Simple walk

A simple walk in nature
may turn out to be a magnificent experience

This morning I just went for a short walk on the beach
The clouds above the sea were so magically beautiful
The way they embraced a youthful tree
The capricious shapes and whirls within
So enchanting

I captured a few on pictures,
I hope you go for the real thing soon.
Just make a small walk in nature
It may not be the sky,
perhaps just an amazing ant.
But quite sure something will amaze


 

Endless search

Most of us are in an endless search for happiness.
Some of us equate this endless search for happiness
with an endless search for wealth and comfort

Once we achieve a decent level of wealth and comfort,
many feel not too happy still and go and search for
more and more wealth and comfort, resulting in an endless search.

Luckily, more and more people are discovering the giant truth
that happiness is found more in a life of purpose, a life of service
and not so much in endlessly achieving and striving and achieving more wealth

Media portray a must-be-happy-all-the-time culture and
want to make us believe it is found in what they advertise.

Real life is not a happy-all-the-time event
Sad events bring sadness and that is very much OK
Simple service and a life of purpose
bring us enough happiness to have a good life,
without us having to pursue an endless search for anything...

Positive difference

A very good morning to you.
I am aware you may read this in the evening.
A very good evening to you.

About any time of the day, but especially in the morning
is a good time to stop for a while our hectic routine
create a few moments of true silence
Silence within at least
and think thoughts of love and positivity for this wonderful world

Can you imagine if everyone in the world
would make 2 minutes free every day for thoughts of love
how much love this would mean

Let us be the pioneers for creating a few minutes of silence
with thoughts, only thoughts of love and kindness.
And reminisce for a while how we want to make
a positive difference in the world around us today...

Don't touch it

A little poem, I wrote for my two boys, about 3 years back:

Don't touch it

Have you seen a fire?
I mean a big one with high flames?
Any human touching it
Will suffer intense and lasting pains

Such is the law of nature
Nothing else could happen or be
Touching flames causes pains
Isn 't that easy to see?

Hatred is also like fire
It burns upon every touch
Pain is intense and lasting
Excruciating destruction, so much

Such is the law of nature
Nothing else could happen or be
Touching hatred causes pain
It is not difficult to see

And so is also anger
A blaze of uncontrolled heat
You touch it and bad burns
Are the only outcome to meet

Such is the law of nature
Nothing else could happen or be
Touching anger causes pain
It is not difficult to see

Lies of any nature or kind
Like smouldering ashes so hot
Touch lies and you suffer
Lies may seem ok but they're not

Such is the law of nature
Nothing else could happen or be
Touching lies causes pain
It may not be easy to see

Honesty love and kindness
Are like a cool breeze on a hot day
My boys, these laws of nature
Are here forever to stay

Aufie Zophy

 

Revolution

Rolling waves are roaring
One word they roar:
Revolution

Revolution of love
Revolution of life
Revolution of caring kindness

My flying feathered friends
One word they sing:
Revolution

Revolution of love
Revolution of life
Revolution caring kindness

Flaming orange clouds are painting
One word they paint:
Revolution

Revolution of love
Revolution of life
Revolution of caring kindness

Whizzing winds are whispering
One word they whisper:
Revolution

Revolution of love
Revolution of life
Revolution of caring kindness

Oh, yes it is
in the waves of the sea
in the song of the birds
in the clouds in the sky
in the sound of the winds
A huge kindness revolution
And it is coming soon.

Listen, look,
Plunge in, float towards
Embrace, Enjoy

Aufie Zophy

Best

"What is your best work?" was the question asked to Wald, the Sculptor.
"My next one", was the answer of Wald.

I read the above passage in a work by Orison S. Marden.

Upon reading it, I felt a wave of inspiration and motivation flow over me, towards me, in me. I hope so much you feel something similar.

Isn't that superb?

Just thanks

I want to give thanks
for all these good souls
for all these wonderful youths
for all the goodness in this world

Today we had a fun event for children
The efforts from our students were amazing
Selfless contributions, nameless just for the children
All young people fully engaged in doing good.

Thank you so much,
It has been so wonderful today.

Today we had this fun even for kids.
The past few days had been full of haze
Last night it had rained in Bachok.
It was still raining in Kota Bharu
But our skies were clear
and a pleasant breeze stood firm

I want to give thanks
thanks for the weather
and these beautiful coincidence
that sound more like magic than coincidence

Today we had this fun event for special kids
It was so super. A fantastic clown came

Thank you so much,
Our youth, our students have a warm heart in their chest
I am so grateful and just wanted to write a small thank you prayer

Peace

Every day, we get so many opportunities to do something good
to perform a small deed that can make a big difference
Be it a smile
a friendly word
a hand
a simple gesture

Every day we get opportunities
Let us look out for them and take them with both hands
because it is these small deeds that give us peace
peace of mind
peace of heart
PEACE

Upsetting

Today something makes me really angry
Netenyahu claims that a Muslim Mufti inspired Hitler to perform the Holocaust.

Stupidity at it extremely highest level
How can any homo sapiens give a leader like this still a grain of credibiility

Not any Muslim, Not any German, Not any Jew, who had any say in the politics of the 1920s or 1940's  is still alive today. So whoever performed cruelties during world war 1 and 2 is now in the grave.

So what can be done now? Are you responsible for the sins of your grandparents?
All that can be reasonably done today is to watch these cruelties performed.
Shiver and vomit on them in ultimate disgust.
And do EVERYTHING POSSIBLE to make sure that NOT ONE human again in this century is repeating similar cruelties.

It is so amazing that even though as humans we have made it to the moon
We are analysing our very own DNAs
But still we kill each other as the worst living beasts over things that have happened in a distant past when no one alive today had any hand in the things happening.

Please let us come to our senses,
Please please please...

Holocaust has been cruel and should be carved in our memories as a enormous stupidity of our human ancestors. To seek revenge or do anything that even smells like this in today's world is continuing that enormous stupidity.

Please let us come to our senses,
please please please

Lock up people like Netenyahu immediately. Or at least remove him from politics. World press, journalist, ignore anything what this moron says or tries to insinuate to justify his own cruelties against a whole nation. These are dangerous men in powerful positions. Let us  not allow anyone to rise or better descend to the level of Hitler...

We are much more advanced and there is no place in this world for politicians thinking like devils of the last century.

Every thing

Every little thing
has some good in it

Every big thing
too

Every little person
has some good inside

Every big person
too

let's search for the good
in every little and big thing
in every little and big person.

:) Love and Peace to you :)

Purple, my heart

A lone purple flower of amazing beauty

In the white sand not far from the sea

Moves my heart, touches my soul

The sand get softer, becomes fluid art

It allows the flower to move into my heart

In a very special place that is secret to all

The flower sits there, kindles my mood

Soft purple beauty, it’s doing me good

A giant effect of a flower so small

Aufie Zophy 



poetry by Aufie Zophy 

Master

"When the master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists

The master does not talk, he acts
And when his work is done, 
the people say: amazing, 
we did it all  by ourselves!"

The above comes from the Tao Te Ching, a wonderful booklet written about 2500 years ago.
I think a bit of a different version with similar meaning goes as follows: It is amazing what we can achieve when we do not care who gets the credit.

Even though it feels unjust if others get the credit for our ideas,
our ideas may not fall in any fertile grounds and the seeds may wither away before even spouting, if we remain too concerned about getting credit for all we think or do.

There is an other saying that it is in giving that we receive; once we start really giving without the expectation of any returned benefits, that is when we get to understand this difficult to grasp axiom.

A gentle focus

When I read an essay by Dr Bremer on focus on essentials, a wave of remorse swept over me.
Haven't we all succumbed to trivia determining our day?

When there is so much beauty and love all around us, how can we allow a glass of spoiled water ruin the happiness of being together having a meal.

This is not the most original idea but at least myself, i need so regularly reminders about this giant truth:

Just let the beauty in. Ignore the trivia

Race to comfort

Happiness for many of us, seems like a race towards wealth, luxury and comfort.
While it is super pleasant to spend time in luxury and comfort,
the race towards it seems like never ending never fully satisfying.

Media play a nasty role in demonizing sadness.
If we want to spend time with butterflies,
chasing them may make them just fly faster away from them while
spending some peaceful time in a wonderful garden may make them just land on our shoulder.

I like the butterfly comparison to happiness.
If we just stop chasing, give up the phobia of its absence
it may just come and sit with us and follow us on many ways.

I love comfort and luxury.
I am blessed with some means to purchase it.
But still my most happy moments are when I manage to contribute something,
contribute something to the world, by serving someone else in a nice way.

I am dreaming of a wold where we all happily serve others and others serve us in the same way
Giving comfort, receiving comfort, enjoying the giving, enjoying the receiving.

Wow, I think this getting perhaps a bit too feely.
Still I hope you have enjoyed this small reflection.

PS: I am not a big believer in magic 

but this really works like magic:

The more comfort we give, the more we receive.

Skype with a stranger

Just an idea crossed my mind.

May be workable or not.

If all of us subscribe to a google community called skype with a stranger, 

It may create endless opportunities to talk people from all over the world. 

Would it not be mind boggling, spirit expanding to have short chat every day or every week with someone from a completely different country than our own?

Would it not be super to have chat with a kid on and off.

Would it not be amazing if in the process we can even reduce a bit of the loneliness in the world. 

It would not mean a dating service, not a phishing service, not a commercial or advertising place and we have to think on how to keep these activities out of the community.

But still it may be an interesting thing to do.

To put some strength in the idea 

I have already created a community on google+ named, skype with a stranger 

I have left my own skype address there.

Let us start meeting strangers on the internet without any intentions of getting or selling something, just to have an interesting conersation. 

For it to work anyone has to invite their own friends who are strangers to others, to joint the community.

Here is the link to the community. 

skype with a stranger 

Happy skyping.

 https://plus.google.com/communities/107165376405821026823

Love is in the air

Love is in the air,
It has been always in the air
We just have to tune in to the love in the air
To tune in, to open up, to feel, to really feel.
It is never far away, it is in the air.

Love is in our heart,
not a little bit, no, a whole lot
It has been always in our heart
We just have to connect
We just have to say yes and pour it out

We are swimming in love
Love is swimming in us.

Love is in the air.

And so is wisdom
And so is truth
And so is enthusiasm

2 growing TGVs

You know,
there is a wisdom revolution evolving right now
there is a kindness revolution evolving right now
The whole thing grows exponentially

The last ones to know about it
will be perhaps our politicians
or perhaps our scholars
or perhaps the jet set

Let us jump early on the ever growing train
It 'll be fun to see all get on the wisdom train
to see all get on the kindness train.
and to see the very last ones get on too.

Mathematics

Today I thought to write something light
But many among us will think maths is not light :)
And yet...

Mathematics is fabulous.
I think too many people nowadays use calculators even for the simplest of calculations.
There are so many peculiarities in the multiplication table alone

Whenever you have a square:

4x4 = 16

9x9 = 81

14x14 = 196

then the multiplication of its immediate neighboring numbers  is one less:

3x5 = 15              (16-1)

8x10 = 80            (81-1)

13x15 = 195         (196-1)

If you multiply numbers two units away from the square it is always 4 (2 to the power of 2) less:

2x6 = 12               (16-4)

7x11 = 77             (81-4)

12x16 = 192         (196-4)

If you multiply numbers three units away from the square, it is always 9 (3 to the power of 2) less:

1x7 =7                  (16-9)

6x12 =72             (81-9)

11x17 = 187         (196-9)

And this goes for all numbers, even the really big ones.
And it goes on for numbers further away from the square as well (e.g. 5 away, will be 25 (5 to the power of 2 less)

-1x9 = -9               (16-25)

4x14 =56               (81-25)

9x19 = 171          (196-25)

50x50 = 2500
49x51 = 2499 (1 less than 2500)
45x55 = 2475 (25 less than 2500)

Amazing? I think it is.
Does it matter? Perhaps not.
All of us will not stop checking our own calculus with our electronic calculators.
In the mean time, playing with numbers in your mind can be fun
And giving the solution to apparently complex calculus in a wink without access to electronics can impress bystanders quite a lot.  :)

the well

Let's start with the story of the frog in the well.
If you have heard or read it before, surely you will enjoy it again
If you read it here for the first time, surely you will enjoy it.

One time, long ago, a frog was living in a well
It had its own stones and puddles and the frog had never been out of the well
One day he got a visit from a frog who lived in the sea. 
They chatted for a while and then came up the topic of where the visitor lived:
The visitor: it  is a vast extension of water
The frog from the well: Is it  bigger than that puddle? as he pointed at his biggest puddle
The visitor: much bigger
The frog from the well: Twice as big?
The visitor: No much, much bigger
The frog from the well: Ten times as big?
The visitor: No perhaps a million times a million times as big
The frog from the well: Get out of my well you liar!

Sometimes we tend to live in our own well
Doing so we may miss the beauty of the vastness of the sea
the beauty of the vastness of the mountains, the beauty of so many sunrises
the beauty of the forest and flowers in this world

Sometimes we tend to live in our own well
missing out on the supreme health of fresh air and
aromatic smells of nature
Missing out on the many healthy fruits and natural products

Sometimes we tend to live in our well
Missing out on the wonderful knowledge
that will enrich our lives to unimaginable extents

Sometimes we tend to live in our own emotional well.
Closing ourselves off of the huge amount of love and kindness
keeping the ocean of love that sits in our hearts since birth
guarded to ourselves and become lonely and lonely only

Sometimes we tend to keep our soul in the well
deprive it of so much spirituality, so much miracle and wonder
So much wisdom.

Let us get out of our physical wells and
enjoy full health and a forest of beauty all around us
Let us get out of our mental wells and
gain access to all sources of knowledge all around us
Let us get out of our emotional wells and
enjoy the kindness and huge love all around us
Let us get out of our spiritual wells
and enrich our souls with the brightest wisdom that is all around us.

Time to get out of the well today :)

The shower of doubt

I opened my mind
The water started running
Thoughts were kind
The effect was stunning

All of us have our own beliefs
Some believe absolutely in God
Other believe absolutely that there is no God
Some believe in one scripture as the final truth
Others believe in other scriptures as the final truth
Still others believe in no scriptures.

As humans we have to believe
There are so many existential questions
that are in each our mind.
All search for truth, Truth with capital T

We tend to believe what our eyes tell us
But then our eyes see rainbows and horizons
which are not really there

We tend to believe what scientists tell us
Even far fetched hypothesis like the big bang*
But there is often no proof and theories keep changing

(*they claim since the universe is expanding,
once it must have been extremely small,
They forget that almost everything in the universe oscillates
like waves. It may well be that after a few thousand years of expansion
it shrinks for a few thousand years and then expands again )

We tend to believe what preachers tell us
Religions are many but within each religion
beliefs are strong.

Beliefs are good. They guide us through our life
But many a times, our beliefs become certainties
Once we allow beliefs to become certainties,
the certainty locks our mind,
Nothing else can enter, Nothing can go out
We stop growing

Certainties make further growth impossible:
mental growth
emotional growth
spiritual growth
completely impossible.

If on and off, we check our beliefs
Put a filter on what preachers, scientists and our senses tell us
let the shower of doubt flow
It may help us grow in unexpected amazing, yes stunning ways

Keep the windows of the mind open
Every other human being can teach us something
If filtered with the filter of our soul and ratio
We will keep growing
bit by bit closer to the truth, the Truth

Let us try to avoid the madness of certainty
because it blocks all growth

Let the shower of doubt on and off flow
It may clean our pores and heart
of fallacies, hypocrisy and prejudice.

Unconditional love

Somewhere deep inside,
I know that to live a life to the fullest
unconditional love is the only way

But o my God, how difficult is this!
To throw away all our anger,
To throw away all our negativity
and just be filled with unconditional love

Unconditional love, the trait of Saints
We all have a bit of it
but Saints have nothing else than
Unconditional love

I try to increase it in myself
everyday a bit,
but then something happens
and I seem to have lost more than a bit

Unconditional love....
Unconditional love!

Candle

Today, just sharing a quote by Hazrat Inayat Khan:

"There are those who are like a lighted candle: they can light other candles, but the other candles must be of wax - if they are of steel, they cannot be lighted."

Beautiful?
Sometimes we are the lighted candle, 
sometimes we are the other candle. 
No matter which one we are, 
we should not be of steel, should we?

Please write

Please my friends, do write.
Write about your feelings, about your soul
Write about your thoughts, about your heart
Write about the beauty in your life, your gifts

It is so important that we express ourselves.
Half of you is you
The other half is your expression.

You just write. Initially we tend to keep it for ourselves
Then we put a small verse on the internet.
We are a bit afraid, a bit shy, but no need.
Our expressions are ours.
In the whole wide world of more than 7 billion,
there will be people who can connect to your expression.

I was reflecting just now on the upcoming monsoon season
and I bumped into one of my writings. It was a joy for my heart.
I relived the moment and yes, here it is:

Elegant violence

After five days of gloom
and dark monsoon,
sparks of colour in the sunrise
betray an enticing pause in the season

Strong winds still stand
and sweep up white chunks of water
that jump out of the sea
in violent bouts of elegance

(Aufie Zophy)

Change

I was just hearing the song,
Non, non, ne rien a changé;
Tout, tout a continué
from les Poppy's

It is a French song from a young girl
She had been praying and hoping for the world to change.
But after one year she still could see all the guns and canons in the television
and she concluded that nothing was changing.

Perhaps true, if you look from year to year, we cannot see a lot of change.
However, if we start looking decade per decade, life is changing so fast.
Can you remember how smoking has changed during the last ten years
from a fashionable habit to a despicable addiction. Smokers are caged in smoking rooms .
Sometimes I pity them, but within another decade smoking and the whole industry around it may cease to exist. World opinion about so many things is changing fast. Wisdom is on the increase.
Motivational books are at anyone's fingertips. Charity is a trend

Oh, yes greed and violence is still not out of the world.
If that girl who was singing her song perhaps in the late seventies,
is still basing her world view on what she sees in TV, she may still be convinced that nothing is changing.

IF you do not manage to see major changes in the past decade, try thinking in centuries.
last century we were in the middle of world war 1. The Germans had invaded so many countries.
The great depression was still on its way, antibiotics had not been invented, travel was for most people mainly by foot.

Even though I like the rhythm of the song by les Poppy's, the text makes not sense at all.
If we base our worldview on the guns we see in television, we are sooo far from reality.
We will see guns in television long time after all guns have been rusted away from disuse.

Yes, yes, everything is changing
And it is changing fast and for the better.
Dare to see it. This is not naive optimism
It is a simple sense for reality
,

Urgent

Slowly humankind is moving from greed to kindness.
We do have very good reasons to speed up this movement

Technology and science keep advancing exponentially
posing exponentially big dangers to the existence of our humans

Greedy malicious men or women may do greedy malicious things
leading to malicious results for our species.

It is high time we manage to replace the greed and malice by overwhelming kindness
It is the most logical thing to happen. We have been on the slow limb of the exponential curve
for tremendously long. We have slowly improved the care for orphans, we have slowly done away with the oppression of women, we have slowly done away with slavery, we have slowly removed apartheid, ...

Surely the inflection point and the sharply upwards limb of the exponential curve of our kindness revolution cannot be far away. It is the most logical thing to happen. We have been far too long searching for happiness in the very wrong place. Hard working farmers enjoy often more peace and happiness than cheating billionaires who get only stress and worry about the possibility of being caught. How much clearer can it become, how much cleverness does one need to see that peace and happiness reside in kindness and honesty. It is the most logical thing to expect that humanity gets wise enough soon to enjoy everlasting kindnesses from each other.

It becomes a bit urgent however. Let us all speed it up by performing at least one random act of kindness every day. Who knows one of your 365 kind acts in a year may inspire a thousand others and snowball into a hurricane of kindness that makes up the critical point of the exponential curve.

The eye

People say:
Beauty is in the eye 
of the beholder
But sometimes I feel
it is really in the things
 
I wonder:
Is there an eye
of any beholder
that 'd not find beauty
in the overwhelming elegance
of the wondrous shells
I found today
on the beach

Roots for everyone's heart

Roots For Everyone's Heart - (Aufie Zophy)

There is a tree
A wonderful tree
The tree of kindness
It is the fastest growing tree
In this world, God bless

There is a tree
The wonderful kindness tree
Taking deep roots forever to last
In a million people's heart
Spouting and growing enormously fast

There is a tree
That wonderful kindness tree
It grows so fast, that soon enough
The whole wide world on sea and earth
will be filled with comfort and love

There is a tree
That wonderful tree of kindness
Roots spreading in another million hearts
spouting and growing reaching high and wide
And then in another million hearts it starts

And then another two million
And five million more to come
A billion hearts soon will follow
I already smell its wonderful blossom
Roots in everyone's heart will show

Oh, it is growing so fast, this tree
let's sit and enjoy in its amazing shadow
And just let the roots in your heart grow!

Aufie Zophy

U-turn

This morning a busy clinic (polyclinic, follow up of the sick new-borns)
At about 1 pm it had finished.
A clinic, if done well is always a bit tiring but also satisfying.
I started my car to go for lunch and drove out of the parking space

That time, my telephone rings.
One of my neighbors: Doctor, are you in the hospital?
Me: No, actually I just left the hospital.
Neighbor: My uncle is admitted to the ward after a traffic accident. He fractured his ribs and is
.     in real pain. We asked the ward doctor, but did not understand why they do not give more
.     medication.
Me: I just left the hospital. After this I 'll be back and have teaching. Will you be in the ward
.     at 4 PM? I will be free then to drop by in the ward
Neighbor: OK, Doctor, I will be there.

Immediately after closing the telephone conversation, I thought: if the man is in pain and I will go and see him only 3 hours from now, what kind of animal am I? I immediately made a u-turn and parked back my car, went to the ward, sought clarification from the ward doctor, called the anesthesiologist who was very nice and came within a very short time. The anesthesiologist explained  the situation in very clear words to the wife, brother and nephew of the patient. She also agreed to increase the pain control gradually while monitoring the side effects closely.

Oh my God. I was so happy to have made that U-turn. I think it was You reminding me about my own values and principles at just the right time. Thanks so much.

A wonderful key

One of the most wonderful keys
to good living is perhaps comprised
in the following very short reflection:

People like sincerity and integrity. 
If we manage to be sincere and have integrity, 
happiness will be never far away. 

Every falsehood brings a thousand times more stress than comfort.
Falsehood brings a thousand times more stress than comfort
Yes, a thousand times more stress than comfort.

Pest, falsehood is pest, sincerity is health



.. 

Dangerous Harmony

Living in total harmony is dangerous
Dangerous to the huge alcohol industry
They may go bankrupt

Living in total harmony is dangerous
Dangerous to the enormous drug cartels
They may crumble down to nothing

Living in total harmony is dangerous
To some religious leaders preaching doom and hell
They thrive on creating discord and hatred

Living in total harmony is dangerous
Dangerous for some politicians
They get votes by creating illusions of threats

Living in total harmony is dangerous
Dangerous for our own (pre)judgements
Let us live in total harmony anyway

Let us live in complete harmony anyway
Let us live in all encompassing harmony anyway
Let us choose total harmony anyway.

Harmony, make it total
Make it complete
Make it all encompassing

The alcohol and drug industry can stop destroying lives
Let the people there convert their business to charity

Let the preachers of doom and wicked politicians alone
They can become real volunteers operating in anonymity

Choose total harmony anyway...

(inspired by a text from Osho)

Common

Each human is unique
No one is exactly like us, even not if we have twin or triplet brothers or sisters.
We can choose to focus on all our differences

But as humans we do have so many things in common.
We can choose to focus on what we have in common.

Recently I encountered clocks that turn counterclockwise
the numbers are arranged counterclockwise and everything seems inverted
There was some religious and astronomical explanation given on the why.
That is now a good example of focusing on the wrong thing.

Until recently the whole world has used clocks turning clockwise.
Everyone has been used to it and no one was ever having a doubt what is clockwise and what is counterclockwise. Turning counterclockwise is not worse or better than turning clockwise. It just had been a worldwide convention that clocks turn clockwise and if anyone in the whole world said clockwise, anyone else would know how something was turning

Now religious leaders come to tell that it should be turning the other way.
That creates yet another difference for the followers, they can be proud of.
Our clocks turn like that and the other people's clock turn differently.
Our clocks follow the true teachings and the others are wrong.
To be right while others are wrong is very much on the mind of our leaders.
That is why they feel so useful.

I think it is easy for any common sense person, that how our clocks or watches are turning, does not carry a dime of importance to the world or to our God.
So often I hope that one day we can really give up on finding all the differences between our cultures and the cultures of others soooo important.
So often I hope that one day we can really be aware that what we feel and think in common is what tends to really matter.

There are principles and values that are common to all people, no matter where we live.
Let us get focused on these. There is nothing wrong in appreciating our cultures and rites, practicing them conscientiously. But our culture and our rites do not make us superior or inferior to anyone else.

Just good

Just be good, my friends!
Just do good, my friends!
The answer to the question,
"what makes us happy?"
is that simple, just be good, just do good.

Giving an excessive tip to person who surely is not wealthy;
trying to inspire a friend not to give up;
stroking a cat over the head until it purrs that it's a pleasure;
laughing together with a child for no good reason.

Just be good, my friends
Just do good, my friends

I invite you, my friends
to write  in the comments
a few examples of when
you were just good,
you just did good
It will inspire others,
It will help speed up
the upcoming inevitable kindness revolution

Suffering 1.01

Suffering
All of us have been suffering to a certain extent
If you say, you didn't, you may be not most truthful to yourself at this moment.

But why do we have to suffer?
Why can the world not be without it?

Some people believe that suffering is brought about by human errors
Somehow we were given a big freedom at birth
and through our errors, we have created suffering for our self.
... that is only partly true.
Some suffering is indeed self-inflicted to a certain degree
A good example is the person seeking relief in alcohol abuse
Sure the person started with a level of suffering, but the abuse of alcohol makes it worse.

Other more delicate examples of self inflicted suffering may lay in the wrong use of our mind.
Pessimism, negativity, unnecessary worries, unfounded fears may all lead to unnecessary suffering.

But definitely not all suffering is self inflicted. Did a child choose something wrong or think in a wrong way if it gets a malignancy? The answer is no. The loss of a loved one. Even though some diseases such as stomach ulcers may be related to stress and wrong living and a lot of diseases are related to unhealthy life style, still a lot of disease are not .

When in 2010, only 7 months apart, I fractured my vertebra and my shoulder, I underwent a great deal of suffering. But a bad part of my suffering came about through my lack of acceptance, especially after the second fracture.

Sometimes we suffer for prolonged times, because we cannot accept. I truly suffered after the death of my mother. I suffered a long time. True enough I was missing her madly. But during prayerful reflection, I received some insight that alleviated this type of suffering. Rather than focusing on the absence of my mother now, I was trying to focus on the wonderful, the many fantastic moments we had enjoyed together. The bitterness of missing made gradually place for the gratitude of having had.
The way we accept difficulties may play an important role in the degree and the way we experience some types of suffering.

Suffering cannot be avoided. All of us do suffer to a certain extent in our lives. We do not enjoy it. Some suffering can be prevented by our way of living. Some can be prevented by our way of thinking. The unpreventable suffering can be altered sometimes by the way we accept it.

I am not an expert on suffering. But the above is based and originated/built up from a prayerful reflection I had written down in 1992.

I wish you a life with minimal suffering. If suffering comes anyhow, realizing that it often makes us wiser and stronger, can give some relief. The song, "what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger" has some truth in it.

The Eagle

The firm wind caresses
each of my brown eagle feathers
The softness of the fresh air
kisses my white eagle cheeks

Below, the long nipah leaves
wave me a warmhearted welcome
The ripples on the shallow river
greet me with a thousand lights

I soar, i flap once and soar a lot more
Steering a bit to the left and to the right
I reach the beach and the shore,
Turquoise and blue, a lovely sight

A lone unshaven man stands
close to the breaking waves
His arms spread, his eyes closed,
his face towards the winds of the sea

I sincerely wonder:
what kind of poetry can a man write,

If he has never seen the world
Through the eyes of an eagle
If he has never floated above the world
High in the skies like me, the eagle

Street children

I came back from Manila.
I was for four days visiting the oldest University in Asia,
The University Santo Tomas.
A wonderful place.

On the way from and to the airport,
we saw some "street children" selling things near the traffic lights
The sight was really touching my heart

Is there something we can do for these children?
Somehow they need warmth of caring persons
Somehow they need education.

If you have good ideas
If you are willing to support a project for educating
the street children of Manila,
please do comment below.

All ideas are welcome.

VVIPs

My family,
My wife,
my two sons,
The VVIPs of my heart...

Do you believe?

Do you believe in a God?
Do you believe in one God?
Do you believe that you do NOT know
 the exact nature of that God?
Or do you believe you know?

Our ancestors believed there was a God
One God. They believed.
They believed they did not know the exact nature of God
So they searched to know more
They searched for Truth

Do you believe our ancestors found the complete and final truth?
Do you believe that between them then and now
quite a number of people have lived who would twist the truth
if they could themselves benefit from it?

Our ancestors have discovered wonderful truths
Not complete and final truths but wonderful truths
In the process they taught us some wonderful prayers
If we sincerely search for truth in our life
we do not have to start from scratch

If we sincerely search for truth
We need knowledge
We do need critical interpretation
We need rational thinking
We need silence and contemplation
We need to connect
We need spirituality

If we are serious in our search
our search will never end.
We will search all traditions
We will distill essentials and try to separate
essentials from corrupted elements that may have crept in
throughout the ages

Sometimes we adopt blindly beliefs from scholars
Sometimes we have done this for decades
If we did this, we may never get back to a sincere search for truth
A search may reveal truths that do not match exactly
what was stamped into our minds by our teachers
This may be much too painful, to go on searching
And that is why searchers for Truth are not liked in many places

Do you believe?
Do you search?
Do you experience?

With Globalization, more people start to search sincerely
Sincere searching will solidify belief in our God
It will weaken the importance of rituals
It will strengthen the kindness, love and wisdom
It will diminish extremism
It will bring people from all races and cultures much closer together

Live a life of love

I want to make a positive difference in the world
I want a happy family life.
I want to perform so many random acts of kindness

.       I want to do this today

I want health, perfect health and harmony
I want to be a source of inspiration
I want to write, write, write

.       I want to live a life of love

I want to be grateful today
for the many blessings in my life
I want to live a life of love

Enough

I just saw an amazing video.
a lady was talking about the biggest problem in the world:
So many people feel they are not enough.
You are enough
I am enough
We are enough

So true.
If we feel not enough, we will never be happy.
So convince yourself now that you are enough
Write it on a note you hang above your desk
Write it on the mirror in your bathroom
I am enough
You are enough
We are enough

I think that lady made so much sense.
Feeling to be enough is soooo important.

Only if we are aware

Life is a miracle
A wonderful tree thrills my eyes
It is a miracle
A magnificant song enters my ears
It is a miracle
A delicious soup amuses my tongue
It is a miracle
The warm sunlight cuddles my skin
It is a miracle
The smell of sweet lavender reaches my brain
It is a miracle

My feet touch the grass while I walk
It is a miracle
An original thought crosses my mind
It is a miracle
A lovely gesture moves my heart
It is a miracle
A heart felt prayer hugs my soul
It is a miracle
Oh yes, life is a miracle
But only if we are aware
of the miracle

Aufie Zophy

Wishing

Wishing someone something wonderful
has something extra-ordinary

I read recently:
the moment you read this
I am wishing something wonderful
to happen to you in the next 24 hours

This touched me and had a strange effect on me
I hope it touches you too:

I wish something wonderful for you
in the next 24 hours. :)

No worries about the world

Tonight I witnessed a completely compassionate doctor-patient relationship.
My niece, Jannah, needs an operation for the heart.
The surgeon from Italy came to explain everything about the operation.
He did it in a very compassionate way.
His medical officer translated the whole story in a very compassionate way.
The parents of Jannah were aware of all risks but at the same time very confident.

After i had witnessed the whole event,
I thought for awhile about compassion in this world
There is soooo much of it.
We do not need to worry too much for the world of tomorrow
Compassion is almost everywhere and
almost everywhere it is on the increase

I am so confident.
We are moving to a more compassionate world.
Compassion and kindness increase exponentially
I can't wait for us to reach the inflection point
Once we reach that, we can only dream
what a nice world it will be.

Soft And Lovely Mood

Deep inside my heart and mind
a soft and lovely mood, I find
it warms and lights a gentle spark
my soul no longer in the dark
A flame of gold, a superb light
A lovely fire, sweet and bright

Humble, gentle, passionately kind
Smooth simplicity endlessly refined
Slow and tender, flames increase
Fueled by truth and love and peace
I can see so clearly, feel so good
It started with a soft and lovely mood

Aufie Zophy

Give us Words

Give us words

Give us the words
The words that can cut deep into
And destroy the soul of arrogance

Give us the words
The words that can fuel the flames
Of passion for truth and honesty

Give us the words
That can destroy the seeds
The seeds of greed and envy

Give us the words
The words that can fertilise and help to bloom
Perpetual pink cherry blossoms of helpfulness

Give us the words
Words that can pulverise and make to dust
The ugly rocks of Egotism and selfishness

Give us the words
That ignite the rocket engines to never stop
a huge world changing kindness revolution

O my God, give us the words
that lead to endless unconditional love
for every human soul in this amazing world

Aufie Zophy

Mushrooms for the heart

Mushrooms are delicious!

There are mushrooms that are nice and nutritious
but there are also mushrooms that are toxic and dangerous.
The food that we eat makes our body grow and healthy, or not
The food for our body, we swallow and literally internalize it.

What we read and hear is food for our mind and our heart.
Some of it helps us to grow and be healthy spiritually.
To become good and compassionate persons
To become respectful and loving, humble and successful
To follow truly the path of our God

Some of it is toxic and dangerous.
It tends to make us feel superior and intolerant.
Hateful and snobbish
This is bad food for our mind and soul


That is why we always have to be careful
Careful if we choose to eat mushrooms
Careful before we internalize any message
be it from other persons, teachers,
the news or the internet.

Messages that give our ego a boost of superiority
are most likely a bit toxic for our soul

If we eat a wrong mushroom, we may have stomach upset
and our life may be messed up for a day
If we internalize the wrong thoughts or messages
our life may be messed up for years to come

Love entails a spiritual growth together,
looking together for fantastic food for mind and soul
perhaps during a delicious dinner conversation.
Spiritual health, humility, compassion
The true path of our God.

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Please visit also:
1. the archive of this blog (right side of the screen)
- can also browse the blog by label, under the archive -
2.  inspirational/motivational quotes from Hans

3. Small Prayers For a Big World (by Hans)

and Poems by Aufie Zophy

What a unique family!

You are a unique person.
You have a unique family.

Do you remember the times
you were grateful for your family
you were praying for them?

Do you remember the times
you could feel their love
you could feel their care

Do you remember those meals together
those vacations, those single moments
Those well wishes, the small acts of kindness
the small acts of love?

Unique, isn't it?
It is so unique.

All mothers care, all fathers love
But none loves and cares exactly like yours
All sons love, all daughters care
But none loves and cares like yours

Unique, isn't it?

I think a great way to end this little reflection
is with a sense of gratitude, a sense of pride
for the unique ties we have with our family
for the superbly unique human beings we are.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Care and talk

Recently I have been quite busy with administrative tasks.
But on Thursdays I have made it my commitment to do the rounds in the newborn ward
At the very least, once a week,
I can taste the full beauty of the medical profession.

The full beauty but also the full burden, because not all is going well all the time.
Yesterday, I had a round and there were so many problems.
Around five pm, I managed to make some time to talk to parents
Compassionate care and talk is still such a valuable thing
Valuable for the patients, but also valuable for the doctors.

Whenever I manage to care and talk,
it makes me really feel good
I came home way after 7 pm
but it felt good.

And yes, the ward rounds pose a big burden
but if we  tackle the burden with a compassionate heart
the care and talk, resulting, make up moments of true beauty.

Who am I ??

Who I am?

I think all of us are asked by others, who we are on and off.
We tend to start the answer with or name, our job, our place of origin,
where we live, something about our family, our hobbies and so on.

If however we ask this very existential question to ourselves,
it gets a completely different meaning.
It encourages us to probe in the deepest of our being,
which, I think, is not easy at all.

We can start to think about a few things we are not.
I am not my body but at the same time I am at least a bit my body, I think.
If I would lose a part of my body,
the I who experiences the loss, would not be diminished
but the I could not help but feel a loss.

I am not my thoughts, or my mind
and yet my thoughts and mind are such an important part of me.
I can try to choose my thoughts, I can try to control my mind.
So I am not thoughts nor mind, but still without them
I would definitely not be who I am.

The very same thing could be said about my emotions.
So, no I am not my emotions but they make up a big and essential part of me

Remains, the question, if I am not my body, my mind or my heart (my emotions),
who am I?

The obvious answer would be: I am my soul and my soul uses body, mind and heart.
But who then is this soul?
Where sits my conscience? Is it part of my soul, of the I or is it residing in my mind?
Where does my ambition come from? Is it imposed by the world, or does it come from inside?
Why it needs to be really quiet to connect to my soul.
If I connect to my soul, does this imply I am not my soul or does it mean I connect to myself, my deepest self?
Who am I? Is that part I call I immaterial or not?
Who am I?
A difficult but very interesting question to consider from time to time.

Wandering in the depths of our interior being
has somehow a calming and peaceful effect.

Inspiration

For 21 years, I have been teaching medical students.
Initially I thought I need to teach them knowledge, knowledge, knowledge.
But along the way, knowledge has become available at our fingertips.

A good teacher is no longer a provider of knowledge.
A good teacher is a guide.
A better teacher still is one who can inspire.

But if we want to inspire others,
motivate them and even share values,
that is not an easy thing to do.

Sometimes we tend to get too excited about our own beliefs, opinions, and get judgmental.
If that happens, we miserably fail to motivate and inspire and rather demotivate the students.
Especially in the field of medicine, so often we are dealing with difficult situations.
Most of these situations demand a lot of strength from doctors and students emotionally and spiritually.

As a teacher I feel these issues have to be addressed.
The way we address these issues is very important.
We do need to listen more than speak
We do need to ask questions more than give advice
We need to be more sensitive and less judgmental.
We need to put our ego aside and teach with soul.

All these things are much easier said than done.
and even though we often try to be good listeners,
all too often we may impose our own opinions and judgements.
We may hurt some feelings along the way and
our well intended inspiring session may become a demotivating session in the end.

I often pray for guidance during my teachings.
I know that sometimes I have truly failed to inspire
I know that sometimes I have inspired students too.

Perhaps it is OK to make mistakes, as long as we learn from mistakes.
I am a normal human being and like positive feedback and
do not like much to read negative feed back
But it is the negative feed back that allows us to grow;
it is the negative feed back that allows us to learn from our mistakes.
I do not get upset about negative feedback
I honestly admit that I do not like it
but I still embrace it as an opportunity to learn and improve myself.

I have not lost my ideals along the way
I still want to become the best teacher in the world
The best doctor in the world
The best father in the world
The best husband in the world
The best brother, the best uncle and so on
For each of the above I have a long way to go and time may be much too short.
I am aware I may not achieve any of these goals in my lifetime but they remain ideals to work towards.  :)

The cat and the wall

A twelve year old boy was walking down a narrow lane and met a wall. 
The wall was not very high but extremely slippery. 
He tried to climb over it, around it or under it, but did not manage to pass the wall
After an hour of intense effort he sat down and a tear left his right eye.

At that moment a very small cat came by
It tried to climb the wall but failed miserably
It started to meow and cry loudly. 
The mother cat came
The baby cat jumped on the shoulders of the mother
and the mother elegantly jumped over the wall.

The boy went home, asked help from his mom
His mom lifted him gently over the wall 


click here for the story in poem format