Get up from failures

Failures are part of life. If we never failed we will never know what success mean. The important thing is how we get ourselves up from our failure.

This is a very humbling video. I’m sure many will find it just very meaningful

What am I going to write today?

This sounds very familiar, sometimes we just running out of idea or topic to write. A blogger should always full of ideas even though sometimes we thought that we are totally blank. We should know that there are no limit to our thoughts and they are endless as we breath and go through our life journey. 

The same thing goes to other passion that we have. Photography is another passion that need a lot of time to master. Sometimes we just running out of ideas and locations where to take the shots. Everyday the shots are becoming more and more similar. We need something different. 

How about a picture of a rainbow in a setting sky

Footprints in the Sand

Footprints in the Sand

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

---

Mary Stevenson, 1936

Bad things happen during a recession

I was watching the local TV news today and was very shocked when I heard on the news that a man in the US shot his ex-ceo because his service was terminated. Everyday we hear about companies laying off workers and many more a closing down due to bad business. The motor industries in the US are said to be down sizing their operation and that means that more people are going to be without job.

Locally there are news that many companies and factories are cutting their operations and some factories only operate 4 days a week and workers are force to take annual leave or leave without pay. People will have less income and have to opted for other source. There are many people become petty traders at night in order to earn some extra money.

There are also rapid increase in the number of crime. We can almost hear or read in the paper that banks and goldsmiths are robbed. It is almost the same as the time during the old western where outlaws robbed banks. Even in the wide sea, pirates are actually controlling the sea water and hijacked big ocean vessels almost every week. It seem that there is also a cycle for this just like the economic turmoil. Bandits, pirates, robbers and back in the street again. We do hope that this cycle will not last any longer as we want back our peace and properity.

What is it about of being rich

What is about of being rich and how do we define rich people. Is it by the how much money they make or they have or the way they live their life. Some people may have millions in the bank but will have a very simple life and we wonder are they living their rich.

To me being rich is simple. it is just about having something in excess. You don’t have to have millions in the bank or people may call you a millionaire. For example if you have $10 a day and need only $5 to survive the day, you are consider rich. You will not be burden with the feeling of not enough everyday in your life struggling to make it through the day. It is just about making full use of what you have. Soon you will find out that your life will be very much rich and life will be very much meaningful.

Even some people who are millionaires rich sometimes are trap in millions of loans and debts and we cannot say they are rich because of their nett value maybe in the negative zone, but people still say they are rich because of the amount of loans and businesses they venturing into.

So time it is time to think of frugality and to become more prudent and spend on things that are really necessary. After all almost half of the things we spend and do everyday are not the necessity for us. If we learn how to get back to basic in life we may just found how to live rich.

Change lifestyle for better health

It is the time of the year again when I need to undergo my yearly medical check up. Thanks to God all my previous medical check ups were okay except for the common comments like overweight and unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise.

And each time we got those reports we keep telling ourselves that we are going to change our lifestyles, but sad to say that many of us failed. May of us still giving the same excuses for not having enough free time to do exercises and there is always tomorrow for us to start.

Who can blame us for not taking those delicious foods available outside there. The crunchy fried chickens and the ever tasty fast food which we already know that these food are not good for us but still we wait for the day that we are going to start taking healthy food.

But lucky for me is that I start to dislike fast food and in fact I starting to hate those food. I will totally stop taking coffee and tea as it keep upsetting my stomach. I will stop taking deep fried food and it also upsetting my stomach and I hate the smell recently.

I haven’t really try on taking heavy fruits and I will start tomorrow onwards and see what effect it has on my body. 

I have not exercise lately due to the injury to my arm as I cannot swing my golf clubs and I will do some indoor exercise or some work out at home to stretch out my muscles and regain back golf swing. This time I will do it till the end.

What a weekend

It was one of the weekend that you wish it was an eventful one but ended up doing nothing and you wish you could start all over again. I just back to my golf game after an absence for about 1 month due to the injury to my arm, the one they called the tennis elbow or golf elbow for golfers. I did play pretty good despite the fact that I lost some of my swing patterns and speed but managed somehow to get the balls on the fairway. 

Now I’m all back to square again, back to the point where we need to start it all over again. I have to get back to training and fix my swing. For some people that is a good news since my previous swing was not good at all. Now I have the chance to start it all over again.

How it would be nice if things can be started all over again. It’s just like the New Year where the first of January will definitely come and we all busy ourselves with our resolutions of the things we want to do or accomplish. We actually were given the chance to start it all over again. But sadly we just do not bother because we know that there is going to be another year coming with 1st of January as the first day.

What are people’s ideas about dream? What do people know about dream? How many of us actually has a dream? When we were young do we actually have dream to be somebody we want to be or we just let ourselves grow up and to be somebody we not really know why. Maybe that is why we never bother to start that journey to the dream which is not ours. 

Dreams are not to be given up. The moment it is given, all hopes will be gone and it just game over.

Stand up straight! Don’t slouch!

How many times did you hear those scolding words while growing up? Maybe more times than you would like to remember.

Behind those long forgotten words lies a very valuable and surprisingly simple message: Good posture is important because it helps your body function at top speed. It promotes movement efficiency and endurance and contributes to an overall feeling of well-being.

Good posture is also good prevention. If you have poor posture, your bones are not properly aligned, and your muscles, joints, and ligaments take more strain than nature intended. Faulty posture may cause you fatigue, muscular strain, and, in later stages, pain. Many individuals with chronic back pain can trace their problems to years of faulty postural habits. In addition, poor posture can affect the position and function of your vital organs, particularly those in the abdominal region.

Good posture also contributes to good appearance; the person with good posture projects poise, confidence, and dignity.

What is good posture?

Posture is the position in which you hold your body upright against gravity while standing, sitting or laying down. Good posture involves training the body to stand, walk, sit and lie in positions where the least strain is placed on supporting muscles and ligaments.

 

Hectic Week

Last few days was quite hectic, there were many things to do, mails to read, photos to edit, articles to read that I feel so lost and very tired. I took the day off today to have some rest and finish up my outstanding task that I have left undone. Obviously things just keep on coming and we just cannot cope up with the speed of thing happening around us.

I think I need to manage myself better and do things that are more important first. We only have 24 hours a day we need to manage our time well. So what are important things and how do we know which are important or which one is not. There may not be a definite answer but I guess we may need to find out that by ourselves.

The Piano Lesson

I found another email attachment for my sharing to all. This story has made me stronger and believe in myself. If we try hard enough we will achieve our dreams……………….

At the prodding of my friends, I am writing this story. My name is Mildred Hondorf. I am a former elementary school music teacher from Des Moines, Iowa I’ve always supplemented my income by teaching piano lessons–something I’ve done for over 30 years. Over the years I found that children have many levels of musical ability. I’ve never had the pleasure of having a protégée, though I “musically challenged” pupils. One such student was Robby. Robby was 11 years old when his mother (a single Mom) dropped him off for his first piano lesson. I prefer that students (especially boys!) begin at an earlier age, which I explained to Robby. But Robby said that it had always been his mother’s dream to hear him play the piano. So I took him as a student.

Well, Robby began with his piano lessons, and from the beginning I thought it was a hopeless endeavor. As much as Robby tried, he lacked the sense of tone and basic rhythm needed to excel. But he dutifully reviewed his scales and some elementary pieces that I require all my students to learn.

Over the months he tried and tried while I listened and cringed and tried to encourage him. At the end of each weekly lesson he always say, “My Mom’s going to hear me play someday.” But it seemed hopeless. He just did not have any inborn ability. I only knew his mother from a distance as she dropped Robby off or waited in her aged car to pick him up. She always waved and smiled but never stopped in. Then one day Robby stopped coming to our lessons. I thought about calling but assumed, because of his lack of ability, that he had decided to pursue something else. I also was glad that he stopped coming. He was a bad advertisement for my teaching! Several weeks later I mailed to the student’s homes a flyer on the upcoming recital.

To my surprise Robby (who received a flyer) asked me if he could be in the recital. I told him that the recital was for current pupils and because he had dropped out he really did not qualify. He said that his Mom had been sick and unable to take him to piano lessons but he was still practicing.

“Miss Hondorf…I’ve just got to play!” he insisted. I don’t know what led me to allow him to play in the recital. Maybe it was his persistence, or maybe it was something inside of me saying that it would be all right.

The night for the recital came. The high school gymnasium was packed with parents, friends and relatives. I put Robby up last in the program before I was to come up and thank all the students and play a finishing piece. I thought that any damage he would do would come at the end of the program and I could always salvage his poor performance through my “curtain closer.”

Well the recital went off without a hitch. The students had been practicing and it showed. Then Robby came up on stage. His clothes were wrinkled and his hair looked like he’d run an eggbeater through it. “Why didn’t he dress up like the other students? ” I thought. “Why didn’t his mother at least make him comb his hair for this special night?” Robby pulled out the piano bench and he began. I was surprised when he announced that he had chosen Mozart’s Concerto # 1 in C Major. I was not prepared for what I heard next. His fingers were light on the keys, they even danced nimbly on the ivories. He went from pianissimo to fortissimo … from allegro to virtuoso. His suspended chords that Mozart demands were magnificent! Never had I heard Mozart played so well by a person his age. After six and a half minutes,he ended in a grand crescendo and everyone was on their feet in wild applause. Overcome and in tears I ran up on stage and put my arms around Robby in joy. “I’ve never heard you play like that Robby! How’d you do it?” Through the microphone Robby explained: “Well Miss Hondorf… remember I told you my Mom was sick? Well, actually, she had cancer and passed away this morning. And well … she was born deaf, so tonight was the first time she ever heard me play. I wanted to make it special.” There wasn’t a dry eye in the house that evening. As the people from Social Services led Robby from the stage to be placed into foster care, I noticed that even their eyes were red and puffy and I thought to myself how much richer my life had been for taking Robby as my pupil. No, I’ve never had a protégée — but that night I became a protégée..of Robby’s. He was the teacher and I was the pupil. For it is he that taught me the meaning of perseverance and love, and believing in yourself, and maybe even taking a chance in someone and you don’t know why. 

This is especially meaningful to me since, after serving in Desert Storm, Robby was killed in the senseless bombing of the Alfred P.Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April of 1995, where he was reportedly….playing the piano. And now, a footnote to the story. If you are thinking about forwarding this message, you are probably thinking about which people on your address list aren’t the “appropriate” ones to receive this type of message. The person who sent this to you believes that we can all make a difference. We all have thousands of opportunities a day to help realize God’s plan. So many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a spark of the Divine? Or do we pass up that opportunity, and leave the world a bit colder in the process?

Nothing is impossible-