There was something profoundly moving in old friends saying prayers in a misty morning, their lives squarely in the hands of a mild-mannered man expertly steering the vehicle. The voices coming together in a steady hum, the familiar cadence of the words, doubtless stirred many memories. But for the intervening decades, they could have been...
Category: Life
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Stay in your lane in the Year of the Wood Snake
As the world prepares to welcome the Year of the Wood Snake on Jan. 29, feng shui expert Marites Allen shares what she deems the best life strategy to adopt for a prosperous 2025: “Stay in your lane.” “Short of saying ‘mind your own business,’ this year is about staying in your lane. The snake...
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Finding the quiet
Many movies today, perhaps as a reflection of the world around us, are unbelievably loud, relying on explosions and special effects and outré visuals to stimulate and, at the same time, mesmerize the viewer. Thus, among all the scenes of chaos, devastation and conflict that may be either or both external and internal to the...
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To become a good lawyer and a good person
If you have all the time, resources, and skills in the world, what would you want to be in the future? This was what my editors at the Flame, the official student publication of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Faculty of Arts and Letters, asked me one night over dinner years ago. “I want...
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Watch your step
I learned to walk when I was 2, and almost instinctively, I made it my life’s motto to “always watch my step.” Now that I am 30, and having lived most of my days walking and randomly stepping on dog poop, I can now say with adultlike conviction that sh*t happens. It happens without warning...
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So you wish to win the lotto
No, I haven’t won the lotto—or not yet. But is it possible to really pray hard and manifest winning the lotto? How? My friend DM, almost 80, boasts that in his younger years he won five of the six-digit lotto combination at least thrice. He claims that he did it through the prayer and meditative...
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Freedom of choice and no-choice
“Managing the power of choice, with all its creative and spiritual implications, is the essence of human experience. All spiritual teachings are directed toward inspiring us to recognize that the power to make choices is the dynamic that converts our spirits into matter, our words into flesh. Choice is the process of creation itself.” —Caroline...
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Be grateful, we’re not nothing at all
Most people would prefer hankering first for a fruition of what they want in order to be happy. As if, for them, happiness is a destination to be arrived at, a “there” and not a “here” or “now.” Seemingly, they can only be truly happy when they have attained their desired goals, when they have...
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Being ‘Filipino’
We’ve just celebrated our 126th Independence Day a few days back and, likely so, the euphoric spirit of patriotism and national identity lingers still to the fore. For my part, I cared badgering myself once again with the thought: What does it take being ‘Filipino’? My youngest son, my junior or namesake, who’s currently teaching...
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Save your pets in this extreme weather
“If it’s too hot for you, it’s too hot for your pet.” That’s a general rule that Anna Cabrera, executive director of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), wishes to relay to those who are worrying about the wellbeing of their pets in the extreme heat currently being experienced nationwide. The temperature is not expected...