esmondng on July 26th, 2008
Are you a shopaholic? Always buying things that you won’t even use later? Using money that you do not have yet? (e.g. Credit Cards) Here’s a little something just for you compulsive shoppers:
“There are people buying things that they don’t need,
to impress people that they don’t know,
with money that they don’t have.” ~ Unknown
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
No Expectations
A dear told me some months back: “Do things without expectations, then you wouldn’t be disappointed when you don’t get reciprocal results.” Well, that seemed pretty amazing coming from her. Deliberated, mulled and surmised that it was true. You see, work = force x distance. So going the distance means one would have to work with force in variable extents. If you put in so much effort in something, you’d naturally expect certain returns. If not, you would not have otherwise humanly done it in the first place. As often as we would instead like it, these results can turn out rather dispiriting. Thus to avoid this dampening gloom, not expecting anything in exchange would be our safest bet!
Stuck with that for awhile but soon realized this objective way of doing things was just not mortally possible! The basic fallacy of this statement is it ignores the fact that we are mere flesh and blood; frail and fragile. Any other way to agree otherwise would devoid us of our creatural roots. We are all selfish to some degree or other. Don’t you agree?
How about unconditional Love? The Love of Jesus to His children? The Love of parents to their offsprings? Are we not capable of unconditional Love? Or does it just not really exist in our mundane and secular world? Are self-sacrifice and fairytales just meant for novels and movies? Yet again, some would beg to disagree. I for one would choose to believe. For even cubs to lions mean the world, what less our Loves to we?
Yes, we are self-seeking but also perishable. So why should the nice things we do for people be? Then you ask me: “Summation be, should we expect?”
Esmond’s Very Own Quote for May:
“Give as you would expect receive. And perchance, you’d be surprised with what you tenfold inherit.” ~ © Esmond Ng 09/05/06
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
The Tests
With the exception of some rare shibboleth individuals, most of us will sparsely embrace the idea of taking tests. Whether in school or in Life, tests present themselves as a really arduous and onerous experience!
However truth be that Life very much resembles tests. It places us in situations where there are just too much uncertainties and variables. Recollect the last time you were sitting for a paper. No matter how prepared you were, there were bound to be questions where you just could not comprehend or answer. What would your strategy be then? Spend every last second on that problem? Perhaps, the more fitting one would be to carry on with the paper and return to this botheration later.
Life is exactly like this. Whenever we run into a predicament, we spend countless nights in deliberation and end up being totally vexed. What we fail to see is that like the test, Life is time constrained. We only have a limited number of earthly hours and we all have an expiry date on our bodies. Why do we persist in using up all our resources solving the baffling encounter?
When one has tried adequately yet fall short of results, it is really time to move on. In Life, it’s the same. Carry on with the rest of your lives! There are really more things to savor and enjoy beyond the current slump you are in. I’m serious. Wouldn’t you agree that it’s absolutely not worth it foregoing the scorings on the rest of the paper for that one question?
Esmond’s very own quote for April:
“Life is like a test. When u hit a patch, move on to the rest and come back later!” ~ Esmond Ng © 03/04/06
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
Must strive to do this myself too!
“March is essentially the same as moving forward, however with conviction!” ~ © Esmond Ng 02/03/06
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
From personal experience too,
“We always hurt more than others for we are the someone else in our own shoes.” ~ © Esmond Ng 01/02/06
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
From personal experience,
“They are called New Year Resolutions because they are made at the turn of the year and forgotten soon after.” ~ © Esmond Ng 17/01/06
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
Esmond’s very own quote for December again:
“They always say we long for things we can’t get. But sometimes, what we really miss are the things we once had.” ~ © Esmond Ng 09/12/05
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
My canoe once capsized and I found myself swimming for help. I swam for a long time only to comprehend I was on the same spot. The currents in the sea were keeping me stuck on the same spot! I struggled in frenzy but still, I was in the same spot. I wonder if I can let go. Let the currents carry me. Would I be somewhere else? Would the currents lead me to shore or wash me deeper into trouble?
“Sometimes the harder you try to move on, the easier it is for you to remain status quo.” ~ © Esmond Ng 10/12/05
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
Had another dear friend who used to leave this as her nick in MSN. “Everyone goes through storms before finding their Rainbows.” (Source: Unknown) I actually quite agree with that statement. Personally, I found it very encouraging and empowering especially if you’re feeling blue.
Then, I realized an exception to this. What happens if you didn’t go through any storms? What happens if you just happen to walk past one after the storms had past? Does it mean it’s any less of a Rainbow?
It’s human to err. More so, it’s human to neglect and take for granted the lovely things and people around us each and every second. Often, we don’t appreciate them until they’re no longer there. Sometimes, we don’t even see them at all!
There are more Rainbows amongst us than we think. A lot of the time, we get so fixated on wanting to make something a Rainbow, we fail to see the apparent ones around us. We get so resolute on creating a miracle with someone or something that we just can’t see the other marvels occurring besides us. Hence, Esmond’s very own quote for November:
“Question: How do you find the prettiest Rainbows?
Answer: By looking past and around them instead.”
~ © Esmond Ng 04/11/05
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
In response to a comment left on my last post in my previous blog; I believe there isn’t a single straight-forward answer pertaining to where you can find your happiness. Happiness is a solitary state of being. Only you, yourself will know whether you are truly in bliss. I feel it’s neither a process of searching nor attaining. When it happens, it just happens.
I can’t give you an answer because I don’t have one. I too, have yet to realize any certitude of happiness. I have on occasions came close but only to recognize they were merely glimpses of heaven.
What I can leave you with is something gained on one of those “occasions”. This very dear person said to me:
“Don’t look for happiness, let it look for you. You’ll be much happier.” ~ Bubu
I know embracing this statement leaves us in a very uncertain, volatile capacity. Nevertheless, ponder over it. I have challenged it, but on return found much solace in it. Why I found this phrase comforting? Esmond’s very own quote for October:
“What you can force, isn’t meant to be.” ~ © Esmond Ng 02/10/05
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
I was pondering over Selina’s MSN nick today. “Nothing is fair in this stupid world!!!” Well, life’s really not fair to me. It’s a big bitch I must agree. However, stupid? I’m not too sure. It kept me really thinking. Hence, Esmond’s very own quote for September. It’s not meant to be targeted at anyone, just people in general. In fact, I fall into this category sometimes too.
“There isn’t anything stupid about this world, just people who choose to be.” ~ © Esmond Ng 02/09/05
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
Is there such a thing as being cold? You might say: “Of course! My air-conditioner works like a refrigerator!” Well, the truth is that there really isn’t such a thing as “cold”. We can have heat, a lot of it, or sometimes very little of it. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat at all. However, we cannot go any lower than that. There simply doesn’t exist something called “cold”. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy and measurable but cold is not the opposite of heat! “Cold” is a word we made up to describe the lack of heat.
Then is there something called “darkness”? We assume we see it every single night. The truth is…there isn’t! We can have little light, a lot of light, bright light or even flashing light. Darkness isn’t the opposite of light, it’s just the lack or absence of it. If there is such a thing called “darkness”, wouldn’t we be able to make it darker?
Similarly, we don’t have “death”. Death doesn’t exist as a substantial thing. It’s also not the opposite of life. Death is just the absence of life.
I was talking to a dear friend two nights back. She was saying that she can’t and/or doesn’t feel pain anymore. Immune, you might think? What did I say? “It’s not that you don’t feel pain, you just forgot how happiness and joy felt like.” My reasoning?
“Pain is not the opposite of Happiness. It’s the absence of it.” ~ © Esmond Ng 13/09/05
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
“There’s nothing wrong with being stubborn. It only becomes a problem when you’re stubborn over the wrong things!” ~ © Esmond Ng 18/08/05
“Being a loner doesn’t have to mean that you’re lonely. Equivalently, vice versa. The worse of the two? Being both at the same time.” ~ © Esmond Ng 18/08/05
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
Sometimes I try so hard to find quotes of the month to fit into my personal experiences and Life. So this month I thought: “What the heck? I’ll come up with my own quotes instead!
“There are some people that enter your Life, then exit the very next moment. Yet there are those special ones whom come into your Heart and never really manage to find their ways out. That, my friend, is how you know you have truly lived.” ~ © Esmond Ng 02/06/05
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
These are some negative quotes I plucked off the net. Best read and forgotten. Warning: They are not meant to be inspirational or taken seriously!
“Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” — George Santayana
“The light at the end of the tunnel is the headlamp of an oncoming train.” — unknown
“That’s the remarkable thing about life. No matter how bad it gets it can always get worse.” -Calvin
“Just when you think you’ve finally hit bottom, someone tosses you a shovel.” — unknown
“People will believe anything if you whisper it.” — unknown
“If everything seems to be going well, you obviously don’t know what the hell is going on.” — Murphy’s Laws
“When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.” — unknown
“When things are perfect, that’s when you need to worry most.” — Drew Barrymore
“Today is the tommorow you dreaded yesterday.” — unknown
“Nobody’s pain hurts worse than your own.” — ‘Munky’ James Schaffer
“Anything good in life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.” — unknown
“Every one is guilty of all the good they didn’t do.” — Voltaire
“We tell you over and over again how wonderful and special you are and you just don’t get it! What’s wrong with you?!?” — Helen Morgandorfer ‘Daria’
“I’m not in denial. I’m just selective about the reality i choose to accept” -Calvin and Hobbes
“The hardest battle you’re ever going to fight is the battle just to be you.” — unknown
“Don’t ever slam a door. You might want to go back.” — unknown
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
The following were also in my friendster at one point. Found them really nice. Or rather, very heart-felt by me. Thought perhaps you’d like them too?
Love is that condition in which
The happiness of another person
Is essential to your own.
~ by Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land ~
Love, you know, seeks to make happy rather than to be happy.
~ by Ralph Connor ~
I’d like to run away
From you,
But if you didn’t come
And find me …
I would die.
~ by Shirley Bassey ~
I have loved to the point of madness;
That which is called madness,
That which to me,
Is the only sensible way to love.
~ by F. Sagan ~
If I go away
What would still remain of me?
The ghost within your eyes?
The whisper in your sighs?
You see…Believe
And I’m always there.
~ by Jon Oliva ~
I sought for Love
But Love ran away from me.
I sought my Soul
But my Soul I couldn’t see.
Then I sought You,
And I found all three.
~ by Unknown Author ~
The minute I heard my first love story,
I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was.
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere.
They’re in each other all along.
~ by Maulana Jalalu’ddin Rumi ~
To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven.
~ by Karen Sunde ~
You may only be one person to the world
But you may also be the world to one person.
~ by Anonymous ~
True love cannot be found where it truly does not exist,
Nor can it be hidden where it truly does.
~ by Anonymous ~
To love a person is to learn the song
That is in their heart,
And to sing it to them
When they have forgotten.
~ by Anonymous ~
The only things in life you regret,
Are the risks that you didn’t take.
~ by Anonymous ~
True love doesn’t have a happy ending:
True love doesn’t have an ending.
~ by Anonymous ~
You don’t love a woman because she’s beautiful,
She is beautiful because you love her.
~ by Anonymous ~
Love is not a matter of counting the years…
But making the years count.
~ by Michelle St. Amand ~
Just because someone doesn’t love you
in the way you want them to,
doesn’t mean that they don’t love you
with all they’ve got.
~ by Author unknown ~
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
From my favourite poet again.
“We that are true lovers run into strange capers; but as all is mortal in nature, so is all nature in love mortal in folly.”
–From As You Like It (II, iv, 53-56)“All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.”
–From As You Like It (II, vii, 139-143)
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
Some nice Love quotes.
“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”
–Aristotle
“In dreams and in love there are no impossibilities.”
–Janos Arnay
“My night has become a sunny dawn because of you.”
–Ibn Abbad
“A kiss is a lovely trick, designed by nature, to stop words when speech becomes superfluous.”
–Ingrid Bergmen
“Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me.”
–Sarah Bernhardt”
In my wildest dreams, you always play the hero. In my darkest hour of night, you rescue me, you save my life.”
–Bliss and Cerney
“You’re nothing short of my everything.”
–Ralph Block
“What I do and what I dream include thee, as the wine must taste of its own grapes…”
–Elizabeth Barret Browning
“Like music on the waters is they sweet voice to me.”
–Lord Byron
“I love you, not only for what you are, But for what I am when I am with you.”
–Roy Croft
“Thou art to me a delicious torment.”
–Ralph Waldo Emerson
“It’s so easy, To think about Love, To Talk about Love, To wish for Love, But it’s not always easy, To recognize Love, Even when we hold it…. In our hands.”
–Jaka
“Two souls with but a single thought, two hearts that beat as one.”
–John Keats
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart.”
–Helen Keller
“In the arithmetic of love, one plus one equals everything, and two minus one equals nothing.”
–Mignon McLaughlin
“Sometimes your nearness takes my breath away; and all the things I want to say can find no voice. Then, in silence, I can only hope my eyes will speak my heart.”
–Robert Sexton
“My heart is ever at your service.”
–William Shakespeare
“Within you I lose myself. Without you I find myself wanting to become lost again.”
–Unknown
“If I could reach up and hold a star for every time you made me smile, I would have the whole night sky in the palm of my hand.”
–Unknown
“If you love me only in my dreams, let me be asleep forever.”
–Unknown
“Kiss me and you will see stars; love me and I will give them to you.”
–Unknown
“The most eloquent silence; that of two mouths meeting in a kiss.”
–Unknown
“Love doesn’t make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile.”
–Elizabeth Browning
“If I know what love is, it is because of you.”
–Herman Hesse
“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you, I could walk in my garden forever.”
–Alfred Lord Tennyson
esmondng on July 22nd, 2008
Love fails, only when we fail to love. ~ J. Franklin
True love does not come by finding the perfect person, but by learning to see an imperfect person perfectly. ~ Jason Jordan
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