“Every now and then, when the world sits just right, a gentle breath of heaven fills my soul with delight…”

I am unwritten
Can’t read my mind
I’m undefined

I’m just beginning
The pen’s in my hand
Ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
Today is where your book begins
The rest is still unwritten

I break tradition
Sometimes my tries
Are outside the lines

We’ve been conditioned
To not make mistakes
But I can’t live that way, no

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words
That you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it
Release your inhibitions
Feel the rain on your skin

No one else can feel it for you
Only you can let it in
No one else, no one else
Can speak the words on your lips

Drench yourself in words unspoken
Live your life with arms wide open
To the years where your book begins
Feel the rain on your skin

At different times the past three months, I had the privilege of touring and showing Singapore to my two visiting friends and sister from the Philippines. The wonder, the excitement, and the confusion they experienced refreshed me. Their countless “wow” and “really?” as they saw, tasted, heard, and smelled new things were contagious. With them, I felt like a beginner again. A tourist. A learner. An adventurer.

I co-facilitated a video production workshop this week with a group of accountants and other professionals in the corporate world. None of them have ever tried the basic software that we used – Audacity and Windows Movie Maker. Quite challenging, yet exciting at the same time.

Together with my team, I had to teach like it was my first time, too; mindful of each one’s weaknesses and strengths. I guess as a facilitator, I’m the one who benefit most. The more I teach, the more I learn. And yes, the more chances for me to have that beginner’s experience. As the participants learn new things, it’s priceless to see the light on their face. The relief. The “wow” and “aha” moments.

How their frowns turn to smiles and big grins and sighs to laughter and cheers after learning something – an eruption of wonder – ah, those are some of the best moments in the workshop that I hold dear in my heart.

For everyone, a new journey begins.

“Sometimes I see myself as a child in a rain storm, running around trying to catch all the drops in her mouth. I long for your adventures to be like the raindrops the child saves and not those which crash to the ground.”

A rainy day in Singapore. Standing by my window. Watching the rain. Letting it wash my heart, sing a lullaby to my soul…

Preparing for a workshop on Video Production as a Presentation Tool for Accountants this month in Singapore.

I have been wrestling with some grief and loss in my personal life. A crisis, that is. Too deep and real I find myself so lost and failing. Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Sorrow makes us all children again – destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing.”

Oh, how true!

I was in a digital storytelling workshop few days ago and one of the participants mentioned Steve Job’s speech. I never bothered to watch it before, but now I found myself watching it again and again. Obviously, it struck a chord with me.

“…you can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

“I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did…I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.I didn’t see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

“It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don’t lose faith. I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.”

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.“