bbbBBRRrrr ! ! !

right after this January snow storm

pure potential

Surprising things happen every day. Not just in secret faraway places, to savvy & debonair types - they happen all around us.

Beyond the physical world, beyond our thoughts and emotions - there exists an other world. A world of pure potential, a place where anything and everything is possible.

And it is in our observing it that we can effect its change. Maybe this is the true meaning of becoming an agent of change.

when you love somebody

when your heart is so pierced by love. . . .

bursting almost unbearably. . . .

what do you do?

history in the making

I'm the proud sib whose eldest has always been our pied-piper & torch-bearer.

Whether it was facing tanks in EDSA to oust the dictator Marcos or contributing to Obama's inauguration, my sister chose to be in the thick of it.

And although we may differ in opinions and choices, I'm so grateful to have her in my life.

incredibly simple !

& it works like a dream !

“I discovered that when I believed my thoughts, I suffered, but that when I didn’t believe them, I didn’t suffer, and that this is true for every human being. Freedom is as simple as that. I found that suffering is optional. I found a joy within me that has never disappeared, not for a single moment. That joy is in everyone, always.” ~ Byron Katie ~

For almost a decade, Byron Katie suffered from depression, rage, self-loathing, and constant thoughts of suicide. Then one morning in February 1986, she experienced a life-changing realization.

books & authors that shaped & influenced me

at different stages of my life, here's what I read. . . .

at 10, the Nancy Drew & Hardy Boys series
at 15, Victoria Holt/Jean Palidy, Mary Renault, C.S.Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Little Prince, Edgar Allan Poe, John Steinbeck, Earnest Hemingway
at 20, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, especially 100 Years of Solitude; Carlos Castaneda & his teachings from Don Juan, Ken Kesey, Aldous Huxley
at 25, Edgar Rice Burroughs, his whole Tarzan series, Ayn Rand, Kurt Vonnegut, Roald Dahl, John le Carre, Jules Verne
at 30, lots of science fiction & adult comics, especially stuff like Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos & Song of Kali
at 35, lots of fiction by A.S.Byatt, Anita Shreve, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman, Salman Rusdie, Oscar Wilde
at 40, female authors - Amy Tan, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, Babara Kingsolver, Isabel Allende
at 45, New Age info on natural healings, the Heirarchy of Masters & the Great White Brotherhood of This Creation
at 50, ancient scriptures of the major world religions - christianity, jusdaism, hinduism, buddhism, islam

surrender

in psychology & spirituality, surrender means that a believer completely gives up their own will and subjects their thoughts, ideas, and deeds to the will and teachings of a higher power

for many, resistance arises with ego - having issue over letting go, renouncing or emptying the self - especially after a lifetime of defining ourselves

is it a case of our own outlook? similar in nature to a half-filled glass - is it half full or half empty?

are we limited or expanded in the act of our surrender? what are we hanging on to? what are we willing to give up?

back in the U S A

all is well in my world. . . .just wish Mahala were here with me!

spent a wonderful break traveling back in the Philippines with my family - in Bacolod & Palawan