<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" media="screen" href="/~d/styles/rss2full.xsl"?><?xml-stylesheet type="text/css" media="screen" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~d/styles/itemcontent.css"?><rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearch/1.1/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" xmlns:feedburner="http://rssnamespace.org/feedburner/ext/1.0" version="2.0"><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:38:25 +0000</lastBuildDate><category>health and wellness</category><category>challenges in life</category><category>Novo Concertante Manila</category><category>cordyceps</category><category>blogging for money</category><category>health gadgets</category><category>cerebral palsy</category><category>Palawan</category><category>Batangas</category><category>Feng Shui tips</category><category>Hunger</category><category>TCM</category><category>Philippine cities</category><category>Philippine choirs</category><category>Starbucks experience</category><category>online marketing</category><category>Philippine beaches</category><category>awesome experience</category><category>preventing cancer</category><category>helping mankind</category><category>inspiring experience</category><category>only in Philippines</category><category>Social Spark</category><category>solving depression</category><category>Interior Design</category><category>SocialSpark</category><category>Information Technology</category><category>lessons learned</category><category>Charles Stanley</category><category>Traditional Chinese Medicine</category><category>University of Asia and the Pacific Chorale</category><category>trip to Greece</category><category>Type 2 diabetes</category><category>child adoption</category><category>household pets</category><category>Pearl Farm Beach Resort</category><category>Eastwood CIty</category><category>life's blessings</category><category>parenting</category><category>travel opportunities</category><category>lamps and lights</category><category>Philippine islands</category><category>special child</category><category>stainless steel</category><category>Bloggers Unite</category><category>electronic acupuncture</category><category>God's time</category><category>home improvements</category><category>Philippine victory</category><category>comb massage gadget</category><category>God said I love you</category><category>Acumagic</category><category>acupuncture</category><category>blogging</category><category>hypotension apparatus</category><category>inspiring true stories</category><category>retirement pay</category><category>fulfilling career</category><title>I Don't Want To Retire!</title><description>I aspire to inspire with a message from God to mankind and lessons learned from parenting, travels, home improvements, blogging, Feng Shui, Traditional Chinese Medicine, health and wellness and many more.</description><link>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>133</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/IDontWantToRetire" /><feedburner:info uri="idontwanttoretire" /><atom10:link xmlns:atom10="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="hub" href="http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/" /><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-7286690107394429151</guid><pubDate>Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:24:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-12-29T18:38:25.260-08:00</atom:updated><title>Preparing for 2012</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;In my case, preparing for a coming New Year is more complicated than preparing for a Christmas Day, which focuses on food that may be given as Christmas gifts. For both occasions though, I prepare the house a month earlier so that it will look festive and jolly. That is why my color motif never changes, red being the main color because the color of the New Year is always red for good luck and prosperity.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Starting from the day after Christmas, preparation even gets more complicated because I would start to look for clutters that should be removed or reorganized and it seems like a never ending task. Hence,  I haven’t accomplished much really.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the past, the most important part of preparing for the New Year is assessing my accomplishments and misgivings for the year and coming up with the New Year’s plans and resolutions.  This time, it will be different because based on experience, new things or opportunities or directions always arise, and time is too short to accomplish everything.  Perhaps  because I’m not getting any younger and I have to accomplish more than or different from what was expected.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here’s my biggest challenge for the year, it’s a very general statement but a very good basis for directing my activities and decisions not only for the coming year but also the years ahead.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;"I am the star in God’s eyes, who illuminates and shows everyone the way to true peace and happiness."&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What made me decide to be that ambitious is a short story I posted in my "Dreams List" blog titled &lt;a href="http://dreamslist.blogspot.com/2011/12/star-in-gods-eyes.html"&gt;"A Star in God's Eyes"&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'll repeat my last sentence in that post,&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;"MAY THE YEAR 2012 BRING TRUE PEACE AND HAPPINESS TO EVERYONE!"&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Lubel&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-7286690107394429151?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/qXrGf6addrA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/qXrGf6addrA/preparing-for-2012.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/12/preparing-for-2012.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-3291105190420170794</guid><pubDate>Sat, 26 Nov 2011 14:14:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-11-26T06:25:13.665-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">lessons learned</category><title>Eight Powers of the Soul</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;The eight powers of the soul are developed through positive thinking and meditation. These powers are not hidden, they can be felt by others and can be sources of inspiration to them so they too can change themselves and become powerful.  Just realizing these powers which I learned from Raja Yoga at Brahma Kumaris gives me great happiness. Anyone can attain these powers through meditation, which is the main objective of Raja Yoga.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The  &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;power to WITHDRAW &lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; thoughts  is possible even while performing action. During any task, one can withdraw his thoughts so often and return to a state of inner peace. In this way thoughts do not continue to be involved when not absolutely necessary and no mental effort is wasted. We need this power to listen effectively to others. This is a true controlling power and brings us great strength.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The  &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;power to PACK-UP&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  waste thoughts means we can “travel light”, not carrying around negative and wasteful thoughts and that will keep us free from mental and physical tiredness. This economy brings us power and a completely positive outlook.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;power of DISCERNMENT&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; is the ability to give correct values to our thoughts, words and actions and those of others. Just as a jeweler can discriminate false from real diamonds, so should we be able to keep positive, worthwhile thoughts and disregard harmful ones. It is negative thoughts which often cloud discernment, and we can eliminate them through meditation.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;power to JUDGE&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  allows us to take clear, quick, accurate and unbiased decisions. For this we need to be above the influence of situations, emotions and opinions of others and have clear understanding of what is right and what is wrong. Meditation provides this strength and clarity of intellect through greater self-understanding and a detached perspective.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;power to TOLERATE&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  difficulties involves going beyond the influence of negative situations, being able not to react, even in thoughts. If someone offers me insult, criticism or anger, or if there is physical suffering, I remain peaceful and happy with the power to tolerate. On the basis of soul consciousness, I will be able to give love like the fruit on a tree which, when pelted with sticks and stones, gives its fruits in return.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;power to ACCOMMODATE&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  is the ability to be above any clash of personality or nature, to be able to mould and adjust myself as the situation requires. I should not be one to create conflict in any situation. Just as an ocean can accommodate all the rivers flowing into it, so should I not reject anyone or anything. I can instead change relationships or circumstances through the power of good wishes.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;power to FACE&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt; obstacles in life is developed through meditation wherein we experience our original nature of peace and become detached from the consciousness of the body. We are then able to observe and see beyond problems and difficulties, and discover a positive side to something which seems totally negative. This gives us the strength to face situations.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;power to COOPERATE&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;  with others requires seeing others as our brothers and sisters. It also requires recognizing the specialties of others as well as our limitations. A task will be accomplished if we put our specialties and energies together. This creates unity and strength within a group, making any task seem easy. The power of many brings great success and great happiness.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-3291105190420170794?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/NaweI9u_JXw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/NaweI9u_JXw/eight-powers-of-soul.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/11/eight-powers-of-soul.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-8180858633822883855</guid><pubDate>Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:57:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-10-24T22:43:42.023-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">lessons learned</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">challenges in life</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">awesome experience</category><title>Social Responsibility</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I am a peaceful and loving soul and my objective is to remain in that state at all times. But what if a person owes me a big sum of money? How can I be peaceful if I will have to constantly remind that person about his or her debts? I asked that question during one of my Raja Yoga classes. The answer was you can remind that person once or twice and that's enough. The universal law of karma will take care of reminding a person about his or her debts.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Somehow, that Raja Yoga session made my days more peaceful. I've ignored the opinions of other people about social responsibility, that I have to report that person or file a estafa case because of the check payments that bounced. But I decided to follow the advice of my father before he died, not to pursue that, instead just constantly remind that person to pay. But the constant reminding was hard and depressing. So the yoga teacher's answer was a relief.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Until I was recently required by a company to present evidences of the person's bad intentions because I'd like to terminate my affiliation to the said person's business involving that company. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After completing my report with evidences, I felt so much relief and I believe that was because I accomplished that missing task of social responsibility. I've considered the task a blessing and it has even more strengthened my faith in God.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-8180858633822883855?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/KzkC_ZPi8o8" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/KzkC_ZPi8o8/social-responsibility.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/10/social-responsibility.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-7459770247962673585</guid><pubDate>Sun, 25 Sep 2011 02:58:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-09-26T18:43:33.463-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">inspiring experience</category><title>I AM A PEACEFUL SOUL !</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-seyk40BmvPI/ToEoFMup3qI/AAAAAAAABMI/sNTp6a3qyfY/s1600/DSC02475.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-seyk40BmvPI/ToEoFMup3qI/AAAAAAAABMI/sNTp6a3qyfY/s200/DSC02475.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5656846676735418018" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I am a soul.  My original qualities are peaceful, loving, blissful, pure and always positive. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;From my past lives I acquired some talents, memories some of them sad, beliefs and habits, and some vices. I am now aware of my original qualities. They could have been covered by bad habits, negative memories and sad experiences, but I should always try my best to let my original qualities surface by using my intellect which is part of my soul. I should use my intellect to discern situations positively, and judge and decide with love and peace.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I acquired this present body in the Philippines, and hold that citizenship, but my place of origin is the world of silent light beyond. With this body, I perform the role of a mother and wife, as well as a systems designer of computer applications. I'm glad that with this body, I am also able to share the talents I've acquired from all my past lives up to the present, to the whole world. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;My husband, my two daughters and son are souls too, and as souls, they are my brothers and sisters. They have the same original qualities as mine, so I will respect their ideas and discuss matters or issues with respect. Like me, their original qualities at times will be covered by negative experiences even from past lives that they subconsciously recalled, but they can always let their original qualities surface and I should always respect them as souls that are loving, peaceful, blissful, pure and positive.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was being tested through the loss of my job and financial losses, but I recognize my strengths and face each challenge with courage.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;If my body gets sick, I can remain unaffected by the miserable feelings sickness can create, by being detached and loving. But I will use my intellect to take care of my body to the best of my ability.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When a loved one dies, I should understand that soul has another part to play in another body. I played my part as a relative or a friend to the best of my ability. I should allow myself to be detached with love. I will surely meet that soul again in another life.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;When my body becomes old and won't recover from illness, I will need to withdraw from it, and leave it with love and peace. I'll make sure my affairs are in order. I will go to the light.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the meantime, I will fulfill my mission on earth which I know are many. There are several souls around me supporting me in my missions, and I suspect that the soul occupying the body of Lyca, my special child, is here to support me all the way, and to support other souls too. With the help of those souls surrounding me, one of my missions could be to support other souls too. That soul can be you.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-7459770247962673585?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/LOjxNxLFYa4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/LOjxNxLFYa4/i-am-peaceful-soul.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-seyk40BmvPI/ToEoFMup3qI/AAAAAAAABMI/sNTp6a3qyfY/s72-c/DSC02475.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>1</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/09/i-am-peaceful-soul.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-814015112928066722</guid><pubDate>Fri, 02 Sep 2011 12:48:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-09-04T04:34:04.965-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">inspiring true stories</category><title>Birthday of a green turtle</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Wendy, our pet green turtle or terrapin, became a symbol of strength in our household after surviving 5 months without food because of getting sick from overfeeding, at the same time not being able to move because of blindness resulting from the same illness. 
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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_gtEWXAPruek/SG1PBtMJWrI/AAAAAAAAAXk/yaRkhJQQmCM/s1600-h/SP_A0229_edited.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_gtEWXAPruek/SG1PBtMJWrI/AAAAAAAAAXk/yaRkhJQQmCM/s320/SP_A0229_edited.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218914433921276594" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/STUg5t1eBRI/AAAAAAAAAzg/j0Zsn1sJ5wQ/s1600-h/DSC08136_edited.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/STUg5t1eBRI/AAAAAAAAAzg/j0Zsn1sJ5wQ/s320/DSC08136_edited.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5275158714462897426" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;That was 4 years ago and she was still a baby then, so she is 4 years old now! Here are her photos, the same photos I published 3 years ago, the photo when she was still a baby and her photo at one year old, and her photo now. The same gray stone will always be there in her pool to see how big she has grown, and it has now served as her stepping stone.
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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hX0wB9_Sqoc/TmDcLE454xI/AAAAAAAABKg/C_Q9Go2SkMw/s1600/DSC02472.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hX0wB9_Sqoc/TmDcLE454xI/AAAAAAAABKg/C_Q9Go2SkMw/s320/DSC02472.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5647756015571690258" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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&lt;br /&gt;Happy birthday, Wendy !!&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-814015112928066722?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/I-RgQpUbkEk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/I-RgQpUbkEk/birthday-of-green-turtle.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://bp2.blogger.com/_gtEWXAPruek/SG1PBtMJWrI/AAAAAAAAAXk/yaRkhJQQmCM/s72-c/SP_A0229_edited.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/09/birthday-of-green-turtle.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-5257362320917423867</guid><pubDate>Mon, 22 Aug 2011 23:52:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-08-22T19:28:28.517-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">lessons learned</category><title>Left or right brained?</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Five years ago I decided to shift my career from systems design and analysis to interior design. That would be shifting the activities of my brain from the left to the right, which is more my characteristic based on the "overlapping thumbs" test and my first response to the dancer test.
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;For financial reasons however, I was forced to revert back to the field where I could readily earn an income - the Information Technology. It was a long way for me to go as far as Interior Design is concerned. And even if I have a big potential to create good paintings too, I did't have the luxury of time.
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&lt;br /&gt;So two years ago, I got back to the IT field. That took only 9 months though, and now I know the real reason why it did not last long. It was because of pressure in some major tasks that I had to handle alone. I decided to just focus and learn more about TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine since wellness or prevention of diseases is vital at my age, and to also find solutions for my special child. That means I was still using my left brain, am I correct?
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;After a year and a half I'm back to Information Technology but also still enhancing my knowledge in wellness since it is a basic need. That doesn't mean I'm earning through IT again because I've just started to enhance my knowledge of some software I've learned in the past. I'm excited because I'm learning again. 
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;I'm just beginning to realize now that it's not really the dominance of my left or right brain that makes learning exciting but it is really learning about new things. It just so happened that those new things are new technologies involving the left brain.
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&lt;br /&gt;I just had a more detailed "Creativity test" and it turned out I am 55% left and 45% right brained. But next time somebody asks if I am left or right brained, my answer would be "it is in between, ready to grasp whatever is new".&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/9CEr2GfGilw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-5257362320917423867?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/j3D8u3y8PBU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/j3D8u3y8PBU/left-or-right-brained.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/9CEr2GfGilw/default.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/08/left-or-right-brained.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-3261169550624354642</guid><pubDate>Tue, 19 Jul 2011 10:23:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-07-19T20:10:49.046-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cerebral palsy</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">special child</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">God's time</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">God said I love you</category><title>What's next?</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;After my anniversary post about &lt;a href="http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-conversation-with-god-on-june-12.html"&gt;my conversation with God&lt;/a&gt;, what's next? Every time I talk about God's message, it's as if I've done the finale of a story, so I tend to rest. As if there's nothing better to talk about than God's message. His "I loye you" message to mankind was so comforting but I hope it won't make mankind sleep. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That last statement "I hope it won't make mankind sleep", I just realized was so "human", so lacking in trust in God. Perhaps I was speaking for myself because I was sleeping. We may sleep but God is always awake to watch over us. And then He wakes us up even through simple things like a tv show, or a text from a friend. Like what He did to me... &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The next thing I know is I'm at Georgie's place and met her sisters Coroy and Pempi there. Pempi has inspired me since I was a teenager through her artworks, and now it's clear it was Coroy's turn to inspire me too. She said I should continuously and intelligently converse with Lyca, my special needs child, because she will understand me. Lyca is blind and because of cerebral palsy cannot utter words that can be understood. But she could verbally respond, most of the time with actions, and I know she's intelligent because she laughs whenever a song familiar to her was sang out of tune, and would clap her hands unceasingly whenever her favorite choir, the &lt;a href="http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2008/05/el-guayaboso-by-novo-concertante.html"&gt;Novo Concertante Manila&lt;/a&gt;, would sing. Time will come we will completely understand her and send her to school.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I just can thank God for His wake up calls to meet inspiring people. Shame on me to ask "what's next?".&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-3261169550624354642?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/LVKBis3Yvvs" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/LVKBis3Yvvs/whats-next.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/07/whats-next.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-5517091029526575281</guid><pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 2011 09:33:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-06-17T06:11:58.174-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">inspiring true stories</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">inspiring experience</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">God said I love you</category><title>My Conversation with God on June 12, 2001</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Exactly 10 years ago, a boring task of cleaning the stones of a mineral water pot led me to reminisce my disappointments in life and at the same time ask God why such should happen. Awesome answers came from my own thoughts which made me suspect that I was already conversing with God. The final outcome of our conversation was the main reason why I created this blog because I felt obliged to share &lt;a href="http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2008/03/gods-message.html"&gt;God's message&lt;/a&gt; to mankind, but waited for His time to do it, and that was when I learned about blogging in 2008.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since I had to emphasize the main message of God, I haven't shared the other topics of our conversation and that is what I'd like to share now.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Since there were germanium stones that I was cleaning then, I told God that He is so kind because he created cures for cancer, but what about AIDS?  He said He provided everything to mankind including all the cures to illnesses but mankind doesn't want to recognize them. I asked in my thoughts, where are these cures? I was outside at that time so I looked at the ground at a distance. The sun was shining brightly and there were a few plants. I thought perhaps God meant the plants that contain all cures. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'm glad I didn't tell that part of our conversation the first time I wrote about it because now I think I was partly wrong. Now I realize that God meant practically everything abundant that can cure illnesses like sunlight and the magnetic field of an unpolluted ground. And they are free!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To verify if I was really talking with God, I asked what message He'd like to tell mankind through the total number of stones that I was cleaning. After cleaning, when I counted 143 stones, I immediately knew that His message was "I love you", but I was surprised so I verified by counting again and that was really the total number of the stones.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;While thinking about my disappointments, I also told God I wish there was a child who could help me forget about those disappointments like my children did, when they were still babies and toddlers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;God proved His love by giving me what I wished for: a child who was born right inside our house, a year after. She was a very special child because she was born blind and had cerebral palsy. Through this child, God shook off my tendency to expect too much from people. That tendency was the real cause of my disappointments. For almost nine years now, this special child taught me to be happy with the smallest things people would show me.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2008/03/gods-message.html"&gt;God's message&lt;/a&gt; of love was for the whole of mankind. If He hasn't proven His Love for you yet, don't be impatient because He will prove that to you in His time. While waiting for that time, He promised to shake what can be shaken and removed from you, like impatience or even ungodliness.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised". (Hebrews 10:36)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails". (Proverbs 19:21)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-5517091029526575281?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/JmSDdCZRZl4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/JmSDdCZRZl4/my-conversation-with-god-on-june-12.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-conversation-with-god-on-june-12.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-6393773063044343106</guid><pubDate>Sat, 28 May 2011 10:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-05-28T05:09:07.699-07:00</atom:updated><title>Soul Consciousness</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Though I've just published in my other blogs about "Soul Consciousness", let this be my notes in a seminar about that topic which I attended at Brahma Kumaris, at least those topics or points that I could still remember.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;6 Original Qualities of a SOUL: &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;peaceful, powerful, pure, positive, loving and joyful. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;Each person should be conscious in attaining the original qualities of his/her soul, so that every activity or challenge will be light to carry, and a light energy will be passed to the people or living things in the surroundings.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To be positive is to think:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1. only about the good things.&lt;br /&gt;2. "What good things can I do?"&lt;br /&gt;3. "How can I help?"&lt;br /&gt;4. "What solution can I give?" &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;and remove all negative thoughts.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Two Kinds of Negative Thoughts:  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;1.  &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Thoughts of a closed mind&lt;/span&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;2. &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Waste thoughts&lt;/span&gt; - unproductive thoughts; will occupy time that should be spent in productive activities.&lt;br /&gt;   =&gt;  &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;gossips&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;   =&gt;  &lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;not in present time&lt;/span&gt; - unless it is about a past that gives a lesson for the present, or it is about a business plan.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;&lt;span style="font-style:italic;"&gt;If you want change, it should start with yourself, simply by manifesting your soul's original qualities. As usual, your surroundings will just react depending on your actions. So if you have changed, they will change as well. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;A regular 10-minute meditation before the regular waking time will help achieve the original state of the soul. Since the total qualities of a soul can be hard to achieve, a quality can be assigned to be attained for the day, until such time all qualities can be attained altogether.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-6393773063044343106?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/3evb6aKty_I" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/3evb6aKty_I/soul-consciousness.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/05/soul-consciousness.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-8534837166612959325</guid><pubDate>Sat, 07 May 2011 12:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-08-22T16:52:12.175-07:00</atom:updated><title>My Gifts for Mommy</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I’m just glad that there was somebody who could bring my gifts to my Mom! All I wish for her is a real good health so I’m giving the best products portable enough to easily reach her.  They are traditional herbs used in TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) from TIENS, a company that has been endorsed by different organizations like the World Health Organization.
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&lt;br /&gt;One traditional herb is jiaogulan or Gynostemma Pentaphyllum, the main ingredient in the box of tea I’m giving her, which also has green tea and 3 more herbs as ingredients. TIENS calls it Antilipemic Tea or Lipid Metabolic Management Tea because it cleanses the lipids and heavy metals from the blood vessels, purifying the cardiovascular system, therefore is very good for the heart. Jiaogulan is known as the "miracle herb" of China, the main reason why the Chinese folks lived longer and also looked younger. It is an anti-aging tea so I’m sure Mom will like that, and I really want her to live longer.
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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vTJCyMIj814" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;
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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lIhfylMSqkA" 
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&lt;br /&gt;Another traditional herb is Cordyceps Mycelium in the form of capsules. Only the emperors could afford this very popular herb in China that is anti-cancer, very good for the lungs, protects the kidneys and liver so it is indispensable especially for those taking prescription maintenance medicines. I know my mother will easily feel the difference after two to three weeks of consuming one capsule 30 minutes after breakfast and another capsule 30 minutes after dinner, because she will no longer experience fatigue whatever she does. She will surely like that, and that will also remove all my worries about her health.
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&lt;br /&gt;I can’t think of anything better that those two as far as supplements are concerned. I hope she still walks regularly like she used to do and eats only healthy foods.
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&lt;br /&gt;My gifts for her will make me happy, and I know my Mom will be happy because I am happy.&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MOM!!&lt;/span&gt;
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&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/fvTOtfXXiC4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-8534837166612959325?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/SPVqdbp0-aE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/SPVqdbp0-aE/my-gifts-for-mommy.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://img.youtube.com/vi/vTJCyMIj814/default.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-gifts-for-mommy.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-6495079434630149375</guid><pubDate>Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:30:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-04-10T23:23:59.800-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">inspiring true stories</category><title>He died a Toastmaster</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7oix5wxD5XI/TaKKFFKaGoI/AAAAAAAABI8/toCAtbBo2GY/s1600/TIlogo-BW-LogoforGrid.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 62px; height: 55px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7oix5wxD5XI/TaKKFFKaGoI/AAAAAAAABI8/toCAtbBo2GY/s320/TIlogo-BW-LogoforGrid.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5594185507037387394" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I was referring to my father, Luis Taa, better known as “Louie” or "Louie Boy", who died yesterday morning at the age of 82. His 5-year old cancer did not add more years to his life. These might be straightforward statements but that was part of my learning from Toastmasters Club, which my father had been convincing me to join for more than two years. I finally decided to be a member in 2003 and also persuaded my daughter to join too. My Toastmasters Club experience lasted only for 3 years but it brought about a big change in my life, and that is to be the best I can be. In those 3 years, I followed my father's footsteps by becoming an officer of Makati Toastmasters Club. I also joined Toastmasters Club contests where I won a place in some. During those years, my father was the wind beneath my wings.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The last time I was able to visit Dad was last month. Through a text message, he complained about a constant pain  on his waist and asked me for a remedy I might know, since I  have acquired some knowledge in TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine. He was bedridden during the first and second time I visited him that month, but during the second which was also the last time, he did not look like in pain. He was speaking in straight English, I haven't heard a single word in Tagalog so I jokingly said, "Are we in a Toastmasters Club meeting?" and he answered, "Yes, we are!". I then jokingly told my companions that we are in a TMC meeting and nobody should speak in Tagalog. After some time, I brought my special child to him, so we could "pray over" him, and I let my child hold his hand.  My child couldn't control her grip because of cerebral palsy, so while we were praying, Dad said, "masakit!" referring to the grip of my child. If we were not praying, I could have reminded him of his offense because he uttered a Tagalog word. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;A year after being operated and diagnosed with cancer of the colon, Dad looked strong and healthy until he was able to resume attending the Toastmasters Club meetings. If only the meetings finish early in the evening, he would have continuously attended the meetings. It was his loved ones who suggested he stop attending them so he could always rest early at night.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Though before we left on that last visit I could already sense his suffering because he vomited, my last memory of my father was as a real Toastmaster. He was jolly and made his guests laugh the whole time, a part of the task of the "host of the evening" in TMC meetings. I guess his comembers in Manila Bay Toastmasters Club can imagine how he did that. I had colds during the week before his death so I was not able to visit him again. So that was my last view of him alive, a Toastmaster, lively and witty!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Once a Toastmaster, always a Toastmaster!"&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-6495079434630149375?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/Vk0h9_GVZpg" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/Vk0h9_GVZpg/he-died-toastmaster.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7oix5wxD5XI/TaKKFFKaGoI/AAAAAAAABI8/toCAtbBo2GY/s72-c/TIlogo-BW-LogoforGrid.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>1</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/04/he-died-toastmaster.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-8809523723550297055</guid><pubDate>Wed, 09 Mar 2011 09:25:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-03-09T02:07:33.587-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">challenges in life</category><title>The Right Choice</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1M1DXfv7LNI/TXdPWvFKr5I/AAAAAAAABIs/hBTXSfHl-Io/s1600/bshouse__32967.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1M1DXfv7LNI/TXdPWvFKr5I/AAAAAAAABIs/hBTXSfHl-Io/s320/bshouse__32967.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5582017515162873746" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I was making a choice from two possibilities, only to realize later that what I should choose is not among the two. How many times did that happen to you? &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In my case, I couldn't count how many and I thought I was through with that, at my age. Now I realize that at this age where the offspring are already adults, the more a person can be undecided because he or she becomes more considerate of other people. Even when choosing products for health for example, even if a health product is the best for the condition of a person, but if the manufacturer is a competitor of the company of a son or daughter, a person tends to forget  about this product that can surely cure him or her.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That's life I guess, but when the life of a person is at stake, that is very sad. If only choices in life can be made "online", there will be less meddling and one's intuition will prevail. There's a big chance the right choice will be made. Of course not in all cases.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's just good that certain choices can really be made online, like choosing products such as &lt;a href="http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/"&gt;medical scrubs&lt;/a&gt;. For medical practitioners, life can be very stressful because they deal with lives. Choosing their uniforms should not add to the stress of their daily routines. They can now get a &lt;a href="http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Scrubs-for-Men/"&gt;medical scrub uniform&lt;/a&gt; with a click and they can &lt;a href="http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/"&gt;buy scrubs online&lt;/a&gt; from a &lt;a href="http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/"&gt;scrubs store&lt;/a&gt; that offers several designs to choose from. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;What a convenient way of making the right choice!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Brought to you by my friends in www.blueskyscrubs.com."&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-8809523723550297055?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/6E9X_5sh8UA" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/6E9X_5sh8UA/right-choice.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1M1DXfv7LNI/TXdPWvFKr5I/AAAAAAAABIs/hBTXSfHl-Io/s72-c/bshouse__32967.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>1</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/03/right-choice.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-2253172301430549438</guid><pubDate>Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:20:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-02-22T17:30:12.077-08:00</atom:updated><title>Busy Days</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;If you want to make your life worth living, you have to be ready for busy days, even very very busy days, whether you've retired from your regular job or not.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, I can't believe what makes me busy these days: reading a lot, talking a lot and thinking a lot -  just basic tasks really, but they can lead to accomplishing much bigger goals. Oh, I forgot discussing a lot, which is a more productive task resulting from those basic tasks.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Discussions can eat up a lot of time but it is an inevitable job that needs to be performed by responsible people. The energies of the year by the way can lead us to a lot of that, but the energies can be so strong that if a leader is weakened by corruption, a revolt can ensue and that has already started in the Middle East. The positive side of that is more issues can be resolved and more programs accomplished this year.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We just need to be always positive so that these busy days will not be put to waste. These busy days should bring about better days.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-2253172301430549438?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/j0GryW33uc4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/j0GryW33uc4/busy-days.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/02/busy-days.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-3273486898900128588</guid><pubDate>Sun, 23 Jan 2011 16:26:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-01-28T03:23:00.064-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">inspiring experience</category><title>A Family Choir</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TUKmz0Ocu1I/AAAAAAAABIQ/QWhl8EZEDEw/s1600/2011NewYear%2B071.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TUKmz0Ocu1I/AAAAAAAABIQ/QWhl8EZEDEw/s320/2011NewYear%2B071.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5567195498506140498" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;After we sang the communion songs at this Sunday's morning mass at the Loyola Grand Villas chapel,  there was an announcement that a plaque will be given, and we were surprised that the plaque was for us, the Venida Family Choir, “for their selfless sharing of their valuable time and marvelous talent, as they sing in our regular Sunday morning masses”.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After the mass, we tried to count how many years have passed since we started singing at the LGV Chapel as a family choir. The youngest member of the choir who was my husband's nephew and lives at the subdivision where the chapel is, was not yet a member of the choir because he was an acolyte assisting the priest, when we started. He was still in the primary grade level during that time, until he became old for an acolyte and could already join the choir. He has graduated in Pre-med school and now in his second year in Medicine Proper. In short, we've been singing in this chapel as a family choir for more than ten years already. My daughter is the director and an alto, my son a bass, my husband the guitarist and I am a soprano. There are times though when my daughter and I would exchange voices or would shift to just one voice, alto or soprano, depending on the need. Other members of the choir like the doctor-to-be, are the first cousins of my children, and then one member is a boyfriend of a family member, another one a girlfriend of my son.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Some members of the choir are also members of other choirs like my daughter and son and his girlfriend who are members of Novo Concertante Manila, while the doctor-to-be and her sister are members of Bukas Palad. That is the reason why the Venida Family Choir can sing well even without practicing.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In my case, I try to be always present during the performances of my children's choir so I can emulate their voices. And I'm very thankful that I am a member of a family choir because it really helped improve my voice. Every time we sing during the mass, I silently express how grateful I am. Of course the songs that we sing helped too.I liked songs that can express one's feelings but I realized that the best songs that can do that are the ones that praise God or are really prayers, not just songs.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-3273486898900128588?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/jzaF4Rk4GXE" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/jzaF4Rk4GXE/family-choir.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TUKmz0Ocu1I/AAAAAAAABIQ/QWhl8EZEDEw/s72-c/2011NewYear%2B071.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2011/01/family-choir.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-6022580194749838439</guid><pubDate>Tue, 28 Dec 2010 01:42:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-12-27T22:02:06.154-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">health and wellness</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Traditional Chinese Medicine</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">TCM</category><title>An "emotional" Christmas</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I had an "emotional" Christmas not really because I was that emotional but simply because my thoughts were focused about the emotions. Well, I was partly emotional because I was concerned about the bad habits of some people around me, feared that bad habits can run in families, and yes, I found an article in the internet that says they do run in families.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It's Christmas, so I cannot tell people this and that, which can make their Christmases really emotional. I have to consider what I learned in TCM, that emotions play a big part in the onset of illnesses. So if I delve on my fear and worries too much, my kidneys will be affected, and that can happen too to those people I will confront about bad habits.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;However, I was not able to control myself yesterday, I commented about a relative's plan for a reunion on New Year's Day which their family traditionally practices. I said her spleen is weak and she should not "over-plan" because that will add more damage to the spleen. My intention was really just to warn, anyway the reunion can still be done by just buying cooked food.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most probably, I was also influenced by a book I just found in a bookstore published by Reader's Digest. The title of the book is "Managing Your Emotional Health Using Traditional Chinese Medicine" by Zhang Yifang. Looks like a great book because it presented cases. I bought one but gave it as a gift to a family of doctors. I'll get myself a copy next time. I'd like to use the Amazon link in this blog but unfortunately Philippines is not found in the list of international countries Amazon may ship their products to, can't believe it. So for those in other countries, you may search my Amazon link here in my "I Don't Want To Retire" blog or my "Dreams List" blog for that book and buy it from there. I'll get a small commission if you do that, but can only withdraw my commissions when they reach a total of 100USD.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Oh, one thing I am also somewhat emotional about is I again didn't keep my promise to write a post about my conversation with God, the untold part. Maybe I'll just do that exactly on the 10th anniversary of the conversation which will be on June 12, 2011. Watch out for that!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-6022580194749838439?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/mneRhu0Bq2Y" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/mneRhu0Bq2Y/emotional-christmas.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/12/emotional-christmas.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-3231771996063801986</guid><pubDate>Sun, 28 Nov 2010 00:19:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-11-29T07:16:05.964-08:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">challenges in life</category><title>Iridology or Live Blood Analysis</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Of course this is not the post I promised to write next after my previous post "Aura detox", because to be able to compose it, my mind should be as clear as water. You'll understand why, because the title of that post will be "My conversation with God – the untold part".&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;At present, my mind is bothered about some moves I've taken, whether they were right or wrong, though as far as being part of TIENS is concerned, I'm really very thankful to our Lord!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Life seems to be full of choices because we cannot get everything we want or need, and money is not the only problem but time as well. If I feel that I'll have enough money by next year, I have to make a choice between getting an Iridology equipment or Live Blood Analysis, and that is assuming that the place is not a problem. I will welcome comments that will help me decide, but in the meantime I need to study both.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'd like to imagine myself using either of the two equipments in a place suitable enough, and I guess wearing scrubs is inevitable. Wearing one shouldn't be a problem because there  are &lt;a href="http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrubs/Women%27s-Scrubs/Custom-Scrubs/"&gt;cheap scrubs&lt;/a&gt; available. I can probably use a &lt;a href="http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Medical-Coats/"&gt;cotton lab coat&lt;/a&gt; instead, but I'd like to imagine I'm wearing a scrub hat for my head so that my hair won't disturb my sight. I guess I'll go for &lt;a href="http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/categories/Scrub-Hats/Women%27s-Scrub-Hats/Pony-Collection/"&gt;all cotton scrubs&lt;/a&gt; with an attractive scrub hat, and that thought just made my mind lighter. How I wish all choices could be that easy!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Brought to you by my friends in www.blueskyscrubs.com."&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-3231771996063801986?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/x9OZCxdPElI" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/x9OZCxdPElI/iridology-or-live-blood-analysis.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/11/iridology-or-live-blood-analysis.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-3920299959655589901</guid><pubDate>Mon, 25 Oct 2010 05:38:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2011-08-04T09:19:06.252-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">health and wellness</category><title>Aura detox</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TMV9zrrWG-I/AAAAAAAABGs/NuHpIzrgGhI/s1600/DSC00771.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TMV9zrrWG-I/AAAAAAAABGs/NuHpIzrgGhI/s320/DSC00771.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531966044145851362" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;As I was internalizing how I may share in this blog that ad lib portion I enjoyed the most during my seminar about the Tiens Photon Mattress, I was beginning to realize that I might have a deeper mission and I will talk about that in detail maybe in my next post although some details could already be told here.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;That portion started with me showing one of my favorite shots which is the silhouette of my daughter while seated on the bamboo bench of the cottage we occupied when we went to Pearl Farm in Davao. The cottage was right above the waters and the refreshing feeling in that cottage could come from the negative ions emitted by the waters. At the background is a small virgin island and another island with white sand. I explained that by stepping barefooted on the grounds of any of those islands, the ground's magnetic field will improve a person's health.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The light at the background came from the sun, which could stimulate the production of Vitamin D that will prevent or fight cancer, even for just 20 minutes of daily exposure. The far infrared rays of the sun will also benefit a person's health greatly. And then my last statement was "everything was provided by God", and I could see some people in the audience nodding.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TMV7rirxiNI/AAAAAAAABGk/BF4y-RCVeJc/s1600/DSC01656.JPG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 255px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TMV7rirxiNI/AAAAAAAABGk/BF4y-RCVeJc/s320/DSC01656.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5531963705269520594" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;Tiens made a major breakthrough by combining those bio-energies found in nature that are far away from environmental pollutions. The photon with 660 nanometer wavelength, invented by the Russians for NASA, which simulates the sun's photon energy that stimulates the metabolism of cells and repairs damaged cells; the very low frequency magnetic field, which brings the floor culture of our ancestors to the bedroom; and the negative ions emitted by the mattress' energy stones, simulating the negative ions from the seas or the waterfalls in the mountains that purifies the air, the cells and blood.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It goes without saying that the mattress is for the modern people who don't have the time to go to those unpolluted places frequently to benefit their health, and much more. The mattress brings to the people the benefit of the sun even at nighttime, which is the best time for each organ of the body to detoxify. Through the photons, only the beneficial rays of the sun are simulated, eliminating the bad effect of the ultraviolet rays, though the 20-minute daily exposure under the sun is still the best for the production of Vitamin D. The alternating magnetic field of the mattress not only simulates the effect when walking barefooted on virgin grounds, it also stimulates the chi meridians, getting the effect of a tuina massage or even acupuncture.  &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It is said that even by just rubbing a jade stone, a person will feel good. Tiens made a wise choice by adding the jade stone for far infrared transfer because it is the most efficient heat absorber among the semi-precious stones. The heat from jade stones is soothing to the body.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The features of the mattress are just too many, but I feel I shouldn't fail to mention the control panel that takes care of automatic switching off and on of some features while you are sleeping. To top it all is the sauna effect with infrared and photon energy that will enable the total detoxification of a person's aura or bio-energy, thus the term "Aura-detox", bringing back the effect of God's creations for the well-being of mankind.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/pONbQEmuvbs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-3920299959655589901?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/9EEWOWv8ghM" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/9EEWOWv8ghM/aura-detox.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TMV9zrrWG-I/AAAAAAAABGs/NuHpIzrgGhI/s72-c/DSC00771.JPG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>1</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/10/aura-detox.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-5582746140797548865</guid><pubDate>Sun, 17 Oct 2010 10:39:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-10-17T04:49:36.986-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">helping mankind</category><title>Enjoying a mission</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Last Friday, I was the speaker in a seminar about Tiens Photon Bio-energy Mattress. I made a script for the talking points, based on the video version. But the powerpoint presentation was original and I really enjoyed creating the slides. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I stuck to the script the first time I presented it, but during the second session, I incorporated a lot of ad lib that would share information from researches I've made that are related to the topic. And that was what I enjoyed the most. Maybe I should blog about one of those ad lib portions. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In the meantime, I can't help but express my joy. Disseminating information about health or wellness has been a part of my mission here on earth and it gives the kind of fulfillment you get from helping mankind. Though it was inevitable to talk about money matters, that topic did not really matter to me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-5582746140797548865?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/MHb-Q2IYKqw" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/MHb-Q2IYKqw/enjoying-mission.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/10/enjoying-mission.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-2202376441616265731</guid><pubDate>Sun, 03 Oct 2010 11:52:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-10-03T05:38:50.933-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">health and wellness</category><title>The Mother of Lau</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I was supposed to write a post for my "Amusing Tips" blog, and the title of the post should be "The Mother of Lungs". But it's the birthday of my daughter, Holly, and several of her friends greeted her, "Happy Birthday, Lau!" in Facebook (her given name is Lauren Lois). That was how the title of this post came about, because I'd like to offer something for her birthday like what happened accidentally last year, where I suddenly saw her article about "Musings of a Batang San Miguel" on her birthday so I thought of posting it the same day.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, the mother of lungs is the spleen. It is not hard to be a mother of lungs, likewise, it is not hard to be a mother of Lau. The spleen filters the air so that only the pure air will go up to the lungs while impure air goes down to the stomach. However, there are times the spleen couldn't perform her function as the mother of lungs because it doesn't like anything cold, like cold drinks. That is also why we catch a cold when we're outside in the cold. The spleen might have transported impure air to our lungs because it did not function well. And that is why hot chicken soup is good when you have colds, because the spleen would recover. But just drinking hot water will do the same good job (one part hot water and one part tap water in one glass). &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Similarly, there are times I couldn't perform my function well as the mother of Lau or any of my children because I was preoccupied with things I didn't like, but my children have nothing to do with such things (anything caused by the children will not be a reason for a mother not to perform her functions).     &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Those studying anatomy would wonder where I got the idea of spleen as the mother of lungs but those who knew TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) would know what I'm talking about. What is more important is the readers now know a way how to take care of their lungs, I have to reserve the rest of the tips for my "Amusing Tips" blog.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Happy Birthday, my daughter!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-2202376441616265731?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/3OUbut4kG7M" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/3OUbut4kG7M/mother-of-lau.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/10/mother-of-lau.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-6927121940825071832</guid><pubDate>Wed, 22 Sep 2010 02:09:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-09-21T19:26:41.609-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">health and wellness</category><title>"Ameriplan" for Americans</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;For those in America, have you heard about &lt;a href="http://www.ourdentalplan.com"&gt;Ameriplan&lt;/a&gt;? I just browsed their website,  they have great deals like from now until October 31, 2010, 50% off for the first 3 months of membership and free registration.  Mom is in America, so are several of my relatives and friends, I know they will read this blog post, I hope they’ll study the discounted health plans of Ameriplan.  And the rest of you too in America! This is NOT a health insurance, you are totally in control of any health or &lt;a href="http://www.ourdentalplan.com"&gt;discount plan&lt;/a&gt; it offers that you feel suits you best.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To give you an idea, the following are some of the discounted plans &lt;a href="http://www.ourmedicalprogram.com"&gt;Ameriplan&lt;/a&gt; is offering:&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Total Health&lt;/span&gt; - all the options including: physician care, ancillary services such as physical therapy, lab work, imaging centers, diabetic supplies, etc.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Dental Plus&lt;/span&gt; – dental procedures, oral surgery and orthodontics&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Vision&lt;/span&gt; -  vision care which includes lenses, tints, coating and frames, as well as Ophthalmology exams and contact lenses&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight:bold;"&gt;Chiropractic&lt;/span&gt; – consultation including diagnostics and x-ray&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I will no longer worry about expensive dental procedures when I go to America, because there is a &lt;a href="http://www.ourdentalplan.com"&gt;dental plan&lt;/a&gt; that will take care of my teeth. For the rest of my body, going to the doctor will be my last resort because I will take care of myself by adhering to a healthy lifestyle, which can be monitored by laboratory tests and other diagnostic examinations.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"Brought to you by http://www.ourdentalplan.com"&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-6927121940825071832?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/kx2TrLxfgt4" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/kx2TrLxfgt4/ameriplan-for-americans.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/09/ameriplan-for-americans.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-617291201426331495</guid><pubDate>Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:07:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-09-11T04:14:19.176-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">helping mankind</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">health and wellness</category><title>Sharing information for wellness</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;The last time I seriously spoke to an audience with a well prepared speech was on August 8, 2005. That was five years ago, I delivered a two-in-one speech titled "Desire to inspire!". It was my salutatory speech as the incoming President of Makati Toastmasters Club, and also my last speech project to finally get the Advanced Toastmasters Silver award.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;After five years, I will be speaking seriously again in front of an audience. I am excited because I have a totally different objective this time: to share valuable information that will help the audience, either to earn a living or maintain a healthy body, but the latter is more important because they can't possibly sell a health product if they are not healthy. I can't say that I am qualified to talk about the topic because I am not a medical doctor that the audience could easily believe in whatever I will impart to them, but I know they will feel my sincerity in sharing what I know and have experienced about the best product of Tiens, the Photon Bio-energy Mattress that will keep a person healthy.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I just read that 40% of the Americans are now trying alternative therapies like acupuncture to replace pharmaceutical medicines. I just hope that the doctors in the Philippines will also start integrating Western medicine with other medical studies like TCM. That way, people will be more inspired to be responsible for their own health because a doctor is behind him or her, not only during crisis when curing can be too late, but also during the best times of their lives.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-617291201426331495?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/mFolmdkL1f0" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/mFolmdkL1f0/sharing-information-for-wellness.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/09/sharing-information-for-wellness.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-5377009413569024542</guid><pubDate>Mon, 09 Aug 2010 01:56:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-08-08T20:53:59.412-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">health gadgets</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">God's time</category><title>Marketing with Compassion</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;First of all, I'd like to thank my son for inspiring me to write this post because of a discussion we had yesterday morning. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I was telling my children to notify me whenever there will be a wellness exhibit or similar program in their office because I might be able to participate, using my &lt;a href="http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/search/label/electronic%20acupuncture"&gt;Tiens Acumagic or Electronic Acupuncture gadget&lt;/a&gt;. Just last week, we participated in the wellness exhibit of my husband's former office and I found the experience very fulfilling because I felt that I helped people. What I wasn't able to clarify was I couldn't do that without the gadget. In fact I was supposed to market the gadget, and not just tell people what steps they should take to prevent illnesses they will most likely have after 6 months if they don't do any preventive measures. Usually, I leave everything to God, and just focus on what I think can help people at the moment. Perhaps later, they will be interested to own that gadget too. But at that moment, the thought that I could sell a product worth more than 10,000 Philippine pesos never entered my mind.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Marketing Tiens products should be my objective in participating in a wellness exhibit but I tend to forget about that. I am a distributor, not a doctor. But I also want to share everything that I learned about &lt;a href="http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/search/label/TCM"&gt;TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine&lt;/a&gt;, which is the philosophy behind the products of Tiens, so I believe I can speak about it too. The question now is what do I want to share? TCM or the products of Tiens? If I want to talk about TCM then I should not mention any Tiens products. That would be hard on my part because I am not a TCM Doctor, though I have some medical background as a Medical Technology graduate, and have been exposed to the medical clinic industry supporting its Information Technology applications. But TCM is quite different from Western Medicine. The good thing about TCM is it was designed to be easily understood by laymen, except acupuncture which has to be studied in detail, though the electronic acupuncture of Tiens was made for laymen so it included instructional "recipes" that can be easily followed by laymen.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Well, I guess, as long as I know I can help people because I'm sure of what I'm talking about, that's all that matters. As far as Tiens products are concerned, especially the supplements, I have my own laboratory results to show, before and after I took a specific supplement.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-5377009413569024542?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/CmqXwcNl4CU" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/CmqXwcNl4CU/marketing-with-compassion.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/08/marketing-with-compassion.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-6505544074469315970</guid><pubDate>Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:28:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-08-18T21:57:54.570-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">acupuncture</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">comb massage gadget</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">health and wellness</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Traditional Chinese Medicine</category><title>Fighting a fever without medicines</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TEm5iQTipbI/AAAAAAAABEs/W9bZdha6Y8k/s1600/comb+copy.PNG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 122px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TEm5iQTipbI/AAAAAAAABEs/W9bZdha6Y8k/s200/comb+copy.PNG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497128818326021554" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TEm53pZVb0I/AAAAAAAABE0/zb39FcKyMMw/s1600/li4.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TEm53pZVb0I/AAAAAAAABE0/zb39FcKyMMw/s200/li4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497129185838460738" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TEm5-DwNy-I/AAAAAAAABE8/e1s1dL3VGXs/s1600/li11.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 200px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TEm5-DwNy-I/AAAAAAAABE8/e1s1dL3VGXs/s200/li11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497129295992966114" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;This is the first time I fought with fever without medicines, and as I write this, the fight is over. My special needs child, Lyca, has been taking mood stabilizers and medicines to alleviate seizures and for her to take more medicines for fever or colds will again add burden to her kidneys and liver. So I tried  to use what I learned from TCM to fight her fever. The easiest way was to use the &lt;a href="http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2008/11/most-versatile-gadget_10.html"&gt;comb gadget of Tiens&lt;/a&gt; by combing it from one acupoint to another, that is, from LI-11 found at the end of the crease of the fold above the elbow to LI-4 found at the junction of the thumb and index finger (see illustrations). The large intestine meridian is a Yang meridian and going against the path of the meridian (from a high numbered acupoint to a lower one, like LI-11 to LI-4) will reduce the excess Yang which causes fever. I also used the &lt;a href="http://dreamslist.blogspot.com/2009/04/therapist.html"&gt;needleless acupuncture of Tiens&lt;/a&gt;, the Tong Bao, on the same acupoints, reducing their Yang-ness by counterclockwise rotation.&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TEm-OdVddTI/AAAAAAAABFE/hGFk1sfy8Uk/s1600/acupoint+copy.PNG"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 182px; height: 200px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TEm-OdVddTI/AAAAAAAABFE/hGFk1sfy8Uk/s200/acupoint+copy.PNG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5497133975784486194" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It was amusing to note the differences between taking paracetamol and just stimulating the acupoints. With paracetamol, fever will disappear but temperature will rise again after 4 hours and it can be as high as 39 degrees centigrade. That was the usual effect on Lyca, and she would look really sick. This time, just stimulating her acupoints, the temperature was more constant, fluctuating from 37.5 to 38 degrees centigrade. Lyca remained naughty so it was hard to give her the supplements that could help, like the Zinc Plus (with honey and albumin) which will boost her immune system, and hi-calcium powder for children, both from Tiens also, because she would laugh while drinking them (mixed with warm water). My patience was tested so it was a tough fight that went on for four days. For all I know it could be a fight with a flu, not just fever.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Tomorrow, July 24, is Lyca's eight birthday. I will stay at home with her the whole day, to make sure that her fever won't come back. I know that my two grown up children whose choir will have a concert tomorrow will understand.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-6505544074469315970?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/7nbXj0L9eRk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/7nbXj0L9eRk/fighting-fever-without-medicines.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TEm5iQTipbI/AAAAAAAABEs/W9bZdha6Y8k/s72-c/comb+copy.PNG" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>2</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/07/fighting-fever-without-medicines.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-8370635365967016607</guid><pubDate>Mon, 12 Jul 2010 02:09:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-07-11T19:41:39.177-07:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">helping mankind</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">health and wellness</category><title>Fulfilling Assignments</title><description>&lt;div align="justify"&gt;I can't remember being so excited whenever there was an assignment or homework when I was still a student. Or maybe not as excited as now. Perhaps because the person who gave me the assignment now is somebody I really admire, none other than the TCM Doctor of Tianshi Phils., Dr. Hector Dela Cruz. I owe this doctor a lot because it was from him that I first learned about TCM or Traditional Chinese Medicine, though he graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree specializing in Internal Medicine, with honors.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I've learned so much about TCM from him and I will surely learn much much more from the assignments he'll give me. My first assignment was just a coincidence because I had to bring someone to him for a much needed consultation. My next posts in this blog will talk about my assignment which will be a case of blood deficiency (TCM approach). I hope this will not be my first and last assignment from him, though I've already assigned myself other homeworks like the treatment of our special needs child which will require professional physical therapists so I won't be alone in that assignment.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;This will be the first time I will say that I love getting older because my assignments become more fulfilling as I become older. Not only because I have accumulated more wisdom, but because I am also challenged to be fit myself. I take care of myself to be able to accomplish assignments to help other people become healthy as well.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-8370635365967016607?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/Dixlvz9Dpnk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/Dixlvz9Dpnk/fulfilling-assignments.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/07/fulfilling-assignments.html</feedburner:origLink></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4997319789978800746.post-405166780277065537</guid><pubDate>Sun, 27 Jun 2010 09:56:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2010-06-27T04:00:35.874-07:00</atom:updated><title>"Do Not Disturb"</title><description>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TCcrDqhm6DI/AAAAAAAABD8/1XSf3GVOGe4/s1600/2010DadDay+003.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TCcrDqhm6DI/AAAAAAAABD8/1XSf3GVOGe4/s320/2010DadDay+003.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487402012929091634" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_gtEWXAPruek/SG1PBtMJWrI/AAAAAAAAAXk/yaRkhJQQmCM/s1600-h/SP_A0229_edited.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_gtEWXAPruek/SG1PBtMJWrI/AAAAAAAAAXk/yaRkhJQQmCM/s320/SP_A0229_edited.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5218914433921276594" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TCcnWtkjL7I/AAAAAAAABDc/aWWUZj775Gk/s1600/2010DadDay+001.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TCcnWtkjL7I/AAAAAAAABDc/aWWUZj775Gk/s320/2010DadDay+001.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487397942117740466" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div align="justify"&gt;Those who knew our pet green turtle might be asking “how is Wendy?”. Well, she has grown big and 2 to 3 months from now she'll be three years old. If this is the first time you've read about her, it might interest you to know that she &lt;a href="http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2008/03/miracles-are-also-for-animals.html"&gt;survived for five months without food&lt;/a&gt;. So for our family, she is truly a symbol of strength. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;To compare how she looked when she was about 6 months old I'm again showing the same photo I published in this blog more than 2 years ago (second photo) and her latest photo (third photo). The round stone in the background of the old photo is the same stone in the background of the latest photo. The stone shows how big Wendy has grown.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I'd like to change the water in Wendy's pool twice a week and I found that easier by placing 2 tubs inside the aquarium than just putting water directly in the aquarium. Anyway, we noticed that she wanted to be out of the  water while taking a nap between 1 and 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Only a few are aware of that schedule so the "Do Not Disturb" sign is surely a help. She prefers to sleep fully immersed in water at night, but one time, we noticed that her head was out of the water, her jaw on top of the ream of the tub (see second photo).&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Feng Shui tip that a green turtle is a loner and will show more strength when placed in the north is quite true, so I'm now sharing that tip again.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TCcsAFQLSbI/AAAAAAAABEE/QRbEI8xs0Vs/s1600/2010DadDay+002.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TCcsAFQLSbI/AAAAAAAABEE/QRbEI8xs0Vs/s320/2010DadDay+002.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5487403050895886770" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4997319789978800746-405166780277065537?l=idontwant2retire.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~4/KlzYWtanEXk" height="1" width="1"/&gt;</description><link>http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IDontWantToRetire/~3/KlzYWtanEXk/do-not-disturb.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Maria Luisa Taa Venida)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_gtEWXAPruek/TCcrDqhm6DI/AAAAAAAABD8/1XSf3GVOGe4/s72-c/2010DadDay+003.jpg" height="72" width="72" /><thr:total>0</thr:total><feedburner:origLink>http://idontwant2retire.blogspot.com/2010/06/do-not-disturb.html</feedburner:origLink></item></channel></rss>

