I Take Off the Mask

Love speaks, but love is also silent. Silent enough to listen, when you hurt through and through, Silent enough to hold you, silent enough to kiss you, silent enough to stay, just when you need it most. Because love is silent… It does not yell nor scream, but listens to your deepest dreams. In times of darkness, it is there, allowing your heart to rest, and it does it best, to give you space and time. O, how we need its silence, when we are guilty and ashamed, and we know we are to blame, but instead of reprimands, love is silent and understands. And without speaking a word, it consoles your heart and soul. In compassion and in trust, it raises you when you feel small. And it gives it all, in the silence of love you are cherished, In the silence of love you are seen, There is no need to run away, or hide or turn around, Love remains though love is silent, and it will never let you down. Jocelyn Soriano  wrote the books  “Poems of Love and Letting Go”  and  “Of Wave and Butterflies: Poe...

When you hurt so much after confessing your feelings Out of the many challenges you face when you’re dating, being rejected is perhaps one of the hardest to go through. When you’re rejected, it feels as though your self-esteem has suddenly collapsed. You may even feel worthless altogether. Why wasn’t I chosen? Or why wasn’t I given at least the chance to prove my love? Nobody knows how hard it was to even confess your feelings. You may have spent sleepless nights thinking about the right words to say. You’ve searched his or her social media profile just to see the things your special someone likes. You may have even asked that person’s friends to get a clue about their friend’s ideal type of date. But it all ended with a rejection. How do you handle a rejection that hurt you so much? A rejection doesn’t mean you’re not good enough The first thing you have to keep in mind is that a rejection is not the same as “not being good enough”. So that person rejected you. Does it mean that perso...

There are second lead characters in movies and television dramas that seem to offer more love than the the main lead but are often ignored or unappreciated. Even if their love is recognized, their love is not accepted in the end. The audience however knows this doesn’t mean they’re less deserving of love. The sad fate of not being loved back doesn’t necessarily mean one is not worthy or that one is not capable of love. Being rejected by one person doesn’t mean someone is better. It doesn’t mean you are not beautiful or dependable or charming. But why is it that in real life, that’s just how we feel? We feel ugly and broken and worthless. We feel that when we’re rejected, it’s because something’s wrong with us. Let us try to see things from another perspective. Being rejected is hard and painful. But let us not jump into the wrong conclusions because of it. Let us not lose our self-esteem. One’s unrequited love is not wasted because it has enriched the heart of the one who loves. It ...

When I was in grade school, I had a best friend who gave me a certificate that testifies to our friendship. And while I’ve won many other certificates and medals for my academic achievements later, that certificate of friendship had a very special place in my heart. It signified that I was dear to someone, that I had a companion who acknowledged me as an important part of her life. When I went to high school, however, things started to change so fast. I wasn’t with my childhood friends, cousins and neighbors anymore. I was with a group of people who have been friends for years. Not to mention that it was my first time attending an exclusive private school. I felt like I didn’t belong. I felt like an outcast. I found it hard to adjust socially since then. Even in my college years, I had no fixed group of friends I could call my own. Later, when I finally found people who became close to me again, I really tried to keep them. I was just grateful that I’ve finally f...

There is a pitfall in being a loving person. When we picture a loving person, we often picture someone who is selfless and self-sacrificing, someone who doesn’t care about what happens to him or to her if it means being able to love other people. We picture a person who has no worries being harmed for as long as one’s beloved is happy. While it is important not to forget that love is unselfish, we should also remember that love does not mean neglecting to take care of oneself. Love is not a cruel thing that enslaves us and punishes us. Love is not something that is unconcerned with what we’d become. While love sees and protects others, it also defends itself. Love knows that in order to take care of one’s beloved, one also has to protect oneself. It isn’t selfish to desire to be strong so you could be of service to those you love. It isn’t selfish to think about the value of your life as you also think about the good of your loved ones. You are not alone in this world. As much as yo...

Some people talk about letting go as though it were a very easy thing to do. People talk as though letting go is only about letting the bad things go and moving happily on from there. But the truth is that when you let go, you must also accept losing all the good things you’ve been holding on to. To let go, you must separate yourself from something that has been a very important part of you.  Many times, it means a catastrophic shattering of your connection to almost everything it has touched in your life. When you let go, you suffer a kind of fall that makes you not only sad but very much afraid. It’s a feeling of being lost, of suffocating in darkness, of being so empty you feel like you don’t know yourself anymore. And that is why it’s called a broken heart. Because something has broken within you, in the very core of who you are. In a way, you let go of yourself. You risk losing who you’ve been so you can find yourself again. You risk being shattered...

I think our biggest regret in life later on, especially at the end, is that we haven’t loved enough. At the end of it all, these are just some of the questions we may have in mind: Why had I ever been so defensive? Why did I try to justify myself too much? Why didn’t I give the little that were asked of me? Why had I not been more thoughtful? Why had I not been a little more patient? Why had I not listened more? Why had I not spent more time with the ones I loved? Time passes by so quickly, and quite often, we take for granted the opportunities we have to show how much we care. Sometimes, we focus so much on how much we’ve been offended or hurt that we forget how our loved ones feel. It doesn’t take so much to let our loved ones know how much they matter to us. Many times, all it takes is just a little sacrifice on our part?—?our willingness to take the blame, our gratitude for their presence in our lives, an apology whenever we hurt their feelings. Instead of waiting at the end...