TLC’s

Blog 80 … 

     What is not to love about our hairy friends?  Yes, they must be fed.  Of course, they must be walked, and you must do so several times in a day or you’ll be sorry about messes!  Remember to get them combed or they’d look shabby and unkempt.  Bring to mind their scheduled vitamin supplements and medicines.  Don’t forget to take them to their vet for wellness exams and required pricey shots.  Keep in mind, however, that they require tender loving care the most.  Loving our four-legged friends is good for our mind and soul.  They love us back, and that gives us tremendous joy!

Talent

Blog 79 …

     Can you sing?  Can you work well with your hands?  Can you visualize something and create it?  Do you have fluency with words?  Are you able to lead and excite others?  Can you move gracefully with your body?  Are you able to and process solutions to a problem?  It does not matter that you have a little or a lot of something special.  It is only important to know and remind yourself that you are endowed with talent … God’s gift, so be happy about it.  Feel proud that you have it.  Sharpen, refine and perfect it.  Use it every minute you could.  Showcase it.  Share it.  Enjoy it.  Talent, whether inherently given or acquired through patience and practice is too precious to waste!

Hoard?

Blog 78 …

Figurines!  Dolls!  Plates!  Pottery!  Costumes!  Fabric!  Maps!  Cultural symbols!  I look around my home one day and discover that my collection of superfluous things has gone haywire!  In drawers and cabinets I find items that are pretty to behold, but have no function.  I utterly realize that I even recently purchased an extra showcase cabinet to make way for things I have acquired just sit.  What for do I have such things? I do not have defense for keeping them.  Some things even require senseless dusting and re-arranging … useless work! What’s the impetus for our collecting things?

 

Walk

Blog 77 …

To boost my overall health, I walk a mile or more every single day I am able.  On some days however, I just dread it.  I dread it especially when it becomes a routine.  Other days, I just get out there and begin pacing.  I walk with or without a purpose.  I walk to stride and stroll.  I saunter and stagger.  I plainly walk from point A to B too.  At times I make myself rigidly hike.  Other times, I crisscross and unfollow traffic rules to get amused.  I even make a variety of shapes with steps: circles and x’s, squares, curls and waves.  There are times, when I am on an unfamiliar trail, I catch myself lost in things and sights my eyes find in the surrounding.   I should not let that take over often.  When that happens though, I tell myself that too is alright.  My mind, after all, is allowed to freely wander with my tired, but happy feet!

Delight

Blog 76 …

     Gather two slices of preferred bread, a favorite mayonnaise, and garden-fresh tomato.  Spread the mayo on each bread slice.  Cut the tomato horizontally and to much-loved thickness, and then put as many wanted slices on each bread slice.  Bring bread pieces face-to-face, and presto, you have a ‘tomato-delight sandwich’.  You may take a grand bite at it now.  If you like, however, you may chill it for an hour or let it soak under the sun before that mouth-watering bite.   Americans love their tomato sandwiches year-round; I prefer indulging myself with it on a hot summer day like today.  Yummmm!

Out!

Blog 75 …

When you know you are not in your locational element, you best get out.  Yes, you should not meddle in an area with which you’re not familiar, such as in the kitchen and stuff that go with it or making Curry Dinner, in another instance.  You would not want to intrude in someone else’s expertise preparing that delicate taste of Asian-originating cuisine like I did.  Bent on becoming helpful, I peeled and then diced potatoes and onions to prep for the recipe.  I also filleted the already almost fallen apart chicken breast after its all-morning and low-fire cooking in a crockpot.  I even decided to start boiling altogether the ingredients, except for the coconut milk to make steps less before its final seasoning and garnishing with raisins and peanuts is done by the more experienced cook in the household.  My mouth had begun salivating for the scrumptious end result as I for one minute decidedly stepped out of the kitchen and out the front yard.  I thought no harm to picking up the day’s mail.  I convinced myself everything would be well done and ready when I get back shortly, but what a disaster instead.  The pot of ingredients on the stove was smoking when I got back!  Curried dinner was instantly ruined because I had turned the stove knob in full heat instead of low heat.  What a shame.  What a waste of food, time and energy.  It would have been better had I stayed OUT … out of my element … out of the kitchen!

Water

Blog 74 …

     Attention, mine, could easily be diverted, I discovered.  After using the tap one morning, something not too important (I couldn’t recall now what it was!), must have pulled away my concentration; I let the tap run water, not just for a minute or so, but a whole hour!  Jitters and guilt ran my back and brain, and rightfully so.  “What was so important out there that pulled me away?  What triggered my mind to wander from the use of the water still running?  Why had I not turned it off before I jumped into some other obscure act?” I inwardly searched and searched, but no distinct answer popped out of my head.  Carelessly or intentionally leaving water running crazily that way was a horrific and unwise use of essential resource.  One mustn’t let it ever get wasted. Without potable water, we’d all be in a mess.  We’d suffer from dehydration.  We’d acquire all sorts of physical trouble that require clean water to keep our body healthy.  Preparing food would be in a sham without it.  Countless chores in the homes and all over the community depend on clean water.  There are businesses and ecosystems that would fall apart without safe water source.  Even far and more important, a small amount of clean water would quench every thirst.  My pointlessly and mindlessly wasting water today should never ever happen again!

Offerings

Blog 73 …

Whether something freely handed to you brings material, spiritual, or emotional blessing, you must wholeheartedly accept the gift.  You must never refuse it for any and all reasons.  There’s no need to be overwhelmed by someone’s kindness, goodness or cheerfulness.  There’s no room for feelings of guilt over a gift.  There’s no need to worry about paths to returning the gift either.  There’s nothing wrong in sharing and enjoying the bounty of someone’s harvest.  People give out of abundance, you know.  Many people give out of their heart’s generosity. They know well how equally blessed they are, so they put in practicevery the very act of giving.   When people especially give even as they themselves hurt by so doing, cherish the gift more.  It is the greatest of all giving and receiving.  You must highly treasure and value the gift by all means, but equally more important is that you also find a way, in time, to spread and multiply the blessings it brought you today!

Work&Laze

Blog 72 …

Work, that which requires and takes energy to complete, comes and lingers even when not beckoned.  It is always asking to touch it, give it attention, figure it, troubleshoot it, stay at it; especially, it asks, “Finish me … now!”  Work that demands your focus could be light enough, such as taking the garbage bin out.  Work that’s a bit more tedious to do could include packing a house, doing laundry, or tending the garden.  It sometimes takes many steps to finish tasks; there are problem-solving, sorting, and organizing involved in every step of the way.  A more labor-intensive work, a fencing project, for example, could get you not only engaged for many hours, but it also could wring out body sweat and pain.  For what it entails, patience, for instance,  work, however, is emotionally and physically sweet once completed.  It is deserving of all-time coveted lazing, dozing and relaxing … at a favorite hammock or lounging chair ... with critters that shower you with love after essential work is finally done! 

 

Get Home

Blog 71 …

Geographical movement is as much ‘being there’ as ‘getting there’.  There’s no doubting over it.  There could not be ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ about it.  You could not just elect to transport your belongings from one spot to another without convincing yourself that their transfer to a new place implies your complete mindset and acceptance of the ‘move’.  You could not fake it.  You could not even try only going with the flow of things from one point to point.  It behooves you to emotionally and physically commit to the task.  You must openly say goodbye to your belongings and “old home”, and then take in all the good memories they gave you.  You must afterwards fully cheer up, build hopes high, and likewise embrace the new experiences you are about to absorb in your new surroundings … in your “home-to-be”.  You must wholeheartedly “get there, and accept being there”!