Writer's block is a fancy term made up by whiners so they can have an excuse to drink alcohol. Sure, a writer can get stuck for a while, but when that happens to a real author -- say, a Socrates or a Rodman -- he goes out and gets an "as told to." The alternative is to hire yourself out as an "as heard from," thus taking all the credit. The other trick I use when I have a momentary stoppage is virtually foolproof, and I'm happy to pass it along. Go to an already published novel and find a sentence that you absolutely adore. Copy it down in your manuscript. Usually, that sentence will lead you to another sentence, and pretty soon your own ideas will start to flow. If they don't, copy down the next sentence in the novel. You can safely use up to three sentences of someone else's work -- unless you're friends, then two. The odds of being found out are very slim, and even if you are there's usually no jail time. -- Steve Martin

OK, I'm having the classical 'writer's block'. Today I received a feedback that although what I write about is interesting, but the topics can be somewhat too tense. This has triggered me to question the intention behind this blog.


Initially, I envisaged creating an atmosphere which promotes self discovery and fosters discussions by relating personal experiences to the transpersonal. Essentially, I had aimed to make it sound although private, yet impersonal.


The actual focus however seems to be on what I think and how I feel. This can become intense at times, hence I blame my progressed moon right now going through and touching off the stellium of planets in Scorpio in my natal chart. Yes, Scorpio is probably the most intense sign in the zodiac (and very magnetic too :) ), so you can understand carrying this much emotional intensity and depth can be sometime hard to bear. 


Each post represents a snapshot that reflects my thinking at that particular point in time. Considering thoughts can be fleeting, just traversing back to the beginning of the year, I was very likely quite different to how I am now. 


All and all, I want us to find and realise our happiness in our own ways, and I was hoping this blog would encourage everyone to do just that. 


So maybe it's time for me to lighten up. Since we all operate at different wavelengths, rather than trying to instigate an emotional resonance or advocating change and growth, maybe I can bring joy and laughter instead through introducing the little things that I find pleasurable.   


Although I am not sure what I will be writing about next, the blog may possibly undergo a 'paradigm shift' and hopefully becomes more inclusive. So thanks to those who have been continuously reading and keeping an interest in me.


In response to what Steve Martin has said above, I decided to unashamedly and safely 'plagiarise' two of my friends' quotes this week:


* "Look forward, not backward."
* "Abundance attracts abundances, lack attracts lack. It is all about where it comes from."


I had a relatively quiet but important week this week, I had an epiphany early in the week , and some very happy things happened to me during the week. Before I go off, I just have to mention: 


* Congratulations to SSSSS on the new job offer. You deserve it and I will look to you to get some private insurance discounts 
* Thanks AAAAA for trusting me to read the chart. I hope I had brought you some good news
* I was teased by LLLLLLL for not being able to identify my method of anger release, and the next day 'provoked' by IIIII to pick a method and act on it. Thanks to you both then for helping me meet the monthly healthy stress discharge quota   

Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. -- John Gray

But are they?

I have always known this book to be a popular hit (amongst female readers mostly I suppose), but was never interested until some months ago noticing it in the shop. I have to admit that I was impressed after finish reading it, because it perfectly explained the behavioural differences that separate men from women which to me before seemed so incomprehensible. The author has a good observation and understanding as to why men act one way, and women the other, and especially what motivates one and not the other. (Obviously some exceptions excluded)

But do we really come from distinctly different planets? 

Astrologically speaking, each of us has a Venus and a Mars. The signs which these two planets reside in (Aries to Pisces) and the types of aspects they form tell us a lot about what we find attractive (Venus) and how we go about getting them (Mars). Although this is a much simpler interpretation, but as a general rule, Venus shows what we find pleasing and how we please others, whilst Mars is about how we assert our will and ourselves.

Most of the psychological astrology books that I have read up on recently share the common theme that our relationships represent as a mirror for ourselves. The qualities that we repress or deny are likely to be found in others whom we have close relationships with. I guess this must be mean when opposites attract. We feel inevitably drawn towards to people who are different from us, but at the same time paradoxically, we can be repelled by these dissimilarities. This is because the qualities which we think we lack, are projected onto others unconsciously. 

It is therefore not difficult to see that perhaps most men tend to feel more comfortable exemplifying Mars, whilst most women will associate with Venus. And the reason for this comes down to what is regarded as the social norm, and what is determined as culturally or socially acceptable despite that we think men and women should be equal. Men are probably expected to be more assertive and women are expected to be more sensual. And when some of us do step outside of our zones, they end up manifesting entirely the other. This happens occasionally when men are totally disconnected from their Mars, and women from their Venus. So this still does not change the fact that we project the part of us (whether Mars or Venus) that is disowned onto partners whom we choose to complement us.

It is possible to integrate both Mars and Venus by first acknowledge the existence of both within ourselves. I cannot help but wonder, once we have embarked upon this process, what would it mean to the dynamics of our existing relationships? If I reclaim back the Mars that has always carried out by you, you must be impacted in such a way to also identify with your Venus in order for the relationship to still remain (or should I say, evolve). Or maybe we will be attracted to very different people for very different reasons.

I cannot comment on if this is better, and it may just be up to the individual to realise how important the journey of becoming whole or complete within themselves is. 

However I do believe that men are able to be more sensitive without becoming effeminate, and women can be less passive yet remaining feminine. And I feel more inclined towards this, and through transforming ourselves, we can bring along others to grow and become with us.

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? -- Vincent van Gogh

The Road Not Taken  by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. 

The greatest happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather, loved in spite of ourselves. -- Victor Hugo

If you really loved me, you'd find me -- Jules Feiffer

It is important to look at death because it is part of life. It is a sad thing, melancholic but romantic at the same time. It is the end of a cycle—everything has to end. The cycle of life is positive because it gives room for new things. -- Alexander McQueen

Sleeping is no mean art: for its sake one must stay awake all day. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

I need sleep. No update tonight.

If you can't forgive and forget, pick one. -- Robert Brault

I have lately withdrawn into a state of hibernation. People from the past are appearing in the dreams now more frequently than ever, and although I can never recall the details the next day, I am always left feeling exhausted and perturbed. Can we forgive and forget the people who have wronged against us or hurt us? And most importantly, can we learn to truly forgive ourselves?


Maybe each person has different capacity to forgive and forget, and some of us may find it easier to move on than others. But we sometimes make ourselves believe that we are just fine, until something triggers a part of that buried memories, be it a song, a scene or an innocent comment made by someone else, then the emotions bubble up onto the surface and we no longer feel strong but vulnerable again.


There is no point wishing the past was different, because it makes us who we are today. Hopefully, we learn from our own disappointments, failures and mistakes and become stronger. But what if we find ourselves keep failing in the area that we desperately want to conquer? The pattern gets harder and harder to break as time goes on. It is different from having had no experience so we can be enthusiastic about experimenting, once we have accumulated the joy and pain and everything else that goes on in between, we retreat and feel immobilized to change 'fate' - further preventing us from attaining the one thing that we want the most. Isn't it funny that we fear the same thing that we desire?


As said by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Forgotten is Forgiven. Maybe they are essentially the same thing. We can no longer be bothered by something we have forgotten. And if a certain thing
provokes a reaction, there must be the same thing within us which mirrors it.


It may be possible to differentiate the two if not permanently, but temporarily. Forgiveness comes from a place of love. If there is someone you love, you can forgive or convince yourself to forgive, but you may not be able to forget if it has caused you pain. But when the love is gone, you will wish to forget but may not be able to forgive because of the previous pain you have been inflicted.


Some people say that we only begin to forgive when we recall those who have hurt us and can wish them well. I personally have not mastered this, and honestly, nor do I wish to. I appreciate the experience for what it is, not more, and not less. If they are people from your past, make peace and just leave them there. I believe the most important thing is to realize who you value now and who you want in your future, think about them, protect them and love them.


Forgive many things in others; nothing in yourself. -- Ausonius. I don't believe this to be true. True forgiveness can only come when you have learnt to accept and forgive yourself first, then can you hold real compassions towards others for the struggles they go through. Because what we see in ourselves, we find in others.


How unhappy is he who cannot forgive himself. -- Publilius Syrus