Rest If You Must, So Quit!

It was odd. I was odd. While most people lost their job in this pandemic, I chose to quit my job.

Know your worth. With this, you will always make the right and best decision.

A Walk in the Beautiful Ayala Triangle Gardens

Stressed out?  Close to being tightly wound?  Head out to the beautiful and refreshing Ayala Triangle Gardens.  Walk barefoot on the grass.  Commune with the hundred-year-old trees.  Unwind...  relax...  breathe some fresh air.  Feel solace... at last!

About Being 41

Middle-aged guy in a bar hitting on a lady.  Is this a common scene?
(Picture source:  http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/sex-relationships/)

Middle-aged guy having fun at a bar.  40-ish guys are more fun, don;t you think?
(Picture source:  http://itsalwayssunnyindetroit.com/2010/07/the-10-worst-guys-youll-see-at-the-bar/.html) 

40-ish guy.  No comment.  LOL!
(Picture source:  http://www.sloshspot.com/blog/01-25-2009/The-11-Drunk-People-You-Dont-Want-to-Meet-at-the-Bar-108)

41 is the new 40.  It's been quite a while since my last post.  I intended to write at least one post per week.  But I was very busy this December.  Well, who isn't?   I wasn't just busy, one important thing has happened to me since that last post.  I celebrated my birthday!  (Hep-Hep-Hurray!  I won't tell you exactly when.  LOL!)  I turned 41.  Do you know the saying, "life begins at 40"?  Well, it's wrong!  Life actually begins at 41!  Let me tell you why.

Look (A Rainbow) by Lea Salonga

Lea Salonga will take you for a magic-carpet ride.  The song "Look (A Rainbow)" is not from the Disney movie "Aladdin" but, hearing Lea Salonga sing this delightful song provides you a "magical" experience nonetheless.  I have to warn you, though.  Prepare for a sudden and plethoric release of emotions!

Hep, hep, hooray! 100th Post of Lifestyle Check 101. Thank you.

Hollywood TV shows always celebrate their 100th episode.  As to why, your guess is good as mine.  In line with such tradition (well, happy occasions are always auspicious), here is my celebratory post - my actual 100th blog post.  I just want to say THANK YOU to all of my readers and followers (no matter how few, LOL).

What's the Role of Fashion to One's Happiness?

"Gucci, Prada, Armani, Louis Vuitton, Mont Blanc, Hermes, Versace, Dolce & Gabanna, Calvin Klein, Diesel, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, Lhuillier, Vera Wang, Ferragamo, Burberry, FCUK, etc..  Some people are just obsessed with brand names.  The billion-dollar fashion industry is largely dictated by these giant fashion houses.  Is there any clear cut relation between fashion and a person's happiness?"

I posted this question in a forum where technologists, educators, and designers among others share their worthwhile ideas and opinions.  It received a fair amount of comments.  I had a good conversation with one commenter who has a good fashion sense, so to speak.  Check out our conversation below:

COMMENTER:

If I'm dressed, I'm happy.

When I was younger you could go to an Atellier and have any outfit made to your specifications, your color, your perfect body contour. I even went to University with someone who made all her clothes. She always dressed liked she had stepped out of a fashion magazine. I was happy seeing that someone had that kind of talent.

Brand names are a big deal, because women do not sew any more.

But, if they had connections to a seamstress, they would find that the blouse being sold at Nordstrom's for $650 could just as easily be made by a neighbor for $30 (if the neighbor is a seamstress).

Afterall, who sews all those designer outfits..........surely not the designer, or the owner of the actual fashion house ay?

As quality gets lower and lower, you will probably find that people will 1, learn to sew or 2, find ways to invest in good quality clothing or 3, ______________________ (haven't any idea).

Your question is a great one, and there are many layers to it.

Let's see what others have to say.

[hopefully someone will address the psychological effect of buying expensive outfits, and/or materialism]

LIFESTYLECHECK101:

I can totally relate to what you are saying. My grandma and grandpa owns a tailoring shop back in the 70's. She designs and he cuts the patterns. My aunt plays the model. She would always go to work wearing seemingly haute couture. Yes, I felt happy that my aunt looks very beautiful in her dresses and happy that my grandma is so talented. I have always taught that she's a genius for creating very beautiful dresses out of nothing. They closed shop in the 80's and migrated to the U.S.

It must be the feeling of wearing something unique. You feel special. This raises your confidence level. People praise you and then you feel proud and probably happy!

Brand names provide you the same feeling I guess. You feel special by wearing clothes designed by famous designers. Because the clothes of these designers are not cheap, only a select few who can afford them gets to wear them. It then becomes a status symbol. I guess this feeds the ego. Perhaps happiness is derived from such. But is that wrong? Is that being materialistic?

COMMENTER:

Self-esteem surely goes up when one feels confident.  Dressing in an outfit that makes you feel good, regardless of the designer or price is a good idea.  What I personally find, for me anyways, is that it is not necessary to spend the money on designer clothes.  I like to give meaning to my belongings, I do not let my belongings define me.I don't buy the "in" anything.......I guess I am not a follower.  I am me.  Thanks for the reply.......wish I could sew my own clothes......about the only thing I have managed to sew are clothes for dolls, kitchen curtains, and taking pants that no longer fit my kids and turning them into shorts.........are you following your family's roots in tailoring?

LIETSYLECHECK101:

I see your point especially on the part of giving meaning to your belongings.  I am the same.  I also do not buy the "in" thing.  I must confess however, that I find those designer items "value for money" since they have a certain high level of quality (but not all as I experienced money down the drain for some designer items that I thought would last a little longer).  My nana always tell me to look for the best quality my money can buy.  Best quality surely is pricey.

Nobody from our family learned the tailoring trade.  I think I acquired however, my nana's creative prowess.  I design and create artisan jewelry on the side whenever time permits. I also design in my real job.  Although designing online transaction processing systems and mission critical applications do not require much creativity...

COMMENTER:

I am all for quality versus quantity.  It's better to spend $100 on a great pair of leather shoes that will last 3-5 years, than $20 on a pair that will last 3 months.  But that's me.

And, just yesterday in the news, they did a bit on Yves St Laurent.  This woman who purchased designer YSL pieces back in the 1960's STILL has them!!!  And, still used them.....because they are classics.......never go out of style.  She lent part of her collection to Nordstrom department stores and they have it on display.

That is another positive side to buying designer clothing that is made using classical lines.  When I was younger, these were the kinds of pieces I invested in. I still have some of them....

LIFESTYLECHECK101:

I 100% agree. I have these pair of Cavalli pants that's 10 years now and an Armani suit that's more than 5 years now.  All of them still look good and fab!  I can't wear them now because i got bigger.  Ha-ha-ha.  I have to shrink down to fit in them again.  Come to think of it, such is a motivation... ah, one fringe benefit of fashion, don't you think?

CONCLUSION:

Fashion does play a role in a person's happiness.  There is a relationship between fashion and happiness.  As to how big, or how little its effects depends on the person's perception of fashion - his or her idea and known scope of fashion, and actual experiences with fashion.  I agree with another commenter who had put things in proper perspective.  She said, "it is essential to be comfortable in your own skin to also be truly happy.".

How about you?   What's your take on fashion and happiness?

5 Ways To A More Meaningful Life

Scared of Old Age.

iWitness, a multi-awarded documentary (which already won two awards from the George Foster Peabody Awards), featured the life of Lola Guada (Lola is the Tagalog word for grandmother) and her entry into Bahay ng Pag-ibig (Home of Love), an institution for old people.  Lola Guada is 67 years old and has no relatives.  She was adopted by a certain family who endorsed her to the institution because they could no longer take care of her.  Lola Guada served as a household help in that family.

While packing her belongings, Lola Guada was crying.  She must have been terrified at the thought of leaving familiar faces and spaces, and heading on towards a relatively new life with strangers for the remaining days of her life.  While watching that scene, my heart skipped a beat.  I would be lying if I told you that didn't scared me.  I literally felt the fear.  I was scared and then sad.  The thought of living your life with complete strangers and doing almost nothing like you are just waiting for the "end" scared the hell out of me.  This is reality.  We all have to face the "end" one way or another.

Looking Forward, Are You?

I realized after watching the documentary that we should make our lives count.  Make our stay worthwhile.  The only thing I can think of accomplishing this is to "care for others".  Sure, we need a lot of things for ourselves.  But if we focus less on ourselves and start extending our hands for others makes our stay less lonely... less scary... more attuned to the supposed meaning of life.

The key is looking forward not to our future demise (because that would be dreadful) but to the things we can still accomplish and to the consequent happiness and satisfaction we can derive in doing those things.  In a way, we are in the living present and we should spend our lives to the fullest.   As significant as our lives may be right now, we can still make it more meaningful.  Our lives can still get better!

Here are some of the ways I thought that can make our lives more meaningful in this day and age.

5 Ways To Make Our Lives More Meaningful

1.  reduce, reuse, recycle.  Care for the environment.  Contribute in the preservation of our Mother Earth.  Let us help in providing the next generation with a better and so much cleaner place to live in.

2.  desist from bootlegging.  Stop intellectual property piracy.  Respect.  Respect other people's properties.  Their products of hard work and creativity should be recognized and not to be stolen.  It may be hard with all the technology around, but one less pirate results in one happier property owner.

3.  contribute to charitable institutions.  Money is not the only thing we can contribute.  We can give away things we no longer need.  We can also donate our time, hands, talent, expertise, or services.  We can even donate blood to save lives!

4.  teach a child to dream big.  We should also show them how to achieve those dreams.  We are their role models.  We should inspire and show them the right path to successfully achieve their goals in life.

5.  sincerely praise.  Spread joy and happiness.  A sincere praise goes a long, long way.  They lift our spirits  high and touch our hearts.  Sincere praises even boost productivity.  Smile!

You may say that I am an incessant hopeful.  Remember?  Dream big?  It starts now!  SPREAD HAPPINESS!

Buy Happiness

Whoever said that "money can't buy you happiness"?  Well, I am going to the mall today and buy some.

I stumbled upon this amazing video.  It's a fascinating and entertaining presentation of the data of a social experiment conducted on groups of people around the world.  In each setting, one group is asked to spend a certain amount of money for themselves.  The other group is asked to spend for others.  The small amount of money to be spent is of course given by the experimenters that varies per setting.  Who do you think is happier after spending the money?  Is it the personal spenders or the pro-social spenders?

Would you be happier if you spend money for others?  Are there other benefits of pro-social spending?  Find out more.  Click this this link of the clever video:  http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_norton_how_to_buy_happiness.html.

Keeping Up With The Joneses

So, you’re swiping that credit card for that 42-inch LED TV that’s bigger and more technologically advanced than your neighbor’s 32-inch LCD TV?  Oh, so you are taking that loan from the bank to buy that new Mercededs Benz C-class?  You are breaking your nest egg so you can make that down payment and show off the new car to your golfing buddies even though your old car is still in perfect working condition?  New fishing gear?  New Harley motorbike?  New IWC wristwatch?  New Faberge necklace?  New Harry Winston bracelet?  New swimming pool?  Ticket for a trip to the moon?  What else?  You are thinking, “I’ve got to keep up…”.

There is nothing wrong wanting or having these things in life.  If you keep measuring your worth however, based on the material things you are accumulating, no amount of consumer goods is commensurate.  What’s worse is that you could end up with a pile of debt!

Why is there an incessant need  to prove to your neighbors that you are much better or more well-off?  Why is climbing the social status important to you at all?  If you derive happiness, satisfaction or worth from the approval of others, you’ll never be genuinely happy.

Stop this madness now! Realize that you have within you everything you need to feel secure.  Material things and people approval are “nice to have” but never essential.  Antoine de Saint-Exupery may have simply put it: “…what is essential is invisible to the naked eye.”.

Things Happen For A Reason.

Always... always, hope for the best!

When tragedy strikes in the most unexpected time, sometimes, our beliefs are shaken.  We often question.  Anger brews in our guts.  A feeling of helplessness prevails.  But if we think hard, ponder on the situation at hand, we evidently see that life has its ups and downs.  That even though it’s topsy-turvy now, sooner or later things will fall in their right places again.

Although the road may be rough, there’s this one place we can all seek refuge.  It’s that small window in our mind that flashes blessings we have been given, opportunities we have taken advantage of, happy moments we have shared with our loved ones, goals we have successfully accomplished, dreams we have reached, and LIFE so far, WELL LIVED!  It’s the image of our Creator telling us no burden is too heavy if we just REACH OUT!…