To Make A Difference Make It Happen
2013-02-10
It’s the second month of the year. How do you do? How’s life been to you? Every month counts in preparing for the future. Usually the second month in our lives is just like the first month of the year. It is the beginning especially for the Chinese community. It is the many start or beginning for most of us but to some it is like the middle of everything. Pessimists would call it the turning point. A fifty-fifty (50/50) chance to grow or move on. Many if nobody haven’t noticed, lose hope, discouraged and failed. These happens especially for those who struggles to live in the city.
Let this year be better than all the others. Every year is a different year for any individual. Let’s make things happen this time. For a start, let’s check ourselves from our mistakes. Look deeper in ourselves. Have we been kind to our neighbor’s lately? Did we focus on our work? Were we disciplined enough? Did we have determination and will power in our goals?
Well, it’s not too late. Vow to do some things we’ve always wanted to do and remind ourselves of little important attitudes towards living. Many of us are perfectionists, but remember no man is perfect. We are unique in one way or the other. To be perfect is to balance our thoughts and actions that will harmonize in truth. Yet many of us try to balance everything. Try to understand a point of view that is different from our own. Let all the accuracy and precision be geared towards a specific purpose --- positive self-realization. It is important to know ourselves, not knowing it will cause us unhappiness. We must be aware and understand the peace and happiness that lies within us. Don’t be gullible. Trust your strength. Try not to make a promise you think you can’t keep. Free yourself of envy and malice. Don’t be cantankerous. Be a role model to young people and be supportive. We all need a role model in this fast-paced world/generation.
A saying goes that to take a job problem home or a home problem to work is like walking on a new carpet with muddy wet shoes. Keep you problems where they belong. Stop magnifying small problems. Words you have to eat are hard to digest. Learn to be gregarious. Get out of your hiding shell. Everyone has its God-given talents. Remember, no one is above you except God. Find time to relax and play games. In playing games, there is a game that we should stop, like the guessing game. Almost everyday, we guess at what reactions will be. Guessing often brings negative thoughts and attitudes such as doubts, jealousy and suspicions which in return bring sorrow to ourselves and others.
Sometimes thoughts and feelings are expressed in laughter, but it can have a positive or negative influences and effects. To laugh at the misfortune of others is quite cruel but the one who is affected is the one closest to the laughter, that is the one who is laughing. Apologize when you realize you’re wrong. An apology never diminishes a person. It elevates him. Be sincere in all your talks. Don’t blow your own horn. Give a compliment, because you might not know someone badly needed a lift. Laugh the loudest when the joke is on you. A favorite phrase I got from a book goes “sticks and stones may break your bone but words may break your heart.”
There is no time like the present. It provides us opportunities for improvement because whatever step we make will either take us up or down, backward or forward. The past cannot be changed but the present bring with it the time to change, to build, to improve. Find the time to be kind and thoughtful. All of us have the same 24 hours allotment. Be optimistic. Mistakes are lessons to learn from not for crying over. Many of us have the tomorrow habit. If you’ve noticed, many of our slogans encourage us to act “NOW”. But still we cannot appreciate the value of time. We use to say, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” but the next day came with no action and the next day we repeat the same thoughts, same words --- still no action. It leads to laziness, carelessness and misuse of time.
Every now and then, during the day, why not stop for a moment and see the value of what you have, regardless of how little it may seem to you, to someone less fortunate your little is quite a lot. Blessings are usually not valued until they’re gone. We often find time to check for our clothes for the latest fashion, but do we take time for ourselves? This time, let’s give ourselves a reality check for once in a while. Better care of yourself, remember you’re all you’ve got. Eat sensibly. Be yourself. Phoniness is transparent and it is tiresome. Avoid malcontents and pessimists. Think things through.
Don’t say “sorry” and do it again. Talk is cheap they say. These are words spoken without meaning, without truth, then words are wasted. To say sorry is very easy but do we really mean it, perhaps we should not repeat the mistakes we’ve done. Take some time to think before you speak again so that you don’t repeat later.
For many of us these days, things are tough and living in this time is a survival of the fittest. What I have written is easy to say but to make a difference, let’s make it happen. Nothing happens by accident. We may possess all the materials needed to live and believed to be happy with it --- you’re wrong. A saying goes, “no man is an island”, you can’t live alone, you need someone --- a friend. And the sure way to have a friend is to be one. For a start --- SMILE. It doesn’t hurt to stretch your lips a little upward. Give a helping hand --- reach out. Everybody needs a hand, to lift up or just to hold for comfort. Don’t be afraid to say “I Love You”. Say it again. They are the sweetest words in the world.
Before the year ends, do something that you’ll be proud of. Nothing is too late for someone who’s willing to start and move on. Good luck!
Lotus
Thank you huaren2323. I am glad you told me because honestly I didn't know. I just like this flower and I think its appropriate for my article.
Oh by the way Magnumlea. I really admire your using the lotus. Did you know why many Theravada Buddhists considered lotus as symobol of purity? Well it can thrive on muddy waters and still give such as pleasing delight for the sight....like transforming what is an awful envrironment into what is pure and innocent.....just thought you might like to know...
Hi Magnumlea and others....very often fingers pointed in criticism towards others..time to re-direct the attention and see if eachof us can do some simle things for the greater good of the society...here is my comment in response to the distinguished LiuShinan's "Inequality must be addressed". I am addresing it in my small way...............................................................................huaren2323 2013-2-14 02:57 Mr. Liu, Great article to address what can threathen stability in China. I wonder if each of us will do their share within the limits of each of our own ability to instill fairness not just on money matters but the common decency in interpersonal transactions. I hope to see peole giving up their seats in mass transit to the weak and elderly, people putting garbage into the bins, spitting into paper napkins and not onto the streets nor out through the moving bus windows, fruit shoppers refraining from making fingernail marks to test the crunchiness of apples, step out of the exit path of unloading trains, refrain from spreading rumours that can hurt other people in the hope of advancing ones carreer, return lost cell phones and wallets, government officials to be pro-active and not wait for stressed out complainants to go naked to be heard, or only act when sleezy torrid sexual pictures are spread thru the internet or wait until someone died and become headline news like the overzealous population police. I am not saying this is happpening only in China but my observation that when society behave badly, the trickle of small sins can lead to raging river of absurdities and inequality.
Likewise, I wonder if China daily and its reading public would continue to encourage publication positive things happening such as a biker trying to revive an obviously hurt dog in the streets by giving mouth to mouth resusitation, impromptu visits by Premier Xi in Inner Mongolia that did not edited out the bare bump kid in the background indicating Press accuracy and courage to face the truths, Beijing local defenders of a British national trying to rape a woman in a busy public street...hopefully indicating somethings are being done by many who care about China.............................................................................................................................If the Roman Empire, The Ottaman, The British Victorian Empire, The USA, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong Singapore can do it in fixing the individual that made up of its society..so can WE....China...Remember as late as 1979 Hong Kong is cluttered with rubbish on the streets, pedestrains cross the streets on Red, jumping queue in line, apples gets finger poke, gums and bodily fluid on the streets...and now a certain sense of communal respects for each others..yes inequality still exists but the livelihood of thegreat majority is sustainable and maintained.
The new year means a fresh start for all of us. We can do lots of things and changes this year. Good luck!
Good introspection and humbling experience for me as I read through your well delivered "food for thought" this coming new year of the water snake. Keep it up....kudos...
I believe nothing is too late. You have to practice accuracy is every time you practice your English skill. Learn a self-correcting skill. Which do you want to master "speaking, listening, reading or writing"? You have to focus and practice it more. There should be a continous usage.
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