Blue Pill Booboo
The author sincerely apologizes to all Matrix fans for having quoted the wrong-colored pill.
Jean Paul, you were right; it was the red one.
~ NRMLT
Thursday, July 24, 2003
Wednesday, July 23, 2003
A Spoonful of Sugar 2003, v.7
Seeing Signs
By Niña Rica Marie L. Terol
“You’ll never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow” ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
(To CC and Niño and their art; and to Jean Paul, his music, and the blue pill.)
Before anything else, I’d like to apologize to Mr. Pascasio (Nikko, is that you?) for not responding to his question on goals and ethics in this Spoonful.
Something amazing happened to me this weekend that I just had to share with everyone.
I came face-to-face with signs that I had never thought I would find. Signs that I had often prayed for but forgotten about. Until now.
When I saw them and recognized them for what they were, I felt as if I had seen ghosts from my past. I was stunned, overwhelmed, and scared. I could hardly believe what I was seeing and feeling, but I had to believe that they were real.
Coincidences happen once. But a string of coincidences that are somehow related to the subject of my discernment must mean something.
I cannot relate the details of my experience, but I’d like to talk about recognizing the signs that exist around us.
They are everywhere.
In The Alchemist, the bestselling work by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, a shepherd boy named Santiago leaves his Spanish hometown in search of a treasure. He encounters many interesting individuals—a gypsy, an old king, a crystal merchant, an Englishman, and finally, the Alchemist—all of whom teach him about understanding the Language of the World.
It is a language that can be understood by everyone who lives, including plants and animals. It needs no words, no foreign vocabulary and grammar, no special characters. Only a true understanding of our own Personal Legends—our reasons for being—and an openness of heart, mind, and soul.
Do you believe in signs? Some of you probably do, but many probably don’t.
We live in a very pragmatic and technical world that it seems foolish to talk about signs, much less look for them.
But think back to some of the decisions that you’ve had to make in your life. Did you decide entirely based on your clear-headed judgment, or did you get some help from a friend’s advice, a passage in a book, or a nagging feeling in your chest?
And how about some decisions that you didn’t make? Have you ever been at that point where you had to either move or stay, and you chose to stay not because you really wanted to, but because you were scared to move? Do you still get that nagging feeling in your chest that you should have done something?
I’ve felt that countless times in my young life. And with each time that I chose to ignore the signs, I felt that I was straying farther from my dream. The signs were leading me to a certain direction, but I stubbornly chose to go my own way. And I got hurt. Over and over again.
We do that fairly often, don’t we? We stay paralyzed and stuck to our little corner of the world because we’re scared of taking risks—especially personal ones. We’re scared of moving. We’re scared of changing. We’re scared of failing.
The weird thing is, we’re not scared of not succeeding.
And that’s probably the greatest tragedy of all. Paulo Coelho says, “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.”
I’m not fatalistic, and I still believe that we make our choices. Nothing is pre-destined to the point where we’re no longer required to act on anything. But I believe that signs guide us to the right path, so that we can achieve our dreams sooner.
These signs are found within us, in the stillness of our hearts, in the deepest recesses of our being.
To actually see them, and recognize them for what they are, we have to clear ourselves of all doubts, fears, and worries. We’ve got to remove the trappings that stay stuck inside us. We’ve got to know who we really are and what we’re really meant to do. It’s a painful task, but it will be even more painful to go through life not knowing our life’s purpose, our life’s worth.
Listen to your heart. Just try.
(I’ve always been a mind-over-heart person, but the moment I listened to my heart everything just fell into place. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”)
Here’s another passage from The Alchemist:
“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?”
“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you’re thinking about life and about the world.”
“You mean I should listen, even when it’s treasonous?”
“Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you’ll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them.”
“You’ll never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.”
Good luck with your life's pilgrimage. May the signs be with you.
(Written: July 23, 2003)
Seeing Signs
By Niña Rica Marie L. Terol
“You’ll never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow” ~ Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist
(To CC and Niño and their art; and to Jean Paul, his music, and the blue pill.)
Before anything else, I’d like to apologize to Mr. Pascasio (Nikko, is that you?) for not responding to his question on goals and ethics in this Spoonful.
Something amazing happened to me this weekend that I just had to share with everyone.
I came face-to-face with signs that I had never thought I would find. Signs that I had often prayed for but forgotten about. Until now.
When I saw them and recognized them for what they were, I felt as if I had seen ghosts from my past. I was stunned, overwhelmed, and scared. I could hardly believe what I was seeing and feeling, but I had to believe that they were real.
Coincidences happen once. But a string of coincidences that are somehow related to the subject of my discernment must mean something.
I cannot relate the details of my experience, but I’d like to talk about recognizing the signs that exist around us.
They are everywhere.
In The Alchemist, the bestselling work by Brazilian author Paulo Coelho, a shepherd boy named Santiago leaves his Spanish hometown in search of a treasure. He encounters many interesting individuals—a gypsy, an old king, a crystal merchant, an Englishman, and finally, the Alchemist—all of whom teach him about understanding the Language of the World.
It is a language that can be understood by everyone who lives, including plants and animals. It needs no words, no foreign vocabulary and grammar, no special characters. Only a true understanding of our own Personal Legends—our reasons for being—and an openness of heart, mind, and soul.
Do you believe in signs? Some of you probably do, but many probably don’t.
We live in a very pragmatic and technical world that it seems foolish to talk about signs, much less look for them.
But think back to some of the decisions that you’ve had to make in your life. Did you decide entirely based on your clear-headed judgment, or did you get some help from a friend’s advice, a passage in a book, or a nagging feeling in your chest?
And how about some decisions that you didn’t make? Have you ever been at that point where you had to either move or stay, and you chose to stay not because you really wanted to, but because you were scared to move? Do you still get that nagging feeling in your chest that you should have done something?
I’ve felt that countless times in my young life. And with each time that I chose to ignore the signs, I felt that I was straying farther from my dream. The signs were leading me to a certain direction, but I stubbornly chose to go my own way. And I got hurt. Over and over again.
We do that fairly often, don’t we? We stay paralyzed and stuck to our little corner of the world because we’re scared of taking risks—especially personal ones. We’re scared of moving. We’re scared of changing. We’re scared of failing.
The weird thing is, we’re not scared of not succeeding.
And that’s probably the greatest tragedy of all. Paulo Coelho says, “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.”
I’m not fatalistic, and I still believe that we make our choices. Nothing is pre-destined to the point where we’re no longer required to act on anything. But I believe that signs guide us to the right path, so that we can achieve our dreams sooner.
These signs are found within us, in the stillness of our hearts, in the deepest recesses of our being.
To actually see them, and recognize them for what they are, we have to clear ourselves of all doubts, fears, and worries. We’ve got to remove the trappings that stay stuck inside us. We’ve got to know who we really are and what we’re really meant to do. It’s a painful task, but it will be even more painful to go through life not knowing our life’s purpose, our life’s worth.
Listen to your heart. Just try.
(I’ve always been a mind-over-heart person, but the moment I listened to my heart everything just fell into place. “When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”)
Here’s another passage from The Alchemist:
“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?”
“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. Even if you pretend not to have heard what it tells you, it will always be there inside you, repeating to you what you’re thinking about life and about the world.”
“You mean I should listen, even when it’s treasonous?”
“Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you’ll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them.”
“You’ll never be able to escape from your heart. So it’s better to listen to what it has to say. That way, you’ll never have to fear an unanticipated blow.”
Good luck with your life's pilgrimage. May the signs be with you.
(Written: July 23, 2003)
Monday, July 14, 2003
A Spoonful of Sugar 2003, v.6
A Cause Worth Dying For
By Niña Rica Marie L. Terol
(For Olive & Ernie, JL, Boggs, Kristine, Danny & Meg, and Lesley, the best mentors ever; and for Eiles, who brought me to them.)
I had a feeling that someone would ask me about death soon enough. A Spoonful of Sugar is such a perky column that anyone who didn’t know me well would probably think that I get scared at the thought of dying. On the contrary, death doesn’t faze me; in fact, my first major purchase as a working individual was a life insurance policy, which I got at 19. (I’ve also got my will written up in my head; I just need to find someone who’d help me write it down and not get freaked that some 23-year-old is actually drawing up a will already.)
Death reminds me of the importance of my life, and why I should work fast to reach my goals.
My friend Chad asked me if I had a cause, and if I was willing to die for it. Without batting an eyelash, I can tell you that YES, I DO have a cause. And YES, I am very much willing to die for it. Even if I had to do it several times over.
For me, the greatest tragedy would be to die in a freak accident, because it would mean that I died a senseless death. The greatest honor would be to die working for what I truly believe in.
I believe in Ninoy Aquino’s immortal words, that the Filipino is worth dying for. Sure, we may have our flaws as a people. We do have our weaknesses, and these are often enough for people to say “this country is going to the dogs”. Seeing how our countrymen are operating the country may make us want to leave the country and seek greener pastures, but I REFUSE to believe that there is no longer any hope for Filipinos.
I will die proving that life can be better HERE. And I will do that by using all my skills, talents, and abilities to empower the Filipino and enable him or her to have a better life NOW.
How, you ask? How can life be better when there’s so much greed, corruption, injustice, poverty, and so on and so forth? How can you say that there’s hope when over 90% of the country is hardly surviving, and when the people who are supposed to serve us are the ones bringing us down? How can you be so naïve, Nines?
Well, let me ask you: how can you have so little faith in people, and in yourself? How can you think that it’s all over when you’ve hardly even begun scratching the surface of people’s potentials?
I believe that there’s hope for the Philippines because I believe in the power of human potential. We have what it takes; look at all the Filipinos who’ve made a mark for themselves abroad! We just have to believe that we can collectively do it here, where it counts the most. We have to believe, and know, that we need not step out of the country in order to make it big.
All people need is the chance, the opportunity, to make things happen. Once they have that, you’ll be surprised at how much they can achieve without being told what to do.
People need other people to believe in them.
It’s that simple. It’s not easy, but it’s not complicated, either. It just takes a different mindset to start believing that anything is possible—that waste can be eliminated, that justice can be cleared, that voters can be educated, that the government can be “decontaminated”.
It’s all about mindset, attitude, and behavior.
I’ve been working on an entrepreneurship project with outstanding business professionals who believe that anything is possible, and that Filipinos are worth dying for. Although successful in their respective careers, they have chosen to work together to empower Filipinos and bring them closer to the life that they deserve. Theirs is a lofty goal, I know that. But the more I work with them, the more I see how passionate they are about helping others, and the more I see their passion rubbing off on other people. I also see them achieving results, as each day I get to meet interesting and inspiring people who have made their own dreams come true. Just last month I met two Muslim couples from Sibutu Island, Tawi-Tawi, who were able to make a better life for themselves. I didn’t even know that there were people in Tawi-Tawi, but there they were, flesh and blood, beaming and happy because they’ve gotten out of their little box labeled “there’s no hope in the Philippines”.
If these people from Sibutu Island, Tawi-Tawi can make something of their simple lives, then I have no doubt that anyone from anywhere in the country can do the same.
So the next time you think of saying “there’s no hope in this country”, please look around to make sure I’m not there. I’ll fight to my death to prove that it’s not true.
(Written: July 13, 2003)
A Cause Worth Dying For
By Niña Rica Marie L. Terol
(For Olive & Ernie, JL, Boggs, Kristine, Danny & Meg, and Lesley, the best mentors ever; and for Eiles, who brought me to them.)
I had a feeling that someone would ask me about death soon enough. A Spoonful of Sugar is such a perky column that anyone who didn’t know me well would probably think that I get scared at the thought of dying. On the contrary, death doesn’t faze me; in fact, my first major purchase as a working individual was a life insurance policy, which I got at 19. (I’ve also got my will written up in my head; I just need to find someone who’d help me write it down and not get freaked that some 23-year-old is actually drawing up a will already.)
Death reminds me of the importance of my life, and why I should work fast to reach my goals.
My friend Chad asked me if I had a cause, and if I was willing to die for it. Without batting an eyelash, I can tell you that YES, I DO have a cause. And YES, I am very much willing to die for it. Even if I had to do it several times over.
For me, the greatest tragedy would be to die in a freak accident, because it would mean that I died a senseless death. The greatest honor would be to die working for what I truly believe in.
I believe in Ninoy Aquino’s immortal words, that the Filipino is worth dying for. Sure, we may have our flaws as a people. We do have our weaknesses, and these are often enough for people to say “this country is going to the dogs”. Seeing how our countrymen are operating the country may make us want to leave the country and seek greener pastures, but I REFUSE to believe that there is no longer any hope for Filipinos.
I will die proving that life can be better HERE. And I will do that by using all my skills, talents, and abilities to empower the Filipino and enable him or her to have a better life NOW.
How, you ask? How can life be better when there’s so much greed, corruption, injustice, poverty, and so on and so forth? How can you say that there’s hope when over 90% of the country is hardly surviving, and when the people who are supposed to serve us are the ones bringing us down? How can you be so naïve, Nines?
Well, let me ask you: how can you have so little faith in people, and in yourself? How can you think that it’s all over when you’ve hardly even begun scratching the surface of people’s potentials?
I believe that there’s hope for the Philippines because I believe in the power of human potential. We have what it takes; look at all the Filipinos who’ve made a mark for themselves abroad! We just have to believe that we can collectively do it here, where it counts the most. We have to believe, and know, that we need not step out of the country in order to make it big.
All people need is the chance, the opportunity, to make things happen. Once they have that, you’ll be surprised at how much they can achieve without being told what to do.
People need other people to believe in them.
It’s that simple. It’s not easy, but it’s not complicated, either. It just takes a different mindset to start believing that anything is possible—that waste can be eliminated, that justice can be cleared, that voters can be educated, that the government can be “decontaminated”.
It’s all about mindset, attitude, and behavior.
I’ve been working on an entrepreneurship project with outstanding business professionals who believe that anything is possible, and that Filipinos are worth dying for. Although successful in their respective careers, they have chosen to work together to empower Filipinos and bring them closer to the life that they deserve. Theirs is a lofty goal, I know that. But the more I work with them, the more I see how passionate they are about helping others, and the more I see their passion rubbing off on other people. I also see them achieving results, as each day I get to meet interesting and inspiring people who have made their own dreams come true. Just last month I met two Muslim couples from Sibutu Island, Tawi-Tawi, who were able to make a better life for themselves. I didn’t even know that there were people in Tawi-Tawi, but there they were, flesh and blood, beaming and happy because they’ve gotten out of their little box labeled “there’s no hope in the Philippines”.
If these people from Sibutu Island, Tawi-Tawi can make something of their simple lives, then I have no doubt that anyone from anywhere in the country can do the same.
So the next time you think of saying “there’s no hope in this country”, please look around to make sure I’m not there. I’ll fight to my death to prove that it’s not true.
(Written: July 13, 2003)
Thursday, July 10, 2003
A Spoonful of Sugar 2003, v.5
The Other Side of the Coin
By Niña Rica Marie L. Terol
Each life is like a coin, with two sides. There’s a side that is introspective, inward-looking, concerned about who and where we are, and who and where we want to be. It’s the side that throws us these existential questions once in a while, and forces us to step back from the world. It asks, “Who am I really? What is my life’s purpose? Why am I here?”
Then there’s another side that is outward-looking, the social side of each human being. It’s the side that seeks acceptance, attention, love…the side that seeks growth in the context of others. This is where altruism, compassion, and empathy lie; it’s the side which forces us to go out and make our mark in the world and asks, “How can I make a difference in other people’s lives?”
I’m talking about this now not because I want to launch into a philosophical discussion about the Self and the Other, but because, right after sending out the latest Spoonful, a friend threw me this question: What about a cause? Are you willing to die for a cause?
I realized then that I had spent some time talking about personal dreams and visions, but had forgotten the other side, the social side, of each human life. We exist not only to fulfill our personal goals, but to do so in the context of a larger community. We are here to accomplish a life mission, but this inevitably involves other people, be it your family, your community, or the rest of the world.
We need dreams to fuel our existence, to live a successful life; but we need a cause to live a meaningful, a significant, life.
These causes don’t need to be as great as saving the rainforests, or as noble as fighting for indigenous peoples’ rights to ancestral lands. It can be as basic as ensuring that our communities are safe and secure, or encouraging our neighbors to segregate our waste. What’s important is for us to look beyond ourselves, and ask what we can do for the world. How can we align our personal dreams with a cause that will benefit more people outside ourselves?
Tricky question, huh? (We don’t even know what we really want, how can we know what we can do for the world?!)
But it’s a question worth asking. So… think about it. You may be surprised with how easy it can be to live a successful and significant life.
Oh, and do I have a cause? Am I willing to die for it? Stay tuned and find out.
(Written: July 10, 2003)
The Other Side of the Coin
By Niña Rica Marie L. Terol
Each life is like a coin, with two sides. There’s a side that is introspective, inward-looking, concerned about who and where we are, and who and where we want to be. It’s the side that throws us these existential questions once in a while, and forces us to step back from the world. It asks, “Who am I really? What is my life’s purpose? Why am I here?”
Then there’s another side that is outward-looking, the social side of each human being. It’s the side that seeks acceptance, attention, love…the side that seeks growth in the context of others. This is where altruism, compassion, and empathy lie; it’s the side which forces us to go out and make our mark in the world and asks, “How can I make a difference in other people’s lives?”
I’m talking about this now not because I want to launch into a philosophical discussion about the Self and the Other, but because, right after sending out the latest Spoonful, a friend threw me this question: What about a cause? Are you willing to die for a cause?
I realized then that I had spent some time talking about personal dreams and visions, but had forgotten the other side, the social side, of each human life. We exist not only to fulfill our personal goals, but to do so in the context of a larger community. We are here to accomplish a life mission, but this inevitably involves other people, be it your family, your community, or the rest of the world.
We need dreams to fuel our existence, to live a successful life; but we need a cause to live a meaningful, a significant, life.
These causes don’t need to be as great as saving the rainforests, or as noble as fighting for indigenous peoples’ rights to ancestral lands. It can be as basic as ensuring that our communities are safe and secure, or encouraging our neighbors to segregate our waste. What’s important is for us to look beyond ourselves, and ask what we can do for the world. How can we align our personal dreams with a cause that will benefit more people outside ourselves?
Tricky question, huh? (We don’t even know what we really want, how can we know what we can do for the world?!)
But it’s a question worth asking. So… think about it. You may be surprised with how easy it can be to live a successful and significant life.
Oh, and do I have a cause? Am I willing to die for it? Stay tuned and find out.
(Written: July 10, 2003)
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