By Oprah Winfrey

By Oprah Winfrey

I live in the space of thankfulness - and I have been rewarded a million times over for it. I started out giving thanks for small things, and the more thankful I became, the more my bounty increased.

That's because what you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it.

Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life."Say thank you!" Those words from my friend and mentor Maya Angelou turned my life around.

One day about ten years ago, I was sitting in my bathroom with the door closed and the toilet lid down, booing and ahooing on the phone so uncontrollably that I was incoherent."Stop it! Stop it right now and say thank you!" Maya chided."But - you don't understand," I sobbed.

To this day, I can't remember what it was that had me so far gone, which only proves the point Maya was trying to make. "I do understand," she told me. "I want to hear you say it now. Out loud."'Thank you.'"

Tentatively, I repeated it: "Thank you - but what am I saying thank you for?""You're saying thank you," Maya said, "because your faith is so strong that you don't doubt that whatever the problem, you'll get through it.

You're saying thank you because you know that even in the eye of the storm, God has put a rainbow in the clouds. You're saying thank you because you know there's no problem created that can compare to the Creator of all things. Say thank you!"So I did - and still do.

Only now I do it every day. I kept a gratitude journal, as Sarah Ban Breathnach suggests in Simple Abundance, listing at least five things that I'm grateful for.

My list includes small pleasures: the feel of Kentucky bluegrass under my feet (like damp silk); a walk in the woods with all nine of my dogs and my cocker spaniel Sophie trying to keep up; cooking fried green tomatoes with Stedman and eating them while they're hot; reading a good book and knowing another awaits.

My thank-you list also includes things too important to take for granted: an "okay" mammogram, friends who love me, 15 years at the same job (and loving it more than the first day I started), a chance to share my vision for a better life, staying centered, having financial security.

I won't kid you, having money for all the things I want is a blessing. But as I look back over my journals, which I've kept since I was 15 years old, 99 per cent of what brought me real joy had nothing to do with money. (It had a lot to do with food, however.)It's not easy being grateful all the time.

But it's when you feel least thankful that you are most in need of what gratitude can give you: PERSPECTIVE.

Just knowing you have that daily list to complete allows you to look at your day differently, with an awareness of every sweet gesture and kind thought passed your way.

When you learn to say thank you, you see the world anew. And as Meister Eckhart so eloquently stated: "If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'Thank you God', that would suffice.

"THANK YOU"

BBQ photos n Jenga

heres happily bbq photos...... and part of "Jenga" photos taken too !!

21.07.07 many thoughts

today is our mee suah gals post sucessful cake eating day !!!! Only 3 of us were there when we are cutting the cake as Elaine has to work lastmin ...... *busying earning money* hahahhaha :P

today is also the day of our BBQ with friends ..... our 1st bbq after a long while......

today is also the day where yohei accidentally pee in the lift when hes in the rush to head down to the pools for swimming....

today is also the day of us all playing "Jenga" laughing and tensing up over this game ! hahahah

heres some of the pics ......

A Relationship With Self

The most important relationship we have in our lives is with our selves. And even though we are the only ones who are present at every moment of our lives—from birth onward—this relationship can be the most difficult one to cultivate.

This may be because society places such emphasis on the importance of being in a romantic partnership, even teaching us to set aside our own needs for the needs of another.

Until we know ourselves, however, we cannot possibly choose the right relationship to support our mutual growth toward our highest potential.

By allowing ourselves to be comfortable with being alone, we can become the people with whom we want to have a relationship.

Perhaps at no other time in history has it been possible for people to survive, and even thrive, while living alone. We can now support ourselves financially, socially, and emotionally without needing a spouse for survival in any of these realms.

With this freedom, we can pursue our own interests and create fulfilling partnerships with friends, business partners, creative cohorts, and neighbors.

Once we’ve satisfied our needs and created our support system, a mate then becomes someone with whom we can share the bounty of all we’ve created and the beauty we’ve discovered within ourselves.

As we move away from tradition and fall into more natural cycles of being in the world today, we may find that there are times where being alone nourishes us and other periods in which a partnership is best for our growth.

We may need to learn to create spaces to be alone within relationships. When we can shift our expectations of our relationships with ourselves and others to opportunities for discovery, we open ourselves to forge new paths and encounter uncharted territory.

Being willing to know and love ourselves, and to find what truly makes us feel deeply and strongly, gives us the advantage of being able to attract and choose the right people with whom to share ourselves, whether those relationships fall into recognizable roles or not.

Choosing to enjoy being alone allows us to fully explore our most important relationship—the one with our true selves.

balloting....

yest 3 of us went down to zouk ....

we wanna try our lucks in getting ourselves a slot for the upcoming flea market....

so we filled in 3 forms for the balloting.......

results will be out next tues !!!

all of us are crossing our fingers now......we wanna sell off our 2nd hand stuffs to make more cash and to clear off our old clothings as well ......

oh ya.......finally managed to find a green raw tourmaline.......and its in the hands of cindy's now.....shes going to create a rotational form for me as a pendant....... hahahaha i cant wait to see her drawings on tht...... :P and we actually made ourselves to little india too !!!!! can u imagine tht? thts my 2nd time there n cindy's first time in little india ..... we stumbled ourselves to little india arcade and had our face stringed !!!!!!! a traditional way of plucking hairs off ya face using threads....... and its quite cool experience for sg$18...... hahahahha wht an afternoon !!!

today i woke up quite late around 1.45pm........ it was a long long dream that kept me in the dreamlands !!!! then i made my way to the library to return some books and to try my lucks at the food fair........i wanted to eat the candy wrap in popian skin ....... but mine was always special order as i dont like peanuts in them hahahah

but alas !!!!! the food fair is over ....... oh well ....... nexttime somewhere else then .....

i dont have appetite much lately too ... dont know what to eat ? ! hhahahha

thts me alright ^__^

when dave was here in singapore

we went to lots of places for yummy food.

we saw a late night movie together..

we went on morning walk with judy too !!

and not forgetting the night safari with tom .... hehehehehe ^__~

till nexttime then......happy days indeed !!

The Happy Planet Index

an index of human well-being and environmental impact !



Happy Planet Index
Your personal Happy Planet Index (HPI) is 47.7 This is above the UK average, about the same as the world average of 46, but well below the reasonable ideal we have set, of 83. Your score is above that of your country, 40.8.Below is a breakdown of the various components that make up your HPI score.
You:
47.7
Average:
43.5
[Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]

Life Expectancy
Congratulations. Your life expectancy is above average for your gender and country. Whether it's eating well, not smoking, getting regular exercise, or just being lucky enough to have the right genes, you're doing something right. However, nobody's perfect and we could all improve our health a little! Aside from getting all the above bits of your lifestyle right, there are some more surprising factors that can influence your life expect - for example, giving up your car, avoiding living alone, moving out of the city or shrugging off stress.
You:
84.5
Average:
80.7
[Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]

Ecological Footprint
Your ecological footprint is 4.26 global hectares, or 2.37 planets. This is equivalent to the average in Japan.Your ecological footprint is below average for the country you live in. You are using between and one and a half and three times your share of the planet's resources (assuming no resources are put aside for other species). This is an amount typical of people in many industrialised countries, though just below the average for the UK. As such, if you are living in an industrialised country, you are probably doing some things well and some things not so well in terms of reducing your ecological impact. Seven ways that everyone can reduce their footprint include:

It's obvious, but we have to say it. Conserve energy. Turn off the lights when you leave a room, buy energy-efficient bulbs and appliances, turn off your TV completely, rather than leave it on standby.

Reduce your waste. If there are ways to recycle where you live, try and do so. If you have a garden, start a compost heap. Re-use plastic bags. Give away clothes you don't use, rather than throwing them away. There are hundreds of little things you can do.

Live with someone! Whether it be your partner, family, children or friends, sharing your living space means sharing your ecological impact. It will probably also increase your well-being!

Leave your car in the garage. Car use has a huge impact on ecological footprint. Obviously it's easier for some people than others, but where possible, try to use public transport more. Or, even better, get on a bike, or simply walk!

Go local. Why buy tomatoes from another country, if you can get home grown ones? For those living in Europe - think about all those miles travelled by wine from South Africa and Australia, when Europe produces some of the best wines in the world.

You don't have to become vegetarian, but cutting down on meat, particularly beef, and particularly from animals fed by imported soya feed, is an effective step to reducing your footprint.

It has to be said that air travel is one of the biggest contributors to many people's footprints. For example, flying direct from London to Sydney and back would add 5.44 g ha to your footprint - that's the average Briton's footprint for an entire year. Flights with a connection add even more polluting air miles.
You:
4.26
Average:
5.32
[Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]

Life Satisfaction
You reported a life satisfaction of 7, which is about average for many Western countries, including the UK, Spain and Italy. Worldwide, 58% of respondents in the World Values Survey reported a life satisfaction of 7 or lower.
You:
7
Average:
6.75
[Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]

Well-being
The new economics foundation (nef) recognises that there's more to life than feeling good, which is why our model for well-being is based on four domains – personal feelings, personal functionings, social feelings and social functionings. 'Feelings' refers to your attitude to the way you, your future and society are. 'Functionings' looks at whether you have the opportunities to do the things that bring you well-being. Like with life satisfaction, a score of 5 is theoretically the middle score, but, given the way most people respond to surveys, is below average.

Personal Feelings
In this online questionnaire, personal feelings are assessed with two questions – one testing your optimism and one testing your self-esteem.
You are very secure about yourself and about your future.
You:
7.58
Average:
6.04
[Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]

Personal Functionings
In this online questionnaire personal functionings are assessed with five questions – two evaluating your subjective opinion on your health and how activity you are, the other three testing you for feelings of autonomy, purpose and worth.
You are healthy, active and full of strong feelings of worth, autonomy and purpose.
You:
7.22
Average:
6.15
[Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]

Social Feelings
In this online questionnaire social feelings are assessed with four questions – three assessing your opinion of your community, whilst the last looks at personal relationships.
You are unsatisfied with, or perhaps indifferent to, the community within which you live. Sense of community is an important aspect of well-being. It is often lacking simply because there is little engagement taking place, as people lead atomised lives.Another reason for this score, may simply be that you are currently unsatisfied by your personal relationships.
You:
4.78
Average:
5.68
[Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]

Social Functionings
In this online questionnaire social functionings are assessed with four questions – two assessing your job / studies, one your free time, and one your community participation. If you did not respond to the work / study questions, your score is judged purely on the other two aspects.
You are very satisfied with your job / course - it is very interesting, rarely stressful, and leaves you plenty of time to do the things you want to do, such as participating in community activities.
You:
6.51
Average:
5.6
[Average is of all online responses to this survey - not the average for your country]

Calculations for the Footprint are based on, and are copyright of, Best Foot Forward Limited. Please note that calculations for the Footprint and life expectancy are based on UK statistics. Conversion factors are used for other countries, but these are conservative and may underestimate differences.
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© 2006 new economics foundation

Sending off Dave to e airport

we just got back home ...time now is 9.41pm.

sent Dave to Terminal 2 earlier on and had dinner together with him at Fish & Co as well !

the seafood platter and prawn wraps and mussels with lemon butter was yummy !!!! All of us enjoyed it lots....

till nexttime when we meet again ..... my teacher.my elder.my friend.

Loving Kindness

"Loving-kindness (maitri) toward ourselves doesn't mean getting
rid of anything. Maitri means that we can still be crazy, we can still
be angry. We can still be timid or jealous or full of feelings of
unworthiness. Meditation practice isn't about trying to throw
ourselves away or become something better. It's about befriending who
we are already."
- Pema Chodron, *Comfortable with Uncertainty*

our night safari trip !

today we went down to the night safari ! First stop is photo-taking with the animals !!! hehehe heres me and dave with some animals !!! cool eh...... then we walked to the 7.30pm show and followed on to the tram ride...... :)

had dinner at the ulu ulu restaurant too .... stingray, bbq chicken, seafood horfun and sugarcane juices !

all in all its not so bad afterall ! hahhahahaha :P

fri july06

today earlyyy in the morning i woke up at 6.20am ! started to washup and knocked on Dave's door to wake him up as well !!!!! we are going to the treetop walk with judy and meeting time over at MacRitchie was 730am ! we arrived there early and judy was late for half an hour...so we started our walk from the reservoir at 8am.......and finished it by 10.30am .....coming out of the clubhouse with a call cab

it was seriously hot and humid and all of us were sweating lots by half of our walk ...... luckily we started out early in the morning else ....... the sun would have toasted us for breakfast !! hahahahah *smile*

after the walk we took the cab to chinatown where the temporary hawker market was and judy introduced us to a yummy "yong dou fu " stall and we had lots of sugarcane juices as well to cool our body heat down .....

but the time we got back its already 1noon and dave was tired so we decided to take the afternoon for naps .....and i just woke up now at 4.20pm and am blogging in now....

hes still sleeping away which is good for him cos he's having jetlag and sleep will go him good ! we'll wait for Tom to come back later before heading out together for stingrays !!!

cookout after swimming

our chefs cooking in the kitchen ...... hahahha

and us playing around the food table with yohei .....

glad that all of us are able to make it for today !! Cool cool indeed...

till nexttime.... ^__^

4th July swimming fun

heres the few of us playing round the pools !!

yohei and mummy regina . cindy. elaine. ayako

My Monday on July2nd !

let' see /

my monday today was spent in holland village ! was scouting for memory wire as the sudden urge of creating colorful whimsical bracelets was on my mind *smile*

It was a hot hot day indeed as i strolled to the bus-stop, i felt myself melting under the scorching sunlight .... luckily the bus was cold enough ...

got myself several type of bread from the yummy jap bread store over there... went to walk around abit in the mall and went over to cold storage to get the ingredients for dinner tonight....

managed to cook guacamale ham wraps and blackpepper mined beef with mushrooms and capsculum ..... but i put too much black pepper in it and its spicy hothot !! hahahaha :P

had to drink few glasses of icy plum drink to cool the spicy feeling down !!

now i am relaxing over the pc.......checking emails and updating my stuffs ! come weds, we'll be going to a morning movie and cont with activities with the gals and moobe/yohei would be joining us as well in the afternoon ....... i wonder wht would they be cooking on weds night ? hahahahha ! Right up our menu now is curry chicken by betsy, salad by elaine, dumpling soup by me and ice-cream by cindy !!!!!!!

cant wait to see surfs up !!!!!!! Yooooooo Hoooooo !!!!!