Being poor doesn't mean you can't give

 “Thank you for the offer, we are grateful.”

The auntie and uncle were telling me, in a slight bow position after I offered to buy them coffee. I responded with a bow. I had learned a lesson of humility, strength and gratitude from the elderly couple, and I am grateful to them.

I was at Clementi Mall for lunch and I met this elderly couple, the uncle was selling tissues, and his wife was beside him, giving him the support. I had earlier on, promised a busking uncle who had mobility issues to buy him his drink and thought of buying the drinks for the elderly couple too. The elderly couple declined and we had a although short but good conversation, the uncle told me he had to decline my offer because he had to go for dialysis the next day and he is trying to earn a little by selling tissues near the mall, and his wife is here to support him. The auntie added on, by saying she is grateful for my offer and there is no need for it. I was touched by the conversation, by their resilience, their support for each other and their appreciation of others.

In contrast, I was reading how the lack of empathy of people who are in a better position, to attempt to understand and help others in our society. Perhaps, individuals who experience suffering, understand suffering and are in a better position to empathize with others who are suffering.\

As they say, poor people are often the most generous because they know what it is like to be poor. Perhaps, people who does not know transcend their ego can’t empathize with sufferings of others; they can’t be grateful for what they have and bring happiness to others. They doesn’t know happiness themselves, they too, are suffering and didn’t realize the way out of it.

I am grateful for the good conditions that I have, for the opportunities to meet with conditions and individuals who taught me what happiness is.

And to the elderly couple, thank you for the experience, I am grateful.

May all be well and happy

With Metta

Simple Bear 25.04.2013.

Uncondition as a Condition

"The only condition to freedom is uncondition."
Simple Bear 21.04.2013.

Patience

"Good character is not formed in a week or a month. It is created little by little, day by day. Protracted and patient effort is needed to develop good character."
Heraclitus

Breathe in

I told my mind.
I am aware of the negativity that arises in my mind due to contact with the worldly phenomena.

Breath out

I told my mind.
I am aware of the source of my frustrations and I bring forth patience in my mind, as the immediate remedy to lessen the negativity that arises and to slowly let it go.

"Khantī paramaṃ tapo titikkhā"
Dhammapada Verse 184

Breathe in, breathe out

I told my mind.
I am aware of my ignorance and I bring forth gratitude in my mind, changing the biased perspective that brought me sufferings; grateful to the people who helped me to exercise empathy, to cultivate patience and to practice loving-kindness and compassion for myself, for them and for all.

"Each moment of mindfulness and cultivation is like a drop of water, keep on practicing, one day you will be in the ocean of perfection."
Simple Bear 17.04.2013.

May all be well and happy always.

With Metta
Simple Bear

想, 现在

有时, 我们想太多, 想起曾经, 想到未来, 却不曾想到现在, 随遇而不安, 自寻烦恼。

放下吧! 把曾经放下, 把未来放下, 把自己放下。 随遇而安, 随喜而乐。把心从世俗的枷锁给放了吧!

我们只活一次。

下辈子, 我们不是我们, 而是他人。

让我们平凡, 快乐的活一次吧。

Note-able

“We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore
the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big
differences that we often cannot foresee.”

Marian Wright Edelman

It was, perhaps, a timely reminder.

I was having a chat with a busker whom I frequently met on the way to the train station from my workplace on weekday evenings after work.  He seems unusually happy that day, and further into our little chat, he revealed the source of his happiness, he had met an unusual girl recently and showed me a note, written by her on a post-it paper, carefully folded and kept in his wallet.

It was a note of appreciation for his music, from a random stranger. The note was filled with appreciation for his music in making her day seems happier and encouragement for his future. It was heartwarming. I left the busker with his note, with a pat on his shoulder, telling him to continue living his dream of being a musician.

I felt strangely happy and touched by the kind appreciation gesture of the young girl who wrote the note. I was, in a sense, sharing in his happiness. I am grateful to the busker for sharing his happiness with me and the random stranger who wrote the note.

Perhaps, a lot of us are focusing on how we can make a big difference in others and our lives that we be neglect the little things that really matters. Perhaps, what is more valuable to others is hope, encouragement and faith in humanity which I think all of us can contribute to, with a smile and a kind gesture anytime, anywhere when the conditions are right.

Let us all make this world a better place by being a better us the next moment on.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love”

Mother Teresa

May all be loved by all and have the love for all

With Metta

Simple Bear 22.03.2013.

Living, Being

"Be passionate about living; be dispassionate about being."
Simple Bear 20.03.2013.

Happiness in Time

"Happiness lies in every moment in time."
Simple Bear 20.03.2013.