How will you be remembered?

As most of you know, I took a part time job at a Catholic church to make some extra money. I am basically in charge of setting up for mass and for any funerals and such that are schedule for the day. Even though I turned away from the church long ago, I still sit quietly in the back room and listen to the sermon, the readings from the Bible and to the priest's homily. This is only my second week of work but I have already had to set up for 3 funerals with another one tomorrow. As the service goes on I take special interest in the eulogies that people give for their loved ones. It's sad to think about losing loved ones but it is nice to hear all the funny stories, happy memories and lessons learned, that the loved ones share.

There have been 2 services that have stuck out in my mind and made a real impact on me. The first was an older woman,in her mid 80's, her name escapes me, but it was her nephew who spoke about her. He had so many stories to paint a picture of his late aunt's life. All of them described a caring, loving, warm and fun loving lady who always went beyond what was expected of her. She spent her whole life trying to help as many people as she could. Trying to bring as much happiness as possible into every one's lives. In her eye's everyone she met was deserving of her compassion. It was said that she didn't have a hateful bone in her body. Now if you ask me that is a wonderful way for people to remember you.

The second was the one we had today. She was a young lady, only 22. She had her whole life ahead of her. Her older sister described her as someone who always had a smile on her face. She loved the outdoors and spending time with her family and friends. Even though she was always a very healthy person one day she got very ill and quickly she went down hill. After being in the hospital for just a short while, she passed away.Never having the chance to fulfill her dreams and aspirations. It's always sad when such a young person passes away.

Like I said these 2 stories about these 2 woman have really got me thinking. First, we never know when our time will come. It shows us how important it is to try and live everyday to it's fullest. To not worry about tomorrow or complain about yesterday.Life is way to short to carry around all those things that we don't have any use for. The second thing is, how are you going to be remember by the people who knew you? Will you be remembered as a loving person? A happy person who always had a smile on their face and a kind word to say? Will you be remembered as a person who always went out of their way for people? Or will you be remembered as a person who was always miserable, complaining about everything and everybody? How we live our lives and how we will be remembered is ultimately up to us.Live today as though it will be the one day you are remembered for. Love your life and it will love you back. Blessings and love to all.

Just jokes

The topic for this blog has been floating around in my head for a few weeks now.Some of you may not know the whole story about where I got my nickname "Guru Bubba Mclovin". The Bubba part came from the fact that I am a big fan of country music and the Confederate flag(not anymore), the Mclovin part came when Amy and I were on our way to a party and we decided to get back to our crazy party roots (and I love the movie super bad). As for the "Guru" part, when I got into Buddhism, I tried to be as inspirational as I could to maybe pass on what I had learned. I had found what I needed to turn my life around and finally start being happy.


The term "Guru" is reserved for a teacher or spiritual guide. For the past few weeks I have felt a little uneasy calling myself Guru, even in a joking manner. I have neither the wisdom or the knowledge to be any one's teacher or guide. I started getting this bad feeling like I was being egotistical, like I was trying to fool people into thinking I was something that I wasn't.I know that I have a very long way to go before I should ever try and guide anyone down the path to happiness.

I know that some people think I am strange for following Buddhism and it has become clear that my positive out look annoys some people. I won't apologize for becoming who I have become, but I will let you all know that I never wanted to come across as a person who thought they knew more then you or had all the answers to life's biggest questions. I just wish that everyone could find the Happiness that I have found. Amy says she doesn't see any harm in me jokingly calling myself "Guru", because I am not trying to be something that I'm not. What do you think? Should I stop calling myself Guru Bubba Mclovin? I'm not sure how interesting I'll be if I lose my alter ego.Namaste, Blessings an Love to all.

We all make mistakes

One day a young Buddhist monk, who was new to the order, was sent to help build a new monastery. The task given to the young man was to build a brick wall that would surround the new building. Being a perfectionist he took his time making sure that every brick was laid with the utmost care and precision. Taking extra time to level and clean each brick he laid. Only after several weeks did he finally complete his task, he stepped back to admire his work. After close examination he realized that there were two bricks in the wall that some how became crooked, he was beside himself to say the least. He went to the head monk and asked for permission to demolish the wall and start over again, the Master turned down his request.

For several weeks after he could not get those two bricks out of his head. He would lay in his bed at night and would criticize himself to no end. How could he make such a mistake. Anytime people came to the monastery for a visit it was his job to give the tours, he would do everything he could to keep people from seeing his mistake. This went on for some time. Then one day a group of people showed up unannounced, they were waiting for him at the front entrance, at the very spot of the wall where those two bricks were.After rushing to meet the group he found out that one of the men was a master mason. Embarrassed by his mistake he pointed out the fact that he had been the one that built this wall. After looking very hard at the wall the mason complimented on what a wonderful job the monk had done. The young monk was dumbfounded. He thought to himself, this man must be blind, he must have left his glasses in the car."This is not a good job",the monk said. "Don't you see those two crooked bricks?". The mason said to the monk,"Yes i saw them, but I also see the 998 other bricks that were laid perfectly."


The moral of this story is, why do we always dwell on the mistakes we make or the bad things that happen to us? Life would be so much more enjoyable if we didn't carry around all the negativity that happens and concentrate on the good things we have done and the happiness we have had in our lives. Our lives are what we make of them. Don't waste your time thinking of your two crooked bricks. Be happy about the 998 perfect ones. Love your life and it will Love you back.