A PEACEFUL DAY

 

 

 

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Days come to us in a bucket of wide diversity. They can be nice... pleasant... exciting... happy... boring.... dreary... monotonous... agitated... lonely... confusing... scary... mind-boggling... funny... interesting... bland... peaceful. calm... serene... high-energy... slow... hopeless... promising... creative... challenging... overwhelming... embarrassing... threatening... suspicious... and plenty more heaped on our plate. We respond to it in ways we each have been programmed for since birth by experience, habits, genes, and preferences. All that combined even makes for quite an interesting day.
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I like best a calm, serene, peaceful day. Everybody does, I guess.. It's unchanging. It's there just waiting to be called forth. Rising from the heart. Always from the heart.
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Peace.... then and now. What a lovely blessing!
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(Thanks to the internet for these lovely images.).

THREE FAVORITE THINGS --- AND SOMETHING MORE

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When the muses are quiet and no inspiration pushes the pen or laptop keys.... or when some days are lonely... or when saddled with cares and woes... or when days are even boring... I turn to three favorite things. One, I go out to the garage and have a nice chat with my three dogs -- Lucky, Buddy, and the new addition Scruffy. (There's a fourth one Maxie but she prefers napping on the couch in the living room.) Or.... two, I get myself a cup of yummy ice cream (if there happens to be one inside the freezer), sit on the couch and watch my favorite show on TV. If nada on the ice cream thing, a peanut butter sandwich takes its place with a glass of iced tea... and eyes still glued on the TV screen. Or..... three, my daughter and I go out to the mall to watch a good movie or have our favorite frappe at Starbucks. 

And...... Oh by the way, also squeezed in-between those three are the one-and-a-thousand details of things we usually do around the house. Plus.... the different roles a mother plays to her children regardless of their age. Plus.... the things done for 'me-time'... listen to music, paint, read a good book, sew a bag from an old pair of jeans, call up a friend, sort through old files for some hidden 'gold' to feed the writing, etc.
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Now I almost forgot this. After listing down the I, Me, My, Mine of being human and was set to move to the next thing to write ---- I remembered this >> Plus..... this precious life nurturing-connection.... Being still to acknowledge God's presence in my life. The wonders of His Magnificent God-ship. Those should be etched in the heart for nobody would last a day or a second without Him. All that we are -- our brilliance, intellect, talents, wealth, beauty, successes, achievements, acquisitions, titles, positions, or greatness -- everything comes from His goodness, love, compassion, and mercy. Gifts from His divine heart. The magnificent I AM. Thus if I have the 'me-time'.... this one's called the 'HIS-time'.
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Now why am I telling you this? Because I have learned something very important which I'd like to share with you. It is this........
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"Look only to the good. Look only to what you have, to what God has given you. Do not let your eyes come to rest upon any other thing but the blessings and peace of Christ. Do not fix your gaze upon the negatives, upon the past or the future. Remember, your life is hid with me. By now you know that I can be trusted and that I have all your affairs in My hands. Not one thing escapes My attention." --- God 

 
(Yes, those lines are from the book 'Good Morning... God')
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Nice, aye? Give it a try. You might like it, too. Furthermore you will soon discover that trusting God gives you more time to be you.. with your life... with your gifts.... with your God.
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God bless you!

EVEN IN DIVERSITY BEAUTY CAN RESIDE

A good friend of many years was ranting on the phone apparently pissed off by another friend’s behavior.  She sounded hurt and angry.  But to know what to say to her I had to get to the bottom of it first, I had to ask why. Well, if she called me then she would be willing to tell that much, right? And so I asked.

The gist of the problem was that the other friend didn’t respond positively to my friend’s dilemma as the latter expected her to. To cut a long story short, the matter wasn’t thoroughly resolved as I had found out later as emotions were still running high on the emotional chart but at least she left our chat with a few things which perhaps and I hope would help shed some enlightenment.

That can be quite a problem to many of us. We each deal with the world and with life through our own eyes, understanding, and perception. We heap on a lot of expectations on a lot of things. That’s the human way as we’re often told. We see the world and people as we are and not through somebody else’s eyes. Now that means there are millions of 'as we are' out there colliding in this same world we all share. But diversity in our world is an interesting and wonderful thing as it lends color to our existence. Imagine without it how boring life can be.

Yet that can also create a problem or two when it runs against individuals who are typically diverse in character and personality to each other and unexpectedly find themselves in a situation one day. Like my friend had just experienced.

All around us every day we see a continuing exchange or interplay of everything that is human interaction..... such as diverse situations, personalities, experiences, events, dealings, connections, relations, associations and even so much more. We get so involved in it. It can be quite overwhelming sometimes and can drain the senses down to low... very low. Thus our coping engine will and would sputter or gasp maybe even breakdown. But as human flaw would dictate it we would lash out in the only way we know how.... our emotions. I know because I do. And experience shows that in most cases it’s an easy formula to fail.

And so I have learned that life is not always about me. Nope, it’s not about you either. It’s about us - everybody...  trying to live this life the best way we can individually and collectively by truly learning to understand each other....you have your own mind, beliefs, preferences, and conditioning as I have mine, too. All is valid. Peace as we embrace our differences. Even in diversity beauty can reside, by God's design.

Here's something I saw online..... to quote

"If you feel hurt, angry or upset at the actions of others,
realize that every individual is acting 

according to his own mind,
with its prejudices, beliefs and conditioning. Each person
would have acted that way even if it were someone else
instead of you.  Thus, do not take their actions personally."

Unquote.

Have a pleasant and blessed weekend, everyone. God bless you all.

FIGURE OUT WHAT YOU HAVE TO SAY

I like this quote; saw it just today >>>

"Don't try to figure out what other people want to hear from you; figure out what you have to say. It's the one and only thing you have to offer." -- Barbara Kingslover

Reminds me of someone who said to me months ago.....'Huy, mahirap mag-facebook o blog, kelangan smart ka at sasakay ka sa trend dito.' - (Not easy doing blogs or facebook. You've got to be smart and ride on its trend bandwagon.)

Yah think?? Whatever one says here, I believe, comes from one's history and that makes sense. A person thinks-speaks-acts according to, dictated by, and gathered from his past - his personal history and experience - observations insights and beliefs - which shaped and continually shapes him. Everybody has a story to tell. Be it light, heavy, sad, scary, silly, naughty or nice. Everybody has something to say. You've got to be your own authentic self. What is essential perhaps is to learn how to say it right... so that people don't walk away embarrassed, disgusted, offended, belittled, diminished or turned off by your piece. But instead will stop stay and listen to your stories of true joy, faith, hope, love, courage, comradeship, learning, positivity and inspiration.

The world has enough wars to keep it busy. We don't need to add up to those things which only serve to destroy peace and harmony, within and without. The rule of the universe is not to tear people down but rather to build them up. You alone can best figure out how.

ODE TO A TREE

The cool wind soothing my senses, tired and weary

The skies a blanket of azure beauty spread out above me

I lounge in peace with a carpet of green at my feet

As the lilting song of birds lull me to heaven and sleep

I look forward to awaken in the new morn

Appreciating what I was and have become with the dawn

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LIVING IN PEACE - Our pets MIKO the cat and MAXIE the dog

Yes, Miko and Maxie live together in peace and great friendship. Sometimes Miko thinks he's a dog and Maxie thinks she's a cat -- a case of confused identity, we guess :-) But it's adorable to see them smash to smithereens those age-old tales of cats and dogs as 'mortal enemies'.

That puts us humans to shame. We pride ourselves in being intelligent and smart -- exquisite creatures of God but we can't even learn to live in peace with each other. Instead we feverishly build create invent or put up huge walls - barriers - boundaries just to keep other people at bay. We don't want to touch them... nor do we want to be touched by them. We suspect them, anything, everything --- cultures, religion, policies. education, size, shape, color, habits, intentions, standards, motivations, and everything else we could think of under the sun.

We can't even talk straight or honestly express our true sentiments over important issues -- without being subjected to doubts or suspicions or judgments. We don't even know how to engage in friendly disagreement. Impossible? Nah, it's possible if only we want to.

Don't you think it's wearying putting up numerous walls, visible or invisible, and fighting fiercely to keep them there?