Growing from Pain (part 1)

During times of emotional pain, people often tell us to "forgive and forget", "bury the past" and "move on".

All very good and well-meant advice, but truly moving forward from pain is more than just forgiving and forgetting. Moving forward is learning from your pain, your mistakes and your past to create a better future. It's self-improvement, while moving on, is simply self-preservation.

Simply denying the pain will probably lead to the same mistakes being repeated, the same lies being told.

There are a few important things to remember if you truly want to move forward from your pain and grow into a more resilient person.

First, accept that everything in the past happened for a purpose. Seemingly "bad" events, like relationship breakups, job lay-offs, and health scares are understandably tough to bear at the time, but looking back, weren't they really blessings in disguise?

Think of the major "negative" events that happened to you over the past years. Looking back now, isn't it clear why they happened? Think about how you are in a better place now as a result of the chain reaction they catalysed?

You can emerge either defeated or stronger from every painful experience. We all have that choice. The person you are today is the result of your past experiences, and in those experiences, no matter how horrible, lies the key to you becoming a better person.

Great gifts do not shine forth brightly under the grime of pain, but they are there. Until you can seek out and embrace the gifts hidden in those times of despair, you'll never be able to fully let go of the negative emotions surrounding them. Suppressing the hurt, denying the pain, simply gives them more power.

Adapted from 'A Slice of Life'

成语故事·一言为重

这个成语出自北宋著名政治家、文学家王安石的七言诗《商鞅》，说的是战国时期商鞅帮助秦孝公变法的事情。《史记·商君列传》里记载有商鞅“一言为重”的故事。

商鞅，姓公孙，名鞅，卫国人，是战国时期著名的政治家。因帮助秦孝公实行变法，奠定了秦国强大的基础，被孝公封于商（今陕西商县东南），号商君，故又称为商鞅。

公元前365年，在秦孝公的支持下，商鞅制定的新法将要公布时，为了让人们相信新法必定施行，他在京都南门外，立了一根三丈多高的木柱，声言谁能将此木柱搬到北门，就赏给黄金十金。开始，人们不相信这是真的，没有人响应。商鞅又宣布，谁能将木柱搬到北门，赏给黄金五十金。这时，有一个年轻人壮着胆子把木柱搬到北门，果真得到了五十金。这件事在广大群众中产生了强烈的反响，百姓认为商鞅说话算数，都相信新法，服从新法。

宋朝的王安石极力主张改革政治，宋神宗在位时，他被任命为宰相，大力推行青苗法、均输法、市易法、免役法、农田水利法等新法，但遇到重重阻力。在此种情形下，他写了《商鞅》这首诗：“自古驱民在信诚，一言为重百金轻；今人未可非商鞅，商鞅能令政必行。”表明了自己推行新法的决心，也说明了自己要像商鞅那样，说话算数，取信于民，使新法继续贯彻下去。

根据商鞅变法的故事和王安石的诗，人们便引申出“一言为重”这个成语，比喻说话算数，言行一致。

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身为年轻一辈的我们，是否常常都不守“一言为重”的理念呢？一个人需要勇于承担，不可以因为胆怯就随意放弃，更不该出尔反尔，不遵守承诺。

馆主祝福大家哦！加油加油！

^_^g

I Dreamed A Dream

Saturday 11th April 2009 Susan Boyle on Britain's Got Talent:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OcQ9A-5noM&feature=related

虽然馆主没有办法将这影片放送在这里，但是你们可以依据以上的网址去听她唱歌。其实，每一个人都有自己的梦想，而我们往往都是以貌取人，所以并不是每次都会认识到最值得我们敬佩的人、事、物。馆主就算不看影片，单听她的歌声也深受感动。真的，她是一位让人敬佩的人。

希望大家也会努力为自己的梦想而努力哦！

加油！

^_^g

亞歷山大的三個遺願

亞歷山大 (Alexandar the Great) 是一位偉大的國王。在征服了許多王國勝利返回的途中，他病倒了。此刻，佔領的土地，強大的軍隊，鋒利的寶劍和所有的財富對他來說都毫無意義，他明白死神很快會降臨，他已無法回到家園。

他對將士們說道，"我不久將離開這個世界，我有三個遺願，你們要完全按我說的去執行。" 將士們含著淚答應了。

“第一個遺願是，我的棺材必須由我的醫師獨自運回去。”

亞歷山大喘了口氣，繼續說道：
“第二， 當我的棺材運向墳墓時，通往墓園的道路要撒滿我寶庫裡的金子、銀子和寶石。”

亞歷山大裹了裹毛氈，休息了片刻，
“最後一個遺願是把我的雙手放在棺材外面。”
聚集在他身邊的人都很好奇，但沒人敢問為什麼。

亞歷山大最喜愛的將軍吻了吻他的手說，“陛下，我們一定會按您的吩咐去做，但您能告訴我們為什麼要這麼做嗎？”

亞歷山大深深吸了一口氣說道：“我想要世人明白我剛剛學到的3個教訓。

我讓醫師運載我的棺材，是要人們意識到醫生不可能真正地治療人們的任何疾病。面對死亡，他們也無能為力。
希望人們能夠懂得珍愛生命。

第二個遺願是告訴人們不要像我一樣追求金錢；我花費了一生去追求財富，但很多時候是在浪費時間。

第三個遺願是希望人們明白我是空著手來到這個世界的，而且我空著手離開了這個世界。”

說完他閉上了眼睛，停止了呼吸。


這篇短文確實講到人生的真義!!人出生是空著手來到這個世界，往生時亦是空著手離開了這個世界!!
世上所有有形的物品皆無法帶走(金錢.名利亦是)，唯有功與過流傳人間，德業及罪業則隨身定來世因果---試想現今流傳人間，受人敬重懷念為何人~~~是聖哲(孔子.觀音菩薩等，無私為世人之人)，萬世遭人唾棄為何人~~~因名利錢財而造罪之人(秦檜等)

其他人將隨時間的洪流，慢慢被後人遺忘(包括有錢人.追逐名望之人.平凡人.只作利己之事的人.努力賺錢以留給子孫之人等)---想到這裡，人生還有何事可計較的呢?朋友!!努力行善吧!!有無能力全靠自己評斷!!在困難中還能想到別人的人才更難能可貴呢!!

转发至网络

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馆主好久没上来这里和大家分享了。刚巧读到了这篇文章就觉得很有道理。希望大家也能理解亚历山大他想和世人分享的领悟。

加油哦！

^_^g

Five Grains Of Rice

A rich man has four sons. As he grows old, he decides to give his property to the son who would value the wealth he had earned.

He calls his four sons and gives them each five grains of rice. He tells them that he shall ask for these grains at the end of 5 years & he would give his property to the son who would value these grains the most.

The first son throws away the grains. He decides to show his father some other grains when he would ask for them after 5 yrs, in anticipation that his father would not be able to see the difference between the two sets of grains.

The second son eats the grains. He too decides to show his father some other grains when he would ask for them after 5 yrs, in anticipation that his father would not be able to see the difference between the two sets of grains.

The third son preserves these grains in a silver box and keeps the silver box in the 'puja sthaan' at home, and offers prayers to the box while offering his prayers to God for 5 yrs.

The fourth son sows these grains and cultivates them in the backyard of his house. They grow into crops during the harvest season. He keeps re-sowing the grains from these crops. In due course, he has a vast plot of land cultivated with rice.

As apparent from the above mentioned, at the end of 5 yrs, the father gives his property to his fourth son, as he was the most deserving among his four sons.

Moral of the Story:
When you have anything little in your hands, look at opportunity to grow it. Don't feel sad if you have less money today, know that you have it and you can grow it.

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感谢月莉小姐的分享。没有错。有时候我们必须将眼光放远一点。这样，我们的计划就不是短暂的。脚踏实地是很重要的。

加油哦！

^_^g