happy gal 88

This blog is about all things that make me happy. Why happy gal? Because I strongly believe that life is short and we must treasure every second of it. Why brood and live life unhappily?! I hope every reader finds some happiness on this blog : ) See my Korean blog - Seoul Far Seoul Good - @ http://www.seoulfarseoulgood.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Mom’s the Greatest


Feeling a bit sad today… The year has not been very good for my mom. Her hand has not completely healed from the fall early this year. Her health has been plagued by a chronic cough that seems like a lingering ghost. And yesterday, she became momentarily paralysed after a bout of coughing. My dad had to call a nearby doctor to give her a jab to relieve the pain in her back. And she still can’t get out of bed after that. Hope it’s not a slip disc.

This episode just reinforced my belief that life is really fragile. Who would imagine that a simple cough can hurt the nerves or back so much that you can’t even move? I really hope she gets well soon. And her god will see her through... Sure hurts to see her in pain.

Saturday, March 18, 2006

Glorious Friday

Yesterday was a Great Glorious Friday! I scored two firsts in my life. And they both involve lessons – I taught my first yoga lesson and I took my first Korean lesson.

It was indeed quite a fruitful day. Lunch time was spent teaching a few colleagues yoga – glad it went well and I was happy with the positive feedback. Then evening was spent learning Korean. Ah, I finally got to learn how to pronounce the many consonants and vowels correctly. Although I still have problems with some of them like ㅅ and ㅆ. Hope I’ll get it right with more practice.

While there are some things that are not going so well in my life, I’m very happy with what I have achieved in less than 3 months. Guess I can’t complain much. Life is such that we should always focus on the happy things and live with the not so happy ones. Yes, life is made up of choices. And I'm glad I always choose to be happy ; )

Tuesday, March 14, 2006

No Pain No Gain

I've always thought I've a high threshold for pain. But after 3 lessons of Rope Yoga, I'm on the verge of giving up.

Adding on to my knee abrasion that is still an angry red patch, I now have broken blisters in between my toes, slight rope burns and a bruised thigh. Unlike other fellow students who no longer have the strength to pull themselves up the rope, I have the strength but can't do anymore postures because I can no longer grip the rope with my toes.

Still I have no regrets. So far, I've managed to do lotus and inverted lotus, standing and sitted forward bends, corpse and even headstand postures hanging on the rope. It was really a sense of achievement when I completed a sequence of poses in the same take. Next will be the inverted tree (left) and bow poses.

Rope Yoga is very different from normal 'land' yoga. Those who excel in yoga will not be able to do Rope Yoga if they cannot conquer 3 fears -- Height, Hanging upside down, and Pain.

I remember clinging firmly onto the rope the first time Guru asked me to let go of my hands when my legs were hanging upside down in a split position. But after doing it, it becomes much easier the next time. I realised it’s really about letting go the fear of being topsy turvy and losing all your orientation (Yah, I can’t even differentiate between my left and right hands when I'm hanging upside down).

In real life, if we are willing and ready to let go of things -- relationships, career, material things that we can’t have – many of which are beyond our control, we’ll be much happier creatures on earth. And all the shrinks will be out of jobs because no one will be depressed and they have no more patients ; )

Saturday, March 11, 2006

Daily Bread


Finally, I baked my first yeast bread five days ago. While there is much room for improvement, it was quite an achievement for me. This is because I like to do things quickly and hated the long time taken to make yeast breads. That's why I've never attempted yeast bread in the past 3 years that I've been baking.

I had time to bake this on Monday because my plans to spend the day at the gym had to be changed because of an injured knee. It was not easy being happy limping to work the next day but set me thinking about how to remain happy when I am down. I realised that setbacks happen to us so that we are reminded how fortunate we had been for the period when things were smooth sailing. It teaches me not to take things for granted and be thankful for being more fortunate than many others.

And I remembered what my yoga guru said, “Happiness is within us. Yet we usually try to find happiness from external things.” How true. This shall be my daily bread – to wake up each day and find happiness from within. That's being a true Happy Gal.

Saturday, March 04, 2006

Yoga Bliss



Tomorrow will be the last lesson of my Yoga Instructor Certificate Course. I must say this is the toughest month of the year. Because of the yoga classes, I have not had time to do anything else – no blogging, shopping, and social life.

But I have no regrets. Because I know what I have learnt will help me through life’s journey and maybe one day, achieve bliss. What have I achieved in this 80-hour crash course? Lots! I’ve learnt about the different components of yoga and now try to start my day with a half hour practice. Now I know what postures can help me to lose weight and will be doing this everyday. Best of all, I can finally do headstand (even though I need the help of the wall… I hope to be able to do a a free headstand in three months' time). And of course, I’m going to miss my course mates and new found friends. We hope to keep in touch and encourage one another as we complete 60 hours of teaching before we really graduate. I’ve also found another Korean drama fan and we’ve signed up for a Korean language course together.

Isn’t life interesting?

During one of the classes, my yoga guru shared he was happy and thankful that he has asthma - ordinary people may think he's crazy. But he added - if he didn't have asthma, he wouldn't have discovered yoga. If he didn't learn yoga (to cure his asthma), he would not be teaching in Singapore. And he wouldn’t have met us.

I totally agree with his analysis. Because I too realise that my life is so rich and fulfilling now, all thanks to my failed marriage. If that had not happened, I would not have built a life for myself. If I didn’t build a life for myself, I would not have experienced so many new sports, developed good relationships with friends, nor had the guts to find new friends on the Net. And of course, I would not have started my Happygal blog and the list goes on.


I’ve reached a stage where I’ve stopped questioning 'Why me?'. Instead, I tell myself that there’s a reason for everything that happens and I know that when I look back, it’ll all turn out for the better and I'll understand why it happened.