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Showing posts from June, 2014

My Hardworking Father

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I admit that I am not as close with my father as I am with my mother. There are times that I do not agree with my father's decisions but I totally respect and admire him as the head of our family.          Life was not easy for my father's family. They have to struggle for daily needs. Due to this, my father was left without option but to stop going to school. Aside from that, he is the eldest of five children, so he was expected to contribute financially to meet the needs and for the benefit of the whole family. His name is Julius, named after a Roman emperor, who changed the world forever. In my life, Julius made me realize how I should see the world and live the way I should - that is, to care for others regardless of what the person I achieved. Aside from my mathematical skills and obvious facial resemblance with him, I inherited his people skills founded on empathy and humility in accepting that one needs another to survive in this world. Like Julius Cæsar, my father as

To Stress or Rest?

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Everyone handles stress from time to time. One needs it at an acceptable level to survive, but no one wants to experience it an an extreme level for a longer period of time since it can also be destructive. In this article, I will dissect how stress is created and how does it affect human beings. This is needed for us to address and manage it effectively. A STIMULI OR CONDITION This is the trigger of stress. No one feels stress without a stimuli. Unfortunately, the world has an unendless supply of these conditions. It may exist anytime, anywhere or anyone. It could be minor or life-changing. In addition to that, the stimuli could exist constantly, intermittently or suddenly. There is no way one can get rid of the stimuli but one can choose the places and situation they can experience. For example, one can prefer to work in a profession that demands less to a person. A person chooses who and when to marry. This could be a person who is rich, stable and famous. Some, on

Life Changes Ahead

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There are two D's that govern our lives: Decisions and Destiny. These influences create changes in our lives that we may or may not accept. Whatever they may be we just need to accept it wholeheartedly. We are the captain of our lives. We should be accountable to whatever decisions we make. The decisions may be acceptable for others and these may also not be. Moreover, consequences maybe severe or mild, but it is up to us to what type of risks we are ready to handle. This is the reason why some people fear of making decisions. They tend to ask and follow what others think of their own concerns and resulting for them to blame them at the end for not anticipating the outcomes that they themselves will experience. Thus, every decision must be well-informed, prudent and independent. The changes as outcomes of an individual's decisions may not just affect the individual themselves, but also the people surrounding them. However, this does not provide reasons for other

Independence of Filipinos Through Time

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It has been 116 years after Filipinos gained freedom from more than 300 years of Spanish colonial rule. The Filipino nation has faced several challenges that tested the ability of the people to govern itself through time. However, have we, Filipinos evolved through time? Real freedom has been achieved by ancient Filipinos during the time some old communities have exchanged goods with Asian neighbours. Independence was experienced through the leadership of tribe chieftains, who ruled settlements strategically located to sustain the needs of community. Filipinos, then before, they did not have to worry about superior external influence that theatens the ideals the community believes in. However, during that time Filipinos did not see themselves as a unified people. Therefore, there was freedom but there was simply no unity in the national perspective. Things changed when Europeans came to the Philippines and introduced the suppressive mentality of colonialism. It is durin

Sleepy Head Like Me?

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Sleeping for 8 hours a day is not a difficult for me to achieve. Sometimes, I even go over than that. There was one time I slept for approximately 20 hours in one day. I felt very tired then but I had a better feeling. In addition to that in the weekends and free days, I wake up early then sleep afterwards again. Wherever and whenever I am, if I decide to sleep, I can. Is that a gift, or a simple form of laziness? There are several reasons why I sleep long. Here are some of them. Sleep improves my memory. At sleep, whatever we learn during we are awake is incorporated in our memory, when we are asleep. We could not remember information if we do not sleep well. Although our brains do not rest entirely when we are asleep, but sleep allows our mind to make our thoughts in order. This means that if one is studying for an exam or particular activity, one should deprive himself or herself of the much needed sleep, not just the day before but sleep should be a prioritized activity. I can

Starting Again Is Not Easy

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At times, we fail and need a new start. The strength of the character of a person is measured on the steps taken to rectify mistakes and follow a new path towards the better. These actions are maybe associated with relationships, decisions and opportunities. Regardless of where new beginnings are required, it has never been easy for anyone. In this blog, I will tackle three reasons why starting anew is8 not easy. This will make us aware of the complexity for us to fully understand and see how we could handle them. Firstly, new beginnings are difficult because everyone assumes that learnings from the past mistakes will not be repeated. When one fails, one learns from the experience. People say the beauty of failures are these lessons, which will help us avoid the same mistakes in the future. However, a person failed because he or she had the difficulty before in avoiding the mistake and assuming that the same mistake will not be repeated is more theoretical than realistic. For

When Two People Become Strangers

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A lot factors build and weaken existing associations with people. It could be time, communication, distance and personality changes, or merely chance. Whatever it is, the end result is that negative changes in relationships yield an emotion of longing, sadness or fear of the unknown. Things may start well. People communicate with passion contributing to more positive emotions, propelling people to know each other better. Time seems to run so fast and the desire to be together seems to be stronger everyday. It seems that people know each other for long time that whatever the other person does is familiar and expected. Talks become deeper and more personal as more effort to spend time is initiated to spend time together, no matter what it takes, because it simply nurtures happiness. Suddenly, things change. The same positive emotion could trigger people to be possessive, limiting freedom and rejecting the idea of sharing the other with people whom will help the person socialize an

My Life's Heroes

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Struggles and challenges in our lives have always been essential in making us strong and better. Overcoming these turning points is difficult that sometimes people need others' help. Sometimes, it is us who seek aid directly to our trusted people, but there are situations when urgency is required and there are some people making decisions for us that we do not know why. We may doubt, at first their thoughts and actions, but in the end, we prove ourselves wrong because their perceived solutions produced good outcomes more than we expected. I, myself have my own heroes. The people that I am going to mention are chosen not because they are closest to me, because they literally took the steering wheel of my life and directed my pathway to somewhere else, in spite of the fact that I objected such action. These are the people, who unnecessarily went beyond the kind of understanding an patience in their respective roles in my life. 1. GRANDFATHER There was one time after graduating

GRIT Personality Towards Success

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Since I was young, I always wondered how people get successful. As I grew and learned many things about life, I have come up that the ultimate way to success is having a grit personality. If everyone has grit personality, perhaps the world would be better and more productive place to live in. In this article, I will discuss four elements of grit personality using the four letters of the word. GOAL-ORIENTED FOR A BETTER FUTURE Not knowing one's long-term goals results to unnecessary actions that yields frustration and low self-esteem. Persons with grit personality knows what they want and knows how to go about it through a plan that they know what for and what it intends to do. Plans may change but the goal will always be the same. They may try do some other things first, but they will never stop pursuing the goals they originally set. RESILIENT TO CHANGES In the journey towards a person's long-term goal, it is inevitable that people encounter problems that may discourage

When Money Talks

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The love of money is the root of evil. On the other had, we can not deny the fact the importance of money in our lives. We use it to buy what we need and want. Sometimes, we have more money than we need and perhaps most of the time, we ran out of it. We can not deny also that people react differently according to how much money we have. Thus, I can say money really talks. I can say I have experienced the roller coaster of money. There was a time I can say my family and I were nearly struggling for food and basic needs. I also had the chance to taste a luxurious day ( I know it still not yet luxurious for the standards of some.) What amazes me is how people treat you based on their perception of your wealth. I had made couple of experiments in life with money. People thought I had so much money, but in reality I do not have. I was working 12 hours a day and traveling from one place to another. In the perspective of the others, I was earning big, but in truth I only had few

Jobs Mismatch

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Sometimes, jobs are available but most people do not easily fit to it. There a lot factors this happens, but bottomline, the person, who loses on this situation is the person seeking for jobs. It makes the person frustrated and worse, making the person lose his or her self-confidence. In the long run, they simply stop trying and stay unemployed for significant period of time. People tend to go for what others want. When people tend to choose the most popular course before going to college, the tendency is that students will not be passionate about the chosen field, resulting for him or her to compete with many more graduates, who are more eager to get the job. By nature of the competition, the less prepared and dedicated will lag behind and will settle for less. This contributes to job mismatch. Futhermore, parents sometimes force their children to choose their preferred education. This is also not good, especially if the parents make a seemingly "safe" and popular cho

Please! Why are you asking same questions again and again?

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Have you been annoyed by someone, who constantly asks numerous questions? It seems that the person is not contented with your answer or is trying get something from you when you get too pissed off. I know everyone of us have dealt with this type of people. How do we handle this type of people? In my present work, I got the chance to talk to several types of people. Whether Europeans, Americans, Africans and Asians, I had the experience of talking to them. This because my primary task is to provide information about education, job preparation and employment to applicants or possible students. Most of the time I am able to communicate to them effectively. General rule, never assume and continue providing valuable information to them. In this way, whatever cultural differences we have, I gain the trust of another person and that I will no longer answer questions that are not worthy of time and attention. However, even though one does this, some people just do not stop asking seemingly

Comparing Life in Manila, Philippines and Oslo, Norway

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Many Filipinos want to live and work in Norway without being aware of the possible financial difficulties they will have once they will arrive in Norway. It will not be easy, especially in the beginning but once one get a regular job, regardless of what it is, all efforts will be definitely be worth the struggle. This article will also explain why it is expensive to apply and live in Norway by comparing the prevailing conditions of the capital cities of Norway and the Philippines - Oslo and Manila. The data obtained are taken from the website www.numbeo.com, which aims to provide enlightenment of the living conditions in different places in the world. Firstly, let us compare Oslo and Manila, in terms common basic commodities. We could see Oslo has high costs for a McDonald combo meal, beer, coke and cigarettes. Luckily, most of these are considered unhealthy and unnecessary. However, essential food products like white bread, rice, eggs, chicken breasts and bottled water are also

Learning Not to Bring Work at Home

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When I was in the Philippines, I worked almost 12 hours per day, seven days a week. To be honest, I could count in my hand how many days I considered as my rest days. It was literally impossible for me to rest. I worked at least three jobs in one month without fixed schedule. Although I was lucky to work, but I literally lost time for myself and brought work at home. As a result, our house became an extension of my workplace. Generally speaking, I can say I was able to benefit from my busy work schedule. Aside from earning way higher from what my Filipino contemporaries are earning, I was able to acquire significant amount of insights, especially in management of resources. At the height of my career in the Philippines before, I was able to travel and teach in several places at young age. However, this came at a very high price. I slept at average three to five hours a day, making me very irritable at home and not functioning the way I should. I literally lost the chance to be wi

7 Reasons Why Many Filipinos are Good Singers

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One thing that makes me proud of being Filipino is that there are many good singers in our country. I am not saying that the Philippines has the best singers in the world, but it is obvious that many Filipinos have showed to the world the God-given talent they have. 1. Parents encourage their children to develop their singing talents Children singing old songs and acting as if the song fits them well. Love songs, rock, whatever genre songs maybe Filipino children can sing that. Some even report that children learn humming a melody before able to speak well. Ofcourse, parents are very crucial in the development of this talents. If a talent has been acknowledged at an early age, this provides time for child to improve his or her talent in singing. Watch the newly-launced TV show Voice Kids Philippines. 2. Competition helps produce more good singers The most-watched Television shows in the Philippines are singing competition. Most artists are discovered in these platform