Cheers to a New Year
NEW Year’s Day – that arbitrary date in the calendar that compels us to take stock of ourselves and evaluate whether our loves, lives and careers are progressing in the…
Category: Lifestyle Columnists
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Luchie San Luis Quemuel: Her reflections of God’s gilded miracles in her life
“MAY you have all that you need, because the sharing of gifts is our exercise of security in the abundance the Almighty gives us constantly. May you constantly find reasons…
Appetite regulators
What triggers hunger and satiety? The urge to eat (hungry or not) is, to a large extent, controlled and regulated by hormones in our body. And these hormones fluctuate depending…
Thank God for the chance to rewrite our own story
“A useless life is an early death.” —Goethe There are countless things to be grateful for this year. If we are blessed with a grateful heart, we will see beauty…
Sitting in the chair of privilege
“Life is a battle – you must enter into it fully, and do what needs to be done. You cannot shrink from your duty. Life presents difficult, sometimes horrendous situations,…
Gifts this Christmas
THE holiday spirit comes to us wrapped, not in tissues and ribbons, but in cherished events of ceremony, celebration and connections, and parties that constellate about the holiday seasons. Guests…
“Mary Christmas”
THERE wouldn’t Christmas without Mary. There wouldn’t be Christmas without her fiat—her absolute “yes” to be the Mother of God so that Jesus, the Son of God, would be…
Food contamination
Holidays are upon us once again and food abound everywhere we go. This is also the season where gastroenteritis from food contamination is more common, especially from unprotected, unrefrigerated food…
Christ is the reason for every season
“No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, may 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of…
Fixing the energies in your home (Part I of II)
AFTER talking about negative energies/entities and how to protect against them, let us now move towards clearing our own homes. The home is where we stay, eat, sleep and spend…
Dr. Erlinda Grey on the human splendor of medicine
THIS piece began as an act of friendship. It was conversation-interview supposed to draw a portrait of Dr. Linda Grey without physical features. Everyone knows this already: to describe…
Jose Antonio Vargas: From Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist to an American author and immigration reform advocate
“My mother wanted to give me a better life, so she sent me thousands of miles away to live with her parents in America — my grandfather (Lolo in Tagalog)…
Travelogue: (FIRST of 4 parts) Discovering the less known gems of Croatia, Slovenia, and Montenegro
STEPPING outside of our shell to be free from the monotonous grind allows us to enhance our lives, stimulate our dormant mind, and enables us to welcome unfamiliar faces and…
Aging: An equalizer
Last February 28, 2018, my wife, Farida, and I arrived at the Los Angeles International Airport from Manila, following our two medical missions in the Philippines. While waiting at the…
Taking the time to just be this Christmas
“…Lose the remote control. Break free of your electronic leashes for a little while. Take the time to just be yourself…” IT’S that time of year again. And every year, whether we like…
10 tips to celebrate Advent and Christmas
ADVENT is a time of waiting for the celebration of Christmas to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ. And as I wrote last week, it’s also a time of waiting…
Pete and Baby Cruz: Together in ‘business and pleasure’
IF I could name a few people who I look up to in terms of how they live their lives, I’d probably include this couple I have known for 10…
The melancholia of a 107-year-old lady
I sympathize with her lonely soul. She ruminates. She dreams. She remembers. The true essential self is ageless, even if the body and its surroundings wail that you’re old. She…
Olivia Quido-Co’s journey of humility
“’BRING the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw…
A note of gratitude
I would like to thank everyone who came, and those who supported the recently concluded Beautiful Life Celebration 2018 last October 6th at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, California. The show’s amazing performances and…
Depression and suicide
Depression is a most significant risk factor in suicide. In today’s busy, impatient, materialistic, and fast-paced society, people are subjected to various stressors in life everyday. Encumbered by their personal…
A Christmas Story: The Innkeeper’s Untold Tale
“As he told the story of that wondrous night to Luke, Joshua carefully removed himself from the narrative. It was to be between him and God alone” JOSHUA was excited…
Advent: An invitation to a deeper communion with God
it’s Advent season — a period of preparation for two “comings”! First, we’re preparing for the coming of Christmas, the celebration of God becoming incarnate in His Son, Jesus Christ….
Understanding spirits (Part II of II)
AFTER identifying the types of spirits and why they manifest, now let us learn how to protect ourselves properly from energies we can’t see. But before we learn the basics…
A note of gratitude
I would like to thank everyone who came, and those who supported the recently concluded Beautiful Life Celebration 2018 last October 6th at the Quiet Cannon in Montebello, California. The show’s amazing performances and…
Immigrants are pieces of American history
“Once you know the truth, you can’t ever go back and pick up your suitcase of lies. Heavier or not, the truth is yours now.” — Sue Monk Kidd Desirree…
Abortion vs. holocaust
The 6 million Jews killed during the holocaust, genocide perpetrated by Nazi Germany (17 million total if the other exterminations are considered as a part of Hitler’s “The Final Solution,”…
Two magical words (Conclusion of 2 parts)
“Gratitude is the memory of the heart.” –Jean Baptiste Massieu (Continued from last week’s issue…) So okay, your partner is the consummate slob and you have to pick up after him….
Zion’s gleaming yellow cottonwoods on Veterans Day: Light of unspeakable richness
“Never shall I forget my baptism in the font. It happened in January, a resurrection day for many a plant and for me I suddenly…. overflowed with light…Light of unspeakable…
The spirit of boxing has no one definition
BOXING is real life, but perhaps a little bigger and a little gaudier than the movies or strict fact. All the literary themes of money, power and sex get…