Once you see a child's self-image begin to improve, you will see significant gains in achievement areas, but even more important, you will see a child who is beginning to enjoy life more.
-Wayne Dyer
I had a great feeling of relief when I began to understand that a youngster needs more than just subject matter. I know mathematics well, and I teach it well. I used to think that was all I needed to do. Now I teach children, not math. I accept the fact that I can only succeed partially with some of them. When I don't have to know all the answers, I seem to have more answers than when I tried to be the expert. The youngster who really made me understand this was Eddie. I asked him one day why he thought he was doing so much better than last year. He gave meaning to my whole new orientation. "It's because I like myself now when I'm with you," he said.
A teacher, quoted by Everett Shostrom in "Man, The Manipulator"
Life is a journey, not a destination
PREPAID PALING MURAH DI PASARAN
Friday, July 25, 2008
{ Lyrics: CATDOG }
This is one of my little girl's favourite song at Nickelodeon... CatDog.. I was trying to find it in the MP3 format but failed. Anyone have one? Please email me! Thanks...
One fine day with a woof and a purr
Nickelodeon - CatDog(theme song) Lyrics
One fine day with a woof and a purr
A baby was born and it cause a little stir
No blue buggy no three-eyed frog
Just a feline kanine little Catdog
Catdog Catdog
Alone in the world was a little Catdog
Out on the road or back in town
All the little critters put catdog down
Trying to be brothers trying to get along
Trying to walk together trying to sing this song
Catdog Catdog
Alone in the world was a little Catdog
Catdog Catdog
Alone in the world was a little Catdog
Alone in the world was a little Catdog
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Chicken Soup On Learning To Love Yourself : The Golden Buddha
'And now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye. '
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
In the fall of 1988 my wife Georgia and I were invited to give a presentation on self-esteem and peak performance at a conference in Hong Kong. Since we had never been to the Far East before, we decided to extend our trip and visit Thailand.
When we arrived in Bangkok, we decided to take a tour of the city's most famous Buddhist temples. Along with our interpreter and driver, Georgia and I visited numerous Buddhist temples that day, but after a while they all began to blur in our memories.
However, there was one temple that left an indelible impression in our hearts and minds. It is called the Temple of the Golden Buddha. The temple itself is very small, probably no larger than thirty feet by thirty feet. But as we entered, we were stunned by the presence of a ten-and-a-half-foot tall, solid-gold Buddha. It weighs over two-and-a-half tons and is valued at approximately one hundred and ninety-six million dollars! It was quite an awesome sight—the kindly gentle, yet imposing solid-gold Buddha smiling down at us.
As we immersed ourselves in the normal sightseeing tasks (taking pictures while oohing and ahhing over the statue), I walked over to a glass case that contained a large piece of clay about eight inches thick and twelve inches wide. Next to the glass case was a typewritten page describing the history of this magnificent piece of art.
Back in 1957 a group of monks from a monastery had to relocate a clay Buddha from their temple to a new location. The monastery was to be relocated to make room for the development of a highway through Bangkok. When the crane began to lift the giant idol, the weight of it was so tremendous that it began to crack. What's more, rain began to fall. The head monk, who was concerned about damage to the sacred Buddha, decided to lower the statue back to the ground and cover it with a large canvas tarp-to protect it from the rain.
Later that evening the head monk went to check on the Buddha. He shined his flashlight under the tarp to see if the Buddha was staying dry. As the light reached the crack, he noticed a little gleam shining back and thought it strange. As he took a closer look at this gleam of light, he wondered if there might be something underneath the clay. He went to fetch a chisel and hammer from the monastery and began to chip away at the clay. As he knocked off shards of clay, the little gleam grew brighter and bigger. Many hours of labor went by before the monk stood face to face with the extraordinary solid-gold Buddha.
Historians believe that several hundred years before the head monk's discovery, the Burmese army was about to invade Thailand (then called Siam). The Siamese monks, realizing that their country would soon be attacked, covered their precious golden Buddha with an outer covering of clay in order to keep their treasure from being looted by the Burmese. Unfortunately, it appears that the Burmese slaughtered all the Siamese monks, and the well-kept secret of the golden Buddha remained intact until that fateful day in 1957.
As we flew home on Cathay Pacific Airlines I began to think to myself, "We are all like the clay Buddha covered with a shell of hardness created out of fear, and yet underneath each of us is a 'golden Buddha' a 'golden Christ' or a 'golden essence,' which is our real self. Somewhere along the way, between the ages of two and nine, we begin to cover up our 'golden essence,' our natural self. Much like the monk with the hammer and the chisel, our task now is to discover our true essence once again."
Jack Canfield
-Antoine de Saint-Exupery
In the fall of 1988 my wife Georgia and I were invited to give a presentation on self-esteem and peak performance at a conference in Hong Kong. Since we had never been to the Far East before, we decided to extend our trip and visit Thailand.
When we arrived in Bangkok, we decided to take a tour of the city's most famous Buddhist temples. Along with our interpreter and driver, Georgia and I visited numerous Buddhist temples that day, but after a while they all began to blur in our memories.
However, there was one temple that left an indelible impression in our hearts and minds. It is called the Temple of the Golden Buddha. The temple itself is very small, probably no larger than thirty feet by thirty feet. But as we entered, we were stunned by the presence of a ten-and-a-half-foot tall, solid-gold Buddha. It weighs over two-and-a-half tons and is valued at approximately one hundred and ninety-six million dollars! It was quite an awesome sight—the kindly gentle, yet imposing solid-gold Buddha smiling down at us.
As we immersed ourselves in the normal sightseeing tasks (taking pictures while oohing and ahhing over the statue), I walked over to a glass case that contained a large piece of clay about eight inches thick and twelve inches wide. Next to the glass case was a typewritten page describing the history of this magnificent piece of art.
Back in 1957 a group of monks from a monastery had to relocate a clay Buddha from their temple to a new location. The monastery was to be relocated to make room for the development of a highway through Bangkok. When the crane began to lift the giant idol, the weight of it was so tremendous that it began to crack. What's more, rain began to fall. The head monk, who was concerned about damage to the sacred Buddha, decided to lower the statue back to the ground and cover it with a large canvas tarp-to protect it from the rain.
Later that evening the head monk went to check on the Buddha. He shined his flashlight under the tarp to see if the Buddha was staying dry. As the light reached the crack, he noticed a little gleam shining back and thought it strange. As he took a closer look at this gleam of light, he wondered if there might be something underneath the clay. He went to fetch a chisel and hammer from the monastery and began to chip away at the clay. As he knocked off shards of clay, the little gleam grew brighter and bigger. Many hours of labor went by before the monk stood face to face with the extraordinary solid-gold Buddha.
Historians believe that several hundred years before the head monk's discovery, the Burmese army was about to invade Thailand (then called Siam). The Siamese monks, realizing that their country would soon be attacked, covered their precious golden Buddha with an outer covering of clay in order to keep their treasure from being looted by the Burmese. Unfortunately, it appears that the Burmese slaughtered all the Siamese monks, and the well-kept secret of the golden Buddha remained intact until that fateful day in 1957.
As we flew home on Cathay Pacific Airlines I began to think to myself, "We are all like the clay Buddha covered with a shell of hardness created out of fear, and yet underneath each of us is a 'golden Buddha' a 'golden Christ' or a 'golden essence,' which is our real self. Somewhere along the way, between the ages of two and nine, we begin to cover up our 'golden essence,' our natural self. Much like the monk with the hammer and the chisel, our task now is to discover our true essence once again."
Jack Canfield
Chicken Soup On Parenting: Children Learn What They Live
If children live with criticism, they learn to condemn.
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn what envy is.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient.
If children live with encouragement, they learn to be confident.
If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to find love in the world.
If children live with recognition, they learn to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn to be generous.
If children live with honesty and fairness, they learn what truth and justice are.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves
and in those around them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn that the world is a nice
place in which to live.
If children live with serenity, they learn to have peace of mind.
With what are your children living?
Dorothy L Nolte
If children live with hostility, they learn to fight.
If children live with fear, they learn to be apprehensive.
If children live with pity, they learn to feel sorry for themselves.
If children live with ridicule, they learn to be shy.
If children live with jealousy, they learn what envy is.
If children live with shame, they learn to feel guilty.
If children live with tolerance, they learn to be patient.
If children live with encouragement, they learn to be confident.
If children live with praise, they learn to appreciate.
If children live with approval, they learn to like themselves.
If children live with acceptance, they learn to find love in the world.
If children live with recognition, they learn to have a goal.
If children live with sharing, they learn to be generous.
If children live with honesty and fairness, they learn what truth and justice are.
If children live with security, they learn to have faith in themselves
and in those around them.
If children live with friendliness, they learn that the world is a nice
place in which to live.
If children live with serenity, they learn to have peace of mind.
With what are your children living?
Dorothy L Nolte
Chicken Soup on Love: The One Creative Force
"Spread love everywhere you go: first of all in your own house. Give love to your children, to your wife or husband, to a next door neighbor. . . . Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of God's kindness; kindness in your face, kindness in your eyes, kindness in your smile, kindness in your warm greeting. "
-Mother Teresa
A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy's future. In every case the students wrote, "He hasn't got a chance." Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen.
The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, "How do you account for your success?" In each case the reply came with feeling, 'There was a teacher."
The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement.
The teacher's eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. "It's really very simple," she said. "I loved those boys."
Eric Butterworth
-Mother Teresa
A college professor had his sociology class go into the Baltimore slums to get case histories of 200 young boys. They were asked to write an evaluation of each boy's future. In every case the students wrote, "He hasn't got a chance." Twenty-five years later another sociology professor came across the earlier study. He had his students follow up on the project to see what had happened to these boys. With the exception of 20 boys who had moved away or died, the students learned that 176 of the remaining 180 had achieved more than ordinary success as lawyers, doctors and businessmen.
The professor was astounded and decided to pursue the matter further. Fortunately, all the men were in the area and he was able to ask each one, "How do you account for your success?" In each case the reply came with feeling, 'There was a teacher."
The teacher was still alive, so he sought her out and asked the old but still alert lady what magic formula she had used to pull these boys out of the slums into successful achievement.
The teacher's eyes sparkled and her lips broke into a gentle smile. "It's really very simple," she said. "I loved those boys."
Eric Butterworth
DURIAN.... MY NASI DURIAN MEMORY...
Salam semua…
It has been a while since the very last time I updated my blog. Actually, my workload has become a mountain… and my company procedure in internet usage become so strict for the past few weeks. They have been trying to chase staff who used internet excessively… (I guessed I was one of them apart from I am using the legal internet access while most of them using Firefox or Metacafe). Heard from my colleagues, they might be issued with warning letter… if only I was in that condition.. it is a nightmare…!!! Just wishing that they won’t block blogspot or else…I dunno what to do during my free hours. It is terrible indeed to learn that many websites already filtered and blocked by IT.
Durian season… actually nowadays you can find durian at anytime. Not like maybe 20-30 years ago when people will rushed back to kampung when the season begin. Me myself didn’t have the opportunity to do so nowadays especially when the budget getting tight and time doesn’t permits to do that… oh anyway, I want to share one of my memory of durian season back in… hmm.. I can’t remember exactly the year..but let’s consider it as my childhood memories with my late grandfather.
As far as I can remember, it was during my primary school years when I was living with Atok & Ucu. When the season arrived, my compulsory activity was to get up early and search for durian in the small kebun belongs to Atok. Durian Kampung always tastes better. We made a lot of dishes using durian beside having it like that…
Pulut durian, santan durian, gula durian, bubur kacang durian…. The unique one that I bet you may never always seen it is Nasi Durian. I remembered one day during lunchtime… first time ever I discovered a meal call nasi Durian when Atok made it for his lunch. Nasi Durian composed with Hot Cooked Rice, A Few Pieces of Durian, Coconut Milk (cooked with salt to taste…never take it uncooked..!!) and sugar… I tried once that time but it can’t never get into my throat… hehehe…
It has been a while since the very last time I updated my blog. Actually, my workload has become a mountain… and my company procedure in internet usage become so strict for the past few weeks. They have been trying to chase staff who used internet excessively… (I guessed I was one of them apart from I am using the legal internet access while most of them using Firefox or Metacafe). Heard from my colleagues, they might be issued with warning letter… if only I was in that condition.. it is a nightmare…!!! Just wishing that they won’t block blogspot or else…I dunno what to do during my free hours. It is terrible indeed to learn that many websites already filtered and blocked by IT.
Durian season… actually nowadays you can find durian at anytime. Not like maybe 20-30 years ago when people will rushed back to kampung when the season begin. Me myself didn’t have the opportunity to do so nowadays especially when the budget getting tight and time doesn’t permits to do that… oh anyway, I want to share one of my memory of durian season back in… hmm.. I can’t remember exactly the year..but let’s consider it as my childhood memories with my late grandfather.
As far as I can remember, it was during my primary school years when I was living with Atok & Ucu. When the season arrived, my compulsory activity was to get up early and search for durian in the small kebun belongs to Atok. Durian Kampung always tastes better. We made a lot of dishes using durian beside having it like that…
Pulut durian, santan durian, gula durian, bubur kacang durian…. The unique one that I bet you may never always seen it is Nasi Durian. I remembered one day during lunchtime… first time ever I discovered a meal call nasi Durian when Atok made it for his lunch. Nasi Durian composed with Hot Cooked Rice, A Few Pieces of Durian, Coconut Milk (cooked with salt to taste…never take it uncooked..!!) and sugar… I tried once that time but it can’t never get into my throat… hehehe…
Until last year, when I was carrying Eiman… suddenly I missed Atok so much. He passed away in 1994…and there was the day when my husband bought durian and suddenly I was so tempted to re-try my Atoks’ favourite ‘durian-based’ dish. And it was the moment I re-discovered Nasi Durian was so delicious and promised to keep it as a heritage (even not in Malaysia…but in my family). I cooked it two days ago. And Anis loves it. But beware..!!! Something tastes good not always good for health… SENDIRI MAU INGAT MAAA….!!!
First of all… DURIAN itself contains enormous amount of fat and sugar. With additional sugar and fat from the coconut milk.. can you imagine?
It doesn’t mean you can’t have it… you can… but not in a huge amount and frequent. Yes.. 20-30 years ago, durian season once a year … maybe that is the reason old folks can keep themselves fit and free from those critical illness compare to nowadays.
I will definitely have it once a year… so far it is more than enough to satisfy my craves… and of course, to keep my childhood memories with Atok remains……
First of all… DURIAN itself contains enormous amount of fat and sugar. With additional sugar and fat from the coconut milk.. can you imagine?
It doesn’t mean you can’t have it… you can… but not in a huge amount and frequent. Yes.. 20-30 years ago, durian season once a year … maybe that is the reason old folks can keep themselves fit and free from those critical illness compare to nowadays.
I will definitely have it once a year… so far it is more than enough to satisfy my craves… and of course, to keep my childhood memories with Atok remains……
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