Musings

hmm… something to chew on…

Musings: By MARINA MAHATHIR

LOOKING at recent developments, I think there should be a new association registered for the propagation of the shallow and superficial. It should be called, for short, the SS.

The SS is open for membership to people who have nothing better to do with their lives than look for monsters under their beds, enemies in their blankets or crosses in their buns. The first members of the SS are the people who believe that the path to hell is paved with ice-cream biscuits.

In case there are still people out there who only read the mainstream papers and therefore have been blissfully cocooned in ignorance, a group of defenders of the faith have lodged a report that a certain brand of ice-cream biscuits have (Christian) crosses on them, and therefore this is a grave threat to our faith. If any of us were unaware that all it takes is ice-cream to melt our faith, now we know.

The SS would comprise of people who really believe that their faith needs to be protected from confectionery, lipstick, books, magazines, songs, maybe even SpongeBob SquarePants. Everything should be scrutinized for their ability to creep into one’s soul and destroy one’s beliefs. Having laws that allow for this scrutiny would apparently show how superior and strong their religion is.

The SS are not in the least bit interested in any real issues that might truly be threats to their community. Not for them the trivial matters of poverty and hunger nor of people being bombed to death every day in Iraq or
Palestine, or dying of diseases such as AIDS. Nay, these are unimportant compared to the dangers of ice-cream and lipstick.

In case anyone thinks I am making this up, some people might remember that in the days before the United States invaded
Iraq, an e-mail listing out the brands of cosmetics one should not use because their lipsticks were not halal was passed around. Undoubtedly, several hundred thousand dead Iraqis later, those who boycotted those lipsticks feel very good now.

Let us not forget other SS members, those who should be conferred the special title Simple-Minded and Stupid, otherwise known as SMS. These are the sorts who believe every little message that comes into their hot little phones, no matter how unlikely.

Without even asking simple questions like “Is it true?”, they pass them on as if they were, well, gospel. Even worse, instead of just relying on electronic gadgets, which one can always blame technology for, they pass on these messages verbally to other members of the SS, all of whom accept everything the SMS say is literally The Word of God.

The alleged Word of God is then borne into action by Korrupt Kombative Knuckleheads, otherwise known as the KKK. These will do things like throw firecrackers into churchyards, destroy temples and raid married people’s bedrooms. Pretty soon we may find them dressing up in bedsheets and stringing up people they don’t like on trees.

One thing about the SS, the SMS and the KKK is that they never take responsibility for anything. Unlike hijackers, kidnappers and terrorists who want to be known as people who do bad deeds, the Malaysian versions don’t own up to anything. If SS or SMS talk about how Other People are bad, and the KKK then go and string up people by their necks, the SS and SMS simply put their hands up and say, “But I never told them to do that. I only mentioned these things in passing.”

Thus they can pass out simpleminded but dangerous messages without having to take the consequences. Unlike Other People who are constantly being threatened with all sorts of Dire Consequences should they so much as open their mouths. This is how less than a dozen people talking peace and goodwill can be told to shut up in the face of 10,000 talking war and hate.

It’s the same sort of argument some Neanderthals make about cameras peering in inappropriate places; the victims shouldn’t have worn skirts.

The sad thing is that an association like the SS would have so many members in this country. While those who are reasonable, moderate and tolerant are getting marginalized every day.

The voice of hate is these days so much louder than the voice of peace, love and inclusiveness. Just as we don’t see the supreme irony of trumpeting our religious superiority while at the same time claiming that it only takes biscuits to destroy us, we don’t see the irony of extolling ourselves as a superior race while at the same time insisting on crutches and handouts.

Do You Need to Be Right?

Based on “Thought for the Day: Do You Need to Be Right?” By Dianna Podmoroff
Thought for the day is a regular feature at the Mind Tools Career Excellence Club.

Is being right more important to you than reaching agreements, or getting along with others? In a world where knowledge and education are valuable commodities, it’s easy to get caught up in wanting to be right all the time. You’re smart and educated, so why shouldn’t what you say be right?

Think about this – even if you ARE right, if asserting that fact results in damaged relationships, failures to reach agreement, or excessive time wasted arguing, is being right really worth it?

When you allow others to be right, you open yourself up to other perspectives, and you are perceived as a person who is willing to negotiate and reach agreements; not just argue to the death.

When you are experiencing conflict try saying, “You are right.” Watch how the dynamic of the conversation changes. Certainly there are times when being right is the only path to pursue: But when being right becomes your mantra on every point, every time, that’s when you need to step back and ask yourself why it is so important.

Try finding ways in which the other person is right: It’s a great starting place for negotiating your win-win solution!

The Most Beautiful Word in the English Language

This is an interesting article by Bruna Martinuzzi.

The Most Beautiful Word in the English Language

Many years ago, one of my university professors mentioned that “windowsill” was voted the most beautiful word in the English language. Being an armchair linguist, this factoid naturally stayed with me. Words have enormous power. They can make us erupt into laughter or bring tears to our eyes. They can influence, inspire, manipulate and shock. They can build and destroy. Some words have different effects on different people.

One such word is humility.

De-stress: Mini relaxations

This are excellent tips I came across in Everyday Health.

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The best-written book on stress control is no help to you if you can’t find time to read it. If you only have a short while to spare, dip into the stress-busting suggestions described in this section. Whether you have one minute or half an hour, you’ll find ways to ease your day.

Mini-relaxations can help allay fear and reduce pain while you sit in the dentist’s chair or lie on an examining table. They’re equally helpful in thwarting stress before an important meeting, while stuck in traffic, or when faced with people or situations that annoy you.

Here are a few quick relaxation techniques to try.

Power of thot

If you feel like a victim, or a lil bit down, this article by Shirley Scott is really a good reading to perk you up

The Power Of Thought And How To Create Your Desired Reality

 What’s a thought? It’s pure energy! It can be focused or scattered. How powerful is this energy?

What does this unseen energy do for us or against us? Just by thinking something can we change our lives?

Where do thoughts come from? If we didn’t already have some knowledge about things, could we get thoughts about them?  A thought is the product of metal activity, an idea, notion or opinion. Wow, this could be complicated, so let’s simplify it.  I’d like to take you on a trip into the world of thought. 

A thought is an energy form that starts in our brain. It doesn’t stay in our brain because it’s energy and the minute we think it, it leaves us, like a radio wave. So we can forget what we just thought or we can take that idea and manifest it into reality.  Science is proving that our brain is like a generator of power.

It doesn’t know right from wrong or good from bad; that’s up to our consciousness and sub-conscious.  Our brain only knows it’s supposed to do two things.

1. Put energy into ideas that we are focusing on so we can manifest them into reality.

2. Bring us the energy or situation we are focusing on.

So if we’re focusing on being a victim, we’ll be a victim. If we’re focusing on being poor, we’ll be poor. If we’re focusing on our fears, we’ll have them brought to us so we can overcome them. If we focus on being afraid of taking that first step to manifest what we want, we’ll never take it. But if we focus and take that first step to change our life, the brain brings us more opportunities to take more steps in that direction.

 The power of thought to manifest what we want and even what we don’t want is very powerful. What we focus on is what we get. However, most of us don’t even think we’re focusing on something. The first thing we have to do is to find out what we’re focusing on.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to find out what you’re thinking about:

• Are you always thinking about money and how you never have enough?

• Are you always focusing on what everyone else has instead of being grateful for what you have?

• Are you focused on a fear of changing your job or you life in someway?

• Are you afraid of losing your spouse or partner?

• Are you focused on your bad childhood or adulthood?

• Do you think you’re always a victim and never get what you want?

When we continuously tell people we’ve never received what we wanted, it’s like we’re telling the Universe that we’re a victim. We’re telling our brain that we’ll never get what we want because we’ve never gotten it before and why should we get it now. We’re telling ourselves that we aren’t good enough to get what we want. We’ve just talked ourselves out of getting something that we want because it has never happened before.

Ever hear the saying, “Change your mind, change your life”?

The Realities of Good & Bad Luck

There once was very poor man living in a village who had a very fine horse. So fine, in fact, that the lord of the castle wanted to buy it. But the old man always refused. “To me this horse is not merely an animal. He’s a friend. How could I sell you my friend?”

One morning he went to the stable and found his horse gone.

All the villagers said, “We told you! You should have sold your horse. Now he’s been stolen instead. What terrible luck.”

“Bad luck or good luck,” the old man said. “Who can say?”

Everyone laughed at him. But 15 days later the horse returned, followed by a whole herd of wild horses. He had escaped from the stable, courted a young mare, and returned with the rest of the herd following behind!

“What luck!” the villagers cried. The old man and his son began training the wild horses. But a week later the man’s son broke his leg trying to train one of the horses.

 ”Bad luck,” said his friends. “What are you going to do now without your son to help you? You who are already so poor.”

“Bad luck, good luck, who can say?” the old man replied.

A few days later an army belonging to the lord of the land passed through the village and forced all the young men to become soldiers. All … except the old man’s son, because of his broken leg.

“How lucky you are,” the villagers cried. “All our children are gone to war, but you’ve been able to keep your son. Our sons will probably be killed …”

The old man replied, “Bad luck, good luck… who can say?”

The future comes to us in bits and pieces. We never know what lies in store for us. But if you always maintain a positive attitude the doors of chance remain open, and you will be a happier person.