Paradox & Inspiration 130: What is Happiness?

A survey conducted by the National University of Singapore Business School in 2006 polled more than 1,000 people, aged 20 to 69 concluded the following:

"...people who have a university or postgraduate qualification and earn $5,000 or more a month are the happiest...But they are also dissatisfied with their achievements and enjoy life the least, compared with those who are less well-off...it is the Singaporeans earning less than $2,000 a month who enjoy life the most"

The Straits Times, 10 Jan 2010

So, this study seems to suggest happiness is not about enjoying life?

Paradox & Inspiration 129: Laze and Be Merry

In her Straits Times article "Have a lazy new year", a lady columnist criticised that purposeful and noble new year resolutions were stifling and questioned if there was more to life than bettering ourselves. Resolved not to undertake any industrious endeavours for the new year, she claimed, "All I want to do with time is to waste it." She advised us to think twice before signing up for another self-improvement class, and instead of getting up for morning exercise, have a luxurious sleep-in until noon...and announced she would be spending lots of time in the virtual world by joining her husband who was having loads of fun acquiring girlfriends in computer games.

When has staying productive and busy become so uncool? And, do people actually need to make resolutions just to become lazy?

Paradox & Inspiration 128: Life Isn't...

Life is not about how far you run,
how high you climb,
but it is about...
how fast you bounce.

Paradox and Inspiration 127: Time Waits for No Man

Behold, without the world stopping for even a split second to send off 2009, the rushing tides of 2010 have already crept in for more than a week! It all seems too uneventful, the normalcy of the fact that "2009 is gone forever!" scares me; surely this has to be more dramatised than this… we can never have 2009 back!

Be awaken to the jolting fact time never stops, steer the rudder and work on my to-do-list that is growing by the day. Make 2010 count please.

Paradox and Inspiration 126: Never get into the good books of the judges if you want to be Singapore Idol

In the Life Section of 2 Jan 2010 Straits Times, Jeremy Au shared his interesting analysis of why Sylvia Ratonel, who was deemed as the hot favourite, lost the Singapore Idol title to Sezair Sezal. One of the determining factor according to him had to do with how much the judges like the contestant. When the judges so frequently made it so obvious that Sylvia Rationel should emerge as the winner, it was like giving her "the kiss of death". Why? Singapore voters hated the judges and would do anything to crush the judges' hope, according to Jeremy Au.