A picture of health

It has been said that being in a good frame of mind helps keep one in the picture of health.

George Bernard Shaw once said, “All sorts of bodily diseases are produced by half-used minds.” And I think there’s a lot of truth in that.

Now, the question is how to keep a good frame of mind when everyday in the daily papers we are bombarded with all kinds of negative and disturbing news.

It hurts to know, the world is actually rich yet poor.

Hunger, diseases, human sufferings and injustice are not just prevalent in many parts of the world, but are literally right at our front door. So do tell me, how are we to have a good frame of mind?

If nothing else works, we have to remain strong, think happy thoughts and change our very own perception of the world around us to something more palatable, I guess.

Have yourself a breath of Heaven like what Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott wrote:

"Every now and then,
when the world sits just right,
a gentle breath of heaven
fills my soul with delight..."
(~Hazelmarie ‘Mattie’ Elliott, A Breath of Heaven)

However, if you still have the blues and cannot help thinking of the topsy-turvy world that we live in, I suggest you take time off and go made some marmalade or get busy with your hands. Just do something useful.

Indeed, it's amazing how it cheers one up, takes the blues away, just to shred oranges or to scrub the floor. Try it.

We need to use our minds to their fullest, to think as our Creator would want us think, for what we do and who we become depends a lot on what we think.

Minds that think seldom wear out but those that don’t often rust out, if you are not careful.

A Swedish proverb says, “Fear less, hope more; eat less, chew more; whine less, breathe more; talk less, say more; hate less, love more; and all good things are yours.” Really?

So forget about chasing the big stuff, why not learn to enjoy the little things - there are so many of them like reading, writing a blog or tendering to a garden for instance.

As they say, the best things in life are free! And why can’t that be? Like the air we breathe and the friends we have. Isn’t life great?

The way to go is: “Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.” This is what H. Jackson Brown, Jr., advises in his Life's Little Instruction Book.

Irving Berlin puts it this way:
“Got no checkbooks, got no banks,
Still I'd like to express my thanks -
I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night.”

What’s there to complain about, so have we!

In conclusion, I like what J. Brotherton said and that is this, “My riches consist not in the extent of my possessions, but in the fewness of my wants.”

To keep that in mind is to stay happy, healthy and wise.

God bless.

Flowers, a gift from God

Often we take for granted that flowers are ingeniously pretty and sweet but have you ever wondered who made them?

Indeed, if flowers are a piece of God’s creation which I think they are, they reveal a side of God which we probably never knew. What incredible craftsmanship!

Don’t you see, no two flowers are quite the same and indeed, no Michael Angelo and their like could ever sculpt and paint the way Almighty God has done?

In flowers, God’s tenderness and loving care are depicted for all to see. How awesome and sweet?

Flowers are truly a thing of beauty and a joy forever! A bunch of them blooming in your sight can take your breath away.

Without them I can’t imagine what our world would be like?

Jacques Deval had once said, “God loved the flowers and invented soil. Man loved the flowers and invented vases.” How pathetic?

Henry Beecher said a long time ago, “Flowers are the sweetest things God ever made, and forgot to put a soul into.”

But that shouldn’t give man the right to pluck or kill them off as he wished, as like trees, they are also living creatures.

To me, flowers carry the future seeds of life and should be allowed to bloom into fullness to fulfill the mandate which their Creator had given them.

In conclusion, I would like to share this poem with you which I find rather interesting:

“Have you ever seen a flower down
Sometimes angels skip around
And in their blissful state of glee
Bump into a daisy or sweet pea?”
~a short poem by Jessie Lane Adams

It has been said that bread feeds the body indeed, but flowers feed also the soul. Yes, can you imagine what humanity would be if God did not create the flowers? Think on it.

Legacy, a sobering thought

The famed evangelist Billy Graham, when asked how he wish to be remembered said this,

“That I was faithful to what God wanted me to do, that I maintained integrity in every area of my life, and that I lived what I preached.”

Bravo, that’s very well said. My hat’s off to Billy Graham.

I respect and admire the man but how many of us can really emulate him or even come close to what he said or did in his life. None, I guess.

We know it is not how long we have lived that matters but it is how well. In the end we all will be remembered by who we actually are or by what we have done, isn’t it?

Like it or not, life indeed is our only chance left to deliver whatever it is that we always wanted to be or to do. A sobering thought, indeed. So, have we lived what we preached or wanted to?

As for me, I want to be remembered as “Me” whatever that may turn out to be. Yes, I have always wanted to be just me, not a copy of someone else.

Heck, whatever it’ll be, I’ll have to leave it to those who wanted to remember me, but it would be nice to think they would say that I was a kind-hearted and generous soul, God-loving and fun to be with.

Bruce Lee had said this, “The key to immortality is to live a life worth remembering”.

What kind of a legacy would you like to leave? Think on it.

In conclusion, I shall leave you with these remarks from some famous guys to think about.

Brandon Lee once said, “I don’t want to be remembered as “the son of Bruce Lee”.

"You are remembered for the rules you break."
~Douglas MacArthur

"I would like to be remembered as a man who had a wonderful time living life, a man who had good friends, fine family - and I don't think I could ask for anything more than that, actually."
~Frank Sinatra

"I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free... so other people would be also free."
~Rosa Parks

"Our sins are more easily remembered than our good deeds."
~Democritus

"I wish it to be remembered that I was the last man of my tribe to surrender my rifle." ~Sitting Bull

"I do not suppose I shall be remembered for anything. But I don't think about my work in those terms. It is just as vulgar to work for the sake of posterity as to work for the sake of money."
~Orson Welles

"Fancy being remembered around the world for the invention of a mouse!"
~Walt Disney

Cheers!

Songstress Teresa Teng

Teresa Teng (b.1953 –d.1995), the famed Taiwanese songstress is no longer with us but her beautiful sweet voice is instantly recognized throughout East Asia and her songs remain immensely popular among the Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Malaysian and Indonesian listeners.

Picture shown is courtesy of Wikipedia.

It is often said, "Wherever there are Chinese people, the songs of Teresa Teng can be heard."

Many of us didn’t know that Teresa Teng died suddenly from a severe asthma attack while vacationing in Thailand at the age of 42.

She was given a state funeral in Taiwan, with the Republic of China flag draped over her coffin and the former president Lee Teng-hui was in attendance among thousands in mourning.

Teng's singing style is one filled with simplicity and sincerity. Indeed, she has the magic to make every song she sings literally come alive.

This is one of my favorites, a song first recorded in 1974, called the “Rhythm of the sea”. I find it very soothing and invigorating.

The song symbolizes the longing for freedom, with a lady strolling on the beach watching and appreciating how the seagulls are braving the dark clouds, the wind and the agitated waves over what appears to be a raging storm coming in from the sea.

I hope you like it too. Thanks to “hkship” for sharing this lovely music-video. Enjoy.

I'm just a country boy

I’m just a country boy, always have been and though I now live in the city, my heart and soul still belong to the place where the meadows are always green and where cockerels crow every morning at the crack of dawn without fail.

I have lived more than 40 years in the city yet I have not lost my love for the country life where I was raised in my childhood and my youth.

Those were the days in the country when school bags were light and to walk a mile or two to school was the norm rather than the exception.

How I'd love the sun and would go fishing, fly a kite or stroll rather aimlessly with a friend when the holidays came. No need for car, got bicycle can roam already and what a joy it was!

We knew then what it was to be disciplined when we disobeyed orders or did wrong in the eyes of our elders. Even though we held our heads high, we had always respected and submitted to authority.

Life was simple but for many of us, life was not necessarily easy. We had not only our studies to do but we had our household chores in almost equal measure too! Somehow we prevailed, and hard work didn’t wear us out at all.

The good thing was we never bore a grudge against anyone for whatever disciplinary action which they inflicted upon us, and because of that I guess we learnt a lot about life and matured at a young age, which actually benefited us a lot in our adulthood.

I am sure that if you were a country boy or girl yourself, you must have gone through the same kind of experience which I have just described, maybe even more.

Today, they say times have changed, so have kids. Kids maybe a lot smarter now but alas, many have not necessarily turned out good.

O, how I wish when we retire we could live in the country once more, in the countryside where friendships are easy, life is simple and uncorrupted; where the air is clean, food is fresh and traffic-jams are never heard of. But who wouldn’t?

Yes, in a vale of a place where rippling streams flow and flowers still grow wild; ducks are heard, squirrels are seen, larks sing, buffaloes roam, and indeed where cockerels still crow! What a wonderful place that would be.

Now, if you have not heard Alison Krauss sing before, turn up the volume and listen to this beautiful heart-warming song by Alison entitled, “You’re just a country boy”, music-video courtesy of “huffman142”. Thanks to “Huffman142” for sharing and God bless.