My Words of Wisdom
by Mysterygirl

The key to life isn't so hard to understand or reach. Smile as much as you can. Find enough joy to make you positively giddy. Don't be afraid to be happy and don't be afraid to be miserable. Reach for the moon. Streatch your hands toward the heavens and soon enough the stars will be sparking in your palms.

Accept compliments, move past insults. Take risks and be as spontaneous as usual. Be thankful for every day. Never go to bed angry, never leave those you care about without a hug.

Find the simple things that make you happy and hold on for dear life. Never settle for less than your hearts desire. Listen to your gut. Watch the sun rise and watch the sun set. Human beings greatest flaw is the inability to tell the people they love how much they care before it is too late.

You only get one life, one chance. Your time could end tomorrow, you may be around another good 70 years. It doesn't matter. Don't sweat the small stuff. And it's all small stuff.

Breathe...

I Will Not Fall
by Lone Star

I've found my mountain. I'm climbing my way to the top. This time I won't let anyone try to push me back or change my mind.

This is my mountain, these are my dreams, I just wish they would accept that and stop trying to interfere. I've come a long long way. I stopped being who I really was inside to please the world because I thought that would make me happy.

I was too fragile to live for myself then. Now I have gained the strength to believe in myself and the confidence to know that my life is MINE.

Now I'm gaining enemies. I'm not used to people who don't like me. It doesn't really bother me though. I am happy. I think that is all that matters here. I am happier than I've ever been, and I know that part of the reason they hate me is because they are not truly happy at all, and they are too afraid to step out and follow their heart.

I think that, I know that it is at least half true. People don't hate without reason.

I am a great person. I am not perfect. But I am REAL. I do not smile just to smile, or cry just to feel my tears. I do not lie to make people think good things about me. I do what I do and I love what I do and I am happy.

I will not fall.

Breaking Up is Hard to Do
by Emily

As far back as I remember, I've had a best friend for each major stage of my life. At least until I turned 21. From kindergarten to college, I shared giggly Kodak moments with a grand total of 4 best friends. Then along with the big 2-1 came a most traumatic break-up. After that, things with friends just never were the same again. While I have my comforting circle of very close friends now, it seems like womanhood has taken away my ability to form the type of exclusive, mutually-dependent, self-sufficient relationship that makes up a girly-girly best friends relationship.

Jinxed as I am when it comes to best friends, I've learnt some important lessons from losing them. For one, I've learnt that when I flip through dusty photo albums, it's not snapshots of me and my past loves that make me smile but those with my best friends, for each of them had co-written an important chapter in my life. For another, I've learnt that during blue moments in my life, it's not lost loves I cry over but lost friendships. I've also learnt that regardless of boyfriend or best friend, the factors that contribute to any break up are uncannily similar.

The Art of Letting Go
by consrael

It's over. He's gone.

Why do we have to part while the love is still there? Why do we have to suffer? Why do we have to cry when somebody bids goodbye? Why do beginnings have an end? Why do we have to meet only to lose in the end?

There are questions left unanswered, words left unsaid, letters left unread, poems left undone, songs left unsung, love left unexpressed, promises left unfulfilled.

In a relationship, one of the hardest things to do is saying goodbye and letting go. It is as hard as breaking a crystal because you'll never know when you will be able to pick up the pieces again. More often than not, they who go, feel not the pain of parting: it is they who stay behind that suffer, because they are left with memories of a love that was meant to be, a love that was.

At the beginning and at the end of a relationship, we are embarrassed to find ourselves alone. Unfair as it may seem, but that's the way love goes. That's the drama, the bittersweet and the risk of falling in love. After all, nothing is constant but change. Everything will eventually come to its end without us knowing when, without us knowing how, without us even knowing why. And we must forget not because we have to but because we have to.

In letting go, sorrows come not as a single spy but in batallion. It seems that everywhere you go, everything you do, every song you hear, every turn of your head, every move of your body, every beat of your heart, every blink of your eye and every breath you take always reminds you of him. It's like a stab of a knife, a torture in the night. Funny how the whole world becomes depopulated when only one person is missing. Just imagine, there are billion people on earth and yet it seems you feel lonely and empty without the other.

I don't know if it's worth calling an art, but letting go entails special skills sparkled with a considerable space and time. Time heals all wounds but it takes a little push on our part. Acceptance plays a part. Not all love stories end with "...and they live happily ever after."

Sometimes we have to part because of circumstances beyond our control. We have to suffer if it would mean happiness for others. We have to cry to temporarily let go of the pains. Every beginning has its end like every dawn has its dusk. It's something we can't control, something we had to live up.

It's over. He's gone. But life has to go on. Goodbye doesn't always mean forever. There will always be a place and time where questions will be answered, words will be spoken, letters will be read, poems will be recited in the night, songs will be sung in harmony, love will be expressed in solitude and promises will be fulfilled. Somewhere. Somehow. Someday.

This is something that I feel I need to say… I know a lot of things has happened to me during the past few months… sa sobrang dami ng mga nangyari I couldn’t keep track of details and people and events… yesterday I went to visit a friend of mine who was at the hospital… no she wasn’t the one who was sick but her daughter… it happened when I received an e-mail from my “kumara”… they were trying to solicit help from anybody who could donate blood for Michelle’s daughter Shelley… sad to say I’m quite slow with names so it didn’t register immediately that she was a friend… all I knew was that her name sounded familiar… so on Tuesday night I sent her a txt message saying I was interested in donating blood since I’ve been doing that eversince January… Wednesday afternoon I dropped by the Heart Center of the Philippines and I went to the blood bank… unfortunately they declined me as a donor because I didn’t meet the standard wt requirement… they required at least 110 lbs… accdg to the medical assistant I could donate at least 250cc but they were out of bags… I went like how could you run out of bags… this is like a life and death situation… but I kept it to myself… I felt sad because I really wanted to help so I went to the Chapel… when I entered the room I felt really eerie like I was looking at the people praying solemnly and I just stood there… I didn’t dare enter… for whatever reason I felt I was barging into something… then I asked myself… when was the last time you entered the church… I couldn’t actually remember… I felt pathetic… so I knelt on the outer pew and suddenly I felt that I was crying… I couldn’t help it… I felt like I was floating… I felt lost and lonely and scared… for the first time in months… I prayed… I walked out of the room quietly and wandered along the hall… there was a painting exhibit about women that was being held so I just looked around… I still felt numb… I sort of missed painting… I just wandered around and for a moment I had this yearning to see the child for myself… so texted Michelle and told her I was still at the hospital… she told me that she was at the 2^nd flr. so I tried looking for her (mind you I got lost like thrice I think)… when I finally found her she was sitting near the window outside of the O.R… that was the only time I realized that she was a friend but I never knew that she had a daughter… I hugged her and asked her about how things were going… she’s been there since 4 p.m. she related… looking at Michelle was like a realization for me… I felt like I was still lucky… I could see how hard she was trying to keep strong… could you just imagine the agony of waiting for your daughter get out of that dreaded surgery without any guarantees if she’s gonna be ok after the operation or what… you never know… I myself had a dozen what if’s running through my mind… in a way I felt lucky… that I wasn’t in her shoes… I would never know if I could take any more pain… I’m still like recovering from my fall… but I admired Michelle’s strength… she was so compused but I know that deep inside she was suffering... the worse part is not being able to hold on to that somebody so at least you could feel for each other... the guy was just reading a newspaper and they barely spoke to each other... it was sad... I could never imagine myself being in her position... although I know that if ever I was in Michelle's position it could have been me and Kenneth standing like strangers... I hugged her and we tried talking about stuff... after we said our goodbyes's... I went to see Aui and I felt relieved that my angel was ok and that she'll always be my reason for living...