Sharing Shan’s 3 gems to happy? Happy! was a joy!  For the first time ever, I will be speaking in China and sharing on Happiness Coaching and what it can do for you.  You will also find out what “Shanshine your sunshine!” means, and see and experience Coaching live in action!  Also, sign up for valuable packages at special prices just for you during this presentation.

I invite you to the third of my Specialty Speeches series in China. Details as follows:

• Title: Shanshine your sunshine!
• Venue: Zhongguancun Toastmasters, 4th Classroom, 20th Floor, Tower B, Tsinghua Science Park, Wudaokou, Haidian District, Beijing, China
• Date: 9 December 2008
• Time: 7-9pm

I look forward to seeing you there!

With love,
Pei Shan

I have friends and family, as well as many others, who are/may/will be hit smack in the face by the “R” word.  Recession.  Recession (2008) is defined as a period of reduced economic activity.

Belonging to the ilk of an optimist, it’s difficult to fatalise the reality of recession.  Yes, reduced economies do no good in our materialistic consumer society.  The bottomline of economies is money, and money makes the world go round.  Nevertheless, money is not everything, though it is important.  And yes, it is a startling reality.  However, there comes something interesting in how we define reality.  Notice again, how we define reality.  Reality is a mental construct in every person, and we push our constructs of reality onto others.  Think upon it.  How do we know for sure what another is thinking?

Is it the actions that show what the person is thinking, and if so, does it mean that thoughts influence our actions?  I like to refer to this as the chicken and egg dilemma.  The natural question to ask regarding this dilemma is “Which comes first?”.  I beg to differ, that the more important question to ask is, “Does it matter?“.

My answer is, no, it does not matter.  The reason being that what matters is the end result.  Whichever way you look at the chicken or the egg, it’s the consequences that matter.  Likewise, in a recessive period, looking at causes and pointing fingers at everything or anything is interesting.  However, interesting things do not solve the issues at hand.

What can be done?  Reconstruct our realities.  Think of possibilities, not impossibilities.  Hyatt’s (2008, November 11) 10 benefits of a recession gives recession a positive spin.  Treasure what we have.  In times of necessity, it is a great way to ascertain our needs and wants.  Think of creative ways to make you and your loved ones happy.  Happiness is for everyone, and does not discriminate between socio-economic class, ethnicities, cultures, times of growth or recession.

I love to see recessions as an excellent ground for testing resilience and tenacity.  When the going gets tough, the tough gets going.  Are you the one who gets going or gets tough?

The “R” word… So what?  You can choose to get tough, and choose to shine.

References

Hyatt, M. S. (2008, November 11). 10 benefits of a recession. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://www.michaelhyatt.com/fromwhereisit/2008/11/10-benefits-of.html

Recession. (2008). In Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. Retrieved November 21, 2008, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/recession

This is an excerpt from Left brain versus right brain? Shan’s take on logic and emotion.  Making decisions are making choices.  Choosing what we want, choosing what we need, choosing what we desire.  It is so wonderful!  We are intellectual humans gifted with choice!

Logic is governed by the left brain, and emotion, by the rightbrain (Damasio, Grabowski, Frank, Galaburda, & Damasio, 1994).  As both make up the entire human thinking, there is oftentimes conflicting interests - dilemmas, so to speak.

Logic and emotion play a pivotal role in decision-making.  I hear many people, and even myself, agonise over the many decisions we make in our lives.  How can we make the best decision?  What is the best?  How can we decide to decide?

Logic and emotion make great slaves, but not great masters.  This is my opinion on how we can make our best decisions.

There are three main categories of decisions, minor, intermediate and major.  These categories are based on the degree of time and how much the decisions impact our lives.  Minor decisions can range from a few minutes to a few days of impact.  Intermediate decisions range from a few days to a few months of impact, and major decisions range from a few months to a few years of impact, and even for your entire life.

For minor to intermediate decisions, both logic and emotion come into play.  However, when it comes to the crunch, logic is the over-riding factor.  For logical thinkers, this would be great for them.  For emotional thinkers, strict discipline is required on their part to enforce the logic breaking point.

Interestingly, for major decisions, such as what we want to do for the rest of our lives, our careers, the places we choose to live in, many people are torn between logic and emotion.  They are vexed to a greater degree, especially if they employ logic and emotion in making their minor and intermediate decisions.  If that is the case, how can we make the best major decision?

The best major decisions are made with emotion.

I reiterate, the best major decisions are made with emotion.

The reason?  We are gifted with two brains, left and right.  There is a reason for having left (logical) and right (emotional) brains.  Ponder on this.  If we were to be logical thinkers only, we would only be equipped with left brains.  On the other side, if we were to be emotional thinkers only, we would only be equipped with right brains.  The best part is, the two brains are divided into half, one on the left, one on the right.  This division suggests an equality of the two processes - logic and emotion.

The logic makes us intellectual, the emotion, makes us human.  Take away any of these two, we are not living anymore.  Making major decisions is living.  If we are living, and major decisions impact our lives in a big way, emotion is our helpful assistant.  Let us make our major decisions with emotion, and glorify our intellect with the human side of us.

Presented below is a summary of Logic or emotion.

Logic or emotion?

1. Minor

• Impact?  Few minutes to few days
• Breaking point? Logic

2. Intermediate

• Impact? a few days to a few months
• Breaking point? Logic

3. Major

• Impact? a few months to a few years of impact, entire life
• Breaking point? Emotion

References

Damasio, H ., Grabowski, T., Frank, R., Galaburda, A. M., & Damasio, A. R. (1994). The return of Phineas Gage: clues about the brain from the skull of a famous patient. Science, 264(5162), 1102-1105.

I like this.  Looking at the glass half full, and not half empty.  Obstacles are not obstacles.  They are opportunities, steps to lead us to where we want to be.

I was asking myself this question and discovered two things.

Motivate (n.d.) is to stimulate toward action and inspire (n.d.) is to influence or to arouse thoughts, feelings, etc.

A call to action is great.  However, without the intrinsic motivation, action loses its meaning.

How can we obtain intrinsic motivation?  It is through our emotions that are fired off from inspiration.  Consistent doses of inspiration will propel our motivation to higher planes.

Am I an inspirational speaker or a motivational speaker?  With this definition in mind, I can surmise that I am not only an inspirational speaker, but an inspirational motivational speaker.  Touching people’s hearts and lives with a conviction, that is a facet of the sunshine within me.  Motivating through inspiration, that is yet another facet of the sunshine in me.

References

Inspire. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Retrieved October 14, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/inspire

Motivate. (n.d.). Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved October 14, 2008, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/motivate

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine - Anthony J. D’Angelo

What sunshine is to flowers, smiles are to humanity. These are but trifles, to be sure; but scattered along life’s pathway, the good they do is inconceivable - Joseph Addison

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them and try to follow them - Louisa May Alcott

Following the sweet success of Shan’s surprise!, this is the second installment of my free Specialty Speeches series entitled Shan’s 3 gems to happy? Happy!

Are you happy?  Are you unhappy?  Do you want to know how to be happy and happier?  Be enthralled with a story for the search of Happiness, and discover 3 gems of wisdom within.  Give yourselves a treat and uplift your spirits!

I invite you to the second of my Specialty Speeches series in Singapore. Details as follows:

• Title: Shan’s 3 gems to happy? Happy!
• Venue: Yokogawa Toastmasters, Yokogawa, 5 Bedok South Road, Singapore
• Date: 8 October 2008
• Time: 12-2pm

I look forward to seeing you there!

With love,
Pei Shan

The story of Riiibbitt! Ed and Jason! was shared last month.  Due to some special circumstances, this special story was not publicised until now.  As a bonus, I will share the highlights of Riiibbitt! Ed and Jason! here.

Riiibbitt! Ed and Jason! is about two frogs living in Singapore.  Ed lives in East Coast Park, and Jason lives in Jurong.  The two frogs did some things in which I had the pleasure of enlisting Alex and Hijazi to demonstrate This led to the moral of this story, which is we all have our blind spots, and we need someone to point it out to us.  How can we do this?  We ASK!   I concluded with asking my attentive audience for their help in which they gave a STANDING OVATION!

The details were as follows:

• Title: Riiibbitt! Ed and Jason!
• Venue: Toastmasters International, District 80, Division 2, Area S1 Humourous Speech and Evaluation Contests, Cheng San Community Club, Singapore
• Date: 20 September 2008
• Time: 2-5pm

A very big thank you to my wonderful audience!

With love,
Pei Shan

Another Shanshine Smiler is Peggy, gracing the fort of Pin Si @ AMK Hub with her mega memory service!  I am impressed with Peggy’s great recall of my favourite dishes, drinks and pet peeves from the very first visit.  I remembered asking for a change of drinks as the first drink had a tiny speck of dirt.  With no questions asked, my drink was changed by one of the many wonderful waiters there.  With her observant service and friendly smiles, Peggy took the effort to ask whether the changed Almond Milk was to my liking.

I salute you, Peggy, Ms mega memory!