The Significant Things I Have Learned This 2007

My life would be empty if I know I didn’t learn on a life that I have lived this year. I am asking for more. I am not yet satisfied. But I need to practice right now of having the positive attitude: seeing the life hall full rather than half empty..

So here are the top Five significant things I have learned this year:

1. The best thing that you can do to your friend is not to give yourself, not to give a shoulder in times of despair, not to give them support when they need it, but to let go of them when you think they need to grow.

-In this year, three of my significant left me to explore the other places. My friend Con and Nikki are now in Manila. My friend Jane is now living in Canada for good. Her family left the Phils last July. And now, another new friend is about to leave to stay with her family in Manila. I will be sad. It will cost me tears and pain. But just like scars caused by this hurt of leaving, our friendship that we have is hard to destroy by distance. My friends, no matter how far they are will always have a soft spot in my heart.

-When I get to hear them after long months of not getting in touch with one another, it makes me happy knowing that they are becoming a better person. I know my friends deserve to receive the blessings God has showered for them. And I cannot provide it for them alone.

2.) Happiness will not come if you will just wait for it. Happiness is in you when you choose it. Choose happiness. In order to choose it, you need three things: the power to shift your perspective into a positive one, love for yourself, and inner peace.

-It’s inevitable we are having a bad hair day. If you still choose to be happy despite that you are having a shitty day, it will save you from the hours of frustration. You can’t simply choose. Look for something that will make you happy. If things are not going well, you just have to ask, what can I gain/learn from this? By changing your perspective, you will loose if you choose to loose, rather, you will gain more.

-Love yourself first and happiness will come naturally. You don’t need people to make you happy. Because even if you have them, you will still feel a huge void of emptiness and dissatisfaction if you don’t love yourself.

-Happiness starts from a heart that feels nothing but abundant joy, love, and peace. A heart where hate and grudge has no space for it. Let go of hate. Forgive often, and you will find the inner peace that will give you the happiness you can never imagine existed.

3.) Faith and Hope co-exist. Faith without hope is useless. Hope without faith brings uncertainty, doubt, and confusion. Hope strengthens faith. Faith justifies hope.

-Faith springs from the longing of the soul and so is hope. Hope allows us to enter on the world of the impossible, and make it real.

-Who says faith and doubt are opposite? Doubt is the element of faith. When you are hearing a bad gossip about someone you know? Do you usually believe the ones who tell you the gossip immediately or doubt if he or she is telling the truth? When you have faith on person, you always have reservation ..oh he may be like this or like that..he’s not like that before..maybe he is… When you have faith on someone, he is the only truth for you. You postpone your judgment unless you hear him speak.

-Hope is believing. Hope is overstepping on the realm of the unknown. Hope and expectation are different. When you expect, you push to see the outcome. Hope believes more than what is visible. Expectation springs from mind while hope gathers strength from the heart.

4.) You want to spend money with while feeling significant? Spend it with people you really love or someone that is so special for you and the outcome and result are more rewarding that what you expected. If you are to spend on the less essential stuff, make sure you share it with someone who shares the same interest with you.

-I know I am not the only one in this world who feels like this. For most of the breadwinners like me, we sometimes complain, thinking that we don’t have much left for us. We work and a big portion of our salary goes to our family. Sometimes, it is hard to buy expensive clothes thinking that it can still add up for you family expenses. But I realize I don’t have to worry. I am not earning that big, I don’t usually buy grand clothes every time I receive my salary, but I am still happy knowing that I helped them. Buying pasalubong to my family brings us closer together.

-I love bands and I love to but their CDs. But I don’t have a player. So I let my brother use it and so his old time friend. When I went home, that’s our bonding time, listening to the music only the two of us can appreciate.

5.) For the book readers, don’t just read. Don’t just memorize what you’ve read. Don’t just store it inside you brain. Learn from the books. Share it or discuss it with somebody. And most of all, transform it to the fabrics of your life. Yeah! You heard it right! Use what you’ve learned and practice it on your daily life.

-I have read so many books. And so far, there are so many things that I’ve learned from them. And most of their theories, I have already concretized it on my own life. I choose to share it with you. I hope you learn something from it. Most popular authors that influence me a lot are Stephen Covey, John Maxwell, Jonathan Kellerman, Ayn Rand, Ron Jenson, Deepak Chopra, Kahlil Gibran, and philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Friedrich Hegel, Soren Kierkegaard, St. Thomas Aquinas and a whole lot more.

And this learning is just a few. But hence, a proof that I am applying what I read on my practical living and finally share it with you.