BE STRONG TO LIVE LIFE

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Do you know why I love my early morning walks? It's because I get to know more about life through it. Oh of course there are also the books... but sometimes out there one gets a lot more of stuff that feeds the mind, heart, and soul. Oh sure, some would say there's nothing special there but ordinary normal mundane puny lives and living. Well, if you stop awhile to think --- our lives, none exempted, are nothing but ordinary puny lives. We eat, work, play, sleep, hurt, cry, laugh, hate, and all the other things found on the emotional scale. And we do this over and over, again and again from sunrise to sundown.
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Like these three middle-aged ladies I saw outside the gate of a nice house. Ordinary people in an ordinary neighborhood living ordinary lives. One was looking so bored, another looked flustered, and the other couldn't quite decide what to do. And their conversation, in loud ordinary voices which is the trademark of Pinoys huddled in an invigorating conversation, male or female.... trailed down inescapably to my ears. Yup, you guessed right... my radar was tuned-in on the trio. My radar, as you must already know by now, is primed to zero-in on new learning, observation, information, insight, and awesomeness of both living and non-living things... no matter its size, race, color, or creed. What they said caught my attention. To catch more of their chat I stopped, bent down and pretended to tie my shoelaces (both shoes). Kinda lame don't you think? But they were quite oblivious to me. So there!
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Lady#1:      "Hhaayy... Wala na bang maibibigay sa atin ng buhay kundi puro problema?" --- (Can't life give us something else other than problems?)
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Lady#2:      "Umasa ka pa! Walang alam pang iba ang buhay kundi ang tambakan tayo ng problema. Heto katatapos lang ng isa... may bago na naman." --- "You kidding me?! Problems are all that life can offer us. One problem finishes.... another crops up!"
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Lady#3:     "Kayo naman! Hindi naman siguro ganyan. Nakatutok lang kayo kasi sa problema." --- (C'mon, can't be that bad. You're focusing only on problems.)
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Ladies#1&#2:     "May bago ba!?!"  --- (So what else is new!?!)
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At that point I didn't wait to hear the reply because I was there long enough and might get noticed by them, so decided to move along.
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But what I gathered from their chat made me think.............
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Is that all there is to life really? Problems?
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Looking back at my own life journey I can say that yes I too have had my share... and new ones do crop up now and then. But that's the same with everybody else.. And problems come in different sizes.. shapes.. color.. and in varying degrees of intensity, force, or severity... rising from a diversity of causes or reasons. It will make you cry.. or anger you.. can be so frustrating, disappointing, irritating.. can arouse depression, self-pity, anxiety, hopelessness, fear, sadness, confusion.. and some seemingly mean and cruel will bash you to the ground utterly defeated. Or so it seems.
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But life does not stop there. Nor does it end there.
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You are here. I am here. Problems notwithstanding. What does that tell us?
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Life may be tough....... but people are tougher.

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By God's design.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALWAYS A SURE FIT

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Went through my old files with the sole intent of ridding it of accumulated 'junk'. What are these, you might ask. It's stuff that when you first saw it consider it essential and then as time goes by you finally realize that it is not. So off it goes to the trash bin.

But I found this gold nugget of wisdom......

"If your parents ever measured you as a child, they had you stand against a wall, and made a little pencil mark on the wall to show your growth. They did not measure you against your brother, or the neighbor's kids, or kids on TV.

When you measure your growth, make sure to only measure your today self by your past self. If you compare your relationships, your success, or your anything against anyone else, you are not being fair to you. Everyone has a different path, a different pace, and different challenges to face along the way."   --- Doe Zantamata, author-artist-photographer

Oftentimes I hear of people saying they wished they were somebody else..... that they had somebody else's beauty, money, title, position, or fame. That they feel themselves and their lives so unworthy and miserable as compared to those they admired. At a certain point of my struggling youth and years I thought so, too. Everybody else were simply fantastic in their own respective lives except poor ole' me with the challenges life seemed keen on hurling in my direction. Dodging it was out of the question because it had such perfect aim no matter how I tried to duck it. Darn!

Until I found my own groove.... When I began to use my mind more and understood with my heart better. I finally learned.

I was traveling my own road, just as everybody else was traveling his or hers. Each of the roads a sure-fit to the persons traveling it respectively. Each living his own story. There will be good times and bad times in proportion each would require for his joy and too necessary learning. There will be different talents finding expression in many diverse ways.....  fast or slow....  weak or strong.....  big or small....  humble or grand. There will be different challenges as well as different blessings. All these and more will be on everybody's table in the portion or measure each would require --- always a sure fit. Somebody up there is running the whole show.

I learned with appreciation and gratitude for everything that was...  is... and will be.  Recognized and fully understood that both the good and the bad are there to serve a purpose. Separately or together will continually serve to shape me into the person I was meant to be, by God's design. 

"Everyone has a different path, a different pace, and different challenges to face along the way."

So don't ever wish you were somebody else. Because you are just where you are meant to be.....  to learn and learn some more.... and become better, in God's perfect time. While you are at it, enjoy the journey and remember to count your blessings.

BE A RAINBOW IN SOMEONE'S CLOUD

 

“Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud.” --Maya Angelou     

I think that's what we’re supposed to do in this life. Life is tough and sometimes somebody else has it even tougher. We can't simply leave them behind in this long journey. We must give them that much needed push to persevere in this long tough journey and get to that destination called our final home - a place which we all are supposed to arrive at, by God’s design. If it's called being a 'rainbow in someone's cloud'... so it is. But that, simply stated, is what God has commissioned us to do to each another.

So let's try with whatever opportunity God shoots our way and armed with this God-given gift granted us to strive to work towards that common goal. I see many others do in their own respective unique ways and talent. Maybe some do it in a grand or grander scale and then some in utterly quiet unobtrusive ways. But it's all the same. It's the same beautiful rainbow painting a person's life with magnificent colors of hope, faith, courage, charity, strength, resiliency, and an unflagging belief that everything will work out fine one day soon. It surely will. By God's design.

Blessings, everyone. Keep the fire burning.

ONLY MEASURE YOUR TODAY SELF BY YOUR PAST SELF

"If your parents ever measured you as a child, they had you stand against a wall, and made a little pencil mark on the wall to show your growth. They did not measure you against your brother, or the neighbor's kids, or kids on TV. When you measure your growth, make sure to only measure your today self by your past self. If you compare your relationships, your success, or your anything against anyone else, you are not being fair to you. Everyone has a different path, a different pace, and different challenges to face along the way." ----------- Doe Zantamata


 
Isn't that just what we need as a reminder? Because human weakness, one of several, is prone to 'comparing'. It's as if by ourselves we can never do enough, we are never capable of better, we always run short of abilities and talent, or that we don't measure up to anything at all. We see easily the green grass on the other side of the fence... rather than work on our own potential or believing in possibilities right here in our own turf.

This was a conversation I had with a neighbor one morning comparing her children with those of her cousin's. She resented the idea that they were more 'successful' than her own brood.

We think that the other guy has had it so good and easy or that so fortunate to be showered down with all the luck in the world leaving none for yourself. But what we don't know is that a lot of hard work were packed into that image of good fortune or success. And too patience, perseverance, determination, and some sacrifices. Most of success stories have it engrained into their formula.

That's no surprise and .....we can do it too. We all can. But as diverse as people are, we each can work it according to our own individual pace, unique talent and skill, perception and attitude, with a diversity of circumstances and resources. education and dreams. And certainly not least of all, with Divine Guidance.

Truly....... "Everyone has a different path, a different pace, and different challenges to face along the way." As it says in the quote -- Comparing yourself with others is indeed unfair to you.

God bless you, folks, with everything good!