Stop Taking Things For Granted

A man planned to move house for the third time in as
many years. He lived in a lovely beach house with
a magnificent view of the ocean. A labyrinth of
hiking trails strewn with wild irises and poppies
were at his front door. When asked why he might
leave such a beautiful setting. 

“Oh, I’m tired of it,” he responded indifferently.
“It was great when I first moved in, but now
it’s just the same old thing. I can’t see it anymore.”
“I can’t see it anymore.” How accurate the statement.
He failed to notice the ocean.
He walked by the flowers without so much as a glance.
He thought of his home as merely a place to
lay down his head.

Living in paradise, he might just as well have
resided at the city dump.
Nine people out of ten would have jumped at the
opportunity to rent this man’s house, yet he did
not appreciate its virtues. 




Human beings have a curious capacity to take
things for granted.
The most exquisite diamond loses its luster
with familiarity.
The most compatible intimate becomes boring.
Miracles like the daily sunrise fail to astonish
because they’re commonplace!
Repetition and time dull our sense of wonder.

We endow novelty with powers and attributes
that it does not really possess.
When a thing becomes familiar to us, the mystery
we have projected onto it is lost.
We see it without the overlay of our imaginings.



The irony in this idiosyncrasy of
human character is that we are disappointed
by the very things that used to excite us.
The once new job,  or leisure activity
is now tedious.
We feel let down rather than uplifted.
Disappointment is a consequence
of our expectation that an object or event
will continue to provide us with stimulation
regardless of how constant our contact.
Unless we adjust our expectations
accordingly, we will continue to feel deflated.

Anticipate boredom! But is this really a
serious solution?
Another alternative is to maintain a fresh
perspective on the commonplace by living life
with contrast.
If the man had spent time away from his ocean home,
he would have returned to it with “new” eyes.
He would have seen it again as he did the first time.

Improving Your Memory

"I remember the face but I've forgotten your name. "

Tips and techniques to help you remember.....

....you know, that thing..I forgot.

Having problems forgetting appointments, to-do errands, feeding your children and pets, picking up after yourself, getting out of bed... not to mention forgetting birthdays, and even anniversaries ?

If you are like many people, you will often find yourself forgetting something. In an age of computers, PDA's and many other devices - this may be ok for some folks, unless you forget where you put those devices. Others may want to increase their ability to memorize things - luckily there are a few creative ways you can improve your long and short term memory.

Use your senses & be aware

Practise creating vivid images/concepts in your head - using all your senses. Analyze your surroundings by sound, sight, smell, taste, and touch. Being aware all of your senses will give your mind more ways to associate ( and thus remember ) when it is time to recall something.

This is like form of meditation - which is good for your brain in a variety of ways. (see the article : Interesting Ways to Improve Your Brain)

Practise this tip of simply being more aware of your surroundings everyday and you will find your general memory greatly improved.

Humor & Vulgarity

If you need to memorize something specific try using humor or vulgarity as a memory aid. Make a nasty or funny limerick about something that needs to be remembered and you'll have a hard time forgetting. ( Great tips for students )

Don't worry, be Mindful

There has been alot said about the power of positive thinking. Recently, a huge bandwagon of new-age positive thought = positive outcome theories have been on tips of everyone's tongue from Oprah to your local convenience store clerk. Just do a Google search for "Law of Attraction" or "The Secret" if you aren't in the loop.

Negative thoughts fog our minds, but clearing out the negative and focussing on the positive also improves memory and concentration.

Stress is a big brain buster, so minimise stress and negative thoughts to keep your wits.

Apt Quote :"What to do if you find yourself stuck in a crack in the ground underneath a giant boulder you can't move, with no hope of rescue. Consider how lucky you are that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your current circumstances seems more likely, consider how lucky you are that it won't be troubling you much longer. "

See the Future

Have trouble remembering to-dos, appointments, meetings, deadlines, birthdays and other future events?

Here is the secret : When you know you have an upcoming event you don't want to forget, picture yourself at the event. What are you doing, who is there, what does it smell like? Imagine the event...even better: imagine yourself taking the steps that lead to the event.

For example...let's say tomorrow you have to call the someone. Picture yourself in your home/office, picture yourself picking up the phone, imagine dialing the number and talking to the person of the other end.

Associate

Association is among one of the easiest and most used tools in learning. This is the process of taking the information you wish to memorise, linking it mentally to something else that is natural to you. When learning something new, try to associate the new concept with one to which you are already familiar.

Couple association with being aware using all your senses and you will have a higher rate of successful recall.

Chunking Information

Chunking information is a great mnemonic method to remember multiple items. Many people naturally use chunking to remember phone numbers : Instead of thinking "17342876642" we chunk it as 1-734-387-6642.

The concept of chunking comes from a famous 1956 paper by George A. Miller: The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information.

Write it Down

We generally think of "writing things down" as a means to NOT have to remember something. The paper does the work for us.. we just need to remember where we put that piece of paper...

But, writing things down has another effect : you clear your mind and take away the stress of "having to remember", and by doing so you actually have more room in your brain for remembering stuff. I know that explanation wasn't scientific, but it works.

To-do lists are championed by business gurus and soccer moms alike. Try writing everything down for a week or two and see how much this improves your memory & focus. A great digital tool for "writing things down" is provided by a website called Nozebe.com -- It is recommended for clearing your head and also organising your thoughts.

We Are Responsible For What We are

Contribution from Bala.......

This is life.........

Be Happy - Shake Off the Dirt From Your Life

Contribution from Janet......

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.



He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieten down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.


As the farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL of the story :
Life is going to shovel 'dirt' on you, all kinds of 'dirt'. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. Life is our greatest Teacher!



Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from all evils (especially selfishness and hatred) - Learn to Forgive and Forget and move on with goodness of heart.

2. Free your mind from all unhappiness and worries - so that there is no fear, no anxiety and no sorrow - Learn to Live Life instead of worrying about Life.

3. Have contentment and Love - then learn to appreciate what you have in Life more and more.

4. Be willing to share and help via your willingness to Give more.

5. Avoid having Expectations that can make you miserable. (Expect to be appreciated; to be Love; to be promoted; to be treated as equal... etc.




You have two choices...smile and close this page, or pass this along to someone else to share the message. I know what I should do!

Real Friends

Love comes in all sizes.... Your Friends will support you.... And respect your creativity for thinking outside the box.... They'll be there when you need a shoulder to lean on.... Or a great big hug.... A true friend takes interest in understanding what you're all about.... They see beyond the black and white to discover your true colors.... And accept you just the way you are... Even when you just wake up in the morning So make your own kind of music.... Follow your heart wherever it takes you.... And when someone reaches out to you, Don't be afraid to love them back.... They may just be a friend for life.... Practice patience and tolerance..... Good friends are hard to find, harder to leave.... And impossible to forget!

Those Were The Days

To all those who were born in the 50s, 60s and 70s

First we survived with mothers who had no maids. They cooked and cleaned while taking care of us at the same time. We took aspirin, candy floss, fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrup And diabetes was rare. Salt added to Pepsi or coke was remedy for fever. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycle motorcycles. Richer ones in cars without the seatbelts or airbags. Riding in the back of a private taxi is a special treat. We drank water from the tap and not from the bottle. We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight, flying our kites. Without worrying about UV rays which never seem to affect us. We go into the jungle to catch spiders without worries of aedes mosquitoes.


With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be an endless game. With a ball, we boys would run like crazy for hours. We caught guppies in drains or canals and when it rained we swam there. We share one soft drink with 4 friends from on bottle and no one actually worried about being unhygienic. We ate salty, very sweet and oily food, candies bread and real butter and drank very sweet coffee or tea, ice kachang, but we weren’t over weight because…. We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters out of scraps and then ride down the hill, Only to find out that we forgot the brakes, after running into the bushes a few times we learn to solve the problem. WE did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, multiple channels on Cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sounds, no phones, no PC, no internet.


WE had Friends. And we went out and found them. WE fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts. We never had birthday parties until we were 21. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! Yet this generation had produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 40 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility and we learned how to deal with it all.

If you are one of them CONGRATULATIONS! You may want to share this with others who have the luck to grow up as kids, before the government regulated our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, Forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were!

(contributed by Bala & Vincent )

The Best Poem Of 2006

This poem was nominated by UN as the best poem of 2006, written by an African Kid

When I born, I black
When I grow up, I black
When I go in Sun, I black
When I scared, I black
When I sick, I black
And when I die, I still black

And you white fellow
When you born, you pink
When you grow up, you white
When you go in sun, you red
When you cold, you blue
When you scared, you yellow
When you sick, you green
And when you die, you gray

And you calling me colored?