BAD HEAT WAVE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA

There weather in SA has been so humid and dry over one week with more than 40 degrees Celsius daily. This has stirred a major concern for the southerners as any activities in the hot environment would cause body fluid loss and elevation of body temperature, leading to dehydrations, heat exhaustions and heat strokes. It was recommended that before exposing yourself to the outdoor heat, consume at least 500mls (2-3 glasses) and 200mls (1-2 glasses) every 15 minutes while outdoor.

It seemed not only human were affected by the heat wave, some animals too were affected, thus seeking salvation in cooler places. A friend of mine had just emailed me some cute photos. It was stated that a guy living at Maude received some amazing photos from his wife. A cute furry koala walked right up to his back porch for a bit heat relief. She had a bucket filled up and the koala did something amazing. I would too if I were to be under such heat… :)

SOUNDS OF NATURE, SOUNDS OF LIFE, SILENCE FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE?

Pitter patter pitter patter…The rain beat noisily at my window panes as I sat there mournfully looking out of the window. The sky which was once filled with the radiance of the golden orb now lies ever gloomily, overshadowed by the beating and roaring of the oncoming thunderstorm.

Bing bang boom… Zippy zappy zippy zappy… Snap kerplunk crash… There goes the trunk of my favorite rambutan tree, stroke by the hissing and buzzing of the lightning. It was just like yesterday that I nurture its growth, with so much sweat, so much energy out of my heart, my body and my soul. Now it lies totally helpless under the torments of the cruel weather. I sat there hopelessly watching the suffering endured by my much loved tree. Nothing I could do but to pray that God has the kindness to stop the sizzling and fizzling and to pardon its sins.

Memories suddenly flashed through my mind, showing me the similarity between the troubled tree and life. Life was somehow related to the trauma experienced by the poor tree. In our life, there are always the ups and down and we can never escaped from them. Some days are smooth flowing whereas there are days when everything seems to go wrong and chaotic. No matter how bad it may be, we still survived until today.

Have you ever wondered why the hustling and bustling of a happy and enjoyable life moments in the blogosphere has suddenly quiet down with the sound of silence? Where has everybody gone to? Except for the swoosh and whirrs of the computer fans, there was only the total silence. What has happened to the ooo ooh of the MSN, the ding dong of an incoming mail or even the buzzing of the hand phone? This is not the season for hibernation. This is also not the season for long term vacation and not everyday is a family day. This is definitely not the season for MIA (Missing In Action). Life sounded like it is in the process of ending its journey but how true is it?

I still remembered when I started blogging in this blogosphere; life was filled with the oomph and wow of never ending activities. People come and go, people visit and comment, people encourage and motivate a blogger to keep on going, were norms. Nowadays, things are different. People hardly come to pay you a visit and even if they do they are without any trace or evidence that they were here. They come and see, see then go off, and worst still they do not come at all. Even efforts in bringing in more readers has been done by commenting in God knows how many comment boxes in the blogosphere, but then the results have been rather disappointing. People hardly follow up.

I just wondered what has happened to the courtesy and politeness of the bloggers. Is the blogosphere facing a slow and timely death or is it the attitude of the bloggers to just receive and not to return the favour? I have visited many blogs and I saw many blogs are in the midst of facing extinction as there are no longer updates. Regularity of posting up articles are quite scare. I can understand how they felt too as they were not motivated to move on with any encouragements from their readers.

One person to keep the blogosphere going will not help without the joint efforts by others. I find it rather tiring and stressed out to comment in each and every blogs that I visited. It has been my way of complimenting the blog owner to strive for their best. I am not trying to be boastful here but how many people you know have the persistence to do that? The concept of “U comment, I follow” has not shown any improvements at all. The visits are still rather stagnant. It ended up as “U comment, I happy” without the initiative of the other to follow up in any comments.

Sometimes I felt like the pitiful tree, a giver of nice juicy rambutans. When I am full with fruits, people plucked me with enthusiasm. When the season is off, I am left to fend for myself without any visits. Even though I was tortured by the hit and run of the bad weather and abuse by mankind, I am still standing strong and firm against all odds. I still feel that the blogosphere is a futile ground for growth. There are still rooms for improvements. This is still a good place for gaining of knowledge and knowing the different cultures of people from all over the world. What I have experienced is only a temporary bodily injury and my roots are still deeply planted into the soil, day by day hoping that little raindrops will keep me alive. With this mode of survival, more buds will shoot out from the ground and life will regenerate by itself.

This is how nature works. This is how life works too. When there is still hope, life will continue to live on. Do not give up hope. Be persistent. Persistence is part of our life’s survival in this world. Good luck in your life journey!

Note: The above article is partly based on Onomatopoeia (highlighted), which are words that sound like the objects they name or the sounds those objects make. I shall be making more visits when my internet line and health are more stable. This is the third week I am facing connectivity problems. I do hope all my readers are understandable.

HOW’S THE WEATHER?

“How’s the weather?” Have you ever heard of people using this statement? It may just mean whether the sky is clear, bright and sunny, dark and gloomy, dark but filled with stars and moon, chilly until shivering, thunderstorm’s coming, hurricane going to sweep through, or even an upcoming tornado. In actual fact, it does not mean that way most of the time. What does it mean then? It just means that a person is trying to find out the moods of another person, mostly bosses. Moods in this case are just as unpredictable as the weather. It swings from good to bad and vice versa.

In our lives, we have good days and bad days throughout the years. There are days where we are full of energy and thinking rationally will be smooth flowing. What will happen when those days were bad, meaning that whatever job one handled will end up in wrecks? Bad moods seeped in and whoever in the path will end up in a war. Different people have different feelings, and it is usually these feelings that sparked off the good or bad moods. Moods are very dramatic and changes unpredictably. They have negative impacts on a person’s ability to get along well with another and to function properly in his daily affairs.

Ever wonder what causes these mood swings? Many people say that it is due to work stress. After a hard day’s work, one tends to be too tired and simple fault in the family will trigger their anger or patience. People who are under extreme stress may experience more moodiness than normal. They felt out of control because of these extreme moods.

Loneliness might be another reason too. One may have the inferior complex that the whole world is against him and let him be all alone. These people have the perception that no one care, love and listen to them anymore. They expect people to accompany them all the time. If someone rejected them, they will feel so down and emotional to think rationally.

Drug and alcohol abuse are also reasons for unstable moods. Taking drugs other than prescript drugs by medical personnel is definitely a no. Drugs not only wear out the body physically, it also affects the mind in noting reality. Moods of a drug user can change drastically from an emotional person to a brutal murderer. Limit the consumption of alcohol as well. Some will say, “Alcohol can really drown your sorrow and loneliness” but what they do not realized is that alcohol can kill the body and mind too.

Physical and health problems can also affect the moods. Sometimes, a sick or a handicapped person will think that God is so unfair to make them this way. These people have poor anger management. They can get emotional easily.

Environment and childhood experiences also cause this mood disorder. Certain trauma or abuse during childhood such as parental divorce, continuous criticism, abandonment when young, verbal, physical and sexual abuses are partly blamed for the mood swings. These moods have been dormant so some time until some external forces, pressures or stressors caused them to erupt uncontrollably.

Is there any way one can control these bad moods? Well, there are no concrete ways one can control something that cannot be seen on the surface but there are ways on how to suppress these bad moods. Moods are contagious and would you want to contaminate others with your bad moods? If not, then let us study some basic steps below.

- To realize that you cannot help being depressed or anxious as you like. It is beyond your control and you are not at fault.

- To discover the root of your mood swings and try to eradicate them immediately. You can seek the help of professionals or in the comfort of a close friend. Spit it out and you will feel more stress-free.

- To identify the source of your moody problems. Are they from your childhood or are they from the environment you are in now? Go into detailed scenario and identify which part of it triggered your inner self to be depressed, anxious and being emotionally aggressive. Sometimes, these moods can be triggered by the feelings, actions and behaviors of people surrounding us as it depict who we are.

- To find a solution to avoid these little triggers. Keeping mum and not trying hard to express what you think or how you feel would not help you at all. Nobody can read what you think or experience how you feel if you do not tell them. Openness and directness will soothe your moodiness. Stop giving excuses that others will know by seeing your drastic change of moods. Well, nobody will!

- You cannot do this alone by yourself. You will always need the help of family and friends. We are social animals and by observing and reacting to others, we learn up many things for our self development. Moods cannot always be controlled but somehow by changing our approach in our relationships with others will help us. We need to stay calm in any situation and think positively before condemning any aspects of our lives. By doing this, we can learn to be the person we were meant to be…a happier person.