Interesting facts about human commented

People with higher number of moles tend to live longer than people with lesser number of moles. I never knew that. But for sure, under uncontrollable circumstances a person with many moles can die in an accident and will not live any longer. Anyway, I have more than ten moles on my body. Is that enough for me to live long?

Thinking about your muscles can make you stronger. Really! I believe so because sending impulses on a specific part of our body will not make it useless.

The colder the room you sleep in, the better the chances are that you’ll have a bad dream. How many times have I experienced a bad dream? Only a few. I love covering myself with blanket every time I sleep even when the climate is hot. I'm just used to it. Now I have one more reason sleeping in a warm bed.

The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night. It's good I stopped smoking already. I stopped smoking when I tried exactly one cigarette already. That was when I was still in grade school. Grade four I think :)

Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day. Now I have more reason to share my jokes to the people around me - serious jokes. I mean something I really think will surely make them laugh.

Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair. I'm just wondering if we can collect those heaps of hair so we can create commercial metal sheets.

The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet! My poor heart. Now I will take care of it more so it will keep to circulate my blood along my veins and capillaries.

The brain is much more active at night than during the day. Now I'm wondering what is my brain thinking when I am asleep.

The brain itself cannot feel pain. While the brain might be the pain center when you cut your finger or burn yourself, the brain itself does not have pain receptors and cannot feel pain. So the victim did not feel any pain when Hannibal took part of his brain and ate of it.

The acid in your stomach is strong enough to dissolve razorblades. Hydrochloric acid, the type found in your stomach, is not only good at dissolving the pizza you had for dinner but can also eat through many types of metal. Can I now eat my metal spoon?

Earwax production is necessary for good ear health. While many people find earwax to be disgusting, it’s actually a very important part of your ear’s defense system. It protects the delicate inner ear from bacteria, fungus, dirt and even insects. It also cleans and lubricates the ear canal.

Babies are always born with blue eyes. The melanin in a newborn’s eyes often needs time after birth to be fully deposited or to be darkened by exposure to ultraviolet light, later revealing the baby’s true eye color. I never knew I was blue-eyed when I was that young...

Every human spent about half an hour as a single cell.

After eating too much, your hearing is less sharp. What did you just say?

Women are born better smellers than men and remain better smellers over life. This implies that Eugene Domingo is better in smelling compared David Archuleta and David Cook in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbK_6eIzbOo

Your nose can remember 50,000 different scents. That's good since I have read that smell is a good way for us to remember things. We remember things easier through our sense of smell.

By the age of 60, most people will have lost about half their taste buds. Perhaps you shouldn’t trust your grandma’s cooking as much as you do. Where did that other half of their taste buds go?

Your eyes are always the same size from birth but your nose and ears never stop growing.

Monday is the day of the week when the risk of heart attack is greatest. A ten year study in Scotland found that 20% more people die of heart attacks on Mondays than any other day of the week. Researchers theorize that it’s a combination of too much fun over the weekend with the stress of going back to work that causes the increase.

Provided there is water, the average human could survive a month to two months without food depending on their body fat and other factors. Wanna try?

Over 90% of diseases are caused or complicated by stress.

We are about 1 cm taller in the morning than in the evening. This means I am 1 cm shorter while typing this blog entry haha....

Tears and mucus contain an enzyme (lysozyme) that breaks down the cell wall of many bacteria. It is part of God's design for sure :)

The width of your armspan stretched out is the length of your whole body. While not exact down to the last millimeter, your armspan is a pretty good estimator of your height.

Humans are the only animals to produce emotional tears. Should we cry for that?

Women burn fat more slowly than men, by a rate of about 50 calories a day. Most men have a much easier time burning fat than women. Women, because of their reproductive role, generally require a higher basic body fat proportion than men, and as a result their bodies don’t get rid of excess fat at the same rate as men. And I guess it is because men have more of the hormone testosterone and this makes them more active than women.

Koalas and primates are the only animals with unique fingerprints. Humans, apes and koalas are unique in the animal kingdom due to the tiny prints on the fingers of their hands.

Cna yuo raed tihs? I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Source: http://www.tastyhuman.com/50-weird-facts-about-humans/

Social Intelligence and the Biology of Leadership

by Daniel Goleman and Richard Boyatzis

New studies of the brain show that leaders can improve group performance by understanding the biology of empathy.

In 1998, one of us, Daniel Goleman, published in these pages his first article on emotional intelligence and leadership. The response to "What Makes a Leader?" was enthusiastic. People throughout and beyond the business community started talking about the vital role that empathy and self-knowledge play in effective leadership. The concept of emotional intelligence continues to occupy a prominent space in the leadership literature and in everyday coaching practices. But in the past five years, research in the emerging field of social neuroscience-the study of what happens in the brain while people interact-is beginning to reveal subtle new truths about what makes a good leader.

The salient discovery is that certain things leaders do-specifically, exhibit empathy and become attuned to others' moods-literally affect both their own brain chemistry and that of their followers. Indeed, researchers have found that the leader-follower dynamic is not a case of two (or more) independent brains reacting consciously or unconsciously to each other.

Rather, the individual minds become, in a sense, fused into a single system. We believe that great leaders are those whose behavior powerfully leverages the system of brain interconnectedness. We place them on the opposite end of the neural continuum from people with serious social disorders, such as autism or Asperger's syndrome, that are characterized by underdevelopment in the areas of the brain associated with social interactions. If we are correct, it follows that a potent way of becoming a better leader is to find authentic contexts in which to learn the kinds of social behavior that reinforce the brain's social circuitry. Leading effectively is, in other words, less about mastering situations-or even mastering social skill sets-than about developing a genuine interest in and talent for fostering positive feelings in the people whose cooperation and support you need.

The notion that effective leadership is about having powerful social circuits in the brain has prompted us to extend our concept of emotional intelligence, which we had grounded in theories of individual psychology. A more relationship-based construct for assessing leadership is social intelligence, which we define as a set of interpersonal competencies built on specific neural circuits (and related endocrine systems) that inspire others to be effective.

The idea that leaders need social skills is not new, of course. In 1920, Columbia University psychologist Edward Thorndike pointed out that "the best mechanic in a factory may fail as a foreman for lack of social intelligence." More recently, our colleague Claudio Fernández-Aráoz found in an analysis of new C-level executives that those who had been hired for their self-discipline, drive, and intellect were sometimes later fired for lacking basic social skills. In other words, the people Fernández-Aráoz studied had smarts in spades, but their inability to get along socially on the job was professionally self-defeating.

What's new about our definition of social intelligence is its biological underpinning, which we will explore in the following pages. Drawing on the work of neuroscientists, our own research and consulting endeavors, and the findings of researchers affiliated with the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations, we will show you how to translate newly acquired knowledge about mirror neurons, spindle cells, and oscillators into practical, socially intelligent behaviors that can reinforce the neural links between you and your followers.

Followers Mirror Their Leaders-Literally

Perhaps the most stunning recent discovery in behavioral neuroscience is the identification of mirror neurons in widely dispersed areas of the brain. Italian neuroscientists found them by accident while monitoring a particular cell in a monkey's brain that fired only when the monkey raised its arm. One day a lab assistant lifted an ice cream cone to his own mouth and triggered a reaction in the monkey's cell. It was the first evidence that the brain is peppered with neurons that mimic, or mirror, what another being does. This previously unknown class of brain cells operates as neural Wi-Fi, allowing us to navigate our social world. When we consciously or unconsciously detect someone else's emotions through their actions, our mirror neurons reproduce those emotions. Collectively, these neurons create an instant sense of shared experience.

Mirror neurons have particular importance in organizations, because leaders' emotions and actions prompt followers to mirror those feelings and deeds. The effects of activating neural circuitry in followers' brains can be very powerful. In a recent study, our colleague Marie Dasborough observed two groups: One received negative performance feedback accompanied by positive emotional signals-namely, nods and smiles; the other was given positive feedback that was delivered critically, with frowns and narrowed eyes. In subsequent interviews conducted to compare the emotional states of the two groups, the people who had received positive feedback accompanied by negative emotional signals reported feeling worse about their performance than did the participants who had received good-natured negative feedback. In effect, the delivery was more important than the message itself. And everybody knows that when people feel better, they perform better. So, if
leaders hope to get the best out of their people, they should continue to be demanding but in ways that foster a positive mood in their teams. The old carrot-and-stick approach alone doesn't make neural sense; traditional incentive systems are simply not enough to get the best performance from followers.

Here's an example of what does work. It turns out that there's a subset of mirror neurons whose only job is to detect other people's smiles and laughter, prompting smiles and laughter in return. A boss who is self-controlled and humorless will rarely engage those neurons in his team members, but a boss who laughs and sets an easygoing tone puts those neurons to work, triggering spontaneous laughter and knitting his team together in the process. A bonded group is one that performs well, as our colleague Fabio Sala has shown in his research. He found that top-performing leaders elicited laughter from their subordinates three times as often, on average, as did midperforming leaders. Being in a good mood, other research finds, helps people take in information effectively and respond nimbly and creatively. In other words, laughter is serious business.

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Health Benefits from Banana

A professor at CCNY for a physiological psych class told his class about bananas. He said the expression "going bananas" is from the effects of bananas on the brain. Read on:

Never, put your banana in the refrigerator!!!
This is interesting.
After reading this, you'll never look at a banana in the same way again.

Bananas contain three natural sugars - sucrose, fructose and glucose combined with fiber. A banana gives an instant, sustained and substantial boost of energy.

Research has proven that just two bananas provide enough energy for a strenuous 90-minute workout. No wonder the banana is the number one fruit with the world's leading athletes.

But energy isn't the only way a banana can help us keep fit.It can also help overcome or prevent a substantial number of illnesses and conditions, making it a must to add to our daily diet.

Depression: According to a recent survey undertaken by MIND amongst people suffering from depression, many felt much better after eating a banana. This is because bananas contain tryptophan, a type of protein that the body converts into serotonin, known to make you relax, improve your mood and generally make you feel happier.

PMS: Forget the pills - eat a banana. The vitamin B6 it contains regulates blood glucose levels, which can affect your mood.

Anemia: High in iron, bananas can stimulate the production of hemoglobin in the blood and so helps in cases of anemia.

Blood Pressure: This unique tropical fruit is extremely high in potassium yet low in salt, making it perfect to beat blood pressure. So much so, the US Food and Drug Administration has just allowed the banana industry to make official claims for the fruit's ability to reduce the risk of blood pressure and stroke.

Brain Power: 200 students at a Twickenham (Middlesex) school were helped through their exams this year by eating bananas at breakfast, break, and lunch in a bid to boost their brain power. Research has shown that the potassium-packed fruit can assist learning by making pupils more alert.

Constipation: High in fiber, including bananas in the diet can help restore normal bowel action, helping to overcome the problem without resorting to laxatives.

Hangovers: One of the quickestways of curing a hangover is to make a banana milkshake, sweetened with honey. The banana calms the stomach and, with the help of the honey, builds up depleted blood sugar levels, while the milk soothes and re-hydrates your system.

Heartburn: Bananas have a natural antacid effect in the body, so if you suffer from heartburn, try eating a banana for soothing relief.

Morning Sickness: Snacking on bananas between meals helps to keep blood sugar levels up and avoid morning sickness.

Mosquito bites: Before reaching for the insect bite cream, try rubbing the affected area with the inside of a banana skin. Many people find it amazingly successful at reducing swelling and irritation.

Nerves: Bananas are high in B vitamins that help calm the nervous system.

Overweight and at work? Studies at the Institute of Psychology in Austria found pressure at work leads to gorging on comfort food like chocolate and crisps. Looking at 5,000 hospital patients, researchers found the most obese were more likely to be in high-pressure jobs. The report concluded that, to avoid panic-induced food cravings, we need to control our blood sugar levels by snacking on high carbohydrate foods every two hours to keep levels steady.

Ulcers: The banana is used as the dietary food against intestinal disorders because of its soft texture and smoothness. It is the only raw fruit that can be eaten without distress in over-chronicler cases. It also neutralizes over-acidity and reduces irritation by coating the lining of the stomach.

Temperature control: Many other cultures see bananas as a "cooling" fruit that can lower both the physical and emotional temperature of expectant mothers. In Thailand , for example, pregnant women eat bananas to ensure their baby is born with a cool temperature.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): Bananas can help SAD sufferers because they contain the natural mood enhancer tryptophan.

Smoking & Tobacco Use: Bananas can also help people trying to give up smoking. The B6, B12 they contain, as well as the potassium and magnesium found in them, help the body recover from the effects of nicotine withdrawal.

Stress: Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates your body's water balance. When we are stressed, our metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing our potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Strokes: According to research in The New England Journal of Medicine, eating bananas as part of a regular diet can cut the risk of death by strokes by as much as 40%!

Warts: Those keen on natural alternatives swear that if you want to kill off a wart, take a piece of banana skin and place it on the wart, with the yellow side out. Carefully hold the skin in place with a plaster or surgical tape!

So, a banana really is a natural remedy for many ills. When you compare it to an apple, it has four times the protein, twice the carbohydrate, three times the phosphorus, five times the vitamin A and iron, and twice the other vitamins and minerals. It is also rich in potassium and is one of the best value foods around So maybe its time to change that well-known phrase so that we say, "A banana a day keeps the doctor away!"

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What encouragement can do

Pete Barlow was an old friend of mine. He had a dog-and-pony act
and spent his life traveling with circuses and vaudeville shows. I
loved to watch Pete train new dogs for his act. I noticed that the
moment a dog showed the slightest improvement, Pete patted and
praised him and gave him meat and made a great to-do about it.

That's nothing new. Animal trainers have been using that same
technique for centuries.

Why, I wonder, don't we use the same common sense when trying
to change people that we use when trying to change dogs? Why
don't we use meat instead of a whip? Why don't we use praise
instead of condemnation? Let us praise even the slightest
improvement. That inspires the other person to keep on improving.

In his book I Ain't Much, Baby-But I'm All I Got, the psychologist Jess
Lair comments:
"Praise is like sunlight to the warm human spirit; we
cannot flower and grow without it. And yet, while most of us are only
too ready to apply to others the cold wind of criticism, we are
somehow reluctant to give our fellow the warm sunshine of praise."
(*)
----
[*] Jess Lair, I Ain't Much, Baby - But I'm All I Got (Greenwich,
Conn.: Fawcett, 1976), p.248.
----
I can look back at my own life and see where a few words of praise
have sharply changed my entire future. Can't you say the same thing
about your life? History is replete with striking illustrations of the
sheer witchery raise.

For example, many years ago a boy of ten was working in a factory
in Naples, He longed to be a singer, but his first teacher discouraged
him. "You can't sing," he said. "You haven't any voice at all. It
sounds like the wind in the shutters."

But his mother, a poor peasant woman, put her arms about him
and
praised him and told him she knew he could sing, she could already
see an improvement, and she went barefoot in order to save money
to pay for his music lessons. That peasant mother's praise and
encouragement changed that boy's life. His name was Enrico Caruso,
and he became the greatest and most famous opera singer of his
age.

In the early nineteenth century, a young man in London aspired to
be a writer. But everything seemed to be against him. He had never
been able to attend school more than four years. His father had been
flung in jail because he couldn't pay his debts, and this young man
often knew the pangs of hunger. Finally, he got a job pasting labels
on bottles of blacking in a rat-infested warehouse, and he slept at
night in a dismal attic room with two other boys - guttersnipes from
the slums of London. He had so little confidence in his ability to write
that he sneaked out and mailed his
first manuscript in the dead of
night so nobody would laugh at him. Story after story was refused.
Finally the great day came when one was accepted. True, he wasn't
paid a shilling for it, but one editor had praised him. One editor had
given him recognition. He was so thrilled that he wandered aimlessly
around the streets with tears rolling down his cheeks.

The praise, the recognition, that he received through getting one
story in print, changed his whole life, for if it hadn't been for that
encouragement, he might have spent his entire life working in rat-
infested factories. You may have heard of that boy. His name was
Charles Dickens.

Another boy in London made his living as a clerk in a dry-goods
store. He had to get up at five o'clock, sweep out the store, and
slave for fourteen hours a day. It was sheer drudgery and he
despised it. After two years, he could stand it no longer, so he got up
one
morning and, without waiting for breakfast, tramped fifteen
miles to talk to his mother, who was working as a housekeeper.

He was frantic. He pleaded with her. He wept. He swore he would
kill himself if he had to remain in the shop any longer. Then he wrote
a long, pathetic letter to his old schoolmaster, declaring that he was
heartbroken, that he no longer wanted to live. His old schoolmaster
gave him a little praise and assured him that he really was very
intelligent and fitted for finer things and offered him a job as a
teacher.

That praise changed the future of that boy and made a lasting
impression on the history of English literature. For that boy went on
to write innumerable best-selling books and made over a million
dollars with his pen. You've probably heard of him. His name: H. G.
Wells.

Use of praise instead of criticism is the basic concept of B.F.
Skinner's teachings. This great
contemporary psychologist has shown
by experiments with animals and with humans that when criticism is
minimized and praise emphasized, the good things people do will be
reinforced and the poorer things will atrophy for lack of attention.

John Ringelspaugh of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, used this in
dealing with his children. It seemed that, as in so many families,
mother and dad's chief form of communication with the children was
yelling at them. And, as in so many cases, the children became a
little worse rather than better after each such session - and so did
the parents. There seemed to be no end in sight for this problem.

Mr. Ringelspaugh determined to use some of the principles he was
learning in our course to solve this situation. He reported: "We
decided to try praise instead of harping on their faults. It wasn't easy
when all we could see were the negative things they were doing; it
was really
tough to find things to praise. We managed to find
something, and within the first day or two some of the really
upsetting things they were doing quit happening. Then some of their
other faults began to disappear. They began capitalizing on the
praise we were giving them. They even began going out of their way
to do things right. Neither of us could believe it. Of course, it didn't
last forever, but the norm reached after things leveled off was so
much better. It was no longer necessary to react the way we used
to. The children were doing far more right things than wrong ones."
All of this was a result of praising the slightest improvement in the
children rather than condemning everything they did wrong.

This works on the job too. Keith Roper of Woodland Hills, California,
applied this principle to a situation in his company. Some material
came to him in his print shop which was of exceptionally
high
quality. The printer who had done this job was a new employee who
had been having difficulty adjusting to the job. His supervisor was
upset about what he considered a negative attitude and was
seriously thinking of terminating his services.

When Mr. Roper was informed of this situation, he personally went
over to the print shop and had a talk with the young man. He told
him how pleased he was with the work he had just received and
pointed out it was the best work he had seen produced in that shop
for some time. He pointed out exactly why it was superior and how
important the young man's contribution was to the company,
Do you think this affected that young printer's attitude toward the
company? Within days there was a complete turnabout. He told
several of his co-workers about the conversation and how someone
in the company really appreciated good work. And from that day on,
he was a loyal and
dedicated worker.

What Mr. Roper did was not just flatter the young printer and say
"You're good." He specifically pointed out how his work was superior.
Because he had singled out a specific accomplishment, rather than
just making general flattering remarks, his praise became much
more meaningful to the person to whom it was given. Everybody
likes to be praised, but when praise is specific, it comes across as
sincere - not something the other person may be saying just to make
one feel good.

Remember, we all crave appreciation and recognition, and will do
almost anything to get it. But nobody wants insincerity. Nobody
wants flattery.

Let me repeat: The principles taught in this book will work only when
they come from the heart. I am not advocating a bag of tricks. I am
talking about a new way of life.

Talk about changing people. If you and I will inspire the people with
whom we come in
contact to a realization of the hidden treasures
they possess, we can do far more than change people. We can
literally transform them.

Exaggeration? Then listen to these sage words from William James,
one of the most distinguished psychologists and philosophers
America has ever produced:

Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We
are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental
resources. Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives
far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he
habitually fails to use.

Yes, you who are reading these lines possess powers of various sorts
which you habitually fail to use; and one of these powers you are
probably not using to the fullest extent is your magic ability to praise
people and inspire them with a realization of their latent possibilities.

Abilities wither under criticism; they blossom
under encouragement.

To become a more effective leader of people, - Praise the slightest improvement and praise every
improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your
praise."

- from: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

"Sticks and bones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me." Have you ever heard that old saying? It's not true, you know. If you've ever heard anyone laugh and makes a rude remark about your looks, you know words can hurt. If anyone has ever started a rumor about you, you know words can hurt. But words can also heal. A word of encouragement, a simple compliment or an expression of appreciation can make you feel liked and confident. God reminded Ezekiel not to fear the words of his enemies but to "speak my words" to all. Be aware of the words you speak. Be sure they are words that heal rather than hurt. - See. Ezekiel 2:6-7

Quoted from The Teen Study Bible, New International Version. MI: Zondervan Publishing House.1998, p. 1074

Leader are meant to help others become the people God created them to be - Leadership: Promises for Every Day by John Maxwell

I believe every person carries the seed of success. The ability to find another's seed of success takes commitment, diligence, and a genuine desire to focus on others. You have to look at their gifts, temperament, passions, successes, joys, and opportunities. And once you find that seed, you need to fertilize it with encouragement and water it with opportunity. If you do, the person will blossom before your eyes. Raising people to a higher level and helping them be successful is more than just giving them information and skills. The good news is that when you understand some basic concepts about people, it opens the door to your ability to develop others. Remember...
Everyone wants to feel worthwhile.
Everyone needs and responds to encouragement.
People are naturally motivated.
People buy into the person before buying into their leadership.
The more you understand people, the greater your chance of success in mentoring.

Source: Your Road Map to Success by John Maxwell

God is calling you now - the world needs you...

In the belly of the whale
CTALK By Cito Beltran
Monday, June 2, 2008

The current preaching series in our church is about the biblical character Jonah and this week’s service focused on being in the belly of the whale. In many ways Filipinos are like Jonah who perpetually run from the idea of doing what is right or getting involved. We often think that we have more important things to do or that most people don’t care or won’t change anyway.

In the same manner our levels of self-righteousness exceeds sanity to the point that we can justify being tax evaders or law-breakers because others do it especially those in government. Like Jonah we cannot even comprehend why we should be part of any attempt or any solution to bring change or lead by example.

This perhaps is one possible explanation how a country with so many churches and religious people can be one of the poorest and most corrupt country in the world. Those who are suppose to teach and mentor churchgoers spend more time making political pronouncement or commentaries and performing like monkeys dancing to the sick o’clock news.

They promote equality and fairness at other peoples’ expense, they show charity from the charity given by others, they vilify and attack the sins of the national government but are blind to the prostitution and whorehouses of their allies in local government. They give sermons on obedience but challenge government programs resulting in more poverty and greater disrespect for authority.

Come to think of it, once you really analyze the book of Jonah, it almost looks like the national business plan.We proudly wear our faith on our sleeves like Jonah who called himself a Hebrew who served the Living God, yet when called to serve and obey, he skipped town and sailed south.

We are either: Catholics who dislike Christians, Christians who distrust Muslims, or Muslims who despise both Catholics and Christians. In general our behavior would be an embarrassment when it comes to our driving, civic duties such as paying taxes, and the worst of it all is the foul language that comes from our mouths when we express our opinion about people in politics and government.

Everyday, there are a few thousand Filipinos who skip town. The pretext is to get a job, to get a higher paying job or to immigrate to the US , Canada , Australia or some civilized place. While the general motivation is economic, a large number will never admit that they simply want to get away from the reality, the responsibility and the challenge, the same challenge that many of us still face and often overcome.

The rest would rather be by themselves and just send money than deal with parenting, parents and their spouse. They simply want to get away from it all. They want to chase the dream or cash in on the promise.Unfortunately we are either in the boat or in the belly of the whale.While I have spent many days at sea or by the sea, one thing I don’t enjoy and never like to be in is a boat in the middle of a storm. That in part is what and where the Philippines is. A boat in the middle of a storm, while those who have the shared responsibility of sailing to safe harbor sleep deeply, undisturbed and indifferent: Government officials, Religious leaders, Opinion makers, business personalities, passport carrying Filipinos and the FAITHFUL below deck, unseen and unaffected.

But for how long? Worldwide monarchies, dictatorships and established systems are being disrupted, challenged or overthrown. Nature has made a mockery of mankind and each day makes “the boat” sink a little deeper. All because no one cared, dared, or obeyed to do the work.

Unfortunately Filipinos are the world’s greatest at self-deception. We deceive ourselves with the idea that things are still normal through our installment mentality, sachet economics, and by bending our knees so we can fit in our security blankets that we have long outgrown.Po Bronson an American author in his book “what should I do with my life” commented that people in general don’t respond to situations unless they become a personal matter. We may have an opinion about certain situations but we don’t really do anything about the situation unless it directly concerns our personal circumstance.

Unfortunately, even when things have affected us at a personal level Filipinos still look for the silver lining, the ray of hope instead of facing the problem or the situation and doing something about it.

You can read all the news, listen to all the commentaries and analysis but unless you start by admitting that the fault begins with you, you will never be able to do anything more than find fault in yourself or in others. The minute you begin to take responsibility and realize that your actions can harm others is when you stop being selfish. Jonah came to terms with his self-deception and went as far as willing to be thrown over board so that God would not sink the boat and kill the innocent on board.

No matter how high or low you are in society we all contribute to the storm. We are all part of the dead weight that lowers the boat deeper into water. The goal is to lighten the load, to be productive, to be of use and not to be the cause of the problem.

For many years people have associated being in the belly of the whale as God’s way of punishing Jonah. On the Contrary it was God saving Jonah and preparing him to have the right mind set to do what needed to be done.I have been “in the belly of the whale” on numerous occasions. Once I spent two years in a mind-numbing job on a construction site where I was everybody’s foot -rest and Gopher as in “Go for this and Go for that”. How was I to know that God was preparing me for my next big ticket: constructing a major resort in Palawan called “Club Paradise” which contributes to tourism and gives jobs to many.

That was followed by seven years on another island that’s reminded me of a whale. It was the beginning of what has been a 17-year journey growing up as a Christian and sharing hope and God. Perhaps the ultimate belly of the whale experience was close to five years spent as a glorified corporate GRO (Guest Relation Officer), the necessary training to becoming an effective Talk Show host.

Sometimes all we need to do is jump in the water and allow God to take us where we become our best and serve others.

Interesting Conversation

We rarely read emails thinking those are just spams. But sometimes we miss out some interesting email messages because of that kind of thought. I've found this Interesting Conversation on my email account one day:

An Atheist Professor of Philosophy speaks to his Classon the Problem Science has with GOD, the ALMIGHTY.
He asks one of his New Christian Students to stand and . . .

Professor :You are a Christian, aren't you, son ?
Student : Yes, sir.
Professor : So you Believe in GOD ?
Student : Absolutely, sir.
Professor : Is GOD Good ?
Student : Sure.
Professor : Is GOD ALL - POWERFUL ?
Student : Yes.
Professor : My Brother died of Cancer even though he Prayed to GOD to Heal him.
Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill.
But GOD didn't.
How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

( Student is silent )
Professor :You can't answer, can you ?
Let's start again, Young Fella.
Is GOD Good?
Student : Yes.
Professor : Is Satan good ?
Student : No.
Professor : Where does Satan come from ?
Student : From . . . GOD . . .
Professor : That's right.
Tell me son, is there evil in this World?
Student : Yes.
Professor : Evil is everywhere, isn't it ?
And GOD did make everything. Correct?
Student :Yes.
Professor : So who created evil ?

(Student does not answer)

Professor :Is there Sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness?
All these terrible things exist in the World, don't they?
Student :Yes, sir.
Professor :So, who Created them ?
( Student hasno answer )
Professor :Science says you have 5 Senses you use to Identify and Observe the World around you.
Tell me, son . . . Have you ever Seen GOD?
Student :No, sir.
Professor : Tell us if you have ever Heard your GOD?
Student : No , sir.
Professor : Have you ever Felt your GOD, Tasted your GOD, Smelt your GOD?
Have you ever had any Sensory Perception of GOD for that matter?
Student : No, sir. I'm afraid I haven't.
Professor :Yet you still Believe in HIM?
Student :Yes.
Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn't exist.
What do you say to that, son?
Student :Nothing. I only have my Faith.
Professor :Yes, Faith. And that is the Problem Science has.
Student : Professor, is there such a thing as Heat?
Professor : Yes.
Student : And is there such a thing as Cold?
Professor : Yes.
Student : No sir. There isn't.

( The Lecture Theatre becomes very quiet with this turn of events )

Student :Sir, you can have Lots of Heat, even More Heat, Superheat, Mega Heat, White Heat,
a Little Heat or No Heat.
But we don't have anything called Cold.
We can hit 458 Degrees below Zero which is No Heat, but we can't go any further after that.
There is no such thing as Cold.
Cold is only a Word we use to describe the Absence of Heat.
We cannot Measure Cold.
Heat is Energy.
Cold is Not the Opposite of Heat, sir, just the Absence of it.

( There is Pin - Drop Silence in the Lecture Theatre )
Student :What about Darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as Darkness?
Professor : Yes. What is Night if there isn't Darkness?
Student : You're wrong again, sir.
Darkness is the Absence of Something…
You can have Low Light, Normal Light, Bright Light, Flashing Light . . .
But if you have No Light constantly, you have nothing and its called Darkness, isn't it?
In reality, Darkness isn't.
If it is, were you would be able to make Darkness Darker, wouldn't you?
Professor :So what is the point you are making, Young Man ?
Student : Sir, my point is your Philosophical Premise is flawed.
Professor : Flawed ? Can you explain how?
Student : Sir, you are working on the Premise of Duality..
You argue there is Life and then there is Death, a Good GOD and a Bad GOD.
You are viewing the Concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure.
Sir, Science can't even explain a Thought.
It uses Electricity and Magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one.
To view Death as the Opposite of Life is to be ignorant of the fact that
Death cannot exist as a Substantive Thing.
Death is Not the Opposite of Life: just the Absence of it.
Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your Students that they evolved from a Monkey?
Professor :If you are referring to the Natural Evolutionary Process, yes, of course, I do.
Student : Have you ever observed Evolution with your own eyes, sir?

( The Professor shakes his head with a Smile, beginning to realize where the Argument is going )

Student :Since no one has ever observed the Process of Evolution at work and
Cannot even prove that this Process is an On - Going Endeavor,
Are you not teaching your Opinion, sir?
Are you not a Scientist but a Preacher?

( The Class is in Uproar )

Student :Is there anyone in the Class who has ever seen the Professor's Brain?

( The Class breaks out into Laughter )

Student :Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor's Brain, Felt it, touched or Smelt it? . . .
No one appears to have done so.
So, according to the Established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that
You have No Brain, sir.
With all due respect, sir, how do we then Trust your Lectures, sir?

(The Room is Silent. The Professor stares at the Student, his face unfathomable)

Professor :I guess you'll have to take them on Faith, son.
Student : That is it sir . . .
The Link between Man & GOD is FAITH.
That is all that Keeps Things Moving & Alive.

It turned out later that the student is Albert Einstein.