INSPIRATIONAL PAGE

Greetings, the universe we live in is often an unpredictable and chaotic place, and the human tendency is to focus on the negative and assume the positive will care for itself. But life can be no more or no less than what you make of it. Not too many years ago, I heard my Grandma say, “There is no secret recipe for happiness and contentment. Individuals who move through life blissfully have not necessarily been blessed with lives of abundance, love, success, and prosperity. Such people have, however, been blessed with the ability to take the circumstances they’ve been handed and make them into something great.” Pondering over this I realized, our individual realities are colored by perception—delight and despair come from within rather than without. This is because situations we regard as fortuitous please us while situations we judge inauspicious cause us no end of grief. In fact, if we can look at the few things we have accomplished this year of 2009 without dwelling on our perceived misfortune; it is obvious we will agree we faced each life situation with determination, perseverance and fortitude thus making our world such a brighter place. As my Grandma would say, “A simple shift in attitude can help us recognize and unearth the hidden potential for personal and outer world fulfillment in every event, every relationship, every duty, and every setback.”

Too Lazy
too lazy to be ambitious I let the world take care of itself a days' worth of rice in my bag
is enough a bag of pepper by the fireplace
some fish and oil in the pan
is all I need
why chatter about delusion and enlightenment
walk for miles through the village to school
all these sank into my being
night and day I sat in the rocking chair
listening to the night rain on the roof
I sat comfortably
with both legs stretched out
world take care of itself
I never graduated
all I have now
is my broken rocking chair
seeing my friends flying in airplanes
like drifting clouds over the rooftop
that used to sing to me in the rain
when I was too lazy
to chatter about delusion
and enlightenment

MERRY CHRISTMAS

(Checkout the webpage http://padmorepoems.com/default.aspx . Friday Inspirations, though free, will by January 31, 2010, be moved to this new webpage as a newsletter to which you have to subscribe (at no cost) before you can receive it. It will no longer come to the CEANA and other Ewe fora. You can subscribe to Friday Inspiration by sending email to fridayinspirations-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Thank you)

Warm regards,
Padmore E. Agbemabiese Ph.D.
Email; padmorea@yahoo.com