It can be so easy to miss these little blessings that come our way if we do not pay attention enough. Just the other night, I experienced my second case of blackout in Cheras, Malaysia but the fortunate thing was, I was done with my shower and was getting ready for bed already. Thus when the blackout came, I just turned in earlier than usual. Despite the blackout, it was a peaceful night overall.

Sharing my October’s blessings with you, in the form of pictures I took with the Sony Xperia x10 mini. I am still quite satisfy with the photos I am getting so far.

I saw these mushrooms a few weeks ago when I was helping a friend to clean up his new house, they were unlike most of the mushrooms which I had seen in Singapore before and I decided to take a shot of them.

These flowers bear edible fruits which can be pretty juicy. When I was young, we used to eat this by dipping it in a mixture of dark soy sauce and cut chili slices. I caught them at my friend’s old house when I was helping him in the moving a few days ago. You can take a look at the picture of how the fruits look like. It will be pinkish to red in colour when it is ripe. In Malay, it is called ‘Jambu.’ I have no idea what it is called in English. Any idea?

What do children do in the olden days when there were no computers, PS2, Wii or whatever form of modern days entertainment? They would invent new game, or should I say prank, with what Mother Nature provided. They would pluck the part of the plant (below photo) with many tiny little thorns and throw it at the school uniform of their classmates; it stuck on the uniform instantly. The tiny thorns would then ‘act’ like needles, pricking at the back of their classmates. Not exactly a nice thing to do but it wouldn’t do great harm too.

I believe most would agree with me that life isn’t always easy and some of you would agree that if it is easy, it wouldn’t be fun and exciting. I like the part that life isn’t always easy; in fact I will grow to love all the challenges that life throws at me eventually. It is human nature that at times I would still grumble a little. However, I am grateful for every challenges that had come my way and they provided me with the opportunity to better myself. There were times when I doubted myself and thought that I couldn’t do it. But time and again, I proved to myself that I could actually do it. When we focus on what we can do, the challenges will eventually work out.

How about you, were there times when you doubted your own ability to overcome challenges that came your way? Did you also focus on what you could do and eventually the challenges worked out? We may not be able to overcome every challenges always … at least not at the initial stage when we meet it.

But as the saying goes, “We will not be dealt with any challenges which are too big for us to handle.” I believe and trust in that. Challenges are but invisible steps which we must take towards our destination. Taking each step requires Faith as the step would only show itself when we have already taken it. Just as what Steve Job said in his first story about ‘connecting the dots,’ we wouldn’t know where we are heading until we look back and connect the dots. Thus, the truth of the matter is we wouldn’t know exactly where we are heading a lot of times and that is where we make mistakes along the way. Just keep the Faith and keep moving!

Life isn’t always easy and it is not supposed to be easy also but that is where all the excitements are! Quoting from Jim Rohn:

“Don’t wish it were easier, wish you were better.”

Life Isn’t Always Easy

Life can be unfair at times
When you must maintain Faith
And Never Let Go.

It is especially during the difficult times
That you must live your life
To its fullest potential.
Those are the times to Triumph
Over circumstances
With Hope and Courage.

Life isn’t always easy,
But if you keep Going and Persevere
To the very best of your Ability,
You will gain Strength to manage
The new Challenges ahead.

Each Goal that you reach
Is another important Step Forward.

Believe that there are
Bright and wonderful days
Ahead for you and you will find them.

My journey today began with a cup of milk tea. It was a short trip home and I was on my way again. Although short, travelling back home was a much needed trip to reconnect with family and friends. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to meet up with most of them.

As I was writing this, on the coach towards the destination, my mind went back to the valuable lesson I had learnt from my trip home; how easily one could forget about the blessings and fell into a state surrounded by negativity.

Please allow me to explain. When I first got to Cheras, Malaysia, I felt that I have lost my pair of legs; I wasn’t able to get from one point to another without someone fetching me to and fro. You may question why? I was equally puzzled. There are practically no public transports for traveling from one place to another. Even if there is, the locals told me that one couldn’t rely on the punctuality of the buses and at time they may need to wait for up to half an hour between buses. It is almost three months now and I still have this handicap feeling.

This is totally different from Singapore; in Singapore, one can easily go from one place to another using either buses or the Mass Rapit Train (MRT for short). One would also see cabs on the road. Thus I can safely say there is no lack of public transport. I felt so bless; I love the feeling of independent and not having to trouble others for such little thing as going from one point to another. That is besides the point; I am not interested in comparing the two places.

What I am more keen to discuss is the negativity part: as I was waiting for the MRT to go home the other day, the MRT was sort of delay and the wait was slightly longer than expected. I started to ‘complain’ in my mind about how inefficient the system was. Luckily, almost instantly, I told myself, “There wasn’t even a public transport system from where I was coming from in the first place. Immediately everything fell into perspective and I was grateful for this one lesson.

How quickly one falls into a state of negativity – if one gives it the attention. We really need to guard our mind, which is a very valuable asset, from all kinds of negativity. Always choose what you want to focus on and the Universe will respond to your thoughts in the most interesting way.