Change we can achieve

The most urgent need is for all of us to look inside ourselves and decide if our core BELIEFS and PERCEPTIONS, and the behaviour they spawn, allow us to live up to our deeply felt passionate values and aspirations.

If we can become motivated to engage in this type of deep-rooted appraisal and allow ourselves to be helped to progress through the normal stages of change all the way to actions needed, the inevitably economic prosperity and social well-being will follow. It is my hope that we can achieve this goal collectively.

Thanks God it's Friday?!

I don't quite get this "Thanks God it's Friday" stuff. OK, I thank and praise my God every single day of my life, but why on Fridays in particular?

I'm not dumber than most, and I understand it's because it marks the end of the working week for most employed workers. What I don't get is this: do they really all hate their jobs so much that they seem to be living for the weekends only? Are we expected, socially, to hate our jobs?

Now, this is one of the things that have to change in our current mindset if we want to succeed. One is bound to hate one's work if it is only a means to an end, and if this end is the monthly paycheck. I'll never say it enough: money can NOT be made the altar at which we worship, the ultimate aim of our whole lives.

Let's get back to the basics once again: if we believe we can achieve anything we set our minds to; if we have a clear idea of where we want to go and of the path we are to take (and the milestones along it, in the form of intermediary objectives) to reach there; and if we are prepared to pause and take stock of the achievements, obstacles, and errors to make them stepping stones to reach farther, there is absolutely NO reason why we should suffer through our work week to only "live" two days a week.

This is the most blatant demonstration of how wrong we are when we put money above all other considerations: we fail to identify what to study, then a career, that we can find gratifying because we'll like it, feel we are capable of doing it well, and find reward in the knowledge that we excel at what we are doing. This excellence, in turn, will be recognised by our teachers and employers and make the relationship smooth and satisfying. We'll also keep our job, and be secure financially. Isn't that what we have been aiming at all along?

Monday through Friday are days you use to display excellence in a job you enjoy and possess the necessary skills to do well. Saturday and Sunday are days when you step back, relax, meditate and ponder on how well you've been doing so far, and what steps you should be taking to make your life even more rewarding and gratifying. There is a time for all things in life, and finding this balance and rhythm is part of the overall feeling of satisfaction you want to experience.

Is money our ultimate aim?

We are in serious trouble when we let our values be erased or levelled by money considerations. Today's society seems to believe (collectively) that money is the means to, the end of, and the yardstick for all things.

Older members of the family are not listened to when they wear scuffed shoes or slippers, while younger members of our communities flaunt their newly acquired earthly goods to impress upon everybody else how virtuous (yes, virtuous), smart and wise they are.

People driving to church in airconditioned Benzes and BMWs are given the best seats and if they are known to be generous at collection time, chances are they'll be asked to become "elders" in less than a couple of years. Have you ever seen the old lady who comes in slippers to sweep the church before the cult (and has been doing so for years) being offered a seat with the elders? have you ever seen ushers respectfully carry her bible to her seat at the front of the congregation? Nevermind the poor lady of Mark 12:41-44.

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins,(worth only a fraction of a penny.)

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.

Now I'm not saying we should be poor to be virtuous. I'm saying that money should not be made the centre of our lives, as it sadly is for far too many people.

What I would like us to do is ponder about what our real aim is in life, remembering that money can NOT be it; how we can reach this aim WITHOUT sacrificing our beliefs, rather enhancing them, living them, using them as markers, beacons, and guidelines on this journey; how we can use setbacks to the full and learn from them lessons that will help us be better at what we are doing, better at being human beings, living in society, and reach harmony with our inner self and our environment.

Then money will take care of itself. When you stop being obsessed with it, you have more time and brain matter available to plan for a more all-encompassing success, which will naturally include money.

And let's always remember that we are never too poor to be able to offer a smile, a helping hand to someone in need, or an ear to listen to them. Neither are we ever too rich do to so.