Emotionally Numb...

"That which doesn’t kill me, makes me stronger"..

Friedrich Nietzche.

Do you agree?

I’ve faced so much lately that I’m afraid that not only I became stronger.. but I also became what you can call “Emotionally numb” !!!

Its sounds like that my over sensitiveness I had for some time now is starting to fade away chunk by chunk.
I’m not sure if it is a good thing though. I know I was very tired being over-sensitive about each and every issue in my and in others people's life, but being numb doesn’t make me feel ok neither.

Too much of everything is harmful, and even though I find it very helpful to be careless about some issues/people, I’m still worried to become “feelingless”.

Clean vs. -not so clean- minds...

A young couple moved into a new neighbourhood.
The next morning, while they were eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbour hang the wash out to dry."That laundry is not very clean," said the young woman to her husband, "she doesn't know how to wash correctly."Her husband looked and listened, but remained silent.
Every time her neighbour would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.Her husband continued to look, listen, and remain silent.
About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line, and said to her husband: "Look! She has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?"
The husband smiled and said: No one. I got up early this morning and washed our windows!

And so it is with life:

What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look.Before we give any criticism, it might be a good idea to check our state of mind and ask ourselves if we are ready to see the good in others, rather than to judge them.

Courtesy of Saira Akbar
Dubai, UAE

Wanna read more similar inspirational stories? Visit one of my favourite sites: Amazing Women Rock

Kaiserin Elisabeth von Österreich (1837-1898)...AKA "Sisi"

This year, I had the opportunity to visit Sisi Museum & the Imperial Apartments in Austria... For those who have no idea who she is - just like me before this visit - Sissi is Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie. The empress consort of (wife of) Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria. There are hundreds of books and articles written about her.

In short:
She was born in Munich, Bavaria (December 24th 1837).
At the age of sixteen, she got married to her Cousin Franz Joseph in Vienna on April 24, 1854 who was suppose to marry her elder sister Helene but fell in love with Elisabeth instead.
She had four children:
Archduchess Sofie of Austria (1855-1857).
Archduchess Gisela of Austria (1856-1932).
The hoped-for crown prince Rodulf (1858-1889).
Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria (1868-1924).
She didn’t adapt very well with the formalities that were attached to her royal role, compared to the carefree life she enjoyed in her childhood.
Special things about her:
She loved horse riding.
She was obsessed with her figure and tried all her life to starve herself in order to keep her (famous 18 inch) waist line in shape by eating a strict diet (meat juice) and having her own gym in her bedroom (you can notice from the pictures and I have seen her model and gym in the museum).
She had beautiful long dark hair (to her ankles !).
Interestingly, when she got older, she refused to pose for portraits, as she didn’t want people to remember her in an older version of Sissi!

Her tragic life:
She didn’t have a happy marriage, nor a happy life. She didn’t like the royal life.
She didn’t have the option of raising her own children. They were raised by her mother in law instead (she is also her mother’s sister).
She lost her first baby Sofie at the age of two from scarlet fever.
She lost her only son Rodulf when shot himself dead.
Her own tragic end happened at the age of 60 when Luigi Lucheni, an Italian anarchist stabbed her.

As I mentioned, there are books and articles to read, movies to watch and museums to visit in order to know her better.

If you are wondering why I wrote all this about her, its because I've been in her museum, touched a side of her life, and somehow, she fascinated me.

Links to look at:

http://www.longhairlovers.com/sissi.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_of_Bavaria

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Temple/8485/sissi.htm?20085

http://www.fountainhillstirol.com/hapsburg2.htm

Day 1

A sleepless night ended by starting my first blog... I'm thrilled..and I think I can have some sleep now :)