Beautiful – Page 7

Deep down we are all Warriors

March 5, 2012 By Atalwin Pilon Leave a Comment

So what have I learned? I have learned that human beings are very much the same. It doesn’t matter if they are Dutch, Greek, Israeli or Lebanese. It doesn’t matter if they are wealthy or less wealthy. We all experience loneliness, separation, suffering, doubt and sadness. And we all have the potential to embrace ourselves.

Another lesson is that it seems that the weight of every day life is heavier in a small community with quite a few social restrictions. That sounds like an open door when I write it down but it felt humbling when really being present with it. I saw quite a few caged people here, locked up in palaces, literally and metaphorically.

As I come almost to the end of this post I realize that I hope that people don’t see me or my journey as somebody or something exceptional but as something within their reach too. We can all identify our fears and then do the work to overcome them. Deep down we are all warriors. The only thing we need to do is start acting accordingly.

“I drove the ambulance”

February 27, 2012 By Atalwin Pilon 3 Comments

Since it was Sunday the traffic wasn’t completely clogged, thank God. My taxi was driving unexpectedly fast, swerving fluidly from lane to lane, passing cars on the left and on the right. I am enjoying and appreciating the fact that this man will help me get into the snow faster than I had hoped. His English was not so good. I pat him on the shoulder and say: “you drive very good”. Then he said: “In 1988 we had war. I drove the ambulance”.

Ilana Meallem: Warrior.

February 19, 2012 By Atalwin Pilon 3 Comments

Ilana is a warrior who uses her heart as her weapon. Her heart works together with her voice. Her words seem to flow softly and gently from a deep, limitless source, every word reaching it’s destination in the hearts of others. After walking me to the bus stop she gave me a long warm hug and whispered her blessings in my ear. The only thing I remember is that I had tears in my eyes after 4 sentences and that I felt a river of goodness coming over me, so overwhelming that my concern became not to drown her and soak her shoulder.

Listen to her message:

Fearlessness put into practice (after having the body and heart fed)

February 16, 2012 By Atalwin Pilon 3 Comments

It is amazing what a good meal can do. I find myself in Tawlet Restaurant, owned by Kamal Mouzawak. Friend and connoisseur of the Arabian cuisine Merijn Tol introduced him to me. It’s the second time I’m here and the first time by myself (Kamal is traveling). The food was so good it almost made me cry.

I truly feel that our planet is teaching me about the relationship between the earth and what I put in my mouth. What I ate here wasn’t some über culinary experience but it is feels very, very honest. It is authentic and integer. I don’t now how to describe it. This is what comes up: there is no ego in the food. But it has dignity instead. What I had on my plate resembles my ideas of spirituality: honest, simple, good.

Taking a deep plunge into Jewish tradition

January 31, 2012 By Atalwin Pilon 4 Comments

I arrived on a Friday afternoon, a couple hours before Shabbat. Shabbat is a day of strict rest. The religious Jews are not even allowed to switch the light on or off. Which means they have found all kinds of clever solutions like leaving the light on and have special plates that keep the food warm for the next day. The hours before Shabbat are very hectic; everybody is rushing. If feels like rushing to your massage appointment, as somebody put it.

Miles Kessler sensei, warrior.

January 26, 2012 By Atalwin Pilon 6 Comments

I studied with Miles (and I studied Miles) for a full week as an uchideshi. An uchideshi is a live in student or, literally “inside student”: a student that lives inside the dojo and gets to study his or her own inside and the insides of the others. When you pay attention you can see Miles shift into different roles all the time. On the dojo floor his presence leaves no space and has no tolerance for unmindfulness but still he moves from gentle, patient and being a buddy, to a tiny bit of a show-off and back to the authoritarian Sensei. The fluidity of his presence is reflected in the fluidity of his aikido.

Surrendering to the vine of the soul

May 30, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon 2 Comments

I get tired of being heart broken (what is still what I feel like these days). I don’t mean that metaphorically, I mean that literally. I costs me a lot of energy to feel pain, sadness and remorse over and over again. I often wonder if I’m exaggerating or that I’m abnormally sensitive or dramatic. Last week I spent another two full days struggling with facts that my ego finds painful or unacceptable. When I find myself in the middle of the storm it seems impossible to help myself. While my whole body aches, especially my heart (again: literally) the wise words I speak to myself don’t touch base at all. Then at some point, seemingly out of nowhere it flips and I feel space and love coming up.

What I am starting to learn that my experience of life when I’m in a state of surrender is radically different from when I’m in a state of resistance. Unfortunately for me it seems I cannot gently will myself into surrender, I only submit after serious battle. But what I find striking is that the experience I described in the previous paragraph was very similar to the experience I had in the ceremony.

Enlightened Faces #7 Pema Chödron

May 24, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon Leave a Comment

The perfection of imperfection

March 12, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon 3 Comments

So I’m caught up in this eternal dance of my loving heart and my fearful ego. My hearts want to embrace, my ego wants to compare and judge. And when I embrace my comparing and judging my ego tells me that I can now safely say that nobody can embrace like me, creating distance again between me and other.

Sometimes it’s helpful to see the truth. Not inside us but right in front of us. Sometimes we see something that is very pure, very fragile and we realize it’s perfect even if it isn’t.

Please sacrifice 5 minutes of your precious life to watch this video.

Letting the dreams out

January 30, 2011 By Atalwin Pilon 2 Comments

We worked together for 2,5 hours, faciltating an experience of openness, connectedness, togetherness, acceptance, space and silence. The willingness of these beautiful young people to plunge into the experience touches me. At the age of 23, I can imagine that me and my friends would sabotage a similar process, thinking that acting rebellious would be the cool thing to do. Working with this group gives me hope. Hope for our planet and hope for the future. I wish them an open heart and a strong back bone on their journey. I wish them the courage to stay true to their hearts when the going gets tough. I hope their bonds grow strong and that they got each others back, supporting each other when facing resistance. And finally, I hope that they will forever keep dreaming and that their dreams will come true; not just for me, not just for them but also for the sake of our planet.

Are you ready to become a Warrior?