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Showing posts with label conversation topics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conversation topics. Show all posts

Yeah you read that right .. it’s time to de-lurkify yourself my friends ! Yes you … I know you’re reading this; I know you want to comment but you just haven’t gotten a strong enough hit of your coffee to want to comment just yet .. but I know deep down you really want to do it !

LurkerDay_DontWantToHideForever Are you just pretending that you don’t know what I’m talking about ?? A lurker is someone (just like you) who enjoys stopping by blogs (or sometimes lands there by accident), reading various blogs and enjoys the comments but doesn’t leave a single trace of his/her presence on your blog =( 

It’s a big bad world out there – and even though its great that you’re here visiting my blog; I feel kinda sad that I’m never going to know who you are and where I can ever find you again !!! It’s just not fair – that you come and visit my blog and that I never get to discover who you are and what you do and what kind of blog you have or what kind of tweets you send out !!

It seemed apt to suggest that it’s the time to de-lurk as I happened to come across a similar sentiment whilst blog hopping today.  Adam Singer suggested that one of the ways to generate a buzz on a blog was to ask readers to de-lurk and Ari Herzog of Ariwriter wrote ‘Why I’d Like You To De-Lurk’; and I discovered that 14th January is National Delurking Day !

I remember losing my lurking streak to Kathy at the Junk Drawer way back in March 2009; I was so nervous that by the time I decided to de-lurkify myself – I was commenter number 118 !!!  Wow ! 118 comments on a single blog post ! That’s impressive !  I remember being scared about sounding silly but eventually I just took a deep breath and wrote down whatever came to mind.  Here’s a bit of what I wrote to Kathy …

So why was I lurking .. still grasping the concept of blogging; trying to find time to pen down my thoughts; sometimes I feel that what I have to say has already been said – so I just go off with a smile on my face

So what have you got to lose by de-lurking ? Absolutely nothing.  You would only be sharing your blogger voice with us all (and you’d be making my day by letting me know that you stopped by !)

And just to show you how easy it is .. here’s what you have to do to De-Lurkify yourself :  

  1. Click on the Comment link
  2. Leave your name (real name or blogger name) and website address so I can drop by and visit you
  3. Leave your twitter name (if you tweet) comments

Now that’s the easy part … if you’re feeling brave you can also

  1. type in whatever you want i.e. how long you’ve been lurking for; if its your first time here; do you like / love or hate my blog; why do you lurk;  seriously you can write anything you want in here !

My aim is to try to discover at least 20 lurkers on my blog (my stats show that I have all these visitors but since there are never comments from them – it kinda leaves me feeling a bit low) – so if you’re a lurker – you’ll really be doing me a favour by de-lurking !

Go on – it’s time to de-lurk NOW !

Imagine a Heart.  A Heart with an arrow going through it.  Not a horrible bloody arrow but a nice arrow.  How do you feel when you see that image ?  What is that image trying to evoke from us ?

heart arrow 

I sat down a few minutes ago and sort of got lost in a ramble of thoughts when this image flickered in my minds’ eye and just remained there.

Growing up – I remember seeing hearts drawn across note books in school; on dirty car windows where someone would smear that across; as graffiti on some walls; even I have drawn that image a few times … There was an unsaid acceptance that the hearts represented people’s feelings of love – you know – like if they didn’t know how to express themselves – a heart just says it all … well something like that anyway …

red-cupid1248844850 Cupid – the God of Erotic Love & Beauty is normally associated with a heart and arrow.  Cupid is meant to induce desire and lust between people … and nothing says ‘Desire’ better than this !

The heart being a love interest and the arrow is Cupid’s arrow signifying that one has found love in that heart. It is believed that Cupid can induce love with a single shot from his arrow.  Hence the saying ‘hit by Cupid’

Whilst laying on my bed, focusing on this image – I thought … how could that possibly represent something ‘nice’ … look at it really …

An arrow … cutting into your heart …. that just sounds painful ! I reckon that arrow and heart are an accurate representation of how someone would feel after a break-up with a loved one …. the sheer pain of it all could be pretty excruciating !

heart-arrow-128x128broken heart bleedbroken heart arrow

This is what I’m feeling and thinking of when I think of that image … There’s an arrow lodged into your heart … it’s just pierced right through you and it’s stuck there … and the only way to get it out is to pull it out … when you do, that’s when the blood spills out … all over you … and that’s how your heart breaks … that’s how heart ache came about I suppose … It makes sense doesn’t it ?

heart arrow 3 Considering my current state of mind and how my thought process has come about – if it were me with that arrow piercing through my heart – I’d feel sort of pinned down almost I think … As if that arrow was stuck and it was hard to get out …

In today’s society – we are all looking for love … and we’d be liars if we claimed that we are not.  Have you not dreamed of finding the one to call your other half ? (aaaaaaah now I know why they make those half heart pendants hehe) .. I suppose I have dreamed about you

Nonetheless, over the years, we would have learned that to love, could also mean to lose love .. and hence we ought to be prepared to get hurt if we are going to love someone … and be prepared to love again …

However when you look at that heart image in front of you – it doesn’t appear to give off any negative sort of vibe .. nor does it really make you think that deeply into something which is meant to be a happy and cheerful image !

I just Googled ‘heart with arrow’ and all the pictures that came off – seemed to  come off quite nicely. 

heart arrow 2Heart_And_Arrow.pngbeach_heart-1835

Some images were really ‘cute’ and ‘feminine’ … others were stronger, with ribbons,  had more shadows playing on them … or you get a romantic heart drawn out in sand on the beach …. It’s nice to look at right ?

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But really … look at it … how can you feel nice when you have a damn arrow going through your heart ??? 

I have nothing against the whole Cupid hitting you with love arrows – but realistically … doesn’t make a whole lot of sense does it .. or maybe I’ve just had a really long day !  Would love to know your thoughts on this …

We’ve all probably had a moment when we’ve thought OMG – WTF !

Well someone  has finally gone ahead and made an illustration out of it and I have come across it :)  I found this over at The Next Web and at Chris Moody’s sites who got it from David Armano – do drop by and check them out for some great content.

So here it is .. the elusive OMG-WTF Spectrum simply illustrated =)

OMG WTF

Did you know that today is the start of Simplify Your Life Week?  In the first seven days of August, do something to make your life simpler, more organized, less complicated, less cluttered.

I received this in an email today and really liked what I read and decided to randomly check with the Gods of Google to see what I could come up on this.

Guess what – it’s actually true !  The 1st – 7th of August is  actually a National Simplify Your Life Week !!!  It’s an official, yet little known observance that encourages you to organize and de-clutter your life.

Considering I just found out about this – do any of you know about this Simplify Your Life Week ? Have you maybe heard it in passing but not really focused on it ?

I don’t know about you, but I definitely need more than one week during the year to reduce the stress brought on by work, family, and general things taking place in my life.  I’ve been trying to take a vacation all year around and I’ve realised that I have to make a choice : go on vacation and splash out my savings OR forgo the vacation (including a friends’ wedding) and just let the next few months pass and think about it for another time.

We constantly over-work ourselves and then try to compensate by taking a long weekend or a week of vacation.  As dreamy and relaxing that a vacation may be – once we’re back (to reality) the same worries, commitments, tasks, and responsibilities are still there – they only went away temporarily and were just waiting patiently for our return !  The stress doesn’t just go away !

 

So what does it really mean to SIMPLIFY our life ?  After reading around a little bit, I came across this quote …

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
-Hans Hofmann

 

So by way of the above quote, simplifying is all about having enough without having too much.  I suppose this would include cutting back on unnecessary spending, taking time to slow down and focusing on ones true priorities.  Obviously no two people have the same priorities.

Ohio State University Extension suggests that you do something each day of that week to reduce the stress in your life and start enjoying life more.

Here are a few things one could indulge in to start reducing stress :

  • Take a bubble bath.  When was the last time you had one ? The last time I soaked in a tub was in April ! and before that it was in September ‘08 !! talk about really waiting to kill the stress !!!
  • Make a List.  Sounds simple right ? But do you make the list ?? Start small i.e. clear out clothes that don’t fit me and move on to more pressing matters
  • Go For a Picnic.  When was the last time you did that ?
  • Ask For Help.  Yeah you read that correctly.  There’s nothing wrong in asking someone else for help.  No one is perfect – and even the most perfect person gets stumped every now and then !

I genuinely can’t think of anything else right now – however here are some links that give more detail about the week and what you can do to simplify your life – and it all depends on your perspective

So what will you do to simplify your life this month ? Do share your suggestions in the comments :)

Note Before You Continue Reading : I wrote this post a few months ago but never got around to posting it … Just came across it – and wanted to share it with you

The_Fine_Art_Of_Conversation_by_inkblort

Have you ever thought about the words that we use when having a conversation ? We tend to take words for granted – a part of a speech – a part of normal every day conversation ?

Does that mean that we take the words we hear a ‘given’ ? Does that mean we believe everything we hear or does that imply we automatically mean everything we say ?

I actually asked my first question in this post to a car full of people that I was travelling with – and they did come out with some interesting answers.  One person said that conversations between people are almost for the sake of saying something – almost for the sake of just talking / responding because ‘we have to’ and not because we really thought about what we are saying. It’s as if we were on autopilot mode.

Think about it … we can’t possibly believe or mean everything that we say to another ? What about those words spoken out of anger or sheer disgust ? Could it be a spur of the moment speech or our thought process at the time ?

 

"To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation."

-- Francois de La Rochefoucauld