Centered? WHICH One?

A  L  O  H  A ! 

Your Ship is Coming In

"Baby can't be blessed,

till she finds out

that she's like

all the rest- "

Bob Dylan

 

We wore headbands - they sport knitted hats-

"And in the end,
the love you take
is equal
to the love
you make."

 The Beatles  

 Mist in Manoa Valley

Half the joy of life

 is in little things

 taken on the run...

but let us keep our hearts young 

and our eyes open
that nothing worth our while 

shall escape us. "

Victor Cherbuliez

Waikiki Sun

" Only divine love

 bestows the keys 

of knowledge.

Arthur Rimbaud

Not everyone notices

" Your Enlightenment

 rests on

 your own Shoulders"

 Dalai Lama

The Daily Work Continues


  "Thus the superior person

 encourages people to approach  

 by readiness to receive 

them."

I Ching

   "If I had another 50 years 

added to my life I 

would spend it studying the 

I Ching 

so that at last I might 

be made free 

from error." 

Confucius

<<=>>

Once I worked

at a non-profit

Do - Good

kind of place.

There was a lot of 

talk

about being

'Client Centered.'

Funders,

and of course

clients,

liked hearing it.

But I noticed

that the word

'client'

when used among

staff

was a judgement.

"You're acting

JUST like a

client!"

That was a put-down.

I wanted to help

the clients,

I regarded them

as survivors of lives

that my fellow staff

would not, could not,

have overcome.

 I identified with

the clients.

But client centered?

I wasn't there yet. 

I was still

blessing them.

I wasn't

a client.

We are all

self-centered

to a certain degree.

Call it the 

Survival Instinct.

Even martyrs

(in daily life - not holy books)

are all about 

"ME."

Look how much stronger

MY suffering is

than others' !

Appreciate that others

suffer too-

it's not all about 

you,

martyr!

I wanted to help others.

But it was self-centered

because it helped me

feel worthwhile.

And I needed that

feeling.

And they were

paying me.

This morning on my walk,

an older guy in a motorized

cart stopped

and spoke with me

about the photograph

I was taking.

I gave him my attention.

I took my time.

A few steps later,

I realized that

I hadn't taken time,

or showed Aloha-

HE had first!

I no longer need

to be the one helping,

to make others

my clients.

He had blessed me.

We bless each other.

We each deserve it.

We each need it.

Hello,

my name is Cloudia,

I'm a recovering

superior do-gooder.

Thanks for doing me good.

YOUR visits & Comments

feed my soul.

                             Warmly, cloudia