Saturday, 4 September 2021

Give and take

 All my life 
I have learned 
to give and take

Whenever I took
It made me happy 
for a few moments

Whenever I gave
it brought Happiness 
that seemed to be never ending.
 
 


Thursday, 2 September 2021

Benevolence


 
  A homeless man admitted to the hospital asked me where he could get a deck of playing cards. I answered him that he could try the convenience store within the hospital compound. Somehow I knew the likelihood of the convenience store selling playing cards was quite low and even if they would sell them there, there was no way the man had money to buy them. When later, I drove home, I thought about my day in the car and became aware that I had been not nice. I think it was guilt that made me search and find a deck of playing cards and go back to the hospital and give it to the man. 
 
Actually this was such important event in my life. On my way home after giving the cards to him, I felt like being afloat. I felt so good inside. The smile on his face was priceless.This is the reward of benevolence, a happiness of supreme quality, top notch happiness, grade 1 happiness,...
 
I was aware of the feeling that simple act of kindness, of benevolence was really giving to me. I loved it and I could not remember a time when I felt so good about something. I took some time to think deeper about it. Society around me thought happiness is to be found in going out to cafes with friends. Society felt that happiness was generated by getting material things and showing them off. Society felt....

Society has been wrong! Some comfort and good feeling may be found in all the above but supreme, grade1, top notch happiness is found in kind acts. I am now fully aware, the more simple extra things I do just in service of others, the more I get true happiness. And the quality of my life is supreme on days I manage to several random kind acts. On days when my soul seems weaker and I have mainly ego driven achievements, I feel some pride but it is so different from the true happiness that lies in benevolence.
 
 Benevolence is the desire to do good to others. That desire resides in its highest form in the wisest of people.

 

Tuesday, 31 August 2021

Teaching




I have been a teacher and a doctor for many years in my life. I have been formally teaching medical students, trying to deliver knowledge to them in the most interesting and most logical and understandable way, stressing why certain bits of knowledge are absolutely essential to keep in our brain and not in our smartphones.

I have made PowerPoint presentations. As a teacher you know whether the delivery of your lecture is effective or not because when it is effective, the audience, our students are quiet. They sit and look at you. They sit and look at your slides. And that is quite a rewarding part of teaching. I have had colleagues who were teaching and they became very irritated with the students because there was a constant background noise of students talking with each other in a slow voice. One of these colleagues burst out in a bout of anger demanding absolute silence. It worked for a short while. He got absolute silence for a few minutes but then the noise started again. The cause of the noise was not the students. The cause of the noise was a lack of preparation of the lecture by the teacher. He did not captivate the attention of his students. He was knowledgeable, he was good in his field but he did not apply basic principles to give a lecture that makes your audience silent.

It is not extremely difficult to give a good PowerPoint presentation. Two ingredients only. One, read a good book on how to create and give a good PowerPoint presentation. Two, empathy. Empathy? Yes empathy. Imagine yourself being part of the audience listening to you with the background knowledge of the person in the audience. What would you need to stay focused on what is said? What would jolt your attention back to the speaker and slides when you had been distracted by something else? If we think like this while making our slides, while preparing how we will deliver it, while doing the actual talk, we will be reasonably good orators, keeping the attention, avoiding the background noise of people talking to each other instead of listening to the talk.

But teaching is so much more than sharing knowledge. PowerPoint presentations are NOT the best way of teaching. I have created a few pages on interactive teaching with links below.

interactive teaching - intro 

interactively teaching knowledge

teaching-skills-we-may-get-it-wrong.

peer teaching and ownership

interactive sessions-to-teach-skills

Sunday, 29 August 2021

Connection

 I think it is all important to get connected

When we talk about connection, chances are that the first thing we think about is internet connection in order to ensure our online meetings run smoothly or we can browse the internet. However...

Connection to our inner peace,
Connection to the beauty of nature
Connection to our conscience
Connection to the love that sits in our heart
Connection to our creative talents

These above type of connections may be so much more important to our level of happiness, to our level of functioning and satisfaction we get out of life.

Keep connected. Through the internet, yes, but do not forget to connect to peace, beauty, love and our Creator...(or if you do not believe in a Creator, we can get at least connected to the creative forces within the universe)


Thursday, 26 August 2021

Small Opportunities

When in the morning, I pray
for seeing the opportunities to do good
and be courageous enough to act on them

I tend to notice during the day so many occasions
on which I can make a tiny positive difference
in the life of another man or woman

 
And each time I manage to act on these moments
I get a feeling of being a little bit afloat. 
My soul lifts my heart and my mind feels like singing.


‐-----‐--‐---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
small prayers for a big world: https://smallprayersforabigworld.blogspot.com/

some beautiful inspirational quotes:  https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/ 
or simply some essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Friday, 20 August 2021

New and old

If we want to start anew, we have to be ready to give up the old.

Revenge is truly useless
All the problems and challenges of the past are mere lessons
to be a better person today. No point getting stuck in the past.
People may have wronged you.
Just forgive them, even if they do not ask for it.
 
Why should we?
Because grudges, hatred and anger is like fire sitting inside
It burns our inner peace of mind, our inner soul life
and destroys our own happiness. The subject of our hatred
of our grudges, of our anger may be barely aware of our negative feelings.

Revenge is like giving the behavior of the other one full approval.
He or she does this to me, I will just blindly follow the bad behavior 
and behave in the same way to them. That is being a follower of evil.
Let us all be leaders of the good. No matter how others behave, 
we choose the good. We choose friendliness no matter what. 


The past is gone, we cannot change it.
It has affected who and where we are today.
The future is ours to come.
What we do and think and feel today
will determine who and where we will be tomorrow.


Friday, 13 August 2021

Hope

Our worries, our fears tend to consume all of our awareness
In past millennia that was a good thing. since our fears meant danger
If we focused on these things we would have a better chance of survival.

Our world has changed. We worry and fear for other things.
No longer life determining fears or worries, but simple things
And these simple things are still naturally dominating our consciousness.



Life has evolved. We do no longer need to pay 100% of our attention to fear.
We have a choice now, to become aware of the positives in our lives
We have a chance to become aware of the peace that surrounds us at almost all time.

I have gone through a difficult two weeks.
I fully understand how all consuming our problems can be
But it is always worth to try to make some time for beauty
Some time for love, some time to be fully aware of peace. 

We can make it silent, make a small walk in nature 
we can get ideas, and hope
Hope is a strong positive
We are not sure but we hope
We hope we pray, we get a bit of relief.

We can make time for beauty, love, creativity, peace
Let us hope and pray if we are a bit down. 
Let us be fully aware of peace and beauty when we are bit up

I wish you a day filled with bliss
Filled with beauty, peace and love
filled with creativity.

Wednesday, 11 August 2021

Like a butterfly

A small poem is to the mind
like a butterfly to the eye
like bird's song to the ear
like a favorite cookie to the tongue
 
A small poem is like a whiff of fresh air
rejuvenating a tired heart
like a long lost friend showing up
or like a dream of amazing beauty




A small poem, 
let us read a few of them right now
Here is a link to some of my favorite poems:
 
 

 

Friday, 16 July 2021

Can we all get on that path?

That path,
That path of kindness, caring and helping.
That path of beauty, peace and flowing friendliness
That path of doing the extra thing just to make one happy
That path of endless joy and happiness

Can we all get on that path?

Are you seeking?
Seeking joy and happiness
Seeking truth and harmony
Seeking to be free and be loved
Please consider to get on that path.

Let us get all on the path of kindness.

Is it difficult to get on the path?
All we need to do is think some kind thoughts
Look for the good in another
Talk and act friendly
Perform a random kind act
It is easy to get on the path.

Come and get on that path.


The difficult part is to stay on the path.
We have so many distractors
We deal with unfriendly people.
Not easy to remain kind all the time
But it is OK to get off the path on and off.
Just come back as soon as you can

To that path of kindness...
That path of joy and happiness.


‐-----‐--‐----------------------------------------------------

some beautiful inspirational quotes:  https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/ 
or simply some essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Sunday, 4 July 2021

A JOY forever

    This afternoon, I got a call from a friend who was a teacher for the disabled. She had dedicated her life to help classes and classes of disabled children to reach their best potential and to live a life of purpose using whatever talent they got. I admire persons like this for what they do. 

Today she called me about her friend. Her friend had delivered a baby in the hospital where I work and was after three days still in the ward because of a problem with her heart. She got a bit depressed about having to spend so long in the ward and also today the docs in charge of her, thought it was not yet safe to let her go home. 

The teacher with her wonderful heart agreed to pay for her friend, so she could get a comfortable room instead of the open ward. I helped a bit to arrange the private service that is available in a wing in our hospital. The teacher went to settle the payments by 6pm and at 8.45 pm I read her message that her friend was still not transferred to the private wing. She had allowed herself to become very upset with the nurses from the public ward for waiting for the next shift to send her friend to the private wing. 

I read a series of her messages on my phone really expressing her disappointment with the nurses who lacked the empathy to arrange a transfer of a depressed mother to a much more comfortable room that was already paid for. I agreed somehow that the nurses were not displaying a high level of empathy with new mom, who experienced feelings of depression. 

    I think we have to be patient a bit. 


Many of us, including the teacher from the (real) story above, have found the humongous joy that lies in caring for others, in helping people, in going the extra mile and doing something a bit out of the ordinary to uplift some of our friends, family or even strangers. At this moment in time, it looks like many other people have not yet discovered this unlimited source of humongous joy.

Let us not become angry with those who are still searching for that source. Let us try to inspire them. Hiding all the good things we do under the pretext of selflessness, humility or modesty will slow down the process of spreading the knowledge of what is the source of the most humongous joy. Let us not cling to unnecessary shyness about the good we do. The news is already full of bad things. Let us spread the good things in our life. This is not boasting, this is not pride; let us make it a point to inspire at least a few others tomorrow. If it was successful, we can repeat it every month or even every week or every day. Imagine how the knowledge will snowball. and how our world will soon be filled with loving kindness, people helping each other and making the extra effort to relieve suffering and increase joy. A humongous JOY 

 

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

I started to build "the kindness revolution" website. I will add in poems, essays and RAK. 

Can visit the site via this link:  https://the-kindness-revolution.webnode.com/

 


Thursday, 1 July 2021

A small story of empathy...


The last day of the week, just before ending my work in the hospital I dropped by at the special care nursery, the ward for babies who need hospitalization but not (or no longer) intensive care. There is a facility for mothers to room in with the babies, meaning there is a bed for the mom and a cot for the baby, so they can stay together. 

There was one mother and the medical officer in charge had told her, as had been planned before, that the baby would be discharged after the weekend. The mother asked to be discharged earlier. As the specialist in charge, I was able to convince her to stay until after the weekend. However as we walked away from the place where mothers are rooming in, a thought came to my mind so vividly: the thought about the time when I was warded myself and how much I had wanted to go home. I discussed for awhile with my medical officer and we both agreed that it would be reasonably safe to discharge the baby the next day, even though it was a weekend. We had just stopped one important medication and felt both that one more night of close observation would be enough. We agreed to assess the baby tomorrow and if OK, to let them go home.

We called the mom in our counseling room for the discharge counseling. Upon hearing that we would most likely allow discharge on the next day (pending a favorable assessment of the baby's condition) instead of after the weekend, the the mom was so happy that tears rolled over her cheeks. The whole session, in which we gave our usual advice on how to take care at home of a baby who had been very sick at birth, was so filled with happiness and smiles that it was such a big pleasure. 
 
The mom was super-happy. The medical officer and I were as happy as the mom. We had just considered for a while in an empathetic way, the feelings of the mom and had made a short reassessment of the baby's condition. It had allowed us to change our decision and this had generated so much happiness. What a wonderful way to start our weekend! 
 
I am so grateful that the thought of my own hospitalization came to mind at just the right time. I think that is conscience. My conscience, the conscience of the world, the conscience of the universe sending us thoughts, feelings, nudges. Many times we ignore these thoughts, but if we are brave enough to take them serious and are willing to act on them, it can have such a big positive effect on our life and also on that of others. 

Sunday, 27 June 2021

Truly Alive

A quote: 
"We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures" by Thornton Wilder

I read the above quote in a chicken soup for the soul book on random acts of kindness. It is filled with heart warming stories of strangers doing just a simple small random kind act and making a huge difference for the person that was on the receiving end. 

I feel there is so much wisdom in the quote. 

Tonight I went outside for awhile to see the moon reflecting in the water of the sea. I was on the beach and a few Casuarina trees were giving extra shadows and frames to the extreme beauty of the moon and its giant reflection in the sea. My heart was conscious of a superb treasure and I felt like becoming truly alive. 

I thought for awhile and became so grateful to the universe for the gift of eyesight. 

I thought for awhile longer and a sense of gratitude for so many other things flooded my heart and mind. It is when we are conscious of so many treasures that our soul comes to the surface and makes us feel like we are truly, truly alive. 

 

Thursday, 17 June 2021

Best growth

 My dear readers,

The other day I read somewhere that one of the most important, if not THE most important ingredient of living a life of purpose that is filled with job satisfaction, feeling good and peace of mind is to ensure our continued growth. And it is not physical growth. At my age physical growth can only happen in the width (getting fatter) and that is certainly not what we talk about here :) 😆😅.

Somehow to keep growing, we have to keep an open mind. Today I learned an important lesson, I want to share here with you. One old friend who was many years my junior, an ex student at the university I work for, has really advanced in life to a very important position. His social media messages get lots of attention and while many of them are truly humorous giving us a good laugh, some are didactic and others are opinion based. It was on some of the opinion based messages, that I had exchanged differences in opinion in private with him. He indicated before already, that he did not want to debate about these opinions with me. I should perhaps have respected that. Today however, I gave him a bit of honest feedback on one of his recent messages, particularly harsh on a very junior person that had inadvertently reached the news of Malaysia, after being barred from an exam in her university for a controversial reason. 

The response I received: unfriended from Facebook. Up to now I had rejoiced to see this friend of mine go up to a high position in the capital of our country. I was quite sure that he would keep rising to great heights. Now with quite some sadness in my heart, I became aware that he is facing some major obstacles to continued growth. It are not the "friends" who always agree with what you say that help you grow. It is the ones who express their different opinions, who dare to give some criticism now and then, who ensure our continued growth. I am most grateful for friends who do on and off disagree, who do give critical feed back. In the moment it may hurt, but in the long run, I do know that these are my best and most valuable friends.They help me grow.

The internet is supposed to help the world grow towards unity. But if we use it in an immature way; if we block out all information that is a bit disturbing to us; if we avoid reading different opinions; if we just want to bask in glory and get hundreds of likes, for whatever we say or do, we are on a dangerous path of limited or reverse growth. It may taste nice for awhile but it tends not to last. I pray for that friend in the above true story, that sooner rather than later he comes to his senses and keeps a truly open mind. 

A truly open mind means NOT to absorb all information that comes our way, but to read and be open for all information, using a very good filter. Filtering out the toxic food for our mind (the nonsense), but letting in what is valuable and keeping in a separate room things that we cannot accept right now but might make sense if look from a different point of view. 

I wish you, my dear readers a life filled with continued growth, not in belly fat, but in terms of spiritual, emotional, personality, character growth. It involves a basic humility and courage: we need to dare to doubt and avoid to be to easily certain about things that appear right on first sight. It was Voltaire who said: doubt is not comfortable but certainty is madness. Voltaire said it in a specific context but I think we can apply this to many areas of our life.

 


Wednesday, 9 June 2021

Nice and warm

My heart felt nice and warm
My soul was lightly afloat
My brain wanted me to feel like stupid,
but i didn't let it.  

A woman sitting on the floor
trying to sell kerupuk
my heart told me she was happy
my soul kept seeing her smile
My brain told me: she cheated you.
I didn't care

The woman had 50 ringgit
I had peace of mind
I had love in my soul
I had 50 ringgit less
She may have cheated me
But I did not care

I talked back to my mind
Please dear mind,
Intelligence is kindness
nothing more, nothing less
It is your task to help me be intelligent

Thanks dear heart, Thanks dear soul
And thanks my mind, for giving in so easily
and accepting that your greatest gift, intelligence
is kindness, the highest form of intelligence.
 
‐----‐‐----------------------------------------------------------


A small explanation: outside of the bank, there are always some people begging. In the past, i felt that that was a bit opportunistic. Today, it was quite late, not many people around. The lady sitting outside of the bank was selling kerupuk (fish crackers). Somehow my heart took pity on her and i gave her RM 50. Immediately after that, my mind was not happy about it, but in my heart I was convinced that I did the right thing :)


Monday, 7 June 2021

Start walking

 A Rumi Quote:
"As you start to walk on the way, the way appears"
 
Rumi was one of these great poets and a search beyond the obvious meaning in his quotes is always a worthy mental exercise. The obvious meaning seems that even if we do not see how to achieve our goals, once we start acting to achieve them anyhow, ways will appear to reach them.  I love this wisdom and encourage everyone to live by it. 
 
But upon my second reading of the quote, it did not merely say, as you start to walk, the way will appear. It said: as you start to walk ON THE WAY, the way appears.
 
All of us are walking on this journey called life. Some of us aimlessly, some of us with a clear aim in front of our eyes. We often see the aims as endpoints but when we reach these points, we go through an initial joy, followed often by a dip. We had imagined the endpoint as a state of permanent bliss, but once we cross the line to achieve the point, we see it is a mere beginning of something much bigger still. 
 
Now let us build in THE WAY. 
 
The way is that diamond path. Not just any way. It is the diamond path of kindness, unconditional kindness, unconditional love, unconditional friendliness. It is the diamond path of searching and finding the good in everyone, no longer judging, no longer condemning, just seeing other beings as worthy of reverence and unconditional love. It is the diamond path of grace and forgiveness. It is the diamond path of our Creator. 
 
As we start to walk on that way, ON THE WAY, we will see the full beauty of it. 

Once you choose the path 
That stunning path of kindness 
You'll see its beauty

Try to imagine 
Unconditional kindness
For all in the world 

Beauty, harmony 
Peace and serendipity 
Will flow in our lives 
 
No matter how muddy your current path, seems to be, get the courage, get the strength, from some positive thoughts, from a sincere prayer, and start to walk on the path of our Creator. Start to walk on the path and it will show itself in all its grandeur, in all its beauty. Forces in the world may pull you back to the muddy areas at the sides of the path or the swampy areas far away from the path, but once you have walked the path, you will know how wonderful it is, and coming back to it will be easier. The more we walk on path, the more beauty we discover, Start walking on the way and the way will appear. 
 
To stay on the way, will become our aim. That path leads to true peace, beauty, love and creativity, that will make any of the classical aims easy to grasp. Our classical aims will be ours, but it will be easy to see our next task to reach a place a bit closer and closer and closer to that big creative Power in the Universe, Our Creator, who gave us a heart containing an inexhaustible source of love, kindness and wisdom.  
 
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
The little poem in the middle consists of 3 senryus. A senryu is follows the structure of a haiku (5-7-5 syllables) but is about human character, instead of about nature and seasons.


Friday, 28 May 2021

Opportunity possibility potential

Our economical system is immature
It is based on greed, not merely the greed of the rich and powerful
but equally much or more on the greed of the middle class.
 
While there is absolutely nothing wrong with accumulating wealth,
the insane power gathered by the super-wealthy 
is only possible by the greed of each of us.
 
We think the billionaires in the world are the most happy people 
But they are not; they are certainly not. It is time to be aware of this.
We do not have to look up to them as symbols of happiness.
 
If we look up at those wealthier and more powerful than us,
we give them the power, they often do not deserve 
and put ourselves in a position of continuous dissatisfaction 
dissatisfaction with what we have, with who we are. 
 
It is time to be proud of who you are. 
Instead of focusing on the people above us
let us look at the people below us. 
 
The super-wealthy have gathered an insane level of power. 
They can control so many things, including the information that we get
Their control of the info we get is making their power more insane
 
Insane levels of power are addictive. It leads to loss of touch with reality.
Insane levels of power lead often to insane thoughts, insane actions.
Any loss of power tends to hurt them and insanity becomes only worse. 

We can disconnect ourselves from that insanity.
All we need to do is to stop looking up at the extreme wealth, the extreme power. 
All we need to do is to start focusing on the people who have less wealth,
less power than us: what are their needs, how can we help them ?

That is exactly where true happiness resides.
Helping a person in need, going out of our way to help 
Performing a random act of kindness to anyone we encounter
 
That is where opportunity lies, that is were the possibilities are 
That is where we can unfold our true potential.
If we manage to live a life of selfless service
we will get wealthy, powerful, beyond our dreams
 
The power we get will be authentic, undestroyable.
We will not have to do insane things to be able to cling on to our power.
It will be the power of love, of respect, of sincere appreciation. 
 
That is the power that brings true happiness
 
Let us in this very second decide to look for ten opportunities 
in the next 24 hours to do good, to help to be kind. 
Let us explore the world of possibility: if our focus is on those who have less,
there are millions of possibilities to help. Our creativity will create possibilities
 
The world, the universe is with those who believe in service
The world, the universe, our Creator is with those who want to help, do good, be kind
The possibilities are endless, the creative mind is filled with ideas and all these ideas
are real possibility, no matter how big and outlandish they seem. 
 
Let us look for ten opportunities
Explore the creative ideas and turn them into possibilities
This is THE WAY to live up to our true potential.  
 

 
 

 

 



Monday, 24 May 2021

Fear Folly

Some of your griefs you have cured,
And the sharpest you still have survived
But what torments of pain you endured
From evils that never arrived?
        (French proverb)
 
Fear works paralysing, can make you ill, can interfere with your defense against infections
Worry can make you sick, spoils the present and weakens your immunity
 
There is NOT a single benefit for worry or fear. 
The only certainty they carry is to have a bad time 
and to increase the chance of the bad event you fear or worry about. 
 
Let us shift our focus away from fear, away from worry. 
While it is wise in these times to follow the SOPs put forward by experts, 
Let the fear of COVID not dominate your thoughts
Skip reading the latest figures for a few days. They do not help in any way.
They may be useful for epidemiologist but not for you and me. 
 
Deaths of infections do occur at any time. 
Let us not be busy with that in our head. 
We accept that the pandemic is here and we take rational preventive measures
but let us be busy with what we do best. 
 
I have decided for myself to update me on COVID news locally only once per week. 
I wear a mask and limit my own movements, attend no mass gatherings since this is what sounds logical and the right thing to do. But my thoughts are no longer controlled by pandemic news. 

Fear is equal to folly
Worry is equal to folly. 
I truly encourage you to read "in tune with the infinite", a book first published in 1897, but containing so many gems of wisdom, still valuable, IMHO especially valuable still today. It is freely available on the iternet. The author is Ralph Waldo Trine. 

Friday, 21 May 2021

In Tune

When all of heaven seems filled with clouds and rain
when love seems to render betrayal and abuse
when the world seems a barrel of greed and madness
a streak of bliss tends to appear from an unknown place

Sometimes it is a small spot of blue with a sunny ray
Sometimes it is a word of hope, a word of truth
Sometimes it is a miniature gift of love, of gladness
It's like a slap on the back, a bliss, a little grace

When all seems dark, blue or filled with gloom
On a spot along our way, a flower will bloom
There is no doom, no storm that is big enough
To become immune to God's always-present love

Let us fall in tune…

                                                 By Aufie Zophy 


My dear friends, 
Sometimes we feel a bit lost,a bit fearsome, a bit isolated, a bit lonely
or sometimes even completely lost,very anxious, completely alone
 
Such moments appear in everyone's life. We do not share them easily with others.
You will not find these moments on facebook or instagram.
 
In these moments we want to pray.  
Sometimes we pray for our Creator to change the world for us, to change our fortune.
But our God is not a man sitting in heaven conducting our life
Our God is a presence, a wisdom, a peace, an intelligence that is around us.
Our God is always maximally present. 
 
We are the conductors of our life. If we pray, let us pray for our own awareness.
If we are aware of the Presence, that huge intelligence, that flow, that power;
the light is shining on our consciousness, on our mind, in our heart, on our conscience
 
If we are filled with fear and worry, if we feel lonely and lost,
we tend to be a bit out of tune with that ever present Presence.
Let us tune in.
 
Let us pray for guidance to tune into the light, the presence, the wisdom, the intelligence of God
Let us pray! Not for a gift dropping at our doorstep, but for the understanding and the wisdom to tune into our Creator's grace, peace, mercy and light. 
 
I wrote the poem at the beginning of this message in October 2018
If you want to read more poems of Aufie Zophy, click here
 
I wish that the coming moments for you are filled with a silence, with grace
I wish that you manage to connect to the supreme source of wisdom and peace
I wish you light and understanding.