Artificial Needs.

Traversing EDSA on a common weekend, I saw billboards on my hindsight - beauty products, shoe brands and go to restaurants were among them. Businesses thrive from its customers and from this arise the challenge on how to attract and maintain its customers. They need to highlight their product and differentiate it against its competitors, they impose fear to create artificial needs in order to gain customers. They create consumerism. They create the illusion that we need those items. They ask us to buy more, to earn more money, to chase money in order to have those artificial needs. Those artificial needs were superbly and strategically advertised in our daily lives - commercials, billboards, online advertisements that it successfully penetrated our mind that we feel unsatisfied and inferior if we haven't bought them because we think its a need. Think deeply of those fears they have made - retirement with no money, death with no insurance, being late because of traffic, living uncomfortably, staying up-to-date and connected. Think of the needs it makes - insurance, car, condominium, cellphones. Sometimes, we are chasing money to afford those that we made ourselves blind of the big picture - living in harmony with our planet and saving it from the long term effect of consumerism.

Every Little Thing Needs Love.

We often end our day feeling unsatisfied. We drift away our minds and think of the future - of what we want to be, what we should be doing next, of what to buy next, to satisfy that hole within us. We dig the past and felt unsatisfied for what we could have done, what might we been. But what if instead of living our lives digging the past we cannot change and drifting to the future that is uncertain to happen, we live in the present? A life mindful of the present, feeling the air we breathe in and out, giving our attention and love to little things that needs it - to the house needing cleaning, to the pet that longs for a touch, to the plant begging for a taste of water, to a stranger passing by our life. We need not to be on top of our company, a superstar,  search for that next big volunteering activity nor save up big digits in our savings account to help. In our everyday living, there are little things that needs our love and extra time. We become less bitter to the life we are living in if the satisfaction comes from us giving love to those little things and at the same time, a less bitter world if those little things received love.

Above all, send the bees love. Every little things wants to be loved. - Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

Excess.

Buffet. Dresses in vogue. Cute little things. Spending our money on excess things, on things we desire and want but not actually needed. I felt guilty. It was also my doing. I thought how I bought lavish things during my payday, how I eat more than what my body needed during birthdays, how I celebrate Christmas with tons of foods and gifts, while I neglect those beggars who needed only a spare of my money and time. Like the priest preached this Sunday, we are all hypocrite. We'd say 'poor little things', we felt pity but we did nothing -  We have closed our eyes to those who needed us because we felt comfortable and we want more, we dare not to spend a little time not just to give them spare money or food but also to know their little stories.

But what if instead of spending our birthdays on buffets, we celebrate simply and put on the excess money to children who needs the money for their school supplies? What if instead of celebrating Christmas lavishly, we spent it sharing our blessings to those we really needed it? Wouldn't it be more fulfilling and happier?

Chunk it (not junk it)

YOLO - You only lived once. A phrase that brings encouragement to live life fully and happily but on its other hidden side, hints threat as it says that we only have one life to live and wasting it is a no no. A lifetime that seems too short to waste and too uncertain to take into granted, we have lots of to do's in our bucket list overwhelming us and often, leads to disappointment.

My 2 cents of penny - forgive yourself if many times you fail to do this list, to follow your new year's resolution, to incorporate in your life the Japanese term 'kaizen'. The important thing is to never give up when you fail or fall and learn that this overwhelmingly to-do list can never be done all at once, one big at a time and as quickly as possible. What you need to do is to prioritize what needs to be done first, strategically considering your resources. Chunk it. Chunk the buckets into dippers (tabo in Tagalog) and chunk these dippers into mugs. Metaphorically, you can now drink the mug's content, slowly, swallow one a time, two-three mugs a day. And never forget, as what my previous blog says continually do the 'baby steps'.

Patience.

Nothing great is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig. I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen. - Epictetus

It was a sudden impulse, rooted from my sister's invitation for us to visit Japan and I am one click away to my first overseas getaway. No passport, no visa and only a handful of peso in my savings account, I took the risks. Full of optimism, I still have six months to prepare all this, and clicked!

The past six months was never easy. I invested time and money to prepare my passport and visa. Most especially, a bunch of no's to material things and out-of-town invitations from friends just to feed my savings account. Conflicts arise because of my resignation and new work, misunderstandings and compromises were made to my partner. The 9-month preparation challenged my patience and each time, the optimism fades but I hanged on even if the excitement fell to zero.

Last 7-11 March 2016, I set foot and lived shortly but blissfully in Japan. The most important lesson I learned on this trip is that the fruit of your labor and patience is the most succinct.  

Mainstream.

"The road less taken". We have heard it a number of times but have actually never got the courage to take that road. Unfamiliar, scary, mysterious, unheard of - some of the best words to describe it, to make it the less taken path. Yet, there is that curiosity that made us think: what if we took that road? Is it worth it? Will it be full of adventures? Where would it lead us? What would we be after?

The cold breeze of December smells of joy and festivity. Lights from Christmas decorations and moving vehicles fill the streets with liveliness. December it is and every Filipinos were busy celebrating their most anticipated season.

It was the last day of work and a lot of us were out and rushing to buy last minute Christmas needs. Taxis were not accommodating those destinations traversing EDSA because of the Christmas traffic. But one taxi driver took our request not because he was patient enough to cross EDSA nor chasing for the big fare. It was because he was to take the road less taken. He took the risk of traversing alternative roads, never sure of the traffic there, just to skip EDSA. In the end, he made us happy commuters. Away from the traffic, saving us time.

As I rode the taxi, I was a bit frightened by questions boggling my mind - Where would he take us? Does he attempt of robbing us? Will the road have light traffic? Will we pay much because of the alternative routes he took?  And I realize, in our life, in our careers, we mostly take the main road. What is mainstream. The road that you knew, many knew well, less frightening because of the familiarity. We are sure of the way, everything is familiar, mostly everyone was there and other mainstream stuffs are there. And we stay on that road, though it is slow and congested, though boring, because we are certain that after a long time of waiting, we will reach the end. We never got the courage to take the road less taken, where we have to risk the certainty to something unknown - something successful? Or a failure, maybe? We never want to move fast, to be adaptable to the ever changing environment, to continuously learn and to spend a lot of energy to take the small roads that will equally take us to that end. We never changed our mindset to think that what is important is not the end but the experience itself. We never had the heart to say yes to that curious mind seeking adventure. And we never had the strength to move away from our comfort zone and live fully.

Extreme.

Last Saturday, we have gone mountain hiking in Mountain Sembrano in Rizal, Laguna. The experience was totally exhausting but fun, brought by the rocky and steep road. Going up for me was a lot easier than going down, because in order to push myself upward I only have to find some rocks to cling on and use my crying aching legs. Going downward was a bit harder since I have to defy gravity and use mostly my ankle as break. Add the pressure of sliding down because of the mud and my ingrown nail.

To make the long story short, the feeling was unforgettable - the longing for the road to end when you are already near the summit; the victory when you are already on the top; the peace of mind when hearing the wind whisper and the clouds dance; the feeling of cursing the rocky, muddy road on the way down; the hopelessness feeling that you have to scrap out because you have no choice;the feeling of crying inside that you made it; the joy of washing yourself and bring your tired body to bed. It was extreme. It was something that you will miss. It was something that you constantly need and have to savour because it will remind you that it is the long road ahead that makes the end succinct.