Indulgence

good karma

Regina Spektor from Ode to Divorce (written by Regina Spektor)
So break me into small parts
Let go in small doses
But spare some for spare parts
There might be some good ones

I got an e-mail today. It's the Dalai Lama's instructions for living well on 2005. They sent it again, I suppose, because it's really fantastic. I agree with everything it says but amazingly, it tells us to delete the message. You're not allowed to keep this mantra, it must leave your hands (inbox) within 96 hours. This is not something you keep referring to, it's something you have to ingrain within yourself and make it come out naturally. I like that feeling. It's not something you just throw around and quote like a chapter from The Purpose Driven Life. Well, that's how I infer from the instruction to throw it away.

I agree with everything those instructions say to do. I like how it tells you that if you're having a quarrel with someone you have a relationship with, you never bring up anything from the past but only focus on the present/current situation. That keeps everything fair and in proper perspective, I think.

Instructions number 16, 17, 18 and 19 are wonderfully worded. They make the most perfect sense and despite fears that this is in violation of the instruction to throw away the mantra within 96 hours, I'm putting down instructions 16, 17, 18 and 19 here. It's too good not to share.

16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.

Amen to that! And more than ever, this is something I want to do and follow religiously. This year, the plan is India. It's been a plan for the past 3 years, so I want to make this one work out. If not, I want to go to Davao and see the sights to see there. Maybe find a new beach to go to. Or maybe go to Camiguin. That's the plan now anyway.

I've always said that in traveling do you end up knowing yourself more. After all, how you see a place is really a reflection of how you are as a person. Also, you end up testing your own resilience, finding out what are the things that interest you, finding yourself stretch your limits, pushing against the boundaries. That's what I love about traveling. That's why I want to do it more.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

Not that I'm in a relationship right now but this is something that I really believe in and is one reason why I'm still single. A lot of the people I've met have been so needy or, looking back, I've noticed that I was too needy. And you should never get together with someone because you need someone. It should be because you love someone. And love means letting that person have his/her life at the price of your own. If they want to share that life with you, that's their choice but not yours.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

Success requires effort, hard work, dedication and passion. It can be something as easily as a Saturday night out that you gave up to finish your work or it could be something as amazing as watching a movie, reading that particular book. But it's how much you throw at what it is you love that defines who you are. And success isn't just about work -- success is something you choose for yourself be it being a good parent, a good lover, read every book by this particular author. The list goes on and on. You choose for yourself what success in your life truly means and you can't get it without learning to sacrifice something else. Then you ask yourself, at the end of everything, how much did you give up for what it is you wanted and you should be happy to be able to say I gave up everything because it was what mattered to me.

19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.

Love is not a logical thing, why be logical? If you're going to get burned, throw yourself in the fire. Cooking is the act of preparing sustenance -- what sustains you is food. Why treat it like a science experiment? I think both requires a sense of play, of artistry, of passion. That's what I want. That's what I think it should be like.

I don't know why, but I felt I wanted to expound more on these things. Just me, rambling away.

(shot of Palawan taken by Rica on the plane, sometime June of 2005)

(friend's shot taken by Pabsy at Kalye Juan with Mic, Fay, me and Lyra after the NMI Christmas party `05)

posted by wanggo @ 4:43 PM