The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

le scaphandre et le papillon

"The opportunities we did not take. The happy moments we do not live. Was I blind and deaf? Did I need this misfortune to realize who I really was?"

L'imagination et la mémoire sont mes deux seuls moyens de m'évader de mon scaphandre. Je peux imaginer n'importe quoi. N'importe qui, n'importe où.
 Je peux imaginer n'importe quoi. Vivre mes rêves d'enfant. Mes ambitions d'adulte. Maintenant, je peux me souvenir de moi tel que j'étais

"Not in His name"

I heard my friends no-believers having a conversation about some priests doing horrible things to little children. It reminded me of an article my friend Fi from feathers.of.inspiration wrote a few months ago. I could write my own one but I absolutely agree with every word and feel the same about it so I'm just sending a link. Fi wrote it very well. I would like everyone to read it because it's so important. I often hear people judging Christianity according to those calling themselves Christians. I call myself a Christian as well and stumble very often but that's not what Christ was and is like, he is perfect. Please read it here :http://feathersofinspiration.com/2010/09/18/not-in-his-name/

Just in case, I will quote it here as well

“I never post during the weekends, but I had something on my heart I wanted to share. I, as you may have noticed, am a Christian. I am not ashamed of this. But I am horribly sad and ashamed about what a terrifying trail we Christians leave behind us and thus compromise Jesus and all that his cross meant. If you’re reading this and aren’t a Christian, let me just say- I’m sorry. I’m sorry for crusades, I’m sorry for the church shutting people up, I’m sorry for all the judgment and hurtful comments you may have received over the years, I’m sorry for all the unloving Christians you met. Please understand- this is NOT what Jesus is about, this is not the way Christians should be. When Jesus came to Earth he loved people, fed people, healed people, talked and listened to people, cared for people, prayed for people and ultimately died for people. My hope is that one day, we Christians can be his true representatives, but if we’re not please remember who Jesus really is.”

Inspired

Inspiration is everywhere...My dear friends V&S inspire me so
I love that whenever we do any crazy things together, none of us find it weird. I love the things I can do only with them.

Melody of the day

Yes, her name is Lucy Rose!

I think melody of the week would be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYkrtSp8baE since I keep replaying it every day.

White Dandelions & Girl Dresses

Fly Off Like a Bird
Round and Round.
In the Big Blue Sky.

I found this lovely blue dress in a thrift store(It was probably made for 10-year-old girls). It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland a little and also it makes me feel like I'm a child. However, it won't take long that I won't be able to zip it up anymore...

 When I put it on, it makes me do and say weird little girlish things without me realizing it...being 10 was a lot of fun, wasn't it:)

Letters&Leaves

I love writing letters. I like it even more than receiving letters. I am sorry people don't do it so much anymore. I only hope there will always be a few keen correspondents who will keep this special way of communication alive. I'm not sure if I like it so because it's something extraordinary these days but the best thing about letters is that they (almost)always make people happy (well, it depends on what the letter contains of course but I only try to write nice things J). So if writing a note by my hand, mailing it to take someone by surprise can actually make the someone smile maybe just for a second, then I think it's worth it and then it's what I want to do.

There can be many kinds of letters but my dream ones are those from the war times, with the lovely ink handwriting that I'm not able to imitate and old yellowish paper and envelopes, stamp collections...

This might help you understand how excited I was when earlier this week my grandma told me to have a look at some old letter pads with envelopes she had found and was not interested in keeping . She thought it quite funny but was glad they can be still useful for someone. I think there's enough of them for the rest of my life.

I usually include leaves in envelopes because in Slovak leaf and letter are the same words – List. And also because I live on Maple street :)

I love post-cards as well. If you go to any interesting place, be sure to get me one :)

Melody of the night

Jonaš or Why do I eat ravioli?

One of the dearest people I know is my little cousin Jonas. I love spending time with him, although he's never out of energy so after a few minutes it's always hard for me to keep up with him whatever we do. He is the funniest! You should hear some of the hilarious things he says. I always wonder where he got that from. (I wish he never grew up) One thing I really like about him is that he's not spoiled. Well, he kind of is, the way that his parents let him get what he wants sometimes but he doesn't know almost anything about the world things.

(This may sound a little weird but the kids movie industry keeps disappointing me and I just had to share :D) I've noticed how so many kids I get to meet are just spoiled and I see how influenced they are by TV.  Where have all the lovely kids cartoons gone? They are not what they used to be. Fairy tales were always some kind of escape to a world of imagination, mysteries, adventure, things not quite possible in reality.

I don't know much about contemporary kids movies but the ones I've seen, exept the fact that they make them only to get as much money as possible, they are full of silly jokes with two meanings,  messed up with adult humor and mixed with the real world. I think it's sad. Little children are so pure. They only start to learn everything and it is so important what they get in touch with.

My mum used to make up tales for me. For instance, when I didn't want to eat the ravioli pasta, she would tell me a story of a royal kitchen where the chef was making pasta for a princess but by accident she leaned in and her golden ring fell down into all that pasta and now it's inside of one piece of ravioli. I've been eating ravioli all my life only to find that ring :) Still haven't found it....

I think if I ever have children, those will be the most creative years of my life.

Records are made like pancakes

Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain is possibly one of the loveliest films. It is just so...nice. (It has the most beautiful soundtrack, Yann Tiersen is a genius.) I love all the simple things they used to make it funny and special...

Nevertheless, my favourite part of the film is the intro :D

Quotes:
"Amelie's only shelter is the world she invents. In this world, records are made like pancakes and the neighbour's wife, in a coma for months, has merely chosen to get rid off all her lifetime sleep hours in one go."

"[Amélie hands a begger some money]
Beggar: Sorry madam, I don't work on Sundays. "

"When a finger is pointing up to the sky, only a fool looks at the finger."

"[whispering in theater] I like to look for things no one else catches. I hate the way drivers never look at the road in old American movies."

Lulu's letter

A six-year-old Scottish girl wrote a letter to God: "To God, How did you get invented?" Her father, who is not a believer, decided not to make up his own answers but he sent the letter to several churches. They got a reply from the Archbishop of Canterbury:

Dear Lulu,

Your dad has sent on your letter and asked if I have any answers. It’s a difficult one! But I think God might reply a bit like this –

‘Dear Lulu – Nobody invented me – but lots of people discovered me and were quite surprised. They discovered me when they looked round at the world and thought it was really beautiful or really mysterious and wondered where it came from. They discovered me when they were very very quiet on their own and felt a sort of peace and love they hadn’t expected. Then they invented ideas about me – some of them sensible and some of them not very sensible. From time to time I sent them some hints – specially in the life of Jesus – to help them get closer to what I’m really like. But there was nothing and nobody around before me to invent me. Rather like somebody who writes a story in a book, I started making up the story of the world and eventually invented human beings like you who could ask me awkward questions!’

And then he’d send you lots of love and sign off. I know he doesn’t usually write letters, so I have to do the best I can on his behalf. Lots of love from me too.

Archbishop Rowan