Monthly Archives: June 2018

This is the direct translation from Chinese I imagine.  It means ‘detachment’.  I probably should change it to ‘detachment is the fasting of the mind’.

Sunday again.  Time passes so fast these days.  I almost want to say you have to ‘hustle’ if you want to make every day count.  Otherwise, time just slips through your breath and the day is done.

Eleanor Roosevelt was a very smart woman.  She had self confidence at a time when women were not taken seriously or regarded important.  Yet, she has the wisdom to know this about herself.

Just got “Love, Service, Devotion and the ultimate surrender” by Ram Dass and listening to it.  Looking forward to be inspired.

A follow up theme from yesterday.  I was watching the recent video of Jennifer Ross’s Prettyneatliving where she talks about her choosing to become a vegetarian today.  In it, she was very concerned about how people would react to her choice and stated that she has a hard time telling her family members about her decision.  At first, I thought why did she worry so much about what people think or say.  Then as she explained, I found myself to agree with her that it is easier to talk to a camera when you try to share something difficult than face to face with someone whose opinion you value a lot.  Your reasoning and logic gives way to how your listener feels about what you say and how they are taking it.  This comes back to the practice of ‘being yourself’ which i am also a student of.  I do care a lot about what people think of me, how I am fairing up with others, whether others like me or what I make or produce.  In the end, the joy of creating is taken away by the fear of disapproval.  I am looking at how many likes I get for my post instead of letting it go and let people take it or leave it. Hopefully, it benefits someone in a certain situation reading something positive or encouraging or looking at some beautiful picture to take their minds off of whatever is bothering them.  I may not get instant gratification but I will never know if it helps someone down the road.  I just need to keep creating and fulfill the inspiration that is within me.

I made this one up but I’m sure it has already been thought up by others.  It is positive and self assuring that is worth repeating to ourselves every day. Most times, we let others decide what we should do, how we should look and how we should behave.  The sooner we get out of that mentality, the sooner we can become ourselves and achieve the most we are destined to do.

Let go of guilt and be ourselves.  Stay positive, be kind.

This is a cliche word.  But it is something that I want to write.  It’s something we have to hold on to when life situations come at us in an unfavorable way.  But it is a feeble word compared to trust or faith.  Hope indicates doubt.  Trust leaves no room for doubt.  Faith goes a level up and does not even need trust for someone else.  Faith is within us.  It looks inside to something that is always there under any circumstance.

Shopping day today.  We went to the Chinese grocery Cam to get some staples stocked, then Miles for great and fresh vegetables and fruits for Leo.  Stopped at Fun Buffet for lunch.  And amazingly I am not sleepy and tired yet.  It’s a good thing.  I can upload to instagram and write here in my blog.  Made this word yesterday.  I like having something ready to upload the day before so I can take my time working on the next word or quote.  I have been uploading one quote or word a day now for over 2 weeks.  It has become a routine that I follow.  One that I want to keep too.

 

Saw the family doctor today.  It was an early morning one for me at 8:15a.  Didn’t sleep well last night.  Neither did Leo.  We both were worried about my health I think.  So the doctor put me on atenolol 25mg for the blood pressure and will see him again in a month.  Asked him to send the prescription to Drugmart close to us.  But his office sent it to Express Script and Drugmart.  So the insurance gave the pharmacist at Drugmart a hard time when he tried to fill it.  I love my doctor, but I really don’t think his office is on point most of the time.  He said I could call his nurse if I try to get in a bit sooner than his office normally would allow.  I told him I understand that his staff want to protect him from patients who always want to jump to the front of the line.  And not everything is an emergency.  But when there is a legit reason for one, his office should realize and get on it a bit better.  when I lost my hearing for a while, his office delayed me from seeing a specialist for a week when he was on vacation.  Asking me to see another associate before they would refer me on which further delayed a few days.  When I run out of prescription and notified by Express Script that they are waiting for the doctor’s office to respond. They never got a response.  I really don’t know what their system uses.  It is highly inefficient and lots of mistakes were made.  But that may be the standard practice of all doctors office.

Went to Yours Truely for breakfast.  As always, we love their food.  I had the eggs over bruschetta and vegies.  It was just the right amount for me.  And today I found a new YouTube channel I like.  Flo Lum As usual, I binge watched lots of her videos to get to know her channel.  I found that she is very down to earth, and she and her husband has a subtle fondness for each other even in their joke bickering.  Her instagram channel has good pictures too.  Another good find.

It was a bit stressful yesterday worrying about my high blood pressure.  So I wrote this to calm myself a bit.  Funny that knowledge makes one anxious.  Maybe that’s why there is part of me that doesn’t want to know or tries not to find out.

Seeing the doctor tomorrow to address it.  There is some opinion that the eye thing was caused by high blood pressure.  I cannot do anything about it now.  And therefore, no use worrying about it before I can do something about it.

This word has been the mantra for a YouTuber Christopher Allen in all of his videos.  And it is needed in today’s climate of finger pointing, selfishness, meanness all over the media.  There is no adequate Chinese translation I can think of.  What I wrote is ok but it lacks the “action” part for kindness.  It’s more passive and stereotype of a character.

Not much difference in my eyesight from yesterday.  But I’m slowly getting used to it.  I do still live in a kind of a dream world.  Because I know I am not seeing the reality, my brain thinks I’m just day dreaming.

Friends and family reminded me of the possibility of high blood pressure.  That got me concerned and the readings in the last couple of times did indicate so.  Monday, I see my family doctor and probably will go on a high blood pressure med.  Such is the life of the elderly,  Not admitting I am one, but the body surely seems to go that way.

This word has been on my mind since yesterday.  So it is easy today when I started on my calligraphy practice.  No need to search for inspirations, it’s already there.  Decided to just do black and white.  It fits.

Watached a YouTube clip on Keith Carter done by “The Art of Photography” in his Artist Series. And learned that Keith lost most of his vision in one eye and still went on to produce amazing photos.  It gave me encouragement knowing that there is still hope for photography after this.  A lot of people only have one eye and can live a normal life.  I still have vision in my right just not as good.  So I shouldn’t despair or lose hope.  I haven’t.  But I do know the reality is slowly setting in and it’s not a welcomed one if I can help it.

We went to our favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Lemon Grass.  I had my usual the seafood pho and Leo had his usual, drunken noodles.  It was a bit of a rough morning this morning for Leo to begin with. The parking lot was full when we pulled in and we had to go to the back where there is a toll away sign warning us not to park there.  Being a rule stickler, Leo was not comfortable to park there.  We had to.  So it unsettled him a bit more.  Not a good morning for him.  He settled down after lunch.  It just goes to prove that, our equilibrium can easily be disturbed by life situations, not matter how content or calm we think we are.  Learning to stay calm is a hard lesson.