Happy New Year 2013

Well, another year has gone by and today, we welcome the new year.

In 2013, I resolve to be awesome in all aspect of my life : -

- Drink plenty of water, especially Kangen water
- Eat breakfast like a kind, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper
- Live with the 3 Es : Energy, Enthusiasm & Empathy
- Make time to pray and be close to the Creator (whoever He is to you)
- Play more games, be more child-like and be present
- Read more books that I did in 2012
- Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day and enjoy the peace in the silence
- Sleep for at least 7 hours a night and wake up grateful for the rest
- Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily and while walking, smile at the beauty around me

- Don't over do and over commit. Keep to my capabilities, while stretching it a bit
everyday
- Don't take myself too seriously - no one else does anyway
- Don't waste precious energy on gossip as it just drains you
- Dream more while I am awake and take action to make those dreams come true
- Envy is a waste of time. I already have all that I need right now
- Forget issues of the past and forgive. Otherwise, it will ruin my present happiness
- Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Let it go...
- Make peace with my past so that it will not spoil the present
- No one is in charge of my happiness except Me
- Smile and laugh more
- I don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree

- Call my love ones more often
- Each day, give something good to others
- Forgive everyone for all their trespasses.
- Don't sweat the small stuff
- Spend time with people over the age of 70 and under the age of 6
- Try to make at least 3 people smile everyday
- What other people think of me is none of my business

- Always, to the best of my abilities, do the right thing
- Time heals everything - let go and forgive
- However good or bad a situation is, it will change
- No matter how I feel, get up, dress up and show up. The best is yet to come
- When awake in the morning, thank God for all your blessings
- Your inner-most self is always happy. So, be happy


Wishing all of you a wonderful 2013 filled with abundance, prosperity and happiness. May all your wishes come true.

Being Happy

Happiness is a state of mind.

If you think you are happy, you are.

Even in the midst of sufferings, you can find people who are happy.

Why? Because they know that a moment of happiness is like the light shining through the darkness of their days.

And in that brief moment, they lived fully and feel the most alive...

16 Truths That Make Us Strong

1. Life is not easy. – Hard work makes people lucky – it’s the stuff that brings dreams to reality. So start every morning ready to run farther than you did yesterday and fight harder than you ever have before. (Read The Road Less Traveled.)

2. You will fail sometimes. – The faster you accept this, the faster you can get on with being brilliant. You’ll never be 100% sure it will work, but you can always be 100% sure doing nothing won’t work. So get out there and do something! Either you succeed or you learn a vital lesson. Win – Win.

3. Right now, there’s a lot you don’t know. – The day you stop learning is the day you stop living. Embrace new information, think about it and use it to advance yourself.

4. There may not be a tomorrow. – Not for everyone. Right now, someone on Earth is planning something for tomorrow without realizing they’re going to die today. This is sad but true. So spend your time wisely today and pause long enough to appreciate it.

5. There’s a lot you can’t control. – Wasting your time, talent and emotional energy on things that are beyond your control is a recipe for frustration, misery and stagnation. Invest your energy in the things you can control.

6. Information is not true knowledge. – Knowledge comes from experience. You can discuss a task a hundred times, but these discussions will only give you a philosophical understanding. You must experience a task firsthand to truly know it.

7. You can’t be successful without providing value. – Don’t waste your time trying to be successful, spend your time creating value. When you’re valuable to the world around you, you will be successful. (Read Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?)

8. Someone else will always have more than you. – Whether it’s money, friends or magic beans that you’re collecting, there will always be someone who has more than you. But remember, it’s not how many you have, it’s how passionate you are about collecting them. It’s all about the journey.

9. You can’t change the past. – As Maria Robinson once said, “Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.” You can’t change what happened, but you can change how you react to it.

10. The only person who can make you happy is you. – The root of your happiness comes from your relationship with yourself. Sure external entities can have fleeting effects on your mood, but in the long run nothing matters more than how you feel about who you are on the inside.

11. There will always be people who don’t like you. – You can’t be everything to everyone. No matter what you do, there will always be someone who thinks differently. So concentrate on doing what you know in your heart is right. What others think and say about you isn’t all that important. What is important is how you feel about yourself.

12. You won’t always get what you want. – As Mick Jagger once said, “You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes you might find you get what you need.” Look around. Appreciate the things you have right now. Many people aren’t so lucky.

13. In life, you get what you put in. – If you want love, give love. If you want friends, be friendly. If you want money, provide value. It really is this simple. (Read The Four Agreements.)

14. Good friends will come and go. – Most of your high school friends won’t be a part of your college life. Most of your college friends won’t be a part of your 20-something professional life. Most of your 20-something friends won’t be there when your spouse and you bring your second child into the world. But some friends will stick. And it’s these friends – the ones who transcend time with you – who matter.

15. Doing the same exact thing every day hinders self growth. – If you keep doing what you’re doing, you’ll keep getting what you’re getting. Growth happens when you change things – when you try new things – when you stretch beyond your comfort zone.

16. You will never feel 100% ready for something new. – Nobody ever feels 100% ready when an opportunity arises. Because most great opportunities in life force us to grow beyond our comfort zones, which means you won’t feel totally comfortable or ready for it.

And remember, trying to be someone else is a waste of the person you are. Strength comes from being comfortable in your own skin.

- Extracted From Transitioning.org

The Purpose of Life

I believe that the very purpose of life is to be happy.

From the very core of our being, we desire contentment.

In my own limited experience I have found that the more we care for the happiness of others, the greater is our own sense of well-being.

Cultivating a close, warm-hearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease. It helps remove whatever fears or insecurities we may have and gives us the strength to cope with any obstacles we encounter.

It is the principal source of success in life. Since we are not solely material creatures, it is a mistake to place all our hopes for happiness on external development alone.

The key is to develop inner peace.

~ His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama

Happy All The Time...

If you were to ask anybody around you, one of their life goals is to be happy. Some may define their dreams as to achieve happiness in their lives.

Even if you achieve happiness, can you truly say that you are happy all the time?

No, that would be impossible.

Why?

It is very simple. Life moves in cycles. There are times when you are happy and times when you are not. That is the duality of all human existence.

It is as natural as daylight and night-time. There can be no darkness without the light. There can be no up if there is no down. There can be no right if there is no wrong. This is the principle of duality.

Happiness is a state of our mind. It is the mind that tells you when you are happy.

Certain events or occurrences that happen in your life and your mind interprets the event that this should make you happy. So, the body will release the various "happy" hormones in your body and you will feel a sense of happiness.

But this state of happiness will not last. As like everything in life, it is transient. So, after that feeling of happiness has passed, you will feel no-more-happy. This is the dual state of being happy.

An enlightened sage will know that it is futile to grasp at happiness. You just cannot make happiness stay in your life due to the changing conditions of life.

So, the wise sage will just maintain a state of equanmity. If happiness comes, he recognizes it, holds it for a while and let it go with no attachment. If sorrow comes, he would do the same thing.

Therefore, if you experienced happiness, be thankful for the grace of that happy occurrence. Do not chase after it and try to prolong its presence. It cannnot be done.

Enjoy the small episodes of happiness that comes into your life and be grateful for the opportunity to feel the happiness...

Happiness Is How Much You Give

Why is there so much unhappiness in the world today?

Everywhere you look, you see a lot of people burdened by the trials of earning a living, of making enough to fulfill their desires and numerous wants.

It seems that whatever you have now is never enough.

There is always the need to have more.

The need to accumulate more material things, the need to compare with your neighbours on who is richer, the need to show the world that you are successful with your condos or your BMW.

Even you have all these material things, are you truly happy?

There are many rich people, who front the outside look happy, but in their private moments are in deep despair. Why? Because what they have is never enough.

In the deep of the night, they cannot sleep due to the cravings that they have. Cravings for more material things, riches and other needs.

So, to numb these pain, many turns to drugs, sedatives or destructive life-styles to fill these voids.

When you see these people, you feel compassion and pity arising for them.

They do not realize a very basic principle : -

"Happiness is not how much you have - it is how much you give."

When you give, you feel a lightness of the heart and your spirit soars.

It is not just material things that you can give.

You can give your time, your presence and your energy.

If you do not have a lot of money, a kind word given to a man in deep depression may be more valuable than all the riches in the world.

Time devoted to a lonely child will be remembered in years to come.

By being present for the friends in their time of need will forever showed them how much you value them and they will always treasure your being there.

So, give, give and give.

Give with no expectations of thanks. Give with no hope that the gift will be returned. Give with no expectations of reciprocity.

When you give so generously, the Universe will register your goodness from the heart.

And the Universe will bless you with all that you need - the simple abundance that will bring lots of happiness in your life.

Michael Jackson - Free and At Peace

Michael Jackson is dead.

Died in the prime of his life, like many other great talents that the world have seen - icons like Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and many others.

I was never an MJ fan. I have never bought a single album of his.

Sure, I have heard his songs, which were played ad nauseam in the airwaves, shopping malls and at parties when his albums were released in the great 80's. I have watched his specials, concerts and performances in various award shows shown on the TV.

But yet, I was not his fan.

Why?

Because I just did not enjoy his songs and his singing. It is as simple as that.

And yet I DID respect him for the great talent that he was blessed with. The talent to reach out to touch people with his songs, his voice and his performances. The magic that he brings to his fervent fans.

I did recognize the greatness that the Universe has put on his shoulder. And I did appreciate the tremendous achievements that he had accomplished since he was a young kid.

Yes, he was truly blessed with a great talent.

However, every blessing is a double-edged sword. With great talents comes great responsibilities.

The responsibilities to share the talents generously. The burden to change the world for the better. The duty to live beyond himself.

Sadly, MJ did not developed the wisdom to do that.

With the successes that he had, he was consumed by the fame, the adoration and the wealth.

Despite all these, I doubt that MJ was ever truly happy.

He sought escape from the pedestal that his fans had put him on by getting addicted to drugs, addicted to the adorations that strokes his ego and addicted to all the material things that money could buy.

He did not have the opportunity to learn that all these will not bring him true happiness. All these will not last - not the fame, the successes and the adoration.

True happiness only comes from within.

Within is the stillness that would have told him about his calling and how he could have served the Universe to make millions of lives improve for the better.

In trying to escape reality, he tried to create his own perfect world. He built Neverland, filled it with toys and imaginative worlds. He surrounded himself with the innocence of kids. He spent a fortune on numerous plastic surgeries to change his face and the image that he saw in the mirror.

Yet, he could not have outrun the emptiness that he felt within his soul. He could not escape the painful Present.

Regretably MJ did not develope the wisdom to know that everything is transient.

He did not have the insights to know the good he could have done with his fame and fortune. He did not have the blessings of families and friends who could have given him good advices that could have grounded him to the Now.

Now MJ is dead.

And even in death, there are fights over his children, his will and his legacy.

In death, he has achieved the status of a legend, becoming an icon of our times.

MJ, wherever you are, I wish you peace and hope that you are now in a happier place. May you find the freedom, the happiness and the wisdom that you were seeking when you were here on earth.

Be well, be happy and be at peace...

How To Be Happy...

When the Buddha was asked this question, he replied that all buddhas teach the same thing : -

The Bad Things, Don't Do Them.

The Good Things, Try To Do Them.

Purify And Subdue Your Own Mind.

That Is The Teaching Of All Buddhas.

Simple advice but not so easy to live it...

The Secret of Happiness

With so many bad news everywhere due to the "financial tsunami" (Warren Buffett's description), where a lot of people are losing their jobs, their homes and their hopes for a good life, it is very easy to fall into a state of despair.

Life is so challenging, with a lot of pressures coming from different directions. Some days, you can feel that it is easier to stay in bed and not have to face the world.

However, that is not an option. All these sufferings are temporary. In the big scheme of things, it does not last.

A lot of these sufferings are because of our cravings. We crave for material things, status and gratifications.

If we are able to quiet these cravings within us, we will see that all these desires of wealth and fame does not bring us true happiness. We search for it outside of ourselves and keep coming up short.

Why?

As long as seek power, happiness and gratification by pursuing fame, money and sex, we will never be happy and we will never be satisfied.

Many of us think that if we have no money, status or fame, we therefore have no power and cannot be truly happy.

However, once our basic material needs for food, water, shelter, saftety and livelihood are met, the path to true happiness is actually very simple.

Only by coming back to ourselves and purifying our minds can we experience true and lasting happiness.

Without attachments to material things, fame and fortune, your happiness is based on your own peace, wisdom and love. The mind forms these attachments, which leads to much sufferings.

You have to train yourselve to see happiness in terms of peace, freedom and compassion. The more generous you are in giving, not just your money and power, the more you will find that you are happy.

Happy to live in the present, with no worries about your diminishing assets in this difficult times. Happy that you are alive and feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin. Happy that you are surrounded by a lot of blessings.

So, live with a grateful spirit - be thankful that you still have your good health, your families and love ones, your mental faculties, your friends and your place in this beautiful world.

Go out there and give as generously as you can...

And you will find that each of your gifts will be as everlasting as the mountains in Tibet...