Author: Rochkirstin Santos-Sioco

Months ago, as I was browsing through an old magazine waiting to be donated to some charity, I’ve read a one-page advertisement that says we should take time to detox. I think it was in a form of a reminder from some tea company, health supplement supplier or spa. But anyway, the thing is that we should not only detoxify and cleanse ourselves from the physical aspects, but also the emotional and psychological facets of our being.

What gives? Let’s face it. We all get stuck in ruts from time to time. We get off track and lose sight of the life we meant to live. I know I’m probably not the only one who has wished that I could find a reset button for life.

As one of the main purpose of this blog is to touch on this “button,” here are things which can make us reflect and help us start out the next year anew. You can maybe listen to some poignant music while reading, or bookmark this so that you can “detox” once in a while.

Think of your favorite smell, your favorite food, movie, book, song… and then relive them.
Think of your happy childhood memories, then recreate them.
Think of your funny photos and let joy alter your face.

Think about the people who remembered your birthday, your occasions and events.
Think about the people who remembered you just because.
Think about the people who are still there with you and those who are not.
Think about the people you’ve been meaning to talk to, and talk to them.
Think about the people you love the most, and tell them.
Think about your family, and appreciate them.

Think about the things that lie in the back of your mind, and place them in front of your eyes.
Think of all your accomplishments and smile.
Think of all the mind blowing things you’re capable of, and blow minds.
Think of all the places and people you want to see, and make sure you see them before you leave the world.

Think about the mistakes you did and learn and the ones you evaded, and be proud.
Think about your insecurities, then drop it.
Think about the things you like that nobody else likes and feel special.
Think about the weird things you do, then embrace them.
Think about yourself, and see you through the eyes of someone who loves you.

Think of all your recollections and realize that you’re the only one that has them.
Think of your bottomless worries and remember it could have been worse.
Think of your dreams and let them escape imagination.
Think of your life then believe that everything happens for a reason.

Think that the only thing standing between you and what you want, is you.
Think of all the things that make you feel beautiful, and then do them.
Think of all the people who once hurt you, and forgive them
Think of who you were, who you are now. Then forgive yourself.

We’re alive today for a reason. The least we can do? Think BIG, act BIGGER.

My name is Roch, and I am rich—but money is not that abundant to me as I wish. With this, my inner self says, “Brace up! Don’t you worry. You can turn it the other way around, in time.” This I know of. This I’m sure of. In the mean time, I value my richness in life’s every other aspect and live by these “secrets”:

First, I’ve learned that I should understand more the importance of time. Nowadays, so many people want to amass wealth in the shortest time possible. Ever noticed how long the lines are when the lotto jackpot runs into several millions?

Yes, I also took my chance and drew numbers for the last lotto run with the take-home prize of 741 pesos. There are employees like me who want to get the juiciest positions right away. In parallel, there are merchandisers who sell at outrageous mark-ups, hoping to make a killing with just one sale.

But becoming wealthy doesn’t work that way. So many game winners are now bankrupt after indiscriminately throwing away their winnings through unwise spending. Employees who keep on dreaming about getting the highest positions right away don’t guarantee instant success. And other businesses have shrunk or closed down because the prices of their wares or services were too steep.

As my mother has once advised, it takes time to earn money, and it also takes time to make that money to grow. Before, I had a really strong inclination to rush things up: while I was in grade school, I was too envious of students who were in high school; come my high school years, I was too excited to enter college; in college, I was too apprehensive to land my first job right after graduation. Mom told me to take things one step at a time and just enjoy the now.

Time can be a powerful tool. The younger we are, the more opportunities it can bring for us to build wealth. The less time we have, the less likely it would be to build any significant wealth–but still, we can!

I’m naturally a patient person, and I should even more be patient, as mentors say if we can be patient enough to work hard first and scrimp around for the first years of our lives, we would be amazed at the amount of wealth we would have at the end.

The wealth I’m pertaining here is in the form of monetary. But in life as we know it, being rich isn’t all about money. I am guilty of thinking otherwise sometimes, and I confess that I have to implant somewhere in my brain the thought “Rich in the inside and beautiful in the inside are the things that we should pursue.”

How do I get there? As I have read books on how to become successful, I noticed one thing: all these authors suggest that we should set clear goals. This, by the way, is the second secret.

During the middle of this year, I have started writing my goals–for both short and long terms. Short-range goals span for a period of a year; long-range goals extend to three to five years. What are my major goals in life? I’ll discuss them separately in another blog post.

Anyway, I’ve saved my goals (and steps or action plans to achieve them) on a tracking sheet in Excel. The books said that while we may have to take life as it happens, we should also try to make it happen the way we wish to take it. In other words, we must know what we want to happen so we have to have goals—solid ones!

Thirdly, we should learn to accept failure—successfully. Oh God, I know this is hard.

Of course, I don’t want to fail. I think nobody does! This is because human nature tells us to strive for success, but it is also common that people who work diligently to become financially stable and successful fail along the way. Again, from the books I’ve read, those people who made it on top all have the same answer on how they made it: they made their failures a learning experience.

To quote Thomas Watson, founder of IBM, “If you want to be successful faster, you must double your rate of failure.” He adds, “Success lies on the far side of failure.”That’s because failure is what actually makes us stronger, much more resilient and much more driven. Hence, we should not fear failure. It will come no matter how safely we chart our course, and it’s facing these failures that we can increase our courage and boldness for what comes next. And hence, this became my daily mantra ever since the start of the year: “Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”~ Winston Churchill

I made it a habit to do the things I fear, like presenting in front of a large audience, becoming more sociable, laughing louder, going to places I’ve never been, learning how to drive a car, and the list goes on. Eventually, I’ve reached the point where I’m not afraid of doing them anymore. I’ll be continuing this habit on the coming years ahead. The golden lesson? Every failure eventually becomes a stepping stone to success.

This bridges us to the fourth secret, which is to develop winning attitudes and habits. I have just been reminded by Louie about this over the weekend. To persist in doing something we want to achieve, we have to develop attitudes, habits, skills, traits and other personality characteristics which can help us become happier and more successful. Examples are: being determined, goal-oriented, self-motivated, organized, resourceful and most of all, positive.

The fifth secret is the most important: develop faith. I’d like to share the e-mail signature of Gela Velasco, my former The LaSallian-Menagerie editor, which I have memorized (because of the hundreds of times I’ve seen her messages) and have shared with many of my friends already: “Faith is a floor. If you don’t work at making it for yourself, you have nothing to walk on (Mirror Mirror, p. 75).”

Faith means believing in something or someone that we don’t necessarily sense but feel and know is true. As all great accomplishments require a reservoir of faith, if we believe in ourselves and our capacity to become rich and successful in our endeavors, this kind of faith will propel us to a heightened sense of greatness.

I’m lucky to have supportive friends. They are the ones who remind me to believe in myself. Whenever I feel down, they cheer me up saying that they have faith in me and my abilities to overcome the challenges upfront.

The bottom line is: as the greatest truth, money should not be the end itself, but the means to a greater end. Money will never buy us happiness. It should be used not to make us happy but others—first and foremost—our family.

The Golden Rule? “If you want to get everything you want in life, you have to help others enough to get what they want.” The more you give, the more you receive.

I’ve long realized that throughout my 21 years of existence, I always am the one who gives and gives and gives and gives… hopefully someday, I can be the other end who receives. But if ever this day won’t ever happen, I would be okay—because I’m rich—and happy with what I give.

I have long been an editor of newsletter articles and some journals, writing and rewriting manuscripts—from school to now, the corporate realm. Through this experience, I must say that editing requires the strange ability to stand in the place of the readers and the author simultaneously. As an editor, I must understand what the author intends to say without losing track of not just what one individual reader will take away.

So, every time I read a piece, whether it be a story or a journal article, I make sure that the piece will come across to readers with varying experiences and levels of understanding. The outsider’s perspective shows them the weaknesses in the piece, while the insider’s perspective allows them to make suggestions for improvement that are consistent with the author’s intent.

Now is the time, I strongly think and feel, that I should edit my life. No, I can’t rewind what has already happened nor can I turn back the hands of time. What I mean edit is change my perspective on how I view things.

Way back then, people were commending me for innocence. They were much inspired by my optimism. But at the same time, they were also the little devils beside my left ear telling me to quickly open my eyes and see reality.

To me, it’s better to think positive thoughts like those people who believe in immortality on earth than to wallow in negativity. But they say we should be realistic enough to acknowledge that in our attempt to deliver on our commitments, we face huge odds, or realize that equal opportunity does not mean and should never produce equal achievement, painful as this may be to accept personally.

So after college, as I became more exposed to “the real world” where what they call reality is housed, my mind was flawed with skepticism and snippets of pessimism. I saw the other bend in life. Not all things were seen with rose-colored glasses—anymore.

After more than one year of having this “insane acuity,” I should go back to being more of an optimist—instead of a worrywart. I have realized: If you always look on the dark side, just like yourself, no one else, is going to care. Say to yourself, it’s going to get better and with these words, you’ll move right along. When you stay on top of it all, how can you not, become strong?

Valuing simplicity over unnecessary complexity, I’m a minimalist by nature (thus the site layout, colors and design), and I embrace minimalism as a lifestyle. But there are certain objects difficult to let go of. How will I get rid of things that are excessively unimportant? First, I have to remain steadfast to my goals; second, streamline my commitments; and third, know myself more.

We are the dice in the board. God is the player of the game. He makes things around us move and respond, and we act on and witness happenings and learn lessons from them.

With this blog, I commit to sharing how I turn the negative to the positive on sorts of things.

I know there are people in the universe which possibly are in the same plane as I am now. Hello, All. There’s plenty of a world of good to be discovered.

Welcome and join me aboard.

Life is a board game. Let’s roll.