I was okay. I looked okay, I acted okay. I sounded okay.
But “okay” sucks.  Because my “okay” was crumpled and broken.

Are  you “okay” my friend? Or are you truly happy-okay?
Listen to yourself closely, see yourself in the mirror. Is that a happy person in front of you?

Let me share how I turned from crumpled-broken-“okay” to being truly happy with my life.
Let me tell you about this philosophy of life I discovered some 7 years ago that helps me lead a truly happy life.

It took me 2 years and three encounters with PSI before I learned the PSI Philosophy in August of 2007. And ever since I took that life-changing seminar, my life has been full-er, fun-er, good-er, fulfilling-er ;-) .

Short PSI History

PSI stands for People Synergistically Involved. It is a leadership and success seminar that started in the US by a genius named Thomas Wilhite. In the 1980’s, a Filipino by the name of Francis Galvez took the seminar in the US and had such a great impact that he started inviting his family and friends to join the seminar as well. They even sent some Pinoys to fly in to the US to attend the seminar. When there were a good number of Pinoy PSI grads, they decided to bring the seminar to the Philippines. In 1986, despite the socio-political unrest in the country, the first PSI seminar was conducted in Manila. Today, there have been more than 280 batches of PSI grads and more than 10,000 graduates around the country from Batanes, Baguio, Dagupan, Cebu, Quezon, Manila and other provinces.

First encounters with PSI

The very first time I heard about PSI was when I attended a cashflow game at Charter House Makati circa 2004. There was a group hosting Cashflow games (financial management board game by Robert Kiyosaki) as an intro to the real-estate business that they were doing. It was a bustling group, there was a unique energy in the air, as if everybody was excited to play the game and to just learn from each other. As a new comer, I felt very welcome. There was a feeling of openness, like everybody was generous and just ready to share.

I met a fellow named Roy Nabong. He helped introduce me to the game. When I asked for his card, I noticed that he had an extra letter in his name. Something like Roy “T” Nabong. I asked him what the “T” was all about. He explained that the “T” was the initial of his Starword – a word that empowers him to move forward with success in life. He said he got his Starword through a PSI Seminar.

Ooooohhhh, so that’s what these people are on! They’ve got the PSI bug! I left the cashflow game that evening with a skippity skip as I reflected upon the positive energy I experienced from that group that evening.

The second time I heard about PSI was through a book called Think Rich Pinoy by Larry Gamboa. It’s the book I used as a guide in purchasing my first real estate property and having it rented out for passive income on a rent-to-own basis.

In the book, Larry explained the four kinds of thinkers:

• (4) No goals
• (3) too many goals (aka spaghetti brained thinker)
• (2) Focus on the obstacles
• #1 Thinker: Focus on the goal!

Larry also described how PSI had a goal-getting program called Starshooters that supported him in his journey to his goals. Now I was really interested to take PSI.

My third encounter with PSI was when my good friend Ruth Aseron mentioned that she was being invited to the PSI seminar. When I heard that Ruth wanted to attend the seminar too, the deal was sealed! We decided to take the next PSI seminar which was happening just a few days later.

I believe God’s timing is always always always perfect. And PSI was perfect for me right at that time.

My life before PSI: Broken, crumpled

I describe my life before PSI in a rather graphic way. My life between 2005-2007 was a terrible. I was like a crumpled piece of paper, like trash inside, even if I tried to appear like everything was fine and dandy on the outside. I would go to my office in Intel Philippines in Cavite and do my work like a normal guy.

But all the while I was broken inside. I would go home to an empty house and that is when I would feel my extreme loneliness and depression.

At that time, I was coming out from a 13 year relationship. She had decided in 2005 that she didn’t want anything to do with me. I didn’t understand why. I wracked my brains to try to understand what I did wrong, I tried to understand how she was feeling. She just kept silent. Whatever reasons she was telling me for leaving me, I felt as if the reasons were too “mababaw”. I felt that if only we worked on our relationship together, I knew that our relationship was strong and that we could work things out.

But she had made her decision. She left me. She left me in the dark. She left me on my own to make sense of what was happening. In February 2007, she left for Canada. The following month, I visited her there. I wanted to surprise her, I was hoping she’d be happy to see me. But she got word of it and didn’t want any of it. She sent an email saying she didn’t want to see me. But I had flown all across the Pacific for one goal – to see her. So even if she didn’t want me to see her, I walked up to their doorstep anyway.

Here I was in the cold tail-end of winter after Easter, with a bouquet of flowers and some gifts, trying to look like a courier deliver service (that was the gimmick :D ).

I ring the doorbell once. No answer. I ring a second time. A shadow comes up behind the stained glass door. The female shadow, apparently recognizing who was at the door, retreated back into the house. I ring a third time. No answer. And that was it. That was the end of my quest. “Ang tuldok sa mahabang nobela”. ;-)

I lay the bouquet, gifts and love letter by the door. And I walk away from the house in a peaceful stride — and the whole time, my heart was pounding and screaming and shouting and cursing. I look back towards the house knowing that someone I used to know was looking out toward me as I walked away.

That was the last straw that told me that it was time to let go. After almost two years struggling to make things work, it was now time to love myself and move forward.

My life for a couple more months was full of abandon. I’d go drinking out with friends. I’d tell my heartaches to anybody who was willing to listen. If there was a dog or cat, I’d tell them too! Hahaha! :D .

I was broken, I was crumpled, and I was living it out like hell.

That’s why I knew I was ready for PSI. I knew there was something more in store for me.

Hello PSI, Welcome!

When I took the Seminar, I was an open cup. I was there to listen and learn something. I was there to find anything that can help me make sense of what I was going through. The facilitator, Kokoy Reonisto, gave us a few lectures, led us through many activities and experiences. And we got to share our experiences and learnings with fellow participants.

It was excruciating what I was going through. For the first time, I was allowing myself to express my deepest grief.  I allowed myself to feel all the hurt and pain.

And most of all, I allowed myself to forgive. I forgave my ex- … even if I didn’t understand why she left me.
I was tired and I was weak and I lost the *need* to understand.
I needed more to forgive my ex- … for my own sake.

Even more important, I forgave myself.

And that was the start of my true healing. I took responsibility of my life. I took responsibility for where I was and where I wanted to go. I took charge of my life knowing that I had a choice.

In the seminar, I learned that it is my choice to have a more positive attitude towards life. It is my choice whether to forgive or not. It is my choice how I want to spend the rest of my days — like it’s the first day of my life, and like it’s the last day of my life! It is my choice to love like our good God loves: unconditionally.

My PSI Life

I’m living a wonderful life today. I am following my true calling to be a teacher and help more Filipinos grow. I have a wonderful loving relationship with Rezza who is a PSI grad herself. We are freelance trainers for organizations which, incidentally, are founded by PSI Grads! Rezza and I are currently developing our own training modules too (Abangan!). We have an innovations consultancy company, Team Planu Inc., founded together with fellow-PSI grads. I put up an online business for runners www.RunnersRunner.com which is now being … “run” by a fellow PSI grad, my Biz Partner Raffy. We share the same passion for training, travel and financial freedom.We love life and life loves us back.

It’s not that we’re problem free. We DO have a lot of problems and challenges, and we take them in stride knowing that our good Lord has blessed us with all we need to reach our goals. The challenges are all part of the game of life. That’s how we learn ;-) .

I’ve learned so much and grown so much with the help of PSI. I’ve continued to participate in the seminars as volunteer staff, even giving presentations on behalf of PSI. I continue to grow, and I continue to share PSI to my family and friends. Some of my best friends and business partners are from PSI.

And I continue to share PSI to everybody through writing, volunteering and living a life aligned with the principles of PSI. It’s not rocket science, really. Over the years, I’ve come to understand that the principles are universal. They are the same principles taught by Jesus more than 2000 years ago. They are the same life principles that have made hundreds of thousands of people successful in their life, on their terms.

Your PSI Life

I share PSI to you, my friend. There is a reason you stumbled into this story today. There is a reason you’ve read this far into this story. There is a reason why the events of your life have brought you to this moment as you read this story and as you are amazed at how your life and mine are interconnected in an inexplicable way that only God understands.

I pray, my friend, that you are blessed by your visit to this website. I pray that the good Lord bless you.

I pray that you take charge of your life knowing that
You are Worthy of all the love and success in life, 
the way our good Lord wants you to be. 

Love,
edWIN 

The PSI seminar is conducted in the Philippines by the Purposeful Stewardship Institute

For details, contact Camille Martinez, Seminar Manager
at 0917-7231976, 0999-9956829 or 621-6132
or email camille.martinez@psileadership.org
Website: http://www.psileadership.org/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/psileadershipseminars