My personal theme this year of the dog is mindfulness. Initially, I wanted it to be “loyalty” because dogs, hahaha. But then I felt that mindfulness was more apt because in this age of too much distractions, being mindful was becoming a challenge for many people. I settled for mindfulness because this year, I wanted to live more and achieve more. My goals are composed of the usual stuff (e.g. health, wealth, relationships, work, personal growth, etc.) but this time, I really wanna focus more on being mindful and living in the moment while working on reaching my goals.
Image Source: https://student.unsw.edu.au/mindfulness-and-meditation
I realized that as we grow older and wiser, we get more acquainted with our thoughts, emotions, and values. As we age, we tend to have a better understanding of the world and life in general. Perhaps, it’s the wisdom that we continue to gain and the experiences that we continue to have that allow us to see the bigger picture. As our intelligence improves, our ability to discern and go deeper beyond what’s on the surface becomes better as well.
I’m going to be 35 years old this 2018. Young but not too young. If I am to push thru my retirement age goal of 50, it means I’m only left with 15 years to earn a living. I believe this year is the perfect time for me to review my plans for the many roles I play in life (e.g. individual, wife, daughter, sister, friend, worker, etc.). But reviewing my plans and re-assessing everything about them require my full consciousness. It needs me to be mindful of each plan and how I would execute them. So that’s what I’m going to do.
I also want to be mindful of all the things that require my presence and attention and affect my well-being, such as:
What I Eat. I gained weight last year. From weighing 134 lbs. in January 2017, I’m now 148 lbs. heavy. Can you imagine? Arrrgggghhh. My love for rice (fried rice, to be exact) and anything carbs is the culprit. Or maybe, I’m just hooked on food. Whatever. All I know is that, I don’t wanna be like this anymore. I wanna be fit and healthy. I wanna get rid of my flabby arms, big tummy, and thunder thighs. This year is another opportunity to change, so change I will try hard to do. I better start with exercising regularly and disciplining myself when it comes to food.
What I Wear. When wearing clothes, I always choose comfort over style. While I appreciate a put-together look, I usually reserve it for special occasions or for when I’m in the mood to really dress up. When I gained weight last year, dressing up felt like a chore for me. Kasi naman yung mga damit na gusto kong isuot, maliit na sa akin. To solve this dilemma, I resorted to buying bigger clothes that fit which also translated to bigger shopping expenses. I knew it wasn’t the right way to address my weight gain issue, but last year, that was my band-aid solution. That’s why this 2018, I wanna be conscious when shopping for clothes. Aside from the fact that my closet is starting to get filled to the brim again, I need to be mindful of each peso I’d spend on clothes. I should also manage my weight instead of buying bigger clothes because if I won’t, the cycle will just go on and nothing good will come out of it.
How I Take Care of My Marriage. The hubby and I get along well. We spend so much time together everyday. We are fine and we seldom fight. We are your average married couple who are easy to please and know when to work hard and when to have fun. I actually don’t have to exert much effort in this area. I know some of you are aware of this already, but just to let the universe know — we plan to get pregnant this year. We’re trying harder now (sorry, TMI) and hopefully, God will answer our prayer soon.
How I Work. I get things done, but there are times when my laziness gets the better of me. I also tend to worry a lot when dealing with big tasks. I always imagine that something will go wrong or I’ll have a hard time getting this information from a person or making this agency respond to my work-related requests fast. But in fairness naman, hindi ako pumalpak ng bongga last year. Everything went well and although there had been some problems, I was able to handle them well and no damage was done. This year, I want to do better. I want to be more organized and lessen my laziness, if not totally remove it from my system. I also want to work more efficiently with my boss and my colleagues while keeping a good working relationship with them.
What I Talk About with People. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.” When with family and friends, it’s easy to discuss people. Aminin na natin yan, hahaha. I’m at this point where aside from talking about people, I want to talk about the more important things in life. I think it comes with age. As we grow older, trivial stuff don’t concern us that much. We are now more concerned about how to better our lives, how to improve our relationships, how to appreciate the little things, etc. That’s what I want to focus on this year. I want to talk more about how I could improve in the many important aspects of my life. I want to talk more about how I could help more people and causes with the limited resources I have. Which leads me to the next in my list which is…
How I Treat People. You know how we always hear from our parents that we should all be kind to everyone around us because we don’t know what they are going through? That is so true. While I’m generally kind (pag tulog at pag walang topak, hahaha), I feel that I should give more to others. I’ll do this by being more considerate and compassionate to other people, especially those who are in need. Lately, the hubby and I have been helping strangers financially without expecting anything in return. We just want to help. Period. The fulfillment we get each time is priceless. We want to continue helping people this year, as much as our budget permits us.
How I Take Care of Myself. Last year, I really wanted to pamper myself. I specifically wanted to get a full body massage and a full body scrub. I wasn’t able to do both. I just didn’t have the time. But you know what, thinking about it now, I did have the time. I just didn’t find time to do them. I also want to do a lot of things to take care of myself, physically and mentally. Like losing weight. Like getting a complete medical check up. Like getting a more comprehensive insurance. Like reading x number of books. Like watching x number of movies. Like traveling to a foreign country with the hubby. Like learning a new language. I hope I get to do most of them, if not all, this year. I owe it to myself. I know I do.
My Relationship with My Family. I’m proud to say that my relationship with my family is smooth-sailing. I get into a fight with my brother once in a while but mostly about money and it doesn’t last long. Madali lang kasi talaga ako ma-disappoint lalo na kapag wala ako nakikitang improvement sa finances nila ng isa ko pang kapatid. As their elder sibling, I’m just truly concerned about their future. If there is one thing I’d love to do more with my family this year, it would be to travel with them to new places. I also plan to date my parents more regularly because I want them to enjoy and have a good life while they are still physically able to do so.
My Relationship with God. I’m ashamed to say that I’m not a prayerful person. There are times when I pray at night and then I would fall asleep in the middle of it (waaaaaah, am I the only one?). Most of the time, I go to church because I have to and not because I want to. But I have faith in one powerful and ever-living God. I thank Him profusely and seek His grace and mercy every chance I get, which is wherever and whenever I feel like it. My relationship with God has always been there but I feel that I need to level up on it. I feel that I have to pray more and be serious and mindful in listening to His words and applying them to my life. This year is my chance to do just that.
There are more but the ones above are my primary concerns. I just hope 2018 will be kind to me and allow me to manage everything. I know that just like in the past years, I have to rise up to all the challenges life will throw my way without losing my sanity. Like, seriously. We all know naman mental health is very important. I won’t be able to function well if I’m depressed or having panic and anxiety attacks (this entails a separate discussion, but you get the point).Buti na nga lang, medyo tumataas na ang level of awareness ng lipunan natin tungkol sa mga mental disroders na yan.
Being mindful entails self-awareness, focus, and acceptance. It’s hard to be mindful when I do not have a clear perception of my personality (i.e. what I want and don’t want, my strengths and weaknesses, my motivations, and so on and so forth) and I’m easily distracted by external forces around me. It’s even harder to be mindful when I do not accept who I am and the people and events that molded me to what I have become today. I have to live my truth to become truly mindful of everything that concerns me. I know it’s going to be difficult to be mindful at all times but I’ll do my best. Mindfulness is my personal theme, after all, and I have an online reputation to uphold. So help me God.
May the good Lord grant all the desires of our hearts this 2018, friends! 🙂
2017 Personal Theme: Gratitude
2016 Personal Theme: Health + Wealth
May you choose happiness always,
“Mindfulness” is an effective and all-encompassing word. It was my theme a few years back. Which reminds me, wala pa pala akong theme/one word for this year.
Right! I think I read that post of yours before. 🙂
I love this post. I, too, gained more weight last year and I can’t seem to get the motivation to start losing the extra pounds. I love bread and rice too :).
Thank you, Kayni! Let’s lessen our bread and rice consumption na! 🙂