Immerse yourself in this pool of creativity to discover its origins.
Welcome to my first solo online blog. I feel very privileged to have this form of communication as I hope to be able to share some positivity with you all, through a variety of topics, pictures and of course... quotes!
How to begin?
"In a gentle way, you can shake the world"
What did the venerable Mahatma Gandhi mean by these words? And who was he addressing? Can we all as individuals really make a difference?
Unanswerable questions?
Throughout daily life, we are faced with innumerable seemingly inexplicable events, decisions and opportunities which we may either choose to ignore or acknowledge in a matter of moments. For me, this has been demonstrated in multiple ways but most recently, with the decision to align some of my life experiences into one space here. I have been inspired by those near and dear to begin this venture into the online world of blogging and I cannot wait to see what opportunities arise.
Having decided to undertake this project, immediately I began to consider all the wonderful opportunities which I have been lucky enough to experience, starting from my earliest memories at St James Independent Junior School in Stockport where I felt supported and part of the extended family, right up to my current studies at Newnham College, University of Cambridge where I will begin my final year of studying Classics in October 2019. During the past few days, I have pondered about how to best communicate my ideas through this blog as I am very aware of how many inward-looking blogs already exist. Consequently, I hope to present multifarious perspectives instead of purely my own and to encourage you all to open your minds accordingly. Hopefully together we can expand our communication within the entire universe, irrespective of culture, background, ethnicity or other similar delineations, and remember that we share many qualities and characteristics as human beings currently living on Planet Earth.
"The biggest communication problem is that we do not listen to understand. We listen to reply."
Take a minute to consider how often you stop to pause and reflect during the day. Week? Month? Year? In the 21st century, technology has made life much simpler and easier in many ways, with robots speeding up processes and supposedly giving us more time for ourselves. However, in reality, time nevertheless appears to fly by and there seems to be even less time spent bringing people together, as the larger majority of us apparently continue to work harder and rest less. We take less time to think before acting and charge headlong into work and personal situations without giving ourselves or those around us sufficient time to take a breath. In. Out. Breathe.
Does life always have to be this busy?
My recent time spent swimming has relit my passion for the sport as it reminded me of childhood competitions and exciting rivalry being part of the Stockport Metro club which added to the intense atmosphere as we had the privilege of watching Olympic athletes train alongside us. However, what is more, this recent bout of swimming has given me the perfect opportunity to contemplate on larger life questions in the quiet and peaceful tranquility of the water. Despite the noises of the external surroundings from the lifeguards, other swimmers and general hubbub of a public swimming pool, everything seems to disappear once you submerge into the water.
There are many similarities in the pool to our everyday lives. What happens on the surface is quickly muffled once we discover the depths, just as we have the opportunity everyday to consider what is more profound in our lives. The single black line at the bottom of the pool which many of us fervently follow to avoid other swimmers could represent one particular thread of life which we cling onto until the end, and are reluctant to look for any others. Our persistence in avoiding fellow swimmers may be seen to reflect our ignorance of the fact that we are sharing this planet with approximately 7.7 billion other human beings with whom we could nurture powerful connections with, in order to help make the world a cleaner and purer place to live, just like swimming together in the pool instead of fighting viciously in opposite directions and increasing the general agitation. It appears to me that this conceptualisation can help us to consider our position in the world [or oversized pool if you prefer that visual image in the mind] and whether we want to mess around at the shallow end on the surface annoyed at other people's splashing, or whether together we are willing to take the plunge and look beyond merely one fixed black line.
What next?
I hope you have enjoyed reading this first blog and have now got a small insight into how imagination may be able to help us unite the world. With each blog, you can expect an assortment of topics and viewpoints with a fair share of quotes and pictures to keep your imagination alive. I hope you have worked out the theme of this first blog and that it hasn't been a total washout... *hint hint
I conclude with another illuminating quote by Andrea Bocelli to remind you all of your own individual importance and positive value in this universe:
"Like stars across the sky, we were born to shine"
Love,
Sitara xxx
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