12 Ways To Be Happy

So, what is Happiness and how do we be happy most of the time?

Firstly, we must remember we are the main character of our own story, so we are in-charge or the main architect of our emotions. It is an inside job, of what we tell ourselves daily.

Here are 12 ways to be HAPPY:

1) Be intentional- train your mind to search out Positivity.

You are responsible for your own happiness and thoughts. Train your mind to think positively. 

2) Count your Blessings, however small it may be. 

Is it your messy child or partner whom you have and others are wishing for and could not? Is it the small house but cosy home that some refugees are hoping for? Be grateful for what you have.

3) Start each morning with a Smile.

Wake up everyday with a smile and tell yourself that today is going to be a beautiful day. Have a positive mindset, feed your ears with upbeat tune, mind with good resources and wear that smile that gives off good vibes to people around you, spreading joy. That joy will radiate and bounce back to you ultimately, and draw people to you.

4) Physical Exercising or Dancing. 

As exercising release endorphin, try some light- weight exercising. It keeps you healthy physically too.

5) Surround yourself with your Favorite People. 

Bond with great company of friends and whom you love. Sharing laughter is always fun.  Spend more time like these. 

6) Don't let Small things upset you

Learn to let go of things you simply can't control, go; be it a traffic jam or bad weather. Think positively. My uncle who did not make it to the Empire State Building for a meeting during the fateful day of September 11 attack survived today because he was late.

7) Forgive. 

Everyone makes mistake. No one is perfect or sin- less. Whether the person is sorry for his or her mistake, we cannot erase the past. Do not let his or her wrong- doings control or take a hold of your entire life not to be happy. 

8) If you recognize you are starting to feel sluggish or moody- Shift thoughts.  

Take control of the feeling by re-generating your energy to some activities. Drink some calming tea, do some gardening, chat with a good friend, go for a run or listen to some upbeat music and do some funny dance moves when no one is looking. don't dwell on it.

9) Seek joy in everyday living and do things that makes you enjoy and celebrate life. 

Soak in the sun, embrace nature, volunteer. Do you love cooking, watching a movie, reading or travelling? Do what you love that gives you joy. Keep yourself busy as a busy person has no time to be feeling blue.

10) Don't be overly bothered or worried by what others think of you. 

If they are talking behind you and gossiping, they are already behind you. Your over- thinking or concern might weight you down. Whatever it is, just kill them with a smile and move on. Your life do not depend on them nor should be empowered by trivial gossip which might be temporary or non- existent. Do not give it any power to harm your well being. 

11) Don't wait for things to get better by itself. 

Take charge. Life will always be complicated. Recognize you can't please everyone. But try to learn to live with peace with everybody. Otherwise, you'll run out of time.

12) Comparison is a thief of joy. 

Stop comparing with your peers and neighbours. Be happy for them and be kind. Celebrate joy together and win the race well together in this life journey. It's more fun that way.

CTRL + ALT + DEL

The above key combination in Windows that enables a computer user to terminate an unresponsive application. When all three keys are pressed at the same time, the Task Manager utility, which displays all open apps, can be selected from a menu. The Task Manager enables the user to shut down the computer properly and you can restart. 

Control Yourself 

Alter Your Thinking

Delete Negativity

Start living your life happy today. 

You can and You will. 

Protect your children from paedophile

Protect our Children from Paedophile

As parents, we need to protect our children, regardless of their gender.

There is an increasing trend of "disturbed" people these days , who lure children to secluded places like toilets or staircases to assault them. We read about a lot of such cases in our local papers. They can come in many "forms". They posed as cops and pretend to check for hidden cigarettes in the girls' bodies, hide in male toilets and wait for the same gender prey or even pretend to be the same age as our children, chat with them on- line and then asked them out to get to befriend them. Even 1 teacher has been caught to be molesting his pupil after she confided in him and he brought her to the staff wash room and started to hug and kiss her. My neighbour told me there was an Indonesian maid who "played" with her boss's 5 or 6 year old son's genitals every night. She only found out when her maid went back and her son asked her mother to "play" with it. These are all very disturbing to parents who try to ensure that their children grow up in a right environment. You can't seem to trust anyone as you can see all the roles I mentioned seem to be in the roles where they are supposed to be in a upright position to care for our next generation.

Internet games- Beware of the sites they surf!!

To cite more real life examples, my daughter has been playing internet games and there were a few occasions whereby the male characters in the game, asked if she would like to meet up. 1 of them even asked if she had sex before. My daughter is only 8 years old. It is fortunate she told me about it and I have since then explained to her to be careful with these people and banned her from such sites. It is important for us to educate and explain things to them before forbidding them to go to such sites. The less you educate and explain will only arouse their curiousity and make them want to find out more. 1 of my daughter's friends has also been asked to meet one of the gamers but we have since informed her mother about it. I think it is important that we watch out for each other's children's safety.

In the lift

The potential danger that our children face nowadays ar more complicated than our days when we were younger. I remembered vividly how a 20 year old man touched me when I was 9 years old when I was in a lift with my sister. Fortunately, he left halfway through after my sister, then 7 year old, stared at him fiercely.

In the crowded bus

There was another occasion when I was travelling on a packed bus to school and there was a man who seem to keep brushing his hands against my body when the bus came to a halt. I could not quite confirm and deliberately move to the rear and watch him from there. Sure enough, he was using every opportunity when the bus came to a stop, to brush his hands against another female student. I told my friend about it and she suggests that I take my name tag to poke him if I ever caught him to doing it to anyone. I changed school shortly after, did not take the same bus number and did not manage to do it to him after that.

As parents, we need to speak to our children about the lurking danger of some perverse adults preying on them. There are paedophile who prefer boys. Hence, we cannot let our guards down even if they are boys. There is also a trait that some of these boys who are molested, grow up to prefer males after such sexual encounter or assault. So, all the more, we have to protect them to ensure that their paths to adulthood is not fraught with all these dangers and affect their sexual orientation.

Do not wait, talk to your kids and educate them when they are young. They have to know that it is wrong for anyone to touch their body, especially places where it is covered by clothes. Encourage them to talk and tell you if there are people who do so.

Though we cannot protect our children 24/7, we can impart them the values of loving their body and not let anyone touch them unneccessarily. Bond with them closely and be alert if they suddenly seem withdrawn or troubled. Do not allow them to surf any sites with on-line chat (if possible), monitor their on-line history and chat with them about their friends so that you are aware of their circle of friends and peers.

Raising our children and protecting them every second is never easy. But as long as we take careful measures to prevent it and pay attention to the minute details, we can do it right and make sure that we have perform our paternal roles well.

June School Holidays

It's June Holidays~!

Hurray shout the kids.

But with all the H1N1virus, some parents are postponing their holidays abroad.

What do we get our kids to do?

Well, we can make pretend that we are new entrants to Singapore and bring our kids to different part of our country and re- discover Singapore.

Here are some suggestions for those who are at a loss:

1) Plan wisely their daily schedule. This is the best time to catch up on those falling grades.

2) Set aside time for learning (half an hour for each subject and break it up by an hour each so it does not get toostifling for the kid).

3) There is a need to be a balance- time for play- be it a short trip to the playground downstairs, out have door activities or just playing with sibling at home.

4) You can allow them to play the internet or learn to write some e-mails (7 years and above) with your supervision (especially since internet is dangerous playground with paedophile lurking around).

5) Take some time off to bond with your kids- take them to the following places on different days:

A) zoo

B) science centre

C) swimming

D) picnic at the beach (East Coast, West Coast, Pasir Ris Park or Changi)

F) ice- skate

G) catch a show

H) sentosa

I) visit a Museum

J) borrow books from the library

K) learn a new skill- eg. cycling, roller blading, painting, cooking, play the violin etc.

There are actually lots of things to do in Singapore if you would give it some time to think through.

6) Teach them a new game- be it chess, monopoly, scrabble or any board games. there may be old games but it boast some work to those brains and encourage them to think and strategize.

Well, hope this helps you to enjoy your June month with your little broods~! :)

H1N1 Virus

Everyone is talking about it and those who are traveling have to exercise extra caution to prevent it at all cost. It is also known as the swine flu as it is a respiratory disease of pigs, caused by influenza type A virus and it has common outbreaks in pigs. The first outbreak was recorded in 1930s. Over the years, 4 main influenza types have been discovered and they are H1N1, H1N2, H3N2, and H3N1.

What are the early signs of A (H1N1) virus?

1) Flu- like symptoms, like running nose
2) Fever
3) Cough
4) Sore throat
5) Headache
6) Muscle and joint pain
7) Sometimes vomiting and diarrhea

As can be seen, they have very common and similar symptoms to flu. Hence it is better not to take things lightly and delay appointments to the doctors if you are sick during this period. Anti viral drugs called oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu ®) and zanamivir (Relenza ®) are prescribed to those who are identified of contracting it at the moment.

How do we minimize our chances of contracting it that if we really need to travel and meet people? People can be infected by merely breathing in contaminated air. There are plans to develop a vaccine but it would probably take 5- 6 months for that. Meanwhile, a lot f times, it boils down to maintaining high standards of personal hygiene. Below are my recommendations:

1) Wear a mask so contact are minimized
2) Wash your hands with soap after landing and after coming home
3) Best to carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer
4) Try not to touch hand rails, press buttons or public objects unless necessary
5) Try not to rub eyes or nose with unclean hands or fingers


The scientist and health authority of this era have a lot of new strands of viruses to combat. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), as of 19 May, GMT 6:00, 40 countries have officially reported 9,830 cases of A (H1N1) infection, including 79 deaths. America, being the number 1 infected country with 5,123 (5 deaths), followed by Mexico of 3,648 (72 dead) and Canada being the third, with 496 cases (1 death). Japan, is the most effected Asian country with 159 cases.
For more details, check out the link below:

World Health Organization-
http://www.who.int/csr/don/2009_05_19/en/index.html

Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention-
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/key_facts.htm

Warning signs of children contracting the virus-
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/sick.htm

You tube, CDC, more information on swine flu-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85sD83aRUIQ&feature=channel

Ministry of Health (Singapore)-
http://www.moh.gov.sg/mohcorp/pressreleases.aspx?id=21780

Last of all, everyone has to strive to be socially responsible to our fellow human beings.
When we sneeze, cover our nose and mouth with a tissue. Minimize going out if we are ill and maintain high level of personal hygiene everyday. Only if we care enough and make personal efforts, can the virus be stopped and not spread worldwide to become an epidemic.

Life is a Journey itself

Well, Life is a Journey by itself.

I have a fridge magnet. It says "The World is not my home. I'm just passing through".
It's true, isn't it? Life is an experience. We are all travellers, in this life, at this century, this space, this country, with our co- travellers- families, relatives, friends, colleagues sharing this time. How we will evaluate our journey when it ends?

Life or this journey is how we make it to be.
We are living in borrowed time.
Before you know, it will be gone.
Treasure every second.

My sis's journey ended alittle early. None of her co- travellers expected it.
There are alot of things not done. I have alot of words not said to her.
There were lots of regret.

I had just opted out of a hectic "tour package".
I am going for a more "expensive" one. Not that I am going to live on a high life, but rather it will cost me since I mean I am not working and taking a break now. I am taking time to smell the roses and bond with my the 2 travellers I cloned. The price tag maybe alittle dear but I think it is worth it, cos life is short. I have want to make the best use of my journey and share my time with the people I love and treasure. Take a back seat and re-align my priorities in life.

I am thankful I have a tour- guide for this trip. He has many names, from Emmanuel, Hosannah, Jesus to God. He makes sure my journey is well taken care of. He is the captain of this journey and I am glad that I have Him to share the rest of my journey, so that I will not be lost.

How's your tour on earth so far? ;)