How to make money doing what you love and good at

Ikigai is a Japanese philosophy that means "the reason for being" or your purpose in life.  

To determine what your ikigai is, you have to answer 4 questions and ideally give as many answers as you can - at least 5 answers per question if you can (but again, more is better).  It's fine to repeat answers to multiple questions.

Here are the questions:

1. What do you love doing? 

2 What are you skilled at? Can be a tangible skill e.g sports or a soft skill e.g communication

3. What can you be paid for? E.g. coaching, selling, consulting

4. What does the world need? What can you contribute to the society?  

After finishing answering the questions plot them out in a Venn diagram as show below: 

If you find any intersection among the 4 questions, you just have identified your Ikigai. 💡

Here's some inspiration as you might have skills or hobbies that you can actually monetize and help other people.  I once read an anecdote of a guy who loves to play chess and ended up teaching kids on how to play chess. He's good at chess, enjoys playing, found a way to get paid for it by teaching others, and what he does not only train kids to be better strategic thinkers, but also bring joy to kids and their parents. 😊   

The Purest Kind of Love

This video was first shared in 2018 by UCatholic, but just recently saw it.

In a Good Friday procession in Mexico, a special child named Juan Pablo protects and comforts the actor playing Jesus Christ. 

Very moving.  It's the purest kind of love! Thank you for inspiring and teaching us, Juan Pablo.

How to Prepare for Death

Don't judge this blogpost - it isn't morbid even if the title sounds so. 😅 But warning - it's really hard-hitting! 

For some context, I like to read books about death and mortality, and have written about this topic several times throughout the years.  Thinking about our own mortality makes us appreciate life more and gives us mental clarity about our priorities in life.  And I've always thought I have achieved some level of clarity already - until I randomly stumbled upon a book called "Preparation for Death: Prayers and Consolation for the Final Journey (Excerpts from St. Alphonsus Liguori)".

How I discovered this book was accidental.  One lunch break, I went to a Catholic bookstore looking for communion bread as someone asked me to buy some.  Unfortunately, communion bread was out of stock, but since I was in the bookstore already, I quickly scanned books on display and picked some to buy just on the basis of the titles.   The book "Preparation for Death" was one of the many books I bought. 

Days after, I have this 90+-year old neighbor who asked me for suggestions on what else to put in his bucket list. Thinking that he was probably bored, I asked him if he wanted to read some books so I could lend him, and he said yes.   At first I was thinking - should I include the book "Preparation for Death"? - as he or his wife might get offended why I am lending such book! 😅  In the end, I decided to include it but I had to deliver the books personally so I have a chance to explain why I have that kind of book, and again, it's because I am fascinated by the topic of death/mortality. 

Guess what? My 90+-year old neighbor read it right away, finished it so fast, and he liked it so much that he messaged me he is going to the bookstore to buy 10 copies to give away to friends! Wow...  

Finally, I got the chance to read the book this week and I wanted to share some key points, excerpts and realizations.  I hope these snippets would also allow you to reflect about your life and priorities:

Our most important duty on earth is to make sure we save our soul so we go to heaven and be with God when we die.  But we often overlook this especially when we're young as we think we'll live long enough. We get busy with life goals, career goals, financial goals, health goals...  Yes, some of us do have spiritual goals, but shamefully, it's just one of the areas in life.  And we typically do bare minimum on our spiritual goals (e.g. going to Mass every Sunday and holy days of obligation), thinking we could intensify our efforts in serving God when we retire and have more time.  The thing is, we could die anytime.   

If we're able to excel in doing projects or giving stellar performance in our day jobs, why shouldn't we exert focus and effort to save our souls more often?  If we're able to do comprehensive performance appraisals every year or undergo annual health check ups, why aren't we doing a regular assessment on how we are doing in the eyes of God? If we are able to set higher targets or higher standards every year, why do we keep on backsliding when it comes to sinning?  Why aren't we regularly setting higher standards for our soul?

When we lose something like money on an investment, we get restless, lose sleep and exhaust efforts to figure out how to recover what we lost.  When we offend or hurt someone, we get bothered and anxious, and won't have peace of mind until our apology is accepted.   But when we sin and offend God, how come we are able to sleep normally even if it takes months and years before we confess? And we're able to even joke about it or laugh about it?  Insane, right?  What have we become??? 😢  We got everything so wrong. 😩  If we lose our soul, we lose everything. "For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? (Mt 16:26).  We need to keep on repeating this verse in our heads so we are reminded that our only duty on earth is to save our soul and be with God for eternity.

Oftentimes, we take time for granted.  When asked how are we spending our spare time, some reply "by killing time". That's time lost which could have been used for something worthwhile and good.  When you know you're dying, won't you beg God for another year, another month, or even another day or hour of extension?  Except that our death can come as a surprise - thus, we might not even get a chance to negotiate with God.  Any time not spent in some way for God is lost time.

When we sin or offend God for the sake of our own pleasure, we make pleasure our god.   It's a sign that we put more value to our pleasure over how much we value God. 😭

On the day we die, we shall lose all our earthly possessions - honors, riches, pleasures. What we can take with us to eternity are our acts of virtue and the good things which we have done during our lifetime.  To see the true value of earthly goods, we need to look at them from the perspective of our deathbed.  We won't be able to bring any of our material possessions in the afterlife.  Another great reminder from Jesus:  "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal." (Mt 6:20)

We need to pray in order to preserve our soul. When we are tempted to sin or when we are in a state of sin, we shouldn't stop praying, in fact, we need to pray even harder - to ask God's help so we don't get lost.  Jesus said: "Pray without ceasing." (1Thes 5:17). Because if we die with a mortal sin/state of sin, we don't have any excuse if God asks us - if you didn't have the strength to resist the temptation, why didn't you ask for My help?  If you fell into sin, why didn't you ask for My forgiveness? 😭  We have 24/7 access to God - there is no excuse not to talk to Him and ask Him for His help especially if we find ourselves in constant temptation or constant exposure to occasions of sin.

When we pray, we need to pray with (1) humility, (2) with confidence and trust in God, and (3) with perseverance. "So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." (Mk 11:24)  Sadly though, we oftentimes pray only for temporal favors like money, health and earthly goods. 😞  We should pray more to ask for spiritual graces like pardon and divine love.   

Reflect on the commandments of God and examine yourself on how you have lived according to the commandments.  Examine your motives to see if you are too attached to worldly things, to any particular person, to any special honor,  to your home, to your money...  Recall as fully as possible the sins you may have committed and go to confession in full sorrow.  Banish from your heart all sinful affections, all feelings of anger and hatred for others.

What we can do to keep ourselves in God's grace?  Pray often, go to Mass frequently and receive Holy Communion often, read the Bible and meditate on teachings, go to confession, make visits to the Blessed Sacrament, have a devotion to our Lady (ask for her help to pray for us!), examine our conscience daily and read spiritual books, among others.

When we come to serve God, prepare for more testing as enemies will intensify efforts - they will try harder to make us fail.  Saint Paul says that "our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places." (Eph 6:12)

We need to avoid occasions of sin - people, places, things - that cause us to sin.  The devil is scheming when it comes to tempting good people - he doesn't use a chain to bind a person right away. He will use first a thread, a single hair, then a cord, then finally a chain to drag a person to sin (especially in committing sins against purity). Thus, we need to be more conscious in avoiding all occasions to sin (even the smallest ones that appear to be harmless on the surface).

Look more often and look long at the Crucifix.  When saints pondered the death of Christ, they had little difficulty in giving up everything they owned, their pleasures, their families, and even their lives.

In summary - we were not put on earth to enjoy, pursue self-gratification, make money, grow rich, accumulate assets, become powerful, reward ourselves... We are here to become the best souls that we can be (and help other souls too!) so many souls will be with God in heaven after this transitory stage on earth.  So why are we more concerned about earthly goals and things, instead of our final destiny?  Why are we prioritizing and spending more time crossing off worldly goals, leaving little or no time for our spiritual life?  We carve out time for work to earn, spend time with our families and friends, and pursue goals and accomplishments, but guess what?  At the hour of our death, no amount of wealth or accomplishments or power can save our souls, and no amount of prayers by our family and friends can help deliver us from hell if our soul is condemned. 😭  Yes, God is all merciful, but again - what if we won't have the chance to ask for His forgiveness when death unexpectedly arrives?  It's all up to us now.  The great news is - we still have the chance to correct our ways while we're still alive.  Help us to be good souls, God. 🙏 🙏

What Plants to Grow in your Garden & Using Copper Wire for Plant Growth

Like in every aspect of life, everything we do or acquire has to have a purpose, otherwise, it will be a waste of time and effort, and for stuff, a waste of space that could have been free space or could have been for better use. 

I used to mindlessly acquire ornamental plants for our garden until I realized that they equally occupy space and require the same amount of effort of watering & care. And so because of the limited space in our garden, I need to be more selective and purposeful. 😅

In choosing what plants to grow in your garden, just ask yourself - what's your purpose? In my case, I've identified 3 primary purposes:

(1) flowers which I could bring to the cemetery

(2) fruit-bearing trees

(3) herbs or plants (with leaves that are edible 😆 or that can be used for tea). I've read that some commercially sold tea have high metal content due to production processes, so this year, I started brewing my own tea from leaves in our garden.

Most of our existing flowers in the garden are just orchids and late last year, we added chrysanthemums. Today, we added more flowers to our garden, so hopefully, we'll have a supply of flowers to bring to the cemetery for loved ones all year round.  (Let's see though which among these survive and thrive in the coming weeks or months. 😅)

Red Dahlia with white spots

Yellow Rose

Pink Calachuchi Bonsai

Red American Rose

White Bougainvillea Bonsai (it's thorn-less too!)

Mr & Mrs. Rose - White & Light Pink Rose in One Plant

Dark Pink Rose

Some new herbs we added to our garden:

Lavender

Oregano

Rosemary

Tarragon

Parsley plant

Gotu Kola Plant

 

Did you notice the coils of copper wire in the pots?  I recently came across some posts of gardeners sharing their experience on electroculture gardening.  If it's your first time to hear about electroculture, in gist, it's the use of copper wire for the flow of natural electromagnetic energy.  I believe in Nikola Tesla's Free Energy Theory which is based on the idea that the Earth has natural electrical charge (in the last 2 years, I've started grounding/walking barefoot on grass, soil or sand).

Copper wire has excellent electrical conductivity and when partially buried in soil, it creates a conductive pathway that allows the flow of natural electromagnetic energy.  This energy interacts with the plants’ root systems, facilitates the movement of ions in the soil, improves the plant’s ability to absorb elements such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, and also the ability to absorb and retain water, resulting to better nutrient absorption and enhanced growth and development.

Another benefit of copper wire is they repel pests effectively, making plants less susceptible to diseases and decreasing the incidence of plant pathogens.

I ordered some copper wire and a spool, and I made the wire spirals you see in the pots. 😊

Copper wire for plant growth

 

If you noticed too, all the new plants are in pots - we just realized that planting them in pots gives us the flexibility to move them around.  Most plants need the sun to thrive and if you carefully observe the sun's rays, it hits a different spot at different times of the year. Of course, I only noticed this after my first full year-round of getting morning sunlight (which I started about 4 years ago). 😅   With the plants in pots, we can easily move them to the perfect spot where they can enjoy the sun's rays as the sun moves throughout the year. 😊

P.S. I still keep and acquire non-flower and non-edible plants for indoor purposes.  We can't be as picky when it comes to indoor plants as we need to consider what would survive indoors where there's lack of natural light.  When it comes to choosing indoor plants, my key considerations are (1) high chance of survival, (2) low maintenance (e.g. taking them out for sunlight only once or twice a week), and ideally, (3) cleans air or produces the most oxygen.  It would be a great bonus if they look aesthetically nice. 😜

What does God want?

I recently read this book entitled "What does God want?" by Michael Heiser, a known Biblical scholar. 

Here are my key takeaways and realizations:

1. I've always thought that to be God-fearing is good, but after reading the book which cited a lot of historical events in the Bible when Man greatly sinned, what God wants is for us to be close to Him. And so, if our fear of God results to being distant from him, that's not what God wants. Because even if we keep on committing sins, God never ceases to love us.  God sent Christ  - long before we were born - to save us from sin.  

Romans 5:8

God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

What I think we need to fear though is Hell. We were given intellect and free will - we will be held accountable for our sins.   Thus, we should avoid sinning. But in times when we fail and still sin, we should be quick and sincere to ask forgiveness from God.  God wants us to keep returning to Him (instead of fearing Him) - even if we fail multiple times. 

2.  We sometimes joke that when we do good, we earn points in heaven.  But that's not how it works.  Here are some excerpts from the book:

 “Living a godly life isn’t about earning a place in heaven.  It’s not about putting God in our debt because of the spirituality points we’ve racked up.“ 

"Salvation - membership in God's family - cannot be earned.  It can only be received by faith (belief)." 

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

 

Did that sink in to you?  Salvation is never earned (no brownie points required). It is given by the grace of God - as long as we believe in Him. By virtue of our faith in God, we can receive salvation. Wow.   

3. God knows all our thoughts - even before we pray - so why do we even have to pray?  Praying is a way we show God that we rely on Him alone.  We believe He knows best.  And He is Wise - God’s answers may not always be what we want and He sometimes answers in unexpected ways, but if you truly reflect by connecting the dots and looking in hindsight, His ways are always for a good reason.  Important reminder - even when Christ prayed to God, He also didn't get the easiest solution (e.g. dying on the Cross) as He completely deferred to God's Will and completely put His trust in God - Thy will be done.

4. Our prayers need not always be self-focused. In the Bible, even in ancient times, a lot of prayers are aimed at blessing others or asking God’s mercy upon others. 

5. Fasting means to abstain from something - it doesn’t have to be necessarily fasting from food.  Fasting can be from anything or any activity that distracts us from praying or being with God e.g. phone, leisure activity.   Fasting is a spiritual practice designed to help us focus on prayer.  For example, if we’re fasting from food for spiritual reasons (not health reasons), when we’re hungry, we should be reminded to pray.  

However, if fasting from food is practiced for health purposes (not spiritual reasons), we can fast from other pre-identified distractions.  Fasting will force us to detach ourselves from worldly things, think about what really matters in life,  carve out time for God and bring our minds back to God and pray. 

6. Finally, what's the answer to the question -  What does God want?  

In the Bible, Man has turned away from God so many times - starting from Adam & Eve when they disobeyed God, the wickedness during Noah’s time, Tower of Babel … but every time, God never gave up on Man.    What does God want?  He wants us.  He wants us to live like Christ, to imitate Him.  

1 Peter 2:20-23
For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?  But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.  For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.  He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in His mouth. When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.

The thing is - the culture promoted in modern times is to live life to gratify our own happiness. Live for the "now".  It's all about pleasure and self-gratification... and chasing after worldly life goals.  We need to go back to God and what really matters.  

 1 John 2:15-17
Do not love the world or the things in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life - is not from the Father but is from the world.  And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 

What really matters?  A life wherein we practice Christ's teachings.  And hopefully by living Christ's teachings, we are able to inspire/influence people to also live good lives so we can bring more people closer to God.  

This is very tough mission given all our sins and imperfections, but we have to remember too that we were created in the image of God and God is in us.  It doesn't matter if we oftentimes fail and backslide because if we do, it doesn't surprise God as He knows all our weaknesses and shortcomings.  What He wants is for us to keep on returning to Him when we sin. 

And even if we find ourselves succumbing to the same sin (so guilty of this that my confession is like a template! 😭), we have to continue praying to Him and asking for His help.  We should not allow fear or shame take over us or let the feeling of being unworthy to creep in - that's the work of the evil one.  Even when we are in a state of sin, we should not stop praying to God - it is in fact when we need God the most.  There are a lot of stories in the Bible where God forgave mercifully (whom by human standards may seem unforgivable) - among many, think about the Parable of the Prodigal Son, The Lost Sheep and in the Old Testament, the story of King David. King David committed adultery, arranged a murder, and was a lawbreaker, but he never wavered his belief in God nor worshipped any other one, and so God was merciful to him.  There is no such thing as unforgivable in the eyes of God.

The most important thing is we should continue praying to God - at all times, no matter what - because God wants us. He wants us to be part of His Family. There is no excuse why we should be away from Him. God is ready to accept us and forgive us any time and every time.

Recipe: Natural Antibiotic

Image by PDPics from Pixabay

If you want to try natural foods that help heal the body, here’s a recipe I came across online and helped me when I had sore throat, cough and light fever last year.  But you need to prepare and stock a jar in your cupboard since it takes 4 weeks to ferment it.

It’s made from regular foods we eat. ☺️  Below is the recipe.

****** 

Natural Antibiotic

Ingredients

1 quart size of glass jar

Juice if 2 lemons

1/4 cup garlic, chopped

2 jalapeno peppers, sliced

1/2 cup onions, sliced

1/2 cup horseradish root, peeled & diced

1 cup ginger root, peeled & diced

Raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar

Instructions:

1. Put lemon juice in jar
2. Add 1/4 cup chopped garlic
3. Add 2 chopped jalapeno peppers
4. Add lemon juice
5. Add 1/2 cup chopped onions
6. Add 1/2 cup diced horseradish
7. Add peeled and chopped ginger
8. Pour apple cider vinegar, covering all ingredients inside the jar
9. Add honey to taste
10. If the cap of your jar is metal, put a piece of wax paper, cloth or clingwrap in between cap and bottle to protect metal from corroding.
11. Put in cool dark place and let it sit for 4 weeks

After 4 weeks:

Take it out and use a sieve to strain it (since it has lemon juice, better to use a non-metal sieve). Though personally, I don’t strain it anymore and just scoop from the jar - just make sure to use a plastic or wooden spoon because there’s lemon juice.  Using a metal spoon makes lemon acidic.  

How to take it:

• You can take 1 tbsp or dilute it in water or add it to tea.  You can also add honey if you want.  With honey, please don't use a metal spoon as metal kills the enzymes. Use a plastic or wooden spoon.
• When you're feeling under the weather, or your immune system is low, or you're sick/fighting an infection, take it 3x a day or every 3 to 4 hours. 
• You may also take 1 tbsp daily for maintenance - remember it's just made from regular foods we eat everyday.  

2023: My Year in Retrospect

Image by Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay

It's been a couple of years since I last blogged.  Sadly, I lost the person closest to my heart and a lot of my regular routines got disrupted as I adapted to the new reality. 🥲  It’s always sad to lose a loved one, but the gratitude for having had the chance to experience life with someone who has deeply touched our lives and shaped us should precede any sorrow.  Admittedly though, our sorrow is often due to selfish reasons since we miss their physical presence.  

But though they may not be physically present with us, they strongly remain in us and help serve as our moral compass.  They are like an additional layer in our conscience - they remind us of the right values every time we are faced with difficult choices to make.  Hopefully, we are able to do the right things (so they don’t turn in their grave).😅  

Anyway over the last year, I’ve started picking up the pieces and reshaping my routines, so here’s going back to my usual Year in Retrospect.

Background: I started doing this "year in retrospect" exercise in the year 2015. Why? Because at the end of each year, we tend to rant that a year has passed by so quickly. But if you look back and reflect, surely, you must have done something throughout the year.  Now whether you consider these activities productive, good, fun or meaningful is another thing. But for me, that's entirely up to you - your own rules, your own metrics, your own definition of enjoyment and your own criteria of what's worth your time with the 365 days we've been given in a year. :)  As my motto goes - life is never too short if we live it well. :)

Here's my 2023 in retrospect (and in random order):

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Discerning Mindset.  Don’t believe everything you read online - regardless from whom the info comes from. Always do your own research (preferably checking out 2 sides of the coin), reflect if there’s any underlying motivation (e.g. is there a party who gets an unfair advantage), and assess if there’s something off about it (e.g. why are options being limited and pushed when there are other equally sound solutions). Question everything.  Think for yourself. And trust your instinct.  

Unlearning some Health principles.  After reading some books, online articles and online comments on various posts, here’s what I embraced:

• Good fat is healthy, the real culprits are sugar and seed oils. I still do eat some carbs when it cannot be avoided (e.g. when it is served or given) or when I just miss some carbs (like ramen! I am only human. Haha…). But at least, I am now more conscious of my carb consumption.  

• Intermittent fasting (IF).  If you know me (and I probably mentioned this a lot in old posts) - I don’t like to get hungry, that’s why Good Friday is my most dreaded day because it’s fasting day. Skipping a meal or getting hungry is really a sacrifice for me.  This is so embarrassing (especially to God) - like on Ash Wednesday or Good Friday, though I would fast the whole day, I usually wait at the strike of midnight to feast.  This somehow defeats the purpose of fasting because it’s just delayed gratification. 🙊 Anyway, when I was researching about IF, I read a lot of comments that when they removed carbs in their diet, they never experienced hunger pangs and they even had clarity of mind.  So I tried it - and guess what, it is true! I was super amazed. No growling sounds coming from my tummy too. So now, I rarely have breakfast unless it cannot be avoided (e.g. breakfast meetups because it’s much more enjoyable if you all eat).  For a 24-hour fast, I can do it too if I eat at least 400grams to 500 grams of meat! Haha.. 😅 Given that fasting is no longer a sacrifice for me, I had moved on to harder sacrifices.  Btw, fasting is mentioned about 77x in the Bible - in both the Old and New Testaments (though the word “fasting” has been removed in newer versions of the Bible). 

• When you’re sick, address the root cause e.g. high in blood sugar? Cut carb consumption.  Use logic to fix your body.  Don’t just blindly take medicines.  Find a doctor that would help you address the root cause - the goal should be to get you off medication. If your doctor reassures you that there’s no need to worry because there are meds you can take, it’s time to consider changing your doctor. 

• Going back to healing properties of God-given food. Though some medicines help relieve symptoms, the downside is there are always side effects too.  Medicines can treat the target disease, but it could also hit or disrupt another organ or part of the body (e.g. antibiotics disrupt gut health).  If we just properly take care of our body - it is self-healing.   I’ve bookmarked a lot of recipes but so far, one that I tried and is effective (when I had sore throat, cold and light fever) is a recipe for natural antibiotic.  Nothing to lose since ingredients are all natural foods (lemon juice, garlic, onions, jalapeno peppers, ginger, horseradish root, apple cider vinegar and honey - ferment it for 4 weeks). To check out the recipe, click here.   

New heathy habits I adopted.

• Enjoying morning sun  - at least 30 minutes a day☀️ (and I don’t put any sunblock lotion anymore)

Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay

• Walking barefoot (on grass or sand) 🦶👣 - though I can only do this during the weekends outside the city since there are limitations to do it in city parks.  Lucky are those who have gardens or live by the beach or by the mountains.  You have easy access to the healing properties of grounding.

• Spend time more outdoors.☀️  When I work remotely and I don’t have virtual meetings, I try do it in cafes al fresco where I enjoy natural light and fresh air. When I am home in the province, I set up my WFH station in my mom’s garden and go barefoot.   

• No more fruit shakes as it can cause spike in blood sugar -  it’s always best to consume them as whole fruit from what I read. But there are still some fresh fruit juice I can still enjoy (that require a blender) - lemon juice, calamansi juice and fresh coconut juice. :)

• Walking daily in the park.  🌴🌳🌴🌳I actually have a treadmill which I got during the pandemic, but nothing beats walking in the park surrounded by beautiful big trees and plants, and oxygen-rich.

Getting out of my comfort zone.  

• 

  Image by 3888952 from Pixabay

  When I like something, let’s say a restaurant or dish, I tend to just keep on going there and ordering the same dish.  So something I did differently this year (inspired by a friend who dined in almost all the restaurants in our area), I explored new restaurants, and for the old restaurants I frequented, I ordered new dishes and guess what? I discovered new favorites!  

• I was so used to just walking to my office for more than a decade and only drove during weekends. Because of this and also due to sneaky traffic enforcers around the metro, I don’t like to drive outside the places I am familiar with.  But last year, I started to drive to unfamiliar places since I had to go to some wakes and thankfully, I survived (prayed non-stop too in the car! Haha…). So now, I explore different routes and try to remember them so I don’t get too dependent on Waze.  Pre-GPS, hats off to drivers around the metro - they knew how to get around including the side streets. Amazing brainpower.  Which makes us realize - technology, though very convenient, has made our brains weaker.     

Travels.  I haven’t traveled overseas yet since the pandemic. But slowly, last year, I opened myself to local trips.  Went to Boracay and Davao with friends.  It’s been more than 3 years  that I haven’t been to one I realized how I missed the beach.   I’ve always enjoyed and feel energized when I am in the beach - even just walking along the shore, or sitting on the sand and enjoying the sea breeze.

Musicals. It’s my first time to go back to watching musicals too since the pandemic.  I was able to catch Tick, Tick, Boom, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Bawat Bonggang Buhay and Hamilton.
  
My new repertoire of prayers.  The Holy Rosary, then prayer for the poor souls, and several Memorares for all the people and petitions I promised to pray and for those who have pressing needs but don’t have anyone to help them pray.  The Memorare, when said 9 times straight, is also considered an expedited novena. 🙏

That's about it for my 2023 highlights - my own metrics, my own definition of enjoyment and my own criteria of what's worth my time in the 365 days of 2023.

Happy new year!