It is Chinese New Year in the Philippines on January 30. The Philippine-Chinese connection has been pervasive, at least as far as I can personally remember. In my generation, I don’t think there is any Filipino who can honestly claim he or she absolutely does not have a Chinese ancestor.

I claim to be Western in my thinking, but the English language I use daily is replete with Chinese. A quick trip to a dictionary showed an array from A to W. Chinese amah to Chinese white. I suppose had I gone to a bigger dictionary i would have found Chinese words for X, Y and Z as well.

In his graduate school classes, my husband would have fun with an aphorism: “God made Adam and Eve but the rest of the world is made in China.” In Wimbledon in 2011, a sales clerk saucily answered me when I asked where a piece of luggage was made: “Tell me, what product can you buy nowadays that was not made in China.” Of course he was Asian but not Chinese.

How China has evolved while I wasn’t looking! Amazing! I grew up the nuns in school and the priests in Church exhorting me to pray for “poor” China. But in 2002 hen my family and I joined a group tour to some selected cities in China I had a culture shock. How in heaven’s name  did”poor” China build a Zhenzhen (my encyclopedias could not help me with the spelling neither me spelling check, neither Google. After all it’s garbage in, garbage out!) highway with twelve lanes on either side?!

In Beijing, the traffic was awful. I even saw some impatient pedestrians jumping over the iron bars of the islands separating the lanes To my disappointment we went through several restaurants but could not find pancit canton nor lumpia Shanghai, staple entrees in Chinese restaurants in the Philippines. In 2002, China already had Christmas trees in the shopping centers. In our hotel on Christmas eve we were bold enough to borrow a Christmas tree from the lobby.Emboldened we attempted to have a Catholic liturgical session at the lounge of our floor. Of course we were not allowed. Public assemblies were no permitted. We quicly greeted each other a merry Christmas then retired to our separate rooms

I have a 101 stories about my Chinese experiences but certainly not for now.

Neale Donald Walsch’s books have given me answers, not even my two masteral programs and my doctoral degree have given me. I like the shocking revelations that stimulated my parochial convent school mind!

I like how simply the book has shown me the meaning of my life.
“….choices that could lead to more than one outcome.” Any choice I may make has multiple repercussions And I’m not even considering the subconscious and the unconscious effects that come with the package.

Here lies the problem: “If all you desired is what your soul desires, everything would be very simple. If you listened to the part of you which is pure spirit, all of your decisions wold be easy and all the outcome joyous that is because…

…the choices of spirit are always the highest choices.

Yet you are not only a spirit. You are a Triune being made up of body, mind and spirit. My practical solution for the moment (actually for two years now) is the Ho’oponopono strategy which surrenders to Divinity all that my consciousness is not capable of handling. And certainly it has been working for me.

Inspired by Donna Eden, I have been practicing pro-active self-care coupled with professional medical healthcare. I’m convinced I know my body best. I have God as my primary partner in my self-care. Whenever I am in pain or I feel anxious, I no longer get angry with God.I go to the metaphysical level. I don’t want to get caught again in the religion-spirituality debate. I don’t want to get into a depression like what happened in the 90s; no chance of my being a Van Gogh!

I thank God for anything that usually gives me enjoyment like flowers, plants, trees, mountains, rivers etc. Usually I recall beautiful pictures from my newsfeeds on Facebook. This brings me to a higher level than pain and anxiety. When I feel better I thank God for everybody. This practice was inspired by what I read about hell – separation from god, banishment from Eden.

Lately, I had to go to the emergency room because my blood pressure rose, this after eating only steamed fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a week. My personal doctor hold clinic hours only in the mornings so we had to go to the emergency room.

It was a blessing in disguise. The attending doctor saw what had been overlooked all these years. Salt – Sodium.The next day after a no-salt breakfast, my husband took a reading of my blood pressure. What a joy to have a reading of 129. After a no- salt lunch my blood pressure was still below the usual 140.

The next day when my husband went to one of his regular classes, I took my blood pressure. I was shocked – as high as 187! I repeated and repeated by the lowest I got was 141. I knew better than to panic. I drank medicine and rested.

I am back to researching what else can be done. I suspect the fish that I have been eating for weeks without salt nor oil is the culprit. I am due for another check up in a week’s time.

     As far as I can remember, I have never made resolutions for the New Year. However I do have a program of self improvement every year. Lately print media and several posts in my newsfeeds in Facebook have caught my interest. The best was one that said: “I am made of golden stardust.”

Who am I What a thought to entertain at age 0. In 2012 I read in Martha Beck’s “Finding Your Way in A Wild New World” that human beings came from stardust. This smacks of evolution.

Biologically I came from the union of Porfirio and Ezperanza. I still have a photocopy of the legal document that proves this; this was an affidavit used for my first passport ever. Noteworthy is that only my mom signed because by then my father had passed away.

I grew up, constantly being reminded that I was made to the image and likeness of God. Days ago I read in the column of Mr Licauco in the Philippine Daily Inquirer two versions in the Genesis account of how man was made.

Anyway, my point is that I can’t understand why my church is not happy about what many of my favorite authors claim about man being co-creators. After all I was taught in school and in church about my being created in the image and likeness of God.

For quite some time now, I have been so empowered in life by the writings of some writers like:Marriane Williamson, Dr. Christine Page, Laura Bushnell, Lynn Grabhorn, Martha Beck etc. I wonder why some if not all of my favorite authors have left the Church.

At heart I will always remain a teacher.My interests have been books, teaching and learning materials and travels. I no longer travel much after I mild stroke in May 2012. Besides Singapore our second home no longer has Borders Bookstore.

My daily routinary joys are prayers (not formula) crossword puzzles and massages by the blind if and when the busy schedule of my husband allows it.

A unique part of my daily routine is an experimental variety of rhythmic transfer of my body weight from one foot to the other as I walk from our unit to the garbage room and back. Some varieties are comfortable while others are truly.tiring. I tell my husband that I know my body best; he still insists on his brand of tedious exercise for me.

I have no pets in our unit. I don’t want to sweep more hair than what I’m already shedding everyday!
I have two bonsai money plants. I’ve learned the painful way that they thrive better with less attention.

I blossom in an orderly environment. I thank God my patient and loving husband has integrated his life into mine. The Internet is so lovely for me.It is available anytime and all the time except when the server is not available. It is there when I want to use it, so unlike alarm clocks and phones which ring and ring till they are attended to