Archive | July 2015

Best provision for the journey

Jul29

Best provision for the journey

The world works in mysterious ways
What hurts you ends up helping you grow
What seems sad at the time
Brings you happiness
The person you have a hard time with
Teaches you the most

Your friends often surprise you with
Their love and attention
With holding your hand when the going
Gets tough and
When you feel like your world
Is falling apart!

Good friends are the most valuable
Things you can acquire in life
Better than gold and diamond
Better than honors and degrees
Better than assurance and security

In our changeable world
When from one day to another
Everything can change
A good friend is the constant
That won’t change

July 28th, 2015

The happiness police…

Jul27

The happiness police…

Here in Quebec we have the language police
On the look out for too much English
French they feel needs to be protected
Or English will rule the day

In Iran there is the ‘guidance’ police
Guidance re modesty
Guidance re how much make up is allowed
Guidance re how much hair can be visible under your hijab

Is it me or are most of these rules for women?
Why should men get a free pass?

Someone said we need a ‘happiness’ police
Someone who’d stop you if you looked despondent and sad
Someone who’d give you a hug to make you smile
Someone who’d ask you how your day was going so far

Someone who’d carry your groceries for you
Someone who’d help you find the address you’re looking for
Someone just smile at you so you would smile too!

I think our communities would be happier and
Healthier if we had the happiness police in charge!

Shamloo

Jul24

Don’t need fancy words to communicate
engaging thoughts and ideas
Don’t need rhyming to call it poetry

Poetry has been released from the cage of tradition
And is flying in the atmosphere of freedom

On the wings of imagery and metaphor
Through words that are understood by all
Poetry is leaving the land of the elite
And entering the world of ‘every man’

Lida Berghuis
July 25th 2015
Anniversary of passing
of Ahmad Shamloo

Blessed day…

Jul23

Some days, the stars align
I feel at peace
I feel loved
I feel I’m leading a good life
No major crisis is looming
No difficult problems to resolve
Everything is going its merry way
I’m not paddling against the waves
My spirit is in a sacred place

I know tomorrow won’t be like today
But that’s OK
Our lives are is constant motion
Our emotions rise and descend
‘the only constant is change’

So, I’ll celebrate today
Give thanks for the blessing
That have come my way
And when things get tough
And the ocean choppy
I’ll remember that what
follows is calm and serenity

Lida Berghuis
July 23rd, 2015

Travelling

Jul22

Travelling and learning
Getting to know new people
My favorite thing

Seeing new places is also good
But I’m a tourist of people

Different personalities fascinate me
I learn from talking and listening
The physical place is not as important
It’s the people that count for me

Connection matters to me
Friendship is important to me
It’s the trip of the soul that counts
The body just comes along

The physical landscape is interesting too
But if I go somewhere and don’t get to
Know a new soul
I may have as well stayed home!

Solitary lives

Jul21

At the coffee shop
We stare at our phones
One person per table
Conversation only over the phone
Two people talking
Not so much any more!

Each person interacts with a phone
Or a laptop
We’re not looking each other in the eye

We’re living isolated lives
Where is the community
Where is the warmth?

Blank stares on our faces
Smiles are rare
We are social beings
Not loners

We should sit in a group
Laugh and talk
Share experiences
Spread the love

Solitary lives are sad ones
We need each other to survive
We have taken independence too far
We need to rely on each other to thrive…

Lida Berghuis
July 19th, 2015

How I start my day

Jul20

 

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I start the day with messages of love
A beautiful painting here
A poignant photograph there
A heart warming poem here
Words of wisdom there

And these messages of love
Come from all over the world
Boundaries have been erased
Communication is instantaneous
Our whatsapp group never rests

Voice files make phone calls unnecessary
Technology is the magician of this day

We learn from each other
We support each other
We remind each other of our common past

This group
The cream of the crop
The best there is
Brought together by love and care

East and West represented in different ways
Friendships formed, renewed, and strengthened after many years

Lida Berghuis
July 20th 2015

For my high school class whatsapp group!

A conversation with my son

Jul10

Conversation

Mommy, what happens when we die?
Death seems sad, it looks like we’re gone
And nothing remains

But our soul never dies…

Mommy, what is a ‘soul’?

your soul is your beautiful smile
Your inquisitive nature
Your kind heart
Your excitement and creativity
when you build LEGO cars…
Your sadness when your friend is down
Your curiosity to figure things out
All these questions you are asking
Are questions your soul wants to find out about!

But Mommy, then my soul is me!

Exactly!

But when I die I can’t see and play

You are right
Your body will no longer be there
But your soul will see in a different way
Will sense things in a new way
You will still recognize your family and friends
You can still grow and develop further

But Mommy, there is no LEGO there
What will I do
You told me before our soul is eternal
That seems like a long long time
Without toys to keep me occupied

Your soul will have other things to do
Things we don’t understand now
I promise you you won’t get bored
Yes, eternity is a long time…

So, I’ll see you when I get there

Of course my dear
I’ll wait impatiently for you
And we can be together always

That sounds good…

It’s time to sleep my dear
And dream good dreams
I’ll see you in the morning
Give you a big hug and then
You can tell me about your dreams!

Lida Berghuis
July 5th, 2015

Celebration

Jul8

imageAfter a long winter
I needed a new wardrobe
New clothes representing
A new me, a rebirth

After major upheavals one needs to
Mark the occasion, learn the lessons
And try to forge meaning from what was

Sometimes we can’t explain everything
Some mystery remains
But that is part of the condition of this life

I look forward more than I look behind me
I try to put my energy in new projects, new beginnings
And celebrate the coming of spring

After thirty odd years ….

Jul6

How does one catch up after thirty odd years?
Where does one start?

In the present, the past,
Or somewhere in between?
What does one first talk about?
Family, work, interests, or beliefs?

Who will one meet on the other side?
What will have happened in the meantime?

There are no good answers for these questions
The order of things matters not!
It’s a renewal of an old connection
One that was thought of as gone!

It’s a deepening of a friendship that was there before
It’s being a solace to another’s soul

With a common past the foundation is strong
The building we build will touch the clouds!

Lida Berghuis
July 5th, 2015