Truth

What happened today or yesterday belongs to the world of facts. Facts make up the truth and ignoring, denying or twisting facts, is being untruthful. So sad that we see sooooo much of the latter in the politics of today.

The facts of hundreds or thousands of years ago are very often much less verifiable and here interpretation of and speculation about partial knowledge of facts suddenly starts to make up part of the truth and people with different interpretations, different speculations may have different perceptions on what happened and believe in different truths.

While the above may be called factual truth, there is also something like mathematical truth. Mathematical truth is robust and undeniable. A number multiplied by another number is only ONE other number and nothing else. It is verifiable and nothing else can be the result. Scientist like this kind of certainty and have applied mathematics to many of the physical and chemical processes happening in the world.

However if we move in the science of the extremes, like subatomic levels with quantum mechanics, suddenly mathematical certainty ceases to exist and so is it with the grand universe. Hypotheses, speculations become science, and the more we have of these, the more science moves into a belief system than in an exact system of certainty. And for many lay people the difference between the proven parts of science and the speculations and hypothetical parts are not clear. Take the big bang theory. A hypothesis that may be ten times harder to believe than  the existence of God, is accepted by many as a result of scientific endeavor but is in reality a mere nonsensical hypothesis. All matter was compressed into almost nothing and then boom, in a few seconds we had a universe. A universe that is said to be expanding, but what is it expanding into? Is there a border of the universe, and what is beyond that border to expand into? Hypothetical, speculative,..., more than a bit. Even if the universe is expanding, it is still more likely a part of an oscillating movement of expansion and contraction (that may last from a few centuries to a few millennia), since so many things are oscillating, even a wave of light.

Above we have been talking about physical truths. There is of course also a mental, emotional, psychological and spiritual truth. Far to many scientists are becoming obsessed with physical truth and do miss out on the enormous truths that do exist beyond the sensory realm.

Spirit

 White matter
Small lesions

Watson's spiral
Small mutations

Proteomics
Small variations

On top of that
Methylations

And then
Glycosylations

What is the effect of temperature?
And that of magnetism?

And all these quarks
Waves and particles…

How about thoughts and health?
Power of thinking?

Mind and body!
Soul and heart!

Spiritual being !!

The neuroscientist find micro lesions in brains of normal humans with their powerful MRIs. Hopes are high to unravel the secrets of the mind.

Genomics usurps millions of taxpayer's dollars looking for micro mutations of the healthy people. Hopes are high to unravel the secrets of DNA

And then there are the other sciences, each having high hopes to unravel the secrets of nature

I am quite sure that all high hopes may just end in the awareness that the trillions of micro-variations of 'normal' will prove to be our richness and not our defects. We may come to the conclusion that all of us are very very unique human beings, with our own unique DNA, our own unique brain, our own unique mind. Something we knew already long before a single soul was talking about all the -'omics'

Physics and spirituality are getting closer and closer to each other.
Quantum mechanics...

This poem is a bit of a call to scientists. Let us not forget we are in the first place spiritual beings, created in such a way that each of us are unique in our talents and shortcomings.

Let us not forget that over and above this uniqueness, we have the common longing for happiness, that can only be fulfilled through selfless altruism, devotion and inward reflection.

As long as one person dies from unintended hunger in this world, dear scientists, we should really get our priorities right.

Navigating in bliss

Games for power

The political game tries to create fear and hatred.
The motive is to gather enough support to be in power.
It goes against our own very nature,
but due to immaturity and lack of wisdom
masses have been engulfed by such games
leading to the most disgusting atrocities in history.

Our true nature is so different.
Our true nature is one of love and kindness
Our Creator has created us in a way, we experience
peace of mind and true happiness when we are kind and loving
when we are kind and forgiving, when we are magnanimous.

Sadly politicians and some religious scholars alike
play with the sentiments of fear and hatred to gather support
to gain followers.  Never fear and hatred bring peace of mind
or happiness. Only love and kindness do.

There is a certain urgency in today's world.
We do not want the genocide of Rwanda,
of the Nazis and so many more to be repeated
 anywhere in the world.
For that we need a critical number of people
wise and mature enough to counter the cries
of wicked leadership. It is time, high time to ignore
the cries for hatred by any type of leader, be it political,
be it religious.

Let us nib any cry for hatred in the bud;
if not, it may grow into something big and atrocious
Let us embrace any cry for love and kindness
Our world will change for the better.

Mattering matters

Let us not be dragged into polarization!


What really matters is:
to protect our environment
good education
good care for our disabled fellow humans
control of addictive drug sales and use
peace within our community
peace in the world
lots and lots of kindness
Learn from each other's differences

What does not matter is:
the polarizing sentimental issues that those in power want to use to gain more followers. Let us not be dragged in endless polarizing discussions but work together for a society filled with harmony, love, kindness and respect.

Let us demand that the agenda of our leadership covers more of the first and less of the second...

If we send respect and kindness to our enemies, we will soon live in world filled with friends

A wish

I wish you 

A sea of peace
unconditional love
an ocean of abundance
divine intelligence
universal beauty
cosmic harmony

Do not search for it in far away lands
Do not chase it.
Let us just tune in to the energy around us
Let us make it truly silent
and let the above come and sit on our shoulder.

I am sure we can do it.

(inspired by M. Beckwith)

300

I wrote poem some time ago and its title was "three hundred" :

We all
were born with
three hundred talents
three hundred gifts
three hundred strengths
but only
ninety nine weaknesses 

Today, I experienced a day, a bit like this. 

I woke up with quite some energy, 

said my prayers, together with my son,

then to work, everything seemed to go well.

Managed to give quite some useful service, I think.

Then at home my weakness propped up.

A quarrel. 

The problem is that very often we tend to spend so much time reminiscing on our own weaknesses and problems and not on our strengths and blessings. 

Love

"To be loving is not something that is taught;
to be compassionate is not an idea;
to be in empathy is not an esoteric principle;
this is the way a human being is made,
if only he does not constipate his consciousness
with limiting identifications, with things that he is not"
Sadguru

Love, compassion and empathy are not something 
that we have to acquire, not something that we have to work towards,
it is our very nature! 

When I heard Sadguru say this in a video of one of his TED talks,
I remember thinking this myself several years ago in almost exactly the same words.
I had written a small poem about it myself, more than two years ago.

Please click on this link to read the poem.
The video of the TED talk is here

All blade

"A mind all logic is like a knife all blade. It makes the hand bleed that uses it"
Rabindranath Tagore

Wow, I got a true wow-experience upon reading this quote of a very wise man.
So true, we cannot underestimate the importance of our heart, our soul.
Surely the rational and logic mind is of extreme value to each of us
but without emotion, silence, peace, love, what would it still be worth?

The proverbial butterfly

Too often we search for pleasure,
we search for sensual gratification.
We do have fun but our basic state of mind
is not one of peace.

Peace of mind is the greatest good.
We will not find it through searching.
It is something we cannot chase
It is something that comes or does not come.

We can only create the conditions
that are most likely to allow
a big dose of peace of mind to come
We have to make it silent

Today, my friends, let us stop for awhile
Stop the search for pleasure, the search for fun
Make it silent within. Peace of mind will
as the proverbial butterfly land on your shoulder

Simple

The biggest pleasure
the simplest happiness
the most serene peace
lies in a simple kind act

Today I took a grab-car from my meeting to my hotel.
It was not very far but traffic was heavy.

The price of the ride was RM 6 (+- 1.5 €).

We had a small talk and his wife was expecting their first baby.

When we arrived I found only notes of RM 50 in my wallet 

and a bit impulsively, gave him a 50 note, letting him keep the change.

The smile on his face was good. Truly...

...The biggest pleasure
the simplest happiness
the most serene peace
lies in a simple kind act

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

PS: this is not a boast, 

I just hope this posting is inspiring

many other simple kind acts.

Sharing virtue

What is well planted will not be uprooted.
What is held well, will not slip away. 
(Lao Tsu - 500BC) 

When we want to instill virtue within our children, what do we do?
Whether we want to teach our children honesty, or regular prayers
or any other virtue, what is our approach?

- make it sound like compulsory?
- let them know they will go to hell if they don't?
- promise them heaven if they do?

Preaching virtue followed by a threat or shaky promise, sounds a bit like slamming a young shoot or sapling on the ground and hope that it will grow into a wonderful tree blossoming flowers and producing fruits of virtue. Religious scholars who continuously talk about hell and heaven, have not learned the value of humility and most likely are ignorant about the true meaning of the Mercy of our Creator.

If we want any plant to grow and blossom,
we have to dig a bit, put some fertile soil into the hole
then plant the tree, and care for it with loving care

While virtue can hardly be preached,
we can BE virtuous together with our children
and then talk about how we feel about it.
We can choose to be honest and pay the adult ticket as soon as they turn 12, even they still look much younger. We can choose to stop in our steps and help the elderly woman across the road. We can choose to visit that old auntie or that lonely neighbor. We can choose to pray together in the most meaningful way. And not only do these things together but then discuss together the feelings that these things generate. If we have messed things up and did lose our temper, we can share how bad it felt to ourselves. If our children lose their temper, we can ask them later how it felt afterwards and discuss how we/they could have reacted alternatively.

Virtue is something we need to plant wisely.
Things that are planted well, are not uprooted.

Within our world we have given too much power to power-sick people
be it politicians, be it religious leaders, be it bosses of companies.
Within our world, we have given up too much of our self respect,
too much of our own wisdom, while listening to often-disturbed leaders.

Practicing virtue with our children and feeling the peace of mind together
                                                        or
forcing virtue down their throats by threats of hell or promises of heaven
Let us choose all together the very best way of planting virtue wisely

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote "Virtue only remains if it's reached by personal conviction. If it's demanded of us, we have no way of knowing if it's true, and then surely it will not be lasting" - Stefan Stenudd

Soul

At ten thirty pm, I was sitting on the beach.
It was dark, no moon, but stars were shining.
I listened to the sound of the waves,
I looked at the waves in scanty light,
I could hear the peace in the air,
I could see the peace in the sea,
I could feel it in my heart and
my soul, the most peaceful part of me
came right to the surface of my being.

It remained there for a long time,
before slowly withdrawing
to its own deep depths.

Oh, my God,
let my soul come back to the surface
and let it be there for ever.

bit by bit

Today, I had a small discussion with my students.
They are wonderful people, so motivated to become good docs.

One of them shared a story of trying to convince a father to be more compliant with the therapy that was necessary for his son. Somehow he had succeeded at least partially but then he expressed his frustration about how much effort it took and how partially his success was in convincing the father. 

I think I have been there, I think most of us have been there. It is not easy, is it? So often we try the very best, not for us, but for someone else and then that someone else is just ignoring us or not appreciating at all what we did. 

I encouraged the student to persist. Even for this father who is still not fully compliant with the doctor's prescription for his son, the student had meant a whole lot. He has shown his care, he has shared his knowledge. The father did still not fully grasp the importance of the student's message, but I am sure in his heart he will surely value the efforts of the student so much. We need more true doctors like this. Each caring act from a true doc, will discourage people to seek help from quackers and cheaters practicing the so called alternative medicine. 

Let us contribute a small little bit to a better world every day, just like my student did. Let us not be too focused on the outcome, because deep in our heart we know that the long term will be excellent. Each of the small acts of kindness and caring, will accumulate and the giant heap of goodness will be soon be covering the world.

Overflow

There is a river of love
flowing through my heart,
that wants to overflow.

A river without banks
is flowing through my veins
It wants to overflow

It wants to overflow
the walls around my nation
the fences around my race

It wants to overflow
religious borders
and cultural boundaries

It wants to overflow
age and generations
space and time

A river without banks
filled with love and kindness
is flowing through your heart

Let it overflow

Instantaneously

IF
you and I and he and she
would stop a while today
to think about the words,
the most beautiful words
our son, our mom, our friend,
would like to hear from us,
and
IF
you and I and he and she
would act on the above,
not later, not soon,
but right now,

Can you imagine what a different world
it would be instantaneously...

Just
IF...


-------------------------
Don't forget to read the comment

Great future docs

Today, I had a session with students who are my personal mentees.

When we addressed their progress in development of professional values, I heard some truly wonderful stories.

These students, early in their clinical years, seem to have developed such a good listening skills, that it really warmed my heart. Just through active listening, the students had managed to extract information from the parents, that, I was sure, was very difficult to get. After being listened to actively, one of the parents had really softened his stance on a wrong belief he had held on to

for a long time.

While so often we tend, as we grow older be dissatisfied with the performance of our juniors, if we actively encourage and look for their empathy and compassion, we become aware, that we do have great future docs among our students.

A small prediction

Fact
In 2018,
millions of people around the world,
are aware of the huge joy that lies in service.
The true happiness and giant peace of mind
that lies in service.

What I heard
I heard once a hard core fanatic of a particular religion claim,
that his flock was the chosen one, and one day, all people from
other faiths will serve his kindred.

Small prediction
The worst thing (for him and his flock) is that he may be right.
People who are thinking like fanatics may be among the last,
the shameful last people on earth, to discover the giant truth,
mentioned in the first paragraph of this posting,
namely that true happiness and peace and joy lies in service

One day, sooner than later, all people on earth will
fully and completely consciously choose to serve,
to serve each other day by day and purposefully achieve
the peace and happiness  day by day.

The last ones to become aware of this
will be very likely the religious bigots,
the corrupted politicians,
the freemasons, the illuminati,
the unscrupulous tycoons of greed.

But become aware, they will.
They will feel the shame
of clinging on to the stupidity of limitless greed
for material wealth and power for far too long.

Praise

"criticism is one of the very few ways in which people who are not creative can achieve something and become influential" (E. De Bono)

This is so true. Criticism is often a cheap way to lift our own ego and without often realizing the extent of the damage done, our ego gives a feeling of being on top of the person or thing we criticized.While initially the taste appears sweet to the person giving the criticism, in the long run it leaves invariably a sea of bitterness 'flooding our taste buds'.

Compare it with a time when you sincerely praised another person. Do it again later today or early tomorrow and compare it again to when you criticized.Look at the smile, remember the smile on that person's face.No bitterness, only lasting delight!

Let us be aware!

Criticism is a cheap shortcut

to short term ego glory 

but long term bitterness

Praise is the way to go!

Sincere praise!

Civilization

The world once was
Ocean and land
And trees and flowers
And men and women

Then came civilization

Agriculture started
We produced more food
Than we could eat
And got time
For non-animal things

Men and women
Took control
Cities and streets
And houses and vehicles
And money

Oh big world
With oceans and land
And trees and flowers
And men and women
 

Civilization

For more than two millennia
There have been
Extraordinary people
Who became proponents
Of love and compassion

They were single hearted
Sources of inspiration
Sources of peace
Happy, wise people
Making others happy

And civilization went on

In a world with oceans
And land and trees
And flowers
And men and women

Civilization needed wealth
And wealth was never equal
Love was always in the heart
But suppressed by
Search for wealth

Leaders were mongers
Fear mongers
War mongers
Love was every everywhere
But there was not time for love

And civilization went on 

In the world with land and oceans
We got better and better
And now we are all connected
But

But our leaders still are fear mongers
And we let them
Our leaders are still war mongers
And we let them
 

For how long?

When will we see through the web
The web of deceit, of lies
When will be open our hearts
For all people in this world
To whom we are connected now

How long will it take
For the wisdom seeds planted long ago
To sprout and grow ferociously
Envelop the world with people
Who open their heart for love?

The love and compassion
That has been in this world
Everywhere and always
It is time, high time
That we get more wisdom

Let us start now to create world
Where love reigns
A fully united world
Where taxes are used for all!
No more hunger!

A world
Where love reigns
Let us start now
A world where
Love reigns 

Aufie Zophy

 

 

 Love has been like a golden a thread throughout our civilization.That was present but only we were aware of it when we searched for it. Now the time has come to let love not longer be a mere thread, but let it be the guiding principle of all we do.Civilization, the true civilization has yet to come.
A world wide society filled with love and compassion is on its way. Let us enjoy the journey towards it. Nationalism and isolationism seems on the increase but it won't be for long. 

Soon we have a wisdom revolution where unity and universal brotherhood will be celebrated. Let us all be part of it...

Little Light

A short poem I wrote about 5 years ago:

There is a little light,
A little light in your heart,
A little light that has tremendous power
If we allow, it can obliterate all darkness.
That little light in your heart
Let it shine.

There is a little light,
A little light in your soul
If we allow, it carries tremendous wisdom
It flashes sparks and thoughts of goodness
That little light in your soul
Let it shine

No matter how dark is the night
Within, you can always find that little light
The light in your heart, the light in your soul
They're always there to brighten your world
These little lights of your heart and soul,
Let them shine. 

I posted the poem on PoemHunter, a website for poetry and one person asked what the light of that light was. I am not sure, but it felt not like the nicest possible comment on this poem. Anyhow, here is what I think about its color:

The little light is sometimes that divine small yellow spark 
that we can find inside when we feel a bit down
 
It is sometimes the small flame 
of budding inspiration to do something beautiful
 
Sometimes it turns into a fire 
of enthusiasm while we are helping someone in a big way
 
Or sometimes it can be like the white sunlight 
spilling its light over to others when we are giving a talk 
trying to motivate or inspire others and suddenly find that exactly fitting aphorism 

It can take the colours of the rainbow when we are in a poetic mood.
That being, said, it is not the light we can see with our eyes, 
it is something we experience with our soul.

 

Ads oh ads

What we see and hear on TV and radio,
what we read and observe in the written media,
does not always make a lot of sense
but still we let it determine our lives.

Ads do influence us in a major way
since they use all available psychological techniques
that are known and available today.

Just two simple examples.
1. The ads for smoking.
So obviously nonsensical!
What is the relationship between cigarettes and adventure?
What is the relationship between cigarettes and formula 1 racing?
What is the relationship between smoking and friendship?
And I could go on like this for many more lines of text.
All these things, so obviously nonsensical
but in the ads they are wrapped in such a nice presentation, with such a well studied and well thought-of special effects, that unwillingly we are influenced by their ads in a major, major way.

What do our authorities do to counteract the effect of these ads?
Do they do something similar about non-smoking, using the same techniques or even better special effects?
No, they just condemn the products and keep fixated on nasty effects. Instead of making non-smoking look more attractive for the youth than smoking, they try to convince the youth based on reason and not on emotion, that smoking is bad. In the process they talk so much about smoking, giving smoking so much attention, that some campaigns instead of effectively vilifying smoking, tend to elevate the popularity of smoking.

Something similar can be said of drinking alcohol. How many ads try to associate the consumption of alcohol with coziness and friendship and joviality?
Is it more jovial to drink alcohol together than to drink a freshly squeezed juice together or cup of coffee? If you say "yes" to the above questions, chances are high that you are a willing victim of the nonsensical ads about alcoholic drinks. Alcohol does NOT make friendship or being together more cozy or friendly or jovial. On the contrary it can spoil so many things, it can costs so many lives (in terms of traffic accidents or liver damage). it tends to damage our brain, it tends to make us feel really bad the next day.

Dear friends, I think it is high time, that each and everyone of us, do not allow any longer ads to have any nonsensical effects on us. Let us fight the nonsense in ads all together, If we have contra-ads, we should hardly mention the unwanted behavior but glorify life without it.

Before taking a next cigarette or an alocoholic drink, please stop for awhile and think about it. 

Seeing, hearing, feeling

Silence, oh silence,
you make us see when our eyes are closed
you make us hear with our inner ears
you make us feel with our heart.
and no, this is not hallucination
this is pure imagination.

Isn't imagination the greatest gift
A gift of our Creator to our soul
A gift to our mind
A gift to our heart.

Let us
see more  with our inner eye,
hear more with our inner ear
feel more with heartfelt heart

The preciousness of our inner life
A small prayer, a big inspiration
A small silence, a huge imagination
A small kindness, a big love
A small act, a lovely peace of mind
An adventure for our soul

Today;s reflection was inspired by this amazing song

A Masterpiece

"Make Every Day Your Masterpiece" (Coach Wooden)

 🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑🔑

I came across this wonderful quote yesterday.
And this is such a great quote, I think.
So true! Life is made out of time for each of us our time on earth is limited.
So every second, every minute, every day that we waste, we waste a bit of our life.

Today I was talking to my nephew almost 14 years old now.
I talked to him about making every day special.
I hope he got some inspiration from my small talk around this quote.

I think most of us want to lead a life of inspiration.
And so many times we manage to be in a certain level of flow
where creative thoughts and actions come to us easily.
However for each of us, there are times where inspiration runs a bit low.
These are the times, we need books, and quotes,
These are the times, we can climb on the shoulders of (other) giants
to reach tall and high.

Yesterday, I just did that: I googled the most beautiful inspirational quotes.
I find the above one and it helped me to get some inspiration in order to make
my today a bit more special than my yesterday.

 

Our choice

I do not speak here of extreme situations,
but I do think most of us can live comfortable
without the need to do things that our God does not want us to do.

All too often we are lured to the path that seems the easy way out. 
The path that leads to instant gratification, to fast money, and so on,
but the truth, the painful truth is that these paths that seem so easy at first
do bring us far more trouble in the end than we can imagine.

If on the other hand we take that path of sticking to our values and principles
no matter what, we will need to take a path that often seems to initially 
lead away from the fast gratification, from apparent instant richness 
But if we take the effort to walk this path, which is the path of God,
we will be never disappointed in the end, because these paths lead to peace.

Peace is on of the greatest gifts of God. Peace is so much more than the absence of war.
Peace of mind is this great feeling we get when we make another human happy, 
that sense of satisfaction, that sense of being a good human being, living in harmony
That sense of peace, that very special peace is always around us, in the air.
All we need to do to experience it, is to choose the path of values, of principles. 
the path that looks a bit harder in the beginning, but brings so much ease in the end. 

Every day some choices present themselves to us.
I have written this concept up into a small poem.
It was among the first ten poems, I ever wrote in English, back in 2010.
I still enjoy reading it. I hope you enjoy it as well:

Our choice

Walking on a hot and scorching day
We meet a splitting of the way
A way downwards looking shady, some trees are there
A way upwards, sandy without trees, just looking bare

Somewhere deep inside we know
The downwards shady path goes low
And down that place, there is no tree
Just heat and sweat and more ennui

Somewhere deep inside we are aware
That the way up, though initially a little bare
Will bring us to a place with lots of shade and big relief
It is God’s way, so I believe

Shall we choose the way below with instant pleasure?
Leading down to a place of heat, we cannot measure
Or shall we make little effort on the upper way?
And enjoy shade and breeze day by day 

Aufie Zophy

Morning Walk

The morning walk!

Just yesterday, I read one of my reflections, I wrote down in July 2015 (can find them in the archives of this blog on the right side of the page), now almost three years ago. It was about a morning walk I made and I had made the intention to do it every day. Of course the intention had faded with time and now it had been quite a long time that I had made no morning walk. 

So this morning, at 6.45 I was on the beach. There was just a narrow strip of orange in the sky, not so far from the horizon, but still the fresh air and the free massage of my feet on the wavy sand and the moving sea water, was inviting enough to make me go. 

I took a picture of the orangey skies and after a few pics, the battery of my phone was finished. I went to walk and the lively lovely hermit crabs were moving to-and-fro. I loved to see them and decided I will step on none, which, at certain places, was not easy, since there were so many of them. 

The skies evolved into a pastel color feast. The far horizon was a mix of softness of perhaps all rainbow colors one could think off, but then there was a broad strip of light blue sky that duly reflected in the light blue sea. A color of the sea, I had rarely seen before. The dark clouds had gone purple with splashes of a very special shade of yellow all over their bodies. 

I sat down for a while near the shore and let the presence of this beauty fully penetrate my body, through my pores, through my eyes, ears and lungs. I thanked our God and could feel the peace and grace that was never far away. 

I write it down here again. I make the intention to do it more often than ever. But it may take some time before I read this reflection and make some daily walks again 😉

Where?

A superb diamond field waits to be discovered by us all
We will find it within our heart and within our soul 

So often these precious stones are left too far behind
To chase pleasures and money with our body and mind

A bit like the farmer who left farm, family and friends
To search for gold and diamonds in faraway lands
It was a mere year later, on his farm, just in the ground
That a huge diamond mine was actually found.

Oh yes my friends, in our heart and soul, deep inside
A bit hidden, lies the biggest field of peace, joy and light
So throw away the worry, stress and fear, play it smart
The biggest source of peace sits right there in our heart 

👆One of my newest poems😊

A small rhyme is incorporated

I wish you all Peace, the Peace with a capital P 

Let us make it quiet for awhile today and 

discover it right where it sits :)

Flying

I read a story about a teenager learning how to fly a plane. On his first lesson he was given full control. He was so nervous, tense and stressed that the plane was going up and down erratically while his was pushing the controls. Then his instructor asked him to relax: " This plane is meant to fly; it was made in such a way that it almost can fly by itself. Stop touching everything and just relax for awhile". As soon as he relaxed, and stopped manipulating the controls, the plane flew steadily in a straight line through the skies. 

I like the story so much. Once he trusted the makers of the plane, he calmed down and everything went well. He remained alert and did what he had to do but gone were the tension and stress. 

Actually the deeper point of the story is about our heart and our soul. Our heart and soul were made to let us soar. Soar mentally, emotionally and spiritually. But how often do we truly listen to our heart and soul and truly trust this Creator of us? I share a small anecdote about myself, that happened just yesterday.

As most of you may know by now, I like to write on and off a poem, or at least a reasonable attempt at poetry. It so happened that yesterday I googled my pen name (Aufie Zophy) and found that someone had put up a Youtube video in which he had recorded in a sublime way one of my most famous poems on the net. ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLM5rdA18gs )

My heart and soul were so excited about this, that I started to share it in my Whatsapp groups. But after sharing in two groups, I grew worried and a bit tense about what "they" might think and say. So I stopped after two groups. Gone was my excitement and here was some stress, of:  "will they like it?", "will the members of these groups talk behind my back?". Later when I read the plane story, I realized I had given up on truly trusting my heart. I imposed limits on myself because i did not trust enough my heart an soul. I could have shared with so many more friends but my lack of confidence, my lack of trust in our Creator, put up the limits because I grew tense and stressed. I know for sure that if I share things like this in a larger group, some people will not like it, because it is just not what they like, or because they do not like others to be successful. But I know as well that some other people will like it and feel inspired by it. 

So why put on limits on ourselves and worry about the negative thinkers? Let us share our own inspiring stories everywhere. There will be people who do not like things, everywhere. But many others will be inspired. So let us help make a positive difference right now and share your own inspiring story in the comments section of this post, share it in any of your other social media accounts. Stop worry about "they", what will they think? If you like it, the chances are huge that many others will like it too and feel inspired. 

Go on and act ☺😎

Superb attitude!

The day before yesterday, I took a 'grab' car and the experience has been truly unique. The man who drove, was a body guard for a rich business man in Malaysia for a very long time. The boss, he protected had been really nice to him and had paid him very well. The driver mentioned that this driving he was doing for "grab", was just for charity. Everyday before or after work he would take a few rides and all money collected would go straight to his favorite charity, which was an orphanage in Kuala Lumpur. Every week he would visit the orphanage and his boss would double up on all money he had earned driving. If he earned RM 600 in a week driving, he would bring RM 1200 to the orphanage (an extra 600 from his boss). 

This story truly touched my heart.
There are so many good people in this world with a wonderful loving heart.
The story of this man really inspired me, and I hope it gives some inspiration to you too...

Judgment

The story of judgment is not a happy one.
We tend to pick up our judgments from so many potential places.
From a preacher, from politicians, the news, from a pseudo-scientific website,
and the list goes on and on.
The problem is that once we made a harsh judgment, it tends to stick.
It tends to paralyze our flexibility, our thinking out of the box,
our empathy, our capacity for respect and understanding

Once a believer accepts the preacher's judgment that those who are not following this or that ritual, are doomed to hell, it becomes very difficult to even consider a standpoint of someone thinking differently and even give it a try to generate some respect for it or trying to understand it. 
Once an atheist judges the believers as stupid, addicted to illusions, it becomes very difficult to even consider the other person's belief might be of value or even give it a try to generate some respect for it or trying to understand it. 
Once a conservative starts the name calling of liberals and creates harsh judgment on them (indulging politicians rants) it becomes almost impossible to to consider the other's viewpoint as having some value or even trying to generate some respect or understanding.
The same for liberals versus conservatives, or any other polarizing concepts in this world. 

It is so extremely important not to allow persons of authority to spoil our minds, not to allow anyone to put the toxic venom of hatred in our thoughts. These things are often done by persons in power or authority in mean attempts to cling to their power. We have to guard the doors of our mind with utmost vigilance. Please my friends do not allow harsh judgments to enter your mind. If they are there already, do try to trace their origin. Once we recognize the origin, it becomes often possible to make them milder and to generate some respect.

I often dream of a world filled with harmony.
Please dream with me
We can make it happen.

The world, one nation

If you follow the news about the USA and see the time spent on extremely trivial and stupid issues as the quarrel between Trump and the NFL players for not standing up during the national anthem, one cannot but reflect that nationalism/patriotism is slowly assuming religious extremist proportions in the USA!

Humanity is the race, the only one race.
The world is our nation, the only one nation.
If we need a flag at all, we need a world flag.
If we need an anthem at all, it would be a world anthem!
Let us design these things together.

Let us give up ignorance. Ignorance of our true nature through politics of division is fed to us since childhood to keep the powerful powerful. Our true nature gives us tremendous peace of mind and true happiness, only if we manage to sincerely love each other. Politicians all over the world do not want a loving world. They have been increasing ignorance by needless fear mongering leading to unnecessary wars. Then they want us to be proud of these wars (blind patriotism/nationalism) so when it pleases them, they can have another one.

Let us start to refuse this indoctrination of fear, this wilful maintaining of ignorance, of stupidity by greedy leaders and politicians. Let us become a bit wiser and work towards a world filled with love. The evolution of humans towards a higher level of wisdom is unstoppable. Soon a critical number of people, who refuse to even pay a dime of attention to this ridiculousness, who refuse to be taught, or even influenced by the stupid and the greedy; a critical number of people who are wise enough to rule the world as a nation of love will be achieved. And the space that stupidity is now still getting in media and all over the world, will shrink so rapidly, that an avalanche of kindness will make anyone, clinging to racism, nationalism, extremism of any kind, ashamed of themselves. since almost all will see the stupidity these things carry.

Please my friends, let us make a small competition on designing the nicest world flag/anthem. Put your designs in the comment section or better still if any of you, reading this can make a blog or website with a more formal competition to design a WORLD FLAG or world anthem, that would be great.

Trees

Here I want to share with you my recent experience sitting outside.

I was sitting outside in my garden and suddenly managed to appreciate how beautiful one of the trees was. It was a tree, I had walked by countless times but had never really noticed its particular beauty. And now I just sat there, not far from that particular tree, truly admiring the beauty of the texture of its bark. I could see the roots disappear in the depth of the soil and above form the crown with all the shades of green it displayed. I loved it, I had like a few moments of joy.

A little bit more reflection made me look at other trees too and surely they had so much beauty too. I had so many trees in and outside my garden, in my village! And all had their own special beauty. Let us all make some time today to pick a tree, take a closer look at it, discover its amazing beauty and just sit not far from it and have a few truly enjoyable moments.

Some people hug trees, talk to trees. This is not very much in my character to do. But I will surely try to make a bit more time to just watch some trees and perhaps in the weekend I will try to plant some new ones for the next generation :)

Five to one

Every day I make the intention to spend my time after dinner doing some useful things like reading a book or at least one or two chapters of a book; like looking at a TED talk that can help me understand something or help me forward in life.

But so many of the evenings after my dinner, I start either on google news, looking at all the negativity of the day; either on Youtube, watching how some would-be comedians make fun of the politicians or celebrities or some failed talent show auditions; either spending time on Facebook or Twitter or even on Google finance, looking for a much too long a time how some of the very few stocks, I own, are doing and never seem to make me rich.

Today however I managed to pick a TED talk and I think I was lucky enough to encounter a good one. It was Mel Robbins talking for about 20 minutes. I think the 20 minutes is what makes TED talks so interesting. The speakers are forced to bring their message in a concise and interesting way. Mel Robbins did so. She managed to convince the audience and me that the odds of being born are very small. Come to think about it if just one of your millions of ancestors had died in a war or from a disease before the next of your extremely long row of ancestors was conceived, you would have not been here. The odds of being born as me or you as you, are smaller than 1 in 400 trillion. So the fact of being born makes us already something very special.

And sure enough, each of us has so many special ideas, we know what we should do. But to make our ideas happen is the really difficult part. We have to FORCE ourselves to do things that we feel not so comfortable with. We plan to do things that we really want to do inside of us, like getting up early the next day or losing some weight but when the time comes of doing, we find some excuses to remain in bed or start our exercise or diet tomorrow or the day after. She advocated if we plan to do something, if the time comes to get out of our comfort zone, just to count from 5 backwards to 1 and start doing it on the count of 1. How many times I intended to talk to the passenger next to me on the plane or train but always find just enough excuses not to start a conversation. The few times I did, were almost always so rewarding, but so many other times, I just found some cheap excuses not to have to come out of my comfort zone to start talking to a stranger.

Forcing ourselves within 5 seconds to actually do the kind of difficult things that can help us what we really want in life, may make a big difference.

Let us try and it. Tomorrow after dinner, I will avoid the news, twitter or any other distraction. I will read a chapter in one of the books I wanted to read for a long time but have just been on my shelf, I will look at another TED talk and I will do some exercise before going to bed. Wow, I hope I succeed. What do you plan? Let us really try the count from 5 to 1 to get us to come out of our comfort zone and do things that matter to our life to our growth.

Seeds for the mind?

I am not a Trump supporter. 

I feel he has a lack of understanding of basic principles of life like honesty, humility, loving-kindness and respect. These are just a few of the many strong principles that, as laws of nature, tend to determine whether or not we lead a peaceful and happy life. Even though he may experience short lived pleasures, seeing his name on many buildings; true happiness and peace of mind are most likely not his share. 

Now this is not a posting meant to criticize anyone. But negative people like him, even if we do not support any of their thoughts or convictions, tend still to influence us in a huge way. While by now perhaps a majority of the American people and almost certainly a huge majority of non-Americans have seen enough to have developed a certain dislike for the man, we tend to be inundated by his ideas and his ways. 

He likes to tweet and has more than a million followers on twitter. But how about the billions of people who do not even want to think about following him and reading all his rantings, his self-praise and his illusions of grandiosity. We are almost pressed with our noses in this rotten material. We look at the news and what we see, even on the media that do think like us? "Today another tweet storm of Trump". And something inside of us, wants to see the negativity about the person we do not like.

But in this way give so much power to these negative persons, and unwittingly, we allow so much of negativity, so much of anger and hatred, so much of nonsense to enter our mind. 

Robin Sharma has written the bestseller, the monk who sold his ferrari, and in this book he compared the mind of humans to a garden. The more seeds of nonsense and anger we plant the more of the same will grow in this fertile garden. The more seeds of love and kindness and honesty and values we plant, the more of these things will govern our thinking process and thus our lives. 

I think this metaphor of the mind as a garden is a real good one. It is high time, I think that we try to stop reading all the headlines about the persons we cannot align ourselves with. This does not mean we close our mind. But once we know enough about negative persons, we do not want to give them the power to pollute our thoughts, our mind our inner world with all their negativity. 

Let us spend each day a bit less time on "the news" and a bit more time on the positive literature of olden times and of today. Investing an hour a day in positive thinking, in prayerful reflection, in nature, is so much more contributing to our personal growth than spending a lot of time following all the negative news of the world. 

Even if up to now, I have fallen in the trap of eagerly reading all negative reporting about people like Trump, I have decided for myself from now to stop feeding my mind, what persons like that think and write and reserve for my mind the food educational events, positive thinkers, charitable wisdom, and also fun events like listening to some great music.