To Nikki, I know you will get to read this post. Tulad ng sinabi ko sa iyo, you take care of yourself and you study hard. As you enter the world of adults, you will discover a wider world–with all its glories and chaos. You will meet a lot of people–with all their goodness and their flaws. You will encounter different situations–exciting, happy, sad, frustrating. Know that whatever comes to your life, marami ang nagmamahal sa iyo, lalo na ang pamilya mo. If there are things you are unsure of or you have too many “what ifs,” do not worry. Everyone struggles with growing up. Andyan lang palagi ang pamilya mo. You can talk things over with them. They will guide you where to go and what to do next. Keep at being a good servant of God. Natutuwa ako dahil aktibo mong ginagawa ang mga tungkulin mo sa church. Continue on your journey with God, with your family, relatives and friends. Continue living a life in pursuit of a better you and a better life for the people around you.

n the Philippines, most teenage girls excitedly await for the day they turn 18. It means they are already adults. They can now enjoy a lot of things like vote in elections, have a date without a chaperon, drink and party, and so on. Some parents even allow their 18 year-old daughters to live on their own (but with financial support from them).

To celebrate their 18th birthday,  some girls manage to throw a party called "debut." A debut is a tradition which was carried out from generation to generation since the Spanish occupation. Usually, it is celebrated by the debutante by dancing with her cotillion court which is composed of 9 teenage girls and 9 teenage boys. Then there's the traditional dance with 18 men, each one offering a rose before their turn to dance with the debutante. Traditionally, after the 18 roses ceremony, 18 ladies light 18 candles for the debutante.  The 18 candles symbolize guidance as the debutante enters adulthood. As time passed by, debutantes have become "innovative' in celebrating their coming of age, adding more ceremonies like the 18 wishes (where 18 girls give the birthday celebrator their wishes) and the 18 revelations (where 18 friends of the celebrator reveal facts about her which may be unknown even to her own family or some friends) all in the spirit of fun

 

im siMpLe, tAleNteD (wakeke!) and mAbaiT

“Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of YOU to the world”

 

Birthday Speech By A Guest: 18 Topics

These topic ideas are suitable for every birthday public speaking job.

INTRODUCTION

1. Thank for the invitation to be guest.

2. Thank for the invitation to give a birthday speech.

3. Congratulate the person whose birthday it is.

THE BIRTHDAY PARTY ITSELF

4. Mention a nice, funny or emotional moment at the party till now.

5. If you are one of the people who organized the party: look ahead. What's coming up next? Lunch, dinner, you are moving to another location, room or place later this day or evening, other speakers, maybe mystery guest?

6. Mention the special circumstances, if appropriate. For instance think about the weather, the location, the number of people who are attending the birthday party, and so on. Look around and use your imagination.

7. What age? Is it a jubilee year? Is it a 18th, 21st, 40th, 50th, 60th or a 70th birthday speech, or even a 80th, 90th or 100th? Did she said something herself about reaching this age? Mention this unique number and its merits and uniqueness.

8. Glance back at the past years of her life. Can you name some special facts or insight stories about the place and date of birth? To broaden your range of possible topics for a birthday speech:

• What happened today in history?
• Are there memorable events on the date of birth?
• Was she born at a special place?
• Is she happily married? Describe this relationship.
• Children, grandchildren?
• Other notewirthy developments within the scope of the family ties? Mention those themes and don't forget to congratulate her family.

ROAST A LITTLE BIT

Tease and roast the celebrant, but avoid any personal speech topics that might upset the celebrant or a guest.

9. Roast the birthday girl or boy a little bit. Can you characterize her personality?

10. What have other people said about her?

11. Mention her talents, hobbies or passions.

12. Are there noteworthy developments or achievements in her work and career? What has she always wanted to be?

13. What are her pet topics?

14. What are her values of life? How does she propagate them?

THE FUTURE

15. Look ahead to her future. What were and/or are her goals or hopes in life? Do you think she will succeed? Be optimistic and supportive. Or - if you want to spoof somewhat - tell your disagreeing point of view with a wink...

THE TOAST

16. Recapitulate the best wishes and congratulations of your birthday speech. Try to summarize all the best you wish in one well-meaned special speech topic statement.

17. And then of course, at last but not least, the closer: the birthday speech toast. Propose a toast to the health of the birthday girl, so to speak.

18. Give her a present or hand over the gift on behalf of all people who join. Don't forget to tell you speak on behalf of everybody!

Happy birthday to you and to your relative or friend! Have a nice party and may this information helps you to enjoy preparing your birthday speech.

Philippines

Cotillions and debutante balls (commonly known as 'debuts') are very popular in the Philippines and in Filipino communities overseas to celebrate a girl's eighteenth birthday.

The debut usually begins with a priest giving a blessing before the ball. Eighteen candles are then presented to the debutante by eighteen of her closest girlfriends and family which are then placed on the cake so the debutante may blow them out. Then eighteen male friends and/or family members present her with a rose and an invitation to dance. Modern variations have since been introduced, such as the giving of eighteen symbolic gifts, or the replacement of roses with tulips, depending on the debut's theme.

The debutante, her escort and her court (nine couples, for a total of 18 people all together, including debutante couple) learn and perform the cotillion de honor. This dance either consisted of a waltz or the traditional Filipino aristocratic dance, the "rigodon".^[3]

It is said that the number of debuts a youth has been involved in as a cotillion member serves as a mark of their popularity. However, increasing numbers of young Filipina girls choose to opt out of having a debut, due to the lavish and perceived pretentiousness of the event, attributed in part to the large sums of money spent in their inception.

The Degrassi: The Next Generation Season 7 episode "We Got the Beat" has the character of Manny Santos wanting to call her debut off.

"Hospital" - means a place devoted primarily to the maintenance and operation of facilities for the diagnosis, treatment and care of individuals suffering from illness, disease, injury or deformity or in need of obstetrical or other medical and nursing care. The term "hospital" shall also be construed as any institution, building or place where there are installed beds or cribs or bassinets for twenty-four hour use or longer by patients in the treatment of diseases, diseased-condition, injuries, deformities or abnormal physical and mental states, maternity cases, and sanitorial or sanitarial care infirmities, nurseries, dispensaries, and such other means by which they maybe designated.

1. "Government Hospital" is a hospital operated and maintained either partially or wholly by the national, provincial, municipal or city government or other political subdivision, or by any department, division, board or other agency thereof.
2. "Private Hospital" is one which is privately owned, established and operated with funds raised or contributed through donations, or by private capital or other means, by private individuals, association, corporation, religious organizations, firms, company or joint stock association.
3. "Clinic" means a place in which patients avail of medical consultations or treatments on an out-patient basis. However, any clinic or dispensary where there is at least six (6) beds or cribs or bassinets installed for twenty-four hour use by patients shall be construed to fall within the definition of a hospital as described in this Act.
4. "Licensee" is a person, or persons granted a licensee to operate and maintain a hospital according to an approved minimum standard.

 

Region	Total Population	Percent
Philippines	76,504,077	100.00
NCR	9,932,560	12.98
CAR	1,365,412	1.78
I - Ilocos	4,200,478	5.49
II - Cagayan Valley	2,813,159	3.68
III - Central Luzon	8,030,945	10.50
IV - Southern Tagalog	11,793,655	15.42
V - Bicol	4,686,669	6.13
VI - Western Visayas	6,211,038	8.12
VII - Central Visayas	5,706,953	7.46
VIII - Eastern Visayas	3,610,355	4.72
IX - Western Mindanao	3,091,208	4.04
X - Northern Mindanao	2,747,585	3.59
XI - Southern Mindanao	5,189,335	6.78
XII - Central Mindanao	2,598,210	3.40
XIII - Caraga	2,095,367	2.74
ARMM	2,412,159	3.15

by Creflo Dollar

Five Things Happy People Do
By Gabrielle LeBlanc 

Sages going back to Socrates have offered advice on how to be happy, but only now are scientists beginning to address this question with systematic, controlled research. Although many of the new studies reaffirm time-honored wisdom ("Do what you love," "To thine own self be true"), they also add a number of fresh twists and insights. We canvassed the leading experts on what happy people have in common—and why it's worth trying to become one of them:

They find their most golden self. Picture happiness. What do you see? A peaceful soul sitting in a field of daisies appreciating the moment? That kind of passive, pleasure-oriented—hedonic—contentment is definitely a component of overall happiness. But researchers now believe that eudaimonic well-being may be more important. Cobbled from the Greek eu ("good") and daimon ("spirit" or "deity"), eudaimonia means striving toward excellence based on one's unique talents and potential—Aristotle considered it to be the noblest goal in life. In his time, the Greeks believed that each child was blessed at birth with a personal daimon embodying the highest possible expression of his or her nature. One way they envisioned the daimon was as a golden figurine that would be revealed by cracking away an outer layer of cheap pottery (the person's baser exterior). The effort to know and realize one's most golden self—"personal growth," in today's lingo—is now the central concept of eudaimonia, which has also come to include continually taking on new challenges and fulfilling one's sense of purpose in life.

"Eudaimonic well-being is much more robust and satisfying than hedonic happiness, and it engages different parts of the brain," says Richard J. Davidson, PhD, of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "The positive emotion accompanying thoughts that are directed toward meaningful goals is one of the most enduring components of well-being." Eudaimonia is also good for the body. Women who scored high on psychological tests for it (they were purposefully engaged in life, pursued self-development) weighed less, slept better, and had fewer stress hormones and markers for heart disease than others—including those reporting hedonic happiness—according to a study led by Carol Ryff, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

They design their lives to bring in joy. It may seem obvious, but "people don't devote enough time to thinking seriously about how they spend their life and how much of it they actually enjoy," says David Schkade, PhD, a psychologist and professor of management at the University of California San Diego. In a recent study, Schkade and colleagues asked more than 900 working women to write down everything they'd done the day before. Afterward, they reviewed their diaries and evaluated how they felt at each point. When the women saw how much time they spent on activities they didn't like, "some people had tears in their eyes," Schkade says. "They didn't realize their happiness was something they could design and have control over."

Analyzing one's life isn't necessarily easy and may require questioning long-held assumptions. A high-powered career might, in fact, turn out to be unfulfilling; a committed relationship once longed for could end up being irritating with all the compromising that comes with having a partner. Dreams can be hard to abandon, even when they've turned sour.

Fortunately, changes don't have to be big ones to tip the joy in your favor. Schkade says that if you transfer even an hour of your day from an activity you hate (commuting, scrubbing the bathroom) to one you like (reading, spending time with friends), you should see a significant improvement in your overall happiness. Taking action is key. Another recent study, at the University of Missouri, compared college students who made intentional changes (joining a club, upgrading their study habits) with others who passively experienced positive turns in their circumstances (receiving a scholarship, being relieved of a bad roommate). All the students were happier in the short term, but only the group who made deliberate changes stayed that way.

They avoid "if only" fantasies. If only I get a better job…find a man…lose the weight…life will be perfect. Happy people don't buy into this kind of thinking.

The latest research shows that we're surprisingly bad at predicting what will make us happy. People also tend to misjudge their contentment when zeroing in on a single aspect of their life—it's called the focusing illusion. In one study, single subjects were asked, "How happy are you with your life in general?" and "How many dates did you have last month?" When the dating question was asked first, their romantic life weighed more heavily into how they rated their overall happiness than when the questions were reversed.

The other argument against "if only" fantasies has to do with "hedonic adaptation"—the brain's natural dimming effect, which guarantees that a new house won't generate the same pleasure a year after its purchase and the thrill of having a boyfriend will ebb as you get used to being part of a couple. Happy people are wise to this, which is why they keep their lives full of novelty, even if it's just trying a new activity (diving, yoga) or putting a new spin on an old favorite (kundalini instead of vinyasa).

They put best friends first. It's no surprise that social engagement is one of the most important contributors to happiness. What's news is that the nature of the relationship counts. Compared with dashing around chatting with acquaintances, you get more joy from spending longer periods of time with a close friend, according to research by Meliksah Demir, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at Northern Arizona University. And the best-friend benefit doesn't necessarily come from delving into heavy discussions. One of the most essential pleasures of close friendship, Demir found, is simple companionship, "just hanging out," as he says, hitting the mall or going to the movies together and eating popcorn in the dark.

They allow themselves to be happy. As much as we all think we want it, many of us are convinced, deep down, that it's wrong to be happy (or too happy). Whether the belief comes from religion, culture, or the family you were raised in, it usually leaves you feeling guilty if you're having fun.

"Some people would say you shouldn't strive for personal happiness until you've taken care of everyone in the world who is starving or doesn't have adequate medical care," says Howard Cutler, MD, coauthor with the Dalai Lama of The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World. "The Dalai Lama believes you should pursue both simultaneously. For one thing, there is clear research showing that happy people tend to be more open to helping others. They also make better spouses and parents." And in one famous study, nuns whose autobiographies expressed positive emotions (such as gratitude and optimism) lived seven to 10-and-a-half years longer than other nuns. So, for any die-hard pessimist who still needs persuading, just think of how much more you can help the world if you allow a little happiness into your life.

Gabrielle Leblanc is a writer and neuroscientist in Washington, D.C.

 

Are You Easy to Love? by Valorie Burton

 I bought a cute card for my then three-year-old goddaughter. Her birthday falls on Valentine's Day and the card jokingly said, "People born on Valentine's Day are easier to love." It got me thinking, "Some people really are easier to love, aren't they?" Why is that?

I think it is because some people are better at loving others. Because they express love in healthy ways on a consistent basis, they also attract love into their lives. It is a simple principle most of us have been taught repeatedly: What you sow, you will also reap.

This week, I would like to serve as your loving reminder of what it means to love someone. These are seven straightforward, at times difficult, but always effective strategies for loving others – and experiencing more love in your life. Saint Paul wrote them in the 13th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians. We often hear the Scripture recited at weddings. This week, meditate on these seven principles. Find news ways to express love on a daily basis and strengthen your daily interaction with others – whether loved ones or strangers, co-workers or neighbors. The greatest use of your life is to love. When you apply this kind of love to a situation, it never fails:

1. LOVE IS PATIENT.
People won't always do what you want when you want them to. Practice being patient – whether with your children, your significant other, or the grocery cashier who takes too long to ring up your order. Everything happens for a reason – and that includes the timing of when things happen. Be patient and learn the lesson that comes in the process of enduring the wait. Sometimes the lesson is simple: Slow down and enjoy life.

2. LOVE IS KIND.
Every single day, choose to be kind. Ask yourself each morning, "How could I be a blessing to someone today?" Whether it is a kind word, a loving gesture, or helping someone in need, seek ways to be kind daily. Not only will it be a blessing to those you encounter, but it feels good to your soul.

3. LOVE DOES NOT ENVY.
There will always be someone who appears to have "more" or to be doing better. Make a decision not to be envious of others, but in every circumstance of life to find a reason to be thankful. Jealousy poisons your attitude, builds resentment, and can ruin relationships. Rather than envying others, learn from them. Even be inspired by them. And, simultaneously, choose to be content with what you have while you journey toward something better.

4. LOVE DOES NOT BOAST AND IS NOT PROUD.
Resist the temptation to boast about yourself, your accomplishments, or your loved ones. It often only makes others feel "less than," which, of course, is not an expression of love. Practice humility. Allow your accomplishments to speak for themselves. Others often notice your good work and deeds, even without you having to make a big deal of them. In fact, it is far more attractive to simply "be" great than to try to convince others of your greatness.

5. LOVE IS NOT RUDE OR EASILY ANGERED.
We've all had our moments when our behavior has been less than considerate. Next time you feel the urge to be rude, inconsiderate, or to jump to conclusions, stop yourself. Take a deep breath and ask, "What would be a more loving response to this situation?" That doesn't mean that you allow others to walk all over you. You can speak the truth to people in a very matter of fact way, without being rude. Be considerate of others' feelings and be willing to give people the benefit of the doubt.

6. LOVE KEEPS NO RECORD OF WRONGS.
Have you ever known someone who remembered every mistake you ever made or everything you ever did wrong? As you have grown and become a better person, all they can remember is the person you used to be. It is very frustrating and you may even find yourself ready to distance yourself from that person. Learn from the past behavior of others – and protect yourself accordingly, when necessary – but resist the temptation to continually bring up everything someone has done wrong. Love others by encouraging them toward a better future, not defining them by their past.

7. LOVE REJOICES IN THE TRUTH.
So often, it seems we are afraid of the truth. When something is wrong, we pretend everything is OK. Often both parties will pretend even when both parties know there is a problem. One of the most important love skills you can learn is to be honest. Refuse to live lies or to accept lies as truth. Have truthful conversations with yourself and others. It allows you to get to the core of issues faster. It empowers others to trust you. It relieves the stress of tiptoeing around the real issues. Learn to speak the truth in a spirit of love and kindness, and your life will be richer and more fulfilling.

My challenge to you this week:

In a situation that is challenging or frustrating to you, find a way to express love. Perhaps it's time to call a truce, forgive someone who has done you wrong, tell the truth, or be more patient. What could you do to be more loving?

Journaling assignment:

What makes the person most important to you feel loved? What are three ways that you could incorporate more of it into your interaction with this person?  What makes you feel loved?  How could you communicate this in a loving way?