Q: “What is happiness for ThePSN?”
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When I was in my 20s, I’ve been described as a person in flux—
Ever growing, evergreen, ever young.
I’m still that person.
I’m as young as I ever was, despite my numerical age.
And my secret is being present in the moment.
***
I cannot be 24/7 thinking in the present.
I am also given to moments of daydreaming for some better future, or for some cherishing of memories, or even some sad nostalgia.
But what is dominant in my days is being always present in the here and now.
***
Traveling to new places helps me to be more in the present because that present is always a new scene, a new reality.
I pay attention visually, aurally, linguistically, gustatorily, psychologically, and even sexually.
***
You cannot be in Bucharest, and be thinking of your past or your future.
You cannot be in Prague and think about lost loves, and Filipino adobo.
***
So there is no craving for me, no deep longing.
I enjoy each new city as if discovering life for the first time.
And it makes me like a child with imagination and fascination.
When one is surrounded by such newness and freshness and possibilities, how can one not be happy?
***
In the end, happiness, for me, means dealing with the present with not much worry.
As if the world itself will solve its problems.
When I am not the world’s biggest problem-solver, I am genuinely happy.
***
I also mean that while traveling, I meet small problems and difficulties.
Like being lost with directions, language, and even dealing with strangers, lovers, people with evil intentions.
But if I live moment to moment, I overcome everything somehow.
***
I get upset, and I get over it.
I get frustrated, and I get over it.
I get anxious, and I get over it.
Charging it all to experience.
In the end, I only remember how I overcome things.
***
Being happy is not a 24/7 condition.
It’s like a 6 out of 7 condition.
Like if I am angry for an hour a day, and I am grateful and content for the other 23 hours, I’d still call it a happy day.
***
In my travels, I am hardly miserable.
So there are no miserable days, really.
When the weather is bad, I stay indoors, rest, stream a movie, or even write poetry, or my newspaper column.
***
Or, I could be on Facebook or Instagram posting photos from my travels.
Or I could just be posting stuff to make people think Pink for 2022.
***
Q: “What is prayer for ThePSN?”
***
I pray a lot.
That is to say, I pray first thing in the morning.
As soon as I wake up ahead of my alarm clock (which is more often than not).
I stay in bed, under my blankets, and just talk to God about things I’m grateful about.
I pray for world peace (and not in the Miss Universe kind of way), and for my beloved country.
***
The 2022 elections is a major concern for me.
It’s probably the last greatest election of my life.
(The first was the Cory versus the dictator snap elections of 1986.)
After this 2022 election, I don’t think I want to care any more.
If people want to have crappy leaders, it’s on them.
***
I haven’t given up in 36 years, but maybe it is time for me to just chill after this.
At 53, I’m too old to worry for a country that doesn’t think for itself.
So, this could really be my last major election campaign.
***
I like visiting churches in Europe, and all the eastern block countries that I have visited on this trip were teeming with churches.
Poland, Romania, Bulgaria especially.
I even prayed in a mosque in Sofia, and some Eastern Orthodox churches in Bucharest.
***
But my church prayers are rather churchy, too.
Which is to say, formula prayers: “Our Father”, “Hail Mary”, the rosary, ritual prayers, the mass.
I have more prayerful moments than these, but you have to wait for my next column for more details. (To be continued)/PN
