There are times that we make silly mistakes. Most of the time when this happens, it is because we are not acting ourselves. That is because we have lost ourselves.
1. Never let emotions take over
Under any circumstances, never let your emotions take over you. Once you let your emotion takes over, you will lose control of yourself. And when emotion comes to work, it will either do wonders or it will cause disasters. And it is always the latter that occurs. This is very important as the more patience we have, the more successful we will become. Yet, I have not mastered the skill to control my emotion, but I am trying very hard now.
2. Never assume anything
If you break the word assume up, you can see ASS U ME. If you put these words into perspective, you will know that if you assume things, it will make an ASS out of U and ME. So, never assume anything. Find out more, get hold of facts, ask around. If you are afraid of the trouble, you cannot be far away from becoming an ASS.
3. Never be greedy
That is what my grandpa always tell me. Never be greedy. Shall it be wealth, women, whatever. We have to be content with what we have. If our desire grew beyond contentment, it will spell trouble. Have you ever heard that a greedy person will have a good ending? I have not.
4. Listen to what people have to say before making your judgement
We always have this habit of making judgement on something before thoroughly understanding it. Just like judging a book by its cover. Most of the time when this happens, we either miss out on something or we will make a fool out of ourselves. It is very hard for us to avoid having our pre-conception affecting our judgement, but we must try not to be affected by it. Obviously, first impression counts, but first impressions are always inaccurate.
These are the important words that I would like to always remind myself of. I would also like to share these words with anyone who is interested. If you have any words of wisdom that you would like to share with all of us, please generously do so. And last but not least, we have nothing to lose being polite, even to our enemies. Thank you very much.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year - An occasion to cherish those living and to remember those who have passed away.
I have been absent from this blog for a while. Yes, I have been busy acclimatising to the new working environment. I have also been busy settling down in my temporary place of residence. It is never easy staying with relatives, not to mention that you are not paying any rent for the limited space (both physically and psycologically speaking) to live in. Hopefully I will get an affordable (read:cheap) place to move in soon. Must start talk to God more often, I have not been praying since returning.
Back to the main topic. Chinese New Year.
Our family has a traditional way of celebrating CNY, so have other traditional Chinese family. I would like to record the rituals of our celebration from the 30th night (the last day of the lunar calendar year) to the first day of the new year.
The 30th night is usually a celebration of the harvest of the past year, therefore members of the family shall return to their family home to have dinner. Sitting around the family dining table, members of the family share the food (usually cooked by the mother), jokes and experiences gained over the year in a warm and celebrative mood. In our family, we have to pay respect to our ancestors before having the 'tuan2 yuan2 fan4' (which means uniting dinner).
The ritual starts with tidying and cleaning the altar where the ancestors spiritually resides. On the altar, there will be a piece of nice wooden block with the generations and names of our ancestors carefully printed on it. After lighting the two red candles, we began to burn the incense. Usually there will be three big incense followed by smaller ones. Each of the family member will hold three of the smaller incense while three of the eldest will each hold one big incense. Also, before the ritual starts, we have to lay out a variety of food in front of the altar. Our food to the ancestors include a whole chicken (including the head), a piece of roasted pork, vegetables, fruits, CNY biscuits and snacks. There are three small cups for tea, five bigger cups for white liquor, with five pairs of chopsticks laid in front of our ancestors (we are paying respect to five ancestors). Once the dust of the incense begin to drop, which we consider a nod of acknowledgement from our ancestors, we will burn them some paper money, paper gold and other stuffs. Our ancestors will get to receive these items by burning them. Obviously we are not going to burn them the REAL thing! After the giving and receiving of items are completed (when those paper-based items are burnt to ashes), we will have to kowtow to the ancestors. Before proceeding to the kowtow, the eldest of the family will speak to the ancestors, telling them which members of the family are present, and which of them are located elsewhere, asking for the ancestors to look after us for the coming year. We will kowtow for 4 times, everytime going down on both knees and the forehead actually hitting the floor (not really hitting with strength that is, a light touch will do). After the rituals, it will be our uniting dinner. In our case, we usually have it in the afternoon.
At night, before we sleep, we will be given 'ya1 sui4 qian2' (red packets where the money is meant to avoid us from gaining another year in age). We are supposed to put the red packet under our pillow while we sleep. Traditionally, we have to stay awake until the new year has arrived. The reason behind this is another interesting story, which I would not elaborate further here.
The first thing to do in the CNY morning is to 'bai4 nian2' with our parents and relatives. Usually we say good words while greeting them, words such as 'gong1 xi3 fa1 cai2' (congratulations on getting wealthier), 'xin1 nian2 jin4 bu4' (improvements in the new year), 'wan4 shi1 ru2 yi4' (everything is happening to your heart/will) etc. In return we will be given red packets with a nominal value of money in it. These red packets we recieved after CNY is slightly different from the 'ya1 sui4 qian2', but I cannot really tell the difference though. As long as I get big red packets, I will be happy! Ha ha.
We will again be paying respects to our ancestors, the ritual will be as the same mentioned above. The only difference is in the offerrings. We will be offerring vegetarian-based food to our ancestors on new years day. On the 30th night, we offer them meat dishes. Lion dance is the next event to follow. According to legend, the lion dance is to drive/scare away the bad things in the house. Therefore, the 'lion' (usually played by two experienced lion-dancers) will go around the house, like a real lion exploring the place, following the beat of the drums played by the drummer. The lion will then 'cai3 qing1', grabbing a vegetable that was hanging at a high position with its mouth. This is an act in order to have prosperity to the household in the coming year.
After all these events, we will be waiting for relatives to come visit us, or we will be visiting relatives at their residencies. There are more stories on different days of the CNY, but our family celebrates only the 30th night and the 1st day of CNY. CNY is 15 days long, and the final day is the Chinese Valentines Day. If I ever have the time, I would try find out about what each and every day of the CNY means and share it with you all.
Until I blog again, Happy Chinese New Year to you all!
I have been absent from this blog for a while. Yes, I have been busy acclimatising to the new working environment. I have also been busy settling down in my temporary place of residence. It is never easy staying with relatives, not to mention that you are not paying any rent for the limited space (both physically and psycologically speaking) to live in. Hopefully I will get an affordable (read:cheap) place to move in soon. Must start talk to God more often, I have not been praying since returning.
Back to the main topic. Chinese New Year.
Our family has a traditional way of celebrating CNY, so have other traditional Chinese family. I would like to record the rituals of our celebration from the 30th night (the last day of the lunar calendar year) to the first day of the new year.
The 30th night is usually a celebration of the harvest of the past year, therefore members of the family shall return to their family home to have dinner. Sitting around the family dining table, members of the family share the food (usually cooked by the mother), jokes and experiences gained over the year in a warm and celebrative mood. In our family, we have to pay respect to our ancestors before having the 'tuan2 yuan2 fan4' (which means uniting dinner).
The ritual starts with tidying and cleaning the altar where the ancestors spiritually resides. On the altar, there will be a piece of nice wooden block with the generations and names of our ancestors carefully printed on it. After lighting the two red candles, we began to burn the incense. Usually there will be three big incense followed by smaller ones. Each of the family member will hold three of the smaller incense while three of the eldest will each hold one big incense. Also, before the ritual starts, we have to lay out a variety of food in front of the altar. Our food to the ancestors include a whole chicken (including the head), a piece of roasted pork, vegetables, fruits, CNY biscuits and snacks. There are three small cups for tea, five bigger cups for white liquor, with five pairs of chopsticks laid in front of our ancestors (we are paying respect to five ancestors). Once the dust of the incense begin to drop, which we consider a nod of acknowledgement from our ancestors, we will burn them some paper money, paper gold and other stuffs. Our ancestors will get to receive these items by burning them. Obviously we are not going to burn them the REAL thing! After the giving and receiving of items are completed (when those paper-based items are burnt to ashes), we will have to kowtow to the ancestors. Before proceeding to the kowtow, the eldest of the family will speak to the ancestors, telling them which members of the family are present, and which of them are located elsewhere, asking for the ancestors to look after us for the coming year. We will kowtow for 4 times, everytime going down on both knees and the forehead actually hitting the floor (not really hitting with strength that is, a light touch will do). After the rituals, it will be our uniting dinner. In our case, we usually have it in the afternoon.
At night, before we sleep, we will be given 'ya1 sui4 qian2' (red packets where the money is meant to avoid us from gaining another year in age). We are supposed to put the red packet under our pillow while we sleep. Traditionally, we have to stay awake until the new year has arrived. The reason behind this is another interesting story, which I would not elaborate further here.
The first thing to do in the CNY morning is to 'bai4 nian2' with our parents and relatives. Usually we say good words while greeting them, words such as 'gong1 xi3 fa1 cai2' (congratulations on getting wealthier), 'xin1 nian2 jin4 bu4' (improvements in the new year), 'wan4 shi1 ru2 yi4' (everything is happening to your heart/will) etc. In return we will be given red packets with a nominal value of money in it. These red packets we recieved after CNY is slightly different from the 'ya1 sui4 qian2', but I cannot really tell the difference though. As long as I get big red packets, I will be happy! Ha ha.
We will again be paying respects to our ancestors, the ritual will be as the same mentioned above. The only difference is in the offerrings. We will be offerring vegetarian-based food to our ancestors on new years day. On the 30th night, we offer them meat dishes. Lion dance is the next event to follow. According to legend, the lion dance is to drive/scare away the bad things in the house. Therefore, the 'lion' (usually played by two experienced lion-dancers) will go around the house, like a real lion exploring the place, following the beat of the drums played by the drummer. The lion will then 'cai3 qing1', grabbing a vegetable that was hanging at a high position with its mouth. This is an act in order to have prosperity to the household in the coming year.
After all these events, we will be waiting for relatives to come visit us, or we will be visiting relatives at their residencies. There are more stories on different days of the CNY, but our family celebrates only the 30th night and the 1st day of CNY. CNY is 15 days long, and the final day is the Chinese Valentines Day. If I ever have the time, I would try find out about what each and every day of the CNY means and share it with you all.
Until I blog again, Happy Chinese New Year to you all!
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