Language

Among all things our brain can do, language is among the most fabulous skills. We talk, we write, we listen, we read, we understand.

I write 'big stone' and you understand and most likely see in your imagination a big stone.

My friend talks about a mountain and I can see in my mind a picture of a wonderful mountain.

 

My cat, your friend's dog cannot do that.

The above examples are simply about names of objects, but we can also communicate about actions (verbs) and about feelings and abstract things. We use language to share all kinds of meaning with each other.

Also our own thinking process depends on language, if we want to search for meaning in something purely for ourselves.

How we use language has a major effect on our own success and being.

 

The words we use can help others, the words we use can hurt others

the words we use can make others angry or upset, 

or they can make them happy and give them peace of mind. 

 

Language is something to be really grateful for.

We can always choose our words, our intonation

We have the choice which words we think about. 

I have written quite some time ago a small prayer:

Words of truth
Let them fly and soar
Like a grand eagle in the winds
Gliding with wide open wings
For anyone to adore

Words of goodness
I hope, dream and desire
that they fly and penetrate
in our souls and minds infiltrate
and never tire to inspire

Words of beauty
Let them fly and resonate
With or without the rhyme,
delightful every place and time
From and for the soul they emanate

Words of truth, goodness and beauty
Let them forever fly through the skies
Let them be a pleasure for ears and eyes
for those who want to hear and see
Words of truth, goodness and beauty

Actively feeling good

 There are many areas in each of our lives. The big areas include family life, work life, recreational life, health. There are other areas that may be big for some and not so big for others, like spiritual life, time with friends, organizations, activism and perhaps many other areas you can think of.

 Each of us have it quite good in some areas and not so good in other areas. And all too often we get focused and sometimes even consumed by the areas that work out not so well for us. 

 Let us reverse this, today. Let us consider all the areas of our life, big and small. Let us assess quietly in our mind where we are doing really fine. Then try to be grateful for that really fine thing or these really fine things in our life. We need start with focus on the good, in order to be able to improve. Once we enjoy the good vibration we can start thinking about and working on the less good things from a higher perspective. Some times we feel that all areas of our life seem to be messed up. Then we can still think of a gift or talent we have. We are good at doing something. Let us become grateful for that. 

 Once we are thinking at a level above the ordinary, at a level that we feel really good about something, we can find quite easily new and original ways of doing things, seeing things and experiencing things. The trick is not to get consumed by a few negatives. Not to get so focused on what is wrong in life, that we forget what is right. The trick is to take some time alone for thinking. Start by putting all negatives aside for a short while and go over your day, or over yesterday and find the best thing that happened to you. Think about how it came about, how your own special talents or gifts contributed to that moment and feel the goodness of these moments. Feel the gratefulness that automatically will come along. Actively feeling good. 

 Actively feeling good will allow us to tackle problems, see them from a new perspective, do something about things that are under our control, accept those that are not. The hole process is so closely linked to beauty, peace, kindness, love and creativity, that these things will become a more important of your life and from there we work towards more actively feeling good ... :) 😃

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a good start may be to read some brief essays about good things:  https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

some beautiful poems: 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

Let the light come in

    A man was complaining about his decreasing eyesight. The neighbour who was listening to the complaints took a sponge and soap and water and cleaned his windows. The man was elated about his regained eyesight :)

    Too many of us let the windows to our soul get dirty. Perhaps too often we choose one window and close all others. Let the colours come in from all sides. Keep the windows of our soul wide open in all directions. Sometimes we are so afraid of influences that may disturb our core belief. Our soul does know the difference between what is valuable and what not!

Worth fighting for

    In the current world there are so many things going wrong. Maybe not more goes wrong now than 100 years ago, but the scale of problems tends to be bigger. The deceit is easier spread through our social media, mass media. There are so many things worth fighting against.

Or are there?

 

    I have learned in the past few months that it is almost impossible to fight against big pharma, with their huge propaganda machines. They can control public opinion in ways no one else can. While a lot of major things that are unjust, unfair are happening in that world of big business, big politics and bit money, the control of public opinion is making them only more powerful.

 

   While the big money is playing and continuing the game of greed, at a tremendous cost to our nature, to our human population, there is something we can do. First thing is stop being absorbed in the cause that you feel is very much worth fighting against. Stopping to be absorbed by the cause, does not mean to give up the cause. I was absorbed in the past few months in the flabbergasting deception played out by so many companies producing a vaccine and pushing it through regulatory bodies without any long term data. Never in the past decades did we embark on injecting millions of people with a product that has zero long term data. I hope and pray all turns out all right, but if even a small percentage has severe long term problems, we are in for a catastrophe much bigger than the pandemic that provoked this reckless campaign.

  I was so absorbed in the cause to let people know it was a reckless campaign, that it consumed so much of my time, so much of my peace of mind and so much of my happiness. The mega misinformation campaign seems unstoppable. 

   I went to the beach to make sense of all that happened. I reflected and came to the insight that we cannot fight giants with  their own choice of weapons. They have so many psychological tricks to make people believe that what they say makes sense. They make telling what makes really sense seem petty and outlandish. If one dares to doubt the data set generated by a company that has a track record of so many scandals, one is immediately classified as a conspiracy theorist. Simply expressing the doubt makes one end up among the flat-earthers and the likes.

  And still I believe there is a bright future for this world. If we manage to NOT let all flagrant injustices and problems of this world absorb us, we can remain creative in doing good. I have quite a bit of experience in both doing good and doing not so good. I almost never regretted helping someone. I almost always regret if I refuse or avoid to help someone. True peace of mind lies in kindness. 

     I think we have to spread kindness through our actions, through our kind words. We have to remain creative in inspiring others to practice kindness in this big world. I still believe that the universe has a kindness and wisdom revolution brewing. Once it fully unfolds, the powers that currently are, may no longer occupy the position they occupy now. Love and kindness will reign. Greed will be the subject of pity and compassion.

     

Let us fight for kindness, for love, for all the good things, for reason, for all that brings peace of mind. Let us not get absorbed in fighting against...

 

In the mean time, we pray that any potential victims of the endless greed of those in power, get through everything unharmed. Let us all pray for the very best together.

 

ABC

On and off we can, just to remain focused on the good and positive, make some time to make it quiet within our mind, and then try to find three positive words, starting with A and then three for each letter of the alphabet. 

 

Below I list the result for myself, just now. The beginning was easy. But as I moved on, it became a bit more difficult. Try to create your positive list before reading mine :) 

Then we can end this amazing exercise by dwelling a bit in our mind on some of these fabulous words.

Abundance, affability, amazing, adorabble

Beauty, bliss, bounty, brilliance

Cheerfulness, coziness, compassion, charity

Dream, divine, delicious

Empathy, excellent, enthusiasm, energy

Fabulous, fantastic, flow, freedom, forgiveness

Greatness, gratitude, goodness

Harmony, happiness, health, honesty helpful

Intelligence, inspiration, integrity, influence

Justice, joviality, joy

Kindness, knowledge, kiss

Love, luck, laughter

Magnificence, mindfulness, marvelous, money

Nice, neat, noble

Opportunity, optimistic, open-minded

Positivity, potential, peace, practice

Quality, quaint, quiet

Relevance, reverence, reason, relaxation

Serendipity, safety, strength, satisfaction

Terrific, treasure, talent

Unique, united, upbeat

Virtue, verve, vitality, value

Winning, wisdom, warmth,wealth, wellbeing

Xenial (being friendly to strangers), x-factor,

Yes, yours, youth

Zappy, zeal, zest

Both had prayed

The man said a small prayer

he wanted to be shown the way

the way to a life of fulfillment

of peace of mind, simple happiness

 

Then he heard a knock on his door

It was a beggar who asked for some money

The man reached in his wallet

All cash in his wallet became the beggar's.

 

The beggar had prayed for a miracle

He wanted to feed his children.

With all the money from the wallet of the man

his prayer had been heard.

 

The man who gave the money 

felt a wave of peace and happiness

He felt a feeling of fulfillment

His prayer had been heard.

Locked up in paradise

 

I think many of us are experiencing a lock-down.

I am not sure why they call it lock DOWN and not lock UP.

 

It feels a bit like being locked up in our own place. 

But still, my friends we can really make the best of it. 

 

In the area around where we live, there may be a piece of beautiful nature.

Or maybe a few trees with beautiful crowns?

Or maybe just the amazing skies above our head. 

 

If we get a bit stressed out about being locked up or locked down,

this is exactly what can help us.

 

Just imagining a wonderful place in nature, and in our imagination,

not only seeing it, but also feeling the breeze and smelling the air and hearing the birds,

will give us an experience of peace and a certain happiness. 

What we imagine has the same or very similar effect on our moods like being there .

 

So let us keep looking on the positive side. 

We can take this as an opportunity to pray more, to meditate more, 

to strengthen our imagination, to appreciate the peace in our home

and around our home more, to love more, to send some lovely messages

to the people who may suffer more of the lock down than ourselves. 

We can this opportunity to to enjoy the beauty of our own surroundings, 

to really make our own garden or street pristine clean and enjoyable 

to develop creative approaches to many things. 

 

Imagine for awhile we are locked down, or locked up in paradise. 

And the time may fly faster towards the end of this pandemic. :)

A story of hope

 Dear Reader,

This blog is meant to inspire. And it is what it does best. 

A person with a disability of his legs, causing him difficulty to walk, has for a very long time had financial problems. I met him first many years ago in a charitable association for disabled people where he was doing a job for a salary that helped him sustain his small family. He is married and has three children. Then one day, he was sacked from that job, because it was discovered that he was 'doing' drugs. After that, it seemed that everyone knew about his drugs problem and nobody was still ready to accept him as a worker or give him any money. That is when my long term semi-problematic relation started with him. He had borrowed money from loan sharks. They threatened him and his family almost weekly. He could simply not pay them back. 

I started to help him financially, in the hope he could at least get rid of the loan sharks. He was getting monthly a small amount of money from the welfare department. I had long talks with him about being creative and perhaps start a small business. His wife was fully able. He came back first monthly and then more frequently with a lot of different reasons and stories to get more financial help. Sometimes I refused initially; it was almost impossible to believe his stories, but his persistence made me give in each time. People knowing him, thought I was crazy giving money to him. But he was in trouble. I wanted to see the best in him and was willing to believe he was no longer involved in drugs.  He had a family. 

Four days ago, after a long time not having seen him, he contacted me again. I had prepared some money to give, but this time he came with good news. His wife and him had started to sell online a kind of crunchy snacks. The business was small and new but it had been running for a while. I bought a few boxes of snacks and he gave me one extra for free. I was so happy!

In my heart I had prayed for him for a long time already. I truly hope his small business works out. Please say little prayer for him and his family too... 

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You may enjoy also:
Beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
Beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
Beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/

Beautiful inspirational quotes:  https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/
Essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

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

Truly caring

You will enjoy this story, it’s easy to understand.

It is about Wan Kamil, a wonderful friend.

In his garden, a small budding tree had grown

It was not planted; it seemed to have come on its own.

Wan Kamil figured out without too many words,

That it must have been animals, most likely birds,

That brought to his garden the seeds of this tree,

which has grown with many fruits, a pleasure to see.

The papayas on the tree are delicious and plentiful

and my friend Kamil, with a soul so beautiful,

understands perfectly nature's and animal's needs:

it are the birds that will spread more amazing seeds.

 

He leaves some of the papayas that are ripe on the tree 

The animals and birds seem to have a feast for free 

but in the process, they will ensure that in some place,

another papaya tree will grow by our Creator's grace.

10 PM

Some days, we are so busy with many kinds of things,

that we do not take the time to observe any beauty.

Today, I think I had a day like that. 

From early in the morning I had online meetings.

 

I drove to work and was solving one thing after another

Now it is almost ten PM and I still have a mail to write.

I will finish the mail and go outside in the dark with a torch light to find a thing of beauty in my garden.
I will take a picture and share it with you.

Have you seen something beautiful today.?

______________________

Now about 45 min later. Mail sent. Small night walk made. Pictures of a flower and a tree ready to share. Mind and heart relaxed. 

Like this...

 I want to pray

 

I want to give my heart to our God

so that it may be filled 

with warmth and goodness

filled with light and kindness

 

I want to give my mind to our God

so that it may be filled with wisdom

that will allow me to share

all the warmth and goodness

and light and kindness  

that was planted in my heart. 

 

I want to pray

like this

 

 

Working for?

Many years ago over 90% of people were working for the money

Now maybe 95% of people are working for the money :)

That is good, very good. Excellent!

 

Surely the size of our income matters. It matters a lot. 

And what matters perhaps more than that still, is how much we enjoy our work.

We spend on average more than half our waking hours at work.

If we do not enjoy these hours, a big part of our life really stinks.

How to enjoy the job?

 If whatever task at hand, we try to do the very best we can, this will almost automatically result in job satisfaction. This is easier for some jobs than for others, but for most jobs, doing our very best, will lead to a certain pride of performance, and that is an almost certain recipe for job satisfaction. 

I remember my personal assistant, when I was head of department in our hospital. She had made it one of her major objective to make every day at least one person smile at work. And she was generally perceived as a jovial person and liked by many. She was a happy personal assistant.

The above paragraph is just one example of making our job more enjoyable but I am sure there may thousands of small ways to do so. With a little bit of creativity and lots of positive thoughts, I am sure we can make most of our work for own peace of mind and happiness. And in the mean time we will get a salary, so necessary for our daily living. :)

The Sweetest

 

Love and peace to you

Wishing you 

a wonderful start of this new year, 

a wonderful start of this new decade.

Let's start with a small reflection 

about what is really sweet... 😃

The sweetest smell
is the fragrance of the rose
that clings to your hand
after giving it away

The sweetest sight

is the smile of a stranger 

that appeared on his face 

after your random kind act 

 

The sweetest touch 

is the feeling you get
when stretching out
a helping hand

The sweetest sound
is the voice of the worry
you managed to alleviate
by really sitting and listening

Sweeter than sugar on your tongue
is the sensation
of having given
of having helped  

 

 Author: Hans Van Rostenberghe

 

 

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You may enjoy also:
Beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
Beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
Beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/

Beautiful inspirational quotes:  https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/
Essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

 

Have you ever imagined how it would be to live in a perfect world.

Some thoughts on that, in the following links:

blog post (to read): perfect world

video (sit back,relax and watch/listen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7u9hTRM1t0&t=35s

 

Time to redirect?

 While I try to respect and appreciate the work of archeologists and astronomers, looking in the past and looking at far away stars and planets, sometimes I feel it is time to stop for awhile looking away from our current reality here on our planet.

If just for two or three years, we would be brave enough to stop, and spend all the money and time to solve our own, present hunger problems, what a difference that would make to our human society.

I know that somehow this is a bit of a crazy idea and the exploration of our distant past and the distant stars can be useful to humanity too, but for now, i never get really excited to by the discoveries, which are often at best educated guesses from long ago or far away....

At the same time, i tend to be thrilled if i read or hear about successful humanitarian missions.

 

 Author: Hans Van Rostenberghe

 

 
😀*no copyright - while sharing, just mention author *😀

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You may enjoy also:
Beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
Beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
Beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/

Beautiful inspirational quotes:  https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/
Essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

 

At the break of a new day

At the break of a new day,

we want to make it quiet for a while in our heart.

 

I want to be aware, even if it is just for a moment,

of the great gift of life, the huge present of consciousness

I want to be aware, even if it is just for a moment,

of the great value of every day, every hour added to life,

while getting step by step closer to the finale.

I want to contemplate just for awhile 

how can I appreciate more this great gift

how can I make it count

I do not want to spoil it with anger or ego centered emotions

I do not want to spoil it with focus on things that merely distract

I want to live a life focused a bit on how can I help,

Focused a bit on how can I learn and share

focused a bit on service and growth

focused a bit on noticing the opportunities that are here every day.

 

I want to end this short contemplation about the upcoming day

with asking for strength and clarity, a small prayer

that I may manage to tune in to that enormous Creative Intelligence

in the Universe, that we call our God, that is here all the time,

for us to tune in to, to get a bit close to.

 

 Author: Hans Van Rostenberghe

 

 
😀

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You may enjoy also:
Beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
Beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
Beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/

Beautiful inspirational quotes:  https://quotesfromhans.blogspot.com/
Essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

 

Have you ever imagined how it would be to live in a perfect world.

Some thoughts on that, in the following links:

blog post (to read): perfect world

video (sit back,relax and watch/listen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7u9hTRM1t0&t=35s

 

Written

A small thought written down 

may be more worth than a big thought

that floats in the air and flies away

 

Here is small thought I encountered today: 

The world is full of wonders, of miracles.

From the tree that is a hundred years old

to the magical crops that feed our body

The clouds in the skies and 

flowers on the ground.

 

But much bigger than all these wonders, perhaps,

much bigger gifts still from our Creator than all above,

is our ability to perceive them, to think about them

is our ability to be aware of that and be grateful

is our ability to feel good and be compassionate

is our ability to live a life of virtue

is our ability to write these things down and share them with our friends.

 

I encourage you, to write in the comments section of this posting

your own small thought of today and share it with all friends who happen to read this blog...

 

Let's write at least 100 words every day...

 Author: Hans Van Rostenberghe

 

 

The hole

There is a layer in my being, in my mind, in my heart that truly wants to be better than you, have more power, more wealth, more control.Sometimes I let that layer grow really thick and I enjoy whenever I am better and suffer whenever I am not.

But when I manage to make a small hole in that layer, then from deep within, my soul comes out as the most amazingly beautiful fragrant flower spreading tremendous joy not only for me but equally or even more so for all the humans that cross my path.

When, after that I go to sleep, the layer of control and being better seems to grow back as a callus, closing of he hole and if we do not make time to make it silent and reflect, to dig a bit towards that inner, inner part of us, that we call soul, we may walk around carrying the most wonderful treasure within, without remembering it. We just depend on circumstances on opportunities and fail to connect with all bliss our Creator has bestowed on us. 

 

The treasure of bliss inside of us is always there. Peace, love, beauty, creativity, it all sits there. Let us be aware of that treasure and allow it to flow. All we need is small hole in our ego. The more we let it flow the bigger the hole for our soul will get, the more beauty and fragrance we will spread. It is actually quite simple but yet.... 

 

In poem format: 

My ego wants to be better than you
it wants to conquer and always win
it forms a layer on my being
that seems to cover a treasure within

But if we manage there, to make a small hole
then out will come our conscience and soul
as a flower spreading fragrance and beauty
not only for myself but to whoever will meet me

If we manage to maintain the small hole
that allows to come out our marvellous soul
love, beauty will flow and peace we will get;
fragrance and goodness will infinitely spread

It is actually quite simple, but yet...

 

 

 Author: Hans Van Rostenberghe

 

 
😀*no copyright - while sharing, just mention author *😀

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

 

Have you ever imagined how it would be to live in a perfect world.

Some thoughts on that, in the following links:

blog post (to read): perfect world

video (sit back,relax and watch/listen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7u9hTRM1t0&t=35s

Nature enhances her beauty

 Nature enhances her beauty to the eye of the loving man (RW Emerson)

The above is a quote from the essay, the poet, by RW Emerson, a famous essayist and philosopher from the late 19th century. He was part of a moving force to abolish slavery was addressing real life issues in his essays, more than most of the other philosophers. 

This particular quote is so true. How many times we pass through the most wonderful natural spots without truly observing its true beauty because we are so absorbed in our thinking process or in a conversation with someone who walks with us. 

If we manage to make it silent within, while we spend some time in nature and find the most wonderful bit of love in our own heart, we will see the surrounding beauty with different eyes. We will notice the details that make the scene or the flower, or even the trunk of a tree truly miraculous. We will experience the joy of seeing, hearing, feeling the beauty in a superbly different way.

Let us connect to the love within, make a walk in a piece of nature and notice how nature is enhancing its own beauty to the eyes of a loving man. Allow the poetry to well up in our heart.

 Author: Hans Van Rostenberghe

 

 
😀*no copyright - while sharing, just mention author *😀

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

 

Have you ever imagined how it would be to live in a perfect world.

Some thoughts on that, in the following links:

blog post (to read): perfect world

video (sit back,relax and watch/listen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7u9hTRM1t0&t=35s

Going the extra mile

 I am at the end of a stressful week. 

Some weeks contain so many stressors at work, at home, and wherever you seem to go. Even the weather provided almost continuous heavy rain. But when reflecting at the end of the week, there are always some small lights, some star-like moments that shine a bit on our soul, to be super grateful for. 

 

I want to highlight here one of these moments that make all the stressors a bit lighter a bit more bearable. 

 

It was at about 9 pm, when I was in the middle of giving some serious advice to my son, that I got a phone call from a father of one my ex-patients. His son has Down syndrome and was immediately after birth, admitted for almost two months in our ward. Now he is four months old and had symptoms of shortness of breath with fever. The father was scared that his son would end up in busy areas where he would have contact with COVID patients when he would bring his son to the hospital. 

 

I made a call to my medical officer on call. At that time he was relatively free and took very generously the extra mile to attend immediately to the patient in the emergency dept and get him quickly to the ward safely. The baby received care in an optimal way while still respecting all precautions necessary for COVID. 

 

 The parents were so happy with the care. If we can help parents in need like this it gives us the peace of mind we need so much, especially during stressful periods. I want to sincerely thank in many ways my medical officers who, many times, are so kind to parents and go the extra mile to ensure the best possible care (not only medically but also in terms of maximal psychological support) for our small patients.

 

 Author: Hans Van Rostenberghe

 

 
😀*no copyright - while sharing, just mention author *😀

 

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

 

Have you ever imagined how it would be to live in a perfect world.

Some thoughts on that, in the following links:

blog post (to read): perfect world

video (sit back,relax and watch/listen): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7u9hTRM1t0&t=35s

Growing

 At the end of this month we have ten brilliant paediatricians graduating from our training program (MMed in Paediatrics, USM). I am perfectly sure they will go into careers that make our department and university proud.

Whenever someone graduates from our program, it is a bit like cutting ties that were there for years. They will be no longer directly connected to our institution, except as alumni. And while reflecting on that, I felt I had to write this piece as a few final words of advice.

 

Everything in the world seems to be subjected to a cycle of creation, maintenance and destruction. (quote inspired by Emily Fletcher). This is so clear from history: It only takes to think about what happened to all big empires (Athens, Rome, Egypt,...) and is now happening to the USA (once they want to go in maintenance mode, -xenophobia, only caring to maintain what is there already, no new immigrants, not caring about climate, aka "trumpism"-, destruction is just around the corner). Similarly companies going in maintenance mode are doomed to go down (simple examples Nokia and Blackberry). This deeper meaning is that when we go into maintenance mode, we are one step closer to the destruction mode. 

At this moment our new grads must be enjoying the feeling of a great achievement. They deserve to enjoy the fact of becoming a paediatrician. My simple advice, I wanted to share here, is: after  celebrating for awhile, go back into creative mode. Choose a sub-specialty, make it happen, and keep working towards making a superb contribution to make the world around us a bit better. Do not go into maintenance mode. Keep creating, keep putting personal growth in a priority spot. Allow yourself to grow, not only in the field of paediatrics, but keep on learning about many other things. Keep a loving open mind and enjoy the next and next and then next journey to newer tops each time. Each new top does not have to be higher, but make it more beautiful, more peaceful. There is superb peace and beauty in rendering selfless service. 

I wish all lots and lots of success. Surely to all new paediatricians, but also to each of you reading this message. Keep on growing (not physically because after a certain age we tend to grow in the wrong direction😂, but in terms of knowledge, character, personality, emotionally, happiness, ....).

Giving it away...

  I was praying for peace

But our universe had provided peace already.

All I had to do is stop my crazy train of thoughts,

listen to the silence of the natural sounds around me

and enjoy the peace I was bathing in.

 

  I was praying for beauty

But our universe had provided beauty already for me.

All I had to do was to look at the sky, the flowers

observe the trees and listen to the birds

and enjoy the beauty I was bathing in.

 

  Then I thought, I can certainly pray for love.

Love is not coming our way easily. 

But that was again not exactly the truth:

the joy of love lies in giving it away,

rather than in simply receiving it.

 

  

  There is so much love sitting in our heart since birth.The great pleasure we find in love is when we manage to give it away.The universe provides free refills and our refills tend to be different:

they tend to be bigger and of higher quality still than the original. Love is abundant in our heart; it is a great pleasure to give it away.

 

  Problems with love arise when we expect love back. Letting the love flow from our heart, without expectations, is a true source of joy and peace of mind. It will flow to anyone we encounter, anyone we meet. Not everyone will love us back, but the love coming our wayif we graciously give it away to anyone we meet, will be abundant.

 

  If we target our love only to the ones whom we expect, will give it back,

we often get disappointed and because our love was targeted,

we may not enjoy the positive responses of so many others. 

 

  This writing is not about romance or erotic love.

It is about the Love with capital letter 'L' 

Give tonnes of it to your closest family

Give tonnes of it to your neighbours

Give tonnes of it to your friends

Give tonnes of it to strangers

Give tonnes of it to anyone we meet.

It sits in our heart. Not everyone will appreciate our love and give it back

but if we give it without expectation, it will be of such a high quality

that the love flowing back from others to us, may never cease :)

 

A bit closer to home

  Yesterday, I walked all the way to Melawi. Melawi is a place about 3 km from my house.It is a wonderful walk along the beach of the South China Sea. Upon reaching Melawi, I took a small rest, enjoyed the beauty of the Melawi river mouth meeting the sea and then i returned.

  When I started the long walk back (at my age, 3 km is a bit of a long walk), I felt a bit tired and a thought arose, with a wish to be home. But then I became aware that every step I made, brought me 1 step closer to home. I decided to fully enjoy the walk. I felt consciously the pleasantly lukewarm sea water on the skin of my feet and my ankles. the waves create a pleasant flow. The wind against the skin of my cheeks and cooling my torso. I could feel the wavy sand under the soles of my feet. I looked and inhaled the colours of the afternoon sea, from brown to azure to turquoise, with a few small clouds creating darker spots on the immense water surface. The colours and iodium in the air were caressing my lungs. 

 

   My legs, my back were still tired, but I did not feel them anymore. Every single step was enjoyed with an intensity of knowing that these steps would not last forever. 

  This morning, while I reflected upon yesterday, the memories of the walk back gave me pleasure. I became grateful to the Creative Intelligence that made all this possible. Then the following thoughts occurred: 

  Is not our life a bit like this as well? Sometimes we get a bit tired of all the challenges, but if we manage to consciously enjoy the beauty and wonders in it, we forget that we were tired. Every second, every minute brings us a bit closer to home, which may be a fantastic place but the journey will be finished. Let us consciously become aware of the blessings of being alive and enjoy our journey of life, step by step, day by day. Challenges will always be there, but with the right thinking, we can find solutions and overcome them in a great way. The big motto of enjoying the journey, so true. Let us enjoy the journey and choose happiness today, while we fully experience all the miracles of being alive.

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Reverence for life

 When we look, 

we see faces, we see eyes, we see smiles

we see beauty, we see deformity

We judge.

 When we think

we see what people did or did not do for us

we reflect on whath other said or did not say to us

We judge

 But when we try to look 

to our fellow human beings as souls

with their own convictions and feelings

their own motivations and sufferings

We tend to judge a lot less. 

Reverence for life, means 

seeing the inherent worthiness 

of every living being. 

Let us be reverent for life ...

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Happy in the now

The web is filled with messages from the Gurus. "Become great", "manifest your future", "practice the law of attraction" are slogans, we find so often, and a famous person will share how they themselves achieved superb material wealth and spiritual heights and how their life runs smoothly, the universe providing for all their needs. While many of these messages may be well-meant, they come with a price tag. The free videos that want to help you become great end with a message, directing you to a course with a huge price tag, but now you can purchase at a great discount.

In the past few years I have read and looked at quite some of the successful people sharing their own formula on how they reached success. I am sure that many people following them, create huge dreams for themselves, but no matter how meticulous they follow formulas of success gurus, for a majority it may not work.

While it is a reasonable thing to aim high in our life and to aim in the long term for greatness, let us not get lost in the standards social media try to push down our throats. I think positive thinking and a positive attitude towards life can make a significant difference in quality of life. But we have to use the wisdom of the ages, not to be happy in a far away future when we think we will be rich and famous, but we need to apply some simple wisdom to our current life and try to happy in the here and now. 

The most valuable experience of the successful and the 'great' is before they were famous and to read about their road to success is very interesting. Not everyone doing exactly the same at different times will get successful. We read about the start-ups in a garage. They were indeed brilliant people doing the right thing at the right time in the right environment. The right time and right environment are essential ingredients of their success. As long as we see these stories as a source of inspiration to be creative ourselves in our own situation, they can be helpful. If these stories create a huge desire to become enormously rich in a short time, making us unhappy as long we did not achieve that, they work against us.

I have followed some people like Wayne Dyer. He was a very successful psychologist who published a fantastic first book, that sold millions of copies and helped people throughout the world. Then he was famous. I loved to read some of his subsequent books as well. They contained true gems of wisdom. After his first book however he had given up his professor post at a university and his private practice as a psychologist. He was famous and over the years he gathered the experiences of a famous author. While I admire the strong principles he adhered to, somehow it is easy to get a bit derailed if he no longer can tap the main source of wisdom, which was for him his professional experiences as a psychologist and university teacher. When one leads a life of fame, it is easy to assume that your own experience is what others experience too and his later books about real magic and his experiences with John of God were a bit off. In the later part of his life, he claimed that all of us are "God" and that we can manifest in our life whatever we want, and he turned a bit his back to classical medicine.

What is the message I want to share here for simple people like myself who did not (yet) achieve that status of the famous? Surely reading the books of the famous, looking at their videos, is a good idea. The main thing is to keep our own wisdom-filter active and select only what is really valuable to ourselves. We try things our own way, keep our guard a bit against the overly magic things and keep our desire to become great our dreams, our ideals alive.

While keeping all these lofty aspirations alive in a small corner of our being, we remain focused on our desire to be good. We do not have to be good all the time, and it is best to be aware that being good is not an "all or nothing". We can be a bit good and enjoy a bit the peace it brings, we can practice and enjoy the moderate levels and at other times we manage to be really very good and enjoy the big peace of mind. The more we become aware that goodness is associated with peace and happiness, the better we may become at it. And even if we do not become famous and super rich, we will contribute in our own ways to a better world.

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
other beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

EM-IM----->IN-IN

EMpathy is primary using your

IMagination to think and feel

INside your own mind and heart what someone else feels

INside their own mind and heart.

The above explains the title EM IM ----> IN IN

If we practice empathy regularly, we are accessing one of the biggest gifts of our Universe to humans. It is such a great tool to understand our world, our fellow human beings better, to become more patient and more kind, more loving, more forgiving. It is such a great tool to obtain more peace of mind not only for ourselves but also to help attain this to others. It is such a great tool to live a happier and more fulfilling life. 

Empathy requires imagination and the more we practice our own imagination, the stronger it becomes. I encourage everyone to practice every day imagining something very nice happening in this world, that would change it forever. It will boost your own sense of gratitude and peace and who knows, if enough people imagine daily something very nice to happen to the world, it may become a reality sooner rather than later :) 😃😊

 

I wrote a small poem on how my mom taught me empathy. You can enjoy it by clicking here

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Kindness tree

I was reading some old blog posts and more than 5 years ago,

this poem*about a kindness tree was written:

Let us together imagine that such a tree is growing,

taking roots in your heart and in my heart,

and then forming one stem and a magnificent crown;

taking roots in another 10 people's heart,

and still forming one big virtual stem and a superbly big crown;

taking roots in a million people's heart,

and still forming one virtual huge stem with a huge crown.

Imagine,

all of us contributing nutrients to that wonderful virtual tree

that keeps us all connected 

and makes this world the most beautiful place in the universe.

Let us strengthen the roots of that tree in our own heart today

and nourish the kindness tree of the world everyday a bit more

Imagine,

the fruits of chronic happiness and peace of mind...

*click on the word poem to see the poem in its original version.

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
other beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

A voice call

 I have an auntie who is 86 years old. 

She used to be very active, go for walks,

ride her bicycle and enjoy her car.

After a few incidents of minor strokes,

she had to give up her car and her bicycle.

She can only go to walk if a person accompanies her

Yesterday, in the evening, I thought about my day

and I had not done extra things to make others smile.

I gave a voice call to her phone (she is not used to video calls)

And I could hear her voice, in the beginning quite down,

but after a while I could HEAR her smile. 

A simple kindness idea: give a call to someone who will smile hearing you.

😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃😃

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

When we pray for love

When we pray for love,...

Let us become aware that God's love is always with us

in a steady, constant very high level.

Let us tune in.

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Good morning

Good morning

I wish this to you with my whole heart. 

If upon waking up, we are in a quiet place, where there is silence or we can hear the song of the birds or the whispers of a breeze through a tree, let us become fully aware what a great bliss this is; enjoy it in the core of our heart and become truly grateful for it. If we manage to focus on the silence outside of us, we will experience a wonderful silence within at the same time, what a wonderful gift to receive in the morning. 

Good morning to you!

If then we open our eyes and can take a look at the sky, a piece of amazing blueness or a strangely shaped cloud, a sunrise or even a big grey expanse, if we have the chance to take a look at a tree, a flower, let us become fully aware of what a great bliss this is, enjoy it in the core of our heart and become truly grateful for these moments of beauty. What a wonderful gift to receive in the morning.

Good morning to you!!

If then we think about the people in our life. If we have a spouse or a child, a parent or a caretaker, a neighbor or a friend, let us appreciate for a moment the love we intend to give to them today, the chance we will have to pray for them and send them some sweet thoughts and become grateful in our heart. Let us become fully aware of the love in our heart that we will let flow and what a great bliss this is. 

A wonderfully good morning to you!!!

When you finish this small reflection, time for a cup of steaming hot coffee or tea with a lovely breakfast. 

Have a good morning, have an amazing day!!!!

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Just 6 moments

1. Looking up at the sky,...                      a bit of happiness, a smile

2. Seeing a wonderful tree,...                   a bit of happiness, an idea

3. Hearing the song of a bird,...               a bit of happiness, a melody

4. Feeling the crisp morning breeze,...    a bit of happiness, a good feeling

5. Sipping a cup of hot coffee,...             a bit of happiness, a great taste

6. A moment of reflection,...                   a bit of happiness, a grateful heart

 

Just 6 moments and all these bits of happiness,...     

adding up to quite a lot!

:) 😃

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You may enjoy also:
beautiful skies: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/mysite-1/skies-seen-by-hans
beautiful flowers: https://hansvro.wixsite.com/flowersbyhans
beautiful poems: https://aufiezophypoems.blogspot.com/
essays about good things: https://abcofvirtues.blogspot.com/

Learning or fuming

Whenever we go through a tough time, we tend to fume, to curse and we really do not like it. I do not like tough times. Let us avoid tough times if we can. But somehow they do come.

If a tough time comes you way or you are right now in the middle of one, please read on.

The founder of IKEA had dyslexia and had a terribly tough time in school. When interviewed he thought his business success was thanks to the tough times he had, where he picked up resilience and grit and wisdom. 

Most of the time, when we are more at ease, we can see the lesson we have learned in the toughest of times. I have experiences like that too. I think all of us have. Just if we are in the middle of it, we can choose to fume and curse or try to learn a valuable lesson from it. It is all how we perceive it.
If we curse and fume we may inadvertently prolong the trouble, if we can take a step back and look at it from a bit of a distance, and be aware that no dark lasts forever, we can make the ordeal lighter and perhaps enhance a quick dawn with fine lights of an amazing sunrise.

Grateful

The air that I breathe

feeds my nails to grow

feeds my heart to pump

My heart pumps it to my brain

where I use it to just enjoy,

enjoy the air that I breathe...

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After writing the short lines above, I felt grateful, not only for the fresh air but also for my nails, for my heart, for my brain and for the ability to just enjoy a deep fresh breath.