Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Though we claim to be a country that is struggling with poverty the Filipino will always be updated as far as the latest fashion is concerned.

We read the latest fashion magazines watch amazed at the world’s prettiest men and women donning their designer clothes in Fashion cable channels and we pick them up.

The amazing thing is to realize that in a very materialistic 21st century world we are in today, rather than fashion imitating life, life is imitating fashion.

Bordering on confusion, human beings behave in very strange ways.

Consider the following:

• We wear Safari clothes and we’ve never been to a jungle.
• We wear Aerobic footwear and we never set foot in an aerobics class.
• We wear a deep sea dive watch and we never get wet.
• Those beautiful and expensive pilot’s watch we buy yet we do not know how to fly a plane.
• We drive a 4 wheel drive truck in the middle of manila traffic.
• We have architectural magazines we don’t read filled with pictures of furniture we don’t like.
• We have financial strategy software installed in a computer we don’t know how to work.
• We have art poster for an exhibit we never went to of an artist we never heard of.

This is called abstract materialism.

One day a young executive got into an accident in his brand new Jaguar after having too many drinks in their office Christmas party.

As he made a turn he missed it and went straight into a tree suffering from a serious crash. It was a wonder he got out of the debris alive but did found one of his arms missing.

People milled around the wreck and heard him saying, “Oh no. Look what happened to my Jaguar. My beautiful Jaguar.”

One of the spectators was amazed and said, “Hey mister. You’re still worried about your car you should be glad to be alive. Don’t you know that you’ve lost an arm?

The executive quickly turned to see that one of his arms was indeed missing. And so he cried out loud saying: “Oh no. My Rolex too. I lost my Rolex too!”

Understand this.

The more you have to live for, the less you need to live on. Those who make acquisition their goal never have enough.

And the worst thing that could happen is to force yourself into a materialistic lifestyle by borrowing money you can’t pay to impress people you don’t like.

The world today is divided into 3 kinds of people:

1. The have’s
2. The have-not’s
3. And the have-not-paid-for-what-they-have’s

Do not fall into this trap.

The science and art of happiness is really simple.

I have heard so many motivational speakers dwell on the same theme but the one who impresses me most is the major contributor to the New Testament the apostle Paul who said, “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

If you don’t stop looking at the things you don’t have, you will fail to appreciate the things you now have and that is a sure recipe for misery.

Abstract materialism has no place in your life and mine.

Love God serve men work hard, play hard and pray hard.

This is the secret to the fulfilled life.

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

“Grandpa,” a young girl asked, “were you in the ark with Noah?”

“Certainly not, my dear,” Grandpa replied in astonishment.

“Then,” the puzzled child continued, “why weren’t you drowned?”

Maybe he seemed older than Noah to her, but seniors may be finally getting respect they rightfully deserve. Hugh Downs reported that when senior adults are properly motivated, their intelligence does not wane.

In fact, the ability to organize thinking may increase as folks age.

Many people in their 50′s, 60′s and even 70′s can go through college with greater efficiency than at 18.

Adults over 70 years of age have contributed richly and in varied ways.

- Emmanuel Kant wrote his finest philosophical works at age 74.

- Verdi at 80 produced “Falstaff” and at 85, “Ave Maria.”

- Goethe was 80 when he completed “Faust.”

- Tennyson was 80 when he wrote “Crossing the Bar.”

- Michelangelo completed his greatest work at 87.

- At 90, Justice Holmes was still writing brilliant American Supreme Court opinions.

And then there’s George Dawson.

George learned to read at age 98. (He was forced to quit school when he was a small child in order to help support his family.)

“I got tired of writing my name with an ‘X,’” he said.

Four years later, at age 102, he wrote his autobiography, LIFE IS SO GOOD, published by Random House.

Dreams are renewable. They need not expire like an over-due library book.

No matter our age, we can breathe new life into old dreams. I believe that the best age is the age you are, but something even better awaits just ahead for those with the courage to dream and to act.

Are you renewing your dreams?

Feeling old?

Age is something that doesn’t matter unless you are cheese.

it’s not how old you are, but how you are old.

The late General Douglas MacArthur wrote something very profound about aging on his 75th birthday:

In the central place of every heart there is a recording chamber; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, and courage, so long are you young. When the wires are all down and your heart is covered with the snows of pessimism and the ice of cynicism, then, and then only are you grown old.

A survey was taken recently of people who are over 95. The people were asked one question. It was an open-ended question they could answer any way they wished.

The question was: If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?

Among all the different answers, these three answers came back most frequently:

1. If I could live my life over again, I would reflect more.

2. I would risk more.

3. I would do more things that would live on after I’m dead.

Lilia my wife whom I fondly call the Ilocana agree that as we grow old, we will make it a resolve not to be cynical, critical and skeptical or else we’ll make life hell for our in-laws. But we well be encouraging, inspiring and loving and really…really…really learn to grow old gracefully.

And why’s that?

Because He who is with us in our youth will be with us in our golden years and He never changes.

Isa 46:4 says:

⁴Even to your old age and gray hairs

I am he, I am he who will sustain you.

I have made you and I will carry you;

I will sustain you and I will rescue you.

And this is why:

We don’t want to grow old because we don’t want regret to take over the place of dreams.

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

There was a time when doing business means leaving your brochures with the prospect but today, they ask you: “Where is your web site so I can take a look at the products you are selling?” I feel uneasy every time I leave the house and forget to bring my cell phone with me. Today it’s the same familiar feeling I have in my guts every time I go somewhere and cannot find any WI-FI or Access to the Internet. Popular speaker Dr. Dennis Waitley says: “If you are not on-line, then you will be on the food line.” And somehow this is true. But is the Internet taking over our life? Has the Internet moved us away from quality living? Well….let’s see. Addicts and junkies say, “I am not addicted…I could quit anytime.” I hear the same words coming from people whose laptop are connected to the Net all the time. “I am not addicted to the Internet, I can quit anytime.”

Then I suppose you are brave enough to take the Internet Pledge if you happen to be one of the people I mentioned? The Internet Pledge is a cute material credited to anonymity.

Don’t take this seriously but it does make a lot of sense. So raise up your right hand and repeat after me as you take the Internet Pledge:

1. I will have a cup of coffee in the morning and read my newspaper like I used to, before the Web.

2. I will eat breakfast with a knife and fork and not with one hand typing.

3. I will get dressed before noon.

4. I will make an attempt to clean the house, wash clothes, and plan dinner before even thinking of the Web.

5. I will sit down and write a letter to those unfortunate few friends and family that are Web-deprived.

6. I will call someone on the phone who I cannot contact via the Web.

7. I will read a book…if I still remember how.

8. I will listen to those around me and their needs and stop telling them to turn the TV down so I can hear the music on the Web.

9. I will not be tempted during TV commercials to check for email. I was told that two dogs were walking down the street. Then one dog says to the other, “Wait here a minute, I’ll be right back.” He walks across the street and sniffs this fire hydrant for about a minute, then walks back across the street. The other dog says, “What was that about?” The first dog says, “I was just checking my messages.”

10. I will try and get out of the house at least once a week, if it is necessary or not.

11. I will remember that my bank is not forgiving if I forget to balance my checkbook because I was too busy on the Web.

12. Last, but not least, I will remember that I must go to bed sometime… and the Web will always be there tomorrow!

The whole world today is driven by technology. And it actually is a wonderful world. I love technology but technology is my friend and not my master. The idea is not to shun technology but to use it properly. It is no longer a proud statement to say, “Why, I still do not know how to use email…” You feel like saying, “Hey grandpa, they’ve got sound in movies now you know!”

Use technology and do not let it use you. A lady came to the hospital to visit a friend. She had not been in a hospital for several years and felt very ignorant about all the new technology. A technician followed her onto the elevator, wheeling a large, intimidating looking machine with tubes and wires and dials. “Boy, would I hate to be hooked up to that thing,” she said. “So would I,” replied the technician. “It’s a floor-cleaning machine.” That’s what happens if you are technology challenged.

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Q: Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to the deposition notice I sent to your attorney?
A: No, this is how I dress when I go to work.

Q: Doctor, how many autopsies have you performed on dead people?
A: All my autopsies are performed on dead people.

Q: Do you know if your daughter has ever been involved in voodoo or the occult?
A: We both do.

Q: Voodoo?
A: We do.

Q: You do?
A: Yes, voodoo.

Q: The youngest son, the twenty-year old, how old is he?

Q: Were you present when your picture was taken?

Q: What is your date of birth?
A: July fifteenth.

Q: What year?
A: Every year.

Q: Doctor, before you performed the autopsy, did you check for a pulse?
A: No.

Q: Did you check for blood pressure?
A: No.

Q: Did you check for breathing?
A: No.

Q: So, then it is possible that the patient was alive when you began the autopsy?
A: No.

Q: How can you be so sure, Doctor?
A: Because his brain was sitting on my desk in a jar.

Q: But could the patient have still been alive, nevertheless?
A: Yes, it is possible that he could have been alive and practicing law somewhere.

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

Finally a friend asks him, “What’s the matter, are you looking for the perfect woman? Are you that particular? Can’t you find anyone who suits you?”

“No,” Manny replies. “I meet many nice girls, but as soon as I bring them home to meet my parents, my Mother doesn’t like them. So I keep on looking!”

“Listen,” his friend suggests, “Why don’t you find a girl who’s just like your dear ole Mother?”

Many weeks go by and again Manny and his friend get together. “So Manny. Did you find the perfect girl yet. One that’s just like your Mother?”

Manny shrugs his shoulders, “Yes I found one just like Mom. My mother loved her, they became fast friends.”

So do I owe you a Mazel Tov? “Are you and this girl engaged, yet?”

“I’m afraid not, my Father can’t stand her!”

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy

The man was astounded. “You mean you can tell all that just by listening with your ear to the ground?” he asked.

“Ear to the ground, nothing,” said the Indian. “That truck just ran over me.”

Share and Enjoy

Share and Enjoy