Proving Identities

Proving Identities

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

7:52 AM

An "identity" is a tautology, an equation or statement that is always true, no matter what. For instance,sin(x) = 1/csc(x) is an identity. To "prove" an identity, you have to use logical steps to show that one side of the equation can be transformed into the other side of the equation. You do not plug values into the identity to "prove" anything. 

Pasted from <http://www.purplemath.com/modules/proving.htm>

I was not a brilliant Math student but I was a good student studying Math :)

Still, I managed to enjoy some and survived all subjects required for me to graduate the course. In the 13 years that passed, I mastered my pluses and minuses with a bit of multiplications & divisions on the side. MDAS is a mighty weapon for everyday living :D (I surely hope my Professors are not reading this. Else they might file a petition to withdraw my grades. Tsk!)

In our Junior year, we took up Trigonometry. That was about the same time I already kept asking myself whether I was in a wrong place or perhaps in a wrong time. I couldn't fathom why my classmates who would not even take notes ace the exams while I who would copy down the last equation could barely move to item number 2 in our quizzes. I've never felt life to be so unfair. Huhu...Then one morning, when the books were out and the  Prof begun scribbling on the board, I got smitten by a kindred spirit staring back at me. Our lesson that day was Pythagorean Identities. Even to this day, it amazes me how I managed to love and look forward to that topic. And I got correct answers in all quizzes, too! Yep! You read it right, no typographical errors here :D  Man, that was such a mystery. Haha...Let me warn you though, that subtopic only lasted for a week. And we met again only in the Finals. I think I got 2 or 3 questions right of the 50 that we were given. Thanks to my ehem..excellence  with the Identities. Even as I write, I couldn't help suppressing a smile. It was such a pleasant memory; like an oasis in the dessert at the time when I could barely finish the course.

Moving forward, to this present time, somehow the lessons move out from the classroom into the realities of life. Growing up was, and still is, never easy.  I had to put up with a lot of identity crises, playing one role to the next, always trying to fit in. Always trying to be the good neighbor, the good friend, the good sister, the good daughter. What I thought would be good, or would be good in the eyes of my imaginary audience, I readily plugged into my system. Like a trial and error method of taking values of the x's and y's of my life equations. In the end, I got tangled with hypothetical solutions. Slow  maybe, yet, guided by divine grace, growth became a beautiful and happy process. I am no longer in front of all sorts of audience, I am with my loved ones. I need not be good, I only have to do my best for the people  who love and accept me just the way I am. When I was called into this life to be holy, it was to be true first and foremost to my self, of who I am and what am I here for. An understanding where reason meets faith. Always, our dear Professor, Dr. Luna would say "Be guided with logic. Use your common sense". We used to laugh about it and joke about a common sense that is not so common. Truly, even in our walk of faith, always we must be guided by logic. After all, isn't God the most logical and sensible? Even in the midst of a great mystery, always the human mind, touched by divine wisdom, gets to comprehend what is beyond understanding. With our spiritual eyes opened the one truth withheld to many who refuse to see gets revealed. Only in unity with our Creator will we ever find who we are. Only then can the image of man and God be one and the same.

little shepherds in distress

little shepherds in distress

Monday, May 12, 2014

1:01 PM

He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. John 10:13-15

How often have I entrusted my life to a mere hireling. Every time I get attracted to the glitz and promises of the wordly things, I’d get excited and fixated. I readily let go of the arms that hold me still and run away from the source of real security. Only when I stumble and hurt my knee do I get back to my senses and start looking back. Such a pain yet I seem not to learn. But still, always, I find the Lord’s loving arms ready to receive me back and walk on with me. Without even a need to say anything, He readily understands what I cannot say out of too much guilt and humiliation. With a loving look and a smile that says “I understand”, He wipes away my shame.

As we move along, I can’t help but think about the false shepherds in my life, the hirelings who did not really care. They were up and proud when all was bright. When the storm set in, like a puff of smoke, they vanish in thin air. I am often ready to judge and condemn, but perhaps today calls for a different choice. My Shepherd is out looking for the lost. Perhaps I am called to do the same. Aren’t we all hirelings with the natural tendency to save our own skin in the presence of danger? Aren’t we all capable of denying the Lord, more than three times in our lifetime? Have I not, at some point, been false and selfish?

But before I run and play the role, it may be best to remind myself that before I can share in the Shepherd’s task, I may first need to refuse to be a hireling. To labor not for money but to share in the love of the Shepherd. Being true and dependable requires more than enough strength to fulfill. It is not a task for the faint-hearted. To the many who failed, including me, surely the Lord continues to seek and find. That He may bring all back to His Kingdom.

In full circle

11 May 2014

6:58PM

I’ve put off writing a bit longer than I intend. Perhaps it was because of the corporate hustles I had to contend with every day.  Some battles you need to fight not just to survive but to let others take their chance of living as well. And I take that to heart. Or perhaps it was the loss of words to describe that part of my world unseen to most people, known only to few who understood. Or better yet, perhaps, silence was the best thing to do when you are uncertain of many things.

Today, I stepped out to watch the flowers of May in bloom, to smile at strangers along my path and looked up to heaven to say thanks. The mornings are never been better; the familiar scent of crisp freshness, the soft kiss of the sunrise and the familiar track that meets my feet. Even as I write, when letters form into words and distance comes into a close, I see a familiar face looking back at me. I have come home.

Most things have gone full circle now. It’s time to embark on a new beginning.

(posted first in FB)

Immovable

Immovable

25 October 2013

Lord, help me deal with difficult people at work today. For some comfort, let me remind myself that i may also be the one whose difficult for them to handle. But more so, bless us with the wisdom that it is not who is and who is not, rather of what we can give to make things better. As for me, i can only be accountable with what i do. If i must extend patience, help me do it with a whole heart.

let me acknowledge and submit to the truth that i cannot, by my own force, move a rock mountain. i can only keep pushing to grow strong. and with that strength, i am to deal difficulty with gentleness.

Sunset

Sunset


a day comes to a close.the heat cools, the noise muted. a brief moment when heaven meets the earth.

Postpaid

Postpaid

23 October 2013

I signed up yesterday for Smart's Freedom Plan. i did because of cost efficiency consideration. It's a P450 per month on prepaid versus P250 on postpaid. while i was filling up the form and getting in touch with the Sales Personnel in-charge, I cant help but feel the jitters down to my elbows. This may sound overrated but really I have my reasons, two major reasons in fact. One, is letting go and the other is getting hitched.

I have gone accustomed to my old prepaid sim, I like the number as it is easy to remember and it has a sentimental value in a special way. When I entered into "the land of the giants", taking on my new job assignment way back 2010, it has been my "weapon" and it has been a loyal companion ever since. And i think it has grown on me and it is now hard to let it go. Plus the fact that we are together yet I am not committed to it. As it is prepaid, I can just load it at my convenience. No worries on bad credit records and due dates.

Letting go is really not my cup of tea. and I take comfort in some sense knowing that I am not a rare case. For most people letting go is truly not easy. and the more one is able to master it, the wiser she becomes. but the process is relatively long and inconvenient. And for some, as I fear I might be, adjusting to change is unthinkable. But my response is important, else ill be stuck and growing will be long and unproductive. over comfort, I desire growth and maturity. That can be the only way for me to fulfill my dream of living a full life, free from regrets. in doing so, I must learn and act on what I have learned that letting go is part of metamorphosis. I may not end up to be a beautiful butterfly, but most certainly, I will fly lighter and more free - without the baggage of comfort.

Going to postpaid, ill be subjecting myself to exposure. Submitting my application entails me to share personal information to some unknown strangers who will be processing it. I am not really very good with "opening up" most especially to strangers. And most of all, ill be subjecting myself to a contract. ill be forced to get out of my convenient comfort and to meet the terms and conditions I signed into. while that is something I have to deal with later on, i am not exactly very prepared for it right now. I tell myself benefit outweighs the cost that's why i must allow myself to endure this discomfort to get a higher benefit.

What started as a simple consideration of budget options turned out to be a great revelation for me, of who I am and what are my fears. I consider this grace from the Lord allowing me to ponder on these things as I deepen my relationship with Him at this point in my life wherein I am once again trying to ask Him where He is leading me. The journey has been at times nerve wrecking and I have come to articulate where are those fears coming from. In my fear of letting go and in committing myself, I am delaying God's work in my life. this is not to say that I completely do not trust Him. it's just that in order to fully surrender I must overcome the obstacles. now that I see them, I need to rest in confidence that the joy in following the Lord far outweighs the pain of detaching myself from my comfort zones.
　

Significance

Significance

22 October 2013

Bohol continues to shake. Lives take on new beginnings. What was hidden beneath daily routines, now takes shape as awakenings.

A man goes to work everyday to feed his family. Tilling the farm, enduring the scorching heat of the sun. Each day that opens, closes with a silent passing. Years turned, muscles worn-out, age became a sole mark of a life that has been. Enthusiasm grows thin as the number of mouths to feed increases.

Small for his age, feeble and frail, walks to school with an empty stomach, worn out slippers and blank head. the ten-year old boy who can be mistaken for a seven, spends the day walking - back and forth, in the morning and in the mid afternoon. such a heavy thought as heavy lids are forced to open to start up the day. and it goes on and on endlessly.