X deals for a good deed

Last February, I received word that my post graduate thesis (actually referred to as Special Problem at UP) was accepted for presentation at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium this event will be for July 2008. This event takes place every 4 years where marine conservationist, researchers, students and practitioners gather together to share and learn the developments in coral reef conservation. Four years ago it was held at Okinawa, Japan. I've been so blessed that I was able to receive a grant from Packard in 2004 and was able to actively participate. The host this year will be Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. But this time I am unable to secure a grant from ISRS Intl Society of Reef Studies.

I am now actively searching for possible sponsors. I reached out to several organizations for support and still awaiting for their reply. But I am happy to share that as of today I am able to raise approximately 20% of my travel cost with a couple of confirmed pledges from sponsors! God bless you! You know who you are!

Learning from Aloy, Ala and others who creatively raised funds, I am now kindly asking for your help. I am open for X-deals for donations to support my travel in exchange for a good deed. It can be a research project that you may need help, a slide presentation for a wedding of a friend, deliver flowers to a loved one, something that can be done in a week or two, let me know what you need help on. Just as long as it is legal and is fair to all concerned :)

Lastly, if you know of any organization that provides travel grants and support specially for women of the 3rd world please let me know email me at day_flores@yahoo.com.

Abundance

"For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him"--Matthew 13:12

Today, I think now I finally realized the essence of this verse. For the longest time in the back of my mind I was wondering "how can that be?" answer came to me today after a discourse of knowing oneself.

I've been immersing myself in the concept of abundance and I realized this has brought me to this moment. A great aha moment came this afternoon that recognizing abundance can only come from within and not without. I am also reminded that abundance is all around us. And again reminded to be grateful of many things in my life. Abundance is everywhere, the sun, the wind, the dog full of play around the corner while we are walking, the presence of my daughter, the space to create, and the list just goes on and on. Amazing. I am prompted to continue my gratitude journal. Actually this blog started with that idea. Most of the things and events that I write here brings me joy and inspires me. I rarely put anything that gives me anxiety. I realize it is my way of making it a gratitude journal without calling it one.

Now going back to the verse, it is clear to me now that it is only when we recognize the abundance in our lives that we are continually blessed of even more abundance. Thus, to those who have abundance will be given more. All this come from within. Acknowledging that you are already blessed, truly blessed that allows more abundance to flow into your life.

It has been weeks since I shared anything in this blog. But it doesn't mean that nothing eventful has happened. Many things to be thankful for has come to be. I want to share some highlights.

1) Baby and I together with Tatay was able to visit a friend Ria and her baby Maksil who is in Manila just before they went back to Kyoto. We spent an afternoon with friends. We swam in the small pool and baby Isay was able to play with Baby Maksil. It was the first time we met Baby Kylie of Mhel and Paul who just passed the bar.

2) There was one day when we went to a playground and for the first time Tatay and Nanay together with baby Isay played in a see-saw! Amazing! The last time I did this was when I was 8 years old in a playground in Laguna. We had a great time walking, spending the afternoon sliding down in the outdoor playground

3) Last Sunday, Isay for the first time played and run with her 2 cousins Jake and Kaila. Baby Isay doesn't mind that she is always the "taya". It was good to spend time with the family of Tatay A since we haven't seen them for a few months now.

4) Jollibee party of Baby Timothy that Baby Isay enjoyed together with cousins Jane and Julius. It was the first time she took on a huge slide on her own at the party place. I was so amazed that she was so brave to take on the challenge of the many older kids around her. I am one proud Nanay!!!

my first webclass

I just finished Oprah's A New Earth webclass. I've finished distance learning and already earned my master's degree in an Open University but this new experience enabled me to truly appreciate the technology we actually have now literally in our fingertips. I've been using Skype for work as I work from home office while I work with my colleagues within the Asia Pacific and sometimes in North America. But I am blown away seeing Oprah being amazed at the technology. Amazing.

What struck me most today is my learning and re-learning. This phrase is another "aha" moment.

"What you resist, persist" -Eckhart Tolle

It is similar to Robert Fulghum's lessons are repeated until they are learned. And also to Star trek's "resistance is futile".

We can only change something if we have already accepted it. We cannot struggle against anything that is already is and have come to be. We should accept it first before so as to create the space to make way for the change to occur.

One of the most recent experience that i had was when I lost my wallet. Isay and I went to the bank we rode a tricycle. I have my wallet in my hand where I keep my cards but it has no cash. Apparently it fell somewhere between the tryke and the ATM machine. We traced our steps but cannot find it. My mind was racing I kept thinking first it must be somewhere and the loss have not settled in. I went about reporting the loss of my cards and others. My mind was racing thinking of several things this and that what should i do. report it? where? Alot of things just passed through my mind. Unsettling thoughts. Until finally, in my mind I accepted that it was lost. But then while walking along, I prayed to God that hopefully someone will return. Anyway, I just let it go and thought "oh well, there goes the memories attached to the items there". My first ever 1999 scuba diver c-card, my driver's license, I don't worry too much about the bank cards because they are replaceable but the nostalgia of the Sagada wallet passed through my mind but after that i thought, well, another lesson learned. And I left it at that. I felt a certain finality within me that it was lost.

We ate ice cream then went home. Upon returning home our security guard informed us that someone came by to return the wallet. To make the long story short, I got everything back. But a powerful feeling came over me. I realized that only after I let it go and accepted it, that what was lost was found. Without me doing anything actively, it came back effortlessly.

Looking at it in another way, it was indeed, another answered prayer.

Hallelujah

When I watch this performance by Jason Castro (America Idol Season 7)
of Hallelujah it made me love the song. I discovered that it is actually an old song but I heard it for the first time. I was indeed moved.

It is like singing along with it from within but without actually singing. It felt like Easter. A new hope a new beginning. An affirmation of His goodness by making all things new.

The NOW

I've been reading and been discovering a lot the past weeks. I haven't written many of the events that happened because I felt right after experiencing them words cannot seem to contain the moment I found myself evolving experiencing them. I felt the the now is what matters. if I attempt to write about it, tapos na yun. Ewan. Yan thats what I mean it is not writers block but a new sense of awareness. I found that opening up myself has led me to sages.

I want to share with you this.

Celebrate Women's Month

This week there is an International Women's Film Festival at UP Diliman. Let us all celebrate Women's month.

I wrote an article about it at HerWord.com.

Changing weather

Earlier today, it was scorching hot and I thought it was a good day to do the laundry this afternoon. I loaded the washing machine and let it spin. Multi tasking as always, while I was surfing the net, I heard the pounding of the rain on the roof. A huge downpour I didn't expect. Well, as I was scrambling to get something at the back out from the rain, I realized I enjoy and welcome the refreshing rain. It did not really bother me at all that it rained while I was doing a week's load of laundry. Then, I am thankful that now I am able to just follow the flow of what is before me. It is such a light feeling and relaxing in a way when I realized that appreciating everything for what it is brings much joy. Simple joys.

I thank God for that.

Look with Love

Today, I realized that when I look at the cross, I don't just see a Jesus Christ that is suffering. Now, as I read Sacred Space, it made me realize that Jesus is looking at us with a look of love.

Maybe it is my aversion to pain and suffering that most often than not I do not look at a cross. But now with this realization, I can look at it with a new perspective. Even in suffering and dying at the cross He was looking at us with a look of love. Such great love.

old pants, new pants!

Almost a year ago I just gave birth to my beautiful baby. As you all know, most mothers gained at least 25 kg over their original weight during the pregnancy. After a few months I tried on my old clothes but my pants and shirts could not fit anymore. I was saddened by the fact that I might need to overhaul my whole wardrobe.

Until a month ago, while I was cleaning out the "aparador" I decided to try on my old pants. Guess what?!!!! IT FITS!!!! I was sooo happy to be able to fit to my old clothes again. I tried on all my other pre-pregnancy pants and they ALL fit now!!! I am so happy I wore my trusty old blue jeans to the grocery. It felt really good. I did not know that this simple event can truly make my day and weeks to come.

I did not blog about it immediately because I thought this might just be for this week I might gain it back. But they still fit. Yehey! I dont have to buy new ones. I love my old clothes. I love my old pants!

Trace Trajano

When the student is ready the teacher arrives yet again. Today was a very good day to discover a possible mentor! I discovered the blog of Trace Trajano.

"...Not only are these millionaires “just millionaires”. I want these millionaires to be enlightened millionaires or millionaires who give back to the poor and millionaires who teach other people how to become millionaires.

This is the reason why Larry and I, together with a real estate billionaire and a preacher set a BIG, HAIRY, AUDACIOUS GOAL: One Million Pinoy Millionaires by 2020! We’ll start with peso-millionaires, yes but a million of them helping the country, a million of them helping the poor, a million Pinoys teaching our youth the basics of money…this is big, or I would say BHAG – for Big Hairy Audacious Goal!..."

As in sobra akong natuwa sa pag share nya ng maraming information sa kanyang blog. If you have time please see the complete entry of Trace Trajano. I have yet to email him of how he inspires me.

I've attended the seminar of Bo Sanchez "How to be Truly Rich" last February 2nd. This was after I read the book of Jamie McIntyre. I also just finished the free on-line program of Bob Doyle. It is amazing that I am now finding Filipinos who are actually using the same principles of Robert Kiyosaki and Napoleon Hill.

celebrate life

It is always good to celebrate as a way of thanking God for all the blessings that I received. A few years back, I have a different perspective in celebrating birthdays. Before, I always thought that it is best to be unconventional and un-commercial and just have quiet personal celebration. But through time, I realized that it is important to celebrate the joys in our lives. Indeed it is these moments that will remind you that you have lived a full life.

Yesterday, we had a great shared meal with family. I can't remember the last time when I cooked a huge meal for family to celebrate this day. Last year, we just ate at a restaurant and it was good. But this year I realized that it is indeed so much better to celebrate at home. Albeit a bit crazy marketing, cooking and preparing the meal but still, it was a joy to prepare. We ate so much I can't remember how many servings of vegeroni pasta in white tuna asparagus sauce, pita pizza with basil and pineapple, blue crabs and fried chicken. For dessert, we had home made chocolate fondue with sliced apples. All these, at a fraction of the cost if we ate out. All this time I am reminded by Susan's words that our home will be blessed as we open up our home for celebrations. It was good spending time with family indeed.

An un-expected valentine

I was really really happily surprised with the bunch of roses and the card that I received from my hubby. Thank you so much! I love them when I found them smiling at me on the dining table in the wee hours of the morning on my way to the bathroom! hehehe :)

I did not expect anything because usually we do not really celebrate hearts day. We do not have a tradition of going out either on this day. Also, we were on a very tight budget the past month and anything out of the usual expense is a luxury. But always always we find ways to express and renew our love to each other.

Tatay I thank God for you! love you!

learning gratitude everyday

Every new experience brings learning. I recently learned that is really hard to convince a one year old to brush her teeth. I never thought before that it would be difficult to brush the teeth of your toddler. And Yes! it is very difficult. We have tried many different ways to get her to brush teeth. Like showing her how it is done. Then letting her brush our teeth. Then sometimes make her hold a toy to distract her attention so that we can sneak in the toothbrush into her small mouth.She knows it and keeps it shut haay. We bought special baby toothpaste for her haaaay. Still it is a struggle. We dont want to make it a sad exercise everytime we need to brush her teeth. We sometimes let her play with her baby toothbrush which is like a small bell when wiggled up and down. I never ever expected that small things can be both difficult and challenging and yet very rewarding because I am learning to be a Nanay. Now I know how difficult it was for my caregivers when I was young.

I thank God for all these experience. Every moment is a learning experience.

Now we are trying to potty train her. Really some of the most simple things we do each day is a huge learning for a small toddler. Imagine all the people who took care of you when you were young.

create abundance in your life

I need to get rid of many limiting concepts that "society" infused upon us. We need to know that we need to think that the Universe is infinitely abundant. That we need to always operate within this concept of abundance.

I work for environmental conservation and I truly believe in saving our resources. But I need to re-orient my way of thinking from scarcity to abundance. It doesn't mean that when you operate from the vantage point of abundance is that you are wasteful -- of course not! There is a difference between knowing that we are blessed and taking care of these blessings. We are always responsible for the blessings we receive.

What I am trying to say is that we should not fill our minds of negative thoughts. We need to fill our minds with positive energy. Thoughts are the ones that empower us thus we need to be careful of what we think about.

get your bearing

“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.” --Og Mandino

I remember one movie that mentioned about finding your true North. I did learn orienteering and I love it so much that for a couple of semesters, I volunteered to be one of the trainers. I love the whole idea of setting up the control points and setting the various coordinates for the fellow new mountaineers to enjoy learning. Ok, going back to finding your true North. I always wondered why we always, always orient ourselves to the North. We learned that we should always find the North first before finding our coordinates. We also need to orient our map to the North before using the compass to try to find the paths and trails we need to take. it was so much fun. And even though I got married a few years ago, I still got a chance to join one of the training climbs that involved learning this concept.

I think I need to be grounded first. For me, I realized now more than ever that my true North is related finding my spirituality and knowing that my true North is God. Then and only then, I can now focus on the other "coordinates" that I am supposed to find.

It has been a while since I am able to write my thoughts. I am thankful that finally He has quenched my thirst and watered my dry spell.

goals

“The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don’t define them, or ever seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.” --Denis Waitley

It has been almost a month now, that I have written my annual personal goals. I feel good that I finally took the time to really consider writing this goals. They say, when you dream of things, you are simply thinking wishfully that hopefully these things will come about. But to be truly responsible for order in one's life, one has to take action. One of the first step to action is knowing what you want. You need to decide what you want. Then write it. Writing your goals is one of the most powerful things that you can do. I've heard it from many sages, read from books and listened to speakers. But one thing you need to do is affirm your own goals. May authors recommend that I read and repeat these goals. And of course take action.

May kasabihan po tayo: " Nasa Diyos and awa, nasa tao ang gawa".

This is hard to translate because it seems different in English. It says that God has the mercy but we should take action. We should not expect God to do something that we should do for ourselves.

I guess I just want to share that I am happy that I am learning everyday. I am excited everyday because I am learning something that is not really thought in school. I am discovering things everyday. I can barely keep up and can not even blog about it everyday. But things are moving full speed ahead.

Life is indeed exciting!

Ready

"When the student is ready, the teacher arrives"

This is from one of my favorite authors Robert Fulghum and the context when he wrote it was about dogs. He used to hate dogs until a dog came to teach him how to love dogs. It sounds funny when I try to re-tell the story but that was something that remained etched in my memory.

I've been wanting to share more about how being a mother has totally changed my life. Constantly it reminds and teaches me about life more than any other experience. I've prayed for patience and now I realize that motherhood is one of the greatest teacher!

I thank God for my daughter!

More secrets

Because I am applying to be a member of God’s New Breed Of True Millionaires. I am praying to have this book real soon! 8 Secrets Of The Rich Who Believe That The Ultimate Purpose Of Wealth Is To Love.

Actually it is the long title of his new book according to author Bo Sanchez. To know more about why I am praying for this, please do take time to read this article from Bo's blog: Is it Possible to have the Wealth of a Millionaire And the Heart of a Monk?

Save

One of the things that I learned recently is that if you earn 100K a month and then your expenses are costing you 100K a month, then you are not rich. You are definitely poor. All millionaires are great savers.

I read somewhere that to be able to do this, we must change our way of thinking from "cash in, cash out" to "cash in, force savings, cash out".

I also read this interesting article on the Sunlife website:

How To Become A Millionaire

Almost anyone can be a millionaire. All you need is to have the discipline to regularly set aside a portion of your disposable money and place it a high-yielding instrument.

Now, just how long would it take for you to have P1M? There are three factors to consider: a) how much are you willing to set aside in month or a year, b) how much interest is money earning in the instrument of your choice, and c) how long are you willing to save.

The table below shows the number of years you need to reach P1M.

	Number of Years
Savings/Month	5yrs	10yrs	15yrs	20yrs	25yrs	30yrs	35yrs
P 1,000/mo or P 12,000/annum	90%	35%	19%	13%	9%	6%	5%
P 2,000/mo or P 24,000/annum	71%	25%	13%	7%	4%	3%	1%
P 3,000/mo or P 36,000/annum	59%	19%	8%	4%	1%	0%	0%
P 4,000/mo or P 48,000/annum	50%	15%	5%	0.5%	0%	0%	0%
P 5,000/mo or P 60,000/annum	43%	10%	2%	0%	0%	0%	0%
P 10,000/mo or P 120,000/annum	20%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
P 15,000/mo or P 180,000/annum	5%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
P 20,000/mo or P 240,000/annum	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%
RATE TO REACH P1M

At present, the most popular saving instrument is a time deposit account, which generates a gross interest of 8-9% p.a. or net interest of 6.4-7.2%p.a. However, if your timeframe is less than 15 years, you may want to look for an instrument where your money will have greater growth potential, such as stocks, bonds or mutual fund. However, before investing in any of these three instruments, one must first understand the risks involved in investing in equity, bond, and mutual fund, and accept that higher growth potential comes with greater risk.

Malot Oquendo

Source: http://www.sunlife.com.ph/mutualfunds/investmenttips2.asp

recalibrating

It has been a while since I shared my thoughts in this blog. Many things happened this past month and it seems that it is already Feb. and I haven't shared some of the most amazing things I learned.

January usually is the month when most people write resolutions. But as far back as I remember I think I only did that when I was in elementary. Usually, I just think of the possible things I can change for the better. But that was about it.

This month I read a couple of books that inspired me to "recalibrate" my life. I do not know why I am excited to do this because this kind of exercise is what we do annually at work. To have a plan and a goal. This is the very first time in a long while that I am wrote my goals. This is also the first time that I am more driven to be totally committed to action with the goals I've set out to achieve. It is amazing.

When I wrote a friend who is now for the meantime in the US, I told her my goal. And I was happily surprised by her response. I expected positive response but I received an affirmation:

I congratulate you sis for saying it, because "if you can't say it, you can't have it!"

There is so much power in that.

Ask and you shall receive! Matthew 21:22