What is your September Goals?

Show confidence and faith and persevere until you gain success

Many books have been written about how to achieve our goals. Many leaders, mainly church leaders, as far as I have experienced give motivational speeches on how to fulfill our goals. We think it is hard and impossible to achieve our goals because we often forget what are the main reasons for our failure. Often, when we try several attempts to execute our goal and fail, we give up immediately. Too many failed attempts at reaching for a specific goal will stop us from recharging our mindset and accomplishing again. Experts call this situation the "Brick Wall".

As mention, the "Brick Wall" is hard. It is tough. In other words, in my own terms, I call it our stubborn inflexible unconsciousness to move forward. The broader the "brick wall" is the more difficult one takes to demolish it. An easy and painless way to overcome this is to write down all the times you have try to attain your goal and why it failed. By identifying the cause(s), and by bringing them into your consciousness, as opposed to compiling the failures into a "brick wall", you get the opportunity to analyze the reasons for failing, subsequently understanding your current circumstances and think of ways to solve it. Don't be a bully to yourself by building "brick walls" around you. Bull doze those "brick walls" and strive for the September sky!

Family Vacation

Last weekend was my family vacation. We stayed on Lake Huron on some property that we rented for the weekend - it was a house and three cabins. Phil and I got our own cabin, which was nice. The weather was perfect - very warm and sunny. Phil and I got there on Friday about 4pm and left Sunday at 11am.

(me and my sister Dana)
Some of the things we did were shopping, bike riding and swimming. My brother and I were really the only ones who swam in the cold water! My cousins brought a jet-ski so there was a little riding of that. A lot of pigging out, too!

We also played card games in the evening. I really enjoyed playing Mafia. What you do is get about 8 people together. Then you have 2 King cards, 1 Queen card, 1 Jack card and then enough number cards for the rest of the people. You mix up the cards and hand them out. One person acts as a narrator and doesn't get a card. What they say first is, "OK, everyone close their eyes and go to sleep." Everyone closes their eyes. Then they say, "Mafia, wake up." Only those people who have the King cards open their eyes. Narrator: "Mafia, who dies first?" Without speaking the Mafia choose the first victim. Narrator: "Mafia, go to sleep. Doctor, wake up." The person who has the Jack card opens their eyes. Narrator: "Mafia, who do you want to save?" The doctor, not knowing who the Mafia are or the victim, guesses a person to save. If they pick someone who was picked as the victim, the victim is saved. If not, the victim is out of the game. After picking the person, Narrator: "Doctor go to sleep. Police, wake up. Who do you want to arrest?" The person with the Queen card wakes up and picks someone to arrest (not knowing who the Mafia, victim or doctor are). After picking the person, Narrator: "Police, go to sleep. Everyone wake up." The narrator then explains who was the victim, whether or not the doctor saved them, and who got arrested. The policeman is now identified (but Mafia and doctor still a secret) so that everyone can try to persuade the police to arrest who they think is the Mafia (and the Mafia can try to persuade police to arrest someone else). I don't think the policeman can be picked to die as they are part of the entire game.

Now, if you are chosen as the victim and not saved, you're out of the game but can keep your eyes open to watch the action. If the doctor picked you to save, you're in the game. But, no matter who you are, if the police arrest you, you are out of the game. The game continues in these rounds until all civilians (including doctor) have been killed or all of the Mafia have been arrested.

It was a really fun game, it was about strategy and teamwork and it was interesting!
(Me and my brother David)

柴咲コウ Sweet Mom

                                       

I rush up the hill of love and you’re there
I’ll sink into the sofa and caress that hill again

See you later, you’re going to a town of comfort
I’ll give you love
See you later, it’s OK to cry
I’ll cheer you up

As I paint
Those times when we laugh together
I’m waiting and longing
For your gaze, like a dream
My heart is full of hope I’m so happy
I can’t stop my heart leaping

I don’t regret you not being here yesterday
Anymore
Ah, a beautiful tomorrow is coming

I’m enveloped in so much tenderness
That I don’t know what to do with it all
All I wished for was to be enveloped in it
Looks like I wished too hard

“Be strong, don’t look at your sensitive areas”
The more I thought of that, the more I crumbled
Not knowing how to get back up
I went under again and again..

Now you breathe quietly in your sleep
All those times I used to be a crybaby
I’ll throw them right away
Now I’ll softly hold my treasure in my arms
I’ll say goodbye to the coward I was
I’ve found a place to be

Even when you're feeling down later
I’ll tell everyone  Love That everyone has

柴咲コウ 月のしずく Kou Shibasaki Tsuki no Shizuku (Moon Drops)

                                          

Words are a love letter
A melody of moon drops
Sadness is a fleeting dream
Rainbow colours are a sigh of love
A voice that brings war
Is a summer wind
At the end of time, the warmth of love cools
As it passes, it shines on a fleeting memory

The feeling of missing someone
Now softly becomes a wish
Today, once again the moon drops
Moisten my sadness

A waning moon looms
Above water like a mirror

The thousands of flowers
That bloomed proudly in the world
Are still staining people hearts, full of a sadness that has not yet gone

The warbled words “I miss you…”
Now softly go to the other end of the sky
Today, once again the moon drops
Moisten my sadness

The feeling of missing someone
Now softly becomes a wish
Today, once again the moon drops
Moisten my sadness

A waning moon sings
Of a love that will last forever…

  

You're Alive. Do Something!

We are Family!

August has been a good month for me.My wedding ceremony was not perfect but it went quite well. My parents and sister's visit were great. I enjoyed their stay very much. My family interacted well with Jun's family despite the language barrier. Talk about gestures!

Witnessing my parents saying basic Japanese phrases, my sister trying out the Japanese delicacies and vice versa from Jun's family, their visit and actions truly  inspired me to do something out of my comfort zone. I have always dislike taking pictures because I feel that I do not look "good" enough. I don't have a powerful voice to perform well in karaoke sessions. Therefore, I have decided to take more photos when I attend any interesting festivals and parties. As for the singing, I suppose it takes practice especially singing in Japanese! Its all about fun!

Aside from challenging myself, I also love to challenge people around me to be healthy and productive. For instance, I am happy that my sister finally decides she likes yoghurt after trying the kiwi yoghurt from the convenience store here. I am also trying to get my mother-in-law to stretch and lose weight. I am also trying to encourage my brother-in-law to read newspapers.

Healthy Self-Esteem in Da Process

Before changing the world, it takes great steps to encourage people around you to change for the better. It takes time, effort and patience. Wish me luck! 10 more days before September kicks in and I am looking forward to have a healthy self-esteem family in the making!