Lollipop Plant (Pachystachys Lutea)

 What a cute name for an exotic flower! Lollipop!!

When one hears "lollipop"... it's always associated with fun, adventure, surprises, childhood experiences, or simple pleasures in life.

Have you ever noticed that it is often the small comforts, the simple pleasures, that soothe us the most and make us feel that everything is okay, or will be?

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things (Robert Brault)

Simple pleasures is recognizing tiny gems of joy that is right there with you at that moment. It would be a pity if you fail to see them come and go, especially when you are so caught up with the rush and clutter of life.

We spend too much time making a living and too little time living and making. (Rachel Dillon)

 Go ahead! When was the last time you enjoyed a lollipop?

When was the last time you took off your flip-flops and walk along the beach without worrying the dirt sticking to your skin or your hair?

When was the last time you had a glass of wine with a precious friend and just talk about anything under the big blue sky?

These little yellow Lollipops make me look back and smile because I have lived... and will continue to do so.

Every moment has its pleasures and its hope. (Jane Austen)

The little things? The little moments? They aren't little.  (John Zabat-Zinn)

Nope! Life's simply pleasures are not meant to be taken for granted. They are little opportunities for you to grab so you may live a more quality and meaningful life; in thoughts, dreams, hopes, and love.

Kalanchoe Blossfeldiana

"Wan Zi Qian Hong" ( million purple thousand red) is the name the Chinese calls these beautiful little flowers. Especially around this Chinese New Year season... these tiny symbols of abundance of wealth and prosperity are most befitting.

"Million purple"... and I am thinking of a giant garden of lavender blooms... calming and relaxing.

"Thousand red"... luck, red packets of money, and gold coins come to my mind. Wealth that easily comes into our lives...and easily disappears into thin air.

Therefore, this new year of 2014, and with Chinese New Year around the corner, I wish everyone ever-lasting abundance of good health. These little beauties clearly reminded me that health is of far greater importance than wealth.

A Nursery Rhyme by Wayne Fields

The best 6 doctors anywhere, and no one can deny it

Are sunshine, water, rest, and air

Exercise and diet

These 6 will glad you attend, if only you are willing

Your mind they'll ease, your will they'll mend

And charge you not a shilling! 

The first wealth is health. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

Admit it! Wouldn't life be a lot happier if we didn't have to battle with illnesses and other health challenges... wishful thinking of course, because some of us are unfortunate to have to go through health obstacles in life. Nevertheless, let us all at least be conscious enough to choose a healthy and positive way of going on with our lives.

The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude. (Oprah Winfrey)

Optimism is the most important human trait, because it allows us to evolve our ideas, to improve our situation, and to hope for a better tomorrow. (Seth Godin)

Reflecting...

I look back at 2013 and I have no idea how I went through all 365 days and came out in one piece! Fatigued, emotionally drained, cranky, grumpy... get the picture? Still, I never gave up; reminding myself every single day that I have the power to make me happy or unhappy every day. Like my students keep chanting... "Positive vibes! Positive vibes!"
Surprisingly, in the midst of all that, dreams did come true. Wishes were granted. I learnt to live in moments. I took chances. No regrets. Most important of all, I am still the original me. A happier, wiser original me though. And, a happy, wise original me I will continue to be, with God's blessings and care.

Happy new year, everyone!

True Colors

This morning I woke up to a bush of beautiful rose blooms. And while taking shots of them with my mobile, testing out various effects (which I'd just learnt), I was amazed at the assorted impressions that these gorgeous roses formed.

True colors came to mind this beautiful sunny day...

Trust and having faith in people slowly diminishes into the air in many friendships today. It is indeed a somber issue but it is so real to many people. Just like the dazzling, fascinating special-effects photos of these roses - it is exactly when one starts to create a whole different image of oneself in order to be accepted and admired. Thus, the construction of a whole new body cast starts piling from bombast, mimicry, and egocentrism...amongst others!

God has given you one face and you make yourself another... William Shakespeare

My students would labelled these people as "fake people" but I call them TOXIC. And...  it's all from having low self-worth. Honestly, what much are you worth in terms of genuinity? 

Let the world know you as you are, not as you think you should be, because sooner or later, if you are posing, you will forget the pose, and then where are you? Fanny Brice

I truly believe that every single one of us, in our authentic God-given nature, with our unique gifts, has an impact on lives, in mysterious ways. If only you get to know yourself better. If only you value yourself. Understand your behavior. Recognize your character traits well.

Your true colors reflects in the way you operate in the world, your strengths and weaknesses, your vulnerabilities, your deepest needs, and your challenges at different times of your life.

Love yourself! Your true self, and not your created self. When you learn to do so, you will take pride in who you are and what you have to offer. I trust that this is the basic foundation to personal growth.

It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are... E. E. Cummings

Being selfish and being YOURSELF are two incomparable meanings.

Oscar Wilde quoted that selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live. Being convinced that the world revolves around you is one loathed character trait.

However, when you see someone living their life with positivity, when you witness joy in their ways, when you observe intrinsic and extrinsic love... what would you conclude?

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! Theodore Roosevelt

Adenium (Fu Gui Hua)

The Prosperity flower, known to many as the flower that would bring luck, success, and wealth to homes.

Do you agree that prosperity is your way of living and thinking?

What do you hold precious to your hearts?

Money?

The glow of one warm thought is to me worth more than money. (Thomas Jefferson)

Satisfaction?

Life is not about having all you want; it's about appreciating all that you have! To failed means you have tried. To hurt means you have loved. To survive means you have learned. (Anonymous)

Love?

Never expect love to always be at its best cause if you do, you'll never learn to appreciate its existence. (Anonymous)

Gratitude?

Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart and not in the mind. (Lionel Hampton)

Develop a habit of Appreciation and you will see how Prosperous you already are!

Let your soul expand, let your heart reach out to others in loving and generous warmth, and great and lasting will be your joy, and all prosperity will come to you. (James Allen)

Nothing is forever

Life passes way too fast

Every second, every minute, once gone it will never be back

So, live the moment

Take chances

Cherish and Love

Be prosperous in your thoughts and way of life.

John Bays Collection III

John, thank you for photographing these beautiful feather friends in London. You are a true diamond to all friends and followers of my blog. Friends, may I present the universal symbolism of freedom... they can walk on ground, swim in the sea, and enjoy soaring into the sky. I see these babies as hope, joy... love!

Friedrich Nietzsche said "In reality, hope is the worst of all evils because it prolongs man's torments." Interesting, isn't it? How about you? What is hope to you?
Hope keeps me going in my life. It gives me a reason to smile in my darkest days. It gives me a happier vision for the days to come. And when I start daydreaming... I know hope will make it all better, in time.

Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops...at all. (Emily Dickinson)

When there's a flicker of hope... joy will trickle into our hearts.  Joy is like a bird which, when pursued, flies farther and higher. However, if you be still and take notice of your surroundings, joy can be just right there staring at you.. waiting for your recognition, appreciation, and embrace.

You have to believe in happiness, or happiness never comes.. Ah, that's the reason a bird can sing - On his darkest day he believes in spring. (Douglas Malloch) 

Happier of happy though I be, like them I cannot take possession of the sky, mount with a thoughtless impulse, and wheel there, one of a mighty multitude whose way and motion is a harmony and dance magnificent. (William Wordsworth)

Love in my life is what makes me happiest of all. Love is magical to me. It starts off slow and cautious, and as it grows, miracles happen. At times, it may seemed as though it had disappeared from the face of the earth, but it will reappear again when the time is right. Love brings hope. Love is joy. Take away love and our souls die a slow death. 

Walking hand in hand... smiling at each other with our eyes... enjoying wine... moonlight kisses... enjoying little moments in life... is what I call "love".

If a bird falls in love with a fish, where would they live?

Who gets the fins and who loses the wings?

It's an irony.

That's how cruel but poetic love can be.