The main role of art

The main role of art is to bring us closer to God. Anything less is distraction. — Hugh MacLeod

This is a good reminder for us not just in creating art, but also in everything that we do like our work, hobbies, and activities.

If our work, hobbies, or activities are not bringing us closer to God, then they are taking our time and focus away from what is truly important. They may even become a source of pride, vanity, or self-centeredness. They can be distractions.

Instead, our work, hobbies, and activities should allow us to love God and our families and neighbors. They should bring us to more prayer, not less.

With the proper intention, they can be a form of prayer by allowing us to glorify God through them.

Which of your activities are taking your time away from praying?

Which of your activities actually make you pray more and love more?

Remember your purpose in everything that you do.

Whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. — 1 Corinthians 10:31

Learn how to see

Learn how to see the trials and failures in your life not as dead ends, but as the fire that refines you and brings out the gold in you.

Art is not just about drawing, sketching, painting, acting, dancing, or sculpting.

Art is about making people see what you see.

But before you can make others see what you see, you have to learn how to see.

Learn to see the sun not just as a bright ball of gas. Learn to see it as a mother peeking through the dark clouds of despair to give you light and warmth.

Learn to see the ocean not just as a body of water. Learn to see it as the friend whom you run to when life’s worries weigh you down.

Learning how to see does not only help you create art. It also helps you see and live life differently.

Learn how to see the trials and failures in your life not as dead ends, but as the fire that refines you and brings out the gold in you. Learn how to see them not as a rejection, but a redirection that can help you discover who you are and what truly matters to you.

What are you going through right now?

How can you see it differently?

Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope. — Romans 5: 3-4

Crawling to the weekend and to some other things

If you cannot run right now, you may crawl if you want to.

It’s finally Friday!

Are you finishing the week strong?

Or are you, like me, crawling to the weekend?

It may have been an exhausting week for you, but the important thing is that you’re still inching towards the finish line.

It’s the same with our goals.

It doesn’t really matter how fast you’re moving towards the finish line of your goals, as long as you’re moving towards them. Even if you are merely crawling.

You’ll be surprised at how many have already given up. But as for you, you can make it to the end. You can reach your goals.

Most importantly, it’s the same with our faith.

Trials, disappointments, rejections, and failures may have left you and your faith shaken. Maybe not just this week, but for a quite some time now.

I know how it feels to experience one disappointment after another. Every disappointment wears you down. Every failure weighs heavily on you. It seems like there is no end to the dark tunnel that you are in.

But, continue moving forward in faith. Crawl if you have to.

There is an end to this. Things will be better and the best is yet to come… as long as you keep moving forward.

If you cannot run right now, you may crawl if you want to.

I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus. — Philippians 3:14

How to improve your snap decision-making

Don’t be afraid to make decisions, even the wrong ones.

Last month, I repeated the same mistake that I made last December.

A service technician of a company offered me a lower service fee as long as I would not declare the actual service done when their company called me. My mistake was I took the offer.

It was a win-win offer for me and the technician. I would pay a lower fee and the technician would get the full amount that I paid instead of receiving a small commission from the company.

It was a win-win offer, right? But, not for the company… and not for me and the technician in the long run:

• The two companies, no matter how large they are, suffered from losses. The technicians used their respective companies’ resources and were also paid for their time. However, the companies did not get the right amount of payment.

• Both times, I had problems with the service I received after two weeks. But, I couldn’t go after the companies to fix the problems because the actual services I received were not declared. It was also hard for me to reach the technicians even after they promised me the that they would take care of any problems themselves.

• For the technicians, if they keep doing that and the companies they are working with suffer from losses repeatedly, the companies may be dissolved in the future and the technicians would lose their jobs. Not to mention, they may get fired if their respective companies find out. (For one of those technicians, the company did find out that he offered the same arrangement for many of the company’s clients and he was fired.)

Both of those times, the technicians made me the offer on the spot where I had to decide then and there. I had to make a decision quickly.

Under pressure, I made the wrong decision. Not only did I make the wrong long-term decision, I also did not do the right thing.

Decision-making is already hard enough when you have ample time to make a decision. Having very little time to do so makes it even harder.

So how do you improve your decision-making, especially the snap ones? Here are some things I learned from my past two mistakes:

1. Keep making decisions. Don’t be afraid to make decisions, even the wrong ones. Decision-making is like a muscle. It gets better when you keep practicing it.

2. Learn from your decisions, especially from your mistakes. Note down your learnings if you have to. (After my repeating my mistake, I took down notes to avoid making the same mistake the third time.)

3. Know your values... and rank them. I value honesty and doing the right thing. But, I also value being frugal. When I had to make a quick decision, I valued my frugality over my honesty and I failed to do the right thing. Now, I’m learning to value honesty and doing the right thing even if it means spending a little bit more.

4. Catch yourself when you are under pressure. If you can, step away from the conversation. Ask your spouse or someone with you for advice. Break the flow of the conversation. That will help you think clearly and make the right decision based on your values.

I’m happy to share that just last week, another service representative gave me a similar offer, but I refused. I guess somehow, I’m already learning from my mistakes. (But, I also felt disheartened because of employees who are doing those kinds things to the companies who are paying them.)

How to work on your dreams when you have limited time

Make time for what you really, really, really want to do.

From 10 in the morning up until midnight — that has been my usual working hours for the past three months.

I love my work. I love what I do and the people I am working with.

But with limited time to spare to work on my dreams, I have to come up with a solution. (Not to mention, I also have my own share of household chores. I also try to squeeze in as much quality time as I can with my wife and daughter.)

To get back on track, here are some ideas that I’ll be trying to be able to work on my dreams with my limited time:

1. Make time for what I really, really, really want to do. That is, writing and sketching. Even just 15 minutes a day.

2. Break what I need to accomplish into the smallest chunks that I can work on each day. So, if I wish to write a short book that is around 20,000 to 30,000 words. I can do that and more in one year by writing even just a hundred words per day.

3. Start small to start now. I also wish to be able to write a blog post daily again. Writing 500 or a thousand words can be paralyzing. But if I start with just 100 words a day, I can get started again.

4. Take away what’s stopping me from doing what I have to do. Remove the obstacles. Reduce the friction. I had been writing my thoughts on my journal for the past few months. But I hadn’t posted them on the blog because I had to write them again by typing them on my laptop. It added an extra step for me to be able to post. So, why not write my thoughts directly on my laptop instead?

5. Do it imperfectly. Do it afraid. This post is unpolished. Probably unfinished as well. But if I don’t publish this imperfect post now, when will I be able to post again? I’m taking an unsure step. But at least I’m going somewhere.

I guess that’s it for now. Let’s see how this goes.

Write to you on Wednesday, if time permits.

No, I’ll write to you on Wednesday. I’ll commit to it.