vid: If you've ever been in love, if you're unsure about love, if you hope someday to fall in #love...

via holykaw.alltop.com

As an antidote to the mind-numbing vapidity of boy bands (http://blog.alphalim.me/vid-whats-wrong-with-boy-bands), here's a short film about love lost - and found again.

Dedicated to all my friends, in love and lovelorn.

Posted via email from Thoughts from My Shower

pic: You're never too poor to give...

Source: Unknown 

Posted via email from Thoughts from My Shower

pic: As a pun-lover and a Jesus freak, this sign is a double WIN, to me!

via failblog.org

Posted via email from Thoughts from My Shower

Slice o' Life: EGM at BLC - a pictorial @bangsarlutheran

Today, we had an Extraordinary General Meeting of Bangsar Lutheran Church, to decide on some matters regarding our renovations that have just begun. 

The view on my left: 

Rev Sivin Kit 

The view on my right: 

Rev Naomi Tan 

Naomi said, "Oh, my God," when I showed her this pic on my phone. 

That means she likes it, right? 

For the first time, I acted as a proxy in today's meeting. Which means, for the first time, I could vote Yes and No - simultaneously: 

No, I didn't - but it was fun to know the technical possibility existed, hahahah. 

This is how our high-tech recording secretary took minutes: 

Apple Wireless Keyboard Bluetoothed with a Nokia X-something-or-other. (Sorry, Larry. Sorry, Nokia fans. But really, people in branding should name things. We don't assign model numbers or make up words to label our children! But that's another blog post for another time... (And for yet another time - why do we have people named Fish, Rain and Billboard?)) 

The view from my seat - what a BLC EGM looks like:  

The decisions from today's meeting: Budget, bla, bla, bla, design, bla, bla, bla, contractor, bla, bla, bla, and straight guys can wear red Chuck Taylors. 

For the actual report, better wait for Larry's Bluetoothed minutes. 

Posted via email from Thoughts from My Shower

"the one single trait that's common among every single person who is happy is strong relationships"

the one single trait that’s common among every single person who is happy is strong relationships

via nytimes.com

An excellent article from the New York Times on owning less, owing less, spending less - and enjoying more.

Spend less on stuff, more on relational experiences.

Posted via email from Thoughts from My Shower

Thoughts on the Mind-Body Connection and Designer Clothing

Remember to take care of your body. Though you're young and I probably don't need to tell you this. Or, maybe I do. Is your good health and fitness of constitution a product of habit or an accident of youth? I mean to say, are you in such good shape because of the choices you make in physical activity, exercise and eating - or are you in such good shape because everything simply hasn't gone south, yet?

It's something worth thinking about. Good habits are worth developing because they pay back dividends that far exceed their initial investment. It's worth it taking the stairs, taking a walk, eating fresh food instead of processed. It pays off, in the end.

Don't underestimate the mind-body connection 

An active body is necessary for a healthy mind. You've got to get the blood and juices flowing in your body, if you want to get the neurons firing in the brain. If and when you start to feel sluggish in the mind, try taking a walk or run or swim, whatever your favourite may be.

To be honest with you, I'm speaking to myself here, because I really need to get my butt off the cushion and get myself moving. Although, most of the time, I'm sitting on a plastic and steel Ikea stool, in my studio, at my desk. Which will soon be rectified when I take possession of one of those new-style mesh office chairs. A comfortable chair is important to creative thinking. It must be true because I read it on the internet. But I digress (not too far, however - we're talking about the mind-body connection). Do to the body what you want done to the mind.

Keep yourself clean, healthy, rested, fed well and well dressed. Groom yourself. I know you were taught as a child, that only shallow people focus on the external, the outward appearance. It's true. Shallow people focus only on appearances. But smart people realise that externality is important for internal function. First we create (or choose) our environment, and then our environment creates us. How you treat your body is important. So get the right clothes for the right occasion. Get good shoes. Get clothes that are of slightly better quality than you need.

Designer clothes - to buy or not to buy?

I once listened to a debate on the radio, where people were calling in to the DJ and going back and forth about whether designer clothes were worthwhile or a waste of money. It went this way and that way, until one caller, who identified himself as a social worker, said that the best thing is to buy good clothes - even designer clothes - wear them for awhile, and then give them away. There wasn't much debate after that call, and the show wound up.

I thought that was an excellent perspective. You do want to treat yourself well - even pamper yourself, sometimes. But you do not want to be self-indulgent. You also want to give to humanity. And you want to do it fashionably. What better way to dress yourself well and keep your wardrobe fresh, than to buy clothes you love, wear them for awhile, and then give them away? But, be sure to give them away while they're still rather new - at least prior to their mid-life. Don't wait till they're worn and torn. Hey, throw in some brand new clothes, occasionally.

If you don't know anybody who could benefit from second-hand clothes, then you really do need to get out more, make some new friends and find some new contacts. And, preferably, put on some walking shoes and do it on foot! 

Posted via email from Thoughts from My Shower

How to discover your divine pathway to God

An alcoholic turns habitually, almost instinctually, to alcohol. A gambling addict turns to gambling. A philanderer turns to sex. What do I turn to? What can I turn to?

"Turn to God," that's what they say. But how does one turn to God? Singing? Study? Walks in the park? It's always a "solitary" activity, isn't it? How about godly fellowship? Does that count as an encounter with God? Yes, but somehow not in the same way. What is my way? When have I experienced the bliss of communion with God? For me, it's always been the writing. Solitary writing. What is your way? Have you discovered it?

I keep a pen and paper and iPhone with me always, the way an alcoholic keeps a hip flask with him all the time. This is my primary "divine pathway", by which I encounter the voice of God. What's your pathway to God? What have you noticed doing, that brings you into communion with God? I know someone who sings. Songs of praise. That's what he returns to again and again. Alcoholics turn to the bottle constantly. Sex addicts turn to sex constantly. Drug addicts live only for the next fix. Is there something that you turn to repeatedly, for comfort? It could be any of the usual vices, it could be something as socially acceptable in the 21st Century as TV or the internet or online gaming or Twitter. 

May I posit that these activities can be used as crutches to fulfil an emotional craving for God? In some cases, the emotional craving has evolved as a distraction from the real craving for God. I read with sadness, how Elvis, near the end, had to ingest a cocktail of barbiturates and have an assistant inject even more into his lower back as he lay on his bed, moaning for God to forgive him. That's a sad and extreme example, but is there something in our lives that acts as an emotional crutch, to try in vain to satisfy this longing for the divine? It could be something as seemingly inconsequential as addiction to romance novels or something as evidently self-destructive as an inclination to illicit relationships.

Can I also posit that there are healthy "addictions"? These are seemingly self-indulgent activities that actually do fulfil that longing for God. The usual suspects are singing, making music, intellectual study, contemplative meditation, journalling. Maybe one of these could be your pathway to the divine.

Of course, healthy habits can become unhealthy addictions if you make them an end in themselves. That would be a form of idolatry. But that's a future problem to think of. If you currently have a bad addiction or no divine pathway activity, try adopting one. Examine your past experience. Was there some healthy solitary activity that connected you with the divine? Try that.

It should be healthy, solitary, and divine. That means you'll feel and be better after doing it. It should be an activity that you do without human distraction. It should connect you with God, provide you with a catharsis of spirit that comes only from worship in spirit and truth - with all abandon and sincerity. "Be not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit", Paul said. The comparison is telling. The activity that brings us to God - that divine pathway - is something to be indulged in consistently and repeatedly until you are "drunk" - saturated, satisfied to abundance - with the Spirit.

What is your "divine pathway" to God? Do you have one? Talk back to me if you need an ear and feedback to help you discover yours.

Posted via email from Faith That Sticks