Dreams Do Come True!

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  In other words, be bold and take chances!  The first step however, is always the hardest.  We can only truly grasp the essence of life and the gifts life has to offer us once we make that first move.  Let's move on, shall we? (pun intended...)

MAGIC.

Ever since that "magical" moment when I smelled JOY by Jean Patou for the very first time, I dreamed of making my own perfume line, sell them, be famous, and become seriously rich!  Bwahahaha.  That "pasalubong" (Tagalog for "gift") of my dad for my mom from Saudi Arabia in the mid 80's is from 26 years ago.  And now my dream is on the verge of becoming a reality...

THE FIRST STRIDE.

I thought that making perfume would be hard.  It wasn't.  But you have to be prepared for a long and grueling adventure.  It was fun though.  I did a ton of research about essential oils, fragrance notes, blending techniques, solubility issues, packaging, and labeling.  I hunted down local suppliers of raw materials.  I attended a training seminar to gather more information.  I experimented and did product trials.  There were dozens of failed mixtures.  Those were money, time, and effort straight down the drain.  But those failed mixtures did not really matter compared to the valuable lessons I learned.  After 14 long months, VOILA!, I finally have a prototype.  I call it CHOSEN men.

CHOSEN men Eau de Toilette is a unique blend that's light and casual, perfect for everyday wear.  It has a woodsy-citrusy aroma.  Top note is Lemongrass.  The heart note is Jasmine.  The base note is a combination of Patchouli and Cedarwood.  The scent is quite tenacious,  It does linger on for a very long time.   Everytime I look at the finished product, I dreamed of a commercial plug on TV or a spread on a fashion magazine with the tag line:  "GET CHOSEN.  It's the Obvious Choice."  I could't help but chuckle for a bit.

To come up with a commercially viable product, the "first step", the initial process would definitely be long, but it would be completely "worth" each drop of sweat.

THE NEXT STEP.

Now, I just have to sell them.  Hmmmm… another long and arduous process.  However, because it became a passion as well as a worthwhile hobby, arduous automatically became a diversion and merrymaking.  How many more years would it take before I become seriously rich?  Oh, well… it will definitely come.  Hard work pays off!  I'll hold on!  After all, dreams do come true!

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!

Another Day Is Dawning, Always...

I greet the day with joy and gladness.  Each day is a new beginning.  I am so excited of what the day holds.  It could be a wondrous adventure!

If we charge on the day with enthusiasm, good things happen.  If in case an unfortunate event happens, the blow is lessen since we know for sure that there will always be a new day dawning....