Meditation Challenge: Part 1

Serene, tranquil, calm, peaceful.
   New Years Resolution #1: Become the calm, tranquil person, the name Serena implies.
   Strategy to achieve this: Learn meditation


thanks to ChrisK4u

 Meditation, you just sit still doing nothing right? I can do that, the other day I sat in the world's dullest meeting for two hours doing nothing. How hard can it be?

Attempt 1: Sitting in the front yard. Fail - not my fault, the birds were too noisy.

Attempt 2: Moved to the back yard. Fail - well the neighbours dog kept barking.

Attempt 3: On the lounge with a vanilla candle burning on the coffee table. Fail - I was too worried that with my eyes closed I wouldn't know if the candle had become intimate with one of the many piles of 'must read' articles on the table, and the house was now silently burning down around me. Besides Biggest Loser was starting in 5 minutes and I wanted to see what new patterns Shannon's tattoos had morphed into after such rapid weight gain.

Stay tuned for more soul-destroying attempts. I refuse to give up.

A Shared Dream On Australia Day

'We are one but we are many, and from all the lands on earth we come, we share a dream and sing in one voice, I am, you are, we are Australian.'.....Really?


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The day began amongst 1,947 young foot fetishists on Cottesloe Beach tempting to set a world record at the annual Havianas Australian Thong Challenge. After recuperating with a barbeque, 3 swims and 2 hours prostrate in front of the tellie watching the Australian Open, it ended watching skydiver Tony Dale bringing the Australian flag to rest on Langley Park. It may have been his 9th time but it was still impressive, as were the fireworks that followed. But when you consider Tony is 68 years young it does make you think doesn't it....
Perhaps next year I'll make the effort to actually join in the Thong Challenge and help wrestle the title back off Sydney who piped us with 2,086 people. Seems like a lot of effort though, especially on a day off. Maybe I'll just venture out from the safe confines of my 6th floor, 5 star, foreshore hotel room balcony, and brave the masses 'from all the lands on earth' below, in the outrageous port-a-loo queue. To their credit they were all singing in one voice....'Com'on mate, what are you doing in there?'

Premature Patriotism



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The air is getting thicker, the minutes struggling to tick by. National pride is oozing from streets, supermarkets, and grey office cubicles.

There's an epidemic of lamingtons, lamb cutlets and prawns taking over the supermarket shelves. Trying to find a packet of dahl or Malaysian curry paste is like searching for the Holy Grail.

The streets are different too. Worries about fuel consumption or carbon footprints are forgotten. The engines of old work horse Utes are straining under the drag of full sized, fluttering Australian flags. There's even a kookaburra laughing on the power pole over the road, no really!

Our national day is almost upon us. The level of mateship displayed during the Queensland Floods, combined with the warm Oprah embrace, is propelling the nation to the point of apoplexy....Australia Day 2011.

Meanwhile I am left to ponder.....surely a half hour fireworks display will be enough to satiate us, and the subsequent two hour traffic jam wont prove too big a test for Aussie mateship?

Hang on why's that kookaburra looking at me like that?
 

Why The Ponder Room?

We've all had moments in our lives that have left us pondering; sometimes shaken, sometimes stirred. Whether the experience warmed us to our core, or ripped our soul apart, we've learnt something about ourselves, the people we share this life with, and the world around us. 

thanks to zpics

The Ponder Room aims to provide a collection of information, essays, reviews and other ponderings that:

• - Share what we are all learning along the way;
• - Offer a supportive, environment;
• - Entertain;

and most importantly remind us to focus on the positive, and live life to the full.


As Leonard da Vinci said

'As a day well spent brings happy sleep, so life well used brings happy death'

We welcome discussion on topics (although we try to keep away from politics and religion)  What you have you found yourself pondering about recently?
We also welcome any feedback on the site.

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