Motivation

 Blog 8 ...

              Where there's hunger for expression of creativity and discovery learning, children require very little to get motivated. Strips of color paper, strings, scissors, scrap fabric or crayons get them started fashioning dolls, kites, bracelets, anything, and everything a wizard could produce with his wand.  Use puppets to retell or tell children a story, and it is enough to get them mesmerized. They smile and giggle at varied character voice interpretations, and could not wait long to volunteer acting out parts in a play.

              They sing with passion and get lost in the wonder of songs. Children will do almost anything to actively learn with friends, mentors.  They will do their best to participate in experiences that broaden their horizons no matter how humble those could be!

    
    

 

Friends

Blog 7 ...

Do you keep in touch with silver and golden friends?

Alone and weary, wherever we are in the world, the thought of good times with good friends always cheers us up.  Good friends give us permission to knock on their doors at times of either discomfort or calm in our lives.  They welcome us into their unabashed presence and make us at ease until we could open up our troubled hearts or share our overflowing joy.  True friends, who keep  binding ties with us in all seasons of our lives, let us breathe and savor life without fear.  They keep us strong and make us feel that the world is kind, open and safe to receive us.  Friends walk with us in many levels of our lives, and on many roads and experiences, be they rough or smooth!  They encourage us to always only become the best people we could be, much like God who loves us always! 

 

 

 

Downpour

Blog 6 ...

   When snow downpour is pure, and it blankets the roofs and grounds, the sight is just marvelously delicious to the eyes.  However, wintry weather brings a mix of responses that young and old both love and loathe. To the carefree and young, the hopeful wish is that snow sticks long enough to merit a winter sporting event of slipping and sliding, bumping and snowball-chunking or snowman-making enough to catch a special time of good fun.  Not to folks, however, who must travel the roads after a bulky, icy cold snow downpour.  Literally and figuratively, snow-filled roads bring real threats to be contended with, much like any other life-threatening storms.  People could be stranded in thick downpours.  Road visibility is an enormous challenge.  There's no telling when a car might spin, slide or get out of control.  Accidental hurts or deaths are honest to goodness realities brought about by treacherous wintry roads.

 

 

   Like a beautiful snow downpour, our birth into a world brings mixed hopes and threats.  I heard a film character just the other day paradoxically say, "Being born is a gamble."  I thought long of that statement.  I thought longer of the mixed joys and fears of parents who bring a newborn into our world.  I thought the longest time about the challenges that await its life, but likewise marveled at its possibilities.

Drumbeat

Blog 5 ...

              In the old days sans megaphones, microphones or town criers, nothing else better than sounds of drums round up people to hear and receive news. Beating on drums awakens peoples' pulses.  Every beating of the drum also produces a heightened reaction from body muscles.  It further forces a no-holds bar response. Drumbeats tell everyone in town that an important event is at hand, and a serious matter must be dealt with right that moment. They summon all to stop and to pay attention to the cause for which they called.

              While many of us go with the flow of musical beats in our lives, some of us actually prefer to follow an inner drumbeat.  Do you respond to the beat of your own drum, or are you ever mesmerized by the drumbeats of a crowd?


Philippine Normal University (PNU), Heritage Ensemble perform for Cultural  Night celebration.

              

Moments

My precious moment with Mickey, Thanksgiving 2012!

Blog 4 ...

   Life is a string of moments fair, ecstatic, sorrowful.  One must savor all, and separate or differentiate the bad from the good.   Memorable moments of joy lift up our spirits.  Memorable sad ones test our resilience.  All prune, teach, and expand our understandings.  All create a mesh of interlocking emotions we could only bear one with another.  All could be captured and put in safekeeping so that on days of tearful, unkind events, they are there from which we could bathe, wallow and get afloat.

   How do you conquer the dark moments of life?  When was the last time you got cradled in laughter or a cheerful moment?  

Thoughts

 

 

 

 

Blog 3 ...

Our thoughts are just that ... thoughts.  Some of us have either simple or complicated ones.  Others among us have either brooding destructive or creative plans in our heads.  There are those of us who keep our ideas in the back burner of our minds.  But those of us who act upon noble thoughts and dreams become winners in life.  I know that for a fact.

With this pondering, I am reminded of a young woman in her mid 20's now.  Coming from a materially impoverished family, her possibilities to rise above economic challenges are almost nil.  Yet, Seangny thrives.  She works hard as steel, and everyday, she raises her head up thanking her God for a new day's possibility to realize her plans.   To this day, she rises and braves school demands so that one day she might actually medically serve children, especially the marginalized ones. 

I take my hat off to dear Seangny, and send her my warmest love and thoughts!

Where and what do your thoughts bring up?  Of whom are you thinking and lifting up? 

Sunrise

Blog 2 ...

     With whatever trial one has undergone in the distant or recent past, there are always events in the ensuing present that surely could conquer remnants of pessimism and afterthoughts of drudgery.  Nothing else beats the gifts of waking to a new day.  Nothing stops one from beholding the sun rising.  Sunrise beckons us all to welcome the hopes and promises of a dawning day. 

With what do you look forward accomplishing or achieving each day of grace?

Play

 

Blog 1 ...

For some folks, it is difficult to relax.  Work has defined their being.  Wake up, get dressed, grab a cup of coffee. If time allows, add OJ and a piece of toast to morning fill, and then head out quickly to beat the traffic. At the workplace, right on the dot, work begins for many, and it grinds through end of work time.  Besides the understandable  earning to live, some people work their bodies and mind to death.  Why? 
When was the last time you dropped everything and just went all out to play?