Keeping my Inner Charmander Aflame

The morning after (Halong Bay, Vietnam; New Year morn 2016)

The three-day holiday broke my quiet morning rituals.  While I miss my quiet breakfasts, I took advantage of the holidays to bond with my son over breakfast. This meant having to squeeze in my morning prayer/reflection before breakfast.

Yesterday morning was a frenzied one for me though. With my laptop acting up the night before due to a failed software update that left my computer without a working software and with no support available from the service provider, I panicked. How could I not when all I could see was a blank screen and all my attempts to recover the system seemed futile. I tried to think straight and access whatever inner calm was still left in me.  After sometime I was able to restore the system back-up which thankfully I had updated the day before.

The whole experience left me somewhat frantic.  Not only did I spend the night agonizing over whether I could get my laptop to work again; I also didn't have the chance to spend a quiet early morn. Something inside hungered for my morning spiritual nourishment.

Always, though, when the heart is open, one is able to tune in to the Spirit. That's exactly what happened later in the morning when, as I was browsing through my Facebook newsfeed, I chanced upon the following image posted by my son's friend.

I consulted good old Wikipedia and learned that Charmander, one of the few Pokemons I'm familiar with, can be found in hot areas, such as volcanoes.   The size of the flame on its tail is a reflection of the physical and emotional states of the individual, and as mentioned above, determines whether it lives or dies. Charmander's light may dim at times but he somehow manages to stay aflame.

My current realities may seem to fan out whatever flame my inner Charmander may still have, but somehow, this Charmander's spirit remains unshakable. Even if it sometimes seems like there's only an ember and a few threads of light left, there's that inner Charmander cheering me to hold on. I have that brave Charmander inside me. And he invites me to never ever lose hope.