What Would You Say If You Had Only 5 Minutes Left To Live?

Taken from:

http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/2011/02/5-minutes-left-live/

“Because we do not know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. And yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you cannot conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, or five times more? Perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless…”

• Life is precious. It is short. It is wonderful. It is fun. It is filled with limitless possibility.
• Do good things for other people. You don’t have to do this all the time, for we are not saints. But do it more often than you have previously done. And you may be surprised how good it makes you feel.
• Stop caring about stuff. With just one minute left before I die I cannot believe I wasted hours and days earning extra money to buy a bigger car, a bigger telly, and jeans with a fancy brand badge sewn onto them.
• In all the spare time saved by not needing to buy expensive stuff I would encourage myself to spend more time outdoors, climbing up hills, sledging down them, jumping into rivers, walking the streets of my home town talking to people. Read more books, listen to more music, watch less lazy TV.
• Laugh more, whinge less.
• Run more, eat less.
• Take time now and then to stop and watch the sunrise or set, watch the power of a summer thunderstorm, look up at the full moon, or kick your feet through a pile of crunchy autumn leaves. The world is a wild and beautiful place. And it is easy to forget that when we spend so much time indoors.
• Don’t settle for “good enough”. Make your life as interesting, varied, exciting and challenging as possible. You will regret it if you do not.
• Strive to live each minute as though you had but five more minutes to live.

+++

I totally agree and I could not have said it better.

=)

I always remind myself not to take sunrise/sunset for granted.

Like Milk? Watch this....

Be a voice for animals at AnimalsAustralia.org

Painful Truth...

We must be responsible for our actions.

Reduce Dairy Intake...
It takes courage and commitment to make the change.

This is Home

Home is a place where I feel safe...

This is Home...

Inspiring Note on the Egypt Revolution

I came back from Egypt more than 1 month ago, and I did not sense any resentment towards the government during my short visit. I thought the suicide bombing at Coptic Church during new year eve was big thing, but it was nothing compared to the triumph of the people's revolution. Egypt is the sickest country i ever visited, its rampant corruption is like a chronic disease weakening the nation. 

Yes, I have experienced the rampant corruption in China as well, but at least, the Chinese are Very Very hardworking and competitive. Unfortunately, my overall impression of Egyptians are corrupted, lazy and incompetent. The law enforcers could not be trusted, as they are corrupted. The tour guides and "friendly" people on the street are trying to cheat tourists' money. 

I have met nice and honest people as well, but those are rare gems in the big city like Cairo. I am really happy that the people are frustrated with the status quo, and they should be. It is the triumph of the people!

   

One of the elderly activist in Cairo.

Felt really inspired after reading this on my IPhone.

How many of us have been cowards?

How many of us have the courage to challenge Status Quo?

How many of us could feel inspired & happy when we are put in a difficult situation?

Financial Education – Rich Dad’s Conspiracy of the rich

While I do not totally agree with Robert on everything, there are some key things that I concurred and learnt from him. Below are some the things I want to share from the book:

Three Kinds of Education:

1. Academic Education: This includes the ability to read, write and solve basic math problems
2. Professional Education: This is knowledge of a trade in which to earn money. (ie. Going to medical school to become doctor)
3. Financial Education: It is not so much about how much money you make, but how much money you keep, how hard your money works for you. (This is the one lacking in most people)

Why Money Is Not Taught in School?

The purpose of the foundation (the General Education Board) was to use the power of money, not to raise the level of education in America, as was widely believed at the time, but to influence the direction of that education... The object was to use the classroom to teach attitudes that encourage people to be passive and submissive to their rulers. The goal was – and is – to create citizens who were educated enough for productive work under supervision but not enough to question authority or seek to rise above their class. True education was to be restricted to the sons and daughters of the elite. For the rest, it would be better to produce skilled workers with no particular aspirations other than to enjoy life – Edward Griffin (1903) on Rockefeller’s General Education Board

Key Takeaways:

Learn how to use debt: Debt is not bad. Misuse of debt is bad. Debt cam make you rich, and debt can make you poor. If you want to get ahead financially, you need to learn to use debt, not abuse it.

Learn to control cash flow: If you are in debt, your cash flows from you to others. If you are going to be financially secure, you need to learn to have more cash flowing into your pockets.

Prepare for bad times and you will only know good times: One saw the depression as an opportunity, and the other saw it as a crisis.

Real Estate Tips:

1. Invest in B-Class apartment buildings: Rent to working class people (not to the rich or the poor).
2. Buy in areas where there are jobs: The real value of real estate is related to jobs
3. Own property where there are natural or government constraints: own apartments where there is no-growth boundary around the city, or properties bordered by river or sea (nature constraint) that prohibit further growth. In another words, limited supply land for real estate (Think: Manhattan and Singapore)
4.  Stay with what we know. 

+++

Hope we will reach financial freedom in our own ways.

Live your dream! - Advertisement Based on True Story

It is never too late to live our dream. =)

"It is never too late to be what you might have been" - George Eliot.

Human Planet by BBC

The World is Awesome!

The Spirit of the Human Race is equally Awesome!

My traveling experiences are awesome because of spectacular sights and interesting people. 

Wonderful!

=)

What No Longer & Not Yet Exists

Taken from one of my favourite books:

" One day a Tibetan came to see an old wise man whom I happened to be visiting with at the time… He began telling him all about his past misfortunes, then went on to list everything he feared for the future. All this time the wise man calmly roasted potatoes in a little brazier on the floor before him. After a while he told his plaintive visitor:“What’s the point of worrying about things that no longer exist and things that do not yet exist?” Nonplussed, the visitor stopped talking and remained silent for quite some time alongside the sage, who occasionally handed him a hot, crusty potato.

Inner freedom allows us to savor the lucid simplicity of the present moment, free from the past and emancipated from the future. Freeing ourselves from the intrusion of memories of the past does not mean that we are unable to draw useful lessons from our experience. Freeing ourselves from fear of the future does not make us incapable of approaching it clearly, but saves us from getting bogged down by pointless fretting.

Such freedom has aspects of clearheadedness, and joy that allow us to accept things peacefully without sinking into passivity or weakness. It also allows us to use all life’s circumstances, favourable and adverse, as catalysts for personal change, and to avoid becoming arrogant when they are favourable and depressed when they are not."

On Loss and Gain

Taken from: Wildmind

"Loss is not really loss if we don’t hold onto it. Gain is not ephemeral if we do not continually invent strategies to make it permanent. Fundamental joy is somewhere outside of this loss/gain calculus."