Inspiration

Body, Heart and Mind are waiting for Inspiration .  They need Inspiration to write but as always, it isn’t easy to get her to appear when they need her.  The last time Inspiration paid them a visit; Body, Heart and Mind had to jump off a cliff.

There isn’t a cliff anywhere near where they are so Body, Heart and Mind do what Mind thinks can draw her in. They bombard her with text messages which say, “Inspiration, we need you.  Please come”.

Time passes, and Inspiration does not come.

                                    

“I’m tired. I want to rest,” says Body, yawning.

“We need you to be awake when Inspiration comes.” Mind says.

Body decides to send a different text message to Inspiration, “Inspiration, we need you.  I’m tired.  Please come soon.”

The phone vibrates and Body reads the response, “Abandon all hope, only then shall I come.”

Mind stands up, paces back and forth, and then blurts out, “What does that mean, abandon hope?  I won’t abandon hope!  I need hope to get this writing done.”

At that moment, Phobos, their pet dog starts tugging at Mind’s pants.

“Mind, I think you should take Phobos for a walk.”

“That’s a good idea Heart.  I don’t think Inspiration is coming. I give up. Come Phobos, let’s go for a walk.”

As soon as Mind and Phobos get out the door, a lady in a tutu appears in the room.

“Hello my friends,”   she greets Body and Heart.

“Oh sweet inspiration, you came.”

“I’m happy to be here. Where is Mind?”

“He went out to take Phobos for a walk.”

“Perfect! It’s hard to make Magic with Mind around.  He always hope that he can control my magic.  I just wish he learns how to give up control sooner and let us do our work.”

“Are you ready to make magic?” Inspiration asks.

“We are ready.”

Inspiration sings a song.  Heart and body dance with each other to her song.  Words start to appear on the screen of the computer.   The trio is surrounded by Inspiration’s creative light.

When inspiration sings the last note, she says, “It is done.”

“This is wonderful,” Heart and Body say.

The door opens and Mind yells.

“Inspiration - you’re here. Let’s start working?”

“Hi Mind.  We’re finished. Read this and tell us what you think.”

Mind reads the piece, “This is horrible. Inconsistent tenses.  Missing punctuations.”

                                        

“My dear friends, I’d love to stay but I need to go,” Inspiration disappears.

Heart says to Mind, “Can you do us a favor and edit the piece? Make it better.”

“I will make it perfect.”

Heart and Body smile. They are happy with the piece but they trust that Mind will not be satisfied with it until he thinks it’s perfect.

“Read this.”

“Good job Mind.  Whatever can we accomplish without you?” Heart gushes.

“Nothing,” Mind says.

                              

“Can I go to sleep now?”  Body says.

“Go ahead and sleep Body.  We are done for today.  We did well.”

I Seek

Hands hold Stick

Blindfold on eyes

A Game to Seek

The paper beast

Stuffed White, Blue, Pink

With hidden treats

A voice speaks:

"Be smart, turn to your right." 

Am I smart? To the right, I turn. 

"Hit it."

Swing the stick with all my might. 

Swoosh! No hit.

An idiot,

Am I?

A voice speaks:

"Turn Left, my Love"

Am I loved?  I go to the left. 

"Hit it."

Swing the stick with all my might. 

Swoosh! No hit.

Unloved, 

Am I?

A voice speaks:

"Turn around, pretty one"

Another one speaks:

"Forward, my dear."

Am I Pretty?

Am I dear?

More voices speak

I follow Each

To be pretty,

To be loved

To be right

But each voice

Leads to Defeat

My arms are weak. 

I ask "What do I seek?" 

My heart speaks.

"Freedom, you seek,

Let go of stick. 

Let your eyes see

See what you seek."

I drop the stick,

I let my eyes see.

The voices that jeer

They're not here.

Mere Phantoms

That lead to defeat. 

Heart's voice is real.

It knows what I seek.

I seek to see

I seek to be free

Confessions of the Tyrant Sun

During the day, the sun sits on his throne high in the sky. He is a wise ruler, but he is stern and cruel. Cruel to those who dare stand and stare at him in defiance. Those who defy him are punished with blindness.

“Follow my word,” he says.

“My light, my truth will keep you safe. There are monsters in the shadows, I can protect you from them.”

The sun is alone as he sits on his throne in the day sky. His subjects bow to him never looking at him, never questioning him. They have their heads bowed as they work to please the cruel Sun.

Then night time comes and the moon starts to take her seat on her throne. She is a benevolent ruler. That benevolence comes from the acknowledgement that her light is not alone in the night sky. The millions of stars are with her. Each one of them with their light and their truth, keeping their subjects safe. 

“Come look at me,” she says, “Come look at us. I the moon am your mother. The many stars your brothers and sisters.”

“We are here with you as you live through the night. As you look at us - we see ourselves reflected in your eyes.”

The moon’s subjects take comfort in these soothing words that they themselves are like her and the stars. Whatever monsters there are in the shadows - they can slay because within their eyes are the power of the universe’s light. So they lay to rest after sending their thanks to the moon and the stars.

I confess, that I am the tyrant sun during the brightest moments of my life. I am the arrogant ruler who thinks that mine is the only truth. I do not see others because I am blinded by the intense brightness of my arrogance. 

I confess that all the brightness goes away during the deepest and darkest moments of my life. As my own light fades, I lift my gaze to the night sky, and I see that I am not alone - and that I am not the only source of light. I find that my own truth is nothing but a small reflection of the truth that shines from the moon and the many stars in the sky.

So I ask of you my brothers and sisters - I ask for your forgiveness for only acknowledging your light and your truth during the night. I then ask for your blessing - to help me not get blinded by own arrogance during the brightest moments of my life. Those times, I need the Grace of the Divine to look much more closely and dim my own light - for me to see the miracle of you, the moon and the stars reflecting your own light and truth into my eyes.

It Isn't About You

Dear Thirty Year Old Me,

We have a big ego.  We attach our success and failure to everything that we do and to the things that we have accomplished and failed in.

This has caused us to drive for more success but this has also caused us to avoid failure - which means risk isn't really something that we like facing head on.

Here's the thing - what if everything that we accomplish and everything that we failed in - really isn't about us?   What if we were not the central character in the stories of our lives?   What if our actions cause the stories to develop but if we succeeded or failed --- it doesn't really make us successful and it also doesn't make it a failure?

I have to pose this question because in the recent months,  I've come to realize that a lot of my heartaches in life is caused by my attachment to the story in my head that everything that happens in my life is something that I caused.  For some events - this may be a healthy mindset ---- being proud of losing ten pounds because of the discipline we exercised in avoiding sugar in our diet.   But largely - this mindset - is not helpful.   It can start from:   My dogs doing a proper sit when I use the command.   It's our dog's ability being displayed here - so we can't take the credit for it.   It can be as ridiculous as thinking that it didn't rain today when we are wearing white pants - because we asked the Universe for it.

This mindset is actually perpetuated by a lot of our friends and family praising us for things that if you think about it really isn't because of our skill.   For example - getting into a scholarship in the Ateneo was not because we were smart.   It really was because the University's Admission and Aid - looked through a checklist of qualifications for our application and noted that we meet the criteria - which included submitting an income document from Papa - which said he earned a really small income for the year we were applying for the scholarship.   Therefore - we fit the criteria for someone who should be considered for financial aid.

Why am I bringing this up?  How does a mindset of not attaching ourselves to the outcome become helpful in our lives?   You see - when we call ourselves successful or we call ourselves a failure based on the outcomes of our actions --- that label of successful or failure gives a lot of pressure on us to always want to be the successful person.   This actually has been part of the reason why we tend not to do awesome things we are not good at doing because we don't want to be the failure.   Here's the thing --- what if we just say that every result we get from an action that we take is just feedback - and that feedback will allow us to think of the next action to take?  That result does not define you.  It just provides you information so you can choose how to live your life after that result.

Note --- It took me more than a month to complete this because - the truth is - I was not ready to hear the advice that I'm writing.   I wanted this article to be awesome - so that I can feel awesome.   But hey - I decided - that instead of wanting this to be awesome --- maybe I just need to have it done --- regardless of the outcome.

With Much Love
The Forty Year Old You

Baggage

“You have so much baggage.”

“What?”  I exclaimed.

“Honey,  you have so much baggage - or luggage - or whatever the English language calls all of these bags in your attic.”

I can’t believe that the voice in my head is nagging me about the bags in my attic.  I admit - I have many bags - but I have an excuse - I travel a lot for business and each one of those bags have served me well in my  trips.   Of course - I’m lying - at most the sport trunk from Rimowa and the in-cabin trolley from Samsonite are the most utilized bags - and all the others are there in case I have a special trip that will require me to use it.

For example - for trips to the beach - the soft-side blue bag that I bought when I had too much stuff to carry in one of my trips to India - is the perfect bag.  It’s the lightest bag that I have and when I don’t want to have any checked luggage for those four day trips to Boracay - it’s the perfect bag.

The red clamshell Samsonite bag is perfect when I am traveling to Hong Kong, or Singapore, or Malaysia.  You see - the number of clothes that I take to my international trips is directly proportional to the number of miles that I will earn for that trip.  So the Rimowa trunk is the right size for US and European trips.  The Samsonite bag is the perfect size for trips around Asia.

“I don’t have too much baggage.  I just have enough for the demanding travel that I do for my job.”   I am now yelling at the disapproving voice in my head.  As if yelling at the voice will silence it.

“What about this green bag? Why do you keep this?” 

Oh.  That bag.  I can’t believe you spotted that, you sneaky voice-in-my-head.   I hid that behind all of these boxes because it’s a reminder of a temporary lapse in my judgment during a trip to KL.   I bought one too many skinny jeans in KL - and they would not fit in the Samsonite - so I bought that ugh-ly bag so I can carry all of my wonderful skinny jeans (which by the way are now too big for me because I lost a lot of weight since I bought them).

“Why hide it?   You can give that bag away.”

Give it away?  Oh no - I can’t - for two reasons.   I don’t need someone to suffer from my poor choices.  It’s an ugly color of puke-green.   Who would want such a bag? What will they think of me when I give it to them?  I don’t want to be judged as the guy with a poor taste in bags.   I can’t accept receiving judgment from people who I will be charitable to.

“But your sister asked to have it because she noticed you have not used it since you bought it.  So clearly - she wants it.”

That’s my second reason.   I’ve been too generous this year.   I have given to charity.  I’ve donated money to our  High School alumni association for that animal laboratory.  A large part of my salary is spent on paying for the debt that I have taken for my niece’s treatment two years ago.  So - I refuse to give more dole-outs this year because to be honest - I’m tired of giving.

Then there was silence.  A long one.  An uncomfortable one - which I just had to break.

“What?  Say something!”

“You have too much baggage.”   The tone of the voice is a lot softer now.

“I don’t have too much.  I just have enough.”  I screamed.

The voice seem to have let out a sigh.

“I’m not referring to the bags, honey.”

 Silence again.  This time,  I didn’t break it.  I just sat there.  I agreed with the voice.  

I have too much baggage.

So I picked up my phone.  Started texting.

“Hey.  Do you remember that olive green bag that you asked to borrow during your last visit?   I can give it to you.  I know you need it and it seems like you wanted it.”

I have too much baggage - and I needed to start letting go of the shitty baggage.  They no longer serve me.

Generosity

Dear Thirty Year Old Me,

Today I have encountered three experiences which has lead me to think of the concept of generosity.  Let me start with the most recent event that I've experienced.   I have actually just finished watching a video of a speech delivered by Simon Sinek - author of the book "Start With Why".  I will not dwell with the topic of his speech - but I want to touch upon what he said about generosity.   He indicated that doing an act of generosity makes us feel good.  This will lead us to think that in mankind's evolution,  mother nature fired up all the synapses and the chemistry in our brain to make us feel good when we do an act of giving --- because this is essential to our species survival and growth.   Mother nature rewards our acts of kindness with feeling good because we need to want to do it over and over again.

The second experience that I wanted to share with you is the conversation that I had with my dermatologist and another one of her patient.  She and I talked about our shared experience of taking care of our parents.   She actually told her other patient - who is just about to graduate from College - that it is important for the latter to realize that it is her mission to be generous to her parents.   Her success in life may very well depend on that.   I reinforced that message.   I know that in my life,  when I have actually whole heartedly accepted the responsibility to take care of my parents - and be generous with them,  my income continued to grow.   So for people like me - the thought of being generous goes beyond feeling good over it.  It also somehow convinces us that it actually is the tenet of our success.   One can argue - that the generosity actually provides one motivation to do well in their chosen career because the success actually allows someone not just to support himself - but also to support his loved ones.

The last experience I want to share with you is that today - as usual I've chanced upon the homeless women along session road.   I typically have spare change for them - but today unfortunately I didn't have change.  So I wasn't able to give them anything.   In the past - when I give them something, even the smallest change - I actually feel really good about it.  Think about it --- giving money to the homeless is actually a legitimate business transaction ( not my original idea,  Simon Sinek actually brought that up in his speech ).   You give them money so you can feel good.  To be honest - that's a pretty good way to spend one's money - compared to trying to feel good by consuming alcohol or buying the latest gadget.

Anyways - my parting words for you my friend is that you must take opportunities to be generous.   It's a blessing that you have that you have actually received the resources to be generous.   Take advantage of it --- you may not be remembered as the best looking man in the world - but to be remembered as the generous son, uncle, brother, boss --- that's actually worth a lot more than the former.

With all my Generous Heart,

The Forty Year Old You.

Getting Lucky

A member of my/our team once asked me, "How did you create opportunities for yourself?"  I asked him what he meant by that question.   He said, "It seems like you've been fairly successful in your career,  how did you get to where you are right now?"

It's a point that I had to ponder upon.  I gave him my responses during our conversation and gave him key points.  After that meeting - I sat down and started to think of the best way to answer the original question:   How does one create opportunity?

My answer - sometimes you just need to get L.U.C.K.Y.

Learn - Where can you find opportunity?  What are the skills you need to succeed?

Undertake the necessary action.  Opportunity knocks - and you have to open the door for it.  Carry out what needs to be done to grab the opportunity

Create and Prepare the groundwork.  People don't build wealth overnight.  They start with savings (whether it's money, relationships, or emotional bank accounts) with the first step.  Over time the investment gets bigger.   

Kindness can bring good Karma.   Open yourself up to the needs of other people.

Yes is a powerful word.  How many opportunities have you turned down because you thought it was difficult?