EVERYDAY JOURNEY

          Each day brings both significant and non-significant  experiences to everyone. From the moment that one wakes up in the morning up to the time that he/she goes to sleep, different events unfold in one's life. Summing up everything that happens in a day, one could always say that life indeed is a constant journey.

          Today as a weekend, I wake up with much vigor reflecting that just like any other day, this day becomes a complete manifestation of God's unconditional love for me- another new day, another new gift, another new positive manifestation of His great love for me. In fact, I could claim that I have various reasons to be grateful to HIM since I am blessed with a family of wonderful and loving people- my wife Yanyan and my son Kurt. Everyday becomes a wonderful and a fresh beginning for me because of their presence to my life. 

mommy yanyan and kurt

           Each day, as I wake up, these two significant people become my source of motivations as I encounter and embrace life's challenges and trials. Like any ordinary human being, I come face to face as well with life's trivialities- at times, my conviction to life is tested, at times my goal in life which is to be a constant God fearing individual is put into test by plenty difficult situation YET with my own faith and the LOVE I receive from these two significant persons in my life, everything seems to be so light.

          Armed by this realization, I am ever thankful to God for extending to me these gifts in life- my family. How about you, can you identify those important people in your life and have come to realize that they are your source of joy in this life's journey?

MAN's GREEDINESS

          Recently, I had the opportunity to attend one gathering and I was so glad about the sharing of ideas especially on the topic man's greediness. The exchanges of ideas and experiences were very moving and realistic most notably that they came from the participants' own life experiences. 

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          There were several concrete experiences shared by the audience like somebody shared that she works so hard in her job sometimes taking two jobs in a day. She is doing it so that she can save for her holidays. She asked then the group and the facilitator if she committed a greed or not. Varying explanations were given such as:

- it is greediness if she in the process forgets her other commitments especially towards her husband and the children;

 - it is greediness if she hurts somebody in the course of doing such routine;

 - it is not if she never forgets to take care of herself

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          Another topic that caught my attention is the one on one's transformation. As shared, it is not an easy process to undergo transformation especially if it involves radical shift. Furthermore, it is never been an abrupt reality or instant but rather, it takes time to experience the process and it asks as well from the involved party the consistency so that the change can be attained.

          Basically man is composed of both negative and positive therefore to be able to embrace oneself as real and genuine, he/she needs to let go of all negative emotions and allow the positive energy to flow into one's life.

THE GIFT OF A CHILD

          Each day brings to us numerous experiences. My week, though not yet over, has been full of wonderful experiences and surprises. With all those lovely things happening with me and those around me, I could say that life at times depends on one's perception of every opportunity that knocks on his/her door.

          Everyday as I walk going to my workplace, I usually pass a certain park along the way. Melbourne is such a wonderful city that anybody can hang around with some of its famous parks such as The Shed Skatepark, Luna Park Melbourne, Gasworks Arts park, The Royal Botanic Melbourne and many more.

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          Just this week, when I passed by the park, there were few children who were enjoying the park's facilities such as slides, thrills and spills, shaded areas, seats,  and others. As I observed them, there was that presence of the sense of innocence on them.

          They really have their own world notwithstanding what is going on with this beautiful and sometimes complicated world that we adults have. Playing with peers is such a very important element in a child's development. They should be accorded with any chance to mingle and enjoy other children as well.

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          On the other hand, every adult especially those parents need to play their role positively and effectively. They should learn to express in a very concrete way their love and care for those children around them. An adult's great love is not expressed on any material possession or gift but rather this is relayed in an intimate way such as giving one's presence and affection to a dear child.

  

EACH DAY IS RELATIVE

          Have you observed each day as something too quick or the other way around? Hence it is said that each day in our life is relative meaning that it could either be too long or too short. How each day will appear to us is greatly dependent on certain factors such as our disposition and state of mind.

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          First on the area of disposition, have you noticed that  when we are intensely joyful or having a great time with loved ones, then time becomes so quick when in fact we still wish it to last longer than it used to be. And time just flies so swiftly when we are still in the midst of happiness when we are surrounded by loved ones and when we are experiencing positive things in life.

          On the other hand, have you experienced such moments as when we were journeying a time pressured activity or situation, the day or time seems so long. Like when we are in a crisis situation ( have you ever been on such situation?), it seems that time and day is so long. As such, we tend to watch without blinking and count every second or minute or hour that passes by without realizing at all that this is just prolonging the agony of waiting.

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         Consequently, in the midst of these two contrasting relative conditions, everything relies on the beholder. I would relate it then to my belief that it with the person to make or break any time or day in life. No one should never become a slave to time however each one should learn to be flexible in any given situation. Focus in life is so essential to emerge triumphant in one's journey. Our state of mind plays a major role in whatever situation we are in each day.

  

A SHARED PRAYER

          This day, I would like to share with you this very inspiring prayer from Everyday Prayers. What is emphasized on this prayer is the basic relationship between a parent and his/her child. The development of any child is very much anchored on the kind of treatment that the parents are extending to him/her.

Thus if you would also like to subscribe to prayers, just communicate with this address:

P.O. Box 55071

Boston, MA 02205-5071

www.everydayprayer.us

info@everydayprayer.us

FAITH PRODUCES PATIENCE

" Count it all joy when you fall into various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience"- JAMES 1:2-3

from: www.kozzi.com

           In life, this is very true that obstacles in various forms come into play one way or the other. No matter what our status in life, whether one is rich or poor,  white or black, big or small, yet trials still come along the way. Wealth is never an assurance that one will be fully blessed in life. At times, even those who seemed so deprived prove to be more contented in life compared to those who are more privileged. 

          In short, life would always be coupled with trials and it depends on one's ability to handle them that will measure how far or near they can go with those trials. From the moment that one wakes up up to the point that he goes to bed, so many experiences exist along the way. One could not just evade situations that bring challenges and hardships. Neither that he can just turns away from them. The best possible way to handle them is to welcome and consider them as possible resources of growing up and developing more one's patience in life.

from:www.kozzi.com

          On the other hand, being patient will enable each one to deal with various situations and people. However when one is faced with a difficult situation, it is then that this patience is put into test.  Various ways to deal with a difficult situations come in expectedly and unexpectedly. Some of the ways to deal with such situations are:

1. Don't let any trial to rule over one's life.

2. Step back and look at the whole picture objectively.

3. Recognize all points both positive vs negative.

4. Enumerate components at hand that can be of immediate assistance.

5. Enumerate other components outside of oneself and check if they can be made available at hand.

6. Pray for God's guidance before implementing concrete steps to deal with the difficult situation.

7. Accept responsibility for all outcome.

          How do you deal with your own trial in life? Feel free to share them here and let us all learn from each other.

GRATEFULNESS IS A VIRTUE

          Of all  the virtues that we have in our lifetime, one of the most noteworthy is GRATEFULNESS. Kindness is closely associated with this virtue. At times, we tend to neglect to show this virtue to others especially when we merely focus on all those life's trivialities. 

          However, it takes not much on our effort to manifest this virtue to others yet this could often be neglected and ignored. What then is gratefulness? As such, gratefulness is "a feeling or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. The experience of gratitude has historically been a focus of several world religions and has been considered

from:www.pixabay.com

 extensively by moral philosophers such as Adam Smith. With the advent of the positive psychology movement, gratitude has become a mainstream focus of psychological research. The study of gratitude within psychology has focused on the understanding of the short term experience of the emotion of gratitude (state gratitude), individual differences in how frequently people feel gratitude (trait gratitude), and the relationship between these two aspects." (source: wikipedia- the free encylopedia)

          As the above reference would tell us, this virtue is a positive one and this becomes an instrument for certain relationships to grow and to expand. At a certain point in our life, we ought to think  of others more than of ourselves thus it is but appropriate for us to extend our gratitude to all those who have become instruments for us to become who we are now. 

from:www.pixabay.com

          In our life, people come and go yet if we take a look back on certain chapters in our life, we then can pinpoint significant people who have extended themselves to us in one way or the other. They just come without any pre- condition in sharing themselves to us. They, in the process, leave some imprint in our life. Our present status in life is a product of all the processes and inter actions that we passed in our lifetime.

         Thus, it is but proper to extend back our gratefulness to all those people who have become part of our life journey. We are further invited to become instruments for growth to others so that they themselves will experience positive development in life.

BONDING MOMENT WITH SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE

          Last weekend, I had the fantastic opportunity of celebrating life when two precious people remembered their birthdays. The first celebration was that of my friends' daughter who celebrated her first birthday. Her name is Caeli Ricca and she's such a wonderful  little girl. She did enjoy her party although it is still beyond her understanding what was going on around her during that night. 

          Many visitors joined the proud parents, Alvin and Denden, on their joy with their daughter's memorable evening. Delicious food and drinks were served all throughout the party. Disco music also was filling the hall and people were dancing trying to sweat it out. On the dancefloor, children were outrageous trying to outsmart each other with their dance moves at times displaying some latest dance craze such as Psy's gentleman moves and others. Indeed, it was such a very enjoyable moment for me and my wife to take part in that party.

from:www.kozzi.com

          On the other hand, last night's party was for our friend, Melissa, who celebrated her 21st birthday. The venue was at MAMA'S PARMA'S, a famous party place in CBD, Melbourne. When we arrived in the place, many guests were there aside from our group. Choices of food were mostly on various recipes of parma's. I chose the chicken parma and I finished everything just showing how delicious was my food. 

Angelyn, Melissa and Myra

The birthday girl together with friends at Strike Bowling Bar QV

Melisssa (right) and a friend

          Aside from the food, we met new and cool friends like Jess and Nicole who were so lively in sharing their insights as well on topics like food, life and pets. Angelyn, my wife's mate, was enthusiastically sharing with us her own experiences  in those topics. The celebrant, Melissa, was the darling of the night. She was gorgeous with her dress for the evening. Some of her close friends especially her boyfriend also joined her in her party. It was such a great experience for me as I enjoyed both my food and the company.