A healthy baby comes from healthy pregnancy, and smart parenting produces a smart kid.
Monday, September 16, 2024
Anything Is Everything OR Nothing
Sunday, September 15, 2024
Believing in Yourself
Believing in yourself is self-efficacy. Believing in yourself is confidence in your own ability, knowing what you have to do to win or simply to get what you want in life.
In addition, you may also be comparing yourself with others. Remember, nobody is perfect. Others may also have their failures that you are unaware of. You see only their successes but not their failures. Surprisingly, seeing your own imperfections may be the pathway to future success.
Saturday, September 14, 2024
The Importance of Money Wisdom
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Friday, September 13, 2024
Living By Faith - A New Blog
THE NEW BLOG
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Losing Your Money
Making money is all about your being and your doing: being who you are and doing what you can with what you have.
Not knowing your true
self and not doing what you are supposed to do, and yet wanting your money, and
even lots of it, leads to your “money fantasies”, such as becoming a
professional gambler, lining up for hours to get your Power Ball, and even
engaging in burglary or bank robbery.
No matter what, you may lose your money at some point in your life, and that is a reality. Remember, the opposite of "gain" is "loss", and what goes up must also come down, and this is a universal truth.
LOSING
Even if your life is a bed of roses, it must also have some thorns to go with it. What goes up must also come down. Gains are followed by losses. That is the natural cycle of all things.
While pursuing your
careers, you might have encountered your discharge or unemployment, and while
making your money in your businesses or financial investments, you might also
have been overwhelmed by your money losses.
Freedom
Free yourself from “money miseries”—living from paycheck to paycheck; not making both ends meet; always seeing your lack and deprivation when compared with others.
Remember this: Even
wealthy celebrities went broke, and you are not alone. For example, Mike
Tyson, a boxing champion, earning over $300 million dollars, ended up in bankruptcy
in 2003; and Michael Jackson, a recording artist, dancer, singer, and
songwriter, earning over $500 million dollars, was heavily in debt when he died
in 2009.
So, fight the good
fight to recover, restore, and rejuvenate yourself from the bondage and
wreckage of losses.
Bondage
Money is emotional, especially when always feeling the lack of it. Yes, money can cause many mental problems, including depression.
With more
money, you can live rich. But even with less money, you can still
live richly, and free yourself from the bondage of lack.
But how to
live richly if you have less money? The answer is thrift, which is an
alternative lifestyle to consumerism, materialism, and over-consumption in this
material world you are living in.
Thrift may help you work less, and not more. Many people are not paying with their money; instead, they are paying with their time from their lives. Are you one of them? Are you doing two or more jobs just to earn that extra money to spend more?
Thrift may promote your positive consumption values. Are some or most of your purchases aimed at your instant gratification, or just enhancing your self-esteem, making you feel rich, such as wearing a designer’s dress?
Thrift may encourage your savings. It may give you
more space to save, thereby instrumental in protecting you from negative income
shocks, such as an unexpected unemployment.
Yes, living richly
with thrift may turn you from bondage to freedom.
FREEDOM with BONDAGE shows you how to free yourself from your bondage to the flesh that gives you the "freedom" to make the wrong choices and decisions in your everyday life.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Adultery in Marriage
INFIDELITY IN MARRIAGE
Tiger Woods, one of the world’s most famous and wealthiest golfers, was caught with his dark secrets of infidelities and lies in 2009. At first, he vehemently denied and even concealed them. But, eventually, he was more forthcoming and apologetic to his fans and his family at several press conferences:
The reality
King David’s adulteries
In spite of his efforts in seeking God’s wisdom, King David also demonstrated his darker side of the sin of lust.
One night, King David saw Bathsheba, the wife of one of King David’s generals, bathing on the rooftop. Succumbing to his own sin of lust, King David sent for Bathsheba, and committed adultery with her. To gratify his lust, King David even purposely sent the general to the war front to have him killed so that he could marry the general’s widow.
King David eventually married Bathsheba. Although penitent for his sins, God punished King David, and their firstborn son died.
King Solomon’s adulteries
King Solomon, the second son of King David, despite his profound human wisdom, violated God’s standards of sexual purity. His decision to disobey God and marry foreign women with their different gods led to his own idolatry. As a punishment for his sins, God divided Israel, and Solomon suffered bitterness and emptiness at the end of his life.
The difference between King David and King Solomon is that King David always lived in the presence of the Lord. So, King David always turned back to God with remorse and repentance, while King Solomon only distanced himself from God with no contrition and remorse.
So, living in the presence of the Lord always reminds you of your own accountability to Him, without which you will do anything and everything, thinking that you can get away with it.
The reality
Always live in the presence of the Shepherd. Always let the Shepherd guide you in the green pastures. Always let the Shepherd overcome your enemies of pride, lust, and deceit. Always let the Shepherd use His rod and staff not only to protect you but also to restrain and discipline you. Always let the Lord be your Shepherd throughout your marriage journey.
Adultery is a conscious and deliberate act to do just the opposite of what a marriage commitment requires. Adultery is prevalent because it has become the new “norm.” According to many, adultery is just a sin, not a crime, and everybody commits sins of some sort anyway. But adultery is a sin directly against God, who creates the marriage, joining the two as one. So, committing adultery is lack of accountability to God, and is unforgivable without judgment and repentance.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
You Just Don't Die!
Words of Wisdom to Live to 100 Years and Beyond
Life might not have been fair to you with happenings that might have been beyond your control. No matter what, life is not meant to be a punishment for you. If you just don’t die, you will have the wisdom to live it through.
“Life begets death; one is
inseparable from the other.
One is form; the other is formless.
Each gives way to the other.
One third of people focus on life, ignoring death.
One third of people focus on death, ignoring life.
One third of people think of neither, just
drifting along.
They all suffer in the end.
Trusting the Creator, we have no illusion about life
and death.
Holding nothing back from life, we are ready for
death,
just as a man ready for sleep after a good day’s
work.”
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 50)
“Abiding in the Creator, we do not fear death.
Following the conditioned mind, we fear everything.
Fear is a futile attempt to control things and
people.
Death is a natural destination of the Way.
Unnatural fear of death does more harm than good.
It is like trying to use
intricate tools of a master craftsman:
we end up hurting ourselves.”
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 74)
If you just don’t die, the wisdom in living the rest of your life is no more than . . .
Just like eating a meal
Living the rest of your
life is just like eating a meal.
Before your start your
meal, say your grace. (Just like being grateful and thankful that you just
don’t die and that you can still have this meal.)
Before you pick up your
food, take a minute or two to still your mind. There is no need to hurry;
you’ve all the time in the world to finish this meal. (Just like being
conscious of living in the now.)
There is no right or wrong
about eating the food in front of you—eating is just a process, a way of living
and surviving, just like breathing in and out. (Just like knowing that now you
don't need to eat to socialize, to relieve stress,
to satisfy your food cravings, or to make yourself feel better—you eat
simply because you just don’t die.)
Look at the food in front
of you. Notice the color, the smell, and the texture of the food. (Just like
being conscious of the people and the happenings around you.)
Now, begin
eating. No matter how small the bite of food you have, take at least two bites.
Take your first bite. Chew it very slowly but thoroughly,
noticing and enjoying your actual sensory experience of chewing and tasting.
Chew every morsel of food to explore the differences in their taste, texture,
and smell. (Just like enjoying whatever that is still available to you that you
still find enjoyable.)
Continue to
eat in silence without any distraction. (Just like you continue to live without
being distracted by what might happen tomorrow.)
Just like watching a suspense movie
Living in the last days is also like watching a suspense movie, full of unpredictable twists and turns: you don’t know how it would end until the very end; otherwise, it wouldn’t be worth watching. Don’t turn your head away, and don’t cover your eyes with your hands. Just watch and enjoy the movie!
Monday, September 9, 2024
My Ingredients of My Recipe of My Daily Living for Life
The “Complaint” Ingredient
How I deal with my complaints
Sunday, September 8, 2024
Drinks to Heal the Immune System
Drinks to Heal the Immune System
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
Saturday, September 7, 2024
Good Posture Good Vision
GOOD POSTURE BETTER VISION
Vision is inter-connected with body posture. Therefore, to improve eyesight, you must also improve posture.
The explanation is that vision health is holistic health, which means it
includes the health of the body, the mind, and the spirit. Eyesight is an
integral part of vision. Your eyesight determines how you see the world at
large; your perception is your reality. Therefore, your perception becomes the
raw materials of your life experiences, which will directly or indirectly affect
your physical, mental, and emotional wellness. By the same token, your
physical, mental, and emotional health will have a bearing on your vision
health, and hence your eyesight.
According to Dr. William Bates (1860 - 1931), the founder of natural
vision improvement, poor vision is the result of eyestrain, due to mental and
physical stress on the eye, and hence the distortion of the eye shape, causing
nearsightedness and farsightedness. Dr. William Bates strongly believed that
eye relaxation holds the key to improving vision.
But eye relaxation begins with the mind first, not the eye. The mind must be
completely relaxed before it can relax the body—and then the eye, which is only
one of the organs of the body.
Improve posture to relax the body and the mind, and hence the eye. After all,
posture health is overall health: it affects your whole being in many different
ways.
Improve posture to improve your breathing. Incorrect breathing results in
compromised lung functioning, leading to inadequate oxygen intake by all body
organs and tissues, and hence a host of health issues, including vision health.
Improve posture to optimize breathing for vision health.
Improve posture to avoid debilitating body pain, such as neck pain, leg pain,
and even headaches. In addition, an arched back exerts undue pressure on the
joints and nerves, causing joint pain and rheumatism. Due to poor body posture,
all the muscle groups supporting the crooked spine may become stretched and
strained, causing wear and tear, resulting in lower back pain. Chronic body
pain often interferes with natural sleep, which is a major factor in relaxation
of the body and the mind, in particular, the eye. Therefore, it is important to
improve posture for eye relaxation to improve eyesight.
To successfully improve posture, you must develop an acute awareness for good
posture at all times.
Good posture does not mean "jamming your shoulders back, tucking in your
tummy, and standing stiff"; this posture does not align your body, nor is
it practicable in that you can maintain that position over an extended period.
Good posture means that in any standing position, you body posture should be as
follows:
Your head is directly above your shoulders.
Your chin is tucked in.
Your ear, shoulder, and hip are in a straight line from a side view.
Your upper back is straight, not slouched.
Your shoulders, relaxed and straight, are flat against your back.
Your pelvis is in a neutral position.
Your knees are unlocked.
Be mindful not just of your standing posture, but also your sitting and
sleeping posture—they all play a pivotal part in eye relaxation, which holds
the key to improving eyesight.
Stephen Lau
Copyright©
by Stephen Lau