You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You are on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the one who will decide where to go…
So, make yourself a happy person as your goal!
I am one who has decided that being happy in life is my choice. Now that I have been practicing having a good healthy life, discipline, helpful, accepting what I have in life and being pleased with it, I have become a very happy woman.
People look down the road for happiness when they should be looking at the moment. Learning to live in the moment and not thinking about what will make one happy is the key in my mind.
Learning to love ourselves is another thing that people over look. They are always looking for someone to love them and make them happy. What a shame because one can never be made happy. Happiness comes from within ourselves.. So, if we are not happy with ourselves, how can we expect anyone else to make us happy? We can't and we shouldn't depend on others.
I use to be very imaginative in my mind in whatever I do. I see myself as going about my day in a very happy positive state of mind. Since I have been practicing this for years, it is second nature to me now. People respond to me in many very positive ways because they see that I am very pleased with my life, and they seem to want what I have. Envy me is not the point but turn yourself around is what you should do!
There is never a night while resting on bed before I sleep, that sweet thoughts or memories do not light up my face with a smile. I am so thankful that I have learned to love myself as well as others for what I am and who they are.
Now, I spread the word to people about how to achieve that goal. If it can work for me, it can work for almost anyone too.
Accept yourself include your imperfect part is also a way to love yourself. This is the only way to set you free and stop criticizing yourself and be happy!
Once you are happy you will definitely healthy, belief is the powerful tool to achieve your goal!
Until then,
Happy reading!
Evelyn
Monday, January 30, 2012
8th day of CNY - the Hokkien New Year.
Today, the Chinese Hokkien people celebrate their new year and they pray to the Heavenly King, the Jade Emperor. The main prayer items is sugar cane. There is a reason for it. The folklore tell us that once the Hokkien race in China was prosecuted by the Emperor and he sent his soldiers to execute the race. The Hokkien people fled for their lives and many of them ran into a sugar cane plantation and hike themselves. The soldiers could not find them and alot of them survive the killing. This happen on the 8th day of the Chinese lunar calendar.
There was telltale that it was the heavenly King's wish to the HOkkien people to survive. So on this day, the HOkkien people offers sugar cane and other good food and dunplings to the Heavenly King, the Jade Emperor. This Hokkien tradition was brought down from generations and it has been practice for many thousands of years.
The other Chinese people admire the Hokkien people because they celebrate two Chinese New Year ie on the 1st day and the 8th day. In fact, the prayer and celebration on the 8th day is more important than the 1st day. With the sugar cane and the Jade Emperor's protection, there will be no Hokkien people in the Chinese race.
Everything happens for a reason and it is much more interesting to enjoy the festive period and enjoy the CNY for 15 days. On the 15th day, it ends with the throwing of the mandarin into the sea or river. There is also a reason..LOL
Namaste.
There was telltale that it was the heavenly King's wish to the HOkkien people to survive. So on this day, the HOkkien people offers sugar cane and other good food and dunplings to the Heavenly King, the Jade Emperor. This Hokkien tradition was brought down from generations and it has been practice for many thousands of years.
The other Chinese people admire the Hokkien people because they celebrate two Chinese New Year ie on the 1st day and the 8th day. In fact, the prayer and celebration on the 8th day is more important than the 1st day. With the sugar cane and the Jade Emperor's protection, there will be no Hokkien people in the Chinese race.
Everything happens for a reason and it is much more interesting to enjoy the festive period and enjoy the CNY for 15 days. On the 15th day, it ends with the throwing of the mandarin into the sea or river. There is also a reason..LOL
Namaste.
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Today is " the day of Mankind"
Today is the day 7, the day of the human or the "jen" day. Usually, the Chinese families will cook a pot of porridge or a dish mixed with raw fish meat to mark this occasion as the beginning of the "Man" or human being. The raw fish symbolized a new and lively beginning.
I was hosted a dinner tonight for my brother and sisters and their respective families at the Penang Swimming Club and in the middle of the dinner, my youngest siter reminded me that today is Jen's day. So, I quickly ordered a small plate of vegetables with some fresh selmons to mix the vegetables and the raw fish for a "mix of good fortune and for growth" to have a new beginning.
The CNY occasions have many good food and good meaning deeds which promotes positivity and happiness in our life and by eating these well- meaning food and dishes, it is supposed to bring good luck and fortune.
Namaste.
I was hosted a dinner tonight for my brother and sisters and their respective families at the Penang Swimming Club and in the middle of the dinner, my youngest siter reminded me that today is Jen's day. So, I quickly ordered a small plate of vegetables with some fresh selmons to mix the vegetables and the raw fish for a "mix of good fortune and for growth" to have a new beginning.
The CNY occasions have many good food and good meaning deeds which promotes positivity and happiness in our life and by eating these well- meaning food and dishes, it is supposed to bring good luck and fortune.
Namaste.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Let it be me.
Among my relatives and friends, there are so many single guys and gals. Most of them have choosen to be single or to remain single. The possibility is that they are very selective or fate just escape them. Sometimes, our friends tell us that marriage is like giving up the whole forest for a single tree. There is so much enjoymnet to be single. But, there are also alot of fun to be married.
During the CNY holidays, my friend H came back to Penang. He is divorced and is now looking for a companion. After so many years of married life, he is now very cautious and selective. He is now 50 and well established and he is looking for a young and slim girl. He loves the innocence in them and the old gals are much wiser and more chatty. I have been trying to set up dates for him so that he could be restful instead of restless. He is always looking for fun and often, he go into a painful partnership and ends up compensating his partners to be free again. He is a kind and generous guy but he is resltess.
I was told by my staff that her sister who is in her mid thirties and highly educated. So, I sounded to H and he told me that he prefers younger girls and mid thirties could be slightly over the hill. But, he agreed to meet her so I call up my staff to make the arrangement during the 2nd day of CNY. She replied that her sister just finished her final papers in her exam and was very tired after a few days burning the mid night oil. She was not ready. So I told my friend H, we would need to change the dating to the near future.
Finally, he said he wants to meet and I have to find an excuse to save my staff's sister for the next occasion. I told H that for a successful deal, the first impression is very important and if fate is not ready, it is better not to force it. H was agreeable and we will wait for the next chance.
The message here is love is very mysterious and happen in a strange way. When it happen, it just happen but if it is never mend to be, it will not happen. Just like the sister of my staff, she is pretty and charming but she never really find the person she like and then, we choose to remain single. Sometimes, people love at first sight and they last forever but at times, people spend many years together and yet remained unmarried. Some people is not ready and they jump into a relationship and have to break up to find another.
Yes, whatever it mend to be, it will be. When we are destined to have it in our life, it will come naturally. Do not force it , let it come naturally. When it comes, there is love in the air.
Namaste.
During the CNY holidays, my friend H came back to Penang. He is divorced and is now looking for a companion. After so many years of married life, he is now very cautious and selective. He is now 50 and well established and he is looking for a young and slim girl. He loves the innocence in them and the old gals are much wiser and more chatty. I have been trying to set up dates for him so that he could be restful instead of restless. He is always looking for fun and often, he go into a painful partnership and ends up compensating his partners to be free again. He is a kind and generous guy but he is resltess.
I was told by my staff that her sister who is in her mid thirties and highly educated. So, I sounded to H and he told me that he prefers younger girls and mid thirties could be slightly over the hill. But, he agreed to meet her so I call up my staff to make the arrangement during the 2nd day of CNY. She replied that her sister just finished her final papers in her exam and was very tired after a few days burning the mid night oil. She was not ready. So I told my friend H, we would need to change the dating to the near future.
Finally, he said he wants to meet and I have to find an excuse to save my staff's sister for the next occasion. I told H that for a successful deal, the first impression is very important and if fate is not ready, it is better not to force it. H was agreeable and we will wait for the next chance.
The message here is love is very mysterious and happen in a strange way. When it happen, it just happen but if it is never mend to be, it will not happen. Just like the sister of my staff, she is pretty and charming but she never really find the person she like and then, we choose to remain single. Sometimes, people love at first sight and they last forever but at times, people spend many years together and yet remained unmarried. Some people is not ready and they jump into a relationship and have to break up to find another.
Yes, whatever it mend to be, it will be. When we are destined to have it in our life, it will come naturally. Do not force it , let it come naturally. When it comes, there is love in the air.
Namaste.
My first time.
LET your imaginations run...WILD...!****
*MY FIRST TIME...*
It was my first time** **ever*
*
And I'll Never forget*
*
I'd do it Again*
*
Without a Single regret**.*
*
The sky was Dark*
*
The moon Was high*
*
We were all Alone*
*
Just she And I.*
*
Her hair Was soft*
*
Her eyes Were blue*
*
I knew just What*
*
She wanted To do.*
*
Her skin so Soft*
*
Her legs so Fine*
*
I ran my Fingers*
*
Down her Spine**.*
*
I didn't Know how****
But I tried My best*
*
I started By placing*
*
My hands on Her breast*
*
I remember My fear*
*
My fast Beating heart*
*
But slowly She spread*
*
Her legs Apart.*
*
And when I Did it
I felt no shame*
*
All at Once*
*
The white Stuff came.*
*
At last it's finished*
*
It's all Over now*
*
My first Time ever*
*
At milking A cow....*
Thursday, January 26, 2012
He isn't heavy , he is my brother
Just came back from the hospital after sending my brother there for treatment. He was semi conscious due to low sugar in his blood. He speak as if he was drunk and mumbling without a word coming out from his mouth. He was a heavy man and it was impossible for me to carry him down from upstair of my sister's house to my car. I asked my nephew to call for an ambulance. It arrives within minutes and he was cured after an insulin jap.
His health have been troubling me for hte past weeks after he was diagnose with blockage to his arteries and I have been checking on him regularly. Well, his sickness is under control at the moment with proper medication but his diabetic problem complicates the problem. He was on medication to bring down his sugar level and also medication to strengthen his heart. He took over 10 types of medication at the present moment. Who are we to question the Doctors and I have been advocating for a second opinion before any decision to do a by-pass. Obviously, they trust the current Doctor who is handling his case. So, be it.
I have lost one elder brother and he is my only brother and I have to help my sister to look after him. My brother is a simple man and he started to work at an early age and do not have much education but his passion for politics is very strong and he reads a few Chinese News paper a day and maninly on the political development in the country. He is very much an opposition man and he is critical of MCA, a chinese political party and the current government. Basically, most of the Chinese in Penang have such feelings. So, let it be.
It was a night of adventure and part of my dharma. I realize health is the most important asset in our life. We have to live a healthy life style by eating properly, exercising regularly and have sufficient of rest.
Now, it is early morning but I am wide awake after my brother's episode at the hospital. I am tired but yet I cannot sleep. My destiny to-night is for me to share this experience with my readers.My feelings and my reservations.
The title of this message is " He isn't heavy, he is my brother" and it is actually a title of a very popular song. In the lyrics, the song mention that the road is long, of which there is no return.....Yes, it is a life journey and I am carrying my brother with me. I will help him whatever way I can and let him have a good life is possible.
Namaste.
His health have been troubling me for hte past weeks after he was diagnose with blockage to his arteries and I have been checking on him regularly. Well, his sickness is under control at the moment with proper medication but his diabetic problem complicates the problem. He was on medication to bring down his sugar level and also medication to strengthen his heart. He took over 10 types of medication at the present moment. Who are we to question the Doctors and I have been advocating for a second opinion before any decision to do a by-pass. Obviously, they trust the current Doctor who is handling his case. So, be it.
I have lost one elder brother and he is my only brother and I have to help my sister to look after him. My brother is a simple man and he started to work at an early age and do not have much education but his passion for politics is very strong and he reads a few Chinese News paper a day and maninly on the political development in the country. He is very much an opposition man and he is critical of MCA, a chinese political party and the current government. Basically, most of the Chinese in Penang have such feelings. So, let it be.
It was a night of adventure and part of my dharma. I realize health is the most important asset in our life. We have to live a healthy life style by eating properly, exercising regularly and have sufficient of rest.
Now, it is early morning but I am wide awake after my brother's episode at the hospital. I am tired but yet I cannot sleep. My destiny to-night is for me to share this experience with my readers.My feelings and my reservations.
The title of this message is " He isn't heavy, he is my brother" and it is actually a title of a very popular song. In the lyrics, the song mention that the road is long, of which there is no return.....Yes, it is a life journey and I am carrying my brother with me. I will help him whatever way I can and let him have a good life is possible.
Namaste.
4th day of CNY
I went to work today. My first working day in this dragon year. To start work today is only average, that means, it will be average luck for the whole year. Tomorrow was a better day, it will be excellent for the whole year. I have a choice but I choose today to start work. I have gone through it all after 34 years of working life. Good, bad and the ugly, I have tried it all, so come what may.
I was abit tired and rusty after 5 days of rest. Just rest, eat, gamble and sleep. Well, that is what holiday is about. Why should we tired ourself out if there is a choice. Doing nothing is doing something. We give time to our body to heal itself while we rest our tired mind. With thoughts going through my mind at the rate of 50 thousand times,even the best switch will break down soon. That is what I read from an article that for an average untame mind, thoughts changes about this average number of times.
If we train our mind to be focus and aware, we can reduce the number of thoughts going through our mind. The less time, the less energy spend and you could save the energy for better things to do. Just imagine if you can reduce your thoughts through 10 times aday, how refreshing and focus you will be. For some meditators they train themselves to be able to have a single thought or a single light meditation. If we slow down our thoughts, we also slow down our breath and our actions. We will quiet down and remain focus.
So,if you see people meditating , they are actually doing nothing on the surface but actually taming their mind. That is staying quietly, doing something. Instead of moving around or talking relentlessly and wasting your time, you remained in focus and enjoy the marvellous experience of been with yourself. That most important part of us. Ourself.
Today, I was rusty and a bit stressed after getting to know that my brother is getting worst and he is schedule to have a by-pass due to the blockage of his arteries. I kept thinking about his health and come to know that I cannot do anything about it. I cannot control what is happening or doing anything to help. He will have to go through the surgery and have to make an effort to recover his wellness. It is a process which will need patience and time. What is there to be scare about? There is nothing to fear and even if we are fearful, it does not help. So, we have to stare ahead and move step by step. We have to follow through the process.
I wsih my brother well and hope that fate can be kind to him and give him a chance to live a longer life. I can only hope and there is nothing else I can do. We hope for a better tomorrow.
Namaste.
I was abit tired and rusty after 5 days of rest. Just rest, eat, gamble and sleep. Well, that is what holiday is about. Why should we tired ourself out if there is a choice. Doing nothing is doing something. We give time to our body to heal itself while we rest our tired mind. With thoughts going through my mind at the rate of 50 thousand times,even the best switch will break down soon. That is what I read from an article that for an average untame mind, thoughts changes about this average number of times.
If we train our mind to be focus and aware, we can reduce the number of thoughts going through our mind. The less time, the less energy spend and you could save the energy for better things to do. Just imagine if you can reduce your thoughts through 10 times aday, how refreshing and focus you will be. For some meditators they train themselves to be able to have a single thought or a single light meditation. If we slow down our thoughts, we also slow down our breath and our actions. We will quiet down and remain focus.
So,if you see people meditating , they are actually doing nothing on the surface but actually taming their mind. That is staying quietly, doing something. Instead of moving around or talking relentlessly and wasting your time, you remained in focus and enjoy the marvellous experience of been with yourself. That most important part of us. Ourself.
Today, I was rusty and a bit stressed after getting to know that my brother is getting worst and he is schedule to have a by-pass due to the blockage of his arteries. I kept thinking about his health and come to know that I cannot do anything about it. I cannot control what is happening or doing anything to help. He will have to go through the surgery and have to make an effort to recover his wellness. It is a process which will need patience and time. What is there to be scare about? There is nothing to fear and even if we are fearful, it does not help. So, we have to stare ahead and move step by step. We have to follow through the process.
I wsih my brother well and hope that fate can be kind to him and give him a chance to live a longer life. I can only hope and there is nothing else I can do. We hope for a better tomorrow.
Namaste.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Managing anger - ext
If you are right then there is no need to get angry
And if you are wrong then you don't have any right to get angry.
Patience with family is love,
Patience with others is respect,
Patience with self is confidence and
Patience with GOD is faith.
Never Think Hard about PAST, It brings Tears...
Don't Think more about FUTURE, It brings Fears...
Live this Moment with a Smile, It brings Cheers!
Every test in our life makes us bitter or better,
Every problem comes to make us or break us,
Choice is ours whether we become victim or victorious!!!
Search a beautiful heart not a beautiful face.
Beautiful things are not always good
but good things are always beautiful
And if you are wrong then you don't have any right to get angry.
Patience with family is love,
Patience with others is respect,
Patience with self is confidence and
Patience with GOD is faith.
Never Think Hard about PAST, It brings Tears...
Don't Think more about FUTURE, It brings Fears...
Live this Moment with a Smile, It brings Cheers!
Every test in our life makes us bitter or better,
Every problem comes to make us or break us,
Choice is ours whether we become victim or victorious!!!
Search a beautiful heart not a beautiful face.
Beautiful things are not always good
but good things are always beautiful
Uptight and Upset. - an insight
The sight of selfish acts by parasites is eating me up and my tolerance level against this selfish people is getting low. I do not understand why I am getting upset and uptight among these parasites.I feel suffocated and breathless and it is starting to hurt me. I did not blow my top but I am suppressing such feelings and remained expressionless on my front. The thickness of my mask is getting thicker by the day. What shall I do ?
I remembered loving kindness and great compassion and I should wish all living beings all the best and would not harm them. Who am I to judge these parasites ? I am not perfect either and by whose standard I judge these people. But, my righteous heart and ever fixing mind is pounding with anger within me and urging me to do sometime or say sometime. I am aware of this uprising and I realized that once I speak , it will be all the wrong things and for all the wrong reasons. These parasite will try to justice their actions and the good and peaceful relationship will be spoilt.
There is a Chinese saying " Trouble comes out from our mouth and sickness comes in through the mouth".So, if we choose to to speack up then, we should bear all the consequences. Yes, there is this fear and all of us trying to suppress it within ourselves. In the long run, it is harmful and we must try to make it vanish and dissolve this torn or knots in us. The knots will multiply and will get tighter through time. How do we dissolve or untie these knots?
We can be aware of it and we realize its immense impact on us and it does make us unhappy. We should keep remind us to let go and try to shift the focus away from these narrow images or thoughts. Getting away from these people is only a temporary measure. Out of sightl, out of mind but the longer term solution is to learn to let go. If we keep holding on to the stick we pick up from the ground, it will gets heavier by the second until you could not hold it anymore. Learn to throw away the stick as soon as we pick it up and never to look back what happen to it.
Another way is to seek help from getting more knowledge from the learned masters or through books. Constant reading and seeking wisdom will lighten up all the knots and make it easier to untie. It needs a lot of patience and loving kindness to overcome all these hatreds.
It is easy to say but it needs alot more efforts to make it happen. What we see or think may not be right and we have to keep an open him to seek peace and happiness.
Namaste
I remembered loving kindness and great compassion and I should wish all living beings all the best and would not harm them. Who am I to judge these parasites ? I am not perfect either and by whose standard I judge these people. But, my righteous heart and ever fixing mind is pounding with anger within me and urging me to do sometime or say sometime. I am aware of this uprising and I realized that once I speak , it will be all the wrong things and for all the wrong reasons. These parasite will try to justice their actions and the good and peaceful relationship will be spoilt.
There is a Chinese saying " Trouble comes out from our mouth and sickness comes in through the mouth".So, if we choose to to speack up then, we should bear all the consequences. Yes, there is this fear and all of us trying to suppress it within ourselves. In the long run, it is harmful and we must try to make it vanish and dissolve this torn or knots in us. The knots will multiply and will get tighter through time. How do we dissolve or untie these knots?
We can be aware of it and we realize its immense impact on us and it does make us unhappy. We should keep remind us to let go and try to shift the focus away from these narrow images or thoughts. Getting away from these people is only a temporary measure. Out of sightl, out of mind but the longer term solution is to learn to let go. If we keep holding on to the stick we pick up from the ground, it will gets heavier by the second until you could not hold it anymore. Learn to throw away the stick as soon as we pick it up and never to look back what happen to it.
Another way is to seek help from getting more knowledge from the learned masters or through books. Constant reading and seeking wisdom will lighten up all the knots and make it easier to untie. It needs a lot of patience and loving kindness to overcome all these hatreds.
It is easy to say but it needs alot more efforts to make it happen. What we see or think may not be right and we have to keep an open him to seek peace and happiness.
Namaste
Swimming lowers blood pressure in old folks - report
Swimming lowers older adults' blood pressure
Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:31PM EST
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many older adults like to take a dip a pool, and now a small study suggests it can be good for their blood pressure.
Researchers found that among 43 older men and women, those who started swimming a few times a week lowered their systolic blood pressure -- the "top" number in a blood pressure reading.
On average, the swimmers started the study with a systolic blood pressure of 131 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Three months later, it was 122 mm Hg.
Normal blood pressure is defined as an average reading no higher than 120/80 mm Hg. Readings of 140/90 or higher are considered high blood pressure, and anything in between is considered "pre-hypertension."
Swimming is often promoted as a good way for older people to exercise, since it's easy on the joints and it's not likely to cause overheating. And many follow that advice: after walking, swimming is the second-most popular form of exercise among the older set.
But there's been little research into the health benefits of swimming -- though a number of studies have suggested that it's as safe for older adults as walking and bicycling, said Hirofumi Tanaka, senior researcher on the new study.
Published in the American Journal of Cardiology, the research appears to be the first to demonstrate that swimming can improve older adults' blood vessel function and curb their blood pressure.
"Swimming is a very attractive form of exercise," Tanaka, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, told Reuters Health in an email.
"It's easily accessible and inexpensive," Tanaka noted. "And because it does not involve bearing of body weight, due to the buoyancy of water, it is friendly to knee and ankle joints."
The study included 43 adults, with an average age of 60, who had high blood pressure or pre-hypertension but were otherwise healthy.
The researchers randomly assigned them to either have supervised swimming sessions or learn relaxation exercises. Over 12 weeks, the swimmers got in the pool three or four times a week, gradually working their way up to 45 minutes of swimming at a time.
By the end of the study, the swimmers had shaved an average of nine points from their systolic blood pressure. In contrast, that number did not budge in the relaxation group.
The picture was similar when the researchers had the study participants wear portable monitors that tracked their blood pressure over 24 hours. On average, the swimming group had a 24-hour systolic blood pressure of 119 mm Hg -- down from 128 mm Hg at the study's start.
Tanaka's team also used ultrasound tests to measure how well participants' blood vessels were dilating in response to blood flow. Again, they found improvements in the swimming group, but not in the relaxation group.
The study was small, and it's not clear whether the blood pressure reduction lasts -- or whether it translates into a lower risk of heart attack or stroke down the line.
But the results line up with what experts already recommend for older adults' heart health: get regular moderate exercise, along with a healthy diet.
Tanaka said that as long as an older adult has gotten the OK to exercise moderately, swimming should be a safe activity. But if you're sedentary, check with your doctor before becoming newly active.
There was a time when swimming was considered potentially risky, Tanaka noted, because being in cold water "elicits cardiovascular changes."
But most studies have indicated that bobbing in the waters of your local pool would be as safe as a walk around the neighborhood.
Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:31PM EST
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many older adults like to take a dip a pool, and now a small study suggests it can be good for their blood pressure.
Researchers found that among 43 older men and women, those who started swimming a few times a week lowered their systolic blood pressure -- the "top" number in a blood pressure reading.
On average, the swimmers started the study with a systolic blood pressure of 131 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Three months later, it was 122 mm Hg.
Normal blood pressure is defined as an average reading no higher than 120/80 mm Hg. Readings of 140/90 or higher are considered high blood pressure, and anything in between is considered "pre-hypertension."
Swimming is often promoted as a good way for older people to exercise, since it's easy on the joints and it's not likely to cause overheating. And many follow that advice: after walking, swimming is the second-most popular form of exercise among the older set.
But there's been little research into the health benefits of swimming -- though a number of studies have suggested that it's as safe for older adults as walking and bicycling, said Hirofumi Tanaka, senior researcher on the new study.
Published in the American Journal of Cardiology, the research appears to be the first to demonstrate that swimming can improve older adults' blood vessel function and curb their blood pressure.
"Swimming is a very attractive form of exercise," Tanaka, a researcher at the University of Texas at Austin, told Reuters Health in an email.
"It's easily accessible and inexpensive," Tanaka noted. "And because it does not involve bearing of body weight, due to the buoyancy of water, it is friendly to knee and ankle joints."
The study included 43 adults, with an average age of 60, who had high blood pressure or pre-hypertension but were otherwise healthy.
The researchers randomly assigned them to either have supervised swimming sessions or learn relaxation exercises. Over 12 weeks, the swimmers got in the pool three or four times a week, gradually working their way up to 45 minutes of swimming at a time.
By the end of the study, the swimmers had shaved an average of nine points from their systolic blood pressure. In contrast, that number did not budge in the relaxation group.
The picture was similar when the researchers had the study participants wear portable monitors that tracked their blood pressure over 24 hours. On average, the swimming group had a 24-hour systolic blood pressure of 119 mm Hg -- down from 128 mm Hg at the study's start.
Tanaka's team also used ultrasound tests to measure how well participants' blood vessels were dilating in response to blood flow. Again, they found improvements in the swimming group, but not in the relaxation group.
The study was small, and it's not clear whether the blood pressure reduction lasts -- or whether it translates into a lower risk of heart attack or stroke down the line.
But the results line up with what experts already recommend for older adults' heart health: get regular moderate exercise, along with a healthy diet.
Tanaka said that as long as an older adult has gotten the OK to exercise moderately, swimming should be a safe activity. But if you're sedentary, check with your doctor before becoming newly active.
There was a time when swimming was considered potentially risky, Tanaka noted, because being in cold water "elicits cardiovascular changes."
But most studies have indicated that bobbing in the waters of your local pool would be as safe as a walk around the neighborhood.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
CNY tradition - " Start The New Year Feast"
For the chinese custom, we have the re-union dinner on the eve of CNY and we have a "start the year feast" to kick start the New Year. For the Catonese, we usually have it on the 2nd day of CNY and for the TeoChew, they will have it on the 3rd day of the CNY. FOr the Hokkien, their 2nd CNY is on the 8th day of the CNY. There is a long story why the Hokkien celebrate the CNY twice. Officially, the Government only recognize the eelebration on the 1st and 2nd day of the CNY as an official public holiday.
Yesterday, my family join my sister and brother's family to kick start the new year with a steamboat lunch at my ancestal home. It starts will honoring my deceased parent and we have a sumptious lunch. But, the weather was abit unkind and it was very hot. As we eat,our sweat keep flowing down from our forehead despite the air condition blasting fully. I think the sweat mixing with the food would make it tastier. So, why the choice of steamboat for lunch? There is no good reason but just the convenience and a more healthier choice after so much oily and meaty food.It has a detox effect on us because we used to pull in a lot of vegatables. A heaty and a sweaty start to the dragon year.
After the lunch, we can start to sweep and clean up our house. Yesterday morning, after I woke up and as I walk down the staircase, I saw my maid sweeping the floor. She immediately stop sweeping the floor ad used a cloth to pickup the dust o. It is a taboo to sweep the floor before the "kick start lunch". You might wonder why ? There is a period of " retention" of our wealth which starts from the Re-union eve dinner and the "kick start lunch" an it is a day to watch a list of the "don"ts and the dos" for the retention of wealth. Sweeping is deemed as sweeping away your fortune. Well, this is only accroding to the Chinese customs but my new Indonesian maid do not understand this custom. If you see it, you stop it but if they do it when you are not around, is it okay? Does it mean that you don't see it,, it has no impact? It is your choice to believe it or not. For me, it is abit uncomfortable because of my upbring but I do not actually mind.
If the action of others can impact your wealth, all your wealth could have disappeared by now. There are so many occasions that such rules are broken by other people in your property. So the choice to believe is yours but observing the rules could make you part of hte Chinese establishment.LOL.
If you observe the occasion, good food is an important part of the celebration. It is an occasion where you can eat the food which you have been eating as a child as in normal times, it is not available. Your Parents could go all the way to buy the ingredient and to make the occasion a great celebration and to satisfied your appetite. Each dish in the CNY feast have a name and the naming of the disk is an art passed down by the Chinese Establishment. In the clunary circle, the Chefs are creating new dishes with good meaning and wishes. It supposed to make the celebration a wonderful experience and most important to lure you to eat it and make money from you. Forget the second reason, enjoyment and creativity come first. We pay for the wonderful eperience.
So, food, health and wealth is always on the lips of the Chinese. Without good health, there is no meaning to wealth and good food support good health. So, out of the three ingredients, FOOD is the most important.
So long for now, need to kick start the 3rd day of the CNY.
Namaste.
Yesterday, my family join my sister and brother's family to kick start the new year with a steamboat lunch at my ancestal home. It starts will honoring my deceased parent and we have a sumptious lunch. But, the weather was abit unkind and it was very hot. As we eat,our sweat keep flowing down from our forehead despite the air condition blasting fully. I think the sweat mixing with the food would make it tastier. So, why the choice of steamboat for lunch? There is no good reason but just the convenience and a more healthier choice after so much oily and meaty food.It has a detox effect on us because we used to pull in a lot of vegatables. A heaty and a sweaty start to the dragon year.
After the lunch, we can start to sweep and clean up our house. Yesterday morning, after I woke up and as I walk down the staircase, I saw my maid sweeping the floor. She immediately stop sweeping the floor ad used a cloth to pickup the dust o. It is a taboo to sweep the floor before the "kick start lunch". You might wonder why ? There is a period of " retention" of our wealth which starts from the Re-union eve dinner and the "kick start lunch" an it is a day to watch a list of the "don"ts and the dos" for the retention of wealth. Sweeping is deemed as sweeping away your fortune. Well, this is only accroding to the Chinese customs but my new Indonesian maid do not understand this custom. If you see it, you stop it but if they do it when you are not around, is it okay? Does it mean that you don't see it,, it has no impact? It is your choice to believe it or not. For me, it is abit uncomfortable because of my upbring but I do not actually mind.
If the action of others can impact your wealth, all your wealth could have disappeared by now. There are so many occasions that such rules are broken by other people in your property. So the choice to believe is yours but observing the rules could make you part of hte Chinese establishment.LOL.
If you observe the occasion, good food is an important part of the celebration. It is an occasion where you can eat the food which you have been eating as a child as in normal times, it is not available. Your Parents could go all the way to buy the ingredient and to make the occasion a great celebration and to satisfied your appetite. Each dish in the CNY feast have a name and the naming of the disk is an art passed down by the Chinese Establishment. In the clunary circle, the Chefs are creating new dishes with good meaning and wishes. It supposed to make the celebration a wonderful experience and most important to lure you to eat it and make money from you. Forget the second reason, enjoyment and creativity come first. We pay for the wonderful eperience.
So, food, health and wealth is always on the lips of the Chinese. Without good health, there is no meaning to wealth and good food support good health. So, out of the three ingredients, FOOD is the most important.
So long for now, need to kick start the 3rd day of the CNY.
Namaste.
Listen to the silence from within - Pope
Listen to the silence in your lives, pope says
Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:22AM EST
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict is asking people to stop amid the noise and haste and listen to the sounds of silence in life.
Benedict dedicated the theme of his message for the Catholic Church's World Day of Communication to the relationship between silence and words.
"Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist," he said in the message.
"In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves," he said.
Benedict, who is a shy and quiet man himself, said that today "silence is a precious commodity" in a world with a "surcharge of stimuli and data."
"It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other," he said.
Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence, sometimes more powerfully than with words and silence often gives people a chance to listen -- to God, to themselves and to others.
In short, the pope is asking everyone to turn down the noise, reflect, evaluate and analyze.
"For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of 'eco-system' that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds," he said.
But he said the world of social communications was not always the problem and could also be part of the solution.
Benedict said there were "various types of websites, applications and social networks" which can help people find time for reflection and authentic questioning.
The Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Communications is marked on May 20. The message is intended for parishes around the world to prepare for the best way to celebrate it locally.
Tue Jan 24, 2012 8:22AM EST
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict is asking people to stop amid the noise and haste and listen to the sounds of silence in life.
Benedict dedicated the theme of his message for the Catholic Church's World Day of Communication to the relationship between silence and words.
"Silence is an integral element of communication; in its absence, words rich in content cannot exist," he said in the message.
"In silence, we are better able to listen to and understand ourselves; ideas come to birth and acquire depth; we understand with greater clarity what it is we want to say and what we expect from others; and we choose how to express ourselves," he said.
Benedict, who is a shy and quiet man himself, said that today "silence is a precious commodity" in a world with a "surcharge of stimuli and data."
"It is often in silence, for example, that we observe the most authentic communication taking place between people who are in love: gestures, facial expressions and body language are signs by which they reveal themselves to each other," he said.
Joy, anxiety, and suffering can all be communicated in silence, sometimes more powerfully than with words and silence often gives people a chance to listen -- to God, to themselves and to others.
In short, the pope is asking everyone to turn down the noise, reflect, evaluate and analyze.
"For this to happen, it is necessary to develop an appropriate environment, a kind of 'eco-system' that maintains a just equilibrium between silence, words, images and sounds," he said.
But he said the world of social communications was not always the problem and could also be part of the solution.
Benedict said there were "various types of websites, applications and social networks" which can help people find time for reflection and authentic questioning.
The Roman Catholic Church's World Day of Communications is marked on May 20. The message is intended for parishes around the world to prepare for the best way to celebrate it locally.
Monday, January 23, 2012
First day of CNY
It has been a tradition to visit temples on the 1st day of CNY and as usual, we checked the "Tong Shu", the book of knowledge get the the most auspicious time to visit the temple. It was from 5am to 9am and we choose to le.ave for the temple at 7.30am. In the book of knowledge, there are four different grading of time ie bad,average, good and excellent.
This is Taoism and it is believed that date,time and place guide our destiny and we can avoid the pitfalls and the misfortune in our life. Taoism is a religion based on Lao Tzu's teaching and philosophy. His teaching was recorded in the " The book of knowledge". "Tao" in mandarin means "the way".
Usually, we go the "Goddess of Mercy" or Kuan Yin temple at Pitts Street and it was usually jam packed. In the old days, we pray with joss sticks, candles and other prayer materials. The temple will be smokey and we could hardly breath and furthermore, you could ended up been burned by the joss sticks as some people will hold their joss sticks too low and some believers are first timers to the temple. The feeling is like the song " Smoke gets into your eyes" and there is a burning sensation. The practice of using joss and candles dated back to centuries and in the current years, some of temples have ban the burning of joss sticks and candles and we can pray in any prayer pose we choose. The practice of burning joss sticks and candles have banned in many countries.
For this temple, we can still burning joss sticks and candles and there are helpers that comes around to removed the burning joss sticks and candles. They did it in an "efficient" way clearing the joss sticks and candles within seconds after you have placed the joss sticks and candles in the prayer gongs or shelves. It actually have little meaning because the prayer materials only burns about 10% before it is removed. I believed these helpers have to clear the gongs, otherwise, it will be full and is dangerous if it catches fire. It will also benefits the helpers and temple because these prayer items can be recycled and re-used and it brings money to the helpers and the temple.
During the process when I light the candle and pray, there was this foreigner taking photographs in the temple. He was curious and look surprise. He looks at me and I felt abit uncomfortable as if he is laughing at me from his inside. I believe the practice have some meaning in the past and in the Chinese tradition, these joss sticks and candles are the food for the deities and "gods". I was brought up by my mother in these traditional way and it had become back of my life and mental habits. I know it looks quite unbelievable and illogical to a lot of people but who cares as we attempt to communicate with the deities and "Gods". Every religion have their folklores and illogical teachings as well. No religion is perfect as it is created by "Mankind" through the centuries.
Anyway, I have been fulfilled my obligations and discharged my duties which have been taught to me since young. Of course, I have a choice to stop this practice but I think is better to maintain these traditions so that we remained God-fearing and it adds some meaning to life. We have our choices and we should respect each other until a true "GOD" appears.
For the time being,we should do the time we enjoy and feel good about.We hsould just enjoy our CNY and also each passing moments of this festive period when we are still in it. It will be gone in the next few days and become hsitory in our life.
Namaste.
This is Taoism and it is believed that date,time and place guide our destiny and we can avoid the pitfalls and the misfortune in our life. Taoism is a religion based on Lao Tzu's teaching and philosophy. His teaching was recorded in the " The book of knowledge". "Tao" in mandarin means "the way".
Usually, we go the "Goddess of Mercy" or Kuan Yin temple at Pitts Street and it was usually jam packed. In the old days, we pray with joss sticks, candles and other prayer materials. The temple will be smokey and we could hardly breath and furthermore, you could ended up been burned by the joss sticks as some people will hold their joss sticks too low and some believers are first timers to the temple. The feeling is like the song " Smoke gets into your eyes" and there is a burning sensation. The practice of using joss and candles dated back to centuries and in the current years, some of temples have ban the burning of joss sticks and candles and we can pray in any prayer pose we choose. The practice of burning joss sticks and candles have banned in many countries.
For this temple, we can still burning joss sticks and candles and there are helpers that comes around to removed the burning joss sticks and candles. They did it in an "efficient" way clearing the joss sticks and candles within seconds after you have placed the joss sticks and candles in the prayer gongs or shelves. It actually have little meaning because the prayer materials only burns about 10% before it is removed. I believed these helpers have to clear the gongs, otherwise, it will be full and is dangerous if it catches fire. It will also benefits the helpers and temple because these prayer items can be recycled and re-used and it brings money to the helpers and the temple.
During the process when I light the candle and pray, there was this foreigner taking photographs in the temple. He was curious and look surprise. He looks at me and I felt abit uncomfortable as if he is laughing at me from his inside. I believe the practice have some meaning in the past and in the Chinese tradition, these joss sticks and candles are the food for the deities and "gods". I was brought up by my mother in these traditional way and it had become back of my life and mental habits. I know it looks quite unbelievable and illogical to a lot of people but who cares as we attempt to communicate with the deities and "Gods". Every religion have their folklores and illogical teachings as well. No religion is perfect as it is created by "Mankind" through the centuries.
Anyway, I have been fulfilled my obligations and discharged my duties which have been taught to me since young. Of course, I have a choice to stop this practice but I think is better to maintain these traditions so that we remained God-fearing and it adds some meaning to life. We have our choices and we should respect each other until a true "GOD" appears.
For the time being,we should do the time we enjoy and feel good about.We hsould just enjoy our CNY and also each passing moments of this festive period when we are still in it. It will be gone in the next few days and become hsitory in our life.
Namaste.
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Chinese New Year Eve - the message
I had a reunion dinner with my family and my sisters and brother's family members in our ancestal home last night. The food was specially cooked by my Sister and as usual, everybody sit together and had a feast. After that, the younger members gather together to chat and play games while some members had a few rounds of mahjong and I was quietly sitting together with my 2nd sister, Chee and we watch a new year Astro movie " I Love HOng KOng". She was tired after cooking the feast. Both of us agreed that time flies.
We talk about our experience eating out last year for the reunion dinner. It was much easier for her and the food was not so bad but it was abit pricey. Most fo the time, we co-relate price and the quantity and quality of the food. The price is s pychological factor. Since then, it was a year and the occasion for the eating was as happy as ever. The main purpose was to gather and it had been done for umpteen years and it sill carries on after the passing of my Parents.
The magnet to pull all the members to gather is my 2nd Sister. Her effort to keep the family too gather was admirable. NOt only she sacrifice her time and money her strong effort to ensure there is enough good food on the table for everyone. In a big family, there are always those people who do more than the others in such occasion including the contribution of money as the attitude and financial abilities of those members varies. Some is stingy, some is calculative and some is always giving. We have to over look all these imperfection in order to have a happy time together.
Like my boss have written in his message, we have to forgive and move on. During the year, there could be unhappy instances or experience, we have to throw out such bad experiences and look forward to something better in the New Year. This behaviour is the wishes of every parents and it is for this occasion to forgive and forget.
One thing, I noticed is that the young kids are growing up every fast and they are changing. The kids that has been running around and playful have turned into someone useful and they start to help in arranging the occasion and serving the elders. It was really enlightening and a welcoming change.
Home Sweet Home. A home is not a home if there is no love. Good food and money are concern factors but a true love for life and living beings is the main factor to ensure a happy occasion. Live and lets live and in the meantime make every single moment a truly happy and peaceful step forward. There could be anger in your heart or misgiving among the members,let there be tolerance and self discipline to reduce the mountain into a mole hill and further, reduce the mole hill to a flat land. This attitude should be our guiding principles in life.
A Happy and Healthy Chinese New Year. Long live everyone.
Namaste.
We talk about our experience eating out last year for the reunion dinner. It was much easier for her and the food was not so bad but it was abit pricey. Most fo the time, we co-relate price and the quantity and quality of the food. The price is s pychological factor. Since then, it was a year and the occasion for the eating was as happy as ever. The main purpose was to gather and it had been done for umpteen years and it sill carries on after the passing of my Parents.
The magnet to pull all the members to gather is my 2nd Sister. Her effort to keep the family too gather was admirable. NOt only she sacrifice her time and money her strong effort to ensure there is enough good food on the table for everyone. In a big family, there are always those people who do more than the others in such occasion including the contribution of money as the attitude and financial abilities of those members varies. Some is stingy, some is calculative and some is always giving. We have to over look all these imperfection in order to have a happy time together.
Like my boss have written in his message, we have to forgive and move on. During the year, there could be unhappy instances or experience, we have to throw out such bad experiences and look forward to something better in the New Year. This behaviour is the wishes of every parents and it is for this occasion to forgive and forget.
One thing, I noticed is that the young kids are growing up every fast and they are changing. The kids that has been running around and playful have turned into someone useful and they start to help in arranging the occasion and serving the elders. It was really enlightening and a welcoming change.
Home Sweet Home. A home is not a home if there is no love. Good food and money are concern factors but a true love for life and living beings is the main factor to ensure a happy occasion. Live and lets live and in the meantime make every single moment a truly happy and peaceful step forward. There could be anger in your heart or misgiving among the members,let there be tolerance and self discipline to reduce the mountain into a mole hill and further, reduce the mole hill to a flat land. This attitude should be our guiding principles in life.
A Happy and Healthy Chinese New Year. Long live everyone.
Namaste.
The way of the dragon-2012 (report)
Year of the dragon likely to bring more challenges
Lifestyle | Updated yesterday at 06:00 AM
The dragon is coming: but instead of success and happiness, it is likely to bring more challenges than outright prosperity, say economists and sociologists.
Their forecast for the dragon year: A slowing economy but not an outright recession, and the prospect of increased social tension resulting from a more demanding electorate and social inequalities.
The Government expects growth this year to slow to between 1 and 3 per cent although some think the forecast is too pessimistic. The last time economic growth was so sluggish was during a global financial crisis in 2008.
Citibank economist Kit Wei Zheng notes that while economic growth will slow to 3 to 5 per cent this year - compared to 4.8 per cent last year - inflation may moderate to only 3 per cent, which is still above historical averages.
Bad year ahead? Will Smith, who was born in the year of the monkey in 1968, may not have much success with his latest film Men In Black III, which is slated for a May 25 release in the United States.
Lifestyle | Updated yesterday at 06:00 AM
The dragon is coming: but instead of success and happiness, it is likely to bring more challenges than outright prosperity, say economists and sociologists.
Their forecast for the dragon year: A slowing economy but not an outright recession, and the prospect of increased social tension resulting from a more demanding electorate and social inequalities.
The Government expects growth this year to slow to between 1 and 3 per cent although some think the forecast is too pessimistic. The last time economic growth was so sluggish was during a global financial crisis in 2008.
Citibank economist Kit Wei Zheng notes that while economic growth will slow to 3 to 5 per cent this year - compared to 4.8 per cent last year - inflation may moderate to only 3 per cent, which is still above historical averages.
Bad year ahead? Will Smith, who was born in the year of the monkey in 1968, may not have much success with his latest film Men In Black III, which is slated for a May 25 release in the United States.
Backache - the cause (ext)
Low back pain a common work-related ailment
SE Asia | Updated today at 03:04 PM
PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK): Sitting down too long for whatever reason is bad for you and your employer.
It causes back pain and reduces productivity especially since the condition is common among office workers of all ages.
Occupational health physician Dr Abed Onn lists low back pain as one of the three most common work-related ailments, alongside noise-induced loss of hearing and upper limb muscular disorder.
In the absence of reliable statistics, he based his assesment on cases he has handled in the course of his work.
SE Asia | Updated today at 03:04 PM
PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK): Sitting down too long for whatever reason is bad for you and your employer.
It causes back pain and reduces productivity especially since the condition is common among office workers of all ages.
Occupational health physician Dr Abed Onn lists low back pain as one of the three most common work-related ailments, alongside noise-induced loss of hearing and upper limb muscular disorder.
In the absence of reliable statistics, he based his assesment on cases he has handled in the course of his work.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Life experiences - unknown
To realize
The value of a sister/brother
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.
To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.
To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.
To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.
To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to
A premature baby.
To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realize
The value of one second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.
Time waits for no one.
Treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special.
To realize the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.
The origin of this letter is unknown,
But it brings good luck to everyone who passes it on.
Remember....
Hold on tight to the ones you love!
The value of a sister/brother
Ask someone
Who doesn't have one.
To realize
The value of ten years:
Ask a newly
Divorced couple.
To realize
The value of four years:
Ask a graduate.
To realize
The value of one year:
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.
To realize
The value of nine months:
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.
To realize
The value of one month:
Ask a mother
Who has given birth to
A premature baby.
To realize
The value of one week:
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.
To realize
The value of one minute:
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.
To realize
The value of one second:
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.
Time waits for no one.
Treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more when
You can share it with someone special.
To realize the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.
The origin of this letter is unknown,
But it brings good luck to everyone who passes it on.
Remember....
Hold on tight to the ones you love!
Friday, January 20, 2012
Sitting quietly , doing something - ext
Sitting Quietly, Doing Something
By DANIEL GOLEMAN
I recently spent an evening with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, the Tibetan lama who has been dubbed “the happiest man in the world.” True, that title has been bestowed upon at least a few extremely upbeat individuals in recent times. But it is no exaggeration to say that Rinpoche is a master of the art of well-being.
So how did he get that way? Apparently, the same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice.
Photo by and courtesy of Marvin Moore
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Rinpoche a bit over the years, and always found him in good cheer. This meeting was no different. When I called him at his Manhattan hotel to arrange to get together before we were to discuss his new book, “Joyful Wisdom” at the 92nd St. Y, he told me he was in the middle of a shower – but not in the usual sense. The shower, he told me, had run out of hot water midway. When he called the front desk, he was told to wait several minutes and there would be more hot water. In this situation, I probably would have been peeved. But as Rinpoche told me this, he was laughing and laughing.
The only momentary glitch I’ve witnessed — a few years back — was slapstick: he sat down in an office chair with a faulty seat that suddenly plunged several inches with a thump. Once when this chair had done the same to me I cursed and groused about it for a while. But Rinpoche just frowned for a second — and the next moment he was his upbeat self again. Quickness of recovery time from upsets is one way science takes the measure of a happy temperament.
While annoyances like these are hardly life’s greatest tests, handling them gracefully takes a composure that few of us seem to have at our disposal.
Mingyur Rinpoche was not born into wealth and comfort. He spent his earliest years in a remote Himalayan village lacking even the most basic amenities. Nor was he a lucky winner in the genetic lottery for moods. In his book he recounts being extremely anxious as a child in Nepal, having had what a Manhattan psychiatrist would likely diagnose as panic attacks, and how he cured himself of this chronic anxiety by making his fears the focus of his meditation. He has had to earn his good cheer.
Rinpoche seems eclectic in studying paths to well-being, including Western recipes. A few years ago, he attended a five-day meeting at the Mind & Life Institute that brought together a group of neuroscientists and the Dalai Lama to discuss ways to overcome destructive emotions. He found that the Western scientific findings on emotions had much in common with his own approach to cultivating well-being.
But when it comes to his own pursuit of happiness, Buddhist theory and practice are Rinpoche’s chosen tools. He has done several years-long meditation retreats, under the tutelage of some of the most renowned Tibetan masters. Of course, what we mean by “happiness” can be elusive, what with the myriad varieties of good feeling running from ecstasy to equanimity. One flavor of happiness at which Rinpoche seems to excel has been well-studied by scientists specializing in how emotions operate in our brains.
Richard Davidson, who heads the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, has found one distinct brain profile for happiness. As Davidson’s laboratory has reported, when we are in distress, the brain shows high activation levels in the right prefrontal area and the amygdala. But when we are in an upbeat mood, the right side quiets and the left prefrontal area stirs. When showing this brain pattern, people report feeling, as Davidson put it to me, “positively engaged, goal-directed, enthusiastic, and energetic.”
Mingyur Rinpoche came to Davidson’s lab as one of a dozen or so meditation adepts, each of whom had put in anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000 lifetime hours of meditation. Research on expertise in any skill shows that world-class champs have put in at least 10,000 hours of practice; these were Olympic-level meditators.
One of the first findings from the research showed that when these adepts meditated on compassion, activity in key brain areas increased up to 100 percent, notably more than was the case in a control group who were taught the same meditation practice. The more lifetime hours of practice, the greater the increases tended to be. All this seems to confirm the idea that in the realm of positive moods, as in nearly every endeavor, worldly or spiritual, practice matters.
So can we all get a taste of Rinpoche’s bliss?
Davidson worked with Jon Kabat-Zinn, a teacher of mindfulness meditation from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, to see how a group of novices might gain from these methods. Kabat-Zinn, who has pioneered this contemplative method with medical patients to ease their symptoms, taught mindfulness at a high-stress biotech company; these beginners meditated for 30 minutes a day for eight weeks. Davidson’s measures showed that after the eight weeks they had begun to activate that left prefrontal zone more strongly — and were saying that instead of feeling overwhelmed and hassled, they were enjoying their work. So while the Calvinist strain in American culture may look askance at someone sitting quietly in meditation, this kind of “doing nothing” seems to do something remarkable after all.
Of course, there’s no guarantee of greater happiness from meditation, but the East has given us a promising path for its pursuit.
Another fruit of these spiritual practices seems to be a healthy dose of humility. When Rinpoche told my wife that he was being billed as “the happiest man in the world,” he laughed as though that were the funniest joke he’d ever heard.sittin
By DANIEL GOLEMAN
I recently spent an evening with Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, the Tibetan lama who has been dubbed “the happiest man in the world.” True, that title has been bestowed upon at least a few extremely upbeat individuals in recent times. But it is no exaggeration to say that Rinpoche is a master of the art of well-being.
So how did he get that way? Apparently, the same way you get to Carnegie Hall. Practice.
Photo by and courtesy of Marvin Moore
Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche
I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Rinpoche a bit over the years, and always found him in good cheer. This meeting was no different. When I called him at his Manhattan hotel to arrange to get together before we were to discuss his new book, “Joyful Wisdom” at the 92nd St. Y, he told me he was in the middle of a shower – but not in the usual sense. The shower, he told me, had run out of hot water midway. When he called the front desk, he was told to wait several minutes and there would be more hot water. In this situation, I probably would have been peeved. But as Rinpoche told me this, he was laughing and laughing.
The only momentary glitch I’ve witnessed — a few years back — was slapstick: he sat down in an office chair with a faulty seat that suddenly plunged several inches with a thump. Once when this chair had done the same to me I cursed and groused about it for a while. But Rinpoche just frowned for a second — and the next moment he was his upbeat self again. Quickness of recovery time from upsets is one way science takes the measure of a happy temperament.
While annoyances like these are hardly life’s greatest tests, handling them gracefully takes a composure that few of us seem to have at our disposal.
Mingyur Rinpoche was not born into wealth and comfort. He spent his earliest years in a remote Himalayan village lacking even the most basic amenities. Nor was he a lucky winner in the genetic lottery for moods. In his book he recounts being extremely anxious as a child in Nepal, having had what a Manhattan psychiatrist would likely diagnose as panic attacks, and how he cured himself of this chronic anxiety by making his fears the focus of his meditation. He has had to earn his good cheer.
Rinpoche seems eclectic in studying paths to well-being, including Western recipes. A few years ago, he attended a five-day meeting at the Mind & Life Institute that brought together a group of neuroscientists and the Dalai Lama to discuss ways to overcome destructive emotions. He found that the Western scientific findings on emotions had much in common with his own approach to cultivating well-being.
But when it comes to his own pursuit of happiness, Buddhist theory and practice are Rinpoche’s chosen tools. He has done several years-long meditation retreats, under the tutelage of some of the most renowned Tibetan masters. Of course, what we mean by “happiness” can be elusive, what with the myriad varieties of good feeling running from ecstasy to equanimity. One flavor of happiness at which Rinpoche seems to excel has been well-studied by scientists specializing in how emotions operate in our brains.
Richard Davidson, who heads the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience at the University of Wisconsin, has found one distinct brain profile for happiness. As Davidson’s laboratory has reported, when we are in distress, the brain shows high activation levels in the right prefrontal area and the amygdala. But when we are in an upbeat mood, the right side quiets and the left prefrontal area stirs. When showing this brain pattern, people report feeling, as Davidson put it to me, “positively engaged, goal-directed, enthusiastic, and energetic.”
Mingyur Rinpoche came to Davidson’s lab as one of a dozen or so meditation adepts, each of whom had put in anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000 lifetime hours of meditation. Research on expertise in any skill shows that world-class champs have put in at least 10,000 hours of practice; these were Olympic-level meditators.
One of the first findings from the research showed that when these adepts meditated on compassion, activity in key brain areas increased up to 100 percent, notably more than was the case in a control group who were taught the same meditation practice. The more lifetime hours of practice, the greater the increases tended to be. All this seems to confirm the idea that in the realm of positive moods, as in nearly every endeavor, worldly or spiritual, practice matters.
So can we all get a taste of Rinpoche’s bliss?
Davidson worked with Jon Kabat-Zinn, a teacher of mindfulness meditation from the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, to see how a group of novices might gain from these methods. Kabat-Zinn, who has pioneered this contemplative method with medical patients to ease their symptoms, taught mindfulness at a high-stress biotech company; these beginners meditated for 30 minutes a day for eight weeks. Davidson’s measures showed that after the eight weeks they had begun to activate that left prefrontal zone more strongly — and were saying that instead of feeling overwhelmed and hassled, they were enjoying their work. So while the Calvinist strain in American culture may look askance at someone sitting quietly in meditation, this kind of “doing nothing” seems to do something remarkable after all.
Of course, there’s no guarantee of greater happiness from meditation, but the East has given us a promising path for its pursuit.
Another fruit of these spiritual practices seems to be a healthy dose of humility. When Rinpoche told my wife that he was being billed as “the happiest man in the world,” he laughed as though that were the funniest joke he’d ever heard.sittin
Better late then never
I had a bad experience yesterday travelling to work. I have a meeting with my boss at 8am and I left my house at 7am, an hour's allowance. Usually, it takes only 30 minutes to reach my office but I was shocked when the road leading out of my housing estate was jam pack and hardly moved. It took me 50 minutes to move one km and I could do nothing about it. The cars hardly moved. There is a Chinese saying "Human being's planning is better than Heaven's decision". Yeah, I did plan for time allowance, a buffer of 30 minutes. In this case, the heaven won.
There were three factors which caused the massive jam, it was a school day, it was raining and the road was under repair. The contractor closed off half the road. I known it was a shcool day and there is usually a jam but the other two factors was unpredictable. If it is only the rain, then the jam will be slightly worse but the last factor was man-make. If only the contractor announced the closure of hte road, I would have added another 30 minutes as buffer in my travelling time. This factor was the least expected of the three factors and the main reason for my delay.
I was late for 15 minutes and when I entered the meeting room, I immediately apologized for the delay, Before hand, I have sent an SMS to announced my late arrival due to the jam. I have expected the scolding as my boss told me straight into my face infront of my colleagues. Why was I late when he can reach on time? I was speechless and it was actually my fault. I should live in a less congested area and I should give more allowance to my travelling time. My boss have advised me to move to another housing area because of the frequent traffic jam in the area. I have continued to stay in the area because of my own reasons. I have to learn from this experience in order not to embarass myself any more. It was a "cat's noodle". A Chinese idiom.
Life is like that. It is unpredictable but I have learned that there is no such thing as "plan to fail but fail to plan". We have to consider the impossible or the unpredictable events as we can never know what will happen. If we can predict what will happen next, we will be GOD. So, live well in uncertainties and strange happenings. It is always man-make events which is normally out of our calculations. Another allowance for unpredictable events would be the best bet.
Learn from my experience to avoid the pitfalls inour lives.
Namaste.
There were three factors which caused the massive jam, it was a school day, it was raining and the road was under repair. The contractor closed off half the road. I known it was a shcool day and there is usually a jam but the other two factors was unpredictable. If it is only the rain, then the jam will be slightly worse but the last factor was man-make. If only the contractor announced the closure of hte road, I would have added another 30 minutes as buffer in my travelling time. This factor was the least expected of the three factors and the main reason for my delay.
I was late for 15 minutes and when I entered the meeting room, I immediately apologized for the delay, Before hand, I have sent an SMS to announced my late arrival due to the jam. I have expected the scolding as my boss told me straight into my face infront of my colleagues. Why was I late when he can reach on time? I was speechless and it was actually my fault. I should live in a less congested area and I should give more allowance to my travelling time. My boss have advised me to move to another housing area because of the frequent traffic jam in the area. I have continued to stay in the area because of my own reasons. I have to learn from this experience in order not to embarass myself any more. It was a "cat's noodle". A Chinese idiom.
Life is like that. It is unpredictable but I have learned that there is no such thing as "plan to fail but fail to plan". We have to consider the impossible or the unpredictable events as we can never know what will happen. If we can predict what will happen next, we will be GOD. So, live well in uncertainties and strange happenings. It is always man-make events which is normally out of our calculations. Another allowance for unpredictable events would be the best bet.
Learn from my experience to avoid the pitfalls inour lives.
Namaste.
Time stops for no one - Happy Chinese New Year.
Every second , it is ticking. Like the beat of the heart, it never stops. Once it stops, you die. In yoga, we believe that there is a maximum number of times it will tick in everybody’s life. If you slow down your heart beat, you live longer , just like your breathing, the faster you breath , you die faster. This is the reality of life.
It is very scary but we cannot do anything about it apart from slowing it down. If you slow down, you could see life better or see things around you better. If we try to catch everything in sight , we will lost our focus and we will see a big picture but everything is blur.
Each moment is a focus. Look at the beauty of things in one spot and you realize , it is actually living. Everything has a life but its life span or shelf life differs. But, eventually, every die or rot away with time.
As a new year’s advise. Stop and stare and wonder . Living in that moment and within the confinement of the spot you see. See the beauty, the life and universe in that thing.
Enjoy that moment and live in joy.
Namaste.
It is very scary but we cannot do anything about it apart from slowing it down. If you slow down, you could see life better or see things around you better. If we try to catch everything in sight , we will lost our focus and we will see a big picture but everything is blur.
Each moment is a focus. Look at the beauty of things in one spot and you realize , it is actually living. Everything has a life but its life span or shelf life differs. But, eventually, every die or rot away with time.
As a new year’s advise. Stop and stare and wonder . Living in that moment and within the confinement of the spot you see. See the beauty, the life and universe in that thing.
Enjoy that moment and live in joy.
Namaste.
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Do you know the answers? kid's questions
The 10 most awkward questions:
1. Why is the moon sometimes out in the day?
2. Why is the sky blue?
3. Will we ever discover aliens?
4. How much does the earth weigh?
5. How do airplanes stay in the air?
6. Why is water wet?
7. How do I do long division?
8. Where do birds/bees go in winter?
9. What makes a rainbow?
10. Why are there different time zones on earth?
1. Why is the moon sometimes out in the day?
2. Why is the sky blue?
3. Will we ever discover aliens?
4. How much does the earth weigh?
5. How do airplanes stay in the air?
6. Why is water wet?
7. How do I do long division?
8. Where do birds/bees go in winter?
9. What makes a rainbow?
10. Why are there different time zones on earth?
Tigers in the mountains.
There is a Chinese saying “ when we go up to the mountains too often, we will meet a tiger. This is a figure of speech because some mountains do not have tigers at all. This means that if we take risk to often , we will be in danger. If we flouted the laws too often, we will be caught.
Lets say we jump the red light too often, one day the Police will be there to catch you. This wise saying remind us that we have to be righteous and we have to comply with the law. People gets too confident when they start an illegal act and gradually, they will take more risk as they become confident and eventually, they took too much risk and they got caught when they are too greedy.
So greed and craving is one of the fundamental weakness of human being. Cutting corners or taking risk normally will bring much benefits. High risk , high returns and low risk, low returns. This is the fundamental theory of a risk profile. Because of this weakness and the temptation that goes with it, people become blind of the risk and becomes daring.
The consequences of being daring and greed is the tiger. It can harm you or kill you in the event. Suppress your greed and kick out your cravings, just being righteous or do the rightful act. Do try to defy the law and once you taste the sweetness, it will capture your heart and soul and if you are caught, you will ruin your whole life or the memory will torture you for the rest of your life.
Namaste.
Lets say we jump the red light too often, one day the Police will be there to catch you. This wise saying remind us that we have to be righteous and we have to comply with the law. People gets too confident when they start an illegal act and gradually, they will take more risk as they become confident and eventually, they took too much risk and they got caught when they are too greedy.
So greed and craving is one of the fundamental weakness of human being. Cutting corners or taking risk normally will bring much benefits. High risk , high returns and low risk, low returns. This is the fundamental theory of a risk profile. Because of this weakness and the temptation that goes with it, people become blind of the risk and becomes daring.
The consequences of being daring and greed is the tiger. It can harm you or kill you in the event. Suppress your greed and kick out your cravings, just being righteous or do the rightful act. Do try to defy the law and once you taste the sweetness, it will capture your heart and soul and if you are caught, you will ruin your whole life or the memory will torture you for the rest of your life.
Namaste.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Kama yoga & sex
Traditional Kundalini Yoga postures and movements will improve your flexibility, strengthen muscles, improve circulation, and massage internal organs. The meditative nature of yoga will calm your mind and reacquaint you with your inner self. This reversal of damage caused by a stressful life is essential for restoring good health and sexual vitality.
To enjoy optimal virility, you should do the following:
Practice Kama Yoga daily preferably in the morning on an empty stomach.
Eat 3 to 5 balanced meals per day.
Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water everyday.
Supplement your diet with Kama Raja for Male Virility.
Practice meditation and positive affirmation in the mornings and evenings.
Get sufficient rest.
Strive to remain calm despite stressful situations.
History of Yoga and Sex
The word "yoga" comes from Sanskrit, and it means to bind back, to reunite, or to bring together that which has been divided. As such yoga can be used to yoke together the body, mind, and spirit. Some of the oldest records of yoga were found in ancient Tibetan scrolls more than 10,000 years ago. Around 200 A.D. the technologies of yoga were systemized by a man named Patanjali, the author of Yoga Sutras who is also known as the father of yoga. Since then, this science of the care, maintenance, and preservation of the human body, mind, and spirit has been guarded through the centuries.
During the Classical Epoch (200-800 A.D.) when yoga was systemized, a large portion of it was recorded and preserved. The Patanjali Yoga Sutras are still considered the foundation of yoga today. This philosophy describes an eight-fold path which includes Yama (the five restraints: nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-possessiveness), Nivama (the five disciplines: purity, contentment, scriptural study, austerity, and surrender to God), Asana (postures or poses), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyhara (synchronization of senses and thoughts), Dharana (one-pointed concentration), Dhyana (deep meditation), and Samadhi (awakening and absorption of spirit).
Sex and yoga have been intertwined since the beginning. The Tantra principles, for example, connect sexuality to spirituality through meditation. Tantra is a term loosely applied to several divergent schools of Hindu yoga in which the sexual union of the male and female is worshipped in practice or in principle. It is thought that without developing one's own sensitivity it is impossible to be sensitive to another, and therefore one of the secrets of the Tantrics is that the pleasure of the man is not in his own pleasure, but is in the pleasure of the woman.
To enjoy optimal virility, you should do the following:
Practice Kama Yoga daily preferably in the morning on an empty stomach.
Eat 3 to 5 balanced meals per day.
Drink 8 to 10 glasses of water everyday.
Supplement your diet with Kama Raja for Male Virility.
Practice meditation and positive affirmation in the mornings and evenings.
Get sufficient rest.
Strive to remain calm despite stressful situations.
History of Yoga and Sex
The word "yoga" comes from Sanskrit, and it means to bind back, to reunite, or to bring together that which has been divided. As such yoga can be used to yoke together the body, mind, and spirit. Some of the oldest records of yoga were found in ancient Tibetan scrolls more than 10,000 years ago. Around 200 A.D. the technologies of yoga were systemized by a man named Patanjali, the author of Yoga Sutras who is also known as the father of yoga. Since then, this science of the care, maintenance, and preservation of the human body, mind, and spirit has been guarded through the centuries.
During the Classical Epoch (200-800 A.D.) when yoga was systemized, a large portion of it was recorded and preserved. The Patanjali Yoga Sutras are still considered the foundation of yoga today. This philosophy describes an eight-fold path which includes Yama (the five restraints: nonviolence, truthfulness, non-stealing, continence, and non-possessiveness), Nivama (the five disciplines: purity, contentment, scriptural study, austerity, and surrender to God), Asana (postures or poses), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyhara (synchronization of senses and thoughts), Dharana (one-pointed concentration), Dhyana (deep meditation), and Samadhi (awakening and absorption of spirit).
Sex and yoga have been intertwined since the beginning. The Tantra principles, for example, connect sexuality to spirituality through meditation. Tantra is a term loosely applied to several divergent schools of Hindu yoga in which the sexual union of the male and female is worshipped in practice or in principle. It is thought that without developing one's own sensitivity it is impossible to be sensitive to another, and therefore one of the secrets of the Tantrics is that the pleasure of the man is not in his own pleasure, but is in the pleasure of the woman.
Life after retirement.
On saturday, I met a friend at the Pulau Tikus market in a short pant and a polo-T. I greeted him a good morning and he was quite surprise to see me. He enquired whether I was alone and I told him, I have came to the market with my Sister and she was shopping in the market and I will need to find her and I bid goodbye to him.
I have met a couple of my retired friends at the market and all of them look so relax in their shorts and T-shirts and one of them carry a cloth bag like what the monk use. When I enquire what are they doing, they would tell me that they are travelling between places. A few months in KL or Australia and a few months in Penang. They are either visiting their daughters or sons or their wife in different places and travelling is like a past time. How do they spend their time in their daily life? Some friends will tell me that they spend their time surfing the internet, facebook, reading books, wondering in the wet and dry market, finding food to eat as their daily routine. Ow!Living for the sake of living. Anything more meaningful, guys?
The other day I asked my wife how shall we spend our retired life and she told me " do some charity work". What charity work? Do have the passion or the commitment to do it. It has to be meaningful and interesting, otherwise, it becomes our burden. I have met a friend who told me that she intends to take up law after retirement, some friends want to study herbs for health. Some of them still want to get more money and wants to do business. So many things to do but what is the purpose and direction? Keeping healthy or do exercise to preserve our life could be another meaningful routine. What is the challenge ? Living for the sake of living, eat for hte sake of eating and have such kind of closure in our life ?
Is that what we want or what it should be? Past on, my friends. What is more to life except to prepare for our closure? What more can we ask? We are done and let others take over. Learn to let go ? Billions of people have gone in this way and there is no exceptions.
Buddha in his enlightenment have realized the cycle of life " born into this world, grow old, illness and death ". If we are aware of the philosophy of impermanance and living in the present, we will not have so many questions of what we should do after retirement. The past is gone and the future is a dream and what you have is the present. Be contented and let natural takes its path for life is a journey not a destination. Nature and time will have answers for everything.
Namaste.
I have met a couple of my retired friends at the market and all of them look so relax in their shorts and T-shirts and one of them carry a cloth bag like what the monk use. When I enquire what are they doing, they would tell me that they are travelling between places. A few months in KL or Australia and a few months in Penang. They are either visiting their daughters or sons or their wife in different places and travelling is like a past time. How do they spend their time in their daily life? Some friends will tell me that they spend their time surfing the internet, facebook, reading books, wondering in the wet and dry market, finding food to eat as their daily routine. Ow!Living for the sake of living. Anything more meaningful, guys?
The other day I asked my wife how shall we spend our retired life and she told me " do some charity work". What charity work? Do have the passion or the commitment to do it. It has to be meaningful and interesting, otherwise, it becomes our burden. I have met a friend who told me that she intends to take up law after retirement, some friends want to study herbs for health. Some of them still want to get more money and wants to do business. So many things to do but what is the purpose and direction? Keeping healthy or do exercise to preserve our life could be another meaningful routine. What is the challenge ? Living for the sake of living, eat for hte sake of eating and have such kind of closure in our life ?
Is that what we want or what it should be? Past on, my friends. What is more to life except to prepare for our closure? What more can we ask? We are done and let others take over. Learn to let go ? Billions of people have gone in this way and there is no exceptions.
Buddha in his enlightenment have realized the cycle of life " born into this world, grow old, illness and death ". If we are aware of the philosophy of impermanance and living in the present, we will not have so many questions of what we should do after retirement. The past is gone and the future is a dream and what you have is the present. Be contented and let natural takes its path for life is a journey not a destination. Nature and time will have answers for everything.
Namaste.
CNY traditions - Do you believe it ? ext.
About the Chinese New Year
A Chinese proverb states that all creations are reborn on New Year’s day. The Chinese New Year is a celebration of change ... out with the old and in with the new!
The Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year because it is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. It usually occurs in January or February. On January 23rd, 2012, Chinese communities around the world will ring in the Year of the Dragon.
In the Far East, this is also the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Farmers take this opportunity to welcome spring as they plant for the new harvest. Thus, the Lunar New Year is also called the Spring Festival.
The events that occurred during New Year’s Day may impact your life for the rest of the year. Be careful in your actions. Be selective with what you eat. Greet people who will bring you joy. To ensure a prosperous and healthy year, you should enhance and stimulate positive energy flow at home, at your business and at work.
Everything associated with the New Year's Day should represent good fortune. To single people, good fortune may mean love and romance. Good fortune may mean good grades to students, children for families, jobs for the unemployed and health for the sick.
To help you find your fortune in the new year, we have put together the following Chinese New Year traditions and customs. You may also want to consult our "symbols" section as a quick reference.
BEFORE NEW YEAR's EVE
The celebration actually starts on New Year's Eve with the reunion dinner. By New Year’s Eve, you should have done the following:
Clean the entire home to get rid of all the things that are associated with the old year.
Put away all brooms and brushes.
Pay all your debts.
Resolve differences with family members, friends, neighbors and business associates.
Buy the following:
- red money envelopes
- oranges and/or tangerines
- circular candy tray
- flowers (especially plum blossom, peach blossom, water lily)
- a new set of clothes and shoes for children, preferably something red or orange.
Get new dollar bills from the bank. Insert the new dollar bills into the red envelopes. Now the red envelope is called a lee see or lucky money envelope.
(note: Very few modern families follow all the "cleaning" traditions.)
ON NEW YEAR’s EVE:
Get together with close family members (not including married daughters and their families) for the "reunion" dinner.
Pay respect to ancestors and household gods. Acknowledge the presence of ancestors because they are responsible for the fortunes of future generations.
Open every door and window in your home at midnight to let go of the old year.
ON NEW YEAR’s DAY:
Decorate your home with symbols of good fortune. Here are some suggestions:
- Colors: Bright red (happiness); gold/orange (wealth & happiness).
- Fruits: Oranges and tangerines (good health & long life); tangerines with leaves intact (long lasting relationships; fruitful and multiply as in having children); persimmons (happiness and wealth).
- Circular candy tray (candy for sweet and circular for togetherness).
- Flowers: If flowers bloom on New Year’s Day, it will be a prosperous year.
- Red banners or couplets with New Year wishes and symbols of good fortune in gold.
Here are some suggestions for food:
- Jai - a combination of food that represents good fortune. Jai comprises of ginkgo nut, black moss, dried bean curd, bamboo shoots, vermicelli and scallion.
- Fish and chicken represent prosperity. Always present the fish and chicken as a whole. Do not cut them in pieces. The head, tail and feet (for chicken) must be presented to symbolize completeness.
- Noodles represent longevity. Again, they should not be cut.
- Desserts include oranges, Chinese New Year cake (ni gao) and prosperous cakes (they look like golden nuggets).
DO’s & DON'Ts on NEW YEAR’s DAY:
- Greet others with "Gung Hey Fat Choy" which means "Wishing You Prosperity and Wealth".
- Give two lee see’s to each child. Because happiness comes in two’s, do not just give one. This is your way of passing good luck to the next generation. Business owners also give lee see’s to employees and associates.
- Wear brand new clothes - preferably in red. Children should wear new clothes and new shoes.
- Don’t wash your hair.
- Don’t sweep the floor.
- Don’t greet people who are in mourning.
- Don’t drop your chopsticks.
- Don’t say the number ‘four’ (Chinese homonym for death) or mention death.
- Don’t borrow or lend money.
As you prepare for this important holiday, think of the changes you want to make in your life ... perhaps spend more time with your family, reduce your credit card debts or pursue a new interest. Gung Hey Fat Choy ... and Happy New Year!
Namaste
The Chinese New Year falls on a different date each year because it is based on a combination of lunar and solar movements. It usually occurs in January or February. On January 23rd, 2012, Chinese communities around the world will ring in the Year of the Dragon.
In the Far East, this is also the end of winter and the beginning of spring. Farmers take this opportunity to welcome spring as they plant for the new harvest. Thus, the Lunar New Year is also called the Spring Festival.
The events that occurred during New Year’s Day may impact your life for the rest of the year. Be careful in your actions. Be selective with what you eat. Greet people who will bring you joy. To ensure a prosperous and healthy year, you should enhance and stimulate positive energy flow at home, at your business and at work.
Everything associated with the New Year's Day should represent good fortune. To single people, good fortune may mean love and romance. Good fortune may mean good grades to students, children for families, jobs for the unemployed and health for the sick.
To help you find your fortune in the new year, we have put together the following Chinese New Year traditions and customs. You may also want to consult our "symbols" section as a quick reference.
BEFORE NEW YEAR's EVE
The celebration actually starts on New Year's Eve with the reunion dinner. By New Year’s Eve, you should have done the following:
Clean the entire home to get rid of all the things that are associated with the old year.
Put away all brooms and brushes.
Pay all your debts.
Resolve differences with family members, friends, neighbors and business associates.
Buy the following:
- red money envelopes
- oranges and/or tangerines
- circular candy tray
- flowers (especially plum blossom, peach blossom, water lily)
- a new set of clothes and shoes for children, preferably something red or orange.
Get new dollar bills from the bank. Insert the new dollar bills into the red envelopes. Now the red envelope is called a lee see or lucky money envelope.
(note: Very few modern families follow all the "cleaning" traditions.)
ON NEW YEAR’s EVE:
Get together with close family members (not including married daughters and their families) for the "reunion" dinner.
Pay respect to ancestors and household gods. Acknowledge the presence of ancestors because they are responsible for the fortunes of future generations.
Open every door and window in your home at midnight to let go of the old year.
ON NEW YEAR’s DAY:
Decorate your home with symbols of good fortune. Here are some suggestions:
- Colors: Bright red (happiness); gold/orange (wealth & happiness).
- Fruits: Oranges and tangerines (good health & long life); tangerines with leaves intact (long lasting relationships; fruitful and multiply as in having children); persimmons (happiness and wealth).
- Circular candy tray (candy for sweet and circular for togetherness).
- Flowers: If flowers bloom on New Year’s Day, it will be a prosperous year.
- Red banners or couplets with New Year wishes and symbols of good fortune in gold.
Here are some suggestions for food:
- Jai - a combination of food that represents good fortune. Jai comprises of ginkgo nut, black moss, dried bean curd, bamboo shoots, vermicelli and scallion.
- Fish and chicken represent prosperity. Always present the fish and chicken as a whole. Do not cut them in pieces. The head, tail and feet (for chicken) must be presented to symbolize completeness.
- Noodles represent longevity. Again, they should not be cut.
- Desserts include oranges, Chinese New Year cake (ni gao) and prosperous cakes (they look like golden nuggets).
DO’s & DON'Ts on NEW YEAR’s DAY:
- Greet others with "Gung Hey Fat Choy" which means "Wishing You Prosperity and Wealth".
- Give two lee see’s to each child. Because happiness comes in two’s, do not just give one. This is your way of passing good luck to the next generation. Business owners also give lee see’s to employees and associates.
- Wear brand new clothes - preferably in red. Children should wear new clothes and new shoes.
- Don’t wash your hair.
- Don’t sweep the floor.
- Don’t greet people who are in mourning.
- Don’t drop your chopsticks.
- Don’t say the number ‘four’ (Chinese homonym for death) or mention death.
- Don’t borrow or lend money.
As you prepare for this important holiday, think of the changes you want to make in your life ... perhaps spend more time with your family, reduce your credit card debts or pursue a new interest. Gung Hey Fat Choy ... and Happy New Year!
Namaste
Fish oil and exercise good mix - report
Fish oil plus exercise may do older muscles good
Tue Jan 17, 2012 5:38PM EST
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older women may be able to boost their muscle strength by adding fish oil supplements to their exercise routine, a small clinical trial suggests.
Researchers found that three months of strength training helped increase muscle strength among 45 healthy women in their 60s. But those who used fish oil at the same time had somewhat greater gains.
Whether older women should run out to buy fish oil for the sake of their muscles remains to be seen.
It's not clear whether the extra strength gain would be meaningful in a woman's life -- and, therefore, worth the cost and potential side effects of fish oil pills.
The findings are "intriguing" and deserve further study, said Catherine Jackson, a professor of kinesiology at California State University in Fresno who was not involved in the study.
But, she told Reuters Health in an email, "I would be a bit cautious about over-interpretation."
The researchers themselves echoed that thought. The findings "should be viewed with caution," according to Luiz Claudio Fernandes and colleagues at Parana Federal University in Brazil.
"Other studies involving a larger sample and other combinations of training and supplementation period are required," they write in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
WHAT DOES FISH OIL DO?
Fish oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, is probably best known for its link to heart health. Fish oil supplements can lower triglycerides (a type of blood fat), and people who get more omega-3 have been found to have a lower risk of heart disease.
But there's also evidence that fish oil can improve nerve function and the ability of heart muscle to contract. So it's "reasonable to hypothesize" that fish oil could boost muscles' response to strengthening exercises, according to Fernandes' team.
To study the question, the researchers randomly assigned 45 older women to one of three exercise groups: In one, the women performed strengthening exercise three times a week for three months; the other two groups followed the same regimen, but also took fish oil -- 2 grams per day, either starting on the same day as their exercise program, or starting two months beforehand.
On average, all three groups increased their muscle strength, which was measured in tests where the women contracted their leg muscles. But the change was greater in the two fish-oil groups.
On top of that, only women who used fish oil showed changes in nerve activity in the muscles.
Exactly what that all means for women's well-being is not clear.
One issue, Jackson said, is that "strength measurement is difficult at best and shows huge differences among subjects."
The study participants did take four "functional" tests that gauged strength, balance, agility and how far they could walk in 6 minutes. And women using fish oil did slightly better on one of those tests -- where they had to sit down and rise up from a chair several times in a row, as fast as they could.
Whether any of that could translate into better fitness, a lower risk of falls or other health benefits is unknown for now.
A question with any supplement study, Jackson noted, is whether users were "deficient" in a nutrient -- omega-3 fats, in this case -- to begin with. If so, the supplement might have brought them to a more "normal" level, and the benefit of a supplement beyond a healthful, balanced diet would be unclear.
In the U.S., a monthly supply of one-gram fish oil capsules can run well over $15.
And while fish oil is generally considered safe at recommended doses, it can have side effects; the more common side effects include bad breath, heartburn, nausea and loose stools.
At higher doses -- more than 3 grams per day -- fish oil might interfere with blood clotting and raise the risk of internal bleeding, according to the National Institutes of Health.
People using medications -- as most older adults are -- should also check with their doctor about possible interactions. Fish oil can, for example, boost the effects of blood pressure drugs, which could send your blood pressure too low.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/AnRGII American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 4, 2012.
Tue Jan 17, 2012 5:38PM EST
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older women may be able to boost their muscle strength by adding fish oil supplements to their exercise routine, a small clinical trial suggests.
Researchers found that three months of strength training helped increase muscle strength among 45 healthy women in their 60s. But those who used fish oil at the same time had somewhat greater gains.
Whether older women should run out to buy fish oil for the sake of their muscles remains to be seen.
It's not clear whether the extra strength gain would be meaningful in a woman's life -- and, therefore, worth the cost and potential side effects of fish oil pills.
The findings are "intriguing" and deserve further study, said Catherine Jackson, a professor of kinesiology at California State University in Fresno who was not involved in the study.
But, she told Reuters Health in an email, "I would be a bit cautious about over-interpretation."
The researchers themselves echoed that thought. The findings "should be viewed with caution," according to Luiz Claudio Fernandes and colleagues at Parana Federal University in Brazil.
"Other studies involving a larger sample and other combinations of training and supplementation period are required," they write in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
WHAT DOES FISH OIL DO?
Fish oil, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, is probably best known for its link to heart health. Fish oil supplements can lower triglycerides (a type of blood fat), and people who get more omega-3 have been found to have a lower risk of heart disease.
But there's also evidence that fish oil can improve nerve function and the ability of heart muscle to contract. So it's "reasonable to hypothesize" that fish oil could boost muscles' response to strengthening exercises, according to Fernandes' team.
To study the question, the researchers randomly assigned 45 older women to one of three exercise groups: In one, the women performed strengthening exercise three times a week for three months; the other two groups followed the same regimen, but also took fish oil -- 2 grams per day, either starting on the same day as their exercise program, or starting two months beforehand.
On average, all three groups increased their muscle strength, which was measured in tests where the women contracted their leg muscles. But the change was greater in the two fish-oil groups.
On top of that, only women who used fish oil showed changes in nerve activity in the muscles.
Exactly what that all means for women's well-being is not clear.
One issue, Jackson said, is that "strength measurement is difficult at best and shows huge differences among subjects."
The study participants did take four "functional" tests that gauged strength, balance, agility and how far they could walk in 6 minutes. And women using fish oil did slightly better on one of those tests -- where they had to sit down and rise up from a chair several times in a row, as fast as they could.
Whether any of that could translate into better fitness, a lower risk of falls or other health benefits is unknown for now.
A question with any supplement study, Jackson noted, is whether users were "deficient" in a nutrient -- omega-3 fats, in this case -- to begin with. If so, the supplement might have brought them to a more "normal" level, and the benefit of a supplement beyond a healthful, balanced diet would be unclear.
In the U.S., a monthly supply of one-gram fish oil capsules can run well over $15.
And while fish oil is generally considered safe at recommended doses, it can have side effects; the more common side effects include bad breath, heartburn, nausea and loose stools.
At higher doses -- more than 3 grams per day -- fish oil might interfere with blood clotting and raise the risk of internal bleeding, according to the National Institutes of Health.
People using medications -- as most older adults are -- should also check with their doctor about possible interactions. Fish oil can, for example, boost the effects of blood pressure drugs, which could send your blood pressure too low.
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/AnRGII American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 4, 2012.
CNY lunch today with my old friend, ES
My old banker friend, ES make a date with me last week to have lunch today. He was late for 30 minutes but anyway, the important point is that late better than never. I brought along my assistant, Agnes for a simple CNY lunch at Osaka, Prai. It is a small restaurant and it serves dry bak kut teh which I had tasted many times before.
After we sat down at the restaurant, ES told me that he is retiring this year as the work pressure is too much and the KPI is too high. He has extended his contract with the bank for two years and later, he hinted that he may opt to retire before his contract expired. I told him to consider carefully. I have known him since my high school days and since he joined the banking sector way back in 1986. He is really a gentleman banker and moderate in his character.
He told me that nowadays, the management is different. The boss are very aggressive and if he do not meet his KPI, they will open scold him in front of his subordinates. It could be very embarrassing and everyone takes turn to be embarrass in front of each other. The courtesy of scolding on a one to one basis and in a room have gone down the drain. Maybe, this is this a better way to scare the subordinates to conform or to push them to meet their KPIs. This practice is against the basic human management principles.
Yes, I have written an article in my blog and the title is “who shout the loudest will win”. In my factory, this is type of management style is also rampant and we have been trying to change this culture through teamwork and our CSR news letters and it has only limited success. When we try to find out the reason for our high employees’ turnover rate, this is one of the reasons for our employees to resign from our workplace.
Why is there so much unhappiness around ? By using this “ fear “ technique, it is inhumane to people and could it be deemed as a harassment or victimization and if it happens on a female staff , it could be cited as “ sexual harassment”. Asian people are very complying and peaceful, their attitude to tolerate the nonsense from their peers have put tremendous stress on themselves and could caused serious health issues. Is this non-confrontational approach better than confrontation ? I think the latter should be the more correct way. Speak up and be heard and it is sinful to be submissive. We have to protect our rights and put our peers in their correct positions come what may. Scare of losing one’s job is secondary and our happiness is number one.
After the lunch, ES told me that time passes so fast and how many more three years is left in us. Why 3 years and not 10 years ? There was a very popular mandarin song with the title “ three years” and its lyrics points out that “ left three years, right three years , so many three years is left in us “ . It is not significant and it is only a number. Even Agnes, who is turning 40 knows the old song. Time really flies …. I have know ES for 40 years already. From a hairy person to a white hairless person and age really make a fool of us all.
After we sat down at the restaurant, ES told me that he is retiring this year as the work pressure is too much and the KPI is too high. He has extended his contract with the bank for two years and later, he hinted that he may opt to retire before his contract expired. I told him to consider carefully. I have known him since my high school days and since he joined the banking sector way back in 1986. He is really a gentleman banker and moderate in his character.
He told me that nowadays, the management is different. The boss are very aggressive and if he do not meet his KPI, they will open scold him in front of his subordinates. It could be very embarrassing and everyone takes turn to be embarrass in front of each other. The courtesy of scolding on a one to one basis and in a room have gone down the drain. Maybe, this is this a better way to scare the subordinates to conform or to push them to meet their KPIs. This practice is against the basic human management principles.
Yes, I have written an article in my blog and the title is “who shout the loudest will win”. In my factory, this is type of management style is also rampant and we have been trying to change this culture through teamwork and our CSR news letters and it has only limited success. When we try to find out the reason for our high employees’ turnover rate, this is one of the reasons for our employees to resign from our workplace.
Why is there so much unhappiness around ? By using this “ fear “ technique, it is inhumane to people and could it be deemed as a harassment or victimization and if it happens on a female staff , it could be cited as “ sexual harassment”. Asian people are very complying and peaceful, their attitude to tolerate the nonsense from their peers have put tremendous stress on themselves and could caused serious health issues. Is this non-confrontational approach better than confrontation ? I think the latter should be the more correct way. Speak up and be heard and it is sinful to be submissive. We have to protect our rights and put our peers in their correct positions come what may. Scare of losing one’s job is secondary and our happiness is number one.
After the lunch, ES told me that time passes so fast and how many more three years is left in us. Why 3 years and not 10 years ? There was a very popular mandarin song with the title “ three years” and its lyrics points out that “ left three years, right three years , so many three years is left in us “ . It is not significant and it is only a number. Even Agnes, who is turning 40 knows the old song. Time really flies …. I have know ES for 40 years already. From a hairy person to a white hairless person and age really make a fool of us all.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Today's lunch with Paul
Today, I had a simple new year lunch with Paul at the Starview Restuarant. We ordered a "lap meh fun", Taufu and one vegetable. The "lap Meh Fun" is a chinese new year dish and it is actually make up of rice and a few type of Chinese New Year sausages. It is very easy to cook but it depends alot on the sausages we used as ingredients. I have eaten "lap Meh Fun" a few times for the past two weeks and today's taste was one of the best I had so far.
During the lunch, we talk about several subjects and one of his topic was that he is very tired of his job and he wants to resign but at his age of 49, there is no where to go. This morning he had a phone call from one of his customers and they were so unreasonable in their question and he felt upset with them but yet, he have to maintain a cool front and talk to them nicely. His job as a relationship manager and he had to keep and build good relationship with his clients. Human beings are unpredictable and sometimes very unreasonable. They can force a hand on certain matters.
We talk about the political situation in our Country and I feel that we should change the current government because they have been in power for a long time and many things really stay fixed and breed inefficiencies. I gave him an example of my Company's old staff who refused changes and still think that the way they operate for so many years is the best and there is no problem. I told him that some of these old staff choose not to see problems and taking things for granted. If we introduce computerization, they will be the first one to reject it. This is bad for the company. I am not saying that the Government is bad but there should be a two party system and each taking turns to government and check on each other. Just like the USA. Too many parties will disrupt progress and lack of continuity.
Paul is a Karate instructor and we talk about exercise and the trend today. I told him that I build an exercise room in my house for my Tai Chi and Yoga training and since it had been completed for one year, I have use it less than 10 times. The same goes with my massage chair, my Osim's electric drum, the slimming belt, the vibrator and the leg massager. All these items are laying idle in my house. I told him it is cheaper to join a gym and have the latest taining gagets. I am still practicing my Tai Chi and I am attending yoga class three times a week at my teacher's yoga studio. We agree that exercise and training is more effective in a group. It takes alot of discipline to move one's self.
We went on to talk about migration. He had a daughter in US and he can migrate to US based on her daughter's resident stutus and we talk about bring money to USA and Australia for retirement. Our wealth will only be one third of its Ringgit value and we become poor because of the exchange rates. I told Paul that this is one of the reason I don't want to migrate as I want live comfortably in Malaysia. I have worked hard for my money.
Time flies and it was time to bid Paul goodbye and he sent me back to my office in his car and while travelling in his car, there was another phone call from the Client who called him this morning and he was trying his best to satisfy his client's quest for a solution to theirwe problem. He tried very hard and he repeatedly told his client, he has to check with the proper authority. He was very stressed and on reaching my office, I told him to relax and take care of himself and we shall meet again another time.
The day have passed so fast and the message to all you folks is to relax and enjoy your work. If you do not enjoy your work, you should think of quiting and find some thing you love and have the passion to do well. Money is secondary and pursuing your passion is the priority. Be fair and love yourself more. Time waits for no one.
Namaste.
During the lunch, we talk about several subjects and one of his topic was that he is very tired of his job and he wants to resign but at his age of 49, there is no where to go. This morning he had a phone call from one of his customers and they were so unreasonable in their question and he felt upset with them but yet, he have to maintain a cool front and talk to them nicely. His job as a relationship manager and he had to keep and build good relationship with his clients. Human beings are unpredictable and sometimes very unreasonable. They can force a hand on certain matters.
We talk about the political situation in our Country and I feel that we should change the current government because they have been in power for a long time and many things really stay fixed and breed inefficiencies. I gave him an example of my Company's old staff who refused changes and still think that the way they operate for so many years is the best and there is no problem. I told him that some of these old staff choose not to see problems and taking things for granted. If we introduce computerization, they will be the first one to reject it. This is bad for the company. I am not saying that the Government is bad but there should be a two party system and each taking turns to government and check on each other. Just like the USA. Too many parties will disrupt progress and lack of continuity.
Paul is a Karate instructor and we talk about exercise and the trend today. I told him that I build an exercise room in my house for my Tai Chi and Yoga training and since it had been completed for one year, I have use it less than 10 times. The same goes with my massage chair, my Osim's electric drum, the slimming belt, the vibrator and the leg massager. All these items are laying idle in my house. I told him it is cheaper to join a gym and have the latest taining gagets. I am still practicing my Tai Chi and I am attending yoga class three times a week at my teacher's yoga studio. We agree that exercise and training is more effective in a group. It takes alot of discipline to move one's self.
We went on to talk about migration. He had a daughter in US and he can migrate to US based on her daughter's resident stutus and we talk about bring money to USA and Australia for retirement. Our wealth will only be one third of its Ringgit value and we become poor because of the exchange rates. I told Paul that this is one of the reason I don't want to migrate as I want live comfortably in Malaysia. I have worked hard for my money.
Time flies and it was time to bid Paul goodbye and he sent me back to my office in his car and while travelling in his car, there was another phone call from the Client who called him this morning and he was trying his best to satisfy his client's quest for a solution to theirwe problem. He tried very hard and he repeatedly told his client, he has to check with the proper authority. He was very stressed and on reaching my office, I told him to relax and take care of himself and we shall meet again another time.
The day have passed so fast and the message to all you folks is to relax and enjoy your work. If you do not enjoy your work, you should think of quiting and find some thing you love and have the passion to do well. Money is secondary and pursuing your passion is the priority. Be fair and love yourself more. Time waits for no one.
Namaste.
Monday, January 16, 2012
A light moment.. El Toro
>> Mexican Oysters
>>
>> A big Texan stopped at a local restaurant following a day
>>roaming around in Mexico
>>
>> While sipping his tequila, he noticed a sizzling,
>>scrumptious looking platter being served at the next table. Not only
>>did it look good, the smell was wonderful.
>>
>> He asked the waiter, 'What is that you just served?'
>>
>> The waiter replied, 'Ah senor, you have excellent taste!
>>Those are called Cojones de Toro, bull's testicles from the bull fight
>>this morning. A delicacy!'
>>
>> The cowboy said, 'What the heck, bring me an order.'
>>
>> The waiter replied, 'I am so sorry senor. There is only
>>one serving per day because there is only one bull fight each morning.
>>If you come early and place your order, we will be sure to save you
>>this delicacy.'
>>
>> The next morning, the cowboy returned, placed his order,
>>and that evening was served the one and only special delicacy of the
>>day. After a few bites, inspecting his platter, he called to the
>>waiter and said, 'These are delicious, but they are much, much smaller
>>than the ones I saw you serve yesterday.'
>>
>>>>The waiter shrugged his shoulders and replied, 'Yes, Senor,
>>
>Sometimes the bull wins.'
People are human beings, not a piece of wood.
I read about Tok Guru, Nik asking the adversaries of DS Anwar to stop shaming Anwar because he is a human being and not a wood. He has feelings. He have been shamed many times over but he is willing to forgive all those who did injustice to him. Nik Aziz also said that anwar will be rewarded after life and those who shame or redicule him will suffer from their sins.
How many times can we hurt a man or shame him over and over? One time or two times. It is already too much and if we continue to torture him for twenty years and redicule him numerous times, it is really absurb. It looks like after you have floor him, you continued to kick him or punch him. This type of mentality is just like a mad serial killer who punched his knife into him victim for 10 to 20 times. The person he tried to kill is already dead after 3 strikes and why the killer can continue another 10 or 15 more times. Madness , absolute madness.
It is never the culture of Malaysians to go to such extent and even in Chinese culture, there is a saying " Thousand of matters,we must leave a gap ,for in the future, we can meet again nicely". This should be the spirit and the guiding principles in our life. When in a fight, we have floored our opponent, we must step back and let him get up and then ready to fight again. This type of integrity and sportmanship have vanished and people in power would like to cling all the power to themselves. They can never stand to be replaced or put in the cold. The one-up manship in a person's goal. If we cannot use it or can do it, other people also cannot use it or do it. The egoistic mind-set is controling all the human feelings and actions.
After life? We are not sure of whether it exist or not. If we know for certain that those who sin against GOD or fellow mankind, he or she fall in and embrace the religion. But, it is not sure or known to be sure, than people should be GOD fearing and will not do any more sins as they know it will catch up with him.
Namaste.
How many times can we hurt a man or shame him over and over? One time or two times. It is already too much and if we continue to torture him for twenty years and redicule him numerous times, it is really absurb. It looks like after you have floor him, you continued to kick him or punch him. This type of mentality is just like a mad serial killer who punched his knife into him victim for 10 to 20 times. The person he tried to kill is already dead after 3 strikes and why the killer can continue another 10 or 15 more times. Madness , absolute madness.
It is never the culture of Malaysians to go to such extent and even in Chinese culture, there is a saying " Thousand of matters,we must leave a gap ,for in the future, we can meet again nicely". This should be the spirit and the guiding principles in our life. When in a fight, we have floored our opponent, we must step back and let him get up and then ready to fight again. This type of integrity and sportmanship have vanished and people in power would like to cling all the power to themselves. They can never stand to be replaced or put in the cold. The one-up manship in a person's goal. If we cannot use it or can do it, other people also cannot use it or do it. The egoistic mind-set is controling all the human feelings and actions.
After life? We are not sure of whether it exist or not. If we know for certain that those who sin against GOD or fellow mankind, he or she fall in and embrace the religion. But, it is not sure or known to be sure, than people should be GOD fearing and will not do any more sins as they know it will catch up with him.
Namaste.
Emptiness and Stillness - Ajahn Brahm
My friend , SW gave me an autograph book on Ajahn Brahm’s life story , with pictorial illustrations. It was for easy reading and it was quite an amazing achievement by this teacher. From a piece of land in Australia in the wilderness, he build up his monastery by himself with the support from his followers.
In this book, he talks about his experience as a lay Buddhist until he became an abbot of the monastery and he is now, overseeing his followers in many Asian countries. He is the first Abbot to set up a female monastery and retreat , leaving it to be managed by a nun who is fully ordained in Australia. With this action, the all female temple can be installed independently and operate by its own.
He also talk about his philosophy in life and he peaches “ emptiness and stillness” as his meditation practice. He had the experience of a six months retreat and have not spoken a word during his retreat and when he came out, he find it so difficult to talk . By this way, he knows that not talking is so difficult but if you experience it , you will know that listening is more difficult than talking. Focus and concentration is not so easily as it is distracted by a lot of factors including external voices, our thoughts and our senses.
This book is distributed free and it is mend to spread the good words and advise of the Buddha. I must thank my friend for this valuable book and the chance to grace the greatness of Ajahn Brahm.
Namaste.
In this book, he talks about his experience as a lay Buddhist until he became an abbot of the monastery and he is now, overseeing his followers in many Asian countries. He is the first Abbot to set up a female monastery and retreat , leaving it to be managed by a nun who is fully ordained in Australia. With this action, the all female temple can be installed independently and operate by its own.
He also talk about his philosophy in life and he peaches “ emptiness and stillness” as his meditation practice. He had the experience of a six months retreat and have not spoken a word during his retreat and when he came out, he find it so difficult to talk . By this way, he knows that not talking is so difficult but if you experience it , you will know that listening is more difficult than talking. Focus and concentration is not so easily as it is distracted by a lot of factors including external voices, our thoughts and our senses.
This book is distributed free and it is mend to spread the good words and advise of the Buddha. I must thank my friend for this valuable book and the chance to grace the greatness of Ajahn Brahm.
Namaste.
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Another week to CNY
Last saturday, I asked my yoga teacher what is the schedule for the week of CNY? She told me that she have not thought about about it and will inform us next week and the classes will most probably be cancelled during the festive week. This is usually the case. I was worried as there will be too much eating and definitely, we will be puting on weight. I told my sister today that we should cut down the quantity of food provided to our family members during New Year gatherings. It is actually a waste and we eat for the sake of eating and without any purpose.
This has been the way of life for our family for many generations. My late mother always cook alot of food during the re-union dinner and the balance of food can last us for another one week or more. The same food was served over and over after re-cooking several times and it ends up as " a food residue" where all the food is place in a pot to cook like a Japanese Shabu-shabu (mixed food disk) with salted vegetables. Come to think about it, we really enjoy the food and childhood when we can eat as much of the same food all over again.
This tradition was transferred to my sister and it has been this way since the passing of my mother. But, we realized that we should stop as it is not only unhealthy but also wasteful. To finish the food, we have to force ourself to eat until our stomach is stretch to its limit while we feel sick and sluggish. Now, we realized that it was foolhardy to follow this tradition and the right way is to take our time to eat and chew our food more thoroughly. We should feel the taste and let the food melt in our mouth. If we are 70% full, we should stop eating and we should eat a few times a day and in this slow and chewful manner.
This week, we have been spending our time to buy all the ingredients to prepare the food and I could sense that the purpose of the festival is getting more meaningful. It is about getting together and enjoying the food on the table. Not just eating while our thoughts are far apart and should chase away the unhappiness. Whatever happen or said wrongly or any wrong interpretation and unintentional wrongful act, lets wipe it off from our mind. We should start afresh with the New Year.
So for all of you folks, lets start all over again in the spirit of truthfulness and the caring and love for our loved ones and all the living beings on this earth.
Namaste.
This has been the way of life for our family for many generations. My late mother always cook alot of food during the re-union dinner and the balance of food can last us for another one week or more. The same food was served over and over after re-cooking several times and it ends up as " a food residue" where all the food is place in a pot to cook like a Japanese Shabu-shabu (mixed food disk) with salted vegetables. Come to think about it, we really enjoy the food and childhood when we can eat as much of the same food all over again.
This tradition was transferred to my sister and it has been this way since the passing of my mother. But, we realized that we should stop as it is not only unhealthy but also wasteful. To finish the food, we have to force ourself to eat until our stomach is stretch to its limit while we feel sick and sluggish. Now, we realized that it was foolhardy to follow this tradition and the right way is to take our time to eat and chew our food more thoroughly. We should feel the taste and let the food melt in our mouth. If we are 70% full, we should stop eating and we should eat a few times a day and in this slow and chewful manner.
This week, we have been spending our time to buy all the ingredients to prepare the food and I could sense that the purpose of the festival is getting more meaningful. It is about getting together and enjoying the food on the table. Not just eating while our thoughts are far apart and should chase away the unhappiness. Whatever happen or said wrongly or any wrong interpretation and unintentional wrongful act, lets wipe it off from our mind. We should start afresh with the New Year.
So for all of you folks, lets start all over again in the spirit of truthfulness and the caring and love for our loved ones and all the living beings on this earth.
Namaste.
Italian cruise ship wreck - people behave like animals (report)
Survivors plucked from Italian shipwreck
Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:03AM EST
By Gavin Jones and Antonio Denti
GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) - A South Korean honeymoon couple and an injured crewmember were plucked from a capsized Italian liner on Sunday, more than a day after it was wrecked, as rescue workers struggled to find any others still trapped on board.
Teams were painstakingly checking thousands of cabins on the Costa Concordia for people still unaccounted for after the huge vessel foundered and keeled over with more than 4,000 on board, killing at least three people and injuring 70.
The task is akin to searching a small town - but one tilted on its side, largely in darkness and partly submerged.
At about 1 p.m. rescue workers airlifted Manrico Gianpetroni, chief purser, hours after making voice contact with him several decks below.
Gianpetroni, who had a broken leg, was lifted from the ship on a stretcher by an airborne helicopter and taken directly to hospital.
"I never lost hope of being saved. It was a 36-hour nightmare," he told reporters.
After midnight, rescue workers had found the two South Koreans still alive in a cabin, after locating them from several decks above, and brought them ashore looking dazed but unharmed.
By Sunday afternoon, about a quarter of the part of the ship that was still above the waterline had been searched. "This is a floating city and it's very difficult," said Luca Cari, firefighter's spokesman on Giglio.
The captain of the luxury 114,500-tonne ship, Francesco Schettino, was under arrest and accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, Italian police said.
Passengers, comparing the disaster to the movie "Titanic," told of people leaping into the sea and fighting over lifejackets in panic when the ship hit a rock and ran aground near the island of Giglio, late on Friday.
Two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member were known to have died. There was confusion about the number of people still unaccounted for. The president of the Tuscan region said the number stood at 17 but other estimates were as high as 34.
The vast hulk of the 290-metre-long cruise ship, resting on its side, loomed over the little port of Giglio, a picturesque island in a maritime nature reserve off the Tuscan coast. A large gash was visible in its side.
Rescue workers including specialist diving teams were working their way through more than 2,000 cabins on the ship, a floating resort that boasted a huge spa, seven restaurants, bars, cinemas and discotheques.
As the search continued, there were demands for explanations of why the vessel had come so close to the shore and bitter complaints about how long it took to evacuate the terrified passengers after the ship ran aground late on Friday.
State prosecutor Francesco Verusio said investigations might go beyond the captain.
"We are investigating the possible responsibility of other people who could be responsible for such a dangerous maneuver," he told SkyTG24 television. "The command systems did not function as they should have."
"UNMARKED" ROCK
Magistrates said Schettino, whose had been carrying 4,229 passengers and crew, abandoned the vessel before all the passengers were taken off.
The vessel's operator, Costa Crociere, a unit of Carnival Corp & Plc, the world's largest cruise company, said the Costa Concordia had been sailing on its regular course when it struck a submerged rock.
In a television interview, Schettino said the rock was not marked on any maritime charts of the area.
Costa Crociere president Gianni Ororato said the captain "performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew" but it was "complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship."
"We'll be able to say at the end of the investigation. It would be premature to speculate on this," said coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini.
After a night-time operation on Friday and Saturday involving helicopters, ships and lifeboats, many passengers had left the area with many taken to Rome airport for flights home.
The ship was involved in an accident on November 22, 2008 when it hit a port wall and was damaged while docking.
Local officials expressed concern the fuel on the ship, at full load as it had just begun the cruise, could spill into the pristine waters. However by early Sunday, there was no sign of any pollution damage.
DINNER TIME DISASTER
Passengers had just sat down to dinner, a few hours after leaving the port of Civitavecchia near Rome on a week-long cruise to Barcelona and Majorca, when a loud bang interrupted the piano player and the ship began to list.
"We heard a loud rumble, the glasses and plates fell from the tables, the ship tilted and the lights went off," said passenger Luciano Castro.
"What followed was scenes of panic, people screaming, running around the place. Close to us a five-month pregnant young woman was crying and panicking."
The ship was carrying mainly Italian passengers, but also British, Germans, French, Spanish, Americans and others. Many were elderly and some were in wheelchairs. It became more difficult to lower the lifeboats the more the ship listed.
"It was complete panic. People were behaving like animals. We had to wait too long in the lifeboats," said Patrizia Perilli, 47.
Passengers said they had been given little or no information in the immediate aftermath of the ship running aground.
"After approximately 20 minutes a voice told us there was a problem with the electricity that they were trying to fix," said Castro.
"The ship continued to tilt further, after 15 minutes they said again it was a problem with the electricity, but no one believed it," he said.
"Of course panic makes things worse and the crew members struggled in calming down the most active and worried passengers."
The ship was built in 2004-2005 at a cost of 450 million euros at the Fincantieri Sestri shipyard in Italy.
(Additional reporting by Silvia Ognibene, Edward Taylor and Joern Poltz; Writing by Philip Pullella and James Mackenzie; Editing by Andrew Roche)
Sun Jan 15, 2012 9:03AM EST
By Gavin Jones and Antonio Denti
GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) - A South Korean honeymoon couple and an injured crewmember were plucked from a capsized Italian liner on Sunday, more than a day after it was wrecked, as rescue workers struggled to find any others still trapped on board.
Teams were painstakingly checking thousands of cabins on the Costa Concordia for people still unaccounted for after the huge vessel foundered and keeled over with more than 4,000 on board, killing at least three people and injuring 70.
The task is akin to searching a small town - but one tilted on its side, largely in darkness and partly submerged.
At about 1 p.m. rescue workers airlifted Manrico Gianpetroni, chief purser, hours after making voice contact with him several decks below.
Gianpetroni, who had a broken leg, was lifted from the ship on a stretcher by an airborne helicopter and taken directly to hospital.
"I never lost hope of being saved. It was a 36-hour nightmare," he told reporters.
After midnight, rescue workers had found the two South Koreans still alive in a cabin, after locating them from several decks above, and brought them ashore looking dazed but unharmed.
By Sunday afternoon, about a quarter of the part of the ship that was still above the waterline had been searched. "This is a floating city and it's very difficult," said Luca Cari, firefighter's spokesman on Giglio.
The captain of the luxury 114,500-tonne ship, Francesco Schettino, was under arrest and accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship, Italian police said.
Passengers, comparing the disaster to the movie "Titanic," told of people leaping into the sea and fighting over lifejackets in panic when the ship hit a rock and ran aground near the island of Giglio, late on Friday.
Two French tourists and a Peruvian crew member were known to have died. There was confusion about the number of people still unaccounted for. The president of the Tuscan region said the number stood at 17 but other estimates were as high as 34.
The vast hulk of the 290-metre-long cruise ship, resting on its side, loomed over the little port of Giglio, a picturesque island in a maritime nature reserve off the Tuscan coast. A large gash was visible in its side.
Rescue workers including specialist diving teams were working their way through more than 2,000 cabins on the ship, a floating resort that boasted a huge spa, seven restaurants, bars, cinemas and discotheques.
As the search continued, there were demands for explanations of why the vessel had come so close to the shore and bitter complaints about how long it took to evacuate the terrified passengers after the ship ran aground late on Friday.
State prosecutor Francesco Verusio said investigations might go beyond the captain.
"We are investigating the possible responsibility of other people who could be responsible for such a dangerous maneuver," he told SkyTG24 television. "The command systems did not function as they should have."
"UNMARKED" ROCK
Magistrates said Schettino, whose had been carrying 4,229 passengers and crew, abandoned the vessel before all the passengers were taken off.
The vessel's operator, Costa Crociere, a unit of Carnival Corp & Plc, the world's largest cruise company, said the Costa Concordia had been sailing on its regular course when it struck a submerged rock.
In a television interview, Schettino said the rock was not marked on any maritime charts of the area.
Costa Crociere president Gianni Ororato said the captain "performed a maneuver intended to protect both guests and crew" but it was "complicated by a sudden tilting of the ship."
"We'll be able to say at the end of the investigation. It would be premature to speculate on this," said coastguard spokesman Filippo Marini.
After a night-time operation on Friday and Saturday involving helicopters, ships and lifeboats, many passengers had left the area with many taken to Rome airport for flights home.
The ship was involved in an accident on November 22, 2008 when it hit a port wall and was damaged while docking.
Local officials expressed concern the fuel on the ship, at full load as it had just begun the cruise, could spill into the pristine waters. However by early Sunday, there was no sign of any pollution damage.
DINNER TIME DISASTER
Passengers had just sat down to dinner, a few hours after leaving the port of Civitavecchia near Rome on a week-long cruise to Barcelona and Majorca, when a loud bang interrupted the piano player and the ship began to list.
"We heard a loud rumble, the glasses and plates fell from the tables, the ship tilted and the lights went off," said passenger Luciano Castro.
"What followed was scenes of panic, people screaming, running around the place. Close to us a five-month pregnant young woman was crying and panicking."
The ship was carrying mainly Italian passengers, but also British, Germans, French, Spanish, Americans and others. Many were elderly and some were in wheelchairs. It became more difficult to lower the lifeboats the more the ship listed.
"It was complete panic. People were behaving like animals. We had to wait too long in the lifeboats," said Patrizia Perilli, 47.
Passengers said they had been given little or no information in the immediate aftermath of the ship running aground.
"After approximately 20 minutes a voice told us there was a problem with the electricity that they were trying to fix," said Castro.
"The ship continued to tilt further, after 15 minutes they said again it was a problem with the electricity, but no one believed it," he said.
"Of course panic makes things worse and the crew members struggled in calming down the most active and worried passengers."
The ship was built in 2004-2005 at a cost of 450 million euros at the Fincantieri Sestri shipyard in Italy.
(Additional reporting by Silvia Ognibene, Edward Taylor and Joern Poltz; Writing by Philip Pullella and James Mackenzie; Editing by Andrew Roche)
Survival instinct -self protection
Last night, I was at Gurney Plaza, one of the big commercial mall in Penang. I watch a movie, Mission Impossible with my wife and when the movie finished it was already almost 11pm and mall was almost deserted. My wife and I have to find a way to the car park to get to our car to go home. Onnce out of the mall, there was a massive jam and the cars are trying to overtake each other to reach home and it was a race who can inched their car ahead of others in this cramped field. Yes, everyone is for themselves.This is the animal survival instinct in all human beings.
This morning I read in the newspaper that an Italian cruise ship sank and there were several people killed or missing. There was total confusion and panic as there were 4000 over passengers on the ship. People were stealing the safety float from each other and everyone rushing for the safety boats and knock over old people and Children. There was a report that the people became animals in such panicky situations. Normally, our worst character will come out when we are threaten. It maybe our living, our job, our ego and so on. Human beings are able to share fortunes but cannot share losses and in our History, there are many cases of killing or counter attack to protect one's survival.
Why is it so? Why can't we sacrifice for others? We are all inter-connected so we are all for one and one for all. This wisdom is only shared by few who have attained some level of enlightenment. We have often heard about TIbetian monks burning themselves to death to support the return of the Dalai Lama or support of the return of Tibet from China to the Tibetian people. These courage to sacrifice is really an amazing feat. For these people, they do not fear death and they could control their mind and body to carry out the feat.
We are not talking about these greatness of self sacrifice but a small monetary donation is also very difficult. The gift of giving is small token of self sacriice and yet it is not easy to have the determination to give. Getting more is a normal behaviour and it is always carried out with passion and energy. But, giving needs more effort than to take.
The message is that our ego is bigger than the Universe and having more of everything comes from the ego. If we are aware of this wisdom and break the ego, the solution will naturally appeared and you will be more in control of your mind and your body.
Namaste.
This morning I read in the newspaper that an Italian cruise ship sank and there were several people killed or missing. There was total confusion and panic as there were 4000 over passengers on the ship. People were stealing the safety float from each other and everyone rushing for the safety boats and knock over old people and Children. There was a report that the people became animals in such panicky situations. Normally, our worst character will come out when we are threaten. It maybe our living, our job, our ego and so on. Human beings are able to share fortunes but cannot share losses and in our History, there are many cases of killing or counter attack to protect one's survival.
Why is it so? Why can't we sacrifice for others? We are all inter-connected so we are all for one and one for all. This wisdom is only shared by few who have attained some level of enlightenment. We have often heard about TIbetian monks burning themselves to death to support the return of the Dalai Lama or support of the return of Tibet from China to the Tibetian people. These courage to sacrifice is really an amazing feat. For these people, they do not fear death and they could control their mind and body to carry out the feat.
We are not talking about these greatness of self sacrifice but a small monetary donation is also very difficult. The gift of giving is small token of self sacriice and yet it is not easy to have the determination to give. Getting more is a normal behaviour and it is always carried out with passion and energy. But, giving needs more effort than to take.
The message is that our ego is bigger than the Universe and having more of everything comes from the ego. If we are aware of this wisdom and break the ego, the solution will naturally appeared and you will be more in control of your mind and your body.
Namaste.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Spring is here again,
This blog is enjoying its second spring. This phase may not be describe the personal life of a women or a man because by having a second spring it means that they having a new life partner but it could also mean that an old couple is on their second honeymood. It can also be applicable to a man who have just have a successful heart by-pass when their body is revitalized by such procedure. Normally, for the ordinary man, it applies to a season after winter. The spring which brings back the sunshine after a long cold spell of the Winter. By bring back the spring, the grass will grow and flowers will bloom. It will be a period of joy and a new beginning, the welcoming of the New Year.
Chinese New Year is just around the corner and only a week away. There is a feeling of freshness and the hope of a new chapter in life. Recently, I had a lunch with a group of friends and one of my colleague join me. The restuarant was playing the old Chinese song on their Hi-fi CD player and it sounds so familiar and repettious and old. The song was from the early 60s' and before. So, I asked my colleague how did she feel when she hear the song after more than 40 years. I told her I feel old. But, she did not agree with me. She told me that these old songs bring back a special feeling, the feeling of a new year and a new beginning. It brings back her memories of child hood years. The happy and go lucky and playful years. When she talks about it, it brings back a smile on her face.A kind of sweet smile.
Frankly, altough I feel old as I have aged with these songs, I cannot denied that it brings back the mood and rejuvenate our spirit. The style of singing and their special lyrics and instrument they used is a unique arrangement. There is so many Chinese New Year songs but they failed to replace these old songs miserably. These are songs of joy, happiness and wishful greetings which have much meaning and hope.
Apart from the songs, the Spring brings back special food. I had the waxed pork rice a few times already since the beginning of Januaray. Easily, it had been 5 times already and it is really special. My boss,H told me that these waxed pork needs the special autumn wind to dry and kept through the Winter and the ripe time to eat it is in spring. The aroma and the taste is too good and each time, I have to restrain myself in order not to get fat. The challenge of eating less of these special food is really stressful at times.
Not only the food but the delicious cookies that will come along during the spring. So, we can see that Spring is so much fun an joy apart for th chance of a new beginning. It is just like a second spring in our life which add spring in our legs and joints. LOL.
If we look at this aspect, it is fun but there is also a stroke of wisdom. Every day can be spring to us if we want it. It is our choice. Why do we need to wait for a New Year to revitalize ourself and change our mindset or our mood. How many Springs we can have in our life? If we treat everyday as a new year, won't it be better. So, many more happy days and so much more joy. It is all in our Mind and it belongs to you. Look inside you and search for your Mind wherever it may be. Be aware of it and manage it to bring more spring to your life. It is not dificult.
So, let have more Spring in our life and so an early Happy Chinese New Year to all my readers. Welcome the year of the Dragon.
Namaste.
Chinese New Year is just around the corner and only a week away. There is a feeling of freshness and the hope of a new chapter in life. Recently, I had a lunch with a group of friends and one of my colleague join me. The restuarant was playing the old Chinese song on their Hi-fi CD player and it sounds so familiar and repettious and old. The song was from the early 60s' and before. So, I asked my colleague how did she feel when she hear the song after more than 40 years. I told her I feel old. But, she did not agree with me. She told me that these old songs bring back a special feeling, the feeling of a new year and a new beginning. It brings back her memories of child hood years. The happy and go lucky and playful years. When she talks about it, it brings back a smile on her face.A kind of sweet smile.
Frankly, altough I feel old as I have aged with these songs, I cannot denied that it brings back the mood and rejuvenate our spirit. The style of singing and their special lyrics and instrument they used is a unique arrangement. There is so many Chinese New Year songs but they failed to replace these old songs miserably. These are songs of joy, happiness and wishful greetings which have much meaning and hope.
Apart from the songs, the Spring brings back special food. I had the waxed pork rice a few times already since the beginning of Januaray. Easily, it had been 5 times already and it is really special. My boss,H told me that these waxed pork needs the special autumn wind to dry and kept through the Winter and the ripe time to eat it is in spring. The aroma and the taste is too good and each time, I have to restrain myself in order not to get fat. The challenge of eating less of these special food is really stressful at times.
Not only the food but the delicious cookies that will come along during the spring. So, we can see that Spring is so much fun an joy apart for th chance of a new beginning. It is just like a second spring in our life which add spring in our legs and joints. LOL.
If we look at this aspect, it is fun but there is also a stroke of wisdom. Every day can be spring to us if we want it. It is our choice. Why do we need to wait for a New Year to revitalize ourself and change our mindset or our mood. How many Springs we can have in our life? If we treat everyday as a new year, won't it be better. So, many more happy days and so much more joy. It is all in our Mind and it belongs to you. Look inside you and search for your Mind wherever it may be. Be aware of it and manage it to bring more spring to your life. It is not dificult.
So, let have more Spring in our life and so an early Happy Chinese New Year to all my readers. Welcome the year of the Dragon.
Namaste.
A "vulgar " yoga session
Something funny happen at my yoga session yesterday, My guru started off with an instruction for free warm up exercise and she asked us to go through a routine of our choice. So, obediently each of us just do as she told us. Some of us choose a simple routine and some really put effort in going through some difficult stunts. It was a normal routine. After the warm up session, she to us to stop and she will take over.
She asked us to do a front spilt and it was a very difficult move especially for the man and she gave out a simple instruction and she shouted " suck it all up" and we just do as we were told and we suck up our bandah and pull up our chest and muscles.This move is actually to make the front spilt easier or more perfect. For man, we need to take care of our "balls" more carefully. It could hurt a lot if we keep that stand for a longer while.
The next move was "Crow" and as we practise that stand, she shouted " push it all in" and what she mend was to push in our stomach and in this way, we can perfect the crow stunt. She was looking flat face when one of my fellow student reminded her that our neighbours who is not aware of our yoga stunds would be thinking that we are having an orgy. Human being's thinking is always dirty.
If someone put the words together " suck it all up" and " push it all in" , these are love making messages and their imagine will run wild.
Just like when two people ie a male and female is sleeping under the same blanket. There must be lovers and they make love under the blanket. If you tell the story that it is for fun or we are just best of friends. It will not be believable and you will look stupid. Just in the above situation, being human, we jump to the same conclusion. But, actually there could be nothing. Yes, nothing.
We formulate the image based on the vocal stimuli and our past experience through experience, books and movie. All these make belief factors will come together and form an image and an image from our past knowledge and experience.
Let go of these movie images and take a look at the matter more clearly and more deeply. Unlearn to learn and you will see freshness and the truth.
Namaste.
She asked us to do a front spilt and it was a very difficult move especially for the man and she gave out a simple instruction and she shouted " suck it all up" and we just do as we were told and we suck up our bandah and pull up our chest and muscles.This move is actually to make the front spilt easier or more perfect. For man, we need to take care of our "balls" more carefully. It could hurt a lot if we keep that stand for a longer while.
The next move was "Crow" and as we practise that stand, she shouted " push it all in" and what she mend was to push in our stomach and in this way, we can perfect the crow stunt. She was looking flat face when one of my fellow student reminded her that our neighbours who is not aware of our yoga stunds would be thinking that we are having an orgy. Human being's thinking is always dirty.
If someone put the words together " suck it all up" and " push it all in" , these are love making messages and their imagine will run wild.
Just like when two people ie a male and female is sleeping under the same blanket. There must be lovers and they make love under the blanket. If you tell the story that it is for fun or we are just best of friends. It will not be believable and you will look stupid. Just in the above situation, being human, we jump to the same conclusion. But, actually there could be nothing. Yes, nothing.
We formulate the image based on the vocal stimuli and our past experience through experience, books and movie. All these make belief factors will come together and form an image and an image from our past knowledge and experience.
Let go of these movie images and take a look at the matter more clearly and more deeply. Unlearn to learn and you will see freshness and the truth.
Namaste.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Dooms' day clock - ext
Doomsday Clock a minute closer to midnight
Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:36PM EST
(Reuters) - The symbolic Doomsday Clock calculated by a group of scientists was moved a minute closer to midnight on Tuesday, with the group citing inadequate progress on nuclear weapons reduction and climate change.
The clock was moved to five minutes to midnight, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said, the first adjustment since the beginning of 2010, when it was moved back one minute to six minutes from midnight -- or "doomsday".
"Two years ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly global threats that we face. In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed," the group said in a statement.
The Bulletin (www.thebulletin.org) is a periodical founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project.
They created the Doomsday Clock two years later to symbolize how close humanity was to self-annihilation, with an initial setting of seven minutes to midnight.
Initially the clock was focused on nuclear war, but it has been broadened in recent years as the scientists, who include a range of Nobel laureates, added other risks to humanity.
The scientists said world leaders had failed to sustain the progress in nuclear disarmament that had seen them move the hands back on the clock two years ago.
As well, the major global challenge now was a warmer climate that threatens to bring droughts, famine, water scarcity and rising seas, said Allison Macfarlane, an associated professor at George Mason University near Washington, who chairs the group's committee that helps set the clock.
"The global community may be near a point of no return in efforts to prevent catastrophe from changes in Earth's atmosphere," Macfarlane said in the statement.
The last time the group moved the hands closer to midnight was in 2007, by two minutes due to a North Korean nuclear weapon test, Iranian nuclear ambitions and a renewed U.S. emphasis at the time of the military utility of nuclear weapons.
The closest the clock ever came to midnight was 1953, the year of the first test of a hydrogen bomb by the United States.
Tue Jan 10, 2012 7:36PM EST
(Reuters) - The symbolic Doomsday Clock calculated by a group of scientists was moved a minute closer to midnight on Tuesday, with the group citing inadequate progress on nuclear weapons reduction and climate change.
The clock was moved to five minutes to midnight, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said, the first adjustment since the beginning of 2010, when it was moved back one minute to six minutes from midnight -- or "doomsday".
"Two years ago, it appeared that world leaders might address the truly global threats that we face. In many cases, that trend has not continued or been reversed," the group said in a statement.
The Bulletin (www.thebulletin.org) is a periodical founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had helped develop the first atomic weapons in the Manhattan Project.
They created the Doomsday Clock two years later to symbolize how close humanity was to self-annihilation, with an initial setting of seven minutes to midnight.
Initially the clock was focused on nuclear war, but it has been broadened in recent years as the scientists, who include a range of Nobel laureates, added other risks to humanity.
The scientists said world leaders had failed to sustain the progress in nuclear disarmament that had seen them move the hands back on the clock two years ago.
As well, the major global challenge now was a warmer climate that threatens to bring droughts, famine, water scarcity and rising seas, said Allison Macfarlane, an associated professor at George Mason University near Washington, who chairs the group's committee that helps set the clock.
"The global community may be near a point of no return in efforts to prevent catastrophe from changes in Earth's atmosphere," Macfarlane said in the statement.
The last time the group moved the hands closer to midnight was in 2007, by two minutes due to a North Korean nuclear weapon test, Iranian nuclear ambitions and a renewed U.S. emphasis at the time of the military utility of nuclear weapons.
The closest the clock ever came to midnight was 1953, the year of the first test of a hydrogen bomb by the United States.
Fate ends, love ends.
I have been a singing teacher before and I enjoy teaching old students to sing. Once, I have a batch of old students, many were grand mothers at that time and they would behave like children fighting for a chance to sing. There was so much backstabbing or jealousy. Finally, this group of old students break up and I also stop teaching. One of the old student told me a sad story.
When she was at her mid thirties, her husband was electrocuted when cleaning the lightings in her house. She was a teacher then and she continued to bring up her children and she brought them along for her singing classes. At that time, they are already at their early forties. This was not the point. She told me that she suffered many lonely years and she took to Buddhism to pacify her sorrows. She told me that she finally accept the fact that it was an experience for her to be tested in this way. A Buddhist monk told her to accept the fact that fate ends, love ends. There is no another way to explain it. It was no point for her to hold on and blame her life, GOD or anybody else. This happening was her life journey. No other ways.
I remembered before my BIL James die,his wish was to have his ashes spread out in the sea. We asked him why? He told us that he has no decendants and he would not like to bother the living people or relative or his wife with the burden to visit his grave annually and to sweep the grave during the all souls day. When it ends, it ends. That's it. Come to think about it, he is right, there are so many graves or urns left uncare for and unattended. It makes no sense to hold on other people's life when one die. Why can we let go completely and just vanished? Does it matter to leave behind something in this materialistic world. For memories? How many generations you want to be remembered? Any sense for that?
If it is our fate to die, let it be. No need to struggle but we should attempt to keep ourself healthy, happy and lead a clean and righteous life. We should not sin or do evil deeds and not burden people when we are living when we are gone. Why should to thesd things, we are just passing tbrough briefly. While we are around on this earth, we should take care and improve this earth and make it a better place than before we came. We have no right to burden the future generations. If we cannot improve it , then don't damage it.
Let the future generations have their chance to live a better life than us. But, human nature is so difficult to predict or manage. People's behaviour is alway greedy and only for themselves. This is the imperfection of mankind. We are just a brief history in time and according to quantum principles, we are like a spark of dust in relation to time and space.
We have to accept these facts and should not occupy a space on earth after we are gone.Ashes to ashes , dust to dust. We should be blown or wash away. When it ends, it ends clean and no point to linger on.
Namaste.
When she was at her mid thirties, her husband was electrocuted when cleaning the lightings in her house. She was a teacher then and she continued to bring up her children and she brought them along for her singing classes. At that time, they are already at their early forties. This was not the point. She told me that she suffered many lonely years and she took to Buddhism to pacify her sorrows. She told me that she finally accept the fact that it was an experience for her to be tested in this way. A Buddhist monk told her to accept the fact that fate ends, love ends. There is no another way to explain it. It was no point for her to hold on and blame her life, GOD or anybody else. This happening was her life journey. No other ways.
I remembered before my BIL James die,his wish was to have his ashes spread out in the sea. We asked him why? He told us that he has no decendants and he would not like to bother the living people or relative or his wife with the burden to visit his grave annually and to sweep the grave during the all souls day. When it ends, it ends. That's it. Come to think about it, he is right, there are so many graves or urns left uncare for and unattended. It makes no sense to hold on other people's life when one die. Why can we let go completely and just vanished? Does it matter to leave behind something in this materialistic world. For memories? How many generations you want to be remembered? Any sense for that?
If it is our fate to die, let it be. No need to struggle but we should attempt to keep ourself healthy, happy and lead a clean and righteous life. We should not sin or do evil deeds and not burden people when we are living when we are gone. Why should to thesd things, we are just passing tbrough briefly. While we are around on this earth, we should take care and improve this earth and make it a better place than before we came. We have no right to burden the future generations. If we cannot improve it , then don't damage it.
Let the future generations have their chance to live a better life than us. But, human nature is so difficult to predict or manage. People's behaviour is alway greedy and only for themselves. This is the imperfection of mankind. We are just a brief history in time and according to quantum principles, we are like a spark of dust in relation to time and space.
We have to accept these facts and should not occupy a space on earth after we are gone.Ashes to ashes , dust to dust. We should be blown or wash away. When it ends, it ends clean and no point to linger on.
Namaste.
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