Taken by a friend in Lampton Park, London
It's Christmas. While in Seoul it is winter and here in Manila, the skies are suspended in a sunless lightness, in my life it is spring. And although, past hurts and dissapointments come out of the shadows like ghosts once in a while, I think I'm so ready to run with the wind again, no longer just the paperboat that goes with each wave. And this time, my spring is mine alone. It is not from a new love, or a new job. It is I guess the next inevitable stage in the process of loss and hope, with a few pushes from the life lessons I've picked up from friends who have gone through the process.
I am so thankful that I am with the family this Christmas. I have travelled far and wide but to refocus on my center I had to be with those who know me so well. There are things we have to learn on our own. Stuffs that are of the common sense variety, but which we fail to practice in life because in truth we always hope to be the one who can defy the odds.We want to be the exceptions to what usually happens in life.
But because the universe is bright and all-knowing, we are always always given the chance to learn our lessons well. And this year, I got a truckful of these life's teachings. And I had to go into a road of self-discovery just to keep myself sane.
But that's how it is. As Og Mandino said: Whenever you make a mistake or get knocked down by life, don't look back at it too long. Mistakes are life's way of teaching you. Your capacity for occasional blunders is inseparable from your capacity to reach your goals. No one wins them all, and your failures, when they happen, are just part of your growth. Shake off your blunders. How will you know your limits without an occasional failure? Never quit. Your turn will come.
In two days I'll be going on a wildwater trip in Davao, working with the river, paddling to safety. Some areas where the river is calm, we have just to paddle lightly, on the turbulent parts we'd have to fight it out with the currents, but that is what makes it so exciting, the element of uncertainty. Wildriver rafting is not for anyone, there is an element of danger, yes, and for that alone I know it is for me. Whitewater rafting and life, now that's a fitting metaphor.:)
