Enslaved by my laptop!

I have not posted anything on this blog for some days now. It is not that I had nothing to share with you, but that my laptop decided to act up as they always do. All of a sudden my laptop refused to recognize my password, the same password I have been using all the time. But do you know the funny part of this all, my desk top had no problem recognizing my password, it was just the laptop. Do you wonder what we ever did without the cell phone, the laptop, without the iphone, the ipad, you name it. How did we do it? We survived, that much I can tell you, but how, I wouldn't know. Life seemed to have taken care of itself. But look at us now!

If we go to Church, it seems as if we wouldn't be able to make it through one hour that Mass will last without our cellphone. We even forget; or do we really forget to turn the phone off while in Church? Our phone has become second nature to us. Just check this out: you go to the airport or train station or school or hospital, everyone is on the phone, either talking, or reading email, or surfing the net or sending a text or just looking at it. It doesn't really matter what they do, but they are on it. Sometimes I think it is an indirect way to avoid human contact. No wonder why we have become an isolated and lonely society. We are more comfortable being on the phone or doing something on our computer than to have  a human contact or have a deep heart to heart talk with a human being. We have become pathetic, apathetic and cynical. That is why we become so frustrated and sad when we are imprisoned or enslaved by these digital devices. Who can rescue us from machines? 

I remember when I was young, how we used to enjoy moon-light play; when my father used to tell us folk tales; when we used to gather as a family for a meal and all those 'ancient things'. I bet you most of us would have no idea what I am talking about. All these have been replaced by TV and computer or cell phone. Oh God, I feel so old! Don't you think so? Well you can now imagine how I felt these few days, when I couldn't reach out to you because I was arrested and arraigned by the court of computer and digital device of our time. 

I was, therefore, surprised this morning when I turned on my laptop and it asked for my email and password and the laptop recognized them. And here I am writing to you. If you ever read this now you know how badly I wanted to get back to communicating with you. Think about your experiences and see if you have ever been imprisoned or enslaved by your digital devices. If you have, may be you handled it better than I did. Let us get back to the basics and see how we can rescue ourselves from what we have used our money to buy. It was to make life easy for us and not to make it difficult and unimaginable. Have a great day and a wonderful memorial weekend to you and yours!

In God's name!

I am still wondering why so many atrocities are committed in God's name. I wonder why some pastors and men of the cloth use God's name for their selfish ends. Ever wonder how God feels about this? I heard a pastor once said that when he started preaching he was using a small car. He prayed to God for a bigger one, now he is driving the car of his dream - BMW while his wife is driving a Mercedes-Benz car. I wonder where he got the money from. How do his parishioners feel about his God making him rich while those who contributed to making this happen, just because he prayed to his, God remain poor.

People have used the name of God to kill and maim, they have used his name for murder and all other atrocities that I may not be able to name here. What is the lesson here? I guess, if we want to use the name of God properly, we have to look at the person of Jesus who is the revelation of God. Christ lived a humble, ordinary and peaceful life. He preached forgiveness and love. He did not deem equality with God though he is God's Son. He depended on God his father for everything and taught us to do the same. He addressed God as Abba, Father. He showed how merciful and simple our God is in the parable of the prodigal son. God is the one who stands and waits for us, his wayward children, to come back to him. Once we go to him, he embraces us and restores us again to wholeness.

If we want to do things in God's ways then we have to  live in God's ways. We have to love in his ways and we have to seek to know him in his ways. And who is the best teacher in all these than Christ himself, who said that, he is the way, the truth and the life? If we are to go to God, then we must pass through the way which is Christ our Lord and brother.

Success comes in cans

The common slogan used by the Obama presidential campaign was “Yes we can.” This has become a household slogan in the country and beyond. If you do not say yes I am, no one will say yes thou art. One of the problems that plagues our young ones these days is lack of believe in themselves. Most people do not believe that they could try things out just because they consider those things to be tough and difficult. They may think they do not have what it takes to help them accomplish it. Just imagine that our president had thought that he could not be the president of this country just because he is black, do you think he would have run for the highest office in the land? I doubt it!

The simple lesson of life is that if the fish does not open its mouth it would not swallow bait and so would not be caught. But then the fish will die of starvation. Life is a risk. If a politician does not contest for a political office, s(he) may not win but in order to win, s(he) will have to run the race. Success begins with faith in ourselves even when we do not know how to accomplish our set goals. But those goals will have to be set regardless. After setting the goals, we have to begin the process of achieving them. From our belief comes the motivation to actualize it. Pope John Paul ll put it well when he observed: “What we do must always be in tune with what we believe.” Success comes in cans. Put yourself out there and begin to do new things even if you are embarrassed in the process. Most successful people started that way.

I remember going out with some kids once for skating. I was very scared of even trying the skating shoes. One of the kids, about seven years of age, came to me and urged me to give it a try. I told her that I was afraid of falling and that I was not as young as she was. She laughed at me and then said, look around you, have you not seen that everyone falls while learning how to skate? If you do not fall, how would you learn? That was a lesson of life taught by a seven year old. So go out there and learn to do something new. Do not be afraid of people laughing at you, in fact I would advice that you start laughing at yourself first. Fall down if you may. Remember your strength is not in falling but in standing up each time you fall. Learn new languages and learn new tricks. Believe in yourself and trust you instinct. Repeat the slogan many times, ‘Yes I can.” If you do not say it of yourself no one will say it of you. Enjoy life for that is why God created you and be kind to everyone. Give a helping hand to those who are struggling with you. Do not be happy to get to the top alone; look for someone and make sure that you help that person get on top with you, for the top can be a very lonely place. Take care of you and know that I believe in you.

When will this silly prediction stop?

Since I was young I have always heard about predictions upon predictions about the end of the world. I started being conscious of this prediction in 1977 then there was another one in 1999. The climax was the year 2000 when the whole world went agog in anticipation of what was to menace it. Was it the end of the world? Or the millennium bug that was to destroy all the computers and paralyze every digital device? I have no problem with these predictions and those who make them, however, I do have a problem with those who follow and believe these bogus and silly predictions. I feel bad for them because, unless someone is tired of this beautiful world, why should someone allow a man or woman to brainwash them to kill themselves for the sake of the end of the world? I really wonder why people should make these predictions. Is it because these prophets of doom are afraid to live that they want to die, or they want to kill themselves that they decided to take everyone with them?

Those who followed current trend of things these few days would have seen and heard that the world was to have ended on May 21, 2011. This was the prediction of Herald Camping, a Californian preacher radio talk show host. When Rev. Camping’s prediction did not come true, he, of course changed his prediction date to October 22, 2011. He was audacious enough to say that the 21^st date was an invisible judgment day. Oh yes, this was a judgment day for Rev. Camping. This was to remind him that he should not tread where angles are afraid to walk. How dare him to claim to know when the world will end when Christ, the second person of the Blessed Trinity, the Son of God most high warns us against even imagining that we could know of the time and the date. Let us listen and learn from the master. In Matthew 24:23-27, 36 Christ says this: If anyone says to then, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is! Do not believe it. False messiahs and false prophets will arise, and they will perform signs and wonders so great as to deceive, if that were possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told it to you beforehand. So if they say to you, ‘He is in the desert,’ do not go out there; if they say, ‘He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it…. “But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”” Now, here is the big problem, why all the predictions? Is it that they never read portions in the bible like this or other words of Jesus quoted above? What is the meaning of the rapture envisaged and prophesied by Camping? Is it that there is no just person in the world for Christ to take up into heaven? Or could it be that God has changed his mind and decided to give us a second chance to get us really prepared for, according Rev. Camping October 22 when the real rapture will take place?

Really I don’t care when the world will end; that dose not bother me. What bothers me is how I am able to live my life and the impact that it has on others. Paul our brother tells us that “None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live of die, we are the Lord’s” (Rom. 14:7). After all we told by the book Wisdom, “But the just man, though he die early, shall be at rest. For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time, nor can it be measured in terms of years. Rather, understanding in the hoary crown for men, and an unsullied life, the attainment of old age” (4:7-9). So what does it really matter when the world will end so long as I am living an upright life that has impact on the life of my brothers and sisters? So please may I have some peace and let us not disturb ourselves about the end of the world. One thing I do know is that the world will end when it will end. It dose not matter what I think about it or how much I want or do not want the world to end. That is in God’s domain and let us leave it right there where it belongs.

One more note on this issue: I kind of believe with Rev. Camping, the world ended for some people on May 21, 2011. Many people died on that day. For them, the world ended. The world has been ending for some people every day. I know this as well as Rev. Camping that one day soon, the world will end for him. Please let him not presume that it will end the same day for all of us. A word is enough for the wise, they say!   

Burnout

Have you been working so hard that you seem to hate your job? Have you been at the same job for so long that your job does not posse any more challenges to you? Have you felt apathetic at your job to the extent that the joy and excitement you used to get hitherto, seem to have flown out of the window and you are left unfulfilled and dried up? Have you encountered so much trouble and stress concentrating to execute simple tasks or writing simple reports that it all seem like pulling a bad tooth? Is your job so boring that you just do not want to be bothered? Do you lack motivation of late? Are you always complaining and nagging about anything and everything; concerning anybody and everybody? Are you short-tempered, feeling tired and having headache all the time? Do these observations seem familiar to you? My friend, you are exhibiting signs and symptoms of burnout! It is time to stop, think and take action.

Though burnout may seem to be a common problem among doctors, social workers, nurses, counselors, therapists, priests and teachers, etc. this really is a common sickness or disease plaguing every working person in our society who does not take care of self. Those working in helping relationship fields cannot afford not to take care of themselves. They are, what Henri Nouwen called, ‘wounded Healers.’ They must be prepared to heal their own wounds first if they are in any way to contribute to the welfare of others. People in these categories, according to Richard D Parsons, in his book, The Skills of Helping, “often experience emotional stress and even depression as a direct result of their involvement, or perhaps more accurately stated, over-involvement with their client, and client’s problems.” It is a point worth noting that helping people can be very tasking and indeed “extremely hazardous to your physical and mental health.”

According to a study carried out in 1980, Burnout can be described “as an experience marked by the progressive loss of idealism, energy, and purpose. It is an ongoing process of depletion of energy, increased fatigue, and a general debilitation of one’s functioning.” Burnout may be caused by a number of factors and working conditions, which will elevate our stress level. At times we may feel overworked and unappreciated, isolated or we may lack focus and objective in our work. We may lack the support that we need to the point that we feel we are all alone. We may have forgotten self-care, like our annual physical health examination, or eating balanced diet, we may not be sleeping well, or we may not be exercising, or take some time out to pray, to think and to reflect. We may not take a day off or go on vacation or we may not simply do the things that give us joy. We may be too busy worrying about life until life passes us by. We may even spend our time trying to please everyone and displeasing ourselves in the process. We may be taking ourselves too seriously or taking more than our fair share of the normal workload because we do not want anyone to blame us. It could also be that we are overpersonalizing everything and take every negative comment personally. These and many other reasons may be the cause of our burnout.

So what is the remedy? It is simple. If you feel that you are not a generous person, all you need do is start being generous. In the same way, if you examine yourself based on the questions raised at the beginning of this posting, then read down to what some of the causes may be, then begin by picking one thing at a time and do something about it. First of all learn to take some time out to think, to pray, to reflect and to examine your life. Remember, unexamined life is not worth living. Meditation and prayer can work miracles in your life. Learn to take a walk and admire the flowers around you and begin to enjoy the melodious tunes of the birds. Do not forget to read a good book every now and then. Go for a movie and relax your brain. Do not forget, a good laughter is a powerful remedy for the soul.

Please take a good care of yourself. It is important for you to eat properly, rest, and exercise. Be sure to stay healthy. Keep in mind that an unhealthy worker is of no use to the company. Learn to manage you time well and do not be overburdened by trivial things. They only drain your energy and spirit. Avoid hateful and annoying people; they are vexation to the soul. Always seek counsel from your peers. No one has any monopoly of knowledge.

Plan vacation into your schedule and, please make sure you leave you job behind when you pack your bag. Many people pack their job into their vacation bag and feel worse after vacation. Enjoy the company of good friends. A good bottle of beer or wine will only gladden your heart. Find perspective in your life and burnout will never come any way near you. Take care and be happy!

Too busy to write

I have many friends visiting at the moment so I do not have much time to think and reflect. I actually wanted to write on burnout. I know many of us exhibit symptoms of burnout. I want to take my time to do a proper reflection on this very interesting topic. So keep a date with lifeslessons.

Just do it!

Sometimes we feel like doing something good for someone. When that feeling comes up just do it. It is good to do a good thing for someone once in a while.  My dad told me a story once about what it may cost me if I want to do something good. A friend gave him a bag of rice to drop off for their mutual friend. It was raining but my dad was determined to get the rice to the owner. As he was ridding on his bike to the friend’s house, a vehicle that was approaching drove into a pothole full of dirty rain- water splashing dirty water on his clothes leaving him all wet and dirty. My dad then said that it seemed that each time he did something good for someone he always got something bad in return. But he was quick to warn that the seeming bad reward should not deter me from doing good. Words of wisdom, you would say, and that would be right! Yes, it is good to do something good even when it is done badly at times.

So what is your experience? What lesson has life taught you about helping others? Do you sometimes regret helping people? Does it seem to you that people sometimes take undue advantage of you? It may seem so to you but are you not doing it for a higher purpose and eternal reward? Do you find yourself explaining away why you should not do something good for someone instead of just doing it? Do you ever find yourself arguing with yourself whether you should give alms to a beggar instead of just helping out? Yes, we do that all the time, don’t we? We tend to rationalize on almost everything instead of finding reasons to help.

During tragedies we see people bonding and getting together to do whatever they could for those hurting. Why is this so? We should not only do what is right when there is a tragedy or when someone dies. This is what we should be doing all the time. We should be our brother’s or our sister’s keeper. Doing something good is what we should be about all the time.

So I will give you my one simple commandment. Keep this and you will find some joy that cannot be explained. Here it comes: Never pass a beggar by without giving a helping hand except when you have nothing to give. It is always better to give than to receive. But the problem is that we are all too eager to receive than to give. Why not try something new for a change?