A Different Sort of Book 5:14 PM

Hope for the Flowers

Trina Paulus

Man, this book was one hard book to find.

I remember when I was shopping for random stuff at a bookstore last year, I came across a book which I don't remember anything about except for the line "except those who have given up completely".

The line stuck with me well, maybe because that time, I believed I have given up completely.

Then, as 2012 started, I browsed through You, Me and Charlie and saw a review for this book and was like, "I know this."

I wasted no time, since that was my promise for 2012. And finally, bookstore after bookstore, I was able to find this one stacked under loads book inside a highly disorganized bookstore and a (mind you) high end mall somewhere in Eastwood.

Then, since I was so unfortunate at work that I didn't have work packages, I found time to read it in one sitting and yeah, the magic happened.

"To get to the top, he must fly not climb."

This is a story of two caterpillars learning the meaning beyond their metamorphosis.The story taught me so much about the importance of dreams and the process of achieving it; of what's really important, of what really matters.

It's a simple story yet, the simplest stories touch your life the most. It's a story of two caterpillars yet, one of them could be you.

Here's To The Past 4:34 PM

When it comes to inspiring stuff, one of my main resorts is Danielle LaPorte. She writes simply and straight to point. Her sentiments are so easy to relate with that sometimes, when I read her posts, I hear myself talking. Most of the time, she voices out just what I needed to hear or know, or see.

People like her make you realize that someone out there is going through the same thing that you're in; that you're not alone.

I'm posting one of her posts that made me say, "Oh, yes. Amen to that."

I didn't want to post something inspired by it because LaPorte said it the best way the message could be said.

So, I'm posting it.

Maybe, it can help you.

For rage-babes, flakes and tyrants: get over it

We are the sum total of our experience. And undeniably, it is our past ... as well as our essential spirit - that informs our character, whether that past is recent or centuries gone by. The altered state a-ha’s I’ve had about possible past lives, the insights I've had on acid in my twenties (except for that one really paranoid trip where I couldn't talk for three hours,) and the wit from gifted therapists and wise girlfriends has helped me to explain the fears and flaws that I've been dragging with me for years.
It is essential to whole living that you get to the source of your pain and screwed up choices. What happened in your childhood or another life informs patterns in your current reality. But sooner or later, you’ve simply got to get over using yesterday to explain today’s behavior.
Decide to just get over it. Let it be that simple.
For most of us who had normally dysfunctional upbringings (I’m not talking about suffering exceptional atrocities or repetitive abuses,) our past is no excuse to continue being a flake, a tyrant, obnoxiously needy, or a rage-babe. Look, we’re all terrific for going to therapy, for having past life insights, and reading Wayne Dyer. Yeah for the New Age. Really. But knowing why you’re so screwed up is only half the journey.
“My father never told me I’m pretty, so now I’m fat.”
“I was a pilgrim burned at the stake in my past life so now I’m afraid to voice my opinions.”
“My mother was overly emotional so I suppress my feelings for fear of being like her.”
Choose to let it be done.
I once dated a guy who thought he was Jack Evolved because he’d done enough time in therapy to know that his parents’ affair-riddled marriage rendered him commitment-phobic. “Babe," he'd start to explain, "I’m just repeating my father’s behavior, it’s like, deep stuff." Uh-huh. Like I care why you’re a two timing narcissist. Maybe a few more hours of therapy would have unearthed the courage in him to be a good boyfriend. I’ll take faithful over self-helped any day.
Therapy, yes. Strategy, yes.
It is immensely, undeniably valuable to excavate the origin of your fear and your pain. It’s down right essential. But when you start using that awareness as an excuse to stay stuck, you become the worst kind of victim. This is one of the potential problems with talk therapy. The rehashing of who-done-you-wrong and how it screwed you up could be better spent on making a plan to take full responsibility for creating a future that does right by your tremendous potential. I think after some incredible therapy, most people could do with a kick-butt life coach that helps them strategize and be accountable to their dreams.
An acquaintance and I were talking about her relationship with her step dad. It was no secret that they’d had a rough ride and there had been plenty said and done to make them both bitter. She was now working for him. I saw them laughing together, being affectionate, respectful.
“So...what changed?” I asked her. “You two were barely speaking at one point.”
“We just decided to get over it," she shrugged. “You know, just let it go. So we did.”
Maybe enlightenment is a decision that has little to do with the past.

 Visit Danielle LaPorte: www.whitehottruth.com

Be inspired. x

Everybody is a genius. 9:16 AM

Everybody is a genius.

But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

- Albert Einstein

We are all special in our ways.

We are unique.

And even though sometimes we don't see it, the world will be less of a world without us.

So be kind to one another.

Don't judge them by what they cannot do, rather, look at them by the things they can share and the stories that they can tell.

I am here because I am special.

And so are you.

It's a start, right? 11:56 AM

I'm scared, you know.

I have always been that girl who had huge dreams.

I would always go and zone out, every now and then, just to think about what I want in my life.

But if you ask me, right at this moment, I would shrug and say, "I'm not sure."

I would say that because I'm really not sure.

Maybe because I am that type of person: I want too much of everything.

I want everything.

I want to do and experience every single thing that life has to offer. I am so damn in love with the world that I want to breathe every single bit of it. I don't want to miss anything because the world is so damned beautiful to ignore.

For the first time in months, probably a year or so, that I wrote something like this. An entry that I wrote because I wanted to inspire people; I wanted to touch lives.

I realized, while sitting in front of this damned laptop that I only write when I'm inspired.

And it's the first time I've written something for so long.

Knowing that, man, I knew I have been so uninspired for quite a time.

But this entry isn't about what inspired me. This entry is about what could inspire me.

I want everything. I want too much of everything.

I am not ashamed of that fact because it keeps me moving... or not.

Before graduation, I was always certain of the life I wanted. I was the one who was most likely to achieve a lot because I had so many goals. I had so many things in mind. Not to mention that I was always the kind of person who strive hard to get what she wanted.

But that's the thing about the person I was. It's who I used  to be.

It's part of the person that was me.

After I graduated, I don't know how it happened but I lost sight of everything  I have imagined before that damned Cum Laude medal clung onto my neck.

I suddenly woke up with all these fears of not making it; of not getting what I wanted despite the best efforts of trying to. I suddenly woke up fearing that one big leap. I woke up one morning realizing that I have lost the one thing that I always had in me: faith.

Faith in my self, faith in what I do, faith in what I can do - I always had it. Had.

Then, I got into a situation where I was forced to move and do something that was never in my plan. I got into something that was forced out of the situation because this what everyone around me told me - or at least, this is what the people that matter told me.

Just a few hours ago - before I sat and started this - my friend asked me (and I'll translate it just not to spoil the mood): "How long have you been there?"

And I said, "Seven months."

Then, it hit me.

Man, it's been seven months of being stuck, of doing what I  never really wanted. Seven months of what could've been the time I served for starting to fulfill my goals - or at least half of it.

Just saying that relieved me. Why?

Because yeah, I may not know what I want exactly but at least I know what I don't want.

Seven months of being scared of failures and I realized that I have failed merely because I haven't tried anything.

Early in my life, I have become a failure and for the first time, that sounded positive because yeah, it is still early in my life.

That gives me hope that maybe, I could get my life back on track. Like before.

The new year really hit me, like wrecking ball or truck or a door; it could be just a slap on the face but whatever. It's a quarter after two and the fact that I have been writing... means something.

This entry is not a blog of resolutions. I don't do resolutions because I don't intend of changing myself. This entry is about recollecting; re-gathering the person that I used to be because I know, that that person is the one who will fight to live another day.

I'm not being sentimental. I'm just sharing my thoughts.

Or maybe I am being sentimental.

And I love it because the old me, the person that I loved being, always had a thing for dramatics.

Yeah, I'm grinning like a fool right now because this could be  a sign.

I just came home from a night out with friends and yeah, aside from the new year, I guess, this night is the transition that I have been waiting for.

Transitions in life are usually marked by major events. Birthdays, graduations, weddings. But the greater transitions often come out of smaller moments. When we stop and look at where we are. Because each time we see how far we’ve come, we also see how far we still have to go.

Sniffing, I realized that I still have one hell of a way to go.

You know, the thing about me is that, I have always been lazy to change the things that I hate. But I have read from a friend's book, that it is about fear. Maybe, I was afraid of trying my hardest but still not succeeding.

But my word for 2012 is: move.

Just like what I have said, I have been stuck for seven months or eight and counting. That's seven months - or eight and counting - of not doing anything to change the situation. 

No, I am not going to say that this year, I'm going to achieve all my goals not because it is impossible but because it still one hell of a way.

Instead, I'm going to move because as one friend Tweeted, "the first step to getting somewhere is deciding that you aren't going to stay where you are."

I am not unhappy, just a little discontented.

There would always be that one moment when the stars would align and give you a sign that will say: the time is now.

I know, I preached myself once saying: hold on to sixteen as long as you can. Meaning, I told myself to slow down, not rush things because they come in good timing and timing is everything. You know, the "you're only young once" excuse and all the shit.

But I realized, that starting to move my feet from being stuck on the land I hate, is not rushing things.

I'm only young once and I can only do the things I love while I am young. So, yeah. I'm going to start taking my feet off the ground and back. I'll start moving or running.

It's a start, right?

Now. 9:54 AM

“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

- Steve Jobs