May 29, 2011

Forgive

HATE sits in me towards my eldest brother for his I-Am-ALWAYS-Right-And-You-Are-Damn-Wrong attitude.
With extra finger pointing and colourful VULGARITY spewed everytime on something
that doesn't go his way and everyone must follow his bloody way.
Parents doesn't care, even if they did open their mouth, rats can't hear what are they talking about.
They are SCARED of him.
Everytime when this happens, I just wished he'd just die from his high fever since toddler.
No offense. I'll be so GLAD for you to be in my shoes to experience what I had for the past 21 years.
This is an emotional torture which puts deep scars in my life.
Hope this post reminds me everyday...

1. Realize that the hate you feel toward your enemy does not harm him or her in the slightest.
Chances are, your enemy has gone on with life and hasn't given you another thought.
"Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for it to kill your enemy." spoken by Nelson Mandela.

2. Understand that the best revenge against your enemies is to live a successful and happy life.
Want to get even with someone who tried to destroy you?
Show them and show yourself (and the world) that the obstacles they tried to create
were not significant enough to disable you and/or destroy you.

3. Realize that the second best revenge is to turn the evil into something good,
to find the proverbial silver lining in the dark cloud.
Think of your enemy as someone who has helped you to grow.
Even though unfortunate things happen to us,
the best thing we can do is take those opportunities as tests that will either destroy or strengthen us.
If you've been through something, it didn't destroy you - take what you learned and
become a better person because of it.

4. Make a list of the good things that emerged as a result of this awful experience.
You've probably focused long enough on the negative parts of this experience.
Look at the problem from a completely new angle; look at the positive side.
The first item on that list may be long overdue because you have focused on the negative for so long.
See if you can identify 10 positive outcomes of this experience.

5. Look for the helpers. Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers) related that, as a little boy,
he'd often become upset about major catastrophes in the news.
His mother would tell him, "look for the helpers."
In your own nightmarish experience, think back to the people who helped you.
Think about their kindness and unselfishness.
Practice what you have learned from them.

6. Look at the bigger picture. Was someone your "Good Samaritan"?
In this biblical story, a traveler happens to come across a poor soul who was beaten
up on the road to Jericho and left for dead.
It's a lot easier to play the part of the Good Samaritan than to be the poor soul
who is left bleeding and bruised on the side of the road.
Perhaps this isn't all about you.
Perhaps your trial provided an opportunity for others to rise to an occasion to
provide you with help and support.

7. Be compassionate with yourself.
If you've ruminated over this problem for a long time,
steering this boat into a new direction could take some time, too.
As you try to make a new path out of the dark woods of this old hurt,
you'll make mistakes. Forgive yourself. Be patient and kind to yourself. Extreme emotional pain has a profound effect on the body. Give yourself time to heal - physically and emotionally.
Eat well. Rest. Focus on the natural beauty in the world.
Give yourself permission to feel the emotions and process them.
Don't bottle up the pain.

8. Learn that the Aramaic word for "forgive" means literally to "untie."
The fastest way to free yourself from an enemy and all associated negativity is to forgive.
Untie the bindings and loosen yourself from that person's ugliness.
Your hatred has tied you to the person responsible for your pain. Your forgiveness enables you to start walking away from him or her and the pain. Forgiveness is for you and not the other party.
Freeing yourself through forgiveness is like freeing yourself from chains of bondage or from prison.

9. Learn how to balance trust with wisdom.
It's a fact that not all of our fellow humans are trustworthy.
Painful memories can serve to protect us from future hurts.
As author Rose Sweet writes, "A lack of trust is sometimes simply recognizing another's limitations".

10. Stop telling "the story." How many times this week did you tell "the story" about how badly you were hurt and how horribly you were wronged?
Forgiveness is not acceptance of wrong behavior.
If you must continue to interact with someone who has wronged you,
who has offered a lame apology only to follow it up with more bad behavior,
nothing requires you to trust such a person.
This person isn't likely to ever be trustworthy -- you must keep a distance.
While it's fruitless to torment yourself over this person's actions,
you should not be his or her willing victim.
Acknowledge; move on.
An offender who wants reconciliation must do his or her part: offer a sincere apology,
promise not to repeat the offense (or similar ones), make amends, and give it time.
If you don't see repentance, understand that according forgiveness to that person
is a benefit to yourself, not to the offender.
Unless those who have harmed us have truly repented of whatever they have done,
we need to use wisdom in avoiding repeating the hurt.
This may require avoiding those who are unrepentant of the harm that they have inflicted upon us.
It would be wise to balance forgiveness against the certain knowledge that evil exists,
and some people enjoy harming others.

How many times a day do you think about this hurt?
It is a stake driven into the ground that keeps you from moving away from this hurt.
Rather, forgive your enemy because it's the kindest thing you can do for your friends and family.
Negativity is depressing - physically, mentally, spiritually and emotionally.

11. Tell "the story" from the other person's perspective.
Actually imagine that you are the other person (the one who offended you)
and use the word "I" when saying what that person would say.
You, most likely, don't know exactly what s/he was thinking when this event unfolded but pretend that you do,
and just go with the story that comes up in your head.
Sit down with a friend, or maybe even the person you are trying to forgive,
and tell the story as though you are that person.
It is important to do this verbally and not just in your head.
Realize in advance that this is not an easy exercise, but it holds great power.
Your willingness to tell the story from the offender's perspective requires an effort at forgiveness.
Also, realize that this is not a contradiction to the preceding paragraph
since this perspective will change your story.

12. Retrain your thinking.
When your enemy and his or her evil actions come to mind, send him or her a blessing.
Wish your enemy well.
Hope the best for him or her. This has two effects.
One, it neutralizes that acid of hate that destroys the vessel in which it is stored.
The evil we wish for another seems to have a rebound effect.
The same is true for the good that we wish for another.
When you make yourself able to return blessing for hatred,
you'll know that you're well on the path to wholeness.
The first 15 - or 150 - times you try this, the "blessing" may feel contrived,
empty, and even hypocritical but keep trying.
Eventually, it will become a new habit and soon thereafter,
the anger and pain that has burned in your heart will evaporate,
like dew in the morning sun.
This technique forces your mind to overcome the cognitive dissonance between
hating someone and acting with compassion toward him or her.
Since there is no way to take back the kind gesture to agree with your hatred,
the only thing your mind can do is change your belief about the person to match.
You will begin to say to yourself,
"S/he is deserving of a blessing, and indeed, must need one very much."

PS: I forgive you since you'd always had high fever since young and that's what made your brain toasted with such attitude.

13. Maintain perspective: While the "evil" actions of your "enemy" are hurtful to
you and your immediate surroundings, the rest of the world goes on unaware.
Validate their meaning in your life, but never lose perspective that
others are not involved and do not deserve anything to be taken out on them.
Your enemy is someone else's beloved child, someone's employee, or a child's parent.

May 28, 2011

Wala!

Oh my... How serious is my Sloth Demon has gone to?
Guess it broke through the fragile, brain prison of mine when finals were over.

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Now back at home as the couch potato.
Mum feels great to have to take care of a pet pig for a long period of time again.
You know, 'pumping' food everyday? Forceful it may sound to be, but the pig like it anyway. XD

Went for a Australia trip on 13th til 20th May.
Superb. You betcha.
Stalk my Facebook. ;)

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Met my dear's family with ONLY ME (without my friends of course) for the first time.
God, you couldn't imagine how nervous I were!
Went numb a couple of times and I couldn't think straight for a moment...
And I thought too much. Too much.
His family's lovely. =)
Comfortable at the very last minute.
The stay wasn't long enough...
...For I have missed the baby pictures!

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Went for job interview as introduced by Ping Shin...
Her position's fully hired so chose another instead.
Thought it would be of the same pay, but it doesn't.
But I was badly, boldly, demotivated by that old hag!

"Sorry that I have to change the job you're applying for, I'll give you this instead. We can't possibly train part timers like you as you after training, you all will just disappear after few months. Polite to say, this wastes our time. Mean to say, You're wasting our company's time. I can't give you higher than this salary because this is what you get for this position. And, your presence and absence won't make a difference at all, as you're here to just speed up the process. Haha."

Feels like for me to show the finger, "Nah!" ... (I love it, Kannie! XD)
But have to keep my inner mouth to shut up and give the business smile.
B.
I've gotten so mad that day. I'm so unlucky. That's my fault after all.
For not being even more hardworking and clever.
Well, screw it.
I'm going to find other jobs.
It's not like I can't live without working in your pathetic company.
Reliance. Worst tour group ever.
Yes, I am judgmental because I've being there before.
Asking for tips and more tips when your bloody tips were already included in the payment.
Making as if the tips were compulsory and we'll be the bad one for not giving 'gratitudes' to the driver and some extra shitty tourguides.
Flunk your heads in the toilet bowl for more 'golds', Reliance.

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About my days? I can't stop worrying about my dog, Lessie.
Her situation's getting serious in every passing day.
I want to be committed to her... Her medicine time needs to be sharp.
Should I get a job yet?
I can't trust my parents, they tend to forget a lot of times.
Sigh.
Gotten really emotional finding out on what will happen to her.
Thanks for your comfort, dear. =)