Conversation fragments from CNY 2011

"So cute! What's your name?"

"How old is he?"

"How old is she?"

"Come, let me give you an angpow.. Aiyoh, angpows cannot be eaten.."

"Come, wish Uncle, Aunty happy new year!"

"来，阿妈抱抱！“

"Don't let her fall!"

"Do you want a soft toy?"

"Must be sleepy.. Nap time is over.."

"Don't be scared.. These are all your relatives.."

"Mumm mumm.."

"Last semester? Good ah, graduating already.."

"Wah.. can earn money already.."

"So many of them getting married this year.. one after another.."

"So hard to book the hotel.. Must book way in advance.."

"Eat first or 'ban lat' first?"

"Hey, how come so-and-so never come?"

"This brand of cholesterol pills are sold at NTUC.. "

"Our family has history of high blood pressure.. so must take care of diet.. "

"Only when you do CT scan, then you can detect lung cancer, normal x-rays cannot detect it.."

"The cancer spread to the spine.. At first, she thought it was rheumatism.."

"The doctor said: 'Let her eat what she wants to eat..'"

2011 - Just 1 small thing to highlight for everyone - Manage your Energy, not your Time

Came across this HBR article which I think is pretty useful, especially as 2011 seems to be an exciting year for everyone =)

You know it's useful, when just the title sums up the value =)

Download the pdf here: http://kimhjorth.dk/User_files/6546b09903976a2d7f706bc4d2197db9.pdf

http://hbr.org/product/manage-your-energy-not-your-time/an/R0710B-PDF-ENG

All choices are irreversible =)

As I was on the way home today, I suddenly realized that all the choices we make are irreversible. Since we don't have the power of time travel, any choice we make is irreversible =)

We can choose between being kind and unkind.

We can choose to speak out or to feign ignorance.

We can choose to try very hard on that problem set or to just watch youtube.

We can choose to give a 5 min call to an old friend or just surf facebook.

We can choose to not leave any reserves in training or coast along with the average.

We can choose as our first reaction, anger or a smile.

We can choose to make someone's day special, or we can make it horrible.

We can choose to give snide comments or to give encouragement.

We can choose to listen first or to just start pointing fingers first.

We can choose to eat McDonalds or we can choose to eat something that makes us feel better.

We can choose to go for a slow jog or we can watch some TV.

We can choose to read a book or we can watch a chick flick/rom-com/dude movie(?).

We can choose to buy that awesome new must-have electronic toy or we can think about it.

We can choose to switch off our phones and internet while out with friends, or we can all check Facebook on our iPhones while we are sitting less than 1m from each other.

We can choose to be optimistic or pessimistic.

There are so many choices that we make unconsciously every moment of our lives, and we don't realize that they are all irreversible.

Mdm Kwa Geok Choo

I guess it's time that people knew her as Mdm Kwa Geok Choo, and not Mrs Lee Kuan Yew.

Caught the mini-documentary on her on TV, and it was a series of flashbacks across Singapore's history imbued with a personal touch. It was no longer about dates, facts and places. It was about people's lives and struggles.

The stories of small nations are stories of individual lives, weaving a tapestry of threads, forming a canvas of history through their daily triumphs and failures.

Intelligence, humility, fierce intolerance for corruption, warmness, genuine concern for people, elegance, witty, hardworking, strength, successful balancing of career and family (And smart businesswoman, look at the water agreements).

One of the most shocking photographs I saw today (TODAY, 5 Oct 2010) was of PM Lee Hsien Loong and his brother, Mr Lee Hsien Yang in mourning attire. It was simply too surreal.

There was a scene in the documentary when Mdm Kwa Geok Choo stood up and wiped the sweat off MM Lee Kuan Yew's forehead, with MM Lee Kuan Yew protesting mildly that it did not matter. Admittedly, she was probably the only one who dared to, but for me, that was the best moment of the documentary.

I read before that you are the average of the people you spend the most time with.

MM Lee Kuan Yew is a lucky man indeed.

7 gifts

A fairy godmother blessed her child with the following 7 gifts:
To have a smile as warm as the sun
To have thoughts as pure as a mountain stream
To have wisdom as deep as the ocean
To have principles as strong as a mountain
To have regrets as heavy as the wind
To have a mind as open as the sky
To live a life passing on these gifts to the people around you.

The kid decided to dedicate a day of each week to cultivating each gift, with Sunday being a day of reflection.

Questions

What makes you happy?

What makes people happy?

Why does making people happy make you happy?

How far can we equate financial discipline with discipline of time?

How does the understanding that money does not equate to wealth, and that money is normally exchanged for time, change your life?

If you realize that a difference in mindset is the one important difference and possibly the only significant one between successful people and mediocre people, what would you do to change your life?

If we understand that thoughts give rise to actions, can we learn to control our thoughts?

What is wealth? How do we arrive at a good definition of it? How do we measure it? Do we include relationships? How important is money? Can we measure it by the impact we have caused?

How do we measure beauty?

The X-Men around us

Img source: http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/3900000/X-Men-x-men-3978092-1024-768.jpg

It suddenly occurred to me that the reason why we sometimes find ourselves exasperated or angry at the people around is because there are not enough X-Men around. There is a lack of people possessing superpowers in the world!

We want them to have the superpowers of infinite patience, understanding, kindness, wisdom and intelligence. We would like them to anticipate our every need, request, want and desire. We want them to be telepathic and empathetic. We want them to defy the law of gravity and place us at the centre of the universe. They should have an inexhaustible supply of good humour when we are down, radiate energy like the sun when we are tired and possess colossal strength to carry our burdens for us.

Yet, we use our words and actions to diminish the power of these X-Men around us everyday, whether unconsciously or consciously. Soon, they lose their super-magnetic attractiveness to us, and we use our own power of magnification to focus laser-beam like on every imperfection.

Let us add to the power of the X-Men around us. At the same time, let's all try to slowly mutate into someone's X-Men in our daily life =)

Six Lessons for Six Sons

Confidence, Fortitude, Pride, Persistence, Fearlessness and Focus.
Book for life.