Come on my force!

"Forca"

It is the passion flowing right on through your veins
And it's the feeling that you're oh so glad you came
It is the moment you remember you're alive
It is the air you breathe, the element, the fire
It is that flower that you took the time to smell
It is the power that you know you got as well
It is the fear inside that you can overcome
This is the orchestra, the rhythm and the drum

Come on my force, come on my force, come on my force, come on my force, come on my force

It is the soundtrack of your ever-flowing life
It is the wind beneath your feet that makes you fly
It is the beautiful game that you choose to play
When you step out into the world to start your day
You show your face and take it in and scream and pray
You're gonna win it for yourself and us today
It is the gold, the green, the yellow and the grey
The red and sweat and tears, the love that makes you go "Hey!"

Come on my force, come on my force, come on my force, come on my force, come on my force

come on.

Get a grip

Ugh, have just watched a programme on plastic surgery and can't believe how self obsessed some people are.

They could be using their time, energy and focus to create something fantastic or really make a difference in this world, but instead they're obsessed about an extra wrinkle!

So I wanted to write this down as something to ask yourself....

* Why is it that when most of us get up in the morning instead of spending even five minutes working on our mind or spirit we obsess for hours focussing totally on appearance instead of substance??

* How much of our energy is absorbed by the superficial rather than what really matters?

I really think if people spent more time working on developing their inner strength and beauty and trying to be BETTER PEOPLE rather than better looking the world would be a vastly different, more balanced and happy place.

don't you.....?

Some thoughts

Hmm, just watched a program on discovery channel about a chef from New York and his adventures in Japan.

It occurred to me while I was watching this that the oddities they were using to highlight Japan as an exotic and interesting place to those westerners watching back home didn't seem so exotic to me....They're familiar.

How strange. I remember watching programmes like this back home and being filled with intense interest and a lust to travel and explore such places.

And certainly Japan was very ALIEN like when I arrived, but it occurred to me today, watching this programme. That Japan is home now.

At least Tokyo is anyway :)

The vending machines, the strange food, the frustratingly formal customs, the weird and wonderful technology, it's all just familiar.

Amazing isn't it, the human capability to ADJUST.

I am so glad I came to Japan now and am looking forward to discovering other places in the world, though I really think you gain so much better understanding if you actually LIVE somewhere else rather than just visit.

For example, I was on the running machine at the gym the other day, the only gaijin in a line of asians, and a news programme came on documenting the atomic bomb which hit Hiroshima during World War II.

I watched this programme and wondered if wars like this would still be possible if more people travelled. Ironically the song playing on my IPOD was Bruce Springsten's "Born in the USA", which has a line 'sent me off to a foreign land, said go and kill the yellow man'...

Of course he was talking about Vietnam, but the effect was still just as chilling.

And as I looked around me I thought even if there was a war between New Zealand and Japan in 20 years I could never comprehend killing 'the yellow man', ...because I've lived here.

These people go to the same gym, the same supermarkets, the same post office as me. We may come from a different culutral background, but essentially we are still people.

We are still human, still the same. One world.

Theres no place like home

Just looked up this website on the net....made me so homesick.

http://www.davedobbyn.co.nz/

I wanted to experience a really big city and utterly different culture, but MY GOD I miss the beach!!!!

Oh god my heart aches so much just thinking about it. People at home say oh but it's winter here, but you know that doesn't matter to me the beach is beautiful in ANY weather.

Hot, crowded and glistening or deserted, wild and stormy, or even on a moonlit summers evening, it's a place where I always felt so at home and in tune with myself and life. So at peace. My friend sent me the link to this website (below) and its a lot to admit to other people...but I cried when I heard/saw it... http://www.davedobbyn.co.nz/

That scene, the beach pictured, is just so very distinctively a NEW ZEALAND beach and the song resonates so very much kiwi culture and well the combination just conjours so many memories... guess it's true for any New Zealander overseas though huh, for us as a culture the beach IS where we cultivate so many of our memories...

I wrote this in my diary the other day...

"When you're young you walk the sand and dream of foreign shores and adventures... only to find the real benefit of travel is realising just how beautiful home is."

So yes I couldn't agree with that thought more. ESPECIALLY since being in Japan. I'd NEVER give back the experience, but I REALLY appreciate home now. The lifestyle here is non existent, people work. That's it. In NZ I had a swimming pool at home AND one at my work, not to mention volleyball and tennis courts and yoga at lunchtime...and in summer I'd finish work at 4.30 and go to the beach for the afternoon!

Surprising what we take for granted huh. I've lost count the number of earthquakes we've had since I've been here, not to mention the Typhoons! And it's summer yeh, but everyone is so so adverse to showing skin they're wearing jeans or suits even though its 35 degrees!

Never mind it's the same temperature in Phuket today, which is a holiday resort!... which brings me back to beaches again and the decidedly odd feeling of experincing summer and not actually going to the beach, ugh I'm ACHING for it!

My flatmate and I are going to Vietnam in October though and it's allllll coastline there baby, so I can't wait! That's the whole reason I travelled in the first place, to build the memories I'll stroll the beach reminiscing when I'm old :)

Yay bring on the travelling! And for those of you near a beach, winter OR summer, get out and make the most of it!

Smiles and buckets and buckets of love!
your Fernleaf in Japan :)