Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Andrew Solomon, Depression: The Secret We Share / TEDTalks


..."the people who deny their experience [...] ironically, those are the people that are most enslaved by what they have. The people who do better are the ones who are able to tolerate the fact that they have this condition; those who can tolerate their depression, are the ones who achieve their resilience." 

..."depression is the flaw, in love. [...] there's no such thing as love without the anticipation of loss, and the specter of despair can be the engine of intimacy." 

... "she sat in her parent's apartment, more or less catatonic, essentially without moving, day after day. and when I interviewed her about that experience some years later, she said, I was singing "where have all the flowers gone" over and over to occupy my mind. I was singing to blot out the things my mind was saying which were, "you are nothing. you are nobody. you don't even deserve to live." and that was when I really started thinking about killing myself." 

..."this will be hellish, but I will learn something from it."

... "and these days my life is vital, even on the days that I'm sad. I felt the funeral in my brain, and I sat next to the colossus at the edge of the world, and I have discovered something inside of myself that I would have to call a soul, that i'd never formulated until that day 20 years ago, when hell came to pay me a surprise visit. I think that while I hated being depressed and would hate to be depressed again, I found a way to love my depression. I love it because it has forced me to find and cling to joy. I love it because each day I decide, sometimes gamely, sometimes against the moment's reason, to cleave to the reasons for living; and that I think is a highly privileged rapture."

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Beyonce - Drunk in Love (Feat. Jay-Z)



Just, umf. She's done it again. And that bod. #gitit

Quotes from Ellen, Portia, Will

Watched a good few. Inspired by many of the themes spoken about. Love, relationships, family, career, spirituality, purpose, goals etc. Y'know it's Hollywood and all this but it is what you take from it, and this is just bliss for me. Seeing people come out not only stronger and wiser from life experience; but more loving, open and compassionate, too.

"Greatness is at the edge of destruction. The reason someone becomes great is because they survived death. That's what made you great; You were almost over." Will Smith, the Smith family interview on Oprah

"I work really hard at trying to see the big picture and not getting stuck in ego. And I think there is an energy. spirit and soul and an intelligence that we can't possibly fathom, and I want to be connected to that."
We're all put on this planet for a purpose, and we all have a different purpose. It's our journey, if we follow that journey, - if we connect with that love, and that compassion, that's when everything unfolds." Ellen, on Oprah

"I used to think the way to be strong was to be tough. The way to be independent was to not need anyone. But she's taught me that the more vulnerable you are, and the softer you are, and the more you allow people into your life and into your heart, the happier you are, and the more valuable you are to other people. She's taught me that who I am is perfectly good enough, and that I don't have to pretend to be anyone other than who I am. And that's the most incredible gift, that anyone could give to anybody that they love." - Portia, on The Ellen Show

Monday, January 13, 2014

Einstein's Letter To His Son

My dear Albert,
Yesterday I received your dear letter and was very happy with it. I was already afraid you wouldn’t write to me at all any more. You told me when I was in Zurich, that it is awkward for you when I come to Zurich. Therefore I think it is better if we get together in a different place, where nobody will interfere with our comfort. I will in any case urge that each year we spend a whole month together, so that you see that you have a father who is fond of you and who loves you. You can also learn many good and beautiful things from me, something another cannot as easily offer you. What I have achieved through such a lot of strenuous work shall not only be there for strangers but especially for my own boys. These days I have completed one of the most beautiful works of my life, when you are bigger, I will tell you about it.
I am very pleased that you find joy with the piano. This and carpentry are in my opinion for your age the best pursuits, better even than school. Because those are things which fit a young person such as you very well. Mainly play the things on the piano which please you, even if the teacher does not assign those. That is the way to learn the most, that when you are doing something with such enjoyment that you don’t notice that the time passes. I am sometimes so wrapped up in my work that I forget about the noon meal. . . .
Be with Tete kissed by your
Papa.
Regards to Mama.

Friday, January 10, 2014

James Baldwin

“It took many years of vomiting up all the filth I’d been taught about myself, and half-believed, before I was able to walk on this earth as though I had a right to be here.” – James Baldwin 

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Princess Chelsea - The Cigarette Duet


:) lol

3 Things

“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.” – Maya Angelou

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Miss

It might be that I'm akin to this sort of thing. But who decides that, save ourselves? Moon child, where is your mother and what have you done with your hair?

The kind of calm calamity, strength of the ocean. What is that thing that sits in your pocket? You're not too sure yourself.

White drips from the ceilings, running sticky, sickly down the walls. Daffodils in your hair, you sweet, sweet girl.

My city is burning from the borders, in. Catatonic, stellar, stand. Farus, farus, farus. What is this thing you call love, and where is it meant to land?