When it looks like I have failed*

Lord, are you trying

To tell me something?

Open your doors but guard your windows*

When one desires to grow, one does not give away what little he has. Instead, one values it. He enriches what little he has and makes it grow. Same is true with the development of a community.

My subconscious is telling me something

You come to me in a dream. Out of the car (I don’t know whose car, since we don’t even have one), you make your way to meet me. My brother tails you, grocery bags in hand. You must have just come from the supermarket. But before I even get to kiss your hand, a beautiful Filipino tradition we continue to practice in our family, you suddenly run away.

Getting There*

Why do we do the things we do? What is there to wake up in the morning, work the whole day until you are tired, get to bed at night, only to wake up the next morning and do the same routine over again? Isn’t there more to this pattern? Shouldn’t there be something more than merely existing and surviving? Are we not supposed to do more of the things that make us feel truly alive?

The Unfinished List

Someone once wrote, “Write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.” I believed him, until I realized I can do both.

22 in a Few

This all seems too familiar. Was I not in this same situation almost exactly a year ago?

Finding Dory, Discovering Self

There will always be days like this when you just get ‘fed up’ with whatever seems wrong around you at the moment. You get tired, you make mistakes, then you get mad with yourself or whomever else you find proper to blame. It’s a process, a cycle even. It’s not something you try to avoid. Rather, it’s a part of life that you just have to learn to cope with.

Does your family know?

I just had a one-and-a-half-hour long conversation with my father over the phone tonight. It’s not unusual for me to talk to my parents or siblings over the phone but this one was extra special because this was the longest conversation I ever had with my father so far, over the phone or otherwise.

Of Phone Calls and Reminiscences

“Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

Someone has already said this about half a century ago.  In fact, this quote has been used and reused by so many people in so many different occasions through the years. I should know — I used to include this in some of my compositions too even way back to my elementary days.

Just Believe

There are so many things you want to do with your life. Things to do. Books to read. Places to visit. Forgiveness to ask.