Tag: journey

Flipped

Learning, Poetic, This Person
I flipped this body down
To see the world upside down
My first effort brought frown
Still I decided to go on

I’m hanging my satchel
I’m hanging my pole
I’m taking all as it is
From behind the scroll

——

this is my favourite photo of mine although I don’t look good at all: I’m simply upside down with fun as how I see the world outside my work, trying to relax by seeing things from different perspectives and understanding others’ esp those disagreeing with me —

to me most of the time caption is more important than picture and I always like to tease my friends with my caption and some usually cannot stop commenting although irrelevantly 😀

Relative Paradox Is Time

Learning
Time is
Paradoxical.
Luxury for those knowing how short it is,
Ordinary as everyone is given.

Time is 
Relative.
Those transacting in life say
Time is money.
Those knowing its sharpness say
Time is like sword.
Those valuing milestones say
Let’s race with time.
Those mismanaging things say
I have no time.
Those loving you say
I have all time.
Those knowing your struggle say
Please take your time.
Those having super speed say
Don’t waste your time.

How do you say about
Your time?
You decide.
One to remember
There is no referee in life
To whom you can shout
“Timeout!”

Time flows.
Time flies.
Time walks.
Time runs.
Time swims.
Time dives.
You may want to stop it,
Yes you can
Only if you stop everything
At the same time for
Every body
Everywhere.
Can you?

——-

time is short when you smile and forever when you pout

Useful link about Time

Luxury Redefined (haiku cluster)

Learning, Poetic
Luxury, my love
What makes one feel fortunate,
Feel responsible.

Luxury, my love
Not brand, not price tag. It’s mind
Bursting new spirits.

Luxury, my love
You can bluff but you can’t trade
With a true spirit.

Luxury, my love
What you’ve failed, what you’ve too learnt
About the deep wounds.

——

not the Aman Jiwo Hotel making it luxurious, it is Borobudur temple, Menoreh Hill and all the Javanese villages and tradition conserved as surrounding is the real luxury

Weathered

Learning, Poetic
This life’s well weathered
‘Tween hot and cold, calm and rushed.
There’s home to shelter.

——

Indonesia Mosque in Bangkok — joining a short prayer

i went to a mosque then to a small shrine today before flight — feeling the humbleness of human beings begging for help from the One indescribable unseen unexplainable, the hope tiptoeing behind fear, the weakness of human beings facing our own nature

these folded lotus flowers are floating to weather after their duty as envelopes with which prayers are sent up above through billowing smoke of incense

now i have to pack to fly back home soon to see my mother hospitalised — certain days are just under the weather

wishing all my silent chants can be medicine for the woman who loves me to the moon and back

see very soon, Ibu

may all beings be happy

💕

Reflection

Learning, love
Mirror,
Mirror
On the wall!
Show me clearly
Afterall
What’s been
Lingering
In this fall.

Whether massive darkness
Or just shadow
That crawls.

——

only selfie when feeling good and truly willing to see what’s reflected by the mirror

Once My Master Said

Learning

Once my master said
“Be kind,
Yet don’t let evil take the wheel.
You know where to go
And no one but you
Is to drive your fate.”

Once my master said
“Be generous,
Yet don’t get misled.
You know how to count
And no one but you
Is to solve the equation.”

Once my master said
“Be careful,
Yet don’t forget to have fun.
You know how to celebrate
And no one but you
Is to throw the party.”

Once my master said
Nothing.
It was time for me to go
To trace my own path
And no one but me
Is to walk the talk.

And here I am,
One heart,
One word,
One journey.

Just
One.

——

to me this is just one cup of tea, to the helper it is all her kindness, pride and maybe survival in one act — thank you, Ma’am for your sincere smile and the tea 💕 you are the master of service 🙏🏼 I bow to the divine in you 💕

Turning Point

Bob, Learning, life, love, Poetic, Those People
Fragrance of sambac
Ferries the wish to the love
Reborn with new scents.

——

The death of my beloved nephew at young age (22 yo) is one extreme turning point in how I see life and what is in it.

I am not sad anymore and not considering it a loss anymore. Just drying tears and grateful smiles so — remembering how good his life was. How someone with so big mental wound could survive life by serving others in such a fun witty ways. 🥰 We now know how much we loved him and how tremendously he loved us.

Yet….

reborn

not interested in talking in group except for work;

prefer seeing life more lightly yet deeply at the same time;

choose to seclude myself by doing what I can do genuinely; if not, I will stay away;

respond to human interaction differently and it might have hurt people in outer rings; it doesn’t matter

still the same human being yet not the same anymore;

so amazed how losing loved ones can change someone so significantly. And the reality shows me whom are real and unreal, true and untrue…. 💚

Life is mysteriously beautiful.

Thank You so very much!

Alfatihah.

my younger brother’s 1st son was a newborn death; my older brother’s sons: one died at 10, the other at 22 — wishing them to be reborn with love, prosperity and luck 💕😊 you’re (always) in my heart and (sometimes) at my left wrist, boys! 💕💕😊

Ayutthaya

Learning, Poetic
Ayutthaya greets
A heart that sings a love song.
A wat witnesses.

——

from 2010 to 2012 Thailand was my playground esp in the area of food processing , from 2013 up to now is for electronic mostly in Ayutthaya — Sala Ayutthaya is always my favourite here, thank you…. 😘

A Star Not

Learning, Poetic
You are not a star.
Never.
A star brightly rises.
A star magnificently sets.
You might be upset
As a star is what is adored
By many.
Don’t be a star,
It is born,
It dies.
A seen star is thousands years of its history—
Illusion.

You are the earth.
Always.
Who lets the sun rise
And lets the sun set
Sincerely.
The earth is loved
By many.
When I see the earth
I see a present moment
Of everything about it.
I am grounded to earth.
It is where I live, love and laugh

Sincerely.

You are 
A star not.

——

a star is a dream; the earth is where I live, love and laugh sincerely

Note: picture is from Pinterest; I wanted a Java island on the earth with stars above yet could not find any 🙂

Rose Tea

Learning
I am home
Welcomed
By a space
Waiting for its soul
To fill the gap
With emptiness.

I am home
Welcomed
By rose tea
Waiting to be brewed
To wake up the heart
With memories.

I am home
Welcomed
By another day
Waiting to be celebrated
To highlight meaning
With what is.

——

I left 3 stems of red roses in the vase and arriving, I found them beautifully dried — a jug of rose tea is my first relaxing session

Sweet

Learning, Poetic
How sweet is your heart?
Warm as sun of the beach? Or
Cool as mountain breeze?

——

coconut ice cream 💕 as sweet as warm heart, as cold as ignorance — the stick is made of sugarcane

I Bow to The Divine in You

Learning, Poetic, This Person, Those People
The bow that launches
Is the arrow that is shot:
An exhibit by the
One
That honour is inevitably
Gorgeous
For that
Respecting
From that
Witnessing.

Salute to the bowstring.

——

I have learnt how to genuinely respect my teachers and other human beings even more after learning meditation in Bali Usada — I humbly thank you, Pak Merta Ada. I bow to the divine in you and all my fellow Tapa Brata participants 🙏🏼

it was a sunny day so Pak Merta Ada invited us all to end the Tapa Brata with 1-hour meditation under the blessed bodhi tree — hope health and calmness be granted to all of us ♥️

Pak Ishak giving his testimony about the noble silence, Ibu Lady his wife video shooting him — the oldest participants in this Tapa Brata 2 we all cordially respect

canang under a tree as a daily respect to it for being part of the environment protection

torch ginger is the most grown herb in Bali Usada meditation center — yummy and fragrant when cooked

💚


Three of us stayed in bungalow #4 for 12 days of which in 1st-11th we didn’t talk to each other. We just took turn of using bathroom, switching on/off light at 3:30am and 10:00pm, making sure towel racks were sunbathed, replenishing toilet tissue, cleaning bathroom. All were done in silence in between meditation sessions, physical exercises, meals and lectures. Only at the last night after Tapa Brata was officially summed up, we could not stop sharing about our life journey until 2:00am.

Tami is 32, Fitri is 33 and I am 48: I am the oldest but I am the baby in meditation — they meditated 1.5 hours without changing position, I did but could not stop “ngereog” in the last 5 to 10 minutes.

My age doesn’t mean anything with these 2 ladies of harmonious mind.

See you again, my little sisters! Anicca! 💕

ngereog literally means performing reog dance; Tami used the word to describe someone’s intense movement during meditation due to muscle stress 😂

Ibu Lady, Srimurni and I showered by the morning light right after morning meditation and no shower (yet) — Srimurni was one of those could not stop talking to me after the Tapa Brata 😄

pure friendship is such a magical bond 💕

Repeatedly Blessed

Learning, Poetic
Once again
Is a bonus
Becoming allowance
As it is
Again and again.

I wish another
After another
Again
And again
Until it is
Time to end.

——

‘M 48th tomorrow. ‘Ve never thought I would reach this age.

When I was 9, I almost died. When I was 24, I almost died. I thought I would die at 44. It’s been huge blessings to be given another year.

another door before another door, 48 means a door to victory

My wish is simpler this year. After all failures and broken hearts, I wish for a warm home and a good job. Those two mean happiness to me. With a warm home, I can host my family and good friends. With a good job, I can leverage my role to help others around me improve their well being.

Amen.

Thank you!

Calm Days

Learning, Poetic
A room that tells tale
Has hushed noise and busy mind.
Here comes the calm days.

——

Wibisana, a room that offers calmness — Balinese home is always my favourite getaway

there are two decorative pictures of Dewi Saraswati over the bed and two paintings of Balinese ladies among flowers on both walls — this Puri is where my mind does rest

💕

Who is Wibisana? A knight who flees his country to pay the cost of his partiality to the higher purpose of peace on earth

Fully Paid

Learning, love, Poetic
Journey becomes light
When promise is fully paid.
The breeze flows sweetly.

——

beautifully ready for melukat this morning to clean and clarify my life intension and for my dearest nephew ♥️ now his wish for melukat is fully paid — live happily in the other side, my dear 💕 and I have a good feeling that my life is on the right path with my heart losing no love

melukat in Tirtha Empul when it was still quiet this morning — no, I don’t like crowd 🙏🏼 don’t bring me to noisy parties!

Performance

Learning, Poetic
Life is a grand stage,
Performance is its main course,
I am dining out.

——

I am supposed to be in Ubud with my nephew who happened to pass away on Jul 30. So I do all the planned itinerary alone to keep my promise and to make him smile in heaven.

For you, Vito the fun witty kind artistic boy!

💕

a bridge over a lotus garden heading to Puri Saraswati Temple front yard where Janger Dance with Arjuna Tapa as part of performance is on every evening

lucky this evening I am sitting in a seat right in the middle of the front row — feeling lucky and blessed

start!

Arjuna in his meditation apparel (white)

buta, one of some seducers while Arjuna is meditating

the end

Slow

Learning, Poetic
World will not tell her
How to slow. It just moves on
And counts each moment.

——

back to back trips, luggage is all packed — 2 weeks then 1 week then 2 days

am I always ready to go? physically yes, but my soul still wants to linger in this plane

💕

Hidden Gems

Learning, Poetic
Hidden gems
Shan’t be found
By those admiring surface.
Let it be kept undercover,
Shining within
The hearts of
The true lovers.

——

Dewi Larasati (named Rarasati in her childhood) is one of female characters in Javanese wayang whose personality is described as pleasant, patient, understanding and of good self control. She is unpopularly one of female wayang characters with military skill. She is good at handling keris and archery. She is allegedly as skillful as her husband, Arjuna.

Note: Dewi can mean goddess in Javanese. It can also simply mean or indicate that the person given that Javanese name is a female. Dewa is for male.

Dewi Larasati in black and white

Dewi Larasati is a humble woman and is so humble that she doesn’t want to announce her military skill until one day she is called by his husband to show her archery skill in from of Srikandi (his other wife). On that day everyone starts to know that Dewi Larasati’s archery expertise is outstanding, much better than Srikandi who is allegedly the best female archer in Javanese wayang and the bravest female heroine of all.

Dewi Larasati is then declared the one having as good skill as Arjuna’s, the best archer in Javanese wayang. Yet she never boasts of being as good as her husband in archery. She chooses to be the queen of the knight of war and mindfulness Arjuna, the beloved mother of her two sons, Bambang Sumitra and Branatalaras, the aunt of Pandawa’s offsprings.

Dewi Larasati facing left direction

While people like to talk about Dewi Larasati from that angle, I like talking about her from different one. To me I prefer to play dictions so disecting the word “Rarasati” and “Larasati” is another option.

Rarasati is a combination of 2 Javanese words: raras and ati.
Raras means feel, feeling, thought, thinking
Ati means heart
So rarasati can mean the feel of a heart or the thought of a heart or a feeling heart or a thinking heart

Larasati is a combination of 2 Javanese words: laras and ati.
Laras means song, singing, chat, chanting, reciting, recitation,
Ati means heart
So larasati can mean the song of a heart or a singing heart.

Dewi Larasati facing right direction

I always think Dewi Larasati’s parents’s naming her “larasati” because of their dream to have children who are willing to use the heart to feel and think the reality and to listen to their own self to balance the power of the loudness of material world.

With my simple utterance about the word “rarasati” and “larasati” I can imagine Dewi Larasati is a hidden gem that needs no disclosure as undercover she is already glowing. With her excellence she accepts to be less well-known than Srikandi, the archery heroine. With humbleness she accepts to be less popular than Sembadra, Arjuna’s second wife, while Dewi Larasati is the first wife of that bloody handsome knight Arjuna. Please note although I admire Arjuna’s high quality of meditation and nationalism, I curse his being a womaniser.

Anyway this is not about Arjuna, it is about Dewi Larasati, a humble intelligent woman whose identity is underrated because of her unpopularity like a hidden gem that is kept low key by those loving and protecting her.

Ahh! Is the above discussion culturally relevant? Or is it just this person who idolises those unpopular gems in life?

It doesn’t matter. This is just a different point of view about an old fact.

💕

Salaam.

Dewi Larasati on a batik scarft designed by Dudung Aliesyahbana, batik maestro from Pekalongan, Central Java

Shape of Heart

Learning, Poetic
Sprinkles of petalS
Sway from the sky gracefully
Calling name of yours.

——

genji pie that shapes like heart or rose petal or whatever beautifully seen by eyes

genji pie, aside from the shape the taste is also good to me

genji pie has inspired me to love

About genji pie

Multiply

Learning, Poetic
Multiplied and blessed
Is numbers nature has sent
To a heart that smiles.

——

flying back from Narita

flying out from Changi

i believe that whatever shared is multiplied — at least those who enjoy it are multiplied

keep multiplying and blessing!

♥️

Pilgrimage

Learning, life, love, Map It!, Poetic, This Person
This life’s pilgrimage
Spiralling in to the core
Of old house within.

——

a mosque in Tokyo — Tokyo Jamii (Camii)

entrance — assalamualaikum, Tokyo Camii

mosque area – 2nd floor

i still know how to do sholat tahiyatul masjid (praying to respect mosque), recite QS Arrahman that is full of gratitudes and praises so i did it

the feel was exactly like when i pray in the temples and shrines

a feeling of home 💕

then a beautiful sister helped me with photo taking — she made me much taller, slimmer yet less me 😁 thank you 💕

time to fly home — thank you, Tokyo 💕

you make me love myself more and more, with all the wounds and scars

My Heart Is

Learning, life, love, Poetic, This Person
They have said 
I am lost.

What I see…
I am in a forest away
From comfort of thought.
I am not in a castle
In which mind is blunted.
My heart finds home
In which 25 prophets 
And 1000 saints
Have found the paths.

It is a way
That all Prophets and Saints bless.

I am home
With the flow
That brings petals
To where fragrance blends
With clarity of fluids,
Various fluids
Gliding to a vast ocean
Of love.

——

i don’t care anymore what i am called by them — Muslim? Alhamdulillah, Sufi? Subhanallah, Buddhist? Masya Allah

what i am sure of is that my sutra is sutra of love with which all prophets and saints have travelled, whatever religions they have been associated with

thank you

💕

No Regret

Learning, Poetic
Rain has no regret.
It’s sharp needles jabbed to earth—
Wildly seeped for life.

——

even wrong decision tasted nice! trust me the chili didn’t even have heat in it 😊 no regret at all

Dirgahayu RI ke-78!

Learning

I normally participate flag raising ceremony on August 17 to celebrate Indonesia’s Independence Day in Indonesia Embassy in Singapore yet this year I don’t as I am in Japan for work.

Not losing hope to express my vibe of nationalism, I decided to celebrate it by eating cold soba standing and slurping (not so successful sound according to my friend though) then watching one-act Kabuki in Kabukiza Theater — all after work.

It is absolutely different way of celebration! So much liking it!

Thank you, Tokyo! I will be back.

Dirgahayu Republik Indonesia ke-78!

Merdeka!

i love you, Indonesia

sluurp!

Kabukiza Theater

8888 — hope to see full performance someday!

wishing to be back 💕

Rin-Chu, the main character in the Shin Suikoden