The Parable of the Pencil

Have you been experiencing difficulty these days? Or wanting to give up? 

Wag kang panghinaan ng loob! Basahin mo muna eto. Sana ma-inspire ka sa kahit anong paraan.. 

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box.

“There are 5 things you need to know,” he told the pencil, “Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.”

“One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone’s hand.”

“Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.”

“Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.”

“Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.”

“And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.”

The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.

"A painful sharpening. You need it to become the best pencil you can be."

Now replacing the place of the pencil with you. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.

One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God’s hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.

Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you’ll need it to become a stronger person.

Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.

Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s on the inside.

And Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.

Allow this parable on the pencil to encourage you to know that you are a special person and only you can fulfill the purpose to which you were born to accomplish.

Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot make a change.

Time to Start Fresh

Yesterday, my siblings and I heard the Word of God at “The Feast” in Pasig City. It’s a Catholic Prayer meeting of Bro. Bo’s Light of Jesus Family. After the Mass, Bro. Obet (our Daddy O) led a powerful talk about ‘Start Afresh!’ He shared that all of us want everything new—new look, new clothes, new feel, new house, new car, new understandings, new friends, new business, new adventures and many more. Do you agree? Yet the root of all these desire for newness is that at the core of one’s life—the core of our being. It is our heart that causes us to desire the new. All that we see and want “out there” can chase us if we only change internally.  

Ika nga sa karamihan sa atin, we wish for positive and good vibes for the new year. But do you know that only You can cause the change? It is Only You can bring out the real new. I’d like to share with you this article that I read about a positive 'to-do' list which you can start doing for yourself. (From Marc and Angel's blog)

1. Start spending time with the right people. – These are the people you enjoy, who love and appreciate you, and who encourage you to improve in healthy and exciting ways.  They are the ones who make you feel more alive, and not only embrace who you are now, but also embrace and embody who you want to be, unconditionally.
2. Start facing your problems head on. – It isn’t your problems that define you, but how you react to them and recover from them.  Problems will not disappear unless you take action.  Do what you can, when you can, and acknowledge what you’ve done.  It’s all about taking baby steps in the right direction, inch by inch.  These inches count, they add up to yards and miles in the long run.
3. Start being honest with yourself about everything. – Be honest about what’s right, as well as what needs to be changed.  Be honest about what you want to achieve and who you want to become.  Be honest with every aspect of your life, always.  Because you are the one person you can forever count on.  Search your soul, for the truth, so that you truly know who you are.  Once you do, you’ll have a better understanding of where you are now and how you got here, and you’ll be better equipped to identify where you want to go and how to get there.  Read The Road Less Traveled.
4. Start making your own happiness a priority. – Your needs matter.  If you don’t value yourself, look out for yourself, and stick up for yourself, you’re sabotaging yourself.  Remember, it IS possible to take care of your own needs while simultaneously caring for those around you.  And once your needs are met, you will likely be far more capable of helping those who need you most.
5. Start being yourself, genuinely and proudly. – Trying to be anyone else is a waste of the person you are.  Be yourself.  Embrace that individual inside you that has ideas, strengths and beauty like no one else.  Be the person you know yourself to be – the best version of you – on your terms.  Above all, be true to YOU, and if you cannot put your heart in it, take yourself out of it.

Click here to read the complete list.

I believe a lot of you have your own planners or journals including myself. Yes? It's so good to jot down every goals we want to achieve for ourselves (and family and loved ones), and for our dreams and visions to turn into reality this year. 

My It's Time Planner 2012 :)

But what about your Financial goals? Do you know that it is just as important as your spiritual, emotional, social and physical needs? Share your long-term and investment goals because when you share your goals, people (like me) will want to help you make it happen. You strengthen your belief that you can achieve it! Surprise yourself by becoming the person you never dreamed possible.

As what the Bible says, "Behold, I make all things New." (Revelations 21:5)

My Life Purpose

During my training days in my first work back in 2005, our instructor asked us to choose which among the four principles in the “Fish! Philosophy” that would help improve our work skills. And I chose Be There. I didn’t think that it was the first step of determining my life purpose. I placed it in the left side of my study table (which I am still using up to now).

Some of you know or at least have an idea what companies I have worked for before. Some may asked, “San ka nanaman nagwowork ngayon?”

I am not ashamed that before I become a Financial Advisor, I was once a Manager and Supervisor of quick service restaurant and international coffee shop respectively; and a Bank Products Officer handling credit cards/personal loans/deposits of an international bank and lastly, an Analyst of Collections department of a local bank. 

When I think about it now, I know all of them have purposes and reasons on its own. I am grateful and proud for all the experiences and learning that I have gained which I am utilizing in my present career. My bank-related work experiences that I have will be shared here in my blog. 

And I am thankful to our God that deep inside of me has accepted and realized the true meaning of everything--that everything is connected with each other. Most importantly, they brought me to where I am today. And I believe that won’t bring me to where I want to go. It will be a lot different. 

I stopped and smelled the roses

I don’t want to continue my life’s journey when I feel empty on the inside. So I really devoted my time to examine myself. Some of my friends whom I shared this with, they would laughed at me when I told them that I opened and browsed all my photo albums since I was born up to the present. 

For me to discover what are the things that I love doing and will make me happy including my accomplishments as a student. And also, there is one e-book titled How to know if your Dreams are God’s Dreams that really helped me discover my deepest desires and I want to share it with you. It has blessed me so much. It is written by my life, spiritual and financial mentor, Bro. Bo Sanchez. You can download the e-book by visiting his website.

Now, I am very much sure about my life purpose that every activity I have every day is an expression of it—which includes helping people to become financially independent through sharing what I have learned so far. There is also a symbol that will keep me focused every day. I hanged it underneath my clock. I love it especially I supported the “Mga Likha ni Inay” Foundation.

How about you? What's the one thing that makes your life meaningful? You can share your life purpose by simply leaving a comment below.

The Ultimate Purpose of Wealth

Before I could discuss about investments and mutual funds, I want you to know what the ultimate purpose of acquiring wealth for me. 

When I was younger, I always prayed to God I want to be happy and to have a meaningful life. But He teaches me to be more specific in praying that’s why I am writing down every dream in my heart and believing that what I can write down on paper, I can write them down on reality. And, that was happened to my I “want to-do” listed on number 17. 

According to my 'virtual' success mentor, Jack Canfield, for us to know what we truly want is to make a list of 30 things we want to do, 30 things we want to have, and 30 things we want to be before we die. But I surpassed as I wrote 34 things for every to do, to have and to be lists. And I am very optimistic and excited that all the things I wrote down will come true in God’s perfect time. You can try it for yourself, too.

             

The reason why I want to share this with you is not to brag but to inspire you to keep on dreaming and believing that all our dreams will come true. I don’t have big savings or money now but with the small wealth God trusted with me [since I am building slowly my wealth now], I used it to start fulfilling my big dream.

Last 11^th of May as my friend Jerome celebrated his birthday, I really wanted to give him something special--the gift of sharing and loving others. This is something that I have never done as part of nurturing our relationship and so we decided to have a party with the kids  on the day before his special day. 

We planned as we exchanging messages until morning of his birthday. We asked for our friend Cris and her family’s assistance and everything happened exactly the way we wanted. We invited kids from a small barangay in Quezon City as we enjoy our God's blessings with them.

No words can ever explain the incredible feeling and so much happiness when I saw the kids and families’ smiles on their faces. I felt the joy of sharing and loving. And I want to do this again many times in my life.

For me, the ultimate purpose of wealth is to share them and to love others. Because the only way to keep our treasure is to give it away. May God bless us more so we can bless others more.

Jacqui with the kids

Be the Best YOU

It is really important to prosper your mind so you can prosper your money. 

But what if, other people say you can't? Are those opinions really matter to you? I am blessed by this so I am sharing it with you..

 

"Promise yourself to be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

Look at the sunny side of everything and make your
optimism come true.

Think only of the best,
work only for the best,
and expect only the best.

Forget the mistakes of the past
and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

Give so much time to the improvement of yourself
that you have no time to criticize others.

Live in the faith that
the whole world is on your side
so long as you are true
to the best that is in you!"

- Christian D. Larson

photo: source