It is time to pause

Someone shared to me a really good piece below. We do not know who has written it.

We fell asleep in one world and woke up in another.
Suddenly Disney is out of magic,
Paris is no longer romantic,
New York doesn’t stand up anymore,
the Chinese wall is longer a fortress,
and Mecca is empty.

Hugs & kisses suddenly become weapons,
and not visiting parents & friends becomes an act of love.

Suddenly you realize that power, beauty & money are worthless,
and can’t get you oxygen you’re fighting for.

The world continues its life and it is beautiful.
It only puts humans in cages.
I think it’s sending us a message: “You are not necessary.
The air, earth, water and sky without you are fine.
When you come back, remember that you are my guests. Not my masters.”

A Japanese friend sent me a picture of Sakura blossom he took from his place last week. Another friend sent me a picture of the blue sky she took from the backyard of her house. The other evening I enjoyed the moon shining in the clear sky from a roof top. Very high. Very quiet. This morning I still could hear the birds singing. Nothing changes in the universe. Everything remains the same. What we might need to do is to pause for a moment, see around and listen. We might have become too busy and forgoten to stop and reflect what the universe tries to show us. We might forget to realize that we are here for a temporary period, that we will go back. It might be not very long from now.

Frank and the squirrel

One morning I had a conversation with a friend. I happenedly met him on my way to the dining hall for my breakfast and he just finished his breakfast. I realized that I was so late.

Frank : Tini, what are you doing?
Me : Do you really want to know (the answer)?
Frank : Well, I am asking you for the sake of politeness
Me : I am making friend with squirrels
Frank : What? (He might not hear my answer quite clearly)
Me : I am making friend with squirrels and birds. (I tried to make it more clearly for him) Do you make friend with them too?
Frank : No! I don’t make friend with animals. (He showed disagreement on his face)

It was very clear that we were challenging to each other. Being unfriendly to each other. I thought we did it on purpose just to create an argument to challenge each other. When I shared to someone who was a real dog lover that Frank didn’t like animals, she immediately showed disagreement on her face. Very quickly I clarified “Well, we know Frank. In fact he has a very kind and gentle heart.”

When I met Frank the next morning he asked me if I saw David or not for the squirells. I showed him the video and I could see a very big smile on his face.

Sorry for not being able to upload the video here, but trust me it was really cute to capture the squirrel very closely.

The Spirit of Creativity

Someone shared her thoughts on how to become creative. She said that we should learn from children to be creative. I notice that most children are very creative. Their spirits are free….to explore everything. They have no worries and no fears in their spirits. They are not aware of what fear is. Each one of us was very creative when we were so young. When we grew up, we suppressed this spirit. We started creating fears and worries of what people might think about us. We started creating fear of being rejected by others. We might then stop doing something because of this fear. At some point in our life we might miss that spirit in us.

I remember when I was in a retreat, I escaped from one of the morning sessions, I went to the garden in the corner of the campus instead. The garden was small, beautiful and quiet. It was really enjoyable to sit there especially in the morning hour. I also could enjoy little birds and squirrels. They were running around on the ground, jumping from one twig to another. Sometimes they went so close to my feet. I really enjoyed it.

That morning I had an appointment with David who stayed above the garden. David is an artist and a musician. He promised to teach me how to feed squirrel at 7 o’clock. I was so excited about it. My heart said “If I can touch and hold the squirrel with my hand, it would be an achievement for me”. We might think that this kind of thought belongs to a child, not an adult. I knew it was the spirit of a little child in me who had that thought. David was ready with bread crumbles in his hand. He then made a little sound to call the squirrels with his mouth. We sat there and maintained silence. We should not make any movement that would create a feeling of threat in the squirells. We created a feeling of love to the squirrels. I said in my mind that we were friends and we loved to meet and play. I held that thought and created a feeling of friendship. We waited patiently and after a while one squirrel came closer to us. It jumped onto David’s lap and started eating the bread. It was so cute. I took the video of it. I hope I can share the video next time here. Then David gave the bread crumbles to me. I held it in my hand and the squirrel came to my lap and started eating the bread. The spirit of a little child in me was so happy.

Nurture this spirit inside you and you will experience so much freedom and joy.

Who is God for you?

Who is God for you? A young boy of twelve years old has asked me this question. What would be your answer if you were asked this? The answers might be different for each one. I said God is my father, not my physical father but my spiritual father. Someone might say that God is the Lord, the Almighty, the Supreme Being. The answer would create a feeling in the heart. If you think that God is your father, there is a feeling of closeness, love, care etc. It might indicate a relationship with Him.

God serves the whole world. It is a very big job to serve the world. He can’t do it alone. He needs hands. He makes me into His companion in serving the world. He empowers me and enables me to make a change in this world. He is a loving and caring figure. What do you feel if you consider God as your father in this way? I asked that boy. And he said “I feel very good”.