myhappiness's Xanga

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:33:53 GMT

Hey Everyone!!

Hope everyone is well with themselves. Its crazily cold in Sydney these days and i'm a little sick but recovering I think. Well, just felt like saying today that I LOVE MY FRIENDS, FAMILY, GIRLFRIEND AND ALL PEOPLE because that is what Jesus was like. So yeah, I love you!!

with Loving kindness,

Kevin

Another article which I found interesting:

Real love has a cost we must pay

Jesus on the cross, King Lear and mothers the world over attest to two eternal truths: there is no force in nature like the power of love, and real love always comes at a cost. Such is the character of meaningful relationships.

One of the reasons that the issue of work-life balance is so slippery is that individuals can never be relieved of the full personal cost of caring for those closest to them.

This week, the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, released her plan of action towards gender equality, based on findings from a listening tour of Australia. At a high level, all elements of the Commissioner's action plan are commendable. However, in the area of family-friendly work practices, Ms Broderick has commented that she wants to alter the Sex Discrimination Act to penalise employers who exercise "indirect discrimination" by refusing to promote fathers who opt to spend more time with their families.

This is consistent with her comment, "If there is one thing I could do to promote gender equality in this country, it would be to better share paid and unpaid work between men and women".

But here, things start to get complicated. Of course it is crucial that men and women are offered equal opportunity to participate in the workforce and encouraged to be active in their roles as fathers and mothers. However, establishing equal participation rates in the workplace and at home as targets of government policy will not solve the endemic breakdown of family relationships.

Rather than directly trying to achieve specific work-life outcomes, policy must work to support the quality of underlying relationships and help provide choices that permit parents to spend time together and with their children. Flexible work practices and paid maternity leave, as recommended by Ms Broderick, are good examples.

At the same time, legitimate business interests need to be protected. Employers must be able to reward and promote those who make the greatest contribution. Some of us will make outstanding senior corporate executives. Others will make great parents. Some highly gifted time-managers may succeed at both. And there are interesting questions about whether care skills and business skills are equally spread across genders.

But the key to solving the work-life conundrum will be in elevating the value of caregiving. Influencers of public opinion, including governments and the media, have roles to play in recognising and vigorously promoting the position that caring for those we love is among the highest of all callings.

This week, a Nielsen poll reported that 68 per cent of Australians are prepared to pay more for goods and services if costs increase as a result of the Government's proposed greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme. Similarly, we need to understand the way that our individual actions and public policies support or undermine family relationships.

Just as we, as a society, will bear the financial burden of a carbon trading scheme, we must be prepared to accept the costs associated with helping families to thrive.

Increasing government expenditure to address relational dysfunction is no solution. Simply providing more homes won't solve youth homelessness. Providing more healthy food alternatives will not remove our obesity epidemic. Longer hours of outsourced childcare will not build parents' relationships with their children nor repair families in crisis.

An important step in increasing the visibility of caregiving is for the Federal Government to measure key outcomes. These include an estimation of the value of time spent in primary caregiving and a calculation of the cost to society of damaged and broken relationships. To take just one example, besides the extraordinary emotional and psychological toll of marital separation, the need for two homes instead of one increases the demand for housing, leading to higher house prices and more carbon emissions.

Only when the full cost is counted will it be possible to acknowledge and provide for the complex array of trade-offs in the formulation of appropriate policy.

Even then, just as primary caregiving involves personal sacrifice, we must all come to recognise that our shared future depends on us being prepared to provide for all members of our community to have shared time with those closest to them. Like those who dedicate their lives to the care of others, we may well discover deeper meaning in our life together.

Paul Shepanski is the executive director of Relationships Forum Australia. www.relationshipsforum.org.au

Australians 'ignorant of poverty'

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:19:48 GMT

Another interesting article, so true.... I didn't know the true extent of the issues. Hope everyone is well and happy!!:

AUSTRALIANS are ignorant of the extent of child poverty in our region, even though Papua New Guinea and East Timor are as poor as Sudan and Haiti, a new survey shows.

Almost 40 per cent of Australians nominate Ethiopia as the world's poorest country but many countries where children are equally or much worse off fail to register in the public's consciousness.

The survey by ChildFund Australia, an international aid and development agency, reveals the gaps in Australians' knowledge about children in the developing world and shows Australians are unduly pessimistic about progress in improving conditions in many countries.

The study, based on more than 1056 respondents, finds 87 per cent of Australians correctly believe children in Africa face the greatest poverty. Within Africa, Ethiopia is singled out as the poorest country, followed by Sudan, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Somalia.

But countries such as Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo, ranked by the United Nations as having worse records on child deaths and on broad development measures, remain outside the consciousness of most Australians.

Australians also appear unaware that since the 1985 Live Aid campaign that brought Ethiopia's disastrous famine to world attention, child mortality there has fallen by 40 per cent.

"Aid agencies face a challenge to better communicate a range of complex information to the public and the media," said Nigel Spence, chief executive officer of ChildFund Australia. "A small number of countries dominate people's thinking."

In the Asia-Pacific region, most Australians nominate India, Cambodia, Indonesia, China and Vietnam as having the worst child poverty.

But Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste suffer deprivation similar to that found in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Haiti and Cameroon. China and Indonesia do not feature on the UN's rankings of 50 poorest countries, or the 50 with the worst record of child deaths.

Most Australians erroneously believe the plight of children in the developing world has worsened or remained unchanged in the past decade.

SMH Article

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 10:07:14 GMT

Can you imagine your eight-year-old daughter engaged in battle with a gun? In wartime girls are drawn into violence in many ways. They can be forced from their homes, separated from their families and lose the chance of an education. They can be abducted by armed groups and forced to act as porters, camp domestics, combatants, spies and even soldiers' "wives". Of the estimated 300,000 child soldiers in the world today, approximately 100,000 are girls.

Let me tell you about a little girl from Sierra Leone named Hawa, whose story is highlighted in the second State Of The World's Girls report, which is released this week. Hawa was three when militia killed her parents. She was taken by the militia and at age eight was "married" to one of the leaders. One of the atrocities Hawa experienced occurred when some of the soldiers wanted Hawa to shoot a pregnant woman, to settle a bet over whether she was carrying a boy or a girl. For refusing, Hawa was herself shot and injured. The soldiers went on to shoot the woman to settle the bet. Hawa eventually escaped and is now getting herself through school. She is one of the lucky ones.

Even after war, recovery can be slow and painful. Boys usually gain preference in the recovering school system as girls are expected to care for younger siblings, marry or complete domestic chores. Some will even have their own children to look after, children conceived though sexual violence. These girls, and their children, will face discrimination and stigma in addition to the struggle to begin a post-conflict life.

Though preference is given to educating boys, countries which spend some time focusing on girls after the conflict are less likely to revert back to chaos and conflict. Girls can make the difference.

The particular vulnerability of girls to the brutality of conflict was brought to shocking life for me as a young aid worker in the Goma camp for Rwandan refugees. During the day, life was beyond difficult. A million people were squatting in filth on a barren rocky field. Trucks came each morning to take away the bodies, hundreds at a time. Amidst this scene strutted teenagers with surly looks, young members of the feared Hutu militias who had just participated in massacring by machete up to 800,000 Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus.

I had heard it said "what happens here at night is worse". I tried to imagine how things could be worse. At nightfall we, the relief workers, would retire exhausted to base camps. Under cover of darkness the Hutu militias would then flex their muscle; redistributing food as they saw fit and satisfying their lust for power in sexual ways.

War is all about power and violence. It should not have surprised me that those who had just committed genocide would continue to abuse what little power they had left, and target those who were most vulnerable. There are women and girls around the world in similar situations.

On leaving for Rwanda a wise friend said to me: "You may be tempted to consider the Hutu militia demonic but when you look into the eyes of these young teenagers just remember that such potential for evil is in all of us." Given different conditions, these teens might have been aspiring students with an interest in football rather than violence.

Children do not start wars yet they are most vulnerable to its deadly effects. War violates every right a child has, the right to life, the right to be with family, the right to grow and develop their personality and the right to be nurtured and protected.

War exacerbates injustices. This is particularly so for girls. Girls frequently face discrimination, exclusion, control, and various levels of emotional and physical violence in times of peace.

Only by addressing these very deep-seated prejudices can we construct a world that is safe for girls in both peace and war. If we could deal with the underlying attitudes that make the world intolerable for girls, I am sure we would be a long way toward lasting peace.

Ian Wishart is the CEO of Plan International Australia. Plan's State Of The World's Girls report can be downloaded from www.plan.org.au

With loving kindness, Hope you have a wonderful day!!

Kevin =D

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:44:42 GMT

Jason Li: One memorable person who has changed your life: "Sir Ninian who works at the International Criminal Tribunal" was his humilty and his care to treat all those around him with dignity and genuine interest. I compared this at the time with the arrogance of many who had achieved not even a fraction of what he had." - pg 267 (Asian OZ) - Amen to this

With loving kindness,
Kevin

Friday, April 18, 2008

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:19:55 GMT

Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they've been given than to explore the power they have to change it. Impossible is not a fact. It's an opinion. Impossible is not a declaration. It's a dare. Impossible is potential. Impossible is temporary. Impossible is nothing

Yeah, I did just wanted to post up this great quote... I always feel somewhat inspired just after I read it. And yeah to you wonderful wonderful people out there reading this, remember there are always always positives to be taken out of any situation however hopeless, however negative, however stressful, however sad, however heartaching... there always is something you can do which will you can do to make things better. Have Hope.... Things are always change!! Love others, smile, pray, be generous, talk to your loved ones, speak positively, go exercise, blog positive things, do something you like :D... just do and say positive things yeah!!! Just do it!! hahaha Yeah i know I am giving these sports brands a plug~~

take caree and with loving kindness ppls,

Kev

A quote on Love

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 10:01:52 GMT

An quote which Kev is fond of:

To Fulfil our Destiny

There must be such a thing as Love

Of all the wonders that a human being is capable of, the giving and receiving of love is the most beautiful and rewarding of them all. Love is the only key that will open the door to happiness and all the untold treasures there are in. It is a gift that each and every one of us has. It is the spark of life that, without fail, reacts in direct proportion to the amount and quality of fuel it receives. Sometimes it is a fierce blaze that needs an answering fire to quench its thirst, or a furnace that makes, welds, moulds and shapes till all manner of obstacles are overcome and the impossible fades into obscurity. It has a voracious, never ending appetite that will consume all manner of surprising foods—a sparkle in the eye, a joyous laugh, a sharing together of good and bad, lips brushing against warm soft lips but touching the heart, a tender glance at a peaceful sleeping face, a spontaneous touching of hands, the warmth and strength of embracing arms, a compliance with conscience, obedience to ethics, an upholding of moral responsibilities, confidence in life and the most exotic heady wine of all—the giving of the fruits of love and asking nothing in return. The spark is always with us and will never be extinguished if the act of giving is constant. The knowledge that love does exist would be obvious. It will be the only thing that ’fame or fortune’ will never be able to buy.

Keith McGrath

A final word from me, sometimes whilst day dreaming it occurs to me that each moment of our life is a gift... the experience is a gift... and yeah life is a blessing because we don't get to choose life really... Did you get what i mean? - Therefore we really should cherish our moments here!

Hope all is well with everyone... Hopefully update again soon

Be an "I" instead of a "Me." By Michael Michalko - Author of Cracking Creativity: The Secrets of Cr

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 01:27:54 GMT

We are tacitly taught that we exist and just are. We have been taught that all people are true to their own genes, environment and nature. We are conditioned to be objects. We are taught to be e,?instead of .? When you think of yourself as e,?you are limited. The e?is always limited. When you believe how others (parents, teachers, peers, colleagues, and others) describe you, you become that. You might want to be an artist, but others might tell you that you have no talent, training, or temperament to be an artist. The e?will say, ho do you think you are??ou are just an ordinary person. There is nothing special about you.?

.
There is a Japanese masterpiece film IKIRU about the life on an old man that captures the essence of what it means to be a e.?Ikiru is a civil servant who has labored in the bureaucracy for thirty years. He determines his self worth by how others see him. He thinks of himself as an object and spends his life preventing things from happening. He is a widower who never remarried, as his relatives told him he was too old and unattractive to remarry. He is the father of an ungrateful son who despises him because he is not rich. He does not strive to better his career as he has been told by his supervisor that he lacks the education and intelligence to be anything more than a clerk. In his mind, he pictures himself as a worthless failure. He walks bent over with a shuffling walk with defeated eyes.

When he is told that he has terminable cancer, he looks back over the wasteland of his life, and decides to do something of note. For the first time in his life he became the ,?the subject of his life. Against all obstacles, he decided to build a park for poor children in a dirty slum of Tokyo. He had no fear and felt no self-defeating limitations, he ignored his son when his son said he was the laughing stock of the neighborhood, he ignored his neighbors who pitied him and begged him to stop. His supervisor was embarrassed and pretended not to know him. Because he knew he was going to die, he no longer cared what other people thought. For the first time in his life he became free and alive. He worked and worked, seemingly without stopping. He was no longer afraid of anyone, or anything. He no longer had anything to lose, and so in this short time gained everything. Finally, he died, in the snow, swinging on a child swing in the park which he made, singing.

Ikiru became the subject of his life. He became joyous instead of miserable; he inspired instead of being indifferent, and he laughed at himself and the world instead of feeling humiliated and defeated. Ikiru eized the day.?

Part of the ORDINARY MIRACLE

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 23:40:41 GMT

This is such beautiful song and I would like to share it with everyone?If you want it, let me know and Il send it across to U. To realize that each day is an ordinary iracle?makes me cherish how special, precious, and phenomenally amazing each and every day truly is. Just to contemplate this fact makes me feel more humanity which we are all part of. Truly AMAZING!

["Charlotte's Web" soundtrack]

It's not that unusual
When everything is beautiful.
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

The sky knows when its time to snow,
Don't need to teach a seed to grow.
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

Life is like a gift they say
Wrapped up for you everyday;
Open up and find a way
To give some of your own.

Isn't it remarkable?
Like every time a rain drop falls,
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

Birds in winter have their fling
But always make it home by spring.
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

When you wake up everyday
Please don't throw your dreams away;
Hold them close to your heart
Cause we're all a part
Of the ordinary miracle.
Ordinary miracle

Do you want to see a miracle?
ohh ohh ohh, ohhh ohh ohh...

It seems so exceptional
That things just work out after all.
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

Sun comes up and shines so bright
And disappears again at night.
It's just another ordinary miracle today.
ohh ohh ohh, ohh ohhh ohh...
It's just another ordinary miracle today.

LOL. I want to underline and bold the whole song :D

Oh yeah, to my GF Rosie and to my other dear readers I've finally updated, happy yeah? take care all!

Just a short entry!

Sun, 12 Aug 2007 12:22:58 GMT

Another day has passed by. Was trying to do my International marketing assignment on Argentina and exporting Barbeques. I have another assignment where our group is trying to write a marketing plan to try and export this compost bin which can be put inside the house called Bodashi. I'm really excited about the idea. If anyone is interested Google it up. I quite like the idea. I thought the statistic that a third of landfills is occupied by food scraps is quite startling...Just imagine how much space that is taking up and how it could be better put into use if the waste is made into compost.

Just a reminder for myself, to remember that each person has their unique backgrounds, experiences, knowledge and temprement. That I myself am not perfect and cannot expect others to be like me. Compassion and mindfulness is whats necessary.

Hope ya all well and happy with everyone. Thanks for the comments and for reading everyone

With much Loving kindness,

Kevin

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Sun, 05 Aug 2007 14:19:52 GMT

I saw this quote in a Uni magazine which goes something like this: Use your mind to think and then follow your heart. I love this quote. To me it means that you use your heart to love whatever it is. Then you use your minds to figure out the rights or wrongs. From there you use what you mind has figured out and use your heart capture it. What do you think? Everyone sees the world differently and I wonder what you believe in.

I feeling inspired at this present moment so Il update now. This entry will be dedicated to the theme of LOVE. In particular I would like to dedicate this LOVE entry to my parents. My parents are typically traditional Asian Chinese parents. They tell us kids to study hard, go to Uni, greet the relatives, give them part of your income when you start work and so on. They love us so much but sometimes in ways which people such as the younger generation and overseas Chinese can find tricky to understand. They work very hard all in the name of making money and have their respective strengths and weaknesses like me and everyone else. I have the learnt the valuable lesson that it of much greater value to emphasise on people strengths as oppose to weaknesses so I want to particularly thank my Mum for teaching me to have compassion and understanding for people, what good work ethic is, how to look after myself and Dad for teaching me to be generous to others, ambitious and smart?They have both taught me to be the person I am today. What I have learnt from them will always be with me and I love them greatly and would die for them.

I love you Mum and Dad! I love both of you very much. I also love my brother, sister, Girlfriend (Must put this in here, I know you read this haha), relatives, my many great friends, fellow bloggers, and all beings whomever they may be. Love is not weak or a sign of weakness but it is much stronger than any force that science can give u! I put this in bold for emphasis?/U> The formula f = ma can handle it one bit, but its so strong that it can change you as a person entirely and others around you like magic?u just gota trust me on that - Love brings true happiness?so may everyone love ourselves, others, and the world around us with much action and be happy! Love can also include things like our work and just about anything else as long as we know in our hearts it the right thing for ourselves?/SPAN>

May I finally share this well known quote which has always been around but not always followed in my own life. It is now the basic center of my life. I hope you love it as much as I do and appreciate what it embodies. Any comments about my post or anything else, let me know?good, bad, ugly, or darn sexy ?whatever you like LAH~ I can handle it!

ove is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails.?/SPAN>

Time to sleep and wake up tomorrow and love some more!