Never be afraid to say no to the things that won’t nourish you and your soul. What is never good for you can eventually kill you.

Never be afraid to let go. Love change and just let things happen. Remember that the Universe is perfect and no matter how screwed up you might think your life is right now, it’s at its most perfect state. Remember that.

Never be afraid to be alone. Teach yourself to commune with your surroundings, with nature, with yourself and let it heal you from the inside.

Never be afraid to speak. But make sure that what you say is nourishing to you and your audience’s soul.

Never be afraid to be calm, quiet, kind and gentle during a storm. For it is in these trying times that we see what a real man is truly made of.

Never be afraid to show who you are. Never conform and make other people’s silly rules be your rules as well. Create your own rules. Or better yet, have no rules at all.

Never be afraid of acting courageous. No one will know you’re bluffing.

** This is me talking to myself on a rainy Thursday evening while listening to Norah Jones.

The quote above struck me. Sometimes I have so many things to say that I can’t even put them together in a clear and concise sentence because everything just gets jumbled and I end up not being understood by my audience or worst, by me. (hahaha!)  The quote said it with utter clarity. I am very glad that I am choosing to find myself in the things I do and come to terms to who I really am.

I was supposed to blog this morning but I forgot the topic I was supposed to write about. I guess it wasn’t as important as this one.

Lately I’ve been feeling very calm. It is as if nothing can jolt me, nothing can change my good mood. And I tried to understand why I feel that way because normally, I would feel down after a long day or when I’ve had too much on my mind. But the past few days have been real different for me. It felt weird but I am loving it.

I don’t know what brought about this change in my life. What I’m sure about, though, is that I have changed my thoughts. I accepted the things the way they were and I accept that love and loving is a simple, non-stressful task to do.

My unsolicited advice to those who feel stressed everyday — LOVE MORE.

No medicine can beat love.

The other day, I saw myself in a different light. I was completely deranged the other day. Sigh. I completely lost self-control, motivation and hope. Instead of being supportive, I was angry and instead of being loving, I was mean, rude and utterly inconsiderate. I thought that the old “me” was slowly being wiped away from my life. That was what I thought.

Well I guess everyone fails at something at some point in their life. No biggie.

I just have to move on.

Saying sorry and admitting that you were wrong is the toughest interaction you can have with anybody. I failed the other day because I was selfish, rude and inconsiderate. But I picked myself up from falling down by saying sorry.

The event the other day taught me and will continue to teach me the difference between reacting and responding and how to achieve the peace within by responding. I’ll clue you in on the difference in another time.

I believe failing at the Universe’s big tests simply means you’re ready to learn more and nothing else.

Do so many things until your heart and body breaks down and cries for help.

By saying “things”, I mean essential things. Never give up on essential things just because things of illusion come up. These things of illusion are the non-essentials of life — work, career, money, greed, negative thoughts. Do as many great essential things as you can and you’ll never regret a day in your life. And I don’t think anyone will get tired of doing essential things.

I guess most of us are partly blind not to see the difference.

This morning is one of those classic times when I feel really high and closest to the ever elusive enlightenment. the reason why I go through this journey is to make this sort of time, this sort of morning permanent. I don’t want an overnight affair with enlightenment wherein tomorrow when I wake up, I will be alone, depressed and feeling like an old hag who just had a one night stand and was left before dawn had the chance to shed its beautiful light.

I want nothing like that.

I want permanency. I want consistency in my thoughts, in my actions and in my words. Despite the difficult challenge of training my mind and mastering myself, I still strive. Why?

For one very simple reason.

I love everything around me including myself.

I was told that we are all one — water, earth, fire, air and me and you are one. To love you I must go through me.

This is what I am doing right now.

The moment I started asking questions and started accepting that I am in serious need of answers was the time that guidance came. Good thing Allen is constantly giving me his inputs on things that are running through my mind.

I really thought that everything can be answered by my religion. I am a Catholic and recently, I’ve been pondering about the teachings of the church, basically,  heaven and hell, the Ten Commandments and the homilies priests give during mass.

Somewhere between saying “Peace be with you” and taking the Holy Communion, Catholicism lost me. I cannot seem to find myself in these rituals, let alone find myself in the Bible. In the beginning I felt extremely sad that I have no religion I can believe in. My thought was “It’s not as if I’m in the supermarket where I can go look for an alternative product as my new religion!?!”.

But this is exactly what I’m doing right now. Looking for an alternative.

Hmm… I’m wondering if “alternative” is the correct term.

In any case, I am prepared to take this personal journey towards self-enlightenment and find myself in the things that I do. I want to understand every piece of myself.

But then again, I wonder if there’s anything to understand.

Maybe it’s not supposed to be understood at all. Maybe things are just the way they are — things.

I’ll soon find out.

Teacher, I am ready.