Author: Jocelyn Soriano

See her books like "Questions to God", "Mend My Broken Heart", "To Love an Invisible God", "Defending My Catholic Faith", "Of Waves and Butterflies: Poems on Grief" and more - click here.

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(You may freely quote excerpts from this website as long as due credit is given to author Jocelyn Soriano and the website itakeoffthemask.com)

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what would you do

What Would You Do In 1,000 Years?

WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN 1,000 YEARS?

If we could have 1,000 years to live, maybe we wouldn’t be in such a rush now, don’t you think so?

Let’s admit it. At one time or another, we wished to live forever, to have all the time we need in order to do everything we wanted to do. Forever seems too long for our imagination, so why not visualize a thousand years instead?

Given a thousand years to live, what would you do? What difference would it make? To be able to live for more than ten generations and see your great great great grandson, wouldn’t it be amazing to play pretend once in a while?

If I were to live for 1,000 years myself, I’ll probably do the following:

  1. I’d still continue blogging and document what adventures a person can go through in 1,000 years.

  2. I’d continue to strive to have enough passive income to free my time (as if I don’t have enough, haha), and not waste 1,000 years just trying to earn a living.

  3. I’d get rich enough to spend on my travels and further studies.

  4. I’d travel the world with my loved ones.

  5. I’d study arts and music.

  6. I’d learn to cook and make the most tasty mouth-watering dishes.

  7. I’d learn some sports.

  8. I’d discover the wonders of the human mind and teach others what I’ve learned.

  9. I’d probably be a healer.

  10. I’d love like I’ve never loved before.

  11. I’d do what I can to make this world a better place before journeying forth to the next!

Just in case you’re wondering why I’ve listed 11 things instead of the usual 10, I have only 1 alibi. I’d live for 1,000 years, wouldn’t I? 🙂

I’ve asked this same question in my plurk.com network and one reply really got my attention. The person said that given 1,000 years to live, what he wants to do is to look for another person who can live 1,000 years just like him! I liked that answer, nobody would want to be lonely for that long, certainly. How about you? Given 1,000 years to live, what would you do?

Categories
relationships

Never Let Yourself Down

NEVER LET YOURSELF DOWN

There will come a time when people would put you down. People would judge you. Those who hardly know you. And those whom you thought knew you well. You will look for comfort but you will find none. You will wander the streets weeping but not a friend will be in sight.

Never let yourself down. Take heart, for no matter how awful the accusations against you are, you are still a child of God.

This is the time when your love for yourself will be tested. Whether you will believe what others say about you, or whether you will stand your ground because you know yourself best.

Take comfort knowing that you are never alone. God still believes in you, you know. God loves you and sees in you the person everybody else failed to see.

Never fail to see that person. Never let yourself down.

Categories
Life

A Different Diary

A DIFFERENT DIARY

My friend and I went to the Manila Ocean Park and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon. It was so nice just having a cup of coffee while chatting and having a good view of the sea.

We’ve talked about good things, dreams, envisioned the kind of life we’d like to have.

And while we’re there, we really felt it as though all those visions were already true. Dreams were not mere dreams, but visions of a reality just within our reach and are sure to happen very soon.

I’d like to hold on to that vision I had, to that same inspiring and uplifting feeling. I’d like to take a record of it, like a picture I can go back to whenever I wish to, so I can regain my focus and remember the purposes close to my heart.

We need more of those feelings, a register of it, more than the ordinary journal we write daily, merely describing or listing that activities we had during the day.

In an ordinary journal, I might just write an entry like this:

“Went to the Manila Ocean Park. Bought souvenirs. Had capuccino at Starbucks with my friend.”

And that’s it. Now what importance would that note give to me if not accompanied by the “good feeling” I’ve had? That feeling that is almost like a prayer, a prophecy of the wonderful things soon to come?

Let us make more journals like that, a register of good feelings that can give us light when our days become too predictable and grey.

Categories
relationships

Loving Yourself Through God’s Eyes

Loving Yourself Through God’s Eyes

There are times when no matter how hard we try, we feel unable to love ourselves. In such times, we feel its so much easier to love other people. After all, they’re not with us 24 hours in a day We don’t see all their weaknesses. We don’t have to live with their regrets. And we’re not the ones who have to carry their hurts.

In such times, we feel overwhelmed. We don’t have enough strength to accept this person we see in the mirror everyday.

We don’t have enough love to love her. We don’t have enough strength to uplift her when she couldn’t believe in herself anymore.

During such times, I’ve known of a way to help you continue improving your relationship with yourself. And that way is to see yourself through God’s own eyes.

In God’s eyes, there is no judgment, there is only acceptance. In God’s eyes, there is no pain too hard to bear nor weaknesses too weak to be overcome by His insurmountable strength.

God can embrace us wholeheartedly, opening us up yet sustaining us and healing us at the same time. God sees all our potentials. God sees our light when all that we can see are our shadows.

God sees this person who falls but who has the power to get up again and again. God sees this person who gets hurt but does not become hard or bitter, only softer, more resilient to change.

God sees you. God cherishes you. God’s eyes love you more than anyone could ever love you as you really are.

Categories
relationships

Separating Our Mistakes From Our Self-Image

Separating Our Mistakes from Our Self Image

Sometimes its so easy not to separate our behavior from our image of ourselves, to separate the sin from the sinner, so they say.

When we make blunders, we feel we’re failures. When we have broken relationships, we feel we are broken too and worthless.

However, if we truly desire to improve our relationship with ourselves, we must learn to practice acknowledging our errors without eroding our overall belief in our worth.

So you failed in your exams, does it mean you haven’t learned anything? So you weren’t accepted for a job, does it mean no employer would later on trust you and consider you a valuable asset to his company?

Things like those happen. Things change. What should remain intact is our respect and love for ourselves, our belief that we are God’s children and no matter how many mistakes we make along the way of growing up, we are still destined for Grace and eternal Joy!

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