"What is essential is invisible to the eye" quoted in a Singapore film

Today, I watched the Singapore comedy-musical film, That Girl in Pinafore (我的朋友, 我的同学, 我爱过的一切), directed by Chai Yee-wei, starring Julie Tan, Daren Tan, Jayley Woo, Hayley Woo, Kenny Khoo, Seah Jiaqing and Kelvin Mun. This is the first Singapore film in 15 years to celebrate the success of 'Xinyao', the popular 90s Singaporean folk music movement.

Watching the film evokes a sense of nostalgia. Even though 'Xinyao' was not my main staple of music during the growing up years, I was delighted to listen to the songs that were popular during my childhood and teenage years.

I was pleasantly surprised and moved to see a quote from one of my favourite chapters (Chapter XXI) from Antoine de Saint Exupery's The Little Prince being shown for a few split-seconds in That Girl in Pinafore.

Now here is my secret, very simply: you can only see things clearly with your heart, what is essential is invisible to the eye.

What a lovely quote to mention for a film that celebrates friendship, the Xinyao folk music movement, and more.

Perhaps it is when we see with our heart that we could see clearly what is essential. This is such a lovely quote to remind us that beyond the superficial and the material, there are deeper meanings behind what is 'invisible to the eye'. Relationships matter and their meaning can only be felt with the heart.

Interestingly, one of my posts that mentioned the quote "What is essential is invisible to the eye", has one of the highest page-views on this blog.

The next surprise when I was watching That Girl in Pinafore was to see the building of my alma mater. I recommend this movie to you especially if you have at least heard a Xinyao song in your lifetime. It is available at Golden Village, Shaw and Filmgarde.

In the meantime, I shall end this post with a link to a YouTube video posted by hotciderfilms, 细水长流 XiShuiChangLiu 我的朋友家，我的同学我爱过的一切" 电影原声带 That Girl In Pinafore Soundtrack

The quote of the day to share

A thoughtful friend of mine, DL, has recently shared on her blog a noteworthy quote that she had came across quite a while ago.

Be kinder than necessary...Everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

May it remind me and each of us to be kinder, to the people we meet each day.

Happy 2009

Happy New Year!

Here's wishing you a joyful year of 2009. May good health, good luck, peace and fulfilment be with you. I wish that each day of your life is lived with enthusiasm, and that you would experience the joy of living each day to the fullest.

Please remember to stay hopefully even when things should seem to be dark.

***
I shall then celebrate the year 2009 and end this post with one of my favourite quotes. May it inspire!

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous --
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people
Won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone,
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
Give other people permission to do the same.

- Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love (New York: Harper Collins, 1992)

Because she is my rose

I am in the mood for the poetic verses. Engaging in the world of the poetic may be a good diversion from a melancholic inner world.

A lovely paragraph that explains what makes one seemingly ordinary rose so unique:

(The Little Prince said to the roses in a garden)

"You are beautiful, but you are empty," he went on. "One could not die for you. To be sure, an ordinary passerby would think that my rose looked just like you--the rose that belongs to me. But in herself alone she is more important than all the hundreds of you other roses: because it is she that I have watered; because it is she that I have put under the glass globe; because it is she that I have sheltered behind the screen; because it is for her that I have killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies); because it is she that I have listened to, when she grumbled, or boasted, or ever sometimes when she said nothing. Because she is my rose.

- from Antoine de Saint Exupéry's The Little Prince, Chapter 21

I cannot help but feel touched by the words of the Little Prince.

What is essential is invisible to the eye

Chapter 21 is one chapter from Antoine de Saint Exupéry's The Little Prince that I find particularly moving. Perhaps it is because it reminded me why certain people have special places in my heart.

(http://www.angelfire.com/hi/littleprince/frames.html)

Quotation for the week

SY reminded me of this lovely quotation last Friday during a rehearsal:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous --
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people
Won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone,
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
Give other people permission to do the same.

- Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love (New York: Harper Collins, 1992)
(the edition of this quote was taken from Zander R.S. and Zander B. (2000). The Art of Possibility. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.)

Too much questions about life itself

Here's one of my favourite quotes:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate,
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous --
Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.
Your playing small doesn't serve the world.
There is nothing enlightening about shrinking so that other people
Won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some of us: it is in everyone,
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously
Give other people permission to do the same.

- Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love (New York: Harper Collins, 1992)
(the edition of this quote was taken from Zander R.S. and Zander B. (2000). The Art of Possibility. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press.)

***
The quote has been an empowering one, which demonstrates that there are lots of possibilities out there for us to achieve, but perhaps we are terrified of achieving the possibilities (?). For the past weeks, I have been asking myself, am I fearful of releasing that light in me? Or rather, is it because I have no clue how I could best let my own light shine? Somehow, I felt I have yet to fully realise and demonstrate my potential.

Life's too short, how do I make the most out of my life?

Meantime, perhaps too much questioning has painted my moods blue. I am feeling pretty melancholic and dark of late. Please pardon me if I don't wish to talk.

Pain

Pain (any pain--emotional, physical, mental) has a message. The information it has about our life can be remarkably specific, but it usually falls into one of two categories: "We would be more alive if we did more of this," and, "Life would be more lovely if we did less of that." Once we get the pain's message, and follow its advice, the pain goes away.

-Peter McWilliams, Life 101

(Found the above quotation from http://www.quotationspage.com/)

***
Wish me health, I am feeling unwell.

Serenity Prayer

God grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change,
courage to change the things we can,
and wisdom to know the difference.

The above quotation came to my mind recently. It reminded me of a friend somehow. I find it a powerful quotation.

I went to do a search about it and found the following URL of interest:
http://www.aahistory.com/prayer.html (This tries to unravel the origin of the Serenity Prayer and how it came to be used by A.A.)

I think I would need to ask for more wisdom and courage.

Question of the day: How does one develop wisdom, courage and serenity?

A quote to read

Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature.... Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.

-Helen Keller (1880 - 1968)

Source: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Helen_Keller

Quotable Quotes: On Failure

It is near midnight in Singapore, I am listening to one of Chopin's Nocturnes, Nocturnes op. 9 nos. 1 & 2.

***
Somehow in this moment of the night, a thought came to me, that I am to an extent fearful of failure. I don't know if this could be because the environment around me is aversive of failure?

Very aware that one is fallible and vulnerable, and that life is full of risks of failure. Total avoidance from failure is not possible. Yet, noticing that one walks the steps involving major life decision carefully in hope to cushion as much of the hurts from the perceived notion of failure. But could this measure end one up in a state of being overly cautious? Hence lose the joy of being spntaneous in life?

And if failures are necessary the paths to learning about life, and if learning from the failures help one understand the elements of living better, how could the culture be made such that failures are perceived more fairly?

Or is there a function for societies to be aversive of failures?

But I guess what I do really fear is that the hurts from suffering a perceived failure could be so strong that I would be staying down for longer than I could find strength to pick myself up alone.

***
Before I end this post, I'll like to share three quotations taken from The Quotations Page.

Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, in as much as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid.

- John Keats, English lyric poet (1795 - 1821)

You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don't try.

- Beverly Sills, US opera singer (1929 - )

If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.

- Mary Pickford (1893 - 1979)