Finding Mojo Podcast

There's no better time to get started on taking the first step towards self-discovery. Find your mojo and live the life you want. Sounds like a complex topic?

In this episode, we have Phil Pynor, a pastor and corporate strategist, who will unpack the process for us. Phil currently lives in Cebu City. Phil works with leaders and not-for-profit organisations in Australia, the Philippines and Cambodia. He is currently working on rebuilding the slum community after Typhoon Odette.

Phil helped us unpack the concept of self-discovery and share the first step in the process.

• Be curious to ask the hard questions. Life is about the integrity of the questions you ask yourself than the answers that you get. Ask the questions. What are your dreams, values, talents, a sense of purpose, your strengths and weaknesses?
• Be brave to be in the chaos. Self-discovery is a journey that has a start but no end. It's unstructured, chaotic and messy.
• Be selective of who you want to be with the journey. Choose a sage who is willing to walk alongside you for the long haul—a person who is not judgmental, genuine and committed to listening to what you are saying.

Be energised, inspired, and encouraged to deep dive into knowing who you are. Resilience comes from self-understanding. When you know who you are and what you want in life, you'll have the capacity to respond when life throws you a curveball.

🔊 We brought to you Dr Cecile Cabias-Jaca, an internal medicine, cardiologist. She shared her experience in treating COVID patients in four hospitals in Cebu from the start, through the troughs and peaks of the pandemic, until now. She has the actual data that proves how vaccination can save a person's life.

Dr Cecile also shared her journey in managing her stress amidst the fear and uncertainty. Listen to the secret ingredients 💥 she shared on how to be successful for the millennials.

With no end-game in sight with COVID, she reminds us not to be complacent and help the government downgrade the virus to the simple flu. Get vaccinated. Get your booster shots. Follow the safety protocols and strengthen your immune system.

We continue with Part 2 of the series with Azah Yazmin, the relationship therapist. We explore a technique focusing on creating an emotionally safe space in a conversation. In this episode, Zana and Nico imitate a couple, negotiating the demand of career and family.

When using the 'I' statement and paraphrasing, it replaces the ‘attack-defend’ style of many failed conversations and relationships with a ‘listen-accept’ conversation cycle, leading naturally to an amicable solution.

This two-part series will explore how our conversation style influences our relationships. Our guest, Azah Yazmin, a trained emotionally-focused relationship therapist, will share the ‘process’ in managing tough and deep conversations for successful relationships.

We judge from the first five minutes when we hear another person talk. The problem is communication – talking and listening, are very complex. How we speak and listen is a learned social behaviour influenced by cultural and childhood experiences that carry over into our relationship with our partner, friends, and co-workers.

Listen to the unscripted conversation of Zana and Nico, emulating a couple in a counselling session with Azah. You can hear that conversation is not as simple as saying what we mean. We can say the same thing, but the way we say it can have a different meaning. How we say what we mean and listening to what another person is saying are crucial.

Three key learnings in this episode:

• the process is as important as the content. Take turns in a conversation. Let one speak, and the other respond. Don’t talk over each other. Use paraphrasing to confirm that you understand what the other meant. Don’t get stuck in the old way you learnt from your environment;
• be curious in finding facts. Use the data and analyse the content. Listen deeply not only to the spoken words to understand the actual intention; and
• don’t get your emotion to be the motivation - defensive, critical and blame. Choose how you respond to either soothe or heal you.

Our special guest in this episode is Nicolay Enriquez, my co-host who wears many hats as a radio DJ, event host, and singer-songwriter. Nico shared his journey to becoming a radio DJ and how it opens the doors to other opportunities.

Ready to settle down at 37, he fell in love with a neighbour. Living the mantra of happy wife, happy life, Nico shares how important it is to have a collaborative relationship to get to a happy and contented relationship.

Recently, he released his single ‘Breathe’, inspiring others to keep calm when the world is in chaos.

Key learnings from Nico are:

• Be present, be where the opportunities are, have no regrets, take everything as a learning opportunity;
• Deep dive into what you are passionate about, and learn every trick from the best; and
• Slow down, be at your pace, have your own race, life is not a competition, and keep calm and breathe.

In this episode, we have Mais Semblante who found her mojo and chose Cosplay as her profession. She knew that she was different, unlike other girls since she was a kid. An introvert, she built her own world, found comfort in comic books, play-acting the characters from her comic books and pretended to have superpowers.

She started taking Cosplay seriously when she found that playing dress-up, doing what she loved as a child can help her make money. In the beginning, she invested serious time, effort and whatever little money she had crafting and sewing her own costume. She also did her own make-up. She got invited and sponsored to participate in Cosplay events as participants and judges in Cosplay competitions, as her popularity grew in the industry. Her last public appearance was in SM Seaside in Cebu City in 2019, which attracted over 20 thousand people from all over the Philippines.

As social events were banned during COVID, she started doing live streaming for gamers. Not an easy feat, she had to reinvent herself, learning new skills in streaming, building her confidence in attracting people to watch and listen to her streaming channels, in her own skin without the costume.

Without fear of being judged, she found ways to express herself through the visual art of Cosplay. She has risen up at every challenge, reinventing herself, pushing her boundary to achieve the goals and high standards she set for herself.

The key learnings from Mais are:

• Build your network of cheerleaders - a group of people around you that share your vision and drive, who will always support and motivate you;
• Pay great attention to every detail and be very meticulous in everything you do; and
• Set a high standard for yourself of what you want to achieve and be fearless to achieve that standard.

Having tried different career paths from a call centre agent to a web developer in a full-time job, made Marvin a better business owner in the health and lifestyle industry. Starting a business during the pandemic was challenging and requires Marvin to be fluid and make difficult bold decisions. Despite tough times, Marvin still finds time to give back to the community. Collaborating with Gaisano Country Mall, he is now raising funds for the Dream Big Project, building Community Library. Join the fund-raising event in virtual cycling and choose either the fun ride of 30km or elite riders of 100km and 300km. Participants can complete the ride between 23 Oct to 23 Nov.

https://www.facebook.com/marvin.conson
https://fb.watch/9bHFBrlth7/

Welcome to Finding Mojo, hosted by Zana Gawan-Taylor and Nicholay Enriquez. I am Zana, a Malaysian and currently residing in Cebu City, Philippines since 2018. I am the CEO of BSA Solutions Inc. I am passionate about developing professional talents in the Philippines and helping businesses build their dream team offshore in the Philippines. My co-host, Nicholay or Nico, wears many hats – a radio DJ at 92.3, an event host, an artist – guitarist in a band, a singer and a songwriter. He recently joined BSA as a public relations officer.

Together with our guests, we will share practical insights to help you navigate life’s challenges and inspire you to find your mojo.