Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016

31/12/201523/08/2026 / Wen / Leave a comment

Looking at everything through crystal clear vision, it was impossible to imagine that I had spent time working towards goals that I want, developing skills I want to use.

In the new year, I don’t wish to do anything differently. I just hope that I can continue to be healthy and rather be a happy person with a certain set of attitudes. Lots of life is about perspective. I wish I didn’t take these experiences to teach me not to take so many things for granted. Significantly, I’ve also learned that present moment living is the only way to go.

Sometimes when lives seem like we are driving backwards, we are really learning the steps that will guide us into the greatest forward leaps of our lives. I just have to be patient and realize that sometimes putting one foot in front of the other doesn’t go exactly in the direction I planned. This reminded me to continue to have faith in myself, even when it seems like all is lost.

And the good news is, faith is free.

As Lauren Kate asserted that “Sometimes beautiful things come into our lives out of nowhere. We can’t always understand them, but we have to trust in them. I know you want to question everything, but sometimes it pays to just have a little faith.”

Another Year Comes to an End…With A New Beginning

30/12/201523/08/2026 / Wen / Leave a comment

It’s time to say goodbye to 2015.

There is no better time for us to say how grateful we are.

Our year has come to end.

I’ve made more cherished memories.

I’ve learn, grow, and change from day to day.

I hope that all the things I’ve done

Have helped in some little way.

I suffer them. I survive.

I give from me to you.

In hope whatever I do and say,

Reflects the lessons learned.

For in my dearest memories,

I will keep them in my hearts.

With great hope and expectations,

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

Behold, the best is yet to come.

I see you. Darning your way to normality.

May the year 2016 be a new start and make a new ending.

The Door By Miroslav Holub

29/12/201523/08/2026 / Wen / Leave a comment

There are wise and wonderful poems about being open to possibility and change.

The following Holub’s simple piece of ‘The Door’ poem asks us only to take a chance, to go and see what might be there if we take small first step.

Go and open the door.
Maybe outside there’s
a tree, or a wood,
a garden,
or a magic city.

Go and open the door.
Maybe a dog’s rummaging.
Maybe you’ll see a face,
or an eye,
or the picture
of a picture.

Go and open the door.
If there’s a fog
it will clear.

Go and open the door.
Even if there’s only
the darkness ticking,
even if there’s only
the hollow wind,
even if
nothing
is there,
go and open the door.

At least
there’ll be
a draught.

Carpe Diem

28/12/201523/08/2026 / Wen / Leave a comment

The word carpe diem means the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future. In other words, it is telling us to seize the days! Live for the moment. Be truly present and go with the flow.

There are days when we feel anxious about the future, worry about money, health, or our loved ones. They are the ones that help us to see hope and comfort in the smallest of things. Let’s try to put aside everyday worries and grab life with both hands.

The following is an extract of William Wordsworth’s poem titled Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey:

And all its aching joys are now no more,

And all its dizzy raptures. Not for this

Faint I, nor mourn nor murmur; other gifts

Have followed, for such loss, I would believe,

Abundant recompense. For I have learned

To look on nature, not as in the hour

Of thoughtless youth, but hearing oftentimes

The still, sad music of humanity,

Nor harsh nor grating, though of ample power

To chasten and subdue. And I have felt

A presence that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused,

Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns,

And the round ocean, and the living air,

And the blue sky, and in the mind of man.

For the days when the world is too much with us…

28/12/201523/08/2026 / Wen / Leave a comment

There are those days when life is all too much: when work is taking over our lives, when it’s hard to get out of bed in the morning or when, as tired as you are, you still can’t sleep.

The poems I read in a book titled The Emergency Poet by Deborah Alma, reminded us to stop, even if it’s for only a moment, and put in perspective. Focus on the essential, best parts of life: of love, friends, and family; the simple of pleasure of being able to ‘sit out in the sun and listen.’

The beautiful poem ‘Postscript‘ written by Seamus Heaney reminds is that it is only when we take the time to stand in an in-between place, between the calm lake and the stormy sea, that we can have the space to welcome in change and all of its possibilities.

Here how it’s goes:

And some time make the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind
And the light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
With foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightning of a flock of swans,
Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white,
Their fully grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Useless to think you’ll park and capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open.

Bibliographic information

Title	Emergency Poet: An Anti-Stress Poetry Anthology
Author	Deborah Alma
Publisher	Michael O’Mara Books, Limited, 2015
ISBN	1782434054, 9781782434054
Length	192 pages

Meaningful or Meaningless

03/12/201523/08/2026 / Wen / Leave a comment

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” – Mahatma Gandhi

I am the only one. But, I am one that I cannot do everything. However, I can do something. And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do.

I have been thinking and talking about the meaningfulness of life and/or work with my friends and colleagues. I am on fire at work working with lazy people when boss isn’t at work. Literally, when the boss is on leave, the co-workers slack off. For instance, they frequent visit the restroom, surf the web all day or even messaging at their desk, while I am hustling to keep up with my daily workload. Perhaps, it is not uncommon to come across “snake” co-workers. And, it is not easy to deal with them.

Specifically, a thought came to my mind at that point of time. Why I spend nearly all your waking hours working to get “shits” done? Am I here to show up to waste my time and energy on being angry or annoyed about those lazy colleagues?

I am a firm believer that human beings are the narrative throughout their life. That is, we, as living creatures should live our life to our fullest to love for something that are guided by reasons of love.

Shouldn’t we be living our life absolutely to the fullest? As, we all die in the end. I get real pissed off seeing those slackers at work which triggers me to ponder upon the real meaningfulness in life and work.

In fact, most part of our lives, we spend working to become a people-pleaser. With that, we measure our happiness in terms of how successful we are in these roles.

More precisely, I want to say something. That is, every human beings is at the core of our ability to live meaningful lives. People sometimes judge upon them with envy or admiration. Often, the need for meaning is connected to the sense that one’s life is empty or shallow.

To have a life that not only seems meaningful but is meaningful, the objective aspect is as more important as the subjective.

According to the Stanford research project, social psychologists explored the key differences between lives of happiness and meaningfulness. While the two are similar, dramatic differences exist. That is, one should not underestimate the power of meaningfulness. “The quest for meaning is a key part of what makes us human,” the researchers concluded.

Comparatively, the recognition of meaningfulness as a value has for our concept of self-interest. A life of meaning is more deeply tied to a valued sense of self and one’s purpose in the larger context of life and community.

In other words, whether one’s life or work is meaningful or meaningless, it is all dependence on our interest in being able to see our lives as worthwhile from some point of view external to ourselves, and our interest in being able to see ourselves that enhances its life even if one is unaware of it. For this reason, the whole is greater than the sum of its part.

“People have strong inner desires that shape their lives with purpose and focus – qualities that ultimately make for a uniquely human experience.” – Jennifer Aaker (Social psychologist)