Pic Note: Love

Only for Today!

Here’s the daily decalogue of Pope John XXIII (a “decalogue” is a set of rules having authoritative weight). One aspect of the list that’s worth noting is the emphasis on taking each day as it comes. Pope John XXIII was pope from 1958-1963 and was known as “The Good Pope.”

1. Only for today, I will seek to live the livelong day positively without wishing to solve the problems of my life all at once.
2. Only for today, I will take the greatest care of my appearance: I will dress modestly; I will not raise my voice; I will be courteous in my behavior; I will not criticize anyone; I will not claim to improve or to discipline anyone except myself.
3. Only for today, I will be happy in the certainty that I was created to be happy, not only in the other world but also in this one.
4. Only for today, I will adapt to circumstances, without requiring all circumstances to be adapted to my own wishes. (I like this!-ask)
5. Only for today, I will devote 10 minutes of my time to some good reading, remembering that just as food is necessary to the life of the body, so good reading is necessary to the life of the soul.
6. Only for today, I will do one good deed and not tell anyone about it.
7. Only for today, I will do at least one thing I do not like doing; and if my feelings are hurt, I will make sure that no one notices.
8. Only for today, I will make a plan for myself: I may not follow it to the letter, but I will make it. And I will be on guard against two evils: hastiness and indecision.
9. Only for today, I will firmly believe, despite appearances, that the good Providence of God cares for me as no one else who exists in this world.
10. Only for today, I will have no fears. In particular, I will not be afraid to enjoy what is beautiful and to believe in goodness. Indeed, for 12 hours I can certainly do what might cause me consternation were I to believe I had to do it all my life.

Then DO THIS AGAIN TOMORROW….. and the next day… and the next…..  have a great day!

- source: The Happiness Project

ABC’s Life’s Instruction

A – Accept Differences
B – Be Kind
C – Count your Blessings
D – Dream
E – Express Thanks
F – Forgive
G – Give Freely
H – Harm no One
I – Imagine more
J – Joke and Laugh More
K – Keep Confidences
L – Love Truly
M – Master Something
N – Nurture Friendship
O – Open your Mind
P – Play Fair
Q – Quell Rumors
R – Reciprocate
S – Seek Wisdom
T – Touch Hearts
U – Understand
V – Value Integrity
W – Win Graciously
X – Xerox Good Values
Y – Yearn for Adventure
Z – Zealously Support a Worthy Cause

Five People You Meet in Heaven

Five People You Meet in Heaven, another touching, enlightening book by Mitch Albom, author of “Tuesdays with Morrie.” The story begins with the death of Eddie at age 83 at a freak accident in an amusement park on which he is the “maintenance man.” The death it seems is just a beginning. Eddie met 5 people and learned 5 lessons of “whys” about the life he lived. These “whys” I believe are our questions too. It echoes our thoughts and wondering. The story also makes us imagine heaven and realize how we can “create” our own heaven. There and here.

Lesson 1:
“Fairness does not govern life and death. If it did, no good person would ever die young.”
“The human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersects. That death doesn’t just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives changed.”
“What good came from your death?” Eddie asked the Blue Man. “You lived” he answered.
“Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know.”

Lesson 2
“Sacrifice. You made one. I made one.” said the Captain. “Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to…. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter who moves home to take care of her sick father…. A man goes to war…”
“Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you’re not really losing it. You’re just passing it on to someone else.”

Lesson 3
“Holding anger is a poison. It eats you from inside. We think that hating is a weapon that attacks the person who harmed us. But hated is a curved blade. And the hard we do, we do to ourselves.”
“Do you remember the lightness you felt when you arrived in heaven?” Ruby asked. “That’s because no one is born with anger. And when we die our soul is freed form it. Forgive.”

Lesson 4:
“Life has to end, Love doesn’t.” (Marguerite)
“Lost love is still love, Eddie. It just takes a different form, that’s all…Memory. Memory becomes your partner. You nurture it. You hold it. You dance with it.”

Lesson 5:
“Children, you keep them safe. You make good for me” (Tala)
“Is where you were supposed to be…”

In the end, it is all like “butterfly effect”… that we do and affect things and people…every minute of our life. So with that in mind, we must make everything and every moment worthwhile…

“Each affects the other and the other affects the next; and the world is full of stories, but the stories are all one.”

Pic Note: Worse…

Pic Note: Busy

Coincidence that I just read Mr. Francis Kong’s thought about “Making the Most of Time” (see here)

Pic Note: Simple

Pic Note: a Path!

T&I: Go the Extra Mile!

This is an excerpt from “the God Memorandum”
from the book “The Greatest Miracle in the World” by Og Mandino
(this is the 3rd law to perform the greatest miracle in the world)

Whomsoever shall compel ye to go with him one mile … go with him two.

Go another mile!

The only certain means of success is to render more and better service than is expected of you,
no matter what your task may be.
This is a habit followed by all successful people since the beginning of time.
Therefore I saith the surest way to doom yourself to mediocrity
is to perform only the work for which you are paid.

Think not ye are being cheated if you deliver more than the silver you receive.
For there is a pendulum to all life and the sweat you deliver,
if not rewarded today, will swing back tomorrow, tenfold.
The mediocre never goes another mile, for why should he cheat himself, he thinks.
But you are not mediocre.

Go another mile!

To go another mile is a privilege you must appropriate by your own initiative.
You cannot, you must not avoid it.
Neglect it, do only as little as the others, and the responsibility for your failure is yours alone.

Cause and effect, means and ends, seed and fruit, these cannot be separated.
The effect already blooms in the cause,
the end pre-exists in the means, and the fruit is always in the seed.

Go another mile!

Concern yourself not, should you serve an ungrateful master. Serve him more.
And instead of him, let it be Me (God) who is in your debt!
for then you will know that every minute,
every stroke of extra service will be repaid.

Go another mile!

And worry not, should your reward not come soon.
For the longer payment is withheld, the better for you …
and compound interest on compound interest is this law’s greatest benefit.

You cannot command success, you can only deserve it …
and now you know the great secret necessary in order to merit its rare reward.

Go another mile!

Pic Note: Bicycle & Balance

image source

39 Lessons I Live By

1. Every Noble Work Seems at First Impossible

2. If it’s has to be, it is up to me

3. Take the Extra Mile

4. Take Each Moment as it Comes For All That It Is Worth

5. Be Fair

6. The Difference Between a Good Day and a Bad Day is “Attitude”

7. What you plant now, you will harvest later.

8. This too shall pass…
9. “The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven” – John Milton
10. “Be the change you want to see in the world” – M Gandhi
11. “If you want to be happy, be…” – Leo Tolstoy
12. A good example of leadership is leadership by example
13. “Go forth boldly in the direction of your dream, live the life you imagines” – Thoreau
14. Have faith
15. Don’t do what you cannot teach your kids
16. Do random kindness.
17. “If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don’t have integrity, nothing else matters” ~Alan Simpson
18. Do not repeat anything you will not sign your name to.
19. Goodness is the only investment that never fails. ~Henry David Thoreau

… to be continued….

Pic Note: Happy?

image source

image source

Fail Forward

“When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000
experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how
it felt to fail so many times. He said, “I never failed once. I
invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process!”

Everybody fails, errs and makes mistakes. We’ve heard the saying “to err is human, to forgive is divine”, Alexander Pope wrote that 250 years. But apparently there are rules in “failing”:

Rule 1 = You will learn lessons
People think that failing takes you backward. But failure teaches us to be resilient, to do better and to change course and strategies if we must. Think of it as “2,000 steps-process”

Rule 2 = There are no mistakes — only lessons
Might as well have different perspective and mindset about failure. Look at it as a teacher, fine-tuning your success. This must be your motivation to do better and not to justify yourself for not trying anymore.

Rule 3 = A lesson is repeated until it is learned
Failure is not always against you. Like all other circumstances, it has to follow the universal law of averages. This law states that for so many tries you’ll get a successful result. But you’ll NEVER get the best shot, IF you’ll never take aim and shoot in the first place.

If I Had My Life to Live Over

by: Erma Bombeck

I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over dinner even if the carpet was stained and sofa faded.
I would have eaten popcorn in the ‘good’ living room and worried much less about the dirt.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair would ‘fly’
I would have burned the pink sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about the grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching tV — and more while watching life.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the eart would go into a holding pattern if I weren’t there for a day.
I would have shared more of the responsibility carried by my husband.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, wouldn’t show soil or was guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I’d have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, “later, now go get washed up for dinner”
There would have been more “I love yous’…more “I’m sorrys”… but mostly given another shot at life, I would sieze every minute… look at it and really see it… live it… and never give it back….

(Erma Bombeck, lost her fight with cancer in 1996)

also from her:
“when i stand before God at the end of my life,
i would hope that i could not have a single bit of talent left
and could say, “i used everything you gave me”.”

Pic Note: “Best Version”

from Sarah Abbott flickr

Pic Note: “Keep Going”

T&I: The Longest Way is a Short-Cut

One of the most common obstacles to success is to cut corners. But short-cut never pays off in the long run. Let us try these valuable tips and insights:
1. Don’t give in to your mood or impulses, you need to change your approach to doing things.
2. Refrain from “fast-breaking,” because quality is sacrificed in the process.
3. Avoid cutting corners. It is really a sign of impatience and poor self-discipline.
4. Follow through… you can achieve a breakthrough.
5. Set up standard for yourself that require accountability.
6. Once you have standards in place, work according to them, not your moods.
7. Stay on track and keep focused. That will get you going in the right direction.
8. Self-discipline is a quality that is won through practice.

Remember, effort and time are wasted if you have to do things all over again
because you have not tried to do it right on the first time.

-From John C Maxwell’s “Failing Forward” and Katrina M’s Journal…..

Pic Note: Woman & Tea

T&I: Stay the Course

To be “intentional” means working with purpose making every action count. Successful leaders are intentional. They know what they are doing and why they are doing it. To become more INTENTIONAL, do the following:
1. Have a purpose worth living for: “Some men have thousands of reasons why the cannot do what they want to, when all they need is ONE reason why they can”
2. Know your strengths and weaknesses: Playing to your strengths rekindles your passions and renews your energy.
3. Prioritize your responsibilities: Once you know the “why” of your life, it becomes much easier to figure out the “what” and “when”
4. Learn to say no: You can’t accomplish much without focus.If you try to do every good thing that comes your way, you won’t excel at what you were made to do.
5. Commit yourself to long-term achievement: Most victories in life are chieved through small incremental wins sustained over time.

– The 17 Essential Qualities of a Team Player by John Maxwell

T&I: The Blame Game

When things go wrong, the natural tendency is to look for someone to blame. You can go all the way back to Garden of Eden on this one…. When God asked Adam why he’d done it, he said it was Eve’s fault. Then God questioned Eve, she blamed it on the snake. The same thing happens today.

The next time you experience a failure, think about what you failed instead of who was at fault. Try to look at it objectively so that you can do better next time. Ask yourself:
• What lessons have I learned?
• How can I turn the failure into success?
• Where did I succeed as well as fail?

People who blame others for their failures never overcome them. They simply move from problem to problem. To reach your potentials, you must continually improve yourself, and you can’t do that if you don’t take responsibility for their actions and learn from your mistakes.

— Your Road Map to Success, John Maxwell

While our Audit motto (daw) is “Bawal Magkamali”…. Let us just take that as our GOAL and add this in parenthetical note: (“Pero pag nagkamali… bawal magkamaling hindi akuin ang pagkakamali kung mali talaga”)

Most importantly…. “If you fail… make sure to Fail Forward”