THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - STRESS

"Sometimes it's important to work for
that pot of gold. But other times it's essential
to take time off and to make sure that your most
important decision in the day simply consists
of choosing which color to slide
down on the rainbow."

Douglas Pagels

HAPPY STRESS?

As we cannot avoid some degree of stress, it pays to know how to cope with it effectively. There are three suggested coping strategies: (1) learning how to behave in various situations to minimize stress, (2) recognizing the source of stress, and (3) finding the level of stress at which we are most comfortable.

We can learn to adapt to stressful situation on the basis of similar experiences in the past. It is not usually stress that bothers us, but rather how we deal with it. If we don't recognize the source of the stress, we can't deal with it successfully. We frequently take out frustrations on the wrong object. Once we identify the source accurately, whether it is physical or emotional, we have a chance of bringing our response under control. Finding the level of stress at which we are most comfortable allows us to discover the positive values that some kinds of stress may give us. If we are doing something we like, we are most likely to handle either frustrations or conflict effectively.

THE BLUE ROSE

The Blue Rose

the symbol of mystery
attaining the impossible
mystique of originality
fascination
unique
youth
wish of all wishes
hope against unattainable love!

PAGES FROM THE PAST - MENTAL HERITAGE

This story of someone needing to be locked up before it was too late is one with which we have since become all too familiar. Here was a man who was obviously dangerous. The warning signs were there for all to see, yet he was allowed to walk free with predictable consequences.

Was the psychiatrist right in seeing this man's miserable childhood as the root cause of his crimes? One of the killer's sisters certainly thought so. She discovered his whereabouts and his fate only when she read of his murders in a local newspaper. Her letter to him contained perhaps, the only expression of compassion he had ever received in his whole life. He read it in his cell:


Honey, I'm not writing this to you but to the little boy I saw so long ago. The little boy with such splendid ideas, the little boy who hoped to rise above the filth and sordidness into which he was born.

Honey, that little boy has committed no crime. No, honey, it was the father and mother rotting in the torments of hell that committed the crime.

A drunken father and a thing we called mother, letting five little babies shift for themselves. Hungry and cold, wandering the streets all hours of the night. Finally, one of those parents ended up in prison, then the other one going.

Yes, honey, that was the heritage left us. Five little dirty kids, growing up, going out in the world, trying to desperately to overcome our heritage.

But, honey, I know it would have reached up and slapped you back as many times as it has me. I wanted to teach music. I took the exam and passed, only to be told I could never teach because my mother and father had been in prison.

But you, honey, you took the hardest slap of all. You struggled so hard to get to the top only to find out you couldn't stay there because of things that happened while you were still a baby. That was a cruel blow, honey.

Heritage is something you have to fight all your life, but, honey, in a weak moment you forgot to fight.

We here do not think of you as committing a crime. We only pour our love out to you and pray. There isn't much more to say except I'd give anything in this world if I could take your place.

A very moving letter of a loving sister to a brother.

Those words were written not long after the man's execution. They remain as true now as they were half a century ago.

SOME WORDS FROM PEOPLE'S NAMES

MASOCHISM

Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (1835-1895) was an Austrian novelist who described an abnormal mental condition in which a person derived pleasure in being abused and punished by someone he loved. The word masochism is often used more broadly to mean self-torture. A masochist is a person who enjoys tormenting himself.

MAUSOLEUM

Mausolus was the king of Caria, a country in Asia Minor. After his death, his wife Artemisia erected an enormous and beautiful tomb which was ranked as one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. The word mausoleum is now used not only for a large tomb, but for any large structure whose cheerless aspect suggests a tomb.

MESMERIZE

F. A. Mesmer (1734-1815) created a sensation in Vienna and Paris about 1775 by his assertion that there existed a power which he called animal magnetism. At first, the name mesmerism was given to this power; the later term is hypnotism. To mesmerize means to hypnotize.

TRIVIA - DOLPHINS

Dolphins do not breath automatically, as human do, and so they do not sleep as humans do. If hey became unconscious, they would sink to the bottom of the sea. Without the oxygen they need to take in periodically, they would die.

AMONG MY SOUVENIRS...

It isn't new anymore if you hear passengers collect items from airline flights. I have a good collection of souvenir/commemorative items pretty much from all the airlines I've flown, such as playing cards, napkins imprinted with the airline, wet wipes/towelettes, life safety cards, baggage tags, postcards, in-flight magazines and newspapers, tickets, ticket jackets, boarding passes, stickers, pens, key rings, burf bags, various brochures, hats, shirts, models, coffee stirrers, peanuts, chocolates, plastic cups, mugs, glasses, sugar/salt/pepper sachets, disposable cutlery kits, socks, combs, mini toothpastes, toothbrushes, masks, ear muffs, stamps, booklets, safety cards, etc. Name the items, I have them, but... I said, but... did not steal them. I always make it a point to ask politely any flight attendant if I could have some giveaways, or I buy souvenir-sized items from the in-flight sale.

Too bad most of the airlines now no longer carry collectible items.

Related news:

A flight attendant who stole 168 items from the plane's trolleys on a single flight was sentenced to community service. She stole purloined biscuits, mineral water, wine, chocolates, a sewing kit, pens, instant noodles and shaving cream. The stewardess, who had worked for the airline for 23 years resigned and was prosecuted for theft by the airline. She claimed she had stolen the items while suffering from exhaustion because of the effects of medication and had not slept in 33 hours.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - FREEDOM

"We are not free,
it was not intended we should be.
A book of rules is placed in our cradle,
and we never get rid of it until
we reach our graves.
Then we are free, and only then."

Ed Howe

AM I A FREE MAN?

There is this heartbreaking movie I saw about the evil things a man can do to his brothers. The middle and the final sequences bothered me the most. It reminded me of the famous line delivered by Moses in the epic movie, The Ten Commandments, which I quote "...the evil that men should turn their brothers into beasts of burden, to be stripped of spirit, and hope, and strength--only because they are of another race, another creed. If there is a God, He did not mean this to be so..."

It is sickening to think that slavery still exist even in the most civilized parts of the world.

The very first person on record to denounce slavery as an evil was Euripides. He wrote in his play Hecuba, "That thing of evil, by its nature evil, forcing submission from a man to what no man should yield to."

As Mr. Nelson Kruschandl wrote, to some extent we are slave to something or someone, simply because the land into which we are born is already governed by somebody or some organization, be it a democratically elected administration, a kingdom, or a dictatorship.

"Slavery is an insane as to seek health and prosperity by rebelling against the laws of nature, by sowing our seed on the ocean, or making poison our common food. There is but one unfailing good; and that is, fidelity to the Everlasting law written on the heart, and re-written and republished in God's word."

William Ellery Channing

ALL IN A DAY'S WORK!

What if you were hired for a job that you weren't qualified to do? Imagine the stress! Each time you were assigned a task, you would try your best, but your best wouldn't be good enough. Time after time you would fail. You would realize that it was only a matter of time before you were fired.

A common scenario in my workstation where most of my colleagues don't even know a thing about the job they were hired to do. One bad ('coz it isn't good) example, a recently hired high school graduate, who lied on her resume, and since then keeps pretending she knows the job she is assigned to do. It normally takes her a day to finish a very, very short business letter, and at the end of her pretend day, she would say, she's dead tired because "wajid shukuul" (too much work) ugghhh!!!

Just venting... ha ha ha!!!

AGE DOES MATTER!

People in the middle years become more aware of time's passing than they were before. The middle aged see themselves as bridges of generations. Life is restructured in terms of time-left-to-live rather time since birth.

For people whose youthful dreams have not been realized, middle age becomes a time of regret and the "middle-age blues." A sense of humor rescues many in the middle adult years, and they accept the less-than-ideal circumstances of life philosophically. Efforts are directed toward family, job, and community. Giving and helping become necessary. The fantasies of fame and fortune need not necessarily give to despair, but to making the most out of one's assets and planning future years sensibly.

TO TELL OR NOT TO TELL!

Sometimes bosses exhibit awful and annoying behavior. If you have to tell a boss that his behavior is a problem, do not tell him unless you are completely sure that is quite sportive. If he is not, you need to plan your strategy carefully.

Collect information to support your argument, then sit with your boss and put forward the issue honestly. Tell him how his bahavior is troubling others and suggest that he changes his bahavior. If an argument begins, be objective, polite and firm, but don't lose your composure. End the discussion saying that you do not hold anything against him personally but were concerned.

So easy to say, yet so hard to do.

PUTTING JOB TO WORK FOR YOU

"Whatever you do, do it heartily,
as to the Lord and not to men."
(Colossians 3:23)

Very late last night, I was with a friend reminiscing the so many ups and downs of working as an overseas contract worker. We both came to Saudi Arabia at a time when everything was so different; work life was simple then, it was the stage when the locals were starting to learn new things, new ways, new technologies, and new trades. We were so devoted in sharing the knowledge and know-how and opening the door to a new world of development. We found fulfillment in our work, compensated for a job well done, and showed us the significance of what we were doing.

But things change, and not for the better... there are so much heartaches and frustrations now. Working through difficulties in our relationships with colleagues and bosses is one. It is really very unrealistic for us to expect work to be problem-free. But it does not mean that work has to be joyless drudgery.

INNER PEACE

No man can safely enjoy life except the men whose conscience is clear. The wicked never have true joy nor real interior peace. They may say that they have peace and that they neither expect nor fear any harm from above. Either they are lying or they are fools.

A bad conscience is afraid and disturbed. A good conscience has peace even in time of hardship. The good man's glory lies in the testimony of good conscience. There is no freedom nor profitable joy without a clear conscience. The man with a dull conscience will find distractions and interests in many things, but he has not the abiding peace of those who live for Heaven.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - HUMOR

"Humor is perhaps a sense of intellectual
perspective: an awareness that some things
are really important, others not; and that
the two kinds are most oddly jumbled
in everyday affairs."


Christopher Morley

GOING GOING GARLIC?

The only thing that goes against garlic is its pungent smell. People do not realize the deceit nature plays to preserve this gem. He who is able to withstand garlic's smell will derive immense benefits. In fact, there are many vegetables, which give foul smell, but we eat them with relish. And what we detest most--the smell--provides garlic with these curative qualities.

garlic galore

The smell is caused by the presence of disulphates. It is this odor that kills the germs that cause myriad ailments. A person with garlic-rich diet can withstand the vagaries of life and maintain good health. Besides providing health and vitality to human body, it also gives enough resistance to body to fight any disease. Regular intake of garlic gives our bodies with the steel-nerves. It enhances life span, keeping our body virile and agile. Nothing could be more absurd than the idea that the heat produces by the intake of garlic is bad for human system. It provides heat to fight the germs of various diseases. It provides nourishing coolness to the body which soothes the nerves and becalms tempers. It cleans the body of vile effects totally, effacing the very root of the disease.

HOLINESS IN EVERYDAY LIFE

Once I get a full view of this earthly life, I will see how all-important a part God plays in it. Instead of living for the moment or for the next few years, I will live for my highest and most important goal. I will see the unending importance of what I am doing today, I will understand how each act of this day helps me become a little more ready for heaven. Only sin is foolish. Only sin is bad. All else is good and pleasing to God because it helps me in one way or another.

Only in God will my soul be at rest,
From Him comes my hope, my salvation!
He alone is my rock of safety,
my strength, my glory, my God!

ANIMALS DO FEEL HOMESICK TOO!

If they could only speak, they would probably ask us to let them go back where they belong. Animals are really helpless because they can't do what we humans can do. Like overseas contract workers, they feel homesick, too!

Two giant pandas, goodwill gifts from China to political rival Taiwan, are losing weight since their arrival on the island last week because of a different diet and lack of exercise. Tuan Tuan, the male panda, had shed about 2 kilos, and female Yuan Yuan shed nearly 3 kilos, as the natives of the fog-shrouded mountains of China grappled with Taiwan's bamboo shoots and smaller living space.

We want home!

IF YOU CARE FOR YOUR CHILD

A traffic accident left a girl paralyzed for life. The accident shouldn't have been so serious had she been in a properly installed restraint, she probably would have been uninjured.



Every year thousands of infants and children are killed or maimed in car accidents. Many of these deaths and injuries could be prevented by the regular use of a child restraint device. Unfortunately, too many parents fail to realize the necessity of these devices--until it's too late.

Child restraints should be used from the first days of an infant's life. They must be used properly; all straps and belts must be secured, and the child must be positioned properly in the restraint. Many of the restraints on the market are designed for a specific child weight. Unless your child restraint is adaptable for several ages, you may have to invest more than one restraint.

THE BLAST FROM BEHIND

Few of us have not been victims of the impatient, arrogant driver who feels we are not driving as fast as he would wish us to. Few of us have been first at a red light and not heard the impatient blast from behind, the instant the signal turns to green. And few of us have been spared a rude honk--and sometimes an accompanying shaking first--from a driver who simply cannot share the road with anyone else. Using horn to make a rude statement reflecting your personal impatience does nothing to improve "road relations." When tempted to urge a slower driver with a horn blast--curb the instinct if you can.

On the other hand, using the horn judiciously can make its use more effective and will alert others (drivers as well as pedestrians) to a truly dangerous situation. When you hear horns honking constantly and with little reason, the tendency is to "tune out" the unwanted noise. But when drivers cooperate to use the horn only as a signal of some sort--a real warning sound--the horn becomes an important safety device.

OPEN DOOR IN MUSIC

A young piano student is so eager to start with his new lesson, Prelude No. 7 in A Major, Opus. 28/7, one of the finest short piano solo compositions by Frederic Francois Chopin.


Chopin is the open door in music. He is not only the poet of pianoforte, he is the poet of music, the most poetic composer. Chopin will always be Chopin, whether his poetry is apprehended by the pianist or not. He neither preaches nor paints; yet his art is decorative and dramatic--in the climate of ideal. His music sounds all the better; the listener is not pinned down to any precise mood, the music being allowed to work its particular charm without the aid of literary crutches for unimaginative minds.

My piano students love Chopin!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - COURAGE

"I shall return"

"Last, but by no means least, courage--moral
courage, the courage of one's convictions,
the courage to see things through.
The world is in a constant conspiracy against
the brave. It's the age-old struggle-the road
of the crowd on one side and the voice
of your conscience on the other."

Douglas McArthur

TRIVIA - KOREAN AMA

Ama

The Korean women--called ama--who harvest shellfish by diving without diving gear into the sea, subject themselves daily to a greater cold stress than any other people.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

In a recent freak accident, a woman motorist was choked to death as she poured water into her radiator. Her scarf got entangled in the running engine fan and she was unable to extricate herself. Even though it seems unlikely, accidents like this do happen. In fact a similar accident happened here in Saudi Arabia with a motorist whose gutra got caught in the fan. Fortunately, the man was not killed, but he suffered severe cuts to his face.

To avoid this risk, do not add coolant to your car engine while it is running. Turn the engine off and allow it to cool completely before adding coolant. This will also avoid the risk of cracking the engine block by adding cold fluid to a hot engine.

MEANINGFUL PHRASES

In our reading we will meet not only single words and phrases and sometimes sentences taken from mythology, phrases whose full meaning is not revealed unless you take a look behind the mythological curtain.

What does the phrase, "sulk like Achilles in his tent" mean?


During the siege of Troy, Achilles, the greatest of all the Greek heroes, refused to fight because of a quarrel with his leader Agamemnon who had taken away a captive girl awarded to Achilles. Achilles withdrew to his tent and didn't go out to fight until after the death of his friend Patroclus. The phrase means to refuse to participate in an important undertaking because of personal grievances.

How about "the labors of Hercules," what does it mean?


These are superhuman labors and herculean is a word used to describe a superhuman strength. Hercules was sentenced by Apollo to perform twelve labors of extraordinary difficulty.

A BRAVE WOMAN!

Ever heard of a woman fighting off a wild beast with a machete?
Read through --

A woman fought a 500-pound lion with a machete and scared it away. She and her seven-year old niece were riding a donkey along a road when the lion went after the animal's legs. The woman said, she found the courage to fight the lion because she thought it would attack her niece. She hit the animal with a machete until the beast ran away. The lion had escaped from a private zoo. It already killed two dogs and ate a pig before it was sedated and taken back to the zoo.

She's an ideal woman who demonstrates bravery and courage in the face of challenges.

TWO VIRTUES

Patience will help us to keep calm in our troubles and difficulties. It will help us think more clearly. As a result, we shall find it easier to turn to God when we need Him.

Humility will help us admit our weaknesses and nothingness. It will make us less irritable and resentful of our distasteful experiences.

These two virtues will us have peace in the middle of our troubles. Then with a definite plan in mind, we can proceed against our faults and conquer our temptations.

THE BLIND GENIUS

Two hundred years ago today...

Nearly 200 years after the birth of Louis Braille, the alphabet of raised dots he created to overcome his lack of sight continues to touch the lives of blind people everywhere. Braille was born on January 4, 1809, near Paris.

The son of a saddler, he injured his eye with an awl when he was three years old. The resulting infection spread to both eyes and he was soon blind. Despite his blindness, he continued to attend a regular village school until the age of 10, when he enrolled at the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris. There, while his fellow students slept, he began punching dots into soft wood to create an alphabet.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - PATIENCE

"Patience makes lighter
what sorry may not heal."


Horace

A DISASTROUS WEDDING

Strange News from Abroad

A wedding reception ended in a pandemonium and the divorce of the newly wed couple over a dispute on whether or not there should be musical instruments at the reception. The mothers of both the bride and groom had agreed that singers would not play any string instruments. Nevertheless, the bride's mother secretly paid a songstress to give a violin performance after her initial song, which was accompanied with a traditional duff. When the singer started playing the violin, the groom's mother exploded with rage and began abusing the bride's mother. The argument led to a physical fight between the two women with other guests jumping in.

Peace, was however, restored after the intervention of several guests. Nevertheless, the still angry mother of the groom ordered her son to pronounce divorce, which he immediately did.

Are mothers-in-law pain in the ass?

No comments!

GRUESOME ADDICTION TO BEAUTY INJECTION

Are you interested to body makeover
cosmetic surgery procedures?

Please read through --


Her name is Han Mi Ok, a Korean celebrity who became known as 'Fan Lady' after her disastrous cosmetic surgery. She underwent 15 reconstructive surgery to overhaul her 'I-don't-think-it-can-be-fix' plastic surgery damage. She apparently became addicted to plastic surgery and couldn't get enough of the 'faux-fect face' (the author of this article made the word up), so she went to quacks just to indulge herself. She even personally performed a facial injection at home. The result.... well you can see it.

She used to look like this before the cosmetic surgery disaster:



And this is how she looks now after the overhaul:

On the photos above, Han Mi Ok was at the shooting of 500th episode of Shocking Stories of the World.

Her courage to display her damaged face in public and let people see how ungodly it is to distort ones appearance is admirable.

She should serve as a lesson to anyone who dreamed of having a 'faux-fect face'. Think twice before you get cut up and think thrice before you inject yourself with human byproducts.

DO NOT INTERFERE WITH NATURE!

Note: A shared article!