Water is Precious, Make Every Drop Count

"Thousands Have Lived Without Love, Not One Without Water." – W.H.Auden

Here are some water saving ideas for your absorption:-

"No Water. No Life. No Blue. No Green." – Sylvia Earle

Cut Fruits vs. Fruit Juices

Fruit juices can be a healthy choice, especially when freshly squashed, unless you have medical restrictions.

However, those pre-packed ones from the supermarket might be an overkill as they contain way more sugar per glass than the equivalent portion of cut fruits to fill you up.

Best of all, go for cut fruits which would contain the fibre that nutritionists are hankering about. 

While cutting your own fruits may seem like a chore, the end results will be worthwhile for health sake. Fruits are inherently delicious and they have the pulp for your stomach if you eat rather than drink them.

Dried Fruits and Nuts are a Healthy Choice

Bag with Happiness sighted on 31 March 2019

Choose To Be Happy

Happiness is a choice; your choice. No one can take this away from you unless you relinquish your power.

While at work or doing your stuffs you have the power to choose how you feel regardless of the circumstances. Even if you don't enjoy the works, what a difference it would make when you choose the positive point of view by being happy. 

Photo by Caique Silva on Unsplash

When you are happy doing what you have to do, you will be rewarded with an increase in productivity and effectiveness. The results will amaze you and make it worth your while to bite the bullet, get gritty and, in the process, make yourself a stronger and greater person on the inside of you.

While you make this conscious choice of being happy, don't lose sight of your dream by keeping it alive with constant reviews and moving-forward efforts. Know what you are gunning for and stay on course. Nurture and grow your dream like a tree for you to enjoy the shade and fruits in due season.

In this regard, let paracyclist Jagwinder Singh inspire you.

Click here for Armless Cyclist Dreams Of Paralympic Gold.

Is that security guard for real?

From afar, this is one unusual Caucasian security guard stationed in Singapore.

On closer scrutiny, that 'security guard' is but a display of Marc Sijan's hyper-realistic sculptures.

"Work" by Marc Sijan

Walking On Sunshine

No two artists are the same. Stop comparing.

Life is not about being better than someone else; it's about being and becoming the person that God has called forth in you.

No two paintings of the same subject are the same either. To each his own.

To thy own self be true. 

Sooner or later, when you stop comparing with others or stop trying to portray someone else, you will find yourself leading your own life and walking on sunshine.

You are an original; not a copycat. Today is the day to put your best foot forward.

Things Are Happening For Your Good

If you lose control of your drone and crash it into a glasshouse there will be a consequential shattering effect. Likewise, when your Grab or Uber driver made a wrong turn while exiting from your condominium, his vehicle might just end up taking a dip in the swimming pool.

A foolhardy or careless action will end in a hot soup kinda consequence. But, even when you have acted with reasonable finesse and due diligence, things may not turn out the way you have expected. Do you then respond with the thought that things are going against you rather than for you?

The biggie is this: What if you hold the perspective that things are all happening for your good as a blessing in disguise like a well wrapped gift or opportunity? When you do not allow the situation to master you and hold you captive, you can dig in and adjust your sails to harness possible avenues of solutions and get over or through this hurdle.

Be proactive. When you find yourself thinking that the problem is "out there", stop. What is between your ears is the problem. That thought is the problem. As the late Stephen R. Covey has observed, "We are responsible for our own effectiveness, for our own happiness, and ultimately, I would say, for most of our circumstances."

Now is a good time as any to revisit "The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey and apply them afresh in your life intentionally for your greater happiness.

In gist, the 7 habits are as follows:

I) Self-mastery or Private Victory which moves you from dependence to independence

Habit 1  : Be proactive

Habit 2  : Begin with the end in mind

Habit 3  : Put first things first

II) People-mastery or Public Victory which moves you from independence to interdependence

Habit 4  : Think win-win

Habit 5  : Seek first to understand, then to be understood

Habit 6  : Synergise

III)  Continuous improvement that circles and embodies all the other habits

Habit 7  : Sharpen the saw

You are not a victim of life's circumstances. You are wired on the inside to be a victor or champion of your own life: a light, not a judge; a model not a critic; a part of the solution, not part of the problem; a resourceful person, not a person of low self-esteem. Your awakening is never too late.  

Freedom and Discovery In Solitude

You can be alone and yet not feel lonely.  Loneliness is a despondency of feeling left out from the company of other people.

Solitude is a way different cup of tea than loneliness. Time alone by oneself is an intentional pursuit of "me-time" so that you can break free momentarily from the the dictates of other people, social media or even FOMO (the fear of missing out).

The following are some quotes for your rumination on finding freedom and self-discovery through the practice of solitude:

"Our hyperconnected lifestyle 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. The sunlight and soil that nourish my inner self are solitude and personal reflection." -- Alan Lightman

"But solitude isn't just about avoiding distractions; it's about giving the mind the space it needs to reflect, make new connections,and find meaning." -- Scott-Barry Kaufman & Carolyn Gregoire

"One can be instructed in society, one is inspired only in solitude." -- Goethe 

"Solitude is very different from a 'time-out' from our busy lives. Solitude is the very ground from which community grows. Whenever we pray alone, study, read, write, or simply spend quiet time away from the places where we interact with each other directly, we are potentially opened for a deeper intimacy with each other." -- Henri Nouwen  

“A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.”  -- Arthur Schopenhauer

While held captive in the death camps of Nazi Germany, Viktor Frankl in his solitude discovered the last of human freedom which is the interval between what happened to him (the stimulus) and his response to it. In this short span of time, he has the freedom to choose the response.

Photo by Joel Holland on Unsplash

Indeed with solitude, you will find your aha-moments of epiphany as profoundly as William Wordsworth who noted in the last stanza of his renowned poem on "Daffodils" as follows:-

"For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils."

May the fascination of life overwhelms you as you make time for solitude and personal reflections.