Pens and Ink: Omas Blue Paragons with Sea Blues

At the Tilburg penshow last year I found one of my grail pens, an Omas Vintage Paragon with BB nib stubbed by Mottishaw. Such a beautiful pen body with a great nib! A few months later I had the opportunity to buy some vintage LE Omas pens from a collector and one of them was the one on the right, the blue marbled paragon with a b nib. So happy to have these in my collection! They both write really wonderful and I have paired them with turquoise inks.

The Omas with the BB nib has Omas Turquoise ink (I finally got a bottle through Akkerman in the Hague, but now they are all sold out everywhere it seems :( ) and I inked the Omas Paragon with the b nib with Roher and Klinger Blu Mare. Both are gorgeous turquoise inks. But I have to say that my fave pairing is this one:

Such a beautiful and unique nib - esp. since it's hard to get a pen worked on by a nibmeister esp. in Europe. So I am really glad that I got this one through Sarj Minhas at the penshow last year!

I try to write my daily loving kindness metta meditation to get a good feel with the pen and ink combo. I came to the conclusion that I need to have this pen in rotation more (and write more letters to use the ink up). And of course keep practicing my written meditations in my loving kindness journal. With that a more personal note...

Last sunday I had the opportunity to attend a workshop about compassion and yesterday there was a book reading both by Thupten Jinpa, the author of a Fearless Heart. It was definitely insightful and very helpful with my own mindfulness and compassion practices and trainings. He said so many things that struck a chord, it would be a very long post if I recited it all. But if I could choose of the things that really struck with me and which I want to share with you, is that when you set the "tone" in the morning for the day and reminding yourself of that intention you set, it will keep you connected and grounded with yourself. We often loose touch with ourself during the busy course of the day, and while you can always return to your breath to stay grounded in the moment, reminding yourself of the intention you have set from within your heart, helps to reconnect with your inner core and cultivates compassion. Compassion is a core value we all have, but it's also a choice to act on it or not. We just need to cultivate it more so it extends beyond a reactive setting and becomes more active and natural in our daily lives. So when you are dealing with difficulties/obstacles through the day and catch yourself thinking unkind thoughts towards another, try to turn it around. This is where Jinpa said to add "just like me" to your thoughts/intentions toward others. So for example instead of thinking "that bastard cut me off" and whatever profanities may come next, while in traffic, think "This person wants to be someplace, just like me. May they arrive safely to their destination, just like me." etc... This way we can connect to humanity, in compassion and kindness. And we also "set the tone" of the world around us and especially within us. 

Luckily I don't drive, but daily irritations towards your fellow human being, can be found anywhere!

It takes courage to be actively kind and compassionate (hence the "fearless"heart) but it's a choice none the less. Every morning I will try to set the tone from my inner core and consciously make the choice to engage and act with kindness and compassion. 

Tonight we will remember the fallen in WWII and we'll have a collective national silence at 8pm to remember the deceased. And tomorrow we'll celebrate liberation and life in freedom. It's a good moment to be reflective and think about what life in freedom means to oneself. And to me, life in freedom means to always have a choice, at every moment. 

And I hope we will choose to act with kindness and compassion towards one another. 

Thank you for stopping by and have a wonderful week (...just like me :) )

Namasté