“You have been given a gift—your life. What will you do with it?”—Michael Hyatt
Have you taken a moment to pause and think about how you feel about your life right now? Are you happy and content with your life path?
If you cringe when facing the truth that your life isn’t really the way you want it to be, you’re not alone. Especially during this pandemic, the never-ending cycle of disappointment seems to be the prevailing state of mind.
It feels like things such as building our career, getting fit, becoming financially free and spending quality time with our loved ones get sidelined for unimportant yet urgent things. Sometimes it takes some earth-shattering situation to realize we need to refocus our direction and purpose here on earth.
In my growing library of self-help books, my latest addition is Michael Hyatt’s “Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want.” After learning what he wants to advocate, I learned big lessons, like having a solid life plan.
Like a GPS system that guides us on where to go, creating a life plan is necessary to live the life we want. There are essential components of a positive balance: passion, which is about enthusiasm, and progress, which concerns results. Whenever you make a plan, you must begin with the destination. Only by knowing where you are going can you figure out how you can best get there.
Loving relationships
A busy life is not a sign of success. So make sure you have loving relationships and meaningful experiences. To design a life with the end in mind, we can determine in advance the actions we need to take to create the life we want.
Practical exercises could help reach our desired journey. For each account, Hyatt advocates writing a purpose statement (the overall goal, or exactly what you want to accomplish for that life account); an envisioned future (a scenario that describes the ideal state you want to reach); an inspiring quote; current reality (an honest, detailed description of the current situation); and specific commitments (what you will do to reach your envisioned future).
For those going through a challenge currently, I also recommend the latest book of Mark Nepo, “The Book of Soul.” Replete with penetrating truths and startling insights into the process of transformation, the book offers a powerful guide to inhabiting an authentic and wholehearted life.
Because I have been so open to healing and inner growth, everything I do seems to be helpful in my process. Even after watching the genre-bending Broadway musical “Hamilton,” I felt so emotional and gained so many life lessons. The brilliant musical with a hip-hop storyline based on Alexander Hamilton’s life is filled with outstanding lyrics that are delivered in record speed and amazing choreography from beginning to end.
“Hamilton” the musical ultimately reminded me to have some fun in my life. Combining history, life and love in an amazing music and dance, the musical reminded me that all of our successes and failures are part of one’s journey.
Sustainable practices
Ultimately, we make our own life count and we can choreograph our future into an experience we love living. That is ultimately what wealth is: the ability to have fun and love our life.
A meaningful application of this is when one can do good and have a great time doing it. An amazing example of this is Grown Lokal, which was founded by a close group of high school friends, and which is having a growing impact.
Grown Lokal is a student-led passion project focused on promoting local sustainable farms in the Philippines. With the climate crisis continuing, they believe that it is important to understand how simple lifestyle choices can have a huge influence on the environment.
The agriculture sector is known to be one of the leading sources of pollution worldwide, with around 17 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions coming directly from agricultural activities. Fortunately, several local farmers have shifted their focus toward implementing sustainable practices within their production and delivery systems. Their sustainable approaches benefit the surrounding environment, and also improve the quality of produce for customers.
Making the decision to buy ingredients from local sustainable farms rather than imported goods can substantially lower your own carbon footprint. That being said, the Grown Lokal website (grownlokalph.com) is meant to serve as a guide for those in search of locally sourced and sustainably grown produce. They hope that you support these farms found on the website and also learn more about the Filipino farmers who have taken steps to increase sustainable development in our country. The site holds links to order forms and contact details for each local farm.
Moving forward
Focusing on moving forward, I have decided to fully renovate my daughters’ rooms when I head home next month. I am quite excited to shop at Wilcon Depot for all my renovation needs.
Wilcon Depot, my favorite one-stop home shop, now offers a new home shopping destination to all Sorsogueños with the opening of its 68th branch located in Sorsogon City on July 30.
Sorsogon homeowners and builders can now experience safe and convenient home shopping at Sitio Sirangan, Barangay Macabog in Sorsogon City. The newest branch is the retail giant’s third store in the Bicol region.
Home to over 180,000 local residents and with its booming infrastructure developments, Sorsogon is truly a promising place for Wilcon to cater to home improvement and building needs of Sorsogueños. Tagged as the “Gateway to Southern Philippines,” Sorsogon is also an established hub for trade, commerce and industry.
Life is short. So, fill your days with truthful relationships and meaningful intentions. You will be remembered for the action you put into your life. In the words of Hamilton in the musical, “I am not throwing away my shot!” INQ
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