HeartSGBlogs: Decisiveness


Being decisive is having the ability to make decisions.


Every day, we are faced with numerous situations that require us to make decisions. Some decisions are already made through intuitive processes that we have learnt in life, while others require us to give more thought about it.

Examples of decisions made through intuition- the choice of stopping when the traffic light is red; the choice to the bathroom because you need to; the choice of taking a particular bus because it takes you home.


Examples of decisions made through conscious, rational thought processes
Such decisions can range from major life decisions to small decisions.

Major life decisions- the choice to purchase a house, the choice of who to marry, the choice of changing a job.


Small Decisions – the choice of where to go for dinner, the choice of going for a holiday, the choice to sleep in or go out.

What causes our inability to make decisions?


The fear of the unknown, the fear of being wrong, the fear of not getting the best outcome we want or hope. Such fears are maximized especially when making decisions of significant impact in our life.

The feeling of having options can be seen as unpleasant, frustrating, troublesome and tiring, but it is absolutely necessary.


Could you imagine if we had no options and everything was done purely based on reasons dictated to us? Would our life be still called OURS?

Making decisions is the very thing that uncovers our hidden potential; it is what enables us to realize that we have the power to create reasons for our decisions. The creation of reasons differs for each and every individual. These unique reasons serve as functions to make our life be our life according to our own values, strengths, weaknesses, motivations and passions.


The power of having choices and making decisions is a blessing rather than a curse.

Now, since we are blessed with the choice of having options, how can we effectively benefit from it and make to choice to choose less stressful and taxing on us?

  
3 tips to enable the decision-making process easier

Trust yourself

Believe that you have weighed your options, and remember no matter the outcome, the decision you are making is already the best it could have been.



Realize and know that all outcomes will eventually be positive

If things could have been better or have gone wrong, treat it us learning experience. This will make you feel less pressured with making a wrong decision and allow yourself a chance to explore.  



Set your own deadline

Take the right amount of time needed to make your decisions
Setting a deadline can prevent overthinking and over-analyzing. It prevents you from focusing on the “What If?”
While setting your own deadline enables you to relax yourself and carefully assess each option given on hand.




"Having the simplest decision, create Legends"


HeartSGBlogs:Optimism




Is the glass half-empty or half-full? Without a doubt, I would reply half-empty.


This question is a simple test, a test on specifically identifying whether you are on optimists or pessimists by nature.

There has always been a debate on which trait is better. 
Being an optimist or a pessimist?

Research has shown that being an optimist can result us in getting better life outcomes.Some things include having lower blood pressure; less affected by pain; higher chances of recovering from illnesses; better longevity; and overall quality of life.

While we all know that pessimism, although negative in 
nature, has an ultimate function that keeps pessimists to remain as pessimists, even though we know that it is proven that a happier life can be obtained by being an optimists.

That ultimate function of being pessimistic is to safeguard ourselves, to protect and defend ourselves from our anxieties and fears. It allows us to feel less sad when we are unable to achieve. Unfortunately, this may be the very reason that causes our inability to achieve or perform at our bests.


We pessimists, instead of being trapped in that circle of fear, 
why not live beyond that fear. How we live beyond that fear? It is to choose optimism.



Of course, when I say optimism, it is not delusional optimism, where you totally lose the ability or the willingness to be realistic. Rather a balance between being realistic and optimistic. Acknowledge the bad events, being realistic, while being optimistic to focus on how these bad events ultimately contribute to future growth and improvement.


For example, news has been reporting on current terrorist 
attacks, poverty and social injustice. 


We can look at this in a pessimistic point of view of having thoughts like the world is going in the wrong direction, it is ending, and it is becoming worse and worse. 

Alternatively, we can look at this news in the perspective of an optimist of having thoughts like this is what brings activists, people, groups and communities together, to fight, defend, support and change for the better. This is what that fuels the motivations and passions to keep contributing with a belief for a better world. Humans are moving on the right track, compared to 2000 years ago, solutions were found for incurable diseases, and now more gender, financial and social equality is experienced.  

Can you see? Do you see how changing your perspective
from a pessimist to an optimist can bring you immediate 
satisfaction and contentment with your current life?

Choose to be an optimist NOW!


3 ways to become an optimist

1. Ask yourself “Tell me something good that happened today”


It can be as simple as not having to wait for the traffic light
today, having a seat in a public bus, or getting a parking lot 
without waiting. This allows you to get in a positive mindset 
and remind yourself that everyday has its goods.


2. Remember that anger and drive


Optimism can be easily diminished the constant failures and 

bad circumstances. That unfairness, that anger, that sadness can act as a source of passion to keep thinking positively, to motivate you to endure and work harder each day. This will sustain us to keep on thinking optimistically and keep having hope for the future.

3. Surround yourself with people that allows you to shine and
display your positive light



Social connections are one of the most important things in
our lives. Who we interact plays a big part of what we eventually are. We are learners and the need to ‘fit in’ and the need to feel belonged will cause us to mirror actions and think like those around us. Engage and make friends with those that allow your positive being to shine through.

Lastly, a quote to encourage your optimistic being,



“What day is it?” asked Pooh.


“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.

“My favorite day,” said Pooh.” 

― A.A. Milne

"Having the simplest optimism, create Legends"

HeartSGBlogs: Curiosity


While typing the word curiosity on google search, a famous quote immediately came up in the search section.

Can you guess what the quote was?

The quote was “Curiosity killed the cat”.


It made me wonder who created this saying; I thought to myself maybe it could be an annoyed elder who was frustrated with answering the millions of questions coming from a kid. 


I remember myself as a kid being curious, intuitive, and innocent. Questioning about random things and even things that the adults did not have answers to.
Why is the sun following us? Why is the sky blue? Do ants have siblings?

This curiosity we once had as a child is unfortunately taken over and hidden by the rules, regulations, and the realistic and practical nature of the world that we have learnt while growing up.


Nonetheless, curiosity is one of the main keys that unlocked the infinite capacity of the world from growing and developing further. It is curiosity that allowed for the creation of telephones, antibiotics, and the theory of gravity.


Curiosity not only aids in the process of continuous improvement. It is more importantly the source of that gives us novelty, excitement and pleasure. It brings life out of us. It gives one the edge to seek out and find their passions, dreams, and motivations in life. Curiosity also helps us in worldly processes, like studying, working and building relationships.

Curiosity enables one to question, question things further than those that are explained or taught based on the syllabus. Through questions, it fires up an interest to things, and from there it leads us on to finding out what we like and in turn discovering our passions in life. Finding your passion is the ultimate reward of curiosity, as it gives us a clear purpose and direction to proceed on. Even when failures arrive, it is this passion inside us that will motivate us to persevere on.

Although, the quote “curiosity killed the cat” has its purpose, but there is always that hope to turn it into “curiosity saved the cat”. As the saying goes, take risks to derive big rewards. We only have one chance in life, should we not give ourselves the opportunity to take the risk and fulfil a meaningful and purposeful life that we desire?


Find your curiosity you once had today!

3 Simple Steps to regain Curiosity


 Let your mind wander- Daydream, gaze out of the bus, sit in a café without an agenda. Let your unconscious take over you; let your heart take control, questions revealing your heart desires will naturally come to mind.


Think like a child again- A child simply questions things by following their heart, following their interests. Their questions are unbounded by neither fear nor the future, unrestricted by the realistic nature of the society. Do not fear asking questions that are thought to be silly or presumed to be useless. Take that opportunity to feed your curiosity and reclaim your interests. 


Keep track of things that inspire you- It could be a photograph or a book. A collection of items will motivate your senses to be more curious. These items serve as a present when you choose to follow that curiosity in your heart, fueling that motivation to seek and venture. Curiosity sparks Curiosity.

Choose to live a life where you are fully and truly satisfied & happy, get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. This is the only way to realize a life with contentment.

Be CURIOUS now! What is your outlook on this blog post?

"Having the simplest curiosity, create Legends"












HeartSGBlogs: Perseverance


What makes us similar?

We all have to go through LIFE…

LIFE can be split into mainly 4 components:
Making a Decision
Failure
Change
Perseverance


One of the journeys in LIFE is learning about perseverance.

Perseverance is to persist steadfastly in pursuit of an undertaking, task, journey, or goal, even if hindered by distraction, difficulty, obstacles, or discouragement.

Some may say that perseverance is stubbornness. The two are greatly different.
Stubbornness is trying the same thing over and over again, even when it doesn't work.
Perseverance is trying something else when what you're doing doesn't work.


Perseverance is a constructive, productive, beneficial trait and more importantly one of the greatest gifts we will receive in the journey of life. This trait is a piece of evidence, a basis, and an affirmation of your passion. 


Without the path of decision, failure, change and perseverance, a passion cannot be called a passion. We are unable to make any justifications to others but more importantly even to ourselves. Even if we have met our targets and goals, we will feel a sense of dissatisfaction. Therefore, to achieve one of the sweetest rewards in life of attaining your passion, perseverance must be part of your life story.


3 ways to get Perseverance into your Story


Be comfortable with being uncomfortable


When we meet failures, we tend to be shaken and doubt 
our “passions”. With failures, we are faced with two options. 

The comfortable choice of quitting or settling for just something that is comfortable- This choice is easy because it takes away the sufferings, humiliations or embarrassments that we were supposed to face.

The uncomfortable choice to keep going and acknowledge our mistakes. This choice is difficult but it brings us to change/transformation, the crucial first step towards perseverance.

Get out of that comfort zone & choose what is uncomfortable


Ask “HOW” instead of “WHY”


We often seek reasons behind obstacles, drawbacks, unfortunate circumstances & failures. “Why me!”. However, it is not a guaranteed that we will receive answers; 
at times things can simply be unexplained.Instead of relying on that 50% chance of “WHY?”, rely on the 100% chance of “HOW?”. 
“How?” opens your doors to unlimited opportunities and gives you mountains of sources to keep going.




Get Support 


Keep in mind that you are not alone. Remember those 

closest to you, your family and friends. Seek social support; 

others can be the greatest motivating factor to keep you 

going, igniting your spirit to endure and pull through.

Perseverance is all about testing your limits. It prepares you and grants you strength to prevail in life.

DO NOT GIVE UP & Stick it out till the END


"Having the simplest perseverance, create Legends"
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