Sakinah Abdul Aziz

I was told by numerous colleagues to "enjoy this honeymoon period" and I decided that I should make the best out of the free time that I have now. The last time I stayed in the office just about 30 minutes more than my supposedly knock-off time, I was shoo-ed away by my colleagues. Fancy being kicked out somewhat because I have "lots of opportunities in the future to stay back". So since I'm under probation (if you know what my job is, you'd find this pretty pun-y and funny really), I find myself having lots of energy and so I thought of channeling this excess energy into constructive things rather than just bumming and sleeping all the time. And so I decided to run. I used to jog pretty regularly before I entered uni. I run whenever I feel stressed, I run whenever I feel sad, I run whenever I feel ok, I run whenever I feel triumphant, I run because it was part of my CCA, I run as an excuse to go outside and see the world in a flash, I run to clear my mind...

I felt very inspired a few nights ago after I met up with a very close friend who had shared a great deal about her life journey. Her life journey, although cannot be identical to my own, somehow resonates with me. And to see how this person grows after having experienced from one ordeal to another, and now has attained so much joy and peace, only confirm my outlook in life. There will be times when we will be afflicted with trials and tribulations, and that the world may seem bleak, but only through these times, we can actually find strength. Although intuitively, we all know how it really feels when life sucks. We feel we are plummeting into this deep, dark, black hole and everything else will be a downward spiral just when we think that that is the end of it all. The most re-assuring thing is, there is no other way to go because that's the bottomest kiddo. We can only head towards that one direction, and that is to keep going up. And the next re-assuring thing is, only through...

I've been currently reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I must say that it's the kind of book one should read in bites and pieces, and every now and then do some self-reflections and put some thought into what's been read. It's really the kind of book you can leave on the shelf and after a week of leaving it to collect dust, you can still pick up the book and read from where you left of. It's been insightful so far and there are always ways to go from "being ok" to being contented. And most of the things are really the simplest things which are actually within our control. Feel like sharing Gretchen's 12 Commandments: 1) Be yourself (in this case for me, Be Sakinah). 2) Let it go. 3) Act the way I want to feel. 4) Do it now. 5) Be polite and fair. 6) Enjoy the process. 7) Spend out. 8) Identify the problem. 9) Lighten up. 10) Do what ought to be done. 11) No calculation. 12) There is only love.

" He had one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced, or seemed to face, the whole external world for an instant and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself. " -The Great Gatsby This is the smile I'd like to genuinely wear in front of my loved ones. This is the smile I'd like to bring to work. And this is the smile I'd like to see when I look at myself in the mirror, each time I feel that life is about to fall apart.

Prolly one of her best.

Was looking through the old blog, all the way back in 2008 and I came across a list of things I'd like to accomplish. I must admit how naive and silly I was OMG! Can't help stifling giggles, especially number 6 HAHAHAHAHAHA. Here's some sneak peek, hmm but not a sneak peak really. Lists of things I wanna accomplish before I die: (not in any particular order) 1) Get my bachelor's degree (and honours too hopefully) 2) Get Masters 3) Learn French (on the way on the way!), Spanish, Latin, Mandarin and Korean. 4) See a kickass concert (and I wanna do crowd surfing) 5) Own an entire collection of my favourite movies and music! 6) Be kissed in the rain (or rather have my first special kiss) 7) Skinny-dip 8) Climb a mountain (beginning with the highest mountain in Asia) 9) Be passionately and deeply in love  10) Get married to the soulmate 11) Own a home of my own with the beautiful kids  12) If I stay in Singapore I'd wanna stay in the West...

One of those days when I feel like looking up the excerpts and quotes from The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger: “We are walking down the street holding hands. There is a playground at the end of the block, and I run to the swings and I climb on and Henry takes the one next to me facing the opposite direction. And we swing higher and higher passing each other, sometimes in sync and sometimes streaming past each other so fast that it seems we are going to collide. And we laugh and laugh, and nothing can ever be sad, no one can be lost or dead or far away. Right now we are here and nothing can mar our perfection or steal the joy of this perfect moment.”  “Long ago, men went to sea, and women waited for them, standing on the edge of the water, scanning the horizon for the tiny ship. Now I wait for Henry. He vanishes unwillingly, without warning. I wait for him. Each moment that I wait feels like a year, an eternity. Each moment is as slow and transparent as g...