I used to have a keen sense of smell. It’s probably a vestigial faculty from my ancestors who, as hunter-gatherers in the wild of Panay, needed all their five senses heightened. But my nose has been dulled by age, Metro Manila’s pollution, and my own careless olfactory experiments. Once, I almost killed myself by being...
Category: Life
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Finding our way to happiness amid life’s difficulties
In my study of philosophy, I have learned from a few thinkers and philosophers who wrestled with finding meaning—and, thus, happiness—in the hardness of life, whence struggles and challenges are “sine qua non” (literally, “cannot be without”). The German existentialist philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, in positing that humans suffer for a reason, argued that we can...
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Easy like Sunday afternoon
The woman has apparently just risen from her wheelchair and her companions seem to be urging her to take a few steps forward. But ever so gently: You feel love pervading the tight little scene as you walk past it on this Sunday afternoon at the UP Oval late In January, when the sun’s rays...
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Each of us is unique, good, true and beautiful
Way back in my seminary philosophical study in ontology (a branch of metaphysics that deals with the study of “being, existence, and reality”), there’s this Latin maxim, “Ens est unum, bonum, verum, et pulchrum.” Every being is one, good, true and beautiful. More often than not, we wish to be like others or even better than our...
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The grandeur of solitude: ‘Alone but never lonely’
Let me clarify at the start my thesis-thought for this piece: I’m in no way advocating solitude at the expense of or minus social interaction, or isolation over meaningful contact with others. Verily, in the objective scheme of things, according to the “no man is an island” precept, a good life cannot exclude family and...
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In the Year of the Wood Dragon, ‘our success rests in our hands’
A fast-paced year of opportunities and challenges: This is how feng shui master Hanz Cua describes the coming Year of the Wood Dragon. Chinese New Year 2024, which starts on Feb. 10, is very different from the past Rabbit year, according to Cua. “The Dragon represents assertiveness and energy, in contrast to the Rabbit which...
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My babies forever and always
I remember a rainy afternoon. I was sitting next to the window, drinking hot chocolate as an alternative to coffee because I was pregnant with my fourth child. I stared outside and watched the raindrops falling to the ground. I could hear my three other children laughing and playing in the living room. On some...
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Sinistral in a dextral world
Are you left-handed or right-handed? Neither? Only recently I learned that there is a term for my handedness: mixed-handed. I write and brush my teeth left-handed and use scissors and play golf right-handed. But I think that using my right is more of an adaptation to right-handed tools. I looked it up and I read...
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What we discovered on a walking tour and a Pasig River Ferry ride
When my husband and I signed up for a heritage tour by Renacimiento Manila in September, we expected the usual daylong visits to old buildings and houses, with some historical trivia and eating stops on the side. But we got much more than that in this tour. We also found ourselves wondering why the government...
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Hitting our stride together
To celebrate World Animal Day on Wednesday, Oct. 4, the nongovernment organization Animal Kingdom Foundation (AKF) sponsored “Run Fur Life” last Sunday at Bridgetowne Estate in Pasig City. The event, now on its eighth year, had over 1,000 runners registered—a record achievement for AKF. My running buddy was a two-year-old red Golden Retriever named Angus....