Ern Ynion

Life and Business Strategist

Category: Purpose

Health versus Economy

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The human mind has three states: the reasonable mind, the emotional mind and the wise mind.

The reasonable part of our mind is where we use our logic and opinion.  We focus on what is right and what is wrong.  We use facts and details but it doesn’t consider other human qualities.  I worked many years as a corporate guy and I have met several people who are stuck with a job they don’t like.  The common reason they don’t leave is because their job allows them to put food on the table and meet their other basic needs.  It is logical and it is right.

The emotional part of our mind is the voice of the emotions we are feeling.  Our feelings can be happy, sad, fear, doubts, angry, fatigue, lonely, etc.  People who act based on their emotions are very easy to read because they tend to process less mentally the situation.  We need to veer away from making decisions when we are emotional because emotions are inconsistent and do not consider facts.  Today you can be bubble, tomorrow you can be sad and melancholic.  That is why you will see people who are emotional driven are unreliable and impulsive.  Many of my blunders in life were a result of impulses and pure feelings.

The wise mind is the balance between the reasonable and the emotional mind.  You are wise when you consider the feelings yet you are able to consider also the rational aspect.  The wise mind focuses on truth, understanding and objective.  These are people who are reflective and insightful.

We are in a precarious situation.  Ever since COVID19 hit us, there is this constant debate between health versus economy.  Many look at this issue as Life versus Money.  Some even go to the extent of quoting the most misquoted verse in the Bible which is the ‘money is the root of all evil’.  In this perspective, the issue becomes Good (Life) versus Evil (Money). To tackle this issue using this pattern of thinking is a recipe for disaster.

The wise way of tackling this issue is:

One, you need to get the facts straight.

First, money is not the root of all evil.  The LOVE of money is the root of all evil.

Second, health doesn’t pertain to just physical health. It also include mental, emotional and spiritual.  To be very specific, COVID19 is supposedly just a physical health crisis.

Third, economy is not just about money,  Economy creates jobs, jobs that allow people to put food on the table, to bring their children to schools, to buy things for their loved ones.  Isn’t it that is what life is all about?  We often times equate work or economy with money, which is wrong.  Work or Money is not life, but it is an enabler.

If you consider these facts, it is unwise to even consider looking at this issue as Health versus Economy.

The problem for us now is everyone is looking at the increasing number of cases of COVID19.  No one is keeping tabs on the number of people who are suffering from depression, anxiety and other mental and emotional health concerns.

Two, I understand the plea of the doctors and medical frontliners.  What we need to understand also is everyone is exhausted. Everyone is hurting.  Thousands of companies have already closed.  Millions are unemployed and increasing.    Millions of families are or about to be displaced because they don’t have money to pay for rent or pay for their mortgage.  We have to consider also the pain of these people.  To send people into lockdown, prevent them from working and give them nothing to eat is murder.

Three, If we could have defined this problem properly, we could have managed this and isolated this problem as just a Public Physical health Crisis.

We did not use our wise mind and dragged our economy with this issue.

Looking in hindsight, was it even possible to deal and manage this crisis in isolation and not drag our economy with it?  I believe it was possible.  The problem was, we did not even care to consider it as a possibility.  We just acted on impulse and followed other countries.  Countries that are different and have more resources than us.

I believe in the Philippines that someday it will rise as a nation with character.  We just need to elect more wise people to lead us.

(Photo credit:  aa.com.tr)

Careful not fearful

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With 16.6% of the population living below poverty line, with more businesses closing down, with more Filipinos losing their jobs, with increasing foreign debt – how much really can our economy hold on before it collapses?
Paranoia has a cost. We cannot compare our country with other countries that implemented total lockdown for months. They have vast resources and their economy can take the hit. Ours cannot. A rich man can afford to shut himself down from the world and hibernate in the woods for years, but an ordinary laborer with mouths to feed cannot.
It is not a choice between public health and economy. Both are important. Both have the same focus – human life. It is catastrophic to choose one over the other. Media has focused so much about this virus to the point that many people are now living in fear in spite of the precautionary measures that have been handed down.
We have to take responsibility to help our country fight this virus AND our economy recover. We just need to be careful, just follow the guidelines, don’t be reckless in going out… but we need to go back to work. We need to help our economy start running again. Help the businesses recover because behind those businesses are people with families.
Everyone has been affected by this crisis. The poor, the middle class, the rich, fresh graduates, those in retirement, business owners, employees, Catholics, Muslims, pagans… everyone. Everyone is struggling. Everyone is in pain. Now is the time, more than ever, to think and care for other people’s lives not just yours. Life will have no meaning if after all this, you are the only one who survived.

The Parable of the Sower

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In Mark 4:3-9, Jesus gave us the parable of the sower.  The story goes that a sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

We all want to be the good soil.  So the question is how.

When you receive a package from the courier guy, you don’t criticize how he looks or even the wrapper.  The courier guy probably must be all drenched in sweat and the package may look dirty because of the handling.  But we don’t really care about how the courier guy looks or the how the package is wrapped. We know that he is just a messenger and he is there to deliver the message.  What we are interested in is what is inside the package.  So what do we do?  We accept the package, open it up, and use it.

In contrast, when we attend Mass, we sometimes criticize the priest, the choir or even the church itself.  Granting that there are priests who deliver great sermons and others do not, they are all messengers.  What is important is the Word of God.  We listen, we absorb it or learn from it and then we make it part of our life.

Priests are not the only ones who are the messengers of the Good News.  You and I can carry them (that is why we are called disciples).  The Good News is often wrapped in deeds, stories or simple conversations.  They are often not referenced to a particular verse in the Bible.  The stories may not be told to your liking but nevertheless, the message is there.  This is where the difference lies whether you represent the rocky ground, the thorns or the good soil.  It is how we discern the events that we see and hear.

I remember my nephew Geosch when he was 6 years old was asked how he defines happiness.  He said,”doing the things you love with the ones you love.”  It is one of the most profound statements I’ve ever heard and several times I used it in making critical decisions.  And I got it from a 6 year old kid.

When President Duterte delivers his midnight advisories, usually he makes many side comments.  And many times these side comments become the focal point of discussions in social media.  Then people ridicule him.  People mock him.  He doesn’t deserve it.  It is like mocking the courier guy for how sweaty he is.  It’s cruel.  I understand it is easy to be caught up by the noise of self-righteousness.  But can we just forgive the man of his imperfections and focus on the main message?

The Word of God is everywhere.  Let us humble ourselves and be open in receiving it and applying it to our life.  Let us not blame the messenger for how it is delivered or focus on the dirty wrapper.  Let us keep our eyes glued to the message.  Seek for the Word of God.  Everyday.

 

(Photo by Jun Ynion)

Built-in Regulation Mechanism: Part 1

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Life is like a buffet, it is abundant.  If you have been to a buffet, no matter how plenty and limitless the food is, you can only eat so much.  Our stomach can only digest so much.  It varies of course between people.  When you have eaten enough, your body will tell you to stop.  You will probably experience tightness in your stomach, shortness of breath, nausea or even dizziness. When you experience this, it is actually too late.  When your body experiences threshold level, it sends signals to your brain to stop.  Your brain takes time to respond.  The lag, which is the equivalent to the excess food that you’ve taken, can lead to high blood, hypertension or even heart attack.

I believe God designed life to be abundant for us to enjoy it.  But He also placed a built-in regulation mechanism everywhere to maintain balance.  Maintaining balance is elusive but should never be ignored when we look at the world in general and in human life.

The World

God made the plants, birds, insects, wild animals, hills, valleys, air and human beings and placed them in one planet to coexist.  In Genesis 2: 15,

Then the LORD God took the man and placed him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

The story of the Fall of Man tells us about our greed.  There are probably a million trees in the Garden of Eden, A MILLION TREES, yet we still ate the fruit of that one tree, ONE TREE, God forbade us.  Look at what we are doing now.  There are literally thousands of varieties of plants and fruits that we can eat.  There are tons of fish and rice that we can make.  Yet there are people who eat cockroaches, snakes, monkeys and bats.  This virus that is currently rampaging the whole world came from bats.  God made bats look scary and hid them in the darkest corners of the world to tell us – YOU SHOULD NOT EAT THEM.  Yet we ate them.  So now this is what is happening, “for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

This is the built-in regulation mechanism of the world in action and we are paying the price for it.

Bullying is a hot topic nowadays in school.  As the dominant species in this planet, we are acting like bullies.  Not because we are more intelligent and higher in intuition doesn’t give us the right to impose our will to everything in this world.  We separate the baby cows from their mothers the moment they are born and put them in cages, disregarding the cry of the mother without remorse.  We pollute the air to create toys for our enjoyment.  We destroy forests and cut the trees that serve as homes of several species of birds, to make our coffee table.  The thing that bothers me is that we are all part of this.  Human beings have built systems that integrate this inhumane and disrespectful acts.

If we don’t clean up our acts together, the world will always self regulate and the price could be greater.

It is our greed that is killing us.  This pandemic is telling us that the world can exist without us humans and grimly it seems it is better off without us.  As the dominant species, we need to be RESPONSIBLE in taking care of this planet. There are currently 7.5 billion people in the world.  The population is increasing at an alarming rate of 7 to 8% per year.  The emphasis on nurturing essential skills like respect, responsibility, and self-control has never been more urgent than this time.

Fortunately, there is still time.  We still have our chance to make this right and to be better stewards of the world.

(Part 2 soon.)

 

 

 

Who are we

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One of Etan’s favorite this lockdown period aside from dinosaurs and insects is Moana.  He particularly loves Maui singing You’re Welcome and Tamatoa’s Shiny.  He would play those clips over and over again while dancing on the couch.  Etan is my four year son and he has the potential to be a great performer.

Moana is a lovely movie and it is a perfect reminder to all of us.  The people of Motonui had a decent life in an island until their fruits and plants started to decay brought about by a terrible curse incurred by a Demigod Maui.  The Chief didn’t know what to do and the people were scared.  Moana’s grandma suggested to look for Maui, take him aboard the boat, sail across the ocean and restore the heart of Te fiti.  Moana responded to Gradma’s call and sailed beyond the reef to look for Maui.  With the ocean’s help, she finally found Maui but they came up short and were beaten by the lava monster named Te Ka.  When Maui gave up because his magic hook was broken, Moana took upon herself to make things right and she was able to restore the heart of Te fiti.

Life is filled with barriers that make us afraid to venture beyond the reef.  Life within the barricade can be decent.  There is food, some shelter and wifi.  The world labeled this as a simple life and that we should remain contented.  We don’t need to go beyond the reef because everything we need is right here in this island.

This crisis taught us how vulnerable we are.  A simple curse brought by the irresponsibility of some folks in Wuhan is taking a toll on our ‘simple life’.  We have been removed from our normal life for three weeks now and it is threatening our health, both mental and physical.  We dream of a demigod to save us and when there is no food left, we become monsters destroying and killing everything we could get our hands on.

This crisis is telling us that life within the barricade is decent but debilitating.  It is debilitating because it makes you forget who you are.  We don’t live just to eat, breath and put some shelter above our head.  We live because we need to give love.  We love less because we are afraid.  To overcome fear all we need is to restore our heart.  We don’t need a demigod to restore it, you and I are capable of doing it ourselves.

We need to remember who you are.  And who are we?  This poem by Marianne Williamson best describes who we are.

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

 

 

Dinotrux or D-Structs

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Dinotrux is an animated series in Netflix set at a prehistoric world inhabited by hybrid characters that are part dinosaur and part mechanical construction vehicle.  The story revolves around two leaders – Ty, a red Tyrannosaurus Trux, is the leader of the Dinotrux, and the evil Tyrannosaurus Trux named D-Structs.  Ty and his team focus on working together and building up structures that improve their living conditions while D-Structs destroys and wants the whole crater for himself.   My son Etan loves this series.  His collection of die cast Dinotrux characters is almost complete.

I believe in life there are just two sides: whether you are building or you are destructing.  In social media, you can see a lot of bashing, cursing, blaming and tearing people down.  At the same time, there are also people posting inspiring quotes, uplifting stories of hope and love.

When people bash, curse or blame, I hope people would think first and ask ‘What is it that I really want?’  And also ‘What do I want to happen for this person?’  Sometimes we are quick to say what we don’t want.  Maybe it is time to self reflect and know what do we want.

Bashing, cursing and blaming are cognitive distortions.  We bash because we think we are right and people are wrong.  Our belief, our religion, we believe is the only one and the rest are flawed.  We filter quickly based on our beliefs without understanding other beliefs. And your beliefs form your reality.  We bash because our reality is threatened.  We insist that what is real for us should remain real.  What we need to do is to open our mind and understand more.  Life is not about being right or wrong. It is just your ego that is telling you that you should be right always.

We curse because we believe life should be fair.  We believe that bad people should be punished and good people should be rewarded.  But the reality is life is unfair.  We have a merciful God.  Storms, typhoons wash away people without any regard whether they are robbers or priests.  Bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people.  Life is really unfair.  But then, why do we need it to be fair?  Let’s think about it.

We blame because we don’t want to take responsibility.  We don’t see ourselves part of one nation.  We’d rather sit on the sidewalk and tell our government how stupid they are, how our President speaks so lousy, everything about our government is wrong – except us.  We need to start owning up to our problems.  Stop blaming our government, your parents, your neighbor for your miseries.  You are poor, miserable and bitter because that is how you reacted to the things that happened to you.  Blaming is disempowering.  It disempowers you.  You are denying yourself the power to change.  And because you denied yourself, you stagnate.

Life is about love.  In the end, the only question we need to answer is ‘ how much love did we give?’  Building people up is love.  Telling people ‘kaya mo yan‘ is love.  Forgiving is love.  Understanding people is love.  Taking responsibility is love.  Spreading inspiring messages is love.  Every word we utter, every thought we cultivate, every act we do,  everyday, every moment is an opportunity to love.

The next time you post on social media or talk to anyone, don’t be D-Structs that tear people down but be Ty, the loving Dinotrux that builds people up.

The Little Things

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I just came from an online supporters night with Bro. Bo and Marowe Sanchez and the topic was about the secret of little things that make your marriage great.

Inspired by that conversation, here is my top 5 list of the little things I do to express my love to my wife Weng.

1. I hold my hunger to have breakfast with her

I am an early riser. I normally wake up at around 4:30 in the morning. I would usually go down to my office and start my day. My wife normally wakes up at 7AM. By the time she goes down to have breakfast, it would be around 7:30AM and I would be very hungry. Over the years I have managed my hunger because the pleasure of having breakfast with my lovely wife always outweigh whatever pain I feel in my stomach.

2. I drive her to work

Every Tuesday and Saturday, my wife goes to Manila to see her students at Trails. That is roughly around 20 kilometers from our house in Laguna. My wife is not really fond of driving and neither do I. But knowing that it would be a long day for her, I would always drop whatever I’m doing just to drive her to work. Sometimes it is a big effort on my part, especially during Saturdays. You see every Saturday early morning, it is my time to play basketball with my neighbors. But no matter how enjoyable it is to play basketball, I still choose to serve my wife.

3. I drop her off the entrance of a mall

When we go a mall or watch a movie, I usually drop her off on the mall entrance before driving the car to the parking lot. I do this so that she doesn’t have to walk far. If I know what she needs to do or buy in the mall, I would drop her off on the nearest entrance to where that store is.

4. I say I love you to her when I wake up in the morning and before I go to sleep

Saying I love you everyday is like renewing my vow every single day. Words are powerful. There are time that I don’t feel like saying it, but when I do, it changes my perspective and it reminds me that whatever differences we may have, love wins.

5. I take the smaller or lesser part

Every time we eat and there are two pieces left on the serving plate, I take the smaller or lesser part. If there are 2 hard boiled eggs left, I would get the imperfect one (the one whose white flesh was also taken when they removed the shell), if there are 2 fried chickens, I would get the neck or the smaller insignificant piece, Even in gadgets, my wife gets to use the latest gadget first.

My wife and I have been subscribers of a telco for many years and usually we get the new phone that comes along with our lock in contract every 2 years. Mid last year, both of us were using iPhone 6 but I was already due for a new one while her contract would end this year May. My phone had only 16gb of storage so it was already occasionally failing and slow. When we went to the telco store and inquired about my contract, the telco staff told me that I was eligible for an iPhone 8 plus with 64GB capacity. What an upgrade! So I renewed my contract and got the new phone. When we arrived home, I gave it to my wife. She goes first.

So there you go my top 5 little things I do for my wife.

How about you? What are your 5 little things that you do to your spouse, or fiance or partner?

(Follow Bro. Bo Sanchez’s Fulltank and become a supporter. It will only cost you a fraction but the benefit you will get is priceless.)

The Four Thieves of Happiness : Fulfillment and Happiness Part 2

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I was an unhappy child. God gave me a lot of blessings and yet I was unhappy. I was unhappy because I allowed the four (4) thieves to steal my happiness away. Who are these four thieves and why should you guard yourself against them?

The are four thieves of happiness are:

Compare.

Life is not supposed to be weighed in terms of having material wealth, talent or the resources we have. It will not always be equal. There will always be people richer than you, more athletic than you, and more good looking than you. When you compare, you will soon find yourself not appreciating the blessings that you have. Then you plunge your way to misery as nothing is going to be better for you.

Don’t be caught by peer pressure. Always remember each one has his own story. When you see your peers having a great life because you see them able to buy the latest gadgets and constantly out on travel, don’t panic and start hating your family because instead of buying the latest iPhone, you are obligated to pay your little sister’s tuition fee.

Don’t be caught up by the standards of the world. You need to look at life in terms of purpose. If you are helping your parents get your other siblings finish college, you are receiving the gift of responsibility at an early age and what a blessing that is.

Compete.

The second thief is competing. Competition should exist only in the Olympics and when you are playing a game. Other than that, don’t compete. The problem with competing is it moves your focus to your competition, not on delighting your customers or your family. Keeping up with the Joneses is a familiar phrase. When your neighbor buys a new car, even if you don’t have a budget for it, you will also buy a new car and sometimes you will buy the higher model. Think about it and how egoistic it can get. When you have this mentality, you are allowing your competition or other people dictate your path in life.

Complain.

All of us are capable of dreaming. What God did was to give us the tools to reach our dreams. God did not give us the fruit, He gave us the seeds, water, soil and the ability to grow the plant so that eventually there is abundant harvest. Most of the time, we are impatient with the process and we don’t see these tools. They are right under our noses. We just don’t see them because we are busy looking for something that is lacking. We also complain why the process is slow. A well-known chef once said, ‘Good cooking takes time. If you are made to wait, it is to serve you better, and to please you.’

Criticize.

I urge you to always see the glass half full. In an article in Forbes, research has found that seeing the glass half full not only makes you happier, it also makes you healthier and wealthier. When you see life that way, you expect good things to happen.

Train your mind to start looking what is good about people or the situation. When I play basketball and my shots are not going in, I would tell myself, well I can still play defense or at the very least I was able to break a sweat.

No matter how bleak the situation can become, believe that God has a bigger plan.

Those are the four thieves of happiness. Guard yourself against them. Some of them maybe living in you as a permanent resident, it is time to evict them.

(To be continued. Please leave your comments below. If you like this blog, please share to your friends.)

Drop the Rope

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In the movie the Dark Knight Rises, Batman loses to Bane in a fight and was heavily wounded. Instead of killing him, Bane put him in the pit for Bruce to witness the fall of Gotham. While in the pit, he trained to get back in shape even with a broken spine. He was able to get his shape back but getting out of the pit was another story. Bruce had to climb the wall, some hundred feet high and then after reaching the ledge, the only way to go out is for him to make that leap of faith. After several attempts, he finally was able to go over the ledge en route to his freedom. Before leaving the scene, he dropped a rope so that others can easily climb out of the pit.

That gesture of dropping the rope is the meaning of life.

Every time you switch on the light, take medicine when you are sick, get the information by simplying clicking a button, and all other luxuries that we enjoy today, we need to remember that somebody came out of the pit and dropped the rope.

It doesn’t have to be like conquering a major feat before you drop the rope. It can be small but frequent. For three years I worked as a consultant in Makati and every time I go there I drove a van. In going home I made sure I had hitchers with me who also lived in the south. Every time I had my hitchers, I had to drop them off to a nearby mall. It was a little out of my way, ten minutes off my time, but it saved an hour and half to each of my hitchers giving them more time with their family.

Now think for a moment. What if Bruce Wayne upon reaching and coming out of the pit did not drop the rope? That would be so selfish right. I mean for us movie watchers we would probably say, how could he? For heaven’s sake he is Bruce Wayne, the richest man in Gotham. He is a super hero. How could he not think of the people down there who in a way helped him also get out of the pit?

Often times we are like that selfish version of Bruce Wayne. Every time we turn our backs to needy people, look down to the underprivileged, we assume that ungodly version of Batman.

I believe we are all super heroes, capable of helping people get out of their pit. You don’t have to be a mutant, born from a different planet or bitten by a radioactive bug. All you have to do is to reach out to your core being and start living your true purpose. We need to be better at helping people. This is the essence of living. No matter what state you are in, you are a super hero. You are a child of God. Start using your powers by bringing people up. Use encouraging words instead of harsh and demeaning statements. Smile more often instead of showing a face that summarizes how difficult life is to you. Share kindness and love instead of sharing scandalous videos that sparks hatred and resentment. Think more about the person beside you instead of what clothes you need to wear for the prom night.

Do these small acts that seemingly don’t mean a thing and you will be surprised how your life will have more meaning.

Eat My Flesh

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I am a big fan of Michael Jordan. I watched hundreds of Bulls games in the 90s and even taking a leave at work just to watch the Finals. I watched all his documentary films, read books about him and copied some of his moves especially the turnaround fadeaway jump shot that I perfected. Swish! Nothing but net. So when I step into the basketball court, I think and act like Michael Jordan. My game tremendously improved when I started copying his moves. In terms of basketball, I ate Michael Jordan.

In living, you need to be careful on what you eat because you become what you eat.

Physically, if you eat junk food, processed food, and lechon regularly then you become unhealthy, overweight and susceptible to all sorts of diseases. But if you take care of your body and eat the right food, then you become healthy and strong.

Mentally, what type of thoughts do you entertain? What books do you read? What films do you watch? Who are the people whom you listen to? Take note of these things. If you watch trash news, pornographic films or tambay ka sa kalye (you watch the world go by along the side street), then you are essentially feeding your mind with trash, vices or just plain nothing if you are tambay sa kalye. Our mind is like a computer (well computers were patterned after the mind) – garbage in garbage out. Check your actions, how do you respond to this and that, and check the words that come out of your mouth. Reaction is an inside job.

Spiritually, what are your beliefs? Do you believe in God or do you see yourself as the center of the universe?

When Jesus said, “He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me and I in him”, Jesus was inviting us to follow Him and to be like Him because whoever do so will have eternal life. This is the symbolic meaning of the Eucharistic communion that we feed on Jesus allowing Him to penetrate into our lives.

Fr. Domie Guzman said it best, “The perfection of Christian life is to be another Christ.”

I have been following Jesus more intently for the past five years now and I must say that my life has become infinitely better.

People are always looking for answers. Everyday, we look for answers to improve our finances, to mend a broken heart, or to fix a relationship. Kung saan saan tayo tumitingin ng sagot (We look for answers elsewhere) wherein the only answer to our problems is to follow Jesus.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. I must admit that I never understood this passage before. Now I know and I am a living witness to His awesome glory.

If you are not yet a follower of Christ, I invite you to be one. Following Christ takes time. Following Him doesn’t even promise that you will have lesser problems or lesser stress. But you will experience enlightenment. Your perspective will widen and you become better in handling problems and stress. In following Him, there will be times you have doubts and entertain giving up. When this happens, just be comforted by the thought that you are following the right Way.