Who Would Like This Twenty-Dollar Bill?

Another inspiring short story i found in Paulo Coelho's book...

This is a story of a lecturer who began a seminar by holding up a twenty-dollar bill...

He holds up a twenty-dollar bill and start asking: 'Who would like this twenty-dollar bill?'

Several hands went up, but the lecturer said: 'Before i give it tou you, I have to do something.'

He screwed it up into a ball and said: 'Who still wants this bill?'

The hands went up again.

'And what if i do this to it?'

He threw the crumpled bill at the wall, dropped it on the floor, insulted it, trampled on it, and once more showed them the bill - now all creased and dirty. He repeated the question, and the hands stayed up.

'Never forget this scene,' he said. 'It doesn't matter what I do to this money. It is still a twenty-dollar bill. So often in our lives, we are crumpled, trampled, ill-treated, insulted, and yet despite all that, we are still worth the same.'

How Bananas teaches us the Meaning of Life

There was once a Nepalese Monk who had a philosophy of Bananas…

He opened the bag he was carrying and stood for a long time studying its contents. Then he said:

‘Did you know that banana can teach you the meaning of life?’

He took out a rotten Banana from the bag and threw it away.

‘That is the life that has been gone, and which was not used to the full and for which it is now too late.’

Then he drew out another banana, which was still green then put it back in the bag.

‘This is the life that has yet to happen, and which we need to wait until the moment is right.’

Finally, he took out a ripe banana, peeled it and shared it with the people around him.

‘This is the present moment. Learn how to gobble it up without fear or guilt.’

The Story of the Pencil

Here is a little story that inspired me yesterday that i hope to share with everyone.
I extracted the story from one of the short stories of Paulo Coelho's Like the Flowing River .

There were many more inspiring stories from the book mentions above, but then i like the idea of this story the most. I hope that in future, when me myself turns to be a mother or even a grandmother, i could be able to tell my children or grandchildren to be like the pencil, and holds on to the 5 qualities of a pencil! :D

Okie :) Hope you'll find the story below as inspiring as i did... Happy Reading :)
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A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point, he asked:
‘Are you writing a story about what we’ve done? Is it a story about me?’

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson:
‘I am writing about you, actually, but more important that the words, is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.’

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil. It didn’t seem very special.
‘But it’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen!’

‘That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.

‘First quality: you are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand God, and he always guides us according to his will.

‘Second quality: now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he’s much sharper. So you too must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.

‘Third quality: the pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.

‘Fourth quality: what really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.

‘Finally, the pencil’s fifth quality: it always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in every action.’

(Quoted from Like the Flowing River by Paulo Coelho)

Tuesday With Morrie

Well... My latest reading, after a series of Malcom Gladwell's book...

If i'm not mistaken, this book was written last decade, 1997... I was still a young girl back then. But seriously, i find this book absolutely inspiring!!! :)

I constantly have these goosebumps and touching moments throughout my whole reading! GOSH... thats been a long time since a book does this to me... :P

If you do happened to have a chance reading this, PLEASE DO... you won't regret it... and i hope that it'll inspire you they way as it has inspired me! :)

The ‘Touchy-Feely’ Course
An exercise that Morrie had his students did during his course.

Let me quote a small paragraph that really touched me from the book.

On this day, Morrie says he has an exercise for us to try. We
are to stand, facing away from our classmates, and fall backwards, relying on
another student to catch us. Most of us are uncomfortable with this, and we
cannot let go for more than a few inches before stopping ourselves. We laugh in
embarrassment.
Finally, one student, a thin, quiet,
dark-haired girl whom I notice almost always wearing bulky white fisherman
sweaters, crosses her arms over her chest, closes her eyes, leans back, and does
not flinch, like one of those Lipton tea commercials where the model splashes
into the pool.

For a moment, I am sure she is going to thump of the floor.
At the last instant, her assigned partner grabs her head and shoulders and yanks
her up harshly.

“Whoa!” several students yell. Some clap.

Morrie finally smiles.

“You see,” he says to the girl, “you closed your eyes. That
was the difference. Sometimes you cannot believe what you see; you have to
believe what you feel. And if you are ever to have other people trust you, you
must feel that you can trust them, too – even when you’re in the dark. Even when
you’re falling.”

Wow... right after i finish the last word of that paragraph... I can feel the moist in my eyes... Hmmm but then again, this is really a subjective matter, cause different people might have different judgement for this kind of feeling. Anyway... i just wanted to share this wonderful book with you all... hope you'll enjoy it too! :)

Risk Taker? or a Safe Player?

Yup Yup! Life is too short to sit down and ponder about all the 'what if...' and I've decided not to play safe anymore!

At the end of December 2009, I've made quite a risky move... moving out from my comfort zone just to see what i can achieve at this brand new place...

Risk was made, resulting consequences that i had to bare, though its all now over... but come to think of the first few weeks after i finalize and made that decision, the whole process was all so over-whelming! >.<''' that is indeed a very good experience for me, and i guess despite all the negative consequences that cost me, i would still choose this risky decision.

Moving towards a new decade of our current millenium, i figured that i really have not much time left to waste... Turning in to my mid-twenties this year, leaving me even lesser time for explore all the possibilities and most importantly being able to experience life as free will as i can do at my teens...

I actually feel quite lucky that i could embrace the opportunity given to me, making risky decision, learning to be independant, crying alone through the lonely nights when i feel all hopeless, satisfied when i know i've overcome all the difficulties and finally being able to reach a state of stability (well... not to say that i am all stable and steady now... +_+''' but at least i know i am adapting to the new environment here). All this contributes in to my life experience, its all the answers to my 'what if...' questions. Though its tough, but at least i found answers to it, with no regrets! :)

Living life with no regrets, answering all my 'what if...' questions is what i feel responsible to myself for at least the last few years of my twenties, because i know after that things will be all different. BUT, of course... i'm still obliged to whatever i need to do as a daughter, as a sister, as human to this society! >.<>

Its impossible that i will ask questions like, 'what if i robbed a bank?' right?! +_+''' come on man...

I want to remember my twenties as being a risk-taker and remember all these soul searching incidents of my life... Good or bad, its subjective to everyone... as long as I'm still breathing, i will still embrace whatever comes along my soul searching path! :)

New Ideas :)

Exploring new ideas! My other new work, despite the long blanky project that I’ve been working on for more than 3 months now… :P First attempt in making these small small stuff… trying to learn some new techniques from mama… but still couldn't get my hands on the right track yet! >.<’’’ well… as they say, practices makes perfect! I’m sure with more practices; I’ll get it done one day! :)

The Time Traveler's Wife

The trailer caught my attention, once i laid my eyes on it... (Let's not forget how gorgeous Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams is... How compatible the both of them are in the movie)

Well i must say, this is my type of movie (romance genre) :P
The plot of the movie might be a little messy, as Henry (Eric Bana) the story's hero had to travel through time a lot, unwillingly and helplessly inevitable as he cannot control the time traveling ability. But he gets to travel back to the significant places and time frame of his life. Claire (Rachel McAdams) in the other hand plays a passive waiting role, waiting for him to appear & waiting for him to come back from time traveling.

Its a big hide and seek for both of them, even if they knew that the process was going to be unbearably difficult... They both strive to work it out! :) I know this kind of plot normally would only appear in fiction story, but how good would it be if in true life, 2 people would be able sacrifice and tolerate 100% for each other just to make things happen...

Claire once said a line that touches me dearly, 'If there is by all means any chance for me to make another decision, I will still choose to be with you right here, right this moment. With no regrets!' (something like that... not sure is that what exactly she mentioned in the movie, but it carries the same message though... :P, go watch it and let me know ya!)
Yeah! With no regrets! that's the spirit... Even if in the end, you might end up all wounded, sad, and alone. At least, what you have with you are the sweet memories that you once had, and that is the one thing you can cherish for the rest of your life, right?

Overall, i would rate this movie 4/5... well, i might be a little bias, after all... this is my favorite genre... :P