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.