Excerpts from REALITY IS BROKEN,pg99 by Jane McGonigal.

Awe is a unique emotion. According to many positive psychologists, it’s the single most overwhelming and gratifying positive emotion we can feel. In fact, neuropsychologist Paul Peasall calls awe “the orgasm of positive emotions.”

Awe is what we feel when we recognize that we’re in the presence of something bigger than ourselves. It’s closely linked with feelings of spirituality, love, and gratitude – and more importantly, a desire to serve.
…"The experience of awe is about finding your place in the larger scheme of things. It’s about quieting the press of self-interest. It’s about folding into social collectives. It’s about feeling reverential towards participating in some expansive process that unites us all and that ennobles our life’s endeavours.”

In other words, awe doesn’t just feel good; it inspires us to do good.

Mentally ill man remanded over double murder

The above story really got me thinking.

He said: “Mama, sorry, I'm wrong, you take care of yourself and papa well”.

He also said he would donate his organs if he was sentenced to death.

No doubt, he will still have to pay for his hideous crime but I feel his admittance of his wrong doing and wanting to help others with his death still speaks substance of this man.

Wonderful quotes from the movie Flight of the Phoenix
Frank Towns: Why give people false hope?

Liddle: Come on man.Most people spend their whole lives hanging on to hopes and dreams that are never going to come true but they hold on to them. Why are you going to give up on them now when you need them most?

Frank Towns: You are assuming I'm one of those people who has hopes and dreams.

Liddle: I find it hard to believe that a man who learns to fly never had a dream.

Frank Towns: Look, how can I let those people build that plane when I don't believe it will work? And, every day they waste trying to build it brings them one day closer to dying.

Liddle: I think a man only needs one thing in life. He just needs someone to love. If you can't give him that, then give him something to hope for. And if you can't give him that, just give him something to do.

[James tosses the water bottle back to Frank and walks away] 

Frank Towns: James, you'll never make it.

Liddle: Then I'll die trying. There are people counting on me.

I was badly shaken on Monday.

Real bad.

The -Woke up in the middle of the night, couldn't sleep well - level of bad.

The following night, I had a very unusual dream.

The type of dream that you'd remember though you have long awaken.

I was walking in the dark, searching for familiarity.

Suddenly, I was at the food stalls of the neighbourhood I grew up in.

But there was no one I knew around.

Then, I saw the elderly professor whom I quite fond of at work.

She was preoccupied.

I began to tell her my troubles, desperate to pour out my grief to her.

She listened attentively, but she kept pulling my arm to walk with her.

I shook my head, "No, I'm too tired, listen..."

"I am listening, but you must walk while you tell me. Come on.."

I was exhausted both physically, emotionally and mentally.

But she wouldn't have any of that.

I had to walk.

That dream was days ago.

Yet, I strongly feel the message.

I'm glad my subconscious mind had work its way to make the better of me.

Excerpts from REALITY IS BROKEN, by Jane McGonigal.

Fiero is the Italian word for “pride,” – (we don’t have a good word for in English)and it’s been adopted by game designers to describe an emotional high. Fiero is what we feel after we triumph over adversity. You know it when you feel it – and when you see it. That’s because we almost all express fiero in exactly the same way: we throw our arms over our head and yell.
… it’s a craving for challenges that we can overcome, battles we can win, and dangers we can vanquish. Scientists have documented that fiero is one of the most powerful neurochemical highs we can experience. It involves 3 different structures of the reward circuitry of the brain, including the mesocorticolimbic center, which is most typically associated with reward and addiction. It is a rush, unlike any other, and the more challenging the obstacle we overcome, the more intense the fiero.

When we try to find happiness outside of ourselves, we’re focused on what positive psychologists call “extrinsic” rewards – money, material goods, status, or praise. When we get what we want, we feel good. Unfortunately, the pleasures of found happiness don’t last very long. We build up a tolerance for our favourite things and start to want more. This process ‘hedonic adaptation,’- is one of the biggest hindrances to long-term life satisfaction.

On the other hand, when we set out to make our own happiness, we’re focused on activity that generates intrinsic rewards – the positive emotions, personal strengths, and social connections that we build by engaging intensely with the world around us. We’re not looking for praise or payouts. The very act of what we’re doing, the enjoyment of being fully engaged, is enough.
The scientific term for this kind of self-motivated, self-rewarding activity is autotelic (from the Greek words for ‘self,’ auto, and ‘goal, telos). We do autotelic work because it engages us completely, and because intense engagement is the most pleasurable, satisfying, and meaningful emotional state we can experience.

As de Botton writes, "Long before we ever earned any money, we were aware of the necessity of keeping busy: we knew the satisfaction of stacking bricks, pouring water into and out of containers and moving sand from one pit to another, untroubled by the greater purpose of our actions." In casual games, there is no greater purpose to our actions - we are simply enjoying our ability to make something happen.

I was browsing trendy household items with sis.
They were all so pretty to look at.
Things you'd wish you can bring home with.
I remembered that I used to believe that I could own these things.
I really did.
Perhaps 10 years ago.
But since I got sick, everything came tumbling down.
I have never dared to dream again.

Earlier this month, I had submitted my application to further my studies - after much encouragement from superiors.
The FEAR remains very real.
To be honest, I won't be dissappointed at all if my application was rejected. (a statement I kept repeating to all friends)
So why bother applying right?

Boxing classes help bullied teens build self-esteem

The new Fight Club classes at Title Boxing Club in Prairie Village, Kan., are free to teens who are being bullied, teens wanting to stand up for friends being bullied and any teen needing to let off a little steam.
These teens don't spar with each other. They spar with their feelings.
"People tried to get me to change the name to make it more accessible, but I was very determined," Reynolds said. "That was the name that came to my head, because growing up is a fight. You've got to fight to be heard, you've got to fight to be understood. Some of these kids have to fight to get themselves out of bed in the morning and drag themselves to school. It's a constant struggle.
"I thought it would give her a sense of empowerment in case she would ever need to defend herself," Beurman said. "Because part of dealing with someone who is bothering you is just knowing that you can."
"So I know from experience that … there's a better way to go rather than internalizing those emotions. It makes you mad at the world, really. And it doesn't have to be that way. There are people who care."
Bullying is such a huge problem that "we're not hoping to change the world," Reynolds said.

"Just at least create that spark."

Taken from qconline

ok?

Now read this...

http://www.uarts.edu/neil-gaiman-keynote-address

Mutilated by burns from a fiery motorcycle accident at age 28, and then paralyzed in a
plane crash several years later, one might expect W Mitchell to be down and out today.
But instead, the Santa Barbara millionaire travels the world, sharing his story to inspire
others to take responsibility for their lives and focus on strengths, not obstacles.

"Before all of this happened to me, there were 10,000 things I could do," he told
students. "Now, there are 9,000. Sure, I could dwell on the 1,000 that I can't do. But I
prefer to think about the 9,000 that are left."

For Today...

For today, I will embrace life.

For today, I will make the best of my circumstances

For today, I will celebrate the joy of simple things.

For today, I will learn something new.

For today, I will be a better person.

For today, I will reach out to someone in need.

For today, I will be thankful.

For today, I will dream with my eyes open.

For today I will laugh.

For today, I will encourage a friend.

For today, I will use my imagination.

For today, I will relax.

For today, I will listen.

For today, I will take time...

**(a nice motivational poster I copied from my sister)

Chan is severely handicapped and has only one usable arm.

Even the usage of this arm is very limited.

We watched a video screening of a day in Chan’s life.

How difficult it was for him to start the day from the moment he wakes up.

Many viewers wept.
I didn’t and couldn't because I felt very ashamed.
I didn’t even have the right to cry.

Now, when the dark thoughts come for their usual rounds in the morning when I wake up, I’d think of him.

I'd picture the daily courage he has to muster to start the day.

I owe it to him and to myself to move quickly to the bathroom and get ready for my tasks of the day.

Never mind how I feel.

Excerpts from YahooNews
For five years, Claire Lomas hasn't been able to walk, hasn't been able to feel her legs. But that hasn't stopped her.
She was once a professional horse rider, her blond hair flowing underneath her white riding cap. But in 2007, a freak accident paralyzed her from the chest down.
She spent all her time in a wheelchair, at least until January. That's when she started walking again, thanks to a $75,000 bionic suit.
"It's amazing after five years of sitting down to be back on my feet," she said earlier this year, "and it's fully weight-bearing and I can walk in it as well."

"After my accident, for a few days, you think, why, why has this happened? But it has. And that's that. You just need to find new things to do," she said while on her way to a party in her honor. "Of course I have bad days and difficult times. But I just get through them, and gradually, things get better."

"Some days were more difficult than others. Yesterday particularly was tough. Felt really tired. I didn't have a great yesterday, and I knew if I stopped, I wouldn't want to get going again," she told ABC News. "But with all the support, it just helped me carry on."
And in many ways, Lomas was carrying on, even from the days before her accident. She's always thrived on difficult tasks. The last 16 days, she suggested, was just what she loves to do.

"Before my accident, I'd always had a lot of challenges," she said. "I'm that type of person. It doesn't change who you are, when you have a spinal injury and you still want to push yourself."