052/101 | Know Your Goals

Last week I had a rare chance to speak with an old friend of mine. She was trying to make a decision about her career but can’t quite figure out which one among the two wonderful opportunities is the best. I completely understood what she was feeling. It’s not easy to make big decisions that will alter the course of your life. It puzzles us especially when people around us offer conflicting advices. Then we desire so many things that makes us even more confused because the choices right in front of us are almost equally attractive.

These are the times when I miss being a kid – when our thoughts are not so complicated and choosing between two things isn’t really difficult because we know what we want.

Yes. We knew what we want. And that’s key.

I’ve been there a few times, making big life decisions. And here’s what I learned:

Know your goals.

And prioritize them.

Knowing what you truly want will reduce the complexity of decision making. Identifying your priorities will guide you what are those things you cannot compromise. List your goals and take time to scrutinize each option whether it helps you achieve what you desire to happen. Be careful with whom you seek advice from because they may give you the answers that are based on their own preferences, unexamined assumptions, and experiences which may be different from yours. At the end of the day, it’s all about you…and the things that are important to you.

Look at the boy in the photo. He is running towards the direction of the ball because he knows his goal.

If only life were that simple (I can hear you saying it in your mind).

Well, it’s not really that bad. And that’s good.

- The Terrible Artist

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051/101 | Simplicity

In character, in manner, in style, in all things, the supreme excellence is simplicity.

- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It’s crazy how we humans tend to complicate things. In an attempt to make life easier, many of us accumulate clutter. In the pursuit of happiness, many struggle to acquire more possessions only to realize in the end that those are not the essentials to attain a fulfilled and meaningful life. When communicating, there are many times we say the opposite of what we feel. We work so hard and exhaust ourselves that we no longer have the energy to enjoy life as it is. Well, I guess we behave this way partly because we are complex beings.

But here’s the thing: when we desire less, we are able to see that we have more.  When we are honest and truthful, we are able to experience peace and embrace authenticity. When we live a simple life, we are able to eliminate the unnecessary and eventually find the serenity and happiness we all seek.

- The Terrible Artist

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050/101 | Lessons in Pruning

Life is too short to be consumed by the doing of inconsequential things that we’ll never remember we have completed a year from now.

As hard as it is, when life starts growing wildly in every direction, get out those shears and skillfully snip away the excess that robs your spirit of essential growth.

- From 12 Lessons on Life I Learned from my Garden by Vivian Elisabeth Glyck

Sit down and look around you – you will be amazed how much you have that you do not really need. Pause for a moment and pay careful attention to the myriad things you do – you will realize how busy you are with some unnecessary tasks. Contemplate and look inside you – you will be surprised how much baggage you carry in your heart that you can truly let go.

Share your bounty. Simplify and prioritize. Forgive and love without hesitation. Be at peace.

- The Terrible Artist

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049/101 | We Are Connected

It is a perception that each of us is unique in the universe and yet shape, form and color remind us we are elements in nature – that we are all connected.

- Andrea Harris

Connection. That’s the essence of our existence. When we lose our connection with what we love and what we believe we lose the meaning of why we are here.

- The Terrible Artist

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The NZ Tango Festival 2011

I was honored to be invited by 4XTango Band to take photos of them on their performance at the 10^th Annual NZ Tango Festival here in Wellington.  It was a night filled with exquisite music, graceful dancing, and lots of fun. I hope these photos give justice to that wonderful event.

            

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048/101 | Do Not Worry

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6: 25-34

This is the assurance from Jesus himself. Isn’t it great to have a God who truly cares for us and doesn’t want us to get stressed unnecessarily?

- The Terrible Artist

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047/101 | Strangers

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

- Hebrews 13:2

I know your parents must have told you not to talk to strangers. But remember this: with wisdom and genuine passion to help others, you can become another person’s miracle.

- The Terrible Artist

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046/101 | Real Treasures

The other day I had this poignant yet insightful conversation with my patient. She told me that, one year ago, her daughter passed away at the age of fifty two because of a certain cancer and it shocked her whole family. I looked into her eyes and saw that powerful love of a mother that never fades even in the face of death – the kind of love that remains ‘till eternity.

“With all these things happening, what has the whole experience brought you?” I asked, filled with curiosity of what wisdom an eighty one year old lady could share after going through a rough time with her illness and being beside herself with grief.

“Life is precious,” she replied. “And relationships are the most precious thing you could ever have in your life.”

Her words present to me as a great testimony of the value of relationships, especially our family. It made me think of the irony of how we sometimes ignore or hurt those special people in our lives even if we know we love them to bits. Sometimes we kind of assume that they are just always there without really recognizing that they, too, are vulnerable as we are and have their own mortality.

I realized that:

Love is not love until it is given away.

If it is just in our head, it is only an idea or desire. Love becomes real the moment we start doing something out of that desire to care, support and nurture others.

I’d like to encourage you to love your family wholeheartedly. I know some of you might have received rejection and disconnection from your parents or siblings instead of experiencing love and belonging. And perhaps you’ll say I have no idea how difficult it is to be in that position and it’s just so easy for me to say ‘love with all our hearts’ because I haven’t experienced the opposite. ‘Easier said than done’ you might add.

Listen, I appreciate that I have no complete understanding of the circumstances you are going through. What I know is that it is difficult, it is painful, and it is not easy. But I want you to know that there is hope.

You have a choice to forgive.

Remember that there is a redemptive power of forgiveness. And we can only forgive through love. Think of this: what gain do you reap if you keep resentment, bitterness and unforgiveness in your heart?

Choose love. Choose to forgive.

- The Terrible Artist

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