I was there last week for a morning walk with a group of friends and had unintentionally left my footprint at the summit. Since we were in a nature reserve, I thought it was only naturally to walk barefooted and be connected to nature. It had been a long time since I last did a barefooted walk but nevertheless it was an enjoyable experience.

A morning walk in the goodness of nature was both refreshing and revitalising; followed by a simple and yet good breakfast. The goodness of life can be so simple and yet fulfilling to the heart and soul.

Take a break and take a walk in the goodness of nature and feel the positive energy of nature going through your body!

I am truly thankful and grateful for the foot that left the footprint!

If you happen to be in Singapore and want to take a morning walk in Bukit Timah Hill, you can take a look at the below information:

By Bus
SBS service 170.
TIBs services 67, 75, 171, 173, 184, 852 and 961.

Alight along Upper Bukit Timah Road, opposite Bukit Timah Shopping Centre and Beauty World Centre, or along Jalan Anak Bukit, opposite Courts furniture store, and walk to the end of Hindhede Drive.

“…what truly set Tom apart was his uncommon humanity, his intense concern for what ailed the hearts and the souls of his patients, and his unstinting generosity with his time. Despite the crushing workload he carried on his shoulders, no patient was ever rushed and no patient concern was ever belittled. A patient’s annual follow-up with Tom always ran for an hour or so, unheard of in this era of managed care. After each examination, Tom would sit, knee to knee with the patient, on a small sofa in his office and talk. He never interposed his desk. He treated you as equal.”

I respect and salute people who walked their talk! I’m quoting the above as my way of honouring a Dr. Thomas Graboys who was a great doctor, which can be so rare these days.

What also caught my attention when I was reading the book was a poem about death he found solace in. I, too, found these words comforting. Death is one heavy topic which some avoid, including myself at time, and yet it is journey everyone will take whether one chooses to or not.

I was chatting to a friend recently on Facebook and she was telling me about someone she knows in UK who is already starting to plan for his death and he was only in his twenties then. A thought immediately came to my mind then, “If we keep planning for our death, would we ever learn to truly live our life to the fullest?”

Death is a positive reminder that we would not be living forever; the time will come naturally or it may just creep up on us when we least expect. Death is just part of the whole package of living.

When the time comes for us, we will move from this end into a new beginning; “… I have only slipped away into the next room … I am I and you are you…” This poem is comforting as it described death as sort of a ‘new beginning’ that one takes on; death is not an end. I wish anyone who have lost could also find comfort in this poem.

This reminds me of an email which I received a few years ago. Some of you may still remember an email which told the story about scientists from 2 nations trying to come out with a solution to enable astronauts to write in space under weightless condition. The scientists in one nation ended up spending a fortune to come out with a new type of pen which would enable astronauts to write in a weightless condition. The scientists from the other country? They just used pencil.

I am not sure how genuine the story of the email was but it brilliantly illustrated the point of thinking simple. We may think it is easy to think simple. However, given a situation, most will analyse it … analyse it again …. then throw in some thought processes using problem solving skills which we were taught in school until at some points we risk being paralysed by our thoughts.

If someone was to come out with a simple solution, we might question, “Can it be so simple and straightforward?” Some of us, even myself at time, may not be able to accept the simple and straightforward solution. The question is, “Why couldn’t it be that simple?”

Confucius said, “Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

I read a news report about a week ago which stated, “Junk food kills more than 40,000 in the UK every year.” It was stated in the report, “Junk food ‘wrecked a terrible toll of ill health’ and placed a ’substantial’ strain on the economy.

In another report by Reuters, “Junk food addiction may be clue to obesity: study.” According to the report, “Obesity-related diseases cost the United States an estimated $150 billion each year, according to U.S. federal agencies. An estimated two-thirds of American adults and one-third of children are obese or overweight.”

Thinking simple, the first report touched on a very key point: junk foods not only cause health problems but also a financial strain on the economy - think about the hundreds of millions that could have been saved on health cares and insurances, and in the case of the second report $150 billion.

Doesn’t it makes sense for us to change our eating habits then? Remember that consumers do have power! If we do not support the junk food industry, they need to change for the better … for us. There is a need for them to change how they are producing our food; government must also step in to introduce legislation to ensure that food manufacturers are making their products healthier.

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.