My Own Daily Reminder

When you open my cell phone, the frst word that you will see pop-up on my
greeting screen is "BELIEVE". I have had that word taced up onto my computer
screen, my vanity mirror, my !ournal - almost anywhere that I can see it. "owever, I
have never really taen what that word means to heart. #his a$ternoon, I now what
it is lie to %elieve.
& $ew days ago, I got hold o$ the 'V' o$ #he (ecret. I had already read the %oo
some time ago, and I wanted to watch the flm. I decided to tae #he (ecret)s
message to heart.
Each morning, I had %een waing up and dreading going to wor - the company I
wor $or has a very stress$ul environment, and %eing there taes a lot out o$ me.
'espite this, I would tell mysel$ and really $eel that I was e*cited to go to wor, that
it was going to %e a good day, that only good things were coming my way. 'oing
this helped me. I would get through my days tired, %ut still a%le to laugh and $eel
less stressed. I also developed a more compassionate view o$ the people in our
o+ce who made our lives hard. I started seeing them not as monsters, %ut as
people who hurt inside lie we do. I was happy with this result - it made me $eel
more serene and calm and less stressed. It also started maing me more productive
at wor, as I no longer let the tense atmosphere a,ect me. But I was in $or a little
surprise. #he -niverse wanted to show me !ust how this process wors. .-/
Each 0hristmas season, (tar%ucs gives out daily planners to its loyal customers.
#he planners are usually covered in real leather and are 1uite striing and stylish. #o
get one, you have to fll up a small card with 23 sticers - each sticer represents
one cup o$ co,ee %ought in (tar%ucs. In our country, a cup o$ (tar%ucs co,ee
costs an average o$ 4hilippine 4eso 567.77 - a%out the cost o$ one lunch and
transportation to and $rom wor. In a country where wages aren)t that high, this is
1uite a lu*ury, and although I get paid a %it more than the average worer, this is a
%it much $or someone who has a $amily lie me. I have tried $or three years to get
the sticers re1uired, %ut each year I stop a%out midway when I start computing the
cost8 #his year, when they started the annual promo, I got a card and wondered i$ I
could fll it up with the re1uired sticers. I had wored my way into getting 59
sticers onto the card - no mean $eat considering that I started collecting the
sticers the day the promo started, or almost two months ago8 I had scrimped and
saved to get at least two sticers a wee - sometimes three i$ I had a little e*tra le$t
over. I wanted to get that planner %e$ore 0hristmas - my gi$t to mysel$.
With only fve days le$t till 0hristmas, I wasn)t sure that I could fll up the card. I was
%eginning to thin this was going to %e one o$ those years when I)d !ust watch other
people lug the (tar%ucs planner around and wish I had one. #his morning, as I was
taing a shower and !ust en!oying the water splashing on my $ace, I told mysel$ I
was getting that (tar%ucs planner #:'&;. I didn)t really now how since I still had <
sticers to fll up. When I got up $rom my des to get my co,ee a$ter lunch, I told my
sta, I was going to get my (tar%ucs planner. &ll the while I was thining. "=ow,
how is that possi%le> I can)t a,ord to %uy < cups o$ co,ee today."
&s I stood in line, I ept staring at the planner displayed on the counter. I could $eel
the leather cover %etween my fngers and I could imagine writing on its sepia
colored pages. &ll o$ a sudden I heard the %arista as the girls ahead o$ me i$ they
wanted to give me their sticers, since they already had their planners and didn)t
want their sticers anymore. #he girls said ;E(. I almost !umped - I had three $ree
sticers, plus the one $or the co,ee I was getting made $our, which meant that I only
needed two more to get the planner. &t that point, I was already sooooo than$ul
and I e*pressed my thans to the three young girls who graciously gave me their
sticers. ?#hey were my three magi -- only in $emale $orm, don)t you thin>/
But that wasn)t the end o$ it. It so happened that as part o$ (tar%ucs @anila)s 57th
year anniversary, they were giving away dou%le sticers %etween the hours o$ 52.A7
noon and 2.A7 p.m. till 'ecem%er 26. It was 5.77 p.m. so I was getting dou%le
sticers8888 #hat meant I was getting (IB sticers in all - the num%er I needed to get
my planner88888 I waled out o$ the shop with my planner in the %rown (tar%ucs
%ag, still in shoc, %ut convinced that I had tapped into the (ecret.. even i$ it was
!ust $or a short moment.
I instantly new why I ept the word BELIEVE taced in all those places. #he (ecret
had %een trying to get to me all these years through that word - I !ust wasn)t really
listening.
I have my planner on my des now. #he leather cover $eels !ust as it did when I was
imagining how it would $eel when I touched it. I have told my co-worers how I got it
- I told them I simply %elieved I was going to get it and I did.
#his planner will %e with me all through ne*t year. It will %e my daily reminder to
BELIEVE.
?&nd oh - I)m already seeing the 277C planner on a %igger des in a corner o+ce
with a view8/
(DB
#he 4hillipines