Superstitious …

Part of the journey in life, we travel around the world and meet many people as well as encounter many cultures and perhaps hear a bit of superstitious stories behind each culture …

And Today’s BlogFest is brought to you by The Monkey Heart Discourses, where she has listed many superstitious and their origins ...

It is very interesting to know the story behind the superstitious but when I was growing up, a lot of times, I couldn’t understand for the life of me why we believed certain things and every time when I asked ‘why’ – the answer was always, “just because … “ To be fair, I don’t think my parents knew the reason behind, they were simply following the passed down traditions.

My grandma passed away when I was in elementary school. I remembered my parents and all other relatives (uncles, aunts and you name it) were there surrounding my grandma’s unclosed coffin for three days or so. I remember they were saying that they couldn’t let the coffin unattended simply because if a cat would have jumped over my grandma's body, she would be awaken from her long, and deep sleep. Of course, I had no idea why and I bet they didn’t either.  So, they took turn to stay up, the adults, accompanying my grandma’s corpse.

After three days, we were having the burial ceremony in the cemetery and off we went. At the cemetery, before placing the coffin down, they would close it permanently. Here is what my mom told us and with a special attention to me, YES ME :-), “Please don’t look at the coffin when they were about to close it. Because it would be the last time and the spirit inside grandma would want to escape and she may not be happy.”

One morning, I told my mom that I was having a nightmare the night before that my grandma was mad and chased after me. The unique part of the dream was, she was wearing the same gown that she wore on the day of the burial. My mom shook her head and said, “Didn’t I tell you not to look when they were closing the coffin?”

Was my grandma really mad and not happy like my mom said? I dunno ... and I did look at the coffin before it was closed forever while the rest of people looking down ...

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

Are You in Complete Charge of Your Life?

Now that you have made a wish or learned a bit the history behind making a wish tradition, why not come back to reality and ask yourself a question, "Are you in complete charge of your life?" And that was the question that Stuart Fish asked, which marked the very topic of BlogFEST of the day -- 

 

Interesting question, in fact very inspiring one! Looking back in my life, I am always in complete charge, be in education, relationship, and my family. However ... recently I have discovered that I have been ignoring certain aspect of my life that I need to take charge, caring for my loved ones. I always do --in my own way. I used to spend tons of time with my kids --always available. Ever since they are more independent, I have filled the blank with more activities --mainly with blogging and works. I believe it was couple months ago, looking at both my own mother and my mother-in-law, I felt that time have gone by so fast and yet I have been keeping them waiting. Waiting for my up-close attention, no matter where they are. I am a personable person, meaning if they are in front of me, I am very close to them. Once they are gone, my feeling starting to have distance --not that I don't care but I just don't have enough cycle of my day to reach out to them. 

All of sudden, I felt like this is the part of my life that I would like to take charge now --wanting to spend more time with them, caring for them before it is too late. I don't want to wake up someday regretting that I haven't paying much attention to both my mom and mother-in-law even they are distance away. As much as I dislike talking on the phone, I am making extra efforts to call --reaching to them and chatting with them. And that somehow have made me completely in charge of my life at this very moment. 

Enough about me, how about you? If you could take charge of one aspect of your life right now, what would it be?

Until next stop,

Journey of Life

Where did 'Make a Wish' Tradition Come From?

Have fun so far? If not, Make a Wish! --the third BlogFest's topic of the month by Tree Girly - http://treegirly.com/2012/10/03/make-a-wish-2/

 

Struck by the BlogFEST topic of the day, sitting here thinking about what wish would I want. Then this little mind of mine wondered off and thinking where this 'Make a wish' tradition came from. 

Have you asked yourself why would someone whisper a wish when they blow those birthday candles? Why would we throw coins into the wishing wells or ponds?

Now that you have asked ... blowing candles then make a wish was originated in the ancient Greek cultures where the Greeks baked a cake for the Artemis, the goddess of the moon and they believed the smoke would bring their wishes to the goddess. The tradition was also seen in Europe where candles were lit through out the night represented the birthday person's life and it was believed to ward off some evil spirits especially for the children who tend to be more vulnerable. Interesting so far?

How about the wishing wells? No one knows how the tradition was passed down but the historians found an ancient well that was used to make offerings to the Roman Britain and Celtic goddess Coventina, in the northeastern tip of England where it was filled with 16,000 coins ranging from the first and fifth centuries. Now you know ...

Wishing your dreams come true ...

Until next time,

Journey of Life

Involuntary Insomnia …

Did you have so much fun at the party and now you are facing with insomnia? Well … that is the second BlogFest topic of the month by Susan –Today’s Working Woman -- http://todaysworkingwoman25.blogspot.com/2012/10/blogfest-2012-insomnia.html

If you have been reading my blogs, you should know by now that I don’t have any problem falling asleep, in fact I could even sleep while standing or simply putting my head down on my desk –Sleeping in Public http://journeyofmylifendestiny.blogspot.com/2012/09/sleeping-in-public.html

That doesn’t mean that I have never tasted the Insomnia before though. In fact –there was a time when I was awaken in the middle of the night and feeling sad. So sad that I tear-ed up … Why –you ask.

Something definitely had bothered me so much without me realizing it at that time and it actually seeped through deep inside my heart that I was jerked out of my sleep and feeling blue about it. A lot of times, it was due to the fact that I have heard something that heart-wrenching –mostly something that affect my love ones or my friends.

Having said that here is a little bit about Insomnia that I found reading Web MD. It was said that Insomnia was divided into two types:

• Primary Insomnia –mainly unable to fall asleep or waking up before time or in the middle of the night and its reason has nothing to do with health or any problems
• Secondary insomnia  --causes by medical, medicine effects or alcohol or caffeine drinks intake

Primary insomnia is also divided into two types: acute and chronic insomnia.

Acute is defined as difficulty in sleeping that lasts about 24 hour to a few weeks --short time whereas Chronic is defined to last three nights a week to a month or longer.

Well … what exactly have caused Insomnia? –Here is what WebMD has to say …

Causes of acute insomnia can include:

• Significant life stress (job loss or change, death of a loved one, divorce, moving)
• Illness
• Emotional or physical discomfort
• Environmental factors like noise, light, or extreme temperatures (hot or cold) that interfere with sleep
• Some medications (for example those used to treat colds, allergies, depression, high blood pressure, and asthma) may interfere with sleep
• Interferences in normal sleep schedule (jet lag or switching from a day to night shift, for example)
  

Causes of chronic insomnia include:

• Depression and/or anxiety
• Chronic stress
• Pain or discomfort at night

Symptoms of Insomnia

Symptoms of insomnia can include:

• Sleepiness during the day
• General tiredness
• Irritability
• Problems with concentration or memory

Now that we know …. Here is what we can do to prevent Insomnia:

• Having a routine of sleeping and waking up at the same time would help and avoid napping if possible
• As you know caffeine, nicotine and alcohol intake late in the day can interfere with sleep quality
• Regular exercise is good but not before bedtime since it may stimulate us and causing difficulty in falling asleep. In fact expert is recommending if we choose to exercise, do it at least three hours before bed time.
• Having a heavy meal before time may interfere with falling asleep but having a light snack is good
• Best not having television in the room. Bedroom is supposed to be dark, quiet, perfect temperature (not too warm or too cold)
• Some routines may help like taking a bath, listening to music or reading a book
• Jotting down something that bothering us may help rather than having them sitting on our brains.

Hope you all find the above informative and …

Until next stop,

Journey of Life