Malaysia doesn’t a summer season but with heat right now, I feel like its summer season here.  There are so many things we can do so as not to feel the heat and get dehydrated.

1) Drink a lot of water. For me, I drink a lot of ice, cold water and it’s truly a great way to refresh. These are also the days that I crave for ice cold coke.. ahhh… But I have some friends who say that squeezing a juice of lemon on your water makes you feel refreshed and less dehydrated too.

2) Wear light clothing. Who would want to wear long sleeve dresses at this time? But then, I see a lot of women around wearing long sleeve shirts, I guess they’re used to it because with their culture and religion they can’t show so much of their skin and hair.

3) Ventilate you house/ office. If you don’t have an airconditioner in your house, then it’s time to turn on all the fans and make sure all windows and curtains are opened up.

4) And lastly, if you really can’t bear the heat, then you better you to the mountains where its cooler .. like in Cameron highlands, Genting or Frasier Hill. You can check in the hotel (unfortunately, they don’t have a Riviera hotel there) ., relax and enjoy the coolness of the wind.. haaayyyy..

My sister and I had this conversation one time comparing kids who are naturally smart but lazy and the average kids but diligent. We had a number of examples of kids who are naturally smart but are very lazy to study, so at the end they didn’t excel in school and didn’t reach their maximum potential as a student. Meanwhile, there are also other kids who are not so smart. They need to read and study diligently and only then they will be able to grasp their lesson. But because of their discipline and diligence, they excelled in their academics and reached their maximum potential, academically that is.

So, after that conversation, we concluded that we’d rather choose our children to be diligent rather than smart but lazy. But as a parent whether our child is naturally smart or not, we have to create an atmosphere for them to learn and teach them the discipline of establishing a study habit. I for one, belong to the second category, I’m not naturally smart but since my Mom has ingrained in me the importance of diligently studying my lessons, I somehow excelled in my academics. I remember that my parents invested a lot of money to buy books and encyclopedias for us to read. And I could still remember the time when I was small and she would review my lessons with me every night until such time that she saw that I can do the revisions myself. By that time, I have already learned the steps in studying and reviewing my lessons. And thus, developed that discipline to study every night. I thank God for my Mom for training me that way too. Because from my primary to university years, studying and doing my school work hasn’t been a struggle for me.

With this in mind and my Li’l girl going to Kindergarten, I’ll have to start developing in her the love to learn by exposing her to the different mediums of learning and by training her and letting her have good study habits. And I’m sure, in the future, studying and doing school work won’t be much of a struggle for her anymore.

Isn’t it there are times when people tell us that we look slimmer even if our weight or figure is the same? Yes, even if we are on the ‘meatier’ side, there’s still a chance for us to look a bit slimmer and fool the people’s eyes.  In the visual arts, that would be called ‘optical illusion’.

Factors like our dress, our posture and our confidence can indeed make us look slimmer even if our weight is the same. Here are some of my observations and suggestions to create this ‘illusion’.

Dress- Choose dresses or clothes that flatters your assets but hides the bulges. Don’t wear clothes that are too big since it will look like you’re still wearing your maternity clothes. And neither make the mistake of wearing clothes that are too fit that makes everything ‘pops’ out. If you want to create an ‘illusion’ of curves, wear  corsets or bustier sets that’s just right your size.

Posture- Stand or sit up straight and don’t slouch. I’m sure you can feel all the extra bulges in your midsection when you don’t sit straight right? So, when you sit straight, the bulges won’t be so obvious and therefore you’ll look slimmer. When you stand straight, you’ll also look taller and ‘feel’ slimmer.

Be confident- Having a low self esteem especially because of weight issues, “adds’ up pounds. Be confident and don’t be so bugged down by your figure or weight.