Joy

Happy Monday! This quote right here may sound passive. It is not, nor is it weak. Surprisingly, a lot of A personality go-getter people actually understand this more than the those who stay on the sidelines of even their own lives. It takes strength of mind and character to deal with what is. To accept what comes in our lives, make the most of what and who stays in our lives and be at peace with what escapes us so its easier to move forward. Instead of tiring ourselves going against the tides of life, devote your effort to flowing with it the best you could. What does flowing with life mean? 1. Grateful awareness of what we have. 2. Accountability to what and who stays. (Notice I used TO not FOR). 3. Accepting and understanding the purpose of the things that just do not work out for us and not letting it burden us the rest of the way. Envy, discontent, regret are all foul-smelling attitudes to life that takes away so much whilst demanding so much energy. Your best instrument ...

  Happy Monday! Easter Monday is just the perfect time to resurrect my posts. Kamusta na kayo? During the holy week i watched movies on the life of saints and one thing is common, there were times when they were tempted to feel like they were doing things for themselves and not for God. Seed of doubt and impostor syndrome were planted in their hearts. The remedy, they became even more humble, reliant on God and just stayed really really close to Him so as not to get lost. You see, i stopped writing and making videos precisely because I was becoming doubtful of the exercise. I never wanted spotlight on myself which explains why many people do not know what I do for a living or why I do not post much on social media apart from my Joy In Me posts. PLUS that I was getting bad moods more often then and it just swings be back to doubting why I should continue. Luckily I had family and friends who took notice and aside from grounding me back to reality, they drew me back to the reaso...

  Happy Monday! Our Monday post fell on All Saints Day and I am so glad to have the chance to talk about looking forward to eternity as a sure road to finding joy.   Does your everyday show evidence of your anticipation for eternity?  Admittedly, when I am lost in the middle of my tasks, when my day is full and my mind afloat  - i forget.   Sometimes, by the end of the day when I finally pause, I look back at the missed chances to offer some recompense and invest on eternal life.  Hard work that I did for myself and not for my prayer intentions.  The harsh words I did not withhold instead so I can practice more kindness.  The assistance I did not give others to make life a little more bearable so they can do the same for others.   Let us all try to remember (together) how many chances for heaven we have every minute of the day and how we are taking advantage of them.  Let us not give up on this endeavor, to get to heaven w...

Happy Monday!  I admire wise people.  I like it when the person I am talking to can twist my point of view.  I am amazed at people who do not think like I do.  Simply because I always thought that people should think the same way.   In school, there is always a right answer.  In the family, there is a way things are done.  In companies, there are rules, procedures, flow charts.  It gets too comfortable sometimes blindly going through things without thinking with a twist. We develop wisdom by talking to people and welcoming different points of view.  We develop wisdom by asking questions rather than providing answers.  We develop wisdom when we challenge our situations - change, twist, experiment.  We develop wisdom when let go of pride and begin learning again.   May your conversations leave you wondering. May your encounters make you see the world in different ways. May you keep learning everyday.  Photo from re...

Family life is one thing we do not give up on .  At the least, we should work on our relationship with our immediate family everyday to make it our best relationship ever.   Here are some things to look out for while you - all of us - are trying :) 

 Happy Monday!  More and more, in the midst of trials, we start to realize how little everything else matters compared to family.  We work for them, worry about them, fight for them... live for them.  All the pain pays off and more.   Yet and again, sometimes we forget or seem to forget.  When we become too busy, when we argue over petty things, when we do not pay particular attention how we show up in the home.   How can we live family life with more intention?  1.  Time.  Be mindful of the quality of the time you spend with family members.  It may not be much but make them pleasant, caring, thoughtful and loving.   2. Look out for their needs.  Pay particular attention to what they like, how they want to be treated, step forward and make things easy for them at home.  3.  Be curious.  Sensitivity to what they do not say, how they are feeling and what occupies their mind.   4. ...

 We can still lose even when we win an argument when we are defensive. Why? What happens when we are defensive.   Let's talk about that in this #forwordfriday. ☕❤

Happy Monday! Surprise!  We think we can handle this truth, until we are faced with opposition, a different opinion, a person who just couldn't stand us.   Then we start to think, "why won't he agree with me?" "What is wrong with... HIM?!"  Yup, our natural tendency is to deflect rejection and become defensive.  We justify our stance, we seek others' approval, we look for every good reason why we are right and he is wrong.   Does not sound like you? Then maybe you belong to the group who immediately thinks, "What is wrong with ME?!"  Another way to react to an opposition or dissenting opinion or rejection is to question our intention, our action or worse, our self-worth.    Whichever way you swing in this continuum can be due to a lot of different factors.  However, what I want to focus on today is not how it affects you , not why it affects you but what do you do with it?   1. Be objective.  Either one of you may be ...

 Prayer should come naturally to us. With all its benefit for us we should not let a moment by without praying.  How can we be more prayerful?  Please listen. 

 Happy Monday!  The effect of this pandemic continues to be too real with all of us knowing someone who is either infected or who passed away due to the virus.   Suffice it to say that illness and sufferrings abound.  What we have plenty of, we have to put to good use.  Our sufferings, illness, efforts to take care of an ill family member might just as well be an opportunity for grace.   How?  1. When we are in pain, tired and hopelessly insecure of the future, offer these feelings for another person's intentions in prayer. We submit what we are suffering from for it to be united go Christ's sufferings and therefore turn into grace.  2.  We honor our pain and sufferings or saxrifices to the many others also experiencing pain and offering their service to their loved ones.  We remember them and commune with them.  3.  Use the time of suffering to strengthen our connection to God's love, healing, providence, power. When...

Its our first year anniversary and what timely topic!  #forwordfriday and Joy In Me Today has brought me a way to find hope in the most dire time.   And just like that, one post after another, we are on our first year!  Just keep swimming as they say.  Please watch this video on Hope and how not to lose it. 

Happy Monday!  In the midst of worsening pandemic, earthquakes and chaos in the Middle East, it makes me ask...what more is ahead of us? I dread the answer.   Did you just see a tendency that I let peek there? That's catastrophizing. Although in situations where we are, I may not be exaggerating, believing that things will turn for the worse is still not yet THE ONLY possible turnout.   It's just difficult to hope sometimes. Yet, if we do not have hope, what do we still have?  Hoping gives us the strength to get up, fight another day.  It helps us to search for ways because there ARE WAYS still to be considered.  It urges us to ride the wave instead of letting it wash us over.   It is therefore important to note what hope is not:  It is not passive, it moves us to action It is not foolish, it believes in looking beyond the situation and dare I say, it is not entirely of human means, for if it were then we'd ran out of hope when noth...

To simplify our lives we do not only manage our physical environment but our internal environments as well, this includes managing our expectations.   Please watch. 

Happy Monday! A lot of the things that stops us from getting what we want are from the way we look at them.   When we want to have something but meets a bump on the road, real or not, we stop on our tracks and abandon the mission.  Some of these things can actually be simplified instead of abandoned.   Some of the reasons we don't persevere.  1.  We don't have time.  This comes from the belief things should happen at certains times of the day or certain length of time.   2. We do not have the resources we need.  We feel limited because some resources are not yet available to us in the amount we think we need.  3.  We are not yet in the mood.  We think that we would feel more motivated when the condition is perfect, when our mood is perfect.  4.  We are too young, too early, too late, too old.    5.  We can't because its too hard, too complicated, task is too big.  How can we simplify thes...

 Being a worry wart, I have to look for ways to deal with this tendency.   By asking myself these questions, it helps me to put things in perspective and stop me from the endless road of worry.   Please watch and share :) 

 Happy Monday!  I have heard of, read of, meditated on this verse on the Bible and yet, when presented with a task, a problem or any situation that needs problem solving or preparation, I tend to worry. A lot of pressure comes from wanting to be too prepared, or too much anticipation of what ifs.  I cannot fully take this out of my system as I was "programmed" to be this.  I stayed with my brothers for a week and I watched my niece embody everything our upbringing represents.  Double check everything Meet deadlines Follow the schedule, do not be late Produce results Anticipate problems Do not disappoint     Of these, the last puts the most pressure.  It is most of the time not a direct demand but a mentality. It is like I can not rest until its over.   Although it may not sound like it, but this also shows the lack of feeling of assurance given by the verse.  I will be taken cared of...no possible eventuality will arise that wi...

Some of the things the we want to have so that we can feel confident may be the very things that makes us diffident.  What should we be confident about instead?  Please watch. 

 Happy Monday! Confidence is something mesmerizing for me.  Whether confidence comes from wisdom or folly, it does not fail to create an impression on me.  So, let's not judge this entry for the soundness of confidence people have, I simply cannot judge that right here.  Cause you know, sometimes the best results come from the craziest idea coming from the least expected source.  That's the magic of confidence.  I learned through the years that it does not come from the best idea, the wisest study, the most talented person or the most popular person or source.  Sometimes, they are there just because one person decided that what he or she has is the best there is at the moment.   What is confidence made up of?  1. Conviction.  To stand by an idea, a talent, a line, a moment.   2.  Curiosity.  Consequences becomes secondary to curiosity.  3.  Courage.  There is a level of abandon with people who disp...

What stated as a childhood hobby is now a lifelong exercise.  My journals have become my friends through the years.  What do one get out of keeping journals.   Watch this #forwordfriday video for the 5 things that I look back to whenever I read my journals of the past.   Happy weekend!

 Happy Monday!  Yes, I am writing about journals again :)  I do not know how many times my journals directed me back to where I want to go.  You know how easily it is to feel like super one day and just the day after you feel crappy again?  I get that A LOT! One slack day brings me spiraling down to self-doubt like nothing is happening in my life.  Then, I get to go on board an idea, a session, an invitation and I feel super again - like I can do anything!  Journaling keeps me balanced.  I get to remember that just yesterday, I AM THE ANSWER to all the world's problems and that the generalizations happening in my head is nothing but drama ... ahahaha.   Do you keep a journal?  No time? Nothing to write about? Too old for journals?  I would like to say it loud and clear here.... IT IS A LIFE SAVER if you allow it to.  Journals are of different shapes and sizes.  There are those who write on them like novels.  Yet ...