Spending two hours with all the famous works of various Dutch painters is such a wonderful way to spend the afternoon. In fact, the Mauritshuis, which contain all these magnificent artworks, is just 500 meters away from my apartment and I always pass by the place taking its priceless collection inside for granted until today. Now I discovered its treasure and I do love them! Such talents! Such works that are so realistic that I can only praise them for the accuracy of their works… I mean, they are just like photos! Photoshopped photos! ^^


The Mauritshuise facadeThe pride of the house, or the banner painting is the one by Vermeer. It was done by Johannes Vermeer around/in 1665 with cloth as the material and a dimension of 44.5 by 39 cm. The Dutch title is “Meisje met de parel” or “The Girl with Peral Earring”. This painting has actually became the most beloved Vermeer by the viewing public.

Why is this painting so special? Who is the girl?. Where does this fascination come from? It must have something to do with the fact that the girl looks over her shoulder, as if she wants to know who is behind her. For example, the viewer directly to the presentation in question, as if he is the person who makes the girl look back. In the audio description, it was noted that the girl is unknown… mysterious… and that’s how the painter wanted it to be.

In the painting, equally important are the bright colors where Vermeer’s virtuoso painting techniques and the subtle way in which he suggested the reflection of light stand out. For example, the turban is enlivened with small light reflections - a trademark of Vermeer. Very particular is the pearl. It consists of little more than two paint strokes: left a bright light at the bottom and accent the soft sheen of the white collar. And then there is the girl themselves, that us a sensual, half-open mouth and glowing big eyes. She makes a fresh, slightly hesitant impression. For many it will generate sympathy, although we do not know who she is. – Now this description is by the experts of painting, not mine! I actually see this image everywhere here in the Hague and I thought it was a photo. Mind you guys, I am ignoramus when it comes to paintings. Thus, only when I saw them in reality, these stuff I only viewed in books before, that I could not believe those geniuses did existed!

The rest of the Top Ten Paintings include the following:

2. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp by Rembrandt van Rijn -I saw this

3. The Putter (Goldfinch????) by Carel Fabritius (Is he Dutch? as he sounds not) - I did not see this

4. Self Portrait of Rembrandt van Rijn-I did not see this, I see the younger him "imitation" self portrait

5. The View of Delft by Johannes Vermeer-I did not see this...Oh gosh, where was I???

6. The Garden of Eden (Earth Paradise) with the Fall of Adam and Eve by Jan Brueghel de Oude with Pater Paul Rubens - I saw this at last!

7. "Soo voer gesongen soo na gepepen" by Jan Steen - I saw this and I love the theme of this painting!

8. The Bull by Paulus Potter - This painting intigued me so much... I had to listen to its story 3 times!

9. Portrait of Robert Chaseman by Hans Holbein de Jonge - I am not sure if I saw this one.

10. Vase of Flowers in a Window by Ambrosius Bosschaert de Oude

I may make subsequent posts about each one of the top ten or some of my chosen ones but am not so sure yet. All I could say is, I did enjoy seeing these and hundred or couple of hundreds more paintings.

A very dear friend shared this conversation to me and I feel honored she did so. I would love to share all these to you and hope we all can successfully install it and at the same time, upgrade this program.
I was actually contemplating after reading this similation of what I currently feel. I have no way of loving... I mean, for me love is something superficial... As I read through, I knew why... so much pain in the past, so much block to forgive and all these things.. Maybe this is the reason why I keep on having nightmares on my close family members and relatives dying and I am thankful to know that I know in advance what I WOULD feel when everything else is too late.

Tech Support: Yes, ... how can I help you?

Customer: Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install LOVE. Can you guide me though the process?

Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer: Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. What do I do first?

Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?

Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?

Tech Support: What programs are running?


Customer: Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge, and Resentment running right now.

Tech Support: No problem, Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off?

Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.


Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?

Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error - Program not run on external components." What should I do?


Tech Support: Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.

Customer: So, what should I do?

Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done.

Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart.Is this normal?

Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So LOVE is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. LOVE is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

I receive this mail from my inbox today and I really judged this article to be completely fantastic. Since it is encouraged to spread this over, I think I have no better way of letting everyone know about it than publishing it here.

It is about liking ourselves, loving ourselves and the consequent effect of that thing we do to ourselves to others. Pay it forward, Dude! ^^

If you don’t mind, let me start with an old Genie joke.

One day, a Genie appeared to a woman and said, “This is your lucky day! I will give you 3 wishes.”

“Yeheey!” the woman squealed.

“But on one condition,” said the Genie, “Whatever you ask for, your husband will receive 3 times more.”

The woman frowned, “What? But I hate my husband! He’s a despicable man!”

The Genie shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m the Love Genie. I repeat: What you ask for, your husband will receive 3 times more.”
The woman said, “Oh, okay. My first wish: Make me very rich. I want $1 Million.”
The Genie asked, “Are you sure? Your husband will have $3 Million.”

She says, “Oh, never mind. What is his is mine and what is mine is his.”

“Very well then!” the Genie said, and with a wave of his hand, and “Poof!” the woman had $1 Million—and her husband had $3 Million.

“My second request is that I want to be very beautiful.”

The Genie asked, “Are you sure? Your husband will look like Piolo Pascual and Sam Milby and John Lloyd put together. This is very dangerous. The girls will flock to him.”
The woman said, “Just as long as I’ll be beautiful.”

And with the wave of his hand, “Poof!”, and she became utterly beautiful and the husband three times more handsome.

The woman then said, “For the third wish, I would like to have a very mild heart attack.”

Life Is A Mirror
Here’s the lesson: Whatever you give to yourself, you give to others more.
If you like yourself, you’ll like others too.
If you dislike yourself, you’ll dislike others too.

Because life is a mirror. What you see in others is a reflection of what you see in yourself.

I’ve met very critical people. Sometimes, I think they feel that they were born to criticize others. It’s their life mission. All they do is size up everyone they meet and point out their mistakes. Where does this critical spirit come from? In their heart of hearts, I believe they don’t like themselves. And they project this self-criticalness on others.

This “disliking ourselves” is more widespread than we think…

It’s An Epidemic
At their inner core, people don’t feel good about themselves. Like background music playing 24 hours a day, people inflict upon themselves self-rejection, self-doubt, self-contempt.

It’s an epidemic in the world today, and it’s robbing people of much happiness.
Where does this sickness of self-hatred come from?

Self-hatred comes from fear. After all, hate is fear. We hate what we fear.
Specifically, we fear we’re not enough. Bottom line, we fear we’re unloved.

And when we don’t like ourselves, we try to solve it by many common false solutions. For lack of space, let me give you two here. One is having Status Symbols. The other is Religious Performance.

Collecting Status Symbols
I know a lot of people who clutch, grab, and collect Status Symbols.

I remember the story of the guy with a BMW. After parking, as he opened the door, another car crashed it and ripped out his door—together with his entire arm.

When the police came, they saw the guy looking at his mashed up BMW and crying, “My car! My car! It’s gone…”

The police said, “Excuse me sir, but don’t you realize that your arm is gone?”

The man looked at where his arm was supposed to be, and when he saw nothing, began to cry, “Oh my gosh! Where’s my Rolex?”
Some are so attached with their Status Symbols.

You see these people walking in malls. Shirt by Lacoste. Shoes by Bally. Watch by Rolex. Waistline by Crispy Creams.

I was talking to a friend who wore a Rolex watch. I asked him, “I’m curious. Why are you wearing a P300,000 watch on your wrist?”
His answer made me very sad. He said, “Honestly? To make me feel like somebody. To make me feel good about myself.”
Wow. If I want to feel good, I breathe. I smile. I pray. I love.

Let me give you another false solution to not liking ourselves…

We Make God In Our Image
The other false solution is Religious Performance.

When we don’t like ourselves, some get into religious practices to appease a God whom they believe also doesn’t like them. Why?
Because life is a mirror.

Because we make God in our image and likeness.
Because we project our self-hatred on God.
For years, I used to be like this. I prayed, read the Bible, and did my religious work because I wanted the approval of an angry God.
No more.

I do all these because He loved me first. (1 John 1:14)

So how do you start liking yourself a lot?
What’s Your Default Question?
You have a Default Question that you ask yourself a thousand times a day.
It’s like your OS or Operating System, working in the background.

For many people, their Default Question is “What’s wrong?”

They wake up in the morning and unconsciously ask, “What’s wrong with this day? What’s wrong with my life?”

And throughout the day, they keep asking their Default Question:
“What’s wrong with my husband?”
“What’s wrong with my parents?”
“What’s wrong with my kids?”
“What’s wrong with my job?”
“What’s wrong with my friends?”

And the deadliest Default Question is “What’s wrong with me?”

Some people ask this question again and again throughout the day, it kills their spirit. Because they find so many things wrong about them. No wonder they don’t like themselves!
The question “What’s wrong?” is a very useful question—not as a Default Question—but as a question during emergencies. (When there’s really something wrong!)

What then should be your Default Question?

Key: Appreciation
The Default Question we should ask is, “What’s right?”

Ask it a thousand times a day.
“What’s right about this day? What’s right about my husband? What’s right about my kids? What’s right about my job?”

And especially the very healthy question, “What’s right about me?” If the Bible is right that you’re really made in the image of God, then by golly gee, you must be a phenomenal human being.

You’ve got stuff in you that are fantastic—and you need to take time to appreciate them.
Remember: Only love can defeat fear. And appreciation is love.

When Jesus healed the ten lepers, only one came back to thank Him. He asked, “Where are the other nine?” On that day, ten were healed physically but only one was healed completely. Ten were healed physically but only one was healed physically and spiritually.
Heal yourself by appreciation.

And here’s one thing you can do…

Write It Down
Sit down and write 25 things you like about yourself.

I did this the other day and couldn’t stop at 25. I ended up writing 67 things I like about myself! And since the list is in my journal, I plan to keep adding onto it until I reach100.
But start with 25. Celebrate who you are. Thank God for who you are!
This will change you.

All of a sudden, you realize how special you are.

And slowly, you’ll start liking yourself a lot.

The Most Important Reason
Three days ago, I was swamped with work.
I had so many articles to write, so many meetings to plan, so many business concerns… But my wife said, “Please bring Francis to the Barbershop. He’ll be a ring bearer.” That’s the disadvantage of having a cute son. He gets to be ring bearer a lot.

So I put aside all my work in the afternoon and brought him to the Barber.

After the haircut, I was thinking that we were going back home so I could work. That was when 4-year old Francis said, “Daddy, I’m hungry.”
So we marched to Jollibee and he ate chicken and rice at 4 in the afternoon!

Again, as we were leaving, I was presuming I could now go back to work. But Francis tugged on my arm again and said, “Daddy, I’m still hungry.” My gosh. Where does this little guy put all that food?

Later on, I realized he was hungry not for food but for love. Specifically, hungry for Daddy’s love.

So we kept on walking, visiting other shops, until he saw a playground. His eyes grew large and said, “Daddy, can I play?”

I believe life is about moments. So I bought myself a cup of coffee, sat on a park bench, and enjoyed watching my 4-year old jump from one slide to another.

We had the grandest time.

Why did I disrupt my whole afternoon for Francis?

Because I’m his father and he’s my son.
He’s more important than all my work.
He’s more important than all my ministries.
He’s more important than all the books I write and all the talks I give.
Friend, this is the ultimate reason why you need to like yourself.
Because you have a Father who loves you so much.

You’re more important than all the stars in the sky.

You’re more important than all the galaxies of this universe.

In the heart of God, nothing compares with you.

If He loves you this much, how can you not like yourself?

May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez

Last night, I had a great time watching this film on serial killing. Ulrich played the role as Casey Noland, a bright high school kid with no interest of putting direction in life, decides to pursue the serial killing profession. Only problem...he can't bring himself to kill anybody. He even vomited when he was to dissect a pig in his class! Will the help of a gothic chick named Sasha, he attempts to learn the ways of a mass murderer. Meanwhile, a real serial killer is at work in their town and Casey thinks he might know who the maniac is. And he was correct!

The film was more of a real fun and comedy than any scary type. I read around that it was classified as horror but I just don't believe it is horror. I have seen Ulrich in the Scrapbook film the other week and he can act various roles. It is an old film but I have not seen nor heard it in the past, thus I still enjoyed watching it. For tonight, another film will do.

Last Monday I was able to see "Taking Chance on Love" and I loved it as well. Given more time, I may write it here as well. I just love watching unpredictable, not so well-known yet worth the watch films these days. It's relaxing and I learn lessons.

Lesson learned? "Don't underestimate someone with a serial killer's heart even though he could not kill a pig!" ^^
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