Happy Birthday, Ma!

My mother is the closest person to me. We share a deep bond that makes me feel unique. Despite all the troubles that she’s been through, she still manages to keep her feet on the ground and her head held up high. She’s always there for me when I need help, and I never hesitate to ask her for advice. She’s a strong person, always patient and forgiving, even when sometimes I feel that I don’t deserve her. My mother never thinks twice about offering concern, comfort and care to anyone she meets. She’s a truly wonderful person. My mother gives me a sense of security by showing me that she’s always there. Even though we’re miles and miles apart, she’s still with me in spirit, guiding me when I’m lost, helping me find the solution to the toughest problems you can imagine. She doesn’t need to tell me that she cares. I can understand her by the tone of her voice. She’s there to appreciate my laughter, she’s there to dry my tears, and most of all, she’s there to help me understand and accept life’s ups and downs. A lot has happened between us over the years, we spent time together, and time apart. There were times when I thought we couldn’t get any closer, and there were times when we seemed so far apart. But somehow, ever since I left home, we seem closer now than ever, maybe not by distance, but by our hearts. Happy Birthday, Ma. I love you so much.

Love

Everybody has felt it at one time or another, be it for a person, pet or even a non-living object; that feeling is love. Love is felt in different intensities. It may consume your whole being or perhaps just a little crush. Some people search for what seem their entire lifetimes for love, while others may seem to fall in and out of love on a regular basis. We can love many things but the love between couple is unique and special.

Love is rarely defined because everyone experiences it differently. What one person thinks is love, another may think is infatuation or vice versa. How does one know he or she is in love? There are many ways or symptoms; one ordinary thing becomes romantic or special when a person is in love. But love is often confused with infatuation because it is so all-consuming. Lovers are usually on each other’s mind. A person may make decisions based on the other, say whether or not to move to a different location for a job or just simply to follow when the other move to a different location (I can so relate to this). People make large life decisions based on their partners because they can’t imagine life without those people. So consumed by it that can sometimes cloud their minds as to what the right decision may be. After all, love can be extremely selfless.

Romantic love can be compared as being like in drunkenness; like too much alcohol or happy drugs. Love takes over all senses in a person and somewhat changes his or her outlook. A person in love is often said to be all-smiles and is difficult to make unhappy. It is no wonder most people seek love. It is so overpowering; it has the emotional intensity that forever changes the simplicity of feelings we have for others.  That’s why friends who became lovers rarely can go back to being “just friends”.

We can not really understand love better. We experience it in different ways and may not agree with the definitions. In the end, it doesn’t matter whether or not your kind of love fits into any category. Love is personal, and the most important thing is that it makes people feel good. When people love each other, there is no room for hate.

Happy Easter!

Easter is a large celebration in the Christian community, therefore as our country is nominally of Christian background, a national holiday is observed.

Some people feel that this holiday has lost its religious significance in today’s society. They feel that as society has developed moving from theocracy, the focus on religion in our lives has become less of an issue whilst we live in such a multi-cultural society. Therefore the development of society has managed to overlook the religious significance of this holiday in our lives. They feel that as Easter is not as widely spread as Christmas, it does not get across the message of Jesus’ victory over death and so consequently people misunderstand the reason for their holiday. They also argue that Easter has become a highly commercial event, by which, people exploit the season and misled as to the real meaning of the event, replacing the joy of Christ’s resurrection with chocolate eggs and bunnies. They also feel that as our world today become a multi-cultural society supporting many different religions, the message of God’s love for us may only be confined to those who have a belief in Christ so that certain beliefs and opinions are not forced on other sectors of the community to which the festival has no significance. Why then should these people share in a Christian holiday to which they bear no loyalty, gaining no knowledge of Christian principles and values?

Others feel that the message of Jesus’ resurrection is brought across to the most people during the Easter season. For practicing Christians there are no qualms as the celebrations is at the pivotal point of their faith. They can take comfort in the fact that Jesus has secured a place for [us] in heaven through his triumph in resurrection. There are number of non-practicing Christians, many of whom make an extra effort to go to church at crucial times in the churches year such as Easter and Christmas. To them, Easter and Christmas represent something to believe in, a real event, which they can celebrate, rather than any other ordinary mass, which is why they make a special effort on these particular occasions. By attending church and celebrating Easter of the right reasons, Christians are setting an example to others by the way they act and live. The season of spring is actually representative of the season of Easter. We can see in our physical environment many signs of new life, which is an important aspect of the Christian festival of Easter. It is true that Easter is a very profitable to many, but all these commercialisms such as eggs, bunnies of chicks have their origins lying in true religious meaning of Easter. The hollow egg represents an empty tomb from which Christ has risen after his victory over evil. The bunnies or chicks are both symbols of new life, which Christ has made possible for us. So with all these physical and commercial factors, how can the real meaning of the festival in Easter be lost?

I feel that there are many ways in which today’s society has developed and declined, therefore making the message of a religious festival in which only a certain amount of people are involved increasingly hard to spread. The message cannot though, be oblivious to all as at this time there are many different factors holding that message. I feel that to a faithful Christian, this message is at the heart of their spiritual life and so cannot be lost, and as they act as they do when they have received the message of humanity’s salvation, they are a constant reminder to others of Jesus’ love for us.

Regardless of Outcome, There are no Wrong Decisions

Many of us have a hard time making decisions. We fear that if we choose the wrong partner, then we’ll be stuck in an unhappy relationship. Or, if we make the wrong financial decision, we’ll make a bad investment. Yet, there are no wrong decisions. Perhaps we could, at times, make different choices regarding our relationships, personal pursuits, careers, or the right color of paint we should buy for our bedroom. Yet, regardless of the outcome, we always gain valuable experience or insights from any choice we make. Making a decision is always better than making no decision at all. At least we had the courage to decide, take a chance, and make a move in a particular direction. We can’t take action unless we make a decision first. And, a decision is never wrong because we always gain something from it – whether we get what we thought we intended or learn a valuable lesson. Sometimes, we need to follow through on a decision to realize that we don’t really want what we thought we did. For instance, maybe you always wanted to live in a big city, so you leave family, friends, and a secure job in a small town to move across the country. However, once you get there, you find out that you don’t really like city life. You never could have known that unless you tried it. So, you move back home, all the more appreciative of small town living. Rather than constantly wondering what else is out there, you are now able to fully embrace your surroundings and the direction your life there is taking. Your decision to move to the city did work out - just not in the way that you envisioned. While our decisions may not always lead us to what we thought we wanted, we always end up with what will ultimately make us happiest. Being able to make decisions is one of life’s privileges. Exercise your right to fearlessly decide.

The One Who Got Away

In your life you’ll make note of a lot of people. Ones with whom you shared something special, ones who will always mean something. There’s the one you first kissed, the one you first loved, the one you lost your virginity to, the one you put on a pedestal, the one you’re with and the one who got away.

The one who got away is the person with whom everything was great, everything was perfect, but the timing was just wrong. There was no fault in the person, no flaws in the chemistry but the cards just didn’t fall the right way, I suppose. 

 

I believe in the fact that ending up with someone, finding a longtime partner that is, does not lie merely in the other person. I can actually argue that an equal part, or maybe even the greater part, has to do with the matter of timing. It has to do with you being ready to settle down and commit to someone in a way that goes beyond the little niceties of giddy romance.

How often have you gone through it without even realizing it? When you’re not ready to commit in that mature manner, it doesn’t matter who you’re with, it just doesn’t work. Small problems become big, inconsequential become deal-breakers simply because you’re not ready and it shows. It’s not that you and the person you’re with are no good. It’s just that it’s not yet right and little things become the flashpoint of that fact. Then one day you’re ready. You are now. And when this happens you’ll be ready to settle down with someone. This person may not be the most perfect. Or might not be the brightest star of romance to ever have burned in your life but it’ll work because you’re ready. It’ll work because it’s the right time and you’ll make it work. And it’ll make sense, it really will.

So that day comes when you’re finally making sense of things and you find yourself to be a different person. Things are different, your approach is different, you finally understand who you are and what you want and you’ve become ready because the time has truly arrived. And mind you, there’s no telling when this day will come. Hopefully you’re single but you could be in a long-term relationship, you could be married with three kids, it doesn’t matter. All you know is that you’ve changed, and for some reason, the one who got away is the first person you think about.

You’ll think about them because you’ll wonder, "What if they were here today?" You’ll wonder, "What if we were together now, with me as I am and not as I was?" That’s what the one who got away is.

The biggest "What if?" you’ll have in your life. If you’re already with a partner, you’ll just have to accept the fact that the one who got away, got away. Believe me, no matter how fairy tale you think your love story is, this can happen to the best of us. But hopefully you’re mature enough to realize that you’re already with the one you’re with and this is just another test of your commitment, one which will just strengthen your relationship when you get past it. 

 

Sure, you’ll think about him/her every so often, but it’s alright. It’s never nice to live with a "might have been" but it happens. Maybe the one who got away is the one who’s already with someone; in which case it’s the same thing. You just have to accept and know that your memories of that person will probably bring a nice little smile to your lips in the future when you’re old and gray and reminiscing. But if neither of that is the case, then it’s different. What do you do if it’s not yet too late? Simple…find him, find her. Because the very existence of a "one who got away" means that you’ll always wonder, what if you got that one. Ask him out to coffee; ask her out to a movie, it doesn’t matter if you’ve dropped in from out of nowhere. You’d be surprised you just might be "the one who got away" as well for that person. You might drop in from out of nowhere and it won’t make a difference. If the timing is finally right, it’ll all just fall into place somehow and in the end, it would be a great feeling to be able to say to someone, "Hey you, you’re the one who almost got away." I should know, because I have.

I'm Back!

After a long break, I’m back blogging again; had to ditch my old blog though. I find my old blog gloomy and dark. I remember, I wrote something there about a friend’s attempt of killing himself. No wonder it brought me negative atmosphere and made me wrote nothing about but my rants. How I hated my job, my life and other people. This madness has to stop. It's about time that I look at life at a different perspective. I need to change. Choose my feelings wisely. Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.