Morning magic

Just waking up is already like real magic, but then, while still in bed, saying a small prayer in our mind, that just transitioned from peaceful sleep to peaceful wakefulness, is quite miraculous too. 
    
For breakfast, I had bread, coffee, orange juice and each was tasting divine. 

I spent some time on the beach, yeah, cleaning it, because the sea had returned quite a bit of plastic bottles that had been inadvertently deposited in its water. The clean beach was giving me a good dose of satisfaction and it was as if the sea was smiling. The clouds had hidden the sun for most of the morning, but once I finished the cleaning it came out and shone in the most fantastic way on the waves and the deep sea.

When I think at night about the day that is about to end, most of the time, I think most about the mornings. I am not sure why, but surely the morning hours do have something special.

I wish for you that the next morning will be truly wonderful. :)

Seeing with love

This morning was beautiful:
the casuarina trees and coconut trees were displaying a fresh greenness that contrasted with the blue skies behind them and in the blue skies, some scanty white clouds were creating amazing patterns looking like artistic grids.
Seeing this made me thankful,
thankful for the skies
thankful for my eyes.

Perhaps our eyes are the most wonderful gift we received from the universe.
Let us be truly grateful for eyes and see through them with a super loving heart.

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If your eyes hunger for some beauty now, I have put pictures of flowers on a moving website:
https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans 
and also pictures of beautiful skies, I have seen on a different website:
 https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans

Reflection

This morning I really lost my temper for the wrong reason.
Sometimes we have a faulty perception of a situation and get really upset about it.
When we get to know the truth, we can see how we came to the wrong perception,
but in the meantime, we may have been displaying foolishly our anger.

All we can do is apologize after such an event, but we need also to reflect on how to prevent things like this from happening again. Maybe reflection is one of the most important in human life :)

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If your mind hungers for some reflection on good things,
I have written some essays on good things, A bit more than a quote
but still very short: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/ 

If your soul longs for something a bit more poetic
something a bit inspirational but still short, you mail like:
https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/ 

Prayer

Dear friends,

Prayer, true prayer is not about receiving
It is more like a process of conceiving
It is more like a becoming-aware
that all the love we want is already there.
It is like suddenly it becomes bright and clear
that all the peace we long for is really here.

That enormous creative Intelligence
has given us so many gifts and talents.
it becomes normal to be well and healthy
abundance is everywhere, we feel wealthy
Let us pray with our whole heart and soul
and see the world getting better for all.

Purpose or discontentment?

I like this thought provoking quote. There is much more to it than initially meets the eye. The inner longing for continuous growth and living a life filled with purpose is the positive explanation, while the endless discontentment with what we have, with our little imperfections is the negative one. Giving up the negative one, accepting our small imperfections and becoming aware of our true strengths will help us grow into the positive interpretation :)

 https://reflectionsbyhans.blogspot.com/2018/07/i-wrote-poem-some-time-ago-and-its.html?m=1

Amazing flowers of love

If your words contain seeds of hatred
I will catch them before they enter my heart
I will remove them from my being
Crush them, destroy them, flush them away

If your words contain seeds of love
I will open all doors and let them in
I will plant them in the soil of my heart
And let them bloom into amazing flowers

Amazing flowers of love

Aufie Zophy

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I hope you enjoyed the above small poem

Let us not allow politicians, religious bigots or anyone else

to manipulate us into any form of hatred.

  Let us choose love.

  Let us guard the doors of our mind and heart 

  and NOT let in any words that cause us to hate

  Let us open the doors of our mind and heart 

  for any words that encourage to love :)

Endless

We are on the road to a better world
It is easy to see if we look back far in time:
Two hundred years ago.
We have travelled far on that road.

We kept going, one hundred years ago,
up to now, what a difference we have made.

And we are still driving on that road.
We are going faster and faster,
and the journey becomes nicer and nicer.

We have travelled far since ten years ago too.
Even since last year, our world has kept improving.

People are getting nicer to each other,
friendlier and friendlier
Every little act of kindness
is amplifying, multiplying
more people than ever
appreciate what brings true peace of mind,
appreciate what brings true happiness.

We are still driving.
The road seems now idyllic
but as nice as it is now,
it keeps getting more and more beautiful.

Allow yourselves to be amazed
Enjoy the amazing journey and
bit by bit let's actively contribute to that world
that tomorrow will be a bit better than today.

The road seems endless.
And endless it is.
This ever-improving, wonderful journey!

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A good idea to make good progress on the journey
is to read a few very short essays on good things.
This is the link https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

What a miracle

If I think about toes,
each of them has 2 or three bones,
tendons muscle, skin, nailbed,
blood vessels, nerves and so much more.
I can move them, feel them, use them for walking.
Just now I went to the beach and my toes were in the seawater.
It felt nice, the water of the waves gushing against my toes,
tickling all spaces around them

I could write about my feet now in a very similar way,
but I choose just to do it in my imagination,
to let the miracle of my feet penetrate my full consciousness

As I move up from feet to the rest of my body,
it becomes more and more miraculous.
How my internal organs function and keep me alive.

My heart, my lungs, my skin, and the miracles of my face and brain.
Thanks, gratefulness, thanks, thanks, thanks.

Surely some of us think it all organized by itself,
while self-organizing things tend only to become more chaotic.
To have an organism like we have there would have to happen
so many one in a quintillion events simultaneously.
There is a Creative Intelligence in this world pushing forward our evolution.

Sparkling light

If a jar is filled with sand, we can still add water,
If a bottle is filled with water, we can still add gas,
to make it carbonated, and sparkling

If a heart is filled with blood, we can still add love.
Added love will make our blood shine though our skin,
provide light for ourselves and our family and friends,
as vital as sunlight for the green leaves on my trees,
which floods them with goodness,
so essential to live and grow.

All we need to do is open our heart
for the peace in which we bathe every morning.
let the love flow, sparkle, and shine and share it with all we meet.
Every simple loving kind act will trigger similar responses from others
and soon the world will be engulfed by the next revolution:
a kindness and wisdom revolution, triggered by a few simple acts of love.

Maybe

Maybe you have heard the story of the Chinese farmer:

One day, the horse of a Chinese farmer ran away.
In the evening the other farmers came to visit and said: How Sad!
The farmer said: "Maybe"
The next day the horse came back together with seven wild horses.
In the evening the other farmers came to visit and said: How fortunate!
The farmer said: "Maybe"
The next day the son of the farmer tried to tame one of the wild horses
He fell off the horse and broke his leg.
In the evening the other farmers came to visit and said: How Sad!
The farmer said: "Maybe"
The next day conscription officers came to enroll people for the army
They did not enroll the son because his leg was broken. 
In the evening the other farmers came to visit and said: How fortunate!
The farmer said: "Maybe"

What a great story! (maybe 😅)
Whatever happens in our life, as good or bad it may seem initially,
may be happening for a reason and the real effect, sometimes,
we see only much, much later, maybe 😀. 

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I just created a website with pictures of beautiful flowers.
If you have time, please enjoy it safely by clicking here 

Victorious attitude

"Carry yourself as if you are on a great mission."
Actually, you and I are on a great mission, aren't we?
Let us be continuously aware of this and show it to the world.

"Let us make a triumphant first impression. Act and behave like a winner.
The places given to whiners in this world are not among the best.
A victorious attitude is important.

We all have qualities that will help us to be a success.
Let us be aware of these qualities and carry this awareness on our face.
Keep such awareness on the surface of your mind.
Allow this awareness to generate positive expectations, positive thoughts.
Do away with negative thinking. Let us become the master of our minds,
not a slave of the negativity projected by others, not a slave of pessimism

There is not much place in your life for gloomy face, for gloomy gait or manner.
Look everyone in the face and talk to all as if they will give you a gem of great value.
Most people we meet can indeed give some information, teach us a lesson that will help us achieve our goal, our great mission.

Once we convince ourselves of the above, we will have set our internal compass for success.
Let us follow this compass, even if we are in the middle of dense fog and we cannot see our destination. Let us sail on and do not turn back.

_________________________
The above is a condensed version of a chapter in a book by Orison Swett Marden (1848-1924). I came across this chapter, read ït and felt differently after having read it. I really needed this type of talk at this time. There is a saying: when the student is ready, the teacher appears. For me, this happened just now, by bumping into this text and reading. It is my wish and my hope that some of the readers of this blog may experience something similar, if not for this post, maybe another one. Please visit in the archive also the posts of 2014. 
I have also written some really short essays on good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

One four four zero

Every day, every day is a beautiful day
Every day, every day ...

A day counts 1440 minutes
Millions of things can happen in a day
Millions of thoughts will cross our minds
Millions of good deeds can be done
Millions of inspiring words can be spoken

Isn't it a pity that all too often,
we let full days just pass by,
just pass by.

...
...
...

But tomorrow, I do not want the day to just pass by.
I will take 10 minutes to actively look for some beauty:
some beauty in nature, on a picture or even on the net.
I will take 10 minutes to think some nice positive thoughts
actively looking for the good in anyone, in anything
I will take 10 minutes to speak some soft and loving words
speaking some encouraging words a bit of inspiration

I will take 10 minutes to reflect and pray.
to let my heart be grateful and refilled with love
I will have still 1400 minutes left for anything else. 


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Note by author:
Maybe worth to take 10 minutes to read a few essays on good things.
Easily and safely accessible on this link:  https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Talent

While reading in my "thoughts-collection"-book, I encountered the following amazing quote by Leo Buscaglia: Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God.

I think this is so inspiring, so motivating.
We each have our own talents.
Do we really know what they are?
Do we really use them for a good cause?

When we manage to use our best talent for a good cause,
we feel so good about it, it makes us feel that we make a difference,
it makes us feel true peace of mind!

Whenever, I read fantastic quotes like this,
they put me in a thinking mood.

The above quote on a wonderful picture, I found on the internet:

Let us all read this quote slowly again,

Let our brains absorb it completely and let

it be a source of inspiration. :)


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Another quote by Leo Buscaglia:

"The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises."

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And wonderful story by the same author, animated on Youtube:
The fall of Frieddie, the leaf 
 

Fire!

A man fell in a septic tank.
He was up to his shoulders in the dirt
No matter how hard he tried, he could not get out.
He called for help but nobody seemed to hear him.

Then he shouted: "Fire, fire, fire!"
A passer-by heard something and called the fire brigade
The fire fighters arrived and searched for fire but found none.
Then they found the man and helped him out.

"Why did you shout fire?" asked the firemen.
If I would have shouted "shit", you would not have come!

Simple joke. I hope it makes you laugh a bit
Laughing is healthy.
Every day, we should at least laugh a bit

Back to gratefulness

All too often we go on and live a busy life
not having, not making any time for reflection.

A good way to start reflecting on our day,
is to think back about what it is that we are most grateful for.
To find and choose what we are truly most grateful for,
we have to go over all the good things and make a choice: what was best.
To relive all the good things of our day, will have an effect on our mood.

Even on the most dreary days,
we tend to see a thing of beauty;
we tend to hear a word of love;
we tend to do an act of kindness.

Our small and big achievements;
our interaction with the world;
a small fact we learned anew;
a mighty tasteful bite;
a bit of friendship;
a caring soul;
a wonderful sky,...

The bench

I am on a holiday in the Black Forest.
Yesterday we made a long walk.
A long walk until my feet hurt, until my legs were really tired.
There were not a lot of benches along the way.
But when a bench appeared in a distance, I knew, I had to stop for a while
just to let my muscles restore for a short while, to let my heart take a bit of extra oxygen.

While my frequent "pit stops" were like a bit of an embarrassment in front of my much fitter and trained family members who had also joined the walk, now I reflected for awhile and became aware that these small stops were the moments of the walk that were most enjoyable part of the walk.

They gave us all some time to truly sit and enjoy to the fullest, the beauty of the surrounding, to truly connect with my family members. Often we tend to get engulfed by the desire to reach the finish,
to prove our own fitness and set down a reasonable time to finish our walk/trip.
If we manage to forget about the performance measures surrounding the walk,
and manage to turn the walk into an adventure to inhale inhale the beauty of the surroundings, it becomes a bit more leisurely, a bit more truly exploring, a bit more memorable, a bit more... It ads a bit to the experience, a bit that is difficult to fully name. 

The gift of peace

The tranquillity of the night
touches my heart and mind.
a stillness emerges and
reaches deep inside
connecting to my quiet soul

My soul shines a soft and glowing light
on all emotions and turbulence of the day
I relive them but without the edges
I re-feel them but there are no sharp points
bitterness morphs into softness;
softness transforms into love

The tranquillity of the night
listening to my soul
love and wisdom
the gift of peace

To know or experience

You may know about water, how good it is, how much it can relieve thirst and how clean it can make you. But if we do not drink it or bathe in it, the knowledge does not do us much good.

So is it with God, that amazing creative Power in the universe. We can read about, hear about, believe in God, but as long as we do try to internalize the Wisdom, as long as we do not experience God, and truly live in that supreme Love, we do not truly see, and experience the tremendous Peace, we are mere "knowers", hardly benefiting from this knowledge.

Sometimes I feel the leaders of organized religions pretend they can be the connection between God and their followers, which puts them in a seriously questionable but very powerful position towards those who choose to swallow that way of teaching.

Up we go

I get in the lift
I press the button heaven
and up we're going

Imagine that we could do that,
Just step into a lift, press a button, labelled heaven,
and there we go! We go to heaven for a while and
then we may come back
in case we start to miss our earth too much.

I enjoyed the imagination, and I hope you did as well.
The sheer impossibility of it makes it feel a bit nonsensical
Before getting back fully to reality,
please read on, below the picture.

If we imagine what heaven might feel like,
we do think about bliss, peace of mind, peace of heart,
we do think about intense uncompromisable happiness
and love, love, love.

If tomorrow we wake up and step in the lift of the new day,
we can choose to press the button heaven
by choosing a life of unconditional love and giving
by choosing a life of selfless service
by forgiving all our enemies, giving up our grudges
by choosing thankfulness for what we have
by choosing  a day filled with small random acts of kindness
and up we go to a state of bliss and peace and love.
Up we are going

Please now read again the small senryu (a haiku about human nature):
I get out of bed

I choose a life like heaven
and up we're going

When it is so hard to love

When it is so hard to love politicians,
it may be better to read a bit less about politics.

At first sight you may disagree with the above statement but deep inside I feel there is a huge truth behind it. Whenever I, or we, read about politics, we tend to end up hating more one person. These politicians achieve positions of great power, most often not because they have superbly good intentions. They want to be in power, they want to be rich, they want to control. In order to gain control there is a need to get votes and that is where all the promises come. Promises, they know they cannot keep and quite often promises, they have no intention at all to keep. A close call to be in power and for the sake of a coalition all the promises are thrown overboard.

You may think I am too negative about the people in power, but on average their egos are too big, and they refuse to think about what are the consequences of what they do. Democracy has dramatically improved to odds of avoiding tyrannical abuse, but we the people with our voting right, allow ourselves all too often to be manipulated by the psychological warfare against us. Politicians need to have a reason for you to vote for him or her. So they create fear and discord and blow problems out of proportion, to get our support for their cause. Look at what is happening in America at this very moment! But if we look at any other country, we will find politicians using the same tactics and techniques to create division, targeting minorities so the majority can vote for them. They are aware this is extremely dangerous and has led in the past to Nazism and ethnic cleansing, mass criminal activities against a target group, destroying nations, destroying the majority even more than the murdered minority, since the murderous majority will have to live with the crimes committed in the name of their false-politicians-induced-exaggerations.

Somehow, the limitation of democracy is the psychological manipulation of the voters. We are not always voting for who can lead the country best. After the disaster of the presidency of Ronald Reagan who was an actor and destroyed so many families in so many countries in south America and the rest of the world, who gave a real bad name to America, one would think the Americans would have learned their lesson, but no. Another TV personality comes along and wow, wow, wow, is voted into presidency, no matter how troubled his past how full of scandals his financial and personal situation.

Seriously, when I read politics, I tend to lose my peace of mind. And this is similar for world politics as for the local politics. Politicians, the media and their whole machinery can make us hate each other, can make us hate the persons in power.

I have decided to expose myself much less to reading politics. I will follow it from a certain distance. It is too important to ignore politics as a whole, but we do not need a daily dose of it. If I manage to update myself on a weekly basis, through an hour or two of scanning to websites of all sides of the political divide, I tend to get a much better image, get less absorbed and pulled over, and quite often see through the games of politics played by both sides.

If a political article makes you hate some politicians or makes you hate some groups of people, be careful before you let the intended toxic waste into your mind, heart and soul. It is not easy to remain neutral if people use all psychological tricks on us. I sincerely think the answer is to read less of politics, and to guard our mind from toxic waste as we would guard our garden from toxic waste if one was about to dump it there.

The above may seem to you as quite a negative post. And it is true. It is quite negative. So, perhaps now high time to read some very short essays about good things. Here is the link: essays on good things

Let it flow

In the physical world, our heart lets our blood flow;
In our emotional world it lets our love flow
In our intelligence world, it lets inspiration flow
In our spiritual world, it lets our soul shine.

Make a bit of time today
To do away with all obstacles, all sandbanks
Let it flow.
Let love flow freely
Get inspired and inspire
Let our light inside shine.

Please read a bit more about the greatness inside:
Short essays on good things

Fantastic definition of success

I was looking at a TED talk from a musician, Benjamin Zander,
and he was talking about a definition of success, I had never heard.

I am sure you had guessed already that it was not about material wealth.
That is not a surprise, is it?

But it was also not about being happy or having peace of mind.
He just played a piece of music
and gave a little explanation about it and then played it again.
He moved the audience
And straight after he finished, the audience clapped
and he went close to audience and was clapping harder than anyone in the audience.
He looked a bit like a madman.
But then he explained why he clapped:
Because you were listening.
And there are so many shiny eyes in the audience.
the one who is truly successful he said,
is the one who can surround himself with shiny eyes.

After his explanation, all eyes in his audience were shiny.
My eyes were shiny too.
I was moved by his wisdom more still than by his music.

Listen to a small piece of classical music,
let it move you, let your eyes shine,
then go on with your life and your work
with so much enthusiasm, that the eyes of those around you
shine too.

What a fantastic definition of success!

Essays on good things

When I was a bit younger, I really enjoyed reading essays about certain virtues. I had a book written by Sydney W Bremer, containing just that. Whenever I read something, about let's say politeness, it felt good. Of course, I knew that politeness was a virtue worthy of practicing as much as I can, but after reading the essay, I felt the need to be a bit more polite than usual. It was as if the reading of the essay had brought the virtue of politeness, that was sitting somewhere really deep in my consciousness, way back to the surface of my brain, to the surface of my being.

In today's news, I found hundreds of articles on gun violence, hundreds of articles on vicious politicians making the wrong decisions for the people. I think they do it knowingly which makes it worse.

But before this small post becomes yet another piece on all the negative, I want to announce a small initiative of myself: In an attempt to contribute a tiny bit to balance all negativity with some positivity, I started a series of essays on specifically named good things. Sometimes we want to read something very short and inspiring, but more than merely a quote. My first one is a small essay (less than 400 words, less than a full A4 page long) on respect, the origin and true meaning of respect. I hope you enjoy it:
To read it, please click on respect
I have also one on luck
one on nature
one on greatness
one on ideals
one on empathy
and one on openness
and still writing... 😃

New world view

The need to win and compete
and the need for greed
are the old world view. 

We are moving into a new world view. 
People sticking to greed in the hope to get happiness, 
tend not to find true happiness.
They just tend to want more and more and 
their chase for more and for happiness becomes a frustration.. 

The new world view is sharing. 
No compulsory sharing like in communism 
but voluntary sharing for the sheer happiness 
and peace of mind that it brings. 

Some people cling to the old view 
like an old grumpy typist sticking to an old typewriter. 
But soon everyone will see the truth 
and typewriters and greed will be a thing from the past. :)

I wrote this up in a small rhyming poem. 
please visit the poem at: Aufie Zophy 


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! this post was very much inspired by Michael Beckwith
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Note:Visit the Dutch translation, juweeltjes voor de ziel, by clicking here (hier:))

Experience

I was staying in Kuala Lumpur with my children.
Everything was fine and we stayed in a nice hotel.
The hotel-breakfast was really very expensive
and we had decided to take breakfast somewhere else.

While it felt like a good example for the children,
not to be wasteful with the money,
I think we as a family missed the special experience
of pampering ourselves and have a sumptuous breakfast together
during our very short holiday.

Surely, when considering the price of the food in the hotel,
it was far too expensive, but to have breakfast in a special place,
is more than the price of the food. It is the experience too.

On one side, it feels good to save money,
On the other side, experiences are what life is made off.
I am fully against overspending,
but over-saving may also deprive us from living life to its fullest.

Finding a balance between the two is a bit the art of life, I think.

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Dutch version of some of my post: Juweeltjes voor de ziel
Sister blogs:
Inspirational quotes
Small prayers for a big world
"Big" brother blog (selection of my poems, written under the pen name of Aufie Zophy):
aufiezophypoems

Eternal peace

Just now I went to visit the wife of a dear friend who died last week.
My friend was a little bit handicapped at his feet even though he could walk.
He was a teacher at a school for disabled children and had truly a golden heart.
I loved him for who he was.

I will not meet him again in this world.
But my memories of him will be alive.

When I came back from his place,
I was in quite a deep and pensive mood.
I had all those negative feelings about death
and about missing him for the rest of my life.
As I thought deeper and deeper about death,
I became a bit less negative.

At some time, at some place, for some people
death may be more of a soft longing than purely a fear.
For some people in big suffering it may come as a relief.
But still it separates us living people from the ones we once loved, liked, cherished.
Death, at the end of my reflection, I wrote a short poem about it:

Death

Robber of life,

Robber of love

Source of fear

Source of soft longing

Bringer of peace

Reliever of pain

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Dutch version of some of my post: Juweeltjes voor de ziel
Sister blogs:
Inspirational quotes
Small prayers for a big world
"Big" brother blog (selection of my poems, written under the pen name of Aufie Zophy):
aufiezophypoems

Peace

This morning I prayed
I prayed for peace
I prayed for beauty
I prayed for love

But then became aware
that peace was already filling my room
that beauty was in the colors of the sky
that beauty was in the song of the bird outside
that love was abundant in my heart.

I prayed again
now for guidance to be aware of all peace surrounding us
now for astuteness to notice and make time for all beauty
now for wisdom to share all the love in my heart

I felt the need to serve, to serve today
in a way not breaking any of the peace
in a way creating and sharing some beauty
in a way sharing love with whomever I meet.


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Dutch version of some of my post: Juweeltjes voor de ziel
Sister blogs:
Inspirational quotes
Small prayers for a big world
"Big" brother blog (selection of my poems, written under the pen name of Aufie Zophy):
aufiezophypoems

Choices, never easy.

There are a thousand paths in front of me

But I am sure and declare here solemnly

That one of them is always looking a bit brighter

Along that way, burdens seem to be a bit lighter

But even on that brighter path, we tend to meet a split

Choosing left or right, we are never so sure of it,

That is when the time has come to withdraw of all the buzz

A small reflection in nature and God will show the way to us.

I hope you enjoy the above small rhyme.
Rhyming verses tend to give us some inner joy.
But still, I think in any poem, I search for the message.
I do not like too much poetry that is hard to understand

Two days ago, I met one of my co-workers in USM,
and she was sharing a big dilemma she was facing.
It was quite a personal dilemma so was not in a position to give advice.
I just shared my own experience when I had a big dilemma myself,
that I went for a long walk on a magnificent stretch of beach and
stopped along the way to sit there and enjoy the beauty of the sea.
I said a small prayer and asked some help from above.
My train of thoughts that followed brought me straight "to the right station".
On the way back, I had close to perfect clarity on which choice to make.

When we face an important choice we have to make,
some time in nature, alone, can do real wonders.

Power shift

Why is it that the rich and greedy keep getting richer and greedier?
Why do they seem all powerful?
The reason is that we are greedy too.
The fact that we want their money more than anything else
makes them so extremely powerful.

Slowly, we as a human community are discovering a new truth;
Slowly, we are discovering the power of kindness;
Slowly, we are discovering the power of selfless service.
Kindness and selfless service are so extremely powerful,
yet undiscovered by many of our human friends.

Why are kindness and selfless service much more powerful than money?
because they bring us peace of mind,
because they bring us true happiness
because they make our life better
because they make us feel TRULY good,
all things money seems to do, but doesn't.

Let us speed up this wisdom and kindness revolution.
Let us give due power to kindness and selfless service.
The rich and greedy will fight the wisdom and condemn it,
because it will make them lose their enormous power they have.
The more they fight it, the faster the revolution will spread.

Let us give a boost to the wisdom and kindness revolution today,
and this week, by being extra kind and plan to go the extra mile for one friend.
Let us give it a boost by sharing the good news, that a tremendous shift in power is coming our way.
It has started and is unstoppable. The more we practice, the more we share the news, the faster it will move.

Learning

It is late in the evening
I have some time.
I make some time to think about my day.
What can I learn from my experiences today?

I vividly remember the time I woke up.
Tomorrow I want to wake up in a slightly different way.
I want to be a bit more grateful, and make a bit of time
to at least look at the beauty of dawn.
I hope for a wonderful sunrise but even if it is cloudy,
I will look at the skies, at the trees and flowers in my garden
at least for five minutes, to boost the beauty of my morning.

Tomorrow I want to share my wishes with each member of my family
for them to have a day filled with our Creator's blessings, before I rush
out for work.

Then I think about the encounters with each person at my work.
Today I met with so many people, each enriching my soul at least a bit.
The students, I met.
The datuk professors.
The nurses
The babies I took care off
The parents of my patients
My wife, my children,
My neighbours.
The love I experienced,

I end this small reflection with a heart filled with thanks.
Thanks to all the wonderful beings I was blessed to meet
Thanks to our Creator for allowing me to meet them.
Thanks for being able to make this small reflection a
and share it with all my friends here.

Best wishes to you!

How clever!

How superbly clever must our Creator have been,
to create world with so many different people,
so many cultures, so many religions,
so many opinions, so many talents
so many perceptions, so many convictions,
so many faiths, so many people who are each
so extremely unique!

How could anyone of us experience any growth,
any spiritual growth, emotional growth,
personality growth, character growth,
if we would all be the same, think the same,
feel the same, believe the same!

How superbly clever must our Creator have been!
How exciting is the eternal search of humans
for the Truth with capital T?
How superb is the feeling of discovering ancient text
that said some things you felt for a long time already?

Let us today celebrate our many differences,
see the world as our biggest possible school
We can learn from/respect all our brothers and sisters.
Enjoy the differences between you and your family members,
the differences between you and your neighbors and friends,
the differences between  you and your colleagues
the differences between you and all other people.

How unwise still are so many people
who lock themselves up in one single creed,
condemning to hell all people who think differently;

who refuse to even access the huge wealth of wisdom
found in nature, found in our own soul, found in the whole world.
If our faith is strong enough no need to be afraid of pluralism.
Pluralism is richness that can enhance your faith, ensure your continued growth.

Listening to others, reading widely,  will help us understand, respect.
Of course we do not absorb all ideas offered in all we read or from whomever we meet.
We think, we critically analyse, keep our own faith, but increase our understanding and respect.

Let us today all benefit from our Creator's cleverness and
open up to the whole world!

Dad

My father, lovely and dear,
while ten thousand miles away from me,
our souls were forever near!
Closer perhaps than any son to father could be

Open and frank about all thoughts in our mind;
criticizing our own ways respectfully and kind.
But more often giving sincere appreciation;
no secrets, sharing our wildest imagination.

When we were alone,
We left unturned no stone.
Talking about simple facts of reality
reminiscing about things of great beauty,
Sharing wonderful memories from the past,
Small and big achievements that last.
Going into life's truest meanings:
A wide range of our heart's deepest things
but then a practical joke or funny face
would bring us straight back to the surface.

Gratefulness has replaced the sadness;
now thankful for your wonderful dad-ness
I loved the moments we shared.
For the times we were together, I cared
if not physically, just through some thoughts in our mind
a letter, a fax or just thinking some words that were kind.

I loved to share my wisdom, and to listen to yours
I loved to talk about my stories and to listen to yours.

The moments I hurt you, I still regret
but now they do not longer make me sad;
because forgiveness, I am certain of that.
long, long before your death.

I think of it like an enormous big lottery I have won,
It was such an enormously huge privilege to be your son.

I share this with my friends on the eve of father's day
And I can see your bright smile from heaven, so far away.

Your Hans, @ Aufie Zophy

An example for me

My father in law, ayah,
was not wealthy, he had just enough
but almost all of the time, whenever I met him
he looked happy and possessed a wonderful serenity

Oh, ayah, I possess a lot more
I have many friends possessing a lot more,
but none of us is as serene as you
none of us is as happy as you always seemed to be.

My father in law was praying,
not a whole lot, but apparently just enough.
He was always modest and I never,
never I saw him lose his temper or self control.

And yet I have so many friends and acquaintances
who pray a lot more and are so proud of their prayers
but so often they assume an air of arrogance
and quite often their self control is lost.

My father in law, this simple and friendly man
lovely and humble, dignified and lovely
taught me so many valuable lessons.
We do not have to be rich to possess love and happiness
We do not have to be proud or show off to be dignified,

He died very suddenly in 2002
but up to today, I do remember him
I do remember the valuable lessons I learned from him,
without him attempting to teach me anything.

Little Light

"I am not bound to win
       but I am bound to be true.
I am not bound to succeed
       but I am bound to live
              by the light that I have."

I came across the above quote from Abraham Lincoln.
It resonated with my heart as soon as I read it.

Made me think of a small poem I wrote a few years back:
 The Little Light
Let the little light shine :)

The Power of Words

(available in Dutch as well: Juweeltjes voor de Ziel  )

Words are powerful indeed.

Putting the right words and thoughts in our mind
will influence how we think, how we act
and thus influence the outcome
and what happens in our life.

I love to think positive words. It boosts my spirit.
Here is a list of positive words.
Just reading them may have already a positive effect:

Abundance,     Benevolence,     Love,      Truth,

Patience,    Calmness,    Honesty,      Gratitude,

Elegance,     Sweetness,    Charity,     Success,

 Wisdom,   Wonderful,   Goodness,   Understanding,

 Service,    Fabulous,   Prosperity,      Miraculous,   

Virtue,   Helpfulness,   Grace,    Hope, 

Beauty,   Confidence,    Harmony,   Brilliance,
  
Caring,    Peace,    Fantastic,   Compassion,

Handiness,     Superb,     Heart,   Friendliness,   
  
Serendipity,    Health,    Faith,      Smiles,

Sympathy,    Positivity,     Courage,    Openness,
      
Empathy,      Safety,    Kindness,  Ideal.

 Greatness,  Giving,    Forgiveness,    Nature,
        
 Luck,    Nice,     Sharing,    Respect,       

......


Please add a few of your own,
Most likely, you love positive words,
as much as I love them.

I wish you a day filled love
and all other things, listed in the above list :)