Monthly Archives: March 2014

Technology: Before…During…After….

Posted in Reflections by

I am a child of the ’80’s

The generation of the commencement of the technology age

I am old enough to remember life without the interference and also the convenience of modern technology ~ yet I am young enough to be in the grasp of the hand of the ongoing developments, accompanied with the expectations to keep updated and aware.

Technology has become a very influential aspect of life.  Whilst I truly hold certain beliefs that I feel are better suited to have originated from older and less technologically advanced generations, I must confess…

In my handbag right now I have…

  1. a mobile phone
  2. an ipod
  3. a kindle
  4. a debit card instead of cash…

My communications are conveyed through the following:

  1.  Text Messages
  2. Calls to and from my mobile phone, house phone and work phone
  3. Email – a work account and a personal account
  4. Applications / ‘Apps’ such as:
  • Viber
  • Whatsapp
  • Snap Chat
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn

My phone has enabled me to live a solitude life should that be the wish.  I am able to remain in contact without hearing another persons voice or seeing them; however it has also enable the personal connections of allowing both phone and video calls.  I have access to every answer for every question I have yet to even ponder.  I can shop for anything; organise any event and run all my errands including paying my bills without having to deal with a real sales assistance.
Whilst all of these methods are convenient to a busy lifestyle…it is a rarely exercised luxury to disconnect from the world.  We are accessible at all hours and through various methods of communication…and the connection is expected to be instant and without any delay.  The sound of a message or phone call or the blinking of a light on the mobile phone is accompanied with the expectation that whatever the information is, it cannot wait and equally we do not allow it to wait.  The expectation of remaining plugged in has caused me to reminisce…

Life before the world was swept up of the charms of technology….

I remember a time before mobile phones ~ when we spoke to our friends on a phone with a cord attached ~ when you stuck your finger in the dial on the number you needed and spun! When there was no ‘9’ at the front of your home number [relevant to those in Melbourne] and if you wanted to play with a friend, you walked to their house and knocked on their front door.

I remember the growing popularity of the car phone; the introduction of the bulky mobile phone; the flip phone; the tiny phone and the smart phone ~ I remember the black and green screens; then the colour and then the touch!  I was witness to the evolution of the ringtones – commencing with the classic; monophonic upgrading to the polyphonic and the mp3!  I enjoyed fits of laughter over the crazy frog….I lost hours on playing Snake and Snake II and was ridiculously excited about the snake going through the screen walls. Regardless of the many phones I have inherited and owned, I still reminisce about the awesome stability of the Nokia 3210 and the sleekness of the 8250 ~ with the blue light!

I am old enough to remember the television without the remote control, then the control with the cord and the remote that is what we know today.  I am old enough to remember the television that was cube shaped, then the massive stand on its own; then came the magic of mounting on the wall!  From black and white televisions and movies to colour and now 3D ~ and not the 3D of the cardboard glasses with one red and one blue for each eye…

I watched the evolution from LP vinyls, cassettes and walkmans to CDs and discmans. From mp3s to ipods. I remember carefully assessing my mood to select the cassettes and cds for my portable players…now I have thousands of songs at my fingertips.

I remember the typewriter ~ both electric and manual. I watched the evolution from them to desktop computers, laptops, tablets and kindles. As I draft part of this piece I am doing so on my smartphone on the train!  I remember life before YouTube and Google. As children, your source of funny things came from what you yourself experienced … and things you didn’t know the answer to, you would guess, speculate, wonder or ask someone instead of responding with a Google search.  Conversation at school would revolve around boys, sports, what you actually experienced…not what you saw on Facebook, YouTube or this new feature on whatever fancy device or ‘app’.  I remember the introduction of the internet… yahoo…MirC…Icq… the distinct sound of dial up and the frustration of when a call came through and disconnected your internet connection ~ we were then forced to wait and attempt to dial up again.  I remember ‘clicking on an image’ and had to wait long seconds and sometimes minutes for a full image to load bit by bit before your eyes.

I remember life before Facebook…when tagging meant graffiti art with a spray can. Liking something didn’t include a thumbs up icon that I was under the impression that a thumbs up wasn’t actually cool.  I remember life before the selfie…before the duck lips and the tongue poking… they would be considered the blooper shots you kept for yourself.  When game requests were to play monopoly on the floor in the lounge room…

I watched the evolution of the world of gaming.  Commencing with the Atari to the Nintendo… Super Nintendo…the Nintendo 64; the Seiga Master System and Mega Drive; the series of the gameboys; the Playstations; the Wii’s; the Xboxes and DS’s.  The games have evolved from the innocent adventures of Mario Bros and Donkey Kong to the savage and hardcore games like God of War and Mortal Combat.  The method of fixing the games have equally changed – from blowing into the bottom of the cartridge to wiping the disk on you clothes.

Technology has changed our lives ~

Our perceptions and interactions of communications ~ The way we spend our time…

 It is often easy to be critical of the negatives changes are perceived to bring… but equally we cannot blindly accept all changes as positive…with all things of the universe there is a balance to consider and the progression of life forward – yet it is all still personal as to how much change you have allowed in your world…

 

~ F.P

 

Tuesday, 25 March 2014

☆★ Our authentic self is often lost amongst the choas and mayhem of life. You lose nothing by pausing, accessing and understanding the variations of you and what you need at this moment ~ instead of the materialism you think you want ~ When your last breath is drawn, the satisfaction of who you are outweights what you own ★☆

~ F.P

When the Universe Throws ‘Gifts’ at You

Posted in Reflections by

How intriguing. Three. At least three. No wonder you have hesitations in life.

The space between my eyebrows inadvertently scrunch together. My questioning glance is not visible beneath the eye pillow that rests upon my now alert face. As I continue to lay on my back, my ears are straining to hear more from her lips. Her flow of breathing at points deepens. I hear the unmistakable sounds of her filling her lungs with the scented air of the room ~ pause ~ exhale. The sound of the air evacuating her lungs was long and laboured. My mind wondered how much toxic energy was I storing?

An hour before, I had arrived at the beautiful home of an inspirational woman I had met years before. By sight she is the definition of beauty at an age. She floats through life on the natural energy of the universe; her eyes holding the wisdom of natures best secrets; her voice as gentle as silk.

Upon arrival, her home carries the same energy as present upon her. She had led me to a room perfectly decorated with a spiritual heart. A massage table in the centre and a consultant chair and table unobtrusively to the side. Crystals delicately appear throughout the room. The room has a subtle feminine feel.

She gently, un-accusingly and non-judgmentally probes the purpose of my visit. The question stumps me. Why had I chosen to spend my Saturday morning in the hands of a Reiki practitioner? A direct question I potentially should have had a direct answer to. I take a moment. I close my eyes and allow my mind to draw a blank. My intuition does not usually fail to deliver. ‘Lightness’ I breathe out. Opening my eyes, she smiles and immediately understands. She knows I am not speaking of being lighter on the scales department, nor some form of epiphany enlightenment. So our mission is set and she immediately gets to work explaining the natural energies of the universe we can drawn on as we are in the Autumn season. As she rattles off herbs and scents I smile, yet continue to be swept by her gentle yet professional manner.

How intriguing. Three. At least three. No wonder you have hesitations in life.

The words echoed.

While I continue to allow the gentle energy flow from my toes and up through every inch of my being, the sounds of the earth music assists to maintain my breathing in rhythm. I had not the slightest idea what she was talking about. Holding the sides of my temples, the warmth through her fingers pulsates onto my skin providing a gentle comfort. A false security blanket for my soul.  Before I realise, I am subtly brought to a state of awareness. Must have fallen asleep… not the first or realistically the last time.

Stepping off the table, I straighten my clothes and hair, wiping any remaining sleep from my eyes. Sitting back on the chair she calmly explained I was holding negative energy; that I will require work on my soul to shift my energy away; that I have lived at least three other lifetimes.

Pause. Pardon?  My mind shouts Time out!

As she continues to speak my brain is no longer keeping up with the words flowing from her mouth.  My mind is still very much in pause mode.  My confusion was obvious and immediately decided she must have said the negativity felt like I am carrying enough for three lifetimes… yet she continued to say I was dressed in a red gown for one of them and I had some very unresolved issues from all of them. My interest peaked. I didn’t mistakenly hear. At least three??

I believe in the universe providing gifts. Could it be possible for one such gift to be multiple attempts in different forms.

I have been the recipient of many interesting comments. Some have been spontaneous, uninvited and unexpected. Others have been solicited and rewarded with the exchange of a small fee such as this one, yet regardless of how they come, some comments are so left field that they create a world of thought that takes on a life force of its own and creates reassessment and re evaluations of the life you believed to be okay.

I feel comforted at the connections I may have opened up with the universe to facilitate the clearly open lines of communication. I welcome the universe providing us with opportunities to establish unique, human connections as well as unique guidance through the subtle and not so subtle messages being conveyed by many means.

Some connections turn your beliefs on their head. Ones that scramble with your understanding of life and the universe. Ones that open a side of your imagination, yet placed within your hands knowledge that flirts with the romantic alternate realities of past lives, soul mates, imprints upon a soul that had traveled through many lives over. All during a spontaneous and indulgent session of Reiki. My amazingly talented and spiritually connected intuitive healer casually uttered those words of commentary, hinting to the existence of not one but at least three past lives… all of which impacting upon my current, young life.

The question then becomes:

What to do when the universe provides you signs of such magnitude?

I am still working on it…

~ F.P