WORKING AND RETIRING
Work and the brain works for you, too!
Retire, and it retires, too!
So in the nothingness, boredom, and dreams,
does the brain work?
-Serena Chen S.P.
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Working and retiring…
Fly with the wind!
Cancer took away her only child.
She has withdrawn to her room,
grieving with knees to her chest,
with a sense of impending doom.
Failed motherhood– in her mind.
Her family members persuade,
like pretty ribbons that bind,
with love and compassion conveyed.
Have a key to open your mind,
to release a kite into the sky,
no trees to be twinned,
up in the wind, it’s free to fly!
Being void of pain now,
liberates him… fly, fly freely.
The kite has a blue ribbon bow,
just like it was on his collar, really!
Those cows in the slaughterhouse,
anyone can see, as can a blind,
in those dishes in a coffee house,
reminds her heart to be kind.
Battling conscious against subconscious mind,
blaming with obligations and guilty conscience,
her vegetarian diets and daily meditations that bind,
with humility with reverence…
wishing that he eases into his new journey,
in this vow to her child, post-humously…
So, fly, fly with wind!
p/s: This poem offers a closure to the story ‘A White Lie- about an ostomy‘.
Mr Ponusamy’s kite coasted and fluttered in the sky freely, too, soothing those in need below, in the last few months of his life.
– Serena Chen S.P. @ TPTan –
27 October , 2020
Manageable Monday with MyMama Cut!
Manageable Monday with MyMama’s Cut ( A Senryū)
Clip, snip, clip and snip!
Nothing like My Mama’s Cut,
head feeling lighter!
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Quote:-
I always feel good after I change my hair. You get a haircut and feel positive and ready to take on the day.- Kirstin Maldonado
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A blogger reads and writes
A blogger reads and writes ( haiku)
Read, read, digest them!
Assimilate, recreate.
A new synthesis!
This Haiku is about how a blogger grows! The amount of readings and researches forms the basis of new ideas for writings.
Quotes:-
- “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” —Stephen King
- “… Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.” – Annie Proulx
SING A SONG OF FREEDOM
SING A SONG OF FREEDOM
The following poem is about music as a plausible and healing therapy. Especially for those incarcerated in mental hospitals, prisons, or immigrant centers. A notable concept is Making music, healing souls including Sing Your Heart Out (SYHO), and Finding sanity through songs.
Sing a song of freedom
Sing a song of freedom
breaking through four walls
is a light; a beacon
In immigration detentions
prison or hospitals
do buoy up musical extensions
Rehearse a song
for sanity sake
all day long.
Sing your heart out (SYHO)
as loud as you want
even if you carry no clout.
Adopting therapy in music
as a tool for recovery
Keeping minds clear; lucid
So, do sing a song of freedom
finding sanity through songs
to free the mind of demons
for one with no intent of treason.
Chen Song Ping, 18 Jan 2021
The day I flew like a superman.
The day I flew like a superman.
I went back to my hometown.
I remember the road was much steeper.
I skidded down this very road.
And I flew down my bicycle
like a superman!
The fading scars near my right eyebrow and right forearm are reminders.
It seems like only yesterday.
Only I have forgotten how to ride a bicycle! 🙁
Quote:-
I have always struggled to achieve excellence. One thing that cycling has taught me is that if you can achieve something without a struggle it’s not going to be satisfying.:- Greg LeMond
Anniversaries: Is today less special?
Anniversaries: Is today less special? ( A Senryū)
This Haiku is about the celebration of anniversaries. Examples are Mother’s day, Women’s day, Mental health day, birthdays, wedding anniversary, etc. Is every day less special? Or the annual celebrations impact commercialisation?
Serious little politicians!
Serious little politicians!
This video was circulating in social media. This happens to be a crucial time. My country is contemplating who will be the next prime minister!
Serious little politicians!
How painful is pain?
How painful is pain?
We visited a rural hospital. A young boy sat upon a bed with a cast on his right swollen foot. His sad and tearful face looked up as the team approached his bed.
“Sakit? (Pain?)”
He nodded his head and pointed to his foot.
The pain scores were charted as ‘2’ the whole day. (‘0′ means no pain, ’10’ means extreme pain according to a pain assessment ruler) “The boy pointed at ‘2’ most of the time!”
“Well, his face itself tells one it is at least an ‘8’ (according to a pain pictorial assessment tool).
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Quote:
Pain has a purpose. It tells us something needs to be attended to.- Chen S. P., Aug. 2021
The climb might be tough and challenging, but the view is worth it. There is a purpose for that pain; you just can’t always see it right away.- Victoria Arlen
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“Why can’t my mother die in my arm?”
“Why can’t my mother die in my arm?”
This was an angry outburst from a doctor son. It was a devastating and heart-breaking voice recording forwarded in a social media chat group. He received a box of her mother’s ashes four days after her death from COVID-19.
Being a semi-retired healthcare worker, I can see where he is coming from. ICU staff with PPEs ( personal protective equipments) work round the clock on COVID-19 patients. It is a possible option for closed ones to wear PPEs to be near their loved ones. Although, no healthcare institution would take this risk.
It is important to weigh the risks and benefits of the practise and other options.
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A lady in ICU once instructed her loved ones to start chanting (Buddhist) during her final hour outside ICU. That was before COVID-19.
“A recorded prayers from close ones to be played next to ICU patients would be a good option, too!”
Hearing is thought to be the last sense to leave when a person Is unconscious or dying.
A final say; COVID-19 is indeed cruel to the last!
Chen Song Ping 