Manic Monday

 

It’s Monday again, and off to work again this morning. Was so busy. My program is business tax, and it’s due every 25th of the month. People wait until the last day to submit their returns, and since my back up is out, I only have myself to do it.

I’m not complaining, in fact, I enjoy it. I enjoy being budy, and time goes by so fast that way.

Today was different. We were allowed to get off from work an hour early. Especially those who live far like me. The reason? Nope, there’s no snow, so that’s not it….lol

They shut down the water in the bathrooms due to sewer problem. At first, they told us in the email that if we want to go, we have to go to the building on the other side of ours. Whaaat? 😂

At about at 3pm, our director talked to our bureau chief and supervisor that we can go home, especially those who live far. As soon as I heard it, I packed my things, didn’t even clear my desk…lol.. and off I went…home 😃.

It was nice to be home early, I got hang out with my husband a lil bit more, chill. 

Oh well, by the time I’ll post this, it’ll be Tuesday 😃

If tomorrow doesn’t come

 

What if, tomorrow never came? I was getting ready to bed, when this thought hits me. Nothing, I just thought our life here on Earth. It’s really short and fast.

It makes me cry whenever I think my loved ones who passed, especially my mother. I never imagined life without her. I never thought that one day, I can’t hug and see her anymore.

Just today, I learnt that one of our batchmates in high school died. He died in his sleep. I also just saw it today but it was just the other day when commented on my post and greeted my son on his birthday. How did it happen? They said he just didn’t wake up. Same thing happened to my niece, aunts, grandmother, and my mother, but they were old except for my niece who was just 27 years old. 

They said that “death comes like a thief in the night”. We don’t know when, where and how. Only God knows. If ever that’ll happen to me as I lie down to sleep tonight, I want my love ones, especially my husband and son, all my siblings, relatives, and friends that I love them, and thankful that I became a part of their life. I also want to say sorry for all my shortcomings, mistakes and bad things that I did or said to them.

And I’m sorry Lord, for hurting you over and over again. I just hope and pray that you’ll welcome me with open arms in Your Kingdom. 

If tomorrow doesn’t come? Only God knows.

In Jesus name. Amen 🙏

Mani & Pedi

 

It’s Sunday, had to do my routine. That is, mani & pedi. When I was in the Philippines, I usually have somebody to come to my house and do my nails. If nobody’s available, I go to a salon, same thing with my haircut. 

There are a lot of salon in the Philippines that do these, and they’re very cheap. Salons there are everywhere. Unlike here, you have to find a very good hair/nail expert to get a good haircut or a pretty nails done.

I once went to get my nails done in a salon, but just got disappointed m. They didn’t do a good job. Since then, I never went back and decided to just do it myself. I do it every other week.

There are times I get lazy, like today. But had to pull myself together and did it anyway. Tomorrow’s Monday, and I don’t want to go to work with ugly nails…lol

Feeling tired

 Weekends are precious to me. These days are the times that I can do what I have to do (aside from house chores) without getting up @ 4am, ans drive an hour to work. Though I still get up @6am, that’s my ideal wake up hour.

There are times that I didn’t want to do the cleaning early in the morning, but I think my body’s programmed to do that. Had to do it right away so I can relax and just watched my Kdrama.

There are time I just want to stay at home in my pajamas and do nothing. But I know that’s not gonna happen. My house needs to be cleaned. But I got to cook my pinoy breakfast today, I craved for fried eggs, smoked fish or tinapa, and fried rice. My tummy was happy 😃.

We ordered burritos for dinner today. We didn’t wanna cook, it was good, though it can’t compared to us rice, but it was a decent meal. And besides, I had rice this morning, so im good 👍.

Saturday went by so fast but I still have another “chill day”, tomorrow. I’ll just savor every minutes of my days off, and get ready for another week at work.

Thank you Lord for this day and for all the blessings that you have us 🙏

What’s on your mind?

 

If you’re into social media, especially on Facebook, you’re familiar with this, “what’s on your mind?” . Facebook always wants to know what’s going on in our mind, simply being nosy…lol

Our mind is the busiest part of our body. With mine alone, I have a lot in my mind, different thoughts, there are good and bad, happy and sad, old and new memories, my loved ones who are not here anymore, my family, friends, enemies, I can go on and on and on. 

I once dreamt of becoming a psychologist, I even wanted to visit the prison to interview inmates, to know why they committed crimes, and what was going on in their mind. But as I grew older, that dream changed.

I was also curious about what’s going on in the minds of those who are mentally handicapped people. They have different thinking, especially those schizophrenic. 

Our mind is tricky, that’s why I don’t entertain negative thoughts most of the time. I avoid those, it won’t do me any good. I just want to think about happy thoughts. Life is hard, and with what’s going on around the world, I always think that life is beautiful especially if we’re surrounded by our family, friends and all our love ones. 

What’s on my mind? God is love ❤️ 🙏

1 month blogging

Oh it’s been a month since I started this blog. And I’m proud of myself. Usually, I will start to write for a short period of time, then started to get lazy….lol

I used to have a read and write a lot, that’s my passiin and favorite hobby. I also had a lot of blogs even before I came here to the US. I even made money thru blogging. But I got tired and  got busy with my family and work.

If I knew that I can make a lot of money from blogging after a few years, I could’ve continued those blogs. But it’s too late, I can’t remember anymore what email and passwords I used to be able to retrieve those. 

Oh well, I have this now and promised myself that I’ll continue writing regardless. There are times that I didn’t want to write because either I forget, or I’m too lazy to think of a topic , or sometimes I will remember when it’s already late at night and getting ready to go to sleep. 

Just like tonight, I almost forgot, but still managed to motivate myself and here I am 😊. 

Happy monthsarry to my blog!!!! Yay!!! 

Birthday

 

January 26th, when my only child was born, it seemed like just yesterday when he was little, he never wanted to leave my side. He always cry whenever I leave for work. It breaks my heart when he calls me and tells me to go home because he missed me.

Toy story was his favorite, he watched it over and over again. And he can’t go to sleep without his favorite “tico” a stuffed dog. He always hug it while sucking his thumb. It’ll be a chaos if can’t find it. And his favorite fastfood was Jollibee. He loved their rice and gravy…lol

His Lola, basically was the one who raised him. He was a lola’s boy. That’s why he cried a lot when she passed away, almost 10 years now😔. We all still missed my mother💕.

Fast forward to present, he’s now27 years old, moved out and living with his girlfriend. He graduated with the highest Latin honor in school, and is now working 2 jobs as a nurse. 

I’m very much grateful and thankful to my husband who helped me raise him, and treated him like his own, my family especially my mother who helped me mould him to be a good kid that he is now. And to God who guided him to the right path. 

And very thankful to my son, for being such a good child, responsible, and kind. 

Thank you Lord 🙏🙏🙏

Green Grass

I was watching something when suddenly, one of the characters said, “the grass is greener on the other side of the fence”. I’ve heard this saying a lot of times. oftentimes, I heard people say that it means, it’s always better or there’s a better opportunity in other country, or other people’s life is better. 

But come to think about it. It’s not always like that. Probably other people are just blinded by material things once they see that others are living a good life, or they can have all the things that they want, better than them.

When I was young, My dream was to come here to the US, I think it wasn’t just me, a lot of Pilipinos do. We think of America as a rich and powerful country, that’s true though. But when I got here, I still have to work hard in order to get and buy the things that I want. 

Yes, I admit that there are plenty of opportunities here than in the Philippines, but we still have to work so we can pay the bills, buy food, do all the house chores, nothing changed except, we live in a different country, far from my birth country.

The secret for the “grass” to look greener, is to dream, and make that dream a reality, but in order to do that, we need gather a lot of strength and patience, believe in yourself that you can do and fulfill your goal, work hard, save, and have faith in yourself, and believe in God. 

Your grass won’t just get greener, it’ll also bloom, and continue to grow, as long as you supply it with tender, loving care 😉. 

 

Happy Chinese New Year!!!

 

Today is Chinese New Year! It is the start of the year of the rabbit, according to the Lunar Calendar. The Rabbit is the fourth animal in the zodiac sequence of 12, and is seen as the luckiest. People born in the year of the Rabbit are believed to be vigilant, witty, quick-minded and ingenious. The animal is also said to signify mercy, elegance and beauty.

If you were born in the year of the rabbit, this will be your kuckiest yeat, according to the Chinese calendar. 

I remember when I was still in the Philippines, my friends and I always go to Ongpin, it’s a place in Manila, where majority of Chinese lives. They always have festivities, the most favorite was the dragon dance. 

There, you can buy different charms, and home decorations, some will keep the bad things away from your home, gives goodluck and prosperity. 

Many Pilipinos believe in  FengSui, it is a practice of arranging the pieces in living spaces to create balance in the natural world. There are a lot of rich and prominent Pilipinos that are willing to hire and pay a big sum of money to Feng Sui experts. Some can’t even make a decision themselves, unless they consult those experts.

For me, I don’t need feng sui experts to decide for my life. I am my own person, and I believe that if I work hard and believe in myself, I can do it. And I only believe in God 🙏

Ghosting

Have you experienced being ghosted? I bet each one of us experienced it. I’m not talking about a real ghost, you know, those  dead people that shows up and give us goosebumps? No, I’m not talking about that.

I’m talking about people that are alive but ghosted somebody, whether family, friends, or in most cases, their girlfriends/boyfriends.

I’ve experienced it before, I knew somebody that all of sudden, disappeared. No ifs, no buts. You will wonder what happened or what you did that made them do that. 

In these days and age, there are a lot of ghostings that are happening, especially in social media. At first, I didn’t know what it was. I thought they’ve seen a real ghost…lol. It was funny, but at the same time, it was puzzling, especially if they share a deep relationship.

Wouldn’t you wonder, if this happens to you? It’s like, you were left a problem that nobody can solve but that person. You were left hanging. You didn’t know what you did, and if you were the cause, or somebody else. 

I know it hurts, and the more you think about it, the more it troubles you. But whatever it is, just pray that you’ll overcome it. And that the person who did that to you will also find peace and happiness. Also, think that the people who are doing that are cowards, meaning, they don’t have the courage to tell you in person. That’s why they chose the easiest way, to hide, to disappear, or in other owirds, ghosting. 

I may not know what you feel if you’re the victim of ghosting, but maybe, you can think about it as a blessing in disguise. Maybe God is protecting you from that person, and HE will lead you to another that will give you the true love and happiness. 

Think positive 💭. Everything happens for a reason 😊💕

Weekend feels!!!

 

Weekend finally came, but it was so fast! Got up early and started to clean early too. Finished cleaning and finally done with the laundry too.

My husband and I went get some stuff to the store and went back home right away. 

Not much to do but at least I finished all my house chores. The only thing that’s left for me to do is ironing Joe’s work clothes.

The weather turned out nice today, and will continue to until this coming week.

Not looking forward to drive in the snow again, but if it falls at night during weekdays, I wouldn’t mind, coz it only means one thing, either we’ll have a 2 hour delay, or closures 😃.

Not much to write coz my mind’s not into writing something that’s inspiring. Maybe one day…

Snow

It’s snowing here again in Santa Fe, I looked in my backyard camera at home, we don’t have any. Not sure if I’ll stay in my son’s house. I really don’t want to stay here.

I hope it stops by the time I’m getting off from work. I just wish it snowed earlier or later tonight, when I’m already homw and comfy.

And tomorrow is the weekend. It should’ve snowed last night, so that we’ll have a delay or closures…lol.

Oh well, that’s life here in the state where I live. The elevation is high, hence, it snows during the winter. But we're really lucky because it doesn’t snow here much, unlike in other states like East Coast. We just have to bear it for 3 mos, or less.

I’ll just pray that I’ll get home safe, same with my son. My husband’s already home, so he’s fine 😊.

Thank you Lord for this week, and looking forward for a nice, safe, and warm weekend 💕

P.S.

The snow was really bad when I get off from work. The drive on the freeway was really bad, but here where I live, the sun was up and seemed like it’s summer time 😃. Just glad I got home safe and sound. Thank you Lord 🙏

Doodle

 

This is an example of drawing aimlessly, like doodling. That’s how my brain is now. It’s almost 8pm but I just remembered that I don’t have an entry here yet. My mind is not working properly. And that’s when doodle came in mind.

I don’t have any idea what to write, so bear with me if I jump from one topic to another, or what i wrote here doesn’t make sense…lol

Today is just an ordinary day, drove to work for an hour, was so busy @ work, I processed a lot of checks. In the afternoon, we had a little get together for our 2 co-workers who applied to a different unit, a promotion. 

Left work @ 4pm, as usual. When I got home, took the dogs out, had my dinner, watched the news for a short while, watched my Kdrama, now I’m on bed. 

And that’s about it. Another day went by, and ready for tomorrow. 

Goodnight 🌙😴 

Wednesday

It was snowing real hard yesterday, and the result was icy and poor road condition. And since we follow the public schools policy regarding inclement weather, when they announced that they had a 2 hour delay, that means we also had a delay. 

The delay is for the drivers to slow down to avoid any accidents. Santa Fe has high elevation that’s why we always get a snow. 

I left early for work today, and was going the speed limit, 75mph, but when I was one exit away, I got stuck in the traffic. There was an accident and the traffic was moving very slow. 

I knew that I had enough time, so I wasn’t worried, until I only had 15 minutes left and I was still in a traffic jam. I decided to text my supervisor to let her know that I will be late. But as soon as I sent the message, we started to move.

I was happy because I made it on time, and safe. But if I learnt about the accident, I could’ve taken the earlier exit. But who could’ve known, right. The important thing was nobody got hurt from that accident, and I was patient enough and just listened to the music until the traffic became clear, and made it on time at work. 

Mistakes

When I was a in elementary, and even in high school, I used to have a pencil case. I even had different sizes of pencil then.

Some had erasers some didn’t. But I always have an eraser. In case I make mistakes, I can easily erase it. 

Nowadays, there are pencils that has no eraser, though there are still some that exist, but the most common that we used is the white out or correction tape. 

But whether you use the traditional eraser or white out, they were made to correct mistakes. 

Just like in life, when we make mistakes, we tend to correct it.

It’s like giving ourselves another chance. 

It doesn’t matter how many mistakes we made in life, we can always correct them, just don’t make the same mistake over and over again. 

There’s always room for improvement. We just have to pay attention and be careful, that’s what life is about. As long as we admit that we made mistakes and learned from it, we’re fine.

Nobody’s perfect 👍 😉. 

Monday

Woke up @ 6AM today. Had to get up right away, my puppy, Sam, had an appointment with the groomer @ 8. Aside from that, we woke up from Rosemary’s meowing outside our bedroom. She was hungry and can’t wait for me to fill her dish up. 

After dealing with the dogs, I started the coffee, and gave Sam a bath. The weather is gloomy and snowing a little when we left. After dropping Sam off, drove back home and took a shower. My friend and I had a lunch date. We were friends since we were young. 

We are both live in the same state, but we seldom see each other. When I said seldom, it’s really seldom. The last time we saw each other was in 2013, and it’s now 2023. It’s been 10 years…lol

But despite those years, nothing changed. It seemed just like yesterday. The warmth of our friendship is still there. We talked about our family, and friends that we left behind in our home country. Only time changed, and our age. 

Good friends will remain good friends despite of the years that gone by. I was happy to see her again and looking forward for the next one. 

Kindness

It doesn’t hurt to be kind. Kindness is normal to human being. But what happens when you show kindness to other people? You’ll be blessed and it’ll comeback not one, not two, but a hundred folds. 

Kindness is free, and it should be given without hesitation. It feels good to be kind to others. But don’t let others abuse you. Some people tend to take advantage. Like, if you give your finger, they would want your whole body. 

Everything that’s excessive is bad. Just like food, if we eat too much, we get indigestion. 

I remember when I was young, we had a neighbor that didn’t have anything to eat, without telling my mother, I gave them rice so they can have something to eat. Even now, I can’t say no if somebody ask for help. It feels good inside.

Being kind doesn’t only means that you have to give them money, it can be advise, or just simply being there to listen, to lend a hand. And it doesn’t have to be somebody we know. It could be strangers, a random person. 

Being kind won’t kill us. So the next time you see somebody that needs help, don’t hesitate, because it helps to ease the burden on somebody else’s shoulders,  and that can count as your good deed for the day 😉. 

Weekends

I love weekends. When I was a student, I always looked forward to the weekends. It meant that I can sleep late, play with my friends, and not to worry about homeworks. 

Until I grew up and started working. My first job was a teacher, so, no classes during weekends. Until I worked in a telephone company. It was shifting, and it was hard to get a Saturday & Sunday off, especially we were just newly hired. But with good friends and some luck, I always found a way to take a weekend off.

Fast forward to the present. Aside from weekends off, there were times that we get lucky to take extra day/s off during the weekdays, if there are delays or closures of school due to inclement weather or snow storms. 

Actually, whatever day it is, the important thing is that, we are able to take a time out from our jobs, we need a breather, and thank God for the rest days. Weekend is the time to recharge, to spend time with our family, to chill. And when it’s over, we can start again, and wait for another weekend off 😊. 

Happy weekend 💕

Stress

I’ve already discussed about the thieves of happiness before.  One of them is stress. I guess it’s already a part of our life that we can’t ignore. 

I don't get stressed out easily, but when I do, it usually ruins my mood, if not my whole day. But it depends what kind of stress. If it’s about money, it doesn’t stress me out nor bother me that much. But when I’m at work and something happened or somebody did something and can’t wait to tell me, then I get stressed out.

When we were young, I remember my mother always reminded us, if we have bad news, unless it’s life and death, we should wait until she gets home and rested. Of course I was young then, I didn’t quite understand what she meant. But when I got old, I now know what she meant. She didn’t want to ruin her day nor want to think of the problem that will affect her job.

I wish I didn’t get old…lol. I didn’t realize that the more we get older, the complicated and stressful life is. But I don’t let this affect me that much, coz I know, this too will pass 😉.

Slice of Life

 

Growing up, we always have newspaper delivered to us everyday, it was a broadsheet. Every Sunday, it included a magazine. My siblings and I always wanted to get a hold of it first, why? There was a page there that we love to look at. It was a whole page cartoon, it was called “Slice of Life” (please see sample picture above) by the late Filipino cartoonist and illustrator, and National Artist, Larry Alcala. 

Aside from he showed the everyday life of Filipino people thru his cartoons, he made it a point that he also drew his face and mix it to his drawing for the people like us to find it. It was like a hunting game 😊. It was always fun. Sometimes it was easy, sometimes it was hard to find him. 

When I was young, maybe about 8 or 9 years old, not old enough to understand life. I started to wonder and asked myself why I can only see what’s going on in my life. Unlike in the movies, where they have this scene what’s going on in the life of one person, then switched it to another. 

It was then when I grew up and old enough to understand that I am responsible to my own life, and others to theirs. It was only then that I was old enough to understand what’s the meaning of individual and privacy. 

I drive to work everyday during weekdays. And as I look around, I observed different people, most of the time, they’re talking on their phone, others are texting, there are women who dared to put make up while driving, probably because the’ve ran out of time, others are sipping their coffee, others are in the drive-thru to get breakfast, others are just concentrating and eyes on the road, others are driving like maniacs. 

Whether those people are going home, going to work, or just simply minding their own business, always remember, to each his own. We simply want to live and share our own “slice of life”. 

Rosemary, my cat pretty 🐱

I was a dog lover. My whole family love dogs. We never had a cat, that’s probably why I was always scared of cats. My husband always trying to convince me then to get a cat. He told me they’re cool, and we didn’t have to take care of them like dogs, my answer was always a NO.

Until one day, he convinced me. So, off we went to animal shelter. We saw this orange kitty that looks so pretty and cool. After staying in one room and got to know her, we decided to adopt her. 

We named her Rosemary. She was just 8 months old then, and she’s the sweetest. I know nothing about cats, so after 2 days of taking her home, I thought she was sick, and it concerned me, so I told my husband that maybe we should bring her back to the shelter because I think she was sick. He asked me why, I told him that I think she had phlegm cause I kept hearing a sound from her chest. He laughed at me and told me that it’s normal, she was just purring because she’s happy. He told me he thought it was cute because it got me concerned for nothing….lol

Before,  it was just her and our rescued dog, Walter. Until we got 5 more dogs thru the years. Rosemary’s the only cat. She is so patient with all the puppies that we adopted. We never saw her got mad. 

She loves being petted. But don’t ever leave her bowl of dish empty, or move it, because if you do, she’ll give you an earful 😹. Yes, she’s talkative and loves talking back…lol.

Rosemary gave me a different perspective about cats. Now I love her as much as I love dogs. She’s now almost 7 years old, she still loves to eat, be petted, and of course, to talk 😺. 

Secrets

 

“Listen, do you want to keep a secret? Do you promise not to tell, oh oh oh.” This song just popped up in my mind. I’m an old soul. I always listen to old songs. But yes, I’m old 😃.

But wait, do you have secrets? Are you the type who just keep it to yourself, or you share it with your close friends? I don’t think I keep secrets, I’m too talkative to do that…lol 😃. 

But believe it or not, if a friend tells me something and it’s a secret, it’ll remain a secret. I always keep my word and my promise. 

If somebody decided to share their innermost thoughts or their private lives, it only meant one thing. They trust you. And that trust is something that we should treasure. 

Just like when we pray, we tell God everything, no holds bar. Why? Because we know that God is God. We can pour  our heart out without prejudice, without doubt. In HIM, we trust! And that is no secret. 

Laziness

I am the 6th in the brood of 7. I was the youngest among us girls. My mother became a widow at the age of 43. While my mother was busy working, she gave my older siblings their own  house chores. My brother who is just 2 years older than me, the youngest, and I, didn’t have to worry about those. We were to young to help then. 

I grew up doing nothing, because I always had my mother and my older sisters and brothers to rely on. I just had to go to school, do my homeworks, eat, and play. My youngest brother and I were the favorites (wink).  Then I realized that they’re not always by my side. It was only then when I moved here in the US that I learnt how to clean the house, and be responsible, like what normal adult is. 

Yes, I have my husband, and my young son here. Had to help my husband earn a living. I can’t be lazy. My family is in the Philippines and they’re too far away to ask for their help. That was the time that I gathered all my strength and told myself that I can do it. If others can, why can’t I.

Fast forward to the present, I am proud of myself. From being so lazy and know nothing before, now I know I can do everything. With the help of my family, and the strength that came from our Dear Lord. HE was the one who taught me how to be strong when I asked for it, HE was the one who gave me hope when I needed one. 

There are times that I still get lazy, not because I am back to my old self, but because I know I deserve it. Time is gold as they say, but there are times, we need to slow down, to feel and savor the beauty of life. And right now, I am just sitting here, updating my blog, then watch tv later. Tomorrow is another day 😉.

Emotions

Whenever we’re sad, happy, and excited, we show it thru emotions. There are three parts of our brain that’s responsible for it. We know that it functions well if we’re able to show what we feel. 

The brain is the main center of the nervous system. It controls how we think, learn, move, and feel. 

I remember how happy I was when I graduated from college, and when I had my first paycheck. I was the happiest when I gave birth to my son. And I cried so hard when my mother passed. It was probably the saddest part of my life 😓. 

And I believe that our mind is tricky, and sometimes “evil”. Don’t get me wrong. Because if it’s not, how come people think of committing suicide and actually doing it.The brain sends signal to our body, and made us do it. 

That’s why we have to be careful in what we think and do. We have to examine ourselves if it’s the right thing to do or not. In the internet world, we call it nowadays, “think before you click”.

Whatever decisions or act we make, we have to think about it a lot of times. Because in the end, we are the ones who’ll bear the consequences. Don’t blame it to your emotions. 

Memories

 “Here’s to the ones that we got. Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not. ‘Cause the drinks bring back all the memories of everything we’ve been through.”

These are just part of the song “memories” by Maroon 5. One of my favorite songs. I can play it over and over in my head. I like it because it reminds me of all the good and bad memories especially during my childhood.

“Toast to the ones here today. Toast to the ones that we lost on the way.” Looking back, there are a lot of people that I already lost, like my precious mother. We lost her in 2013, she was 80 years old. My father left us early, he was just 43. No matter how many years it has been, the memories and the pain that these two special people left can never be mended. They will forever have a special space in my heart and in my life 💕.

Relatives, friends, and other people also created memories in my life. Even if they just simply went to other places, or I lost contact with them, they already became a part of my existence. Even just a random person that I saw in the street, they already played a part in my memory. 

Memory is important, it’s one of the function of our brain. It’s like a storage. If we want to remember what happened yesterday, or a few years ago, we just have to dig and search for that memory. 

Be it good or bad, whether it made you happy or sad, life is short, keep making memories with your love ones while you still can. 

“Here’s to the ones that we got. Cheers to the wish you were here, but you’re not. “Cause the drinks bring back all the memories of everything we’ve been through.”

Thieves of Happiness

Everyday, we encounter problems, and that’s normal. I never met anybody whose life is perfect. Whether at home, school, work, everywhere, problem arises. But we always find solutions. It doesn’t matter how complicated it is, we always find an answer. 

I always have a positive attitude even when I was young. I don’t dwell too much nor I panic if I have problems. Because I always think that God won’t give it to us if He knew that we can’t take it. 

We all are different when we deal with problems, some are like me, a positive-thinker, some developed and suffered from anxiety and depression, others take it to heart to the point that they take their lives, because they can’t bear it anymore. 

There are people that never got to enjoy life because they worry too much, and because of this, they become short-tempered and easily get irritated or mad with little things. 

We have to realize that our problems can’t be solved by screaming, or getting mad at somebody. By doing these, it just make your life worst. These kind of reactions are what we call, the thieves of happiness. They robbed us from being happy, from enjoying our life. 

Instead of letting it get the best of us, why not ask God for guidance? To ease our burden, to clear our mind, and once we did these, you’ll see the light, and eventually, find the right solution. 

Life is short, don’t make a way to the thieves of happiness, but instead , let God in, into our mind, heart, and life. And you’ll see that everything will be ok, and life will be easy when we share it with God. 

Priorities

I always hear it during job interviews, how do you prioritize your work? My usual answer is, I prioritize my work from the most important, to the lesser one. 

When I was little, just like other kids, my priority was to play, play, play. When I was in school, my priority was to be with my friends. It was always fun to be with our friends right? Sharing laughter, talk about our crushes, helping each other with homeworks, etc, etc, etc. 

Our priorities changed as we mature. After college, it was a priority to find a job, then to build my own family. That’s the time that we become focused in our family, our own family for that matter. The responsibilities started to build in, and it becomes serious. 

I remember when we were young, it was a must to take a nap after we come home from school. We didn’t like it, we always protested, I can still hear my mother’s voice telling us, “when you grow old, you won’t be able to take a nap even if you want to.” She was right. Because of a lot of responsibilities, we can’t afford it anymore. It seemed like 24 hours is not enough. 

But you know what? It doesn’t matter how busy we get, how many bills we have to pay, or how short the days are, don’t forget to set your priority, don’t forget to take care of yourself. Take your time, enjoy life, be healthy, and above all, prioritize God, and everything else will follow. 

Rainbow

They say, we can find a gold pot at the end of the rainbow, but it not easy to get it because it’s being guarded by a leprechaun. Just like life, it’s not easy to live, we have to fight and stay strong. 

Have you noticed when we were born? Our fists were closed, it means, we’re ready for what is ahead of us. But the moment a person dies, the hands are open, it means, they surrender. It’s over. 

Life is precious. Each one of us is unique. We have different purpose and path to walk on. We all have to experience hardships. Some may not be as bad as others, but we all know, that whatever it is, we can always find a way to overcome it. 

As the old saying goes, “there’s always sunshine after the rain”. We can always find our own rainbow. The rainbow that will add color to our life. 

If you think that you’re at the end of your rainbow, reach out to your family, or friends that are willing to lend a helping hand. But most of all, pray to God, He’s always ready to listen, He’s our rainbow, He’ll never deny us. 

Because you know what? God is good! All the time! All the time! God is good!!! 

Matthew 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Happiness

What is happiness to you? What makes you happy? 

Being with the people I love and cherish is happiness for me. Family, relatives, and good friends are the people that I love and cherish. Knowing that we’re safe and healthy are enough to make me happy. 

In the eyes of a child, happiness is simple. Children can be happy with a candy, or a small toy. As we grow old, it becomes complicated. Small things become grand, and there are times it’s hard to reach.

As we mature, we become greedy to material things because we thought the things around us make us happy. They say money can buy everything but happiness. It’s true, though money can buy us things that can make us happy, it’s not really genuine happiness. It’s what we call, temporary happiness. 

It can be seen in our eyes if we’re truly happy. We can fake our smile, our laughter, but not when they look in our eyes. They’re the window of our soul. It reflects what’s inside us.

Happiness can be achieved not just with money or any material things that surrounds usBy having a complete and simple happy family,  a roof above us, a complete meal, a good health, and believing that there’s always God that protects and loves us. That’s happiness. Without God in our life, we are nothing. With God, we can simply not to worry, and be happy.

      

 “Keep your face toward the sunshine, and shadows will fall behind you.” 

Darkness

 

It’s winter time. The night is longer than the daylight. My work starts at 7am, it’s an hour drive. I usually wakes up @ 4am to give me time to do everything, and leave before 6am. 

At times like this, it’s still dark when I leave for work. At first I was scared because I never experienced it before, it’s always hard for me to drive in the dark, that’s why I always call my family back home to keep me company, and to keep me from being scared. 

There are times they’re not available, so I just entertain myself by listening to my favorite radio station. 

I am not as scared when it’s still dark early morning, because I know, the sun will come out eventually. Unlike at night, I know it gets darker as night gets deeper. But in the same darkness, as soon as our eyes get used to it, we began to see the light. 

Just like in life, it’s not always bright as light. There are times when it gets dark and scary. Life is not always a bed of roses. We face difficulties. We have to fight in order to survive. And to survive, we have to stay strong, and stay positive. We have to keep going, we have to stand up if we stumble in the dark. 

There’s always light at the end of the tunnel. If you my friend think that you’re in the end of the line, pray hard, you’re not alone. God always sends an angel to help us. Stay strong. 

"While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

JOHN 9:5

January 1st, 2023

Happy New Year!!! It’s the 1st day of the new year. A new beginning, a new hope. We had our ups and downs last year. The mere fact that we survived the past year, and we’re facing a new one is already a blessing. 

Have you had a new year’s resolution? I used to when I was young. Before the year ends then, I will write all the wrong things that I did, wrote down all the things that I wanted to change. But those too are the things of the past now. I don’t have any new year’s resolutions anymore. Instead, I tried my best to do things that are appropriate. 

Whatever I did wrong, it was past behind me. I can’t make it right now. All I can do is avoid doing the same mistakes again. 

What makes me sad is thinking about the people that were close to me that are gone now. My mother is one, she was my great influence, my rock. I still have a lot of things to say and do and places to visit with her. Next are my friends. New year or not, I pray for them everyday.

Whatever new year brings, let’s all pray and hope for the best. Don’t forget to include everybody in our prayers. And let us all thank God for our life, and all the graces that we received. Everyday that we wake up is a blessing. Life itself is a blessing. 

A new year, a new hope, a new beginning. 

HAPPY 2023!!!