Impossible Without Your Consent

In tough days we might say, “My work is overwhelming,” or “My boss is really frustrating.” If only we could understand that this is impossible. Someone can’t frustrate you, work can’t overwhelm you these are external objects, and they have no access to your mind. Those emotions you feel, as real as they are, come from the inside, not the outside. The Stoics use the word hypolêpsis, which means “taking up” of perceptions, thoughts, and judgments...

Read More

How to Control Uncontrollable Circumstances in Life

Is it really possible to control an uncontrollable event in life? This is a very difficult question to answer because things happen out of different reasons. There’s always room for being flexible. In order to stay away from the stigma of being a perfectionist, just focus on the things that you can control. After all, no one is perfect in this world. Some things are not predictable. There’s always a flaw lurking somewhere, an issue looming...

Read More

Timeless Wisdom

In the mid-twentieth century, there was an Indian Jesuit priest named Anthony de Mello. Born in Bombay when it was still under British control, de Mello was an amalgam of many different cultures and perspectives: East, West; he even trained as a psychotherapist. It’s interesting when one sees timeless wisdom develop across schools, across epochs and ideas. Here is a quote from de Mello’s book, The Way to Love, that sounds almost exactly like Epictetus: “The...

Read More

Ready and at Home

President James Garfield was a great man raised in humble circumstances, self-educated, and eventually a Civil War hero whose presidency was cut short by an assassin’s bullet. In his brief time in office, he faced a bitterly divided country as well as a bitterly and internally divided Republican Party. During one fight, which challenged the very authority of his office, he stood firm, telling an adviser: “Of course I deprecate war, but if it is...

Read More

The Best Retreat Is In Here, Not Out There

Do you have a vacation coming up? Are you looking forward to the weekend so you can have some peace and quiet? Maybe, you think, after things settle down or after I get this over with. But how often has that ever actually worked? The Zen meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn coined a famous expression: “Wherever you go, there you are.” We can find a retreat at any time by looking inward. We can sit with our eyes closed and feel our breath go in...

Read More

The Sign of True Education

Degree on a wall means you’re educated as much as shoes on your feet mean you’re walking. It’s a start, but hardly sufficient. Otherwise, how could so many “educated” people make unreasonable decisions? Or miss so many obvious things? Partly it’s because they forget that they ought to focus only on that which lies within their power to control. A surviving fragment from the philosopher Heraclitus expresses that reality: “Many who have learned from...

Read More

Wealth and Freedom are Free

There are two ways to be wealthy to get everything you want or to want everything you have. Which is easier right here and right now? The same goes for freedom. If you chafe and fight and struggle for more, you will never be free. If you could find and focus on the pockets of freedom you already have? Well, then you’d be free right here, right n...

Read More

There is Philosophy in Everything

lutarch, a Roman biographer as well as an admirer of the Stoics, didn't begin his study of the greats of Roman literature until late in life. But, as he recounts in his biography of Demosthenes, he was surprised at how quickly it all came to him. He wrote, “It wasn't so much that the words brought me into a full understanding of events, as that, somehow, I had a personal experience of the events that allowed me to follow closely the meaning of...

Read More

What Rules Your Ruling Reason?

The Roman satirist Juvenal is famous for this question: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? (Who watches the watchmen?) In a way, this is what Marcus is asking himself and what you might ask yourself throughout the day. What influences the ruling reason that guides your life? This means an exploration of subjects like evolutionary biology, psychology, neurology, and even the subconscious. Because these deeper forces shape even the most disciplined,...

Read More

Trip to Concepcion, Misamis Occidental

Our friends in the church invited us to visit one of the municipalities of Misamis, Occidental - the beautiful and captivating Municipality of Concepcion, Misamis Occidental. It was a very long journey but we enjoyed the trip. I had a chance to see a beautiful place away from the metro. Before dinner, we roamed around the town center with our host. We even took photos with Mount Malindang as our backdrop. The air is so cold and the area is...

Read More

Pay What Things Are Worth

You can buy a Plume Blanche diamond-encrusted sofa for close to two hundred thousand dollars. It’s also possible to hire one person to kill another person for five hundred dollars. Remember that next time you hear someone ramble on about how the market decides what things are worth. The market might be rational, but the people who comprise it are not. Diogenes, who founded the Cynic school, emphasized the true worth (axia) of things, a theme...

Read More

Cowardice As A Design Problem

The opposing team comes out strong, establishes an early lead, and you never had time to recover. You walk into a business meeting, are caught off guard, and the whole thing goes poorly. A delicate conversation escalates into a shouting match. You switched majors halfway through college and had to start your coursework over and graduate late. Sound familiar? It’s the chaos that ensues from not having a plan. Not because plans are perfect, but...

Read More

Why Do You Need To Impress These People Again?

Is there anything sadder than the immense lengths we’ll go to impress someone? The things we’ll do to earn someone’s approval can seem, when examined in retrospect, like the result of some temporary form of insanity. Suddenly we’re wearing uncomfortable, ridiculous clothes we've been told are cool, eating differently, talking differently, eagerly waiting for a call or text. If we did these things because we liked it, that would be one thing. But...

Read More

How to Handle Complicating Priorities

In this life, we have complicating priorities. We can’t avoid this circumstance, no matter how hard we try. No wonder it is necessary to know the basic ideas to handle conflicting priorities. First, you should consider if the distractions might actually be caused by your own doing. In other words, determine the things that will prevent you from achieving your goals. One of the things that will hinder you to manage complicating priorities...

Read More

Reason in All Things

Four lives are not ruled by reason, what are they ruled by? Impulse? Whim? Mimicry? Unthinking habit? As we examine our past behavior, it’s sad how often we find this to be the case that we were not acting consciously or deliberately but instead by forces we did not bother to evaluate. It also happens that these are the instances that we’re mostly likely to regr...

Read More

You Are a Product of Your Training

Dog that’s allowed to chase cars will chase cars. A child who is never given any boundaries will become spoiled. An investor without discipline is not an investor he’s a gambler. A mind that isn't in control of itself, that doesn't understand its power to regulate itself, will be jerked around by external events and unquestioned impulses. That can’t be how you’d like tomorrow to go. So you must be aware of that. You must put in place training...

Read More

Be Wary of What You Let In

How much harder is it to do the right thing when you’re surrounded by people with low standards? How much harder is it to be positive and empathetic inside the negativity bubble of television chatter? How much harder is it to focus on your own issues when you’re distracted with other people’s drama and conflict? We’ll inevitably be exposed to these influences at some point, no matter how much we try to avoid them. But when we are, there is nothing...

Read More

How to Stay Committed to Your Goal Without Being Too Harsh to Yourself

Many people think that setting goals is very essential to achieve success. Basically, this is a positive attitude that you should cultivate on a regular basis. For those who find it hard to continue facing challenges, always remember that quitting is simply not an option. As we’ve learned in an earlier post, practicing on a daily basis is important. In this case, you can think of a goal that you have been working on for years that you can’t...

Read More

The Color Of Your Thoughts

If you bend your body into a sitting position every day for a long enough period of time, the curvature of your spine changes. A doctor can tell from a radiograph (or an autopsy) whether someone sat at a desk for a living. If you shove your feet into tiny, narrow dress shoes each day, your feet begin to take on that form as well. The same is true for our mind. If you hold a perpetually negative outlook, soon enough everything you encounter will seem negative. Close it off and you’ll become closed-minded. Color it with the wrong thoughts and your...

Read More

Tahanan ni Aling Meding Hotel at San Pablo Laguna

Welcome back to my blog! I just want to share one of my favorite places in the Philippines - San Pablo in Laguna. It is dubbed as the City of Seven Lakes because it has seven beautiful lakes that will truly entice you. During the trip, we haven't prepared a plan so we just walked at Sampaloc Lake pathway until we found a beautiful home away from home, the Tahanan ni Aling Meding Hotel. Our budget for accommodation is less than P 3,000.00...

Read More

Don’t Let This Go To Your Head

It is difficult even to conceive of what life must have been like for Marcus Aurelius—he wasn’t born emperor, nor did he obtain the position deliberately. It was simply thrust upon him. Nevertheless, he was suddenly the richest man in the world, head of the most powerful army on earth, ruling over the largest empire in history, considered a god among men. It’s no wonder he wrote little messages like this one to remind himself not to spin off the planet. Without them, he might have lost his sense of what was important—falling prey to the lies from...

Read More

How to Strengthen Your Willpower?

Are you looking for ideas on how to strengthen your willpower? We know that having a strong-willed personality is essential in facing life’s challenges. After all, there are a lot of oppositions in life that we must face on a daily basis. The primary step to have a strong willpower is to set an intention and stick to it. To do this, start with smaller intentions before trying out bigger ones. For example, set an intention to avoid eating...

Read More

Trust But Verify

One of the wonders of your mind is the quickness with which it can comprehend and categorize things. As Malcolm Gladwell wrote in Blink, we are constantly making split-second decisions based on years of experience and knowledge as well as using the same skill to confirm prejudices, stereotypes, and assumptions. Clearly, the former thinking is a source of strength, whereas the latter is a great weakness. We lose very little by taking a beat to consider...

Read More

Expect to Change Your Opinions

How often do we begin some project certain we know exactly how it will go? How often do we meet people and think we know exactly who and what they are? And how often are these assumptions proved to be completely and utterly wrong? This is why we must fight our biases and preconceptions: because they are a liability. Ask yourself: What haven’t I considered? Why is this thing the way it is? Am I part of the problem here or the solution? Could I...

Read More

Recreation As a Way To Discover Amazing Things

One of the best ways to have a remarkable lifestyle is to have a regular recreation plan. Maybe, you can travel with your family and friends, or visit a fancy restaurant. Other people choose to enjoy amusement parks and take a lot of photos. Whether you're working from home or have an office-based work, it is really essential to enjoy recreational activities once in a while. Another way to take a break is to enjoy outdoor sports. Your choices...

Read More

Best Solutions for Lifetime Growth

We’re not bound to fail in our endeavours if we are prepared to accept defeat. By defeat, I meant inability to get what we want no matter how we try. There are things that are beyond our control so we don’t have to be harsh on ourselves. Even if we know that life is a challenge, we shouldn’t deny that it is also interesting. Everyday, we learn to deal with problems graciously. For lifetime growth, we seek knowledge and guidance from people...

Read More

Courage in Times of Challenges

Every person experiences challenges in this life. It is always the opposite of happiness. In all footsteps you take everyday, there are always problems. Many people are suffering that distressing situation like poverty, loss of a loved one and sickness. Others suffer mental grief. Even if we strive to be happy, there is always opposition in all things. What are the ways to combat stress because of many challenges? There are myriad ways...

Read More

Accurate Self Assessment

Most people resist the idea of a true self-estimate, probably because they fear it might mean downgrading some of their beliefs about who they are and what they’re capable of. As Goethe’s maxim goes, it is a great failing “to see yourself as more than you are.” How could you really be considered self-aware if you refuse to consider your weaknesses? Don’t fear self-assessment because you’re worried you might have to admit some things about yourself....

Read More

The Source of Your Anxiety

The anxious father, worried about his children. What does he want? A world that is always safe. A frenzied traveler what does she want? For the weather to hold and for traffic to part so she can make her flight. A nervous investor? That the market will turn around and an investment will pay off. All of these scenarios hold the same thing in common. As Epictetus says, it’s wanting something outside our control. Getting worked up, getting excited,...

Read More

The Law of Radiation

This  expression of Divine Activity is one of the most practical utility. Understanding radiatory, or emanatory condition of all substances as a specific point in evolution allows one to approach Reality. It is the outer effect produced by all forms in all kingdoms when their internal activity has reached such a stage of vibratory activity that the confining walls of the form no longer form a prison, but permit the liberation of the subjective...

Read More