When coins were much more rudimentary, people had to spend a lot of time testing them to confirm the currency they’d just received was genuine. The Greek word dokimazein means “to assay” or check the quality of a mineral ore. Merchants were often skilled enough that they could test coinage by throwing it against a hard surface and listen to the note it rang. Even today, though, if someone were to hand you a hundred-dollar bill, you might rub it between your fingers or hold it up to the light, just to confirm it wasn't a fake.
All this for an imaginary...
Money Management
Money management offers a tour of research on the science of spending, explaining how you can get more money.
Information of the Ages
Learn wisdom from extra-ordinary leaders of the ages.
Business Guide
Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends. Walt Disney
Thursday
Wednesday
Observe Cause and Effect
Through the work of the psychologist Albert Ellis, Stoicism has reached millions of people through what’s known as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). As a form of a therapy, CBT helps patients identify destructive patterns in their thoughts and behavior so they can, over time, direct and influence them in a more positive direction.
Of course, Marcus Aurelius had no formal training in psychology, but his words here are as important as any doctor’s. He’s asking you to become an observer of your own thoughts and the actions those thoughts provoke....
Becoming An Expert In What Matters
The things that some people manage to be experts in: fantasy sports, celebrity trivia, derivatives and commodities markets, thirteenth-century hygiene habits of the clergy.
We can get very good at what we’re paid to do, or adept at a hobby we wish we could be paid to do. Yet our own lives, habits, and tendencies might be a mystery to us.
Seneca was writing this important reminder to his father-in-law, who, as it happened, was for a time in charge of Rome’s granary. But then his position was revoked for political purposes. Who really cares, Seneca...
Tuesday
Test Your Impressions
In an overly quantified world of policies and processes, some are swinging back in the other direction. Bold leaders will “trust their gut.” A spiritual guru will say that it’s important to “let your body guide you.” A friend trying to help us with a difficult decision might ask, “What feels right here?” These approaches to decision making contradict voluminous case studies in which people’s instincts have led them right into trouble. Our senses are wrong all the time! As animals subjected to the slow force of evolution, we have developed all sorts...
Monday
Judgments Cause Disturbance
The samurai swordsman Musashi made a distinction between our “perceiving eye” and our “observing eye.” The observing eye sees what is. The perceiving eye sees what things supposedly mean. Which one do you think causes us the most anguish?
An event is inanimate. It’s objective. It simply is what it is. That’s what our observing eye sees.
This will ruin me. How could this have happened? Ugh! It’s so-and-so’s fault. That’s our perceiving eye at work. Bringing disturbance with it and then blaming it on the eve...
Sunday
If You Want To Learn, Be Humble
If all the Stoics, Epictetus is the closest one to a true teacher. He had a school. He hosted classes. In fact, his wisdom is passed down to us through a student who took really good lecture notes. One of the things that frustrated Epictetus about philosophy students—and has frustrated all college professors since time began—is how students claim to want to be taught but really secretly believe they already know everything.
The reality is that we’re all guilty of thinking we know it all, and we’d all learn more if we could set that attitude aside....
Saturday
Less is More
In most areas of life, the saying “Less is more” stands true. For instance, the writers we admire tend to be masters of economy and brevity. What they leave out is just as important—sometimes more important—than what they leave in. There is a poem by Philip Levine titled “He Would Never Use One Word Where None Would Do.” And from Hamlet, the best of all—the retort from Queen Gertrude after a long, rhetorical speech from Polonius: “More matter with less art,” she tells him. Get to the point!
Imagine the emperor of Rome, with his captive audience...
Friday
Reject Tantalizing Gifts
One of Seneca’s darkest and most disturbing plays. Even two thousand years later it remains a classic of the revenge genre. Without spoiling it, the quote above comes from the scene in which Atreus is attempting to lure his hated brother Thyestes into a cruel trap by offering him tempting and generous gifts. At first, Thyestes declines, to the complete bafflement of his enemy.
We are typically surprised when someone turns down an expensive gift or a position of honor or success. General William T. Sherman emphatically rejected offers to run for...
Thursday
Pay Your Taxes
Is your income taxes come due, you might be like many people— complaining at what you have to fork over to the government. Forty percent of everything I make goes to these people? And for what?! First off, taxes go to a lot of programs and services you almost certainly take for granted. Second, you think you’re so special? People have been complaining about their taxes for thousands of years, and now they’re dead. Get over it. Third, this is a good problem to have. Far better than, say, making so little there is nothing left to pay the government...
Wednesday
Awareness is Freedom
It is sad to consider how much time many people spend in the course of a day doing things they “have” to do—not necessary obligations like work or family, but the obligations we needlessly accept out of vanity or ignorance. Consider the actions we take in order to impress other people or the lengths we’ll go to fulfill urges or sate desires we don’t even question. In one of his famous letters, Seneca observes how often powerful people are slaves to their money, to their positions, to their mistresses, even—as was legal in Rome to their slaves....
Tuesday
Don’t Tell Yourself Stories
Modern philosopher Nassim Taleb has warned of the “narrative fallacy” the tendency to assemble unrelated events of the past into stories. These stories, however gratifying to create, are inherently misleading. They lead to a sense of cohesion and certainty that isn't real.
If that’s too heady, remember that as Epictetus points out, there is another reason not to tell stories about your past. It’s boring, annoying, and self absorbed. It might make you feel good to dominate the conversation and make it all about you, but how do you think it is for...
How to Prepare for Obstacles to Achieve Success
We know that it is not easy to achieve success in life.
There are a lot of things to consider and a few essential qualities to develop
in the process. For example, you need to persevere in order to achieve your
goals. You need to be resourceful or be self-reliant to follow the path to
success. It is also necessary to be strong, courageous and diligent all the
time.
It is true that you need to prepare for obstacles. These
are circumstances...
Monday
Cutting Back On The Costly
If Seneca’s many letters, this is probably one of the most important—and one of the least understood. He’s making a point that goes unheard in a society of ever-bigger houses and ever more possessions: that there’s a hidden cost to all that accumulating. And the sooner we’re aware of it, the better.
Remember: even what we get for free has a cost, if only in what we pay to store it—in our garages and in our minds. As you walk past your possessions today, ask yourself: Do I need this? Is it superfluous? What’s this actually worth? What is it costing...
Sunday
Find Yourself A Cato
Cato the Younger, a Roman politician best known for his self-discipline and for his heroic defense of the Republic against Julius Caesar, appears constantly throughout Stoic literature which is interesting because he didn’t write anything down. He taught no classes. He gave no interviews. His bold and brave example is what made him such a commonly cited and quoted philosopher.
Seneca tells us that we should each have our own Cato a great and noble person we can allow into our minds and use to guide our actions, even when they’re not physically...
Saturday
Don’t Unintentionally Hand Over Your Freedom
Instinctively, we protect our physical selves. We don’t let people touch us, push us around, control where we go. But when it comes to the mind, we’re less disciplined. We hand it over willingly to social media, to television, to what other people are doing, thinking, or saying. We sit down to work and the next thing you know, we’re browsing the Internet. We sit down with our families, but within minutes we have our phones out. We sit down peacefully in a park, but instead of looking inward, we’re judging people as they pass by. We don’t even know...
Becoming a Different Person After Achieving Goals in Life
Have you noticed that if you have accomplished a goal in your life you feel like you're a different person? You'll feel uplifted because of the things that you achieved after doing a lot of things, may it be relating to education, business or even homemaking. For instance, you will feel good if you have accomplished little things to renovate your home.
If you have reached this level in your goal-setting, you're on the right track. The first...
Friday
Don’t Trust The Senses
Self-awareness is the ability to objectively evaluate the self. It’s the ability to question our own instincts, patterns, and assumptions. Oiêsis, selfdeception or arrogant and unchallenged opinion, requires that we hold all our opinions up to hard scrutiny; even our eyes deceive us.
On the one hand, that’s alarming. I can’t even trust my own senses?! Sure, you could think about it that way. Or you could take it another way: because our senses are often wrong, our emotions overly alarmed, our projections overly optimistic, we’re better off not...
Thursday
Find The Right Scene
Jim Rohn’s widely quoted line is: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” James Altucher advises young writers and entrepreneurs to find their “scene” a group of peers who push them to be better. Your father might have given you a warning when he saw you spending time with some bad kids: “Remember, you become like your friends.” One of Goethe’s maxims captures it better: “Tell me with whom you consort and I will tell...
Building a Solid Belief in Yourself
Do you have an experience of not believing in yourself? It’s
like turning your back on yourself due to lack of self-confidence. This shouldn’t
happen to you.
We know that we experience lack of self-confidence in
life. However, we should not allow ourselves to feel it. The best way to build
a solid belief in yourself and your capabilities of doing great things is to
take action. If you will achieve more things, the more you’ll feel confident...
Wednesday
One Day It Will All Make Sense
Part of the reason we fight against the things that happen is that we’re so focused on our plan that we forget that there might be a bigger plan we don’t know about. Is it not the case that plenty of times something we thought was a disaster turned out to be, with the passage of time, a lucky break? We also forget that we’re not the only people who matter and that our loss might be someone else’s gain.
This sense of being wronged is a simple awareness...
Tuesday
Living Without Restriction
Take a look at some of the most powerful, rich, and famous people in the world. Ignore the trappings of their success and what they’re able to buy. Look instead at what they’re forced to trade in return look at what success has cost them.
Mostly? Freedom. Their work demands they wear a suit. Their success depends on attending certain parties, kissing up to people they don’t like. It will require inevitably realizing they are unable to say what...
Mother's Day Celebration 2018
Happy Mother's Day! Although it's already late, I still posted something for this wonderful event. We had an amazing Sunday in the church yesterday, especially that we celebrated Mother's Day. It was just a simple celebration. However, it was really fun.
The sisters prepared a chic decor inside the classroom for us to take photos. It was a remarkable background because there are hanging balloons in the ceiling. As you can see, it's...
Monday
Seeing Things As The Person At Fault Does
Socrates, perhaps the wisest person to ever live, used to say that “nobody does wrong willingly.” Meaning that no one is wrong on purpose either. Nobody thinks they’re wrong, even when they are.
They think they’re right, they’re just mistaken. Otherwise, they wouldn't think it anymore! Could it be that the slights you've experienced or the harm that others have done to you was not inflicted intentionally? What if they simply thought they were...
Sunday
That Sacred Part of You
The fact that you can think, the fact that you can read this book, the fact that you are able to reason in and out of situations all of this is what gives you the ability to improve your circumstances and become better. It’s important to appreciate this ability, because it’s a genuine ability. Not everyone is so lucky.
Seriously what you take for granted, others wouldn’t even think to dream of.
Take a little time today to remember that you’re...
Saturday
The Present is All We Possess
Today, notice how often you look for more. That is, wanting the past to be more than what it was (different, better, still here, etc.) or wanting the future to unfold exactly as you expect (with hardly a thought as to how that might affect other people).
When you do this, you’re neglecting the present moment. Talk about ungrateful! There’s a saying attributed to Bil Keane, the cartoonist—worth remembering: “Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s...
Self Deception is Our Enemy
Self deception, delusions of grandeur these aren't just annoying personality traits. Ego is more than just off-putting and obnoxious. Instead, it’s the sworn enemy of our ability to learn and grow.
As Epictetus put it, “It is impossible for a person to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows.” Today, we will be unable to improve, unable to learn, unable to earn the respect of others if we think we’re already perfect, a genius admired far...
Friday
Overnight Stay at Splash Oasis in Laguna
Looking fresh and relaxed - I just woke up in one of the rooms at Splash Oasis. For documentation purposes, I have this photo showing the entrance of the resort. Our travel to Laguna was in time for my birthday.
Splash Oasis is located at Kilometer 58, Los Banos, Laguna. It is part of the Splash Mountain Resort, a hot spring hotel in the area. It's easy to find since it's just located along the highway.
We had breakfast that was served...
The Strait Jacketed Soul
In the financial disaster of the late 2000s, hundreds of smart, rational people lost trillions of dollars’ worth of wealth. How could such smart people have been so foolish? These people knew the system, knew how the markets were supposed to work, and had managed billions, if not trillions, of dollars. And yet, almost to a person, they were wrong and wrong to the tune of global market havoc.
It’s not hard to look at that situation and understand...
Buffet 101 Eat All You Can Restaurant at Mall of Asia Complex
One of my memorable dining experiences is eating at Buffet 101 in Mall of Asia Complex. Here are reasons why I love the place.
First, there are a lot of food choices. I've tried all their Japanese, Italian and Korean offerings. I like their Braised Pork Legs with Black Pepper, Fish Fillet and Lemon Butter Sauce.
Second, I like the interior design of the restaurant. It's perfect to try local and international cuisine at Buffet 101, SM Mall...
Thursday
The Beauty of Choice
It’s that line in the movie Fight Club: “You are not your job, you’re not how much money you have in the bank. You are not the car you drive. You’re not the contents of your wallet.” Obviously our friend Epictetus never saw that movie or read the book—but apparently the consumerism of the 1990s existed in ancient Rome too.
It’s easy to confuse the image we present to the world for who we actually are, especially when media messaging deliberately...
Trip to Napo Beach Resort in Dapitan City
Napo Beach Resort in Dapitan City, Philippines is far from the city proper. However, the place is easier to find even if it's your first time to go there. We just asked a few locals for directions. Luckily, a few people told us a few essential things to reach the place safely and quickly.
Upon arrival, I noticed the picturesque landscape of the area. It's so breathtaking! The Instagram-worthy seashore captivated me. Since I prepared for the...
Wednesday
Deceived and Divided
Woman says she wants to meet a nice guy and get married yet she spends all her time around jerks. A man says that he wishes he could find a great job, but he hasn't actually bothered to do the looking. Business executives try to pursue two different strategies at the same time—straddling it’s called—and they are shocked when they succeed at neither.
All of these people, just as is often true for us too, are deceived and divided. One hand is working...
Count Your Blessings
You should feel significantly better and happier after each time you Count Your Blessings, and how good you feel is your measure of how much gratitude you felt. The more gratitude you felt, the happier you will feel, and the faster your life will change. Some days you will feel happy really quickly, and other days it may take a little longer. But as you continue to Count Your Blessings every day, you will notice a bigger and bigger difference in...
