Why Some People Have All The Luck

By Professor Richard Wiseman, University of Hertfordshire-

Why do some people get all the luck while others never get the breaks they deserve?

A psychologist says he has discovered the answer:

Ten years ago, I set out to examine luck. I wanted to know why some people are always in the right place at the right time, while others consistently experience ill fortune. I placed advertisements in national newspapers asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me.

Hundreds of extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research and over the years, I have interviewed them, monitored their lives and had them take part in experiments. The results reveal that although these people have almost no insight into the causes of their luck, their thoughts and behavior are responsible for much of their good and bad fortune. Take the case of seemingly chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not.

I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities. I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. I had secretly placed a large message halfway through the newspaper saying: "Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $50."

This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than two inches high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

Unlucky people are generally more tense than lucky people, and this anxiety disrupts their ability to notice the unexpected.

As a result, they miss opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and miss other types of jobs.

Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for. My research eventually revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

Towards the end of the work, I wondered whether these principles could be used to create good luck. I asked a group of volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person.

Dramatic results! These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck.

One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80% of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier.

The lucky people had become even luckier and the unlucky had become lucky.

Finally, I had found the elusive "luck factor".

Here are Professor Wiseman's four top tips for becoming lucky:
1) Listen to your gut instincts - they are normally right
2) Be open to new experiences and breaking your normal routine
3) Spend a few moments each day remembering things that went well
4) Visualize yourself being lucky before an important meeting or telephone call. Luck is very often a self- fulfilling prophecy

Have a Lucky day and work for it.

Some thoughts on Totoro

From: R. J. Dalton http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki

It's been a long time since I actually sat down and watched a movie, but, after class, job, school work and the requiste two hours a day of reading, I found I had some spare time (where it came from, I haven't the slightest clue). I decided to watch Totoro, which I've had in my collection for months, but haven't found the time to really sit down and enjoy.

I could go on about the general beauty of Miyazaki's work, but I've done that more than enough times. This time, I'd like to talk about the small moments; for, as all good Miyazaki accolytes understand, it's the little details that make the master's work not just good, but excellent.

So, where to begin?

If ever you get the chance to really analyze Totoro, take a look at the expressions of the characters. I think in Totoro, more than any other film, Miyazaki has captured the expressions of his characters so profoundly, especially so in the case of the children and the creatures.

All of the characters have very simple expressions that are easy to overlook, yet they express so much with their gestures that even when the characters never say a word, volumes of ideas are communicated between them.

For one example, let's look at Kanta, the quiet, shy, but extremely expressive little boy. Kanta is at that age when it's still "wrong" for boys to like girls, and he behaves exactly as would be expected of such an individual. He looks away when he first sees Mei and Satsuki, with a look that says "Oh no, girls!" Later, when he's sent to deliver a package to Ba-chan, he is forced into a conversation with Satsuki. Being shy, he can't seem to form a coherent sentence and simply hands her the bag and runs off, then with his boyhood pride at stake, he runs back and shouts, "Hey, that house is haunted!" as an explanation of his behavior. This kind of subtlety in his relationship with the other characters is continued throughout the film, but, at the same time he does grow more accustomed to their presence.

My favorite example, however, has got to be the big Totoro. At first glance, many of his expressions seem vacant and dull, or over-simplified, but this only seems so to those who are expecting more human-like expressions. Totoro's expressions are a perfect mix between human and animal expressions. It tells that the creature is possessed of human intelligence, but on a simpler scale. From his wide-eyed curiosity, to his big, goofy grin, Totoro expresses the whole range of human emotions with but the smallest change in facial gestures.

These same gestures fill in for all the words the creature never says and then some. In watching each scene with him, you can construct entire wordless conversations. Go ahead and give it a try; imagine for yourself what the creature would be saying if it had the words.

Another brilliant aspect fo the film is the settings. The first image that strikes you is a beautiful pastoral community. Rice feilds around a dusty, country road and in the background, mountains and forests. The location of this town is firmly established, by the little transiant moments that usually wouldn't think about. The long walks it takes to get to any given location, the several hour bike ride to get to the hospital, and many other moments give you a sense of location for a town that's as close to the middle of nowhere you can get without actually being there. Other small moments, such as when we're allowed to watch a toad walk across the street in the rain, or a snail crawl up a reed by the river, give you a sense of the general attitude of the setting; laid-back, easy-going, but determined.

And with it's hidden shrines expressing the many secrets the area holds (note the Kitsune statues hidden by the bus stop) the setting has a personality that makes all the more appealing.

The way that all the people come together when Mei gets lost toward the end of the film also gives the community of people a personallity. A hard-working, caring group that centers it's life around serving each other.

There's something invigorating about watching little children. Rold Dahl once said, "There's nothing more dangerous than the adult mind." While he meant it to mean that adults are not really very creative people, I think that the idea behind the quote still applies strongly to this movie. The adult mind is like a dark hallway full of closed doors. Years of exposure to meaningless social protocol has turned their world is a place of can'ts and won'ts. But children, anything is possible to them. An adult may look in a dark forest and see lions and tigers and bears (oh my!), but to a child, that forest may be full of friendly ghosts and creatures willing to help you with your problems. Little children are the most imaginative creatures on the earth and with this film, Miyazaki has perfectly captured the bright-eyed wonder of the young mind. He has also captured the energy, the fearless curiosity and the emotional power of children. To see Mei running around the yard, picking flowers and exploring is a scene so brimming with childish excitement, that you become infected by its energy and emotion. Mei's statement of "You're the flower shop, dad!" is simple, yet so profound in its own way that you can't help but smile.

Another thing that I've always loved about Miyazaki's work is the influence of classic literature. Miyazaki is clearly a literary-minded individual, something which is sadly uncommon in the film world today. It's clear that he not only reads, but enjoys classic novels from all over the world, from Guliver's Travels to The Princess who Loved Insects. The scene with Mei chasing the little white Totoro through the feild, then falling into it's den is evocative of a certain young girl chasing a white rabbit and falling through the rabbit hole into a place beyond imagination. There are so many sublte moments that evoke the power of classic literature that you feel like your reading a good book rather than watching a movie.

All of these elements combine in Totoro to make a statement of the utmost profoundness; sometimes, we need to let go of our foolish adult world and see the beauty of it through the eyes of a child. Christ's commandment to be as little children may not have been on the master's mind when he wrote this story, but it's nonetheless the perfect expression of the sentiment.

Thai's Deposed PM arrives London as a political refugee

I hope Thai military returns power to the people after having pulled down a corrupted Thai political leader as its military General promised.

Thailand is an interesting country. It is the only country in Asia has never been officially politically colonized by any foreign power in history.

Thai's coming investigations of the corruption in the ousted government reminds me Peru's ex-PM Alberto Fujimori who resigned during his visit in Japan after a bribery scandal.

Also, The Thai military coup reminds me the sarcastic pain of Myanmar that is ruled by a military regime despite the fact that the political party of The National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi won a decisively victory in the general election in 1990.

Relationship

Relationship is for us to learn interactively from others and to know ourselves more.

高尚的品德与坚韧的毅力

以其高尚的品德与坚韧的毅力赢得人生的胜利。

Musical Plays

The Producer: 5 October 2006
The Phantom of the Opera: 28 September 2006
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers: 27 September 2006
The Lion King: 9 August 2006
Evita: 8 June 2006
Les Miserable: 24 April 2006
Mamma Mia: 13 March 2006
The Woman in White: January 2006
Fame: November 2005
Saturday Night Fever: March 2005

Wisdom Tooth Extration

I had a wisdom tooth extration and followed with a visit to general clinics for skin allergy during summer.

I couldn't buy few tablets of the painkiller. Instead i had to purchase a whole box of 100 tablets. I don't like to take chemistry things into my body. I intended not to buy but the prescription of the doctor had been stamped by the pharmacy shop. If I didn't buy now, i had to go through the process of ringing for an appointment, paying a visit to the clinic and getting the presciption from a doctor again.

Decency

In the traditional Chinese literature, we were taught to hold a decent personality despite of either prosperity or difficulty.

That is the dictum i have been reminding myself especially recently.

On the other hand, leaving the job that i had been enjoying juggling in Japanese Embassy and coming to the U.K. without a steady ground was a hard decision. But it was the step of life i have chosen to make.

I was generously granted more than I anticipated and was fortunate to meet and make friends with kind and nice people.

The nature

What make life meaningful is love.

What make us at ease and rejuvenate is home.

Friends

It's good to have friends. We enjoy each other's accompany. We learn from each other's personality.

Mutual Consolation

A lady colleague whom I was actually not really closed to, but merely had the chance to say Hello with smile formerly, unexpectedly shared her family problem with me.

It was early of last week...

We met on the corridor again. She asked me gently: "How are you?" as usual.

I smiled and laughed: "Well, whether we are okay or not, we normally tend to response Good, Thank you."

Unexpectedly, she told me: "I am undergoing a divorce now. My husband who has been enjoying his bachelor life for the past few years finally asked for a divorce."

On the surface I remained calm after hearing the news. However, I was actually shocked because she looked alright all the time.

I didn't have chance to speak to her since then until this morning.

We met in the ladies. She shared with me that her daughter was upset because her father couldn't with her yesterday when it was Father's Day.

I told her that I had thought of making a Chinese or Japanese dinner for her and her daugther.

She was delightened. She said the news would help to cheer her lovely 14-year-old daughter up.
As her daughter likes Japanese food, I would be showing her daughter to make simple Japanese sushi with cucumber and carrots. I would be cooking a Japanese noodle for dinner also.

Umm, that is what I wish to do: To give consolation to those who are in need; To make the life more meaningful to live in.

Motivating, Coaching, Counselling & Mentoring

"Motivating, Coaching, Counselling & Mentoring: Strategic Tools for Effective Leadership"

It is a workshop run by my mother company. Will love to write an article over the importance of coaching.

*****
Introduction

We often hear record-breaking athletes say; I owe it to my coach; That’s because however talented they are, athletes need a coach to improve their performance and competitiveness. Likewise, Companies and Organisations need to create a culture where coaching and feedback occur as a routine part of each day. Towards this strategic end.

· This innovative and motivating course, explains a structured approach to coaching which is effective whether a manager is working with a new recruit or seeking improvement from an experienced player.
· Being less of a boss and more of a coach is fundamental to modern management.
· Urging people to do better won’t work unless they know how to do it better.
· Good coaching builds trust and collaborative climate between manager and team.
· The process involves breaking tasks down to their component parts, helping people to improve performance in each element and enabling them to pull these elements together to achieve the desired effect.

Who Should Attend
· This course is designed for managers, team leaders and professionals at all levels who want to become effective at coaching and motivating others.

Course Objectives
It is essential for effective leadership to understand that -
· Coaching and equipping, is one of the most important acts of leadership.
· Successful managers recognise that to get things done cost effectively they must ‘grow’ people to their full potential.
· Outstanding performance must be drawn from every member of the team.
· This requires clear direction, feedback and personal empowerment.

Training Methodology
The Course will be presented in a highly inter-active manner, with a very impactive computer presentation style.

Together with your fellow participants, you will bring a wide variety of experience and resources to the programme. The course facilitator’s role is to help you learn for yourself and to assist you as you make sense of new ideas and techniques that you can use at work. We learn things as we try them out, stepping out of the zones that we find comfortable. Joining in role-plays and having a go may feel awkward but is often the best way to find out how we are doing with our learning. You will have plenty of opportunity during the workshop to experiment and try out new skills and understanding. The course facilitator will give you some input and then help you to make sense of the models through some discussion and then practice. You’ll then decide actions to apply the learning to your workplace.

Organisational Impact
Organizations change only as much as individuals within them change. This workshop will offer clarity to each participant on how to consciously influence themselves and others so as to create productive behaviors that lead to optimal personal impact.

Personal Impact
Optimize your own and others in your organization personal productivity and personal enjoyment. Promote enhanced job productivity, job satisfaction and pride

Competencies Emphasised
Supporting organizational excellence
Supporting staff development
Creating a positive coaching environment
Using motivation to influence and inspire performance
Leading people and helping them excel via empowerment
Developing pro-active, self-managing employees


Delegates will Learn

Why coaching and motivation is so important.
What coaching is (a set of interpersonal skills) and what it isn’t
(telling others what to do). .
What 21st. Century Leadership requires.
How to set the scene and prepare for coaching.
How to be supportive and approachable.
when to give advice and when to be natural.
How to motivate yourself and other Staff.
How to coach top performers.
How to equip others with peak performance skills
What is required for Leadership empowerment.
How to develop pro-action plans.


Seminar Outline

Day 1

STRATEGIC EQUIPPING FOR LEADERSHIP

Changing Manager’s roles.
What is real Leadership?
How to equip Leaders for excellence.
The pursuit of excellence.
Developing key management competencies to create excellence.
12 Ways to develop your Staff potential and talent.
The Manager as a Change agent.
The need for peak performance.
Activators, Behaviours and consequences.
Benefits for the organization, manager and performer.


Day 2

THE MANAGER AS A COACH AND MENTOR

What is coaching?
Why is coaching so important?
Making the transition from Manager to Coach.
Qualities and attributes of a good Coach.
Develop the Coaching Model.
What does coaching achieve?
Deciding When and How to coach.
Select the appropriate coaching style.
Arranging a coaching session.
Use the “GROW” model.
Measuring and observing performance.
How to appraise a person’s performance.
The link with feedback motivation.


Day 3

THE COACHING / MOTIVATION PROCESS AND SKILLS

Influencing the readiness to change.
The importance of handling change
Gaining a persons commitment to change.
Raising their effectiveness through questioning.
Motivation as a lever.
Setting action orientated performance goals
End goals, performance goals and process goals.
Working your own goal setting strategy.
Developing efficient Time management.
Learn to prioritize your time.
The importance of essential Listening skills.
Developing the cycle for continuous improvement.


Day 4

PUTTING COACHING & COUNSELLING TO WORK

Understanding the performers agenda.
Coaching the subconscious mind.
Knowing what improvements to aim for.
Exploring barriers to progress.
Replacement principle.
Coaching the right performance attitude.
Making appropriate attitude adjustments.
Knowing what empowering improvement to aim for.
Leading by example.
Develop appreciation within and without.
The coach’s role as a facilitator.


Day 5

COACHING FOR DECISIVE ACTION


Adopting the approach, process and skills as a way of life.
Self coaching to fit your own aims and objectives – personal discipline.
Improving your ability to make decisions.
Ten steps to vital decision making.
Choosing Pro-Active leadership.
Understand the Circle of control.
How to be pro-active in your relationships.
How to apply Persistence Performance.
Using the learnt skills to apply at every level.
Ten essential qualities of a successful Corporate Executive.

止定靜安慮得

心安是處
坐觀紅塵

Friends come, friends go

I was shocked knowing that two female colleagues whom i am relatively fond of will be leaving for the State very soon.

A senior Venezuelan engineer will be leaving for Houston next Friday.

A Chinese Malaysian girl from Proposal Dept whom i met in the gym will be leaving for York in August as her husband has got a scholarship for his PhD studies.

Friends come, friends go, make new friends, remain in contact with some longtime friends...

Accommodation Hassle

A Saudi engineer is having difficulty to get a luxurious apartment with nice garden even with the budget allocation of 1500 Pounds a month as he only looks for three month rent. He has run out his time because his wife and his children will be coming next week. He said: "My wife will kill me if i still cannot get a good place when she comes!"

His Saudi colleague spoke to me and looked for help.

I shared with him about the hassle I have in my present shared house. I gave a one-month notice last 15th of May but the houseowner said the notice should be given on the 1st and therefore i must stay until end of June.

Well, i didn't like to argue and agreed to stay until end of June.

Two days ago, unexpectedly, the houseowner asked whether i can move out end of this month since he has got people saw my room (without my knowledge) and they are interested in moving in the 1st of June.

I said: Well, although it is short notice, i will find out whether i can do so and i will let him know the next day.

He said: Oh, it's ok, you can let me know the day after the next day.

I had appointments for room viewing arranged yesterday evening and got one although it is far from town centre, which is at the other end of Bus 17, indeed it would be a long distance for me to go to work by taking two buses. I paid a down payment of 25 pounds as I didn't have much cash with me.

I went home and told the houseowner that i have got a place and i could move out end of May as he asked.

AS EXPECTED, he said: No, those people are only interested but they have yet to give me confirmation by the day after the next day. If they don't want to come in 1st of June, you have to stay until end of June!

Well, I have made down payment to move into another place end of this month.

I could give a ring to the coming houseowner that I could not move in because of so and so.

However, although it was only merely 25 pounds to burn compared with the 200 pounds of deposit that will be most likely refused to be refunded by the present houseowner if he insisted me to stay until end of June, for me, a word is a word that I have given my words to the coming houseowner. Indeed, I am not one who breaks the promise on any cost and am certainly also not a self-centered one who chooses to suffer others for self survival.

The Saudi colleague offered me the extra room of his apartment until 23rd of June when his family come. I laughed and told him that his offer should come yesterday instead of today.

Actually, quite a number of my colleagues are senior engineers sent from their respective companies. Therefore, most of them stay in a two-bedroom apartment alone.

Meditation

I feel good after having practised meditation for a few sessions. It makes me stay in focused, steady and calm.

Meditation helps us to neutralize our energy. Negative and excessive energy flows out from our body. We will be back to our inner neutral tranquility.

Copy Writing

Copy writings from a company and I like it:

"Creative without being unrealistic
Professional without being dull
Fun without being frivolous
Knowledgeable without being know-it-alls
Focused without being blinkered"

ai, money!

I've been feeling unstable mainly over the accomodation that does not make me feel comfortable. First, the house-owner who also lives in the shared-house has been a pain. He is not only uncivilized but also money-oriented. Before I moved in, everything was okay. But not long later, restrictions have been imposed gradually. Indeed, all five tenants in the house share merely one shower room and one toilet. Imagine when you have urgent natural call to do, but others have been taking turn and occupying the only one.

What to do? I can't afford or do not want to pay double to rent an own place. Most places at the range of my budget allocation are nasty. After having seen a few places, one would realize that how people have used housing property to make MORE money.

That was once I arranged a room viewing and I was delighted to see it was a bungalow. I got shocked immediately when i stepped into the bungalow. The whole house was re-structured into many rooms and one could only pass by through spaceless corridors along the cheap wood walls of those rooms that look like prison cells! In the mind of the house-owner, that is only the concern of $$$ making, and not also the quality of life of those tenants.

You will be surprised to see such significant number of people live in poverty. The gap between the established rich and struggling folks is big. I call the U.K. a very much capatalist country.

The Peace of Mind

Anger, Jeaulousy, Pride, Thinking you are the best, Arrogance, Revenge, Greed, Lust, Lies produce negative energey and we will become sick in mind and body.

Be Generous, Caring, Forgiving, Understanding, Loving, Mediatate, Compassionate, and this will eliminate ego, then we will be genuinely happy from inside and be blessed wholly with the inner peace.

Work

It is human habit: Always not satisfied with one's present stage and desperates for something else.

When I was working for the Japanese Embassy in Malaysia, sometimes I got frustrated with the red tape of government operation and I wished to get a way out by being eager to go overseas.

Now, I am working abroad, but I have been missing my duties as well as my colleagues at the Japanese Embassy.

"Be gladful as long as you stay healthy and make use of what life has given to you!" ~ That's what I have learnt.