Eureka!

Yippee, I have the answer!

Towards leading a meaningful life. And towards achieving what you want in life. And how to be all that you can and want to be in life.

We lose focus in life and life becomes 'lifeless' so-to-speak because we do not set proper goals for ourselves. We have to know what we want in life before life can become vibrant, passionate and fulfilled.

Set goals for yourselves for all aspects of life. Be as thorough as you can. Determine when you want to achieve them. Be motivated in reaching the goals. Set rewards for yourself when you reach these goals. Be focussed. Don't lose sight of your goal objectives.

If you keep reminding yourself of your goals and you keep working towards them then there is no reason why you cant achieve all that you want.

Reach for the stars. Insya'allah we can.

ps - this is the outcome of day 1 of my Effective Personal Leadership Program. I have 3 more sessions to go & hopefully by the time I finish the whole programme I have crystallized my dreams and goals.

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Not For Life

Knowledgeable. Skilled. Survival of the fittest. The latest and hottest, fresh-from-the-oven topics in the office today.

The moral of the story is, there is always someone else to replace you at work. And they could even get the job done better. You are not invincible.

To be marketable, the things that need to be done are quite clear. Identify the skills required in the next year or so. Then get out there and get reskilled in those areas. Personal networking is also an important element in the marketability equation.

The good for the business always comes first, not individual gains. Welcome to the real world. Your job is not for life.

But then again, maybe you dont want this job for life anyway..? Fikir-fikirkan lah.

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Of Grandma

This photo was taken at arwah tok's dusun durian. The dusun is at the foots of the hills at Bukit Gantang. There are railway tracks at the end of the dusun and occassionally you can hear trains pass by. And you may pick all the pucuk paku to your heart's content.

It was early in the morning and there were still dew drops on the grass blades. Anybody knows that you go out early to get durians. Since the photo turned out quite nice I just had to share it.

I think it rained the night before, and there were sludge and muck everywhere. The Pajero tyres got stuck in the mud but hurray for rear wheel drives, we managed to get out of there anyway. Nasib baik pergi dusun - that was the one and only time we get to use the 4 x 4 gears..

Anyway, I hope my own grandchildren will remember me with much affection. I might not have any dusun for them to visit but unlike me, maybe they would keep a picture or two of their grandma anyway.

Bukit Gantang, 2003

Life & Passion

Friends remarked that my blog does not get updated as regularly as it should. And I sort of told them that I've been well, uh.. busy.

Define busy, please.

Well, busy is like commuting to the office day after day, after day, after day.. and that endless laundering or even that almost senseless search through the groceries aisles for that obscure "something-different-to cook-tonite" idea. That's being busy as a bee. If that does'nt live up to everyone's idea of being busy, how about waiting for the little man to finish his homework or running a free chauffer service for the not-so-small-anymore kids or even watching Kim Possible or Raven for quality time spent with you-know-who?

Honestly speaking though, nothing significant enough happens in life these days. Do you notice the older we are, the more selective we become on the so-called happenings in our lives? We've been there and done that, and that, and that.. So ~ what else is new?

I remember telling some friends that we need to be passionate about life. Now all I have to do is go find that elusive passion..

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Ngaji lah, Zikir lah..

There is this story that I remember from my much younger days. Although I cant recall who told it, but I seem to remember it with considerable affection. Maybe because the way it was told. It goes like this :

"Malaikat kerja ada dua shif. Shif pertama tamat lepas Subuh. Shif lagi satu habis lepas Asar. Bila habis shif, malaikat akan menghadap Allah dan report apa yang kita buat semasa shif mereka tamat. Kalau tengah zikir, malaikat katalah pada Allah kita tengah zikir. Kalau tidur pun, dia katalah kita tidur. Sebab itu lah selepas Subuh & Asar kita digalakkan mengaji ataupun zikir & jangan sesekali tidur.."

And I was reading the other day, when I came across this hadith:

Abu Hurairah ra mengatakan bahawa Rasulullah saw bersabda, Para malaikat bergiliran datang kepada mu malam dan siang. Dan semuanya bertemu ketika salat Subuh dan Asar. Kemudian malaikat yang jaga malam naik ke langit. Maka bertanyalah Tuhan kepada mereka (padahal Allah swt sesungguhnya lebih tahu), "Bagaimanakah hal nya hamba Ku yang kamu tinggalkan?" Jawab mereka, "Kami tinggalkan mereka sedang salat Subuh dan kami dapati mereka sedang salat Asar". ~ HR Bukhari

So ~ ngaji-ngaji lah, zikir-zikir lah.

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To Blog Or Not To Blog?

The kids asked, "Are you sure you want to create a blog, ma? Blogs are for teens like us laa.."

Kids! They would like to think the whole world revolves around them. Given a challenge thus, I could not help but to go ahead and get my own blog up. So that's how this blog came about.

And surprise, surprise.. or not? The first posting I write just had to be about them..

Alive & Well is about celebrating life and being thankful to Allah for the wonderful things that are bestowed upon our lives.

ps - i'm quite pleased with my results in this blog although i'm a novice here..

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The Next Gen.

They make me scream, they make me cry. They may even make me penniless, if I let them. But they are the dearest.

Pix taken after Eid Fitr prayer, Nov 2005. At home in Melawati.

Sitting : (she is) Iman, Eirfan & Luq
Standing : Ilyas (in dark brown) & Zak

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