5983. Świąteczny czas (VIII) // Z oazy (CDX)

Jeszcze tylko chwila i będę mogła zamknąć świąteczny czas. Odłożyć końcówkę ro­ku 2025. Odstawić na półkę otrzymane gwiazdkowo książki.

W moim czytelniczym uniwersum dwieście jeden książek później, mając jedno­cześ­nie z tyłu głowy, że czwarta książka Autora wciąż na mnie czeka. Czeka, bo nie jest o tej wspaniałej parze.

Tej książki nie trzeba czytać od deski do deski. Można otworzyć w do­wol­nym miej­scu, rzucić okiem tylko na jedną stronę i… gotowe! Jest się ugotowanym, to znaczy poruszonym… do trzewi.

‘Who are you...deep inside?’ asked Big Panda.
Tiny Dragon looked out over the crumbling ruins.
‘I don’t remember.’

🖇

‘It’s hard to find your way looking behind you,’ said Big Panda.
‘The path forward begins in the present.’

🖇

‘Does my past control my future?’ asked Tiny Dragon.
‘It doesn't have to,’ said Big Panda. ‘It’s you who steers
the boat, not the wake it leaves behind.’

🖇

Bringing too much of the past with you can make it
very difficult to move forwards.

🖇

‘Do you ever wonder what might have been?’
asked Tiny Dragon.
‘No,’ said Big Panda.
‘There is a peace in knowing it could not
have happened any other way.’

🖇

So much ruin, so much loss,
yet still...so much beauty.

From the ancient ruins a tree took root.
Even in loss, life finds a way.

🖇

Big Panda took Tiny Dragon's hand in his huge paw.

‘It is a wonderful thing to enjoy this world, to try
new things, to push yourself, and succeed and fail.
But none of these things will make you any more
than you are right now.

Growth is not about becoming someone else,
but unfolding who you’ve always been.’

🖇

‘How are you so kind to everyone we meet?’
asked Tiny Dragon.

‘I try to remember that each person is
facing a struggle I cannot see,’ said Big Panda.
‘Then it’s not so difficult.’

🖇

‘I’ll never get it,’ huffed Tiny Dragon,
about to smash it on the ground.

‘Peace doesn’t come from avoiding things that
make you upset or angry,’ said Big Panda,
‘but from facing those things again and again,
and doing your best to choose peace each time.’

🖇

‘I know you’re scared,’ said Big Panda.
‘You cannot help that. But you have chosen not to let
fear stop your journey and that shows great courage.’

🖇

Life is like a pot of tea.
Sometimes it’s too much for one person.
Share it if you can.

🖇

‘How is it you never seem worried?’ asked Tiny Dragon.

‘I have worried about many things in my life,’
said Big Panda, ‘and few of them ever came to pass.
When you realize that, it makes it much easier to let
the world play out as it wants to.’

Tiny Dragon took a deep breath and felt the beginnings
of a new faith in the world as he stepped out into
the light of day.

🖇

Tiny Dragon searched and searched
but couldn’t find
what he was looking for.

‘Perhaps it’s already inside you?’
suggested Big Panda.

🖇

A leaf never falls in the wrong place.  

🖇

Tiny Dragon was alone,
but he did not distract himself.
Instead, he sat with himself,
and slowly but surely,
began to find himself.

🖇

‘I wish I had a shell to hide in sometimes,’
said Tiny Dragon.

‘It’s very useful, said the tortoise,
but I’ve found that, now and then, you have to stick
your neck out to get where you want to go.’

🖇

What seems hopeless one day
can look slightly different the next.

James Norbury, A Beautiful World,
Michael Joseph, London 2025.
(wyróżnienie własne)

‘This place is unbelievable’, gasped Tiny Dragon.

(tamże)

5271. Z oazy (CCIX)

Nie­dzielne odliczanie literek, raz. Czekałam ponad pół roku na publikację tej książ­ki. Potem dwa tygodnie, rozciągnięte do pięciu, bo podróż do ula wiodła przez nie­zna­ne mi czaso-przestrzenne dziury. A potem jeszcze tydzień, by opadły wrażenia i można było odcedzić piękne od wspaniałego, które muszę tu pod ręką mieć.

Chwilowo nie układa mi się dobrze ze słowami, więc… Drzewa. To one zatrzymują mnie przy każdym kolejnym kontakcie z tą opowieścią. Drzewa, drzewa i ptak!

For the animals.
Teachers, messengers and most of all, friends.

🍂

🍂

‘Spend time with those who  
bring out the best in you.’

🍂

🍂

‘Nature has no words,
but it is trying to tell you something.’

🍂

‘Kindness and gratitude are two qualities
I found difficult to learn, but they can help us in so many ways.

They cost nothing,
but their values cannot be overstated.’

🍂

‘If you knew how much kindness could change your life,
you would practise it at every opportunity. […]’

🍂

🍂

🍂

‘Flowers can bloom in the most unlikely of places.’

🍂

🍂

🍂

🍂

‘The obstacle is often the path,’ thought the Cat.

🍂

‘That signpost,’ said the Cat ‘is not the destination.
It simply points to it...

Likewise, the books are not the way, although
they can help you find it. Just like the signpost,
if you send all your time studying it you will
never get where you’re going.’

🍂

The Cat paused for a moment to listen to the
sound of the rain.

James Norbury, The Cat Who Taught Zen,
Michael Joseph, London 2023.
(wyróżnienie własne)

Each moment is a unique place
in the world just for you.

Savour it now,
for you can never visit it again.

(tamże)

4832. Z oazy (LXXXVII)

Dwuniedzielne odliczalnie literek, cztery. Czy to już tradycja? Pierwszą książkę o Pan­dzie i Smo­ku zamówiłam rok temu, jeszcze w ulu, ale przyszła do mnie i towa­rzy­szy­ła mi na zeszłorocznym, listopadowym gigancie. Drugą książkę o Pandzie i Smoku, czyli tę, zamówiłam na tym turnusie gi­gan­ta i szczęśliwie trafiła w moje ręce w ostatni piątek, wróżąc wspaniały weekend.

Zupełnie inna niż pierwsza część, choć ci sami bohaterzy, ale równie doskonała. Tak samo pięknie wyciska łzy wzruszenia. Zryczała mnie okrutnie…

The story begins with change […]  and ends with change […]. Both of these changes are scary, but both could be considered necessary to move through life and become less fearful and more content.
     When I first set out to create the book, I decided to base it on the idea of a spiritual journey which starts not simply with discontent, but the acknow­ledge­ment of this discontent and the desire to do something about it.
// z posłowia.

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‘Something needs to change, my little friend,’
said Big Panda.
‘But if making the change was easy,
it probably wouldn’t make very much difference.’

Great change requires great effort.

*

*

*

Even the greatest storm will pass...

*

‘This is not where we would
choose to be,’ said Big Panda,

‘but it is where we are...

And if you try to forget about what has
happened, just for a moment,
and look around,

you might see that this is
one of the most beautiful moments
we have ever experienced.’

*

*

I just trust in life to take us where we need to be.

*

*

And he began to feel that the emptiness inside him
was like a cup waiting to be filled.

Filled with all the wonders the world had to offer.

There was pain, of course,
but there was much beauty too.

*

‘It seems that the more I unclench my hand,’ said Tiny Dragon,
‘the more the world seems to place into it.’

*

‘But you always seem to know the answers,’ said Tiny Dragon.
Big Panda grinned.
‘Well, I have made a lot more mistakes than you.’

*

James Norbury, The Journey. A Big Panda and Tiny Dragon,
Michael Joseph, London 2022.
(wyróżnienie własne)

4456. Czytane na gigancie (IV)

Istnienie tej książki odkryłam przez przypadek, szukając Autora ilustracji. Natych­miast zrobiłam klik, klik i już do mnie szła. Przyszła do ula dzień przed wyjazdem na gigant, dzień po naszym całostadnym z ula wyjeździe.

Podróż na gigant zajęła jej jeszcze tydzień. Gdy tylko wpadła w moje ręce, po­da­ro­wa­ła mi wielozmysłowe, fantastyczne doznanie, a potem pobiegła ucieszyć moją gigantową koleżankę. Gdy wróciła, uznała, że nie może czekać na koniec giganta, musi tu być już i zaraz. Z wyrzutem poinformowała mnie, że przecież w niedziele mam luz, to może? Niech będzie.

Dziś pierwszy dzień drugiej połowy turnusu, przedostatnia niedziela tu. Upuszczam więc książki, nim jutro ruszę do rehabilitacyjnej roboty.

I put all my heart into each picture and I think that’s why they speak to people—each and every one has a little piece of my soul in it.

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An Elder Dragon
is a Tiny Dragon
who never give up.

*

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James Norbury, Big Panda and Tiny Dragon,
Michael Joseph, London 2021.

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(tamże)