The Fruits of my Thoughts

Sentimental? I guess so. Confused? Likely. Down? Maybe. I like to do a lot of thinking and perhaps a bit of brooding. But anyway, these are some things I happened to write in times like these. They're written during different days and in different moods. Some of these are quotes I happened to like or are in line with how I feel that day. Here are bits of thoughts that spring from my ever-bizarre mind.

"If a book was all it took to remember you, I'd carry one everyday." - me.

(It was taken from another quote, originally having flowers as its subject, but I like books and I guess that would be more effective for me to remember people. ^__^)

"I'd like to be alone,

But sometimes I don't

I rarely have mood swings

But now's an exception

As I curl around my bed

My thoughts confused and unread

I wondered if someone cared

Enough to take me out of the dark."

-me-

(Surely you can tell that my mind was quite boggled when I wrote this. I don't remember much, as this was written about two years back, but I knew that I was upset over something during this time.)

"To think about the end will feel like a hundred years has passed but to not think about it at all is like reaching that point in the blink of an eye."

(I got this quote from my best friend, Nikki. This quote comes to my mind whenever I think that I dwell too much on the end rather than journey it takes to get there. We sometimes wish for time to go fast, but sometimes it is what makes the wait even longer.)

"Believe in your dreams, not in your depressing thoughts. Feed your faith. Starve your doubts. Always remember tough times never last. But tough people do."

(This is one of the many quotes that I receive in my cellphone. But I do find it inspiring. Depression can bring us down, but the solution or some form of comfort may not be too far away. Better if you know exactly where to look. ^_^ Faith is powerful, if you find it in your heart to truly believe that things will work its way right eventually. And it's a relief to oneself to know that your trust isn't wasted when it works.~ Finally, strength. It is what is usually tested in us during difficult times. It measures how long we last, and how easily we break during pressure. I believe that strength is in all of us, if we just have the courage to use it wisely. In this world full of challenges that come our way, we have to have the strength to face it all and last. It will always be a great relief to have passed a raging storm.)

---------------------------------------------------

These are four of my thoughts. I might post more later on. If I get more sentimental, that is.~

The Simplest Thing to Remember during Christmas: Jesus

Before I begin to elaborate on the point of my article, I'd like to share this text message that I've received recently:

---------------------------------------

Jesus and Santa Claus talking...

Jesus: alam mo, naiinggit ako sa iyo..

Santa: bakit naman?

Jesus: kasi ikaw ang inaabangan nila sa birthday ko.

--------------------------------------

Sad reality, is it not? Somehow when we try to evaluate ourselves, this sometimes becomes the case. We come to expect the wrong person when Christmas comes, and we might forget that Christmas isn't all about getting the most gifts. That's why we must always keep in mind the core reason why we do celebrate Christmas. The point is not in feasts, not in Santa Claus giving us gifts through our chimneys nor in artfully decorating our homes for the season, they are merely part of the celebration, or I'd prefer to call it the 'decorations' for the occasion.

Looking at our present time, there are so many distractions that tend to sidetrack us from our intended purpose. Such is the modern world in which we live in. Things are becoming less simpler than they were before. There are so many things that require a lot of procedures before they are accomplished. And we are often caught in the complexity of it all. Christmas trees, decorations, Santa Claus, caroling, exchange-gifts and others are part of our yearly Christmas tradition. And because Christmas is understood to be a joyous and festive event, we go around putting up and preparing all these things. Indeed, they brighten up the occasion and add so much life to it. Then again, that's not the point entirely. Remember to focus on the source of the light, not its glow.

We celebrate Christmas for a very very important reason, and that is the Birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. He is the One who died for our sins, the One whom we call on when we are troubled, and it is He who must be kept alive in our hearts, most especially during the Christmas season. His birth signifies the salvation of mankind, our cleansing from earthly sins. He is Jesus Christ, the Light of the World.

And that's the bottom line. It all comes down in remembering the birth of a little child who was to become our Saviour, born in simplicity, laid in a manger. It was this moment when the angels sang choirs in the skies, and Three Wise Men came to find Jesus to give him gifts and acknowledge him as King and as the Son of God. Jesus is the core reason why we all celebrate Christmas. The one whom the banquet must be prepared for.

I do enjoy all the festivities of Christmas; the bright and colorful lights, the Christmas trees, the decorations, the carolers, the Noche Buena, Nine Mornings, Santa Claus and the reindeers too. I guess everyone does. A pat on the back, cheering up a sad friend, greetings of 'Merry Christmas', simple exchange of gifts, completing the Nine Mornings and family time surely gives the Christmas season its 'magic'. In the midst of it all, we should remember that we do these things because we share the love that God gave us, we share our happiness with others, and most of all because we celebrate the birth of that little child who is Jesus, our Saviour.

It doesn't matter what amount money we spend during this season, because as everyone knows, true happiness is intangible but heartfelt. The simple joys we give each other out of love, with money spent or not, is our way of preparing ourselves for His coming. It is what should be remembered and treasured in our hearts, and that's when the happiness and magic of Christmas is truly seen and felt.

Song of the Day

My Song of the Day:

You and Me by Lifehouse.

It's been a very tiring day. And the past days as well. I really just wanted to go home and rest, grab a pillow or two, and not wake up till the next morning.

So when I finally got home, I went to my room and flopped down on the bed, wondering what I should do first. I wanted to sleep, but I still had work to do. Schoolwork, of course. But before I bother myself with a bunch of academic-related stuff, I decided to listen to music. Scrolling down on my playlist, I chose 'You and Me' by Lifehouse, just because i felt like it. ^___^

I think the headphones had something to do it(I love the quality of it, how the music comes out from it), but I felt that the song felt so much more alive. Every tone, rhythm, the vocals, well, everything. I already love the song and played it a lot of times, but somehow I felt as if I heard it for the first time and liked it immediately.

So there I was, just listening, and I felt great and relieved somehow. It took me out of my tiredness as of the moment. Now, I feel like I'm ready for the work ahead of me tonight.

Music does work miracles. =)

The Book of Salamat(A story originated from Philippines))

Our story begins with two neighbors. Although they were poor, they took pride in their gardens. Their yards bloomed with different kinds of vegetables all year round.

(photo:http://dancurtis.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/pen-and-book.jpg)

The first gardener would sell his harvest and keep the money all to himself, while his next-door neighbor would give away most of his vegetables and was happy when his friends would say, "Salamat." "Fool!" his selfish neighbor told him one day, "You work so hard under the sun to grow your vegetables. If I were you, I'd sell then and build and keep the money. Look at me, I will be able to build a big house next year with my money." The generous gardener just smiled and continued working on his yard. He was actually having difficulty saving money for repairing his home for the rainy season, but, he found this word of thanks more precious than money. Salamat, salamat, salamat... he noted each line of thanks in a book every night.

The greedy man soon earned enough money to build a large house made of stone and wood. He looked from his window his neighbor's tiny nipa hut. He heard about the good man's book and laughed. "Let's see that crazy old fool eat his book of salamat," he said to himself. He then called out to his neighbor... "Hey there, friend, don't you wish you had a house as beautiful as mine?" he asked, "I've even hired a gardener to care for my plants!" "You have quite a big house," his humble neighbor answered, "but I'm happy enough here." Months passed and the rains came. It was then the good man realized he truly needed money to fix his hut. He spotted his book of salamat and had a bright idea. The next morning...

"Salamat for sale! Who wants to buy my book of salamat?" The townsfolk saw the gardener selling his book and thought he had gone crazy. Yet, he went all around the village offering his book of salamat to any buyer. Word spread and reached the sultan's palace. "What's that man selling?" the Sultan asked his guards. He had never heard of anyone selling such and thought that he must have heard wrong; that the gardener was selling salabat -- ginger tea, or samat -- betel leaf. "Bring him to me, " His Majesty commanded. And the gardener was summoned. "I'm selling a book of salamat, Your Majesty," the man explained. He opened his book and the Sultan saw the word salamat written all over. The words were written in clear, fine and honest handwriting. "This man is no fool!" the Sultan said to himself.

"How much do you want for this book, my good man?" the Sultan finally asked. "I shall sell my book for whatever it will weigh in gold," the gardener answered humbly. His Majesty then told his court attendants to bring forth his weighing scale. The Sultan placed the bool on one scale and a piece of gold on the other. The book was heavier. He placed another piece of gold, but, the book was still heavier. No matter how much gold the Sultan placed upon the scale, the book still weighed heavier! Until the Sultan brought out a bag of gold and said, "There, old man, take your money and leave me in peace!"

And the gardener happily left and was able to build himself a bigger house than his neighbor's in several days' time. His neighbor got so jealous! He thought of a plan to get richer.

After learning about his neighbor's good fortune, he immediately bought a thicker and heavier book and hurriedly filled it with the word salamat. Following what his good neighbor did, the greedy man asked to be paid as much as the book will weigh in gold. The Sultan placed a bag of gold on the scale but, the bag was heavier. He then removed half of the gold. The bag was still heavier. Finally, some gold dust was left on the bag. Alas! it was still heavier. "How can that be?" the gardener said, "My book is gigantic! And I labored for two weeks writing that word salamat over and over again!" "Aha!" exclaimed His Majesty, "Poor man, you may spend a lifetime writing down the word, but if it doesn't come straight from the hearts of grateful men, it is meaningless." And to the dismay of the selfish man, the wise Sultan ordered his guards to take him outside to be punished in front of the people.
------------------------------- END -------------------------------------------------


----> It's a short story but so full of meaning. I happened to chance upon this story, since it's a little book that belongs to my sister. This became one of my favorite stories because it so describes how I look at life in gratefulness and simplicity. :D All of us, no matter how little we have, should be able to find things to be grateful about. Perhaps, everything that exists is a grace and a blessing. I do believe that the challenges that we encounter are blessings; because they bear a good fruit if we receive it wholeheartedly and allow it to mold us into better persons. The smallest of things, can be a great blessing, we may not know. ~

*to be given one* :)

(photo from Photobucket)

I chose to call you Night,

For the reasons I thought of,

So I'll shed you some light,

Of why I called you the name above.

I'd compare you to the night,

The time of the day when people can rest.

It's not the morning but nevertheless provides light,

It's the time I look forward to, when the sky for me is at its best.

You're like the moon up above the sky,

That silver ball that's glowing,

So far is it's distance but seems as if it hovered close by,

It's like how you're far away, but your presence I'm constantly feeling.

The brightly stars remind me of you,

The stars that fill the sky and twinkle away.

You light me up when my days go blue,

You make me smile and see the beauty, of every single day.

You maybe the meteor shower,

Amazing to behold and may grant a wish to come true,

You're that amazing, and I won't ask for anything better,

You're a wish come true, like you told me, too.

You're the winds that are around,

Cold but refreshing to the senses,

You're a relief to my troubles that bound,

You sweep them away in the comfort of your presence.

All this I reason,

Of why I chose that name especially for you,

A meaningful name, fresh as the summer season.

This I reveal to you, for all that I know of you.

5 Hours of Sitting----- Just solving two math problems.

Yes, you guessed it.

I sat for five hours yesterday, trying to solve two math problems(my homework) that needed to be solved carefully, lest you commit an error and the entire problem becomes wrong.

Hmmph. I can imagine what a torture it must be(especially those who do not like math) to have a 3-hour lesson in mathematics; just sitting, listening to the professor, solving problems with long solutions, quizzes and all the while your head is in the clouds, just wishing you could go home and sleep, and escape the boring-ness of it all. That'd probably be torture for me too. It's not that that I don't like math, it just gets frustrating when you don't understand a problem(which is exactly the point of my article).

So, you ask, how I could I have possibly spent five hours on two math problems?

Believe me, I don't know either. But I just did. I had no notion of time, I just really wanted to get those problems over with and read a book.

*sigh* Knowing me, I don't like not being able to pass a homework. I'll sit and deal with it 'til it's done(and until I understand it).

What happened was this: I sat, opened my notebook and went through my homework. I did understand most of what my professor discussed during class, but when I tried to apply it to the problems in my homework---- I ended up getting confused.

So I read, read and read. All over again. I reviewed examples from my notes. Still confused. I grabbed my dad's math books and looked for specific solutions. I still didn't understand. I looked through my past and tried to get some ideas. And I think that worked.

With all that searching, finding, solving, thinking and writing, I didn't notice the time. Sure, I went downstairs to eat and drink when I felt like it, but I didn't mind looking at the time. I didn't realize that it was already 11:30 and I was still at problem 1(I started around 8:30pm). "Oh well," I shrugged and said to myself, "I gotta finish this."

But of course, being stuck at a problem for a long gets very frustrating. After 2 hours since starting, I was ready to throw my pillow to the floor. :D But don't worry, I don't do that. It simply attacks your nerves, wanting so much to solve the problem but you just can't understand. Still on I go; review, search, think and write. I'm struggling and frustrated, but I go on.

The time ticks on, and I think I'm beginning to get it. I make progress, solved more equations and I was almost at the last part: graphing. *whew*

My pen continues sliding back and forth across the paper, writing and graphing. After such a time, I finished the first problem. Yay! It was a great relief to have finished even half of what you're supposed to do. Feeling enlightened, I was inspired to write. *scribble*

By 1 am, I was done with my draft. I transferred all of my solutions to a bond paper(just like what our professor told us), along with my graph.

And pretty soon, I was finished.

When I finally put down my blue-ink-pen, it was when I felt all the energy being drained out from me. But at least I was finished. And I learned. *sleeps after*

At some points in our life, we do need to sit back and learn things. We don't expect the answers to come so easily. We sit, stay glued to that seat until we've learned. Just like what I did.

It's such a relief to be able to pass an outcome of all that you've worked hard for. It may have some errors, but I'll learn from those, since I understand most of the picture.

I learned. And that's what matters.

(We find that some of the most difficult things we encounter become worth it at the end. Our struggles and efforts don't go to the wastebasket. Believe me, you've definitely gained something from it whether you felt it or not. :D)