Listen to Me When Your Heart Breaks

The Heart of the Matter by India Arie

"It's about forgiveness…" This is absolutely the best phrase in the entire song. Basically, the song is about a woman who got a phone call from her friend telling her that her ex-lover has already found a new love.

My favorite line actually has a universal truth in it. Breakups are always about forgiveness, even when there's no love anymore.

Forgiveness for the hurt we cause each other.

Forgiveness for the wrongs we have done to each other.

Forgiveness for the things we could have done but failed to do.

It's about forgiving the person who has hurt you the most. It's about moving on. It's about not giving up the hope that someday somehow, we will find somebody new, somebody we may not anymore love as deep as we have loved someone before but somebody who deserves all the love we can give from the placed back pieces of our broken hearts.

Rise by Gabrielle

I'm not really sure if this song could actually help me get over a breakup, but it's worth listening to. The chorus goes "Look at my life; look at my heart.I have seen them fall apart, and now I'm ready to rise again."

They call it a breakup for a reason. When two people decide to go on separate ways, there are always devastating effects on at least one of them. When you go through a break up, it's not just the relationship that get's broken.

Hearts. Dreams. Lives. They all get broken too.

Unfortunately, wallowing in self despair and depression won't help. No matter how much your heart is broken, the world does not stop for your grief. The best we can do is to look into ourselves, find our inner strength, realize that even we are hurting, the future is still on our side. A day will come when our hurts will heal. When we are ready to rise again, we will find that, in love, no one ever wins without losing a few things along the way.

Doin’Just Fine by Boyz 2 Men

This song may not always make you feel better, but you'll have one good cry when you listen to it. Everybody needs to have a hell of a good cry when they go through a break up. Everybody needs to be able to get it all out of their system.

Breakups are hard. Songs usually work as a catalyst to getting over breakups or just to help you find it in yourself to take a good look at the relationship and realize if the break up will someday be a blessing in disguise or if the relationship is actually still worth fighting for.

Rewind

It's not just a moment. If I had a choice, I would love to live my life over again. I won't do it to right the wrong decisions I made. I won't do it because I want to change some moments out of it. I will live my life only to savor every moment in between.

When we're still young, we never realize how important it is to live every moment, to make every moment count. We always think that the future is never ending, that we'll always have enough time to do the right things. we often take for granted the people and the places that make us happy. We overlook everything that is beautiful around us.

I want to live my life again because I want to appreciate all the beauty more than I have ever done. I want to live and always be thankful for every single morning I wake up. I want to sleep and feel so blessed to have celebrated another fruitful 24 hours of my life.

It's not just a moment. It's the whole thing. I want to go through it all again because I want to be a better person. I won't change things. I won't change my decisions. I'd still go through all the mistakes. But if I had a second chance at traveling that road again, I would make sure I learned enough. I would make sure I noted all the lessons I got. I will list down everything there is to thank for. I will write down all new things I'd learn.

I would always care.

I would dance, sing, laugh, travel, study, make more friends, or even discover new things about myself.

I would fight for what's right.

I would live.

I would love, and I would be my own superhero.

Truth, Lies, and in Between

Lies. There's only black and white, right? You lie or you don't lie. There shouldn't be any middle ground. But that's impossible. It always has a huge gray area in between. Everybody always has an excuse why they tell lies.

Personally, I try to tell the truth. I always tell the truth, even if it's inconvenient. However, I am not a tactless person who will tell the whole truth without considering whether the person who hears it will love it or not.

They always say that the truth sets us free. I don't see that sometimes. There are instances wherein, we are better off not knowing certain things. We let our children go on believing in Santa Claus and the tooth fairy so as not to take away their innocence. We let them continue with the fantasy of prince charming and sleeping beauty. We do it because we don't want to ruin the fun from childhood. We want them to stay as blissfully innocent for as long as we can protect them.

That goes the same for lies. We don't always tell the truth not only because we want to protect ourselves but also because we want to protect the people we care about. If you intend to tell the truth only because we want to clear out our darkened conscience, then we need to think again. If we have committed mistakes and want to come clean just so we can live without the guilt that haunts us every sleepless night, I don't think we even deserve the freedom we get from telling the truth.

Yes. Honesty is the best policy. However, if your honesty is due to selfish reasons, then what good does it bring? Seriously. Do they really deserve the heartache? Should we tell them the truth, even if it hurts or destroys them, just so we can go back to pretending nothing happened and live our own little lives as if we never hurt anyone? I don't think so.

I would never tell the truth, but if I deserve to carry the guilt, I'd gladly do it. I'd gladly live with the guilt than live to see myself destroy the people I love only because I want to keep myself as clean as an unused white sheet. I don't think I would ever be happy anyway.

But that's all just me, you know. If you don't agree with me, you don't have to. We all have our own ways of seeing things. What would you actually do yourself? When do you think is the right time to tell a lie? Or is there never a right time for lies? I'd love to know.

Get Comfy

Black Pepper Milk Chocolate Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Cream

Comfort food? I don't think there's such a thing, at least for me. Personally, I think food is comfort. Yes, food is a basic necessity. However, isn't it comforting to know that you can just extend your arms and be able to grab whatever you like? We have a lot of unfortunate brothers and sisters out there who cannot even lay their hands on that necessity. Others have to beg for it. Others have to steal and kill for it.

I am very thankful that I am one of the very blessed ones who can pretty much afford to buy food. I don't need to spend too much. As long as there's always food at home, even if it's the very basic ones, I am content. I am comforted.

Food, in itself, is already my comfort. Of course, there are certain goodies I would prefer above the others. However, in general, I am just thankful that I can eat three times a day, and I don't have to starve myself at all.

The Reader

Reader’s Digest
I’ve been a loyal subscriber since 2006. I love reading the magazine. I literally read it from cover to cover, even the paid ads section. It’s just a great collection of stories and news that cover many aspects in life like technology, health, adventure, crisis, economy, breakthroughs in medicine, and even laughter.

I can’t imagine subscribing to any other magazine, except maybe Time. When I first subscribed to RD, I just did it because I wanted to appear intelligent and relevant. However, I realized that more than the impression it gave people, I learned a lot from the information that I read on its pages.

I am about to renew my subscription, and I am looking forward to another 12 issues of full enjoyment and education.

Carrying it in my Pocket

Good Advice

I've been in this world for more than 26 years now, and I have already been offered a lot of wise words from not necessarily wise people. However, there are about a couple that really stick to me even when they don't usually apply anymore.

I had a trainer who once told me that at work, I should always know where my loyalty lies. This is so true. When you climb the ladder of success, you serve more people and more people serve you and become equals with individuals you would not really hang out with otherwise. It is easy to be deceived by a lot of people who may mean well but do not have backbones, by people who mean to discredit you and ruin your performance at work, or even by people who wish to mean well but will never be able to prove themselves at work. It is important to always know who you should be loyal to. Loyalty pays, and it never hurts to have a friend or two even when the demands of work become strenuous.

Also, my favorite boss once told me that no matter how I felt, I should always GET UP, DRESS UP, and SHOW UP. It's more difficult than it sounds because we will always have sick days, and sometimes, it is better not to show up than work and not be as productive or as effective because you weren't really feeling well. However, it does not have to be followed literally. There are many ways to interpret the advice. It's just up to you to spice it up.

I've have heard many more wise words from different people that have both inspired and encouraged me. To them, I will always be thankful for sharing their wisdom. It would be so nice to live my life and have them become proud that they once mentored me into becoming an individual to be proud of.

I Miss Karaoke Nights

I don't even need convincing. I love karaoke, especially karaoke nights at home. The three songs above are just the ones that I always sing every time there's a karaoke party. However, that does not mean I don't sing anything else.

What about you? What are the songs that make it to your list? *wink*

Karyn White by Superwoman

I've loved this song since I was young. I'm not a fan of its lyrics, but I know I can sing this song.

Amy Grant by That’s What Love is For

Who wouldn't love Amy Grant, right?

Dido by White Flag

This is probably less difficult to sing than the others. Singing this reminds me of a friend I had from the first company I ever worked for.

Level of Maturity

I never had a normal childhood. I used to complain about that, I used to have hang ups about not having an ideal life. I used to not like myself too much when I think back and ponder about my life. I used to be dissatisfied.

Yes, my life was not a big melodrama, but it had a lot of dramatic episodes. I was a generally happy person, but I was always looking for something else. I loved myself too much, but I never really liked myself. I always convinced myself I was beautiful, but I never believe people when they say so. I have always known I was the smart type. I'd never be the prom queen or the campus crush. I was just the popular smart girl that people knew, but never really got to know.

I knew I was already an adult when my perspectives changed. There is not exact date or time when that happened. One day, I just woke up and realized that I loved my life. I would never trade it for anyone else's. I don't have everything I want, but whatever things I don't have, I still have the chance to achieve them. I knew I had matured when I already knew how to see the bigger picture. I am still not satisfied, but that does not mean things will never be better.

I never had a normal childhood, but I am not complaining at all. Not anymore. In fact, I am thankful my life was what it was. I would never be what, where, and who I am today if my life was otherwise. I am an adult now, and it's about time I start owning up to it.