Hope

Just when you think 

Or feel 

You can't go another day 

Hope 

When the rose-tint in your glasses 

Turns grey 

And weeds crowd in on your blossoms 

Hope 

When the road takes a 

U-turn and 

You're back to square One 

Hope 

When the pain etched across your 

Heart 

Imprints in your memory 

Leaving scars 

Hope 

Hope never ends 

Sometimes it remains silent 

Letting you weep 

And mourn 

For a short while 

It lies dormant 

Letting you believe that 

That there is no more 

Hope 

But Hope

Cannot stay silent 

Forever

It is irrepressible like the 

Sun that rises every morn 

Like the rose that must bloom 

Like the road that straightens ahead 

And no matter the pain 

No matter the sorrow 

Or the rain 

As surely as your heart beats 

Hope lives 

Am I my Sister's Keeper?

How would you answer that question? 

Why should we care? Maybe the real question should be why shouldn't we care? And care about who? Ourselves? Or the people around us? 

It's easy to get so caught up in living our own lives that we increasingly forget that we're living among people. 

Other people. People who are not our family. And not in our friend's circle either. 

Living in Singapore I see people becoming increasingly glued to their gadgets and devices. It seems to be easier to face a gadget than it is to face another person. 

Maybe because gadgets don't ask us tough questions. If they did, it would bring new meaning to the term 'smart phones'! 

Are our 'smart phones' doing us a disservice by isolating us from others? Or are we allowing them to do that to us? Are we allowing them to make robots out of us? Isn't the purpose of technology to connect, and not isolate? 

The irony is that in highly developed societies, people are feeling increasingly lonely. Starved almost, of human connection. But why? When there are people all around us? 

And why, when within our hands lies the decision to change our own life? And perhaps even that of others. 

Maybe we just lack the ability, or rather the confidence to step outside of our little ego- centered circles and talk to someone else. Why should you? Just because. What if you knew that even your hi or your smile brightened someone else's day? 

We're not always privy to details about someone else's life, and very few of us might really know how our words or actions touched another's life. But lack of that knowledge should not stop us from doing what is in our very DNA. 

To Reach out. Make strangers your neighbors. Expand your circle, or better yet never close your circles so there is always room for more. 

Take the first step, and watch your life blossom in ways you may not have ever imagined. Start-ups are never easy, but then what is life without it's myriad challenges? 

Who knows, you may even find your next miracle. 

Esther www.soakupinfo.com/Esther 

You, Me, and Us

I have something 

that you don't have 

something that no one else has

Or will ever have 

it's not breath because 

You breathe too 

It's not sight because 

You see too 

It's not hearing because 

You hear too 

It's not taste because 

You taste too 

Its not beauty because 

You are beautiful too 

It's not Love because 

You are loved too 

Faith? 

Maybe 

Happiness? 

Maybe 

Joy? 

Maybe 

Peace? 

Maybe 

The Truth is 

What I have that no one else 

Has or will have 

Is Me 

The greater Truth is 

You have something I do not have 

That no one else has 

Or will have 

And that is You 

And You and Me 

We are better together 

With what we have to give 

To others who dont have what we have 

It took my breath away

I was walking 

Down the side walk and when 

I looked up 

My breath was taken away 

It wasn't a human sight that 

Took my breath away 

Although there are plenty of 

Beautiful Mortals 

That can steal your breath and make 

You Pause 

No it wasn't a human sight 

Although it was my eyes that saw 

As a mere human 

Something that was so far away and 

Yet so near 

So beautiful and yet incomprehensible to

A mere mortal 

I saw a white light shining behind a dark cloud 

And I kept looking 

And kept walking 

And the dark cloud gradually slinked away 

And I saw what was hiding behind 

Tried to hide because really it could not hide 

The Moon 

Not just any moon 

A Full, White, Round Glorious Moon 

And as I kept walking, it seemed almost toward it 

I wanted to follow it but the irony was 

It seemed to follow me 

Egocentric thoughts, of course 

Mere human thoughts, of course 

It seemed to shine brighter and brighter as the dark clouds completely moved away 

And as I turned a corner It never left 

I walked past buildings that I thought could hide It 

Perhaps momentarily 

Never for forever 

It was strangely comforting 

A humanly spiritual experience 

Or a spiritually human experience 

That our lives revolve around a much greater Purpose 

That every single experience we have 

Is not really ours 

That sometimes we have to extricate ourselves from the mess we make of our lives 

And look at things from a much higher and a far removed perspective 

Could we compare the Moon to God? 

Perhaps 

There are similarities after all 

He's there beside us at our every waking moment as well as our sleeping ones 

When we turn a corner He's there 

Even though we may not see Him, when everything seems dark 

He never left 

And it gives us the courage to continue down our Path 

Turning corners, passing buildings 

Only to turn another corner and find Him 

Still there 

A wonderfully comforting though 

It takes my breath away 

Something beautiful

There's something Beautiful 

About life

It seems to be like a great ocean filled with sparkling drops 

Each drop representing a memory 

A Moment 

And we are filled with the knowing that 

There is something to be 

Learned in each precious Moment 

Moments that happen 

Moments that we make happen

That leave behind poignant memories 

Yes memories come and 

Memories go 

But at every moment we have in our hands 

Power to make that Moment special 

How special one might ask? 

Special is after all subjective 

It really doesn't matter 

We only understand the 'specialness' of a moment after it's gone 

True 'specialness' is meant to be lived in the moment 

Because once it's gone it's gone 

Never to return 

And no amount of intelligence or physical strength can bring it back 

But for every moment that may seem 

To have gone wrong 

We are granted by the Great Giver 

Another potent moment 

To either make right or make Better 

Joyful moments filled with to the brim 

With Happiness 

With Hope 

With Laughter 

With Togetherness 

Most of all though, filled 

With Love 

Because Love is 

Something Beautiful 

Who am I?

It's the age- old question; who am I? Who are we really? When we look in the mirror we just see one person staring back at us. Most of the time we like that person, I dare say even love that person. It's us after all. Give or take a few imperfections, we do love ourselves. No matter what we may have done or not done. Of course if you don't love yourself then now would be a good time to start. You have everything to gain- not the least of which is confidence and a greater sense of self- esteem. 

So back to the question of who am I? Side-stepping the obvious, I believe we are a culmination of each and every experience we have been through thus far. Right from our childhood all the way to this present moment. The moment at which you're reading this hopefully intelligible prose of mine! If I had to delve into my background I could come up with a myriad of experiences that have led me to where I am now. For better or for worse. And our experiences are only as relevant, as real as our memories. It stands to reason that we define who we are by what we remember- which then logically leads to the thought that we are our memories. We are what we choose to remember. And this can be a truly empowering thought. 

We can choose to pick out memories that highlight our best side. We can choose to think differently about each memory- no matter how unpleasant it might have been. After all reality exists in our minds. A memory is truly just that- an imagining of something that happened in the past. If we can remember something so clearly in the past - then we can also re-create each memory in the present so that it enhances our present moment- thereby creating a much happier future. Instead of letting previous unhappy memories weigh us down, why not instead use that memory as a deterrent from ever having that experience re-occur? 

It's a choice, something that we do every day. It's a lifestyle too- a new way of using every experience to propel us forward rather than dragging us back. After all we are what we think. And therefore do. 

Esther @ www.soakupinfo.com/Esther 

A Love Collage

It's been said that' " love makes everyone a poet, or a poetess". 

Love makes the world go around, 

And in some extreme cases

Love stops the world from spinning 

Love makes sense 

And yet it creates more confusion than one thought possible 

It blinds and simultaneously opens us 

What Love? 

Why Love? 

How Love? 

Why question at all? 

When answers are not forth coming 

The only answer is Love 

An old hymn talks about Divine Love

That if the skies were 'of parchment made' 

And every man or woman a 'scribe by trade' 

And if the sea was ink 

And every blade of grass a quill

It still would not be enough to write about how deep, how wide, how tall 

The Love of God is 

I've heard that Pure Love is the highest form of energy 

The highest level at which one can exist 

In which there is 

No Fear 

No anger 

No greed 

No hurt 

No pain 

No attachment to anything or anyone 

How beautiful to know this Love 

How much more beautiful to live in this realm of purity 

Where we do not walk but float 

Where tears flow not out of sadness but joy 

Where eyes sparkle in wonder 

At seeing inexpressible, inexhaustible, incomprehensible Beauty 

So much Love all around us 

And all we need to do is open our eyes 

Our hearts 

Our very Souls 

To feel it first 

And then share 

Not just 'like' or 'comment' 

But truly 'Share' 

So that there would be no time or energy to feel anything other than 

Love