Oh, Be Brave!

Lately, I’ve had some really good stuff coming my way career-wise.  I was given opportunities to pioneer new thrusts in my department.  However, as Spiderman said:  With great power, comes great responsibility.”

True.  And greater pressure, politics and intrigues too!  My, oh, my!  Something that I do not want to get involved with.  My common dialogue:  Oh, I really just want to work, do my best, reap well from it. 

Well…

With all this office turmoil, and at the risk of sounding like a whiner when speaking up, I had to dig deep inside me, trust in my inner strength that all things will work together for everybody’s good.  Not just for my own good, I dare say, but for everyone’s good.

This song, “Brave” by Sara Bareilles has given me back inspiration and a touch of my old sense of humour.

To be brave in standing up to what I believe in, even when others do not seem to agree.  To be brave in being grounded in the age-old truths that my parents taught me.  To be brave in being teachable and flexible as this is the path to greater improvement and success.  To be brave to see events on both sides – not just my own.  To be brave to draw out love from my heart and feel love for everyone, regardless.  To be brave to extend kindness even when kindness was the last thing I got.  To be brave to go on in life with graciousness. 

Each one of us has our own daily battles.  But the key here is to go on, not give up.  We might need to choose our fights wisely – extending kindness or forgiveness does not mean quitting or losing the battle.  It just means you are making a different tactic.  It means being the bigger person.

Do I know exactly what lies ahead of me, in this messy and fearsome corporate world?  No.  But I am here to go on and not give up.  And with my inner self adds: “So help me God.”  With lol right after. 

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.  The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. – Nelson Mandela

P.S.  There are so many angles to being brave, and I will be exploring it in my next write ups.  

Oh, My Baby, Baby, Baby!

If one feels the need of something grand, something infinite, something that makes one feel aware of God, one need not go far to find it.  I think that I see something deeper, more infinite, more eternal than the ocean, in the expression of the eyes of a little baby when it wakes in the morning and coos or laughs because it sees the sun shining on its cradle. - Vincent van Gogh - 1853 - 1890.

Ever wondered why whenever you gaze at the newborn's face, an unexplainable feeling of utter peace and bliss envelops you? 

Attending a baby shower party usually gives me excitement, as if I was the expectant mother!  I can remember being excited to give birth to my babies - to see their faces, to touch their tiny hands, to hear their cries.

Ever been in a room full of adults busy doing their thing?  And then comes along a baby.  The room's atmosphere suddenly changes.  There is that strong energy that a baby emits.  Everyone becomes enthralled.

If a baby is in the room, it's almost as if there is a magnetic connection that draws my attention and I must make contact.  Being the father of eight children, I have spent countless hours simply gazing into the eyes of a brand-new arrival into our family.  In these private moments, I often send silent inquisitive messages asking them to tell me about God and what the formless spiritual world is like.  I have passed many, many hours of my life lying on the floor making direct contact with our new arrivals.  I've long fascinated by the fact that children must show up here with personality traits.  I love to ask little toddlers who are only beginning to communicate with language to tell me what they remember.  - Wayne Dyer

The newborn, still untouched by the world's fear and anxiety - has that pure positive energy straight from where the baby came from (and I'm not talking about the physical).  So undiluted by the world's negativity, that is almost as if you feel the breathe of heaven!