My Autobiography: David Balleza K(C)atague: The Power of Relationship: My Personal Reflection

Sunday, October 19, 2025

The Power of Relationship: My Personal Reflection

The Power of Relationships: The Key to Long-Term Health You Didn’t Know

We all know that diet and exercise play crucial roles in our health, but what truly determines a long, healthy life? A groundbreaking long-term study by Harvard scientists has revealed a surprising truth: social connections are the most important factor for health.

Close bonds with friends, family, and community have a stronger impact on health outcomes than smoking, obesity, or even genetics. People with strong relationships live longer, experience fewer chronic illnesses, and show better mental resilience as they age.

On the other hand, loneliness is as dangerous as smoking 15 cigarettes a day! These findings have shocked many in the medical field, but they confirm a deep truth: humans are wired to connect, and our health depends on it.

Meanwhile, here's my more personal and reflective write-up on this topic.

The Power of Relationships: The Key to Long-Term Health You Didn’t Know
Over the years, I’ve learned that health isn’t just about lab results, medications, or how carefully we follow a doctor’s advice. It’s also about the people who walk beside us — the ones who listen, care, and lift our spirits when we need it most. As someone living with a chronic illness, I’ve come to understand that relationships are not just emotional comforts — they are medicine for the soul and body alike.
What Science — and Life — Have Taught MeThe famous Harvard Study of Adult Development revealed something profoundly simple: the greatest predictor of long-term health and happiness isn’t money or success — it’s the strength of our relationships. That truth resonates deeply with me. Over time, I’ve seen how a caring word from a friend, a smile from a neighbor, or a phone call from a loved one can ease both physical pain and emotional fatigue.
Science backs it up. People who are connected to others tend to live longer, recover faster, and feel more fulfilled. Loneliness, on the other hand, is now considered as dangerous to health as smoking or obesity. But beyond the data, I’ve felt this truth in my own life. Genuine companionship lightens the load in ways medicine alone cannot.
When Caring Becomes HealingThere’s something almost spiritual in how relationships work. A kind gesture releases oxytocin — the “bonding hormone” — calming the heart and lowering stress. Laughter, conversation, even quiet companionship can ease anxiety and improve sleep. It’s as though the body knows when it’s safe — when it’s surrounded by care.
Each week, during my professional massage therapy sessions, I’m reminded that healing isn’t just physical touch — it’s the exchange of trust, presence, and compassion. Those moments of connection remind me that wellness extends far beyond the body; it reaches the heart and soul.
The Challenge of Connection in Modern TimesWe live in an age where everyone seems connected but often feels isolated. Text messages and social media likes can’t replace real conversation, eye contact, or shared silence. I’ve learned that true connection takes intention — and sometimes courage.
Reaching out to old friends, thanking those who’ve supported me, or simply sharing time with others has become one of my quiet health rituals. It doesn’t appear on any prescription pad, yet it nourishes me more deeply than many treatments ever could.
Gratitude for the People Who Make Life WholeAs I reflect on my own journey, I feel immense gratitude for those who continue to stand by me. Friends who check in. Family who listen. Readers who share kind words about these blogs. These relationships sustain me through both the challenges of illness and the joys of living each day with purpose. During my 3-days of hospitalization recently, your phone calls, messages and even a gifts of white orchids and cacti plants made me realized I have friends who are concerned about me. I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.   
Good relationships, I’ve come to see, are not just about longevity — they are about quality of life. They help us heal, inspire us to keep going, and remind us that we are never truly alone.
A Closing Thought to My ReadersIf you take one lesson from this, let it be this: nurture your relationships like you would your health. Reach out, forgive often, listen deeply, and express gratitude freely. Life’s truest wealth lies not in what we own, but in who we have beside us.
Because in the end, it’s not the years in our life that matter — it’s the love that fills them.
Author’s Note
As I write this, I’m reminded that life is both fragile and beautiful — made meaningful not by possessions or achievements, but by the people who care enough to walk the road with us. Living with Stage 4 kidney disease has taught me that strength often comes from quiet, unseen sources — the phone call that arrives at just the right moment, the kind word from a reader across the world, the gentle reassurance of someone who understands.
To my family, friends, and loyal readers who’ve stayed connected through my words and reflections — thank you. Your encouragement and presence continue to remind me that even in life’s most challenging moments, I am not alone.
Cherish your relationships. They are life’s truest form of healing — and the legacy that endures long after everything else fades.
Meanwhile, 
The mind holds mysteries far deeper than we ever imagined. Scientists have discovered that your brain can actually anticipate the future before it happens, processing events seconds in advance, as if it’s running a silent simulation of what’s about to occur. It’s not magic. It’s neuroscience at its most fascinating.
In recent experiments, brain scans revealed that neurons start firing in preparation for events before the body consciously reacts. Whether it’s catching a falling object, avoiding a collision, or finishing someone’s sentence, the brain constantly forecasts what’s coming next. This hidden predictive power is what keeps us alive, efficient, and surprisingly intuitive.
Researchers believe this ability stems from the brain’s internal “prediction machine,” which constantly compares incoming information with stored experiences. Every movement, sound, or sight is processed not as it happens, but milliseconds before. Essentially, you’re always living a fraction of a second ahead of time, your brain already knows what’s next.
This discovery changes how we understand decision-making, intuition, and creativity. The same mechanism that helps athletes react in lightning speed also helps artists, drivers, and even musicians perform flawlessly. It’s like a biological time traveler, navigating possibilities before reality catches up.
So next time you get a sudden feeling, a flash of instinct, or a sense that something’s about to happen, you might be right. Your brain isn’t guessing. It’s predicting. And it’s been doing it all along. The future isn’t always a mystery; sometimes, it’s already written in your neurons.

Finally, Here's my Food For Thought for Today:

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Highlights of My Professional Career

In my more than 40 years of professional career, I have experienced both working rank and file, as well as supervising the work of subordinates. I have worked in four private firms and the Federal Government, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where I retired. I enjoyed the challenges and difficulties of both types of job situations. This is the highlights of my work experience story.

My first job after completing my doctorate degree was a Chemist for Chemagro Corporation in Kansas City, Missouri. It was a subsidiary of Bayer Corporation, a German conglomerate. I worked for the analytical chemistry department comprised of about fifty people; half that number was either chemists or biologists. My specific task was to develop analytical methods for the detection of pesticide residues in plant and animal tissues. I worked on my own, similar to six other bench chemists, and we all reported to the same supervisor.

The firm sponsored my visa conversion from a student to a permanent resident, and I was able to legally work and reside in the United States with my family. The company generously took care of its employees. At the end of each successful year, everyone received a 13th month salary bonus. The employees and their families celebrated wonderful annual Christmas parties in a downtown Kansas City hotel, with dancing and free drinks for the whole night.

Inasmuch as I enjoyed and loved working for Chemagro for five years, I found a new job which offered a substantially higher pay. Due to my exemplary work performance, my supervisor preferred and lobbied for me to stay with the company. I had to turn him down because they could not match the package presented by my new employer. It was also a chance for me and my family to move and live in the US west coast, where the mild winter climate is bearable compared to the Midwest.

My next job was at the agricultural research division of Shell Development Company in Modesto, California. I was a Research Chemist, and again I worked individually, same as five other chemists who all reported to a supervisor. My specific duty was similar to my previous job. I worked for them for five years, until the company decided to get out of the pesticide business. They closed their research facility affecting the jobs of more than 200 employees.

My third industrial job was with the agricultural research division of Stauffer chemical company, located in Richmond, California. I was a Senior Research Chemist doing the same project as my two previous jobs. I worked for twelve continuous years for the company, with outstanding annual job performance. I became a Principal Research Chemist, the highest attainable non-supervisory position.

One day in 1986, my supervisor informed me that my job had been eliminated, and I had one day to vacate the facility. It was the most dreadful lay off experience in my life. I felt anger, sadness and humiliation to be dismissed from work with one day notice, after all the years of hard work invested for the company. This was an unforgettable incident and was the gloomiest point in my professional career.
The company terminated sixty research employees, who were upset of the bad news.

One of the chemists was distressed and expressed his outrageous anger by threatening the company and its workers. He told his supervisor of his intention to bomb and burn down the laboratory. He was immediately escorted by the security staff out of the building and into his car. He was informed to leave behind his personal belongings; they will be mailed to his residence. He was warned never to show up again near the company premises or risk getting arrested.

My supervisor was kind and allowed me to take my time to pack up my belongings. It took me two days to clear up my workplace, after toiling for a long period in the same jobsite. We were provided clerical help and office space, in preparation to look for another job, such as updating our resumes, and using the computer and copy machine. We were given six weeks of separation pay plus benefits.

Fortunately, with the help of a friend who is a Church parishioner, I found another job thirty days after leaving Stauffer chemical company. He hired me as a senior research chemist and as a group leader with two technicians to supervise. It was in the same field as my expertise in my previous three jobs spanning the last twenty one years. My new employer was Chevron Chemical Company, and which was located in the same area as my former employer.

This job gave me the introduction and basic knowledge of managing the work of subordinates. I worked for Chevron Company for four and a half years. The company decided to consolidate their research facilities in Texas, and lay off all its research employees. This time I had enough distress and agony from working, and eventually getting laid off from several private companies. To avoid going through any more miserable layoffs, I made a vow that I would never again work for a private company.

In my work experiences, there were noticeable and unavoidable jobsite occurrences. One can never miss the office romantic relationships between co-workers, both illicit and permitted. Though it was frowned upon, there was a boss and staff relationship, which was used as a ploy to get ahead in the company. Some relationships had chemistry, no pun intended, but some never worked out. Oftentimes, there was a sense of distrust among bench chemists for some workers who unjustly obtained preferred work assignments.

Some employees resorted to bribing superiors to get special privileges, such as being able to attend choice conferences and meetings in exciting venues or locations. Likewise, politics was always present at the worksites. It was during an era when various forms of harassment, equal opportunity and discrimination laws were not yet enforced in the workplace. Occasionally, an unexpected chemical explosion happens in a laboratory setting, where luckily no one got seriously hurt.

In the three private companies I worked for, I was able to publish scientific journals for some of the research studies and analytical methods which I developed for the respective companies of Chemagro, Shell Development and Stauffer.

After deciding and making a vow to avoid working in the private sector, I made my new goal which was either to work for the state of California, or the Federal government in Washington, D.C. Four months after I lost my job in Chevron, I was lucky and joyful to be hired by the Food and Drug Administration as a review chemist in the fall of 1990.

In 1994 I was promoted as an Expert Research Chemist with a GS-14 rating. My expertise was on Anti-malarial and Anti-parasitic drug products. In 1997, I was again deservingly promoted to Chemistry team leader, supervising the work of six Chemistry reviewers including five with doctorate degrees.

As team leader, I was responsible for prioritizing, assigning, and assuring the technical accuracy of all chemistry, manufacturing and control issues for all new drug applications submitted to the Division of Anti-Infective Drug Products, Center of New Drugs.

It was part of my responsibility to give advice, instruct and promote high morale and teamwork in my group. My work in the FDA is confidential, until the drug patent on the products I worked on has expired. There are manufacturing supplements that I have approved that are now open for the public in the Internet.

In 1998, I won the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Award. The citation reads, “For outstanding accomplishments in fostering the objectives of the EEO Program by hiring minorities and encouraging their professional growth while providing excellent leadership.” I have received numerous certificates of appreciation, awards in leadership and communications, commendation for teamwork and excellence in the accomplishment of the FDA mission. I have also received several letters of appreciation from private industry for my review work.

There are many good things working as rank and file while enjoying doing one’s job individually. It is a humbling, satisfying and productive experience, if one can work in harmony with one’s immediate supervisor. Working individually develops one’s skills in goal setting and scheduling. But in general, the financial rewards are less than a person who has supervisory responsibilities.

Managing the work of others has its challenges. Moreover, it develops one’s skill in handling and developing people, and the compensation rewards and benefits are better. Due to additional duties, responsibilities and leadership, supervisory work can be more stressful than working as a subordinate. However, supervisory jobs give one more personal growth and satisfaction, based on my personal experience. My work in FDA as a team leader managing the work of six scientists had been the happiest and rewarding work experience in my career in Chemistry. You might also like:

Sunday, October 19, 2025

The Power of Relationship: My Personal Reflection

What Science — and Life — Have Taught Me

When Caring Becomes Healing

The Challenge of Connection in Modern Times

Gratitude for the People Who Make Life Whole

A Closing Thought to My Readers

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