River

Few years back I read a poem, titled the river by Elena Sandu
It was a beautiful poem
It sounded like she had been praying next to a river and had a very spiritual experience

Praying is something so valuable
Especially in the full glory of nature

We do not pray to an imagined old bearded man, sitting somewhere high in the skies.
We cannot bring under words the nature of our God, we pray to, because our mind is too small to comprehend. But much more than a bearded man it feels like God is a stream of huge energy, love and wisdom, a force, the ether we are bathing in day and night. The spirit that is everywhere, anytime.

Once we manage to experience our true Creator in that way, we get such a positive certainty that our God exists and prayer becomes something so extremely valuable to our  personal growth and being.

Flowers

Flowers were made

to be beautiful.

The more we give

attention to flowers,

the more beauty

is entering our life

Philosophy for all

Far too long the access to philosophical works was restricted to a very small elite of the people.
Now through the internet and through many books written in simple language, philosophy can be read by a much larger public.

Philosophy means love for wisdom
I think, slowly, more and more people fall in love with wisdom
fall in love with philosophy.

I really think that wisdom in all humanity is on the rise
it is rising sharp and fast
Let us read so many wise text from old and new
and part of the wisdom revolution, which will be tightly intertwined with a kindness revolution
:)         : )

Two rivers

Imagine you are a successful adult
As a teenager you swum in the river of your life
You swum west all the time
Your river flowed west and 
Your education and career snowballed into huge successes
Your river widened, swimming west went easier
and soon you arrived in the sea of abundance

Imagine you are a child of this successful adult
As a teenager you are in your own river of your own life
Your river flows to the south, towards the sea of abundance
Your father encourages you to swim west all the time
You try to follow his advice but end up, time after time
on the banks of the river of your life
You seem not to move forward
Your father says swim harder west
You want to swim south but your father gets upset with you.
You keep trying your best but never reach the sea of abundance...

Blind obedience to parents is NOT filial piety
Blind obedience is not respect
Blind obedience is often self destructive

Sometimes we need to express our own calling,
Explain, full of respect, full of honour
A loving parent, truly loving parent will always understand.
 

The way to abundance

We are born with our specific talents and gifts.
A very specific calling resides inside of men and women.
This calling encompasses making a positive change in the world.

If you look deep into yourself in a very honest and open way,
you will find this internal craving for appreciation
you fill find this restlessness, this need for happiness,
this need for approval and respect from our family and friends.

If you look deep into yourself in a very honest and open way,
you will find that you like something more than anything else;
you will find that you love a little bit more to do something than anything else
You will find that you are a bit better at something than at anything else.

That little something is our calling.
It was Ralph Waldo Emerson who compared it to being in a river
We hit obstacles in every direction we want to move.
except into one direction, the direction of that little thing that we love best

If still in that river, we find that direction without obstacles,
the direction in which our talents and gifts are directing us
we will soon move forward, forward towards the wider part of the river
where navigation is easy and brings us soon to the sea of abundance

The sea of abundant peace of mind, abundant satisfaction
The sea of feeling good about ourselves, making this positive difference
Making these few or many others a bit better off, a bit happier, a bit more at ease.
The sea of abundance will be ours.

Sometimes we just want abundant money straight and only
and think there are shortcuts to that.
True enough there are shortcuts to material wealth but not to
mental emotional and spiritual wealth

If we find our talent, our calling,
we will find mental wealth
we will find emotional and spiritual wealth
With it comes material wealth

Material wealth alone is never leading to happiness
We need mental, emotional and spiritual wealth as much
Success is not getting rich, money wise and then commit suicide
Success lies in peace of mind and every type of wealth that is meant for humans

Abundant mental wealth (truth and knowledge)
Abundant emotional wealth (love and kindness)
Abundant spiritual wealth (faith and caringness)
Abundant material wealth (comfort and ease)

Follow your talent
Follow your calling...

The most successful people are not those of extremely strong will
They are the ones who resist least and let their talent flow freely...

Finding beauty

India, oh, India,
I just came back from my trip to India.

And I have thoroughly enjoyed it.
Somehow reflecting more on it
I think we can see the beauty of it all
because we are actively looking for it.
If our mind is focused on chaos and negativity,
that is what we will find
If our mind is focused on finding beauty,
we will find beauty, even in the chaos.

India

I spent the last 5 days in India.
Before coming here, the stories of other visitors to India had scared me quite a bit
But the stories were in quite a sharp contrast with what I found.

Sure enough it is quite a poor area with a lot of agriculture
But the people look happy the beautiful smiles on their faces are so wonderful
The Food is a mixture of delicious  spice blended almost to perfection.
The colours of the saris, the buffaloes, the women wearing things on their heads
The wonderful children in their blue school uniforms
the cows on the street
The cheap shopping
The horning cars on the busy roads crisscrossing a roundabout
All so beautiful and amazing...

I am aware that Belgaum, the place I am visiting is perhaps different from other parts of India
But as for now, I have enjoyed the five days I was here and have not one regret coming.

Plucking

The sweet fragrance
of a white frangipani flower
showing her yellow heart

I was seduced
Enticed to pluck
The urge to possess

An idea of wilt and death
Came flying just in time
To prevent a deadly pluck

The best choice

Throughout the years I have made many choices
Many choices I have made impulsively
and a large number of these impulsive ones I regretted later.
I know that many people do the same.

I have tried to learn from these choices, wrong and right
I know many people do the same but
I also know that many people do not.

Perhaps among the most important things I have learned
is not to overreact in a situation where I am in power.
The easiest thing to do is to overreact in these situations
and break some fragile feelings.

Recently I was in a hotel in Langkawi, Malaysia
My two (late-) teenage sons were with us.
My nephew was visiting from Belgium.
We all had planned to go and eat dinner in a nearby town.
Just as I we planned to leave for dinner, they had ordered room service

If they did something so obviously wrong in the past, I used to explode.
I have learned that explosion into a bout of anger is not the best choice.
If they did something like this in the past, I used to immediately concoct a punishment
I have also learned that punishment is not the best choice.
If they did something like this in the past,
I often did things that would spoil the whole evening
for them, for me, for my wife and for whomever we were with.
I have learned that this is also not the best choice.
I often did things that even lingered on for days and managed to spoil a few days.
Not a good choice either.
I have learned a lot from so many mistakes.

I was clearly expressing myself that this behaviour was not pleasing me.
I was clearly explaining them why this type of behaviour was wasteful and wrong.
I have planned to bring it up in our next family meeting and discuss in it further detail
I have planned not to preach  but to bring them to an insight based on their own experiences


Maybe  I am a slow learner on how to be a good parent.
Maybe I am just navigating in quite stormy waters.
Maybe I am still wrong in my current approach.

Some choices are really obviously wrong to me.
Others are more grey.
Raising children, raising teenagers, guiding adolescents:
A challenge requiring the maximum of our patience.
I have learned that it is easier to break fragile "things"
than to preserve them whole or repair them afterwards,