We’ve talked about maximizing your strengths on the previous post, now what do we do with your weaknesses?

We all have our bad times. Or perhaps some of us are already born with the certain disadvantages that put us a notch below the others. But actually, who is it that is there to determine what is normal or success? And how do we weight ourselves, is it from your heart, or is it from how others see you?

After watching this talk by Aimee Mullins on TEDs, I guess she gave us a very simple but powerful answer.

“It is not so much about overcoming adversity as it is opening ourselves to it, embracing it. Grappling with it. Maybe even dancing with it. Perhaps as we see adversity as something natural, consistent and useful, we’re less burdened by the presence of it. “

Dancing with adversity, making it your partner. Now that’s some new idea that we all can use.

Aimee Mullins: A Living Miracle

Image courtesy of Rams Sports Performance

Aimee Mullins was born without fibulae in both legs. In other words, she had to amputate both legs off when she was 1 year old, and theoretically she will have to live on a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

That’s what the doctors think.

And of course, as of all stories of all great people in this world, she did not buy that idea and made a miracle out of her adversity. She learned to walk using prosthetic legs by the age of two, and went on to do all what other “normal” kids will do — walk, swim, play, and run.

Oh yes, she can run really well. With her specially designed prosthetic legs she had set World Records on 100 meter, 200 meter and the long jump during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. No, she did not compete with the other “handicapped” group, she competed with the “normal” bunch who had meat on both sides of the legs, just like you and me.

Oh, instead you’re wondering why she looks so pretty and hot, she did model for Alexander McQueen back in the late 90s. Yep, she’s a model. A hot one at that.

And that is determination. And of course, she did what she preached in this video: to embrace your weaknesses and dance with it.

I am a huge fan of TEDTalks, and this video is another reason why you should watch them.

“The Opportunity Of Adversity”

Accepting And Embracing Your Weaknesses

Well, I’m sure not every one of you are patient enough to sit through the 22 minutes of the video. Let me just summarize the story for you here.

If you have a weakness, or at bad times, accept it to be part of you, embrace it and turn it into an opportunity to do great things.

A lot of us know that we have our own problems. It may be a physical, mental or spiritual problem. And a lot of us chose to just nod our heads at it, and decide to tuck them under the bed or the old dusty chest of the unknown in our hearts and hope we’ll never see them again.

Wrong.

Running away from your problems will not make them go away. They are still there, and they will be back to haunt you no matter how hard you try to hide them.

And if the problems won’t go away, why not just accept and embrace it, and make it a part of you to be proud of?

I personally have problems of my own too. I have been living with the pain of arthritis for the past 15 years, and still counting. I do admit that sometimes I will feel that I can’t achieve what many others can due to my own problems, mostly physically, but I know that I can excel in other parts of life if I work hard (and maybe smart) enough.

Aimee Mullins achieved what many has deemed “impossible” and became a living motivation for all of us. Now, I am passing on the motivation love to you. :)

Turning “Disable” To “Poss-able”

At the end of the video, Aimee shared her version of the word “Disable”, different from that from the dictionary:

Disable, (verb)
To crush a spirit, to withdraw hope, to deflate curiousity, to promote an inability to see beauty, to deprive of imagination. To make abject.

Ant. To make poss-able.

Someone with problems is not disabled until you crush their hope. And you are not disabled until you have lost hope.

The day you accepted yourself as a whole, the day you have gained so much more. Perhaps more than many others in this world will ever find, because everything about you, including your weaknesses and problems, are special to your own. Keep them.

I have always believed that simple words or quotes, by anyone on the net, shows the zeitgeist of our time.

No matter how funny, how sad, how philosophical, how boring, how exciting, how stupid, how smart these quotes might seem to be, they do mean a thing. It might seem to be meaningless at first glance, they might not mean a thing to you, but when you’re looking at it, closely, how many things are happening around us, all of us, each second, each minute?

“When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. =)” — Umay Es

“The man of wisdom is never of two minds; the man of benevolence never worries; the man of courage is never afraid –Confucius” — Alan Yip

Coconut monkeys found at Vietnam

“When people tell you “money doesn’t buy happiness”, that’s because they don’t have the money to buy the things that make them happy.” — AUGUST MAN Magazine

“Oh you have a ring! So you’re married?”
“Yes I am!”
“Do you have kids yet?”
“No not yet. Why?”
“That’s good. If you do you’ll have another ring. Suffering.” — Jacelyn Tan and her friend

“pink isn’t a real colour. it’s just a gay red.” — Niklas Yong

“In a 24-hour period of time, 4,100 people are diagnosed with diabetes, 23 amputations take place in people with diabetes, 120 enter end-stage kidney disease programs, and 5 people go blind. — CDC” — Noel

“Homelessness is an attitude, not a lifesyle.” — Becky Blanton, The Year I Was Homeless

“In music, it is not about hitting the spotlight but lasting over time. It is a good thing if you’re still here 15 years on and travelling the world and playing your music. It is a form of expression, and my way is to express music.” — DJ Mr Sam

“Do you know the difference between brown-nosing and ass-kissing? Depth perception.” — AUGUST MAN Magazine

I have always believed that simple words or quotes, by anyone on the net, shows the zeitgeist of our time.

No matter how funny, how sad, how philosophical, how boring, how exciting, how stupid, how smart these quotes might seem to be, they do mean a thing. It might seem to be meaningless at first glance, they might not mean a thing to you, but when you’re looking at it, closely, how many things are happening around us, all of us, each second, each minute?

“there are many variables to success – reactive, manipulatable and constant. You may not control all, but you control one variable: yourself.” — Aldric Tinker

“Ideal drivers – road etiquette = Malaysian drivers.” — KLue Magazine Oct ’09

“I shit also no time ah… have to shit while I sleep and eat while I shit.” — Edward Chong

“The point is that education doesn’t work by teaching you things, it actually works by giving you the impression that you had a very good education, which gives you insane sense of unwarranted self-confidence, which then makes you very very successful in later life. So welcome to Oxford, ladies and gentlemen.” — Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man

“Commercial is everywhere because when things grow? they need funds and you and me are not willing to pay for it.” — reptilezsweden, comment found on Rory Sutherland’s video

“i don waNT make up jor~~ the skin will looked older and we will stop producing collagen if the foundation keep on blogging the pores……because the skin cannot breathe….the only solution is to use …* SKIN FOOD BB CREAM*!!!!! wahahhaaha” — Ellie Low

“- These wounds won’t seems to heal, this pain is just too real, there’s just too much that time cannot erase. I’ve tried so hard to tell myself that you’re gone, but though you’re still with me, I’ve been alone all along -” — Desiree Wong

Attention to details?

“If you want to be successful. Know what you are doing. Love what you are doing, and believe in what you are doing.” – David Venter

I have always believed that simple words or quotes, by anyone on the net, shows the zeitgeist of our time.

No matter how funny, how sad, how philosophical, how boring, how exciting, how stupid, how smart these quotes might seem to be, they do mean a thing. It might seem to be meaningless at first glance, they might not mean a thing to you, but when you’re looking at it, closely, how many things are happening around us, all of us, each second, each minute?

I am here to share some of these quotes that I find interesting and come upon every day. Perhaps such, it will open your mind and have a different perception towards my world. Their world. Our world. :)

Net Quotes Of The Day - 13/10/2009

“It’s a sunny day shining upon the english countryside. And my train is delayed due to line problems. Been a while since i rode a virgin” — Ren Woofie

“Post Processing over 3000 pictures taken during the weekend. I love my work, I love being busy, I love photoshooting!” — Melvin Foong

“please appreciate your time~~~!!! manage your time well~~~!!! do what u want to do~~~!!! ok!!!???” — Kevin Chin

“I hope tat morning will hurry and come, appearing when i cant hide my weakness and cry out… It is only cuz when u are not here, its strange the nights are so lonely…” — Sam Shiro

“Formal shirt + Boardshort to a wedding: It’s like Bob Marley & Peter Tosh just peed on me from heaven. Jah, it’s skanking time!” — Freddy Tan

“Can someone take out de MONDAY from the calendar~!? superb hate MONDAY!” — Kenji Keong

“Well Amah, some people have the luxury of shopping all day while some are inspired to design when in the total comfort of pjs.” — Cynthia Lye, on wearing PJs in the afternoon

“(Mark Ooi) is hit hard by the Monday blues, like the fat drunken man who decided to cross the railway tracks at night and got his foot stuck while staring blankly at the blaring lights of the oncoming speeding train.” — Mark Ooi

If you see a good quote around the net and would like to share with everyone, don’t hesitate and send it to submit@caramelz.my. I will post them on the next update :D