Jake the Grape

On a lighter note, here is a small fable meant for children 

I hope some children get to read and love the story

and perhaps it can give at least a smile to some adults :)

Here it comes:

This is the story of Jake of the Grape

 

You may know that grapes do not live very long

So, every other day they have a birthday celebration

Their desire for fun is extremely strong

 

Now Jake the Grape had a special dream

 He wanted on one of his own birthdays

 To sit on a birthday cake amidst the cream.

 

 The other grapes ware scared for Jake

 You do not want just to sit on a birthday cake

 

 The chance of being eaten is a terrible plight

 Even though sitting on top of a cake is a pure delight

 But Jake sneaked into a bakery at night

 And the next day, he sat on a cake, what a sight!

 

 A whole group of people was singing a birthday song

 Before the cake was cut to pieces oblong.

 

 Jake the grape, was the only grape on the cake

 And he ended up on the birthday-boy’s plate

 Now for good heaven’s sake,

 The boy did not like to eat grapes

 

 He threw Jake silently on the ground

 While none of the other people around

 Were looking and thus were unaware

 That Jake just lay on the floor somewhere

  

The next morning, mother swept the floor

 And Jake ended up among the flower bed

 That was located not far from the door

 That was as good for Jake as it ever could get.

  

Now a wonderful vine is growing near the house

 But except the birthday-boy, nobody knows

 That the vine was made

 By Jake the Grape from the birthday cake.

 

Aufie Zophy

An amazing story

Daniel received a trendy sports car as a Christmas gift from his brother. As Daniel came out of his office,  he saw a street kid walking around his shiny car, admiring it, asking: " is this your car, mister?" Daniel said: "Yes, my brother gave it to me for Christmas".

The boy was astounded and started to say: " I wish..." and then he hesitated for awhile.Of course Daniel knew what he was going to say. He was going to wish he had a brother like that. But what the boy was saying jarred Daniel down to his heels.

"I wish" the boy went on to say, " that I could be a brother like that"

Daniel was astonished and asked the boy: "Would you like a ride?" After a short ride, the boy asked: "could  you stop the car, there close to these two steps?" He ran up the steps and then in a short while Daniel heard him coming back, but he was not coming fast. He was carrying his severely handicapped brother. He sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of squeezed up against him and pointed towards the car. 

"There she is, Buddy, just like I told you upstairs. His brother gave it to him for Christmas and it didn't cost him a cent. And one day, I am just going to give you one like it...then you will be able to see for yourself all the beautiful things in the Christmas windows that I have been trying to tell you about."

Daniel got out and lifted the lad to the front seat of his car. The shining eyed older brother climbed in right beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride. That Christmas even Daniel had learned the true meaning of:

"it is more blessed to give..."

The miracle of kindness has become undestroyable

I feel the need to say a small prayer for this big world

The unique part of our human nature is our happiness

which depends on being good and helping other humans

 

We have evolved from warring tribes into many loving communities

And that is one of the biggest miracles that have happened in this world

But a few barbaric people have grabbed power through endless lies 

 

Please, our God, let this huge work and that superb miracle 

of having truly loving, helping and free communities around the world

not go to pieces, because of a few handfuls of power-sick greedy minds,

for whom billions of dollars seem never enough.

 

The peace that was in the air this morning

The love that was surrounding my own community

The superb altruism that has evolved. 

 

So precious. On the surface they seem fragile

But the roots reach deep and let the forest of kindness

be soon lush again, filled with blossoms of Love.

 

That amazing Love with capital L  

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Find some more small prayers for a big world in a blog I dedicated to them: https://smallprayersforabigworld.blogspot.com/

Really good poetry https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/

some beautiful inspirational quotes:  https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/ 

a fantastic short story: https://afishwithawish.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-fish-with-wish-whole-story.html

or look at some beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans 

or beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans

or simply some essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Sometimes, I feel alone

Sometimes I feel incredibly alone in this world. Have you ever felt like that too? About an hour ago, I really felt like that. Even though it was after ten p.m, I went outside, made a short walk in the garden and took a few deep breaths. I watched the moon, I felt the breeze, I saw the trees. They were alone too.It made the feeling of being incredibly alone a bit more bearable but it did not change its intensity. 

Then I came inside and decided I needed to think for awhile about myself, about these feelings. My attention drifted to a book that just lied there on the coffee table of our living room. I opened the book at a random page, close to the middle. and soon was reading the prayer of Francis of Assisi. 

 I remembered how once this little prayer had affected my life. I drifted off in memories of how the simple decision to focus on giving love rather than on the love that I received, made an enormous difference in my life. 

 I remembered how the simple decision to try to understand rather than to be understood, made a huge difference in my life.

 These memories made the feeling of being incredibly alone crumble slowly but definitely. 

 I could see the big space in my heart where all the love in the world was stored, I could see the big space in my mind where gratefulness was abundant

Have you felt like that as well?

I think the words of that prayer carry so much wisdom, so much kindness, that it is worth reading them again and for every human on this planet to discover how much these words, these ideas can mean to all of us.  

I wish you lots of love, and if feelings of loneliness enter your heart, do not let them bring you down, but search for the message they want you to learn.  

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I hope the above reflection brings you a bit in a poetic mood.

Please enjoy the following wonderful poem from Aufie Zophy: 

 

The most beautiful poems of Aufie Zophy are on this site:
https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/ 

Enjoy!

Imperfect? So be it...

While we are breathing we want to breathe clean air.

If possible we want our air to be perfect

But there are so many impurities in the air.

Sometimes we face haze and high levels of pollution.

Do we stop breathing because of this imperfection? 

While we are loving, we want the people we love to be good

We want all our social contacts including family members 

to be as close to perfect as possible

When we are confronted with their numerous imperfections,

do we stop loving. 

It was Osho, comparing breathing to loving

Loving is a part of our human nature

as essential for our happiness as breathing is for our survival

Our ego gets all too often in the way 

Our ego wants to be superior and inhibits love

Our ego wants to win and show our superiority

while happiness resides in humility

Let us be clear about this in our minds and

be always aware about the huge importance of love

about the huge importance of plainly accepting imperfection

None of us is perfect. We ourselves are imperfect.

Our spouse/partner is imperfect, our parents and siblings are imperfect

Our extended family, our friends, our neighbours, all imperfect

At the same time there is so much good to be found

in each and everyone.

Let us focus on the good things, not let imperfection get in the way of love...

 

Hand in hand

 Science, true science and faith go hand in hand. 

I think all of us remember the name, Max Planck from our physics classes.

 

Here is a quote from his acceptance-speech 

of the Noble price for elucidating the structure of atoms:

 

"All matter originates and exists only by virtue of a force… 

We must assume behind this force 

the existence of a conscious and intelligent Mind. 

This Mind is the matrix of all matter."

 

TRUE science and faith go hand in hand!

the begging lady

 

Simply, to be Aware

When I woke up today, 

I started to pray

To be aware of all the peace and beauty

Of all the love, blessings and creativity

That at all time are surrounding me.

 

    And now I am a bit more aware

    Of all these wonderful things out there

    Of all peace and beauty,

    Love, blessings and creativity

    Surrounding me

    And it makes me feel good 

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 I am sure you will enjoy some of my following online treasures as well:

A look at some beautiful skies:

https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans 

Beautiful flowers: 

https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans

Wonderful poems (inspirational and motivational):

 https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/

(my pen name for poetry name is Aufie Zophy) 

-----

Some beautiful inspirational quotes: 

 https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/ 

A fantastic short story:

 https://afishwithawish.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-fish-with-wish-whole-story.html

Simply some essays about good things:

 https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Forest bath

In Japan, in the 1980s, Japanese doctors saw a lot of depression and high stress levels in their patients. They wondered if they get their patients back to nature, whether that would be helpful and they did research on the topic. Taking a "forest bath" was not only beneficial to the mental health of the patient but also physically the patients experienced lots of benefits in terms of blood pressure, heart rate and even blood sugar levels.

Forest bathing is not a hike for physical fitness or exploring the woods, it is merely spending time in nature, in the forest (or the park) and get your senses (at least 4 of them) to experience the calmness and serenity of nature. For sure visually is the easiest. Just taking the time to observe the beauty of a tree, the wonderful crown with the plentiful adorable leaves, the stem and the texture of the bark and the amazing roots. But then we can close our eyes and try to hear the sounds, the sounds from far away but also the sounds of the tree (the wind in the leaves, the birds in the crown,...) and feel the bark of the tree. Let the energy flow. Feel the air on our cheeks, in our hair. Taking a deep breath and feeling the air in our nose in our throat and in our chest. Taking in the smells of the tree, the smell of the woods, ... If we happen to find a chestnut, we can even taste the forest. 

 I love walks in the forest, I love walks on the beach. even before I read about the research of forest baths, I knew that walks in nature have powerful healing properties, especially for  our soul, but also for our body, mind and heart. 

If you have not tried a forest bath, please make some time for a walk in nature without other objective than to take in the beauty of it all. Not for fitness, not for exploration, just to enjoy the great pleasure of spending pure time in nature.

 

Dips and peaks

Our life is often made up of dips and peaks. 

External circumstances vary and they may be not completely under our own control. But they can get so bad that we end up in a deep dip. I think that all of us are susceptible to some degree of dips. I do not use the term depression here, which is uncontrollable sadness, sometimes due to an organic brain problem, while during our deepest dips we may feel quite depressed. 

A very strong characteristic of "dips" is that we do not enjoy the things we used to enjoy during other periods in our life. Amazing sunrises or sunsets may make your soul feel afloat during normal days. When we are in a dip, we notice the beauty but the beauty has trouble getting in, into our heart, into our soul. Have you experienced something like that? Things we love to do in normal days and bring us easily in a state of flow, may lose a lot of their appeal and we may hardly feel like even start doing them. Generally our energy levels may be low.  

It is not easy to get out of a dip. But I think a reasonable start is to write down our feelings and become fully aware that we are in a dip. When we do that we start to remember that we have not always been like this and we may start to explore the reason or reasons why we feel like that. We blame it on a lack of energy or mild ailments that have occurred, but these may be a consequence rather than a cause of our dip. Let us search for the real, real cause(s) and they are often external factors that happened, that are not fully under our control. 

These things may be not reversible or they may be. They may be a necessary thing in our life so we can move on to a next stage a next big thing, another door to be opened. We may not be able to see how we will get out of the problem(s) but out we will get. I think it is important that we do not keep trying to find joy in the things that brought us joy before, because the frustration of not getting the same joy as before may bring us down more. I really feel that the best thing to do, is to make it quiet within.  We need some alone-time, on the beach, in the woods and think silently what is the best approach to our condition at this point. If you have faith, prayer may be truly useful. Not the prayer we say without thinking, but a prayer where we truly ask for guidance from our Creator, or guidance from the universe. 

We may not understand why the bad situation occurred, but a sincere wish, prayer and desire for strength and a deep reflection in nature on what is the best way to build up our strength may be really helpful 

If you are in dip right now, please pray for strength and make some time to reflect in nature.

If you are at a peak, right now, please write down about your aspirations, your motivation, your dreams, because if we do, these writings may be a good guide for us during a dip as well. 

No matter what, I wish you strength and here comes a small poem of hope:

It is dark, no moon, no light
Just darkness, a starless sky
The wind blows, the waves break
A single firefly passes by

Soon the firefly is gone
Leaving me in the darkest of nights
The tiny fly made me anticipate
A sunrise with the finest of lights
 

Aufie Zophy

Fragrance

Making someone else feel good about themselves is like planting a flower along the path of your life.

Making someone else feel small or stupid is like throwing some toxic waste on your life's path.

If we look back at our yesterday's path does it carry the wonderful fragrance of flowers or does it smell more like toxic waste.

It does not matter too much. What really matters, is to ensure that today is filled with the amazing fragrance of making people feel good. 😀

Enjoy the path.

Number 1000

This is my 1000th post in this blog. It started in 2014 and I have written down quite a lot of ideas. Many of these ideas are bright, some may sound a bit eccentric, but I am sure that most can speak to the heart and soul of many people. Please do visit the archive after  you have enjoyed today's soul sprinkle.

While we are in the game of life and society, we are sometimes in the illusion that we need to be equal to others, or if not equal, superior, but definitely not inferior. That game of comparing our situation with that of others, ignores and even deprives us of our own uniqueness. We are simply unique human beings, each with our own gifts, own talents, own limitations and that makes unique. We can simply NOT compare with others. It is time now to get out of the game of equality, superiority, inferiority. We are unique and that is what counts.

Let us celebrate our uniqueness and if we do so, we will move effortlessly towards abundance, love and prosperity. Not to be superior or equal to anyone else but to have this wonderful life of purpose leading to peace of mind and true happiness while making a positive difference to the world we live in. If every day for ten years we make a small positive difference, think how big this thing becomes over a period of ten years. 

Enjoy, ...

Watering plants

There are a few rules for watering plants effectively, like the best time is early in the morning; it is better to give fewer times a lot of water than more frequently small amounts; and a few other tips that are easily available  on the web.

I am not writing this to provide tips for watering plants, but I want to address the simple joy it brings. We cannot water plants without imagining how it will benefit them. And that is such a joy. Even if we do something good for plants, the joy is ours as much as the benefits that go to the plants. 

And that is so if we treat animals right as well. Feeding a stray cat, taking care of a pet. So much happiness hidden in these simple acts. 

But the biggest joy and peace of mind still comes, when we do something nice for our fellow human beings. Random kind acts are so valuable to our peace of mind and happiness that it is difficult to live without them. Whether we are on the receiving or giving end, it always brings joy to both the giver and the receiver of kindness. Let us be fully aware this giant truth for the coming hour, the coming day, the coming week,...

😃

Sharing dreams

All of us tend to have a bigger purpose, aspirations of reaching and achieving some higher goals. If we keep this all to ourselves, we risk to lose our lofty goals along the way. But the risk to lose our lofty goals along the way is still much bigger if we share our bold plans with our family and friends. 

Our purpose, our goals tend to carry some of our passion and attention. Attention and passion will make us see opportunities that will be met along the way. We are in charge and make it happen. 

Once we share our plans with our close relatives or friends, it is not unlikely that we will get their critical opinion and express their disbelief about the mere possibility of our goals. Then our ego has to come in and start defending our goals. It is out of the realm of the passion and drive, and becomes an ego undertaking, proving our family members/friends we can do it.They may create doubts and point out obstacles that may or may not be there. Even if the obstacles are there and they are real, we may be able to deal with them when we encounter them. 

So while ideally, sharing your dreams and lofty aspirations, may lead to extra motivation, more often the simple of act of sharing may push you in a defensive position, taking away the enthusiasm and energy that are so necessary in achieving anything. 

Keep dreaming big, aiming high. But think twice before announcing your dream to the world.

Treasures

Where do we build our treasures?

Do we build them in bank accounts? In gold vaults? In jewelry? In assets? 

Our heart will be exactly there.

 

Do we build them in the realm of kindness, peace and beauty?

Our heart will be exactly there.

A bit of my heart is with my bank account, a bit in my assets

But the treasure hidden in my soul, carries my heart too. 

The treasure of true virtue, of honesty and kind acts

The treasure of wisdom. I want to build them as much 

as I desire that amount in my bank, my list of possessions

Ignoring the importance of physical needs may be not a wise thing to do

But ignoring the treasures of virtue and love within our soul is worse.

I pray to my Creator, 

that I may appreciate and be grateful for the abundance that is around us that I may appreciate and work also on these soul experiences, on these soul moments

I love, I love, I love.

 

Lots of love from my heart to you.

 

Have a wonderful next minute, next hour, next week, next year :)

Changing the world, we do it!

When I was young, I wanted to change the world. 

And sadly, in my early adulthood, I was (almost) convinced that I could not change the world.  

 

But that is the biggest fallacy that we tell our youths.
We try to take away their ideals.
We try to "make them come to their senses"

We want them to see "reality"

 

I put the phrases above between double inverted commas because they are extremely wrong.

The worst thing we have done to this world, is not the wars we have fought, it is not the pollution of the seas; the very worst thing we have done to this world is making large numbers of young dynamic people with lofty great ideals lose these ideals in their early twenties, because we think they will be disappointed if we do not make them live up to our perception of reality.

 

If all youths with fantastic ideals and aspirations to make a huge positive change in this world, would have been encouraged to keep believing and live up to their ideals, the world would have been a very different place at this moment. 

Am I a dreamer? Did I lost touch with reality, making the above statements? The answer is NO.

Every little thing we do in our lives is changing the world, for the worse or the better:

- yesterday i cut into the lane of another car; the driver became visibly upset with me; His wife and children were in his car. The upset driver spread negative emotions to all in the car and a spiral of negativity and problems emerged. I made my day a bit worse and their day a bit worse. I had changed a small part of the world I live in for the worse.

- today, I gave way to two girls standing in the middle of the road, waiting to cross the lane I was driving on to be clear of traffic. I stopped the car and let them cross. The smiles on their faces were wonderful. The small act of giving way, changed my day, their day and it may have caused a spiral of positivity in the small part of the world I live in.

If we are aware that we change the world we live in constantly by all we do and say, we may choose much more positivity than what we do or say routinely, impulsively. 

Let us not discourage our youths, in the name of being "realistic". Instead let us inspire them to go and make lots of positive changes in the world on a daily basis and even if only two in a hundred thousand of these small changes lead to something bigger, just a few positive changes per day will result in a huge change over a life time. 

The ideals, I had in my teens are more alive today than ever. I want to change the world. I want to make small positive changes every day. At the end of my life, I want to be happy with the life I lived and that will depend on how many small positive changes I made :)

Stopping the overthinking

We had done a research project on burn out among caregivers of severely disabled people. One person had a particular bad burn out and asked to get more help. The coordinator of the home care program, our psychologist, one psychology student and myself (a medic who had coordinated the research) were attending the session. 

The person opened up and stated her problem clearly. We probed into what she had done or tried to do about it, and tried to help her think and discover some ways to find relief. When she got stuck in the process, some gentle suggestions were made, but 45 min into the session, it seemed we were making either very slow or no progress. 

I had been mainly listening. I had been thinking what would be best to say, if I was to participate in the counseling, but I had no clue what to say or how to start. 

Then I prayed. I emptied my mind and asked, with the deepest desire to help the caregiver, for help from our Creator. I got mentally disconnected from the session for awhile and then an idea entered my mind which I shared with the group in an empathic way and quite suddenly we seemed to make real progress. 

I feel I had been overthinking for 45 min and after calming my mind through a heartfelt prayer, an idea seemed to cause a breakthrough. I think that for some of us, sincere and heartfelt prayer may at times, be an effective way to tap into positive intuition. :).

Faster

The sun was moving faster
Than the clouds
A spectacle of superb skies
Rapidly changing

A red ball coming out
Of the deep sea
But quickly hiding
Behind a band of gray

The thunderous moisture
Getting orange spots;
Soon yellow rays
Seeping through

Bright areas of water
Glittering close to the horizon
And then the clouds suddenly
moved faster than the sun

Aufie Zophy

 

 

A small poem after an early morning beach walk.

Mornings have really some magic in them

The beauty of the light, of the trees, of the skies,

It feels like supernatural almost

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A look at some beautiful skies:

https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans 

Beautiful flowers: 

https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans

Wonderful poems (inspirational and motivational):

 https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/

(my pen name for poetry name is Aufie Zophy) 

-----

Some beautiful inspirational quotes: 

 https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/ 

A fantastic short story:

 https://afishwithawish.blogspot.com/2020/08/a-fish-with-wish-whole-story.html

Simply some essays about good things:

 https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/