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http://www.WhenInManila.com/

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. It might just look that way, especially to the untrained eye. One often forgets to appreciate the greenness of the grass he’s already on.

I’ve come to the conclusion that life is as great and as bountiful as you choose for it to be. I’ve come to this conclusion to help me stick to specific place and give it all I’ve got. See I seem to be suffering from “Serial Relocation Syndrome.”

You may be suffering from this same bug if you are experiencing any of the following symptoms:

• Inability to decide what you want to do or where you want to be
• Inadequate feelings, including yearning, searching, seeking and scrambling for an intangible, unspecified goal
• Constant but irregular relocation to different towns, cities, states or for extreme cases, different countries and continents
• Uncontrollable swearing and abrupt, aggressive bowel movements (rare cases)

If you suffer from one or more of the above ailments then you too may have the “Serial Relocation Syndrome.”

Experts have long argued as to the best practices that can cure this condition. Doctors of the highest ranks prescribe medications such as Adderall and even medical Marijuana. Motivational speakers preach of “following your dreams,” “just doing it” and “living with no regrets.” Parents will nag that you need to be a lawyer, an architect or any other traditional title that will pay the bills and allow you to get them a good retirement plan. On the other hand, it’s the Zen masters that probably have the key.

Mindfulness is one of the foundations of Zen Buddhism that refers to finding happiness and relieving stress by living in the moment. Now believe me, this “living in the moment” thing is much harder than it sounds. No one is always living in the moment; we have to catch ourselves drifting out of it and refocus to bring ourselves back.

“Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” ~Abraham Lincoln

Now stop! Take a moment; bring yourself back, back to this moment. What’s around you? What’s in front of you? What are you overlooking?

Lately, I tend to close my eyes when I eat my dessert. It’s something that allows me to fully enjoy the different tastes that trigger my senses. Instead of quickly gobbling up my food, like I used to do, I now savor the moment. I savor the flavor, the texture, the sweetness and the chocolateness of it all. Instead of thinking the other ice cream flavor may have been better, I just enjoy the one I have.

“Normally, we do not so much look at things as overlook them.” ~Alan Watts.

The important thing here is to realize that you don’t have to be “there” in order to be happy. You can be right “here,” right where you are and be able to succeed with what you have. What you really need to question is your motivation and drive to succeed rather than make excuses for why it can’t be done here.

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” ~Theodore Roosevelt

So this is my resolution to do what I can with what I have. No more thinking that things will be better somewhere else or that the grass is greener across the fence.

All I am is here, and all I have is this moment. =)

“Well,” said Pooh, “what I like best,” and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn’t know what it was called. ~A.A. Milne

I sincerely wish you will have the experience of thinking up a new idea, planning it, organizing it, and following it to completion, and then have it magnificently successful. I also hope you’ll go through the same process and have something “bomb out.”

I wish you could know how it feels “to run” with all your heart and lose… horribly. I wish that you could achieve some great good for mankind, but have nobody know about it except you.

I wish you could find something so worthwhile that you deem it worthy of investing your life within it.

I hope you become so frustrated and challenged enough to begin to push back the very barriers of your own personal limitations.

I hope you make a stupid mistake and get caught red handed and are big enough to say those magic words: “I was wrong.”

I hope you give so much of yourself that some days you wonder if its worth the effort.

I wish for you a magnificent obsession that will give you reason for living and purpose and direction and life.

I wish for you the worst kind of criticism for everything you do, because that makes you fight to achieve beyond what you normally would.

I wish for you the experience of leadership.

-Earl Reum

“Women will never be as successful as men because they have no wives to advise them.” ~Dick Van Dyke.

“If you don’t like your job, you don’t strike! You just go in every day, and do it really half assed. That’s the American way.” ~Homer

“The large print giveth, but the small print taketh away.”  ~Tom Waits

“There are 3 kinds of people in this world… those that can count…. and those that can’t.”

“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. “

“You grow up the day you have your first real laugh – at yourself.”

“You have a right to your opinions. I just don’t want to hear them.”

“You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five miles a day when she was 60. She’s 97 today and we don’t know where the hell she is.” ~Ellen Degeneres

“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” ~Robin Williams

“There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs.”

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” ~Thomas Edison.

“A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just have one thing to say to the authors of that study: Duh.” ~Conan O’Brien

“The main thing is keeping the main thing the main thing.”

“Never play leap-frog with a unicorn” …. ouch!!!!

“Have no fear of perfection–you’ll never reach it.” ~Salvador Dali

“When you’re in jail, a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, ‘Damn, that was fun.’”

“The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us.”  ~Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

“You can’t have everything… where would you put it?”  ~Steven Wright

“Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They’re about to announce the lottery numbers.” ~Homer Simpson

“Plastic surgeons are always making mountains out of molehills.” ~Dolly Parton

“Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.”

“A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.”

“I plan on living forever.  So far, so good.”

“There are two different kinds of people in this world: those who finish what they start, and”

If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.

If you win, you will be happy; if you lose, you will be wise. … If one is forever cautious, can one remain a human being?

If you want to succeed sooner, double your failure rate.

If you can dish it, make sure you can take it.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it ’til it is.

If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.

If in doubt, throw it out (my nutritionist’s rule for food).

If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

If you fall seven times, get up eight.

If anything can go wrong, it probably will (Murphy’s Law), have a backup plan ready.

If they can do it, so can you! The only difference is your desire and drive to do so.

If a picture paints a thousand words, then why can’t I paint you….?

If you don’t know – ASK. Now you know.

If you can’t beat ‘em, don’t stop trying ’til you do.

If it rains, it pours, but don’t forget about the rainbow soon after.

If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a mosquito.

If something’s beyond your control, why worry about it?

If you want to look young and thin, hang around old fat people.

If someone else messed up, pretend you didn’t notice.

If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.

If you wish to make a man your enemy, tell him simply, “You are wrong.” This method works every time.

If you can do something today, do it today!

If you fear dying, then you’re already dead.

“If ever there is tomorrow when we’re not together.. there is something you must always remember. you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. but the most important thing is, even if we’re apart… I’ll always be with you.” – Winnie the Pooh Bear

I used to hate being caught in traffic; I needed to get somewhere and I needed to get there quick! But now, I enjoy the moment. I sit back and reflect on my day, I listen to an audio book, or I get to know the people I am in the car with. I’m learning to dance slow…. I’m learning to live!

Slow Dance

Have you ever watched kids
on a merry-go-round
Or listened to the rain
slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down
Don’t dance so fast
Time is short
The music won’t last

Do you run through each day on the fly
When you ask “How are you?”
do you hear the reply?

When the day is done,
do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
running through your head?

You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast
Time is short
The music won’t last

Ever told your child,
We’ll do it tomorrow
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
‘Cause you never had time
to call and say “Hi”?

You’d better slow down
Don’t dance so fast
Time is short
The music won’t last

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift….
Thrown away…

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

- David L. Weatherford

There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. 

The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Farmer Fleming had saved.

 ”I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life.” 

“No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel.

 ”Is that your son?” the nobleman asked.

 ”Yes,” the farmer replied proudly. 

“I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.” And that he did.

 Farmer Fleming’s son attended the very best schools and in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of Penicillin.

 Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. 

 What saved his life this time? Penicillin.

 The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill . His son’s name?

 Sir Winston Churchill. 

  Someone once said: What goes around comes around.

 Work like you don’t need the money.

Love like you’ve never been hurt.

Dance like nobody’s watching.

Sing like nobody’s listening.

Live like it’s Heaven on Earth.