When Kevin Won

basketball

This story is from Chicken Soup for the Soul. It touched me a lot, hence I decided to shorten it and share it with you guys. I hope you will like it.

Story is by: Janice M. Gibson (as told to her by Rev. Steve Goodier

——

If you had to choose one word to describe Kevin, it would probably be “slow”. He didn’t learn his ABCs as fast as other kids. Regardless of subjects, he was usually one of the students struggling.

However, Kevin was great with people. He was always smiling and his enthusiasm for everything was contagious. Everyone enjoyed being around him.  Continue reading “When Kevin Won”

The truth about success

Success

Oftentimes, we are blinded by what we see. When we see someone succeed, most of us usually have the following thoughts:

“He/she has connections.”
“He/she is just so lucky.”
“He/she is gifted.”

Continue reading “The truth about success”

Blogging Wisdom

More wisdom

Ever since I started blogging, I’ve learnt a lot. It’s quite strange because I never thought I could learn anything from recording down my thoughts on a webpage.

Here are some things that I’ve learnt from blogging:

TimeBlogging is something that takes time to grow. It’s not about how many posts you make on that one day/week. In the end, the blogs that are most successful are ones who have devoted themselves to a consistent schedule and are people who blog regularly.

Continue reading “Blogging Wisdom”

The Little Prince

The Little Prince

Many of you may have heard of the book called, “My Little Prince”. It is a well known classic although most of us may not have read it. I’ve had a copy since I was a child, but I never got passed Chapter One because I was young and foolish back then. Recently though, thanks to Ramexabella, I decided to give the book another try.

Now I can say it’s my favourite fictional book.

This is a very bold statement considering how much I used to read.

It is so good that I am inspired to write about it. I want everyone else to read it.

What makes it so special?

There is so much depth and meaning. The words stay with me even after the book is closed. It’s about life, childhood, and mankind.

I don’t want to tell you what the story is about, but I want to share some of the lessons from the book.

Back in the little Prince’s planet, there were invisible seeds. Some were good, and some were bad. At first, everything looks alright. The baobabs (bad seeds) resemble the rosebushes (good seeds). Therefore, one must check regularly to see what is growing. As soon as a baobab can be recognized, it must be torn out. If you intervene too late, you will never get rid of it. Its roots will spread all over the planet and your planet can explode.

5.0.2

This may seem ridiculous, but it’s a matter of discipline. “Before they grow to such a size, baobabs start out by being small.

The way I interpret this is that the baobab represents our negative thoughts. We’re constantly surrounded by negativity. We are not aware of the impact it can have on us if we allow it to grow. If we leave it, it can be indestructible.

Personally, I know some people who cannot see the good in anything. They are so negative that all they feel is hate, anger, and sadness. They have allowed their baobabs to multiply and it has consumed their world.

Lesson: It is important that we reflect on our actions and thoughts on a regular basis. If there is an issue that bothers or saddens you, deal with it immediately! Don’t wait.

Continue reading “The Little Prince”

Fear

Fear
Fear can stop us from achieving a lot.

We all have fears. Fear is that unpleasant emotion we feel when we are afraid of someone or something. It is likely to be something dangerous, painful, or threatening.

Some of the most common fears are: fear of death, fear of the unknown, fear of being alone, fear of failure, fear of losing loved ones, fear of rejection, fear of heights, and so on.

In my opinion, humans like to be in control of their emotions and destiny. However, fear takes that away from us. When we are fearful of something, we want to avoid it as much as we could because we imagine the worse case scenario. Now, of course, there are things we cannot avoid even if we wish to. Death is an example. Regardless of how much we want to avoid death, we’re all going to die one day. It’s a matter of time.

Continue reading “Fear”

How most Asian parents think

A plus

Instead of blogging about motivational things this week, I want to share something that I find quite interesting and true for most traditional Asian families.

Note: This post is based on my experiences, as well as many others. It is not to say all Asian parents are like this.

Punishment
Asian parents believe it is totally acceptable to beat their children. They believe that punishment will deter an undesirable behaviour from happening again. Perhaps the child will be too afraid to get hit, so he/she will be too frightened to misbehave.

Once, my friends and I were randomly discussing over getting beaten as a child, and we went through a circle telling each other what we were hit with. Surprisingly, all of our parents used different things! The list consisted of: hand, a stick, a feather duster, a broom, newspaper, a ruler, a coat hanger, a rope, a hockey stick, and even a baseball bat. When we heard “baseball bat”, all of us were slightly amused and surprised at the same time. We all went, “Woaahhhh.” After all, baseball bats are so heavy/hard! That’s brutal!! But we had a great laugh. We all turned out fine, I think.

The Western society might find this shocking and unacceptable, but it is very common if you grew up with traditional Asian parents.

Continue reading “How most Asian parents think”

Building Confidence

Confidence

Confidence is an amazing feeling. It makes you feel like you can do anything.

It is power.

It is belief.

It is also posture and energy.

When someone is confident, you can sense it right away. It’s as if there is an invisible shield surrounding him/her. Confident people are usually very good presenters and quite popular. No wonder then, most people want to be confident. But the question is, how?

Continue reading “Building Confidence”

The World In Green

green

There once was a very wealthy merchant who had everything he wanted. He hustled day and night to achieve his financial freedom, and was quite satisfied with his result. But one day, he developed a splitting headache that wouldn’t go away. He travelled far and wide to find a cure, but none of the healers were able to get rid of his pain. The merchant was in despair.

“Oh, what good are my possessions if I must constantly suffer from this terrible headache?” he cried. The merchant decided to reward a pot of gold to the person who could cure him.

The reward attracted people from all over town. Each day, hundreds line up in hopes to cure the merchant. Sadly, all of them leave in disappointment. Just as it seemed like all hope was lost, a man named Alexander came up to the merchant and said, “Sir, your headache will disappear if you look at green coloured things.”

Continue reading “The World In Green”

Hospital in China

Hospital

Hey everyone! Long time no blog. If you’re wondering where I’ve been, I was in China, where I had no access to fb, instagram, YouTube, twitter, my blog, and even Google (So I’m sorry if I have not yet responded back to your msgs, I did not expect so many people to msg me while I was away).

While I was in China, I spent most of my time in the hospital. In fact, there was a period of time in which I spent 30 days without leaving the building. It was as if I was in a jail cell. I had to wear a wristband around my wrist to show my identification, and wear their hospital uniforms. My bed was #32, so I was known as “32”. Each morning at around 7:30, a lady would deliver breakfast and tell us to come out. Ex. “32! Come out and get your food!” Haha. It’s actually quite funny. (Btw, hospital food is not free. We order whatever we want *based on the menu* and pay for it with a card the night before. But since I was there for so long, I practically memorized the menu. I knew on Tuesdays and Thursdays, they would have the tasty noodles that I wanted. Haha)

Continue reading “Hospital in China”

The Tiny Frog

The tiny frog

This following story has been modified as I cannot remember the exact details. However, the message remains the same. Please do not take it literally as it is the message we should be focusing on.

Once, there was a little boy who lived on a farm. Each day, he would have a list of chores to complete. On this particular day, the little boy suddenly had the urge to use the washroom after milking the cows. So, he decided to leave the pail of milk outside while he went indoors to relieve himself. When he came back from the washroom, he noticed that there were frogs jumping and splashing around in his pail of milk. The little boy was furious! The frogs had spoilt his milk! He decided to seek revenge and placed all the frogs in a big pot. He was going to cook them live.

Soon, the frogs began to feel the heat and started jumping up to escape. All of them were jumping, but none of them were able to jump out of the pot. Slowly, one by one, the frogs started giving up. Soon, all of them stopped except for one. Out of the bunch, the smallest frog kept on jumping. All the other frogs were in dismay. They said,

“You’re so tiny. If we can’t jump out, there’s no way you can either. Just give up. We’re all going to die.”

“Why are you even trying? The pot is too high. It’s impossible.”

“You’re not going to make it.”

Continue reading “The Tiny Frog”