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WHY OF LIFE AND THE LIVING CAME INTO BEING
To begin with, I did not know at the very outset what my blog should be all about. I came up with a blog name only for the sake of having a blog name, without identifying the very purpose for which my blog, “Of Life and The Living” was to be created. Until one day (it was, I think, middle of August last year), when I so remembered how a friend, son of my mom’s best friend, talked back to his mother, I decided that it be about life and people. But then again, it was still unclear to me. If it were to be about life and people, I still failed to know what aspects of life that I would be writing about for this blog, thus this introduction:
“This is my life. Don’t care about how I live my life. I am already grown up, and I know what I am doing.” So clearly I heard my friend say this up front to his mother when she reminded him of choosing friends to tag along with.”
“This statement of a son to a mother — so caring and thoughtful — has repeatedly resonated into my subconscious self, making me realize my life will be meaningless without a mother by my side. To be frank, like my friend, I used to be constantly reminded by my mom Epie (+) not necessarily about friendship but about life in general. Though I don’t know what life really is all about then, I would say I used to live an emaciated life. I cared about no one, even my mother who, in spite of my indifference and “emotional flatness,” had persistently shown me her endless love and affection.”
What could have driven me to write my own blog? It was only after a long while that I was once again triggered to pick my pen up and became more interested — and even more inspired — to write, after quitting a job in a local newspaper, passionately about a flurry of events that have mitigated our resolve to live our lives to the fullest.
I lost my mom in May 21, 2010, a few months after I had left her for a job — though not high-paying — abroad in order to help her in her expenses supposedly for her dialysis. It was not my plan to work abroad and leave her during the times when she needed me much. I also lost my job in the Philippines for a job here in Saudi Arabia, where I experienced discrimination despite my having an edge over my colleagues in so many aspects and where I felt I lost my personal and professional pride and dignity.
“But that’s life,” muttered a friend.
To which I agreed, though with reservations.
With these experiences, it became a little bit clear to me what I would be blogging about — that it should, indeed, be about life and people.
This became apparent in the third and fourth paragraphs of my introduction to Of Life and The Living.
“I have tried to look for the meaning of life in the dictionary but ended up more confused, feeling so helpless and hopeless. I knew then that even dictionary can’t help us even in knowing what life is and must be.”
“Wikipedia says life means biota, a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes (i.e., living organisms) from those that do not either because such functions have ceased (death), or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate.”
This definition of life did not help me that much.
“This definition of life makes me a lot more confused. It does not augur well with my thinking that life is not all about our existence in the biosphere nor all about our survival in this macrocosm.”
But I stood firm with my belief, which you can see in the fifth and last paragraph.
“Life is defined by the purposes for which we live it, and these are to live it the way we want for the glory of our Creator, to have the opportunity to share with others the blessings we receive from Him, and to attain genuine happiness in the end. Thus this blog, ‘”Of Life and The Living”, with three-pronged taglines: LIVE. SHARE. BE HAPPY.”
Influenced much by the rut I am in, I believe I should give in to the idea that as we live our life, we should not only be sharing with others what we have and be happy with doing it. We should know how to share stories of which we are part — the stories not only about our personal lives but those of others as well. Thus, this blog, with a new look, has a new tagline, “Peddling stories worth talking about.”
Of Life & The Living 
Thanks for checking out my blog. I’m glad you liked it. You have so much interesting information on your site!
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Posted by laurabennet | March 29, 2013, 3:05 amWow, your blog is amazing, just like reading the newpaper. I wish I could do the same, but I probably need more training. I am sorry to read about your Mom. Mothers are the base of life aren’t the? Thank you for writing this blog, it is inspiring to me, and as I see, many others.
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Posted by April Thursday | March 27, 2013, 8:24 amDanilo,
Wow, friend! Your awards and accolades are simply astounding. We have similar backgrounds. I have a B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Counselor Education. I was also an honor’s student (not anywhere close to you though) and wrote for my college’s newspaper publication. I have actually been teaching Special Education for 6 years and have (only) 12 hours in my MEd, Curriculum and Instruction with a specialization in Special Education.
You are a tremendous person and I’m glad that we’ve connected. I am “very” new to the blogging scene but find that I am really enjoying some of the talent I’ve stumbled across. Take care, friend. I will chat with you soon!
God best,
Ava
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Posted by Ava Elizabeth Wisdom | July 1, 2012, 3:32 amHi Ms. Ava,
It took me so long to reply as I was very busy the past days. Anyhow, I am so grateful to become a friend of yours. You too have a great blog. I like to view and read it again and again. In fact, I felt elated to have stumbled across a person like you, who has same academic background as mine. I noticed your experiences in life have taught you to be a strong person that you are today. These have even inspired you to write in order to share with others how to cope with life’s challenges. Congratulations to you for your successes in life. I look forward to hearing more from you and to reading more of your articles. I will be glad to share them with my friends who are into blogging, too. 🙂
Dani
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Posted by Danilo Tao-tuan Naraja | July 17, 2012, 3:16 pmThank you for visiting and following the PCA blog, it is very much appreciated. I wish you continued success in all your endeavors, Jay
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Posted by Jay The Baker | March 30, 2012, 8:40 pmHi, thank you for following my blog!
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Posted by petrel41 | March 17, 2012, 5:12 pmThank you for following my blog! I am very impressed with the thoughtful and wide view you write here- look forward to reading more.
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Posted by boozilla | March 17, 2012, 5:04 amHi! I appreciate the compliment you gave by following my blog. Welcome!
PLEASE do not . . . . . deprecate yourself and your skills and intelligence, especially not in the name of the Divine. You are right to not be ‘proud’ in an egotistical way, I understand — but allow yourself to enjoy the abilities you have acquired in life fully, without ever feeling ‘guilty’ or any other negative emotion about it. If as you believe they were divinely given, then is it not logical that a) they should be put to Good use in this crazy (but soon to be beautifully transformed) world that we have co-created, and b) they should also be en-JOY-ed by you and all as much as possible, as any ‘gift’ should?
Don’t worry, be happy, and freely share your good vibes with others. Is that not what ALL the true masters have taught over the millenia??? Be well.
P.S. — (Responding to the ‘That’s life’ mentality) . . . . As I have proved to myself (and others) deeply and in multitudinous ways, Life is what you make of it. We are NOT ‘victims’ here (as a psychologist, you know what I am talking about I’m sure). Everything is a choice, conscious or not. Choose wisely, choose well. . . . . .
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Posted by Waverider1 | March 17, 2012, 3:11 amThats quite a list of accomplishments. You sound like you are ready to take life by the horns. I hope all the best for you.
Cheers-
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Posted by Nate | March 15, 2012, 12:01 pmMy wholehearted thanks be to you. I am not that proud to have these accomplishments, though, because it’s God who, yes, wanted me to have them all — somehow to encourage others to do their best, like I did — that despite life’s vicissitudes, never did I lose hope. I have continued to face life as it is!
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Posted by Danilo Tao-tuan Naraja | March 15, 2012, 8:44 pmMy mom was on dialysis for 6 years and has since had a kidney transplant.
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Posted by buckwheatsrisk | March 14, 2012, 5:47 pmI must be wishing your mom were fine to date. Each time people speak about their moms, I cannot not help but shed tears of regrets for not showing much love and affection to my mom when she was still alive. I have a proem about my mom, as a mother, and you may click this link, “https://oflifeandtheliving.wordpress.com/category/main-posts/prose-poems/” to view it. Thank you, by the way, for viewing my blog.
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Posted by Danilo Tao-tuan Naraja | March 15, 2012, 8:29 pmthank you and she is doing well…sorry you lost yours. i will check out your link
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Posted by buckwheatsrisk | March 15, 2012, 9:17 pmThanks for appreciating and following my blogs now, Dan. It is really nothing compared to yours. Am very much impressed with your resume. It looks like what some members of my family have been doing has been rolled into one and you are doing it. My wife was an HR practitioner too until her retirement end of 2011. My daughter has PhD in Psychology from La Salle and is practicing in Manila. Also, a few days ago we passed by San Remigio coming from Balamban and rounding north back to Cebu in a leisure trip with my brother who came in from the US to visit us. Incidentally, my wife grew up in Medellin, Cebu. Good luck on your work.
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Posted by quierosaber | March 7, 2012, 5:06 amThank you also, sir, for viewing my blog. Your blog has impressed me such that I decided to become one of your followers. By the way, congratulations for having a nice family — with your wife who is into HR (I could someday refer to her something related to HR, if permitted) and a daughter who is a PhD degree holder. Summing all up, your family could have ventured into a consultancy business with the primordial aim of training people to become experts in their respective fields.
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Posted by Danilo Tao-tuan Naraja | March 11, 2012, 4:06 pmThanks for your kind thoughts. I would rather that we enjoy our sunset years and let the younger ones do as they please. For as long as the world is full of crazy and sick people my daughter is assured of clients. Frankly I used to entertain that thought when I was younger, being an Industrial Engineering practitioner, but it wasn’t meant to be. By all means you can get in touch with my wife on HR related matters. More often than not she is surfing the internet looking for an online job to keep her busy. Her email address is: paz_sievert@yahoo.com.
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Posted by quierosaber | March 12, 2012, 5:05 am