July 18, 2011
Connection with the Motherland
Summer Solstice this year was special. On this day I met and spent time with Max Dashu, the creator and keeper of the archives of The Suppressed Histories Archives, where she is “restoring women to cultural memory.” For several decades she has pioneered education about women’s spiritual roles through history, and has gathered a remarkable archive that is the basis for her current project “Woman Shaman: The Ancients.” (She is raising funds for the project here.)
We traveled to the Pinole Shoreline Park, situated along the northern section of the San Francisco East Bay. Walking across the hill and through the fields toward the shore, I felt the spirits of those who had walked the land before me. As the waves gently lapped the shore’s edge, we separated and spent time in silence.
Pebbles and shell fragments littered the beach. Then a pine cone glistened in the sunlight as the seafoam nudged it ashore.
A log jutting out from the hillside was the perfect place to stop and deposit my treasures. As I placed them, I became aware of being on one shore, here in California, and my family’s motherland far away in the Philippines, another shore, one to which I will always be tied.
At that moment, the clamshell broke in two, each half an individual piece of the whole that cradles me. I had a strong sense that we have traveled a long distance — from home, to home. We have landed on new shores, and found our way in a new land. We have brought our music, our dance, our culture, our food, our values, our very beings to these new shores. We have mixed with the prevalent culture, yet have never lost our ties, have never lost our Filipino soul.
The warm sun invited me to stretch out, to feel the sand beneath my feet. And then I began to move. Slowly at first, tracing patterns with my toes. Then the rhythm took over, and I danced. Here I share what I experienced and heard.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Here at Pinole Shores, where so many Filipinos live, I feel the pooled connections, the tides that continue to ebb and flow, unceasingly moving the flow, reshaping the rocks and the land, the ocean floor, the soul.
We come to the water and remember… we are a seafaring people, a land-based people, separated by land and water and experiences in life.
I don’t wish to focus on struggle. I wish to focus on triumph over them. Ancestors, please help me to properly honor those who have paved the way to today.
… And the ocean’s swells as we journeyed to another land, a new home, were like the feelings that welled up and rolled through unceasingly, without relenting, tears of pain and sorrow, loss and longing… when will I return to my land? My loved ones? All that has been so dear in my heart? My people, my food, my dances, my music — the smiles, oh, the gentle smiles so quick to appear. My mother, my father, oh brothers and sisters — I go so far away, yet my heart is still with you, will always be with you… as I remember your voices, the laughter, the warm embrace of home…
I am so far away, yet I hear your whispers on the water. I see your arms reaching across the waves.
We come to you, you whisper.
We love you.
We have never forgotten you.
Come home and taste the sea air,
Feel the sun on your skin,
Hear the sellers in the market.
Bagoong and bangus, lechon and pinakbet,
Sinigang and kutsinta, bulalo and
Sampalok, pusit and paksiw… we
call you… to nourish you.. body and
soul sewn together.
The water laps the shore unceasingly, over and over softening the hard edges, moving across the vast ocean. Through time, through space, across generations, the movement continues, traveling back and forth along ancient lines that tie and bind heart and soul.
June 27, 2011
On Wealth and Spirituality and Future Generations and Shining My Light
I’ve had many recently people bring to my attention different attitudes about wealth, and about being rich. Several years ago I attended a 3-day Millionaire Mind Intensive with T. Harv Eker in Seattle. He teaches in a no-nonsense, straightforward, practical, loving way about changing your Money Blueprint. He was about to publish his book, “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth,” and had us vote on which cover image to use.
NOTE: If you have a chance, go to one of these. They are life transforming. (Here’s my affiliate link: http://www.peakambassador.com/cmd.php?af=165295&p=1 or go to Peak Potentials’ website.) At the very least, go to a bookstore and check out his book. It includes his very practical “wealth files” that explain the money belief system that many of us grew up with, and shows how to shift them. That alone will change your life.
Now back to where I was going with this:
Over the years I’ve embraced the perspective of Abundance and Enlightened Wealth. The other day I was reading Harv Eker’s book again, and thought I’d share something he included:
“In their outstanding book The One Minute Millionaire, my good friends Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen quote the poignant story of Russell H. Conwell in his book Acres of Diamonds, which was written over a hundred years ago:
‘I say that you ought to get rich, and it is your duty to get rich. How many of my pious brethren say to me, “Do you, a Christian minister, spend your time going up and down the country advising young people to get rich, to get money?” Yes, of course I do.
‘They say, “Isn’t that awful? Why don’t you preach the gospel instead of preaching about man’s making money?” Because to make money honestly is to preach the gospel. That is the reason. The men who get rich may be the most honest men you find in the community.
‘ “Oh,” but says some young man here tonight. “I have been told all my life that if a person has money he is very dishonest and dishonorable and mean and contemptible.” My friend, that is the reason you have none, because you have that idea of people. The foundation of your faith is altogether false. Let me say clearly… ninety-eight out of one hundred of the rich men (and women) of America are honest. That is why they are rich. That is why they are trusted with money. That is why they carry on great enterprises and find plenty of people to work with them.
‘Says another young man, “I hear sometimes of men that get millions of dollars dishonestly. “Yes, of course you do, and so do I. But they are so rare a thing in fact that the newspapers talk about them all the time as a matter of news until you get the idea that all the other rich men get rich dishonestly.
‘My friend, you…drive me… out into the suburbs of Philadelphia, and introduce me to the people who own their homes around this great city, so beautiful homes with gardens and flowers, those magnificent homes so lovely in their art, and I will introduce you to the very best people in character as well as in enterprise in our city… They that own their homes are made more honorable and honest and pure, and true and economical and careful, by owning them.
‘We preach against covetousness… in the pulpit… and use the terms… “filthy lucre” so extremely that Christians get the idea that… it is wicked for any man to have money. Money is power, and you ought to be reasonably ambitious to have it! You ought to because you can do more good with it than you can without it. Money printed your Bibles, money builds your churches, money sends your missionaries, and money pays your preachers… I say, then, you ought to have money. If you can honestly attain unto riches…. it is your… godly duty to do so. It is an awful mistake of these pious people to think you must be awfully poor in order to be pious.”
Later in the book he touches on the issue that I see a lot, and that I have looked at for myself == that of having money and being a spiritual person.
“If I can be an example for anything, it would be that you can be a kind, loving, caring, generous, and spiritual person and be frickin rich. I strongly urge you to dispel the myth that money is in any way bad or that you wil be less “good” or less “pure” if you are wealthy. … being kind, generous, and loving has nothing to do with what is or isn’t in your wallet. Those attributes come from what is in your heart. Being pure and spiritual have nothing to do with what is or isn’t in your bank account; those attributes come from what’s in your soul. To think money makes you good or bad, one way or another, is either/or thinking and just plain “programmed garbage” that is not supportive to your happiness and success.
“It’s also not supportive to those around you, especially to children. If you’re that adamant about being a good person, then be “good” enough not to infest the next generation with the disempowering beliefs you may inadvertently have adopted.
“If you really want to live a life without limits, whatever the situation, let go of either/or thinking and maintain the intention to have “both.” “
Several years ago I reached a turning point in my life (one of many), and I had to look at myself. My life was less than happy and fulfilling, and I was not showing up as who I really am. I asked myself, “What am I teaching my daughter about the way life could be? What am I teaching her about what to expect in a relationship and how to be in the world?”
I’m still learning new ways of being a woman of substance in the world, thanks to mentors like Vangie Buell, Gina Ratliffe and Elizabeth Genco Purvis. I have broken through and ended the cycle of abuse, however subtly it shows up, through my involvement in the first all-Filipina “Vagina Monologues” presented by the Filipina Women’s Network.
I continue to learn how to BE from Janet Attwood, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Wayne Dyer, and a host of others. I connect with Spirit, my angels and guides as I continue to understand and act on what being a healer means in this life cycle for me. I am continually learning and having the courage to Feel. I continue to step forward on my path.
I’m connecting to my spiritual roots through my connection with the Center for Babaylan Studies and its global community, and through individual spirit connections with others. I’m connecting with my cultural roots through the Filipino American National Historical Society, CfBS, and Gawad Kalinga.
And I am bringing myself more fully into the world through my business – WLA Global and White Light Associates. I help others shine their light in their life and their business.
Although the road has been bumpy, and I’ve made my share of decisions that could have turned out much better, as I’ve gone on to figure out the many ways that I bring Baylan into the world, I am often reminded of that time of my life when I realized my responsibility to tend to myself first — out of self-love and self-care. I remember the talk they give you at the beginning of an airplane flight — in an emergency, secure your oxygen first, THEN help others.
In order to “Help Others Shine Their Light,” as I say through White Light Associates, I have to shine mine, too — in every area of my life.
Wow — I’m quite a wealthy person already!
In taking care of myself, I empower others to do the same — those around me and those who come after me. And that empowerment leads to wealth in all its ways that are appropriate for your path at the time.
I am reminded of Marianne Williamson’s piece from “A Return to Love” made even more famous by Nelson Mandela :
“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, 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 are all meant to shine, as children do.
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’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
So go out there and shine your light — You’ll be amazed at how much light shines back at you!
P.S. Oh! And check out my new site at http://www.whitelightassociate.com/blog In a few days this will migrate to my main site, http://www.whitelightassociates.com/, but I thought I’d share it with you now. Seems appropriate!
June 16, 2011
What Are You? “Roots” Part 1
The other day I was part of a discussion that looked at “Filipino” versus “Filipino American” as an identity, an identifier. The discussion will be an ongoing one – internally and with others. I’m sure I’ll share more.
My cultural heritage is rooted in the Philippines. I am 3rd generation on my mother’s side (meaning, my maternal grandmother was the first to set foot on U.S. soil in the mid-1920′s), and 2nd generation on my father’s side (dad came over after World War II).
Angeles Amoroso and family gathered in La Paz, Philippines
My grandmother was from Jaro, Iloilo. In the mid-1920s she came here as a schoolgirl at the request of her bachelor uncle Fred Grecia – a request that would lift her out of a difficult life in Iloilo with a stepmother who treated her like Cinderella before the fairy godmothers arrived. I can’t imagine what it was like to leave her home country as a teenager, and to decide that once she left that she would never return. Yet, that is what my grandmother did. She turned her back and resolutely looked to her new life in the United States where the only person she knew was her uncle, and where she did not speak the language.
Luis Megino Family 1940s in Manila
During World War II my father was fortunate to be visiting relatives in Pangasinan when the letter calling him to duty arrived at the family’s home in Manila. He escaped to the mountains around Baguio and joined his uncle in a guerrilla unit. Most of his neighbors did not survive the war, and perished in Corregidor. After the war, he joined his oldest brother Patricio Megino in California, and continued his college studies at San Francisco State. Ultimately he received his bachelor’s degree in Journalism from the University of California in Berkeley, where he met my mother, Elizabeth Mendoza.
There were few Filipino families in the East Bay when I was growing up. That all changed in 1965… but I am getting ahead of myself.
In early 1996, I was part of a cultural exchange tour from San Francisco to the Philippines. Excerpts from my travel journal were published in 2002 in “Seven Card Stud, Seven Manangs Wild: An Anthology of Filipino American Writings” edited by Helen C. Toribio. Entitled “Roots,” it was the first story included in the first half of the book under the group title, “What Are You?”
It’s a question I was asked often as I grew up in California. No, I would reply, sometimes impatiently. I am Not Chinese. Or Japanese. Or Korean. Or Mexican. Or Hawaiian. “I am Filipino. My family is from the Philippines.”
My answer often prompted looks of puzzlement. Some even asked, “Where’s that?” or even “What’s that?”
Others said, “Oh, my dad/brother/uncle was there during the war,” or “I passed through there after the war.”
And yet others would say nothing and walk away, convinced that I was trying to trick them, and no matter what I said that they had identified me correctly, or that “Filipino” was some strange thing they could not understand (and did not care to). Still others would nod and say, “You’re my little brown sister!”
A few sneered, or shooed me out of the area away from their kids.
I was lucky the first 12 years of my life. I grew up in a multi-ethnic neighborhood of East Oakland. Living one block from the railroad tracks, I grew deaf to the rumble of the trains passing in the night. My classmates at St. Louis Bertrand Elementary School were Mexican, Black, Irish, Polish, Italian, and Caucasian. A handful were Filipino. No on was really considered “different.” I lived a colorblind childhood. I truly did not know what discrimination was until I left this neighborhood.
“ROOTS”
“9:30 p.m. Finally, we were on our way. As the city slipped into slumber and crystalline lights faded behind me, I realized that to get on this plane the last thing I had to do was to strip away all my non-essentials – the extra baggage that would not fit on the journey from America to my cultural homeland, the Philippines. As we traveled from the rush of San Francisco to the tropical rest stop in Hawaii, I sank into my seat to travel back in time.
“On the plane I read a tiny article about the awarding of “Certificates of Ancestral Domain Claims.” A total of 23 CADCs had been given to indigenous tribes for a total of 376,540 hectares, or 930,430 square miles. I wondered if these CADCs were based on anything like American Indian reservations in the U.S. What place and level of respect within society are given to these peoples? I wondered about the peoples in these areas – Kalinga, Puerto Princesa, the Mangyans,Zamboanga de Norte and del Sur, Basilan, Abra, Benguet, Ifugao, Mountain Province, Bohol, Lanao del Norte and del Sur, Nueva Vizcaya, Kasibu, and Quirino. What determines their value?”
~ * ~
December 8, 2010
Northside Community Center in San Jose, California
“Change the world for the better.” This is the undercurrent for all that I do. For most of us, this takes form in our daily lives with our families and work. Some are able to affect the wider circle of their communities. A few are able to create change at the highest levels, and therefore affect us all.
Over the past years have been looking into assisted living facilities – small multi-unit facilities, as well as large multi-phase communities. The wide range of service combinations is staggering, and the service provider model is the key determinant of the “feel” of the delivery of services. As a result each facility is unique.
When looking for communities with a new vision, I was encouraged to speak with Ben Menor, former executive director of the Northside Community Center. In this award-winning senior housing complex, Mr. Menor created a beautiful community space that integrates low-income senior housing with a community center.
http://www.dbarchitect.com/words/press/35/Builder%27s%20Choice.html
http://www.dbarchitect.com/project_detail/115/Northside%20Community%20Center.html
From a development standpoint, more important than the actual design of the physical space and programs is the thinking behind it that incorporated the inhabitants, the space, its programs, and its surrounding community into an interrelated whole.
In conceiving the Northside Community Center and Mabuhay Court, Mr. Menor drew from his many years working with several cultural communities locally and nationwide. Well respected as a business and organizational consultant, he understood the value in connecting the Center to the rest of the community.
Research has shown that people who are physically active, are allowed social interaction, and are part of a larger community are those who thrive well into their later years. The Center’s programs were designed to provide a caring, empowering environment that allowed each person to experience a fulfilled life of joy, comfort, rejuvenation and security.
Social interaction and physical activity was facilitated through daily programs and the flow and interface of the space design. The meditation garden created a space of beauty and peace for all to enjoy, while still aware of the community beyond. Art was strategically placed to draw people from space to space. Separate entries were reminiscent of neighborhood front stoops. Balconies and porches allowed privacy and limited interaction, while the community center served as dining facility and gathering space. Color and materials were carefully chosen to enhance the overall effect.
The spectrum of seniors being served in the facility and through its many services included Filipinos, Chinese, Indo-Asians, and veterans. Northside became a main provider of senior services for these communities. The strength of its infrastructure was flexible and resourceful enough to be able to respond quickly and efficiently when certain incidents resulted in a sudden influx of veterans in need of assistance.
Rather than excluding the youth from the project, Mr. Menor was able to include them by building in intergenerational programs. Families were encouraged to participate with the seniors, and elders were valued for their wisdom and experience. Activities with a culturally aware foundation created seamless support for engaging life, and continued many of the life activities residents most enjoyed while living outside the community.
Upon occasion the greater community was allowed to use the space for meetings. Through some of these events, the seniors were able to participate in the larger community in ways that were not otherwise easily accomplished.
For example, when former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos is in town, Mr. Menor is the person asked to host and organize international community forums for Philippine-based and Filipino-American-based concerns. Northside has hosted these forums as well as other meetings held by the business community, local cultural community organizations, the Human Relations Commission of Santa Clara County, and organizations addressing broader community issues such as domestic violence. These meetings generated the revenue needed to allow Northside to sustain the great variety of programs and services offered, and to supplement its funding.
It’s clear that the Northside Community Center was the product of progressive thinking with a global, culturally sensitive view. As a result, when Mr. Menor headed the Center the senior residents enjoyed a vibrant community life that allowed them to thrive. This is an assisted living development model that holds great promise for the growing elder communities around the world.
Northside Community Center and Mabuhay Court received the following awards:
– 2004 Maxwell Award of Excellence from Fannie Mae Foundation
– 2004 Gold Nugget Grand Award for Best Senior Housing/Active Adult from the Pacific Coast Builders Conference
– 2004 Gold Nugget Grand Award for Best Affordable from the Pacific Coast Builders Conference
– 2004 Builder’s Choice Grand Award from Builder’s Magazine
– 2004 Builder’s Choice Project of the Year from Builder’s Magazine
– 2004 Merit Award for Design from the California Council of the American Institute of Architects
– 2004 National Award of Excellence from National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials
– 2003 Meritorious Achievement Award from the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies HOME Awards Competition
June 8, 2010
Veterans Benefits, Claims and Appeal Process Explained
Veterans have many benefits available to them through the Department of Veterans Affairs. Looking for information can take time.
I created a blog series that explains what is available to Filipino WWII veterans. More generally, the last post explains The Appeal Process, which currently takes 700 days with the Bureau of Veterans Appeals.
Read more at http://www.BaylansFilAmNews.wordpress.com . This is meant to be a resource — please share!
October 30, 2008
Help create a list of FilAm candidates!
I’m creating a list of FilAm candidates — can you help by adding the names of anyone running for office in your area? Go to www.baylansfilamnews.wordpress.com . Thanks!
October 19, 2008
Vote for Change: What good’s the right if it’s not exercised?
The right to vote is the most precious right an American citizen can exercise in politics. Perhaps it is THE most important because it allows us to participate in choosing the direction of our country, our states, our counties, and our cities.
Last Friday I attended a political fundraiser where many of the attendees were running for office, and several were incumbents. It was great see so many “minorities” involved in the political process.
When I was young, minorities had very little voice in American politics. Our parents were more concerned with making a living, feeding the family, and being able to provide a good education so the next generation could get ahead. Speaking up in public was asking to be shot down as arrogant, a show-off, bringing too much attention.
Then in the 60’s we learned that speaking up and fighting for our rights were effective in creating change. They ultimately brought about the ethnic studies classes and other opportunities to share our rich cultures and diverse contributions. We were visible in American society in a positive way.
This laid the foundation to develop new community leaders, and opened the doors to new careers. Many of their teachers were in the room last Friday, watching as the next generation takes over and creates their own change. What was notable was the sense of camaraderie and shared purpose. I did not sense any of the old ways of divisiveness that others tried to exploit in the past, and that are still practiced in other areas.
I asked several candidates about their platforms. In this shifting era of Change, they spoke of effecting change, being the voice of change, and holding the important role of stability and long-term vision during times of change. Many were involved in the school boards and resource management agencies. Nowadays, minorities also are on councils, and a few are vice mayors and mayors.
As a marketing consultant, of course I asked how they had approached getting exposure to their constituents. Mailings, fundraisers, door-to-door facetime, meet and greets, community meetings, email campaigns, website optimization. . . many of the tried and true as well as the new campaign tools were being used. Many are optimistic about their ability to win in the election.
The bottom line is: With all the exposure, how do you get people out to the polls to vote? Even absentee ballots count!
In past election years I remember how close some of the races were, and how important even a few votes can be in determining the outcome. In some areas the outcome was determined by less than 30% of the eligible voters. Where WAS everyone that day?
The last presidential election showed us that we can’t afford to be apathetic anymore, and that Every Vote Counts. The plaintive “I’m only one vote” only opens the door to defeat.
Too much is hanging in the balance.
How the next President addresses our problems with the economy, the war, healthcare, women’s rights, education, elder issues, veteran’s equity, and so much more will be determined on Election Day.
Will you let your voice be heard and be counted?
Will you help determine the Change the country will experience?
Will you go to the polls and vote?
October 13, 2008
Identity Theft Protection: The Problem Part 1
by Baylan Megino (for more information send a message to askaboutidt@aol.com)
Since I became a Certified Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist, I have learned so much about the identity theft protection, the problems, and their effects on people and businesses that I want help by sharing what I know.
We’ve all heard of identity theft, and many of us are wondering if identity theft protection even exists. The majority of us do not know the different ways we can be affected, or what do to about it. To put it into perspective, in 2006 in the United States there were 17,034 murders, 447,403 robberies, and 15 million identity theft victims. Unfortunately, less than 1% of ID thieves are prosecuted, and many thefts are unreported.
Identity theft occurs when someone illegally uses your personal identifying information to obtain Read the rest of this entry »
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