States – On The 8 Spot

March 24, 2009

rePost:Dying Alone:The dead man who wore pajamas – part II at Paulo Coelho’s Blog

We live in a culture of self absorption and in this world were we are ever connected to Die Alone is a great tragedy. I try to see the silver lining, I imagine that the dead man who wore pajamas was someone like miyamoto musashi, self recluse for purposes of enlightenment, but this is just me not wanting to see what I fear maybe the way I may go.

Then I thought of the dead man in his pajamas, of solitude so utter and abysmal that for twenty years nobody in this whole wide world had realized that he had simply disappeared without leaving a trace. And my conclusion is that worse than feeling hunger and thirst, worse than being jobless, suffering for love, in despair over some defeat – worse than all this is to feel that nobody, absolutely nobody in this world, cares for us.
Let us at this moment say a quiet prayer for this man and let us offer him our thanks for making us reflect on how important our friends are.
via The dead man who wore pajamas – part II at Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

March 13, 2009

Best Read:Better Man:The everyday Masters – Part 4 at Paulo Coelho’s Blog

Image by superciliousness via Flickr

The harder thing is to try to be the bigger/better man/woman and in a sense this is about knowing yourself, being true to who you are, and trying to best your thoughts on who you are.

Cliche is cliche for a reason, it is the low resistance path, and as stated below, It is a choice. We must be mindful that we choose to get irritated, we choose to be disrespectful, we choose to be humiliated, we choose to be mean, we choose to be impolite. I’ve been thinking about this while going to work. I saw three people at Philcoa near UP trying to find a jeep that would take them to Nepa Q Mart. I have nothing against rural folks but I suspect that someone cheated them recently because the driver of the jeepney I was riding, was telling them that if they wanted to go to Nepa Q Mart the only way was to take a bus and they were at the farthest lane, the lane which no buses enter. Here was this jeepney driver trying to tell them something true and in a way did not even benefit him, because he was telling them to ride the bus, and here was these people telling him off. What he did was simple to say “Okay I don’t care anymore (“Bahala Ka Na” <in tagalog>)” and he drove away. I’ve been in similar situations where I tried helping someone and was rudely treated and I have to say there are a few times I wasn’t able to contain my irritation and probably insulted/cursed a few people. “If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too;”(line from If by Rudyard Kipling). I forgot that I know who I am , and the opinion of others are to be considered but far from something to be mad about. In most things and situations I believe we should try to be a better man than we think we are.

If I react the way that people expect me to, I become a slave to them – and that is a lesson that applies both to love and work. It is very difficult to prevent this from happening, because we are always ready to please somebody, or to start a war when we are provoked, but people and situations are the consequences of the life that I have chosen, not the other way around.
via The everyday Masters – Part 4 at Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

March 3, 2009

Had To Share:Touching Story:The old lady in Copacabana at Paulo Coelho’s Blog

: Image via Wikipedia

I posted this a week ago but I wanted to say a little something about this now. I don’t know , can’t we say most of people probably including me does a lot of things not to be alone? It is sad but it is the truth. I probably am bipolar and whenever I am at one extreme I seem to feel the need to connect with people while at the other extreme I have that overwhelming need to be left alone to my own thoughts! The problem is most often when you want to be left alone, those are the exact times people can’t seem to leave you alone, and vise-versa. That’s why sometimes I just leave my phone at my room and don’t check emails for a couple of days. Or why I suddenly message people in facebook or comment on random people’s blogs. It sates the need for aloness/connectedness without real friction.

The old lady in Copacabana
Published by Paulo Coelho on February 20, 2009 in Stories Paulo Coelho
She was standing on the sidewalk of Atlântica Avenue with a guitar and a hand-written sign that said: “Let’s sing together.”
She began to play alone. Then a drunk arrived, then another old lady and they began to sing along with her. In a short time a small crowd was singing together and another small crowd played the audience, clapping hands at the end of each number.
“Why do you do this?” I asked between songs.
“Not to be alone,” she said. “My life is very lonely, just like almost all old folk.”
I wish they all could solve their problems in this way.
The old lady in Copacabana at Paulo Coelho’s Blog.

March 3, 2009

-rePost-Best Read-Believing in the impossible – Part 1 at Paulo Coelho’s Blog

: Image by Getty Images via Daylife

– Can’t believe it? – the Queen repeats with a sad look on her face. – Try again: take a deep breath, close your eyes, and believe.
Alice laughs:
– It’s no good trying. Only fools believe that impossible things can happen.
– I think what you need is a little training – answers the Queen. – When I was your age I would practice at least half an hour a day, right after breakfast, I tried very hard to imagine five or six unbelievable things that could cross my path, and today I see that most of the things I imagined have turned real, I even became a Queen because of that.

February 23, 2009

Had To Share:Touching Story: The old lady in Copacabana at Paulo Coelho’s Blog

: Image by Paulo Coelho via Flickr

The old lady in Copacabana
Published by Paulo Coelho on February 20, 2009 in Stories Paulo Coelho
She was standing on the sidewalk of Atlântica Avenue with a guitar and a hand-written sign that said: “Let’s sing together.”
She began to play alone. Then a drunk arrived, then another old lady and they began to sing along with her. In a short time a small crowd was singing together and another small crowd played the audience, clapping hands at the end of each number.
“Why do you do this?” I asked between songs.
“Not to be alone,” she said. “My life is very lonely, just like almost all old folk.”
I wish they all could solve their problems in this way.
The old lady in Copacabana at Paulo Coelho’s Blog.