Category: inspiration

Feel the fear and do it anyway

feel-the-fear-and-do-it-anyway

When I first saw this book, I thought to myself, “Wow, the title sucks. And the cover is SOOOOOO ugly. Who designed it?”. Nonetheless, I decided to give it a try. It’s one of the many books my Uncle Aaron had given me. (He probably gave me 40-50 books. I’ll slowly pry through them all….)

Anyhow, this was one of the most comforting books I have ever read. It was very empowering. So don’t judge a book by the title or cover!!

My favourite part of the book was when it talked about the importance of developing a Pain-to-Power vocabulary. Basically, the way you use words has a tremendous impact on the quality of your life. For example:

Pain —————————————-> Power

I can’t                                                                             I won’t
I should                                                                         I could
It’s not my fault                                                           I’m totally responsible
It’s a problem                                                               It’s an opportunity
I’m never satisfied                                                      I want to learn and grow
Life’s a struggle                                                           Life’s an adventure
I hope                                                                             I know
If only                                                                            Next time
What will I do?                                                             I know I can handle it
It’s terrible                                                                   It’s a learning experience

“I can’t” implies you have no control over the situation. Whereas, “I won’t” means you were the one making that choice. We should all aim to use more empowering words rather than destructive words. Mindset is key. Most of the time, the situation is what you make of it. Stop drowning yourself in pain and change the way you think.

I really like this line, “No one is immune to pain, and it shouldn’t be denied when it exists. The key is to know that you can lead a productive and meaningful life no matter what the external circumstances are.” Continue reading “Feel the fear and do it anyway”

Some more wisdom

book-wisdom

I actually wasn’t going to write this post. However, my friend Jack was like, “I went on a trip to Asia for 3 weeks and you still haven’t posted anything new!”

Sooooo… I’m going to share some meaningful lines I’ve recently read from a book. The book is by Deepak Chopra, and it is called “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success”. It was given to me by my Uncle Aaron. (Thanks, Uncle).

“Being ego-based power, it lasts only as long as the object of reference is there. If you have a certain title – if you’re the president of the country or the chairman of a corporation – or if you have a lot of money, the power you enjoy goes with the title, with the job, and with the money. Ego-based power will only last as long as those things last. As soon as the title, the job, the money go away, so does the power.”

Hmm.. honestly, I feel like that’s how our society define success. You have to have certain things and make a specific amount, or you wouldn’t be considered “successful”.

Having money definitely makes life a lot easier. I am sure all of us want to be financially stable. Who wouldn’t want to have more?

But how much do you need before you’re satisfied? If you only see your value based on what you can buy with money, I think that’s rather sad. Continue reading “Some more wisdom”

Conforming to society!?

To my dear readers,

I haven’t written a personal post in such a long time! But I was inspired by my friend Karen’s Social conformity post so I wanted to write one as well.

Karen shared the following video:

 

Honestly, I was shocked by how not a single person asked what was going on and continued standing up after the beeping sound purely because everyone else was doing it.

Although I might have stood up if I was placed in the same situation, I know I would have asked the others why they were doing so.

To me, if it doesn’t make sense, I need an answer. 

If I was told, “I’m standing up because everyone is standing up.” I would personally go up to the front desk and ask why the beeping sound = standing up. Are we being recorded? Is this some type of fitness challenge?

If the front desk cannot give me an answer, I would sit back down even if it was uncomfortable.

People may or may not believe me, but I am somewhat of a rebel.

In the past, I have always tried to conform to society and everyone else around me because I wanted to be treated well. I wanted everyone’s approval because I felt like it would make my life better. 

By conforming, it would definitely make life a lot easier. You would fit right in and no one would challenge you.

It’s kind of like peer pressure. Why do kids smoke? Most of the time, it’s because their peers smoke and they want to fit in. By refusing to follow the crowd, you might get excluded or treated poorly.  Continue reading “Conforming to society!?”

My attention span and Pokémon Go

I haven’t written a personal post in a very long time. But I haven’t forgotten you guys. I just don’t want to write for the sake of writing.

These days, I feel like I have the attention span of a potato. When I was young (before I had the internet), I would breeze through a book in one sitting. 300 pages? No big deal.

Nowadays, reading 50 pages is a struggle. I’m constantly tempted to do something else.

Haha, honestly, I blame the internet and my lack of self control. With so many social media applications nowadays, my generation is constantly checking up on what others are doing or posting something to show others what they are doing.

Deep down, I know the smart thing is to focus on my personal growth rather than see which pokemons my friends have caught. But I guess I enjoy being amused and not using my brain (I know, I sound terrible).
Continue reading “My attention span and Pokémon Go”

My Adventures on Discord

A couple weeks ago, I wrote on Reddit asking for novel suggestions. I was forced to stop translating Zui Wu Dao because the author had stop writing in the middle of the story. Hence, I was looking for something new to translate.

Originally, I started translating because I wanted to lure readers into my blog so they would read my personal posts. However, that didn’t go as well as I thought it would. The majority of my readers come purely for the translations. That’s it. The moment they get what they want, they leave.

As for my friends, they are not interested in my translations at all. They only want to read my personal posts.

Nonetheless, I still do both because it’s personal development and I am a very expressive person.

So on Reddit, an user told me to message a person called Amery Edge. Apparently, he does teasers on his site and he could give me some suggestions.

I decided to email him (at the time, I didn’t know it was a guy) to see what suggestions he would give me.

Amery was very helpful and specific in his email. He suggested “Your Highness, I know my wrongs” but I was quite reluctant at first because the story seemed really ridiculous and silly. (I mean, c’mon, the title is a turn off LOL) jk

I wanted a novel that would generate more views and donations. However, I didn’t want to be a total snob so I decided to at least read the first few chapters he had already translated.

I was instantly hooked. IT IS SO FREAKING GOOD.  Continue reading “My Adventures on Discord”

Controlling your mind

controlling your mind

Sorry I’ve been somewhat neglecting my personal blog posts. Recently, I have been out of ideas. For the longest time, I’ve been debating on what to write. I even googled “Interesting topics to write about”! Haha.

Anyway, today, I want to talk about controlling your mind.

Has it ever occurred to you that most of the pain we suffer from are caused by our thoughts?? Most of the time, when we are dealing with negative emotions, it is because we allow those emotions to grow.

Some may say, “I couldn’t help it.” True, to some extent, we do not have control over our thoughts. But in my opinion, we could change our state of mind if we allow it. 

When I was little, I always saw myself as a victim. I always blamed everything on everyone else but myself. I felt like I didn’t have any control and life was just super unfair.

Continue reading “Controlling your mind”

Some of my favourite posts

Death

I’ve decided to create a post where you can read some of my favourite posts without having to scroll around my blog. Some of these posts are quite old (from 2 years ago). However, I still wanted to share. Hope you enjoy!

A 3 part series
Time and Financial Freedom (part 1)
The Secret (part 2)
The Three Ways (part 3)

Stories
The story of two families
The Tiny Frog
The Glass
The World In Green

Self improvement 
Building Confidence
Questionnaire for yourself
Social Anxiety
Communication
Fear
From the bottom to the top

Quote challenge
Quote Challenge 1/3
Quote Challenge 2/3
Quote Challenge 3/3

Society 
Reality vs the Internet
Attention
Appearance
A society with messed up values
Why I hate the Education System

Based on books
Wise Words
The Little Prince
Born To Win
Think and Grow Rich
The Virtual World

Learning
Things to consider when investing
How to read Chinese
Conversation Tips

Good deeds
Helping the Homeless: Happy Feet
An act of kindness

Asian
How most Asian parents think
Shaming

Relationships
Relationship Goals
Can Men and Women be purely friends?
Should guys pay for the first date?
Should you be allowed to hang out alone with the opposite sex if you’re in a relationship?
The Perfect Man
How to escape the Friendzone

From a different angle
Just a reminder
Perspective
Don’t judge a person by the cover
What is Success?

I just really like this movie
Zootopia

There are too many posts and I didn’t include them all. If you want to read more, please visit: liveandlearn88.com . Thanks, everyone! ❤

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From the bottom to the top

started from the bottom.jpg

This post is a collaboration post I did with my friend, Alex. Instead of always talking about my own opinions from my own perspectives, I thought it would be interesting asking someone else. In the past, Alex and I would have very meaningful and deep conversations over coffee. Although he currently resides in Thailand, the internet has made it easy for us to stay in touch. I really like his answers, and hope you will as well.

Me: Alex, I want to write a post in regards to confidence because I think it is so crucial if you want to succeed in anything. Tell me, what does confidence mean to you? 

Alex: I think confidence is being fully comfortable with yourself as a person. Being comfortable with all of your flaws and insecurities and not being afraid to show them. Caring less about what others think and doing what makes you happy instead.

Me: How would you define it?

Alex: Being 100% your true self and not being afraid to express it wherever you are.

Me: I like that!! Everyone’s definition is probably different. To me, confidence is knowing that you’re capable of succeeding if you put in the work. Was there a person who has contributed to your confidence? If so, what did that person do or say to build up your self-esteem and feeling of self-worth?

Alex: One of my good friends living in Korea. He has this never-ending drive to improve himself and I just really admired his determination. Whether it was mastering Korean, starting a business or getting a better job, he made it happen. No matter what. Seeing his drive for being the best motivated me to be the best I could be as well.

Continue reading “From the bottom to the top”

Your addictions are toxic

Addiction

This is a topic I have been meaning to write about since last year, but I kept putting it off.

Addiction is something we are all aware of. It’s when you’re constantly ingesting a substance or engaging in an activity that you find pleasurable. For example: drug, alcohol, gambling, shopping, gaming, and etc.

While the substance or activity itself may bring us pleasure, it is very harmful to us in the long run.

Why?

1. You lose self control. You’re no longer able to “live” without it because you’re constantly thinking or craving for it.

2. Time and money is scarce. We only have 24 hours a day. If you spend 5+ (or however long you spend) hours feeding your addiction, you will have less time to do other things, or take care of other responsibilities.

Continue reading “Your addictions are toxic”

Zootopia

zootopia

This is the first time I am writing a movie review. I never write movie reviews because, quite frankly, it doesn’t matter to me whether you watch the movie or not. If you want to, go ahead. If you don’t want to, that’s completely up to you.

I’m too lazy to write a post to convince someone to watch a movie. Haha.

However, I decided to write about Zootopia because the message is just too powerful and inspirational. I have to share!!

Judy Hopps is the main character of the story and this little bunny has big dreams for herself. Ever since she was a child, she aspired to be a cop.

The thing is, there has never been a bunny cop.

Continue reading “Zootopia”