Solidarity Assembly - Make your dreams come true - honoring God's gift

 

My dreams were simple.

Finish school and help my parents.

My parents' dreams were simple.

Get my kids to finish school.

Every single day was towards that simple dream.

Studied very well, was a good kid.

Did not get mysef distracted.

My ultimate crush was my date to my highschool prom, text text and he asked me out a few times.

But my dream was my higher purpose. 

I had a simple dream.

To finish school and help my parents.

 

Ateneo was hard, all my classmates were all top students of their schools.  I was class salutatorian of my class but classmates also were.

Did not get myself distracted with competition.  I studied very well and always gave it my best shot.

I never got into the honors list, but that did not distract me.

I had a simple dream.

To finish school and help my parents.

I love performing, and I thought was very good at it. I could sing, I could act and I could dance.  and in the performing world - that was the best recipe.

I was entertaining the thought of auditioning for cheerleading but it had a lot of practices.

I gave up dancing in highschool because my parents said it could not put food on the table.  Mag-aral nalang daw ako mabuti.

I had a simple dream.

To finish school and help my parents.

I gave up singing very early because even if I wanted to be a classical singer, I could not read notes. I was in the Ateneo Glee Club. It was a choice of learning how to read notes or studying for my accounting exam.

I had a simple dream.

To finish school and help my parents.

I gave up musical theatre because when I tried doing it professionally, it could not pay much and it could not help my parents.

so I did not allow myself to be distracted.

I had a simple dream.

To finish school and help my parents.

So I did - I finished school and helped my parents.

So I discovered my simple dream gave birth to other dreams, my brothers' dreams.

Because I helped my parents send my brothers to school.

My brothers finished school and also helped my parents.

My mom's dream to have a grocery cart full to groceries became a reality.

My mom's dream to fly with benefits of a flight attendant became a reality.

My mom's dream to go to Maldives became a reality.

And it all started with a simple dream.

Dreams direct reality. Hindi siya predictor of reality, but serves as a compass for the reality we choose. 

 

Dito din tayo nagkakaroon ng reality check, ano ba ang meron tayong hawak na pwedeng magamit to make our dreams a reality. 

What are our strengths? 

What are our interests? 

Big dreams to be in Pinoy Big Brother or become the Voice are good but are these yours?

Start with simple dreams.

Sinplicity of the weekend.

Dreams are reflections, like mirrors, they tell us how we look at ourselves.  Malaki ang tiwala sa sarili, malaki ang tiwala sa katuparan ng pangarap. Usual exercise of looking into a mirror and asking yourself - how do I look at myself?  It might tell you how your dreams will come true.

Choosing to find joy in our dreams. Even in the midst of 

Jerick's story.

I have a simple dream.

For others to see their simple dreams become reality.

This is my gift.

In a lot of sharings and processing sessions with SEs, I would always share about dreams and how important it is to be the starting point.  

All entrepreneurs should start with that singular dream.

But I have found out we have emphasized through the years is the WHY

While we dream, it is important to go back to our WHY

One - this is our anchor point.  Everytime we get lost - we need to go back and be reminded of our WHY - otherwise we can never come back.

Anchor - CENTER.  Dito tayo nangggaling.

Simple dream

Finish school and help my parents - no matter what.

Like all families, we encounter challenges.

For my family - it was being the second family.

Fighting for the simple dream became a challenge.

At some point - I became a parent.

I was the family's breadwinner.

I was my mom's ally - become the disciplinarian.

I had to project that I was stronger.

For me and my brothers we fought for our dreams.

Everytime I get lost - I go back to my family.

Show family photo.

Last year - my father decided to reconnect.  Show family photo with dad.

Show video of the engagement

He fought for his dreams.

Week 1 Value of simple dreams.

Week 2 The journey of realising our Dreams is filled with challenges so we search for our anchor, our center, that always brings us back to our dreams.

Week 3 Fighting the dream killers of hardships, doubt and fear.

Week 4 Race to the finish. Value of our dreams is not in the destination but in the journey, the process.  The race that unlocks who we are.  The race that allows us to be grateful for support, our family. The race that rewrites who we are, our capacity to be faithful to the dream, the promise.

Courage to Commit

- let go - face your fears - this life is not ours

- fulfill a promise

- families

Commitment

1 - having faith

- process of becoming

2 - despite bad times

- long-term

4 - about the "other"

Letting Go - being a control freak

Prayer Journal - May 2010

These prayers led me here - it was about having faith - commitment was about having faith

Commitment's different faces in my life

- my brother disappointing us - he lied to the family saying he was going to school 

- there was this boy from work - i did not feel he had the capacity to commit

A commitment needs to be said - and have faith that it will be the process of becoming

My perfect example of commitment is my mother - during a fight with my father - mothers day special

- Tajen calling - IT IS WHAT IT IS

Commitment is long-term - it is despite of the bad times

Doing the farm is a test of my commitment - whether I was capable - 

Jumping jobs

Then i met the farm

Different times I was a witness of commitment

- Shanon during summit and malolos

- tita celia

- tita aida

- tita tess

- auie and max

- billy

- fabien

Commitment was about myself - but the farm taught me that it was about the "other"

In the farm I realized Commitment is about Shanon, Abby, Loleng, Tita Jen, Rob, Rad, Jeth. 

A commitment needs to be said - and have faith that it will be the process of becoming

Commitment is long-term - it is despite of the bad times

Commitment is about the "other"

Commitment to Family - Pagpaparaya

Commitment to God and Country - unconditional