Time and Money

If we can use this simple analogy to view life as a whole, will we be able to better spend our time?

Let's say all the time we have in this life is equivalent to a sum of money, some people will have more, some will have less, but no one really knows how much money they have.

We use the money (time) we have to buy food.

Positive thoughts, emotions, actions leading to happy and memorable experiences = buying yummy food to eat

Negative thoughts, emotions, actions leading to suffering & unhappy experiences = buying yucky food to eat

For every dollar we use to buy yucky food, we have one dollar less to buy the yummy food we enjoy. If we spend most of our money (life) to buy yucky food, we will soon realize that we have very little money left to spend to buy good and yummy food.

Every day is our new opportunity to improve and be a better person than yesterday, dwelling on the past or persisting in our bad habits is not going to make our future better. We are unable to change history but there is always a chance to create something better now. Let's strive to make each day better and use our money wisely on good food. We never know when we will be at our last dollar in the wallet, so make every dollar (day) count smile emoticon

Death & Life

I want to share my thoughts on this taboo topic because I think that if we don't understand about death and why we fear it, we would not have fully appreciated life and cherish it.

Why are we afraid to die or afraid to see our loved ones die? The passing of a loved one is often a very sad experience as it marks the end of our physical relationship with that person. There will no more further opportunities for us to do any physical activities with the loved ones who had departed, we will not see them or talk to them ever again. The same goes for the person who is about to pass on, there is little or almost no opportunities to further interact with his/ her loved ones or do the things that he/ she aspire to. All these fear and sadness revolve around another feeling known as regret. We may regret not spending enough time with our loved ones (our parents, family, friends) when we still have the opportunities. We may regret not having the time to do the things we always wanted to do but instead choose to blindly follow others' definition of a successful life. The more regrets we have, the more we will be sad and afraid of death, because death means you have no more chances to undo all your regrets.

Qn: What are the regrets you foresee you will have when you know you are going to die? You have life now, with life comes opportunities for you to reduce as many regrets as you possibly can. Make full use of these opportunities now.

It is interesting to see many associate "how long one has lived?" to "how well one has lived?". Person A who passed on at the age of 30 have not lived as well as Person B who passed on at the age of 90. I can only agree that Person B had more time and opportunities to live the life he wants but it does not necessarily means that he has lived a more fulfilling life than Person A. If Person A has been living every day to the fullest and doing something which he enjoys and finds meaning in, while Person B is always sad and has no directions or drive in life, then a short and well lived life is definitely better than a long life of worries and emotional suffering.

Qn: Would you rather have a long-lived life or would you rather have a well-lived life? While you may not be able to define the length of life that you have, you can still define the quality of life that you want to live.

The purpose of my sharing is not to tell you that I am not afraid to die. That is totally not true because I fear death like everyone else. However, I am not going to start worrying and get sleepless nights over it. Instead, I want to turn this fear into an energy to propel me further, to appreciate the life that I have and to count all my blessings, to bear less grudges, to get angry less and to let go of many things that I can't control. I want my fear of death to remind me that I am not going to live forever and I am not even sure how much time I have left and because of these reminders, I will treasure every day that I have, for every day is my blessing and my opportunity to change my life or the life of others, for the better. The P.A.R.K journey has been very rewarding thus far but outside this "keyboard warrior" role and away from the computer screen, I am reaping much benefits in my everyday life by being positive. For every message that I send out to you that is embedded with love and positive vibes, I give something back to myself, sometimes just a gentle reminder on how life should be.

Care for Your Loved Ones on 10 Nov 2015

Dear Friends,

Tomorrow is Deepavali and public holiday, shall we all pledge to do something nice for a loved one (parents, family, friends)? It can be bringing your parents out for a nice meal, cooking for your spouse or dropping a message to a friend whom you have not caught up with for some time. It can range from anything simple to something which requires more effort, the key is to bring some joy to the people who are dear to us,show them that you are thinking about them and that you care. They will definitely be very encouraged by your thoughts and actions, esp. when we lived in such a fast paced life where everyone is so busy with work and everything else that we have no time to slow down to show more concerns to one another.

Remember that life is too short for regrets so let's start off with just one act of kindness & concern for our loved ones. Oh ya, the reason I suggested tomorrow is for you to have some time to plan something today. Please join me to spread some love around, thank you heart emoticon heart emoticon

Donation of Ring Tabs

Sharing another of Jason Cai's adventure of venturing into the unknown, seeking answers and inspirations when all seems lost and finally finding it all when the law of attraction brings me yet another pleasant surprise.

This thread which I shared last July on donating ring tabs for a good cause was bumped up recently by friends stating that they have collected ring tabs and waiting to donate it away. However, the project "Ring For Lives" have ceased collection due to lack of storage space, high rental cost since July this year. They did not state when they will resume collection.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1437902803105381/permalink/1509807242581603/

I tried searching a few times on the Internet and found many past projects doing it and but all of them have discontinued. I later found out that it was a lot effort doing the cleaning, storing, packing and then sending over to Thailand to make the prosthetic limbs. I tried searching in Facebook and could find anything other than "Ring For Life" the first few times. I thought I would have given up but somehow I went back to search again and found my friend, Victor Lim, doing a similar project back in 2012. Though he mentioned that he had discontinued the project, I went ahead to ask him if he is still collecting (no harm asking if he knew other sources collecting). I received the confirmation that the project was discontinued but the lead did not end there as he managed to find out further info for me and informed me that NEA is collecting ring tabs currently. I am also thankful that Victor went the extra mile to help me find the contact person in NEA as I tried to contact NEA but there was no reply.

I received a confirmation email today from the in-charge from NEA that they are still collecting and that donors can send to the ring tabs at the b/m location.

Contact Person: Coral (not Carol)
Contact no: 68546462
Address: 4545 Jalan Bukit Merah
Time to send collection 12pm to 6pm

Victor also shared with me that the operational model of Prostheses Foundation of H.R.H The Princess Mother (Thailand) had changed slightly. Instead of the ring tabs being used directly to make prosthetic limbs, they would be melted and made into aluminium blocks to sell to aluminium factory, with the proceeds being used to buy titanium metal, which would make lighter and more durable limbs.

Thank you very much for making the effort to collect the ring tabs, though you may not know where you can donate them. Thank you all for your support and kindness!

P2P Hits 8,000 Members Mark

Everytime our group hits a new milestone (in terms of member count), I like to share this post. I wrote this when we have 4,000 members and today we have almost doubled that figure. We have come a long way and every word I wrote still stands.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1437902803105381/permalink/1674282459467413/

What brings us all here? Kindness. By the law of attraction, we are all gathered because of the kindness we give. What are we trying to create? Hope. We want to create hope not just for the needy, but for everyone, and that in the unpredictable future ahead, there will always be a group of kind friends, who is ever willing to help you when you are at your lowest point and need help the most. This is the better future we are creating together now.

Thank you everyone for being part of our big kindness family. Every one of you is like a droplet in the ocean, without which the ocean will dry up, so every one is important to us. Thank you for all the love and kindness you give and please continue to keep up the awesome work, cheers wink emoticon

Helping Baby Aden

Dear Friends,

This is another heartbreaking case that I just came across today. Baby Aden was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) and will be currently undergoing stage 1 chemotherapy treatment, at the tender age of just 3 months old. The treatment will take 2-3 years and is estimated to cost up to S$400,000. Baby Aden family is seeking for our kind support to help them cope with the high medical bills, as they are in a tight financial situation with minimal savings.

Baby Aden's dad is the sole breadwinner for their family of 4 and he is working as a driver. Aden's mum, Angel, is a stay home mum taking care of him and his 3 yrs old brother. The medical worker helping the family is able to get financial assistance (medifund) to cover 40% of the inpatient bills while the family needs to pay the rest by medisave, cpf and cash. For the outpatient bills from the regular follow ups and scans, Aden's family will to need to pay off by cash. This is worrying as they have a series of checks/ scans upcoming as Baby Aden is currently having a throat infection, which doctors fear may spread to his eyes, heart, stomach and brain. The suggested treatment for his leukemia is as follow, stage 1 (2-3 months), stage 2 (3-4 months) and stage 3 (bones marrow transplant).

If you would like to support the family by making a small donation to encourage them, you can make a transfer to:

Baby Aden OCBC Young Savers Account
Ng Kang Le Aden
553-7-114703

Kindly indicate the amount of your contribution for tracking purpose if it is convenient for you. Thank so much for your blessings.

For donation of children items (bb clothing, milk powder, diapers), we are in the midst of checking what is lacking so we do not give more than necessary, we will update all once we have the items and quantity required from the family, thank you everyone for your patience on this. Pls refer to this thread for the latest update:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1437902803105381/permalink/1692689660960026/

For visitation of Baby Aden, the doctors have advised no visiting for the time being as Baby Aden has low immunity at this moment.

For all well wishes and encouragement, pls leave a comment in this thread (so we don't flood her inbox), I will let Angel know of your concern and kind thoughts.

Thank you everyone for your kindness !

Let's Help Baby Yujia

Dear Friends,

If you have watched Channel 8's Joy Truck last night and touched by Baby Yujia's story, I would like to seek for your kind support to help Baby Yujia and her family reach their fundraising target, to send Baby Yujia to US for treatment and live a normal life thereafter. If you have missed the episode, you can watch it here:
http://video.toggle.sg/en/series/the-joy-truck-s3/ep1/347216

Some background on Baby Yujia's condition:
At a tender age, Baby Yujia had already gone through numerous surgeries to fix a rare birth defect, esophageal atresia (esophagus not connected to her stomach). She had spent most her time in hospital and had multiple tubes connected in her body, which lead to infections to the lungs and further complications to her condition. She has yet to be fed through the mouth and her saliva needs to be suction off every 2-3 hours, which cause her more suffering. The local doctors have tried their best to fix the problem but to no avail and the only hope lies in seeking treatment in Boston Children's hospital. The medical fees will cost around $1.75M and Baby Yujia's parents are seeking kind donation to help reach this target to send Baby Yujia over for treatment.

I first shared about Baby Yujia's story back in June and we managed to pool together some donation to help her. Since then, I have discussed with Yujia's mum, Jamie, on how we can raise more funds to reach the target to send Baby Yujia to US for her operation:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1437902803105381/permalink/1647960595432933/

Why is Baby Yujia always on my mind and why I am always looking out for opportunities to help her? I think every child deserves a happy and memorable childhood and if it is within our means to help, we should do it, because we never know where our efforts can bring us to. A million dollars may seem a huge amount but with a million friends giving just $1 each, this amount is achievable. What we are giving to Yujia is more than our donated amount, what we are giving to her is a lifetime of opportunities to explore her dreams and lead a fulfilling life, when she eventually recovers from her condition. It is unfortunate and sad that a child so young has to go through so much pain and suffering at a young age, but we as fellow members of the community, can do our part to bring some solace to the family by supporting the fundraising campaign. Baby Yujia has been such a strong fighter since birth and let's help spur her further by supporting her in this journey to recovery.

Friends, I appeal to you to join me to help make a difference and help the family reach one step closer to their target, every dollar counts and is a step closer to their target, let me start the ball rolling with the first pledge:

Pledge for Fundraising to Help Baby Yujia

1. Jason Cai: $20
2. Tan Candylanmylo: $50
3. Liana Rosnita: $20
4. Susan See: $100
5. Jia Jia: $30
6. Kris Teng: $20
7. Baby Chloe: $20
8. Vince Ang: $20
9. Lin Blurbur: $20
10. Yvette Chan: $20
11. Tan Eng Kiong: $30
12. Nickmoon Lum: $20
13. Betty Lau: $50
14. Janet Koh: $50
15. Lina Yeo: $30
16. Chin Yin: $20
17. Kenneth: $10
18. Ivan: $10
19. Phebe Poon: $30
20. Zen Lim: $50
21. Shirley Ong: $50
22. Sandy Lee: $50
23. Xuan Vynce: $100
24. Pong: $50
25. Candie Tan: $100
26. Pong Cheong Lye: $50
27. Ivan Ho: $100
28. Han Chien: $50
29. Jean Ng: $200
30. Anita Ang: $100
31. Ellen Huang and Family: $1000
32. Alicia Kingsley: $50
33. Iris Lee: $50
34. Tan Wen Xiang: $20
35. Victor See: $200
36. ML Lew: $50
37. Angeline Wang: $30
38. Stephanie Chan: $100
39. Patrick Poh: $20
40. Doris Lai: $100
41. Jocelyn Foo: $30
42. Ning Theekhamongkhon: $50
43. Nancy Yap: $100
44. Janice Tan and Family: $100
45. Annie Lim: $100
46. BiBi Sim: $20
47. Iryna Estelle: $120
48. Wendy Lim: $100
49. Jessie Sxl: $50
50. Jamie Maguire: $100
51. Iris Lim: $100
52. Youyu Lim: $50
53. Joanne Ng and Eileen Ng: $100
54. Tiffany Toh: $50
55. Lily Moh: $900
56. Iris Chua: $50
57. Josephine Lai: $100
58. Eng Qiang: $10
59. Christina Lee: $100
60. ShuyingVan: $100
61. Victor Lim: $100
62. Jolyn Teo: $30
63. Evelyn Tan: $50
64. Jolene Chen: $50
65. Wen Yi Ho: $50
66. Kristy Kwek: $200
67. Shuhua Huang: $50
68. Ying Ying Phng and family: $100
69. Kenny Hii: $50
70. Yeo Pock Jin, Clarice Ho and Florence Wong: $100
71. Celia Tham: $100
72. Pei Rong Lim: $50
73. Valerie Koay: $100= $6450
74. Tianming: $50
75. Edlyn Chua:$50
76. Feby Suharto: $150
77. Lily and Guo Guang: $200
78. Darren, Chloe Chua and Mavis Han: $50
79. Vivian Yap: $50
80. Laraine Ng: $25
81. Clement: $25
82. Corrina Tay: $20
83. Ivy Zeng: $50
84. Rachel See, Eddie Lin and Leighton Lin: $100
85. Andy Koh: $100
86. Chris Aw: $20
87. Wendy Foo: $30
88. Perlin Chan: $100
89. Pelicia: $100
90. Yeo Chit Ming: $100
91. Jeremy Ong: $100
92. Kelvin Koh: $40
93. Joyce Tan: $30
94. Joyce Teo: $50
95. Adeline Tang: and Hubby: $50
96. Winnie Lee and family: $200
97. Ong Chin Liap: $50
98. Tan Bee Chin Joyce: $30
99. Alan Teo: $20
100. Jasmine Tai and Hubby: $30
101. Lim Wee Liang, Alice Koh, Adeline Yeo and Ming Hao: $80
102. Ivan: $50
103. Carol Ho: $50
104. Fang Wee: $100
105. Franneth Lee: $100
106. Edward Ckf: $100
107. Pup Tan MY: $20
108. Lydia Jia Xin: $30
109. Chung Chung Sing: $20
110. Max Tan: $10
111. Kris Lim: $100
112. Angeline Chua: $50
113. Cynthia Su Xinyi: $10
114. Kristin Su: $5= $8995
115. Jo Wee: $100
116. Meiyan, Weitang and Baby Marky: $100
117. Irene Lee: $100
118. Jorrynn Liu: $100
119. Connie Chia: $50
120. GLS: $5000
121. Vivien Chan: $50
122. Alicia Chew: $100
123. Ong Rayson: $100
124. Florence Kho and Alan Tii Family: $50
125. Yanrong Yang: $50
126. Irene Ng: $50
127. Jacqueline Ang: $20
128. Alloysius Tay: $20
129. JS Chan: $10
130. Sharon Leong: $30
131. Bee Ping: $20
132. Trixia Chua: $50
133. Blossom Lian: $50
134. Kevin Kang: $50
135. Ericia Yeow: $100
136. Lee Na Ng: $50
137. Yvonne Tan: $500
138. Karen Goh-Ng: $100
139. Christine Sim: $30
140. Rachel Ker: $150
141. Belle Yu Xi: $100
142. Gina Chua: $100
143. Raydebelle and Family: $100
144. Wayne Tan: $60
145. Beijing Low: $100
146. Joanne Tan: $50
147. CY Chan: $50

Pledge amount so far: $16585

How do donate to this cause?
Giveasia portal:
https://give.asia/movement/help_for_baby_yujia

Or Yujia OCBC Young Savers Account:
589-8-099527
Xie Yujia

Thank you all very much for your love and blessings !

Don't Give Reasons Not To Help

Was rushing off to my intended destination when I saw an old frail hunching elderly pulling a luggage that was higher than half his height. I walked past him as he walked towards where I came from, an overhead bridge. I thought to myself, "This old Uncle can't possibly want to cross that overhead bridge, is he?" Out of curiosity, I turned and saw him indeed trying to cross the bridge. I went over to offer to help him carry the luggage and realized it was not light at all. I cant imagine how is he going to carry it over himself or how long he will take to cross over. When we reached the top of the bridge, I asked Uncle why he didn't want to use the pedestrian crossing, he mentioned that the traffic lights junction was too far. We finally reached the other side and Uncle was very thankful.

It is easy to turn a blind eye to someone is need of help. I can tell myself that I am already late, next time then. I can say that my back isn't too good and not advisable to carry the heavy luggage (without even carrying it to see if it's light or heavy). I am not going to tell anyone that I did not help when I could have, since there was no one around anyway. However, for every reason I gave myself not to help, is actually a proof that deep down, I can help, I should help and I want to help. Otherwise, I would not be thinking of reasons to justify my actions of not helping.

There are many people around us who need our help and kindness, it is not difficult to spot them if we keep a lookout. When the time comes, are we going to give ourselves reasons on why we can't help when actually we can and want to?