Tags: vegan weight loss, raw food recipes, raw food health, raw food testimonials

When I heard that, I wanted to cry. I felt so emotional, overwhelmed with relief and gratitude.

In the past, this usually does not come as a surprise. One of the life changing benefits I got from Raw Foods & Yoga was reversing my Ezcema & being proud of beautiful skin. Everyone who read my blog & saw my pictures are impressed at how radiant and smooth my skin is.

And then last year in Jun the Ezcema returned. For a good 9 months, my skin reacted and broke out at almost anything - air condition, sun, rain, pollutants, dust. Concerned friends and loved ones were shocked each time they see me. My god sis ran all over town searching for the right cream to apply, worried readers writing in, students emailing me juice recipes for skin outbreaks, and well meaning friends trying to persuade me to go skin clinics.

So what exactly happened last year Jun? Dad passed away, in an unusual accident. The news came to me when I was on my way to meet him; we were supposed to go eat our favorite Durian. I was sitting in Jolyn’s car, my phone rang and I saw Dad’s incoming call.

Taken in Feb 2012 during ULC 2; I’m grateful to see my skin recovering to normal

Overjoyed as always, I picked up the call “Daddy where are you now I’m on my way I can’t wait to see you yay we are going for Durian!” I chirped without punctuation.

My Uncle could not bear to break the news when he heard my voice. He told me Dad was injured; I thought it was a joke. 5 minutes later, he told me Dad was seriously injured and passed away the morning before.

Jolyn stopped the car and put her hand on my arm as I howled my lungs out. It is painful enough to lose a loved one. It is even more painful when we know that our loved one went through pain before they died. Outside the sky blackened, thunder roared and it poured. It was a perfect tragic setting, something like what you would see on TV, except that I am in the movie.

The details of how I got over the news shall be written more in the coming book. In a nutshell, that was the beginning of the most painful period to date of my life – getting over the lost of a loved one.

I went through some sort of extreme grieve, too painful perhaps to be illustrated in words. My skin started to behave weirdly. I would wake up in the middle of the night with itching on the face and arms, and in the morning they would be bleeding from scratches. Needless to say, they are painful.

Air conditioning, strong sunshine and pollutants became torturing experiences. In the days I continued teaching, writing and creating training content; at night I would cry myself to sleep. There were many mornings when I almost can’t recognize myself with bleeding skin and swollen eyes. Eventually I even stopped looking at the mirror because it was so disheartening.

It took about 6 months before signs of recovery began to show up. And the recovery was really slow. It would improve for 2 days, and then get worse for a day, before getting better again. As I looked back, I realized that this was also the period of a rapid growth of our academy – my team started to form, the quality of the team members improving exponentially, the students increased, and demand of our education increased.

The only thing is that all my physical, emotional & mental beings were in great pain. Physically, my skin felt like acid was poured over it especially when I bled; emotionally I missed Dad beyond words; and mentally I had to continuously give up looking good.

Before every class, I have to consciously choose to show up instead of hiding and avoid looking bad because of my skin.

By now you probably can get why I had tears in my eyes when a student complimented me on having beautiful skin last week. I’m almost back to normal now, I mean my skin, although not quite what I would deem satisfactory. But then of course that’s my interpretation, and as always, I’m a perfectionist ☺

Thank you to each one of you who wrote in with concern about my skin. Those of you, who called or wrote to me asking me to take care, send encouragement and words of love. I want to tell you that I am recovering, and that yes I still grieve, but your support helps me get over it. I know why I am doing what I am doing every time I think of you.

Besides showing gratitude, my purpose of writing this is to share with you my valuable experiences. Life is too short to learn all the lessons; I gain a lot from others’ sharing and experiences too, that is why I think we all need to share ourselves such that others may benefit from our pains & joys:

1)) In life, things happen. And since we are human, we have feelings, we experience pain and joy. These 2 categories are different – Things happened vs My Feelings. My Feelings does not have to determine My Actions. Anything can happen, and as long as I alive I am going to always feel something. That is not wrong, but that does not need to get in my way of doing what I said I would do.

One of my dear friend and mentor Ken Chee said to me “Sis, a true Master acts in spite of feelings. A Master does not only act when he/she feels like one; authentic mastery is displayed when you act in spite of feelings and recreate mastery from nothing, again and again.”

2) Don’t be scared of pain. I know great joy because I have known great pain. My good friend & mentor Lai Hock told me “Linda you did not go through pain for nothing; everything happens for a reason. Find a meaning, and make it an empowering one.” Only with emotional depths can we truly savor life, at both ends of its finest grandeurs.

3) Nobody is an island, unity, teamwork and team spirit is more precious than anything in the world. So many times I crumbled and stood up again because I know my team is backing me up. Both in Simei and Cluny, there were countless times when I ran into the toilet & cried in between training because I thought of Dad. But I know that I have a commitment to my team, I have a commitment and I want to fulfill that regardless of my feelings.

4) This is for all you girls, who want to find a real man that loves you for what you are. You want to be with somebody that loves you beyond your skin. Please don’t always apply loads of make up, dress beautiful and put on fronts. Choose your man wisely, and let him see you in your real skin, your real looks before you commit. All my life I have been considered attractive, and I turn heads when I walk on the street with layers of make up. But during the 2 Eczema outbreaks I could see clearly who were the ones that truly care for me. Not only men that courted me, but friends as well. This is the time when real friends show up, and when you find them, keep them!

5) Many of you think I run the academy alone. There is another person who is essential to our growth – her name is Jolyn Tan my partner, best friend and soul mate. The 2 of us set up Light Love Laughter Academy jointly.

At my most vulnerable moments, she was there to catch me. When I thought I could not generate any inspiration to teach, she touches me in a magical way. At times when I feel so ugly and unworthy with my bleeding face, she transformed my state of mind with nonchalant smiles, loving eyes and kind words. She is the quiet one managing the space at the back of the workshops, planning the logistics and putting out chairs early in the morning. If you are reading this, and if our work has touched you and your loved ones, do me a favor. The next time you see Jolyn, go to her and give her a dolphin hug, tell her she is an amazing girl and that the world becomes better because of her!

6) Last but not least, I get asked very often why I do what I do.

I think there are only 2 options in life. Option A is living as if I don’t matter, I have no impact, I’m invisible or at least I pretend so. The other Option B is that I have a huge contribution, I can cause the world to feel more love, and I have the power to enliven humanity.

Choosing between these 2 options is an option. I choose Option B, everyday, because when I die, I have plenty of time to choose the former.

I stand for a new species of humanity who is free from degenerative diseases, who eats consciously and lives with compassion. I stand for a beautiful world with abundant soils. I stand for massive wealth transfers in Asia such that committed Raw Food & Yoga Teachers enjoy as much wealth as Bankers.

What are you standing for? ☺

© Copyright Linda Loo

Tags: raw food recipes, low fat recipes, raw food health, raw & living foods

Light Love Laughter’s lead trainer, Linda Loo, teaching useful yoga postures on how to lose fat around tummy and hip areas in My Fair Ladies program hosted by celebrities Vivian Lai and Kate Pang.

Screened on Channel 8, 10th Feb and 17th Feb 2012, 8:30pm.

Channel 5 (Singapore English TV Channel)

Light Love Laughter’s lead trainer, Linda Loo, and celebrity Rebecca Lim on Lunch Crunch program - Episode 2: Office Yoga & Rock School, on 21st Feb 2012 9pm. Both Linda and Rebecca will show you how to prepare a healthy diet and de-stress your mind & body during lunch time!

Tags: vegan weight loss, raw food recipes, low fat recipes, raw food testimonials

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Tags: raw food health, low fat recipes, low fat recipies, raw food testimonials

Most of us do not know the real impact of having Diabetes. Actually even before the full blown Diabetes sets in, a whole bucket of health problems could be well on their way.

4 Deadly Impacts of Diabetes:

1) Cardiovascular problems ie heart diseases, malfunctioning lungs
2) Erectile dysfunction in men & ovarian cysts/complications in women ie. Infertility
3) Kidney failure leading to swelling & possibly amputation of limbs
4) Thyroid malfunctioning & Lymphatic over toxicity

The other alarming thing about Diabetes is that it is hitting our younger generations. 17 year-old teenagers are being diagnosed with Diabetes. This is a huge wake up call to us, that we need to take some drastically different actions if we wish to thrive as a nation, and planet.

The top 5 steps to preventing & reversing Diabetes (yes it can be reversed! Go google for “Raw For 30” and see for yourself!) are:

1) Reduce waist fat by exercising & working out at least 3 times a week for 30 min per session. Even better still, go for a 30 min walk every day. Make sure you perspire & work up a good heart rate, be it slow jogging or walking or playing with your dog. For those people who suffered sports injuries, or are not used to strenuous exercise, Yoga is the perfect exercise for you. Transformational Yoga is gentle yet powerful. If you practice Transformational Yoga at our studio, your butt does not leave the mat but you perspire like you have just ran 5km.

2) Stop, I mean really eliminate completely the following items – white sugar & white flour. This means cutting out all soft drinks, soda pop, canned drinks & white breads/cakes/pastries. It is not really that difficult to stop eating these foods. It is more difficult & painful to have to go for kidney dialysis, or your family having to deal with your sickness.

3) Drink a glass of freshly pressed Green juice every day. A good combination for rapid cell repair:

Small Bunch Wheat Grass
2 Inch Ginger
1 Lemon
Small Bunch Cilantro
½ Apple

Drink this in the morning before you eat anything else, and feel the energy surging your body. This juice is great for anybody regardless of your health condition. It is safe, delicious & nutritious.

4) Eat high raw, nutrient dense, living meals as much as possible, with a high concentration of fresh uncooked greens, vegetables and whole grains.

5) Last but not least, ditch all the bad fats in your kitchen. This means throwing out hydrogenated fats like margarine, processed soy/corn/vegetable oils, and replacing with only cold pressed plant oils eg Virgin Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, Flax & Sesame Oil. When you are diagnosed with Diabetes, you want to reduce the fat & sugar in your blood as much as possible. High fat & high sugar leads to Candida, which further complicates Diabetes.

And even when you do eat fats, make sure they are raw quality plant fats.

Actually these above steps can benefit anyone looking for a more energetic and better quality of life. For a person who has or is prone to Diabetes, they are priceless in ensuring a chance of recovery. If you rely on drugs alone and continues to eat processed foods, there is very little chance of recovery. At worst it develops into one of the 4 deadly impacts mentioned above; at best you would be straggling through the rest of your life with insulin shots, medication and living way below your full potential.

© Copyright Light Love Laughter

Tags: raw food recipes, raw food diet, raw food health, low fat recipes

Speaking from the experience of a Singaporean whom has done Yoga with large gyms, famous large Yoga centers, small niche Yoga studios, and then traditional Yoga from authentic ashrams in India itself, I would say there is a world of difference between a mediocre class and “the” class that makes a difference.

1) Headcount of the Class

The very first thing that determines the quality of a Yoga session is the size of the class. Are we looking at 10 people, 20 people or more? If there are 30 people in a class for example, how many instructors are there?

When the size of a Yoga class gets big, the attention of the instructor gets divided more. Each practioner gets little or no interaction from the instructor.

Interaction and touch from the instructor is important because these help to correct & refine postures, and also allow the students to move deeper into practice to heal faster.

Our Yoga Classes at Light Love Laughter are always kept to a maximum of 12 people; when the class gets bigger we arrange additional instructors to assist in conducting the class.

2) How is the Yoga Workout designed?

One of our earlier students reported to us that she felt sick after some Yoga classes that she did at other Yoga Centers. She asked why.

The thing to note is that even though Yoga is a powerful ancient art of healing, it can be done in wrong ways to bring more harm than good. This is also the number one reason that you want to learn from instructors who know their work.

To explain briefly, we Human beings have energy vortexes known as Chakras. These occur on unseen planes, spanning over our whole being. The main 7 Chakras occur on a vertical fashion – from the root of our spine to the crown of our head.

To learn more about the amazing ancient healing powers of aligning Chakras, join us in our next Yoga Teachers Training Course 2012! Email to registration@rawfoodlifestyles.com to enjoy Early Bird offers & find out more.

A Yoga session is safe and powerful only when a Yoga workout is designed according to the ascending order of Chakras, especially for beginners. When the sequence gets disrupted, blind energy is released, and can be very harmful.

3) More than Yoga

Health and wellness is a holistic cycle with 3 spokes – Lifestyle (Yoga) + Diet (Living Foods) + Spiritual Development (Yoga)

When a person practices Yoga, and immediately after the session, goes out and eats French Fries, then the person does not know the why behind her Yoga.

Its like stepping on the accelerator and brake pedals together at the same time. Where do you want to move your vehicle? Where do you really want to move in terms of health – for the better or the worse?

Yoga is just one part; the other big part is Diet. You can do 10 hours of Yoga per week, but if you eat buckets of processed nutrient carcinogenic food, then it defeats the purpose.

At Light Love Laughter, our Yoga Smoothie Package is a one-of-its-kind program that gives you results. The first in Singapore and Asia (we suspect in the rest of the world too maybe), our Yoga practices comes complete with a Living Organic Smoothie – made with our in house recipe that proves to work. When you practice Transformational Yoga after drinking a glass of smoothie, your body has clean energy to perform the workout, detox faster, dumps all those toxins through perspiration. What’s more, you are actually injecting loads of first class nutrients into the most important asset of your life – your body.

Our intention of writing this article is to make you present to how to choose a class that best suits you, to identify a Yoga class that works for you. The 1 hour you spend in Yoga class comes from your precious life span, so spend it wisely.

(Email registration@rawfoodlifestyles.com with your name and contact no to experience a Trial Session with us now.)

We have students telling us that their years of “knots” and “aches” become better in just one session. Some tell us that even their physiotherapists cannot give them this kind of relief that they got in a practice with us.

So we urge you to select wisely the Yoga sessions you go to; investing in your body is the best investment you can do right now.

Besides, you are not monkeys, so don’t pay peanuts and receive peanut service.

© Copyright 2012 http://thelivingyoga.com/main.html
Light Love Laughter

Tags: raw & living foods, raw food diet, low fat recipies, raw food testimonials

Somehow the Demo Table looks different from the audience seats. It feels weirdly pleasant to even sit in the audience seats to face the Demo Table; my Demo Table – the same one that I had used to train hundreds of Singaporeans over the past 4 years, from young students, athletes, working adults, to grandparents to foreign raw food wannabes.

While one of the Trainee Teachers was explaining her demo, I was present to a scene when I just started sharing about raw foods to my friends, and they called me “crazy”. Another scene came where I offered my plumber a Green Smoothie, and when I told him I am going to be a Green Smoothie teacher he laughed and asked me to grow up.

After coming back from the States, I burnt a huge hole in my pocket ☺ I dug out all my savings for buying books, DVDs, the best raw food equipments. I imported every raw exotic ingredient that I came across to experiment.

It was already alarming enough to see a steadily depreciating net worth statement; coupled with people calling me mad, it was not exactly the most empowering situation.

My biggest strength is that I have the ability to create empowering contexts for myself in the face of any situation. I’m never intimidated by external circumstances; all I’m afraid of is myself. Because I know that the biggest enemy I have is myself, to master my world, my life, I need only to master myself, that is why I am a Yoga Teacher.

What happened between then and now, I suppose we can piece together with what we can read on the blog. The “what’s so” now is that people are queuing up for our workshops, press and media are coming, corporates calling us, advertising engines are approaching us; we have increasing students but not enough teachers.

And so Jolyn and I created the Ultimate Living Chef (ULC) Training Program – an integration of the previous Ultimate Living Weekend and a brand new intensive Chef training segment. The objective of each ULC is to train raw food Teachers that are better, more creative and more powerful than us.

These ULC Graduates will have a chance to join our Light Love Laughter Academy family as a new breed of bold, effective & powerful trainers. Together we will impact Singapore & Asia’s health in a way no other organization has ever come close to.

One of the questions that came up from a ULC participant is this “Are your ULC Certification backed by a local University or any Authority?”

In my conversation with her, this is what I said:

“All the established raw food authorities in the West, were set up by people with proven track record in living a raw food lifestyle. These people are usually the pioneers in their field; they were the ones who caused a change by being the change, in the face of no precedence.

When I trained with my teacher Alissa Cohen, she has a track record of training Hollywood celebrities. I wanted to join her team of teachers, but she told me she is not interested in Singapore and Asia, and she told me to come back and set up my own thing, she will back me up with referrals and testimonials should I require. So that’s what I did.

There is currently no universal certification authority on raw food certification, only more established and well recognized, highly sought after ones. Of course you can spend tens of thousands and travel to States to learn; another alternative is to train with us. In Singapore and Asia, I can boldly say we are totally qualified to start this certification. Why?

We have done it, we live our talk, we have successfully trained people onto the lifestyle, our students report better quality of life after implementing our content; we even have students doing new thriving businesses using what we taught them. Most importantly, we are committed to bring out the master in you; our aim is to make you better than us.

This track record is more valuable than anything because we are looking at facts.

For anybody new to raw foods, I suggest you choose wisely the people you train with. You want to train with the original people, the pioneers, go for the real deal; not the imitations.

Having said that, one of our objectives is to build a commercially viable entity that is spiritually conscious. We are building a new industry, a new market, and a new world, where passionate raw food teachers & yoga teachers make a more-than-decent living. So we only want to train with people who are serious, people who like us and see the value in us.”

Raw foods Teachers, as we always say in class, are very powerful people. It is much more than just going up to stage & whipping a yummy dish together. The impact stretches to the extent of saving lives; when you make a yummy raw vegan dessert free from harmful preservatives, processed sugars & starch, the person who eats your dessert has one less chance of eating unhealthy snacks. One less cancer-causing snack a day works out to 365 a year. You are actually quietly preventing somebody from getting cancer.

Now if you teach in a class of 30 people, and each of them has an average family of 3, you do the Math on the impact that you have on their lives☺

So, my purpose of writing this long article is to enroll you in our mission and our dream on contributing to humanity.

Have you experienced amazing benefits on Living Foods and would like to share it with others?
Are you passionate about making a difference to your loved ones’ health?
Have you been thinking about a career in Living Foods?
If you said yes to all that above, join us for our next upcoming Ultimate Living Chef Teachers Training! You will get to learn from all our experiences, our mistakes in an intense 3 days accelerated course; come and be amazed by how easy, fun and yummy it all can be.

To register, email your name, contact no and DOB to registration@rawfoodlifestyles.com now. The Feb batch is filling up fast, so hurry!

Click here for more details of Ultimate Living Chef

Tags: low fat recipies, raw food recipes, raw food health, low fat recipes

Why this is SO GOOD for you:

1) Yummy, crunchy and super fresh
2) Contains sprouted Teriyaki Sunflower Seeds (Raw) that supply Vitamin E for smooth skin
3) Sweetened with Raw Honey for extra nutrition
4) Contains crunchy Flax Crackers that supply Omega 3 for proper organ function
5) No processed sugar, therefore will not spike insulin levels
6) No preservatives - which are known to cause heart diseases and kidney failures
7) No table salt - bad for blood pressure and arthritis

S$20.80 (Includes carrot & radish shreds) for 2-3 people

“Pork Floss” WITHOUT the unhealthiness of deep fried pork or lard! Made with only Raw Coconut Flakes and Tahini, this Raw Vegan “Pork Floss” is for you to enjoy without guilt!

S$24.80 per 500g

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Tags: low fat recipies, low fat recipes, raw food health, raw food testimonials

Well, I wouldn’t really call a ‘downside’; but I would say it is more an observation that is good to be aware of. After eating mainly raw vegan for years, I noticed that my body has become more and more sensitive to everything in general – energies, radiation & irritants in the environment.

For eg. 1 sip of red wine makes me red from neck to ears, I spoonful of soup containing MSG gives me tight jaws and migraine, and a little bit of processed sugar turns me into a clockwork monkey.

As for static EMF radiation, my body’s threshold is lower than ever. Furthermore, our whole entire Light Love Laughter Team and me are Apple fans – Mac Books, Iphones, Ipads etc. (BTW in case you don’t know, Apple products have some of the highest EMF radiation!)

Before I knew about Grounding Cables, I had to run downstairs for fresh air every half hour in between working on my Mac. If I don’t do that, I’ll end up feeling sick & nauseous. Sometimes I even bring my Mac to the park, sit on the bench and plant my bare feet on the grasses in front. The challenge is that under the bright sunlight, it is not easy to see the computer screen.

We bought our first Grounding Cable from England, paying about S$80 in total after shipping. During our workshops we continue to share about the importance of Grounding. And eventually our students wanted to know where they could get cheaper alternatives.

Besides walking bare-feet on Earth/Sand/Grasses/Stone, we can also place our bare hands on trees. Some crystals like Black Tomlin also help to reduce the EMF accumulation. Lifestyle practices like Yoga Pranayams, Mantra, Tai Chi & Qigong can also give instant relief for EMF poisoning (a condition when EMF builds up to the point of making the person sick.)

And then into my life came this wonderful person: she is a multi-talented Yoga Teacher, Marine Diver, Engineer, Photographer, Logistics Expert and Website Manager. She has a heart of Gold, and hands that can Mold magic!

She is Light Love Laughter’s Founding Partner Jolyn Tan, my sister, best friend as well as soul mate. (I’m straight; soul mate means she understands me to the root of my imperfections and still loves me as a sister.)

One day after hearing me talk about Grounding in my workshops, she came up to me with a stack of scientific papers – all were documents and research of Grounding and its healing powers. I got so touched by that. Wow, somebody takes me so seriously that she actually went to all that trouble? Awesome!

That was more than a year ago. 4 months after we had our first conversation on Grounding, we did the first batch of LLL Grounding Cables that tested to be even more effective than the imported ones. And we got the packaging from the financially poor Hmong womenfolk in rural Chiangmai.

We developed the Grounding Cables with a few key objectives:

1) To make efficient Cables while lowering the cost so that our friends and students can buy at cheaper price than imported ones.

2) To give employment to those economically less developed or handicapped people.

3) To make Singapore & Singaporeans proud in that we are capable of being thriving entrepreneurs with spiritual purposes.

Since then, I became so much more efficient in my work because all I had to do is just strap my ankles with a Grounding Cable, and I could go on and on in front of my Mac, without nausea. Now I have 2 Cables – 1 in office which I REFUSE to share with anybody, the other next to my mat where I sleep at home.

The ways, in which this Grounding Cable can be used for our optimal health, as I’m now slowly discovering, are many. Let’s just look at a few:

1) Strapping it when we are charging our computer is a MUST because this is the time when EMF radiation bombards us left right center. When we strap ourselves onto the Cable, all the EMF is sucked right through the Cable into Mother Earth, and in return shooting up loads of negative ions, which balances our natural rhythm.

2) Strapping it when we are talking on a cell phone for more than 5 min. The moment I talk on my Iphone for more than 3 min, I feel my brain burning. It was as if the side of the brain that I’m putting the phone to had been put through ice cold electric shock.

3) Strapping ourselves when we are in the centre of a room filled with Plasma TV, Sound Systems, Printers, Projectors etc

4) Strapping ourselves at night when we sleep, and observe how sound and sweet the sleep becomes. We had student report that she could feel tingling pleasant energy travel from her arm (where the strap is attached) up to her forehead, giving a feel-good sensation. The next day she came back and bought 4 more as gifts for her friends.

I personally bought 6 from LLL as Christmas gifts to my various mentors; given the fact that I paid double for my first one, it would be insane not to buy at the current price!

5) Strapping during Yoga Nidra - a Yoga Practice where the body sleeps consciously and deep healing occurs. This is the time where Mother Earth’s electromagnetic frequency comes in and enhances the Nidra, making deep tissues recover faster, detoxifying old toxins back into Earth. The last time we strap on the Cables to the Yoga students during Nidra, we heard snoring almost instantly!

6) Grounding is also the fastest, cheapest way to relieve pain & depression. The next time somebody has a headache or any other pain, before reaching for painkillers or aspirins, strap on the Cable first. Most of the time, the pain goes away and then maybe there won’t be a need to poison yourself ☺

© Copyright Light Love Laughter Linda Loo

Tags: raw food testimonials, low fat recipes, raw food recipes, raw & living foods

Amidst distributing soft toys & candies to these people, we put together an impromptu performance with a guitar and live singing. While I sang and my friends strummed the guitar, many of the Home residents came up and danced along. Some even started to sing along, albeit to their own musical tones.

After teaching more than 10 workshops over 25 days, Christmas Day was a precious rest day, and I almost wanted to sleep in and back out of the visit. But was I glad to have gone for it; because the lessons I got were priceless.

1) These mentally undeveloped people have no Ego

They are not bothered by how people looked at them or think of them. They display their moods on their faces, and we know how they are feeling at first glance. They danced madly when we sang their favorite ballads. All they care about is having fun, connecting with their fellow resident friends and us.

2) They bear no grudges

One moment they are squabbling over a candy bar like little kids, the next moment they lock arms and dance wildly together like best friends. They are so much better than us on this because many a time we find it hard to forgive a loved one that had hurt us unintentionally with words.

I especially love the way they make up with each other after each disagreement. No punishing the other person, no bearing grudges, no ivory towers or ego, just plain forgiveness and once again being in the moment to enjoy each other’s company. If we all could be a little like them, how loving our lives can get!

2) They are always in the Present

There is no Past or Future for them. Whatever they are doing, they are extremely present. I was going to the restroom and passed by a middle aged resident, he stared at my water bottle with so much intensity that I thought my bottle would explode.

Another one who came up and shake my hand, kept shaking my hand for a good 5 min, all the while looking into my eyes, beaming and repeating “Hello! Hello! Hello!” – and he makes me feel like I’m the star of his universe, as if nothing else matters. It is such a precious gift to give our loved ones – the gift of being present, and being completely into whatever the person is saying or doing.

4) They are the happiest

Contrary to what society thinks, I have a feeling that they are the happiest people on the planet; contrary to the fact that they are mentally inferior. We ‘normal’ ones are probably the ones plagued with mental stress, because we have definitions of good vs bad, right vs wrong in life.

5) They allow us to be happy

By not having ego and fully expressing their happiness, they give us permission to also have fun and be ourselves too. It is difficult not to dance wildly when we have a roomful of child-like people singing and dancing like rock stars!

6) They are good enough; so is everybody else

While we were singing one of the songs, a few of them ran up to the stage and stand beside me, put their arms over us and sang along into the microphone. To them, they feel that the world loves to hear them sing, and when we sing, they clap their hands and swish around the stage like ballad dancers. In their world, they never question the value of their self worth, or the worthiness of others. Everybody is good; everyone deserves appreciation.

7) They are not afraid to show their affection

I was singing the song “I only care about you” by Theresa Teng, and this forty something lady rushed up stage and flung her arms around me, drew my left cheek in and start kissing me! I almost choked on the song because it was so hilarious. After she ran off, I could feel my entire left cheek wet from the kiss.

And 10 seconds later, she ran up again and kissed me again, this time she offered me her soft toy. I said no politely, and she offered me a candy bar! If only we can take a leaf from their books and learn to show affection to our loved ones too, regardless of whether we are going to face rejection; or continue to show our affection regardless of how the other person reacts to us. That perhaps is unconditional love.

They always look on the bright side of things

Some of the residents with a slightly higher mental development works as cleaners in the Home. One lady who cleans the toilet, came up to me and repeated 5 times to me – that she cleans all the toilets in the Home, and Christmas Day is her off day. She says the next morning she will start work again, and she is very happy to clean the toilet.

How many of us reading this now have a better job than cleaning toilets, and yet complain ceaselessly about our jobs, our boss, our colleagues?

9) Regardless how our bodies look, we can be happy

Some of them limp with one leg, because the other leg is half the normal size; some has underdeveloped arms; others wade about with uncontrollable actions. They are not a group easily ignored on the street. But they all have one thing in common – nothing stops them from being happy. They smile at you, put their arms (normal or deformed) around you and hug you, sing at you and dance around you.

The next time I have a pimple or sunburn, may I continue to remember that I can be happy regardless of how I look.

© Copyright Linda Loo

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