Category: Words of Wisdom

Why do we love a certain person

and not another?

Because that person awakens in us

a connection

with our best

or worst traits.

We feel one with that person

such that by loving him or her

we feel

that we have also loved

ourselves.

How do you define wealth?
Is it based on material possessions?
Is it based on one’s bank account and real estate properties?

Such is the way we define wealth
that we label those who possess more of those things rich
while those who have little of those things poor.

Hence, the prophets and seers are poor
the saints are poor
Jesus is poor
Mother Teresa was poor

Yet are they?

I’ve realized they weren’t poor at all,
they are rich!

They are rich because they lack nothing
and have everything they need.
Whenever they desire to give something,
they pray
and they know that they are heard.
They don’t need to carry with them
a lot of money all the time
because they know
that they will have what they need
just in time.
It will be provided
one way or the other.

They don’t need to hoard a lot of wealth
because they are not afraid,
because their powers are not based
on material things.

Power to summon all things just when you need them,
to draw upon the great heavenly bank
which never goes bankrupt nor insolvent.
What more power could be greater?
What wealth could be greater?

Poor people hoard.
They acquire as many material possessions
as they could because they are afraid
they would later on run out of blessings.

The truly rich ones give endlessly
and receive endlessly.
They lack nothing
and always have everything they need!

A Letter To My Younger Self

I’ve started reading the book “What I Know Now (Letters to My Younger Self)”. It is a collection of letters written by forty one famous women narrating what they have learned in life, things they wanted to tell their younger selves.

I haven’t finished reading it yet but I couldn’t help but be touched by the heartfelt letters of the women who wrote it:

Don’t let anybody raise you. You’ve been raised.

Try more things. Cross more lines.

You don’t have to be afraid of living alone.

Your hair matters far far less than you think.

Suppose that we could really write letters to our younger selves. What would you write?

I’ve tried to write my own letter and here’s what I’ve come up with.

Letter to my 13 year old self

Don’t study too hard. And don’t be so anxious keeping that scholarship. You’re going to pass with flying colors. You’re even going to top your class in college and graduate with the highest honors.

Even if you don’t study so hard now, you’d still be able to make it. You’ll find yourself a stable job and be able to support your family.

There are other things in life you need to learn more than the lessons taught at school – things about yourself, your own powers, your own beauty. You are special and loved. Let none convince you otherwise.

At this time in your life, you’d have met a loyal friend whose friendship you will enjoy for the next 20 years. After about five years, you’ll meet another one who will be like a soul sister to you when the time comes. You will have true friends from whom you can learn much. Never ever think that you are alone.

Spend more time with your grandpa. Memorize his laughter, his strong yet gentle touch, the way he looks at you like a dear child. His fatherly love will be a great fountain of warmth you’d always go back to when times become hard and wearisome.

Try to understand your daddy more. He loves you, you know? Even if he can’t show it yet as clearly. There will be a time when you’re going to feel his protection and care for you. Try to catch a smile from his face. Remember it well when you do.

Don’t be so hard on yourself when you make mistakes. We’re only human after all. And God loves you just the same. God requires nothing from you. He doesn’t need you obeying rules just for the sake of obeying them. He just wants you to be happy and to have a meaningful life.

You are going to travel to far and wonderful places. You are going to be in touch with many people and you are going to give them hope. So keep your hopes up. Smile. Everything’s going to be just fine.

Enjoy your youth. Welcome your doubts but be not afraid. You’re in a most precious phase of your life. Make more friends. Laugh more often. Play as much as you could possibly enjoy. Tomorrow will take care of itself. Let your today be the vessel of joy you hold within your heart.

We’re not always fortunate enough to be in the company of good and highly conscious people.  There are times when we encounter selfish violent people who don’t even care what harm they do to others.  How do you deal with those kinds of people?

Granted that they are only doing those things because they are not conscious enough, they do not know the harm they are doing to others and to themselves.  It’s easy to understand it that way theoretically.  But what if you have a real encounter with such a person?  What if you discovered her saying things that damage your reputation behind your back?  Or what if a person was just plain rude and gave you derogatory remarks in front of others?  Would you still be able to understand? Will you not get angry?

Other people have a quick fix for this.  They tell themselves that they wouldn’t get angry and take revenge because they don’t want to go down to that lower level where those people are.  That’s a quick fix because it will immediately boost your ego to the detriment of the other person’s worth.  She deserves it, right?

If you are truly highly conscious however, you know deep within that it doesn’t reflect the whole story.  You know that the person was only lost and unaware of what she’s doing.  But it doesn’t mean that that person is no longer valuable in God’s eyes.  That doesn’t mean that the person no longer has a soul and no longer has the right to exist like you and me.  So how do you do it?  How do you treat a bad person?

Before you answer these questions, could you please ask yourself, “How do I want to be treated?” Not that you’re a bad person. Of course you’re not!  If you ever did some bad things in your life, you didn’t mean it, and most of the time, you weren’t even “aware” you’re hurting other people already, right?

If I were that person, here’s how I want to be treated.  I want to be treated with understanding and tolerance, because if I had known I would do something bad and I had the power not to do it, I wouldn’t do it.  I know I’m not yet perfect, but I’m on my path to growth.  I ‘m doing my best here to be the best person I could be.  I want to be treated with respect, not like I’m some kind of lower being with no soul or hope of ever being redeemed into a better future.  But I would also like to be stopped from doing harm.  And I would like to be aware that I’m doing something bad.  I would like to realize my faults so I could grow and do better.

So, how do you treat a bad person?

WHY CHANGE?

Have you ever wondered why things should change? Why is nature like that? Animals are born, they grow strong, they grow old, they mate to give birth to new animals. Why grow old? Why give birth to another? Isn’t it enough that they stay the same and play the role necessary in this life?

Asking these questions however prompts us to consider another scenario – a scenario where nothing changes and everything stays the same. Can you imagine a world where there is no blossoming flower? No new plant to spring forth from the ground? No season but springtime? No time but day or eternal night? What kind of world would that be then?

Yet we proceed with our questions. What is the use of diversity, of evolution if no one profits from seeing them? If nothing lasts long enough to witness such glories unfold one after the other?

We must admit it. We are the ones who wanted to see. We are the ones who wanted to remain. But even men, with all our intelligence and awareness die. We can’t seem to escape death. All that remains of us is our history. Yet is it?

Maybe life’s real essence is two-fold: one that changes, and one that stays the same. It isn’t nature’s way to destroy, but to cultivate, and to carry forward the harvest yielded from its scattered seeds.

In this we find comfort. For there is just too much value in one human life lived for it to be buried beneath the ground forever, no fruit whatsoever yielding from it all.

There must be something then that cultivates the seed of one life for it to grow forward, multiply, and burst forth with unending life.

No human life can be passed on only through biological procreation, nor through any song, novel, or even a detailed diary of a person’s life. All these things diminish only the said person’s life instead of preserving it whole and making it yield. The value of one’s human existence is in the person’s soul. Where forth does it go?