A Moonlight Tryst

We danced under diamond lit skies

Our love was born underneath the strength and courage of Taurus’ horns

My hand tightly woven with yours,

The warmth of my body, and yours,

face to face.

We let our spirits fall into each other

to share an act so sacred and rare:

To love each other so passionately,

so honestly, so fearlessly,

with all the Universe’s energy and

purity,

with no reward in mind

but the present moment given to us.

The Universe and all its beautiful, quiet energy,

chose you and me to experience this

extraordinary, captivating and rare,

human experience.

It whispered to our spirits,

Come closer, like this.

My beloved, my other soul, complete me

Savor me, and surrender your spirit to 

each other

Like this.

Our souls danced wild and slow through the night,

embraced and enraptured by the warmth

of love we shared for each other.

We watched the sun rise, and with it,

watched our sprits summoned

back to the Universe from which our beings and love existed in.

Your brown eyes set on mine,

you whispered,

Don’t doubt this, ok? Don’t doubt it.

The Universe chose us

to share the vessels of our mortality

in the most sacred way of the stars.

To meet ourselves in each other and let our spirits dance and relish

in the purest form of love:

One of infinite beauty and terror.

No feeling was ever final for us.

Our love continues to exist deep within the soul we shared,

and burns endlessly in our spirits to light the way back

to each other, again.

We’ll dance among the stars and planets

and play in the winds and nature of the Earth.

Until then, my beloved counterpart,

Come closer, like this.

The Seeds of Our Soul

Close your eyes.

Sit still for 5 minutes. Breath and listen quietly to every breath you take. Your heart pulsates to gently push the tiny red vessels throughout your body so that every part of you can illuminate with life. Like inner tubes flowing throw a calm river, or rushing with adrenaline like a waterfall, anything worth feeling passionate and alive for, was first a little pulse of life in the deepest depths of your heart.

Many people I know have a hard time figuring out what they are passionate about. And if they do know what they are passionate about, there is the question of, how can I bring my passion to life? It took me years filled with doubt, anger, confusion, and being disillusioned to realize my own passions. And while I know these passions are in a constant state of growth and nourishment, what I have learned is that you must absolutely, without a second thought, follow and listen to the voices and emotions that your inner soul and heart sing to really, really, honestly feel, alive.

Think about yourself as not just one seed, but of many, that make up all the vital parts that make you who you are: your intelligence, your curiosity, your hobbies, your feelings, your humor, your logic, your relationships, your darkness and your light, your ambitions and more–these are some of the seeds that we are given, and it is up to you to nourish and grow them. Our soul, mind, and heart demand it. How can we really live out our passions if we are not tending to the inner seeds of our soul?

What I have found is that not enough time and reflection is ever spent on looking internally within ourselves and answering the questions that require our complete honesty and devotion. The very act of doing this is quite painful. It is a hard task and discipline to face ourselves–our inner selves–and examine the particles that live deep inside of us. But we must, in order to nourish and see into fruition the blossoms of our deepest passions. It is emotionally difficult and extremely frustrating at times, and will feel like you are ripping parts of yourself and losing control. But understand this: to be passionate, means to suffer.

The word passion comes from the Latin verb, patī, meaning to suffer. It is no wonder why the things that fill our hearts with excitement, rage, curiosity, sadness, and thrill, all come from a stimulant in our soul that causes our emotions and body language to suffer from such a feeling so strong, that we can only describe it as passion. Think of how difficult it is for the human heart: this one single muscle in our body; to continuously pump, circulate, and navigate the intricacies of our human anatomy. It must fight against gravity for a distance of 18 inches to supply our brain with blood and oxygen. Think of how our vessels, like the vessels of a leaf, transport life into our arms to embrace, and our feet to walk or run. Our body is wired to produce the kinetic and potential energy to live and feel alive. But to live is an immediate privilege. To feel alive, on the other hand, is a magical and captivating gift that gratuitously gives.

They say to, “think big” and understand the “bigger picture”, but to do these things you have to begin to “think small” and understand the particles and pieces that will create the bigger picture. So go and seek within yourself. Discover and listen to the little voices that pulsate deep beneath the hidden layers of your soul. Reach into the pulsating cores of your heart and mind and quench its thirst for life. These seeds already live within you. There is no denying that you feel them pulsating and pleading for your care and devotion.

For every beautiful tree or flower that you see, was once a little seed that was given love, care, and the time to grow and to live, and to share the blossoms of its remarkable passions, honestly.

Yours,

Noemi

A Thought, As You Grow.

In my continuous search for truth and enlightenment, I stumbled upon this beautiful thought on a clouded empty daydream:

“The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. Any time you tolerate mediocrity in others, it increases your mediocrity. An important attribute in successful people is their impatience with negative thinking and negative acting people. As you grow, your associates will change.. Some of your friends will not want you to go on. They will want you to stay where they are. Friends that don’t help you climb will want you to crawl.. Your friends will stretch your vision or choke your dream. Those that don’t increase you will eventually decrease you.”

I let a silent moment help me understand the words of this thought. There will always be people who enter and leave your life, and you will do just the same towards others. Because how can we grow, and understand all the things which we don’t know in ourselves, unless we seek the ideas and people who embody what we desire to be and understand?

How can we evolve our human spirit and mind if we continue to tolerate a cycle and structure built to grow complacency and mediocrity? In an age where all things feel too closely connected and easily accessible, why is it that these connections make us feel so detached from true, human connection and growth?

Break yourself away from looking through the glass of illusion, and step into a world that people no longer know how to exist in. Be the one to start an evolution. A movement that will inspire others to do the same.

A thought, as you grow.

Yours,

Noemi

Fly Far, Little Bird.

Even the most beautiful environments are façades. Because what we see in front of us and around us, is not really all there is to see.

Its succulent nectars entice us to stay. “Life is sweeter here.” They say. We live our lives in silken nests that add to our misery when all is wrecked. We tune the speed of our heartbeats to gilded breasts with hollow hearts, and dream in short distances when we were made to soar: across horizons, above the seas, in the deepest caves, and into the darkest forests there are.

Seek outside of your self, so that you can find what’s inside of your self. Because there is more to you than what you see, and more to you than what everyone else sees. Because even though you are small like everyone else who is our kind, your heart beats to a different kind of tune. Fall in love with the mystery, be guided by curiosity, and most importantly, trust the path your gut wants you to follow if you’re lost. You will most certainly find yourself in darkness, and when you do, look up and you’ll see, that a certain darkness is needed to see the stars.

You’ll see that you are the content of your character. You’ll see that you are the ambitions that drive you. You’ll see that you are the goals that you set, the things that you laugh at and the words you say. You’ll see that you are the thoughts you think and the things you wonder. Because even truly, a shining star believes, that you are beautiful and desirable not for the clique you attend, but for the spark of life within you that has compelled you to make your life a full and meaningful one. You’ll see that soaring far from what you’ve known and came from, that you are beautiful not for the shape of the vessel, but for the volume of the soul it carries.

Fly far, little bird.

Yours,

N

Under the Night Sky

A familiar yet unfamiliar feeling is slowly creeping into my heart. It is like the cold summer fog in San Francisco: rolling gently down the hills and spreading its long arms around the heart of the city. The gentle cold fog never scared anyone. When it crept over us with surprise, we gathered together to create warmth. It brought us closer to feel our own warmth. Without out it, we would not feel its mysterious affect in the deepest chambers of our soul.

You’ve ruptured a frozen blood vessel in me and its bleeding warmth is finding its way to melt the frozen webs of my heart.  You see, darling, although I have always had warmth, a very sacred part of my heart was always frozen—waiting for the right person to come along again and fuel the fire that was quietly burning within me.

You feed my innermost thirsts and desires, and I am hopelessly mesmerized by your fierce confidence and light-heartedness. I want to devour you—but slowly, so lovingly and slow. I want to pour the blazing fire from my soul and breath it into every inch of your being. Can we wrap ourselves in each other’s deepest human desires and kiss each other gently still? Let me open your eyes and enter your heart. Let me fill it with blood that makes your heart pound and pulsate in constant ecstasy and honesty.

Two different individuals we are, following two different paths, can coexist at the intersection of a chaotic desire. Tangled by the arms of honesty and legs of passion, our eyes and heart locked by the enchantment of our tryst, we share our naked souls as one man and one woman would.

You see darling, I want to let this light inside of me, in you. I am burning ferociously inside and only wish to give you—with my arms, breath into you with my lips, tangle my warm velvet tongue with yours, and sink my soul into yours—that which you are waiting to discover.

From your heart to your lips and under the night sky—et du cœur a tes levres, we’ll find ourselves tangled like little children and discover a sea of enchanting dreams.

Paths and Uncharted Dreams

With so many options and paths one can take in their decision to move toward their destiny, it can feel like you’re strapped to a whirl-around roller coaster. “All these paths must lead somewhere”, you say to yourself, but only a few paths might actually make your life more abundant with happiness. So which one do you set your feet on to follow?

There is the path that might take you towards post-graduate studies–your name published on prominent media mediums,  a life of research and academia, and inspiring minds of all levels of maturity. There is the path that might take you on an adventure around the world–making impressions on those you meet in your nomadic journey through life, and finding serenity and peace wherever you traverse. And then there is the path that shows no sign of guaranteed promise–where all roads lead to somewhere you don’t know, yet has the allure of discovering what lay ahead.

Steve Jobs’ most memorable speech touches–no, makes a significant point, to trust in your ‘gut, karma, destiny, love’ or whatever it is that you follow. The point is to believe in yourself and believe in the capacity at which you can achieve GREAT things for yourself and for others.

I have been strapped to this whirl-around roller coaster for some time now, and it’s becoming slightly euphoric, in an addictive dizzying way. I crave intensity and unpredictability. It is what my creativity and inspiration thrive on. Most of the time, I’ll find myself struggling with focus and the impulse to purge all that is within me. A blank page, an empty space, or a white screen terrify me. And yet these things come to life with the words that I illuminate its lines and spaces with. Perhaps impulse, expression, and intuitiveness have a symbiotic role with each other in creating my destiny and the happiness I seek.

“Follow the inner voices your heart sings.” Trust your gut, your intuition, and believe in the world and your potential for greatness and hope. Don’t let other’s idea of success and plans define your future and life. Instead, CREATE the world you believe can bring happiness to yourself and others. Only a few will really understand your craziness for this, but at least they’ll understand your thirst for a better world full of life and  color.

Do you follow the path that brings security? Or the path that brings adventure? What if you followed the unknown path? Perhaps you might find all the things you’re looking for in creating your own path towards your destiny. Only in retrospect, will you understand all the dots you’ve placed in your journey through life. What if something great were waiting for you at the end of the unknown path? Would you go through it?

Follow your instincts.

Choose, and choose with no regret.

There are many different paths we can take to have the life we wish for, but know when to take a detour, know when to make a left or a right, but never turn back to where you came from. The most important thing to tell yourself is to “KEEP MOVING”, no matter how fast or slow you’re going, “KEEP MOVING” towards the direction of your dreams.

It’s okay to have multiple dreams–follow them one at a time, hand in hand–but know when it’s time to nourish the next dream, and let go gratefully.

 

For the Lonely Hearts of Today: A Girl You Should Date

A GIRL YOU SHOULD DATE

Date a girl who reads. Date a girl who spends her money on books instead of clothes.Shehas problems with closet space because she has too many books. Date a girl who has a list of books she wants to read, who has had a library card since she was twelve.

Find a girl who reads. You’ll know that she does because she will always have an unread book in her bag. She’s the one lovingly looking over the shelves in the bookstore, the one who quietly cries out when she finds the book she wants. You see the weird chick sniffing the pages of an old book in a second hand book shop? That’s the reader. They can never resist smelling the pages, especially when they are yellow.

She’s the girl reading while waiting in that coffee shop down the street. If you take a peek at her mug, the non-dairy creamer is floating on top because she’s kind of engrossed already. Lost in a world of the author’s making. Sit down. She might give you a glare, as most girls who read do not like to be interrupted. Ask her if she likes the book.

Buy her another cup of coffee.
Let her know what you really think of Murakami. See if she got through the first chapter of Fellowship. Understand that if she says she understood James Joyce’s Ulysses she’s just saying that to sound intelligent. Ask her if she loves Alice or she would like to be Alice.

It’s easy to date a girl who reads. Give her books for her birthday, for Christmas and for anniversaries. Give her the gift of words, in poetry, in song. Give her Neruda, Pound, Sexton, Cummings. Let her know that you understand that words are love. Understand that she knows the difference between books and reality but by god, she’s going to try to make her life a little like her favorite book. It will never be your fault if she does.

She has to give it a shot somehow.
Lie to her. If she understands syntax, she will understand your need to lie. Behind words are other things: motivation, value, nuance, dialogue. It will not be the end of the world.

Fail her. Because a girl who reads knows that failure always leads up to the climax. Because girls who understand that all things will come to end. That you can always write a sequel. That you can begin again and again and still be the hero. That life is meant to have a villain or two.

Why be frightened of everything that you are not? Girls who read understand that people, like characters, develop. Except in the Twilight series.

If you find a girl who reads, keep her close. When you find her up at 2 AM clutching a book to her chest and weeping, make her a cup of tea and hold her. You may lose her for a couple of hours but she will always come back to you. She’ll talk as if the characters in the book are real, because for a while, they always are.

You will propose on a hot air balloon. Or during a rock concert. Or very casually next time she’s sick. Over Skype.

You will smile so hard you will wonder why your heart hasn’t burst and bled out all over your chest yet. You will write the story of your lives, have kids with strange names and even stranger tastes. She will introduce your children to the Cat in the Hat and Aslan, maybe in the same day. You will walk the winters of your old age together and she will recite Keats under her breath while you shake the snow off your boots.

Date a girl who reads because you deserve it. You deserve a girl who can give you the most colorful life imaginable. If you can only give her monotony, and stale hours and half-baked proposals, then you’re better off alone. If you want the world and the worlds beyond it, date a girl who reads.

Or better yet, date a girl who writes.

– Rosemarie Urquico –

Your Greatest Creation in Life

No matter what you do in your life,

what you create,

what career you have,

whether you have a family or kids,

or make a lot of money…

your greatest creation is always going to be

your life’s story.

Think about LIFE itself as a CREATION, as a story that you’re writing.

What kind of life story would you like to tell?

Dream the impossible.

Create your destiny.

Tell your story and inspire others.

The Best 100 Tips on Life

I came across another blogger’s post on “100 Tips About Life, People, And Happiness” and after reading through all 100 tips, I thought about how these tips are really like mantras on building your own self-confidence and staying centered to your core soul. Many of the tips struck a chord in my heart because I know that these things are the most compassionate and truest facts of life. While it should not be a type of check-list on life, these tips are the best way to remind yourself of your value on earth, the value it gives, and the gratitude that can be expressed more often for it. I’d rather call it, “The Best 100 Tips On Life” if I had written this, but whatever you do with these tips and however you let them inspire you, know that life is abundant and the choices you make can create a life of your dreams.

Here are the tips written by Julien Smith, author of the blog-post, “Inoveryourhead.net”.

1. True wisdom and insight is always free.

2. Give your power over to no one.

3. Going into the unknown is how you expand what is known.

4. Get a library card.

5. Spend more time around people that both challenge and respect you.

6. Remain skeptical forever.

7. Fight for what matters.

8. There is a method that works. Find it.

9. Join a movement.

10. Drink your coffee black.

11. Never let anyone photoshop a picture of you. It creates a false sense of self-confidence.

12. Read more. Especially things you disagree with.

13. Get used to feeling stupid. It’s a sign of growth.

14. It’s easy for people to talk a good game, so watch how they behave instead.

15. Learn something from everyone.

16. Find things that inspire you and pursue them, even if there’s no money in it.

17. Starve if you have to, for as long as you need to.

18. Survive on a little just to prove you can do it.

19. Get one big success at an early age. It’ll help build your confidence for bigger things.

20. Do what you say you’ll do. No one is reliable anymore.

21. Be comfortable with abandonment, even of parts of your identity.

22. Learn a new language.

23. Eat more protein.

24. Keep people around you that will tell you the truth.

25. Genius gets you nowhere. Execution is everything.

26. If given the choice of equity or cash, always take cash.

27. Meet new people as often as possible. Offer to help them.

28. Don’t discriminate. Connect anyone in your network to anyone else.

29. If you can’t do a pull-up, you have a problem.

30. Nobody likes a know-it-all.

31. Get a passport. Fill it up with stamps no one has ever seen.

32. Quit your horrible job.

33. Read biographies. It’s like having access to the best mentors in history.

34. Go to bed, and wake up, early. No one will bother you, letting your best work emerge.

35. Scare yourself a little bit every day. It will expand your inner map.

36. Learn to climb trees.

37. Don’t buy a lot of stuff, and only buy the stuff you really love.

38. Be humble and curious.

39. Twitter followers don’t keep you warm at night.

40. Be as useful as you can in as many circumstances as possible.

41. Show up.

42. Repeat people’s names when you meet them.

43. Turn internet access off your phone. Wifi is fine.

44. Get a deck of Oblique Strategies cards. Use them.

45. Make your home a place where you feel safe.

46. Take people up on bets. Make more bets yourself.

47. Take cold showers. They’re better than coffee.

48. Learn to enjoy hunger.

49. Make everything either shorter, or longer, than it needs to be.

50. Always remember those who helped you. Deliver two or three times as much value back.

51. But also, help people who have never helped you, and can’t.

52. When you know that pain is temporary, it affects all of your decisions.

53. Get a tattoo. Don’t worry about regret.

54. Commit to things, regularly, that are far beyond your ability.

55. Meet with friends more often than you think you have to.

56. Learn to meditate. Go on a retreat if you have to.

57. Your stories are both more and less interesting than you think.

58. Learn to really listen.

59. Walk more.

60. Ugly is just a step on the way to beautiful.

61. Get to know your neighbours.

62. Don’t take anything personally, ever.

63. Consider avoiding school. Go to lots of conferences instead.

64. As soon as you can, buy some art.

65. Apologize more than you need to.

66. Find out if there will be food there.

67. A good haircut changes everything.

68. Read Man’s Search For Meaning.

69. Say no to projects you don’t care about.

70. Do things that are uncool. Later on, they usually end up becoming cool anyway.

71. Find your voice.

72. Have some manners.

73. Learn to play chess, go, and bridge. They’ll keep you from going senile.

74. Learn about the Tetrapharmakos.

75. Find ways to cheat the system– just don’t cheat people.

76. Be like Jesus, not like his followers. (This applies to all of them.)

77. At least once, date someone that’s out of your league.

78. Examine your jealousy. You’ll learn a lot about yourself.

79. Good connections are about people, not social networks.

80. Address small problems. They will become big problems.

81. Dress like a cooler version of yourself.

82. Yes, there is such a thing as bad press.

83. Add “adventurer” to your Twitter bio. Then, become one.

84. If the internet is the best thing in your life, you have a serious problem.

85. Give away your best work for free.

86. Find mentors. Just don’t call them that.

87. Actually write on your blog. Nobody cares if it’s hard.

88. Download Freedom. Use it for an hour every day.

89. Join a gym. Lift the heaviest you can. (This applies to girls too.)

90. Do some freewriting. It helps you think things through.

91. When you’re having supper with rich people, pick up the cheque.

92. Learn how to speak in public.

93. If you see someone who needs help, stop asking yourself if they need help. Instead, just help.

94. Bring a bottle of wine.

95. The best conversations are had side by side, not one in front of the other.

96. Protect your hearing. Trust me.

97. Do what’s most important first thing in the morning, before you check email.

98. Everyone feels like they’re not good enough. It’s not just you.

99. Courage is a learned skill.

100. Go to Iceland. It’s worth it.

I hope that these tips will inspire and motivate you continuously as they have for me.

Chase your dreams and live life with gratitude.

In Pursuit of My Love Story

As 2011 nears to an end, I reflect back at five years of the love stories I’ve created for myself and with others. I’ve fallen madly in love twice, shared short-lived romances filled with intense ecstasy for life, encountered many beautiful individuals along the way, and discovered the most important person to have a relationship with: yourself. Having been in two serious relationships–one of lust and utility, and one of romance and intimacy–I’ve always come out a better person. I’ve since grown to learn how to love myself and love the freedom I have to give all my love towards my passions and dreams, and to never be insecure about my independence or relationship status.

Every one of us desires to be with someone. We desire to share our lives with someone we can be intimate with and build a life with. Often times I find that those who are lonely or single, sometimes gravitate to the very first person who provides the slightest attention to their lives and personalities. Perhaps it’s insecurities or a fear of being alone, or maybe it’s because they naturally want to share their love with anyone. I’ve learned a lot from sharing my love with the people I meet, and I’ve realized that there is a clear difference from sharing one’s love with someone else, than sharing a love with someone else. It is the difference in how we define the experience shared that makes the clear recognition of loving because it should be given compassionately, and loving because a pure and heart trembling connection is made.

My high school sweetheart taught me unconditional love and how to build real courage and strength together, and apart. I was captivated by my college romance who held my heart with tender care and brought it to breath-taking heights I’ve never imagined I could see. I had a short-lived love affair with a man who taught me to laugh at everything and show gratitude all the time for anyone and anything. I was entranced by a French chef who showed me what love tasted like and how to savor each flavor. I had an exciting rendezvous with what “enjoying the present” really felt like and laughed so much that my own memories giggle to those moments. I met a poet who reminded me about the importance of truth, expression, and creativity. I learned how to drive a boat and wake board the Baltic Sea from a man whose land I aspire to make my home.  I was a passenger on a Vespa, whose owner took me on an adventure through the island of Phuket, teaching me the blessings of freedom and life. I walked Rome’s streets at night and danced underneath the stars with an affable man filled with funny stories and spontaneity. I danced all night to the sounds of Berlin, unleashing my soul of expressivity, with a man whose heart was nothing but good. I shared a tender romance that helped me build the strength I needed to be honest with myself and feelings.

A lot of the people I’ve met and shared my love and life with have been wonderful experiences. Not all have been romantic–I didn’t want to build my love with every one of them. Every person that I’ve had the opportunity to meet, I’ve always learned a little bit more about myself and sought to build a better understanding of who I am, who I am not, and who I wish to be. The people we meet and the connections we make are not always meant for romances. For the most part, I believe the people we meet help us understand ourselves a little more and provide us with a love that takes us on to our next stop in our journey. So many people have come and gone in these past five years, and I like to believe that I’m in pursuit of a love story with myself. A great philosopher once said, “If you do not live a love story with yourself, do not create one with someone else.” Most of the time, I do not even think about being with someone or committing to a relationship because I am already in love. The love that I’ve discovered these past five years is the love that I have for my well-being, passions, and dreams. While I think it is important to share happiness with people, I find it more important to show love and compassion for all people we encounter in our life. I believe that we need to seek our true selves and discover the things that thrill our heart and soul before we can begin to share something so immense and intimate with another being.

“To seek enlightenment is to seek your true self. Enlightenment is the most aware state of existence, because it is where you came from.” – Deepak Chopra

The people that I’ve met and the places that I’ve experienced have all shaped who I am and the values that I hold today. From what I’ve written so far in my love story, we all meet interesting characters, experience short-lived romances, and discover a couple of soul mates that reflect a piece of ourselves or who we wish to be. These people are all beautiful and love should be showed compassionately and honestly with anyone and everyone we choose to open up our lives to, but one thing is certain: your passions and dreams will never stop loving you. So commit yourself to loving you, your passions and dreams, before you commit to sharing these things with anyone else.  We will find ourselves in many types of relationships, but the best kind of relationship we can have is the one we have with ourself. Commit yourself to building a life that is filled with passion, authentic love for others, and dreams that make your reality real. Surround yourself with places and people that nourish your love and do not ask for more but the gratitude of each other’s existence. Pursue that person you want to be tomorrow, in 5 years, or 10. Pursue the love story that you’ll be ready to share when you start doing things you love.

My love story doesn’t end here because I seek it through the people and places I surround myself with. I hope that you can do the same and share love and gratitude, constantly and generously. If you are looking for the love of your life, stop; you will discover them when you start doing things you love.