If you haven't seen up, turn away now. Spoilers ahead.
So anyway, I just saw the movie UP. As usual, I always see the movie a week after everyone else has, only because I live on such a tight schedule. Prior to watching it, friends were telling me to bring a hanky or a box of tissues. I get what they mean.
I actually didn't cry but tears threatened to spill. A few minutes into the movie and I felt like. What struck me most, though, were all the symbolisms I gathered from the various happenings. Sometimes, fantasies are just fantasies. What's more important is to live in the now. Most of the time, where you are is what's best for you.
People come into our lives, and they may sometimes be annoying. Russell was just that, but he proved to be the click in the pen that would change you for good. Then there was Kevin, a nuisance at first, who had a purpose. He saved Mr. Frankenson a number of times. And the dog... as the saying goes, a dog chooses his master, not the other way around.
One thing I learned in my years of healing people is to let go of the past so that we can move on. The past holds us back from reaching our ultimate goal. It hit me, as soon as Mr. Frankenson's house landed in Paradise Falls, that it wasn't how it was supposed to be. Ellie wasn't there, he was all alone, Russell hated that this man gave away Kevin, the creature that saved their lives. But the dog was still there, loyal as ever to his master, and believed in him. You just have to love dogs.
When Mr. Frankenson got rid of the stuff in his house in order for it to fly, it was like he got rid of the excess baggage, the things that hold us back. And when he lost his house to save the people he cared about, and he said,"It's just a house!" he was letting go. Sometimes, you just have to let go to know how to proceed.
So there it was in the end. After everything that happened, when he looked once more at Ellie's book adventures, beyond the pages of "What I'm Going to Do" were not empty pages, but pictures, mementos and captions of the events she treasured most with the people she cared for most. The past stays in the past and the future is yet to be made. You just have to live right here, right now!
It takes a lot for animals to trust humans completely. But somehow when they become members of your family they trust you wholeheartedly.
Copper, our dog, trusted us from the moment we laid eyes on each other at the breeder's house. Dali, our cat, took a while. Years later though he suddenly loved us so much that he KNOWS we won't do anything to hurt him.
Just this morning, I was about to leave home to go to work when I saw him lying down by the driveway and getting some sun. I was trying to get him up to move out of the way but he wouldn't budge. He just lay there, lazily, probably thinking all the while that I was just stroking his fur. He wasn't smacked in the middle, if I maneuvered the car to the left a bit while backing up I would completely miss him. Which is what I did. And while he could see that the car was backing up, he still didn't move. Animal trust! He KNOWS I won't run him down or even pretend to. Smart cat!
I could never understand why parents are so anxious about the first day of school. The kids are fine. They're excited to meet their new classmates and teachers.
Yesterday, for the very first time, I understood. They're simply worried that their kids might cry, and they won't be there to hold their hand.
Copper had ticks and fleas. The doctor took a look and said that he would need to undergo a medicated bath to kill of them. They'll have to soak him for 3 hours after which he'll have a medicated bath, then they'll have to dry him properly without stripping of the medicine. So that's a total of 5 hours. Of course, I obliged. I'd hate for Copper to get sick.
So I dropped him off at the vet yesterday. It's his first time ever to be away from home and from people he knows for that long. I was worried for most of the day. I know he would cry. He's not even my dog. He's my sister's son, and I'm his Ninang.
True enough, when my sister picked him up, he was crying with his tail between his legs. But that was after he had his bath. He's 2 1/2 but he's still a baby. So I figured that's what parents feel when it's their kids' first day of school. No need to worry the next time. Anyway, the doctor said he enjoyed his bath.
I never understood why people pertain to August as the Ghost Month. I always thought it had something to do with business being bad, people cutting back on the spending, and the month having to do with a Chinese superstitious belief.
August is the 7th month in the Chinese Calendar and is the climax of the year. Chinese folk religions believe that at this time the spirits of the dead wander the earth. They believe that on the 15th day of the month the realms of Heaven, hell and the living are open, so that Buddhists perform rituals to absolve the sufferings of the deceased.
So I am partially right! It's a Chinese belief, but not superstitious. In fact, spirits of the dead really do make their presence felt at this time so that they can move on. There's nothing scary or mystical about it, just heavy and bothersome for those of us who can feel or see them.
I learned from healing that they're not out to scare people like they do in the movies. They just need help moving on. They need people like us to show them the way to our creator. However, I also learned from healing that negative or dirty energy in your aura prevents your own energy from flowing properly, thus preventing the luck from spreading to you and making you weak at the same time. Spirits are a source of heavy energy because they no longer belong on earth. They have no physical body to live on so they get the energy of those around them to be able to stay put. It's imperative that they move on, are sent on, so that they don't latch themselves on to people for "survival" on earth.
And that is why business is not good during this time. Spirits roam around attaching themselves to people to get their energy, which prevents energy from flowing freely. People are vulnerable to sicknesses so they would rather keep themselves healthy. In which case, business aren't doing well because people would rather stay at home.
Thus, ghost month!
I just finished reading Martial Law Babies by Arnold Arre. It's all about kids born in the 70s, growing up during the martial law era but were too young to understand what was going on, beginning life in the 90s without a sense of purpose, and leaving the country because they believe the Philippines has no more hope.
In one of the chapters, the group of friends in the story talked about us as Generation X. They believed that we were called Generation X because, unlike the Baby Boomers who lived through World War II, we have nothing to fight for. That we were the kids who grew up thinking that technology is the best source of play, and the news is all about American TV gossip.
Personally, I don't agree. How apt that I finished reading the graphic novel just when former President Cory Aquino passed away. Watching her wake on TV and hearing people talk about the kind of woman she was, what she did for our country, brought back memories of what it was like being called Generation X. I don't believe we have no cause to fight for. During the time when people were filing for migration, we were the kids who fought in the belief that the Philippines is a nation worth fighting for, and Ninoy and Cory Aquino showed us that. We have to remember that we are THE neXt generation, the one that will carry our flagship to the next level.
I went to Sunday mass this evening and actually listened to the priest's homily. Okay, I admit I don't always listen because I tend to get really sleepy in the middle of it, but the priest talked about something that interested me. He began with (not in verbatim), In today's world, there are many different kinds of coffee. There's espresso, cappucino, frappucino, etc. But God is nothing fancy. He's as simple as 3-in-1, tamang tama ang timpla para mawala and antok. God is the daily coffee fix we need to keep us going.
This got me thinking, God is anything. We might think of Him as this big being, the alpha and omega, the shock absorber, but God can actually be the simplest of things.
God is the sun. He shines down on us.
God is a cellphone. He keeps us connected wherever we are.
God is a map. He guides us wherever we go.
God is a push cart. He carries our excess baggage.
God is chocolate. He's an aphrodisiac.
God is food. He nourishes us.
God is water. He cleanses us.
God is a house. He shelters us from the storm.
God is a flower. He is beauty in its most natural form.
God is a dog. He's the most loyal, unbiased, unconditionally loving companion.
God is an open book. He shares everything with us.
God is love. He knows no boundaries.
GOD IS!
I just finished re-reading the entire Harry Potter series and it got me thinking, "JK Rowling must have secretly been a part of our healing class!"
In the final two books, Dumbledore introduces Harry to Voldemort's past. In doing so, we learn of Voldemort ripping his soul into 7 pieces, keeping them in carefully selected objects which he considers trophies. Should one of these trophies get destroyed he would still have the others to keep him alive.
We learned in Book 1 that Harry's parents died to protect him from Voldemort, which caused the killing curse to backfire and reduce him to something less than human. Nevertheless, he survived because he still had the horcruxes somewhere around. Like us, we have seven bodies, six of which are astral bodies, the 7th is our physical body. We may travel astrally in our sleep or even during our wakeful hours, but we remain ourselves because we still have our physical bodies intact. Likewise, should the physical body die our souls remain whole enough to move on to the heavenly realm or to the next life.
An additional thought occured to me: In Book 7, Dumbledore reveals that a last piece of Voldemort's soul ripped when he killed Harry's parents which transferred itself unknowingly to Harry. This, I realized, is like kapit. Tada! In our world, spirits wander and sometimes attach themselves to people with bright and happy auras to feed on their energy. Sometimes, sad people unconsciously spread their own grief and anger to those around them so that the others feel grief that is not their own. These sometimes cause back pains, low energy, unexplained sicknesses, etc. And that explains why Harry can speak parseltongue, feel when Voldemort is angry, and see through his eyes where he plans to go and what he plans to do. Thus, kapit!