iCiNG Transformation Challenge: 24/28
[ 23 February 2009 ]
“You live like this, sheltered, in a delicate world, & you believe you are living. Then you read a book, or you take a trip, & you discover that you are not living, that you are hibernating. The symptoms of hibernating are easily detectable: first, restlessness. The second symptom (when hibernating becomes dangerous & might degenerate into death): absence of pleasure. That is all. It appears like an innocuous illness. Monotony, boredom, death. Millions live like this (or die like this) without knowing it. They work in offices. They drive a car. They picnic with their families. They raise children. & then some shock treatment takes place, a person, a book, a song, & it awakens them & saves them from death.” — Anais Nin
P.S. Today is Lightcasting Day! Get on it!
Love letters & feather headdresses,
Tags: inspiration,
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This may be one of my very favorite quotes—-thank you for posting it!
You really brightened up my day love
What wonderful words, I do so very much agree!
I love this! Fantastic quote, thank you!
This really captures my feelings for the past month. Now I’m in the phase where I’m creating & planning to make major life changes in rapid succession. Thanks!
I love it. Great words to live by. Cheers
Thanks so much!! Amazingly inspiring, as always. :)
God I love Anais Nin.
Thank you miss.
Anais Nin is SUCH a great author/writer.
how is your transformation challenge going, gala?
because this is the very first couple of pages in her first journal, this is the first piece of anais nin i ever read – it was such a revelation to realise that i was not the only one who thought of everyday life as a kind of sonambulance, something from which it was possible to awaken. it was so significant at the time.
making an effort this past month to actively go out even when i feel like hibernating inside has been such good practice – as has only shopping from small and independent retailers. i went into a supermarket once, to buy my toner – and i hated it – the fluorescence, the angry people. i think, although my challenge seemed small, it’s helped found some pretty big changes in the way i approach day-to-day life.
so thanks, you!
I just have to say that this is an awesome blog! The whole thing is very inspiring and I’m so glad I found you! Thanks
Eh that quote is true. But I guess it get’s to me because I already realise this but I lack the motivation/courage to start living. So as insperational as it is, it is also rather frustrating! Perhaps I should have centred my challange around this! (next time, or my own personal chalange then)
I WILL start living! I WILL, I WILL!!!
Ditching my office cell will the first step once I am financially stable enough to do so!!!
/looks forward to the future. :)
Holy shit, that’s an awesome quote. Wicked awesome.
It reminds me of something I read by Paulo Coelho… (it’s not quite the same as the quote you’ve chosen, but still…)
“For a moment, he sat remembering the first time he had experienced that mysterious relationship between two beings who want to be close, but can only be so by inflicting suffering.
Millions of couples out there practised the art of sadomasochism every day, without even realising it. They went to work, came back, complained about everything, insulted their wife or were insulted by her, but were, nonetheless, tightly bound to their own unhappiness, not realising that all it would take was a single gesture, a final goodbye, to free them from that oppression.”
- Eleven Minutes, Paulo Coelho
wow, i was thinking and feeling this exact same thing. thank you. It is mind boggling though…
Oh I love this quote.
And I love Paulo Coelho. (Yah kat!)
It’s quite the collective community you have here, Gala.
xx
Gala! I miss seeing your awesome outfits :(!
Oh and also…I’ve been thinking of getting one of my arms tattooed, like how you have them. And, you probably already answered this question, but anyways, What are your tattoos about?
Sorry for the total random comments, haha.
Mmm, this hits home with me. A while ago I realized that I was incredibly bored with my life, so I decided to shake things up a little. Now I’m volunteering at a wildlife rescue association and loving it so incredibly much, I wake up with a huge grin on my face every day. It can be done!!
Also; Yeah, I love seeing your inspired stylin’s but don’t ever stop posting things like this!
I really like this quote you have up today, it resonated with me. Thanks.
this quote depresses me. not everybody has the means to travel and see the world and “really” live…what other choice do we have? i feel like this quote is great but almost demeans the lives of us “ordinary folk” who have no real chance to get out there and “live.”
grace – I see your point, but I like to think this quote is more about deciding to live consciously & fully, to let yourself get swept away by the things you love! & not only by travel & new places, but also by things a bit nearer to home — books & stories & people & beauty in small places. That’s what keeps you ‘alive’, isn’t it? I also think what we call an ‘ordinary’ life can be incredibly fulfilling, but that’s another story. ;p
I hope this makes it a little bit less depressing to you! :)
Also: why haven’t I read Anaïs Nin yet? ;p
“...you believe you’re living” – surely that’s all that matters? If someone is happy with their live, no matter how dull or mundane it might be to someone else, then that’s all that matters. Okay, you’re not travelling the world or meeting loads of new people, but you’re happy.
But I think I can agree with it in one way – if you interpret ‘living’ as a feeling – ie. do you feel alive, or dead inside?
I think it just hits a little too close to home :(