Review: The Winner Stands Alone

The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I love Paulo Coelho and one of the reasons that I do is because all his books contain a very specific message. He is not bound to writing just fiction, but has incorporated some fantasy into some of his books and he has also written factual books about his personal journey. This book markedly stands out from the rest, both because of the topic, the environment it is set in and the manner in which it ends.

The Winner Stands Alone though, is a fictional story, set during the Cannes Festival, and like all PC stories it is wrapped in meaning.

There are 4 main characters, 3 of which have succumbed to the manipulations of the world they want to be a part of: The world of money, power, and fashion; The Hollywood world of fame and fortune that we are sold through the media; The world filled with drama, money and bodyguards as seen on reality television and the front page of celebrity magazines.

It starts with Igor, a billionaire from Russia arriving at the Cannes Festival to win back his ex wife, Ewa. He plans to do so by "destroying worlds" for her (i.e. killing people). Igor is probably the most discussed character of this book, and he brings up a very interesting question: Is right and wrong something that you set for yourself, and if so, to what extent?
Hamid Hussain is Ewa's new husband, who lives in constant fear of losing her. Ewa herself is characterized as a supporting character, and in her we find a stereotype for many women out there.
Gabriela wants to be an actress and, like so many others, travels to the Cannes in order to realise her dream.
A model, and the new face for HH (Hamid Hussain Fashion House), Jasmine escaped into the fashion world in order to create a safer world for herself and her mother.

Of these 4, 1 will die, and of 3 that remain alive, only one will be truthful to their dreams and who they really are.

This book has been wonderfully researched and throughout, each character (both main and sub) brings forth their own musings about the world they (we) live in, how they got there, why they remain there and what they dream(ed) of. PC touches on the power that money has to trap people, the ways in which average people are duped into desiring the lifestyles that they are sold, and although his main spectrum with regards to the trap of money, is the Superclass (the moviestars, producers, millionaires, etc.), it can be reflected back to almost every average person that deals with bills and responsibilities, who has dreams they feel they can't follow due to the life that binds them.

This brings to light a lot of opinions about the fashion industry, the marketing industry, the truth about what we think we see in Hollywood and the so-called Superclass of the world and the ways in which we are manipulated, as witnesses to this world, so that some person somewhere can make a bucket load of money off our desires. Of course, this is all a very gross generalisation, and there are always exceptions to every rule, but in this book, the generalisation is the topic of discussion. Whether or not you will agree with the opinions that are brought into discussion, is a personal matter but at the very least, it is thought provoking.

In addition to thinking a little, for some out of the box, for some affirming what they might already suspect, the reader is also privy to information on how the system works in this world, and how it is sold to the masses on the outside. Personally, I love gaining knowledge, especially when said knowledge is aimed at liberating my mind. I will never look at a box office hit in quite the same way.

A truly insightful book throughout, the only reason why I am withholding one star is because the ending left me mystified. As stated above, PC writes a message into all of his tales, and this story is no exception. In addition, you also get the various opinions and thoughts throughout the book, but then ... the story ends. You get half of the message from the one character left in truth, sure, but the actual ending on the very last page left me sleepless on the night I finished it, wondering how it ties in to the overall message of the story. You might think that you have an idea of what the message will be throughout the book, but when it actually ends, you find that all your ideas are suddenly null and void with respect to the very last page. Of course you could take the final page out of the equation and be left with a clear cut message all on its own, but PC is not likely to have written it without a very specific reason. There is also the probability that the very last page is a message all on its own and then you have at least one sound message from this book, and one page of obscurity.

Some people enjoy books and stories that are open ended like this one. Perhaps I think too much, or perhaps I am missing something (please let me know if you think you know what it is), but this ending left me baffled, not necessarily in a bad way, but with an intense desire to know and with no idea where to get the answer.




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2012 expectations

It seems that all my posts on 2012 take forever to get written, getting lost and finding time and inspiration all being culprits in delaying the post, but in the end I just have to trust and remember that all things arrive when they are due. In any case, here are my views for 2012 (let me just say that I am not a prophet of any kind, I did not read cards to come to the conclusions below, or any such thing, these are all just things that I can feel in my bones, and when my bones start talking, I pay attention):

Fist off, I felt an immense energy influx (like goosebumps, only for no apparent reason) during the last part of 2011, as I did in 2010 as well, except much more intense. For me personally, the energy influx did not subside, but rather stabilised up to where we find ourselves now, with January almost done. (2012 seems to be moving even faster than 2011, much like a wave does as it starts to move towards its apex)

I think 2012 will be the manifestation of whatever 2011 prepared us for. It will be different for everyone, but 2011 was a year of confusion, questions, quests for answers and most of society taking a very strong look at what is going on, both in their personal lives and in our mutual structures, and being honest about what is working and what is not working. We saw peace movements, Occupy movement, Yoga for Peace and many other movements that gathered people together to ask for change.

In 2012 I believe that we will begin to see these changes take effect. Don't sit around and wait for the revolutions to start, because I don't think it will happen that way. Most people don't like change and dig in against it with all their might (that has never been different in any part of our history). I believe they will find themselves unable to halt it, and yes, there will be arguments and negotiations and pleas, and some people might even get hurt physically, but I don't believe there will full scale wars. I might be wrong though, but more and more an awareness of peace is becoming a part of the way we want our world to operate.

Having said this, I am always reminding myself to be aware of The Mob. It is so easy to get swept up in the fear of others, but reconnecting to your Source will remind you that love always (ALWAYS) wins in the end.

I personally believe that 2012 will be a year of acceptance as we will come to realise more and more that the world we see is the world within that is being reflected back to us. It is going to be such a powerful year. People are asking for change, people are demanding change, people are doing what they need to in order to change and it will take time to get things as they should be, but it will start. In these last few weeks, I have connected with many people who prove me right in this aspect at least. It is an amazing time to live in!

Up until today, this 25th day of the year thus far, I have felt wonderfully energised, even when dead tired; I have been motivated and getting things done like it is nobody's business; my routines have mostly stayed in place although here and there I have had to tweak a few things (because life is never as simple as fitting into a routine, even if the organiser of said routine is me); I have found balance and harmony, even when things seem a little of beat; but I have also come to the conclusion and actual implementation, that small steps get your there although sometimes you may find yourself taking fast small steps or slow small steps, but never overly big steps that don't allow for any assimilation to take place. Oh, and also, I have found that joy can be injected into everything, and that having an off day is just a part of being in balance (the only people who can  / could be happy all the time were called masters for a reason).

Lastly, I would like to share the two new pages that I have created, and which you may or may not find to be of interest:
Yoga - For most of last year I put of writing a piece about yoga: what it does, why it works and what it means to me. But when I finally wanted to write the piece, I realised that it had to be page, so that people could always see this very important part of my life.
Sai Baba on 2012 - I am not a Sai Baba Follower, although I have great respect for him just like I do for all the masters that have walked out earth. This piece was interesting, clear and I loved his warehouse metaphor, so I thought I would share it with everyone. I may or may not take it down in 2013.

Our origin, our truth, our source, is pure light. That is who we are. Which leads to the question that is perhaps not asked enough... Did we come here to play in the darkness that is not our Truth... Or did we come here to learn how be our pure light within the darkness? ~ Lauren Zimmerman

Review: Confucius from the Heart: Ancient Wisdom for Today's World

Confucius from the Heart: Ancient Wisdom for Today's World by Yu dan

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



This is a difficult one: I found the teachings of Confucius insightful, but the writing style put me off. I am making the assumption that this is both because of the fact that Yu Dan is a professor in China - this just means that English is not her first language - as well as the fact that this was a "personal interpretation" of the Analects of Confucius.

Nowhere on the book does it stipulate that this book was a translation, but if it was, I could attribute the writing style to a less than great translator. However, if it wasn't, it begs the question: Why would she write in a language that is not her first language? As well as: Did the editor not foresee this problem, or was the editor happy with the level of writing, or was the editor perhaps Chinese as well? A lot goes lost when you are writing in a language that you learned intellectually.

Having said that, the contents of the book is about the teaching of Confucius. He said a lot of things that made (makes) sense, even in today's world. I missed a practical section though; It is all well and good to know what the wise man said, but the wise man taught and discussed these things all day long: How can his wisdom be applied in the daily life of a person? How can his wisdom be applied to the modern western world, where your word does not mean as much as it does in China, for instance?

After reading this book, I knew a bit about what Confucius said. That is just about all. I can't help but think that I could have learned a lot more about him and his teachings from a much more insightful book.

This was not so much time wasted as time that could have been much better used. This is not a book that I will hold on to, nor one that I feel the desire to recommend to anyone.



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2011 Reflections

Those who have been regulars to my blog, know that I don't do New Year's Resolutions. Instead I like to reflect on the year gone by and my achievements, which is why this linky party suites me well.

2011, for me, has been a year of much clarity, mostly because it has been so fill off confusion. Sounds like a contradiction right? It really isn't. In 2011, by being extremely clear to start with, then extremely confused, overbooked and complicated, I finally got to a point where I realised what is most important, how to simplify things into what is most important, and how to let go of those that weren't. This all got me to a point of extreme clarity.

If you pressed me however, I would not be able to define this clarity for you. There are no clear cut goals or end marks or anything that I am now setting out to do. What I learned during 2011 is that is is all about the journey. It doesn't really matter which method you use to get yourself home, just as long as you can bring yourself to peace with it, share the experience as you go and always be willing to learn and grow. Of course sometimes we need to move to a place where the view is more to our liking and the energy more conducive to our growth, but in between not moving, opting to move, and actually moving, we always have the choice to be happy and grateful where we are (for where we are is always where we need to be). And that is the experience of the journey which you will always be the master of.

I learned so many things during 2011 (as in actual educational type things), but what I learned most of all is what I myself believe with regards to all the things that I learned. Mostly, I learned that I don't believe that anything fits in a box; Each person's journey is different in this world, so something that works for you, might not work for me. Having said this, I also learned that when you are working towards something specific, it is usually a good idea to start with what worked for someone else as it gives you a point of reference from where you can go forth and explore what works for you more specifically, whereas just jumping in wherever usually leaves you floundering.  

I also learned that you have to keep on learning. This world is always changing, don't ever accept that what you know now will remain constant or else you just might find yourself being the idiot that is denying Newton's gravity theory or Galileo's Earth-Revolves-Around-The-Sun Theory, or even the one that maintains that the world is flat. If you don't open yourself to the wonder of our ever changing world, our ever changing knowledge, you could well end up being that person. And who wants to be that person? You don't have to know everything in this world. Heck, we find out things so fast these days, your knowledge would be obsolete in a day or two. No. Rather just be willing to accept that when something you did not know before crosses your path, it might be a memo from The Universe on something that you need to know, or realise, NOW.  Also, being open now, allows you to remain open your whole life, whereas denying something now, starts the process of closing yourself off (the main reason why old people can't learn new things like computers).

Towards the end of 2011, my greatest gift was in simplifying my life, learning what was important enough to keep and which things, no matter how much I loved them, I just had to let go off. Sacrifice is probably the word I am looking for. But despite having had to give up a few things and let go of a few others, I also learned that the joy of having time for that which truly enriches my life, far outweighs the sacrifice that had to be made. Of course, there is also the truth that true joy lies in the simplest of things, so by cutting a few ideas about "that which would make me happy if only I didn't feel burnt out by having to do it all", I got to revel in the few things left over that truly brought me joy. 

In the last few weeks of December, I also put in some physical energy and just "got things done". For almost the whole month, I did not relax in front of the television when tired; I did not make excuses for not doing things; I took stock of what needed to change, and I made those changes; I did energy meditations and yoga even when I was dead tired (which went a long way to reminding me that yoga solves a lot of problems, especially fatigue); I made healthy changes, and yeah, Sparky is puffed up about a few things, but like I told him: You don't need to do this if you don't want to, but you want to because you have been asking about it, feeling uncomfortable with the way things are and the changes are just .. well, changes - now you just have to ask yourself how much do you want it. 

So we did what we had to: Some mental clearing; Some physical endeavors; Some routine changes and adaptions; some attitude changes about certain things and wallah! We (I) felt our space open up, both personally and as a family, for a whole new range of experiences to come our way in the new year. 

The energy build up towards 2012 was massive, and I participated in a host of wondrous events to celebrate all of these things, and felt the collective consciousness becoming more and more empowered. This year (more so than 2011) is filled with promises and expectations, but that's another story.

2012

Well, this has been an interesting post, to say the very least. It was meant to be a Christmas post, then a pre-2012 post, then a New Year's post, then I finally got round to writing it last night only to lose it for some obscure reason known only to Firefox on my brand new Mac... What can I say? If this post gets published today, then today was the day it was meant to be.

First off, let me just start by wishing everyone [had] a very merry Christmas. Personally, the last couple of weeks felt like a huge build up of energy. For me it ended with an enormous amount of preparation for what I want my life to be in 2012, onward, as well as just a general "getting things done and off the to-do-list" type of energy. Here's the shortlist of what we accomplished (and I say we, because without Sparky things would have taken forever to move and Guppy also did her share, although sometimes it was a bit hard to fathom what that part was going to accomplish, but we trusted that all things have their purpose):

We split my (then) current study set up into 2 different parts: Moving all the arts and crafts into the very empty guest room, along with our personal and business files. Our guest room is now officially the art room (or the room for unpacking every single mosaic tile every other hour so that mommy has done more sorting in one day than in her whole life... almost, anyway). And this is such an amazing experience: I get to craft, then leave it until I have a chance to continue. It also utilizes time much more efficiently, because there is no need to pack or unpack, I can stop and start a million times a day and not have to worry because tomorrow morning I want to do yoga and my mosaic project is taking up half the room. And that brings us to the other split: In the room that stayed behind, I put in only my rocking chair. And after everything had been removed, all that remained is this chair, my books, the piano and the stock from Gentle Trader, which I neatly covered. I now have a reading/meditation/yoga room. Awesomest!

Other than that, we also [finally] put up our Wall of Fame. Which sounds very impressive, but in actual fact it is only a box filled with framed photographs from our [mainly my] life, but which has been tripped over in our hallway for 4 years now. That was one huge FINALLY in our life.We even put up the photos in Sparky's bar. All in one day. This is the hallway Wall of fame.

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It looks ok. Ish. But I am just happy it is done. It has never been perfect in any one of my homes, anyway.

I started the mosaic for our guest bathroom that I had been meaning to get to for ages now. It would have been finished, but for the fact that I measured incorrectly, bought the wrong amount of tiles for the background and couldn't find the same colour anywhere. But being creative has its perks, so after much footstomping and despairing, I realised that nothing was actually against me, I found ample gifts that day, even if they did not include the correct tile, and that I am smart enough to come up with another solution. And I did. Watch Talking to Trees for future updates on this project.

Some of the gifts that I found while looking for this turquoise tile, are: The most beautiful table cloth; Throws for our couches at a huge bargain; The perfect knick knack for our guest bathroom. So as you can see, I really can't complain.

isn't it just perfect?

I implemented the routine that I would like my life to fall into, reasoning that if I started on holiday, it would be much easier to keep to once I started working again. I have shifted a few things in order to help myself and my family this year, and prevent this general feeling of burnout. There should be no need for it, although it does entail doing bits of work constantly, as opposed to trying to get it all in one go. Generally I am quite good with doing the work and keeping to the routine, but in between a toddler and life, the routine sometimes has its own time frame. So I have made space for this as well

We did loads of other stuff as well, this is just the list of the big stuff, but by far the best thing ever, was the amount of time we got to spend with Guppy. We saw the Nutcracker on Ice with her (at 3 years old, we have no problem taking her to a concert, as long as there is dancing and music); We went to the park with her; We tried to keep her clothed much of the time (she has learned to both dress and undress herself - fun!); We ate breakfast together every morning; We made food; We played and everyone got to go to music school on one fine day.

music school: everyone had to be there, even the purple rabbit which you can't see ...

And that was my holiday.

As for the new year: Those that have followed me for a while now, know that I am not one for Resolutions, but prefer to look back on my accomplishments. This year though, I feel like getting through 2011 without a nervous break down, was accomplishment enough. 2012 for me is all about simplicity, and looking back, 2011 was all about learning how to get there. I also feel that there is an enormous energy spike for 2012. Does anyone else share this feeling? I think 2012 is going to bring a lot of clarity. I think it is going to be brilliant. Watch this space for my personal expectations for 2012.

So in conclusion of this exceptionally long post, I would like to say thank you for a few things from 2011:

For my father: his unexpected change of mind and support of my personal desire to change a few things.
For my mother, sister and brother, just for being there.
For Sparky, for handling me and my dilemmas this year like pro.
For Guppy for love and growth.
For every single person that affected my life, whether visibly or not: Relations give us opportunities to express who we are, and I would like to thank and send out a blessing to every single soul, truly and sincerely, for being teachers to my life this past year (and my whole life).
For yoga, my teacher Charene; my fellow teachers in training, my fellow teachers and my students.
For financial stability.
For the profit of Gentle Trader (only a little, but FINALLY).
For every opportunity, for every window and every step that I was gifted.

My wish for everyone for 2012, and beyond, is abundant blessings, perfect peace and showers of love for their life.

~ namaste ~