What Would You Do In Heaven?

There comes a time in our life’s journey when we need to sacrifice something for the sake of our fellow travelers. It could be our time, our resources, or even our own comfort. We may be called to comfort another person just when we are also going through a difficult time in our life. We may be asked to give something just when we too, have need of help for our own problems. What things are we willing to sacrifice? When you sacrifice something, do you feel like something has been taken away from you without having anything in return? Do you feel poorer for having given up your wealth? Do you feel more exhausted for giving up your time and effort for another? Real sacrifice may hurt a lot. But real sacrifice is something that is never forced upon us. We do it out of our own freewill because it is something we desire to do. The greater our love for someone, the greater the sacrifice we are willing to make for them. Why? Because we no longer consider these people as apart from ourselves. We consider them as our own, having truly been an important part of us. Whatever we do for them, we do also for ourselves. In truth, we never really lose something when we sacrifice for someone. What happens is that we have passed on a gift, a gift we never lose, because it is received by those whom we truly love. In this sense, even dying can be considered as rising up again, for life is never lost. Like a flame, it is but passed on to another torch that will carry on the radiance of its warmth!

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There are 525,600 minutes in one year, what have I done with those?! Thinking about it, did I spend much of those minutes in things that truly count? Or have I merely let them pass, or spent them in things that didn’t really matter?

525,600 minutes.

What can I do with just one minute anyways?

In one minute -
1. I can sing a song.
2. I can kiss my loved ones.
3. I can shake hands with a new-found friend.
4. I can smile.
5. I can pray.
6. I can embrace a friend.
7. I can jump!
8. I can dance.
9. I can say ‘thank you’.
10. I can say ‘I love you!’

Looking back however at the 525,600 minutes that have passed, I ask myself these questions:

1. How many kisses have I given away?
2. How many smiles have I shared?
3. How many songs have I sung from the heart?
4. How many times did I jump for joy?
5. How many prayers have I uttered?
6. How many friends have I embraced?

Looking back, I must have slept most of the time.
I must have complained a lot of times.
I must have worried so many times.

So many wasted minutes.
So many moments that were supposed to be mine,
to enrich my life and that of others.

It is not too late however! It’s enough to have spent a few minutes looking back. But now it’s time to live the moment. May the next minute count therefore, and may it be truly blessed!

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For me, the single best thing you can do to become more creative is to be wrong more often. Creative people are wrong all the time (look at Apple’s long string of failures). The goal is to create a safe place to be wrong, a way to be wrong without destroying yourself. – Seth Godin (Interview by The Happiness Project)

Seth’s words caught my attention because of two things: First, that creativity is my life, and Second, that I still am afraid of making mistakes and wasting everything I’ve ever accomplished in life.

The second part of Seth’s quote gives us hope however. We need to create a safe place to be wrong, “a way to be wrong without destroying yourself.”

But how can we do that? Just how do we ensure that we don’t destroy ourselves with our mistakes?

In my previous job as an auditor, I believe we have such a word for that – risk mitigation. Risks exist, whether we like it or not. Without risk, there can be no business venture, and no profit in return. What we need to do is to learn how to handle those risks, how to mitigate them as best we could so as not to let them hinder us from our goals.

Following are some of the things I’ve listed in order to help me mitigate those mistakes:

1. Have a backup plan. Have as much backup or alternative courses of action as you may need. When Plan A doesn’t succeed, you always have Plan B or C.

2. Be aware of the consequences of your actions. You must be able to calculate just how much you are willing to risk. If your plan doesn’t materialize, can you handle the results? What would it cost you? Can you afford the consequences?

3. Test small before you leap BIG. There are times when you don’t need to plunge your entire body just to test how hot the water is. Just dip your toes a little to get a feel of the situation you’ll be placing yourself into.

4. Get relevant trustworthy advice. You don’t need to experience everything just so you’d have the wisdom to accomplish something. There are lots of people who’ve been there before, people who can advice you and impart to you the wisdom they’ve earned through the years. Just ensure that you weigh also the advice given you and talk only to people you could trust.

5. Use your imagination. As J.K. Rowling mentioned in her speech at Harvard, “Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not… it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” Use your imagination and envision what you’ll be up against. Feel it as though everything’s already happening. Will the worst of it destroy you or those that matters most to you?

6. Ready your safety nets. In case all of your plans fail, how do you manage your fall? Will someone catch you? Will you have facilities to assist you? Do you know how you will manage the pain you will feel? How will you heal and for how long?

7. Strengthen yourself. There is no better preparation than striving to be the best person you could ever be. Gain wisdom. Develop patience and maturity. Have the courage to face your challenges, and the faith that no matter what happens, you will be able to rise up from the ashes like a phoenix. Make mistakes, but not the ones that could destroy who you are, because who you are is the only thing you’ll ever have left even if you lose everything along the way.

Know yourself. If you know you have much to learn, and much strength to develop, don’t engage in challenges that are beyond your capacity. Know the battles that fit your current strength but could teach you enough to grow stronger.

As you gain more confidence in who you are, only then can you face those challenges that will not destroy you, but will bring out the very best in you!

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Letting Go is a Very Hard Lesson in Life

Letting Go.

It’s so easy to say it,
especially if you’re not the one letting go.

If you were the person doing so,
you’d know how difficult it is,
and how almost impossible at times.

Why should I let go?
Why do we have to let go at all?

How do we know when and what to let go?
And how do we know what to hold on to?

In my belief,
for as long as it is possible,
never let go of something valuable to you,
something of a priceless worth.

Fight for it!
Protect it always,
defend it from all harm,
and from everything that may ever dare take it away from you.

We need only to let go of the things
that have already accomplished their purpose in our life,
things we no longer need,
or things that hinder us from welcoming the things we truly need,
things that can give us true joy and peace.

But then, you may ask:
What about in times when I no longer have the power to hold on to it,
and to fight for the thing most precious to me?
What about in times of death,
death that takes away the presence
of those I hold most dear?

I answer first,
that I have no words to soothe such grieving hearts,
for I know that none can soothe me then as well.

I have but a glimmer of hope in that instance,
that even in death,
there is something of love that remains always with me -
a memory perhaps,
a song,
a withered rose pressed upon the folded pages of my book.

A tiny voice also asks me a question
that forces me to look for wisdom -
“Is the presence of your loved one
dependent only upon their physical form?”

As such, I might be forced to reply
that the physical body is merely a shell cast away when it is no longer needed.
It is let go so that the soul might be freed at last!

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Why do we want to be unique?

It is a human need to desire and to believe that she is unique. She wants to know that she is one of a kind, that she is special, and there is nobody else in the world that is just like her.

It isn’t just pride that compels her to desire this. It isn’t just a competitive spirit. It isn’t just honor nor worldly profit that she seeks.

She wants to be unique because she doesn’t want to be disposable. She doesn’t want to be disposable because she wants to be loved.

But why? Can we not love someone that is just like everybody else?

We cannot.

We could not.

The fact that we are able to love something makes it more special than anything else.
The little prince went away,
to look again at the roses.
“You are not at all like my rose,” he said.
“As yet you are nothing.
No one has tamed you, and you have tamed no one.
You are like my fox when I first knew him.
He was only a fox
like a hundred thousand other foxes.
But I have made a friend,
and now he is unique in all the world.”
And the roses were very much embarrassed.
“You are beautiful, but you are empty,” he went on.
“One could not die for you.
To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think
that my rose looked just like you
–the rose that belongs to me.
But in herself alone she is more important
than all the hundreds of you
other roses: because it is she that I have watered;
because it is she
that I have put under the glass globe;
because it is for her
that I have killed the caterpillars
(except the two or three we saved
to become butterflies);
because it is she that I have listened to,
when she grumbled,
or boasted,
or even sometimes when she said nothing.
Because she is MY rose.”
-THE LITTLE PRINCE, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

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People may forget how fast you’ve finished something,
but they won’t forget how well you did it.
People may forget how famous you were,
but they won’t forget how generous you’ve been.
People may forget the medals you’ve won,
but they won’t forget how fairly you played the game.

People forget their idols and their kings,
but they never forget their friends.
People forget how many times you’ve tried,
but they remember how many times you rose again.

People forget your blunders,
those things you thought made you look foolish and weak.
All that they remember is your humility,
and your courage to carry on to the end.

There are many things that people forget.
There are many things people would rather forget.
But three things are legacies that always remain:
A kind hand that touched them,
an encouraging word that gave them hope,
and a life sacrificed willingly
for someone who thinks he didn’t deserve it at all.

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It’s already eleven in the morning where I am, and yet I can’t help but feel that the day is only just beginning, after all, the year has only just begun. How do you start a day, especially if it’s the very first day of the year? Simple I guess, you start it the way you should start each and every day that is given you, you start it with HOPE.

HOW DO YOU START A NEW YEAR?

You start not with a heart full of burden,

but with a heart that is empty and waiting to be filled;

you start not with eyes soaked in tears,

but with a vision clear and sure for the year;

you start not with doubts nor anxieties,

but with trust upon God and upon your God-given seeds;

you start not with demands,

but with a grateful heart for all that you have been given through the years;

you start not with anger,

but with a forgiving peaceful heart;

you start not with jealousy,

but with a spirit that rejoices with your friends;

you start not with defeat,

but with a victorious voice;

you start not with chaos,

but with a prayerful song;

you start not with evil,

but with good, and an enlightened heart;

you start with all that God has given you,

and with the hope of all that is to come,

knowing that whatever happens,

you are a child of God,

special,

beloved,

and destined for something

even more wonderful

than the stars!

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