Thay

If your cup is small, a little bit of salt will make the water salty.

If your heart is small, then a little bit of pain can make you suffer.

Your heart must be large.

Thich Nhat Hanh

sikhi

Life in gurdwara Sangat Sahib.

(you can click on the image to enlarge it)

burf

Still singing for Sinterklaas while playing in the first snow.

singing

What fun!

He came, he came!!!!!!

And if you are sweet he really, really comes at night. We had first snow yesterday night, but still he came and brought some sweets and books.
Dank u Sinterklaasje!

Sinterklaas

It is Friday evening and as usual my granddaughter, Tineke stays the night.
End of November till 6 of December children are very excited because Sinterklaas and his friend Black Peter are wandering in the chilly nights on the roofs of our houses.
They bring sweets and toys for all the children that were sweet.
Tineke made a drawing of Black Peter and she put a carrot in her little boot, for the horse of Sinterklaas.
"But Tineke you didn't put anything for Sinterklaas himself in your bootie"
"Look oma, i put a sugar cube in my bootie, if Sinterklaas want to drink a cup of tea!"

... i did not ask who is going to make the tea? Hahaha!

"Sinterklaas kapoentje,

leg wat in mijn schoentje,

leg wat in mijn laarsje.

Dank u Sinterklaasje!!!!"

sevadars

Yesterday it was "The day of the senior". And so some of the seniors of my hometown came to visit our gurdwara.

For most of them it was almost impossible to sit on the floor, so i searched every chair available. i was so busy answering questions i forgot to take any pictures of this group. But i took a few of our faithful sevadars in the kitchen who made some great chai and pakorè.

Thank you guys!

There is still a lot of ignorance about sikhs and sikhism and it filled me with happiness that my fellow citizens took the effort to discover their new "neighbours".

Like one elderly lady said: " I am over 80 and before i die i wanted to see "the church of the sikhs". I am so happy now, they are such nice people, so friendly. We were worried for nothing."

Of course i could have told you that a long time ago!

man in blue

In London lives a sikhbrother of mine Harjinder Singh. Since he is always dressed in blue, he is ...(what do you think?) "the man in blue".
He is born in The Netherlands, lived a long time in India and is settled now in England.
Now and then he comes over to Belgium and visits our sangat.
So take a look at his blog and read about his latest visit over here (and a lot of information on sikhism, a good column, a strong point of vue etc...)

http://maninblue1947.wordpress.com/

loyal friend

First of November i should have left for India. i delayed my trip with a few months because of various reasons.
Some of these reasons were located in India and well known. Problems that are almost solved...
But deep in me there were other reasons that were keeping me here, unknown reasons at that moment.
And last week one reason became clear when i went to the vet with my dog Kaya. My sweet and loyal friend is diagnosed with cancer.
There is no cure. So we wil not torture him with operations and treatments, we will give him his last weeks, months as comfortable as possible. Pain will be the benchmark. His pain.
There is no cure for my pain either, but that will not be the issue, i will be with him every moment.
My sweet and loyal friend...

wabi sabi and me

Did you notice that "wabi sabi" is suddenly all over the place?
It is in every paper, magazine, article etc... or is it me, only noticing now that the western world is discovering this ancient wisdom?
I discovered it a while ago, since i "dwell" in religions, in Buddhism, start practising zazen and so it was only natural that one day i was going to find wabi sabi.
And it fits me so well! It is the way i look at things, hear things, feel things. The way i am surprised by the beauty in so many things...and persons. It is so close to my motto:"If you can not see God in all, you can not see God at all"
I am a simple human being and i have very simple desires, simple wishes. i am not impressed by the big constructions in the world that everyone is supposed to admire. i look in detail, feel in detail. Beauty is in every corner of nature, in small and humble things.
And finally i found a term to cover how i look at the world. A term that expresses and suits my lifestyle.
My husband is teasing me that i finally found a term that gives a good excuse for my untidyness, for all my rubbish everywhere...
"But look at the beauty of it, dear" i said, but he was not impressed. Hahaha! Wabi sabi...

wabi sabi

wabi sabi is a beauty of things imperfect
impermanent and incomplete
it is a beauty of things modest and humble
it is a beauty of things unconventional

(Leonard Koren: "Wabi Sabi for artists, designers, poets and philosophers"

orange

Sorry i did not make the effort of keeping up my blog for so long. But i make the good intention (yes,i know that is the way to hell...hahaha) of posting more regularly.
If i have nothing to say or am still thinking about what i am going to say, i will post some photo's. Like this one. Orange (for those who are colorblind).
Good to be back.