Regina Brett's Fifty Life Lessons: The Thirty Second Lesson

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Lesson Number Thirty-Two: Your job won't take care of you when you are sick.  Your friends will.  Stay in touch.

The latest news that shocks the Philippine corporate world is the successful suicide commitment of DBP's assistant legal counsel, Benjamin Pinpin. In a statement in his suicide note, he mentioned, he only did what was told of him to do because he was afraid to lose his job. He thought, if he would lose his job he would lose his family and dignity as well. In short he was allegedly pressured to do something against his will, yet done it just to save his job. Apparently, he did not lose his job. However, the truth always prevails. When the time of reckoning arrived he was overpowered by confusion and ended up taking his life away...

It was so sad. He was afraid to lose his job for his family. Yet, his job did not take care of his family. It did not take care of him. It did not take care of his life.

This is one lesson all of us must put into consideration. Our job would not take care of us. Even if we are just sick, it won't take care of us. It is right to keep in touch always with family and friends. Because when we lose everything, our job including, our family and true friends would always be there for us.

Have we kept in touch lately with our friends and family? Let's do it now.

Get happy!

Regina Brett's Fifty Life Lessons: The Thirty-First Lesson

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Lesson Number Thirty-One: However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

Do you believe this to be so? For me, yes it is. Just like some of you, I once was a negative thinker. When a situation seemed to be out of hands, I easily panicked and get depressed and frustrated over things that did not turn out the way I planned them to be. 

Over the years, this is what I learned, 'however good or bad a situation is, it will change.' There is always hope for bad situations because our loving God up there is watching us. Because He is a loving God, He does not want us to suffer. He is always available every time we ask for S.O.S. over things beyond our control. There is only one condition He is asking of us -- we need to call on Him whenever and wherever we need Him. He does not want us to whine. He does not want us to complain. Like a loving Father as He is, He wants us to explain what we want and ask of Him anything we want, as long as it is in accordance with His will of us. 

If we are suffering over something and we thought we have prayed hard enough, yet no answer has been given, I guess this is the time to check the whole situation all over again. Either what we ask have to change, or we, ourselves need to change our values, disposition and direction in life. As long as we need not forget, God always gives what is best for us, that is His weakness.

On the other hand, there are also times when 'good situations' change. As what the song says, 'some good things never last.' It is true. We need not expect good things to last nor to happen all the time. Because God wants us to learn. God wants us to be perfect as He is. It is in these bad situations that we can see the real meaning of life and of our existence. It is in these situations where we need God the most. That's why He allows bad situations to happen because it is in these situations where we are closer to Him.

Quiet naturally, nothing lasts forever. Whatever it may be; good or bad situations alike. Just like night and day, it does not lasts. Therefore, whatever is at hand, let us enjoy it. Always and for always let us call on God. Let us thank Him in good situations and ask for His strength in bad situations. He is the only ONE that lasts forever.

Get happy!     

Regina Brett's Fifty Life Lessons: The Thirtieth Lesson

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Lesson Number Thirty: Time heals almost everything.  Give time time.

Hurry. Hurry. Hurry. This is our reality today. We have so many instant noodles, instant daddy, instant mommy, instant diseases, instant happiness, etc., etc. Why? Because we couldn't wait. We want to finish everything in a snap of our fingers. We want to mold time. We want to control time.

Yet, such is not applicable to nature. Nature moves as it is. Nature defines time. Time heals everything. Nature heals everything. Instead of fretting and whining over things that we could not repair, let us just allow time to heal it. Moreover, let us give time, time.

Get happy! 

Regina Brett's Fifty Life Lessons: The Twenty-Ninth Lesson

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Lesson Number Twenty-Nine: What other people think of you is none of your business.

Would it matter much what others think of us? It seems to matter. Sadly, whatever we do, other people always find something wrong with us. We may struggle hard to please other people, yet in the end it is not worth a thing. So why live for other people? Let us live not minding how do we look at other people's eyes. As long as we know we are doing the right thing.  

It is inevitable that not all people have positive thoughts about us. The best thing we could do is focus on our strengths and on the purpose we live our dear lives for. 

Like what happened to me just recently. I got negative reactions for being spontaneous in showing my negative reaction to something not right that happened. For me, it is healthy to show what I feel, as long as I am directly pointing at the issue. Unfortunately, the result was not advantageous on my part. I was so frustrated and disappointed at what happened and even blamed myself for acting such, which lead me to self-pity and regrets. After thorough deliberation and prayers I was back on my feet again. It no longer matters to me who was right or wrong. The lesson I learned was -- I did the right thing of correcting someone who was not right. I could not change anybody. If someone hates to get corrected, it is no longer my problem. It is her choice. I could only change myself. I could only teach lessons to myself. The good thing is, from that incident one thing became clear to me -- I AM LIVING MY LIFE FOR MY FAMILY. Even if others may hate me, my family still accepts me and loves me as I am. I realized, what others think of me is none of my business! My sole business in this beautiful world is to do everything I can for the people I love and lived for. 

Get happy!

Do you have any experiences similar to mine? Please leave a comment below.

Regina Brett's Fifty Life Lessons: The Twenty-Eighth Lesson

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Lesson Number Twenty-Eight: Forgive everyone everything.

One reason why we could hardly move on in our lives is by not forgiving somebody who sinned against us and bringing his/her memories with us wherever we go.

Forgiveness is a virtue very hard to practice. In my lifetime there are countless of people who have caused me pain. Not just pain, but wounds that leave awful scars staining sometimes my relationships with my family and other people around.

To forgive is much easier said than done. But first, before we could have the courage to forgive someone, we need to forgive ourselves first. We need to forgive ourselves for committing the mistake of letting other people hurt us. We need to forgive ourselves for giving our TRUST to someone who is not worthy of it. We need to forgive ourselves for being so naive, so idiot, so innocent and so blind. If we can do that to ourselves, it would be much easier for us to forgive someone. 

When we forgive, we benefit from it more than those people who have hurt us. Because it is our deepest being that is cleansed. When we are able to forgive, our memories are cleaned; our guilt is lessened; our bucket of negative feelings is emptied; and our heart lightened. 

Most sicknesses and diseases are caused due to negative and ill-feelings we harbor in the deepest part of ourselves. This is scientifically proven. Should we wait to get sick before we forgive? Of course, we do not like that. So why wait for it to happen. Forgive now. Ask God's loving guidance that forgiving may not be as difficult as it seems. Forgive and choose life.

Get happy!     

Regina Brett's Fifty Life Lessons: The Twenty-Seventh Lesson

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Lesson Number Twenty-Seven: Always choose life.

Could you believe that I was once a run-away from 'life'? Yes. I used to be coward, faint-hearted, weak, submissive, neurotic, fearful, etc, etc... I used to be anything negative you could describe a person. 

Am I still this person now? Not that much. I learned. I had my fair share of learning it the hard way. I did not choose to learn. God did. He put me inside a suffocated situation where I CHOOSE to grasp for air. It were situations where I could hardly breathe and struggle every inch of strength I had just to breath. That was my way of learning.

If there is any wise lesson I learned so much from life -- it is choosing life. No matter how much we run away from life; no matter how much we surrender; no matter how much we submit ourselves; no matter how much we give up, we could do nothing but choose life. It is because, every breath we take is life. It is given to us freely. On the contrary, we could not give it back freely.  

There is one way of giving this life voluntarily back to its Creator -- committing suicide. But it's wrong. It's a wrong choice. It is an act that imprisons our souls forever. All because we have not the right to take back this life away from us.

This 'life' we have is given us freely to be lived fully, to be enjoyed, to be cherished. 

The good thing about life is -- no matter how difficult every situation could be, there is always a way out. When we believe the end of the world is at hand, there is always a savior who always come unexpectedly.They may be friends, acquaintances, or even strangers. They were just sent without their knowledge to help us out.

So by now, if you are weary, dreadful, disappointed, frustrated and at the verge of giving up, just choose life. No matter what you do, God is there watching you, interfering in your every act. All He wants from you, is to choose life.

Choose life. It is much better than choosing the other way, yet in the end you are bound to choose life still. Choose life immediately instead of  wasting time and effort. Do it now and live.

Get happy!

 

   

Regina Brett's Fifty Life Lessons: The Twenty-Sixth Lesson

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Lesson Number Twenty-Six: Frame every so-called disaster with these words:  "In five years, will this matter?"

So many wasted time do we have when we worry too much. We never know worrying over something does not help at all. Almost always we are carried by our emotions. We make spur of the moment decisions which we always regret later. What we forget is, many of the things that give us worries do not matter much after five years or less. 

If we are to be happy; if we desire so much to improve ourselves, then we must take everything slowly, no matter how tempted are we to react at the very moment.  

Always we must remember: there is no perfect situation; there is no perfect person; there is no perfect circumstance. We never know what will happen after five years or even the next day. Everything is in God's caring hands. Why fret, when God is in charge?

When faced with a near disaster situation, just close your eyes, take a deep breath, ask yourself, 'will this matter in five years?' Listen to God's voice. You may feel His answer in the deepest part of you. Then make a decision. Do not be afraid of committing the wrong one. As long as your ship is anchored in God, you could never go wrong. 

Get happy!