May there be bridges between us
Bridges of understanding between you and me,
Bridges of hope,
Bridges of honesty,
Bridges that link us,
heart to heart,
and mind to mind.

May there be bridges between us,
Bridges that break down walls
and the coldness of words misunderstood,
May those bridges stand strong
May they reach out far and wide,
And may no one burn them
that they might fall.

May there be bridges between us
May it unite us evermore,
Bridges that bring us closer
heart to heart
and mind to mind,
Bridges between friends,
Bridges between brothers,
that we may know we’re not alone,
and that we could always – always find our way back home!

Have you ever noticed how God chooses the people he’d send for an important mission?  More often than not, these chosen people seem to be the most unlikely ones for the job.  Take the example of his chosen disciples.  Most of them are simple fishermen.  He could have chosen more educated men, priests, or more influential men so as to help him spread the message of the Gospel more expediently. But He did not.  Instead, God chose the humblest amongst his people and ignored the claims of the proud.

Why does God choose the most unlikely people for the job?

1.  God often use the weakest among us so that we’d know how His power works.  If He would always choose only the brightest and the strongest men, people may soon forget from whom true leadership and power comes from.  People would look up to men instead of looking up to God.

What is wrong with this?  If there are men who are really competent and able, what is wrong with looking up to their qualifications alone?  Continue reading →

Religion Versus Spirituality

The term ‘religion’ as distinguished from ‘spirituality’, seems to have a certain stigma about it that people would avoid it for as long as they possibly could.  “I am not religious, but I am spiritual,” is a claim we often hear people say nowadays.  What is it about religion that people avoid like a plague?

I think some of the most common misconceptions about religion that people avoid are the following:

• Rituals one is forced to perform in obedience to one’s religion
• Being old-fashioned and not as open minded and intellectual as ‘spiritual people’ are nowadays
• Threat of damnation by an angry God
• Judgment and condemnation if one fails to meet the mark

Religion is ‘out’.  Spirituality is ‘in’.  Religion talks about a ‘distant’ God.  Spirituality talks about a god within your reach, even ‘within you’, for you are god.

The word ‘religion’ seems to have come from the word ‘re-ligare’ where ‘ligare’  means ‘to bind or connect’. Hence, ‘religare’ meaning ‘to reconnect’ or to ‘bind again’.

People seem to have a fear of ‘being bound’, of having their freedom curtailed, and so the claim, “I am not religious, but I am spiritual.”

One of my previous teachers had her own definition of religion too, which had always stuck  to my mind.  She said that ‘religare’ is a term to denote having a ‘relationship’ with God.  That’s what I’ve always remembered, and it’s only now that I’ve learned that ‘religare’ actually meant ‘to reconnect’.

Thinking about it though, having a relationship with another person, is actually being able to ‘connect’ with that person.  Relationships are about connections, about the ties that bind us to people we care about the most.

In my own experience, these relationships are the best things that ever happened in my life.  Without these people, life would be absurd and meaningless, and even if I gain the whole world, it wouldn’t mean a thing because I wouldn’t have anybody I could share it with.

I guess I’ll stick with this definition of religion, ‘to have a relationship with God’.  It’s something you can carry with you even beyond this life, even unto eternity, knowing that you are not alone, knowing that you are loved.

Spirituality is meaningless to me if it does not include having this kind of a relationship.  Without relationships, how could you say that you have love?  How could you ever love? Love is what matters most.

“After all the searching, I’ve found out that the meaning of life is in one simple word – love.  And heaven?  A place where we could love without end.”

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!

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!

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!