Do not kill time
Don’t kill time,” Discalced Carmelite sisters tell us who are not used to living the cloistered life. “Nothing can cause you to feel so empty and weary as wasting time. It is an enemy that can rob you of peace and make you fall into depression.
“Make a plan … and follow it with discipline. Resting and keeping busy are not opposites; take the opportunity to rest while doing things that relax you … Don’t spend time senselessly. To kill time is to kill life.”
Keeping a flexible schedule is key for Rowena “Rowie” Juan-Matti and her family (see “Galileo Enrichment’s Rowie Juan-Matti,” June 19 and 26, 2015).
Rowie starts her day praying the rosary together with a Canadian group or hearing an online mass. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., she then attends online meetings and exchanges emails with her team.
Recently, they launched Galileo Online Learning (GO Learning) for children 3-12 years old. (Visit galileoenrichment.com)
“This program was originally supposed to be done long-term, but with the quarantine, we decided to launch it now,” says Rowie. “We have an awesome team, and we worked double time to [make this a reality]. The quarantine should not hinder our children’s education.”
Rowie’s young-adult daughters are keeping busy with cooking and baking. “They get creative and resourceful in the kitchen. My favorite so far was the taco night we had; even the tortillas were made from scratch. I love the cinnamon rolls baked from scratch, too.” “The times call us to be creative,” say psychologist Gary Faustino and his team at the Ateneo de Manila College Office of Guidance and Counseling.
“People have gone through difficult situations before, like world wars with total economic shutdown. This crisis is making us [develop a cure] against a more virulent virus plaguing our society, which is an emotional distancing of people from each other,” they say.
“This time, we are compelled to talk, to break bread with each other and reconcile our differences because there is nowhere else to go.”
Rowie’s two daughters are taking online classes, planting onions and garlic, helping with donation drives and house chores. At 6 p.m. on the dot, they join the daily cenacle with the Juans.
Rowie and her daughters then eat dinner together, watch the news and relax before getting ready for bed.
“Ultimately, it is about smelling the flowers, noticing the beauty around us and appreciating the wonderful but simple things we have taken for granted,” says Gary. “The locality of love in the family is where all these are found. [Let us] stop, look and listen to be aware of all these again.”
Rowie adds, “In between our relatively packed individual schedules, we plan out the weekly menus together to optimize our stocks at home, and more importantly, find time to help out.”
“Right now we are focused on helping Frontline Feeders PH, an initiative led by my sister, the group RockEd, and some friends. They collect and coordinate food donations and allocate them to more than 40 hospitals so far.” (Go to fronlinefeedersph.com, #fronlinefeedersph, #rockedrelief, #rescueph.)
“We should not get bored at home,” she adds. “There are so many things to do.”
And so many people to reconnect to, so much of life to be thankful for.
Thank you to Ateneo philosophy professor Eduardo Calasanz for sending the Carmelites’ message, and to modern language professor Luisa Young for translating it from Spanish. INQ
Queena N. Lee-Chua is with the board of directors of Ateneo’s Family Business Center. Get her book “All in the Family Business” at www.lazada.com.ph or call National’s Jennie Garcia at 0915-421-2276. Contact the author at [email protected].
