Goodbye 2010...
Welcome 2011!!
Another year has passed. Now we're all done with the last traditional holidays of the year as we are shifting our gear to halt from left and right parties, exchange gifts, luscious foods and wines, not to mention lots of sweets, and we can go on and on (Bye bye diet! Visit me again next year). Some of us feel like we took a great vacation in a wonderful land of imagination and then we suddenly woke up facing reality of the beginning of a new year, and for employees, let's admit that this would mean going back to stress of work and regular days of facing one duty after another. But hey! This is okay but a not good way to start a year. After coming to realization of facing regular days of traffic among other things, let's start the year right. And this can be done with the right set of mind.
I believe that there are already millions of people who are taking advantage of their innate power to program themselves to have the right attitude and motivation to focus on positive things. This made them aim for goals, make a list of them, and even pray for them excitedly despite of all the fears seeking holes to their hearts. As the famous saying goes -- Feel the fear and do it anyway.
But for those people who were carried away by imitating 'My Amnesia Girl' (A movie by John Lloyd Cruz and Toni Gonzaga), please allow me to remind you of the Two Powerful Tools to get more blessings this coming year.
Welcome 2011!!
Another year has passed. Now we're all done with the last traditional holidays of the year as we are shifting our gear to halt from left and right parties, exchange gifts, luscious foods and wines, not to mention lots of sweets, and we can go on and on (Bye bye diet! Visit me again next year). Some of us feel like we took a great vacation in a wonderful land of imagination and then we suddenly woke up facing reality of the beginning of a new year, and for employees, let's admit that this would mean going back to stress of work and regular days of facing one duty after another. But hey! This is okay but a not good way to start a year. After coming to realization of facing regular days of traffic among other things, let's start the year right. And this can be done with the right set of mind.
I believe that there are already millions of people who are taking advantage of their innate power to program themselves to have the right attitude and motivation to focus on positive things. This made them aim for goals, make a list of them, and even pray for them excitedly despite of all the fears seeking holes to their hearts. As the famous saying goes -- Feel the fear and do it anyway.
But for those people who were carried away by imitating 'My Amnesia Girl' (A movie by John Lloyd Cruz and Toni Gonzaga), please allow me to remind you of the Two Powerful Tools to get more blessings this coming year.
First Tool: Gratitude
After Christmas, one of our friends took a 4-day vacation in our house just to take advantage of our free time to bond and enjoy the holiday vacation. Along with some of our other friends from our neighborhood, we went to the mall, watched a movie, ate out, and even had a good time enjoying the games we played with my little 3-year-old niece and a friend's 5-year old son. But other than these activities, I believe that one of the things we can treasure most is the fun bonding we had at home just watching movies on the internet and having a good chat after a meal talking about so many things that gave us a very good laugh. Spending time with my family and friends at home is one of the moments that I can treasure a lot for the rest of my life. We actually don't have to spend much but we can still have the same enormous amount of time together.
After our friend went home before New Year's evening, it made me realized things that I'm thankful about for this year as I went through my goals evaluation (I'm writing simple goals each year in each area of my life before the start of the year and I'm making a review and evaluation for each goal before the end of that year. I wish to share how this is being done with you some other time) . Below are just 10 of the things that I'm so grateful about this year:
After our friend went home before New Year's evening, it made me realized things that I'm thankful about for this year as I went through my goals evaluation (I'm writing simple goals each year in each area of my life before the start of the year and I'm making a review and evaluation for each goal before the end of that year. I wish to share how this is being done with you some other time) . Below are just 10 of the things that I'm so grateful about this year:
1. The new profound wisdom and knowledge I have learned
2. The great and stronger relationship I had with God, with my family, dear friends, and relatives for the whole year
3. The good health of my family
4. My job and the good relationship I had with the people I've worked with and still working with
5. Extra income
6. Very good resources I got that helped me achieved some of my goals and the resources of good people I just had the last quarter of the year
7. My savings account
8. The new business that I still have to learn and work out (I'm happy that I can at least, able to start with something)
9. My new piano (the fact that I can still focus to continue on improving my music skill makes me excited)
10. My new company laptop (though it's not mine and didn't ask for it, I still have a good appreciation for it)
2. The great and stronger relationship I had with God, with my family, dear friends, and relatives for the whole year
3. The good health of my family
4. My job and the good relationship I had with the people I've worked with and still working with
5. Extra income
6. Very good resources I got that helped me achieved some of my goals and the resources of good people I just had the last quarter of the year
7. My savings account
8. The new business that I still have to learn and work out (I'm happy that I can at least, able to start with something)
9. My new piano (the fact that I can still focus to continue on improving my music skill makes me excited)
10. My new company laptop (though it's not mine and didn't ask for it, I still have a good appreciation for it)
I can go on and on and on and I bet that I can still make more list of things that I'm thankful about for year 2010 and I know that if all of us will take time to think of good things that happened to us this year 2010, we can all come up with more than 10, more than 20, 30 and even more than a hundred! Just the fact that I was still able to wake up this morning is already a blessing to start with on my new list.
Gratitude seems a cliché to mention here but people tend to forget, maybe not literally, but subconsciously. So staying in touch with memory of this one important character - right focus - is all we need. We can always use the principle of using a compass. We all know that compass always points to north. Our emotion or feeling is the compass while the directions are our point of focus. But compare to compass, our feelings don't tend to stay in one direction (in case of compass, pointing in north direction), whenever we are going back to a certain situation that we just encountered. So we need to have a good grip of right focus to stay on track. We just have to always go back to ourselves and hold on to our faith in God and in what we can do.
You can try this one simple exercise of spending 10 to 15 minutes of self-conditioning, which means not letting yourself be bothered by problems or negative concerns. You can do this by listening to a soft music or just by walking by yourself (you can always try something that fits your personality and preferences). Then after this, try to list down good things that happened to you, regardless if it's something spectacular or not. Just write everything down no matter how silly it may be. Keep on writing and don't stop until you reach 10 and then 15 and then 20 until you already felt good and your emotion is already pointing toward something positive. This is just one way of turning your focus to the right direction. If you are not able to write down at least 10 things to be thankful, it only means that you are being hard to yourself. Most of our pains are self-infliction because those pains will no longer be pains for us if we are no longer focusing on them. And sometimes, people tend to focus on what they don't have yet that they are missing the great possibility presented to them already.
It's better to count coins than stones so keep on counting your blessings!
Gratitude seems a cliché to mention here but people tend to forget, maybe not literally, but subconsciously. So staying in touch with memory of this one important character - right focus - is all we need. We can always use the principle of using a compass. We all know that compass always points to north. Our emotion or feeling is the compass while the directions are our point of focus. But compare to compass, our feelings don't tend to stay in one direction (in case of compass, pointing in north direction), whenever we are going back to a certain situation that we just encountered. So we need to have a good grip of right focus to stay on track. We just have to always go back to ourselves and hold on to our faith in God and in what we can do.
You can try this one simple exercise of spending 10 to 15 minutes of self-conditioning, which means not letting yourself be bothered by problems or negative concerns. You can do this by listening to a soft music or just by walking by yourself (you can always try something that fits your personality and preferences). Then after this, try to list down good things that happened to you, regardless if it's something spectacular or not. Just write everything down no matter how silly it may be. Keep on writing and don't stop until you reach 10 and then 15 and then 20 until you already felt good and your emotion is already pointing toward something positive. This is just one way of turning your focus to the right direction. If you are not able to write down at least 10 things to be thankful, it only means that you are being hard to yourself. Most of our pains are self-infliction because those pains will no longer be pains for us if we are no longer focusing on them. And sometimes, people tend to focus on what they don't have yet that they are missing the great possibility presented to them already.
It's better to count coins than stones so keep on counting your blessings!
Second Tool: Positive Expectation
Let me tell you a story with a concept that is not originally mine. I heard this kind of story when I was a kid and this is one of the stories that stuck in my mind. In case it may be familiar with you - although not exactly the way you remember it - please bear with me as I am telling this from a memory with a lot of modification that I invented myself to suit our topic (Haha! Speaking about imagination).
The Love Potion
Once there was a man who is in love with the new girl in their town. We can call him by the name Tope, (please pretend that you are not getting the idea that it came from the word "Torpe" - a Filipino word for a guy who's coward in confessing his love for a girl) . Being a very shy person he is, Tope doesn't have a courage to let the girl know about his feeling. If only he can speak to her freely just to be able to talk to her and be near her but he can't. He knows that a lot of guys are already pursuing her and he admires their guts to do so. He's afraid that the girl will not like him or will not even look at him since there are a lot of guys getting her attention already.
One night, as Tope is walking home through the woods, he heard a plea from a voice of an old man asking for help. He stopped and looked around but saw nothing since it's very dark. He continued on walking but there came the voice again asking for help, "Please help me!". Tope looked around him again and saw something moving just behind the bush. He held up his lamp and took a hard look at the spot where he noticed something. Again came the voice, "Please young man help me, I'm stuck!". Tope slowly walks closer to the voice despite of the fear his feeling. He heard about some burglars roaming around the woods at night."Who are you?"
"Please come help me, my foot got stuck in this log."
Tope quickly approached the old man and helped him removed his one foot from a fallen log."My lamp is already empty with oil and I couldn't see my way. Then I just tripped and couldn't remove my feet from this log.. Thanks for helping me." said the old man. "It's alright. Why are you still walking around the woods at this hour? it's dangerous." asked Tope. "You can have my lamp sir so you can go home safe."
"You are so kind to offer your own lamp despite of knowing the danger of this wood." the old man smiled. "You might trip yourself as well on your way home or worse."
"It's alright sir." Tope smiled back but it gives him a little worry thinking he has to walk home like a blind man and has to brave himself of the danger. "I can't have it without anything to give you in return so please let me know what you want most at this point of your life"
"Ah, please never mind that sir. I'm a simple man and satisfied with life as it is. I don't have anything to ask for." answered Tope. "Nothing can satisfy no one. Regardless if they are aware of it or not, people keep on asking for something. There must be something that you would really love to have right now." the old man smiles as he is saying this.
Tope thought hard and the girl he's longing for just popped into his head. But he instantly brushed the idea away. "Nah, you can't help me with it." he said thoughtfully not aware that he said it out loud."What is it? Why don't you try me?" the old man amusingly insisted.
"Oh no, it's nothing. I will definitely be the only one who can help myself with that." and he laughed. "You see, there is this woman I fell in love with but I think I've got no chance with a woman like her. She's beautiful and attractive that a lot of guys swooned by her." he added scratching his head.
"Why? Are they better for her than you?" asked the old man.
"To be honest I don't know. It's just that I can't make myself approach her and try to pursue her (smiles). But yes, just forget it. I appreciate your offer of giving me something in exchange of my lamp but I'm afraid you can't help me with it. You can just take my lamp and let's just both head home". Tope dismissed the conversation feeling awkward talking about his desire. He gave his lamp to the old man and started to walk home but the old man stopped him."Wait! You might not believe me but I have something that can help you solve your problem." Tope curiously faced the old man. "Seriously sir, I still think that no one can help me but myself".
"I completely agree with you. But you may take this bottle of potion that I have here. It's called Love Potion." and he handed it to Tope. "Just put a drop of it on your right point finger and you will instantly make the woman you love be interested with you and eventually fall in love with you."
"Haha! Oh my.. This is ridiculous! I really appreciate this sir but I don't believe in this stuff." embarrassed, he laughed and tried to hand back the bottle with a colorless liquid in it that seems just like water. "Nobody knows that I gave it to you and there's no harm if you'll try it. You can give it back to me here if it didn't work. But I guarantee you that it's effective." and the old man left.
The next day, Tope blankly feeling the bottle in his hand as he is staring seriously to the woman he loves from afar. And as instructed by the old man, he dropped a small amount of liquid from the bottle given to him to his point finger and he approached the woman.
To make the story short, Tope got the gut to talk to the girl he's longing for after he followed what the old man told him. The woman returned his love after just a short time of pouring his great love for her. And like how the fairy tales end, they lived happily ever after!
But hey! Let me still tell you what happened before Tope went to cloud 9 completely. He went back to the woods and found the old man. He told him his deep gratitude of giving him the love potion and now he'd like to return it back thinking that he already got what he's dreaming for and that he will not be needing the love potion anymore. But the old man told him the unexpected thing."You can keep it. I can still have more of it anytime I want to. And just in case you also want more of it for yourself, you can also have more than you want." he smiled. "You see, it's just an ordinary water that I put in that little bottle. It has no magic or anything for that matter. Sometimes, we people, are still looking for something supernatural when the miracle is already within us. No matter how aware we are of this thing already, we still tend to rely on things outside of us".
And the old man walked away.
We can see in this story that the old man just prodded Tope to use something that he already has. Tope bravely tried the love potion because he somehow believed the unbelievable without realizing that he already has the power of potion within him.
This is the same with the expectation as it is fueled by belief. When we believe something, it will certainly manifest in our lives. Usually, the more emotion we put in that belief we have, the more we will act on it. We might not realize it most of the time but expectation has a great power in itself that it has no care whether it's positive or negative. It's like expecting to be sick and suddenly you'll get sick. It comes from different level more than a psychological matter as we always put it. But yes, mind has something to do with it - and of course our emotion. This is why I specifically putting it as Positive Expectation. Like a coin, expectation has two face that we can choose from. So like Tope, we must expect and believe positively. And to do that, we don't need to use a tool to use the power of it since it's already a tool itself. We just have to go back to ourselves (our heart), and with the right mind, we can always welcome positive things to happen to us.
Let me tell you a story with a concept that is not originally mine. I heard this kind of story when I was a kid and this is one of the stories that stuck in my mind. In case it may be familiar with you - although not exactly the way you remember it - please bear with me as I am telling this from a memory with a lot of modification that I invented myself to suit our topic (Haha! Speaking about imagination).
The Love Potion
Once there was a man who is in love with the new girl in their town. We can call him by the name Tope, (please pretend that you are not getting the idea that it came from the word "Torpe" - a Filipino word for a guy who's coward in confessing his love for a girl) . Being a very shy person he is, Tope doesn't have a courage to let the girl know about his feeling. If only he can speak to her freely just to be able to talk to her and be near her but he can't. He knows that a lot of guys are already pursuing her and he admires their guts to do so. He's afraid that the girl will not like him or will not even look at him since there are a lot of guys getting her attention already.
One night, as Tope is walking home through the woods, he heard a plea from a voice of an old man asking for help. He stopped and looked around but saw nothing since it's very dark. He continued on walking but there came the voice again asking for help, "Please help me!". Tope looked around him again and saw something moving just behind the bush. He held up his lamp and took a hard look at the spot where he noticed something. Again came the voice, "Please young man help me, I'm stuck!". Tope slowly walks closer to the voice despite of the fear his feeling. He heard about some burglars roaming around the woods at night."Who are you?"
"Please come help me, my foot got stuck in this log."
Tope quickly approached the old man and helped him removed his one foot from a fallen log."My lamp is already empty with oil and I couldn't see my way. Then I just tripped and couldn't remove my feet from this log.. Thanks for helping me." said the old man. "It's alright. Why are you still walking around the woods at this hour? it's dangerous." asked Tope. "You can have my lamp sir so you can go home safe."
"You are so kind to offer your own lamp despite of knowing the danger of this wood." the old man smiled. "You might trip yourself as well on your way home or worse."
"It's alright sir." Tope smiled back but it gives him a little worry thinking he has to walk home like a blind man and has to brave himself of the danger. "I can't have it without anything to give you in return so please let me know what you want most at this point of your life"
"Ah, please never mind that sir. I'm a simple man and satisfied with life as it is. I don't have anything to ask for." answered Tope. "Nothing can satisfy no one. Regardless if they are aware of it or not, people keep on asking for something. There must be something that you would really love to have right now." the old man smiles as he is saying this.
Tope thought hard and the girl he's longing for just popped into his head. But he instantly brushed the idea away. "Nah, you can't help me with it." he said thoughtfully not aware that he said it out loud."What is it? Why don't you try me?" the old man amusingly insisted.
"Oh no, it's nothing. I will definitely be the only one who can help myself with that." and he laughed. "You see, there is this woman I fell in love with but I think I've got no chance with a woman like her. She's beautiful and attractive that a lot of guys swooned by her." he added scratching his head.
"Why? Are they better for her than you?" asked the old man.
"To be honest I don't know. It's just that I can't make myself approach her and try to pursue her (smiles). But yes, just forget it. I appreciate your offer of giving me something in exchange of my lamp but I'm afraid you can't help me with it. You can just take my lamp and let's just both head home". Tope dismissed the conversation feeling awkward talking about his desire. He gave his lamp to the old man and started to walk home but the old man stopped him."Wait! You might not believe me but I have something that can help you solve your problem." Tope curiously faced the old man. "Seriously sir, I still think that no one can help me but myself".
"I completely agree with you. But you may take this bottle of potion that I have here. It's called Love Potion." and he handed it to Tope. "Just put a drop of it on your right point finger and you will instantly make the woman you love be interested with you and eventually fall in love with you."
"Haha! Oh my.. This is ridiculous! I really appreciate this sir but I don't believe in this stuff." embarrassed, he laughed and tried to hand back the bottle with a colorless liquid in it that seems just like water. "Nobody knows that I gave it to you and there's no harm if you'll try it. You can give it back to me here if it didn't work. But I guarantee you that it's effective." and the old man left.
The next day, Tope blankly feeling the bottle in his hand as he is staring seriously to the woman he loves from afar. And as instructed by the old man, he dropped a small amount of liquid from the bottle given to him to his point finger and he approached the woman.
To make the story short, Tope got the gut to talk to the girl he's longing for after he followed what the old man told him. The woman returned his love after just a short time of pouring his great love for her. And like how the fairy tales end, they lived happily ever after!
But hey! Let me still tell you what happened before Tope went to cloud 9 completely. He went back to the woods and found the old man. He told him his deep gratitude of giving him the love potion and now he'd like to return it back thinking that he already got what he's dreaming for and that he will not be needing the love potion anymore. But the old man told him the unexpected thing."You can keep it. I can still have more of it anytime I want to. And just in case you also want more of it for yourself, you can also have more than you want." he smiled. "You see, it's just an ordinary water that I put in that little bottle. It has no magic or anything for that matter. Sometimes, we people, are still looking for something supernatural when the miracle is already within us. No matter how aware we are of this thing already, we still tend to rely on things outside of us".
And the old man walked away.
We can see in this story that the old man just prodded Tope to use something that he already has. Tope bravely tried the love potion because he somehow believed the unbelievable without realizing that he already has the power of potion within him.
This is the same with the expectation as it is fueled by belief. When we believe something, it will certainly manifest in our lives. Usually, the more emotion we put in that belief we have, the more we will act on it. We might not realize it most of the time but expectation has a great power in itself that it has no care whether it's positive or negative. It's like expecting to be sick and suddenly you'll get sick. It comes from different level more than a psychological matter as we always put it. But yes, mind has something to do with it - and of course our emotion. This is why I specifically putting it as Positive Expectation. Like a coin, expectation has two face that we can choose from. So like Tope, we must expect and believe positively. And to do that, we don't need to use a tool to use the power of it since it's already a tool itself. We just have to go back to ourselves (our heart), and with the right mind, we can always welcome positive things to happen to us.
"Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step" - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
If you can't take the first step toward something you want to achieve this year because of fear or doubt, then you are expecting negatively and thus, attracting negatively. Not to mention that you are also having a negative belief about yourself.
One of the best things in life is enjoying the moment of it more than running hurriedly toward its destination. A lot of successful people are aware of this. With this thought, we are lessening fear that causes negative expectation.
So let us all expect positively and always start our day with good expectation starting this year. We are all a product of our own thinking so we'd rather focus on something that will make us feel beautiful than focus on something that eats up our soul.
We are all already blessed more than we think we are. Just being able to wake up in the morning and open your computer is already a lot of blessing. Isn't it even nice, that you are able to write in your Facebook status that you had a good night sleep?
So let's start the year right.
Be grateful and expect something more to be grateful!
God bless us all! Until next time..
One of the best things in life is enjoying the moment of it more than running hurriedly toward its destination. A lot of successful people are aware of this. With this thought, we are lessening fear that causes negative expectation.
So let us all expect positively and always start our day with good expectation starting this year. We are all a product of our own thinking so we'd rather focus on something that will make us feel beautiful than focus on something that eats up our soul.
We are all already blessed more than we think we are. Just being able to wake up in the morning and open your computer is already a lot of blessing. Isn't it even nice, that you are able to write in your Facebook status that you had a good night sleep?
So let's start the year right.
Be grateful and expect something more to be grateful!
God bless us all! Until next time..
