AN EARLY MORNING WISDOM WALK

Am just standing out the gate of the house, not yet walking. I don’t know, things just sweep into my brain and get me into thinking mode just like that. I can’t put it aside, nope, because it won’t let me until I get it all sorted out clear through. For instance, I look down at my walking shoes and I see just how good it is to have one as perfect as this. It hugs my ankle firm and its thick soles lets me go over gravel and stones with ease. I’d like to think that a person should arm himself with that kind of attitude – firm and thick. Oh yes, firm in his values or goals with thick or solid principles which certainly will help him walk through life’s challenges with no or minimal difficulty.

I look up and see the road I will be walking on stretching out before me. At this starting point of my one-hour-walk, the road I see is quite smooth wide and paved. As I go farther down it, the road changes its terrain. Cracked and uneven in some parts, blotched with pebbles, stones, and rocks in another, and strewn with nature’s mess --- bird droppings, dogs’ shit, fallen leaves and fruits rotting on the ground. I must look like a funny sight skipping over the shit or zigzagging my way through, over, or around the mess.

Doesn’t that remind you so much of life – this life journey we each embark on? Sometimes we get it fun and pleasurable; at times it becomes so disjointed and utterly aggravating with odd situations; and then in some again it gives us the darn annoying and maddening circumstances which try our patience and test our resolve. We get it all, don’t we, in this uneven terrain we travel on. But when faced with such challenges, I fall back on the famous words of Michael Jordan ---

"Obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."

There’s so much I can see in that walk, so much like life itself. But uncannily when I get to the end of my hike and am back home where I started, I get this feeling that nothing has ended but simply stands on temporary ‘freeze’ -- poised to resume again with the next morning walk. And that’s what happens on my next walk. The walk comes to life again with fresh observations, insights, perceptions, and learning. It’s never the same experience every time. Always something new unfolds itself before my eyes. It pays to pay attention.

PERFECTION IS ITS OWN END

What’s perfection? It’s an end. Maybe somebody else’s better description of perfection will come to mind but this strikes home for me.

Doesn’t perfection also mean excellence, faultlessness, flawlessness? That’s quite an attractive bunch of words indeed and it seems to have a power of its own the way it pushes many to want it for themselves. At all cost sometimes.

Is it good? I don’t know. People will have their reasons to want it; it’s all a matter of choice. But I think that it’s nothing more than the end of a challenge, a dream, a goal, a journey, growth, learning, ambition, of life.

Perfection when achieved would put an end to countless long hours – days – months or years of toiling over data and reports, the excitement of putting together an impossible project, of hearts pounding wondering if you’ve made it or not.. and so much more. All those things would be all gone because everything would be in its perfect place. What else would there be to do? In short, it ends the chase and everything it would entail for a person after a dream.

What challenge is there left in or with perfection?

Even a perfect human being can be quite a bore. There would be nothing more to discover, to be surprised with, or to be interested in anew. There would be no learning; he (or she) would be so predictable. Even in relationships. And God for him --- would be nothing but a comic book character like superman.

That could be said of things and stuff too. If things we used in our daily lives were perfect, what need would there be for invention, creativity, innovation, vision, imagination, improvement? What need would there be for dreams?

"Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism. Confronting your fears and allowing yourself the right to be human can, paradoxically, make yourself a happier and more productive person." -- Dr. David M. Burns

FAILURE COULD MEAN TAKE ANOTHER ROAD

Yes, I know I’ve dealt with this subject or something similar to this in previous posts. It may be boring to you now, I guess. But wait! There’s so much more to learn about it. In fact, it’s the ‘negative issues’ which grip us tighter than the Pollyanna experiences of our lives. Why? Because anything that hurts us -- gets us. It may be a prick, a painful nudge, or something so big that you never know what hit you till you see your ‘heart bashed into pieces’. That’s a figure of speech, of course. Lolz But in anyway it comes to us --- it always hurts.

And nothing hits us so hard and so bad as failure. What’s failure? --- A disappointment, a letdown, a collapse, a breakdown. In short, it’s when something goes NOT by way of your expectations despite everything you’ve put into it. So then you think that you have failed and that the world stopped turning at this very point in your life. Hold it a minute there! Do you mean to say that this gigantic size of a world with zillions of people in it would all cease, halt, disappear, close down, and die just because you didn’t make it? Wow, where’d you get that?!

How about looking at it this way? Those things that come to you, those are not there just to decorate your tiny space. And it didn’t just appear out of nowhere. They come from something and will end somewhere. What goes in between is the process or journey of getting from here to there. Failure is part of that process. Since we know that nothing goes well 100% all of the time, then eventually something will go wrong and we will consequently not get what we want or plan for. Having understood that, what then do you do with failure?

Firstly, if nothing else works and you have tried everything there is to try in your book of human survival – then tap into your spiritual source. Yes, spiritual source. Because above all this stuff we’re going through is a God who runs this whole thing or manages this whole store called life. And you know what-- He’s like a traffic cop at the intersection managing the flow of human and vehicle traffic. He signals you when it’s okay to pass or not. He motions to you when you should take another lane when the other lanes are stuck. When you are stuck in failure, take heed the signs when God is motioning you to get off that lane and try another. Be wise and take heed, otherwise you will --crash!

FAILURE MAY BE ANOTHER WAY GOD IS TELLING US TO TAKE ANOTHER ROAD.

A WORLD-ON-YOUR-SHOULDERS KIND OF DAY

Today is world-on-your-shoulders day. There’s problem to my left, and another to my right. Looking down a problem waits there for me too… and looking up a huge rock just waits to fall down on me hanging on a thread. So am stuck in the middle, can’t go anywhere.

Have you had that kind of day?

I guess every normal air breathing person goes through such a time. The feeling is like drowning with the waters up to your neck and rising. Or something like so dumbstruck and numb with anxiety and your feet feels glued to the ground; you’d like to run but your legs won’t cooperate.

Then you want to quit.

What -- Quit the world or living in it? Quit the thrill of facing a challenge? Quit the promise of a blessing at the end of the dark tunnel? Quit the opportunity and possibility for great achievement? Quit the potential to become a better person in winning over the struggle and strife? Quit knowing your GOD better? I can tick off dozens of reasons and things you would be losing by quitting.

Truth is, all that you need to do is…

Have faith. Believe in yourself. Believe on the ONE set of footprints on the sand when two of you are walking on it.

"Square your shoulders to the world… be not the kind to quit. It's not the load that weighs you down but the way you carry it." -Anonymous

THINK FROM YOUR HEART - NOT FROM YOUR POCKET

Do you think from your pocket?? - Don't! Because not everything in life has a price tag attached to it. Those things which truly matter in lfe are priceless. You can't buy love, loyalty, courage, hope, faith, family, friendship, wisdom, honesty, devotion, and other magnificent things which give genuine meaning and worth to life people and living. You can't buy a blessing.

Think from your HEART!

PERFECT MOMs - BY GOD'S DESIGN

A famous author once said that 'we can't choose our parents, but God made sure that we get what we need'. God gave you a mother tailor-fit for you. It may look imperfect to your eyes. But I'll say this.....

it's imperfectly perfect ----- by God's design.

Trust God to know what He is doing, just like what He does with the rest of your life. Love your mother. No if's and but's. Enjoy your Mother's Day with her and the rest of the family.

WANT A CAREER, GIRL? - WELL THEN, GO FOR IT!

Unlike our moms & grandmoms before us, more women now are in careers. That's okay, very okay. Because a woman is a man's equal even in the workplace. She, given the same training, is equal to the task and may even shine brighter. She can hold her own, be brilliant, be tough. and too brings to the job this special something God gave to women -- a nurturing heart.

So you see, the only difference is --
she wears high heels! :-)

BUILD UP or TEAR DOWN - YOUR CHOICE

Oh but there is so much we don't like about so many things -- in life, in people, in government, in structures and policies, etc. And we harp about them a lot, get so mad - irritated - disgusted - frustrated by them all. Well, some serious venting can serve a good purpose too you know ...

but only if the venting is aimed at
building up and not in tearing down.

MAKE A WISH - IT JUST MIGHT COME TRUE

You know what --- If there is anything which we should learn --- it's to have a WISH LIST. Put in there all those things you would like to do in your lifetime. You could maybe set down a time frame, say ... things-I'd-like-to-do-before-I-reach-thirty or forty or fifty ... or maybe you could do a variation like 'something big-I'd-like-to-do-on-my-birthday', but whatever it is MAKE THAT LIST! :-) Somebody I love just did! Thanks for the lesson, Honey! (That's my daughter in the picture weaving magic into her birthday wish.)

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?