14,000 things to be happy about by Barbara Ann Kipfer

I love this 14,000 things to be happy about, The Happy Book by Barbara Ann Kipfer. Described as a quirky, compulsive, enchanting list of all the little things that make us happy, it is such a delightful book to read and I'd highly recommend this for everyone! This also would be a perfect little gift for your friends and families as this book is about the everyday's happiness that's all around us that we sometimes don't notice enough. 

Some of my favourites 'things to be happy about' from this book:

An unexpected message from someone saying something lovely to you

The colour, scent, and deliciousness of strawberries

A successful first attempt

Things that stand the test of time

Life choices

The art of following through

Doing your job like no one else could do it

Happiness coming in three ways: anticipation, realisations, memory

Living with the knowledge that you've done your best

Being nice to someone who bugs you

Giving your least favourite food another chance

Hour-long telephone calls

'Have a nice day' from a checkout person

Ice cream cakes

That vacation feeling

Lines from favourite movies or poems

Making a life, not just a living

A sense of humour in bed

When all your senses are engaged

Pleasure being life's major concern

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought." (Buddha)

Being too busy to notice trivialities 

Giving a soft answer to a not-so-soft question

A real person answering the phone 

Viewing every problem as an opportunity for learning new things

Paying attention to the sounds of each of the different instruments in a symphony 

The perfect spot

An odd couple 

Just-right-length necklaces

Orange segments 

Extra kisses

The contagious act of yawning 

When you pour soda and the fizz shoots right to the brim, you expect it to overflow, but it slowly drops down

The preposterous rituals that people resort to to get rid of hiccups 

People who just by their presence warm your heart

A 20-question marathon in the car

This thing called love

Moving from the needlings of nervous energy to a deeper level of stillness 

'Your cake will brown slowly in the oven and rise like a perfect sun.'

Honesty being so delightfully, pink-cheekedly seductive

Saying yes... yes... yes

Waking up with a really pleasant thought

The spirit of childlike eagerness

The cool underside of a pillow

Kisses: love's punctuation marks

Finding your own private pleasures

Vivaldi in the morning

The texture of cream 

Making sure the water from the shower hits the back of your neck

Learning to make the perfect cup of coffee

Mindful consuming 

Practicing 10,000 hours to learn something expertly

Doing the right thing even when no one is looking

Letting someone else shine

Not taking life that seriously because it's here to be enjoyed

Being all dressed up with somewhere to go

Being quietly sexy

Anticipation being the greater joy 

A new adventure everyday 

Wrinkle-resistant clothes

Fresh, free and sensitive people

The triple kiss, left-right-left 

Laughing till you cry

Tasting menus

Being street-smart

Best-case scenarios 

The happiness of heading home

Casablanca (movie)

Movie review that agrees with your view

Someone to kiss goodnight 

A bed that doesn't squeak 

Staying until the candle burns out

Years from now, remembering everything: the light, the words said, the magic mood

Being young at heart

An ice cold coca cola on a hot sunny day. 

The position of your head as you bite into a taco

Telling a letter, "Have a good trip" as it goes in the mailbox 

A deep, elegant, or beautiful explanation 

Watching Dead Poet's Society (movie)

Useful, preventive measures- the fruits of experience 

Revolving doors

Emoticons 

Open minded uncertainty 

The determination of an understudy

Absence making the heart grow fonder

Conflicts with an umbrella on a windy day

The last piece of pie, saved for you

Simplicity and sophistication 

Avoiding people who make you feel quilty

The very best tea, the very richest coffee, and the very thickest cream 

The electric touching of fingertips

The power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring

S.W.A.K.B.A.L.W.S. : sealed with a kiss because a lick won't stick 

A cut that heals quickly 

The light inside the refrigerator 

Eating a ripe peach and letting the juice trickle down your chin 

Listening to someone excitedly tell a story  

The intimacy of humour 

The craziest person in your life 

Ungodly hours

Butter of the peanut 

Putting things back where they were found 

Doing the common things in life in an uncommon way

Connecting with someone new 

People who give more of themselves 

Anne Frank's The Diary of a Young Girl

Knowing how good you have it

The stroke of luck involved in sometimes not getting what you want

Never dramatising a difficulty 

Not worrying about what's going to happen 

Looking toward tomorrow

Three essentials for happiness: something to do, someone to love, something to hope for

Walking at the same speed as an elderly person so he or she does not feel rushed 

Questions designed to provide revealing insights into your psyches 

Socks snuggling up to each other in a drawer 

Flexible, bendy straws 

Eating ice-cream sandwiches by first licking around the sides 

The applause of an audience  

'banzai', meaning, "May you live 10,000 years!"

A minor problem 

Too busy? Delegate or organise. No money? Borrow or work an extra job. Not enough time? Get up earlier or stay up later. Don't know enough? Take classes 

A fun person with a good appetite, interesting work, good storytelling ability, slightly twisted humor, fresh insight, brave choice

The journey of a lost dollar 

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mystery." (Albert Einstein) 

Delectable creations made hot and fresh every morning

The unhurriedness of brunch

Chewing your food so slowly so you can savor all the flavours

Foods that no one can eat gracefully: powdered doughnuts, corn on the cob, melting ice cream, barbecue ribs, Buffalo wings, a huge slice of pizza 

Eating Oreo cookies and then looking at your teeth

A smile from a stranger

The seven holes in a Ritz cracker 

"Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have." (Rabbi Hyman Schachtel)

Appreciating the effort of 12 bees making 1 teaspoon of honey

The gift of undivided attention 

Sucking in air so crisp and clean that you think you have never really had the experience of breathing before

The distance from your elbow to your wrist equaling the length of your foot

The craziest things you have done for love

Leve fit quod bene fertur onus, "That load becomes light which is cheerfully borne."

And many many more <3. Buy the book!!!!! X

The end of 2014

I really want to make a beautiful meaningful post about the highlights of my past year, 2014, but I'm hmm sort of lazy ( maybe I should change the title of my blog to 'A lazy girl's blog' ) hehe so I thought for now I'm just going to copy paste a few of my Facebook posts throughout last year : 

(Next year I promise I'll do a really meaningful post) :D

“One of the risks of being quiet is that other people can fill your silence with their own interpretation: You’re bored. You’re depressed. You’re shy. You’re stuck up. You’re judgmental. When others can’t read us, they write their own story—not always one we choose or that’s true to who we are.”

- Sophia Dembling, The Introvert’s Way 

#notstuckup  

#notbored

#mostlyjusthungrythinkingaboutdonuts 

“I like people with depth, I like people with emotion, I like people with a strong mind, an interesting mind, a twisted mind, and also people that can make me smile."

Just because you miss someone, doesn't mean you need them back in your life. 

Missing is just a part of moving on. 

"Every relationship has a cycle… In the beginning; you fall in love with your partner. You anticipate their calls, want their touch, and like their idiosyncrasies. Falling in love wasn’t hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn’t have to do anything. That’s why it’s called “falling” in love. People in love sometimes say, I was swept of my feet. Picture the expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something happened to you. Falling in love is a passive and spontaneous experience. But after a few months or years of being together, the euphoria of love fades. It’s a natural cycle of every relationship.Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse’s idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts. The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship; you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage.At this point, you and/or your partner might start asking, “Am I with the right person?”. And as you reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when relationships breakdown.

People blame their partners for their unhappiness and look outside for fulfillment. Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes.Infidelity is the most common. But sometimes people turn to work, a hobby, friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances. But the answer to this dilemma does not lie outside your relationship. It lies within it. I’m not saying that you couldn’t fall in love with someone else. You could. And temporarily you’d feel better. But you’d be in the same situation a few years later. Because the key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person; it’s learning to love the person you found. Sustaining love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. You have to work on it day in and day out. It takes time, effort, and energy. And it demands wisdom. You have to know what to do to make it work. Make no mistake about it. Love is not a mystery or just a feeling. Love is a “decision”.

The universe determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go."

When I was in my teens to early twenties, I used to hate guys who broke up with me because I'd feel unloved and unliked. I was a little insecure back then (as we sometimes are because we are human) but as I get more mature with age, I've come to realise and accept that I cannot make everyone love me and I'm okay with that. (There is always pizza) :p

I saw a quote a year ago that says 'The true mark of maturity is when somebody hurts you and you try to understand their situation instead of trying to hurt them back'.

Now I'm not saying that I'm mature (no lol far from it :p) but by doing that it just makes me feel happier and lighter in heart and I'm sure in my life I've hurt a few people (not in purpose,not often, sometimes I was even unaware) and I hope that they can do the same and try to understand my situation (I might be in a bad phase of my life, in a bad mood, pms or just simply hungry T T ). And so we can all take nothing too personally and live happily ever after. Wouldn't it be wonderful?

“A man’s ego is just as fragile as a woman’s heart.”

"Just because two people are capable of deeply hurting each other over and over again does not make them passionate, star-crossed lovers. It makes them two people who keep doing terrible things to each other. Someone’s ability to make you completely and utterly soul-crushingly miserable does not mean they are a soul mate with some deep insight into your psyche. They are just someone who is really good at making you unhappy.”

Andrea Greb, You Are Not Blair Waldorf

A good girl is a bad girl that never get caught. 

“In my next life I want to live my life backwards. You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an old people’s home feeling better every day. You get kicked out for being too healthy, go collect your pension, and then when you start work, you get a gold watch and a party on your first day. You work for 40 years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You party, drink alcohol, and are generally promiscuous, then you are ready for high school. You then go to primary school, you become a kid, you play. You have no responsibilities, you become a baby until you are born. And then you spend your last 9 months floating in luxurious spa-like conditions with central heating and room service on tap, larger quarters every day and then Voila! You finish off as an orgasm!! I rest my case”

-Woody Allen

“Choose to believe that you are truly worthy. Worthy of love, worthy of affection, worthy of attention, worthy of acceptance, worthy of a second chance, worthy of being chosen, worthy of succeeding and of reaching for your dreams.”

"Good and bad things will happen in life. You just need to keep living and not stress over what you can't control."

Shawn Mckensie

I love these life advices <3

 

My post on Facebook :) As you can see I love emoticons! :) I wish I can write my blog with emoticons. That would be so much fun!!! :D

Taken from "21 things my father never told me"

Source: http://ohthativy.tumblr.com/post/79906729107/you-are-stronger-than-you-realise-you-are

1. You are stronger than you realise.

2. You are crueller than you realise.

3. The smallest words will break your heart.

4. You will change. You’re not the same person you were three years ago. You’re not even the same person you were three minutes ago👽 and that’s okay. Especially if you don’t like the person you were three minutes ago.

5. People come and go. Some are cigarette breaks, others are forest fires.

6. You won’t like your name until you hear someone say it in their sleep.

7. You’ll forget your email password but ten years from now you’ll still remember the number of steps up to his flat.

8. You don’t have to open the curtains if you don’t want to.

9. Never stop yourself texting someone. If you love them at 4a.m., tell them. If you still love them at 9.30 a.m., tell them again.

10. Make sure you have a safe place. Whether it’s the kitchen floor or the Travel section of a bookshop, just make sure you have a safe place.

11. You will be scared of all kinds of things, of spiders and clowns and eating alone, but your biggest fear will be that people will see you the way you see yourself.

12. Sometimes, looking at someone will be like looking into the sun☀. Sometimes someone will look at you like you are the sun☀. Wait for it.

13. You will learn how to sleep alone, how to avoid the cold corners but still fill a bed.

14. Always be friends with the broken people. They know how to survive.

15. You can love someone and hate them, all at once. You can miss them so much you ache but still ignore your phone when they call.

16. You are good at something, whether it’s making someone laugh or remembering their birthday. Don’t ever let anyone tell you that these things don’t matter.

17. You will always be hungry for love. Always. Even when someone is asleep next to you you’ll envy the pillow touching their cheek and the sheet hiding their skin.

18. Loneliness is nothing to do with how many people are around you but how many of them understand you.

19. People say I love you all the time. Even when they say, ‘Why didn’t you call me back?’ or ‘He’s an asshole.’ Make sure you’re listening.

20. You will be okay.

21. You will be okay.

WISE WORDS

A high school teacher's list of 100 wisest words:

From : 

http://neurolove.me/post/56862777916/a-high-school-teachers-list-of-100-wisest-words

(These are the 43 out of 100 which I love the most)! :)

- If a street performer makes you stop walking, you owe him a buck.

- If you want to know what makes you unique, sit for a caricature.

- Never cancel dinner plans by text message.

- Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.

- You only get one chance to notice a new haircut.

- Never park in front of a bar.

- Make time for your mom on your birthday. It’s her special day, too.

- The best way to show thanks is to wear it. Even if it’s only once.

- It’s never too late for an apology.

- Never gloat.

- When opening presents, no one likes a good guesser.

- Give credit. Take blame.

- Suck it up every now and again.

- If you’ve made your point, stop talking.

- Admit it when you’re wrong.

- If you offer to help don’t quit until the job is done.

- Look people in the eye when you thank them.

- Thank the bus driver.

- Never answer the phone at the dinner table.

- Know at least one good joke.

- Don’t boo. Even the ref is somebody’s son.

- Never lie to your doctor.

- Don’t lose your cool. Especially at work.

- Eat lunch with the new kids.

- Always thank the host.

- If you don’t understand, ask before it’s too late.

- A handshake beats an autograph.

- When giving a thank you speech, short and sweet is best.

- Know the size of your boy/girlfriend’s clothes.

- Carry your mother’s bags. She carried you for nine months.

- Keep your word.

- Don’t be the talker in a movie.

- The opposite sex likes people who shower. ^^

- You are what you do, not what you say.

- Be kind. Everyone has a hard fight ahead of them.

- Don’t litter.

- You won’t always be the strongest or the fastest. But you can be the toughest.

- Buy the orange properties in Monopoly.

- Make the little things count.

- You’re never too old to need your mom.

- When you marry someone, remember you marry their entire family.

- Smile at strangers.

- There are plenty of ways to enter a pool. The stairs is not one of them.

BEING POOR by John Scalzi

This is so powerful. How true this is and how sad :(

" Being poor is knowing exactly how much everything costs.

Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.

Being poor is hoping the toothache goes away.

Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won't hear you say "I get free lunch" when you get to the cashier.

Being poor is off-brand toys.

Being poor is hoping your kids don't have a growth spurt.

Being poor is stealing meat from the store, frying it up before your moms get home and then telling her she doesn't have to make dinner tonight because you're not hungry anyway.

Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.

Being poor is your kid's school being the one with the 15-year-old textbooks.

Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.

Being poor is relying on people who don't give a damn about you.

Being poor is finding the letter your mom wrote to your dad, begging him for the child support.

Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger's trash.

Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.

Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.

Being poor is not taking the job because you can't find someone you trust to watch your kids.

Being poor is the police busting into the apartment right next to yours.

Being poor is not talking to that girl because she'll probably just laugh at your clothes.

Being poor is hoping you'll be invited for dinner.

Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.

Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.

Being poor is needing that 35-cents raise.

Being poor is six dollars short on the utility bill and no way to close the gap.

Being poor is crying when you drop the mac and cheese on the floor.

Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually stupid.

Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually lazy.

Being poor is a six-hour wait in an emergency room with a sick child asleep in your lap.

Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn't bought first.

Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that's two extra packages for every dollar.

Being poor is knowing you're being judged.

Being poor is checking the coin return slot of every soda machine you go by.

Being poor is a cough that doesn't go away.

Being poor is a $200 paycheck advance from a company that takes $250 when the paycheck comes in.

Being poor is knowing where the shelter is.

Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.

Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.

Being poor is seeing how few options you have.

Being poor is running in place. "

-- John Scalzi

For a full version of the essay, click http://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/

"There's enough on this planet for everyone's needs but not for everyone's greed."
-Mahatma Gandhi

Birthday 2012 reflection

“At some point your memories, your stories, your adventures will be the only thing that you have left.”— Chuck  Palahniuk

“We all live in suspense, from day to day, from hour to hour; in other words, we are the hero of our own story.”—Mary McCarthy

Last month was my birthday. I am 28 years old now. I can't believe how super fast time flies. It's scary to think that my parents are growing older each day. I love them very much and I'd love them to be healthy and around as long as I live.

So why does time fly by as you get older? I find this answer from www.livebreatheloveinspire.tumblr.com 
"When you are younger, you have more novel, new experiences. You see your mother for the first time. You learn your first language. Everything around you is new information. When the brain puts together these new details, they seem slower when you look at them. When you age, your understanding of the world is larger. But because you are constantly surrounded by the usual family, school, work and experiences, details aren't taken in so intricately. This makes entire day seem like fleeting moments! If you turned 80 - looking back, the middle of your life will appear to be your 20's!

Moral of the story: Do something new every day to make your life seem longer and richer."

"How wrong to have been so negative, how wrong to have been so gloomy, how wrong to have run away from life, how wrong to have said no, again and again, instead of yes."  —Jonathan Franzen

In the coming year, I'd love to do more new things and say yes to more things (of course except for sleazy guys on bars that is!). I'd love to do more than I can. Participate more in life instead of just observing carefully.

I started this blog about 2 years ago after inspired by this Oscar Wilde's quote "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." I thought wow the best book one can read should be one's own diary full of one's amazing experiences, however good or sad, but always amazing and never boring.

“It seemed to me that this was the way we all lived: full to the brim with gratitude and joy one day, wrecked on the rocks the next. Finding the balance between the two was the art and the salvation.”
— “The Year of Pleasures” by Elizabeth Berg

Source: http://make-me-laugh-and-i-am-yours.tumblr.com/post/26810060673

I want to be that person I could have become. Had a rich life. Great but kind. Wise but humble.

I want to

Picture : http://conflictingheart.tumblr.com/post/24124722144

I'd love to go to the cinema more regularly to watch a good movie. Sometimes movies can move me or touch me in a way and how amazing is that. I love going to Dendy or Palace Cinema in the afternoon to watch an art house/foreign movie and then think about the movie for the rest of the day (or week if it's really that memorable). The cinema is usually quiet in the afternoon and the feeling I get from certain movies when I leave the theatre room is just indescribable.

“There are certain emotions in your body that not even your best friend can sympathize with, but you will find the right film or the right book, and it will understand you.”
— Bjork

Sometimes I'd go with a friend and afterward, we would have a good discussion about the movie over food or coffee. I love good conversations and I always try hard (and will try even harder) to really listen, not just look at them and nod or think about the things I want to say.

My actions are my only true belongings.
—Thich Nhat Hanh

I'm always open-minded and non-judgemental. Since I was very young, I made friends with people from different ages, races, religions, sexual preferences, hobbies, careers. I guess the reason why I am so open-minded is that exactly, from having friends from all walks of life. I always believe in thinking outside the box and yet also not judging people who is different from me (who don't think outside the box).

Source: http://themadisoncomplex.tumblr.com/post/32410447393

I love what Paulo Coelho said :

“We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.”

and what Sherrilyn Kenyon said :

“It’s easy to look at people and make quick judgments about them, their present and their past, but you’d be amazed at the pain and tears a single smile hides. What a person shows to the world is only one tiny facet of the iceberg hidden from sight. And more often than not, it’s lined with cracks and scars that go all the way to the foundation of their soul.”

“There’s something beautiful about keeping certain aspects of your life hidden. Maybe people and clouds are beautiful because you can’t see everything.”
— Kamenashi Kazuya

I always find human intriguing. There are always the sides of them that you would never know. In fact there are at least 5 things about me that I want to keep to myself. When I started this blog, I wrote quite a lot about my dating stories. At that time, my blog was like my secret diary because none of my friends knew. Since I shared this blog with my friends and younger sister/brother, I deleted all my love and dating posts because I don't think it's necessary to share my embarrassing stories :) I also deleted one particular sad post just because I don't want to remember that anymore. I want to look through all my posts in the future and I don't want to relive that one. I guess I don't have to remember everything about my life you know, just the good parts. It's always good to write to release my emotions but I don't have to publish it. Sometimes I wrote and left them just to be in drafts. After a month, I would read them again before I deleted them and would think of how unreasonable I am when I am emotional. Sometimes the hard part is keeping my mouth shut when I am angry or upset. I don't want to say hurtful things to people over silly matter that I will only regret in the future, especially to my loved ones. I think I'm getting better at that but sometimes when I have difficult, rude clients, I really just want to tell it to their faces that they don't have to be so rude or unreasonable. In long term, dealing with such people, I guess would either make me crazy and drive me mental or make me the most patient and 'zen' people on earth :)

I'll also be more grateful in life. "We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude," said Cynthia Ozick. Like the love from the people who love us the most and who is always there for us, like our family and close friends. I'll stop thinking about the boy/s who is/was/re never there when I need him/them.

For the future, I want to save lots of money and work really really hard. I love this quote from Anaïs Nin : 

“If you limit your choices only to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is compromise.”

and from Vincent van Gogh “Normality is a paved road: It’s comfortable to walk, but no flowers grow on it.”

I want to (like Sarah Wilson said) "embrace my uncertainness, owning it and not running from it". 

"With practice you can become familiar enough with self-doubt and anxiety that you hold them nimbly and un-distractedly" (from Psychology Today).

Whenever something bad happen, I take a deep breath and think 'Will this matter in a year' and 'What is the worst thing that can happen?' and always face up to my problem as soon as I can so I can have a peace of mind asap.

“After all, you are alive, so you will always have the chance to be happy,” (Yui Ikari, The End of Evangelion).

I read this fact from www.livebreatheloveinspire.tumblr.com 

Hugging is good medicine.

It transfers energy and gives the person hugged an emotional lift. You need 4 hugs a day for survival, eight for maintenance, and twelve for growth. Scientists say that hugging is a form of communication because it can say things you don't have the words for. And the nicest thing about about a hug is that you usually can't give one without getting one.

from www.sarahwilson.com.au

"Ask the Ikarian people here the key to longevity and they will tell you it's the wine." From her blog, these are 2 out of 5 points that I love the most and will start doing :)

"- it's only ever drunk with food and never alone. You always drink wine with loved ones. A loved ones arrives, no matter the time of day, and out comes the wine a block of cheese and some tomatoes. We witnessed this at 11 am one morning.

- it's drunk slowly. they stress this over and over. it takes time."

So, I'll hug and drink wine slowly, with food :) 

Speaking of wine, these below are my favourite dessert wine and my favourite rose (can someone please tell me how to put an accent on top of my 'e') :(

And these are my birthday cakes from last month : Gelato cakes (Juliette, Bombe Alaska and The Block), all from Gelato Messina.

They are all absolutely amazing and delicious, bought by my work friends and myself :) These are what they are made from (drawings are from Gelato Messina website).

On my birthday weekend, I had a few friends over and we had 3 sushi platters from Zushi and some amazing apple pie frozen yogurt from Wow Cow :)

And this is a cake made by my lovely friend, Beatriz. Nothing beats a cake especially baked for you by your own friend! Especially when it's heart-shaped, chocolate and tasted seriously good :)

Happy birthday to me!!! 

In a year, I want to be able to read this blog post and feeling proud of myself of what I've done when I was 28, since this post.

“There is one purpose to life and one only: to bear witness and to understand as much as possible of the complexity of the world- its beauty, its mysteries, its riddles.”
— Anne Rice

and finally(!!!) this is one of my all time favourite quote :

“Don’t expect to get anything back, don’t expect recognition for your efforts, don’t expect your genius to be discovered or your love to be understood. Act because you need to act.”

— Paulo Coelho

Picture from : http://shahirzag.com/

"Maybe you can afford to wait. Maybe for you there's a tomorrow. Maybe for you there's one thousand tomorrows, or three thousand, or ten, so much time you can bathe in it, roll around it, let it slide like coins through your fingers. So much time you can waste it. But for some of us there's only today. And the truth is, you never really know." - Lauren Oliver (Before I Fall)

THE START OF 2012

“I am made of things that are stronger and brighter than you would believe.”
— Daily Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson

The short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was based on a remark by author Mark Twain. Twain famously remarked that, “life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.”

I always thought how fast life's gone by and how sometimes I wish I can go back to the age when I was 18 and relive that memory. I always have a little regret of how I wasted my life around when I was young, chased the wrong guy, spent all my money buying present for my player ex boyfriend. Sigh first love, what can I say? Of course all my life experiences made me to what I am today (although I still made the same mistake again now and then) but I'm definately tougher now:) Somehow 18 is always been my favourite age, because there was no worries in the world, I just need to do my homework, pass my exam, and don't come home too late. Yet that was the age when I began to learn alot about life, love, family and friendship and that's when I started my own little life adventure. That age brought some truly beautiful memories.

I always looked back at our past wishing that we can relive all the great moments.
Yet in doing so, I would forget about living in the present moment. What I want to try to do more now is to live in the moment and savor it totally because this is the time that I will miss in the future. I want to live my everyday with awareness.

I found a few new year resolution from different sources that I love :

From Sarah Wilson
http://www.sarahwilson.com.au/2011/12/dont-make-new-year-resolutions-play-instead/#more-3527

"I will see what happens.
-Let’s see. Let us see. Let (allow) you, me, the forces that steer the universe, see what happens.
I will find ordinariness really rather lovely.
I will continue to find setbacks amusing."

From Gandhi


And:

"We grow fearless by doing those things we fear.”
— The Secret Letters of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma

"It is impossible to live without failing at something. Unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.”
— J.K. Rowling

"I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center."
— Kurt Vonnegut

I WANT TO :
- Be interested and interesting
- Be an explorer of the world.

FINAL NOTE :

- Life commences not with birth, but with the onslaught of awareness.

- If you don't do foolish things when you are young, you won't have anything to smile about when you are old.

- 'If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough.'

- 'The successful person has the habit of doing the things
failures don't like to do. They don't like doing them either
necessarily. But their disliking is subordinated to the
strength of their purpose.' - E.M Gray

- When you talk you are only repeating what you already know, but if you listen, you may learn something new.

- 'Love your parents. We are so busy growing up, we often forget they are also growing old.'

- 'Never love anyone who treats you like you're ordinary' - Oscar Wilde

- Not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of good luck.

- Enjoy your youth. You'll never be younger than you are at this very moment.

- "This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time." - The Fight Club

“As we drive along this road called life, occasionally a gal will find herself a little lost. And when that happens, I guess she has to let go of the coulda, shoulda, woulda, buckle up and just keep going.” Carrie Bradshaw

"You are the same person you have always been, even though the person you are were might have difficulty recognising the person you have become. You are looking at a situation that, had it arisen in the distant past, might have floored you. But it is happening now, not then. You are ready for it. Life is about growing, learning and moving on."

picture is taken from http://jessepinkman.tumblr.com/

INSPIRING BOOKS

From the book 'CHANGE THE WORLD 9 TO 5' , these are few of my favourites reads from the book :) ==>

63. Practice good manners.
Do always try to listen. It's simply charming when people do.
Do try not to snoop into the business of others - no one likes a nosy parker.

76. Use one of these email signatures.
(I like this one) Sorry this is an email and not a face-to-face conversation.

77. Show empathy.
Everyday, with measureless heroism, people are dealing with all kinds of terrible things. We are not asking you to stick your nose in where it's not wanted. Just treat people with respect. Be aware that we are all sentient, suffering human beings.

79. Give up some spare time.
If you used some of that time to help other people, you'd feel better. It just happens to be one of the few immutable laws of the universe.

84. Smile when you answer the phone.
You can hear a smile.

85. Support small businesses.
Use your local newsagent and your local local.
To prevent them from disappearing.

93. Don't judge someone by the job they do.
For instance: just because someone is a corporate lawyer doesn't mean that they are necessarily a selfish, heartless person driven by greed.
Ok, 99 times out of 100, it does. But keep believing and you'll meet the 100th one day.

99. Know how you fit into the bigger picture.
When John Kennedy bumped into a janitor at NASA and asked him what he did, the man replied, 'Helping to put a man on the moon.'
That's a genuinely inspiring story.



From the book 'STRESS LESS, LIVE MORE' by Richard Blonna

1. Calculate the no of days you have lived so far.

2. Substract this no from 30 000.
This is the approximate no of days you have left on this earth.

3. Compile 3 lists :
a) Things I want to start doing.
b) Things I want to continue doing.
c) Things I want to stop doing.
Take your time and consider each very carefully.

4. Describe how you want to spend the rest of your life, using the details from those 3 lists.

5. What are the stressful thoughts, scary pictures & painful emotions that are keeping you from doing this?

6. What are you willing to accept and take action on in spite of the things you listed in step 5?

“If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting for the rest of our lives.” — Lemony Snicket

Things I Learned in 2011

photo from http://celebrator1975.tumblr.com/


These are some of the things that I learned in 2011. I have this obsessive need to always have to write every-single-thing down :)

On LIFE

1. “What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.”
— Gabriel García Márquez

2. "There were so many of us who would have to live with things done and things left undone that day. Things that did not go right, things that seemed okay at the time because we could not see the future. If only we could see the endless string of consequences that result from our smallest actions. But we can’t know better until knowing better is use less.”
— Looking For Alaska

3. "Happiness is not a destination. It is a mood, it is not permanent. It comes and goes and if people thought that way then maybe people would find happiness more often.”
— Julian Baker

4. “You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” — Oscar Wilde

5.
“To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To a customer, service.
To all, charity.
To every child, a good example.
To yourself, respect.”
— Oren Arnold


On LIFE LESSONS

1. “Sacrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to.”
— The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom

2. “If you are still breathing maybe it is not such a bad day after all.”
— Darren Laws

3. “And yet with every bad, there is a worse.”
— Thomas Hardy

4. "Pain is a part of life. Sometimes it’s a big part, and sometimes it isn’t, but either way, it’s a part of the big puzzle, the deep music, the great game. Pain does two things: It teaches you, tells you that you’re alive. Then it passes away and leaves you changed. It leaves you wiser, sometimes. Sometimes it leaves you stronger. Either way, pain leaves its mark, and everything important that will ever happen to you in life is going to involve it in one degree or another.”
— Jim Butcher

5. “For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.” It's about your outlook towards life. You can either regret or rejoice".

"Even when the flower falls, we love it. That’s the heart of the Japanese person. Flowers dying is not a sad thing."
- The Tsunami and The Cherry Blossom

ON LOVE

1. “A heart that hurts, is a heart that works.” — Placebo, Bright Lights

2. “Some of the biggest challenges in relationships come from the fact that most people enter a relationship in order to get something. They’re trying to find someone who’s going to make them feel good. In reality, the only way a relationship will last is if you see your relationship as a place that you go to give, and not a place that you go to take.”
— Anthony Robbin

3. "The hardest-learned lesson: that people have only their kind of love to give, not our kind.”
— Mignon McLaughlin

4. "It's a risk to love. What if it doesn't work out?
Ah, but what if it does?"
- Peter McWilliams

" I’m not the silly romantic you think. I don’t want the heavens or the shooting stars. I don’t want gemstones or gold. I have those things already. I want a steady hand, a kind soul. I want to fall asleep, and wake, knowing my heart is safe.” — Shana Abé

On BOOKS

1. "Bookshelves are trophy cabinets for people who don’t shoot animals.”
— CJ Werleman

2. "The best moments in reading are when you come across something - a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things - which you had thought special and particular to you. And now, here it is, set down by someone else, a person you have never met, someone even who is long dead. And it is as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.”
— Alan Bennett

3. "Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.”
— Charles W. Eliot

"Reading gives us a place to go when we have to

stay where we are."


On COURAGE AND PASSION

1. "Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying :'I'll try again tomorrrow'.
- Mary Radmacher

2. “The saddest people I’ve ever met in life are the ones who don’t care deeply about anything at all. Passion and satisfaction go hand in hand, and without them, any happiness is only temporary, because there’s nothing to make it last.”
— Nicholas Sparks (Dear John)

3. "We all know fear. But passion makes us fearless.” — Paulo Coelho

4. “Without obsession, life is nothing.” — John Waters

“Passion. It’s a force so potent we still remember it long after it’s faded away. A drive so alluring it can push us into the arms of unexpected lovers. A sensation so overwhelming, it can knock down walls we’ve built to protect our hearts. A feeling so intense, it resurfaces even when we try so hard to keep it buried. Yes, of all emotions, passion is the one that gives us a reason to live, and an excuse to commit all sorts of crimes.” — Desperate Housewive

ON GRATITUDE AND DISCOVERY

1. “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
— William Arthur Ward

2. “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
— Marcel Proust

3. “Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light.”
— Joseph Pulitzer

4. "Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it." - Confucius

5. “The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” — W.B. Yeats

"...what we've seen is always going to be a very small cup dipped out of a very big ocean, and turning your back on the ocean to stare into the cup can't change that". - Linda Holmes

On FRIENDSHIP

1. "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."
- Mother Teresa

2. “I am a part of all that I have met.” — Alfred Lord Tennyson

3. “Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.” — Anais Nin


UNRELATED POST : COOL TIPS ON TRAVELLING :

1. Eat different cuisines than the country you’re in.
And I’m not referring to the lasagna from your hotel restaurant. Thai food in India is different than in Thailand – obviously. But it’s also different than Thai food in Seattle. I’ve had great Mexican food in Athens, great Greek food in Bangkok, and some stuff I didn’t recognize on a Biman Airlines flight while over Pakistan.
But more than good, these meals were interesting — and that’s what travel should be.

2. Send postcards
They’re fun. People like getting them. If you must send an email put all the contents in the subject line: "Mom — I’m alive, in Italy, not going back to school next semester. XO"

3. Steal soap from your hotel and give it to kids in developing countries as a present.
Studies have shown that distributing soap to kids in poor countries saves lives. Travelers are always thinking up things to give to kids that ask for handouts (pencils, erasers, candies) but nothing beats the gift of clean hands. And don’t just collect 1 or 2 from your hotel bathroom. Hit the hallways while the cleaning staff are having a smoke and grab a couple handfuls from the service carts. When you are saving lives, GO BIG.

From
http://mylittlenomads.com/thrilling-amazing-tips-travel-vacationand read the rest of them, they are so cool! I especially love no 2,3,12,13,15


Happy New Year Everyone !!!!! X