A life traveller, a life sharer

CEBU, Philippines - A few years ago, driven by a spiritual urge to jot down his thoughts, businessman Juanito "June" Luna spent a couple of days away from the city's noise and humdrum to write. At that moment, you would have seen a man possessed of purpose and creativity.

On pieces of paper, he poured his thoughts on his experiences during childhood, high school, college, as a medical representative, as a businessman, as a family man, as a member of civic and religious organizations, and as a spiritual traveller.

As a result, in 2010, he produced his first self-published book titled "Triunephant: The Story of Success and Transformation." There, he chronicled what a rollercoaster ride his life is - from how he learned that he was an adopted child with three different names, how he faced poverty, abuse and rejection at a young age to how he became a successful family man and businessman, and how he transformed into a spiritual traveller and life sharer.

Luna is married with three children and two grandchildren. He is president and chief executive officer of Prosel Pharmaceuticals and Distributors that started in Cebu City in 1983. His long list of affiliations included being a meditation student at the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University in India.

Triunephant is a story of a man whose significant matters in life come in sets of threes, who succeeded in transforming his negative experiences into success.

"If I make a conscious and sincere effort, I realized that I could transform myself from worst to best in a quantum leap and with a leap of faith. Change is physical and material in nature while transformation is highly spiritual, elevated and much closer to God's help, support, blessings, and intentions," he said.

Shortly after, in 2013, Luna published his second book, XPRNZ: A Journey towards Soul Consciousness, which contains his personal interpretations and thoughts about various issues in life, including anger, parenting, karma, sex, shopping, power, business, politics, stress, and revelation.

In a span of over a decade, Luna talks about these same topics as a life sharer or motivational speaker in talk and seminars for parents, teachers, students, doctors, religious, medical representatives, and cancer patients and survivors, among others.

Kirkus Reviews, a US-based company that provides book reviews and recommendations, described XPRNZ as "a quirky, inspirational guide to living authentically" and "a potentially controversial but sometimes-wise self-help manual."

"XPRNZ is simply a play of letter to describe all the experiences that I have been sharing about the different spiritual topics in my talks and seminars. It is specially written for readers who are thirsty for something to help them move forward with their lives spiritually," Luna said.

The book is divided into 10 sections, each a rich mine of spiritual knowledge and experience-based reflections. Below are some of Luna's thoughts taken from his second book:

On anger management

Luna created the Four-Way Test of Spiritual Awareness, inspired by Rotary International's Four-Way Test, which asks these questions: What are the causes of my anger? When do I usually get angry? How do I usually express my anger? Who is the object of my anger?

On parenting

Obedience out of fear overshadows respect, and suppression of feelings sometimes becomes an alternative that children take rather than self-expression. This is either a trigger to or a by-product of parent-child conflicts and problems. Humility for parents is authority in disguise.

On karma

When we hear the word karma, the first thing that comes to our mind is bad karma. The word karma is derived from the Sanskrit word karma, which simply means "to do or to act." It is not a curse, as others think it is. Karma simply confirms the biblical principle that what you sow is what you reap. We only get back from life what we put into it.

On the shopping mall syndrome

Shunning the material world is not an automatic source of spiritual benefit. What we need to watch and turn away from is the attitude that our wealth and material possessions are us. Material things are never the true reflections of our intrinsic worth.

On sexuality (sex and spirituality)

In this lifetime, always remember that each of us is a spiritual being, not just a human or sexual being. We are all souls inside male or female bodies, not merely bodies with souls. We are all here on earth, playing our unique individual roles while expressing our sexuality through spirituality.

On managing the self

A leader is one who has gained mastery of one's self. The energy of consciousness is one's personal and spiritual power. To master that power means to use this power to shape our perceptions and responses to people and to the world around us.

On establishing and managing a business

Have a thought and imagine. Imagine and dream. Dream and plan. Plan and have courage. Have courage and take risks. Take risks and implement. Implement and commit. Commit and keep.

On holi-politics

Holi-politics is primarily anchored on spirituality with the aim of making both leaders and their subjects realize their true and original identity as spiritual beings.

On time and nature

Make sincere efforts to constantly live in the present and enjoy it as a gift from God. Savor the blessings of the here-and-now. We cannot go against time, nature and God without suffering the consequences of our actions. Aligning or realigning ourselves with these three aspects of life is a much better alternative, and if these amazing forces of energy align with you, that's what you call real magic.

On the future

Many people are praying very hard for God to end their misery and suffering. While destruction of the environment is happening on a global scale through the misuse of science and technology, nature is also cooperating very well through natural disasters. Where do you think the world is heading?

Mr. Luna is presently writing his third book. (FREEMAN)