Inspirational Quote

None of us is defined by our circumstances, nor are we defined by how other people perceive us. It is up to each one of us to define ourselves, and that is a life's work. Each of us has the ability to lead a dynamic life by pursuing our unique goals and dreams. 

There are no limits to what you can do.

Stedman Graham

Why date a Photographer

Inspirational Quote

The poor, the unsuccessful,

 the unhappy and the unhealthy are the ones who use the word tomorrow the most. 

Robert Kiyosaki

Inspirational Quotes

Friday Story Night: The mouse trap

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food might this contain?" the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said "Mr.Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said "I am so very sorry, Mr.Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The cow said "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house - like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient. But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many! people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness. 

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember: when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another. Each of us is a vital thread in another person's tapestry.

Source (Story and pic): Click here

Inspirational Quote

A dream is an inspiring picture of the future that energizes your mind, will, and emotions, empowering you to do everything you can to achieve it. A genuine dream is a picture and blueprint of a person's purpose and potential.

John Maxwell

Story of The Marble Floor & The Marble Statue

This is the story I shared with my 2 girls on our Friday Story Night. We had a long discussion on the learning from this story. Hope you will enjoy the story as much as my girls did. 

In a nice museum, there is a beautiful marble statue that people from around the world come to see and praise. The statue is placed on a marble flooring.

One day the marble flooring asks the statue, “How come you came out to be so beautiful? We are both picked from the same location in the world. We came through the same process and yet look at me. People walk over me all day just to come see you and praise you. Even though I am marble too but I am of no value to anybody. Its just fate. I have some very bad luck while you have all the good luck.”

The statue replies, “My friend. Its more than just luck. Its a good lesson to remember the time when the sculptor wanted to break you. Hurt you. At the time you said no. You didn’t allow him to touch you. You were reluctant and you had pride at the time and didn’t want to get broken. 

I, on the other hand allowed him to work on me. Look what he has made me into. While you remain the marble floor that every other marble piece who did the same is as well. I got the opportunity to be different and more importantly, unique.”

Learning from this story:

Unless we tread that difficult path. Unless we try new things. Unless we are willing to try something different. There wouldn’t be any progress.

There is always a price to pay for anything. You either pay now and play later, or play now and pay later.

No pain, no gain!

Sources:

http://www.umarpirzada.com/blog/2009/02/23/motivational-mondays-the-marble-floor-the-marble-statue/

http://caktal.blogspot.sg/2009/12/floors-and-story-marble-statue.html

http://web.singnet.com.sg/~ecsbexa/story18.html

http://netsyscon4hr.wordpress.com/2009/07/20/inspirational-story/

Leadership Quote

“Leadership is a two-way street, 

loyalty up and loyalty down. 

Respect for one's superiors; 

care for one's crew. ”

Grace Hopper (1906-1992);

computer scientist, naval officer

Lunch with my intern

Today I bought a farewell lunch for my intern who was attached to my Branch for the past 8 weeks. She has been a great help and her presence made my Branch more lively and fun (because we kept making fun of her...so 'lame' Jimmy!). As her 'Boss', I thought it was my duty to share with her some parting advice before she moves on to complete her University study in four months time. I hope my parting advice will help her to transit to her work life (and life in general) smoothly.

These were my 3 key messages for her to reflect on as she faces the 'real' world...

Tip #1: Know and master yourself first. 

You need to know and master yourself before you can effectively work and lead others (or master anything else in life). Make effort to know your talents, your gifts and your strengths. Master your emotions and not let them master you. Be clear with who you are, where you want to go and why you are going there. Everything starts from yourself and it is always wise to work inside out.

“Those who know others are intelligent;

Those who know themselves have insight.

Those who master others have force;

Those who master themselves have strength.”

Tip #2: Set clear and specific goals and make effort to work towards achieving them. 

You need to begin with the end in mind and take proactive steps to make things happen. Nothing will happen by chance and everything needs to be orchestrated. Life will not act on you, you need to proactively act on life!

Tip #3: Have an infectious and positive attitude. 

Aptitude will get you started, attitude will help you to get far. Attitude matters. Your attitude determines your altitude in life. Our world view and our personal attitudes form a lens that shapes and colours how we see the people and things we encounter in our lives. By maintaining a positive mental attitude you will feel good, energetic, happy and able and willing to take action to pursue what you want to attain and achieve (your goals). They also make your life happier and easier, make you more likeable and improve your relationships. 

I wish my intern well and I hope I will hear some of her stories and adventures the next time we meet. All the best LLS. :)

Pic: The very unhealthy lunch we had. But yummy :)

Inspirational Quote

“Every exit is an entry somewhere else. Remember that Columbus was looking for India when he found America.”

Sir Tom Stoppard (born 1937);

British playwright

Houdini and the locked safe- Beliefs/Mindsets

This was the story I shared with my girls during our Friday Story Night (last night). Hope you will enjoy the story and lessons...

Houdini and the locked safe- Beliefs/Mindsets

Harry Houdini, the famous American escapologist, had become so accomplished in his art, that he started to issue challenges to people to find him the strongest box, or cage or water barrel, and the most secure or complex systems of chains and locks, so that he could show off his prowess.

A bank in England had made a safe that they claimed was impenetrable, and they contacted Houdini to dare him to try and break out of it.

Houdini could not resist the challenge. He went to England to prove the safe-makers wrong.

After he was bound and locked in the safe, Houdini went through his normal routine. He had developed the process to such a fine art over the years that he was supremely calm and confident that he could pick the lock of the door.

But after the first hour, Houdini was not feeling quite so calm. He had used up all his normal manoeuvres without success. With sweat now pouring off him, he began to struggle and pull at the locks. But no matter what he tried, the lock would not budge.

After two hours, Houdini was totally exhausted. He fell against the huge door of the safe… which moved and swung open. The door had never been locked in the first place!

But in Houdini's mind that door was more secure than it ever could have been if it had been locked.

LESSONS/ MORAL OF STORY

Henry Ford said:

If you think you can, or you think you cannot- you're absolutely right!

If something is true for us then it's true, no matter what other people might tell us. If you want to change your behaviour, start first with changing your beliefs.

Mental models are very powerful. Your behaviors and actions are determined by what your mind tells you. So, all change and improvements begins with changing what you think. What you think has a profound effect on what you do and how you do it. You can only achieve anything if you believe in it! If you don't think you can do it, you never will.

I'll end this week's blog with another short sharing by Paul Vivek quoted in "The Best Advice I Ever Got," Fortune, March 21, 2005, p. 100.

"The best advice I ever got was from an elephant trainer in the jungle outside Bangalore. I was doing a hike through the jungle as a tourist. I saw these large elephants tethered to a small stake. I asked him, 'How can you keep such a large elephant tied to such a small stake?' He said, 'When the elephants are small, they try to pull out the stake, and they fail. When they grow large, they never try to pull out the stake again.' That parable reminds me that we have to go for what we think we're fully capable of, not limit ourselves by what we've been in the past."

Hope you will find this week's sharing useful. Jim

Top 5 regrets people make on their deathbed

By Bronnie Ware (who worked for years nursing the dying)

1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people have had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made. 

It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it. 



2. I wish I didn't work so hard. 

This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence. 

By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle. 

3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. 

Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result. 

We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly,in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. 

Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved.Everyone misses their friends when they are dying. 
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip.But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks,love and relationships. 

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have sillyness in their life again. 
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again,long before you are dying. 

Source : http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html