Tic-tac-tic-tac

Hours, minutes, seconds... and soon we will be back at the begining. How many of us will be begging and say: 'Could we start again, please'? How many words, thoughts, actions we'd like to erase from our memory, from our heart and soul? 

Today, I'm giving you a big paintbrush, a white paint and freedom to cover all your unvonted spots on your painting of the year 2013. You are free to be what you want to be!

Question #18:

What will you not erase or repaint for sure from the year 2013?

This is the last question of the game 'Giving thanks, giving gifts'. You still have time to answer all the questions (You can find the rules in one of  the previous posts here and all the questions in all December posts) and share your thoughts with us. The game will close on January 6th.

Special: The wisdom of sharing and giving

Today, I am delighted to share a special story with you. It is written by my dear friend Christina whom I admire and am very thankful to be friends with her. I learn so much from her life, from her giving and sharing, from her kindness. She is just an 'ordinary' person, one of us, but her small steps made big changes in some people's lives, so I support her efforts 100%.

Here is her story:

Imagine a world in which we all shared our gifts and bounty with each other rather than focusing on self preservation…  It all started with my first visit to Nepal with my husband Joe in 2003. We had a wonderful 2-weeks holiday in Nepal but after I came back to Singapore, this country and the people were constantly on my mind. I told Joe  if I ever return to Nepal for another visit, I would want to give something back to the society there.

In 2006, I went back to Nepal for second time for my first volunteer work in an orphanage home with 57 children. Firstly, I have no experience in teaching and guiding children. The moment I saw these children, my heart was crying inside when I saw their living condition, dietary as well as behaviour. The list can go on and on. I saw very worn-out mattresses with bed bugs and shared by 3 to 4 kids on a single mattress depending on their age and body size. Eating eggs is a luxury for these children. The orphanage home did not have enough funds and the kids were fed with rice and potatoes (all carbohydrate) to fill up their stomach. As soon as I returned to Singapore, I shared my experience with my friends and within the next 2 weeks I was able to raise some money and wired them to the volunteer organization to buy new mattresses and food for the children in the orphanage home.

However, I was determined to continue to help them in any way I can from miles and ocean apart. I decided to do fund-raising for them.  My friends donated monies to the fund for the Nepalese children at anytime of the year. It doesn’t have to be on Christmas, Chinese New Year, etc.  Once the fund has reached to approximately 400 Euro, I would wire the money to the volunteer organization that I trust to buy food for the children on monthly basis.  It may not be a lot of money but at least we are able to subsidize and provide their daily needs so that the children won’t have to starve.

I had been to Nepal a couple of times since then. During my recent trip to Nepal (from 3 November to 28 November 2013), Joe and I volunteered at 4 different orphanage homes (including the one I have been helping since 2007). Joe and I truly enjoyed every moment we spent with the children. Besides using the monies we raised to buy food, school bags, mattresses, school socks and furniture for the children in the orphanage home, what the children truly need apart from these basic needs is LOVE.  The smile on the children face is worth more than a thousand words!

Joe enjoyed cooking for them while I loved spending my time teaching them some craft work, dancing, chatting and doing kids yoga. These children do not have Barbie dolls, Lego toys or simply any toys to play with but we would use stones to play “five stones” and some fingers games.  It made me realized how fortunate we are where we live and come from but these children and poor Nepalese are suffering from poverty yet they are happy in some way.

Imagine if you choose not to buy a tall café latte or chai latte from Starbucks once a week, this amount of money can be used to purchase a tray of 30 eggs or 2.5kg worth of carrots in Nepal to provide a side dish for 17 children.

There is a quote by Dalai Lama which I’d like to share with you. “Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive”.  I hope everyone will continue to share and give in any way they can to needy people. For those who are keen to donate for this cause to help the underprivileged Nepalese children, please contact Jožica for my email address. 

May all the sweet magic of Christmas conspire to gladden your heart and fill every desire!

Question #13:

What sharing and giving (small steps or big) did you do or would you like to do if you had all the possibilities?

PS: The question is part of the game 'Giving thanks, giving gifts'. Join us! (You can find the rules in one of  the previous posts here and all the questions in all December posts). Rejoyce with us and have fun!

Thougthful present

When I want to give something inspiring to a person who is something special, I choose a book: 'The man who planted trees'. I'm happy that I can share this story with you (my dear followers of my blog) today in animated form.   

It is inspiring... I believe in the power of one, I believe in the power of Nature, I believe in good intentions and I believe in our mission that we bring with us onto this World. No 'war' and no peace should stop you, no glory and no misery...; follow your mission, listen to your-Self!

Thank you for all your sweet words that you've 'planted' on this blog. Wishing you an inspiring and wonderful summer! 

Upgrading

You can find heartful love everywhere if your heart is wide open... 

I'm finally back! Have you missed meeeeee?? I missed you a lot! I hope you're doing fine, and that you are good and creative.

After a long, curved road I managed to come back to this virtual world, was able to change this website so that it will shrink into your smart-phone's screen when needed (among other things you will also read it in Slovene or English language), plus I decided to take new challanges in my life.
For a start, I would like to ask you to set your selected reader to your taste (I believe, all the subscribers have got the Eng. version of the blog's rss into your reader as before, but those of you who want to read my blog in Slovene, will need to subscribe to it again - here is the rss link or just copy blog's url into your reader). PS: I read your news via Feedly.
You will also invited to 'try' my virtual 'cookies', so that I won't bother you with them all the time, and please, be patient with my website - it is still work in progress.

Thank you for not giving up on me... Finally we will 'see' each other here again more often. Thank you for stopping by!

New beginnings

When thinking of a new beginning, my favorite country Austria comes to my mind. It is where I learn the most about Life...:

When climbing, do it slowly and always take a challenge.

When playing, use your imagination and have fun (with friends, if possible)!

When walking, always stop for the beautiful views and never forget that there can be snow in the summer too.

When in need to wash your soul, become calm as water on a lake.

When you get tired, rest, take a deep breath and let the nature heal you.

When you need a break, just do it (your way)!

When you need inspiration, look around and notice all the details.

When looking for a place to live, find a key where you feel at home and welcomed.

When grey days put you down, bring some colors in your life!

When you need some wisdom, travel into the ancient history.

And when you don't know where to begin, just open your eyes and jump!

Happy new beginnings, everybody!

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All the images above are from my summer trip to Austria last year. You will find more images (from Austria - Vienna) on my FB Page, plus you can see more if you check my posts from previous years: Trust, Climbing, Times, Wheels, Plans, and more!