#100happydays

Tina 4 Comments

I heard about the 100 Happy Days project from a friend on Facebook.

Let me tell you: I’m a sucker for these things. To be more specific, I’m a sucker for anything that has to do with something that I “owned” for myself. Case in point, last year, Arriane of Wanderrgirl had a blog challenge with a theme of courage, my word of the year. Of course I had to participate!

So when I heard about 100 Happy Days, I knew it was something I had to do, because of my 2014 word. Like I said, I’m a sucker for these things. I decided to start it on February 1, 2014, and as of May 11, 2014 (yesterday), I have reached my 100th happy day.

*confetti*

I know a lot of people who participated in this challenge, and I also know a lot of people who scoffed at it, made fun of it, and even really hated the entire idea. What’s the big deal, right? Why are you bragging about your happiness on social media? Are you even truly happy?

But I don’t have answers or rebuttals to that. Different strokes for different folks, as I say. (Also, walang basagan ng trip. :P) What I have, instead, are the things I learned while doing this challenge:

  1. You are not going to be happy everyday for 100 days. That is a fact. I don’t mean to be a downer. That’s just reality. There are good days and there are bad days, and on those bad days, you will not want to post anything at all because it’s hard to see or find something that made you happy. I had several days like that – especially early into the challenge – and I had no idea what to post.
  2. Honesty is really the best policy. Cliche, but I’m finding there’s so much truth in this thing. When your day didn’t go swimmingly, then admit it! No one is happy 100% of the time (see #1). But…
  3. Sometimes you have  to seek happiness on purpose. Happy things don’t just happen all the time. Sometimes, there are days when there’s really absolutely nothing remarkable that happened. Or, like I said in #2, there are days when you feel furthest away from happy. But this project taught me to really look for something – even the littlest thing – that made my day brighter.  A small treat, a song, some time with a friend – the little things really do count. Happiness will not just fall on your lap; most of the time, you have to choose it.
  4. Sometimes, the way to be happy is to make someone else happy. Not a secret, really, but it’s something we forget in our “quest for happiness.” Happiness happens when we share it, and I guarantee that the best way to cheer yourself up is to make someone else smile. :)
  5. And finally, sometimes, you just forget to take a photo. Well that happened to me many times. ^^; And you just take a photo, any photo to just to remember what happened. :D

#100happydays taught me to be mindful and grateful.

You won’t have stellar days all the time, but these not-so-stellar days always has something in it that will make you smile. And that’s what we search for – not perfect days, but small things, events, and people that make the not-so-perfect days feel all right, if not perfect in its imperfection. The trick, I think, is not to force yourself to be happy when you’re not. It’s looking at both the pluses and the minuses, and then choosing to make the former matter, but not entirely discounting the lessons that the latter wants to give.

So yeah, I did not have 100 completely happy days, but now that the challenge is over, I realize that there was so much joy in the past 100 days, and I am glad that I was somehow able to capture them. :)

And I had fun. :)

On a sidenote: on their website, they said that: People successfully completing the challenge claimed to…Fall in love during the challenge. Did I fall in love? HAHA! But yes, I fell in love with God and this life He gave me and all that. :) It’s not the romantic kind of love, but I am so not complaining. Life is good because God is good. :)

I honestly have no idea what happens next. A friend told me in his birthday message that he hopes my 100 happy days won’t end at 100. I think I will abandon the #100happydays hash tag because it has used its purpose, but I will still keep my eyes open for the happy things. There’s so much beauty and joy in everyday that it’s a shame not to take delight in it. :)

And here are some of my favorite photos in my #100happydays project! (Warning: photo dump!) :)

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The Writer Tag

Tina Leave a comment

The Writer Tag

It is obviously way past Writing Week, but I was busy in those weeks, so I wasn’t able to answer this. But now I am not too busy (still am, but not too much), I figured I can make time for this. I was tagged by Isa, and this Writer Tag is created by Bea of The Dalaga Project.  And I will stop it with further blabbering and get on to the questions:

1. What type of writing do you do?

Fiction (here, and hopefully somewhere else, like a book), non-fiction. By non-fiction, it’s mostly blog posts (here, in this blog), book reviews (here), book lists (here, and here). I used to write reflections for Didache, from 2006-2010, too.

2. What genres and/or topics do you write about?

For the non-fiction stuff that isn’t about books, it’s mostly drama. I kid…or maybe not. Perhaps it’s just drama from my POV. But I try to write what I know, and the things I learn as I navigate through life. Last year, I wrote a lot about stillness and courage, this year it seems like a lot of it is forgiveness and joy. And God, but that’s because there’s so much to write about Him. :)

As for fiction, I write contemporary romance/chick lit, because it’s so fun to write. I want to write a YA novel some time, and then maybe finally tackle that fantasy novel I always wanted to write.

3. How long have you been writing?

I wrote my first story about the weather in Grade 3, the same year I said I wanted to be like Elizabeth Wakefield the writer. The first story with actual people was in Grade 4, I think, entitled The Two Slumber Parties – a mash-up of Sweet Valley and Sailormoon. :P So counting my age now, I’ve been writing for 18 years. On/off, of course, because there were years when I didn’t write any piece of fiction or even a journal entry, save for some whiny blog posts.

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We are the Easter People

Tina Leave a comment

I don’t know about you, but there’s really something about this particular Easter season that has me…well, joyful.

I suppose Easter is reason enough to be joyful, but in the past years, after Easter Sunday has come to a close, I go back to the daily grind, and well, forget that it is still Easter. I go back to work, to everyday life, and go back to my old struggles, like Easter didn’t happen at all.

But this year, I don’t know. I go to mass, and every time we pray the Regina Coeli, or recite Glory to God, I start tearing up. I love it when the priest says “Alleluia” at the end of his blessing, and I say, “Thanks be to God, alleluia, alleluia” back. I love it, and every time I remember the victory of Easter, I couldn’t stop smiling and singing inside because…well, it’s Easter!

I suppose it is because of knowing that I am truly forgiven and all. And I suppose it’s because this Easter is a stark contrast from last Easter, where everyday was a struggle to believe in the victory of Christ’s resurrection.

I remember reading somewhere, probably on Twitter, last year that Easter is the longest season in the church for a reason. I guess it’s because we frail and imperfect humans need a reminder that Jesus’ resurrection is really important, and it is a real cause for celebration. So we should celebrate. We should remember, and we should live it, until it gets ingrained in our hearts even after Easter is over. I mean, the resurrected Christ could have just showed up for a week, and then ascended, but He chose to stay with the people to teach them and equip them for 50 days. And what’s more, even after His ascension, He sends the Holy Spirit to prepare us even more and remind us that Hey, you are neveralone.

How amazing is that.

I guess one of the reasons why this Easter feels different is because…well, it is. It’s like I am finally waking up, like I have finally reached something and I am about to start a new journey.

It’s so incredibly exciting.

So yeah, it’s still Easter. And if you had a particularly good and blessed Holy Week and you’re wondering where it all went, remember this: IT IS STILL EASTER. There is still a lot of reasons for us to sing Hallelujah. :)

do-not-abandon-yourselves-to-despair-we-are-the-easter-people-and-hallelujah-is-our-song-pope-john-paul-ii

And today, the second Sunday of Easter, there is cause for more joy. It’s Divine Mercy Sunday (which I would write about in another blog post, but I think this one from Lifeteen has it covered :D), and the canonization of two Popes, Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II.

Truth be told, I knew nothing about Blessed John XXIII until recently, but I’m starting to read up about him and he’s pretty awesome, too. But JP2…he was the first Pope I knew in my lifetime. If you know me in real life, you know how much I love JP2, and how every time I read or watch something about him, I start crying. I didn’t get to see him when he was in Manila for World Youth Day 1995 because I was too young to appreciate it, but I knew, even in my young heart, that he was a great and good man. More than a decade later, when I started praying and preparing for WYD 2011, I asked for his intercession everyday for the pilgrimage. And I believe that it was because of his intercession that the WYD dream finally came true. :)

I love it that JP2 knew what it is to be an Easter person, to have Jesus’ resurrection in his heart and to believe in the love that redeemed us from the depths of our sin. This is a person who knew and believed in God’s mercy and grace, and lived it his whole life even in the face of death. This is someone who knows how to take delight for real, and who loves fully because he is loved.

So yeah, this Easter is definitely something. :) And we’re only just in the first week! Hallelujah, indeed.

Happy Divine Mercy and Canonization Sunday, everyone! St. John XXIII and St. John Paul the Great, pray for us! :)