GOOD VIBES.. BAD VIBES (Vibes tayo Ninang ha!)

I envied people with good vibes. People like them. I like them. Without speaking, without smiling (well maybe a little), they make people comfortable just being there. Charismatic, trustworthy by default, they speak, and we loosen up.

I needed more effort to be liked. I don’t give a vibe of approachability. Except maybe people asking for directions inside the hospital. I remember people describing me as having haughty eyes (what have I done to you?), “Suplada,” “malakas Ang dating,” “mayabang,” “scary (why O why?).” I feel people tense up when I’m around. I need to talk more, smile more, talk softer, nod in affirmation, work more, in order for people to let down their guard and trust me. (I trust you Ninang! “Thank you! ‘Means a lot!”).

I remember going inside national bookstore and almost always see a guard following me (Baka paranoia Lang Ninang” 😬). So there was this time I confronted one and asked if I looked like I’m going to steal something. The guard apologized (apologized for following you Ninang? “I’m not sure but it seemed so!”). I started greeting and smiling at them when I enter 😊.

Just now, in the city hall to pay real estate taxes, a tattooed man with a big voice asked for my documents when I was proceeding to the cashier. What am I to think? How am I to feel? I was hesitant to comply and on edge even though he ultimately just gave me a simple instruction to get the “order of payment” from another place. I judge them too. SMILE please! ( I actually asked somebody to tell the man to smile 😊).

Where is this vibe coming from. I mean there are those who look big but are adjudged cuddly. And there are those who shout a lot and are still trusted and loved? What’s the name of that chef on TV?  I heard a popular cardiologist-pharmacologist theorize the “vibe” is “about the ions surrounding us”. Ions are charged atoms or molecules.  Do they really determine how people see or feel about me?  Is this why I frequently experience an electric shock touching the car, a fabric, or a person (static!).  Am I that charged?  According to Wikipedia, “static electricity is defined as an imbalance of electric charges within or on the surface of a material.” I do remember taking showers when I was in college and getting several shocks from the shower head attached to a water heater (you’re electrifying Ninang!). Was I neutralized or ionized? 🤓

Maybe the above also explains why “touch” is important to convey how one really feels about another.  I continue from Wikipedia  “the charge remains until it is able to move away by means of an electric current or electrical discharge.” Touch allows charges and ions to flow to the other person (you’re theorizing Ninang? “Hehe”)..  hopefully to comfort, and  heal; not agitate or create an electric shock (static!).  TOUCH!

But it’s not all bad.. the vibe that I give. If anything, it’s confusing. Recently, in a shirt clothing store, a young buff person came so close behind me and paraded his name and cell number in front of me while I’m paying at the cashier (Baka for the cashier Ninang! “Ooohhh..”)– did I give a “matrona” “sugar mommy” “looking for love” vibe? A student mentee several years ago wrote me a note appreciating me for being his “second mother(!)” (pwede Ate Lang?). In the clinic, after I paid good attention to a 3 year-old sister of a patient, the latter bid me a surprising, jaw-dropping, time-stopping goodbye–she excitedly, lovingly said “bye-bye Grandma!!!” — Lola vibe!!! My kids always tease me I’m centuries old!

Good vibe, Bad vibe– Many times, they do work for us. Finding a friend who will love us and stick with us despite our flaws and weaknesses, avoiding people who can do us harm or take advantage of us- what can top that? Unless we, the harmless creatures, are the unjust objects of suspicious treatment and paranoia– spy vibe! Well not too bad when you think about it like that. 😬 SMILE!

I believe how we look at people and how we feel about people largely arise from our cumulative experiences and knowledge of people. We trust more when we had more people to trust (including ourselves!)– more good vibes. We are cautious when we have been disappointed by many– bad vibe all around.

We cannot help how we feel but we can always respond in a way that brings good vibes, in a way that neutralizes bad vibes. Having good or bad vibes, let’s give people a smile, an accepting touch, a hug (ok maybe too close for a stranger). If nothing else, hand the person a “conductor” that will neutralize his/her “ions” (umbrella? 🤔). (Shake hands Ninang! “Right!”)

Two millenia ago, God “neutralized” humanity’s bad vibes in a mind-boggling manner, many still can’t believe. He demonstrated Love, by living as a man, and dying to save us from the ONLY entity deserving of a bad vibe- sin! (hate the sin, not the sinner Ninang? “Yup!”). He calls us to Love.. always.

I used to envy people with good vibes. Now I try to “create” good vibes (by God’s grace!). But whether people feel bad, or good, chill or tense, when I’m around, I bask in the confidence of the good vibe within me– my God, my Savior, Ka-Vibes in Jesus, forever. May they see, hear, feel, experience Him in me. May you have Him in you.

– Ninang vibes

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

“God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)