2024: My 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 2024 in retrospect (and in random order):

Personal project/s I was able to cross off my list:

Furniture restoration & upcycling of wooden furniture.  I had my Dad's antique table restored and some wooden furniture stripped off their varnish to show their natural colors. Though the various pieces' natural colors vary and look mismatched 😅, I like them - for me, they all look better).  I also had chair upholstery replaced by solihiya.  The chairs are now low maintenance (no need for seat covers or to vacuum) and they are now more fit for the tropical weather.  

Home repairs and repainting.  A lot of repairs were put on hold due to the pandemic so it was about time to do a one time, big time repair work and repainting.  It was challenging because I wasn’t physically present on weekdays but I just had to trust and detach myself from getting stressed if there's work that falls below my expectations.  And there were - like wrong paint color (haha…) but again, it’s okay since it’s one of the trade-offs since I wasn’t physically present to oversee it.  Took 3 months but all worth it.  But still haven’t finished unpacking/organizing all the stuff we've set aside during the repair works.

New heathy habits I adopted:

Drink loose leaf tea.  Typical tea bags are sprayed with plastic on the outside so it doesn’t rip or some bags are made from nylon.  When submerged in hot water, it releases microplastics.   Alternatives:  Dry own your leaves for tea or boil fresh leaves.

Fresh herbs from the garden

Butterfly Pea

Bring your own non-plastic water bottle.  When plastic bottles are exposed to the sun/heat, micro plastics from the bottle could mix with the water. Since you can never be certain on the handling and storage of water and beverage bottles sold in commercial establishments (if they were exposed to the sun or heat when they got transported from factory to distributors to retailers), just bring water from home in your own non-plastic bottle.

Avoid using paper straws. They are lined with substances too so paper would hold up.  When hot beverage passes through, lining melts and it’s mixed with your drink.

Bring your own bottle when buying coffee or a drink.  Paper cups are usually lined with wax or substance and when a hot beverage is poured, lining melts and is mixed with your drink.  In case I don’t have a bottle with me and end up buying, I just opt for a cold beverage and don’t use straw.

For clothes, opt for 100% cotton or pure linen.  When we sweat, synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon, acrylic, etc. releases microplastics.  When you shop, just double check the fabric tag to be sure it’s 100% cotton or pure linen, and not blended.

Travels:  

It’s my first year to go out of the country post-pandemic, but only to nearby destinations - Bangkok, Taiwan and Vietnam. It was my first time to visit Da Nang and Hoi An and I super loved Hoi An (I like the old city, great food and great for shopping too - you can have clothes, shoes and bags custom-made in 24 hours).  Was able to go to Boracay too - still the best beach destination for me and hope I can visit every year.

Taipei

Hoi An, Vietnam

Da Nang, Vietnam

Boracay

Spiritual Life (most important of all):

I was able to buy some antique Bibles and started reading the Bible.  In this day and age where there’s a lot of deception and gray areas promoted even among those in authority, the more we need to read the Bible - it’s the only source of truth.  Even if you get disappointed with Church leaders, continue going to Church.  Just remember - we don’t go to Church because of the leaders, we go to Church for God.  

New prayer I added to my daily routine - St. Bridget's Prayer Honoring the Wounds of Jesus.   My 90+ year old neighbor sent me a prayer book on St. Bridget’s prayers  meant to honor Jesus’ wounds.  He asked me to pray it daily for at least 1 year.  He has been praying it daily for more than 5 years.  There’s a list of promises if you’re able to complete it for 1 year, but I haven’t really gone through what the promises are.   Just to give honor to Jesus for what He has done for us is a huge blessing and grace already.

That's about it for my 2024 highlights - my own metrics, my own definition of enjoyment and my own criteria of what's worth my time in the 365 days of 2024.

Eye-opening truth: Sports, Movies, other Content are distractions from achieving your Intentions

Image by Nile from Pixabay

I came across video footages of a man sharing some eye-opening truths. 

Here's one about watching sports:

Does it make sense to be cheering for people who don't know you... in a game that doesn't matter ... while you can't pay your light bill, you can't educate your children the way you want and you can't take a family vacation?  But you are jumping up and down cheering for people you don't know...

It doesn't make sense for a broke person to watch a sports game - how can you watch someone win when you're losing? Unless you are studying how to win.  And then you're delusional to call all those people on that team 'your' team... They might be your team, but you ain't 'their' team... 

You're broke and watch somebody play get paid for playing a game... You are broke and trying to figure out how to pay your life bill... but you're getting excited because your team won?  No, you are making your team lose because you're real team is your family.

And here's one about about watching movies:

You're broke and you're watching a movie.. you are watching people who are rich pretend to be people who don't exist... to distract you from intention in your life... from making your family's life better for generations... You're watching fake people live fake lives to create real feelings in you that anesthetize you from the fact that your life isn't working.  

Spot on, right?

And you can easily replace sports and movies with other content or activities like streaming, shows, social media posts, etc.  - anything that distracts you or keeps you away from the things that you are supposed to do in your life with utmost priority.  He advocates being hyper-focused on intentions, instead of distractions.

I tried to research who the man is and his name is Myron Golden.  Interesting nuggets of wisdom.  And he did say that when you can afford to (e.g. you're not broke anymore), you can watch and do these activities if you want to. 

But I was thinking - even if you are not broke, it would be great to continue pursuing purposeful activities and being intentional (most of the time... and with occasional bouts of spontaneity).  Case in point - for more than a year now, I've deactivated my Netflix account.  Since then, I had more time to pray and to go to Holy Mass on ordinary days (I am work in progress .. still a long way to go, but God is patient!), to reflect, to connect with others, to walk in the park, to listen to podcasts about topics I want to learn about, and to cross off personal tasks that have been on my list for a long while, among many other things.  

When you allow distractions to consume much time in your life -  that is real time taken away from your life that you will never gain back.  A movie could easily take away 2 to 3 precious hours, and doing a tv series marathon could easily take away 12 to 24 precious hours (or even more) from your life which you would never be able to recover - no matter what.  Been there, done that.   

More than a decade ago,  I played a virtual game - spent hours virtually planting crops and harvesting.  Real time spent but no real vegetables & fruits to harvest.  Isn't that ridiculous?   And to think it is not even hard or expensive to plant (e.g. herbs).   Of course, while I was into the game, I didn't realize how ridiculous it was.  To borrow the term by Golden, I was anesthetized!  Why not spend time planting real plants so you'll have something real to harvest and eat? If you're curious what jolted me to wake up, here's my old blogpost.  

Just to reiterate one final time - time wasted is permanent loss.  Unlike lost money which you can possibly gain back with effort, or health which, with proper discipline & care, could be recoverable,  time is the only form of wealth that can never be regained.

Viewing Challenges as Blessings

Here's a beautiful quote from St. Pio of Pietrelcina:

"Blessed is the crisis that made you grow, 

the fall that made you gaze up to Heaven,

the problem that you made you look for God."

In fact if you have the habit of reflecting about life, you'll realize that all the hurdles that happened in the past (no matter how bad they seem to be), all happened for a good reason. :)

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. 😜