Challenge of 7 days of gratefulness

yping88

Currently, there is a special campaign going viral among my facebook circle, which is called 7 day challenge of gratefulness! The participants (Nominees) have to writing down 3 things they are truly grateful for everyday for 7 days. And each day, the participants need to nominate another person to join in the campaign.

I really love the idea that you can figure out at least 3 things each day to express your gratitude, and before you realize it, you will find yourself in a very happy place.

Here, I would like to extend my invitation to this forum. The potential nominees can write in either English or Chinese, whatever you feel comfortable with!

Here is my day 1 challenge of gratefulness!

yping88

Day 1 challenge of gratefulness:

1. The first thing I have been and always will be grateful for is my parents who brought me into this world and did their best to bring me up in the way they believed to be beneficial to my future. I have been grateful to my father (RIP in his very prime year) who never took one day off in order to fight against the extreme hardship to bring the food to the family table. To recall how difficult it was to raise a family in countryside China in the days gone by, my gratefulness to my father would become even so many, many times more. I have been grateful to my mother, who knows nothing about official education, for bringing me up for who I am today just by following her natural instinct. She sometimes went unbelievably strict to ensure I would turn out to be the person she thought I should be! I absolutely thank her for loving and nurturing me, for standing by me when I needed her financial and psychological support in an extremely tough era in Chinese history.

2. I have been grateful for my older siblings, who took up my father's role in protecting me, disciplining me and guiding me to a supposed-to-be direction. In particular, I thank my older sister for always being there for me whenever I fell into a vulnerable life phase! I thank her for acting a mother's role in showing me, even in her own teenage years, that we should be grateful to whoever that helped us to grow up, regardless of their approaches.

3. I have been grateful for the hardship I had been through in the years leading up to my early adult years. Because of those rough years, I got to practice how to survive the difficulties, how to reconcile with the unpredictable reality, how to put myself into someone else' shoes when called up on by the special circumstances, say while I am dealing with someone who got the similar humble background as mine. If at all, I have been acknowledged to be a resilient person, I would have those tough years to be grateful for!

Now, I would like to pass this challenge to my dear friend @MICHELLE07

yping88

Day 2 challenge of gratefulness

1.        I have been grateful to my husband of 23 years, who I first met at work when I just started exploring my professional world. It was him, who took on the mentorship to guide me in both my professional and personal life when my mother’s guidance seemed a little out of place. It was him, who first told me that we should be open-minded about the western culture and dig a little bit deeper into that civilization. I have been grateful that he has always seen eye to eye with me on my further professional growth abroad, even this meant his would be adversely affected. Over the last 7 years of my adventure in Australia, he has always been fighting shoulder to shoulder with me through the thick and thin. I have been grateful to his wholehearted assistance and generosity, which pulled me through both my university and post-graduation years.
I don’t believe it got said enough, but I will always appreciate the fact that I would never be able to achieve the above without my husband’s enlightenment, guidance, understanding and encouragement.  

2.        I have been grateful to my darling daughter, Zoe Guo, who has been nothing but an absolute delight in my life. As I have always spoken publicly, she has been the best thing that could ever happen to me. I have been grateful to her efforts to adjust herself quickly and wisely to this new culture totally different from the one she grew into her early teenage years in. I have been grateful to her determination in making her own pocket money ever since she was 15, to her voluntary commitment to St John’s ambulance service. For all the above, I thank you, Zoe Guo, for having done me the very proud!

3.        I have been grateful to all the assistance and best wishes my bosses, friends and significant others back home had offered me whenever I needed them. I came from a very disadvantaged background, I would forever appreciate those people who turned up in my life to bring me out of the dark when I got scared, to help me back on feet when I fell over, to pass on to me a piece of advice when I got confused, to believe in me when I felt unworthy, to consider me a valuable fighter when all the odds were against me. I have been even grateful to those who hadn’t acted as a role model in my life, because it’s them who let me know who I didn’t want to turn out to be.

Today, I would like to nominate my dear friend, @欢语 , to take on this challenge.

MICHELLE07

yping88 发表于 27-9-2014 20:17
Day 1 challenge of gratefulness:

1. The first thing I have been and always will be grateful for i ...

Cool, yping! I love your brilliant idea!  It's my pleasure for being invited in the first place!  
You are like a naughty fairy throwing sweets as well as bombs around Freeoz.... Your beautiful mind is full of sympathy,gratefulness and kindness, and your writing is outstanding as always!
Who dare challenge you?
However this is not a competition but a win win game, isn't it? Telling, sharing and everyone being happy!

I'll come back to you as soon as I can!

欢语

yping88 发表于 28-9-2014 22:32
Day 2 challenge of gratefulness

1.        I have been grateful to my husband of 23 years, who I first me ...

好啊，多谢提名。
1。谢谢那些让我开心的人，让我体验生命的乐趣。
2。谢谢那些让我痛苦的人，让我了解这个世界。
我提名@Mason00

yping88

欢语 发表于 29-9-2014 15:05
好啊，多谢提名。
1。谢谢那些让我开心的人，让我体验生命的乐趣。
2。谢谢那些让我痛苦的人，让我了 ...

That's a good start, @欢语

If you call this day 1, then you have six more days to go! And you have the entitlement to nominate six more people to get on with this campaign!

You are on board now, @mason00   

MICHELLE07

yping88 发表于 28-9-2014 22:32
Day 2 challenge of gratefulness

1.        I have been grateful to my husband of 23 years, who I first me ...

懂得感恩的人！幸福的人！yping。

对父母，丈夫和孩子，老板，同事和朋友的感激，深深理解！尤其是丈夫那一段，借我一用！

yping88

Day 3 challenge of gratefulness

1.        I have been grateful to the administration team in Hartford Hospital, CT, USA, for granting me a generous nursing scholarship to study in Hartford Hospital more than ten years ago. That truly gave me a head start to marching into the amazing journey to explore a different culture and different nursing environment. Among many of my friends in The States, I am especially grateful to Dr Charles Nightingale and his family, Bonnie Howard Nightingale, Peggy Bliss, Willa Bloch and her family, Kathy Emannulsen, Donna Rascal, Dadong Li and his family, Rhonda Anderson, for showing me what American hospitality and generosity were really about. While I was there for a whole year, they truly made Hartford a sweet home away from home for me. As a visitor depending on the hospital’s generous financial aid for an existence, I never felt being treated any different by them, but only supported and respected!  

Although my America dream has been replaced by an equally wonderful Australia one, I will forever hold dearly what America had offered me, I will forever be grateful to you all for inspiring me to hold onto what I have been fighting for, to be certain about where I should be heading for!

2.        Now, I get to express my whole-hearted appreciation to my adopt country, my beloved second home—Australia, where I have gained the true sense of what the freedom means—Australia, you have ticked all the boxes in freedom: Freedom of speech, freedom of religion and freedom of press!

I will be forever grateful to Australia immigration department for granting me a student visa 7 years ago, which opened the door to my amazing journey in this great country. I will be forever grateful to Australia customs for stamping my entry and welcoming me with open arms. I will always appreciate the lecturers and teaching assistants for easing me in both the environment and academic field. I will be forever grateful to the student organization in Adelaide for holding a huge rally to light up a candle night in the honor of the Chinese earth quack victims in 2008. I will be forever grateful to the authorities in UniSA for offering us special counseling services, for setting up a hotline dedicated to those who were affected. I will forever hold a special place in my heart for the mayor of Adelaide (2008), who joined us in grief, fighting against the chilly wind in Victoria Square for a vigil night in honor of our lost sisters and brothers! While the church knell rang the bell again and again, I realized that we were not in this alone, we were embraced by a wide Australia community, and we would by all means pull us all through the ordeal. Now, 6 years passed by, my memory for that touching event has never faded a bit.

Please allow me the privilege to shout out: Thank you all, Adelaide, my first sweet Australia home!

3.        I have been grateful to my first Australia employer—St Basil’s nursing home and it’s administration team: Lindy McBurnie, Donna Farley, who first showed me in reality Australia’s great value—Fair play, fair go. That’s then I realized I came to a country where employee’s performance will be equally recognized independent of their background, where employee’s effort will be truly respected regardless of their working role. I have been grateful to Lindy for assisting me in my private matters when I turned to her for help, for accommodating my working schedule in order to echo my academic activities, for taking a very favorable stand for me when I pursued different adventure in acute nursing care settings. I have been also grateful to Donna for providing clear answers to all my questions in nursing, for filling me in on Australia nursing system while I knew little about it, for standing by me whenever I needed her back-up.

I am grateful to you two for gaining me that sense of belonging in St Basil’s, for giving me that sense of security to fall back on whenever I felt vulnerable and insecure. You were both my rock!

Tonight, I would like to nominate my dear friend @Serin to take on the 7 days of challenge of gratefulness!

MICHELLE07

yping88 发表于 30-9-2014 00:23
Day 3 challenge of gratefulness

1.        I have been grateful to the administration team in Hartford H ...

哈！我也想艾特Serin的！我昨晚把七个人的名字都想好了，楼上的把其中两位抢去啦！我艾特的时候，准备提前把一顶高帽子给挑战者带上！



我的day1来了....

鉴于yping写的文采太出众、内容如此高大上伟光正，我准备绕开我本来想说的对父母、家人、雇主、师友的感激，从细微处矫情几句吧。三七二十一个感恩。。。




1. 感谢澳洲的阳光，你是我留在这里的全部理由。（之一）

2. 感谢这个自由的时代，言论自由，行动自由，思想自由。看看历史，生在二十一世纪，我们很幸运！

3. 感谢上天赋予我的一颗敏感的心，虽然因此而忍受了更多的负面情绪，但也能加倍体会喜乐幸福。既然天意如此，那就顺纳吧！




现邀请本论坛中英文俱佳古今皆通的性情中人，才子@doreadme  出场。

愚夫

MICHELLE07 发表于 30-9-2014 09:24
哈！我也想艾特Serin的！我昨晚把七个人的名字都想好了，楼上的把其中两位抢去啦！我艾特的时候，准备 ...

愚夫

              WANTED
===============

     @mason00

------------------------------
For $50
              --- @欢语

mason00

Thank God
I feel happy
My family is well

欢语

doreadme 发表于 30-9-2014 11:54
WANTED
===============

我就是艾特一下他，给他个感恩上帝的机会，怎会花钱通缉他呢
钱你自己出

愚夫

mason00 发表于 30-9-2014 12:40
Thank God
I feel happy
My family is well

完了？

愚夫

欢语 发表于 30-9-2014 13:37
我就是艾特一下他，给他个感恩上帝的机会，怎会花钱通缉他呢
钱你自己出

我已经从我自己钱包里，拿出了50刀，小心的放进了我的左上衣口袋里了。

因为某位伟人说过：结果不重要，重要的是过程。

欢语

感谢佛祖，今天因为努力，问题找到了答案。
@yeats_only

愚夫

@yping88 ，
There's only one pocket on my short sleeve shirt, it's on left up.
Most men's shirts could be in similar way...

Serin

I'm not sure if I can keep up for 7 days but this is my first one anyway.

We had juicy lamb cutlets in dinner perfectly cooked by my LD.
Our neighbour gave us a cheese cake topped with yellow peach slices this evening. My LD claimed it is head and shoulders above commercial ones. A great treat for my tomorrow's breakfast.
My parents are currently with us in visitor visa and it's good to see they enjoy the life here.

MICHELLE07

我的day 2 ：

1.  感谢小时候在公交车上遇到的一个神婆，她免费为我看手相，狂赞我是有福之人，在这个强大的心理暗示下，果然顺风顺水地“福气”了若干年。

2. 仔细一想，其实应该感谢我妈，感谢她把我生得“傻"，傻人有傻福，与手相无关！

3. 感谢高三时一个男同学，他帮助我释放出巨大的学习潜能，从而有了不一样的人生。真正的同学情谊，在如今浮躁富足的时代，弥足珍贵！

由此联想到FreeOz上的一位同学，也要好好感谢一翻，明天再细细道来。。。

MICHELLE07

欢语 发表于 30-9-2014 16:57
感谢佛祖，今天因为努力，问题找到了答案。
@Yeats_only

方便透露是什么问题吗？

帮你补一下艾特  @yeats_only

欢语

MICHELLE07 发表于 1-10-2014 09:08
方便透露是什么问题吗？

帮你补一下艾特  @yeats_only

这么随便就公布了吗？要等你有什么好玩的再和你交换

MICHELLE07

欢语 发表于 1-10-2014 09:38
这么随便就公布了吗？要等你有什么好玩的再和你交换

我以19楼的谜底，换你的谜底，如何？

欢语

MICHELLE07 发表于 1-10-2014 09:46
我以19楼的谜底，换你的谜底，如何？

你什么谜底？你的谜底我都知道，这个明显不划算

愚夫

Serin 发表于 30-9-2014 22:09
I'm not sure if I can keep up for 7 days but this is my first one anyway.

We had juicy lamb cutle ...

Hi mate, we are on the same page -- 'parents are currently...'.

Have you made any special plan to make the life here more enjoyable to them?

yeats_only

MICHELLE07 发表于 1-10-2014 09:08
方便透露是什么问题吗？

帮你补一下艾特  @yeats_only

偶见到@~就飞奔过来鸟~~~
第一天的感恩
阳光--第一次觉得阳光异常珍贵~是在柬埔寨~当经过漫长黑暗等待后看到的第一道曙光~当夕阳斜照顷刻间夜幕降临~
水--以前粑粑说我洗澡墨迹~我绝对是呲之以鼻的~后来去支教~干净的水是要排队等的~洗澡是要开三个小时车的~虽然我现在还很墨迹~但是明白了珍惜~
空气--刚来凸凹的时候老是头晕~后来他们告诉我~那是醉氧~看飞机起落窗外的对比图~想如果风可以带点好质量的空气回国就好了~万民和乐~就不会有那么多大妈来抢房子抢奶粉了~

Serin

doreadme 发表于 1-10-2014 09:54
Hi mate, we are on the same page -- 'parents are currently...'.

Have you made any special plan  ...

They are enjoying the food and the environment.

愚夫

Serin 发表于 1-10-2014 10:04
They are enjoying the food and the environment.

That's fair enough.
We had a long day to Canberra on past Sat, and it's not so exciting. To make something special, I got some wine yesterday evening and made them drunk, haha...

Will head to the Great Barrier Reef with a group of their friends from Mel this weekend, life become a bit restless.

Oh yes, there's a Festival in Eastwood NSW on Sat 17 Oct, not sure if you guys are close or not...

欢语

感谢论坛上的某人一直以来的支持，督促我做了很多我做不到的事情。
@chubbycat

yping88

Day 4 challenge of gratefulness

1.        I have been grateful to my colleagues in XXX Hospital for leading me to the cardiology land, for guiding me through my transition from a total different nursing world to Australia’s, for being tolerant of me while I was taking my time putting behind my habitual approaches and picking up the brand-new ones.
Particularly, I have been grateful to my first boss in cardiology, who showed her faith in me and granted me the opportunity in exploring the cardiac nursing. Otherwise, my nursing adventure would have been totally different, and the odds for me to fall madly in love with my Australia nursing career wouldn’t have been this promising. For every good reason, I thank you, Chris Rasmussen, for being generous in supporting me, for recognizing some cardiology elements in me and pushing me further to pursue higher cardiac nursing education.
Having guided my career to the most promising direction, having assisted with my permanent Australia residency, you have never shown a tiny hint suggesting that my existence in Australia should be attributed to anyone. For the years I had worked over there, I had never felt being patronized, being belittled or being disrespected in any way. I don’t believe I will ever be able to stress this enough, but, Chris, you have played an enormous part in my decent existence in Australia then and onwards!!!  

2.        Now, my gratitude extends to Coleen Scully in BBB, who I had a brief phone chat with before I was employed by Southern Health. I called telling her I was unable to attend the job interview she booked me in due to my signing the contract with XXX. Instead of saying anything upsetting, Coleen wished me good luck in my new job and hoped that I could settle down smoothly in Melbourne.
Just that brief phone conversation impressed me so much that I had been always fascinated with the curiosity: What a nice boss Coleen could be? With this question in mind, I started my casual work with BBB and I finally got to meet her in person. My first impression for her was: She is as nice as she sounded on the phone. After two years of casual work, my interest in working in Box Hill had only grown stronger and stronger, and then, I made a decision with an extremely heavy heart to farewell my beloved friends in XXX and joined in the cardiology team in BBB.
I have been grateful to Coleen for what she brought out in me, for the challenges  she put me up for, for seeing the potentials I had never realized I could have had in me.
Coleen, thank you for pushing me to my personal best I could ever be! And I wish you the very best in your new adventures! I strongly believe that whatever you set your mind on, you will have it and nail it!

3.        I have been grateful to my workmates who have made my daily routines in nursing more satisfactory, more joyful and more rewarding. Thank you all for presenting yourselves as a competent professional, for proving what a team-player a nurse should be, for showing me how to work cooperatively with people from different background, for paying patients from different culture with the very respect, for taking on a non-judgmental and professional approach to patients from all walks of life, for correctly interpreting what the professional conducts are all about.
I wouldn’t name any of you in here, even though I almost couldn’t help myself doing so, just in case you probably let it go to your head (Haaahaaa) and get lost in too much pride (Haaahaaa). However, I would like you all to know that you are always every good reason for me to turn up for work, to enjoy every minute of nursing, to look forward to assisting any patient that might knock on our door!!!
Now, may I have the privilege to nominate my dear friend, @西澳瓶鼻海豚  , to take on 7 days of challenge of gratefulness!

MICHELLE07

yping88 发表于 1-10-2014 22:15
Day 4 challenge of gratefulness

1.        I have been grateful to my colleagues in XXX Hospital for lead ...

oh, dear!!!!  海豚！I was about to call him!!! 为什么我们老是撞车？