POSITIVE MINDSET | MagandangBalita.com

You could tell if a person is inclined towards a positive or negative mental attitude if they are mostly raving or ranting during normal conversations.

If you’ve been through a conversation with a friend who just spent the whole time complaining about his wife, you are more likely to feel drained afterwards. On the other hand, if a friend bubbly talks about how good his project is going, you would immediately sense a strengthening of your own resolve.

I’m not saying we must not complain. There are times that we should but it should never be the norm for positive people. On the other hand, we should just praise and talk about how great things are going, to the point that we turn a blind eye to wrong things and miss the opportunity to make things right. But that is splitting hairs.

Ask yourself:

Are ranting or raving now?

Are you ranting or raving mostly?

There was a local FM radio program who aired phoned in comments from listeners. The question was just: Are you Ranting or Raving? Students, office workers, stay-at-homes just call in and just let it out.

Some rant about the exams they just took or will take. Another one will do the same for the document their boss wanted yesterday.

A girl will rave about seeing her crush that made her day. A young mother will jubilantly proclaim that her baby is growing his first tooth or took his first step.

I did not keep tally on which side had more, but the lesson I get there is that we have a lot of reasons to complain or thank about.
Rave more, okay? It will do you tons of good.

Filed under Bright Ideas, Improve Your Self, POSITIVE MINDSET

Last Saturday, I spent some time with the board members of a progressive school in Quezon City. We all had our woes and were discussing the situations our people were facing. Life is hard and prices have risen. The topic then turned to what the meeting was about in the light of these crises. If we were to think about it, working for the school pro bono, spending our time and money for something we are not paid to do seems illogical. If we were to use this line of thinking, what we were doing (school improvement) was a waste of time if you think in terms of personal revenue we’d get from the time we spent there.

We asked ourselves if we can think of more profitable ventures compared to a non-profit school and the answer was an easy affirmative. It was prime real estate. Residential or business units can be put up in no time. And that’s just for starters.

But then, we returned to our grounding. We wanted to make better lives for our children, for society - no matter what common sense might dictate. If we surrender what little hope we have, then God help us. We were not ready to just give up. Logic may dictate that what we do will not put our country (or world for that matter) and situation where we want it to be. But Hope prevails; that we can make it better, no matter how samll. We have hope in other people with like minds, that they are doing the same, to transform the present to a much brighter future.
It is the same with all people who work and strive to make their lives better. We have to have hope in a better future, no matter how bleak the present is. We must seek to rise above our current state and look to a brighter tomorrow.
We have to have hope. But it should be accompanied with action. The real question then becomes

“What can we do in times like these?”

Filed under POSITIVE MINDSET

• Comment

A recent survey showed that many consider themselves poorer compared to last year.

I think this is a wrong impression, an incorrect conclusion. I dare say most of us have become wealthier and increase our net worth every single day. Many of us are probably millionaires several times over. It’s just we are using an incomplete balance sheet.

The traditional mindset for wealth includes the things you own and the things you owe: Your house, money in the bank, your business, precious collections such as paintings, real estate; loans, debts, operating expense, etc. Get the difference and you get either a loss (negative) or a gain (positive).

How about considering the following as part of your assets?

Your knowledge and skills. Many bloggers write about themselves and rarely see how much their talent is worth. Often, this never gets highlighted in a resume. I have an officemate who is a deep thinker and writes excellently to pursue this avenue. I encounter a lot of people who know they are talented yet seem to discount these as capital. Singers, musicians, leaders, great with kids, have a way with people, can look at the big picture easily, can work methodically, likes the nitty-gritty, can act, is good with numbers, can fix anything, speaks well in front of people… Any of these yours? They are greater than gold in value.

Your successes. The awards that you got in grade school and high school certainly count. Graduating from college. Passing the board exams. Promotions and commendations in your work. Getting praises and expressions of gratitude for helping out. Having been featured in a magazine, newspaper or website. Being tapped as a subject matter expert in your field of expertise like technology, elearning or personal development. Putting up a blog and keeping it active and attracting traffic. Developing the reading habit (or any good habit), focusing on positive thoughts and passing the things you learned. You do not have to get a medal, a plaque or trophy. There are successes big and small, you just have to look back and take stock.

Your Experiences (specially the bad ones) and Failures. Failures and bad experiences as wealth? Yes, if you’ve learned the lessons. Any new thing you learn increases your portfolio.

In 2004, I started web publishing with hard coding html. It was a disaster as i struggled and almost gave up. I thought I’d have to get a costly software but learned that there was Wordpress: it does what I want and is free. I’ve used it ever since. There were two things I’ve learned from that. First, the knowhow I gained in coding still helps me to this day. Second, now, I always do my research first for a free and/or easier solution to any web-related application I need, even at work.

At one point during high school, I went to school without breakfast nor allowance. That experience I still treasure and still ground me. Though I would not wish it to happen again to me or anybody, that phase is one of my most valuable treasures. I will not exchange it for a million dollars.

If you ask most millionaires who went through hard times before becoming achieving success, the times they were at their lowest were also the times that have helped them succeed later. Failing forward ring a bell?

Your Connections. Though it sometimes has a bad impression, having connections or a good network is part of your wealth. I’m glad I met Bo Sanchez and consider him a mentor. My brother-in-law surgeon-oncologist was heaven-sent for my mother. People I consider brothers and sisters in our covenant community also have helped me come up with solutions. Relatives and classmates are people i can rely on too. People I wrote to (but didn’t know) and responded. People I met even once. Their collective knowledge, skills, talents, experience, failures and success are potentially at my disposal.

With these assets, I’m a billionaire many times over if I put even just a minimum amount on each of these.

All of us have our skills, talents, knowledge, successes, experiences and connections. They are part of our wealth.

Each of us is wealthy beyond our wildest imaginations.

Filed under General Interests, POSITIVE MINDSET, Inspirations

• 2 comments

The Santolan-EDSA intersection where I pass daily is a very busy intersection. While it is still bearable when we pass, there are times that it gets clogged because of passenger jeepneys (along Santolan) and buses (along EDSA) waiting, stalling, trying to get more passengers. The left turns from both sides of Santolan also take a significant amount of waiting time for vehicles just going straight. Add the impatient drivers going against the traffic flow in order to get ahead.

It is a given that traffic discipline and enforcement of rules are keys to better and faster travel. Also, good engineering and study of traffic flow can yield significant improvements in how fast cars can go.

Recently, the intersection has been re-designed to be a circular flow. The initial implementation was a disaster because everybody was surprised. The mindset that prevailed was, “I have to get ahead of the others.”
I made a detour to a farther route and said “Now I will have to travel farther. More gas, more time spent and adjustment of our comfort zone.”

The next day came as a surprise. I planned to avoid that point but noticed that traffic was flowing smoothly, faster than when the intersection was not a roundabout. So I made haste for my usual route and found myself not waiting for a green light. I didn’t even stop. I cut my travel time by a good ten minutes.

The problem now is when it is congested at peak hours.

I remembered an animation about vehicles giving some space in front of them so others can merge faster. I tried it and it worked! It significantly made us move faster and smoother. Images and more explanations can be found here.

A similar finding for airlines with the same concept was featured recently here.

“Have 10 passengers at a time board in alternating rows. He says it’s at least four times faster than what most airlines are doing because it lets everyone stow their luggage and take their seats without getting in one another’s way. People get seated sooner, which means planes take off sooner.”

I think taking turns works because:

Psychologically, everyone is moving, albeit a little slower. But compared to wanting for minutes at a time, your patience threshold can only hold so much. Not competing against the other driver gives you a better disposition and view.
It makes you much more considerate of others and in turn, you will all be given consideration. There is something about showing kindness and respect, the seeing it returned - the “pay it forward” concept - that makes anything more bearable.

The question is how do we imbibe this in the national psyche?
I can start with myself. You can do the same.

Other traffic thoughts.

Filed under Improve Your Self, General Interests, POSITIVE MINDSET, InForNation

• Comment

Whatever the circumstances are,
No matter how evil men seem to lord it over,
Whatever setbacks we suffer,
Though misfortunes befall us,
However bleak and dark tomorrow may seem.

We will not cower,
We will stand up and fight,
We will not surrender,
We will not give up,
We remain hopeful and steadfast.

The days are coming:

Of prosperity and plenty
Of justice and peace
Of understanding
Of unity and equality.

Forward we go, all you who have this nation’s interest at heart
To those who love this country: toil, work and give it all your best
Dream of the great things we can do, how noble we can be

The Pearl shines.

A better future awaits, no matter what the present is.

This I believe.

Filed under General Interests, POSITIVE MINDSET, Personal

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