It's the new year! Happy 2016 everyone!

It's another year to celebrate and continue life's journey. I'm sure everyone has a new year's resolution but before we list down what we want to do or change for 2016, let's throw away the things that stop us from accomplishing our goals.

These things may seem normal in our everyday lives but if you look closely, these things actually pull us down and make us look bad.

Here are the top 4 things to ditch, throw away and let go to have a better year ahead of us.

1. Heartaches from lost loved ones, bad choices, mistakes and failures.

Time really is not the influential factor to heal a broken heart, acceptance is. Believe me, I have been there. I have lost my papa and mama. It's been two decades yet everytime I think about them, I still feel lonely and empty. I have accepted their absence but everytime I see families with both parents still living, I always say they're very lucky.

Don't ever say you can't live anymore because your boyfriend left you for someone else or a family member passed away or you got fired from your beloved job. I would understand if it will take years for you to recover or move on but don't ever tell yourself you're giving up.

This 2016, maybe it's time to let go of that bad heartache and start accepting things as they are. When you learn to accept that you are hurt and admit to your self wholeheartedly, you will actually feel better. Let go of the things that make you cry. Besides, they're already gone and it's you who's still denying their absence. Don't you think it's time to let go of the things that were already gone for a while? The great thing about this mysterious universe is when someone leaves you, someone will fill your empty heart again.

Surprisingly, Baby Mico came in when I thought life is too much for me to handle. Someone will ease your pain eventually. Just wait and see. But today, accept your hurt and move on. Life is too good to dwell on how hurt you are. Yes, I've been there too and the loneliness was overwhelming. I'm not telling you I'm an expert on this. I'm just telling you that if you can't get over a broken heart for more than a month, don't worry, it's okay. Time is irrelevant. Give yourself a break and do what you think is good for you in breaking free from a breaking heart.

2. Blaming yourself or blaming others.

When bad things happen, we always have someone to blame, ourselves and other people, even God. We can't really make good New Year's wishes if we keep on blaming someone or something when time gets rough. It's good to breath for at least 10 seconds so can actually compose yourself and think of solutions to problems rather than thinking of who to blame.

3. Gossip.

Gossip is the number one perrenial problem in our society. The worst characteristic of gossip is that it goes down to family members, close relatives neighbors and friends more than in enemies and colleagues. The bad thing about it is when people gossip about you, they never really gave you cash for your everyday needs. You struggle to survive while they talk about you. None of them actually stopped by and helped, yet you're very affected by their gossip because it hurts a lot. While you can, avoid the gossip and shrug it off.

If you can't handle too much gossip and you get sleepless nights, you may file a complaint to your Barangay and let the officials settle your compromise agreement.

If you feel you're the one doing the gossip, you may not know it but you're actually hurting someone. It's 2016 for heaven's sake! Do something more productive or think of ways you can help that person rather than talking to others about her.

4. Failed promises.

Don't promise yourself if you feel you can't do it. Most New Year's resolutions become failed promises almost all the time. Think of more reachable goals so you will feel more accomplished and more proud when putting a check mark on your New Year's wishes.

There, there. Let go of the bad vibes and let the good times roll! (wink!) So are you ready to make your New Year's resolutions? Go ahead. Start the list with - I will go on a diet :) I know you want it. :)

Happy New Year everyone! Oink! Oink!

If you're getting nervous about that interview on Tuesday, don't push yourself too hard and try these 5 no-fail tips for job interviews. These tips will help you get the job that you desire and make you more confident for the next job hunt.
Choose at least two of these tips for job interviews and you will be sure to have higher chances of getting hired.

1. Review your credentials.

Before anything else, review what you have written on your resume. It's likely that you may have forgotten the details especially when it's too long. You may have forgotten the details of your thesis or the seminar workshop that you attended about two years ago. It's not good to assume that your interviewer was too busy to take a look at your resume. You may be asked about what happened to your internship program and it's better to know all the information beforehand.

2. Know the basic questions that are usually asked during job interviews.

You may be wondering what are the usual questions that are asked in job interviews. It's important that you know some of them so you can already compose your answers.

Some of the usual questions include "Why do you think you're a good fit for this company?", "What are your skills and strengths?", and "How do you see yourself five years from now?" The panel usually ask you to tell them more about yourself in three to five sentences. You can search for common questions or you can ask your friends who also went through the job hunting process. They can even give you more useful tips for job interviews.

3. Practice answering interview questions in front of the mirror.

Among the tips for job interviews, this may be awkward for you if you're not used to doing this but it's actually quite helpful. When you already have an idea of the basic questions, answer them in front of the mirror. You can see your facial expressions and the gaps when you pause to think what you are going to say next. You can minimize the gaps by practicing your lines again and again.
You can be more confident and more relaxed during the actual interview when you practice saying your answers.

4. Be yourself.

You may be surprised why this is included as one of the tips for job interviews when it is just natural to be true during an interview. Actually, it's not. Because of competition, most applicants tend to pretend to be someone they're not. A lot would try to say things they have not done at all.

Honest to goodness answers will never fail. Be yourself and never mind others. If you feel that you don't have enough skills for the position, you can tell your interviewer that you want to learn more about those skills. He will thank you for being true.

5. Answer positively.

As much as possible, answer every question positively. Try to avoid using the words "I don't know" or "No, I can't do that". These words will reflect your personality and the panel may notice that. Show a more positive attitude of yourself. Most importantly, smile a lot.

If you think you can extract one or two from these important tips for job interviews, you can be sure to get a call from the company telling you that you're hired!

Our office is like our second home. It's the one place where we spend at least eight hours of our time every single day or at least from Monday to Friday.

The office is also the venue for us to develop our social skills. Here, we interact with our officemates, our bosses and with our clients.While clients may come and go, we regularly see the same people everytime we come to work. We talk to our coworkers for deliberation of plans. We report to our department heads for updates and evaluation. It's the same cycle every work day. Nothing beats boredom at the office than a cup of coffee and a nice chat with the person next to your  cubicle. You may be surprised to know that work becomes a breeze when you have good coworkers and everybody seems to complement each other.

Unfortunately every workplace has a lot of drama and antagonists in it and dealing with these difficult people at work does not come as easy as pay day.

It becomes a burden for some. A lot of people seem to ignore these kind of coworkers, while others simply give up and regretfully resign from their beloved jobs. It is quite painful to know that you have to let go of your job just because you have a difficult coworker who is too much to handle. Considering you have to see her almost every day is quite a task. It is especially not right when your job is your only bread and butter. If you love your job so much, you really can't just give up at all. Besides, your officemate may not seem to be that difficult after all, only if you just give her the chance. If you think about it, even the most wicked and evil villain had a mother and was once loved. There were probably circumstances that affected your coworker which made her become an antagonist to a lot of you.

Dealing with difficult people at work may seem to be an added cost and an extra baggage for those who are not used to doing this.

Aggie, 21, who works at a lending company as an administrative staff, always comes in late. During office hours all her time is spent on her mobile phone and irritates her department head as well as her coworkers. She gets to pay penalty charges from banks because she puts checks in deposit forgetting that the client actually asked that the check be put on hold. To make matters worse, she can't organize files for proper turnover.

Her boss could not stand her. So when Aggie finally said she wanted to resign, it was great news.

The only reason Aggie resigned was that she had lost interest in her work. She had no one to talk to at home because everyone else was busy too. She only talked to her boyfriend in the neighboring city that kept her mobile phone busy. She also felt that her boss was actually showing her gestures of animosity. Every day seemed to mark what a total failure she was. She couldn't get a simple task done without messing her entire life. She remembered the manager telling her department head while in front of her that they should be looking for "enthusiastic" and "passionate" employees. It was a depressing comment.

Sometimes when we see others like Aggie, as difficult to handle and they are a pain in the neck, let's also consider what are the reasons why they act that way. Is it family or personal problems? Or maybe financial issues? Maybe the person next to you is having problems of her own and did not want to tell everybody else but she expresses her anger with the way she handles her job. Sometimes, when you see your co-employee as someone who is difficult to handle, you might not realize it that she too feels like she is the victim of a bad treatment in the office.

Maybe she feels that she is your topic at lunch so she turns into a monster most of the time.

Before anything else gets frozen from coworkers having that cold shoulder, try these three simple tips on how to deal with difficult people at work.

1. Communicate often.

One important thing to do in dealing with difficult people at work is to communicate with them more often. Talk to your coworkers once in a while. Walk that extra mile - to the next cubicle of course and greet that sad face a good happy morning. Ask your officemate how her day was. If she will start talking about a personal problem at home then you will know why she goes grumpy in the afternoon, or maybe she won't be because she got someone to talk to and that's you. She will probably be happy she got that out of her chest.

2. Add in some compliments.

Telling someone that her outfit looks awesome actually makes wonders. A nice sincere compliment always makes someone's day more wonderful. You can be more creative and write compliments on your sticky note and stick it on your coworker's desk. There are more ways than one in telling someone that there's something good in that person.

3. Always put your best shoe forward.

Remember that nobody will ever hurt you unless you allow that person to hurt you. That is a good saying and a good advice for people who feel like they have this inferiority complex in the office and they don't know what to do on how to deal with difficult people at work.

When you demonstrate your strength and positive attitude, your strong personality will shine. It will mirror your connection with the people surrounding you. In return, you will less likely be intimidated by those who always see an opportunity to belittle you and your capabilities. When you are firm in showing what you can do and encourage others that they have a strong support system, you will always have a steady flow of creativity in your team.

The next time you encounter difficult people at work, always have a cool head first and try to understand the reasons why. You will see better results.

i'm so happy to discover that mico is learning how to grab the toys on his activity mat.:) the toys almost fell on his head and yet he was smiling. i'm so happy i'm making a mini video out of it. :) but you can only watch it on youtube.hehehe...watch it on youtube.com/geefealba