How do you call your father? I call mine papa. Every blessed child would think that his/her papa is the best, even if he is made of clay. Loving and honoring one’s dad is one of the secrets to a happy life. I am glad that loving my papa is easy.

My papa may be known for a lot of prudent ideas in government, nation-building, banking, finance, economics and other critical national issues but today, I celebrate his papa-tastic life tips he has personally bestowed upon me. He gave me very simple life principles that took me years to understand, embrace and live by.

Learning how to learn

The week before I was going to the university as a freshman, I claimed with the cocky confidence of a naïve teenager that I was finally going to college. My father retorted that I was just going to “learn how to learn.” He explained to me that the more I learn of new things, the more I will learn that I do not know much. I have to learn the technique of learning how to learn to prepare me for the real deal---the school of life.

He also said that I need to think how to think---that is what life is all about. He taught me to think before I cry (that seemed difficult as a girl). Later on, I wrote in my TRUTH Curriculum that emotions should follow right thinking; that is why our head is above our heart. I eventually learned that this was actually a biblical principle.

Through the years, I have observed that my papa has so much zest for learning. He is a voracious reader, an avid collector of books of various fields of interests. His hunger for knowledge is insatiable.

Smile to Success

My papa always reminds me to smile. As I was growing up in a traditional school, the strict teachers would usually suspect me to be involved with mischief-making ventures whenever they see me smile. So I developed inhibitions about smiling. It was only when I became an exporter-entrepreneur that I learned the value of a smile. I smiled my way to success.

Ever notice that the younger you are, the more you smile? Jaded people do not normally smile. Somehow, maturity affects our smile-asticity. A smile breaks cultural divides and relaxes the person. It opens the door to opportunities. I observed that my papa always smiles even to strangers. As I learned to do that too, I learned that there is still a lot of niceness in the world. People smile back at you when you smile at them. I typically chat with strangers with a smile as my opening line.

So, I teach children to smile. In our school, you can only enter it with a smile. It is part of the daily uniform! You will see moody kids going back to the door to re-enter with a practiced smile. An astute six year old once welcomed a school guest with his original greeting, “This is a place where you’ve got to smile.”

Picture-perfect

Ever since I was a little girl, my papa always enjoyed taking pictures. I was usually uncooperative and shy to pose in public, terrified to be strangled by a fake Frankenstein, embarrassed to use a crutch and wear correctional glasses as a teen, outraged to hug strange God-knows-who’s-behind-those-mascot creatures, and too impatient to waste time for a pretend pose. And yet, my papa was unperturbed by all the childish emotional exclamations my siblings and I whined about. A picture is important. And yes, you have to smile sweetly and for heaven’s sake, pose nicely!

As I reached my teen years, and after traveling with him many times (call it my exposure trips), I finally learned to smile, pause, pose and even pretend. That made my papa happy. In life, you need to pause and be happy. Studies show that happy people like making memories. They archive life events with a click and a smile. The best moments become more precious and the tragic episodes become less painful.

Power Nap

My papa always had the gift of sleep. Before any important event, snooze rules for him to relax and recharge. I never realized the power of sleep until I started working. He used to command all his children to take an afternoon nap. It was so easy for him to enter the land of nod while our young hyper bodies were raring to go out and play. He used to tell us that when we grow older, we would desire to sleep but we wouldn’t be able to. That was a duh moment for us. Only recently did I get it. Realizing the power of a nap, I offer such to my students because it boosts their concentration and sharpens their thinking.

Happy Hugger

My papa is a happy hugger. I’m a chip off the old block. Research reveals that an adult must have at least seven hugs a day. When I am in his home, I get more than seven hugs a day from him, to this day. He believes in the power of touch. He taught me to massage his head. I never realized that I used to massage his headaches away when I was a child. I never heard him complain, only snore (oops!). He claims I’m his expert massager. I believe his biased opinion. Likewise, he also has the power to put me to sleep, to this day.

I feel so blessed to have so many treasured moments with my papa dear. The best part is that we enjoy each other while we still live. Smile, hug, laugh, sleep, say “Sorry”, say “I love you” …those are simple easy lessons that most of us take a lifetime to learn. I’m glad I had a head start early on.

It is funny how a lesson becomes more valuable through maturity. The brilliance of his life lessons lie in its simplicity and timelessness. They do not cost me much. It only required openness, understanding and my personal obedience. His life lessons, when applied in real life, are truly papa-tastic!