Meaningful Living

There is a saying : If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day.  If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for life. There are TV shows everywhere in the world showing them giving people a new home or make over of the home, because the houses were cluttered and run down.  In one show, they revisited the homes of those they helped renovate a year ago.  Most of the homes' condition were acceptable.  But of those who were cluttered again, one owner responded :"It's only a small mess..." On the other hand, there are TV shows that teach people how to declutter their house, and also revisiting them later on to check on them. In my opinion, teaching people to declutter is definitely more meaningful than to give people a renovation for free.  Because, if they don't get it, they don't get it. We can apply this understanding when we educate the young in our schools and at home. When a kid falls down, let the kid pick himself/herself up, instead of rushing to help ...

Frequently, we see others upset about our decision(s). There is no need to get stressed over this (assuming we know our decision making is sound most of the time).  There is a saying: Those who mind don't matter, those who matter don't mind (or different versions of this). Those who mind - refers to people who make noise/complain; usually, they made noise because they did not understand, especially those over trivial matters. Those who matter - refers to people who care about you, people who are wise or have good EQ; they understand and will stand by you. Example 1: At your wedding reception, someone comes up to you and asks why he/she is seated so far from the stage (or why he/she is seated with people he/she doesn't like etc).  Just politely apologise, state your reason, and excuse yourself.  People who go for such stuffs usually don't warrant our attention.  However, you could politely ask where he/she would like to be seated, check availability of seat at that...

Read a book "Tuesday with Morrie" by Mitch Albom sometime back. In the book, Mitch wrote what he learned from his dying professor Morrie Schwartz, who was a wise man. One of the things his professor said :  "If you are trying to show off for people at the top, forget it.  They will look down at you anyway.  And if you are trying to show off for people at the bottom, forget it.  They will only envy you.  Status will get you nowhere.  Only an open heart will allow you to float equally between everyone." I agree with what the professor said.  We do not need to show off.  When we work hard and produce results, our boss can see.  Showing off only lowers the credibility of our character. Showing off to our co-workers or our subordinates will also alienate us from them, and making it more difficult for us to get work out of them. Do our work well, without the drama.    

  Saw this article in the Pop Club magazine (by Popular Book Store) a few years back.  It had 18 pointers for ageing gracefully.   To reduce the length of this post, I have summarised the original article and added some of my input. 1   Make Smart Lifestyle Choices - Do not smoke - Do not indulge in alcohols - Eat healthily and moderately (less red meat, balanced diet) - Have a good sleep habit without keeping late nights - Exercise moderately 2   Love Ourselves, Respect Others - Take care of ourselves - Take care of others' feelings 3   Listen to Our Body - Do not ignore pains and aches, do not wait till it is too late 4   Family Medical History - Be aware of the kind of medical history that runs in the family (parents, grandparents), keep a look out for signs   5   Exercise Our Brains - The more we exercise our brains, the better it gets - Play more games like brainteasers and puzzles that ...

At a student seminar we organised in 2010, t he guest speaker was Chris Lee, Creative Director of Asylum Creative Pte Ltd.   He was a recent President's Design Awardee at that time.  His presentation was very captivating and motivating, and at the end, students were queueing up at the microphone to ask questions. One student asked: "What does it take to be successful?" Chris Lee: " 20% talent, 80% hard work ."   Another student asked: "How much do you earn a month?" Chris Lee: "A starting designer can earn between $1500 and $2500 (this was in 2010).  But when you are starting out in anything, salary should not be on your mind.  Instead, you should be  working very hard to show that you are good .  And when you are good, people will want you and your work.  And then the money will come."   He didn't directly answer the student on how much he earns, but he ended that answer with: "All I can say is, if I see any 'toy' that I wan...