I am not a hardcore bookworm but once in a while I like reading. I enjoy reading fiction and motivational books because it brings my mind somewhere happy, safe and exciting. In my recent visit back home, I found 2 books in an old shelf written by Bo Sanchez, the first one is Your Past Does Not Define Your Future and the second is How to Conquer Your Goliaths. I can’t clearly recall if I bought these books or someone gave it to me. Anyway, these books helped me to pursue my dreams, make peace with myself, forgive challenging people and most importantly, nourish my relationship with God. I was young and very energetic. However, I was angry and borderline dramatic. Well, the “emo” culture was popular that time. More than a decade ago, I still have hair – I had that long bangs that covers one side of the face and I also did the faux hawk style. I was addicted to negativity like I carried the entire world everyday. I believe that I’ve changed. I matured. I lost my hair but I am glad that I am still the most handsome man in the eyes of my wife. *lol* I brought the books with me when I came back here in the UK and read them again. I realised that I forgot most of the stuff I learned from both books. Lessons that taught me that it is okay to fail, to let go of the past, to accept that things are changing, to appreciate the natural process of healing and the concept of forgiving people and to know that we are loved and guided by God every second of each day. The book Your Past Does not Define Your Future really aided my journey towards healing from old wounds, which I thought was big deal that time. However, we are not immune to have new experiences that will eventually create fresh wounds. It can be bigger or smaller than what we had in the past. One thing for sure, God won’t leave even after we are healed. I personally like how Bo shared the story in Chapter 10 about a woman suffering from psychosis who developed catatonia and grew old in the mental institution. Everybody gave up on her treatment except for the janitor. After the janitor’s work, he would sit beside the lady and together, they’d stare at the wall for 30 minutes. After six months, the woman talked and she was healed. On the other hand, How to Conquer Your Goliaths inspired me to redirect my life and find what success really meant for me. It encouraged me to find my passion and work on it. As I reflected back, I must have redefined my definition of a champion or a successful person several times. Unfortunately, pleasing other people is the poorest metric I used to define my success. I was a sucker for validation. Reading the book once again reminded me that the only one we need to please is God. No one else. Moreover, Bo shared the 7 Keys of a Champion’s Life and they are the following: (1) Follow your Dream with Passion (2) Focus on your Core Gift (3) Believe in yourself when Others Don’t (4) Build Your Team (5) Take Action (6) Fail Forward (7) Shine your Light. He said that these are the principles David used to conquer Goliath. I won’t discuss them one by one. You have to read the book to check David’s strategies. My favourite key principle is number two – to focus on my core gift. My gut tells me that I need to work again on my God-given talents to conquer my own personal Goliath. At the moment, I am just happy that I am putting blood flow in my paralysed confidence. In a different view, Bo’s 7 principles to be a champion made me think about the words shared by Lolo Demet, my grandfather. Now, let’s look at the 6 D’s of Life – A formula for success.

My Grandfather said,”If you have a DREAM, make it a DESIRE with DRIVE and DETERMINATION. DISCIPLINE yourself and you will eventually reach your DESTINY.”

Lolo loved to talk and he shared his life experiences and insights about a lot of stuff. I think he won’t mind if I’m adding another “D” in his quote. This is to remind myself to bravely face challenges eventhough it is as big as Goliath. It goes like this,“If you have a dream, make it a desire with drive and determination. Discipline yourself. FIGHT LIKE DAVID and you eventually reach your destiny.”   By and large, if you are reading this blog until this point (thank you), I recommend you to read the books. I assure that it will help you emancipate from your enslaving habits, heal you from your past troubles and transform your life into success. To anyone experiencing difficulties right now, I pray that you heal and find the strength in God to be a champion.

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! pick your mat and walk.” -John 5:8