Not sure if its just me or having the amounts of work pile up before starting to realize you actually have to do them, then realizing that there's no motivation whatsoever to get anything done in the first place. Anyhow, was reading Edward Monkton's little wisdom books at MPH at Raffles City Shopping Centre the other day. Guess they don't have a lot of the series but there was just this one and it was labeled happiness. For those who don't know who Edward Monkton is, he's this pretty ingenious card designer Giles Andreae (yeah Monkton's just his persona). Basically he just designs these cartoon designs with random interesting thoughts and statements.

Anyhow, I guess its simply because each page means something different in this slapstick funny manner and that's what makes people fork out the money to buy them (well along with the really cute drawings of course). Just came across two pages of the book that I found were extremely meaningful. One was titled 'That Still and Settled Place' while the other was titled "Love and Happiness". Just wanted to share it both so;

That STILL and SETTLED Place
In that STILL and SETTLED place
There's nobody but you
You're where I BREATHE my oxygen
You're where I SEE my view
And when the world feels full of noise
My HEART knows what to do
it finds that STILL and SETTLED place
And DANCES there with YOU.

I guess once again the poem here's pretty self-explanatory. Though we have all those amazing compositions about love – lyrics, poetry where we have a dictionary by our side and still have not a single clue what they're talking about exactly –don't really think this talks really about all the hot-headed passion, but instead the peace of understanding. The tranquility of just being even though you may not know why or what or how. Just like the confusion sometimes that we all face, sooner or later.

I don't know why, but somehow most of the time works, when talking about love or friendship always discuss the idea how everything's always beautiful and amazing while you're able to confide in someone. But the thing is if there is a problem, then pretty mirages the fantasist comes up with will just be classified as delusional in the world of reality. But what hit me hard about the still and settled place is that. We all know we have to face our problems, eventually, to deal with them one way or the other. But its just that sometimes we do need a break. To stop, sit back in that quiet little place that lets us regain our sanity, breathe and recharge before moving on in that continuous battle.

Personally I think most of our hearts don't know what to do. When we get sad, frustrated, angry because there's just too much going on. All the more it gets to me, to hope that someday my heart will know when it needs to find that still and settled place, and to dance there, happy as it can be. Because sometimes we need a break, let go of everything, be wild and free.

Love and Happiness
Let us remember that in this RICH and BEAUTIFUL world there are only two things worth living for – LOVE and HAPPINESS.

The words are just so innocent you wonder why we move along and forget all the simple things like these that make life worth living in the first place. Perhaps its because we derivate, people do heinous crimes, people backstab. Perhaps its because the world isn't as pretty a place as it were with just trees animals and us. Perhaps we all returned to the way things were, decided that fighting was more appealing, that selfish was the way to go. Keep asking myself what exactly is happiness but I never really get the word out, never really understand. Here we are all in the pursuit of happiness, when perhaps we're just never satisfied with what we have? I guess self-satisfaction plays a role in the works of contentment and happiness, but when will we ever be content? How often do we sit down and thank Him for all that we have in our lives instead of grumbling about what we don't have? When do we start appreciating things before they're gone? There're too many questions, but there always are and we can never answer all of them. Maybe all we need to do is just take a step back to the past where we knew the answers straight and simple, and keep it there in our hearts.

Anyhow for those who want to find out more about Edward Monkton, his website and the catalogue if you wish to view more of his designs.

Also, just a call out to all the people out there who actually read this blog; if you're a student who's good at video making/ photoshop/ IT stuff and can commit to a pretty large scale project, please email me at rewindthegun@gmail.com. So that's all for now, while I go back to pretending to study biology.

Labels: Books, Thoughts