Boo Boos and Sarcasm

G., who just turned 4, has been learning how to ride her bike. She can ride if I give her a push, but she can't quite get going by her herself. E., her older sister who's 8, just started riding with confidence within the last year.

G., the younger, is always getting scrapes, bumps and bruises. So when she fell off her bike, she bawled and in the midst of her loud cries, she said, "Oh, great, now I have more boo boos." Guess don't need to teach her about sarcasm.

Also, after I made a snide but gentle sarcastic comment to E., she says, "Ouchee Daddy. I'm offended." Well, wife and I have 10 more years of E., unless she gets to college early, and 14 more years of G.

No Good and Bad ...

and changing negative attitude into positives.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - from Hamlet , Wm. Shakespeare; Act II, scene ii


There is the famous Zen example about the man and his son and the horses that ran away. But I finally able to find some examples from my life. 


There really is no good or bad, only my reactions and things I control and things I can't. 


Example 1: Parking Spot. 
I've been trying forever to get a parking spot closer to my office, but all to no avail. My thinking is that I've been here long enough, don't I deserve a good spot?? No one agrees or cares. And I'm pissed and feeling unappreciated blah blah blah. And I was even on the verge of quitting over this but then I've been on a fitness/exercise kick and realized that parking farther makes me walk and burn more calories, so now I don't care about the spot nearby. 


Example 2: Changing Water
My department has about 20 people, who come and go and drink the water, but only two or three people ever change the water which weighs about 20, 25 lbs. And I use to get pissed off and think about how lazy they were, etc, but then I started this fitness/exercise kick and now I've included it into my office workout routine and look forward to changing it and even will fight for the opportunity to change the water bottle. 


No good or bad. And things I control, which is my reaction, my responses. I can't change other people. 

Slowing and Speeding up Time

In the middle of reading Paulo Coelho's Pilgrimage and he talks about Time. How if you keep checking the time and eagerly wait for something, then Time moves slowly, as any kid waiting for Christmas will tell you. But Coelho also wrote about slowing down and looking around and that will take your focus away from Time and make it go faster.

I tried that on the boring drive back from Las Vegas and it worked. We got home in no time.

Thank you, Jeremy Lin

Thank You #1:

So the NBA's Asian Sensation has done it again. Four wins in a row. I finally got to watch him play against the Lakers for win #3.  Do I root for my Asian brother or my hometown Lakers? I had to support the brother.

And this is why: after he scored on one of his drives, he ran back with a smile on his face that showed how HAPPY he was; it was a smile of JOY. I've been watching the NBA for awhile now and that kind of smile is rare. There's a lot more arrogance and smugness and meanness and it looked to me like he was happy and thankful and realized how blessed he was and it looked like he was actually ENJOYING playing the game and I can't same the same for a lot of the players in the NBA.

Thank you. Thanks Jeremy Lin for bringing a little joy back into the NBA.