Sonntag, 30. Dezember 2012

Happy Nude Sunday... from TGIF to HNS!

Of course, Sunday is my traditional day of recharging before a new week at work starts... this Sunday is no different, since I'm spending it mostly skyclad, taking a barefoot stroll (then clothed, mostly due to stupid social taboos) and afterwards again enjoying the freedom of being my naturally naked self, before having to enter the artificial world of the office again.



And it's also the time of the week for me to post my other kind of motivational pictures - following the "Thank Goddess, it's Friday!" series, we're now celebrating "Happy Nude Sunday!" again. From TGIF to HNS - marking the entrance into and the exit out of the weekend time, those precious days and hours, when I can tell the world, that I love being me, and that nothing will ever change that.



Fortunately, we're at the end of the year, which means, that the proper start of the week at work (with lots of things to do, like the monthly statement for December) will be no earlier than Wednesday. Monday - New Year's Eve - will feel like having a Saturday shift at the office, followed by another Sunday, before the week starts proper. It is like a weekend deja vu, rather than starting a full week at work. Funny, really, since I will start that next week with something that feels like a Saturday shift, having to work for only half a day, followed by New Year's Day, which will feel like Sunday reloaded, and I will end the week with a real Saturday shift. Those holidays can be really weird designers of weeks and schedules, sometimes.


Speaking of New Year's Day, you might wonder if I have already formulated any New Year's Resolutions... well, yes, I have formulated exactly one:

I will not formulate any New Year's Resolutions, for I don't want to change a bit about me!

I am going to travel through the year, as if I were taking a barefoot and nuddhist stroll on a colorful and interesting path - one step at a time, each day being a step, making sure to take in as much as I can of the sensations and feelings surrounding me, gathering positive vibes wherever I can, radiating the excess of good and positive energy to share it with the world at large and the loved ones dwelling in my heart.



So, you can trust in me staying the same weird, barefoot, shameless (literally) and often naked hippie person I am now. Why would want I to change what makes me and others happy?

So, have a Happy Nude Year! I know, I will...


Samstag, 29. Dezember 2012

Wolf Moon illuminates the final weekend of 2012...


"Wolf Moon" is a term used by North American natives to describe the December full moon, since it used to be the time, when hungry wolves howled at the moon in cold and long winter nights. Let's hope, that this sound will be heard in the future, too, since wolves still are an endangered species, suffering from a bad reputation (which was spawned by humans).

And just as all full moons before, it is a time to power up, gather energy and use the moon's power to rekindle the inner light.


This full moon was timed just right to spend me an extra portion of positive power, as it illuminated my way to work on the final day of my office week (even though it was a short one, interrupted by the holidays). Iwas able to capture its light on my way out in the early morning, as it was about to set, at the bus stop before entering the bus and also after exiting the bus, shining in a more industrial setting...





Even though it was shorter than usual, I still had that feeling of joy, that the week at work was coming to an end on this Friday, and also shared it with others, using my usual TGIF message...


Even though the two work days interrupted my holiday week barefooting (five days of unshod bliss), I was able to still give my bare feet their freedom before and after work, thanks to mild conditions. Even the often falling rain did not dampen my good mood, since it meant being able to enjoy the delight of splashing in puddles, refreshing myself on the start of the office day and to feel the coolness of wet pavement, cooling off after the office day on my way home...




Looking back on the holidays and a little on the past year, the event that rattled most people's mind was the interpretation of the Mayan Calendar, which many people read (or rather misread) as announcing the end of the world just around winter solstice. Actually, nowhere in the Calendar was any reference to the world ending... the real truth to be discovered was this:



All kidding aside, although Twinkies did end in 2012, the real truth behind the Mayan Calendar was nicely and truly summarized in a speech the Bolivian president Evo Morales held in front of the 67th UN general assembly in September 2012:



It would be really nice, if it turns out that way. This last year, I have tried my best to gather positive energy and spread out some of that to the people dear to me, trying to be the virtual shoulder to lean on, when needed and offering advice and help. My reward for this? Well, granted, I may have scored a few positive karma points, which might enable me to return to this world as a creature living on this Earth in the daylight, feeling Mother nature under by bare feet, paws or other appendages there might be (perhaps my whole body, if I return as an earthworm) and not being a cave-dwelling creature like a naked mole rat or an olm... although, being a naturist, naked sounds not too bad either.


The holidays themselves were a mostly lazy time for me, recharging myself and - especially on the 2nd day of Christmas, Dec. 26 - contemplating on things...



Don't worry, I wasn't drawn into depression or having suicidal thoughts in my head. I love life in general and mine in particular too much to do that... even though life has hurt my heart and soul at times, the wounds have healed over, leaving scars. And, honestly, all the things happening to me and people I met and people who have departed, have and had their purpose and function to shape me and my life as they did.

No, December 26 used to be the booster of family X-mas celebrations, being my father's birthday... that changed, as well as my personal view on X-mas, after he died on December 3, 1993, nineteen years ago. We would have celebrated his 83rd birthday this year.

Witnessing the sermon at his funeral, where a priest was prattling about "how God liked it to take him to His side", I also changed my views on church, swearing an oath never to set foot into one of those buildings again. I never again wanted to be part of a crowd, worshipping the interpretation of a creator who likes it to kill loved ones... Out of politeness and respect towards my brother's family, I broke that oath (partly), to attend my niece's and my nephew's confimation services. But I denied joining the crowd when speaking the Apostles' Creed. I do not believe in that church anymore.

So, it's not surprising, when I join in with many people believing that the holidays are merely an invention by the Christian church, establishing a fictional birthday of an enlightened being (which Jesus of Nazareth was, undoubtedly) in order to subdue the pagan faith in winter solstice as a feast of light in the cold season. What I still share with other people is believing in these days being a celebration of familial love - although my view of family extends the boundaries of lineage and blood relation.



So, I can safely say, that despite my less than usual sentiments about X-mas and the holidays, I had a nice time. Although, my gift, which I have chosen to present myself with (a new Mala, since my old one broke, two new cloths to make into a sarong, a fluffy blanket and a new supply of Nag Champa incense), will arrive after the X-mas holidays. Well, sometimes even Santa can be delayed, due to circumstance beyond his control...



Now, it's time to look ahead and hope for a happy new year 2013... although, there are dark clouds on the horizon... recently, a first sign of this world changing has emerged... and it can be spotted very easily, too. The future looks grumpy...


Montag, 24. Dezember 2012

Sonntag, 23. Dezember 2012

Powering up on a mild Sunday...

On the last Advent Sunday, one day before X-mas eve, temperatures rose up to almost spring levels, with 13°C (55F). Not going out and taking a barefoot stroll would have been a total waste of this mild weather. I chose to wear a sarong and a warm fleece hoodie as my barefooting outfit. Even though it was raining slightly, I did not feel cold and at one point even a shower came down, which I used in the best way possible - taking a rain bath.

Yes, I was indeed so daring as to make part of my barefoot stroll a nude one, too... it was mild enough for my taste to stay skyclad for almost half an hour.

Before doing so, I was enjoying the different textures, puddles, mud and the soft, wet skin of Mother Earth when walking on bare soil.










When coming to a favourite place of mine in the park, the three alders, reminding me of the threefold Goddess (Maiden, Mother and Crone), I saw that the park was deserted, and I felt that this was now the time to pay this Mother Nature monument a visit - barefoot and naked, powering up, doing a breath meditation at the center of the three trees, feeling the soft soil underfoot, while a gentle breeze blew a slight drizzle onto my body.





After finishing my gathering of positive energy, I saw that I was still alone, and so I decided to stay nude. The air was still feeling nice and mild, and the drizzle now started to increase, becoming a shower, which I used to take a rain bath - one of the most wonderful things to enjoy when being naked outdoors...



The falling rain did affect the camera, so that capturing that moment was clad in mist. As soon as the shower was over, I walked on, still enjoying the freedom of natural nudity. When I began feeling a little cold, I gradually put on my clothes again, starting with my sarong, then putting on my hoodie, before zipping it up again, returning to the barefooter appearance from the beginning of my barefoot stroll.





Funny, really, that it's only been two weeks since I have been barefoot in ankle-deep snow and now had the chance to be skyclad on a barefoot Sunday stroll... Sometimes X-mas wonders can be as simple things as mild days.

Donnerstag, 20. Dezember 2012

Nuddhist stargazing...

The hunter is lying down to rest... this is what it appeared like to me, when being on my balcony, deeply inhaling the crisp, clear morning air (2°C/36F)... I just had to take a gaze at the clear, starlit sky, seeing Orion set in the west, powering up the nuddhist way, then sipping some hot, strong and sweet black coffee... 

 OK, I'm ready now for Thursday at the office.


Mittwoch, 19. Dezember 2012

A mild case of Mid-week Madness...

Yes, indeed, it's Wednesday!



The week's peak is past us, and it's now again the easy stroll downhill towards the weekend. After my leave (which I needed and which was really good to reharge), spending my time in "The Matrix!", a.k.a. the office, is easier. Plus: in my absence, our team has managed to work off most of that backlog, too. So, actually, the week's plan above is a bit inaccurate, since there is a little "smile" feeling to Wednesday, today, too.

That might also be due to the fact, that I was able to leave work on time, while there was still a little daylight left. It's quite detrimental to a good mood, when arriving at work and leaving for home are both done in the dark, which might happen in winter. Well, the solstice is near, and (if I and the world will still be here after it), the days will grow longer after that...

So, some people might still feel like depicted below on Wednesdays... but: don't worry, things will improve as the week goes by.



Oh, just in case anyone's been wondering: yes, the weather over here is mild enough to still do that - I am indeed walking barefoot to work and back home. I just felt, that a certain lack of redundancy in foot images would be OK. Today, however, the feeling of cool and wet grass, while gazing at the afternoon sun, trying to make a breakthrough, contributed greatly to making me feel good at the end of the work day. 




As far as madness is concerned, well, since yesterday I'm living in a country, where gummi bears go to court and win... nothing can shock me really. So, when reading in the online edition of the German newspaper "taz", that German actress Christiane Hörbiger, aged 74, was denied entering a dancing school for age reasons (!), I was not surprised at all. The mad part about that: the school is located in Vienna (the Austrian capital, with its morbid charm and the most beautiful graveyards in the world). It's no surprise either, that the German dancing school association ADTV has reacted properly to the demographic change and our society as a whole growing older and older, by offering courses especially for elderly people: "Rollator dancing" - yes, you can now even be hip and learn dancing, doing a wheeled walker polonaise.

Here's the link to the original German article:

http://www.taz.de/Tanzen-zu-hip-fuer-Senioren/!107747/

OK, it's now an easy swing towards the end of the week, and I shall enjoy that easy ride. And let's hope, that the Grinch's designated successor won't spoil things for us next week...




Not very sweet... gummi bears sue chocolate bears

Sounds funny, doesn't it? But these are the numbers seven and eight on the world-wide winnings list in sweets sales, Haribo and Lindt Sprüngli, fighting at court about a copyright infringement.



Haribo has sued Lindt, since the Lindt chocolate teddy bear, sold by the name "Goldbär" (golden bear, obvisouly based on the golden foil packing), constitutes a copyright infringement of the registered trademarks of Haribo's gummi bears, which are sold by the name "Goldbären" and the bear's appearance - golden yellow with a red ribbon, which is too similar to Haribo's copyrighted cartoon bear depicted on gummi bear bags...



.
Sad news for chocolate lovers: the gummi bears won. Lindt Sprüngli has to take the golden chocolate teddy bear off the market.

Sonntag, 9. Dezember 2012

Sunday Snowfooting!


Yes, as promised, here's me enjoying the special delight of winter: snowfooting!

Actually, the coldest part of it was walking on the sidewalk, where salt had been strewn on, since that cooled the pavement and the water on it down below freezing level (see final picture below)... the snow itself felt nicely fluffy beneath my soles and around my toes.

And, after going back inside, my feet were tingling nicely and glowing bright pink. A really nice way to wake up proper. Nevertheless, I backed it up with hot coffee right afterwards, too!