Pacio, Louryn Mitzi A.

12- Saint Mother Teresa

REFLECTION PAPER

“Life is always on the go.” That was what Mr. Manio said in one of our discussions once. I
remember those times when I and my seatmate, Zheandel Manansala made a short
choreography for it. Smiles and laughter were on our faces while we were enthusiastically
dancing it on repeat. And when I finished reading “The Power of The Pause,” (Sanchez, 2019)
the last paragraph caught my attention. It says, “Life will go on. The world will
revolve…harnessing the power of pause is one deliberate choice we must consciously do—to be
totally well in mind, body, and, spirit.” Indeed, from this article, I found deeper essence of what
our Subject Teacher had just told us. I am neither the world nor the life. I can never be always
on the go.

I learned from this article that I also have a pause button within me. In fact, I have more:
Pause, Play, Return/Exit, etc. I have choices. But why choose “Pause?” From this article of Mr.
Bo Sanchez, I extracted three reasons. Firstly, “Pause is the route to learn to mindfulness of
being present in the moment.” Pausing pushes us to look outside the box, out of our vision,
and out of our own path. If we are the kind of person who seeks things in the future which we
are not even certain of, we will never be able to notice the best things that we have in the now.
Thus, contentment will be hard to be achieved. The moral of this is simply to Treasure the
moment. Secondly, “Pause is a way of caring for ourselves.” Why are we on the go, anyway?
Some would say because they have goals (short or long) that they want to achieve. Pausing can
give us time to ask ourselves, “Are you still okay?” If we admit that we are not, and because we
care deeply for ourselves, we will try to find innovative remedies for it. Thirdly, “The power of
pause is to harness our inner composure and ability to accept things as is and find new ways
of doing them.” This will sum up the first and second reason.

Power of the Pause is beneficial to our mind, heart, and body. It is our rest from the heavy
world demanding us with roles and responsibilities. From this rest comes the time for reflection
wherein we think about what we did, re-assess ourselves, remove the unnecessary and accept
by heart the rest. Adjusting will go after which includes seeking for new ideas to apply. Once
we’ve seen the product of it all, the next virtue we have to observe is contentment. These are all
the effects the Power of Pause provides within us; time to rest, reflect, re-assess, remove,
accept, adjust, and be contented.

I use my power of pause, mostly during weekends. I have a line saying, “Weekend’s a weekend.”
So, during Friday night to Saturday to Sunday afternoon, I tend to just forget about all of the
school requirements. I literally, do not mind them at all but I do not disregard them either. I
reward myself for finishing the weekdays for all that happened. I accept everything, scores,
deductions, lessons, and sermons. Because only through acceptance can I really move on and
be contented. I go to the beach to wind up, I pamper myself, dance, go to a friend’s house, and
many more. From this, not only do I go through but also GROW THROUGH THE
EXPERIENCES I did which are new to me and not just school-related. I can expand myself in a
way that I do not think of it as a responsibility but simply a means of appreciating what the on-
going life can offer.

Hitting the Pause is a break we have to take on our way to totality. A checkpoint for ourselves
to see if we are still good to proceed, prepared to go, or otherwise. …harnessing the power of
pause is one deliberate choice we must consciously do—to be totally well in mind, body, and,
spirit.” Indeed, from this article, I found deeper essence of what our Subject Teacher had just
told us. I am neither the world nor the life. I can never be always on the go.

Bibliography

I do not see differences that could just lead us to form groups; groups that would just isolate
us from the others. I give regardless of gender, color, race, status, and the like.

“Being generous is inherent in us, human beings,” said Bo Sanchez (2019). This quote from Mr.
Sanchez can further support my definition about Generosity. If we look within ourselves by
erasing all those terms that just deviate us from others, removing all covers, destroying the
barriers and asked ourselves to define what you just saw in two words, what would it be? My
answer would be ‘Human Being.’ We are all human beings who have dignity. Therefore,
everyone is worthy of receiving from others also of giving to others. No one should be deprived
from doing those just because one is (for example) gay, black, rich, poor, convict, president,
student-leader, or teacher. Rather, we should have each one’s back regardless. Thus, for me,
my definition of generosity is general giving; not choosing whom you give. Simply, it is being a
human to others.

While I was reading the article, the scenarios of me sharing what I have with others, the smiles,
hugs, and kisses, and those expressions of gratitude, especially ‘Thank you and I love you’ all
came in my mind. For that reason, I am proud to say (and I am claiming it) that I am living the
virtue of generosity. I admit, I went through those times when I felt unappreciated and taken
for granted for I thought that those people whom I helped seem not to give back or help me the
same way; they seem to only know me when they need something from me. Why? But then,
when our Subject Teacher in Religious Values Education (RVE) told us not to expect a return
from that very same person I served. It will come back as a blessing from others, I finally
found my answer.

From this article, I delved that God in the ‘others’. Only if I was more appreciative of what I had
been receiving all this time and more open to His provisions from the very start, then I would
have not gone through doubts. But lesson learned, is it not? Giving can bless me many times
more if I open myself and learn to appreciate. I learned that the best way my generosity could
bear its fruits and find its root in Jesus is simply by saying ‘Thank you’ and ‘I love you’ to
others, as well. In other words, be generous. Also, be grateful.

References
Sanchez, B. (2019, August). KERYGMA. The Power of The Pause, 30(352), 33-37.

Sanchez, B. (2019, September). KERYGMA. Make Generosity Your Lifestyle, 30(353), 31-37.

24/09/19