Ten Things to Always Remember ... and One Thing to Never Forget

Ten Things to Always Remember …. and One Thing to Never Forget

By Douglas Pagels

 

1. Your presence is a present to the world.

2. You’re truly one of a kind.

3. Your life can be what you want it to be.

4. Take the days one at a time.

5. Count your blessings, not your troubles.

6. You’ll make it through whatever comes along.

7. Within you are so many answers.

8. Have courage.

9. Be strong.

10. Wish upon a star, and don’t ever forget … how very special you. 

We are worth billions

In my blog of 15 June 2013, I wrote that “our body is worth billions. For example, a pair of healthy eyes is simply priceless. Tonnes of money in research and development would not be able to produce sight for the blind. Ditto for our brain and so forth.”

While it’s a bad situation with part-of-the-way redemption, a recent news report shed light on the sum of USD 58 million awarded to Mr Antonio Lopez Chaj in Torrance Superior Court, Los Angeles, for about 25% of his skull which was bashed in.

As a result, Mr Chaj (chy), a house painter, suffers from severe brain damage, has lost his ability to speak, requires more surgeries as well as round-the-clock nursing care.

He was assaulted while trying to intercede in an attack by a bartender-manager and security guard on his two nephews. It was reported that he was beaten with a baton, kicked in the head eight times and had his skull smashed against a pavement four times.

It is gruesome to lose what we have. So, let this sober us up to appreciate what we do have. Money can’t buy back or restore fully our missing body parts.  I wish Mr Chaj a good recovery despite this setback.

For your further contemplation, here are some quotes on health is wealth:-

“Wealth is the ability to fully experience life.” -- Henry David Thoreau

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” -- Mahatma Gandhi

“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” -- Billy Graham

View of a Living Aquarium

Just last night I thought of finding an aquarium with 'live' streaming from the internet 24/7 to post to this blog. Haven't found one yet though.

Nonetheless, I am pleased to be able to find the following YouTube clip of "My Living Aquarium" by DanielTran2. The lighting is bright and the video is superbly taken so as to provide us with a delightful view of his precious school of fish.   

It is best viewed while enjoying a cuppa and/or taking a bite. You can munch along with the fish which are eating copiously and swimming non-stop. I like the lionhead goldfish best of all.

Click here to enjoy DanielTran2's excellent efforts and be refreshed.

Neymar's Dancing Feet

While growing up I spent quite a fair bit of time watching soccer matches over the television. When the world cup competition comes around it could well mean staying up till the early hours of the morning for the matches to end.

Over time though, I find it a ‘waste’ of time from a value-and-time benefit analysis standpoint. A single match could entail some 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete for an armchair footballer.

What’s worse was the ensuing dampener when the team that one had been rooting for lost the match. Watching the game I figure would be an unproductive use of time.

Thus, I would just catch a quick bite of soccer news now and then, which when dished out by a seasoned reporter would paint a pretty good picture of the game. And, stay detached from the game emotionally by not rooting for any team. 

With the ubiquitous YouTube though, I would occasionally search for memorable soccer moments which are still etched in my memory such as Johan Cryuff’s famous turn. I have also been watching the dribbling and finishing skills of Pele, Lionel Messi and Gareth Bale.

Bale was sensational. But, I find that Neymar’s skills are simply refreshing -- his twists and turns, flipping the ball over the defender and using a seemingly third leg to hook a ball past the opponent. So are his celebration dance upon scoring a goal.

I was quite content with the array and display of soccer skills to date before Neymar came on my radar, so to speak. One can now expect to see a surge of Neymar copycats to dance like him with their feet. That would be fun to watch.

Have you been kinded today?

“Love” is both a noun and verb. Thus, we can say love is the grease or icing, if you will, to sound and/or resounding relationships. And, we say, “I love you” around the globe several times a day.

However, when it comes to “kind”, which to me is a close cousin of “love”, somehow the oddity of the English language defines it as either a noun or an adjective. Thus, we may ask, “What kind of books do you like to read? And, we say, “I have not made a conscious effort to notice those who have been kind to me.”

By using “kind” as a verb today, I think it will go some distance to jolt our memory on those unappreciated persons who have kinded us, i.e., shown us kindness (if you prefer the long form as a practising English police) and, at the same time, spur us to kind others.

When we kind someone, it means that we care about their feelings or happiness. It would also mean that we are gracious in showing warmth, friendliness, generosity and favour to others; yes, even without having them to earn it.

We are blessed when others kind us. I would reason that we are even more blessed when we are in a position of grace and maturity to kind others. And, in this kindway of gracious living, let’s not forget to kind ourselves, too.

When we unkind ourselves, it is that much harder to care for others. As with charity, honesty and all good things which begin at home, let’s guard our hearts and continue our journey of kindness by kinding ourselves and our immediate family members.

Alas, we may be unkinded at times. This is when our character is tested, bringing out either the best or the worst in us. Our response to an unkind event towards us will be very telling of the kind of person we really are. What response would we choose?

We can choose to die to our natural response of selfishness and/or self-preservation. We could choose to go up to a higher plane of graciousness with humility and big heartedness. And, we might wanna do all that we can to kind the unkind besides the least, the last and the lost.

Be kind; be one of a kind, and you may find more of your kind!

Is Happiness an Illusion?

While studying in my teens, I would often look up a poster on the wall bearing these words: "Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you. But when you turn your attention to other things, it comes and gently rest on your shoulder."

For your reading pleasure and further rumination, I would recommend the following article by Steve Goodier (reprinted with permission):-

The Road to Happiness

 

Image courtesy of Gavin Mills

I understand that two women were studying a painting titled “The Road to Happiness.” The scene was warm and compelling. “Isn’t that beautiful?” one of the women said to her friend.

But the other looked despondent. "Of course it's beautiful. The only problem is… there is no such road."

No road to happiness. And I suspect she may be right, in part, anyway. There is no one path that, if we just follow, we will be sure to arrive at happiness. But that doesn’t mean there are not various roads to greater happiness. And one path is really quite simple: to stop thinking that happiness as a state of being somewhere in the future. If we can’t be happy now, can we be happy later?

Writer Barbara DeAngelis, in her audio-book Real Moments, says this about happiness: “Although when we say, 'I want to be happy' we are usually projecting ourselves into the future, happiness, by definition, can only be found now, in this moment.”

Forget about being happy later, she says, happiness right here and right now is all there really is.

She continues, "If you can't be happy now with what you have and who you are, you will not be happy when you get what you think you want. If you don't know how to fully enjoy $500, you won't enjoy $5,000 or $500,000. If you can't fully enjoy taking a walk around the block with your mate, then you won't enjoy going to Hawaii or Paris. I'm not saying that having more money or more recreation won't make your life easier. It will. But it won't make you happier because it can't."

And we don’t have to take her word for it. The Dalai Lama (The Art of Happiness), who has made a study of these things, puts it this way: “We don't need more money, we don't need greater success or fame, we don't need the perfect body or even the perfect mate - right now, at this very moment, we have a mind, which is all the basic equipment we need to achieve complete happiness.”

So we all have, at this very moment, the basic equipment we need to achieve happiness. That means there really IS a road to happiness – and you and I are on it. In fact, we’ve ALWAYS been on it. Is there a reason we can’t be happy now?

Let me ask you a question. I know it sounds a bit morbid. But, could you be happy right now if you knew you were to be hanged in a few days, or even a few hours? What is much worse than that? As bad as things have ever gotten for me, they’ve never risen to that level of fear and uncertainty. But the question is not just theoretical. It was real for Dietrich Bonheoffer in 1944.

Arrested as part of a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the German pastor and theologian languished in a Gestapo prison awaiting his execution. In his last letter to his fiancée, just hours before his execution, Bonheoffer writes about his love for her – and about happiness.

“You must not think I am unhappy. What is happiness and unhappiness? It depends so little on the circumstances. It depends really only on that which happens inside a person. I am grateful every day that I have you, and that makes me happy.”

And that’s it, isn’t it? Happiness depends little on circumstances and a lot about what’s going on inside of us. We have the basic equipment needed to be contented and at peace now. Whether we recognize it or not, we are already on the road to happiness.

 I wonder … can we ever just pause in our pursuit of happiness long enough to be happy? I think it's worth a try.

By Steve Goodier - http://www.LifeSupportSystem.com 

 

What Do We Want To Be Remembered For?

Knowing what we want to be remembered for would give us an added impetus to examine the state and direction of our lives. It could well help us to be more willing to pay the price forward and encourage us to soldier on with our desired quest in life.

In his book Half Time, Mr Bod Buford shared that he has chosen "100X" for his epitaph. It means "100 times"; to be as productive as possible. As he puts it, "My passion is to multiply all that God has given me, and in the process, give it back."

When we reach middle age and come to grip with the second half of life, we can consider the following questions which Buford himself has pondered:

"Am I listening for the still, small voice (on the inside of me)?

Is my work still the centre of my life and identity?

Do I have an eternal perspective as a prism through which I view my life?

What is my truest purpose? My life work? My destiny?

What does it really mean to "have it all"?

What do I want to be remembered for?

What would my life look like if it really turned out well?"

Today, I read about the legacy of the Mr Ken Rose whose son, Justin, won the 113th US Open held at the Merion Golf Club on Sunday and became the first English golfer to win it in 43 years.

Writing for the Sporting Life column of The Straits Times dated 18 June 2013, Mr Rohit Brijnath offered glimpses of Justin's victory in the following two excerpts:-

"If you look closely on Sunday, strewn across Merion's tight fairways and mysterious greens were the scattered shards of grown men's hearts. In this Sunday of the heartbroken, only one man was intact. Justin Rose did not slay this beast of a course, he merely was not eaten up by it."

"Every time it bruised him, he responded. Bogey at the third, birdie on the fourth. Bogey at the fifth, birdies at the sixth and seven. Bogey at 11, birdie at 12 and 13. Bogey at 16, key pars at 17 and 18. Under pressure he found grace; amid tension he found the pure stroke. It was golf that was rarely faint-hearted."

Upon his win, Justin raised his trophy to the sky as a tribute to his late father. "I felt like I sort of put into practice a lot of the lessons that he (Ken) has taught me, and I felt like I conducted myself in a way that he would be proud of," he said.

Now, when I think of Rose it would not be just The War of The Roses or The Name of The Rose, but also Ken Rose and Justin Rose.

So, what do we want to be remembered for?

Humility is the Key to Promotion

Humility is the starting point to everything great in life. This is something which I am still mulling over after having heard it in a sermon by my Senior Pastor, Kong Hee, just yesterday.

What is humility? Humility is having a correct and accurate perspective of ourselves; recognising our strengths and acknowledging our weaknesses. Alas, humility is not taught but caught. It has to be modelled by seeing it in the lifestyle of another and reflecting on how we ourselves can embrace it intentionally, if not already done so.

The lack of humility could rear its ugly butt every now and then.

In a news article by Yahoo! on 14 June 2013, "Singaporean director Jack Neo agreed that there is a lack of respect for seniors in the entertainment industry. His statement followed after MediaCorp veterans Chen Hanwei and Zoe Tay had openly reprimanded the young artistes for their lack of manners recently.

In an interview with the Singaporean media, the "Ah Boys To Men" filmmaker described the young directors in Singapore as "cocky" as there were some rude directors who criticised him for his directing style, calling it "old-fashioned"."

To me, the golden rule of humility would be not to think too highly of oneself and not to think too lowly of oneself. Don't let your success gets to your head and don't let your failure or shortfall keep you down. Know thyself and be considerate towards others who may be either more accomplished or less accomplished than you.

Better still, be like my superhero, Jesus Christ, who esteemed others as better than Himself.

This brings me to Fillmore 's discourse with Swordfish in Sherman's Lagoon by Jim Toomey:-

Swordfish(S): What am I going to stab today?
Fillmore(F): Why must you always stab things?
S: I live to stab things. I'm a swordfish.
F: Isn't there something else you can do with that nose of yours?
S: Something more fun than stabbing things? Like what?
F: I bet you can operate a computer with that nose.
F: Here. Try sending Sherman an e-mail.
S: I've never sent an e-mail before.
F: It's easy. Give it a try.
F: Good. What's it say?
S: "I want to stab you."
F: It's a start.

Here then are some impetus to make a change and steer clear of pride from the book of Proverbs:

"Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18; NKJV)

"A man's pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit retain honor." (Proverbs 29:23; NKJV)

To get into the swim of things, we need to stay humble and maintain good relationships with all of our fellow creatures in this sea of our lives. We are not likely to get promoted when we stab people or step on their toes everyday.


Footnote on Fillmore the sea turtle
[Source:http://shermanslagoon.com/]
Sherman’s pensive sidekick provides the anchor of sensibility for an otherwise eccentric cast. Not that Fillmore is a normal, well adjusted sea turtle; far from it. He’s bookish and slightly pompous, however he’s sensitive and principled, and right most of the time.

Health is Wealth

Don't feel wealthy? Think again, especially if you are in the pink of health.

Chances are that we are not conscious of just how precious our health is until we lose it. That's when we are smacked with the realisation that everything seems to suck in life as our well-being is buffeted by the virus or bacteria attacking our body.

Come to think of it, our body is worth billions. For example, a pair of healthy eyes is simply priceless. Tonnes of money in research and development would not be able to produce sight for the blind. Ditto for our brain and so forth.

Bring on a smile then for today for the health that we enjoy.

Appreciate What We Have

When our glass is a quarter-filled, what do we see, at first thought?

If our glass is half-filled, most of us would probably be ambivalent about it; seeing it as either half-filled or half-emptied.

However, with a quarter-filled glass the difference between what is not there and what is there become more pronounced and attention-grabbing.

I suggest choosing the happier thought of appreciating the 25% that is still present as a first response rather than bemoaning the 75% which is no longer there while endeavouring to top-up our glass, if so desired. 

How's Your Attitude?

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms -- to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances." -- Victor Frankl

As my senior pastor, Rev Dr Kong Hee, would often say, "Your attitude determines your altitude." Yes, even an airplane has an attitude when flying. The attitude of an airplane is its relative position to the horizon and there is actually an attitude indicator located prominently in the cockpit. A nose-high attitude is indicated when the aircraft is climbing while a nose-down attitude is shown when the aircraft is diving. Now, that would wake us up on the kind of impact an attitude can have on the course of our life.

"Attitude is everything. All manifestations in the physical world began as ideas in the non-physical world. Everyone has a choice about how to think. If you choose a negative, wrong attitude, then you will create negative and wrong results. If you choose a positive, biblical yes attitude, you choose the attitude of faith, and you will see positive results." -- Frank Damazio

"Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven't half the strength you think they have." -- Norman Vincent Peale

"Our imagination is the only limit to what we can hope to have in the future." -- Charles F. Kettering

"You must see your goals clearly and specifically before you can set out for them. Hold them in your mind until they become second nature." -- Les Brown

As explianed by Atul Mathur (www.atulmathur.com), an attitude is "what we think and feel about situations, people, ideas, objects -- basically anything that concerns us. And an attitude is usually binary: positive or negative, favourable or unfavourable, good or bad. Holding a particular attitude is like having a hidden labelling machine inside us that keeps generating labels (positive or negative) to be pasted on whatever we come across.

We have an attitude towards colleagues, work, bosses, learning, books, the environment, traffic, hygiene, maids, construction workers, teachers, vegetarian food, excellence, charity, quality standards -- just about eveything.

Most important, whether we like it or not, our attitude shows up in our behaviour or actions, which in turn affect the circumstances of our life. Don't believe it? Watch Lt Coffee's talk on YouTube at: http://youtube/jgZxK-7xfoE ."

When we change out attitude, we change our life. Our attitude matters as Dr John C. Maxwell points out  in the following axioms from his book "The Winning Attitude" (ISBN-13: 978-0-8407-4377-0):

1. Our attitude determines our approach to life.
2. Our attitude determines our relationships with people.
3. Often our attitude is the only difference between success and failure.
4. Our attitude at the beginning of a task will affect its outcome more than anything else.
5. Our attitude can turn our problems into blessings.
6. Our attitude can give us an uncommonly positive perspective.
7. Our attitude is not automatically good just because we are Christians.

To round up our little musing on attitude, this is what Lou Holtz, Notre Dame Football Coach, proferred: "Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." Live life to the fullest, my dear readers!

Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)

Two of my favourite paintings by Vincent Van Gogh are Starry Night Over The Rhone and Cafe Terrace At Night.

Having located them on the internet, I am glad to furnish them for your refreshing as follows:-

Starry Night over the Rhone

Cafe Terrace At Night

 

Having also found the following clip wiith many of his paintings set to Don McLean's Vincent (Starry, Starry Night), I think it's a marvellous combination of sound, imagery and reflection:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxHnRfhDmrk 

In case you are hungry for more of Vincent's genius, then you may wanna proceed to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh

Yao Si Ting

On 5 January 2013 while having breakfast at a Burger King outlet, I was enthused by the songs streaming forth in the background.

After the meal, I ventured to ask for the CD cover of the songs. The restaurant manager was gracious and promptly showed me the cover from one of Ms Yao Si Ting's albums which she said was purchased from Popular bookstore. And, that was my chance and refrshing discovery of this relatively unknown but remarkable artiste.

Here then are some renown songs as re-sung by Yao Si Ting in her crisp and soothing voice for your refreshing:-

Sound of Silence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHCNEsP5Qg

Just When I Needed You Most
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzWnVyZOUXM

It's Not Goodbye
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzWnVyZOUXM