Breathtaking Fireworks Display in Japan

If you enjoy the sight and sound of hanabi (fireworks), then you are in for a treat (a full 30 minutes!) by clicking on the following link:- 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsKnPDeU9vI 

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

How effective are you? 

Well, one yardstick of measurement would be to review your state of being in the light of Dr. Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, namely:

Habit 1: Be Proactive

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind

Habit 3: Put First Things First

Habit 4: Think Win/Win

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood

Habit 6: Synergize

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw 


If you are interested to know more, just go and borrow a copy from the library or check out:-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_7_Habits_of_Highly_Effective_People . 


Then, you may wanna venture on to read Eric Jackson's article on "The Only Thing You Need To Remember About The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People" located at:- 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2012/07/24/the-only-thing-you-need-to-remember-about-the-seven-habits-of-highly-effective-people/2/ 

Stairway to Your Dreams

A week ago there wasn't any staircase when I peered through this window of a McDonald's restaurant. 

There was, however, a well trodden path which deviated from the existing route but made more sense as it was a shorter and logical route to take towards the shopping mall where I was having coffee. 

Finally, after a few years, the authority saw the light of day and decided to build the staircase and pavement as an offshoot from the original path.

I think we can surmise that when we have a dream, we need to keep walking on the path of our dreams long and well enough so that it would attract the attention and support of those who can make our dreams come to. 

Therefore, if you have a dream, never ever give up on your dream. Pursue it diligently and persists at it regularly. When your dream is achieved, it would bring you the rewards and satisfaction that it has been all worthwhile despite the sacrifices. 

Your dream would, in turn, become the stairway that leads you to a greater and more fulfilling life. Keep walking, one step at a time, forward and upward.  

Sagano Romantic Train in Arashiyama, Kyoto Prefecture

If you enjoy the colours of autumn leaves, then this train trip in Kyoto may satisfy and soothe you like a cup of expertly brewed ocha (green tea).

Click on the following link to enjoy the Sagano Romantic Train 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdATUiqTle4  by MK Biswas73

and for more on autumn scenery in Kyoto, please click on the following (highly recommended) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJr20Ekq8rY by Discover Nippon

The 5 Languages of Love by Dr Gary Chapman

In case you are still clueless when it comes to love, fret not, as you get attuned to the 5 languages of love profferred by Dr Gary Chapman.

According to Dr Chapman, the 5 love languages are as follows:

1. Words of Affirmation;

2. Quality Time;

3. Receiving Gifts;

4. Acts of Service; and

5. Physical Touch.

If you are interested to know more, please look up http://www.5lovelanguages.com/ and explore how you can discover your primary and secondary love languages. Get your significant other to do so, as well, so that you could learn to speak each other's love languages and, thereby, help to foster your relationship with each other.

Be sure to check out the Free Tools, and also look up the FAQs at the aforesaid web site which answers queries such as:

What if I cannot discover my primary love language?

What if I cannot discover my spouse’s love language?

Why do you think The 5 Love Languages has been so successful?

What if I speak my spouse’s love language and they don’t respond?

Can emotional love return when it has been gone for thirty years?

Love is a powerful emotion that can either energize us when we are full and deplete us when we are running empty. It is thus imperative to keep the flame of love burning bright in our heart and find all the help we can get to keep on loving ourselves, the people in our lives, our community and our planet.

"Immature love says: 'I love you because I need you.' Mature love says 'I need you because I love you.' " -- Erich Fromm

"Love is like a friendship caught on fire. In the beginning a flame, very pretty, often hot and fierce, but still only light and flickering. As love grows older, our hearts mature and our love becomes as coals, deep-burning and unquenchable." -- Bruce Lee

"Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead." -- Oscar Wilde

Of Sleep Deprivation and Migraine Headache

When I first heard from people of their suffering from migraine headache, I told myself that it will not happen to me. 

When it happened to me, it hit me like a tonne of bricks, but I was none the wiser. Thinking that it was a normal headache I tried fresh fruit juices like lime and orange, essence of chicken and different types of snacks to try to shake off the migraine headache. As a last resort I would even take a Panadol. But, the pain would still persist.

Finally, I have discovered that the cause of my miserable headache is due to the lack of sleep. I am now a firm believer in the power of sleep and would avoid late nights as far as possible. The results: No more migraine headaches!

For more on the effects of sleep deprivation, you may wanna to check out Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_deprivation) and/or read the following extracts:-

"Sleep deprivation is the condition of not having enough sleep; it can be either chronic or acute. A chronic sleep-restricted state can cause fatigue, daytime sleepiness, clumsiness and weight loss or weight gain. It adversely affects the brain and cognitive function."

"Among the numerous physical consequences of sleep deprivation, deficits in attention and working memory are perhaps the most important;such lapses in mundane routines can lead to unfortunate results, from forgetting ingredients while cooking to missing a sentence while taking notes." 

"The attentional lapses also extend into more critical domains in which the consequences can be life-or-death; car crashes and industrial disasters can result from inattentiveness attributable to sleep deprivation."

"Microsleeps occur when a person has a significant sleep deprivation. Microsleeps usually last for a few seconds and happen most frequently when a person is trying to stay awake when he or she is feeling sleepy.The person falls asleep no matter what activity he or she is engaged in. Microsleeps are similar to blackouts and a person experiencing them is not consciously aware that they are occurring."

"In rats, prolonged, complete sleep deprivation increased both food intake and energy expenditure with a net effect of weight loss and ultimately death."

For more on the causes of migraine headaches, please refer to the following link to "Migraine Causes - Mayo Clinic" (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/migraine-headache/basics/causes/con-20026358)

What is Hope?

"HOPE is where dreams begin. It is the voice of your purpose. It speaks to you and reassures you that whatever happens to you doesn't live within you. You may not be able to control what happens to you, but you can control how you respond." -- Nick Vujicic  (http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/) 

"Hope is a waking dream." -- Aristotle

"Hope lies in dreams, in imagination, and in the courage of those who dare to make dreams into reality." -- Jonas Salk

"Hope is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it, casts the shadow of our burden behind us." -- Samuel Smiles

"Hope is the only bee that makes honey without flowers." -- Robert Green Ingersoll

"Hope is the word which God has written on the brow of every man." -- Victor Hugo

"Man needs, for his happiness, not only the enjoyment of this or that, but hope and enterprise and change." -- Bertrand Russell

"I hope everyone that is reading this is having a really good day. And if you are not, just know that in every new minute that passes you have an opportunity to change that." --  Gillian Anderson

"I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing - that it was all started by a mouse." -- Walt Disney

Renew and refresh your mind, and be filled with hope to dream on for a greater tomorrow in the footsteps of dreamers such as Walt Disney who brought us Mickey Mouse and Douglas Engelbart who invented the computer mouse.