Devil Terminator: Judgment Day by Universal Studio

Our family frequented Universal Studio, Orlando last year with annual gold pass. My boys’ favorite show is Terminator 2 3-D: Battle across Time.

The main plot of Terminator 2 is that the machines who rule the future sent an unstoppable Terminator to assassinate the yet unborn John Connor who would lead the mankind to destroy the machines. A lone warrior is sent to protect John Connor and eventually the warrior terminates the devil machines and their world which is structurally perfect, destroyed by a single bomb.

Machines cannot control the world, however, some group of people behave like machines by framing the heroes up for failure, covering real history, spreading chain lies, killing and grabbing the righteous people’s achievement and properties. They are chain criminals, trying to use fake stories to cover the true history and meanwhile kill all the possible persons in the know. Public clamor can melt metals; accumulated defamation melts the bones. Nevertheless, the wrongdoers are prospering and pretending to be heroes.

Psalms 94: 21-23 says,
“They band together against the righteous
and condemn the innocent to death.
But the Lord has become my fortress,
And my God the rock in whom I take refuge.
He will repay them for their sins
And destroy them for their wickedness;
The Lord our God will destroy them.”

The Lord will come to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and in his truth. He will pick the evildoers out and throw them into the eternal fire of the hell.

God will do this through the Universal Studio because patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.

Are You God's Wife?

New York City: It's a cold day in December. A little boy about 10-year-old was standing before a shoe store on Broadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold. A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?"


"I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply.

The lady took him by the hand and went into the store, and asked the clerk to get a half dozen pairs of socks for the boy. She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her. She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel.

By this time the clerk had returned with the socks. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she then purchased him a pair of shoes, and tying up the remaining pairs of socks, gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said, "No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?"

As she turned to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in his eyes, answered the question with these words:

 "Are you God's wife?"

(From web, author unknown)

Image Courtesy: http://imagexsotic.com/statue-liberty-hd.html

Jesus Is In My Calendar

In January, a friend gave my family a calendar with interior design images.

During entire March, I saw Jesus was in the calendar, looking at me earnestly and trustfully. I examined closely, it was just an image of a living room. While I observed the calendar in a distance, Jesus gazed on me cordially.

I watched Jesus for one month. I feel He has endured extreme pain for people He loves. I think that He may have died like Braveheart before He reincarnated into Jesus and He has been suffering after he was crucified.

I wonder: Who is He?

I examined the image again – it is still a living room.

I study Bible and I am deeply touched by the words.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16, NIV)

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28 – 30)

With a Little Support, You Can Swim Freely

Sometimes, you can feel trapped and frustrated as a drowning man struggling in deep water, incapable to swim. You feel hopeless, helpless and at a loss what to do next, likewise, a little boat in a bumpy ocean without a safe place to put its anchor.


Nevertheless, there is always a way out and there is always a person you can turn to. If you communicate well, someone would listen and lend a hand to you to drag you up. If you move backward a step, you can find there is plenty of space for you. If you turn around, you can find that a helpful person is waiting for you at some corner.


If you are trapped, do the following:


-Be prepared; do not be despaired.


-Keep in high spirit; try to flow with life. If you really are drowned, it is over.

-Keep learning new knowledge and new skills. When the opportunity comes, you are ready.

-Make good judgment and turn to right people; otherwise, you can be kicked down.

-Communicate well with right people. Say right and do right with right people.

With a little support, you can swim well in the ocean of life. Likewise, with a Sterns Puddle Jumper Basic Life Jacket, even a three-year-old can swim freely in the water just like my little son.

The Joy of Living

Life is beautiful on its own. I realize this after I translated the short story Good Luck and Best Wishes from Chinese into English.

In the story, people live a primitive life with few modern belongings in a far-off mountainous area; however, they enjoy life enormously. A bowl of fermented spirits, a flowery bun, colorful strings, spices, scented pouches, and longing for love and marriage bring them great joy of living.

Mom teaches her teen daughter how to hold a needle and how to use a thimble to sew flowered cloth into the shape of a heart to make a scented pouch, and how to spread aromatic spices to make the scented pouch bulge. The girl savors the pleasure of using a thimble to push a needle, the pleasure of pulling a needle through a cloth, and the pleasure of joining two pieces of cloth together.

Dad teaches his young boy to pound the spices in a mortar with a stone pestle, but spices jump out mischievously. Through pounding and pounding, the boy finally can make the spices turn compliant and burst into flowers, which satisfies him. As he pounds the pestle up and down, the house becomes filled with the aroma.

The atmosphere is aromatic and mystic and the practice means more than itself. The teenagers feel that it is something beautiful and worth expecting. The implication of sex education is evasive, beautiful and healthy.

On Dragon Boat Festival (the 5th day of the 5th lunar month), the young boys and young girls climb onto mountaintop to collect Chinese spicy mugwort plants, they feel like harvesting good luck and best wishes for the entire year. They enjoy being young, being together, being pure and being in love.

The story doesn't provide a specific time setting nor a particular place. There is nothing to do with politics. It is simply an ode to life. Living is meaningful and beautiful by itself. It doesn't take much to be happy.

Good Luck and Best Wishes is included in the short story collection Street Wizards and Other New Folklore , one volume of 21st Century Chinese Literature, which presents a kaleidoscope of Chinese folk customs and provides a view of the multifaceted and living China.

What does your heart reflect?

Photo courtesy: http://gb.cri.cn/

Look at the wondrous picture: after a spring rainfall, a lot of raindrops left on the leaves and flowers. In each of several crystal raindrops reflected a whole beautiful daisy, magnifying the refreshing beauty of the delicate blossoms.

After a rain, the meadow is greener; the air is fresher; the sky is bluer; and perchance there is a rainbow highlighting the sky. Without a rainstorm, how can we appreciate a magnificent rainbow?

Wind and rain are natural phenomena, just as ups and downs are inevitable in life. After the rain, a raindrop reflected a beautiful daisy; after adversity, what left in our heart?

During the past several years, I read extensively from a lot of writers and bloggers. The writers teaching people how to overcome depression ever endured depression; the writers coaching people how to rise above poverty ever lived through poverty; the writers telling people to be strong and kind ever encountered financial problem and social difficulty. The bad situations make them stronger, kinder and gentler. Disruption can be turned into the light of a new day.

Each of us is a unique expression of life; our individual choice has greater effect than we know; the peace within us creates peace in the world; the beauty within us breeds beauty in the world.

Maintaining inner harmony takes patience, hope and love. Our inside world can have impact on the outside world. Remember to be kind, generous, loving and grateful.

Ask yourselves what your heart reflects? What ripple effect do you generate in the ocean of life?

Beautiful Moments

Life is composed of a sequence of moments, passing by as flowers come out and then wither, as fallen leaves float in the wind, as raindrops knock crisply on the roof.

Time flies, we can’t stop it and we can’t change it. Some moment is beautiful, some is imperfect, and some is unforgettable.

When I was little, I liked to chase dragonflies along a stream in the twilight. Set against the burning sun, the bodies of dragonflies were golden and shiny, the transparent wings silky and delicate. I caught one dragonfly, held in hands, and then set it free, watching it fly against the inflamed sky. It is a beautiful moment.

The second year in graduate school, we had a Spring Festival Evening Party. My lovely neighbor Andrea drove me to the Hall. When we sat down, a student board member came to me, said, “You look so elegant. The president of University came to the party today. I think she needs help to understand the performance. Can you go to her table as a translator?” I didn’t talk too much, but I remember that moment is beautiful.

After nine months’ pregnancy, and twelve hours’ induced labor pain, my little boy William was delivered. He was cute and wet, crouching on my chest. I kissed his little fingers and noticed his fingers were slim and long as mine. He stretched his hands to me, letting me kiss him more, what a beautiful moment!

Life is a process. If we can enjoy and cherish every beautiful moment, life will be a collection of poems. Even in the hard time, we still can find something small and subtle to fill our soul.
Photo Courtesy: fidelis - Istanbul

The Breadth of Mind

“Not refusing any tiny soil and pebble, the Tai Mountain towers into the sky; collecting all the small streams, the rivers and oceans become deep and wide.” – Li Si (280 -208 BC), Qin Dynasty.

Photo courtesy: laserspit on Flickr

All flowers compete in splendor, so we can enjoy a beautiful spring. The sea leniently accepts all rivers flowing into it, so it has its awe-inspiring magnificence. A country can take all kinds of talents into good use, so people can benefit from its prosperity and greatness.

When we are narrow-minded, we are easily fettered by anger, prejudice and hatred. If we see through the world with colored glasses, we can never really know its true nature. A prejudiced person will bind himself up with his prejudice; a biased person will be harmed by his partial view.

If everything follows the same pattern, the world may be dull and boring. Different people can live together in harmony with mutual understanding and mutual respect. Different cultures can take in the good thoughts and philosophy from the other cultures.

When people are harsh or the culture is abusive, we can develop a callous heart and a standoffish attitude. If we stand on the mountaintop, we can see far. If we uplift our soul, we will know we can forgive anybody.

It requires wisdom to open your heart and broaden your mind. The wiser a person is, the broader his mind. We can broad our mind and enrich our soul by doing the following:

Be nice to people. You don’t know that there may be a small war inside everyone. A hateful person can be in his troubled time. Use your smile to warm them up.

Learn different cultures and beliefs. Don’t behave like a frog at the bottom of a well – only able to see the little patch of sky above. We can expand our vision by selectively learning from the other people and cultures.

Be tolerant of opinions different from one’s own. People have different family backgrounds, personal experiences, cultural customs and social economic situations. If you think from their points of view and try to walk in their shoes, they may be right.

Be liberal to an opponent. An opponent, whether his perspective is correct or wrong, will provide you some valuable viewpoints, so that you can improve yourself and do better. Looking back, you will find you benefit more from your opponents than your friends.

Be open to new experiences and ways of thinking. Don’t stereotype yourself. There is always a new way of thinking. Even the greatest inventor Addison can resist the idea of alternative current.

Lifelong learning. During this fast-paced information age, if you don’t improve yourself and learn something new everyday, you fall behind. If we open our heart, we can learn something useful from almost everybody.

The Bilingual Brain

During the last year at graduate school, a delicate young lady lived across the door to my room. At late night and early morning, I heard that she read aloud in a language I didn’t understand at all. One evening, I knocked her door open, asking her why I could not understand her English a little bit.

She said, “I am a Doctorate candidate for Medicine. There are a lot of long difficult Biological and Medical terms and abstract academic content to memorize. I am almost 30, unable to memorize things easily in a foreign language, so I translate them into my native language Romanian first, recite over again to commit to memory, and then I can learn and remember them in English.” I looked at her textbooks, scared by all the hard long words. I guess she spent twice more time than an average student did.

During some sleepless nights, I heard she read loudly and drearily in Romanian, feeling frustrated and bored by school life. I believed I could never get a Ph.D.

Actually, I also had trouble thinking clearly and memorizing text in English during my school years. I felt my native language flew freely from my right brain, but English was stuck in my left brain broken into vague pieces.

The human brain functions complexly. If our mind is in the clouds, we still can muddle along with our study and work in our native language. However, it requires more mental energy, focus and inner peace to think, memorize and analyze in a foreign language. If there is no harmony inside us, it is very hard for us to study and work efficiently with a second language.

According to a research, bilingual people have an advantage: the structure of the human brain is altered by the experience of acquiring a second language - the bilingual brain develops more densely, giving it an advantage in various abilities and skills.

Some US researchers theorize that speaking two languages may increase blood and oxygen flow to the brain and keep nerve connections healthy—factors thought to help ward off dementia. Being bilingual may help to keep the brain sharper for longer.

The brain can be thought of as the command centre of the human nervous system. The more we stimulate our brain with thinking activities and movement the more it will reward us. How well we nourish our brain determine how well our brain functions. We have to eat right and sleep sound to maintain our vigor, vitality and creativity at a high level.

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I don't remember the lady's name, but she ever told me she could speak several European languages a little, such as French, German and Czech. She is more than bilingual. And her parents passed away.

Pain is Wealth of Life

"The gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials." – Confucius

We all would like to live a comfortable and pleasant life, but sometimes adversities and pains are unavoidable. Thinking positively, adversities and pains provide a training ground to refine our character and to strengthen our abilities - they are actually wealth of life.

I ever met the trickiest and the most vexing person, who stepped on my nerve and tormented me, making me unable to have peace of mind day and night. However, after that, I have become emotionally strong, able to keep calm and peaceful with any difficult people. I was hurt so much; no one can hurt me anymore.

Likewise, after you reach the bottom of a valley, every another step is uphill. After the worst scenario, every another day is better and brighter. Tough situations smooth and refine us into valuable and virtuous beings. Pain is blessing in disguise.

Pain is the touchstone of character. Character cannot be developed in ease and effortlessness. Hardships and afflictions provide us opportunity to practice endurance and fortitude, to cultivate morals and virtues, and to refine our personality. With firm and unshakable determination, we can undergo any pain and overcome any obstacle. Hardships cripple the weak, but toughen the strong.

Pain is the first light of wisdom. When a conscientious person feels pain, he will probe deeply into the way and wherefore of the situation, thus obtains patience and insight and gives rise to wisdom. Pain is the best lesson to train us to become mature, wise and strong. Moral improvement and wisdom gain will save us a great deal of trouble in the future.

Pain is medicine to the soul. If something goes wrong, not one side can be 100% right. Even if we are 5% at fault, we reflect ourselves, know our faults and correct them, we are close to have a virtuous and pure mind. When we contemplate earnestly, examine our motives and feelings from a sincere and honest mind, we can uncover our true nature and purify our soul.

Pain is the ladder to success. If we give up when we encounter a small unpleasantness, we can achieve nothing. The key to success lies in patience and persistence. Adversities and pains exercise our mind, fortify our character, build up our wisdom, purify our soul and prepare us for an important mission. Pain is the necessary step stone and ladder to success.

If you already encountered hardship, you should feel grateful. You have been already bestowed a great chance to learn important lessons, to get mature and wise, and to obtain a gentle but strong heart. The earlier the hardship comes, the earlier you can benefit from it.

No pains, no gains. More pains, more gains. Some struggles are what we need to grow fully in life.
If you like this article, you also like this: Pearl - Pain and Shine

Mother - Life and Love

The British Council ever asked over 7,000 learners in 46 countries what they considered to be the most beautiful words in the English language. Mother came the top of poll. According to the survey, the top ten most beautiful words in English language are as follows:

1. Mother;


2. Passion;


3. Smile;


4. Love;


5. Eternity;


6. Fantastic;


7. Destiny;


8. Freedom;


9. Liberty;


10. Tranquility.

Birth is an amazing biological process and a necessity for continuance of society, forming a chain of life. The mother-child relationship is the most beautiful human relationship in the world. Mother is God to her little child.

It is believed all preborn babies possess a soul from the moment of their conception. During the time of pregnancy, the mother is the custodian of the physical and spiritual components of the preborn child in her womb. The quantity of nerve-cells is determined by the nutrition in the womb and the size of nerve-cells is determined by the nutrition after birth.

During infancy, the baby obtains nourishment and pleasure from sucking at the mother's breast. Security and comfort from mother’s care at the early stage play an important role in shaping the child’s behavior pattern in later relationships. An infant feels secure and loved has more chance to become a confident grown-up.

Mother is the first teacher to her child. Her love, care, personality, life style and habits shape her child’s personality, character, intelligence and health. A child receives more influence from the mother than the teachers. Mother’s hands rock the cradle and rock the world as well.

Francis Newman ever said, “All mothers are greater than Pope and more selfless than a saint.” Mother always gives never asking for return. A mother’s love is pure, unselfish and forever. Mother’s love is the greatest love in the world; we should love back unconditionally.

Master Our Emotion

I read this story from a book for kids, but I think the wisdom is deep enough for any adult. In the African prairie, an intrepid wild horse can often be killed by a tiny bat. When a bat attacks a horse, it attaches to a leg of the horse, and then pricks into the horse skin with its sharp teeth and sucks blood from the horse. However hard the horse runs and jumps, it cannot get rid of the bat. The horse can be exhausted to death by raging, running and bleeding. Scientists analyzed the situation and concluded that the small volume of blood loss can’t kill a horse; actually, the horse dies of its uncontrolled fury and wild running.

Usually, we allow the outside events to take charge of our emotions, to stifle our wisdom and to control our reactions. We are not hurt by the other people, but by our own anger, hatred, anxiety or fear. If we lose tempers, we lose our concentration and wisdom; hence, we can’t judge well and react properly. Our uncontrolled emotion can eat us alive. We had better master our emotions and keep calm in any situation so that we can protect ourselves unharmed.

Some researchers believe spiritual living can lead to emotional freedom. Likewise, in Buddhism, as you reach the realm of enlightenment, you can be unmoved by eight kinds of circumstances: - fortune, misfortune, slander, honor, insult, praise, hardship and happiness. If you don’t have right control of your emotion, the good situations can make you go wild with joy and the bad situations can make you feel infuriated or mortified, and then you will become vulnerable. Either good or bad situations can become hindrances.

Slander and insults are most intolerable things for most people. Zen advises people not to dispute or debate when slandered. Being slandered or insulted is helping you eliminate your karmic obstacles and slanderers are collecting their own negative karma. The more you are insulted, the more you are blessed. To remain unmoved by slander is deep concentration and is the revelation of wisdom. It may not be enjoyable, but it is helpful. I think it works sometimes, but you have the right to fight back by resorting to law to get just dues.

As my understanding, to control our emotion means to keep our peace of mind undisturbed and to stick with our principle and belief system at any circumstance. Some people can be mean-spirited and narrow-minded, we can still be kind and fair; some people can be spiteful and slanderous, we can still be warm-hearted and reasonable; some people can play tricks, we can still be generous and graceful.

If we can maintain an undisturbed mind and be our true self unconditionally, we are close to emotional freedom. An emotional mature and strong person is reliable and likable. As James Allen said, “The strong, calm man is always loved and revered. He is like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm.”

Enjoy Cooking, Enjoy Life

Confucius said, “Eat, drink, man and woman, are human beings’ basic desires.” Western people say, “You are what you eat.” Scientific studies prove that what you eat could determine your health, look, even your intelligence. You have to take cooking seriously.

My mom is a very good housewife, who could make delicious food with limited resources when the supply was scarce during the hard time. Since I got married, I really enjoy cooking for my family and enjoy the dinner time with my family.

It is a great joy to cook for someone you care for and see them enjoy the fruits of your creativity. And having a meal cooked with love and care gives you warmer feeling than cooking itself – an experience your whole family should be able to revel in.

Cooking is an art. How to make a dish with good color, shape, taste, and smell is a big knack. I always go to a cooking forum to learn a new menu. Then, I will give my family a surprise with a new dish.

Cooking is a science. How much vitamin, protein and fiber you consume is determined by the material you choose and the way you cook. Eating well, you can get natural beauty, a vigorous body and a sharp mind.

Cooking is system engineering. If you have a general plan ahead and a roadmap step by step, you can cook with less time.

Cooking can be a team work. You can have a good time to pick vegetable, cut meat, fry food with your loved one. Someone even said that cooking is the best way of flirting.

If you really love life, cooking can be relaxing and fun. You can really taste pleasure in cooking as well as in eating. Life is a feast, especially sharing with persons that you love. Enjoy cooking, enjoy life.

Something to Look Forward to

This is a guest post by Ian Scott - An Englishman Abroad.

Bali, Bangkok, Kyoto, Colombo, Istanbul, Samarkand, Des Moines, Ulan Bator, Rio, Marrakesh….

When I was seventeen, I entered that list in the back of my diary, as I lay on my bed, looking out of the window at the pictures made by the clouds in the sky. I never really believed that I'd ever visit any of those places, but I'd just read On the Road, The Great Railway Bazaar and The Lonely Planet Guide to South-East Asia, and I was so full of wanderlust that I was fit to burst.

One day, I just stood on the road in front of my house and stuck my thumb out. It's really true: the first step is the hardest. I've been traveling pretty well ever since. I have visited 94 countries, but I still haven't been to all of the places on my original list, and, in a way, I don't want to...yet. I want to save a few for later.

I've visited some of them though and who'd have believed that I'd wind up one day riding a bicycle around Bali, sleeping on a tatami mat in Kyoto, staying for more than a year in a house on stilts at the edge of the South China Sea, sleeping in a yurt in the Gobi Desert, or traveling overland, half-way round the world by train from Beijing to London or by bus from Mexico to Chile?

I have kept lists of things to do ever since because I think it's important in life to have something to look forward to. Just before the beginning of every year, I get a new diary and the first thing I do is write three lists in the back: countries to visit, books to read and films to see.

Here are the top tens from my current lists:



Countries to visit:

South Africa

Swaziland

Zambia

Lesotho

Namibia

Mali

Ghana

Kazakhstan

Turkmenistan

Bhutan

Books to read:

Miss Chopsticks by Xinran

Strangers by Taichi Yamada

To the Edge of the Sky by Anhua Gao

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak

Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Travels with a Tangerine by Tim Mackintosh-Smith

Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by Paul Theroux

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Losing Nelson by Barry Unsworth

Films to see:

The Boat that Rocked

Frost/Nixon

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Departures

The Reader

The Wrestler

The Cave of the Yellow Dog

The Story of the Weeping Camel

Milk

Take Care of My Cat

Why not try making some lists of your own? Then you'll always have something to look forward to.

Welcome to http://ian-englishmanabroad.blogspot.com/

The Angel Inside

The Angel Inside, by Chris Widener, is one of the best inspirational books I have ever read. The book integrates life wisdom into a fictional story that a young American businessman, called Tom Cook, has travelled to Italy to search for meaning of life and he meets a mysterious old man who teaches the young man to follow his passion by showing him the art and life of Michelangelo.

Tom Cook just turned thirty, recently dumped by his girlfriend, and regarded to have zero career potential by his boss. He lives a life chosen by his parents and he is disappointing his parents and himself. He takes his time away from the United States to do soul-searching. In his final day at Florence, he meets an old man, who tells him a story,

“One day, Michelangelo was working on the marble that would become David, and a young boy came by and asked why he was working so hard hitting a rock. Michelangelo answered, ‘Young boy, there is an angel inside of this rock and I am setting him free.’”

Then the old man tells Tom there is an angel inside him, a person of beauty and a person of power, and that he is valuable just for who he is. There is a masterpiece within each of us, waiting to emerge. It is important to follow our passion, be confident in our strength, master the details, think big, start from small, plan well, take swift action and persevere on the journey.

Many people looked at that marble but saw nothing. But Michelangelo envisioned that the marble could become a masterpiece, the great David.

At the end, the mysterious old man turns out to be Michelangelo himself and disappears like an angel. The book is educational and entertaining, and better to read in one sit.

At this point, I reminded that I left a comment for a book review of “The Diamond Cutter ” in the blog Awake Your Authentic Self: Everyone is a diamond in rough; he can’t shine just because he hasn’t met the right diamond-cutter.

April, the Poetry Month

Inaugurated by the Academy of American Poets in 1996, every April is National Poetry Month.

Poetry can distill our life, uplift our soul, ease our emotion and heal our wounds.

Poetry can bring gentle pleasure and delightful wisdom to the shrine in our heart.

Poetry is love in words, passion on paper, music in silence, and life in distillment.

Today, let me share with you my favorite quotes about poetry and poets:

Histories make men wise; poets, witty; the mathematics, subtile; natural philosophy, deep; morals, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. ~ Sir Francis Bacon

Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. ~Leonard Cohen

Poetry is man's rebellion against being what he is. ~James Branch Cabell

Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. ~Percy Byshe Shelley

The poem is the point at which our strength gave out. ~Richard Rosen

Poetry heals the wounds inflicted by reason. ~Novalis

God is the perfect poet. ~Robert Browning

Poetry is life distilled. ~Gwendolyn Brooks

Poetry is thoughts that breathe, and words that burn. ~Thomas Gray

Poetry, like the moon, does not advertise anything. ~William Blissett

A poet looks at the world the way a man looks at a woman. ~Wallace Stevens

A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom. ~Robert Frost

Poetry is the art of uniting pleasure with truth. ~Samuel Johnson

If you've got a poem within you today, I can guarantee you a tomorrow. ~The Quote Garden

Poetry is plucking at the heartstrings, and making music with them. ~Dennis Gabor

Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those who have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things. ~T.S. Eliot

From Broadness to Focus

Some people develop a clear goal and a focused interest at their early age, but some people have a tendency to be interested in a broad array of subjects all along their life. The former are more likely to become successful in their career and life than the latter, as my previous post “The Power of Focus” suggests.

If people who have diverse interests and talents can knit together the full diversity of their experiences, they can also become highly successful and reap the harvest of their intelligence. Likewise, after you build a wide and solid foundation, on which, you can build a taller and stronger building.

A person, with a diverse interests and a breadth of knowledge, may feel he is good for nothing and unqualified for anything at some period of his life. However, as a multitalented person has a focused mind and starts to concentrate his multiple skills toward one small task or one small project, he is able to do things others cannot, and he even can work as a one-soldier army – carrying on and completing a project on his own without outside help. All the information is processed in a single brain, coordinating the right and the left hemispheres, streamlined, without the inconvenience of miscommunication and misunderstanding among several people, thus in an emergent situation a one-soldier army even can produce better result than a team does.

For example, if you have good database, mathematical, analytical, writing, design and computer skills, you can actually collect data, analyze data, summarize your findings, create diagrams, do page designs and write a report all on your own. If you have a general understanding of a lot of subjects and have very sharp learning ability, you can develop your knowledge to a higher level in a short time to meet the project’s need by using all the free resources from internet and library.

A versatile person with collective intelligence can make contribution to cross-disciplinary program or project, can apply technology in the understanding human diversity and can conduct scientific research with an insight of complex social issues. As a lot of disciplines ramify to narrower and narrower branches, and the society becomes more and more technology-driven, we may need broad-based efforts to grapple the vexing problems faced by humankind.

Be Free

If you are quick to take offense, then you will be under the control of those who find you offensive.

If you are easily angered, then your actions will be dictated by those who anger you.

If you are obsessed by what other people think, then you will be imprisoned by their thoughts.

If you yearn for easy answers and quick solutions, then you’ll fall prey to people who offer you nothing but promises.

If you find the truth too difficult to bear, then you will be enslaved to those who tell you what you want to hear.

When you have the courage to think for yourself, the strength to accept what is, the commitment and discipline to make a difference…

Then you are free. You are free to live with purpose, joy, and fulfillment. Let your life be defined, not by reactions to what others do, say, or think but rather your own unique vision.

Raise your eyes above the pettiness and follow the path of the greatness that is within you. Be free.

~ Naseeh Sharafudheen

I found this from an inspirational forum.

If we are easily influenced by other people’s opinions or let negative voices balk us on our course, we can not achieve anything. If we try hard to gain other people’s approval, to please or impress others, we may lose touch with our real self.

It is very easy to fall in line with discouraging voices. Only if we have courage within ourselves to be what we can be and do what we can do, we can realize our highest dreams and goals.

If we don’t have control of our own feelings, emotions, thoughts and dreams, we will be controlled by other people. Be free to find our real, true inner meaning. Be free to follow our dreams. Be free to be ourselves. Be free.

Continue to read Positive Attitude

The Power of Focus

Grass rustled in the dark woods as wind blew
In the dimness General Guang Li drew the bow
At crack of dawn they searched the white feather
In a corner of a stone buried deeply was the arrow

Hearing the sound of the wind in the dark woods, General Guang Li mistook a stone for a tiger, exerted all his strength to pull his bow back, because he was so focused, he was able to shoot an arrow into the hard corner of a stone. He initially acted from the mind of sincerity that had no wandering thoughts, thus, the stone was shot through. The next morning, General Guang Li realized that the tiger was actually a stone, he tried several times, but unable to repeat his previous accomplishment. Once he intentionally shot the stone with pride and vanity, he couldn’t make it.

“Utmost sincerity thus evokes a response from Heaven.” A miracle is achieved when the mind attains a certain point of purity as we sever our wandering discriminatory thoughts and attachments. When the mind is pure, there are no obstacles. With a mind of utmost sincerity, intensity, and dedication, we can do a lot of things we think we can’t achieve.

It has been claimed by social researchers that the number one reason that stops people get what they want is lack of focus. Lisa Haneberg ever wrote a book “Focus Like a Laser Beam: 10 Ways to Do What Matters Most”. Laser light is of one frequency, rather than diffusing off in all directions, running parallel to each other to a tiny target. Due to the extraordinary focus, a laser beam can melt a hole in a diamond.

Find a right cause and focus on it is not an easy thing to do, for there are too many distractions and temptations, we can be easily thrown off the track. Learning how to harness and implement the power of focus will help you enjoy more time off and improve overall performance. Focus our passion and skills into lasered energy, we can achieve more than in an incoherent mental state.

If you really want to accomplish something in either your career or personal life, stay focused on it, don't let short-term opportunities or roadblocks distract you. If you are focused on the right things, the payoff can be tremendous – you are a big achiever.

The Harmony between the Universe and the Human – for Earth Hour 2009

The ancient Chinese Philosopher Zhuangzi (369-286 BC) proposed the concept of “the harmony between the universe and the human”, which was developed by Dong zhongshu (179-104 BC) afterwards. Confucius and Taoists believe the theory that the universe is nature, and human beings are integral part of nature; there exists correspondence between man and nature, and man should live harmoniously with the environment.

At about 500 BC, Chinese people already developed sophisticated technique of smelting cast iron, 2000 years earlier than the Western world, however, the technology and heavy industry had been intentionally obstructed in China, because people felt technology would destroy the natural environment bestowed by heaven, until 1840, they were awaken by the Western world’s guns and cannons.

Nowadays, while we enjoy all the benefit of technology and science, and utilize the natural resources for our survival, comfort and pleasure, we have also created weapons of destruction and disturbed the natural balance of our earth to a dangerous level. Someday, we may create a world unfit for human habitation any more.

Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature/World Wildlife Fund), held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. Today, March 28, at 8:30 p.m., hundreds of millions of people around the world will turn off their lights in a global "vote" for action on climate change. Earth Hour is a symbolic event to raise awareness.

Click here to sign up for Earth Hour.

It is just one hour, but we can do more from our daily activities:

• Be mindful of our actions and interactions with our environment: What are we doing? What are the effects? Can we do better?
• Live simply: let go of all the unnecessary attachments, spend our time, energy and money on things truly matter.
• Conserve everything we use: use all forms of energy efficiently, do everything more effectively, not waste things we use.
• Enjoy and appreciate nature: watch the sky, listen the birds, enjoy the flowers, wade in the tides. When we truly love the nature, we would avoid doing things to harm it.
• Make clean choice: buy clean products, recycle things, be environment conscious all the time. Collective changes are made up of many small, individual changes.
• Develop a green spirituality: grow our ecological mindfulness, feel our connections to all the living things, live harmoniously with our environment.

We human are an integral part of one great living system. We are part of the earth; the earth is part of us. Love the earth we live on; each of us can contribute our positive efforts to change the world.