Life is short, enjoy awesome desserts

Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. Human beings have the awesome ability to take any experience of their lives and create a meaning that disempowers them or one that can literally save their lives. —Tony Robbins

The tempo is a little less hurried, the mood is more reflective and sober, but the celebration can’t be stopped. As the song goes, tuloy na tuloy pa rin ang Pasko.  It’s that time of the year again. The hustle and bustle of preparation continues in the city, and even in ravaged areas, parols and recycled Christmas trees have found their places, serving as stark reminders that we can’t stop the holiday from making landfall. To many, the Christmas season remains stressful, either because they have continued to allow themselves to be enveloped by the commercial whirlwind, or be harassed by the demands of gift giving. But to many others, it has become more rewarding spiritually as they engage in acts of charity and random kindness.

As Neil Pasricha said in The Book of Even More Awesome, “We’re all gonna get lumps. We’re all gonna get bumps. Nobody can predict the future, but we do know one thing about it: It ain’t gonna go according to plan. Yes, we’ll all have massive highs, big days, and proud moments.”

And lumps and bumps we indeed got in the last months of this year with the war in Zamboanga erupting and disrupting professional and personal lives, the earthquake in Bohol and Cebu that brought down many of our old, historic churches and changed the face of the devastated areas, and the super typhoon and storm surge in Leyte, Samar and other provinces in the Visayas that caught the attention of the world and awakened people’s spirit of generosity so they collectively helped both the victims and survivors of a tragedy that rocked and shocked the nation.

But we had massive highs and proud moments, too, in the same period as we saw Megan Young win our first-ever Miss World crown, Manny Pacquiao regain his marbles and recapture the pride and glory of being the international kamao, Ariella Arida maintain our position on the international beauty stage, and many more simple, quiet proud moments.

Truly, there will be times in our lives that we’re thrown in the marshland, too. There will be times we’ll cry ourselves to slumber, with churning in our belly, aches in our joints, and palpitations in our heart. We may wonder why all these are happening and we may ask, why now, why us? We may wonder if we can handle it or we may beg for help. Sure, life has given us some hard whacks and deadly blows lately, but when bad news washes over us and the hurt drenches us, we truly hope we feel like we’ve always got two big choices: to roll in darkness and doom forever or lament and confront the future with a “just this minute,” clear-headed outlook.

Pasricha has been writing about awesome things, and just like his other tomes, his latest work is a collection of awesome morsels befitting our recent experiences, from canceling traditional corporate Christmas parties and donating the money saved to relief and rehabilitation projects to discovering occasions, big or small, that make our hearts happier and our souls richer. The bestselling author is definitely back with a collection of more awesome things, as well as never-before-seen extraordinary moments that deserve celebration. Its premise is simple: there are amazing things in our lives that a lot of us take for granted. Here are my personal choices from Pasricha’s new list:

Not waking people up. Tiptoeing up the walk, sliding the house key in the door very slowly, taking the shoes off outside, and creeping upstairs to the bathroom like a burglar, not even flushing until morning, rather than waking somebody up with the sound of it zooming through walls on its way out of the house.

Farting is a regular, healthy, and hilarious part of life. Squeezing out big plumes of noxious gas doesn’t always smell good, but it generally feels mighty fine.

Raising a tiny basil pot, giving it sunlight, generously watering it with lots of love.

Eating cookies with abandon. It’s such a great feeling knowing we are doing it like Cookie Monster, the role model for many cookie makers and eaters.

Getting the keys to your first apartment.

Remembering our childhood friend’s phone number, and dialing the number to see if it still works.

When our windshield wipers match the beat of the song we’re listening to.

Letting go of the gas pump perfectly so we end on a round number.

When a baby falls asleep on us

Pulling a weed and getting all the roots with it.

The smooth feeling on our teeth when we get our braces off.

Driving from a rough road onto a smooth one.

When the person you’re meeting is even later than you are.

Stepping on that puddle with a thin layer of ice on top

The breath of a puppy.

Getting the armrest in the movie theater.

Shaking hands with freshly wet hands from the bathroom.

Getting the popcorn kernel out of our teeth when it’s been bothering us.

Jumping into our comfortable bed with the covers we like.

Stomping dry, crunchy leaves on the sidewalk.

Peeling that sticky glue off the back of our new credit card.

The kids’ table, where all the kids eat dinner at holiday family gatherings.

When batteries are included in the toys we bought.

When it feels like the lyrics of the song we’re listening to were written just for us.

Correctly guessing if the door is push or pull.

Awesome is something that motivates. It is any tiny triumph worth celebrating. It can be a small delight that provides personal bliss. It is something diminutive that demands us to slow down to recognize it. It can be an undersized, un-sappy pleasure that sustains our positive outlook on life. An awesome thing is simple and usually a free daily experience we love. It’s sometimes touching, sometimes funny, and usually rings pretty true for us.  Here are a number of awesome things and events that we can bring into our holiday bucket list.

Listening to the Reo Brothers, survivors from the wrath of Yolanda who fled to Manila from Tacloban. They can sing Beatles tunes well.

Visiting Zamboanga, Tacloban, Ormoc and other ravaged places to show solidarity with the survivors of calamities.

A thinly ornamented Christmas tree standing tall in a sea of destruction.

Getting a heads-up on who will be visiting the family during the holidays.

A child donating his piggy bank to charity.

Sharing our good fortune, giving our budgets for gifts to rehabilitation efforts.

A holiday greeting from a supermarket cashier, a doorman in a hotel, a security officer in a bank, and other people we hardly know.

Riding a cab with a friendly and honest driver.

Sale, sale, sale. Are people not shopping as much?

Benefit concerts and bazaars all over town.

Christmas gala concerts and solidarity shows.

The iconic “Tulong na, Tabang na, Tayo na!” T-shirts.

Simbang Gabi.

Hugging more, and seeing the world becoming a better place.

The birth of the Savior

Awesome things are universal truths of how to live a more positive life, regardless of our personal circumstances. They make our existence better; they make us better. They come to those who aware of the blessings, discover the humor and never give up. As Joan Smith said, “Life is short, have dessert first.”

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E-mail bongosorio@yahoo.com or bong_osorio@abs-cbn.com for comments, questions or suggestions. Thank you for communicating.