Interactions

Children, with them every interaction is simple, pure, even if it's negative their intent is clear. They never beat around the bush, whatever it is they want they will tell you clearly and honestly.
 
The other day I was taking my son to playgroup with his friend. She had come with a handful of candy, and my son stuck out his hand in the clearest expression of "I want some".

Watching this innocent encounter I started to ask myself when did I stop being so straightforward, why did I stop? In truth I don't have the answer to either of these questions, but I now have an idea of what to strive for. I think we should all learn to be honest and clear with each other, to be able to express our feelings, thoughts, and ideas without beating around the bush. We shouldn't have to be guarded, to worry that what we say will be used against us. Who knows maybe if we can learn to be honest when dealing with others, we'll be able to have more meaningful interactions not just with people, but with ourselves as well.

"Taking Stock"

How often do we stop to think about where we are going in life? What we have accomplished, and what we have lost over time? Are we gaining more than we are losing?

Working in a supermarket, every so often we have to stop and take inventory to make sure that everything is where it's supposed to be, and to see how well we are selling what item. Today was that day, we spent the whole morning in the meat freezer counting every piece of chicken we had, and checking it against what the computer said was in supply. By the end of the day everything was accounted for and we had a clearer picture of what we really have in stock.

After spending a day taking account of something that is trivial in the broader scope of our everyday lives, it got me thinking, when do I ever stop and take stock of where I'm holding in life? Am I carrying the right product to be successful in this world, or am I backlogged with the items that just sit and rot on the shelf? I think that this is a question that we all should really be asking ourselves on a regular basis, because if we don't take inventory of who and what we are then we'll never know which items of our personality, our behavior are selling well, which need some better advertizing and which just need to be removed from the shelves completely. 

Change, A Human Condition

Change, it's the first step into the unknown where everything you have been used to is turned upside down. It's probably one of the scariest things that a person can experience, even going from something you didn't like to something you hope will be better, the human condition still causes us to shudder in terror of the unknown.

As mentioned before, my family and I are moving to a new town with the hopes of starting over and getting ourselves back on our feet. We have now put the plan in motion and have a date set for our move. However now that it's become a reality the nerves are coming into play. Even though we feel that this move will be the best thing for us, the idea of change is terrifying.
With things starting to move forward, and change imminent my wife started to express some of her worries. Being nervous myself I tried to help calm her down as best as I can, but until we get there the nerves will remain, we just need to push through it and do our thing.

This situation has helped me open my eyes to the fact that change is in our nature, and no matter how much we resist, it will inevitably happen. We were brought into this world in order to work on ourselves to break our negative traits and change them for the better, however hard it may be. Our base instincts will fight tooth and nail against being changed, but at the end of the day when we succeed in bettering ourselves there is no greater accomplishment to be had. So, yes change is scary, it's hard, but you just have to embrace it and know that it will always be for your own good.

Have We Got Work To Do?!

Sometimes I wonder, do we ever really think about what our purpose in this world is? Do we realize that we are here with a job to do? What if we don't perform our given task are there consequences?

The other day at work one of the other employees showed up a little late, normally this would have been overlooked, however since he was relatively new to the workplace the boss wanted to make a point. He was confronted about his tardiness and instead of taking it in stride and explaining himself he started arguing back. The next thing I knew he was saying goodbye and going home.

In truth this is not a very significant (or even uncommon) occurrence, however after witnessing it I felt that there was some lesson I can learn from it anyway. Looking at this story from a broader angle maybe we can begin to ask ourselves if this situation can be applied to life itself. We all have a job to do in this world, something that is unique to each individual. The question we have to ask ourselves is are we doing what we were sent to do, are we even trying to figure out what that task is? And if not wouldn't it be prudent for us to start, because if we don't who knows maybe the Boss will decide to fire us too?

Wrong Time, Right Place

When a person has a schedule even the smallest error can throw the day off balance, and no matter how many times it happens it is always frustrating. You always end up asking yourself why this had to happen, what possible reason is there for me to be here now?

Today I got my answer.

As I have mentioned in one of my previous posts, every morning I take my son to playgroup after which I take a bus to work. Lately I have been arriving later and later thereby missing my regular bus and getting to work late. Naturally I was annoyed by this situation and frustrated by the waste of time, wondering why this kept on happening to a point where I had already started to accept it as my "new" regular schedule. This morning as I was waiting for my (late) bus I found out why. I was sitting in the bus stop when I noticed a little boy coming out of the building across the street. I didn't pay too much attention because I figured a parent was soon to follow, that never happened. After a few minutes of playing in front of the building the boy decided to walk into the street, at this point I realized that he was really outside unsupervised. I quickly crossed the street and took the boy back to his house only to discover that the front door was wide open and there was no one there trying to find him. Banging on the door finally got the attention of an older sibling who had apparently been asleep while this whole thing happened. After leaving the boy with his brother/sister (I didn't see) I started to cross the street to the bus stop, as I was crossing a man went running straight to the boys house. I returned to the house to alert (what turned out to be) the father to the situation. He showed me that there was a problem with the door, and that it sometimes didn't close well.. He thanked me for watching over his son, and I continued on my way.

There are a lot of things you can see from this story, some positive some negative, I would like to see it from the perspective of being in the right place at the right time. Had I been catching the bus I used to take, nobody would have been there to stop this child from possibly getting very hurt. So next time you end up missing your bus or anything else for that matter, don't forget it happened for a reason even if you cant see it yet.

Gratitude Where It's Due

When backed into a corner a person instinctively reaches out to the only people they feel they can rely on, the ultimate giver and their family, knowing that if anyone will be able to help it will surely be them. However after the fact, after they have received the help they needed, do they only give credit to the resourcefulness of their family, or do they realize that it all really came from a higher source? That all that was done for them was really orchestrated from above?  

As I have mentioned last time I had been put into a bit of a predicament. So without knowing what else to do we turned to our family. Thankfully they all rallied to my cause and were able to help me put together whatever was needed to settle the matter quickly. For this we are eternally grateful to everyone who helped and went out of their way to make sure we were out of the woods.

I did not mean to imply in my earlier statement that we shouldn't show gratitude to our families for the incredible effort they put in to assist you, by all means lavish them with praise and thanks, I just wanted to point out that we shouldn't forget that all the effort in the world wouldn't have made the difference had the true giver not wanted it to be so. We simple beings tend to turn to Him more at times when we are in trouble, but when the situation is remedied, somehow we seem to forget that He had any part in it and rationalize that it was the human element that got us out of it as opposed to anything else. So next time you turn to Him and He answers (through whichever messenger He may choose) open your eyes and show Him that you realize where the help really came from.

Perspective

Have you ever been floating on a cloud only to have someone come along and knock you to the floor? Have you ever reached a point where you were finally getting where you want to go, when suddenly you get blindsided by something else to throw you completely off balance? Well if you haven't all the better, but for those who have we all know it's not fun.

As I have mentioned before, things were finally starting to go our way, we got what we needed to start our lives over, a real fresh start. Here we are excited that we're now able to implement our plan when out of the blue a friend decided to cash in on an old agreement, leaving me stumped as to how to fulfill his request. After trying to reason with him (and getting nowhere) I am now in an impossible situation to which I (currently) have no solution.

I am not bringing this up to gain sympathy (though it is appreciated), but rather to try and learn from even a dark situation a positive lesson. We must always remember that even when things start going our way the other challenges in life are still there, and therefore not to let ourselves get carried away with our successes in other areas, to think that because one thing is going well that everything will follow suit. Life is a continuous challenge it's how you approach it that makes the difference. Will you allow yourself to rejoice over a success (albeit a relatively big one) and forget the rest of your troubles that remain, or will you remind yourself that yes there are things that are going well but that does not mean you're out of the woods just yet. Don't get me wrong, revel in your victory however minor it may be, just don't allow it to let you lose sight from the rest of the picture. How is this a positive lesson one may ask? Well even though now yes it's painful, but in the long run having suffered through this situation, I will be all the more prepared never to let it happen again. At the end of the day what you really have to do is decide whether to wallow in self pity, or find the kernel of good that can be learned.

Coincidence or Providence?

Moving is never easy, having a solid moving plan without the resources is quite a bit harder. It is there that doubt and insecurity start to come in. There you are questioning your every decision and wondering if you're doing the right thing, when out of the blue the big man upstairs sends you a sign (at least that's how I see it, skeptics would call it coincidence).

As I have stated we have the former but are still working on the latter, which again is causing us to doubt ourselves. Whatever the case we decided to put the plan in motion by working out the details necessary for transporting our stuff. We contacted a friend of a friend who is also moving to the same town about sharing a lift to transport some of the stuff we want to take with us, to which they agreed, though we had never met them. Now we knew how to get our stuff there but still had no plan of how to get ourselves there - enter: more insecurity in our decision. Not knowing what to do we tried to turn to several people for help but one by one we were refused . At this point we just started getting worried that maybe all that we have planned and talked about was for nothing. So there we were disheartened and insecure with ourselves and our decisions. However we decided that no matter what, we were going to do what we felt was right.

Cut to today : My mornings always start the same way, take my son and his friend to playgroup then get to work, same thing day in and day out. This morning, taking the kids as usual, my sons friend started telling me all about how her mother went on a trip out of town for a few days (of which I had already been informed), while walking to the bus stop to catch the bus that takes us to the playgroup someone called out my name. I turned around and saw someone I didn't know, so I asked him who he was and how he knew me. Turns out that he was my friends friend whom we had made plans to share a lift with, he had over heard what (he thought was) my daughter had said and assumed that it was me. Sign number one.      
 A few hours later my wife called to let me know that one of the people we turned to had called to let us know that they can help after all. Sign number two.
 We now have everything we need to make this move possible.

People can look at this story and read into it however they want some will just call it coincidence, others (like myself) will see providence, a guiding hand that is really running the show. I know that I can say that the lesson I've learned from this experience is - Life is never easy and G-D wants you to know that, however if you persevere and fight for what you feel is the right decision, the right move, He will help you to get to where you want to go, just don't despair there is always a light at the end of the tunnel.
   
   

Daddy When Will You Make Me A Man?

Sometimes I ask myself, after a long day of seeming monotony what can be gleaned if we truly looked back at the days events? What can we learn from even the smallest encounter the most fleeting of sentences?

Today was just one of those aforementioned days in which everything was routine. My son found an old bag of lanyard (boondoggle, for those who also find that name hilarious) men I had made while still in high school, when he asked me what they were I showed him that they were little figurines made out of a special plastic string and promised to make him one of his own. All day he repeatedly asked me "daddy when will you make me a man?" , to which I replied that I'm working on it (I really was), and so it went for most of the day.

Looking back at today's events nothing sticks out, but when i think back to this seemingly simple back and forth between myself and my son I realize that this was just a condensed version of what my job as a father really is. "Daddy when will you make me a man?", really that is our greatest task as fathers, to raise our children to be men, who will do the right thing whatever the situation may be. What I need to figure out now is did my reply have any relevance to the broader meaning of this interaction or was it just something I said in the literal sense of what we were talking about? To this I have no answer, though I hope I did, and if not, well now that I have raised my own awareness to the deeper level of today's events I will surely try that much harder.