Things are looking up

It's my first blog for 2008.

I definitely am feeling better and things are definitely looking up for me. I plan to make 2008 a good year. Though it may sound like a trivial, "same old, same old" cliché, I am planning towards that. Though I do not have any concrete plan but I am happy with that idea. After all, it is a good idea so why not? :)

A new resolution for a new year. The problem with that is most people can't achieve that. So why can't those people that made the new year resolution possible? Speaking from my experiences and speaking from what I've been told and heard, it is because of the following:

1. Too unrealistic objectives. For example, a friend of mine happens to be a chain smoker wants to stop smoking completely by end of the year. Don't get me wrong, it is a very good thing to do (saving money and improve a healthier lifestyle). However, I haven't met anyone that could do that in one single year. It's a human thing that we live on day-to-day habitually. Since we are creatures of habit, it is difficult (though not impossible) to stop within one year (with no extra influences such as when a doctor just told you that you have lung cancer) after accumulating and developing that habit for 10 years or more. So my suggestion to him is to have a more achievable objective; halve the total number smoked.

2. Too many objectives to achieve. Let’s face it. There are lots and lots of things in life that we want to do/see/achieve. However (and remember) we are only human. We can’t handle lots of things that happen (in our case, things we want to happen) in our lives. Therefore, we can do better with a little at a time. Quality and not quantity I think would be the better choice, don’t you? :)

3. Influenced by others. Friends, we have them. We learn from them and they learn from us. The problem is, we also learn bad habits from them too we were not careful. Again, no offense to friends and friendship. Plus, their New Year resolution may not be the same with ours and so if you want to make a resolution to go gym and exercise, and your friends do not have the same resolution, just go and make your resolution come true. Your friends, well, I’m sure they’ll understand. :)

4. The usual “if only I am this” or “if only I have this”. An excuse? No comment.

5. Just plain old laziness. No comment either.

Anyway, I can’t think anymore. I have a short attention span. So if I have to (really have to) write long, I have to spend lots of time and lots of focus. Each final written piece would leave me brain tired. That’s why most of the time I don’t proof read.

Oh well… Brian saying over and out.

Life and hope

Something I have received in my e-mail INBOX this morning.

-----------------

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that that lit up her entire being. She said, "Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.

"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.

She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."

"No seriously," I asked.

I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me.

We became instant friends. It always mesmerized me to listen to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up. At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium.

She began: "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success."

"You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!"

"There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change."

"Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do."

At the years end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.

Lessons to begin the New Year:

1.. You are never too old to learn.

2.. Laugh and find humor everyday .

3.. Don't let change overwhelm you, let change help you find opportunities you may have never seen!

-------------------


Have a great next year ahead.