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Saturday, August 14, 2010
Lessons I learned from Alice in WonderLand


I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure. 
-- Eric Lidel


I know Alice in the Wonderland is so yesterday but today I decided to watch the movie (more like forced to watch since my nephew popped in the DVD). To be honest I really did not like or understand the cartoons back then maybe it's because of the idea of falling to a hole in the ground and finding yourself lost isn't just exciting to me back then (well maybe even until now). Back then I didn't know what it's all about but with Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, I realized that the movie is quite interesting. I picked few life lessons in the process as I watched the movie. Allow me to share three of them to you.

Lesson #1. Know thy self.
The movie was really about a girl who is trying to know herself and her struggle to stay away from other people trying to make plans for her life.

In my life I have met many people who tried to tell me what to do. They say things like, "you should take masters degree" or "you start your MBA degree as early as now" or "you should buy a house or get a car" or "join this business" or "you should work to be a General Manager of your company". These are good suggestions but this does not necessarily coincide with how God designed my being. As young person I followed some of these advise even if deep down inside I don't totally like it. I just hope that I will like it when I'm there already; I enrolled in masters degree and got a pretty good grade ( in fact, allow me to brag, I think I was #2 or #3 in the class) but the process of doing it is a chore for me. I could not see the end result and the "why" I'm doing it. I felt harassed every time I go to school so even I think I was getting the "success" in this endeavor I felt it was just a waste of time.

I decided to really know myself and ask what is it that I want to do. What is it that when I do it I feel God's pleasure?1 Now I am staying home, learning internet marketing, reading books, talk in public, blog, join care groups, help develop people and encourage people, generate ideas and work with teams, and you know what when I do these things I feel His pleasure.:)

Don't allow other people to dictate what you must do. Know thy self.2

Lesson #2. Believe in at least Six Impossible things.
This is probably one of the life lessons that is new to me that I found in the movie. When I heard this line,"Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." I thought,"why not?":) I mean, why not believe in six impossible things before breakfast? Why not believe in what cannot be done? Why not believe in what you thought impossible or hard or unfeasible? Why not stretch? Why not go beyond the unknown?

Lesson #3. There is a place called Wonderland.
I know that is one the six impossible things that Alice believe in but I just want you (and me) to reflect in the this "Do you believe in a place called Wonderland?"

I thought about this and I realized that we need to have a wonderland time. A time when we just wonder and imagine the possibilities. A time when we just stretch beyond what we can do and think about doing what we cannot do. It's a time to challenge our sanity and bring in realities that we have never thought before.Imagine what you can do when you kept on imagining doing what you thought you could not do?3

I hope that you find this post helpful.

Taking a sip,
Joseph Librero

1 Eric Lidel
2 Socrates
3 Joseph Librero (I just thought of this)
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Thursday, August 05, 2010
What's in a name?


A friend once suggested, "You should have a cooler pen name like Joe L, it's short and catchy". At first I was convinced on what he suggested and started using Joe L in this blog as a pen name. I felt fine with it, after all what's in a name right? But when I attended a seminar titled PastForward where one of the speakers was Cito Beltran and one of the points that he shared to the attendees was the value of our names. He maintained that our names has significant clues for our destiny and purpose in life and so we should not be using nicknames because to nick is to steal or trick, thus the phrase, "You nick me". In a nutshell using nicknames means to stealing from our destiny.

In my case, my name is Joseph and if you Google the name Joseph right now you will see that this name is used to describe people of destiny. You can find famous Joseph's here -People known as Joseph and you will see that Joseph's are people who made a dent in our history. The Josephs are made for great purpose. In contrary my nicknames are Jojo, or Jo, or Joe. What do these names mean? Nothing. Joe, for example, means average or regular thus the phrase "I'm just an average Joe". So you see the difference? One means special, destined, and distinct while the other means average. Do I want to be average? Definitely not! Isn't it clear that I am being nick just by using my nick name?

Another example would be about a guy I met in a fellowship. He told me his name is Gidz but when I asked him his real name he said it's Gideon.Gidz is not Gideon. Gidz does not make any sense but Gideon is a mighty man of valor. One name has a destiny the other cuts or steals that destiny (nick =cut).

So what's in a name? Apparently a lot.:) The clue to your destiny could be in your name.

How about you what does your name means and what clue can it give you about your destiny?
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Monday, August 02, 2010
Never Lose Your Shout




I am re-evaluating my progress right now and I realized I am not where I want to be at this time of the year. I had so little progress and when you start thinking this way, it's easy to fall into discouragement. But I when I went to CitiChurch today to visit and meet friends, one statement from the sermon hit me today, "Never Lose Your Shout". Pastor Jo Alfafara said, "Losers whine and complain but winners never lose their shout"I realized I have lost my shout because of the circumstances. I thought I did not made any progress but the pastor made me remember that I AM A WINNER and I should NEVER lose my SHOUT. And it's not a noise or a sound of whining or complaining it should be a SHOUT of VICTORY and TRIUMPH.
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