Your No Bill Of Rights - 'The Power Of No'

Chanced upon this really great book 'The Power of No' By James Altucher and Claudia Azula  Altucher, and decided to start drawing out all the really good sayings from each chapter and keep it in track here. If you are a person who have issue saying no to things that are bad for you just like me, this is a great book to go for. 

No is an incredibly painful, brave word to say. 

But we have the right to say no. Here are some that I felt I really needed to know out of the listed 10 in the book.  

1. You Have the Right to Healthy relationships and Real Love

' We are entitled to choose our tribes, regardless what society impose on us. We decide who in our life drains us of energy and then purge them so we can soar. '

Yes. Pretty much for me, to start surrounding myself with positive energy and saying no to people whom I know is draining me off my positiveness. 

2. You Have the Right to Choose What Stories you Believe in 

'Humans are great storytellers. There are thousands of common stories that are baked into our societal mythology and that we believe are real. Like owning a home, having a cushy jobs etc. 

You are entitled to say NO to the stories that do not serve your own evolution, and yes only to the ones that align with your ability to manifest a fulfilling life. This protects you from the seven billion people who want to keep you in line. '

Yes. End of the day, there will be many people around you giving you different advice in all the different situations you meet. But end of the day, we are all entitled to say no to the beliefs people try to build into us that we know deep down isn't what we will agree to. 

3. You have the Right to Be Honest, Above All, with Yourself 

' You are entitled to saying NO to wearing a mask in order to get people to like you. '

' You can trust the way you are is fine, that your honesty is what attract others to you, and that your truth is what lights your internal fire. ' 

Your honesty - Saying no to the lying - is what will bring the lost ships home. ' 

I live all this while thinking that my honesty is what killed me. Only for me to realise, it isn't me being honest that made me lose my job and the people around me. In fact, thanks to being honest, it helped me get away people who aren't good for my life to begin with. 

4. You Have the Right to Be Here Now

' You are entitled to say NO to time travelling. Angers and regrets are in the past. Anxieties and worries are in the future. Travelling to the past or the future will not help you now. 

You have the right to say no to what is not happening right now. It will never solve your future problems but will always sap your present strengths. '

Time travelling is what I am always good at. What will happen 5 years down the road if I get together with this guy? Why did I say that yesterday? What should I say to my colleague when I see him tomorrow about the incident? I never ever live in the present, I am constantly worried about what will happen tomorrow, and always regretting what I said and did the day before that seemed to make others unhappy yesterday. Then to be reminded what is done cannot be undone, worrying now don't solve tomorrow's issue. In fact, im losing moments that I can use to do more productive shits that can really make tomorrow better. 

5. You Have the Rights to Surrender 

' You are entitled to surrender even the ideas you have formed about yourself. This is the ultimate No: Saying NO to what you think you are. 

It means that you need to surrender to the road. You reach out and trust that a loving hand will grab hold of you and guide you to take that first step. 

There is nobody you need to impress. There is nobody who is judging you. And there will be nobody who can stop you. 

One step at a time, the journey will take where you need to go. '

 The paragraph that made me kept reading on. Totally what I needed. Stop planning for everything, stop being scared of taking the step forward, to ask for help, to allow people into my life to bring me where I should go. And most importantly, just go with the flow. And saying no to what I think I am or I should say, what I think I cannot be and believe that I am because I can. 

Swensens Ice Cream Buffet Review

So last Thursday, me and my mum had an impromptu dinner at Swensens Orchard Ion for an ice cream buffet since I had craving for ice cream since few days back. Since it is a weekday, the price was $19.90 per pax (exclusive 10% service charge and 7% GST) and would be $16.90 per pax if a meal is ordered. 

Update: Recent visit on early September 2016. Variations and settings are all still the same. Standard and variation of ice creams still great. Gelato station was down, not sure for the day only or permenant though. Maybe chocolate selection variety increased a bit. Still highly recommended till date :) 

FYI: To celebrate SG50, Swensens is giving out a $10 discount voucher for every $50 spent. No minimum amount required to use the discount voucher on next visit. 

Not wanting to go have ice cream on an empty stomach, we ordered one meal which was the grilled salmon and both me and my mum agrees that despite of the large crowd here, the food is really well done as compared to some other branches! 

Tender grilled salmon that was definitely not too dry! 

Moving on to our main target of the day, or actually is more of mine over my mum, is the ice cream! They really have a lot of choices and I failed to finish all which I aimed to (DUH). The service staff was fast and polite. Despite of the fact that she still needs to prepare the ala carte dessert orders, she was still very prompt to serve us which we thought was really nice! 

Like most reviews would have mentioned, they have this 'chop it up' section where the staff will help you mix the topping into your ice cream like marble slab does! Sad to say, you only get to choose from 8 flavours that they have listed on the small card for the mixing and not from all the rest that you can have. Still, having the ice cream neatly mixed with the nuts is really awesome! 

Toppings available is really a vast variety of choice! Its like a chocolate heaven for me with my favourite Kit Kat, Snickers, oreo mini and many more! They also have some fruit, cherries and whipped cream at the side of this chocolate topping which I failed to capture an image due to poor lighting condition (fine I was too eager to eat LOL). 

You can also expect to find some well-baked crispy waffles here that is constantly topped up and made fresh whenever the waffles in the plate runs low. Not forgetting some brownie, bread and cookies! 

They have both white and dark chocolate fondue here that is kept neat and flowing. 

Personally prefers white chocolate and it pretty much taste alike to the ones I had in Santa's igloo, milky and chocolaty . 

They have six choices of cakes available at the time of visit and we tried a bit of all. Sad to say, their cakes wasn't really soft and fluffy and I will say that is is below average so do take one to try first and not have too many, unless you find dry cakes nice. 

choices of cakes

Though this is not a Groupon review, I would still like to give it a rating with my standard rating scale as a reference point to all of your who may be new to Swensens Ice Cream buffet like me! I would say that it is a really nice place to go to have some ice cream but not a good place to stay in for a long chit chat as the manager will be 'judging' you for hoarding their seats when the queue gets long! 

Service: 5  / 5  

Environment: 4 / 5 

Food variation: 5 / 5 

Food quality: 5 / 5 

Accessibility: 4.5 / 5

就这样，慢慢的长大

时光飞逝，如昙花一现：日月如梭，似弹指之间。而我已经从人生的起跑线出发，在这短暂的时光中却也经历了不少风雨，也收获了相应的的人生感悟。我将这感悟视作一笔珍贵的“财富”。在这风雨中，我就这样长大了。

成长需要坚持。都说万事开头难，但我想，坚持最难。我是一个三分钟热度的人，但不会冲动。凡事都还是会做好周详的计划才行动，却往往耐不住到最后一刻。总会在遇到生意中的瓶颈时放弃或转移目标，开始一些别的新鲜事。渐渐的才明白，没有坚持就没有成长，因为只有坚持才能让自己有所突破，让自己有机会看到跟多的人，事，物。只有这样，才会成长，而不会永远的在原地踏步。

成长需要担当。岁月悠悠，波光明灭。如今，我们已不再是从前那个稚气未脱的孩童了，成长的我们需要承担的责任更多了，面对这些责任和压力，是退缩?是逃避？答案当然是不。正所谓“天下兴亡，匹夫有责”，何况我们是国家的未来，身上背负着巨大的责任，老师和家长都对我们给予厚望，我们能放弃吗？一个人的成长不可能永远遇见彩虹，难免会有风霜雨雪。但是，雨过天晴后的彩虹更加灿烂、耀眼。所以，我们要以永不言弃的精神在成长的道路上披荆斩棘，带着这份信念，创造出一片属于我们的天，那会是我们的梦。

成长还需要放弃。拿得起，要放得下。正如鱼和熊掌不能两者兼具一般，许多人往往很贪心，既要鱼，也要熊掌，结果往往什么都得不到。我们要想取得好成绩也是如此，我们必须收起那颗爱玩爱闹的心，专注与学业。放弃一些玩的时间，坚持学习。一个好的习惯养成只需要21天，只要我们持之以恒，就能成功。童年已逝，为了不让我们的青春留下遗憾，现在，我唯一我能做的是把握青春的美好时间，不让未来的我去后悔，去遗憾。

成长是一杯茶水，需要我们慢慢品，细细尝，才能品出其甜蜜，饮出其苦涩。在这甜与苦的萦绕下，我们就这样慢慢成长。

致， 2016的自己

2015 已成往事。 而往事只能回味。 

2015 年是一个又忙又很丰富的一年。

对不起，所有我没能抽空出来陪的朋友， 请知道你们还是很重要的， 

虽然我不常回简讯，但是请知道我并没有望了你们。

在2015 年里，很多重要的人都离开了我身边，

但我终于学会不去和身边的人计较一些鸡毛蒜皮的小事，

因为缘分这种东西是很微妙的， 断了就没了。

今天好端端最在你身旁的人，

明天可能就不在了。

你再想要跟他多吵几句，多陪他一点，

可能都没机会了。

与其和自己身边的人去计较， 还不如多付出一点， 

给自己和对方都留下一个更美好的回忆。

2016 年的开始并不顺心，也掉了不少泪。 

只希望自己能和去年一样， 用客观的角度看每一件事情。 

也希望自己能继续为别人的生命里多填一些色彩，

少填一些伤害。 

希望自己能比去年能够体恤他人，不论遇到什么，都能以积极的态度面对。

亲爱的自己，

不论2016年可能有多困难，请不要放弃。 

请感激所有伤害你的人，因为他们让你变坚强。

感恩所有爱你的人，因为要爱像你那么难搞，脾气差， 又男性化的你，

真的真的不容易。

请记得每个人都有自己的生存法则， 不要批评别人的生活/处事方式。

请尽量的了解别人背后的故事，有多一点怜悯之心。

请记得如果没有好话说，请不要说。也请不要吝啬与给予赞赏。 

请把多一点爱，多一点自己，献给身边又需要的人。 

但请记得， 

不要让伤害过你的人有多一次机会伤害你。

不要一味的索求别人的付出，让爱你的人，比你感受更多的爱。 

在你学习了解他人时，请也让自己身边多一些知足和懂得感恩的人，

因为只有把自己放在负有正能量的人身边，

你才会有源源不绝的正能量。

而若你决定把自己放在充满负能量的人身边，

请确保你有足够的正能量来感染对方， 而不是让他们把负能量转给你。 

你不可能满足每一个人， 

所以， 在把自己奉献给身边的人之前， 

学会爱自己，

把自己献给懂得欣赏你的人，懂得你价值的人。

这样才是真的爱自己，和爱你身边的人最好的方法。