One becomes many!

It was one year since we planted one sapling of banana, which has now produced six other saplings and a bunch of bananas. The walking track, which Anna and I use for our evening walks begins where these plants have formed a cluster ready for transplanting now.

So beginning our evening walk with this in sight reminds us of the mission in life. 

Yesterday, our domestic helper told us that, it was good we planted some saplings of banana last year because we have now enough to transplant to other sites. 

I hope we all take time to look at our life as an opportunity to do something which has the potential to bear fruits. 

It is now three years we arrived to live in  this cottage with an acre of land around the house. We are surprised the way the land yields fruits when we rest after sowing or planting! 

I was listening to a medical student late into the evening yesterday, who told me that he is discovering that he is given the opportunity to study medicine to share in the pain of those who would come to him for medical attention. 

I wish there would be many in heath care, who would convey an approach of 'other-centredness' in attitude and work! A colleague told me yesterday that, 'when we think of others, we feed our own growth'.  

M.C.Mathew( text and photo) 

Flowers too speak!

This bunch of flowers was outside the room where I was staying for a week end. I walked passed this bunch  of flowers a few times each day. It was only when I was reviewing the photos. I noticed that this bunch of flowers was in the shape of a heart! All the while the flowers were reaching out to me with the message of love. I missed receiving it! It made me aware that I was pre-occupied even whileI looking at the flowers.

The sense of presence is a discipline that comes only by practice. We can live through each day missing all the messages from around us because of our hurry or mental distance from realities around us.

To be present is to be fully alive with an awakened consciousness! One way of monitoring the sense of presence is by having few minutes of recollection a few times each day! The recollection time is a silent period when we return to our inner consciousness, the very ground of our being, who is God. Such occasions of God consciousness would grant us better sight, insight and foresight!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Nepal's loss, a humanitarian crisis!

As more disturbing news reach us about the colossal loss and human suffering in Nepal, there is an unanswered question about the causation of earthquake. The geologists explained it as earth's way of releasing its energy! 

It was during the morning walk today, I noticed that this banana bunch was hanging because the stem caved in due to its weight. There was no external support given to the stem to support the weight of the banana bunch which would probably weigh about 10 kilograms.  

The earth is our place of habitation and we have several natural calamities that compromise our wellness. 

It looks like that there is transitoriness to all that make our lives comfortable. When the hundreds in Kathmandu valley would live in tents for months before they can have their house restored, we would witness the human resilience which a unique mark of humans. 

It is the time when an external support is most needed for our fellow beings in Nepal. Otherwise the weight of their own burdens would weigh them down and cripple their recovery.  We in India are their immediate physical neighbours- we can become their emotional neighbours through our acts of kindness!

MC.Mathew(text and photo)

Kathmandu Valley tonight!

Ever since I heard the news about the earthquake at the mid day, I have been trying to get in touch with people I know in the EHA and Mission to Nepal to get some news about the state of affairs at the Patan and Pokhra hospitals in Nepal. I have not been able to get in touch and do not have any news about the extent of damage to the hospitals. 

From the news in the media, thousands are in the streets without water, food, electricity, conveyance, etc. 

The government of India is proactive and moving its resources to respond and mitigate suffering. I wish there will be several medical teams who would volunteer to go to Nepal as doctors specialised in polytrauma and intensive care would be of needed in large numbers!

The long term needs of people who lost their houses would be even more demanding on the local government. Its capability would have many limitations! I wish medical fraternity in India and organizations like churches would come forward to participate financially in rebuilding the broken lives!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

An offering for the farmers!

Summer is the time, when the plants look least refreshing!

However the temple flowers decorate the otherwise barren look in most gardens. The temple flowers display an array of colours! In fact the colours are most pronounced in the thick of the summer as if it is the summer heat which makes them more pretty to look at!

As I took a walk in a garden recently and saw these sights, I kept thinking about the impact of circumstances on our lives. 

As there is lot of focus in the media on the extreme challenges the farmers face, due to damage to the crops due to hailstorm and rain, I was reminded of the visit to the garden. The gardener watches over the plants and trees. The farmer plants and waits for the crops. When his waiting ends in loss of the crops,  it is the family who is used into debt and deprivation. The agrarian crisis is distressing and pushing people into desperation. 

I wonder, whether there is a neighbourly attitude towards our farmers! If it is a visible and acute calamity, there is often thoughtful human responses of care and support! But when it is a silent and chronic crisis, we do not even feel it to respond! 

Think of the farmer who is our nearest neighbour. Is there something we can do to that family to support them through their crisis ! 

I wish every congregation during the Sunday worship service would raise an offering from its members to create a farmer's fund to help them! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Take Squint seriously !

Many babies till about three months can have squinting eyes. Once they begin to focus and track objects with their eyes between three months and four months, the alignment of the eyes gets well established to provide binocular vision. But if the squint persists beyond six months, it is necessary to consult  an eye specialist.  

If squinting eye does not receive medical attention,  it can lead to a laze eye status where one the the eyes does not participate in visual engagement.

From my experience, parents and doctors seem to ignore or wait too long  in the hope that this would resolve on its own. In fact, the opposite can happen, leading to delayed maturation of the visual functions, which affect the learning and processing skills  of children.

Take squint seriously in children and get medical attention. Often all that would be needed would be exercises for the eyes or correction of refractive error by wearing spectacles. Sometimes corrective surgery would be needed followed by regular follow up with  the Ophthalmologist, developmental neurologist and Occupational therapist. 

The outcome in children is good if  one eye did not suffer from amblyopia due to delayed treatment!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

Daffney waits!

I am intrigued by Daffney and some of her habits!

Now that Anna is away at Ludhiana, Daffney gets her breakfast little later than she is used to. When she sees me with the plate in the courtyard, she would look intently at me and patiently wait till I stroke and serve the breakfast. It is a custom for her to come after me after that to invite me to run  and play with her for a while. When she has had that time, she would return to her kennel and take time to eat her meal leisurely. She would be most pleased if I can sit in the verandah and watch her eat.   

Normally, being a beagle, she is in a hurry, impulsive and scent driven! But when she eats, she is patient and content!

I realise that we humans too need unhurried times when we can slow down, wait and stay content! Daffney trusts and waits of her food! How I wish I too can carry the  spirit of trusting and waiting habitually!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Jasmine and its fragrance!

The jasmine plants in our courtyard are in full bloom at this time.

As we walk out into the courtyard in the morning, its fragrance is in the air we breathe.

Yesterday, I listened to the debate in the parliament on the land acquisition bill and I felt the intense feelings of acrimony and hostility conveyed through the discussion and presentations. Our words can bless and heal or hurt! Often we speak without pausing to reflect on how it sounds in the listener's ears. We are blessed with the gift of words to bless and to upbuild. 

The jasmine flowers always give away their fragrant odour. They refresh the air like a deodorant. It knows nothing other than this at all times. 

While listening to a family yesterday, I felt their pain and my eyes were moist. My colleague listening to the inner journey of this family said, after they left, that 'they were touched by our patient listening'.

If flowers know nothing but reach out with their colour and fragrance always, then humans too can reach out to care and upbuild!

M.C.Mathew ( text and photo)

Plant in season for fruits in season!

Breakfast reading!

One of the good practices to develop listening skills is to hear a text being read to. When you hear a text, it falls in our ears and stays on for a while in our conscious attention. Our listening becomes sharper because, the curiosity to follow the text and and what for what is to come would reduce mental distractions. Although our ears can hear and understand upto 500 words in a minute, we speak and read only around 150 words in minute. So  there is grater focussed attention on words, which make words speak a deeper meaning !

If following a silence of three minutes, a text can be read upto five minutes during a breakfast time followed by three minutes of silence, it can create an inward awakening to the text. The hurry of a meal time gets replaced by relishing food and resting our find on a text for sensing a discerning voice from the text. The conversations following the silence of reading would be meaningful as each person around the table would talk about how the text made sense!

One of the essential needs amidst our hurried pace of living is to call our mind to attention from all distractions to truth which can descend from the mind to the heart. Even in the management teaching, the emphasis is, 'think with the mind and lead with the heart' .

Anna and I have found such reading and listening times useful to meditate, one way of internalising what we hear! The breakfast time reading at a recent retreat was well received. One of the participants mentioned that, 'the words reached me with love'!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

Light that gives sight!

I set out for the morning walk when it was still dark. I passed by the coconut grove without seeing much in the dark. On the way back, the morning sunshine brought the coconut grove into the full glare!

It was the light that made me see the coconuts. 

Jesus of Nazareth once mentioned referring to human beings,that 'you are the light of the world'! What a calling! To be given such a calling makes us feel most privileged and responsible.

Yesterday, during a consultation with a family, the mother asked, 'how can I find my way when everything seems to be dark!'

I realised that for many darkness is their companion. The inner darkness or confusion is paralysing and stifling! It is when we listen to others with our heart and feel with them we can let the light of hope, clarity and direction can fall on their path!  

Listening attentively and feelingly is one way of allowing the light to fall on their path!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A walk way!

This long walk way of about 800 meters with plants and vegetations on either side in a retreat house on the Mahabalipuram road caught my attention because of the attention given to make it a thematic walk for those who take time to meditate on it.

Let me share my experience from watching the palm trees. By looking at the palm trees, one can guess their age because of the rings around the stem! As I watched the palm trees of different ages along the long walk way, I felt surrounded by trees who had a story to tell about their adventure into life! All of them looked healthy and well kept, because the gardeners paid attention to them. For most of the year, this terrain is dry and have to depend on other sources of water than rains. Yet not one of the palm trees had a withered or stunted look! They grow where they are planted, because they are provided for!

I felt overwhelmed by gratitude for all that  I received in my life thus far. Sixty six years in life have been years of much learning and growing due to the attention given by others. For more than half of this period in life, Anna has been the companion to walk this journey of life. I was touched by the acts of kindness, support and care she has provided to keep me inwardly alive and alert to realities.  I felt that there is lot more in life that is yet to unfold as we continue this journey together!

Let us make our leisurely exercise walks reflective and restorative! What we see and hear can awaken within us a new optic!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Doors and Windows !

This door in the hallway to the living rooms in our cottage is about sixty years old. I can faintly remember the carpenters who built this door and some windows in the hallway. 

We try to preserve the door in its original finish as a reminder of the history of the house and all those who wee involved in building them. 

What occurs to me as a surprise as I sit on the sofa next to it and write this is its enduring quality. It does not show any sign of ageing!

That mad me to walk around  and inspect the other doors and windows built around the same period. They too look sturdy and would hopefully last long! 

A door or window is for others to use! It serves others. However they serve others as long as they are looked after and maintained well. 

Yesterday, one of my colleagues raised this question in our debriefing time! 'Can we have more care provisions for ourselves!'. I was glad that it led to several practical ways to enhance the quality of care for the team. 

With about forty five or more families visiting us each week with their different inner stories of coping with the challenges of their children, we suffer from listening fatigue and become dry emotionally. 

Often, our personal needs go unnoticed as the needs of others take precedence over ours. Let me suggest that all professionals working in the caring profession have weekly debriefing time and a day of retreat and reflection at least three times a year to stay fresh and open!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

An ornate Cross!

All through the lent, the curtains in the churches had a simple cross. During the Holy week, the cross was partly covered in a veil.

On the Easter morning the curtains are changed and the  stitched cross on the curtains are ornate Crosses. These curtains remain hanging though out the rest of the year. 

The wooden cross symbolises the Golgotha scene. The ornate cross remains as the symbol of resurrection.

I like the way the Church uses this symbolisms in a way that narrates the heart of the gospel!

As humans we need visual and sensory awareness to get into the depth of some truths!

Most Bishops of the Orthodox churches would have a wooden cross around their neck and have an ornate cross in their right hand when they are in public place. It is a good blend of the whole truth of the cross. We are called to bear th remarks of the cross in our body, according to th apostolic teaching. 

I hope we would be drawn by the creative mystery of the suffering, which gives birth to new life!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

Growth and Fruit-bearing!

This is the season for most tropical trees to bear fruits. Even in our garden we have some fruit bearing trees that are in blossom which reminds us of what they are there for! After an year of caring for them they bear fruits in due season. 

As Anna and I are still making  sense of nature's rhythm, we stay in surprise and wonder when all on a sudden a tree blossoms readying itself for bearing fruits!

Of all the situations in life, it is by watching the plants and trees we get a sense of this rhythm of life! They grow up in tune with the nature's changing seasons! 

It is now thirty months since we came to live in this cottage. We have seen a lot in the property change and grow because of additional attention they received. The more you give attention, the more they seem to respond!

The meditation of my heart during the Easter week end was on the theme of growth and fruit bearing! Do I monitor my growing process! While my mind is being stimulated through reading, listening and acquiring knowledge, is my affect and feeling receiving equal attention! 'Jesus was moved with compassion' is an oft appearing passage in the gospel narration of His earthly life. It is through that optic of love, He saw, listened and received others into His life.  

Is my inner optic of the heart enlarging! This is one sign of growth and fruit-bearing!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Nectar and bees!

Anna and I take time on the week ends to watch the bees hovering over the flowers and move from one flower to the other for sector. They are found early in the morning usually! This is a regular sight in the garden. Daffney playfully would chase them. She is yet to be stung! 

What is intriguing about the bees is their ability to locate the flowers. They sense the flowers by sight and scent. These are natural associations we see in the creation. The bee gathers honey and the flower gets pollinated.

While talking to a colleague, I realised that only about thirty percent children in the state where I live get the benefit of dedicated parenting attention from their parents. The rest of the children grow up with grandparents, or with one parent while the other parent works overseas, or with domestic helpers or with child care support. 

The natural patterns are fast disappearing!

Bees would lose their character when there is no flowers or honey! Don't children loose their character when children receive only substitute parenting! Now the government of India offers opportunities for mothers to take one year or more period of absence from work to be available for the children!

What children need for their formation is responsible parenting!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)