Saturday 31 December 2016

The monsoon season

The North East Monsoon season in Kelantan can get very wet, no, extremely wet.
Definitely it is not the season that would attract most tourists.

But in its own, it definitely has its very special enchanting charms
Just yesterday, I wrote a small poem about it:

On the stairs by the sea, sitting down,
I absorb the strength of violent winds.
The waves' white foam has turned brown.
Skies give away only a slit-like glimpse
of their deep and far-away azure beauty.

My heart is melting in the view of a tree;
I feel intimately connected to the wild sea,
while cloudy heavens seem to embrace me.
The soulful thoughts end quite abruptly,
when my son from behind calls suddenly. 

Friday 30 December 2016

Close to the end of the year!

Close to the end of the year!
A time when many of us look back
and then look forward, sending wishes.

Somehow it is a vast dream of humans to predict the future
and there is perhaps no time busier in future-telling than this time.

I read about economies crashing and bubbles bursting
and about the wars that will happen, all pretty much the same stuff
they came up with last year this time. One time they will be right
because on and off bubbles do burst and on and off economies do crash.

Another type of predictions come from religious sects predicting the end of the world.
The leaders of such sects gaining significant power because they claim to know
what everyone has to do for salvation.

Let us not fall victim to any fear mongers!

Hereunder I state what I wish for 2017,

I wish for all of us a wisdom revolution.
I wish that we discover that there is a lot of love in our heart,
and that we start to very consciously enjoy giving this love away.
I wish fewer of us get drunk on Saturday nights, making them sick the whole of Sunday,
I wish fewer of us feel they have to show off.
I wish we value more than ever before things like
 kindness, honesty, humility, a search for truth.

Happiness is found in altruism, selfless altruism, in random kind acts, in simple friendliness, in going the extra mile for a friend or for a complete stranger. These are the things that make us feel really good. And what else is happiness than feeling really good.



This is my personal wish for every one of my friends, for every one of my family for 2017.








B-you-tiful

The scent of lavender
lavishly roams in my nose
but it is just in my imagination.

The touch of the softest grass
grasps and tickles my toes
but it is just in my imagination

A sip of superbly brewed coffee
cozily entices my taste buds
But just in my imagination

The most sweet tunes of a flute
flush my inner ear with sweetness
but it is just in my imagination

Then, I look at you,
byoutiful as ever;
it is real

Wednesday 28 December 2016

The nicest memory

Dear friends,

Today is almost over.
I just took a little tour through my memory of what happened today.
I was trying to think and find the best memory, the nicest one that came my way.
It was the lunch with my son.

When we reflect on our day in such a way
we tend to become a bit grateful
a bit appreciative of life

What was your nicest memory of the day?

Sunday 25 December 2016

Love, peace and beauty


This morning I made a walk and saw the grass in the picture above, cuddling so nicely and warmly against the big leave. It looks like the big leave was just saying: "come lean on me", like in the beautiful song by Bill Withers (link).

A certain feeling of love, beauty and peace filled my heart. I walked on and I noticed a young coconut tree that seemed to make the V sing of peace for me with its leaves. :)

On my way back the beautiful flower in the lower right photo was smiling at me in all her beauty.

The whole walk felt like receiving a wonderful Christmas present :) .

A merry Christmas to all my friends who celebrate it and my very best wishes for the new year.

Saturday 24 December 2016

Go

The Japanese board game, Go is a very interesting game. I was playing it recently on my phone. it is fun, entertaining and it challenges your mind to a high level.

However as many other games, it seems to be a game basing its aim on the principles of scarcity.
The board is only that big and we have to fight with our opponent to get as much territory as possible. I have chosen a level of difficulty that is a bit above my own level in order to improve my skills but this means I lose more than I win. In the heat of the fight with the intelligence of my phone, I feel sometimes frustrated, sometimes victorious.

While Go is just a game, I think too many of us perceive our life as a field of scarcity too. There is only so much of everything, and if I do not take it, someone else will.

Have you seen people putting far too much on their plates at buffets
Have you seen people taking free sugars sachets or napkins, more than they can possibly need
Have you seen how people with a scarcity mindset behave in general.
I think all of us have behaved like this, at least at one time in our life.

It is because of the scarcity mind set that we all go and fight with each other.
We want to win, no matter what. Sometimes during a long fight both contenders forget what it was that started the fight, but they will not give up.

Sure there have been times of scarcity. In many places there still is.
But in many other places there is so much abundance that if only
we would be ready to give up the scarcity thinking, we could alleviate
the scarcity for almost the whole rest of the world.

Scarcity thinking gives rise to greed.
Greed is part of our instincts, our physical structure.

It is time for a spiritual revolution.
where we celebrate day by day or human nature.
Our human nature is better than our instincts.

Being human means to think and reflect
Being human means to love and share
Being human means to control our flight or fight
Being human means loving our enemies
Being human means helping each other
Being human means compassion
Being human means searching for truth
Being human means .... name another 100

Let us give up scarcity thinking sooner rather than later
and choose to be a fantastic human :)


Friday 23 December 2016

Potential

Tic toc, tic toc
close to dawn;
magic moments.
Amazing love,
fascinating care,
like that of my late mom for me,
moves slowly from my heart
where it was safely stored,
to my awakening awareness

Sitting in this bath of lovely care,
a tender wave of joy washes over my spirit.
The first orange sun rays are coming in,
in my room, in my eyes, in my soul;
and my mission for the day becomes:
to share the love and care in which I bathe
with every soul, I will meet
and live a life of true potential



Tuesday 20 December 2016

Beauty

Sometimes we travel far and long
to see a beautiful town.
Sometimes we long deep inside
to see a far away finesse

Reflecting on the above, back in 2011,
I wrote the simple poem below:

 Up high,
Up high in the vast sky
I searched for ultimate beauty
Ultimate beauty was what I yearned to see
But then just inches above the horizon
Right in front of my brown open eyes
I found the most amazing
The most picturesque
Of all clouds
Luxurious soft pastels
Of light purple and
Mellow orange
Almost caressing the sea 

Sometimes while looking up,
while looking for beauty in far away places,
we miss out on the beauty that surrounds us.

Let us take a minute right now and
find something of exquisite beauty, right where we are.
If our eyes do no find it,let us use our other senses.
let us feel the beauty of the breeze
or listen to the beauty of the sound of the rain
or put up a favorite song,
smell or taste something beautiful.

Walk around for a while
just giving our attention
to finding beauty in the air
in the color of the sky,
in the palms of our hands
in the piece of furniture nearest to you

Beauty

I love Beauty
I am sure you love beauty too.

Let us enjoy the beauty of the world around us,
a little more consciously today,
give it a bit more attention
our heart will be filled with a thousand beautiful feelings

(http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/y-a-thousand-beautiful-feelings/ )

 



Monday 19 December 2016

Kindness

Even though there is a big part of jealousy (1) in the world,
an even bigger part of greed (2) and hatred (3),
a still bigger part of selfishness (4),
kindness (5) is on the increase

Kindness is on an exponential curve.
Do you know how exponential curves go?
Initially, they go up very slowly, but up they go.
Then they meet an inflection point and
suddenly they go up very steep.
I am sure we are pretty close to that inflection point

Nothing else can happen when kindness increases,
than that  (1), (2), (3) and (4) hopelessly shrink.
and that is what they are doing now.
Still in the slow phase of shrinking.
but soon they will meet their own downwards inflections point
and they will go falling off a huge cliff to scatter
and to never return.

Hard to believe?
Just shut down your TV and
start looking at the world.
Watch and see with your own eyes

Saturday 17 December 2016

Jealousy

Jealousy is a disease.
It has always been around
and for everyone affected
it has been detrimental.

The jealous mind loses  
its power to think clearly.
It creates vicious stories
on the subject of the jealousy.

It is so easy to recognize jealousy
Just like hatred it is only a burden
to the person carrying it.

Let us all be magnanimous.
Rejoice in the successes of others.
May be easier said than done,
but still the best choice, one can make.

Tuesday 13 December 2016

Realist

Yesterday saw this video by Marissa Peers, where she gave a simple demonstration of the power of our thoughts. She asked the whole audience to close their eyes and hold both arms stretched horizontally in front of them. Then she went on to talk about heavy bucket of cement they kept in their left hand and the right hand was tied to a huge helium filled balloon. Almost all left arms went down a bit and the right ones up.

There were no buckets, no balloons, just thoughts.

So thoughts do have a strong effect on us.
That is why we better choose to think positive.
For pessimists this may sound as a lie.
But for optimists, the negative thoughts of the pessimists
 sound every bit as much as a lie.

The world is supporting us.
It provides with all the water we need.
All nutritious foods are found easily
The air is full of oxygen.
And if you really look out for opportuinity,
the world is full of opportunity.

So we have a choice to be pessimist, and tell ourselves negative lies
which will end up to be self fulfilling prophecies like the imagined bucket was pulling the left arms down or we can choose to think positive thoughts which will also become self fulfilling prophecies like the imagined balloons were pulling the right arms up.

We do not have to become surreal dreamers.
But somehow expecting the best to happen is not surreal.

I think all of us went to a few huge disappointments:
expecting the best but getting it not.
The disappointment is a real bad feeling.
Too quickly we learned to expect the worst, so we will not be disappointed.

In the process of expecting the worst we manipulate circumstances so the chances for a good outcome decrease very significantly
In the process of expecting the worst, we go through the agony of anticipating the worst, even if the worst may not come our way in the end.
In the process of expecting the worst, we create lot of fear and worry that may affect our physical health in many ways.


If we expect the best, we remain alert to all opportunities coming our way and are more likely to notice and take the opportunities with both hands
If we expect the best, we will be generally much more happy and outgoing, increasing the likelihood of good things to happen
If we expect the best, occasionally we may have big disappointments, but so be it. The occasional disappointment is much preferred over the continuous fretting, worry and fear of the pessimists with their occasional pleasant surprises, which tend to happen rarely exactly because of their negative attitude and actions.

Monday 12 December 2016

Praise

This morning, in the local supermarket, I saw a man who looked a bit familiar
but somehow I could not exactly remember from where the familiarity came.
I nodded a hello from a distance and he came right up to me and shook my hand.
He said that 15 years ago, I saved the life of his daughter
when she was admitted to our neonatal ward.

After a talk filled with friendship and happiness we went each on our way.

I surely was smiling a smile, broad, coming straight from my heart.
Sometimes we get these God-sent expressions of thanks.
We try to be humble in moments like these.


At times, being a doc is quite tough.
We tend to do our work with enthusiasm and lots of energy.
But somehow, frustrations do happen and they can get to the heart.
when things go less well we tend not spare ourselves from harsh self criticism.

If the father of that daughter, would happen to read this page.
MANY thanks, my friend.
We all need appreciation from time to time.
I felt great after the encounter and it will surely give me
much extra energy and enthusiasm durung my next moments of frustration.


Sunday 11 December 2016

Power / temper

Today I lost my temper a bit during a ward round.

It is so easy for a consultant who heads the round to let his or her temper flare.
So easy to belittle the medical officer who forgot something.
They may have done 99 things right but they tend to get it for the 1 thing wrong.

Whenever I lose a bit of my temper, I almost always regret it, within the same day.
Being kind and humble, no matter what position we are in ourselves is one of my aspirations.

But then again we are only human.
Sometimes we are not in a good mood because things happening outside of our work.
Then we start the round with good intentions but if something seems to be revealed
that should not have happened, it adds stress. If then the one who "did it" tries to
hide the obvious, sometimes, off the temper goes.


On calm seas, it is easy to steer the ship towards all love.
If we manage to do so on rough seas too, we get a bit closer to the ideal, I think.
Whenever something happens like today (losing my temper during a round,
out of a position of power), I feel I have a long, long way to go. 

Saturday 10 December 2016

Who is in control

We tend to accumulate so many things in our life.
Sometimes we work for the money
That is good.
But if we work all the time for the money,
then who is working for who?

There is time for us to work for the money
but there has to be time too, that we allow the money to work for us.
If we hoard and hoard without using the money we earn,
we allow the money to be the boss and we just work for it.

So let us work hard for the money we need and maybe more than that,
but then let us also make time to enjoy using the money
for ourselves and for others too if possible.

We need to take control if it comes to money matters.
We cannot let money dominate our whole lives.

The double jeopardy of pessimism

On my recent trip to Kuala Lumpur, I bought a book, titled, "Do humankind's best days lie ahead?" It is the narrative of a debate held in Canada. Thought-provoking.

If we are to learn from history, everything, from health, to mean income, to safety and so many other things are getting better with time. Still, there are the pessimists, who call themselves unjustified, realists, who have fatalistic thinking. They rely on what they see on TV and the news.

While pessimistic thoughts are not supported by history, neither by any logical or rational thinking, pessimists tend to go on making a still graver thinking error: since the future is so bleak, we better try to take care of ourselves as good as we can. While that seems sound by itself, it becomes a complete joke if we look at what they mean by taking care of themselves: hoarding money, and wealth and partying and drinking and so on.

Whether we are optimistic or pessimistic, we should know what brings real happiness to us, what taking care of ourselves truly means!

Adequately taking care of ourselves and achieving enduring happiness does not lie in
- drinking and partying.
- accumulating wealth way beyond our needs
- showing off our latest material possessions
It does mean and lie in selfless service and sharing and being randomly kind!

Friday 9 December 2016

Love and stand

I love them
I like them
I love them


And yet some traits
I cannot stand


I love them

but if they...
and if they...
and surely if they...
I cannot stand it!
But still I love


Oh, my God, when 

will unconditional love
come my way 

to be mine?
So I can love
I can stand
I can love and stand,
no matter what. 




Monday 5 December 2016

The golden egg

Back in 2010, I fractured one vertebra (a bone in my spine).
I was confined to lying down in a supine position for three months.
Even reading was not easy to do in this position,
so I started listening to audiobooks.
In one audiobook, I heard the poem, eternity by William Blake.
I liked the poem so much that I looked it up on the internet.
This brought me to the website poemhunter.
I wanted to comment on the poem, but I had first to register.
In the registration process it became clear that we could post our own poems there too.

Not much later I was sitting (lying) outside and a little purple flower caught my eye.
I took a picture of it and not much later my very first poem in the English language was born:
little purple flower. The comments I received were so encouraging. I wrote a few more poems in the following weeks. I wrote them actually for my sons. Somehow they do not show too much interest in my poetry even if I directly show it to them. Hope some day, they will enjoy. While waiting for them to enjoy I hope, you will enjoy the following one which gave me a smile, when I read it back this evening:

The golden egg


Suppose you had a goose,
A goose that would produce
A golden egg a day
You wouldn’t want to lose
That special golden goose
You’d care for it in every way

Now something of more incredible worth
Was given to each of us at birth
We ‘ve got a worthy thinking brain
If positive, loving thoughts we’d feed it
Yes that is really all that’s needed
Just think of all the golden eggs to gain

If we keep up with doom and hateful thinking
Consuming drugs, excessive drinking
Getting stressed about any item in the news
Neglect good deeds and thoughts of pure
We can count on it, perfectly sure
That we will lose our brain as golden goose

Let’s feed our brain with all the best
Positive thoughts, lofty aims, a loving chest
Let’s focus on God’s way, forget the rest
Search daily for some goodness in the news
And sure your brain, just like the goose
A golden egg a day it will produce