The Filipino film - Only We Know

What is a great love? 💭

I watched the Filipino film Only We Know on Netflix last night. It's such a heartwarming story full of quiet truths about love and relationships. It made me reflect deeply on the kind of love I’ve known from the past, and even the one I have now.

I used to think love was about sharing the same passions, hobbies, or dreams… that being “compatible” meant liking the same things. But now I’ve learned, it’s more about how great life feels when you’re with that person. It’s not about being the same, but about creating a rhythm together from two different souls who somehow fit in harmony.

There’s a line in the film that asked: “What is a great love?”

That question stayed with me and reflected on it.

When I was younger, love was that kilig to the bones feeling (the butterflies) , the thrill, the excitement that makes your heart race. I thought great love was the one that never ends, the one you end up with.

But growing older taught me something deeper. That sometimes, great loves are the ones that remind you life is still beautiful, still worth living… even after heartbreak. ❤️‍🩹

This film also taught me about loneliness and grieving. How even the most beautiful love stories can end, and how losing someone doesn't mean the love disappears. Sometimes, grief is just love with nowhere to go. We grieve not just the person, but the version of ourselves that existed when we were with them. And yet, from that loneliness, we grow, we learn how to carry love differently, more quietly, more meaningfully

And maybe, loving someone isn’t just about being together, it’s about helping each other grow, even when you’re apart. Because real love doesn’t cage you; it lets you bloom. It’s about wanting the best for each other, even if your paths no longer meet.

The film also touched on companionship. That as we age, we long not just for the one who sweeps us off our feet, but for the one we can sit beside in silence and still feel peace. Someone you can talk to endlessly about nothing and everything, and never grow tired.

No one else can define the relationship you’re in. Not labels, not people, not time! Only the two hearts who choose to understand each other. And sometimes, the sweetest kind of love is friendship. 🌿

Only We Know reminded me that while we’re young, we shouldn’t stop loving just because we’ve been hurt. We shouldn’t stop searching for love because youth gives us the chance to experience many great loves. Each one shapes us, heals us, and teaches us how to love better next time.

Maybe that’s what a great love truly is....not the one that lasts forever, but the one that makes you see life’s beauty again. ✨

So, keep on loving and searching for that great love.

Who knows, it might just be in your neighborhood. 💕

I can highly recommend you watch this film. It is not the typical Filipino cringe love film, but heartwarming and full of wisdom about life and love in general.

Enjoy!
xoAi

Embrace the Struggle

One of the most fascinating truths I’ve learned is that the struggle is good.

It’s easy to wish for ease, to hope things would just flow without friction. But growth doesn’t happen there. Strength, character, and clarity are forged in the middle of discomfort, doubt, and effort.

It has been a hard week for me. I’ve had to navigate my emotions in such a way that I could find the lighter side of things. May it be from personal to work-related struggles. But one thing that really motivated me to embrace the struggle this week is the art of reminding and practicing gratefulness.

During one of our office events, we had a short workshop on developing the skill of gratitude in training ourselves to look for three things to be grateful for within the first hour after waking up. It might sound simple, but it truly helps. This daily exercise has shifted my perspective, allowing me to focus on positivity and see the brighter side of things rather than the negatives.

And in that process, I’ve learned to also be grateful for the struggles themselves because they help me grow as a person and appreciate this wonderful life we live in even more.

At the same time, this week in the office, I was recognized as one of the key players at work. Despite the stress, workload, and all the challenges I’ve faced, my efforts were seen and appreciated. That kind of recognition, being valued for your hard work is something no amount of money can replace. It’s such a great boost of confidence and truly rewarding. Definitely a dopamine high! 💫

When life feels heavy, it’s not a sign you’re failing it’s a sign you’re growing. The struggle is not our enemy; it’s our teacher.

💛 Here’s to embracing both the good days and the hard ones because together, they make life beautifully whole.

Cheers,

xoAi

#EmbraceTheStruggle #Gratitude #GrowthMindset #PersonalGrowth #Resilience #PositiveVibes

Tatry 2017: Learnings being off-trail

Travelling is one thing that I enjoy the most, but not travelling with work of course. I meant travelling with pleasure. It is my way to detach and be with my inner self again, especially when I am with nature. 

We spent our vacation this summer in the Tatras. I always love Polish mountains. It is calming at the same time relaxing. If I have to chose, I would love to traverse for awhile being in the mountain. I love to go off trail and walking each rough road has taught me a great deal in dealing with life in general. It stabilizes my emotions and sense of focus. 

Sharing some snaps below....

On top of Gubałowka, Zakopane, Poland

It was a wonderful summery day as you can see people are enjoying the ambiance.

View from our apartament

Who would not love waking up in such a great relaxing view.

Sunset over the tatras is amazingly wonderful. 

I will post a more detailed blog with regards to this trip soon. I promise. 

Let me share with you some thoughts and learnings about this trip. We are all built for travelling where there is no path. Every walks helps us to be more solid, balanced and stable in this chaotic world we live in. Like every single thing we experience and every trail we are walking in, requires practice and we are not all masters. We stumble and fall and get lost from time to time.

The greatest lesson learned that I could truly correlates being in the mountain is that, it teaches me freedom, humility, that all things we experience in life are best when they come from within and that we should no be afraid to walk through life.

Have a wonderful walk every single trip of your lifetime.

xoAi

Letting go of pain

Olafur Arnalds songs playing in the backgound...coffee is brewing....the weather is a mix of sunny and breezy. And, I feel like things are getting a bit too crazy right now. everything around me is rather too noisy, that I can't hardly think of myself, what to do and what to focus on.

In this quiet MOnday morning I am reminded that I need to let go of the clutter in my life.

The silence and the soothing music of Olafur Arnalds made me think of how wonderful to get some quiet time even for just some hours.

There are too many things in my life recently that stress me out, from emotional  to material - work, home, relationships, duties, family problems, friendship issues, painful experiences. these are things we have no control of but we must let go.

As for me, I must first Let go of  pain.

I used to think of myself as someone who doesn't get hurt, However, I am aware that pain is inevitable.

“If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have a lot of peace.” ~Ajahn Chah

I've learned that, I create and maintain the problems because It gives that sort of identity in me. That the more I hold on to it and keep replaying past mistakes , allows me to have that feeling of shame and regret to shape my actions in the present. Tendency I cling to frustrations and worry much about what is coming - the future. That holds a lot of stress in my mind and body. That results to recent feeling of weakness and more health issues at present. Ajahn Chah's words lured us that letting go of pain may never be that simple yet every moment and chances is the best time to practice letting go and be peaceful. 

For me, to slowly let go of pain is to :

1. learn a new skill. Instead of dwelling of the skill you never mastered, learn a new trade or tricks instead.

2. Change you perception and concept with how you deal with things in life. - accept it as a blessing in disguise.

3. Cry it out - I only have few close best friends that I can really rely on and cry on, And I can be open to them with what I feel and with the pain I'm experiencing. It feels so great knowing someone knows what you feel, instead of judging you but telling you both sides of the coins. And, according to medical experts crying away your negative feelings releases harmful chemicals that build up in your body due to stress. So cry it out...don't be shy. After all we are all human. To be honest, I don't know anymore how many times I cry my hearts out to few very close friends, and I could feel they are a bit tired of my drama. (Hey!  you know who you are *wink)

4. Channel your discontentment into a something positive actions. Instead of lurking in your room crying and still feeling the pain, go out and try to look for some positive things to do like running, meeting friends over coffee, do voluntary woks or find a new job opportunities.

5. Pray, meditate and do yoga and other exercises. - Praying and being in my best mental self early morning is one factor that really gives me that positive vibes within the day. Doing and engaging in an active sports decreases stress hormones and releases happy ones - endorphins. It truly improves your state of mind and thinking.

6. Make a list of your accomplishments- no matter how simple it is, write it down, and add up things in your list everyday. I've learned that there are lots of things I 've accomplished lately that I neglect on recognizing. It was amazing and I feel so proud of myself.

7. Visualize a box in your head labeled it "expectations"  - Whenever you start dwelling on how things should have been or should be, try shelving them into this box of expectations.

8. Stay focus. Something that you can actually control rather than you can't. I know it is hard. I'm still struggling on this from time to time but yeah, just keep on doing.

9. Express your self to a creative outlet like writing , blogging or colouring, drawing, paintinga and DIY projects.   I always express my feelings through writing and doing creative things.  I always see to it I have notepad with me to jot down things i have in mind at once and what I thought about on things I've heard and seen.  It truly helps to focus and to stay positive.  It is like a visual reminder that you have actively chosen to let go of the feeling.

I know, these are things we already know.  but with all the distractions around us, we need to be reminded and stop holding on things that is unnecessary to keep us going to find peace and making pain bearable. After all, we only want happiness and peace, don't we?

(series of my notes of letting go......)

moving forward...

fir tree

Here I am. Staring at a blank wall infront of me. thinking. contemplating. It is frosty outside yet the sun is out. Waiting for my tea to sip in.... a lot of questions in mind..actually random questions.  What to do? where to go next? What to do first? a lot of plans here and there....  To be honest, these are keeping me a bit insane.I am merely under the state of homesickness. I hate December months...I am such not a fan of Christmas holidays. If you are living far from home..you will understand me why. Although I am getting used to it now.  

Sometimes I am in the state of oblivion. at times, sick , bored and tired of the monotonous life here.  Sometimes I wonder if I really fit in to this world and the culture. Sometimes I find the answers within..and most of ten, I DON'T! Pretty obscure and nonsense. 

Alright, alright.... I do want to sound melodramatic. What I'm trying to say is that, I am still foraging in the deepest corners of my brain what to write and how to make this blog alive again. I find that blogging lately bores me. My entries are boring....purely nothing! There is no much motivation to it.. it is more of random and no sense of passion. Although, I am still figuring out as I go on with this blog. 

Most friends happens to bump into my blog encourages me to write more of my personal experiences living here in Poland and of course my interest in the field of arts.  Lately, they miss that side of me... the me, that can unselfishly share what I have and what I experienced. In all honesty, I miss that side of me as well. The passion is there , but the motivation isn't there anymore. I've come to realized there is so much things going on lately with me personally that I have to reconcile first and foremost. Before dragging myself back into the limelight of my passion.  When will I learn and be in the moment anyway? I consider myself always been blessed in life when it comes to opportunities to grow and that I am thankful. It is in this way that I feel like I needed to move forward.  As I wrote a letter to myself and last letter to my dad few months back, that I have to move forward and continue believing on things that I know I can do better.  My friends are right...I've lost that passion lately..I miss that old self. They miss the Ai in me. Now, this is me. Moving forward and trying to get better each day. And hopefully I could blog more honestly again with my thoughts in mind and a heart with so much passion for everything.  For now, let me say.......I am at my ME TIME! - figuring out how to make this blog alive again and hopefully share things I know while living here in Poland. 

The next blog entries, I promised are all about  moving forward............blogging to the next level.

Opps..my tea is ready! 

In pensive mood :-)

xxAi

What If?

Coldplay's song 'what if' played in the background, I feel the urge to stop everything what I'm doing at the moment and just think ......

of the words.

Shivering....puzzling...wandering....searching...reminiscing.....all jumbled up in mind!

Oh, geesh!

Yeah so true...what if? what If there is no light? no time? I will decide? 

What If, what I'm feeling now is merely a fleeting thing. 

What if? 

What If? 

Then again, convincing myself to calm down. to gather my thoughts. ensure what is accurately caused me to be this melodramatic.

12:00 midnight, clock strikes. 

still that, what If question stick to mind. 

And so......I decided to stop thinking and carry on with everything. Whatever causes this heavy feeling at this wee hours, this must be addressed somehow someday.  For now, I'd like to rest my case and move on and stop questioning. Though I know the answers, just that I'm in denial for I know some answers are bitter and bad. And that is why better not to know the answer or let others answers it for myself.

So, I'm leaving you with the  'WHAT IF ' question.

Oh, yeah!

What if?