What is your constant?
Everyone has a constant in his or her life ; the constant is that very fundamental element that reminds the person of who he/she is, what the individual stands for, and it’s that constant that gives meaning to the individual’s whole being and existence. Think of the constant like the totem from the movie Inception, where the characters in the movie each need to develop a totem – a personalised item which only each person knows. The Totem is used to assure the characters in the movie that they’re in the real world and not in some layered dream state level.
Likewise in our own lives today, we too have such constants to remind us of what is real and important to us. I reflected on this during my Europe trip as I found solace and comfort in attending the mass. Although the trip was hectic during some days, I am glad I still managed to make room for my constant – our Lord and even though the masses I attended were not in English, I still felt welcomed and at home. I was with my constant – the One who has been with me all this while and it felt really renewing to attend it during the mornings. I would wake up at around 7.00 am and walk to the nearest church (there were plenty) while my travelling companions were still asleep.
In a way I welcomed this way of life – to start the day with Our Lord while others are still asleep. I felt it sort of gave me that space and time to just be alone with God, and to receive him in the Eucharist in the first thing in the morning was just a blessing in itself for me.
In the past whenever I am faced with challenges, like a desperate son, I would turn back to my Father, repent and be reunited with him. I guess you could say that part of me doing that is because of guilt – I didn’t want God’s punishment. But I realised that as time moved on, I became more and more interested in building a relationship with Him, not just from a needs-based relationship, but from a dynamic and accepting perspective. I wanted to BE WITH Him rather than just approach him in times of difficulty.
And over time, as I began adopting and habitually internalizing this concept and way of thinking about God, I realised that my relationship with God improved. He slowly became my rock, not just a rock for refuge, but a rock for me to live my life , a rock which has magnetic properties that guides and points my compass in the right direction. This Rock, over the years, through prayer, study and meditation (and lots of effort and grace) would eventually become my constant.
I have noted earlier that constants are there in our lives to give meaning and significance. Some people base their constant on their families, or their bank accounts or their careers. Whatever it is, it is so important to remember to have these constants in one’s life because without them, just as how a boat will float without proper anchorage, so would we as well, and the lack of having a proper footing in the ground has its consequences. It becomes scarier as you age.
It’s important to take the time and think for a moment what is that constant in your life and the process starts by first figuring out what matters to you most, just as how I discovered during my Euro trip, that ultimately, my constant, no matter how difficult or distracting the circumstances might be, will always and only rest in God.
"Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee.."
- Augustine of Hippo
I come back
August is almost coming to an end and here I am updating once again. Actually, in my defense I had actually posted a previous entry some time ago (in this month of course) but for some wacked out reason, the cyber cafe I was sitting in...actually wait it was not really a cybercafe, it was a cafe, quite popular actually, you know the one with the picture of a green woman, who sorta looks like medussa in a cursory glance and a green circle around it, well yah THAT cafe actually caused me to lose my previous entry cuz the stupid electricity in that shop went off halfway, and you know what goes off along with the electricitiy right? That's right, the internet connection too!
Blast, and most of all it was a really good entry too! Anyway since I am back, and I realised I didn't really write much for August, and that too for good reason. I was in Paradise for 5 days actually, well another synonym for Paradise is Bali, that's right! yours trully was in bali for 5 days, basking in the sun (which yours truly hates with a vengence!)
Bali was really good, I mean being with friends and all, something which I had actually not done in a long time (go holidaying with a bunch of wacky friends) but it was really nice to escape the mundane work and just have sometime to rest, although the sucky part was yours truly felt sick the first night the gang got into bali. So sad no?
B ut despite the sickness, I decided to still scale Mt Batur, an active Volanic Mountain in Bali. I mean how cool was that yo? To be able to scale a volcanic mountain?! In fact one of the coolest stuff we did there was also have breakfast. You see, because we are on lavaic ground, the earth is actually hot, and so by digging a 1-2 feet hole in the ground and placing a couple of eggs, within 15 minutes you can be enjoying hard-boiled eggs at 1700 meters high! Well I shouldn't say boiled, it's actually steamed!
The other highlight would probably be learning how to surf. Yeap, your's truly...on a surf board that is almost 1.5 times taller than he is... learning how to surve in the Indian Ocean. I gotta say the surfing experience is one of a kind. I guess part of me really wanted to do it because all these YEARS of watching shows like Baywatch, Beverly Hills 90210 and all that american west-coast crap on TV, I always wondered what it felt like to "ride the wave". I gotta admit, though I didn't really get to steady myself in the surfboard in that 2 hours of practice we had, I believe that surfing is kinda like ping pong, it's an easy sport to get the basics, but a hard one to master. I personally don't think surfing is all that hard. All is needed is just some practice...and constant determination 
If it wasn't bad enough that I felt sick arriving at Bali, coming home also was a real pain. In fact I was on MC for 2 days the night I reached home. It was quite bad as I had abit of fever and a nasty flu on the return home. In fact as I write this (yes I am backdating this entry 
) I am still nursing my flu!
But life goes on, and it's good to be back. There are still many more things I wish to blog about, hmm, should have a more discplined approach to actually setting aside 30 minutes 3 times a week to just blog. Doesn't have to be any serious or thought-profound topic, but rather any rambling rummage that comes into my mind!
I wonder if the have a mid-year resolution practice around the world....
Test Message
If you can read this message SUCCESSFULLY, that means something ; it means that my w.blogger, which is a nifty offline blogging tool I just downloaded is working properly and is able to sync and publish whatever I've written offline straight into my blog without having me to log into my actual blog
