A PLAY OF OPPOSITES BUT ALL FOR THE PURPOSE OF TEACHING US

------------------ I wasn't planning on writing today, was more inclined to sit down with a good book I had started some months back and should be finishing by this time. Some books are easy to finish real fast and then some take about a life time to be done with. Kidding! This one was often interrupted by the writing and painting and me-time moments with family. Not complaining, it's all good.
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Well, what nudged me back to my laptop was an email sent by a good friend. She said ....."You know what this poster means to me. Story of my life. There are many others out there like me. I want you to touch their lives ... for me."
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Nope she's not on Facebook or on any other forum but she's a bright smart person in her early sixties living a life (which in her own words) 'as a sixty-year-old lady happy and content would'.
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I looked at the poster and understood what she meant. Because it really isn't just her story but everybody's. It's mine, too.
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The building-up is the easy and happy part of life. Everything that is of joy... peace.... of affirmations and assurances.... of trust and believing..... of empathy and understanding.... of generosity and compassion..... of connecting with honest intent..... and everything else possible that builds up another to his or her full potential. Awesome!  Helping it along is truly amazing!
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On the other hand, the tearing-down of another brings that person's whole world crumbling down and with it all hopes and dreams vanish up in the air like smoke! Making that person miserable..... unhappy..... frustrated..... depressed..... sad..... suffer..... desperate..... hopeless..... disillusioned..... weak..... unwilling to try again as self-esteem and courage had been crushed to the ground in smithereens! Heartbreaking! Causing such misery is undoubtedly mean and cruel!
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We get both kinds of people in our life journey. But each for a very definite reason. "It's a play of opposites", as my friend pointed out. "But all for the purpose of teaching us."   She added.... "Remember Yin and Yang?"
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Yin and Yang definition
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"Two forces in the universe, according to a Chinese theory: yin is the passive, negative force, and yang the active, positive force. According to this theory, wise people will detect these forces in the seasons, in their food, and so on, and will regulate their lives accordingly."
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As in the Yin and Yang of the rest of our lives, we learn to deal with these two kinds of people with what we know or have learned.
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When we have learned the lessons well, it opens up our minds and hearts to the fact that the good and the bad have its reason for being. We begin to understand what the universe wants us to learn..... and learn well. We need to grow. We must become better persons with the lessons it's throwing our way. There is no other goal for it. Grow, says the universe.
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And you'll be thankful that you listened and did!
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Blessings, everyone!  

BE OF GOOD COURAGE AND BE KIND

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Life is not all fun and stuff. You know that. I know that. We all know that. There are the times when you wished you were somewhere else... perhaps the moon or mars!? I do. Particularly when people come into my space without the slightest good intent. Oh yes, the world is made up of both the good and the bad. A famous writer (whose name I forgot now) once said that "..... a person has both the good and the bad in him and he is defined by the choices he makes".
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Okay, following that line of thinking -- then when that person who with all of his sanity and humanity chose to be mean to me -- therefore he is a bad person. On the other hand, another person who chose to be kind, sympathetic and helpful to my plight -- therefore is a good person. And then when I want to bash into smithereens the head of the bad person and reward with kindness the good person --- I am then both good and bad. Simple lang noh?!!
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But... I chose not to be bad in my responses to such situations; I wasn't raised that way. Besides I believe in a Divine Presence who sees everything and gives to every person according to what he or she deserves, both good and bad. So there!
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I have learned so much from Mom. She was all-patient, forgiving, generous, tough, resourceful, long-suffering, but of such staunch faith in her belief in the Divine whose fairness in all things can be depended upon. The results she may have expected or prayed for may have come not promptly as she hoped for but her faith always was proven right. God has His ways, in His time. I saw that in her life. I was made sad though that she didn't live long enough to see her vindication. But I was glad that God honored her faith. In all things.
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I have loved this from the first time I heard it from the movie "Cinderella" ---- "Be of good courage and be kind". That movie now is among the very top on my list of favorites.
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It reminded me of Mom... the story of her life. Courage in a tough life and kindness of a heart which knew how to understand.
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Never mind the bad people and things and stuff which come into your life. But choose your responses to it. Your responses will define who you are. And.. God sees what people may not see nor understand. That is sufficient.
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God bless you.