Guard Your Heart

"Guard your heart bro/sis."

This is what most Christian teenagers tell each other nowadays when it comes to talking about their "crushes" and the like. Where does this phrase come from anyway?

"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Proverbs 4:23

What do you mean by guarding your heart? It means that you should watch over what you "feel". 

This concept of guarding your heart is a popular phrase emotional purity. But what is emotional purity? What is purity? Let's dig deeper from the roots so we can understand what these things actually mean.

Purity. 
People usually describe purity as "innocence","without blemish", or "clean". These are true synonyms to purity but these are by the dictionary definitions. What is biblical purity? Now even biblical purity is perceived to have lots of definitions as well. People usually connect it with virginity,which to some extent is biblically true, but we should know what purity really means. Purity means holiness, righteous, and yes, it also means that it is without blemish; without blemish means perfection. So how do you know if you're pure? We aren't. We are all like lambs with blemish because all of us are sinful beings. But we were made righteous before God through Jesus Christ.

"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." 2 Corinthians 5:21

How do we become pure?= How do we pursue purity?

Purity= Jesus

Therefore, How do we become pure?= We pursue Jesus

We pursue Jesus by pursuing Christ-likeness.

Emotional purity. 
Now what is emotional purity? It's keeping yourself from any "emotional" thoughts and feelings that displeases God. How do you know if your thoughts and feelings displeases God? Well you need to know Him. You get to know what kind of author the author is by reading his book. In the same way, you need to read the Bible to get to know God, the Author of our life. 

One of the things which involves emotions and displeases God is lust. Lust is a sexual desire outside the boundaries that God has made. So if lust is an "enemy" of emotional purity, then how do you know if you lust?

"But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Matthew 5:28

Even looking at someone lustfully means that you have already committed adultery, an act of impurity. But the opposite of emotional purity is not only confined with lust. I mentioned that emotional "thoughts" are part of emotional purity as well.

Connecting it all together. In my recent post regarding emotions ["Emotions and Feelings are the Same, Right?"], I mentioned about the thalamus, a part of your brain which is responsible for your emotions, motivation, behavior, and the like. This is what you actually call "heart" with regards to emotions. Now since it is part of the brain, those emotions usually affect your thoughts as well. You see, when you dwell on your emotions you generate feelings. You dwell on your feelings because you thought about it. And you continue thinking and feeling at the same time which leads you to overthinking. Overthinking then affects your actions and your actions affect your behavior.

Learning nugget. To conclude, guarding your heart means that we guard ourselves from the fleshly desires that we have. Remember, it is human to have those desires and it isn't sinful to be tempted. BUT, what you do with those temptations, how you respond to those desires, does not negate the fact that you will still reap the consequences of your actions. All actions have consequences so guard your actions. 

Life Nugget. 
"I can't"-Rev. Edmund Chan

But actually, I've learned in time that we just can't guard our hearts. We are just that weak and vulnerable to sin. This is why we need to surrender ourselves to God because we just can't...but HE CAN. But of course we need to do our part as well. Let me end this post with this verse.

 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, THINK ON THESE THINGS. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:7-10

Let God guard your heart.

:)

Emotions and Feelings are the Same, Right?

"Emotions and feelings are the same, right?"

"And uh,I think it's also similar to mood." 

"Wait what is 'affect'?"

These are the questions that popped in my head when our class discussed about emotions. So what have I learned about these 4 complicated words? 

Emotions, feelings, moods.  
First of all, I know that every human being has emotions. But honestly, it was really hard for me to define and all the more differentiate what emotions, feelings, and moods are. I thought they are just all the same. I could also not define them in reference to the context of crush or infatuation that my peers usually talk about.  
I don't know if it is due to how I am wired, how I was brought up, the environment surrounding me, or both. I learned about the differences among the three when it was discussed in my Soc Sci 1 class.

Definitions.
 I learned that 'affect' is the result of your instant reaction to a situation. It is short-lived and it may or may not register consciously in the person. Mood, on the other hand, is something closely similar to affect in some aspects. 

Mood is a temporary state that you feel due to your environment, thoughts, physiology, or current emotions. For example, hunger plus sleep-deprived state plus the need to study can result in to a cranky behavior. 

Emotions was explained as the state of 'affect' of a person. It is your psychosocial response to situations and events that are cooperated with chemicals released in your brain. I will further explain what this cooperation with the brain is later. 

Feelings, which I thought by semantics were also emotions, are actually the result of soaking yourself or indulging in your emotions. 

Disgust and Anger. 
I further learned that general Emotions are actually divided into three sections based on W.G Parrott's detailed list of emotions. Contrary to what I learned in the movie entitled Inside Out about, Disgust is actually a secondary emotion under Anger, which I think is appropriate since Disgust has the element of irritation rooted in Anger. But, I wanted to know why is Surprise not under Joy or Fear. This actually led me into asking whether it is possible to combine emotions to produce another (since Surprise may be a product of Joy and Fear). Although there are a lot of theories regarding emotions, some do show that a combination of the primary emotions is actually possible. One example is Plutchik's wheel of emotions that show how love, submission, optimism, awe, disapproval, remorse, contempt, and aggressiveness are combinations of the eight primary emotions Plutchik used. But I still haven't researched enough to see whether surprise may be indeed a combination of joy and fear.

Parott's List of Emotions

Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions

Limbic System. Moving on, another learning nugget that I was able to get from this topic is the understanding of the Limbic System or the paleomamammalian brain. This is actually what most people refer to as the 'heart' in regards to emotions. As opposed to its more popular term, the Limbic System is actually located in the brain on both sides of the thalamus, right under the cerebrum. The Limbic System is also responsible for other functions such as behavior, motivation, and long-term memory. 
(Side note: I think this is where Inside Out based the setting of their story.)

Learning Nuggets. 
This topic is actually encouraging me to study further about the brain and the mind, a mental concept where mental reality exists. Being a student of philosophy who is interested in psychology, this is a topic that I would very much like to study.

Now because of all these learning nuggets, I had another question in my mind that remains unanswered. Is it possible, for a human, to be emotionless? Before I researched about this, I started to answer this piece by piece by going back to what I've just learned about emotions. First, I took notice of the differences among affect, mood, feelings, and emotions. This helped me greatly since now, I can define what being emotionless means. Since emotions are something that is not just psychological, but is also supported by something physical, the Limbic System, I conclude that it is impossible for humans to have no emotions. Besides, every human being has emotions since it is part of the composition of being human. BUT, I found out that it is possible to be not aware of your emotions. What am I saying? Well, being aware of your emotions will naturally lead you to soak yourself into it. This will actually result to what you call feelings. Having said that, I conclude that feelings can actually be managed since we have the choice whether or not to focus and indulge in our emotions.

Alexithymia.I recently learned that there is actually a rare case of a person being 'emotionless'. This personality trait is called Alexithymia which is classified as the difficulty in identifying and describing how and what you feel. This thus proves the possibility of not being aware of your emotions. Take note though that maturity can also be the reason why a person doesn't dwell in his or her feelings. It may be that he or she chooses not too because they know the possible negative effects of doing so.

To sum this all up, I am glad that I was able to learn a lot of things in this topic even for just a short amount of time. Yes, this motivated me to study further in this matter and might even go further as to study how it connects to other social sciences.

#ThrowbackSeries: SONA 2013 Paper

So today for our Throwback Series, I will be showing you the paper I wrote to review and summarize the SONA 2013 by our President Benigno Aquino III. This paper was part of my 3rd Year Portfolio

SONA 2013- President Benigno Aquino III’s 4^th State of the Nation Address: Pagtahak sa Tuwid na Daan

Submitted to Teacher Rose Operaña

Submitted by Riona Operaña

July 25, 2013

SONA 2013- President Benigno Aquino lll’s 4^th State of the Nation Address: Pagtahak sa Tuwid na Daan

Statement of Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to review this year’s State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Aquino lll

               I.            Highlight of SONA

A.      Government and the nation’s actions

B.      Nationalism

             II.            Good news presented

A.      Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program

B.      Phil Health

           III.            Promising Facts and Figures

A.      Tourism

B.      Education

C.      Agriculture

           IV.            Observations of president and the audience

             V.            Positive or negative outlook

SONA 2013- President Benigno Aquino lll’s 4^th State of the Nation Address: Pagtahak sa Tuwid na Daan

     I love how PNoy stated the fact that even if the government is doing everything they can, to fix the complaints and problems of our country, if we ourselves would not step-up to make a difference in this country, nothing will change. He also highlighted the nationalism that was shown through three simple police officers and that we Filipinos should see them as an example on helping Philippines to straighten up and bloom.

There were indeed a lot of good news and also some bad news that PNoy stated in his so far longest SONA speech. He tackled issues in the areas of tourism, education, employment, agriculture, security (soldiers), and achievements.

·         One of the ‘to-do lists’ of the government that was done was to broaden the scope of “Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4p’s)”. About 4 million beneficiaries were enrolled so far during the three years of President Benigno’s administration.

·         Another good news was the rise of beneficiaries of PhilHealth from 2010-2013. From 68% beneficiaries on the year 2010, we now have 81% of the population enrolled in PhilHealth, which is about 85,633,200 beneficiaries.

Some other achievements that were shown were in the areas of tourism, education, and agriculture.

·         In tourism, PNoy stated some praises such as “Best romantic destination” and such from various magazines such as Scuba Diving, Travel + Leisure, Shanghai Morning Post, and Oriental Morning Post. We were able to pass the 2016 target of 35.5m tourist arrivals on the year 2011 in which we reached 37.5m tourists. We now have a new 2016 target which is to have 56.1m tourist arrivals.

·         In education, the governments is still on the progress of building 66,800 classrooms, providing 2,573,212 chairs, and obliterate the 61.7m textbook backlog and achieve the ratio of 1:1 to students.

·         We have 5,500 hectares in 90 various places in this country for 10,000 farmers to use for intercropping. When we plant coconuts per hectare we can earn 20,000php, but through coconut intercropping we can produce and earn more. If we are to plant coconuts and coffee on a hectare every year, we can earn 172,000php, with bananas we can earn 102,325php, and with cacao 89,00php.

The reporters mentioned that SONA is like the Oscars here in the Philippines because not only is the content of the message is awaited, but also the colorful gowns worn by the congresswomen, senators, and spouses of the government officials.  By wearing these colorful Filipiniana gowns in the SONA, I personally think that the SONA became more colorful and more uplifted in a the eyes of our generation today since most of us, teenagers, think that SONA is just another long, boring speech of the president to the country.

I also liked the improvement of PNoy from using powerpoint to video playback. The government should try to attract our generation today on listening the SONA through connecting to us through our language and tastes.

I also think that schools need to show students as young as they are that SONA is a speech in which the president of a country states the achievements, issues solved, and the summary of events that happened to our country every year; and that SONA is there to remind us of what’s happening with the country and what the government is doing to improve the country.

As PNoy highlighted nationalism even on ordinary citizens, he made a positive, encouraging, yet strong reminder to us Filipinos that our actions as individuals will depend on how this country will improve. I also love how he ended that this SONA is our SONA; for me it means that the content of the SONA will depend on us, the citizens, on how we live in this country. President Benigno Aquino’s speech was also sandwiched and he showed the balance of a leader on giving love and just to his country.

Labels, labels, LABELS EVERYWHERE. (Updated)

Nope. I'm not going to talk about anything "DEEP" regarding labels; I'm going to talk about the labels of my posts there on the right side of this blog so you can understand and maximize it.

#ThrowbackSeries

This label is for posts that I have from my old blogs. This may also include my posts regarding Leadership Conferences and unfinished posts in the past.

Acuminous Experiences

"Acuminous-insightful", so as the label title says, this label includes my day-to-day insightful experiences. 

Amorina's Pages

Back in my transitioning years from 6th grade to 1st-year highschool (or Grade 7), I decided on entitling my portfolio series for 1st-3rd year as Amorina's Pages. You can find most of my homeschool portfolios here.

Book Reviews

I really haven't seriously started filling this labels with posts relating to book reviews, but I'm working on it. I'll be reviewing fictional and non-fictional books (non-fictional including Christian books).

Color Quotes

I mentioned this title in my post entitled, "Motion Before Emotion" and this is actually a recent project of mine. I have this colorful pad where I put quotes that speak to me and I use those quotes as a prompt to write a weekly blog article regarding it. This label is a sub-label of the Acuminous Experiences label.

Portfolio

In here, shows ALL of my portfolios in the past, present, and future. This includes academe and creative portfolios.

Simple Joys In Life

I guess the posts under this label is to remind me and remind you, readers, that there are simple things in life that you can enjoy. The most random yet lovable (for me) posts that show the simple me are in this label. I guess I should start writing a post regarding labels since it gives me joy to use such a tool for organizing.

Story Nuggets.
Sometimes I post my written works which is woven with life nuggets. All of those short stories and poems is under this label.

Attributes of God.
New blog series! (And I haven't finished my Color Quotes series yet. Aha ha)Based on A.W. Tozer's, "Attributes of God". I'll be digesting that book and intertwine it with my Acuminous Experiences label

How To.
DIY and instructions on "How To" do stuff goes under this label.

I might add more specific labels to help you screen the posts that I post, but that's what I have for now.

Have fun and go and maximize the use of labels.

Motion Before Emotion

Photo source from sisteeeeer. Go to beeyenbi.tumblr.com

“Motion before emotion.”--Pastor Peter Tan-chi

This phrase is something that called my attention from my lazy ways in doing things. If I am to do a chore or a regular task, I usually frown and tell my dad (who is the one who assigns the chores to my sister and I) or myself that I do not FEEL like doing the task at the moment so I will do it later.

I Will Do It Later Habit

This attitude is what we usually call, procrastination. Yes, our color quote for the day is regarding procrastination.

Procrastination (proh-kras-tuh-ney-shuh n, pruh‐): to be slow or late about doing something that should be done.

---Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Procrastination is setting aside something that YOU SHOULD BE DOING for something that isn’t your priority. The thing is, if we keep on waiting for us to feel like doing something, then we will be wasting the precious time that God has graciously given us! If we aren’t conscious enough to nip this budding attitude immediately, it will sooner become a habit. And remember, a bad habit becomes a handicap in the race.

Digging Deeper

In the last post I wrote, I mentioned something about not worrying about the unknown future; yes we shouldn’t worry about the future because God has an amazing plan for us, but this doesn’t mean that we can just laze around and do nothing. We need to do our part in preparing ourselves in God’s great plan.  As people say, we need to get the right person for the right job; in the same way, we need to prepare ourselves to be the vessel that God will use for His great plan.We need to be ready for the job He will give to us. And if we want to be a finished vase ready to be used for God’s work, then we need to be diligent in letting ourselves be molded into a finished vase!

So what is the root of procrastination? It is when you are not able to set your priorities right and fail to do your priorities.

Learning Nugget

Pause for a moment and ask yourself, “What are my priorities? Are my priorities set right? Are my priorities something God will be pleased with?  Am I really treating my priorities as priorities? If I know my priorities, then why do I procrastinate?” As you answer these questions, try and dig the learning nuggets you can get from it. Figure out by yourself what you think is the learning nugget for you here.

Life Nugget

Our life nugget is found in these two verses:

Colossians 3:17;23-24 New International Version (NIV)

¹⁷ And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

²³ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, ²⁴ since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

Don't wait for yourself to "FEEL" like doing your priorities.

Don't Let Your Mind Bully Your Body

"Don't let your mind bully your body..."-Astrid Alauda

This is a quote in a picture that I saw while I was searching for a desktop wallpaper. (Apparently I've deleted the picture so I got another picture from Google instead.)The choice of words and the meaning of the statement rang a bell in my ear for it was something that I, and most people especially women, can relate to.

Digging Deeper

Digging deeper into this statement, I was able to see 2 perspectives in this, 1 is general and one is spiritual. 

1. We overthink or keep our minds busy and occupied with things, or life in general, and forget how this can drain our body.

2. We let our thoughts be influenced by the world which affects our actions, resulting in us bullying our body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Let's go and dig deeper in both perspectives until we mine the learning nuggets.

Overthinking

I think (pun not intended...maybe)that most people (especially perfectionists) overthink every day. We tend to overthink because we are not satisfied with the current knowledge that we have regarding a situation or matter. And so, we dive into endless branches of possibilities and try to find the "perfect solution or decision" or the "most reasonable outcome of a matter", only to find ourselves frustrated when we reach the tip of the branch. We don't just stop with a dead-end though, we continue on and dig holes just to find that golden apple that we think will satisfy us. If you want to know how you can stop overthinking, let me throw this question to you, "Why do you overthink ?"

You know what the answer is? It's because we worry that if we don't find the perfect solution/decision/possibility, we will make a mistake that won't be erased and will haunt us for the rest of our lives. So to put it simply, we overthink because we worry or fear of the unknown future before us. Well if you want to pull the roots of overthinking, you need to also pull the roots of worrying. So I shall ask you another question, "Why do you worry or fear?"

Do Not Worry (Matthew 6:25-34-NIV)

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life[a]?

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

If you know that you have God who will supply your needs; if you know that you have God who will take care of you; and if you know that you have God that has great and wonderful plans for you to prosper (Read Jeremiah 29:1), then why worry and fear about life?

Temple of the Holy Spirit

Our thoughts are influenced by what we see, hear, and feel; our thoughts affects our actions. So if what we see, hear, and feel are that of the world, then our thoughts will be that of the world too. And if thoughts affect our actions, then our worldly thoughts will turn our actions into that of the world.

Let me give you a specific example so you can get what I mean. A distorted view of beauty may lead to insecurity. A distorted product of a distorted view gives birth to distorted actions. Anorexia and bullimia are 2 disorders that must not be romanticized. It is a product of insecurity, which is a product of a distorted view on beauty. 

When the world says that you are ugly, God says that you are beautiful. When the world says that beauty is when you have a slim, tall, sharp, and curvy body; God says that TRUE BEAUTY is when you are loving, joyful, patient, kind, and gentle. You are who you are. You are FEARFULLY and WONDERFULLY MADE by GOD.(Read Psalm 139:14).

The learning nugget that we can get from this perspective is in this 1 Corinthians 6:19

18 Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

Life Nugget

After getting the learning nuggets in both perspectives, I want to remind you of the life nugget that we must hold dear to our hearts and apply in our lives. It is found in

Philippians 4:8New International Version (NIV)

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

So will you let your mind bully your body?

Totoo Ba Ang Forever? (Is Forever Real?)

"Totoo ba ang forever?" 
This is a question that most of the youth and singles ask nowadays. 

Some people say that it isn't real, some people say it is real in a worldly context, but I say it is real in God. "Eh ate, we're asking in the context of love relationships hindi sa spiritual context." Actually, I'm still speaking in the context of love relationships. For you to get what I mean, we need to go back to the attributes of God.

God is infinite and eternal.
 Why do I say that God is infinite and eternal? Because He is immeasurable. The word 'perfect' is just a the highest possible description that our finite minds can use to describe God. If God isn't infinite and eternal, then that means that He's measurable. If He's measurable then that means He's not 'perfect'. And if He's not perfect then He isn't God. 

Another word for infinite and eternal is 'forever'. Yes, there is forever in God.

We entered into a love relationship with God the moment you believed in Jesus' death and resurrection and accepted that you are a sinner and you need saving. And this love relationship that we have with God will last forever. Why can I say so? Because when we die, we will be with Him in Heaven forever. Even a Christ-centered marriage won't last forever because death will part them away. But our lover, our Father, our God is stronger than death and we shall be with Him forever.

Therefore, totoo ba ang forever? Oo naman, basta kay God may forever! (Is forever real? Of course, in God there is such a thing as forever!)

#ThrowBackSeries: The Beginning and the Past: The 6 Days of Creation and the Garden of Eden

This is part of my 1st and 2nd quarter portfolio of my first year in high school entiled, "Amorina's Pages".

The Beginning and the Past: The 6 Days of Creation and the Garden of Eden

Hallooooooo people-who-are-reading-this-because-they-landed-in-this-blog-for-some-unknown-reason. We are now tackling a new chapter which is “The Beginning and the Past”. In this article, I will talk about the 6 days of God’s creation.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…” (Genesis 1:1)

As I said earlier in (paste link to who am I article)did you realize that we were created from the soil and buried from the soil when we die? (Genesis 2:7)Isn’t that amazing? God really is quite mysterious and that is one of the reasons that I study His Word, which is the Bible.

God is our role model. He is our God and He is our Lord, yet He chose to be an example to us. He can create the whole world with a snap, but He did it day by day and even rested!    
 He showed us that you and I 
should not cram our work in one day and that we need to rest after several days of working.

God created Adam on the sixth day. His job was to name all the animals and beasts that God brought to him. God placed him in the Garden of Eden so he could take care of them.

The Garden of Eden was described in the Bible in Genesis 2:8-14

Many say that the Garden of Eden is located in Iraq between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. I agree because there are some ziggurats around the country which is an evidence of ancient people living there and besides Iraq was Mesopotamia.

Mesopotamia or present-day Iraq is where Abram (Abraham) the “Father of all Nations” was born. He lived in the city of Ur now present-day Al-Nasariyah. Babylon is also located in Iraq which is now Al-Hillah. The ancient place called Sumer also lies in Iraq. Sir Leonard C. Wooley discovered tombs and artifacts of the Sumerians. He also found some ziggurats in ruins.

Hmmm… Sumerians are known for their ziggurats and they are located in Iraq. Babylon, the place where the Tower of Babel can be located, is also located in Iraq. So since they both lived on the same era, (3500 B.C.)then the Tower of Babel most probably looks like a ziggurat! So since the Tower of Babel is in Babylon, which is in Iraq, then civilization may have started there! Besides, Babylon is near the said to be place of the Garden of Eden. The name of the two rivers was mentioned on the location of the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2:14 “The name of the third river is Tigris; it runs along the east side of Asshur. And the fourth river is Euphrates.”    

I will gather all the resources that I got from the net for you and compile it in another blog post entry so you could read the information for yourselves. See you!

*You may check the verses here in : http://www.bible-online.cz/ or http://www.biblegateway.com/