Category: Self-Help

meditation

The Power of Meditation and What I Learned in Taiwan

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The year is almost over and I still have so many things to accomplish on my plate — work, business, pleasure and leisure, passions and hobbies, the upkeep of the house and everything it entails, maintenance of good health, taking care of relationships, etc.

But since we only have 24 hours a day to do everything we can to be productive and live a balanced life, more often than not, it really takes a strong willpower and determination to be able to squeeze in everything we need to do day in and day out including the not-so-important and urgent tasks. Because of this need to be “superwoman” (or superman for our men out there) in so many ways, I remembered the importance of meditation. I am after all, a full-time and hands-on work-from-home mom, which means I am an all-around 24/7 caregiver, helper, yaya, breadwinner, homemaker, partner, cheerleader, and everything else in between and I need all the help and support I can get to remain sane, healthy and happy. I am just so thankful because I have a male counterpart doing same things I do to lessen the burden while at the same time doubling the joy and fulfillment in our little family. But still, there are days when I get so overwhelmed and having a great partner is not enough… Continue reading →

surfing

Surfing – a History of Conquering Love and Fear

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When I started this new blog, I’ve shared with you that I’m re-reading Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project because I want to bring more happiness into my life, the kind that really comes from within me and not the type that is pressured into my life by other people or caused by pride and envy (which is why I started this whole new blog and let go of my old persona even if people close to me advised me against it). I want to be just me. Be me. Be Jen. Which is why I am writing a lot more now about my life, my thoughts, my past experiences, etc. because I am first and foremost a diarist more than a typical blogger, more than a marketer or any other kind of writer. I like looking at my own past experiences, enjoying those happy forgotten memories and using the positive energy they give me to bring more good things into my present life so I can forge ahead with a bit more wisdom, inspiration and strength towards a brighter future. And one thing about my not-so-far-off past that gave (and still gives) me so much joy is SURFING.

This is more of a story of love and letting go of fear rather than a pure guide to surfing. Although there’ll be bits and pieces about how to surf, where to surf, how much it costs and what not, more than anything, I’d be sharing with you a photo journal about it and how this water sports activity has changed my life and influenced me (hopefully for the better). Continue reading →

How to Not Worry

How to Not Worry in Life and Love

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We were having lunch a while ago when I suddenly blurted out to Mahal“OMG! I’m so excited!” He looked at me and I saw in his eyes that he was wondering what was I excited about. So I immediately added “I’m excited about all our upcoming travel plans both near and far!” Like this month we plan to celebrate Halloween at Nuvali, we plan to do some hotel hopping in Manila, and we want to explore those parts of Laguna we haven’t visited yet. Then next month we’ll be in Batangas. We already booked an overnight stay at Acuaverde for baby Tuz’s first birthday. Then come December, for Christmas until New Year, my parents want to spend it at the beach with the whole family and I’m already calling various beach resorts to inquire for their cheapest rates. Then on January next year, we’ve already booked flights to Cebu and we’ll be going home to Oslob. Then on my birthday month, February, I want to explore a place we haven’t been to yet (Tuguegarao perhaps?) then the whole summer I want us to go back to Boracay, visit Aklan, Capiz, Romblon and Masbate! So exciting!

After a little while, now that I think about it, I started to worry a bit, like, okay, how are we going to do all that with baby Tuz in tow? Where will we get our budget? Can we really travel that many times like I used to do by myself before? Hmmm… Then I remembered that it’s not good to worry so much about it and just let things unfold. So this is what this blog post is about. How to not worry whether about life in general or even love…

Continue reading →

surfing

Follow Your Fear So You Can Follow Your Heart

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 “The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it… The more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that that enterprise is important to us and the growth of our soul. “ – Steven Pressfield of  The War of Art

Marie Forleo is one of those amazing women that I follow and emulate as much as I possibly can (aside from Oprah). And in her Tuesday’s Marie TV episode she talked about following our fears.

By fear, it means the good kind of fear that we know once we overcome, will change our life for the better. It’s the directive kind of fear like an idea of doing something that we’ve always wanted to do. Something that the deeper and wiser part of us wants so damn bad! Not the kind that will have us get run over by a bus, lol!

Come to think of it, when I look back on my life, a lot of the things I did in order to follow my bliss was I followed my fear first. Again, by fear, Marie and I both mean something that can make us doubt ourselves and our capabilities but once we do it, will bring us tremendous joy. Let me give you mine… Continue reading →

Like the Flowing River

Like The Flowing River by Paulo Coelho

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I’m not just a mother, a traveler and an entrepreneur. I am also a bookworm. I have a memory of myself as early as age ten spending hours and hours at the library because I wanted to read books from Astronomy (I decided at that young age that I was going to be an astronaut, hehehe) to cookbooks to architecture and the usual fairy tales. In short, I have already read a ton of books in my lifetime and I’d like to share here those which influenced me whether in a big or small way and has helped me changed my life for the better.

Having said that, Paulo Coelho is one of my all-time favorite authors. I have all of his books and those which I find inspirational and moving, and which I think could help my readers in one way or another better their quality of life, I will blog about here.

This book by Paulo Coelho, Like The Flowing River, is unlike his usual novels. Instead, he compiled his most cherished reflections and short stories written from 1998 to 2005 and came up with Like The Flowing River. “These are powerful tales of living and dying, of destiny and choice, of love lost and found. Sometimes humorous, sometimes serious, but always profound…”

Let me show to you some of my favorite snippets from this book: Continue reading →

productivity

How to Attain Higher Productivity at Home and Work

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Because it’s Monday and I’d like to start my month better than before, I am blogging about not just productivity but HIGHER PRODUCTIVITY.

Each year that is added to my life, it has always been my mission to change myself for the better. This applies not just in my personal life but in all aspects of my life in general. Actually, improving myself has always been one of the major driving forces why I do the things I do each and every day. It’s the reason why I took up Psychology back in college, why I like reading about self-help stuff, why I’ve set up this self-help section on this blog in the first place. However, one thing that I keep noticing all these years when it comes to wanting to achieve bigger things in my life is that I easily get distracted with seemingly important matters at hand and before I know it, another year has passed and my life has once again been filled with doing exciting and urgent stuff that don’t really bring me the kind of value that I want nor pay me huge dividends in the long run.

When this year started, it was my plan to change that and become more productive. That was why a week after I gave birth in November 2015, I was already attending a $425 internet business marketing course which lasted until the third week of January.   Moreover, over the course of this year, I’ve also subscribed to a couple of free coaching programs which I think will help me get the productivity level I want in my life. And because this new blog is not just about documenting my experiences in motherhood and the travels I’ve had, but also about dipping my toes in the world of entrepreneurship, I really have to be as productive as I can be so I can do everything that needs to be done despite the challenges being a new mother bring and set up the business that Mahal and I have been planning for.

So on this post, I’d like to share with you some productivity tips that I’ve learned from Eben Pagen. It’s all about the willpower of habits and how they can work for us…

Continue reading →

Random Thoughts This Rainy Night

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It’s been 2 months since I started my MOMTRANEUR blog on July 26 and my plan was to have new content once a week. But as luck would have it, it’s in my nature to follow my inklings and cravings and I tend to write whenever I’m inspired so instead of having done 10 blog posts as of today, I already have 15 posts. Yey for me!

On the other hand, I wasn’t able to follow my schedule which is to blog every Tuesday because of course, I can’t force myself to feel inspired to write every Tuesday. And when I’m not inspired, I can’t write nor do I want to write. Tonight for instance, it’s Friday evening, it’s raining so hard, my wi-fi is so weak I can’t even finish what I’m doing online but I feel like writing my thoughts (which later I will post when my wi-fi connection gets better), so here I am writing on my notepad.

Anyway, my point is, yes I’m trying to get there… eventually. The point is, … Continue reading →

Lovers

My Past, Present and Future

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It’s our 25th monthsary and baby Tuz’s 10th month! We’ve been busy the past month at home taking care of our baby, celebrating our two years together (which I will still blog about — I still have a few more Tagaytay posts lined up in draft mode), doing personal projects and going out that I haven’t really had the time to fully reflect back on our life together and how it all came to be. You see, when you reminisce the past, it gives you more reason to be grateful for with what you have today. Don’t you think? And that’s what I’d like to do here through this blog post.

Since we love to travel whenever we can, we thought of doing a much needed vacation this weekend where we’ll relax, surf, look at beautiful views and what-not… so before we get all busy with nature, I thought of sharing a story… one of my many stories. I’m the type of person who likes to  remember the past as long as that past has turned me into a better person today and keeps doing so. Otherwise, into my mind’s recycle bin they go. Lol!

Anyway, this story is something I already wrote more than 2 years ago that I wanted to publish here… It’s a bit long for a blog post so if you’re one of my readers or if you’re new to this blog, you can read it section by section or chapter by chapter. This one has 3 chapters, just something to occupy your free time and hopefully learn from. Whether you do your reading in the toilet (like I do when I read some of my books, online news and other people’s blogs) or in the car in the middle of traffic or wherever you do your reading, that’s alright and much appreciated. I just want to tell you some bits and pieces about my life and hope to inspire you as well. 😉 Continue reading →

Good Life

Living the Good Life

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I am not rich but I wasn’t born poor either. You can say I was born below middle class with my mom working for the government while my dad, after a couple of stints in the world of sales and marketing here and abroad, chose to stay home and take care of the family instead. It was quite a struggle growing up especially when I had people around me (in our little compound and in school) who were living quite a good life. I remember having feelings of envy, depravity and scarcity, sometimes with not enough food to eat and no money to pay for the things I needed in school. Thank God for my scholarship all throughout my school years, at least my tuition fee has always been paid for.

During times of so much wanting and desire for good food and material things, I’d turn to books in our school library (fiction, science-fiction, novels and encyclopedias). I’d read about adventures, architecture, cooking good food, astronomy and the universe because they make me feel less deprived and they help me forget about the fact that I haven’t even eaten anything yet that day. When severe hunger strikes, I’d pick up empty soft drink bottles as an eight year old kid in our school canteen so I can exchange them for money and I can buy myself some chocolate, which, I won’t immediately eat despite my hunger, because I’d want to revel in the fact that I have a chocolate for a few more days. Continue reading →

Richard Branson

The Day I Met Richard Branson

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Just a little TBT post…

This photo above was taken on May 12, 2013 when I got invited to go to Malaysia by Air Asia and there I saw in person Richard Branson, one of my ultimate idols. I’ve been reading his blog since and this one really struck a chord in me: LIFE IS NOT A JOURNEY TO RETIREMENT.

Growing up, I was programmed to believe that life is a journey — that I should live a good life, I should finish my studies, I should find a good job and climb its corporate ladder, I should marry and build a family, while saving up for retirement, then I can die. When I think about it, it’s quite morbid, isn ‘t it? But the truth is, subconsciously, I’ve been doing that in one way or another all my life. Like what Stephen Covey taught me in college, “Begin with the end in mind.” While that principle is indeed very helpful in terms of goal-setting and reaching for your dreams, once you’ve achieved your end, it doesn’t really end there. That’s just one lesson in life out of the multitude we’re gonna learn as we traverse this little spot in the universe. And that, for me, is more exciting!
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Positive Thinking

Positive Thinking Works

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HOW CAN I ALWAYS STAY SO POSITIVE?

One busy evening, I was asked by a male friend of mine online: “How can you always stay so positive?”. I surmise that many of my friends are wondering about the same thing too but he was the one brave enough to actually ask me. I replied that it’s something I have always inculcated in myself since way back in college. A decade or so later, I am finally reaping its benefits.

You might ask how come it took that long? You see, I admit that in those years of practicing positive thinking, it was not every minute of every day that I had been totally positive. I am human too, I get hurt and depressed from time to time. There were days when it’s worse than the others. I cried, I blamed my parents, I wanted to die… all those negative stuff you could think of. I talked about this before in my previous blog post — Law of Attraction and How to Apply It.

I KNOW WHEN TO STOP

Even now, with all the negative news I hear about summary killings, drugs, state of lawlessness under the Duterte administration, the earthquakes and other calamities, I can’t help but feel sad and scared. And if I don’t control my emotions and try to see the positive side of things, these might just get me depressed for I am an empath and I easily get affected by other people’s energies (this is also why my blood pressure easily shoots up when I watch a scary, horror, sad movie and why I easily get stressed).  But little by little, through hard work, constant practice and discipline, I am  always able to stop myself from emotionally breaking down and I manage to keep back on track. How? Continue reading →