BLOG FOR STAYIN' ALIVE

Hello, my name is Gil Banaria from Cubao, Quezon City, Philippines.  I am a Licensed Real Estate Broker and a happy family man with my wife Emma and my six grown up children, ages 19 to 32, 3 males and 3 females. I am in the field of real estate sales of properties located in Metro-Manila and some nearby provinces and I do that through Cypress Grove Estates Corporation where I manage sales.

This blog is all about life and living and how to stay alive by living the virtue of simplicity.  I decided to write a blog along this line in order to help my loved ones, friends and others come up with simple ideas about always staying afloat inspite of the turbulence around us.  Many times, we desire to avoid life's complications but fall into the trap unconsciously and end up stressed and frustrated.  We're lucky enough if we are able to break the cycle and bounce back.  Some, perhaps many (sorry I have no statistics), hit rock bottom, emotionally, and find it hard to recover or bring back their usual vigor, their zest for life.  My blog might be able to help them.  I say might because it will be pretentious on my part to claim that my ideas are a guarantee for survival. 

Let us look at the basic terms laid out in this article about staying simple and staying alive.  What does staying simple really mean?  Is it keeping things to the bare minimum and denying oneself constantly?  Yes, with certain conditions -  if the bare minimum and self-denial makes one at ease and do not create a self-limiting and depressing paradigm, that kind of simplicity is desirable.  My own example is if you can have a 2nd class , maybe 3rd class, but highly effective cell phone unit which serves your basic requirements at home and in your business, go for it!  Sometimes, having a first class gadget can be purely for status symbol in which case it is no longer fit for our staying simple paradigm.     

Many thinkers, coaches, speakers or motivators may disagree with me on that one since there is always that option to "fake it until you make it" or "first class opportunities come to those who go first class".  Might be highly disagreeable.  I know of some wealth gurus who preach spending to the limits in order to attract wealth.  In my opinion, they've got it in reverse - I think it is more doable and realistic to attract wealth first through smart and hard work and decide whether to splurge or to practice moderation (I would go for the latter) once the resources are available.

I probably jumped the gun there, so let me backtrack now.  I think that very basic in defining our paradigm of staying simple, staying alive is framing our goals as individuals and as families (if we are family men and women).  We always hear that a person without a goal is like a ship without a rudder.  True!  Our goal makes us more capable of navigating the waters, so to speak.  They serve as guideposts along the way and help us avoid going astray.  A good, basic personal goal would be "to know love and serve God".  I recognize and accept that, for an atheist, that doesn't make sense. Although, as a bonus for me, I know that among those who may read my articles, some may get transformed, even hard core doubters.

Having God as one's very basic goal sets our life journey on the right track.  Moving forward with Him makes our moments precious and worth living.  Starting and ending our day with thoughts of God is indeed a perfect way of staying simple, staying alive!