I'm Just So Scared

I’m Just So Scared…

Dear God,
I’m not scared of the problems.
Because I know that every problem will bring me closer to You
And I also know that
As long as I live, this life of ours will never be trouble-free

I’m just so scared that I don’t have the chance to draw myself near You
In times of troubles
I’m just so scared that I’ll be depending too much on myself , my thoughts, my mind, my money, my relatives…
I’m just so scared that I’ve forgotten that they’re all actually Yours
Given to me temporarily in this journey of life
I’m just so scared that I’ll become an arrogant person
And forget about Your Kindness and Goodness…

Dear God,
I’m not scared of the sufferings.
Because I know, once we were born in this world
That word has already followed us
Everywhere I go, I can always see this picture
Sufferings. Sometimes a never-ending ones.

I’m just so scared that I don’t have the chance to be thankful
For what You’ve done for me, for what You’ve done to this world
I’m just so scared that I’ll be too busy of complaining
This isn’t the right thing, this isn’t exactly what I want…
This isn’t or that isn’t
Because I want too many things which sometimes I don’t need
While You’ve given me everything I need

I’m just so scared that I won’t be able to keep my faith
While You Yourself have been faithful:
yesterday, today, or even thousands years ahead.

So, today, I just want to send my gratitude to You
I’m going to be thankful
For every single thing in this life
I’m thankful for the sun, the rain, the moon, the sea
I’m thankful for my parents, my husband and my child
I’m thankful for my friends
I’m thankful for You
I’m thankful for the chance to say I love You and
I couldn’t even think of one day without You

I’m just so scared that You’ll leave me
Especially when I need You the most
But, I know, You will never do it.
Because You love me more than I could’ve ever imagined.
THANK YOU, GOD…!

Singapore, 14 April 2009
-fon-

Cabe Rawit

Tak peduli merah atau hijau warnamu…
Tak peduli kecil atau sedang ukuranmu…
Kau tetap memberikan satu rasa berbeda: PEDAS

Ciri yang sama di masakan yang berbeda
Entah di soto, sop, gorengan, atapun mie instant saja
Tetap kau memberikan rasa yang tak terlupakan: PEDAS

Di kala menghadapi PEDASnya kehidupan.
Terkadang ada rasa tak kuat, seakan tak mampu bertahan.
Namun, akhirnya kukira, PEDAS ataupun PAHITnya kehidupan
Adalah sesuatu yang tak terhindarkan
Namun, asalkan kita tetap berjalan
Tiada hal yang tak terselesaikan
Selama kita bertahan
Dan selalu melihat proses pembelajaran
Nantinya, akan ada satu perubahan
Karena yang konstan dalam kehidupan
Hanyalah perubahan dan hanya perubahan

Terkadang kurenungkan…
Aku ingin menjadi semacam ‘cabe rawit’ kehidupan.
Bukan dalam arti mengeluarkan kata-kata pedas yang menyakitkan
Namun, semoga kehadiranku membawa perbedaan
Perbedaan yang menggembirakan
Membangkitkan semangat yang kelelahan
Walaupun terkadang aku pun kecapekan
Namun ‘cabe rawit’ kehidupan harus mampu bertahan
Dalam setiap kondisi kehidupan.

Cabe rawit yang kecil ini…
Mungkin tak mampu berbuat terlalu berarti
Bagi seluruh penduduk bumi
Namun, biarlah kehadiran semangat ‘cabe rawit’ di hari ini
Membuatku mampu menghadirkan cita rasa berbeda dalam hidup saat ini.
Bagi keluarga, teman, maupun diri sendiri
Syukur-syukur suatu hari nanti, bagi bumi pertiwi…

Ketika di malam hari
Perut lapar kembali menghampiri
Kubuka sebungkus mie instant berinisial “I”
Cukup ternama buatan dalam negeri
Kucampur dengan cabe rawit beberapa biji
Dan hatiku senang sekali
Kudapatkan rasa yang pas di hati

Semoga kehadiranku yang kecil ini
Dalam alam raya yang luas tak terperi
Sedikit banyak memberi arti

Singapore, 5 April 2009
-fon-
* pengalaman supper mie instan plus cabe rawit membawaku berpuisi…:)

Just Count Yourself Lucky

Just count yourself lucky…

If in just once in a life time’s chance…

You meet the person you loved And loves you in return…

Just count yourself lucky…

If two different persons with different characters

Walking all alone in this world…

Then finally found themselves landed In an island called LOVE…..

Just count yourself lucky

Whenever you cry and feel sad…

There’s someone who really cares about you

And provide his shoulder to be A shoulder to cry on…

Just count yourself lucky…

In some ways, I already did…

N I’d like to treasure what I have…

*written at the front page of my wedding invitation from me to my husband, Jakarta end of 2005...

Keadilan dan Ketidakadilan

Ada rasa yang mengganggu ketika kudengar berita-berita
Yang beredar akhir-akhir ini
Nyawa orang hilang begitu mudahnya
Seolah tanpa harga
Padahal?
Bagi sebagian orang, mereka amat berharga

Mereka muda belia, beberapa dengan hari depan amat cerah
Namun, ketika maut datang seketika…
Kegembiraan yang ada surut
Berganti menjadi lautan duka.

Hati ini menangis…
Menangisi ketidakadilan yang mungkin menimpa
Menangisi ketidakberdayaan beberapa keluarga
Yang tak mampu melakukan apa-apa

Bila nyawa sudah menjadi taruhannya masih tak mengapa
Namun, diri ini tak rela, apabila memang benar praduga
Yang tak bersalah malah difitnah.

Keadilan…Ada di mana?
Kucari dan kucari dalam hidup ini…
Sering kulihat ketidakadilan menimpa dan terjadi
Bukan hanya sekali
Namun berkali-kali.
Sampai akhirnya kusadari
Bahwa apa yang kita pikir adil menurut subyektifitas kita
Ternyata belum tentu sama dengan keadilan versi-Nya

Akhirnya, kembali kuberserah.
Kepada Dia
Sang Juru Adil Maha Tahu
Biar Dia yang bimbing ini semua
Dan selesaikan dengan caraNya

Sementara…
Kusimpan ketidakmengertianku
Kukembalikan kepadaNya
Hei, aku memang tidak bakal bisa mengerti semuanya!
Biarlah jika waktuNya tiba, pengertian itu disampaikanNya
Kepadaku
Di lain waktu.
Aku terbatas, tetapi Dia tidak.

Singapore, 27 Maret 2009
-fon-
* simpatiku untuk Elen dan David. Semoga kasus kalian cepat terungkap dan semoga keadilan bisa ditegakkan.

How To Create Your Destiny

How To Create Your Destiny ( By Bo Sanchez). Inspiring and Interesting! As usual...

One day, Marissa was strolling in the beach.
And that was when she stumbled upon a lovely Genie’s lamp.
With much excitement, she picked it up and rubbed it. True enough, POOF, a giant Genie appeared right in front of her!
The bald-headed fellow bowed low before Marissa and said, “Lady, your wish shall be my command. What do you want me to do for you?”
Startled by the phenomenal site in front of her, she could only think of one thing. She said, “World Peace”.
“Eh?” The Genie scratched his head. “Lady, this isn’t a Beauty Pageant. My goodness, you want me to give you World Peace? That’s impossible. I mean, think of the Middle East conflict that has been there for the past 3000 years. Or the tribal wars in Africa... C’mon Lady, give me a break. Can you think of something easier?”
Marissa began to think hard. Finally, she said, “I’m still single. And I want to meet a really drop-dead gorgeous guy who doesn’t smoke, drink, gamble, or womanize. He should be kind, thoughtful, responsible, and godly. He should also earn a lot of money. Finally, I want him to fall in love with me the moment he sees me.”
For a few moments, the Genie stared at Marissa.
Finally he said, “You know what? Let’s just work on World Peace…”
Friends, Marisa has to fire this Genie.
Let me tell you why…

The Story of Jessica Cox

Jessica Cox is a happy 25-year old Filipina-American woman.
But she was born with a rare birth defect.
She was born without arms.
Doctors cannot explain why. But her father, an American retired music teacher, and her mother, a nurse from Samar, gave her all the love she needed to overcome her disability.
And overcome, she did.
Today, Jessica is a licensed pilot, flying her airplane with her feet.
She also has 2 Black Belts from the American Tae Kwon-Do Federation and the International Tae Kwon-Do Association.
With her feet, she also plays the piano, drives a car, texts her friends on her cell phone, and puts on her contact lenses all by herself.
I read her story and realized anew the power of our dreams.
Almost anything is impossible for those who believe.
We need a Genie that believes this.
But you have more than a Genie. You have a God within you who has given you all the resources you need to fulfill the dreams He has planted in your heart.

Focus Not On Your Disability,
Focus On Your Dreams

Jessica could have just moped at home, angry at God that she as born without arms. She could have sat and watched TV the whole day, wasting her life in misery. She could have just cried and cried, “I don’t have arms!”
Instead, she shouted with joy, “I have legs!”
All of us have disabilities.
Perhaps you don’t like how you look. Perhaps you come from a broken family. Perhaps you were born poor. Perhaps you were molested as a child. Perhaps your boyfriend dumped you. Perhaps you don’t have a job right now.
I’ve got good news for you. You can be happy. You can overcome!
Whatever your disability is, the key to overcome it is by not focusing on it.
Don’t focus on what you don’t have, focus on what you have.
Don’t focus on your disabilities, focus on your possibilities!

Don’t Aim For Zero

Dan Baker in his great book, What Happy People Know, gives a mathematical explanation why focusing on our problems don’t work.
Imagine that because of your problem, you’re a negative ten.
In trying to fix your problem, you’re trying to move back to zero.
From my experience, this is slow. Fixing problems is tiring. Perhaps after a few months, you’d be able to raise yourself from a negative ten to a negative eight.
Here’s a better way: Don’t focus on your problem, focus on your dream.
When you do, you leapfrog from a negative ten to a positive ten. You bypass zero! Why? Because dreams excite. Big dreams attract more energy, more attention, and more resources.

We’re Trained To Focus on Problems

I asked my staff to get me a bunch of old newspapers and divide them into two piles. Based on their headlines, divide into Good News and Bad News.
You know what happened, right?
I got a tall pile of Bad News, and teensy weensy pile of Good News.
Media sells Bad News. We’ve been trained to focus on your Bad News.
The other day, I gave a seminar to 200 Store Managers of a clothing company. I told them to stop reading the newspaper (figuratively). Because all they read about is negative: the financial crisis, companies closing down, and people losing their jobs… It’s so depressing.
They’ll be opening their stores with this outlook in life. “Oh boy, no one will come in and buy our clothes…” And when someone does enter their store, they’ll say to themselves, “She’s just going to look. She won’t buy…”
But when you focus on your problems, you begin to have tunnel vision. Like a horse with blinders. You miss out on the fantastic opportunities for expansion and blessing outside your narrow vision.
Here’s a business tip for entrepreneurs: Don’t just solve problems. Focus on your dreams. Solving the problems becomes part of reaching for your dreams—but you did it with passion and excitement.

Why Focusing On Your Dream Is Important
To Your Happiness

The act of choosing is oxygen for your soul.
Choosing feels good!
I’ve met countless of people who can’t choose. They run their lives on fear. Because they fear others, and what other people say, they let other people run their lives. Their bosses. Their families. Their friends.
That is one miserable way to live.
Happy people create their future. It’s not created for them. They deliberately choose what they want to do and where they want to go.
I met a big executive who was so harassed at work, working 16 hours a day. His family was a mess, his health was a mess. I told him to take a month-long leave to pray and reach out to his wife and kids. He said he couldn’t do it. “My boss will kill me!” he says. He was afraid he’d lose his job, lose the lifestyle he was accustomed to having. He was afraid of what other people will say if he downgrades. This big, imposing, intimidating man was really a coward, a man run by many fears.
In my last blog, I wrote that the only antidote to fear is love.
God’s love for you. And your love for God. Love for others. Love for oneself. And love for life itself!



May your dreams come true,


Bo Sanchez

Sekali Waktu

Sekali Waktu

Sekali waktu…
Ketika segalanya serba enak, teratur, mudah, dan menyenangkan
Cenderung orang lupa akan kesulitan dan kerasnya hidup
Cenderung orang lupa akan orang lain yang harus berjuang keras hanya untuk tetap hidup
Ketika segalanya mudah, cenderung orang lupa akan siapa pemberi setiap kesenangan yang dia hirup

Tetapi …
Sekali waktu…
Ketika keadaan mulai berubah
Ketika kenaikan jabatan tak menyertai
Ketika kehilangan segala yang berarti
Ketika mulai ditinggalkan oleh orang-orang yang dicintai
Ketika masa depan menjadi semakin tak pasti
Barulah orang cenderung kembali
Mengingat-ingat lagi
Satu sosok Ilahi
Yang selalu hadir dan tak pernah pergi
Dalam setiap detik kehidupan ini

Dan…
Sekali waktu…
Ketika kesenangan hadir lagi dan menghampiri
Tetaplah ingat dan ingat lagi
Bahwa ada Dia dalam episode ini
Bahwa ada orang lain yang juga membutuhkan pertolongan
Bahwa ada orang yang tengah melakukan sebuah perjuangan
Bahwa ada orang-orang yang rela melakukan banyak pengorbanan
Bahwa suka, duka, senang, gembira, silih berganti
Namun ada sesuatu yang pasti
Cinta kasihNya tak pernah pergi
Kemarin, sekarang, ataupun di masa nanti
Dia adalah abadi
Begitu pula kasihNya
Selalu ada dan tak pernah pergi
Dan takkan dibiarkanNya engkau sendirian
Mengarungi lautan kehidupan

Dia temanimu
Bukan hanya sekali waktu…
Dia ada di setiap waktu

Singapura, 22 Maret 2009
-fon-

Sok Tau

Sok Tau

Kemarenan ini, aku liat brita soal istri Gugun gondrong yang hamil sementara Gugun masih dalam proses penyembuhan dari kanker. Lalu, orang-orang pada bertanya-tanya,
“ Lha, koq bisa yakkk?” Lalu media khususnya infotainment mulai mengulas, mengapa sang istri bisa hamil. Dan akhirnya, sampe pakar seksologi pun bicara, Dr. Boyke yang bilang bahwa mungkin sang suami menghamili istrinya. Dst. Dst. Case closed.
Satu sisi, aku kasihan sama selebritis-selebritis itu. Hidupnya ya koq harus memberikan penjelasaaan melulu. Capeee deee….
Dan rata-rata, orang-orang pun sok tau. Berpikiran gini gitu lah…Macem-macem. Dan yang paling sering jadi korban, selebritis itu. Korban gossip, fitnah, dan penghakiman.

Cerita lain, mantan istri Brad Pitt, Jennifer Anniston, yang baru saja dikabarkan bubaran dengan kekasihnya, penyanyi John Mayer. Lalu dunia berspekulasi bahwa memang sang dewi asmara selalu tidak berpihak kepadanya, bahwa dia memiliki nasib yang kurang beruntung dalam dunia cinta (dilihat dari kegagalan relasinya dengan Brad Pitt dan Mayer).
Lagi-lagi, komentar yang agaknya bernada sok tau…
Well, kita bukan dia, kita tidak bisa tau persis apa yang dialami. Kenapa sampai putus ato sampai pisah dari suaminya.
Selebritis itu capek sekali ya kalo setiap hari harus menghadapi dan menjawab komentar-komentar bernada sok tau begitu…

Dalam dunia nyata.
Kamu pergi ke suatu pesta. Di pesta itu kamu lihat mantan boss-mu dengan perempuan muda dan cantik yang bukan istrinya. Dalam hati, langsung kamu berpikir, “ Dasarrr, si boss, mata keranjang, lihat daun muda cantik dan segar, langsung aja hajarrr!”
Tak lama, temanmu datang dan bilang, “ Lihat itu si mantan boss dan anaknya yang baru pulang kuliah dari Amerika, “
Kamu lalu terdiam. Agak tidak enak hati. Untung tidak bilang siapa-siapa. Tuduhan itu…Penghakiman itu…Lagi-lagi sotoyyyy alias sok tau. Ohhh!

Sering, hanya dengan melihat, kita langsung menilai sesuatu. Dan tanpa sadar kita menjadikan hal itu sebagai kebiasaan.
Tontonan infotainment turut membentuk pola pikir pemirsanya. Aku bukan seseorang yang anti infotainment. Malah dulu mungkin aku cukup menikmatinya, sewaktu di Indonesia pasti aku tonton sesekali. Buat penghilang stress dan seru-seruan, juga biar update kalo ada orang yang nanya-nanya ato ngobrol-ngobrol dikit, jadi gak ketinggalan zaman.
Tapi, setelah pindah ke sini, akses menonton berkurang jauh.Tidak pernah.Untunglah. Jadi, tidak ikut hanyut dalam dunia pergossipan lagi.

Dan mungkin kasus Dewi ‘Dee’ Lestari yang menikah dengan Reza Gunawan sedikit banyak mengingatkanku untuk tidak langsung tuduh atau menghakimi apalagi sok tau dalam suatu kondisi. Reza dalam blognya menuliskan bahwa infotainment memberikan beberapa kebebasan dalam menulis, bahkan termasuk wawancara imajiner, di mana sang artis tidak pernah diwawancara, tujuannya untuk meningkatkan nilai berita yang dihasilkan. Belum lagi masalah dalam salah menerjemahkan dari bahasa Inggris ke bahasa Indonesia yang sering berakibat misinformation dsb.

Sekali lagi, aku gak anti infotainment, aku cuma mikir, terkadang…kalo saja artis itu kita-kita ini, kita di posisi artis itu, apa gak pusinggg?? Untung deh bukan selebritis. Privacy tidak ada…Mungkin itu resiko? Iya, tapi koq ya kadang rasanya keterlaluan…
Dan opini publik terkadang dibentuk sedemikian rupa, padahal kenyataannya? Belum pasti seperti apa yang terlihat.
What you see –sometimes- isn’t really exactly what has happened…
Dari situ aku semakin kuat berkesimpulan: jangan terlalu gegabah dalam menilai sesuatu, seseorang, suatu masalah. Sikap sok tau, kita buang jauh-jauh. Be low profile. Soalnya, apa yang kita pikir, belum tentu sesuai kenyataan.
So, daripada sibuk-sibuk urusin urusan orang lain, lebih baik benahi diri sendiri. Daripada sibuk sepertinya serba tahu dan sok tau, mungkin keingin-tahuan itu diarahkan ke hal yang lebih positif. Membaca buku-buku positif yang memperkaya diri, mendengarkan lagu-lagu yang memberikan ketenangan di diri, dan mencari Dia dengan sepenuh rasa ingin tau. With the same excitement as we watch infotainment.
Bagi yang bekerja di bidang media, khususnya infotainment, peace mannn!
Aku gak pernah bermaksud menyudutkan pihak tertentu, hanya berusaha untuk tidak menjadi orang yang judgmental, karena? Sering salahnya daripada benernya. Dan coba kalo kita yang dihakimi, di-judge? Apa enak? :)

Singapore, 17 Maret 2009
-fon-
* moga2 gue gak jadi orang sotoyyy…berdoa banget deh…:)