I really like the way he writes this one, that's why I'd like to share it with you all...
Enjoy, hope some of you find a little bit enlightment :)

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There are moments when we would like very much to help someone we love deeply and we just can't seem to do a thing. Either circumstances prevent us from drawing closer or else the person has shut off to any gesture of solidarity and support.
So, all we have left is love. In those moments when everything is useless, we can still love - without expecting anything in return, any exchanges or thanks.

If we can manage to act in this way, the energy of love begins to transform the universe around us. When this energy appears, you always perform your work successfully.
"Time does not change men. Will power does not change men. Love changes men," says Henry Drummond.

I read in the newspaper about a child in Brasília who was brutally beaten by his parents. As a result, she lost her body movements and her power of speech.
Admitted to the Base Hospital, she was taken care of by a nurse who said to her every day: "I love you." Although the doctors guaranteed that she could not hear and that the nurse's efforts were all to no avail, she kept repeating: "I love you, don't you forget that."
Three weeks later on, the child had recovered her movements. Four weeks later, she started to talk and smile again. The nurse never gave any interviews and the newspapers did not publish her name - but let it be registered here, so that we will never forget: love is a great healer.

Love transforms, love heals. But at times love builds mortal traps and ends up destroying the person who has decided to surrender completely. What strange sentiment is this that deep down is the only reason for us to go on living and struggling and trying to make things better?

It would irresponsible of me to try to define it because, like any other human being, all I can do is feel it. Thousands of books have been written about it, plays put on at the theater, films produced, poems scribbled, sculptures carved in wood or marble - and even so, all that the artist can convey is the idea of a feeling, not the feeling itself.
But I have learned that this feeling is present in the small things and manifests itself in the most insignificant of attitudes we take, so we must always have love in mind when we act or fail to act.

Picking up the phone and uttering that affectionate word we have been putting off. Opening the door and showing in someone who needs our help. Accepting a job. Leaving a job. Making that decision that we were putting off for later. Apologizing for a mistake we made that will not leave us in peace. Claiming a right that we have. Opening an account at the florist's - which is more important than the jeweler's. Playing the music loud when your loved one is far away and lower the volume when he or she is nearby. Knowing how to say "yes" and "no" - because love involves all of man's energies. Discovering a sport that can be practiced by two. Not following any prescription, not even those listed in this paragraph - because love calls for creativity.

And when none of this is possible, when all that is left is loneliness, then remember a story that a reader once sent me:
A rose dreamed day and night about having the company of the bees, but none ever came to land on her petals.
But the flower went on dreaming: during many a long night she imagined a sky with lots of bees flying towards her and kissing her tenderly. In this way she managed to resist to the next day, when she opened again to the sunlight.
One night the moon, knowing how lonely the rose felt, asked her:
- Aren't you tired of waiting?
- Perhaps. But I have to struggle on.
- Why?
- Because if I don't open up, I will wither.

At moments when loneliness seems to crush all beauty, the only way to resist is to keep yourself open.

Sometimes we do need some changes in ourlives...
Will you take some risks? :)

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Change.
But start slowly, because direction is more important than speed.
Sit in another chair, on the other side of the table.
Later on, change tables.
When you go out, try to walk on the other side of the street. Then change your route, walk calmly down other streets, observing closely the places you pass by.
Take other buses. Change your wardrobe for a while; give away your old shoes and try to walk barefoot for a few days - even if only at home.
Take off a whole afternoon to stroll about freely, listening to the birds or the noise of the cars.
Open and shut the drawers and doors with your left hand.
Sleep on the other side of the bed. Then try sleeping in other beds.
Watch other TV programs, read other books, live other romances - even of only in your imagination.
Sleep until later. Go to bed earlier.
Learn a new word a day.
Eat a little less, eat a little more, eat differently; choose new seasonings, new colors, things you have never dared to experiment.
Lunch in other places, go to other restaurants, order another kind of drink and buy bread at another bakery.
Lunch earlier, have dinner later, or vice-versa.
Try something new every day: a new side, a new method, a new flavor, a new way, a new pleasure, a new position.
Pick another market, another make of soap, another toothpaste.
Take a bath at different times of the day.
Use pens with different colors.
Go and visit other places.
Love more and more and in different ways. Even when you think that the other will be frightened, suggest what you have always dreamed about doing when you make love.
Change your bag, your wallet, your suitcases, buy new glasses, write other poems.
Open an account in another bank, go to other cinemas, other hairdressers, other theaters, visit new museums.
Change. And think seriously of finding another job, another activity, work that is more like what you expect from life, more dignified, more human.
If you cannot find reasons to be free, invent them: be creative.
And grab the chance to take a long, enjoyable trip - preferably without any destination.
Try new things. Change again. Make another change. Experiment something else.
You will certainly know better things and worse things than those you already know, but that does not matter. What matters most is change, movement, dynamism, energy.
Only what is dead does not change - and you are alive.

Gibran's love letters

Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), born in the Lebanon, will be remembered for his classic "The Prophet," which sixty years after its publication is still on the list of best-sellers in several countries. In 1995 a Lebanese friend gave me a book containing the love letters exchanged between Gibran and Mary Haskell, an American ten years older than he was. When I read it I discovered a complex and fascinating man, which encouraged me to select some texts for the publication ("The Prophet's Love Letters," Ed. Ediouro). Everything indicates that Mary, although a great friend, never accepted any relationship beyond Platonic love. Reading Gibran's letters, it is difficult to understand how she resisted!

Here are some fragments:

10/3/1912
Mary, my adorable Mary, how can you feel that you are giving me more pain than joy? Nobody quite knows the border between pain and pleasure: I often think it is impossible to separate them. You give me so much joy that it hurts and you cause me so much pain that it even makes me smile.

24/5/1914
Think, my adorable one, of us walking across a beautiful field one lovely day and all of a sudden a storm breaks out above our heads. How marvelous! Could there be any greater emotion than seeing the elements producing wild force and energy? Let's go to the fields, Mary, and seek the unexpected.

8/7/1914
I have always thought that when someone understands us they end up enthralling us, since we will accept anything for the purpose of being understood. But your understanding has brought me the deepest peace and freedom that I have ever experienced. In the two hours that your visit lasted, you discovered a black spot in my heart and touched it and it has disappeared for ever - making me see my own light.

18/4/1915
The two days we spent together were just magnificent. When we speak of the past we always make the present and future more real. For many years I was afraid to look at what I had lived, and suffered in silence. Today I realize that silence makes us suffer all the deeper.
But you made me talk and I have discovered the things that lay hidden in dust in my soul, so now I can tear them out of there.

17/7/1915
We two are trying to touch the limits of our existence. The great poets of the past always surrendered themselves to Life. They did not look for some determined thing, nor did they try to unveil secrets: they simply allowed their souls to be overwhelmed by emotions. People are always looking for security and sometimes they find it, but security is an end in itself, whereas Life has no end.
Your letter, Mary, is the most beautiful expression of life that I have ever received. Poets are not those who write poetry, but rather those whose heart is full of the holy spirit of Love.

10/5/1916
Dear Mary: I am sending you a parable that I have just finished. I have written little and that only in Arabic. But I would like to hear your corrections and suggestions on this piece:
In the shadow a temple my friend pointed out a blind man. My friend said: "That is a wise man."
We went up to him and I asked: "How long have you been blind?"
"Ever since I was born."
"I am an astronomer," I said.
"I am too," answered the blind man. And placing his hand on his chest, he said: "I spend my life observing the many suns and stars that move inside me."

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KEREN!

WARRIOR OF THE LIGHT
A MANUAL
PAULO COELHO

Keren abis bukunya! Isinya emang cuma tulisan singkat ajah, tapi bisa dalem banged klo dihayati.

Singkat tapi dalem. Gak rugi deh untuk punya bukunya.

Thanks to Adit for introducing the book :)

Prolog:

"What is a Warrior of the Light?"

"You already know that," she replied with a smile."He is someone capable of understanding the miracle of life, of fighting the last for something he believes in -and of hearing the bells that the waves set ringing on the seabed."

He had never thought of himself as a Warrior of the Light.

The woman seemed to read his thoughts. "Everyone is capable of these things. And, though no one thinks of himself as a Warrior of the Light, we all are."

He looked at the blank pages in the notebook. The woman smiled again.

"Write about the Warrior," she said.

That's the end of the Prolog, and the notes continues...
I have to buy another book, I guess :)

Salah satu stasiun TV menyiarkan secara langsung acaranya, hikzz gak bisa nonton, cuma bisa liat sapa yang menang ajah.

Silakan diliat siapa ajah pemenangnya sesuai gak dengan pilihan kalian?

Sedangkan untuk Best Supporting Actress Rachel Weisz untuk film Constant Gardener, emang bagus banged maennya! Cantik pula...

Ada satu event lagi yang terlewatkan, yaitu Jakarta International Java Jazz Festival 2006 yang baru ajah lewat kemaren, ada yang nonton?

Cerita dong! Heheheh...

Dari kemaren² udah pengen nulis, tapiiiii selalu gagal, karna komputer untuk nulis harus minjem temen di kantor, jadi gak nyaman banged deh buat nulis. Sekarang ini setelah sekian lama gue gak pernah lagi yang namanya maen ke warnet. Akhirnya gue ke warnet juga....

Kenapa? Karna gue boring abis dirumah! Hueuehue...

Eniwe, kali ini gue mo ngebahas sedikit tentang salah satu sifat manusia.
SABAR

Kenapa gue mo bahas tentang hal yang satu itu? Karena ternyata dengan kata itu, bisa menguatkan salah satu temen gue, Adit aka Zenoffense namanya. Secara dia juga baru putus dari pacarnya..*oops

Tapi masa² kehilangan dah gak separah waktu baru² putus. Nah, sekarang dia dah dapetin semangad baru. Secara dah ketemu sama yang baru...heuheuheu *Friendster ROCKS! Ya gak, dit?*
Gue inget banged waktu itu dia SMS, yang isinya "gue gak sabar banged, Mei pengen ketemu sama dia..." masih ada sambungan tapi gue lupa. Heheheh...

Nah!Kalo gak salah gue balesnya ada hubungan sama kesabaran, klo gak salah "Kesabaran adalah proses pendewasaan diri.." gitu deh, lengkapnya lupa...
Karna kata² gue itu, dia kadang kembali mikir kalo dia mulai uring²an ato mikir gak jelas tentang semua kehidupan yang udah dia lewatin.

Karna hal diatas itulah, gue dapet ide untuk nulis ini. Gue seneng karna sebagai seorang temen bisa ngingetin untuk tidak melakukan kebodohan ato kesalahan bahkan ngerasain sakit lagi, karna gue tau banget ngebangun perasaan 'tidak biasa' jadi 'biasa'setelah putus cinta itu susah banged. Bukan karna gue ahli dalam hal ini, tapi gue yakin semua orang yang pernah ngalamin patah hati PASTI ngerti apa yang gue maksud.

I'm glad that I can actually helped you a bit with my words of wisdom. *syaaahh...*

Berkutet dengan kesabaran itu gak gampang loh! Menurut gue yah...
Karna salah satu dari inti kesabaran itu adalah harus bisa mengalahkan diri sendiri. Misalnya sabar dalam ngadepin masalah apapun. Yang jelas ketika kita bisa mengalahkan diri kita sendiri, maka kita bisa menghadapi segala masalah di depan kita. Dan apapun masalah yang kita hadapi itu, yang terpenting bukan memecahkan masalah tersebut, tapi BAGAIMANA kita menghadapinya.

Dan ketika kita sudah bisa dan mengetahui bagaimana menghadapinya, maka secara tidak langsung proses pendewasaan karakter dan hidup pun sudah meningkat, disadari atau tidak disadari.

Makasih juga buat temen² yang SELALU ada untuk ingetin gue juga. Saat gue lagi bener² tolol dan tidak bersikap dewasa dalam ngadepin masalah yang gak penting. Jangan pernah capek untuk ngadepin gue yang keras kepala yah, dan gue juga sedang berusaha berubah untuk menjadi manusia yang lebih baik dari sebelumnya. Setiap hari harus ada perubahan yang positif untuk diri sendiri, itu janji gue.


*Thanks Zen for the inspiration*

"...Hanya debulah aku, di alas kakiMu, Tuhan..."

Upacara penerimaan abu sebagai peringatan bahwa kita akan kembali menjadi abu. Dan juga sebagai lambang pertobatan.

Masa prapaskah telah dimulai, kita sebagai umat Katolik diingatkan kembali melalui surat gembala yang di tulis oleh Uskup Agung, hanya dengan 2 kata yang cukup dalam...

KORUPSIKAH AKU?

:) Silakan jawab sendiri dalam hati masing-masing. Yang jelas 2 kata diatas ingin mengingatkan kita kembali, bahwa kita hidup dinegara yang MEMANG sudah menjadi rahasia umum paling jago korupsinya. Tapi, apakah kita harus menjadi seperti mereka?

Saatnya merenung dan kontemplasi bagi kita semua. Bukan cuma untuk yang Katolik ajah. Sepertinya memang dalam keseharian juga kita sering korupsi.
Korupsi waktu apalagi korupsi duit...
Dapatkah kita menang melawan diri sendiri sebagai proses menjadi pribadi yang lebih baik demi masa depan bangsa?
Mungkinkah kita membiarkan yang sudah jelek menjadi lebih jelek lagi?
Dapatkah kita memberikan perubahan?

Semoga :)

Aku menundukkan kepala dan bertekuk lutut dihadapanNya mohon ampun atas segala dosa yang tercipta...
Tuhan kasihanilah kami

Amin

*Sebuah renungan bagi diri sendiri*


PS: Happy Birthday, dearest Rex!