ABILITY TO CHOOSE

"The greatest weapon over stress

 is our ability to choose one thought over another."  

--- William James

When I saw this in my email this morning, the first thought that came into mind was........  So that's why we're all so stressed. It's not because our stresses are bigger or stronger than us, but more so because our abilities to cope are smaller than small and weaker than weak or sometimes non-existent.. thus we can't even make the right choices of good thoughts over bad thoughts. Stress is a bad thought, positivity is a good thought anytime. Even though we know that, we still struggle in choosing the right thought for us or adapt the right mental approach to the stressed situation. So then where have our abilities to choose one good thought over a bad thought (or another) gone to??!  That's for us to figure that one out, don't you think?

Hope everybody's having a wonderful weekend. 

Choose HAPPY!
Blessings, everyone.

SOFT RAIN ONE LOVELY MORNING

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SOFT RAIN

Woke up early this morning my girls still asleep in their beds. Walked to the window to see how the day was beginning.

Rain. A slight one forming a thin curtain draping my window. Yet I still could see through it.... birds unbothered by raindrops were amazingly chirping atop a branch of a neighbor's tree across the street, clouds above fading away gently making room for the blue skies to show, life in my neighborhood slowly waking up to a new day.... to the promise of a new day.

Some people say that life's problems are like rain. It falls on anything, anyone, whenever, whatever. So much of that is true. Different kinds of rain or rainfall fall down on us as there are different kinds of troubles or challenges that man faces each day.

I like this one am having this morning. Because if troubles come like this rain - gentle and soft ......  I would still be able in spite of the pain, hurt, difficulties, or problems to see beyond it all... to see the silver lining that lies underneath the troubled heap. I would be able to understand by the grace of God that whatever troubles may be it does not necessarily have to end my world. But that rather it passes soon enough after it has done its job of teaching me the lessons it wants me to learn. And that if I have paid good attention and remained steady through it all..... I will receive the promise and reward of a better day, perhaps a better life, but most essentially a better version of my old self.

Like soft rain when it is done, I would come out of it refreshed and renewed. Gratefully alive. Reborn. Thank God.

Hope you're all having a good and blessed week.

CREATE SPECIAL

Today I find myself with a day that looks  so ordinary and empty. So I wondered to myself just what am I supposed to do with such a day. Well, maybe I could play music and find myself a quiet corner to sit by my lonesome self and enjoy it. But the choices on my cd rack didn't look too enticing to say the least. Have played them over and over at different times these past few weeks that it certainly wore off its novelty easily.. So I shifted my thoughts to painting. Haven't painted for quite awhile now and I must admit that there were some nice images I was thinking to capture on canvass just last week. But again the images weren't clear enough now to ever make any sense. I guess it's just what some would say the absence of inspiration. 

Well then, perhaps a good book will help make the hours slip by unnoticed. But which one..... 'Purpose Driven Life'.... 'The Alchemist'.... 'The Road Less Traveled'.... 'The Aladdin Factor'.... 'City of Angels'.... '1001 Do-It-Yourself Hints and Tips'.... or that one bought from a book sale which now sits undisturbed on the shelf.... for weeks. Nah, I decided to let it remain undisturbed for some more as I now sense regretting that I ever bought it at all. And I decided too to leave the rest mentioned here alone although those are truly the kind of books you won't mind going back to again and again.

So what have we next? Ah food! Let's see ...... apples? grapes? bananas? oranges???... or munch on raisins? How bout biscuits or some junk food (oh but my daughter is not going to like this when she knows). Hey what about a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich...my favorite... along with a nice hot cup of tea. I'm off cola drinks for good --- something which I don't miss anymore now. Fruit juice? Have run out of that today.

So sandwich it is! And that about makes my day. 

That's all it would take really to turn an ordinary day into something that puts a smile on your face... give a lift to your mood.... and make you feel good inside and out. It's simply listening to the tiny nudge within you.... a tiny push which tells you to pay attention ..... and when you do pay attention it puts you right in sync with the moment. And that could be not just with your favorite sandwich or a cup of tea ... sometimes it could simply be a tiny book which you may have read a hundred times over anyhow.  Whatever it is your heart will lead you to it. In savoring the moment the day is transformed into special. Very special.

GOING THROUGH OLD FILES ONE DAY.....

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While going through some old files, I came across this old folder. Looking inside I saw several writings which went way back to the year 1996. I wrote them for the company newsletter then. Here's one....

WHAT MAKES GOD SMILE

                                              
'What makes God smile?' audibly mused my youngest daughter gazing at the ceiling in 'mock' seriousness. I know because she always does that when doing her homework.

'You won't find the answer there, Honey.' I teased her while adjusting my reading glasses and went back to the book I was reading.

'Oh! then maybe you do.' she retorted. Bingo! this foolish fish fell for the bait easily. And I thought I was so smart!

'Mom! Got an essay to do for tomorrow’s class...' she pressed on 'what makes God smile?' tapping her pencil on the table.

So then I bid farewell to my book and precious glass of cool lemonade... the gentle breeze by the window... my comfortable chair... and the nice piano music from my player... and shifted my attention to this little kid in pigtails with her pencil-tapping impatience. 

"Remember that day you gave me a lovely red rose for no occasion at all? You saw how much it pleased and delighted me as I gave you my biggest grin which almost tore up my face from ear to ear. What you didn't see was that I was smiling for seeing your heart all wrapped up in love and affection. That made me smile."

I continued...

"It's so much the same with God. No matter if you stumble and falter in your efforts to please him, he'll understand and instead will look to your heart to see the honesty there or the faith and love that struggles to keep in step with him.

You don't have to be brilliant, wise, knowledgeable, gorgeous, smart, perfect, so everything in the world to be able to please him. He knows we aren't all that. He created us; therefore he knows us. Yet in spite of our imperfections and flaws we try to love and obey him as best as we can still ----- now THAT MAKES HIM SMILE!”

‘Thanks, Mom!’ and she stood up and almost made a run for her room when I protested... ‘but you haven’t written down a word I’ve said!’ And she replied with a smile.. ‘Nope but I’ll remember’ and pointing to her heart ... ‘it’s all in here. Love you, Mom!’
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May our good Lord bless you all, readers visible and invisible, with everything good in life.

LIFE IS TODAY - NOT TOMORROW

What's on my mind today?  This eyeopener quote from Mr. Quote Man........

"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin..... But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."    (Alfred Souza)
 
--Unquote.


There you see. Life is what's happening to you today. It's not tomorrow when you finally land a good job.. when you marry the girl or boy of your dreams.. when you have a car.. when you graduate from college.. when all your debts are paid.. when you get the kinks in your life straightened out.. when you retire.. or when you have finally built your dream house.. etc.

You start living today ... where it could possibly be frustrating, disappointing, challenging, wearisome, exasperating, boring, scary, dangerous, heartbreaking, daunting........... but can also be euphoric, ecstatic, splendid, gorgeous, magnificent, adventurous, humorous, inspiring, and downright awesome.

Our 'today' is a mix of all that. Maybe at times the scale unevens having a bit more of one or the other but that's what's supposed to happen if we are to learn anything at all. Not much learning is done in comfort and ease. Pain and trials can make good teachers thus life lessons better learned. The intent is for a better you.

I have seen friends who waited .. and when the day they planned and waited for finally came .... They found out too late that they have missed out on what's truly essential in life and living. If you have your mind and heart closed to that, you certainly have not learned how to live at all.
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I've said this before, I'll say it again. Carpe Diem! It's today or never. Blessings to you all!

A MOTHER LOVES THIS BIG - BUT GOD BIGGER

I was on the phone early this morning with a close friend. We chatted like old friends do even without first warming our tummies with breakfast. Coffee for her, cereal for me. Then our chat got to talking bout her children in the States. Struggling she said and at this point a mother's heart broke down. How she wished that she could gather all their burdens and carry them on her shoulders. Oh yeah, a female Atlas with the weight of the world (her kids' world anyhow) on her small shoulders. But those are typically the very thoughts of a mother for her children.

Choking with emotion and I suppose with tears streaming down her face, she spoke how life was and is still tough going for them. Land of Promise? Nah but yes eventually you could get to that point but not after you have given your blood, sweat, and tears for it. It's not offered on a silver spoon.

My friend is a devoted mother --- she'll cross the seven seas or climb Kilimanjaro for her children.... or skin a human being alive if he dares hurt any one of them. Well, she would given the reason! She's a darling mother and friend. So precious to me.

Now why am I telling her story? Because I want to say this........

Hard as it may be to accept this but our children are now grown. Individuals now traveling down their own life roads .. as designed by God. They will struggle.. cry.. laugh.. rejoice.. hurt.. be saddened.. frustrated.. disappointed.. angry.. ride high and low or be tossed about by the winds of strife. They will go through it ---- we can't do it for them. They will learn their own life lessons or fail at it. They will reap their own failures or successes.... punishment or reward. While we stand at a distance... watching... with our hearts pierced with the sharpest sword that can ever pierce a mother's heart. Our pain bigger than the wound it creates.

But if you as a mother did your job well, as God designed you to .... you can stand there confident knowing in your heart that .... 

'you have raised your child in the way he should go... 
and that he shall not depart from it'.

That is your comfort and peace. You have raised a winner. And a winner will he be all through his life, even long after you have gone. And don't worry cos ... God who took good care of you is the same God who will take care of your children.

God bless all the mothers in the world!!

WHAT'S THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS

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My friends and I were chatting over lunch one day and the conversation moved to the subject of success. A question was posed..... 'What is the measure of success?'

These were the answers..... when you live in a big house in an exclusive street address, when you are the CEO of a huge company, when you have a huge bank account, when you have five cars and one of them is a Ferrari, when you have a second house abroad, when your children study in the best schools abroad, etc. etc. etc.

Not surprised by the answers; after all this is a material world and the tangible is more easily understood and appreciated.

But have you read what Ralph Waldo Emerson has to say about this? ................................

To quote.....

"To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and
endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty,
to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child,
a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

....Unquote.
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A blessed day to you all!

 

 

 

THE Terrible TERRIBLE SOUTHWEST MONSOON RAINS OF AUGUST

"You may not control all the events that happen to you, 

but you can decide not to be reduced by them." 

-- Maya Angelou

Actually that's what I see as pictures flood the news on the floods caused by the terrible TERRIBLE southwest monsoonrains which hit the different areas of Metro Manila and the provinces, as covered by our news networks.

Observe and watch the people ...

..... they may cry, be scared, angry, exasperated ... but you will still see more of them smiling and waving at you or your camera, wading doggedly in the waist deep waters to or from somewhere important, taking swims in the murky waters like it was one big Olympic swimming pool, creating make-shift means of transportation to travel or bring people from one point to another, hanging on for another day hoping that help would come soon, good Samaritans volunteering their vehicles to transport stranded people on the streets or their homes to shelter evacuees-neighbors, a family cooking food to bring to the evacuation center, a banana fruit vendor distributed his wares to hungry people on the street, a rescuer part of a rescue team apparently shivering from the cold yet persevered in rescuing people stranded in their homes, a pet owner carrying his dog as he trudged through the waters to get to an evacuation center (walang iwanan - I love this guy), and many more similar images and stories.

Hope springs eternal..... indeed! Their spirit will bounce back --- like it always does. Amazing! But at the same time let us mind the lessons that should be learned from this.

 

EARTH ANGELS - KNOW WHO THEY ARE

I thank an online friend for this wonderful quote seen on his page.................

"God works through us 

to meet the needs of those around us."   

-----  -ODB

Earth angels.... I believe we've got plenty here on earth. Nope no wings, no shining halos, not even a rose scented presence, nor a trail of light from the skies above. But we surely have them.

How do I know that? Simple. Because at several times in my splintered existence angels have walked on my turf and space. It's that encounter or moment when something beautifully awesome happens... It's that moment when hope resuscitates... strength is renewed... faith is emboldened... courage is regained.... darkness is made light again.

And all because of a person who looks, can you believe this, so ordinary.. in fact even resembles you -- a human being. And yet does something so special which you can only measure by heaven's standard. And sometimes it may just be a look - a touch - a word - or one tiny thought or gesture, or a prayer ..... and yet it spells the whole world in unexplained joy and fulfillment. Like a void within has been filled and that it simply just fits!

I love earth angles and I think that I have been luckily blessed with many... both near and far.... online and in real time.  Loving this journey but who wouldn't. It's one great company to be traveling with. All thanks to dear Daddy God up there!

Blessings, everyone! Love your angels. :-)

CHARACTER IS WHAT YOU DO WHEN NOBODY'S WATCHING

“Character is what you do when nobody is watching. Character is how you treat people who can do absolutely nothing for you. Character is how you react when the pressure is on. Character is deciding beforehand that you are going to do the right thing.”   --  Every day we’re faced with decisions — many of which are made when no one is watching, at least no one we can see. But let’s purpose in our hearts to do the right thing — because character truly counts. We may not see the dividends immediately — but be assured that God is keeping track of our decisions, and He will make good on every one!   -- (Unquote)

Yes, same friend (let's call him Mr. Quote Man) sent it to me today. I think the quote does very well on its own; too bad my good friend didn't find out who said it.

That first line there --- 'Character is what you do when nobody is watching.' -- says it all. So if we think that we can get away with shoddy behavior or character within the four walls of our home....  think again. True.. human eyes may not see us (Except that of our family, of course. And our family loves us for better or for worse.... our worst.) But this one pair of eyes sees it all and even more. I'll leave that to your imagination.

Character isn't just  'how you treat people who can do absolutely nothing for you'  -- but is also how we treat the ones who love us and care for us with all of their hearts and souls. They who have put us up in the forefront of their lives or its center. They who have been the silent wind beneath our wings. They who serve with no thought of return.

Blessings to everyone, through Christ.