Holy Wednesday 2011

Image by Vinoth Chandar

Since Monday, I've been throwing out suggestions for Holy Week sacrifices.
You might be wondering, which one/s am I doing?

Let me start off by saying that Virtual Assistants have realities that are different
than most people. By this I mean, most people use the internet some of the time.
VAs have to be online ALL OF THE TIME. Only because that's WHERE we
work.Yes, if the web suddenly crashed (and I hope it does not), my work life
will go crashing down with it.

Then there's the fun stuff that one can do online: blogs, videos, forums, games,
FB, Skype, etc etc etc Staying online for too long can quickly turn into a vice
if you let it.

So, I'm definitely cutting down on my computer time this Holy Week. Good
Friday will in fact be a black out day. This will allow me to allocate more time
for praying and for reading religious books.

On Easter Sunday, I hope to emerge a better Catholic--- inspired and renewed
to face the new challenges that are headed my way, and confident that My Lord
and I can accomplish great things together.

Holy Tuesday 2011

Image by Vinoth Chandar

Still trying to figure out what to give up this Holy Week? Here are some suggestions

from One Catholic Life: 

1-10: The Usuals:

1. Give up candy/sweets.
2. Give up television time.
3. Give up eating snacks between meals.
4. Give up or limit soda or coffee.
5. Give up or limit video games.
6. Spend more time with family.
7. Give to the poor.
8. Do an extra chore each day.
9. Perform a random act of kindness.
10. Spend more time in prayer.

11-20: Prayer

1. Pray a book of scripture using lectio divina.
2. Attend Mass on a weekday (every day if possible).
3. Pray the rosary each day, alone or with your family.
4. Prayerfully read Abandonment to Divine Providence.
5. Make a special prayer notebook and list all the people in your life who need prayers; pray for them each day. Add someone new every day.
6. Learn to pray the Liturgy of the Hours.
7. Make a commitment to attend Eucharistic Adoration regularly.
8. Commit to examining your conscience each evening.
9. Pray the Jesus Prayer throughout the day.
10. Pray the Angelus each day at noon.

31-40: For Internet Users/Bloggers

1. Set time limits on overall online time.
2. Limit Facebook time.
3. Limit Myspace time.
4. Resist making or adding to lists that rank people.
5. Share one spiritual video with your online network once a week.
6. Blog about the poor once a week.
7. Add a spiritual blog to your blog reader.
8. Subscribe to a prayer podcast like Pray As You Go or Pray Station Portable.
9. Leave an encouraging or positive comment on a different blog each day.
10. Help a new blogger by sending traffic their way.

51-60: For Those With Lives Out of Balance

1. Go for a walk each day with a loved one and talk about life and faith.
2. Take the kids to the park each week for some carefree time.
3. Give up fast food and give the money to charity.
4. Exercise each day.
5. Spend at least half an hour each day in meaningful conversation with your spouse.
6. Go on a Lenten retreat.
7. Pray with Sacred Space each day.
8. Commit to a daily 3 Minute Retreat.
9. Begin the online 34-week Retreat for Everyday Life.
10. Give up your most unhealthy habit.

90-101: Potpourri

1. Begin to receive the Sacrament of Penance weekly.
2. Give up foul language.
3. Give up gossiping.
4. Read and study Healing the Culture.
5. Study the life of a different saint each day.
6. Cook dinner each night for your family if someone else normally does.
7. Pray the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
8. Carry extra food in your car, purse or backpack to give to street corner beggars.
9. Begin practicing socially conscious investing.
10. Spend a week meditating on each of the seven principles of Catholic social teaching.
11. Make breakfast each morning for your family.

Click HERE for the entire list.

Holy Monday 2011

Image by Vinoth Chandar

"Fasting, praying and almsgiving are the three penitential practices that we are 

asked to engage in during Lent. In addition to fasting and abstaining with the 

rest of the Church on Ash Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent, we are also 

challenged to make individual sacrifices appropriate to our own spiritual condition. 

However, before we choose something to give up for Lent, it’s important to assess 

our current spiritual state:

* What habits do I engage in that are destructive to my spiritual health?

* To what material things am I too attached?

* What areas in my life are unbalanced?

* To what do I devote too much or not enough time?

- One Catholic Life"

In the next few days, I'll be sharing with you some Holy Week Reflections. May
there reflections bring you closer to God.


To start off, what sacrifices are you planning on doing this Holy Week? I know, 
for some, this is a case of too late the hero. We should have been doing sacrifices 
this entire Lent. Sadly, I've had too many things on my mind. It may not be enough, 
it never will be, but I'd like to do what I can this Holy Week.


Nick of One Catholic Life was correct in suggesting that we make a self assessment
before we rush off to our sacrifices. What may be a sacrifice for some, will not always
be a sacrifice to others. It's not about getting this done and over with. It's about 
reconnecting back to Our Lord.

Time to Change Tactics

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting 

different results." - Albert Einstein

I have OFFICIALLY said yes to the My Online Wealth Breakthrough Moment

challenge. OFFICIALLY because I have been trying to get at it since day 1. 

I've been wracking my brains as to why my attempts never flew.

Then it hit me, it's time to change tactics! As with most things in life, you really

have to do different things to get different results. 

I need 150 blog posts by June 30, 2011. Yes, that's 2.5 months from now. 

I've been telling myself, "I will blog daily". Unfortunately, that never happens. 

By day's end, I'm just too tired from the day job and the errands. Im also the 

one who puts M to sleep. And anyone with a toddler will know what I mean 

when I say: telling M it's time to sleep is different from him actually going to 

sleep. 

So, I'm trying what other bloggers do: block off hours of time to create scheduled 

blog posts. Okay, the rules do not state that we have to write all the blog posts 

ourselves. On occasion, I may try inviting guest bloggers. But beyond that, I prefer 

writing the posts myself. 

Stay tuned to see how this all works out.

Give It Your All

Image by Jayneadd

It's been one month since the Online Wealth Breakthrough Seminar.
The day after, I felt like sprinting to the finish line. Today, I find
myself checking my pace. Apparently, this is a full marathon. Only
the brave and the determined have dared to continue the run.

Motivated - check
Feeling the love - check
Doing the work - hmmm
Earning as expected - more hmmm

I envy those who've had the time --- or should I say made the time
to blog daily. You see, we have a magic number to hit = xxx blog
posts in 3 months. Do I have a lot of catching up to do!

Now we're tasked to write about what it means to Give It Your All.
It's quite ironic as I know I've fallen short of the bare minimum daily
blog posts. To me, Give It Your All just means one thing, doing what's
needed to get the job done.

It's true what they say, you have to ask yourself WHY --- "Why do I
want to Breakthrough?" I know I need to get this part right. See, I want
this to go beyond something on the to do list. I want this to work out.
More importantly, I want to have the discipline and strength to "Give
It Your All".

Find Your Call is a theme from Give It Your All April - a project of
the Online Wealth Breakthrough Seminar. Here are other friends who're
a part of this journey:
Blogger Fever
My Pursuit to Total Freedom
1PinoyBlogger
Earn Online

Pinay Mom Adventures Wordle

If a picture paints a thousand words then this Wordle is a snapshot
of the life and times of Pinay Mom Adventures.

Find Your Call

Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/mskogly

This Saturday, the projectS team members were gathered once more for a Values
Formation Breakfast.

Our special thanks to M for sharing her thoughts on what it means to care for the
community.

I knew M was one tough cookie. I never knew how tough she was until now.
You might be wondering, how tough is tough? Well, not everyone has a
humanitarian job that sends them to war torn Africa; helmet, bullet-proof
vest and all. Personally, I'm just too chicken little for that. To some people,
it's insanity. To M, it's a calling.

I have had the privilege of doing Values Formation activities with people
from all ages and all walks of life. This started waaaaaay back in high school.
Who knew that I would still be doing it today. I have always considered this
as a privilege as I know not everyone has been given the motivation nor the
opportunity to give to people who cannot repay you. I too have been on the
receiving end of such generosity. This is one expression of gratitude and a
way of giving back to society. To some people, it's all futile; people will be
what they want to be. Maybe so. But on a few rare occasions, people walk
up to me and affirm me that their lives improved by these activities. Sometimes,
it all boils down to that. One person means one life plus all others that run
down that person's family line. Hmmmmm… To simplify, you could say,
it's a calling.

How about you? Have you asked yourself lately, why am I here and what am
I really meant to do?

Find your call. Go and accomplish the great task that you (and only you)
were meant to do. Believe me, you're gonna have a great ride!

Find Your Call is a theme from Give It Your All April --- a project of the
Online Wealth Breakthrough Seminar. Read on and gain other perspectives
on how YOU can Find Your Call:
Blogger Fever
My Pursuit to Total Freedom
1PinoyBlogger
Earn Online