WRITE BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE CAN OR WILL WRITE IT FOR YOU

Bringing this here from the other blog for someone who needs to see this.


--- For someone out there who has this huge dream, or even the smallest dream of writing.... allow me to say this:

WRITE BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE CAN OR WILL WRITE IT FOR YOU.

Your talent is not meant to be stored away in a dark corner languishing in anonymity. If you are afraid that people may not like it nor read it. That's the least of your problem. What should concern you is what your heart is nudging you to do. And if it says 'write'.... then listen to it and write. Write for the joy of writing. Write because you love to write. Write because you have something to say. Write because it feeds your dreams and your soul.

And don't worry about making mistakes, to do a good thing well you have to make some mistakes along the way. But learn and learn well. Don't fake it; write what you know. Be honest. And remember that a good piece of writing is one which a reader after reading it comes out of it thinking. And when he does that --- Congratulations! you done well where it truly matters! You have made the connection.

Believe that you can....... and you certainly can!!
Good luck! Blessings to you.

Richard Clayderman on the piano with - La Tendresse

Simply for the afternoon's listening pleasure.

WHAT A DOG AND A CAT CAN DO TO YOUR IMPORTANCE

Miko on the left; Maxie on the right.

I'm bringing this post from the other blog for a friend here in Tapestry. :-)
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"In order to keep a true perspective of one's importance, everyone should have a dog that will worship him and a cat that will ignore him." -- Unknown

Love that quote. I go back to it every time my human impulse is to revel in vanity or ego. Oh yes, we all do that secretly or blatantly. Humanly natural. But it can become quite annoying when we take it so seriously. Otherwise it simply comes and goes.... just like a good pat on the shoulder for a job well done.

We are important only as we see that importance from the perspective of doing what is expected of us as intelligent creatures above our four-legged brothers. And essentially important as we are able to see ourselves as God sees us. Can't fool the Big Guy upstairs.

My pet dog Maxie adores me and I revel in her adoration and adulation... I'm important to her. I'm great to her world.

My cat Miko is the exact opposite... I could go walk by him in all of my human splendor and importance and he would just sleep through that experience. Yawns at my face sometimes.

Maxie sends me off to cloud 9 --- Miko puts me back on the ground.

Importance -- it's not the be-all and end-all of everything nor of you. That is all that we need to know about that word.

OUT OF NOTHING

An empty canvass, a blank page in the sketchpad, an empty garden pot, or an empty day. They all have one thing in common..... nothing! Yet in a few minutes or an hour perhaps something will be there. On an empty canvass is soon painted a landscape with a paint brush and tubes of water colors. On the blank page a designer gown is sketched or drawn, or a face of a stranger. A tiny seedling goes into a garden pot now filled with fertilized garden soil. An empty day becomes visited with joy, fun, surprises, blessings and plenty more that comes to an open heart. I believe that there is nothing which you cannot fill with something if you try hard enough. Or if you can't --- God will.

It all started when God created the world and the universe from nothing. From there everything else followed. So did we. In our own tiny places or corners of the world we too create our something out of nothing. The pattern of our lives --- in our dreams, goals, adventures, in our tiny or big pursuits, relationships, and in the everyday of our mundane existence.

Isn't that simply marvelous that we have been empowered as His beloved children to create and build the good in our lives.. within our tiny personal worlds and out there to the bigger world waiting to be blessed by its creative power.

TEACH BY THE WAY WE LIVE OUR LIVES

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It is not what we leave FOR our children,
but it is what we leave IN our children
that is going to make a difference.
Let us leave in them VALUES.
----Voice of Love--Frozen Thoughts

We should mind what we teach our young children. Careful that they get the right tools from us to help them develop into individuals worthy of respect and of life. Their sense of right and wrong come from our own understanding of it. Their attitudes towards life, people, the world are images of how we ourselves have embraced in our beliefs and attitudes. Until they are set to fly with their own pair of wings, like a mother bird does to her brood we do all we can to make sure that they are equipped properly and ready to be on their own.

Remember when you see your child there is something of you in her.... your good and your bad, unfortunately. It is not enough to simply cross your fingers and hope that she will turn out alright. There's no guarantee. But you can help her battle her wars by instilling in her the steady values that would hold her up in any trial or strife. Nourish her strengths, play down her weaknesses... but also tell her that weaknesses can be turned into strengths too if she puts her mind and heart to the change. And help her grow into a faith as steady as a rock -- the kind God so requires for miracles to happen.

But the best method of teaching I know of .... is to teach by the way we live our lives. Live your values. You may not know it but your children are watching.

OLDER MAKES YOU APPRECIATE YOUR BLESSINGS MORE

(This was written in the other blog and brought here to share with you. This was born out of a lunch date I had with my best friend.)

------- My best friend said this to me --- "The nicest thing about getting older is that you begin to see what truly matters... the things that do and the things that don't."

She's right as she does things so differently now as compared to those early days of youth. So what are those? Eat food that are more healthier and nutritious. No to junk food. Go to the movies with or without company and enjoy it just as much. Simple pleasures, simple tastes, simple needs. Spend time with people you would consider treasures. You waste no time with jerks. Not just pray only when problems assail you... but rather talk to God all the time... small things, big things, happy, sad, everything. And always with a grateful heart. Try not to dwell on misery disappointment frustration failure cos it's all passing. Life is short so why waste it living in misery. These unpleasant things when finally understood so well, you realize, don't define you. But what you do with it WILL define you.

Yet.....

ofttimes age is not appreciated nor given its due credit. So many of us can't quite see beyond the exterior - failing eyes, weak gait, sag or bulge where there wasn't before, white hair, failed hearing, clothes that no longer fit, or perceived slowness of the mind.

Sadder that some families would rather move their old folks to homes for the elderly or leave them to fend for themselves old and alone.. or rant and rage that it costs them a fortune minding their health issues and care... or laugh at them for their perceived uselessness stupidity and weakness. It's appalling to see and hear that from the very children who were nurtured from birth to independence by their mothers and fathers... parents who gave their lives so that their children could have theirs.

But I'd like to think that this is more the exception rather than the rule. We love our families, we love our parents, we appreciate them and we keep them with us for as long as we can through thick and thin, through highs and lows, through all the seasons of life.

As my good friend further says from the standpoint of age.... "You see all and learn to count your blessings."

God bless you.

WHAT MORE CAN I DO? -- The challenge for 2011.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." ---- Oliver Wendell Holmes

(This is a post from the other blog and I'd like to share it here too... to start the blog on a fresh new note with the new year.)

I used to bother about what had gone past and what was yet to come. The questions always fell on 'was it good the year that passed?' or 'what's up ahead in the future for me?'

Then I learned that... i was asking the wrong questions. I should be asking myself instead... 'what more can I do?' When you get satisfactory answers to that, then you can rest easy that it was indeed a good year that has gone by... and ...that future which you seek will be right there for you. You don't have to look elsewhere, it's all inside of you to create the life you want for yourself. God didn't create losers but winners who shine both within and out to the waiting world outside. Now let's make God proud.

Okay, "what more can I do?" Here's my tiny bit.

As you may already know I do landscape sketches with pencil, some posted here in the blog. But have long toyed with the idea of painting in water color, just for the fun of it. Have never tried that before, after all have had no training whatsoever for the art; but it always had been a dream. 'Been drawing since I was a kid but that isn't a guaranty (as most in the know would say) that something on a bigger scale other than a sketchpad would come out fairly nice or a wee bit close to that in the least.

So a few days ago, at the insistent prodding of my youngest daughter (like I said our children know us better than most people do..), 'took out the canvass 12"x14" (she always has a supply of one or two on stand-by for her occasional dabbling at the art) and borrowed her water color set, placed the canvass on the computer table leaning on the monitor, sat on the computer chair... and began!

Well, not quite immediately. First had to have an image of what to paint. And nature was and has always been the first choice for the drawings made.... and again this time. Remembered that one wallpaper on the desktop which was simply so pretty. Well, to make a long story short... here's a beginner's first honest step in water color painting :-)

And my tribute to 'what more can I do'. And this I can truly say, 'have enjoyed myself immensely; 'had lots of fun with it. I guess that's what truly matters. A big bonus if that makes God smile too. Lols!

Hope to hear 'bout your own experience soon. :-)

THE DIFFERENCE LIES IN THE CHOICES WE MAKE

We all get the same stuff in life. I'm referring to those things which make us happy, cry, angry, love, lose, succeed, bitter, foolish, brilliant, or just downright stupid. Because you and I are the same. You may not fancy the green bitter gourd I eat but you have your own idiosyncrasies about food like a peanut butter and mustard sandwich. I like walking boots anywhere I go and you like dark leather jackets in rain or sunny weather. I like soft soothing music to calm my hassled nerves at night while you like the loud ear-screeching sounds of an electric guitar to wake you up mornings. I guess we can put up with all that because we know that we're so much different with each other as we are so much the same. 

But in things which matter in the course of trying to live a life the best we can, it would be wise to pay attention to certain things. We all aim for happiness and success. But to get there in the best possible time and in top form we must learn what or where we should put our emphasis or attention. Why? It’s because so many things could and would encroach on our territory thereby taking us off the track or derailing us from our goal. But we can do something about that. 

If our emphasis is on ...

...hard work, responsibility, determination, excellence, persistence, consistency, accountability, knowledge, self-confidence, respect, hope, faith, the willingness to learn, the ability to bounce back from a disappointment or failure, and the passion and love for doing what is right --we will get there no matter the road we take or challenges we face. If we put in our best effort into our goals, the universe can do no other but grant our heart's desires.

On the other hand, if we engage in ....

--lackadaisical effort, are content with mediocrity, are lazy, can't leave our comfort zones, can't make commitments, resent authority, prone to moods of procrastination, evade responsibility, and would opt for the shorter easier (yet not always the smarter) way to do things--we won't get there, that's certain. We'll simply end up as miserable as we started - Perhaps twice as miserable. To this the universe will simply say to us -- 'Buddy, you've got a problem.'

Both kinds of activity use up the same hours, days, weeks, years and energy put into it. What would make the huge difference is on deciding which road we would choose to travel -- the road to joy or the road to misery. The choice is solely ours to make.

"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable,or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same." ---- Carlos Castaneda


 

NO DAY BUT TODAY

Have you seen the movie 'Rent'? It's a Broadway musical turned into a movie. If you haven't yet, then go see it or get the cd. You won't regret it.

"No Day But Today" is just one of the several beautiful songs in it. This one is on my list of all time favorites.

You know why? Because it tells me this...

No day but today......

...to follow your dream
...to take dance lessons
...to finish that book
...to paint that masterpiece
...to go sailing or canoeing
...to get a sauna with your wife..or husband
...to treat your kids to Disneyland
...to be friendly to your neighbor who hates your red hair
...to write to your congressman about misfits in the government
...to give away your old stuff to people who might have need for it
...to pray - and pray - and pray not just for yourself but for others too
...to believe in yourself - there is only one you
...to forgive and be forgiven
...to sleep under the stars
...to hug your parents and grandparents
...to be kind to your household help
...to be a friend in both good times and bad
...to teach your child how to bike
...to buy yourself a bouquet of your favorite flowers
...to write that long overdue letter
...to eat healthy foods and stay with it
...to exercise regularly and stay with it
...to believe in God
...to not wait for a special occasion to give
...to say thank you
...to do a good deed
...to say 'no' when you should
...to say 'yes' when it's good
...to get down from your ivory tower and get down to real life and true living
...to plant a tree -- lots of it
...to love and take care of Mother Earth
...to recycle garbage
...to not throw garbage into rivers and streams
...to clean up your clutter
...to listen to reason and good intentions
...to get a job and not bum around anymore
...to use your college education to better lives... yours and others
...


There's more, so much more. I'm sure that you have your own list too. No time like today for it.

LOVE WILL TURN THE TIDE

I would like to do something here just so to let readers know that am very much around and blogging. This post is from the other blog. Am taking it here now and hoping that some would leave me a message or two to let me know they're there too. :-) Thanks.
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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." - I've heard this spoken so many times, read it a thousand times over. I have realized that none can be more truer than this. God in His magnificent love has given us all of the earth... land - sea - air... under our care and management, for our living joy and pleasure. And too each other to love and care for. Every individual does not stand alone no matter how he says he does and can.. or tries. For no man is an island, each one is dependent to and on another for many different things. I need you as much as you need me. So how is it that we can't... love?

Love will turn the tide. Believe coz 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 imagined.

Don't make it difficult for yourself or for the next guy beside you or for the rest of the world. Love... and you will make a reality your and everybody's wish that the world were a better place . It'll start with you, me, them, us.