my old filipino name

My Pinoy Name is Christina Marie Little Bit Magbanua.
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Habit 1 - Be Proactive

Habit 1: Be Proactive

"I know of no more encouraging fact
than the unquestionable ability of man
to elevate his life by conscious endeavor."
-Henry David Thoreau

Proactivity defined
Proactivity is more than merely taking initiative. It means that as human beings, we are responsible for our own lives. Our behavior is a function of our decisions, not our conditions. We can subordinate feelings to values. We have the initiative and the responsibility to make things happen.

Because we are, by nature, proactive, if our lives are a function of conditioning and conditions, it is because we have, by conscious decision or by default, chosen those things to control us. In making such a choice, we become reactive. Reactive people are often affected by their physical and social environment. Proactive people form their own physical and social environments. The ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of the proactive person. Proactive people are still influenced by their external stimuli, but their response to the stimuli is a value based response.

Listening to our language:
Because our attitudes and behaviors flow out of our paradigms, if we use our self-awareness to examine them, we can often see in them the nature of our underlying maps. Our language, for example, is a very real indicator of the degree to which we see ourselves as proactive people. The language of reactive people absolves them of responsibility.

Reactive Language
There's nothing I can do.
That's just the way I am.
He makes me so mad.
I have to do that.
They won't allow that.
I can't.
I must.
If only.

Proactive Language
Let's look at other alternatives.
I can choose a different approach.
I control my own feelings.
I can create an effective presentation.
I will choose an appropriate response.
I choose.
I prefer.
I will.


That language [reactive] comes from a basic paradigm of determinism. And the whole spirit of it is the transfer of responsibility.



http://www.english.ilstu.edu/351/hypertext98/shachter/habitspages/habit1.html

...

Tonight, I was again confronted with my family's financial problems. My mom asked me whether I was going to go and find work in Dubai next year. And I was kinda surprised why she asked. Although I know there's something wrong. And I had a feeling it was financial which was almost always the case. You see, my father owes a huge amount of money from their employee coop. The money was used to finance the hospitalization of my grandfather then. Anyway, some silly text message reached his boss which said that an employee owed a huge sum and yet no payment has been made. When my father's boss told him about it. It somehow worried my father. He was the biggest creditor and though payments have been made but very minimal. So my father thought that the anonymous texter must have referred to him. Now, my father is worried about it. He wants to pay off at least half of the debt. But where do we get the money??? I'm not earning that much. My mom doesn't have a full-time job. And I now feel the burden is upon me as the eldest child.

I had wanted to work abroad ever since we got burdened financially from my grandpa's hospitalization. I had seen how hard it was to be treated well when you don't have money. I had seen how my parents scrambled for money. It was difficult for the average Filipino worker to get health care. Our Philhealth and SSS sickness benefits are not enough. I had seen the health care system of this country at its worst. And I had vowed myself to leave this country and find work elsewhere.

Unfortunately, I haven't been accepted to those jobs I applied for. Then it came to a point where I no longer wanted to leave to the extent that I didn't take any huge step to get a job abroad. The determination dwindled.

Maybe this time, I will have to consider really leaving the country and risk looking for a job in Dubai or Singapore. It's time to be aggressive of this job hunting. I cannot stand seeing my parents worry about money. I cannot let it happen when my mom would work as a DH in Hongkong or Singapore. If there's anyone who should leave, then it has to be me.

when you expect too much

I'm gonna write about this feeling i had for the last 5 days. You see, I met a really nice guy. He seemed to be a lot of what i want in a guy. (that is, if everything he told me were true!). I was happy and excited to have met him and to be able to get to know him more in the ensuing days. Yet, he never showed up after 2 days. I gave him a number and an email add. But he never bothered to communicate until now. I guess i can say he's a lie. I guess, I had expected too much that's why i'm feeling all disappointed. Anyway, i'm writing this to end my expectation. i'm writing to end all the hopes i have been feeling. i'd like to thank him for allowing me to feel good for a few days. :)

Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

Last Aug 10-11, I was priviledged to attend the seminar 7 Habits of Higly Effective People facilitated by Mr. Jun Cantal. The 7 Habits is a book by Stephen Covey, an American psychologist. According to the book, Stephen Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. Indeed, it is very true. I was happy to have chosen to attend the seminar. Prior to this, I had declined joining due to a conflict of another activity. My supervisor made me rethink about it. She told me that this is a really nice seminar and it will take another year for it to be offered by the company. I thought about it again and I finally decided to take this opportunity. True enough, it wasn't a waste of time. It was the right choice. For the next days, I will be posting my learnings, my insights, my struggles with the 7 Habits. Allow me to overhaul my life. I need a paradigm shift. I need to evaluate my goals, my purpose, my life. God bless this endeavor. :)

A R K

I just want to remember this great lesson imparted by the movie Evan Almighty - Change the world? Do one Act of Random Kindness at a time! :)

It's the little things that you do that matters most. :)

Uniquely Singapore (part 4)

Day 3. We were up a bit late. We're all just very tired. But we just couldn't afford to lose this one last day sleeping. The itinerary was to shop around for pasalubong in Chinatown then have lunch, afterwhich go to Romy and Emman's place then to Sentosa, then Vivo City.

We packed up our bags. It was so sad we had to go. It feels like such a very short time. And we haven't been to so many places.

After buying our pasalubong in Chinatown, we were now ready to go to Romy and Emman's place in Yew Tee. They will just fetch us at the Yew Tee MRT station. So with all our luggages strolling with us, we had found it a bit "extraordinary" to be bringing them and taking the train. It was like can we just take a cab to Yew Tee? Well, we wish it was cheap but it wasn't. And we were left with just the option of taking the MRT.

We got to Yew Tee at around 2pm. Romy fetched us and took us to their place, Yew Mei Garden. Their condo unit is very nice. So homey and clean. At their place also, they had a huge pool with man-made waterfalls. It looked like these guys stayed at a resort in the Philippines! No wonder cost of living is high in Singapore.

Anyway, we were able to take a nap at their place. The guys also served us merienda. At about 4pm, we were ready to go to Sentosa. We left it to Romy and Emman. They were our tour guides this time. With so little time left for Sentosa (our flight was at 12:55am), we weren't able to go around this famous island. We just explored the Underwater World and took the cable ride.

The cable ride was also a firsts for us. And Romy and Emman were so kind to capture the moments of this ride. Good thing they brought their cameras.

At the Underwater World, we got to see sting rays, crabs, sea dragon (which looked like a sea plant), a huge yellow snake carried by an Indian man, sharks, fishes of small and big sizes. It was a Saturday afternoon, and there were just too many people in Sentosa, particularly in the Underwater World. Congested as it was, Underwater World smelled so bad! With all the sweats of people - different kinds of people - oh gosh! body odor was everywhere! The bad thing was body odor was sooo unpleasant to the nostrils. Ugh! Anyway, we still didn't forget to take lots of pics. Documentation is an essential element to travel.

After enjoying Underwaterworld, we went to Vivo City. Joedan, Elma's brother, was looking for an uppity watch. He had already planned to buy one. So no matter how little the time left, he had to get his watch. And yes he did! It costs something like SGD200.

Vivo City, which is said to be Singapore's largest mall, was packed with people. On top of Vivo City, there is actually, a pool of water. But I don't think it was made for swimming. I'm not quite sure though. But I think the water wasn't that deep for swimming.

We also had some Philippine monies exchanged. We had difficulty finding a money changer in Vivo City but thankfully, we did find one. Unfortunately, our peso costs so little. The exchange rate was Php1.00 = SGD.027! Extremely cheap. At Orchard, we got our peso exchanged at SGD.031. We didn't have much of a choice though.

My sister also did a little shopping. She was able to buy an Esprit top at 75% off. What a bargain! We also bought some chocolates for our families back home. :)

We were back at Romy's place at around 9pm. We were already in a hurry. So we took a cab from Yew Tee to Changi Airport. Then only to learn that our flight was delayed by 2 hours! Tsk, tsk. This is the problem with Cebu Pacific, their flights are frequently delayed.

We had dinner there and we shop for some items in the Duty Free shops. We bought additional pasalubongs for family and friends.

And then it was time to depart...

And so that was our little adventure/misadventure in Singapore. :)