Loving My Country: A Mindset of Conscious Living - Marirose Cacho

(This blog is 13th of a long series of profiles on friends and acquaintances I have met in my life journey. I invited them to share my spot because I believe in synergy, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. We are parts of the whole, and together we are indeed great!)

(Photo by Boy de la Peña)

Here is a confession: Before I came face-to-face with Marirose Cacho in a transformational workshop in 2007 in Iloilo, I had heard unfavorable things about her. Being a person of stature in the city, she was undoubtedly subject to public scrutiny. However, I was so deep in my own messy marital quagmire at that time to pay any serious heed to the hearsays. I am glad I bypassed the gossip: Marirose and I turned out to have similarities in our situations, and I personally experienced her to be one of the sweetest, most vulnerable and yet most courageous and authentic women I have ever met. Our relationship since that meeting, although irregular, has been of intimate spiritual sisterhood through our support group, Fastrack.

Here is my attempt to know more about her, and to share her strengths with my readers.

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Dot: Please tell me a little bit about yourself and your passion or advocacy. What motivates you to pursue your advocacy?

Rose: What motivates me is my love for country. I believe I was gifted with love for country from the time I was born. I learned in Gawad Kalinga* that to love one’s country, one also has to care for the poor and it’s not about funding alone. It’s not about charity. It’s about being involved. It’s about a lifestyle change. It’s about being present. I’m a seven (7) in the Enneagram** so there’s a struggle for continuity of the programs for the poor since I enjoy my party time. I kinda balance it out with spurts of short trips out of Iloilo into places I haven’t been to. I love promoting the different parts of the country. I believe that loving one’s country is a mindset of conscious living like buying Filipino products, promoting the country, not littering, caring for the poor, greening, etc. Great countries like Japan depend greatly on the actions of their citizenry, how responsible they are, how aware they are that their country depends on them and not the government alone.

(*Gawad Kalinga means “to give care” in Filipino. It is a Philippine poverty-alleviation and nation-building movement whose mission is to end poverty for five million families by 2014.)

(**The Enneagram is a model of the human psyche which is taught as nine interconnected personality types. A type 7 is extroverted, optimistic, versatile, playful, and spontaneous, and can have problems with impatience and impulsiveness.)
Dot: So far, what great spiritual or esoteric lessons have you learned?

Rose: Staying still or meditating is extremely important. I’m action-orientated so I struggle to keep "still." Zen meditation is one of the best practices I’ve gotten into, although I’m pretty delinquent at it. It has shown me and made me feel the greatness of God’s love by actually just sitting. Everything is just here. I still practice my Catholic faith because it keeps my equilibrium. It’s the religion I grew up with. It’s the religion that taught me first to love God, country, family, etc., but spirituality is far more than religion. I miss Fastrack a lot. That’s the inner circle I belong to. Zen and Fastrack have taught me so much outside the box. My purpose became clearer with this. I still have much to learn being a 7 (in the Enneagram), although I’m far from being shallow. I need a group to remind me of staying still.

Dot: What do you think are the best positive lessons you learned from your parents that you want to pass on to your children?

Rose: From my father: integrity, compassion, honesty, frugality, hard work, love for God, fairness, and consistency. From my mother: keeping the family close, a beautiful home, good taste.

Dot: Can you tell me about your top three wins in life? Have they something to do with your lessons?

Rose: My first win is Gawad Kalinga (GK). It’s about consistency, love for God and country, compassion, and responsibility (also a lesson I got from my father). Second, it’s handling money and small businesses. This win is about frugality, simplicity, integrity, and hard work. My third win is having a beautiful home and good children. These are about good housekeeping methods, fairness, compassion, and keeping the family close together.

Dot: And your role models? What makes them your role models?

Rose: My father. I guess the lessons say it all. My siblings and I are quite steadfast, simple, "homing pigeons," and hardworking because of him. I learned social responsibility from him. GK founder Tony Meloto is my next role model. He is tireless and relentless in finding solutions and innovations to give back dignity to the poor and to country. There’s also GK Executive Director and my boss Luis Oquiñena. I admire his simplicity, dedication, and loyalty to the work without showing a trace of frustration, although there is much to be frustrated about in this type of work. Lastly, there’s my mother-in-law. Her total dedication to her husband and family was admirable.

Dot: What beautiful changes are you seeing in the world now?

Rose: Life has always been beautiful. Although this country is in a rot right now, I believe there are always enough good people to light up the darkness. I like it that people are more aware of natural products more than chemically-based products, and more aware of the environment. It’s easier to connect with people. The world has become smaller. People are thinking beyond religion for their spirituality. In a world of uncertainty, there are endless possibilities.

Dot: In connection with these changes, how do you take care of yourself physically? Emotionally? Spiritually? Mentally?

Rose: Physically, I play golf, run, walk, go to the gym, use the juicer, and take in fruits, supplements, and kefir water. Emotionally, I try to create balance between work and play through travel, (taking a break) being with close friends and cousins, and tending my vegetable plot. Spirituality, I meditate (delinquent though), go to mass, visit GK villages, do my work in GK, read books (delinquent also), sit in silence or stillness. Mentally, I watch telenovela, specifically Korean. Nakaka in love . I also exercise, de-clutter, put some kind of order in life, drink wine, travel, walk in the garden, visit nature. I wish I have more Fastrack time also for spirituality.

Dot: What legacy would you like to leave the world?

Rose: A better Philippines. A Philippines that is sanctuary for all Filipinos, like my home is to me. I wish for my children to somehow continue that legacy.

Dot: Do you have any encouragement for your family and friends?

Rose: Live, love, and be happy, ha ha, ha, ha. There is so much joy in giving. That doesn’t mean you are not thinking of yourself because to be able to give, you have to love yourself. Give to yourself. All those leadership programs like those of the Organizational Change Consultants International and Discovery Weekend are a great way to start in the right track. Love yourself, then your purpose. Meditation is soooo important. Because of it, life falls in place. Have an inner circle that reminds you that "what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Dot: How can you be reached by people who wish to connect with you?

Rose: People can find me in FB as Rosa Mistica Ca. Also through my cell phone, email (upon request), or telepathy he, he, he (it works sometimes).