesting theory.

Droplets of water slide across the canvas and slither down the pole to join others in a puddle under the stall.

He empties a bowl of grapes in a light blue plastic bag. He has done this a million times. Without posing to think, he scoops up another bunch from a crate under the stall and plops it into the plastic container. Stretching out his chicken-skin arm, he drops the bag on a pile of green peppers in front of me. His hand remains outstretched waiting for the quid.

He is short and bald, with a black fringe. I feel his piercing eyes follow my hand as I look for my purse which is burrowed somewhere in my huge handbag. I pick-up my bags and make as if I am walking away. But his hand locks onto my wrist. He gestures towards the peppers and tells me “you choice, good choice, good price”. I choose a couple and drop them in his hands. His black fingernails brush against mine. His face tells of numerous days toiling in the sun. His life is engraved in his wrinkles. He looks out of place with his broken English, and sunburnt skin. He adds a couple more in another light blue plastic bag. I hand over a pound.

And he smiles. A toothless smile. A smile, whatsoever.

I leave the market with bag loads of fruit, six pounds poorer and a warm glow in my heart. A stranger’s smile had lifted my spirits up. A stranger whom I would have never noticed had it not been for the colourful carpet of fruit and vegetables spread out on his display table. A stranger who had provided me with non-seedless fresh fruit after two months on this island.

A stranger who smiled.

And I never got his name.

Week 23 Topic: Take a headshot of a stranger

My picture for this topic.

For more about the One Two Squeeze project or to see other photographer’s interpretation of this theme, visit One Two Squeeze!

Still thinking about New York and how must it look in the fall. Is the Broadway Boulevard covered in leaves or not? Cause there may be no trees on Broadway Boulevard. I wouldn’t know that…

All these thoughts about New York and I’ve never even visited it. That’s just hilarious!

Never been at the Empire State Building or at the Madison Square Garden. Never been anywhere in New York…never been to New York.

They keep talking about it all-day-long in Seinfeld: about the baseball matches, about writing scripts about nothing, about just taking a cab downtown.

I guess it’s better than nothing…I could even say I know New York, even if I’ve never been there…

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Our voices sound similar, our natural register alike. I shift mine to a whispering tone, you raise yours as you tell me about paying excessively for your parking. You play the part of an angry customer and I am a civilised and reasonable manager. I tug at a loose thread on my skirt and watch as it escapes from tiny holes on the hem. Afterwards, I conclude the exchange and I walk you to the door. I think I stand too close. When I see you in Benetton later that day, you avoid me, playing another part. Shopper. Actress. Stranger.

Wow, I finally did it.  I started a blog.  I have previously blogged before, but only through social networking sites, so this is a totally new thing for me.  I don’t know if I’ll ever have anything interesting to say, but hopefully someone will at least be impressed by my ability to put apostrophes in the correct places or something.

The idea of this blog is to explain what life is like in Finland for a Finnish person who feels a bit like an outsider.  I speak the language, I look like a Finn, and I have a very Finnish name.  Despite appearances, I am not a typical Finn, and have never been.  I have spent almost my entire life SOMEWHERE ELSE and it shows – I invite people I have just met to coffee, I can communicate with strangers even when not inebriated, and I get frustrated with the need people have to organise their social lives weeks in advance.

I’m going to try to post interesting things here, and hopefully you will remain interested in what I’m writing…  I also don’t mind receiving suggestions – if there’s some aspect of my life that you’re curious about, let me know, and I’ll do my best to meet your needs.

I spotted her sillouheted against the light of a candle at the open window of a ruined seafront house – apparently staring out to sea. But, I soon realized that she was blind to the gathering storm when she said, “What a beautiful day – he will soon return in his little boat and he will once more fill the hole in my aching heart”.

As the sky filled with dark clouds and the first heavy spots of rain began to fall she continued, “My love is coming home and my heart warms – like my face in the sun”.

A shard of lightening fractured the charred sky and thunder ruptured the air. “I can hear his boat as he draws it up upon the beach – soon he will be with me and I will be in his arms once more”.

The wind tore in through the broken window whipping the ragged curtains while the rain pounded on the roof above. “And now I hear his boots upon the stone steps leading up to our house – he is here!”

The splintered door was blown open – the air was sucked from the room – the vacuum snuffing out the guttering candle – and I could see her no more in the dark eye-socket void of her window.

Apparently, I had a best friend named Shea who was a little girl with beautiful long dark brown to black hair.  She was partially or mostly Souix Indian.  We spent a lot of time together and were very good friends.  I have a vague memory of her being with me on one occasion when we were walking down the sidewalk of the neighborhood.  A man stopped us and asked us if we wanted some candy (I swear he was holding a dum dum lollipop which were my favorite at the time).  Oddly enough I remember that I told him no.  Thinking back to that moment now, Shea and I must have been the luckiest girls in the whole world!  Isn’t that something that a dirty man would do to lure little girls into a white van to take them and do something terrible to them?  At this point I would consider the two of us very lucky  to still be alive.  How did I know to say no to that man and keep walking?  That was back before they started teaching kids about stranger danger or any of that stuff so we wouldn’t possibly have known other than just pure dumb luck.   I was just so young…Amazing.

A 14-year-old school dropout who had disappeared five days ago was found in a house in Georgetown, Penang.

The girl, who was expelled from school for indiscipline, was said to have been kidnapped and raped by a stranger in Johor Baru.

Hulu Selangor OCPD Norel Yahya Affandi said a missing persons report was lodged by the victim’s 22 year-old brother when she failed to return home.

“The brother had lodged the report after he received a call from a man claiming that he had kidnapped the victim from her home in Batang Kali and was going to rape her,’’ said OCPD Norel Yahya.

Police managed to trace the suspect, a chef, to a house in George­town.

The victim was sent to the hospital for a medical check-up.

A 10-year-old escapes after being grabbed by a man while on her way to school in Totton…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: educatif. The blog is also related to: special education.

When walking in a sea of strangers a friend may wave and smile,
recognition easily thwarted by momentum,
and though she smiles and waves,
though paused to strike a pose,
all i see is a stranger making a mistake–
in a sea of strangers mind is convinced it must also be a stranger.

Stranger still is this desire for love override,
a tendency to forgo contact,
and relinquishing the tender touch my heart turns easy prey–
it has no where to hide.

Out in the open is the cure,
a walk about in my small town,
where every citizen a reflection of my soul,
and i may expect that friendly smile,
that loving wave embrace–
beloved see me clearly,
and i shall see you.

When you hear the word “Vampire”, what flashes across your mind?

Probably an eternal being that wakes up at midnight, leaves the grave; one who has long pointed canine teeth which it likes to sink in to the neck to drink blood for it’s living…

“Yeah, I know very well how they might look and what they do for a living!” you might say.

But how many of you are aware of the other “Real” vampires that live among you draining your energy—mental, physical and emotional?

Unfortunately, most of us don’t know how dangerous these “real” vampires are, and how much of blood of your energy they could suck in no time leaving you paralyzed!!

Most of the people could relate themselves with at least one of the following situations:

– Jennifer started off the day well and all of a sudden finds herself being criticized by her boss, then colleagues makes fun of her followed by a stranger on the restaurant who vented his anger on her for no obvious reason she could figure out, leaving her an angry, depressed, agitated and utterly, emotionally disturbed person. The bitter truth is, there are energy-suckers or people who are waiting to “sink their teeth in to your neck ruthlessly”.

– Charles is driving on his way back home or office when he keenly notices a celebrity (Or any person with some prominent attributes to his/her credit such as beauty, affluence, tall, etc) on the road followed crazily by zealous fans. He says to himself one of these things,

“I wish I were wealthy/beautiful/lucky/beautiful/well-built/handsome/tall like him/her.”

His day passes with mixed feelings of longing, feeling of inadequacy, feeling bad about himself, worrying, loss of  self-confidence, depreciated self-image, lack of enthusiasm to name a few literally!

– Lawrence goes out finding fault with everyone he encounters, perfectly capturing their flaws. Whoever he happens to come across he says “You shouldn’t do that or you shouldn’t have done that…” or “You have to be like this or that…” passing judgment and being critical about others.

In the process he compares and contrasts himself with others, piling up a lot of resentment and other unsupportive emotions in him that annihilates his OWN attitude, charm and energy as well the others he come in to contact with.

– Angelina was sitting at her office desk working with great élan when she was suddenly struck by the old memories of her altercation with her neighbor 4 months back. She fights once again, but this time in her mind! Her enthusiasm vanished in to thin air like a deflated balloon. It has become another one of her “Bad days”.

These are only some of the instances of “Vampires” from a great lot that steal your “Poise” or “Peaceful mind”, suck your mental energies, physical energies, and your emotional energies from the time you open your eyelids to the time your head hits the pillow, and even thereafter!

Now, if you had the chance to study closely all the successful men and women since the dawn of time, you would soon realize that one quality cut through all of them and it is “Keeping their mind protected from the outside clutters” that steal their energies.

An aspiring person of success should closely guard him/her from all these clutters and flushes them out on his/her first sight of them for they have great power to drain his/her energies rendering him/her powerless!!

As a matter of fact, the more energy you could save or avoid being expended in the wrong channels, the more you would be “Available” for any situation, that too with great enthusiasm and power under your belt!

It’s a common knowledge that the mind should be free of all the discouraging thoughts and evil-behaviors, but it is not a common act executing and applying this knowledge, unfortunately.

When you are mentally energetic, chances are, you would be physically as well, mostly. In fact it is these mental leakages or vampires that cause the fatigue both in the mind and in the body.

If “Save your mental energy and don’t allow any vampires to disturb your inner poise” is your primary motto, you are already well on your way to be one of those rare individuals who has control over his/her day!

And one who wouldn’t be shaken by these energy-sapping vampires in the form of people or damaging thoughts that arises with them.

If people around you aren’t going anywhere, if their dreams are no bigger than hanging out on the corner, or if they’re dragging you down, get rid of them. Negative people can sap your energy so fast, and they can take your dreams from you, too.

–Earvin Johnson

PART-2

Wish you all the riches to come with God’s blessings

Peter Anand

21 de noviembre de 2009