PEOPLE-WATCHING AT STARBUCKS

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My daughters and I love spending time at our 'adopted' HQ (headquarters at the mall -- Starbucks, but of course! There's a history in it and I think I have written about it before in previous posts. And that history lives on in the hearts of my family.
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Well, the one thing that I love doing .. aside from my green tea frappuccino and corned beef sandwich, playing games on my phone, reading or writing ... is people-watching.
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We know that looking at a landscape of evergreens has its delight and pleasure which only Mother Nature can genuinely give. Now it's a different delight and pleasure when looking at this landscape of people.
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They come in all sizes... shapes... appearances... dress style... hair cuts and dyes... in professional decorum or in the swagger of an "I"- "Me" - "My" - "Mine" person... in all the socio classes of wallets and purses... genders... color... and religion... parents... children... yayas... grandparents... aunts... uncles... professors... students... businessmen... employed... unemployed... priests... nuns or sisters... the loners... groups... the first wives club... the other wives club... singles... married... separated... bereaved... and many others more with all other intentions good or bad coming in and out of any Starbucks door. Well, this Starbucks door, too!
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Almost always snippets of conversation trail down to your table, like it or not. One thing I have observed is that Pinoys can't talk or chat in low voices (even on their cellphones); it always has to be amplified twice regardless of place or time.
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Aside from their vocal narration of life as it befalls them, their eyes visibly validate or corroborate it, and then sometimes it looks the other way. But as someone once said it ------ 'the eyes have it all'.
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In summary, my own understanding of people and of life grows exponentially with every person and life story heard. Wisdom in its barest. Fortunately or unfortunately but much to my advantage this apparently provides authentic seeds for the writing, too.
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That's all for now, folks! My green tea frappe is waiting for me.
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Have a great day!  God bless you!

OF BLOGGING... STORIES.... AND STORYTELLERS

http://ellen-inretrospect.blogspot.com/2015/08/of-blogging-stories-and-storytellers.html

Because everybody is a story.
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But -- that is just one part of the whole..... Completing that is the listener.  One is nothing without the other.  Somebody tells -- somebody listens.  Somebody writes -- somebody reads.

Have a great day, folks. Blessings to you all.

 

THREE FAVORITE THINGS AND MORE

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When the muses are quiet and no inspiration pushes the pen or laptop keys.... or when some days are lonely... or when saddled with cares and woes... or when days are even boring... I turn to three favorite things. One, I go out to the garage and have a nice chat with my three dogs -- Lucky, Buddy, and the new addition Scruffy. (There's a fourth one Maxie but she prefers napping on the couch in the living room.) Or.... two, I get myself a cup of yummy ice cream (if there happens to be one inside the freezer), sit on the couch and watch my favorite show on TV. If nada on the ice cream thing, a peanut butter sandwich takes its place with a glass of iced tea... and eyes still glued on the TV screen. Or..... three, my daughter and I go out to the mall to watch a good movie or have our favorite frappe at Starbucks. And...... Oh by the way, also squeezed in-between those three are the one-and-a-thousand details of things we usually do around the house. Plus.... the different roles a mother plays to her children regardless of their age. Plus.... the things done for 'me-time'... listen to music, paint, read a good book, sew a bag from an old pair of jeans, call up a friend, sort through old files for some hidden 'gold' to feed the writing, etc.
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Now I almost forgot this. After listing down the I, Me, My, Mine of being human and was set to move to the next thing to write ---- I remembered this >> Plus..... this precious life nurturing-connection.... Being still to acknowledge God's presence in my life. The wonders of His Magnificent God-ship. Those should be etched in the heart for nobody would last a day or a second without Him. All that we are -- our brilliance, intellect, talents, wealth, beauty, successes, achievements, acquisitions, titles, positions, or greatness -- everything comes from His goodness, love, compassion, and mercy. Gifts from His divine heart. The magnificent I AM. Thus if I have the 'me-time'.... this one's called the 'HIS-time'.
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Now why am I telling you this? Because I have learned something very important which I'd like to share with you. It is this........
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"Look only to the good. Look only to what you have, to what God has given you. Do not let your eyes come to rest upon any other thing but the blessings and peace of Christ. Do not fix your gaze upon the negatives, upon the past or the future. Remember, your life is hid with me. By now you know that I can be trusted and that I have all your affairs in My hands. Not one thing escapes My attention." --- God
(Yes, those lines are from the book 'Good Morning... God')
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Nice, aye? Give it a try. You might like it, too. Furthermore you will soon discover that trusting God gives you more time to be you.. with your life... with your gifts.... with your God.
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God bless you!

WRITE BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE CAN OR WILL WRITE IT FOR YOU

Bringing this here from the other blog for someone who needs to see this.


--- For someone out there who has this huge dream, or even the smallest dream of writing.... allow me to say this:

WRITE BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE CAN OR WILL WRITE IT FOR YOU.

Your talent is not meant to be stored away in a dark corner languishing in anonymity. If you are afraid that people may not like it nor read it. That's the least of your problem. What should concern you is what your heart is nudging you to do. And if it says 'write'.... then listen to it and write. Write for the joy of writing. Write because you love to write. Write because you have something to say. Write because it feeds your dreams and your soul.

And don't worry about making mistakes, to do a good thing well you have to make some mistakes along the way. But learn and learn well. Don't fake it; write what you know. Be honest. And remember that a good piece of writing is one which a reader after reading it comes out of it thinking. And when he does that --- Congratulations! you done well where it truly matters! You have made the connection.

Believe that you can....... and you certainly can!!
Good luck! Blessings to you.