Don't copy if you can't paste! ~ Anonymous

A popular motivational speaker was entertaining his audience. He said: "The best years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who wasn't my wife!"

The audience was in silence and shock.

The speaker added: "And that woman was my mother!" Laughter and applause.

A week later, a top manager trained by the motivational speaker tried to crack this very effective joke at home. He was a bit foggy after a drink. He said loudly to his wife who was preparing dinner,” The greatest years of my life were spent in the arms of a woman who was not my wife!"

The wife went; "Aaaaaggh!" with shock and rage!!

Standing there for 20 seconds trying to recall the second half of the joke, the manager finally blurted out "...and I can't remember who she was!" By the time the manager regained his consciousness, he was on a hospital bed nursing burns from boiling water.

Moral of the story: Don't copy if you can't paste!

story of 2 trees

There were 2 trees.

One tree, Strong, was in the middle of a cluster of similar trees, by a small river. Seasons come and go. It never faced the fiercest of storms nor the driest of drought. It is always sheltered by the trees around it from the winds and the storms. As it is near the small river, its roots never need to go deep or far for water. The roots of the fellow trees also help to stabilize it and keep it standing firm and straight. Its height did not increase for years as it is comfortably shielded by the trees beside it. Life is good.

Another tree, Weak, was planted near the edge of the forest, some distance away from this cluster of trees. Seasons come and go. It faced the fiercest of storms and constant strong north-east wind. In its initial years, it laments daily why it is planted at the wrong spot. There were times when it almost got uprooted. It is never easy with the wind blowing at you all the time. It did not have luxurious leaves or a beautiful crown like Strong. It laments its weakness compared to Strong.

One day, a strong earthquake struck. Many trees from the cluster were uprooted. Both Strong and Weak survived. Strong was protected by the trees around it. Weak was surprised it survived. Weak was the weakest of them all, so how did it survive?

Two days passed and another earthquake struck. Strong was badly shaken as there are no fellow trees around it this time. Its roots were too shallow to hold itself up during the earthquake and it was almost uprooted. Still, Weak remains as it is. Weak is even more surprised now.

Then the small river disappeared after the earthquake.

Strong started drying up very fast as its roots could not reach the deep water sources since its reliance had been the small river. It laments daily and tries to grow its roots deeper. Yet, the lack of water restraints its growth. Before long, it dried up completely.

Still, Weak continued growing and its crown got wider. Weak asked the Sun why. Sun told Weak: "Although you look weak from the surface, your roots have been growing deeper to tap the water sources and wider to support yourself from the storms and strong winds that struck you daily. Strong was too reliant on the small river and the cluster of trees around it, so it naturally did not have deep roots. Though you thought you were weak, yet, you are becoming stronger daily through fighting the storms and strong winds."

Author Unknown (Received this story from Lex via email.)

the agape love

The presence of the Holy Spirit was really strong during worship session. I felt God's love so strong and so intense that I wept uncontrollably. I was Jonas. Despite my constant running away, God never let go of me and loved me so deeply I just felt so so small. God reminded me of how I almost gave up when God led me to the new cell group and new church. God so loved me that he brought me to a place where my cell group leader was so spiritual and close to God that he knew by prayers that I was his sheep.

My cell leader felt impressed by the Lord to let us wash each others' feet. It was the most humbling experience for me. I felt so emotional as my leader washed my feet. I could imagine how Jesus' disciples felt when He washed their feet. I felt so broken inside. My heart wrenched in pain.

God's love is agape - unconditional. We can never outgive God. His love extends vastly beyond our imagination. I'm so small. I'm so undeserving.

left or right brained?

"Of 30 questions, 17 of your responses indicate you are left brained dominant. 13 of your responses are indications of right brain dominance. These results indicate you have a balanced brain, with no tendency to think towards either side. Those who are middle-brain dominant tend to be more flexible than either the left or the right-brain folks; however, you often vacillate between the two hemispheres when you make decisions. You sometimes get confused when decisions need to be made because, neurologically speaking, you could do most tasks through either a left-brain or a right-brain method! A balanced score means you are able to draw on the strengths of both the right and left hemispheres of your brain depending upon a given situation. This combination makes you a creative and flexible thinker.The down side to having a more "balanced brain" is that you may sometimes feel paralyzed by indecision when the two hemispheres of your brain are competing to solve a problem in their own unique ways. You may also find career choices difficult due to your proficiency in several different areas. "

My test results is rather true. :) I remember when I took an ability test when I was applying for scholarship to determine my area of interests in terms of career, my results went haywire as it showed 2 extremes. One career preference is the arts category - musician or fine arts. And the other end was the science category - research.

Well, in fact, I'm pretty happy now that I found my dream job as a sales trainer. As a sales trainer, I got to be very left-brained when it comes to details. I have to be accurate with the details in my delivery, especially when it comes to products, or certain areas of compliance. On the other hand, I can express my artistic side when designing the slides or course development and of course during delivery. I need to train subjects that are super left-brained like Financial Literacy modules on time value of money and very soft skill subjects like Buyers' Psychology. I think that perhaps having a balanced brain allows me to do that switch fairly comfortably. Even though I'm more left-brained, I tend to prefer training right-brained subjects.

And I have also found the place to release my thirst to be a musician. I'm playing the keyboard for my cell group and I think that it is really a perfect arrangement.

dress for success

Gave a talk on "Dress for Success" at a Speechcraft Workshop organized by Buona Vista Toastmasters Club and received compliments from my club members as well as the participants. It was really enjoyable and I'm already thinking of doing a sequel to the talk.

I realised that this topic about Image and Personal Grooming is a huge topic and there are many areas to explore. Impressionistic Branding is an up and coming "IN" thing which is what differentiates anyone from everyone else and it should not be overlooked and taken for granted.

However, I realise that it takes 2 hands to clap and when it comes to dressing. People can be as stubborn as a mule! Well, the first criteria for dressing for success is that desire. If there is no desire to change, it can't work, no matter how many times I coach them.

And the other criteria for dressing for success is the eye for details. And my goodness, when it comes to colours, not everybody is gifted with differentiating colours with the slightest different in tone or texture. Well, can't help it for people who are born colour-blind. But worse, for people who are born with poor taste. I think that such things are really beyond me.

I remember one ex-colleague ever told me that she thinks that VPL is sexy. And my jaw just dropped, almost right to the floor. Well, for those who are uninitiated, VPL stands for "Visible Panty Line" and it is one of the top 10 image destroyers for ladies. And I'm surprised of the number of working ladies out there who are not aware what is VPL and happily walking around with one. And worse still, believe that it is sexy. Gosh. I really can't stomach that.

But then, if you observe people walking on the streets, which is one of the things I love to observe while I'm shopping, is that you will be amazed that there are people who wear the ugliest things in Orchard Road, which I believe must be their favourite pieces. People's taste do vary quite a lot! Then again, people appreciate art differently. And I must say, whoever came up with the phrase "Beauty is in the eyes of the Beholder" is a genius.

teacher

"The mediocre teacher tells.

The good teacher explains.

The superior teacher demonstrates.

The great teacher inspires."

~ William Arthur Ward

a close shave

Had a close shave today. I was crossing the small lane in front of church behind a taxi when suddenly the taxi reversed fiercely and stopped just before it hit me. It was barely a couple of centimetres away and I could have flown. Well, I guess God had more tasks for me on earth and my time is not up yet.

Thank God for His protection.