2012

For the love of family, friends, and all the people I’ve met this year. For all the good and bad experiences that have made me a stronger, wiser, and better person. For all the opportunities to grow and to bless others. For good health. For my work. For my dreams, and every inspiration to pursue them. For all the blessings that I have received this year and in the past years. And for all those that I’ll receive next year. BIG THANKS!

Forgiving Others, Forgiving Ourselves

Forgiveness is one of the most holy values. And why not, it’s a value that is so hard to cultivate and to put in practice. Much has already been said about forgiving those people who have hurt us and offended us. Books have been published. Quotations on forgiveness have been circulating around the world. And self-development workshops focusing on forgiveness have already been conducted. It’s easy to say that there is already an information overload on the topic of forgiveness – but that doesn’t mean actually forgiving has become any easier because of all these. Forgiving is still difficult. It still involves pain. It still requires a denial of one’s self.

But to forgive, according to the mass homily this morning, is to liberate ourselves. To forgive is to set us free from the consuming anger and hatred that is bound to destroy us in the end. When we forgive, we actually do ourselves a favor. It is as if we proclaim, “I will not allow this person, or this incident, to disturb my inner peace – therefore I forgive.”

Aside from the difficulty to forgive others, it is also often a challenge to forgive ourselves – and many of us are not even aware that we are struggling with this dilemma. We sometimes think we are good, doing fine, no problem at all, until we are confronted with issues that force us to look deep within us and see – we have done something wrong in the past and we have not yet forgiven ourselves. The other person might have already forgiven us, but we could not forgive ourselves. Up to the present moment, we still harbor guilt, we are still ashamed of what we have done, and we still feel some degree of hatred directed towards us. This failure to forgive ourselves can be crippling. It can destroy us from within.

Forgiving ourselves might be difficult, but we have to remember that we are only human – we make mistakes from time to time. And from those mistakes, we grow. The mistakes we make are parts of the experience – we learn because of those mistakes. We should always remember that God loves us, that He will always forgive us, and so we must also learn to forgive ourselves, because we are worthy of forgiveness.

To Unleash the Child

It all begins by breaking the walls that we have built around us – the dictates of the society, telling us which is right or wrong, which is acceptable or unacceptable. Once the wall is broken down, we can begin again…

To see the world from a different light.

To give voice to the whispers of the heart,
Without fear of being wrong or being condemned.

To regain a curious mind,
More open to learning, more accepting of the world.

To start seeing the good in things.

To take risks without fear,
Ready to do whatever it takes,
Give whatever sacrifice is needed,
Just to follow the flight of the heart.

To fall madly in love,
No matter what the consequences –
Whether pain or despair or suffering.

To allow ourselves to be lost in our passion,
And in the process, find our true self.

To be brave enough
To venture into the unstable waters of love,
And experience its pure bliss –
Sharing without control,
No reservations and holding back.

To live only in the present,
Free from the shackles of the past and from the worry of the future.

To be free, and to be happy,
To live a life filled with faith, hope, and trust.

The child in us is always alive. Maybe it has been caged for a long time, but it’s just there – waiting for us to open the cage. Its voice may have been suppressed, but it still speaks in whispers, and we can hear it in the silence.

Let’s set it free and renew our existence. 

Repost: Negatron

negatron - an electron with a negative charge

-----

I call her Negatron, queen of all negative energies. She used to be my friend, but her negativity is just destroying everything around her - I decided to end the madness and save my sanity by keeping my distance. I can't help it, though, she still affects me because we're in the same circle of friends.

My feelings for her is alternating between pity and annoyance. Pity because I know she's never truly happy with the kind of mindset that she has. And annoyance because she makes everything oh-so-gloomy. She has a victim mentality - I don't know why she feels like the world is always plotting against her. She's always suspicious, always defensive, I wonder if  she even gets a night of peaceful sleep. I pity her because I see how her mentality is destroying her, and closing the doors to possible happiness. In the same way, I realized just recently that I can't stand her and her negative mindset anymore. In fact, there was a point when I just altogether stopped listening to her complaints - sometimes I hear them, but I don't take them seriously anymore, too much garbage and too much emotional baggage to handle.

Some of our friends have also taken notice of her attitude, and I guess they've learned how to put up with it. No one has the courage to confront her about the problem. Once in the past, I already hinted to her how I saw and felt about her attitude, but I'm not sure if she got my whole point. Now, though, I can't help it - I can't restrain myself any longer. I am unable to maintain a stoic and neutral face when she starts with her litany of negative ideas. All I do is automatically shut down, choose not to listen and then focus my attention on something else. Because if I don't do this, I'd explode. I can barely contain my irritation. Ugh!

I don't know what to do. I can't vent out to any of my friends without sounding negative myself. And I've never been someone to talk about another person behind her back, except during certain circumstances when I strongly feel and see the need to. I am seriously running out of options right now. God help me.

True Love Requires Will

It’s not solely based on emotions. The most genuine of love requires will. I’m not saying that love without will is not love. It is still love. But, this is not the strongest kind of love. If we want the strongest kind, we need to inject will into it.

It’s very easy to love someone based on emotions, but that love is limited. That kind of love is only capable of loving those that are worth loving – the people who are kind to us, those people who do us good, and those who love us back. That’s love, yes. But there is a stronger, a more beautiful kind of love – a love driven by will.

This kind of love can love even those who are not worth loving, even those who we do not feel like loving. It is will that enables us to love even those who are evil to us, those people who do us wrong, and those who hate us. Without will, we won’t be capable of loving these kinds of people.

It is will-driven love that enables us to forgive those who wrong us, the kind of love that enables us to accept the imperfections of the people around us, and the kind of love that gives us true peace of mind. Without will, we won’t be capable of forgiving, of accepting, and of being at peace with our own conscience.

With will, however, we can.

And isn’t that a show of strength? Isn’t this love more beautiful? Isn’t this more genuine? It is only in these instances when we can truly say – love triumphs.

Of Bus Rides and Freedom

Since I came to Manila to work almost three years ago, going home to my family in Bicol has been one of the events that I always look forward to. Not that I go home often, which makes every homecoming even more exciting. And while the availability of Cebu Pacific has made travels easier, faster, and more hassle-free for me, I have found that I can’t totally give up road trip – the 10 to 12 hours bus ride to Bicol and back.

Other than the fact that it’s my saving grace when I’m going home on a limited budget, I have also come to love the entire bus ride, no matter how long it takes – and never mind the fact that I arrive home haggard when I take the bus.

In fact, I enjoy riding the non-aircon type, first because it’s not too cold (I get cold very easily), and second because I love the feeling of sitting with strangers and hearing them talk and just being in the middle of the noise – a mere observer. That isn’t usually the scenario inside aircon buses because the people are either focused on the television or are dozing off trying to get warm.

When riding a non-aircon bus, I love that the windows are open, allowing me to feel the breeze (never mind the fact that it’s all dust when the bus is still along Edsa amidst all the other vehicles). There’s a feeling of freedom when you’re inside a running bus with the windows open and you feel like you’re more involved with everything around you, not just with all the other passengers but even with the world that you pass by.

I love to watch people, and I get a whole lot of watching when inside a bus. I also get the time to think. And yeah, I love the feeling of just doing nothing. And when riding a bus, it’s one of the rare instances when I feel like I can give up control and drop my guard. I can let go, just be passive, sit back and relax, and let the driver take charge. For the entire bus ride, I can allow my mind to pause and rest, to wander off and stray, and to just be free.

Yeah, bus rides mean freedom for me. Now that daily life seems to have turned into a rush of events, a sweep of time from one activity to another, a 10- or 12-hour bus ride is a wonderful break from the fast succession of events in my daily existence.

Self Reliance

If you don’t want 
to get disappointed 
because of other people, 

don’t rely on them. 

Not for their understanding. 
Nor for their sympathy. 
And especially neither for their approval.

Sometimes, 
you only have yourself 
to truly rely on.

Disturb Us, Lord - Sir Francis Drake

Disturb us, Lord,

When we are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord,

When with the abundance of things we possess,

We have lost our thirst for the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord,

To dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope and love.

This we ask in the name of our Captain,

Who is Jesus Christ.

-----

Today I realize…

That I am just but a part of the bigger universe, a mere piece of a puzzle that corresponds to God’s bigger plans.

That the world does not revolve around me, that my plans are secondary only to the plan that God has already laid out for my life. 

And that my trials, the tools that God uses to disturb me, they are mere instruments reminding me that I should learn to surrender control – to give way to the great things that God has in store for me.

“Say So” by Israel and New Breed

The End

Have you ever wondered about the thoughts running in the mind of people who have ever considered killing themselves?

What events could have brought on that chilling thought? What possible circumstances have brought them to the conclusion that non existence is the best option? What kind of darkness could have caused them to finally surrender and give up on life?

What could have pushed the person to consider pulling the trigger, or stepping in front of a fast-running vehicle, or jumping from the nth floor of a building?

Have they ever thought about what’s to come after their body is discovered? Whether their families will accept their fate, or whether they will have a hard time coming to terms with reality? Whether they will be remembered for a long time, whether their death will cause years of anguish to the people who know them, or whether they will be forgotten after a year or two?

Self Acceptance

And Beast? Never forget, mutant and proud!

This was one of the stand-out dialogues in the latest X-Men movie, a dialogue by Raven (Mystique) directed to Hank (Beast). What to Raven was initially an imperfection, something to get rid of or change, she has already learned to accept (with Magneto’s help), and she was trying to convince Hank to do the same. This was the point of freedom for her.

I love the way that dialogue is used in the movie, and the way it speaks to almost anyone of us – those who are struggling to accept their imperfections.

There are certain imperfections about ourselves that we can’t change, but many of us still insist on changing these things. In the process of failing to do so, we become locked up in a mindset that is focused on covering up or hiding or camouflaging such imperfections, and we lose the opportunity to shine and miss out on the opportunity to reach our maximum potential.

Our imperfections make us unique. They distinguish us from the rest. They are part of our beauty.

[Photo Credit]

Just Human

I’m not perfect
And I don’t pretend to be,
But there are certain values
That are non-negotiables for me.

There are Times...

When my own 
apathy 
and 
strong 
emotional detachment
scare me.

When God Taps Us on Our Shoulder

We all lead busy lives today. We try to accomplish as many tasks as we can, pursue as many goals as we can, and possess as many material things as we can. In the midst of all these, it’s so easy to get lost, to lose sight of our real purpose.

We’re all in the middle of distractions, and we often find ourselves unable to prioritize the things that really matter in our life – our family, our faith, our health, and all those things that stay with us to the very end.

It is during these times when God taps us on the shoulder, to remind us to slow down and take things easy in order for us to see what really matters. The only big question is this: do we pay attention to God’s tap? Or are we so busy with our lives and so engrossed with ourselves that we don’t pay attention to anything else? Sometimes, we don’t feel God’s touch because we are covered by the things we consider important. We fail to recognize the signs God sends us, or we simply ignore them, because we don’t want to stop, we’re all rushing toward wherever it is we think we need to go.

And when God sees that we’re heading toward the wrong direction, that we’re starting to be slaves to worldly things, He puts a little pressure on His tap to be sure that we feel it. Some people experience failure, some people get sick – we are given a little something that slows down the fast pace of our life, in order to give us time to think and to look at ourselves, evaluate the direction we’re taking and realize once again what things really matter.

God’s tap is filled with love. Sometimes, the pressure is necessary to awaken us from the worldly trance that we are in. Nevertheless, we are all assured that when God taps us on the shoulder, it is with love and concern for our welfare. If we experience failure in any way, if we’ve been sick or grieving, God has probably just tapped us on the shoulder to slow us down or to rescue us from the wrong path that we’re taking. And if we think we are lost, we can always ask God for a tap on our shoulder so that we’ll see the right direction we need to take.

[Also posted in my Facebook page]

On Letting Go

We let go not because we don’t care anymore. We let go because we care.

We let go because we need to free up some space in our life for those that we care about. We let go of certain people and things to allow other people and things that we consider more important to fill our life. We let go of things that drag us down, of people that keep us from being the best that we can be.

Letting go is healthy. Letting go is caring enough to give ourselves the chance to have the people and the things that we deserve.

Made Me Glad by Hillsong

The Four-Way Test by Herbert J. Taylor

This is a test not only of the things that we say but as well as the things that we think and do. Four simple questions to consider to gauge our thoughts, words, and actions:

1. Is it the TRUTH?
2. Is it FAIR to all concerned?
3. Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
4. Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

Only thoughts, words, and actions that pass the test are worth considering.

Repost: Of Friendships, Exclusivity, Privacy, and Freedom

There was a time in my life when I told myself I wasn’t capable of establishing a personal and a deep relationship with anybody. And I’m not speaking only in the context of romantic relationship – I’m also speaking in the context of friendship. I was too restless to settle. I love my privacy so much. And I don’t believe in best friends. Call me cynical, but I don’t. I do believe in friends, though. And close friends, too. But in best friends, and the exclusivity that comes with being someone’s best friend – I don’t.

I have friends, mind you. I have friends at the office. I have friends from elementary, from high school, and from college. I have D Corz. I have my team. I have my former students. And I still make new friends now. But, I have a hard time dealing with exclusivity and everything that comes with it.

There have been a couple of instances in the past when I went away from prospective friends and friendships because of this. In the beginning, everything was going well. We would hang out together and share ideas and experiences with each other. We would even share secrets. For a while, everything would be fine… Until it didn’t seem right anymore.

There came a time when I already felt my privacy was being invaded, when these friends became a little bit more clingy. They would tell me everything about their life and expect me to tell them everything about mine. In the office, they couldn’t wait to share with me everything that’s happening in their life, and right when I was so in the mood to work. They couldn’t wait to share every little detail of their life with me. And I guess that’s fine, after all we’re friends. But it didn’t seem right to me.

Long story short, I felt trapped. I felt I was losing a certain percentage of control over my life, that I was forced into doing things I didn’t want to do. And in the end, I hated being in that particular situation. So I walked away.

I felt guilty, knowing in my mind that my friends didn’t do anything wrong. I think they were just doing what they thought was normal for friends to do. But that’s just it. I am the one with the issue.

I value my privacy a lot. I love my freedom. I love to be friends while still being able to move freely within my own space. I want full control over my life. And that’s still how I feel until now. So tell me – is this normal?

What Matters Most

Throughout life, there’s only one thing that really matters. At the end of everything, only one question will be asked to each one of us as we stand before the Father. One simple question, and we are given a lifetime to find an excellent answer. What comes into your mind?

How many trophies and medals have you gathered?

How much money have you earned?

How high was the position you reached?

How many words of praise have you received?

How many hands have touched yours in congratulations?

How many people cried during your death?

How many people still remember you after a year of perish?

These, and many more, may come to mind.

But really, only one thing matters. Everything else will be useless. Here is just the simple question to all of us –

How many people have you loved with all your heart?

Quite a simple question, and we have a lifetime to spend preparing our answers. Can we stand proud before the Lord someday and give an excellent answer to this question? Why not? We can start preparing now!

Role Play

By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept - Paulo Coelho

—–

“Don’t be frightened, Pilar. Don’t just fall into playing a role.”

… “I don’t know what you mean by ‘playing a role.’”

“Some people always have to be doing battle with someone, sometimes even with themselves, battling with their own lives. So they begin to create a kind of play in their head, and they write the script based on their frustrations.”

“I know a lot of people like that. I know just what you mean.”

“But the worst part is that they cannot present the play by themselves,” he continued. “So they begin to invite other actors to join in.

“That’s what the fellow outside was doing. He wanted revenge for something, and he chose us to play a part. If we had accepted his restrictions, we’d be regretting it now. We would have been defeated. We would have agreed to participate in his miserable life and in his frustrations.

“The man’s aggression was easy to see, so it was easy for us to refuse the role he wanted us to play. But other people also ‘invite’ us to behave like victims, when they complain about the unfairness of life, for example, and ask us to agree, to offer advice, to participate.”

He looked into my eyes. “Be careful. When you join in that game, you always wind up losing.”

—–

The truth in this statement is extremely striking, especially that last part stating how we sometimes take the role of victims in the play that other people enact. In my life, I have met a lot of people like those mentioned – the whiners, the pessimists, those who constantly focus on the problems in their life, those who always find fault in the things around them, and those who refuse to see their blessings.

And these are dangerous people. They often feed on pity. They prey on unsuspecting individuals around them – friends, family members, acquaintances – always in search of empathy. The most dangerous thing about them is the fact that they are contagious. They can infect the people around them with their twisted beliefs.

I have to admit that I’ve experienced taking both roles – being the prey and the predator. It is hard to resist the temptation, and one can only do so when one already acquires complete awareness. In my life right now, my prayer is this:

May I not turn into a fellow like the one mentioned by Coelho in the passage. May I recognize the blessings before I see the faults, so that I won’t have to live a miserable life and won’t be tempted to become a predator in the first place. May I recognize the people who invite me to play victims in their own story, and may I have the courage to refuse the role that they are giving me. And may I help others do the same.

Feeling Good About Our Dreams

Dreams are among the most wonderful things about life. They keep us alive. They keep our blood pumping. They keep our existence more meaningful. But, I’ve learned that the way we treat our dreams affect the possibility by which they can become real. We have the power to accelerate the fulfillment of our dreams, or to slow them down. How? It all starts with the way we feel towards our dreams.

How do you feel about your dreams?

Are we excited? Thrilled? Are we happy about our dreams? Or are we worried and anxious? Are we stressing over them? Are we scared that our dreams will not come to reality?

Positive emotions attract possibility, while negative emotions repel possibility. If we are happy, excited, thrilled, we increase the possibility of our dream’s fulfillment. We fill our body with the energy that tells us, we have to do it now! We can! And we will!

On the contrary, negative emotions limit possibility. If we’re scared, worried, anxious, we become paralyzed by our fears. And what we think, we often manifest in our actions. And, it has been proven many times – visualization is powerful. If all we can think of is our fear that our dreams won’t come true, there will be a very big possibility that they won’t.

But there’s good news: The Secret says that affirmative thoughts are a hundred times more powerful than negative thoughts. So, whatever fear we feel about our dreams, we can easily combat by thinking positive thoughts. We are blessed! We can reach our dreams! We’re getting there! Let these be our mantra as we reach our dreams and as we take actions that will lead us to the time, the place, the circumstance we’ve always dreamed of.

Peace and Happiness

Happiness is a product of several things in our life. Our relationships. Our financial stability. Our overall growth. And a lot more. There’s no single standard rule to achieving it, no one defined way toward happiness. There are only different bridges that may help us reach it. One of these bridges is peace.

Peace with the past

Any excess baggage we carry from the past is a hindrance to our happiness. It could be an unsettled disagreement with a former friend, anger toward an ex-spouse, or a hidden grudge against a member of our family.

So let’s forgive, let go, and move on.

As has always been said, past is past, and we can do nothing about it.

The best move? Let’s not allow it to affect our present and our future. Let’s not let our past be a hindrance to our happiness.

Peace with the world

The world is always imperfect; it’s never been a paradise, and never will be. There will always be problems, there will always be dissensions, there will always be injustice.

There will always be traffics and rush hours. There will always be bitter people who will curse at others when they don’t get what they want. There will always be huge taxes, soaring commodity prices, rainy days, but so what? That’s the world. That’s life.

If something can be done, let’s do it. If not, so be it. Let’s not let daily hassles ruin what could otherwise be a happy day. As they say, we should all learn to accept what we cannot change.

Peace with ourselves

Our own worst critic is often ourselves. And as the world is never perfect, so is every person. Everyday, we will find flaws in ourselves. In the way we dress, in the way we deal with others, or in the way we perform our work. There will always be low days when we wouldn’t feel good about ourselves. But that’s just it. No one is perfect. Otherwise, life will lose its meaning.

So let’s accept our imperfections. Let’s forgive ourselves when we commit mistakes. Let’s understand that there’s always a great room for improvement in our life. Let’s recognize our abilities and success. Let us all love ourselves.

Happiness is not found in perfection. It can be found even in the imperfections in our past, in the world around us, and in ourselves, if we learn to come to terms with them… To not always be on the lookout for somebody to blame for them and to realize that some imperfections are doors leading to opportunities that will further improve our life.

[Also posted in my Facebook page]

Conscience

If there’s one thing in this world that I listen to the most, it’s my conscience. 
So if you think that I’m not listening to you, maybe because I’m listening to my own inner voice.

Life’s Too Good for Sulking

(photo credit)

This is for you, for you who can’t find enough reason to smile.

The world is good, or are you not aware of that? Can’t you see the blessings that surround you? Can’t you see the world opening its arms, ready to embrace you?

I’ve seen you a lot of times like that, and a few times I’ve tried to smile at you. But, it seems you’re so wrapped up in your misery, or anger, or whatever it is that is consuming you – you seem not to have seen me at all.

I don’t know what you’re going through. What pain you may be enduring, what burden you may be carrying on your shoulders. But there’s one wish I have for you. I wish that you will see the beauty surrounding you. It’s not the end of the world, and life is good. Life is gentle to those who are suffering, tender to those who are in pain.

Life loves you.

The Joy in Serving

To serve is to make a sacrifice, and no sacrifice ever goes to waste.

Service is noble in that it transcends the basic human tendency to preserve one’s self and to pursue those things that cater to the self alone. When one serves, he lowers himself and lifts up the person he is serving, putting the needs of that person above the needs of the self. This is the ultimate act of heroism, and this act is universal – it is within the reach of everybody. Anyone can serve, young or old, men or women. And why not, we all have something to offer to others – our time, our efforts, our prayers, and our love. These things may seem simple, but they actually take much. They require will, dedication, consistency, and sincerity. A person can never truly serve without sincerity in his heart. It is sincerity that transmits one’s love to another. And in the absence of will, dedication, and consistency, it would be difficult to share one’s time and efforts.

Service is the emptying of the self, but in the process it is also the filling of the self. Wherever there is vacuum, an empty space, the universe rushes to fill it in. So when one empties himself in service, the emptiness is filled up fast – with more blessings. God always rewards those who empty themselves for others, and God always gives great rewards. After all, He is the ultimate giver, and as I have always been told, no one can outdo His generosity.

The joy in serving comes from the knowledge that we are making other people happy, that we are blessing their lives, and that we are leaving a legacy. Aside from this, it also comes from the knowledge that whatever we lose, we will reclaim – and we will be rewarded a hundred times. So come, let’s serve 

Our God by Chris Tomlin

I feel so blessed today.

I hope you are, too.

The Cultivation of Hate

Hate is but a natural feeling towards someone or something. In fact, it may sometimes be justified by several reasons. It could be an indication that our right is being stepped on. It could be a symptom indicating that there is conflict between our inner self and our outside environment. At other times, hate may not be justified. It is sometimes triggered by jealousy or envy. Or pride. And yet in certain instances, hate is neither right nor wrong. It is simply a defense against pain, humiliation, or anything that degrades us as a human being.

Hate is but natural, but immersing ourselves in this emotion for a long time is destructive. Hate destroys the person that harbors it, more than the person to which hate is directed. Hate eats at the heart and the mind, and its primary victim is the one that feels it.

They say “he who angers you conquers you.” True. By feeling hatred, we let another person, a thing, or a situation affect our sense of peace and destroy the harmony within us. And the victim? None other than ourselves.

So while feeling hate is natural, we must not allow it to reside in our heart for a long time. We must not nurture it. We must not allow it to grow into a monster that will soon kill us.

I Still Believe in Miracles

They’re everywhere,
And they happen all the time.

They spring from the deep well of the heart,
Maybe uttered in whisper, lost in the noise of the world.
Maybe flowing with a teardrop, kissed away by the wind.
Or contained in a deep breath of expectation.

Unnoticed. Unrecognized. Unseen.

And yet… Unfolding.

Let’s find the miracles. 

When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple – Jenny Joseph

WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN I SHALL WEAR PURPLE
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Just sharing! Love the message!

[Found this here.]

Finding Our Dreams

Are your dreams truly yours?

Of course, you might say. After all, they’re your dreams. Not necessarily so.

Not all of our dreams are truly ours. How many of us have dreamed of being a doctor when we were young just because our parents have been telling us since childhood that we will be a doctor in the future, or a teacher, or a lawyer? How many of us have dreamed of living abroad because most of the people we know have already migrated there and are enjoying the so called greener pasture?

Being a doctor, being a teacher, being a lawyer, or living in a foreign country are valid dreams. I have dreamed of being a teacher (in fact, my bachelor’s degree is Education), and working abroad is also one of my dreams. However, there’s a certain difference between our true dreams and what we perceive as our dreams.

Our true dreams are ours, and ours alone. It’s something that is not dependent on the people and the world around us, something that we desire regardless of what people say, something that we’re willing to defend against the world. It can originate and spark from the smallest encounter and from the most unexpected circumstance – inspired by someone we’ve met or something we’ve read about – and its real significance to our life, only us can understand and measure fully well. Sometimes, we want it so badly that our desire is almost irrational. It’s something that we covet and something that we can be selfish about without feeling guilty.

We all have a lot of dreams. They change as we change and grow – some disappear and some remain. But which of our dreams have the characteristics mentioned above? Which of our dreams are we most passionate about? Which of our dreams have the capacity to make us smile, make our heart beat faster, and make us all excited and restless, just by thinking about them? They’re our true dreams. These are the dreams that are worth pursuing, because these are the dreams that originate from the deepest corners of our hearts.

All our dreams, we need to examine and re-examine to determine whether they’re really OUR dreams.

Before we can start fulfilling our dreams, we need to find them first. We need to know whether what we’re pursuing is a dream that’s truly ours. Once we know this, we can be sure that we’re pursuing something worthy, something meaningful, something we can truly devote our entire life to.

Have you found your one true dream (they can also be two or more)? If you have, then

(photo credit)