Time to grief

Today is a day like no other. It was the last time I saw a dear colleague after she had been part of our team for almost two years now. Yesterday she handed her resignation later in haste and talked to me in private about her mother’s terminal condition.

I didn’t expect that her situation is already worse. The news made me sad and regretful. I remembered the journey that we had been through together. Those moments that I scolded her for not following instructions and sometimes for being too shy to ask. We had gone through a lot! We often had misunderstandings because we had different personalities. But what I appreciate about her is that she gave her best always when given the task despite her conditions.

I was having second thoughts of visiting her at home but I went anyway. I visited her mom despite not knowing how to give comfort nor have the words to say. I just knew I had to see them for the last time before they leave.

When I arrived, I was greeted by her mom’s warm smile. She thanked me sincerely for visiting her. She shed tears telling me how painful her back was. She told me her condition and how things went by. I tried to smile but tears kept falling on my cheeks as well.

We had a great conversation about her family, my colleague, and having faith in the Lord. And afterward, I offered prayers for her healing and safe journey as they go to her relatives somewhere in a different city.

I do not know when I will see them again but that last visit enabled me to accept the reality. I will surely miss her but hopefully this isn’t a good bye.

Taking care of your heart

Last Valentine’s Day I received a message that totally moved me. An older friend said, “take care of your heart and the object of your heart.” As I ponder on what this friend has said, I reflected on the question, “how can I take care of my heart?” For me there are two things: First by nurturing it. Plants grow through a constant source of sunlight & water. In the same way, we need to constantly feed it with good stuff. We can do this by reading God’s Word daily as if we’re watering plants daily. When we nurture our hearts, they grow abundantly and overflows. Luke 6:45 “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks of what the heart is full of. Second by guarding it. We are attacked spiritually every minute of our lives. We need to seek help from God to constantly protect us from the evil one. Guarding our hearts mean guarding them against pride, selfishness, dishonesty, hatred, unforgiveness, idleness and more. We also need to guard our hearts against the lusts and comforts of the world. We can create systems to constantly nurture and guard our hearts. First by setting a specified time in a quiet place to do Bible reading daily. We can also put our Bible on our bedside table so that we can see it the first thing when we wake up to remind us. By doing so, we will know what God’s will is, how to live our lives to the full. Second is by praying to Him daily, asking Him to guard our hearts and focus on Him only. Third is by connecting to a group of individuals who want to be accountable for their actions. Taking care of our hearts involves a lifelong commitment to consciously try to do both. And what does the object of my heart means? For me, it is the focus of my heart. Where do I focus my attention to? Truth be told, I am torn with a lot of things. I think my friend here means we need to focus on Jesus alone for He needs to be the center of our lives. We should focus our energies on how we can please him. It also means we are ready and available to reach out to others and be like Jesus to them—humble, loving, caring, and kind. I realized that taking care of my heart should be a priority. It also involves a lifelong commitment to consciously make an effort to nurture and guard it. But in the end, when we take care of our hearts, we will reap good results as if we are reaping a good harvest.

Takeaways from the book “Do Nothing”

Yesterday was an exceptionally boring day. I was passing time and would stare often on my laptop. I am often on two things at a time like talking to clients and discussing with staff but when downtimes come, I feel like I still think of a thousand things on my head. I start wondering what to do and how to go about time. Not exactly how to waste time but how to make use of it in a productive way.

Most of the time, I still think about work which is bad. That is why I think new habits should be formed.

The book Do Nothing by Celeste Headlee is eye-opening. She first discussed how the people of the older generation weren’t very particular about the 8-hour workday. And that the seasons guide how they work. When it was night, they sleep. However, the industrial revolution changed how things are. People became workaholics. Everything was into productivity.

This book suggested very practical tips on how we can carve time to do nothing. Here are some of my takeaways from the book:

1. Schedule leisure just as you schedule meetings and work stuff. And leisure is actively choosing to rest.
2. Meet with people (physically). Celeste wrote this book pre-pandemic but I think it is still relevant today only that we can often do a virtual one instead. Texting isn’t just the same!
3. Show kindness to others. She mentioned that when we do something good to others, we get that feeling of satisfaction too. In the end, we also get something even though we gave something away.
4. Doing long hour work weeks can be counterproductive. Recently a four-hour workweek is getting more mainstream!
5. We should track our time. If we are unaware of how we spend our time, we should write how we go about our day in terms of hours, so we know where we spend the bulk of it.
6. Having breaks in between work is productive. It is also necessary that we deviate from thinking about work. The author suggested that we walk outside for fresh air and just be in the moment!  
7. We should encourage our team members to have a life outside work. As a leader, we should motivate them to find hobbies to unwind.
8. Trade money for time—more free time to do the things that we want.
9. Enhance the skills that we have during our free time.
10. And lastly, volunteer! Sometimes, you’ll get the best opportunities out of these activities. Celeste mentioned that she had a big break in her career after she did a Ted talk.

Overall, this book made me realize that as much as being productive is something we need to be good at, we also need downtimes. These downtimes should be used to unwind, rest, and develop our interests and skills.

Memories: Summer in Greece

For the past few days, there was rain here and there. Despite having come to terms with rain, I still would miss the hot summer days. I definitely like summer more than rainy days! To commemorate this, here is a post from a trip back in 2018!

the iconic blue and white houses in Santorini

always on the lookout for bougainvilleas

Because it was summer, bougainvilleas were everywhere! It was the year when I fell in love with this kind of flower. There was an abundance of this throughout Greece. I tried to take good photos of and with it!

More bougainvillea photos!

I also loved the view of the Parthenon and the clear blue sky!

The Parthenon

We had to climb up to see the iconic Parthenon. However it was under renovation so there were a lot of bars. Coincidentally there was a bird flying across as I was taking this photo. I usually don’t like to take the normal touristy photos. Instead I like to tweak and create perspectives like the photo on the left!

My sister took a photo of me while I was trying to shade under the tree. I was checking the photos that I took previously! The photo on the left was taken along the streets in Athens. We tried fury hats that are usually for winter.

There were plenty of rocky mountains, dry grass and beautiful flowers as well!

Volcano of Santorini

We did different hikes but this one is one of the most memorable ones! I also loved it because there were yellow flowers everywhere!

Houses in Santorini

The walk along the houses in Santorini was very relaxing. We watched the sun set here as well. There were a lot of people from across the nations too! It was fun to watch what they were doing.

More nature photos

And lastly, I loved the sesame sticks that were constantly served throughout the trip! They became my favorite!