Alignment

Have you ever felt like you were stuck in a situation where whatever decision you made would be a wrong decision?

The concept of alignment is very often unappreciated in our daily lives. We go about on our daily routines, and allowing the people around us and the society to dictate our lives, and slowly, because there are so many forces pushing and pulling us in so many directions, we lose alignment of our spirit, soul and body. This is when we feel like we're 'stuck' or 'trapped' in our circumstances and situations, unable to get out. Truth is, we're not really 'stuck', we've just lost alignment, and the solution for getting ourselves 'unstuck' again is just to re-align ourselves.

So how do we re-align ourselves? Re-alignment really should be an ongoing process. To re-align ourselves, we need to constantly evaluate who we are, what values we hold on to, and whator who are the most important things in our lives. We rank these things according to their importance to us, and then adjust our lives so we divide time according to the order of importance. That usually means making changes in our lives, cutting some activities out from our lives altogether, adding new ones; breaking off friendships, making new ones; etc etc. Remember, the trick is to re-evaluate our values AS OFTEN AS POSSIBLE, because we're living things, we are not constant, we are always undergoing change, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.

Have you already embarked on the journey of re-alignment?

Disappointment

We often are disappointed at the people we truly care about. It seems the more we care about someone, the easier it is to be disappointed by them. And the bigger the disappointment.

My explanation for this is that the more we care about someone, the higher our expectations of them. And disappointment happens because the reality does not meet our expectations.

Many times we don't really need to experience disappointment. All we really need to do is learn how to lower our expectations for the ones we love. There is a popular phrase that goes "If you love someone you let them go free, if it's meant to be they will come back to you". A little rephrasing by me, and now it goes "If you love someone you lower your expectations for them, and if it's meant to be they will surpass your expectations". I mean, really, if we love someone, then all we want is for them to be happy. How can they be happy if we show our disappointment to them just because they don't meet our expectations? I find that when I lower my expecations towards others, I am more likely to be pleasantly surprised when they surpass my expectations. More things to be happy about! =).

So just remember. If we can't change the people we love, we change ourselves. That is one secret to happiness.

The brave and the cowardly

Who are the brave and who are the cowardly in relationships?

Sometimes it is the cowardly who tend to pretend to be brave, and the brave who are misunderstood as being cowardly.

How often have we been guilty of not wanting to take the first step in resolving an argument in a relationship? We often rationalize and justify our behaviour by saying things like:

"It's his/her fault. Why should I take the first step? If I take the first step, it will seem it is always my fault, and then he/she will always keep taking advantage of me. I have to be brave and stand firm on my ground, I'll wait for him/her to apologize first. If he/she doesn't apologize first, then he/she probably isn't worth my time. I need to protect myself."

Are they really being brave? I personally think that these are the cowardly.

The brave are the ones that are not afraid to look stupid by taking the first step to apologize, regardless of whether they think they have done any wrong or not. The brave are the ones that are not afraid to bare their soul and expose themselves to the other half, to allow their hearts to be at the mercy of the other half, for good or for bad. They are brave because they are willing to risk their heart being trampled on by making themselves vulnerable, because they know that by being vulnerable they also allow the other half to shower them with more love and tenderness. They are not afraid to be hurt, because they know they can always pick themselves up again.

The cowardly are those that are so afraid of letting their heart get hurt, they unconsciously build a huge impenetrable wall around their heart. A wall so thick and impenetrable, that although they manage to keep people from hurting their hearts, they also hide the bright glow of their hearts from the view of others. They are forever hiding behind that wall, afraid to open their hearts to anyone, and they will ultimately end up being lonely, and deserted. And cowards will remain just that. Cowards.

Remember to ask yourself about the brave and the cowardly the next time you run into an argument with someone you love dearly.

Are you brave, or are you cowardly?

Balance point

Life is so often akin to walking on a tightrope. The key to survival is finding the balance point.

I can't remember where I read this statement before, but it has stuck with me ever since.

"In life, you are either in balance, or out of balance, there is no in between"

And I couldn't agree more.

When we are in balance, everything goes smoothly. We sit on a bicycle, and when we are in balance all we feel is the breeze gently massaging our ears as we ride effortlessly down a road. All is happy, all is well. Things just fall into place like fitting jigsaw pieces. Perfect.

Once we get out of balance, everything turns into havoc. Suddenly the breeze feels like a typhoon about to send you crashing straight into a tree. People who remain strong and calm manage to make those oh-so-subtle adjustments to bring themselves back to balance, and all becomes well again. But those, oh those who overcompensate, or those who fail to make any adjustments at all, they slip and fall from the tightrope, and are sent crashing. And while most people tend to slowly, if not surely, regain enough courage to walk down the tightrope again, some fallen ones call it quits, and never give life a second chance.

Are you in balance, or are you not? Have you found your balance point?

Babypower

It's amazing what babies can do.

Well, at least what they can do to me.

Recently I have been feeling frustrated at myself for not living up to my own high standards in all areas of my life. It would have been easier for me to blame others for who I am and where I am now, but clearly there is nowhere I can point my finger towards and say 'It's all your fault!'. And trust me when even you are frustrated at yourself, there is not a lot that can cheer you up.

Then comes a spur of the moment decision to surf youtube for baby videos.

There are so many awesome baby videos out there!!! =) While most funny adult videos actually require the adults to be doing something funny to make me laugh, the babies in the video didn't even have to do a thing. Within 2 minutes I was full of joy, just seeing their cute little faces!

Made me wonder why I got frustrated with myself in the first place. As long as I think like a baby, I can be just who I am, and will still be loved!

GoGo Babypower!

Passion

Are you passionate enough?

We often indulge in hobbies because we enjoy the sense of achievement and satisfaction these hobbies bring us. We play computer games, we go clubbing, we play sports, we go shopping, etc etc, and we proudly tell others: "Oh I spend a lot fo time on my hobbies because i'm passionate about my hobbies".

But when asked why don't they make their hobby into their career, most people will shrug and say: "You don't need to earn money doing the things you love, because you love it so much you won't mind doing it for free..."

I say:

If we're not serious enough about the things we love to make a living out of them, then we're probably not passionate enough about them.

Think about it. Tiger Woods. One mention of that name, and you will know he is passionate about golf. Muhammad Ali. Boxing. Bill Gates. Computers. Donald Trump. Real estate. Warren Buffet. Shares.

Only amateurs indulge in hobbies. They only play for fun. And quite obviously, they are NOT passionate enough about it. Professionals play for keeps, and I dare anyone to question professional's passion towards the things they do for a living. Professionals would also do the things they love for free, but then if they had to spend lots of time doing things they weren't passionate about just to make money to survive, how much time would they actually have to indulge in the things they love doing?

I've already decided that I will be taking the things I'm passionate about and make them into my sources of income. At the moment, they are: Kids, Music, Sport, Art. And I have every intention of building businesses related to these passions of mine.

Already I can read a lot of your thoughts. While you may think i'm too naive and have not gone through the hard knocks of life to know how hard it is to acheive the things I want to achieve, I believe that when someone is passionate enough, it doesn't matter how many hard knocks it takes, one will succeed eventually.

Are you passionate enough?