Grandpa, Coconut Tree

'Listen with your heart

and you will understand'

What a glorious wisdom, Walt

did you put in the mouth

of this creation of fantasy

Watching Pocahontas

one will love Pocahontas

But still so much more

one cannot escape loving

this marvelous Grandmother

Grandmother Willow

How I wish to have a Grandpa Coconut Tree,

giving me advice and wisdom whenever I need it.

And yet, if I manage to make it silent,

sitting on a deserted lovely beach,

The thoughts flowing into my mind

seem to come from heaven

simple

So many of us have sometimes a hard time
to believe that this world is getting better

And yet is sooooo simple
Perform every day two random kind acts
A random kind act leaves nobody unmoved.
Really nobody.

Even in the worst scenario,
let us say that only one out of ten kind acts
would inspire someone else to be kind
at the end of a year you will have inspired more than 70 people.

In that case we need about 1/70 of the world population to work together for a year
to get the whole world inspired. Less than 1.5%
If out of every 200 people 3 manage to believe in the dream
and go out perform 2 random kind acts per day,
within a year the whole world inspired.

The most difficult is to get that critical mass of 1.5%
Let us be part of that initial 1.5%
I am sure you will enjoy.

I have put it also in a small rhyme,
titled, 'Hey, hey people of every nation':
Link: hey-hey-people-of-every-nation

A smile

Today, after my rounds, I felt quite good.
I had helped a father of one of my small patients.
He had been really very stressed.

When I started to drive home,
I remembered the happy face of the father.
That warm feeling in my heart was there.

I thought, let me try on my way home
to create a few more smiles.

I replaced my usual hurry-drive
by a relaxed non-hurry drive
and managed to give way in a nice way to several others.
They returned my gesture with a smile.

There is so much truth in the saying that was like a mantra
of our former secretary in the paediatric department:
"When we make someone smile,
our God is smiling at us"
 

7 Billion

If we manage to all serve each other,

each of us will have
more than 7 billion servants

and what will be more gratifying still

each of us will serve
more than 7 billion friends 

Poor Brits

Do the 48.2 % of Brits who have some understanding of macro-economic issues have to suffer because of the ignorant 51.8 % who have allowed themselves through their own limited intelligence to be emotionally hijacked by demagogues preaching stupid nationalistic pride?

Important decisions for the economy of a country should be made by experts, economists appointed by the government and not through a referendum.

I hope the rest of the world/nations can see the nonsense of holding emotion-driven referendums for decisions like this. This is not democracy, this sounds so much more like plain mismanagement of a country.

I hope there will be no referendum on whether or not to pay taxes :)

My argument

When I posted yesterday, " every second the world is getting better", I felt some people have difficulties in seeing the giant truth that the world is indeed getting better.

Here is my argument:
If you compare today with yesterday, chances are that today,
you encounter more problems and problematic behavior than yesterday.
Similarly if you compare today with last week or last month.

But let us compare today with two hundred years ago.
If you were born poor, that was it.
You were extremely likely to be poor the rest of your life.
Still today many people born poor have lesser chances,
but compare the chances of a child born poor today
with the chances the same child had two hundred years ago.

Similarly if you became an orphan two hundred years ago, compare it to now.
If you were disabled two hundred years ago, compare it to now.
I hope no one fails to see that today, things are better than 200 years ago.
Many people think nostalgically about the "good" old times,
but that may be likely more a reflection of forgetting hardship
and preferential remembering of good things

Still definitely, the world is far from ideal but it is tremendously better than 200 years ago.
The change did not come at once. It came gradually. Over the years people have been feeling that their times were problematic and that the world was heading in the wrong direction. It was NOT. Every second the world has been getting a bit better over the past 200 years. Increments, so small that people have failed to notice them. Combine the gradualness of he increment with the sensationalization of negative things in the news, and it is quite understandable, why many people who do not actively look for the improvements, who do not think a bit deeper, don't see it even within their life time.

Luckily a majority, if thinking back decades ago, will see that over years or decades, the world got better. If not, read a novel written in the 18th or 19th century or even 50 years ago. Even if 50% of the novels would be exaggeration, the reality then was abominable compared to reality now.

Charity, love and caring increase. They increase every day in the world.
Crimes are still present, disasters do occur. The apparent increase may just be "better" reporting and more communication channels.

If I see the level of charity and tolerance in 2016,
it is much higher than in 2006.

If see hwo doctors treat their patients now compared to ten years ago,
there is a positive difference
Medical schools have built in communication and ethics in their core curriculum
Awareness increase ever and ever.

Please do think in your own environment and try to see which direction we move.

Every second

A gift, a smile,
The world is getting better
every single second

A gesture, a hug
A kind word, a kiss
Every second, better

An extra mile, a superb effort
A beaming glance, a lovely look
A wellness wish, a simple praise

More affable, more loving
More empathy, more compassion
More kindness, more caring

Oh, yes
the world
is getting better,
every single second.

Please wake up
from news induced numbness
Be aware that the world
gets better every second

Aufie Zophy

Charity

This afternoon there was a charity event in our local foundation for disabled
It was heart warming to see how many funds had been raised and how the
recipients were happy with what they received.

The world is not bad.
The world is getting better fast.
I look forward to the day when most of us realize this.
Just realizing this, will make us enthusiastic to be a full part of this movement

Keep up the good work, my friends.
Keep being a big part of he kindness revolution
which is unfolding in front of our eyes,
but is all too often blurred by news from mass media

Smashing our TV

Today, let us smash our TV
(not meant literally)
Let us be honest and true.
How much positive things we get from watching TV?
Today another unimaginable cruelty of IS
Do we need to know this?
Publicity and attention is what IS wants.
And we gullible citizens, slaves of TV
willingly give to IS exactly what they want
encouraging them to more, because they want more,
a lot more of our attention.

Yesterday another new soap series.
Beautiful ladies and handsome men
cheating each other to the extreme.
They are so rich and wealthy
and shout and quarrel.
Is that our source of inspiration?

Tomorrow, let us walk in a beautiful park
Get totally focused on a beautiful flower
a wonderful majestic tree.
and when we get back,
let us write an incredible poem,
read a superb inspirational book.
talk to our spouse and children
and neighbours and friends
and perhaps clean up the mess
of a smashed TV :) 

Soon...

When I manage to make it silent, a strong belief enters my heart
that humankind soon will become aware of how we were made.
We were made to enjoy the sweet satisfaction of helping each other.
We were made to live a life full of purpose and significance.

Soon more and more people will realize that giant truth.
Soon we will turn our backs on cheap pleasure as our aim.
We may enjoy the cheap pleasure for what they are;
but it will not be our main aim or final pursuit.

When I look at the news, my silent belief seems to be steadfastly contradicted;
but when I look at the people at my work, at my neighbors, at my friends,
I think we are on somehow on the right track.

Soon, the poem 

Proud

Today
My son forgave his friend.
He had been very upset with him
But today he forgave him.
Just like that

I am so very proud of my son

I am sure that today
my son has learned
the unteachable beauty
of forgiveness


My son,
I am proud of you

Unteachable beauty

There is beauty in forgiveness
But no one can teach us about that beauty
We can only learn about it
by discovering it ourselves
while we forgive, while we try.

The dissolution of the feeling of hatred within our heart
The replacement of bitterness by peace and peace of mind
The giving up of lust for revenge, which brings only more misery
The acceptance of that enemy a human with shortcomings, but also talents

I am trying to describe the beauty of forgiveness
But describing it, is not possible.
It can be only experienced.

Suffering

Had recently a deep exchange of thoughts with a very good friend.
It was about suffering. and the why of it.
While the small piece of text below does not explain suffering in any way,
it is certainly a reasonable way to look at it. 

We are in the middle of the evolution towards a much better world.
If we compare the amount of suffering in the middle ages with now,
you may (or may not) agree it is getting less, fast
And we, humans have been made in such a way that we can play an active part
a creative part, a progressive part in this wonderful evolution to a better world.
We can be part of this creative process.
And what is more, we have the choice to be part of it or not.
We are able to care, and do something good.
These are the things that bring us real happiness.
If we choose to be part of this creative process
We will lead happy lifes and can help others to do so too
Others can be humans, animals or plants.
Isn't it stunning, that if we see one suffer, we can often do something to alleviate it?
And if we suffer, someone can help and do something to alleviate it?
Sometimes all we have is compassionate, comforting words, but still alleviating
If we see suffering we can curse it and be unhappy about it or...

What do you think
Please do comment

Slave of conscience?

Conscience is that inner voice that urges us to good.
Tonight I really thought for a while that I have mine let grow too big.
Apparently simple situations become very complex sometimes
if we weigh all possibilities and try to feel as if we were in the other's shoes.
It sometimes takes a lot of my time, to approach situations in the best way.
To make the best possible decisions is a large task.
Sometimes pacing up and down, asking help from God.

That conscience does not release you, until you make the right move.
In the moment of a crisis, it is as if you are its slave.
But if at the end of a crisis, you look back
and feel you have been able to make a positive difference,
than you feel it has been worth it.

At the end of a crisis, I am often unsure whether what i did was really the right thing
but I feel most of the time, that what I did was better than what I would have done
without paying much attention to conscience.

Someone 's waiting

I read this wonderful poem, Dream, by Khaled Ehtesham.
In the poem he dreamed of being on a boat in a wide sea
being in the certainty that somewhere someone was waiting for him
When he woke up he asked himself, whether really in this world,
was there someone waiting?

I enjoyed the poem very much, but then had the following reflection:

I know there are thousands of people in your town, in any town,
who are terribly lonely, thousands of people who haven't seen a smile
directed towards them in the last year, thousands of people craving
for a nice or kind word.
In our own town, in our own neighborhood, thousands of people are waiting,
waiting for us to give them a few kind words, a smile, an unexpected visit.
Behind every door we pass, on every corner corner of a street, there may be people,
opportunities to make someone happy with a simple smile,
opportunities to make a huge difference in one's life with a few kind words
opportunities to lift for a few moments what seems like an eternity of isolation

Oh, yes, every day we have so many opportunities.
Most of my days I have been just walking by these opportunities.
But on the days, I pay attention to the opportunities and I respond to them,
I feel true peace of mind and these days are the happiest days in my life.

So, yes poet, yes reader, someone is waiting for, many people.
Perhaps not that prince(ss) that is waiting in her castle for you to come by and marry,
but lots and lots of people craving for a smile, a kind word, a visit.
If we become attentive to all these things, we will live with such a peace of mind,
so free of worries and frustration that any of the princes(ses) from the castle will
surely cross our path. :)

Fairy

I love to sit outside and look up at the sky.

Quite often we can see marvelous things

But too many days, I am so absorbed in my work

or even not in my work, in whatever I am doing

that I do not make the time to enjoy the beauty.

If every day, or even many times per day,

we really make the time to look actively

for the beauty of nature around us, 

We will be stunned by the bliss 

that ornaments our world.

Sometimes during a ride in the car, 

we are so absorbed with what the radio plays

that we miss the scenes along the road.

And if you happen to live in township 

with only granite and tarmac and stones,

still we can see the beauty and kindness and love

that is never far away, in whomever we meet.

It is just sitting there in everyone's heart,

Often we need only a few kind words,

to unleash a storm of love and kindness.

I plan tomorrow to pay more attention to beauty.

Let us all do so?

Talk

I had a talk today...
I was about to write with whom and about what I talked today
when it suddenly occurred to me how miraculous it is
that we can have talk, whenever we want.

Just think about it.
Words stored in our mind
The same words stored in the other person's mind
Then a command comes from somewhere
makes me use my voice and articulate.
Lots of different sounds in fixed patterns
The sound goes into the ears of the listener
creates some current and the words are heard
and the words are understood.
The words create some emotional reaction
and in her turn the listener creates some words
in turn affecting me.

Hope you stand in as much awe as myself
for the simple fact we can talk and hear and understand.

But maybe you are still wondering what I talked about today and with whom.
Well, I wanted to write about a talk I had with a mother of an extremely small
baby who was now ready for discharge from the hospital and about all precautions we can take
to reduce the chance of infections in babies.

Since I have started, I may as well go on, taking the risk that this reflection becomes to long.
In summary, a few very important tips for parents with very young babies:
- Hand hygiene! Extremely important. Anyone coughing, will do so on their hands. Then we shake hands, touch almost everything around us and the viruses spread to so many hands even of persons not having any cough. Before touching a baby, please wash or disinfect your hands
- Not too many visitors. Even if they come do not let them touch the baby without proper hand hygiene
- Do not bring the baby to croweded place
- No passive smoke !

Logical

It is logical to be kind.
If we simply understand how our heart is working,
it is logical to be kind

Here it comes:
A driver from behind overtakes you from the wrong side.
You get upset. You do not want to let him in.
You manoeuvre your car, driving as close as possible to the car in front.
The guy overtaking accelerates a bit more and moves in, in front of the car in front of you.
You feel BAAAAAAAAAAD

A driver from behind overtakes you from the wrong side.
You want to get upset but then consider that the guy must be in a big hurry.
You slow down, let him move in. The driver greets you as a sign of thanks.
You feel GOOOOOOOOOOD

Your son talks to you in a loud way.
You get upset. You talk back louder to him.
He feels not understood and disappears in his room
You think thoughts of punishment
You feel BAAAAAAAAAAD

Your son talks to you in a loud way.
You want to get upset but then consider shouting back will not help.
You tell him kindly that this tone hurts the feelings of any loving father.
Your son cools down and says what he wanted say in a soft and lovely voice.
You feel GOOOOOOOOOOD

You meet a beggar. The beggar plays beautiful music.
It gives you some pleasure as you walk by.
You see his box to collect money and think to yourself:
Why does he not work?
You walk by and
You feel BAAAAAAAAAAD

You give that same beggar a bill of ten
You feel GOOOOOOOOOOD

Your husband did not close the closet for the umpteenth time
Does he do that to tease you?
You shout at him to come back and close the closet.
He shouts back he is in a hurry and runs off.
You feel BAAAAAAAAAAD

Instead of shouting at him, you close it yourself again.
At night you express kindly your frustration about him not closing the closet so many times.
He apologizes and the very next morning you find the closet closed.
You feel GOOOOOOOOOOD

What percentage of unkind events would make you feel good?
What percentage of kind events would make you feel bad

LOGIC = KINDNESS

Let us do the logical thing
an speed up this upcoming kindness revolution
by performing at least 3 random acts of kindness
every week, or even better one or more every day....:)

If you agree and want to spread the positive message,
feel free to share anywhere.
 

New reality

Yesterday the world was cruel
And now it is kind

The day before yesterday the world was violent
And now it is full of peace

Three days ago the world was greedy
And now it is charitable

Four days ago the world was full of lies
And now it is only truth

Five days ago the world was negative
And now it is positive

Six days ago the world was ignorant
And now it is wise

One week ago the world was just a prelude
Only now we become real

Let us start this new reality now!

A poem by Aufie Zophy
Hopefully soon we can take it out 
of the poetry realm and let it become prose

Happiness

Dear friends,

This is a very important message.
It is about happiness.
I have experienced craving for happiness.
Not just longing, not just desiring, craving.

I was in the process of studying.
I was stressed out. I was working hard from 6 am until 10 pm.
Cramming things in my head, fear of failure always somewhere in mind.
I was longing, desiring, craving for the exams to finish.
I imagined that the end of the exams and a superb mark would be heaven.
Then I would be happy.
The time came, I had passed with distinction and the next day
was among the emptiest days in my life.
I was dreaming of doing so many things that would make me happy.
Now I was free. I had passed the exams and my day felt empty.
I missed the sense of purpose. I missed the drive.
Happiness as anticipated was not mine. 
Reaching my goal, did not result in huge happiness.
More it resulted in emptiness.
I was more happy studying, having this sense of purpose

Happiness is not at the other side of exams
Happiness is not at the other side of that relationship
Happiness is not at the other side of having more

Happiness is a sense of bliss that comes from within
Happiness relies on gratitude for what we have
Happiness reside in the awareness that we have talents
In the sense of purpose that this brings along
and in the fact that with these talents and that purpose
we can make a difference for ourselves and for others.

If we cannot reach happiness here and now,
we will not reach it when the exams are finished
we will not reach it when we get that car or that house
or that relationship

We have to search really for happiness
as a sense of bliss from within.
Actually even not fully within.
Actually we are swimming in bliss
Swimming in Peace
All we have to do is to be aware of it,
grateful for it, connect to it
and get that sense of purpose going.

I want to end this with a huge cliché:
if you are not happy on the journey
you will not be happy on the destination.

Beauty and stress

No, stress is not beautiful.
Perhaps it never will be.

But even though life is often stressful
It is beautiful at the same time
We do not appreciate beauty at the peak of stress
But once the stress ebbs a bit away,
we can shift our focus back to the beauty.

Once the stress ebbs a bit away
we can shift our focus to love
to compassion, to friendship
to kindness, to warmth and light

To rainbows and wonderful trees
to the simple smile of a stranger
to the music of a voice
the touch of a soul.

life 's not easy but beautiful

Suffering

Why is there so much suffering in the world?
Is God not good, or is God no powerful?
Why do the animals have to suffer?
And why are there so many cruelties?

A test, a punishment for sins of old?

I think the best answer to the questions above lies in the next story:

A two year old child was having a wonderful time
A beautiful glistening knife in his hands,
what a superb toy and how much fun.
His father comes in the room and gets a shock.
He runs to the child and takes away the knife.
The child protests and starts to cry.
The child feels treated unfair and cannot understand.
No matter how hard the father tries to explain,
the two year old child will not understand.

Sometimes I think we are a bit like that two year old.
Our human brain so wonderful but yet compared to grandeur
of the universe and the greatness of our God, our mental
powers are like mere spark compared to the light of the sun.
With our limited immature brain power of a human being
we see so much suffering and feel it is not fair.

It has happened to me and I am quite sure to you and to everyone too,
that something bad happened. It felt unfair, why me, why now, why here.
But a week or two later or sometimes years later, we can see
that the bad event, in fact has brought us a blessing that would never
have come our way if that event would not have happened.

A school burned down in India. How can the Master of the Universe be so cruel?
The whole community shouts in disbelief but the teachers sees an opportunity
to collect funds from donations to build a new school that is much better than the old one.

I fractured my vertebra. I was confined to bed for 3 months.
I cursed the event leading to the fracture and wondered why me, why now?
During that period I started writing poems, and developed a passion for poetry.
If that had not happened, a hobby that brings me now so much fulfillment and joy
would have perhaps never materialised

I am sure you can give examples from your life.

Many of the larger things, we cannot understand.
There may be a reason, that we do not see.
A reason we cannot comprehend.

If we can accept that we cannot comprehend everything.
it becomes a bit easier to enjoy the beauty of life
It requires humility, humbleness, yes
But life is elevated to the next level
Life is not easy, but in many place we can find beauty, even in difficult times. :)

I have a small poem, written quite some time ago:
the-story-of-why  (click)

Lightening

On the way back from the hospital,
I saw two bouts of most wonderful lightening:

I wrote a small haiku on it:

Amazing white lines

light'ning in the darkest skies

Frightening beauty.

Hope you enjoy the Haiku.

 

Mother earth

When we see the huge accumulation of stupidity
that is cheered by a large number of Americans
when Trump spews idiotic rethoric
I think many people feel like vomiting.

The latest on energy.
He wants to revive fossil fuel burning in America
He loves market forces, he says, these are beautiful forces.
In the same breath the hypocrite says that he will help his
super rich friends who have invested in coal and fracking
to recuperate their losses.

I hope someone keeps track of all times this nut
contradicts himself.
Within one speech he is contradicting himself flagrantly
Hope people take the effort to compare his speeches.
Hope there are enough Americans who have left a little of sense to see
through this fool who seems only good in rhetoric.

Market forces include the awareness among all people on earth
that we need to save nature and mother earth.
Please people of America
do not let a fool mess with America and the rest of the world...

Holding the baby

When I reflected today on what I have done, I thought my morning had been not too good.
In the afternoon, I went to a meeting. I knew I had to leave the meeting early because parents of patients wanted to see me. That is when it started to get a bit better.

I was talking to the parents of a 5 days old child. The child had major, major problems. Lungs intestines, brain... The baby had been on a ventilator (breathing machine) all his life and had undergone one operation already. The prognosis is not good. After sharing all the bad news the mother looked so sad. The father was sad. I was sad. Three sad people in a room.

I asked for help from above. It occurred to me that the mother had never held the baby. When I asked her if she would want to hold the baby, of course there was a resounding yes. I thought the baby was not stable and it would be best to plan it for tomorrow, but then tomorrow may never come for the baby. We managed to arrange something and with all tubings and monitors the mom had at least some moments of intimate closeness to her baby. The sadness was still there but it seemed to have become a bit more bearable.

She even forced a smile when she thanked us.

I share this experience here.
If things look sad and bad, there are often small things that can be done to make it a bit more bearable. These small things do not take away the pain but the difference they make can confer a certain peace of mind which is the foundation of bliss.

My day had been not too bad after all.

Wild dreams

I think all of us have wild dreams.
Dreams that seem impossible to realise
Too many of us perhaps give up our wild dreams much too soon.

It may be well worth to retrieve our wild dreams from the past.
Blow some life in them
Let them become our passion
and soon see them become reality...

:)    :)   :)    :)

------------------------------------------

 (added:)
Was thinking a bit more about dreams
When I was 12 years old I was dreaming of going to work in Africa
When I was 16 I saw a documentary about a Belgian doctor working in the south of Thailand.
I thought, wow, perhaps that would be still better than Africa.
Now I am working about 30 km from the border of SouthernThailand in Malaysia.
The place where I work has been conducive to allow fulfillment of many of my teenage dreams.
Dreams fulfilled, give rise to new and bigger dreams.
My dreams now are bigger than ever.

I think all of us have to keep on dreaming
Keep dreaming big and big things will happen.

:)    :)    :)     :)

The world is our country

I read recently the following piece by the late William Lloyd Garrison 

(19th century famous champion of the emancipation of black people) 

"We do not acknowledge allegiance to any human government.  We
   recognize but one King and Lawgiver, one Judge and Ruler of
   mankind.  Our country is the world, our countrymen are all
   mankind.  We love the land of our nativity only as we love all
   other lands.  The interests and rights of American citizens are
   not dearer to us than those of the whole human race.  Hence we
   can allow no appeal to patriotism to revenge any national
   insult or injury..."

I enjoyed so much the beauty in this text that i want to share it here with you.

I tend to agree very much that all borders of nations are so artificial and unnatural.

If we believe there is one God, why not believe the whole world is just one land.

The concept may seem hard to swallow at this time but

as any lofty ideal, if it is kept in front of the eyes of 

enough people for long enough it may come about. 

Slavery has been abolished in many parts of the world.

May have seemed impossible few centuries ago

Women have been emancipated 

May have seemed impossible few centuries ago

Hopefully soon we can say:

"The world has become borderless"

"May have seemed impossible ten years ago"   

What now seems impossible may become reality 

if enough champions keep the ideals of a unified world 

very much alive...

and how about enjoying this:

 "He who attacks  another and injures him, kindles in the other

a feeling of hatred, the root of every evil.  To injure another 

because he has injured us, even with the aim of overcoming evil,

is doubling the harm for him and for oneself; it is begetting, or
at least setting free and inciting, that evil spirit which we
should wish to drive out.  Error can never be corrected by error, 

and evil cannot be vanquished by evil."

The one from the heart...

I read a message on facebook about the perfect way to pray.
Lots of instructions.
It made me think of a story by Tolstoy.

I searched for it and found the story by Tolstoy on the net.
It is titled: the three hermits
Here is the link:
http://www.online-literature.com/tolstoy/2896/

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I do.

The perfect prayer may be the one that comes truly from the heart.

You and me and him and her

You and me and him and her
Each of us may follow another religion or be an atheist
and all of us are yet close friends

You and me and him and her
Each of us may be so different
and yet we work together in harmony

You and me and him and her
Each of us have different opinions
and yet we talk together so much

Let us shun the wicked people
shouting that anyone who differs from them
will burn in hell as infidel

These wicked guys know nothing
nothing about the Over-Soul creating this world
Grace and love and forgiveness they know not.

So stop letting anyone scare you with hell
threats to hell are the tools of the uninspired teacher
threats to hell reflect only arrogance of the preacher

Many of us believe death is nothing final.
And to me, that is likely to be very true

but then what happens after death,
the only thing that's certain:
No preacher, no teacher will have single say.

Teachers and preachers are supposed to  inspire
Gain followers by inspiring others

Teachers and preachers are not supposed
to claim knowledge they do not have
and scare potential followers with hell

The ones who cannot inspire people
use threats instead
but they do not deserve our ear.

Just my honest opinion about the preachers of doom
(feel most free to disagree)

Poems

Give me poems,
Give me more poems,

Give me not the poems of sadness
Not the heart broken ones of egocentric lovers
Not the complaining ones

Give me the poems that inspire
The poems that give us all hope
Hope for a better world

Give me the poems that encourage
encourage us all to to seek truth
to live truth, to love truth, to be truth

Give me the poems that exude love
love and kindness and friendliness
not childishness but child-likeness

Give the poems that touch on the impossible
and use fantastic images to create picture of compassion
sweet feelings boiling in a soft heart

Give the poems full of soul
Give me poems
Give poems
Poems...

Here is one for you:

Huge 

A billion metric tons of friendliness
sit in the heart of everyone on earth
An inexhaustible sea of kindness
Resides in our hearts since birth

Why only milligrams, we use,
a few droplets at a time?
There is really nothing to lose
If we let what's in our heart just shine.

Stinginess with water from a sea?
Stinginess with metric tons from that heart of thee?
Let's set all that friendliness, all that kindness free
Let's shower a bucket full on friend and foe, why shouldn't we?

Aufie Zophy/

YES!

I wrote the small piece below a few years back.
The longer and the more I dream of a world full of kindness,
the more certain I become that a world like this will become a reality soon.
So, yes, yes, yes, a firm YES

A Firm Yes

In a wonderful cartoon, i had the pleasure to read:
A lonely person stood on the corner of the street
He was pulled to one side by a good-hearted soul
He was pulled to another side by a good-hearted soul
Each wanted to invite him for dinner, a good deed

Could it ever be, that there is a lack of lonely people in the world?
Will it ever happen that more people want to invite lonely people
than there are lonely people?

I 'd answer with a firm YES
'cause we are living in a spiritual world
and more spiritual it becomes!

Please click on the author name of 

Aufie Zophy

which is the "nom de plume" I use for my poetry on PoemHunter

if you 'd like to more poems.

not crying

As a specialist for children, I want my students to have the skills to make children cooperative with them while they are doing a physical examination on a child.

There are a few techniques that they should know.

1. Toys
Toys used wisely can be really helpful. I see students give the toy often too early. During history taking there is no need for toys. That is the time for building rapport with the mother and the child. If we give the toys too early to a child, the child will get bored with the toy and throw it on the ground. The mother gets upset because the child throws the toy on the ground and the child may start to cry, something we really do not want. The wise use of toys in a doctor-child encounter is to reserve it for when the child becomes uncooperative and even if the child takes only a few seconds to stop crying while looking at the toy, these seconds will be the time we fully use to get some important findings.

2. Examination on the lap of the mother.
Most things can be done on the lap of the mother, including general examination, auscultation testing of reflexes and many more. A child feels comfortable and somehow protected when he is that close to the mother.

3. Build that rapport with the child.
A giant truth is that if we are friends with the mother, it is likely that we will be friends with the child too. It is very important to involve the child from very early during the history taking. NOT to ask questions to the child, which may scare them but by simply talking to them. When I ask my students how they talk to a 1 year old, the answer is simple: they don't.
And that is a big mistake. Children love to be talked to but only in certain ways. They do not like questions. Even simple ones. They do like to hear the name they are called at home.

They do like to hear praise. At home, gandma and grandpa are giving praise relentlessly to the children. If we manage to talk like them, it really works in our favor. To be able to really talk like them, first we have to feel like them. We have to love the child genuinely. If we manage to do so, it will be easy to find things we like. We voice them out, et voila, we praise them like the grandparents do.
Even at a young age the children will recognize praise as praise even if they do not grasp the full meaning of it.

A second very positive effect of praise to children is that the mother will be instantly your best friend. She will transmit these feelings to her child and the chances that child likes you and cooperates increase exponentially.

The whole thing about praise, is that it has to be genuine. Simple flattery does not work. We have to put ourselves in such a loving mood, that it becomes easy to love certain things about the child. Then voice them out. Perhaps the voicing out of something we like about other persons is something so difficult for all of us.

We don't have the habit of praising. We like to criticize, point out mistakes, and criticize again. If we want to work with children we need to learn how to praise.

From within

Early in the morning
Still dark outside
From somewhere deep within
A spark shines some light

The spark flares to a flame
Shining for my lovely wife
Oh my God, to her I want to be kind

Slowly the light becomes more bright
Enveloping our children in the house
Oh my God, to them I want to be kind

Now the light is gaining more might
Shining on neighbors, on colleagues of mine
Oh, my God, to them I want to be kind

And brighter and mightier gets the light
Starting to envelop the globe so wide
the world so kind

Then, the sun started to rise...

Read more poems from Aufie Zophy at
 poems by Hans (Aufie Zophy)

Outing

Today I went with my son, Johan, and two of his friends to Bukit Keluang.
I think I have written before about the magic of that place,
where there is a stony hill right on the beach with several caves.

We had a walk on the beach, between the rocks, over the rocks,
on the rocks and again in the sand and took some amazing pics.
The boys took numerous selfies.

We rested a while, and before returning we had some Kerupuk, fish crackers,
freshly fried and fish balls with a drink in a road side café.

And it was nice
And it was nice
And it was nice

If your children are with you,
make an outing with them today
If your parents are around
make an outing with them today
If this is impossible,
make an outing with an auntie
If that is impossible,
the old folks home has lots of wonderful aunties
If you cannot do it today,
fix it for tomorrow or at the very latest next weekend
Please not later than next weekend
Fix the date today.

You will enjoy it
The other person will enjoy it
and the world will be different,
PERMANENTLY

A bit of love

A bit of love in my heart
moves and increases the beat

That bit of love sits there

and makes me roving

a rainbow on a dark cloud

a firefly in a dark, dark night

a spot of red on black and white pic

a moment of silence in the middle of a thunderbolt

a small piece of silk woven into a large cloth of burlap 

A bit of love sitting 

inside my heart

part of me wants to keep it

to guard it with all my might

part of me wants to give it away,

give away for free to anyone I see 

'cause that part knows that whatever we give
is a pure gain to the soul

'cause that part knows
about that wonderful piece of magic:
by giving away a bit of that bit of love,
the bit will grow so fast, so furious
that it won't be a bit anymore

Remembering

Remembering what is most important in life can help your day be a lot brighter.
Today I went on an outing my son to a nearby exotic coral island.
The weather was bright and the day started well.

Along the day, there tend to be always some small imperfections.
I almost fell in the temptation to let these small things spoil our outing.
Luckily I remembered what was most important to me today:
to have a nice outing with my son and enjoy each other's company maximally.
I managed to swallow or spit out whatever what not so perfect
and taste the full enjoyment of an outing with my son.

Life can be beautiful
It is easy to let it be spoiled by small things
With a bit of wisdom, we can maintain the beauty of it all.

Enjoy the beauty, while it is around.

Soul

A big heart!
A fantastic intention!
Outcome unsure.

Sometimes we give;
we give things to the poor;
things they do not use.

Our heart is good.
Our intentions are good.
The outcome unsure.

It is great to have a good heart and good intentions.
However if we manage to make it on and off silent,
to make some time to listen with our soul,
the chances of a great outcome do increase.

Let us continue to have a good heart,
to have the best of intentions.
Let us add some soul and silent reflection,
let us make a small prayer
and sometimes the universe will guide.

Let us do good
with our heart,
with our mind
and also with our soul...

Have some fun

Society has shaped the world around us.
We accept it, try to fit in, make some sacrifice
try to have some fun.

And then, after a while we get restless.
We want something more.
We are not happy to fit in and have some fun.

A giant truth dawns
We were given talents
and these talents demand to be used

Talents to make a positive difference
in this world, in our society.
We taste the sweet peace of mind of creativity

The sweet peace of mind of random kindness
the satisfaction of helping another person just like that
without expecting anything in return

We discover we were not meant just to fit in
not meant just to have some fun.

We were meant to use our talents
We were meant to make a positive difference

Abominable choice

If a friend makes an abominable choice.
Will you let him?

I think here is a dilemma.
Within his or her own frame of mind, it must sound a logical thing to do.
Within our frame of mind it sounds abominable.

Respecting the choice, while you are quite certain it has a high chance to bring misery.
Or try as hard as you can to bring him or her to his or her senses?

You know, I have an anti-vax friend.
It is sooo hard to see him err and put his child at risks that are completely and safely preventable.
I have talked literally hours to him
No effect
Today i told him he was irresponsible as a parent.
Some part of me regrets it, some part of me feels it was the right thing to do.

I don't know, but sometimes the ones who hurt your feelings
may be the ones who really care....

Peace is ours

Imagine the world in peace.
Hard to do?

Let us start with ourselves.
Make it quiet

Let there be some silence.
Only the breeze

Thoughts of anguish or anger
 All gone

Thinking only peaceful thoughts
or no thoughts at all

Peace is here now, just enjoy
Peace, peace, peace

Now imagine again all people
in the same peace

Imagine the whole world in peace
Not so hard to do


JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

Actually my friends,
peace is a natural state
A gift of our God.

But what do we do with it?
Within our small own world
We kick it out.

Peace keeps coming back to us
But every day we kick it out
A gift we refuse

Our small self, our ego,
thinking the world is not fair.
Peace gone

Our small self, our ego,
talking harshly instead of full of love
Peace gone

Our small self, our ego,
feeling hurt about almost everything
Peace gone

Our small self, our ego,
thinking we are better than the rest
Peace gone

But the gift keeps coming back
Our God keeps giving it to us
day by day by day

One day we will accept it
Choose friendliness and kindness
no matter what

Peace will be ours
and we will spread it to those around
and they will spread it too.

No need to wait for tomorrow.
let us start today.

JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

A small wish from me
of peace to you
of peace to your family
of peace to your friends
of peace to your colleagues
of peace to your world
of peace to our world
of peace to the world.

A tear

A tear in my brown right eye

was ready to leave and roll.

A heart with a small crack

leaked some precious blood,

some precious love

Life 'd been harsh;

self control not easy.

The tear was rolling now

down slowly, down.

Tumult in my soul;
revolt becomes humble
 

 Turning to God.

Strength seeps in.

The tear dries up,

the crack heals,

love flows

Dream

When I silently pray,
I know somewhere deep inside
that I still have a mission in my life.

When I was young,
my mission and vision
were inspired by Albert Schweizer
and by mother Teresa



Now I dream of inspiring people
I dream to become a writer
To become a speaker,
capable of inspiring many people

I can see in my dreams
a kindness revolution
A huge evolution
enveloping  the world
in a huge wave of kindness.

Let us dream together
Perhaps one day,...

Hard to believe

If you read the news,
it is so full of disheartening stories
of falsehood, corruption, decadency
that it would be hard to believe
that the world is changing fast for the better.

And yet it is!!
An idea whose time has come is simply unstoppable
The idea of random acts of kindness has come to the world
Anyone trying it, feels so fulfilled with peace and love
that it is spreading fast!

Slavery, women's rights, non-smoking,
all these things have changed so dramatically
over short time periods.
A few years before the change,
no one could imagine that it would go that fast.
Now all these have changed

So will it be with kindness in this world
If now you have a hard time believing kindness
is increasing fast everywhere all the time,
you will be amazed in a few years.

Hold on tight
A completely disruptive
enourmously gigantic
kindness revolution
is on its way

It is unstoppable
It will blow away all hypocrites
Lying leaders will fall deep and hard
a world of truth and sincerity lies before us
Hard to believe?
Believe!

Black dot

Here is a shortened version of an amazing story I found today on fb

A professor gave an exam paper to students
When the students looked at the paper, it was an A4 paper with a small black dot in the middle.
The professor asked the students to write an essay on what they saw.
At the end of the exam, all students had given their potential interpretation of the black dot.

Logical it is indeed to focus on the abnormality
No one had written anything about he whiteness of the rest of the page.
All focused on the one black dot.

At the end of the story, the writer gave some comments:
Is it not like this in our lives too?
We get health, love, wonderful sunrises.
But a few black dots like the troubles in traffic, a story from the news
get so much of our attention that we forget to enjoy all the good things
and blessings in our life.

Amazing story, isn't it?

Quotations, citations

I read about an Indian master dealing with a celebrated expert in religion as follows:

<A celebrity expert had been citing and reciting passages from the holy scriptures for about half an hour when the master said "I am waiting to hear you." as if it had been completely silent. The religious expert was puzzled.

"Quotations there have been, in superabundance." "But what original commentary can you supply, from the uniqueness of your particular life? What holy text have you absorbed and made your own? In what ways have these timeless truths renovated your nature? Are you content to be a hollow victrola, mechanically repeating the words of other men?">

I think here we strike a very important piece of truth.
What is the use of reciting holy scriptures without understanding?
I have encountered numerous people just doing that.
In many schools in the place where I live, students are learning to read Arabic
without any effort of the teachers to teach the meaning of the words they read.
Many children at a tender age have as such recited large volumes of scriptures
without understanding at all what they recite.

How much time is put in these efforts?
How much better the time could be spent in teaching the children good values?

Vax and anti-vax

In France and Italy certain immunizations are mandatory.
Refusal has bitter consequences in these countries
These countries rightfully put the importance of the health of children and the public above the so called freedom to refuse vaccinations.
Refusal of vaccinations puts innocent children at unnecessary risk of dangerous diseases. France and Italy give parents who refuse to understand science and live in a childish imagined world of conspiracies, not the right to endanger the life of their own children. It is high time that more countries take proactive action to counter the lack of intelligence of the anti-vaxers.

Expect

Expect the best.

So often we are afraid to expect the best.
As a child we were expecting the best but when it turned out to be not,
the disappointment was big. So to protect us from disappointment,
we started to expect the worst.

In the mean time we have matured into adulthood.
We are aware that everything is possible
However we do not want to give up the old habit of childhood
We keep expecting the worst in order to avoid disappointments

By expecting the worst, we prepare ourselves to receive the worst.
We tend to think and behave in ways that make the worst come true.

Let us today give up the bad habit of expecting the worst.
Let us live in a thoughts and action world reflecting our positive expectations
By doing so, we will see more of the positive.

Love and peace to you.

Choice

Sometimes we are full of self pity
All the problems we face
we tend to blame on our parents
on our circumstances
on what happened around us.

And yet, it was us who had made choices
Choices that were basically not the bet ones.
But taking responsibility
for our choices of the past
is a hard, a very hard thing to do.
It is so much easier to blame others
and to end up in a flurry of self pity.

I hope we can find the courage
to see that the choices we made in the past
have resulted in where we are now.
But that is the past
The past has no power over the future
unless we give it such power
The future will depend on the choices we make today

We can choose to continue self pity
and allow the past to continue to determine our future
or we gather the courage
and take responsibility.
We see that the past is over.
Today we have again freedom of choice.
if today we choose the right thing
our past will not have any power over our future.

We have to live in the present.
the past has passed and cannot be changed
The future is not yet here.
Making the right choices now will help the future
and will make the present so much more pleasant.

A Pleasant Present

I wish you a pleasant present

The past has permanently passed

We can nurture the future

but the only moment

we enjoy is the present

We do not have to let the past

having negative effects that last

Let us be aware and become mature

make new choices for a brighter future

Let your present

be truly pleasant

Free

I want to start this reflection with a giant cliché:
The best things in life are free.

I know it is a cliché but it is so good to remember it.
Simple friendliness is one of the biggest gifts we can receive.
During my recent travel in Japan, I asked a passerby the directions to a certain shop.
He stopped in his steps, explained to me and went back about 100m with me to show me the shop.

This was such a big gift to me.

When I remember doing something similar for someone asking directions in our hospital,
I know that the gift is not only a present to the one on the receiving end of the kindness.
The good feeling, a present from our Creator, is as big for the giver of kindness and friendliness as for the receiver.

Simple acts of kindness, friendliness, FREE
No money! A huge gift for the one on the receiving end
A much bigger present still for the one on the giving end.
~truly, the best things in life are free~

Quake

Today arrived in Osaka, Japan.
After check-in in the hotel, a bit tired from traveling.
Taking a nap.
Our room on the 31 floor, which happens to be the top floor.

Not yet fully asleep suddenly our beds are shaking
and so does everything in the room.
The light hanging from the ceiling was moving vigorously.

We did not know what to do
We were afraid but did not panic
Lots of thoughts flashed through my mind.

After a few seconds which seemed like eternity
the shaking stopped.
I called the reception of the hotel.
They related that this was a minor quake which happens quite regularly here.
Nothing to worry about they said.
They said it very convincingly.
I was not too convinced but chose to believe them. 

Reflecting on the event,
I think whatever we do, there is some fate.
If that quake would have been a major  one,
there was nothing we could do.
Hide next to the bed and hope for the best.

It reminded me of our own mortality
It can happen any time,
any moment of the day.
If you read this, at least I have made it until the end of this writing :)

Just a few reflections ago (can click here), I was thinking about readiness in our lives.
Today I was a kind of forced to think about it again.
I hope at any time the balance of me making people smile versus me making people sad is tipping over to the side in favor of the making people happy but we are never sure. We may unknowingly make many people upset. On the other hand sometimes a small gesture may have unexpected positive effects on people as well.

Whatever happens, I hope that balance described in  the above paragraph is favorable.
I ask again to our Creator, please let me live my full potential.
I have a few more big ambitions
I am willing to work hard for them
and hope that "fate" is on my side....  :)