7 HABITS FOR MASSIVE SUCCESS

1. Cooking your own meals

Everybody wants to be healthy.

But the harsh reality is you can't purchase

health over the counter.

You've got to earn that healthy body by

eating right.

2. Exercise

It doesn't matter if it's an intense weight

session or a chill walk in the park.

When you exercise you're more alert, and

more energized, and you'll have a better

attitude about work and everything else.

Regular exercise allows you to look and

feel more attractive.

3. Live in the present

Today is a gift.

Appreciate everything you have;

• Your Family

• Your Health

• Your experiences

When you realize everything you have,

you feel more blessed, happier and joyful

in life.

4. Meditation

There is probably no habit more important for a young man in the 21st century to establish than daily meditation.

If you don't learn to discipline your mind now, you can easily find yourself lying on your death bed reviewing your life.

Not only does meditation increase your willpower, but it also;

•Fights stress

• Boosts your resilience

• Improves your mental and physical health

Even just 10 minutes a day, can be life-changing.

5. Plan your day

The power of planning lies in the perspective & control it provides for your life;

It gives you a broad view of the maze that

must be navigated to achieve your long-

term goals

And the ability to manage the small tasks

that are essential to reaching those aims.

6. Learn to embrace discomfort

To transform your life completely, you

need to say goodbye to your comfort

zone. You have to break new ground.

Get into the habit of stepping out of your

comfort zone.

• Read more books

• Start working out

• Choose healthier foods

7. Daily affirmations

Affirmations are a powerful tool to remind

ourselves of our values.

When you repeat them frequently, they start to manifest in your life.

Positive words of Affirmations:

•lam in command of my life

• Today will be an amazing day!

•I can achieve anything I want

•l am capable of anything

What are some German habits?

 

Simone Ines Lbr

 

Habits: early bird, excessive gym sessions, and working from home

I agree with most of the answers so far, except that we actually do understand sarcasm... however, the British sense of humor is beyond our grasp.

Many of us tend to be know-it-alls in discussions.

Beergardens are also a typical German (not only Bavarian) thing.

We plot and plan a lot and think things through, rather than just going ahead and doing them.

To travel is a status symbol in Germany.

Students are not punctual at university, but everywhere else.

We think the Russian are a lot more blunt than we are, although the French consider us to be very blunt already.

An expensive hobby (e.g. a MTB, a motorbike, paragliding) is a status symbol as well.

We lack national pride, because we are still struggling with the memories of WWII.

We take good care of our homes and cars. In France, I found that people were not caring so much about their private and personal space...

Soccer is very important for men in Germany.

We do not only love to listen to Music, we also love to make music; at least we have lots of choirs and offers to learn how to play musical instruments, but I think less people are interested in that today.

We have a strong folklore.

Aspiring intellectual upper-class Germans cultivate a horrible British English accent.

We do love to complicate things when it comes to personal matters.

We are not fond of strikes and anything that interrupts our well-planned routines.

We do not think failure is a good thing.

DAVAO Region now has 16 registered EV charging stations

 

DAVAO Region now has 16 registered EV charging stations, with most concentrated in Davao City, as the Department of Energy (DOE) works to expand charging infrastructure and integrate the growing electricity demand from electric vehicles into power distribution planning.

Full story: https://www.sunstar.com.ph/.../16-ev-charging-stations...

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‘SONG OF SONGS’

 

By

 Klaus Döring

 -

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

THE PHRASE “song of songs” means the greatest, finest or most supreme song of all.

The “Song of Songs” (or “Canticle of Canticles”) is an exquisite collection of love lyrics arranged to tell a dramatic tale of mutual desire and courtship. It offers an inspired portrayal of ideal human love and a resounding affirmation of the goodness of human sexuality, particularly as it relates to the sacredness and depth of married union.

United States musician and author Ted Gioia argues in his excellent book “Music: A Subversive History” (2019): “At every stage in human history, music has been a catalyst for change, challenging conventions and conveying coded messages – or, not infrequently, delivering blunt, unambiguous ones. It has given voice to individuals and groups denied access to other platforms for expression. Pop music has often been dismissed as ‘lightweight’ given its young audience, simple snappiness and mainstream status, but those elements are really where its strength is concealed. Pop songs don’t originate themes of mental wellbeing, equality, liberty, activism – but they do transmit them to the broadest platforms possible.”

Turn on the radio, tune in to almost any station, and what are you likely to hear? Love songs. Songs of new love, disappointed love, grateful love and crazy love. I still remember my time as a radio host in Davao City several years ago, playing the hits of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Nothing much has changed. Times change, but throughout history, the flow of love songs has remained constant.

Plenty of people are surprised, or even shocked, to discover an explicit love song in the Bible — complete with erotic imagery. But the “Song of Songs” is exactly that. It shows no embarrassment about the passion between lovers. Consequently, there have been intermittent attempts throughout history to exclude the “Song of Songs” from the Bible, almost as if it should be labeled “for adults only.”

Imagine, my dear reader, what happened in 16th-century Spain. Professor Fray Luis de León was dragged out of his classroom and imprisoned for four years. His crime? He had translated the “Song of Songs” into Spanish.

If you start reading the “Song of Songs”, you will discover that the book creates an atmosphere very different from that of most modern love songs and pop music. Because love songs are universally popular, many people may approach the “Song of Songs” with great expectations. Yet readers often discover that it is quite different from what they imagined.

One reason is its rich and sometimes puzzling poetic imagery. Another is that the “Song of Songs” can be difficult to follow. At times, one passage does not seem clearly connected to the next. Its language and structure therefore require readers to slow down, reflect and look beyond the surface of the poetry.

Still, try to explore the “Song of Songs”. Look beyond its unusual imagery and seemingly disconnected passages. One thing is certain: you may discover not only a profound celebration of human love but also a deeper understanding of the love between God and His people.

***

Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook or LinkedIn, or visit www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com./PN

Dreams are but shadows?

 

ABOUT US

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September 29, 2026

By Klaus Döring

The phrase “a dream itself is but a shadow” comes from William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2), spoken by Hamlet to express how fleeting, unreal and insubstantial human ambitions and perceptions truly are.

I dream of a better world. A world without war and only peace. Without hunger and thirst. Daydreams.

Dreams at night: At one time, people thought that the figures appearing in dreams were messengers from gods. It was generally believed that dreams came from something outside the person or from people with special skills.

Today, it is believed that dreams are created by the dreamer. And because dreams are something a person creates, they may have a special meaning for the person who dreams them.

Just why you have a particular dream when you do may depend on many things. Your health may have an effect on your dreams. A person who is ill or uncomfortable will have different kinds of dreams from those of a person who is well and happy.

If a person is hungry, feeling cold or very tired, his dreams may include these feelings. Many dreams seem to be made up of disguised feelings. Also, the events of the day before may have a lot to do with what one dreams. Often, the persons or situations in a dream are those that you encountered during the day. Or your emotions may make you have the kind of dream you have. Needing or wanting something may also be expressed in a dream, and being frightened may become part of a dream.

The feelings of happiness or disappointment that come out in dreams were probably already present in the dreamer.

But why can’t some people remember their dreams? Do you experience this too? Many of us struggle to remember the details of our dreams. The reasons lie in the complicated cycles of our sleep, as we can learn from Stephen Dowling, a British writer.

Dowling continues: For many of us, dreams are an almost intangible presence. If we’re lucky, we can only remember the most fleeting glimpse in the cold light of day; even those of us who can recollect past dreams in astonishing detail can wake some days with almost no memory of what we had dreamed about.

There is little ethereal about the reasons this might be happening, however. Why we have dreams — and whether we can remember them — are both rooted in the biology of our sleeping bodies and subconscious minds.

Sleep is more complicated than we once thought. Rather than being a plateau of unconsciousness bookended by slipping in and out of sleep, our resting brains go through a roller coaster of mental states, with some stages full of mental activity.

Indeed, we often blindly accept what is happening in this often nonsensical narrative until the time comes to wake up.

The problem is, the more jumbled the imagery, the harder it is for us to grasp it. Dreams that have a clearer structure are much easier for us to remember, psychology professor and author Deirdre Barrett said in a recent story on Gizmodo.

Francesca Siclari, a sleep researcher at Lausanne University Hospital, says there are clear distinctions between our states of wakefulness and sleep — and that is no accident. “It’s probably a good thing that the dream life and the waking life are completely different,” she says. “I think if you remembered every detail like you can do in waking life, you would start to confuse things with what’s actually happening in your real life.”

The fact is: Not being able to remember everything about our dreams is important so that we don’t confuse them with reality. And if you wish to remember your dreams, try to follow Harvard Medical School sleep researcher Robert Stickgold’s advice — simply repeating to yourself as you drift toward sleep that you want to remember your dreams means you may wake remembering them. Stickgold laughs: “It actually works. If you do that you really are going to remember more dreams, it’s like saying ‘There’s no place like home’. It really works.”

Let’s try it. Good night.

+++

Email: doringklaus@gmail.com or follow me on Facebook, LinkedIn or X (formerly Twitter), or visit www.germanexpatinthephilippines.blogspot.com or www.klausdoringsclassicalmusic.blogspot.com.

Communication – The importance of listening

 

Communication – The importance of listening

 By Klaus Döring

A good listener is someone who listens to the speaker to receive and interpret messages accurately. No one likes to communicate with a person who cares only about what they have to say. That’s why, to become a good communicator, you need to be a good listener too.

Active listening is an important part of your communication skill set because it encourages openness, honesty, and success. When you pay attention to your conversation partner, you show that person they are being heard, thus building trust and making that person feel like their words matter to you.

Listening allows us to look within ourselves and become aware of the barriers that inhibit our ability to listen effectively.” As we better understand ourselves, we are then in a better position to understand others and show authentic compassion and empathy.

Do you sometimes feel like this, my dear readers, that you want to discuss something, but the people opposite to you simply cannot listen to you? Sometimes, I would love to tell them, “first, learn to listen”!

Listening is indeed the key in effective communication. A person does not have to speak all the time to be the smartest person in the room. Lack of listening may result in frustration, disappointment, and resentment in our relationships. When we listen, we are able to create stronger emotional connections with people.

Listening is a vital element of communication and it is very much different from the human sense of human. A meaningful communication requires both a good listener and a speaker. However, the effect of a listening style may vary depending on the occasions and situations a listener is in.

However, every time you use active listening, it gets a little easier. It can help you to navigate through difficult conversations. More than that, it helps improve overall communication, builds a better understanding and ultimately leads to better relationships with family, friends and co-workers too.

Listening is an active process by which we make sense of, assess, and respond to what we hear. The listening process involves five stages: receiving, understanding, evaluating, remembering, and responding. Not only in school or at the workplace. But especially talking about the workplace: Listening helps managers to solicit feedback and proactively find out about problems before they escalate. It’s also the only way for management to get to know people as individuals and ensure that they feel genuinely valued.

Not only does listening enhance your ability to understand better and make you a better communicator, it also makes the experience of speaking to you more enjoyable to other people.

Listening and the supreme gift of wisdom belongs together. You can only become a wise person, if you know how to listen. Do you still remember the university lectures in your old student days once upon a time? Anybody can become wise, Proverbs says. Wisdom is not reserved for a brainy elite. Becoming wise requires self-discipline to study and humbly seek wisdom at every opportunity. And allow me to repeat: and, first, learn to listen.