Dirty Dishes

Sometimes, during the daily hustle and bustle to get through our day, we forget those who are nearest, dearest and most important to us. We lose track of our priorities. It happens.

Example: When your child (or spouse etc.) wakes up in the morning, be sure to smile at them and say “hi!” When you get home from work or when they come home after school, be sure to stop what your are doing for a minute, smile at them and say “hi”, again, when you see ‘em. Don’t force it but let it come naturally and honestly from the heart. Let them know and make them feel (it) that they are the most important part of your life (hopefully they are); least of all, make them feel that they are more important than the “dirty dishes”!
:-)

Be as Children

According to the bible,”To enter the Kingdom of God (Heaven), you need to be as children are”, or something to that effect (it’s been a while since I last read the bible). What exactly does that mean? Some of my thoughts on this saying....

I believe it means that we must view the world and live life as children do: without hate, without racism, embracing life, enjoying nature, laughing often and playing. Children don’t worry about amassing material goods as they make do with what they have and use their imagination to play life.

When it rains, don’t complain about it. Embrace it as part of nature. Go outside and stand in the rain. Enjoy and feel the rinsing, refreshing rain water as it comes down on you. It has the power to cleanse you of your negative thoughts, if you allow it. Go ahead and jump in that puddle. Get wet. Get dirty. Enjoy all the forms of weather that nature offers us.

Enjoy and appreciate all people. Kids don’t refuse to play with another kid because of their color, sex or race. (That’s taught to them by grownups!) Enjoy all the various cultures of the world. Embrace and encourage diversity. We all have something to offer and to learn from each other.

Play! Kids know how to play under all circumstances. Usually, no matter what’s happening around them, they want to and will play. Playing keeps the stress level down and makes you happy.

Enjoy nature. How often do kids find something knew outside, some new bug or cloud or animal or bird and it just amazes them? Let nature and its various forms overwhelm you with amazement. Remember, we, in all our various body shapes and sizes, are a part of nature...

Laugh! Probably the number one thing about kids is their ability to laugh at everything and to even laugh at what is considered the wrong time! There is something to be said about this because laughter may be the key to a happy life. Laughter! It’s been proven that laughter is good for your health. It makes you healthy and it makes you feel good. So get out there and laugh at everything (just about) but especially, laugh at yourself. Don’t be so serious.

So, be as children. Embrace the philosophy and enjoy diversity, explore all the various forms, shapes and colors that nature has to offer and keep an open, positive mind. Enjoy your life here on earth, appreciate the environment around you and “play” as much as possible. Doing this, you shall become healthier, happier and you just might also be given that golden key to the kingdom above! (or is it actually inside all of us ...)
:)

Back to Work

Well, it had to end sooner or later. “All good things must come to an end”, they say. Oh really? Do they have to end? For me, its work. Or, back to work, to be more precise. After being laid off last year, planning and moving to a new country, I’m back to work after a year off. Bummer! It’s been a great year though! The time off allowed me the opportunity to reflect on my thoughts and concentrate on “self” improvement. I can still work on these but will now have less time to do it.

It’s not that I don’t mind working. Heck, I’ve been working since the age of 13 and I’m now in my 40’s so I know a thing or two about working! No, working is not the issue: I just prefer not to! I have more important things to do with my life than getting up everyday, going to some business and making money for some one else or for some billion dollar firm. No, that’s not my idea of life. We are not here to “work”, so others can profit. Now, if I “work”ed for a non-profit where helping people was the name of the game, I would be more excited about going back to work. I tried that route last year after being laid off. I applied for many different positions with a variety of non-profits with the idea of trying to find a “job” where I would be part of “making a difference in people’s lives.” A “job with meaning”, as they say...which would not be a “job” to me by any stretch of the imagination because its something I enjoy doing: helping others, helping them see the good in life so they, too, can enjoy it. Unfortunately, I either never received a reply or got a not qualified response from all my applications.

I always felt that the not qualified response was a bit odd. I mean, I applied for positions where I could help make a difference in peoples’ lives and what better qualifications than to be a person with a life!! (Ok, some call me a Dog and some say I have no life but that’s another story!!) Seriously, my job search the last few years has been to find work, in any capacity, with helping out those who are less fortunate or are struggling with life. I guess having a heart and a burning desire to help doesn't mean anything anymore. My preference would be to work with helping kids, abused women or single moms. I believe these people need the most help, are in vulnerable situations and are perhaps the most victimized in humanities quest for power. Not that others who also need help are any less deserving of it but, for me, it’s always been, I guess, about helping the underdogs or those who get the least respect. Children will always have a place in my heart. I find it a shame and feel really sorry for those kids who, for whatever reason, are not able to fully enjoy their childhood days by simply being children because of their unfortunate situation. Abused women probably factor in to the equation due to the fact that I’m a man and a man who does not believe in violence. So this touches two nerves. Single moms: I see them all over and have a heavy heart for them as well. We know how hard life can be whether you are single or if you have a partner to help out but it has to be almost impossible nowadays if you are alone...raising a kid! Raising children should be the most important task we as humans have but it apparently has been delegated to the “later” file. Personally, I don’t think (I know) that our government, politicians or those big bad major companies help out these people enough. These struggling people are marginized and pushed to the back of the line behind the wants and wishes of the rich, the powerful and the greedy who if they had their way, “those people” would just “go away”. That is not taking care of the people as I believe should be the first priority of any government toward its citizens.

Yes, I live in a dream world when it comes to what our government or the people of the world should do but don’t we all, in one way or another? Dreams are what make us and shape us. Dreams become the fiber of our morals. Dreams are what we work on in life. And my dream just got pushed back a bit, again, as I re-enter the “working world”!

In my new working world, I will once again be working on defective cells phones in a warehouse. Exciting, huh! I feel vibes of jealousy from you all..... Yep, a nice boring, monotonous, non-challenging position; just what a (young!) creative, sincere, thinking mind needs to dull the senses.

If it sounds like I’m starting to complain about going back to work, well it’s probably true. After all, it was great to have the time off. For one thing, it allowed me the opportunity to start this blog and attempt to express, in words, my views and what I think about our life on earth. It also afforded me the opportunity to meet, through your blogs, some really interesting and, I think, nice people like Jim, Sieg, Sophia and Rambler, among others.

More importantly, though, the time off enabled me to spend much much valuable time with my growing 12 yr old son. YOU CAN’T PUT A $$ ON THAT!! I would never trade this time spent with my son. I love him very very much and think the world of him. He is just plain awesome! Luckily, I had this opportunity to play with him, watch TV with him, talk to him; mostly just BS but also some life learning conversations that hopefully will shape his views a bit. Most importantly, though, for him and me, was the opportunity to just plain spend the time together: day in and day out, for the last year. I was/am there for him at this important stage of his life. It was great and I will always cherish the time we had together. I think he will too when he is older. I wish other parents had the opportunity to also spend more quality time with their kids because this is part of the problem in many households in today’s over worked, fast paced, “I don’t have time” American society: Not enough quality time for or with their children. Both parent and child benefit immensely from this time together.

Unfortunately, my decision to get back to work was based on the almighty dollar or Euro, as it is over here. My family and my, soon to be a teenager, son have material needs that can only be met by my “earning a living”. I have no problem with that and understand this need of theirs. Of course, if I had a choice, I would rather not work (who would?), spend my days thinking/writing, being with my son and still be able to monetarily provide for them, so if anyone out there wants to “help” me in this situation...my ego is nie so big!

Over the last year, I’ve provided for my son mentally but now it’s time to provide for him materially. All kids need to experience and learn about materialism as a child or it may become the focus of their adulthood. Remember, it’s not necessarily materialism itself that corrupts but how it’s used and where the priority of obtaining it is placed. I am attempting to teach my son the difference and if we don’t let children experience the world of materialism and teach them properly, wisely about its place in life while they are young, it could easily become their one and only motivating factor later in life and I do not want that for my son. Now, he can have a well balanced understanding of life.

Stepping back from the rat race or as John Lennon put it; “I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round” is vastly underrated. May you all, some day, enjoy it.

("Watching the Wheels" concerns Lennon's dismissal of those who were confounded by his "househusband" years, 1975-1980. During this period, he stayed away from the music industry and raised his son Sean with Yoko. The song's second verse seems to contain an allusion to Plato's "Allegory of the cave". In it, Plato believed that one can only learn through dialectic reasoning and open-mindedness. Humans had to travel from the visible realm of image-making and objects of sense, to the intelligible, or invisible, realm of reasoning and understanding. "The Allegory of the Cave" symbolizes this trek and how it would look to those still in a lower realm. Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'.)

Peace Luv and Health to all....
Enjoy watching the wheels...I do....

JBM