Bloom Where You are Planted

You are unique. There is no one quite like you except for your twin sibling and futuristic clone.

Bloom where you are planted. Be the best that you can be. Develop your natural giftings and it will open doors of opportunity for you.

"A man’s gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men (Proverbs 18:16; NKJV)".

Hone your skills and increase your mastery. Do not settle for mediocrity or join the so-called cult of the average. Be an outlier by learning from others who are far better than you in what they do.

The following is a sample of outliers for your refreshing to raise your level of competency.

a) Janice Wong - Dessert Chef

  

Click here for NHK "Her Story" Chef Janice Wong Singapore

b) Nuseir Yassin - Vlogger

Click here for Life Of Nas In 10 minutes | Nas Daily

c) Lang Lang - Pianist

Click here for Lang Lang - live concert in Vienna  

The only limitations are those you place on yourself. Take massive actions and create the future of your dream. 

"The rewards of life are only distributed to those who have chosen to  embrace the art of distinction." -- Robb D. Thompson 

Start today, continue what you have started, make adjustments along the way, learn from your failures, learn from others, keep on believing, and persist until you achieve your breakthrough. 

A Life In Motion

Further to the post of 26/09/2018 on taking action, the following message from Reebok will add fuel to keep you on the move without losing touch with your humanity.

As you keep moving and exploring, you will find your inherent passion and core values to become your true self with confidence. 

Don't give up on yourself. The past is past; don't dwell on it. What you have now is the gift of today and the future of your dream.

Work with the time you have on hand and you will see your dream come to fruition.

As aptly noted by Francis Ford Coppola, "Time is the lens through which dreams are captured." 

Have You Found Your Path To Happiness?

What makes you happy? Can you sustain it or does it come and go beyond your power to control it?

Photo by hafizh armynazrie on Unsplash

Emily Esfahani Smith would have you know that finding meaning in life would be a better path to take than chasing happiness with a void on the inside of you.

Slow down and engage gear for some deep thinking as you reflect on what Emily has to share with words of gold in setting of silver concerning the Four Pillars of a Meaningful Life:

1. Belonging (receiving and showing love)

2. Purpose (making a contribution)

3. Transcendent (connected to a higher reality)

4. Story-telling (your personal narrative about you)

Click here for There's more to life than being happy | Emily Esfahani Smith.

 

Put Your Knowledge Into Action -- Let Daniel N. Brown inspires you

The Importance of Taking Action

By: Daniel N. Brown

Enjoying a good life is common to us all. We all want the same things, good health, positive relationships, fulfilling career, and enough money to live comfortably. But, there are others that want a life of abundance and prosperity. These are the ones that have dreams of doing great things, having successful businesses, visiting interesting places, meeting extraordinary people, and having the ability to help others financially.

If you are going to enjoy a life of abundance and prosperity it will require some action. This should be obvious. But, sometimes the obvious is frequently overlooked.

Photo by Jeremy Lapak on Unsplash

You didn't get to where you are today without taking some sort of action. So, it makes sense that if you have a vision in your head about where you would like to be in the future, it will require action.

The problem with most people is, even though they may have the knowledge to do some particular thing, they lack putting the necessary action behind that knowledge.

We often hear that "knowledge is power." But, knowledge is really only power in reserve. It remains useless if it's not tapped into by applying action. Knowledge that is not put to action remains just knowledge in your head and provides no benefit. It's completely wasted.

To accomplish results, we must couple our knowledge with the necessary action to attain results. The formula for achieving results is: Knowledge x Action = Result. If you were to apply massive action to your knowledge, it would have a faster, and even greater impact on your life.

Why is it that most people find it difficult to put the necessary action behind their knowledge? I believe it is nothing more than a lack of belief.

Your belief system is the driving force behind your behaviors and your results. If you can change your beliefs, you will change your behaviors. When you change your behaviors, you will change your results. Then, when you change your results, you will change your life.

It all starts with your belief system. Jesus said, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9:23).

Now, many things can keep one from believing. But, I think the biggest factor that keeps one from believing is fear.  It is a fact that it takes courage to succeed. But, keep in mind that courage isn't the absence of fear, it's the ability to press on despite the presence of fear. Many times, the solution to any fear is simply to do the thing you fear. It's amazing how the fear will disappear!

The smallest of actions, even the ones that seem trivial and insignificant, can lead to great success. It's been said that, "Actions, like pictures, are worth a thousand words."

Without action, you could have the greatest idea and the greatest plan in the world and you would still fail.  Whereas a modest idea and an incomplete plan often produces success when accompanied by enough action.

You just got to get moving. Sir Isaac Newton's principle that states a "body at rest tends to remain at rest and a body in motion tends to remain in motion," definitely applies to the action principle. Once you've taken the first step, the next steps seem easier to take.

It's a natural law that if you do nothing, nothing will happen; if you take minimum action, results are going to be minimal; but, if you take massive action, then you will be rewarded with massive results. Hugely successful people, the kind who go from mediocre to millions almost overnight, know that the major key to their success was taking massive action.

If you want to become hugely successful you must start at the beginning. Most beginnings are small, and appear trivial and insignificant, but in reality they are extremely important.

It's not only the right beginning that is important, it's beginning in the first place. It's about applying that powerful little six-letter-word called "action."

Author Bio

Daniel N. Brown is an entrepreneur and teacher of biblical success principles. Get your FREE report entitled, "How to Receive from God" when you sign up for your FREE weekly newsletter. www.SecretPlaceOnline.com

Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com

Jazz Up Your Atmosphere

Music can work wonders to your atmosphere.

For some help to chill out while, say, reading a book or prodding to get on with your tasks at hand, you might find the following refreshing.

Click here for BRAIN POWER JAZZ & Bossa Nova - Relaxing Music For Concentration, Study & Work

If it is late at night and it is raining outside, or you just wanna to relax with a smile on your face while enjoying the pitter-patter of rain, the following clip will not disappoint you.

Click here for Relax Music: "Rain" (4 Hours of Relaxing Music - Chill Soft Jazz & Rain Sounds for Sleep and Study).

And, if you can't sleep, then the following slower offering might just be the snooze dosage for you.

Click here for Relaxing Rainy JAZZ - Amazing Cafe Piano & Saxophone Jazz Music for Studying, Sleep, Work.

Have a jazzy atmosphere. May your blues be chased away and you get to appreciate and smell the carnations of life.

Thank you for reading Daily Refreshing.

The Predecessors of Pokemon?

Pokemon - gotta catch them all.

That's easy. Try catching some of these sea slugs who are deadly attractive, literally, as they are well armed to fend-off predators and capable of transforming into predators themselves.

Photo by Kris Mikael Krister on Unsplash

Click here for Mucky Secrets - Part 18 - Sea Slugs inc. Nudibranchs - Lembeh Strait

Click here Meet Nudibranchs, The Best Looking Sea Slugs!

What is a spork?

As a first-mover, you get to make the name-call. 

Spork is now spot on although it could well have been forpoon or forkpoon.

Safeguard Your Quiet Time & Happiness

Are you driven to get so far ahead in life that you are playing catch-up with the real you on the inside? Learn to slow down and carve a niche-time for solitude and contemplation -- let your thoughts surface.

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

You might the find the following article written by Alan Lightman to be refreshing for your soul.

Click here for Go ahead, waste some time — it’s good for you. Here’s why.

"Our hyperconnected lifestyle, without downtime, threatens our “inner selves.”

My inner self is that part of me that imagines, that dreams, that explores, that is constantly questioning who I am and what is important to me.

My inner self is my true freedom.

My inner self roots me to me and to the ground beneath me. The sunlight and soil that nourish my inner self are solitude and personal reflection."

-- Alan Lightman

As you observed your quiet time, you could well find what makes you happy and go about doing it to make yourself happy.

"I think true happiness means understanding what makes you truly happy and to live for that purpose. From the perspective of outsiders, such happiness may seem trite or weird, but as long as one understand what makes one happy, and pursues it accordingly, that would be a wonderful life indeed." -- Sayaka Murata (Source: The Straits Times, 18 September 2018)

When Good Is Greater Than Great

Recapitulating an extract from How To Overcome Boredom posted on 18 August 2018, we read that:

"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, let the following clip on Amanda Chong, a writer and lawyer who co-founded ReadAble to reach out to improve literacy among children, refreshes you to do good and be greater than 'me, myself and I'.

Click here for Be Greater - Amanda Chong.

Like a person strolling along the beach and picking up stranded starfish to release back into the sea being asked 'Does it make a difference?', you would know that it made a difference to that one and that one which have been cared for and set free.

Nutella On The Go

If you need your Nutella fix on the go, then the following mini version may just be the thing for you.

A Pit Stop Is A Necessary Inconvenience

With Formula 1 racing fever hitting Singapore this weekend, the city-state has been painted red, figuratively, with red-hot passion associated with fast cars.

In order to keep running the race of life well, you need to take care of your health and supplement it with nutritional products by unofficial sponsors of your passion such as Swisse.

Nonetheless, as with the machines which require maintenance, fine-tuning and re-fueling, you would be required to observe a weekly pit stop so as to avoid burnout and breakdown.

For those of you who are familiar with the Ten Commandments, you would be aware of the Biblical injunction to take a day's rest from work and spend time in God's presence, weekly:-

"“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. 

On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys and other livestock, and any foreigners living among you. All your male and female servants must rest as you do. 

Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt, but the Lord your God brought you out with his strong hand and powerful arm. That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to rest on the Sabbath day" (Deuteronomy 5:12-17; NLT)."

After running in circles passionately for six days, do remember to make habitual pit stops so that you will keep track of your well-being as well as your relationship with your Maker so that life will not becoming an endless meaningless pursuit of goals. Pause and save your soul, weekly. 

How To Find A New Balance

"Just Do It" is an inspirational slogan by NIKE that goes beyond the swish of a basketball. 

With PUMA, you may wanna keep pushing forward and be "Forever Faster" (than the competition).

For accomplishment, go with ADIDAS where "Impossible Is Nothing". Daily Refreshing's spin on it would be: "Nobody does it like ADIDAS".

Photo by W A T A R I on Unsplash

On a more tempered pace, "NEW BALANCE" could well enthuse you to find some balance and enjoy life anew beyond its initial mission of creating orthopedic products and specializing in arch supports. 

Life offers a myriad of choices and paths. 

Before you can have it all, decide on the kind of person you need to become in order to live the kind of life you want.

Click here for Tony Robbins: How to deal with STRESS and DEPRESSION - #MentorMeTony which contains the following pointers:

1. Decide to live in a beautiful state.

2. Raise your standards.

3. Better yourself.

4. Believe.

5. Find meaning in your life.

"The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams." 

-- Oprah Winfrey

The Power Of A Smile

Take a mirror and see yourself in that mirror. Then smile. Make a variety of smiles and see how you look in different smiles (the way that other would see you). 

Come to think of it, other people would actually see more of you than you see yourself.

Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

Momentarily you would have discovered that you have the power to smile and it gives you a sense of control over your life notwithstanding the challenges that you are facing. Nobody can make you smile unless you want to do so.  

You have the power to decide whether to smile or not. When you smile, you are the immediate beneficiary.

According to United Concordia Dental, the top 7 health benefits of smiling are as follows:

1. Improved Mood

2. Lower Blood Pressure

3. Stress Relief

4. Better Relationships

5. Stronger Immune Function

6. Pain Relief

7. Longer Life

For the full article, click here for THE TOP 7 HEALTH BENEFITS OF SMILING. 

Smiling also make you an attractive person. When you smile, people will find that you are approachable and that would open up an avenue for interaction. Smiling conveys both rewards and 'risks'.

Choose wisely who you give your smile to and calibrate your smile accordingly (by drawing from your mirror exercise). You wouldn't want to overdo your smile and create a wrong impression with resulting undesired response from the other person.

Smile and the world smiles with you. This may not always be true as some people love to wear a poker face while others are self-confessed sceptics. Be that as it may be, you smile as you please, please, with mindfulness to influence yourself and others for good.

How To Remove Your Limiting Self-Beliefs

Why do the rich get richer and the poor poorer? How did some people start penniless but went on to become wealthy? And, 'what the deuce' when a lottery winner went on to become a bankrupt?

How come some people are usually happy while some others are fixated on the negatives? In a sense, these behaviours were learned subconsciously and you have 'programmed' yourself to behave the way you do, making it part and parcel of your personality.

Part of the answer to the aforementioned questions can be explained with NLP. Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) isn't some form of mind manipulation or hypnotism. It has to do with neurology (thoughts and their impact on your nervous system), language (your choice of words) and the words you keep feeding to your subconscious mind and nervous system.

According to MedicalNewsToday.com's article on What is NLP and what is it used for?, "NLP was developed by Richard Bandler and John Grinder, who believed it was possible to identify the patterns of thoughts and behaviors of successful individuals and to teach them to others."

For your refreshing, you will find the following clip to be informative and transformative.

Click here for How I Achieved Success with NLP by Adam Khoo (NLP Techniques).

Who Would Wanna Watch A Commercial On Retirement Planning?!

On 5 September 2018, I chanced upon a commercial with a riveting hook and it was one of those rare moments when the "Skip" button was skipped. 

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

The viewership is pretty impressive and has already exceeded two millions after just one week.

As the wedding banquet scene in the commercial is commonplace in Singapore, it is in no way inspired by the phenomenal Crazy Rich Asians novel and movie, but the timing is prescient.  

Click here to view The Best Gift for Your Child (Is Planning For Your Retirement).

How To Cultivate A Resourceful State of Mind

When the world sour things up for you, do you retaliate or make lemonade instead? 

Photo by Gustavo Scafeli on Unsplash

All things being equal, the manner in which you respond internally to external factors will determine how you feel. It is all in your mind. Over time you would have conditioned yourself into a predictable response when faced with the same triggering event.

If you are typically emotionally drained because you are bothered by everything and every other person, then it is time for you to unlearn and learn how you can take charge of your response and chart a preferred outcome.

It is time for you to grapple with: Event + Response = Outcome.

Click here for Take Charge of Your Mind & your Results by Adam Khoo (NLP techniques).

You will be refreshed by Adam Khoo's passionate and insightful motivation to generate resourceful emotions so as live a more enjoyable and successful life.

Antidote for Monday Blues

Food for thought indeed from Happy Tummy. 

While you are it, go figure out the following "For Sale":-

"When you start to do the things that you truly love, it wouldn't matter whether it is Monday or Friday; you would be so excited to wake up each morning to work on your passions." ― Edmond Mbiaka

"Start the Monday with a fresh cup of happiness." --quotabulary.com

And, here is how you can go one up by slaying the Monday monster with a cup of intentional kindness:-

Hurry, Hurry, Firefighters!

The following sleek fire engine caught my attention.

It would certainly make for a great gift to any child and fire-up the interest of toy collectors. 

I was also thinking that it would be a sold out if this promotion was run around Christmas.

Then, as with you, I got it. 

With the recent global heat wave and the numerous fire outbreaks, firefighters and their heroics to save the day are shoved into the limelight. And, you could well ponder how many a child would have have been inspired to be you-guessed-it -- firefighters!

Striking it while the iron is still hot, this promotion is well-timed to fuel the dreams of our youngsters who are never too young to dream big of contributing to our respective communities.

Double thumbs-up for this formula milk promotion!