Saturday, November 20, 2010

Silly Little Simplicity

Welcome to Honolulu

ALOHA  to  YOU


More Hawaiian Skies - Ho Hum



'Love is like a little old woman
 and a little old man
 who are still friends even after
 they know each other so well.'

Tommy - age 6






"At any street corner
 the feeling of absurdity
 can strike any man
 in the face."

Albert Camus 







"In order to understand the world,
 one has to turn away from it
 on occasion."

Albert Camus





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We like to sound smart.

And we think to do this
 by using big words,
many words,
jargon.

The most "intelligent" people
such as professors
and straight  "A" students
are the most guilty of this.

In the recent election
we voted on some amendments and such
that were SO impenetrable
that I could get but a general idea
what they were about,
let alone what specific choice
I needed to make.

And what about instruction booklets?
The people who wrote them
know what they mean to say
and it's just too bad
that it makes no logical sense
to us.

But it's not only jargon.

A whole 
"You know what I mean"
culture
has taken over broadcast journalism.


There is no longer even a pretense
of comprehensive
factual
news.
But there is a lot of giggling
cooking
and pets.

I like pets
but the News Greats
interpreted the world for us
instead of doing expose`
on the best place
to buy cupcakes.

The good news is:
Simplicity
&
Clarity
Stand Out.


Everyone's so used to sounding smart,
or entertaining,
that we have forgotten the power of a 
few simple words.

I hate you.


I love you.

Please stay.

I think that we over-intellectualise everything
to our hurt.

Religion is about thinking;

A life of faith is about feeling,
acting, and being.

Who cares what you call it?

Kindness
 is the universal language.

Gratitude is a big concept.
Let's have a conference about it.

I'll get sponsors
you book a hotel.
Clear your calendars
for one month, one year
from now.

Or better yet:
Stop thinking for just a moment.

Close your eyes.

Breathe.

Say out loud:

"Thank You for my life;
For this day."


If you do this daily
you will not write an essay about grattitude
you will begin living it.

Surprising stuff will occur.

Things will develop
and change
in most delightful
surprising ways.

I know.

I haven't been "thinking"
for quite some time now.

And I've never been happier.

Somehow my life has improved
instead of falling apart
as the ego threatens.


Weekends are a good time to start
it will feel strange at first;
stop being smart
and start allowing
wisdom.


Out of the mouths of babes

and bloggers. . . 

       Thanks for visiting. Please leave a comment! cloudia

36 comments:

who said...

I hear you and I like your pictures. Although I had nothing to do with deciding the natural progression of the 5 vowels so that in American English to trend from starting with words like hart and progress naturally to hurt I would much enjoy if words like smart naturally progressed to smurt and over time were known by displaying the same actions of a word like wisdom.

I agree with you though that taking thinking vacation can be pleasant.

Aloha Cloudia

JTG (Misalyn) said...

fantastic photos and wonderful thoughts...very interesting.

Salaam and Aloha my friend!
Misalyn

BALLET NEWS said...

wonderful as ever !

Rosaria Williams said...

Wow, Cloudia, this is a manifesto! I say Yes to everything remaining simple and clear and transparent.

Friko said...

Well Cloudia, I am glad to say I was with you practically all the way, until you said " I haven't been thinking for quite a while now".

That's when you lost me.

Aloha!

Windsmoke. said...

Too many people have hidden agenda's that's why simplicity and clarity don't stand out.

gigi-hawaii said...

Ah, but it took thinking to put your blog together, CC...

Well done!

Anonymous said...

A Manifest.


Please have a good Sunday.

daily athens

Teresa said...

Great thoughts. Simplicity and clarity stand out. As does gratitude for life and living.

Anonymous said...

Love it -- I like just "veggin' the brain", and let it rest sometimes. Did that big puffy cloud dump major sprinkles? DrumMajor

Anonymous said...

Just caught up with your last 3 blogs. The Na Leo Pilimehana group sings so beautifully, Hawaiian tears. Loved the capitol tour...much nicer than mainland structures with a blob of a dome on top. Totally cool to have the current National Guard don the Iolani Palace uniforms...Hawaii continues to rise again! DrumMajor

Junosmom said...

My best times are when I'm working and not thinking, just being.

SandyCarlson said...

You are so right. I am deeply suspicious of the Big Word people. Recently I read Ken Robinson's book The Element, and it was brilliant and clear--and free of the jargon and the showing off that pass for intelligence in so many circles. It made my day. I think my desire for to-the-bone clarity has me reading Irving over and over again. And you. I love clear brilliance.

Indrani said...

Simple, so well written, great read.

bichonpawz said...

This was a wonderful post Cloudia!!! And so true!!

黄清华 Wong Ching Wah said...

Aloha, glad to see clear and beautiful skies in Hawaii.

Swotpisces said...

Nice blog, nice to meet you. :)

the walking man said...

I am of a mind to use small words with no more than five ideas behind them. Confusion is a curse and I swear but never curse.

aloha sista'

Hilary said...

Simple, sound and inspiring advice.

25BAR said...

Nice ones!

Akelamalu said...

Tommy's a clever boy. ;)

Marguerite said...

Wonderful post and I love that cloud pic! Have a lovely Sunday! Aloha, cher!

Kay said...

Have a wonderful Sunday, Cloudia. The sun is out, the skies are blue. Another day in Hawaii.

Feisty Crone said...

I tell my students to write what they see, free of jargon and without bias. As Captain Kangaroo used to say, "simple pictures are best." I think it was a book, actually :) Aloha, and thanks for another great post.

KrippledWarrior said...

Excellent info and even better advice. One should live in a perpetual state of Thanksgiving. Please tell me, Dear lady. What is the name of the emerald mountain?

Yolanda Barker said...

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

Yolanda

http://barkersbite.blogspot.com

Freda said...

I love the little old woman and the little old man. In fact, we are the little old woman and the little old man. Love the photos and thoughts.

BALLET NEWS said...

Aloha Cloudia ! Have a lovely week

Raph G. Neckmann said...

I stopped trying to be clever long ago! I'm rather silly, quite simple in my thinking, though not very little :)

Enjoyed this post - we're so busy at present, it's a real treat to visit!

Fireblossom said...

Shhhh. I know the power of saying things directly and simply. Don't give away my trade secrets!

Maude Lynn said...

I'm printing this out and saving it! Brilliant, Cloudia!

Reanaclaire said...

greetings!! sorry, I do not know who they are in those pictures.. care to share?

Anonymous said...

Yes.

POTW material indeed!

Cloudia said...

Thanks!

Maria said...

Nice pictures and words of wisdom. Perfect combination.

Cheryl Kohan said...

I couldn't agree more! Although I will take issue with the "ho-hum" comment on the Hawaiian Skies...no way are they ever ho-hum so just keep capturing them for us, please :-)