Finding Home

I used to have a personal spot where I write and read my favorite books over and over again. I would pile them on the table and admire their mere presence. Then Typhoon Haiyan came and drenched them and everything else to the core. So I had to throw them all away.  It would be accurate to say that my heart broke when I did what I had to do because it meant I was forced to cut off something that has been a precious part of who I was at the time. Yes, it was just material. Am I being shallow? Maybe. Am I being human? Absolutely. We all have things that are meaningful to us because in one way or another, they symbolize our identity. For some jewelry represents a luxury earned for many years of hard work. For others an array of clothes, shoes and bags represents a wholeness of what wasn't in one's past. And for the enlightened few, they've reached a point where they see all material things as mere mediums or vehicles, if you will, to take them to places of pur

Pack light. Bring only what is necessary to wherever you may go. Lay it all down. Spread it all out: tickets, passport, money, clothes; tops, bottoms, shoe wear, accessories. Ask the questions: For how many days? What places to go? Do I really need to bring those stilettos? Or would comfy flats do? Do I really need those many tops to go with those many pairs of jeans? One suitcase. Or a backpack perhaps. How to know that what you packed is enough? Wear your backpack. Can you still move around without straining your back? Lift your suitcase. Can you sustain carrying it for the duration of your travel without the aid of a porter? Pack light. In travel as in life. Such sound advice. Family. Friends. Virtues.  Family in blood or not. What matters is whenever you're with them you feel safe. You can be who you want to be, who you are without fear of judgment or reprimand. They root you to what is essential. Yet they give you wings to soar high. Friends. You don'