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Syzygy to Wanderlust, a 2016 wish. The Most Beautiful Word(s)

1/6/2016

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​“I find that by putting things in writing I can understand them and see them a little more objectively ... For words are merely tools and if you use the right ones you can actually put even your life in order, if you don't lie to yourself and use the wrong words.” Hunter S. Thomson
--from a letter to Larry Callen, July, 14, 1958 (found in the collection of his early letter, “The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman)”
 
I took the advice of Thomson and as I ordered my words, the word “wanderlust” came first. It came in the early teens driven by hours and days and nights of vicarious experience; the freedom of adventure on adventure as we plunged into an endless stream of novels set off-island in every-which-where places. It’s a beautiful and wonderful word.  
 
“Dépaysement” came years later. It carries that meaning of being somewhat lost, somewhat disoriented in a strange country and culture. It’s in the beauty of the word rather than any stirring of feeling. Let’s forget it’s a French word. There is a power of beauty in words!
 
What is the most ‘beautiful’ word in the English language? Is it “wanderlust” or “caramel” or “dépaysement"? “Caramel” it is; nothing on the World Wide Web comes close. It has a power of sound you can almost caress; a rich swirl of colour; a movement of associations.
 
It could be that the most beautiful word in the English language is actually a cluster of words. We think of ‘epiphany’ which is a gossamer uplook on a crystal, December morning; an eternal instant. Juxtapose this with ‘syzygy’ which is “the nearly straight-line configuration of three celestial bodies (as the sun, moon, and earth during a solar or lunar eclipse) in a gravitational system” Merriam-Webster) or expressed otherwise: Astronomy A conjunction or opposition, especially of the moon with the sun: ‘the planets were aligned in syzygy’ (Oxford dictionary). ‘Epiphany’, ‘wanderlust’, ‘syzygy’, ‘caramel’ do make a most unlikely quartet.
 
It’s time to temporarily ignore definitions and just find your own ‘most beautiful words’. Perhaps in 2016 you will also begin another journey of discovery, self-discovery, other discoveries starting with your own “most beautiful word(s).

 
Happy New Year!  
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The Balanced Life! Myth?

12/11/2015

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The balanced life: a practical aspiration or a myth? The chart above shows the “perfect” life. The ideal would be to spend equal amounts of time on all the components of our lives but the reality is that circumstances often change making it necessary for us to change with them for our own well-being. The end result of this is that one or more aspects of our lives suffer and balance is lost. Likewise, the focus of our lives changes from week to week, month to month, as we experience the expected and unexpected that comes with being alive. So should we be striving for balance, or a better understanding of how the components of our lives work together to either sustain or drain us?

The first step is for the individual to recognize the foundation they’ve built their life and all the other components upon. Is it upon the spiritual? The intellectual? Family and friends? What is it? Once we’ve identified this then we can build the other components on it and recognize that the foundation will always take up a substantial part of our lives because it is the thing that gets us through the difficult experiences.
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The second step is recognizing and managing the shifts that take place in our lives and figuring out how we can adjust the different parts of our lives to compensate for any changes. This way we don’t become disconnected or overwhelmed.  There are times throughout the year our jobs are more demanding and exhausting or we have family obligations, and the list continues. There will always be something but our foundation should keep us grounded and balanced. Perhaps the goal should not be to find a “perfect” balance but to be able to make the necessary adjustments and compensations that can help us to enjoy our lives and cope with the difficulties.
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Beautiful Quiet

9/29/2015

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How noisy has your world become?

​Look around and see how many people have earphones in their ears. With constant pings from our cell phones, people talking, loud music, endless traffic, honking horns, our world has become an endless cacophony of noise. So much so that some people need noise in order to sleep and some people even complain when it is too quiet. We’ve become so accustomed to noise that we no longer recognize or feel comfortable with our surroundings being quiet. Quiet has even become synonymous with something ominous about to happen.

How can we reconnect with ourselves if our minds and ears are constantly being bombarded?
​In our technological world, is it even possible to achieve quiet? 

This summer we travelled to a place that was truly quiet. A place where you could hear yourself think, lulled only by the sounds of nature. Admittedly it was strange at first and just as a body craves junk food and sugar so too did we crave noise. However, after two days the quiet became inviting and a sense of peace and calm came over all of us. We found ourselves, relaxing, unwinding, able to meditate on the experiences that took place so far this year. All became right with the world again and it prepared us to be thrown back into the fray at the end of the vacation.

I must say that the first day back was extremely jarring and almost overwhelming. There are many causes out there, many things to fight and advocate for but often times we overlook the necessity of creating quiet time low on our list of priorities. However, having experienced true quiet it is now difficult to dismiss its importance. In fact, having quiet time and space is something we must fight fiercely to protect.

When is the last time you’ve had quiet, uninterrupted time?  
​What do you make of The Sounds of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel?
The Sound of Silence Lyrics
by Simon & Garfunkel


Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence
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Paths

6/2/2015

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Here at CPAT our thoughts have been running on the term paths. There are so many quotes speaking about paths, both physically and metaphorically, encapsulating the idea of going somewhere and joys of following one's heart and dreams into the unknown. So we sat down and came up with some ideas. Here are some of our thoughts on paths.

One of the beauties of a path is that it runs two ways and only the individual on that path can say definitively whether they are going or coming.

Getting closer to our dreams can pull us further away from ourselves.

Paths can either lead to dreams or nightmares, towards satisfaction and fulfilment or thirst and disappointment but the most wonderful thing about a path is that is goes two ways and if you happen to find yourself on the wrong path turn around and go back.

Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards.

What if it were possible to walk two paths at the same time? To arrive at two different destinations at the same time? Would you still choose a single path?

The end result isn't solely determined by the path.

Don’t fool yourself, you are not the only one on that path.
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