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Yes, Yep and Yeah!

/ LivE / 15 Comments

Wouldn’t it be great if every day every single thing went exactly the way we wished it to, with bright sunshine and happy flowers and smiles on the faces of everyone we happen to pass by on our way? If there were no more fighting, no more wars, no more killing and no more suffering? (And while we’re at it, no more traffic too? heehee).

But then life’s not always like that. Not every day is perfect. Sometimes it doesn’t just rain, it pours. Sometimes no matter how we try our best to control the variables, things don’t go exactly the way we planned. Sometimes even the best intentions fail.

But you know what? It’s okay. It’s fine. That’s life, after all. This is Planet Earth, not Heaven, and struggles and obstacles and setbacks are part of what gives us the strength, the will, even the ammunition to get to that final destination. That is, as long as we hold on to that great don’t-leave-home-without-it essential, Hope.

Yup, that wonderful thing that keeps us going even when the going gets tough. That thing that pushes us back on our feet after we’ve slipped and fallen the 53rd time. That thing that puts a smile on our face, determination in our heart, and a spring in our step.

Methinks it’s really all in the attitude, and if there’s one thing that life has taught me, it’s that the attitude that wins is one that overflows with optimism even in the face of defeat. Kind of like being able to  peer beyond the lightning and thunder and know that there’s a rainbow that lies behind. Kind of like choosing to laugh instead of weep. Kind of like electing to say Yes, yep and yeah instead of No, no way, never again, ever.

Because it is a choice, isn’t it?

As always and in all things, we have a choice. We can throw our hands up in despair, moan groan and wail, gnash our teeth and bang our heads on the table. Or we can smile, dust off the backseat of our pants, and start walking again along the path, grateful for whatever lessons that baptism of fire might have handed us.

I ‘m guessing we all know which choice leads to the path of happiness. 😉

Which brings me to my interpretation of THROUGH, which is the latest WordPress Photo of the Week challenge theme:

(And speaking of the best viewpoints through which to view life, I’m pretty certain there’s a silent—if coincidental—message written between the lines in the image above. After all, that “peephole” in the image above happens to be the back of a chair found in the Happiest Place on Earth 😉 ).

Positivity. It’s a great attitude to have, isn’t it?

Suede agrees:

And so, as the Irish blessing goes:

May a rainbow run beside you in a sky that’s always blue.
And may happiness fill your heart each day your whole life through.

And may the birds sing for you today, too, my dear darling friends!

What Albert Einstein Was

/ LivE / 16 Comments

… aside from being a genius—and perhaps this even served as the stimulus for his being one—was incredibly curious. He said so himself:

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
~ Albert Einstein

I grew up hearing the old adage, Curiosity killed the cat. But I think now that this might hold true only for things that (cough, cough) one perhaps has no business being curious about. But curiosity, in and of itself, is I believe a wonderful thing. For doesn’t every amazing quest for knowledge begin with a questioning mind?

A big part of curiosity is wanting to see beyond the surface, searching for the unusual in the commonplace, seeking the extraordinary in the ordinary. (And funnily, at the end of that road is often the discovery of miracles that, far from being rare and few and far between, are actually unfolding every day right under our noses, if we but choose to really see).

All of which brings us to my contribution to this week’s WordPress Photo of the Week challenge, with the theme Unusual:

{ Click on the image for a larger view}

Edward Weston said, Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual.

I love that. I have always been a firm believer in searching for the special qualities that lie underneath what we otherwise take for granted as ordinary and mundane.

What does the image above look like to you? To me, it looked like some alien creature’s double-tongue helping itself to a taste of tree sap. What it actually is: sliced strawberries surrounded by crystallized and caramelized sugar. Unusual-looking but really just your usual everyday stuff that goes by the name dessert. Ordinary yet extraordinary. (Awesome tasting, too! :D)

So to my dear extra-special friends, here’s to an incredibly extraordinary day filled with curiosity that brings happy surprises to your doorstep!

Of Dark and Light

/ LivE / 20 Comments

I have always thought that there is beauty in difference. In contrast. In a juxtaposition of opposites. Chiaroscuro. Light-Dark. Laughter and tears. Somehow the knowledge and comprehension of one seems incomplete without the other.

Take, for instance, the most magical tapestry that hangs on the walls of castles: would our eyes have the chance to behold such stunning beauty without the crisscrossing of threads at the back?

But the key behind the beauty of opposites, I think, is not simply that both exist but that they do so in a peaceful manner, in a way that brings out the intrinsic and individual qualities of each. Kinda like Venus and Mars, no? 🙂

And this is why I particularly enjoyed this week’s theme for the WordPress Photo of the Week: Contrast.

Here’s my take on it:

{Click on the image for a larger view}

And this is where I have to admit that I couldn’t look at this photo without feeling the urge to hum along with Howie Day’s Collide:

Hope you have a wonderful week filled with bright days and magical nights, my sweet friends!

Beauty and Distortion

/ LivE / 6 Comments

Quick! When you hear the word “distorted,” what’s the first thing you think of?

Something twisted? Something misshapen? Something that looks like itself but with a quality that makes you a bit uneasy, precisely because it’s not supposed to be there, because it kind of breaks the flow of what would otherwise seem perfect?

The dictionary defines distortion in many different ways: to force or put out of the true posture or direction; to twist out of natural or regular shape; a crookedness. Some distortion can be jarring and uncomfortable, even disturbing (I’m thinking, specifically, of truths that are distorted, for instance—when reality or facts are twisted in order to suit one’s motives). But there are also distortions that can be natural (like that which is the result of refraction of light, as when a perfectly straight straw in a glass seems bent out of shape). And then there are “distortions” that can actually be beautiful, such as the fluidity and flexibility of the bodies of the acrobats in Cirque du Soleil.

Case in point: (Okay, so this is not an acrobat, but I swear I actually saw an amazing acrobat in this exact position when we watched Cirque du Soleil’s Varekai last year):

{ Click on the image to view it at full size }

Beautiful, no? (Thank you, Ms. Cat of my dear friend Jes, for that amazing pose).

Speaking of beauty, I do agree with Charles Beaudelaire, a French poet, who said:

That which is not slightly distorted lacks sensible appeal; from which it follows that irregularity—that is to say, the unexpected, surprise and astonishment—are an essential part and characteristic of beauty.

And here’s Mandisa, who has a great song about what true beauty is all about:

I hope your day is filled with true beauty, dear friends!

Indulge in Life

/ LivE / 7 Comments

Indulge. It’s the latest theme for WordPress Photo of the Week. (Love the constant challenge!)

I don’t know about you, but when I hear the word indulge, I see things in my mind that look a lot like chocolate fudge loaded with whipped cream. Or a lazy afternoon on the beach with a shallow book (purely for entertainment) and a tall glass of fruit shake. Loads of laughter and long tight hugs from my kids. That sort of thing.

But indulge can mean different things to different people. Heaven knows, the dictionary itself defines it in various ways:

  • to gratify
  • to yield to a desire
  • to engage or to take part in, especially freely or avidly

Sounds good enough, except that as I’m going through the rest of the definitions in the dictionary, I start to get the feeling that the act of  indulging might not be something I’d want to admit to, too often… especially when the additional entries in the big book define it as yielding to the desires and whims of, especially to an excessive degree and allowing oneself unrestrained gratification. Eep! Sounds like that might be a mite too unrestrained and maybe a wee bit too risky for my taste…

Except, I think, when it comes to living life.

Indulging in life: now that, to me, means living life to its fullest, and that can’t be anything else but a good thing, right?

But how to represent that in an image captured through a lens? For that I’d need a metaphor, and this is what INDULGE looked like through my lens today:

That’s actually just part of the story. Here’s the full monty, the big picture (poster?) that gives the complete story that lies behind the final cat-who-got-the-cream SLURP! shot:

(Click on the image to view a larger size)

And speaking of indulging in life and all it has to offer, here’s Andrea Bocelli to remind us of what we need most in order to do that as best as we can:

Hope you have a wonderful day filled with love-filled indulgences!

Shifting Views

/ LivE / 5 Comments

I love windows. My home is filled with them. I love that they let light in, and I love even more that they allow me to look out, up, and down.

To me, windows—and the views they allow—are a great metaphor for wisdom. If we look, and look well; if we look and take in different views, odds are we’ll eventually find the answers we’re seeking. Only when one is able to see things from different angles can complete understanding, often even true wisdom, walk in.

Speaking of wisdom, one of the wisest things I’ve learned came from one of my past relationships in my late-teens / early-twenties (yeah, that time when you think you’re an adult but you’re not really there yet, so there’s still a spattering of angst and a tendency to brood over things that don’t quite go the way you want them; that kind of thing 🙄 ). I don’t even remember what I was moping about, but the lesson I have kept well and have practiced all the time since, and it is one I have passed on to my kids:

When things don’t go the way you want them to, or something makes you frustrated / depressed / angry et cetera, ask yourself this question:

Can I do something about it?

If  the answer to that is Yes, then go do it. If the answer to that is No, then laugh. That’s right: laugh! You can’t do anything about it anyway, so you might as well keep your sense of humor and get on with the rest of the business of living… of living a happy, good life. Right?

We can be down, honey, but we’ll never be out. 😉

Which brings me to the WordPress Photo of the Week theme (Down) and my take on it:

And extolling the wonders of looking at the world from a different viewpoint, here’s Jack Johnson:

I want to turn the whole thing upside down
I’ll find the things they say just can’t be found
I’ll share this love I find with everyone…

Have a wonderful day loaded with amazing sights and views, and much love too, my friends!

{No} Regrets

/ LivE / Leave a comment

When you think of regrets–that is, if you have any–what is the first thing that comes to mind? Love (unrequited, lost, or still unknown)? Words (spoken or left unspoken)? Decisions (made hastily or not made early enough or not made at all)?

In case you’re wondering why I’m suddenly wondering about this, you can put the blame on WordPress’s Photo Challenge for the Week (I say this tongue in cheek, of course :)).

The theme, no surprises here, is Regret… and I have to admit it was kind of difficult to think of a way to interpret regret visually (especially since I don’t really make a habit of whipping out my camera and capturing someone caught in a moment of remorse… it somehow feels too invasive, if you know what I mean).

Also, I must confess to a certain discomfort with clicking the shutter and freezing a moment loaded with sorrow (for doesn’t regret always bring sorrow along in its wake?). While I do think that most, if not all, of us have had at least one regret, huge or miniscule, in this life, I also personally believe that these pangs of grief must be long in wisdom and short in memory. In other words (yes, the very ones which I often use to counsel my sons), learn the lesson that pain brings in its wake then move on. Perhaps that’s a natural offshoot of my firm belief that negativity and wallowing in gloom are a waste of energy. 🙂

Which, I hope, explains my interpretation of this week’s challenge:

And here’s a song (from the new, proudly Filipino-made musical: The Ateneo-La Salle Rivalry) that demonstrates how it is possible to go through regret and pain and still come out of it full of hope and optimism.

PS. I just saw Mamma Mia with the hubs and our two older boys yesterday, and we enjoyed it a lot (was especially thrilled when the stage actress performing the role of Donna said “Mabuhay, Manila!” during the encore <heehee> ). Next on the “Want to Watch” list is this musical for which the song above was written and composed.

For my friends who are not from this side of the world, Ateneo (de Manila) and La Salle are two of the all-boys schools that are institutions almost as old as the mountains and seas of this country. I don’t know too many people who cannot claim a connection to either one of the schools, often even both, either from generations past or present. To wit: my dad studied at the Ateneo for grade school and high school then went to De La Salle for university. My brothers went to La Salle for grade school and high school. Two of my sisters went to Ateneo for university. My husband (and his brothers) went to the Ateneo. My two older sons are Ateneans. I have a niece at the Ateneo university and another niece at De La Salle.  And that’s just family… the list goes on and on. See what I mean? Haha!

So the Ateneo-La Salle connection is truly something that many in my country can relate to. I certainly can and am thinking that seeing this musical is very much a “must.” After watching “The Making of Rivalry” my interest in seeing the musical grew even greater! Here it is:

Have a happy week ahead filled with loads of happiness, wonderful music, and absolutely no regrets!

Bring It On!

/ LivE / Leave a comment

I love the word ready because it denotes a willingness, an openness, to jump into adventure, into learning, into life.

It also happens to be the theme of this week’s WordPress Photo Challenge, and here’s my take on it (a triathlete standing on the shore of the beach at dawn, stretching before jumping into the cold waters for the swimming event):

And here’s U2’s singing People Get Ready!

May you be ready for all the adventures this week has to offer! 🙂

Hope Blooms

/ LivE / 2 Comments

In 1991, much of the world was not aware of the existence of Mt. Pinatubo. I’m guessing that, and much of my guess is based on the fact that even I didn’t know of its existence before then… and I’m probably closer to it than much of the world.

After June 1991, the world couldn’t help but get acquainted with this heretofore-unknown volcano, who made its existence known in quite a nasty in-your-face kind of way. The effects of its eruption were felt worldwide, with ashfall that not only darkened our skies and covered the windshields of our cars like thick muddy snow but also reached as far as the neighboring countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia.

Because Typhoon Yunya decided to wreak havoc at the same time, lahar flows were copious. Lahar, an Indonesian word that  describes volcanic mudflows or debris flows, has the consistency, viscosity and approximately the same density of concrete: fluid when moving, then solid when stopped. (Thank you, Wikipedia). Successive rains that are so common in these islands did nothing to alleviate the massive lahar problems (think mudflow-floods, houses buried to the rooftops, destruction of agriculture and once-green lands suddenly grey and dismal as far as the eye could see).

But the Filipino takes pride in being hopeful, in standing straight, undaunted by whatever trials and misfortunes are thrown our way (and that, often accomplished with jokes and smiles, however incongruous they may seem to be). Little wonder then that my people eventually found a way to create stuff made of lahar – bathing “stones,” decorative figurines, export-quality photo frames, even a PC-casing according to a google search.

Now isn’t that just a beautiful demonstration of how hope can bring good out of disaster?

While driving through lahar-ravaged lands, I happened to spot a tiny patch of grass sprouting from what used to be just sprawling acres of grey sandy land. Ah, yes, hope springs eternal… literally.

Which brings us to my contribution to the WordPress Photo of the Week Challenge, with the theme HOPE :

And because children are always symbols of the beauty of hope, here’s a little child-inspired music to fill your day with happy hope!