yummy-yummy!

that's the name of today's Ayyám-i-Há gift, and it looks like this:



bought three packs to give to my coworkers here, and got to explain a bit about the Fast too. it was very much appreciated :)

how to kill a game

reading - manchester united: 0-3 after 6 minutes.

so much for sitting and watching that game...

who is it?

Baha'i World News tells about 12 Baha'i girls among hundreds others who are going to the UN: Girl delegates will be coming from Baha'i communities in Brazil, Canada, India, Italy, Sweden, Tanzania, the United Kingdom, and the United States to the UN Commission on the Status of Women meeting, which this year will address as its priority theme: "The elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child." who the swedish girl is? no idea, gotta find out...

and I need to buy socks...

ouch, ouch, ouch...

it's been a while since I went without feeling any pain in any part of my body. I've had a bad ankle for some time that I aggravated on sunday during shooting practice, did something with my shoulder during the weekend too, have had problems with my knees for a while and am also feeling a bit in my thighs. at least my wrists are getting better...

it doesn't help my body that I'm doing something around 4-5 times a week. I know I should take a long rest from squash, football and gym and all that and let my body recuperate, but it's just so much fun to play. I think I should just get my personal physio/nurse... any takers? :)

Ayyám-i-Há of the day: sent a postcard to a friend and a letter + small prayer book to another, hope they'll enjoy it. also made arrangements for something else on thursday, wait and see ;)

cause you had a ba... great day!

today has been just an excellent day! from the message I got in the morning (refer to my earlier post) to meeting a classmate from highschool whom I hadn't seen for more than 5 years on the subway, continue with things going great at work today and almost everything working out, to squash and gym being really giving, and wrap it up with talking to a dear friend on the phone and preparing some Ayyám-i-Há-gifts for tomorrow, and you can understand that I almost don't want this day to end.

I've been planning and thinking about gifts to give to my friends, and I think I have at least one thing lined up for each day. it's made me really happy all day thinking about how to make my friends happy and what small things I can do for them to surprise them a bit. today's gift was to take two of my friends to the movies. we'll see when we have time and opportunity to do that, but the offer stands for 8 months or so :)

the power of *converting* thought

man is of course the supreme being in the physical realm, and has been endowed with the power of thought. however, just having this ability isn't enough. we must first use it, and after we have done our thinking, it must be converted into actions. I'd like to quote a passage from 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Paris Talks:


THE POWER AND VALUE OF TRUE THOUGHT DEPEND UPON ITS MANIFESTATION IN ACTION
October 18th

The reality of man is his thought, not his material body. The thought force and the animal force are partners. Although man is part of the animal creation, he possesses a power of thought superior to all other created beings.

If a man's thought is constantly aspiring towards heavenly subjects then does he become saintly; if on  18  the other hand his thought does not soar, but is directed downwards to centre itself upon the things of this world, he grows more and more material until he arrives at a state little better than that of a mere animal.

Thoughts may be divided into two classes:

1. Thought that belongs to the world of thought alone.
   
2. Thought that expresses itself in action.

Some men and women glory in their exalted thoughts, but if these thoughts never reach the plane of action they remain useless: the power of thought is dependent on its manifestation in deeds....


- - - - -

I have a very practical example of this, tjuvlyssnat.se, whose start and rise to fame I got to experience quite close-by. it is the swedish version of overheard in new york, and many people must've thought about doing their local version of it (which there are a few of). there was even a swedish one that had registered a site at blogspot and worked on a logo, but they never got far enough.
but the founders of tjuvlyssnat really put their heart and mind to it, and went from the stage of thought ("we should do something like this in swedish") to action. and now almost a year after, they've been on tv, on the radio, in numerous articles in all the major and minor papers in sweden (and one or two abroad, I think), and even released their own book:

I think this is a very practical example of what the conversion of thoughts into action can achieve. an idea, a plan, and the execution of it. it's not enough to just have a lot of thoughts, because no matter how great they are, if you never put them into action they are practically worthless. keep than in mind!

happy Ayyám-i-Há!

Ayyám-i-Há (the Days of Há*) are the intercalary days between the 18th and 19th month in the Baha'i calendar. the Baha'i calendar is made up of 19 months, each with 19 days. 19 * 19 = 361, which means that to complete the solar year we need 4 (or 5, in the case of leap year) extra days. these are the days of Ayyám-i-Há. these days are supposed to be spent in joy and spiritual preparation for the Fast (more on that later). Bahá'u'lláh says: "It behoveth the people of Bahá, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name."

during these days, gifts are exchanged between friends, and there are generally one or two dinners being offered by members of the community. however, there is not the same stress as for example during Christmas, as usually the gifts are of the smaller kind. the joy comes from the shared fellowship and from the pleasure of giving, rather than receiving. and I agree, it's much more fun to see someone be happy by what you have given them, even though the happy Ayyám-i-Há-message I got from a friend in the morning did make me very happy :)


(*The letter 'Há' has been given several spiritual meanings in the Holy Writings, among which is as a symbol of the Essence of God.)

almost...

didn't bring the computer with me to my parents over the weekend, and almost made it the whole weekend without checking my mail. some msn on saturday evening, and just checked my mail on sunday just before going to bed.

it's not often it happens for me, but I must say it was quite a liberating feeling, not having to wonder or care if people were online or not. and not checking/answering my mail either... maybe I'll try and make my weekends like that. at least a little bit :)

google desktop

I have to recommend the google desktop. it's got a nice sidebar with very useful gadgets, such as e-mail, clock with sunrise/sunset times, rss feeds, weather reports/forecasts and picture slideshows, as well as countless others. but what I really like the most is the indexing and quick search box:



the quick search box is really nice. first of all, google desktop indexes all the files and programs on your computer, and should you choose to, you can let it index your mail as well. with the help of it you can instantly find anything you want, without having to wait for windows' long searching process. it's definitely a must-have, I really recommend you to download and try it!

you're all idiots!

that's what happens to luke wilson in idiocracy; he wakes up in the year 2505 where the whole world's average IQ has severely diminished. actually, never mind... the movie is stupid, you're wasting your time even reading about it here. stupid humor, not much of a plot, and no real moral to the story. you're better off reading a book. I'll try to post something useful instead.