----- YET YOU'RE NOT DONE GROWING

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There's an advantage in having or rather living close to the street. In fact, my patio is just about a few feet away from the road. That's how the residences are constructed in my subdivision area. Not complaining because it works to my advantage as it provides me with a vast source or inspiration for the writing. People, particularly, with their human quirks and uniqueness, make for a rich deep well of interesting thoughts, ideas, observations, and learning.

So one day while watering my thirsty plants on the patio two middle-aged ladies sauntered down my side of the street engaged in earnest chatter. In their unhurried pace easily I could hear snippets of their conversation trailing down to my ears. Also because Pinoys have this not-always-pleasing-sometimes-irritating habit of talking in very loud voices I wasn't missing anything at all.

Lady 1: ..Uyy alam mo bang si Selya ay kumuha ng cooking lessons? Ayun, twice a week ata ang class niya. Komyut pa siya puntang Makati para lang diyan. ----- (Hey did you know that Selya's taking up cooking lessons? Commutes to Makati for her classes twice a week.)

Lady 2: Ano ba! Pinag-aaralan pa ba yang pagluluto?! Aba eh sarap na nga yang puchero niya eh. Walang tatalo din sa kanyang lech flan. ----- (What for?!.. she needn't take cooking lessons! Her puchero's superb and her leche flan's unbeatable.)

Lady 1: 'Sabi niya marami pa daw siyang dapat matutunan sa pagluluto. May balak yatang magtayo ng carinderia. Tapos restaurant din balang araw. ----- (She said that there's so much yet to learn. Plans to put up a carinderia and perhaps a restaurant one day.) - A carinderia is a small local eatery in the neighborhood selling and serving food.

Lady 2: Ay ewan, aksaya lang yan ng pera at panahon! Yang si Selya oo, di na makuntento. Tsaka, tanda na niya para mag-aral pa noh! ----- (Gosh, that's simply a waste of money and time! That Selya has never learned to be content. Besides she's too old for that.)
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And the rest of the conversation trailed away as they walked farther and farther from my house.

That got me thinking.................

Tell me, is it really a waste of time to seek further growth.. improvement.. development.. more education?   Should one be content with what he has achieved this far?    Does learning have to stop at some point in our lives?   Cannot one build new goals, ambition, or dreams?   Or perhaps pursue old ones that yet haven't found its day?   Does age have to stop you from learning?

Well, while going through my old files I found this one (though how I wished that I knew who wrote it) and probably is the answer to those questions.........

"NO MATTER HOW GOOD YOU THINK YOU ARE -----
YET YOU'RE NOT DONE GROWING." 

Have a great Sunday, friends. Don't let anyone stop you from reaching for the stars. God bless you.

(Big thanks to the internet for these wonderful images.)

STRESS CAN BE A NUDGE TO GROW

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This Tuesday morning is quite different from other days only because this time two carpenters are working on the rain gutter (alulod) on the roof. So that means a lot of hammering is being done up there and this in turn affects the residents of this household. That is even saying it in milder terms. Because as far as I am concerned I would gladly fly up to Jupiter for the duration of this alulod project. But since I can't.... I decided to cruise down the blog world in a leisurely manner to amuse myself with the writings of fellow bloggers while hoping to myself that time would whiz by as a rocket does!
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Anyway.....
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Glad that I did because I stumbled on these two lovely lines which I would like to share with you.
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"STRESS IS YOUR CHANCE TO SOAR"
--- JasonTourville, Building Champions 4 Life
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"TIMES OF STRESS ARE SIGNALS FOR GROWTH"
--- Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twerski, on JasonTourville's blog
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Have you ever considered stress in that manner?
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When I was younger I had buckets-full of stress (oh not that I don't have any right now but somehow I've learned some lessons) ... So then stress was there even for the slightest reason as not finding a cab under a heavy downpour just when something important was waiting for me. Then followed the stresses of wifehood... motherhood... parenthood... and of course adulthood. They come one after the other, sometimes all together. No place is sacred because it happens in the home, at work, or even in church when unruly kids scream their hearts out in play all throughout the mass, at the mall, in a party, in a meeting, shopping for the right birthday gift, applying for a job, or with carpenters' non-stop hammering on the roof!
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On looking back I now realize that each time I made to address the problem some new or additional skill or ability surfaced which helped me deal with the issue at hand. Or better yet it pushed me to learn new skills or abilities to deal with the issue and in turn resulted in diminishing or eliminating the stress. New skills or new abilities always lead to growth, right? So it also follows that with the solution of a problem comes the feeling of exhilaration -- you feel like soaring up in the air with happiness! I was growing..... I was soaring.... I was happy.
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So I guess that's what stress does to us --- it gives us the DESIRED OR NECESSARY PUSH to try --- to do things better or best..... to respond to it in a smarter way..... to develop..... to improve..... to progress..... to adjust..... to learn..... to think better..... to mature..... to grow. PLAIN SIGNALS TO GROW!
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Amazing, isn't it!?!

ACTUALLY WE KNOW VERY LITTLE

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Browsing through an old book found in one of the file boxes under my bed,  allow me this tiny bit of wisdom which grabbed my attention on this fine although still hot morning..... to quote
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"Que Sais-je?"  ("What do I know?")  was the motto of Michel de Montaigne, the sixteenth-century French essayist whose amiable good sense still endears him to many readers today.   His question was intended to remind him that knowledge was there to be tested and tried.  But it was also a reminder that he, an educated and quite wealthy man, well-read and with his own library of books,  actually knew very little.  ----- Lifted from the book Pearls Of Wisdom by David Ross
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Unquote.
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This made me think............
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'Actually knew very little.' -- No matter the great knowledge or wisdom each of us may have gathered for himself through the years, the truth is there is still little we know.  No man can hold all the information or knowledge or wisdom in and of the world all by his lonesome self.  It would take a person a million lifetimes to acquire every information about life, people, the world, mother nature, the animal kingdom, inventions and technologies, the universe, and etc.  But we all do have our individual store of those although minute in measure and size.  Furthermore, easily observed is that one person may know something the other does not, and in turn this other person knows something nobody else does.  No one person's monopoly of knowledge there as you may have noticed.
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So a little bit of knowledge can be ineffective... dangerous... superficial... and cannot or shouldn't be passed around as sufficient.  As such it will be a terribly  lame excuse for engaging in a blown-up ego or pride which would mean nothing to those who know.  Yet sometimes we see many or few strutting around the universe with their heads bobbing as big as their mouths....  they who my mother would call  'Mr/Ms Know-It-All'  with much amusement.  And yet they need to be understood just the same.
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A dear friend has this special way of dealing with that with one question:  "Really!? Tell me more......"  without batting an eyelash.  Almost always this makes that person stop dead in his or her tracks because he or she cannot tell  'more'.  Like a bank ATM messaging you with  'Insufficient funds'....  this one fails with  'Insufficient knowledge'.
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We are here to learn.  But when at some point you would think to stop awhile to evaluate your progress,   you will see how very little you have in your store and how so much more there is yet to gather, gain, and learn.  On the other hand when you have so much in your store,  keep your feet solidly anchored on the ground.  True humility gives you more mileage in wisdom and admiration  from all points of view ...without the floss and frills which come with pretense.
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The whole point of the story is DON'T STOP LEARNING. Just learn all that you can with who you are and with your God-given talents. With what wisdom you may have gained through it all, consider it your treasure but... not solely for keeping. It should be used as tools to grow yourself with and too to help others grow in their own journey.  Better yet use it to better our world......  or if this is too big for our small resources,  aim to help improve at least one life.  Let it be said that one life was made better by having met you.  Let's try to be what this beautiful quote says about ....   being the 'rainbow in somebody's cloud'.
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Blessings, everyone! God bless you.

OUR BEST TO SELF AND OUT TO THE WORLD

I'm bringing a wonderful quote here. It's a good one and I think we should be taking it seriously if we are to survive this century and those still coming.

Here it is.....  

"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)

 

LEARN -- UNLEARN -- RELEARN. That's what life is all about. We don't stop learning because we have finished with school with certificates hanging up on the wall to prove it ...or that we are the best in our chosen field ...or that people look up to us for our brilliance and wit. When we stop learning everything else which we may have gathered or acquired or achieved fall into a dead-end.. become irrelevant as new knowledge begin to replace it.. go stale as its time begins to pass.. diminish as muscles atrophy when allowed to remain still for a longer period of time.

We are not here to gather big mansions, bank rolls, flashing cars, trophies and titles although those are not bad in themselves because they are part of essential dreams or goals and can be blessings too. But life does not end there nor is it everything about life.

It's not what we get from life or for ourselves..... but rather what we give to life which makes this whole business of living truly magnificent. That can be achieved by continuously working on self for a better 'you'. We get the best from life -- the things which truly matter -- when we give it our best as a person within and without.

We do this by working hard at LEARNING new things -- UNLEARNING those which no longer serve a better purpose -- RELEARNING old things which we may have missed or neglected because we didn't pay it much attention the first time.

Life, as mother once said, is one big university .... and we its students. Learning is a lifelong activity and everyday has its lesson ready for us to learn. We are tasked to grow, to develop, to mature, to progress. The big goal is to become our authentic best so that we can give better or best out to the world. That, by the way, is by God's design.

Have a lovely day, everyone. Be blessed... and stay blessed... and bless others with it.