Soul Food

I know nobody is thrilled to hear me confess this aloud again, but I’m not much in my writing frame-of-mind these days. Thankfully, you don’t have to sit through another blog entry of me flossing flowery prose about how uninspired I am lately. No, it’s not that bad.

As for why I’m less active these days? That I’m doing as a price to pay for my much-needed life makeovers. I’m trying to change who I am, what I can do, and how I live my life. I’m also experiencing things that I cannot comfortably put here for public viewing. Don’t worry, though, because I’m quite happy. Just today, I’ve accomplished things that I normally couldn’t do in a week: I have sketched, I have wrote (though only for myself), I have practiced drawing, and I have started updating my word-diary again.

I have also opened up to people who I didn’t speak with for the longest time - I have actually went out of my limb and I have called my best friend from high school. We used to live in a province and he was my neighbor, but when I moved to Manila to get my college degree, we didn’t see each other much. I hadn’t spoken with him for years already, and today I decided that rather than hanging on to all these pent-up guilts for neglecting him, I called him just to talk to him. It’s good to hear from a friend again after all these years.

And that’s why I have resolved to become a better person, by being more trustworthy, understanding, sympathetic, patient, and kindhearted. My starting point is to become a better friend to my friends.So I went to my bookshelf and dusted off my old copy of Cyndi Haynes’ book of friendship: Making Life Better. I bought that book back when I was having a crisis of faith towards certain people, but to this day I still find that it constantly guides me. It’s filled with friendship-centric quotes, and tips of how to be a good friend. I like these quotes so much. In fact, I think I want to show you some of these quotes:

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The friendships which last are those wherein each friend respects the other’s dignity to the point of not really wanting anything from him.” – Cyril Connolly

“The only way to have a friend is to be one” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Seek those who find your road agreeable, your personality and mind stimulating, your philosophy acceptable, and your experiences helpful. Let those who do not, seek their own kind.” – Jean-Henri Fabre

“The best rule of friendship is to keep your heart a little softer than your head.” – Author unknown

“There is nothing I like to see so much as the gleam of pleasure in another person’s eye when he feels that we have sympathized with him, understood him, interested ourself in his welfare. At these moments something fine and spiritual passes between two friends. These moments are the moments worth living.” – Don Marquis

“In poverty and other misfortunes of life, true friends are sure refuge.” – Aristotle

“My friends have made the story of my life. In a thousand ways they have turned my limitations into beautiful privileges, and enabled me to walk serene and happy in the shadow cast by my deprivation.” – Helen Keller