I was meditating this morning at Salcedo Park when a woman approached me and asked: “Can you give me money?” Hahaha! I told her to go away!!! (kidding!) After my meditation, the woman – Tweet Sering – came back from her walk and we chatted.

I know she was bothered by the flies hovering around us. I too was bothered by the flies especially during my meditation (at one point, the flies were on my face). I took this as a challenge as I recalled this video of Fly and Samurai.

And truly in my meditation, the flies disappeared.

When we stop, reflect, visualize, we can make problems turn into opportunities. And then the problems disappear.

ka edong

…(Jesus) said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” – Mark 6:31

I’ve been developing good habits through the years. Recently, I’ve been more deliberate and conscientious about it.

Everyday, I get up from bed and go out for a 30-minute run. After my run, I walk back home to cool-down. I pass by a nearby park where there are nice towering acacia trees and a children’s playground.

I sit down on a bench, close my eyes and then I rest my mind.

Enjoying the trees and cool air at Hyde Park, Sydney

Sometimes I think about what happened the day before. Sometimes I think about what I am going to do today. I always like thinking about what I’m grateful for.

And then I listen. I listen to what’s around me. I hear birds chirping, dogs barking, people walking by or bicycles passing. I hear cars, I hear someone sweeping leaves, someone whistling a tune.

And as I listen to what’s around me, I inevitably start listening to what’s inside of me. I start listening for God’s inspirations for me.

I’ve been blessed by this quiet time with the Lord. I get relaxed, rejuvenated. I become more focused, more purposeful. I let go of worries. I become more trusting and grateful.

And I become more open to receive inspirations from our good Lord.

Amazing Day!

edWIN

Do you have a relationship where you resent the other person’s opinions, attitude, behavior or way of life? Are you annoyed by how some of your loved ones speak, what words come out of their mouth? Do you sometimes wish that they change so that they become more … more like you?

I’d like to share a few stories and beliefs that have helped heal some of the challenging relationships with my loved ones.

Twisted reflections of Ka Edong, Tony and Flor - I accept all of us regardless

A few months ago, I had a conversation with my father that expresses some of my deepest feelings about my relationship with him. It encapsulates how I have become a more loving son to my father.

Before that, let me tell you about my father and my relationship with him.

My father, Antonio D. Soriano, M.D. – protector or prisoner?

My father is a good man, 71 years young. As much as he knew best, he has provided well for his wife and children. He is a good doctor (an ophthalmologist; Eyes, Ears, Nose, Throat specialist) who has healed many people. He is a good brother, son, nephew, friend. My father continues to grow, learning new talents (learned to play the piano at age 60! continues to learn how to use the computer), reading books and applying the lessons, widening his point of view.

Despite these, I describe my father as being very careful. Veeeerrrry careful. Just to be straight-forward, I perceive my father as fearful. He has a tendency to keep inside his comfort zone, his safety zone.

For instance, one time we travelled to Bicol with family. My mom and I are very adventurous eaters. We wanted to try out the Pinangat and Bicol Express at a local resto. But my father vehemently wanted to eat within his comfort zone. He decided to eat at Jollibee because he trusted Jollibee’s cleanliness, and didn’t trust any other resto in the area.

My eye doctor dad has yet to see the beauty of the sunset

In another incident, I was driving home with my dad in Baguio when I saw how beautiful the sunset was. I searched for a good place to park in the cool Baguio air under the trees and away from the noise just to breathe in the wonderful colors of the sunset. When we parked, I showed dad how beautiful the sunset is. My dad just nodded. As I was appreciating the sunset, I realized my dad wasn’t looking. He just gave a courteous glance, but wasn’t watching the colors of the horizon as they turned blue, yellow, orange, fiery red and grey.

I asked him why he wasn’t watching the sunset. He said watching the sunset could damage his eyes. :-(

Back then, I felt sad, pity and some resentment for my father. His comfort zone has become his prison.

Experiences that keep people in the comfort zone

There are events and circumstances in my father’s life that have led him to be very careful. For one, he is a doctor. He is witness to thousands of cases of damaged eyes or ears, is familiar with how diseases can be passed on through un-sanitary daily interactions. More specifically, in my father’s childhood, my father was witness to his older brother’s fatal accident. My father and his brother were walking home after school when a bus backed up and run over my father’s brother. I believe this experience, more than any other single reason, is what has formed my father into a careful and (over)-protective person.

I completely understand that he wants to protect his life and the life of his loved ones. I just feel that growth has become limited by being over protective. After all, growth is right outside the comfort zone. 

My father’s comfort zone has become his prison.

Then my protector, Now my friend

In my youth, I used to be at odds with my father. I resented how he lived his life of being careful, to the extent of me feeling too constrained, as if my neck was being chained by my father’s rules.

I could hear all my father’s words of paranoia: “it’s not safe”, “not sanitary”, “you could get hurt”, “you might meet an accident”, “you might fall”, “nakakahiya (embarassing)”, “don’t do this”, “don’t do that”.

But through the years, my father and I have learned to have a mutual respect for how we live our lives. He is careful and I respect that even if I don’t agree with him at times. I am more of a risk-taker and my father respects that even if he doesn’t agree with me at times.

This brings me to my conversation with dad a few months ago.

Acceptance

He asked me to join him in their room because he had something to ask me.
He had held back on asking me for more than a year.
He asked me why I resigned from Smart considering that I had said I was doing something I was passionate about in Smart.

I was surprised that Dad had kept his question to himself of so long.
I realized it was dad being respectful of me, not wanting to impose anything on me, not wanting to offend me.

After answering Dad’s question, I told him a message that I feel was extremely important to my Dad.

I told my father:

“Dad, you can tell me anything.
There is nothing you can say or do that will destroy my relationship with you.”

I explained that I won’t necessarily agree or have the same opinion as his.
But Dad can be totally honest and open with me. I will not take offense at all.
Whatever it is.

In retrospect, what I told dad was my declaration of my unconditional acceptance.
I accept Dad regardless. ;-)
I respect Dad and all his feelings, opinions, thoughts.
They are his and he has total ownership and right of his feelings.

An Accepting Attitude

I believe that whatever we say or do at any moment in our lives, it is the best we know to do at that time in our lives.
By understanding this principle, I have become more forgiving and accepting of myself and of other people.

I also believe that our good Lord has His perfect plan all laid out.
If my prayers are not answered the way I want it answered and at the time I want it answered,
I’m okay with it, I accept it.
I know our good Lord has something masterfully planned for me.

I push on forward with my prayers, my dreams, my goals and keep vigilant for the guidance of my good God ;-) .

Have a day full of blessings!
edWIN

At a later time, I will write about the third of my three words: Worthiness. 

It’s been very exciting for me seeing the developments in the campaign. I especially like how so many of Filipinos have taken the campaign to heart and into their own hands. We’re seeing hundreds of user-generated campaign photos coming out. And there’ll be more.

Fetching Water. More fun in the Philippines - Leisure Coast, Dagupan, Pangasinan

Let me pause a bit and make a little sense of where we could bring this campaign.

I enjoy seeing the various creations online. Most of us who created Fun Philippines photos are in a very steep learning curve. Maybe the photos and the lines aren’t perfect — oh, that’s all part of the fun.

But as we progress through the learning curve, we better do better and better. All in the right time. (Napag-sabihan kasi ako ng “Chill”).

Let me make two lists. First: How to improve our “It’s more fun in the Philippines” photos. Second: What to do with them next.

How to improve our “It’s more fun in the Philippines” photos. 

1. Stick to the text style.
   Pre-text is short, smart, witty. It’s laid-out to have same length as “Philippines”. Make “Philippines” as big as possible on the photos.  More tips here from Jayvee.
2. Use beautiful photos that evoke Pinoy-ness.
   I’ve seen a photo of lego bricks — this isn’t Pinoy. Lego bricks can be found anywhere else in the world. ;-) My opinion, not yours. ;-) I’ve seen photos that won’t appeal to foreigners. I choose not to share those.
3. Use pre-text (e.g. “Angry Birds”, “Stalking” etc.) that can connect with non-Filipinos.
   If you say, for example, “Sisig. More fun in the Philippines” — foreigners will not understand this, they can’t relate.

Here’s what we can do to level-up our “It’s more fun in the Philippines” campaign.

1. Curate — bring together the best photos and text that positively contribute to the campaign.
   Here are some sites that have started curating in different ways:
   via Pinterest (c/o Anton Diaz and friends … including me :D )
   via http://www.itsmorefuninthephilippinespics.com/ by Arnold Gamboa
   via Flickr group  pool
2. Categorize – There has to be categories that actually truly attract foreigner tourists. I’m sure this has been identified. What are they? Diving? Boracay (surely!). Backpacking? Beaches? Nature? Adventure? Food? History? When a photo can’t be used to attract a foreign tourist, then the photo is good only for domestic enjoyment , only among Pinoys. ;-)
3. Caption — a whole lot of the photos I’m seeing are contextual — foreigners won’t understand what it means. We need to start inserting short and sweet descriptions of the photos. Basic: Location and/or subject description. I tried doing this in the text captions of my photos. But I realized it gets lost in the passing on of the photo (re-posting etc.).
   Perhaps DOT can start the copy on how to include captions within the photo, and we user-generated-creators will follow-suit. I imagine just one-line captions, short and sweet at the bottom of the photo.
4. Collect customer-insight — We Filipinos are not the customers of this campaign. (Arguable, I know. But let’s focus on the side about marketing the Philippines to foreign tourists). Therefore, it is important to get real customer insight. Let’s test the campaign photos with our foreigner friends. Even test it with Filipinos living outside the Philippines. See if the photos resonate with them, see if the photos attract them to the Philippines.
5. Correspond. — Live up to the expecation. That means being what we claim to be. ;-) .

Here’s to thinking ahead. Envisioning where we can bring the campaign to. We’re in a space of growth here. Am excited ;-) .

How to make your own It’s more fun in the Philippines photos:

• A tutorial by Jayvee
• An online app http://www.morefunmaker.com/ (hope it’s working when you use it).
• Lastly, visit the official site www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.com

ka edong

Ka Edong Reflections in Sydney

Masaya sa Pilipinas

Two days before the launch of the tourism campaign,
my brother-in-law told me he visited the Philippines every year when he was a bachelor working in Australia.
He preferred travelling to the Philippines more than US or Europe.

His reason:”Masaya sa Pilipinas, eh.”

And then the launch of the tourism campaign:
www.itsmorefuninthephilippines.com

I just thought: “DOT read my brother’s mind (and thousands other’s minds and feelings)! They hit it right!”

Let’s support this campaign. Many things are indeed more fun in the Philippines!

Big Philippines

I realized today: The Philippines is bigger than it’s geographic borders. The Philippines is it’s people, spread around the world.

Claim it, Philippines!

Barely 36 hours since launch, I therefore declare the tourism campaign #ItsMoreFunInThePhilippines … A SUCCESS!
I claim it for the Philippines, a country and people infinitely blessed by our good God!

- Amb. Edwin Ka Edong Soriano
Philippine Ambassador to all he meets

More fun indeed

In a family gathering, I was talking with pamangkins in Sydney, ages 16-19.
Grew up in Australia, with visits to the Philippines.
More than three times from different people, they told me in various ways “It’s more fun in the Philippines”.
Indeed, the campaign slogan is something that resonates with people, unites Filipinos. Sarap maging Pinoy!

New Pinoy Thinking

We attended Sunday service at Hillsong, Australia.
There, we met Nadya, a Filipina who migrated to Australia in the early 1980′s.

She shared the sentiment that “It’s more fun in the Philippines” especially during the holidays, with all the family members in the Philippines, food, festivities. She shared that here in Australia, to have a feel of the Philippine Christmas, they would gather Pinoy family friends and celebrate together. I told her: “There’s a patch of the Philippines here in Australia!“

She described how back then they had a “brotherhood” of Pinoy migrants. But through the years, many more Pinoys came to Australia and she no longer felt the brotherhood. I explained to her that the Pinoy brotherhood is still there,  it’s happening many times more than before, but it’s happening in groups outside her circle.

She commended me, told me: “I like how you think.”

Thank you. I like how I think too :D .

Easy to help

Nadya also encouraged my brother and I to migrate to Australia. She explained that it’s so much easier to help our countrymen when earning in Australian dollars. One pound of sweat in Australia is paid many times more than the same effort in the Philippines.

That was Nadya’s way of helping. And it’s all good. I realized that for many Filipinos living abroad, it’s important for them to help the Philippines … and that one of the easiest ways is to send money back home. I see.

I feel this is why Fil-Ams are such a big fan of Willie Revillame’s show. Because they see right before their very eyes how Willie is able to help people, right there and then. That act, that gesture of giving money to a fellow-Filipino in need — that is an act that many Filipinos abroad want to do. (I don’t agree with how Willie does it, but I do understand why he’s big with Filipinos abroad).

Helping the Philippines abroad

On the other hand, I felt that there are many more ways to help the Filipino. This thought has helped me become more creative:

The Philippines is bigger than it’s geographic borders. The Philippines is it’s people, spread around the world.

For instance, while in the car here in Australia, I heard a Filipino radio program. They were playing a radio drama spoken in Filipino.

I also found Filipino publications for the Filipinos in Australia, published here in Sydney.

I started to think: The people behind this radio program and these publications — they are serving the Philippines. They are serving the Filipinos in Australia, a patch of the Philippines here in Australia.

Buy low, sell high

I’ve also been thinking about what’s affordable in the Philippines that’s valuable in Australia. Buy low, sell high.

Labor is one. For the same amount of work, we earn, say for example, 10 times more in Australia than we earn in the Philippines.

Tourism is another. Australian dollars go a long long way in the Philippines, much more than in Australia.

Oneness once again

I’m utterly delighted when Filipinos are drawn to become one. I feel it when Pacquiao has a bout. I felt it in Cory’s wake. I felt it in the bayanihan of Ondoy and Sendong.

That’s why I’m so excited about our tourism campaign “It’s more fun in the Philippines”.

Finally here is something that brings Filipinos together as one, and with fun!

And it’s bringing us together not based on tragedy (Ondoy, Sendong) or death (Cory’s passing away) or ousting a leader (EDSA revolutions).

This tourism campaign is bringing together Filipinos all around the world with one resounding voice, saying “It’s more fun in the Philippines.”

I love it that we’re all coming together, and with fun!

The Filipino Abroad

OFWs are Filipinos working abroad to earn money to send back home. I feel the OFW segment is highly evolved. There are products, services, programs that cater specifically for the OFW.

But it’s not the same for the Filipino families who reside outside the country. This segment is under-served. We don’t even have a commonly used term to refer to this group. What are they? Overseas Filipino Families (OFF)? Or maybe Overseas Filipino Migrants. How about Filipinos Living Abroad (FLA).

Let’s start with that, can we? Let’s have a name for this group and then we can start serving them better. And we can start empowering them better. Or should I say, we can start empowering us better. ;-)

ka edong
sa Australia 

I start today with “Contrast”. I realized it was a topic on its own, just enough for one article. There’s so much more to write about, but I’ll keep it short and sweet for now.

Contrast in 2011

“If there was a color darker than black, our world would be a brighter place.” — Elmer S. Soriano

I’ve been taking photos for the Heroic Leadership Seminar, Classes XXX and XXXI. One of the lessons I learned from my friend Arney Nucum was to capture the positive moments of the participants. That worked very well for me as a photographer as I captured wonderful moments of joy, victory, breakthrough, acceptance, forgiveness and empowerment. I loved capturing the beauty of these moments in heart-warming portraits of Heroic participants.

Venchie's Embrace - w/ Lourds and Budz Arl

A year later in Heroic XXXII, I learned something similarly as powerful as capturing positive moments: capturing negative moments. I learned this from my friend Delong and we call it “contrast”.

Contrast is having a deeper awareness and appreciation of what was. This empowers us to celebrate what IS.

As a photographer, I learned the importance of capturing moments of despair, brokenness, struggle — these are precious because it gives people a reminder of what life was like before reaching their moment of positive breakthrough.

Conquering The Wall of XXXI

I feel this is the power behind watching Nick Vucijic, Susan Boyle (old lady, surprise finalist in Britain’s got talent), Emmanuel Kelly (Iraq war survivor singing “Imagine”), Sung Bong Choi (Korean homeless boy, opera singer).

All these people come from various difficult situations. Therefore it can become extremely overwhelming to witness how they have overcome dire situations and come out as winners. They are winners not by comparison to other people — they are winners for what they have become despite (or because of) their difficult backgrounds.

Personally, I am overwhelmed because through them, I am reminded how much I myself can overcome and shine.

In our lives, we can empower ourselves for the present moment by being aware of how much we have grown from our moments of difficulties.

Moreover, when we are faced with moments of difficulty, we are being blessed with moments of “contrast” which will make our victory sweeter than sweet!

Difficulty brings contrast brings joy.

Happy New Year!

ka edong

• Good sleep
• Time with Rezza and friends Lawrence and Jabar
• Korea Garden
• Re-connecting with Grace M., my eyes and ears.
• 6 hour trip with two of my favorite people in the entire world.
• Exchanging funny stories between Keric, Rezza and myself.
• Coming home to the loving arms of dad and mom in Baguio.
• Apologizing and acknowledging that are changes I need to make to improve my relationships. Honor other people’s time.
• covering some deliverables via text.
• Safe trip.
• Nice warm bed.
• A quiet home.
• Continuing with my habit of writing a gratitude journal entry every night.
• Sleeping well…
• Good roads. Safe trip.
• Baguio. Rezza. Home. Family.

Goodbye. Gone like bula.

But along the way, we encountered challenges. (3)
I felt she was not committed. She felt I was not being understanding.
I felt I gave all the patience I had. She felt she deserved more.

Along the way, it was getting harder to communicate with her.
She was starting to come up with so many excuses.
I was getting tired. She was increasingly difficult to deal with.

In 2007, I wanted to break-up. (4)
She was enraged! She said it was unfair.
She appealed. Said she’ll do better.
She would raise her voice at me one minute, and then beg for my understanding the next minute.
I gave in, gave it another chance. (5)
The truth was, I wanted her to stay.
Maybe we just needed the wake-up call.

Things improved after that initial storm.
She stayed committed … for a few months. (6)
And then it happened again. She backed-up on her commitments.
At one point, she pulled the rug right from under me — blatantly walking away from her commitment. (7)
She claimed she was good with her commitment.
But the fact is, for almost the entire 5 years, she was never ever on time with our agreed dates. (8)

For the last 5 months, I knew it was over. (9)
She totally disregarded our dates.
She totally disregarded her commitments.
I couldn’t contact her. She didn’t contact me.
This has got to end.

Today, I visited her in Cavite.
When I reached the house, I was surprised to see a shirtless man in shorts.
I greeted him: “Magandang Umaga. Ako si Edwin. Hinahanap ko po si Jen-Jen.”
He recognized my name. He hurried inside, called for Jen-Jen.

The moment our eyes met, I could feel the tension between us, despite the courtesies.
She led me to the sala while she fixed herself. She was absolutely surprised with my visit.
She tried to settle down, as the shirtless man watched the drama unfolding.
After my long silence, interrupted by her random un-solicited excuses, I raised my hand to keep her quiet and then broke the news:

“Jen-Jen, it has been 5 years of lack of commitment. It has been 5 months of zero commitment.
This has happened before and you know how it goes.
You have not paid your rent. I’ve given you enough leeway.
I am rescinding our rent-to-own contract.
I shall furnish you the eviction notice.
It’s time for you to move out of my house.” (10)

~~~~~~~~
Footnotes:
(1) Jen-Jen (not her real name) was the first tenant-buyer I dealt with in my rent-to-own real estate business. She is a mother of 3 daughters, married to a seaman OFW (the shirtless man in the story).
(2) We signed a Lease-Purchase Agreement in August 2006.
(3) Within a few months, she fell behind with her cash payments.
(4) By January 2007, her total unpaid dues reached P23,500 overdue for as much as 4 months. I issued notices of overdue payments, and eventually an eviction notice.
(5) With the help of the homeowner’s association President, my tenant-buyer and I reached an amicable settlement. She continued on to stay in my house.
(6) Part of the settlement was for her to issue post-dated cheques. Indeed she issued cheques. But just a few months later, her account lacked funds for the current cheque.
(7) She immediately withdrew all her money from her checking account. The current cheque bounced. The rest of the cheques were invalid because her checking account was closed. She reverted to cash payments.
(8) She was almost never on-time with her payments. There was always at least one month behind with her payments.
(9) In August 2011, she failed to make a payment (My account was promptly closed by the bank on the month that she did not make a payment). That was it. She never made another payment since then. She never contacted me to make a payment.

And, by the way, my defaulting tenant also has arrears with the homeowner’s association — zero payments since June 2007.

(10) Today, I issued an eviction notice to my defaulting tenant.
I gave her two weeks to vacate the premises.
The current homeowner’s association president has been kind enough to mediate, ensure the peace and assist in vacating the premises.

~~~~~~~

Key message

This is what happens when a tenant-buyer is not committed to the agreements.
In this world, there are reasons and there are results. Reasons don’t count. Only results matter.

Post-script 

Among all my tenant-buyers, I learned the most from Jen-Jen — the most difficult to deal with.
Because of my experiences with Jen-Jen, I was able to update my contracts to prevent any unfair practices, I learned to negotiate, I learned to be patient and persistent. I even learned to let go at certain points and just allow.

Thank you Lord for all the lessons I learned from Jen-Jen.  

Now I’m honoring my worth, honoring the value that I give to the universe through my real-estate business. There are many other tenant-buyers who are very much committed to purchasing their home.

I will be more selective this time of my tenant-buyers: Character is foremost (based on gut), Commitment comes as a close second.

Yesterday, I had made decisions where I chose to bite the ampalaya and face my fear.

Facing my fear was like eating ampalaya, knowing that it was going to be bitter, and also knowing that it was going to make things better.

Today, I was walking to one of my meetings. When I noticed that I was skippity skipping, and smiling as I hurried through the open lawn toward my destination.

Then I realized the lightness I felt, even if (perhaps *because*) I had finally stared my “ampalaya” (my fear) in the eye and ate it too.

And it was liberating.
It was liberating to not pretend that things are all nice and rosy.
It was liberating to not pretend that I had everything under control.
It was liberating just thinking of the possibilities of how to overcome my challenges. At least now I know in concrete terms (in concrete numbers) what my challenge is. I had avoided the issue long enough, and now I come face to face with the challenge.

Now I’m real to myself, honest to myself about my challenges. And it is liberating!

I shall face the music earlier and more often from hereon. It takes practice. Now let’s dance!

edWIN

How much time do you spend with your loved ones?
How do you spend your time with your loved ones?

I recently learned a simple lesson, and I took action to start living the lesson.

Whether you spend your time with games or with your loved ones or both — make it a conscious choice.
Because you may be living on bonus without being aware of it.

Bonus Years with My dad (Lolo Tony) and Mom (Lola Babes), Christmas 2010 - Standing: Kookie (w/ Keith), Kyle, Ylisah, Elmer, Anna, RC; seated: Edwin, Cali, Lola Babes (with Baby Boo!), Lolo Tony, Eric, Andrei (Not in photo: Eleonor)

Bonus Years

My parents and siblings have been reminding me to visit Baguio more often to spend time with my parents. With the Online business I’ve setup, I could reasonably say that my time is more flexible compared to my employee days. I could, in fact, spend more time with my parents in Baguio. But I hadn’t, because of a few commitments in Manila.

A few weeks ago, I made a trip to baguio with friends Gen and Allan. We went to Baguio for an ocular inspection in preparation for a 7-day live-in seminar: Heroic Leadership Class XXXII.

I was feeling a bit guilty because my parents have always been inviting me to visit them in Baguio. I would tell them that I have meetings to attend in Manila.

But there I was, at a moment’s notice, I made time to go to Baguio for the *work* I was doing for the seminar.

During that trip, Allan asked me how old my parents were. I said 70 and 71 . Allan replied: “Ang daming bonus!”

I thought he was referring to a salary or retirement bonus. But after clarifying, I realized he meant “Ang daming bonus years ng parents mo.” Allan’s parents passed away in their early 60′s. Comparing my parents to Allan’s parents, we could say my parents have 10 “bonus” years more than Allan’s parents.

That simple conversation made me realize a lesson I’ve long been ignoring – spend special moments with my parents.

Spend Bonus Time

This week, I was at Baguio to support the seminar as the Staff Director of Heroic XXXII. An honor it truly is to be part of this seminar. An honor to serve the Eagles as they spread their wings. An honor serving alongside the volunteer staff, the facilitators and all Eagles from past classes.

I also took time to be with my parents. I shared a special moment with my mother, a moment where our hearts and eyes spoke beyond what words can convey.

I had a one-on-one date with my dad too. He took me to “The Club” (Baguio Country Club) and we had a nice merienda, a few bottles of beer and many fun stories.

In my recent conversations with my parents, I learned their Love Language.
(The five love languages are: Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Receving Gifts, Acts of Service and Physical Touch.  Go to http://5lovelanguages.com for more details.)

My dad’s love language is Quality Time – now I understand the importance he puts in turning off the TV during our meals – he wants us to be here now.

My mother’s love language is Physical touch – When I embrace my mother, she would caress my back with her hand. And she loves kissing us kids (and apos) coupled with a smell (she inhales to smell us when she kisses us).

Friends, let’s remember to use our bonus time, and use it well with the Love Languages of our loved ones ;-) .