{Stillness}

I’m sitting here in our living room by myself. No noise but the occasional sound coming from our wind chime hanging in our front porch. Windows open wide letting the cool breeze in. Peace. Calm. Quiet. I wonder why some thrive on too much noise. Noise from the tv screens. Noise from others talking. Noise…

Spring of Hope

It’s been a while. So what should I write when the whole world is hurting. When isolating ourselves, social distancing, working from home for most and classes being held online becomes the norm. I am currently on administrative leave from work and I’m not really sure for how long. My daughter celebrated her eighteenth birthday…

What’s Your Blueprint?

It’s been a quiet few days, (or was it weeks?) here at Charina.Writes. Actually, I have about three drafts written in my “Charina Writes” folder in my notes application. But quite frankly, it sounded desperate. You know, like I wrote it just for the sake of being intentional. So I am here to admit, that…

One Day

Busy. If busy is not the most used word, what do you think would it be? Suppose that you are only given just one more day to live – what would you do? I think it would make a big difference if we were given the chance to know this in advance. The problem is,…

Just A David Amongst The Goliaths

While looking at my Instagram feed last night, I was slapped with the truth. I’m just a David finding my way in a field full of Goliaths. This is how I find myself amongst a group of known and published authors. My inner self, asked me. Charina, are you sure about this? An unknown writer,…

What’s In A Crossroad?

Growing up in a small town in the Philippines, I grew up as a school-home-school kid. I seldom go out or socialize. If ever I do, it will be with a small group of cousins. This same pattern went on until I was in college and I would say up to now. My life revolves…

Silhouette

We each have stories to tell. Each one different from the others, each one revealing lessons and each one magnifying our strengths. I read somewhere that we shouldn’t be ashamed to tell our stories no matter how little or simple we think it is. For this simple stories of ours could be just what someone…

Going Nowhere…

“Enlightenment is eliminating mental confusion, eliminating hatred, jealousy, mental toxins, cravings. That’s very simple and straightforward. Whether you can do it or not is another matter.” Matthieu Ricard I think today was a day of realization, truth, admittance, acceptance or perhaps a much better term would be…birth. On our way to the grocery store, my…