Luab: You are not your past

WE are on the first leg of our new year. We can now move forward and relish the present by casting off all fears, all hurts and all unfulfilled desires, and look forward to a meaningful life ahead.

We got through 2012, didn’t we? We had our moments of misses like wrong decisions, or half-hearted efforts at reaching out to others but God has a way of catching us when we fall.

For many of us, we are glad that 2012 has ended and now we hope for a better year in 2013. While we talk of more investments, more jobs to be had, more help for the poor, we Filipinos are really holding our heads up high now. We know that by our concerted efforts, we can rise from whatever status we have been assigned to by surveys to a better status, minus the survey rating.

So much has happened to our growth as a nation. We are trying to keep up where information technology is concerned. My observation, however, leans more on the Filipinos’ ability to reflect, to analyze our weaknesses and our strengths and to look for ways to wake up from our lethargy of indifference.

We have realized that we are no longer children who were once so afraid of witches, balete trees and ogres of the forest world. Our domestic help used to frighten us so with horror stories. We are no longer the child who had so many traumas.

We had so many issues in our youth. Some of us were so poor, so kept back by our inferiority complexes and so afraid to assert ourselves.

Some of us have been so hurt in love that we have our hearts under lock and key today and some of us have even thrown away the key.

We are not our past. We are our present! We must be aware of the here and now and learn to open ourselves to what 2013 will bring. We foresee growth and we foresee bigger things for everyone.

All of us are now more mindful of our health. We try not to eat things that would make our cholesterol rise. We know that water is better than anything else to drink. We try to eat fish and vegetables and to lessen our intake of sweets. We also avoid too much salt and we have learned to avoid snack food. These are hard-earned lessons. A better tomorrow is in sight.

We have learned how to reach out and hug each other with compassion. Living in the now makes us aware of so much beauty around us. Remaining in the past and just living with our memories aren’t enough.

We, senior citizens, have too many memories of the past. My suggestion? “Unload our baggage. Throw away the things we do not need. The result of our housecleaning can provide a greater room for better things to come.”

Do not pine for what you can’t have. There are just some things in the past that weren’t meant for us. Do not have any regrets. Just savor your very existence today.

I happen to have a rudder that steers me as I go through life and an anchor that keeps me from drifting into the murky and turbulent waters of life.

I rely on a God who always answers my prayers. If God says “no,” it simply means that what I ask for is not good for me, or God has a better plan for me. If God says, “wait,” then I may not be ready for the answer or perhaps, the timing is wrong.

Most of the time God answers us with a “yes.” However, I noticed that when we pray for others, the more the “yeses” come in.

I still have another insight that I found in a bookmark, which my daughter inserted in the book she lent me. Sorry, there was no author credited at the end of the bookmark but these lines aren’t mine. I found the thoughts, however, very inspiring. Allow me to end my sharing with these thoughts.

“Take time for what is important to you,
For what makes you happiest
Take time to be with those you love
Take time to look around at all the gladness the world can offer.
All of it is yours if only
You take
Time.”

What a wonderful thought to remember for the rest of 2013.