*Dr. Rodolfo John Ortiz Teope, PhD, EdD, DM
There was a time in my life when almost everything seemed to be happening at once. I had work, businesses, consultancies, projects, and different activities. There were multiple sources of income, multiple commitments, and multiple responsibilities. Blessings seemed to be coming from different directions.
It was what we sometimes jokingly call a happy problem.
Kapag maraming pumapasok, minsan ang problema mo ay paano mo paghahatian ang oras mo. Which meeting should you attend? Which project deserves your attention? Which opportunity should you pursue?
Masarap ang ganitong problema.
But life eventually teaches us something very simple:
Hindi araw-araw umuulan ng biyaya.
There are seasons when business is booming and seasons when sales become quiet. There are months when clients keep calling and months when the telephone barely rings. Professionals understand this. A lawyer does not have a new client every morning. A dentist does not always have a waiting room full of patients. An engineer or consultant does not receive a new project every week. A businessman cannot expect every month to outperform the last.
Life moves in cycles.
Sometimes we win. Sometimes we lose. Sometimes we acquire. Sometimes we let go. Sometimes opportunities seem to chase us, and sometimes tayo naman ang kailangang humabol sa opportunity.
Nothing stays permanently on top.
But nothing necessarily stays permanently at the bottom either.
That is life.
And perhaps one of the most important things I have learned is this: we cannot control every season, but we can control much of what we do inside that season.
A couple of years ago, somebody borrowed money from me to finance a KTV bar. I was not an investor in the KTV business itself. I lent money to the person behind it, with the understanding that she would pay me monthly.
For roughly the first year, things went well. The business was earning, and the payments were coming.
Then circumstances changed.
Medyo humina ang negosyo.
Eventually, the KTV bar closed.
Naturally, repayment became more difficult. The business that had been generating the money was no longer there.
But something happened that I appreciated.
She continued paying me.
Maybe not according to the original pace. Maybe not in the same amounts as before. Sometimes little by little.
But she pays.
And I told myself that even if it takes a very long time for her to finish paying me, as long as she continues making a sincere effort to honor her obligation, okay sa akin.
Because that, for me, is integrity.
Madaling tumupad sa pangako kapag maraming pera. Madaling magbayad kapag malakas ang negosyo. Madaling maging honorable kapag maganda ang takbo ng buhay.
The real test of character comes when things are no longer easy.
The business disappeared.
But the obligation did not disappear from her conscience.
That distinction matters.
A person can lose a business without losing integrity. A person can lose income without losing honor. A person can experience financial difficulty without becoming dishonest.
Kahit kaunti, basta nagbabayad. Kahit matagal, basta hindi tumatakbo. Kahit nahihirapan, basta hindi nakakalimot.
Sometimes a small payment made sincerely means more than a large promise repeatedly broken.
To people who continue paying their obligations despite hardship, I sincerely say: God bless you.
Because when somebody lends you money, you are not simply borrowing numbers from a bank account.
May pinanggalingan iyon. Pinaghirapan iyon.
The money I lend represents time, work, sacrifices, risks, and years of trying to build something in life.
Pinaghirapan ko ’yan eh.
Kaya nakakatuwa kapag nababayaran ka.
Not merely because the money returns, but because something more valuable returns with it:
Trust.
Unfortunately, I have experienced the opposite too.
I have lent money to people who did not pay me back.
Masakit.
Sometimes the greater pain is not even the amount. Money can be earned again. Trust is much harder to recover.
You helped because somebody needed help. You believed because somebody gave you his or her word. Then eventually, ikaw pa ang kailangang maningil. Ikaw pa minsan ang nahihiyang mag-follow up.
And sometimes I ask myself:
May rule ba ang universe para sa mga taong hindi nagbabayad ng utang?
I honestly don’t know.
And perhaps I don’t need to know.
Life does not guarantee that everything we lose will somehow be magically returned. Some losses remain losses. There is money we may never recover. There are opportunities that may never return. There are relationships that cannot be restored.
That is reality.
But another reality is equally important:
A loss in one part of life does not prevent an opportunity from emerging somewhere else.
That is what I have experienced.
A business slows down, and another activity becomes productive. An expected income disappears, and an unexpected opportunity arrives. Something does not work according to plan, and another direction suddenly becomes possible.
A project comes. A book sells. A royalty arrives. A professional opportunity appears.
I do not call that a guaranteed law of the universe.
I call it a reason to keep moving.
Because while we are staring at what disappeared, we might fail to notice what is beginning somewhere else.
So I refuse to make resentment my occupation.
If somebody does not pay me, I will remember. I will follow up when necessary. I will learn. I will become wiser.
But I do not need to curse anybody. I do not need to wish poverty or misfortune upon anyone.
Bahala na ang konsensya nila.
Their decisions belong to them. My future belongs to me.
I would rather use my energy building something new than spend the rest of my life calculating what somebody else owes me.
That same philosophy has influenced other decisions in my life.
There have been opportunities for me to return to government service. At one point, I was offered a senior government position at the undersecretary level. I have also been considered for other senior government responsibilities.
I appreciated being considered.
I love public service.
But I declined.
Not because those positions were unimportant. Not because I dislike government work. And certainly not because there is anything wrong with accepting a prestigious position in government.
I simply realized that at this stage of my life, there is something I personally value greatly:
Freedom.
Ayokong matali.
Gusto kong kumilos nang malaya.
I want the freedom to think. The freedom to write. The freedom to agree when I believe something is right and disagree when I believe something is wrong.
A title can give a person authority.
But independence gives a person space.
Once we become part of an administration or political structure, fairly or unfairly, people may begin interpreting our words according to political associations.
I prefer not to be automatically placed inside a political box.
Ayokong may kailangan akong ipagtanggol dahil lamang kasama ako roon. Ayokong may kailangan akong batikusin dahil lamang nasa kabilang panig siya.
If something is good, I want the freedom to say it is good.
If something is wrong, I want the freedom to say it needs improvement.
Regardless of who did it.
This is also why I try to write about issues rather than simply attack individuals.
I do not need to name names merely to make criticism powerful. I do not need to humiliate another human being to demonstrate that something is wrong.
Criticism can educate without becoming cruelty.
Healthy criticism asks: What happened? Why did it happen? What can we learn? How can things be improved?
Because none of us has a monopoly on correctness.
Certainly not me.
I have faults. I have made mistakes. I have trusted the wrong people. I have made decisions that did not produce the results I expected.
And part of integrity is not merely having the courage to identify another person’s mistakes.
Part of integrity is having the courage to recognize our own.
Ganyan ang buhay eh.
We make mistakes. We learn. We adjust. We continue.
And perhaps this is why I protect my mornings.
Every time I open my eyes, I begin the day believing that it carries blessings and possibilities that I have not yet seen.
Maybe somebody will call. Maybe a project will arrive. Maybe an idea will enter my mind. Maybe something I wrote will reach somebody somewhere in the world.
Or perhaps the blessing will be much simpler than that.
Another conversation.
Another person to help.
Another lesson.
Another chance to correct something I did wrong yesterday.
Another opportunity to create.
I woke up.
I have another day.
And therefore, I have another opportunity to do something meaningful.
That is why ayoko ng umaga pa lang, puro negativity na.
Not because I deny problems.
Problems are real. Bills are real. Debts are real. Failures are real. Pain is real.
And there are moments when a person genuinely needs somebody to listen.
If you are my friend and you are hurting, I can listen. If you are struggling and I can help, I will help when I can. Sometimes you may not even have to ask. When we genuinely care about someone, we often notice when something is wrong.
That is friendship.
That is compassion.
That is love.
But there is a difference between sharing a burden and transferring responsibility for that burden to another person.
A friend can help carry you through a difficult moment. A partner can rescue you when you genuinely cannot stand. Family can surround you when life becomes too heavy.
But eventually, whenever we are capable, we also have to participate in our own rescue.
Kailangan din nating kumilos.
Helping someone should not mean permanently taking responsibility for a life that the other person is still capable of managing.
Ang tunay na tulong ay hindi iyong habang-buhay kang bubuhatin.
Ang tunay na tulong ay iyong tutulungan kitang makatayo para makalakad ka ulit.
That is not abandonment.
That is respect.
Because constantly carrying another person’s responsibilities can eventually prevent both people from moving forward.
We can love someone without living his or her life for them.
We can help without surrendering our own destination.
And this principle applies to me as much as anyone else.
When business slows down, I cannot simply wait for somebody to rescue me. When professional engagements become fewer, I cannot spend every morning complaining.
When one opportunity disappears, I have to ask:
What can I do now?
Sometimes having fewer commitments gives us something that being extremely busy cannot give us.
Time.
Time to think.
Time to rediscover ourselves.
Time to return to something we once loved but became too busy to pursue.
For me, that was writing.
I returned to writing because I enjoy it. I write because ideas keep entering my mind. I write because society gives us endless questions worth discussing. And I write because I still want to contribute something to the nation.
Writing was a passion.
Then something unexpected happened.
My passion began paying me back.
Books started selling. Royalties started coming. What began partly as an experiment became another opportunity.
And I realized something I might never have discovered if I had remained endlessly busy:
An idle season can become a creative season, and a creative season can become a productive season.
You begin with nothing but an idea.
An idea becomes a sentence. Sentences become paragraphs. Paragraphs become chapters. Chapters become a book.
Then somewhere in another city or another country, somebody you have never met reads something that once existed only inside your mind.
And sometimes that creation produces income.
Nakakatuwa.
Something I was doing because I loved doing it became another productive part of my life.
Perhaps that opportunity had always existed.
Maybe I was simply too busy before to see it.
Sometimes when one activity slows down, we finally have enough space to discover another ability.
That is why I no longer define abundance purely in terms of money.
Sometimes abundance is income.
Sometimes abundance is time.
Sometimes abundance is knowledge.
Sometimes abundance is freedom.
Sometimes abundance is an idea.
Sometimes abundance is having people we love.
And sometimes abundance is simply waking up to another morning and realizing that another set of blessings has arrived with it.
Not every loss is secretly a blessing. I do not believe we should romanticize pain.
A loss is still a loss.
A failed business still hurts.
Money that is not returned is still money lost.
A disappointment remains a disappointment.
But even in loss, we can try to learn something rather than allow the experience to be entirely wasted.
And while earning money is important, we should remember why we earn it.
We earn because we want to live.
Kumain tayo. Mamasyal tayo. Maglakbay tayo kapag kaya. Tumawa tayo. Enjoy what we have. Share when we can. Help when we can.
Money should support life.
Life should never become merely the pursuit of money.
The same is true of titles.
Titles can be honorable. Positions can be meaningful. Public service can be noble.
But a title is not the only measurement of success.
Sometimes success is having enough freedom to wake up and decide what meaningful thing you will do with your day.
Titles should serve purpose. Purpose should never become merely the pursuit of titles.
Perhaps this is what I have learned from all these seasons:
Integrity tells me how to stand. Freedom allows me to choose where to go. Hope gives me a reason to keep moving.
And movement matters.
I work when there is work.
I create when there is time to create.
I write when there are ideas demanding to become words.
I help when I can help.
I become more careful when experience tells me to become careful.
I acknowledge my mistakes when I recognize them.
And every morning, I begin again.
Because life has no permanent season.
We cannot control the economy. We cannot guarantee that a business will succeed. We cannot force another person to honor a promise. We cannot command every opportunity to arrive exactly when we want it.
But we can choose our response.
We can choose whether to remain honest.
We can choose whether to keep learning.
We can choose whether to become wiser without becoming bitter.
We can choose whether to help without allowing ourselves to be consumed.
We can choose whether to use our free time to complain or to create.
And we can choose whether yesterday’s disappointment will dictate today’s possibilities.
So when the blessings stop raining, don’t curse the sky.
Keep moving.
Keep creating.
Keep believing.
And keep planting.
Some seeds will not grow.
Some people will disappoint you.
Some money may never return.
Some plans will fail.
Some opportunities will pass.
But when tomorrow morning comes, wake up full of energy.
Look around.
There is another day.
Another chance.
Another possibility.
And another set of blessings waiting to be recognized.
Receive them.
Use them.
Share them when you can.
Then plant again.
Maybe the season when you thought nothing was coming was not an empty season after all. Maybe it was simply giving you enough time to notice the seeds you had been carrying all along.
And when another morning comes, do it again.
Then the morning after that, do it again.
Not because every day will be easy.
Not because every day will bring money.
Not because every seed will grow.
But because every morning gives us another opportunity to live, to create, to correct, to forgive, to work, to help, to love, and to hope.
That, perhaps, is the routine I want to carry through life:
Wake Up. Receive the Blessings. Plant Again.
And repeat it every morning.
Wake Up. Receive the Blessings. Plant Again.
Dear Reader,
I invite you to explore my complete collection of published books now available on Amazon. Whether you are seeking in-depth analysis, strategic insights, or engaging narratives, my catalog covers a range of essential topics designed to inform, inspire, and provoke thoughtful discussion.
You can browse all my current titles, read excerpts, and order your copies directly through my official Amazon Author Page:
Click this Image to View:
Thank you for your continued support and interest in my work. If you enjoy any of the titles, leaving a review on Amazon would be greatly appreciated as it helps bring these ideas to a broader audience.
Warm regards,
*About the author:
