My Tai Chi Journey

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 Personal development is an on-going journey. Like the negative habits and attitudes that we acquired through the years unaware, it would also take years to finally conquer our long-lost self. There is no magic to it. There are no short-cuts. We need to develop step by step because this is the way of nature. If we plant something, we need to water it daily, nurture it and provide its needs until we harvest the fruit of our labor.


On my way to physical healing, I will do everything just to regain my normal health again. Starting this week I am doing Tai Chi. I read somewhere that it could help the nerves. That is what I did. After days of practice, I notice a positive effect it has on me. Thus I have been looking forward to mastering this art and skill. Presently, my chosen mentor is Dr. Paul Lam. I like his training videos. They are done step by step and easy to follow.

What about you. What is the ritual you employ as part of your personal development? Hope you find the right one that works for you.

Get happy!

Prayer Affirmation

     In our age today, the form of prayer has a new face. Wise gurus discovered it and shared their discovery to the world. It is their way of touching people and helping them create better beings in themselves and others. This form of prayer is described by Socrates as, "You are what you think." Wise gurus said, everything that comes to mind is a form of prayer, whether it be good thoughts or bad thoughts, as long as it is recognized by the mind. Thus, this gurus lead us to the best form of prayer - the positive one. I found one of this prayers, which I pray daily, from Allan Cohen. It is my pleasure to share this with you.

Today I set my mind and heart on a new path. I focus my energy on love, appreciation, and my highest possibilities. Today I claim responsibility for my own success, and step forward with a new enthusiasm to manifest unprecedented good. I use my mind to create only the best, and I draw unto me all the support and resources I need for positive change. Thank you God, for opening the door to a life filled with blessings.

     Now go and pray this daily and be transformed in the days to come.
    
     Be happy!

One Particular Season

"Life, like any other exciting story, is bound to have painful and scary parts, boring and depressing parts, but it's a brilliant story, and it's up to us how it will turn out in the end." ~ Bo Lozoff 

".....I do not do the things I want to do; yet I do the things I do not want to do...."
No matter how I try to make things good and to make myself  the good person I want, I still slip. Yeah it's part of being human. I may not like it, but I have to accept it. What could I expect from me when I am just a human being? How could I expect myself to be perfect when perfection is not in my system? There is no way I could fool myself and God. I am imperfect and could never be, that I may seek God always in my imperfection. For if I am already perfect why would I need God when I do not need anything? God made me imperfect because He needs me to need Him. And like any other story, I am now in pain, in deep sorrow. But this is not the end. This is just for now. Tomorrow when I wake up, God will hold my hand and lead me to a brand new day.   

Power

We are dealing with powers and energies in this world unconsciously. He who is aware knows how to use these powers and energies for the good of mankind.

"I wish you the ability to access your peacefulness even in the most trying of situations, so that the trials of life will not overwhelm you with their complexities and complications. May the peace within you always be a source of comfort and security, always there to help you maintain a healthy perspective on life. Many people go through their entire lives never looking for peace, and thus never feeling it inside of themselves, but I hope that you're able not only to search it out, but to find it and allow it to be a part of yourself."   Living Life Fully 

Some Things Are Worth Giving Up

     I once believe I have to do great, really great things in order to earn respect from people and be considered one important soul. But just recently I realize I could not please the millions of people in my generation. All because each one has his own preferences and operates life almost always through these preferences. There are just people who love only their flock. Unless you talk, act, and think like them could you be accepted as a person. The folly of me kept on convincing myself that I should do something to become friends with these people. Yet, no matter how much I tried, the effort did not pay off.

     Having arrived to this realization, I become free. Yeah, I have no obligation whatsoever to please these people. The most Godly way I could do is accept them as they are and accept the fact that they could not please me too. There is no attachment. We are all free. If they despise me for being different from them, I'll toss the idea aside. It is not worth the bother. I am free. Life goes on.

"I wish you friends and friendship, the ability to be a friend, and the openness to allow others to be your friends. It isn't always easy to open ourselves up and allow others to see our needs and our faults, but this journey of life on which we all find ourselves is much more fulfilling when we don't try to travel every path alone. Making and keeping friends is not always an easy task, but it's one that's well worth the trouble and the risk."   Living Life Fully

 

I Will Greet This Day With Love In My Heart

     I am so grateful to Living Life Fully for helping me remember the good "things" I already forgot. As you can see, I started this year with resolutions hoping I would become a much better person at the end of the year. I followed programs and divided my goals in a daily achievement basis. I even prayed that God would lead the right people into my life. Eventually He did. And much more than that someone had already been with me in my journey, only that I completely forgot everything about this man.

     On Friday I read the weekly ezine from Living Life Fully. There they featured a part of Og Mandino's book The Greatest Salesman In The World. I have not yet bought this book. But the one entitled The Greatest Secret In The World had I purchased five years ago. It is a book where you have to follow the scrolls and read on a daily basis in order to achieve self development. I did follow it but only for two months because I was in an unhealthy relationship during that time. Becoming healed and yet on the process of pain could never be done simultaneously. It took me some time to get over with that relationship. When I was on my feet again I was busy with family life that I completely forgot this book. I even did not remember it when I made the resolution of improving myself. When I read a part of it in the ezine I immediately remembered due to the familiarity of the words.. I really am so grateful. For the next forty-five weeks Og Mandino would be with me once again in this journey. This time I assure it is worth the money I paid for it.

     From this day onwards, I will greet the day with love in my heart!

     "I wish you to develop the light that is within you, to strengthen your spiritual faith, to help your faith in yourself to grow and thrive. You have the gift of self- sufficiency and the possibility of growing into a person who is strong and able. But may you not grow too strong, though, so that you reject the help and love and  caring of others who wish to be there for you. Balance your strength with your needs and the need of others to be helpful and to show their caring."

                                                                         Living Life Fully

If It Were Your Last Day, What Would You Do?

  
      If it were your last day, what would you do?

     The question above was repeatedly asked by the radio Deejay on Sunday. This question even is common in question and answer portion in beauty pageants. This made me think how weird this people are, asking such question that is so normal on everyday living. Don't they know that everyday we live is our last? Everyday, we are given the chance to live our lives the best way we want it. Why do we wait for the day when someone would tell us that we would never be alive the next day so we have to do all we want to do this last day that we have? So very absurd thinking. And when others answer this question with all confidence and nobility on how they would live their last day, we would be taken with awe and says, "wow! what a very noble person." Hello! If you believe it were your last day, then do right this very moment the things you want and love to do.

     Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Let me just echo this words from the mystics. What is wrong with us people is that we tend to live in wishful thinking. We love others to believe we have noble plans. The question is, when? When would we do such noble acts? The best answers of the people to the question above are: share to the poor, spend the day with their loved ones, spend their money, go take a vacation to some exotic place, be good, be kind...etc. Beautiful answers, yet nonsense. It would only makes sense if they would act on it today and onwards. If this is going to be so, what a wonderful world we would have.

     On my part, there is no need for me to give the answer to you. I am living my life daily the way I want it. If it is not perfect or remarkable, all because my life is a journey, a process of becoming. Day by day, I am moving an inch to the pedestal I want to put myself to. My life is in God's hands. And if God favors me with a longer one, then it would delight Him and me to see in the end the completion of a worthwhile journey He blessed me with.

     Happy living!     
   

Presence Of Mind

     Presence of mind just means to be present in mind and body wherever you are and whatever you do. However, this is not always happening at all. Due to the busyness of our own businesses and to the many things that we need to attain to, simply being present is impossible. This is what other spiritual seekers refer as living life half dead.  We go on with our daily routine not as living people but as machines. We do things differently from what we are thinking. Consequently, without us being aware of, it will have devastating effects on our lives either in the long term or in the short term.

     The other day this reality of being not present awaken me from my deep slumber. As usual I was going through my daily routine of office work. I did not know this unmindfulness of the present would bounce back to me. It was when I made my daily report that I noticed something was wrong with the figures I worked on. This mattered much especially when we were dealing with money matters. The devastating effect of my failure was I got from my own pocket the shortage incurred due to my unmindfulness. I couldn't believe how it happened for I was doing my work for years now. However, I could not recall, even a tiny bit of it, where did I went wrong with my work that day. But it happened already, nothing I can do to bring the events back. The most important thing was, on that day, I relearned the value of the presence of mind.    

It's A Party!

     Preparing for my son's third birthday party on March 15 kept me busy. Thus I have been away for quite awhile. Honestly, my son's two previous birthdays weren't that much special and had not much invited guests. This time we did prepare although it was not that super special. The truth is, I just come to the realization that preparing parties especially birthdays is not for the sake of showing off or leveling up with the Joneses. It is our opportunity of sharing something to the world especially with friends and relatives.

     I had been brought up in a conservative family where birthdays were just family affairs. If ever we had visitors it were only few of our neighbors. Thus it was my belief that birthdays weren't that important to spend much money with. However, when I had my own family and began to be invited to birthday parties it was then I realized how important that is. It is our lone opportunity to be grateful to the universe that we are given this life. And by showing that gratefulness we share it with relatives and friends.

    Thus I now consider birthdays to be part of our family's yearly expenses. Yes, in our culture we spend much in it if we truly prepare for it. But God will always provide. The happiness and fulfillment we get from hosting parties is worth more than the money we spend. I admit to be a frugal one, but when spending means I am sharing something to the world and if it is my own way of showing gratefulness then it's worth the money and the effort. Moreover, if it is one way of making my loved one happy and to feel special then no question about it.

     Happy living!         

     

When You Have To Do It Even If You Hate It

     "I hate to do it, but I have to do it." These were the words that kept on echoing in my mind right after I made the decision. There are just situations in which you have to make a decision regardless of whether you will be completely understood or downright judged. Having made a pledge to God to love His people and correct them gently, made it hard for me to do my work. My line of work requires to be firm with people. For, if I have to remain lenient with them and their capricious, they would abuse the regulations set by our company, which would result in making me an ineffective employee. Yes, negotiation and an acceptable excuse are the very first thing to do. But when people have crossed the thin line between kindness and abuse, we have to do the right thing even if it means hurting their pride and feelings.

     The truth is, there are many people who are so undisciplined in their own lives that they go about meeting with people believing they can influence people with their own lies. These are the people whom I act strictly with. When they need to hear the truth, I give it to them. It is sort of wham! slapping them on the face and saying, "wake up thou from thy sleep!"

     And, yes, these are the people I pledged to love and cherish. In the sense of the word they are not my family. But in the law of the universe, they are my family. I know I just did the right thing, waking them up. But I felt a little tinge of guilt for slapping them the truth. However if I am to do it again, I choose to do it again. For it is better for me to suffer the pangs of guilt than allowing these people to go with their lives walking in their sleep. Sometimes they need a little bang, bang in the head that they may ask themselves, "hey what is happening?"

     Actually, I am saying these through my own personal experience. It really hurts when people slap you left and right with the truth of the matter. But it was when I hurt the most that I learned the most. That is why I am not so much afraid to correct someone, as long as I know it would benefit them more if they just but listen to their voice within and without.   

     As to the people whom I actually bang, bang with the truth I offered them to God already. And then I let go.

     

Expand. Expand. Expand

     When we think of growth, what comes into mind is expansion. And when we plan to grow our selves in all aspects, it means we have to expand our selves in all areas: mentally, physically, emotionally, socially, financially  and spiritually.Honestly, in some areas I am doing well. But there is one area that I am struggling with so hard. It is the social aspect. Growing up I was not that sociable since I was brought up conservatively. We weren't allowed to play with other kids. In high school I was not even allowed to go out with my friends. So I developed that kind of characteristic which is shy and a little aloof with people.  Now that I am working I am constantly expose to people. But only within the circle of my comfort zone. At least I am able to get along well with others.

     However, when you dream of becoming successful in life you have to work the extra mile needed for the fulfillment of your dreams. I was informed, one of the ways of becoming successful is to be able to have large network of friends. Wow. I have friends but only those casual acquaintances. I never thought once that having lots of friends and creating good relationships with others is a big advantage of becoming successful. I am convince of this now. And I am working sooooo hard on this.   

     This is what makes life beautiful. With faith I am able to expand what I believe I can expand.

     He who put this Spirit within me is faithful enough to let this Spirit express itself through me.

        

When Others Behave The Way They Do

You're day went out quite right as how you intended it to be. The people you were always around with were the same funny and entertaining ones as they always were. And if some of their moods were sometimes irritating, you never mind because you knew that was a characteristic of them, what made them unique. You were about to call it a day. When suddenly in an office not yours someone came carrying herself proudly looking at you as if you were from outer space. From the way she gazed, you sense the sense of insecurity she was carrying deep inside, and reflected it outside by acting as if she were superior to you. You tried to make friendly movements which she ignored. This affected you. You felt a tinge of irritation creeping down within. So you immediately  finished your business in that office and went out. Then outside you saw her husband waiting for her, complaining and grunting loudly, calling for her, for she was inside too long; an attitude you would not want your husband to treat you with. You slowly got it and you said, that's why.

Did this happen to you? It did to me, yesterday. I inquired things about that lady. I was informed she just came from the U.S. Oh, would that make any difference? Would her actions be favorable for her? Would it matter whether she was above or below us? I was just so glad I was in this self-development business; for I knew where she stood and where I stood. And from the way her husband treated her, it was no wonder she had a bit of insecurity.

Anyway, people's actions no longer matter to me that much now. For if people behave the way they do, it is not because of who I am, it is because of who they are; how they see themselves and what their experiences are. It has been my prayer that God would make me loving to his children good and not so good alike. But since I am new to this undertaking, I have not yet matured fully. But at least I am able now to identify the sin from the sinner though my initial reaction would be somewhat judgmental. At least I have grown a little. This is a very big thing to me now.      

Steps To Achieving Personal Growth

It has been my interest to develop myself. Personal Growth is one of my focus. Sometimes I am right. Sometimes also I am not so right. Facing my pitfalls is a challenge I love in learning though it hurts in some way. But that is how it goes. I would not learn without knowing what to unlearn. Anyway, here are the steps I found in achieving personal growth.

Honor Your Unhappiness and Divine Discontent

Happiness is what I so much desire. Simply put, to be not happy means something is missing. Though there is no problem at hand, something is not yet right. This is what Mary Mannin Morissey call as 'Divine Discontent' in her book Building Your Field of Dreams. It is the small voice inside of us that says we must do something or else we would not achieve fulfillment in life. This Divine Discontent is the arrow that points us to where we should go and that there is some place somewhere which has been prepared for us. Until we do not heed to the calling of this voice we would not achieve the peace and happiness that we dream of.

The Desire For Improvement

It is said that the greatest room there is in this world is the room for improvement. This is the Divine Discontent in action. Knowing what we want or what we should do is just a start. We need the desire to do it; to improve or develop something in us that is necessary for our growth. Desire is the fire that would cook our dreams. The stronger our desire, the nearer we are to achieving our dreams.

Believe In Yourself

It took years for me to heal myself and build my dreams because I failed to believe in myself. In short, I neglected my own capacity. Each of us is endowed with talents that we should use and develop. Remember, every little thing about ourselves depend on us. The bigger is our belief in our own capacity to do something, the bigger is the possibility of achieving our dreams. It is we who must believe in ourselves first before others would follow; a good way to start by example.

Search Your Place

Everyone of us has our own place in this universe otherwise we would not belong here. This is the place where we could be happy. This is the place where we could be at peace. We are not born out of circumstance; we are born for a purpose. The same way as Oprah was born to inspire people or Charisse Pempengco was born to sing to people. Search your place. If you could, try everything until you find the right place that is perfect for you.

Discipline

Discipline is important in all areas of life. An athlete could never become a master in his field if not for the discipline he applies in his own self. If you feel you are called to dance, then practice until you achieve the necessary discipline required in there. If you feel you are compelled to write, then start writing until you become one. This has been one of my struggles.

Acknowledge The People Around You

You are not doing personal growth for yourself alone, right? If so, then let your loved ones know what you are up to. Let them know so that they would not wonder why you have become so weird in the next few days; or that you increase your time being alone. If possible bring those people around you to achieving your dream, perhaps they too share your interests.
One thing, save yourself from negative people. While you are still new in your undertaking, shun away from people who has the ability of pulling you down.

Do It Outwardly

This does not mean showing off. This just means that you must be bold in what you stand for. In this way you are creating a foundation for yourself. This is doing the thing in your own way. This is making your dream visible. This is acting out your dream. As what the Bible says, "...happy are you when you do something that does not contradict your conscience."

Be Grateful

"In everything give thanks." Be grateful to everyone who help you in achieving your dream including yourself. Be grateful for your failures along the way; for it made you stronger. Whatever blessing you achieve share it, it will multiply under God's hands.

Do Not Forget Spiritual Guidance

Do not forget the spirit within, the Source of power who gives everything and grants every prayer. Even if you may already have what you dream for, continue to pray. God does not leave any person who continually pray to him in every circumstance. Everything needs God's guidance for He is the giver of all.

The steps above are what I am following now. I am not yet a master of my chosen field; yet I know one day I will be, since this is the place I believe God prepared for me.

Good, Better, Best

Good, better, best. I think it is better to think things this way to slowly eliminate the negative thoughts that accumulate in our minds. Whenever something unlikely happens let us just consider it as good and aim for a better result next time. For if we consider it as something negative then it is difficult to eliminate from our system something that we keep on fighting. We should be thankful instead that we are still given the opportunity to improve things. Every situation is an opportunity either for growth or destruction; the choice is ours. And if we are to improve ourselves then let us start with a positive attitude coupled with a positive outlook until the good becomes better and the better becomes best.
As much as possible we will ignore negative people and focus only on our growth; they do not share our mission anyway. Let us just do our thing and follow what the Spirit within us compels us to do. Even Jesus in his own time did not condemn the Pharisees, the High Priest Caiphas, nor Pontius Pilate who allowed him to be crucified. He just focused on his mission-on what the Father ordered him to do. He was born for that mission.
Similarly, we have different missions. Let us stop joining the club of condemners. If you feel you have the heart of a peacemaker then start the work now. We could not be peacemakers by counterattacking troublemakers with their own tactics. God already know what to do with them. Let us begin our mission by using God's weapons of love and understanding. True love casts out fear. This we must never forget. And we must always remember, God's power is greater than any power on earth if He choose to show it. As long as we believe that miracles happen it will really happen.