Warmth.

   Kudos to those who can keep their compassion and warmth radiate even though they experience disasters or cold treatment from other people. Day by day, we experience pressures from studies or work, frustrations from not having what we want, or a love reciprocated by neglect. We thought that being nonchalant vibrates an aura of toughness but for me,  it is the contrary. The easiest route, the quickest escape  from hurting is to close our doors, to detach ourselves and to let our attention slip away from things that cause us dismay.  Strong are those people who can give a beam, who can remain open, who can keep their enthusiasm and compassion despite the day's delivery of unwanted things. This story strongly describes what I mean:

Grandmother says... Carrots, Eggs, or Coffee; "Which are you?"

A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her granddaughter, she asked, "Tell me what do you see?"

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft.She then asked her to take an egg and break it.

After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The granddaughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The granddaughter then asked. "What's the point,grandmother?"

Her grandmother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity--boiling water--but each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her granddaughter.

"When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?

Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?

Excerpt from: http://www.beliefnet.com/columnists/haveamagnificentday/2012/02/carrots-eggs-or-coffee-what-are-you.html

Payday.

Payday and en route to my condominium, I find myself adding this and that, subtracting that and that, and ending up, not calculating, but thinking the worth of money. I remember what my boy told me a day earlier, something about expressing yourself through your lifestyle and I thought that maybe money is not there to put boxes on ourselves, to restrain ourselves, ending being greedy and fearful of losing money. Maybe money is there as a tool for expressing ourselves, money is there not to be spent on unnecessary stuffs but in contrary, on stuffs that purely expresses who we are, adding value to our inner selves.

You use money not to eat a bunch of food you do not even savour for every bite; use it to enjoy every taste that touches the palate of your tongue. You use money not to buy unnecessary stuffs shown on every advertisement on TV; use it to buy things that can help you see life - a bicycle for travel, a photograph to save each moment, or a ticket to 'we never knew'. Trace back the very reason why you wanted to earn money and ask yourself if it will bring you happiness, not pleasure, if the lifestyle brought with it clearly echoes the enthusiasm and eagerness within you. Do not fear of losing it, let it fly from your hands, let it roll back to zero, do not let the money define you, let the 'what you use it from' define you.  As for me, I will use my extra cash for today's payday to buy a canvas and paint; an expression of myself.
 

More.

Do eat more. Do work more. Do buy more. Phrases we often whisper to ourselves. Phrases that controls us and left us feeling tired and empty. In the end, we should ask ourselves if what we needed was really more? 

When we think in this 'more' way, we tend not to appreciate the things in the present, we are automatically visualizing the future, thinking what to do next, what to buy next and this is not healthy. In the end, we have void ourselves of the feeling of relaxation and fill our minds instead of anxiety and dissatisfaction. We tend to overlook that being content is savouring each step we make and stopping for a while, celebrating what we have done or acquired. We have imposed to ourselves that having more, doing more will make us happy when in the end we will realize that asking for more is a limitless demand and does not direct to contentedness. 

It is not wrong to aspire for more, to have a better life, to buy the things we want but we should practice taking things a step at at a time, savouring and celebrating each. When you are working, instead of wanting to do more work, aspire to do more quality work, love your work like it was always a new invention and celebrate ever completion of it; When you are eating, instead of greedily eating more, indulge yourself with every bite and be thankful for the food currently in your hands. When you buy the things you want, instead of thinking what to buy next, appreciate what you have bought and the days you work hard just to earn the money for it.

I want to share a 'Minimalist Mantra' I have read in Pinterest and I hope it will also impact the way you live your life today:

Stop buying the unnecessary.
Those half your stuff, learn contentedness.
Reduce half again.
List 4 essential things in your life, do these first, stop doing the non-essential.
Clear distractions, focus on each moment.
Let go of attachment to doing, having more.
Fall in love with less.

Art.

It became a ritual for me to have a monthly art project so as not to let my creative mind left rusted. For the past month, I have decided to add touch of colours to my room by painting my favorite flower ( sunflower ) to my walls. Just last month, I am able to paint one (yey! Hoping to add a picture soon ). Yesterday, I have painted another one and I am quite excited to have again that quiet time to myself, deeply engaged into the splash of colours and the amour of paint.

What I love about art besides the tranquility you gain upon creating it is that it attracts creativity in the atmosphere. You can be yourself. You can express yourself. Failure is a gateway for another creation and the outcome will always be an art. It was quite amusing to find yourself painting forms that was not drafted to your mind before and the challenge of remembering the detail, the fusion of colour, the lines and the scent, of an image pictured to your mind. Art has thought me the adage 'Practice makes perfect' and the very essence of failure for creativity.

A Date with Nature.

It was about half a month ago when I spent my summer vacation in Calaguas Island. Of course, besides swimming, eating, and all that fun stuffs one ought to do, I did some meditation. The sun was up and was happily watering with sunlight things that hail him. The sea water is calm and the different forms of clouds above it invites you to stay silent and savour it. That was the time I knew my summer vacation was awesome. Nothing can replace Nature and if camera-captured images can be saved in the computer, that moment in time when I was seeing Nature on sail will be saved on my heart. 

One thought that I realized when I was having a date with Nature on that boat was that Nature sees you barely. It was as if you are nude. It doesn't care about what you wear, it strips off the jewelries, and money was worth nothing. Whatever you are, a president, a CEO or a simple fisherman, no status was given and in its eyes you are a mere human being, same as others. When it is joyous, it offers the relaxing breeze of the wind, the whistling of the trees and the warmth of the sun. When it is in rage, thunders may haul you and waves may crash things you built for years. And I'm grateful for that.

With a date with Nature, I was able to understand to give importance to being humane. To not live a life chasing money because Nature doesn't care. He cares how you appreciate it, how you survive it and how you mingle with it. When you have a date with Nature, He doesn't see the makeup, He sees you nude and sees the very person you are deep inside. I hope I'd be a person like Him, seeing beyond what ordinary eyes can see, and I also hope I'd meet people who are the same.

Omnis Cellula e Cellula

I just finished reading 'The Fault in our Stars' and came across this statement:

Omnis cellula e cellula, an epigram popularized by Rudolf Virchow, and is transalated as 'Every cell originates from another existing cell like it.'

Sometimes, people aspire to be something big, to do a greater deed, to live a mark as what Augustus Walters want (character from The Fault in our Stars). I'm not saying that we shouldn't dream too big but lately I have understood that we can't all be superstars, there always should be an audience; we can't be all leaders, there should always be a follower and so on. Being the audience or the follower doesn't make us inferior, or the less important one. We shouldn't think that way. As what religion has taught many, in the eyes of God we are all equal and I am supporting this not because I'm a pious person or whatsoever. Let's just say that I realized that all of us are worth something and that something cannot be measured. It is of false nature to think that you are worthless just because you are not like Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein or Pope John Paul II, they are worth something and you are too. Maybe you can't be like them but you could have been their mother who have took care of them, you could have been that person who smiled at them during their dark days, or you could have been their teacher's teacher who gave them a word of motivation. We are all connected and in relation to the title of this article of mine, a part of us has shared something to this world, a word, a smile, a hug, a behavior, a belief that we think is not big enough, but have been passed to someone/something, and that made a difference. As years roll by, you never knew that that something, that little difference will be a part of something big.

Summer Lemonade.

A year had already passed when I was in the dilemma of finishing my college or not. I remember clearly that during this time of the month last year I was asking myself, 'What was really college?' and I thought I cannot answer it.

I decided not to finish my college on time, and instead have graduated summer, at most two months late. Being the hardworking, sometimes on the top list, student that I am, it is considered out of my comfort zone, seems to lower my self-esteem, my worth; but still I stepped out of that freaking deadline girl-zone. Why, when nearly you are already at the end of a goal?, you may ask and that's exactly my question to myself last year, that I even drew a stick person of me climbing on a cliff, and nearly on top. Funny.

I'll be honest that I was afraid. I had the wrong thinking for the past four years in college. Graduating on time is not to be used as a measurement for your worth. Fast forward to these days, I cannot say that I had already found out the answer but I am able to collect bits of the puzzle pieces together. This decision of mine had taught me that we hold the power of reflecting who we are to others, it is not measured on the time of the graduation, but on our continuous actions in everyday life. It also made me  aware that I am in control of my life, not the expectation from others, nor the path they laid to you. Long as you strive, there are many paths out there to grab, to take advantage of and surprisingly sometimes, we have to make our own path.

 "Turn lemons (lemons) into lemonade (opportunities). But luck goes beyond this - it's turning lemonade (good things) into helicopters (amazing things). - What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20