Happiness is a choice.

Alvaro's 18th Birthday outside Zouk.
Accompanied by Travis, Justin, Donghui and Edwin.

 

There would come a point of time in life when we would feel like lost sheep and have no aims.
Though we might already have set big goals and targets but things might not have been going well and we easily gave up.
Sometimes, the goals we set don't seem to be that attractive and appealing anymore.
However, we forget what was the real purpose of setting a goal from the start.
The purpose of goals is to give us direction, give us motivation so that there would be something for us to work towards.
When our current goals do not give us enough motivation...
When our  planned paths get diverted and we can't just go straight ahead...
We feel tired and take the easy way out; We stop there and give ourselves the excuse to not move.
This should never be the case.
When we found out that our goals no longer appeal to us, we will find new goals.
When we realized that our paths have been screwed up by a few set-backs, we create new paths.
Giving up or stopping there should never be an option.
As we stop and complain about stuff that did not really matter, we waste time.
Time is priceless and powerful.
Time can never be bought nor refunded.


The reason why I am posting this entry today is because I have been really distracted from my goals and I feel that time was really mean to me and I am finding a lot of difficulties to catch up right now.
Later I realized that Time wasn't mean at all, Time was just doing her job.
It was me, the one who brought all these unnecessary trouble to myself.
I was the one who chose other commitments over studies.
I was the one who chose care more about other stuff over studies.
Happiness is indeed a choice. As long as we make the right choices, we would always be happy.
Remembering how I used to remind myself that emotions are all in the mind and we could all control it easily, I laughed.
Recently, I got distracted because of my friends. All of them seem to have more free time to themselves. While I'm schooling, they either are already dismissed from school or having their holidays. I got too distracted by the things that people do around.
See, this is my bad habit. I care too much about the people around me.
I always allow the slightest thing that others say affect me and that's because of my choice of caring.
The wrong choice led me to feel terrible.
When I feel bad about myself, I then reminded myself that I was always in control of my emotions and that their words shouldn't be affecting at all.
However, I later realized that it felt impossible.
Was I wrong?
Could we actually use our minds to control our emotions that easily?
Well, actually.. No.
Theories said otherwise but we all know that talk is cheap.
So, since we couldn't could control our emotions directly from our minds.. Does that mean that we will always be vulnerable to emotional attacks?
With this thought haunting me for nights, I later realized that...
We can NEVER control our emotions directly from our thoughts that easily.
BUT, we can always make a decision to make the right choices so that things wouldn't seem so bad.


Let me share with you something which I have learnt when I was still coaching with AKLTG(Adam Khoo Learning Technology Group).
"E + R = O"

Event + Response = Outcome

Event refers to the situation which has happened to us.
Response refers to our response to that situation.
Outcome refers to the end product of everything.

We often can't control the Event, the situation which happened to us.
However, we can always make the right decision to choose the right and appropriate Response to that situation, making the Outcome more desirable.

Let me give you a classic example:

Imagine,

(Event [Fixed, No Control])
You are driving on the road and all of the sudden this car overtakes you. In order to warn other road-users of the potential danger, you sounded the horn.
However, the driver doesn't seem to be rather happy about it. He winds down his window, points his middle finger at you and started hurling vulgarities at you.
(Response [Varies according to one's wishes.])
You got mad because he was obviously at fault!
Winding down your window, you too flashed him your middle finger.
(Outcome [Depending on one's response])
A fight would probably break out.
Unpleasant, isn't it?
How about we just do a simple twist in our response?

Imagine, the exact same scenario happened once again.

 

However, instead of getting mad, you kept your cool and sends him a flying kiss and a wink!
"Muacks!".
The outcome would surely be epic.
The angry driver, taken aback by the lovely kiss, will probably just drive away in shocked.
We would be much happier too!


That was just a dramatic example of how the formula actually works.
Honestly, it's really hard to control our response. I find it really tough to suppress my emotions, most of the time.
So, I challenge you to make the right decision of the appropriate response which will give you a happy ending.


Alright, back to Happiness is a choice.

We can all make the right decision towards Happiness and successful.
The right choices will lead to another path so there's no reason why we would ever think about not pushing our limits or even giving up.

Anyway, I have plenty to share and I wished I could go on and on, but reality just hit me that I have to wake up really early tomorrow for classes.

The purpose of this purpose is to motivate myself and hopefully remind some of you lost sheep out there who are feeling the same way as I do.
Remember,
HAPPINESS IS A CHOICE.
Let's all open ourselves up and accept it.
No excuses, JUST DO IT.
Care less about those unimportant people and issues.
Get every out of your head and focus.










A final quote for everyone out there.





" Close some doors today.
   Not because of pride, incapcity or arrogance,
   but simply because they lead you nowhere. "
    -Paulo Coelho

                                     SO SMILE~~~