This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://glyndk.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://glyndk.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

The upset mind

Sometimes life is just too much to handle, everything at once. When there seems to be no right answers, and nothing to hold on to, everything is uncertain, the knowledge that everything is temporary can be a relief.
When I get emotionally overwhelmed I calm myself by the mantra "It is just a feeling, it will pass" and I thank Philip for reminding me.

Image courtesy: Hold your head up, NYtimes

The race for the Oscars

Inspired by this link from a friend, I decided to challenge myself for a race for the Oscars. I want to view all the Oscar nominated films before the Academy Awards on March 7. Even though the project is ambitious, I have chosen to limit it a bit so it wont be entirely impossible, so I will only count the films that are nominated in the categories: Best Film, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress. With this limitation, I only have 13 films left to view before March 7. That should be possible... right?

Image courtesy: Oscar Ramblings

Myeloma

Multiple myeloma or myelomatosis, both are different names for the same cancer illness, though sometimes defined as different stages of the cancer development.

My mother got a myeloma in her head - not in the brain, but in the cavity behind the nose, the so-called rhinopharynx (label 6 in the picture above). It is a rather peculiar place to have, and not to say to find, a tumor. My mother only discovered it when she went to an Ear, Nose and Throat specialist after being bothered by symptoms of a blocked nose for over a month. That was last spring. At first the specialists thought they could treat it effectively by an intense radiation therapy through the summer, but unfortunately the tumor was made of harder stuff. Now my mother has had surgery to remove most of the tumor and she is currently going through several rounds of tough chemotherapy to kill the remaining myeloma cells.

Illustration courtesy: www.info-radiologie.ch

First stop: Iceland

I looked out to see the setting sun over the sea of clouds, and I discovered clouds of a texture that I did not recognise from anywhere. It was beautiful, and I thought to myself: this is what clouds look like when they are freezing.
The fact that the stewardess not just once, but twice addressed me in Icelandic proves to me that she was convinced of my Icelandic nationality. She looked rather surprised when I later asked for a cup of tea - in English. So I could not help trying myself to facespot the Icelanders at the airport. My clothes and the shape of my face could go for Icelandic, but I think my nose would have given away my non-Icelandic heritage if she would have had a closer look at my profile.
Imagine being Icelandic. Imagine having these amazing landscapes as your home. Would you cease to see the beauty of it and leave in search of greener pastures? Or would you be bound in your heart and soul to love the views of your homeland under the forces of nature. To me it looks magical, and I want to look closer. Iceland: I will be back!

Learning the Dhamma

"Don't set up any desires, because the setting up of desire is a deficiency, a hunger. And hunger, no matter when or what the sort, is pain: Hunger for sleep is pain, hunger for food is pain, hunger for water is pain. When was it ever a good thing?"

In my breaks at work, I relax by reading online texts on mindfulness and meditation. I can highly recommend this kind of reading. One very good resource for these texts is AccessToInsight.com. The above quote is from the collection of Thirteen Talks on the Practice of Meditation.

Photo courtesy: RechargeYourMind.com

Mountainscapes

Lately I have been dreaming a lot about driving and travelling. Always going somewhere with some friends or family, and the setting is always somewhere away from home; a small village, narrow mountain roads, a glacier, or an open field at high altitude - sometimes with snow.
A few days ago I had a particular beautiful memory from my dreams. I was (with friends/family?) in a sort of tram in the shadow of the mountain, and when I looked around I saw the most marvelous mountainscape of yellow-green mountainsides, bathed in the last rays of the setting sun, against a clear (autumn?) sky.

I googled mountainscape and found this photo that reminds me of my dreamview.
Photo courtesy: http://fotofoobar.shankraft.com/

The enormous chocolate shop

I dreamt of an enormous chocolate shop. No, not a shop made of chocolate, but a shop selling chocolate: bonbons, marcipan, cakes and the like. And the shop was big - like a supermarket. And although I took my time to explore it, I did not even see it all. All chocolate was arranged on plates set on tables covered with white cloth, which gave the whole shop a very exclusive look. I found it strange that the items near the counter turned out to be also chocolate, but from known brands like Toblerone bars and marcipan from Anton Berg. Funny how you remember strange details from dreams...

Illustration courtesy: White Rabbit Chocolate