GIVING UP ENTHUSIASM WRINKLES THE SOUL

Two women were walking past my window and obviously engaged in lively loud chatter. Am amazed really with these ladies how they can talk so loud that you can hear them a mile away. Gosh, you can't keep secrets with that voice! Anyway the lady (let's call her lady#1) suddenly broke the chatter which apparently seemed not to go anywhere and slowing down her steps enough that I was able to catch what she said in Tagalog: ..... 'ang bilis ng panahon noh?!'/'how fast time flies'. To which lady#2 replied: ..... 'oo nga. eto tumatanda na tayo'/'yes and here we are growing older'.

Growing older. I have heard that said a hundred times by friends and strangers alike. Don't we say that too in our own circles. It has become a cliche -- a convenient local expression of resignation to the passing of time and of life.

Well, some years back I thought I was smart using that cliche to my friends. It sounded smart, like I knew much about 'growing older' or its mysteries and that when you get to be called 'old', it also means that you are wise or wiser. Now I know that's not necessarily so. Oh yes. It's like what Mom would say ... 'not everybody who goes to universities are truly educated in that sense where it matters most.'

Life, my biggest teacher, showed me that -- and to quote Samuel Ulman............

"Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.
We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin,
but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul."

Yup that quote packs in such wisdom for both young and old alike.
May God bless your years with the greatest joys of discovery and wonder.




May your Monday be so blessed to start the week with.

CHANGE IS ALL UP TO US

'People are so mean' 'There's so much bad around' 'Nobody cares' 'It's a bad bad world' ----- Well, that observation is both a Yes and a No. Because yes people can be so mean and selfishly unkind, that selfish-interests usually dominate many things, that some people steal fight betray cheat bully kill, and with all these in the forefront of the news one indeed gets the impression that it is indeed a bad bad world.

But..... truthfully, people weren't created that way. Basically, people are good. Good where it matters most. Now the question is.... so where did all that go?

My answer to that is NOWHERE. That good is still in there inside the person. The only trouble is the person allowed trash or junk into his mind heart and soul, including the body i.e. smoking, drugs, etc. pushing the good down to the bottommost. And when that gets into a man's system.. everything else will follow negatively. Life simply becomes how man lives it.

So how do we get back our old self again -- the self which God created -- and get back on the track of good?

You and I and others, we DIG!! And I mean seriously dig hard and harder.

Where? How? We go back to where it all started --- the self. Do some house cleaning.. I mean self-cleaning. Dig and deeper. Throw out the garbage that's accumulated and is rotting the system. Poison which eats you up bit by bit but steadily and more often unconsciously until it succeeds to disfigure and transform you into a monster. An ugly monster. Imagine a world of disfigured humanity.

The digging is gonna wear us out Yes.. but nobody is going to do the work for us. See the irony there? It was easy getting the trash into our lives but quite so difficult to be rid of it. WE own the trash... WE get rid of it. And no amount of drama or excuses will take us off the hook. Small effort or big, great or grand --- it doesn't matter, just DIG! We won't be sorry we did.

But DIG! Because good is just waiting to be resurrected... to bubble up and shine out to a world sorely in need of it. That's who we really are. By God's wisdom and design. Until we decided to mess it up ourselves (woe to us!).

I've come across a nice line, in essence it goes this way...... 'the world may seem to be bad but because good people do nothing about it' And this....... 'you want a better world, then be the change you want to see'.

"Dig within. Within is the wellspring of Good;

and it is always ready to bubble up, if you just dig."
-- Marcus Aurelius

LET'S START THE DIGGING!
Blessings to everyone!

DON'T LOOK FOR OBSTACLES - LOOK FOR MAGIC

My computer at home is situated by the front window. On this particular morning while thinking what to write, I unthinkingly looked up in the direction of the skies. Amazing blue skies! Clear... soft blue.... with distant patches of cotton-like clouds. And a warm bright sun shining with such gusto making everybody it shines on sweat buckets. That's the downside of a glorious sunny day.

Anyway, easily I could have paid no attention or it would probably just have simply passed me by just like that. Oh yes, we do let it go by unnoticed. Our fault, not nature's.

Who in his human mind and attitude would go through his or her day looking for amazing blue skies such what I had this morning? Normally we would not because there is so much down here below that engages our attention. Rushing to work, taking the kids to school, doing the laundry, running after deadlines, cursing the traffic, hating the government, wrestling with our problems, and a thousand-and-one other things we'd rather do in the name of living. Added to all that we have this queer attitude of expecting the bad or worst in our lives thus pushing ourselves even harder to raise a buffer or shield against it.

Funny, it all started in the home, with our parents. When everytime our mothers would say..... 'eat this.. sleep early... do your homework... behave... don't cry... clean your room... or the monster will come and get you!' So the child in his young mind would certainly think that if he doesn't do as told, something bad will happen. That's a thought carried forward unto to adulthood. Translated as ... 'if I don't do something good, I will be seen as a failure..' So the crazy chase for wealth, success, achievement, positions and titles... and others more.


It can be both good and bad, depending on how you look at it. But it certainly is sad. Because in that crazy chase we tend to push aside that which is essential... a process which dries up the soul. Life is not just the chase, getting, or acquiring. It's part of it yes ... but not the whole of it.

The following lines which I'm quoting here may or may not have anything to do with what I've just written..... but it struck me as lovely. It's from an old movie "My Life In Ruins", a light romantic comedy. Enjoyable. But I liked best this line said by one of the main characters Irv (played by Richard Dreyfuss, my favorite) ------ 'Don't look for obstacles..... Look for magic!'

Look for magic. In blue skies, in rainbows, in the rain, in a rosebud, in the distant mountains, in a baby's smile, in your doggie's loving eyes, in lovely sunsets, in all of nature, in your walk in the fields, in trekking a beaten path, and in people.

May your day be filled with magic ... and blessings by the dozens.

YOUR CHOICE DEFINES YOU

Been away for a bit from writing here; just got busy with things. Anyway in my inbox this morning, saw this from a friend. Am glad that he sent it to me. It's one which should engage our thoughts and hearts. Seriously.

Here's the story........

Native American grandfather was talking to his grandson about how he felt ........


He said, "I feel as if I have two wolves fighting in my heart. One wolf is the vengeful, angry, violent one. The other wolf is the loving, compassionate one."

The grandson asked him, "Which wolf will win the fight in your heart?"

The grandfather answered, "The one I feed."

That's a good one, don't you think? The biggest battles that we fight are those with self. Anyone who says it isn't is not paying much attention to life. Either he has got himself so entrenched in his comfort zones or is feeding something else other than the two choices mentioned in the story..

Remember what has been said about 'you are what you eat'? In the same sense it can be said that 'you are what you feed'.

Maybe we should be asking ourselves which of the two wolves do we feed.... the vengeful, angry, violent wolf --- or --- the loving compassionate one. In our everyday lives is an opportunity or several to make that choice. Choose that which would make the heavens smile. Choose that which would make you a blessing to others and to yourself as well.