GIVE TO OTHERS. GOD WILL GIVE YOU MORE

It's quite easy to turn your back to the misery of others. But not so when misery hits you. Then you wish that friends wouldn't turn their backs on you. 

-"Love one another as much as i love you." - God

 Love will turn the tide. Believe this because it's been done for ages, by many, in different circumstances, with the smallest or greatest of hearts and hands. Love breaks down all barriers -- real, perceived, or  imagined. 

Be that person you were designed to be. Maybe it will be tough for some as they hurt from life's pricks and thorns. But, truth is, there's no ifs and but's there;  the Divine plan is to be kind. (And just a bit of info  - Let God deal with that 'unpleasant' part of your life. He's better at it than we could ever be on our own.)

You see, I have learned that in the early stages of our lives as we grow or mature and develop... we would be engrossed in the I-Me-My-Mine of its living. Then it comes to this point when we are charged with a new direction:  to turn to others. In unselfish care, compassion, understanding, empathy, sympathy, and service. That includes all of creation. Give to others,  God will give you more.

How do we know? The Divine plan takes its course. In bits and pieces or sometimes in grander scale. You're part of it, like it or not.

But if course the free will is still there;  the choice is still up to you. But you still have to conquer it. 

God is a respecter of men and women. He always is. But He expects you to know the Divine plan, too.

Lifted from a Tagalog song:

Pananagutan 

Lyrics by Fr. E. P. Hontiveros

"Walang sinuman ang nabubuhay

Para sa sarili lamang

Walang sinuman and namamatay

Para sa sarili lamang

Tayong lahat ay may pananagutan sa isa't isa

Tayong lahat ay tinipon ng Diyos

Na kapiling nya

....."

Translation:

Nobody lives just for himself 

Nobody dies just for himself 

All of us are responsible for one another 

God has gathered everyone to be with Him 

.....

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YOU BRING ALL OF YOU TO THE WORD 'EMPATHY'

Two young girls, apparently students with their books and laptops open on the table, were arguing about the words empathy and sympathy. Apparently working on a lesson. Fortunately, the coffee shop was half empty as it was quite early for the usual coffee habitue's preferred hour. I was sitting at a table next to them with my usual favorite drink waiting for my daughter to finish with her errands inside the mall. So their voices riding on a pitch higher was no bother at all.
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Girl 1: "Use the word sympathy cos it's more personal'"
Girl 2: "Can't empathy mean the same thing?"

Well, I didn't wait to listen to how they resolved their problem in the end because I chose to turn off my radar at that particular point and focused on my green tea frappe. But those girls made me think.....
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Empathy. Sympathy. Easily one can get their meaning from a good dictionary. No big deal. Mr. Webster can help clear you through a hump down the grammar road.
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Let's not talk about grammar here though. "English is not our first language. But we do have a fair understanding of the language..... thanks to our exposure to it via the printed word, the movies, the media, and the Western world." So says a good friend. So there!
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If you would ask me, I like the word empathy. Why? It seems to me to have a much deeper connection and conviction. It's like all that you are is contained in that word. When you empathize you bring with it your own experiences, your own deep sentiments, your real understanding into that particular situation which another person is going through.
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You know what it is like; you've 'been there-done that'. So then you can understand better. As your own stack of wisdom and ability to connect expands and grows, is heightened, by another person's own set of dire experiences, you learn to respond with genuine care and concern. You see more, listen more, feel more, understand more, connect more, and act better. Or pray better.
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Then it even grows bigger to embrace all of nature, all living creatures, the vast universe, all of humanity, and the world.
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This quote (on empathy) sums it beautifully.....
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"She did not talk to people as if they were strange hard shells she had to crack open to get inside. She talked as if she were already in the shell. In their very shell." ----- Marita Bonner, "Nothing New" (1926), Frye Street and Environs (1987)
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You bring all of you, who-you-are and what-you-are, into the word empathy. So whenever you say "I understand." It's real because you truly do!
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Enjoy your Sunday, folks! God put in there blessings just for you.

GREATNESS -- THE TINY SEED WITHIN

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It's the little things which truly reveal greatness. Not always or necessarily in the grand or grander gestures that man throws at the world. Sometimes done simply for show by some. Rather it's that tiny kind thought or the tiniest glimmer of compassion behind the giving.... behind the smile.... behind the helping which points directly to an outstanding character or heart ..or the awesomeness of the soul.
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It's what Mom would say 'the extra mile - the extra touch' which separates mediocrity from greatness. She would urge me to look for that mark of greatness in people. It's there, she says. Just pay attention. Sometimes though they don't know it themselves because it comes through quite naturally in them. Often too we don't notice it nor give it much attention -- we take for granted those things which we shouldn't. Our bad.
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I guess what she means by 'the extra mile' are those things which a person does out of --- pure generosity... sympathy.. compassion.. understanding.. empathy... care... concern... solicitude.. sensitivity... charity... mercy... tolerance... humanity ---- and acting upon it a little bit more than ordinary.
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Thinking more of the other than of one's self. That isn't always easy. We were raised to think and believe that nothing or no one else in the world matters but ..... I, me, mine, and my. What others do with their life is their business... ours is our own to tend.
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We create walls.. fences.. gaps.. borders.. lines... to keep others out of our lives. Anyone who might cross it is a threat. Only when what they do or can offer serves our best interest would we be inclined to welcome them into our world and space or we in turn would enter their own.
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It really is a solitary and disconnected life we're living, after all. All our fault.
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Yet Mom would remind me that 'greatness' is still in everybody's nature as basically man is created good. By God's design. The thing is it gets buried deep down by the meanness and cares of the world. So then people forget to be kind.... to be human and humane.
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But it's there. And it slips out sometimes, as called forth by some divine intent. Sometimes in bits and pieces. You will miss it if you don't watch for it or look harder. Pay attention. Greatness sometimes comes in small packages.
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God bless you.

BEST FIND OUT WHAT HE OR SHE IS LOOKING AT

 

 

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I'm sharing with you one of my most treasured quotes.  It's from a book by Hugh Prather....... 'NOTES TO MYSELF'.  It says.....
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"No one is wrong.  At most someone is uninformed.  If I think an individual is wrong, either I am unaware of something,  or the person is.  Unless I want to play a superiority game I had best find out what he or she is looking at."
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Unquote.
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Allow me some thoughts.......
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Long ago in my blossoming self-righteous youth I would brush this aside as silly because I had this thought in my young silly head that people can be wrong and there can be no explanation to that except that... they are wrong.  But when I was wrong I always pointed to my youth as a ready excuse. Foolish, of course. Ah but the shortsighted folly of youth!
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As we grow older life proves us wrong on many things we thought we already knew. One lesson drilled into my mind by mother was this.....  'Always get to the story. Behind every individual is a story... his story.'  So whenever I hear someone say something, right or wrong, I would imagine mother shaking her finger at me.... 'Wait for the story.' 
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Yes, she was right ....because life did show me that there is always a story behind every right and every wrong. Opinions, insights, decisions, perceptions and the like are all shaped by experiences contained in a person's personal history.  So when a person presents an opinion but which you think is wrong,  hold judgement.  Find out why or how. That person's history influences his or her thoughts, words, and deeds.... the same way it does yours.  It's possible, too, maybe that person knows something you don't know... or maybe he knows nothing of what you already know.  But definitely he is speaking right off his own life journey and experiences.  You would, too, in your own.
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Besides nobody has the monopoly of knowledge or wisdom or information. Further we both may not be seeing the same thing in the same way........... you may be seeing trees but I am looking at its fruits. Like a friend had this crush on a good-looking fella, but I found his manner quite abrasive. But when later I found out why, then I finally understood.
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Seek to be informed. Wait to be informed. With information comes better understanding, compassion, empathy, wisdom.
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As Prather said.....  '..best find out what he or she is looking at.'

WHAT'S TO BE SCARED OF

 

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A friend once said that the one thing that we should learn is .. 'to mind our own business'.
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Really? That made me think. You see, there were those times I remember very well when I needed a helping hand... a kind word... some bit of inspiration or encouragement... someone to be there ----  but nobody bothered to be there because they were simply minding their own business like it was the best and proper thing to do - to leave me to my misery. Can you imagine if somebody just forgot about being scared and took that brave step to get in there and ask if I was okay? That would have made the big difference.
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What's to be scared of? Getting involved in other people's lives? That it might make a dent into your resources, time, energy, or take you out of your nice comfort zones? That by giving more of you -- that you become less and less? That you are not good enough or rich enough or influential enough to make a difference?
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But I have learned that the trouble lies in this simple fact that we are too tied up with the self. That after we have slaved ourselves to where we are whatever it is we take pride in, we now consider everything else as a possible threat to that. And that, to our mind, will hurt our tiny world and we don't want that.
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And here comes a cry for help... but we look the other way.
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Mind our own business.  Do you think that it is correct? Of course, we should be respecters of men and women. But it does not have to mean that we isolate ourselves from one another. That's taking it too far.  That's not why we are here.  If I can't count on you.. and ..you can't count on me ---- who will and would??
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No man is an island;  we all stand connected. You feel, I feel;  you hurt, I hurt;  you're happy, I am happy;  you grieve, I grieve. You are no better or lesser than me ... nor  I better or lesser than you.  I am you and you are me.  We keep forgetting that simple truth.  All by God's design.
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So, my dear friend, if perchance you need a prayer - and prayer is what I can give you with all my heart --- let me know!  God bless you.

KINDNESS IN ANOTHER'S TROUBLE - COURAGE IN YOUR OWN

 

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Life is mostly froth and bubble,
Two things stand like stone,
Kindness in another's trouble,
Courage in your own.

-----Gordon Adam Lindsay

Have you come across this poem before? It's beautiful and true, isn't it?
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Froth and bubble.... if you think about it, life is indeed most of the time froth and bubble. Temporary, fleeting, sometimes meaningless. Those things which we do for ourselves really don't matter where it should matter most. Superficial ---- We spend so much time "caring too much about how we look. about how other people look. about what we say and do and what other people say and do". And we think that's important because it is all about us. Our dreams, ambitions, experiences, opinions, achievements or failures ... our lives. Not that those things in itself are bad; those have its uses, too. But honestly we can take that only to a certain extent. Beyond a certain point it would matter no more.
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And that certain point is when everything about us is satisfied or sated. Thereafter things only get repeated over and over, again and again and in effect lose its relevance at all. Pointless... meaningless... 'been there-done that' is what some would say. Jaded robotic existence.
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But have you noticed how your soul comes alive when your focus shifts to another person? Particularly when you share of your self generously... selflessly? Feel the vibrant energy oozing out from you? A spark is lighted (you don't even know how it got there) and you get infused with its brilliant light. You become alive!
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The same magic happens to you when you face your struggles and challenges with new-found strength... strength you thought no longer existed. Bravery in your own is a magnificent thing. You begin to see life anew with renewed hope, courage, and faith.
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Kindness and courage .... both give meaning to life --- and life to meaning.
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Blessings to you all!

WHY DO YOU CARE?

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A friend in the blog told me something which made me think and think twice. ----- 'Why do you care?'

I replied ----- 'Why should I NOT care? Seriously, why NOT?'

This is not a life or world meant for solitary exclusion..... even if it looks that way as each goes his or her own business living it. We all stand connected, like it or not. If the people next door to you are wasteful or inconsiderate or mean or selfish, those actions or thoughts will create a ripple that will eventually touch your part of the human pond and even more creatures as the ripple travels down and on.

If it were good ripples, then you are so blessed by it. Otherwise, your life in the pond will be as miserable as that who has caused the bad ripples in it. You cannot escape it because you live in the same pond.

So I care what happens on my street - in my neighborhood - in my community - in my city - in my country - in my world! My ancient achy legs may not take me there to where the action is but I can write about it. If the writing makes at least one person think or be nudged into awareness ----- then the writing has served its purpose. The ripple of good shall move along as it will by its very nature of movement.

C-A-R-E. Care for millions of children hungry in Africa or the girls taken away from their families and homes. Care for the poor in our own slum areas. Care if justice is slow, unfair, or denied. Care if you see your government officials enriching themselves with our tax money. Care if you feel that our streets are no longer safe from bad people and even bad cops. Care if prices are rising unreasonably high and higher. Care if you hear of mismanagement issues of Yolanda donations. Care if media is feeding our children with crappy news. Care if things go wrong because of somebody's neglect, or some organization, or some official, or even of your president.

Care because that is what we are here for.... to care for one another. Use your God-given talent to show or promote peace - awareness - hope - faith - love - and care in whatever way your talent leads you. Use your talent to care. Our God-given job is to build up and not tear down nor destroy --- to care and not ignore.

Incidentally, the message in yesterday's homily (St. Therese of the Child Jesus Shrine and Parish): Two things: Love God with all of your heart... and .... love one another. ----------- Love and care come in together side by side. Doesn't that look like the blueprint of our earthly lives?

So to you my friend in the blog, try caring and see how much life can be beautiful or made beautiful with it.

Have a pleasant and blessed Monday, friends.

LIFE IS NOT ALL ABOUT YOU OR ME

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Here are beautiful lines read from a lovely book written by Pamela Steinke -- "Good Morning... God". This book is a permanent among others more of best loved books gathered through the years of reading. It has bravely survived the many efforts of sorting out stuff for donation to worthy groups. It will be around for a longer time still as it continues to work its magic to my mind heart and soul.

Allow me to quote ................

REACH OUT
Matthew 10:39

"Do not allow yourself to get wrapped up in self. Instead, let yourself be wrapped up in ME,  in your involvement with others. It is a rich world to those who seek to reach out beyond the bounce of their own existence. It is a world filled with wonder, filled with the splendor of sharing and reaping! Reach out to others, give of your time, your talents, your riches. Reach up and reach out and your life will be filled with treasure. Reach out in my NAME and be free."

Unquote.

A friend to whom I shared this with had this to say to that....  "Oh that's easy for one who has most everything in life. Having no bills to pay, no tuition to think about, no rent to worry about, no family squabbles that get on one's nerves, no messed up relationships, no uncertain future, no fear of losing a job, no illness draining one's energy and resources." And so much more she had on her list of burdens.

But I guess she didn't realize that those burdens are not her monopoly because we have them too, some or maybe all. And if it's not on that list, it could be something else of great or greater concern too, as far as we each are concerned. Of such is life. We know that, don't we?

Allow me to share my thoughts......

Certainly life is more than just our worries and woes, of burdens and strife. That it's not only the individual 'us' who live on this planet. To put it straight... life can't be just all about you or me.

As a person and individual, I operate in my own little corner of the world, true. And I try to work it the best way I can. But there also exists a bigger circle around me of family and friends, and a much bigger circle around that of neighborhood and community, and an even a huge circle winding round everything of country and the world.

Life is certainly not all about me. The years have taught me that we all stand connected in ways big and small. But sadly we seem to try to ignore that one simple truth. Instead we keep on building walls, fences, ideologies, philosophies, religions that serve the idea of the self.

The opposite is true... life has taught me that we thrive better if we all work together.... are joined with a common cause of wanting a blessed life. Thus we can move forward faster, dreams better realized, civilizations develop faster, generations improve one after the other, even mother nature revitalizes, and all living creatures live content in their unique original niche as Divinely designed.

God says 'Reach out' ... life is not just all about you or me or them. HE says we all stand connected. With that life can be far more richer.

God bless you all!

EVEN THE SMALLEST ACT OF CARING CAN TURN A LIFE AROUND

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Somebody said this....  'The opposite of love is not hate;  it's indifference.'

Let's not fool ourselves with the thought that we know much about that word... indifference. Well, maybe or maybe not. Because in truth we don't or else we won't be doing these freaking habits of uncaring. Somewhere there in our day to day lives we do teeny weeny habits of having our noses up in the air or looking the other way or telling ourselves to simply just 'ignore'.

You know what, that isn't achieving anything at all except perhaps keep us safe or more entrenched in our perceived respective comfort zones. A friend asked me.... 'why bother with other stuff, it's our lives we should be worrying about..'  Why bother?  Oh my, that's the stuff wars, misunderstandings, cruelty, misery, division, isolation are made of.... and that too is a very good reason why civilizations stagnate or may disintegrate one day soon.

You know what else, life is such that we work at it yes BUT it doesn't stop there. Life also includes that obnoxious human being standing next to you, or an old man walking out on the streets in tattered clothes, or emaciated children looking up to your eyes with outstretched hands, or that woman on TV sobbing as she heartrendingly pleads for justice for her child raped and murdered, or recurring holdups - bag snatchings - senseless killings, or the death of a poor puppy in the hands of bad bad VERY bad humans, and even so much more. Include too our Mother Nature who cries every time we irresponsibly cut down her trees, dirty her rivers and streams with garbage, kill her animals for profit, or bulldoze down her majestic mountains to build buildings in the name of progress. We see them all and then look the other way. That's a lot of indifference going around, don't you think?

What can we do? Somebody said that evil thrives in a society when, to quote -- 'good people do nothing about it.'  Unquote. We're good people, right? So whoever wrote those lines must be referring to us.

So what can we do?? Simple. BEGIN TO CARE. Act on saving people, the community, the children and the elderly, the poor, the four-legged creatures in our midst. Act against injustice, thieves and murderers, crooked men and women in government and even those in our small day-to-day lives, act against the senseless destruction of our dear Mother Earth, act to protect our environment, and more. Act to save our world and its people ........  and in the process we are saving ourselves too.

Another friend asked ... 'I'd like to do something but WHAT?'  Here's a few I know.....  concertedly and vigorously talk about it, write about it, sing about it, work on it, network with it ...... be seen, be heard, be read. Be passionate about caring for all of creation, living and non-living.

If I may boldly say, I believe that God didn't create us just to stay in our respective comfortable tiny corners of the world separate from the rest. I think His intent was to create a humanity of men and women with big hearts of gold reaching out to one another with the power and love of God. We are created in His image, right?  Sadly, it got derailed somewhere there, not His fault but mainly ours. BUT we can get ourselves back on track again. And how? If we once again learn to put back CARING into our lives.

Indifference is an ugly word. Don't you think that it's time to cut it down to pieces, strike it off our vocabulary, end its rule over our lives??  That sure is going to put a tremendous smile on our Heavenly Father's face! We are His children.... therefore, like Father - like children.

Blessings, everyone.

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.