improvelifeblog.com

A Great Story to Tell

Hello you bloggers out there, it’s been some time since I last blogged and  I have neglected this Blog. To be exact, it almost 7 months.
You see all these time, I have been concentrating on doing couple of other things that hopefully, will provide for me when I retire from full time work.  I must say that while I have really put in a lot of effort,  the results are still far from expectations, but I still hold the firm belief that my effort will bear fruits one day and still not giving up. But I tell myself that I must put back effort into writing this Blog which I have grown to like, just like writing the stuff  that I go through in life and inspire by those feedbacks and comments that I have been receiving.  I know many of you will share the same feeling, which is why I hope that by writing, it can inspire others and give them some shining light when things look bleak and lose.  Do Not give up, for when one gives up,  one is already defeated by his own heart and will. So how can the battle be won without even fighting.

So this time, my title is about telling a story.  I think we all have our own story to tell, what we go through in life, our triumphs,  jubilations as well as the hardships and sufferings.  And many of us wanted to tell the world.   But how, and to how?
That is why we have many people writing their own or have others write their bibliographies, each serving its very own purpose.  Today, we have this internet, the web and the blogs available, and more importantly, these are all free.
I suppose the reason to start up this  Blog, and start writing the articles and the nature of the content, it is my own way of telling my story, in pieces each time focusing on different aspects.  After-all, I am not a professional writer,  I am just an ordinary folk  who just this month retired prematurely from active work after a working life of 30 plus years.
Suddenly,  life seems so short as I enter the golden age. Life is so fluid, fragile and whatever story and aspect I have and want to tell, it is  so temporal and short-lived.  Apart from those well-knowns  and influential, when we are gone, who would know who and what we are?

This time, I want to share with you the amazing talent of this lady, Kseniya.
Watch this amazing lady - winner of the Ukraine talent show!

There are several different performances of Kseniya’s available on youtube. What Kseniya does is haunting and beautiful, especially when you understand the context. Look at the reaction the crowd has. They are deeply moved.

What she depicts is love and war, set amidst the turmoil of The Great Patriotic War, or as we call it in America , WWII. Ukraine was probably the area most devastated in the war, even more than Germany . It was a conflict that saw nearly one in four Ukrainians killed. A population of almost 42 million lost between 8 and 11 million people, depending on which estimate one references. Ukraine represented almost 20 percent of all the causalities suffered during WWII. And that was after Stalin had killed millions during the manufactured famines before the war. It to this day touches every Ukrainian. That’s the context of war memory that Kseniya reaches out to. The sand art of Kseniya is set to music that reflects the tone of what she is trying to project, and the combined effect works very well.

Sand animators use simple grains of sand to tell a story, in a way many people haven’t seen before. What Kseniya Seminova does in a few short minutes is all the more memorable because it is so fleeting.
Once she is finished, the grains of sand go back into containers and the art is swept away.

Check out her performance, and you might just become a fan of the art of sand animation too!
So if we have a story to tell, go ahead and tell it before it is too late.  In the course of our lives over so many years, I am sure you have created your own greatness and history, moment by moment.  No one can erase and take these away from you.  And I am sure there is a lot to tell, so tell them in pieces, to the very people that matters, in the way that you know best.
Kseniya has mastered her way to tell her story and what goes on in her mind in an unusual way,  so ask yourself how you would like to tell your story to those that matters to you right now when you are still able to.   And not to regret it later in life.

Posted by
Ivan

Posted by Ivan

Happiness is not determined by wealth. People all over work for wealth and happiness and the tendency is to think of happiness with wealth. I am by no means the exception.

From small and coming from an extremely poor family, I have gone through extreme hardship. From the little boy that has gone trhough the hard truth about life during the early years, it has moulded me to be strong and especially so in the face of adversity. Despite that, today, I have come to terms that I have been very lucky, and never to blame the past, except for the occasional lament made and spoken in jest and joke.

Lucky to be born to this world firstly as a human being. Depending on your faith, one learns that one can be destined to the very lowly level creature such as animal and to suffer for a long time.

Lucky to be born as complete and normal person, unlike many who are handicapped in some way or another.

Lucky to have children and family, and be where I am today, very much better position than many others. Think about this, to be what you are, where you are, and how well you are nowadays. So much so, we now take life for granted. For some, let’s hope we still hold on to the good values that our parents nurtured in us and that we have not given up as yet. Striving and owrking very hard each day to make our life better, the people we love better.

For many, I am sure they still give some thoughts to the lives of others, others who are not so fortnate like us, but have to suffer and endure many hardships. So at times, we do what our compassions tells us to. We do what we can for the society, contribute donations, help out others, hoping that the little we do will touch on the lives of others. Our own little way of greatness and creating history for ourselves.

When I received and watched this video, the tears came naturally when I saw the laughter in these people. Deep in my heart, I am thankful that my family does not need to go through that, and pray that this will never happen my family. And this reinforces the very good values that we should espouces, that is never to let food goes to waste.

This is a Must Watch Video. This was submitted to a Berlin short film festival “don’t waste food”. It is truly heart breaking. It would be better to watch it with your family members.

In this video, Chicken-a-la-Carte is produced by Fernand Dimadura. I see Happiness and Peace, the laughters and good family values.

Chicken-a-la-Carte
Chicken a-la-carte
Do your part, Don’t Waste, and spread this message around.

Nick Vujicic love living life. Nick Vujicic says he is happy.

Nick Vujicic goes fishing, golfing and swimming and probably loves the activities. So what big deal. Everybody can do that.

Not so easy when you are down with 1 hand, at bit handicap then and a little difficult. No, not 1 hand but both hands. Now, this is getting much more difficult, a real handicap.

Oh no, not both hands, but minus another leg also. Now you are starting to wonder, how on earth this can happen, real impossible. Really, what if I say it is minus both legs. Which means a person without both hands, and without both legs. You could not believe it, right? Yes, exactly so, Nick Vujicic is without both hands and without both legs.

Rightly so, how we would have pity such a person, to be born into this world, so different from all others, to lead such a sorrowful life as one would succumb to.

Not so for Nick Vujicic. In his words, he has fallen down, and gotten up again. Nick is a source of inspiration to many. His is a story about Life, not just ordinary life, but Great Life.

What about us ordinary people, endowed with all the physio- perfectness, yet has so much more to complain about. Complain about our height, our size, our color, our weight etc etc etc. And in life, when we are faced with the slightest obstacles and problems, we start to blame and condemn the whole world and the people around us for the cause of it, and does nothing about it.

Despite his extreme handicap, Nick Vujicic attitude towards life, serves as good example of the celebration of life over limitations. His attitude towards life has shown how much human spirit can overcome limitations and handle much more. His encouragement to all is to live life and be happy. His attitude is if I fail, I try again, again and again. If you have fallen down, get up again, and if you can’t, you keep on trying. It is only a matter of times, 1 time, 2 times, 3 times…until you get up. And Be Strong.

Challenges in our lives are there to strengthen our conviction. Be strong and hold on to the belief to keep trying, trying and trying.

Check out this video

In this video, he said that he has never met a bitter person who is thankful or a thankful person who is bitter. Nick is thankful for what he has, and not bitter what he has not.

In this case, is it Life without limbs or Life without limits. Nick’s life is a great source of motivation and inspirations to us, to live life to the fullest. So be strong and be happy.

Posted by
Ivan

The world we are in today is in a mess.  So we say, but what have we done about it. Most of the time nothing.  A lot of talk, a lot of complaining but nothing,  nothing we do about it. 

It makes it more depressing when we see young ones paying attention to world’s problem, and doing something about it.  This is Environmental Child Organisation, (ECO) an organisation of 12 to 13 years of age.

This little girl, Severn Suzuki, representative of the ECO speaks out on world environmental issue.  At the United Nations, she got the world attention, speaking out at world environmental issues, that we as adult, world organisation  must do some.  The world we have today is left for us, and it is us that will leave this place to our future generation.  Out of greed, human desire for gratification has robbed of this earth many things that caused pollution, earth warming and now the depletion of the ozone layer.

Today’s world economic turmoil is making the world see this problem as one big issue confronting everyone.  When will the environmental issues force all governments and people to see this issue as one confronting us equally.  Only when we see our actions or inactions affecting our surrounding to also affect us nonetheless, then we start to care and make the world and environment a better place to live in.  Only then,  our life on this planet improves.

Do watch this little girl speaking at the United Nation that got the attention of the world.
To be exact,  the video is 6.41 minutes.

 

So let’s do something about, spread the message and make this world, our environment and our home a better place to live in.

Posted by
Ivan

Investing to maintain and grow ones wealth is perhaps given more attention of late.  With society getting more affluent and better knowledge and ease of dissemination via electronic means have seen this sector grown tremendously over the last few years.

However, with the financial meltdown and economic crisis around the world today, has held back and to some extent given such aspect a bad name. As many people have now seen their hard earned savings/assets diminished in value arising from the diminished value if they have not yet become worthless.

One particular investment that I ventured into about 4 years ago, and that I have reaped the reward, is land banking which was then new to my country.  And here I would like to share my pleasant encounter with you.

Back in 2004, when I attended a seminar on the potential of Land banking, I was totally sold into the concept and saw the great potential.  However, after checking around, I find that people around you tend to be very cautious and risk averse and strong discourage for the high risk.

I started off with an investment of Canadian 43,500, by putting an upfront sum of Can 15K with the balance 28.5K from  a loan at an interest rate of  12%.  The investment is for the purchase of an undivided share for a piece of 1 acre land in Canada, and is supposed to be for a tenure of  6-7 years to reap the return.  Fortunately, after 2 years into it, there was a lucrative offer and the investment was sold.

In total, I had managed to receive back Can  65,258K  and thus giving me an annual return of  20 plus percentage which is quite good.  There is of course the foreign exchange risk and exposure.  In my case, when I first invested, the exchange rate was 2.8 Rinngit to 1 Canadian dollar.  When I cashed out, it was about 3.1 Ringgit to 1 Canadian dollar, which means that my profit and gains are well in excess of the ROI.  So if anyone of you out there who thinks that land banking is a scam,  I can tell you that there are genuine ones that offer good investment opportunities and return.

Since then, I have seen a couple more of the other Land Banking being launched in the country.  I must say that one has to be careful in checking the background of the company to ensure that they are reputable and stable and to match to one’s appetite for risk.  One must view this investment in the longer term.   And till to-date,  I still have confident in this added form of investment.

Posted by

Ivan