[Philippines] The 34th Mind Lecture held in the Philippines – Learning the World of the Mind

In the morning and afternoon of the 11th of November, the MIND EDUCATION SPECIALIST TRAINING (MEST) was held at the SM NORTH Cinema with 1000 teachers, brothers and sisters. In the morning from 7am, teachers and educators stood in line waiting to register and by seeing them smiling and taking photos with the volunteers wearing traditional clothes we could tell that they were here at the mind lecture with expectation and excitement.

The first mind lecture was opened by Lecturer Eun Sung Choi who will be going to Mexico. He asked about what parts in life we must invest a lot of time in and that although we think we must invest our times in the things that are most important and urgent but actually, even though it seems as though there seems to be no answer and results seem to be slow in the important things that we invest our times in, those things are what matters most. As he spoke about the Words in the book of Ecclesiastes 12:13, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all,” he expressed his hope that the audience meet with God through this seminar.

Lecturer Young Hwan Cha of IYF Singapore explained that someone with a mind to succeed will be successful naturally but someone without a mind to succeed will not be able to maintain success even if that person becomes successful in life. He emphasized therefore, that it is important to have the mind to succeed instead of trying hard to build qualifications in order to succeed.

The third lecturer, Eun Song Choi, said it is important to be attentive when listening to other people speaking. Attentiveness does not come by trying hard to pay attention but comes naturally when realizing one is wrong. Explaining the 5 steps in listening, he explained the importance of emphatic listening. During this seminar, the lecturers educated the attendants on the basic attitude in listening to mind education.

In the afternoon, other teachers attended. Expectation was also felt in their footsteps about this mind lecture.

As the last lecture theme, lecturer Jae Man Kim of IYF Vietnam Danang, explained about desire and self-control. Self-control begins with thinking, “I cannot do this” rather than trying hard by thinking, “I can do this.” The desires inside me cannot me overcome by my efforts but through a new source of strength. This is how the first day of the MEST ended. Seeing many lecturers from different nations come and fill the mind education, we could feel God was working a lot. There already have been 33 of this event and thinking of the 33,000 teachers and educators that attended, we could see great works is happening in Philippines. Seeing the 34th SM NORTH MEST, we could not help but to be hopeful of the many teachers and in turn, students that will change.