Sunday Bone Setting

Fortunately, Pam recommended me a "Bone Setting" Physician.
He is an senior, elderly Chinese Doctor, and may I say, he is VERY GOOD at setting my bones right.
I would never be able to imagine massive croaking of by spine, like fire crackers going off.
Wow, it gave me a huge relief although I am still required to return there for at least three more treatments. I was there first thing on Sunday morning, 10am.
City Plaza 02-64

Map

Newspaper Cutting

Power

I saw this post on FB and some Mommies are calling this "Passive-aggressive", and they do not like it.  We, on the other hand, being Asians, may be too used to having being treated passive-aggressively till we either find it funny or do not register any offensive feelings, or sometimes we subscribe to the passive-aggressive notion without even questioning, or worse, we feel bad about not doing enough of whatever that is "expected" or suggested. (eg: not being the good parent to be reading to our kids)

So these days, I don't wanna feel bad about myself anymore.

If I am made to feel bad, I would question the source of intention and relevance.

If it were an old issue, I will work on myself to free myself.

If it were a current issue, I will re-check my resources and get creative with self-solutions.

I want to undo any chains on my heart because I deserve to be free.

Sunday turning Monday

So,   we had so much homework over the weekend.

We had very little time because the bulk of Saturday was spent on Chinese class X 2, NDP parade, Sunday swimming, hence we were left with just 2 hours to complete a English compo mind map, 10 pages of Chinese questions, 6 pages of Chinese writing, 1 set of Math worksheet, CCA Cello tutorial (YouTube watching). So we asked the Yiyi to solve the Math questions so that I could check the answers against Kiki's answers. It all worked out great. *above pix, my sis's working which we comprehended perfectly. LOL. 

 Watched till ep.5 last night.
A little tacky but quite alright.

Not sure what happened to me.
Felt like I had tailspun out of control from my path of well being.
It is time to rehash, refresh & relive.

Smashing Good Vibes

Courage-- is Grace under pressure. 
Hear, hear.

Underground tunnel to the beach on a Friday night.
Just had to go find some quiet time, where else but solace from crashing sound of breaking waves.

Every time during our office's meeting, my boss will casually recap on how we are paid above market rate, implying that we ought to be satisfied that we still have a job and that we are well paid. 

Two years ago when we had our pay-cut, this kind of sentiment was meant to help us settle into the uncomfortable transition period of pay-cut adjustment of lifestyles. But two years after, why are we still needing to be appeased with subtle mind-controlling sentiments like these?  Anyway, if we could speak freely, I would have told my boss that we beg to differ. Alas, our culture here is still so backward that we do not feel like having to deal with the backlash of being outspoken. Such stifling culture, oppressed and constrained. Better find other outlets to OM it out or let go of frustration so as to remind myself of my real, honest, self albeit I could only say this here and to my friends. 

Recently, a centenarian commented in an interview that her secret to longevity is-- to drink wine and to shoot down baloney (baloney: rubbish, nonsense, bullshit) and I hope to do just that. Eventually. 

EFT- Emotion Freedom Technique

I had learnt this some 2 decades ago (ya, from my Reiki teacher) before it caught on and never left. 

How is something touted as "the solution" yet I have not put it into much use. 

Is the problem me? *laziness? *too easy? *no follow through?

Well......... then let it be problem no more. 

Soft Skills Rock!

Work-over Rig (portable, land rig)

 Yay, hope to tag along when my customer visits my manufacturer. 

One whole year of ding-dong, ding-dong, managing their expectations, negotiating and re-negotiating. Patience running thin, luckily I've managed to hold them together. 

Always, do your best and hope for the best. 

These kind of work makes me happy. Are the equipment beautiful?

Robust beauty

Besides Hard Skills, you've got to have Soft Skills. 

Executive Presence, Communication (a lot of people can't convey their messages clearly), Presentation (I don't have this), Public Speaking (I laggi don't have this skill), Listening (surely I hear even unspoken meanings), Business Etiquette, Leadership, Motivation, Team Work, Writing Skills.  

The key, is--- to have the ability to fully understand, empathize the stance of all stakeholders. Go through in your mind, what's fair for each of them (including yourself), then, still in your mind, put everyone together and co-relate each stakeholder's situation. Discuss with them, know that they may be reactive. Listen, internalize, discuss again. Always let them know that we are in this together and really mean it, get everyone protected (state and agree on terms). Lastly, it works best when all the stakeholders are confident and reliable people. 

My sis, is like Colin & Brendan, they make friends easily. 

Kiki told me that school students will just walk up to Colin and say: -- Hi, what's your name?

Then they'll exchange names and just like that, they become "friends". Friendly acquaintance.

Kiki, is more like me. We are very reserved and we have few friends. 

Try as I might, I still do not like talking to people. 

Call me insecure or incompetent, I don't really care. 

Ang Mohs trying out Pineapple Tarts (dog shaped) 

Yay, we have a Bookworm in the house =) 

Granny doing exercises at the hospital. 

She's happier there and she doesn't want to come back to our place where we are ill-equipped for a half-paralyzed person. The hospital or hospice is not all gloom and doom. They are very different now. They are made in such a way that they resemble common living space like HDB common areas, supermarkets and what-nots.  

A Mind for Numbers

Okay, now, let's talk about this book that 'tricked' me into giving hope for improving Math proficiency. The hard truth is--- there are no shortcuts! Gosh, was I disappointed. Haha. But I should have known better ya?

There are no shortcuts, there is only regular work. 

This book gave many useful techniques, many of which I did not employ and many of which I know boils down to initiative. 

There are many highly acclaimed personnel who sucked at Math, but in their course of work & growth, they fell in love with discovering Math & Science and they've shared their stories on why we must never feel as if we were branded for life because we failed at Math. (real life cases: Neurosurgeon - Ben Carson, Aerospace Engineer- Nick Appleyard, Journalist- Josh Foer who won the US memory championship, Nobel Prize winner & "Father of modern neuroscience"- Santiago Ramon Cajal)

This is not a Math book nor a Science book. It is book of learning techniques, strategies & mindsets, of which are really very simple to follow but first, we have to overcome our "zombies"- distractions.

The "Pomodoro" technique. Pomodoro means tomato in Italian. 

This time management technique was coined by Francesco Cirillo because he used a tomato-shaped timer while he was developing his research. Basically, it says that we could keep focused on a task at hand (eg: doing your homework, researching or learning a new topic, practise music, etc) for 25mins and then take a break (go play with your iPhones, FB etc for 5 mins) so that your distractions are under control. This technique compliments the "Focused & Diffused" method where you will need have a healthy balance of staying focused and being relaxed. 

I know Daiso has kitchen timers but I want to get my own Pomodoro timer, hence I ordered two from eBay. =)  Well, that's my way of mentally giving thanks and connecting to the founder. 

Okay, there's this paragraph that gave me an Ah Ha moment. For so long I have been so wary of highly critical people that I have become so highly critical of myself. All the time beating my psyche up. Instructors are instructors, they may not recognise practicality. In fact, they do not recognise real-deal goodness or greatness 70% of the time because they are too entrenched into being perfect in theory. 

I know this may offend many educators, among my family are many school teachers. But this is my life and I should listen to myself and be kinder.

Other pointers:-

• Lady Luck favours the one who tries. Law of Serendipity.
• We are NOT predominantly Right or Left brained, we use both hemispheres. 
• Toggle between Focused & Diffused modes. Diffused mode: Big-picture, 'sleep mode', creative mode, activities: play games, volunteer with simple task, meditate, pray, watch a movie
• Pause & Recall new knowledge, close your eyes and recall key ideas. Mental retrieval.
• Avoid Einstellung syndrome i.e: getting stuck & having the inability to see solutions.
• Your "learning wall" needs time to stiffen up, the mortar between your neural bricks takes time to dry and fasten the bricks. Space your repetition.
• Frustration & anger shut down key areas of the brain. Watch & observe your reactions. 
• Long term memory: get enough rest & sleep, nap during the day (20 mins) 
• Chunk: Neurons that fire together, wire together. Mental leaps that unite separate bits of information to form meaning. Decide what information to Chunk (integrate together to form a concept or neural thought pattern).
• Practise doesn't make Perfect, it was the biggest lie! 
• Practise makes Permanent; Practise makes Progress. 
•  Practice "Interleaving": ie Doing a mixture of different kinds of problems (instead of overlearning).  Metaphor: Do a big puzzle by sections, have the big picture in mind. 
• We procrastinate about things that make us feel uncomfortable but procrastination is a single, monumentally important "key-stone" bad habit that is addictive. 
• Stages of procrastination: The Cue; The Routine; The Reward; The Belief. 
• The Cure: recognise what launches you into "lazy mode", put away your distractions.
• The Routine: the key to rewiring is to have a new plan, new rituals. 
• The Reward: stop rewarding your procrastinations. understand why you procrastinate. Instead, reward your new routines, give small rewards for small progress.
• The Belief: Believe that your new system is what can get you through. 
• Mental Contrasting: think about where you are now and contrast it with what you want to achieve. Get upbeat with your imagination and then pull yourself back to current.
• Pomodoro- 25 mins task time 
• Prevent learning 'chokes': choking can happen when your working memory is filled to capacity, yet you still don't have enough room for the additional critical, yet you still don't have enough room for the additional critical pieces you need to solve a problem. If that happens, use Chucking techniques to compress the information. Take Tests so as to offload the information you already know. Tests are a form of Chunking. 
• Engage in group work as well as isolation work.
• A "Happy Procrastinator" has a task list. Get a planner journal as your notebook. 
• Hand-write whatever 'difficult' thing you want to learn. Draw, doodle, mind map. 
• Use Flash Cards as tools for learning. Write down pointers and review. 
• Do not over-highlight. Highlighting is only movement of your hands and reading. It does not put information into your memory. 
• Approach your overwhelmed work with 'mirco tasks'. Do three micro tasks at a time. 
• Many ADHD people are creative & successful students, all they need is to schedule. 
• If you find yourself constantly falling into situations where you think 'It's not my fault', something is wrong. You have to stop blaming others. 
• No need for Genius Envy, no need to keep up with the Intellectual Jones. 
• Develop 'Equation Poems', lookout for hidden meanings in larger schemes. 
• Simplify and Personalize whatever you are studying. Bring the abstract ideas to life (in our minds or for real)
• Stage a Mental Play, imagine yourself within the realm of something you're studying. Take different perspectives while you explore. 
• Avoid overconfidence when you refuse to check your work. You are acting like a person who is refusing to use parts of your brain. 
• Brainstorm with others. 
• Testing is itself an extraordinarily powerful learning experience. Embrace Tests! 
• Breathe deeply if you feel anxious. Blink and shift your attention. Check your answers and ask, does this really makes sense?
• In joint study sessions, ensure work is done before turning fun. If not find another study group.
• The textbook is your 'swimming instructor', you will flounder and waste your time if you don't bother to read it.  

Yup, so that's all. Didn't I tell you it's not a book about Math? 
Hope you've enjoyed the summary! 

Small Habits

The Power of Context

(source: CNBC Make it)

Definition: Example: Locus of Control. ... Students with an “External locus of control” generally believe that their successes or failures result from external factors beyond their control, such as luck, fate, circumstance, injustice, bias, or teachers who are unfair, prejudiced, or unskilled.

Internal locus of control-- People who base their success on their own work and believe they control their life have an internal locus of control.  
 

Take ownership for every choice you make, especially the ones that turned out to be negative.

Get support.

Disconnect from work, and reconnect with yourself.

See things differently (change the context).

Suffer

Almost 9 months of waiting? Finally, my appointment date is here. 
Took time off over lunch hour to go polish & scaling. Can see my pearly whites? 
Dentist says I've got to make another appointment to do filling.
She says to keep to appointments on an annual basis.

First time in my life,,,,,,, making a conscious decision to eat fruits & vegs.
Because....... the piles I had,,,,,, started to bleed. Hot and painful at the bottom.
Seeking my friend's TCM contact. She says hers was cured via TCM although it took months.

My mom sold fruits & vegs most of her life and yet I didn't have the habit of eating fruits.
I am lazy to the max.
Now, I shudder at the sight of fried food. Even biscuits.
Due to the discomfort and pain.
This is really tiring. My body is tire-out by the pain, perhaps it is healing itself.

 Just look at how much fried stuff I put into my mouth.
Three plates of these we ate (me & 3 other colleagues)
I should have downed a can of beer ya? to off-set the heatiness......

Avocado is also a good source for soluble fiber. Florida ones.