Juggle Balls

Written by the CEO of Coca-Cola:

"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends and spirit and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends and spirit are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.
How?

Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.

Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us each together.

Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

Don't run through life so fast that you forget not only where you've been, but also where you are going.

Don't forget that a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

Don't be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily.

Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

From Virginia Woolf

   Across the broad continent of a woman’s life falls the shadow of a sword. On one side of that sword, there lies convention and tradition and order, where all is correct. But on the other side of that sword, if you’re crazy enough to cross it and choose a life that does not follow convention, all is confusion. Nothing follows a regular course.

Tracy is Crazy and Weird

…  because up to this very single day, I know, I am sure that I can’t afford the hospital / delivery bills, the vaccinations and vitamins, the milk and diapers, and most of all, I cannot even perfectly cook a sunny side up egg for breakfast.

How could I possibly be that? I know I couldn’t stand it anyway. And hey, I’ve got to travel in other countries more. So, saving up for traveling is in my top priority list. And okay, I humbly admit with full efforts that I don’t even have that good lover boy.

            And maybe I can help depopulating the world. Kudos to me for being grateful on my own. This is not a selfish reason at all. I love the freedom. The pleasure of self love.

PS: I would love to change my last name, with all divine intervention, into a Spanish one.

Privacy Is A Must So Shut Up

How funny it is when you over publicly announce that you are in a relationship and changing your status after six months into "it's complicated". I'm not used to it either but it sounds so silly. I have set my facebook in it's most private mode days ago(but I can go back to its friends only settings once I've missed it) , and for making these things, I love being a little enigmatical. And a little amount of mystery is warm fuzzies for me.  I was checking my profile and on it's recent feeds, there were few of my friends who went from in a relationship to single or to it's complicated. So, I logged out of it leaving a bubble in my head, saying "uh oh". Now, for my own opinion, I didn't care how much they've been hurt. Ah, heartless I am? No. If you have just gone out of either a good or bad relationship, which saves you more from heartache? Telling each and every friend in your list that you are in the state of slump? Or keep it to yourself and nurture everything that has happened? I'd give a shot to the latter. I'm trying hard not to offend anyone here but again as I've said, I have the political right for this opinion.   If I see sweet wall to wall comments, it's indeed sweet. But for me, it's like evidences of unreal, mushy, resonating to puppy love play. Ooops, no offense. You can send it through a private message, email or text, but why post it for everyone else to read? Oh, you're too proud to say that you are in love! I guess.   This is just my plain opinion. Protect some part of your life that not everyone has the right to know, because some people don't really care about what's going on with your life. And do you really care that much for other people too? I bet not.

For Every Woman

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....

enough money within her control to move out

and rent a place of her own even if she never wants

to or needs to...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....

something perfect to wear if the employer or date of her

dreams wants to see her in an hour...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ...

a youth she's content to leave behind....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....

a past juicy enough that she's looking forward to

retelling it in her old age....

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE .....

a set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill, and a black

lace bra...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....

one friend who always makes her laugh... and one who

lets her cry...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....

a good piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone

else in her family...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....

eight matching plates, wine glasses with stems, and a

recipe for a meal that will make her guests feel honored...

A WOMAN SHOULD HAVE ....

a feeling of control over her destiny...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

how to fall in love without losing herself..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

HOW TO QUIT A JOB,

BREAK UP WITH A LOVER,

AND CONFRONT A FRIEND WITHOUT RUINING THE FRIENDSHIP...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

when to try harder... and WHEN TO WALK AWAY...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

that she can't change the length of her calves,

the width of her hips, or the nature of her parents..

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

that her childhood may not have been perfect...but it's over...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

what she would and wouldn't do for love or more...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

how to live alone... even if she doesn't like it...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

whom she can trust,

whom she can't,

and why she shouldn't

take it personally...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

where to go...

be it to her best friend's kitchen table...

or a charming inn in the woods...

when her soul needs soothing...

EVERY WOMAN SHOULD KNOW...

what she can and can't accomplish in a day...

a month...and a year..."

*Pamela Redmond Satran

I Have Yet To Find Here

I live in desert, not literally, but still I can feel that I am in it. So humid, that the heat pricks painfully on my skin. I am waiting for winter. Today, I found myself missing a lot of things in the province where I grew up. I  formidably miss the rain. The heaviness of it, the thunder, the lightning. It's coldness makes me addicted to coffee. Oh how come I miss pork? We buy pork in Spinneys, expensive it is. But since it is prohibited in here, I will have to eat a little. So that makes me a little vegetarian. Ah! The breathing of fresh air.  What's with them that smells so dreadful? Geez. Different nationalities are also evident here, so diverse huh. Maybe because work is better and well compensated. It's just that we differ in our English (which is the universal language), that is why sometimes I get headache understanding them. And I am honored to tell that we, Filipinos are best in English, not the broken one. They all have the same names, like Mohammed. Every office has a guy named like that.  Christmas spirit is nowhere to be found in a non Christian country. I cannot hear the melodies of the multihued christmas lights. I miss simbang gabi, the traditional puto bumbong and bibingka. As for me, December is the best month of the year. Where everyone goes to shop for gift giving. Ahhh. I miss Philippines.  But surely, the best thing I've loved in here is that salary is tax free. So, I get to receive what is rightfully mine.

A Woman's Question

A Woman's Question

Do you know you have asked for the costliest thing

Ever made by the Hand above?

A woman's heart, and a woman's life---

And a woman's wonderful love.

Do you know you have asked for this priceless thing

As a child might ask for a toy?

Demanding what others have died to win,

With a reckless dash of boy.

You have written my lesson of duty out,

Manlike, you have questioned me.

Now stand at the bars of my woman's soul

Until I shall question thee.

You require your mutton shall always be hot,

Your socks and your shirt be whole;

I require your heart be true as God's stars

And as pure as His heaven your soul.

You require a cook for your mutton and beef,

I require a far greater thing;

A seamstress you're wanting for socks and shirts---

I look for a man and a king.

A king for the beautiful realm called Home,

And a man that his Maker, God,

Shall look upon as He did on the first

And say: "It is very good."

I am fair and young, but the rose may fade

From this soft young cheek one day;

Will you love me then 'mid the falling leaves,

As you did 'mong the blossoms of May?

Is your heart an ocean so strong and true,

I may launch my all on its tide?

A loving woman finds heaven or hell

On the day she is made a bride.

I require all things that are grand and true,

All things that a man should be;

If you give this all, I would stake my life

To be all you demand of me.

If you cannot be this, a laundress and cook

You can hire and little to pay;

But a woman's heart and a woman's life

Are not to be won that way."

*Joshua Harris, I Kissed Dating Goodbye