In Jollibee, nagmuni muni...

It was one afternoon of yesterday (labo...), as i was chomping on a
delicious yum burger in Jollibee...when my mind just wandered once again,
and words, though not conscious of the sense they made, just came...

I look around and I see life...lives to be much more precise, lives that are not of mine, yet i know that to some extent we are alike. I know that if i would only break these imaginary barriers that create these small groups of private worlds, we would then, connect, as if we were never strangers. Take kids for example, as I look like i'm suspiciously writing down something secretive or mysterious in nature, at least 2 children have glanced my way, exchanging petty smiles with me. This is because children know what we are talking about here, and they are not at the very least afraid or threatened by the breaking of these barriers. In fact to them, the barriers to do not even exist.

Actually, even if we are not conscious of it, we are just hiding from the fact that we do want to get pass these so-called "shields of privacy"-well proven by the prevalence of gossip, whether oral or written, or by the genre of reality tv shows becoming a favorite and almost a mainstay in Philippine television. We choose to "overhear" conversations of strangers, most specially when they are talking about the most intimate stories, even if only a minority will admit to this.

This is nothing really new, most specially here in the Philippines. Try walking around, with your zipper open or your shirt inside out, and most probably, along your way, you'll find someone talking to you. Try to walk back and forth in front of a bunch of "tambays" (a group of people whether related/unrelated who have decided to stay in a certain public domain for quite a long period of time) for a few minutes, and expect someone to call on you and ask you all sorts of questions...or better yet, stay with them and easily make new friends.

As negative as this phenomenon may seem to connote in the light of privacy, it actually isn't anything bad...not bad at all. As much as we value our privacy, situations like this remind us that if ever your car breaks down somewhere, at least one out of ten cars will stop to try to help, or if ever you get lost someplace, you'll find at least a dozen people who will try to help you, even if they sometimes don't really have the slightest idea where the place is. Bottom line is, people care. Despite a world where there is so much complications, where living has become more and more difficult, at least economically, people are still concerned about each other, even if sometimes only in their minds. Even if all we all have personal crosses to bear, at least once in our life, we will find someone who would still approach us and offer us his/her help.

Such realizations give me more reason to hope, to love, to have a deeper faith in God. They are reminders to me that God is indeed present, you just have to look around and acknowledge Him.

...so the next time a kid or stranger smiles at me, i will definitely smile back. After all, we don't always get a chance to smile for God.

A Passionate Plea

Passion.Sa tagalog, libog. (an opinionated definition)
An internal force that drive's ones abilities to the farthest extent of his/her capability.
Boundless enthusiasm; An abandoned display of emotion.

How can one act in excellence without it? How can one not act excellently with it?

In the past few years of academic experience, and with about a year of experience in work, i have come to realize that, at least pegging from my personal experience, the greatest asset that one could have is passion. Passion ignores what the norm sees as impossibility or improbability, taking the passionate one's capabilities to its limits, or even extending it, either consciously or unconsciously. Because of passion, a vertically challenged individual would become a basketball star, an uneducated man would become a CEO, a sales agent would soon become an entrepreneur...passion allows the person to break out of the stereotypical box that the world naturally puts him in, resulting in an explosion of one's own unique identity, a revelation of the possibilities created by one's soul.

Truly, the significance of passion is undeniable, yet the question of its roots seem to be quite a mystery. If such value is such a transcending one, then it is essential to know where it comes from, how to tap it, how to acquire it to better one's life. If I could only articulate how it is to become passionate at something, then I would know the process, and could easily bring passion into any of my life's activities. Can passion be learned? Is it like a skill? or a kind of mental/psychological/psycho-emotional activity? Can one be trained to be passionate at something?

...or is the subject of passion a natural inclination?...and if it is, then it means that we were all born to be passionate about something, already...that it does not actually result from a choice, but a mere realization of what already exists in each individual, as if we were all "made" for something, "destined" to be someone?

After reflecting on these questions, i can't help but feel pain in my head (masakit sa ulow.hehe) I guess sinadya ito ni God. As if He is telling me, tama na yan, go back to work.hehe.

We could only reflect so much about humanity, our psyche, observed phenomenon, etc. Understanding the self, each other, and society, really lies mostly in the doing...in living. Sometimes we have a tendency to overthink about how we are to live, with the intention of making our lives better. However, this sometimes ironically paralyzes us in our own life, not realizing that the discovevery of life is not merely a philosophical exercise, but is essentially an experiential one.

for now, i guess it is just best to continue walking in life's mystery with Him,
and trust that i would soon find myself passionate in my walking,
or at the very least inspired because He is with me.

spaced out

Last week i realized how much i loved my job.
At the end of the week i quit it.

sometimes we just make radical decisions.