Showing posts with label Gratitude. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gratitude. Show all posts

Monday, February 27, 2012

Get Rich, Now!

Richness in life is more than just having money. [Pic]

What you want is not necessarily what you need.

You want the car your neighbor just bought; you want the watch you saw in the magazine; you want a pair of heels even though your wardrobe is bursting; you want to be able to have whatever you want...

Is that what life is all about?

In our endless pursuit of worldly things, we could have easily forgotten the essentials of life which are far more important than money. 

Discipline: A key ingredient to healthy lifestyle. [Pic]

There is nothing very new here. Let's just take a moment to remind ourselves:

1. Health

You need two ingredients to stay healthy: 1) knowing what the right actions are, and 2) the discipline to do the right actions.

For (1), rich resources can be found easily in this modern time. Few would have difficulties accessing basic information. It is 'discipline' or the lack of, that is often cited as the main culprit for an unhealthy lifestyle.

To stay healthy, work hard on (1) and work harder on (2). 


2. Habit

A habit is a series of actions performed involuntarily and rather effortlessly. Bad habits are common obstacles in life. They can hurt your health or social life. On the other hand, good habits are empowering.

You need to kick bad habits and acquire good ones. Do not expect quick results. Start with being aware of your existing habits and take small but ceaseless steps to change your actions.


Love what you do. Do What you love. [Pic]

3. Work

A rich life is no fluke. You have to work for what you want.

'Work' is more than just what you do in your office and you should stop viewing it as a dirty word. Take control and you will not have to fight any Monday blues.

The mantra for this is, 'love what you do and do what you love.'


4. Gratitude

Feeling grateful gives you positive energy. On the other hand, complains and grouses are dis-empowering.

Whining is not a necessity but a bad habit. Kick it.


Gratitude makes you rich.  [Pic]

5. Happiness

Everyone wants to be happy. Many go looking for it or simply wait for it to come.

The thing is, 'happiness' is here and now. This makes the phrase 'pursuit of happiness' rather ironical. It is not something you seek but something you 'agree' to have.

In short, 'happiness' is a choice. You would have to make that choice to be happy.


6. Wisdom

Get wiser through lifelong learning. 

In today's breakneck pace of change, you cannot afford to be left behind. The price of obsolescence is just too high.

Learning does not mean going to school. It simply means keeping up with things. It should take place during every waking moment.

You stop, you flop.


Every man dies. Not every man really lives. [Pic]

Finally, let talk about money.

In a practical sense, you cannot live a decent life without money. However, having more money does not promise a happier life.

No one argues about this. The problem is, as Zig Ziglar has put it "Money won't make you happy… but everybody wants to find out for themselves."


Many people have been there, done that. You have the choice of learning from them or falling into the same pit.

Your life is as you live it.

"Every man dies. Not every man really lives." (William Wallace)

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Monday, February 20, 2012

The Greatness of Small Things

Get simple pleasure from nature. [Pic]

Great things do come in small packages.

That is the problem. They are often so nondescript that you tend to overlook them.

Your ability to appreciate small things in life is essential. It helps to bring you happiness and improve your general well-being. Such appreciation fills you up and leaves you with little time to brood about things that don't matter years from now.

Why live a life looking forward to amazing weekends when you can pick up little pleasures in life everyday, all the time?

The good news is, these small things are everywhere and often cost little or nothing. The bad news is, you may not see much of them until you make it a habit to notice them.

Little things can be awesome. [Source]

Neil Pasricha was going through a rough patch in life when he started his blog, '1000 Awesome Things'. He began to write about 'the free, easy little joys that make life sweet'. That had made him feel better.

His blog must have made his readers feel great too for it now attracts millions of hits. The posts have been compiled into 'The Book of Awesome', which has remained a top seller for a long while. The '1000 Awesome Things' site has also won the Webby Award which recognizes 'excellence on the Internet'. 

Pasricha started the site with post #1000 'Broccoflower' on 10 Jun 2001 . Since then, he posts an 'awesome thing' every weekday, counting down to post #1 on 20 April 2012.


How many awesome moments in life have you missed? [Pic]

Those are some of the 'no-big-deal's' in life which can make a whole big deal at that very moment in time.

Little sweet things happen to us from time to time. Few would even realize that they have come and gone, let alone savoring the moments.

How many awesome moments in life have you missed?

(Listen to Pasricha's heartfelt talk from TEDxToronto in which he reveals 'The 3 A's of awesome')

 Are you too busy for Joshua Bell's music? [Source]

Joshua Bell is a Grammy Award-winning violinist. In an experiment initiated by Washington Post in 2007, he became a 'busker' at a metro station in Washington DC. It was a cold January morning and Bell played incognito with his very intricate violin worth $3.5 million dollars.

For about 45 minutes, Bell played beautiful pieces which earned him fame and fortune. Of the 1097 people who passed by, only seven stopped to listen to him. The others? They were too busy with their daily routine.

Are you living your life just like one of 'the others'?

(Read the Washington Post article and watch the video on Bell's 'street performance')

Many little things are actually 'big things' in life. [Pic]

In life, there are many things we can feel grateful for. These are not the latest sports car you have acquired or your priced jewelery. They are just some small things.

"Enjoy the little things, for one day you make look back and realize they were the big things." (Robert Brault)

Allow the greatness of small things to bring you greatness in life. Learn to look out for them

I hope this article is one of the great little things you have had today.

Further reading:

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies." (Mother Teresa)



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Sunday, September 11, 2011

A Reflection: 10 Years After 911

10 years on...will the world ever forgive and forget? [Pic]

Today is the 11th of September 2011, 10 years after the horrific incident which will take the world forever to forget.

On that fateful day, two hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers of the New York World Trade Center. Another crashed into the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Defense. The forth one crashed in Pennsylvania.

All these four unforgettable tragedies took thousands of lives and they were no accidents nor coincidence. The planned acts were driven by seemingly insurmountable hatred among groups of human beings.

On the same day three years ago, I wrote "I Guess I'll Never Understand" and wondered why human hatred can be so extreme that nothing else seemed to matter. I am not any wiser today.

Human hatred can be so extreme that nothing else
seemed to matter.

Have we become worse?

In the beginning, the cavemen were preoccupied with physical survival. They hunted and they fought with animals. They became territorial and guarded their turfs. Back then, human beings fought and kill each other because they were protecting their families and food.

Over the last few millenia, men added more sophistication in their lives: language, religion, ethnic and culture. Lifestyle became more varied and beliefs became more complex. It is no longer just about food and shelter.

Today, we need more. At least, that is what most people think. In our hectic pursuit of what we think we need, we forget about some simple facts of life. We lose ourselves in materialism and become anemic in spirituality.

Are you losing yourselves in materialism and
becoming anemic in spirituality?
[Pic]

On the anniversary of the painfully unforgettable day, let's spend a moment to take stock of ourselves.

Gratitude

We complain and we complain a lot. However, if we were to take a step back, we would realize that we have been complaining about things that we can do without and forget to be thankful for the richness that has already been given to us.

We forget that we were born healthy, we received education, we have three meals a day, we have clean water, we have jobs and we have our loved ones with us. The list does not stop here.

See "Sometimes, I Forget..." and learn to complete the sentence "I am thankful for.." everyday, starting from now.

Be thankful for the gifts and richness
bestowed upon you.
[Pic]

Needs

We are constantly being lured by glitzy advertisements and busy 'keeping up with the Joneses'. We want more the moment we have more. The pursuit never ends and increasingly serves less purposes: A more powerful automobile is not going to bring you to office any sooner in the morning; a bigger house is not going to make your family much happier and a more sumptuous meal only means more wastage.

Do ponder over the notion 'The More The Merrier'.

Now

How much of your time is spent embracing 'Now'? Some people live in the past and feel sorry for things they can no longer change. Some people hope for a better tomorrow but do little to make that happen. Some people often forget that 'Now' is not here forever and there are only so many 'tomorrows'.

In 'The Last Lecture' I tried to imagine if we were to know our 'expiry date' right from the start of our lives, would we have lived our lives differently?' Would you?

Complete the sentence "I am thankful for..." everyday,
starting from now. 
[Pic]

Learning

We do not stop learning after leaving our last learning institution. No one disagrees with that but few truly understand and practice lifelong learning. We seem to have loads of reasons why we have no time to keep up. Some of which, I must say, are creative. In 'Lifelong Learning - My Way", I said that it is about making it a habit and making it a priority.

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.

Nature

We do not own the Earth and yet we behave like we have another one out there. If all the seven billion of us could be gentler to the Earth, this blue marble can certainly be happier. After all, it is the only thing we have in common.

See "The '350' Global Warming Alert", take a little interest on global warming and see "Say NO To Plastic Bags" and start doing something within your means, at least.

Not forgetting our animal friends. If you plan to keep one at home, do remember that "A Pet is for Life". Have some "(Cruel) Food For Thought" when you put what is left of them in your plates. Take a look at "(Cruel) Food For Thought #2" too.

We do not own the Earth. Do live harmoniously
with nature.
[Pic]
Happiness

Everyone wants to be happy but many go the opposite way and make themselves miserable. How very odd. Is it really so difficult to be happy?

In "Happiness is a Choice", I wrote that we can become happier if we learn to tell apart what we can control and what we can't. It will definitely help if we always examine ourselves first before blaming anyone. In "Happiness Quotient", I reckoned that the secret for being a happy person is not that complex and we should not make it so.

Will time ever erase the pain in the past? [Pic]


So, 10 years on, with Bin Laden dead, has the world become more peaceful? I am not certain. What I am certain is that each of us owe ourselves the duty to make ourselves a better person. Make this your daily reminder: "Be a "Better Me" Everyday".

Finally, let's not forget those who died, those who were never found and those who were left behind on September 11, 2001, just because some individuals had forgotten to "Think "Better, Not "Bitter".

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace." ~John Lennon~


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Monday, March 21, 2011

You Are in a Top Ten List

Motivate yourself with your very own
personal 'top 10' lists
[Pic]

I see 'Top 10' of everything and anything everywhere.

When a top 10 list of any kind is drawn up, it instantly earns some unexplained authority and respect. It can become so believable that it is unbelievable.

Sometimes, I like to goof around in Top Tenz just to be amazed by the weirdest kind of top 10 lists. Who would have thought of coming up with "Top 10 Ant Enemies" or "Top 10 Feral Children"? So bizarre.

YOG 2010 mascots, Lyo & Merly [Pic]

I chanced upon "Top 10 Worst Olympic Mascots" and I just had to check it out. I wanted to know if Lyo and Merly, our mascots for the 1st Youth Olympics (2010, Singapore) were in it. They were not simply because the list was compiled in 2008. But then again, why should the opinion of the contributor matter at all to me? 

There you go, I was lured by the charm of 'top 10' simply because someone said those are in the top 10.

The magic of 'top 10' does not stop there. You can use the 'top 10' phenomenon in your personal life too and see how it boosts your motivation and confidence. When you draw up a list, be sure to label it positively. "My top 10 favorite childhood friends" is definitely more helpful than "My top 10 most hated neighbors".

A positive personal 'top 10' list can change
your life perspectives.
[Pic]

When you draw up your own positive 'top 10' lists, you would consciously remind yourself of all the good things you once had or still have. You would begin to feel grateful that your life is filled with goodness. Your attention is then drawn to people and things that encourage you and your mind is free from unhelpful self condemnation (albeit temporarily). In a way, 'top 10' list can be used as a tool to recharge.

Here are 10 examples of useful 'top 10' list you can compile:
  1. "My top 10 sweet childhood memories"
  2. "My top 10 favorite teachers"
  3. "My top 10 most inspiring persons in my life"
  4. "My top 10 moments I feel most proud of"
  5. "My top 10 mistakes I have avoided"
  6. "My top 10 inspiring movies I have watched"
  7. "My top 10 lessons learned in life"
  8. "My top 10 public figures I admire"
  9. "My top 10 decisions I am glad I have made"
  10. "My top 10 favorite quotes"
To wrap up, I shall share "My top 10 reasons for telling you the usefulness of top 10 list" ...

Because I want you to know that:
10. You should not just believe in any top 10 list.
9. Top 10 list can be lame or insightful, so go for the latter.
8. You can have your own personal top 10 lists.
7. You can use your void time and draw up a personal top 10 list.

... and if your personal top 10 list is crafted positively, it
6. can motivate you.
5. can be a powerful life enhancement tool.
4. can be shared to inspire someone.
3. can be your route to realize the power of gratitude
2. can shape your life perspectives

... most importantly,
1. You are top 10 in many ways and you just have not noticed.

All of us are winners in our own right. [Pic]

All of us are winners in our own right. However, we often make ourselves losers simply by choosing to think like one. Phrases such as "I will never gonna make it" and "I am good for nothing" are poisons to our minds. Be careful not to let them creep in your head.

Why not start drawing up your very first 'top 10' list that goes "My top 10 reasons why I am a winner"? I hope one of the reasons is ..."because I choose to read this article" and I hope it has helped you.

You might also want to read:
"We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same." ~ Carlos Castaneda

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Monday, February 14, 2011

Sometimes, I Forget...

Do we really have to complain all the time?  [Pic]

When was the last time you complain?

For many, that won't be too long ago. Yesterday? An hour ago? As you are reading this article? Typically, we complain all the time and we never seem to run out of things to complain about. In doing so, we may miss out something potent: The power of gratitude.

At any one time, we have enough reasons to whine or to be thankful. The choice is ours. I may not have everything I want but I have chosen to appreciate much of what I have. The problem is...sometimes, I forget.

Millions are homeless and unemployed. [Pic]
I forget that...

- I have a job when 205 million are unemployed, 

- I have a roof over my head but more than 100 million are homeless,

- I can read and write while at least 1 billion out there are illiterate and women make up two-thirds of them,

- I have at least 3 meals a day when there are one billion people who have to endure constant hunger and are undernourished,

- I have access to clean toilets when 2.5 billion people struggle with basic sanitation and do not even have somewhere safe, private or hygienic to go to, and

- I live in a place with high per capita income (Singapore is ranked 3rd in the world) while 1.4 billion people are living in extreme poverty. 


Don't miss out the power of gratitude. [Pic]

My list goes on. I believe I have many more reasons to be grateful than to whine. I just have to remember that.

The power of gratitude gives you energy to fight your daily stress. It makes you feel rich instantly by realizing that you already have so much. Gratitude is contagious and the people around you stand to gain much, without you having to do more. Very often, gratitude is an act of giving a lot at very little or no cost. 

Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain
and most fools do. -
Benjamin Franklin
[Pic]

On the other hand, complaining is an act of momentous self-gratification. You feel good for a while but you soon feel as sick as before, if not worse. Not only you get nothing out of it, the people around you suffer too. Because of you, they are reminded on their real or imaginary plight. They start to complain too. Soon, you find yourself living in fumes of angry air.

Start to take steps to benefit from the power of gratitude. Make it a habit. One of the easy ways is to end your day by completing this sentence "I am thankful for...". Build up your list and see your real wealth grow. In time to come, you will find fewer and fewer reasons to whine.

Don't work so hard just to reach where you have set out to go. You may finally get there and realize that you have already missed out much of what you have along the way.

Be grateful. I am because you have taken time to read this.

You might also like to read:
You Are Not Happy Because...

"Only a stomach that rarely feels hungry scorns common things."  ~Horace~


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