Happily Sleepless in Galicia, Spain

At the moment, I am still pinching myself just to check if I am indeed here in Spain. I am deeply thankful to the universe for this gift. The power of dreams is great and so is the power of words. I remember that I had already told myself years ago that if I'd be going to Europe for the first time, then it would be in Spain. Years came by and I had forgotten about it. And then this Seminar on Sustainable Cultural Tourism here in Santiago de Compostela came, and then I am here, and I am awed. As soon as I held the invitation letter in my hands, my heart beat faster, and I knew then that I had to apply. I had to go through some seeming obstacles, but then a moment came when I knew that the universe is dead serious in proceeding with its gift for me, asserting itself at each opportunity, and is merely checking if it was indeed me at the other end receiving, wide-eyed and ready. And I realize that I am ready for it. And I am thankful that I've attracted back this dream at this point of my life when I am ready for it. And more than ever, I am deeply thankful.

So, I am here in beautiful Santiago de Compostela and I had the chance to connect with 20 plus other people from this side of the planet and from Asia (with my co-participants in the seminar from Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor and Sri Lanka). Again, I am deeply thankful.

Interestingly, on Oct 25, on my 9th day here, I received this amazing email from my good friend Annie Luis (who also wished for me to get this Spanish opportunity), sharing a blog entry by Jason Mraz which resonated deeply within me:
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Rei,

Just wanted to share this blog entry from our gorgeous Jason Mraz! Hoping Spain's great! Enjoy!!!!
-annie


4 Leaves Left

“I thought about one of my favorite Sufi poems, which says that God long ago drew a circle in the sand exactly around the spot where you are standing right now. I was never not coming here. This was never not going to happen."
— Elizabeth Gilbert

I’ve never been lucky enough to find a four-leaf clover. I’ve been gifted plenty, but I never found one on my own accord down on my hands and knees. Then again, I’ve never committed to a long look. But I will admit that in all my years in this child body, whenever I found myself stooped in the grass, fingering between blades of green and those greener, I always hoped that that day’s first charmed discovery would be made by me.

In all of life, failure in the finding never got me down. The upset shows itself as a sign that that my luck would show up as something different, and perhaps a much larger version of itself. So, there was rarely a need to squander a precious moment and/or add a rare and mutant flower to the vision board.

I apply the same theory to never winning the lottery. I know I’m not supposed to get my millions for free. For this I am always eager to earn it.

There were plenty of jobs where I wasn’t hired, many of them in music and theatre. Rejection left me bouncing off of so many NO’s that I learned to be encouraged by the defeats. I found I had more talents to cultivate, more songs to write, more moxie to move. I was always complete in knowing I was moving in the right direction.

Yesterday I sprawled across an infinite patch of tropical clover on a near deserted stretch of one of Maui’s sacred shores, basking in a pink grapefruit sunrise. I warmed and awakened every sense and chakra taking sips of the new day, gulps of air and gasps of soul soothing ginger as tea. In my mind I harmonized with the crow of the cock and purred along with the hush and shush of the swaying palms in a Pakalani filled paradise. I pulled wild hairs from my eyes and allowed my body to dry itself of the sweat fostered a few minutes before in the steamy pre-dawn sauna.

Naked, I acknowledged the elements for granting me such a blessed life. With nothing to offer the world in that moment, my naked newborn self offered up love, laughter, and gratitude. From far out to sea, God, on a cruise ship perhaps, sighed as if to say “well done” and returned the love and gratitude in a breeze, and, on my behalf, cleverly kept the world as it is.

My gaze turned to the clover and I quietly remarked at how it wasn’t the traditional Irish Shamrock I usually familiar my eyes with. This tropical ground cover was so expansive you might miss it over its normalcy. Yet, what I noticed was how each and every little stem had only two pairs of pedals popping out of the sprout. The deeper I looked through the filter of appreciation, the more I realized I wasn’t just sitting on a grassy knoll, but resting rather, almost retired in the enlightenment, enveloped on a prairie in perfect company among thousands of 4-leaf clovers.

Luck is all around me.
Love is all there is.

May every situation be summed up in a smile.
-Jason
----

Cheers to you Annie! Cheers to you Jason! And cheers to all those who find the love around them!

Living Spectacularly!

I came across this message of Brazilian theatre director, writer and politician Augusto Boal (born April 16, 1931 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) for the World Theater Day this March 2009.

Brazilian theater director Augusto Boal developed The Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) during the 1950s and 1960s. In an effort to transform theater from the "monologue" of traditional performance into a "dialogue" between audience and stage, Boal experimented with many kinds of interactive theater. His explorations were based on the assumption that dialogue is the common, healthy dynamic between all humans, that all human beings desire and are capable of dialogue, and that when a dialogue becomes a monologue, oppression ensues. Theater then becomes an extraordinary tool for transforming monologue into dialogue. "While some people make theater," says Boal, "we all are theater." -(from an introduction to Boal by Douglas L. Paterson on Webster's World of Cultural Democracy in 1996.)

And it made a lot of sense. And among the things he said that resonated most with me was that we do not become citizens of our respective societies until we are able to change it, and always, of course, for the better.

So, here is the full text of that message:

_________________________________


"All human societies are “spectacular*” in their daily life and produce “spectacles” at special moments. They are “spectacular” as a form of social organization and produce “spectacles” like the one you have come to see.

Even if one is unaware of it, human relationships are structured in a theatrical way. The use of space, body language, choice of words and voice modulation, the confrontation of ideas and passions, everything that we demonstrate on the stage, we live in our lives. We are theatre!

Weddings and funerals are “spectacles”, but so, also, are daily rituals so familiar that we are not conscious of this. Occasions of pomp and circumstance, but also the morning coffee, the exchanged good-mornings, timid love and storms of passion, a senate session or a diplomatic meeting - all is theatre.

One of the main functions of our art is to make people sensitive to the “spectacles” of daily life in which the actors are their own spectators, performances in which the stage and the stalls coincide. We are all artists. By doing theatre, we learn to see what is obvious but what we usually can’t see because we are only used to looking at it. What is familiar to us becomes unseen: doing theatre throws light on the stage of daily life.

Last September, we were surprised by a theatrical revelation: we, who thought that we were living in a safe world, despite wars, genocide, slaughter and torture which certainly exist, but far from us in remote and wild places. We, who were living in security with our money invested in some respectable bank or in some honest trader’s hands in the stock exchange were told that this money did not exist, that it was virtual, a fictitious invention by some economists who were not fictitious at all and neither reliable nor respectable. Everything was just bad theatre, a dark plot in which a few people won a lot and many people lost all. Some politicians from rich countries held secret meetings in which they found some magic solutions. And we, the victims of their decisions, have remained spectators in the last row of the balcony.

Twenty years ago, I staged Racine’s Phèdre in Rio de Janeiro. The stage setting was poor: cow skins on the ground, bamboos around. Before each presentation, I used to say to my actors: “The fiction we created day by day is over. When you cross those bamboos, none of you will have the right to lie. Theatre is the Hidden Truth”.

When we look beyond appearances, we see oppressors and oppressed people, in all societies, ethnic groups, genders, social classes and casts; we see an unfair and cruel world. We have to create another world because we know it is possible. But it is up to us to build this other world with our hands and by acting on the stage and in our own life.

Participate in the “spectacle” which is about to begin and once you are back home, with your friends act your own plays and look at what you were never able to see: that which is obvious. Theatre is not just an event; it is a way of life!

We are all actors: being a citizen is not living in society, it is changing it."

Augusto Boal

Working on a Mission

For a week in February, I had a fruitful week learning and immersing myself in new knowledge, allowing myself as well the company of people who have opened themselves in the areas of financial planning.

I met in person a qualifying member in the Million Dollar Round Table (yes, that premier association of financial professionals), and I became an instant fan. She has such a passion within her, plus enthusiasm, and sincere concern for her clients and even strangers, that I'd buy a policy from her outright anytime. Just like her, I see my position as a financial advisor more as a mission--a mission to help Filipinos be educated about their finances and to be responsible with their money and future.

I'm definitely thankful for this encounter!

Financially Marvelous 2009 for Me!

Happy New Year everyone!

I received this fab message from a friend during the holiday season: "The best use of our life is to love people and the best expression of that love is our time to do it."

I say thank you 2008 because it was also a great year for me and now I'm looking forward to this, as they put it, Ox (oks) na Ox (oks) year!

Hello Fabulous 2008!

Hello fabulous 2008! Wow, I've been quiet here for the last three months. So many things have happened since then. Hmm, let me start with what I've been doing these days.

For one, my "The Secret" audio files (by Rhonda Byrne) are on a constant play in my phone. I play it on my way to work and back while in transit. I'm really happy that I came upon Byrne's book. And I'm keeping the audio files on my phone to help me remember "to remember." It clarified things for me and helped me tilt my mind towards prosperity, bliss, with love being the fulcrum to all my dreams and aspirations. Nah, not the romantic love, but love in its true form. If one is able to stay in this frequency of love, one can attract every wonderful thing, experience, person (even all the money) one wants. That's the secret let out of the bag, which is not really a secret. We just had to be reminded of that one important ingredient in living a truly magnificent life. I'm happy to report, too, that last Jan. 12, I've attended the seminar "How to be Truly Rich" by Bo Sanchez with my sisters and friends. We re-learned about tithing (10%), about allotting 20% of one's income for one's wealth fund, then another 20% of it for emergency fund every month...about being financially secure, -intelligent, and -responsible in essence. And that we are created for wealth and not for poverty. But the one message that he said that made perfect sense, too, is that "the purpose of wealth is to love." So, these days, I'm keen about building my wealth, and adding upon my Vision or Dream Board, which is a board where I put all my wished-for things: car (BMW M5 or M6, Toyota Prius); watch (Rolex perpetual oyster); house designs, dream vacations with my family (leaning tower in Tuscany, or the Fountain of Trevi in Rome, or the whole of Europe, for that matter, Disneyland California, a talk with Oprah Winfrey, or Bono, or Madonna, or Daniel Radcliffe, or Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, etc.). These are practically anything I've longed for or secretly wished in my life, even my dream of having my own corporation that helps Filipinos realize their wealth powers and their significance in this planet. And I am telling you that I am having a grand time sourcing these photos and pasting them onto my dream board, which is in fact, my computer. You should see all these photos as they show up one by one on my screensaver! Hehe. I know that in time I'll manifest each of these desires. I've also just watched a National Geographic Channel show on aliens (I missed the title) and it was a great discussion in the sense that it brought the talk of aliens to us mankind here back on the planet; that we are, in fact, the aliens, with the bacteria coming from Mars reaching the earth eons ago inside an asteroid. That we should, in fact, no longer need to look outside earth in search of aliens, but that we should realize that we are the heirs to such so-called "aliens". This was followed the next day by a show titled "Birth of the Universe," and this all the more reminded me of the core stuff humankind and all things here on earth are made of: essentially the same materials that can be found in stars, in all things spread out in the universe, and that we are still very much part of this creative process, which the universe is still undergoing. We are o-n-e with this creative process. The sooner we realize this, the sooner all of us will experience and set off our magnificent lives.

I'm in this frequency right now and I am elatedly happy! I wish you the same frequency of love wherever you are! :)

"What is Rei?"

The following is a letter I received from a long-time friend:

"hi friends.

i need your help.

i am trying to recover my old yahoo http://us.f521.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=manilaroughs@yahoo.com) it turns out my secret question is "what is rei?"

i've run out of ideas to the possible answers.i really hope you guys can help because i've been using that email account since i started using e-mail for my stories. so that's roughly five years of background .

i stopped using it two years ago when i changed the password after the tribune was raided. but unfortunately in my panic i forgot the new password i used."

Benjamin B. Pulta

____

Here is my response:


September 6, 2007


Dear Benjie,

Pareng papalabs Benjie, if this letter is true, this would be, to date, the most and only endearing letter you've written to me since we've known each other, and I would say, a most unusual one. Haha. But before I run the risk of being labeled as an egotistical maniac, o kaya primera klase ilusyonada, I will proceed in leading you to the possible answers to your question. I am not promising to lead you to any correct answers here but I will try.

First, there is the task of answering "What is Rei?" I will help you answer this only in the context that I think (and I will assume) I am the same Rei being referred to here. Admittedly, I am not prepared to answer why a standard question like "Who is Rei?" has become "What is Rei?" At best, I can only assume that the "what" in this question is merely a convenient word used and makes the question easier to answer. I could answer: "It is a name." Or if I have the time, I would further volunteer "It is a short name for Reinerio." As to the question "Who is Rei," I can, of course, devote a line, a paragraph or even a book in an effort to answer it and yet never fully come to a definitive answer still.

But, before I get carried away, this is clearly, not a question for me to answer. This is a question, which you created for yourself Benjie and hence must be answered by you alone. To answer this would involve all your thoughts on Rei at the time that you created your yahoo account. And it would greatly help to remember why the hell, in the first place, you chose to put in "What is Rei?" as your secret question? Bakit nga ba? Secondly, would you be able to remember your emotional state at that particular time? Were you happy? Were you angry? Were you hungry? Were you crazy at that time? Whether as a whim or as a well-thought out secret question, I trust that you still are able to remember. I know that you can trust your instincts on this one. I will suppose that, five years ago, in 2002, I, or your idea of a Rei is already a well-formed enough idea or concept for you to put it in as a secret question for your yahoo account. I think it would help to remember what was Rei for you in the year 2002. Where was Rei and what was Rei at that time in your life that such a Rei would merit such a position as to be a key to a password that would unlock your most important documents? What were your word or thought associations with the Rei idea, or more importantly, your substitute words or ideas for Rei? Was Rei substituted for any of the following template question words from yahoo then: "favorite pet," "favorite subject," "favorite game"?

In any case, I will not and do not think that you created the said "key" question out of any spite for me. Otherwise, why bother associating Rei with something that you have to significantly remember, sometime, at one point. Hence, this explains the flattery in my heart in receiving this question letter from you. I am so happy in receiving this letter that I do not even mind if the possible and eventual answers to the question "What is Rei?" would include "baluga," "bakla," "kulot," "negro," "negrong bakla," "faggot," or other such words for low life creatures you can think of. I do not mind at all. If Rei earned those associations, then Rei would take them. And if the answers to the question would turn out to be "gorgeous," "darna," "dyesebel," I'd be in cloud 9 and I'd probably treat you to an ice cream sometime soon. The important thing for me Benj is that you put forth the question and I am answering it here as best as I could. Or that you are trying to remember as best as you can. Rei was there. Rei is here. And I think that is all that should matter. Cheers!

Always,
Rei

P.S. Happy Birthday!

the world we live in

From Eric Butterworth's You Make the Difference

" What is the world like to you at this moment --your world? Actually, no two of us live in the same world at any time. Your neighbor may be having a headache, so his or her present world is pain-clouded. Your child may be out playing in a world of all laughter and fun. Your business associate may be poring over charts and statistics, planning a new campaign -- a world both thoughtful and serious.

And you--what of you? Is your world happy, harmonius, healthy? One thing is sure. If anything is making you less than happy right now, it is not likely to be doing so a week, a month, or a year from now. Can you remember what was bothering you a year ago today? Of course not. Your world is constantly changing, and thus a tremendous technique that can give you mastery over life's ups and downs is this: in the face of whatever seems to be irritating or worrisome, say emphatically, "This too shall pass."

You see, your world is made in the image and likeness of whatever you most consistently believe in or give attention to. It follows then that you cannot think one thing and get another. If you are thinking trouble, you will get trouble. Fortunately, the reverse is also true by reason of the same law. If you think health, joy, peace, and love, you will get more of them."