Gratitude Post: I AM RICH!!! let me repeat that.. YES, I AM RICH!!!

I remember an ex-colleague said that for you to feel rich, count all your blessings that money cannot buy.  That simple phrase stuck into my mind and even up to now, as a mother, as a wife, as a working individual and as a global citizen (well, it is to say that I moved out of country of birth hehehe) I keep that in my mind. 

I use that phrase a lot to my 8 year old son.  It is normal at his age that he is fixated with toys, with material things as he is a young boy.  He would always ask for new toys justifying the need for new toys by saying "mom, I do not have blah blah blah".. And he would oftentimes ask me, "mom, what do you want for your (birthdayn christmas, etc). And I would reply saying I want good health, peace of mind and he would just look at me blankly. And that is when I would tell him that at this stage, I feel very very very rich as I have all the things that money cannot buy. Hahahah I would then segue to telling him, can money buy you? can money buy papa? can money buy the laughter and the giggles that we share? hahahaha He would respond with a resounding No!! I love being with my son! We learn a lot from each other and we keep each other grounded!  

Let me say it again, boldly and out loud!!  I AM RICH BECAUSE I HAVE ALL THE THINGS THAT MONEY CANNOT BUY! 

1.  I have good health.  My health is my partner in making my dreams come true.  My health gives me the provisions that I need to earn for my living, helps augment our family´s income and helps me rear our family.  I take care of my mind, my body and my heart (my feelings and my inner self) to be healthy.  Positive thoughts, kindness and goodness always radiate from within.  You can´t fake it.  You may pretend to be nicey nicey but raw and real situations will reveal the real you. So it is important, primordial to plant kindness, happy thoughts so that we will reap happiness and kindness as well.  These are integral in our mental health.  

2.  I have a loving home and family.  I maybe living outside my country of birth but I am very proud and very grateful to say that my relationship with my family, my mudra (mom), my brothers and sisters, my nieces and nephews, my in laws and my extended family (aunts and uncles) are intact.  Praise God! I AM BLESSED WITH A GORGEOUS, SEXY, PLUMP, HANDSOME, FUNNY, WITTY, INTELLIGENT, RESPECTFUL, UNDERSTANDING, KIND HUSBAND AND AN EQUALLY HANDSOME, WITTY, FUNNY, STRONG WILLED SON!! Any relationship, be it partner, family, friends, office/colleagues or any interaction for that matter, requires tender loving care and commitment. Love begets love.  I love my family! The sound of my mom´s voice, the tight hug that I get from my husband and son, the resounding laughter of my son, reading and playing sessions with my son are definitely PRICELESS!! 

3.  I have true friends.  I may seem gregarious and very open but my intimate circle knows that I am certified, an authentic INTROVERT.  My husband and my closest friends know this side of me very well.  I am grateful to my friends who choose me as well.  Thank you for the friendship, love and support across the miles through the years.  Friends are family members as well!! I love you my friend!! 

4.  I have happiness and peace in my heart.  I have said it many times and will say it again, I am a very grateful, easily contented, easily satisfied person.  I have no hidden agenda, neither with my relationships nor at my work.  Of course, we work to be recognized and to earn for a living.  But I make those as my second and third reasons why I work,  I work because I wanted to make sure that my professional skills will assist my director, my line manager in achieving our team´s goals and eventually achieving our organization´s goals.  I achieve to be the bet professional that I can be as my commitment will show in the quality of my outputs and in the degree of my office relationships.  Even if there are days that I work from home, I never short change my company. I always render my service.  When I dedicate my effort, my time and all of me in every service that I do, whether cooking meals for my family, paying 100% attention to my mom´s or sister´s phone call, doing household chores in my mansion (sweeping the floor, washing the dishes), etc I always have peace and happiness in my heart.  This level of contentment also enable me to rejoice in the success of others.  As mentioned in one of my older posts Desiderata, if you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter, for always, there will be greater and lesser persons than you. 

5.  I have healthy relationships (or at least, I would like to think so jejejej).  The happiness and peace in my heart enable me to build relationships and interactions that are authentic, respectful and kind.  Sometimes, as we get older, our ego gets the better of us as we think of our accolades, acconmplishments, etc.  I strongly believe that as we achieve more regardless on which facet of our life, the more we should stay humble.  

6.  I feel safe, secured in my everyday living. 

7.  I laugh out loud as if there is no tomorrow. 

8.  I have time - time to be with my family, time to sing, time to watch tv/netflix, read books, time to go to the doctor, time to cook.  I have time that enables me to do what I need to do at a given moment.  

9.  I have freedom.  I am free to vote, free to work, free to cross the street, free to talk, free to air out my opinion and free to make decisions which are crucial for my life, for my society, etc. 

10.  I love and I am loved.  I know that God Loves me and that love is what I give to the people around me.  I love with all of me my husband, my son, my family, my friends, my colleagues and I love serving my community!! 

I am sure you feel equally rich after reading this post.  

Thank you very much! 

(*** all photos taken from the net.  credits to the owners.  thank you***)

Health is wealth

I am a firm believer of the following: 

1.  Health is wealth 

2.  An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure 

I am one of those people who make sure that they have their annual executive/medical full body check-up.  I am one of those who respect their medical appointments and make time for them. 

I do my best to take care my body by taking healthy food.  In as much as I like to indulge, from time to time, I always take time to detox, take a break from my enormous and junkie eating habits (I love chocolates, ice cream and all things sweet jejeje), cook healthy meals, bring my healthy home cooked meals to the office and just eat more greens and more fruits.  

October is the month when I usually go big time with my medical check-ups.  Aside from my regular visits to the mental health section (psychologist and psychiatrist), I also have my regular visits to my neurologists (due to my migraine episodes and thank God they have significantly reduced as I have eliminated coffee from my diet), my cardiologist and optometrist, eye specialist.  I also have my blood analysis and my dental check-up at least 2x a year.  

Diabetes runs in our family (my grandmother succumbed to diabetes complications during one of her dialysis sessions and my mom and 3 of my maternal uncles have diabetes).  With my regular blood analysis, I make sure that I watch over my food intake and of course, my good and bad cholesterol.  

Aside from healthy food intake, I also do my best to have an active lifestyle.  I am very grateful that we live in the beautiful city of Madrid where walking is a good form of exercise.  I used to play badminton but after giving birth, motherhood has overtaken all of my physical activities. Jejejejeje.  But we/I walk whenever we have the chance.  I also do my stationery bike.  I also dedicate time to do yoga as it is a good way to relax my muscles after a day of hard work.  

Best of all, a prayeful life and a positive, healthy disposition ad strong and optimistic mental mindset are crucial to striking a healthy balance in our lifestyle.  Having faith and believing in the God and in the goodness of each one of us, eradicates negativity, feeling of superiority and jealousy which normally cause bad blood among people.  A strong, optimistic, positive disposition contribute to a healthy mental mindset as we need to disconnect and dedicate time to what makes us truly happy as individuals.  

Say good bye to our hospital fears, say yes to doctor appointments, medical visits and say yes to being healthy! 

Have a great week ahead!! 

Road to Wellness: Coping with my Anxiety Disorder

This is a checkpoint blogpost regarding my battle against anxiety disorder.  I am very blessed to have detected my anxiety disorder at an early stage.  It may have been at an early stage but its manifestations gave me a feeling of discomfort and fear – sudden accelerated heartbeat, panting, sweaty palms, feeling nauseous, dizzy and fainting, feelings of wobbliness on my knees, sensibility to large groups/crowds, crowded areas (agoraphobia) and inability to conduct meetings at work.  My husband encouraged me to talk to a psychologist, psychiatrist and eventually, these professionals have been helping me cope with my anxiety disorder.

I was out on medical leave for 1,5 months.  I spent my medical leave understanding my situation, attending meditation, yoga, acupuncture, therapeutic sessions, medical appointments and getting used to my medicines.  I also spent a great deal of my medical leave coming to terms with myself - sulking and crying as part of my acceptance, walking alone and enjoying my quiet solitude.

Fast forward to today. It´s been more than 2 months since I went back to work, thank you Papa Jesus.. and this is the 1^st week that I stopped taking one of my medicines, as advised by my doctor.  I still have a chill pill as a fallback in cases of emergency and I continue to take a daily pill to balance my moods and my biochemical.  I continue to dedicate time to physical activities; I am not sporty but I make sure that I do my stationery bike, 20-30 minutes at a minimum of 4 days a week, I continue to do basic yoga and meditation and I continue to practice the very challenging mindfulness (carpe diem, seize the day!)  and in every opportunity that I have, I walk. 

I do my meditation in the morning.  When I wake up, I stretch and meditate.  I do not immediately jump off my bed when I hear my alarm clock. Rather, I take my clock, put the alarm off, close my eyes, start my day with my prayers of gratitude (how I love hearing my sweetie snore next to me) and then do some stretching.  If and when needed, I also meditate in the office and in the public transport.  It is a must that I meditate at night time, usually after my stationery bike as it is the part of the day that I liberate myself, my body, my mind and my thoughts from what took place during the day. It is like being naked as I just take off whatever emotion that I have and I reconnect to myself, to my God.  I meditate with or without music.  In most cases, without music as I just want to hear myself breathing and connect with the sounds surrounding me. 

Music and cooking have been integral parts of my coping mechanisms.  I have a collection of relaxing, mindfulness music in my mobile phone and Spotify, I try to sing a lot at my convenience, that means singing while cooking and while at the shower jajajajaja and I also cook a lot.  I enjoy the quiet solitude my small but useful and functional kitchen offers.  I love cooking even if I am just an amateur cook as it is a manifestation of my love to my family.  I spend my personal time and attention concocting dishes with love for them!  On instances that I get disoriented while cooking or in any occasion, I close my eyes, take a deep breath and I remind myself that I am in xxx place and doing xx thing… I also constantly remind myself that nothing can go wrong, that we are protected, we are safe… It is part of the mantra that I whisper to myself. 

I love my job and I am a very dedicated professional.  I continue to have career aspirations that´s why I pour my 100%  dedication at work.  But there are days that work schedule is just crazy and hectic.  And that is where that I need to step-up, challenge myself not to get too immersed at work. Meaning what can be done at 10 hours can be done but it does not mean that I will work for 16 hours.  I practice mindfulness at work by focusing on one task at a time.  Although I am an excellent multi-tasker, mindfulness has helped me to finish a task, focus better and not get distracted.  I notice that my productivity and the quality of my output have increased. 

At home, my mindfulness and my quest for tranquility, peace, serenity and good health has helped me to become more peaceful as a person.  I remember before I easily flare up when things are not done my way, when I said it.. But now, I pay more attention to my son and my husband, I seek help when I need to do some household chores and I am more open to negotiations especially with my son, it is a good practice for him to defend his reasoning and his point of view.  I am grateful to the aromatic oil diffuser that my mother in law gave me as birthday present. I have been using it since then.  I love the scent of lavender, mixed coco and lotus flower oils and cinnamon and coco! Jejejeje

I haven´t taken caffeine, coffee since mid October 2017.  Though I really cannot veer away from sweets as I am born with a sweet tooth, I try to lessen my chocolate intake and prepare homemade desserts, pies and breads.  I drink a lot of non-caffeine, herbal liquids. 

I talk to a lot of people regarding my anxiety disorder.  The society should be open to accepting and dealing with these mental disorders.  I also learned very recently, that it is a common “ailment” here in Spain.  In fact, in my current workplace, when people learned that I am suffering from anxiety, they approached me to comfort me and tell me that they have been at one point in the same situation.  I openly talk about my anxiety to remove the stigma on people who talk with psychologists and psychiatrists, to show that we can continue to live a normal life though there are days that we feel that we cannot get out of our bed.

My heart is always bursting with gratitude and I always try to put on a positive disposition.  I know that my struggles with anxiety has its reason and I am thankful that I am able to live with it.  Maybe I will need to take my medicines for a longer time, it does not matter, the important thing is my level of self-understanding and self-awareness is more profound as I battle my anxiety. 

Thank you my dear Lord and my Savior for your healing grace.  Thank you to my husband, my son, the rest of my family and friends, my colleagues at work for all the love and support. 

When man prays, God works.  There is no wound nor ailment that God cannot heal. 

Thank you.

Useful reads regarding anxiety: 

https://aleteia.org/2018/02/28/i-think-im-having-panic-attacks-what-should-i-do/ 

https://aleteia.org/2018/01/17/how-to-distinguish-anxiety-from-an-anxiety-disorder/

https://aleteia.org/2018/06/05/this-simple-prayer-of-st-teresa-of-avila-can-calm-your-nerves-when-youre-afraid-or-anxious/ 

Summer Memories...

Summer 2018 is fast coming to an end.. School year has started… Public transport usage is at its peak and traffic congestion is heavy once again.  

We are in September and now 7am is still dark.  Nonetheless, I am very grateful for every autumn and winter as they pave the way for the coming of spring and eventually, summer.

My family and I are blessed to have our family summer getaway for the last 5 years in Sancti Petri, Chiclana, Cadiz in the Andalucian region of Spain.  We discovered the beauty and the serenity of the Playa Barrosa by accident and yet I am forever grateful for that!!

It was late July 2014 when we reached out to a travel agency as we were running out  of time for our summer plans.  The travel agency recommended the SanctiPetri area and Hotel Iberostar Royal Andalus.  It was our first time in the area yet it was an unforgettable first time that we ended up repeating the experience for the next 4 summers!!! For this year, we opted to change our hotel to Hotel RiuChiclana and it was also a first time experience for us. 

Both are 4 star hotels, which offer an all inclusive (food + accommodation) service, though Hotel Iberostar has more options (they offer only breakfast + lunch).  Both hotels are kid and family friendly as they have big kiddie pools, kiddie amenities and family-oriented programs!! Spa services – massage and Jacuzzi are also available in both hotels.  Both hotels serve great buffet service; food is fresh and quality products.  Though in the case of Riu Chiclana, some of their marmalades/jams and chocolate/hazelnut spread for breakfast were not top of the line.  Nonetheless, the quality of the food was not compromised.  The staff – reception, security, cleaning ladies, waiters, cooks were all friendly, approachable and very accommodating.  Riu Chiclana was recently renovated so we had the pleasure to enjoy its brand new facilities and bigger rooms. But this is not to say that Hotel Iberostar´s facilities were old, they just need some improvements. 

Riu Chiclana has a total of 800 rooms arranged in villas vs. the 400 rooms of Hotel Iberostar Royal Andalus.  This explains why the lay-out of Riu Chiclana is more cramped in the sense that they have 5 big pools (but with all the families, they aren´t big enough to allow you to swim a lap), 4 big restaurants and 2 major stages – 1 big auditorium for the family oriented programs and 1 open air stage for the music lovers.  This is to make sure that the clients are properly accommodated and that they will have options where to stay and the pool areas not are congested at all.  In the case of Hotel Iberostar, it  consists of 2 big pools, big enough to accommodate their clients and still allow their clients to have a good swim, 2 kiddie pools and a bouncing ball.  There are no auditoriums in Hotel Iberostar but they set-up a stage near the open space area of the banquet. 

 Panoramic View of the La Playa Barrosa from the Hotel Iberostar Royal Andalus

Iberostar Royal Andalus

 Iberostar Royal Andalus

                                                  Iberostar Royal Andalus

 Riu Chiclana Auditorium 

  Riu Chiclana Top View

Riu Chiclana Facade and Reception Area 

Both hotels are beautiful but Hotel Iberostar has this dinstinct charm of being a more open-space hotel that enables you to enjoy from any area of the hotel rooms a seaside view.  From the Hotel Iberostar pools and interior gardens, you can actually see and breath the sea!! And that is very captivating experience!

These hotel resorts have direct access to the Playa Barrosa, which is a 7 km long beach, boasting of its quiet, serene, clean and clear waters (though not white sand).  It is not rocky at all which is very favorable for our growing son.  As it is a long beach, we enjoyed the walks at the shore line, building sand castles and just lying around in our sundbeds/hammocks, talking and laughing.

The beautiful Playa La Barrosa

My son has definitely cherished these summers in Sancti Petri.  We would recall with fondness and chuckles the year that he threw a tantrum and we had to walk from the swimming pool area to our room with my son literally crying and screaming! Jajajajaja.  I recall with tenderness the incident that I suffered anxiety attack but not knowing that it was already my anxiety disorder attacking me.  It always paints a smile on my face recalling the lovely vignettes, images of my son and husband playing in the sand.  I look at our lovely family pictures and I am amazed with all the love and happiness in my heart on how our son grew, how my sweetie remains to be so good and young looking albeit his bulging stomach jajajajaja, how my hairstyle changes and how I look older yet happy in the pictures, year after year. 

Definitely, the family summer get-away is such a blessing and hopefully a tradition that we can maintain.  I continue to thank Papa Jesus, my Lord, my Savior for all the blessings and graces that He bestows on me and my family.  For without His blessings, mercy and compassion, there is no way that we will be able to enjoy these privileges.  Thank you Papa Jesus!  Thank you Lord God!!

How I love you summer…The heat of the sun.. the long days.. the terrazas (open space dining area) in the bar and restaurants, long hours and picnics in the park and of course, short shorts outfit Hahahahahaa and of course, summer vacation spent in 100%, 24*7, pure family love!!!

Until the next time summer!!! Love you.

Back to School: School Year 2018-2019

To my one and only dearest son, my Marcelini,

Congratulations to my mini-me, my precious son, my 3^rd grader!!!  I am so proud of your accomplishments!!

You started pre-school, aged 3-5, in a special assistance program, as advised by your teacher.  You seemed so disoriented, unable to understand why you have to be separated from mom and dad and why you had to go to school.  We both cried and we all worked hard to ease your adjustment period.  

You entered primary school, Grade 1, in a regular program!  Congratulations!! This is the fruit of your hard labor!!  Your well-loved Teacher Carmen gave us the good news that you are promoted to primary school/1^st grade and on top of that, on a regular program.  She confirmed that you will not be needing special assistance as you have managed to get out of your comfort zone!! You have made friends, you are more sociable, you are an excellent reader, a great singer and with great memory! Just like me! Hahahahahah

You finished Grades 1 and 2 with excellent grades!! The grades are icing on the cake, the important thing is you are enjoying your educational journey but I am nonetheless, immensely and profoundly delighted!! Our countless weekend exerecises/seatworks on Mathematics, Language, Science and Reading paid off!!

Education and your character are the only legacy that papuchi/pudrabels and mamuchi/mudrabels can give you, our precious son.  We may not be rich materially, thank God we are living a comfortable life and we will continue to work hard to be able to sustain and maintain our quality of life.  But there will come a time that you will have to fend for yourself, the same way that papuchi and mamuchi are now working hard and providing for our family.  When that time comes, please look back with joy, love and fondness all the years spent in the classroom and all the days that we nagged you hahaha to be the person that you are, armed with good character.  I am certain that you will become the best person that you can be.  After all, you are our son!! And I will continue to pray to Lord God for that!!!

Welcome to the big boy school, my love! I am pretty sure that you will enjoy it. Whatever comes along your way, good times or bad times, always pray to Papa Jesus for guidance and always know that you will always have our love for you, come what may.

I love you with all my heart.. Let´s enjoy 3^rd grade!!

Love always,

Mama Isay