Lotus flowers

 Inspired by Thich Nath Hanh

In everyone’s life there are mistakes, painful mistakes; in everyone’s life there is suffering and pain and it muddies the waters of life. And what happens so often? We keep stressed about what went wrong in the past, we keep grudges against others, against ourselves and we keep stirring up the dirt, disturbing our life.

If we manage on the other hand to make it quiet in our mind, heart and soul through forgiveness (for others and, equally important or even more important, for ourselves) and gratitude for the all the wonderful things that remain in our life, the dust and mud tends to settle on the bottom of the waters of our life and the water becomes clear.

The mud and dirt, the suffering and pain we experienced or created for ourselves does not disappear but if we allow it to be settled solidly at the bottom of the lake of our life,it can become a great fertilizer for wonderful lotus flowers that are rooted deep in the mud but make our life so beautiful, not only to ourselves but to everyone to who sees them. The flowers are the lessons learned, the wisdom and love we gained through sincere forgiveness, the sweet peace lying in heartfelt gratitude,...

On and off, a storm may come and stir up the mud from the bottom but the more we practice peace of mind, the more skilled we become in quieting down everything and allow the dust and mud to settle very fast again. Becoming again the very much needed fertilizer for the wonderful flowers in our life.  

Awakening

There are periods in time, when I forget to be grateful for all "small" miraculous things, events, feelings that happen that we experience on a daily basis. These are the weeks that pass unnoticed and tend to be less filled with satisfaction and with personal growth. Choosing to be grateful for the daily presnts we get from the universe, we automatically become more aware of the peace, the beauty, the love and all other amazing things that surround us. Below a small poem about the end of a few weeks that had gone by without making time for reflection about this:

 

After what seemed an eternity of spiritual hibernation

I felt a surge of appreciation for all wonders of creation

Like a tree in winter that had looked as if ti was dead too long

I had been void of gratitude, but now it all came back, so strong

 

Just like melody of two birds sitting on a branch in spring

I have started again to listen to my heart and my soul sing

Their song, while always there had fallen on deaf ears.

Now that it over,:my mind loves again the music it hears.

 

Aufie Zophy 

 

 

 

  

Choosing peace

    As I walked in my garden an egret suddenly flew up. 

I had not seen it and it may have been scared by my presence

It was flapping its white wings and in my mind 

it made me think of the white dove that brings peace.

 

 

At these times, let us choose peace

Let us not buy into any of the fear and war mongering messages of our greedy politicians who willfully distort truth, preaching the necessity of a war, that will fill only their pockets, while the rest of us face immense destruction of property and enormous suffering. 

 

Please do not buy into war.

War is only one thing: terrible! 

Please condemn all war mongers

and strive for peace

Peace is ours naturally

Do not let any stupid politician change this. 

 

The Kiss

I am not a great fan of angel stories myself,

but in these times with so much talk about another world war

this one touched moved my soul.

Let it be a source of love and inspiration to all: 

 

I saw white angel

I saw a black angel

 

They met each other

They kissed each other 

 

The kiss formed a halo

And a bright light shone 

 

 It envelopped the angels

and everyone around them 

 

 The halo increased in size

The light became more intense

 

And soon the whole world

was bathing in the light of love 

 

 

 

The river of love

In everyone's heart there is a special place

a spring, a source from where as long as we live

spouts tenderness, cordiality, caring grace

limitless, filling our heart with love to give.

 

It's so easy so wonderful, so natural

to let that river of love and kindness flow

every day, let it run as a cascading waterfall

amazing flowers will on this river's banks grow 

 

Down the stream, tame animals 'll come and drink

the love and affability that the river will bring

It 'll fill their soul and from within will spring

their own source of love, care and understanding

 

Further on, also wild animals will lessen their thirst

they might not have been aware of it at first

but love, kindness and charity is really what they need.

they will soon give up their dirty politics and greed.

 

Finally our river will meet the ocean, meet the sea

The water will take on the colors of that kindness stream

and everyone will enjoy; enjoy the amazing love

as the colors of our cordiality will reflect in the sky above 

 

Aufie Zophy 

 

 

 ‐---------------

I am sure you will enjoy some of my other online treasures as well:

 - Inspirational and motivational poems (I have written them under the pen name of Aufie Zophy)

  https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/

 

- Two fables and a short story (my own favorite is 'Sammy and Alice')

https://shortstoriesfables.blogspot.com/ 

- Inspirational quotes:

https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/

 

- Very short essays about simple good things:

https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

 

 Small prayers for this big world:

https://smallprayersforabigworld.blogspot.com/

- Beautiful skies seen by Hans:

https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans  

 

- Beautiful flowers:

 https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans

The magic swan

The magic swan

I passed a lake during a slow and lazy walk

And a swan of angelic beauty came to talk

All the secrets you had, she shared with me

It was there all in front of my eyes to see.

 

I could see all feelings you ever had in your heart

Some secrets were cute , some of them really dark

The swan showed me your thoughts good and bad

And what you have done and what you have said

 

After knowing your secrets, I started to love you more

They were a bit similar to those hidden in my own core

And it is with the real you, not with what we pretend,

That I want to be a good  companion, the best friend.

 

Aufie Zophy. 

 

 

 

==============================================

We are all human and have our small and bigger imperfections. 

If every of our innermost secrets would be revealed 

to the ones who trust us, would we still be trusted?

Something worthy of our reflection. 

Here or there, we may have some work to do...

 

Riches

 

    A woman gave an alm to a blind beggar leaving herself with not enough cash to hail a taxi. So she went back by bus. On the bus it was super crowded and she had to stand pressed between other travelers. The high heels, she had chosen to wear in the morning were hurting her feet and she felt bad about it. 

     Then while the bus was waiting in front of a traffic light she noticed two homeless men having a merry time. They were absorbed in a nice conversation and on and off they heartily laughed at each other's jokes. The woman on the bus enjoyed the scene. When the bus started to move, she could see that the two men had actually no legs.

    She decided to get of the crowded bus a few blocks before she reached her house and to walk the rest of the way. Her feet still hurt a bit, but she thoroughly enjoyed every step, being aware of her own richness to have legs and be able to walk. 

-----

  

I hope you enjoyed the little true story above, which I read in one of the 'chicken soup for the soul' books. 

Riches comes to us in so many ways :)   :)   :)👶😃😆😊

-----

Please read my uplifting simple poems and visit my other sites for free extra richness :)

 - Inspirational and motivational poems (I have written them under the pen name of Aufie Zophy)

  https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/

 

- Beautiful skies seen by Hans:

https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans  

 

- Beautiful flowers:

 https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans

 

- Two fables and a short story (my own favorite is 'Sammy and Alice')

https://shortstoriesfables.blogspot.com/ 

- Inspirational quotes:

https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/

 

- Very short essays about simple good things:

https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

 

 Small prayers for this big world:

https://smallprayersforabigworld.blogspot.com/
 

 

Morning

I wish you a good morning

No, not just a good morning, a glorious morning

A morning filled with grace and beauty

Filled with love and kindness

 

Let us feel  the love in our heart,

that big wide river 

that we will let flow throughout the day

 towards our lovely family

towards our lovely friends

towards the strangers we meet

towards our colleagues at work

towards the people that have been good to us,

towards the people that have been not good tous

Let's mix it with a bit of pity 

and send a few buckets of love to our enemies too.

 

Let us scoop bucket after bucket

out of that endless, limitless river of love

flowing through our heart

and shower anyone we meet with love, love love.

with kindness, kindness, kindness

with peace, peace, peace

with serendipity, abundance and love...

  

 

The broken spirit

I wrote three posts today.

Suggested reading order:

1. the-sea-of-abundance

2. where-is-sea-of-abundance?

3. This post

Astrid lost her husband in a motor vehicle accident while Kevin, her only child, was struggling a losing fight against a relapsed leukaemia. After the death of her son, she was so devastated. She could not concentrate on her highly-paid job and got fired.

Her spirit was broken. To keep paying the rent she had to take a low paying cleaning job. Her life was miserable. At times, she felt so low, she was thinking of ways to end her own life. Her spirit was broken.

The loneliness was unbearable. Weeks passed, months passed and everything seemed only to get worse every day. Her spirit was broken.

One day she was walking home, deeply depressed after long hours of her cleaning job.  A small cat, perhaps only a few weeks old, had followed her while she walked home. She had noticed the cat and walked a bit faster than usual, hoping the cat would stay behind. But the little cat followed her until she reached home. The kitten made its crying kitten sounds and somehow the heart of Astrid, the woman with the broken spirit got moved. She poured a bit of milk in a saucer and offered it to the kitten. The kitten purred.

That night, for the very first time since long, Astrid felt a bit less depressed. She went a few times to her doorstep and was each time happy that the kitten still was there. Before bedtime, she added a bit of milk.

The kitten had found a new home and Astrid had bought a few kitten things. Her week had been so different from the many weeks before. She thought by herself: if a simple kindness to a kitten can make such a difference for me, what could kind acts for fellow humans do to me?

She decided to spend the weekends helping out in a soup kitchen or going to wheel elderly from a nearby old folks home for a walk. She kept caring for the growing kitten. Her depression was fading and even though the memories of her only son and husband  came back regularly, bringing her to tears, her spirit was no longer broken.

She had found a new sense of purpose and not long after she found a better paying job in the old folks home. 

Astrid's spirit was no longer broken