Featured Poem: Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda

The Quarter-Life Experiment

Sonnet XVII by Pablo Neruda

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,

Or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.

I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

In secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms,

But carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;

Thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,

Risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.

I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;

Therefore, I love you because I know no other way

Than this: where I does not exist, nor you,

So close that your hand on my chest is my hand,

So close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

 

Junior year, high school. My creative writing teacher furnishes the…

View original post 717 more words

The Future ‘You’ // Thoughts on humanity, love and fame

The future ‘you’ is an infinite you, it’s called a “chakra” in India, it’s like a circle. It ends where it begins from to complete itself.

A ‘you’ that perceives time and space differently. Understands both.

Your unimaginable and fantastic importance and your complete unimportance in the larger context of the universe.

A ‘you’ that returns back to the original innocence of humanity, which loves from the purity of heart; which sees from the eyes of truth; which dreams with the clarity of an untampered mind.

The future ‘you’ has to be like an aging movie star who has been made to believe that there is a possibility of a world which is completely, wholly, self-obsessively in love with itself.

There has to be a ‘you’ to create a world which is its own best lover.

That I believe ladies and gentlemen should be the future ‘you’.

Beautiful, heartfelt words that I believe need no introduction or explaining. Words I’m quoting word for word from:

TED Talks Video: Thoughts on humanity, fame and love | Shah Rukh Khan

“I sell dreams, and I peddle love to millions of people,” says Shah Rukh Khan, Bollywood’s biggest star. In this charming, funny talk, Khan traces the arc of his life, showcases a few of his famous dance moves and shares hard-earned wisdom from a life spent in the spotlight.

 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NV1KdWRHck

Little Steps to a Peaceful Mind

In the end, (only) three things matter:

• How much you loved,
• How gently you lived,
• And how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you.

It’s a quote often credited to Buddha, but it had also been argued fake, and that it’s actually based on a quote from Jack Kornfield.

But who said it aside. I can’t help but connect and admire the content. Especially with me being at a point in my life where I feel stuck, and defeated by past experiences, thoughtless words, and indecision about the future. This quote provided me with somewhat of a clarity and reminded me of the things that really mattered to me, but somehow got sidelined because of the all chaos that my mind had become; And that is to be kind and loving, even when it’s not necessarily reciprocated, because that’s a reflection of who I AM, and how people perceive it or react to is, is a reflection of who they are.

And finally, to know my worth and value, and not give importance to baseless opinions of people who didn’t show the curtesy to ask and inform themselves before spouting baseless, uncalled for and hurtful words.

This was supposed to be me just sharing a quote that I like, but I guess I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t go on a tangent there, now would I ? :p

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Love, Zed

Happiness is a choice. One you get to make every moment of every day.

“.. she had learnt the hard way to balance the worthiness of a thought with its practicality, with its compatibility with happiness. Her happiness. Their happiness.

She had learnt of how staying happy could be turned into a choice. A shift in perspective, a tweaking of inner controls, a lesson in gratitude.”

Saffron Fields & Silver Sands: Shadows & Tides
~ Journeys and Destinations ~
by: Jennifer M.

 

A beautifully worded piece of advice that came to me as a ray of sunshine to dispel unwarranted thoughts and feelings and remind me to try and keep control over my thoughts as much as I could.
And always choose to be happy. Because happiness is really a choice.

This is a passage from one of my favorite stories, one I go back to again and again, either to read it as a whole or to go over a few parts and chapters (which ends up with me going through the whole story most of the times if I’m being honest), because, writing and style aside, it’s a rich story, full of wisdom, life advice, as it touches topics and dilemmas that reflect struggles many of us face in our everyday lives, irrespective of where you’re from.

It gave me hope at one of the darkest times I’ve been through, and it continues to do so even today. I really hope it gets published again and for it to reach as many people as it possibly can.

Love, Zed.

Misfit..

That’s what I feel like living there in Fes, away from home, having to be at school everyday.. I only feel like a misfit. Like I don’t belong, like I’d rather be somewhere else, doing something absolutely different.

I lost interest in almost everything there, school feels like shit, I’m no longer motivated to lift a finger, the people around me are so not who’d I’d like to have around… and I feel lost. Only happy when I’m in my own created bubble where I’d switch on my phone and put my imagination to work while reading stories about my favorite fictional couple.

And just to be clear, I have no illusions whatsoever of someday living the kind of fairytale I read about there. I just enjoy feeling the story and connecting with it, feel whatever there is to feel, be it joy, bashfulness, goosebumps or heart constricting pain.

Now that I think about it, I guess I got so used to the constant feeling of emptiness, boredom and neglect that I don’t want to feel it any longer, so I run to my world where I could at least feel again with every new chapter that I read.

Damn, I almost forget just how great it feels when I put my thoughts into words. How clarifying and enlightening it actually is.

Inspired by: Numb (music video) by Linkin Park

Gazing stars

Stars..
For each and everyone who cares to spare a look, a glimpse… they mean something different altogether. For me, staring at the starry skies has never failed to fill my soul with peace and comfort. Even during the instances when I felt absolutely alone and dejected.

Having never got a chance to meet my elder -late- sister, I grew up longing to what it would feel like to have a sister there when you need her.

Usually thinking about her would bring a little sadness to the atmosphere, but ever since I started star-gazing, I would think of her and not feel as lonely as I was before. Somehow it feels like she’s there, watching, comforting in anyway she can.

Oh well.. there. That was my story about star-gazing. What’s yours?