Monday x Ginkakuji in snow 雪中銀閣寺

                                     

                                               Photo credit: かかみ’s flickr album

It's Monday, the beginning of a new week.  Do you feel blue on Mondays frequently?  Are you excited about the coming of Monday? I sometimes think the weekday-weekend-weekday cycle is like making bread: after pushing and rolling, pushing and folding, you have to let it sit quietly for a while so that it will be ready to get into the next step.

Therefore, before getting back to the office and facing the endless meetings and projects,  let's pause, have a zen-moment, and appreciate some nice photos. 

Below please find photos of Kyoto's Ginkakuji (aka the Silver Pavilion).  Ginkakuji may not be one of the most famous sight-seeing places in Kyoto, but I really like its zen-atmosphere, particularly on a snowy day.  I hope these photos give you peace and help you make good decisions for the week!   

有次跟日本朋友聊起櫻桃小丸子之類的日本卡通，朋友說一些膾炙人口的卡通是在星期日下午和晚上播的，用意是舒緩隔天要開始上班的壓力。因此，觀眾看這些卡通播出的心情是苦中作樂。想想我開始工作後，多數時候是期待星期一可以開始跑哪個公文可以開始寫哪篇文章可以把那個案子結掉 （由此可證是工作狂？），這時才體會也許我的壓力週期是跟著計劃週期走得，而有很多人是週週面臨這種考驗，每逢週一心情藍。

面對壓力，可能的話，人大概會想做三不猿---不聽，不看，不說吧。但就是不可能完全與現實面隔絕，電視台才會播平凡詼諧甚至邪不勝正的卡通，撫慰人心吧。若在沒有播放這種卡通的城市呢？我則是會來杯咖啡或茶，看看 Discovery 頻道播的壯闊自然美景，BBC 頻道修復古堡特輯。當然看朋友分享的照片，旅行見聞，和小說，也有助於沈澱轉換心情。

這次我想到京都的銀閣寺。古樸安靜恬雅的銀閣寺，平常時候也許沒有金閣寺那樣耀眼。但白雪覆蓋的銀閣寺，像平時穿斗篷帶個蒙頭帽子的高人，帽子一揭，方顯其內斂優雅氣質。也許很多事情都是這樣，覆蓋其下的是美妙的事物。以下請欣賞。

Photo credit: Nihon express' tumbler

Photo credit: By Moja [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

Photo credit: Crush Pow's pinterest

and Active-U's Flicker album on Ginkakuji 

祝新的星期順利愉快！Have a great week!