chrispaloga

[chrispaloga]

my perfect weekend is

a good book

great music

long sleep

burger

[chrispaloga]

when life throws you a lemon

just live

[chrispaloga]

Prayers surely won't fail us.

[chrispaloga]

Today

Today, exactly this day, is where you are suppose to be.

Your life is exactly how it should be.

Gather all the lessons from the past and leave those that aren't necessary.

Prepare for whatever the future may bring by those past lessons and pray.

But most importantly, enjoy and seize today because Today will never return.

We only have today to really live, love and make mistakes.

Don't waste it.

#sundaythoughts #alwaysLive #LoveEndlessly

[chrispaloga]

The Cracked Pot

There was once a story about the beauty of imperfection. While the origin of the story is unknown, some say it’s from an old Indian parable while others, from ancient China, one thing for certain, is the moral of the story remains the same.

The story goes that a water bearer carried two pots that hung at each other end of a pole he carried on his shoulders. One was perfect that it could retain all the water to its destination, while the other had several cracks on it that only half the water it originally carried remained at the end of the journey. The bearer kept using the same pots everyday to carry the water for many years.

The perfect pot was proud of its achievements, having served the purpose for which it was created, while the cracked pot was ashamed of its cracks, since it could not fulfill its obligation properly, feeling itself useless and imperfect. The cracked pot carried its sorrow for many years until it was unbearable that it apologized profusely to its master for not being able to serve its purpose.

The master smiled compassionately and said, “On the way back, I’d like you to take a look a the beautiful flowers growing by the side of the path.” The cracked pot was confused as to the sudden change of subject but obeyed its master. Indeed, there were many beautiful flowers all along the path they’ve been passing by on their daily journeys. But the cracked pot still felt sad.

The master noticed and said, “Do you realized that the flowers only grow on your side of the road?”. The cracked pot was confused but looked at them once again. “I always knew you were cracked, and I found the bright side: I planted seeds all along the route we take and you have watered them each day without realizing it. As a result, now I have these flowers. If it wasn’t for you, I would still be walking through the empty desert.”

The story reminds us not to beat ourselves up for being imperfect. We have flaws, we make mistakes, we have regrets, we learn our lessons, we are human. Don’t put your self-worth by other people’s standards as we all live our lives differently and we all walk different paths in life, so we can’t compare ourselves brick for brick with everyone else around us. They are good at something we’re not and we are good at something they’re not. Sometimes we may feel that we are not useful, appreciated or worthy of being loved but what we do not realize is that we are all useful in different ways, just not the way we think or not the way others expected of us. You can’t expect others to love you if you don’t even love yourself first.  

[chrispaloga]

Ichigo Ichie in times of pandemic 3>

Yesterday, i went out to get my APE results and luckily while waiting, the bookstore where i bought the book, Ichigi Ichie is just beside the clinic. I think i spent almost 30 minutes killing time inside the store and this book caught my eye. Not only that i has a beautiful hard cover but the aesthetic is really pleasing because of the Japanese feel on the design. Together with the "The art of making memories", i bought the book and went home, along with my good APE results. The only thing that i need to work on according to the doctor is my weight since i was tagged as obese, OMG!

Going back to the book, i started reading it right after i arrived home. I instantly knew that i will enjoy the book and could possibly finish it in one day the first time i read the line - "What we are experiencing right now will never happen again. And therefore, we must value each moment like a beautiful treasure." How it really pinched my heart because i always use the hashtag moments in all my instagram posts. I have a big fascination about collecting memories and moments and remembering how i felt every moments i had. This book taught me the importance of today, how should i celebrate today, especially now that i really have some sad moments and days because of my worry about pandemic and the future. There is nothing i could do to bring back the past, and i will never know what tomorrow may bring, but i can always enjoy today while i am alive. I am alive today and it is a celebration. I am alive to see, smell, touch, hear and taste today.

It is not a one day transformation i know, but its a start. This book will hold a special place in my heart and will always serve as a reminder that TODAY MATTERS. I will always remind myself to come back to the present whenever i feel sad or anxious. There is no other way to celebrate life to its fullest than to live by the moment and sieze everything it can offer, good or bad.

[chrispaloga]

When was it?

When was the last time you asked yourself, "are you ok?"

When was the last time you checked your heart?

When was the last time you said, "I love you" to yourself?

When was the last time you saw the sunrise and sunset?

Life is short. Life is a mess.

But life is full, full of life, love and hope.

Don't let a second slip, seize it, live by it.

Don't let you self live in doubt, love it, you are great and wonderful and full of life.

Love it now, not tomorrow, today!

[chrispaloga]

Feel your feelings, there is nothing more satisfying than knowing that we can feel, happy or sad, up or down, good or bad. We are humans, we live to feel. 

#love #feels #itsok

[chrispaloga]

Cheers to you

You who pays his own bills,

You who pays his own rent,

You who completes his errands,

You who fixes his own bed.

You are so much more, powerful and independent.

You are your own captain! 

#independent

[chrispaloga]

i just had the most fulfilling conversation with a friend earlier today. I realised, we can be as genuinely as possible even though we talk via messenger. I think we can reach out easily, thanks to social media. I am happy, i have friends who would say, “its been a while and i missed you. You are always in my prayers!” I don’t have many friends but my few are real. I cannot wait to that day when everything is back to normal and i can see and hug them. 

[chrispaloga]

we can control how we feel and react. Repeat.

[chrispaloga]

The moment you accept and love yourself, all flaws and imperfections, is the moment you start to realise how beautiful the world is, and that other people’s comments about you do not matter at all. You are unique and you deserve to have a space in this vast universe. Mark your space and own it. x

[chrispaloga]

there are some friends who will say hi, and there are friends who will say hi with a silent hug... #love

[chrispaloga]

im here, you are there

i think of you everyday, do you think of me too?

i miss our days, how about you?

i guess its just only me, and nothing for you

[chrispaloga]

where are we now?

What would you do if you are caught up with so much stress and anxiety the world has brought nowadays? Are you still ok? How does a person maintain a positive mental fortitude?

We are all struggling to make a positive thinking and feel the bright light inside our hearts, knowing we can’t even easily go out and hug our friends and families because of what is happening in the world. We ask, when will this end? or will this ever end? We are dimmed by a lot of thoughts and fear that sometimes take the best in us. What could possibly be the best way to really overcome these thoughts?

I personally experience my fair share of sleepless nights, loss of appetite, and fear of the unknown. I still am but i always cling on to the happiest memories i have in my mind. I think of happy moments i had with my family, and its like a picture memory where i get to relive moments. I relive the happy moments with my friends and loved ones, in beaches we went to, food we shared, places we travelled and gossips we laughed out over tons of coffees.

What lessons we learned during these times? Many would say, they learned to value time and experiences. Other would say they learned new many different skills like cooking, growing plants, baking among all others. I think i learned many too. But i would really want to highlight the lesson i learned in being patient and trusting myself. I learned that despite all the ugly things that are happening around me, i need to be patient and trust myself that i can overcome the day, one step at a time. There is nothing more rewarding in knowing that you, yourself can overcome whatever adversities that may come. I am not perfect at this, but i think i already took my baby steps towards making this my habit.

i take inspiration from other people’s experiences, and this is my way to share what i am going through. All of us have different ways to cope and it is fine and absolutely normal. Where are we now? Where are you now? Where i am now? I think we can try to ask this ourselves, to know how many small battles we have won, day by day. Then we can appreciate how strong we are and how far we have gone through. It is amazing to know that we wake up everyday, with air in our lungs, and a long day of small battles that we will win at the end of the day. We use different weapons to fight our everyday battles and that is fine. As long as we are all patient and we trust ourselves that we can win it. When sometimes you feel loss, get up, breathe and continue what you have started. Always remember to take the lessons we get when we lose, and there is always a new day to start anew. 

Im happy to know that there are certain people that stand by my side and fight with me. We need them too. We need them to help us fuel up and reset our machines. They act as our coaches in our 1000- meter run. Let us appreciate our families, friends and all our loved ones. They too, fight their own battles but they still fight with us. 

At the end of the day, i know that we can all overcome this huge trial. This pandemic took so much from us, but we never give in and we will never give up. This will remind us after 10 years, how strong and able we all were. Someday soon, we will eventually celebrate our major win, but until then, let us all keep winning our small battles at home. Never forget to say a little thank you to that one above, for keeping us all uptight and alive. let us keep our faith to Him burning and alive. i know you can, because I can.

[chrispaloga]

Lesson Learned, The Hardest Way

Sometimes, we are hit by life in the hardest and most unexpected possible way. We are caught offguard and it hurt so much that we lose ourselves sometimes. We find ourselves in the deepest and darkest grave, and the most painful is that, we ouselves are the ones to blame because of the wrong choices we made. We realize that we made a mistake in the end of the line. What hurts also, is when you found out that the opportunity you forgone seems to be the best choice you took instead of the current. You figured that in the end. You realized everything once you're hurt and lighting striked at you instantly. Your life has been turned totally upside down. You lose the grip and you just fall hard. In my case, i think that i have made so much mistakes in my life but this current situation is the most painful one. Not only because i have suffered so much that even the people  i love are hurt as well. A friend tells me to stay Positive, always. I cling to that. Im trying to be positive the best way i can. But as the song goes, even Superman needs a superhero too. Im grateful that i have the best support system with me. The closest people to me know the deepest me and they have shown so much love and care. They always remind me that Life has its own purpose why things happen the way it did. I may not know the reasons now, but i know someday, things will be clearer. I learned so much from this. I learned to be more appreciative of all the blessings i receive everyday, from the smallest to the grandest. I learned to be more careful and more open. I believe that i will recover sooner. With their love, i know God is with me through this. This may be a tap in my shoulder, to teach me meaningful lesson in life. That is to stay grounded and be contented. God has His own ways, better than my way, our way. We need to trust again and again, to His plans.

[chrispaloga]

You are the captain of your own ship. Go and sail the sea, and watch how the sun beautifully rises and sets over the horizon. Be free. Be happy. Be wild. Be you. :)