Desiderata

by Max Ehrmann in the 1920s

Go placidly amid the noise and the haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender,
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons;
they are vexatious to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

Tragedy of love

 by Joe d' Mango

They say that only time can heal the wounds of a broken heart. That time makes it easier to accept the loss of the people we love. It is a chain that all of us go through – falling in love, getting hurt and vowing not to love again, promising not to love again, and becoming miserable all our lives. It isn’t easy getting up on our feet after a crippling fall, but there is just no other way but to stand up and move on.

Nobody wants to become unhappy all his life. All of us know how love can bring magic into our lives. Have you ever realized how good it felt, waking up in the morning, knowing that somewhere out there, there’s a person who’s also thinking of you and feels exactly the way you do? Doesn’t it feel good looking forward to being with that warm sparkling glow in each of us?

Love brings us on the top of the world that we can conquer just about any obstacle that may come along our way. It is a great feeling love is. There’s probably nothing else in this world that can compare to this. There may be many of us who feel that love has passed us by, and finding someone we can share our lives with seems to be such a remote possibility. We watch stranger go by as time swiftly drifts away from us.

We may be in control of our lives but we feel somewhat helpless in out relationships. There is nothing permanent in this world, and not even those we cherish will be with us forever. There is no guarantee that comes with loving. It is always a risk getting involved with someone. But it is a risk that we have to take if we want to find real happiness; for there is no gain without pain. There is no permanence without commitment, and there is no lasting love without constant sacrifice.

The tragedy of love is in getting hurt. The tragedy of getting hurt is not wanting to love again, and the tragedy of not wanting love again is in being alone all of our lives. If it is what we want to be, then we could just stay in our shell and be miserably forgotten. But if it is love we choose, then there’s a promise of a new life, the joy in being able to share that life with someone, and the hope of finding something beautiful and keeping it forever.

Echoes of our hearts

 by Joe d' Mango

Sometimes we close our eyes and just listen to the echoes of our hearts. We all fall in love and there are times that we love so much that we lose ourselves in our own emotions. More often than that, we wonder why there are love that grows and love that grows cold.

We would start to search for answers, and try to find where love has gone wrong. But in the end, we find ourselves where we started. We cannot question love  when it has its own reasons. Love will always be as it always has been. Silent. Mysterious. And deeply profound.

Many of us believe that love is forever. That love never dies. Only to be disillusioned in the end, when we find our hands empty and our hearts longing. We’ve mistakenly have looked at love as a need to be fulfilled. But love is only a gift given to us. We should not hold it in our hands, for we may never find the strenght to let it go when it decides to leave. We should only embrace its warmth and glow while it lasts, and then freely open our arms when it’s time to say goodbye.

When we fall in love with someone, we don’t want that feeling to end for it is everything we are and everything we wanted to be. We pray that love will stay and grow in our hearts. But if it doesn’t then we should never let our lives be taken by it for life should not end where heartaches begin. There is always a reason why we have to move on. When we have to say goodbye to the feelings we wanted to stay forever let us not wave our hands with a heavy heart, for love will have to set its wing free and find a place where it belongs.

We may have lost it, but then again when we close our eyes and listen to the echoes of our hearts, we will hear that feeling resounding silently forever. Then we’ll know that it has never left us, for the good that we have become because of love will always stay. It will always be there reminding us that we should be thankful and happy not because we have lost love but because for once in our lives that feeling lived in our hearts and made us happy.

Filipina Hearts

Wearing long skirts with long hair either let through or in ponytail, soft spoken with sweet innocent smile, refined and a bit shy, perhaps these are the things that occur first to one’s mind when thinking about Filipinas. Who would not? These are the classic qualities of Filipinas only that it was decades ago.

As modern technologies evolved and brought forth massive changes in every culture, Filipina ladies also changed. One can see these changes straight away from the clothes and accessories they wear until the very details of their possessions.

Alright, so much about the physical aspect. Now, let’s try to look what’s inside, the character that every Filipina possess. In the past you can find them at home helping their mother on the household chores. Some lucky ones were able to go to school, however, they were expected to show an impeccable manner. Most Filipinas then, if not all, were inferior compared to men. Filipinas are known to be honest. They are very respectful especially to their elders.

A perfect mother figure, Filipinas are very caring, passionate, hospitable and sensitive to the needs of others. They are very romantic lovers, faithful, understanding, loving and thoughtful. When given any responsibilities, they have the common sense immerging from their natural intellect. They can be very hardworking and patient.

Compared in the past, Filipinas of the new generation have come out of their shell. You can now see them active in the community. They become more independent and started to let their voices be heard. They have adapted to the modern way of life. Gone are the long skirts and refined personality. Are all these changes due to modernization? The answer in my opinion is “No”.

Tracing back the Philippine history, one can understand why the typical Filipina image changed. Though the American colonization greatly affected their way of life, still it is not the only reason. Filipinas suffered from different types of abuses during war and foreign invasion. They experienced being treated as slaves. They’ve lost their freedom and identity. Despite all the hardships, something special within them overcame it all, they endured with their indefatigable inner strength. They need to change to partly protect themselves from the maladies of human trafficking.

Now, if I were to say what’s inside every Filipina’s heart, my answer is just one. It’s GENUINE LOVE that keeps them forgiving to people who hurt them; positive in spite of life’s adversities; hopeful that better things will come their way; compassionate to others; and strong in facing negative circumstances.

Time may have changed many things among Filipinas but one thing remained, the genuine love within their hearts. It is the kind of love that lets them endure the grievous experiences of the past and the same love that will let them defeat misfortunes of the changing tides of time.

It pays to wait

By Neil Anthony Rusia

Wait!? This word really keeps ringing on my ear since I observed that I’m getting in a hurry on some of my plans. But before I delve in deeply, have we ever asked ourselves where on earth this word “wait” comes from? From the worldly point of view, this means remaining or resting in expectation of something. All of us have been waiting for something to happen in our lives even to the extent of being aggravated which sometimes make us stop on every thing we do. Like in my case, I’m getting too excited of what lies ahead of my life until I get to the point of forgetting some of the simplest things life has offered. Every night, before I close my eyes to get a very deep sleep after a long day’s work, I talk to the Lord and ask Him whether some of the plans I set will be realized. I even find myself funny whenever I imagine all my plans as if I’m watching a movie but in this case, I’m the sole actor. We kept on asking God why we are in these situations where we are expected to wait on something to come.

Yes, we all have numerous plans set by days, weeks, months or even years. Even others could be in short or long term plans. In my case, after I finished my BS degree here in the Philippines, the question I have in my mind is, Where do I go from here? What will happen to my life if I choose to be with this or that? What happens if I take this step or the other way around? There are too many questions that we seek for answers. There are many roads that we need to take in life, but others may be twisted while some are straight as a stick. With this sort-of-confusion ringing in my head, whether to wait or go ahead of God’s plan, I found out that we just need to imbibe in our own minds and hearts these concepts.

  

Remember, life is an even keel. All of us are perfectly created by God. Our eyes, ears, hands, feet and other body parts are placed in their perfect spots. The number of senses and even the intricacy of our entire human body system have its own raison d’être. I remember the explanation of my teacher about the reason why humans have one pair of ears and only one mouth. He emphasized that we need to have this number of senses for a person needs to listen twice as much as he speaks. So better not pray to have two mouths and one ear because time will come gossips and lies will proliferate not just once but twice. Just wait because life is like a balanced weighing scale. We are the only ones outweighing it. Let’s just keep this equilibrium in state whatever happens.

Don’t run ahead of God’s plan. Yes, it’s normal that we sometimes run ahead of time. In this fast paced world of ours, feeble people are well disregarded. We beat deadlines and plan out things in advance. Human as we are, we always do these stuffs. We even put a schedule on the simplest things we do daily. You bathe, eat, and prepare things as fast as you can even to the extent of forgetting that you haven’t worn your underpants. But wait guys! Have we tried halting and pausing for a while and contemplate on the significant things that we did? Are all these things and plans we have are in accordance to our God’s plan? Sometimes, I seek deep silence for a while after being busy with so many things. Sometimes, I reflect whether I’m not losing out of my plans as well as His plans for me. Then, answers just come along the way barely discernible.

Live life to the fullest. We can never turn back time so let’s make it possible to really live life to the fullest. We should keep our loved ones on our side and value the people around us. Let’s not be always in a hurry coz we tend to forget the more significant ones. Sometimes, it is us who creates not just a gap but a chasm between relationships with other people who are so important within our own lives.

Waiting on what lies ahead is so tedious but we should not forget that every second offers tranquility and peace of mind, every thing that happens reminds us to just be patient because there is a greater glory ahead of us and it pays to wait since He knows we are waiting. He sympathizes, for He himself had a very long suffering and patience towards His people. Human as we are, we tend to disregard this reason, but it is on the latter part when we come to realize the importance of this concept, “waiting”.

 

Life is great! Because after I occupied my mind with much life’s worries, destiny offered me blessings worth to be shared and new people meant to be loved. Sooner, my mother will give birth to the third child of our family, and this goes to show that I’ll be having a new person meant to be kept and loved.

With regards to my career, I was tasked to do something I really loved to. This is something that is within my inclination. With this, I get to deal and listen to some ordinary people sharing their simple yet fascinating stories in life.

Indeed, sometimes all of us just need to wait. For I thought back and think that life is an even keel and everything is on God’s control especially if we get to live our life to the fullest.

Happiness from Simple Things in Life

Happiness in defined as the state of well-being characterized by emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. A very simple thing when defined yet so great that it can turn a peaceful community into a battlefield or a pen into a sword. All of us, definitely, live each day in pursuit of happiness. We are so much overwhelmed with myriads of desires that we tend to ignore the profound joy of simple things.

Each of us has different dreams, wants and plans in life. All of which could make us totally happy and contented. The issue here is, has anyone lived and attained true happiness and contentment? Maybe none, as we knew that as long as we live, we will always search for something that delights our hearts. Even a quest for success is synonymous to quest for happiness – at least for me.

Attaining our hearts’ desires to be happy is not an easy thing that can be obtained in just one blink of an eye. We are forced to take a stride but the roads are bumpy and at times, every step could be painful. These circumstances lead us into feeling the opposite – sadness, frustrations, annoyance, anxieties, all sorts of negative feelings.

Eventually, many of us tend to forget that true happiness and contentment is just around the corner. It is just a matter of state of mind but one has to make the decision to recognize it. No matter how chaotic things may seem to us, at home, at work, or with people around, if we are able to develop a positive outlook, happiness is just a way to go.

Just recently, I realized that seeing a very big lizard crawling at the gate of the zoo after his smooth escape or taking a candid photo of a friend can brighten up my day. Just the thought of silly things, reminiscing memorable memories while the traffic caught the bus on your way to work, rewarding yourself for a good daydream, humming a lullaby, these silly things can actually create a smiley mark in your heart. There is something that we can do to make a simple stuff special, and that is to give it a meaning.

Alright, so much of the superficial idea. Seriously, the best way to accept misfortunes, problems, and the like which are barriers of happiness is to look at the positive side of things. I once applied for a job and was very determined to start my career path on that company. When it was my turn to be interviewed, all of a sudden I started to share about my plans of taking a masters degree, working in a developing country, everything that came out veer away with the kind of job I was applying. I never got the job but in my thoughts I knew that I can have something better. Very soon after the incidence, I land in a job abroad.

If I only let myself mourn over the lose, I would have lost my self confidence and suffer from the agony of self pity. On the contrary, I chose to accept things with gladness and looking at the brighter side allowed me to fully enjoy life happily. We may have different stories but the idea is just the same I think.

Now, I don’t need to burn my eyebrows to the idea of achieving great things to find happiness. I can be happy by just walking in a park, getting a good night sleep, eating my favorite cookies and cream or reading a horoscope everyday. These are just simple things that we sometimes fail to enjoy and appreciate because we never thought that true happiness that’s deep from within our hearts is just around. It just takes a positive attitude coupled with simplicity in our way of life and appreciation of the beauty and meaning around us that we can reach the zenith of bliss.