Do You Love Yourself?

If you do not even love yourself, it is tough to talk about loving others. Loving yourself means treating yourself kindly. 

Instead of criticising yourself, give yourself positive encouragement to do better next time and keep learning so as to evolve into a greater version of you. 

Be happy with your lot in life, but do not rest on one's laurels. You have latent potential which can be developed further.

Photo by Fabian Centeno on Unsplash

Don't forget to give yourself a treat every now and then. Also, make time for self-reflection in solitude for rebooting your vision, aspiration, goals and dreams. 

For your further refreshing, by courtesy of a Poh Heng Jewellery advertorial written by Valerie Kor, this is what it means to love yourself:-

"Loving myself means I no longer have to look to others for validation, recognition or praise. I recognise that I'm human, and allow myself room to fail or make mistakes." -- Chia Su-Mae

How To Stay Motivated and Be Your Best

You can be your best when you look beyond yourself to the people who have made a significant and positive impact on your well-being.  

For example, it could be a grandparent who brought you up when your parents were not there for you in your growing-up years.

Or, maybe it is a teacher who helped to turn your attitude around so much so that you are now a hyper-positive person.

With this deep gratitude towards those who have impacted you plus a mindfulness of them, you now resolve to do them proud, in return, by living a good and successful life.

Photo by Volkan Olmez on Unsplash

You would choose your decision rightly and avoid what would bring dishonour not only to yourself but also to these significant others.

Also, you will be motivated to be your best in all your endeavours so that you will bring honour to yourself as well as those you esteem highly. 

You are not your own; you live for the sake of others, too. 

  

Reach Out In Your Struggle

There is no room for shame when you are struggling in life and in need of help. The main fight now is not to give up but to reach out and find help. 

You are not alone. What you are going through, someone somewhere else has likely gone through something similar, though not identical. 

Photo by Maarten van den Heuvel on Unsplash

The bottomline is that change is constant and your ordeal has its time and season, before it fades away. For example, you may be pulling an all-nighter just to meet tomorrow's deadline or down with chicken pox and quarantined.

There is help from Tim Denning in his article "My Message to Those Who Are Struggling" with the following nuggets:

1. Become More

2. Do More

3. Travel More

4. Be Happy With Now

5. Struggle Together

Click here for Tim Denning's "My Message To Those Who Are Struggling".

Your struggle will only make you stronger along the vein of 'what doesn't kill you will make you stronger'. It is a tough way to grow, but you are refined by it to be more tenacious and persevering a la building mental muscle, if you will. Consider it free training or workout, upon hindsight.

Daily Refreshing recommends that you invest some time to read a book such as literature, novel or biography so that you can identify yourself to the struggles of other people and see how they find the courage to go about solving their problems and/or achieving their goals. Yes, Chicken Soup For The Soul would be suitable, too.

Click here for must-read 10 Things Chicken Soup for the Soul Got Right by Brittany Burke.

Also, click here to relax with beautiful sights and sound of Coral Reef Aquarium & The Best Relax Music - 2 Hours - Sleep Music - HD 1080P.

Beautiful Bonaire -- Once A Visitor Always A Friend

Beautiful is an apt description for Bonaire.

Photo by Vlad Tchompalov on Unsplash

According to Wikipedia, "Bonaire was part of the Netherlands Antilles until the country's dissolution in 2010,when the island became a special municipality (officially “public body”) within the country of the Netherlands." 

Also, "Bonaire, together with Aruba and Curaçao, form the ABC islands which are located less than one hundred miles northwest of Venezuela. Unlike much of the Caribbean region, the ABC islands lie outside Hurricane Alley. The islands have an arid climate, which attracts visitors seeking warm, sunny weather year round. Bonaire is a popular snorkeling and scuba diving destination because of its multiple shore diving sites and easy access to the island's fringing reefs."

Click here for Beautiful Bonaire by Monica Walton.

Click here for Beautiful Bonaire by Bonaire Tourism. 

Know How Privileged You Are

You would have heard it often enough on how good it is to be grateful and count your blessings.

Photo by Stefany Andrade on Unsplash

Another take of this is to: Know how privileged you are.

Being privilege means not taking things for granted. For examples, things such as:

1. Freedom (from war or imprisonment due to unfavourable circumstances).

2. Ability to use your 5 senses of sight, sound, taste, smell and touch.

3. Education or literacy.

4. Access to the internet.

5. Opportunity to earn an income.

6. Help from family, friends and community.

7. Healthcare whenever you need it.

8. Happy tummy.

Consider, happy tummy. Imagine that your descendants migrated from a country where once upon a time there was widespread famine and abject poverty. The people were so desperate that a lot of them chose to disperse overseas and brave the raging seas so as to reach distant shores to make a living. 

Fast forward today, when they meet one another, they do not say "How do you do?', but rather they ask, "Have you eaten?".

For your further reflections, you may find the following clips by Channel News Asia to be insightful.

Click here for Inside Singapore's Only Women's Prison | CNA Insider

Click here for The Hawker's Assistant | Singapore's Elderly Poor | CNA Insider

Click here for The Ice-cream Uncle | Singapore's Elderly Poor | CNA Insider  

Click here for Why The Danes Are Happy | Conversation With | CNA Insider

Love What You Do and Do What You Love

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Do You Wanna Change Your Life In 2 Years Time?

It is already past the first-half of 2018 and you find that your life has not changed for the better notwithstanding your New Year resolutions and steely resolve to make a transformation.

Fret not, there is help from Tim Denning if you can spare 7 minutes of reading time to feed your mind and, thereafter, digest some of his ideas, mull over them and then take appropriate actions. 

His writing is engaging like a 1O1 conversation with the reader that is refreshing and energising. 

Indeed, there is a still glimmer of hope in the horizon for you to pursue the change you wanna see in your own life. 

Photo by Werner Sevenster on Unsplash

Click here for How To Dramatically Improve Your Life In 2 Years with the following summary pointers:

1. Do one crazy thing.

2. Prevent yourself from overthinking.

3. Look for quick wins.

4. Consume less. Invest in yourself.

5. Find a way to share your thoughts.

6. Build a diversified foundation of income.

7. Read some life-changing books.

8. Become really good at saying no.

9. Do the right thing no matter what.

10. Stop saying yes to dumb stuff.

How To Overcome Boredom

Idleness or boredom is the devil's workshop. When you are not down physically but still unhappy, there are things you can do to take charge of your life. The following are just a sampler:

1. Dream

   

Give yourself the freedom to write down your wildest dream. Make it as clear as possible until you can see it plainly like a picture. Put in all the details for your dream. Start with a sketch. Think of a fishbone chart. Draw the head, backbone and tail, and then line up the rest of the bones.

Your vision or dream in the eye of your heart will give you the motivation and courage to endure the valleys, knockdowns and detours before you reach the Las Vegas, Hawaii or Paris of your dream.

2. Smile

It takes less muscles to smile than to frown. Smile and keep the wrinkles away in your later years. Choose the positive over the negative, and the outcome on your mental wellbeing will be a world apart. 

Be thankful for the little things in life and you will be a happier person with a lot more reasons to smile. Stay on the positive side as you don't need to wait until you are reminded by someone who is always wearing a smile because he has 'lost' his mind.

3. Enjoy Life

Be content with your lot in life. There will always be people who have a better quality of life than you. On the other hand, there will also always be people who are much worse off than you.

Stop comparing and enjoy your current state of being. Take in a few deep breaths right here and now to pump in some fresh oxygen for your body and brain, and you will already be more uplifted.

4. Imagine 

Do some dreaming or visualisation while you are awake. If morning is too rush for you, then schedule for the evening before you hit the sack. Read your written dream and spend some time imagining living out your dream life -- how it feels, looks and sound like; where you will be and what you will be doing; how you will look like and what clothes you will be wearing; and what kind of people you will be hanging out with.

Feed your subconscious mind with the image of your future, and you will sustain the achievement of your goals.

5. Be Kind 

Being kind and doing good is a virtue as with having a good character. There is a difference between being good and being great. You can be a great person, but not a good person. Likewise, you can be a good person without being great. Greatness has to do with size or magnitude.

Choose to be good, primarily, rather than to be great but void of a good heart. That said, charity or kindness begins at home. Start by treating well the people who are in your immediate circle.

6.  Have Fun 

Life is serious. Our actions or inactions will have consequences. And, the choices we make may hold untold ramifications. The journey of life goes on unstoppable.

However, if we take ourselves too seriously, we may blow up whenever we make a mistake where even a molehill may appear like a mountain and a milk spill like an oil spill.

Also, take some time off from work and enjoy a Sabbath day of rest weekly. When you are working without rest, you will become dull and lacking in sharpness, alertness or cognitive skills -- "the core skills which your brain uses to think, read, learn, remember, reason, and pay attention". 

The worst time to do some thinking or work is when you are tired or lacking in sleep. Take a nap or get some sleep and you will find yourself in a much better shape mentally to enjoy life, thereafter.

That's a wrap for this article. Thank you for visiting Daily Refreshing.

Love Lost and Fighting On for Her Dream

Even though she has lost her fiance who met with a fatal accident about two years ago, May Ooi is fighting on for a gold medal at the upcoming Asian Games.

Photo by Timothy Eberly on Unsplash

May her story inspire you to work hard and make your dream come true in spite of setbacks and disappointments.

Click here for "Ooi's self-belief won't let her give up" written by Kimberly Kwek for The New Paper.


Remember:

"It's not the size of the dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the dog." -- Mark Twain

"Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds." -- Gordon B. Hinckley

Where Is Home?

Home is a place where you feel a sense of belonging and familiarity. For that to happen, you would need to spend time in that place to be well acquainted with its way of life and uniqueness as well as forge ties with fellow dwellers.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Home is also a place where you can pursue your dreams, express yourself,  contribute according to the best of your ability, find happiness and improve your lot in life.

Feel free to click on the following clips so as to suss out a sense of home from a Singapore perspective:

Click here for We Are Singapore - NDP 2018 Theme Song [Official Music Video]

Click here for Singapore National Day Video - Home - Kit Chan 

Click here for The Drive Home 

Happy 53rd Birthday, Singapore!

Singapore celebrates its 53rd year as a nation today on the 9th of August 2018.

The highlight of this birthday celebration is the National Day Parade (NDP) 2018.

Click here for EXCLUSIVE: NDP 2018 Parade & Ceremony Trailer

Click here for NDP 2018: 5 things to look out for this National Day Parade

To view a rehearsal of NDP 2018 over 3 segments of the programme, please click on the following: 

Click here for NDP 2018 ~ Pre-Parade

Click here for NDP 2018 ~ Parade and Ceremony

Click here for NDP 2018 ~ The Show

Mickey Mouse with a Singapore Spin

As part of CapitaLand's Arts In The City programme, they have collaborated with Disney for a local makeover of Mickey Mouse by famous personalities in Singapore. 

Enjoy the following sample of the 90 figurines:-

Click here for a previous post on "Hey, do you TTXS?"

Know Yourself and What You Want

Take some time (5 minutes) and glean from the following clips on practical ideas you can use for your life (the next 50 years and counting).

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Click here for Oprah Winfrey | 5 Minutes For The NEXT 50 Years of Your LIFE

Click here for Will Smith | 5 Minutes for the NEXT 50 Years of Your LIFE ft. Matthew McConaughey and Denzel W. 

Click here for The #1 Skill To Achieving Your Goals 

You Can Be Happy

"Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking." - Marcus Aurelius

"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature." - Marcus Aurelius

Photo by Caju Gomes on Unsplash

To the uninitiated, happiness may depend on happenings like a crutch. This would be sad as your happiness would then be subject to the toss and turns of relationship with other people, your opportunities or the lack it, and your entire external environment. 

No doubt, there will be setbacks and disappointments in life. Paraphrasing from Marcus Aurelius' "Life is neither good or evil, but only a place for good and evil", you will find that life is neither happy or sad, but only a place for happiness or sadness. 

Circumstances, including other people, are a given and may not be changed instantly. Whether you respond with happiness or sadness, your circumstances will not give you a hoot.

You are the one who suffer if you choose to to view your challenges negatively.

Therefore, choose happiness. Happiness is free and holds manifest benefits. Think yourself happy until you're happy!

P.S. Thank you for choosing to visit Daily Refreshing blog. Share your happiness and you will multiply it.

Do You Have Clearly Defined Written Goals?

In her podcast on a "A Billionaire's Advice for Success", Terri Savelle Foy shared on H.L. Hunt's two keys to success:

1. Determine exactly what you want to accomplish; and

2. Determine what price you're willing to pay for it.

Photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash

Clarity precedes success and produces results. As Terri has said so succinctly,  "When the vision is clear, the results will appear".

Also, she has gleaned that successful people have one thing in common: Clearly defined written goals.

Click here for A Billionaire's Advice For Success.

Your Love Is Like A Waterfall

Further to the post "Waterfall and Take It All" on 21 July 2018, the song "Waterfall" is now available on YouTube.

Click here for Your Love Is A Waterfall - Pamela Choo

Faith is the currency of heaven. Your wordly currencies are only good for earthly stuffs.

Photo by Dylan Gialanella on Unsplash

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live" (Isaiah 55:1-3a; NIV).

Keep believing in all the good things God say about you and settle it in your heart that what God has said about you is true regardless of how you feel and in spite of current circumstances which may not lined up just yet.

Click here for Lauren Daigle - You Say (Official Music Video) 

You can be confident in God's faithfulness. God will move the mountain for you and make a way for you, again and again.

Click here for Do It Again | Official Lyric Video | Elevation Worship

No Longer A Slave To Fear

Let the following Jennifer Jeon's violin cover of "No Longer Slaves" by Bethel Music infuses you with serenity and refreshes you with new strength to face life with confidence.

Photo by Paolo Nicolello on Unsplash

Click here for No Longer Slaves 두려움의 멍에 벗네 - Jennifer Jeon 

Also, click here for Break Every Chain by Jesus Culture Lyrics