Tuesday 2 April 2013

"Das Leben ist eine Baustelle" - or...


...The Challenge of Life

“The question is not whether or not change and challenge are going to happen.
They are. 
The question is, when they do happen,
how are we going to choose to look at them,
contextualize them, and navigate them?”
Jeffrey R. Anderson

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For me
Life is like a building site, 
or in German: "Das Leben ist eine Baustelle".
A building site which has to be finished - or completed.
A building site filled with a series of daily challenges....

 with "heavy stones"
and unexpected surprises/discoveries we have to deal with.
Positive and negative ones.

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The biggest challenge is - probably - to bring up children.
To educate and prepare them for real life.
To give them a solid "foundation" - like building a house.

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Writing this post a song crossed my mind,
a song Kevin Johnson wrote for one of his sons:


"With wide eyes you wonder why you understand some,
And you don’t understand all the rest,
Well, little boy,
your daddy’s been living a while,
And I really don’t know much myself,
I’ll teach you the whys and the wherefores,
and the ways of this world I have known,
But life is a journey of different directions,
And sometimes we travel alone.

And Scotty,
life can be rough,
life can be tough,
life can go wrong,
Scotty, life can be fun,
life can just come rolling along,
So live with the good times,
and learn from the bad,
And laugh at the fun times you’ve had,
Look for the reasons to carry you through,
And Scotty,
that’s all you can do."




 "And you wonder why some days are fun days and Sundays,
And some days may not be the same,
Well blue skies are many and grey skies are few,
So we do what we can in the rain,
The whys and the wherefores are there for a reason,
and sometimes we don’t understand,
But life is a journey that’s leading us somewhere,
And we get there the best way we can....."

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“When spring knocks at your door,
regardless of the time of year or season of our lives,
run, 
do not walk to that door, throw it open with wild abandon,
and say, "Yes! Yes, come in! Do me, and do me big!”
Jeffrey R. Anderson 



Then our days are filled with...
softness and loveliness


and we can feel like being "bedded on roses".

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Reasons


by Kevin Johnson

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 "Das Leben ist eine Baustelle"
Life is all you get!




Life is a challenge - meet it
Life is a gift - accept it

 

Life is a sorrow - over come it


Life is a tragedy - face it
Life is a mystery - unfold it

 

Life is a opportunity - take it
Life is a promise - complete it

 

Life is a struggle - fight it
Life is a goal - achieve it
Life is love - love it
Life is adventurous- have fun
Life is a duty - perform it
Life is a game - out smart it
Life is a beauty - praise it


Life is great - make something good of it

So life is a celebration –
eat, laugh and do meditation.
by gurjas singh narula, India


 
by Rachel Ruysch, about 1685

  *

 Life is a challenge for all of us:

our monthly special post
here

 The biggest challenge for me is
 to accomplish my "building site"
 keeping in mind that


Life can be rough,
life can be tough,
life can be kind,
 life can be fun,
life can be one wonderful time.

So let's live with the good times,
and learn from the bad,
  laugh at the fun times we've had,
Look for the reasons to carry us through,

because....

...that’s all we can do.

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remark:
Jeffrey R. Anderson:  
 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13638121-the-nature-of-things---navigating-everyday-life-with-grace

German Film: "Das Leben ist eine Baustelle"    here

15 comments:

  1. Lovely roses, Karin. Life is a challenge, or a series of challenges, there's no doubt. It's a puzzle to put all together sometimes. I enjoyed reading your thoughts.

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  2. Une belle leçon de vie agrémentée de merveilleuses photos avec ces roses... De la douceur et du piquant, n'est-ce pas ça la vie tout simplement ?!...
    Gros bisous à vous.

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  3. Beautifully said! What more is there to say, you have covered it all...except to say that there is so much wisdom here, we just need to remember it more often.

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  4. Karin, I'm very late today from so many meetings. A few of us have identified with our flowers and gardens as a space of solace and contentment, as you have. Your flowers are beautiful because you love them so much. I feel as though there is nothing I cannot overcome at this point in my life. I've climbed every mountain, and I've made it to the other side, as you have. merci beaucoup, mon amour

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  5. Hi Karin, Wow, I love your post, I love the song and the words of by gurjas singh narula,
    and your roses, they're beautiful,

    Good luck with you building site and renovations, I'm sure you will overcome all obstacles, just keep playing the songs, meditate and all will fall into place for you.
    xxxxx Coty

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  6. The song words are so perfect, I want to print them off for my son. M x

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  7. Yes, it's all true. And as says the Greek poet Kavafis
    "When you set out on your journey to Ithaca,
    pray that the road is long,
    full of adventure, full of knowledge."
    The poetry is translated in many languages, in German certainly , so if you like to read it , I think you can find on Internet .
    Thank you Karin, you push me out of daily thoughts and I need it so much !!!
    Je t' embrasse très fort, Olympia
    P.S. Your roses doesn't exist ! Uniques !

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  8. Roses help with everything, right?

    :)

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  9. What a beautiful interpretation of our BIO subject this month Karin.
    Inspiring words, beautiful photographs and, as always, you have put your heart and soul into this post. It was a joy to read. XXXX

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  10. Such wisdom Karin... and the lyrics... perfect... xv

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  11. What a lovely post Karin. Those are beautiful words for us all to live by. I agree raising children is our most important job and the biggest challenge. Mine are grown and continue to give me great pleasure!

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  12. This post is totally mood lifting. Love so many inspirational lines in here. Got my eye on your next posts.

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  13. Hello Karin

    You say it all so beautifully. The poem to Scotty is precious and powerful.

    Thank you for this and for the superb images. I am returning to re-read it, over my morning cappucino.

    With love,

    Helen xx

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  14. Do you grow these incredible roses? They don't look real, they look like they come from paintings!
    Song to Scotty is also lovely.
    Happy Springtime!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, dear Judith, these are our roses! They are real!
      I'm up to my head with garden work....happy springtime!

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