How balanced are you today? Key to Peace of Mind

How balanced are you today? 

Key to Peace of Mind

Yes, you can earn and enjoy the most elusive state of happiness - Peace of Mind.

  Dr Abe V Rotor

When you wake up in the morning, go to the mirror so to speak, and look at yourself. Imagine you are at the center of a square. In a perfect square setting you find Peace of Mind. POM has four attributes, which are associated with positive feelings, such as happiness, feeling of good health, mental alertness, calmness, resoluteness, and the like.  A hearty laugh

At one time science tried to devise a biorhythm clock to indicate the ups and down of each of the four attributes. The premise is that every person has his own biological clock greatly influenced by body physiology. A woman's menstrual cycle, for example influences physical condition and temperament. Transition in life stages is a major factor such as the age of puberty, and mid-life crisis which is beautifully expressed, "Life begins at forty." And how about reaching the golden years and the sunset of life?

The coming and passing of seasons dictates the shape of our "square." Winter is generally the loneliest, thanks to Christmas. Spring brings pep and hope, when buds peep from the bare trees, when the birds herald its coming. Summer is vacation, it is a time for loafing and respite. Autumn is sad, but it is a beautiful season.

Then there are circumstances beyond human control such as tragedy in the family, sudden loss of health, broken relationships, and frustration over failures in personal goals.

Whatever conditions you are in today, go to the mirror and see for yourself who you are today.

The Magic Square
1. Intellectually, are you sharp or dull? Have you been forgetful lately? Maybe you have to postpone making a major decision if you are not mentally prepared. On the other hand, make full use of sudden mental alertness. Deliver a paper in a conference, call a staff meeting. Finish a chapter of the book you are writing. It's a new idea, it comes as a spark of genius. Capture it! Just don't submit to your intellectual mood - create one that would bring you the best mind for the day.

2. Psychologically what's eating you? Hold your horse away from anger or aggression. You'll only regret if you submitted yourself to unguarded moments, spurts of emotion which when uncontrolled will lead you to trouble. On the other hand, get out of bed, go to nature, there is a calming effect when you are close to her. Don't deny your genuine feelings though, for good reason. People will love you for being kind, for being compassionate. Remember. "Laugh and the world laughs with you; weep and you weep alone." (The Way of the World, Ella Wheeler Wilcox).

3. Physically, are you fit for the day? Assess the rigors you have to face. If you have been exercising regularly, keeping away from smoking and drugs, and taking the right food, your fitness is not only for a day. True fitness is a long term reward of strict regimen of good health. And remember to keep a positive disposition, just like the Greek philosophy, "A healthy mind in a healthy body."

4. The spirit - the Little Prince in every person (The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery) - is key to attaining an ideal square of your life. Feeling of emptiness is traced to a spiritual vacuum - when the inner person is neglected. When the "why" in life gets more and more difficult to answer, when life's true meaning comes to a crossroad - or even to a dead end. When spirituality can be neglected even in the midst of religious fervor, and therefore will not grow. When winning is not a win-win equation, when the pedestal is out of reach, the spirit fades away. Take heed, don't wait for the day you get lost in the Sahara desert, so to speak.

Balance yourself today, the best way you can. Continue doing so day after day, until it becomes a discipline - self-discipline. Only then can you earn and enjoy the most elusive state of happiness - Peace of Mind. ~

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Past lesson on former Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio 738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class Monday to Friday.
Lesson on TATAKalikasan, Ateneo de Manila University 87.9 FM Radyo Katipunan, every Thursday, 11 to 12 a.m. March 16, 2023; Lesson, Ilocos Sur Community College Education-Extension Program, December 11, 2023

Scarecrow – Endangered Folk Art

 Scarecrow – Endangered Folk Art

Dr Abe V Rotor

Living with Nature School on Blog

Love that scarecrow (banbanti Ilk.). It is folk art on the farm. In the middle of the field it feigns scary to birds, what with those outstretched arms and that mysterious face hidden beneath a wide brim hat. There it stands tall amid maturing grains, keeping finches or maya birds (Lonchura Malacca jagori and L. m. formosana) at bay.

Scarecrow in the middle of a cornfield. 

Finches are widely distributed in Asia and the Pacific feeding on rice grains, and alternately on weed seeds, but now and then they also steal from the haystack (mandala) and poultry houses. They are recognized for their chestnut colored compact bodies, and sturdy triangular beak designed for grain picking and husking. The scarecrow also guards against the house sparrow, mayan costa (billit China Ilk.), including the loveable turtle dove or bato-bato (Streptopelia bitorquata dursummieri), all grain feeders.

Philippine maya bird, national bird of the Philippines - considered a "pest" in rice fields, for which the scarecrow is intended to drive out.

A scarecrow is usually made of rice hay shaped like a human body wrapped around a T-frame. It is simply dressed up with old shirt and hat. The idea is to make it look like the farmer that the birds fear. There is one problem though. Birds, like the experimental dog of Pavlov (principle of conditional learning), soon discover the hoax and before the farmer knows it, a whole flock of maya is feasting on his ready-to-harvest ricefield. It is not uncommon to see maya birds bantering around – and even roosting on the scarecrow itself!

Today the scarecrow is an endangered art. In its place farmers hang plastic bags, or tie old cassette and video tape along dikes and across the fields. These create rustling or hissing sound as the wind blows, scaring the birds. Others use firecrackers and pellet guns.

At one time I saw a lone scarecrow in the middle of a field. On examining it closely, I found out that it was made of a mannequin dressed the way the fashion world does. It reminded me of the boy who discovered the statue of Venus de Milo in a remote pasture in Greece. On another occasion I saw balloons and styropore balls hanging in poultry and piggery houses, bearing the faces of Jollibee, Power Puff Girls, Batman, Popeye, Mr. Bean and a host of movie and cartoon characters. Interestingly I noticed that the birds were nowhere to be found.

When I told my friend, an entomologist, that these new versions of the scarecrow seem to be effective, he wryly replied, “Maybe there are no more birds left.” Suddenly I remembered Silent Spring, a prize winning book by Rachel Carson. The birds that herald spring had died of pesticide poisoning.

Modern scarecrows, though still essentially decoys, seldom take a human shape. On California farmland, highly reflective aluminized PET film ribbons are tied to the plants to create shimmers from the sun. Another approach is automatic noise guns powered by propane gas. One winery in New York uses inflatable tube of men or air dancers to scare away birds.

In the United Kingdom, where the use of scarecrows as a protector of crops date from time immemorial, and where dialects were rife, there are a wide range of alternative names such as:

Hay-man England

Bodach-rocais (lit. "old man of the rooks") Scotland

Vogelscheuche German PHOTO

Kakashi Japanese

Heo Suabi Korean

Orang-Orang Malaysia

Tao-tao Philippines

Pugalo (Пугало) Russian

Espantapájaros Spanish

Bù nhìn Vietnamese

Flay-crow

Bird-scarer

Rook-scarer

Korean scarecrows

A scarecrow wearing a helmet (Japan) PHOTO right

Wikipedia; Trudgill, Peter. Sociolinguistics: An Introduction to Language
and Society. London: Penguin Books, 2000); Photos from Wikipedia, Internet 

Past lesson on Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Take the Lighter - and Brighter - Side of Life with Nature (Article in Progress)

 Take the Lighter - and Brighter - Side of Life with Nature 

Dr Abe V Rotor

   

Boyhood is forever, Living with Nature Home Museum

Boyhood is forever.  You'll never get lost

towards sunset, in life's golden age;

 when lonely, sweet memory's a kindest host,

turn back into the past, page by page

of your diary at your low ebb to boost

your journey in life like a sage.

      

A Child Wonders Across the Sea, floor-to-wall-to ceiling

mural, Living with Nature Art Gallery AVR

Imagination is more important than reason

to a child wondering through time and space;

whereas, we grownups, in our lifetime 

are spectators, wanting of will and grace.

Hug-a-Tree,  wall mural by the author, LWN Art Gallery

Yes, the tree can feel,

it can hear and talk.

Shh... listen to its whisper, 

with the passing breeze, 

birds in their nest,

music in peace.

 

Children's Art Workshop, LWN AVR

Take the backseat: mall and cellphone,

wasteful leisure and time;

welcome: creativity in true expression

of genius in ones prime. 

Fishing by imagination on canvas, LWN 

Make believe scenario,

when action isn't true;

Hurrah! to these happy duo,

and their viewers, too.

Rizal in the Garden, LWN

Join him in exile, now in a garden shrine;

the cause he fought for and stood;

Noli and Fili in action on the grassroots,

rekindled, refreshed, understood.

 

Fruits, Fruits, paintings by the author LWN

Fruits, common subject of still life art,

of different kinds in season;

faithful to the real is the artist's aim, 

yet free of his own expression. 

 

 

Part 2 - Greening the Home   

Dr Abe V Rotor

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

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