I'm going to stop blogging temporarily. Will be back soon hopefully after exams.

There's always the BRIGHTER side of Life

Focus or Balance?

Last Friday, someone shared with me a teaching that was taught to him by his pastor. How nice of him to pass it down to me. =)

Anyway, here’s how the teaching goes: He asked me, do you want to be a balanced person or a focused person? My answer: balanced. “At first I chose that answer like you did too”, he said. But he then began to slowly explain what his pastor had said to him.

“Sometimes as much as we all want to try and balance everything, that may not be the best decision out there. If you refer to my ‘really-simplified-any-child-can-draw’ diagram, you will see a straight line. In life, or in any type of situation, there will always be a beginning and an end, a start and a finish line.

If you try to be that balanced person, you end up having to balance so many things on your shoulders. As you move along that line, you end up having to stop countless times just to take stock of all the barang barang that you’ve brought with you. – The process is extremely tiresome and you’ll probably take years to reach that finish line.

However, if you are that focused person, you are able to focus only on the things you need to carry along with you; your necessities, your journey will be so much lighter and faster. You will finish the race faster than those who try to ‘balance’ everything”

The power of focus is superb. I asked myself: what’s the point of trying to balance two heavy commitments, when you can only give 50-50 to both? For the benefit of not just myself, but everybody else, I’d rather commit to one, giving my full 100% and let someone else take over my place and give his/her full 100% in the other.

The eagle never chases 2 rabbits, because it knows both will escape. It knows how to focus on one, and that’s what makes the eagle such a skilled predator.
So friends and fellow readers out there, focus on one thing at a time. Focus on your priorities first. Focus on doing things first things first.

PS: There’s a book titled: ‘travelling light’, and it was recommended to me, I’m trying to find it and maybe you should too if you plan to find some good books to read.

Trials are blessings in disguise

It is inevitable when one meets people who are as though born with a role that says: “I was born to bring people down”. It is unavoidable when one faces problems, trials and huge obstacles along the way.

Firstly, cheer up! That was just a side of life that requires more strength, more determination, more problem solving solutions, (notice I didn’t use the word “bad”). I could have just blatantly said that that was just the bad side of life but I chose not to for a reason I will explain later. Life is not all about the obstacles that one faces along the way. There’s more to life and fun, joy, peace and laughter are definitely and luckily one of the other better parts of it.

I didn’t use the word bad because I’ve developed a new way of looking at things after my dad has taught me this new and very valuable lesson. With additional ingredients of my own:

“Originally life had two parts, the good and the bad. The good is something that will lift us up, the bad is something that will bring us down. But what if the bad can be pictured as good? What if the bad can become good? All I’m trying to say is that if we choose to look at the obstacle as something bad, then it will be bad. But if we choose to look at it as something that will help us grow, then it will be good!”

How we look at something, will determine how that something will turn out to be. My dad told me that the fact that I’m now facing yet another obstacle, it shows that God is about to bring me to a level higher. It’s like a computer game, upon completing the game on easy, we move on to medium. Problems will only seem never ending if we look at it as problems, but if we search deeper and look at it as a growth tool, then we will instead, never stop improving.

This is the beauty of optimism. This is the beauty of looking at life from a different angle, a perspective different from the norm and which challenges the society.

One more thing I’d like to add, if people bring us down with a comment we don’t like, we don’t have to always accept it right away. Reassure that comment by asking more people and see if they say the same thing. If they do, well that means we need to change and improve. If they don’t, then choose to accept the lighter comment that most of the time, will also be the more sincere one.

PS: If it’s out of the norm to think this way at this age, I’m a lil scared. This blog was made with the intention of sharing knowledge and motivating others, but part of it also comes from my own personal thoughts. I’m still learning.

Now now, i know i haven't blogged in a century. I've actually got super loads of things to feed you readers out there, loads of pics and exciting stuff. Let me just simplify my entries and focus on one thing at a time.

The Proboscis Monkey

The Proboscis Monkey

It's been so long since i actually took a few hours off just to sit down and watch the richly educational and eye appetising Animal Planet! Yeah one of my favourite shows on tv. Today i followed in detail, the life of a Proboscis monkey; there was a really cool story line attached to it. Anyway, here's what i've learnt:

One of the world's rarest primates are the unusual looking Proboscis monkeys. They are one of the largest monkeys in the world and are especially known for their huge noses and pot bellies. They are also called 'Orang Belanda' or 'Dutchman' because their large belly and nose resembled that of a Dutchman, according to the Indonesians. Their lifestyle is both arboreal (tree living) and amphibious, living mainly in the mangrove swamps.

The male proboscis monkeys have extremly large noses while the females and juveniles have smaller upturned noses. The male nose which can reach up to almost 7 inches in length are used mainly for attracting mates. They say the larger the nose, the more attractive the male! The nose is not in proportion to anything else so dont think otherwise. haha! Other than attracting mates, their noses are also used as resonators to make loud honking warning sounds when they sense danger.

Juvenile Proboscis Monkey

The pot belly on the other hand is the result of a very unique digestive system of the Proboscis monkey whose stomach is divided into compartments and filled with cellulose digesting bacteria to help digest leaves and other poisonous foliage of the mangrove.

Male(left), female (right)

To date, there are only about 3000 of them left, and they can only be found in Malaysian Borneo. Sadly, these monkeys are on the verge of facing extinction as evaluated by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (ICUN) Red List.








Took more information from these sites. Hope that there'll still be hope for these Proboscis monkeys and hopefully our future generations will get to see them.



http://www.proboscismonkey.org/index.htm


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proboscis_Monkey


http://travelmalaysiaguide.com/proboscis-monkey/

Inspirational Stuff!

Today i watched a video of a person who lives a life that is less than the ordinary lives we live in, but yet he makes it so extraodinary!

This man is by the name of Nick Vujicic. His less than ordinary life is that, he has no arms and no legs! But the extraordinary thing is that, he still lives to this day to tell us his story which has made such a great impact on thousands of people!

Watch the intro first to get a glimpse of his life. Then watch the other 3 parts which features a motivational speech given by him. Very inspiring! I shall blog a bit more abt what he said in my next post. Enjoy the videos!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DxlJWJ_WfA&feature=related (Intro)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo_24_qTNac&NR=1 (Part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bL3GR4iAW0&feature=related (Part 2)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O6OluBxGtM&feature=related (Part 3)