Post from: Health or Money?

I was surprised when I heard some people talking about investing in loose diamonds and some gold. The latter I do agree somewhat although the price is quite high already. But diamonds, I’m not really sure they are a good asset altogether.

What do you think? Would you buy them and sell it back to the market? I find it a bit risky and I don’t know if the buyers will offer not too favourable prices for them when I’m ready to sell it back.

Post from: Health or Money?

Over 450,000 people in the US are considered as professional bloggers where blogging has become their primary source of income. Did anyone ever think that blogging could become so huge that one could quit their day job and become writers on their own or for someone else and make a handsome living out of something they so enjoy? I have never thought it would become the mega trend that it is today.

In an interesting article published by The Wall Street Journal, it tells about how bloggers have come to replace journalists in the country, and how much some of these bloggers are making whether writing on their own blogs or being hired to write for others. It’s really not bad a job, whether part time or full time.

What’s not great about it, really? You get to work at your own time, your only overheads are probably just a computer and an internet connection. You can work from home or anywhere for that matter as long as you’re connected. Such a different world from a nine to five job. Sure, you don’t have colleagues to talk and gossip with, but we can all do with less bitching of the bosses and weird characters in an organisation, right?

It’s a full time job that I would love. But it’s really not easy to get on board and be successful. In fact, the article does highlight that only a small percentage of bloggers earn lots of money. I tend to believe this. Just look around and ask a handful of bloggers who blog for money if they are able to earn even half of their salary just by blogging and many will tell you they are earning pittance from blogging.

So whilst it is a nice story to hear of such a perfect job that pays you enough to quit your job, it is necessary to pull yourself out from the misconception that you too can do it. I still harbour the hopes of making it but I think I’ve become more realistic. There may be other easier and more structured ways to making money as compared to blogging.

Post from: Health or Money?

The story below talks about making the best of life and appreciating what we have and are. There are others who are in more terrible shape than us, and yet we do not realise how lucky we are compared to them. Live life and stay happy.

After a conversation with one of my friends, he told me despite taking 2 jobs, he brings back barely above 1K per month, he is happy as he is.

I wonder how he can be as happy as he is considering he has to skimp his life with the low pay to support a pair of old parents, in-laws, a wife, 2 daughters and the many bills of a household.

He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in India that happened a few years ago when he was really feeling low and touring India after a major setback.

He said that right in front of his very eyes he saw an Indian mother chop off her child’s right hand with a chopper. The helplessness in the mother’s eyes, the scream of pain from the innocent 4-year-old child haunted him until today.

You may ask why did the mother do so; had the child been naughty, had the child’s hand been infected??

No, it was done for two simple words – TO BEG! The desperate mother deliberately caused the child to be handicapped so that the child could go out to the streets to beg.

Taken aback by the scene, he dropped a piece of bread he was eating half-way. And almost instantly, a flock of 5 or 6 children swamped towards this small piece of bread which was covered with sand, robbing bits from one another.

The natural reaction of hunger. Stricken by the happenings, he instructed his guide to drive him to the nearest bakery. He arrived at two bakeries and bought every single loaf of bread he found in the bakeries. The owner was dumbfounded but willingly sold everything. He spent less than $100 to obtain about 400 loaves of bread (this is less than $0.25 per loaf) and spent another $100 to get daily necessities.

Off he went in the truck full of bread into the streets. As he distributed the bread and necessities to the children (mostly handicapped) and a few adults, he received cheers and bows from these unfortunate.

For the first time in his life he wondered how people can give up their dignity for a loaf of bread which cost less than $0.25.

He began to tell himself how fortunate he is. How fortunate he is to be able to have a complete body, have a job, have a family, have the chance to complain what food is nice and what isn’t nice, have the chance to be clothed, have the many things that these people in front of him are deprived of.

Now I begin to think and feel it, too! Was my life really that bad? Perhaps no, I should not feel bad at all. What about you? Maybe the next time you think you are, think about the child who lost one hand to beg on the streets.

“Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, it is the realization of how much you already have.”

When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don’t see the one which has been opened for us.

It’s true that we don’t know what we’ve got until we lose it, but it’s also true that we don’t know what we’ve been missing until it arrives.

The happiest of people don’t necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can’t go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

Post from: Health or Money?

In our hectic lifestyle where chasing after money is what we care most about, we tend to neglect our health. It has become the norm and there has been many great reminders for people to slow down, smell the flowers and take care of ourselves more.

Many people are so involved in the process of making money that they have no time for anything else. Not even the time to spare to enjoy the money they have made! I sometimes wonder if they remember what they are chasing after! If you have the money but have no time to enjoy the fruits of it, what’s the money for?

Maybe it’s for the family to have a great life. That’s a very noble idea. But even your family needs your time and love. So do spare some thoughts if you are in this situation of spending all your time working so hard to make the money but not the time.

Whether it’s health or wealth that we live for, I hope we do not compromise one for the other. It’s best that they both exist together in abundance. For someone who have both, life is great. Don’t you agree with me?

Post from: Health or Money?