SLEEP, THE FIRST TO GO!
Neil Humphreys’ article (“Ah, those short wonder years”) featured on 29 July 2007 struck a chord with me. In particular, the line “But you cannot buy back a childhood” summoned a sense of regret as I looked back on my ‘not-so-wonder’ years. I hate to admit it but I was an honorary member of the ‘Go-home society’, where student life was relegated simply to studying non-stop, and social life and fun were nil.
As the load they have to bear on their shoulders grows, our students struggle to prioritise between increasing demands, against the backdrop of an unchanging 24 hours per day. At a young age, they are being compelled to perfect this balancing act, which is not a bad thing I suppose. It does gear them for the future. However, sadly speaking, many of them are unable to achieve that healthy equilibrium, and some end up failing at a costly price.
A recent Teen Sleep Survey conducted locally this year showed that our teenagers were not getting sufficient sleep. Eighty per cent of students polled slept for less than eight hours on school days, and a whooping 66.5 per cent were up late doing homework or studying. Given the insidious effects of sleep deprivation on growth and intellectual functioning, this should sound an alarm. With numerous obligations to fulfil, it is not surprising that sleep is often the first sacred cow to be sacrificed in a mad rush for time.
Rising stress is a reality we cannot escape today. Hence, teaching and helping our students prioritise becomes imperative. Long term consequences such as poor mental health and life dissatisfaction are often neglected in the pursuit of short-term goals like a report card with straight ‘A’s. Parents and educators need to be aware that they sometimes can become transmitters of unhealthy or rigid expectations. Poor sleep compounded by high expectations imposed on oneself, can actually form a fertile ground for the development of depressive disorders. Perhaps that is why more people are having Depression and sleep problems nowadays. This is something for us to mull over.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Saturday, July 21, 2007
On a mission to CARE...
HI everyone, the concept of "care" has been on my mind quite a bit. Basically, I'm interested to know the following:
1. Why do people care? Why don't people care?
2. What would make them care?
3. How to make them care?
4. When do people care?
5. Do we care too much sometimes?
6. How does caring lead to benevolent actions?
.
..
...
....
Do leave me some thoughts if you do have any ideas...
HI everyone, the concept of "care" has been on my mind quite a bit. Basically, I'm interested to know the following:
1. Why do people care? Why don't people care?
2. What would make them care?
3. How to make them care?
4. When do people care?
5. Do we care too much sometimes?
6. How does caring lead to benevolent actions?
.
..
...
....
Do leave me some thoughts if you do have any ideas...
Friday, July 20, 2007
Never outdated - The Holy Bible's lasting appeal!
As I read the bible more and attend more bible teachings, it just amazes me how this book which was probably written eons way way back can be so incredibly relevant and applicable even in our modern society today. Just two points I want to share that I've been enlightened towards as I read the old testament:
1. The MULTI-TASKING wonder woman of the old testament
Attended this bible conference over the past 2 nights organised by RBC Ministries (Singapore). Came to know of this through the mailer and I straightaway blocked out the 2 dates on my calendar and committed myself to attending this conference. The theme was "Making Choice Choices" and the speaker was one of ODB's very own writers, Prof Alice Matthews (an amazingly gifted woman of God who's 77 this year and still speaks with so much projection and fervour).
In one of her sermons on Judges 4 and 6 last night, she spoke of Deborah the prophetess. I just completed that book recently, so some of the stories were still fresh in my mind. But what was truly remarkable was that though little was mentioned about Deborah, this admirable woman of God, Matthews was able to extract such powerful lessons we can learn from that little amount of info. It just accentuates the richness of biblical text that subtly conveys many useful and life transforming messages that the layperson will fail to see. Well, guess that's debatable cos' the magic of the bible maybe comes in how God touches us at that point as we feast on His word and how he touches and reveals to us certain things. But anyway, she drew so much from that and I really gleaned a lot of wisdom.
Anyway, back to Deborah...In Judges 4:4, it says:
"Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time."
From this simple line, you can see that this woman was first someone gifted with the talent of prophesy which she accepted and used for the glory of God (MINISTRY). Second, she was the wife of Lappidoth; she had a family and in those days women had to fulfill many traditional duties as a wife and mother (WIFE). Thirdly, she was a Judge, someone who spoke God's word to the people and ensured that the people of Israel were accorded their rightful justice; she was a public servant and military leader (CAREER). The order speaks for itself--the order of priority these roles should take in our lives. Just in this one line, it shows how she weighed her priorities and how we can learn from women in the old testament. They were not all housewives, they were women who had to face the same difficulties and role conflicts as we do today. And Deborah, a woman of faith, displayed her strength and commitment to God in the way she accepted her gifts and used them but also relied on God's empowerment and truth. She was strong in character and personality. This was a woman that the millenial ladies of Christ can learn from!
2. Where are the MEMORIALS today?
As I did my Quiet Time this morning, a point was brought up to me among the notes in my study bible. The gist of it reflected how modern people can stand to gain from establishing memorials in our lives as God granted us victories and miracles. In the old testament, we read about the people of Israel laying rocks and building altars to extol the wonders of God and how He faithfully helped them overcome all odds and win the battles they had fought. And we go..."What does that God to do with us?" The fact that such instances have been repeated so many times as we read the old testament means that something is important there--something that is worth our reading and learning.
Many times we go through difficult patches of our life wondering where God is. What we fail to dwell on (since we end up spending our mental resources focusing on our current difficulties and stresses and just seeking some form of deliverance from God) is our past victories--how God restored us or delivered us in the past. Many of us can't remember those things but what we can learn is that when we recall those fulfilled promises we are encouraged and strengthened. We stand to gain from establishing memorials. Be it a journal or blog(;p) entry about our victories which we can fall back on in times of need, or perhaps a photograph of a successful event in our ministry. These can really remind us and encourage us in our times of need. But most importantly, they always help us remember that God is the source of our strength. Without God's power we could never make it through on our own. In this way, we honour Him as we "build these memorials" and strengthen ourselves as we recall past glories.
So who says that the bible is outmoded and irrelevant? In my opinion, it's the best self improvement and management book that is applicable across all contexts and life situations. Everyone can stand to gain from its wisdom. Everyday as we read His word it teaches us to be better managers of our lives and helps us to grow and become more and more like Him. Amen to that!
As I read the bible more and attend more bible teachings, it just amazes me how this book which was probably written eons way way back can be so incredibly relevant and applicable even in our modern society today. Just two points I want to share that I've been enlightened towards as I read the old testament:
1. The MULTI-TASKING wonder woman of the old testament
Attended this bible conference over the past 2 nights organised by RBC Ministries (Singapore). Came to know of this through the mailer and I straightaway blocked out the 2 dates on my calendar and committed myself to attending this conference. The theme was "Making Choice Choices" and the speaker was one of ODB's very own writers, Prof Alice Matthews (an amazingly gifted woman of God who's 77 this year and still speaks with so much projection and fervour).
In one of her sermons on Judges 4 and 6 last night, she spoke of Deborah the prophetess. I just completed that book recently, so some of the stories were still fresh in my mind. But what was truly remarkable was that though little was mentioned about Deborah, this admirable woman of God, Matthews was able to extract such powerful lessons we can learn from that little amount of info. It just accentuates the richness of biblical text that subtly conveys many useful and life transforming messages that the layperson will fail to see. Well, guess that's debatable cos' the magic of the bible maybe comes in how God touches us at that point as we feast on His word and how he touches and reveals to us certain things. But anyway, she drew so much from that and I really gleaned a lot of wisdom.
Anyway, back to Deborah...In Judges 4:4, it says:
"Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time."
From this simple line, you can see that this woman was first someone gifted with the talent of prophesy which she accepted and used for the glory of God (MINISTRY). Second, she was the wife of Lappidoth; she had a family and in those days women had to fulfill many traditional duties as a wife and mother (WIFE). Thirdly, she was a Judge, someone who spoke God's word to the people and ensured that the people of Israel were accorded their rightful justice; she was a public servant and military leader (CAREER). The order speaks for itself--the order of priority these roles should take in our lives. Just in this one line, it shows how she weighed her priorities and how we can learn from women in the old testament. They were not all housewives, they were women who had to face the same difficulties and role conflicts as we do today. And Deborah, a woman of faith, displayed her strength and commitment to God in the way she accepted her gifts and used them but also relied on God's empowerment and truth. She was strong in character and personality. This was a woman that the millenial ladies of Christ can learn from!
2. Where are the MEMORIALS today?
As I did my Quiet Time this morning, a point was brought up to me among the notes in my study bible. The gist of it reflected how modern people can stand to gain from establishing memorials in our lives as God granted us victories and miracles. In the old testament, we read about the people of Israel laying rocks and building altars to extol the wonders of God and how He faithfully helped them overcome all odds and win the battles they had fought. And we go..."What does that God to do with us?" The fact that such instances have been repeated so many times as we read the old testament means that something is important there--something that is worth our reading and learning.
Many times we go through difficult patches of our life wondering where God is. What we fail to dwell on (since we end up spending our mental resources focusing on our current difficulties and stresses and just seeking some form of deliverance from God) is our past victories--how God restored us or delivered us in the past. Many of us can't remember those things but what we can learn is that when we recall those fulfilled promises we are encouraged and strengthened. We stand to gain from establishing memorials. Be it a journal or blog(;p) entry about our victories which we can fall back on in times of need, or perhaps a photograph of a successful event in our ministry. These can really remind us and encourage us in our times of need. But most importantly, they always help us remember that God is the source of our strength. Without God's power we could never make it through on our own. In this way, we honour Him as we "build these memorials" and strengthen ourselves as we recall past glories.
So who says that the bible is outmoded and irrelevant? In my opinion, it's the best self improvement and management book that is applicable across all contexts and life situations. Everyone can stand to gain from its wisdom. Everyday as we read His word it teaches us to be better managers of our lives and helps us to grow and become more and more like Him. Amen to that!
Saturday, July 07, 2007
AWARENESS is not enough... We need to have CARE-NESS!
Just a line that popped in my puny brain when I was jogging today--10km can you believe that, I must be a bit siao.
Thought of the LIVE EARTH programme that was screening and sorry for saying this but I felt rather cynical. I think we all are aware of the need to save the environment and we all know what little bit we can do. But I think we just don't act cos' we just don't care--or at least many of us just lack that care. It is because we care for something then we feel motivated to do something about it. The challenge then would be to instill this care such that people will be spurred on to make a difference. How do we induce care???
Anyways...will mull over this. In the meantime, just to take a trip down memory lane--for those of us living in that era:
http://www.care-bears.com/CareBears/html/index.html
http://www.care-bears.com/CareBears/html/about/index.html (description of bears)
My fave's Funshine Bear!
Cheers!
Bonding with the car...
Call it an "unusal family project"--in my sister's terms--but it was through thick and thin that our whole family got involved in this fiasco with a tiny screw that my mum accidentally dropped into one of the hidden compartments below the car bonnet. What a terror that little cap that belonged to the car battery system (you know one of those yellow caps that you get so irritated with everytime cos' you gotta unscrew them one by one to fill the battery water and then screw them back one by one again)! Y'know maybe someone should rethink the design of this whole devise. But anyway, just to pre-empt anyone going to top up the battery water--please exercise the ultimate most level of care or you'll find yourself in a huge pickle...perhaps much worse than us. I must say we were pretty resourceful with the ideas and our dexterity was intact and tip top to handle this fiercesome task! For those of you who don't know nuts about cars...let's just say this go to the mechanic or kiosk to get your fluids and stuff checked--never attempt anything at home! For those of you who are more garang and willing to get your hands dirty, please place your battery caps in a safe place lest they fall into the deep and dark corners of the compartments below the bonnet.
But anyway, 'nuff said about the bloomin' car. It was truly a family bonding session, I guess. Bit like a modified version of a Twister game--y'know the one where everyone contorts their limbs and trunks. No, please don't go away with the idea that dropping a battery cap is the way to go. I'm just saying that...to look at this in a positive light would be to see this as our family bonding session. In Christian terms, we were really like the body of Christ. Each one of us played a critical role in getting that little fella to budge. My dad, the incident commander, led us through the ordeal of trying all sorts--the best method we conclude is masking tape on a measuring tape and loads of sweat and steady arms. My mum was the logistician, supplying us with all the odds and ends--our ammunition--to pull that fella out. She ran up and downstairs to get whatever we requested--must have lost a lot of weight! My sis, the one with the tiniest hands, secured us the entry. She made sure the wires were pulled to a corner so my dad could carefully remove the cap without obstruction. And I, the youngest, put my steady arms and hands to good use by holding onto the torchlight, giving my dad and sis a good shot of the enemy. Let there be light, AMEN! Those few moments we hauled the fella out were analogous to detonating a bomb man!
After a series of unsuccessful trials and errors, we eventually saw the victory...oh sweet ole victory! It surrendered, that stubborn little fella! The learning lessons besides the annoying thing about car battery caps?
1. God is great! He uses the weirdest scenarios to bring us together to do the most absurd things. Endurance, concentration and throwing in all sorts of plausible ideas, I must say our family is pretty good at fixing problems and teamwork!
2. There's always a purpose for everything. Someone just had to be the one who got us into that situation. In this case, my mum was the one who dropped the cap, but anyone could have done so. I could easily argue that I was responsible cos' I drive the car most often and I should be maintaining it on my own. We could all fight to take the blame, but the bottomline is to move on and see the bigger picture---yep, our family project.
3. Family is one of God's greatest gifts to us. Though we gripe about getting into this "shithole", it is through such incidents where you realise that no matter what, your family members are always so willing to get you out of the "shithole". I remember that since young I have been jinxed when it came to technical stuff and art. My sis would always help me with both, like the time when my cassette tape got stuck in the player (years back man) or I did something horrid to the OS of the PC. Sure, there were one or two utters of complaint but it was always with a willing heart that she got me out of trouble before I met with serious trouble from my parents. And oh yah, my mum who would lovingly help me with my art and home econs! So family is one of the most reliable things one can have in the world!
Truly God rules and He's got the most CREATivity...that's why He's the CREATor. An "unusual family project" no doubt about that.
Call it an "unusal family project"--in my sister's terms--but it was through thick and thin that our whole family got involved in this fiasco with a tiny screw that my mum accidentally dropped into one of the hidden compartments below the car bonnet. What a terror that little cap that belonged to the car battery system (you know one of those yellow caps that you get so irritated with everytime cos' you gotta unscrew them one by one to fill the battery water and then screw them back one by one again)! Y'know maybe someone should rethink the design of this whole devise. But anyway, just to pre-empt anyone going to top up the battery water--please exercise the ultimate most level of care or you'll find yourself in a huge pickle...perhaps much worse than us. I must say we were pretty resourceful with the ideas and our dexterity was intact and tip top to handle this fiercesome task! For those of you who don't know nuts about cars...let's just say this go to the mechanic or kiosk to get your fluids and stuff checked--never attempt anything at home! For those of you who are more garang and willing to get your hands dirty, please place your battery caps in a safe place lest they fall into the deep and dark corners of the compartments below the bonnet.
But anyway, 'nuff said about the bloomin' car. It was truly a family bonding session, I guess. Bit like a modified version of a Twister game--y'know the one where everyone contorts their limbs and trunks. No, please don't go away with the idea that dropping a battery cap is the way to go. I'm just saying that...to look at this in a positive light would be to see this as our family bonding session. In Christian terms, we were really like the body of Christ. Each one of us played a critical role in getting that little fella to budge. My dad, the incident commander, led us through the ordeal of trying all sorts--the best method we conclude is masking tape on a measuring tape and loads of sweat and steady arms. My mum was the logistician, supplying us with all the odds and ends--our ammunition--to pull that fella out. She ran up and downstairs to get whatever we requested--must have lost a lot of weight! My sis, the one with the tiniest hands, secured us the entry. She made sure the wires were pulled to a corner so my dad could carefully remove the cap without obstruction. And I, the youngest, put my steady arms and hands to good use by holding onto the torchlight, giving my dad and sis a good shot of the enemy. Let there be light, AMEN! Those few moments we hauled the fella out were analogous to detonating a bomb man!
After a series of unsuccessful trials and errors, we eventually saw the victory...oh sweet ole victory! It surrendered, that stubborn little fella! The learning lessons besides the annoying thing about car battery caps?
1. God is great! He uses the weirdest scenarios to bring us together to do the most absurd things. Endurance, concentration and throwing in all sorts of plausible ideas, I must say our family is pretty good at fixing problems and teamwork!
2. There's always a purpose for everything. Someone just had to be the one who got us into that situation. In this case, my mum was the one who dropped the cap, but anyone could have done so. I could easily argue that I was responsible cos' I drive the car most often and I should be maintaining it on my own. We could all fight to take the blame, but the bottomline is to move on and see the bigger picture---yep, our family project.
3. Family is one of God's greatest gifts to us. Though we gripe about getting into this "shithole", it is through such incidents where you realise that no matter what, your family members are always so willing to get you out of the "shithole". I remember that since young I have been jinxed when it came to technical stuff and art. My sis would always help me with both, like the time when my cassette tape got stuck in the player (years back man) or I did something horrid to the OS of the PC. Sure, there were one or two utters of complaint but it was always with a willing heart that she got me out of trouble before I met with serious trouble from my parents. And oh yah, my mum who would lovingly help me with my art and home econs! So family is one of the most reliable things one can have in the world!
Truly God rules and He's got the most CREATivity...that's why He's the CREATor. An "unusual family project" no doubt about that.
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