MEANING
"hearsay, rumors, loose talk, untruths, and gossip are all just noise. and there's so much noise surrounding us today. it's like bees buzzing in the background, usually totally meaningless, full of nothing really important. and noise is just so annoying (hence the term noise), especially when we cannot quiet it or tune it out. so we pay more attention to it, validating it, though we should not...we should simply breathe away the noise, focus on beautiful things and not the drama, smile, and silence it all by just letting go" ― bodhinku, drama is noise
"to make (something) out of nothing" is defined as: "to raise a fuss about something minor, trivial, or unimportant; to exaggerate or put too much focus on a minor issue and make it seem like a major drama"
the meaning of this impression is related directly to the title of the famous shakespeare play, "much ado about nothing" with the title implying the idea of people making a big fuss out of things with no real bearing, significance, or meaning...making something out of nothing...the play is truly one of shakespeare's best, and is about how hearsay, gossip, loose talk, untruths, and rumors can be quite destructive to any relationship, no matter how much people are in love with each other...but this stage play does have a happy ending with a relationship broken by untrue gossip being repaired and set right in the end...
"ever get frustrated when someone turns nothing into something by making a big deal over it? they take something meaningless or small and blow it totally out of proportion, become overly dramatic, just trying their damnedest to get you upset....so, how do you deal with that? pause for a moment and do nothing except breathe: take a deep breath, breathe out, take another deep breath, breathe out, then rethink what you are about to say to them, you will see how they are only making much ado about nothing so much clearer...and if they continue with their needless drama, maybe just walk away and let them be"― bodhinku, nothing into something
"don’t go around making a fuss about nothing. stop pointing the finger at others as the cause of your sorrows. and quit feeling entitled to things you have not earned, saying the universe owes you a living. the universe owes you nothing. the universe was here first. take responsibility for your own life instead of blaming others for your own problems" ― bodhinku, much ado about nothing (with influence from mark twain's words)
this play also applies on a deep level as a metaphor of our current situation we have now in society, with so much ado about nothing being made over the fear of a virus spreading death, which statistically it has not in any means been any different than any other flu virus that has been around us on this planet for millions of years...and just like characters with their own agendas spreading fearful rumors in the shakespeare play, "much ado about nothing", the press of the world carried their own agendas and spread rumors based on worst-case projections and the ultimate fear of death to the public and helped fuel the awful situation we all find ourselves in currently, and continue to do so, even though the statistics now show that all the decisions made by global leaders were never based on reliable data, but instead have been based on opinions, unsubstantiated fears, and probabilities that never happened...i just hope we also have a happy ending as people realize the mess they made and do everything they can to make it right, just as in the finale of this shakespeare stage play...
"when we look up into the starry sky, nothing is a giant part of all we see above. but thinking about the emptiness of that nothing is scary, because this vast void of nothingness makes up most of our universe. creating an innate fear of darkness and the unknown, a huge fear of "the nothing"...so, maybe that is why so many people are blindly blowing everything out of proportion and making such a huge ado over nothing these days" ― bodhinku, huge ado over nothing
we need to somehow begin to better notice all the important signs that the universe is sending each of us...
so, needing to escape all the negativity of people making a fuss about over nothing, i see this nothing sign in my impression as a sign from the universe, asking us all to see the beautiful nothing that makes up most of the universe...be positive, see the beautiful glowing light of love through the darkness of nothing...do not fear death for it is the one thing that is inevitable for each of us. instead, live life making every moment count, because we never ever know when a breath of air becomes our cherished last...
"the evening before the last, my mood changed dramatically from being a strangely "optimistically dark" into becoming "hopefully enlightened"...emerging from the night illuminated with tingles and a warming smile, the signs were so clear to me. because the universe above whispered to me through jupiter, saturn, mars...and it spoke to me through sirius, polaris (the north star), and scorpio, cassiopeia...and then the universe sang to me through the full milky way stretched across the sky...and i listened to everything instead of nothing. i let go of all the noise. and my life has now taken a change down a newer more beautiful path for the better..." ― bodhinku, listening to the signs
"stop and listen to the whispers of the universe. the universe is talking to you every day of your life. its messages are very clear, and for your eyes or ears only. yet most people have been missing these messages for most of their lives. we simply don’t see or hear most of these messages. a few actually get through, but these are by complete chance, and most people dismiss them as sheer coincidence. however, there are no coincidences. these messages are directed right at you from the universe, and each and every one of these messages is for your benefit...
the universe is shouting at you, literally shouting at you, but you are so wrapped up in your little world that you fail to notice. the universe doesn’t talk directly to you, but does it in subtle ways. it can be a whisper, a breeze, a song on the radio, a tv ad, or something that attracts our attention. your job is to pick up on these messages. they are clear and very precise, but it might as well be in a foreign language such as swahili or cantonese for all the notice we take of them.
because of 21st century distractions, you might have a problem, and the universe is telling you the answer by playing songs on the car radio that contain the answer in the lyrics or song title. or as you are driving along, the answer is written on huge advertising bill-boards along the roadside. yet, we don’t make the connection. we are too wrapped up in our daily life busy chasing money, completing to-do lists, and all the other distractions of the 21st century. all we have to do is slow down, and stop for a few minutes to simply listen. but when we are always running 10 minutes behind schedule, finding a few minutes seems an impossible task.
have we turned the universe off? as humans, we have seem to have ‘lost’ or ‘forgot’ many of our skills down through the generations. we have not been taught certain skills, either on purpose or simply because they have not been passed down. as a result, we are missing out on many things. we are so wrapped up with our own little world that we miss the universe’s big picture, and many of the wonderful things life has to offer. in the past, people understood and knew how to interpret these various signs and symbols from the universe, and whole tribes such as the native americans would follow these signs without question.
strange coincidences and deja vu...most people have moments in their lives when strange things happen to them. something prompts an idea that is the answer to their problems, although they don’t know where it came from. they think it is pure coincidence or perhaps a touch of deja vu. all they have done is received a message from the universe, and for once acted on it. people just think it’s a one off, a quirk of fate, but if they had realized that this is one of many messages from the universe, they could tap into a great knowledge that’s sole purpose is to give you the best in life.
learning to listen to the universe...all you have to do is to take time to listen and watch for the signs, it’s as simple as that. the signs are everywhere, and it’s always the right answer. if you see an ad on tv several times in one evening about looking after the elderly, this is probably a message from the universe for you to contact your parents to see if they are okay.
if you keep hearing craig david’s song “i’m walking away from the troubles in my life, i'm walking away, oh to find a better day” everywhere you go, it could be the universe telling you it’s time to move on in a problematic area of your life. do you keep getting lots of red traffic lights? well, perhaps the universe is telling you to slow down and drive more carefully.
universe fm is broadcasting to you 24/7...the universe is like a radio station broadcasting 24/7 for your whole life. however, you need to learn how to tune in to the broadcasts. you don’t need any specialized equipment to tune in. all you have to do is to be aware it is there, and keep an ear and an eye open for the messages. it’s that simple.
now the message might be delivered to you all sorts of different ways. it might be a song on the radio, and ad on the tele, a line in a film, an overheard conversation, an article in a magazine or newspaper, or even a message in a book that fell off a shelf in a bookshop. the universe even sends you messages in your nightly dreams. be open to be contacted" ― david lloyd jones, coincidence or is the universe telling you something with signs?
and here is another beyond beautiful song, read the lyrics and you will be able to connect this tune to my current feelings of hope and longing which are impossible to ignore...a song sung boldly with a pounding meaning very dear to my heart, vocalized so powerfully, yet softly, by a mega rock band in a metal ballad from the 1980s..: "send me an angel" by the scorpions ...i sound old, but they just do not make songs like this anymore...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...
"the wise man said: just walk this way to the dawn of the light. the wind will blow into your face as the years pass you by. hear this voice from deep inside, it's the call of your heart. close your eyes and you will find passage out of the dark...here i am (here i am), will you send me an angel? here i am (here i am), in the land of the morning star....the wise man said: just find your place in the eye of the storm. seek the roses along the way, just beware of the thorns..here i am (here i am), will you send me an angel? here i am (here i am), in the land of the morning star....wise man: said just raise your hand and reach out for the spell. find the door to the promised land. just believe in yourself. hear this voice from deep inside, it's the call of your heart. close your eyes and you will find the way out of the dark...here i am (here i am), will you send me an angel? here i am (here i am), in the land of the morning star..." ― the scorpions, send me an angel
and now here are a few more quotes from bodhinku from past blogs to help add to the deeper meaning of this blog today...
"looking up into the stars, i see nothing and everything at the same time, it is truly a sign from the universe that our lives here are just one giant oxymoron...but we truly need those opposites to balance us out, help us to be at peace with in ourselves, or nothing else really matters" ― bodhinku, nothing else really matters
"when i looked at her glowing before me, i knew nothing else in the world mattered, or ever would" ― bodhinku, her glow
"inside,
inside my heart,
inside my universe,
you are my dawning sun,
bringing me out of my dark night,
warming me with this sparkling happiness
i never knew possible, turning me from nothing into everything" ― bodhinku, nothing into everything
"nothing but the stars shining through the darkness of the night mattered to me, but when i met her, everything in my dark world became much brighter, i found a sunshine so beautiful, the morning had dawned on me at last" ― bodhinku, dawn after the darkness
"to have meaning, the darkness needs the love of the light, just as the light needs the love of darkness, nothing else matters except them together...without their union, no impression of mine could ever exist, nor could i either..." ― bodhinku, the union
"to have someone do wrong to you is nothing, unless you continue to remember it. let it go. let it be, be free of it." ― bodhinku, let it go and be
"nothing else matters
just two hearts beating as one
"even though he
knew not how to swim, he
jumped into the deep end,
hoping she would follow, and
save him from drowning in mediocrity,
because one day of something wonderful,
is better than a forever of nothing special" ― bodhinku, a better one day
"jai guru deva om...i meditated this morning with a smile, with visions of you carried through and across the universe since the beginning of all time and space..." ― bodhinku, across the universe
"like stars of night skies
my universe in her eyes
she lights my world near and far
"when i first saw
your eyes
i knew you already
from gazing upward
at all the stars
i'd been looking into
your eyes
for so long already
across the universe
my whole entire life
if stars would become
your eyes
they'd truly know already
their exact name
was always yours" ― bodhinku, eyes of the universe
"in trying to understand myself, and things that really make me glow with happiness, i created something special here...one fusion joined together from my psyche, dreams, visions, feelings, emotions, thoughts, and illuminations from the inner workings of my combined mind, heart, and soul" ― bodhinku, zen to me
"i really need to be illuminated daily by things that are inspiring to me, things than make me smile, giggle, and glow from my deepest depths...illuminating my inner shadows, those hidden dark parts of me, personal secrets that make me who i am, even if i am not proud of them" ― bodhinku, illuminated
"i need zen, it is like a beautiful prayer to my inner peace...i need to meditate more now than ever...breathe, relax, let go...refocus, re-center" ― bodhinku, i need zen
"i gotta let it all go, let it be, focus instead on nature, and internalize my spiritual connection of the beauty around me, which will refreshen me again, enlightening me with the real meaning of my own nature...let that soothe me, calm me, and recenter me in peace" ― bodhinku, beautiful prayer to inner peace
"in the darkness of the night i find my path to peace as the stars flower my world with angelic beauty...it is in the light of day that i am tormented and lost, as the sunshine bedevils me, and bleaches out all of my dreams with blinding reality" ― bodhinku, bedevilled
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STORY BEHIND THIS IMPRESSION
"yesterday is nothing but today's memory... and tomorrow is nothing but today's dream...so live today like nothing else matters" ― bodhinku, live today
pictured here under the beautiful milky way is an old deteriorating sign that is about 55ft tall, which along with a couple dilapidated buildings close by is pretty much the only remains of the town of "nothing" arizona...the green-blue glow under the sign is from various passing cars' and big-trucks' headlights and tailights in both directions (both red and white lights) mixed with the faint light pollution from phoenix many miles away
directly above the sign is the middle section of the milkyway, which is much less colorful than the gasses in the galactic core that are located out of frame much farther to the right of this composition...and the glowing blue star above the milky way is the brightest star in the night sky, sirius...
this composition consists of a single exposure, captured at 11:11pm on 08-11-2020 and was not merged with any other exposures like i often do with my photography to achieve the perfect lighting of the entire scene...
when i arrived at the location about an hour before sunset, i used star apps with my smartphone to get the exact position i wanted for my composition ahead of time to set up my camera and then take exposures of the sign and foreground at about 15 mins after sunset to merge later with the stars when the milky way was in place over the sign about 2 hrs later in the same camera frame...
but as it turned out, i did not need to do this, and was able to capture my vision in only one exposure, as i discovered as the night's darkness enveloped me that the sign was being illuminated by passing vehicles on the adjacent highway, creating a more profound and true effect i like better...and i could achieve the optimal lighting effects by timing vehicles' headlights to when they were faint on the sign as they zoomed past this forgotten location (clueless that i was even there just out of sight in the shadows)...however, it was truly frustrating getting the perfect lighting right with this method, but with much patience and by trial and error, i was able to capture a few really nice frames, and this was one of them, taken with a wider angle lens later in the evening than the impression i released last week of this same sign from a different perspective and point of view...
"but, first, remember, remember, remember the signs. say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. and whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the signs. take great care that it does not confuse your mind. and the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. that is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. remember the signs and believe the signs. nothing else matters" ― c.s. lewis, the chronicles of narnia
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HISTORY OF NOTHING
"when you see her, everything changes...all of a sudden, it's not the stars above or gravity holding you to the planet, it's her... nothing else matters" ― stephenie meyer, twilight
"whoever said something is better than nothing, never stood in my shoes...for me it is all or nothing, because when you have nothing left to lose, nothing lasts forever"― bodhinku, nothing
the original town sign of "nothing" arizona once read:
"this is the town of nothing, arizona. founded 1977. elevation 3269ft...the staunch citizens of nothing are full of hope, faith, and believe in the work ethic. thru-the-years-these dedicated people had faith in nothing, hoped for nothing, worked at nothing, for nothing"
the settlement of nothing, az was officially established in 1977 by richard "buddy" kenworthy and his group of four friends and became arizona's smallest official community. nothing was an odd experiment to create a town on the long desolate stretch of u.s.93 between phoenix and kingman, az...at the time, the town of nothing, az had a mere two buildings: one a gas station with a garage and the other a small roadside market. and to make it more official, the arizona department of transportation installed one of four motorist call boxes on u.s.93 at nothing...at its height, nothing had a population of 4. at that time, the settlement contained only that gas station, that small convenience store with a sign, and a large rock shop with another taller sign.
the long-time locals in the area told travelers that nothing "got named by a bunch of drunks"...and since then, nothing is more noted for frequently being on lists of unusual place names.in the united states of america.
by 1998, the town of nothing, az was abandoned by its four incorporating inhabitants and became another failed experiment in the desert...
an attempted revival of nothing occurred at some time after august 2005 when nothing was purchased by mike jensen. by april 2006, jensen had opened the rock shop along with his pizza business, run from a portable oven, with hopes of reopening the mini-mart and gas station and creating accommodations for RVs...and ironically, rumor has it that the town of nothing was abandoned in 2008 after a grease fire consumed most of it while a resident was cooking a pizza...however, officially, and probably due to its remote location, in 2011 all was abandoned again in nothing due to lack interest and monetary gain...
once again, "nothing" slowly began to succumb to the extremes of arizona desert. by august 2009, the building that had contained the nothing rock shop had totally collapsed and was removed. the gas station fell into severe disrepair and collapsed in 2014 and was also removed...the sign on the "all-mart" fell down in 2017, and used to read that the population of nothing is four people, four that are obvious long since moved on. ...currently all that remains of nothing is the gutted and windowless remains of the ironically named "all-mart", the "nothing" sign, and a couple of building foundations.
in 2016, century 21 real estate ran a "give dad nothing" promotion where a free 24 hour lease to a piece of property at nothing, arizona could be secured for june 19, 2016 (father's day) only...the promotion was done with the participation of the current property owner and included a downloadable "certificate of nothing" and gift card...however, the promotion was unprofitable, and now the ghost town has fallen into even more disrepair...
"nothing" now hosts literally "nothing" except a good stopping point for the curious (and photographers like me), and also a nice stopping point for sleepy long haul truckers as a roadside rest spot on their way from phoenix to las vegas...
due to a huge lack of interest with stops by motorists and travellers, nothing was totally abandoned. it is now a true ghost town. the buildings have no glass or boards over their windows, and there is no indication of inhabitants or any activity...the entire property is now surrounded by barbed wire with an adjacent tall cell phone tower beside the deteriorating 55ft-tall "nothing" sign...and that large "nothing" sign pictured in my impression here is actually the remains of signage for the nothing rock shop, which has long collapsed over a decade ago and whose concrete foundations can still be seen.
and of course, nothing is currently for sale, but if the i-11 interstate project goes through, nothing will likely permanently cease all hopes of being resurrected again, creating truly an ironic end to the town by literally becoming nothing.
"i prefer the darkness, because i am at my happiest under the stars, in the middle of nowhere, all alone with only my doggie...nothing else matters but the glowing peace, and being in this simplicity" ― bodhinku, nothing but peace
"i'm standing under this nothing sign, looking up into the ethereal milky way directly above it. and taken together, i know this is one of those signs from the universe...it's slapping me smack dab in the face with nothing and everything at the same time, bludgeoning me with clarity, with the idea that nothing really matters except living in love: being loved, and loving others...all i need is love, and truly nothing else matters" ― bodhinku, nothing else matters
MORE QUOTES ABOUT "NOTHING" FOR EXTRA MEANING
and here are three very different versions of the same song, a classic released originally in 1992 by the heavy metal band of metallica, and these are the perfect accompaniment to connect music with the meaning of my impression and blog today: "nothing else matters" by godsmack (metallica piano cover) ...or if you prefer to here the original song by metallica: "nothing else matters" by metallica ...or even another beautiful cover: "nothing else matters" by marlisa (metallica cover) ...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the musical selection)....
"so close, no matter how far. couldn't be much more from the heart. forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters...never opened myself this way. life is ours, we live it our way. all these words i don't just say, and nothing else matters...trust i seek and i find in you, every day for us something new. open mind for a different view, and nothing else matters...never cared for what they do. never cared for what they know, but i know...so close, no matter how far. it couldn't be much more from the heart. forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters...never cared for what they do, never cared for what they know. but i know...i never opened myself this way. life is ours, we live it our way. all these words i don't just say, and nothing else matters...trust i seek and i find in you, every day for us something new. open mind for a different view, and nothing else matters...never cared for what they say. never cared for games they play. never cared for what they do. never cared for what they know, and i know, yeah... so close, no matter how far. it couldn't be much more from the heart. forever trusting who we are, and nothing else matters." ― godsmack, nothing else matters (metallica cover)
"if you look into your own heart, and you find nothing wrong there, what is there to worry about? what is there to fear?" ― confucius
"nothing is more visible than things hidden; nothing is more manifest than things minute; therefore, the superior man should be aware of his aloneness" ― confucius, the doctrine of the mean
“to know nothing is to know the peace of buddha" ― lao tzu, tao te ching
"i don't know whether the universe, with its countless galaxies, stars and planets, has a deeper meaning or not, but at the very least, it is clear that we humans who live on this earth face the task of making a happy life for ourselves. therefore, it is important to discover daily what will bring about the greatest degree of happiness" ― dalai lama xiv, the art of happiness
"here is only one way to avoid criticism: do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing" ― aristotle
“at present i absolutely want to paint a starry sky. it often seems to me that night is still more richly coloured than the day; having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens. if only you pay attention to it, you will see that certain stars are lemon-yellow, others pink or a green, blue and forget-me-not brilliance. and without my expatiating on this theme, it is obvious that putting little white dots on the blue-black is not enough to paint a starry sky.” ― vincent van gogh
"anger is a real human emotion, one that is very important. sometimes it arise out of the nothing, for reasons revolving around to many other misunderstood emotions....swallowing our emotions and holding them in is not healthy. this can cause stress, illness or even death. being upset because of nothing or something ongoing in our lives in something very human. it can show us where things aren’t working out the way we want or where we need to make changes when nothing is working out. it can inspire us to action and resolution...for instance, maybe your artwork is being copied and your ideas stolen. maybe you’re having relationship issues. maybe your writing is being plagiarised. maybe there are changes happening at work. or maybe you’re just having a really bad week...while it’s never good to stay in anger permanently as a state of mind, there’s nothing wrong with experiencing it in the now...it’s ok to be angry. it’s ok to be frustrated. it’s ok to be not be okay in this moment. people who are upset aren’t wanting to stay there. however, it’s impossible to shame their frustration away. we need to allow ourselves the space to deal with what upsets us without shame or positive washing" ― c. ara campbell (with additions by bodhinku)
"night air, good conversation, and a sky full of stars can heal almost any wound" ― beau taplin, remedy
"my dog used to gaze at me,
paying me the attention i need,
the attention required
to make a vain person like me understand
that, being a dog, he was not wasting time,
but, with those eyes so much purer than mine,
he’d keep on gazing at me
with a look that reserved for me alone
all his sweet and shaggy life,
always near me, never troubling me,
and asking nothing" ― pablo neruda
"if we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving, and for once could do nothing, perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves, and of threatening ourselves with death...perhaps the world can teach us as when everything seems dead but later proves to be alive" ― pablo neruda
"no one owns anything. anyone who has lost something they thought was theirs forever, finally comes to realize that nothing really belongs to them...and if nothing belongs to me, then there's no point wasting my time looking after things that aren't mine" ― paulo coelho, eleven minutes
"when we meet someone and fall in love, we have a sense that the whole universe is on our side. and yet if something goes wrong, there is nothing left!" ― paulo coelho, eleven minutes
"one always has to know when a stage comes to an end. if we insist on staying longer than the necessary time, we lose the happiness and the meaning of the other stages we have to go through. closing cycles, shutting doors, ending chapters...whatever name we give it, what matters is to leave in the past the moments of life that have finished....did you lose your job? has a loving relationship come to an end? did you leave your parents' house? gone to live abroad? has a long-lasting friendship ended all of a sudden? you can spend a long time wondering why this has happened. you can tell yourself you won't take another step until you find out why certain things that were so important and so solid in your life have turned into dust, just like that. but such an attitude will be awfully stressing for everyone involved: your parents, your husband or wife, your friends, your children, your sister, everyone will be finishing chapters, turning over new leaves, getting on with life, and they will all feel bad seeing you at a standstill....none of us can be in the present and the past at the same time, not even when we try to understand the things that happen to us. what has passed will not return: we cannot forever be children, late adolescents, sons that feel guilt or rancor towards our parents, lovers who day and night relive an affair with someone who has gone away and has not the least intention of coming back....things pass, and the best we can do is to let them really go away. that is why it is so important (however painful it may be!) to destroy souvenirs, move, give lots of things away to orphanages, sell or donate the books you have at home. everything in this visible world is a manifestation of the invisible world, of what is going on in our hearts, and getting rid of certain memories also means making some room for other memories to take their place....let things go. release them. detach yourself from them. nobody plays this life with marked cards, so sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. do not expect anything in return, do not expect your efforts to be appreciated, your genius to be discovered, your love to be understood. stop turning on your emotional television to watch the same program over and over again, the one that shows how much you suffered from a certain loss: that is only poisoning you, nothing else....nothing is more dangerous than not accepting love relationships that are broken off, something that is promised but there is no starting date, decisions that are always put off waiting for the "ideal moment." before a new chapter is begun, the old one has to be finished: tell yourself that what has passed will never come back. remember that there was a time when you could live without that thing or that person, nothing is irreplaceable, a habit is not a need. this may sound so obvious, it may even be difficult, but it is very important....closing cycles. not because of pride, incapacity or arrogance, but simply because that no longer fits your life. shut the door, change the record, clean the house, shake off the dust. stop being who you were, and change into who you are” ― paulo coelho
"if what you had found was only a moment of light, like the explosion of a star, you would find nothing in return" ― paulo coelho, the alchemist
"and meditation is nothing but enjoying your beautiful aloneness. celebrating yourself; that’s what meditation is all about" ― osho, love, freedom, aloneness
“if you want to learn anything, learn trust--nothing else is needed. if you are miserable, nothing else will help--learn trust. if you don't feel any meaning in life and you feel meaningless, nothing will help--learn trust. trust gives meaning because trust makes you capable of allowing the whole to descend upon you" ― osho, zen: the path of paradox
"that's why i loved being with you. we could do the simplest things, like toss starfish into the ocean and share a burger and talk and even then i knew that i was fortunate. because you were the first guy who wasn't constantly trying to impress me. you accepted who you were, but more than that, you accepted me for me. and nothing else mattered...not my family, or your family, or anyone else in the world. it was just us" ― nicholas sparks, the best of me
"he closed his eyes as she put her hand on his shoulder, and in that instant, nothing else mattered. not the song, not the place, not the other couples around him. only this, only her. he gave himself over to the feel of her body as it pressed against him, and they moved slowly in small circles on the sawdust-strewn floor, lost in a world that felt as though it had been created for just the two of them" ― nicholas sparks, the lucky one
"i am nothing special, of this i am sure. i am a common man with common thoughts and i've led a common life. there are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but i've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough..." ― nicholas sparks, the notebook
"to love or have loved, that is enough. ask nothing further. there is no other pearl to be found in the dark folds of life" ― victor hugo, les miserables
"bad things are not the worst things that can happen to us. nothing is the worst thing that can happen to us" ― richard bach, one
"people have stars, but they aren't the same. for travelers, the stars are guides. for other people, they're nothing but tiny lights. and for still others, for scholars, they're problems...but all those stars are silent stars. you, though, you'll have stars like nobody else...since i'll be laughing on one of them, for you it'll be as if all the stars are laughing. you'll have stars that can laugh!...and it'll be as if i had given you, instead of stars, a lot of tiny bells that know how to laugh..." ― antoine de saint-exupery, the little prince
“i love you..i have loved you for several hours now, and every second, more. i thought an hour ago that i loved you more than any woman has ever loved a man, but a half hour after that, i knew that what i felt before was nothing compared to what i felt then. but ten minutes after that, i understood that my previous love was a puddle compared to the high seas before a storm. your eyes are like that, did you know? well they are. how many minutes ago was i? twenty? had i brought my feelings up to then? it doesn't matter, for i love you so much more now than twenty minutes ago, that there cannot be comparison. i love you so much more now then when you opened the door into my heart, there cannot be comparison. there is no room in my body for anything but you. my arms love you, my ears adore you, my knees shake with blind affection. my mind begs you to ask it something so it can obey. do you want me to follow you for the rest of your days? i will do that. do you want me to crawl? i will crawl. i will be quiet for you or sing for you, or if you are hungry, let me bring you food, or if you have thirst and nothing will quench it but wine, i will go to araby, even though it is across the world, and bring a bottle back for your lunch. anything there is that i can do for you, i will do for you; anything there is that i cannot do, i will learn to do. i know for me there is only you... [and with that, she dared the bravest thing she'd ever done; she looked right into his eyes]" ― william goldman, the princess bride
“love gives nothing but itself, and takes nothing but from itself. love does not possess, nor would it be possessed. and do not think that you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. love has nothing but the desire to fulfill itself" ― khalil gibran, the prophet
"life is nothing but an affair of mystery; shared with companions of music, dance and poetry"― shah asad rizvi
"where it is a work of beauty, it has no question to answer; it has nothing to do, but to be" ― rabindranath tagore
"love adorns itself;
it seeks to prove inward joy by outward beauty.
love does not claim possession,
but gives freedom.
love is an endless mystery,
for it has nothing else to explain it.
love's gift cannot be given,
it waits to be accepted" ― rabindranath tagore, collected poems and plays
"you need to learn that you cannot have anything without working for it. the only way you can be taken advantage of is if you think you can get something for nothing" ― maya angelou, even the stars look lonesome
"the magic fades too fast
the scent of summer never lasts
the nights turn hollow and vast
but nothing remains...nothing lasts" ― sanober khan, turquoise silence
"nothing can bring the hurt of loneliness upon a man so swiftly as to pass a strange house in the dark and witness, in the lamplight from within, a family breaking evening bread together" ― og mandino, the greatest salesman in the world
"be careful not to mistake insecurity and inadequacy for humility...humility has nothing to do with the insecure and inadequate. just like arrogance has nothing to do with greatness" ― c. joybell c.
"anger is like flowing water; there's nothing wrong with it as long as you let it flow. hate is like stagnant water; anger that you denied yourself the freedom to feel, the freedom to flow; water that you gathered in one place and left to forget. stagnant water becomes dirty, stinky, disease-ridden, poisonous, deadly; that is your hate. on flowing water travels little paper boats; paper boats of forgiveness. allow yourself to feel anger, allow your waters to flow, along with all the paper boats of forgiveness. be human"― c. joybell c.
"humans are strange things. they have sex with each other; but are too ashamed to say sorry to one another, they see what they have when they've lost what they have; but not while they have it, they are the most proud on the outside during the times they are the most insecure on the inside, and they would rather die manipulating others than be brave enough to be honest. they can't even look in the mirror properly. all they see are their shells in the mirror; nothing else."― c. joybell c.
"all the fires of hell could burn for a thousand years and it wouldn't equal what i feel for you in one minute of the day. i love you so much there is no pleasure in it. nothing but torment. because if i could dilute what i feel for you to the millionth part, it would still be enough to kill anyone. and even if it drives me mad, i would rather see you live in the arms of that cold, soulless bastard than die in mine" ― lisa kleypas, seduce me at sunrise
"and, no one can predict of any certainty what will happen next. and, none of it will change how i intend to spend the rest of my life. i will live it on my terms. and you... you can have all of me or nothing. i won't be an invalid any longer. not even if it means losing you" ― lisa kleypas, seduce me at sunrise
“you could run to the farthest corners of the earth. there's no place you could go where i wouldn't love you. nothing you could do to stop me" ― lisa kleypas, love in the afternoon
"he had never experienced the pain of unsatisfied desire before. it hurt. it hurt like nothing he'd ever felt, and there seemed to be no remedy" ― lisa kleypas, dreaming of you
and with all of this plethora of quotes, you are only about halfway through ones i have selected by other authors with a deeper meaning about "nothing"...so, here is another beautifully poignant song with beautiful apropos lyrics to give listen, a true classic of wisdom to help anyone find some peace in their life in times of trouble, or ego, or nothing going right, by breathing and just letting things be: "let it be" by the beatles ...(just click on any of words in the blue links to listen to the song)...
"when i find myself in times of trouble, mother mary comes to me speaking words of wisdom: let it be. and in my hour of darkness, she is standing right in front of me speaking words of wisdom: let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be...whisper words of wisdom: let it be...and when the broken hearted people living in the world agree, there will be an answer: let it be...for though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see. there will be an answer: let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be. there will be an answer, let it be let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be...whisper words of wisdom: let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be...whisper words of wisdom: let it be...and when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me. shine until tomorrow: let it be...i wake up to the sound of music, mother mary comes to me speaking words of wisdom: let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be. there will be an answer, let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, yeah, let it be...whisper words of wisdom: let it be" ― the beatles, let it be
"in life, we have to be strong and bright enough to face our dark times. eclipses may come and eclipses may go, nothing should stop our inner strength’s flow" ― munia khan, attainable
"renew, release, let go. yesterday’s gone. there’s nothing you can do to bring it back. you can’t “should’ve” done something. you can only do something. renew yourself. release that attachment. today is a new day" ― steve maraboli, unapologetically you
"one is necessary, one is a piece of fate, one belongs to the whole, one is the whole...there exists nothing which could judge, measure, compare, condemn our being, for that would be to judge, measure, compare, condemn the whole…but nothing exists apart from the whole" ― friedrich nietzche, twilight of the idols
“laughter is timeless. imagination has no age. and dreams are forever” ― walt disney
"there is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept" ― ansel adams
which are the children of an idle brain,
begot of nothing but vain fantasy,
which is as thin of substance as the air
"i love to talk about nothing. it's the only thing i know anything about" ― oscar wilde
"it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught" ― oscar wilde
"there is nothing else than now. there is neither yesterday, certainly, nor is there any tomorrow. how old must you be before you know that? there is only now, and if now is only two days, then two days is your life and everything in it will be in proportion. this is how you live a life in two days. and if you stop complaining and asking for what you never will get, you will have a good life" ― ernest hemingway, for whom the bell tolls
"there’s nothing sadder to me than associations held together by nothing but the glue of postage stamps. if you can’t see or hear or touch her, it’s best to let her go” ― john steinbeck, east of eden
"and suddenly it didn't seem to matter any more, nothing would matter if she could turn over, turn over and see the stars, turn over and look once and die" ― stephen king, carrie
"nothing had ever spoiled it, somehow. it could be spoiled, he knew that, but in spite of the reputed fragility of the creative act, it had always been the single toughest thing, the most abiding thing, in his life...nothing had ever been able to pollute that crazy well of dreams: no drink, no drug, no pain" ― stephen king, misery
“in many ways, the world is nothing but a pile of shit. but it can also be very beautiful" ― stephen king, thinner
"yet, i thought, if i can die saying, "life is so beautiful," then nothing else is important. if i can believe in myself that much, nothing else matters" ― mario puzo, the godfather
"for her, sex was nothing more than an itch. and this phsychological and physiological neutrality of hers at once relieved her of so many human emotions and sentiments and desires. sexual neutrality was the essence of coldness in an individual. it was a great and wonderful thing to be born with" ― ian fleming, from russia with love
"sometimes i feel like there is so much to be afraid of, and sometimes i feel like there is nothing left to fear" ― veronica roth, allegiant
"the way i feel about you will never change. of course i love you...and there's nothing you can do about it" ― stephenie meyer, twilight
"because there was nothing more terrifying to me, more excruciating, than the thought of turning away from him. it was an impossibility" ― stephenie meyer, twilight
"which is the best man to deal with,-he who knows nothing about a subject, and, what is extremely rare, knows that he knows nothing, or he who really knows something about it, but thinks that he knows all?"― henry david thoreau, walden
"because misery, and degradation, and death, and nothing that god or satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will did it. it was you. i have not broken your heart. it was you, you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine. so much the worse for me that i am strong" ― emily bronte, wuthering heights
"but afterwards, is there nothing more for me in life, no true home, nothing to be dearer to me than myself?" ― charlotte bronte, villette
"i have said that the soul is not more than the body. and i have said that the body is not more than the soul. and nothing, not god, is greater to one than one's-self is," ― walt whitman, leaves of grass
"without ambition, one starts nothing. without work, one finishes nothing. the prize will not be sent to you. you have to earn it with diligence" ― ralph waldo emerson
"nothing can bring you peace but yourself. nothing can bring you peace but the triumph over your principles" ― ralph waldo emerson
"the fountains mingle with the river,
and the rivers with the ocean;
the winds of heaven mix forever,
with a sweet emotion;
nothing in the world is single;
all things by a law divine
in one another's being mingle:—
why not i with thine?
see! the mountains kiss high heaven,
and the waves clasp one another;
no sister flower would be forgiven
if it disdained its brother;
and the sunlight clasps the earth,
and the moonbeams kiss the sea:—
what are all these kissings worth,
if thou kiss not me? ― percy bysshe shelley
"nothing beside remains. round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away" ― percy bysshe shelley
"a life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing" ― george bernard shaw
"you have dwelt overmuch upon pain. pain is a swift distress; it ends and is forgotten. without memory and fear, pain is nothing, a contradiction to be heeded, a warning to be taken. without pain, what would life become?” ― h.g. wells, the undying fire
“nothing can be given or taken away; nothing has been added or subtracted; nothing increased or diminished. we stand on the same shore before the same mighty ocean, the ocean of love...we move with eyes shut and ears stopped; we forget that we have wings; we pray as if god were deaf and blind, as if he were in a space. no wonder the angels in our midst are unrecognizable...one day, it will be pleasant to remember these things"― henry miller, tropic of capricorn
"be always drunken. nothing else matters: that is the only question. if you would not feel the horrible burden of time weighing on your shoulders and crushing you to the earth, be drunken continually....but drunken with what? with wine, with poetry, with love, with virtue, or as you will. but be drunken" ― eugene o'neill, long day's journey into night
"long ago, when an early galaxy began to pour light out into the surrounding darkness, no witness could have known that billions of years later some remote clumps of rock and metal, ice and organic molecules would fall together to make place called earth; or that life would arise and thinking beings evolve who would one day capture a little of that galactic light, and try to puzzle out what had sent it on its way. and after the earth dies, some 5 billion years from now, after it's burned to a crisp, or even swallowed by the sun, there will be other worlds and stars and galaxies coming into being...and they will know nothing of a place once called earth" ― carl sagan, cosmos
"there are only two ways to live your life. one is as though nothing is a miracle. the other is as though everything is a miracle" ― albert einstein
"i love doing nothing, actually. doing nothing is such a better thing when i am not working" ― ziggy marley
"there's nothing i hate more than nothing. nothing keeps me up at night. i toss and turn over nothing. nothing could cause a great big fight" ― edie brickell
"this is the secret of the stars. in the end, we are alone no matter how close you seem, no one else can touch you. maybe the secret of the stars has nothing to do with being alone" ― beth revis, across the universe
"no matter what else you believe about life, you must believe in the signs of miracles. because we are all a miracle, every one of us, living on a round rock that spins around and around at almost a quarter of a million miles per hour in an unthinkably vast blackness called space. there is nothing else like us for as far as our telescopic eyes can see. in a universe filled with spinning, barren rocks, frozen gas, ice, dust, and radiation, we live on a planet filled with soft, green leaves and salty oceans and honey made from bees, which themselves live within geometrically complex and perfect structures of their own architecture and creation. in our trees are birds whose songs are as complex and nuanced as beethoven’s greatest sonatas. and despite the wild, endless spinning of our planet and its never-ending orbit around the sun–itself a star on fire–when we pour water into a glass, the water stays in the glass. all of these are miracles" ― augusten burroughs, this is how
"the universe is a journey from nothing and back to nothing” ― khalid masood
"unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. it's not" ― dr. seuss, the lorax
“we're all going to die, all of us, what a circus we are...that alone should make us love each other, but it doesn't. we are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing"
― charles bukowski
“i can believe things that are true and things that aren't true and i can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not....i can believe in santa claus and the easter bunny and the beatles and marilyn monroe and elvis and mister ed....i believe that people are perfectable, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkled lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women....i believe that the future sucks and i believe that the future rocks and i believe that one day white buffalo woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. i believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating, and that the decline in good sex in america is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state....i believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and i still believe that they are better than the alternative. i believe that california is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste....i believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like martians in the war of the worlds....i believe that the greatest poets of the last century were edith sitwell and don marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life i was a one-armed siberian shaman....i believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. i believe that candy really did taste better when i was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumble bee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself....i believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything i do. i believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that i'm alive. i believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck....believe that anyone who says sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. i believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too....i believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. i believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system....i believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it" ― neil gaiman, american gods
"i'm not sure what i am. i just know there's something dark in me. i hide it. i certainly don't talk about it, but it's there always, this dark passenger. and when he's driving, i feel alive, half sick with the thrill of complete wrongness. i don't fight him, i don't want to. he's all i've got. nothing else could love me, not even...especially not me. or is that just a lie the dark passenger tells me? because lately there are these moments when i feel connected to something else...someone. it's like the mask is slipping and things...people...who never mattered before are suddenly starting to matter. it scares the hell out of me" ― jeff lindsay, darkly dreaming dexter
“have you ever wanted something so bad, you think you’d die if you don’t have it? that the mere thought of it keeps you up at night. you can’t sleep, you can’t eat, you can’t drink. you are so consumed by that desire, and nothing else matters, and you’re not sure life is worth living if you can’t have it" ― katie ashley, the proposition
“when the first time i saw you, when you had been just a total stranger...suddenly, somehow everything completely disappeared and i realized that i found it... true love...from that moment on, nothing else matters..." ― rati tsiteladze
"the mistakes you make now count. not for everything, and not forever. but they do matter, and they shape you...if you take nothing else from what i've been through, at least remember this: make your choices well. because you'll always be accountable for them. that's what being an adult is all about" ― sarah dessen, the moon and more
"the same feeling of not belonging, of futility, wherever i go: i pretend interest in what matters nothing to me, i bestir myself mechanically or out of charity, without ever being caught up, without ever being somewhere. what attracts me is elsewhere, and i don’t know where that elsewhere is" ― emil m. cloran, the trouble with being born
"he threw his arms around her. they kissed, and for a moment nothing else mattered. an asteroid could have hit the planet and wiped out all life, and she wouldn't have cared" ― rick riordan, the mark of athena
"passion is a feeling that tells you: this is the right thing to do. nothing can stand in my way. it doesn't matter what anyone else says. this feeling is so good that it cannot be ignored. i'm going to follow my bliss and act upon this glorious sensation of joy" ― dr. wayne w. dyer
"he pulled me against him. then he bent down, breath warming my lips. my pulse was racing so fast i could barely breathe. i was sure he'd stop again and i tensed, waiting for that hesitation, stomach twisting. his lips touched mine, and still i kept waiting for him to pull back...his lips pressed against mine, then parted. and he kissed me. really kissed me- arms tightening around me, mouth moving against mine, firm, like he'd made up his mind that this was what he wanted and he wasn't backing down again...i slid my arms around his neck. his tightened around me and he scooped me up, lifting me off his feet, kissing me like he was never going to stop, and i kissed him back the same way, like i didn't want him to ever stop...it was a perfect moment, one where nothing else mattered. all i could feel was him. all i could taste was his kiss. all i could hear was the pounding of his heart. all i could think about was him, and how much i wanted this, and how incredibly lucky i was to get it, and how tight i was going to hold onto it...this was what i wanted. this guy. this life. this me. i was never getting my old life back, and i didn't care. i was happy. i was safe. i was right where i wanted to be" ― kelly armstrong, the reckoning
"it didn't matter if she was hundreds of miles away, or whether she'd hurt him, or said goodbye, or anything else. nothing would change the way he felt. the moment she had taken his hand on the roof at marron's, she'd changed everything. no matter what happened, she'd always be the one...nothing else matters” ― veronica rossi, through the ever night
“i could recognise his soul in mine as much as he could find me in his. our sole existences seemed to have been for this very moment when nothing else mattered" ― x. williamson, distract my hunger
"knock, and your beloved will open the door. vanish, and your beloved will make you shine like the sun. fall, and your beloved will raise you to the heavens. become nothing, and your beloved will turn you into everything" ― jalaluddin rumi, in the arms of the beloved
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ABOUT THE IMPRESSION
"nothing but the stars shining through the darkness of the night mattered to me, everything in my dark world became much brighter, i found a sunshine so beautiful, the morning had dawned on me at last" ― bodhinku, dawn after the darkness
in my photography, i always use filters to create longer exposure effects and to balance the light in my composition in-camera...i often use as many as four filters at time, and i always use at least one filter...for this exposure, to get the effects and balance i was looking for, i used one progrey gnd filter in the capture of this composition...
this composition is comprised of a single exposure, captured at 11:11pm on 08-11-2020 and was not merged with any other exposures like i often do with my photography to achive the perfect lighting of the entire scene...
when i arrived at the location about an hour before sunset, i used star apps with my smartphone to get the exact position i wanted for my composition ahead of time to set up my camera and then take exposures of the sign and foreground at about 15 mins after sunset to merge later with the stars when the milky way was in place over the sign about 2 hrs later in the same camera frame...
but as it turned out, i did not need to do this, and was able to capture my vision in only one exposure, as i discovered as the night's darkness enveloped me that the sign was being illuminated by passing vehicles on the adjacent highway, creating a more profound and true effect i like better...and i could achieve the optimal lighting effects by timing vehicles' headlights to when they were faint on the sign as they zoomed past this forgotten location (clueless that i was even there just out of sight in the shadows)...however, it was truly frustrating getting the perfect lighting right with this method, but with much patience and by trial and error, i was able to capture a few really nice frames, and this was one of them, taken with a wider angle lens later in the evening than the impression i released last week of this same sign from a different perspective and point of view...
and for this impression, i chose to use a 0.9 gnd progrey aurora filter in an inverted position to help balance in-camera overall the image the way i envisioned it, and stop down the much brighter lower sky, about 3 stops brighter than the rest of starry sky due to light pollution on the horizon from coming and going vehicles in the area, along with the progrey g-120z magnetic holder to hold the filter and secure it to my nikon d810 mounted with a nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 lens (shot at 14mm in a portrait orientation)...
i wish to openly thank my sponsors who have always supported me through both the good and bad times...for truly this long exposure impression would not be possible without the use of my trusty dolica tripods in combination with the progreyusa filters which i use with every photo i take...
"if nothing else...if i open my eyes, if i cry, if i think, if i sigh, if i giggle, if i dance, if i love, if i breathe, then i have lived a full days worth of life...nothing is wasted, nothing" ― bodhinku, if nothing else
"contemplate without thinking. stop the world. slow down everything. shut off the noise. relax. seize this moment. reconnect. feel and sense what surrounds you. listen to all the colors of light that envelope you. see the melody and harmony that floats about unnoticed. taste the solitude of all this wonderment. smell the beautiful silence. now discover your peaceful serenity. then, reach out and touch your faith with all your senses. this is my world. awaken!" ― bodhinku, my world
above all else as always,
i hope this message and impression find you well.
namaste,
bodhi
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please visit me at:
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