TR EMERITUS

By James Oh, Lifestyle Correspondent LOOKING BACK Much has already been said about the state of the physical health and its impact on our life style and I cannot deny the fact that the physically affair of health will also affect a person in many ways. However, the mental and spirit health, which has a greater impacts on one's lifestyle and you cannot afford to undermine as they may overcome the greatest physical disability so as to shape that person's life.. In this article I shall continue to pay more focus on both the mental and spiritual aspects of health. I would like to reiterate the fact that they can even compensate for whatever physical defect one may have. Therefore they should receive MUCH of your attention and PRIORITY. Maintaining a positive inner health while living a healthy life is a like running a race that includes hurdles. So never expect life to be easy and smooth. Otherwise when you encounter any hurdles, you may become angry or fearful or doubtful. This is because you do not have the experience or expertise to handle these hurdles. Therefore you will either wait for someone to remove the obstacle, or take a shortcut solution or you just simply give up in desperation. At times, short cut solutions such as taking a much higher, than permitted, doses of medicine may seem to be a feasible solution. To stay healthy, you ought to expect that you have to face hurdles. You must be aware that it is a continuing act/process per se and overcoming hurdles is part and parcel of life. As a result, you need to respond to it appropriately. By having the right perspective, you will be able to tackle  these challenges positively instead of running away from them. Therefore, it is very much easier to stay healthy when everything is going your way smoothly. However, the trouble is that things cannot always be at status quo; your age is catching up ; more and more deadly  and life threatening diseases are emerging.  Whether you like it or not, you need a much stronger determination to deal with these challenges as and when it arises. However, it is sad that most people have either overlooked or neglected this point. LOOKING FORWARD Moving forward I shall discuss some of the major obstacles that may prevent you from staying healthy. Questions such as the types of obstacles; the extent and how they can affect  your  lifestyle would be uppermost in your mind. Here, I shall give you some insight as  to how to overcome these obstacles effectively. 1. ANXIOUS Anxiety is an emotion that burns out lots of your energy and stress you out unnecessary. If you are not careful you will be drown with more and more worry; far more than necessary; in any of your situation. It will not only over load you with problems, real and perceived, but will also shake your confidence ultimately. Here, we  must also be very clear of the difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and whereas a concerned person solve a problem. To become an effective problem solver, you need to focus on things that you can control. So, give Today your attention and not Yesterday or Tomorrow. If you have done it to the best of your ability, then you should not worry about it anymore, as nothing can change it further. On the other hand, if you allow anxiety to take control of you, then it will make the distinction between problem and predicament blur. I shall deal these two terms shortly. Here, you must know precisely where to draw the boundary and what you really need to rectify your situation, not anything more than that.. If not, you will be taxed with all the unnecessary worries that will slow down your action and you will be tormented thinking of all the negative consequences. If not careful, it will eventually cause you to break down or go into depression. Therefore, it is crucial for you to have the right and appropriate perspective to solve any hurdles that may crop up. Otherwise, you will end up with sleepless night as your mind will be actively thinking of its adverse implications, thus creating more harm to you. As such, we must be aware that our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empty today of its strengths. As a result, you cannot stay healthy if you have lots of anxieties. That is why it is important to be in control of yourself at ALL TIMES. 2. FEAR People have fear because of uncertainty, sudden attack, panic or that can make them captive. Fear can be real or perceived through the individual personal deception.. Both are equally harmful to the individual if left unchecked. Therefore, a person cannot allow fear to control him if he wants to stay healthy. You may have heard of the saying that fear breeds fear. Once you allow fear to creep into your mind, you will think of all the negative consequences until your mind is saturated with  all the negative impacts and eventually it will take complete control of your mind and cause you to black out. As a result, you are not only inactive, but your health will be deteriorating. Hence it will  make you fearful of doing something that may actually be beneficial to you. Let us be very clear that taking action will require you to move into the unknown which can be scary at times. But if you give in to your fear, you cannot move forward. You cannot neither benefit from what you avoid, nor be able to gather any valuable experience that would make you better informed. So, stay tuned for the part 2. About the Author: James Oh is an accountant by profession and he works as a Financial Controller for more than 10 years with several companies in Singapore and Malaysia. He is a full member of the Singapore Institute of Director and he also obtained a LLB (Law degree) from the University of London in 2003. He is happily married with 3 loving kids. James blogs at http://liftyouup.blogspot.com  Read More →

作者:冀居·谢 这次维斯瓦在国会的发言被主流媒体完全淹没，正好说明主流媒体比政府还伪善。尊龙在《末代皇帝》(Last Emperor) 里有句台词很妙，他说他是活在大黄圈圈里的小黄圈圈，而在小黄圈圈里还有更小的圈圈儿。溥仪长于后宫妇人、太监之手，对于太监情结当然很了解，因为通常是皇帝不急太监急的。 这个维斯瓦是个官委议员，对于执政党来说应该是比反对党人还认可的人物。他是凭社会地位和社区贡献入选的。那么他敢在处女演讲就把矛头指向执政党，发言的地点 还不是什么野台、罗厘车上，而是庄严的国会殿堂，最后还“荣膺”最高人物的点名批判，照说这就是新闻点，换作别的国度，维斯瓦早就成为媒体宠儿了。所以吕 德耀说媒体报道无需经政府过目才能见报，果然没错，因为他们“自我审查”是比政府还严密得多，他们的鼠胆早就脱落了。 吕德耀说：“如果只读（本地）某些网络文章，你也许会以为新加坡是个很糟糕的第三世界国家，高度腐败又没有效率。这与现实情况是全然迥异的。”——其实，如果只读主流媒体，或许会以为新加坡是个很糟糕的极权国家，高度抹杀又自宫审查。这与国会里的情况是全然迥异的。 主流媒体该如何力挽狂澜，不被新媒体的后浪击垮？吕德耀对此提出两个建议，其中一个他说：不要在主流媒体平台上有样学样，或采取新媒体的报道方式，如刊登未经查证的消息等。因为这会削弱主流媒体作为可靠信息来源的优势。——现在维斯瓦的国会发言是严肃、正式的，之后还由国会秘书处印出来任人索取，这么“证实、现成、有新闻点”的消息都不发表，这些主流媒体是在等太阳从西方出来吗？ 怀着这样的心情来读礼拜天 周兆呈和 李慧玲的两篇文章，不禁要对文章里头的伪善而摇头叹息。 周兆呈说： 『我一直都对这个（按：和而不同）场景印象深刻，它确实颠覆了之前我对新加坡政治生态的一些认知。翻开旧报章，从两位所属阵营的整体来看，有着针锋相对的 理念冲突，更因为政治权力的斗争需要，彼此曾是分外眼红、毫无对话的可能。却没有想到在私人领域，尘埃落定之后，不同政治立场的人能够时常坐在一起，视彼 此为友人。 这两位都已是70多岁，历经政治风云，看尽政坛沧桑。他们两人如何成为朋友，我没有追问，或许另有渊源，或许是因为彼此的政治理念有 所改变，但要说与政治毫无关系、对过去的背景毫无牵涉，大概也不可能。这其中或许又有另外的故事了。但至少，这种关系提供了一种“政治和解”在私人层面实 现的可能。』 我觉得是很大的颠倒，这些人本来就是患难与共的朋友、同党同志，后来因为胜利者为了诠释His story——“他的历史”的方便，就把这些人分成两边，而主流媒体更是几十年来敲边鼓、推波助澜的帮凶。现在有报界中人竟来惊叹、感叹、拍案惊奇，等于 是太监看到皇上有感人举动时，总不忘提醒一句：还不赶快谢主隆恩？我只能说这样的人头壳袋屎。 李慧玲说： 『与其说《白衣人》这本书是发出不同历史声音的开始，还不如说是这些声音终于得以回到主流论述当中。在岛国社会，唯有这些声音回到主流论述，之后才更可能得到重视与传播。 是同样的议事厅，也是不一样的议事厅。我问起在门口碰到的前国会议员：“你当年坐在哪里？” 她顿了顿，重复了我的问题：“我坐在哪里呀……” …… 握手需要双方伸手，然后触碰到彼此，哪怕只是短暂的一刻，也是一种连接。我们作为旁观者，感觉完满，也因为历史还以人们的理想与激情尊重。』 报业出了一本奉命文学的意义怎么这么大！就像维斯瓦被摒障一样，那位当年“坐在那儿”的何佩珠，如果不是配合剧情来做陪客的话，咱们的编辑组副主任和高级执行编辑有对她做过专访吗？放着可以做的事不做——“那是不是一种遗憾？又或者，人生中恰恰是某一些遗憾，才映托出这个场合、这次握手、这本书的价值？”——事后老是来提醒：等久不一定有的，还不谢主隆恩！孟子说反身而诚，人怎么可以这样没有自知之明呢？ 摘自大马论坛  Read More →

From our Correspondent [Read more about Project Kasih here] Thanks to tip-offs from our readers, we have located two elderly scavengers and a 80 plus year-old hunch-backed granny who works as a toilet keeper: 1. Purvis Street: There is an elderly man who lives at the corner of a row of shophouses behind Purvis Street i.e. behind No.36 Talib Centre shophouses. He is seen regularly collecting cardboard boxes for a living and is in a wheelchair most of the time. (thanks Albert Ho for the tip-off) 2. Toa Payoh East Elderly woman collecting used cartons and cardboards discarded by Toa Payoh Polyclinic and pushed them along a trolley to elsewhere for sale. (thanks Jin Hoe for the tip-off) 3. Pearl Center level 4: 80 plus year old lady works as a toilet keeper, having her daily meals outside the toilet. (thanks Mun Tat for the tip-off) If you come across these elderly, please help us talk to them and create a case profile: 1. Name (surname will suffice) 2. Age 3. Do they have any children? If yes, are the children supporting them? 4. Do they have a place to stay or are they homeless? 5. Do they have sufficient money to buy three meals a day? 6. Medical history: do they have any chronic ailments like hypertension, diabetes, stroke etc.? 7. Weight-bearing: do they need clutches or wheel-chair? 8. Self-care: are they are able to do activities of daily living like brushing teeth, bathing and eating on their own? Send their case profiles to us at [email protected] and we will assess what type of help they require before contacting the relevant NGOs to pay them a visit. The vetting is necessary because some NGOs are sheltered homes which only take in elderly who can care for themselves while some cater to the chronic sick with specific medical conditions. Without your case profile, we will not know which NGO to contact. In the event that the elderly does not qualify for any homes (e.g. they have home) or they reject help from the NGO, we will put them on our registry and support them with a monthly allowance of $30. This is meant to be a long-term project and we urge all readers to lend us your kind and undivided support. As we have very limited manpower, we are able to send people to locate these elderly scavengers and spend time talking to them to write case profiles. Your help will be greatly appreciated.  Read More →