misskarizzaapril

[misskarizzaapril]

Finding happiness

What makes you happy?

A question that’s either hard or easy to answer. Let me cite three things that makes me happy. First is family. Whenever I am around with my family and all of them is well and healthy, I am happy. I am not usually with my whole family since we live in separate houses due to work thus our get together is sometimes once a month only. We only do group video call from time to time to catch up. Happiness is connection.

Second is I am happy when I feel accomplished at work and getting recognized because appreciation increase my motivation to work. When I submitted memo’s and reports to my superiors, I feel delighted whenever they have minimal comments as compared to none because I believe that it’s better to have comments as it means that they carefully reviewed my work thus learning something new from them.

Lastly, when I am able to help others even in smallest ways. Through helping my colleague at work, teaching and sharing with them as well as giving foods or something to the street persons, I feel I did my work as a citizen of God thus making my heart full. As the famous quote from Norbert Harms, “the power of giving, is greater than the joy of receiving”.

As I watched Dr. Tony Fernando webinar regarding science of happiness, I realized something about the real meaning of it and its about that you cannot be happy always. As he said, “don’t expect that you are happy all the time”. Well, it is indeed true because usually what we see every day is hardship and faults of the people around us that makes us unhappy and angry. Whenever our expectations were not met, we freak out thus stress begins. When we are stressed, it affects our feelings towards other people especially people that we love. It is what is. It is the natural cycle of human being’s emotions I guess.

To be happy is to be content. I should not look on the glass half empty instead I should look on the side that it is half full wherein whatever my achievements are at this moment of my life is still an accomplishment. Before, I used to compare myself with others of my same age and it makes me sad especially when checking on their social media. I always have a wishful thinking that I hope I am like them or sometimes I want what they have, their convenient lives. Luckily, I already stopped thinking like that because it makes me down and wander why I can’t have that. I did detox from social media to focus on what I have and what I am grateful for. I downloaded a grateful app and it was so helpful to list all my thank you every day. And every time I read the statements, it makes me happy and content even in small things like I am thankful for someone because he brought us medicines and food for the day. I am thankful that I cooked our lunch as well as I am grateful because I slept 3 hours during the afternoon. I am thankful that I am still breathing and it means I have time to do more and something good. As the speaker said, its finding joy to little things as well as training our mind. I also accepted every circumstances coming in my life without judgment because I know God will not give us situations that we can’t handle. He will always keep us strong throughout. That’s the secret to happiness. Let go and let God.

[misskarizzaapril]

Integrality

Today is 02/02/2021 and I just got back in the office after a half month of isolation.

Last January 12, around 8 pm my mom was brought to the hospital in Cabanatuan City due to continuous vomiting and a terrible headache. I just got home around that time when my sister messaged me about what happened. My sister, who is a doctor, told me that we need to go to Cabanatuan City to take care of my mom because it was an emergency, and no one must take care of her in the hospital. She is already a senior citizen. So around 9 pm, we went there together with my fiancé. We got there around 1 am and my sister took care of her all night in the hospital. On the other hand, me and my fiancé went straight to the apartment in Cabanatuan City where my brother is currently staying with my mom. My brother has a seizure disorder, and he is considered a PWD, that is why he also needs to be monitored from time to time. We slept together with my brother in an air-conditioned room that night. The morning after, we still do not know what the diagnosis of my mom was, so we waited for the CT Scan results. When we saw the CT Scan, my sister and the doctor in the hospital advised us to transfer my mom to St. Luke’s Quezon City, which has an acute stroke unit, because they saw something in my mom’s head, a small hemorrhage, so we panicked because it might indicate an aneurysm. On that same day, my mom was brought by an ambulance to St. Luke’s, Quezon City. She was in the ambulance together with my sister. Since no one will take care of my brother, I decided to bring him with me to Paranaque where I was staying together with my uncle. My uncle is also a senior citizen with heart illness. My uncle is so kind for letting my brother stay in the house until my mother recovers from the hospital. During the night of January 13, around 10 pm, while we were waiting for my mother to be admitted in the hospital, my mom got tested for COVID-19, since it is the protocol of the hospital to get tested first before admitting, the news came that my mother got positive for COVID 19. Everyone was shocked, even the ambulance driver and the nurse from Cabanatuan City, because in the province she was never symptomatic, like she does not have fever, colds even cough. Everyone that she contacted for the last 48 hours needs to be quarantined for 14 days and to be monitored within that period if ever they will be symptomatic. We do not know what to do during those times, it all happened so fast, like everyone from our family got emotional. Until I realized that my brother who is living with my mom in the province, who I brought to my uncle’s house can also be positive. In the morning of January 14, my brother and I went to Makati Medical Center to take the swab test and we isolated ourselves in one room because we have no choice for the whole day. During the night of January 14, around 8 pm, we got the results. I got a negative result, and my brother got a positive result from COVID-19. I discussed the plans to my uncle on how we are going to do the isolation in his house however unfortunately he wants us out of the house immediately. Well, it is what it is. All I did was, to cry all night because I am tired of what was happening, and I do not know what to do since we have nowhere to go. I don’t want my mom to be stressed about the situation, so I sucked it all in at that point in time. I asked my friends if they knew an Airbnb where we can stay but as they said, it is hard to find an Airbnb now since my brother has COVID-19. It was 1 am already and I decided to message my mom because I really don’t know what to do next. Good thing my mom was very strong, and she decided that we can go back in Cabanatuan City and do the quarantine there. She said that many people will help us there in case of food supply, thus 6 am of January 15, I drove and head back to Cabanatuan City with my brother. When we came in the apartment, my brother started the isolation in one room. Me, on the other hand, listed all the plans and all the things we need, such as groceries, to be able to survive the quarantine. My mom is a Department Head in a Local Government Unit in Cabanatuan City, thus all her staffs helped us about the things that we need. They provided me PPE, food, and medicines. It was so touching. I appreciated them a lot since they were not scared of us, and even dedicated their time to helped us during those times. During the 14- day quarantine period, all I had to do is to feed my brother, do the laundry and clean the house. I was also doing work from home arrangement during that time and honestly, it was hard for me to do everything. I learned how to cook, how to clean my brother’s arinola so we could limit his actions when going out of the room (ex. taking a bath). From time to time, we do video call so that we’ll know what is happening to him inside the room. And good thing he was doing okay except that he has cough and colds.  Those were the only symptoms he had. My mom on the other hand was released from the St Luke’s last January 17 and continued her isolation in a hotel in Cabanatuan City. God is good since my mom recovered fast. After the quarantine period, all of us three got tested thru rapid test. Apparently, my mom and I got negative result however my brother was still positive. Since my mom got the negative result, she decided to go back in the house to help me take care of my brother. However, I am hesitant because she still might carry the virus since the test was not a swab test. The house has only two rooms, so my mom decided just to sleep in the sofa until I leave for work in Manila. Moving forward, I got swabbed last January 29 and got a negative result, so I came back to Manila, February 1. We are still waiting for the next rapid test of my brother and hopefully he will be alright then and we are fully recovered with this COVID situation.

So why did I tell the whole story? Based on my readings, Integral Human Development promotes the good of every person and the whole person. And with my experience, I have seen the goodness of each person who helped us with open arms during those times. And I think that is integrality, in order to be complete you need to do something for other people especially loved ones. I took the risk to take care of them without thinking that I might infected too, but due to God’s will, He did not let me have it. Also, due to the circumstances, we became an integral person. For those persons who shut down on us, we did not take it against them because we believe they are just protecting their selves and have deeper reasons behind it. I just leave it to God.

Also, as Pope Francis, 2017 said, IHD means “integrating individuality and community dimensions. The self and the community are not in competition with each other, but the self can mature only in the presence of authentic relationships, and the community is generative when its members are, together and individually. This is even more applicable to the family, which is the first cell of society and where we learn to live together”. I really agree on that and I believe through my experience, we together with my brother and mother, have been integrated to the community and without them we will not succeed in this COVID journey.

This pandemic has been very hard especially for those who got infected as well as for those who are not. By praying hard and trusting God, we should not lose hope. Keep the faith strong and everything will be ok in God’s time. Just wait and see God’s magic. We can survive this!

 Reference:

Pope Francis. (2017, April 4), Pope Francis: What is Integral Human Development? Catholicecology.

https://catholicecology.net/blog/pope-francis-what-integral-human-development

[misskarizzaapril]

Ergonomics in the workplace

Working in the office, sitting all the time while facing your laptop can create discomfort especially when you have a lot of deadlines and cannot stand even just to get some water. I am really guilty of this. In fact, I already have dextroscoliosis. For me, the discomfort is bearable that’s why I don’t take it seriously however I believe that I really need to take action so that it will not be that bad in the future. Good thing, we have a one session about ergonomics during my IHD class. We played Kahoot in the first part and I thought I knew the answer but I was wrong. The questions were an eye opener for me because after the session, I researched all the things, the chairs, tables, lighting needed on how will they meet ergonomics standard however upon checking, it was very expensive to have those kind of setup especially if the Company you are working for is saving costs. However, I think ergonomics is a good investment because poor ergonomics results to poor health. And if the employees have poor health, this will result to inefficiency at work thus affecting to reach the Company goals.

I have experienced working in the Netherlands and all of the people there were very concerned about health. Since I am working in Big 4 Auditing Firm, my clients were all internationally renowned. Their office is state of the art and all the equipment are ergonomically done. The tables are adjustable and you can work while standing. I was amazed that time which was already five years ago. I also remembered my manager who scolded the client because they just provide a monoblock chair for us. For him, it is not acceptable since this will affect the productivity, posture and the overall wellness of the employee.

When I come back in the Philippines, all is pretty simple. Usual chairs and tables. Well maybe because I am working in a local company not an international one that’s why ergonomics is not prioritized. The office style is an industrial one. You can see directly the roof since there are no ceilings placed after the roof. When it is raining, you can find leaking roofs I remember all my papers were wet. During sunny days, it was really hot since the air conditioner are not fully working. Those issues have already been raised in the administration department however they just provided a big electric fan per bay to beat the heat. The reason is that we are transferring to a new building that’s why they don’t want to invest more in the old office. What I did is to buy my own fan to be able to work comfortably. Well, until now, we have not yet in the new office due to the pandemic but I hope they are making good improvements in terms of ergonomics for us to be able to have a comfortable working environment.

Based from my experiences, both good and bad, I believe ergonomics is very important in an office setting. Employees can feel safe and eventually can increase the employee morale as well retention. When I am doing my job and I’m stressed due to that the roof leakage and all my papers were damaged, my work was affected because I will only focus on cleaning up the papers thus no output on that day. In order to resolve the shortcomings of our Company in terms of ergonomics, I just bought something for my posture and for the roof, I rest my case on that. I just prayed that it will not rain hard or else I will just use a container so that I will not be affected of the roof leakage. I believe that patience is not the ability to wait for something good to happen, but the ability to keep the good attitude while waiting. So I will just extend my patience and look forward for the ergonomically designed new office.

[misskarizzaapril]

Creativity

Creativity.

A word that I think I don’t have in my system.

Honestly, I can say that I am not a creative person. As much as I love to learn ART and be creative at some point, I think ART hates me. Well, I guess that’s the downside of a financial person. But from my perspective, it takes practice to learn something even we are not gifted with that talent. I bought paint by numbers DIY kits to start painting even in a simplest way however until now I haven’t opened it yet due to busy schedules but I really hope I can start that sooner.

As part of our IHD class, we have invited Ms. Ginny Cruz and she tackled about Creativity. At first, I thought she will discuss how to make the actual money like printing of the Philippine peso since she is working at BSP Museum but I was amused during the presentation because she discussed all the hidden gems and artwork in the BSP. It was fascinating. Also, I don’t know what is the relevance of creativity to our class until I realized that being creative is also part to the holistic development of a human being. Based on the slides she presented, I have noted that in the old ages, Filipino people has unconventional talent and very innovative which even in the previous era, it was evidently seen in their clothes and in their way of trading etc. This proves that Filipino culture is truly rich that’s why I believe many foreign countries want to colonize our country.

Being creative means you have a lot of imagination and wild ideas that needs to be transformed through art. As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the author of the book “Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention,” said “Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives … most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the results of creativity… [and] when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.” I agree and I believe creativity helps us to forget any problems we may have if we are completely engaged in something new and it makes our life more fulfilled. So what makes me fulfilled as of now is when I do cooking. I think cooking counts also to being creative. Why? For me, because I am engaged to it daily, and I expressed myself and put passion to follow the steps, mix ingredients and prepare an instagrammable flavorsome meal. Well, it has been a lot of hard work too and not that glamorous art, cutting ingredients all the time and yes washing the dishes after the food has been prepared. Every day I am looking forward on what to cook. Searching the internet, watching chefs youtube. The results are not at par to those chefs but I think the more I became comfortable with flavors, seasonings and food combinations, the more I am willing to find ways to make it better in a creative way. We have different taste buds but I think my home cooked meals is acceptable and good tasting as commented by my mom and sisters.

Moving forward, since I believe I have the talent in cooking, I would love to try baking as well. I think the creative mind in me will reflect in the shape of the breads and the cake designs. I am so excited to find time to do that aside from my pending painting kits. I hope I can do that this year. One of the goals this 2021. Finding our own creativity is not easy. We may have it all along but we still need to uncover it. The more knowledgeable and comfortable we are with our own area of interest, the easier to promote creativity.

[misskarizzaapril]

Financial 101

Financial Investment 101. Becoming rich while young. Adulting. Sustainability.

To some people, becoming financially rich is their goal in life. Whenever you ask a person around you on what they want to do, they will say “gusto kong yumaman”.  But the question is how can we make a lot of money? Through inheritance? By working so hard? Or maybe by gambling? Kidding aside, as an accountant, good investment is the key however due to the volatile movement of the economy, we can’t really know where and what is really a good investment nowadays.

Good thing, there is a financial aspect in the Integral Human Development flower that we were able to tackle through the help of our speaker. There has been a lot of investment vehicles out there waiting for us to invest on, however this needs careful analysis if you don’t want your money go to waste. I learned from the speaker that even in a young age, we can start immediately and even in small amount of money as long as we are consistently investing, we can earn. Our 1 peso today might be a 1,000 in a month if we invest in a high risk stock but we should also be prepared also for its downfall. Well that is how it goes during the normal days.

The downside? If we invest before the pandemic, certainly we are at a loss since most of the stock prices goes down. On the other hand, the good side is if we invest during pandemic, certainly we have a gain now due to that the economy is inch by inch rising again. That is the art of investing. Timing is the key but I believe that consistency is better so that even the stocks fluctuates, we can still offset the lows and highs movement of it.

Why do we want to be rich? Some will say, to sustain a living. Others will buy house and lot, cars, provide education for future family, to travel around the world. Many more reasons that will lead to a comfortable life. Many of us worked hard and put a lot of effort in order to be rich however the next question will be: what will you do when you are already rich? As they say, you can’t bring your money with you when you die. Yes, true, thus the speaker suggests that the money you earned can be put in a good cause such as raising a trust fund for the scholarship of your grandchildren and maybe great grandchildren. Good idea, right? To help the family’s future generations and ensure that they will have a good life in the future. A legacy to the family. Yes, I agree with the speaker however for me I think it is also best to donate the money to the poor so that they can also be experience the good life by sponsoring their education in the future and making them successful too. Also, if in time, I will have a lot of money, I am thinking of creating my own foundation then encourage my family to support it so that the money will be put into good use by the other people in need. Due to that, my material wellbeing in the IHD flower will bloom as well as my spiritual side thus when I met God in the future which is our end goal in life, I will not just say, I worked hard and became rich, build my own family and lived a comfortable life, but also shared my wealth to the poor families in need of support.  As the bible says in Matthew 19:21, Jesus tells a young man, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor and you will have a treasure in heaven”

[misskarizzaapril]

Spiritual guidance during pandemic

October 30,2020

 Fear. Anxiety. Uncertainty. Three words to summarize my thoughts and feelings about the COVID 19 pandemic. It has been already seven months since the lockdown in the Philippines has started to prevent the widely spread of the coronavirus. I, myself is afraid to go out since I might catch the virus and eventually will have drastic effects to my body that might lead to serious illness or death. I am anxious because I’m worried about my family’s safety especially to my senior citizen mother and disabled brother who are living in the province. As we go through this pandemic, even hugging our loved ones tends to be uncertain.

Hope. Faith. Love. As the bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, Three things will last forever: faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love.” Words to look up into during this pandemic. Our hope that this pandemic will end sooner and our everlasting faith in God that He will protect us no matter what and our love to each other that will result to solidarity in fighting this COVID 19 battle. This pandemic thought me how to be patient and wait for Gods plans and be more spiritual by praying the rosary every day wishing for everyone’s safety.

Life goes on. We need to move on even with this pandemic. We need to adjust to the new normal in order to survive and somehow enjoy life amidst pandemic. Although we can’t do now what we previously do such as traveling, family and spiritual gathering, we should always keep in mind that this will end in God’s time. We need to continue working and studying for our economy and also for our well-being. As part of my elective Integral Human Development in my MBA journey, we had a chance to listen from Brother Andy Simeon regarding spirituality during pandemic. He shared his experience on his Covid journey and how he managed the wake of his mother remotely because he can’t go to his mother’s wake due to his condition. Amidst his experience, I can see that he is still hopeful and all he can do is to trust God through prayers and reflection. I was inspired by his story because he came out strong through his experiences. At the end of the day, during quarantine, all we can turn to is God who is always there listening and watching us especially whenever we had life circumstances.

During this pandemic, I learned to prioritized doing essential things such as going to the malls to do groceries only unlike pre-pandemic shopping for clothes, shoes and other non-essentials.  Whenever I go to work now, I don’t do my make-up anymore since my face will be covered with masks and no one will see and judge how you look. After work, I go home directly as compared to eating out for dinner during pre-pandemic times. During these times, I came to realized that yes everything is temporary and the only temporary is change. What we used to do before could not be done again sooner that’s why we need to cherish each moments with our friends and family whenever we had the chance to be with them. Instead of always using my mobile phones whenever I am with them, I will bond with them and make happier moments with them. With the current pandemic, I learned to hold on to my faith to become stronger so that I can win this battle. Although it is very risky going outside and my work requires me to go the office daily, all I can do now is to pray so that He will protect me always. I guess that is what faith means, even there is an uncertainty in our life now, I still believe that God will calm the storm and will never forsake us.