Calibre 45 Double Barrel
By: Roms
12 May 2023
45 ways to celebrate life, love and everything else — things I've learned, are learning, and eager to learn in my 45 years of existence and beyond...
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***A Double barrel calibre 0.45 hand pistol has double barrels and dual magazines and twin triggers — the moment you pull the trigger, 2 bullets set off from the magazine through the barrel — which doubles the aim and the chance to hit the target!
My advice is, that every item in this blog should be taken not just lightly but pretty much doubled down! And you'll find it helpful and doubly amusing!
"Your struggle is not an excuse, it’s your ammunition.” – Chris Gardner
I
WOLO. We Only Live Once, let's live life to the fullest! Carpe Diem! Seize the day — everything that happens is always bound to happen, even if we don't want them 'coz it's meant to — there are no accidents but are all consequences of how we react — so as much as possible let us give it all we've got and have no regrets!
"A good life is expensive. there is something cheaper, but it is not life." - Master Henyo JDL 's father
II
PRAY! It is but senseful to talk to our creator — the only supreme being who knows us — our hearts, emotions, our minds, triumphs, struggles, desires, strengths, weaknesses, abilities, our limit, our pinnacle, and our bedrock, our conscience, guilts, and sins yet through it all sees the being He created and still loves us for who we are, no ifs and no buts,
"I tell you: ask, and you shall receive; seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and everyone who seeks, finds; and to everyone who knocks the door will be opened." - Luke 11:9-13
III
BE THANKFUL
Giving thanks is always considered a kind gesture. They say that "Not all happy people are thankful but all thankful people are happy" — it makes a lot of sense. That Is why I wanna take this opportunity to thank — firstly, God for the outpour of blessings, secondly, my loved ones especially my gorgeous wifey Arlene and my pretty unica hija Arianna for being my inspiration for everything that I do, and thirdly, all the people that have crossed my path in any ways, for they have been a crucial part of who I am right now.
“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
IV
WORK HARD. LAUGH HARDER.
The cliche that when you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life" is a good motivation until it doesn't...
In reality, well for most of us trapped in a rat-race, peeps who work 8hours, but actually 16 hours or even more, away from home (physically and figuratively in every sense) when stress strikes us the hardest, some doesn't know how to react anymore until we feel numbed and just take the beating until we can take no more. Laughter on the other hand is still, Tho' not always but, certainly is the cheapest medicine! So, hear me out, get up! raise your head up high, turn around and look at the mirror — and try not to laugh as hard as you can!
"A day without laughter is a day wasted' - Charlie Chaplin
V
BE HAPPY. HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE!
Happiness springs out from the fullness of the heart, meaning if your heart is full of every desire of your life and you are striving your best to achieve it with whatever means necessary even if you fail, you know that someday, somehow you can achieve your dreams and you never choose to quit, then you are truly happy!
"The world is your oyster. It’s up to you to find the pearls” – Chris Gardner, The Pursuit Of Happynes
VI
WL3S — Work-Life-Love-Leisure-Self Balance, 5 things that make a person sane — not necessarily in this order!
Balance is the key. We need to ask ourselves, what motivates us? Mr. Jonathan Yabut said, that we need to put our motivation into several baskets, just like in investments. 'Coz if we only have a sole motivator and somehow we lose that person/thing/intangible thing that motivate us — chances are we will be out of focus! So, we need to keep on moving and do the necessary things to reach our goals and/or aspirations.
“Life is like riding a bicycle, to keep your balance, you must keep moving.” -Albert Einstein
VII
FOCUS ON ONESELF. Always give time for things that matter — people have various and different things in their priority list but in order to create big impacts on other people's lives, it makes sense sometimes to FOCUS ON ONESELF — it helps (a lot). It is the luxury that not everyone enjoys or finds it hard to achieve, simply because they feel there are more important things to accomplish than pampering, or giving quality meh time!
"Like sleeping, eating, and breathing, self-care should be a priority rather than something we push to the bottom of our to-do list." - Anonymous
VIII
PRIORITIZE. In the medical jargon it's called triage — let us learn to prioritize people/things/non-tangible things that matter! And by what matters I mean those that will make our stint in this world worthwhile — "if ain't important, next or better, let go!", “Start doing more by doing less!"
"If everything's a priority, then nothing's a priority.” - Karen Martin
IX
"BEST AND BESTER"(saw this in a Nickelodeon show). As a Dentist, it is common knowledge for us to present good, better and best options for a treatment plan — but not all the time, our patients will accept, sometimes, they will refuse everything! So with this scenario, it is best to give the "BESTER" plan!? (And what might that be!?) — the one that the patients really need and want! In life, we need to have these "BESTER" options for ourselves as well, most especially in our decisions, 'coz if we do, then I'm certain everything will pretty much fall in its proper place.
"There is a very thin line between wisely striving for your best and foolishly striving for perfection." - Mokokoma Mokhonoana
X
"MISE EN PLACE". More often than not, preparing all the necessary things needed — let say, for a project, a feat, or anything random as simple as cooking your fave dish — is better and actually gives better results than doing things in an unorganized manner. Let us not fail to plan, for if we do, we plan to fail.
"Life is a preparation for the future; and the best preparation for the future is to live as if there were none." ~ Albert Einstein
XI
BE RANDOM.
Most of the time, preparing and planning ahead is the best way to do things but sometimes being random makes a whole lot of difference! Try to be as random, as candid, as natural — and you will be amazed with the results.
"Everything we care about lies somewhere in the middle, where pattern and randomness interlace." -James Gleick
XII
BE UNORTHODOX.
Doing things 'coz it's supposedly how certain things are done by most people is perfectly fine, but who says you can't go in another direction?
We always tend to go where the bondwagon is 'coz it's safe, and we care so much with what others might say or think of us, yet the successful ones didn't reach where they are by simply going with the flow — they innovated, they thought outside of the box and they did the unorthodox way! Look where they are now!?
“Success tended to make the unorthodox acceptable” ~ John Flanagan
XIII
NEVER STOP LEARNING. LEARN NEW THINGS, Unlearn and Relearn in the process if we must! In Any discipline, or life in general, we need mentors who will teach us the essence of our passion or craft. Learning our craft in a deeper sense or even learning new things we were once ignorant of, should give us the motivation to learn even more! The Dunning Krugger effect gives us the motivation to never stop learning because too little to no knowledge is dangerous or even murderous! So if we think we know it all, think again! We should strive hard with tenacity to learn, unlearn and relearn every bit of detail in our chosen profession, craft or venture before we pass on to probable mentees what we've learned from our various mentors throughout the years. Finally, focus on a single or a couple of expertise, never be a jack of all trades yet a master of none!
“Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardor and diligence.”– Abigail Adams
XIV
REMEMBER TO PUT THE CUP DOWN.
It is not a bad idea to hold on to things that we cherish, ideas that we believe in, craft that we have passion for, and/or things or persons that we love dearly BUT if these are the ones which give us the stress and pain at times, maybe it is a good idea to stop holding on, let go and just put the cup down my friends.
"Holding on is believing that there's only a past; letting go is knowing that there's a future." - Daphne Rose Kingma
XV
BEING TO BECOMING.
One's original state of being isn't one's fault. If we were born poor, it's not our fault, but if we die poor, there is no.one else to blame but us...
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wanting more, it is but human nature. What is wrong is living in a stasis or inaction yet wanting something that is out of one's league. In order to advance into a better state, we must learn how to strive hard, do more, that even if we stumble or fall, we rise up and get back on our feet again and again tenaciously until we reach our ultimate goal and desire. The great Albert Einstein once said, "stupidity is doing things the same way over and over again and expecting different results." - so if fail, yes we have to rise up and strive harder, but we have to do things differently in order for us to achieve our goals successfully!
"I am not what happened to me, I am what I chose to become.” – Chris Gardner, The Pursuit Of Happyness
XVI
BE A THERMOSTAT. RESPOND, DON'T JUST REACT!
In our BIO graduation dinner just a couple of nights ago, (051123), Mr. Jonathan Yabut, the Apprentice Asia winner, who happens to be an Urban Smiles smile ambassador as well, was the guest motivational speaker.
On one occasion, he asked what's the difference between a thermometer and thermostat. You probably know the answer as well, but how do we translate it into life?
He said, there are generally 2 kinds of people in the world, thermometers who only react, probably complain (a lot), but don't do anything. And there's this thermostats, who not reacts but responds with what's happening. They tend to, with the best of their ability, challenge and eventually change the status quo. That is want we want to be!
Innovators, unorthodox thinkers and doers.
"When you react, you are giving away your power; when you respond, you react, you are staying in control of yourself." - Bob Proctor
XVII
SELF-ACTUALITY TO SELF-TRANSCENDENCE.
According to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, we actualize when we have satisfied the lower levels, usually it is aligned with how a person achieve success according to his needs. When everything else fall in its proper place the way we want them, we reach self-actualization phase - but is it the pinnacle? There is this state called self-transcendence
What is it?
“Self-transcendence is, at its core, about transcending (or rising above) the self and relating to that which is greater than the self. In simpler terms, it is the realization that you are one small part of a greater whole, and acting accordingly.” (thanks to google)
Basically it is the peak of all peaks! Do we need to reach this? Not at all, but who knows? It is a state of one’s high spiritual being - the Holy Ones might, or surely, have reached it.
“Transcendence refers to the very highest and most inclusive or holistic levels of human consciousness, behaving and relating, as ends rather than means, to oneself, to significant others, to human beings in general, to other species, to nature, and to the cosmos”- Maslow, 1971
XVIII
AGREE TO DISAGREE.
There is nothing wrong with giving dissent observations and opinions with almost any topic or talks in this chaotic world that we live in. Even with your friends, closest or acquaintance, being in opposing views is definitely normal and natural. Let us just strive to speak our minds without biases and without stamping on someone else's rights. Freedom is never absolute, our rights end where the rights of others begin.
"Differences are not a failure of humanity, differences are a test of our humanity." -Abhijit Naskar
XiX
YOUR CEILING MIGHT BE JUST SOMEONE ELSE'S FLOORING. Remember, comparing one's success with your success isn't too bad at all, it is never a cliche, why? Complacency and being second rate is not a victor mindset! We should always be ahead of the game — meaning there are tons who are aspiring to be the best in their chosen career, profession or venture. If we think we are the best, think again, most likely there is someone better than is in another multiverse!? Competing with oneself isn't a mamba mentality, we need to always be the best form of ourselves every single day, able to get head-to-head with the competition all the time.
Are we already where we want to be? Look back 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, or even 20 years ago... Are we in the same league back then or did we move higher? How high?
"Hard work outweighs talent — every time." - Kobe Bryant
XX
PAY IT FORWARD.
Gratitude is good, actually it is one of the best trait a person can have. But there is a better trait a person can have, it is what philanthropists do, they give, give, and give… “the hand that gives, receives.” While giving is mostly attributed to monetary means, there are a lot of means by how we can give back to our community or humanity, we just have to be creative and authentic.
“I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.” - Maya Angelou
XXI
TAKE ADVANTAGE AND TAKE CHARGE!
Not all are born leaders, as the famous quote says - “Leaders are made, not born”, “While it sounds very cliché, it's true. No one is born a leader. We all work our way up to become leaders. We had to develop skills, use our strengths, mitigate our weaknesses, and – most importantly – learn from our failures.” and I highly agree, I also believe, it has something to do with the environment and the circumstance that a person is exposed to and is able to overcome. We all have the potential, we just need to take on the challenge. I myself, when I took the challenge of being the Chief of Clinics of Urban Smiles, it was during uncertain times in the pandemic! I just happen to care too much with how to help the team especially with the safety protocols at that time. I guess I took charge subconsciously, and the bosses saw something, and the rest is history. There are still a lot of things to do, hoping that with the transformational leadership style that I intend, the entire team will be perform well with the help of the heads and the managers and of course, the rest of the USDC team!
“It is a curious thing, Harry, but perhaps those who are best suited to power are those who have never sought it. Those who, like you, have leadership thrust upon them, and take up the mantle because they must, and find to their own surprise that they wear it well.” - Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter
XXII
MOVE FORWARD — NEXT!? AIM FOR THE TARGET! Take the challenge of hovering up to the next level and do not merely go with the flow, be an innovator, be an unorthodox thinker! Find your own niche, create your own brand, build your own empire, follow your dreams —
"No dream is too big, no dreamer is too small!" - Turbo, Disney Movie
XXIII
BEWARE OF COOPING UP TO TOO MUCH MILLENNIAL / GENZ LINGGO
Millennials are those peeps born between 1981 and 1996 while GenZ's are those peeps born from 1997 up to present. These peeps are very much different from the GEN Xer's from where i belong, they are somehow a unique opinion in every "slice of life" situations - and mind you, they are too emotional and pretty much have a too personal and biased take to it. terms like "ghosting" , "gaslighting" are too personal to them and they tend to keep these terminologies pretty much a way to scapegoat every strike of misfortune or simply put it this way - when life shatter / shakes their cup, it's how they cope up, is by blaming others and branding them with these terms.
My take on this? i'd rather spill GRATEFULLNESS and POSITIVITY with everything or anything that life throws at me - so that whenever i'm shattered or shookt to the core, what spills is FAITH, HOPE and LOVE.
“Integrity is not something you show others.it is how you behae behind their back." - James Martin
Hope to have imparted one or two lessons that I live by - doesn’t actually mean I have actualized every item in this blog, yet I do aspire to achieve everything as I move forward beyond my 45 wonderful years of unending grace form the good Lord, Jesus Christ, who is certainly one of my inspirations in aspiring to achieve all these. All for the greater glory of His name.
RDJ05122023
