One Secret to a Contented Life

Posted on August 6, 2022 by Jeannine

Can you give someone you know who has it all?

Richness, Success, Fame…we may not know someone personally but hey, you might be living on a cave somewhere on the outer space if you haven’t even heard of Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Cuban or maybe you’re a lot younger than I am so how about Kylie Jenner?! We all know what they all have in common to have all those 3, MONEY! Tons of them!

What I’m trying to tell you is that you can have the same feeling of richness, success, and fame without even having the need have that much $$$ with you but simply by appreciating and using what you have in you now.

They may have had it all but know you can too?! Let’s not be too hopeful here.. I’m not some Nostradamus here who’s gonna give you the next winning number in the lottery, okay!

What I’m gonna share with you is what made you read this article in the first place, you want to learn how to be contented.

THE SECRET?!? →→→ GRATITUDE

What?! you might think….well, it’s as simple as that is, gratitude. But how, you might ask…

When you open your eyes in the morning and you’re are GRATEFUL…

YOU GET EXCITED WITH YOUR DAY

When you eat your breakfast and be GRATEFUL that you have something to eat…

YOU GET TO SAVOUR MORE OF YOUR MEAL AND APPRECIATE IT

When you are GRATEFUL to see your family busy and hustling to start their day…

YOU BECOME MORE IN LOVE WITH EACH ONE OF THEM ALL OVER AGAIN

When you are GRATEFUL when you leave your home…

YOU APPRECIATE YOUR HARD WORK THAT MADE YOU HAVE A GREAT PLACE TO STAY

When you go out and be GRATEFUL to see God’s beautiful creation…

YOU REALISE HOW BLESSED YOU ARE FOR EACH PART OF YOUR BODY FUNCTIONING

When you are GRATEFUL that you get to ride safely to your place of destination…

YOU GET TO RESPECT ALL THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU WHO MADE THAT HAPPEN

Everything that functions around you have a use and meaning that we might not be able to have a good thought every time but by simply being GRATEFUL, THANKFUL and have a HEART FULL OF GRATITUDE, it could make you see the positive in everything and unknowingly pull all the positive energy towards you!

With all that around you and happening in your life, aren’t you gonna be and feel happy?! Won’t you be able to love your life? Won’t you be able to appreciate the people around you more?

AND WITH ALL THAT….you get to BE CONTENTED WITH YOUR LIFE. You don’t need to have everything, you just need to see and realise that you already have what you need in life. We all have been blessed, uniquely with skills and way of living. We don’t need to be like anyone else, we don’t need to compare. All we need to do is FOCUS IN SEEING THE GOOD THINGS IN OUR LIFE…AND WITH THAT, YOU’LL BE CONTENTED.

Now, who’s ready to be GRATEFUL?!

I f this article inspire you, I hope you help spread the message and together, let’s spread to the world how to be GRATEFUL!

Do you know that taking care of yourself is one way of being grateful of oneself? Get to ready this Easy and Cheap Ways on How to do your Self-Care and get inspired!

Join our community and be one of the first to read my latest blogs! For daily positivity and Self-Care, you can follow my Instagram account @themommywithagoal.

Easy and Cheap Ways to do Self-Care

Posted on July 28, 2022 by Jeannine

When was the last time you checked-out you Instagram account and saw hashtags like #selfcare? As more and more people get their mindset open to the idea on the importance of Self-Care, others are still left with the same old thinking that Self-Care can only be achieved by going on vacation or to the spa.

In hopes to change that way of thinking, here’s a list of easy and cheap ways on how Self-Care can be done and achieve without costing you much:

BREATHING EXERCISE

One doesn’t require much tools to know if a person is alive or not. No matter how much innovation in technology people are making this days, it still simply takes one to check a person if they’re breathing or not to know that a person is alive. How ironic it is that more and more people alive aren’t aware that they are still breathing. They let days simply slip into weeks, then months, and years without them noticing.

One way of taking care of yourself is by simply noticing that you’re still breathing. Listening to how you breathe is easy to do, can be done anywhere, and almost at any time of the day. Got a minute or two to scroll in Facebook or Instagram? Why not use that to do some breathing exercise instead and appreciate your existence? Read from this article the benefits you can get from doing breathing exercises.

CLICK HERE to try doing breathing exercise. It only takes a minute to do it. I hope you spare a minute to do so.

DRINKING WATER

Do you know that a man can only live up to 3 days or as others claim, 7-8 days without drinking water WHILE live to about 52 to 74 days if they do so? That’s how important drinking water is to our body.

We all are thought that we should be drinking 8-10 glasses of water each day to keep ourselves hydrated. The question is….do we do it? As humans, we always want facts to be pin-pointed to us before we follow, so I hope this list of the BENEFITS OF DRINKING WATER would shed you some light if you’re one of those who don’t drink water that much.

FUN FACT: I myself isn’t a water drinking as well. As I strive to do better with my water drinking skills, I’ve found ways to make things easier by setting an alarm as a reminder. On different times of a day, my phone (which is usually with me) would then remind me, DRINK WATER🚰

If you’re struggling as well, maybe this tip of mind could help you too!

SLEEP EARLY

I know that I’d be getting a lot of rolling eyes from all my nocturnal friends out there but still, this article won’t be complete without me including this on the list. Yes, we all need to know the importance of sleep.

If you love watching in NETFLIX, I’m guessing you’ve come across this movie called “AWAKE” already. This movie depicts clearly how important sleep is in our daily lives. Knowing How to Prioritise Sleep and include it in our daily schedule is a need for us to function well as a human being.

EXERCISE

With so much ways available on the internet on how we could exercise, there’s no doubt one could find one that fits their interest. The BIG question though is….are we interested enough to check out on those ways? And if so, do we try to make it a habit in doing so? That’s for you to answer.

There’s so much things we can benefit from simply doing a simply exercise daily. Releasing of the chemical known as endorphins is one of it. This endorphins is responsible to interact with the receptors of your brain which helps you to reduce feeling pain. So if there’s something in your body that you feel is aching, do some exercise. Endorphins also help trigger positivity within us. So that makes not only your physical pain go away but even your emotional pain as well.

Take note that contrary to what you usually see in Social Media, exercising doesn’t mean going to the gym nor having any necessary equipment at home. The simplest exercise you can do everyday is to walk. Just make sure you don’t stroll but brisk walk to make sure your heart beats as it needs to and make that walk count as an exercise.

MINDFUL EATING

Not everyone is blessed to choose the food that they can eat. Sadly, despite having the opportunity to choose, many still fall victim to those marketing ads which do not tell you the truth. Want to know the truth? Always check those Nutritional Fact Labels to see how much sugar or salt the food you are buying does have. I’m pretty sure you’ll be shocked at what you see on it compared to those “less sugar” or “all natural” advertising words they put in the front of each product is.

Don’t get me wrong, mindful eating doesn’t mean depriving yourself from eating. You won’t be able to enjoy life as much as you could if you are deprived of something. The word “mindful” is the key to doing it right. By being “mindful” of your portions, “mindful” of how you savour each bite, and “mindful” of the nutrition your body gets from the food choices you eat, then you’ll surely, without a doubt be eating healthily without effort at all.

FIND SILENCE

When was the last time you find yourself in complete silence? Where was it and how long are you able to stay at that moment before you felt it uncomfortable? Living in this chaotic world gives us less and less opportunity to be on that state of mind. Add kids to the formula (if you’re a parent) and you’ll get twice as less of that opportunity.

With that in mind, the only way to do it is to add this few minutes of silence to your schedule. One of the best timing I can give you is the moment you wake up. That few minutes after you turned off your alarm and before you say your gratitude for the new day that has been given to you.

In this moment of silence, you get to think nothing yet be awake and in a state of awareness. By simply doing this for 5-10 minutes can help you enormously as you face your day.

SMILE

The world may be filled with cruelty yet a simple smile can make a different story. When was the last time you smiled at someone? Having masked faces due to precautions to Covid makes this more difficult to do so smiling with your eyes can help too.

I personally love doing what the Japanese does to spare myself from being though of a crazy woman. I do a short bow with a smile whenever I do it. Making sure to pick on the people you do this though so you don’t get the wrong impression on what you’re doing. The bus driver whom you pass by every time you ride the bus is one great example on who you can do this. The person you buy food from is another.

STOP PROCRASTINATING

This is one trait most of us have yet fail to recognise. I myself fell victim to this for the longest time as well and it took me a long time of adding mindfulness to my lifestyle to get over it.

Procrastinating is an action of unnecessarily or voluntarily delaying on doing something despite knowing the negative consequences of it, according to Wikipedia. When we’re faced with something we find difficulty in doing or don’t want to do, we often find excuses on doing it.

As humans, we’re very good at doing this. In all honesty, how many tasks have you chose not to do at a given moment you’ve been given to do so just because you don’t feel on doing it?

If only we try our best to JUST DO IT, whatever that task is, then we won’t be left with a long list of to-do’s, end our day feeling unsatisfied, and make a day slip from our hands without accomplishing anything.

Try a day doing what is needed without giving procrastinating, you’ll surely feel accomplished, important, and increase that self-esteem.

CLEAN UP

Keeping your surroundings tidy makes a big difference. You’ll quickly have this feeling that your brain work is better. Even the act of cleaning up your space also counts as Self-Care as it gives you time to focus brain to focus on one task and make you finish a goal in just a couple of minutes/hours.

If you’re reading till this part, THANK YOU! I hope you’ve learned a thing or two and get to realise that doing Self-Care doesn’t really need to cost you much. All you need is the determination and mindset to do it. A simple Self-Care habit a day can help you improve your life and lifestyle.

Join our community and be one of the first to read my latest blogs! For daily positivity and Self-Care, you can follow my Instagram account @themommywithagoal.

Great Parenting Tips in the 21th Century on How to keep your Calm

Posted on July 27, 2022 by Jeannine

As I was about to write this blog post, I just had my morning coffee and stare outside our living room window appreciating the view of endless buildings I can see from our 14th floor rental unit. It’s around 7am and since its school vacation, the kiddos are still at bed.

There’s many types of finding calmness or silence in our lives. As I always want to say in all of my Social Media platforms, it’s all in our mindset. You might have read recommendations of meditation, doing yoga, and other sort of things but in reality, all of this is useless if the intention of finding what suits you isn’t there.

Everything needs to start from YOU.

I’ve long lost interest in sugar-coating things for the sake of other’s appreciation. So the scenario I’ve just told you on my 1st paragraph may be my peace and calmness today but don’t get me wrong, my sink is full of dishes to waiting to be cleaned, the center table of our living room is full of legos the kids played before bed, and I’m still on my PJs.

I’m not here to preach rather to give you inspiration of reality on how to create and find the peace within you before the chaos of your day starts. Here are some suggestions you’d want to try out and hopefully find one that suits you and apply in your daily life. I promise you, once you find the one that gives you that calmness within you, no matter how stressful your day could be, you’ll be conquering it with positivity.😉

PRAYER

Spirituality plays a big part on Self-Care/ Self-Love. This is where you give everything you have within you, sorrows, problems, gratefulness, and appreciation to the Sovereign Ruler of all Mankind. When we believe that there’s someone who rules above us all and have great plans for us, there’s this calmness within you to just give all you’ve got and follow where life leads you. Giving thanks and praise the moment you wake-up in the morning is a great head-start to find calmness within your day.

ENVIRONMENT

We all walk different walks of life therefore, my calmness from our living room can’t be done if you work in the office and is on your way to work every morning at 7am. Despite all this difference, I still believe anyone can do it despite being anywhere by simply setting aside our smartphones for a few minutes. To be mindful of our surroundings, looking at the cars passing by, the people we come across and focusing on yourself and how you feel at the moment would give you calmness.

BREATHE

You must think, this lady must be crazy, of course I breathe! But hold your horses, are you sure you know you’re breathing? Most of us live like breathing robots. Yes, I say robots because they live their life like an automated thing. Simply letting the days pass by, work, pay bills, splurge on a weekend, then put that on repeat letting life simply pass by. Please don’t do this to yourself. START TODAY! Breathe… hear how you breathe, be mindful of how you breathe, and be grateful that you breathe.

GRATITUDE

I’ve already mentioned Spirituality earlier but finding gratitude in everything is a different level where you can find calmness. When you see things around you and find the good things on it and be grateful for it, it would feel like positivity running through your veins. With this, you’ll surely be calm facing your day.

YOGA

I’m really not a fan of yoga as I sometimes feel frustrated not being able to do those poses due to my in-flexible body (as if there’s a term like that). Anyways, I still include this on the list as I do it from time to time as well. By doing yoga, you get to be aware more of how you breathe and do some exercise as well.

EXERCISE

Find the best exercise for you. Some may be athletic, others love dancing, while others can’t find time to go to the gym. All of this doesn’t matter as exercise can be done in any place you want to do it as the main thing you need is YOURSELF and only YOU. Exercise simply means moving your body. So do it anyway you find yourself happily doing it. The key is finding the way where you get to sweat!

DRINK WATER

When you’re tired, drink water. Stressed, drink water. Bored, drink water. Need to calm down, drink water. Water isn’t just one of the essentials our body needs to live but for our brain as well be keep it’s soundness and find calm. Not only does drinking water help your body when you’re out of control but also gives you that “pause” where you get to breathe and rethink if what you’re doing/ or about to do is right. So, DRINK WATER.

Are you still looking for ways to be calm as a parent? Well, let me remind you that before you’re a parent, you’re an individual who needs the calmness within you. It is very important to start from yourself and be kind to yourself first before thinking of being a superhero for others. When you care for yourself and do things that you love, you’ll surely be great, positive and be able to give more in whatever endeavour you’re up to, may that be parenthood, being a good partner, employee, employer, boss, etc.

I hope you find this helpful and find this post inspiring. Having more people understand the need and usefulness of Self-Care in their lives would mean the world to me. I hope you help me spread the word and help make this world have people who live in happiness and positivity.

Wanting to know more how silence can help you improve your life? I’ve interviewed Jean Alfonso-Decena of InSilenceAI and I highly encourage you to watch it.

Join our community and be one of the first to read my latest blogs! For daily positivity and Self-Care, you can follow my Instagram account @themommywithagoal.

Top Important Reasons why you need to prioritise sleeping

Posted on June 13, 2022 by Jeannine

When I was young, I was always asked to have a nap in the afternoon, especially on weekends. Does this sound like your childhood too?? Being able to sleep late at night has always been made to look so cool that’s why it’s always every child’s nightmare to hear about the word, “bedtime”. And lastly when we are feeling old enough but still a bit young, a curfew, so you get forced to stay awake within the four corners of your room with nerves within you that still want to party outside. We’re so eager to become an adult already, ain’t we?!

And then comes adulthood, where everyone who expects it to be so cool is faced with a ton of disappointment and left overwhelmed. What we have been fighting all those years of not being asked to sleep has been one of our wish list nowadays. How ironic!

Sleep is one of the most important part of our wellbeing, hence, should be included on the top 5 of your list of Self-Care. Here are the reasons why:

Brain Function: Sleep is very important for our brain to function. The more we lack sleep, the more our minds become cloudy and chaotic inside, not being able to make right decisions. Our brain would be slow in understanding things which could affect our way of living.

Immune system: When your body is able to get the rest it needs, your immune system is kept at its best and able to fight against various bacteria, viruses, and diseases. By avoiding sleep deprivation, you also avoid putting yourself at risk of common diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Regulate appetite: Having the means to buy food or a partner to eat with always isn’t the only reason why most people gain weight. There’s much more to it suck as poor sleeping habits. When you’re deprived from sleep, your body’s ability to regulate your appetite is affected as well. This may be the first time you hear about this, and if so, it’s my pleasure to be the person you’ve heard it first, “If you want to lose weight, make sure you have enough sleep. By simply keeping track of your sleep, you can be assured to keep your weight or lose weight without doing any other thing at all.”

Emotions in control: It’s never a good feeling to feel irritated at all times. Not only are you not able to function the way you want to but even affect the people around you as well. You tend to be short tempered, and if you’re a mom, it is guaranteed that your children would feel that heat from their hot headed mom. Try to avoid this by making time to sleep. There’s always tomorrow to continue with your long to-do list.

I’ve ended my 2nd paragraph with the phrase, “How ironic!” And the more this blog post comes to an end, the more I come to think about this couple of questions and mind-blowing common answers.

No eating – We panic, complain, felt like going to die which resorts to us doing all sorts of things just to make sure we’ll somehow have something to eat.

No sleeping – Felt cool and even brag to others how little sleep you had.

Why is this ironic? Because of our lack of knowledge on how important sleep is and not being able to prioritise to have which our body need more. Fun Fact: Our body can last 8-21 days without eating, or at most, 2 months guaranteed you have water to drink. Contrary to that, our body could only last 264 hours or 11 consecutive days before our body shuts off due to lack of sleep. One of the movies I’ve watched during Pandemic times that is surely related to this topic is the Netflix movie, AWAKE. I hope you find time to watch this and be an awakening to this bad sleeping habit.

So the next time you think you’ll not have enough time to sleep, how about try to have a nap. There’s a lot more on the benefits you can get from Napping.

I hope this article help lit that spark within you into living a healthier lifestyle. Read from here some Easy to start habits for a better Lifestyle.

Join our community and be one of the first to read my latest blogs! For daily positivity and Self-Care, you can follow my Instagram account @themommywithagoal.

Everything you need to know about exploring Vatican City

Posted on June 8, 2022 by Jeannine

Vatican City, one of the most sacred place to visit for Roman Catholics. Actually, religious or not, it surely is worth the visit when you find yourself in Rome due to its beautiful architecture, museum, and history. It also inscribed as a UNESCO site in 1984 and the only one that consist of an entire state.

So, what do you get to see when you visit Vatican City?

First on the list is the St. Peter’s Square or Piazza San Pietro (in Italian). You can’t miss this as it’s what will be welcoming you once you enter the gates of Vatican City. This large plaza located directly in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica. This is one of the picturistique places in Vatican where most tourists take their #instagrammable photos.

You wouldn’t want to miss seeing what’s inside your backdrop when you took that photo at St. Peter’s Square don’t you?! St. Peter’s Basilica is one of the holiest holiest sites of Christianity and Catholic Tradition. Traditionally, it is the burual site of its titular, St. Peter, the head of the twelve Apostles of Jesus. Aside from St. Peter, the Basilica is also where 91 popes are buried.

It is also the world’s largest church where you’ll be amazed to see impressive works of art and gigantic dome, pillars, and statues. Even my 8-year old was impressed and whispered to me while we’re wandering inside, “Mommy, this is the most beautiful church we’ve ever been”. A big contrary to what she said when we’re in Athens and visited the Acropolis where she said, “We came here to see rocks?!” Kids clearly don’t know how to filter their words yet.🤪

Oh! And did I mention, going in the St. Peter’s Basilica is for FREE. There’s a fee though if you’d like to climb up the dome on foot (that’s 551 steps up) or you have an option to ride the lift. You just need to queue and have your bags check. Don’t be intimidated by the long queue you see as the lines move really fast. Once you’re cleared from the initial checks, you can enter either the St. Peter’s Basilica or the Vatican Museum.

Which leads us to the next place you can see inside Vatican City, the Vatican Museum. We didn’t get a chance to visit the museum as we started our day very late and the queue to the museum was quite long that time. That’s also the reason why we chose to just go inside the basilica instead.

The Vatican Museum holds an immense collection of the of art amassed by the Roman Catholic and papacy throughout the centuries.The museums contain roughly 70,000 works of art though only 20,000 of them are on display. These artworks are the most renowned Roman sculptures and the most important masterpieces of the Renaissance art in the world.

That being said, it’s no wonder one of the most visited museums in the world (garner about 1 million people annually) and with 24 galleries with the Sistine Chapel, notably being the last room visited within the Museum, you’ll surely need a whole day to splurge looking into these artworks beauty. I’d surely want to visit this the next time we go to Rome and would make sure to plan our day early so we can make our money worth of those tickets. haha..

Lastly is the Sistine Chapel. Aside from the fact that this is the official residence of the Pope, this room is a truly special one. Why? Because not only one, but two of one of the most notable artists in the Renaissance have their artworks inside this room. I’m talking about Michelangelo who painted the ceilings of the Sistine Chapel between 1508 and 1512 and covered the wall altar of his world known, “The Last Judgement” artwork.

Here’s how to get there:

TRAVEL BY METRO: The quickest way is to take the Metro. Rome is quite easy to navigate especially if you’re going to start your journey from their main terminal, Roma Termini. You’ll need to buy a ticket on their Metro and ride the orange line to Ottaviano on line A. Note that finding this platform can be a bit tricky (despite all the signs) so if it’s your first time here, it’s better you ask one of their kind and helpful train staff to avoid riding the wrong train.

It’s a short walk from the Metro to the walls of Vatican City (about 5 mins walk). You can just follow fellow tourists as you can’t miss to see the walls of Vatican where you just need to walk around to the entrance.

TRAVEL BY BUS: Alternatively, you can take bus #64 (takes around 20 minutes), from Termini train station where you need to get out at the last stop of the route – Piazza Stazione S. Pietro. From there, you’ll need to walk 15-20 minutes to reach the Vatican City.

What to wear:

Remember that Vatican City may be considered as a tourist destination but its still a Holy place so avoid wearing revealing clothes, like short skirts, dresses, and shorts. However, if you happen to visit during summer and the weather seems too hot, it is advisable to bring a scarf to cover-up. As for the footwear, wearing sandals is okay, but please try to skip those flip flops. And like any Holy place, hats should be removed upon entering the buildings in the Vatican. Lastly, food (you can as long as you don’t eat it inside) and metal tools ( scissors and knives) are not allowed.

Best time to visit:

It’s best to allot a whole day to be able to let yourself immerse on the beauty of each part of the Vatican City. As per our experience, we arrived around 12nn and all were able to do is take photos at St. Peter’s Square and go inside St. Peter’s Basilica. Our original plan includes the Sistine Chapel but it was too late already when we reached there (it closes at 4pm) so it is really recommended to plan your time wisely if you want to make the most from your trip.

Budget:

Here’s what you’ll get for FREE: entrance to the Vatican City, St. Peter’s Square, St. Peter’ Basilica, Tombs of Popes (under St. Peter’s Basilica)

What you need to buy a ticket: Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel (located inside the Vatican Museum, guided tours, St. Peter’s Cupola (dome) or if you have that extra $$$ and would want to have the privilege to skip the line, all of those you can buy from here.

So there you have it! I hope you find the information on this blog post valuable. We’ve visited Greece(Athens), the Netherlands(Papendrecht, Rotterdam, and Amsterdam), travelled via EuRail to France (Paris), then took the EuRail again to Italy(Rome). Let me know in the comments below which one do want me to make a blog post next.

If you have kids and feel daunted by the thought of travelling with them while they are young, I hope you get to read my other article about the Reasons why you should travel with your kids.