Symphony of Love's Blog - Symphony of Love

Happiness, Information, Reflection, Sharing, Spending Quality Time

Want to be Happy? Don’t Watch TV

September 11, 2009

Are you happy? According to this report by Daily News, if you are happy, then you’re not watching much TV. It was stated in the report that those considered themselves to be happy spend more time reading and socializing. According to an extensive research study, unhappy people watch more TV than those who feel happy.

The study by University of Maryland, analyzing 34 years of data collected from more than 45,000 participants, shown that the pattern for daily TV use is particularly dramatic, with ‘not happy’ people estimating over 30 percent more TV hours per day than ‘very happy’ people. I like to watch movies, and informative shows or documentaries on TV. However, any time the opportunities come up to catch up with friends for coffee, I will readily give up the box.

Engaging in TV is so easy especially for people who don’t like to socialise or who may not have much resources to do it. For TV, they just need to turn on the set and they can indulge themselves in hours of inexpensive and passive self entertainment. There is no deny that watching television can be pleasurable but it has no lasting benefit; it pushes aside time spent in other activities which might not give immediate pleasure, but would provide long-term benefits in one’s condition.

Quoting Dr. Michael Silverman, assistant professor of psychiatry at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, “TV may make you feel better short term but it doesn’t improve your mental state. TV doesn’t add anything and it doesn’t improve anything. And it’s been shown that TV can absolutely stress you out, too.”

So what does happy people do? According to the lead author John Robinson, a University of Maryland sociology professor, “People who are happy are more likely to engage in certain types of activities, like socializing with friends, having sex, reading newspapers.” And when they asked people who say that they are unhappy, they found that the unhappy people could watch up to 10 hours of television a day.

The study further states that unhappily married couples also watch more TV. And what do happily married couples do? They engage in 30 per cent more sex (yes, that caught your attention, didn’t it?), and they attend religious services more, and read newspapers on more days. For happily married couples, you need to spend more quality time together on engaging activities rather than passive entertainment on the TV.

So it seemed we can conclude from the study that watching TV had a direct correlation with unhappiness. However, I do believe that watching TV can be quality time spent too; you choose the right programs to watch and focus on the positive. There are things and values which we can learn from watching TV. Are you happy? If you are, then most probably you’re not watching much TV. What activities do you engage in that make you happy?
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Photo by wilkernet

Bloggers Unite, Education, Gratitude, Information, International Literacy Day, Poverty, Sharing

Building a Better World through Education

September 1, 2009

It was like any other days, except that it was raining this morning. I hated rainy mornings, especially when I had to wake up 6am to get ready for school. I was such an ‘ungrateful’ boy; I didn’t know it was a great blessing to be worried free and to be able to concentrate on my main responsibility – to do well in school.

Almost every new school year I had new bag, new set of stationery and textbooks. Not to mention new school uniforms and shoe. I didn’t remember I had to wear a pair of shoe with holes in them for long.

In the school, the classroom was well sheltered with cement walls. It was well ventilated with windows and ceiling fans. The classroom was also properly lit with lighting. To further entice us with school, each of us had our own desk and chair. When we needed to sit on the cement flooring, we had proper mats to sit on. We even had regularly dental checked up to make sure we brushed our teeth.

What else did we have to worry about? Practically nothing, except probably with the examinations.

And yet, going through school seemed to be just a chore of growing up for me. I was pretty much going through the motion. Yes, still remember I mentioned I was an ‘ungrateful’ boy; I had very much taken everything for granted.

I had thought that literacy was a natural part of children my age. I didn’t know that being able to read and write were special privileges to many but not all. I didn’t know that in worlds away from mine, education was, and still is, a luxury to many … probably to many of them, it didn’t even cross their minds since they are struggling to survive.

According to UNESCO, “… one in five adults is still not literate and two-thirds of them are women while 75 million children are out of school.”

Back in 2003-2005, while I was working oversea, I remembered seeing children roaming in the street; some of them were peddling bracelets made from small white flowers, and some were running between cars, that stopped in the traffic, to ask for money.

One of my friends mentioned once that he was very tempted to unwind the window to pass the children some money but he stopped himself. He asked himself, “will I be doing more harms to these children than good if I pass them some money? If I do, they may have the wrong perception that money comes easily through begging.”

I kind of agree with him. If we give a person a fish, we feed the person for a day. However, if we could teach the person how to fish, we could ‘feed’ the person for life.

Literacy may not be the immediate solution to solve a person’s livelihood. Literacy will however, provide a person with the basic of learning and from there onwards, hopefully it will enable the person to further learning on his/her own. And hopefully with empowerment from literacy, the person’s life will improve eventually.

According to UNESCO on the important of literacy, “Literacy is at the heart of basic education for all, and essential for eradicating poverty, reducing child mortality, curbing population growth, achieving gender equality and ensuring sustainable development, peace and democracy.”

I believe that education is one of the most important facets of life. I have read in some blogs that we can make donation to organisations that have on-going literacy projects, or to volunteer in your communities to teaching adults and children how to read and write and we can also donate books to the library or organisations that bring these books to countries that need them.

September 8 will be the International Literacy Day, which aims to highlight the importance of literacy to individuals, communities and societies. With education, I hope that one day those children running in the street will have better lives.

What do you think we can do about building a better world through education?
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BetterWorldBooks.com – is one online bookstore that collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. All books are available with free shipping to any location within the United States (or $3.97 worldwide). And in case you’re concerned about your eco-footprint, every order is shipped carbon neutral with offsets from Carbonfund.org.

BetterWorldBooks.com’s five primary literacy partners are Books for Africa, Room to Read, Worldfund, the National Center for Family Literacy, and Invisible Children.

Photo credit: stokpic

Children, Colby Curtin, Comedy, Disney-Pixar's Movie UP, Dream, Giving, Inspiration, Random Kindness, Touching Story

Pixar Grants Girl’s Dying Wish to See ‘UP’

August 24, 2009

Pixar Grants Girl's Dying Wish to See 'UP' Last week, a friend was talking to me about watching the Disney-Pixar’s movie UP and we were planning to watch it over the weekend but due to a slight miscommunication, we did not manage to catch it. Frankly speaking, I am not really a fan of animation these days but there was just something special about UP. Read more

Health, Information, Medisave Scheme, National Dental Centre, NDC, Singapore, Surgery, Wisdom Tooth Extraction

Wisdom Tooth Extraction Using Medisave

August 18, 2009

The upper left (picture right) and upper right (picture left) wisdom tooth are distoangularly impacted. The lower left wisdom tooth is horizontally impacted. The lower right wisdom tooth is vertically impacted (unidentifiable in X-ray image). The glowing parts in the teeth are cavities filled with amalgam.

Credit: Ka-ho Chuuploaded by R-E-AL (talk | contribs | Gallery) (German Wikipedia)Ka-ho Chu Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Wisdom Tooth Extraction Using Medisave

A few weeks ago, I was feeling pretty helpless about my partially erupted wisdom tooth; helpless because there was nothing much I could do except to have it surgically removed. My brother and some of my friends had their wisdom teeth extracted while they were going through their National Service. It was a brilliant move since they didn’t have to pay for the extraction; it was all paid for by the government for serving the nation. Read more

Picture/Photos, Sony T500 Cyber-shot Digital Camera, Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday: Moon In The Day

August 12, 2009

More Wordless Wednesday

This was not taken with my usual Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot camera phone; I don’t think it is capable to capture a shot like this. This shot of the moon in the day was taken with my cousin Sony T500 Cyber-shot digital camera. I do not know what picture mode she used for this shot. However, it turned out pretty well. You can almost see some of the bigger craters of the moon.

You may be asking me what’s the big deal with the moon? Most probably you have seen it through documentaries in TV or from pictures in magazine. I thought nothing of the moon previously too; the moon was just a distant object in the sky orbiting around Earth.

But back in 1993-1994 when I was in the Astronomy Club in my Junior College, I was fortunate to be able to see the moon through the telescope in my school. I couldn’t remember if it was a Celestron but it was a pretty decent telescope. It was truly awesome seeing the moon through the scope. You could clearly see the craters and the terrains on the surface of the moon.

On full moon day, it will be so bright that we had to use a filter to view it through the telescope. And it was also through the scope that we got to see Jupiter and four of its biggest moons. It was amazing to see the moons of Jupiter always in different positions around it.

The most spectacular view I had was definitely that of Saturn and the rings around it. We even tried attaching a camera to the telescope to take some shots of the moon and Jupiter but it wasn’t successful. Hope I can dig out some shots and share it with all of you next time.

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Affordable Dental Care

Commitment, LDR, Long Distance Relationship, Love, Relationship Advice, Trust

Long Distance Relationship and The Mechanisms

August 10, 2009

I was requested by my dear friend BK to pen down my thoughts of Long Distance Relationship (LDR). Being a survivor of one and finally getting married this year, I’ve been approached by at least two mates on how to make it works. I have to state this first before I go any further: what I’m writing here is solely based on my personal experience with my fiance of four years. This article is in no way a guide to all LDRs and not all LDRs will work based on it.

The first thing that comes to my mind when I’m writing about my personal experience is Love. It’s such a mushy idea and yet so strong that it can conquer all differences and the vast distance separating two persons deeply devoted to each other. But sometimes, Love just ain’t enough. You can either see it as ‘There isn’t enough LOVE to see you through it all‘ or ‘Love is not enough to pull the two of you closer and part the seas separating you.’

LDR lives on thanks to modern technology. Yes, Internet helps more than the telephone. In this age, we are glad there are Skype, MSN messenger and every single chat function on Facebook, Gmail and Yahoo. We, the survivors of LDR, are grateful for the existence of Internet!

LDR basically works like any other relationship. You chat with each other over the silliest and mushiest things, you go on dates (when you see each other) or on virtual dates and you send each other kisses (minus the physical contact). For anyone who thinks that physical intimacy is vital in a relationship then he will not even try a LDR. Because sooner or later, he will cheat on her (physically or mentally).

I guess the best part of LDR is you will get lots of breathing space. You are free to do whatever you want as long as you keep your virtual dates in mind. You won’t have the problem of a sticky girlfriend or boyfriend. I guess it’s a great way for both parties to grow and mature enough to handle such a relationship.

At the end of it all, LDR is really painful. Communication is key. Yes, we all know that but you need to communicate on the right issues. Are you ready to commit to that someone? LDR means one or the other has to compromise, that is, he or she has to move from his or her current location in order for it to work ultimately. This is easier said than done since most of the time, family and/or work can play an important role. Well, all I can say is, every single person is different, every LDR is different. Love can conquer everything but do you let it?

*Special Thanks to Sher from Ur Resident Chef for this guest post. Sher is a very long time friend and from whom I learned a great deal about dreams, love, commitment and passion.

Photo from barunpatro

Thank you also to PinkLady from Of Living and Loving… and Coping for passing me the Humane Award. It is truly my honor.

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Attitude, Inspiration, Life, Reflection, The More I Learn, The More I Realize How Little I Know, Wisdom

The More I Learn …

August 5, 2009

Have you ever come across a story of a young monk going up the mountain to learn from a wise old monk? I could only remember some parts of the story and thus I apologized for any changes to the recollection here.

The story goes:

A Long time ago, there was a smart young man who thought that he knew everything. One day he heard about a very wise monk living in the mountain and decided to seek knowledge from him. After several days of traveling, the young man finally reached the temple where the wise monk stayed.

Kneeling in front of the wise monk, the young man respectfully said, “Master, I have come to seek knowledge from you.” The wise monk, who had long heard about the young man, brought out a teapot and two empty cups. He started pouring tea into the cup of the young man until it was filled to the brim and overflowing.

The young man respectfully said, “Master, the tea cup is fulled and overflowing already. The cup can no longer take anymore tea.”

The wise monk said, “like the filled cup, your knowledge is overflowing. There is nothing more I can teach you unless you empty your cup first.

How often did we come across a subject and the first reaction that fired up was, “I knew that already?” Yes, it happened to me. And I will consciously remind myself to empty my cup. This can be especially challenging when we are touching on areas of our expertises. We can be our own worst stumbling blocks.

When we are challenged on our thoughts, most will immediately set up a protective shield. The shield may effectively protect us from being shot down but it may also screened out all the beneficial information and thus hampering our own growth. Are we then to empty our cups readily and quickly? It did look like the wise monk was teaching us to do that.

If we are to do that, we will be like grasses on the wall; swaying whichever ways the wind blows. There will be times when we need to stand firmly to defend our thoughts. So the wise monk was wrong? Not exactly. I believe what the wise monk meant was for us to have a mind that is open and receptive to new ideas and thoughts.

We must be prepared to absorb new information and to change our perspectives if we are proven wrong in the process. We must always be humbled to learning. Like a parachute, the mind works best when it is opened.

There is a famous quotation that goes, “The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.” I believe that learning is a lifelong process, as long as we live, we must continue our learning.

Photo by Egahen

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