Gloria's Blog

On New Year’s Eve, me and my friend Jason set out for a mini adventure. We went on the street and asked strangers one question, “If you could change one thing in 2018, what would you change?” We asked nine people, including a couple from San Francisco, a backpacker from Spain, a homeless artist in front of a Starbucks, a couple under Ferris Wheel, a daddy taking daughter in a chocolate shop, a fisherman by the lake, an Uber driver. We videotaped everything, and made it into a documentary. Here are six things I learned from this mini adventure: 1. We asked nine people. Nine people answered. People are nicer than you thought. Well, I can’t ensure everyone will get 100% success rate at any time :) Win people’s trust is one of my strengths. Later, Jason told me his observation: my gesture of approaching people, how I open a conversation, how I pause after asking questions, how I listen. But I still think my seemingly innocent chubby face might be the biggest successf...

I have written a series of six blogs related to the happenings in Christmas 2017. This is the second one. This piece is dedicated to a good friend, Li, and his girlfriend, who actively and tirelessly organize activities for the Chinese community in Seattle. You are sharing your love to each other to warm and light up the community. Thank you! *** I have a friend in Seattle. His name is Li. We are not super close (yet), maybe a bit more than colleague. Li and his beautiful and sweet girlfriend are good people, and, very social. They love to organize drinks, dinner, all kinds of fun activities for the Chinese community in Seattle. I have been to a few. Usually, I need to try very hard to enjoy “just for fun”, unless I am under alcohol… I tend to seek meaning before and when doing things, maybe too much. Going to parties and talking about general, daily, random things, are not my favorite things. But sometimes life can be hard. For example, during Christmas. I have b...

Last December, I attended an amazing training - High Performance Training sponsored by my amazing employer Microsoft. It answers why and how the most elite masters in each field achieved what they have achieved - in sports, business, arts, etc. The training empathized the importance of mindfulness, positive thinking. During the training, they introduced a challenge, "To write down three good things that have happened everyday, for 30 days." I was inspired, and decided to do it with a friend. We made it through. We didn't expect it to be such a profound experience. ***** Here are ten things I learned from the 30-Day-Challenge. 1. Today’s happiness can only be appreciated today. We don’t remember yesterday well. One day we forgot to do it. It’s very hard to think three things that have made you happy yesterday. So live in the moment.  2. It’s not easy to stick to it for 30 days. Probably anything for 30 days.  We need discipline to do that. I tol...

You may question: wow, are you seriously trying to answer this ultimate life question? Well, nope. Today I want to share a moment when I felt "This is why life is worth living". If you know me, you know I love asking questions. Not everybody loves to answer. I get it. I have a friend, his name is Jason. Jason likes to answer questions. My questions too. He often gives thoughtful answers. The other day, I asked him, "This is a big one. Why life is worth living?" He said, "The meaning of life is in the pursuit of its meaning.". That kind of abstract philosophic answer. I didn't particularly like this answer. But I know the flaw is in the way I asked. So, I wrote him an email, shared with him this moment. After reading the email, Jason encouraged me to share this moment with my readers. So here we have this blog. *********** To: Jason This noon, I asked you an awkward question "Why life is worth living?" It...