คำพูดดี ๆ จากหนังสือหนึ่งเล่ม

ตอนบ่าย วันที่อากาศร้อน (โดยไม่มีสาเหตุ…รึเปล่า) กับหนังสือดี ๆ หนึ่งเล่ม  ไอเย็นจากแอร์ในรถแทบจะสู้ไอร้อนจากแสงแดดไม่ได้ คล้ายกับบางครั้งที่เราพยายามอย่างสุดแรงที่จะพูด ทำ หรือคิดอะไร แต่ก็ทำไม่สำเร็จอย่างใจหวัง เพราะเราต่อสู้ปัจจัยแวดล้อมไม่ได้ จนทำให้เรา (เกือบ) ล้มเลิกที่จะเดินหน้าต่อไป  หากเราอึดหน่อย เราก็อาจเดินหน้าต่อไปได้ แต่ถ้าเราไม่ฮึดต่อไป เส้นทางมันก็คงสุดอยู่แค่นั้น
หลักสำคัญคือ การยอมรับและการปรับวิธีคิด อย่างที่เขียนไว้ในหนังสือเล่มหนึ่งว่า…
“…สาเหตุที่แท้จริงของความเจ็บปวด ความโกรธ และความทุกข์ ไม่ได้อยู่ที่อีกฝ่ายหนึ่ง (ผู้อื่น) หรือจากสถานการณ์  แต่อยู่ที่วิธีการยอมรับและวิธีคิดของตัวเราเอง” (EQ Note โดยโยชิโนริ โนงุจิ)

Sweeten Up Your Life

I guess this is the Book Month or what.  Well, if you are looking for some sweet in your life, I recommend you to read any book of Nicholas Spark.  I am a big fan of his book since “The Notebook” was out in 1996.   After that the rest was history.  This year he has released his latest novel “The Lucky One”, which touches the subjects like fate and destiny, of those we are currently lacking in our society.
Last night I just finished reading it.  Even though it is not my most favorite book of his, I still find it very sweet and delighted.  I think it’s very rare that you can find anyone who is similar to Logan Thibault, the main character, these days; especially with a strong determination and faith.  Who would have travelled across country just to find the woman in the photograph that he found in the desert of Iraq, where he was on duty?  But then again, who am I to judge?  I guess this kind of story makes us feel like there is still some hope left in this crazy world.
	I guess the reason that I like his book so much is the timing and writing style.  When “The Notebook” was out on the first time, I picked it up merely because it’s #1 Best Seller on New York’s Times Chart.  I just really wanted to know whether this book was really worth all the appraisals and raving reviews.  And it did.  I recalled that I finished the last page while I was on my way to Chicago and felt numb and stunned by the powerful and meaningful love story portrayed in this book.
Love, a true love, can stand through time.  It’s been a long time since I felt so overwhelmed.   After that I have been waiting for his new book each year.  The second book was out in 1998, “Message in a Bottle”.
Well, what can I say?  I just loved it and it was my second favorite.  What I like the most about this book is the letters and all those beautiful words written in them.  During that period of time, email was not as popular and common as today.  The main communication between me, who lived in the States, and my families and friends, who lived in the other side of the globe, was letter.  And every time I did found letters in the mailbox, I felt very happy.  So no wonder why I like this book so much.
And here are the covers of all of his books so far.
Even though many of his books had been bought for movies, I still find them not as good as the books.  It has been about 12 years since I read his first book and now I still do.  I think that if you never read one, you may want to consider it when you go to a book store next time.  You might find your life is a bit sweeter than before.   I just can’t wait for his new book.
All images are from Google.

What room are you?

With the recent incident, there are many thoughts going back and forth in my head.  Good and bad.  Happy and sad.  Angry and let go.  As I have been saying that I am practicing my mind everyday in order to live my life as happy as it can be.  With that target in mind, I am considered myself a bit progress on this path.  I am not as temper as I used to be.  I can let go easier and quicker than before.

There is an analogy made by a respectful Buddhist monk saying that “Each one of us is like an empty room.”  Is it?  What do you think?  I have to say that it’s a good way to map your current emotion or feeling or state of being.  When you are giving it a thought, you are probably realized that it’s very true.  It’s up to you to decorate your “room”, isn’t it?  If you put a dining table into the room, it will be a dinning room.  If you put a bed into a room, then you will get a bedroom.  And so on.

It’s similar to your mind whether you want to be in whatever state.  When you put hate, you will be spiteful.  When you put laziness, you will be indolent.  When you put love, you will be happy.  When you put jealousy, you will turn to be a green-eyed monster.  When you put fear, you will be frightening.  And so on.

On the day of my incident, I put 50% upset and 50% ignorance, so I got half feeling of madness and unaffectedness.  Later, I felt ashame that I could not put 100% neutral into the situation and solved problem in another manner.  If that was the case then things might turn out a bit better.

Again, it’s better to know and accept the outcome.  Then I can learn from it.  “Practicing made perfect.”

So now, what kind of room are you?

Simple words, so deep

I am not so certain what gets into me lately but I find myself addicted to books or articles or comments or words of wisdom related to religion.  I guess they make me feel comfortable and relief.  Everyday I wonder why things happen in my life the way they are.  Many times they hit me like hell and I will be very upset, sad, and depressed.  Is it because of my karma?  I don’t know.  I don’t have any answer for you or even myself.  Nonetheless, I believe it’s partly karma.  For whatever reasons that bad things happen in my life, I will always try to find my own remedy.  There are two words that I take them seriously–Put down and Let go.  These two words are so simple yet profound words.

I accidentally found these two words in the column of a newspaper almost 3 months ago and since then they have been clung onto my head.  I intend to write about it for a while but my thoughts are not quite settled.  Along that period, I have been trying to practice those concepts whenever I can.  And I find that it is very difficult to do.  Despite that, I am still practicing, little by little.  I do not expect a great miracle result but at least I am aware that I feel much better and less stressful.

From my own experience, whenever I face some difficult circumstances, there are times that my emotion clouds over my rationalization.  Acts of emotion are the worse thing in resolving any issue you may encounter.  After learning those two words, I “put down” everything that gets into me; then “let go”.

To put down is easier than to let go in my opinion.  If you understand situations that you are facing, then you can put them down.  However, to let go of it (whatever your “it” may be) is the hardest part.  How to let it go?  Well, there is no bible for that.  I think it depends on how strong your mind is.  Many times, even though you understand everything that happens, you remain hold on to it.  That makes you sad and depress.

So, together with those words, I add one more into the equation–”changes“.  Things change!  That is the most truth of all truths.  If things change, why do I have to hold on to something that makes me feel down?  Then all problems are solved.  My thought is that there are problems in life and once I understand them (to be able to put them down) then I can think and see more clearly (to be able to let them go).  After that I can focus on problem solving more effectively.  Even though I can articulate about this, but still I am on my own learning curve.

The Fable of Firefly

On Friday night, past couple weeks ago, I watched a Thai movie; and in that movie, there was a song called นิทานหิ่งห้อย or Firefly’s Tale.  Listening to that song again stirring up my nostalgic feeling and flashing some good old memories into my head.  They were the time when I was in high school.  Once we were friends and had fun without worries.  Life was full of laugh, joy, and dream.  Now, I wondered where all of those elements had gone.

That song kept playing in my head for couple days and I had to let it out by writing about it.  A week later, I walked into 7-11 and waiting for my sandwich; on the book shelf there was “a-day” magazine with Prapas Chonsaranont on the cover.  I thought to myself, “What a coincidence!”.

Prapas Chonsaranont beautifully composed this song about 15-20 years ago (though I was not certain about it).  Numerous singers had done covered versions of the song; however I still loved the first original version sung by “ChaLiang“.  My friends and I were crazy about this band.  Another coincidence was that around this time last year, I went to see ChaLiang’s concert.  It was a kind of reunion concert because I went there with a group of good friends who were crazy about the band since we were young.

I still remembered the time when I first heard the song.  I thought it was full of hope, positive thinking, dream-liked feeling, and truth of life.  Here was the song.

นิทานหิ่งห้อย คำร้องและทำนองโดย ประภาส ชลศรานนท์

The Fable of Firefly Lyric & Music by Prapas Chonsaranont

เด็กน้อยได้ยินเรื่องราว กล่าวขานมานาน A little girl heard a tale once told.

ว่าหากใครได้จับหิ่งห้อย มาเก็บเอาไว้ใต้หมอน If you caught a firefly and kept it under a pillow.

นอนคืนนั้นจะฝันดี จะฝันเห็นดวงดาวมากมาย That night you would have a sweet dream; the dream fulled of stars.

ฝันเห็นเจ้าชายเจ้าหญิง ฝันแสนสวยงาม Dream of a Prince and a Princess.  What a beautiful dream!

เด็กน้อยนั่งตักคุณยายไต่ถามความจริง The girl sat on her grandmother’s lap and questioned.

ยายยิ้มกินหมากหนึ่งคำไม่ตอบอะไรส่ายหัว Her grandmother smiled, took a betel nut, did not answer, and shook her head.

ใจเด็กน้อยอยากเห็นจริง อยากเห็นดวงดาวมากมาย The girl desired for the answer.  She wanted to see stars.

อยากเห็นเจ้าชายเจ้าหญิง อยากฝันสวยงาม She longed to see a Prince and a Princess and would love to have a beautiful dream.

หิ่งห้อยนับร้อยนับพัน ส่องแสงระยิบระยับกัน สว่างไสวไปทั้งต้นลำพู Thousands of fireflies glowed with lights and brighten up Lampoo trees.

เด็กน้อยแอบออกมา ไล่คว้าแสงน้อยมาดู The little girl went out trying to catch a small twinkling light.

ใส่ไว้ในกล่องงามหรู ซ่อนไว้ใต้หมอน แล้วนอนคอยฝันดี Once got a firefly, she put it in a beautiful box and kept it under her pillow and waited to have a sweet dream.

ตื่นเช้าพอได้ลืมตา มองเห็นคุณยาย In the morning, when she woke up and saw her grandma.

มาแกล้งถามว่าเจอะอะไร สนุกแค่ไหนที่ฝัน She was asked if she saw anything.  Did she have a wonderful dream?

ใจเด็กน้อยจึงทบทวน ไม่ฝันเห็นอะไรมากมาย Silently she ran through her thoughts and realized that she did not dream much of anything.

รีบค้นเร็วไวใต้หมอนเปิดฝานั้นดู Then she quickly grabed the box under her pillow and opened it.

หิ่งห้อยในกล่องตอนนี้เหมือนหนอนตัวหนึ่ง Now, the firefly in the box was like a worm.

ไม่สวยดังซึ่งตอนอยู่ใต้ต้นลำพูส่องแสง It was not as beautiful as when it was shining under Lampoo trees.

ยายยิ้มแล้วสอนตาม จะมองเห็นความจริง Her grandma smiled and said that in order to see the truth;

อย่าขังความจริงที่เห็น อย่างขังความงาม You should not encaged the truth and should not imprison the beauty.

หิ่งห้อยนับร้อยนับพัน ส่องแสงระยิบระยับกัน สว่างไสวไปทั้งต้นลำพู Thousands of fireflies glowed with lights and brighten up Lampoo trees.

เด็กน้อยถือกล่องออกมา เปิดฝาแล้วแง้มมองดู The little girl took out the box, opened, and glanced over it.

หนอนน้อยในกล่องงามหรูก็เปล่งแสงสุกใสบินไปรวมกัน That little worm in the beautiful box then shone and flew out.

เด็กน้อยนอนหลับสบายอมยิ้มละไม The girl now slept tight with a knowingly smile.

ใต้หมอนไม่มีกล่องอะไร ไม่มีสิ่งใดถูกขัง There was nothing under her pillow.  There was nothing locked up.

นอนคืนนั้นจึงฝันดี ได้ฝันเห็นดวงดาวมากมาย That night, she had a sweet dream.  She saw plenty of stars in her dream.

ฝันเห็นเจ้าชาย เจ้าหญิง ฝันแสนสวยงาม She dreamt of a Prince and a Princess.  She had a beautiful dream.

I was intended to look for the Chaliang’s original version in Youtube but did not find one.  The most recent and complete one was posted here for you to enjoy watching.  Tonight, I hope that I would have a sweet dream.