Life is in different stages. Every stage of life is the foundation for the next stage of life. Every stage of life must be fully-lived.
~Lailah Gifty Akita
Category Archives: Quotes
Comparing Lives
Grandma always said that we should not compare ourselves to others. 人比人比死人, literally means that you can compare yourself to death!
Online, the quote goes 人比人气死人, 比上不足, 比下有余. This loosely translates to “Comparison creates frustrations, not enough to compare up, too much to compare down.”.
Nevertheless, it is only human nature that we constantly compare ourselves with those around us. We compare age, fitness, looks, intelligence, careers, health, wealth and the list goes on endlessly…
Even so, I have yet to find myself wanting to live someone else’s life. Often, I come across people who are wealthy but sickly, intelligent but bitter, beautiful but depressed, young but lonely.
In my case, I am the sole owner of my life. It is all up to myself on how I want it be.
Protecting
Protecting yourself is self-defence
. Protecting others is warrior-ship.~Bohdi Sanders
One should always protect oneself. Always. To be a warrior, on the other hand, is a choice.
An Additional Flower Bed
I must have flowers, always, and always.
~Claude Monet
Now that our pond is completed, D and I are starting to plant things onto the patch of ground next to it. We designated this small area as our second flower bed. But maybe this additional pond side flower bed should be considered our third flower bed, because I already have a variety of plants growing along the wooden fence? In the end, I am glad that we have successfully added more creativity and interest to our garden. 🙂
Resourcefulness
The amount of satisfaction you get from life depends largely on your own ingenuity, self-sufficiency, and resourcefulness. People who wait around for life to supply their satisfaction usually find boredom instead.
~William C. Menninger
Not Your Average Lawn
The average lawn is an interesting beast: people plant it, then douse it with artificial fertilizers and dangerous pesticides to make it grow and to keep it uniform-all so that they can hack and mow what they encouraged to grow. And woe to the small yellow flower that rears its head!
~Michael Braungart
D and I do not have the kind of lawn mentioned above. In fact, D is even trying his best to participate in the campaign ‘Maai mei niet’, by delaying his lawn mowing. And I have been dead set on not letting any pesticides touching our ground.
With the addition of a water pond filled with water plants, and later some fishes, and a semi-wild flower bed on the side, our backyard will be transformed! Ours will not be your average type of Flemish backyard. And the best is we did it ourselves, never mind the back and muscle pains… 😛
Build Your Story…
It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.
~ Patrick Rothfuss, The Name of the Wind
Aftermath
Sometimes, the aftermath is more devastating than the storm. That is the story of the 2008 financial crisis. It was disastrous at the time, but what has been worse is how long it has lingered. ~Chrystia Freeland
Deep down, I fear the aftermath of Covid-19 more than the immediate health dangers that the virus poses to me. I sincerely hope that we as humans would be at our best selves in the months and years ahead. That we shall be compassionate to those less fortunate, and be decent in our actions. Also, we should not forget the other living beings that we share the planet with.
Working Together
Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.
~Helen Keller