Maybe you don't have a soul mate, but love can still bloom

Is there such a thing as a perfect match? A soul mate, a match made in heaven? You tell me.

I guess some are more fortunate and do find someone with a lot in common, but a soul mate? It is really about learning to live with each other's faults. If we can do this, then possibly we have the grounds for a lasting relationship.

"Life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone"! So goes an old song by John Cougar. We remain with bills to pay, a house to repair and children to send to university. How then do we maintain the spark in our relationship?

Appreciation is the one thing we all need more of and don't get enough of.

Preparing for work in the morning and coming home from work in the evening are especially challenging periods. Appreciation is needed during these times.

You may fight in the morning, but please make love in the night. You should never go to bed with ill feelings towards the one you love.

Communication is the key; understanding is what is needed.

Always remember when you relate to your partner, children are observing. What example are you setting for them?

When you care for each other, your children grow up caring for others; when you care for each other, your neighbours are happier and when you care for each other, you start a fountain of beauty that will melt even the coldest of hearts.

Allow that fountain to start flowing today.

© Copyright Rajendra Dubay, 2009 - All rights reserved

The values of experience

Can you learn about something even though you haven't gone through it?

Someone could have told you about it, you could have read about it or might have seen a movie about it. Or is experience the greatest teacher?

When you experience victory in your life, you know what it is to win and you can get into the habit of wining. This is good; it reinforces many positives, but how much do you learn from winning?

Have you ever heard of a very special learning centre, a very special university called the university of "Hard Knocks"? I feel it is only when you pass through this institution that you really learn the lessons of life.

It is only when you "suffer", and feel an other's pain, that you can understand suffering. When you go through "suffering", you become more empathic and caring, because it makes you become better and not bitter.

It is only when you fall, you become aware of what it takes to rise again.

What does it take? Caring, consideration, helping others and beginning to live life one day at a time.

Sometimes we learn more in failure than success; we can learn more from pain than happiness. Suffering can be your greatest teacher, provided you are prepared to learn and to become better and not bitter.

For many people, it is easy to turn away from the world and to even curse it when they have experienced pain or failure. To do this would be to fail at life itself.

Please understand this: there is nothing wrong in failure, there is nothing wrong in having experienced pain and suffering and there is nothing wrong in having gone through disappointment.

These can be our greatest teachers provided we are willing to learn from them. This is the most important class we have to attend. When we graduate from this university we will never be the same again.

We would have become instruments of change and we would have developed the potential to become a positive force in the lives of those who need it the most.

© Copyright Rajendra Dubay, 2009 - All rights reserved

Please forgive!

Have you ever been hurt?

We have all been hurt at sometime or another, but we have also hurt others. Should we forgive? Is it the right thing to do?

It is said that when we forgive, we are forgiven at the same time. Do you believe this?

Forgiving is important. With it comes an immediate release of energy and the ability to move on with our lives. We should also forgive wholeheartedly and unconditionally, since this is the only type of forgiveness there can really be.

When you forgive, you choose to become better instead of bitter.

When you forgive, you choose to move on instead of being held back.

When you forgive, you choose to heal instead of keeping on hurting.

Always remember that you are also seeking forgiveness for the wrongs that you have done. Maybe if we forgive, then others will find it easier to forgive us.

Life is too short, mistakes are endless and true friendship is too important, please forgive!

A child should forgive his or her parents because even they may have made mistakes, they would always have had the best of intentions.

Parents should forgive their children because they may have been misguided and hasty to come to conclusions.

Ultimately we all seek forgiveness from one source - GOD. In order for God to forgive us we need to begin forgiving others today. Please forgive!

© Copyright Rajendra Dubay, 2009 - All rights reserved

I am a bird

My days are long and tiring, but what an experience; when I wake on mornings, life is full of wonderful things.

Listening to the birds sing and make their way from branch to branch on trees that are lush and green. Hearing their sounds,you might just want to sit by the window a bit longer.

In all their colours they parade, the grass filled with overnight dew, it seems like looking at heaven. The wind is still and their is a feeling of peace and serenity.

Then the sun comes out in all it's glory, and suddenly you hear a woodpecker pecking on a tall,
green coconut tree. He is so high above and full of life, just enjoying being a bird, looking down on other birds.

Then there's a roadrunner all covered in grey that stops by a water hole to take a drink.

I am a bird with colours I can't describe. I am beautiful. I love to fly. I love being free. I sing to my heart's delight and it echoes through the woods. I can't find a better place than this wonderful world God has given to me.

Article written by Kamini Dubay | Preschool teacher.
Write to Kamini:
Pandit Parasram Drive, Mc Bean Village, Couva, Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. Or e-mail her at kaminidubay@hotmail.com. or call her at 1-868-707-3453.

Nothing is free

Do you believe that you can get something for nothing? For everything that you do or don't do, there is a price.

Is the price of laziness poverty? Is the price of going the extra mile excellence? Is the price of crime prison? Is the price of honesty good character? What price are you paying today? What sacrifices are you making today?

If you decide not to go to work today, you will have to pay a price. If you arrive late for work today, you will pay the price. If you spend an extra 15 minutes on that report you are working on, you will pay the price. When you volunteer your time towards a charitable cause, you pay the price.

What price are you paying today?

You always have a choice; to indulge or to sacrifice, to yield or to resist, to settle for mediocrity or to strive for excellence.

I urge you today to make the right choice for yourself and those closest to you. Always remember, when you choose to do something, your choice affects others as well.

It is simplest to take the easy way out, harder to walk the path less travelled. When you have to choose, ask yourself these questions:

1. Do I have all the facts
2. Have I looked at all sides
3. How will my decision affect others immediately
4. What are the likely long term consequences of my choice
5. What example will I set for others

It is said that sleep comes easily to those with a clear conscience. Is your conscience clear today? Are you working towards a clear conscience?

Your actions leave examples for your children to follow. Their actions will leave examples for their children to follow.

Are you setting the right examples today?

Escape from the slums

Do you always back the favourite, or do you sometimes place a bet on the underdog? In life, who are the underdogs, what do they represent?

Underdogs, some say slumdogs, can be found in the slums and ghettos of the world. They have nothing and seemingly nowhere to go. How then are they expected to reach the same level as anybody else?

Some turn to drugs, some prostitution and some resolve to come out of that situation no matter what. It takes deep faith and belief in something bigger than any of us to come out and rise from that situation. But once you hold a vision of hope and better days in your mind and revisit that vision everyday, you have a chance to come out.

Prayer is very important, developing a sense of community among all of us is very important and personally helping at least one other person to come of of the "hole" is very important.

If only those among us who are better off would "lend a hand"to make the ghettos of the world better, what a difference that would make! Instead most of us only complain and blame a people who in the first place had no chance at all.

When someone rises to success from the slums, this is very special; it is a tribute to the person's will and determination, possibly a mentor, and a "never say die" attitude.

Whenever this happens, the rest of world should take notice, because it is done against the odds and with no help from them.

All hail the underdog, she or he has risen!

Begin your journey to freedom

What is freedom? What does it represent? Is it different things to different people? Is anyone ever really,truly free?

You may not be behind bars, but you still may not be free. You may be trapped by illness - ;physical or mental - or you may be trapped by financial limitations.

Your mind might be trapped in prejudice.

Some might say that our physical body carries with it certain limitations and true liberation is only obtained at death. You may have financial freedom, you may be free to practice the religion of your choice and you may be free to vote for the political party of your choice, but are you really, ever truly free.

True freedom can only exist when the mind is free, at peace and when we see all people and all things as equal. True freedom can only exist in the absence of prejudice.

A mind and a spirit that is truly free has loving thoughts for all and exists in harmony with its surroundings.

To work towards true freedom, practice these principles:

• see all as equal
• treat all the same
• appreciate nature's natural beauty
• live life one day at a time
• be tolerant of the mistakes of others
• spend quiet time each day with yourself

Does a bird try to fly? Does grass try to grow? Does the sun try to rise?

When you find the answers to these, you may have started your journey towards freedom.