kallmejules asked: How do you know it's real? ("it" being whatever you want it to be.. haha)

“it” being… 

1. HAPPINESS: I know it’s real when I step in front of a mirror and can’t help but smile uncontrollably. 

2. HATE: I know it’s real when it literally hurts me to think of it. 

3. LOVE: I know it’s real when I start caring about the other person more than myself. 

4. PASSION: I know it’s real when the most mundane tasks excite me: i.e. (@ work) typing up case summaries or looking up case law.

5. FEAR: I know it’s real when I start imagining some pretty horrible worst-case scenarios. 

6. COURAGE: I know it’s real when I’m able to throw caution to the wind and go after what I want fearlessly. 

Anonymous asked: Why do we seek for something more than ourselves? Why do we not?

I think that we seek for something more than ourselves because we know deep down inside, at the very essence of our core, that plain coincidence can’t simply explain the existence of our world. The complex simplicity of all this majesty that surrounds us bewilders us beyond what we’re able to comprehend.

I think that many of us accept the fact of our simple existence as just that: simple existence—nothing more, nothing less. In doing this, we’re able to live our lives, able to deal with the routine day-to-day ins and outs without ever wondering the purpose of it all. I think the only moments where we encounter this “something more than ourselves”, we become aware that we are not alone: when we come face-to-face with the awesome beauty of nature, contemplate the mystery of the night sky, revel at the wonder of new life while mourning the loss of another through death, or simply waking up to a new morning. These are the moments that convince some of us there has to be something bigger than ourselves at work. I, for one, am one of those that insist on seeing the deeper meanings. I seek just because my gut tells me so, but at the same time, I remind myself to appreciate the beauty in simplicity.

On the other side of the coin, we may also choose not to seek for something more than ourselves because we’re afraid of what we’ll find.  Or simply because, again, perhaps we’re simply not meant to comprehend it— so why bother? In other words, why give ourselves unnecessary headaches in contemplating the meaning and purpose of a rose, when we can simply admire its beauty and simply put, “smell the roses”.

quotedandmatted asked: How's it going?

Hi! Things are going as they should be. Been enjoying this downtime, the quiet before the storm if you will, counting down the days until I officially set sail on the grad school ship. (Apologies for the oceanic metaphors, just couldn’t help myself haha.)

I have another three weeks. I’ve made some new friends and also been learning a lot about the public transport system. As much as I feel very at home here in the PI, the level of culture shock is still quite pervasive. Malls I can definitely handle, but tell me to haggle a price for 5 kilos of beef at a meat market— I can be at a loss for words. 

Like I said, I’ve been learning how to use public transport. It can be overwhelming sometimes— especially riding the MRT (Metro Railway Transit that runs North-South through Metro Manila) in the morning rush (sardines, anyone?). Buses areby far the most user friendly— been able to watch some fun movies while being blasted with uber-frigid AC, but can be confusing for newbies who don’t know their final destination. Taxis… I’ve learned to be careful with what I say because they raise the price on me the moment they sense my American-ness. Haha. Same goes for the tricycle. And oh, jeepneys are not so bad— so long as the driver hears that you have to get off, or else you risk jumping out of a moving vehicle in the middle of EDSA (Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, one of the major road arteries in Metro Manila).

And… I just realized that I used your question as a prompt for a new post. Hope you didn’t mind, haha. I appreciate it though. Please ask more questions!

And oh btw, here’s a visual reference re: public transportation and jeepneys… (and FYI it’s NEVER that traffic-free in the daytime.)

“Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.”

Came across this thanks to one of my cousins here in the PI (thanks Chris!). Read and reflect.

From Relevant Magazine:

Here are the things really worth caring about in your 20s.

When you’re 25-ish, you’re old enough to know what kind of music you love, regardless of what your last boyfriend or roommate always used to play. You know how to walk in heels, how to tie a necktie, how to give a good toast at a wedding and how to make something for dinner. You don’t have to think much about skin care, home ownership or your retirement plan. Your life can look a lot of different ways when you’re 25: single, dating, engaged, married. You are working in dream jobs, pay-the-bills jobs and downright horrible jobs. You are young enough to believe that anything is possible, and you are old enough to make that belief a reality.

Job

Now is the time to figure out what kind of work you love to do. What are you good at? What makes you feel alive? What do you dream about? You can go back to school now, switch directions entirely. You can work for almost nothing, or live in another country, or volunteer long hours for something that moves you. There will be a time when finances and schedules make this a little trickier, so do it now. Try it, apply for it, get up and do it.

When I was 25, I was in my third job in as many years—all in the same area at a church, but the responsibilities were different each time. I was frustrated at the end of the third year because I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do next. I didn’t feel like I’d found my place yet. I met with my boss, who was in his 50s. I told him how anxious I was about finding the one perfect job for me, and quick. He asked me how old I was, and when I told him I was 25, he told me that I couldn’t complain to him about finding the right job until I was 32. In his opinion, it takes about 10 years after college to find the right fit, and anyone who finds it earlier than that is just plain lucky. So use every bit of your 10 years: try things, take classes, start over.

Relationships

Now is also the time to get serious about relationships. And “serious” might mean walking away from the ones that don’t give you everything you need. Some of the most life-shaping decisions you make in this season will be about walking away from good-enough, in search of can’t-live-without. One of the only truly devastating mistakes you can make in this season is staying with the wrong person even though you know he or she is the wrong person. It’s not fair to that person, and it’s not fair to you.
Counseling

Twenty-five is also a great time to start counseling, if you haven’t already, and it might be a good round two of counseling if it’s been a while. You might have just enough space from your parents to start digging around your childhood a little bit. Unravel the knots that keep you from living a healthy whole life, and do it now, before any more time passes.

Church

Twenty-five is the perfect time to get involved in a church you love, no matter how different it is from the one you were a part of growing up. Be patient and prayerful, and decide that you’re going to be a person who grows, who seeks your own faith, who lives with intention. Set your alarm on Sunday mornings, no matter how late you were out on Saturday night. It will be dreadful at first, and then after a few weeks, you’ll find that you like it, that the pattern of it fills up something inside you.

Don’t get stuck

This is the thing: when you start to hit 28 or 30, everything starts to divide, and you can see very clearly two kinds of people: on one side, people who have used their 20s to learn and grow, to find God and themselves and their deep dreams, people who know what works and what doesn’t, who have pushed through to become real live adults. And then there’s the other kind, who are hanging onto college, or high school even, with all their might. They’ve stayed in jobs they hate, because they’re too scared to get another one. They’ve stayed with men or women who are good but not great, because they don’t want to be lonely. They mean to find a church, they mean to develop honest, intimate friendships, they mean to stop drinking like life is one big frat party. But they don’t do those things, so they live in kind of an extended adolescence, no closer to adulthood than they were when they graduated college.

Don’t be like that. Don’t get stuck. Move, travel, take a class, take a risk. Walk away, try something new. There is a season for wildness and a season for settledness, and this is neither. This season is about becoming. Don’t lose yourself at happy hour, but don’t lose yourself on the corporate ladder either. Stop every once in a while and go out to coffee or climb in bed with your journal. Ask yourself some good questions like: “Am I proud of the life I’m living? What have I tried this month? What have I learned about God this year? What parts of my childhood faith am I leaving behind, and what parts am I choosing to keep with me for this leg of the journey? Do the people I’m spending time with give me life, or make me feel small? Is there any brokenness in my life that’s keeping me from moving forward?”

Now is your time. Become, believe, try. Walk closely with people you love, and with other people who believe that God is very good and life is a grand adventure. Don’t spend time with people who make you feel like less than you are. Don’t get stuck in the past, and don’t try to fast-forward yourself into a future you haven’t yet earned. Give today all the love and intensity and courage you can, and keep traveling honestly along life’s path.

Taken from Bittersweet by Shauna Niequist Copyright © 2010. Used by permission of Zondervan. www.zondervan.com