Embracing Everyday

It's Wednesday.

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Wednesday Morning to be more exact.

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The Monday Blue Syndrome is still not officially over. And most still have reason to be cranky.

It's surprising how many people dictate their state of happiness depending on which day of the week they are in. Everyone's uptight, cranky, .. at the beginning of the week. As if the word "Monday" itself is able to induce such negative states of mind. I normally observe people starting to relax and lay back a little, get more approachable a bit by Thursday afternoon. Even better, if it's a Friday. I am guilty of this as well, at times.

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It's like life is worth appreciating only on weekends! It's like Mondays to Fridays are lived looking forward to the weekend!

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But wait a minute! Weekends only constitute 28.57% of our lives! If we are consciously or subconsciously deciding to be happy only on weekends, it's really an upfront choice that for every 100 days, we are going to be miserable for 71.43 days!

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In more simple terms, if we were to live for 100 years, 71.43 years are not weekends. If we only live like a zombie until weekend comes, that equates fo 71.43 years of waiting and frowning. That's quite a lot of time is that not?

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So .. Let's embrace, appreciate, live and be present every single day! Live life 100% be it Monday, Tuesday, ... Saturday or Sunday. We are so fond of branding Monday as Blue Monday that we go auto-pilot in Blue State on Mondays ... in fact, in this economic climate, many are blue so long as they are at work!

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We do not realise that we have the liberty of choice.

To choose not to be blue!

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Live life! Now!

Old Irish proverb:

Work like you don't need the money;

Dance like no one is watching;

Sing like no one is listening;

Love like you've never been hurt;

and Live life every day as if it were
your last.

Passion Still Alive

In case anyone's wondering ... I am still running. Although I don't write or talk much about it these days. It has somewhat become a part of my life.

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I have, however, made some adjustments to include Yoga in my exercise regime. As most runners should be aware, frequent running results in tensed muscles and aches if warming up and cooling down is not sufficient. The many poses of Yoga serve to stretch the muscles and the many holding poses compliment as a form of endurance and strength training. (The picture on the left of a Full Pigeon Pose is the pose that I am hoping to achieve soon)
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On weekday mornings, I am usually up at 530am to either do Yoga or run for an hour. Many friends frown at the notion of sacrificing that precious sleep. To me, it's really a gain.
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I would be welcomed by pleasant rays of morning sun as I cool down after the workout session. To be honest, although the amount of sleep is lesser, I feel more alert and energetic throughout the day. The air is so much fresher in the morning and the quiet environment gives avenue for one to sort out and organise one's thoughts to prepare for the day.

Four Months

That's the amount of time that I have not entered anything into this blog. Newton's second law says that for an object that is moving, it is easier to keep it moving than to start an object moving from stationary state. These four months in a state of MIA (Missing In Action) verified this law easily.

To be honest, I do not know why I stopped writing. Busy at work would be a valid and acceptable reason for anyone that could be reading this to believe and accept (if there's even anyone that would visit this blog!). But my conscience came ahead to confess that this is not the truth.

Maybe it's more of a Blogger's Block that I have been going through. I set up this blog to share my shallow insights from small encounters in my humble life in the hope of bringing Light and Inner Clarity to myself and to others. It's not easy feat, I have found.

For one, it's not always easy to be able to see the brighter side of life. We might not be at ease to express our internal struggles to the world. But nasty people, sad happenings and encounters, low moments are part and parcel of everyone's life. Just that not everyone like to blog about such things.

Having said that, these four months was not any particular low moment for me (and I am thankful for that). Maybe I was just going through a switch-off mode where I went through and experience things accepting whatever I was experiencing. I did not try to see it in any divine or positive manner. I tried to accept whatever that came as it was. Be it black or white. Sweet or Sour.

The rain could upset one's plan for a long run, but one can choose another day to run or switch to weights training that could be done indoors. Let the rain rain.

A difficult customer could have called and made a big fuss even when one has tried his best. One can rise above the common Fight or Flight mode and choose one's response that is unattached to how the customer treats him and yet be firm and polite at the same time. Waste no energy in judging and concluding that the customer is being difficult.

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It's not about passive acceptance. It's about responding with detachment.

It's been four months. But it feels good coming back.

Five Things - A Self-Esteem Exercise

I am a faithful follower of the Daily Om website. I find the articles inspiring and a good guidance in self reflection. Recently, I came across this exercise called Five Things.

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I think that this is indeed a good exercise in self-esteem. We all agree that we are a generation that is not afraid of going for what we want in life. And we often place much emphasis in external judgements. What people think of us. How do we appear physically? That's why look good industries will always thrive. But what people think of us are not what we really are.

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In the above simple exercise, we are encouraged to write down at least five things everyday on what we like about ourselves. Who we really truly are deep inside. And do this for a week.

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I encourage my good readers to join this exercise to start the week with inner reflection.

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Here's my five things to start with:

1) I am not afraid to speak my mind if I feel that the truth will bring about benefit to others and to myself;

2) I am considerate to the feelings of others;

3) I am a long distance runner. Once I set my goal, I might not be the first to reach it, but I will somehow;

4) I believe in being true to myself;

5) I accept myself for who I am, my body-build, my age, my strengths and weakness.

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What's yours? Care to share your good five things with me?

Friday @BBC

Found this job I won't mind having.

A Look into the Real Me .. I am an Idealist. What are you?

Happy Friday!

Valentines

Last Saturday was Valentine's Day. My husband was away to conduct a three-day long camp for the group of scouts whom he is leading.

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I was not too affected that he could not be around on this day. Maybe I am a boring person. I really feel that Valentine's Day is really an over-rated event. Something to encourage consumers to part with the dollars in their pockets.

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When mom came to know that I would be Ms Lonesome this year for Valentines, she "invited" me to stay over at her place on Friday night so she could keep me company on Saturday. "It's Valentines you know! Ok you can join me and my "boyfriend", but you can't look if we kiss kiss!." Naturally, her "boyfriend" is none other than my dad :-).

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We could not decide where to go on Saturday for dinner. We knew that restaurants would be expensive and prices would definitely be exorbidant. When my brother heard us discussing our plans for his Saturday, he self-invited his family to join us. And decided to go to Terminal 3's Swenson's Restaurant for early dinner to avoid the crowd.

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We were glad to have arrived early around 5pm. There was no queue but clearly many tables decorated with heart-shaped balloons and roses for the lovebirds willing to part their $88++ per person for the Valentines Set Dinner on their menu.

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I ordered the Salad Bar Buffet which only this branch of Swenson's that I have come across served. I was "served" by my two nephews ever fascinated with topping the plates with fresh greens, nuts and fruits while I stood by their side and pretended to order.

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After dinner, we spent some time walking around this very vast terminal that opened only last year.

It could be due to the finance situation that is weighing down the shoulders of everyone, there seemed to be lesser ladies walking around with big bouquet of roses which used to be a common sight on past years.

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Hubs came back on Sunday afternoon tired but happy to have had a successful camp to orientate the fresh lot of scouts that just joined. I knew that he would usually be quite worn-out after such camps and did not want to suggest going out for lunch or dinner. I cooked some simple dishes with brown-rice porridge for us. He slept the Sunday afternoon away and we watch DVDs in the night.

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So, it was the most uneventful Valentines to blog about. But somehow I did not feel lonesome at all. And I am sure our love did not grow any lesser. In fact the mutual trust and consideration might have quietly strengthened it.

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How was your Valentines?

Active Lifestyle

Mom's in her early sixties and still leading a rather active lifestyle. I just spoke to her after my lunch over the phone. She just got back from a rehersal for a Chinese New Year Dinner performance tomorrow night. She is now taking a short nap before she gets ready for a Chinese New Year Dinner gathering with friends in the same neighbourhood tonight.

Counting the number of times that she has already Lo Hei these two weeks, I am happy to say that my parents are really leading quite a happening lifestyle for senior citizens. For non-Asians' information, Lo Hei is a big salad-like dish that all would toss the cut up vegetables together before eating. It's like a celebration dish for the beginning of the year.

I admire senior citizens with a fulfilling lifestyle. My parents exercise every morning at a park near our place with their friends. My father just walks a little and chats with his friends most of the time. My mom, on the other hand, would be sure to walk for one hour briskly in the morning. She used to be able to run 5km easily everyday until doctor advised her to slow down to walking.

They travel quite a few times a year, too. China is their favourite destination as most of their friends favour this for language and diet reasons. My father especially loves to go for cruises. He loves the sea and relaxing holiday types.

As I pen this post, I really feel happy for them.

Mom has had a tough childhood having to stay at a rich family as maid since she was about ten years old. She was the only daughter in the family and (unfortunately) my grand parents did not see as much need of educating a girl compared to the boys. Hence my mom had to stop schooling to bring in the bucks to bring her little brothers to school. Pa had worked since young too. Selling fruits by the roadside which was considered illegal then. When he got a stall to sell fruits, life did not get easy has fruits turn bad rather quickly and he often had to open the stall for long hours for higher chances of selling the fruits while they were still fresh.

Now that they are both retired and still pretty healthy except for some joint aches very common for people of their age, I am glad that their lifestyle is getting more happening than ever.