Seven@2013

Seven years ago, all I wanted was a new job - a normal day job. One that would keep me busy all through out the day and let me sleep and rest when the sun sets in. That was a major change, from my usual schedule starting at 8 pm til 5 am or my not so favorite shift from 3am to 12 noon, but that makes me feel ordinary and not some creature whose life begins when the night falls. :)

Then came my first day at work. With very little idea of what's in store for me and add to that the fears, uncertainties and doubts I felt, I still managed to get out of bed and prepare myself for my first day at the office.

I never thought I would go back to that moment and tell myself that I have made the right choice to log in for work that day. I am thankful for all the opportunities given to me, experiences I have gained and knowledge I acquired. But above all these I am grateful for the people I have met and for the friends I found in them.

Congratulations to me for surviving the seven challenging years of my life and a big thanks to all of you for adding fun, laughter and excitement to all those years. :D

Letters to My Son

It is a mystery why we fall in love. It is a mystery how it happens. It is a mystery when it comes. It is a mystery why some love grows and it is a mystery why some love fails.

You can analyze this mystery and look for reasons and causes, but you will never do anymore than take the life out of the experience. Just as life itself is more than the sum of the bones and muscles and electrical impulses in the body, love is more than the sum of the interests and attractions and commonalities that two people share.

And just as life is a gift that comes and goes in its own time, so too, the coming of love must be taken as an unfathomable gift that cannot be questioned in its ways.

Sometimes, hopefully at least once in your life - the gift of love will come to you in full flower, and you will take hold of it and celebrate it in all inexpressible beauty. This is the dream we all share.

More often, it will come and take hold of you, celebrate you for a brief moment, then move on. When this happens to young people, they too often try to grasp the love and hold it to them, refusing to see that it is a gift that is freely given and a gift that just as freely, moves away.

When they fall out of love, or the person they love feels the spirit of love leaving, they try desperately to reclaim the love that is lost rather than accepting the gift for what it was, then moving on.

They want answers where there are no answers. They want to know what is wrong in them that makes the other person no longer love them, or they try to get their lover to change, thinking that if some small things were different, love would bloom again.

They blame their circumstances and say that if they go far away and start a new life together, their love will grow. They try anything to give meaning to what happened. But there is no meaning beyond the love itself, and until they accept its own mysterious ways, they live in a sea of misery.
You need to know this about love, and to accept it. You need to treat what it brings you with kindness.

If you find yourself in love with someone who does not love you, be gentle with yourself. There is nothing wrong with you. Love just didn't choose to rest in the other person's heart.
If you find someone else in love with you and you don't love him, feel honoured that love came and called at your door, but gently refuse the gift you cannot return. Do not take advantage, do not cause pain. How you deal with love is how you deal with you, and all our hearts feel the same pains and joys, even if our lives and ways are different.

If you fall in love with another, and he falls in love with you, and then love chooses to leave, do not try to reclaim it or to assess blame. Let it go. There is a reason and there is a meaning. You will know in time.

Remember that you don't choose love. Love chooses you. All you can really do is accept it for all its mystery when it comes into your life.
Feel the way it fills you to overflowing, then reach out and give it away. Give it back to the person who brought it alive in you. Give it to others who deem it poor in spirit. Give it to the world around you in anyway you can.

This is where many lovers go wrong. Having been so long without love, they understand love only as a need. They see their hearts as empty places that will be filled by love, and they begin to look at love as something that flows to them rather than from them.

The first blush of new love is filled to overflowing, but as their love cools, they revert to seeing their love as a need. They cease to be someone who generates love and instead becomes someone who seeks love. They forget that the secret of love is that it is a gift, and that it can be made to grow only by giving it away.

Remember this, and keep it to your heart. Love has its own time, its own seasons, and its own reasons for coming and going. You cannot bribe it or coerce it, or reason it into staying. You can only embrace it when it arrives and give it away when it comes to you.

But if it chooses to leave from your heart or from the heart of your lover, there is nothing you can do and there is nothing you should do.

Love always has been and always will be a mystery. Be glad that it came to live for a moment in your life. If you keep your heart open, it will come again.

an excerpt from Kent Nerburn's book, Letters to My Son A Father's Wisdom on Manhood, Life and Lovehttp://www.scribd.com/doc/20188705/Kent-Nerburn-Book-Excerpts

Dreams are...reality?

For days or maybe weeks now, I’ve been dying to talk to a friend who now lives in another timezine. It has been months since the last time we chatted about what’s going on with our lives and I wonder what’s new with him. Well, the truth is, I really want to talk to him about something but I was so hesitant coz I don’t want to bother him with the personal issues that I have at the moment. For several days I tried to figure things out and find the answers on my own. But it was not easy. In the end, I asked another friend for some inputs on the ‘situation’ and he was able to clear my mind and provide me with important thoughts. It’s really nice to have someone telling you of the things you need to know rather than what you want to hear.

Then came Tuesday evening, I finally had the chance and I just can not let it pass. I said hi and sent him an instant message to which he replied saying that he woke up from a bad dream. I got worried so I asked him what the dream was about. He went on to give me the details -

In his dream, he was at the rooftop of a building with some other people. There’s this crazy person who was killing everyone and left him the only one alive. He managed to escape, left the rooftop and went to the woods where he hid. The attacker set the woods on fire, leaving him no choice but to come out. When the guy saw him, my friend threw things at him to keep him away. He kept on doing this until he was almost cornered and that was when he woke up. It was indeed a bad dream and it really worried him. He asked me to help him interpret the dream that he had.

One definition states that a dream is a succession of images, thoughts, sounds, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not fully understood. Some experts believe that dreams contain personal messages — and are linked to our emotions and mood. Others believe that dreams are simply random byproducts of the brain’s chemical changes. A study showed that dreaming is linked to a person’s emotion and not just a series of random events. Even skeptics have conceded that there must be some sort of relationship between dreams and emotions.

At one point, we can say that an individual’s emotional (and psychological) state has something to do with our dreams. I surfed the net for more information, focusing on the major details of my friend’s dream - being chased and the fire and here’s what I found out -

On being chased -

“To dream that you are being chased, signifies that you are avoiding a situation that you do not think is conquerable. It is often a metaphor for some form of insecurity. In particular, to dream that you are chased by an animal, represents your own unexpressed and unacknowledged anger which is being projected onto that animal. Alternatively, you may be running away from a primal urge or fear.”

On fire -

“Depending on the context of your dream, to see fire in your dream can symbolize destruction, passion, desire, illumination, transformation, enlightenment, or anger. It may suggest that something old is passing and something new is entering into your life. Your thoughts and views are changing. In particular, if the fire is under control or contained in one area, then it is a metaphor of your own internal fire and inner transformation. It also represents your drive, motivation, and creative energy. Alternatively, the dream may be warning you of your dangerous or risky activities. You are literally “playing with fire”.

On burning -

“To see something burning indicates that you are experiencing some intense emotions and/or passionate sexual feelings. There is some situation or issue that you can no longer avoid and ignore. Alternatively, it may suggests that you need to take time off for yourself and relax. Consider also how you may be feeling “burned out” or “burned up”.

My friend was speechless after reading these things. So I asked him if the interpretations are true with him. He confirmed by saying that he’s been into deep thinking for the past month and just like me, he has been having some problems - an emotional one, to be specific. Luckily, he was able to deal and get through with it. The solution was so simple, it was just a matter of making a choice and knowing the things that are more important to you. In this case, I was glad to know that he chose to be happy.

Upon hearing the story, I realized that sometimes we ask too many questions and we struggle to search for the answers…but most of the time we just don’t see it - it has always been there, right in front of us.