be like a child!

so often we find inspirational and spiritual gurus talking about "child-like" qualities being the best way of life. to always smile and laugh freely and be happy without many terms and conditions to oneself. but sometime i wonder why they miss out an important aspect of the same phenomenon. To be child-like and free of burden is not only about laughing spontaneously: its also equally about crying spontaneously. A child does not bottle up its emotions for the sake of appearing to be strong. Why then, this indifference towards how we perceive child-like innocent qualities! Life does not guarantee happiness always. So instead of making an effort to be able to just laugh naturally, we must also endeavour to cry naturally like a child if the situation demands so. Perhaps that could later help to multiply our reasons to smile more! :)

(Capital)^3

while reading about 94 yr old Nelson Mandela being admitted to a hospital in "capital" Pretoria and subsequently his situation not being alarming, i was like, wait... isn't Cape Town the capital of South Africa?
Well, turns out that i did not know enough about the prominent African nation.
Where Johannesburg is the largest city in the country, South Africa has three capitals, as follows:
Legislative - Cape Town Executive - Pretoria Judicial - Bloemfontein
i guess that goes a long way in settling "capital" disputes?
From a Yahoo! Answer:
"The 3 national capitals are: Pretoria (Administrative), Bloemfontein (Judicial) and Cape Town (Legialative). To find the reason for the three capitals, one must look at tyhe negotiations that took place with the formation of the Union of South Africa in 1910. Two Boere republics (The Orange Free State and Transvaal) and two Brittish Colonies were combined under the Union Jack to form the Union of South Africa. In order to placate the BOERE, it was suggested that the two capitals from the Boere Republic be kept, with Cape Town as Capitals."
Here is the wikipedia page on SA.

In-different Observation # 7. Judgement vs. Being Judgemental

we are often taught since childhood to differentiate between right and wrong. but people often forget to teach the fine line between sound judgement and being judgemental.
while judgement may apply to oneself in deciding what is right and wrong for us, being judgemental is a fatal, narrowing-of-the-mind process aimed at categorizing people and situations according to a one-sided approach, without really understanding the reason or cause.
the motivation behind this is often that we wish to shun or keep out certain things from our life. that's too easy to do and is a quicker process. but if we try to really understand, we will make an effort to accept, and eventually, try to change if it is possible.
we have to be very careful about not transgressing that fine line too often, i.e., in making a sound judgement for oneself and in being overtly judgemental and imposing our will upon others.

Comes to my "aid" every time it "cuts" like a knife...!

It helps to have the first-aid box close to the kitchen counter. Band-aids come handy when blood pops out from an unprecedented cut! So useful is this little thing, so protective. Made me thanks the person who invented it: Earle Dickson, who was a cotton buyer at the Johnson and Johnson company.
Bandaid, initially a trade-name is now a household name and saviour. This is where i read the history of the Band-aid, and of course, a little about Earle Dickson.
reaffirms my belief in the fact that small is powerful. a knife cuts, the band-aid heals.