Renewal Revisited

 Renewal is the key word, no matter what day or date it is.

Renewed energy, renewed love, renewed purpose. 

Reinvigorated faith in what works.  No need to tweak or experiment again. 

Restored belief in the healing that comes after an unexpected rupture.  Renewed health, repairs and dreams.

Rationalisation in a cause, no matter how hidden, for a symptom - and it does also cover positive energy outcomes.

Readiness to conquer an ever changing
world, as we can still rely on consistent practices and attitudes even if we renew.

Reciprocation of give and take is part of the renewal process - and feeds into the practice of consideration, healing and regrowth.

Regrowth is necessary to discard the debris of what life can throw at us, some unimportant and others teaching us valued lessons.

Revocation and rejection are necessary steps when we let go of emotions, priorities and matters that no longer matter.  Allow space for our inner joy and journey ahead.

Realisation is part of renewal, before and after.   Each of us is a different and unique being on an evolving journey towards higher awareness, potential and characteristics.

Satisfactory reputation is the outcome of renewal.  We are put through encounters with different people, sensations and experiences - have we learnt from each?

Requisition of nurturing attributes is definitely more significant than acquisition of material goods and commercial experiences.  As we grow older, renewal means the greater ability to see shallowness and less meamimgful matters, things and diversions.

Relationships strive on renewal.  We meet and get to know new personalities or characters with whom we connect with pleasure.   We let go of acquaintances as it is obvious there is not enough purpose to carry on. We are grateful that we have relationahips with those that always make our day so to speak.

Renewal is what we go through that fuels our personal journeys.  It is a process, a tool, a result, an aspiration and an inspiration.

#yongkevthoughts

Europa Europa

 Europeans are often viewed as originating in the north west corner of the Northern Hemisphere.  This misperception of the term "European" can downplay the extensive presence of Slavic demographics in Russia, south eastern Europe and the eastern Slav nations.

Russia has lands extend from eastern Europe to the coasts above Japan, Korea and China - 77 per cent of Russian territory is in Asia, although most Russians live in Europe. Russia can be said to be straddling both Europe and Asia.

It really depends on a point of view.

The European continent as such can be seen as layers of differing historical, religious and cultural implications.  The Vikings were focused on colder climes, as opposed to the Mediterranean nations that were the locations of the Greek, Roman and Ottoman traditions.

In between are the core of what is perhaps to be central European -  Latin influenced territories meeting up with Germanic homelands and spreading into the Balkans.

The impact Europe has made on the contemporary world has been having better technology, implementing colonisation, stirring geopolitics, conducting the major wars of the 20th century and securing world wide trade links. 

The Empire under which the sun once never sets - the British - has spawned five Anglocentric societies that still cuddle together in political flavour and intent in the 21st century. 

Apart from the Mother Country, the other four already have resident Indigenous peoples before their colonisation.  Britain used to extensively rely on agricultural, human, logistics and military resources from this alliance - and still do to varying extents.  Three of these nations still have a British monarch at the top of the chain.

There are two obvious nations geographically far removed from Europe -  but evolved into their present day realities primarily built from European settlement.  One is Argentina, populated by southern Europeans - and the other is Australia, first settled by the British and Irish.  Each nation is sited in a part of the world surrounded by non European cultures.

Being geographically located so close to northern Africa and the so called Middle East, Europe has significantly been affected by outside influences.  The European mind has in the long term been heavily influenced by, amongst others:

Arabian mathematics,
Greek philosophy,
Roman infrastructure,
City states that valued diversity, Mongolian attacks,
Muslim rule,
the Renaissance,
political upheaval,
artistic movements,
the power of royalty and
movement of peoples attracted by her wealth and relative freedoms.

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had their daughters married off across various European royalties, including that to the last Russian Tsar. 

The remnants of colonialism in the 20th century had Indians, Africans and south east Asians establishing residential status across France, Holland, the UK and Spain. 

The conflicts in 21st century Arab nations, economic seekers from Africa and south Asia and left wing political correctness added to another wave to another significant wave of migration, particularly to Germany and the Scandinavian nations.

The Indian diaspora seems to now be at its height of dispersion and extensiveness.
A transformative event was the expulsion of ethnic Indian residents from Uganda.  This started the Indianisation of Britain, which had to accept them based on their colonial status.  The Empire struck back and Anglo Indian manifestation spread onwards from Mother England to Canada and the United States.

Indian political and cultural prowess had already been evident in south east Asia before the advent of Islam and European takeovers.  Perhaps Indianisation here was more successful than Sinofication - one just reflects on evidence of Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms, artefacts, arts and structures scattered from present day Vietnam to Java.  The rather significant Indian influences also expressed themselves in language - contemporary Malay or Indonesian language has words originating from Sanskrit and other Indian tongues.

Will this historical Indian influence now seep and revive into the fabric of the five Anglicentric nations?  It has already established more than a beach head in the United Kingdom.  Will Indianisation jump across the Channel into mainland Europe - which is already grappling with Muslim demographics in the key nations of France, Germany and Scandinavia?

In eastern Europe, questions have arisen as to whether Russia wants to expand beyond her borders, or just wants to maintain her historical integrity.  Continental Europe's past has been significantly marked by what three powers do -  German- Prussian, French or Russian.  British royalty has Germanic foundations.  Europeans have given the world her share of philosophers, scientists, artists, political leaders and dictators.

South of the borders of Russia are the central Asian states and China.  China and India had the largest economies in the world before the onslaught of sailing ships, colonisation and the rise of European powers.  White Russians have lived together with Manchurians, Koreans and Han Chinese in the north eastern corner of the Eurasian mass.  The role of Russians as Europeans interacting with Asians has often been underemphasised.

The closeness of Communism from Soviet Russia into the development of Chinese Communism has resulted from how most European colonial powers treated a fledging and weak Chinese Republic after the fall of the last royal dynasty in 1912.
Key China leaders did however spend their formative years savouring and exploring revolutionary ideas and polititical thought in Paris.

The rather embedded sentiments in Europe from 1945, with the United States and her four Anglo connected partners rescuing Europe from the Nazis, are still difficult to shake off.  This sentiment perhaps has to be seriously resolved as Europe navigates into the future.  Europe has this vital opportunity to implement her own strategic interests and values in the face of changing geopolitics and the rise of a multi-polar world.

Most European powers have divested of their colonies, except for France and the United Kingdom.   Emerging powers are now strengthened by rising abilities in technology, infrastructure, trade and new networks in political relationships - not in far flung isles, navy ports of old and geographical spots which are no longer
strategic.

#yongkevthoughts

THE WRITING ON THE WALL

Elevated official superiority of one specific race  - Apartheid.
NAZI GERMANY

Extensive corruption extra ordainare -  Extreme Financial Greed.
DICTATORS AND KLEPTOCRATS

Discrimination even in small matters increasing to Utter Intolerance - History Repeats Itself and Lessons Never Learnt.
1980s SOUTH AFRICA.

Blindness to not developing society by education, merit and open values - Self Impediment and Destruction.
OPPOSITE OF INDEPENDENT SINGAPORE.

Divide and Rule learnt from colonisers followed by an Independent Country - Socio-political disintegration.
MYANMAR

Loss of inherent culture by push to strongly implement practices borrowed from another country - Significant loss of one's own heritage.
RISKS FACING SOME EMIGRANTS

Numbers of specific demographics dwindling, increasing emigration, export of human talent and tightening of blatant intolerance - Huge social change happening for years already.
21st Century VENEZUELA.

Fissures embedded already in a specific race, many of whom already subject to a hand out mentality,  sufferance of being exploited by the powerful and rich and the suppression of true development of a race -  Fooling the people.
EXPERIENCE OF THE INDIGENOUS

#yongkevthoughts

Keeping In Touch

 So the Calendar marks another close of year.  For me, my posts here have reached their sweet seventeenth year.

I appreciate the contribution of friends and family around the world who have directly shared various valuable links and posts with me - theirs is such a rich tapestry of what concerns and inspires them.   Their taking time and effort to reach out to me is never to be underestimated.  At times we may have nothing to say, but such links and posts are just a valued way to keep in touch.

At the same time, have I sent to many Whats App messages, posted unnecessary photos or videos and spent more time on screen instead of doing other things?

It can be disappointing and sad that on the other hand, despite more effective ways of communicating in this technologically more advanced world, the world can witness less hellos, less reaching out, more scamming and more silence in varying levels of personal interaction.
Only messaging text adds more burden to the eyes, loss of social verbal skills and over use of light emitting screens. 

Social media in the worst criticism can be dominated by relentless flouting of divisive views that refuse to compromise,
dodgy video clips that may contain intrusive viruses and signs of personal boredom.  The beast can be addictive, all consuming and trivial in the end - we have to be mindful of this.

The sole reliance on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Tik Tok posts assumes everyone else spends time to check your posts.   The cyberspace can be full  of overloaded data like the debris circulating over Planet Earth.  Something can be amiss if one has not spoken to a Facebook contact in years - it can be obvious.  Individual brains can be transformed by the daily use of clicks, deletes and scrolling on a screen - are we becoming less patient, getting more sucked in on our stubborn beliefs and feeding on a dangerous addiction?

Getting connected in person is a different dish from broadcasting on Facebook, Tik Tok video clips or WhatsApp chat groups.

Apart from the agendas of obvious influencers social media mechanisms are often utilised by many to be a record of personal and family lives.  This virtual record is now dependent on wifi and external parties, instead of just the retro but independent photo album.  Many contacts can just be not interested in your personal or family records.  Those who truly are interested in you usually keep in touch in varied other ways.

Time is a personal asset that can never be replaced.   When someone offers you that, it is priceless.  Never take for granted when someone uses time, energy and interest to keep directly in touch.  Their time is an opportunity cost which can otherwise be used for their own personal development in their continuing journey of life.

#yongkevthoughts

Wheels of Change

 

The wheels of change keep on turning, even for simple routines in daily life.

There is no longer the past pleasure of visiting newsagents in Australia.  The quality and variety of print has reduced, with persistant rise in prices.  Such outlets still arw shelves for stationary - although they still sell greeting cards, that again is a shrinking industry.  Many newsagents now serve Australia Post functions in banking services.  Many customers tend to be older and visit the newsagent for lotto purchases and claims.
Newsagents can now be flooded with souvenirs and be collecting centres for dry cleaning.

Supermarkets sell insurance on site or online.   Their aisles are domimated by processed food with a common emphasis on high sugar, salt and preservative levels - and there are those confusing stickers on prices.  They are coralling us to self checkouts while not fully believing our integrity to do the right thing to properly pay.  We provide the revenue for their executives and shareholders - and yet are disrespected and mistrusted.

Who watches television any more?
Owners of such media fill up their propanganda and agenda to bombard our minds and sensitivities, instead of providing us with more balanced menus.
The alternatives can be no better.  Advertisements illustrate the reality that there is no such thing as a free lunch.  Streaming services force us to
lap up commercials - and even the creativity of ads has gone down in standards.

Politics in any society these days can reek of the dearth in leadership, uniqueness and care for the public.  It is obvious a lot of taxpayer funds are used for more selfish purposes than for what ideal principles call for. Parliamentarians reveal more of their streaks in self preservation, self entitlement and egoistic drives.  The use of increased political labels confuses the ordinary voter of what each political party stands for.  Politics can be hijacked by powerful foreign agents to serve overseas demands rather than to have governments "by the people, for the people and through the people".

Political correctness in various forms can also be manipulated by niche groups to reinforce emotion, support and wins for themselves, rather than for the general good of society.  Individuals and groups who are most vocal can shout down the other viable needs of others.  Those who choose to remain silent or not participate can truly lose out.   The so called democratic way of politics can be hijacked by non democratic forces.  The system of majority decisions to enforce questionable measures for a country assumes that every voter is informed, intelligent and rational - when the reality is not.

Corporate and institutional misbehaviour is not sufficiently punished.  Deterrants are miniscule in personal or financial implications for breachers, offenders and recalcitrants, when compared to the illegal rewards. Compliance policies and standards are increasingly  meant for show and not implementation.  Offenders know that in practice their existence is dependent only on a narrow band of key support - and they can really point their nose to the rest.

There definitely has been a spike in our expectations.  Food, products and other consumables are delivered so fast.  We no longer pour over traditional sources of knowledge or research but tend to rely on software, AI and digital systems to add to our personal knowledge. There is a corresponding loss in the value of patience. 

As the population increases, supply and logistics crumble under reinforced demands for services in many areas. 
Where aging infrastructure has not been improved, renewed or rebuilt, weak points develop but often ignored or denied by the authorities. 

Thank goodness, Nature still assures us in the cycle of growth, bloom and renewal. Most dogs have not changed their personalities and penchant to connect positively with our human needs.  When there is rain, sunshine will follow.  Colours still appear in hues and intensity wgen day changes to night - and vice versa.

#yongkevthoughts