Soupe du jour

Yes, I'm being lazy. To update blogs. lol. But I'm at least putting in efforts to pretend I am doing something. :P

Here we go today, soup of the day: a forwarded email that was meaningful. Read on! :)

-Written By Regina Brett, 90 years old, of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio .

"To celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written.
My odometer rolled over to 90 in August, so here is the column once more:


1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.

2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.

3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.

4. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and parents will. Stay in touch.

Image credit: lovingwhisper.com

5. Pay off your credit cards every month.

6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone.

8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.

9. Save for retirement starting with your first pay check.

10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.

11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.

12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.

13. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.

15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.

16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.

17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.

20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.

21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.

22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.

23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.

Image credit: list.co.uk

24. The most important sex organ is the brain.

25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you.

26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'

27. Always choose life.

28. Forgive everyone everything.

29. What other people think of you is none of your business.

30. Time heals almost everything. Give time time.

31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

32. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

33. Believe in miracles.

34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.

35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.

36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

37. Your children get only one childhood.

38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.

39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.

40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.

41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

42. The best is yet to come.

43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

44. Yield.

45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift."

Image credit: istockphoto.com

Thanks to the friend who forwarded this email to me. ;) Good luck with life everyone!

Now, then and sunset on the guitar.

Just thought I would write a few words after all this while, updating about what I'm doing now and next.

So after a lot of hard work I have completed my final year project on time, and I'll start having my first paper this Friday. There will be four papers for this final-final exams, with the last paper on May 12.

What I'll do next? Let's see. Going to climb Mount. Sungai Lembing, again. Try my luck on sunrise again. And then, would probably go to Kuala Kangsar to visit a friend. After that, Cameron Highlands, again.

Then, looking for a job.

What would happen next remains a mystery now anyway.

On another note, I love sunset on the guitar. :)

YER BLUES
"the sun goes down on the new Fender acoustic..."
- Copyright 2006 by Rick Macomber

“One day,” you said to me, “I saw the sunset forty-four times!”
And a little later you added:
“You know--one loves the sunset, when one is so sad…”
“Were you so sad, then?” I asked, “on the day of the forty-four sunsets?”
But the little prince made no reply.

- Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

And I still need a friend.

What are friends to you?

Some say friends are those who help you through hard times; some say friends are those who you share your happiness and sorrows with; and some say friends are those who make us who we are.

Image from Dreamstime.com

Some people say friends come and go, some people say good friends worth the effort to stay connect.

Some people say friends aren't forever, some people say friends stay forever because we want to.

Some people say friends won't completely understand us, some people say friends are only true when you understand and let understood.

Some people say friends who let go should be let gone, some people say friends drifted apart because they are both fear of saying "I miss you, please come back".

Image from Myspace

Some people say friends are nothing but a shadow, some people say friends are only for those who know how to open the heart.

Some people say they don't need friends, some people say that's a lie, because we all need friends.

And yes I do agree, all of us need friends. Be it a friend who stays nearby, a net friend, a penpal, or even an imaginary friend.

We make friends to share, to understand, and to make us who we are.

Image from lizaklimenko.wordpress.com

Lastly, a lovely song for you to listen here. Long lost penpal, by Hello Saferide.





Long lost penpal
by Hello Saferide

Hello
Do you remember me
I am your long lost pen pal
It must have been ten years ago we last wrote
I don't really know what happened
I guess life came in the way
Let me know if you're still alive
Let me know if you ever used that knife or not

Hello
Yes I remember you
I've got a husband and two children now
I work as an accountant and make fairly good money
I still have your letters, you used a pink pen to write them
And you would comfort me
when my tears would stain the ink
And I would send you mix tapes with Kate Bush on

I have to admit I sometimes lied in those letters
Tried to make life better than it was
I still wasn't kissed at sixteen
And I still need a friend

There was this letter
I never told you this back then
But it would be fair to say it saved my life
I sat in the window
The only one left out from a party again
Pretty sure I didn't have a single friend
Then I checked the mailbox

Dear long lost penpal
I was lying the whole time
I'm really a 46 years old man named Luke
I have three children
and a wife, she doesn't care
And I hope you don't resent me
And I hope you do not hate me
For trying to find my way back to what it's like to be young

I have to admit I sometimes lied in those letters
Tried to make life better than it was
I still wasn't kissed at sixteen
And I still need a friend


And some of the times, we need friends to make life better than it was.

Image from commentsguru.com

Loneliness is not alone

You scroll across your contacts in your mobile phone and you found no one to call up for a lunch out. You open up a new message box and end up clearing the text you've typed because there's no one you thought would be free enough to reply. You log on to instant messenger online and log off in three minutes after you realise those who are online aren't people you could actually chat with.

And then you shut down computer, turn off phone, sit in front of the 24-hour-entertaining television set and start to wane in blues. Those are the times we call ourselves feeling lonely.

Image source: krystalheart.com

But are we totally alone with our loneliness? We may always have thought that loneliness is a completely self-contained emotional state. However, study shows that loneliness is actually contagious. Yes, loneliness, like flu or cold, could spread from one person to another.

According to a research led by University of Chicago Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience director John Cacioppo, loneliness can be transmitted from one person to another, whether in person, on the phone or even online. And in turn, this spreading of loneliness influences the pattern of social network around the lonely person. - Chicago tribune

The results of the study shows that when a person admits feeling lonely at one point, his or her family and close friends will be 52% more likely to encounter loneliness two years later. The contagious effect of loneliness will remain significant up to three degrees of separation. It means that when you are feeling lonely, you could influence your friend's friend's friend to feel lonely. - Time magazine

Image source: seanjonesfoto.com

Besides, the researchers also found that when a person feels lonely for one more day in a week than usual, his or her neighbours who are close friends would experience increased loneliness. - Science daily

It sounds bizarre - that your next-door neighbour, and even your friend's friend's friend whom you may not even heard about his/her name before could feel lonely because you are lonely. Surprising as it sounds, but how does this really happen? What it really takes to make a lonely person makes another person or even a stranger lonely?

According to Cacioppo's research, there is a pattern of contagion that over a period of time, the group of lonely people will be gradually moved to the edge of social networks. In other words, when people become lonely, they become more and more disconnected with the society. - Science Daily

Image source: apronstringsemily.wordpress.com

"On the periphery people have fewer friends, yet their loneliness leads them to losing the few ties they have left," said Caciappo in an article published in Science daily.

However, before they lose the last few ties, they spread their feelings of loneliness to their remaining friends, who would then also become lonely.

"People who feel lonely view the social world as more threatening," said Caciappo in an article published in Time magazine. "They may not be aware that they are doing it, but lonely individuals think negatively about other people. So if you are my friend, and I started to treat you negatively, then over time, we would stop being friends.

"But in the meantime, our interactions caused you to treat other people less positively, so you're likely to lose friends, and they in turn are likely to lose friends. That appears to be the means of transmission for loneliness," he added.

Image source: dejavu87.wordpress.com

Frowning, making other unpleasant facial expressions, saying hurtful things or even adopting uninviting body postures are all it takes to spread negative feelings. - Time magazine

The significance of the results of this study is that it shows that "loneliness is more like an indicator of the social health of our species on the whole". To the psychology therapy field, it means treatment for loneliness not only involve the patients themselves, but also larger, society-based issues, that probably "there is almost a wave of loneliness that is being propagated by people two or three connections removed from them". - Time magazine

Now that we see how loneliness can be spread and its implication on a larger scale, the question that we should ask is: What can we do to help the situation?

Ultimately, loneliness is our "biological signal of hunger or thirst" (Chicago tribune); only that what we are hungry and thirst for is a helping hand, comforting words, and some wamrth in a friendly hug.

Image source: thenewheretics.wordpress.com

In the end of the day, we are not completely alone when we are lonely - your friend's friend's friend could feel lonely because you are lonely. Now, we are not really that isolated in this colder and colder world after all, are we?

Once again.

It's been a really looooong time.

I had had doubts if I would ever continue writing in this blog again, or if anyone would still be following, checking on my blog every weekend, having that tiny little hope that she or he may see an update.

And if anyone still does, I greatly appreciate your appreciation, and I'm also awfully sorry for deserting this blog for more than three months.

But I'm back today, again. Things I'll be writing here may be different from what I've always been writing though; it's been a long time, and people changes from time to time. After all, the world is dynamic, life is dynamic, people are dynamic.

Change is always for the better, I believe.

My return today is a very simple one - I just have these quotes from significant figures that I really like to share. Writing in facebook status or windows live messenger's personal message can only include that many - and I have read so many good lines today that I really like people to know.

They've made my day. Hope they do the same to you too, whoever is reading.

Mark Twain (American humorist, writer and lecturer. 1835-1910)

Image from cmgww.com

• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

• “Sing like no one's listening, love like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching, and live like its heaven on earth.”

Maya Angelou (American poet, memoirist, actress and an important figure in the American Civil Rights Movement. 1928-present)

Image from mayaangelou.com

• "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

• "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
  

• "Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it."
  

• "Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness."
  

• "My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."

Mae West (American actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol. 1893-1980)

Image from allaboutmae.com

• "You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough."

I only learned about this great woman, Maya Angelou, today. And yes, I'm going to check out her famous book "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" soon!

When I've got the time to hit the bookstore.

I hate this but I'm having so little time to be spent on going out. It's a dangerous place we're living in, but I guess once in a while, we all need some fresh air, somewhere else.

A bookstore, a restaurant, or a movie.

2012 was good in terms of graphics, moderately heart-gripping, but somehow it's also commercialised, if you know what I mean. It could have been better, if it could go deeper than just surface.

Humanity. The best test I've ever seen on movies was in Batman: The Dark Knight; where two ships were installed with bombs. If you've seen that movie, you know what I meant.

Thanks for reading Eternal Baroque. Good evening, and have a great weekend. :)

Things that inspire

One interesting thing about commercial ads is that sometimes it inspires. Like watching a meaningful movie, or listening an emotional song; the heart aches, then it warms up; a surge of life in your veins.

It's not hard to survive in this modern days. But perhaps, most of us have problems seeing through; knowing how to live.

And that's the reason some movies, some songs, some ads, could touch a cord in you; as if you've been asleep for all this while, waiting for that one sentence, to wake you up to life.

To cut long story short - I went for a movie night out with my friends last night (Public Enemy, great!), and there was this Chivalry commercial before the movie started. It was as if the narrator was talking to me - a life-inspiring message.

The Movement, Live with Chivalry, Chivas


Transcript:

Millions of people. Everyone out for themselves. Can this really be the only way? No.
Here's to honor. and to gallantry, long may it live.
Here's to doing the right thing. To giving a damn.
Here's to the straight-talkers, who give their word, and keep it.
Here's to freedom, wherever you find it, and to knowing the true meaning of wealth.
Here's to the brave among us.
Here's to a code of behavior that sets certain men apart from all others.
Here's to us. Live with Chivalry.

On another note, the background music used in this commercial is a masterpiece. Can't resist to not share it with you. I love how the music flies from one point.




To Build A Home - Cinematic Orchestra

There is a house built out of stone
Wooden floors, walls and window sills...
Tables and chairs worn by all of the dust..
This is a place where I don't feel alone
This is a place where I feel at home.......


Cause, I built a home
for you
for me

Until it disappeared
from me
from you

And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust........


Out in the garden where we planted the seeds
There is a tree as old as me
Branches were sewn by the color of green
Ground had arose and passed it's knees

By the cracks of the skin I climbed to the top
I climbed the tree to see the world
When the gusts came around to blow me down
I held on as tightly as you held onto me
I held on as tightly as you held onto me......


Cause, I built a home
for you
for me

Until it disappeared
from me
from you

And now, it's time to leave and turn to dust........

God, Or Mind Over Matter

Hooks, daggers, even iron bars, pierced through the skin and flesh of the people walking under the hot sun, towards the temple high up in the dark caves; they walk with pride, without a single sign of fear, as if they do not feel the hooks on their backs, nor the daggers inside their jaws; as if they do not feel pain.

Every year in Malaysia we can see Hindus flocking to Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur, during Thaipusam festival. Thaipusam is the day when the Hindus come to thank their gods for granting them their wish. One of the unique scenery on this day, is certainly the extreme actions some Hindus took to show their gratitude to their gods. Some push through a dagger in their jaws, or cheeks, some pierce through the skins of their backs with sharp metallic hooks. They each take different ways to show their faith, but what is similar is that none of them show a sign of pain.

For the Hindus, it is believed that with proper rituals done prior to the special day, and with a deep faith in their gods, they will not feel any pain when taking such seemingly painful actions. According to them, they do not feel any pain when they pierce through their flesh with metals because they are protected by gods.

Bizarre as it sounds, there is also another case as a similar example - the followers of Sufi teachings. During their rituals, they chant and chant, sometimes even dance. As their chants get louder and louder, their devotions to their teachings get more and more intense, they claim that they can push through daggers, swallow swords without feeling any pain. And also that they can heal very fast, without an ugly wound left behind, within minutes, after pulling out the daggers or swords.

Similarly, the Sufi followers claimed that they are blessed and protected by their God when they perform such rituals, hence the magical powers of no pain, and fast healing.

While experiments found that the phenomenon of no pain, and fast healing, is TRUE, and that the bio-light of a person is enhanced when performing such ritual, which lead certain scientists to conclude that "the only simple explanation is God"; some scientists argue that it's not God, it's just OURSELVES.

Experiments back then have shown that human's consciousness has very powerful influence over their physical bodies. The famous example would be that experiment, in which a person was hypnotized, and being told he would be touched with a hot coal. The experiment subject then actually had his hand burnt, even though in the reality he was being touched with an ice block during the experiment.

Therefore some scientists argue that the "magical power" of no pain and fast healing when highly-religious people perform such rituals, is actually the power that they obtain, simply because of "faith". There is no external forces, but only internal influences where their strong believe in immunity to pain because of God, make their physical bodies immune from feeling any pain. It is what we call, mind over matter.

For years debates have been on this subject - is the power of feeling no pain, the gifts of God, or is it natural capability of human beings that is yet to be understood?

And thus here I ask the question : Do you believe in any external forces outside our mind (e.g. God, spirits, etc) ? Or do you think that there is no external forces, but it's only our mind over our bodies, and matters; it has always been just us, and our powerful consciousness ?

I personally think that such magical powers derived from both forces - external, as well as internal. Yes, I totally agree that the power of human's mind is so vast, so....unlimited, and also, undefined. I believe that, with a strong faith in something we are doing, we can achieve anything beyond our known limitations.

However, I also believe that there are external forces, unnecessarily be God. I believe the universe is filled with energies, active, inactive, flowing, stagnant, occupied, or free-flowing. When we believe strongly in something, our consciousness actually is "stirred" to such intensity, where it "attracts" the external energies outside our bodies, resulting in a resonance that may enhance what our physical bodies can do.

For me, the answer lies in a collaboration between the two - the intensity of our consciousness, and the resonance with external energies outside our bodies.

But still, we will never know the true answer until the true potentials of human beings is being explored, and mapped out; until we can say definitely what is really the limitations for human beings, or what is not.

As human being that possess the ability to think of why to everything, we are the most mysterious of all beings in this world. It's even more mysterious, when mysterious beings like us, are actually looking inward now, looking for an answer to what we can actually do, and what we really are.

After all, life is a mystery on its own.