Giving

Warrior

Manijhe — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:23:51 +0000

To be able to speak from pure spiritual experience is a wonderful thing, because you know there is beauty coming from inside.

Embrace depression and loneliness, it's part of life

Manijhe — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:31:28 +0000

Frail match, I feel not overhanded

To this imaginary morning, misty as my faith.

If there was anything to attach a-kindle without scratch-ing

Pale fish tails swimming back to the landing

Page, so lowered... dispatched with

Mismatched colourless mirrors of fortunes untold.

Love after love

Manijhe — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:06:49 +0000

The time will come
when, with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other's welcome,

And say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was yourself.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

("Love after love" by Derek Walcott)

Japan's great wave

Manijhe — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:00:05 +0000

神奈川沖浪裏 Kanagawa Oki Nami Ura "Under a Wave off Kanagawa", was a woodblock print created by the Japanese artist Hokusai in around 1830.

Natural soul therapy for winter colds

Manijhe — Sun, 05 Dec 2010 00:13:08 +0000

Bananas, hot chocolate, peppermint tea, garden picture books and silly magazines are always uplifting for the spirit and health. If you're feeling feverish, you'll need to keep yourself very warm however, you must allow at least two inches of your window to stay open to avoid dehydration in your room. While you can get lots of water in the form of your favourite flavored tea, you can also try a little deep breathing. When the body is aching from feverishness, its often difficult to go out for fresh air, but if your window is slightly open, not widely open (since you don't want to make your room chilly), deep breathing allows you to energize the heart's bloodflow. If you're finding breathing hard to do through a blocked nose, sore throat or a congested chest, you can still relax your body by lying yourself down on to your left side, keeping your body weight off your heart.

And remember, you may have a long list of important things to do, just don't worry about them right now. Illness is the best time for relaxation, and its a great time for meditation. Take your little hot cup and diary and look around your room, what can you find in there that its time for you to let go of? By the time you are on your way to recovery, you'll have managed to sort out all those letters and emails and things that needed sorting out. So cosy up in your pajamas and woollies, and bring in the minimals.

Do we really need to own a home?

Manijhe — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 16:09:34 +0000

What's the big deal about home ownership? We all love the thought of having our own little house and garden to chill out at after the day is done. But did you ever wonder if this popular concept of owning one's house is a delusion of our need for comfort and security? A minimalist lifestyle implies that we were free of those things which keep us from developing and changing.

I'm not saying don't buy your home if you can afford it without a painful number of mortgages. Just think that there is nothing wrong with renting.

We don't really own anything anyway. It's only when we realize the value of this simple concept, that we can start enjoying community gardens and the beautiful aspects around our neighbourhood that we usually tend to ignore when we are parked in the isolation of our own little comfort zone.

Put the kettle on

Manijhe — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 15:57:55 +0000

I have a spare bag of gold today,

I’ll put next to your teacup.

You can mix it and talk riches,
But you can never talk with the same tongue about love.

When I then bring to you that sugar you always loved
to drink your tea with,
You’ll think of some golden thing when I ask you
“How much, would you like of it?”

One, two, three…this time you’ll not stop,
No sense of consequence or health will now add to
the golden procrastination pot.

Ulverston

Manijhe — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 14:08:59 +0000

Ulverston from the north side. This etching is published in Furness and Furness Abbey by Francis Evans, 1842. It's a tourist's companion through the Lancashire part of the Lake District.

The books maker

Manijhe — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:37:41 +0000

This is a miniature drawing I've started making. This image is possible about a few inches larger than the actual size. I've always loved the art of book-making. Sacred books in Islam are bound as a part of the literature inside, so to be as expressive as the literature itself.

Amethyst Walk

Manijhe — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 08:44:31 +0000

I completed this painting today, I will keep it to dry for a few more days to see if it needs any last touch ups by I think it's pretty much done. It's called Amethyst Walk due to a little story that goes with it. I love simple things and the way some colours always stand out when you are feeling good. I have been working mostly in the morning light that falls on straight on this canvas, I've been listening to Paimana Bitte, a beautiful Pashtu jazz song by Zeb and Haniya, of Pakistani origin. The air in my room has been filled completely these two days with the wonderful dewy voice of Zeb and the eclectic strings, the subtly melancholic saxophone yet humble and uplifting amidst the choice of lovely Pashtu lyrics. I own a pink amethyst stone, which someone very special gifted to me last year. It came with a beautiful note about the powers of pink amethyst precious gems: "I have". He told me there were other stones and some were tagged, "I give", some "I use", "I love" and more. But this was the one for me.

So the interesting thing about this pink amethyst and it's little philosophy is where the story begins. The last three years have been a lot of struggle for some of my friends, include me. We've all been holding on and keeping our head up to working hard and not giving up. Some of us in the face of economic depression have lost jobs and are dealing with stress. It can be felt these days on a communal level. So I wanted to remember the philosophy of the pink amethyst that it's not about what we loose but as life always shows us down time, time to reflect on our basic intentions, and yes as simple as it sounds, to not regret what we loose, but to remember what we have.

This is the time we all walk together down the Amethyst Walk, and remember: We have.