3 New Things I am Grateful for Today

From TED Talk : The Happy Secret to Better Work
Quote:
" The absence of disease is not health. Here's how we get to health: We need to reverse the formula for happiness and success. In the last three years, I've traveled to 45 different countries, working with schools and companies in the midst of an economic downturn. And what I found is that most companies and schools follow a formula for success, which is this: If I work harder, I'll be more successful. And if I'm more successful, then I'll be happier. That undergirds most of our parenting styles, our managing styles, the way that we motivate our behavior.

9:33And the problem is it's scientifically broken and backwards for two reasons. First, every time your brain has a success, you just changed the goalpost of what success looked like. You got good grades, now you have to get better grades, you got into a good school and after you get into a better school, you got a good job, now you have to get a better job, you hit your sales target, we're going to change your sales target.And if happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there. What we've done is we've pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon as a society. And that's because we think we have to be successful, then we'll be happier.

10:01But the real problem is our brains work in the opposite order. If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, what we've found is that every single business outcome improves. Your brain at positive is 31 percent more productive than your brain at negative, neutral or stressed. You're 37 percent better at sales. Doctors are 19 percent faster, more accurate at coming up with the correct diagnosis when positive instead of negative, neutral or stressed. Which means we can reverse the formula. If we can find a way of becoming positive in the present, then our brains work even more successfully as we're able to work harder, faster and more intelligently.

10:45What we need to be able to do is to reverse this formula so we can start to see what our brains are actually capable of. Because dopamine, which floods into your system when you're positive, has two functions. Not only does it make you happier, it turns on all of the learning centers in your brain allowing you to adapt to the world in a different way.

11:01We've found that there are ways that you can train your brain to be able to become more positive. In just a two-minute span of time done for 21 days in a row, we can actually rewire your brain, allowing your brain to actually work more optimistically and more successfully. We've done these things in research now in every single company that I've worked with, getting them to write down three new things that they're grateful for for 21 days in a row, three new things each day. And at the end of that,their brain starts to retain a pattern of scanning the world, not for the negative, but for the positive first.

11:29Journaling about one positive experience you've had over the past 24 hours allows your brain to relive it. Exercise teaches your brain that your behavior matters. We find that meditation allows your brain to get over the cultural ADHD that we've been creating by trying to do multiple tasks at once and allows our brains to focus on the task at hand. And finally, random acts of kindness are conscious acts of kindness.We get people, when they open up their inbox, to write one positive email praising or thanking somebody in their social support network.

11:54And by doing these activities and by training your brain just like we train our bodies,what we've found is we can reverse the formula for happiness and success, and in doing so, not only create ripples of positivity, but create a real revolution."

My Thoughts - 3 Gratitudes

1) Ability to move normally to enjoy the freedom of mobility
2) A Good n Supportive Wife who cares and loves me
3) Good eyesight to enjoy the beauty of God's creation

I'm grateful for my wife who is full of enthusiasm and show a jest for living. She is like a spark for me; brings out the best in me; and lights up my life.

I'm grateful for my wife because she cares for the children dearly. She will always be thinking of their needs and challenges. She will try her best to be supportive and attend yo them every possible. 

22 Nov 2014

1) Ability to eat well

2) For God's wonderful provision of daily needs.

3) For a nice hair cut.

I thank God for my hair even though I am balding. I thank God I still look good and happy. Let the joy of the Lord be my strength. I thank God i can still smile because God loves me. Smile more.

24 Nov 2014

1. Ability to breathe

2. Ability to think clearly

3. Beauty of flowers

I thank God for the ability to inhale and exhale fresh air.  To enjoy this freedom of exercising the lungs and the capacity.

De-cluttered my workspace

One of the things that gives me most peace is have a clean, simple workspace. When I come to work every morning and walk into my room that has been decluttered, there is a calm and joy that enters my heart and feels good to start the day. When, on the other hand, I walk into my room and my workspace iscluttered with files, papers, books, journals and extra things all over the place, it is chaos and my mind is frenetic. I’ve been trying to declutter but I do not find it easy. I’ve found that you have to keep coming back to revisit your clutter every once in awhile.

See what I have done to my workspace. Bravo!!

Well, besides the workspace, there are many areas of your home or office that needs decluttering. It may be your drawers, shelves, living room, bedroom etc.

Let me share with you a few decluttering tips:

• Do it in small chunks. Set aside just 15 minutes to declutter just one shelf, and when that shelf or that 15 minutes is up, celebrate your victory. Then tackle another shelf for 15 minutes the next day. Conquering an entire closet or room can be overwhelming, and you might put it off forever. If that’s the case, just do it in baby steps.
• Set aside a couple hours to do it. This may seem contradictory to the above tip … and it is. It’s simply a different strategy, and I say do whatever works for you. Sometimes, for me, it’s good to set aside part of a morning, or an entire Saturday morning, to declutter a closet or room. I do it all at once, and when I’m done, it feels awesome.
• Take everything out of a shelf or drawer at once. Whichever of the two above strategies you choose, you should focus on one drawer or shelf at a time, and empty it completely. Then clean that shelf or drawer. Then, take the pile and sort it (see next tip), and put back just what you want to keep. Then tackle the next shelf or drawer.
• Sort through your pile, one item at a time, and make quick decisions. Have a trash bag and a give-away box handy. When you pull everything out of a shelf or drawer, sort through the pile one at a time. Pick up an item, and make a decision: trash, give away, or keep. Don’t put it back in the pile. Do this with the entire pile, and soon, you’ll be done. If you keep sorting through the pile, and re-sorting, it’ll take forever. Put back only what you want to keep, and arrange it nicely.
• Be merciless. You may be a pack rat, but the truth is, you won’t ever use most of the junk you’ve accumulated. If you haven’t used it in the last year, get rid of it. It’s as simple as that. If you’ve only used it once or twice in the last year, but know you won’t use it in the next year, get rid of it. Toss it if it’s unsalvageable, and give it away if someone else might be able to use it.
• Papers? Be merciless, unless it’s important. Magazines, catalogues, junk mail, bills more than a year old, notes to yourself, notes from others, old work stuff … toss it! The only exception is with tax-related stuff, which should be kept for seven years, and other important documents like warranties, birth and death and marriage certificates, insurance, wills, and other important documents like that. But you’ll know those when you see ‘em. Otherwise, toss!!!!
• If you are on the fence with a lot of things, create a “maybe” box. If you can’t bear to toss something because you might need it later, put it in the box, then close the box, label it, and put it in storage (garage, attic, closet), out of sight. Most likely, you’ll never open that box again. If that’s the case, pull it out after six months or a year, and toss it or give it away.
• Create a system to stop clutter from accumulating. There’s a reason you have tall stacks of papers all over the place, and big piles of toys and books and clothes. It’s because you don’t have a regular system to keep things in their place, and get rid of stuff you don’t need. This is a topic for another day, but it’s something to think about as you declutter. You’ll never get to perfect, but if you think more intelligently about how your house got cluttered, perhaps you can find ways to stop it from happening again.
• Celebrate when you’re done! This is actually a general rule in life: always celebrate your accomplishments, no matter how small. Even if you just decluttered one drawer, that’s great. Treat yourself to something delicious. Open that drawer (or closet, or whatever), and admire its simplicity. Breathe deeply and know that you have done a good thing. Bask in your peacefulness.

A Quiet Time in the Morning

7.30am

There's nothing like spending quiet moments alone reflecting and being grateful for a new day. For me it was a refreshing start for the day this morning, thankful for another new day. It is a great feeling sitting in front of this fountain, listening to the water gushing out and watching the sprouts of water from the various corners of the pool. Now and then a few pigeons come by to the side of the pool for a drink of water.

It is such a restful sight to behold. To prepare, to nourish the spirit and mind for a great start to a new day. And how would you clear your mind and fill it with goodness and love.

I recommend you follow this line of thinking and reflection based this wise saying from the Bible.

"Finally, friends, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." Phil 4:8

Yes, think about these things. Hope that you have a good start for the day as well.

Before I go, here's a meditation video set to beautifully relaxing flute music with scenes of Japanese gardens, zen gardens, and waterfalls. Enjoy!!

And another one - an hour long of soothing beautiful relaxing music.

Grateful for 15 days of Lunar New Year Celebrations

Time to keep the CNY deco ... 15 days of celebrations are over.. Grateful for a wonderful time of family togetherness and the renewal of relationships during this period of festivities.

Be Grateful !

We have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful:

for having good weather, to have slept well last night,

to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat. ...

There's opportunity upon opportunity to be grateful;

that's what life is.

- Brother David Steindl-Rast

Yes, there is so much in life to be grateful for. I am grateful for a healthy body,  that I can run and walk and appreciate the beauty of this world, experience the freshness of the air around me and smell the fragrance from the flowers.

I am grateful for my family, for their love and the meaning of life they brought into my days on earth, for the gentle smiles on their faces, the shine from their eyes and the uniqueness of each of their personality.

Indeed, there is so much to be grateful for .... the abundance of blessings I can cherish.

This video, featuring Brother David, a highly-respected Benedictine monk, author and spiritual leader, is a BLESSING to all those with "eyes to see and ears to hear." Look, listen and be inspired by this powerful message on grateful living.