ATTY. Victor L. Chan has three wonderful children who are very thoughtful in giving him a Father’s Day gift every year since they were old enough to write, usually in the form of collages, drawings and cards. This year, the author thought of giving them a gift in return for all the wonderful things that they have given him. He decided to put pen to paper and wrote down the advices that he felt they needed in order to have a happy and meaningful life, that is focused on the family, with an awareness that a person’s true nature is as a soul with a body, and not to identify so much with material things. Some of these advices came from the numerous books he has read and conversations he’s had with other people, while others come from his own experiences and reflections.  

He began the project with the intention of producing only a letter for them. However, as soon as he began writing, lots of ideas and memories began to surface and even threatened to overwhelm him at times, including his being orphaned by his father at an early age. His children’s early “works of art,” which were expressions of their love, hope and optimism, inspired him to create this work as a legacy to them. In a short time, he realized that his “little” project was not going to be so “little” after all. The result is the book Why You Are You (Simple Advice for My Children).

As he was writing the book, there was the realization that today’s society depended and identified too much on material and temporal things, conditions and events to find meaning in life. This will result in unhappy, frustrated and unnecessarily suffering individuals who will lead unfulfilled lives. This is not how the author wants his children to turn out. He wants them to remember that the meaning of life is found in the experience of freedom, love, joy and peace, as well as being connected with God. He wants them to realize that a person’s true nature is a soul with a body, that one should strive to consciously relate with people soul to soul, so that one would not be judging people based on appearances alone, and that too much identification with body and temporal things would create a feeling of emptiness and loss when a person gets older.

Atty. Chan wants his children to be aware of the mental filters through which they see the world, how they acquire their perceptions and what should be done to live in accordance with the intentions of the soul. That having good relationships with people by understanding that they are a soul with a body is the most significant lesson they can ever learn from him. He wants them to learn that they must interact with others as one soul to another soul, for in relating to a person as a soul rather than as merely a body, it will help them attain spiritual maturity, which will make them revere life. In revering life, they will treasure their family and live in harmony with its members, and this will eventually radiate to our whole society. 

The author knows that an individual’s true home may be found inside his or her external environment. It is not difficult to comprehend that happiness is a state of mind, and it is one’s perception of the things and conditions that matters. Each person is born to a different external environment, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. No one is born to perfect conditions because, ultimately, everything rests in the internal environment of the person.

A person must acquire the habit of thinking, feeling and being fully aware of what one is doing now. By being mindful of their internal environment, especially when they work for the fulfillment of the important values in life, they will be in control of their senses and cannot be easily overthrown by their life situation. There is fulfillment if people live up to the values that are important to them. However, these values must be consistent with the natural law, which must be aligned to a person’s nature as a soul with a body in order for one to experience freedom, love, joy and peace in his or her life.

Why You Are You (Simple Advice For My Children) is available at National Book Store branches nationwide and Loyola Schools Bookstore located in Ateneo De Manila University, Loyola Heights, Quezon City. It will soon be available at PowerBooks.

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ATTY. Victor L. Chan has three wonderful children who are very thoughtful in giving him a Father’s Day gift every year since they were old enough to write, usually in the form of collages, drawings and cards.