by Orly | Apr 16, 2016 | Blog
My latest idea, and I’m having a few at the moment, is that Cloudscapes could be built across political boundaries as a place of peace and play and spirit to spirit connection.
I have a special connection to the Berlin wall, which came down on my 19th birthday as I flew from Athens into Cairo as a birthday treat. Just a month or so before I had been to East Berlin and had sat with medical students in West Berlin who all doubted that the wall would ever come down.
The border between Israel and Egypt would be another meaningful location for me.
I’m feeling pretty determined about making the piece in Bondi happen this year. Ideas for planning and funding are continuing to develop. My mind is jumping ahead of me.
Here is my current list of places I would like to build Cloudscape :
Australia (Bondi)
Germany (Berlin)
Israel
Iceland
Australia (Bellingen)
North America (New Orleans?)
Russia
northern Africa
South America
by Orly | Apr 16, 2016 | Blog
This is a lesson I’ve been learning recently. And it is one that is entirely within our control. Speaking it releases it .. allows it to come out into the open to be examined and let go of with compassion and love.
But of course, that starts with a need to trust. And that can be a huge journey in itself .. reaching a level of certainty or of desperation to surrender, knowing that within is the strength to survive and thrive.
I’ve loved to see my life as a closed book .. and it exists on countless journals that were my companion the past 27 or more years. I want to start opening them up. Perhaps I will release some secrets. I wonder myself what I will discover. I will look for lessons I can pass on from where I now stand.
I also want to create a video of each of the aikido techniques, with my training buddy Monica, to see myself from an outsider’s perspective, and achieve clarity in the process. I think that would help me and also be helpful for others who would like to have an introduction to the art.
I used to love to go and watch the soap box orators in Hyde Park in London and I’ve always been fascinated and in admiration of people who can express themselves with confidence and clarity. I know I just need to keep practicing and I can start to develop that confidence in baby steps. It feels like the beginning of a new journey.
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt
by Orly | Apr 16, 2016 | Blog
I’ve just created a new page on my website, announcing a new idea that meshes in with everything else, as things seem prone to do at the moment.
I am calling it ‘Walking for Connection’. It is another journey of exploration. What I’m envisioning at this moment is an app or website booking system.
Who:
This is for people who want to get fitter, to see the world, to connect to others, to open up to new perspectives, and to expand their world.
How:
A way to connect with fellow adventurers via your phone or computer. A booking system shows walks available, and allows people to commit to doing a walk – either on their own or meeting up with other. Factors such as fitness capabilities, interests, requirements etc could be built in. And even if we just want to walk by ourself, accountability can make all the difference.
Martial responsibility
I also want to build an accountability system for my aikido dojo so that people can commit to classes in advance and classes can be cancelled in advance if there is lack of interest or teachers are unavailable.
So there you go. Two new products.
Ever onwards.
by Orly | Apr 13, 2016 | Blog
I’ve been exploring my life in lots of different ways lately .. through music, conversation, writing, connection and creation. And I’ve had lots of insights as I look back on my life and see the impact of early decisions. One of those was around the need to protect myself, and this has been something that has driven so much of my life. But now, after 45 years, I feel like I’ve been a keeper of the flame of childhood and innocence and that I have tended that delicate flame so that it has been able to grow stronger, and waiting for me to be strong enough to share it
And the message is ..
We need to let go and play.
Peace.
Amen.
by Orly | Apr 12, 2016 | Blog
This blog post has been on my ‘to do’ list for way way way too long. I feel like my thoughts on this topic are a tight bundle ideas that I have been having trouble teasing out into a coherent story .. or even knowing where to start.
So I’m starting. And that is a breakthrough in itself. I will keep getting this lesson until I properly take it on board .. thinking about something doesn’t get me to clarity, but gets me swamped in confusion. Action is my path to clarity. And that is how I came to set up a ‘mastermind’ group in the first place .. which is what this article is about. For years I had been on a mission to set myself up as a freelance operator .. and my architecture studies were really aimed at that, except that I didn’t want to be an architect – I didn’t ‘feel like’ an architect. For years I had been playing with the ideas of sculpture, and playgrounds, and landscape, and magic .. but it was so slippery I had trouble pinning it down into a concept. So, it was after many years of exploration and thought that I had finally crystallised a concept that felt meaningful and aligned in many ways.
But the clarity I felt about my concept – sculpture for play in public spaces – threw me into a new cauldron .. this time challenging my desire or tendency to do everything on my own. I was discovering that if I wanted to make this happen, I would have to connect with other people. The crisis this provoked was catalytic, and with perfect lessons at perfect times I have come to shift long held beliefs about myself and the world.
It was a confluence of events that brought me to bravely declare my need and desire to create a mastermind group. Two people put up their hands and we formed a group. This group has been a godsend and has helped me push forward, connect with others, inspire, be inspired, and break through barriers of resistance.
I will stop this for now .. since I have other things to do right now .. but I will post this now so that I can break through THAT barrier.
Halleluyah!
