l’art de la simplicite

L'Art de la Simplicite (the English Edition): How to Live More with LessL’Art de la Simplicite (the English Edition): How to Live More with Less by Dominique Loreau
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It felt like a nerverending session of advises. although i do appreciate some of them. mostly on how to live simply with less materials and quality over quantity, which i agree. we can really live simply with the tips she provided. give my own personal strive to live simply some mental projection practice, that it is possible to be happy within simple means.

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there are words to live by. which i hope i can put in here some other times. i didnt know why i purchased this book in the first place. like why this title and author instead of marie kondo (for one, i thought marie kondo is overrated and too mainstream already, here is one author i have never heard of).

i thought it was going to be a drag reading this if it’s all about keeping and living within simple means. it did feel like that, as i mentioned, a neverending session of advises. but it doesnt just talks about throwing stuffs, organizing your closet and zen living.

it did mention about respecting your physical, mental and spiritual needs and i appreciated that. about allowing your self to take a break and have the willpower to listen to what you need and take charge of ourselves. we all need time to be alone, in contemplation and centre ourselves back. i like she uses visualizing a lot.

here’s an exercise i dont mind trying.

visualise where and how you will be….how you’ll live the rest of your life…what would you like people to remember about you.

i like the idea of having rituals, like morning rituals or evening rituals. and for me, i never thought about it this way, but i have been having morning rituals of Subuh, Ma’thurat, Qur’an reading. and i think it has helped in my wellbeing.

overvall not a book i will re-read many times but it is a good manual to just look back at times when you just need a little bit of inspiration to go through this life.

of Kechik & down time

i have to thank my little companion for this downtime i am having.

we sent our little one for sterilization, and being the three busy working adults at home, one of us has to stay and care for her for the next few days. i volunteered. she is my little one after all. i will take that responsibility with much eagerness and a reason to stay out of work. a reason i yearned for the longest time, since, well, first Jan. exaggerate much.

but really, january had been such a challenging month. i had headaches almost daily after work. i worked 6 days a week for, oh yeah, the whole of January. i don’t think we all had a good start this month. not me anyway.

so thank you little one for giving me this reason to lay down and be quiet. for the busy mind to loosen some knots and just, be quiet. for these shoulder pains ive been having to feel less strain. you know how they say, you need to take care of yourself first before taking care of others. it’s true right, we rarely do that. i think i owe myself this a lot.

anyway, taking care of this little one, feels just like taking care of a child, except there’s no cries and diapers to take care of, haha.

we sent her to the vet on monday morning at 10am, without food since 10pm on sunday, she’s a bit playful biting my toes in the morning, trying to tell me im hungry mommy feed me. but i cant baby. (haha, crazy mommycat convos in the head). but we played along, played some hide and seek to distract her, let her sit by the gate listening to the neighbourhood noises outside and waiting for some birds to fly by, she get excited by those, little nose and ears twitching. she’s happy both mommy and daddy is home to play with her on a monday.

prepped her with lots of small talks since last week though. so when we put her in her bag, she kinda seem nervous but still fine, because hey, we’re on for a short road trip.

in the car, as always, she wanted to be out of the bag and move around in the car. i let her out she’s excited looking out the window. but she knows she’s in for trouble.

reached the clinic, let her roam around a bit and she is obviously nervous. running to find some place to hide and hear this, actually mewing! she even went inside her bag willingly, because i think that is her security spot at this unfamiliar place. she settled under my chair but when a couple came in with their cat, she quickly hid behind her bag which was on the chair beside me. we comforted her, stroked her and she kept quiet waiting patiently for her ‘fluffy’ name to be called in.

finally, the moment came, brought her in and she was purring nervously. my heart breaks seeing her nervous like that. both me and hubby were reluctant to leave when the vet says, ‘ok you can go now, we will take care of her.’ But we were like ‘are you sure? do you need help putting her in the bag? do you need us to calm her down?’ haha. as if, the docs needed help?!

gave her a hug and some kisses. she gave us this ‘mommy/daddy don’t leave me’ kind of look, and trying to wriggle out of the nurse’s embrace. oh gosh. i finally know what it meant by searation anxiety, i think. haha. coz my heart was beating nervously as we walked out of the clinic. but bearing in the comfort that the experts will take care of our little one. my heart really breaks. so it was only 5.30pm onwards are we allowed to fetch her.

so after, 6 months of having the little one always home to be taken care of, i can say, i had a rare monday of what it used to be. i could do anything i want, free of responsibility. but it felt different. i was like…oh no, no Kechik around to play with. no Kechik to feed or sleep with…and then i’ll be like, come on Seri, like few more hours, jangan mengada. haha.. (but apparently i had to go back to work for a short urgent meeting, so there goes my ‘free’ monday)

it was a relief when the clinic called to inform that the surgery is done and Kechik is fine and she’s awake. i was like…awww my baby is ok and awake. and what do you mean she’s awake? she’s not sleeping? the kind nurse replied, yup she’s awake after the surgery. but come after 5.30pm to fetch her.

6pm and we’re on our way. the nurse told us again she’s fine and good to go. she’s been awake and just sitting down staring looking at the people around. now that i think about, i think she’s been awake, probably a bit stoned and unaware of the situation, but probably just sulking and waiting for mommy and daddy.

i think she’s just anxiously waiting for us to fetch her.

in the car, immediately she wanted to be out of the bag. i thought she would look drowsy or something, but she did look pretty awake and aware. let her out again, she smelled around and decided this is the car she knows and then slept on the seat. only then we can see she’s still pretty much weak. she just wanted to be assured that she will be back with her family before finally feeling relief and then she can sleep properly. i was like, feeling, heartwrenching lah baby ni.

let her sleep at home. drank a bit but she still don’t want to eat yet. let her sleep on the floor at her fave spot near our closet. but here’s another heartwarming moment.

we didnt want her to have to jump up and down the bed so we let her sleep on the floor. but sometime in the middle of the night, she woke and went to my side of the bed (which is like a lot of drowsy steps from where she was sleeping), i heard a little mew and she was peeking up at me. im like awww… you want to sleep with mommy daddy? ok come up. bring her up and let her sleep soundly with caresses, beside me throughout the rest of the night. haisssh Kechik ni. kalau dah manja, manja betul.

but my Kechik is strong. third day now. and she’s healing fast. eating ok, we applauded when she finally pooped haha. she wanted to be out of that uncomfortable collar, in fact, managed to squeeze her head out few times to lick herself. her naughty self back again.

she’s now stubbornly sleeping in SIL’s bedroom toilet. yes its clean. ive stopped worrying about that. whichever is comfortable for Kechik. sleeping with that cone on. kesian. give her 2-3 more days and we’re taking that out permanently haha.

get well soon baby and we can play hide and seek again.

personal end point

still on How To Be Everything from Emilie Wapnick

Surprsingly this book gives me some points to think about which i have yet to see or read from other self development books i read. especially with this uncertainty at the crossroads im facing.

i appreciate this Personal End Point concept. because it gives me that clear understanding that i am not a failure or im not needed anymore. it just means i could have achieved what i came for (in this job).

Your Personal End Point…is usually a growing awareness that you’ve learned or accomplished all you need to in an area, that you’re basically done here. This restlessness comes on slowly and the reality that we’re ready to move on is often something we try to ignore.

pay attetion to how you feel physically and emotionally

but then there is also Resistance. to take from the book, if i feel excitement and panic, desire to quit suddenly, feeling insecure, or the project is challenging, then it could be Resistance that i’m dealing with. This is what i need to reassess. i need to confirm whether it’s Resistance or Personal End Point.

on the other hand, i opened the newspaper today and the news on IRCC convention and a lady who worked as librarian, side to side. how is it two loves (comparative religion and library) came on point to my face like a strike. it is two loves which i told myself, i wish i could have been there. i wish i was her (the librarian).

i am learning to take all these signs. to point to me the way i could choose. and be at peace at it.

dying in the sun

Do you remember
The things we used to say?
I feel so nervous
When I think of yesterday

How could I let things
Get to me so bad?
How did I let things get to me?

Like dying in the sun

Will you hold on to me
I am feeling frail
Will you hold on to me
We will never fail

I wanted to be so perfect you see
I wanted to be so perfect

the thought there will be no more The Cranberries concert ever again. there is no more Dolores O’Riordan. when your fave famous persons start to die one by one. surreal.

her words though.
has always been a reflection of some teenage angst or even midlife crisis im starting to feel nowadays.

not a quitter

“When you lose interest in something, you must always consider the possibility that you’ve gotten what you came for; you have completed your mission…..That’s why you lose interest:not because you’re flawed or lazy or unable to focus, but because you’re finished.

– by Barbara Sher, read from How To Be Everything, Emilie Wapnick

Well this is food for thought.

i believe now is the time to take these signs seriously.

born a crime

Born a Crime: Stories From a South African ChildhoodBorn a Crime: Stories From a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

i felt somehow grateful and sure i made a good choice to start the yeear reading Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime. it was such a good book.

in what feels like light reading, it was serious enough to talk about apartheid from a boy who experienced it all, the hardships and the ‘almost like going through math problems’ calculated choices he made just because of the skin he has.

i appreciated how he starts a chapter with an educated article on the history and the basis of why things happened the way they are, before going to share a real life experience that reflects the message he wanted to share about earlier on. it is such an honest autobiography.

i also grow to love his mother too. i admire that grit and strong determination she had throughout her life,is beyond words. a rebel but towards positivity, because she wanted to make a better life. a strict mother out of pure love. and God is with her through that shooting ordeal. it was one word. miracle.

it is already in the list of books i dont mind rereading if all else fails.

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not sorry

Keep on looking through the window again,

But I’m not sorry if I do insult you.
I’m sad, not sorry, ’bout the way that things went,
And you’ll be happy and I’ll be forsakin’ thee.

I swore I’d never feel like this again,
But you’re so selfish, you don’t see
What you’re doing to me,
I keep on looking through the window again.
No I’m not sorry if I do insult you.
No, I’m not sorry if I do insult you.

You told me lies, and I sighed, and I sighed, and I sighed.
‘Cause you lied, lied, and I cried, yes I cried, yes, I cry, I cry, I try again.

I realize, as he sighed, and he sighed and he sighed.
‘Cause you lied, lied, and I cried, yes I cried, yes, I cry, I cry, I try again.

Keep on looking through the window again,
But I’m not sorry if I do insult you.
I’m sad, not sorry, ’bout the way that things went,
And you’ll be happy and I’ll be forsakin’ thee.

I swore I’d never feel like this again,
But you’re so selfish,
You don’t see what you’re doing to me,
I keep on looking through the window again.
No I’m not sorry if I do detest you.
No, I’m not sorry if I do detest you.

You told me lies, and I sighed, and I sighed, and I sighed.
‘Cause you lied, lied, and I cried, yes I cried, yes, I cry, I cry, I try again.

I realize, as he sighed, and he sighed and he sighed.
‘Cause you lied, lied, and I cried, yes I cried, yes, I cry, I cry, I try again.

Keep on looking through the window again.
Keep on looking through the window again…