Bakit Importante Ang Appreciation Sa Relasyon?

Mga mabuti at masamang epekto ng pagiging loner!

Unforgettable experience ko ang Richard Marx concert in Amsterdam! Ikuwe...

WHAT ARE THOSE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE THAT CAN FILL YOUR ENTIRE HEART?

5 Traits To A Long And Lasting Friend

 On my own.

Seems ages since I wrote my last blog.

My mind shuffling for any possible new entry.

Then I think about friends. Friendship.

People from different walks of life juggling, fighting, searching, longing for even just one friend to stay. 

What makes one a true and lasting friend?

1. Honesty. Because honesty is the best policy.

In this world of skin-deep and pretension, being honest is a must for a friend that last. Never pretend to be who you haven't been. A true friend will tell you things even those things that are hard for you to hear.

2. Vulnerable. We are created with the needs of caring and the heart that love to share. It’s not being dependent on someone, it’s not about having a friend who will always fight for us. It is the joy of sharing. Be it your ideas, your innermost feeling, your food, or any blast in your day.

3. Appreciative. In real good flow of friendship, plenty of appreciation. It is an unhealthy friendship if we always think that we are always the best, if we think that we must always be appreciated. Give your friends some space to move, to grow, and be happy that sometimes you are just in the background.

4. An Ear To Listen. Just listen and non judgmental. It means you can spare your most precious time with your friend, listening and engaging. We must be cautious, that after we listened, we fight the tendency to spread what there is that entrusted to us. 

5. Respect. In every relationship, respect serves as a soothing balm. Respect to our friend, give us limit up to where we are allowed to go. We respect their decisions, their choices. Self-centered people oftentimes loss friends. Most of the times, they try to buy their so called “friends.”

When in doubt...

There is no fear, there is no doubt, for those who anchor theirselves to the beauty of life. -Maggy

When in doubt... Doubt means uncertainty, doubt, reservation. Have you ever felt that you are in doubt? To something, such as your existence, the meaning of your life, or with your feelings. That is why, there is a phrase that says: "love without reservation." To love with all our hearts. Sky is the limit! Hahaha! I have written a few weeks ago about sadness. That even the happiest people in the world feel sad too. Now, my heart whispers to write something about doubt, about uncertainty. I know mostly can relate. What are some few simple things we can do to help us clear our minds, put off those uncertainties, and come back again to our senses? I took note some and I hope it can help you too.

1. When in doubt, zoom out to the big picture. Sometimes, it is the doubt that makes us feel so little, so small. Sometimes, it is the doubt that lets us to people makes us inferior. Zoom out, try to see life in a larger picture. Don't let doubt paralyzed you to move, explore, and grow.

2. When in doubt, tell yourself that it is okay to be an imperfect. In this imperfect world where imperfect people expect perfection, it invariably comes from ourselves the anchor to make a stable and decisive decision. Decide and just be aware of the results and even for the consequence.

3. Focus on the good in your life, reflect your past accomplishments, talk about it with your spouse or with someone whom you trusted. Sometimes, all the good things happened in our life in the past get vanish once doubt starting to shape in our minds. It can deteriorate our way of thinking and how we view the future. A good talk with someone can help.

4. It says that you are not guaranteed a "good" outcome, but there is a treasure even in a "bad" outcome if you know how to look. Yes, any bad outcome can be a life's learning experience. We can walk through them, and even how hard the hit was of that bad outcome, life continues and we should deal with it wisely this time.

5. The Bible and prayer. If you would ask me, I would say that, for countless times, I have proven it that a single Bible verse can lighten up my thoughts, and a prayerful attitude can turn the doubt into a secured feeling. When I am in doubt, I found what the Philippians 4:6, 7 very comforting, so reassuring. As I am writing this blog, I have the sense of contentment in my heart. 

Great Life Takes Time

Take time to savor the stillness of life, the clearing echoes of silence.

You cannot appreciate happiness if you have never experienced sadness.

You cannot appreciate light, if you have never experienced darkness.

Life is composed of ups and downs, of losing and of winning.

When trials and hard times comes, it is easy to give up.

But carry on, cling on to your dear life.

There is always sunshine after the rain.

There is always a smile after crying.

Look around, healing requires time.

Do not permit people to enter into your life, those people who just

put salt in the wound.

Take time to find out the beauty from something ordinary.

Take time to savor the stillness of life, the clearing echoes of silence.

The beauty of just sitting alone, with an awe of the clear blue sky,

or just being nonchalant.

But never lose your hold to life and relationship.

You hold with your faith in God and your relationship to the people you love... and love you back.

Not by Erin Hanson

You are not your age,
Nor the size of clothes you wear,
You are not a weight,
Or the colour of your hair.
You are not your name,
Or the dimples in your cheeks,
You are all the books you read,
And all the words you speak,
You are your croaky morning voice,
And the smiles you try to hide,
You’re the sweetness in your laughter,
And every tear you’ve cried,
You’re the songs you sing so loudly,
When you know you’re all alone,
You’re the places that you’ve been to,
And the one that you call home,
You’re the things that you believe in,
And the people that you love,
You’re the photos in your bedroom,
And the future you dream of,
You’re made of so much beauty,
But it seems that you forgot,
When you decided that you were defined,
By all the things you’re not.

*this poem is powerful, evokes deep emotion. In this world where most people find it hard to find self-acceptance, this poem is like a soft whisper for us to just believe with ourselves and not try so hard to reach beyond our capabilities and abilities. Yes, it says: Dream big! But beware, it is frustrating when our expectation did not meet.
Which part of the poem you love the most?
Me? I truly love this poem as a whole.

The Best Things In Life Are Free

I always appreciate a treat, be it kind or deed.

The best things in life are free! Have you ever heard about that? Do you also believe it so? Can you list or name at least ten things in your life that you conceive the best but are truly free? As I am writing this, my heart is in a deep gratitude for those people who are sticking with me. Those people who never giving up on me. Particularly those people here, where I am living now, the place where sometimes, I feel not just new (yes, still new, a newcomer) but somehow... lost.
Yesterday, my in-laws invited me and Burt (my son) to have lunch with them. I am truly thankful to them for the time and for paying my lunch. You might agree with me, that in this life, although we can also afford to dine out, pay our own meal, but the loving gesture that someone out there thinking of us and want to spend their most precious time with us... Is priceless. I appreciate that, I appreciate them.

I want to share with you my 15 best things in life that are free.
1. Family and parenthood
2. Love and faith. I love them together.
3. Our freewill. God gave us free will, if we let other people decide for us, especially on big and important things in life, we are losing this special gift.
4. People who never give up on me.
5. Watching sun set.
6. Hope. I feel secured because of hope.
7. Flowers, nature, good people.
8. The delicious aroma of a homemade food.
9. Quiet time.
10. Good sleep at night.
11. Second chances.
12. Smiles and laughs.
13. Touching lives without realizing it.
14. Hugs.
15. Last but not the least: mornings.

Seven Signs Of Being A Matured Person

"You're so immature, you're so irrational!" Most of us heard that in a movie or in a real life drama. I come to think, what are the marks of maturity? Aside from thinking about this for myself, I also read some information about this topic, and from those fragments I matched them with my own feelings that resulted for me to list seven signs of maturity. Here they are.

1. Maintaining a long term commitment. Gratification comes in a blink of an eye, can last for only a moment. A mature person has the power and strength to delay gratification and to say a firm no to a temptation.
2. I'm fine, be it with flattery or criticism, I am starting to feel stable, unshaken. A mature person is unshaken, firm, stable.
3. Notifying the spirit of humility. I come to the terms that I do not know everything. It says, humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.
4. Decision making mostly based on character, not on feeling. Although emotion is important, to be governed by a character is far more important and brings lifelong benefits.
5. Becomes more thankful, have the heart filled with gratitude. Immature people think and feel that they deserve everything good in life. Mature people appreciate both big things and little things in life; and learn both from the good and the bad that comes along in our life.
6. Listening more and talking less. Immature people are self centered. Talking less and have an ear to listen is a sign not only of maturity but  also of unselfishness.
7. Being calm, have the feeling of peace of mind. Not desperate or frantic, or irritational. Most of all, a mature person does not cling to material things. A mature person knows that a blessing is not about on things tangible, but more on intangible things in life.

Seven Important Life Lessons That I Learned As I Get Older

This sketch is by me, made this a while ago for this blog. 

"As we grow older, we become more honest and don't have the patience for pointless drama." I have read this quote from one of my Instagram friends. I am today writing this blog speaking as the first person, speaking about myself, the changes in me that you will find could be the same changes that might occure to you, gradually.

* As I grow older, I come to value more of my most precious time. Which is which. Time and opportunities just knock once, it is important which one you hold tight in your heart and which one you have to let go.

* As I grow older, I think I became a bit smarter in detecting lies, cheating, and fakery. As what Clint Eastwood says in the movie True Crime, "I have a nose for the truth." Smelling something fishy became easier as I grow older.

* As I grow older I became keener with the words "quality not quantity."
Be it on things, people, even on friendship. It is fine with me to have just one pair of  earrings as long as it is gold than many but are fake. In friendship, I look more for quality friends, not on quantity.

* As I grow older, I pay less attention to what people say, I became an observant. Silence becomes golden to me.

* As I grow older, I had learned not to take very seriously what other people say about me. I believe that the unhappiest people in the world are those who always care what other people think.

* As I grow older, the more I became unafraid to be alone... Or to lose people. As I get older, losing fake people in life is such a huge relief.

* Last but not the least, as I grow older, the more I appreciate elderly people. This is not only because of the famous line, "you will reap what you sow," but because elderly deserves it, it is a good and a strong moral, and I have an intense love in my heart.