Week Three and Four: The art of discipline

I have been crazy busy again with assignments and preparation for my placement that I lost track of time (booo!). However, it has been positive as I was able to locate and secure accommodation for my upcoming placement and also got to see my parents over the weekend that just went by.

On the weekend that just gone by I sat in my parent's business meeting talk along with their friends whilst doing my assignment. Occasionally as I was listening to them and watching videos about people who have been successful in the business, I questioned myself on how they were able to achieve this? The stories I have seen and heard were amazing- even beyond realistic. However, for some reason, they were able to achieve their goals and their dreams. I began to observe that these people disciplined themselves. This then formed into positive habits which became their routine and they were successful. They achieved their dreams.

My main goal and aim this year is to finish my undergraduate degree in occupational therapy. My final year has been tough and it is flying by so quickly.
I have to finish my research project within the next two and a half weeks and then prepare for my upcoming final year  placement starting at the end of this month. How am I able to achieve this? Discipline. 

I have to admit that to discipline yourself is no easy task (even blogging every Sunday seems to be a difficult task). We make too many excuses such as ' I have no time' or 'I do not think I can do that' or we try to do something but then we are not consistent or we lose the motivation and quit. 

Just an advice for this week is that do not ever stop dreaming and discipline yourselves every day to achieve that dream. No one can stop you from achieving your personal goals and dreams but yourself.

1) If the dream seems too big, take small baby steps to achieve this. Personally, to achieve my dream of obtaining an undergraduate degree, I wake up every morning at 7am or 8am and do some work ( mostly in the library) and leave weekends as my rest days.  

2) Be consistent

Move from one goal to another in a consistent way. For example, when you have finished one part of your assignment, leave it and move on to another part. You can always review it later. If you have decided to wake up at 7am to go for a jog, be consistent with that time. This will allow your body and your mind to adjust and this will become your habit.

3) Focus on the outcome

Remind yourself why you are achieving this goal. Visualise it. Why is it so important that you achieve this personally. 

Discipline is no easy task and it is difficult so this step is super important.

Have a wonderful week evrybody and watch this space for more blog updates. Keep dreaming and reach your goals. 

Week Two: The beauty of marriage

I cannot believe that it has been two weeks since I last posted the start of my New Year's resolution. Haha, such a fail last week. I had been so wrapped up with work and doing my assignments that all I can think about was that but anyhow I am here once again to continue my New Year's resolution.

Since I attended my friend's wedding celebration last night, and I know that there are plenty of people that have gotten engaged or getting married this year (I literally cannot wait for more wedding celebrations) 

... it just amazes me how beautiful a marriage is.

I was scrolling on Stumbleupon.com when I came across this message which really gave me an insight on how beautiful and yet what marriage can teach you. 

The Marriage Box

There are many people that believe that getting married is a beautiful box full of all the things they have longed for: companionship, intimacy, friendship etc. However, the truth is that marriage starts on an empty box. You must put something in before you can take anything out. There is no love in marriage. Love is in people. And PEOPLE put love into marriage, There is no romance in marriage. You have to infuse it into marriage. A couple must learn the art and form the habit of giving, loving, serving, praising and keeping the box full. If you take out more than you put in, the box will be empty.

But this message is not just for married couples, I think that we can all relate to this. As a human being, we are not just here on Earth to be on our own but to be able to form relationships with other and in order to do that we must RELATE with one another.

Relationships are built on the foundation of 'keeping the box full'. The commitment of taking the time to see each other and keeping in touch, giving up a part of your time to listen and understand that person and loving that person despite any arguments. Relationships are not easy but give it time and commitment to one another and it is the most magical thing in the world. 

I am not saying that you should all be friends and get along al the time. Each of us have our own differences in terms of personality or beliefs but the point is that you will never truly know a person unless you relate with them. 

A relationship is built on giving and not jsut receiving.

Have a blessed Sunday everyone. 

Back to Blogging: New Year's Resolution [Begin]

So it is the start of a brand new year which means new opportunities to learn and grow as a person with God. I previously used to blog a lot and have truly enjoyed blogging but for the past two years (unbelievable), I have been putting it off and have not been able to write because I am "too busy". This year I want to challenge myself to be more reflective and to start writing more. Every Sunday I will take time out for myself and to write one post about anything at all. I was supposed to start this resolution last Sunday but due to my own fault of creating too many Gmail accounts I had forgotten which password was for which account and which Gmail account this blog belonged to.

Reflection last Sunday 03/10/2015

After reading my previous posts and just the previous post below this, I have just been amazed about all the things that God has blessed me with and the journey that I have been through over the past two years. I moved into a new country, leaving my home and started university, met truly amazing people in UK, met my amazing boyfriend and became closer to God. There are many different things that I have learnt in between of course but if I could write them all this post would be quite lengthy. I learnt how to be more mindful (which I will talk about in my later posts), more resilient and less anxious. One of the most important things I really learnt was to trust in God and to always believe the best for your future.
                                                   
Everyone has their own fears. A person could be afraid of spiders, heights, cats, dogs, the fear of the unknown and even the fear of being out of your comfort zone. Each and everyone of us has our own comfort zone where we can truly be ourselves- we can act crazy, sing, shout, dance because we can : we're comfortable. My comfort zone was Ireland. It has been where I have lived since I was seven years old. Even though I'm originally from the Philippines, I always felt more comfortable saying that I'm from Ireland. I felt comfortable because that is where I grew up and spent most of my time. I was comfortable in being surrounded with the same 'banter', people and the Irish land. I was comfortable but I had a dream. A dream to help people, a dream to become an occupational therapist.

During my last secondary school year, I didn't know what I really wanted to do with my life. There were numerous possibilities and endless opportunities. I had no direction and no purpose. I had originally wanted to become a doctor or a musician but I just wasn't sure of it. First of all, becoming a doctor means having to handle a lot of pressure, studying and handling things that I really was not sure I could handle. Secondly, music is something that I love to do, like performing however, actually studying it in a University would probably not suit me. I started to pray about it and decided to do a lot of research. It took me about three weeks and it hit me right on the face- Occupational Therapy.

"creative mind, hard working, helping people"-- I knew that these would definitely suit me. About three months before my Leaving Certificate and I had finally decided what I wanted to do. I started researching the modules for University and even visited a local hospital to gain experience of what an Occupational Therapist does on a daily basis. However, guess what...  FEAR started to kick in and I was feeling anxious and panicked. I was worried that I would not do so well and felt low. I placed a lot of doubt and anxiety with me and more importantly, I lost trust in God. I had so much doubts that I did not perform as well as I know I could have.

By the time of the results, I knew that I would not get my course. There are only a few times in which I have burst my tears and this was one of them. I doubted myself and God that I didn't get what I wanted. By the end of August, I just accepted it and went to do Arts in the National University of Ireland, Maynooth choosing Psychology, German and Music. I was incredibly delighted with this offer but I had a feeling there was much more in store for me. I started to talk to God again, letting my fear drain down. I prayed to God and asked him what I should do. The following day, I had the urge to apply to do the course that I had wanted to do. I went into my secondary school and asked if there was any other way to follow my dream. The career guidance counsellor informed me to apply for the United Kingdom and I did. About two months later, I received interviews for the Universities I applied for and eventually settled for York St John University.

So I would say for anyone in doubt, or nervous, anxious, afraid. Do not view your future through regrets, the past, disappointment or hurt because you will lose sight of God's goodness. Life can be painful but life is what you make of it. No matter what you are going through or what is going around you, you must believe the best for your future

Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything Beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart or also placed ignorance in the human heart so that no one can fathom what God has done from
beginning to end. "