gift giving

Have you ever asked yourself, "Will buying expensive Christmas gifts really bring the recipient happiness?" Well, yes of course. But the gleam of it's shiny wrapping paper and the joyous nurture of our desires is only temporary. So I propose an even better gift for our loved ones this year. A true gift of happiness, one that is sustaining and ever alive. Let's keep them in our conscious thoughts, our prayers, and our memories. It truly is the gift of greatest benefaction. It is lasting and priceless and it is the only gift they can pass on tenfold.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Now that, Mastercard, is priceless.

Note to self

Words are an extremely powerful manifestation of our thoughts. When they are used by way of speaking, writing or even in silent contemplation - do not create an enemy. Those who think differently, those who do not see the way you do, even they must be included. No one should be left out. Do not feed the divide that stems from judgement, starve it.
Mindless wisdom has no discriminations.

Meditate

"We can make our minds so like still water that beings gather about us to see their own images and so live for a moment with a clearer, perhaps even a fiercer life because of our silence."

--William Butler Yeats

Beautiful Moments

After she got dressed, she twirled a ballerina twirl and asked "how do I look mommy?"

I paused for a moment (choosing my words very carefully) then I said to her,

"Wow Kaylee, you make that dress look so pretty!"

I spoke those words to my daughter so that her ears would hear and her soul would understand.

Beauty is a virtue found within. The threads we wear are only an expression of what lies inside. Our clothes, our jewelry, our hair, our skin, our bodies -- they are only manifestations of what is going on inside.

They are mere manifestations so minute in comparison to its origin. Love yourself Kaylee, because it is the purest form of pretty.

Wasteful Worries

If you follow the news then surely you have heard about the boy in Tracy, California who was tortured by 3 adults for the past year. He ran away from his foster home in Sacramento last year hoping to reunite with his family. Somehow though, he got connected with a lady and a couple renting a home in Tracy, who would forever change his life for the worse.

On Monday afternoon he was able to cut through the chain wrapped around his swollen ankle and ran through a parking lot and into the fitness gym that bordered his backyard fence. He was covered in soot, feces and urine. Wearing only flesh colored boxers 4 sizes too big, he curled in a fetal position and repeatedly begged "don't let them find me, don't let them find me". His arms wore cigarette burns, he had dried blood from cuts all over his body, his head was shaved in some spots - a reminder of the cruelty and shame he endured for so long. What hair he did have left was crusted with dried white pudding. This poor young boy was force fed house flies because he spoke when he wasn't supposed to. He was starving and afraid beyond any description.

Every time I hear his story I feel sick to my stomach. Literally. How could something so wrong happen in my own backyard? In Tracy, really? How could something so wrong happen anywhere? What a brave young boy, to take what little will he had left in his emaciated body to stand up for himself and fight back. I admire his courage to save himself. I admire his determination to find his family. I wish him all the love in the world to help him through this unfathomable experience. I hope he is able to find what little courage he has left in his heart to nourish it. I hope he is surrounded by people who will help it grow so that he can pick up the pieces and attempt to find happiness within. When someone is exposed to so much that is bad, it is all we can hope for.

I write about this today because this story was a slap in the face. A hard one. The next time you find yourself worrying about what presents you will buy for Christmas, or even how you will buy presents for Christmas, or if you'll be able to make next months rent, if you worry about completing a project at work, or all the traffic you had to sit in to get there, or how much weight you gained over Thanksgiving weekend, or whether or not Brad and Angelina will make it --remember there are people out there who have real stuff to worry about. Like this boy who day in and day out worried about things like, What form of torture will I receive next?, Will I get water or food today?, Will I ever find my family? Will I survive?

This poor boys experience serves as a reminder to all of us that we shouldn't waste our worries on things that don't really matter.