Sebastianus Waryanto

Jantung Sehat, Rahasia Hidup Sehat

2012-01-24T02:27:00.000-08:00

Jantung memiliki peranan yang sangat penting dalam tubuh kita. Bahkan jantung mempunyai peranan sentral, seperti kita lihat dalam fungsi jantung sendiri yaitu mengalirkan darah yang berisi makanan ke seluruh tubuh kita. Namun apa jadinya kalau fungsi sentral jantung tidak berjalan dengan baik, alias fungsi terganggu, maka kesehatan tubuh kita pun terganggu. Maka dari itu, sejenak mari kita mengenal kesehatan jantung dan beberapa tips yang berguna.

Ada banyak hal yang dapat Anda lakukan untuk membantu menjaga jantung Anda sehat. Dan lebih sering daripada tidak, melihat pola makan Anda - dan kehilangan berat badan jika perlu - adalah perubahan sederhana dapat Anda buat untuk membantu kesehatan jantung.

Apa saja faktor risiko penyakit jantung?

Keempat faktor risiko utama untuk penyakit jantung adalah merokok, memiliki kolesterol tinggi, memiliki tekanan darah tinggi dan secara fisik tidak aktif.

Namun, kelebihan berat badan, diabetes, minum alkohol terlalu banyak, dan memiliki terlalu banyak garam dalam diet kita juga meningkatkan risiko. Sebuah riwayat keluarga penyakit jantung juga merupakan faktor risiko.

Ingatlah, resiko kita penyakit jantung tergantung pada berapa banyak faktor risiko yang kita miliki dan seberapa kuat masing-masing faktor risiko individu. Berhenti merokok dan mengambil berolahraga lebih aerobik adalah langkah pertama yang penting.

Banyak faktor-faktor risiko lain - seperti kolesterol tinggi, tekanan darah tinggi, kelebihan berat badan dan memiliki terlalu banyak alkohol dan garam - semua dapat ditingkatkan dengan makan makanan sehat.

Apa pentingnya menurunkan kolesterol?

Kolesterol adalah bahan lemak yang dibuat terutama di hati. Ini merupakan bagian penting dari setiap sel dan merupakan blok bangunan dari banyak hormon steroid penting. Namun, terlalu banyak dalam darah meningkatkan risiko penyakit jantung.

Kolesterol menggunakan sirkulasi tubuh sebagai sistem transportasi dan perjalanan sekitar pada kendaraan terdiri dari protein. Kombinasi kolesterol dan protein disebut lipoprotein dan ada dua jenis utama - low density lipoprotein (LDL) dan lipoprotein densitas tinggi (HDL).

Kolesterol buruk

LDL mengangkut kolesterol dari hati ke sel, di mana jumlah tertentu yang diperlukan.Namun, setiap kolesterol yang tersisa dapat secara kimia diubah (sebuah proses yang disebut oksidasi) dan diambil oleh sel-sel di dinding arteri di mana di situ mulai terbangun - itu proses yang menyebabkan penyempitan pembuluh darah atau aterosklerosis. Akibatnya, kadar kolesterol LDL yang tinggi meningkatkan risiko penyakit jantung - itulah mengapa kadang-kadang disebut kolesterol 'buruk'.

Kolesterol Baik

Sebaliknya, HDL membawa kelebihan kolesterol dari arteri ke hati, dimana tubuh akan membuangnya. Akibatnya, tingkat tinggi kolesterol HDL akan berpikir untuk melindungi terhadap penyakit jantung, dan ini yang disebut kolesterol 'baik'.

Bagaimana saya mengetahui kadar kolesterol saya?

Kadar kolesterol darah dapat diukur dengan tes darah sederhana. Dokter Anda akan melihat angka-angka untuk tingkat kolesterol secara keseluruhan atau total, ditambah angka untuk LDL dan kolesterol HDL. Semua nilai-nilai ini diukur dalam satuan yang disebut millimols per liter darah, biasanya disingkat menjadi mmol / l. Tingkat yang sehat adalah sebagai berikut:

Kolesterol total - kurang dari 5 mmol / l

Kolesterol LDL - kurang dari 3 mmol / l

HDL kolesterol - lebih dari 1 mmol / l

Bagaimana saya bisa menurunkan kolesterol?

Dokter mungkin memberikan obat. Namun, itu juga penting untuk melihat diet Anda.

Menurut British Heart Foundation makan diet jantung sehat dapat membantu menurunkan kadar kolesterol Anda dengan antara 5% dan 10%. Dalam kebanyakan kasus, tujuannya adalah untuk mengurangi kolesterol total, terutama dengan menurunkan kadar LDL atau kolesterol 'buruk'. Tapi itu juga penting untuk meningkatkan kadar HDL atau kolesterol 'baik'.

Secara khusus, menurunkan berat badan adalah salah satu hal yang paling penting yang dapat Anda lakukan untuk menurunkan kolesterol Anda jika Anda kelebihan berat badan atau obesitas. Lebih baik lagi, menurunkan berat badan yang berlebihan juga akan membantu untuk mengurangi faktor risiko lain untuk penyakit jantung seperti tekanan darah tinggi dan diabetes.

Secara keseluruhan, Anda harus mengurangi jumlah total lemak yang Anda makan. Untuk diet sehat direkomendasikan bahwa tidak lebih dari 30 persen dari kalori harian Anda berasal dari lemak.

Ini berarti jika Anda memiliki asupan kalori harian dari 1.500 kalori, Anda seharusnya tidak memiliki lebih dari 50g lemak, jika tunjangan kalori harian Anda adalah 2.000 kalori, Anda seharusnya tidak memiliki lebih dari 66g hari lemak.

Sangat penting untuk kesehatan jantung untuk memastikan Anda sedang makan jenis lemak yang tepat juga. Ada tiga jenis utama lemak dalam makanan - jenuh, tak jenuh monounsaturates dan. Sebagian besar makanan mengandung campuran ini, tetapi mereka umumnya diklasifikasikan menurut jenis lemak yang ditemukan dalam jumlah terbesar.

Jenuh

Makanan tinggi lemak jenuh meliputi daging, penuh lemak produk susu, mentega, gajih, krim, keju dan makanan olahan. Jenis LDL meningkatkan lemak atau kolesterol 'buruk' jadi penting untuk makan lebih sedikit dari mereka.

Tak jenuh

Sumber yang baik dari minyak nabati tak jenuh termasuk murni dan menyebar seperti minyak bunga matahari, jagung dan kedelai dan margarin dan beberapa sayuran. Jenis lemak yang membantu menurunkan LDL atau kolesterol 'buruk'. Tapi mereka juga lebih rendah HDL atau kolesterol 'baik'.

Monounsaturates

Sumber baik dari monounsaturates meliputi minyak zaitun, alpukat, kacang-kacangan dan biji-bijian. Jenis lemak LDL yang lebih rendah atau kolesterol 'buruk' tetapi mereka membantu untuk mempertahankan tingkat HDL atau kolesterol 'baik'.

Pada intinya, selain makan makanan kurang berlemak dalam diet Anda, juga penting untuk menukar makanan tinggi lemak jenuh dengan makanan yang kaya oleh lemak tak jenuh. Ini mungkin terdengar rumit tapi dalam prakteknya hal itu sederhana - misalnya, jika Anda benar-benar harus menggoreng, menggunakan sejumlah kecil minyak zaitun daripada mentega!

How to have 'flying twitter' on your blog

2012-01-20T09:37:00.000-08:00

Twitter has become more popular as a social media. In fact twitter grow significantly. So it is essential for those who tweet a lot or for blogger or actively use twitter.

Below is the simple steps on how to add that 'flying twitter' on your blogger:

Go to Your Blogger Dashboard Click > Design > Edit Html
Find the following piece of code in your blogs Html : (Click Ctrl and F for a search bar to help find the code) -
</body>
Copy and paste the following ocde directly Below / After </body>
<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://bloggerblogwidgets.googlecode.com/files/way2blogging.org-tripleflap.js">
</script>
<script type="text/javascript">
var twitterAccount = "Your Twitter User Name Here!";
var tweetThisText = " <data:blog.pageTitle/>: <data:blog.url/> ";
tripleflapInit();
</script>
<span style="font-size:11px;position:absolute;"><a title='Blogger Widget by Way2blogging.Org' href="http://www.way2blogging.org" target='_blank'><img border='0' src='http://img1.blogblog.com/img/blank.gif'/></a></span><a href="http://www.spiceupyourblog.com" target="_blank">Twitter Bird Gadget</a>

</b:if>"

Important Note:-
Replace Your Twitter User Name Here! with your twitter user name.You add just the username not the entire URL of your Twitter profile.For example twitter.com/paulcrowepro , paulcrowepro is the username
Save Your template And Check Out Your 'Flying Twitter'.

Gratitude Is A Magnet

2012-01-02T07:48:00.000-08:00

       Here’s my message today: If you want to receive more blessings in 2012, you need to be more thankful for blessings you received in 2011. Because gratitude is a magnet.
       Let me ask you a few questions.
       Did you have food on your table last year? Thank God. (From the way I see you, you had too much food.)
       Did you have clothes to wear last year? Thank God.
       Did you sleep well at night last year? Thank God.
       Did you have work last year? Thank God.
       Did you earn money last year? Thank God.
Did you have friends last year? Thank God.
Did you serve God last year? Thank God.
       Open your eyes to see that you were swimming in an ocean of blessings last year.
       I looked back at last year and couldn’t help but say, “Wow.”
I can’t say anything else. Because when I think of the year, I feel overwhelmed at what God has done in my life.
Choose: 2 Weeks Or 40 Years?
       There are two ways of living on earth:
       You can grumble or you can be grateful.
       Both habits are powerful. (I’ll explain in awhile.)
       Do you know how long the Israelites travelled from Egypt to the Promised Land? The Bible says it took them 40 Years. I find that weird. Do you know how quickly it should have been?
       The distance from Cairo to Jerusalem is only 391 kilometers. That should have only taken the Israelites 14 days to travel from Egypt to Israel. But why did they take 40 years?
       Let me tell you one major reason: They followed the grumbling path instead of the grateful path.
       And the grumbling path is much longer than the grateful path.
40 years longer…
       Think about it. They were rescued from 400 years of slavery. But they weren’t grateful. They saw 10 mind-boggling miracles, from water turning into blood, and a staff turning into a snake, and frogs leaping out of the lake… But they weren’t grateful. They crossed the red sea on dry land. But they weren’t grateful. A pillar of fire accompanied them by night and a pillar of smoke accompanied them by day. But they weren’t grateful.
       I don’t know about you, but I want to enter the promised land quickly. And the way to do that is to learn to be grateful.
What do you have that you did not receive? … Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! (1 Corinthians 4:7-8)
Marriages Can’t Be Strong Without Gratitude
Do you know why married people have affairs? It’s not because of sex. It’s because they grumble instead of being grateful.
Your spouse has 90% of what you need.
But because you’re not grateful for that 90%, you search for that missing 10% in a mistress. Someone fresh. Someone prettier. Someone more affectionate. Someone who smells nice.
But when you go home, your wife smells of paksiw.
She isn’t affectionate because she’s tired, taking care of the kids the entire day.
So you have an affair. At first, it’s exciting. It makes you feel wonderful.
But one day, you’ll wake up and realize you’re holding Miss 10% in your arms. You’ve lost your Miss 90% to get Miss 10%.
Gratitude Attracts Blessings
I know some people who can’t be grateful today.
They’re waiting for something big to happen for them to be grateful.
Some people say, “I’ll be grateful if I win the Lotto…” Or “I’ll be grateful if I get promoted…” Or “I’ll be very grateful if I have a baby…” Or “I’ll be grateful if I marry someone like Brad Pitt, or John Lloyd, or

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You’re As Magnificent As The Sunrise!

2012-01-02T04:13:00.001-08:00

       I don’t have a 12-page article for you today.
       Just a few lines to greet you.
I heard Darren Hardy, publisher of Success magazine, give this wonderful illustration.
He said when an accident happens on the road, traffic builds up. Not because of the accident. But because motorists like to look at the accident. We like gazing at the car wreck.
Why? Human beings have this tendency to look at what went wrong. We like to look at the mess.
       But if there’s a magnificent sunrise on the other side of the road, so utterly majestic and beautiful, with shafts of sunlight piercing the clouds… a masterpiece by the Divine Master… do we look?
       Nah. We don’t even notice.
So we speed through. Zoom! Missing out on magnificence.
       Something in us likes looking at what’s wrong, not what’s right. We’re drawn to messes, not magnificence.
       Today, God wants you to focus on your magnificence. Sure, you’ve got car wrecks in your life. You’ve got parts of your life that are so terrible, you want to hide them from everybody.
But there’s also a sunrise within you. Something so beautiful, it’ll take your breath away.
Focus on your sunrise!
       That’s what God does.
       That’s why there’s Christmas.
       2000 years ago, God left His celestial throne, unrobed Heaven’s glory, and became a helpless, hungry, crying baby in Bethlehem. Why?  To tell you, “You’re worth it. You’re worth the trouble. You’re worth this visit to earth. This manger. This cross. Because to me, you’re as magnificent as the sunrise.”
       Merry Christmas!
By the way, just want you to know that I agree with God.
You’re as magnificent as the sunrise!
       May your dreams come true,


View the original article here

There Are Treasures In Your Trials

2011-12-18T06:31:00.000-08:00

Today, I’d like to talk about hope.
Let me explain to you how important hope is.
May I ask you to do an experiment?
For ten minutes, don’t breathe.   After ten minutes, evaluate your experience. Write it down. Like how you saw a light at the end of a tunnel. And saw Angels for the first time. And then ask Archangel Michael to deliver your written report to my house.
Just kidding.
You need oxygen to survive.
Well, I believe hope is like oxygen.
You need hope to live everyday.
May I share?
I’m not just a preacher. I’m also an entrepreneur. And I teach people how to be entrepreneurs. Here’s what I noticed. I have yet to meet a successful entrepreneur whose is a pessimist. Honest! All the successful people I know are optimists. They have bushels of hope in their hearts.
Why? Because you won’t start a business, or sell a product, or give jobs to people, or do all that hard work, if you don’t have hope that you’ll succeed.
Especially when trials come…

The Power Of Perspective
My main message to you today? To have hope, you must believe that there are treasures in your trials.
One day, my wife and I were talking about one of our friends.
“How old is she?” I asked her.
“She’s forty.”
“Wow, she’s young,” I said.
And suddenly, it hit me like someone splashed water on my face. My gosh. I started laughing.
Because not too long ago, I used to think that forty was ancient. Prehistoric. Jurassic. Yet today, I was calling her young. Haha!
Here’s a powerful truth: Meaning comes from Perspective.   And Perspective comes from your Position. Because Perspective comes from where you stand.
When I looked at 40 beforeI reached 40, I thought 40 meant “Boring”, “Staid”, “Old hat”. In my mind you were a decaying fossil. A museum artifact.
But now that I’m in my forties, I think 40 is hip, stylish, cool, and gorgeous!
In the same way, if you look at your trial unfolding in front of you, it feels like it’s the end of the world. You feel like you’re drowning. You feel like dying.
But if you look at your trial after it’s all over, that’s when you see God’s purpose behind that trial. And you’ll say, “Thank God I went through that problem.”
This is my definition of hope: Physically, you’re in front of your trial, but spiritually, you’re looking back at it—after it’s over. When all is well. When you have overcome.
In other words, Hope is taking on God’s perspective. You look at your trial the way God looks at your trial.
That’s hope.

When Trials Become Treasures
One day, a friend called me up.
Marlon’s voice was heavy with anguish. “My daughter talked to me and my wife this morning…”
He explained that 16-year old child, not even in college yet, said the most dreaded words any parent of a teenager would want to hear. She said, “I’m pregnant.”
“Bo, she’s just a baby!” the father cried. “How can my baby be having a baby? She still has Barbie dolls in her room. Brother Bo, it’s the end of the world for me.”
I told Marlon, “No, it’s not the end of your world.”
“Bo, tell me what to do…”
“Go back to your daughter. No scolding. No shouting. Just love her. Forgive her. Put your arms around her. Cry with her. And tell her you’ll accept her baby. Mark my words. This isn’t the end of the world. You’ll overcome this.”
Eight years have passed since that trial happened in Marlon’s family. And true enough, the trial transformed them in an amazing way. Today, they’re 10 times closer with each other. They love each other profoundly.
Their daughter has matured too. She’s doing well in her career; She has a new boyfriend who loves her and her child.
And the baby? The very cause of all their hurt and anger and fears? The child is now the star of the family. The biggest source of joy for the grandparents!
If you’re grieving now, I want you to have hope. Your storm will pass. Your pain will disappear. And your trial will turn into triumph.
In each Trial, you’ll find these 3 treasures…

3 Treasures In Your Trial
       Each trial in your life is like an ugly, crummy, smelly, dilapidated box. On the outside, it looks atrocious. When you’re in front of the trial, that’s all you see. It’s hideous!
       But if you look at it after it’s over, you realize it contains 3 beautiful treasures!
       Here they are…

1.Comfort
This is the first treasure.
When you go through your trial, God will comfort you.
That’s His promise. And He never breaks a promise.
Everytime I go through a trial, I wait for God’s comfort. Because that’s what He promised. And without fail, His comfort comes.
A few years ago, I was in the middle of a huge storm. I was in a lot of emotional pain. My closest friends, upon knowing what I was going through, surrounded me with love. My friends were God’s comfort to me.
That day, I thanked God that because of my problem, I learned I had the greatest friends in the world. I’m a truly rich man because of my friends!
The second treasure…

2. Character
   Last week, I met a man with cancer.
   But he was very different from many sick people I know.
   He told me, “I live each day with passion!”
   He said, “I wake up looking at each morning as God’s precious gift to me. I now sing more often, embrace more often, laugh more often, play more often, and pray more often. I never did this before I had cancer—because I was too busy making a living, I forgot about making a life. Yes, I lost my health. But I now treasure life itself.”
   Wow!
   Because of him, I now believe that trials have a way of making us grow in the most important part of who we are—our character.
   And the third treasure…

3. Compassion
This is important: A trial may give birth to a ministry.
       The Bible says, Blessed be…the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble, by the comfort that we ourselves are comforted by God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
One day, I met a young, beautiful woman after one prayer meeting. She had this beautiful smile on her face, and it was like peace was oozing out of her.
“Can I tell you my story?” she said.
“Sure,” I said. We sat down and she started talking.
       “I was raped by my parish priest,” she told me.
She recounted her story, how it happened, and how she hated God, abandoned the Church, and stopped praying. Her heart was filled with rage.
But she also told me how God reached out to her, how He touched her, and how He healed her
Honestly, I thought these things happened only in Noli Me Tangere with the likes of Padre Damaso.
       “What are you doing now?” I asked.
“I’m a prayer group leader,” she said. “I minister to many other broken women. I know what they’re going through. I can help them in a way that only a broken woman can…”
       The third treasure in your trial is a deeper compassion for people who are going through the same pain you went through.

And They Lived Happily Ever After
       When it comes to movies, I’m a sucker for happy endings.
       Well, if you include Heaven in the equation, your life is an epic movie that will have a happy ending.  And they lived happily ever after isn’t just for fairy tales.
       It’s your story.
       So if you’re going through a great trial now, remember: One day, every problem in your life will be solved.
       Every sickness will be healed.
       Every tear will be dried up.
Never give up.
       Discover your treasure in your trials.
       May your dreams come true,
       Bo Sanchez

3 Keys To Unlock The Happiness Door

2011-12-18T01:59:00.000-08:00

Do you want to be really happy?
I’ve noticed that the door of happiness has three locks.
To open that door, you need 3 keys.
I believe that without these 3 Keys, it’ll be impossible to be happy.
Here they are:
Key 1: Your ability to select your 90%
Key 2: Your ability to surrender your Circle of Concern
Key 3: Your ability to seek your happiness from God’s Love
Let me explain…

Key 1: Your Ability To Select Your 90%
I’ve come to a simple yet profound realization.
I believe that happiness doesn’t depend on what’s happening around me. Happiness depends on what’s happening inside you.
How come?
Because of the 90/10 Principle.
Stephen Covey said that 10% of life consists of the stuff that happens to you. This includes the good stuff. Perhaps you got a job promotion. That’s part of the 10% of life. Or you found the guy of your dreams. As big as that is, that’s still part of the 10% of life.
That 10% also includes the bad stuff. Perhaps you got fired. Or your boyfriend dumped you for another girl. Or you gained 10 pounds. Or your car broke down. Or your cell phone got stolen. All that is included in the 10% of life.
Because 10% of life consists of what happens to you.
What’s the 90%?
90% of life consists of what you do to what happens to you.
When a trial comes, will you respond with faith or doubt?
When a blessing comes, will you respond with gratitude or ingratitude?
When hardship comes, will you persevere or will you give up?
When irritating people come, will you be patient or be impatient?
Friends, your happiness depends on this 90%–what you do to what happens to you.
Your happiness is a choice!
Here’s the next key…

Key 2: Your Ability To Surrender
Your Circle Of Concern
       One of my favorite passages in the Bible says, Give your burdens to the Lord, and He will take care of you. (Psalms 55:22)
       Are you carrying a heavy burden right now? I’ve got a very important message for you. You don’t have to carry that burden. That’s why many people are getting sick today. That’s why many people are getting depressed. That’s why many people have anxiety disorders. Because God didn’t design you to carry extremely heavy burdens for an extended period of time.
Because God designed you to give your burdens to Him.
Aside from the 90/10 Principle, Covey also talked about the difference between your “Circle of Control” and your “Circle of Concern”.
Mix up these two and you get into a lot of useless stress! A lot of people confuse the two—that’s where our anxiety comes from.
Let me ask you a question: Does your Job belong to your Circle of Control or your Circle of Concern?
Here’s the answer. There are certain parts of your Job that are found within your Circle of Control. For example, your attitude and performance are stuff you can control.
But everything else is in your Circle of Concern. You can’t control your boss. You can’t control the other departments. You can’t control the economy of the world. You can’t control the laws that affect your company.
For example, some wives have this crazy hallucination that their husband is in their Circle of Control.
I’ve got news for you: He’s not, no matter what you think.
A woman came up to me and said, “Bo, please preach about smoking. So my husband will stop this terrible vice. I’ve been nagging him to stop, but he hasn’t…”
I told her, “You can’t control his smoking. And nagging doesn’t work. It never has. The only thing you can do is pray for him and surrender….”
I believe we will go insane if we don’t know how to surrender.
Because there are many things that you can’t control.
Are you a parent? Believe me, you’ll go insane if you won’t trust God for your kids. Because there are many things you can’t control about your kids. Yes, you can control how you relate to them. How you train them. How you mentor them. How you love them. But the rest? Surrender.
You can’t guarantee how they’ll make their choices. Whether your kids will be successful in their jobs or businesses. Whether your kids will choose the right spouse. Whether they’ll raise up their own kids well.
So what should you do with your Circle of your Concern?
Do what you can do about that financial problem, or physical sickness, or relationship problem. But after you’ve done everything that you can do, surrender.
And finally…

Key 3: Your Ability To Seek Your Happiness
From God’s Love
One day, the disciples of Jesus came back from their mission trip with fantastic “success” stories. What made them excited the most? That the demons fled at their command.
“It was amazing,” they told Jesus. “We just said, Demons, get out! And those varmints scampered like rats in a flood.”
       Jesus congratulated them, but after giving them hi-fives, he said something very important. He said, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:18, 20)
What was he saying?
“Do not rejoice at your success, but rejoice that God loves you.”
       Why? Because all success is fleeting.
Yes, thank God for your accomplishments. But a day will come when these accomplishments would fade away.
Your trophies and plaques and awards decorating your wall will one day be trash. When you’re gone, one of your grandkids will throw them all in a garbage can.
Your car, so nice and shiny now, will one day be a heap of rust.
Your money, no matter how much you have, will one day be of no use to you.
Your home, so beautiful today, will one day be owned by someone else.
So if your happiness is based on your accomplishments, you’ll lose your happiness rather quickly.
       Jesus tells us: Seek your real happiness on eternal things, not temporal things. Seek your happiness on the fact that God loves you, that God has written your name in His heart.
       Be happy!
       May your dreams come true,
       Bo Sanchez

3 Orang Kaya dan Rahasia Rahasia Mereka

2011-12-17T23:51:00.000-08:00

Malam ini secara tidak sengaja saya menemukan link di facebook dari teman yang membagikan buku berjudul 3 Orang Kaya dan Rahasia Rahasia Mereka. Awalnya, karena buku itu itu gratis dan tinggal 'like' aja untuk download, maka saya mendownloadnya juga. Dan setelah mendownload ternyata hanya terdiri dari 19 halaman, ah ga panjang pikirku, jadi aku bisa baca dan tuntaskan.

Ternyata, setelah membaca, buku itu cukup singkat namun sangat inspiratif dan bahkan penasaran pengin baca lagi, karena tadinya bacanya cepet cepet karena pengin cepet selesai. Bukan itu saja, gara gara baca buku itu jadi pengin baca juga 7 Keajaiban Rejeki, mudah2an segera mendapatkan buku itu.

Untuk yang mau membaca buku 3 Orang Kaya dan Rahasia Rahasia Mereka, silahkan download di sini

Be Flexible, Foolish, & Funny…

2011-12-17T22:58:00.000-08:00

I just came from a vacation.
And I have jet lag.
       When you move from one time zone to another time zone, it’s a killer. I got sleepy all the time. I felt sleepy at 8am, at 11am, at 6pm, at 8pm. And then when it was time to sleep at 10pm, I was totally awake. After tossing and turning in bed, I finally slept at 1am, only to wake up at 3am, totally awake again. It was nuts.
       Why did this happen?
Because though I’ve moved to a new time zone, my body was still operating in the old time zone.
       It’s the same with your life journey.
You’re moving from one spiritual zone to another. From a Doubt Zone to a Faith Zone. From a Scarcity Zone to an Abundance Zone.  From an Impurity Zone to Purity Zone. From a Selfishness Zone to Selflessness Zone.
       But because you’re moving from one zone to another, you’re also experiencing a “lag”.
       Sometimes, you’re patient. Sometimes, you blow your top.
Sometimes, you have it all together. Sometimes, you fall.
Sometimes, you walk straight. Sometimes, you stumble.
Sometimes, you act in love. Sometimes, you act indifferently.
I have a simple message for you: Don’t be too hard on yourself.
       Don’t condemn yourself. Or you’ll get worse. You’ll be trapped.
       God forgives you. God understands that you’re moving in the right direction; you’re just experiencing a lag. And He says, “Don’t be too hard on yourself. Get up. Stand up again. And move on.”
Hold that thought for awhile because I’ll get back to it later. It’ll be very crucial when you decide to be a Peacemaker…

Two More Strategies To Be A Peacemaker
Last week, you learned two very important strategies on how to avoid unnecessary conflicts from your life: First, be faithful. That means making constant deposits in the emotional bank account of the people in your relationships. Second, be forbearing. That means accepting the weaknesses of others.
Today, I’d like to give you two more strategies, plus one Bonus strategy.
       Here they are…

3. Be Flexible
       Let me tell you one of my most favorite quotes. It’s from St. Augustine, written some 1600 years ago. He said, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
       I love that quote.
If you follow it, you’ll avoid many unnecessary conflicts.
       There are two kinds of conflicts: (1) Conflicts of Principle and (2) Conflicts of Preference.
I’ve realized that most of our Conflicts are Conflicts of Preference, pretending to be Conflicts of Principle. It’s just our self-centeredness and pride that’s causing the conflict.
Think about it. Why fight over preferences and non-essentials that don’t matter after 6 months? Or after 1 year? Or after 5 years?
       Be flexible when it comes to your preferences.

Should Wives Submit To Their Husbands?
       One day, a man came up to me and said, “Brother Bo, please tell my wife to follow the Bible. The reason why we fight a lot is because she doesn’t follow the Bible’s verse that says, ‘Wives, submit to your husbands.’”
       He didn’t know that his wife was right behind him. She stood beside him and said, “Do you know why my husband and I fight a lot? Because my husband doesn’t follow the Bible verse after that verse. It says, ‘Husbands, love your wives the way Christ loved the church.’”
I laughed. She was right.
How did Christ love the church? He died for her.
I’ve been reflecting on my marriage, and I really thank God I have a phenomenal marriage.
Why? My wife submits to me when it comes to Conflicts of Principle. But because I want to die for her, I submit to her when it comes to Conflicts of Preference.
Lucky for her (and unlucky for me), 99% of the time, life is about Preferences! So 99% of the time, I submit to her.
       Don’t get me wrong.
I always tell her my preferences…

Express Your Preferences, But Don’t Fight Over Them
In fact, because I take my role as leader in the family very seriously, I plan for the family. Where to go. What to do. Obviously, I already weave in my preferences in the plans that I make.
In fact, I tell this often to single men: When you’re courting a woman, she is attracted to leadership.
I’m saying this because you may get the wrong idea that to be a peacemaker, you have to be like jello. “Darling, whatever you want, that’s what I want too.”
I tell single men to be a leader in the courtship process.
Believe me, many women are frustrated because their men don’t know how to lead.
Here’s a typical conversation women complain about.
Guy: “Where do you want to eat tonight?”
Girl: “You haven’t planned for it yet?”
Guy: “No, I want to go where you want to go.”
Girl: “You decide.”
Guy: “No, you decide.”
Girl: “It’s up to you…”
(Repeat 86 times.)
Guys, you’ve got to lead.
Here’s a better scenario. Express your preferences. Be a leader.
Guy:       “I know you like Italian, so I’m bringing you to this nice Italian restaurant I found in Makati that serves the best pasta. You’ll love their Aglio e Olio.”
Girl:        “Okay. Let’s try it.”
Guy:       “After that, let’s watch a movie. The actor that looks exactly like me has a new movie out now…”
Girl: “And who is that?” (raising her eyebrow)
Guy:       “John Lloyd. I’m a little bit hurt that you had to ask. Isn’t it obvious?” (fake hurt look)
But let’s say after he says “Italian”, she says…
Girl: “I’m not in the mood for Italian. Can we go Japanese instead?”
The answer should be…
“Guy: “There’s this great Japanese restaurant I’d like to show you too in Makati. Its sushi is to die for, and the Miso soup is the best I’ve ever tasted…”
In Courtship, we give up our Preferences.
In marriage, the courtship shouldn’t stop.
Husbands and wives, you should still be wooing each other everyday, trying to win each other’s hearts.

What Is Your Goal?
I just came from a 2-week vacation.
As my way of being a leader, I planned for the entire thing. I chose the flights we flew in, the hotels we stayed in, the rental cars we rode, the restaurants we ate in, and the places we visited. All written down two months before we flew out.
But whenever she told me that she preferred something that disagreed with my plans, I threw away my plans. Why? Because my wife is more important than my plans.
After 13 years of marriage, here’s one of my most important goals: I wake up every morning and ask myself, “How can I make my wife happy?”
If that’s my goal, why fight over Preference?

Parents, Choose Your Battles With Your Kids
Parents, don’t fight over Preferences with your children.
If my son comes up to me one day and says, “Dad, I want to wear an earring,” I won’t declare World War III.
I’ll listen. I’ll ask him to think through his decision.
But I won’t fight him over it.
I won’t fight over musical tastes. No matter how terrible his modern music may sound to me. I won’t fight over hairstyle. No matter how atrocious it may be to me. I won’t fight over the type of clothes he wears. No matter how hideous they may look to me.
Because they’re preferences.
I’ll save my ammo.
I’d rather focus on building my relationship with him. Teaching him how to love God. Teaching him how serve others. Teaching him how to be a gentleman. Teaching him how to earn money. Teaching him how to choose a wife.
Here’s the fourth strategy, the most difficult of them all.

4. Be Foolish
       Jesus said, If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.(Matthew 5:39)
This is one of the hardest Bible passages to interpret.
Its nuanced meaning is lost, because we don’t know the culture of that particular time and place.
       Dr. Walter Wink, a Bible Scholar, explains it in this way: In ancient middle-eastern culture, being slapped on the right cheek is very different from being slapped on the left cheek.
     First, the left hand cannot be used for slapping, because it was used for unclean tasks. (I won’t have to expound on this one. Use your imagination.) Only the right hand was used for slapping.
       To slap you on the right cheek, one has to use a backhand slap.
       And a backhand slap meant something very specific to the Jew; A backhand slap was how a master slaps a slave, or how a Roman slaps a Jew. The right cheek slap meant, “You’re beneath me! I shame you. I humiliate you.”
       When Jesus said, “Give your left cheek,” it meant something totally different. If I’ll slap you on the left cheek, I can’t use the back of my right hand. I’ll have to slap you with a fist or the front of my hand. Which had a totally different meaning to them. In their culture, it meant, “We’re equals.” You’ve reclaimed your dignity and refuse to be humiliated.
       What’s the point? When someone abuses you, God wants you to defend yourself. Not allow yourself to be humiliated.
       But He wants you to do something utterly foolish:“When people hurt you, don’t slap back. Don’t strike back. Don’t seek revenge. Don’t punish. Don’t get even. Instead, do good. Hopefully, your goodness will shame them, and their conscience will move them to change their lives.”
       St. Paul says the same thing. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. (Romans 12:14)
       Conflicts are vicious cycles. Conflicts perpetuate forever and last for 500 years because no one disrupts the cycle. Someone has to step in and say, “I won’t retaliate.”
       Be foolish and show kindness when someone showed meanness.
Finally, I promised a “Bonus” strategy for avoiding unnecessary conflicts.
       Here it is…

5. Be Funny
Don’t take yourself too seriously.
       Here’s the truth: Nobody does. (Ha ha!)
       People who take themselves too seriously end up with a lot of conflicts. Why? Because they get easily offended. Their pride gets easily pricked.
       Here’s my advice. Don’t take it too seriously when people disagree with you. Or when people offend you.   Or when people criticize you.
       At the end of the day, they don’t matter.
       When a driver cuts in front of my car, I don’t get mad. I just smile and say, “He must be in a hurry to get to the toilet.” I don’t take it personally. That driver has problems, not me.
       Don’t make people with problems ruin your day.
       Why expend energy getting angry? It’s not worth it.
For example, I used to be bothered by people who criticize me.
       One day, someone told me to read a blog of a Christian leader. He told me, “Bo, that guy said some nasty things about you.”
When I looked at it, it was true. In his blog, he was lambasting me for being a false prophet—a prophet of the devil. He criticized me for teaching people how to become rich. He said I was dragging people to hell because I was teaching materialism. (He also called other preachers false prophets: Rick Warren, Joel Osteen, T.J. Jakes. Wow, I’m in good company!)
       I could have retaliated in anger. I could have answered him point by point and debated with him online.
       But I decided it was useless.
Instead, I prayed for him and his family. I blessed him.
I read his other blog entries… And there, I discovered he was financially hard up. He was active in ministry, but the lack of money for his family was a burden. He had no stable job. His wife had no job too. Honestly, my heart went out to them. I wanted to donate money (anonymously) to his ministry.
       Here’s what I realized from that experience. Most often, people criticize you because they have personal problems that have nothing to do with you.
       When people don’t like you, it’s not about you. It’s about them.
So why be affected by them?
       I repeat: Don’t let people with problems ruin your day.
       Do you get affected by people who don’t like you?
       Don’t be. Instead of retaliating, do the foolish thing and pray for them. Show kindness.
And then live your own life to the full.
Smile. Laugh. Have fun!
You only live once. Don’t let the grumblers steal your joy.

Peace breaker Or Peacemaker?
       Friend, you have a choice.
       You can live your life as a Peace breaker or a Peacemaker.
At the start of this message, I talked about how you’re moving from one Zone to another. And how you’re experiencing a lag.
So I told you God’s message about not to be too hard on yourself.
       Here’s God’s other message for you today: Don’t be too hard on others too. Because they’re experiencing a lag, just like you. They still fall. They still falter. They still stumble.
Understand them. Accept them. Love them.
And you’ll become a Peacemaker.
       May your dreams come true,
       Bo Sanchez

Transform Your Thoughts, Transform Your Life

2011-12-17T18:25:00.000-08:00

Do you want to change your life?
It all starts with thinking God’s thoughts.
       Transformation starts with the renewing of your mind. (See Romans 12:2)
I believe God has a great plan for your life. He wants to pour greatness in you. But God cannot put great things into a small mind.
When your mind is small, you cannot think great things. You need to enlarge your mind. Enlarge your thinking. You need to think God’s thoughts for you to experience God’s things.
       Your thinking is so important, because whoever wins in the battlefield of your mind will win in the battlefield of your life…
The Bible says, For as he thinks in his heart, so is he…

Thoughts Are Things
Quantum Physics says everything is energy.
The ground that you’re standing on, the chair you’re sitting on, the sky above, even your human body—all these are really bundles of vibrating energy. A solid brick wall—in its subatomic level—isn’t solid at all, but largely empty space filled with energy.
And here’s the shocking part. Quantum physics says thoughts are also energy. Scientists say there’s really no big difference between a thing and a thought. In one very real sense, thoughts are things.
That’s why thoughts are powerful.
Today, I’ll talk about how your thoughts create your reality; How your thoughts create your destiny.
       Here’s the truth: You’re a product of your thoughts. You are who you are because of the thoughts you’ve allowed to fill your mind.
If you transform your thoughts, you transform your life.

A Shocking Story
Let me tell you a true story.
       Many years ago, after giving a talk, a Filipina and an American walked up to me.   I’ll call them David and Bathsheba. (In a minute, you’ll know why I chose these fictional names.) They acted like they were a couple. But there was something odd about them.
Not only because David was American and Bathsheba was Filipina.
It was also because David was tall, handsome, and young. (More or less like a writer I know. Ahem.)
But Bathsheba was not so tall, not so young, and not so beautiful.   And believe me, I’m being very kind when I describe her in this way. If I wasn’t kind, then I’d describe her as really short, really old, and really ugly. But I won’t say that.
(Although I already did. But imagine I didn’t.)
As I looked at them, I was guessing the guy was 26, at most 28, and the woman was 42.
Bathsheba was the first to speak. She said, “Brother Bo, I love your talk on God’s Love. I can identify. Can I share our story with you?”
You can imagine I was all ears.
We sat down and she started talking.
Bathsheeba said, “I was a prostitute in Olongapo. I was a prostitute for 20 years. I have two kids from two different fathers. Prostitution was the only way I knew to feed my children. But I was so tired of what I was doing, one day, while I was at home, I knelt down. I prayed, ‘Lord, I’m going to ask something that seems impossible. I’m ugly. I’m a prostitute. I’ve got two kids from two different fathers. But I need you to rescue me. Please give me a husband. And if possible, give me an American…’”
I wanted to tell her, “Lady, you’ve got guts.”
“Can I continue the story, Sweetheart?” David interrupted.
“Of course, Darling,” Bathsheba smiled.
“At that exact time,” David said, “I was walking on the street when I noticed a house with an open door. I looked through the doorway, and I saw this woman kneeling down, crying. As I looked at her, I began to cry too. I didn’t know why I was crying. I walked through the door. And I noticed, Brother Bo, that the woman was very beautiful…”
I wanted to say, “Are we talking of… uh, her? Or did your tears, uh you know, block your vision?”
Obviously, I didn’t say that. I just nodded my head, realizing once again there are certain mysteries in the world that we cannot solve. The Bermuda Triangle. The Prophecies of Nostradamus. And why David calls this woman beautiful.
David went on. “I introduced myself. We started talking, we started dating, and 6 months later, we got married!”
“Miracles happen,” I said.
“Tomorrow,” Bathsheba said, “we’re all going to the States. He’ll be introducing me to his parents.”
I wanted to say, “God have mercy on you.” My goodness, those parents will need extra-strength grace!

Why I Tell You The Story
Even if this happened many years ago, I’ll never been able to forget this story.
I share with you this story not to teach single women to pray with their door open, in the hope that a potential husband will pass by. That’s not the point and what happened to Bathsheba was absolutely strange.
I share you this story to tell you about the power of thoughts.
Let me ask you. Was Bathsheba ugly or beautiful?
To everyone else, she was ugly.   People called her ugly. People mocked her on the street. Being a prostitute was bad enough. What was worse than a prostitute was an old prostitute selling her old body at 85% discount.
Even to herself, she was ugly.
But one day, someone walks into her life and says, “You’re beautiful.”
What is reality? Reality is essentially a product of our thoughts.
Imagine if you think God’s thoughts?
Right now, you may be like Bathsheeba. You feel ugly. You don’t like yourself. And other people don’t like you too.
But I’m here to tell you that God thinks you’re amazing. God thinks you’re beautiful. And that “shift of thought” will transform your life forever.
When you think God’s thoughts, three huge things will happen.
The first thing that will change will be…

1. How You Think About Yourself
It reminds me of another David…
When God was looking for the next King of Israel, God asked Samuel the priest, “I’m choosing a King from the sons of Jessie of Bethlehem.”
So Samuel visited the house of Jesse. “Where are your sons?” the priest asked Jesse. And so the old man called his sons to line up in front of the Prophet. The eldest was Eliab. The Bible describes Eliab was tall, with the body of a body-builder, and good-looking. In other words, he looked like a king.
But God told Samuel, “Not this one.”
I’m sure Jesse was a little bit disappointed. He called his next son to stand in front of Samuel.
And God told the priest, “Not this one either.”
Jesse called the next one. And the next one. And the next one. For every single one of them, Samuel heard God tell him, “Not this one.”
Samuel was confused. So he asked Jesse, “You’ve shown me your seven sons?”
“Yes,” Jesse said, “my seven sons are in front of you now.”
Samuel asked him, “Don’t you have any other sons?”
Jesse said, “I do have one more son. But he’s just a boy. He’s out with the sheep…”
In other words, David was the runt. The youngest. The gofer. The errand boy.  Uneducated. Untrained. Rough. Filthy. Smelly. With calluses on his hands, mud on his feet, and sand on his hair. And he doesn’t wear the right clothes. What Jesse really wanted to say was, “Why bother looking at him? You wouldn’t like him.”
But Samuel said, “Call him anyway.”
He was called. The boy stood in front of Samuel. And God told Samuel, “This is the guy I’m choosing to be King.”
Think about it.
David’s father didn’t admire him. His brothers thought he was a pest. But that’s because they were looking at him thinking their thoughts. They weren’t thinking God’s thoughts.
Today, people around you may overlook you. People around you may take you for granted. And if people notice you, they only notice if you’ve done wrong. How you’ve failed. How you’ve messed up. How you fell flat on your face.
But God thinks about you differently.
He doesn’t major in your mess. He majors in your magnificence. He doesn’t focus on your fumbles, He focuses on your fabulousness.
Read the Bible and you see this exact thing happening again and again.
God called Gideon a mighty man of valor when he was a coward hiding from his enemies. God called Peter the “Rock” at a time when Peter was a stumbling, lying, denying fisherman. And God called David “King” when he was but a boy smelling of sheep poop.
Why? Because while you’re still wrestling with your history, God is already talking about your destiny. While your thoughts are still mired in the quicksand of your past, God’s thoughts are already constructing your future.

The Power Of Labels
When you think God’s thoughts about yourself, people won’t understand you. People want you to remain the same. People want you to be consistent with the poor image that they have of you in their minds.
You see, people look at you, and they’ve made already a prediction of what will happen to you in your future. And they want that prediction to be fulfilled.
People have already labeled you “loser” and “failure” and “mediocre” and “hopeless”.  And they want you to be consistent with these negative labels they have given you. They don’t want you to shake up their picture of reality.
I want you to stand up and announce to the world, “I’m not the labels you’ve given me. If God says I’m a champion, then I’m a champion.”

Your Existence Means You Won
By the mere fact that you’re alive, you’re already a champion.
Why do I say that?
Think about it. God pre-selected your sperm cell. Your sperm cell out-swam the millions of other sperm cells to connect to the egg cell. At the very moment of your conception, you already won. You’re a champion!
This ordination, this Divine pre-selection isn’t based on the good that you’ve done, on whether you’ve been faithful in your prayer time, or whether you’ve been doing your Bible reading, or whether you’ve been going to Mass, or whether you’ve been a good boy or a good girl. Because before you were in the womb of your mother, you weren’t praying yet. You weren’t doing any good yet. And yet God already saw something good in you.
The Bible says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
God spoke that to Jeremiah but I believe He says the same words to you.
Today, God will re-introduce you to who you really are.
He will lift the curtain, the veil that separates you and who you really are deep in your soul.
People around you will say, “That’s not you. I’ve seen you before. You’re weak. You’re a failure. You’re a nobody. You’re a wimp. You’re a jerk. You’re a coward. You’re a liar. You’re a hot head…”
You’ve got to tell them, “Yes, that was me. But let me introduce you to the new me. Your definition of me is based on past information. My definition of me is based on God’s thoughts about who I really am…”
And if you think God’s thoughts, something else will change…

2. How You Think Of Your Problems
One day, I was facing a huge problem. I felt so troubled, I didn’t know what to do. I was already having sleepless nights. My wife would wake up at 3am and she’d find me still awake, tossing and turning in bed.
So finally I called up one of my Mentors. I described the problem. Every detail I could remember, I shared to him
My Mentor was very patient listening to my story.
And then he said something that I’ll never forget. He said, “Is that all? Bo, that’s nothing! That problem is so small, you’re bigger than this. You’re so big, that problem is like dust in your shirt. Like lint in your clothes. Like mud on your shoes. You’re so much bigger! And Bo, you’ll have more of those tiny problems. They’re so small, just flick them…”
This wasn’t a nice friendly counseling session. He was my Mentor and he had my permission to be brutal with me.
His words changed me. That night, I slept like a babe.
Because he made me realize I was a giant! Why be bothered by tiny problems?
And soon enough, those problems that I thought were gigantic blew away like mist. I troubled myself for nothing.
Here’s what I learned. The reason why we think our problems are big is because we think we’re small. But when we change the way we think about ourselves, we change how we think about our problems too.
And remember: To God, all your problems are small.
       The Bible says, Weeping may endure for the night but joy comes in the morning…
       And finally, when you think God’s thoughts, you also change one last thing…

3. How You Think Of Your Future
I love this message because this is my story.
Who would have thought that a victim of sexual abuse would be writing this to you now?   Who would have thought a porn addict of 20 years would write 25 bestselling books, publish 8 magazines, and preach around the world?
This can only be God’s doing.
God doesn’t define you by what you’ve done. He defines you by what He has done in you.
When God talks about you, He prophecies of things yet to come.
Friend, you’re future is out-of-this-world beautiful.
Perhaps you’re like Bathsheeba. Perhaps you feel this is a dead-end for you right now. That all hope is gone.
But believe that each day, God walks into the open door of your life and says you’re future is beautiful. He will change everything. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen. Just keep that door open. Just never give up.
Think God’s thoughts.
And you’ll never be the same again.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez

How To Be A Peacemaker

2011-12-17T14:50:00.000-08:00

Today, I’ll talk about how you can have more peace in your life.
       Mind you. It’s not easy.
       From the beginning of time, war was there.
       My parents grew up during World War II. When they got married, bombs were falling from the sky. Ten million people died because of World War II.  Because of that war, in Europe alone, there were 13 million orphans.
       When I was growing up, it was the Vietnam War. Two million people died in that war.
       Here’s the truth: No one wins in a war. Any war. Even the so-called Victor of the war is really a Loser too.
But where do wars begin?
Inside us.
If there’s war inside you, that war will flow outside you.
If you don’t like yourself, you won’t like anyone else.
If you’re angry at yourself, you’ll be angry at the world too.
If you don’t accept your weaknesses, you won’t accept other people’s weaknesses.
And if you feel unworthy, you’ll be looking to others to fill your need of worth. Which is downright impossible. And you start blaming others for the mess in your life.
When there is no peace inside you, there can be no peace outside you. The war that rages outside you is merely a reflection of the war that rages within you.
Why do you fight with your friend? With your sister? With your spouse? With your parents?
Sometimes, because you don’t have peace within yourself.
Here’s what I learned. Peace flows to the people around you.
       I’m a realist. I don’t believe we can remove all the conflicts from our lives.
You see, there isn’t only one kind of conflict.
There are three…

3 Kinds Of Conflicts
People create many problems in their lives because they don’t know the difference between these three conflicts. To save yourself from many problems, know the difference between them.

1. Conflicts You Shouldn’t Avoid
Carol and Pam have a thriving jewellery business.
Carol owns the items while Pam sells them. Unknown to Carol, Pam sells it at a higher price but tells Carol how times are hard and how she sold the jewels for a bargain.
When Carol discovered the deception, she figured that in the past couple of years, Pam has milked from her two million pesos.
Carol called me up and asked, “Brother Bo, what should I do?”
I tossed the question back, “What do you want to do?”
“A part of me just wants to let it be. To forget about it. Anyway, I still earn from the business. And besides, Pam is a friend and I don’t want to lose the friendship.”
“But Carol, I don’t think there’s a real friendship.”
I knew my words stung. Carol remained silent at the other end of the line.
“Carol, let me ask you a question. Do you care for Pam?”
       “Yes, I do.”
       “Then fight her. Don’t let her remain in sin. Confront. Be angry. Present the evidence. If she repents, then the friendship may be repaired. If not, in one sense, you don’t lose anything. It was already lost the moment Pam started deceiving you.”
       This is what I mean by necessary fights.
       When your husband is beating you up, either physically or emotionally—fight him. Get out of the house. Seek help from a temporary shelter. Never come back until he seeks help for his violent nature.
       Why?
       Because you love yourself—and you love the person who is abusing you.
       If you don’t fight, you’re tolerating his or her sin.
       That’s not love!
Jesus said, If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. (Matthew 15:18)
I repeat. We need to correct because we love.
A wise man once said, “If you enjoy correcting someone, don’t.”
We correct someone not because of revenge or a desire to punish or humiliate someone. We shouldn’t enjoy correction. It’s always painful to do so. But we do it because we love.
       And then there’s the second kind of conflict…

2. Conflicts You Can’t Avoid
Someone asked me, “Bo, what if you move heaven and earth to heal a broken relationship, but the other person doesn’t want to?”
“Then at least you tried,” I told her. “You’ve tried to reconcile. God sees your effort. The ball is in the other court now.”
       In the Bible, David had a love-hate relationship with King Saul.
       David loved Saul, and he wanted to play music for him. He wanted to slay his enemies for him. And he wanted to give him a few cute grandchildren. (Yep, Saul was his father-in-law.)
       But King Saul was jealous of the young man’s growing fan’s club. The old man was terribly insecure and saw him as a threat to the crown.
       This love-hate relationship was so absurd; David had to be skilful at playing his harp while dodging low-flying spears thrown by Saul in sudden fits of insane jealousy. Now that’s what you call a flexible musician.
       That’s why St. Paul says, “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.”(Romans 12:18)
Read that inserted phrase again: “As far as it depends on you…”
I love Paul for putting that in.
Because there are some conflicts in our lives when it doesn’t depend on us anymore. If you’ve tried to reconcile, but the other person insists on fighting you, live your life. Be happy. The Lord will fight for you; you have only to be still. (Exodus 14:14)
       And if he finally comes to his senses, offer your love anew.
       And now for the third kind of conflict…

3. Conflicts You Should Avoid
This is the bulk of our conflicts.
       And this is where I want to dwell on for my message today.
I believe that you can avoid 99% of your potential conflicts.
Personally, I don’t want to have a single unnecessary conflict in my life. If I can avoid it, I will.
Why? From experience, a single conflict drains me, saps my energy, robs my attention, and wastes my time—Energy, attention, and time that I should be spending in achieving my dreams.
It’s a no brainer, really. I’ll avoid conflicts because I’m conserving my resources. They’re needed in more productive projects!
No wonder so many people can’t move forward towards their goals. They have no resources left.
Follow my advice. Choose your battles.
How do you avoid 99% of your conflicts?
You do it by following 4 powerful strategies of a Peacemaker.
1.Be Faithful
2.Be Forbearing
3.Be Flexible
4.Be Foolish
Today, I’ll discuss the first two Strategies—Be Faithful and Be Forbearing. (Next week, I’ll discuss the other two—Be Flexible and Be Foolish. Plus an extra “Bonus” fifth Strategy.)
Here’s the first Strategy of avoiding unnecessary conflicts.

1. Be Faithful
       I first read about “emotional bank accounts” from Stephen Covey.
And the insight is genius.
       We have an emotional bank account with each person we relate to. Like an ordinary bank account, we make deposits and withdrawals to that account.
       When we show we care for that person, no matter how small, we deposit to that person’s emotional bank account. But when we take that person for granted or when we offend that person, we make withdrawals.
       But if there are sufficient deposits in that relationship, the “account” or relationship doesn’t get closed. We all make mistakes. Mistakes are forgivable. It’s when the withdrawals outnumber the deposits, that’s when the account is closed or the relationship breaks down.
Conflicts happen when the friendship is neglected.
       The best defence is still offence.
       My wife and I have a fantastic relationship. One reason: Each day, my wife and I work at our marriage. Each day, we make deposits to our emotional bank account.
A great relationship requires great work. It just doesn’t happen.
       Let me give you another example.
The top leaders in my spiritual family, Light of Jesus, don’t just have business meetings. We do three important things to work on our relationships.
Each week, every Tuesday, we have very long, very “inefficient” business meetings. We meet from breakfast till lunch. That’s five hours. Yes, it’s insane. Business gurus will call it a major time-waster. All the Business books I read today call for short business meetings. In their eyes, we fail miserably. Because in our meetings, there’s lots of laughter and banter not related to the business at hand.
But I like keeping it that way. Because we’re not just about the work. We’re about building “lifetime” friendships that will last until Heaven. Because our relationships are our mission. Our relationships are our message. People will know that we’re His disciples by the love that we have for one another.
And every two weeks, top leaders meet in small groups (which we call Caring Groups) and share our personal stories—our joys and sorrows. That way, we’re friends first before we’re co-workers.
       Aside from that, we do something utterly crazy—something that I haven’t heard anyone else do. About four times a year, we take an extended trip together. Last month, we hopped on a huge bus and took off to Baguio for four days. No business meetings. We just wanted to bond as brothers. Sometimes, we take our families in these crazy trips.
       What are we doing? We’re making regular deposits of love to each other’s emotional bank accounts.
       Be faithful.
       Here’s the second strategy…

2. Be Forbearing
If you want to avoid unnecessary conflicts, you need to learn how to accept other’s weaknesses.
My wife has learned to live with my many weaknesses.
Example?
I’m totally clueless when it comes with directions. I get lost inside my house. “Sweetheart, where’s the toilet again?”
Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But I’m clueless where the North, South, East, and West are.
She’s accepted that as a fact of life and lives with it. She doesn’t get frustrated when we get lost on the road.
I’m also not good working with my hands. I can change a light bulb, yes. But don’t expect me to do anything else. My wife knows that. She’s totally given up the stereotypical expectation that husbands can fix stuff around the house. Today, she insists that I stay away from any malfunctioning equipment, lest I end up destroying it even more.
Another weakness? I tend to forget where I park my car. I can memorize an entire Talk verbatim with 8 major points and 63 sub-points, but I can’t—even if my life depended on it—remember where I parked my car in a parking lot. Crazy but true. And my wife has learned to live with that. When I ask her, “Sweets, where did I park the car?” she doesn’t get angry. She just smiles. She knows she’s married to this one-of-a-kind human being.
That’s forbearance.
I’ve learned to live with my wife’s weaknesses too.
And if you think I’ll talk about them here, you’re wrong. Talking about my wife’s weaknesses has been proven to be hazardous to my health and endangers my existence in this universe.
But I forbear. When her weaknesses show, I just smile.
Actually, they’re not weaknesses. They’re just part of who she is—and I love the entire package.
That’s why we avoid a lot of conflicts in our marriage. St. Paul says,Forbear with one another… (Colossians 3:13) and Therefore, accept one another… (Romans 15:17)
Next week, I’ll share with you the third and fourth strategy of avoiding unnecessary conflicts in your life, plus a Bonus strategy.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez

Do You Have Happytudes?

2011-12-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

Today, I’d like to talk about how happiness is an attitude.
       Here’s the truth: Happiness doesn’t depend on your external situation, but on your internal disposition.
Your happiness doesn’t depend on whether you get a pay increase or not. It doesn’t depend on whether you’ll be able to lose 10 pounds or not. It doesn’t depend on whether you have an iPhone or not. It doesn’t depend on whether the stock market is up or not. It doesn’t depend on whether you have a boyfriend or not.
As shocking as this may sound, your happiness doesn’t depend on any external thing. Your happiness depends on only one thing: Do you have a happy attitude? Do you have happitude?
       For the next 4-weeks, I’d like to share with you how to be happy. In this series, my prayer is that you’ll develop stronger happitudes. My prayer is that you’ll be a happier person, no matter what is happening around you.

What Are Your Rules To Happiness?
Where does happitude come from?
Your attitude, whether happy or unhappy, is based on your personal rules to happiness.
Anthony Robbins says each person has his own rules to happiness. We set them up. Wechoose them. We design them. We craft them. And we write them in our hearts.
Let me introduce you to two friends. Let’s call them Ernie and Bert. (Any resemblance to two characters who live in a street named after a seed beginning with the letter “S” is purely coincidental.)
Ernie and Bert are very different from each other.
Bert is rarely happy. He’s always complaining about something. He complains about the food he eats, about the bed he sleeps in, about his neighbor who happens to be a vampire who likes to count… (Any similarity to actual characters is purely coincidental.)
Ernie is totally different. Ernie is almost always happy. Everywhere he goes, he has this big smile on his face, he’s humming a tune. He loves life. He loves people.
Why are these two men different?
Think about it. They live in the same apartment. They eat the same food. They have the same neighborhood. They have the same friends—a giant bird, a green frog, and a female pig. (I repeat: Any similarity to actual characters is purely coincidental.)
They have the same external situation.
But Ernie and Bert have very different internal dispositions.
Ernie has lots of happitude. Bert lacks it.
Why? Because of their personal rules to happiness.
Perhaps these are Bert’s rules to happiness:
·        I’ll be happy only if the temperature is exactly 78.26 degrees Fahrenheit.
·        I’ll be happy only if my fried egg for breakfast is half-cooked in the middle but is brown and crisp on the outside.
·        I’ll be happy onlyif I marry a woman whose vital statistics is 36-24-36, has won an international beauty contest, is a gourmet cook, is a multimillionaire, speaks French, has the singing voice of Celine Dion, and is insane enough to fall in love with me.
Bert’s rules make it very difficult for him to be happy. Why? Because he set up very complicated rules to happiness.
Perhaps these are Ernie’s rules of happiness.
·        I’ll be happy if I laugh with my friends over pizza.
·        I’ll be happy if I pray.
·        I’ll be happy if I’m able to take a walk on the street and chat with a furry monster addicted to cookies.
·        I’ll be happy if I watch a movie.
·        I’ll be happy if I can get a good night’s sleep.
A little side note: I always call the Feast, our weekly spiritual gathering,“The happiest place on earth”. Why? One major reason: Because the people who go there are happy people. Even before they step into the Feast, they’re already happy. They brought the happiness with them.
The preaching, the music, the worship—these are all a bonus. Just by the mere fact that they’re there already makes them very happy. That’s what you call a happitude!
Nothing has to happen for them to be happy. They’ve chosen to be happy, period.
Don’t get me wrong. I always teach you to have big dreams. But even before you reach your dreams, you’re already happy.
In fact, I’ve realized that if you won’t be happy before you reach your dreams, you’ll never be happy after you reach them.
Let me ask you a question.
What are your rules to happiness?
Create simple rules for you to be happy! Set them up in such a way that it’s easy for you to be happy and difficult for you to be unhappy. Don’t complicate your rules to happiness.
Friend, the choice is yours.
Allow yourself to be happier more frequently.
In the next 4 weeks, we’ll go through 4 powerful Happytudes based on the Beatitudes of Jesus: Be open, be hopeful, be pure, and be peaceful. Apply these attitudes into your life and your life will never be the same again.
Here’s the first Happitude.

Happitude 1: Poor In Spirit
Jesus said, Happy are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
What does “poor in spirit” mean?
I know many are confused by that phrase.
Here’s a common misconception: Being poor in spirit means someone who is far away from God. That’s not true. (How can that person be happy?)
Here’s the best definition for “poor in spirit” I know: Someone who is desperate for God. Someone who knows that he needs God and sees Him as the source of all His blessings.
       For years now, I love sharing this story.
One day, a younger monk searched for an elderly monk up in the mountains. For months, he searched for him. Finally, hidden in the forest, he found his small hut.
He knocked on the door.
When the older monk opened it, the younger monk knelt down and asked, “Master, what is your secret of holiness?”
       “I cannot tell you. But I can show you, declared the older man. “Follow me.”
       Both men walked in silence until they saw a huge river.
The older monk held the young man’s arm and walked into the river.
When the water was waist deep, suddenly, without any warning, the elderly man grabbed his disciple’s head, and dunked him into the river. In the water, the young monk panicked, his arms flailing wildly. He couldn’t breathe! But the older man kept holding him down.
       Finally, when the young fellow was turning blue and was about to say hello to St. Peter, the older man pulled him up—and the young fellow frantically sucked air.
       Even before the look of terror could leave the young monk’s face, the wise monk looked him in the eye and said, “If you can be desperate for God the way you are desperate for air right now, you’ll be holy.”
       Lesson is over.   Class dismissed.

3 Postures Of The Heart
       Do you want to be happy?
Let me say it again. Happiness doesn’t depend on your external situation, but on your internal disposition.
In other words, happiness depends on the posture of your heart. There are 3 common Postures of the Heart: Proud, Pitiful, and Prepared.
Imagine a crazy scenario.
Imagine a plane loaded with crates of newly minted money.
All of a sudden, two of its engines burst into flames. The pilot realized that the only way to save the plane was to unload its precious cargo.
So at mid-air, they throw away the crates of money.
So on a particular area, it began to rain thick wads of cash.
There happened to be three people standing under that very unique rain: Mr. Proud, Mr. Pitiful, and Mr. Prepared.

1. Mr. Proud
       Mr. Proud was a boastful man. He acted as though he had everything. (He didn’t know that he was the most insecure fellow in town.)
Mr. Proud had a favorite posture. He always stood with arms crossed in front of his chest. Always tight. Always stiff. Always closed.
So when it began raining P1000 paper bills all around him, he just looked. “I’m not poor. And I’m definitely not a beggar. Why will I get that money? Maybe it’s dirty. Maybe it’s counterfeit.” So he kept his arms folded across his chest looking smug and didn’t catch a single paper bill.
       There are people like that.
I say this often, but let me say it again: There’s no shortage of God’s blessings. There is only a shortage of readiness to receive God’s blessings.
       Recently, I was talking to a friend who was asking for prayers for his son. “He’s been jobless for a year,” he said.
“No job offers?” I asked him.
“The problem isn’t the job market. There are many jobs out there. The problem is my son. He’s too proud.  He wants to start as a manager!”
“Oh no.”
“And he doesn’t want to work too far from the house.  Because he doesn’t want to be seen riding the bus. He said if I want him to work far away, I should give him a car.”
I shook my head. “In other words, your son isn’t desperate. And only desperate people become great successes. Hmm, I wonder. Are you still feeding him, housing him, and giving him a nice monthly allowance?”
       With a loud sigh, my friend said, “Yeah.”
       “He’s too comfortable. The only way for your son to go out there and eat humble pie is if he becomes desperate.” I explained, “Desperate people do desperate things. Desperate people work as a janitor if necessary. Desperate people work two hours away. And desperate people ride the bus!”
The Bible says, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6) I don’t believe God actively opposes the proud. Pride has its natural consequences, and I believe He passively allows the natural consequences of pride to catch up with the proud person. In reality, it’s the proud person who opposes the blessings that are meant for his life.

2. Mr. Pitiful
The second person under that very unique rain was Mr. Pitiful.
       Mr. Pitiful always felt sorry for himself. His mind was obsessed with the problems in his life. What was his posture? His eyes were cast downward. His hands were limp on the side.
       Because of his posture, Mr. Pitiful doesn’t catch any money falling from the sky. In fact, he was so absorbed thinking of his own miseries, he didn’t even see money falling from the sky.
Recently, I met another jobless person. He told me, “God doesn’t love me. Nothing is happening in my life.”
He said so many things were going against him. He said that he didn’t finish college.   And he was already 46 years old. And he was also sickly.
I asked, “Have you ever tried applying for a sales job?”
He said, “I don’t know how to sell. I don’t think I can sell.”
“Have you tried applying in a Call Center? I heard some companies accept people your age.”
He shook his head. “I’ll feel out of place. Everyone there is very young.”
“How about starting a small business?”
“I’ll probably fail.”
“Oh, you will fail. No question about it. That’s entrepreneurship. But you just have to start again.”
“I can’t take failure. I give up too quickly.”
       It was impossible to talk to him. He didn’t like solutions. He just wanted someone to pity him.
Friend, get rid of self-pity from your life. See the blessings that you already have and the blessings that are coming your way. Take on a grateful heart. And you’ll receive even more blessings!
And now the third posture…

3. Mr. Prepared
       Mr. Prepared was a man who liked looking up.
When he saw the money falling from the sky, he opened his arms really wide, catching a lot of money.
       Do you believe that God’s blessings are falling on you everyday? Do you wake up every morning believing there’s abundance everywhere?
       If you’re desperate for God, you’re open to receive more!
       One day, someone came up to me and said, “Bo, I believe God plays favorites.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
He said, “Take yourself, for instance. You’re spiritual life is strong; Your ministry is growing; Your family life is tight; Your businesses are expanding. It only means one thing. God plays favorites and you’re one of them.”
I told him, “I don’t believe that God plays favorites. The Bible says that the sun shines on both the bad and the good and the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous (Matthew 5:45). God doesn’t play favorites. We play favorites.”
“I don’t get it.”
I explained. “One of my earliest spiritual mentors was a nun by the name of Sr. Angelina Lim. When I was 13 years old, she taught me that God’s love is like rain that falls from the sky. Some go out into the rain bringing a cup and get a cup full of rain. Some bring out a pitcher and get a pitcher full of rain. Some bring out a pail and get a pail full of rain. Some bring out a drum and get a drum full of rain. Some bring out a swimming pool and get a swimming pool of rain! The container represents the opening of your heart to God.”
“I get it,” my friend said. “But Bo, I still think you’re lucky.”
“Yes I’m lucky. But I define luck in a different way. My friend Dean Pax Lapid says, ‘Luck consists of Preparedness and Opportunity.’ I see the opportunity because I’m prepared.”
       Most of my financial mentors started poor. They went through a lot of pain and humiliation. But they became wealthy because the pain and humiliation made them desperate. And desperate people do desperate things.
       One of my mentors told me a story.
He said, “When I was a young man, I’d go door-to-door selling window blinds. In one of my sales calls, I visited a businessman, and gave him my proposal written in a letter. The businessman looked at my letter, smirked, and threw it on the floor.”
       “That’s terrible,” I said.
“He didn’t have the decency to simply return the letter to him. The man threw it on the floor just to insult me. It was so painful. Do you know what I did?
“What?”
“I picked it up and said, ‘Thank you, Sir.’ I walked out and knocked on another door.   And another door. And another door. I ate humiliation for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
Today, 32 years later, my mentor’s company—which still sells window blinds—now sells over a billion pesos each year.
       How come? Because once upon a time, my mentor was desperate.  He explained to me why.
“Bo, when I started, I had no choice. I was kicked out of college. My grades were very bad. So having a job and climbing the corporate ladder wasn’t an option for me. The only way open to me was to build my business.”
       I love this passage: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall directyour paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
Be humble before God.
And you too will receive the blessings of God like a downpour.
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez

God Waits For You

2011-12-17T06:21:00.001-08:00

May I share with you a love story?
A true love story.
This happened recently.
In March 16, 1521, when Magellan came to the Philippines…
Just kidding.
Let me skip a few centuries and fast forward to 1910… (“Recent” is relative.)
This is the love story of Tomas and Magdalena.
Tomas fell in love with a beautiful young lady named Magdalena. (If this happened today, they’d be called Tom and Maggie.)
Magdalena’s father was a full-blooded Spaniard.
Being half-Spanish, she was a mestiza. And her family spoke only Spanish.
Tomas was the total opposite. He was a brown-skinned fellow who couldn’t speak a single word of Spanish.
Perhaps that’s an exaggeration. He spoke the few words that we know. Like Pastillas de Leche. Agua Oxenada. And of course, Poso Negro.
But he was in love. And he decided to pursue her no matter what. Even if he didn’t know how to speak in Spanish, he decided that he’d just say the three words he knew.
When he knocked on the door of her house, it was Magdalena’s father who opened the door. He almost died.
The old man said, “Buenos dias, Tomas.”
Tomas swallowed hard and said with a trembling voice, “Si.” (Okay, he knew four words.)
The father pointed to the couch and said, “Sienta.”
Tomas said again, “Si.”
Magdalena’s father then asked the young man, “Que quieres comer?” (Meaning: What do you want to eat?).
Tomas didn’t understand a thing he was saying. So he just smiled and muttered, “Pastillas de Leche”.
The older man wondered why Tomas was so specific about what he wanted to eat. He then asked him, “Que quieres beber?” (Meaning: What do you want to drink?).
Tomas was again totally lost. He blurted out the second word he knew. “Agua Oxenada”.
Magdalena’s father scratched his head, wondering what kind of bafoon he was talking to. He asked, “Donde vives?” (Meaning: Where do you live?)
Of course, he had to say the last word he had in his vocabulary. “Poso Negro.”
I’m exaggerating.
What really happened was Magdalena’s parents told her, “Tomas isn’t one of us. From now on, Tomas cannot enter into this house ever again.” During that time, a parents’ word was the final word.
Poor Tomas. Broken-hearted, he went to Hongkong to work in a PNB branch there. He wanted to forget the pain of losing Magdalena forever.

A Marriage To Another Man
A new suitor comes into the picture: Pablo.
Pablo was a Doctor. More importantly, he was mestizo and spoke Spanish. And he was accepted by Magdalena’s parents right away.
And in a few months, Magdalena married Pablo.
But soon, Magdalena woke up to a very harsh reality. She discovered that her husband Pablo was a hopeless womanizer. He would have many, many affairs. His infidelities would wound her heart again and again.
And after 13 years of a very painful marriage, tragedy struck.
One day, Pablo was in his clinic. And a man barged into the door.  In his hand was a long knife. And he screamed, “I will kill you!”
Pablo recognized the man. He was the husband of one of his patients—a woman he was courting.
Pablo ran to the streets. But he wasn’t fast enough. In a busy intersection in Manila, Pablo was stabbed to death.
This crime appeared in the newspapers at that time…

Love Is Sweeter The Second Time Around
A few days later, Tomas was in Hongkong reading the newspapers. He read about the stabbing and said, “Poor guy.” He looked at the name of the man who was killed—and it sounded familiar.
Suddenly, he realized who the man was.
And he packed his bags!
Even after 13 long years, he was never able to forgot Magdalena. He took the next ship back to Manila.
Straight from the port, Tomas went straight to the house of Magdalena.
On that fateful morning, Magdalena couldn’t believe her eyes when she opened the door. It was like a scene from the movie of Bea and John Lloyd.
Imagine it. Framed in the doorway was a familiar figure. It looked like… Tomas! At that moment, time stopped. Everything became a blur. Was it really him? The sunlight was behind him. Magdalena looked closer.  For a long time, no one spoke.
Finally, Magdalena said, “Tomas?”
Tomas smiled and said, “Magdalena…”
There in front of her, on her doorsteps, was a man she once loved many, many years ago.
But for Tomas, it was very different.
He had never stopped loving her.
So he courted her again and serenaded her again.
And he won her heart.
One year after, they got married.
They only had one child.
And they named her Pilar.
Pilar grew up, got married and had 6 children.
And named the 6th child, “Bo”.

Grandpa Tomas Is A Little Bit Insane
       If you’re single, I’m not talking to you.
       I don’t want you to be like my grandpa Tomas.
       If your beloved chose someone else, move on.
       You see, my Lolo was a little bit insane. Who would wait for 13 years when the person you love chose someone else, married someone else, and had a life of her own? (Magdalena had one child with Pablo.)
       But I’m not speaking to singles. I’m speaking to everyone.
       Because my grandpa Tomas reminds me of God.
       God is also a little bit insane.
       How many times have you rejected God? (I know I’ve rejected his call many times.) How many times did you choose someone or something else? Sin? Materialism? Pride? Addiction?
       Yet God doesn’t walk out on you.
       He doesn’t abandon you.
       He never says, “If you don’t like me, I don’t like you too.”
       Instead, God waits.
And He won’t stop waiting.
       He waits until you allow Him to love you.
       He waits until we allow Him to become a Hero for us.

God Is Your Hero
       Remember our definition of “hero”?
       Someone who loves somebody more than himself.
       Friend, that’s a perfect description of who God is.
       God loves you more than He loves Himself. That’s why He ended up on a cross—for you.
       God is your hero.
       May your dreams come true,
       Bo Sanchez