CJ Faderogao

Stephen Covey, a renowned management teacher, shared to the world a framework for good living in the form of the book  The 7 habits of highly effective people.  More than 30 years after its publication in 1989, Covey's ideas and insights continue to change the lives of people today. The book remains an influential toolkit in navigating our psychology as adults in our present fast-paced society.  From Bohatala.com article: The 7 habits of highly effective people overview. The power of Covey's idea lies in how he developed the habits as interconnected steps towards growth and maturity. Covey provided a  software, as Jim Collins described it in his foreword for the book's 30th anniversary edition, that makes personal development manageable and pragmatic.  For my blog post this week, I would like to revisit my favorite out of the 7 habits. The habit of self-renewal or, as Stephen Covey termed it, the habit of  Sharpening the saw.  * * *  By sharpening...

Photo by Linus Sandvide on Unsplash The subject of truth is not as simple as it ought to be. As we grow and learn more about the world, it seems that our path, or at least our conception of what reality is, tends to get more hazy. We tend to experience confusion; we become doubtful in distinguishing right from wrong; hesitant on what to put our trust; and we can lose our touch with what once we consider as a "solid" foundation that we use to make sense of our reality.  It is of my realization that this inner dilemma arises because the world presents us with diverse and often contradictory ideas and beliefs. We get confused because we experience that the world-the real world-is filled with other beliefs, challenging the ones that we hold dear during our younger years. We realize that it is not only our belief that matters, but that every perspective by every other people contains within them a sliver of truth-even if it may seem opposite to what we believe. It becomes then ted...

Intuition is a very powerful thing, more powerful than the intellect.                                                                                                                             -  Steve Jobs We have all experienced moments of unexpected clarity at certain points in our lives. Moments where we just know what to do or what decision to take. Instances where, as if guided by an ethereal force, w e know if an action will bring about a good result without spending much effort on rational thinking.   These flashes of knowledge has been labeled by many terms: h unch, gutfeel, insight, but psychologists posits that these terms all point to our built-in c...

The wound is the place where light enters you. This simple yet profound quote is by Jalal al-Din Muhammad R umi   or simply, Rumi . A Sufi ¹  mystic, Islamic scholar and poet from the 13th century. He spent most of his life in the city of  Konya of modern day  Turkey.   A Millenia after his death, his poetry verses continue to inspire people-be it academics, artists or lay people. His works still top book bestsellers list, and he is even recognized as the most read poet in the United States today.  A portrait of Rumi by Hossein Behzad. His poetry which covers humanity, divinity, and love endured the passage of time proving that there's much for us to learn from his teachings. I will continue to spread his acclaim by sharing a brief of his teachings, in the hopes that more people to know his message.  His enigma lies in the beauty of his preaches; poetic verses inspired by universal spirituality. And in order for us to know his creeds, we must first kno...

I recently visited a Buddhist temple last weekend. And while engrossing myself in the temple's beauty and sacred atmosphere, I was reminded of the diversity of faiths that we have on the world. We have faiths dating back thousands of years that we have cling into for comfort, hope, and personal peace. Both eastern and western culture had their roots in religions that shaped not only civilization but also our early understanding of the human condition. For the longest time, these religions served as our moral and spiritual guides. Given this, I find it inviting to revisit some of these faiths; explore and wonder about their messages, appreciate their ties with our culture, and ponder on their doctrines that have captured the heart and mind of man for centuries. Here are the core teachings of the 5 Major World Religions: Buddhism Let's start with Buddhism. This religion originated from India,...

What does it mean to be educated? We often associate education with being institutionalized. We consider a person educated based on grades, diplomas, or titles. While we often put emphasis on these things in gauging other people's-and even our own-aptitude, we know through observation that they alone don't make a person completely cultivated. There are more, often veiled, aspects that merits our consideration.  You might wonder what this aspects are, as I also did when it became a subject of my contemplation these past weeks. Searching for answers myself, I came upon a book that helped me. A memoir released in 2018 that I felt was relevant to the questions I was posing. Aptly named, it is Educated by Tara Westover. This book is a memoir of Tara Westover's peculiar journey towards being "educated." She is from rural Idaho, United States. Following a long, challenging-but rewarding-period of education and unusual upbringing, she was able to finish a doctor's deg...