Photo Quote

Çok para kazanmakla, zengin olmak arasında devasa bir fark vardır..

Marlene Dietrich

Photo of Happiness...

I bet you all have some photos on your archives or on your mind that is describing the happiness for you. They are always very special as it is the embodiment of my happiness..Couple days ago I found another one.

Eminim hepinizin arşivlerinde ya da hafızasında, işte bu mutluluğun resmi diyeceğiniz bir kaç tane fotoğraf vardır. Benim için mutluluğu resmedebildikleri , somutlaştırdıkları için onlar çok özel ve güzeldirler. İşte geçen gün böyle bir fotoğraf daha buldum..

Behind this picture came a lovely blog and a new book. Australian Claire Lloyd made the Greek island Lesvos as her second home. She lives, loves and shares her small island on her lovely blog and her new book My Greek Island Home. I found so many similarities of her life and mine in our small paradises..I really enjoyed her blog and hoping to read her book soon...

You can reach Claire from here

Sonrasında bu fotoğrafın arkasından çok güzel bir blog ve harika bir kitap çıktı. Avusturalya'lı Claire Lloyd Yunanistan'ın Midilli adasını ikinci evi yapmış.Midilli'deki  yaşamını, adaya olan sevgisini ise blog'u ve yeni kitabı My Greek Island Home ile herkesle paylaşmış. benim Datça'daki hayatım ve onun Midilli'deki yaşamı arasında öyle çok benzerlikler buldum ki. Blogunu çok sevdim, Umarım kitabını da en kısa sürede okuyabilirim..

Claire'e buradan ulaşabilirsiniz..

No words necessary...

Happy Sunday.../ İyi Pazarlar...

Photo by Erbil Kural of a dear friend of mine and his girl friend at Tobago Cays - Southern Grenadines...

LOVE

Datça'dan sevgiler...

Dear friends, as we struggled with some health issues in 2011, I wish all of you a healthy 2012. If we have health, I believe we can create all the happiness and abundance we need..

Sevgili dostlar, 2011'de bir takım sağlık sorunları ile uğraştığımız için, 2012'de herkese çok sağlıklı bir yıl diliyorum. İnanıyorum ki,sağlığımız yerinde olursa, her türlü mutluluğu ve zenginliği yaratabiliriz.  

Tree of Life (Shaman / Christmas Tree)

I love how certain beliefs affects one another throughout the history. You probably all heard about tree of life which is coming all the way from Sumerians..Then comes the Shamans of the Central Asia, and they started to believe that mother earth lives under this tree and the father sky above..They celebrated the winter solstice day as a rebirth festival as days started to beat the nights. During this festival they started to decorate a certain type of pine tree in order to honor their gods..Below is my little tree. I put some snow on my pic as I miss snowy days..

Tarih boyunca çeşitli inançların birbirini nasıl etkilediğini takip etmeyi çok ilginç buluyorum. Örneğin hepinizin duyduğu ve varlığı Sümerlere kadar uzanan hayat ağacı. Daha sonra Orta Asya'da Şamanlar bu ağacın altında yer ananın üstünde de gök babanın yaşadığına inanmaya başlamışlar. Gün'ün geceyi yenmeye başladığı kış gündönümü gününüde yeniden doğuş bayramı olarak kutlarlarmış.Bu bayram sırasında tanrıları onurlandırmak için akçam ağaçlarını süslemek ise adettenmiş. Aşağıda benim küçük ağacımı görüyorsunuz, karlı günleri çok özlediğim için rasme biraz kar yağdırdım..

During these festival they put small gifts under the trees as offerings to the gods and tie ribbons or pieces of fabrics to the branches of a pine tree to make wishes..Friends and family also got together for a special meal to celebrate where everybody put his best dresses on. During the time of the Christianity, its been known that Council of Nicaea banned these traditions as being pagan. However during the 16th century decorating a pine tree in honour of Christ again became a tradition again first in Germany and then spread to the rest of the Christian world.

Bu festival sırasında ağacların altına tanrılar için küçük hediyeler konur ve dallarına da adak dilemek için kurdeleler veya kumaş parçaları bağlanırmış. Ayrıca aileler ve arkadaşlar bir araya toplanır, en güzel giysilerini giyer, beraberce özel hazırlanmış yemekleri yerlermiş. Hristiyanlığın ilk zamanlarında, bu geleneklerin paganlara ait olduğu ileri sürülerek İznik Konsülü tarafından yasaklanmış. Ancak 16.yüzyılda İsa peygamberi onurlandırmak için ağaç süsleme geleneği ilk olarak Almanya'da yeniden ortaya çıkmış ve oradan da tüm hristiyan dünyasına yayılmış.

I took last two photos on my trip to Turkhmenistan. As you can see decorating tree branches is still a very common practice there as in most of the Central Asia. However, I have to admit that my Christian friends are doing a much better job in decorating a tree.

Son iki fotoğrafı Türkmenistan seyahatim sırasında çektim. Görebileceğiniz gibi ağaç dallarını dilek dilemek amacıyla bezemek, tüm Orta Asya'da olduğu gibi orada da halk arasında çok kabul gören bir gelenek. Ancak itiraf etmeliyim ki Hristiyan arkadaşlarım bu ağaç süsleme işinde kesinlikle çok daha başarılı..

Love of Rumi

This past Friday, Dec17th was the anniversary of Rumi's death, or his wedding night as he likes to see his departure from this world as a reunion with his beloved...

Starting from my late 20s, I started to learn a great deal about my religion (Islam) as well as others. I was searching for something...and as Rumi said '' the seeker will eventually find what she has been looking for whether he goes fast or slow '' it was a long walk for me and at the end I became a rather spiritual person but not a religious one.

Among so many great teachers and prophets two of them really resonated with me. Rumi with his love and Buddha with his wisdom. They are the ones who lay the stones of my path..

The year 2007 was the 800th birthday of Rumi, and for the occasion there was a special train journey from İstanbul to Konya where his tomb is. I was one of the lucky passangers of this special train. We slept one night at the train and there were lots of discussions and poetry readings thruout the night. Very special..

Below are some photos from that journey..Starting with the tomb of Rumi..

Whirling dervhishes. It is a real treat to see a good show. They are meditating while dancing, you are meditating while watching..

 Their hats symbolizes their tomb stones..

As it is not possible to take photos inside the tomb I took the photo from here. It is very elaborate and peaceful.

One of the highlights of the trip was a speech given by Mrs Esin Çelebi; his 23rd generation granddaughter..

In the meantime Rumi's spiritual mentor and friend Shams said to be buried in a nearby place which is also used as a mosque right now.. Very simple place compare to Rumi's. The 3,5 years Rumi and Shams spent together in Konya is the most crucial time in Rumi's life as Shams friendship and teachings created the Rumi that we have known today.. As Shams death is a great mystery, actually nobody really  documented about his burial place. So this place is most probably not his real resting place..

Full Moon

Yesterday there was a beautiful full moon. When it first appered on the sea it was in a gorgeous red colour. Then slowly as it rises up, the red turned into a bright yellow.. It's reflections on the sea were breath taking and inviting you to dream and ponder.

While laying on a deck chair and having some 'me time', I remembered a zen story about the moon and ponder about how little actually we need to be happy....

One night a thief visited the little hut of a zen master only to discover that there is nothing to steal. Then zen master caught him and offered him his clothes as a gift not to send him empty handed. Afterwards as he sat naked, looking up, seeing the moon, 'poor fellow' he said ' I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon'

Hope you are not neglecting to enjoy full moons...

First photo: Last night

Second photo: Another full moon in Datca...

Cherries..

'' Live in each season as it possess; breath the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit and resign yourself to the influences of each''

Henry David Thoreau

Have a great week and enjoy your fruits...

IF

If you can start the day without caffein or pep pills,

If you can be cheerful ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist your complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can understand that loved ones are too busy to give you time,

If you can overlook when people take things out on to you when thru no fault of yours, something goes wrong,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can face the world without lies and deceit,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,

Then you are probably a DOG...

I heard this piece on a zen talk given by Tara Brach and love it.....