The Good Good!

 

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What most people don’t realize about me is that they can talk to me about almost anything. Hit me up with the most striking question then I will give you an honest heartfelt answer. That is how you break the walls. Tell me how you live your life and I will inspire you how I live mine. Talk to me about your despair and I will give you words of wisdom.

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How you leave a mark on somebody else’s life is by giving meaningful conversations. Opening your soul and knowing theirs.

Communication is something we often neglect because we refuse to explain things and be understood, yet we complain that we were misunderstood.

If somebody care enough to know, it’s because you are special, so take time. Because not everyone will care with what’s inside your soul.

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Take time to listen and learn from people who are very passionate.

That every word they utter is filled with love and emotions. Every move they make does not only mean action, but a move towards something deeper. When you look in their eyes you see hope and dreams of what they desire the most.
Live life passionately…

It is not as stressful as you thought it is. This material world maybe is consuming you.

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Make everyday meaningful..

Because one soulful day could reflect in your life forever. One word could move and change someone. One act of goodness and appreciation could make somebody else’s day. Acknowledge what needs to be done and undone.
Shout hoorah! From the top of your lungs.

And Strengthen your whole being.
A Good strong heart resonates a Good life lived.

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Share the world what you have. Because your hands are full with blessings from God.

lullabies 1

-anonymous

The Little Prince

The Little Prince- a book I have read more than ten years ago; brings me back to memories when I was young and how experiences have changed our life’s perspective. Reading this book again as an adult gives me a different interpretation about the metaphors of life.

“it is only withthe heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye.” – little prince

This book is truly timeless.

Winning the Crown (random musings)

Why did you join Binibining Pilipinas?

They would always ask this during screening at Binibining Pilipinas. To some who doesnt know me, This is my third try in Binibining Pilipinas. On my previous competitions I’d think to myself;

“I just wanna try and experience what it’s like; this will be my last; and so on…”

But why did it take me 3 tries in BBP?

“This is my third try in bbp, and the reason why I wanna join again is because I have come a long way in pursuing this dream, I wanna stretch out my chances until I have it and regret is the last thing I would wanna feel in the future. So I know I still have a shot in winning and I believe that BBP is a good platform in helping and influencing other people”

Having failed in winning a crown in the previous years… Did I really fail and ran out of “luck”?

The journey is perhaps enjoyable, or should i say PRICELESS.

Thinking outside the actual competition

you get to win the “BETTER YOU”

You wont fake the smile, the friendliness and helping people because the organization supports the charity. It will all become a part of who you are and who you are about to become. A beauty queen, an inspiration, a philanthropist,a dreamer, an achiever. An extraordinary you!

For what good does joining a beauty pageant affect your life?

“Joining a beauty pageant is a short term goal with long-term effects”                       my mentor said

If you are a beauty queen, or you join competitions. I will simply give you at least 14 changes or improvements that will leave a mark in your life. The following are:

1. GETTING TO KNOW YOURSELF

Practicing all the Q&A questions, people asking you about yourself and your pageant preparations makes you stop and think who you really are as a person. You would make time to actually reflect on your actions, habits and personality and from there you will be able to point out the adjectives describing your real self. You get to know your real purpose in Life.

2. SELF-CONFIDENCE

You went for an audition and got in as a finalist for the competition. Of all girls vying to be a candidate, you are one step ahead towards the goal.

You will eventually find yourself more valuable than ever because now, people see you as a role model. You have proven to yourself that you are a worthy person, that you can do better than being the ordinary.

3. AMBASSADOR OF GOODWILL

You are now a role model, now let’s put that to Good use. You want to promote goodness rather than the bad, righteousness rather than immorality, help people rather than persecute them. You find yourself active in the community because being a beauty queen comes with a responsibility of helping the less fortunate people. This is where world peace and beauty pageant sometimes come hand in hand.

4. SMILE

I have carried this along everyday of my life. Smile is contagious!, usually when someone smiles at you, you would smile back.

My friends would always pick on me for smiling even if I’m saying I am annoyed.

I figured, it’s actually still a  compliment that they find me pleasant looking even through tough times.

5. EXPERIENCE

Not many people get an opportunity to be in a beauty contest as prestigious as this one. You would be 80 years old and you’d be telling stories about being in the competition to your great great grandchildren. It’s a great way to think that you have lived a not so boring life.

6. DISCOVERING NEW SKILLS

Because now that all eyes are on you, you can’t stay who and what you are. You step up your game and sometimes discover something new about yourself. Maybe you later find out that you have a talent for hosting, acting, or make up. In my case, I discovered that I can actually speed paint in 3-5 minutes.

7. PERSONABLE YOU

Pageants teach you how to groom yourself for special events, how to make a good impression for your interviews; It will teach you the right posture, gesture, proper way to sit, talk, and walk. At first you would think it’s very fake and hard to practice. But eventually it will come out naturally. Then you will do amazingly well in the outside life, stand out in your job interviews, meetings, night outs, basically be more personable and well communicated.

8. MAY I CONNECT

You can’t be in a competition and be a wallflower. You got to talk to people and let them know that you are an interesting and intellectual human being. By this, you actually get to meet a lot of people who you might end up working with or be close friends with in the future.

9. RISK-TAKING

You have been through the hardest part of the competition. That is to decide whether you will join or not. Being in a competition requires a lot of patience, and  sacrifice.You have sacrificed a lot just to be in this pageant. You stopped working, studying and your savings all goes to your pageant needs. You spend all your time for trainings and pageant activities. You trade your family time for speech trainings.

You have the choice to live every day stress-free; Not worrying about what people think; Or not to drain yourself physically, mentally and emotionally; Or not to spend your money on those expensive clothes, shoes and cosmetics. You have the choice to travel around, party or watch your favorite TV series every Monday night.

But you have committed yourself to this because it is where your heart takes you. You found yourself in love with the sacrifices because you know in return the victory will be sweet.

What not most people realize is you are willing to take it all and give it all because it is your goal to win. You had put yourself in a situation where people will bully or criticize you. You are sacrificing the convenient and routine life in order to make a difference not just to yourself but also to the world. Congratulations, you are now a certified risk-taker!

“Life is all about taking risks, If you never take a risk you will never achieve your dreams.”

10. PERSISTENCE

You decided you want to become a beauty queen. You committed yourself to it now you got to finish what you started. And not just to finish it, you will strive for excellence because you want to improve everyday.

11. FACING FEARS

You are on stage with bright spot lights on you. You know you got to perform in order to make a score. But your legs are trembling and your lips are twitching because you have a stage fright. What can you do? People often get terrified on their  first times or when the camera starts panning on them. Solution to this varies from person to person. “Practice makes perfect” or “meditation” sometimes works wonders.

12. FITNESS AND HEALTH

Well, you can’t be a beauty queen if you have 20 lbs of excess fat (at least not during your reign or during the competition) . So you workout to maintain a fit body, you eat healthy to have a glowing skin and face. All because you have to look good and this is included in your responsibilities being a beauty queen. In the long run it’s all for the benefit of a beautiful YOU.

13. INVISIBLE CROWN

Regardless of winning or not. You put a crown on yourself for becoming a better person. You have put yourself to test to instill patience, learning , competence etc. You have taken risks. You have overcome the pressure. You are now a queen of your own.

14. STRONGER IN FAITH

Maybe people will tell you that you only pray because you want to win the competition. But to me it is a good step in seeking Him. Some people seek for God in their most stressful moment. But don’t you worry God is forgiving and loving. He loves you more when you pray “God please give me strength to get that crown.”
God will provide everything that will be perfect for you. If your faith became stronger because of the competition, then what I see is a WINNER.

the list goes on…

prepare your life to change during and after the pageant. Dwell on the positive and the good it is causing you. It is your choice whether you will adapt these winnings in your life or be back to the old you.

“In the end, being a winner is a choice”

Other than wanting a crown, wanting to represent the country in an international field, or simply wanting to make your mark to everyone. Why did you really join?

To every candidate, we all have personal reasons as to why we joined the pageant. And we have a common reason of wanting the crown.

I DON’T WANT TO REGRET would sometimes come second. (specially for me because it is my last chance)

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

I personally think that God put me here for a better purpose. Now that I am here AGAIN for the third time making my way to get one of the crowns, I can’t help my heart from screaming for it.  Fighting for a crown but desperately seeking my TRUE PURPOSE. Maybe next week I will have a crown on my head or maybe I will be clapping from behind. I don’t know HIS purpose yet for all I know is MINE, maybe I would not know anytime soon. But everything will fall into place because I TRUST IN HIM.  God gave me an opportunity that I grabbed in a heartbeat, add that with hard-work; there goes your 99% luck.
The remaining 1% is all up to him.
(A contract won’t be valid without the approval from the signatory.)

THE CROWN GOD HAD GIVEN ME IS IRREPLACEABLE. I already have a crown right before my eyes opened to this world. For it is written in God’s Holy Plan.

Yes! Yes! And Yes! Your ears may get tired hearing this but That is my final answer.

To all of us: we are kings and queens in the eyes of God.

Settling for God’s best

Many get so frustrated with obnoxious cab drivers here in the Philippines.  Last night the cab that i got in going home demanded for additional 50 pesos. I usually give additional 30 because my house is a bit far from the gate of our subdivision. I figure 50 is a bit too much because there’s already a flag down of 40 pesos. So thats 90 pesos soon as you sit on the passenger seat. For Filipinos, its already a lot.

Along the way, the cab driver would always complain. “im not even familiar with this place, this is too far, i wish i had just booked a passenger from    grab taxi (taxi booking application).” So I got a bit annoyed and kept my silence.
When I reached home, I gave him the usual 30 pesos tip that I give. I could just not give him a tip because he was rude but I did not want to hear more complaining.

Then came this one driver I’d always call if I needed someone to drive me. We became friends.  I never heard him complain because he would drive me anywhere despite the bad weather and horrible traffic. At last! A cab driver doing his job, to drive you around. I would not give him a 30 peso tip nor 50 pesos because he never demanded. But I would give him double, sometimes a lot more or enough to    pay for his daily boundary. One time even borrowed money from me because his son was sick. I didn’t mind, he got my trust and he’s been a loyal driver.

But what I really want to tell you is…

Many times we would complain about our job, that we are not makin enough, or complain about the challenges that God is putting us through. So we cheat or take a short-cut in order to get more. Sometimes we demand God for what we want, we give him an ultimatum

…like the first cab driver I was talking about…
Before we do our job, we instanyly ask what we’d get in return for doing these  things. Because we want more than what we usually get. So we constantly remind God, that we want this and we want that.

He would sometimes give you less than what you ask or exactly what it is you asked for.

On the other hand, an obedient follower of God who does not complain, or demand anything other than what God thinks is right and best for them. Sometimes we may not know what we would get for following and obeying God, but if your Trust is full with Him you know that he will never leave you empty, He will remain faithful, He will fulfill his promise and He will only provide the best for you.

The saying goes, “why settle for less, when you can have the best?”

.Sometimes all it takes is a little bit of patience,
We get so busy picking up all the silver coins laid on the path of our journey not knowing that the gold bars are right at the end of the road.

.Sometimes what we, as humans badly desire is less than what God had planned for us to get.

.He could not only give you a mansion at beverly hills, He wants to give you the gates of heaven made of Gold. .He could not only give you a round the world ticket, He wants to give you your own wings so you could fly high and far as you could.

.He could not only give you an A+ grade at school, He wants to give you wisdom that can never be compensated by any degree.

.He could not only give you a good paying job, he wants to give you the best job that pays for everything you could ever imagine.

.He could not only give you happy life, He has given his life to you.

During ancient wars a knight tries to kill as many soldiers as he can, But once you kill the king. Youv’e won the war.

.Like playing chess, you make moves trying to eat all the pawns, bishops, horses and rooks. But if you catch the king, game is over.

Maybe as an interior designer I can only quote one design Philosophy that could relate  to this.
…LESS IS MORE…
The less you complain to God, the More you get.

So what will it be?
Your plans or God’s plan?
Your way or God’s way?
Thousand soldiers, or the one and only King?

A 50 peso tip or double/triple pay

A test of faith

Last night, me and my bestfriend Jill were talking about escalating wealth and unfortunate beggars and the like. The redundancy and irony of life.
(not to generalize, but again these are personal observations from people we know and what we see)

.why rich people become richer?
.why boastful people get more things to brag about?
.why scammers get more people to scam?
.why people still bite and believe liars?
.why good people are being taken advantage of?
.why poor people are unable to make good money?
.why the faithful get cheated on over and over?

There are a lot of explanations to each, economy, corruption, peer pressure, idiocracy, poverty, ignorance and so on and so forth…
But what does it mean to God?

A test of faith… worshiping the wrong gods

Sometimes God put us in a situation wherein we feel atop the happiness that the world could offer to us…
We have and can afford everything that we want. Fast cars, mansions, designer bags and shoes, travel around the world, maybe a beach house in Miami or a billion dollar business.
It is not wrong to desire all these, majority of us do.
Most of us work so hard to become rich and can afford a good life.

But as we get all these things one by one.
We sometimes forget to pause and thank God.
As we are so busy achieving these goals,
We sometimes forget to pursue God.

“Why do I need to? If I didn’t work hard enough I wouldn’t get it anyway”
Stay humble. Your talents were given by God.

A test of faith… Why have you forsaken me?

Remember that when Christ was crucified, he then asked “Father, why have you forsaken me?”
After three days he rose from the dead.

When you think you fail in life generally.
Have not finished school, lost a job, business bankruptcy, death of a relative, got cheated, got robbed and so on…
Tendency is you count all the miserable things that had happened throughout your life. And you blame God for not giving you a single piece of blessing even the ones made by your wrong doings.
You get envious, insecure and hateful.

Philippians 4:19 God will provide

God give trials to his strongest soldiers.
God doesn’t give us anything that we can’t handle.

Any suffering, persecution or pain that we feel on earth are temporary.

If only you will surrender yourself, you will know that God is enough and that He will provide everything that you need for survival.

Maybe you are at your darkest days at the moment but if you put your trust in him, he will show you the way, the light and the life in eternity.  He will give you the strength to overcome all these, he will give you the power to defeat the monsters inside your head, the fear, and everything else.

You can only win this battle, with God.

Goal priorities…

At which department you are investing your time and effort to?
Money? Red Ferrari? Honeymoon in Maldives?
To be the richest entrepreneur in the country?
3 kids? A loving wife? A published book?
Let me tell you, these are all small goals, all these will perish when you die or when the world ends..

The goal priority should be GOD. Where our life will be for eternity.

Everything on this earth is a test of faith.
Are you going to give in from overflowing success or are you going to hate God from adversity or being unfortunate.
How long are you going to hold on to that faith?
How strong are you?…
How much can you invest for this life beyond this world?

They don’t matter. Only God does

Of course, the world will judge you for the mistakes you have done or for who you were in the past.
But it is always a battle between you and yourself.
Only you will know your true purpose
Most of all, only God can judge you.
Does it matter what the world says or dictates?

“If God is with you, who can be against you”

Regardless of how sinful you were, does it still matter?
Regardless of how awful your life was, does it still matter?
What matters is the decision you make right at this moment…

Will this be a moment of repentance?
Acceptance?
Or a moment of continuing the old ways?

Truly if you have God, you will no longer fear the material world.
You will no longer fear death because you no longer belong to the world.

You surrender yourself for something better.
You surrender yourself for eternity.

lifelustwandergirl

On my brightest night

I don’t know why or how…
But the beauty of the earth fulfills the depths of my soul.
I close my eyes…
I dream…

The waves of the sea crashing to the shore,
feels like i am a deaf woman listening to the only sound that calms
Then I feel no longer deaf.
That breeze passing on my skin and sun shining right on my face,
Feels like a warm hug from my father whom I knew by faith
The sound of the birds chirping
Feels like they are singing a lullaby
telling me I got nothing to worry.
Then I will no longer worry.

The sunset from horizon where the heaven touches the earth.
It tells me…
Ive shown you the light through out the day
Now that it will be dark…
You might not see everything clearly,
You might be scared for a while
But when the light is out
And you look up…
You will see that I left you with the best shining stars.
So on your darkest night you learn to appreciate them.
You learn to value and trust them.

Do not overlook darkness, because that’s when it highlights the important things and people in your life.

I choose to be HAPPY

Sometimes people live with HATE throughout their lives. They choose the misery of waking up with a burden in their hearts. They don’t LISTEN because all they hear is their own voices. They make things COMPLICATED by over-thinking and letting the situation get over their head. They would rather mock, persecute or fight than try to fix things out or talk it over. They get FRUSTRATED when they can’t get what they want or hear what they wanna hear. They get frustrated when they can’t CONTROL the situation.
Sounds like a very stressful life, right?

All the things we have right now are temporary,
even the life we have is temporary. Why not make the most out of it and live stress-free? If you will put effort into things, why not put effort into eternity.?

I think life is very simple,
Forgive, forget, live freely and love the life youv’e been given.

It’s just a choice we got to make. It’s a choice we gotta live by.

HAPPY is the one who choose happiness.

Coron at sunrise

November 3 2014

So here I am again,

Sailing the endless sea
Diving to see the rich colors of the undersea.
Hiking up a mountain just to witness the beauty of sun and clouds
What a great delight
What a great feeling to be free.

I may not have everything that I want
but I got everything I need
I may be alone but I am not lonely
In fact I am very happy and content
Because I let God be in control of my life.

He tells me to fly, climb, swim and go explore.
Life is a wonder, there is more that needs appreciation, there is more that needs loving.
There is more for you and me
Because He has set you free,
You let yourself be free.

Life is amazing!