Certainty and Faith

Dear Thirty Year Old Me,

I am currently reading this book: The Universe Has Your Back by Gabrielle Bernstein.  I love this book.  It actually puts into words all of the divine experiences that I've had in my life that I am starting to notice more everyday.   For me,  one of the things that is resonating well is the idea of certainty in the divine purpose of our lives - and that it is meant to be joyful and full of love.

So as you sit there reading this letter,  I want you to think of one of Gabrielle's exercises.  Think of what you will be doing if you are certain and that you don't have any doubt about your purpose and the life that you're meant to live filled with love and joy.   I have completed this exercise and here I share with you what I have come up with.

Releasing doubt will give me the certainty and faith to honestly speak about how I feel.

Releasing doubt will give me the certainty and faith to live a curious life.

Releasing doubt will give me the certainty and faith to focus on gaining joyful and loving experiences instead of collecting material possessions.

Releasing doubt will give me the certainty and faith to be grateful when I receive compliments.

Releasing doubt will give me the certainty and faith to talk to strangers especially strangers I am attracted to.

Releasing doubt will give me the certainty and faith to please myself and take care of my wants and needs before I take action to please others and take care of their wants and needs.  

Releasing doubt will give me the certainty and faith to identify my personal boundaries and communicate them to people I interact with.

Releasing doubt will give me the certainty and faith to act with spontaneity.

With Much Love,

The Forty Year Old You

I Started Following Live Your Legend

Dear Thirty Year old me,

A couple of weeks ago,  I read a heartfelt post from Leo Babauta's blog: Zen Habits about the grief that he felt from the death of his friend Scott Dinsmore.  I have never heard of Scott before then.   To be honest - it is odd that I have not discovered him in the past because three other blogs that I follow are run by good friends of Scott:  Nerd Fitness,  JamesClear.com,  and The Art of NonConformity.   I don't know why I have not discovered Live Your Legend before Scott's death - I will not bother to try to understand that - but what's important for you to understand is that after discovering his blog,  I jumped in and read through his posts voraciously.

As I write this,  I am actually going through a paid course that I bought from Live Your Legend.   The course's name is Live Off Your Passion.  The course was worth $ 197.   To be honest - I'm not sure if this is going to be money well spent.  However - after reading Scott's and his friends' posts on how each and everyone of them are living lives where they actually get to earn a living from something they're passionate about,  I decided - why not take a chance on that $197 and see what I can learn from the course?

So I took a chance and bought the course.  I watched the introduction from Scott.  I watched his TED talks where he talked about how someone can live and earn from doing what they are passionate about.   I watched a video of Simon Sinek called How Great Leaders Inspire Action.  These videos,  the words that Scott wrote - spoke to my core.  I want that life.   I want the life where I can actually truly say that I am doing what I'm passionate about.   Take note that as much as I do want to earn from this endeavor - in my heart of hearts,  I know that this encounter with Scott's blog has awakened this feeling inside of me that had laid dormant.   I remember,  when I was younger that I had visions of myself being a great man - a man who helped others.   It had laid dormant because life happened - I started working,  I had a family to support,  I had debt to pay,  I had a lifestyle to sustain.   And so as I aged from being the bright eyed twenty year old gung-ho and inspired to do great work --- I grew older and I reached the age of 30 and that bright eyed me as you know has changed into this weary soul.   I'm telling you - I really hope that with this hard earned $ 197 that I spent on the Live Off Your Passion course,  I will be able to discover that bright eyed man that I used to be.

I will keep you posted.   This may actually be one helluva ride.

Truly Yours,

Your Four Year Old Self

The Mañana Habit

Dear Thirty Year old Me,

In my previous e-mail,  I confessed that I am a Procrastinator.  I have proclaimed to the whole world that I have the mañana habit.  In this entry, I would like to explain to you my reasons for trying to kick the habit.

1. Mañana/Procrastination is an expensive Habit.

I used to be a smoker.  I'm happy to say that it's one bad habit that I successfully got out of my system since the year 2010.  It was an expensive Habit - a pack a day can lead to expenses of up to 1,200 pesos a month.

That is actually nothing to the expense that I incur from the Mañana habit.  Let's start with the late fees that I often pay for my bills.  I have actually paid so many late fees for my credit card, my electricity, mobile phone subscription, and internet fees.

Apart from the late fees - I also incur unnecessary expenses from not terminating services that I no longer use.  For example ( and this one I'm working on ) - I left my previous house in June 2013.  Up to now, I have not disconnected my phone and internet service.   So it's been 7 months that I've been paying for a phone and internet service that I am not using.

2.  Procrastination Leads to Unnecessary Stress That Poses Danger to my Health

I have expressed in my previous post that from the outside looking in - you may actually think that I do not have problems with Procrastination.  I am a successful guy.  Most of the bosses that I worked for love working with me and they love the result of my work.

Unbeknownst to my bosses - most of the time - I actually have to spend sleepless nights two to three days prior to my deadlines when I turn in my work.  This could be the annual budget for next year.  It could be the written appraisal for my team.   The output is typically superior ( although every time I wish and I knew that I could have done better.   Sleepless nights are not good for my health.  Those sleepless nights and the act of cramming also leads to me skipping my lunch and eating snacks that are not good for my health.

3.  Postponing decisions Causes Lost Opportunities

Back in the year 2000 - I was convinced by a very persuasive real estate agent to invest on a condominium unit in Makati.  It had easy monthly payment terms.  The problem is that after 2 years - I will have to pay for the unit.  You can actually get a loan for that if the monthly payments that I paid prior to that was equivalent to at least 20% of the total amount of the loan.  Unfortunately - the easy monthly payment terms were just 15% of the amount that I needed.  So I cannot get a loan from the bank.   I could have addressed this by saving up on my own --- but saving money is another problem that a procrastinator has.  Long story short - I defaulted on the investment - and I forfeited the money that I have already paid for the property.

The same thing happened to some insurance and retirement investment that I ended up defaulting because I let the monthly payments go past due.

4.  I am not Getting Any Younger

People say that age is just a number --- but it is a significant number.   At my current age - I will be at retirement age sooner that we all think.  If I don't get my financials and my life in order --- I may end up without money to spend when I do retire.

Moreover - the fountain of youth has not been discovered.  As one ages - our body could not handle the same amount of stress that we used to be able to handle when we were young.   My biological clock is going TICK-TOCK TICK-TOCK - and it's telling me that I really don't have time to just waste the time that I have.

These are the four main reasons why I want to kick the habit.  I want to get things done timely.  I want to face the Procrastination monster and look into it's eyes and say - "I am going to defeat you."

With much Love,

The forty year old you