Happiness Exercise: 6 things

Man, I've been so remiss in my writing.

BUT, given that it's Easter, I know the important thing is that I should pick up where I left off and not let past failures control me, right? Otherwise I'd never be able to get back up.

So, as a quick post, allow me to write down six things that bring me happiness right now.

1. Milk Tea and Wi-fi: Here in this southern part of the Metro, I can count at least TEN milk tea stores. Yes, it's obvious that milk tea is the new froyo. Just like running is the new badminton. But this trend brought a couple of good things: more choices (and value for your money), and free wifi. I just love the fact that I am able to go to a milk tea shop armed with my laptop and/or table, order a drink (and, at times, a snack) and enjoy the drink while surfing/reading/studying/watching videos/listening to music. I just hope that this trend wouldn't die anytime soon. Plus, some stores offer more than just milk tea anyway. For me, whether it's milk tea, regular tea, or even a yakult smoothie, I say kudos!

2. Reading: I am extremely happy that I got my reading groove back. This year, I promised to read at least 70 books (that equates to around 6 books a month), and I am pleased (nay, proud) to report that I am on a roll! The first quarter alone saw me reading more than twenty-five books. It certainly helps to have a Booksale in our building, and this branch has a great collection! Current read: a non-fiction narrative of the author's mom's Holocaust experience. Powerful stuff.

Rescue Run - December 23, 2012

Rescue Run was organized by the Filipino Running Community in response to the devastation brought about by typhoon Pablo in Mindanao. This run was organized in just twelve (12) days. Considering the complexities involved in organizing such an event, I'm impressed!

I registered for this event at the Sin Tax Run - they had a booth outside Starbucks One E-Com center. For a minimum donation of PHP200, you get a race bib. It's a donation because you can give more if you wish. There are two categories: 5K and 10K. I registered for the latter. There are also barefoot categories - I think it's also either 5K or 10K, only you have to run barefoot.

Here's my review of the Rescue Run 2012:

Strengths

The cause - Typhoon Pablo caused a lot of deaths (over 1000), destruction, and loss for millions of Filipinos in Mindanao. Although there were a lot of rescue and relief operations that took place (UNICEF, Philippine Red Cross, among others), this run is the Filipino Running Community's way of helping our brothers and sisters whose lives were affected by the typhoon. I have no idea how much funds were raised because of this event - but I have faith that the proceeds will reach the right people.

Sin Tax Run - December 16, 2012

The Sin Tax Run was organized by RunRio (probably the country's most popular race organization company, of Coach Rio de la Cruz fame) in support of the Sin Tax Bill (which eventually became the Sin Tax Law, click here to view the article).

The registration fee for this event is ridiculously low: you only need to pay PHP16 to get a race bib and a timing chip. As if that wasn't enough, you also get a free visor after finishing the race. So, why 16 pesos? It's simple - see RunRio's explanation below:

Photo credit here

In addition, Coach Rio says: “This race is part of our CSR (corporate social responsibility). It is our way of giving back to the running community. Our goal for the running community is to make it bigger and to sustain it. There are races almost everywhere, but the quality and the experience (is not always topnotch). When someone has a bad experience in an event, he or she will no longer encourage his or her friends or family to join the race. But if they have a good experience, they will keep on going." Click here to view the article.

On Gratitude and Happiness

Merriam-Webster defines gratitude as the "state of being grateful" - grateful being "appreciative of benefits received" (click here).

Happiness, on the other hand is "a state of well-being and contentment" (also from Merriam-Webster, click here to view).

There are lots of online articles about how being grateful can lead to an increase in happiness (see article by Lauren Suval here, or Erin Skarda's article, among others). I will write about gratitude and happiness on a personal level.

Thanks to yoga, I have learned to become more focused on the present. More importantly, yoga allows me to focus on the things that are going right in my life. From little things, like getting enough sleep, or having a delicious meal, to really important stuff, such as spending time with my nephew and niece, or hearing Mass.

Nike We Run MNL 10K - December 2, 2012

This post is overdue - been over ten days since the event took place. This was such a huge event. As mentioned in my previous post, a lot of people joined this event because for only PHP1200, you get a Nike racing shirt, plus a finisher's shirt if you finish the 10K within two and a half hours.

So, here is my take on what happened, from the registration all the way to the event day itself. :-)

Registration
My friends and I went to the Nike store in Glorietta on October 28 to register. We came from the Unilab Run United Philippine Marathon, where we ran 10K. So naturally, we were already tired when we got to the store at around 10:30 am. However, much to our dismay we discovered that the registration booth won't be open until 1:00 pm that day. So we just left and decided that we will register individually.

Swimming, yoga, fellowship

Thursday night (November 30), I went to Ace Water Spa in Pasig with an old college friend.

Photo credit here

This became a routine for us - every one or two months, we would meet at the spa and catch up. I would also do my laps, after which we would enjoy the various hydrotherapy massages the spa has to offer. This time it was a bit different - we met in the evening. Plus, this was before a long weekend.  In the past we would meet up in the morning (I used to work at night then) and grab lunch afterwards.