Daily Reminder in Chinese

On April 7, 2009 I created a Daily Reminder for myself. Yesterday I translated it into Chinese. I am posting it here to share with people who read Chinese. It is not a perfect translation and I might revise it on a later date.

自我提示
(每天念一遍)


1. 我感谢(感恩)我所得到的一切.
活著本身就是一件幸事.

2. 接受, 认可和同情是我对人的态度. 但不是我对人行为的态度.
把人和人的行为分开看待.

3. 这个世界对我没有恶意. 我周围的人是爱我的.

4. 无论在何处, 我都有安全感.

5. 原谅所有人对我的伤害, 不管是他们是无意还是有意的.
不仅要原谅, 而且要忘记.
永远不要再提起这些事件. 装做从来没有发生过.

6. 更重要的是原谅自己过去犯过的错误.
永远不要再提起这些事情. 装做从来没有发生过.

7. 我需要的一切, 都能依靠自己得到.
所有不愉快的事情, 也都起源于自己.
能意识到这点, 心境才会平衡. 就永远不会太痛苦.

8. 我的责任是经常给自己立目标. 然后尽力去达到.
尽到力了, 即使没有完全达到目标, 也没有关系.

9. 活著就有可能受到伤害. 不要因为这原因而不去追求我的理想生活.

10. 过去的已经过去, 将来还在想像中.
每天都有可能是最终的一天.
不要多想过去, 也不要多担心将来.
把注意力集中到 “现在” 和 “今天”.

The English version is as follows:

1. I am grateful for all the blessings the supreme bestows upon me. I am glad to be here now.

2. I am a giving person. I give affection, love, approval, acceptance and understanding to others.

3. The world is safe and full of love. I am loved by all those that are close to me, expressed in many different ways.

4. I am relaxed and feel safe. No person, place or thing can hurt me.

5. I am eliminating the need to forgive.

Forgiveness is like surgery. It cuts out, eradicates, cancels and makes the wrong as if it had never been there. There must be condemnation before forgiveness is necessary. I do not condemn others, therefore, it is not necessary for me to forgive.

6. I have no remorse, or regrets over my own past mistakes. The past is simply written off, closed and forgotten.

7. I am in need of nothing but the awareness that all I need is within me.

8. My responsibility is to set up goals for myself. How I reach them is not my responsibility. It is the responsibility of my built-in inner success mechanism.

9. I am not afraid to “turn the other cheek”, remain vulnerable and go on living creatively.

10. I remain focused on the now. Look lovingly upon the present for it holds the only thing that is forever true. The past is gone and future is but imagined.

It's that time already

Happy holidays to all!

It is this time of the year when every one reflects what one has done for the year.

We replaced the last segment of the cast iron pipe in our building, in doing so Richard broke his leg, which turned out to be good luck after all. While learning how to walk again, we discovered the pleasure of walking. We now walk 8 kilometers a day along the St. Lawrence River every evening when weather permits; 3 kilometers in bad weather. Next year we will continue to do the 8 km walk in the evening and would like to add a 3 km walk in the morning.

I started blogging as a way of observing my own thoughts. In the process, we have set our course for the next 40 years for Richard and next 56 years for me. We are also implementing steps towards Epicurean way of simple life or Jerome K. Jerome’s simple pleasures. I will continue to blog next year first as a tool to find out what I think and then to monitor my thinking.

Richard is playing pool every day as a physical and mental discipline. He will continue to do so next year.

Richard has also joined the gym and lost 15 to 20 pounds in the course of three months. He will continue to go to the gym next year and will exercise in a way to maintain his current weight, which is 180 lbs for 6’2” height.

We have cut out sugar in our coffee. Richard has also cut out coffee for a couple of months, but we have decided that drinking 2 to 3 cups of black coffee a day are more helpful than harmful.

We always eat a lot of vegetables. This year, we have consumed more fruits than ever. We practically have an apple a day, but have also eaten tons of grapes, raspberry, blueberry, etc.

Meditation continued to be difficult for me. I tried and failed to form a habit to meditate daily. I will try again next year. Richard reads his Daily Bread (a Christian program) and following its program to read the bible cover to cover in a year.

I quit smoking since August 17 and will evaluate its merit next year. Side effects of quitting smoking includes weight gain of 12 lbs (12.5% weight gain), which helps my appearance; but hinders my agility.

We did some Lian Gong in 18 forms (type of exercise to combat modern forms of stress caused by bad posture, structure and balance) and will try to form a habit next year.

Richard kayaked several times in the summer with a friend and will do more next year.

What do you worry about?

Last night Richard asked me “what do you worry about?”

I worry most about some things are going too fast and others too slow. I worry that the medical breakthrough would not come fast enough for us baby boomers to benefit. I worry about the IT world is going too fast so that our privacy will be jeopardized. I worry that the economy in rich nations will stagnate and people will blame it on the emerging nations.

Being a Chinese in Canada 20 years ago compared to now is totally different. 20 years ago, the reaction of people in Canada to a Chinese was “Oh, poor you, you need help and we are here to offer the help to you as long as you do not ask too much”. Today, the reaction is “You guys make junky stuff; you take jobs away from us; if anything bad happens to you, you deserve it”.

I do believe that the rich nations have a duty to help the poor nations. We are all connected and related. We may have to sacrifice our luxurious life style for a few years in order to bring the rest of the world up to a similar level. From the selfish point of view, if the rest of the world is lagging too far behind us, we cannot ascend to the next level.

Right now these are the things I worry about, all in all, though, I am optimistic about the future and living my life trying to achieve the highest good in Epicureanism, a tranquility derived by the absence of agitation and the highest positive pleasure, a society of good friends. I think these two qualities can also be interpreted as faith and love.

Another way to describe the same lifestyle is by Jerome K Jerome:

Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasure, one or two friends, worth the name, someone to love and someone to love you, a cat, a dog and a pipe or two, enough to eat and enough to wear and a little more than enough to drink; for thirst is a dangerous thing. You will find the boat easier to pull then, and it will not be so liable to upset, and it will not matter so much if it does upset; good, plain merchandise will stand water.

The First Snow Storm

The first major snow storm hit Montreal yesterday. We did our usual walk along the river yesterday evening. It took us the same amount of time to go for only a quarter of the distance we usually do (2 kilometers for 1 ½ hour versus 8 kilometers).

A lot of snow has fallen. The photo on the right was taken half way through the snow storm.

Everything looks quite beautiful and serene with the white fluff everywhere and covering everything. Take another mental picture in February; we will all be fed up with the freezing cold. Snow will not be so white and pure as it gets mixed up with sand and salt. And I will be in the tropical sun eating papaya.

Why are we here? And what shall we do about it while we are?

Comedy writer John Lloyd said that there are only two questions worth asking in his TED talk titled "inventories the invisible":

Why are we here? And what shall we do about it while we are?

To help answering these two questions, he quoted two philosophers. One is Ludwig Wittgenstein, who said: “I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves.” Another one is W. H. Auden, who said: “We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for I don't know.”

It was a funny 10 minutes talk. However, the two questions are very serious. We tend to ask ourselves all the time. My own take on these two questions is that we should not ask the first question at all.

If you have a strong will to live and are having a good time here on earth, why should you bother asking “why are you here”? For example, if you go to a party and are enjoying yourself, would you be asking “Why am I here”? By asking “why am I here” might get you kicked out of the party. It is a question which gets asked when we are depressed.

If you do not ask yourself the first question, then the answer to the 2nd question shall come quite easily. I shall have a good time for as long as possible. Or in other words, I shall have a happy and pleasurable life for as long as possible.

There are many interpretations regarding what is a happy and pleasurable life. I find mine so close to Epicurus, it makes me wonder whether I had read Epicurus in Chinese translation when I was a teen and forgot about it. He counseled his disciples to live a quiet, secretive life apart from society, avoiding responsibilities in public life or social life. This avoids the pain of ambition and fear caused by others. The highest good in Epicureanism is ataraxia, a tranquility derived by the absence of agitation. And the highest positive pleasure is a society of good friends.

This is the simple life I prefer.