Episode 1 – “Glass Half Full or Half Empty”
This is the first of the series of blogs that would be my contribution at the recently concluded 4th Mindanao Bloggers Summit.
First of all, my experience with MBS4 began not only on the Summit proper but way back when ideas were still being formed since I was also part of the organizing team.
I would like to express my thoughts not just as a participant but as part of the team of organizers as well. I will be sharing the things I have learned while organizing in my future blog posts.
Before anything else, I believe our Mayor’s very timely and inspiring speech needed the much focus.
The words that I remember from his speech were these, (though not verbatim but the essence is still the same, if you think it needs some correction, please do inform me)
Zamboanga City's Mayor, Hon. Celso Lorenzo Lobregat
After doing so much to make the city look good, in just one incident you sometimes feel it’s all gone in a snap. But the way people think and see is Attitudinal, something we cannot do anything about… It’s up to the people, to you as to how you will look at it, it’s either a glass half full or a glass half empty ” – Mayor Celso Lobregat
This made me ask myself the same question and some other more,
Am I living life as if it’s half full or it’s half empty?
How thankful have I been these past few years that I ended up living here instead of in another city?
Do I complain a lot of not having what others have that I don’t, because I reside here?
Have I done my part as an ordinary citizen to try and make special and great things as my contribution for a better Zamboanga City?
Am I contributing to make Zamboanga City look good or the other way around?
Oh, lots of questions were entering my mind as fast as the speed of light.
The Mayor was very effective in his speech, he was able to reach out both to the audience’s heart and mind. You know how passionate he is with his work because it clearly showed with how he, like a great salesman.. presented the facts about our city with pride and confidence. I have heard him deliver speeches a few times in the past and judging from the ones I have witnessed, he sure did a hole in one with this one.
Bloggers from other cities who attended were impressed and inspired. Blogie, the founder of the Mindanao Bloggers Community even said, it would have been better if more people have witnessed it, well so did I. Though there will be lots of blog posts that will be written about the event, it sure feels more special if you have heard it live!
In another part of his speech, he especially mentioned how people are spreading viral news on social networks like Facebook. He told the crowd how clueless he is of why people would record and even post the video of the incident that happened in Brgy. Talisayan with the mentally ill man going amok, stabbing some children and teachers and dying. It was as if the one who posted it was proud of what happened.
“With great Freedom comes great Responsibility”
This made me think how good or bad I am doing as a social networker? Am I a good influencer to my facebook friends or a bad one? How am I handling well my Freedom on the Internet, is it with arrogance or humility?
Mayor Celso Lobregat’s speech left a lot of questions to be answered, something you cannot do in just one sitting. I think it will take me a few months of soul searching and a lot of “alone sitting by the Paseo del Mar” moments to put pieces together and take the challenge.
To our Mayor Celso Lorenzo Lobregat, I’m giving your speech 5 stars!
Special mention to the sponsors and organizers of the 4th Mindanao Bloggers, We wouldn’t have done it without you!
TVI Resource Development (Phils) Inc.
City of Zamboanga
Seed Interactive
ELearning Centre Inc
Comtech Institute
Blogie Robillo
Avel Manansala and the SOCCSKSARGEN Bloggers
Almost all Filipinos love to sing, but not everybody has the talent.
I am not Charice Pempengco nor Lea Salonga but I love singing this song… even if my voice substitutes as an alarm clock to wake my husband during mornings =P
I am an internet buff… seriously, most of the time I use the internet around 10 to 14 hours per day. Addiction or not, it’s been a system I’ve been practicing for years.
So when I need to feed my soul, I seek the internet most of the time as well. Those 14 hours were not solely for my work. I heavily use the internet to seek answers to most of my physical, emotional and spiritual challenges.
I also feed my spirit via the ‘Net. I am “youtubing” spiritual videos every morning, especially when I get bored with my traditional practices. I need to put some spice on it.. so I do the techy way of communicating with the Lord
Was not able to blog for a few days because the ISP was down. Am testing iTouch for ASP Zamboanga chapter as an assistive technology for non verbal autistic children using the proloquo2go application. Am not yet used to typing fast here, I always end up with typo errors, good thing there’s the auto complete utility.
Beware of those who offer easy solutions
to complex issues,
who make anything other than the will of God the goal of life.
We are meant to become our fullest selves,
not our emptiest selves.
We all want things to come into our lives easily, we want less hardships and pain. What we don’t realize is that the hardships and the pain are what makes people, things and achievements more worthy. They are those that we remember and treasure the most.
When we are having a hard time with our children, nieces and nephews, we sometimes wish they are away because we associate them with the pain and misery that makes us angry and anxious. We are uncomfortable of the fact that we see and feel our vulnerabilities.
We are having a hard time accepting our weaknesses, Life will always be filled with hardships and pain . We need to sweat it out, exert effort and practice long patience plus prayers of course to continue focusing on our goal, and believe that Everything will Better.
I therefore commit to complain less from now on, because “if there’s NO PAIN, there’s NO GAIN”
I am very very thankful to this little pocket books. They have enriched me so much and have given noteworthy advices that have been my guide in living a renewed life.
For every struggle I have, and there’s no one to turn to (probably am just shy to ask), I seek the Elf-Help books of wisdom. They have different topics for every struggle and challenges a person usually meets in life. As of the moment I own 9 namely;
1. Living from Your Soul,
2. Prayer Therapy,
3. Nature Therapy,
4. Dealing with Difficult People,
5. Teacher Therapy,
6. Celebrate your Womanhood Therapy,
7. Being a Good Parent Therapy,
8. Slow-down Therapy and
9. Keeping-up your Spirits Therapy
A great collection that is close to my heart
All of them have served and some are still serving me well till this day. When I feel confused or lost. I don’t anymore panic the way I used to.
Elf-Help Books are my reliable confidante =D
R.W. Alley is such a great illustrator, I look forward to his drawings in every page.
When things are rough and the mind is blurry, I am prone to say bad words, curse, fight, brag about the bad news, be happy that others are gloomy (because I’m not alone) and commit sin.
With all the dark stuff, there’s a light that shines in my heart. It’s the faith that glows, the faith in knowing that my God will pull me up and out of the pit of evilness.
Repentance then follows, it is the time to recognize and humble my self to the Lord and submit to him (even if I’m not proud of it) all my sins for his total forgiveness.
I would like to greet all fathers, the Papa, Daddy, Ama and Tatay in the WWW (Whole Wide World!) a very Happy Father’s Day!
To my own father, Papa, my uncles, my father-in-law and most especially to Papa God, for all the support and the love you have showered me. I would not be who and what I am right now, if not for the sacrifices and understanding you have been more than willing to give in times I need them the most.
May the good men become many in this world.
In each of my daily prayer these days, I always ask the Lord to give me Courage and Humility. Something that I lacked the last few months. These are the two traits or skills as I may say that I would want to deeply be embedded in my personality. Having Courage will push me outside of my comfort zone and do the things that should be done according to God’s will. Being humble will always remind me of my failures without being bitter about it, just to serve as a reminder that no matter how I try to avoid it, there will always be times that I will not succeed. So I must train myself to be more self-forgiving and use humor to overcome the pain.
In short, I need to always remind myself that everything in this world should not be about me but about my God!
Journaling on the Net 