Agatha Seymour's

It’s common knowledge that I’m a great movie fan, so we often have film clubs at our place. Everybody brings some kind of a treat that we eat before watching the film (I’m also good at preparing two kinds of cakes and the guests can usually enjoy these in turns) and choosing the film is my task. This week we watch one of the classics of Buñuel.

Although I hate routines, the practices that I have built into my life provide me with a firm base and security. Of course, I carefully consider what I should spend energy on every single day. For me these things include meditation, practicing mantra and running. This is a kind of outer and inner construction of myself. The energy I invest in these activities turns back to me multiplied, I feel myself fresh and it’s great to know that I start and finish my days with activities from which I gain energy for a long time.

However strange it might sound in our bitter world, sometimes as a believer I wish all the best for every creature, mainly on the basis of Buddhist teachings. I wish that everybody feel good and has a better life. As I see it, we shouldn't live without sympathy. Just because one doesn’t put their sorrow in the showcase, it doesn’t mean that they don’t have any problems. Many people are expelled to the streets, children don't have anything to eat, so many horrors are there in the world.... We must be grateful for the things we have and it doesn't cost anything to wish all the best for everybody before going to sleep.

I regularly take my books, which I don’t need any more to the second-hand bookshop. On the one hand, the new pieces of my collection don’t have enough space; on the other hand, it always comes to my mind what if someone needs the books I have already read. Maybe others will also consider taking their read books to the shop and I will be able to read the one I have been looking for. How wonderful it would be if in a nice circle always everybody would find what they want to read.

One of my friends has just moved into a new flat. When I visited her in her new home I was surprised seeing her living room. The snow-white wall was full of black and white pictures of her family and friends framed in black frames. ‘I took all the pictures or one of my friends. They don’t represent artistic value but they make me happy whenever I glance at them. I feel as if my loved ones were here with me’ said she and the idea and the view obviously made her happy.

Everydays become quite burdensome without inner peace and harmony. That’s why it’s good to remember some things consciously. One of these ideas is that everybody is needed on earth. Everyone’s existence is important! For ourselves at the first place, but for many other people as well. You should never forget it!

My husband is an ultra-rational man. I have heard countless practical guidance for life from him! One of his important teachings was the following: Half-work is not crowned by half-success. The world only appreciates the final result and it doesn’t really matter how much you had struggled for achieving nothing or half-success because usually nobody can profit from that so that doesn’t count. In life you are not graded, you can’t get a D or a C, you can’t just pass. You either know something or not, either achieve something or not. Unfortunately, I have had to face so many times the truth in this statement…

As I see it, honestly uttering your opinion is part of real freedom. Of course, not being a smart aleck, not shouting, not shaking your fist, not offending others, but in an appropriate and calm way. It’s important since being a coward doesn’t pay off neither in the short run, nor in the long run, neither regarding your health, nor your self-realization. Apart from that, especially in a superior-inferior relationship, you must declare for yourself and the other that you don’t let the “superior” suppress you, since we are all equal human beings!

I used to be obsessed with the idea that I had to see the world as others do. Today I’m happy that everybody sees it differently. In this way the world seems much more exciting, colorful and I believe it is extremely interesting to get to know the worldview of others. Moreover, each and every new encounter means plenty of new ideas and thoughts from which everybody may profit, ideally.

For a while now I stick to one rule: I don’t want to fight all the battles of the world, I have chosen the ones that are important for me and I don’t care about the others. Until I wanted to fight every battle in every possible location, life seemed no more than the line of endless struggles. Since than I (maybe) have become a bit wiser and now I don't consider it so important to fight all the battles. For myself I leave some time for having a rest and for others for fighting!

If summer, then cotton candy and cooked corn. Of course not together but in turns, one at one day and the other the next day. Although I’m devoted to healthy life, there are some things I can’t resist. Of course while committing these ‘violations’ I must admit that this much is acceptable and even healthy. At least for your soul. Anyway I’m happy that even though I stick to my own rules, I’m kind-hearted to myself and let the little pleasures of life sweeten my everydays if the opportunity knocks on my door….

I believe in the sixth sense. I even incorporated some elements into my daily routine with which I can improve it. Before opening the mail-box I guess how many letters there are. If I get a text I try to guess who sent it. The result speaks for itself. Of course not just in case of letters and texts, but also in other fields of life when it really counts and when it is important to make a good decision I can count on my inner voice.

Many groceries have gone bankrupt recently. Lately I bumped into the owner of the only shop, which runs very well for more than ten years. ‘No secret’ says the owner. ‘Before opening my own shop I had worked in another shop for years. I made my employer assign me all kinds of responsibilities, so I could learn all the stages of the work processes, which are essential for this business. I opened my own shope in possession of the relevant experience, practice and knowledge. If you take my advice, at first you get to know all the important details in connection with the business you want to set up.’ Good advice!

Sometimes I get lost in the world. ‘It’s not a wonder’ says my husband, since as a philosopher of religions I didn’t learn much practicality during my studies. In these cases he, as a rational mind, corrects me and helps me to see reality. Recently I came across an amazing offer. I was astonished by the opportunity and I almost said yes when my husband shyly, in his down-to-earth manner help me to decide with one single remark: ‘Something that looks too good to be true, is not true’ he said. What a good remark! Good to remember it when you have to make a decision!

Recently I saw an interesting interview on TV with a well-known singer. She talked about her life, her philosophy of life and several other things. For me the most interesting of all was when she confessed that she has a tattoo on her arm saying: ‘I don’t give up.’ Whenever she has to face difficulties in life, she just looks down to her arm and gathers power from what she can read there: ‘I don’t give up.’ Even though I don’t have a tattoo, and I don’t even intend to have one, this thought deeply impressed me. Even without getting a tattoo, her approach might stand as an example for many of us.

I have some acquaintances who are unhappy ever since I know them. For a long time I couldn’t understand their behavior. Then following some lengthy conversations I realized that they are not happy because they don’t want to be. These people are not interested in anything, have no motivation at all, and I couldn’t find the trace of enthusiasm about anything. I guess in order to be happy they should surmount some kind of inner obstacles, such as self-pity, envy, sense of guilt etc… And this won’t be done by anybody else for them!

Sometimes we need difficult, fate-determining, fateful events in life. These always cast new light on our lives, our everydays and ourselves in general. These help us to start a new life, to see the world from a different point of view, to change and to open up new dimensions. A difficult or stormy situation might help us in letting a relationship or a job go; and through letting these go we provide room for something new!

I always have a book with me. There is always a volume of short stories from my favorite writer in the glove compartment of my car. If I go to a place where I have to line, I immediately put it into my bag and kill the time with reading. If I think it through I have read several dozens of books on the subway, on the bus, on the train or on a plane etc. I warmly recommend this method to those who like reading, but chose carefully regarding the size, as it might be uncomfortable to carry around a heavy book all day…

If I don’t feel like reading on the bus or in the car I listen to a brain-control CD (101 Positive Thoughts) or to the audio-book of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. These boost my good mood and millions of new ideas rush my mind while listening to them. I recommend them to everybody!

I often see my acquaintances living their life aimlessly. I simply can’t understand them. Life has millions of opportunities in store for all of us, the only thing we have to do is to make an effort and enable these opportunities to find us. It’s not easy for anybody, but if we are waiting for a miracle or we are not at all interested in our everyday lives, then why do we live? Let alone the fact that we have less time each day for creation and for being happy. The where, with whom and how is everyone’s own decision!

In my experience, having a look at myself and at my surrounding, it’s not necessarily immense knowledge what makes someone wiser or more successful. I’m not saying that there is useless knowledge, only that there is a difference between knowledge and knowledge. There is a kind of knowledge that you can use and there is a kind, especially theoretical knowledge, that you can’t or only to a limited extent. We had better take the above into consideration before starting to learn anything, since it’s important to see how much the thing that we study enriches our life or whether it enriches it at all…