Overcome Memory Decline

As you continue to age, don’t let your memory decline affect your quality living. Improving memory skills can maintain and sustain quality living.

Your mind holds the key to the wellness of your whole being. You are the sum of your thoughts, and your mind is the creator and interpreter of your thoughts. So, for quality living, improving memory skills to boost your mind power is important. To do that, you need to keep your brain active and in good shape. Improving memory skills can keep your brain in optimum conditions for quality living.

Improving memory skills means sharpening your awareness of and attention to your senses, such as sight, sound, smell, and touch. How your brain collects, stores, and processes information holds the key to a powerful memory. If you sharpen your senses, you also sharpen your brain power. Memory is no more than a learning skill, which has little to do with aging. As long as your cognitive skills are functional, improving memory can be achieved through acquiring memory skills.

1. Perform any activity that is out of the ordinary, that is, something that you normally do not do. For example, learning a new musical instrument not only demands reading music notes, concentration and mental focus, as well as coordination of hands and fingers, but also involves general sight, sound, and touch. Alternatively, you can do small tasks using your non-dominant hand, such as writing your name with your left hand, if you are right-handed. According to Professor C. Katz Lawrence of Duke University, performing several non-dominant-hand tasks in your everyday life will enable you to tap into a certain part of your brain you seldom use, as well as to force your brain to concentrate on doing something that you would normally breeze through. Genius Brain Power keeps your brain fit and enhances mind power for quality living..

2. Improving memory skills can be achieved through relaxation to remove undue stress and to rejuvenate brain cells for optimum performance. Deep Zen Meditation is the effortless way to recoup your mind power through total calm and peace of mind, which are the ingredients of quality living.

3. Aromatherapy activates your mind and harnesses its potentials through the scents of herbs, such as basil and rosemary. Research shows that inhaling these scents increases beta waves that heighten mind power through the awareness of the brain. For hundreds of years, healers from all over the world have applied aromatherapy to stimulate the nervous system to boost mind power or improve memory skills.

4. Improve your mind power with your green thumbs. Gardening is a good exercise for the brain: knowing the plant names and their growth characteristics, the soil conditions, and abstract spatial thinking, among others. Why don’t you start your own Organic Food Garden to enhance both your physical and brain health?

If you wish to increase your mind power through improving memory skills, you can. If there is a will, there is a way. Don’t let forgetfulness get you down as you get older! Your brain has over 100 trillion cells, and you use only five to ten percent of them. So, the more connections you can make between your brain cells through seeing, hearing, touching, and smelling, the better and more efficient your brain becomes in collecting, storing, and processing information. Aging cannot slow down the brain, but non-doing will. Always increase memory skills for quality living.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Wisdom and Longevity

Longevity has a lot to do with wisdom. If you wish to live longer, get Tao wisdom of the ancient sage Lao Tzu.

Tao wisdom is based on "Tao Te Ching," which is an ancient classic from China. The book was written thousands of years ago by Lao Tzu, a sage born with all white hair (a sign of wisdom). According to the legend, the great philosopher was forced to put down his profound wisdom in writing before he was permitted to leave China for Tibet. Reluctantly, Lao Tzu concisely and succinctly expressed his unique wisdom in eighty-one short chapters with only five thousand words all told. As a testament to the significance and timelessness of his profound wisdom, "Tao Te Ching" has been translated into many languages; as a matter of fact, this ancient classic has become one of the most translated works of world literature.

What has made Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" so popular and lasting?

First and foremost, the language is extremely simple and easy to read. His ideas are intriguing and thought-provoking, and capable of multiple interpretations. His wisdom is not only timeless but also universally applicable. Most importantly, it holds the key to longevity.

Despite the simplicity and conciseness of the language, many people find it difficult to understand Tao wisdom expressed in the short text; especially, it seems to have so many different interpretations of the text. Actually, understanding Tao wisdom is not that difficult; all it requires is an empty mind. In other words, we must first and foremost empty our minds of any pre-conceived thinking before we can fully and truly intuit its profound wisdom. Just be prepared to expect the unexpected.

Here is a summary of Tao wisdom in living a long life.

"Tao" means "the way" to wisdom -- or "the way" to achieving just about anything in life. As opposed to conventional wisdom, the wisdom of Tao is all-inclusive but very subjective. It is all-inclusive because it includes every aspect of life and living. But, at the same time, it is also very subjective. In other words, "the way" is unique to each individual -- something like "one man's meat is another man's poison." That is to say, each individual has to discover or look into the self to find out what "the way" may look like; unlike conventional wisdom that often provides a blueprint for many, if not for everybody. For this reason, wisdom cannot be acquired through knowledge, which is merely an accumulation of know-how from experts, let alone be taught or guided. Wisdom has to be self-intuited, self-assimilated, and self-internalized by an individual based on that individual's unique life experiences.

The key to intuiting the wisdom presented by Lao Tzu is abandoning or letting go of the ego-self.

Unlike conventional wisdom, which puts much emphasis on "self," such as "self-esteem" and "self-confidence," Tao suggests quite the opposite: the "non-attachment to self" because the "self" goes hand in hand with the "ego"-- together they create the "identity" of an individual. Once the "identify" is created, there comes the need to "preserve" or "protect" that "identity" due to the presence of the "ego" Thus, a host of other problems will subsequently follow.

Therefore, the first and the most important requirement is to have "no ego-self"-- which is, however, most difficult to attain, because we are taught to be proud of who and what we are.

With "no ego-self," you then have "no expectation" in life. To illustrate, if you have created an ego-self, such as "I am a doctor" or "I am a mother," then subconsciously you have to, or you are "expected" to, live up to that image or the ego-self that you have unconsciously created in your mind's eye.

With "no ego-self," you will not be too concerned with material things that often qualify or attach to the "identify" you have created for yourself. In other words, you will become "non judgmental"-- which is essentially not having to choose what you want and to reject what you do not want, or rather desiring what you think will enhance the ego-self, and avoiding what you think may damage your identity or image of the ego-self.

If you have "no expectation," you need not exert extra effort to meet your expectations. With less effort, you have more time to yourself, and so you can live in the present moment, which is the essence of Tao wisdom in living. In contemporary wisdom, we are expected to do more in order to get more of what we want; in the wisdom of Lao Tzu, you do "less" for more -- it is all about the spontaneity of things; you make nature work things for you, instead of working against the forces of nature.

To conclude, Tao wisdom in living is to have no ego-self so that you can live in the present. With no ego-self, there is no expectation; with no expectation, you become non-judgmental, which is accepting and embracing the desirable as well as the undesirable in life; being non-judgmental, you appreciate no overdoing; with no overdoing, you can live in the present and in harmony with nature. So, Tao recommends no ego-self to live a no-stress life with no worry, no expectation, no judgment, and no overdoing. This is the summary of Tao wisdom in living.

With wisdom in living, you have longevity.  

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Signs of Dementia

As we continue to age, we all become forgetful. Memory lapses are not uncommon, but it doesn't mean we all will have dementia.

The symptoms of dementia may be gradual, and sometimes even insidious. When signs of dementia begin to surface, some patients may try to "cover up" or even blatantly deny that there are problems; others may blame others. No matter what, ultimately, the early signs of dementia will become more serious and obvious, and they include the following:

(1) The person is uncharacteristically negative and suspicious. Sometimes it is difficult to tell if it is dementia or not, especially if that person is also suffering from anxiety or depression.

(2) The person is negligent of his or her personal care and grooming, such as not bathing or shampooing. Again, an individual with severe depression may also neglect his or her personal hygiene.

(3) The person has difficulty in conversation, such as repeating the same thing, or talking vaguely without any specifics.

(4) The person has lost his or her motor skills, such as displaying uncharacteristically illegible handwriting, or inability to type or use the computer.

(5) The person is unable to make a phone call, even if he or she remembers the phone number.

(6) The person eats improperly, such as eating only sweets when there is a proper meal.

(7) The person keeps the house badly cluttered and disorganized.

(8) The person shows poor judgment in spending. Again, an individual suffering from anxiety or other mental disorders, such as bipolar depression, may also demonstrate the same behavioral problems in over spending.

(9) Other more dangerous signs of dementia may include: consistently forgetting to turn off the stove; wandering around outside at night; acting inappropriately in response to "paranoid" suspicions, such as calling the police based on paranoia.

If a member of your family demonstrates some of these obvious signs of dementia, be more observant of the behavioral patterns or conditions to see if medical or professional help is needed.

Anyway, it is important to keep your brain healthy through diet and exercise. Your brain has billions of cells, and only a fraction of them are used. Despite the degeneration due to aging, you can still harness your brain power; use it or lose it. 

Stephen Lau
Copyright © by Stephen Lau

My New Blog: LIVING-LONGER WISDOM

My NEW BLOG on How to Live Longer

Get the WISDOM to live as if everything is a miracle: live a life of balance and harmony.in this chaotic world.

Click here to visit the blog.

Stephen Lau

Natural Healing - A Myth Or A Reality?

Is natural healing a myth or a reality? It’s all up to your mind to decide.

Natural healing is holistic healing. It is a process by which a person’s health is restored in the most natural way without the use of conventional medicine throughout the healing process. The human body is blessed with divine gifts in the form of natural resources that enable not only the enhancement of health but also the freedom from any type of illness.

Natural healing is effective because it uses the power of the mind through affirmation and visualization, meditation, the goodness of nature through natural herbs and healthful foods, and the energy of your body through hand massage, yoga, and acupuncture to bring about healing of the body, the mind, and the soul. In order to prevent any future relapse and to guarantee long-term cure, the healing has to be complete and wholesome. In addition, in natural healing, there is no need to take any form of chemicals or to undergo any invasive procedure, which may not only produce negative side effects but also interrupt with the natural healing process.

Natural healing has long proven to be a very good alternative to the traditional way of healing practiced by medical doctors. As a matter of fact, many natural healing clinics have sprung up across the United States. People are using natural healing techniques more than anything else mainly because they are highly effective with minimal or zero side effects, and they are less expensive than treatments of conventional medicine.

Be a natural healer of your own disease.

First of all, you must know the difference between healing and treatment: treatment originates from the outside, whereas healing comes from within; treatment aims at removing symptoms of disease, while healing tackles the source of disease.

Next, natural healing begins with the mind first. Your mind controls your body, and everything you do and think. Therefore, to heal, your mind must express the intention to heal, without which there is no cure or healing. Your intention to heal is then manifested in focus, which directs your mind towards the goal to heal. To reach that goal, you need resources; that is, you must empower yourself with knowledge so that you may know how to heal yourself. Knowledge is power: it may establish a connection to your true self, and thereby instrumental in allowing you to make the right health decisions and to live your life in a lifestyle in accordance with your higher purpose. Through the many facets of mind power, such as affirmation, visualization, and meditation, your mind begins its healing process. Healing begins with the mind, and mind healing is always mind over matter. Natural healing is always slow: it does not happen overnight. You need to set your goals, and make your commitment, which is your mental responsibility. Living is a challenge, and so is healing. During the healing process you may have to face different challenges before you can overcome the illness.

Natural healing is a miracle by itself. Bu you have to believe in it first, then empower your mind with knowledge to prepare your body for the natural healing process. With the help of your soul, you can initiate natural healing as if everything is a miracle. 

NATURAL HEALING WITH WHOLE FOODS

MY MYASTHENIA GRAVIS

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

The Law of Attraction

“Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.”  - Napoleon Hill

The wisdom is that an adversity may be a blessing in disguise. Worse, if one dwells on the adversity, one may attract more adversities.

The Law of Attraction is about energy attraction: positive energies attracting positive energies, and the same for negative energies. This revolutionary concept has been exponentially popularized by the film "The Secret" as well as by the bestseller book and other related publications across the Internet.

Is the Law of Attraction a myth of the mind or a reality in real life? Can the Law of Attraction really help your healing from rsdiseases and disorders?

Say, when an individual is diagnosed with cancer, that individual often becomes obsessed with anxiety about its treatment options as well as the prognosis of the disease. Obsession with cancer may internalize it into self-doubt and even fear. If an individual is preoccupied with the thought that breast cancer runs in the family, that individual may have predominant thoughts of cancer. Even "positive" thoughts, such as "I am not going to get breast cancer like my mother, my grandmother, or my sister" will only attract negative energy into that individual's life, because the mind only sees the word "cancer" and the "cancer fear" and nothing else. Just as a person buying a lottery ticket will not be attracting energy of abundance, because the mind is focusing on the lack rather than on the abundance, and thus attracting negative and not positive energy.

Once you have decided on what you want: a clean bill of health, you proceed to changing your thoughts and feelings. This may not happen right away, it may take time and effort to shift your thoughts, language, and emotions. Develop positive affirmations and self-suggestions to help you day in and day out. Keep the end in mind, that is, the core values in your life. Live everyday of your life in alignment with what you believe in Hold in your mind the ideal of the condition you wish to realize, the ideal reality you want to experience. The affirmation "I am whole and healthy .....I am loving and compassionate.....I am strong and powerful" holds the key to attaining natural health wisdom.

Abundance in natural health will not come to you out of the sky; neither will it drop into your lap. You must focus on the Law of Attraction and how you will bring this law to attract positive health energies. Make a powerful statement of intent to regain your natural health at all costs. Hold in mind the ideal condition you desire. Use a powerful affirmation and mental imagery to affirm it as an already existing fact until it is absorbed by your subconscious mind to give you the internal life energy.

Congratulations. You've Got Cancer: Learn how to use your mind to overcome the anxiety of a cancer diagnosis. Empower your mind to cope with cancer.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

                                       

No Fear No Anxiety

To be diagnosed with myasthenia gravis is devastating, creating anxiety and fear, especially if your doctor tells you there is no cure, only treatment of the disease symptoms.

The good news is that we were all born with a natural gift -- freedom from anxiety and fear, expectation and regret, ambition and disappointment. However, as we grow older, we knowingly or unknowingly abuse or misuse that natural gift.

This is how.

We begin to develop our sensations and become affected by them. We all have our five senses: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting; they then become our perceptions and sensations that are stored as memories in our subconscious minds. Over the long haul, these accumulative experiences form our beliefs and personalities, and make us who we are. In other words, these memories become our bondage and we no longer have that innate freedom.

It is difficult to regain that natural gift once we have relinquished it. To illustrate, if we experienced something unpleasant in the past, we might have anxiety and fear that it would happen again. On the other hand, if we experience something pleasant, we would expect it to happen again; our expectations begin to precondition our minds to do certain things that we think will enable us to fulfill that expectations; by doing so, we pick and choose; any wrong choice or decision may lead to regret. By the same token, disappointment may be the consequence of ambition. 

Develop the mindset of living in the present. Essentially, it means focusing on what is real in the now, rather than letting the mind shuffle between the past and the future. The past was gone and therefore unreal; the future is yet to come, and therefore also unreal. Only the present is real; it is a gift, and that is why it is called "present." If we live in the present, we appreciate what we have, and not what we are supposed to have; more importantly, we have no fear and worry of what might or might not come.

AsIf Everything Is A Miracle

This 125-page book is about how to live your life as if everything is a miracle, instead of as if nothing is a miracle. To do just that, you need wisdom to "rethink" your mind, which may not be telling you the whole truth about your thoughts and life experiences; you need wisdom to "renew" your body, which lives in a toxic physical environment; you need spiritual wisdom to "reconnect" your soul, which is the essence of your spirituality. Most importantly, you need wisdom to "realign" your whole being because the body, the mind, and the soul are all interconnected and interdependent on one another for your well-being to live your life as if everything is a miracle. Your mind is the roadmap and your soul is the compass; without them, your body is going nowhere, and you will live your life as if nothing is a miracle.

Without anxiety and fear, you will become a better, happier, and healthier you. With enlightenment, you will live a stress-free life. Learn how to overcome your stress by letting go your ego-self. No Ego No Stress!

AS IF EVERYTHING IS A MIRACLE

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Emotions and Happiness

Your mind is the generator of your emotions because it perceives, interprets, generalizes your thoughts, which then become your assumptions that affect how you act or react in the physical world. Your mind affects your body; as a matter of fact, there is a close connection between the body and the mind.     

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), human emotions are the major underlying causes of disease because Chinese physicians believe that certain body organs are related to emotional activities; for example, the heart is related to joy, the liver to anger, the spleen to obsessive thoughts, the lungs to anxiety, and the kidneys to fear. Therefore, excessive emotions disrupt the free flow of qi, the life-giving energy that flows through the body, and thus causing imbalance and disharmony that may lead to disease and disorder.   

In addition, human behaviors—often a byproduct of human emotions—affect the mind, just as emotions of the mind affect the body. According to a study at Ohio State University in 2003, physical behavior, such as enhanced body language of nodding in agreement or shaking head in disagreement, may significantly affect how we think without our knowing it. According to that study, even posture, such as sitting up straight, may be conducive to remembering positive memories or thinking positively, because posture changes the production of human hormones.   

The interconnection between the body and the mind is further evidenced by the indisputable notion that a healthy heart produces a healthy brain by pumping sufficient oxygen and nutrients to nourish the brain through its bloodstream.   

As If Everything Is A Miracle   

This 125-page book is about how to live your life as if everything is a miracle, instead of as if nothing is a miracle. To do just that, you need wisdom to "rethink" your mind, which may not be telling you the whole truth about your thoughts and life experiences; you need wisdom to "renew" your body, which lives in a toxic physical environment; you need spiritual wisdom to "reconnect" your soul, which is the essence of your spirituality. Most importantly, you need wisdom to "realign" your whole being because the body, the mind, and the soul are all interconnected and interdependent on one another for your well-being to live your life as if everything is a miracle. Your mind is the roadmap and your soul is the compass; without them, your body is going nowhere, and you will live your life as if nothing is a miracle.   

With enlightenment, you will become a better, happier, and healthier you. With enlightenment, you will live a stress-fee life. Learn how to overcome your stress by letting go your ego-self. No Ego No Stress!  

Stephen Lau 

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

What Are the Causes of Depression?

Despair and despondency

Feeling trapped in a dire situation or circumstance with no foreseeable exit only distresses the mind. It could be any situation or circumstance, such as getting an unwanted pregnancy, having several children early in a marriage saddled with many financial burdens but with no vocational skill, being stuck in a bad love relationship with no way out, and many other despairing and despondent situations.

Adversity and loss

Adversity and loss are inevitable in life. Adversity may come in many different forms, such as accidents, injuries, and diseases; while loss can be physical loss, such as loss of mobility, material loss, such as loss of a home due to foreclosure, mental loss, such as loss of memory, spousal loss, such as separation or bereavement, and spiritual loss, such as loss of life purpose and meaningful existence in life.

Inactivity and lack of goals

An inactive individual is more vulnerable to depression, because that individual spends most of his or her time drifting about and doing nothing in particular. By the same token, an individual lacking life goals ceases to struggle in life—that may explain why depression is more frequent among the senior and the elderly. Man is basically a goal-seeking creature. Therefore, after reaching one goal, an individual should set another higher goal in order to avoid the feeling of being letdown after the achievement of the goal, and thus setting off a depression.

The bottom line: never stay in a mental vacuum; always keep yourself mentally and physically busy and engaged, with something to look forward to. Remember, happy people always have strong goals, which have little to do with money, according to Earl Nightingale, an American author and motivational speaker.

Regret and self-pity

A depressed individual often looks back at the past with anger and bitterness, accompanied by regret and self-pity. "What if" and "I wish it were" are always on the mind of that depressed individual, wishing things were different. Regret and self-pity always go hand in hand with that depressed individual.

Biological malfunction and chemical imbalance

Of course, with the advancement of modern medicine, medical authorities have now attributed many cases of depression to biological malfunction, such as an abnormal thyroid, or imbalance of certain brain chemicals. However, it should be pointed out that it is difficult to determine whether it is the thinking mind or the chemical imbalance that actually causes the biological malfunctioning. The explanation is that an individual's own negative or self-destructive thinking patterns may also ultimately lead to the chemical and hormonal imbalance in that individual.

Therefore, we should always look at the whole picture, and not just a part of it; after all, depression is a complex and complicated disease of the mind, and we are also living in a world of depression.

MY WAY! NO WAY! TAO IS THE WAY!

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

An Empty Mind

The TAO is the wisdom of the ancient Chinese sage Lao Tzu. True wisdom is absolute truth that can withstand time; what was true in the past is also true today. To fathom the TAO, you must begin with your own mind, which controls your thinking process and hence creating your own thoughts of thinking.

The TAO begins with having an empty mind, which is more than just “thinking out of the box”: it is also reverse thinking to create your own box of thinking. An empty mindset originated from Lao Tzu:

“An empty mind with no craving and no expectation helps us let go.

Being in the world and not of the world, we attain heavenly grace.

With heavenly grace, we become pure and selfless.

And everything settles into its own perfect place.”

(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 3) 

Without an empty mind, an individual may think that he or she is already knowledgeable, and therefore lacks the desire to seek more knowledge by asking more questions, and thus ending up being less knowledgeable.

Reverse thinking is turning your mind around: instead of accepting or following what your mind says, you think in the opposite direction by asking self-probing questions of how and why your mind has come to give you that thought of thinking in the first place.

Simplicity is the first step toward detachment, which holds the key to unlocking the door to an empty mind with reverse thinking. Live a simple lifestyle, deleting all the trimmings of life and living that may block and obstruct your thinking mind. Letting go of everything that you may erroneously believe are important to you in your life is reverse thinking.

“Simplicity is clarity.

It is a blessing to learn from those

with humble simplicity.

Those with an empty mind

will learn how to find the Way.

The Way reveals the secrets of the universe:

the mysteries of the realm of creation;

the manifestations of all things created.

The essence of the Way is to show us

how to live in fullness and return to our origin.”

(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 65)

 THE TAO OF LIVING FOR LIFE

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Always Be Grateful

Reconnect your soul or spirit to gratitude. If you are grateful to the Creator for what you have, you may look at the behavior of another individual with more tolerance, or even with a totally different perspective.

Blessings in life, such as the gift of life, are generally overlooked or even taken for granted. For example, if someone takes advantage of you, do not become angry immediately; instead, be grateful that you are the victim instead of being the person who victimizes others.

Gratitude enables you to develop the mindset for a positive outlook toward your soul. Smile more often. Keep complaints about people, things, and life in general only to yourself—unless voicing them will help bring about positive changes in others or in society.

Gratitude helps you see the good in others, letting you give them the benefit of the doubt. Try to remember that all people are created in the image of God. Focus on the individual as a person, rather than on the behavior or belief of that individual, which may not be appealing or pleasing to you.

Always be grateful that you have been given the opportunity to become either a teacher or a student in whatever circumstance you may find yourself in, and turn it into a miracle of life.

An illustration

At the end of 2007, John Kralik, an attorney who owned a law firm, experienced debts and disasters in both his life and career.

One day, after a walk in the mountains, Kralik became enlightened: as his 2008 New Year’s resolution, he decided to write a thank-you note a day for the rest of the year to everyone he knew.

Kralik’s  2008 “gratitude project”  had changed  his life completely. Instead of his feeling of discontent regarding his lack, and his envy of those who had what he did not have, he had learned to be grateful for his law firm, his practice, his friends, and his family, despite the many disasters and drawbacks he had previously experienced. Kralik’s gratitude began to change every aspect of his life. His relationships with his family, his friends, and his staff improved significantly; his law firm avoided bankruptcy, and turned around completely.

Gratitude is something that you get more only by giving it away more. Expression of gratitude generates happiness that overcomes the unhappy feelings of lack.

Are you grateful for what you have, and not getting what you rightly deserve? Even being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis may be a life lesson for you -- you can always learn something from your disease.

THE TAO OF LIVING FOR LIFE

AS IF EVERYTHING IS A MIRACLE

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Can Money Make You Happy?

Tao Wisdom and Money

Money does not bring happiness.  

As an illustration, Barbara Woolworth Hutton was one of the wealthiest women in the world. She endured a childhood marked by the early loss of her mother at age five and the neglect of her father, setting the stage for a life of difficulty forming relationships. Married and divorced seven times, she acquired grand foreign titles but was maliciously treated and often exploited by several of her husbands. While publicly she was much envied for her possessions, her beauty and her apparent life of leisure, privately she remained deeply insecure, often taking refuge in drink, drugs, and playboys.

Her son died in a plane crash in 1972, at the age of 36, leaving her devastated. Dying of a heart attack at age 66, at her death, the formerly wealthy Hutton was on the verge of bankruptcy as a result of exploitation, as well as her compulsive generosity and spendthrift ways.

What does TAO wisdom say about money?

According to TAO, money is neither positive nor negative; it is all in the human mind.

But how you make your money and how you spend your money may turn money into something either positive or negative.

To increase your wealth in a positive way, focus on doing what needs to be done, and no more. On the other hand, the more you do to make money, the less focused you become, and the greater are your expectations of the outcome. That may ultimately create not only undue stress but also internal disharmony in your life, turning money into something negative.

Increasing your wealth, however, does not necessarily mean spending your money proportionately. That is to say, an individual making more money does not have to buy a much bigger house than what that individual actually needs. To illustrate, Warren Buffet, the billionaire, has set an excellent example: he is still living in his $31,500 home he bought some decades ago.

Another classic example is Ann Russell Miller, a celebrated socialite from San Francisco, also known as Sister Mary Joseph, She, who had ten children and nineteen grandchildren, had grown up in luxury and privilege, and had been living a life of incredible wealth. Instead of shopping at Saks Fifth Avenue she used to do for decades—she suddenly decided to give up everything, and became a nun devoted to living in poverty for the rest of her life. That unbelievable event happened more than two decades ago: one day she held a celebrity party in which she announced her incredible decision, and her announcement was widely reported in the media across the United States. Why did she make such an incredible decision to drastically change her lifestyle? She said she her had a calling, a true vocation that was hard to understand for the general public, and even for the close members of her family.

Excessively increasing one’s wants often leads to unduly inflating one’s ego as well, and thus creating many negative attachments that are often packed in one’s own bag and baggage.

NO EGO NO STRESS

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Mind Wellness Wisdom

The mind plays a pivotal role in wellness wisdom of the body, the mind, and the soul; as a matter of fact, it balances and connects the body and soul. To enhance you mind wellness wisdom, you need a reverse mindset.

What is reverse mindset? And why is it essential to human wisdom?

Lao Tzu, the author of Tao Te Ching, an ancient Chinese classic on human wisdom, advocated reverse mindset for human wisdom. His wisdom was profound, and his Tao Te Ching has become one of the most translated and extensively read books in world literature.

Descartes, the great philosopher, once said: "I think, therefore I am." Indeed, human wisdom comes from the mind—that is, how we think, because our thoughts determine who we are and what we do. Wisdom has to do with mental perceptions of what we experience, as well as with our interpretations of those perceptions.

But our thoughts may deceive us; that is, they may mislead us and do not tell us the absolute truths. Therefore, true human wisdom is the capability to separate the truths from the half-truths or the myths. To see through the deception or illusion created by our minds, we need wisdom or clarity of mind. According to Lao Tzu:

"We need a still and composed mind

to see things with greater clarity.

Because trouble begins in the mind."

Lance Armstrong, the dishonored athlete, is a classic example of having the wrong mindset of success is due to effort. Armstrong , as an aspiring athlete, created an ego-self that craved for satisfaction. To meet his own expectations as well as those of others, including his coach, he manipulated the doping program in order to excel and surpass others. He got what he wanted through "over-doing" but with an ultimate price -- losing everything, including what he thought he had gained. Armstrong's mindset is a conventional one for success: "over-doing" or "do more and get more" Mind wellness wisdom is to reverse that mindset.

The unconventional wisdom, according to Lao Tzu, is to have no separate-self. With no ego, you have no expectations; you do what you need to do, without undue efforts, you live in the present, enjoying every moment of it while you wait patiently for things to turn out naturally or the way they are supposed to. Without over-doing, everything will settle into its perfect place. That is the wisdom of "under-doing" -- or mind wellness wisdom mindset.

For more information, visit my website: Wisdom in Living.

THE TAO OF LIVING FOR LIFE

Stephen Lau 

Copyright© by Stephen Lau

Improve Your Memory

If you think you cannot remember dates of appointments, special events and occasions, such as birthdays, where you have put your keys, the names of people you have just been introduced to, you may think you have a bad memory, or, worse, the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In truth, you may "think" you have a bad memory; it is just your mental perception. Epictetus, the famous Greek philosopher once said: "People are disturbed not by things, but by the view which they take of them." In other words, it is just your perception of your bad memory that is bothering you.

Why do you hold this belief? It is because you are comparing the conditions of your present memory with those in the past. Has your memory really gone from bad to worse? Can it be just your subjective perception rather than a factual or scientific validation of your memory decline? More importantly, you have added more years to your life, and therefore you have more data stored in your memory, and that may explain some of your problems in retrieving the extra information stored.

Believing you have bad memory will not help your memory loss. Quite the contrary, such a belief may only add insult to injury by creating undue stress that inhibits good memory.

The process of your memory involves encoding, which is turning information you wish to remember into some sort of a code to be stored in your brain for future retrieval, Bad memory is your inability to retrieve at will the information stored in your brain. Your inability to retrieve the information is often due to your anxiety. In other words, the more you are anxious about your bad memory, the more difficult it is for you to retrieve the desired information.

The bottom line: don't even think you have a bad memory; relax your mind through diaphragm breathing and meditation to increase your mind power; most importantly, learn the techniques to improve your memory.

UNLIMITED MEMORY

Stephen Lau 

Copyright© by Stephen Lau