I HAVE LEARNED THAT..... (PART 3)

“I have learned that I can always pray for someone when I don’t have the strength to help him in some other way.” --a friend

When talking with people online I have learned to keep my heart open to signals for help. Well, I have found out that the hurt, pain, issue, concern or whatever else it’s called which a person goes through in life manages to slip out in the chat or conversation. Even his silence can be telling.

Yet I also know my limitations. No matter how much I want to help sometimes I can’t because I don’t have the ready answers to it in my hands. I’m not superwoman or a fairy godmother or some deity who has the solution easily turning woes to joys – and no human being is. Not right to pretend at it either – not good to give out false hopes. And maybe I’d be tempted to simply disappear from the chat and blame it on the ‘failed’ internet connection the next time we meet. Often though I find that neither is my strength sufficient for such a deep need. I may be just like the other person frail and weak; I know I am.

But then I can’t let the moment pass without trying to help ease someone’s burden when the moment calls for it. It’s something Mom was very good at with friends and strangers alike in her time. She never turned her back on a hurting heart. Maybe I am unable to give concrete solutions but I stay and listen. It tugs right at my heartstrings I guess just like Mom.

Yet my human limitations are not a drawback in helping people I now understand. There is something that I can do that transcends everything else. I can --- PRAY.

I can pray and pray I will. I don’t need a church to do that nor a prayer book nor some grand manifestation or external trappings of ‘feigned holiness’ which admittedly is often seen around us unfortunately. Just like this lady I saw in a passenger jeep with closed eyes and fingers on her rosary supposedly ‘praying’. Ten minutes later, her fingers were still on the same bead unmoving! -- Quite amusing indeed. Several days after in another jeep I saw this old woman with her rosary -- finishing ten Hail Mary beads before she got off for her stop. That was something. Just an observation. Not saying that one is better than the other -- I can't read minds nor intent. We each have our ways in pursuing piety or religion. That is not the issue here.

You and I can pray for anyone where we are at with what we have in the silence of our souls – with nobody knowing at all. It’s called the ‘heart prayer’. It’s accurate, foolproof, speedy, and effective because it travels from heart to heart --- from your heart to God’s heart. Straight, direct, no jammed lines or messed up signals. And you’re sure to catch His attention because you know what --- He always keeps tuned-in to --- hearts.

So then when you find yourself saying to someone ‘I’ll pray for you’ --- do it please. You’ll be doing the very best you can do for that person.

I HAVE LEARNED THAT..... (PART 2)

"I have learned that being kind is more important than being right."

Why do people have this fierce quest to be right all of the time? Why do people think that being right ups their personal value more than anything else? Well, maybe yes, or maybe no.

‘Does it matter? He is wrong and we are right.’ That’s what we would always say. Aww c'mon, is that what it is?! But life isn’t all about being right all of the time. Right doesn’t always make us the good guys. If we pursue and defend right in a manner that appears heartless, mean, ruthless, or demeaning then whatever our good intent that sense of being right would be lost in the pieces of a shattered heart --- a broken spirit.

We go to extra lengths to defend being right or prove a point which we think is the correct one. But did we ever stop to think just how this hard badgering and hammering is affecting the other person? That the words we speak although of good intent may not be the right things to say to him? That we have become blind in our hearts and fail to see that the other person is hurting?

How about trying on his shoes for a change and see how that feels? Maybe then you will wish so hard that the world or people were a little bit kinder? That it’s not so much being right but being kind which truly matters? That people can be wrong, true, but are we always kind?

Being right is okay in its proper time intent and place, but being kind is more important --- because it’s in being human and humane that we truly make the grade.

I HAVE LEARNED THAT.....

“I’ve learned that I can’t choose how I feel, but I can choose what I do about it.”

I like that line. Why? Because I’ve heard it often people say that they can’t help feel a certain way (predominantly downbeat) – that they can’t do anything about it. Don’t you think that’s simply an admission of weakness and defeat -- Two things which we should never allow to set in our life?

I agree that it requires a mind of steel to veer away from feelings which grip you like a vise but if those feelings can’t provide you with a general state of calm or peace, then wouldn’t it be just right to do something about it? Why choose to remain at a place where ugly emotions such as anger, jealousy, fear, vengeance, envy, etc. gnaw at your sense of well-being? Why not try to shift gear and take it to an upbeat situation or course thereby serving a better purpose? You can’t let those ugly emotions ride or control you, especially when you know that it is hurting another person or better yet hurting you. I’ve learned that much.

You can certainly choose what to do about it. It’s been said that mainly there are two approaches to a problem – one is to solve the problem, the other is to change your attitude towards the problem. With feelings you either stay with it or decide what to do about it.

“I’ve learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while you’re climbing it.”

Oh how I know that! I’ve climbed lots of mountains and trekked rugged roads in this life journey. Each not bigger or larger than the other because all were HUGE! Climbing or walking them gave me bruised hands and calloused feet. I got scars from it – emotional scars.

Life’s problems don’t leave us unscathed by it all. It leaves its mark on us, no doubt about it. But you know what, where it hurts us most is where we can experience happiness and growth at its very best.

You probably may have gone through a very difficult phase or situation in life, struggled with it, put in everything you know how, gave it your best shot. And then finally succeeded with it! Remember how you felt with that? The sense of achievement, of learning how strong you can be, of seeing your stack of wisdom grow by leaps and bounds, and of having your cup of joy spill over the brim. Wonderful, isn’t it?

You wouldn’t get that at the mountain top. Rather it’s found as you journey to the top of the mountain.

“I’ve learned that the Lord didn’t do it all in one day. What makes me think I can?”

Yes, impatience ‘kills’ me. That’s what Mom would always say to me. Things have to be done in the shortest possible time with results following right at its heels. I fret when they don’t. I always believed that time is not to be wasted, that one should do-do-do or work-work-work to get things done pronto!

Impatience was a flaw, I say ‘was’ because I think that I have learned my lesson. Or maybe it has something to do with getting older too. Or maybe Mom finally got through to me. Oh boy! Anyway I have learned that impatience is not a virtue – no matter what some smart aleck says to the contrary claiming that it pushes a person to do more and better. Do more - maybe but better I doubt it. That’s not certainly the case although some genius in our midst may be the exception but rarely.

The average normal person would largely benefit with a process that is well-thought out, studied carefully, and smartly carried out. And this would take TIME, and time requires PATIENCE. Patience to sit down to paperwork or research or brainstorming or to wait for an opportune moment to invest one’s time, energy, and money or to wait till the right puzzle pieces are in place before taking the first momentous step. Don’t you think it is less risk that way?

GET A HOBBY!

A friend once told me that all she ever knows is work, work, work. That didn't impress me at all, even if she managed to take home a fat no fatter paycheck. Because what I saw was a person all dried up, withering away as the years were adding up wrinkles on her face. So I said 'get a hobby!'.. and she replied 'I don't have any!'. Can you believe that?!

So okay my point in telling you about her is to say to you.... "GET A HOBBY!" Whatever it is -- needlecraft, photography, cooking, scrap booking, gardening, writing, etc. -- make room for your passion and creativity. Indulge in it because you got it, it's in there just waiting to be tapped or brought out to the surface... by you!

I have a niece in New York who loves to draw and I hope she gets to read this. The best way to draw is to -- draw!! Draw till your fingers drop. And if it's designing clothes... put your ideas down on paper immediately when the idea comes to you. It may look odd, absurd, or grotesque but it doesn't matter. The puffed skirt was grotesque when it first came out, but look how it's become a big influence in fashion now.

Well, not everybody will become a fashion czar or a famous artist but do it because you love doing it - it's your passion and that's all that matters.

DREAM IT - PLAN IT - WORK IT

"You will recognize  your own path when you come upon it,  because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need."  -- Jerry Gillies

That about answers the question asked me so often when among the young hopefuls I’ve interviewed for a job before. They tell me that they have so many plans, so many dreams, and yet never seem to know which one is the right one for them. Confused and bewildered they keep on hammering at a wide range of choices believing that the right one will surface and show its face and that somehow things will break and they will hit gold – but maybe or maybe not. I’m not convinced with that method.

It’s not always smart to spread yourself thinly over a wide field of prospects. It’s like using up energy and shooting wild bullets with no specific target in sight. Besides it will wear you out faster and pretty soon you will find yourself dragging your feet from one place to another. That’s a candidate for frustration and disappointment and a waste of precious time and talent – one which you can’t afford to lose.

And I have seen other young people take on a well-thought out and planned approach. These boys and girls start out with a well-defined and definite sense of self and purpose; have equipped themselves with the necessary education and training, and studied their prospects sorting out those which they believe will be a sure fit. They don’t bother with anything which does not fill the criteria they have set down. In such a way they succeed to narrow down the choices to the best of the crop. Once this has been decided then and only then do they gear up for the pursuit and journey. Armed with a clearer vision of who they are, what they have and what they hope to achieve..... amazingly the required enthusiasm energy and imagination needed to see it through springs out or bursts forth in unexplained measure and further throughout the journey would gain even greater momentum as each time the goal becomes closer to one’s view and reach.

"Start believing now that we can be who we are." --- (Anon.)

THE EYES OF THE HEART

I would like to write about this today. I look around me and at the world at large and see how much the world has got us all entrenched in things material and external. Come to think of it, people judge me for what I wear or with the choices I make, good or bad. People measure me for how much I got in the bank or how high up the corporate ladder I’ve gone. People label me for the company I keep or my choice of friends. People size me up for the glitter and glitch I have hang up on my body or to what schools I send my children to or whether my car is of the latest model.

If that be the measure I would certainly stand no chance and those who have everything that pleases the eye would make the grade. But don’t get me wrong, wealth or position serve its own uses and purposes too. And if people work hard for it, it becomes a prize or just reward for achievement.

Yet there must be much more to that.

You see, I’d like to be appreciated for who I am and not for what I have acquired for myself no matter how exquisite it may be, in physical or material terms -- Because I am definitely more than what I possess or do not possess.

This is the same gauge I use in people and life and the bigger world outside. There is more to what I see -- Positively more.

Those things which truly matter are hidden to the eye. Sometimes these things do not translate itself outwardly for some reason or another. It gets bundled up inside the person who has to tend with overwhelming odds or resistance or rejection or neglect. But it’s there quietly beating in the heart, waiting for its own true moment. And yet again because anything true and genuine cannot be muffled or stifled a hundred percent of the time all of the time, it somehow slips out in small gestures or snippets of expression too minute and often go unnoticed.

You can’t see these with the eye. Certainly cannot know how much hurt or pain or suffering is bottled up inside. Or how much good intent there is and why that person would concede to suffering. What if a person acts the way he does which may appear quite odd to others but because he seeks to protect a loved one or ease the burden of another and so does it anyway? When someone rubs you the wrong way and goes against your grain and pisses you off big time, but do you know what’s pushing him to be that way? Most people put up a lot of facades or masks or fences to hide things which they feel would not be accepted or understood by others. They build high walls to keep out other human beings who they think are out to fry them and break them down to pieces. And some pretend that they don’t need people at all – that self is sufficient and all that’s needed to live life with. More often than not, what you see in people isn’t what you get.

I see people – human beings who breathe the air I breathe, walk the roads I walk, dream the dreams I dream, play the same games I play, work the same jobs I work at, and know that we are all the same in our similarities and differences.

But the eyes of my heart can see well and better. It sees what goes on behind the facades and masks --- and understands. It can sift through the grain and pick out gems of feelings, thoughts, values, ideals, and intent. It understands that these are the things which truly matter. It knows that it is the person inside which is real and true and worthy.

It is only with the heart that one can see clearly,
for themost essential things are invisible to the eye."

-- Antonie de Sainte Exupery

(The picture here is courtesy of Malen, my youngest daughter, who took it with her phone cam. The subject is Maxie, our pet dog.)

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.

TODAY'S POTPOURRI OF THOUGHTS

Sometimes on some days I can work up a good piece for writing. But then again at some other times I work out not just one but several inspirations for writing. Thus you’ll see that I have posts wherein several thoughts are gathered after every favored quote listed. Why do I use quotes? It helps crystallize the idea forming in my mind. And where there are several ideas all wanting to be written, I need those quotes to get it all sorted out properly. Then writing becomes easy. Give it a try; I know that others have already. So then let's get this rolling. :-)

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"The hardest challenge is to be yourself in a world where everyone is trying to make you be somebody else." -- E. E. Cummings

I had this frustration every time an aunt or uncle and family friends would come up to me in our family reunions and wonder why I am not this or that, like everybody else. They wonder why I am not a doctor or a lawyer or a businesswoman like my cousins before me or are into right now. Know what I’d do with that? I’d look them in the eye and say ‘I have my own interests and inclinations and doing quite well with it, thank you’ --- And my mom, who could overhear the chat (wherever she was in the room. Weird lols), would simply nod and smile in my direction. Well, at least she was on my side.

So I went on to be me. It may not suit their expectations of grandeur success or opulence but this was me, I would tell myself and which I had to remind myself lots of times because there was seemingly no let-up on their assault on my individuality. Mom would always remind me that --- ”we aren’t made into one mold; each is a separate unique creation – and that whatever we do with ourselves and with the talent given us whether it be as an astronaut or a lowly sales clerk – would still be worthy. Do not belittle a person’s honest effort. She stressed that one should only be true to one’s self and that one must be loyal to his or her passion in life. Because doing what you love best is what gives genuine satisfaction. And that is essential to true living. Success is not about what you have done but in what you are happy and content about inside you.”

“It’s important not to define yourself by what you are, but by who you are.”

This line I heard in a home movie long ago. It’s easy to know WHAT we are, right? – A doctor, truck driver, judge, cop, teacher, street sweeper, CEO, inventor, scientist, parent, son or daughter, and many more. It’s a profession or an occupation and we do things naturally required of us in those roles we play in life, individually or collectively.

But WHO we are is the tough question that we also must deal with. Who are we as a person? What makes us tick or not tick? What do we do with life’s crazy things posed to us at some point or another? What values form our thoughts and feelings and which define our relationships in our tiny spaces or with the bigger world outside?

As a competent surgeon for instance, the WHAT in me would make me do an operation with astounding success as expected of my surgical competence of course. But in another case, when it comes to telling the family that a procedure would be a high risk one for the patient, the WHO in me would tell me to say it gently, with careful sensitivity and consideration for the feelings of the much beleaguered family.

Thus I would think that the WHAT is rather clinical in approach; the WHO – much human and humane.

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." -- Alvin Toffler

That is simply what life is all about. We must do a lot of learning in our journey through life but there is never enough time to do it because Life is short. Too short to learn everything there is to learn. But if life should mean anything at all, it should be how well we do these three things ---

LEARN. We are taught our new skills, new principles to serve as road map in our transactions, new information and abilities to enhance our enjoyment of life and living… of people and the world of things around us. Still there is so much more to learn. The well never runs dry.

UNLEARN. Useless mind sets, thoughts, ideas, perceptions which don’t do us any good at all - These things which mess up our life or have outlived their time or even stand in the way of our progress maturity growth and development -- should be but definitely destroyed and annihilated permanently.

RELEARN. Those things which lessons we still haven’t fully understood or grasped will never go away but keep repeating itself. Ever wonder why life keeps throwing back at us the same problems and people we’d rather do without? Well, it does that until we get its message clearly, until the idea pierce our dumb heads and numb hearts, or until we see truth and not the illusions we’d rather see and believe.

Well, this is all for now… today’s potpourri of thoughts, more next time. Bye for a bit.

FAITH IS WHERE THE BIGGEST BATTLES ARE FOUGHT

I need not go far to write bout this subject. This is right on my turf. It’s not that I have become an expert in this. Rather that I have fought so many battles on its front. If I were to sum up the whole of my life I would do it in just one word --- FAITH. Because that’s what it was then, is now, and always will be tomorrow and thereafter. It is how I connect with people, family, do my job, and manage myself. And I look to the universe believing that it would do what is best for me arranging the odds and ends of my blotched life so that it would make some sense to me at least.

Now you probably wonder, if faith is already there so then where would the battles be fought in all that?

The battles fought are in trying to keep the faith.

Those times when the pricks and thorns of life hit us at every turn, when people we trust suddenly are unkind and betray us, when we stand correct and yet still be misunderstood, when we are beaten down on the ground and nobody stops to pick us up, when we lose our fortunes homes family and then friends suddenly are nowhere to be found, when opportunities are nil and we stand on flimsy chances, when our health fails us and strength slowly ebbs away, or when our own thread of faith slips away and we begin losing faith in self --- these are the battles where faith is put to the test. Or maybe it should be said this way --- these are the battles where a person is put to the test. Sometimes when things get so rough and tough and there’s nothing or no one in sight to help us stay on track… faith fizzles out. That’s when we need a good boost quick. And where will it come from? From that tiny voice from within which says that all is not lost. And that all that’s needed is to set our gaze unto heaven and there we will find help and refuge. Yes, it’s that steady flame of faith – the mustard seed of faith just waiting to be summoned to the fore of our lives.

Faith is never lost. Because faith, I believe, is always there inside the person. But alas man is more often unable to summon faith when and where needed. Always it’s a struggle with rousing that tiny bit. Maybe it’s because we have so little confidence in our selves or we don’t trust our fellowmen enough. Maybe we’ve been wired to believe only those things we can see, touch, and hear. Maybe we don’t fully understand our God? Maybe we aren’t truly convinced that He can do something with so little? Sometimes even with nothing at all. Are we not often coaxed to muster up faith even the size of a mustard seed? That shouldn’t be hard to do, right? It’s only a teeny weenie size of faith and not a huge dramatic portion to bring forth our prayed for desires hopes or dreams. It must have been us being referred to with these words ‘O ye of little faith’ –thus spoken in utter frustration but by a very patient God. Wow, He sure loves us so much to put up with our foolishness and stupidity.

I am that stupid fool too but I have learned through my battles that I can’t live without faith --- Can’t go around disbelieving, not trusting, not hoping nor ignorant of possibilities that could happen anywhere anytime with anyone or anything that’s out there just waiting to be tapped or called forth to serve its purpose in my life. Faith is here simply within me in the core of self lit like a small candle in the dark… steadfast in its glow, unbending undimmed. It’s all up to me then to bring it forth and make it shine. So can you.

So then let it shine --- in all of our days, on everything we touch with our own lives, with every little word that comes out of our mouths, or every new thought born in our brains. Let Faith illuminate the space or every nook and cranny of our being… drench our souls with its sweet fragrance. Henceforth let’s make this faith ours – and a worthy offering to a patient loving merciful God.

THIS ONE's FOR JIGYASA

THE TAG OF EIGHT's
It's a tag game and I've been tagged by good friend Jigyasa. :-) I'd like to do this especially for her.

EIGHT THINGS I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT

1. WRITING - since that day my tiny contribution got published in the Rotary Club Newsletter, I was hooked for good.
2. MORNING WALKS - frees my mind of toxic thoughts and memories as I release them to the wind and to the universe that it do what it thinks is best for them.
3. NATURE - Ah for peace and tranquility!
4. MUSIC - It’s a feel-good feeling.
5. TOTE BAG - Versatile, spacious, and sturdy. Goes anywhere with me.
6. HOME - Is where my heart is!
7. FRIENDSHIP - Good ones are treasures worth keeping.
8. TRAVELING - It’s the journey which I enjoy most.
9. SKETCHING - Someday I’ll have the four walls of my room filled up with sketches. Then the dining room…. And the living room… And etc……. LOLS!

:-) Sorry, couldn’t stick to just 8.

EIGHT THINGS I WANT TO DO BEFORE I DIE

Hmmm, let me think…

1. Have done the tour of Central Europe with my husband.
2. Wrote articles for a woman’s magazine published nationwide.
3. Raised god-fearing, responsible, well-mannered, and talented children.
4. Bought my own car.
5. Learned to drive.
6. Build a bigger home for my daughters.
7. Go on a trip to Hawaii with my girls.
8. Contribute to Gawad Kalinga to build a home for the homeless poor.
   
9. A secret dream I’m not ready to divulge yet. :-)

Oh gee, can't stick to 8 again. lols! So it’s the last four which I hope will materialize in good time. By the grace of God.

EIGHT THINGS I SAY OFTEN

1. ‘No kidding!’
2. ‘C’mon!’
3. ‘Hi!’
4. ‘Take care’
5. ‘So delighted…’
6. ‘You make me smile’
7. ‘God bless you and your family’
8. ‘Blessings to you!’

EIGHT BOOKS I’VE READ RECENTLY

Just 8?!! But you know it’s not always that good books are done by famous authors. Sometimes one can get lucky in finding a gem of a book by some unknown writer.

1. Laugh Again (Charles R. Swindol)
2. A 2^nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul (Canfield – Hansen)
3. Today Can Be The Best Day of Your Life (Sala)
4. Good Morning God (Steinke)
5. Notes To Myself (Hugh Pratner)
6. The Alchemist (Coelho)
7. The Reader’s Digest Condensed Books
8. and still counting!

EIGHT SONGS I COULD LISTEN TO OVER AND OVER

1. Smile (Tony Bennett)
2. She Believes In Me (Kenny Rogers)
3. How Can I Not Love You (song from the movie ‘Anna and the King’)
4. Feelings (Morris Albert)
5. Vincent (Don McLean)
6. You Needed Me (Anne Murray)
7. The Way You Look Tonight (Michael Buble)
8. Through The Years (Kenny Rogers)

And more, like That’s All I Ask Of You (from the movie ‘Phantom of the Opera’), Fixing a Broken Heart (Indecent Obsession), Don’t Fade Away (Scott Russel), Honesty (Billy Joel). Oh yes lots more!!

EIGHT THINGS THAT ATTRACT ME TO MY BEST FRIENDS

I'd rather talk about ‘what I like in my best friends’, then it would be those traits which I see and admire in their character and person --

1. Honesty in work and relationships
2. Sincerity - says what he means, means what he says
3. Transparency – wears no mask or pretenses
4. Respecter of all people
5. Broadminded towards life’s craziness and surprises
6. Good listening and conversational skills
7. Unprejudiced by any culture, race, or religion
8. Sense of humor -- can laugh even at self

Cause if asked bout ‘what do my best friends like in me’ – Lols I’d rather that this question be answered by them!

Thanks for tagging me, Jigyasa. 'Had fun doing it! As for passing on the tag, I think that this has visited my friends already. So then, anyone feel free to take this up when the mood strikes you. It's a good fun game! :-D