The Best Six Doctors

Image from Noel.com.my

Found this delightful little Health Quote on Wikiquote. Its just in time too, to remind me to take care of myself and my family better. We're all just recovering from a bout of fever, the sniffles and cough.

Our children's regular paedaetrician was away on holiday and we saw a new one. I must say, I didn't like his approach. He was very commercial. I saw at least 3 children before ours being put on nebulizers and they didn't look as if they needed it. He wanted to put our daughter on it too but we declined. And he also tried to get us to make a follow up appointment to which we said "We'll see". At the end of the visit, we were handed a hefty bill of RM250 for consultation and medicine for two children.

So, its still wiser to use the following best six doctors which are free!

The best six doctors anywhere

And no one can deny it

Are sunshine, water, rest, and air

Exercise and diet.

These six will gladly you attend

If only you are willing

Your mind they'll ease

Your will they'll mend

And charge you not a shilling.

~ Nursery rhyme quoted by Wayne Fields, What the River Knows, 1990

Its the sick season. Seems like everyone is sick. At the workplace, at the malls, the supermarkets, bookshops. Everywhere. You bump into people coughing and sneezing.

Oh, I forgot, lots of people are blogging about being sick too. To those bloggers who are sick, get well soon and remember the best six doctors above!

When One Door Closes Another Will Open

Free Water Lilies Picture sourced from bigfoto.com

This will be happening for me very soon, literally. I've sold my apartment and am busy clearing out all my stuff, packing away boxes of memories. I realise that this place has so many memories for me.

Packing makes me a little sad, a little melancholy. It makes me want to hold on to the place for a while longer. Its a little sad to let go of the place, finally. It is as if holding on to the place gives me a firmer grip on the memories there.

Thats silly because memories will always be with me in my mind and in my heart. My memories do not require a physical place or presence. I do not need to hang on to the physical place to keep my memories intact.

Since I am feeling a little melancholy, it is timely to quote some memory quotes.

It's surprising how much memory is built around things unnoticed at the time. ~ Barbara Kingsolver

Life brings simple pleasures to us every day. It is up to us to make them wonderful memories. ~ Cathy Allen

This post is to remind me to continue to make new sweet memories to be cherised in years to come.

Where did the time go? Spend time with your kids now!

Credit for rainbow image: FreeStockPhotos.com

One of the things you realise when you have children is the fact that they grow up so fast. They go through their development milestones one after another so quickly. And if you miss any of that, you're never going to get back that precious time or moment.

We sometimes find it difficult to balance our work and personal time with family time and time spent with the children but less we forget, I'm posting the quote below to remind us. Time is precious. Time with the children is even more precious. So, we should try to spend our time bonding with them, playing with them and listening to them because.........

“The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow but the rainbow won't wait while you do the work.” ~ Author Unknown

Having said that, I would like to add that work is important because it gives us a roof over our heads but we must be able to strike a balance so that it does not overtake our lives. Its not easy to strike that balance so we have to constantly remind ourselves.

However, housework is unimportant. (Lol! Can you tell I'm a lazy housewife?). To me, housework is never ever more important then time with my kids. The dishes and dirty floor and linen can wait.

"I prefer to have my house with an inch of dust and full of love than to have it spick and span with everyone in it feeling unhappy from the lack of attention." ~ Author MG from Mumsgather

Note: I borrowed the title of this post from an article in the SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) website. It has a very good article about spending time with your children. Here is an excerpt or paragraph I like...

"You won't want to find yourself looking back, amazed at how quickly it went, and realizing you missed something special. More important, spending time with your child gives you a chance to shape his values. As your child gets older, you can provide a good frame of reference as he is exposed to the growing influence of peers and popular culture. The more time you spend with your child, the more you will be able to help him tune in to his abilities, skill-building activities, and healthy friendships." Read the rest of the article here.

Thought for the day: Give Someone a Smile Today

It takes seventeen muscles to smile and forty-three to frown. Thats what I was teaching my daughter recently in her pre-school science. A smile is the most wonderful thing, yet we don't do it often enough.

The kids do it a lot though. When they first awake, they smile at me. They smile at me when I give them something to eat, play with them, talk to them. Their smiles come so easily to them. And it lights up their little faces and their eyes. Their smiles are real, not pretentious like some of our adult smiles. We must really learn from the children. A real smile lights up the face and the whole expression. It makes the person you are smiling at want to smile back.

So try smiling today. Smile at the hassled counter service people, the cashier, the waitress, people you know, people you don't. Smile at your spouse, your children, your friend, your co-worker and see what happens. It just might make them feel better but most importantly, it will make YOU feel better. Here are some smile quotes to help you along.

Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing ~ Mother Teresa

Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other - it doesn't matter who it is - and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other ~ Mother Teresa

You can't avoid office politics so what can you do about it?

I took the above picture one fine morning at the KLCC Aquaria where the shark decided to pause and post for me. It looks menacing don't you think? Well, I think some office workers in today's corporate world look like this or behave like this predator fish even though they may not look like one. (Those that don't look like one outwardly is even more dangerous.)

A friend of mine has been feeling unhappy about the level of office politics going on at his workplace. He feels like he's swimming with the sharks on a day to day basis and often feels drained by the end of the day. So this post is for him, to provide him with some motivation to survive at his workplace environment.

Surviving in the corporate jungle today is really a case of survival of the fittest these days. Everyone is scrambling over each other to get to the top ...... at whatever cost. If you feel like you're being stepped on once too often at the office, here's an excerpt of an article you may find useful.

"If you have more than three people in the office, the politics emerge," says Marilyn Puder-York, an executive coach and author of "The Office Survival Guide: Surefire Techniques for Dealing with Challenging People and Situations."

"Simply put, office politics is the game of the workplace — the people, the culture and the rules that must be learned. That rear-kissing co-worker, the strict dress code, the secretary who supposedly just answers phones but really runs the office."

The author suggest five tips for surviving office politics:

1. Think before you act (or speak).
2. Nurture the stakeholders.
3. Keep enemies close.
4. Imitate the successful.
5. Play the game.

"People, even if they figured out what the politics game is, they avoid it and the worst thing you can do is avoid it," she says. "It will catch up to you, and it will bite you in the rear."

The above is merely an excerpt. Please visit Ashbury Park Press Online to read the full article.
Have you visited the link and read the full article? If you don't want to get bitten in the rear by the shark above, you might just want to try some of the tips.

To my friend, personally, I feel that as long as your own conscience is clear and you don't resort to any backstabbing yourself, you work hard at what you do, maintain your integrity, avoid gossip and ignore the sharks, you should be ok. So cheer up! I leave you with this quote:

“From the backstabbing co-worker to the meddling sister-in-law, you are in charge of how you react to the people and events in your life. You can either give negativity power over your life or you can choose happiness instead. Take control and choose to focus on what is important in your life. Those who cannot live fully often become destroyers of life.” ~ Anais Nin


    

"Little Ones" - A Poem for my babies

Remember that song My Favourite Things by Julie Andrews from The Sound of Music? I like the idea of thinking about my favourite things when I am sad. And my most favourite "things" of all are my precious little babies, my little ones, of course. I write this poem to remind me to be thankful for them when they become more than just a little handful to handle it makes me want to tear my hair out. Lol! Its also a record of this special time I have with them when they are small.

Little Ones

Little arms that hold me tight

so fiercely with all their might

they find me even in the night

making everything feel so right

Little smiles meant just for me

ever ready for me to see

lighting up the room with so much glee

making me feel better, thats a guarantee

Little kisses sweeping over my face

while small arms wrap me in warm embrace

as tiny fingers explore and leave a trace

making sure good feelings are in place

Little hands that reach out for mine

to soothe and comfort when they whine

that precious feeling no one can ever define

making me feel simply divine

My little ones how I adore you

you're so innocent, so pure and true

when I'm with you I can't feel blue

I'll love you till my days are through

Don't Sweat The Small Stuff

I like the "Don't Sweat the Small Stuff" series of books by Richard & Kris Carlson. Just the heading itself speaks to me loudly and clearly. Yet..... I forget easily.

The other day, I did just that. I got annoyed by something hubby said to me on the phone on the way home from work. That got me thinking about how annoying I feel he is sometimes. That got me more annoyed.

And then I started worrying about some unfinished tasks and uncompleted matters and their possible negative outcomes. That got me worrying ceaselessly. I worried about all the "what ifs" that could arise from possible delays or problems.

And then I got annoyed by how everyone these days are so unhelpful. It seemed to me that everyone only cared about themselves and their own welfare. No one seems to want to go out of their way to help others anymore.

And with that, my mood and my day went downhill. The kids started acting up because mommy was not mentally there for them and the poor things became the brunt of my irritations. And of course the hubby was not spared and naturally his mood turned sour too as a result.

And then I was woken up at about 2.45am by baby and I could not go back to sleep till 7am due to my negative feelings of annoyance and irritability. How utterly stupid.

And you know what? By the next day, everything righted itself. My unfinished jobs were completed and other things started moving along the way it should. And I had spent one whole sleepless night for nothing!

I had sweated the small stuff. I allowed little things to get to me. I allowed feelings of irritation, annoyance, unhappiness and worry to envelope me. My whole mood, stance and behaviour reflected my inner feelings. And what I got was a sleepless night and more unhappy people around me. Duh! I must remember that I am in control here! It was how I reacted to circumstances and people that made my day turned out the way it did. I could have easily not allowed my day to turn out badly by changing my own thoughts and mindset.

I shall try to remember this day and these quotes to handle another day like this one better. I'm trying to tell myself something here so most of the quotes say the same thing basically ie its how you choose to react that determines your feelings and eventually your interaction with others and your days.

"Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow; it empties today of its strength" ~ Corrie ten Boom

"It is the way we react to circumstances that determines our feelings" ~ Dale Carnegie

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances" ~ Martha Washington

"A happy person is not a person in a certain set of circumstances, but rather a person with a certain set of attitudes" ~ Hugh Downs

"What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens." ~ Thaddeus Golas

"Do you remember the things you were worrying about a year ago? How did they work out? Didn't you waste a lot of fruitless energy on account of most of them? Didn't most of them turn out all right after all? " ~ Dale Carnegie