Bersyukur.

I have been reminded that we never count our blessings (bersyukur) often enough. We have taken a lot for granted until its been taken away from us.

Each day when we wake up, is a blessing that we are still alive and kicking. Each time we drive to work even though the traffic is terrible, we have to be thankful that we have a job to go to and a car to boot. Each time we go home, no matter how tired we are and how horrible the day had been in the office, we have to be happy that we have a place that we call home. And more so for those who have children and spouse to go home to.

There are oh! so many things I can list down which just goes to show that its so true. There are so many things that we have to be thankful for and yet we forgot to say thank you God for what You have given. Not enough anyway.

It actually can make us more humble along the way. As we know that everything that we have all comes from Him.

Especially those who have been given all the luxuries on earth; money, power, position, the more you have them, the more thankful you should be.

Or one day you may lose them all and suddenly realise that you are not that powerful afterall.......

Going Green

The idea of Saturday being a No-plastic-bag Day is to create the awareness of Going Green. You know, plastic being non biodegradable and causing plenty of harm to the atmosphere when its burned. Hence the initiative by the Government to get the people to reduce the use of plastic by bringing their own bags when they go shopping on Saturday. With the hope that people will continue to have this habit on other days too.

But sadly, I am not sure that its working very well. I can't help but notice that there are less people shopping at the grocery stores on Saturday and not many actually bring their own bags on other days. In fact I get stares from other shoppers when I bring my own bags when I do my grocery shopping which I usually do on Sunday. They probably thought that I have forgotten that it's not a Saturday.

I am proud to say that I am one of the few who would always have a foldable shopping bag in my handbag whenever I go to the mall. And my house is one of the few that would always be ready with the recycle items for the pick up every Wed morning. I am happy that my housing area is one of the lucky ones to have a weekly pick up for the recycle items.

I wish that more people would put more effort in this. I don't think it is so much of lack of awareness. I think it's more of the don't-bother attitude. Yes, we are still fine today but our children's grandchildren may not be ok as a result of our don't-care attitude today.

A friend who works in Intel told me that the company took this matter seriously. It is compulsory for the employees to bring their own food containers for them to use to buy pack lunch. I find that this is a novel idea indeed. Those styrofoam used to pack the food is really the worst as it would emit toxic fume when burned and will not degenerate when buried.

I wish more people are more sensitive to "Saving the Earth". Hey, it will not take much to bring your own bags surely?

Pinky Unite

Misty Morning at the Park

Even early in the morning there were already a number of  people in the park

It was certainly a lovely day for a walk in the park

At the highest part of the hill

A condo next to the park

Still misty even though the sun is getting higher

Trying to capture the sun rays in between the branches

The back light behind the leaves make them pretty.

Parks and Picnics

I love picnics and I love parks. Unfortunately I am the only in the house who has this passion for the outdoors.

Last night a friend asked if I would like to join her in the Pink Unity (Breast Cancer Survivor club) outing in Kiara Park and I jumped at the chance. Even when I was told that I have to be there at 7.15 am.

And I am so glad that I did.

The park was misty this particular morning and I had my camera with me. While everyone had a brisk walk around the park, I was busy snapping away and often lagged behind. Even though I have been to this park several times, I have never been there this early and during this kind of weather. It was a real pleasure indeed. I was so glad that I had my trusted Canon with me.

Of course an outing of this kind always ends with a picnic. Just what everyone looked forward too. So was I.

And the company was simply great!

Will post some photos soon.

Growing old Gracefully

My doctor told me that I have a healthy bone and that I will grow old gracefully. Hee...

My orthopedic doctor has a very good sense of humour. He never failed to perk me up whenever I pay him a visit, which is at least twice a year. Even though I have this knee problem which require me to take a daily supplement and knee jab once every two or three years, other than that my bone density test shows that I shouldn't have osteoporosis earlier that the normal average person. Alhamdulillah.

I believe that it is a result of a balance lifestyle, ie healthy eating habits and regular exercise. Many do not realise that what you eat and do when you are young will affect you at a later age. Or maybe they simply choose to ignore the fact for the love of food and for the lack of time or discipline to have an exercise routine.

Many are aware of the danger of heart attack, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. But many missed out the fact that our bone density also depends on what we eat and how active we are before we reach the age of 40 while some say as early as 30. (Actually, I also found out only like 5 years ago). And sadly, no matter how much calcium tablet you take or how much milk you drink, it will not be able to replace the loss in the bone density once you reach a certain age.

I guess since osteoporosis is not a life threatening decease that its not much talked about compared to cancer and heart attack. So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and start running around the block!

In addition a healthy dose of attitude will make a big headway in growing old gracefully too. If we continue to be cheerful and have a positive look into everything in life, it would certainly make our life more interesting and colourful. We should not limit ourselves with the stigma of age. What has it got to do with anything, anyway? No one can tell you what a person can or cannot do. Unless we have health issue, of course.

I have often been told that I don't look my age. What's my secret, they ask? Well, one thing I don't do, is think of my age! Hee....

The Sweetness of Iman

I was fortunate to be present in one of Mufti Menk's talk during his visit in Malaysia. He is a well known religious speaker from Zimbabwe and he was here last week on the invitation of Malaysian NGO. From his talk, 3 words that keeps playing in my head: the Sweetness of Iman.

He said that we can actually 'taste' the Sweetness of Iman if we do the following:
1. Love Allah and Muhammad SWT above everything else
2. Love Allah and Muhammad SWT before anyone else

You may ask, how do we "Love Allah and Muhammad above everything else"? If what we do everyday is in accordance to the teaching of Islam, then its a show of our love to Allah and Muhammad SWT. Everything that we do is to please him. We fear His wrath (and the hellfire) and we seeks His forgiveness and blessing in all that we do. All time. Every time.

In contrary, common practice that we see every day especially among the young ones are like missing their prayers for the sake of work or extra curricular activities. (refer to my earlier post entitled Life Balance). When we do that then we are not putting Allah above everything else. Our priorities is misplaced. At the same time, Mufti Menk reminded us that its not enough that we observe the pillars of Islam and Iman, but we must be able to fight the devil's temptation when it comes to desires, greed and power. Its not surprising that we find some people who would diligently do their prayers 5 times daily and fast the whole month of ramadhan, but sadly, accumulate wealth and power without a care of where it comes from or how its achieved. (refer to my earlier post entitled 'Iffah). In this case, it goes to show that we love money and power more than we love Allah.

As for "Love Allah before anyone else", well, this is when we do not do anything against the the religion even for the sake of our loved ones, be it our parents, children, spouse, family or friends. In fact we are told to breakaway from people who may influence us or make us feel pressured into any wrong doing.

Mufti Menk went on to advise us all to make sure that the company that our children are keeping with, are people with good characters in the eyes of Islam. He went on further to advice that the partner that we choose (for our children) must have a good upbringing in the religion, not just base on looks or wealth or education. (refer to my earlier post entitled "Jodoh ditangan Tuhan").

All in all, what he preached may not be news to us, but he managed to put them in a very clear perspective that we longed to do what he advised.

I will certainly strive to do all that and hope to get a little taste of the Sweetness of Iman. InsyaAllah.

P.S. For more talk from Mufti Menk, you can find him in You Tube. Just type 'Mufti Menk' and press 'search'. Happy listening and learning!

Precious Moments

Its been sometimes that I have been invited to a kid's birthday party. Attended one last week end on invitation by a colleague from the office. Some of us thought we would make an appearance and then make a quick exit when its polite to leave (especially a few of us without children of similar age as the birthday boy and girl) but we ended up staying until almost the end of the event. I must say that the adults had a good time too. We still had fun watching the games the children were playing while we chat and laugh with one another. And the food was good.

All and all, I had a pretty good week end where time was spent with family and friends. Quality time indeed.

May all our days be filled with happiness and laughter.

Gift from your Heart.

I don't know how my people share this feeling : I actually enjoy buying presents. No! Not for me. Who wouldn't enjoy buying present for yourself! Ha ha ! I mean buying  gifts especially birthday gifts for your close friends or family.

Or is it because I am a shopaholic that I find it fun buying even if its not for me? It certainly could be the case! Ha ha ha!

Anyway, the whole experience of buying a birthday present is a joy to me.  Browsing for the perfect gift, wrapping the present, tying the ribbons. I love doing it. It just makes my day when the person you bought it for simply loved the gift. And its not too difficult to find the right gift for the right person if you know the person well.

Now, buying for someone you don't know well enough can be a problem.  Even if its for children. I had to do that just today. And I spent like, an hour in the store picking up something and putting it down again as I have no clue what the birthday kid likes and dislikes. (I remember one of my daughters never have a thing for Barbie dolls and she simply didn't know what to do with it. Hee...). After two stores, I managed to find something suitable which would pleased the parents even if the child wouldn't. Ha ha! Yeah, it's one of those educational toys. But I am pretty pleased with the choice. I sure hate giving something which I am not happy myself. Even to a kid.

I finally realised that what makes the whole experience a joy. It is actually the joy of giving. And it makes a lot of difference when the gift is chosen and bought yourself, wrapped yourself and ribbon-ed yourself.  (If you are one of those who are hopeless at wrapping presents and especially at tying ribbons, ignore the last two).

And when you finally give the present to your friend, you know that it's a gift from your heart.

That's what matters most. Don't you agree?

Singing in the rain

It has been a wet and cold Saturday so far. It has been raining since early morning. One of those rains that kind of drizzles on and off and doesn't seems to want to stop. It will probably be wet and gloomy the whole day.

I tell you what. I love rainy days actually. It makes me want to cuddle up on the sofa with a good book or watch TV the whole day. I would probably fall asleep before turning the page or before the end of the show, but that's the idea!

On days like this, doesn't it make you feel grateful that you have a roof over your head, a comfortable sofa and a blanket to keep you warm?

Even when there is a heavy downpour. I would sit by the window and watch the rain beating on the roof of my car and making puddles on the ground. Everytime I do this, I wish that I can capture the moment on camera but alas the photos doesn't reflect the feeling that I have.

I guess rains reminds me of my happy and carefree childhood.

You see, those days whenever there was a heavy downpour one of us would rush to get the pails out to 'collect' the rainwater as much as we could. We had problem with the water supply back then. So, with an umbrella or raincoat on, I would rushed out to place pails strategically around the house where they could catch the water as they fell from the roof. But after awhile you would find me out in the rain playing with the puddles minus the rain coat.

It didn't take much to keep me happy, eh?

So. While rains depresses some people, it certainly have an opposite effect on me. All because of the memory of a child soaking wet jumping gleefully on puddles of water.

Fly, little bird. Fly.

Today, my 21 years old daughter is going on a short holiday with her friends. Not too far. Only to KK, Sabah. But somehow, it suddenly became a big deal for me. It suddenly dawn to me that this is another turning point in her life. Going for holidays with her friends instead of with the family. Going on a flight. Staying at a hotel. Going sight seeing and stuff that you do on a holiday. Which was only done with the family before.

Actually, its not the first time that she went for a short trip with her friends. Only last month she and a few friends went to Ipoh to stay at a friend's place. That was the first time. They visited the castle, explored the cave (Gua Tempurung), etc, etc. But it didn't seem like a big deal to me then. Maybe because its more like a visit to a friend than a holiday per se.

And it was only late last year that we allowed her to spend overnight at a friend's house in Segamat to attend a wedding.

You see, we have this house rule. No sleep overs. Friends can stay over in our house regardless how many or how long but our girls are not allowed to. And they have accepted this without any question. If they had any they never asked. Maybe because we told them this from when they were young and at that time they had no desires for sleepovers.

Well I guess, turning 21 in Oct last year was the decision point for us to break the rules. Even though I left the decision to her father, I am in total agreement.

So I guess, this is one of the moments when parents see their children making another big step forward into the real big world on their own.

Or is it just me?

Good vs Evil

You know, every religion calls for us to do good to others. And not to do bad things. Fact.

And Islam is no exception. And in Islam every person will be given sort of merit points when they do good and de-merit points (if I can call it that) when they do bad. But how its calculate is not like we learn Maths in school.

This is how it works. You only need to think or plan to do something good, then you would earn one point. Even if you don't get to do what ever you had planned to do, you still get to keep that point. And if you actually do it, you will get a minimum of 10 points. Hooray!

On the other hand, if you have the intention to do something bad, you are not penalized yet. Only when you actually do something bad then you will be given 1 de-merit point.

Sounds like a good deal, isn't it? So, one would think it would be easier to accumulate more merit points right? And there would be more good and kind people in this world, right? And more people would get to go to Heaven right?

Think again.

Cleanliness and Health.

I attended a Kelas Hadith today and the topic of discussion was about the abolution or wuduk. (a cleansing ritual that muslims perform before performing the prayers or solat). Do you know that if we do the wuduk properly base on the sunnah, its like a health therapy? There are 493 points or Biological Active Spot that would be 'activated'. Times that by 5 each day. We probably do not need to go for reflexology if we do our wuduk right. Yup! The question is, how do we do it right... Mmm. I have to find out more.

Nevertheless, it goes to show that Islam does not only emphasise on cleanliness but also good health.

Well, I am off to bed as I got to get up early for work. Have been on medical leave for the last two days. No, nothing serious! Just a couple of jab on my knees to top up the lubricant. Painful procedure though and I have to go easy on my legs for a couple of days. But it has to be done if I want to be pain free for the rest of the year or even two. InsyaAllah.

So I shall bid my good night. Sweet dreams....

Light and Camera

Before you get bored with my musing, perhaps I better share with you some photos that I have personally taken. Even though I love photography I don't have the luxury of time to spend on this delightful past time. So usually its contraint to the time when I travel or when there is a big event. So here are some shots taken recently from a family wedding. The bride is my niece and the groom is the son of my cousin. So they are sort of second cousins.

Taking photos of people is about capturing their expression. I just love taking candid shots. Hence a good camera is needed to get a sharp image. It would be better to have a telephoto lens so that the subject is unaware of the camera but alas a good telephoto lens is expensive (it would cost more than my camera) and also its just to heavy and bulky to bring to a formal function such as this one. So I normally stick to my 50 mm lens. Its pretty nifty and it does the job pretty well. Even if I may say so myself.

Why don't I let you be the judge yourself and let me know what you think!

The lovely Bride and Groom

Cousins to the bride

The next generation

                                 

'Iffah

Every second Sunday I would attend a what I call "Kelas Ilmu" (knowledge). The facilatator is Ustadz Kariman. He will share with us topics related with "Qalbun Salim" or "Sifat-sifat Mahmudah(terpuji)". In a nutshell, a self improvement class base on Quran and Hadith.

Last week the topic was 'Iffah which means the ability to stay away from any wrong doings in the eyes of Islam.

Allow me to share some of the discussion topics:
There are various means for us muslims to keep our desires in checked; physically and verbally. From the commonly debated topic like zina and aurat to the finer subject like table manners. Yes, our religion is very detailed and refined actually. The Ustadz has a very good way to deliver the topics in an interesting and at times hilarious manner.

One of them is on the subject of the food that we eat.

Surah Al-Baqarah 2:168 clearly tells us to "eat permissible (halal) good things that lies in the earth".

Two words which are emphasized here are: halal and good. Good meaning nutritious, fresh and healthy. While halal has a deeper meaning.

Many would immediately think that halal food means those that has been certified by Jakim. But its more than that. If the food is stolen. Then its not halal. If its bought using stolen money, then its not halal. If the money used is not halal money then the food is not halal. In another words how you obtain the halal food also counts. Many forget that. Or choose to forget that. It cross my mind when we were discussing this that there are many out there who has earn their salary in the wrong way. Bribery, under-counter money, dirty money, drug money. And with those money they would buy food for their family where as those food are not deemed to be halal. Sad.

And in addition, Islam also encourages us to practise a good dining etiquette. Example, we must eat slowly, we must not take too much from the buffet table, only as much as you can eat. And we certainly must never ever fight for the food. He he he...

And on another subject, he talked about the ability to refrain from saying harsh or bad things. We were reminded that we must not say anything unkind to others, even to our sworn enemies, what more to our family and friends. (read my earlier post on "The Power of Words")

Come to think of it, Islam is not that hard to practice. There are a lot of common sense in the teaching.
So, it shouldn't be too difficult for us to be a better person. As long as we are (one), steadfast and (two), do not succumb to the whispers from the devils.....! Now I know that (two) may be the hardest of the two. But that will be the true test of what kind of person we are or can be....!

So let us show the world what we are made of!!!

Shop till you drop! Part 2

Baru cerita pasal shopping semalam and this morning in our Kelas Ilmu, the Ustaz reminded us all about overspending. Ha ha ha!

Anyway, I simply thought it would be a good reminder for us all. After all we all need to keep a balance with everything that we do in life. Not to eat too much or too little, not to sleep too much or too little, not to work too much or too little. In fact everything that we do must be in moderation. (There are exception but I will not go there for now). Again, its all about discipline. Example when the food tastes so good, we may over indulge to the point of no return. That certainly happened to me. One time I have craving for macaroons. I have to have like, one or two on daily basis. Another time I have craving for red velvet cakes. Same cycle happened. I would buy like, half a cake and keep it the fridge for the week's consumption! Thank goodness I have overcame those cravings. Took me sometime to lose all that weight that I gained because of the craving and over indulgence.

So we must have the discipline to say when its enough and have the strong will to stop right there. We have to satisfy our needs not our wants. Its all easier said than done, right?

Well, my trick to avoid the devils temptation is by avoiding the circumstances to begin with. Like, do not go for the buffet lunch or dinner but the ala carte instead. Or do not go shopping when there is a big sale going on. Believe me that this is the time when you would buy things that you do not need! But if you really need to make a saving by going shopping during a sale then you have to prepare a list of items that you need and stick to buying only those in the list! Hah! I know its next to impossible. But if you can do so  once, then you can do it again!

In my younger days I would actually max my card out and pay the minimum every month. Once a year when I got my bonus, I would clear all the balance or as much as I could afford it. Lucky for me, I had only one card and the maximum expenditure allowed was not too impossible to clear at the end of the year. Now I am more disciplined and buy only what I need and clear my card payment monthly. But, I have to confess that there are one or two times in a year when I slipped. But keep that to your self ok!

Anyway, this is the ayat from the Al-Quran that our Ustaz was refering to when we had our discussion. He even suggested that we memorise the ayat and use it in our daily prayer.  

I may just do that!

Shop till you drop!

What is it about women and shopping? Its like we are born with this .... this .... err what shall I call it? Charateristic? Hobby? Habit? Genarally, that is. Of course there is the 80:20 rules where 20% would simply hate shopping or could not careless one way or another.

I remember I started developing this so call hobby when I was a student in England. Thats the very first time that I have a cheque book and a bank account. So apart from learning Maths and Physics and Chemistry for my A levels, I also learnt about shopping and clothes and shoes. This was also when I started to fall in love with good leather footwear, be it shoes or sandals for summer or boots for winter. Those days I did not need so much of a handbag so I started on my handbags collection a lot later. (tee hee...)

Shopping during my students days in England was made affordable because when the store went on sale the price were truly marked down. They almost never kept anything to the next season and there are 4 seasons in a year. But of course the best sale season is the summer sales and the boxing day sales. One in the middle of the year and the other at the end of the year. Some people would actually que from the day or night before in order to be the first in the store. I remember watching the news on TV where the lady who was first in line was telling the reporter that she wanted the fur coat that was on sale at £99 while the original price was £999! Of course there was only one piece at that price hence the mad que outside the store. Anyway, that's when we student did our shopping. I was never one of those who que from the night before but I used to be able to spend a whole day on Oxford Street, on heels some more!

Nowadays I don't shop as much as before due to the fact that I am almost at the end of my corporate life. Hence I do not need to re stock on my power suits and the matching shoes and bag. Hee...

But then again, when I was in Jakarta with friends in Dec last year, I spent twice as much as I thought I would. So the shopping bug is still there. And lately I got into shopping on line. A friend of a friend who is now staying in the US makes a living by buying marked down items from the factory outlets or store sales and selling them on FB. (sometimes the item maybe still new in Malaysia). She has quite a following. Anything that she uploaded in the morning would be sold by the next day. Almost. Some of the popular items would be gone in a matter of minutes. You would have to like, sit in front of the computer and wait for the sale to begin or you will miss the good ones. No matter what time of the day it is. Which is usually really early in the morning, like 5 or 6 am. And now I got caught in the fun of it all! Even if I dont buy anything its fun to read the caption below the uploaded photos when the regulars start to discuss on a particular item. And sometimes just as some of them are debating if they should or should not buy it (with lots of encouragement from the others), someone else comes in and say 'I will take this!'. Ha ha!

After awhile, the regulars feel like they know each other even though they have never met. Some became friends. Some even met up for coffee when they found out that they are actually practically neighbours. Some make a point of going together to the collection center and later became fast friends.

I can definitely get use to this kind of on line shopping. It certainly beat the hassle of finding parking and at times going through traffic jam. The only downside is that I miss the half an hour at my favourite coffee place, watching the world go by while sipping my latte.

All in all, whether its at the shopping mall or on the website, there seems to be a comaderie (is that the right spelling?) among the ladies when it comes to shopping. Thats why its also known as retail therapy, I guess.

After all, whether you are a big corporate person or a full time housewife, we all need a time out!

(high five!!!)

People and You

No matter what you do, just be yourself. I find that this is a very good advice indeed. I mean, we will only get more and more miserable and feel very much alone if we try to be someone else.

Take for a example a friend of mine in the office. She laughs heartily at jokes she finds funny and she will say hi to people she knows on top of her voice in a cheery greetings. No matter what others say about her being loud and 'rough', I would say that she is happy and comfortable being herself.

I am sure that if she tries to change to be all lady like and soft spoken, sooner or later she will find that its not her natural self and she will feel miserable inside.

Well, its well and good to change to be a better person and accept crititism positively. On condition that the decision to change is made full heartedly and sincerely. Otherwise it will be difficult to sustain and the old habit or behavior will just resurface naturally.

Actually I love hanging out with such people. There will never be a dull moment and the time spent when they are around is always full of fun and laughter.

But of course there may be someone you have met in your life who simply irritates you no matter what he/she does. You may feel like telling him/her to stop doing whatever that annoys you. But I tell you what! There are some people who would simply rub you the wrong way no matter how nice they are to you. So forget about trying to change him/her! Ha ha!

Anyway, if we are sincere in whatever we do and be nice to people around us by treating them the way we want to be treated, then we are alright. We can't change others if we cannot change ourself.

Good nite. Sleep tight.

Action is louder than Words

To continue where I left off, here is a great story about a Muslim husband who has changed and became a good example to the most important person in his life. His wife.

Ladies, if your husbands are not like 'that', dont worry too much about it. It may not be too late yet. (Hick)

Or..... we can be the good wives and show them a thing or two. How about that!

Jodoh di tangan Tuhan

Specially dedicated to my friends and relatives who has children ready to take that step into another life where they are not only responsible for themselves but also their life partners and later on children of their own.

Characteristics to be considered are as follows.

Adapted from Soleh.net

You are What You Believe

Just want to share another clear example of the power of the mind. If you believe that you can do it, you would definitely will be able to. Someone close to me also like to use these words; What the mind can conceive, it will believe and achieve. And its totally true. Just as explained scientifically by the motivator Hj Fadzli about NLP. The mind will set the emotion or mood into whatever action.

For this little boy, he is probably been brought up to never use his handicap as an excuse not to do anything he wants. Look at his face. There is no trace of remorse or regret. And look what he can do. Despite it all.

And yet some of us fail to do half of what he can do simply because we never really set our mind to it.

The Power of Believing.

Remember that I said in an earlier post 'The Day After' about what your mind can do to your action and I mentioned about NLP? Well here is a better explanation of it.

This is the motivator whom we engaged for our seminar last week. Some of us may remember an international motivator Ron Kauffman who talked about being 'extra-ordinary'. Well, the same term is used by Hj Fadzli except that it's in malay (luar biasa). Sama lah tu. Well, I believe here is Malaysian version of Ron Kaufman. The video above is just an intro to his work. But for two hours last week he had an audience of 500 people hanging on to his words and doing things that he asked to do. I thought he was pretty cool.

Plus the fact that he is young and can be considered good looking also help, I guess. *smile*

When I get Older I will get Stronger

I fell in love with this song which was played over and over again by a live 4 piece band during a seminar last week. The catchy beat and some of the lyrics just got to me. When I found out the title of the song I was surprised that it was actually the official song for FIFA World Cup 2010. Goes to show how much a football fan I am. Hah!

Anyway, hope that you like it too.

The Day After

Its always the same.

The day after an event.
The day after a great holiday.

Yes. The day after ...
Especially after a successful event.

There have been a series of event taken place lately since December 2011. My sister's wedding. My niece's wedding. And recently, my office business convention and award night. All of which involved lots of planning and some hard labour (hik). The last one especially. As I was fully responsible over the whole thing.

About  The day after.

I am sure many find that once the event is over,  suddenly the body takes control and decides that it needs a time out. Throughout planning and organising, prior to the event and on the event day itself, the mind is so in control and focus to get the job done that we can ignore the tired legs and the aching body and the needs for sleep. But once its over, once the feeling of jubilation and triumph has mellowed down, the feeling of Oh-gosh, I-am-so-tired, will start to creep in.

But you know what, the mind over matter stuff is totally explainable. The mind is connected to the heart which will influence a person's mood and action. Its something called Neuro-Linguistic Programming or NLP. This subject matter is not new to me but it was recently re-introduced a few days ago. And suddenly it just make sense. (Ever read the Book of Secret? It talks about the law of attraction. Its more or less the same thing).

In a nut shell, if we really set our mind on doing something, our heart will help us to focus on getting it done (passion) which in turn will lead to our action. The more focused we are, the more passionate we become and more action will come out of it.

Am I making sense?

Just give it some thought.