After months of anticipation for “Alice in Wonderland”, I was able to watched it in full 3D last weekend, the effects did not quite reach my now-standard “AVATAR 3D technology”, but what the heck, I have always loved this fairy tale ever since I was walking in diapers (goo-goo-coo-coo..purrrr).

So, to divert a little, for me to be able to stress out whatever point it is that I would like to “stress” out (aaaargh… stressfull! I am just kiddin’) I would like to share that I am presently reading another John Maxwell’s masterpiece “Leadership Gold”. And one chapter discussed those “defining moments” of one’s life. He (Maxwell) said, and I quote “Defining Moments are intersections that give us an opportunity to turn, change direction, and seek new destination”. Wham!

Have you ever experienced having a gut-feel about a major decision in your life that you were supposed to make, and at that exact moment, you said “YES!” to that decision and off you go… Or, having witnessed something that stops you in an instant, making you realize all of your life-film rolls in one minute-gap? Those are defining moments. I remember in the 2D children movie “Polar Express” starring Tom Hanks, I caught one line which stayed with me all throughout:

“There is one thing about trains… It does not matter where you are going, what matters is…
Deciding to GET ON the train…”

Again, that is one defining moment for me. Beautiful. It speaks of life. Period.

So back to my wonderland, here are some lines which struck me the most, adding to my “defining moments” in life and of life. I simply cannot forget, let me go back now to memory lane:

Cat: Where are you going? he asked Alice.
Alice: I really don’t have an idea…
Cat: Just take any road, and it will lead you there…

- it is similar with the Polar Express, taking one step.. that particular step towards the road of life can give one the most extraordinary feeling and growth ever.

Caterpillar: “There is nothing ever accomplished in tears” he said to Alice, I have to say goodbye now (slowly turning into a cocoon)
Alice: “wait, no! you’re gonna die!”
Caterpillar: “No, I’m gonna transform…see you then..”

- this is the caterpillar’s “little dying” time. Every one of us needs a “dying time” too, for us to be able to detoxify and examine ourselves. I often “died” a lot of times already too… Most especially last year, I did a lot of introspection and went on this so-called hiatus (by my own means), boy! it did me good! I extracted myself from several complexities which materialized out of time and I guess, maturity. That is why I always love being a kid! Look at the children, they tend to see the world in a different light, they can understand things which does not need any more layers of justification, they are curious, yes. They often seek answers to every tiny bit of colorful “pebbles”. Once answered, their satisfaction shows. It really does show.

However, as we grow older, we tend to seek for answers, then, another reason, and another reason and we cannot seem to stop. We become deluded with almost all possible answers to all of our “why’s”. That is why we have to stop abruptly for a given time. Time to brake and time to have our souls re-furbished.

Leo Buscaglia in his inspirational book “Living Loving Learning” stated “we cannot share what we do not have” so in order for us to grow continuously as a loving Person (and not as robots, thank goodness) we have to become what we really are again (in times of role confusions and self-conflicts) to be able to share again to the world our capacity for living, capacity to feel, capacity to touch lives and capacity to love.

That is being Human after all… and being Mad at the same time.

To be mad is to be human, and to be human is to be mad. Cherishing this gift called LIFE is already in the maximum level of appreciation. Every second is a blessing. Every opportunity, every pains, every endeavor, every laughter, every tears… all are blessings. To feel is to live, and to live is to feel.

To learn from everything that life have to offer is one of the greatest achievement that one can aspire for. I for one, am learning from it one step at a time… still, my aspiration for achieving the ultimate “inner peace” I am seeking lies on every steps I am making towards myself, day by day.

That is madness. One dose of madness. This post is inspired by my most favorite line in Alice:

Mad Hatter: “Am I mad?”
Alice: (touching his face) “All The BEST PEOPLE are…”

All the best people are…

All the best people are mad….

I cannot expound more on this for I am allowing you (the reader) to freeze your understanding in your own way, how you define madness might differ from mine (it does most of the time, because we are uniquely-created individuals)

Simply put, I am mad about Living, Loving and Learning. If you already knew me well, I am glad I have you in my mad life, and together, may we all spread this “mad-disease” in all positive ways possible.

How about you? have you taken madness to the extreme? I have and I am still taking it up…farther in the sky.