Which kind of Love is the higher law?

It is a well known song but I hadn't listen to music for long time. At least the music that cures the soul. One morning it just hit me and now it simply cannot find its way out of my mind. Through the messy, stressful and abstract ideas that I have gathered inside my head during the last days this song is just the solution. It truly is. Because I had plans and life turned them upside down. But its ok, cause there are people that had worst experiences recently. And I respect that, I feel grateful for still having the ability to make plans, as much as i feel sorry for the human beings that have never felt love and those that have never understood it.
Then I thought of all the time I have spent trying to explain love, to rationalize it, to make it work. Instead I realized how much love I had coming my way but I was too busy chasing reasons and weak excuses and then I felt that I had to love myself again. My plans were forced to change but still I had the need to make a long list, with the things I haven't done for a long time now, with the places I wanted to be, with the priorities I had to set, with needs and obligations. No sentiments included, no feelings, no emotions. A long, cold list of duties. But I thought again. When you are forced to change your life all over again and you feel no pain or sadness for that, are you really ok? How many changes are enough to make you focus on a plan based on a long list?
What if you had a rebellion against your own self? What if you had no plans and just lived tomorrow as it comes? What if you just gave yourself the present of life in its most primitive form? The present of setting everything back for a while in order to hunt adventures and possibilities you have never thought of? Yep, possibilities. Like the possibility to laugh, to cry, to get disappointed, to get lost, to get stronger. And all of these amazing possibilities might happen in places where the rain never stops to soak your skin, where the sun kidnaps you on a lonely beach, with people you have never talked to before or with others that you had forgotten you knew once.. Like an old and beloved song. Cause there are people like that. People that can cure the bleeding soul of yours. You just have to explore the possibilities of meeting them, again or for the very first time.
And then you will have the greatest adventure of life. The adventure of Love; Of that one, valuable and difficult, fucken love for yourself. -myself..  







https://youtu.be/ZpDQJnI4OhU

Let me tell you, how houses get haunted..

 Do you know the feeling when you rent your very first apartment? That's a unique moment, a moment you feel strong enough to pull it through life and responsibilities, a moment you feel so sure about your decisions or a moment you just can't help yourself but find a beautiful place to settle.

It's a place where you love to be, a space you decorate over and over again in your mind and it ends up to be better than you imagined it cause probably it is already filled with the prettiest things you have. Or human beings. Or animals.

It is a place you will always remember. Sometimes more than it's socially or sentimentally accepted. Other times you will search for a similar place to live but nothing will fulfill your expectations. Nothing will be as equal as the first place you have chosen to mark you as an adult, a place in which you loved and laughed, a place where you've cried and a place in which you grew wiser. 

Eventually, you will move on. You will have more than one places and maybe some of them will make you feel better than the very first one. In few cases though, some hearts are left behind. To the place they felt happy. There's nothing wrong with that. A heart can always have its own place to live.

Maybe that's why houses get haunted. Because a heart has been left there on purpose.

A.

The Love Speech

This week I had the chance to attend an interesting and almost "strange" two-days, international conference. The major discussion was about the hate speech and the liberty of expression. I enjoyed the sessions even though this is neither my field of studies nor my professional background. But since social media have intervened so much into our lifestyle, i suppose that this is nowadays everyone's field and background. You see, there is no one around us without a single social media account. I have almost 30 and I am using them depending on my mood. If i assume that everyone else is doing the same, i expect to detect some hate speech and too much liberty of expression. 

Considering that our world has become more advanced and globalized hate of speech seems to be more of a left over. But no. This is not the case. Hate speech is everywhere around us. In our everyday life, shopping or hopping on a bus, watching a tv show or reading a newspaper, talking to a stranger or talking to a loved one. But i started wondering...Where has the love speech gone?

Are we really so busy of finding some minutes to express ourselves or we have just forgotten how to talk to each other? Are we incapable of talking with kindness to other human beings or it is just a phase where symbols and emoticons do the job? Why did we became so vulgar?What changes so significantly within us that we cannot talk freely to the people we used to share our deepest thoughts with? Is it the perception we have about them or the perception they have about us that shifts our speech from the one side to the other? And if it is none of the above, will we ever be able to speak to each other freely again? 

Mind the gaps: liberty of expression does not mean absolute truth or honesty. Love speech is not always based on feelings of love too.   

A.

A place in the sun...

Who doesn't know and who doesn't like Morrissey? Haven't met yet a person that didn't whispered a few lyrics once in a while. So do I. 

A place in the sun is all one should ask for. And this is not because I was born Greek and was used to have an endless sun on my face. It is mostly because of the sun that will warm our souls. The sun that will come into our life and there will be no more darkness, no more shadows. A sun that will make everything brighter, even if it is not supposed to be. Happiness again, it always comes down to this particular pursue. The pointless need to identify the things around us as good or bad, happy or miserable, needs and musts. A list that can fill pages with its contrasts and its different elements. 

But once again c'est la vie.

The sun. The warmth that cures it all. A little sentiment that brings along memories of summers in love, lunches with friends next to the sea, walking at the pier watching couples sharing hugs or fights of jealousy, opening the curtains and having a home full of its light, drinking a coffee and thinking nothing at all, or walking to the office for a stressful day and thinking what if you skipped that meeting...

Or simply a sun that we carry within us. One little star full of warmth and light that can brighten someone's life. The happiness we look for maybe is the one we carry inside our heart and it just waits for the right persons to find it. And then we can become their place in the sun. 

But once again that's life, sun will come and go. 

So do people.

A.

https://youtu.be/QZEGkhzvZRY

People with dreams are scary.

It has been a full week for me. Full of sentiments, changes and obligations. Usually this type of week is never a good period for thinking. But still, the human brain is so multitasking that fits it all inside. And that is so annoying. Especially when all you want to do is close your eyes and dream. 

Dreams, a favorite habit. Most people do that but the ones that are seriously dreaming are the scariest people alive. It must be the easiness with which they plan everything or the ability to walk through nightmares totally safe and sound. These little scenes of imagination are a piece of personal confessions never said and never written. Silent needs that demand their realization and we try so hard to make them go away, so hard that we make ourselves wake up in the middle of the night. That's why most of the dreams never have an ending, eternally hanging on to be continued during the next sleep or remaining a faint memory that no one can list in the real life or the subconscious part of us.  

People with dreams are not worried. They can see their dreams falling apart and at the same time they can make them work again or create new ones from scratch. They can share their dreams, they can mingle them, they can change them or they can offer them to someone who needs it more. In any case they are creating their own world and they settle inside until the real one is safe for them. People with dreams are afraid to meet the truth. They dare to jump in fiction and walk through streets of the unknown but they are threatened by the darkness of the world. The darkness that fills the human brain, that multitasking brain that never stops finding ways to ruin a dream. People with dreams are afraid that they might lose their ability to dream. Too much blood comes out of the great dreams that died.

People with dreams, glorious and amazing dreams are usually the ones to be laughed at. People with dreams are the ones that still search for the perfect piece that will fill their puzzled life and make everything work out magically. People with dreams do not need to close their eyes, they do not feel sorry for missing something ordinary, they do not hesitate. People with dreams chase the things that we cannot imagine. They are the people that we are feeling jealous of and yet we do not applause them because it is too romantic, to vain, to pointless to dream in a world like ours. 

People with dreams are never alone. They have friends in their little universe, friends that are caring and are always present. They have perfect houses and huge families. They have careers and they have "eaten" the world. Many things to do in the everyday life and no hurt feelings at all. 

The people that have dreams have also happiness. Lot of happiness. Because they know that they have something to search for. They know that they have still something to hope for. They have still faith in life. People with dreams are never alone. 

But that's the scariest thing about them; Happiness is always pending.

A.

He and her sunlight...

She strolled around like Nancy was her own home. She has always dreamt of a parisian apartment with high ceilings and huge, white windows that will let the sun rays to wake her up gently. She loved the sun. But this day in Nancy was not the sunniest she could have. She walked around for some minutes and the buildings reminded her some Ionian islands and the summers she had spent there. It was not the sea she missed so much but the sense of carelessness each summer carries with its arrival.

She found a place to sit before the rain and thought a while about her apartment. It would be full of paintings laying on the wooden, dark floor. The books she reads would form a library on their own being spread around just like her ideas, her projects and her drawings. Nothing had his final form yet. Like waiting for a last touch and like this touch is the most important one. Her apartment would be filled with colors but not on the textiles or the walls. The colors would come from the flowers in the vases, Freesias that she liked a lot. And with this thought she ordered a hot coffee until the last drop of rain. 

That day in Nancy when her company arrived became sunnier than she imagined it to be. She had her coffee, they chatted pointlessly for an hour and then they walked again to find what is hidden in the narrow streets of that city. Lorraine had its myths and so did she. 

The day was over and the engine of the car made her realize how fast time can slip through your hands when you are day dreaming. The road was long before getting back home. The music of the unknown french radio station was leaving no space for talking. So she thought again of her apartment and suddenly a question bothered her.

Would he like the sunlight to wake him up as well? 

A.

The need to stand

on your own feet. How can you become the person you want to unless you don't manage to stand on your own two feet? Difficulties will appear, fears will keep you company, many times you will feel lonely but in the end you will be proud of your little self that managed to become independent, fearless and so strong. You will meet people that will hurt you, you will lose friends and you will feel disappointed by others that you have trusted and supported. But it's ok, cause its your own feet you need to stand.

Sometimes you will find the ones that will be willing to stand by you. These will be other independent and fearless people who will not be scared by your freedom, who will share their experiences with you waiting to hear yours as well. These will be amazing people who survived the same disappointment and loneliness. They wont be willing to stand by you, they will be meant to do so. You will keep these people.

You will be forced to stand in front of your fears too. You will not be able to avoid this. It is not as difficult as it sounds. Usually we realize how easy things are when we already try them. And you have to try a lot of exciting things. 

And when the years pass, and you are able to consider yourself an adult, you will need to stand for what you believe in. That's a virtue not many people share. But in the end it is the only thing that you need in order to stand on your feet proudly and with no shame, to stand by the people you love without any guilt or hypocrisy and to stand in front of your fears without feeling threaten or weak. Stand for what you believe. Especially when it makes you extremely happy.     

Enjoy your weekend

A.

Never skip a cup of coffee...

It is sociologically proven that coffee is not only a beverage we enjoy. Besides the benefits (some say the opposite) it is a habit that makes people gather around it's blend and share love stories or professional details. It is a way of communicating, socializing and of course de-stressing. I know, i know..There is nothing like a nice cup of tea to soothe any type of pain! But this is another story, one a true coffee lover would not share at this point.

You know, usually coffee wakes us up but what it really does is to give us a sense of potentiality. The belief that we can do everything and that something amazing is going to happen to us. Each brand new day starts with a coffee. Most of the love affairs start with a coffee date. Friends are meeting upon a coffee mug. We hold up an espresso before opening a newspaper or a book. We post or tweet with a cup of cappuccino next to us. We like it macchiato or corretto or even cortadito for intense flavor!Coffee is a minor habit that brings us together. We wait in cafeterias for our friends, we have coffees and share the news, the secrets, the pain together. 

These minor details can make our greatest relations ever stronger. The need to create a way of communication, the need to have a place full of memories we shape with our people, the desire to have a social presence and participation, the wish to share something from our life and receive a sentiment, a feeling or a smile. All in a sip of coffee. So, never skip a cup!Especially one that is enjoyed with a great friend.

A.

Depictions of a night..(or a pause in Colmar)

Sometimes taking a break is not what we want but what we basically need. Even if we do not realize it. There comes a moment in our life that everything turns into a routine, a common schedule we have to follow in order to be more productive, to be on time, to succeed, in order to fill each minute with a sense of usefulness and importance. And then, there comes a moment when we pause. Unwillingly. There is no inspiration, no creativity, no mood to get off the bed, no will to smile to our beloved ones, no dreams to chase. Exhausted people striving to make the living they had planned.

How can we forget what our inner child used to wish for? Well, i suppose that people tend to neglect anything childish. Living on a pace fed only by anxiety and stress does not really offer space for memories and happy times. Is it worthy? I could strongly support people seeking a career, i would justify people aiming to a promotion rather than creating a family and i could surely understand people who enjoy their jobs. But most of all i do admire people who make their careers based on the things they love. I read about such success stories and feel the need to track my own way doing what i most certainly like to spend my time on. But i also understand how difficult this is and even if those people love their jobs, they still have to work some sleepless nights in order to achieve that.

Anyhow, it is a personal pursue and this is always the challenge;never to set aside the things one has hoped for, cried for, struggled for. Between the months of endless work, among the days of stressful meetings or in between the hours of boring or uncertain meetings one should always search for a pause of happiness. If you have been spending hours in front of a computer or memorizing pages of academic books, if you have missed your friends or your partner, if you have forgotten when was the last time you played with your pet or if you just want to catch up with your favorite sit com then do so. I know, you have heard it before. I did so. But i came to a point in my life where i found myself far from my dreams. And it was not a pleasant discovery. Instead of a break though i preferred to shut down for a while. Then eventually, since i was always multitasking and with a bit of life-exploring curiosity, i filled my program so much that i could barely have a coffee with those who matter. That was a solution. The things i' ve learnt during this period are a treasure i will always keep inside me. It was a much needed period in order to find new interests, to re-find my rhythms, to throw away the social vampires i came across, to talk and mostly to listen.

As i was listening, i realized that i had found things that could make me happy but there were also things i had to do before embracing those. You know, there are nights when you feel helpless, when you try to find solutions but instead you end up watching another episode on replay. There are these nights when you stare the ceiling and you think of all the moonlight you never saw, when you recall moments of your life and you change some with the ones you really wanted to live, when you are too tired of sleeping because waking up is taking you away from your dreams.

It is like always living in your hometown and reading travel guides that remind you places you have never been. But if you finally find a ticket for your dream destination? You would go, that's the plan. But before that you have to stop somewhere else. You have to let everything linger, your old habits, the people that you leave behind, the memories..There is the need to let it all behind, to make room for the new ones to come.

That's a pause. A period during which you will not erase a single thing but you will just turn some blank pages. And then you will be ready for the next chapter. The in between time that will take away all your worries. It might be more than a year or just a single night where your ideal life comes into bits and pieces and forms depictions of your blissful time.    

Life is made out of sparkles, let's twinkle.

A.

A month away..

 Apparently, a month away from your friends, your routine and your home is a month that passes either extremely exciting or exhaustively boring. It depends on several parameters but i can definitely  say that company is the most important one. Even if you live in an amazing, culturally alive city. Those are the cities that demand the proper company to stroll around. There are so many beautiful cafes, too many deliciously smelling bistros and restaurants, eye-catching patisseries and so many bars where international students or local couples enjoy their drinks under the still sunny Strasbourg's sky.

If you find yourself alone in a cosmopolitan city of small population but full of great traditions and many various visitors, one thing you should do to mingle or socialize. Follow the locals, they know better and they are usually kind enough to share secret places in the city.

That's what i did during the last weeks. Following the river that runs the city is also another key-point. I managed to get lost in this small city a few times and each time i search for the river and find my way back home. Architecture and artistic expressions are more than obvious and breathtaking. Walking around or cycling allows you to enjoy each little detail in a cocktail of materials and an endless blending of rhythms.     

 You can feed yourself after hours of walking in the city at numerous places, offering a wide variety of tastes. Even if you are a vegetarian or vegan or you prefer to try different cuisines of the world you will have no troubles finding many alternatives.

 Once you feed your belly, you can visit some of the many museums in the city to feed also eyes and soul. Contemporary art, history, archaeology, beaux arts, everything is available depending on your preferences. This weekend is devoted in the European Patrimony so most of the museums and cultural spaces are free to enter. It was the first time i saw a crowd in the city. 

 A crowd is also seen in the city's most famous bakeries and the mouthwatering specialties are a good way to end a Saturday evening, don't you think so?

 The city has also many religious monuments like the Cathedral that offers panoramic view of the whole city if you have the stamina to climb up the 330 narrow stairs.  

 Bridges and flowers are another romantic feature of the Alsatian city. Wherever you look your eyes can rest. Colorful and full of life, this city urges you to take your loneliness out for a walk.

At least, i have to be ready to welcome my friends and show them my new discoveries.  

Enjoy your weekend,

A.

She could easily get lost...

Her name was not Alice and she had not found her Wonderland yet. But one thing was always there in her mind, adventure. She was always planning her next trip, imagined the places where she could be photographed and the minor details she could capture in her lens. She thought of the seas and the sand. She thought of the air. Sometimes it smelled like tea from China, or spices from India, coffee from Italy or just the smell of an old sweaters which reminded her of something. Something that she used to love a lot. 

No one could read the maps she had filled in with so many plans, notes and places to visit. No one could read her need to disappear, to get lost for a while, to see what else this world is hiding. It was not the need to have fun or visit some monuments. No. It was a new breath she wanted to gasp for. 

She packed her things enough times as to be able to say that she has seen part of the world. But it was not her thing to settle down and browse nostalgically into memories. Whatever kept her static so long, eventually became her inner motivational voice. And she packed for one more time. Not anything could fit in her small bag, but everything she had added was fitting perfectly to her new life. 

The walking was endless and her home started to fade away with all the people and the things she left behind. There was no time in the places she has been, there were no worries and no familiar faces. It was a layover between her lives. 

But she couldn't stay for more. Change became her main habit and her eyes were still searching for a new sky beyond her own window. She started thinking of herself and her inability to stop wandering. Could this mean that she was erratic and unreliable or maybe a free spirit seeking for a soul to match with? She could not find her answer and her spirit missed a beat.

One day, she found herself close to some coordinates she never visited before and then it hit her. It was not the adventure she was really looking for, but the Wonderland. A place where she could have all she ever asked for. A place where she could settle, or a pair of arms, or even some eyes that she could stare at and count stars popping out them. A wonderland with no borders and tickets, where one could be free and happy. 

After all, she knew that she could easily get lost if it wasn't for those stars popping out of some eyes..  

A.    

Soulless attachments.

Sometimes it is hard for us to let things go. Sometimes it is inevitable. Other times it is just an inner power that forces us to do so. Most things in life are meaningless. I mean, most of the things one can buy; objects and soulless things around us. The ones that have materialized our existence and give a new purpose everyday on our way to work.

The things that have a value, a "worthy" value during our personal pursue of happiness depend on our needs but one can summarize them in few words. The love we feel when people hug us, the sense of belonging we experience while surrounded by the walls that shape our first shelter, the dignity that completes each self-accomplishment, accepting ourselves and trusting people around us. 

It is the period during which we lose our faith in humans that makes us more attached to material things. Is it a distorted vision of how problems can be solved?Or maybe it is just a process we have to pass through in order to realize what really counts?

I've read somewhere, earlier today:

"When you fully trust someone without any doubt, 

you finally get one of two results: 

a person for life 

or

 a lesson for life."   

Time is our little assistant when we need to figure out how we want our life to or when we are wondering if we are making the right choice. But, as i see it now, a choice can be neither wrong, nor right. It is what it's definition announces, an action based on our will, our sentiments, our needs. And it represents part of our character. Even if we end up following some "lessons for life". 

The soulless attachments are all the things that we keep inside our heart and mind. Such an attachment is not really an object or a thing we possess. It is the way we felt when we acquired it, it is the memories of happiness and laughter that we have lived in its walls, the fears we managed to get rid of, the sadness and the sleepless nights, the hopes and the wishes that we expressed. It is not the object that we are attached to.

It is "ourself" that we are afraid of losing. And (usually) there is too much soul that needs to be protected inside.

Protected from the choices and the wrong attachments..
A. 

Rebonjour..

It has been kind of a longish period of time since my last post here. In fact it has been a long time since my last post anywhere i used to write for. But most of you really know how tricky life can be and how strangely it changes. This happened to me as well. Now i'm back in another language, from another country and with many new stories and experiences to share with you. First things first though! Let's have a brief summary of how things have been lately...

I come from a country that nowadays faces a severe financial problem and incredible political instability. This has affected significantly any aspect of our everyday life there. Young people have been migrating to other countries searching for a job that would suit their academic qualifications and criteria, and believe me when i say that most of the Greeks are highly qualified and skilled (pretty sure you have heard it before). I have not yet become one of these, since i will be living abroad for a short period of time, but the truth is that if someone gets a real job back home it's considered to be a miracle.

So, while i was searching for a job -you know, a paid one- i came up with a fantastic Master's program which i really enjoyed and offered me a new perspective on arts and humanities. I had the chance to study a region that has been full of archaeological monuments and important historical events. Studying the past really changes your way of thinking. At the same time i got the chance to meet interesting people from all over the world, people who i really miss now but still consider them friends.

In the meantime i had to move out, not from one but from 3 different apartments, and finally got one that really feels like home. In this home which seems far away now i have a small creature waiting for me full of joy and love in his little heart. That's a story you will hear a lot about in these posts. It's the story of how i loved animals (even more than i thought it's possible). We have the little bulldog for 2 years now and it has totally changed my life. I turned vegetarian again and have a new sense of what patience really is and how cruel our society can become.

#argos_frenchbulldog

I always believed that living abroad, even for a couple of years, is an open-minding and rich experience each person should seek for. I was a "late bloomer" as this is concerned so now i have the time to explore France. As much as i enjoyed travelling before, this is totally another kind of adventure; being on my own, with no friends and a bad accent in my never-used-before- French. 

But, as they say, if you don't chase your dreams, one day they will chase you.

Enjoy your Saturday!

A.