• “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!”
  • About me
  • About this blog & Awards received
  • Copyright notice

moderndayruth

~ Tarot inspired essays and more

moderndayruth

Monthly Archives: June 2013

Intercession Monastery, Moscow, Russia

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Photography

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

Блаженная Матрона Московская, Покровский монастырь, Matrona Dmitrievna Nikonova, Moscow, Novospassky Monastery (Новоспасский монастырь), Pokrovsky Monastery, Russia, St. Matrona of Moscow, the Blessed Elder of Moscow

100_7037 100_7040 100_7041 100_7043 100_7044 100_7045 100_7046 100_7048 100_7050 100_7053 100_7055 100_7058 100_7060 100_7063 100_7065 100_7066 100_7068 100_7069 100_7072 100_7073 100_7077 100_7078

 

Lyilya, a dear friend of mine (whom you see wearing the beige scarf in pictures here), took me to Pokrovsky Monastery last week.

It’s probably the most popular pilgrimage site in Moscow and the burying ground of one of Russia’s most beloved Saint – Matryona Nikovna, known as Matrona of Moscow.

Also known as The eight Pillar of Russia and the Blessed Elder of Moscow, (1885 – May 2, 1952), Matryona Nikovna is the last saint to have been canonized by Russian Orthodox Church in 1998.

According to CO sources, Matrona was blind from birth – actually she had no eyes – and in her teens she lost the use of her legs. From an early age she was a clairvoyant with the gift of healing. Most of her life she had to move frequently from one end of Moscow to another to avoid persecutions and lived in extreme poverty. She was canonized by Patriarch Alexis II in 1998.

The last two shots are of the neighboring it Novospassky Monastery (Новоспасский монастырь), taken in the evening, on our way to the tube and back home.

Related articles
  • Following Lewis Carroll’s footsteps in Moscow (indrus.in)
  • Russia holds ‘solution’ for Snowden destination (nation.co.ke)
  • Putin: Snowden still in Moscow airport transit zone, won’t be extradited (rt.com)
  • COBE in Taiwan: Chung Tai Chan Monastery and Sun Moon Lake (dauchcobe.wordpress.com)
  • The Liturgy in the Monastery (frtimpike.wordpress.com)
  • Fiji, Russia ink deals (fijitimes.com)
  • Moscow opposes talks with Afghan Taliban (wnd.com)
  • Intercession vs. being critical (davidcampbelljr.wordpress.com)
0.000000 0.000000

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

Bezhaniya Flower Market, Belgrade, Serbia

24 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Photography

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

Balkan, Belgrade, Moscow, Russia, Serbia

100_6622 100_6623 100_6624 100_6625 100_6626 100_6627 100_6628 100_6629

 

I snapped these pics in Belgrade, Serbia, back in May, yet somehow forgot about them meanwhile… The market is located at Bezhaniya, where my family lives. I am in Moscow right now, but it’s been crazy busy in the Uni, so i  am not spending as much time on WP as normally… Promise to make it up to you asap with some brand new shots from mother Russia 😉

 

Related articles
  • Balkans train journeys: travels with Tito (telegraph.co.uk)
  • Belgrade: Barcelona of the Balkans? (placesbrands.com)
  • Belgrade Fortress on the Orthodox Easter (jltraveling.wordpress.com)
0.000000 0.000000

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...

The Worry That You’re Doing the Wrong Thing Right Now

16 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by moderndayruth in Zen

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Attention, Leo Babauta, Macintosh, Notice, Social media, Source (journalism), Time management, Worry

by Leo Babauta

It’s first thing in your workday, and you open up your email. There’s a host of messages, old and new, asking for your attention. You also open up other inboxes in social media and the like. You quickly go through them and get a picture of what you need to get done right now.

But where do you start?

You begin one task from an email, but then quickly have the urge to see if there’s something else more important you should be doing. And this problem repeats itself — every time you sit down with one thing, the dozens of others on your mind (and the many potential urgent items that might be coming in as you sit there) are grasping for your attention.

Is there ever any certainty that you’re doing the right thing right now?

Does the worry that you’re doing the wrong thing ever go away?

This is something I’ve grappled with myself for years — I sit down to write (this post, for example), and the nagging feeling from the back of my mind pesters me, asks me to check email or my financial accounts or the calendar or various social media. Quieting this feeling isn’t always easy.

But still I get the important things done (usually). This comes from a small set of steps I take that help keep the forces of worry at bay.

I’ll lay out those steps in a moment — for now, let’s talk about where this worry comes from.

The Source of the Worry

Why does this worry come about in the first place? Why can’t we just be confident that this is the exact thing we need to be doing right now? That would be nice.

When we were kids, most of us had someone to tell us what to do. A parent or a teacher, who would give us a chore or assignment, and we knew this was what we should be doing. Of course, it wasn’t always what we wanted to be doing, so there was that. But there wasn’t doubt about what we should be doing, because it was laid out by an authority.

Then came adulthood, where things became not-so-clear. We became the boss of ourselves — even if theoretically we have a boss, in reality we have the ability to choose between a bunch of tasks and projects and communication tools, not to mention having to do personal stuff like laundry and cooking the healthy meals that we’re all obviously cooking for ourselves and picking up the kids. We are making choices all day long, with no one to tell us that these choices are correct.

We see other people pounding out the productivity, and imagine them to be rock solid in their choices, always sure they are doing the right task.

I’m here to tell you that this is an illusion. No one is sure, no one is free from the worry.

The worry comes because we want to be doing the perfect thing, and we also want not to mess up. This would be nice: no messing up a project, or our jobs, or that pesky little thing called life.

So we have the desire: not-to-mess-up or do-the-perfect-thing, and we have the fear (worry) that it won’t happen. This dynamic is present in every moment, in everything we do, unsaid and unnoticed most of the time, present only as background noise but also by nagging worry and urges to run to something else.

We can beat it by shining the light of our awareness on it, and digging in our heels against it, and being OK with it being there in the first place.

Steps to Deal with the Worry

OK, Leo, you say to your computer as you read this (I imagine you staring at the screen of a Macintosh Performa 5200) … just tell me what to do to defeat the forces of worry!

Right on:

  1. Shine the brilliant light of awareness: Notice the worry as you sit down to do a task, or to contemplate what task to do. It’s there in the background. Turn your attention to it, and just notice it. Don’t fear it, don’t hate it, don’t worry about it. Just notice.
  2. Accept it as a friend: It’s always there, and will always be there with you. This worry will go through life with you, much as your consciousness of your own existence does, for as long as your heart shall beat. Don’t fear it, don’t try to kill it. Instead, give it a hug. Embrace it. Accept it. Get used to it. You’re together for the long haul.
  3. Welcome it along on an important task: Pick one task to do now. It can be anything, but choose something that feels important to your life and work. Something that you know will help others and yourself. There might be a bunch of them, so just choose quickly on gut instinct. Don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be the “perfect task”. Notice the worry coming along with you. That’s OK. Put your arm around its shoulder, and go along the path together, happy in your newfound friendship.
  4. Set an intention to stick with the task: Before you actually start the task, make an agreement with your friend worry. You’re going to stick with this task, at least for 5 minutes, without switching or following the urge to check other things. For these glorious 5 minutes, you will be sure of one thing: you will do this task, no matter if it’s the perfect task or not. Because actually, my friends, the perfect task doesn’t exist, and the search for it is but a grailquest. Instead, focus on this one task, and be sure you’re going to stick with it.
  5. Stick with the task: You probably saw this coming from the last step. The worry will come up — notice it, smile, embrace it like that friend you have who’s always doing crazy things, and then … stick with the task. You’ll be fine. It’ll be great, in fact. Triumphant and exultant.

And if you do these steps, you’ll get your task done, and then breathe. And smile. Because you came a long way, and you might have a long way to go, but you’re here. You’ve arrived. And it’s a lovely place to be.

reblogged from zenhabits.net

Uncopyright notice: Leo’s entire blog is uncopyrighted (since January 2008), he has put it in public domain; still, when reposting, BE A DARLING and credit the source of original content because it’s the right thing to do.

Related articles
  • Flexibility and Focus – Accepting Life’s Unpredictability (doitchoco.wordpress.com)
  • Flash Flood (studiolightblue.com)
  • Hurry to Worry (jaywinterbottom.wordpress.com)
  • To Worry Less. (184reasonsiwrite.wordpress.com)
  • Don’t Worry So Darn Much. (richstrehl.me)
0.000000 0.000000

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Like this:

Like Loading...
Logo ministarstvo kulture cg

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 790 other followers

Lena Ruth Stefanovic

Lena Ruth Stefanovic

Top Posts & Pages

  • Corruption
  • About me
  • Chomsky, Žižek and West's fascination by pseudo-intellectual bullies
  • Skinny gossip, Kate Upton and the Suckling Piglet
  • Chinese Curses, Costa coffee and the Meaning of Life

Recent Posts

  • Tri boje: bijela, crna, crvena
  • Nevinost sa niskim zaštitnim faktorom
  • Mrlja u mojoj svijesti
  • RETURN
  • Spavaćica moje majke

Archives

  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • November 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012

Categories

  • Awards
  • Coming of Age / Bildungsroman
  • Essay
  • Humor
  • I Ching
  • Kabbalah & Western Hermetic Tradition
  • Magical Realism
  • Photography
  • Poetry
  • Satire
  • Tarot
  • Uncategorized
  • Zen

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Archives

June 2013
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
« May   Jul »

Archives

Tarot Community

Tarot Community

Categories

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 790 other followers

Pages

  • “You’re nothing but a pack of cards!”
  • About me
  • About this blog & Awards received
  • Copyright notice

Recent Posts

  • Tri boje: bijela, crna, crvena
  • Nevinost sa niskim zaštitnim faktorom
  • Mrlja u mojoj svijesti
  • RETURN
  • Spavaćica moje majke

  • moderndayruth
June 2013
M T W T F S S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
« May   Jul »

Top Posts & Pages

  • Corruption
  • About me
  • Chomsky, Žižek and West's fascination by pseudo-intellectual bullies
  • Skinny gossip, Kate Upton and the Suckling Piglet
  • Chinese Curses, Costa coffee and the Meaning of Life

Blog Stats

  • 51,927 hits

Blogroll

  • (con)temporary tarot Enrique Enriquez’ Blog
  • Live Kabbalah Live Kabbalah University
  • Love Dove Tarot Lisa Frideborg Lloyd’s Blog
  • Mary K. Greer's Tarot Blog Mary K. Greer’s Tarot Blog
  • Microfiction by Bonnie Cehovet Microfiction by Bonnie Cehovet
  • Perspectives On Tarot BONNIE’S TAROT WORLD
  • Portal MONTENEGRINA Cultural Gate to Montenegro
  • Tarot Weblog – Adam McLean Tarot Weblog – Adam McLean
  • This Game of Thrones Alison Cross makes Court Cards less of a battle!

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
%d bloggers like this: