What the ****!!! Are you *****!!!!

"A little rudeness and disrespect can elevate a meaningless interaction to a battle of wills and add drama to an otherwise dull day.”

Often it's an unintentional remark or action, sometimes it's sarcasm or busted egos but often it resulted in unnecessary confrontations. It's like being sucked into a one way tunnel and there's no turning back. In some circumstances friends with "good" intentions and peer pressure further add fuel the fire. It's normal for us to impose our views on others however we must understand that our perceptions may not be necessarily shared by others. That's when confrontations happen...feelings get hurt or offended, regrettable words said and relationships strained. Remember my honeydew post. Sometimes what we say or do can mean different things to others.

Have you noticed how some drivers act differently when they are driving. Inside the security cocoon of their cars they feel invincible but their actions often does not reflect their true personality. So when they meet slow drivers, queue jumpers, tailgaters, squeezers, last minute lane changers etc. etc...guess what happens? Regrettably, I've been guilty of the occasional hand gestures and #@*&#*#! remarks too.

If you consider how hard it is to change yourself then you'll understand what little chance you have in trying to change others. We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses. I find it takes a lot less of my energy nowadays to just let go and let it be. It's such a relief to not feel that I have to fix others, very freeing indeed.

This is a short story that I've read about how you choose your response to a situation. I think the moral applies in any given situation among family, friends, at work and society in general.

Once there was a horse tied up on the side of the street.  Whenever someone tried to pass, the horse would kick them.  Soon a crowd gathered around the horse until a wise man was seen coming close.  The people said "This horse will surely kill anyone who tries to pass.  What are we going to do?"  The wise man looked at the horse, turned and walked down another street.

Never let hate in your heart consume you. In life you will meet people who will make you angry and mad, people who test your tolerance limits, people who are rude and disrespect you and people who abuse you. Let GOD deal with the things they do..

I end the post with this lovely quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson about success.

“To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children...to leave the world a better place...to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.”

....Have a Great Weekend & Drive Carefully

What did I do this time?

Sometimes I've wondered why I decided to do the things I did in life. If you were to ask me, I'm sure I'll give you sensible sounding reasons to explain and possibly justify my decisions. I would want you to believe that I've exercised sound judgement, especially in making the important decisions...the choices and actions I've taken in life.

So what do you think? I think the normal way is for us to do what feels right to do at the  particular point in time...and then to justify them with reasons that sounds logical for what you were already going to do anyway, whether you had justifications or not. That's a mouthful but I think you know what I mean...

So, if you want to get married (or marry again)...you'll probably give any number of reasonable sounding explanations why this is the right decision. you will explain how even though you will have some extra difficulties due to the lack of money or whatever, you will certainly be up to the challenge to make it work, or you want to have children, or how being a parent will be good for you and what a great parent you'll make, or that you're getting older and  probably it's time to settle down and so on. But if instead you don't want to, you probably say that you don't have enough money or you need to finish your education or get to a better point in your career, or you're not ready to be a parent, etc. etc. etc. In either case, none of these will be the real reason for your decision. The real reason for your decision will always be, "I did it because I wanted to do it".

And when I look back at the decisions I've made, the ridiculous behaviour and the actions I've taken, some good and some stupid... I'll have to consider it to be the inevitable result of the nature of the human psyche of doing what I wanted to do. With hindsight some of the decisions I've taken does seem illogical and typically human. And similarly I guess with decisions others make as well. Just look at how people behave in society, politics and religion and you'll know what I mean. I'm sure you  too have had your own personal experience yourself.

"The only way to comprehend what mathematicians mean by infinity is to contemplate the extent of human stupidity." - Voltaire

...to my share of idiotic and stupid decisions. Thanks for the lessons in life...

Betcha Didn't Know?

Hi guys. Have been rather quiet last couple of months...with very minimal posts on Facebook and my blogs. Just felt like posting something today maybe it might wake me up from my slumber.

I read this in the Expatriate Housing & Living magazine, recently while waiting for my takeaway pizza, thought some of the facts were amazing, some hard to believe and some quite amusing. You decide...

Did you know?

• It takes your food seven (7) seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
• One (1) strand of human hair can support 3 kg (6.6lb).
• The average man's p_ _ _ _  is three (3) times the length of his thumb.
• Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete.
• A woman's heart beats faster than a man's heart.
• Women blink twice as often as men.
• There are about one (1) trillion bacteria on each of your feet.
• The average person's skin weigh twice as much as the brain.
• Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.
• If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it

Women reading this will be finished now. Men are still busy checking their thumbs.

Salam Eid Fitri and Have a great day!

Are you a carrot, an egg or coffee?...

Another gem of a story that I personally like. It's about how we react to adversity and challenges. People do react differently to the same adversity, some see the same challenges as stepping stones and some see them as stumbling blocks...

It's a story about a young man who is always complaining about life.   He complained to his father about how life is unfair and how things were so hard for him. He was tired of struggling. as it seemed that as soon as one problem was solved, a new one arose. He did not know how he was going to make it and wanted to give up.

His father who works as a chef,  listened quietly and just nodded. He took him to the kitchen. He then filled three pots with water and placed each on a stove and soon the pots came to a boil. In one pot he placed the carrots, in the second pot he placed the eggs, and the last pot he placed the ground coffee beans. He let them to sit and boil, without saying a word.

The son waited impatiently, wondering what was going on. In about twenty minutes, the father turned off the stoves. He scooped the carrots out and placed them in a plate. He took the eggs out and placed them  in another plate. Then he  stirred  the coffee and poured it into a cup. Turning to his son , he asked him. "What do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," he replied.

The father asked him to feel the carrots. "How does it feel?", his father asked him. "Soft" the son answered. The father then asked him to take an egg and break it. After peeling off the shell, he observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, the father asked him to sip the coffee. He smiled as his son tasted its rich aroma. "What's the point?", the son asked. 

He explained that each of the items had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each has reacted differently. The carrot went in strong and hard, but after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg was fragile and soft  but it's thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hard. The ground coffee beans were unique but after they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. 

"Which one are you?" he asked his son. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond"? "Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?" 

...prefer my coffee black, please