Sunday, November 11, 2012

Mono No Aware: The Essence of Japan

Mono no aware: the Japanese beauty aesthetic

Mono No Aware: The Essence of Japan

Meaning beyond doubt "a sensitivity to things," mono no aware is a concept describing the essence of Japanese culture, invented by the Japanese literary and linguistic expert expert Motoori Norinaga in the eighteenth century, and remains the central artistic imperative in Japan to this day. The phrase is derived from the word *aware*, which in Heian Japan meant sensitivity or sadness, and the word mono, meaning things, and describes beauty as an awareness of the transience of all things, and a polite sadness at their passing. It can also be translated as the "ah-ness" of things, of life, and love.

Bloom Energy

Mono No Aware: The Essence of Japan

Mono no aware gave name to an aesthetic that already existed in Japanese art, music and poetry, the source of which can be traced directly to the introduction of Zen Buddhism in the twelfth century, a spiritual philosophy and practise which profoundly influenced all aspects of Japanese culture, but especially art and religion. The fleeting nature of beauty described by mono no aware derives from the three states of existence in Buddhist philosophy: unsatisfactoriness, impersonality, and most importantly in this context, impermanence.

Mono No Aware: The Essence of Japan

Mono No Aware: The Essence of Japan

According to mono no aware, a falling or wilting autumn flower is more beautiful than one in full bloom; a fading sound more beautiful than one clearly heard; the moon partially clouded more arresting than full. The sakura or cherry blossom tree is the epitome of this concept of beauty; the flowers of the most notable variety, somei yoshino, nearly pure white tinged with a subtle pale pink, bloom and then fall within a particular week. The branch of a thousand poems and a national icon, the cherry blossom tree embodies beauty as a transient experience.

Mono no aware states that beauty is a subjective rather than objective experience, a state of being finally internal rather than external. Based largely upon classical Greek ideals, beauty in the West is sought in the ultimate perfection of an external object: a notable painting, excellent model or intricate musical composition; a beauty that could be said to be only skin deep. The Japanese ideal sees beauty instead as an sense of the heart and soul, a feeling for and appreciation of objects or artwork--most ordinarily nature or the depiction of--in a pristine, untouched state.

An appreciation of beauty as a state which does not last and cannot be grasped is not the same as nihilism, and can great be understood in relation to Zen Buddhism's philosophy of earthly transcendence: a spiritual longing for that which is infinite and eternal--the source of all worldly beauty. As the monk Sotoba wrote in *Zenrin Kushū* (Poetry of the Zenrin Temple), Zen does not regard nothingness as a state of absence, but rather the affirmation of an unseen that exists behind empty space: "Everything exists in emptiness: flowers, the moon in the sky, beautiful scenery."

With its roots in Zen Buddhism, *mono no aware* is bears some relation to the non-dualism of Indian philosophy, as associated in the following story about Swami Vivekananda by Sri Chinmoy:

*"Beauty," says [Vivekananda], "is not external, but already in the mind." Here we are reminded of what his spiritual daughter Nivedita wrote about her Master. "It was dark when we approached Sicily, and against the sunset sky, Etna was in petite eruption. As we entered the straits of Messina, the moon rose, and I walked up and down the deck beside the Swami, while he dwelt on the fact that beauty is not external, but already in the mind. On one side frowned the dark crags of the Italian coast, on the other, the island was touched with silver light. 'Messina must thank me,' he said; 'it is I who give her all her beauty.'" Truly, in the absence of appreciation, beauty is not beauty at all. And beauty is worthy of its name only when it has been appreciated.*

The founder of *mono no aware*, Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), was the pre-eminent expert of the Kokugakushu movement, a nationalist movement which sought to take off all exterior influences from Japanese culture. Kokugakushu was enormously influential in art, poetry, music and philosophy, and responsible for the revival while the Tokugawa period of the Shinto religion. Contradictorily, the sway of Buddhist ideas and practises upon art and even Shintoism itself was so great that, although Buddhism is technically an exterior influence, it was by this point unable to be extricated.

Meaning beyond doubt "a sensitivity to things," mono no aware is a concept describing the essence of Japanese culture, invented by the Japanese literary and linguistic expert expert Motoori Norinaga in the eighteenth century, and remains the central artistic imperative in Japan to this day. The phrase is derived from the word aware, which in Heian Japan meant sensitivity or sadness, and the word mono, meaning things, and describes beauty as an awareness of the transience of all things, and a polite sadness at their passing. It can also be translated as the "ah-ness" of things, of life, and love.

An appreciation of beauty as a state which does not last and cannot be grasped is not the same as nihilism, and can great be understood in relation to Zen Buddhism's philosophy of earthly transcendence: a spiritual longing for that which is infinite and eternal--the source of all worldly beauty. As the monk Sotoba wrote in Zenrin Kushū (Poetry of the Zenrin Temple), Zen does not regard nothingness as a state of absence, but rather the affirmation of an unseen that exists behind empty space: "Everything exists in emptiness: flowers, the moon in the sky, beautiful scenery."

With its roots in Zen Buddhism, mono no aware is bears some relation to the non-dualism of Indian philosophy, as associated in the following story about Swami Vivekananda by Sri Chinmoy:

"Beauty," says [Vivekananda], "is not external, but already in the mind." Here we are reminded of what his spiritual daughter Nivedita wrote about her Master. "It was dark when we approached Sicily, and against the sunset sky, Etna was in petite eruption. As we entered the straits of Messina, the moon rose, and I walked up and down the deck beside the Swami, while he dwelt on the fact that beauty is not external, but already in the mind. On one side frowned the dark crags of the Italian coast, on the other, the island was touched with silver light. 'Messina must thank me,' he said; 'it is I who give her all her beauty.'" Truly, in the absence of appreciation, beauty is not beauty at all. And beauty is worthy of its name only when it has been appreciated.

The founder of mono no aware, Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), was the pre-eminent expert of the Kokugakushu movement, a nationalist movement which sought to take off all exterior influences from Japanese culture. Kokugakushu was enormously influential in art, poetry, music and philosophy, and responsible for the revival while the Tokugawa period of the Shinto religion. Contradictorily, the sway of Buddhist ideas and practises upon art and even Shintoism itself was so great that, although Buddhism is technically an exterior influence, it was by this point unable to be extricated.

Mono No Aware: The Essence of Japan

Bloom Energy

Fashion Umbrellas

Friday, November 9, 2012

Viburnum Summer Snowflake

A Repeat Blooming Doublefile Viburnum

Viburnum Summer Snowflake

One Direction - Little Things

Video Clips. Duration : 3.63 Mins.

One Direction - Little Things

'Little Things' -- Taken from the brand new album 'Take Me Home' released 12th November in the UK / 13th November US & Canada. Pre-order TAKE ME HOME Now: iTunes: smarturl.it Amazon: amzn.to Official Store: myplay.me Music video by One Direction performing Little Things. (C) 2012 Simco Limited under exclusive license to Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited

One Direction - Little Things

One Direction - Little Things

One Direction - Little Things

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Diabetes Blood Sugar Chart - normal Blood Glucose Ranges

Monitoring your glucose ranges is very leading and must be done on a quarterly basis (especially if you are a diabetic). One of the best ways to monitor your glucose is to use a diabetes blood sugar level chart.

Diabetes Blood Sugar Chart - normal Blood Glucose Ranges

One Direction - Little Things

Tube. Duration : 3.63 Mins.

One Direction - Little Things

Midlife crisis In Women

Life is a cycle of seasons, and the transitions between seasons can be worrisome. Often there may be minor disruptions in life style, which are soon resolved. But when they persist, there is a crisis. Midlife is one such period which has been recognized as a period of potential crisis.
Midlife sets in somewhere between the end of the 30s and the late 40s. It is determined from the premenopausal years that occur later. Up till the 1900s, only about 10% of women reached middle age. Their roles were well defined within the wee sphere of home and family, as wife, mother, domestic drudge. Midlife urgency was unheard of.

Midlife crisis In Women

One Direction - Little Things

Tube. Duration : 3.63 Mins.

One Direction - Little Things

The Therapeutic benefit of Poetry

Poetry Therapy and the Impact of Poetic Dialogue

The Therapeutic benefit of Poetry

One Direction - Little Things

Video Clips. Duration : 3.63 Mins.

One Direction - Little Things

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From the beginning of time, poetry has been a means for habitancy to express their deepest emotions and originate healing in ritual and ceremony. In Greek mythology, we know that Asclepius, the God of Healing, was the son of Apollo, god of poetry. Hermes served as messenger between the two worlds to recapitulate between the gods and humanity. He carried the caduceus, "the winged rod with two serpents intertwined, which has come to be a fastener of the healing profession" (Poplawski, 75). Poems have also been viewed as carriers of messages from the unconscious to the conscious mind. Wherever habitancy regain to mark a moment, they speak from heart to heart, with poetry.

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The Therapeutic benefit of Poetry

In the counseling office, possibly you have read a poem to a client that seemed to capture an issue she/he was struggling with, offering not only understanding, but hope. After the tragedy of 9/11, the airwaves and internet rang with poems of solace. When war in Iraq was imminent, a website developed where habitancy could send poems expressing their feelings: Poets Against the War. Within days, thousands of poems were posted.

The Therapeutic benefit of Poetry

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Mary Oliver, in her poem, "Wild Geese," says, "Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine." (Oliver, 110) Joy Harjo, in "Fire" says. "look at me/I am not a cut off woman/I am the continuance/ of blue sky/I am the throat of the mountains." (Harjo, 25) The fourteenth century Persian poet Lala speaks about poetry:

I didn't trust it for a moment
but I drank it anyway,
the wine of my own poetry.

It gave me the daring to take hold
of the darkness and tear it down
and cut it into itsybitsy pieces. (Barks, 11)

These are lines to carry in our hearts, because they open us to beauty, a sense of self, healing, truth, and human connection, and all this in just a few words!

At conception, we are born to the rhythm of the heart, growing in the fluid darkness until one day we stretch our way into light. With our first cry, we make our first poem, a sound that reverberates in our mother's heart, and when she cries in response, we hear our first poem. And so it continues, the voices of those who care for us transport all of the emotions we will come to know as our own, words, that if written down, would be poetry. It's that simple. Poetry is giving sound and rhythm to silence, to darkness, giving it a shape, turning it to light. When we read a poem that speaks to our experience, there is a shift, a click within. Man has understood our darkness by naming their own. We feel less alone. Therapeutically, the "I" of us gathers energy and insight. Our world expands.

The following poem illustrates the view of writing a poem to give darkness and suffering a voice. It was written by a participant in Phyllis' poetry therapy group, part of an arduous day treatment program for women addicted to alcohol and drugs. This poem states the truth of the author's taste in a haunting and beautiful way, giving the reader the opportunity to recapitulate to what it feels like to be "broken."

Today I didn't care
whether or not they stared
didn't have time to put on airs.

Yesterday was a different story
wanted to look like a morning glory
fresh and arresting couldn't tell
I was up all night.

Sometimes I can hide behind
my colored lines other times
I feel like a stained glass
window that's just been shattered
pretty pieces everywhere. (Klein, 16)

Rather than diminish the excellence of the poet's art, the poetry therapist enhances it. Poet Gregory Orr, in his book Poetry and Survival says "...the elaborative and intense patterns of poetry can...make habitancy feel safe...the great disordering power of trauma needs or demands an equally distinguished ordering to comprise it, and poetry offers such order" (Orr, 92). Poetry structures chaos.

Dr. James W. Pennebaker, one of the most widely published researchers on the benefits of writing, says in his book, opportunity Up: The healing Power of Expressing Emotions, that writing about emotional topics improves the immune system by reducing "stress, anxiety and depression, improves grades in college (and) aids habitancy in securing new jobs." (Pennebaker, 40). "Disclosing secrets beneficially reduces blood pressure, heart rate, and skin conductance." (Pennebaker, 52). Gregory Orr says that when we share secrets "we take a small step from survival to healing; a step analogous to the one a poet makes when he or she shares poems with other reader or an audience." (Orr, 88)

In a therapeutic environment, the trained facilitator addresses the healing elements of poetry: form and shape, metaphor, metamessage, the words chosen, and the sounds of the words together (alliteration and assonance). These elements, in association with each other, carry the weight of many feelings and messages at once, creating a link from the private internal world to external reality, from the unconscious to the conscious.

Because a poem has a border, a frame, or structure, as opposed to prose, the form itself is a security net. Strong emotions will not run off the page. A poetry therapist might ask his/her clients to draw a box in the center of the paper and write the words inside. Metamessage implies the capability to carry several messages in one line that "strike at deeper levels of awareness than overt messages" (Murphy, 69). Through the capacity to transport multi-messages, clients are able to taste merging as well as individuation/separation. The poem allows for a trial divorce and then a return to the therapist for merging and "refueling" Through the therapist's insight of the poem. If the therapist says he/she appreciates a single metaphor and how the words flow, the client feels loved and heard. In reading a poem aloud, the client may come to be caught up in his/her own rhythms and feel caressed.

An prominent inquire students of poetry therapy ask is how to find the right poem to bring to a group or individual. The best poems to start with are those that are understandable, with clear language, and a strong theme, as well as emotions that reflect some hope. other critical element is that the poem must resonate with the mood and/or situation of the group or individual. This is called the isoprinciple, a term also used in music therapy for the same purpose. Dr. Jack Leedy says that "the poem becomes symbolically an understanding- someone/something with whom he/she can share his/her despair" (Leedy, 82)

A woman in Perie's cancer/poetry withhold group recently published a book of her poems and writings titled, I Can Do This: Living with Cancer-Tracing a Year of Hope. This title contains the critical word hope, for that is what we need in our lives to withhold us and heal. In her poem. "The Uninvited Guest," Beverley Hyman-Fead writes:

I feel fortunate my tumors came to me
in the fall of my life...
I'm grateful for this uninvited wake-up call, ...
Would I have appreciated the beautiful
images the moon makes in the still of the night?
No, I have my tumors to thank for that. (54)

She was able to write this poem in response to a Rumi poem called "The Guest House." This poem, written so long ago, reframes the meaning of suffering saying:

This being human is a guest house,
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, A depression, a meanness....

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows...

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond. (Barks, 1995, 109)

Perie chose this poem to bring to the cancer withhold group because it might engage the concentration of the group members, possibly to think about how their illness was a "guide," and what they had learned about themselves in the struggle. other prominent response might be: "This makes me so angry! How could I ever want to invite in the darkness?" whatever the emotional reaction, the poem is a catalyst for helping the reader to access and express feelings in a supportive, safe environment. Reading a poem a second time helps the client feel even more deeply the content and emotion. Also, lines spoken easily will often form the first lines of poems.

After a poem is read, the therapist might then ask participants for lines in the poem that speak to them, or to which lines they are most drawn. This might be followed by questions for argument of an emotional nature. Considering the Rumi poem, the therapist might propose they discuss: What am I to taste in this life? What am I not arresting in? How can my place of work or home be a Guest House? How is the Guest House like your heart? Comments center colse to what the poem emotionally means to the reader, not what the poem means intellectually. Through group discussion, time to write and read what was written in the group, both members and facilitator can learn to think differently, possibly applying newly formed concepts to existing behaviors and attitudes.

For instance, if one has felt like he/she was victimized by illness, Through argument and writing of this or other pertinent poem, she/he might be enabled to begin reasoning about how to move toward acceptance. Even writing about rage toward illness is an prominent step. There is a beginning of some resolution within the poem. Rumi says to be grateful, and in her poem, Beverley, who is far along in her emotional healing process, is able to thank her illness, which gives her hope.

Another kind of healing that poems can provide is illustrated by poems written in response to the other. Here are excerpts from poems that Perie and Phyllis wrote:

Maybe angels are

mistakes
corrected,
old times resurrected, misguided love
back on procedure to lift the inner flute...
The moon is ripe with hope

but don't look there, angels hover
at elbow bend, between your toes
rows of them, wings of leaves or breeze...
Notice when they arrive
how their wings vary,
some traditional-fully feathered...
others blossomed like heather...

There are those with only goosebumps
not always on the back,
and some no wings at all,
just scratched knees trying to get off the ground.
- Perie Longo

Phyllis responded:

Maybe angels
were with me the day
my sister and husband were run down
on the road in New York, guided my
thoughts to what it would feel like to get hit
as I crossed the street in San Francisco.

Surely angels, familiar with misfortune
and urgency rooms,
watched as my sister and her husband,
almost as big as a small
bear, stepped off the curb, his size what saved them.

Accident angels hovered, caressed, willed them
to survive. Saw the ambulance come.

Did friendship angels, familiar with compassion and coincidence,
know I wouldn't be told for a week?
Did they bring me to the sangha* and the trainer who spoke
about bearing unbearable pain?

Perhaps they remember what it was like to walk,
have shoulders without wings.
Do they know when humans will enter the next life,
and when the unopened tulips
on my table will bloom, die, resurrect?

*sangha-a Buddhist congregation

Gregory Orr talks about "The Two Survivals"-survival of the poet, in that the poet struggles to engage with the disorder to write a poem, and in the act of writing, "bring order to disorder." The other survival is that of the reader, who connects with poems that "enter deeply into" him or her, prominent to "sympathetic identification of reader with writer." (Orr, 83-84) This kind of association can be heightened with direct dialogue because the reader and writer cross back and forth from one role to the other, deepening the possibility for empathy and sympathetic identification.

To elaborate this concept, we return to the two poems we wrote about angels. Perie wrote her poem when her daughter was going Through a very difficult period. For Perie, the whole poem is for her daughter whose nickname was "angel-pie." The last three lines of the poem, and some no wings at all /just scratched knees/trying to get off the ground, is a message to encourage and empower her daughter, and more broadly for whatever who is feeling discouraged, traumatized, or troubled. When Phyllis received Perie's poem, she took the theme of angels and wrote her own family story about terrible pain and hope. The poems transcend the theme of angels because there is an even deeper content here-the theme of commonplace habitancy becoming heroes, and the rebirth and reconciliation that can come from tragedy. Also, as is often the case with poetry, there is an unconscious association as both authors write about family.

In speaking about poetry, it is also prominent to identify that it can be an intimidating form of expression, carrying with it a need for perfection or a feeling like "I could never write a poem-my writing isn't good enough." In poetry therapy with groups or individuals, poems are never edited. Editing belongs in a poetry-for-craft setting. The objective of poetry therapy is to use the poem as an entry point for the writer, and it is a helpful way to work with transcendence of the inner editor, that resides in us all. To address a way to think about writing poetry, we turn to the words of our colleague, Robert Carroll, Md, who writes,

Read it aloud
pass it Through your ears
enjoy the
ride and
know
the dissimilarity between poetry and prose
is that poetry is broken
into lines-
that is all.
(Carroll, 1)

Anyone can write poetry! It is our natural right and human instinct. All we have to do is allow the words to move and inspire us. The National association for Poetry Therapy (Napt): Promoting growth and healing Through language, symbol, and story (http://www.poetrytherapy.org), has much useful information on its website together with more examples of how to use poetry therapy with clients. We, in the Association, are like-minded psychiatrists, psychologists, college professors, communal workers, marriage and family therapists, and educators-all of us are also poets, journal writers, and storytellers who have experienced healing Through the written and spoken word, and want to share it with other clinicians as a skill they might like to develop. Poetry for self-expression and healing is used with mothers, children, and adolescents; battered women, the elderly, the depressed, the suicidal; those living with terminal illness, the bereaved, those with Hiv, the mentally ill, and now hurricane victims and soldiers returning from Iraq who suffer post traumatic stress. We also change poems with each other, over the country, that have been productive in helping others heal. This change continues the healing rhythm and heart of poetry therapy.

As Jelaluddin Rumi says:

Out Beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing there is a field. I'll meet you there. (Barks, 1995, 36 )

Let's find each other along the way.

References

Barks, C. (tr.) (1992). Naked Song. Maypop Books.
Barks, C. (tr.) with John Moyne. (1995). The critical Rumi. Ny: Castle Books.
Barks, C. (tr.) and Green, M. (1997). The Illuminated Rumi. Ny: Broadway Books.
Carroll, Robert, Md, (2005) "Finding Words to say it: The healing Power of Poetry" eCam 2005:2(2)161-172.
Harjo, Joy, (2002), How we Became Human, Ny: W.W. Norton and Company.
Hyman- Fead, B. (2004) I can do this/ Living with cancer: tracing a year of hope. Santa Barbara Cancer Center: Wellness program Publishing.
Klein, Phyllis, ed. (2001). Our Words-The Women of Lee Woodward center Speak Out, Sf: Phyllis Klein and Women and Children's Family.
Leedy, J.J. (Ed.). (1985) Poetry as healer: Mending the troubled mind. Ny: Vanguard. Orr, G. (2002) Poetry as survival. Athens, Ga: The University of Georgia Press.
Murphy, J. M. (1979). The therapeutic use of poetry in Current Psychiatric Therapies, vol. 18. Jules Masserman, ed. Ny: Grune & Stratton, Inc., pp. 65-72.
Oliver, M. (1993). Wild geese. New and excellent poems. Boston: Beacon Press.
Pennebaker, J. (1990) opportunity Up: The healing power of expressing emotions. Ny: Guilford Press.
Poplawski, T. (1994) Schizophrenia and the Soul in The Quest, August, 74-79.

"This record appeared in the July/August 2006 issue of The Therapist, the publication of the California association of Marriage and family Therapists (Camft), headquartered in San Diego, California. This record is copyrighted and been reprinted with the permission of Camft. For more information regarding Camft, please log on to http://www.camft.org."

The Therapeutic benefit of Poetry

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However, the 20th century has seen an startling lengthening of the life span, with women living well into their 7th or 8th decade. So, around 40 years or thereabouts, when the firm of child bearing is over, and children begin to enounce their independence, there looms before women a stretch of life that appears to be like a vacuum. Husbands may also be passing straight through their own midlife crisis, and are like irritable hedgehogs. Or in a reversal of roles, they come to be overly dependent on their wives. Women begin to feel trapped.

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Midlife crisis In Women

A woman may feel that life is passing her by. "Who am I?" she wonders. "Does my life count for anything?" An inexplicable loneliness overcomes her as though she has no real self identity. Conscious of her gradually fading charm and energy, she sinks into depression. This feeling of worthlessness is compounded if there is marital dissatisfaction. The 20th century saw revolutionary changes taking place in every aspect of life. Education, employment face the home, collapse of the joint family system, migration to the impersonal atmosphere of cities, changing sex roles, women's liberation movements, youth culture, and rapid advances in Science and technology - these have created a kind of insecurity in the former woman. As she tries to keep pace with changing times, stress becomes her portion.

Midlife crisis In Women

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It is against this background that Midlife urgency assumes significance. Either single, married or widowed, approximately 2/3rds of women pass straight through this phase. A occupation oriented spinster high up in the supervision hierarchy suddenly decided that she cannot live alone anymore. She conjures up pictures of being incarcerated in some Home for the Aged, and the prospect alarms her. So she frantically advertises in the newspapers for a suitable spouse, and may imprudently select an undesirable mate, or enter into a live-in relationship. A sober middle aged widow may conclude to give herself a new image. She may visit a beautician to have her hair styled, her eyebrows plucked, and her wrinkles ironed out with Botox. She may even begin to use heavy make-up and dress like a teenager. She may flirt outrageously with eligible men, or have an affair with someone younger than her son. Population notice, gossip and snigger, but the woman throws propriety to the winds, and is brazen about her behavior.

A spinster with unfulfilled maternal desires may conclude to have a baby out of wedlock or offer to 'rent her womb.' Some psychologists say that Midlife urgency is just a suitable excuse for irresponsible behavior. But it can be argued that if this was the case, why wait till middle age to indulge one's self? Middle Age is merely a transitory phase, and is not something to be feared but welcomed. urgency ordinarily occurs when there is a lack of preparation. E. M. Blaicklock says "Middle Age is the time when life's fruits begin to ripen."

It must be prepared for. It is a time to take stock of one's self, and scrutinize one's life style. One needs to recognize factors that can lead to a urgency and address them individually. Is there fear of losing one's youth, sex petition and beauty? Do a few strands of grey, or sagging breasts or weight gain originate panic? One psychiatrist says, "Feeling good and looking good is related to a balance between mind and body." And Longfellow assures us that "Age is no less an occasion than youth itself, though in someone else dress."
Exercise, a balanced diet, relaxation, and a general interest in the world around, will put the brightness back into middle aged faces.

Has the marriage association come to be boring? Then one needs to put more exertion into changing it. A wee more loving, communication and caring can go a long way in setting things right. The husband may also be passing straight through midlife urgency and may be disinterested or unable to retort to her feelings. A woman must therefore enounce her needs directly and specifically, manufacture him understand that she is passing straight through a difficult phase and wants his understanding and love. A good husband will not only be emotionally supportive of his wife, but also give her the space she needs to construct her sense of self worth. If a woman is suddenly widowed in middle age, her depression may increase. Or she might rush into an affair which is not a sensible thing to do while under stress.

For a woman who has spent the best years of her life being an exemplary mother, who has found identity and fulfillment in her children, the realization that they don't need her anymore, and a wide generation gap is developing between them, makes her feel marginalized and useless. Midlife is also a time when one becomes vulnerable healthwise. Diseases like obesity, hypertension, diabetes, the need for diet restriction, medication, exercise, make her Conscious of her mortality. She begins to brood over her situation and gets bogged down in self pity. Dwindling money resources and stringencies brought on by retirement, also pose a threat to her peace of mind.
All these stress factors have a snowballing effect, which can undermine a woman's self reliance and bring about altered behavior like, depression, irritability, irrational behavior, assertiveness or abnormal sexual interest. In fact, this phase is like passing straight through a 'second emotional adolescence.'

Anticipating and establishment for middle age can make the transition smoother. Life doesn't end at that stage. Floyd and Thatcher say, "Middle Age is a time for discovery, not stagnation. It is a time ripe for fresh beginnings - a threshold to a rich stimulating future. If approached with good humour and flexibility, and an openness to change, the middle years and beyond can be the best half of life." Life has many distinct seasons. At each season a woman needs to reassess her values from distinct perspectives. Either single, married or widowed, she needs to bloom in her own identity, and not be a rubber stamp of her husband or a door mat for her children; nor should she let herself be exploited even by her own family. She too must be a decision maker and enounce herself when necessary.

Hobbies and new interests make life interesting. "Unlock your creativity," exhorts Ann Morrow Lindbergh. Music, reading, travel, painting are mood elevators.

Good friends are assets in difficult times. They act as confidantes or as sounding boards when one needs to get something off one's chest. They lend maintain in times of stress and depression. Groups like "Emotions Anonymous" help its members to open up and talk about their problems. They learn from each other's experiences and help each other mutually, to redefine their ideas and values. They come to be happy and confident. Artificial props like drugs and alcohol are not the answer, neither is an extra marital affair a solution. It may only lead to guilt feelings that are hard to shake off.

Husbands and children must realize that their supportive love can work magic in overcoming midlife crisis. But unless a woman verbalizes her needs and fears, they cannot know.
Finding time for introspection, refusing to condemn one's self for imaginary short comings, and an awareness of the temporary nature of such a crisis, is half way to overcoming it. Population tend to put God last when faced with a crisis. Paul's words in Philippians 3:13 are encouraging. "I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear out one thing; forgetting the past, and looking to what lies ahead." Prayer surmounts many a crisis.

Midlife is the pre- autumn season of one's life. Autumn is sure to follow, and will light up one's personality with the golden hues of maturity and peace. Life will begin again with a new vision for what is left of the future.

Midlife crisis In Women

Bloom Energy

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Glucose is the main fuel that your body uses to furnish energy. Without it your body won't function properly (just like an automobile). The chart that I'm about to show you will be very helpful to you as it will help you monitor when problems occur and if there are any patterns of your readings. The patterns will come to be very clear to you (as you learn how your own body works) and you will be able to discuss them more clearly and effectively with your condition professional. It is crucial that you know kind of events, food, activities, and medications may cause your blood sugar to growth or decrease.

Bloom Energy

Diabetes Blood Sugar Chart - normal Blood Glucose Ranges

You should work intimately with your condition care victualer to ensure that you are meeting your goals. He will contribute a meter tool for you to help you keep track of your levels. You should notify yourself on how to use the meter.

Diabetes Blood Sugar Chart - normal Blood Glucose Ranges

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Diabetes Blood Sugar Chart - normal Blood Glucose Ranges

Upon waking up (and before breakfast), your levels should be in the middle of 80 and 120. This is considered to be a salutary range.

Before meals your levels should also be in the middle of 80 and 120.

Two hours after you eat meals, your levels should be 170 or less.

Before lunch, it should drop back down to 80-120.

Before you go to bed, it is ideal to be in the middle of 100 and 140.

At 3am (while sleeping), it is ideal to be in the middle of 70 and 110.

While fasting, it is ideal that you stay in the 70 to 100 range.

The numbers from this chart will help give you a good idea of normal blood glucose ranges; however, you may want to ask your condition care victualer where exactly your range should be at (during each of the above events). It is leading to receive frequent testing as this can reduce the risk of having complications from your diabetes.

Diabetes Blood Sugar Chart - normal Blood Glucose Ranges

Bloom Energy

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Repeat blooming plants are the hottest plants for gardening today - and for good reason. Either it is hydrangeas, daylilies or iris, with today's smaller gardens, the desire is for more flowers from a limited space. An ideal way to achieve this is with plants that bloom more than once per year. This week we are featuring one of the few repeat blooming deciduous shrubs and virtually the only repeat blooming viburnum - plicatum tomentosum 'Summer Snowflake.'

Bloom Energy

Viburnum Summer Snowflake

Two attributes set 'Summer Snowflake' apart from other plicatum Viburnums - repeat blooms and contract growth habit. In the spring, 'Summer Snowflake' will bloom with clusters of white flowers that succeed along the horizontal stems, creating a duplicate row of blooms on each side. This bloom pattern gives 'Summer Snowflake' its tasteless name - doublefile viburnum. The spring blooms are followed by cycles of blooms throughout the summer. Because it uses so much of its energy repeatedly flowering, 'Summer Snowflake' grows more compactly than is typical for Viburnum plicatum. It matures at about six feet tall and five feet wide. Like so may repeat blooming plants, maximum bloom will be achieved if 'Summer Snowflake' is kept actively growing with ample water and fertilization.

Viburnum Summer Snowflake

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'Summer Snowflake' has dark green oval leaves that can reach up to five inches long. The foliage turns a rusty red to bronze in the early fall and the flowers give way to inviting red berries that are relished by the birds. 'Summer Snowflake' is easy to grow and it is rarely troubled by pests and diseases. It can be planted as a specimen, used for screening or in a spot in the foundation planting where a slowly tall deciduous shrub is called for.

To view Viburnum Summer Snowflake visit the Carroll Gardens website

Viburnum Summer Snowflake

Bloom Energy

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Sunday, November 11, 2012

Mono No Aware: The Essence of Japan

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Friday, November 9, 2012

Viburnum Summer Snowflake

Viburnum Summer Snowflake

Viburnum Summer Snowflake

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Diabetes Blood Sugar Chart - normal Blood Glucose Ranges

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Diabetes Blood Sugar Chart - normal Blood Glucose Ranges

Viburnum Summer Snowflake