about the banner photo

Taken on June 2013 by a rocky mountainous area in Utah on the way to Nevada. As I went out of the car to take photos, little did I know that I was being the subject of another photographer's lens that resulted to this amazing shot. It used to be just Maria Gina Villanueva, now it's Maria Gina Matchinsky, thanks to one really kind, patient and good-looking guy, Matthew Matchinsky, the one who happened to take this shot.

i got the power

"The Power" photo by Gina Matchinsky


January 3, 2014 question is "What are you reading right now?

The last 2 books I bought in 2013 were 365 Questions Q & A a day book and The Power part of The Secret series by Rhonda Byrne bought last December 30, 2013 as part of my Target shopping card allotment. I am answering the questions of the 365 Q & A one day at a time through blog posts but The Power is what I am reading right now and learning a lot from.

The point of the book is basically the same as Dale Carnegie's The Power of Positive Thinking only it is presented in a way that you will see the logic as it applies to the general law of attraction of the universe - you attract what you give. In a way similar to the law of causation of Karma as stated by Samyutta Nikaya:
"According to the seed that's sown,
So is the fruit you reap from there from,
Doer of good will gather good,
Doer of evil, evil reaps,
Down is the seed and thou shalt taste
The fruit thereof."

But the book is not only about moral causation, it includes feelings, too. And people are like magnets, negative feelings attract more negative feelings and positive feelings attracts more positive feelings also. As one quote from Charles Haanel a New Thought author quoted in the book states, "Emotions must be called upon to give feeling to the thought so it will take form." So it is not just the "power of positive thinking" but the power of positive feeling that matters.

So as in all things be it material or feelings or deeds, "Give, and it will be given to you... for by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." And it is Jesus, founder of Christianity himself who said that.

So what is the Power that is the secret in the book? The power is that which every good thing and feeling emanates from - love.

definitely not mediocre

January 2, 2014's question is "Can people change?"

I remember a quote by Albert Einstein, one of the the most influential theoretical physicist of the modern era, that says, "Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." Why? It is because people generally fear change and the unknown.

To a pessimist, change can be seen as something that could make things worse. For the optimist, there is a hope of getting something good out of it. But to the confident and the capable, it is a challenge that inspires to make things even better. It just all depends on how people view it.

So to answer the question, yes, people can change. And because nothing in this world is constant, they just have to learn to treat it as a challenge and use it to their advantage.

So here's to change and acceptance, and not being mediocre and learning to deal with it! Cheers!

life's mission

This year I am going to begin answering a 365 questions journal to be answered each day for the whole year. I figured it would be a good mental exercise, and I've been meaning to develop a writing habit, and I want something to think about with depth.

For January 1, 2014, the question is: "What is your mission?"

Mission kind of makes me think of purpose - why I was brought to this earth. My mission should be something that would pave the way to reaching that purpose.

I think each person no matter how inconsequential they think their lives are were brought to this earth for some kind of purpose. They just have to find that purpose in order for their stay here to be more meaningful and have a life well spent.

Which brings me to the question, what makes life meaningful?

Last December 24, 2013, Christmas Eve, I just watched the movie, "It's a Wonderful Life" by Frank Capra for the first time. It was a story of a man who was about to commit suicide because he was about to go bankrupt. Then an angel stopped him and showed him what it would have been like had he not been born and everything was not as good, in fact, a lot worse than when he had lived in it and it was then that he realized he had such a wonderful life. The world had been a far more better place with him in it.

So maybe a good mission is to live from now on with the thought of making my own little corner of the world a better place for some people because I have been in it.

a New Year's resolution

New Years are about beginnings and what better way to start it with than a resolution to do something you've been meaning to do and have not done for the longest time. So what have I been wanting to do?

I have been wanting to create a site where I can freely celebrate being a Filipino and a woman for a long while now, a Filipina's perspective seen through the photos I took, poems and stories I've written, paintings I have painted. And I also want to develop a writing habit as a form of mental exercise for more depth and profound thinking, too. So what better way than to create a site on the first day of the year and resolve to do it all the way through.

So here's to New Year's resolutions, to being a Filipino and a woman, and to loving and being free and happy to be!