Hope from the Mushroom

It rained hard, not outside but more on the inside.
Tears of pain flooded me as if I was pierced with thorns of sorrow.

So I walked through the woods today hoping I could find solace
Then I stumbled a soft, fragile, little mushy thing called redpouch.
In my delight I picked it up and put it in my palm
There, the little thing looked so beautiful and calm
As if telling me, “Hey, why so sad? The world is not that bad!
You just have to smile and everything will be glad.
Lift your worries on air and the wind will carry it away.
Dream your dream and your life will begin.”

Filled with hope, I strolled my way home
Amazed by the lesson I’ve learned from that little red thing
She seemed so weak and mushy but she brought my soul to life
That even though I wanted her with me, I left her free
Yes, I left redpouch in the woods but I took with me her giant hope.


Copyright ©2004 Chille Pineda Cabrillos

Greet this day with LOVE…

Hello, friends….
It has been three months since I’ve come out and finally open our strongbox again. Three long months…and I got my mind blocked out with transitions. There were lots of big and small events in my life. There were painful goodbyes from old good friends…there were happy memories shared with new found friends…there were ‘BRING IT ON” victories that are now stored in my little treasures urn …there were tasks that seemed to be unending and no meaning yet I kept on doing and doing. Oh…so many things took place…too many, perhaps, that I didn’t know how to sit down and feel the magic of words. Would you believe, I got scared I might not be able to go back and write again? Maybe the numbers have overpowered the words inside me that I got locked up inside, wanting to scream something, yet I didn’t know how to express it. But they say, sometimes, it’s a normal thing to be locked up inside our souls. We don’t know why, we don’t know how…but we’re just there feeling imprisoned and numb inside, as if we’re just walking aimlessly to the sea of life. And then another minute or another hour or maybe another day or month, we’ll be surprised to wake up being recharged and renewed as if an angel had kissed our souls. Yes, I’ve gone through that stage and now I’m feeling happy and renewed, as if an angel had truly kissed and touched my soul. Call it magic. Call it faith. Call it hope. Call it love. Whatever you believe that is, it brought a miracle in me.

As we start a new year of journey, let me share with you inspiring thoughts from my favorite man, Og Mandino. His words are truly magical that it moved me so much that I can’t help but to share it to everyone dear to me. His words are too awesome that I can’t afford to distort it with my own words. So here it is… a complete unedited copy of the Scroll Marked II from “The Greatest Salesman in the World.”

Happy New Year and start this year with love in your heart!

Keep dreaming…
Chille:)


The Scroll Marked II

I will greet this day with love in my heart.
For this is the greatest secret of success in all ventures.
Muscle can split a shield and even destroy life but only the unseen power of love can open the hearts of men and until I master this art I will remain no more than a peddler in the market place. I will make love my greatest weapon and none on whom I call can defend against its force.
My reasoning they may counter; my speech they may distrust; my apparel they may disapprove; my face they may reject; and even my bargains may cause them suspicion; yet my love will melt all hearts liken to the sun whose rays soften the coldest clay.
I will greet this day with love in my heart.
And how will I do this? Henceforth will I look on all things with love and I will be born again. I will love the sun for it warms my bones; yet I will love the rain for it cleanses my spirit. I will love the darkness for it shows me the stars. I will welcome happiness for it enlarges my heart; yet I will endure sadness for it opens my soul. I will acknowledge rewards for they are my due; yet I will welcome obstacles for they are my challenge.
I will greet this day with love in my heart.
And how will I speak? I will laud mine enemies and they will become friends; I will encourage my friends and they will become brothers. Always will I dig for reasons to applaud; never will I scratch for excuses to gossip. When I am tempted to criticize I will bite on my tongue; when I am moved to praise I will shout from the roofs.
Is it not so that birds, the wind, the sea and all nature speaks with the music of praise for their creator? Cannot I speak with the same music to his children? Henceforth will I remember this secret and it will change my life.
I will greet this day with love in my heart.
And how will I act? I will love all manners of men for each has qualities to be admired even though they be hidden. With love I will tear down the wall of suspicion and hate which they have built around their hearts and in its place will I build bridges so that my love may enter their souls.
I will love the ambitious for they can inspire me; I will love the failures for they can teach me. I will love the kings for they are but human; I will love the meek for they are divine. I will love the rich for they are yet lonely; I will love the poor for they are so many. I will love the young for the faith they hold; I will love the old for the wisdom they share. I will love the beautiful for their eyes of sadness; I will love the ugly for their souls of peace.
I will greet this day with love in my heart.
But how will I react to the actions of others? With love. For just as love is my weapon to open the hearts of men, love is also my shield to repulse the arrows of hate and the spears of anger. Adversity and discouragement will beat against my new shield and become as the softest of rains. My shield will protect me in the market place and sustain me when I am alone. It will uplift me in moments of despair yet it will calm me in time of exultation. It will become stronger and more protective with use until one day I will cast it aside and walk unencumbered among all manners of men, and, when I do, my name will be raised high on the pyramid of life.
I will greet this day with love in my heart.
And how will I confront each whom I meet? In only one way. In silence and to myself I will address him and say I Love You. Though spoken in silence these words will shine in my eyes, unwrinkled my brow, bring a smile to my lips, and echo in my voice; and his heart will be opened. And who is there who will say nay to my goods when his heart feels my love/
I will greet this day with love in my heart.
And most of all I will love myself. For when I do will zealously inspect all things which enter my body, my mind, my soul, and my heart. Never will I overindulge the requests of my flesh, rather I will cherish my body with cleanliness and moderation. Never will I allow my mind to be attracted to evil and despair, rather I will uplift it with the knowledge and wisdom of the ages. Never will I allow my soul to become complacent and satisfied, rather I will feed it with meditation and prayer. Never will I allow my heart to become small and bitter, rather I will share it and it will grow and warm the earth.
I will greet this day with love in my heart.
Henceforth will I love all mankind. From this moment all hate is let from my veins for I have no time to hate, only time to love. From this moment I take the first step required to become a man among men. With love I will increase my sales a hundredfold and become a great salesman. If I have no other qualities I can succeed with love alone. Without it I will fail though I possess all the knowledge and skills of the world.
I will greet this day with love, and I will succeed.

-Taken from Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman in the World & The Greatest Secret in the World.

from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2004 ed. Vol. 1 Jan 2004

ONLY TIME…

Hello, friends….
Finally, the wedding mania is over. I was busy lately helping with my brother’s wedding that I was thoroughly immersed with the little touchy details that I thought wedding planning is as difficult as finding your groom or bride-to-be these days. I was having vertigo worrying the whole thing, as if it was my wedding! But now I realized, it was not about the panic of the preparation, but the fact that I’m losing a brother (physically!) made me nostalgic. It’s quite funny but I felt that way. I expected wedding day would come to him but I never imagined this day would come too soon. Would you imagine, just composing this piece brought tears to my eyes?

Keep dreaming…
Chille:)


I am Chill. My brother’s name is Jig. Jig & Chill echoes like Jack & Jill, right? I was born, the day after Jig celebrated his very first birthday, which means, he wasn’t able to continue his being reigning star of the family because I intruded. Probably, if he can raise his voice at that time he would object my intrusion. I’m sure he was thinking “how could our parents brought me in when he was just starting to enjoy the world? What would happen to him being put in the middle of an older and younger sister? But luckily he cannot so he didn’t. So I came in and most people thought I’m going to dethrone him of my parent’s attention. On the contrary, it didn’t happen. Siblings’ rivalry was never a problem in our family. In fact, our one-year gap brings us even closer to each other… forming identities and bridging differences. At that time, my older sister Polly found her fondness in dancing and music. Jig was good in drawing and funny tricks and I was hooked in writing, arts and books. But when our younger siblings-- April and Cyril-- came in they carried some of our semblances, but tried to set their own unique niches independently. April is a natural comic and spontaneous soul like Jig while Cyril has found passion for creative arts, as inspired by me and my sister Polly.

Jig and I grew up like twins. The difference maybe, he grew up so fast and tall that I was left growing up slowly and small. Aside from celebrating the same birthday (our official celebration has always been March 16…to save money for blow-out!J), we also have the same set of childhood friends. We were classmates since Grade 1 until our high school years. That’s why we were always successful in deceiving our classmates that we were really born twins. I remember at that time we were not allowed to go home without each other’s company. The burden was heavier for him because he was explicitly tasked of taking care of me. So sometimes, if one of us wanted to do some gimmicks with our own set of friends, we needed to lie to our mom that we have some group study in school or sometimes Jig would instruct me to wait for him at the waiting shed of our village then we’ll walk home together as if we both came from school. Nice tricks huh? There was also a time when he had his right hand caught by a firecracker that I had to do all his formal themes and exams and other assignments in school because he can’t move his hand for a month. I think that was the start of my career as his personal assistant and secretary. He became too dependent on me when it comes to assignments and exams and projects. Would you imagine, he didn’t have a notebook of his own in some of our subjects because he thought what’s the point of having a sister for a classmate if he’ll keep the same notebook as mine? Well, that’s a good point to consider. Not all brothers are blessed with a sister and a classmate rolled into one, right? So I think, he’s just appreciating his gift. As for me, I loved being protected by a big brother like Jig and I enjoyed being tagged as his replicated twin sister, his ever-loyal classmate, and his forever-family crime partner.

When college days came, we had to separate ways. Jig enrolled in TUP-Bacolod while I was accepted at UP-Iloilo. It was tough at first to be physically separated and deported from home. I didn’t have a Jig to make assignments or projects. I didn’t have a Jig to wait for me after school and walk me home. I didn’t have a Jig to protect me far away from home. But those times of not having him made me brave. I got the message that I have to learn how to find my own niche as Jig would soon find his own.

Like today, Jig has come to one of the best times of his lifetime. He finally finds where and who he wants to be and where and whom he wants to rest his heart. He is moving to another important stage of his life. The stage I have never imagined to happen so fast that I, my mom, my dad, and the rest of the family weren’t prepared to face gracefully. We are expecting it to happen but not so soon like this. Maybe, it’s really true that if love finds the right person and the right time, you will also find the right reason to allow it to bloom. And no one, but time, can ever hold, or let go, or suppress what love wants to express. As Enya puts in her song, “Only time can say where the road goes, where the day flows … Only time can say if your love grows as your heart chose. …Only time can say why your heart sighs as your love flies…Only time can say why your heart cries when your love lies…Only time can say that love might be in your heart.”

And yes, to you Khaye, we are more than happy to welcome you in our family. Rest assured that you have found a good soul in my brother. I would like to let you know that knowing my brother Jig, I can say and vouched that he has never loved a soul as intensely… and sincerely… and amazingly as he has loved you and will love you more each day as you start a new life together. Congratulations and I wish you both enough happiness to keep your new life strong and full of blessings.

Now, I realized this moment doesn’t mean losing a brother at all…but rather gaining another sister, gaining another friend…gaining another member of our family.

from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 12 Jan 2004

When The Heart Cries…

You wake up one morning and you know it wouldn’t be as good as it was a week ago…the reason…you lost him or you lost her...

Maybe, you’re right. It’s hard for “us” to relate with “your” world. We cannot exactly feel how you feel or say, “we know what you’re going through,” because no one does except you. For sure, no words can comfort you at all. No stories can make you feel better now. Seeing familiar places may hurt you more…or just listening to familiar songs may get you more nostalgic…how much much more remembering him or her?

It’s really bad to be in this circumstance, right? I have my own feeling of how “tough” it is to be there, but I know I can’t contain the feeling of pain that you have in your heart right now. I may not know the exact feeling, but I can try to understand, if you let me.

Hey, I think it’s okay to cry…cry out loud…cry out some more…let those pillows get wet every night…let those tears somehow wash away your pain. You will feel better after you’ve cried enough. But when is crying enough? It’s up to you. It’s you and your heart who can say when and how much you want to cry.

When your heat is badly broken, you feel it was shattered into tiny pieces and wanting to explode, right? Maybe you wished you will just vanish into thin air and forget about everything. Maybe you wished. Maybe I would wish the same, too. Or maybe, we all would wish the same thing.

But things aren’t that way in the real world. And for sure, He wouldn’t want us to act that way, either. We have to go beyond the event and understand the reason why it has to happen.Everything happens for a reason, right? Then, for sure, this one has too!
I know it’s easy for me to say this because I’m not in your shoes right now and I don’t feel your pain. You’re right! But would you want to wear that same shoes for too long? When would be the right time to decide changing shoes? It’s too early I guess to say, “forget about the whole thing and move on with your life!” I wouldn’t tell you to do that. There’s a lot of things to be learned in here if you just open your heart and let your mind speak up for yourself too.

Lesson one, maybe…this is just a test of how strong your relationship can be…how far can both of you go and save the love…is it worth saving?…is love too strong to keep it intact? They say, love is sweeter the second time around. Maybe.

Lesson two, maybe…one of you needs to grow apart from each other. Probably, you have shared what you need to share to that soul, and its time now to spread your wings and take another journey. Or it could be another way? Maybe, he needs to try his wings and learn how to fly up there all by himself.

Lesson three, maybe…either soul has outgrown the routines of love. It just came to a point when love has gone down and the hearts have become too expectant of each other…that when expectations are not met somehow, one feels, love has diminished to some extent. So probably, time to change strategy…make surprises…change love? I don’t know.

Lesson four, maybe…it really has to be that way. That simple! So you just have to bear with it and remain strong. For after you’ve gone through it, you’ll be happy to say, “Once I have loved and lost, and it hurt me. But I have learned my lesson. Now, I survived it, and I’m glad…Now I won’t be scared to love again and learn more until I find the one God has destined for me.”

So the next time your heart cries, don’t just let the tears flow…listen to what it tells you.

from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 11

Scattering Butterfly’s Hope…

Hello, friends….
I woke up today seeing paper butterflies hanging on the ceiling of my room. I wonder how these butterflies become the beautiful creatures they are. They seem to be blessed with many beautiful things… brave wings to let them fly somewhere and amazing colors to bring hope to the flowers.

If men have the courage to take risks and hope to change the way things are like that of a butterfly…
then great possibilities are endless for each one of us.

So, here’s a challenge for you, friends.
Be like a brave butterfly and scatter butterfly’s hope!

Keep dreaming…
Chille:)



I love to do things that are not usual and obvious to the ordinary mind …things that require elusive imagination and radical passion. Some people call it strange…weird…hard-to-dig-personality. I call it spontaneous creativity.

Who ever dreamed of being surrounded with butterflies, feel the passion of their touch and hold the beauty of that joyful experience? I did…and I still do everyday. But I can’t afford to buy those expensive butterflies and imprison them in one place just to satisfy my radical passion. I wouldn’t endure the sight of those beautiful creatures being locked and caged for my own benefit. So I thought of creating my own butterfly sanctuary out of hard cutout colored pictures and let them hang in the ceiling of my room as if they are really flying. Then to add dramatic background in my room I put butterfly stickers and flowers of different colors and glow in the dark butterflies in the wall. Would you believe, it’s like waking up each day in a butterfly garden? If I stayed on dreaming or just waited for the chance to be surrounded by butterflies, perhaps, it would take some time to realize that dream or be there at the place I wanted to.

I also remember the time when very few people have recognized yoga as a good healing exercise. Some perceived it as something weird and senseless...a boring activity. Some even associated it as an agnostic or atheist’s work out. I wanted to see whether those perceptions were valid. So I tried it… even learned to love it …and skewed the old theories. Now I’m enjoying the healing energy –both body and soul- that yoga exercise brings me. If I were not curious enough to try it and disprove the old notion, I wouldn’t know and I will never ever know the healing power of yoga.


The lesson for me here is this: if I want to do something to change my world, the possibility of achieving the change I dream of lies in my hands. I don’t have to wait for the right chance or depend on other people to make it happen for me. Right chance takes place if I allow it to take place and change will come to me if I work for it (…which tells me I have to conclude my long-ignored unfinished businesses in life!). Sometimes, it really pays to go out of our shell, search out, and take a risk (even if the risk breaks our soul sometimes!).

This reminds me of the story of the two caterpillars, “Stripe and Yellow” in the Hope for the Flowers. In the tale, Stripe and Yellow, want something more from life than eating and growing bigger. But they mistake the urge to get high so they get caught up in a “caterpillar pillar” filled with a squirming mass of caterpillar bodies, each determined to reach a top so far away it can’t be seen. Finally disillusioned, they discover that the way for caterpillars to find their particular “more”, or who they really are, is to enter the cocoon and “risk for a butterfly.”

Most of us experienced being disillusioned sometimes in our lives. Disillusion with the way life is made for us…disillusion with the way our world is turning…disillusion with our own expectations. We want to fly and reach the sky, yet don’t know how. We crave for many things, many wishes, yet don’t know exactly what we want. It’s as if we’re just waiting for a magical moment to tear down the whole order of things and in a strike of a wand, we’re expecting that everything will be renewed, and we’ll live in a whole new world.

There’s nothing wrong with being a dreamer. I am a dreamer and I will remain a dreamer forever. But I dream in a real world. And one thing I’ve learned in dreaming in a real world is how to struggle with faith and hope.

Some of us struggle to “climb the top” and would only feel contentment if they reach the top of the heap. Others are already there at the top of the heap yet feeling so empty… thus still searching for something more meaningful. But searching for one’s self, one’s destiny, one’s purpose for existence, is not always easy. Searching is a struggle…a difficult struggle. But the hard knocks of searching are there to give us a sense of achievement, a sense of hope that somehow we are going to a place meant for us. Some of us are not just meant to climb the top… some of us are meant to fly. For Stripe and Yellow, surrendering to the cocoon is the only way to fly and become a beautiful butterfly. For some of us, changing perspectives, changing priorities, finishing unfinished business and surrendering to serve others and touch lives is the only way to reach a complete, meaningful life.

The amazing transformation of a caterpillar, a lowly worm, into a glorious flying creature is hard to believe. But it’s true because we have actually seen a real butterfly. And as long as there are butterflies in the garden, the flowers will not cease from hoping and people can hope for other transformations invisible to the eye.

Fill your life with butterfly’s hope. And if you believe in that hope, try scattering it to other gardens. You just don’t know what your hope can do to other souls.


from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 10 Sept 2003

Time for Giant Faith…

Hello, friends….
Separation comes in different forms. We may experience parents leaving us for a long vacation; or friends being gone for some time to go somewhere far away for things of consequence. There are also circumstances when we lost people we love so much; either because one abandons the other or simply the relationship has to end and one has to let go. But whether it’s temporary or permanent, separation always brings us emotional tragedy. And this one calls for our giant faith.

My prayer is that this piece might help a good friend and those who shares the same fate. Please have my faith and have it till you get healed.


Keep dreaming…
Chille:)



I’ve learned from a book “Return to Love” by Marianne Williamson that there are three levels of ‘teaching’ in a relationship. The first level is what we think of as a casual encounter, such as two strangers meeting in an elevator or students who “happen” to walk home from school together. The second level is a “more sustained relationship, in which, for a time, two people enter into a fairly intense teaching-learning situation and then appear to separate.” The third level of teaching is a relationship, which, once formed, lasts our lives. At this level, “each person is given a chosen learning partner who presents him with unlimited opportunities for learning.”


Most of us find a hard time surviving the second level. Reason why, very few achieved that third level, life long-relationship. At the second level of teaching, people are brought together for more intense work. And sad to say, our souls usually slow down with the intensity of work we have to do. Most of us consider separation as the saddest chapter in a relationship. It diffuses our world when someone we love so much says goodbye to us. The emotional pain we feel from the inside is immensely excruciating. The intensity of pain doesn’t stop but keeps on haunting us over and over again. We feel it’s not only the relationship that is ending, but it seems like our entire world is temporarily ending too. Our depression, our disappointment, our tears, and our grief when a relationship is ending and someone has to let go are just but natural. It’s not neurotic to grieve a relationship; what’s neurotic is when we don’t. There’s no need to pretend we don’t feel the hurt in our hearts. We have to let it out and cry the tears that gush forth like a blood from a wound. We have to detoxify ourselves… release the negative energies and allow our souls to be healed. Because only in the process of healing, that we can learn what is illusion and what is real. And we can learn about a love that never, ever leaves. Thus, we should not always look with sadness at the “failure” of our relationship. If we both learned what we were meant to learn, then that relationship was a success.


Sometimes, the lesson to be learned in a relationship is how to hang in there and try to work things out. Other times, the lesson to be learned is how to exit a situation that doesn’t serve or a person who is not worth. No one can say for another person what principle applies in what circumstance. It is ultimately our constant connection to heaven and our own intuitional guidance that alone can lead us to the higher understanding of events that unfold our lives.


Times like these call for a giant faith. Let our hearts be softened by our tears. Cry all the pain out, and let tears wash away our misery. Remember, Jesus’ symbolic three days? Three days represents the time it takes between the crucifixion and the resurrection, between an open-hearted response to hurt and the experience of rebirth that will always follow. This is just one of our three days. Hold on. Hold on. Sometimes in our defenseless, our safety lies. Just step back and let Him lead the way. Hang on to our giant faith.

from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 9 Sept 2003

A Matter of Energy

Hello, friends….
“A new spiritual awakening is occurring in human culture, an awakening brought about by a critical mass of individuals who experience their lives as a spiritual unfolding, a journey in which we are led forward by mysterious coincidences.”

I’ve read the book, “The Celestine Prophecy” by James Redfield, four years ago but the amazement I got from that book kept on puzzling me until now. I can say that reading that book was one of the best experiences in my life. I've always been a person interested in the mystical and many times I experienced that feeling of unexplained connection between events, places, things, or people I’ve met in my life’s journey.

I am sharing the energy to you now, simply because I feel I have to. Maybe, you can also share the energy, if you feel have to.

Keep dreaming…
Chille:)



Coincidence…Serendipity…Karma…Destiny…words that speak about pure chances…accidental occurrences…chance encounters…a twist of fate…a happenstance…a pure work of luck. The happenings of such events in our lives pose a mystery. But are these purely coincidences or part of our real existence that we just happen to ignore?

If there is such thing as Advocates of Coincidences, perhaps I’m one of them. Movies or novels that illustrate a twist of fate or speak about destiny or mysterious coincidences really touch my heart and leave a mark in my memory. I always have this feeling of de’javu or something familiar in certain person or events or places. The mystery makes me want to explore more and search for a link. I believe there has to be a connection somewhere. I believe every person; all the events of our lives are there because we have drawn them there. What we choose to do with them is up to us. And I have proven not only once, but many times in my life that the connection really exists.

Though it’s not as grand encounter as the characters in Serendipity, or as extraordinary as the Message in the Bottle, my encounter with mysterious coincidences taught me a lesson that everything is just a matter of energy. As mentioned in the book and I quote, “We now experience that we live not in a material universe, but in a universe of dynamic energy. Everything extant is a field of sacred energy that we can sense and intuit. Moreover, we humans can project our energy by focusing our attention in the desired direction...where attention goes, energy flows...influencing other energy systems and increasing the pace of coincidences in our lives. “

You see, the happenings of coincidences in our lives can be increased if we desire to. If we learn how to uplift each person that comes into our lives and really see the beauty in every face that we meet, then we’ve found our connection to that person…and that is not chance encounter. It was meant for us to meet that soul because there is something we need to do for that person. And if we make that our personal mission in life, then we will further enhance the flow of mysterious coincidences as we are guided towards our destiny…the destiny to lift others to their wisest self.

You don’t have to be rich and famous to be able to make a difference. I am not rich, I am not famous, but through writing, I share good energies to my friends and to other souls I don’t even know. Sometimes, thoughts just pop up in my mind…not knowing exactly where it will go or how would it end. I let spontaneity flows in and allow the energy to travel. I know somehow, the words will form a beautiful thought and connect a soul somewhere. And it does. Many times, I receive little notes from friends and people I don’t know saying how they have been inspired by my thoughts. (And all the while, I thought, I was not making sense!) I love these people because they give me good energy and create purpose to my writings. Reason why, I always say my gratitude to those people whose thought has inspired me or moved me. I know it gives them life to write some more. And that’s what I call…bridging good energy!

Each one has its own creative way of contributing to the world. Rather than wishing and dreaming that you will be rich one day so you can act and help the world, you can actually do your share now. For instance, instead of stealing energies from other souls, why not learn to uplift them? Instead of intimidating people, learn to build an unprejudiced connection…be open-minded. Instead of wallowing regrets of the past, appreciate the present and discover your own growth path. That way, you will feel a sense of lightness or buoyancy within... a sense of inner connection to your personal mission and to the real purpose of human life in this planet.

Spread the good energy!


from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 8 Aug 2003

Season of Discontentment ...

Hello, friends….
It has been a while since I’ve entered my strongbox again. Thanks for those people who missed my thoughts and reminded me…I have a reason to write!

It’s the start of the week, again…and see how time flies so fast! It’s the 2nd week of August…and we’re nearing the ‘ber’ months again…and then will be facing another New Year! Time runs so fast huh? And as it runs, more and more changes are coming into our lives. There are some news about friends getting married or having babies…or changing jobs or just getting off somewhere. There are people who made big decisions in life that suddenly changes their entire existence. There are events that created major jolt in our society. This is really a time of boundless transitions…that sometimes if you’re not used to it…you’ll be either left in great awe or dismay.

Should you go on with your discontentment? Is it something positive or would just make you more hopeless and greedy. Here’s something about time and age and discontentment that had been bombarding me lately….

It’s up to you to decide what discontentment can do to you.

Keep dreaming…
Chille:)



Each of us, probably, goes through a season of discontentment. A season when we tend to acquire that irrational craving for something new and something better. It could be a craving for a change in career, a change in lifestyle, a change in relationship, a change in friends, or simply a change in attitude. A season when simple things become complicated and the complicated becomes more extra-complicated. Complexities that perplex our once simple life. Complexities that burden us with more difficulties. Complexities that made us difficult to thrive, difficult to believe, difficult to be satisfied. Should we allow this craving complexity to take a higher form and eventually direct us somewhere or face it and mortify its intensity.

Remember, our primitive time as children? All we needed were few basic material things -- food, clothes and toys --- to make us happy; and a kiss and a hug from our mom and dad-- to make us safe. When we could not have new toys, we simply used our imagination to conjure up make-believe scenarios using recycled gadgets and playthings. What we had then, seemed like a treasure to our childlike dimension. The teenage days of our life were not that complicated either. There were no VCDs or DVDs to watch till dawn, no CDs to quiver with, no cell phones nor e-mails to send messages, no cyber cafes to hang out with our friends, no internets to connect us to the rest of the world. But we enjoyed a lot more with a lot less, right? (Probably, because back then we didn’t know what we were missing yet!)

But, hey, look at people, nowadays. See how the jet age and cyber-technologies and modern lifestyle have transformed them. Some of them have turned into idealistic and transforming individuals who are brave enough to stand up and ready to be ridiculed for their convictions. Others are plainly contented to what they see or hear and numb enough to question the traditional philosophies imposed by the world they happen to live in. Some of them may keep on searching, and moving, and changing for an unfound reason. Some of them may just go on…hoping there is something better to see at the end of the tunnel.

The message here is this: those who refused to go out from their hard-core shells and learn to explore new things in the world and stand up for their convictions will remain in their own shell forever, but those who update their knowledge and skills; those who read, research and learn; those who perform mental gymnastics constantly; those who crave for change and create a difference in the lives of others will thrive in the playing field of life. We have to acquire a high-speed mindset, a fast-track sense of doing things. We have to develop a taste for higher convictions and consequential living to reach higher grounds.

Now, we can’t exactly speak for all people, whether the season of discontentment that passes through our life, is a bane or a boon. If we are discontented because we always want to explore what is there to explore, to harness what is there to harness, to learn what is there to learn, then good! Keep on with our discontentment. But if we are discontented because we have this notion that life itself is a plain discontentment, then we have to change our direction. You see, this vicious cycle of dissatisfaction goes on and on and on. We will never be contented with what we have or what we have accomplished, not because we are insatiable beings. Rather, discontentment resides in us because we know we have not fully shared what we ought to share to the world. So, treasure that moment of discontentment when it comes to you. There’s so much to learn from that unfulfilled mission, unconsummated vision, or unfinished journey of existence.

As Joan Atwater beautifully said in her book called The Simple Life:

Our lives are overburdened, and living often seems to us a terrible complicated affair. The problems of the world are so incredibly complex and we see that there are no simple answers. The complexity always leaves us with a feeling of helplessness and powerlessness. And still, amazingly enough, we go on, day by day, always half subconsciously yearning for something simpler, something more meaningful.

So how we look for our lives and living becomes tremendously important. It’s up to us to bring this authenticity, this simplicity, this directness, and this unburdened clarity into our looking. If such a thing as living life fully interests you, then it’s up to you to learn about it and live it.


from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 7 Aug  2003

The Reason for Rainbow...

Hello, friends….
Has anyone of you seen a rainbow lately? Not much, I guess. I seldom see it myself nowadays and it makes me wonder why. I miss the beauty and the mystery it exudes. Rainbows never fail to amaze me since I was a kid. I always asked myself why it is beautifully painted in the sky and appears for some time? Why can’t it stay there for long? What are rainbows for? Where did it come from and where it goes when it disappears? Until now, I don’t know the exact answers. The only thing I understand about rainbows is…they are painted in the sky to remind us hope never ceases and God never forgets us. That’s why I always love to see rainbows.

Please let me know if you happen to see one…

Keep dreaming…
Chille:)



Forty days and forty nights of unceasing rains and floods
There seems to be no more hope left for a sun to rise above
Every edge of the sky is painted with dark, angry clouds
There seems to be no end to the angels’ sob

When will the sun come out and dry the land?
When will the angels sing and tune the band?
When will the sky clear and brighten the heaven?
When will the rainbow appear and hope be given?

Sighs disappear, when rainbows appear
Clear, blue clouds can be seen all over
And colorful hope floats freely in the air
Yes, rainbows are there painted in the sky
To remind us always that hope never ceases
And God never forgets.

from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 6 June 2003

In Search of Greener Pasture…

Hello, friends….
“I’m quitting! I have to change job!” I can hear most people say that nowadays. (I often hear myself saying that too!) But where should you go? Where should you seek for greener pasture? Are you making the right decision by just quitting? Is the temporary consolation you get from escaping the problem, enough to make you resort to drastic move? Maybe, before you make any drastic change, think deeply…. I’m not saying though, that you shouldn’t take the risk (In fact, I admire people who would go beyond pursuing their passion!)… I just want you to be more aware of the consequence of your decision. Because once, you’ve made your decision, you can’t go back and punish yourself with so much regrets!

Be smart enough where to find the greener grass. Who knows, it’s just right in your own fence. But if the time comes that you really feel that you don’t belong to where you are and there’s nothing you can do to water your grass, then by all means…take the plunge and start searching your greener pasture…


Keep dreaming…
Chille:)



Sometimes we think that the only way to realize our goals and dreams is to pin our hopes on the other side of the fence. We don’t appreciate the beauty and the freshness of our own backyard because we think that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Rather than nurturing our own meadow, we nurture the grass not under our stewardship. What we don’t know then, what seems to be greener grass doesn’t always look as green as it seems, neither would it be all the time. Though you may find the grass really greener on the other side, you still have to mow it when you get there.

Nowadays, try asking people who have abandoned their jobs, ”why they search for something else?” I bet, at least one out of ten would say, “I am searching for a greener pasture.” Oh? Where? Does the place where the grass is really greener exist?

In reality, it often does not, nor does it have to be. We can’t find it anywhere because it resides in us. If we want to see better things or work better jobs or find a place where the grass could be greener on our side of the fence, then we have to decide to make it so. If we want to grow our own meadow, then we have to make a healthy environment and nurture it. We should decide that we could make a difference in making our environment the best that it can possibly be.

We all want the grass to be greener but we can make the grass greener on our side without searching for somewhere else. We don’t need to search for greener pasture at the other side of the fence, we only have to nurture our own. It’s a matter of attitude and action. Our attitude, our conscious decision, is that our side of the fence is, or at least can be, greener than the other side. If we assume accountability for our own meadow and operate with the attitude that we can make a difference, we’ll work proactively to make our environment the best that it can possibly be. But if we are preoccupied with our own scarcities and deficiencies and we don’t recognize the great abundance that we have, we will be looking to other, seemingly greener, pastures for solutions and happiness.

If you have green grasses at your lawn, try to observe it. Isn’t it true that green grass sprout beautifully each time rainy season comes, while summer heat withers the grass if you don’t water it regularly? Life is like that, too. There are times we are experiencing great moments of joy; other times we are blown up with much sorrow. Life goes though cycles of change and thus, we should continually adapt to become fluid; and like any other cycle, things have a way of repeating themselves over and over, so you must be ready.

But one thing is certain about life. Life is not an easy road, right? Every job or role is fraught with problems and challenges. Every decision is braced with risks and uncertainties. Every action is buckled with pressures and responsibilities. However, from a larger perspective, consider this as a blessing. As they say, “of all the virtues we can learn, no trait is more useful, more essential for survival, and more likely to improve the quality of life than the ability to transform adversity into an enjoyable challenge.”

The good news is…turning problems into solutions and opportunities, or even learning to cope, makes a person wiser, healthier, and more productive. A certain amount of opposition helps and learning to overcome such opposition gives a person more confidence and security, moves him toward his potential, and gives him a greater sense of achievement, purpose, and worth.

I think, there is no such thing as bad or worst job, either. But there is such thing as bad mood or bad attitude, right? Our work becomes only worst because we allow it to be one. We allow our bad mood to work on us. Or work becomes an agony to us because we let others antagonize us and ruin our perspective. You see, work becomes only work, the moment you lose your magical play in doing it. But try to play with it, appreciate every moment of it, savor it and you will love it.

So if the time of your life comes that you have to search for a greener pasture...think again “where the grass is really greener?” But if you think you have exhausted everything you got to water your grass, yet still found your fence a little dry and barren, then maybe…just maybe…you need to search somewhere else. Just keep in mind though, “the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence, it’s greenest only where it’s watered.” So before searching for greener pasture, go home, water your grass first.

from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 5 June 2003

Writing Fascination…

Hello, friends….
Last week, I had more time to write…more time to meditate…more time to do my yoga exercise (Thank God, I can still bend those knees freely!) It feels good to be free somehow…free from all the worries of everyday work and free from getting up so early! At least I’ve entrapped those energies back. Although, being out of office makes me depress sometimes, (because I’m easily bored and I hate idle hours… and I tend to think a lot of unnecessary things!) my depression was mustered out by just writing! Hey, not only am I relieved… I also felt unregimented.

Try the writing therapy…it can bring you somewhere!

Keep dreaming…
Chille:)



I used to think writing is only for highly intelligent people. It doesn’t follow I guess. I know a lot of high- IQ people but their minds stutter when they write. I don’t have such a gifted brain, but I know I can write. In writing, eloquence of the mind may be important, but I think, it is more important to have eloquence of the heart. For me, a genuine writing ability springs from the heart and soul, not just the mind. You may know a lot of high-sounding words, or maybe you’re an expert with crossword puzzles, but if you don’t have a genuine heart in conveying your thoughts, you can’t string those words into a beautiful package of language and touch a soul.

There are a lot of reasons why we should be fascinated with writing. It’s like a therapy for some broken souls. It’s like an outlet of fear and anger, a weapon to combat pains and hurts. Try sometimes to put everything on a piece of paper (then shred it off, later!) and I tell you, your heart will feel like it’s being consoled temporarily. Some people write when they are overflowing with joy… or when their hearts cannot contain the happiness within and they are bursting to the seams. Writing is more of a heart full of spirit that one is eager to share with someone. It’s like a soul that never ceases to say, “I love you” till the other soul says, “I love you” back. Thoughts never cease on flowing till the soul pours out everything in words.

Writing is magical too, because it makes you closer to souls you can’t reach…it comforts lonely spirits… it befriends strangers… it heals broken hearts…and it simply gives life to a deserted world. I don’t know but there is that amazing fascination I get when I write. It makes me happy…it consoles me…it allows me to dream and dream…it gives life to my soul. There is always this strong force within me, wanting to explode! That’s why, I want other souls to discover the magic and fascination one can get from writing.

Believe me, writing is not that difficult. Everyone can write, as long as there is that spark in your heart to create an idea or to express a thought. It can be a thank-you note for a friend…a message of comfort for a weary soul…a smiley face put on paper with your name on it…some sharp words of pain when you soul is hurting…words expressing your love to someone…anything that goes in and out of your mind is a masterpiece for writing.

Start with some simple words…write everything that comes in your mind. Never mind whether it’s structured or not, grammatically correct, or lousy. Just write it out. Spontaneity is more important. Make writing as a habit. Write whenever you want…in the morning when you wake up, you will be surprised, where did all these thoughts come from…and in the evening, you will be happy to transcribe everything that has transpired during the day. Write whenever and wherever you feel like writing…you can be in the middle of your sleep and something within you wanting to be heard or poured out, get up and write! You can be reading a book, and an idea eventually spring out, document it! You can be in your solitary moment, and you just want to share your solitude with a friend, grab a pen and say what you feel. You see, every moment is valuable…every moment is worth remembering…every moment is fleeting that how we wish we all have eidetic memories to store it in our minds.

So why not try, writing it all out now…and someday, you will be thankful…you’ve learned how to write!


from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 4

The Dream of Heaven…

Hello, friends….
It has only been a week since I’ve started posting some articles in Spice & Chills Strongbox. Thank you for some friends who already subscribed and for those who haven’t, the invitation is still open for you. Some were asking what would they get if they choose to subscribe? I don’t know, really. All I know is, I just allow my spontaneity to flow freely and bring me where it leads me. Maybe, you can help me find out why. Or perhaps all I want is to create a link with you guys… a link on how we can achieve a creative, transformed life. Who knows, someday we can create ‘something of higher purpose’.

So please, do share what’s on your mind…Spice & Chills Strongbox is not after of poetic articles or grammatically correct write-ups (we can deal with that after!J)…What it strongly needs is you and your own creative thoughts.

Keep dreaming…
Chille



A passage from a book called “Transforming #1” caught my attention last night that I can’t help but to share it with you, friends. It tells you what heaven is like and what I believe it is so. It says:

“Heaven is having an entire planet on which to live. Heaven is having billions of companions in the game called life. Heaven is having challenges, which stretch you out so that you can see how big you are. Heaven is being born and having a body to serve you and support you. Heaven is having people around you available to love you whenever you are ready to give up being right. Heaven is living in an age of transformation and having the opportunity to participate in that transformation. Heaven is having a condition of enlightenment in the world through which you can use your life to cut like a knife. Heaven is having people in the world whom you can admire and respect. Heaven is having nothing given to you. Heaven is starting from the starting line in life and building your very own personality and your very own life out of the raw material of your own abilities. Heaven is being a live and having a dream.”

Like a fiddler in the roof, I have a dream. I have a dream that I could create a difference in the lives of other people. I have a dream that transformation will take place in each one of us, and that we will wake up one morning and love not only those we know and near us but love those people we don’t know, not because of a certain reason, but just because that the way life is. I have a dream that starvation will end, and scarcity will be filled. I have a dream that every child can enjoy his childhood instead of running on the streets begging for food or struggling for a living. I have a dream that women are well protected and respected. I have a dream that all love will be pure and sacred, and not just casually given today and will lose its meaning tomorrow. I have a dream that there is no such thing as war and hatred and selfishness and cowardice. I have a dream that people will dare to step out of line, to be brave enough to put into action their transformed ideas, and to make the contribution to life that each person deeply wants to make. I dream all these dreams and I keep on dreaming them more and more everyday.

No doubt, I am no different from you. I know you have dreams too. I know that you ache to make your contribution in life. I know you want to create a difference in the lives of others. I know that when it becomes real for you that you can make a difference… that you can make the contribution of which you always dreamed, you will step out of line, you will operate in a space of no agreement, you will confront and be responsible for the condition of the world. And I know that you know that it starts with you, that once you know yourself and treat yourself out of your own magnificence you can begin to treat others in like manner.

I am certain that every one of us has, at the base of our hearts, the desire to contribute, to make a difference.

I guess things are never too late for us to start a transformed life. Sometimes though, its difficult to travel on our own towards an unexplored road, but if we have other souls walking along beside us, doubtlessly we’ll reach the path destined for each one of us. After all, we live in this world for a reason. And that reason, we have to find out.

I am looking forward to the future of our partnership in this journey called life!


from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 3 June 2003

Matters of Consequence…

x
“ I know a planet where there is a certain red-faced gentleman. He has never smelled a flower. He has never looked at a star. He has never loved any one. He has never done anything in his life but add up figures. And all day he says over and over, just like you: ‘I am busy with matters of consequence!’ And that makes him swell up with pride. But he is not a man—he is a mushroom!”
-The Little Prince


I wonder if people look up the sky with such amazement as I do. Ever noticed how clouds are perfectly painted on that very wide expanse of space? It’s amazing, right? Is it not a matter of consequence to try to understand why the sky is so high and exudes so much hope to those who gaze below it? No doubt, the sky is like a vault of heaven intended for us—humans—to wonder at and look for hope. The hope that gives life to the flowers and the birds in the sky. The hope that can make a blind man sing with unconditional joy. The hope that can free a soul from the bondage of desperation. The hope that brings new perspective and allows dreams and wishes to come true.

Lately, I’ve been busy thinking with matters of consequence. Maybe, like any other grown-ups who always mix everything up together and confuse everything, I am busy with things that I believe are important to me—dreaming and dreaming and dreaming a lot. Call me crazy though, because I don’t exactly know what I want, where I should be or what I see myself to be. There is this feeling of wanting for more, of giving another best shot, of harnessing what I believe is there to cultivate, of taking risk, of learning more. There are a lot of things I want to do... there is my passion to publish and author a book... there is my vision of seeing myself as a great speaker and trainer... there is my hallucination of being a psychologist... …there is my hidden cry to become a nun... there is my desire to be like Ally Mcbeal, the lawyer... there is my fervent prayer of becoming an angel in heaven. So many things I want, so many dreams I wish. Thank God, dreams and wishes are freely given because somehow, I was energized to dream some more and hope for more. That too led me to think of how my passion for writing could color many dreams and bring the sky closer to many hopeful souls scattering everywhere in the world.

Yes, spice&chills strongbox is my idea of a place where uncommon thoughts are encouraged….peculiar ideas are recognized…and ordinary minds are metamorphosed into profound senses. I’d like to think this place as a place where imagination becomes spontaneous and creativity becomes the spice and chills of our ordinary existence. I am sure as you to start to explore the uncommon world within you and learn to energize your creative peculiarity, my strongbox will ultimately become your strongbox too. This is a place for people who are brave enough to surrender to their passions…people who are strong enough to create radical changes and withstand major transitions in life…and people who can decide when and where they want to put their own hole in the sky. Yes, I am dreamer, and I will forever be a dreamer. I urged you to become one, too, for being a dreamer doesn’t hurt at all.

In my lifetime, I dream a lot. And I usually transcribe those dreams in writing. I may had exerted an ordinary effort, or spent an ordinary time, or found an ordinary place, or make friends with ordinary people, yet the learning I’ve had weren’t ordinary at all. Ordinary happening becomes a matter of consequence if you put your heart on it. As the fox said to the Little Prince… ‘Only through the heart that one can see rightly.’ I know, every ordinary moment taking place in my life has a matter of consequence to where I am now and where I should be in the future.

(Remember, every time you raise your head up high in the sky; be filled with so much hope. For in every hope that you hope, you are creating a hole of hope in the sky …and that can keep you going.)


from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 1 June 2003

This Will Soon Pass...

I consider myself an eternal optimist…though I’ve been put in a lion’s den sometimes, it doesn’t put my soul in a trap. I always make it a point to stand up, and gather any spark of strength left in my veins to go on with the fight. After all, things like these in our lives always happen but will soon pass. And it did…and it always will, believe me!


This Will Soon Pass…

The tunnel seems so dark; I don’t see where the road leads
The heart seems so numb; I don’t feel where the pain goes
Deafening silence can be heard from the inside, it suffocates
Screaming out loud I cannot do, agony it intensifies
No words can comfort me; neither any touch can ease the hurting
Everything seems hopeless; I cannot cling to any vine of longing

Giving up seems to be an easy way out
Should I hold on and suffer?
Or should I let go and die?
Sometimes I fall
Sometimes I falter
Sometimes I am drifting
Sometimes I am denying
Sometimes I cease from hoping
Sometimes I hold back my faith from moving
But I don’t lose my soul
For I know, things like these will soon pass.


from Spice & Chills Strongbox…2003 ed. Vol. 2  June 2003