Winnie the Pooh

Pooh is a cuddly, easy going, honey loving, stress free bear that every little child would adore. A character i got introduced to by none other than my daughter.

Thanks to my daughter and of course its creator A.Milne & producer Disney Pictures the entire gang of 'Winne the Pooh' and his friends in the '100 acre wood' also happen to be a member of my family. And I mean this literally - each character with its own very distinct personality can be compared to a member of my family. It is absolutely charming to see how such diverse personalities inhabit together.

I was fascinated to understand the philosophy as described by Benjamin Hoff. Especially the parallels drawn between the personality of Pooh and the preachings of Taoism.The carefree, non egoistic, happy where you are kind of ways. One that goes with the harmony & rhythm of the universe, never challenges anything and yet accomplishes everything and still remains nonchalant about it.

I think it is fantastic - this is also the style of Taoist form of fighting called "T' ai Chi" which is gentle and elegant compared to the harsh & screaming Confucianist fighting "Kung fu".

It is quite difficult to attain Pooh's childlike simplicity and calmness in today's fast paced competitive world but it already feels relaxing just to think about it and i hope my little doll continues to be like her favourite Poo-bear.

You could get a personality check for yourself and check which character in the 100 acre wood you resemble at: http://www.hubpages.com/hub/Personality-Test

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho

My latest hobby is to read all the books that i have read in English, to read the same again in Swedish. And i picked up this one since it did not look so thick in pages but in content it has left me brooding over it for much longer then it took me to read it.

This is a philosophical Spanish fable of a shepherd trying to realize his destiny and of course it is the journey that is more important than the destiny itself. The interpretation to each of us may differ but at the end of the day we are all looking either for that "elixir of life" or/& "the sorcerer's stone" that will turn all lead into gold.

But the fact that most appealed to me since i belong to the world of communication is to be able to speak and understand the "language of the universe". I am what my sister calls a "left brain person" (ie. a logical human being) or perhaps she means that i have only half a mind and that the other half is missing :)

I guess to be able to understand the soul of the universe and speak the language - you need to have the other half - "the right brain". I wished i knew how to do this and then i dont have to worry about learning swedish anymore :)

But since i dont even have a single "P" in my name - i decided to understand this universal language with the only half mind that i possess. I am no Einstien but i like to watch Discovery channel - and i have heard of the "Fibonacci sequence" or the "golden ratio". Now these are the mathematical interpretations of the rythms or the patterns as observed in the universe - ratio in the design of the leaves and trees, ratio of the land vs water on the earth, ratio of the solid and liquid in a human body...so on and so forth. So there is some universal pattern and hence a universal language if you try to understand it.

And so when i look closely there is some pattern that has to be adapted to learning a language which is more rythmic than a mere translation of words.

To be able to learn the language of the universe, I may need to evolve a few thousand years more. And then i may find my learning swedish completely futile. Just like the ironic realisation at the end of the book. But let us continue our journey for the time being and just try finding the "oasis".

However i would recommend you to read this book only when you have enough time to get your mind ##*## up. Alternatively you can watch the movie which is rumoured to be coming up soon with Laurence Fishburn as The Alchemist.