Random Thoughts of the Week #1

After reading the book "Wonder" by RJ Palacio, we decided to put up a weekly post in our blog called the "Random Thoughts of the Week". It is practically based on Mr. Browne's (a character form the book) "Precepts" although what we are about to write are technically not precepts, rather they're more of the constant thoughts we had during the week. So for our first entry...

**********

“Listen”

by Rhio

There’s a wooden wall with a small screen that divides between us. It was a chance that I knew I needed to grab.  Then, someone from behind the wooden wall told me to do this: “Listen.” 

Plain and simple. Yet I somehow find hard to do. For how do I exactly do this? How do I clear out my mind from all the thoughts that my neurons have been firing endlessly in my overly functioning cranium? How do one just purely listen?

So I went back to my seat. Breathe in and breathe out. Closed my eyes. Tuned out the white noise. No words. Silence. Five minutes. 

I did. And somehow it felt good and something that I needed to do more again just like I used to before I finally learned speaking clearly (except those times when I blabber). 

source

**********

"The Tale of the Flying Pig" 

by Jhun

I first met Pigasus when I found a copy of John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men" from a second hand bookstore that I usually visit. As I opened the cover, I noticed a small drawing underneath the first page and, was intrigued to see a picture of a pig with wings, with an inscription underneath, "Ad astra per alia porci". It was then that I learned that Steinbeck used Pigasus as his personal stamp and that the inscription meant "To the stars on the wings of a pig." For him it meant that one should never stop to aspire to be on top no matter how lowly he might think he is. I admire his philosophy, though I have my own take about the flying pig.

From the first moment I saw Pigasus, I decided to "borrow" it as a symboI of my own philosophy in life. And that is to aspire to be good, to be better, without "flying too high" and forgetting where your feet took off from the ground. And mostly, to be content and happy with what you have right now no matter how humble it might be. I remember back then when I was still in school, I was an ambitious kid with lots of plans for the future. But when things started to get rough and I've crossed too many roads, I found myself driving farther and farther from the path I planned and I started to feel depressed and angry because everything was going wrong. 

Then something happened (which I'll share some other time ;)), and I started to see things from a different perspective. I realized that there's alot of reason to be happy for, to be content with, if only I'd refrain from always looking forward to the future without noticing the good things happening to me right here in the present. I still have some goals but I actually stopped from making step-by-step plans on how to achieve it. I'm pretty sure some might think that this is just a lazy mind's way of rationalizing things but what can I say, you can't please everybody. 

source