Reflection on myself

I have found myself worried more than ever in these few months. I have been thinking too much of what would happen in the future involving my job responsibilities. That drains my energy. I have also complained too much about this and that and seen unfairness at my workplace. This drains my motivation. I don't look good in people and always complain how unhelpful and unsupportive people are. This faults my relationship. Although I have read several self-help books recently, I still find myself helpless and not improving in terms of personal development. This needs to be changed. I must change!

I need to feel motivated, contented, positive and energetic. I should not be drained by the surrounding adversity and negativity. Stop worrying, Jocelyn, and start living positively and having fun.

Smile,

Jocelyn 

2015.01.31

4:26pm

Books I Read in Jan 2015

I just finished another books by Robin Sharma a while ago. This is the third book of his that I have grabbed and read and digested. Well, not much from it I have taken anyway, but it has somehow significantly changed my way of living.

From the first book 'Who will cry when you die?' to the second book 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari', I have applied the concept of 30-day challenge into my daily rituals. I have been inspired to keep journalizing my daily lives in my blog; I have looked at myself and carried out some reflection to right any of my wrong; I have disciplined myself to workout in mornings and evenings although I have skipped one or two days a week; I have tried to be positive during adversity which I think it is a very big challenge for me to set this mode in me. These rituals will be going on and on.

Now in this third book 'The Greatness Guide' which also about how to live a better, more rewarding life, Robin focuses more on businesspeople and professionals. This book is also very cool and very worth reading. 'You can't be great at work until you feel great.'

Now I decide to choose a different author, Dale Carnegie, and see lives from his perspective through 'How to stop worrying and start living'. 

Cheers,

Jocelyn 

2015.01.31

9:30am

10 Floors' Walk

I went to a tax workshop this morning at the National School of Taxation. I was late due to the traffic congestion and the fact that I lost my way to the place. By the time I arrived at the building, I was already 15 mins late, and I found myself waiting for the lifts among some twenty people who were also the participants of the workshop.

Perhaps I felt too bad that I was late or perhaps I was not patient enough to wait for the lift, something urged me to go for the staircase. 'Hey, but the workshop hall is at the 10th floor! Are you serious?!' I was asking myself. 'Well, it is not a big deal. I am strong enough to climb 10 floors with my heels!' Then I went for the challenge.

'Cool.' I made my way to the 10th floor. It exhausted me somehow, but it was really not a big deal, not a big physical challenge, I can say. With ease.

Guess what? After the workshop I decided not to choose the lift to go down. Again, I climbed down the stair! What I can say was 'Wow'. I loved the feeling of climbing stairs! If only I was wearing sneakers! Heels are not good to climb stair anyway.

It is the first time I have been climbing stairs to 10th floor. I think this is the highest floor I have ever climbed. If possible, I will climb higher and higher next time. Just hope that I will not look silly or stupid anyhow by the bystanders. lolzzz..

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.30
9:58pm

Me in Jan 2015

Outing with Nith and Lina at Takmao

Waiting for Range Rover to pick up for lunch lolzzz (B Davuth's Range Rover la)

Hey, this is just a style for photo taking. Just before sipping the Sex on the Beach at Shaly Skybar with Thyna, Snguon and Kimleang

Cheers,

Jocelyn

2015.01.30

9:42pm

High school certificate and some self reflection

My colleague informed me this afternoon that the original high school certificate is now available to be withdrawn fom the Ministry. With this info, I headed to the Department of Education which has already been relocated from the city center to the sub-urban area at the other part of the river. I had such a great expectation visualizing that I would finally have this original certificate after 8 years (even though I don't need it)! 

When I got to the Department, they were having a meeting, so I decided to wait until the meeting ended. It took me a little more than an hour to finally see the officer. With disappointment I was told that the certificate was not yet ready. 'It is not yet out. Wait another two years!' Given my patience, I thanked the officer and left the place. 

I still don't understand why they need to spend ten years just on printing out high school certificates?! This sounds ridiculous. 

Nonetheless I didn't feel too much upset or disappointed. I treated my journey there as a chance to travel to that area where I have never been too. It was a nice experience to see a new place especially the new building of the Department. I was even contented when I could spend my late afternoon at Costa Coffee at BKK today. Like Visal mentioned on a fb comment, the place was cozy. Yes, it is a good word to describe the place. I think I start to love staying there especially alone to read a book, to listen to music, and to think to reflect on myself. I had spent my evening time so fully today.

I have got a good quote from The Greatness Guide this evening, 'I cursed the fact that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.' 'It's human nature not to appreciate all we have until it's lost. Fight the urge,'

Definitely true! We have been too focused on seeking for other contentment and been too easy to neglect what we have already owned in hand. We tend to leave our loved ones behind and pursue our self-defined happiness which we believe that it is directly linked to and impacted the amount of money we can earn. Some are even seeking for power for fulfillment. Until the day they achieve this so-called fulfillment goal, they will realize that they have got no one to cherish with and are too late to regret.

In any case, I will not let this happen on me. I will value what I have now by loving my parents more, doing great things for friends, helping out my colleagues as a team, doing my part best for the company I am working for, giving a hand to those who are in need of me...

I will leave every day as the last day of my life. Life is too short to feel sad; it is long enough for us to live and love.

Cheers,

Jocelyn

2015.01.26

10:27pm

Old House

I have locked up the door to my old house for quite a long time. One day I wanted to go back to see the house again, but unfortunately, I don't know when it was, the key to the door was lost. I could not go into the house. I could not crash the door. Someone also had the key to door, but I am afraid that that person has also lost it or might have buried it somewhere.

I have moved for twice since then. After all, I dare to say that I still remember my old house. I still like my old house. However I have locked it up by myself, and I didn't care about keeping the key nicely. At one time, I thought I might have chance to go back. But now, I think it will be forever locked up and it won't be opened ever again.

My bads,

Jocelyn

2015.01.24

19:43pm

Half Way Through My Third 30-day Challenge

I have been on my third 30-day Challenge since somewhere at the beginning of Jan 2015, and the challenge is to rise with the sun and bike every morning for an hour. I have done it for two weeks by now. So far, I have actually risen with the sun but I have not seen a complete sunrise at the riverside because by the time I arrive there, the sun is already up from the horizon.

The sun this morning by the time I got to the riverside was like a beautiful red yolk hanging just at the lower part of the sky; slowly it shined brighter and brighter and had its mild ray radiated on the river. That was a magnificent view! I love to stand there inhaling the fresh air, stretching, observing the boats on the river, and feeding the pigeons. These are so nice, and I don’t think many of my friends have ever done so. I have found the merit of being alone and enjoying the nature and at the same time reflecting on myself.

To upgrade my challenge, once in a month, I will get up earlier and bike to a place where I enjoy the first sunray of the day.

Cheers,

Jocelyn

2015.01.17

10:03am

New Environment At Work from Jan 8, 2015

Until today the two new managers in my department have joined for one week and two days. There are goods and bads, but I still don’t feel any relieved with the pressure of my workload. It seems that the workload on me has been heavier since they came. I don’t feel much physically unaccustomed, but I feel spiritually overwhelmed. 

It turns out that the new AM is not as helpful as my AM; perhaps it was just the first week that she has not got used to the new workplace or it is the way she works. I doubt it, but my first impression toward her in this first week was not satisfactory, and I think my impression is going to be quite right. Anyway, I will see until the end of the month.

The new FM is quite ok. He is friendly and nice to the team. He smiles all the time though he is under pressure from management and is very approachable for everyone. I believe that I will be able to get on well with him.

All in short, I don’t expect much from the changes of the management team. When I see the obvious bias the top management has on each department and sense the pressure imposed on the finance team, I loathe my workplace and simply want to quit. However, I have told myself that all workplaces are similar and try to bear with it until one point in time when all my beloved team members leave and nothing more can be improved, I’ll do too.

Cheers,

Jocelyn

2015.01.17

9:48am

Imagine...

I closed my eyes and imagine that I was on a beach on an island in Koh Kong and was inhaling the freshest air blown from the sea coast and was listening to the dancing steps of the waves coming one after another and washing the shining big rock on the shore.

Imagine the I was strolling with my shoes off and opening my arms to embrace the very nature in the secluded area from the noisy world. Imagine that I can leave everything behind and live a very simple yet self-fulfilling and full life seeing the green and smelling its sweetness.

Imagine that I was chasing a dog, running hand in hand with someone I love so much that I don't wanna let go of, barbecuing on the beach late in the evening, dancing around the sparkling fire, sipping cocktail, and counting the stars. If only for one day, imagine that we were that the whole day, chatting, giggling, laughing, warming each other and relaxing under the blanket of nature.

Life can be this romantic and worryfree......

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.12
10:09 pm

Work Challenge

I thank myself for having thrived through the challenge at work for this two months and one week. This marks a turning point from being in my comfort zone as an assistant accountant to assuming higher responsibility while my supervisor and manager are not around. The situation ends today with the year-end closing of 2014, and it will be changed to an unknown from tomorrow when the new FM and AM join.

No matter the situation will be, I will embrace changes and welcome challenges. After every drop of tear, I will be back on my feet and smile and appreciate every lesson I will learn from every given opportunity. Thanks to my mentor today who has always by my side although she is on maternity leave. Thanks for my accounting team members who have contributed their good parts in the year-end closing. Thanks to my FM who has given me the opportunity to be independent. Thanks for my colleagues who have given me so many harsh challenges.

Finally I must appreciate myself again for being strong and maintaining a happy mood through the process. Life will be dull without tears and challenges.

A better tomorrow is on its way.

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.07
9:25 pm

First 30-Day Challenge Now Due - Writing articles for my blog

I started to be committed in writing articles for my blog on Dec 07 last year, on the day I was so obsessed with TED Talk and spent the whole day at home and Cafe to just listen to the talk shows.

Twas inspired to go back to my writing preference and so I undertook the first 30-day challenge as advised by the speaker. To summarize, since then I have written and posted 17 articles including this one. Not so good, but not too bad. I will continue writing articles for my blog as mirror for self-reflection, as a diary to record fun and happy moments, as a forum to share great ideas from the books I have been reading which is my second 30-day challenge.

I will see how many articles I will have been written by end of December 2015. Given the time constraint after starting the new term, I will learn to manage my time for this first challenge (writing blogs), second challenge (reading good books), third challenge (morning biking and evening gym), the challenge of the P levels of ACCA and the challenge at work. Most importantly, I will make time for my family and dear friends.

It is not ended here. I will be thriving and build this great habit for the rest of my life.

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.06
10:31 pm

Little green - One month's old

One month ago (07 Dec 2014)

Now (06 Jan 2015)

Obviously, it has been growing nice and healthy. Soaked in water three times since then. :D

Cheers,

Jocelyn

2015.01.15

10:19 pm

The Third 30 Day's Challenge - Morning Biking

This is the first day I started my third 30 Day's Challenge. I set my alarm clock at 5:45am and got up right away when it rang, no snooze. After simple wash-up, I grabbed my little Zen full with classical music ranging from the masterpieces of Beethoven to Mozart and kicked off with my Bikey out of the quiet morning neighborhood.

It was not too dark. The people in the small canteen near my house was already preparing the food for their customers who would be arriving and having breakfast before getting off to work and school. Some were driving on the road rushing to deliver vegetable and foodstuff to the retailers at the local traditional market. The waiters and waitresses at the cafe and restaurant were preparing to welcome their first customer of the day.

I was riding my Bikey inhaling the freshest air of the day. It was so refreshing and I felt energized  and romantic with the soft, relieving music from my earphones. I arrived at the riverside in front of the Royal Palace at 6:30am, stopped and did some stretchings. It was so relaxing to embrace the wind from the river and to appreciate the sunray hidden behind the cloud far at the horizon of the other side of the river. With regret, I was not there until the sun bathed on me due to time constraint.

It took me 25 minutes to bike from my house to the riverside. I plan to spend one hour every morning to bike to the riverside to inhale the fresh air of the day.

This marks a successful first day trying. I appreciate myself that I give myself one hour to spare with this life-improving activity; I appreciate my mum for cooking me breakfast every morning and encourage me to do more workout especially to let me out alone in such an early morning; I appreciate the fresh air given by the trees along the road which have already been fewer and fewer; I appreciate my Bikey that has taken me to places though it is old; I appreciate the people who sweep and pick up junks and plastics at the riverside and the park and condemn those who throw them away without conscience and love of the environment; I appreciate the sun that is still shining as it always is. 

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.05
9:54pm

 

Back to my little zen

Loaded with classical music which is one of the changes I am going to install in my life, my little MP3 player is back and will be with me wherever I go.

The Ten Rituals of Rediant Living, from 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari'

I have completed more than half of the book by today. Here I find these 10 rituals worthwhile to be summarised here and shared with you guys.

For a better life, we shall embrace the following 10 rituals. Taking the idea from the previous article, each ritual shall be applied for at least 21 days in a row to be installed in our life as a habit.

1) The Ritual of Solitude: Maintain a schedule of a mandatory period of peace. Our mind deserves a rest after running hot for a whole day. Fifteen minutes will do for the period of solitude.

2) The Ritual of Physicallity: Invest at least five hours a week in some form of physical activity like going for walk, practising yoga, swimming etc.

3) The Ritual of Live Nourishment: Eat healthy food, preferably more 'live' food, that is, vegetables and avoid as much as meat and junk food. What we consume affects our emotions and physical ability.

4) The Ritual of Abundant Knowledge: Pursue lifelong learning and expand your knowledge base for the good of yourself and all those around you. This can be achieved by reading more. We don't read every book available, but we choose some good books to read. Some books are to be tasted, some books are to be chewed, but some books are to be swallowed and digested.

5) The Ritual of Personal Reflection: Reflect on what you did during the day and think of how you could have done better for the sake of yourself and others. Self-reflection can be done by writing down what you have been through in a day in one column and a review of actions you can take in the other column.

6) The Ritual of Early Awakening: Train yourself to get up earlier and rise with the sun will be at best. By rising earlier, you gain more time to do what you have excused yourself for not having time to do it like morning exercise.

7) The Ritual of Music: Get yourself some good spiritinually inspiring and relieving music and listen to it while you are driving or before going to bed. Music cures unrelived mind.

8) The Ritual of Unspoken Word: Create some mantras of your own. Mantra means freeing the mind in Sanskrit. A mantra is a phrase you will be using to speak to yourself to build positive thinking about your ability, emotion and spirit. A mantra can be something like ‘I am confident in myself, and I can do it.' Mantras are powerful because what you speak to yourself affects your actions.

9) The Ritual of Congruent Character: Take daily, incremental action to build your character. Strengthening your character affects the way you see yourself and the actions you take. Do the right thing. Act in a way that is congruent with your true character. Be guided by your heart.

10) The Ritual of Simplicity: Live a simple life. Don't live a life follow social expectation but your satisfaction. People tend to compare their lives with others and feel inferior when they are not using brandy items or live in a smaller house than their friends. From my own standpoint, as long as we are not struggling for a meal, I prefer a simple life using simple things and use the excess money to explore the world.

Excerpt and paraphrased from the book, 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari' by Robin Sharma.

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.04
10:37 am

The Five-Step Method to Attain a Goal, from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

From the book 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari', Julian visited John at his home and shared abundant impressive life lessons which are the legacy of the sages from whom Julian learned on the Himalayas Mountain.

I find the five-step method to attain an aim and realize a goal very interesting, and it will be more rewarding if I can share it to you all here.

The method is summarized as below:

1) Form a clear mental picture of your outcome

This includes being aware of what your aim in life is. 'The purpose of life is a life of purpose.' 'Learn what you excel at and what makes you happy.' Many people are just surviving a life by doing things they don't like to make a living and pursuing things as a fulfillment of social expectations rather than personal happiness and fulfillment. As long as we know what we are good at and what we love doing, we can achieve far more and far better.

2) Create a little positive pressure behind it

Many people fail to adhere to goals when commitment is faded by time. We need feel inspired and have some positive 'pressure' to continue our odyssey. The simplest pressure you may put on yourself is the announcement of your goals to as many people as possible, to your friends, family members, and even to the public. With this pressure, you will not let go of the goal so easily.

3) Set a deadline and committed in to paper

Julian suggested that we buy a journal and keep filling it with all our desires, objectives and dreams attached with timelines to complete them. We need to know ourselves better, that is, our strengths and our weaknesses. At the end of the day, write in the journal reflecting what we have done in the day and review how we could have done better.

4) Apply The Magic Rule of 21

A habit can be built into a person if he does the new thing consistently for a period of 21 days in a row. I am convinced that this is somehow real true. I have applied the 30-day challenge to write articles for this blog somewhere in the first week of December 2014, and now writing articles for this blog has become a job on my everyday to-do-list.

5) Enjoy the process

'A day without laughter or a day without love was a day without life.' In the process of achieving our goals, we should optimistically and happily enjoy the path we walk through though tough sometimes. We shall not regret what has happened in the past and worry what will happen tomorrow but live our lives to fullest today and right now. Don't push ourselves too hard when we feel that we have come to a limit. Take a little bit rest and continue the odyssey with hope and smile.

The lessons given by Julian are inspiring if you have read them. I might not have a good use of words to re-produce his ideas. If you are interested, you can acquire the book and learn the essence within it.

Cheers,
Joceyln
2015.01.03
2:00 pm

Password Format

I have an account with Gmail, Yahoo, Dropbox, Facebook, Twitter and many other websites. Each

and every of them demands a password from me for security purpose. My passwords used to be the same for every account; however, some accounts were used often and so the passwords have been updated from time to time; for those accounts I had left unused for some time, I cracked my head to figure out what the password was or simply re-set it after a few tries.

When there are too many versions and updates of passwords for different accounts, we are easily confused and don't remember them well. Luckily, I have received great advice from a friend who has a good sense of technology to formulate good passwords for each and every account I have, and I will never forget my passwords ever again.

Let me share you all with what I have learnt from him.

For higher security purpose, many websites demand users to create a password having a combination of numbers, symbols, small case letters and sometimes captalised letters. eg. P@ssw0rd, and a password shall have at least eight digits. If you don't have some good techniques in creating one, you might spend some times entering passwords that are either too weak or are not accepted by the site you are about to sign up.

To create a good password, you should think of a word that you can always remember, preferably having five letters, and this word will be used as a base for every other password you will be creating for every account. Let's say you like the word 'Blogs'. To make it stronger, we can replace some letters that resemble numbers with numbers, hence in this case, the letter 'l' and 'o' to number '1' and '0'. Then your base will be 'Bl0gs'.

This will be followed by some letters related to the account you are logging on. You will need to decide how many letters you want to standardize your passwords. Let's say you want 10 letters/digits, so you will need five more letters from the site's name for the password. For example, you are creating a password for your Gmail account. Then, your password might look like this -- 'B10gsGmail'. To complicate the password a little bit more, you may want to add a symbol to it. Something look like this -- 'B10gs&Gmail' -- or -- 'B10gs&Gmai' (if you still want it to be a ten-digit password).

A password for Facebook account can go like this: Gl0gs&Face
A password for Yahoo account can go like this: G10gs&Yaho
A password for Dropbox account can go like this: G10gs&Drop
A password for Outlook account can go like this: G10gs&Outl

To summarize, we can easily standardize our passwords by simply remember our base word and the format.

- Find your base word
- Formulate the base word by replacing one or two letters with numbers
- Add a symbol as a link
- Choose the first four letters from the site name you are logging on (You might also choose the last four if you like)
- You may capitalize any letter in the password, but make sure that you stick to the same format for other passwords
- Go to change all your regular used accounts with your new passwords.
- and yeah, you make it!!! Your passwords are standardized, and you will never forget and go and re-set them ever again.
- One last tip: Don't ever tell others your base word!!!

I find this very useful. Credit go to one of my dearest friends, and hope you like it too.

Cheers,
Jocelyn
2015.01.02
10:35pm

A Monk Who Sold His Ferrari - Who Will Cry When You Die, by Robin Sharma

This is a self-help book I got on Christmas while leisurely walking in a bookstore. I just finished

reading it on this New Year Day. It grabs my attention at first glance at the cover and the title, and each chapter is so impressive and mind-catching which I almost could not put it down.

It consists of 101 chapters with the length of 2 or 3 pages each which is concise but with clear purpose. The author used quotations from world great thinks, philosophers, and many successful leaders and business people to convey the messages of life to the readers. It has got helpful contents full of inspirations and great advice to learn and act in our daily life so that we live fully and die happily without regret.

Some great thoughts I love from the book are as below:

- 'If you don't act on life, life has a habit of acting on you.' (My impression: Time passes faster than we think it does. Don't ever feel down and passively deal with problems. Actively face them, and live a life which we can control by ourselves.)

- 'Everyone who enters your life has a lesson to teach and a story to tell.' (My impression: It is normal to feel down or irritated when we meet people who do ills to you, make you unhappy, or even cause you some big failures in some ways; however, just because of their presence, you have learned some great lessons and those are not taught at school. Be appreciate with all good and bad deeds received. They are all gifts.)

- 'Writing in a journal offers you the opportunity to have regular one-on-one conversations with yourself.' (My impression: I have given up writing a diary/journal for quite a long time excusing myself for not having enough time to do it. As a matter of fact, it is very advisable to keep a journal reflecting on your thoughts of the day, your activities, and your reactions to problems. True enough, it is the best way to heal your feelings when you are encountering tough situations.)

- 'Develop an Honesty Philosophy - When you promise someone you will do something, do it.' (My impression: Promise is a promise. If I say let's have a cup of tea together, I mean it. This shows how accountable we are in relationship, in work, and in ourselves.)

- 'I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has overcome while trying to succeed.' (My impression: We can only see where a successful people is when they are successful, but we have no idea how they have been through. No goal can be easily attained, but with some great luck, some people can somehow easily attain it with greater blessings than others. It is better to measure a person's success by number of obstacles they have encountered throughout the path to success rather the position they are in.)

- '...the person who asks for what he wants at least has a chance of getting what he wants.' (My impression: No one knows what we want. If you feel you deserve it, directly and gracefully ask for it.)

There are other abundant great thoughts for us to chew and digest with.

 
See if you like it too.

Cheers,

Joceyln
2015.01.01 10:22 am