GREATNESS -- THE TINY SEED WITHIN

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It's the little things which truly reveal greatness. Not always or necessarily in the grand or grander gestures that man throws at the world. Sometimes done simply for show by some. Rather it's that tiny kind thought or the tiniest glimmer of compassion behind the giving.... behind the smile.... behind the helping which points directly to an outstanding character or heart ..or the awesomeness of the soul.
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It's what Mom would say 'the extra mile - the extra touch' which separates mediocrity from greatness. She would urge me to look for that mark of greatness in people. It's there, she says. Just pay attention. Sometimes though they don't know it themselves because it comes through quite naturally in them. Often too we don't notice it nor give it much attention -- we take for granted those things which we shouldn't. Our bad.
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I guess what she means by 'the extra mile' are those things which a person does out of --- pure generosity... sympathy.. compassion.. understanding.. empathy... care... concern... solicitude.. sensitivity... charity... mercy... tolerance... humanity ---- and acting upon it a little bit more than ordinary.
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Thinking more of the other than of one's self. That isn't always easy. We were raised to think and believe that nothing or no one else in the world matters but ..... I, me, mine, and my. What others do with their life is their business... ours is our own to tend.
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We create walls.. fences.. gaps.. borders.. lines... to keep others out of our lives. Anyone who might cross it is a threat. Only when what they do or can offer serves our best interest would we be inclined to welcome them into our world and space or we in turn would enter their own.
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It really is a solitary and disconnected life we're living, after all. All our fault.
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Yet Mom would remind me that 'greatness' is still in everybody's nature as basically man is created good. By God's design. The thing is it gets buried deep down by the meanness and cares of the world. So then people forget to be kind.... to be human and humane.
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But it's there. And it slips out sometimes, as called forth by some divine intent. Sometimes in bits and pieces. You will miss it if you don't watch for it or look harder. Pay attention. Greatness sometimes comes in small packages.
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God bless you.

GROWTH LIES OUTSIDE OUR COMFORT ZONES

No matter our efforts or intent to change and even if that prospect of change would largely improve our selves or our lives, still we hold on fiercely to things which comprise our 'comfort zones'. The CZ (comfort zone) varies from person to person. It could be every reason, smart or silly, brought forward by each of us to protect what we each perceive as essential to our existence. Even ready to every extent at defending it. In some it isn't even considered as a CZ because it has become so much part of character and personality comprising the whole package of being individual and human. It no longer is recognizable.
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A teacher from long ago once said.... 'No amount of teaching or learning will progress if a person doesn't first learn to let go of comfort zones'.
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That made me think.................
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She may be right. A CZ can be, by all appearances, sometimes cute... hip... attractive... comfortable... but is undeniably an ego booster... a people pleaser... a band-aid to insecurities... and a superficial guarantee of stability and worth. A comfort zone is just that ----- a place or state of being where you are most comfortable with who or what you are that you don't or won't want to change it.
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Yet, my teacher further added..... 'Being comfortable with who or what you are does not necessarily mean it is good.'
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The sole purpose of our lives, she says, is to grow... improve... to work at making ourselves better if not the best. This process would require shedding off layers in our character which hinder -- stunt -- delay -- or get in the way of growth. Human nature tends to incline towards what is easy... safe... comfortable. It veers away from strife.... struggle... harsh realities... fierce challenges... and change. Anything that suggests any one of those is a bane (nuisance) to a stubborn mind.
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That, by the way, is where our biggest battles are fought. Man, indeed, is a child of comfort zones.

 

"All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of 

letting go and holding on."   - Henry Ellis

I hope you all are having a pleasant week, rainy weather or hot notwithstanding. Take care and God bless!

 

(Thanking Mr. Quote Man for the wonderful quote mentioned above.)

 

 

WHAT DOES MAKE HUMAN MORE HUMAN..... LIFE MORE LIFE?

My two girls and I were at a wake yesterday. In a wake after going through the necessary courtesies, I choose to sit somewhere unobtrusively be with my thoughts in prayer or just watch the moving tapestry of life around death.

Life is fragile. Short. Fleeting. So what are we doing with it?

We hone our talents to prepare living our dreams which we strain so hard to reach. We also get into relationships and give it the best of who we are. We try to be good with the thought that God will be so pleased and take us into heaven someday. We get into physical programs or regimen to tone our bodies.. make it healthier, younger or tougher. We get into academic pursuits to beef up our intellectual vigor. We continually raise the bar of achievement with the thought that bigger or greater is better. All with the aim of making life well worth living.

All well and good. We carve out numerous successes from it. We become content.

But my aunt would say '.. Those things for which we drive ourselves to acquire or achieve are needs and wants personified.' 'Built-in', she says, 'for what is a human without them.'  But the so-called threads weaving in and out of our tapestry is loosely woven yet.. lacking some more thread.

So what does make human more human.. and life more life?

Maybe somewhere out there somebody else of higher mind-greater thought has found the answer. Let me know. Meantime......

- I will pay more attention to the birds singing in the treetops. Call up my dear friend often and not only when I want something. Buy gorgeous fresh flowers for no occasion at all. Express love in tangible ways to family often. Pass it forward without prejudice or bias. Take my morning walks and savor nature's warm embrace. Enjoy the moment. Eat ice cream from a cone licking it like a 5 yr old does. Be generous with praise, encouragement. Speak freely of words which build up people and not destroy. Not wait to be nice nor for the occasion to be nice. Be nice everyday. Be more understanding and forgiving of flaws in myself and in others. Be real. Pray for others more.. even if they don't need it. Tho I think everybody needs a prayer at one time or another.

I remember mom tell me this before.... 'a man is not just a mind, heart, and body... but essentially a soul'. And this, I guess, is the missing thread ... ofttimes neglected in weaving our tapestry of life.


There is the nice prayer I so dearly love. And I know you have come across this before too ......

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen

Blessings to everyone on this fine Wednesday. :-)

BOTHER TO CARE

'Why bother?' I heard a friend say that only recently. And couldn't get my mind off those words. When he said that he was not in a friendly mood... to himself, that is. Apparently something was bothering him. So maybe in frustration or irritation he uttered those words out of despair or surrender. I didn't try to find out those reasons because I thought it best that he sort it out himself. Besides he didn't seem inclined to reveal or consult or as the usual get it off his chest... as most people would.

But I thought again.

I think those words are so mean and unkind and unfeeling. Insensitive. 'Why bother' is like putting up a huge wall - a barrier - to keep out the 'unwanted' into your own 'hallowed' ground. Oh it's true that people have problems and that we are to mind our own business, or so we're told, if we are to keep our turf sane and safe. But that's just the big problem. We've been doing that for so long that we now have lost touch with feelings, emotions that go through the heart and mind of another person... who happens to be a human being too.

But why should we not connect with that anymore. Isn't it that whatever pain the other person goes through is so much the same as ours.. maybe only packaged differently? When he hurts, we feel that hurt - are familiar with it too because we've been through the same things before or are going through something like it in the present.

You know what, not everybody is very good at hiding his or her pain or difficulty... although they would certainly try. But it shows on faces, in the eyes, in the drooping mouth, in the silence of unspoken words that speak loudly. You can easily see through it all. Doesn't need a brilliant mind to do that.

But you know something else more? It takes a human heart to bother to care and offer his helping hand to the other. It takes the best of a person to bother to take time to lift up a person when he's down in the dump. It takes a human being to care over another human being. So, bother... cos you'll never know when one day a person at the receiving end of your giving could be your own.


(Photo sent by a friend)

YOU SEE BUT ARE YOU LOOKING -- YOU HEAR BUT ARE YOU LISTENING

There is nothing so frustrating as to be ignored or misunderstood. But funny we always are and do with each other. As I go about my life and business I’m often told that it’s all that I must do – mind my own business and leave others with theirs.

Are you sure that’s smart? Are you sure that’s compassionate? Are you sure that’s what being human is all about?

Smart is smart when you know that everything a person does stands connected to his neighbor or to the next person beside him, stranger or not. You can’t just go around brandishing your brand of living, speech, or behavior not caring who gets bumped or knocked down by your shadow as you pass it by. The day or moment, or on a larger scale as the world, does not center on you --- alone. It is composed of zillions of other creatures of life which share the center stage with you. They too matter as you do. They’ve got their own stories to tell and deserve to be heard. They’ve got their own ambitions or dreams and deserve to pursue it. They’ve got their desires, passions, and love and deserve to feel or express it. They’ve got their own share of sorrows and pain and deserve to be comforted and cared for. They are so much you – as you are so much them. Understanding this is being smart.

‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ So you think that a miserable-looking man in ragged clothes dirty mien, roaming the streets begging for a penny does not concern you. Or a middle-aged guy looking out through the bars of his lonely cell is his just reward and that makes you feel safe. Or when thousands go hungry in a country far away is the fault of their lousy government and not yours. Or that the pedophile pouncing on young innocent victims is alright just as long as he doesn’t swoop down on your territory or your own brood. Oh but that concerns you – everything that is wrong whether it touches you directly or not – will concern you because it has the potential to hurt or harm you. But you have the power to change things if you want to. You may not be the government with all the resources in your hands nor a billionaire who can send off plane loads of food to Africa but you are you with your one voice, pair of hands, and a mind and heart that thinks and feels rightly when the time is come for it. You can with your one voice try to shift the eyes of the world to the plight of your poor world neighbors. You can point your finger to the instruments of evil threatening our families, communities, and the world. You can pack food and clothes and give it to the poor man on the street. It won’t take much to show compassion for another human being. All it takes is a mind and a heart which cares… truly cares.

If you think that you are given life to do as you wish, the answer is no. Yes, we do mind our days with jobs we work at from 9 to 5 24/7, get married, raise families, send children to school but that’s not all there is to life and living. There’s more entwined there because you stand connected to the world outside too that will surely engage your fullest capacity, ability, or talent if you look hard and listen well. And that does not simply operate in your own small circle of family or close friends although it can begin there. It’s a huge expanse which covers your community, to people you’ve never seen before in your whole life, and to the world at large. One voice or one small step or one lighted candle can lead to bigger and better things for a greater number of people.

Do what you can with what you are and what you have to shape lives, to bring hope, to tell your brothers regardless of race, color or creed that you see and are looking, that you hear and are listening. That is what being human is all about. And may you be blessed a hundredfold for it.