Follow the journey of a young boy of a three-generation household, as he sees first hand the importance of respecting, honouring, and loving his parents, through the best and the worst of times. What truly captured my heart is the line, “How one generation loves, the next generation learns.” There couldn’t be more true to that line; I learn respect, unconditional love and acceptance from watching how my parents treat their parents.
My grandmother taught me a valuable lesson in Patience, Unconditional Love and Acceptance recently. She was admitted in the hospital for more than two weeks. For the two weeks, we took turns to take care of her during the day so that the caregiver could take a rest at home and be back in the evening to take care of her through the night.
Initially for the first 3 nights she was very restless and hallucinating; seeing things and people around her and making noises. There was really nothing much we could do, except to try to calm her down in different ways.
Fortunately she got much better and her mind much clearer after the third day; she could recognise us. However, she was still eating very little and getting weaker. We tried buying her some of her favorite food and cooking what she requested but she was still not eating. The doctor was telling us if she continued to refuse to eat, they would have to feed her by inserting a tube through her nostril down the throat and into her stomach. We were all at a lost and didn’t know what to do except to hope that she would start eating.
Then miraculously she started eating more and more. Soon she regained her strength back. My grandmother is a very strong-willed lady who always want to win. Thus the first thing when she got back her strength, she wanted to go home; the hospital couldn’t discharge her as they were monitoring her blood sugar level (which has been high) as well as her hemoglobin (which has been low). We had to try all ways to pacify her to stay in hospital.
The good news is, she was discharged from the hospital yesterday.
Very often, we may take for granted the simple things which we enjoy in our daily life until we may not be enjoying it the way they are. In this short film directed by Constantin Pilavios, it was mentioned in the film that, “… happiness is nothing more … than moments … small and invisible moments.” Moments … some of us may have taken for granted. What are the little things that we have enjoyed doing but have given up because of our busy schedules day in, day out?
Some of the Random things or simple pleasures I like:
A sunrise!
A bright sunny day.
A cooling breeze blowing in my face on a hot day when I am walking.
The singing and dancing of the leaves and branches to the wind.
Blue skies!
White and big fluffy clouds which remind me of cotton candy I had when I was young.
The dark clouds before the storm.
The smell of rain in the air and the peacefulness before the storm.
The sounds created by the rain falling on different things.
The raindrops falling down on puddles of water and the ripples.
The fresh smell of the air after the rain.
The droplets on the green after the rain.
Rainbow!
The green of the trees and grasses.
The flowers.
Going for my run.
The occasional snails I see when I go for run.
The wild mushrooms I see when I go for my run… it could be quite hard to spot them around my place.
The wonderful feeling after the run and sweating it out.
Singing while I am walking.
Watching people and observing them in the public transports.
Watching children playing, running, smiling, giggling and laughing.
Observing and act of random kindness.
Performing act of random kindness without expectation.
Making a different to the life of another.
Last but not least, spending quality time with family and friends!
And of course a sunset!
As you have noticed, I could probably go on and on with the list of things and simple pleasures which I like and enjoy doing; and which also make me happy! When we take the time out for the moments in life, we would discover the simple pleasures these moments bring to us.
Why not take out a piece of paper or make a post in your blog today and do this exercise with me? Write down as many as you want, the simple pleasures which you like and enjoy doing everyday …. and most importantly which also make you happy.
Photo by nbphotogfy
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That is a bold title I must say and yet all of us know the secret to happiness; it is how we apply the secret that our results vary from each other. Some are naturally happier and some work hard to be happy but never seem to be any happier. Most people want to be happy and why then are we not happy? We may be thinking right now, “How can we be happy? We have our family problems, health problems, relationship problems, financial problems etc the list just goes on and on.” Now, can I have a show of hand who wants to be happy?
Scientifically, happiness has been said to be related to the Serotonin level in us. “Of the approximately 40 million brain cells, most are influenced either directly or indirectly by Serotonin. This includes brain cells related to mood, sexual desire and function, appetite, sleep, memory and learning, temperature regulation, and some social behavior,” according to Xing.com.
In so speaking, is Serotonin the answer to all our unhappiness? The answer may not be as straightforward since we cannot simply inject a dosage of Serotonin into the body. Fortunately, according to an article in PubMed Central, the author mentioned that the possible approaches to increasing Serotonin are exposing to bright light, exercise and through our diet. I would leave you to explore that further on your own while I go on to disclosing what I thought to be the secret of happiness that we all know.
I read an interesting article recently by Belinda and she mentioned, “Have you ever looked up quotes on happiness by great thinkers? If not, I recommend you don’t. It won’t make you happy. It might even depress you.” I tend to agree with her to a large extent as you can find numerous quotations on happiness. And who is right or who is wrong? It truly differs from person to person; what makes one happy may not work for another. It can certainly be confusing with so much information we have accessed to. What I would like to point out is for you to select what works for you and fuse it into your own system.
However confusing it may be, I found that most of the quotations on happiness, which I adopted for my personal usage, all point in the same direction:
“No one is in control of your happiness but you; therefore, you have the power to change anything about yourself or your life that you want to change.” - Barbara de Angelis
“What we call the secret of happiness is no more a secret than our willingness to choose life.” - Leo Buscaglia
“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” - Mahatma Gandhi
It is all about YOU! It is the being we are seeing every time we look in the mirror. The secret of happiness is really no other than ourselves! The next question to ask ourselves is, “How can I be happy?” As indirect as it may seem, to be happy is simply choosing to be happy and making conscious choices in all areas of our daily life to be happy.
One may question, “How can I choose to be happy? The situation is not always under my control; I can’t control the weather, the outcome of event or people around me etc! You are right! There is no way we can always control the external factors around us. But we definitely can control the internal factor within us. The simplest thing we could all do each day when we wake up in the morning is to decide to have a happy day! I did this morning. How about you?
“If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” - Vincent van Gogh
A few week ago, my friend posted a picture of a tree with a line “When in doubt … ,” and I immediately thought of the word “bloom!” The story behind the tree: many were doubtful that the tree would even survive. The tree ‘knew’ that the only way to cast away the doubt; it not only survives but also blooms - silencing all the voices. It made perfect sense to me right at that moment. What would be the best way to face the doubt we have of ourselves: the things we set to achieve, the goals and our dreams? I believe we all have the answer in us. Don’t Doubt Your Dream!
“What If…” by Jackie French Koller
Did you ever stop and think
how the world would be
if folks had turned out
differently?
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That is a bold title I must say and yet all of us know the secret to happiness; it is how we apply the secret that our results vary from each other. Some are naturally happier and some work hard to be happy but never seem to be any happier. Most people want to be happy and why then are we not happy? We may be thinking right now, “How can we be happy? We have our family problems, health problems, relationship problems, financial problems etc the list just goes on and on.” Now, can I have a show of hand who wants to be happy? 
“If you hear a voice within you say “you cannot paint,” then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.” - 
