Stephen Covey used to say: “Listen first to understand and then to be understood”

I fully agree with him! I am nearly obsessed by listening and I will explain to you why. At least I will try to do it here.

From my opinion the language is a SOUND. If it is not, it is not any language. And the sound must be acquired by listening, how else? We start to learn it from the beginning of our life, some say that even before we are born (prenatal stage). I do not know, I cannot confirm, because, to say the truth, I do not remember it. But what I know for sure is that we leaned it exclusively by listening. There is no other way and this way is natural for us as human species. It is natural and it always was. We learn our native language this way. But later, when we are at school or as adults when we try to learn our second language we try to “outsmart” the nature. We already now one language and we can use it to support this process. Yes, why not? Why to invent the wheel again?

Yes, it is logical, BUT there is a big trap here! We tend to have everything quickly, to have instant results (not only in case of language learning) We have a tendency to skip natural phases of language learning process and we want to speak, read and write immediately or very quickly. We even want to analyze the language that we hardly know so far – I mean the focus on GRAMMAR – which we learn (naturally), as far as our native language is concerned, of course - LAST. We somehow forgot that we went to school without any ability to read, write and without any grammar rules in our heads. In spite of it we understood and we were able to speak quite well. Simply, but well enough! (After a lot lot of mistakes we have made without making problems from it and without being punished for it)

But I would return to my assertion that the language is a sound. Maybe some of you will argue that it could be also TEXT and it is not any sound. I think that the text is only symbolic expression of the sound of the language. Our brain will interpret it back to the narual form of the sound in form of thoughts. When I read I “hear” the sound in my head (or mind). So, reading is actually only different kind of listening (for me). Actually especially the reading ALOUD is very helpful. Do it as much as possible.

And what about speaking? It is thinking aloud which produces the SOUND of language. It goes without saying (idiom). And it is the listening too. You can listen what you are saying and your partner in communication also listens. Sometimes, I will tell you maybe something strange, but sometimes when I speak and that speech is quite spontaneous, unprepared, I listen myself with a big interest. In many cases I am quite surprised what I have just said. Mostly pleasantly surprised I can say. And very useful is so call SELF-TALK (aloud). If it is not aloud it is thinking (or not?). Our method BrainSpeakActivator is actually based on this kind of activity. And listening has a big significance here too! Actually it will improve your listening as well speaking.

But you could say that writing is not definitely about any sound. So, I see it as a process of a text creation. And the text is a symbolic representation of language, the sound. Similar to reading. It could be also seen as “speaking on paper”. It is based on sound of language and it is produced back by reverse process of reading. So, isn't it in essence the sound? From my point of view, it is.

The Fifth Agreement by Don Miguel Ruiz is says: “Be skeptical but learn to LISTEN”. So, be skeptical. I do not say that you should believe me or agree with me. Just think of it. Listen to your thoughts (and do it in English if possible:-)

Here you can see an interesting video concerning the listening skill

First of all, I would like to stop for a while and return to children and their “miraculous” abilities to learn languages.

Some teacher told me few weeks ago (he wrote a replay to my post) that they are not so bright as far as learning languages is concerned according to his experience as I declared. He wrote that the children are just comparable to adults. After some time the answer came to me. I had kind of AHA MOMENT and now I already know. It is because of our school system. We cripple the natural abilities of children to learn languages (and maybe not only to learn the languages) and maybe this is not happening only to our children. Their spontaneity, joy from new, zest to learn… all this is unfortunately suppressed and distorted. J.A.Komensky (who was born in my country) would not be very happy. You can read more about this topic at Jesus used to say: "Be like a child"

This AHA moment came when I was reading this words of Tony Buzan in his book “Use your memory”:

Such a short and at the same time fruitful paragraph! Thank you, Tony, you are a genius.

The KEYWORDS are:

-open mind
-not afraid make mistakes
-repeate
-listen
-copy / mime
-(feel) good
-without much instruction

IT'S THAT SIMPLE

An Italian economist Vilfred Pareto (you can Google more) discovered that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the activities. Does this rule applies to learning languages, in our case English? It goes without saying! Of course it applies. 20% of our learning activities bring us 80% of results. But a BIG question is: What are those activities?

In this post I will give you some of my opinions concerning especially learning the VOCABULARY. Some of them might be true, some of them need your correction which is welcome.

Learning vocabulary the way we usually do does NOT belong to those 20% (green) activities which bring so good results. I see here at least these problems:

• It is boring ;-) The boredom closes our memory – and learning is hard and slow (unnecessarily)
  
• We mix languages together and this way we:

           a) learn more than is necessary – we learn foreign word + our native      word and vice versa. Instead of only one
          b)  bind strangely those words together which are not meant to be binded (collocate) in language naturally

• We learn all words the same way. We do not distinguish between the passive and the active vocabulary at all
• We do not care about importance of particular words

           a) in language as such  
           b) for us as unique human beings

• We try to „master“ the vocabulary perfectly (see also the law of diminishing effect by Pareto too)
  
• We learn without proper listening before and it lead to „creation of our own pronunciation“ - and because of it we do not understand well and we are not understood too
  

This is only a few points, maybe you can find more and I would be able probably too, but for our purposes it is already enough to say that this is not the right way to learn foreign vocabulary. Sorry guys.

I would suggest at least these modification:

1. Do not learn single words. In language are single words very very rear. In most cases are these words together and create sentences and sentences are in paragraphs and bigger units. The language is a big unit and you want to learn it.
   


2.  Lean worlds more like synonyms towards your native words, do not bind them together, instead imagine the meaning of that particular word. Learn meaning of all that text. You can mark some words which are more difficult for you (or interesting) of course. But do not do classical repetition of foreign-native-foreign-native... It brings the biggest problems, in my opinion.
   


3. Lean the important words more. You may ask: But I do not know which ones are those important words. You do not need to know that. What you need is to find some material you are interested in (in English) which is narrated by some native speaker. It may be an audio-book for example. You need the text version too. And you need to listen. The more important and more frequent words will be repeat itself more often. The subjectively important words (for you) will be present there more too, because it is material you like, you are interested in (so, there is no boredom)
   


4. Lean by your ears first to get the proper pronunciation – so listen again.
   


5.  Listen repeatedly, but in most cases that repetition should be kind of in the background listening. You can do other activities at the same time. After understanding the material, you can continue to listen it without paying attention to it = let you subconscious mind to finish the job. It may need some practice.
   


6. Do not try to be perfect, do not try to avoid errors. Prefer fluency, spontaneity and playfulness. Enjoy the activity.
   


7. After a PROPER listening you can start to speak a bit. You can use our method for example to activate the active vocabulary inside of you. (First you need to have something inside of you and you need to know how to pronounce it) This way, you will create you own active vocabulary. Implicitly. Again you do not need and you cannot know actually beforehand which words will be that active vocabulary. It will be created naturally.
   

So, what is that Pareto's rule as far as vocabulary and language learning is concerned?

In essence it is: Learning by the ears from native speakers in bigger language units repeatedly interesting materials and delegating most of time consuming repetitive activities to subconscious mind. Speaking comes later – using proper methods. And what about the grammar? I would say that it comes last (some say not necessary at all)

Learn the language not about the language! Learn by doing. Learn the particular activity by doing that particular activity itself. And it was my case today. 

Thank you for that opportunity.

Today I will let talk about language learning a well know author and philosopher Bob Proctor. He featured in the movie The Secret  and he will reveal to us (perhaps a little surprisingly) the secret behind learning languages.

Maybe you have this man associated with money, wealth, the law of attraction and this kind of things. Yes, actually this YouTube presentation is all about it. I just allowed myself to separate some parts which are significant for our purpose.  Hopefully Bob will not be very angry with me about it. You can see the full version of Bob's presentation here 

Just a few words about money. Yes, it is important aspect of our life. Some people try to deny it, some overexaggerate it. Both extremes are just extremes. Money plays a significant role in our life of course. But life is not only about money and to be candid it is not only about English too. Life is multidimensional. Be in balance.

So, Bob, tell us more:

Do we learn languages the similar way?
Is languages learning more conscious or unconscious process?
Don't we use wrong parts of our brains to learn languages?

Think of it!

Any comments?

Today was a beautiful sunny day here in the middle of Europe. I was in the garden, laying on a deck-chair, sunbathing. Doing “nothing” this way needs some courage and it needs some practice too :-) Try it on you own (in the middle of working day) and you will see. I had my new Google Nexus 7 with me, to test this my little toy, for the fist time, outside the house. And the result is this post.

I found this beautiful poem named “Please Hear What I'm Not Saying”. You are probably familiar with it. I have known it for years, actually this poem was the fist poem I had ever sent to a girl (RF). This poem is worth listening. I mean listening several times (you can download the mp3 of it down) I think that the meaning of this poem is deep and significant for us now more than ever before, even though it is from 1966 (the year of my birthday – just coincidence ;-) )

I was not able to memorize this poem, so I will not recite it by heart myself like the May or Rumi. I found a much better presentation on YouTube – see details here if you want.

You can find more about the poem itself  here

The transcript:

Please Hear What I'm Not Saying

Don't be fooled by me.
Don't be fooled by the face I wear
for I wear a mask, a thousand masks,
masks that I'm afraid to take off,
and none of them is me.

Pretending is an art that's second nature with me,
but don't be fooled,
for God's sake don't be fooled.
I give you the impression that I'm secure,
that all is sunny and unruffled with me, within as well
as without,
that confidence is my name and coolness my game,
that the water's calm and I'm in command
and that I need no one,
but don't believe me.
My surface may seem smooth but my surface is my mask,
ever-varying and ever-concealing.
Beneath lies no complacence.
Beneath lies confusion, and fear, and aloneness.
But I hide this. I don't want anybody to know it.
I panic at the thought of my weakness exposed.
That's why I frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade,
to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.

But such a glance is precisely my salvation, my only hope,
and I know it.
That is, if it's followed by acceptance,
if it's followed by love.
It's the only thing that can liberate me from myself,
from my own self-built prison walls,
from the barriers I so painstakingly erect.
It's the only thing that will assure me
of what I can't assure myself,
that I'm really worth something.
But I don't tell you this. I don't dare to, I'm afraid to.
I'm afraid your glance will not be followed by acceptance,
will not be followed by love.
I'm afraid you'll think less of me,
that you'll laugh, and your laugh would kill me.
I'm afraid that deep-down I'm nothing
and that you will see this and reject me.

So I play my game, my desperate pretending game,
with a facade of assurance without
and a trembling child within.
So begins the glittering but empty parade of masks,
and my life becomes a front.
I idly chatter to you in the suave tones of surface talk.
I tell you everything that's really nothing,
and nothing of what's everything,
of what's crying within me.
So when I'm going through my routine
do not be fooled by what I'm saying.
Please listen carefully and try to hear what I'm not saying,
what I'd like to be able to say,
what for survival I need to say,
but what I can't say.

I don't like hiding.
I don't like playing superficial phony games.
I want to stop playing them.
I want to be genuine and spontaneous and me
but you've got to help me.
You've got to hold out your hand
even when that's the last thing I seem to want.
Only you can wipe away from my eyes
the blank stare of the breathing dead.
Only you can call me into aliveness.
Each time you're kind, and gentle, and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings--
very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings!

With your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
I want you to know that.
I want you to know how important you are to me,
how you can be a creator--an honest-to-God creator--
of the person that is me
if you choose to.
You alone can break down the wall behind which I tremble,
you alone can remove my mask,
you alone can release me from my shadow-world of panic,
from my lonely prison,
if you choose to.
Please choose to.

Do not pass me by.
It will not be easy for you.
A long conviction of worthlessness builds strong walls.
The nearer you approach to me
the blinder I may strike back.
It's irrational, but despite what the books say about man
often I am irrational.
I fight against the very thing I cry out for.
But I am told that love is stronger than strong walls
and in this lies my hope.
Please try to beat down those walls
with firm hands but with gentle hands
for a child is very sensitive.

Who am I, you may wonder?
I am someone you know very well.
For I am every man you meet
and I am every woman you meet.

Charles C. Finn
September 1966



P.S. The listening is crucial for language learning. It goes without saying (meaning=obvious). But important is also what you are listening (for your life). Download the MP3, lay yourself in the garden and listen. Let the sun shine on your body, let English penetrate your being. The learning happens, let it happen.

Yes, I am so confident to say “English is easy for EVERYBODY”!

You may think that this is not your case, that maybe for somebody else, maybe for native speaker or a teacher...

And I still insist: “English is easy”. For everybody? Maybe, if it is not, it could be. I will explain this idea in this short post. Then you can think of it for a while if you want.

English like other things in our life is just as it is. Actually it is a reflection of us, of our perception of it (reality), our attitude towards it. WE make it easy or difficult. In case of English we sometimes create even impossibility to learn it at all. So, solution is quite simple: change your attitude towards English and English becomes EASY for you.

It that so simple to change the attitude? To say the truth, I do not know. Maybe because it depends on the definition of word “simple”. To help you with this process I will provide you here one of possible step by step methods I invented. I call it the ”AAWEL method”.

The AAWELL method is acronym which stands for:

A – Allow
A – Accept
W – Welcome
E – Enjoy
L – Love

Maybe I could stop here with my writing. All is clear, isn't it? But to be certain, I will describe it a little bit more in detail, although shortly.

This method is not only for learning English. It is applicable to everything. In our case we will use if for English. If you want to learn English, you must first to Allow it. If you say “NO” to it right at the beginning, if you resist it fully, no learning process can happen. For example my mother would say: „I am too old to learn English already, I will not to do it“ And it is done. Finished. In many cases it is not so resolute, but we resist the learning process. Maybe partially, but it still takes from us a lot of energy which could be used for learning itself. This way it is wasted. So, first- Allow it - fully! Do not resist it, do not create artificial obstacles and excuses.

The second step, as we already know, is Accept it. What to accept? Accept your present attitude towards English. Do you think that it is difficult, there are to many new words to learn, complex grammar, all it takes too much time, effort, it is not for you, you have different activities to do, different priorities, no talent for languages? Do you have bad experiences already… ? Accept it all. Do not try to change it anyway. Just accept it as it is. In some cases even accept that you cannot accept it. It is enough. This acceptance itself makes a difference! You will see. A big difference.

Another step comes naturally from previous two. If you allow something in your life and if you accept it as it is, you do not resist it anymore actually it becomes friendly, easy part, of your life and you start to WELCOME it into your life. Spontaneously you become to create circumstances for it to be in you life more and more. Somehow you become a „magnet“ for English (in our case) to come into your life. You will start to use it more and more, you become to be „friends“ and it leads naturally to another step – to ENJOY it. Not only because you are friends with English, but also because your mastery of it has significantly improved, you start to enjoy using it, learning it, be in touch with it, you enjoy activities, English activities, from previous step… shortly to say you enjoy it now, it is a joy for you and not the contrary as it is usual. You enjoy it more and more.

The ultimate phase or step is to LOVE it. Not because you know it well, not because you have mastered it already fully … but you love it unconditionally. You can do mistakes, you can have troubles in some (most) areas of English, you can be disappointed sometimes with results of your test or understanding of English movie or inability to recall some vocabulary… it all can happen and it does not matter. You love it anyway. It is unconditional love, it is love of tolerance, comes from acceptance and all previous steps. It is not any obsession, it is not any romance. It is the mature love which can, and will, sustain - and you need to sustain with learning process.

Although these steps are consequential, they can differ from one English activity to another and can somehow fluctuate in time too. Can be intertwined. Be prepared for setbacks, inability to move, being stuck or also for sudden jumps forward... Allow them all, Accept them all, Enjoy them all and Love them all exactly as they are.

Be at ease!
English is easy :-)
It is easy for YOU, 
NOW

A short dialog:
-Hi, Jirka, I would like to say (or write) a few sentences to clarify…
-Hi, who are you? I write this blog, I am the author, don’t I? I am a bit perplex now.
-Hi, Jirka, once more, I am the one who you called the „Parasite“. Yes, I write it in quotes. The reason is that I am not any parasite. And if you allow it, I will write more about it right now, to clarify it.
-Yes, you can. Feel free to do it J

The „Parasite“ clarifies:
So, first of all, do not mistake me for the „programs“ I am „running“. Those could be called parasitic programs, or viruses, if you want. But I am (writing proudly;-) )  a biological supercomputer, and I serve you the best way I can. I always do my best for you. Yes, it is true that during your upbringing, school, social life and a life as such… there have been a lot of not very effective programs implanted into me and I run them now. They sometimes work on the background, hindering and in many cases sabotaging your effort to succeed in life (in many areas, learning languages included). It is not ME who do it, I only perform the tasks, I provide the capacity, computing power, storage... So, do not call ME the parasite, please, anymore. Get rid of those viruses instead. Do not waste your energy to fight with me.

So, maybe you would ask, how to do it. How to get rid of them to have a free space for you English learning in our case? I will not to do a lecture from this short post here and now. I suggest to you only ONE thing – BE AWARE. Be aware of those mind structures, viruses in your mind, observe them… Actually it is all (what you CAN do and you NEED to do) I, myself, cannot clean them, I am not intended to do such tasks, but YOU can, by observing them you take them out of ME and they will (eventually - it takes some time) die. Maybe you are a little skeptical. It is normal. Just try it ;-)

And just a few notes about learning English. Yes, repetition is good for me, I like it, but do not forget that my purpose it to protect you from unwanted and painful experiences. The best way for you to learn and me to be OPEN towards your learning (I store information for you. Know, that I am also gigantic „super hard drive“) is to LIKE it or even better to LOVE it. No ANXIETY, no stress, no force... Do it with ease, enjoy the activity and you will see that the results will come (sooner or later ;-) Sorry, but I do not care about time, for me time does not exist) 
-Thank you for allowing me to express myself.

-Thank you Para... MY FRIEND!

 
There is an entity inside of you about which you are not too much aware. I will call it (using the terminology of Don Miguel Ruiz) “the parasite”. Do not be afraid, do not panic – this entity is in all of us and it directs (more or less, usually more, some would say from 90%) our life.

Don Miguel Ruiz divides this parasite to three parts – judge, victim and value system (for more). For us at this moment will be enough to know that HE (I will use HE, but it could be appropriate IT or SHE too – it makes no difference) influences very strongly our ability to learn, especially to learn foreign languages. HE is very conservative and learning in its essence means a change, HE has its own value system, HIS own judgment and - on top of it - the older we are (6,7,10 years … 40 goes without saying) the stronger HE is. Maybe you have already heard the term „thinking out of the box“. HE is that BOX. HE will sabotage to some extent your effort (without HIM there would not be actually any effort) to learn any new language. Why? Because HE has the language of its own already, the mother one.

It doesn't sound very positive, does it? So, why I write about it. I am positive from my nature. Yes, to be positive, really positive, does not mean to avoid negative aspects of live. For me to be positive means to search for solutions. And I have a solution for you, maybe even bombastic;-) solution – we will turn this sabotaging parasite into our best language teacher. HE will be the best one not because of HIS education, methods... but because HE is ALWAYS PRESENT with you, HE works „instead“ of you, for you, without rest, without forcing HIM to do it, all the time, even at night, even if you do not care about your English at that moment. HE can perform several tasks at the same time easily, HE is tireless... But enough was the superlatives. How to do it?

First – we need to let HIM to learn the new language. Actually HE CAN learn several languages (but somehow HE is reluctant to do it. At least from the beginning) HE lives by HABITS. HIS current habit is (for majority of us) to use just one language. HE resists bigger changes, and the new language is quite a big change. So, what we can do? We cannot persuade HIM, force HIM... Why? Because HE DOES NOT LISTEN. Yes, HE does not listen at the moment YOU (your conscious mind) is in charge. Yes, HE is your UNCONSCIOUS (or SUBCONSIOUS) mind. HE is your so called „autopilot“. And we need to reprogram HIM. How to do it? It is rather easy, but there is here one little obstacle, something which will try to prevent you to do it – it is HE! HE will tell YOU – it is all nonsense, it is bull-shit, do not do it! Or things like that. In other words – he would like you to stay “in the box” you have always been and everything will be OK. Yes, it will be OK, OK for HIM. But there will be no English improvement, at least not very significant one. So, do not listen HIM (NOW) and PUT INTO YOUR EAR HEAD-PHONE WITH ENGLISH AND LISTEN! LISTEN HOURS AND HOURS, LISTEN SUCH WAY THAT YOU DO NOT PAY ALMOST ANY ATTENTION TO IT, LISTEN OVER AND OVER THE SAME STUFF, LISTEN KNOWN MATERIAL. And this is important – listen most of the time the KNOW material, prepared before. Sometimes you can listen unknown too, but your parasite would not be willing to „digest it“ and could be rebellious. HE likes repetition, HE listens when YOU are engaged in other activities (consciously engaged) and HE learns:-) So, at the beginning he will resist, after while he will like it, and then he will even demand it! It becomes HIS HABIT.

Second - let yourself to be taught by HIM. After some time he will speak English rather well. You will notice that you can now chose what language will be in your head – your native language or English. No big difference anymore. Maybe only smaller vocabulary, but it is just a question of time to build it. This thinking, this voice it your head, is HE. HE does not resist the new language anymore, for HIM it is not any NEW language after all, and HE is willing to help you, to learn you and to assist you. You will notice also for example such phenomenon like this – you will say a sentence and „HE listens“ and „HE says“ It is wrong, reformulate it! And he will say you how, or better to say, HE will say it. After all HE and YOU are ONE. You will have much bigger ability of self-correction, you will be able to understand and speak better and the both immediately without mixing languages. You will enjoy the language learning process. It will not be so big effort. Much of that effort was just fighting with HIM after all. Just try it and try OUR METHOD too.

Sometimes the simplest methods work best (look at our method :-) ) but we, people, usually search for complexities. The more complex the method is, the better, says our mind. Is that so? Usually not.

At the same time we take things too seriously. Natural learning is simple, joyful, playful... Otherwise we can hardly sustain to do it, to do it for a sufficient amout of time.  What is the biggest problem of all (not only for learning a foreign language) We “STOP IT” in the middle, or better to say somewhere in the process letting unfinished business behind us. This way it is just a waste of time and energy.

So, do not stop it, do not stop learning English. In the contrary - enjoy it, make it enjoyable for yourself. Enjoy this “Stop It!” funny, but I would say, quite deep video and learn another piece of mosaic into your English in the process :-) Enjoy!

TRANSCRIPT:

Dr. Switzer?

Yes, come in. I'm just washing my hands.

I'm Katherine Bigmans. Janet Carlisle referred me.

Oh, yes. You dream about being buried alive in a box.

Yes, that's me. Should I lay down?

No, we don't do that anymore. Just have a seat and let me tell you a bit about our billing. I charge five dollars

for the first five minutes and then absolutely nothing after that. How does that sound?

That sounds great. Too good to be true as a matter of fact.

Well, I can almost guarantee you that our session won't last the full five minutes. Now, we don't do any insurance

billing, so you would either have to pay in cash or by check.
Wow. Okay.

And I don't make change.

All right.

Go.

Go?

Tell me about the problem that you wish to address.

Oh, okay. Well, I have this fear of being buried alive in a box. I just start thinking about being buried alive and

I begin to panic.

Has anyone ever tried to bury you alive in a box?

No. No, but truly thinking about it does make my life horrible. I mean, I can't go through tunnels or be in an

elevator or in a house, anything boxy.

So, what you are saying is you are claustrophobic?

Yes, yes, that's it.

All right. Well, let's go, Katherine. I'm going to say two words to you right now. I want you to listen to them

very, very carefully. Then I want you to take them out of the office with you and incorporate them into your life.
Shall I write them down?

No. If it makes you comfortable. It's just two words. We find most people can remember them.

Okay.

You ready?

Yes.

Okay. Here they are. Stop it!

I'm sorry?

Stop it!

Stop it?

Yes. S-T-O-P, new word, I-T.

So, what are you saying?

You know, it's funny, I say two simple words and I cannot tell you the amount of people who say exactly the same

thing you are saying. I mean, you know, this is not Yiddish, Katherine. This is English. Stop it.

So I should just stop it?

There you go. I mean, you don't want to go through life being scared of being buried alive in a box, do you? I

mean, that sounds frightening.

It is.

Then stop it.

I can't. I mean it's --

No, no, no. We don't go there. Just stop it.

So, I should just stop being afraid of being buried alive in a box?

You got it. Good girl. Well, it's only been three minutes, so that will be three dollars.

Actually, I only have five so --

Well, I don't make change.

Then I guess I'll take the full five minutes.

Fine. All right. What other problems would you like to address?

I'm bulimic. I stick my fingers down my throat.

Stop it! Are you a nut of some kind? Don't do that.

But I'm compelled to. My mom used to call --

No, no. We don't go there.

But I --

No, we don't go there either.

But my horoscope did say --

We definitely don't go there. Just stop it. What else?

Well, I have self-destructive relationships with men.

Stop it! You want to be with a man, don't you?

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, yes.

Well, then, stop it. Don't be such a big baby.

I wash my hands a lot.

That's all right.

It is?

I wash my hands all the time. There's a lot of germs out there. Don't worry about that one.

I'm afraid to drive.

Well stop it. How are you going to get around? Get in the car and drive you, you kook. Stop it.

You stop it. You stop it!

What's the problem, Katherine?

I don't like this. I don't like this therapy at all. You are just telling me to stop it.

And you don't like that?

No, I don't.

So you think we are moving too fast, is that it?

Yes. Yes, I do.

All right. Then let me give you ten words that I think will clear everything up for you. You want to get a pad and

a pencil for this one?

All right.

Are you ready?

Mm-hmm.

All right. Here are the ten words: Stop it or I'll bury you alive in a box!

May is here and it is "time of LOVE" :-) So, I would like to present you two poems - English transcript is included.

The first is a poem by Jalalludin Rumi named "Looking for your face". The one version is recited by me (by heart) - I wonder if you are able to recognize which on of them it is;-)

I marked some of the words which seem to me "difficult"

You can download the MP3 version of this beautiful poem below these videos.

LOOKING FOR YOUR FACE

From the beginning of my life
I have been looking for your face
but today I have seen it

Today I have seen
the charm, the beauty,
the unfathomable grace
of the face
that I was looking for

Today I have found you
and those who laughed
and scorned me yesterday
are sorry that they were not looking
as I did

I am bewildered by the magnificence
of your beauty
and wish to see you
with a hundred eyes

My heart has burned with passion
and has searched forever
for this wondrous beauty
that I now behold

I am ashamed
to call this love human
and afraid of God
to call it divine

Your fragrant breath
like the morning breeze
has come to the stillness of the garden
You have breathed new life into me
I have become your sunshine
and also your shadow

My soul is screaming in ecstacy
Every fiber of my being
is in love with you

Your efflugence
has lit a fire in my heart
and you have made radiant for me
the earth and sky

My arrow of love
has arrived at the target
I am in the house of mercy
and my heart
is a place of prayer



Another love poem is a poem by Czech poet Karel Hynek Mácha called "MAY". It is translated to English language by Edith Pargeter and is recited by me (this time the only one who was available)  Enjoy it! With love :-)

Note - This is only a small fragment of it.

Late evening, on the first of May--
The twilit May—the time of love.
Meltingly called the turtle-dove,
Where rich and sweet pinewoods lay.
Whispered of love the mosses frail,
The flowering tree as sweetly lied,
The rose's fragrant sigh replied
To love-songs of the nightingale.
In shadowy woods the burnished lake
Darkly complained a secret pain,
By circling shores embraced again;
And heaven's clear sun leaned down to take
A road astray in azure deeps,
Like burning tears the lover weeps.
.
.
.
Late evening, on the first of May--
The twilit May-the time of love--
Meltingly calls the turtle-dove:
“Hynek! Vilem! Ah, Jarmila!!!