Stop Complaining How Bad Your Life is!

Hi Friends,

If you are one of those who like to keeps complaining how difficult life is and how life is unfair, I hope this story about the 25 year old Italian Footballer will make you cry and stop you feeling sorry for yourself. You should count yourself lucky to even be able to complain ( read my blog entry prior to this entry "You are Blessed").

Stop Complaining!

I watched the news about this incident last weekend and this story appeared in New Paper today (16/4/2012) Piermario Morosini was gifted footballer who died of heart attack while playing football (Soccer for Americans) on 14/4/2012, last Saturday in the 2nd Division Italian League for Livorno (On loan from Udinese a Division 1 club) against Pescara, It was only after the incident that the real story of Morosisni tragic family background came to light.

-orphaned at 17 years of age.
-gifted player who represented his country at every level from under 17 to 21.
-but his senior career did not take off.
-had a handicapped brother and sister
-shortly after his father died his brother committed suicide leaving only his sister.
- according to people who knew him he was a gentle soul with a sad face according to his coach.

Despite all this he persevered to become a good footballer so that his parents will be proud of him. Though his soccer career was going nowhere he kept trying until the heart attack robbed him of his dream. But I respect him for trying. I watched the news where he tried to get up at least two times before his collapsed the third time and had to be brought to hospital where he died.

I respect him for trying so hard despite carrying the burden of his family's tragedy. I wished he had received more help. Well, now with his death, his club Udinese has promised to take care of his handicapped sister.

So, stop complaining. Take Charge of your life. Do something with the life you have. And remember to help others. You could make a difference to someone else's life and you will be blessed.

The World Needs More Loving and Kind People!

http://helpyourselfnhelpothers.blogspot.com/2010/11/world-needs-more-loving-and-kind-people.html

God Bless Piermario Morosini!

Take Care! Love All Serve All.

Regards,
Mark

You are Blessed!

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, 

you are more blessed than the million people who will not 

survive the week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, 

the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture or 

the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million 

people around the world.

 If you attend a church /temple/mosque meeting without 

fear of harassment, arrest, or torture of death, you are 

more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.

If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, 

a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than

75% of this world.

  

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change 

in a dish some place, you are among the top 8% 

of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still married and alive, you are very rare, 

even in the United States.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are 

truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority of us can, 

but most do not.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over 

two billion people in the world that cannot read anything at all.

When you compare our day to day problems with 

bigger problems around the world our troubles may 

not seem so large.

We are all truly blessed!

Give me a sense of humor. Lord, Give me the grace to see a joke, to get some humor out of life, and pass it on to other folks.

Plant your garden 2012

I received this via email from my Uncle. I found it interesting so I thought I should share this with you all. For those who feel stressed, angry or frustrated. Practice the following and you may feel calm, happier and at peace with yourself and others around you. Try It!

Plant your garden 2012 

"life is too short for drama, laugh insanely, love truly and forgive quickly"

How To Plant Your Garden
First, you Come to the garden alone,
while the dew is still on the roses.

FOR THE GARDEN OF YOUR DAILY LIVING ,

PLANT THREE ROWS OF PEAS :
1. Peace of mind
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF SQUASH:

1. Squash gossip
2. Squash indifference
3. Squash grumbling
4. Squash selfishness

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF LETTUCE: 

1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

NO GARDEN IS WITHOUT TURNIPS: 

1. Turnip for meetings
2. Turnip for service
3. Turnip to help one another

TO CONCLUDE OUR GARDEN WE MUST HAVE THYME: 

1. Thyme for each other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends

WATER FREELY WITH PATIENCE AND CULTIVATE WITH LOVE. THERE IS MUCH FRUIT IN YOUR GARDEN BECAUSE YOU REAP WHAT YOU SOW. NOT BAD, HUH?!

Give me a sense of humor. Lord, Give me the grace to see a joke, to get some humor out of life, and pass it on to other folks.

Spare the Rod and Spoil Child!

I am sure by now you may have heard of the Father who responded to his daughter's Facebook rant with his YouTube video which he then planned to post on his daughter's Facebook site. For those who have not seen it, here is the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl1ujzRidmU.  The father had a case and the daughter seemed to be a spoil brat. So sad. This is how children treat their parents - their personal teller-machine/Bank and then abuse them when parents are old and have no use to the children.


Parents are put in a difficult position. They try to be good parents by being friends with their children but that is where things go wrong. Children do not know what friendship means at that tender age. They also don't know about the sacrifices parents make so that their children can have a good life. Why? Because in most cases children get everything they want on silver platter without knowing why they are getting it. Parents need to explain to children. And sometimes parents need to teach their children good values such as gratitude and respect, love and compassion, patience and tolerance and so on. This has to be an on going process not a one time lecture as children easily forget what they learnt.


Parents are to be blamed for children's bad behavior to a great extent. Just last week a friend's son got bullied by a girl in the school bus. The girl then went and lied to the mum that the boy who was bullied was the one who bullied her instead. The mother instead of investigating, went and scolded the boy and his friends. The school has since taken action and the girl had been reprimanded for lying and made to change school bus. The girl's mother should be blamed for the girl's deplorable behavior because the mother did not question her daughter and just believed her.


You cannot bring up a child like a friend until you have taught them what is right and wrong and provided you have given a solid foundation. If you are their friend they have an option to listen or not to listen to your lessons or lectures. You have be the  "Authoritarian" figure (but not a "Tiger Mother") and only then will they listen. In my humble opinion, in most cases, the parents and child can be friends when he or she is about 18 years or older. That is when they know what is really right and wrong. Until then the parents will have play their role as parents and and disciplinarians and children should be taught to respect them, their teachers, grandparents, friends, elders, etc. They have to be taught the ways of the world- to show empathy and sympathy towards others, etc. 


One of the best books to teach children this lesson is "To Kill a Mocking Bird". It taught me the life long lesson "putting myself in the other person's shoes so that I can see from their perspective".


Modern Parenting is not easy. You probably need to go and sit for a degree on "Parentology"even before you can deal with some of the kids today. Nonetheless, Parents have to play an active role in their children's growth.  In fact, children of stay@home mum's are better brought up than other children whose parents both work and children are left at home to be taken care of by the "Helpers". While it is difficult these days for mothers to stay at home, both parents must be there for the children in times of their need. You may need to plan your time between family, work and social needs.


God Bless!


Regards,
Mark

ALL is WELL!

Hi Friends,

I was having a conversation with a good friend last week. She is a stay at home mother with three young boys and her husband is the sole breadwinner. She wants to contribute to the family income but is torn in ten different directions. She reads this blog but she told me my blog may not be able to assist. Well, I managed to explain to her what she needs to do to get control of her life by removing the clutter from her head and this will enable her to enjoy her life.

I started this blog to help myself to remind myself of what I need to do and help others by putting my thoughts, experiences, information I know and heard from others who are experts. I am not claiming to be an expert but there are ways we all can find solutions if we look in the right places or ask someone for help. Just don't give up until you find a solution.

I dedicate this blog entry to my friend who feels overwhelmed by things in her life.

How to get Control of Your Life?

1.Plan and Get Organized. List down the things you need to do- daily, week, monthly basis. You may have things to do that are once a week e.g. going to the Supermarket and you may have things to do on a daily basis e.g. sending children to school.

2. Prioritize the activities. From the most important to the least important.  In order to see which activities are more important and which activities are not so important. Rate them on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being least important and 10 being most important. Estimate the time required to complete the task.

3. Next go about completing your task. You may need to fine-tune the way you get things done to save time. Ask yourself - "Is there a better way of doing thing?"

4. Once you have created a routine, you will know how much free time you have in your hands for things like freelance work, exercise or have coffee with friends, go to a spa, etc.

5. Learn to Laugh. When you learn to laugh you will be more relaxed and you will have fun and you will have better clarity of thought.This will help you get better control of your life. Watch the Hindi Movie -"Three Idiots" which one of the most profound movies with a lot of lessons to teach us. It is from this movie the title of this blog "All is Well" came from.

Things to do to help you be more PRODUCTIVE.

1. Sleep early and get up earlier. It is my opinion that you are most productive early in the morning when you have a good night's rest. Also, if you wake up at 5 am you have 17 hours (based on 6 to 7 hours of good quality sleep) to complete your task versus if you wake up at 7am when by the time you complete your days activities you are tired. When you get up early you can have quiet time as well as time to plan your day without disturbances.

2. Exercise2Energize. If you exercise you will be energized you will get things done quickly and you will also be able to think clearly. You can read more information about exercising on my other blog : http://exercise2energize.blogspot.com/ . The one good thing my my friend has going is that she likes to run and she has completed two Marathons (42km each).

3. Talk to others who have similar background such as having to juggle family and work. There  many who have achieved more with same pressures or more in life.There are single mothers and fathers who have bigger challenges in life and yet they have come out on top.We should count our blessings and take each day as it comes.

4. Find a job that gives you flexibility to work from home. That takes away the stress of worrying about how to manage your time. Sometimes we are most productive in short burst of time and when we are really focused. e.g. freelance writer, freelance advertising sales, multi-level marketing (careful which organization you choose).

Best of Luck. Relax, Enjoy Life's Gifts, Watch a Funny Movie, Meet a Friend for Coffee, Take up a new Sport/Hobby, write a Book, take a holiday to reflect, etc. If you do feel stressed talk to someone like your friend or family, go for run to clear your mind, call a hotline for help, etc. ALL is WELL!

Cheers,
Mark
p.s. if you have any other suggestions you know please send it in. Thanks.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Dear Friends,

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Wishing You and Your Family

A Blessed New Year

Filled with Good Health, Love, Peace,

Happiness, Abundance, Prosperity & Good Fortune.

Cheers,

Mark

New Year Resolutions -2012!

Hi Friends,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great New Year Count Down Celebrations. 

By now you know that I love writing down New Year Resolutions. Do you want to start 2012 on the right note? If "Yes",  here is a suggestion: write down your New Year Resolutions and set some "Targets/Goals" for yourself to achieve for the year. You are the Captain of "YOUR SHIP". You need to have a "Map" so that you can pilot your ship as you sail along the passage called "Life".

Do not listen to "nay-Sayers". Just because they could not achieve their goals does not mean you can't achieve yours. Prove them wrong. You can achieve your goals if you stay focused and you are disciplined. I have achieved a lot of my goals and I have book in which I have written down the goals so I can keep track of it.

For example, at the start of 2010, I weighed 79kg. Now, I weigh 75kg. That was the weight I was targeting for 2010. If you have a problem with achieving your New Year Resolutions than just focus on one or two resolutions. "Success breeds Success". Before you know it you will have achieved more than one goal for 2012. It is good to be goal oriented and if you have the right attitude and you are disciplined, you will achieve your goals.

Your resolutions have to be specific and also have a deadline by which you hope to achieve it. It does not have to be specific to 2012. You can have a 5 Year Plan that starts from 2012.

Here are some suggestions:

1) Weight Management -Lose 5 kg by end of 2012 and reach my ideal weight of 72 KG.

2) Save and Invest- Save S$10,000 by cutting off unnecessary expenses and invest the money in high dividend paying stocks. Do your research before you invest.

3)Long Term Retirement Plan- e.g. Retire by 2015 with enough money in the bank. Retirement Fund- S$5 million Dollars or S$10million or more. Set a target that will enable you to retire comfortably.

4) Health Management- Exercise regularly- at least 3x a week.Run the Marathon (42KM) by 2013.

5) Be a Better Person- Kind, Loving, Caring, Understanding, Manage your Anger, be a better father/husband/wife/son/daughter/ teacher/student /boss/employee/etc.

6) Do more Charity Work. Help World Vision (http://www.worldvision.org.sg/st_sponsorchild.php ) or Habitat for Humanity (http://www.habitat.org/asiapacific/)

7) Reduce/STOP Drinking and Smoking- to improve health.and save money

8) Eat Healthy Food and Cook at Home more often. Eat to Live NOT Live to Eat!

9) Be a Happy Person and Smile and Laugh more often even when things are not going the way you want them to- this will reduces stress and improves your health

How to make sure you succeed with your "New Resolution Goals"?

1) Write your New Year Resolutions down. You will remember better. Have notebook so that you can compare your resolutions from year to the next. Some resolutions are "work-in-progress".

2) Paste it in places you will see regularly. Keep a copy in your wallet.

3) Look at everyday before you go to bed. At least for 7 days continuously.Constantly review it on a monthly basis to monitor you progress.

4) Tell your friends (some of things you would like to share and get them to help you reach your goals).

5) Stay focused on your goals and you will achieve it.Stay focused, be disciplined and have the right attitude. If you really want it, you will get it.

Remember - Thoughts leads to Feeling leads to Actions leads to Results.You need to take Massive Action by which I mean a paradigm shift in your thinking and "JUST DO IT!" as NIKE tag line states.

Stay positive and stay focused! Good Luck! Don't Worry Be Happy!

God Bless! Remember to SMILE and LAUGH!

Cheers,

Mark Fernandez