Two weeks ago, I felt a slight pain in my chest and I decided to go to the doctor for a checkup. I made an appointment and sat in the waiting hall for the checkup. I was thinking what can be the result of my health and how I am going take it. I expected the worst.It was a stressful day for me.

As I entered the medical checkup room, a slender nurse in her 40s smiled at me. After a small chat, she took a simple blood sample. She told me that my blood sugar, cholesterol level and blood pressure were all in acceptable level. She was amazed to see me in the pink of health as the majority of people in my age group failed in this test. I was happy and thanked God for my good health.

Having a good health is my priority in life. I do not smoke or drink. The only flaw in my health right now is that I am having frequent gout attack. I am conciously taking effort on how to prevent a gout attack . The nurse attributed my good health to stress free living.

I am living in Singapore and it is a most stressful city. Understanding stress is crucial for our well-being; its signs, symptoms, causes and effects. As you know many diseases are stress related.  

The good news is that stress can be good and bad for us. A little stress helps you rise to meet challenges. But beyond a certain point, stress stops being helpful and starts causing major damage to your health, your mood, your productivity, your relationships, and your quality of life. However, the following the tips below can help you to maintain your stress level to a healthy margin.

Myth of Savings

The pundits of financial freedom will say to put 10 percent of your income as savings. Until now, I do not understand why they chose 10 percent. In the past, we do not have financial banks like today. Financial gurus then advised public to save 9 parts of their income or 90 percent.

Banks today give eighty to ninety percent loan of the total investment. Hence, financial engineers encourage us to save 10 to 20 percent of our income. Is this a right advice?

To put a ten or twenty percent of your income is an obsolete tactics to building wealth. It also makes us stressful. As I have said in the olden times, there are limited or no financial banks. The rich became lenders and ran the capital ‘market’. The borrowers have to have to pay back a heavy sum together with unreasonable interest. The rich became richer and the poor became poorer.

Today, any business can be set up easily and we can get a secured sum from banks. When we wait for our savings to grow, we might miss a business opportunity. To get rich in today’s world we have to sell something that has no competition. Find out what you can sell or provide a service that has minimal or no competition and then venture into that business.

Embark on a business that has no competition. Get a loan to finance that business. The excess of your income can be ‘saved’ for better occasion like hosting a wedding feast or a party. You can bring your family for vacation tour. Without savings, life can be less stressful.

 

Build Up Human Capital

I am building manager by profession. I love seeing the ‘character’ of buildings that have changed throughout the time line of human development.

Recently, I attended a wedding. There is usually one wedding invitation in a month. Do you know you can attend a wedding to stay happy?

This wedding was a little different. The bridegroom usually chauffeured to the wedding arena. However, I understood that the father of the bridegroom paid a down payment of 12K just to loan a convertible Porsche for his son to drive the car to the wedding reception. Wow! What a good father he was I thought. When I sat for the lunch, there is not much food to take. The father knew what his son’s want but he failed to please the guests. It was food but not a wedding feast as I expected.

Then I was invited for a second reception at his condominium. I thought that was going to be another surprise for me. Indeed, it was a surprise. He invited only a handful of people that he knew. However, he cannot receive us at his home. His house was too tiny for people to mingle. I had to squeeze my way through the toilet cubicle to release my bloated bladder! Most guests found waiting at the lift lobby during the evening reception.

In the past, I used to live in a shop house. It consists of a shop cum dwelling. It has a unique feature of showing humanity towards public. That was the five foot way.   

The covered walkway (five foot way) along the road is within the shop house property line but is for public use, providing pedestrians shade from sun and rain. This practice traced to antecedents in South China, India and in many parts of the “humanitarian” world then. In many parts of India, “thinnai” constructed with the premises proper, which served as a resting place for traveller to rest and sleep. This console even had a niche for placing lamp or flame as light for the stayer.

The houses of today have boundary walls surrounding them. Travellers and public are termed as trespassers. The architecture of today has securities and security features. This shows how we have grown from a philanthropic nature to a selfish humanoid.

Public support is your immediate demand. When you give with comfort, you can get back with comfort. This is the paradoxical principal of financial freedom. There is happiness in giving and it alleviates stress. If you cannot feed humans, at least feed a fish.

 

Live for today

Many of us are living in the future. They are here but their minds ever wondering what going to happen in the future. No one knows what the situation in the future is. This anxiety in them makes them feel dismayed. They are not happy.

The secret of happy living is to live for today. Recently I went for an enrichment course on personal development. The speaker is a local speaker on personal development. He was asking the crowd of 500 people a simple question that what could happen to them tomorrow that they will be happy about it. Many people came to tell their secret agenda.

 One participant said that she wanted to have large amount of money for her to spend during her old age. She did not know how to earn when you are old. Another came and said that he wanted to live in a big house with a swimming pool. Some said that they want to migrate and escape the stressful living in Singapore. Some said they want to live in countryside. However, there was one person that captured my attention. He said that he would be happy -as long as he is alive and breathing above the ground.

Two things happen when you live for today. It makes your vision and goal a lot clearer and simpler. The anxiety in you to get things done shrinks and vanishes. You feel stress less.

Take a deep breath and feel the life within you. What more can happen to you to make you happy? Does a simple answer to your question make your life less stressful?

 

Value Thermometer

Michael Jackson thriller jacket sold for US 1.8 million dollars. Why people need an expensive jacket? People need to show that they have something, which others do not have. The value thermometer of anything belonging to Michael Jackson is very high. People remember his value.

How can you improve your value to attract more money? People are complaining about financial failure because they do not have the time, capital, technology, passion etcetera. What they did not know is that unless they can improve their value gauge they cannot attract financial strength.

You can create value at an instant. I know you are not Michael Jackson. However, if you can give your old shirt to a poor man, that action will create value to the poor man. Once you have satisfied a person’s need, that very moment you have created a value.

You can create a value by identifying a problem and making that problem a need to the majority. Once you have created that need, you can apply your solution and create value. Asians have black or brown pair of eyes. Color contact lenses are very popular among Asian women who want to be like Europeans.

Do not create value just to expect financial gains. I created this blog and I am spending time and money to create value to readers. I am doing this to create value in others and at the same time find happiness. By creating value to others, I find solace and appeasement to my soul. I find stress less by giving away something that I have to the community.

Loss of sex drive, procrastination, moodiness, sleeping too much-are all symptoms of stress. Maintaining a healthy stress level is a valuabel code for  living.