Day 10 - Mentors

I have received my God Whispers recently and I was greatly inspired by what it contained.  God's message for me was as follows:

Dear Kenneth,


I have sent (and will continue to send) people into your life who will make you discover the gold within you.  They will see things in you yourself cannot see.  They will make you grow.


Love,
God


PS.  These people are one of your greatest blessings, Kenneth.  Appreciate them.

The message I got was very clear.  To succeed, I knew that I would need the help of others - to mentor me, to guide me through and to provide me courage and determination.  I wouldn't be able to do it alone.  So right now, I just feel very excited for the people that I would yet to know and just thankful for those who were already in my circle.  In one way or another, I knew they've contributed or will continue to contribute to the realization of my dreams.  So I would like to thank them.  And for those whom I am yet to meet, thank you in advance.

Let me just give one very special thanks to one person I consider my greatest mentor so far.  He was a former boss and still a very dear friend.  He was not a perfect boss back then and definitely until now.  But he did one thing that completely changed my perspective towards my work and myself.  He believed in me.  He believed that I had a huge potential to succeed, persisted on honing my skills and patiently taught me, corrected me and encouraged me.  He constantly reminded me of the great qualities I possessed and he gave me the confidence to believe in myself.

Before I got to work with him, I was a very shy associate; always feeling incapable of accomplishing great things and, in the fear of committing mistakes, would rather keep my mouth shut most of the time.  But he changed me.  He changed certain beliefs I had with things around me and especially with myself.  He inspired me to do better.  And I did.  Because of his unfailing support, I was even awarded as the top performer in a training seminar I attended.  I would like to believe that that reward wasn't given not only to recognize my accomplishments but his as well, for being a very effective mentor.

Well, I hope I could get to know more people like him in the coming days.  People who would make me believe in the power of my dreams.  And in the Infinite Power inside me that will make it come true.

PS.  Just recently, I stumbled upon some great videos by Drew Canole and Darren Hardy in Youtube and they provide great lectures on how we could achieve success by believing in the power within us. Search them out in Youtube and go check their videos.  Its awesome.

By the way, if you want to receive your God whispers as well, please check out this site.  It is for free so go grab the chance.

Day 9 - Disturb Me

Earlier in the Feast, we read a prayer by Sir Francis Drake to put emphasis on the good things that come from letting your life be disturbed by the Lord.  Let me share it with you.

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

The poem was basically about moving out of one's comfort zone to achieve greater things in life.  The Feast series this month was entitled "Heroes" and the first talk focused on being a hero by letting yourself be disturbed by the Lord to reach out to serve more people.  Serving most of the time requires us to sacrifice and to live out of the comfortable territory.  It may sound ironic but I know you would agree with me if I say that most of the time, it is only through serving others without expecting anything in return that we get to satisfy certain emptiness in our hearts.

I already had let God disturbed me for many times in my life, and just recently, when He called me to serve and to teach, I willingly obliged.  Though I could not still  quite attest that I am very much willing to live out of my comfort zone I would like to think that little by little I am learning to let go of my fears and just embrace the fullness of living.  

So right now, I would like to encourage you to let God disturb you.  Let Him take control.  And witness how the Lord would use your hands to create great miracles.

PS

I am also giving you the privilege to disturb me.  Be it a problem you would like to talk about, a story you would love to share or some assistance you need on your projects or tasks, disturb me and let me offer what I can.  God bless us always.

Day 8 - Infinity in Cycles

As De La Salle University marked its 100-year-old presence in the Philippines during the year, the academe also welcomed me as an amateur part-time lecturer.  It amazes me until now how a prestigious, well-respected and established institution hired me to become one of its educators.  It wasn't everyday that one encounters such opportunity.  And I seized it.  Before I knew it, I was already in front of a class and enthusiastically explaining some accounting principles.

I was more than grateful for the school's confidence in my potential.  It did not occur to me, even in my wildest dreams, that one day I would be offered this chance to make an impact to my fellow youth's dreams through the institution's education system.  Perhaps what Elizabeth Browning said was true all along, that God's gifts put man's best dreams to shame.

Time indeed ran very fast for before long another semester was about to start.  Just last week I could still remember how I carefully computed for the final grades of my students and now I already needed to prepare for the policies discussion and assignments that I would give on the first day of the class.  I was just surprised at how quickly time flew and excited on the new classes that I would be handling.  I was given additional units to teach this semester and was very happy with the positive feedback that I got.  These just gave me the right amount of inspiration to strive to become better at what I do.

However, until now I would get from people a very familiar question.  I can not blame them since everyone knew how much I adored my beloved alma mater.  Why not teach in UST?

This has been asked to me several times already and just to document my response, let me put it in writing.  First, even though I am now teaching in La Salle, this does not diminish even a bit my love, respect and gratitude to my alma mater.  I still adore my four-century-old university and in any moment that it would need my service, I would not hesitate to volunteer myself.  Deep inside me, I still hold the Thomasian ideals and values I developed during my stay in the university.  And I would not trade that for anything in the world.  But, La Salle opened doors for me.  It provided me the opportunity that I was long seeking.  And that is enough reason for me to grab the chance and hone my talents there.

I still dream of coming back to my university one day and to have the chance to share with my schoolmates the knowledge and learning I accumulated since I stepped out of the university and into the real world.  For now, I would put more focus on developing my techniques and perfecting my ways - to prepare myself in the event that my dream above comes true.

Day 7 - Don't Give Up!

"Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do.  But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength." -Anonymous

Choosing to pursue your dreams didn't always mean choosing the easier path.  Most of the time, this path would seem the hardest to trod.  Difficulties along the way are encountered.  Problems, failures and frustrations would definitely weaken one's soul.  And sometimes, these hardships would push you to the verge of giving up.

I knew it was not easy.  From the moment I decided to follow my heart's desires, I was already informed that I was not opting for a more comfortable life.  As opposed to the somewhat "more secure" life that I had back then, I voluntarily threw myself to a life less stable, to an unfamiliar territory.  I took the risk - and even embraced it.  I knew back then that things were not going to be easy.  And I thought I also knew how hard it was going to be.

Over the past days, I always tried to analyze where I was at the moment and where I was headed.  I always kept my vision clear.  However, to tell you frankly, the past days had not been easy for me.  It even came to the point of me wanting to give up, of losing faith in the power of my dreams, of abandoning the aspirations I treasured both in my mind and my heart.  My impatience started to accumulate and became frustrations.  The fear of the unknown suddenly began creeping inside my head.  And my soul had gone tired and weary of praying, of hoping, of waiting.

But.

Last Sunday, I heard the words which brought me back my lost courage.  Bro. Bo talked about having a breakthrough and how it comes, most of the time, during the darkest hour of one's life.

Sometimes, when darkness comes, we tend to lose trust over the power of the mighty hand that guides all of us.  In our eagerness to survive and find light, we use our own hands to grasp at whatever is near.  We are filled with fear yet we rely on our own clouded thinking.  If we would only realize that the key to surviving darkness is trust, fear would instantly vanish.  A trusting heart sits still in the midst of the darkness knowing that soon light will come.  Darkness too shall pass.  And I feel nothing but pure excitement in waiting for the dawn to come.

A friend recently asked me if I had regrets over the decisions I made lately.  I replied instantly with a no.  I may never have the same material luxury I was enjoying before but right now I just feel happier and more content with my life.  I feel I am where I am supposed to be right now - on track to becoming a happy millionaire.

"How does one become a butterfly?" she asked.  You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar." -Trina Paulus

Day 6 - Money Machines

If I would make an illustration of how my money right now, monthly income and everyday expenses look, it would not take an expert to tell me that I am on the verge of bankruptcy.  If I won't act now, I might just end up staying inside the house to avoid possible expenditures.  Thinking about it gives me a little despair.  And despair I consider is one of the greatest suffering.

To increase one's income is not really synonymous to desiring a higher-paying job.  Although that would, in general, contribute to one's earnings, in the long term, it would be advantageous rather to desire to increase your money machines or your income sources.  That, I learned from continuous reading of articles about money management.

Right now, as I had decided to quit my corporate career, I am left with only two money machines, my part-time teaching career and a small business I started out with friends.  However, for the next two months, I am going to increase it to five.  Yes.  I will be adding three more sources of income by the end of the next two months.  I am now in the planning stage of a new business and I am intending to launch it by the last week of August or by early September.  Also, I am thinking of getting back in the corporate world.  This time I will be pursuing a career in a multinational company and will be doing a night shift job.  I already attended an interview for the position I was eyeing for, however, I am still thinking thoroughly if this action would fit my long-term goals and objectives.  Lastly, the third money machine would be the investment I will put on the stock market.  My friend and I are scheduled to attend a seminar on stock market investment on September and I hope it would truly guide us and give us the jump start that we needed.  I am very much looking forward to achieving all of these.

Let me share with you words from Paulo Coelho's blog.

Facing despair

A warrior of the light often despairs.

He thinks that the feelings he had hoped to awaken are nowhere to be found. Many afternoons and nights he is forced to adopt a position of the defeated, and no new event can bring back his enthusiasm.

His friends comment: “perhaps your fight has come to an end.”

The warrior feels pain and confusion upon hearing these comments, for he knows that he has not come as far as he wished. But he is determined, and does not abandon that which he set out to do.

Then, when he least expects it, a new door opens.

Today I read about an article by Mark So which tackled on money management.  It was a very good read and most articles in his blog are similarly inspiring and easy to decipher.  You can check out the article and the rest of his blog posts here.