All You Need Is....

Gosh.... I wish someone would just whisk me away to the North pole this Christmas.

Work has been such a drag these days. What I usually get done in an hour is taking days. What I'm supposed to get done in days is taking forever. Maybe it's because of the Christmas season. Whatever it is, I'm definitely not in the mood to do anything productive at work.

A lot of has been on my mind of late (as always)... about love, about money, about the future.. about life. A quick look at my last 5 post usually tells me the general state of mind I'm in at a particular time.

One thing I'm starting to take note of is this - people tend to open up to me.

Initially, I thought it was just a fluke. Everyone needs someone to talk to.. it's naturally for them to talk to the closest person willing to listen And it just so happens that I'm there. No biggie right? But then after a while, I started counting and it was like "Gee...is this just the way things are or am am I starting to look too much like Dr. Phil?"

For example, I think a year back, someone sent me an email telling me about the loss of her boyfriend in a war, and asked for advise. Not too long ago, some guy sent me another email, talking to me about his relationship problems and about how women just don't seem to like him. He asked me what he can do about it. And mind you, I don't even know these people. A colleague suddenly started rattling away about how frustrated she was with her husband and how she seemed to have lost her social circle and life. There are other, but these are just some examples.

I enjoy listening to people and trying to help out. This whole thing of emotional truths, deep seated feelings, fears and frustrations..... I connect with it. To me, it feels a lot like a gateway to a person's soul. When they share something with me, I feel I am that much closer, that much deeper in into the persons mind and heart.

And unsurprisingly, here’s the common theme - love. As cheesy as that sounds, love is the biggest source of people’s joy and heartache. Everyone wants to feel love and needed, everyone's trying their best to love, and nobody's finding it easy. A lot of people talk about wanting to find meaning and happiness in their life without really realizing that meaning and happiness are ultimately the product of love - both in the giving and receiving of it. It's not just the couples and romantic kind of love... but just love in general.

I realize that a lot of the happiest and most contented people I know are often the people who have love in their life. You know it by the way they talk and act. They are often patient, giving, self sacrificial, selfess. They're always giving people things, doing favours for people or helping someone out. And it's almost like the less they keep and the more they give, the happier they are. People who have love are also surprisingly brave. They dare do things beyond what others tell them is the limit, they dare take on task / missions seemingly bigger than themselves… and they often do it for the sake of something or someone else.

And the people who seem to forever be discontented and hungry for something, feeling like something is 'missing' in their life; they have very little experience of giving and receiving love. They are condition more to taking, achieving and winning (not that any of that is evil). There is a very distinct selfish, self preserving nature about them. They are often brave too.. usually for reasons that are to their own benefit. But no one’s perfect, and I believe we all find ourselves to be like that at one time or another.

This Christmas, my thoughts will be on the ones who shared their problems with me this year. A lot of them carry with them problems and burdens beyond what mere advice (however good) can solve. What they need is a seed of love in their life that will grow, take root and keep them grounded and steady through the storms of life. And that seed, only God can plant.

God bless you dear friend.