Pick me up!

The first person to motivate you or uplift you when you're feeling down is YOU. There is an inner strength from within that comes from faith in God. Just like happiness, you can't rely on other people to find happiness but it should come first from yourself.

Allow yourself to cry or be sad but after that smile, look forward to something positive because God is with you all the time.

Xin Nian Kuai Le! Gong xi fa cai.

Today the Chinese communities celebrates the lunar new year. I would like to wish everyone a happy new year and a prosperous one. I am enjoying my stay here in SG though my main purpose in coming here has not materialized. I am blessed that I get to fellowship with the brethren here and I get to share the word of God to a new friend.

The positive things outweigh the negative ones. Thank you, Lord!

Thinking Out Loud

Robin Sharma's 35 Tips for a Better 2012

I'm sharing these tips from Robin Sharma. If you haven't read any of his works, you can start this year. :)

35 Fast Tips to Make This Your Best Year Yet

I’m sitting on an airplane thinking about what the best performers and most successful people do to continually outperform everyone around them.

As we enter what I hope will be the single best year of your life yet, I’ve come up with 35 Tips that I invite you to concentrate on. Share these tips, reflect on then, post them where you can see them – and allow them to infuse your mindset:

1. Remember that the quality of your life is determined by the quality of your thoughts.
2. Keep the promises you make to others – and to yourself.
3. The project that most scares you is the project you need to do first.
4. Small daily improvements are the key to staggering long-term results.
5. Stop being busy being busy. This New Year, clean out the distractions from your work+life and devote to a monomaniacal focus on the few things that matter.
6. Read “The War of Art”.
7. Watch “The Fighter”.
8. In a world where technology is causing some of us to forget how to act human, become the politest person you know.
9. Remember that all great ideas were first ridiculed.
10. Remember that critics are dreamers gone scared.
11. Be “Apple-Like” in your obsession with getting the details right.
12. Take 60 minutes every weekend to craft a blueprint for the coming seven days. As Saul Bellow once said: “A plan relieves you of the torment of choice.”
13. Release your need to be liked this New Year. You can’t be a visionary if you long to be liked.
14. Disrupt or be disrupted.
15. Hire a personal trainer to get you into the best shape of your life. Superstars focus on the value they receive versus the cost of the service.
16. Give your teammates, customers and family one of the greatest gifts of all: the gift of your attention (and presence).
17. Every morning ask yourself: “How may I best serve the most people?”
18. Every night ask yourself: “What 5 good things happened to me this day?”
19. Don’t waste your most valuable hours (the morning) doing low value work.
20. Leave every project you touch at work better than you found it.
21. Your job is not just to work. Your job is to leave a trail of leaders behind you.
22. A job is not “just a job”. Every job is a gorgeous vehicle to express your gifts and talents – and to model exceptionalism for all around you.
23. Fears unfaced become your limits.
24. Get up at 5 am and take 60 minutes to prepare your mind, body, emotions and spirit to be remarkable during the hours that follow. Being a superstar is not the domain of the gifted but the prepared.
25. Write love letters to your family.
26. Smile at strangers.
27. Drink more water.
28. Keep a journal. Your life’s story is worth recording.
29. Do more than you’re paid to do and do work that leaves your teammates breathless.
30. Leave your ego at the door every morning.
31. Set 5 daily goals every morning. These small wins will lead to nearly 2000 little victories by the end of the year.
32. Say “please” and “thank you”.
33. Remember the secret to happiness is doing work that matters and being an instrument of service.
34. Don’t be the richest person in the graveyard. Health is wealth.
35. Life’s short. The greatest risk is risk-less living. And settling for average.

I genuinely wish you the best year of your life.

Stay Great.

Robin Sharma

How to be happy

I stumbled on this website about the science of happiness. It's worth checking out.

How to Be Happy - Less Wrong

Happy Friday the 13th!

Some people believe that the 13th day falling on a Friday is bad luck. Others who are superstitious enough won't go out to travel or start a new project.

Personally I believe, there is no bad luck. As the Bible says all things work together for good to them that love the Lord God and do His will. If something you really want goes wrong, it happens for a purpose. It isn't lady luck causing the bad result.

I believe there is a reason or purpose for everything that happens in one person's life. But I still wish someone good luck when they're about to undertake a new endeavor or exam or whatever. I think it is odd. I think I say it because I want the person to be confident and be positive about his new endeavor.

Today, I have this great feeling of being in love but to no one in particular. I am just extremely happy! I wish I could show in pictures my joy but unfortunately the card reader slot of my laptop isn't working.

Folks, don't let Friday the 13th scare you. If you want to have dinner outside, go and enjoy it.

Happy Friday! :)

Kung Hei Fat Choi

The new year based on Gregorian calendar is over. We are about to observe the Lunar calendar new year on Jan 24th.

Went to Ang Mokio Hub and I ran into the three prosperity gods. It's time for photo-op :)

Thank You, God

Yes, it is true. You can never run out of things to thank God for. Start your day with gratitude and end your day with gratitude. Think about the air you breathe, that is something to thank God. Think of the food that's on your table. Think of the people who made you smile that day. Think of the birds that sing for you near your window when you get up in the morning.

I am in awe with what the Lord is doing in my life. I didn't get a good job in 2011 but God has blessed me spiritually tremendously. He opened my eyes and made me realize a lot of things about my life, work, friends and family.

I stumbled on this video via twitter. It's a nice video about gratitude.

New Year's Eve 2012

Getting around SG via Bus

I am getting the hang of riding buses when I go out. The area am staying at is a good place because there are lots of buses going to the north and east of Singapore. I never get bored even when I go out of my own because (1) I enjoy being with myself and (2)I make use of the travel time to observe people or reflect.

I get amused watching people in MRT or bus. The other day I went to Marina Bay to see the New Year's eve countdown and watch live performances. I was on the upper deck of the bus and keep myself busy clicking pictures. An Indian guy with his kids boarded the bus in City Hall. The Indian girl sat beside me and her brother sat behind. They were chattering loudly in English. Just hearing their Indian accent while talking made me smile because I remember Russel Peter jokes about his fellows.

I consciously eavesdropped of the kids conversation.

Girl: You know I don't want to buy the electronic gadget.
Boy: I like it! it's nice.
Girl: what if the battery gets over? can you buy a battery?
Boy: (he was silent as he doesn't know the answer)
Me: ( I was thinking the girl is smart.)
Girl: Aneesh, you can buy the gadget. You can .... blah blahh
Father: You are telling him to buy when you don't want to buy the gadget. What's wrong with you?
Girl: Daaad, I didn't say he should! I said "he can"."
Father: Hmmn, smart answer ha.

The kids continued to talk in their high pitched voices and their father keeps reminding them to talk softly. I asked later the boy when he sat beside me their names and ages. The boy is 7 years old and his sister is 5 years old.

Me: You know you and your sister are smart kids.
Boy: (without batting an eyelash) Yes

I caught their dad's smile when I said the kids were smart.

*****

Singaporeans women love fancy nail polish. I saw an old woman in her 60's wearing 3 inches long nails and polished with silver. One time, I saw also a woman in her 40's sporting silvers. She has glittery silver nail art, a diamond studded watch and fabulous silver shoes!. I see young girls also sporting fancy nail arts.

*****
some snaps I took when on board bus 133 :)