LA PENSINE MUTINE (EN)

Let Go of the People Who Aren’t Ready to Love You

Ey@el5/11/2023Psychology and Awakening No comments

Those words by Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal the Cannibal in The Silence of the Lambs) — “Let go of people who aren't ready to love you yet! This is the hardest thing you'll have to do in your life and it will also be the most important thing: stop giving your love to those who aren't ready to love you yet” — that have been shared on social media, since 2020, in a meme format but also as part of an essay-length piece — were actually not written by Hopkins.

The original text, which appears to have been slightly modified and attributed to the British actor, was indeed published two years before Hopkins name was mentioned, by essayist Brianna Wiest on Thought Catalog. She's also published similar works in a book. I just wanted the truth to be re-established.

That said, this phenomenon of misattributing quotes to famous figures is quite common on social media and I would urge you to be thorough and vigilant as regards the sources of whatever you're sharing, lest you inadvertently spread false truths and ultimately lose credibility.

I hope you enjoy my video adaptation. Please, go and like it on YouTube and Crowdbunker.

Ey@el

Let go of the people who aren’t ready to love you. It is the hardest thing you will ever have to do, and it will also be the most important: stop giving your love to those who aren’t ready to love you.

Stop having hard conversations with people who don’t want to change. Stop showing up for people who are indifferent about your presence. Stop prioritizing people who make you an option. Stop loving people who aren’t ready to love you.

I know that your instinct is to do whatever you can to earn the good graces of everyone you can, but that is also the impulse that will rob you of your time, your energy and your sanity.

When you start showing up to your life wholly and completely, with joy and interest and commitment, not everyone is going to be ready to meet you there.
It doesn’t mean you need to change who you are. It means you need to stop loving people who aren’t ready to love you.

If you’re left out, subtly insulted, mindlessly forgotten about or easily disregarded by the people you spend the most time with, you’re doing yourself an incredible disservice by continuing to offer your energy and life to them.

The truth is that you are not for everyone, and everyone is not for you. That’s what makes it so special when you do find the few people with whom you have a genuine friendship, love or relationship: you’ll know how precious it is because you’ve experienced what it isn’t.

But the longer you spend trying to force someone to love you when they aren’t capable, the longer you’re robbing yourself of that very connection. It is waiting for you. There are billions of people on this planet, and so many of them are going to meet you at your level, vibe where you are, connect with where you’re going.

But the longer you stay small, tucked into the familiarity of the people who use you as a cushion, a back burner option, a therapist and a ploy for their emotional labor, the longer you keep yourself out of the community you crave.

Maybe if you stop showing up, you’ll be less liked.

Maybe you’ll be forgotten about altogether.

Maybe if you stop trying, the relationship will cease.

Maybe if you stop texting, your phone will stay dark for days and weeks.

Maybe if you stop loving someone, the love between you will dissolve.

That doesn’t mean you ruined a relationship. It means that the only thing sustaining a relationship was the energy you and you alone were putting into it.

That’s not love. That’s attachment.

The most precious, important thing that you have in your life is your energy. It is not your time that is limited, it is your energy. What you give it to each day is what you will create more and more of in your life. What you give your time to is what will define your existence.

When you realize this, you’ll begin to understand why you’re so anxious when you spend your time with people who are wrong for you, and in jobs or places or cities that are wrong, too.

You’ll begin to realize that the foremost important thing you can do for your life and yourself and everyone you know is to protect your energy more fiercely than anything else.

Make your life a safe haven in which only people that can care and listen and connect are allowed.

You are not responsible for saving people.

You are not responsible for convincing them they want to be saved.

It is not your job to show up for people and give away your life to them, little by little, moment by moment, because you pity them, because you feel bad, because you “should,” because you’re obligated, because, at the root of it all, you’re afraid to not be liked back.

It is your job to realize that you are the master of your fate, and that you are accepting the love you think you’re worthy of.

Decide you’re deserving of real friendship, true commitment and complete love with people who are healthy and thriving.

Then wait in the darkness, just for a little bit…

… And watch how quickly everything begins to change.

Original text by BRIANNA WIEST

Sweet Break

Ey@el4/27/2023Cooking No comments

In these increasingly tough times, I would suggest a well-deserved sweet break. With a revisited classic delicacy, all in gluten and sugar-free vegan fashion, the smoothness and refined taste of which should reconcile you with the present moment. Please note it does fill you up — but it won't endanger your figure. Actually, it's even a very healthy treat.

Ingredients

Makes 8 brownies:

- 600 g sweet potato
- 12 medjool dates
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 tablespoon raw cocoa powder
- 70 g ground almond
- 60 g oatmeal
- 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Soak dates in hot water for 15 minutes.

Peel the sweet potato, cut it into pieces and boil for about 15 minutes. Drain and purée.

Drain dates but keep water. Pit and cut in small pieces and mix with 6 tablespoon of soaking water. Add sweet potato purée, vanilla and cocoa.

Grind oatmeal to make flour. Add ground almond and salt and add to dough.

Transfer to a square baking pan lined with baking paper. Bake 40-50 minutes at 180°C.

Remove from pan and allow to cool before cutting into 8 servings.

Store into an airtight container in the fridge.

Enjoy this guilt-free treat!

How to Add Physical Media to a Digital Book or Video Library

Ey@el4/06/2023Computing No comments

How frustrating to have built up an extensive collection of books and DVD/Blu-rays (or VHS tapes!) and being unable to remember which items you have and where to find them because it takes so much space on your shelves that most often, you need to store them in double or even triple storing. Nearly a decade ago, I had explained how to catalogue your collections with Ant Movie Catalog but ever since it became quite obsolete as much easier and more effective (multiplatform) new software such as Calibre for books and Kodi for films are now available. However, these applications have been developed for digital media. So how do you add your physical media to manage all your collections in the same place?

Well, luckily I've found a way!

The following tutorials assume that you already know how to use Calibre and Kodi and that have created digital libraries for all your books and movies. If not, please, refer to relevant online tutorials.

How to add your printed books to Calibre

1. Configure Calibre's importation pattern

You need to do that as shown in the animated GIF below (sorry it's all in French, but you should recognise the steps as described right after).

Click on Preferences (Ctrl+P).
Import/export - Adding books section.
Read metadata tab.
In the Regular expression field, in the drop down menu, select the following pattern:
(?P<title>.+) - (?P<author>[^_]+)
Enter a file name (do not forget the file extension) to check it does work and that everything before the dash ends up in the Title field while everything that comes after ends up in the Authors field. Make sure to add a space on both sides of the dash.
If your Test is okay, then Apply and Close.

2. Create dummy digital books

This second step assumes that you have already created a list of all your printed books according to the preset pattern above.

Open your file manager and Create New Folder (which you may delete after use) in which you will add all your dummy digital books.
Right click Create New Document - Blank Document (on Windows it may be New Text Document).
Rename this text file according to the preset importation pattern and do not forget the TXT extension.

I recommend creating a generic Title - Author.txt file and duplicating it as many times as you need and rename it accordingly.

3. Add books to your library

When you're done, you'll have to import your dummy books in Calibre.

Click Add books - Add books from a single folder (A) and select your temporary folder.
Then proceed as you would do for digital books.
When the importation is done, you may delete your temporary dummy book folder as Calibre has copied them in your library.

NOTE: I advise you to use Edit metadata individually so as to be able to choose the correct information and the book cover that suits you best. I also recommend adding new metadata sources (Preferences - Advanced - Extensions - Metadata Sources) such as Goodread and Babelio for instance. you may also note that I have created custom columns to indicate printed book formats (hardback/paperback). I intend to create another to keep track of where my printed books are stored on my shelves. Shouldn't take too long with the Edit metadata in bulk function.

How to add your DVD/Blu-rays to Kodi

1. Create dummy videos

Creating dummy videos is about similar to creating dummy books except that you cannot create blank video files from your file manager. I have therefore made one you may download (right click to Save):

Unlike with Calibre, the folder you're going to create to add your dummy movie files will not be temporary. So you'll need to create it directly in your video library. The next steps are the same as for books but renaming will only use Title and optionally date (see relevant online tutorials for Kodi).

2. Add a new video source to Kodi

You may now tell Kodi where to look for your dummy video folder just like you did for your other sources. Select Movies as a category for scrapers.

Then right click on this new source to Scan for new content.

3. Specific cases

Some of your videos may not be found by metadata scrapers. Either because such data for your movie doesn't exist or because it is regarded as a mini series.

In the former case, you'll need to create a NFO text file named exactly as your movie file and add your own artwork in the same folder (see online Kodi help documentation to find out how to do that).

In the latter case, you'll need to create another folder as a new source for Kodi and use TV Series as category to use the appropriate scraper. Then move all the relevant dummy video files to that folder.

If you have series on discs, proceed the same way using a folder per season and a dummy.mp4 per season folder. Name our dummy file same as the series title adding S for season plus the season number followed by E for episode followed by the episode number dash another episode and episode number and so on. Kodi will fetch the thumbnails and information for each episode you indicate in the filename even if you only have one dummy file.

Series (Year) S01E01-E02-E03.mp4

NOTE: In the above example, I only had a couple of episodes per season so I looked up the correct number on TMBD and named my dummy files accordingly and Kodi does display the right episodes and not those I do not have on my DVD.

My only regret is not being able to add a custom field to indicate where my DVD's are store on my shelves unlike with Calibre.

Red Army Blues

Ey@el3/16/2023Geopolitics, Music No comments

When I left my home and my family,
My mother said to me:
“Son, it's not how many Germans you kill that counts,
that's how many people you set free”.
So I packed my bags and I brushed my cap,
And I walked out into the world.
Seventeen years old, never kissed a girl.

I took the train to Voronezh –
That was as far as it would go,
Exchanged my sacks for a uniform,
Bit my lip against the snow.
I prayed for Mother Russia
In the summer of '43
And as we drove the Germans back,
I really believed God was listening to me.

Then we howled into Berlin,
Tore the smoking buildings down,
Raised the Red Flag high,
Burnt the Reichstag brown.
I saw my first American man
And he looked a lot like me.
He had the same kind of farmer's face,
Said he came from some place Called Hazard, Tennessee.

When the war was over,
My discharge papers came.
Me and twenty hundred others
Went to Stettiner for the train.
"Kiev!" said the Commissar
"From there your own way home".
But I never got to Kiev.
We never came back home.
The train went north to the taiga.
We were stripped and marched in file
Up the Great Siberian road
For miles and miles and miles and miles,
Dressed in stripes and tatters
In a Gulag left to die,
All because Comrade Stalin feared
That we'd become too westernized!

I used to love my country.
I used to feel so young.
I used to believe that life
was the best song ever sung.
I would have died for my country
Back in 1945.
But now only one thing remains:
The brute will to survive.

Mike Scott, 1982

About this song

This song tells the story of a Russian soldier in World War II who is part of the conquering Red Army, which took Berlin in 1945 to defeat Hitler. When he returns home, instead of a hero's welcome, he is sent to a gulag to die, as Joseph Stalin fears he and his fellow soldiers, having mingled with Americans and other Europeans, will spread Western ideals.

The song is based on two books: The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer (1965) and The Diary Of Vikenty Angarov by Victor Muravin (1978). The first is from the perspective of a German soldier while the latter is an account of a Russian soldier:

These two books were very inspirational to me, and so I wrote the song. And I remember my girlfriend at the time was a huge Roxy Music fan, and one of her favorite songs was 'A Song For Europe,' in which Bryan Ferry sang, “Jamais, jamais, jamais” at the end of the song. So, I nicked that chord sequence, devised this lyric based on these two books[…]

I was highly inspired and every time I went to the end of a verse, I wanted a real killer line, like, “Seventeen years old, never kissed a girl”. That wasn't from the books. That wasn't from 'A Song for Europe.' That was from my heart. So, I wanted a killer line at the end of each verse to really pique the listener there.

~ Mike Scott

It's interesting to note that Mike Scott changed the lyrics on many occasions to adapt to his live audience. This way, in Germany, he won't say 'Germans' but 'Nazis' to mark the difference.

Also, in recent live versions (and on the official website), in the first verse, hte mother says: “It's the number of Germans you kill that counts, go set your country free”.

Mike Scott explains the reason why:

Years after this song was released I received a letter from a Russian man who said every word of the song was true except the line “It's not how many Germans you kill that counts, it's how many people you set free”. He told me “people went to the war to kill Germans”. I realize that when I wrote the song I allowed youthful idealism to distort the sense and truth of the song with an out of context pacifist sentiment. I have now changed it.

Here's another live version I couldn't make my mind whether to pick up over the one I finally decided for, in which Steve Wickham's magical violin replaces Anthony Thistlewaite's captivating saxophone.

There's also this remastered version with choirs that stir up your guts:

A Ukrainian Seeking Peace

Ey@el3/09/2023Geopolitics No comments

Never mind territories. It's not important. What matters are human lives.
Nikolaï

Nikolaï was born in Ukraine in the late 1980's when it was still part of the Soviet Union and grew up there surrounded by his half-Russian half-Ukrainian family. A couple of weeks ago, he was approached by Sud Radio, a French mainstream radio station, to share his story and view of the situation in Ukraine, which he did in a much unbiased and apolitical way. However, with War is Peace being the new normal, some powerful vested interests sent out their minions to do the dirty work and the video was quickly deleted. A very stupid move that resulted in the video going viral in French-speaking countries. Now, if you truly stand for Peace, you can do the same with this dubbed version in English with embedded subtitles for the hearing-impaired. You don't have to be pro-Poutine nor pro-Zelensky — just pro-Life. Please, share this video.

Ey@el

Bourdin Invites a Ukrainian Who Is Seeking Peace

J.J. BOURDIN: Let's hear more on the war between Ukraine and Russia. A year of warfare with this account from Nikolaï who lives in Bastia. Good morning Nikolaï!

NIKOLAÏ: Good morning Jean-Jacques! Good morning to all your guests!

J.J. BOURDIN: Thank you for joining us, Nikolaï. Let me sum up… Correct me if I'm wrong : You are Ukrainian. You were born in Dnipro in 1987. 1987, that was during the era of the USSR. You came to France in 2002. Half your family is Russian, the other half is Ukrainian. How's this war like for you?

NIKOLAÏ: Well, listen… it's exactly as you said. Very, very weird. For even today, being in touch with my family… one side is very… Actually, it's amazing because of how they hated Zelensky just before the conflict began. Now they're rooting for him. And the other half, who also lives in Ukraine, is even afraid to speak on the phone for fear of being sanctioned by the SBU… you know the political police you get during wartime.

J.J. BOURDIN: Yes, political police you get everywhere else by the way.

NIKOLAÏ: Exactly.

J.J. BOURDIN: On the Ukrainian side, huh?

NIKOLAÏ: Exactly.

J.J. BOURDIN: Your Russian side of the family… I mean your Russian family, are they still living in Ukraine?

NIKOLAÏ: Yes, yes, of course. Especially since my family is on the eastern side. You know, really on the border of the trouble areas of Donbas where the conflict initially started.

J.J. BOURDIN: Oh yes, okay… So obviously, they are afraid to speak out. And the other Ukrainian family who was… but I've had several accounts supporting that… they were anti-Zelensky and are now of course rooting for the Ukrainian power because they are patriots.

NIKOLAÏ: Well, no. Not because they are patriots! I'm sorry because, at some point, as soon as the conflict began, all opposition parties in Ukraine were banned. All the TV channels that kind of offered an alternative to the ruling power have either been closed or co-opted by the Ukrainian power. You have to take that in consideration as it didn't happen just like that. Then, overnight, Zelensky became an angel whereas he was one of the most corrupt guys in the world. And he was featured in the Pandora Papers. I don't know how a criminal, a Mafioso suddenly came out as a hero,
while actually he's just a clown who was brought into office by very powerful Ukrainian oligarchs such as Kolomoyskyi.

J.J. BOURDIN: No, but Nikolaï, you're contradicting yourself!

NIKOLAÏ: Er… in what way?

J.J. BOURDIN: You're saying that all your family was rooting for Zelensky. Are they or are they not?

NIKOLAÏ: They are NOW. They are now because all day long they are being subjected to state propaganda with no other option.

J.J. BOURDIN: But are they for that reason or rather because they condemn the Russian invasion?

NIKOLAÏ: Well, they do condemn the Russian invasion, of course, since Russia had been presented to them as the absolute aggressor with no other option.

J.J. BOURDIN: Wait… so according to you, Nikolaï, they condemn Russia because of how it's been presented to them? Not because they're getting bombed?

NIKOLAÏ: Well, that does obviously help! The thing is, when you get bombed, most of the time you don't know who's shooting. You're hidding in a bunker or a basement and you're scared. Then you watch the news to hear who's been shooting at you. Are we told the truth? I leave it to the discretion of newscasters.

J.J. BOURDIN: Okay. Nikolaï, do you want Russia to invade your country?

NIKOLAÏ: No, I don't want Russia to invade my country. I want this war to end as soon as possible. I want Zelensky's government to be held accountable. For let's not forget the crimes committed in Donbas. There were so many and they're still being committed. I wish there were negociations. I want Ukraine to reembark on the path to democracy, namely that we get back to the polls to elect an new government to put a more balanced team in place. Because, at some point, in Ukraine, we had forces… you know, you also have the far right in France. We know what far right forces are like… Well, in Ukraine, we have the same thing. It was a very small group of nationalists and, at some point, they got propelled at the highest levels of power in a way… er… brutally and they did things that resulted in the current situation we're in that got the Russian-speaking population to be repressed.

J.J. BOURDIN: The current situation does not result from this. The current situation is because a country has invaded another.

NIKOLAÏ: No, of course, the current situation pre-dates that. You know… you are French, you must know Montesquieu? Sorry, on one hand you've got the war makers, but those who are ultimately responsible are the ones who make war inevitable.

J.J. BOURDIN: Yes, it's sadly true. I do agree Nikolaï.

NIKOLAÏ: We totally agree. The situation in Ukraine has escalated over 8 years ago.
And today, with the Russian capital actually being located approximately 300 kilometers away from the Ukrainian border, Ukraine's position to become pro-NATO was clearly not sustainable for Russia. Vital interests were at stake. Remember the Cuban crisis where it's all very simple. When the Russians tried to install missiles in Cuba, look how the United States responded. They nearly set the world ablaze.

J.J. BOURDIN: No missiles were ever installed in Ukraine to threaten Russia. No Western country ever said that they aimed at invading Russia. None did, Nikolaï.

NIKOLAÏ: Invading Russia is just not possible! However, putting them at a competitive disadvantage, that's another story.

J.J. BOURDIN: Well…

NIKOLAÏ: That's another story. There is one more thing I would like to say : war is wrong. And in politics, there are no good guys and bad guys. There are only interests. That's it. And here, one country's vital interests have been targeted and turned into this fratricidal warfare. For they are brother nations. And what's going on in Ukraine greatly upsets me.

J.J. BOURDIN: I can understand…

NIKOLAÏ: And I just want to say that the role of the West… why I will not accept it? Because today, by actually sending weapons to Ukraine, by supporting Zelensky and further impelling him along the war path — and yet, that's changing now — they make my Ukrainian brothers today actually being mobilised and butchered in Bakhmut and other places where they get slaughtered for whose's interests? I wish we could regain peace. Never mind territories, it's not important. What matters are human lives.

J.J. BOURDIN: Yes, human lives matter on both sides, my dear Nikolaï.

NIKOLAÏ: Of course. Of course.

J.J. BOURDIN: Russian soldiers too are being sent to the front, often with obsolete equipment as you know it, Nikolaï. They are being slaughtered too. Well, Nikolaï, I will have to cut this conversation short for we have another topic at hand. Less concerning, but all voices are good to hear and all voices are being heard in here. You know, I'm absolutely committed to that. Anyway, thank you for calling, Nikolaï.

NIKOLAÏ: Well, thank you for your invitation and peace be with you all!

J.J. BOURDIN: Thank you very much.

Sources

99 Balloons

Ey@el2/16/2023Geopolitics, Music No comments

A couple of weeks ago, the United States eventually shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon after having allowed it to collect information over their territory for days. Subsequently, strange flying objects began to appear in the American airspace. No one truly knows what they are, but the U.S. Army now has the capacity to shoot them down. They are unable to explain what they are, what propulsion system they're using, but it's okay, let the public believe they're alien spacecrafts just like Hollywood has been programming them for decades. All the same, it strongly reeks of Project Blue Beam!

40 years ago to the day, right during the intensification of the arms race during the Cold War between the USA and USSR, German band Nena released this international hit with socially conscious lyrics telling the story of 99 balloons mistaken for UFOs, causing a general to send pilots to investigate. Finding nothing but balloons, the pilots put on a large show of fire power. The display of force worries the nations along the borders and the war ministers on each side encourage conflict to grab power for themselves. In the end, a cataclysmic war results from the otherwise harmless flight of balloons and causes devastation on all sides without a victor. The anti-war song finishes with the singer walking through the devastated ruins of the world and finding a single balloon.

In the light of recent developments, I think it would be pointless to stress how visionary these lyrics are. Incidentally, it was shared, on 26th October, by General Flynn (ex-United States National Security Advisor) on his Telegram channel. The cutline read: “Beware of the false flag. War in Europe is not the right path, in fact war is never the right path.” (Source)

Let's not feed the egregore of fear. We surely cannot control the actions of the self-proclaimed madmen forcing their mad rules over the sovereign beings that we are, but we can still choose not to feed them with the low-vibrating energy the entities who handle them need in order to keep operating on this plane, breeding humankind as mere cattle for their life force. Never mind if you deem my words stupid. I feel sorry for you that you totally missed the point about what is truly at stake both spiritually and metaphysically in this 5th generation warfare. It's quite normal as you're looking for answers in the wrong place. Forget everything you've learnt and stop looking outside yourself.

Ey@el

99 Luftballons

Have you got a minute for me?
If so, I'll sing you a song
About 99 ballons
On their way to the horizon.
If so, I'll sing you a song
About 99 balloons
And how man reaps what he sows.

99 balloons
On their way to the horizon
Were mistaken for UFOs from outer space.
Hence some general
Sent a flying squadron after them
To raise the alarm in case it were true,
But it was just
99 balloons on the horizon.

99 jet pilots,
Each of them a great warrior,
Acting as Captain Kirk.
There was a great display of fireworks.
Their neighbours didn't get it at all.
They immediately felt under attack,
Even though they were just shooting at
99 balloons on the horizon.

99 ministers of war,
With matches and barrels of petrol,
Thinking themselves very clever,
Had already figured out the great boon for them.
They shouted "War!" and they wanted power.
Gosh, who could have thought
Things could escalate to this point
All because of 99 balloons?

All because of 99 balloons —
99 balloons!

99 years of war
Left no room for victors.
There are no ministers of war anymore
And no fighter jets either.
Today, as I'm making my rounds
Looking at a world in ruins,
I found a balloon.
I released it while thinking of you...

Sweet Sweet Yam

Ey@el2/02/2023Cooking No comments

To get the chops this winter, here's a vegan recipe high in protein, starch, potassium, beta-carotene, copper, manganese, sulphur, and antioxidant content, that will easily substitute for a steak or burger, while adding colour to your plate. Quick and easy to make, your kids will love it too. Successfully tested and approved by a bunch of merry gourmets on New Year's Eve!