Doris’ Life Lessons

A group of frogs were hopping contentedly through the woods, going about their froggy business, when two of them fell into a deep pit. All of the other frogs gathered around the pit to see what could be done to help their companions. When they saw how deep the pit was, they agreed that it was hopeless and told the two frogs in the pit that they should prepare themselves for their fate, because they were as good as dead.

Unwilling to accept this terrible fate, the two frogs began to jump with all of their might. Some of the frogs shouted into the pit that it was hopeless, and that the two frogs wouldn’t be in that situation if they had been more careful, more obedient to the froggy rules, and more responsible. The other frogs continued sorrowfully shouting that they should save their energy and give up, since they were already as good as dead.

The two frogs continued jumping with all their might, and after several hours of this, were quite weary. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to the calls of his fellow frogs. Exhausted, he quietly resolved himself to his fate, lay down at the bottom of the pit, and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could, although his body was wracked with pain and he was quite exhausted. Once again, his companions began yelling for him to accept his fate, stop the pain and just die. The weary frog jumped harder and harder and, wonder of wonders, finally leaped so high that he sprang from the pit.

Amazed, the other frogs celebrated his freedom and then gathering around him asked, "Why did you continue jumping when we told you it was impossible?"

The astonished frog explained to them that he was deaf, and as he saw their gestures and shouting, he thought they were cheering him on. What he had perceived as encouragement inspired him to try harder and to succeed against all odds.

This simple story contains a powerful lesson. The book of Proverbs says, "There is death and life in the power of the tongue". Your encouraging words can lift someone up and help them make it through the day. Your destructive words can cause deep wounds; they may be the weapons that destroy someone’s desire to continue trying - or even their life. Your destructive, careless word can diminish someone in the eyes of others, destroy their influence and have a lasting impact on the way others respond to them. Be careful what you say.

Speak life to (and about) those who cross your path. There is enormous power in words. If you have words of kindness, praise or encouragement - speak them now to, and about, others. Listen to your heart and respond. Someone, somewhere, is waiting for your words…

Time, such a precious word.
It gives us the gift of moments.
Moments so beautiful that change our lives forever.
But those moments turn into memories that can never be recaptured.
We are left with footprints in our minds and in our hearts.
Longing to recapture time, hoping it will last forever.

To be left with the reality of the passing of time;
So precious and so fleeting.

We can’t bring it back or relive.
Only be grateful that it happened.
So cherish every moment, never taking anything for granted,
Because some day, that will be the moment you’ll want to relive.

Love with all your heart.
Let your loved ones know how much you care.
Smile even when you want to cry.
Live life to the fullest,
Because you never know when your time will pass with the wind.

I guess there’s 2 parts to one’s past - one part that you wanted to hold on to and another part that you wanted to eliminate forever.

There are bound to be happiness and unhappiness from the past.

I hope we can all relish the good memories and let go of the bad ones. Some things are best removed from the memory lane forever so please stop haunting me on that.

Most importantly, look ahead and move on.

The past is already history, the present is for action and the future is to be created.

October 2007 has started and looking back, I wonder how I survived Sept 2007. That had been a month of extremes and anyhow, I’m glad I survived it and HEY! I’m still alive… hahaha ^_^

(Sometimes you will be amazed by how much stuffs one can take on)

One of the major milestones was to submit my PhD thesis officially at end of Sept 07. Though they are still more things to come (the oral defence etc…), more ups and downs, I have decided to look forward and move forward. Take things as they come.

The next Chapter of my life will focus on my career. And thinking forward, I can’t help but feel a tint of excitement. Maybe it’s a sense of being freed. At least, I’m not totally bound by the thesis now and will be more financially stable soon.

Right now, having submitted my thesis and with some free time at hand, I suddenly felt extremely BORED and ‘ENG’… YES! I’m BORED! Probably because the past few years have been totally goal-driven, hectic, if not nerve-wrecking. And in the recent few months, things become even more over-whelming and tense.

Nonetheless, I guess other than catching up with my sleep (Yes! I have been amazed by how much I can sleep these days actually), it’s time I start doing things that I’ve been pushing aside forever, like packing my room, clearing out from my office cubicle, clearing my emails and smses, catching up with friends, making tiramisu, start doing a bit of exercises… hmm… Maybe this is the period I can let things slow down for a while before I embark on the next stretch of journey.