On our drive to school, there’s one particular road where the sun shines directly towards us. My son would always squint his eyes, and I would remind him not to look directly at the bright light. After a few meters, there’s a bend in the road that turns right, taking along with it the sunlight that slowly shifts to our side. "Daddy, why does the sun disappear when we make a right turn?" "The sun is still there," I answered. "We just don’t see it where it used to be." "So wher

I had trouble sleeping the whole week. I started with a full list of to-do’s, but for some reason, a lot of it was left unchecked by the weekend I thought maybe it’s the weather. According to research, gloomy weather triggers anxiety by disrupting your brain chemistry, comfort, and routine. When we are not careful, our mind can easily sink deep into the well of confusion and anxiety. And we instinctively hold on to our fight-or-flight mode to keep us afloat, while we face ano

A busker was playing a very familiar bass line on his guitar looper. Maybe it’s the crowd, maybe it’s the time of day, or maybe it’s his song choice of Sting from the 80’s, but no people were stopping by to enjoy the nice jazzy guitar solo that I think was perfect for the gloomy afternoon. He changed songs after a few bars. We left and headed out for dinner. After a couple of hours, we passed by the guitar guy again. In front of him was a lovely couple dancing and singing alo

Kuya B has been repairing our watches for a few years now. And last weekend, I brought him my 20-year-old watch. Kuya B: "Your watch looks pretty old." Me: "Yes. I still use it for sentimental reasons." Then he quietly put down my watch on his desk, opened the drawer, and pulled out something from it. Kuya B: "I also have an old watch. I've had this for almost 50 years." It was a beautiful gold watch, clean and polished. Then he started sharing his watch story. He bought that

Last Saturday was supposed to be a well-planned day. I checked on my mental to-do list and reminded myself that if I leave the house by 12:45pm, everything will go as planned. But then a flat tire happened. So I grudgingly changed the spare tire, quickly drove to the vulcanizing shop to have the flare tire checked, and hoped I can still do my grocery errands on time. The tire guy showed me a tiny staple wire struck at the side of the wheel, too small that he almost missed it.

One summer vacation morning, our son casually said, “Daddy, I’m bored. Give me something to do.” He wasn’t joking. But the irony was too funny not to ignore. Because at the corner of our living room is a table filled with unfinished lego sets. On top of the shelves are stacks of books, at least two of them unread. And at the bottom shelves are board games, back in the box after playing with it only a couple of times. I told him, you don’t need new stuff to get busy with. Just