The story of the world and the tree

When we plant a tree, we want it to become a big tree.
We get this image in our mind of the place where it was planted,
being adorned with this huge nice wonderful tree with a big wide crown.

If we'd go every day to look at the tree, we will not see it growing.
But if we have not seen the tree for a long time, we will notice easily
that it has grown so much.

Now, where is the world in this story?
Here it is:

The world is getting better,
Every day the world is getting better, every year.
Exactly! Just like the tree is growing every day.

The number of peace loving people,
hungering for peace, fairness and happiness
for ALL in this world, is ever increasing.

If you look after a year or so, you may not see the difference.
If you look back a decade or a few decades, you may start to notice.
Look back a century, and you get this absolute certainty:
The world is turning into a better place to live in, fast.

Not just for the few wealthy (actually, many of them,
blinded by the fallacy that they have to protect and grow their wealth
and power at all cost, are losing out on peace  of mind, rather than gaining it!).

For all groups of people, life is getting better.
More and more people get to know their true nature:
the true nature of humans is that caring brings peace of mind,
kindness brings happiness, Love (the one with capital letter L)
is the key to a balanced life filled with fulfillment.

Every day the pool of good and kind people increases.
Just like a tree grows every day.
Once the tree has a big crown,
in spring it seems to explode
in young greenness and flowers,
Once we will reach a critical number of kind people,
the world will become overnight an oasis of love and peace.

Let us get all on this train of unconditional kindness now.
This will be to the world, like what rain and fertilizers mean to the tree.
Smile!

When the night falls

When the night falls,
My thoughts wander
to the sea of abundance
My ears listen to Tibetan music
My eyes dream of lakes and mountains
My heart visits the land of love
My soul swims in endless oceans of goodness

When the night falls,
When silence appears
When most people sleep,
my thoughts wander...
My eyes see smiles and happy faces
My ears hear chuckles and laughter
My soul sees the revolution of kindness

That huge revolution of kindness getting nearer and nearer
and nearer and nearer and nearer and nearer and nearer.
Soon all of us will see our true nature,
kindness everywhere, greed gone
my thoughts wander
a bit closer to a dream
but every new day, also
a bit closer to the upcoming reality.

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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans

Bridging the night

An orange sun
shines from behind the trees
Soon it 'll be dark
but the sweet memories
of the orange light
adorning the beach and the sea,
will linger on 'till tomorrow morning

Oh, yes my friends,
nights do come, sometimes it is dark in our life.
but somehow we have a close to absolute certainty
that the next morn is never far away
that the memories of love
will shine on, no matter how dark.. :)


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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans
and Poems by Aufie Zophy

A bit of love

Imagine a sea,
a large sea;
no, imagine an ocean,
A huge ocean
filled with love.

Within that ocean
we swim and enjoy
its greatest depths
but so often we are not aware
we live in an ocean of love.

When sad or upset,
we can just inhale
or swallow a few gulps,
let a bit of that ocean
enter our hearts.

For family and strangers,
for friends and enemies,
just take a cup or two
and share a drink of love.

A bit of love, a few drops
is often all we need
to turn a dark moment
into a shining present.

A bit of love, a small cup
is often all we need
to turn a bout of stress
into an oasis of peace.

A bit of love, a sip or breath
is often all we need
to live a life of purpose,
to change the world.

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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans
and Small Prayers For a Big World (by Hans)
and Poems by Aufie Zophy

A sheep story

I came across the following fable:

" There was a magician who was also a shepherd. He had thousands of sheep to look after and he was a very miserly man so he didn’t want many servants and he didn’t want many watchmen. He did not want to pay anybody and he did not want his sheep to be lost or taken by the wolves. But it was very difficult for him to take care of all the sheep alone. He was very rich and he had many sheep.
So he played a trick on the sheep. He hypnotised them — he was a magician. He hypnotised them and told every sheep, ‘You are not a sheep. Don’t be afraid.’ To some he said, ‘You are a lion.’ To some he said, ‘You are tigers.’ To some he even said, ‘You are men. Nobody is going to kill you. Don’t be afraid and don’t try to escape from here.’
The sheep started believing in his hypnosis. Every day he would butcher a few sheep but the others would think, ‘We are not sheep. He is butchering only sheep. We are lions, we are tigers, we are wolves, we are this and that…’ even that they were men. Some were even told that they were magicians — and they believed it. It was always some sheep which was to be butchered. They remained aloof, distant. They were not worried. And by and by they were all butchered."

Initially I thought I loved a man who was a magician and a shepherd. What a nice combination! As I read about his miserliness, I loved him less and as he cheated and butchered the sheep I started even to hate him. However this story is not about the magician, not about the shepherd. It is about the sheep. We allow our human friends to die of hunger, to be exploited and we feel they are living in a far away country, they are the poor who did not want to work, the lazy ones. We are lulled into these beliefs that they are far from us and it is not our responsibility to help. They are our brothers, our fellow sheep and we have all responsibility to help them in every way we can.

After reading the story, immediately after reading it, I felt disgusted.
But as I let the deep lesson contained in the story sink in, 
I started to appreciate the wisdom inside so much that decided to share it on this blog.


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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans
and Small Prayers For a Big World (by Hans)
and Poems by Aufie Zophy

Demagogue

If a demagogue like Hitler can become the fuhrer
and convince clever Germans about an abominable lie
called hatred,

why would a "demagogue" of kindness not be able
to convince the whole wide world about a fantastic truth
called love?

In 2017, we still have human trafficking
In 2017, we still have drug barons
In 2017, we still have vicious bankers
In 2017, we still have wicked politicians
In 2017, we still have massive corruption

And yet,
In 2017, the truth about love is out there
In 2017, the truth about integrity is out there
In 2017, the truth about kindness is out there
In 2017, the truth about humility is out there
In 2017, the truth about honesty is out there.

It is all out there for all to see
It is all out there for anyone to understand
it is all out there for anyone to experience
the giant truth that love, integrity, kindness,
humility, honesty are the true and only
sources of happiness, true happiness, peace of mind

It is all out there for all to see
how wicked traffickers of humans or drugs,
corrupt bankers and politicians are nothing
but fake smiles and tarnished consciences

The truth is becoming stonger
The lies are becoming weaker

Dear friends,
try to connect to your souls
try to feel the nearness of a world filled with love and kindness.
It will NOT take many years before we will see a kindness revolution,
a wisdom revolution taking place.

A "demagogue" of truth
A "demagogue" of kindness
A "demagogue" of love
will convince all of us,
ALL of us

and soon ALL will see the truth:
Love brings happiness
kindness brings peace of mind
Wisdom is the highest longing.

The truth of love and honesty

versus

The lies of hatred and deception.

Soon there will be a clear winner!

and I know which one will win  

You know which one will win

Everyone knows!

All we need to do, is to look deep in our soul 


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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans
and Small Prayers For a Big World (by Hans)
and Poems by Aufie Zophy

Dragonflies

Dragonflies come in swarms.

They hatch in clear water

and spend most of their life (9-10 months)

 as larvae inside clear water.

Then they come out of the water

and live another 1 to two months as

adult dragon flies.

They have 4 wings

with muscles controlling

each wing independently,

allowing them to rotate their wings

and flap in different planes

they can hover and then move forward

and make very sharp turns

Today, after I met the wonderful swarm of dragonflies near the beach, I googled 'dragonfly' to know a bit more about its amazing flying capacity. I came across so many legends and myths about the dragonfly, from luck bringers to representing the devil. Others saw in them ghosts and souls of ancestors.

I think they are very special creatures. They were already around in the times of the dinosaurs. I try to avoid the superstition but looking at their incredible movements, it is not hard to understand that people have been giving incredible powers to them and created legends and myths about them.

Next time, I see a swarm of dragonflies, I think I will love them a bit more, or at least in a different way, after all the amazing scientific and non-scientific things I read about them today.

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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans

and Small Prayers For a Big World (by Hans)

and Poems by Aufie Zophy

Driftwood

Driftwood

Broken off

Died, drifting for days

Washed ashore

Largely ignored.

But then if we look,

look a bit closer

God has given to it

 wonderful colors...

Let us think for awhile about driftwood

What lesson it can teach us in our own life :)


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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans
and Small Prayers For a Big World (by Hans)
and Poems by Aufie Zophy

Nano

Spending some time in nature can work wonders to our own heart, body, mind and soul. All goodness from the universe seems to flow in and the love stored in our heart, so often hidden to the outside world, but connected to an inexhaustible source, suddenly opens up. I hope you enjoy the little piece below:

Some nano-molecules of joy

have entered my heart this morning

while I was cleaning a bit of my garden

Some nano-molecules of peace 

have entered my mind this morning

when I saw and heard some beautiful birds

The nano-molecules of joy and peace

initiated a chain reaction of love 

All love hidden inside, suddenly bared


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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans
and Small Prayers For a Big World (by Hans)
and Poems by Aufie Zophy

A piece of peace

Tall trees, blue skies,
a bit of peace within my reach.
I take it in my arms,
breathe it in, deeply in.

I bring it to my heart
to the cortex of my mind
to the center of my soul
and my muscles relax

I get a bit of inspiration
a bit of enthusiasm
I write a small piece.
A bit happier than before.

:)



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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans
and Small Prayers For a Big World (by Hans)
and Poems by Aufie Zophy

Who can stop you?

"If you want to be served,
people may not serve you.

But if you want to serve,
who can stop you?

If you want to be loved,
people may not love you.

But if you want to give love,
who can stop you?

If you want to be respected
people may not give you respect

But if you want to respect others
who can stop you?"

(quote from Gaul Ghopal Das)

I just saw this incredible inspirational video on the internet.
It was about the "I"

We concentrate often so much on what we want
on how we want to be served, loved and respected,
but all too often we get frustrated because people
do not live to serve, love and respect us.

What a different world it becomes if we start to focus
on how we can help the other, how can we serve, love and respect.
it becomes a different game all together and we will not be frustrated.
The love and respect, this time we did not expect,
will flow over us from all sides.

There is a tremendous truth in the paradox:
it is in giving that we receive :)

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Please visit also:  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans

and Small Prayers For a Big World (by Hans)

and Poems by Aufie Zophy