5 Cornerstones That Made Me Dream High And Deep

Wherever we are right now in life is traceable to the decisions and actions we made in the past. Therefore, I am a unique embodiment of everything in the past. This got me thinking, why am I this person now and what were the things, big or small, that shaped me?

If you had the chance to read a couple of my entries here on this blog, you may recognize the suggestions of positivism in each of them. Perhaps you see a pattern of me trying (at times too hard) to show to you that there’s a better way – that positivity is just right at the corner. I’d like you to know that I am not the person I am today if it weren't for the cornerstones that I’m made of.

I’d say that I’m proud for these cornerstones for it made me see life differently. I believe that they saved me from my old self who is a depressive guy, waiting for the world to end while hoping for nothing. Don’t get me wrong. I am in no way saying that I’m perfect or better than any of you, I am just here to share how I reach such thoughts and how these thoughts enabled me to lay most of my insecurities and fears down consequently allowing me to dream higher and deeper. In short, this is an attempt for me to reach out and tell you why in the world I think like "this and that." If you’re interested, then read on.

PALS

This is a main turning point for me and I can easily admit that this cornerstone is the precursor why I prefer positive perspectives in life. PALS stands for Personal Awareness Leadership Seminar. You can say that it is about leadership, but what really made an impact on me is the personal awareness part of it. It opened my eyes to many things. In fact, if you join this seminar, you’d be surprised that almost everything I talk here on this blog is based from the things I learned from there.

In this seminar, you re-discover that you have infinite potential. It also teaches you that you are responsible for your life. Furthermore, it imparts very interesting ways on how to communicate with people emphasizing on the types of listening and handling difficult situations. Most of all, it helps you understand the “oneness” of the world. I’m confident to say that the lessons you learn from this seminar saves you half of a lifetime of learning if you were to learn them on your own. It’s a crash course to life.

Books

I am no book reader. The truth is it takes me ages to finish a book. However, I could never deny the importance of them. Self-help books are what keep me motivated. It refreshes my mind and it helps me stay in the right track. They’re great for references when faced with situations. They’re also very relatable.

I continuously read books that keep the dreamer in me. If I were to recommend books, I’d include the following: Rich Dad Poor Dad, Think and Grow Rich (where philosophies of PALS are based from), Psycho-cybernetics, and books from notable successful people like Dale Carnegie, Warren Buffet, Brian Tracy and so on. I have to admit, there are a lot of books but you can actually see a clear pattern from most of them. There’s this one message and that’s, “If they can do it, you can do it.“

IF

It’s already been proven that when you surround yourself with positive and supportive people, you get to become one as well. I never thought I’d find them in the Immanuel Fellowship group, a church that I belong with. These church friends of mine, although they may not know it, keep me motivated to do better things in life. You may not agree with me, but the church has a lot of positive things that can keep you going. From what I see it, it’s easy to form dreams just by being part of a group that has a mission to reach out and serve. I don’t want to be bias on this, but basically, you can have any group as long as they support you and your dreams, or at the very least, keep you a dreamer. It’s just that, you’ll find them mostly in such congregations who have a vision mission to reach out.

Immanuel is worth the mention since it’s a venue for me to continuously strive and become better just because I discovered a purpose other than myself. You’d realize that there are bigger things than us, and sometimes the bigger things keep us away from the boring, mundane, and destructive smaller issues, which by that I mean the dramas we think we have, the minor discomforts, and so on.

Ideas

I don’t know if my ideas come solely from the seminar or books, my unique experiences, my “we-are-infinite” way thinking, or the combination of all these. The point is my ideas are now different than what they were before. I discovered that one can meet tons of ideas when one looks at the big picture and think out of the box. I may be wrong, but I think if you have such a thought process, your ideas encompass a lot of things and not just anything restricted.

Formulating positive ideas and acknowledging them as my own is one aspect that I didn’t expect to be a cornerstone. What I know is that you are your thoughts. Thoughts form attitudes, attitudes form habits, and habits form “you” as seen by the world.

Vision and Expectations

Do you know about Pygmalion theory? If you do, then I’m actually setting high expectations for myself. If you don’t, then Pygmalion theory is just the theory that people act accordingly on what society expects from them. Basically, if the people around you expect you to become great, then you’re more likely to become one for you subconsciously try to meet those expectations. The sad part is when they don’t expect much from you.

Actually, I found a hack on this. You just need to set high expectations for yourself and act as a standalone source of expectations. This enabled me to have a clear vision what I will be 5 years from now or even 10 years from now. I can see a clear picture of myself. I know it can be crazy (even delusional) of me, but no, I’m just setting high expectations for I deserve the best even if it is just lies in my imagination. I know eventually that people will see these expectations I set for myself, thus inadvertently you dictate them what to expect from you. And there goes your Pygmalion theory hack.

As you noticed, I never included my formal education in the list. I think my formal years of study have not developed me much as the person I am now. It’s ironic to say that what I learned in college is not so helpful to me now. However, I would never forget the great mentors that contributed along the way. If I were to choose my own path, I’d rather had done self-study (or a more focused form of study) and learn from actual experiences and people who really made it. But it’s also important to note that we’re better off with no regrets. We don’t have to be too radical. It’s important to consider that each step, no matter how useless or long it may seem, is necessary for anyone to reach the now. Your past tenses are essentially what bring you to your present tenses.

After sharing all these cornerstones to you, I’d now like to ask you several questions. What do you think are the influences in your life that led you to think the way you think right now? What are the cornerstones of your life that built who you are right now? What will you do if no one stops you from becoming what you want? What will you do if you can be what you wanted 5 or 10 years from now? Will you still settle for less? I hope not and I hope you continuously strive and build a firm foundation. I bet my 25 centavo that it’s better to aim high. Therefore, I’m going to leave you with this, “Always dream higher than the sky and deeper than the ocean.”
(All photos used in this post copyright of Kevin Abad)

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7 Benefits Of Being Positive

It’s always easier to feel down and complain on how bad the world is. I don’t know what has gotten into us that we find it comfortable to blame others and the world for most of our miseries. I used to be like that. In fact, I was the worst of its kind. I don’t see opportunities, I hate my college course, I hate my parents for settling in middle-class, I wish they had a business setup already and I'll just inherit it, I hoped for the government to stop getting our taxes, they just put it in their pockets anyway, I hate Mondays and Sundays (Sundays just because the next day is Monday), and the list keeps going, longer, perhaps endless.

What I didn’t realize is that there’s no point in being negative and complaining all the things happening in my life. My parents will stay the same, my friends will not change, my course or job will stay the same, and so on. I discovered in a seminar back in 2010 that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is insanity (Einstein said so). I never think the same way again. I now question everything, especially things that I complained or think negatively about. I realized that they were all in a loop. In as much as I hate to admit it, negativity all started from me, others or the world has nothing to do with it. So, slowly, I decided to stop complaining, and see things on the brighter side, and be influenced by positive things.

To show you that I changed, that I’m striving to be better, I will share to you the benefits of being positive even if you may think astutely that I’m in one way or another a hypocrite or even a wannabe. The truth is, I can’t care enough. What matter is we try, and even better if we share. :-) (Yes I have to put a smiley to that).

1. You see the Big Picture

If you just focus on the small fry, the small troubles, and transient worries you have, then you will live miserably, if not just for a day, but days of your life. Being positive allows you to see the big picture. That there’s a greater picture than what you are seeing. Ask yourself, will these troubles, problems, and worries matter in the long run?

2. You realize you have endless possibilities

Being positive is opening the invisible doors around you. You see things in better perspectives. You see people in a beautifully unique way. Once you walk into those doors -- a light, a realization, will greet you with each revealing you a message: life is beautiful. The possibilities are endless.

3. Everything is easier

If you think it’s hard or impossible, then you are right. If you think it’s easier, you are right as well. See it’s all about mindset. It’s funny to reckon how simple things are. What you think is what you create.

4. You no longer get sick

I am no doctor or researcher, but I’m just going to point out something. You actually see things brighter now if you think positively. Even having a terminal disease may seem to be not-so-much-of-a burden or difficulty as compared to a person who is chiefly depressed or negative given that bad news. As a positive person, you see purpose on things. I know it’s cliché, but we live life looking for our purposes. A sickness may not be a sickness at all. I don’t think I made a good point of explaining this, but hopefully you get the appeal of it.

5. You enjoy the ride

Staying positive and bringing your own weather, which is an ever-bright sunny one, gets you through life like having an exciting ride. All the time anticipating better and greater things. Like a child opening gifts during Christmas, always looking forward for a surprise.

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Why You Need To Have These Positive Manifestos

Fake it till you make it. Law of attraction. Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find. I’m pretty sure you have heard all of these before. You might not believe in any of them. But there’s a tinge of truth seemingly hidden in its glory, which I can attest.

If you allow me, I want to share a bit of my experience. Let’s call it the power of desktop background. But you know what? Let’s start with the very root of all this or should I say the first time i chance upon the concept.

It all started from when I read a book back in high school. So that’s around seven years ago. The book is a story of a boy who wants to meet the guy who can turn metal to gold. (If you don't want to be spoiled about the book, stop reading this and read the book first. Don't care? Then go ahead.) It became an obsession for him. He left home, searched far and wide, traveled across seas, and went to the desert. He met a lot of people each bringing their unique lessons. After a long journey, he finally meets the guy who has such ability. However, it was not the point of it all, in fact the guy actually just told the boy that he already knew the answer, that he has the secret. Confused, he realized that the journey was a failure -- he didn’t know any secret or learned any skill, especially the one he hoped for, which is to turn metal into gold. Crestfallen, he went home, and there he found something remarkable, the treasure he had sought for was just at home, the point where he started -- all along it was indeed within him.

The connection

I don’t know if you could see a connection (or if I made a good job telling the story), but actually what I want to show is my view on how law of attraction works. It is mostly the genuine interest to seek for something greater, to ask for more, and ultimately, to know that you deserve the treasure you’ve been longing for.

I didn’t fully appreciate the book until the year 2011. This is where the desktop background comes in. I had a dream of buying my dream guitar and my first laptop with my own efforts and money. I started dreaming and when I had a vision of its probability, I fortified it by changing the desktop background of my windows pc back then. Then miracles happened.

I started with first placing my dream guitar as the background (the exact model and color). Few months later, I came up with the money and eagerly ordered it online from the US. Not bad? But I still can’t get enough and tested it with my dream laptop, a 15-inch MacBook pro. It was a bold move, but I made it. I came up with the amount to purchase the item in just three months. Call it a hyper-beast mode or extreme sacrifice but I made it, and I strongly believe that changing the desktop background played a big role in it. That’s law of attraction.

We need to be consistently reminded

You see, we just need to be reminded of what we want in life. I noticed that people tend to be forgetful. We make promises but we usually forget about them. That is why being constantly reminded and continuously fanning the flame make things into reality. I’m no expert in this, and I may be wrong, but this is my clearest picture on the law of attraction, of the fake it until you make it. And the big thing for anyone, is that anyone can apply it and receive abundance!

In connection to all that, this brings me to the cream of this post: the manifestos. I know I bored you with the long introduction, but I think it was necessary. So yes, a dear friend of mine shared these manifestos a few days back, and I just think of sharing the file to everyone reading this blog. I only picked the ones that apply to me, since the file contains various manifestos. I think this could help a lot of people out there. On my end, I think it could be a good addition to the many reminders I set for myself about what I really want to attract in this life. 

How to apply the manifestos?

How it works? Well, you got to read it everyday, preferably first thing in the morning. Think of it as taking vitamins. Actually, if you get the idea, you can create your own manifestos.

Believe me, it’s positivity at its max! Having these positive manifestos and practicing law of attraction are pretty much better than demanding and complaining. Positive reminders give hope. A hope for a better tomorrow, and that’s the best we can ask from our selves. 

Here’s the file that contains the positive manifestos in this dropbox link. If you don’t have a dropbox yet, then you should consider having one.

By the way, the book I talked about was The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo.  Thanks for reading!

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