As I opened my yahoo mail to check my inbox when my attention was caught with one of the Yahoo news about the so-called "real-life Barbie". I was really surprised to see this Ukrainian beauty whose profile was undoubtedly comparable to "Barbie" .

 

If you will really look closer with the picture you can really mistaken the subject as a doll, specifically a Barbie doll.  See her up close below. Are you convinced?

 

Valeria Lukyanova

Father and Son bonding :)

Linking this post with Blog Photo Challenge hosted by Blogger's Notes and Mellow Yellow Monday.

Confidence starts when you feel good about yourself. Just like women, men are quite vain too that they are willing to do anything just to get the body that they want. If women are taking extra effort to maintain a slim figure on which not all are capable of, men will also do everything in order to build muscles that they can boast of. There are lots of summer activities for both men and women that requires them to show a lot of skin just like Bikini Open. The one who wins are those who have enough confidence with how they look and can carry themselves well.

Nobody is perfect.  This is a common adage which applies to all of us.

We are living in this imperfect world with imperfect people. All of us have struggles in life though in different degree. However, the imperfections of an individual does not make him a lesser being- at least it shouldn't be the case. But we cannot deny the fact that there is one who just cannot stand with the imperfections of the other. And that is inevitable. There are people who set standards that should be followed AND we ought to follow such standard. Failure to comply is tantamount to a certain consequences. We call it as an act of discipline. The word "discipline" according to WordWeb is a training to improve strength or self-control. Others defined it as an act of punishing. The latter is quite heavier. A misguided behavior needs an amount of discipline. But it should follow a certain process. And the word "process" means a particular course of action intended to achieve a result.

So, what are the course of action that should be followed in order to achieve a result when somebody has that unbecoming behavior? Allow me to put an emphasis on right and proper communication. How important is communication in settling an issue with somebody who violated the standards set forth by the authority? Consider this: A child will never understand why you suddenly spank him without even explaining to him the reason why. But, what if the child knows the reason? Won't you give him a chance to explain his side why he committed such an  act of misbehavior? Communication is a two-way process. We just cannot simply judge a person immediately with the way he behaves in our own point of view. We need to extend an ear for us to understand the reason behind his action.

Sometimes our judgment focus NOT on the issue but to the person himself. The way we perceive an individual affects our judgment. I can attest to that because I am a teacher who dealt with different kinds of students with unique attitudes. In as much as I want to be objective with my assessment, I couldn't help the fact that my assessment sometimes depends on how I perceive the students without even considering their upbringing as well as the kind of environment they live with. I am very much quick to judge the behavior of my students. I became BIAS with my assessment. If I will insist on assessing my student this way then I could be likened to a man whose clean sheet of a paper was blotted with an ink as big as a dot. His focus was no longer on the white area of the paper but rather, his attention was focus on that minute ink blot and so he crumpled the paper and put it in the waste basket. Wow, what a waste indeed!

 Again, this should not be the case. 

This morning's devotional was a great reminder for me. The Book of 2 Corinthians 4: 18 tells us to focus on what is eternal, not on what is temporary. I have lots of wants in life. My heart's desires are quite many but only few were being granted. This somehow frustrates me a little. However, I realized that all my frustrations are futile. It only added to my stress. I admit, I was quite disoriented once again with my goals in life. I am aiming the wrong focus that is why it causes me lots of frustrations in life.

Lately, my hubby went through some "ordeal". And all I could do is just to stand by him. I could not lift a finger unto him because I am partly to be blamed with what happened to him. Now I am trying to focus on the good side in all that happened to him and that is he could now have all day to spend time with our baby. By just merely thinking about it, I love the idea of seeing my hubby and my son establishing a great bond with each other. He somehow express his apprehensions about our status and he asked me if we could make it. Of course, I should be positive with all things though deep inside I am quite in doubt but I told him that with God's help, we can make it. We also discuss about meeting both ends with our monthly expenses. I am hopeful that what we've been through right now will have a positive impact in the end.

Lot of things were running through my mind right now. I have lots of plans and I don't know as to what plans will work perfectly well. Still, God is in control of everything. Once again, I have to be firm with what I believe because God is never mistaken.

I still believe that God prepared a better future ahead for me and for my family. All I need to do is to aim the right focus.

Amen.