It was past 6 p.m. I was running late for an event I was supposed to cover at 6:30 p.m.

I sped off from the MRT station to head for the nearest taxi stand in front of SM. The line stretched until the corner of the sidewalk. Definitely not a good sign.

I walked even farther to the next mall’s taxi stand but the line was even longer.

How come there are so many people lining for taxi cabs on a weekday?

I assumed that there would be few mall goers on a Tuesday and thus, shorter taxi stand lines. But apparently, this is not the case in Makati.

I continued looking for another taxi stand but I was starting to get frustrated and worried that I would be late for the event.

As I reached the end of the mall strip, I finally found a taxi stand with a very short line. There were about 4 pairs ahead of me, I thought this should go fast.

But almost 30 minutes had passed and no taxi was turning our way. I felt frustration building up even more and shoulda-woulda-coulda gremlins starting to attack.

Thankfully, I remembered to have a positivity check. Frustration is not helping. What are you supposed to do in situations like this?

I suddenly remembered an experience I had before about manifesting taxi cabs. I did it twice, I’m sure I can do it again.

While standing in line, I closed my eyes and started to visualize. By this time, about 2 more pairs were lined after me.

God please send seven taxi cabs our way.

I visualized taxis one after the other stopping by our stand and me getting closer and closer to the front of the line.

But I want my taxi cab to be from MGE, new Vios with clean interiors and an amiable driver who will bring me to my destination safely.

Please help me to get to the Fort by 7:30 and I hope the event hasn’t started yet by the time I arrive.

I opened my eyes, still no cabs in sight.

But I remained relaxed, I just believed the taxis were coming our way. I’m going to arrive to my event just in time.

Just a few minutes later, the cabs started coming. They were mostly old, somewhat rickety cabs.

One, then two, then three.

I was finally next line.

And when I saw cab number four coming from afar, I just knew it was for me.

The shiny Vios taxi cab stopped right in front of me. It wasn’t MGE, but it was from EMP. The aircon was good and the seats were clean.

“To the Fort please.”

The cab driver wasn’t chatty which was just the way I liked it. He got me to the venue by 8 p.m.

The event started about 20 minutes after I arrived.

Thank you God, I whispered.

The whole night, the whole manifesting thing hovered in my mind. I know this thing works and I’ve proven it many times.

But I’ve done it mostly for small things. I do appreciate these little victories and I am grateful I am now able to consciously shift my vibration and frame of mind.

Now a voice inside me is telling me to start manifesting bigger things. Bigger dreams.

I know for a fact that it’s possible. I just need to have the guts and the discipline to do it.

The possibility of achieving my dream scares me and excites me at the same time. But I know that I have to do this now.

Awesome here I come.

Her story kept ringing in my head.

She had just come from an operation and her doctor made her promise one thing: “Promise me, you’ll avoid stress.”

Her doctor went on to say that she has a number of patients who are now suffering from stress-induced cancer. Some of them are 27 – 28 years old.

I can’t imagine women the same age as I am going through cancer. Doesn’t cancer only happen to older people? Apparently, it doesn’t. And stress could be a cancer trigger.

I suddenly examined my lifestyle for the past months. Have I been under a lot of stress?

Thankfully, life is wonderful. God is always good. I am so happy, grateful and content.

I’ve got the most loving husband and the most wonderful kids who make my life so blessed beyond words.

I have an awesome job where I can hone my creativity. I’ve got a great boss who appreciates my abilities. We earn enough to live a comfortable life.

Life is not always sunshine and rainbows but I always look for that crack in the clouds that lets out a ray of light. And there always is.

Sometimes I still get antsy. There are so many ideas bursting in my head. There are so many things I want to do. I’ve got so many dreams I want to fulfill both for me and my family. Sometimes, time doesn’t seem enough.

But I refuse to let worry and pressure ruin my head. I choose to avoid stress. I’ve got a lifetime commitment to love my husband and my kids. And stress might make me break that promise.

Whoever believed that stressful equals successful might be unknowingly committing suicide. Killing himself slowly but surely with all those toxins that debilitate both the mind and body.

So I will take this one at a time.

At a peaceful and relaxed pace.

I love myself too much to be stressed.

I’ve got an amazing life ahead of me and I intend to enjoy every moment of it.

Today has been a test on patience and forgiveness.

My day was going fine until I learned that the gift I gave Kernan was taken away. Then the bank shut down its systems for maintenance right on payday and I can’t withdraw my salary from anywhere until Monday. I go home to an empty house because Kernan and the kids went to visit their aunts.

I could probably go on and on about the bad things that happened today if I look for more reasons to be disgruntled. But I won’t.

So I bought myself two pieces of buttered toast using the 100 bucks I had left in my wallet, went home, settled in the bedroom, plugged my happy movie “The Holiday” while I blogged.

Yes, unpleasant things can still happen but this is just like dust on my shoulder that I can brush away easily. One reminder kept ringing in my head: Be thankful for your blessings.

Gratitude is always a major mood shifter. And when I think about it, in the grander scheme of things, these irritations are all small stuff.

I now have the perfect reason to give Kernan a better and cooler pair of Nikes. I can be thankful that I had more than enough money left in my wallet so I can get a ride home. I can be thankful that tonight I will be snuggling next to my angels and we can sleep in tomorrow because it’s finally Saturday.

I’m feeling better already because I still choose to focus on all the blessings I have today. And when I reflect on it, I have all the big stuff.

I’ve passed the test.

Tomorrow will be an awesome day.

Meditate.
Visualize.
Journal.
Thank God.

For the past days, I’ve been practicing this daily morning ritual beginning at 4am. It’s great how I am able to overcome the challenge of waking up early and I’m getting more disciplined about it day after day.

I am growing to love meditating. It brings me an incredible sense of peace. It’s so priceless. Now I understand why it’s so beneficial to do it so early in the morning. My body is calm and my mind is receptive since I’ve just woken up. My surroundings are quiet except for the rhythmic whirring of the fan and the occasional stirrings of my darling babies.

I still need some practice in visualizing but I’m getting better at it. It feels so good to see and experience the things in my vision journal and it reinforces my belief that big dreams do come true.

Writing in my gratitude journal will always be part of my morning ritual. It always makes me happy to feel and realize that I am so blessed in so many ways. As I told some young ones during my talk a few nights ago, always be grateful and you’ll be happy every day of your life.

The wonderful thing about having this morning ritual is it sets the tone for my day and everything goes right.

What’s your morning ritual?

8 o’ clock.

I glanced at the time and silently computed how fast I needed to move if I wanted to make it to work at 9 a.m. Not very much, I thought.

Until I suddenly realized, it’s a Sunday today. I sighed in relief and relaxed a little bit.

“It’s okay, you can go back to sleep. The bed looks so inviting…” That’s the lazy part of me talking.

“This is just the right time to get up. Church starts at 11 and you need at least two hours to get the kids ready.” Of course, that’s the more sensible me.

I was tempted for a moment to justify my laziness thinking weekends are the only days I get to sleep in. I even thought I could skip Church today. One day wouldn’t hurt, right?

But then I remembered how I’ve been waking up tired and sluggish for the past days, always dragging myself from place to place.

When I look back, I can always trace those blah and tired days to mornings like this: giving in to laziness and gobbling on more sleep.

“You can make this day different, you know. You can make it great!”

I got up from the bed and scooped my pink journal out of my bag.

Then I started writing…

“Thank you, God….”

I filled up three whole pages for my gratitude journal and I felt energized instantly.

I took out my vision journal and reviewed my life goals and dreams. I felt on track immediately.

I read my abundance affirmations out loud and finished with a prayer. I felt blessed simultaneously.

Two hours later, I was at the church service with Jamaine and Kalia thanking and praising God for blessing me with motivation and inspiration to start my day right.

Just imagine how much of a difference it would make if I started every single day like this? I would go from blah to good to great.

Do you want to have a great day?

Say thank you the moment you wake up. The fact that you opened your eyes and you’re alive means God is blessing you today.

Take time to remember the things you are grateful for and thank God for all of them. I assure you, it would instantly make you feel better about your life and blessed beyond words.

Review your dreams and goals. Imagine them, write them down or say them out loud. Doing this will help you to act on purpose, remembering that everything you do should be aligned with your goals and every step you take should help make your dreams come true.

Days pass by so swiftly. Years end before we even know it. Every day that passes is a valuable part of your life, you owe it to yourself to make it great.

Photo: ifatma

I dashed inside the the comfort room desperate for the hand dryer.

My hands were frozen stiff because of the extreme cold in our office. The hand dryer was my only hope for relief.

Just then, another girl entered through the door and slipped inside the first cubicle.

A few minutes later, I could hear her stifled sobs.

I tried to ignore her and just concentrate on defrosting my hands.

But a couple more minutes passed and she still hasn’t stopped sobbing.

I was tempted to knock on her door, hand her a tissue and comfort her.

But I held back and headed for the door.

Just yesterday, I was in that cubicle too, having a good cry.

I guess all of us need time to cry alone.

Cry

I used to hold back my emotions because I saw crying as a sign of weakness.

But I learned that sometimes it’s okay to cry because it helps hasten the healing of heartache.

I think it’s okay to feel sorry for yourself, wallow in your self-pity, and wail “Poor me! Poor me!”

At least for a day.

Then get over it.

How do you heal a heartache?

No one is going to come down from heaven and tell you, “it’s okay, it’s time for you to heal now.”

No one can save you from pain.

It is up to you to choose to save yourself.

1. Take responsibility for your life. No matter what other people do or say to you, it is still your choice on how you would react. If you are broken, its because you chose to break yourself.

2. Make a conscious effort to heal. Surround yourself with people who uplift you. Stay away from people who feed your ego and self-pity.

3. Accept the past for what it is. If you continue to dwell in the past, think of the past, and talk about the past, what do you gain?

Unnecessary self-inflicted pain.

There’s no use trying to change the past or looking forward to a happier future.

The only thing you have is now.

The only thing you can change is now.

If you want to be happy, choose to be happy now.

Choose

Remember that it is always your choice.

There is nothing scientific or superhuman about it.

You simply make a choice.

If you continue to suffer, it’s not because you CAN’T heal.

It’s because you DON’T WANT to heal.

Because if you really wanted to, you can do it right now.

That’s a weird thing about adults.

Somehow, we get a certain kick out of being depressed and hurt.

As Eckhart Tolle would say, it’s the “pain body,” it’s the ego who needs pain to feel alive.

Life seems much more interesting when you’re suffering some kind of heartache.

That’s why there are  a host of angsty songs that make you cry and feel even more miserable.

But when you think about it, you can simply make a choice.

Just take a cue from the kids. They are much more emotionally mature than we think we are.

They forget easily, they forgive wholeheartedly, they laugh heartily, and they always, always choose to love freely.

***

Time for you to listen to your own advice.

Photo credit: Wolfsoul

Yesterday, as I was preparing to submit my bags for inspection at the MRT station, I was greeted by a cheery voice.

“Good morning, Ma’am!”

I looked up to see the security guard with a full smile.

“Good morning.”

I mumbled with a half-smile. I guess my emotions froze for a moment because I was used to being ignored by guards and ignoring them as well.

I would often just present my bags without even looking at them and just breeze through after a quick check.

But this man seemed genuinely happy to greet me and very enthusiastic about his job.

After he checked my bags, he looked at me again and gestured with his hand toward the station entrance.

“Thank you po!” he exclaimed.

This time, I was able to say a more cheerful “Thank you” with a full smile.

In fact, I continued to smile even as I waited for the train to arrive.

That might have seemed an insignificant gesture to him, but for me it meant more than that.

It was a brief connection but I felt the real happiness that emanated from this person. And somehow, he was able to rub some of that on me.

See there is so much kindness around us if we only care to recognize it.

You never know how even just a smile could make a whole world of difference to somebody.

Later that evening, as I went to the train station, I looked for the same security guard and was preparing to greet him “Good evening!” but there was another person in his place. He looked stern and gruff.

But I didn’t mind.

After he checked my bags, I looked at him and said “Thank you!” with a smile.

He simply looked at me expressionless.

But I was feeling too good to care.

The next time around, I’m just going to keep saying “Thank you!” with a smile on my face.

Who knows, that other person might just smile back.

Have you witnessed a random act of kindness today?

Photo by: Paul Linton

Humans cling to security, stability and familiarity.

They want to take risks but they never really take it.

They can’t and they won’t because they are afraid of being thrown out of their comfort zone, shaking things up and venturing into the unknown.

They are afraid to be hurt.

So they suffer in quiet desperation always wanting for something to happen.

But never doing anything so that it will.

What was I waiting for?

A flash of inspiration.

The perfect words to illustrate my thoughts.

The time that never came.

Something that my soul friend A told me last night jolted me.

No matter how long my sentences would get or how few my words would be, I just need to let go,

Release.

And that would be enough.

Two words that would best describe me now:

TWILIGHT CRAZY.

Sometimes when I don’t understand why some people do the things they do, I just try to remember this line I read in a book:

They wouldn’t do it had they known better.

When someone does the unthinkable, it simply means he wasn’t thinking at the moment. He didn’t know better. And don’t we all have those moments?

It’s just sad when I learned from my soul friend that she was betrayed by someone we both respected.

The person who taught us about the principles of credibility and accuracy was the same one who violated them.

Maybe some people thought it was nothing serious and may even think what was done was right.

But I think, when someone’s job became at risk because of what you did, you better take it seriously.

Take it very seriously.

Especially when you’re the one who was wrong.

—

I got your back, girl.

I’m always here.