God, Happiness and Life

Life was a little less complicated. Less demanding. Less material. But wouldn't that be boooorrrriiiinnnnggg?

Last Saturday , my daughter left for Jakarta, Indonesia to teach pre-school children in an international school there. She has a year's contract. Bakit parang kung iisipin ko ang tagal yata. "Mommy", she told me, "I will see you December. Mabilis lang ang araw. And I won't forget your birthday is November 22 not 21". How time flies. My daughter will be 30 in January. She hinted that she wants to get married as soon as the boyfriend asks her. I could not understand what I felt last Saturday. At first wala lang. Lorraine is an independent girl. Way back when she was still in her elementary grades, she did things without much help from me. She is an intelligent girl. High school meant more independence. And yes, college. She was even into this religious thing. Obviously, she wanted to be left alone. And I did let her be. I knew she was and remains to this day a responsible and a mature person. There was no fear at all for me, allowing her to run her life almost...

I have written sometime ago in my personal journals the following: I Deserve .... 1. God's Love and Protection. 2. A Healthy Body and a Sound Mind. 3. Peace of Mind. 4. To Feel Great. 5. Love and Be Loved in Return. 6. Loving and Caring Persons in My Life. 7. Financial Security. 8. To declare and wish for a Better Life for My Children and all deserving children for that matter. 9. Happiness. 10. Feel and Make Others Feel Good about Life. Every Single Day is A Gift. Live, Experience and Love Life. Cheers!

From: Atlas Shrugged of Ayn Rand This is exactly my idea of true happiness. Happiness is not to be achieved at the command of emotional whims. Happiness is not the satisfaction of wahtever irrational wishes you might blindly attempt to indulge. Happiness is a state of non-contradictory joy - a joy without penalty or guilt, a joy that values and does not work for your own destruction, not the joy of escaping from your mind, but of using your mind's fullest power, not the joy of faking reality, but of achieving values that are real, not the joy of a drunkkard, but of a producer. Happiness is possible only to a rational man, the man who desires nothing but rational actions. Just as I support my life, neither by robbery nor alms, but by my own effort, so I do not seek to derive my happiness from the injury or the favor of others, but earn it by my own achievement.