Samurai Skill!

When you think of Samurai, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?

Honor, sword, warrior, combat, ancient civilization, maybe the last samurai Tom Cruise heheeh....well i had something other in mind....

I was thinking about Anticipation as a skill. That is what first came to my mind.

Well, i opened the dictionary and saw that anticipation means - something expected, the act of predicting (as by reasoning about the future)...

I guess that this perception came from the movies with Samurai's...
you know, when they are training, often they are doing that with their eyes blindfolded, or fighting couple of people at once. they are expecting a hit, they are anticipating where the danger is coming from...finally they are understanding the environment beyond its means.

So, we as human beings have this skills, but its not really developed or used...cause we simply...don't. On the bottom end, why do we need it? i bet some would say to anticipate the lottery numbers, or stock exchange. heheheh not really. or if you are really good at it, you can do it and let me know :) we can both be rich!:)

I understood lately how this skill plays big role into my life. It releases me from a lot of stress, answers some of my questions, makes me smile all the time, makes me understand the people around me and their behaviours.

Situation I.
- You are waiting for your friend for 15 min. you are cold, angry and frustrated. you will - scream at him, tell him he is not your friend, how can you always wait, he is irresponsible, or leave.
- You are in a car jam. and you are running late on important meeting. you will - horn and scream, go left or right, go over the crosswalk, drive fast.
- You made mistake in your task where you work, and you feel that you will get fired. you will - wait and see what will happen.
- You were behaving like an ass with your love one, she/he will say to go to hell. you will - call him/her, say sorry, and ask for forgiveness. she/he will hang up. 1, 2, 3, 10 times. never seeing again.

This is how we usually behave. instead of...understand it deeper what happened. and reacting in accordance with it.
- You know that the friend is late...take a short walk, sing something in your mind, call someone for 10 min, but don't build up your negative feelings, cause you will blow up. who will win out of that?
- you know you cant do more. you will pass what 2-3 cars and that will save you 30 sec. better Sit back and wait. play some music on the radio. use the time that you have to alert your coworkers, and explain. use the time to plan how to handle the being late thing.
- you know that you missed something, but not sure what. go to you supervisor and alert him. tell him how you feel about it. solve it together. show that it means to you, that challenges you. cause you have seen it. he will apreciate a lot more that kind of approach...
- call once, and get shut off. call once more. you know she/he wont accept you easy. you know you have to work hard now. buy flowers, candy, sent postcard whatever you know he she likes. you know that its not about what you did, but she/he being hurt. you understand the whole thing.

Arguments happen when we are inconsiderate about the other party and we just say what comes to us, even when we are so emotional and not able to make objective comment...even if they are the ones wrong, we were able to see that, and don't rub it or tell it just to prove we are right...cause we know they will get defencive, protective, isolate... why not shut up, and have the satisfaction of mine, and only mine...without hurting...cause we were able to anticipate what will the others party behaviour be.

i feel that we all take brief or i can say ignorant observations about the things around us. and then we react in a natural manner. instinctively. all this makes stress, bad feelings, negative energy, even that might not look like that on the first sight.

if we are aware enough of the observations that we do and we anticipate the behaviours of the the side involved we can tackle the situations a lot more smooth, if we anticipated what will happen, and learn how to deal with it. we will live a lot more happier.

Imagine one thing(or person) that is making you stressed or always drives you crazy. why you cant deal with it? its just draining your energy.

Imagine that you learned enough, you understood its behaviour. even if you cant do anything about it, you can make peace with it just because you understood it. so simple.

now all this sound good and we all do this, right? well, i still haven't figured out how to act consistently like this. how to be disciplined enough and to tackle your own daily behaviour. how to sharpen your sense so much so it will become part of your instinct!

Love without borders!

Take a look at this!

and let me hear you say that something is impossible!

And people will complain that long distance relationships are impossible, or differences take us apart, or its difficult for people from different religions, races, backgrounds, to love eachother!

I say, its a matter of how much love you are prepared to give...not about if it is possible!

On other hand, people are lot more complicated and demanding...

NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong and unusual bond with a giant male century-old tortoise, in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, Kenya officials said.

The hippopotamus, nicknamed "Owen" and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down the Sabaki River into the
Indian Ocean, then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, 2004 before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible! A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park.

"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong loving bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for at least four years," he explained.

Things that i regret!

We buried my grandma today. She lived long and happy life. She was 85, had 3 children, 6 grand children, 3 grand grand children....may she rest in peace...she was beloved wife, mother, grandma...

when the priest was singing his prayers(Christian Orthodox ceremony), couple of words were dinging in my mind...she had many achievements and some plans...for all the things that she didn't manage to accomplish/ finish, its up to her family now.

And in the middle of the chapel my mind flew away. i started thinking about all the things that i regret that i didnt do in the past. i mean i am 24 and i have a happy live. i am making my own choices, i am pretty independent, having a bright future ahead of me, travelled a lot, i have big and happy family, lots of good friends, i am having lots of fun, i am learning a lot, i work what i love...etc etc.

but when i stoped with all the things, i started thinking about all the things that i missed. cause i didnt manage to see my grandma enough, i was too busy lately, doesnt matter that it was sudden death. and i regretted that...

and things kept on coming...things that if i dont finish/do them now, maybe i would never be able to do....or it will be too late, or meaningless...just because i am busy...or lets say reckless aka 'stupid'! cause you can always find time, if its important enough for you...i can understand being busy for a month or two, but not for 2-3 years....thats shouldnt be an excuse!

1) i want to spend more quality time with my brother. we are both too busy.
2) i want to finish university as fast as i can. i was supposed to do that like 6 months ago.
3) i dont think that i tell enough to the people that i love how much i love them, appreciate their company, learn from them, enjoy their friendship etc.
4) i think that i havent said sorry to some people when i was wrong.
5) i want to find a better way how to communicate with my father. we both should improve the way that we express ourselves.
6) i want to finally quit smoking. i was managing to do that for 3 or 6 months, but after kept on smoking.
7) i want to travel as much as possible till i am 30.

and the list goes on and on. i thought, in order for me to be even more happier, i shouldnt have regrets. so i made a list. and i knew most of the things from before, i had them in my head, and i am working on those.

do you have a list like this? i bet you do. if not on paper, maybe in your mind. or maybe kinda many new year resolutions. how do you evaluate them? how do you review them? how do youput new things on it???

i dont wanna turn 30 and say : crap, i was able to, but i didnt do these things.