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Topfan
4 July 2023

Topfan

Last week I got a message from Facebook that I earned a badge. You’ve probably received this before, as well. From now on I could tell the world I was a ‘topfan’ after I reacted a couple of times to a page I liked. I laughed, ’cause who decides wether I am a topfan and does that make me different somehow? Of course it’s a positive thing and meant to make you happy.

Rewards

I’m all for rewards. The more the better. But I question this badge. Some time ago, some people working in admin at Facebook decided to reward people who took the time and effort to comment more than once on a subject/person on Facebook. ‘Let’s give them a badge,’ they must’ve thought. This way they will feel better about themselves.

Value

Apparently it works, ’cause I see people picked it up. There are lots of topfans around. It’s really fine with me. I won’t judge anyone. I just wonder if there is such a thing as a ‘bottom fan, a not-so-topfan, a less than serious fan’ or any other kind of fan. And who is to decide which sticker I get to have? And does this make me feel any more important than somebody who’s not a topfan, yet?

Past

Maybe it’s still got something to do with my past. I used to be a topfan of Donny Osmond as a young teenager. My room was filled with posters and I cried every time I heard ‘Puppy love’. Of course I was teased in school. But I couldn’t care less. I was fan and I loved this kid. But this was then and now is now. I’m no fan anymore.

Admiration

Now I do admire people, lots of them in fact. There are men and women I gladly get inspired by. I take their examples and try to incorporate their actions in my life. But never before I make them mine first. Never to blindly copy. A badge is nice, it’s like a medal. But I would rather really deserve one by expanding my limits, then to just comment on something someone else did. Unless I take a personal or global chance to make a change.

 

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Life

Review The Journey – James Norbury
23 April 2023

Review The Journey – James Norbury

What a cute little story, based on Buddhism and the truth that change is inevitable. In ‘The journey’ James Norbury describes two friends, Big Panda and Little Dragon, who live together in perfect harmony in a small temple high up in the mountains. They have been living there for quite some time and made numerous friends in the forest nearby.

Restless

But Little Dragon feels a bit restless, lately. He doesn’t know why and what causes these feelings. All he knows he’s not as happy as he was before. He asks his best friend Big Panda for advice. Big Panda acknowledges his problem. Yes, this is something big and he needs to take his time to think of an answer. A few days later he offers that it’s time for a journey. It will  be a change for both of them. Reluctantly Little Dragon agrees. He can either accept his restlessness or he can try to do something about it.

Journey

As with every journey, whether it is physical or emotional, there will be obstacles on the way. The two friends encounter lots of them as they travel along the river. Up to a point when Little Dragon has had enough. He wants to return to where he came from. Now comes the biggest challenge of all. Nobody can return to the past. We can never go back in time, neither can Little Dragon. He gets depressed when he thinks of his old life and his old friends.

Acceptance

Until one day he remembers that he can make this new life miserable by living in his past, or he can make changes for the future, or he can make the best of today. He looks around him. All of a sudden the sun starts shining. He finds himself surrounded by new friends and beautiful mountains. And what do you know, there is even a bigger, nicer, abandoned temple up ahead.

James Norbury

James Norbury has written and drawn pictures since he was a small child. But it wasn’t until he was looking for spirituality when he discovered the teachings of Buddhism. He wanted to share its wisdom and Zen stories with the rest of the world. His books about the Big Panda and the Little Dragon were born. Beautifully illustrated it’s a joy to pick them up again and again.

 

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Boeken

Change
8 November 2022

Change

After being gone for 12 years, I finally made it back to my ‘home town’ of Aspen, Colorado. The first thing I heard was: ‘Oh you will find so many things have changed!’ This was true. But isn’t it always when you haven’t been somewhere for a while? Change isn’t necessarily bad.

Old town

The old town was still visible, I only had to look for it. And yes, many things had changed. The bus system took some getting used to. But I remember when I first moved there there were no busses. We had to hitchhike. I think taking a bus is better. The parks, buildings, streets, they all got an upgrade. Beautiful flowers, pretty painted shops, nice wide street walks. And clean, everything was very clean.

Charm

Did the town lose some of its charm? Sure, it did. How much fun did we have at the old Shaft, a country and western place right downtown. Where you would find horses outside patiently waiting for their owners to stumble out of the pub, to take them home. Now there are designershops where a scarf cost a fortune. It’s another way of looking at charm.

Nostalgic

Change is nothing else but losing our perception of ‘the good old days’. ‘Cause were the ‘good old days’ always that good? Oh yes, I have very, very sweet memories of my home in the Rockies during the 80’s and ’90’s. But people living there before me tell me I never knew the ‘real’ Aspen. Which means I never knew the memories they have.

Memories

We go someplace, make our memories and leave. We can never go back to how it was. First, memories have the tendency to make things better than they were. And second, you cannot stop change. Everything is constantly changing. Thank Goodness it is. We can’t stop things from happening. No matter how much we try and want to.

Go with the flow

I was thinking about all this while I sat and looked at the river flowing by. River doesn’t fight change. It just flows. I look up at ‘my’ mountains, as people have gazed at the very same view for as long as people exist. Did those mountains change in the millions of years that sat there? Sure they did.

Good and bad

Some changes are good, some are bad. What is good for me, might not be for you. We make our own changes. Our memories and what we take with us form a place we visit forms us who we are and who we want to be. So who am I to say that changes are bad or good? For now, I was very happy to be back in my mountain town. With all its changes. Its spirit and its humor, its beauty and its heartbeat hasn’t changed for me. I was very happy and lucky to still feel at home.

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leven