Showing posts with label pay attention to life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pay attention to life. Show all posts

Saturday, February 20, 2016

LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY




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We have our prejudices. We have our biases. Some of us, no matter how old we have become remain childish. We chose only those things we want to listen to, like a stubborn child who won't listen to his mother.
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WE DO NOT KNOW EVERYTHING. Nobody does. Nobody has the monopoly of knowledge or wisdom or information which this world or life contains. Always there will be things to learn ---- new ideas, new roads to discovery, new insights or perceptions, new technology, new inventions, new ways of doing things or understanding things. Even new ways of learning. Life, as I have learned, is all about learning.... new learning, unlearning if must, relearning if necessary -- it's the whole process of developing- of growing - of becoming better - of achieving perfection if you so wish.
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I thought I knew all there was to know about cooking pancakes... until somebody did it with sour cream in the batter! I didn't know you could do that?! And I didn't know that it's okay to have lumps in the batter -- because I would beat the batter till it was smooth and silky. See? I was learning a different way of doing something.
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But we can LISTEN. What we lack in our own may or can be filled by somebody else's wisdom, knowledge, insights, experience, observations, or perceptions. They may have solutions to our problems.... they may have discovered a better way of doing it... they probably could refer us to people who are better on that subject. Maybe we can learn more if we decide to LISTEN and pay ATTENTION.
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Do you know what usually gets in the way of learning? EGO and PRIDE. You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it. Nothing more can be said about that. It speaks for itself.
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Do you want to bring in awesome into your life.. everyday?? LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY! It does not have to be those things of grand or grander measure or scale. It could be the teeny tiny thing unimaginable... but then teaches you something of such great value that it hits you like a eureka ball!. And you realize how much you have been missing.
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And......
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sometimes somewhere there we get to learn from UNEXPECTED TEACHERS. Life is full of them. I get my share and I am grateful to them... two-legged and four-legged teachers!! And Mother Nature! They fill up my day and life with awesome learning.
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Have a nice awesome weekend, friends! God bless you!
 
 
 

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

TODAY'S MORNING WALK AND MORE...









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I almost missed my morning walk today because it felt good staying in bed... rather overstaying... just feeling cozy and comfy.... the temptation was so great to sleep on. But..... habits are indeed hard to break. So I pushed myself up and out of bed grudgingly and gathered my morning-walk-stuff and walked out the door. Oh yes, I remembered to bring some money for some fruits and to pay my one-day-old debt with Mang Obet, the fruit vendor at the talipapa (market).
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Once I was out on the street the feeling of exhilaration returned and kept me moving at my usual pace and gait.
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You know, I've been at this for so long already that maybe you would be thinking by now that I have become quite jaded or bored with the landscape... both human and natural. Well, it's a yes on some days when the mood isn't there... but a no on most days when a small whisper from within reminds me that it's a beautiful world and life and that there is always something new to see everyday.
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The streets I walk on are the same ... perhaps worn and beaten in some parts through the years... but still good. The people I meet down those same paths are the same people too.... oh perhaps grayer in the hair... have put on some weight or lost a few.... have lost someone or gained a new one.... but still the same normal people in my same normal neighborhood.
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The trees, plants, flowers, animals... the flora and fauna, so to speak... of my neighborhood also seem the same.
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So I reply to that tiny voice inside... 'There's nothing new.' Immediately it comes out right back at me with.... 'You're not paying attention.'
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I'm NOT paying attention. --- I'm not paying ATTENTION.
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Oh boy! Okay, Mr. Tiny-Voice-Inside, let's see what you want me to see.
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From the top of the slope and looking down the road up ahead... it was nice watching the play of light and shadows as the sun began its ascent into the waiting sky. It's the newness of day which warms the soul.
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While I was admiring the view, somebody whisked past me in his jogging shoes and flew down ahead nodding a greeting at the man sweeping the garage of his home, and farther on till he was lost from sight. It's a nice neighborhood when a smile is freely given away like that.
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As I resumed my walk, I saw this bush by the road .. so pretty in its graceful leafy arch stretching out towards the street. Pretty in green! It reminds me of people whose wonderful friendships stretch across or beyond barriers of color, race, or religion.
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Not far from it was this ball-shaped plant and its spiky leaves thrusting out from its center. It's pretty. In fact, so beautiful. So much like life. Sometimes beauty can come from unexpected places.
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And then I came to this ugly stump of a tree. What remains of a once glorious and magnificent tree. Maybe we fail to understand it that these trees in its wonderful way help to keep the soil together thereby giving us the solid ground we walk on everyday. There's more to learn if we would just stop awhile and try to understand.
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Oh yes, that sign there. Garbage! It says 'No throwing of garbage in this area'. Speaks for itself. What about the garbage we find inside our heads... and hearts -- what do we do with it?
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See the plants thriving down on the ground? Talbos ng kamote. .... SCIENTIFIC NAME : Ipomoea Batatas. DESCRIPTION : The leafy part of the Camote plant is familiarly known as the Camote tops or Talbos ng Kamote, Thanks to that sign.. it IS thriving beautifully. ------ It's health benefits ---- It contains protein, dietary fiber, lipid, and essential minerals and nutrients such as calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, sodium, potassium, sulfur, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, aluminum and boron.


► Lowers blood sugar and cholesterol.
► Regulates good bowel movements.
► Boost the immune system and thus helping to prevent infections and disease.
 

I have it with my meals almost everyday.
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And finally at the end of my walk, a quick trip to my favorite fruit vendor, Mang Obet. Bought a few mangoes, lansones, rambutan, chicos, oranges, bananas... and of course I paid my old debt of thirty pesos. We exchanged pleasantries spiced with his usual contagious smile. Gee, people are lovely!
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In your day there are many things to see.... the old becomes new, the new becomes more interesting, the interesting becomes much more amazing. Just pay attention. Life is beautiful! By God's design.
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Have a great and blessed day, folks! :-) God bless you!



Thursday, August 7, 2014

BUT TO ACQUIRE WISDOM, ONE MUST OBSERVE




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"The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook."  --  William James

Now that's not an easy one. Human nature dictates that we see the world as we are.....  our preferences, choices, insights, perceptions, and the like. Out there is both the good and the bad. We choose what we want into our lives influenced by our upbringing, education, the presence or absence of influences, and our experiences. All of those can be good or bad or both.

But if we had listened to our mothers (learning always starts from the home) we would be diligently and seriously learning our lessons down the road of life and living. Yet there are some of us who don't. With LACKADAISICAL (lacking in spirit or liveliness) attitudes and WHIMSICAL (unpredictable, capricious, erratic) ideas we go about aiming wildly for the stars. 

Wisdom or being WISE (having or showing experience, knowledge, and good judgment) won't be handed to you on a silver platter.  You work at it.

Meaning you don't go about your day just cruising but you let life touch you. You get involved in life and living; you get in there and get your hands dirty, so to speak, with every challenge, struggle, hurdle coming your way. There will be irritations big and small in things and in people. Irritations which serve no purpose but to mess up your life. Choose your battles, if you can. Face it with understanding, compassion, and a discerning eye. You may get bruised, hurt, burned, scarred but haven't you heard it said... 'no pain; no glory' or something to that effect. The best part of it all is to come out of it much wiser. And that's for having learned the lessons well. That's for paying attention to life. I have learned that much in my own.

One more thought --- you don't have to wait to be old or grow old to be wise.

Life is a great teacher -- and it also can tell you what to overlook, if you let it.

God showers blessings today.... catch a bucket-full!!
A blessed day to everyone!
(Thanks to Mr. Quote Man for the quote... and to the internet for the posters.)