2012 January 23 — ASPIRE. MOTIVATE. SUCCEED!

I am extremely honored by the blog awards I have been given lately. This is why I am extremely grateful for all of my fellow writers/bloggers for the nominations! I may not blog individually for the awards given, but to all of you who gave me these awards, my great THANKS and *hugs*. Thank you for nominating my blog and for believing in the power of inspiration, motivation and success!

1. Beautiful Blog Award - from Live The Life You Imagined

2. 7 x 7 Blog Award – from The Woman at The Well

3. The Genuine Blogger Award – from Warrior Poet Wisdom

4. Versatile Blogger Award – from Jodie Be in Her Crystal Room

5. Versatile Blogger Award – from Loving with Purpose

RULES

As per the rules of a nominee adopting from the Versatile Blogger Award, I will:

1. Add the Versatile Award photo on a blog post

2. Thank the award-giver and link back to them in your post.

3. Share 7 things about myself.

4. Pass the award along to 15 favorite bloggers.

5. Contact the chosen bloggers to let them know about the award.

SEVEN THINGS ABOUT MYSELF: (and I know there should be more) – previously posted here:

1. Favorite food on the planet – There are actually two kinds of food that I love growing up: 1. tirem (oyster) bathed in calamansi juice with chopped onions and lots of pepper and salt; 2. Buro (fermented fish). One of the family traditions that we used to do was to go to my grandfather’s house on Sunday for worship. When he retired from the Air Force, he decided to devote his time preaching and spreading the word of God. So, as our grandfather he would have Sunday masses in his house and after that my Nanay Aning (my maternal grandmother) would prepare food for the family and for everybody who attended the mass.

In most cases (especially when I requested them), my Nanay Aning would cook these food that I love! She makes the best pork adobo, pinakbet, nilaga, buro and tirem!

2. I am a Capricorn – and so is my older sister, Rachel and my favorite Auntie, Auntie Ada (although all my Aunts are great and beautiful as well). If you believe in the Eastern philosophy and the characteristics of a Capricornian, you know what I mean.

3. I am allergic to TV – I can spend hours on the computer surfing and reading all sorts of stuffs. But TV? Heck, no. I can only sit in front of the TV for a short while.

4. I love the mountains and the seas – I used to be a Girl Scout and had trekked some mountains big and small growing up. But having been married to a beachcomber, he introduced me to the beauty of the sea – the smell of the sea salt, the feel of the sea breeze and everything with water! My first memories of the sea would be attributed to my ever-pasyadora grandmother (Nanay Aning) who would bring me and my sisters yearly to San Fabian Beach in Pangasinan, Philippines for the “Pista ng Dagat” (Feast of the Seas). We would wake up very early in the morning to join some aficionados (like my grandmother’s neighbors) in the rented bus to go to the beach – and she’d do this with us annually.

5. I am proud to be a Filipino! – and proud of my height, my skin color and the constant inflections of my speech. I just do not like the bureaucracy of the Philippine government and the way the justice system works.

6. I truly admire and love my late grandfather – We used to call him “Daddy”, Mr. Floreno De Luna. I can probably write a week’s worth of post about him (which I should probably do). But one thing that I could tell you about him and why he continues to inspire me on my decisions and the way I live my life is because he was true to his mission in life – and he did it in the most faithful and righteous way possible. I’ll tell you, he has a great place in the hearts of everyone in my family. That’s how special to us!

7. I am my daughter’s student – I learn a lot from her everyday! She teaches me lessons that only she could do it. She is our star and our love!

VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARDS (As you may notice I added a few more to the list since I got five awards in total!)

1. Gracefully 50

2. Life’s Stepping Stones

3. Living Sublime Wellness

4. Barefoot Life Reflections

5. Stars and Rainbows

6. Happy Spaces Project

7. Joyce de Vivre

8. Lesley Carter

9. Kiwsparks

10. Inspire Happy

11. Positive Cookie Attitude

12. 2RainyDayPeople

13. Domestic Urbanite

14. Eof737

15. The Eye of Faith

16. Handstitch

17. Ylbnoel

18. Tksoni

19. Sticky Notes

20. Filipino Festival

A Lunar New Year’s Story: Gong Hey Fat Choy

Editor’s Note:In celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year, I am sharing with you one of my favorite new year’s stories written byVen. Master Xin Yun (Master Hsing Yun). You can either read the text below or hit the play on the video provided. Whichever way you want as long as you get the message behind this story is fine with me – and also, if you can answer the question at the end of this post, that will be appreciated! (All the pictures used in this post were compiled from different sources using Google Images. Thank you very much to the individual sources.)

Gong Hey Fat Choy !

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

*****

On a rainy night of New Year’s Eve, a lonely little girl was saddened by the disagreements that brought upon her family members.

Little girl sadly said, “It’s Chinese New Year’s Eve, but it’s been raining all day long. New Year is coming but everyone is not in a good mood. Brother insists on buying a new motorcycle. Dad, Mom, and Brother are quarreling about it again.”

Dad told to Brother, “Can’t you use the old motorcycle ? You just know how to spend money !”

Mom also said to Brother,”The economy is bad, why don’t you just use the old one ?”

Brother angrily said, “The old motorcycle breaks down all the time, you can use it ! I won’t !”

“It’s your fault. You have spoiled him !”, Dad said to Mom.

Little girl asked herself, “It’s New Year, but why is everyone unhappy ?”.

“Kitty, can you tell me how to make everyone happy for the New Year?”, asked the little girl to her cat.

Then, outside the window, the little girl looked four old men were coming, “Dad, Mom, look ! Brother, come and see, quick !”

Mom said to the old men, “Ah, it’s raining so heavily, Sirs, please come in for shelter !”

Old man #1 said, “Haha, thank you for your kindness, Madam. But we have a rule, only one of the four of us can come in. Who do you wish to invite in ?”

The four old men then introduced themselves one by one.

Old man #2 : “I am Wealth.”

Old man #3 : “I am Success.”

Old man #4 : “I am Well-being.”

Old man #1 said with a laugh, “Haha, everyone calls me Harmony.”

Dad said to the four old men, “Surely we should invite in Wealth, then we can have a comfortable life !”

Brother said, “No, no, choose Success ! I want my family to be proud of me !”

Mom said, “Wait a moment ! I think Well-being is the most important !”

Dad exclaimed, “Wealth !”

Brother exclaimed, “Success !”

Mom exclaimed, “Well-being !”

Little girl asked to her mother, “Mom, Mom, What is harmony ? Why don’t you invite in Harmony ?”

Dad said, “Yes, you’re right ! Why don’t we invite in Harmony ? New Year is here, we should be harmonious. Let’s invite Mr. Harmony in, then !”

Seeing that all of the four old men came in together, little girl’s father said, “Eh ? I thought you said only one of you can come in ? Why did all of you come in ?”

Old men #1 replied,”Haha, we have another rule. If Harmony enters, Well-being, Success and Wealth will follow.”

Little girl happily said, “Now I understand. To be happy is to be in harmony.”

*****

Now, here is the video (word of caution: if you would like to concentrate on the captioning, turning off the volume will extremely help!)

Now (again!) , here is the question: If you were to select three of the following attributes to a wonderful life, which would they be? Choose among the pictures below.

1. Light