The New Year Is Bound to Come to You!

   After celebrating the birth of our mighty Savior, Jesus Christ, we are to celebrate next the approaching New Year. Everybody is enamored with the essence of celebrating its coming. Everybody expects to gaze at spectacular fireworks. Families prepare their food for the Media Noche. Juveniles get ready to blow their horns and trumpets and are also excited to jump repeatedly as a response to their belief that they will grow taller if they do. People scatter and stay awake to wait for midnight firecrackers. The smiles of the many people express their amusement about the coming New Year. Some follow traditions practiced whenever New Year arrives, and some pursue their own preferred businesses.

    People have varied beliefs and feelings concerning New Year. Some feel gay. Some have the typical feeling. Some are indifferent. Whatever feelings they bear, New Year will still come unhindered.

    Happy New Year, fellows! May God shower on you the blessings He plans to grant you. He will surprisingly send you a phenomenal tempest of happiness and fulfillment. He will surely knock at your door to shed His vast love for us and fill the void within us left by the past year. New Year is His gift to us, children of His. It is an indication of new chance, new hope, and new joy. Avoiding further ado, I greet you again an exceedingly "Happy and Blessed New Year!"

Four Books for New Year

   December 30, 2010, the balikbayan box from my aunt that my entire family waited for finally did lying on the surface of our ground inside our house. It was so big, hinting us about the things inside it. Firstly, I thought about canned goods. Secondly, I thought about the shoes that I was a hundred percent certain about. Thirdly, I thought of new clothes since my aunt usually sends us via balikbayan boxes. It had been too long a time since I awaited the said box's arrival, and seeing it before me as I inscribed my signature on the consignee's paper definitely provoked the excitement that I have felt ever since I heard of my aunt's plan of sending us that. Since my parents weren't home and I am just left with doubting of opening it alone, I decided to reserve my excitement and busied myself. Thus, I temporarily forgot "the thing". I turned to busying myself in washing the dishes.

   Entering our home, from our backyard, I gazed at the box again, and like a gift-hungry child, couldn't control myself from taking with me the kitchen knife to cut the box's tape. Yes, I opened it but did not unpack it. (I actually unpacked half the load of the box and put it back in order to avoid my parents' maddened look due to my impatience.) After the thought, I for the second time let a business devour my time. I watched television.

   Ten feet away from me, the box for the third time caught my attention and enticingly beckoned me. I opened it again and got an almond snack. Beside the box, I tore the plastic of the snack and bit some tender almonds. Yummy! I bit another and—No, someone was entering the house. I hid what I was eating and knew it was one of my two kuyas. Surprised by a cube-shaped thing beside me, my kuya had a clue until he completely had the knowledge what it is. I was startled that he was as exciting as I was! Without asking me, he opened and ransacked the box to search for a pair of shoes that my aunt promised to give him. He found what he looked for and hid them immediately behind the kitchen door.

   After few moments, a cousin of mine entered our house. She found me busy cherishing the presence of something and approached me. She nonchalantly questioned me about that "something," and knew that it was the balikbayan box. She suddenly expressed her own excitement and tried to open the box, but I warned not to continue doing it.

   It came to my mind that I really had to wait for my Papa from travel and my Mama from our church.

   Time eventually taught me about patience. What else could I do aside from wait? Nothing suited it.

   After two hours of controlling my excitement, my Papa broke in. I didn't hear the sound of his jeep! He rushed toward the box, making me think that he wanted to check what is inside it. I thought he would be angry after knowing that the box was already opened, but I was wrong. He just asked me if was the one who cut the tape that lids it, and told me not to hasten opening it and wait for my Mama to arrive.

   So it was a moment of waiting once more! There was nothing new but to wait and wait until my annoyance was incited in the process.

   Thirty minutes later, I was to so great an extent exhilarated when I saw my Mama make her way through the door. Without delay and further ado I told her that the box had recently come. She was so elated, though not as elated as I was. I told her also that she was the last person to be waited for. Knowing that she had arrived, almost all members of my family astonishingly got inside to walk toward the "thing". We began opening the half-shut box and searched for things that belonged to each of us.

   There were long-sleeved clothes and denim pants. There were canned goods, which I truly believed to be there. There was a horror DVD, entitled "Sleepwalkers," based on Stephen King's original screenplay.

   Subsequent to half-emptying the box, remembering that I neglected to ask books from my aunt made my amusement diminish. It was so forgetful of me. I bombarded myself with reiterated questions: "Why didn't you ask for books? Those are what you want. aren't they?" I dragged a nearby chair and resumed my emptying the box. As I searched the box for something that would console me, I was shocked and filled with awe when I saw something unique. It was not a polo. It was not a DVD. It was not pants. It was not something resembling any ordinary thing. It was an rectangular object with red color and big letters. It was no other but a book! It was a novel with the title "The Husband" by Dean Koontz. Enthusiastically I scanned the pages and laid it on a small table. Before I reached the box again, my cousin called me and showed me three more books. They are enough to render me speechless. My happiness was unspeakable. My hands involuntarily seized them, and I scrutinized them soon. "The Shack" by William P. Young. "Cross Country" by James Patterson.

Temporary Leave

Oh, I will have to leave my blog temporarily. I hope that my hiatus will lead me to abundant ideas for new posts...

Life-concerning Questions and Opinion-based Answers

I was looking for questions about life, and I found these at www.marcandangel.com. Now, I am posting my answers for these selected questions.

Q: What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?

A: There is one thing that I would like to change about the world. It is the inequality between the wealthy and the destitute. This world is meant for all the people created by God. The wealthy make the most of in economic, political, legal, or social aspect of this society while the poor and powerless remain bowing their heads before them as if the former were gods.

   In political aspect, who dominate? The wealthy do. In economic aspect, who dominate? The wealthy do. In legal aspect, who dominate? The wealthy do. In social aspect, who dominate? The wealthy do.

   I am not fingering all the affluent people on earth. I am referring to those who selfishly use money as an instrument of wicked and fraudulent acts.

  In lieu of maintaining the order among all the people, the wealthy use their power to extend their privileges. They take advantage of the economic inequality between the wealthy and the poor.

  If I had the authority to alter the economic status of the wealthy, I would. I would make all people equal. A single man has his own inalienable rights, and even money can never take it away from him. Human rights are not determined by the measure of financial power.

Q: Which is worse, failing or never trying?

A: Never trying is worse than failing. Why? Failing means trying to know whether something is for you or not. If it is for you, you will next surely know the better strategy of acquiring it. If it is not, you might as well have tried to know that not all things that we want could be ours, and life is not always the way we think it is. On the other hand, never trying is tantamount eventually knowing that something is for you but you never attempted to the guts to find your way to obtaining it until it is too late.

Q: Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?

A: My ideal friend is someone who always tries to comprehend every message the world sends to everyone. He is someone who has deep beliefs and keeps things in perspectives. He is someone who keeps himself out of shallow world and possesses a great amount of hope in his heart. He is someone who values a friend as much as he does himself. He is someone who attempts to fathom the mysteries behind his friends' personalities. My ideal friend just resembles me, so I say yes.

Q: What is the difference between being alive and truly living?

A: The answer is just similar to the difference between living and existing.

On the one hand, being alive, to me, means releasing and having breath, moving body, consuming food, and taking up water. There's no more to living than those I mentioned.

On the other hand, truly living means one uses life not only for survival but also for realizing his aspirations and grasping his aims. One makes use of his life as a device for finding the purpose of life(raison d'etre) , Who is God.

When I Look At You

"Everybody needs inspiration. Everybody needs a song."

Every arrival of thoughts of your absence makes me realize that I feel so uninspired. Since you've been taking your own steps away from me, I have tended to lament the present. I wonder when I will be strong afresh to beat this nostalgia contesting my emotions every night before I retire to bed. This is slaying me. I just resort to listening to songs while I lie to console myself amidst the enveloping darkness. These are songs which attract the memories of the past, and the present sobs with the sensation they bring. 

"A beautiful melody when the nights are long."

The nights seem to last a hundred years, and dreams of you oftentimes visit me. Because my desperate longing for you never wanes, I can hardly stop entertaining the notions of going back to the times when you talk, personally or via phone, and believe you are never mine. You never were. 

There must be a melody that illuminates the darkness around. With the right tone and pitch, the melody has to embrace my body deprived of warmth. It is my fortress when the ghosts of the frustrating dreams, which I long detest, comes back. It is my shield against the nocturnal assaults of the hostile pain.

"'cause there is no guarantee that this life is easy."

Life is not secure to love's perils because love is both a friend and a nemesis to everybody like me. I want to see you. I crave your presence. I need you beside me to resurrect me from this nearly perpetual heartache. When I look at your photos, I barely know which means of emancipating myself I can do. I still find solace from them, anyway. Whether there is a "you" or not, I am constantly preoccupied by your thoughts and rendered too numb not to notice how the world does. Life is not to blame for my incomparable stupidity. I loved you; I love you; I will always love you. "I should let go of you," is what my mind cries at all times, but my heart rebels and tells me to "stay the same." Oh, my heart is an unruly renegade! This isn't so easy. You are my sweetest malady and the most bitter cure to me. I love you without your knowledge. You unknowingly ensnared me. It is not easy.

"Yeah, when my world is falling apart, and there's no light to break up the dark, that's when I look at you."

I still don't know how I obtain strength from looking at you. In the midst of an interminable dimness, I find light from a gaze of you. You are the most brilliant star of my sky, which serves as the beacon to aid this kind of blindness. In times I feel shrouded by uproarious murmurs and excruciating caresses of sorrow, there is one thing that keeps me standing tall. It is turning my eyes on you. I want to hold you eternally. I want to hear you whisper the most sweetly pronounced words I will have ever heard. I long for your warm arms to embrace me and cover me from this boundless cold I feel.

Make me feel the best sensation I could never experience with another. Render me ignited and alleviate the pain I feel in this very moment. Put me into fire of your burning love for me and help me escape this frigid feeling I have, derived from being all alone. Perhaps they won't happen, but they are my pleas I just want you to be aware of. With just your enduring presence, you simply fulfill me with awe and glee. Honestly, it hurts and kills, but I have to content myself in eying you. It is the simplest salve only you can give me.

"When the waves are flooding the shore, and I can't find my way home anymore, that's when I look at you." 
You are the sun that paves the way when I am led astray by this tender sorrow of mine. When turmoils invade my bewildered mind just like waves that flood the shore, I suddenly look at the face of the person who has completely captured me. You. I try to grasp at your hand. I try to find power from you to revive my cadaver-like body from the melancholy, which enslaved me during the worst of my solitary moments. I love you despite the shortcomings of truth. I love you despite the extreme brevity of time. I love you despite the wrath of fate towards me. I love you despite every tempest and flaw of life. In my world full of emptiness and pain, you are the saving grace.

 "You appear just like a dream to me." 
You are a scenario taking place every night I shut my teary eyes and fall into a feeling of temporary numbness. The surreal pictures of us together holding hands appear in the middle of the deep madness during my sleep. We are holding hands through a very road elongated by destiny to pave way for a long walk for us. We are paying each other looks directed to each other's longing eyes. We are embracing as the gusts of the wind penetrate our souls. We are uttering eager promises to each other and will hold on until eternity.
Then the new morn arrives. I unexpectedly dilate my shut eyes to see the most bitter truth. The scenes are meant for vainly waiting. Finding it hard to believe, I know that the outburst of tears are suddenly yet to come, and I will drown for hours. I , then, will halt the flow of tears and widely open my eyes to the truth. You are just a bittersweet dream; furthermore, the idea that you reciprocate my love for you is just an abysmal reverie...

Remorse versus Acceptance

Remorse

noun

guilt: a strong feeling of guilt and regret

   Seven words, the word remorse has. It is a noun meaning "a strong feeling of guilt and regret," as defined by Encarta. What is remorse? What is its significance in this world? How does it affect people who experience it? There are many is an answer that suits every question aforementioned.

   When I was younger than I am in this very present time, I used to draw myself out of everything that might help me express myself. I used to be reluctant about everything I thought I had to say, to act, and to believe. I was guilty of being a fool. I was a lukewarm dreamer who failed to translate my thoughts and beliefs into actions. I was a dreaming rock. I was so afraid of embarrassments that I hadn't been able to do what I thought is right. I was afraid of being unheard and unnoticed.

   The shadows of regrets still haunt me now. As I sit here typing this blog, my mind is running around the past truth that I was a bit of an utter coward who let fear intervene. I was a fool to have let my abilities rot. So now I am here, imagining things that could have been if only I tried. I am left with if only's and reminiscence.

   Of course, I know there were a plenty of opportunities. I know that I should have been fearless enough to make something I know I could have been proud of. I know it must have been right to stand on my own and erect my own tower of triumphs. Now, the opportunities are gone.

   I allowed fear and darkness to overpower me. I didn't attempt to fight them back. I just waited for the time to see myself beaten in a bout.

   I had the capacity to make a change in my life, but I just overlooked it. I had skills to show everyone, but I didn't believe myself. I had the wisdom to be a person of change, but I never thought that I could do something special by my own. These are the things that but's bring about to us, including me.

Acceptance

noun

coming to terms with something: the realization 

of a fact or truth and the process of coming to terms with it 


   Acceptance is a plain word meaning I have to desert my past mistakes and the naive and timid one that I once was. Regardless of the many anxieties and distresses that endeavor to deter me, I have to set off a journey to an abundant future.

   It is not that I desire being famed and prestigious; it is not that I crave an eminent and unsurpassed name. It is just that life whispers to me that I am duty-bound to free myself from erroneous recognition of others. They must know the person I really am, not the person they think I am. I no longer want to conceal myself behind a mask. I know I have to make the needful motion towards the realization of the person I am obliged to be.

   I am who I am and not who they think I am. I have my own name, and I can bejewel it with a diamond of courage, a ruby of perseverance, a sapphire of righteousness, a jade of strength, and emerald of immunity against fears.

   There is still a very long time for me to fight the tremendous fears of past. I should make amends with myself because I had been stupid. It is now the time for me to rise up. I am still young, constructing a fence made from mixture of hope and determination against worries ad weaknesses.

   I am of belief that I can make it further. I'm not a dreaming rock anymore. I am evolving into an intrepid, high-soaring eagle which tries to reach the highest part of the blue. "Nothing will have the right to thwart me," I sternly conclude.

Goodbye, My Friend

With you, I knew what happiness is.
The tears of my heart are dried by your words.

I became better than I used to be,

But for now we should take our own worlds.

There were times when you laughed so loud.

My heart’s joy’s magnified by your smile.

Now it’s time to walk our separate paths,

But I won’t forget you even for a while.

You taught me to be a determined one;

In hardships and pain, you cheered me up.

I’ll try to contain the sorrows of mine

Till the times we’re together will suddenly stop.

Memories of yours will linger inside.

If I were to wish, I’d wish for more time.

Yet I guess there’s no choice but to go and part,

We must hardly continue each other’s climb.

It’s time for us to realize our dreams,

But you are my dream and you have your own.

For years I have lived and now must I say

Thanks for the care that you have shown.

I know our time shall end up here,

Memories of the past should ne’er be missed.

I’ll remember your smiles and laughter

That brought my lonely life a twist.

For years of our friendship and joy,

My happiness could never be denied.

When you came to my life, it’s awesome that

My dark, colorless world then has been dyed.

This letter contains all the memories,

The fears, the dreams I’ve ever treasured.

Just remember you’ve been my healing.

By you, my wounds and aches were cured.

Now that we ought to take our own visions and tracks,

We must learn to accept the chances to fly.

As soon as you should leave your friend,

Do not ever forget to tell me goodbye…

"It really isn't a goodbye between us. We just ought to bid farewell to the moments we can never drag back especially since life is more like it. We are both busy and occupied with one another's priorities.

Yes, I should accept this painful, albeit fateful truth. I am left with no option but to submit to life's offered choice though it is never that easy.

*****

Comfort-inducing Bible Verses

Matthew 6:25-34
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
"And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Philippians 4:6-7  
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Psalm 46 
"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging."

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Psalm 32:8-10
"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you and watch over you."

Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.

Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the LORD's unfailing love
surrounds the man who trusts in him."

Philippians 4:4-7 
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Motivational Quotations by Some Celebrated Figures

Reach high, for stars lie hidden in your soul.

Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal.
Pamela Vaull Starr

All men dream but not equally. 

Those who dream by night in

the dusty recesses of their minds

wake in the day to find that it

was vanity; but the dreamers

of the day are dangerous men, 

for they may act their dream with

open eyes to make it possible.
T.E. Lawrence

The end of wisdom is to dream high

enough not to lose the dream in the seeking of it.
William Faulkner

Hold fast to dreams, for if dreams die, 

life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.
Lanston Hughes

The future belongs to those who 

believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

A skillful man reads his dreams for 

self-knowledge, yet not the details but the quality.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

To unpathed waters, undreamed shores.
William Shakepeare

 

Along with success comes a reputation for wisdom.
Euripides

Nothing can stop the man with

the right mental attitude from achieving 

his goal; nothing on earth can help the

man with the wrong mental attitude.
Thomas Jefferson

We are all motivated by a keen desire for praise, and the better a man is, the more he is inspired to glory.
Cicero

Try not to become a man of success but a man of value.
Albert Einstein

The key to realizing a dream

is to focus not on success but on significance

- and then even the small steps and little 

victories along your path with take on greater meaning. 

Oprah Winfrey

Human Life

“The brief span of our poor unhappy life to its final hour is hastening on; and while we drink and call for gay wreaths, perfumes, and young girls, old age creeps upon us, unperceived.”

   We have heard some people say "Life is short." Yes, life is short that we can never know when the exit of living will come. Demise, we know, may arrive tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or even now. It will just come out of the blue. However, in spite of what is stated above, we are not new to knowing that many people misspend their lives for vain worries and fears, blinding themselves from seeing things that will make their lives filled with so much wonder. They are apt to believe that nothing will happen.

   Believed and scrutinized by experts, life of a single human is expected to last no longer than a hundred years. Humans can barely reach the age of sixty. But these are not the truths that I am to put stress upon, nor am I after the other findings concerning the life span of a human being. I am on the trail of the truth that in a time in which the role of a temporary creature, with a transient chance to live, is being played, people seem to opt for living a dead, fruitless life, instead of a good and worthwhile life.

   Life is the most basic gift that our Creator has ever given to every child of His. We are given the opportunity to take a taste of a good living imbued with hope and love. We are granted a chance to dwell on this world with a thing called life that seems perfect. Derived from and created with a mix of Fatherly love and joy, all humans are given a body that we use in our daily and hourly lives. We breathe with a breath that originated from the gentle blow of God during His Creation.

   Life is not a happenstance. Since you were born, God has been planning something great, which no man can ever conceive. There is already a unique story rendered for each human, but the decision to realize this story is left to him. God wants us to feel happiness as we live, proving His undying love for us; nevertheless, we are not assured with a perfect living. Even an eternal life on earth is an implausible thought.

   This life in which we are bound to be does not mean an existence with utter happiness. We do not merely eat, enjoy, and sleep in our entire lives. We also starve, grieve, and become exhausted. It is inconceivable to live happily without the entrance of sorrow.

    How can we procure fateful lessons in our life if there is no suffering? If there is no suffering, there is no such word as patience. If there is no sadness, there will not be a word like joy. Despite the brevity of our lives, there are profuse lessons that await us. The more the storms, the more the lessons.

    We are certainly cognizant of the knowledge of the difficulty of being a human. Human life is like a road with many bends. The road itself refers to the process of living--  from the time we came into being to this very time-- and the bends to the twists and trials we usually undergo. These bends bring about the onset of having ideas of surrendering and breaking down. We, sometimes,  go through many struggles for survival and are overwhelmed with the onslaught of difficulty. We eventually capitulate when we perceive the hurdles in the way until our eyes, thus, unknowingly become clouded with weaknesses, getting unable to know that bends in the road are no tantamount to dead ends. Hardships do not mean halting life. These are not meant to ruin an individual.  They are just the cement which fortifies our capacity to build the bricks which denote you as a complete human.

    A clear vision of a bright future compensates for the intricacy of our stay on earth, and a vague, negative vision of future solely exacerbates the complexity transpiring in every area of our world. Life is a canvas we can paint on. It is our choice to paint what kind of picture of life we want to depict. It is in our hands the power to have every stroke we prefer to make a vivacious picture in the surface we paint on. Address your focus to the brighter side of life, not to the darker one. The best painter of life is not the one who is celebrated because of his notable works, but the one who is not used to painting well yet combats the force of adversity to make the best painting of life ever made.

   A human being, like you and me, is the best recipe cooked by God. We are exceptional, differing from the other creatures in this world. Be appreciative for we do not share the fate of the animals that roam the forest, uncertain and  aimless. Be gratified because we have the many privileges that the plants do not acquire.

   Life, though briefer than it appears, is a journey with bountiful lessons. There are always the dark and the light, opposing each other, and the decision to conspire with either of these two elements is our accountability.

   We are given a life that is very temporary, but we are given many chances and much time to imbue it with a meaning beyond compare.

   Accepting the hard by letting the easy make up for it is similar to rapprochement between success and defeat and between prosperity and complexity of being a human. Simply step on the dirt of fears and dirt of worries, and your faith will coalesce these two forms of dirt into a mountain whose peak you can stand tall on. Live life to the fullest. Have yourself epitomize hope and miracles that God promised. Thank Him by living your life because He never reneges.

- Ruel Castalone Miralles (ruelmiralles12@yahoo.com)

I hope this simple writing of mine will aid the  down-hearted people....................

*****

Writing and Life

Writing is similar to expressing oneself.

In writing, you can indicate your feelings that you cannot translate into action. So write freely. Do not reserve your capacity to show who you are by writing in your blogs.

I propose that you write, for you can have the opportunities that the mouth can never reach. Write your life.