Every Girl's Rival

They say that a best friend is everyone's worst enemy and a mother-in-law is every girl's greatest rival. I beg to disagree. My birthday started with a phone call from my boyfriend's mom. Well, second from my boyfriend of course. I celebrated my natal day this year with nothing however, she made it special with a pretty gift straight from Singapore. 

I never felt so special by someone who I barely knew. She said I'm a part of the family, what she gives me is no different from what her children have. I'm so amazed with her ideals. How she juggles her life from being a single mom, a daughter and a career woman. There's not much to earn but there's more than enough to get through the day. I've heard much of her from her son. It made a big difference when I talked to her. I was able to get to know her more. As my brothers and I were victims of greed and selfishness. She was too, one point in her life. But one time over the phone, she reminded me not to dwell on it for there will come a time that life will turn its favor on me. She calls it Karma.

She doesn't have any space for greed and selfishness for she believes that those who have such will never be blessed. 

One thing I would need to be thankful for this year is the gift of love that mu boyfriend and his family offered. I have nothing. But similar to God, He gave His only Son. A gamble the Lord has taken for me for nothing in return. 

Life of Pi, Qoutes to Ponder

A friend of mine, Brent invited me to watch this film. When I don't have any idea of the story, we went ahead along with our friend Laila and I never had any regrets. 

Life of Pi is a story of a young boy who is in search of religion, explores spirituality, confused about the concept of God and gods, survived a shipwreck, lost his family and stranded in a boat with Richard Parker, a Bengal tiger.. 

And here are some lessons I learned: 

“Even when God seemed to have abandoned me, He was watching. And when I was beyond all hope of saving, He gave me rest.”

"Love is hard to believe, ask any lover. Life is hard to believe, ask any scientist. God is hard to believe, ask any believer. What is your problem with hard to believe?"

“To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.”

"You must take life the way it comes at you and make the best of it.”

"The reason death sticks so closely to life is not biological necessity; it's envy. Life is beautiful that death has fallen in love with it, a jealous, possessive love that grabs what it can."

"I lost my family, my everything. What more do you want from me?"

"The lower you are, the higher will want to soar."

"What the island gives them during the day, it takes away at night"

"Life will defend itself no matter how small it is."

"Religion is about our dignity, not our depravity."

"Survival is a state of mind"

"Why tolerate the darkness? Everything else is here and clear, if only we look for it."

"It is important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go. Otherwise, you are left with words you should have said but never did, and your heart is heavy with remorse."

" It's hard to stay positive when nothing ever goes right."

"Life on a lifeboat isn't much of a life. It is like in an end game in chess, a game with few pieces. The elements couldn't be more simple, nor the stakes higher."

"I have nothing to say of my working life, only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is, it will hang a man nonetheless he is careful. "

" When your own life is threatened, your sense of empathy is blunted by a terrible, selfish hunger for survival."

" Faith is opening up, a letting go, a deep trust, and a free act of love, but sometimes it was so hard to love."

"Sometimes my heart was sinking so fast with anger, desolation and weariness, I was afraid it would sink to the very bottom of the Pacific and I would not be able to lift it back up. "

"I was giving up. I would have given up – if a voice hadn't made itself heard in my heart. The voice said, "I will not die. I refuse it. I will make it through this nightmare. I will beat the odds, as great as they are. I have survived so far, miraculously. Now I will turn miracle into routine. The amazing will be seen every day. I will put in all the hard work necessary. Yes, so long as God is with me, I will not die. Amen."

"It was Richard Parker who calmed me down. It is the irony of this story that the one who scared me witless to start with was the very same who brought me peace, purpose, I dare say even wholeness."

"I had to stop hoping so much that a ship would rescue me. I should not count on outside help. Survival had to start with me. In my experience, a castaway's worst mistake is to hope too much and do too little. Survival starts by paying attention to what is close at hand and immediate. To look out with idle hope is tantamount to dreaming one's life away."

" Animals have souls, I can see it in their eyes."

" It is strange how easy it is to hate when it's so hard to love."

" I suppose in the end, the whole of life becomes a matter of letting go, but what always hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye."

" Faith is a house of many rooms,... and doubt is on every floor. Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it is tested."

“It is true that those we meet can change us, sometimes so profoundly that we are not the same afterwards, even unto our names.”

"Hunger can change everything you thought you knew yourself!"

"I can eat biscuits, but God made tigers carnivorous, so I must learn to catch fish. If don't, I'm afraid his last meal would be a skinny vegetarian boy."

"Gloom is but the passing shadow of a cloud."

"Thank you Lord Vishnu. Thank you for coming in the form of fish and saving our lives."

"Above all... it is important not to lose hope."

"Life is a story. You can choose your story. A story with God is a better story"