Left

Well, this has been a turbulent week. Yes, I have left the centre but not on a happy note. Anyway, I have some fault in it and should have taken more initiative and leaving the centre unexpectedly, was the result of it. I love the centre a lot especially the people. I feel a bit sad that I am leaving the centre so much so I almost cried thinking about it (ALMOST, I did not actually cried ok). :) But what's done is done, and time to move on. Maybe the Universe wants me to leave now so that I can pursue my dreams and this is the only way it found that can make me leave the centre otherwise I would have been there till the end of the year. :)

When the people heard that I am leaving, they are very surprised and they asked me to come back and see them often. I wonder what would their reaction be when they heard why I was leaving. But I shan't go into that and I do not want to know. :) I did build a lot of strong bonds with people, for example, the admin people there (those that have been there all along since my day one there, oh I will remember to invite you'll to help out in my wedding, as promised :P), some of the researchers in my project and not in my project. So yes there is a lot of emotional attachments there. But like I mentioned just now, it is time to leave. Leaving now might land me in my dream job since we really do not know about the economy six mths later. Now at least the job market is good so hopefully I can find a job soon, and kick off a new chapter in life.

I guess the training at the software company have to stop. Although the money is good but there is too much instability there, I need to look for something more stable so that I can provide security for my close ones (both present and future :P), at least until my websites are doing well. :) So I guess less interaction with people now and the chance to see more of the world. Well, what to do, I might have taken the current lifestyle for granted.

Losing this job hurts only when I think of the people that I am leaving behind in the centre. Funny thing is that when I learnt of the news that the special someone is leaving, I did have the intention to leave the centre as well but I could not give up on the training opportunities and staying at the centre was giving me stability (or so it seems) and I cannot bear to leave the friendship that I have built up there. But in the end, I did leave earlier than her.

Well, maybe the moment when I learnt she is leaving, my business at the centre should have been done, and I SHOULD have left and the Universe made me do it, by hook or by crook (and it chose by CROOK! Hahaha!) Looking back, I guess my 'life' purpose in coming to this centre is to make five best friends in the centre (one of them have left already and one of them does not work in the centre), learnt more about meditation (which I am practising now) and to meet that special someone, her.

Well, I have no idea what relationship are we sharing also but all I can say is that we are friends (by her definition) and I am fine with it. It is part of the process of letting go, all I have is a strong belief that we will be together some day. At least the last few days, when she learnt that I am leaving, she is not that 'cold' compared to those days when news of my departure was not 'broadcast'. To lose my job but see such a positive change, I think it is worth it. :P Some people may say that this is really irrational but hei, when is love rational in the first place?

The fact that both of us are leaving the centre around the same time, seems to me, have a hidden msg and I feel the msg was to reaffirm my, already strong, belief. I just strongly feel that we will be together some day.

Well, there are a lot of lessons learnt this week. My last day in the centre was filled with sadness, because I am leaving so many friends behind, and also happiness, because I finally see a change in attitude towards me, from her (and that matters a lot!). Time to let go the past and move on in life! Next stage, JOB HUNT!

Cheers!

Thinking Business

Hmmmm....... I seem to be doing a lot of thinking lately. Haha, judging from my blog entries, I have been writing almost everyday, for the month of June. Well, it has been an emotional month for me. Anyway, let's not go into that :) Griping about it is definitely not part of letting go.

What I want to talk about is an incident yesterday. Met up with some friends yesterday and chat a bit about using the Internet for business purposes. Very funny leh, I seem to be 'consulting' people who are already in business while I still do not have anything to show for. Haha! This tells me something, as long as what you say makes sense to them, they will believe you. :P

Now when thinking through business, it is not really like thinking a scientific question where usually there is one path to the answer (correct me if I am wrong pls) because of all the laws and theorems that are formulated or found out. When you are thinking about doing business, you have to think of several areas at the same time. The reason why this is so is because the moves that you take in one area will affect how other areas of business will run and it is never a one way traffic. The effect runs both ways so you can see one decision you take in an area will affect the whole business environment, and to make it more challenging, you have to think in terms of iterations sometimes. For instance, if you make a marketing campaign, then you have to worry about the logistics (like getting the goods to distributors or the free gifts, if any) and hope that the logistics process would not have any problem, and if there are problems, what are your back up-plans and this back-up plan is it suitable for the amount of manpower that you have and many many more. So you can see, the implications can be large for one decision you make in an area.

That is why I like the business arena because it really put your brain to the challenge and because of the large implications, there is no way you can run away from getting knowledge from all areas of business, which means more learning! YES! Anyway, the discussion I mentioned on top is good, it has sharpen my business acumen and thinking as well. Sometimes, I myself am amazed what I said. Haha!

Cheers!

Letting Go Again

End of the first day now, although I have resolved to let go off the past, but I still have a bit of problem comprehending what it really is. I guess like I said before (or did I?), there is so much we can absorb from books for a certain topic, but when you execute it, it is a totally 'different' thing.

The concept of letting go was brought to my attention by a friend, but I just within the two words, there is so much wisdom there. I can comprehend the part that can be explained by words, for instance letting go means not to be affected by it emotionally, or in other words, not be emotionally attached to it. But I believe it is not that simple. There are more to it. For example, so do we still talk about the past? When we talk about it, are we able to stay a 'distance' away from it so that it will not affect us emotionally and so on. Yes, these are some of the 'truth' I need to seek and they can only be seek through practise or someone who has a higher level of wisdom. (Not that I am saying you are not wise ah, gd fren.) At least for today, I am confident I have successfully 'torn' away from any emotional linking when the person was mentioned.

Actually come to think of it, today when I met the 'passionate' man, I did not experience any anger at all. It is very calming when I saw him, but to answer the question you have right now, I do not have any intention to make up and be friends with him. Nope! :)

The strange thing is that once I have decided to let go, the faith that I have, has gotten stronger than ever before. I can feel that this faith is very different from the one that I have previously. Again just in case you are wondering, I am still sane. :) Just that I began to see things more clearly now. (Maybe wiser? Haha!) This faith is one of happiness compared to the previous faith where I still happy but there is also a tinge of sadness as well.

I guess since I have decided to let go, I will now go back to developing my spiritual self, which I have been neglected since the news broke out to me. Meanwhile let's enjoy flowing down the Stream of Time and see where it would lead me, although I already know two of the destinations.

Cheers!

New Lease of Life

Well, today is the start of a week and also a start of another chapter in my life. I resolve to let go off the past and stay focus on what I can do, with what I have at the moment and enjoy flowing down the Stream of TIME.

Also want to take the opportunity to thank all the people who have bought me the birthday gift. It is a gift of wisdom in my opinion, a very valuable gift. I hope I am able to comprehend the deep wisdom in it. Haha! Will take some time to figure out but I am sure I would love the whole process of thinking through it. :)

And I just realised that those who have bought me the birthday gift are non-Singaporeans. Where have all my Singaporeans friends gone to? Or have I been hanging with my non-Singaporean friends so often that Singaporean friends have been neglected? Haha! Whatever the case maybe, it is the thoughts that count. Thanks for all the wishes and the birthday gift once again.

Back to work and UANG!! Cheers!

Interesting Sights on Sunday Morning

Time really flies, it has been a week already since the housewarming at my good friend's place. What a great card game we have. Haha, I was almost eliminated twice but with some luck and skill I manage to avoid it. A pity there was no mahjong session though. Can we have one soon? My hands are really really itching leh. Haha!

Anyway, I was able to go jogging although I spotted some rain clouds but being positive and really want to jog since I only set aside a small amount of time for exercising, I went ahead. Well usually once u get into a schedule, the sights and sounds are always the same. For example, everyday when you go to work, you will meet the same people and the same bus driver and so on.

Today, things are a bit different, I saw something very normal but interesting to me, at least. The scene is that I saw the husband bringing his pregnant wife to the park, where I usually jog. Well, like I said it is normal, right? But come to think of it, I seldom see couples doing that leh. Hmmmmm.... The couple that I saw are from China. The pregnant wife was walking quite slowly with the husband at the side holding her hands and giving her support. Yah come to think of it, I should remember to do that when it is my turn. The morning air is always fresh and would be good for the pregnant wife and the baby. And I heard a healthy mother, during delivery would have less pain as well. So yah, I should remember to do that. Oh when the pregnant wife, got tired of walking, they choose to sit down at the park bench. Now now, the husband, then began to massage the legs of his wife. Can see the wife was a bit embarrassed when her husband did that but she seems to be enjoying it too. Haha! So yes, I learnt something from this couple.

After the jog, I need to get breakfast, now usually I do not take too much notice on what is going on in the market, but this time round I did pay a bit more attention to the surroundings in the wet market. It is the usual scene where a lot of people having their breakfast of porridge, Lor Mee, Kway Chap and many more. The best part is I even saw someone taking Char Siew and Roast Pork Rice for breakfast. *Faint* Early in the morning eat something so heavy and oily, good for health meh? I think Singaporean really need to be educated more in the health aspect leh! Especially on Diet and so on. Stop focusing on preventing certain disease, there are like so many thousands of illness and disease, how to finish educating the public on prevention. Should start focusing on having a healthy body by focusing on having the correct diet and exercise regime. Now that is even deeper, into the root of all problem.

Well, my estate is quite old already and wet markets are not very popular with the younger generation of Singaporeans anymore. That explains why you see a lot of senior citizens having their regular coffee and weekly gathering at the coffeeshops or hawker centres. Well I came across a senior citizen that refuse to be old. How I know? Well, just look at the amount of makeup she put on her face. Not to be disrespectful but if you gently tap on her face, you could catch yourself in a snowstorm. I am not kidding. It is really that thick.

I really do not see the need of focusing on the external appearance. It is suppose to age, there is no way you can fight time. The only appearance that can go against the natural forces of time is your internal appearance. The more wisdom and knowledge you have inside (assuming you will be using them as you grow older), the more 'beautiful' you will be as time passes by. Food for thought? :)

Well that is all the interesting sights that my eye took in for this Sunday, with the first sightings more valuable, in my opinion. Cheers!

Through and Through?

Well, finally have the whole Saturday to think things through. A few weeks ago, I wanted to let go off a relationship but later on I receive news that made me psychologically unable to let go and in fact I cling on more to it, creating more trouble for myself.

But now I am going to try something really 'crazy'. Armed with only a strong belief, I am going to let go off this relationship for the last time. Letting go this relationship is going to take a lot of effort since I am not going to make a conscious effort to establish any communication channels with the person anymore. Nope. We shall go on our 'separate' ways and if our paths crossed again, which will be again, we shall see what happen.

Now is to make a conscious effort to make peace with the strong attachment that I have with the relationship and slowly reduce it to the minimum. :) Talk is cheap and action is where all the value is. So now is to take action and manifest what I wrote here.

Next stop, career path planning, I seem to have lost focus here. Well, I shall not blame anyone but put the blame squarely on me. So now things are sorted on the one side, now is to plan and maintain focus on what I need to do to realise the dreams that I have.

Oh another thing, I strongly recommend readers to watch "Night at the Museum" By Ben Stiller and "Pursuit of Happyness" by Will Smith. There is a hidden msg for us guys (I mean male hor) inside, especially those that have a family.

Cheers! :)

What do you mean it is different? They are the same thing!

As we grow older, the definition of words can really change although they are refering to the same thing. For example, when we say happy, the extent of happiness can be different for different people. Well, all along I have understood of such things. That the same word can mean different thing to different people. But alas I still fall into the trap. In the end, I ended up creating an illusion that I have been trying to grab on for such a long period of time.

Well what to do? I think I should just take in the fact that it is an illusion, stop grabbing it, let go and really move on with life now. Move on, Brother! And you get out of my life! Shoo! Thank you Universe for making me realise it and not be trapped by it.

Cheers! :)

What should be the Title?

Haha, cannot think of a title for this post so I gave the question as a title. Innovative right? Haha! Anyway, I am feeling good now, although with a few occasional relapse, cos I am trying to make peace with the negative emotions inside me so will take time but overall I am feeling good now.

Well, very fast it is going to be a week since the birthday celebration at my friend's place. But memories of what happened and the proceedings are still so vivid in my brain, the details and colors are still so alive, come to think of it, all the times that I have spent with the special someone are still in my brain.

I wonder would there be another chance to taste the cakes that she bake, have a meaningful chat with her, prepare her a drink and ...... Woah! Stop stop. Haha! But hei, as my friend always say, life is impermanent, so there is hope that such things will happen in the future! Start believing strongly it will happen. Haha! :)

Well the weekend is here again. And yes, u might have guess it, not much to look forward to. But I think will not be working on my website. I planning to just laze around and catch up on my readings and watching some videos on my favourite topic, Chinese History and Philosophers! Yeah! Oh yes, this is the last weekend before the dreaded 2% in GST increase. Haha! Spend Spend!

After writing so much, you would think I have not been writing something meaningful right? Well here it is, these few days, there have been talk about that the age limit to draw out the CPF will be raised to 65, so as to be in line with the legal retirement age. Well well, I personally think it is not a gd move. To tell you the truth, I never believe in CPF as my money. As I told my good friend before "Only those that I can control are mine, those that I cannot control is never mine at all." So as you can see I never think that CPF is my money. I cannot even control when I can use it, when I can take out and how much I can use it and so forth, how can you say it is mine? And why should I wait for the legal retirement age to take out my CPF, so that I can have money to retire? Ridiculous, I rather retire ASAP if circumstances allow. So that I can have all the time in the world to spend with my family, travel around the world when my 'machine' is still in tip-top condition, do my own intellectual pursuits, and do some charity work. Why should I depend on CPF? Depending on it means I am ceding some control of my life to it, which I simply refuse to submit to.

My suggestion to people is that, do not treat CPF as your money. Instead see it as a bonus. Do not see it as your wealth, see it as the govt give u money to buy house. Also see it as the govt give you money to see doctors. (Although I prefer they let me use CPF to pay for supplements, prevention is better than cure mah.) By not treating your CPF as your money, it makes your life easier. Don't put CPF in your retirement plans. If the circumstances allow, work hard and smart to get more income sources, retire early and when you reach the age (which I will not know since the govt keeps on increasing the age), the extra money can be used to see more of the world or do some charity work. :) Get what I mean?

That is all for now! Enjoy the weekend! Cheers!

'Damaging' Mood

Very strange thing happen today. Remember the saying "Getting out from the wrong side of the bed". Usually when someone say that, that means his mood is very foul on that day and he is extremely irritable and nasty. And usually a lot of wrong and bad things will happen to that particular person, for instance, bus came late, boss scold him, girlfriend slap him and so on.

Today, I also feel like I have gotten out from the wrong side of the bed, although I always get off on the same side, haha! But nothing nasty happen to me, or at least till now, haha! Just that my mood is foul and easily irritable and just feel very sarcastic. That is why I tried to stay away from the crowd today. Go to a place and then come back to my office, self-isolation. Haha! Except during lunch time, haha, someone really got it very bad from me. This is really the first time I am experiencing this leh, never before did I have such a foul mood and simply feel very sarcastic.

I guess you can see it, haha, foul mood already how come still can laugh so much in the blog. Well no idea leh. I was able to have a foul mood and maintain a happy disposition. Strange hor! :S

Well, I just want to end the day early today. So looking forward to knocking off. Haha!

Cheers!

Where did that come from? :)

Remember I mentioned that human are always in a learning process but is at different position of the many learning curves he is in. Haha. The internet has been around for many years now, but human race is still very green to the effects of the internet.

Because of the Internet now, communication and organization can be better but messier as well. At my workplace, with the internet, colleagues are planning birthday celebration right under the nose of the birthday boy or girl. Haha, can you imagine that? You can say there are a lot of 'undercurrents' flowing through in the Internet.

Yesterday, there is also a news on cyber-bullying where last time, before the internet, or during my time, bullying was 'simple', most of the time it was physical abuse and the psychological damage of taunting and teasing was small as well. Now with the younger generations learning how to build websites and also the process of building one is much simplified, compare to the initial stages, bullying now takes a higher level. The taunting is now on the Internet, worse thing is once it is on the Internet, no matter how you remove it, there would be traces of it lying around in some server. So the psychological damage actually multiplied because of that.

How do we tackle such problem of abuse then? I personally believe in education, educating the young on what is good and what is bad, of course, things are never straightforward in this world, otherwise all Singaporeans can score As in their life throughout. But there are still fundamentals that are never violated in determining what is good and bad, for example doing harm to a person is definitely bad and so on. Then a proper judgment system has to be instilled onto the kids so that they can make the right judgment call themselves. Well of course, talking is easy but I really hope that the schools and parents work together on it, rather than wasting energy squabbling whose responsibility it is. Let me put things straight, BOTH have responsibility so SHUT UP and work something out together.

The Internet has brought fast changes to our lifestyle and habits, so if you'll want to spend time squabbling on something like this, I really fear for the future generations of Singaporeans. Think about it!

Cheers.

Starting your day well

Well, I think most of us would want everyday to be smooth sailing and nice, without trouble, the best would be not working, right? Haha! So how do we actually start our day well since most of us said that a great beginning is half the battle won?

There are several things you can do and it only needs five minutes of your time. How? Very simple, every morning, when you wake up, STOP scolding the alarm clock. :P It has nothing against you. You set the timing to wake up. If you do not scold the alarm clock, good for you. Open you eyes, take a deep breath and say "GOOD MORNING!" and smile. Then feel the positive energy that runs through your body.

Next, do not immediately step our of bed and go through your morning rush. The next thing you should do is visualize how a perfect day would be for you today. For example, the presentation that you are giving run very smoothly and you clinch the million dollar contract for your boss, or the lady that you have a crush on suddenly approach you to............. borrow an eraser, HAHA! Well, up to you lah, only you yourself will know how a perfect day would be like for you. Then think of all the happy memories that you have recently or visualize yourself living in your dreams that you want to achieve, fill yourself up with positive feeling.

Once you are fill 'to the brim' with positive feeling, the next thing is to ALWAYS focus on the positive side of things to come, for the rest of the day. Any lapse can be dangerous as after the lapse, you might find yourself in a downward spiral because of the change in focus. Oh, and remember to step out of the bed and go through your morning rush. :P

Hopefully this will make your day better. At least it did for me. Cheers! :)

Blogging Thoughts

Haha, suffering the after effects of two day of feasting and unrestricted eating. Now stomach feel a bit queasy. :P Anyway, let's not go into that, I do not think the readers are interested in how I suffer anyway. Right?

Today, my good friend point out something to me. She said my blog bring her laughter and joy which I am glad it did because that is one of the purpose of this blog. :) To put in all my good memories and share it with my friends and as for bad memories, I share it with someone who can handle the effects of it. Haha! After I went through my previous blog entries, I feel that it really was a good idea to start writing a blog. Now of course, loyal readers may say, didn't you use your blog inappropriately quite a few times? Well, all I can say that we are always in a learning process, we are always moving up a learning curve. The initial excitement of using or learning something is that you can feel the adrenaline rush because for most normal learning curve, it is very steep at the start but it slowly plateau off and the rate of increase in knowledge, using a particular kind of drop. So after writing blogs for close to two years, I must say I am still learning the effect of what blog can bring to my life and the life of readers as well. And thanks to a friend for pointing out, the events that occurred because of inappropriate use is actually a blessing in disguise.

To me now, a blog is one that will chronicle my life, the lessons I learnt, the major events that took place in my life and the impermanent environment that I am in. The future like I said is unpredictable but how we create the future greatly depends on how we use the lessons we have learn in the past to help us. So yes, sometimes it would be nice to record the events in your life on a blog to remind you and maybe your future generations, the lessons you have learn. But one thing to take note is that what you are written can be read by anyone with internet access, so practise some caution. :)

You might want to consider writing the journey you and your spouse took, if possible, when and where both of you first met, first date and many more. So when you'll turn old and go through it, I am sure both of you will be smiling for some time, and further cherish the relationship that took so many years to built.

Cheers!

Happy Happy Birthday! :)

Well I guess a lot of readers are expecting this blog entry (or so I hope :P). Well the weekend is over, and I have a SUPERB time. It has been quite a while since I thoroughly enjoyed a weekend! Catch up with good friends, spend and celebrate birthday with good friends, and there is someone special this time round to make it one of the BEST birthday ever spent :)

Well, even though I have to buy the cake to celebrate my own birthday, but never mind, it is the time spent that matters. Like I mentioned before in my blog, this will definitely be a birthday that I will never forget. Thank goodness for all the coinciding circumstances and me being proactive. :P Haha!

Anyway, just want to take the opportunity here to say thank you to everyone who send their well wishes to me. These wishes make this birthday far better than the other 28 birthdays that I have. Thank you once again! :) And also HAPPY BIRTHDAY to those that are born in June!

Cheers!

52 Weeks +1 Day = 1 Year

Had a great dinner last night, because I went to Glutton Square (beside Esplanade) for the Hokkien Mee and the Fried Oyster Omelette, and the best thing is that because it is treated by someone, the food taste even better. Haha! I would recommend readers to try the food there. It is very nice, and all the more, when you have gd company and Mother Nature decide not to water the plants that day.

Later going to a good friend's place for housewarming. Will be going out soon and I do not intend to work during this short period of time so decide to blog a little (I think 'a little' is an understatement, haha!). Anyway, we all know that for a particular date, for instance 14 March 2006, falls on a Tuesday, so 14 March 2007 would fall onto Wednesday, except for leap years where the dates after 28 February would move down the weekdays by 2 days and those before 28 February would move down the weekdays by 2 days in the year after the leap year. So today 17 June 2007 falls on a Sunday, so last year it fell on a Saturday instead. Now where was I during that day? Oh, I went to Kino to get a birthday gift, and I did receive a birthday gift, in the form of supplements, haha! Oh well, I give someone one the gift of knowledge and someone gace me a gift of gd health. Haha!

I always like going Kino, and it really makes me feel so at home, although I never did sit down and read a book there though. Haha! Just that I always think it would be nice to have a mini library of my own and being there kinds of give me that. Well, you may ask, what about borders and Times and MPH? Well, it does not give me any cosy feeling when I am at those place. Besides, these three bookshops does not have Chinese books at all. Sucks lor. Unless they are offering deep discounts or have a book that I am desperately looking for (which is seldom the case), then you would not catch me there. How about PageOne then? The one found at Vivocity, it is a bookshop that is for the Arts Scene in Singapore although there are a large variety of book, but somehow or rather, it does not appeals to me as a bookshop, with all its 'artistic' decors. To me, seems like a museum rather than a bookshop. Call me traditional, but I still prefer a traditional looking bookshop, with proper shelves, well stocked with all kinds of books.

Come to think of it, I never did mentioned the bookshop scene in Singapore before, so hei, my first time! I only mentioned the bookshop scene in Taiwan. Haha! Anyway, those are the thoughts.

Cheers!

Looking forward to the weekend

You know something? This is the first time I am looking forward to the weekend since don't know when. :) Weekend to me is always a time where I need to work harder for my websites and business and also contemplate what I need to do for the coming week.

But this weekend is very different. Not just because my birthday is coming. That is only one of the two main ingredient that makes this weekend something to look forward to. :) And the turn of events make this coming birthday even more important. I hope my coming birthdays would be as special as this year's birthday.

My birthday's are usually dinner with family and a cake (Make it chocolate man! Haha!). Well, I am a simple person so usually I do not ask for much. Because I also do not want to trouble my family too much. Friends? Well, haha, I have no idea leh, maybe I was not active at all during my school days or I am not a handsome man, so not many people remember my birthday. The greetings that I receive are few but I am fine as long as my friends remember to call me for gathering or outing. That is more important. Girlfriend? Eh..... u joking with me is it? :P

Oh now I remember, the last time I look fwd to a weekend was that time when I eagerly waited in front of the computer on Saturdays. Haha, loyal readers of the blog would know what I am refering to. Yes, that was the last time I look fwd to a weekend. Otherwise weekend is just time to catch up my reading and working on the websites that I have. Nothing special lor :)

Well the weekend will be here in 10 mins time. Waiting patiently for it. I am sure the events during this weekend would be unforgettable as the events that happen during the Greatest Week.

Cheers!

Greediness

Well, I finish my newspapers quite early today on the bus so have some time to contemplate about life again. I was looking fwd to the weekend especially Sunday. But then I receive an email and it kind of make me feel a bit down for quite a while because things was not going as expected. But I manage to recover through it by not focusing on it. But then I need to reflect upon my past mah, so that was the main topic of contemplation.

If you had noticed, I actually used the word 'expected', which means that I have some expectations and thing were not going to what I expected which explains why I was down. But when I further break down the expectations that I have, the root of the problem was greediness. I had wanted more. Well you could say there was some miscalculation when I planned the event but hei, all men are not infallible mah. Anyway, if I switch from another angle of viewing the situation, I should be content, because I have used what I have to create a situation that I would really love for it to happen in one way or another, although I would like for it to be longer in terms of time but it was not to be, so just let go lah. When I switch the angle of viewing it, I began to felt really good about it.

If you look at the Past of your life, you would have notice that a lot of disappointment and anger actually derive from the greediness inside you. Now now, do not tell me you are not greedy, I do not believe you. There would always be something you want more. It is a matter of how we can control this greed that we have inside us. Controlling it well and only exhibit it at the correct circumstances can produce results for you. If you cannot control it, you will most likely see yourself in a 'prison'. Using a Chinese Fable, the snake not knowing content, would like to swallow an elephant and in the end killed itself.

But that does not mean you do not strive to achieve your dreams. Still go for it, because you are born in this world to achieve that mission, that dream that you have! And if you have found it, congratulations. Work hard on it! If you have not, seize the moment and start looking out for it :)

Cheers!

FlashBacks 2

Was taking a break from my normal work routine, so I went to look through my blog entries. Haha, so many things I have written, commercials, tipping, donations, plain water and many more. These are some of the events that happen almost 2 yrs ago.

1) Presidential Election
2) GE Money offering loans in Sing Post Office
3) NKF's defamation lawsuit - Yes the one that lead to the fall of TT Durai and the fleeing of Richard Yong, now a wanted man by Singapore
4) Govt wants to raise the Service Std in Singapore and the issue of tipping
5) Restaurant owners contemplating about offering free plain water
6) And the Five Day- work week is actually going into its third year in Singapore.

Haha, some of them you would be amazed that it happen a long time ago rite? Well same here. When I was looking through it, I was laughing and smiling at it. Looking back at the past blog entry is really like you found a box of old photographs and you are looking through it. And when you reminisce the events where the photos are taken, other events also came into picture as well.

Some other events I recalled is the first time I hang out with the current group of Indonesian friends. Haha, the scenes are so vivid now. I was so quiet because all of them was at "Channel Suria" (Still remember it, my good friends? :) ). And they recommended me to watch the Indonesian Drama on Central, and if I remember correctly, was on Monday 9pm :) And finally they switch to Channel 5 when we are at the Coffee Bean in Forum Shopping Mall. That is when I learn my first Indonesian word and that is ........ "CULUN" Hahaha! I hope I spelled it correctly. CULUN bought gingko to improve his memory but..... u guess it, he forgot to take gingko to improve his memory :P

Then the time when I was accidentally invited to my good friend's birthday party. Haha! So funny. We met a couple of friends that both me and my good friend knew. Then we commented that what a small world Singapore is when we met them, little did we know that they are part of the group that arranged the Surprise Birthday party for my good friend. Haha!

Then there was the time when we are invited to the couple's place, the one that I mentioned just now and saw how loving the couple is. The sentence that I still remember vividly is "No matter what you cook, I will finish it." I wonder when I will have a chance to genuinely use the sentence. :)

And also I tasted home-made cakes from a friend in the centre. Because it was her first few attempts at baking, so a lot of people were sceptical about it, but being a very 'supporting' person, I ate the cakes she brought, both time. One was a strawberry cake that used the strawberry essence to bake and the other those normal cake with icing in between the layers. They are nice! I wish I can have more chances to taste her baking but she is leaving soon. :)

Another thing that I did, that brings a smile to my face was when I wanted to know more about this lady. Haha, because she is always busy during weekdays, we have no chance to chat on MSN. Then two fine Saturdays, I discover that she will be online but the timing is not fixed. So I actually pushed my appointments towards Sat evening, Friday and Sunday and I eagerly waited in front of my computer from Saturday morning all the way to the time I need to go for appointment, hoping she will be online and when she did. I was so happy, but ...... in the end chatted for a few minutes. There was once when the Internet at home was down and I have to rush to my business partner's place to use it so that I can wait for her. Haha! Well, looking back, I still say those are some of the happiest minutes that I have lor. But now, I go out on Saturday afternoon hor. :)

There was another time when I finally was able to be alone with the lady so that we can have a proper chat, my business partner suddenly call for a business meeting. Haha! And the phone call came at a time the group of four people was reduced to the both of us only leh!! And it was on a Thursday somemore. Can you imagine feelings that I have, the anguish and the disbelief of how fate actually works? Haha! When I reach the business partner's place, he got a 'piece of my mind' from me. Haha!

Tracing my life back to when I started to know about chasing girls, she is the only person on this planet that can make me do such crazy stuff. Haha!

Good friend, you still remember the XO Bee Hoon at Ghim Moh? Haha, I shan't write that down. Or else I can really go on and on.

I think that is enough for FlashBacks 2. It is nice to reminisce the old memories and I guess when I come back to this entry, say maybe 1-2 years down the road, it would bring me smiles and happiness like what I experience today.

Cheers!

Destruction vs Construction

Ever wonder why destruction is always easier and construction is always so difficult? I think there might be two levels to the particular observation.

The construction of all things usually needs a process. And what is a process? A process is a serious of stages of actions and the results from each stage would affect the results of the later stages. And usually the resources that is needed like time and tools are usually a lot more, compared to destruction, and also take a longer period of time to gather. For instance, the process of creating a paper cup and the process of creating a jade cup is really very different. Creating a paper cup is definitely simple, since you just need to wax the paper, fold the paper and stick a bottom to it. For a jade cup, it would be different. You need to find a jade that can withstand the sculpturing process. Then pass the jade to the cutting process, then send it to be sculptured into a cup. The process is definitely longer, needs more effort and a more specialized skill.

If you look at this from another angle, the process are actually a series of restrictions. Only when we have work within the restrictions, would we be able to achieve the results we want. That is why the Chinese have a saying,"You need to learn how to walk before you learn how to fly." Because of the 'restrictions', people do not really like creation when compared to destruction. But again, it is because of going through this process, you achieve your 'sense of achievement' and derive true happiness and pride from your creation.

Let's look at destruction. Now destroying does not take too much of an effort because of the lack of process. You can start anywhere and without any proper order, just destroy the order that is created during the creation process. How do you destroy a paper cup? Just crush right? Don't have to think about which angle to crush, use hand or leg? And so on. How do you destroy a jade cup? Well you need a tool, of course. And it takes time to completely destroy it, depending on your definition of 'destroyed'. And because of this relatively lack of order, destruction is easier compared to creation and you derive a short moment of happiness, and a way to release stress, of course.

If you notice from the above paragraph, things that takes a longer creative process, it would also take a longer time to destroy when compared to other object that takes a shorter time to create.

Now would what I mentioned above, applicable to relationship, like friendship and kinship? Hmmm....... This might be something I need to contemplate about.

Cheers!

Flashbacks

These two days, I have been having a lot of flashbacks of the past 1 year or so, and just now I went through my blog entry. I have said this before but I shall say it again, "What a year it has been!" I wonder what is in store for me in the coming year starting from today.

Now I am not hanging on to the past, mind you. I am revising the mistakes that I have made, looking where I have gone wrong and what I could have done during that time. I realise , some of these mistakes, both major and minor ones could have been avoided, if I have paid more attention to it or as one of my good friend say, being mindful of the situations. I guess inexperience do play a part, but that is not the excuse for some of the mistakes I made, I should have paid more attention to the on-goings and also look deeper into the situation. Now the major mistake I made last year and in my life, could have been avoided if I was able to assess the situation better and adjusted my expectations as well. Did not contemplate enough and emotional control was extremely bad.

But again, like I mentioned, things could be very different if I did not make the mistake. I might not have got the desired result. Now on TV there is this drama series from HK. In the series, the actor has a way to communicate with his father from the past. So he requested his father to save his girlfriend from a car accident that have crippled her. So the girlfriend was saved but it change the future. The future became something that the actor simply cannot fathom, because the girlfriend, although not crippled anymore, was an murderer and also head an underworld gang. So for my case, she might be headhunted, we might be together but quarreled quite often because we came together too smoothly thus not valuing the relationship, I run into a car accident while going out with her and many many possibilities. Yes, you can see, we really, if have a chance, should not tamper with Past. I personally think it is very dangerous, if we are able to do that. I think instead, we should just focus on the Present and do whatever we can do and give it our best shot. The Past should just be a mirror and reflected upon, to derive lessons and improve our actions in the Present.

Looking back, I seriously have no idea why someone like me can commit the same mistake, not once but twice!! Really scratching head, how did such a thing happen? Maybe if I can break the code, in it would lie a lesson that I can benefit tremendously for the rest of my life. Need to contemplate the whole process again and see what really trigger it. :)

I have found the solution already but manifesting the solution is going to take time, and what I have now is better emotional control, better mindfulness, better advisor and a strong believe :) So let's see where this will lead me to. Only time will tell.

Cheers!

Spectacles

Everytime I come to the centre, I would most likely meet a lady that is at the same bus stop as me. Well the lady dress very well I must say, but today, she is very different. I think you must have guessed it from the title of the blog. Yes, she is wearing spectacles.

Haha, when I saw her, I was like: "Wow, what a spectacle can do to the image of a lady. Amazing!" Of course she still looks feminine and well dressed, but the spectacles actually made her look more mature, sophisticated and 'intelligent'. Haha. So yes, I am quite surprised when I saw her today. This make me start to recall about the past and notice that actually women who wear spectacles are more appealing to me. I guess the spectacles makes one, especially ladies, more sophisticated and intelligent looking. Now that does not mean as long as the girls wear spectacles I would like hor, there must still be some decency in the looks department :P.

Now most of my friends would know, the reason why I catch news, especially Mandarin News at 11pm is because of the pretty-looking newscaster. Why I like newscasters is because they are, in my opinion, pretty (of course lah, otherwise cannot be on TV and if got beautiful voice, still can survive in radio station. :P), clever because now they have to do their own news and react well to unforeseen circumstances and they dress really well, although the hairstyle can get revolting at times, and I really do mean revolting. :P

So I try to imagine all the newscasters wearing spectacles and wow, it works wonders. Haha, but don't think will catch them wearing spectacles during the news because of the lighting issue. Spectacles have become a fashion accessories, so depending on the spectacles you have chosen, it can bring out different feel. The lady was wearing the correct size and shape of spectacles that is why it really make her look better.

For guys, if they wear specs, it actually give them a sense of authority and similar to women, look more intelligent. Sophisticated looking? Well no idea leh, I think have to post this question to the ladies instead. :)

So this morning, I learnt something, spectacles can really improve the image of a lady when used right, but again there is a whole new science to it I guess, like the shape of the nose, shape of eyes, shape of specs, shape of face and so on. Haha! Spectacles also can write a blog on it, not bad. :P

Cheers!

Slooooooooow Moooootioooon

We all know what the city life is like. Very hectic, everyday have to rush even on weekends, we also have to rush, for instance, going to JB, we have to beat the large crowds that are going there so we need to wake up early and rush off. Going to the shopping centre, you also need to rush because you want to beat the crowds. Because once the crowds are out, you would most of the time be wasting time standing, you should know what I mean.

Could our hectic lifestyle be one of the causes of the modern disease that we have? We rush through our meals, devouring them without proper mastication. We do not cook our meals because it takes too much time and effort so we eat outside, and the hawkers do not cook the meals properly, hygienically and healthily because it is not for their own consumption. We chase after buses for fear of being late, thus most of the time we take in large amount of fumes when we pant. In order to rush through the report that we have, we need to use the best tool that we have and it is the computer with the radiations shooting at you. We do not take in fruits because we need the concentration to finish the presentation that could help the company clinch the million dollar contract.

Sometimes I wonder, can the city people ever take things slowly? Most of you who are reading this are city people, or I should say all of them. Have you ever tried taking things slowly? Slow yourself down, take a stroll in the park without any care about how much time it would take. Or take a cup of coffee on a weekday afternoon, taking in the sights of other people rushing off.

I kind of like the feeling of it, and I did do that before although it was a long time ago. It might be time for another 'slow outing'. Haha. You are able to see things clearly because now the lights from all these things can travel to the back of your eyeballs, reaching the retina and form rich images in your brains. The feeling of not needing to work while you see others have to kind of gives you a gloating happiness. :P And you feel really good about it.

But I can tell you, the last time I did it, it takes tremendous amount of effort to do it because your mind just keep on wondering what to do next, scolding 'yourself' why are you wasting time here and there are so many things to do. Your mind is like a wild horse that just refuse to be reined in. But in the end, when I am able to do it, the state of happiness and calmness really paid off for the effort that you take to do it.

Maybe I should seize the moment and do it now.

Cheers!

What is time?

It seems like Sunday is a very 'thoughtful' day for me, haha! It is always during Sunday, where I contemplate about the simplest but most difficult questions to answer in this world, simplest because it consist of only 3 words and it is easily understood by people what the question is asking, difficult because there is so much label, wisdom and knowledge that is underneath that simple question. Well, this weekend, I was contemplating the question "What is TIME?". I will attempt to write all the thoughts that I have when contemplating about it.

Referring to the last blog entry I wrote, I said that people come and go in your life, sometime they return, sometime they do not, gone forever. Couples separated because of 'irreconcilable' issues, death, met someone better and so on. Friends and colleagues separate because of arguments, move house, took on different jobs. A guy and a lady came together to become couple but later they went on separate ways, but even later, they become couples again, sometime more loving than before. Now the thing is this, no one will know how it will develop except for one thing. He is definitely the Know-It-All, but apparently it is not able to speak in our language that is why we can never seek the answer we want although we know he is the Know-It-All. Yes, you guessed it, the answer is Time. Remember the idiom that most of us used? "Only time will tell."

What is time made of, if that is the case? Well, time is made up of three components and these three components are the ingredients of what we can achieve in our lives. The three components are Past, Present and Future. Best part is that Past is the ingredient for Present and Present is the ingredient for Future.Those smart enough should know what I mean. What we do in the past will made up of our Present and what we do with the Present will determine how our Future would look like. And these three parts are unique to everyone of us, and how we use our Past, Present and Future will also how the other people's Past, Present and Future would look like. Think about it.

Because what we do in the Present will affect the Future, a lot of successful people will always tell you to "Seize the moment." Do what you need to do in the Present and let the future unfold. Our Future is determined by the action of others' Present as you can read from "Wisdom of the Crowds"That is why it makes our Future always uncertain. So if you are able to build a Time Machine I bet that everytime you go to the Future, it will just be a different future every time. Impermanence as what Buddhist call it, is that our Future is always uncertain no matter what. We create our Future with each and every second of the Present that pass by. Now knowing the principle or impermanence does not mean you do not plan at all. It just means that if you want to achieve the Future you want, do what you can in the Present to raise the odds of the desired Future you want. :) As the chinese saying goes:"To plan is human, to succeed is heaven." but if you do not seize the Present and take actions that would raise the odds, you would just be certain that the Future is not what you desired.

And if you notice, although time is made up of Past, Present and Future, we can never enter the Future phase but we will go through the Past and never be back again, right? Because we will always be in the Present. The Future is always turned into Present and the Present we are in is always constantly turned into the Past. :) That is why we can never go back to the Past or go forward into the Future. We will alway be in the Present. The Future is the Present that will be coming and the Past is actually the Present that have.... well passed. :)

Time is really powerful if you look at it from many angles. Let me go through those that I have seen. First angle is "Time is Medicine". Why I said that? Remember every time someone goes through sad phase in life, be it the death of love one or the departure of a love one, someone will comfort him or her by saying:"Only time can cure." And as time goes by moving from the Present to the Future, the person will slowly 'crawl' out of the sad phase in his life and move on in his life, well of course, some people come out fast and some people come out slow, but in any way, they will come out at the end. If you look at the addiction of drugs, if you want to quit it, you also need time to help. Going cold turkey does not help if time does not move. But thank goodness, time will always move, no matter what.

Time like I mentioned is the best fortune teller in this world. And as I mentioned, it will never tell us the Future. It will just crawl at its own pace and reveal your Future Present slowly to you. Sometime making you very flustered because you really want to know what has or will happen. For example, when you are waiting for your major exam results. The wait is extremely long especially when you know the timing of the release of the result. But there is nothing you can do because well, who can kick Time's ass and ask him to move faster? No one.

Time is the Know-It-All as I mentioned before. Who would have imagined that the human can cross over the ocean by sea first and later by air? No one, would have imagined that, but I am sure Time has seen it. Who can know when someone dies, when someone is born, when a terrorist attack will result, when someone will get married, when someone will get a girlfriend....... No one will know except Time. And again He will not tell you about it, just require you to walk with him at his own pace until you reach the answer that you want.

Time is one of the best coordination tool ever 'invented' by man. Well, if you look back in the ancient days. Time is the one that coordinates all human activity. And Time 'came' from the Sun and the Moon, the positions of it. Using the position of the Sun and the Moon in the sky, Man is able to coordinate much of their activities especially those that are large scale. As we move with Time, time shows us more inventions that can make better use of him, like the sun dial and later on to watches. Without watches, I am sure meetings cannot be arranged, concerts will be attended by very few people, exams cannot be administered, everything will be chaotic. So you see, time is one of the biggest and best coordination tool that we have.

Time is the fourth dimension that most people are looking for. We all know the three dimensions, basically length, breadth and height. These three things have basically give all things a solid feature, something that can be grabbed. What if we add time in as another dimension? So we actually have a 'time' line and the three dimension will change or remain as we move through the time dimension.

Ok, I think these are the thoughts I have about TIME, at the Present. :) Whatever it is, since we cannot move him back or forward. Don't fight him then. Just go with him at his pace and enjoy the walk and remember "Seize the moment."

Cheers!

Life and Death

Chinese have a saying,"天下无不散之宴席". Literally translated, it means that for all feasts and gatherings, it will definitely come to the point where everyone have to part. It is similar to "Life and Death". During our lifetime, we will see people come and go, good friends, best friends, acquaintance, people we love, people we like, people we hate (ooooo.....hooooo!!! :D) be it at anyplace where we leave our footprints.

Recently, quite a handful of people have or are leaving the centre. Well, they must have found 'greener' pastures outside since the job market is good now. I would leave if I were in their shoes. And I am happy for them to have found better prospects outside. Just that the farewell part is really a bit difficult to stomach for some people like the case for my best friend, although outside the centre, we are still meeting up and chatting on MSN, when two busy souls happen to be online at the same time. As I mentioned in my other blog entry, people come and cause some ripples in your life and then they leave. Some cause large ripples within a short period of time while others work their 'magic' into your life over a period of time.

Now, how do you know who and how much ripple they have raised in your life? Well, sad (or happy, depending on situations :P) to say it is during the parting time, where two people are going on separate ways for a period of time or infinitely. Just feel the emotions you have when you learn of the news that they are leaving. When people that you feel sad are leaving, they must have caused a good ripple in your life or you truly value the relationship and moments that you have built when both parties are together. For people that you feel happy are leaving, they must have done some really bad things to you and caused hatred.

How much the person that is leaving has touched your life would depend on how strong your emotions was when you learnt of the news. For people that you feel sad are leaving, you could just have a weak emotion of sadness to crying for a few days. (Aiyoh, please save water, very scarce resource in Singapore leh.) For people that you feel happy that he/she is leaving, you could just feel a moment of happiness or you could be happy for several days, so happy you might actually do crazy things! Haha! :)

Well, for me, it is very unlikely people can cause me to hate them, especially hate them to the core. (Up till now only three people have done that, out of my 28 years and 357 days, not bad rite? Haha!) So you can see for all the time, when I learn of people that are leaving and they have 'touch' my live to some extent, I feel sad and the extent varies.

Now what is the whole point of this blog? Well, always remember to grasp the present moment. Treasure what you have, don't take things for granted, don't come to a point where both parties need to go separate ways, then you regret not doing this or that. (Sounds familiar hor? Like something from a love doctor/advisor/councillor. Haha!). As my good friend says "Cherish them when they are here with you, but don't cling on to them when they leave." :) (No copyright problem hor, good friend? :P)

And anyway, technology is so advance now. Sure can meet up somewhere, both in the real world and virtual world mah. So let go of the emotions that you have. Just remember to make time during the gathering lor! :) Also the future is uncertain, NO ONE can predict the future accurately, thanks to Murphy's Law and others. You never know you might be back again somewhere.

Haha, saying all these, I better practice what I preach. :)

Cheers!

I am surrounded!

I am sure many of us have been in this position before. Many a times, when we cannot figure out anything, we always seek our good friends for another opinion, followed by other friends that is at a lower level of closeness then your close friends, and most of the time, as I mentioned in another blog entry, is that these friends are always willing to offer their opinion and view.

Now if you look carefully, it is important that you surround yourself with friends who are wise. If these friends are not wise, they may offer opinions that may eventually harm you. If they are, their advice will add value to your life by giving you another important perspective, to look at your problem, or even point out what you missed in your decision process. As you can see from here, it is then very important what type of friends you have surrounded yourself with. Friends who are wise, do not betray your trust from the biggest thing to the smallest thing, value the friendship that both of you share, willing to help out whenever they can afford to do so, are in my opinion the quality of true friends. Of course the list is not exhaustive. Only by surrounding yourself with such friends would you actually have a better life. Think of it, is it not true?

So as I mentioned before, choose your friends carefully. And even when you have surround yourself with 'true' friends, please be able to discern their advice and opinion as well. Wisdom must be met with wisdom as well, in order to achieve higher level. Wisdom met with stupidity would just be a waste of resources.

Cheers!

I still Believe

Murphy's Law

Hmmmm...... I always like Murphy's Law especially when it is 'applied' in business. I like it because when something goes wrong, and I have to think how to rectify it fast, its gives me an adrenaline rush. This explains why I like to go into business because business has the most incidence of Murphy's Law and doing business will satisfy my many growth needs at the same time.

Now of course when it happens in my life, it will then usually test out my mental strength, my emotional intelligence quotient. So you can see, I am sort of a 'sadist', I like to torture myself. Haha!

Until today, then I realise how powerful Murphy's Law can be. :) Today, I receive a piece of news that is totally out of the blue, red, black, green, orange..... whatever color lah. :P The first moment I heard about it, it was like an electric shock just went through me, but I manage to hold my emotions, but it affected my appetite. :b Slowly the news sinked in and I began to process the news. All these are done during a business meeting that I have. :P But thank goodness it did not affect the meeting, or at least that is how I see it. :)

Well, I would not say that the news is all that bad, in fact I should and am happy to hear it. But I guess the timing was really bad. I do admit I am happy to hear it but the happiness is mixed with a bit of sadness and helpless-ness. This time Murphy's Law really made a big 'joke' out of me. A 'joke' so big, I cannot solve.

I guess there is not much I can do. Let this blog mark this 'special' day. Very tired now. Need to sleep. :)

Cheers!

It's done. Time to move on.

For those readers of all my blog, you would have known that things in the centre keeps on improving so much so that it would be stupid to leave and because of that I believe that I have unfinished business at the centre.

At first, I believe the reason was someone but actually it was not. The reason was for me to learn something that is crucial to my life and I know what it is. And because of this crucial skill, I become more aware of the actual reason. The need for me to stay in the centre is gone. My business here is done, so I can leave anytime. No no! Does not mean I am leaving now. For what? Things are still going fine here. But I should use the foundation that I have to create another strong foundation to pursue my dreams, to create the necessary platform for me to move out of the centre comfortably. Although I am fine with leaving now, but staying in the centre is a better option at the moment and no, I will not set a deadline when I am moving out. I just have to work on the platform as much as possible.

Thinking through the whole episode, I saw that I was trapped in my thoughts actually. I fallen into the trap of wanting to believe what I want to believe in. Haha, well what to do? I am a human mah, I am not infallible. So since the thoughts are clearer now, it is really time to move on from this episode. Well, people will ask me if I am sad or not after all, this episode just keep on repeating itself, in my life. Well all I can say is, I am glad that I realise it now rather than later. And hei, we all grow up with each and every challenge and problem that we face.

Except for the belief that the reason was a person, all my other beliefs still stand though. You could say I am done for now. Definitely worth to check out in the future. As for now, things are not correct, at least that is how I perceive. Should focus on creating my reality now.

To a certain extent, I am glad the whole thing is over. Cheers!

No worries, I do not mind.

This is a continuation of the previous blog that I wrote about. Just think I need to elaborate the last situation that I mentioned, the part about the yellow dress and the blue dress.

Most of us would usually take into consideration the opinions of our friends. Why we do this is for fear of offending our friends. We fear that if we do not take into account of their opinions, they may perceive that we do not value the friendship. Hei, I do not blame you for thinking that way, and I think your friends are very fortunate to have a friend like you who value the friendship that both of you share. But at the end of the day, the amount of happiness that you can have in your life, greatly depends on you. Only when you are happy, your happYness would then be contagious enough to rub off on those friends that are close to you. :) I am also sure that if they consider themselves to be your genuine friends, they would want you to be as happy as possible, because then, when they are around you, they would feel good as well.

So go ahead, make your own happiness, consider your friends' opinion but at the end of the day, who knows best and what are the things that will make you happy? YOU, YOURSELF! If there are friends who feel offended when you don't take their opinions into consideration, let time be the cure. When they realise that the path you have chosen has made you more happy, they too will think that they have been silly to insist that you follow their opinions. At the end, when the friendship has mended, remember to tell your friend, thank your friend for their participation in helping you make a more well-informed decision, that you truly value their opinions and ask them to keep it coming, so that you can make a more well-informed decision.

All the best to your Pursuit of Happyness! Cheers!

Hello, the Tailor of my Happiness

Was going through another talk by Ajahn Brahm, this time it is on dealing with criticism. But I shall leave the main topic to some other time. What I want to write about today is happiness.

We all want happiness, if there is someone who does not want it, it is not because he does not want, but because he feels that he does not deserve it. If there is such a person, you might actually want to stay away from him unless you are able to handle his negativism.

Now since all of us want happiness, how do we go about getting it? Very simple, ask the Tailor that makes your Happiness and the person is..... YOU! Only you will know what kind of happiness that you truly, genuinely want. Well on hearing this you may say, but "How can I be the one that creates my happiness when my surrounding is full of 'sharks' and 'idiots'? These people always caused me to be angry or fustrated or sad." Well from these questions, I have two points I need to make here.

Firstly, you have ceded the source of happiness to other people. You let other people control when you are happy. These people are just the stimulus but it does not mean that given such a stimulus, you must react with the same response every time. We all have seen that given the same stimulus, different people have different response to it. So why should it be any different when someone has done something to make you angry? You can still be happy by maybe seeing the lighter side of things, thinking positively to the stimulus. Don't let other people stop you from being happy. Being happy does not need a reason anyway. Just break into a smile as and when you feel like it. And you would realize that when you smile, your body feel better and you can think better as well.

Most of the time, we have certain expectations on other people and when these people does not meet it, you become unhappy. But should that be the case? If you look at it carefully, you are the one that makes the expectations, so sometimes, adjusting the expectation on someone might actually make yourself happier as well.

Another situation is this, let's say you are thinking of getting one of the two dresses that you like. You have a slight preference for a blue one with a nice lace that runs very beautifully. But when you ask the opinions of many your best friends, most of them actually said that the yellow dress is nicer, because they like the buttons on it, the cutting and patterns on the yellow dress. Because so many people said that it is nice, you decide to get the yellow dress instead of the blue which you preferred. And in the end, when you wore the yellow dress, you actually regretted buying it. Ever come across such situations before? Why does this happen? I can tell you why. Because your friends does not know what makes you happy, the only person that knows best what are the things that makes you happy is YOU!

Now I am not saying that you should not ask for the opinions of your friends on decisions, you can ask and seek their opinions but at the end of the day, you need to assess and decide which decisions will be good for you because you are the only person who knows yourself best. Don't be completely influenced by the opinions of your friends.

As you can see from the three situations below, we tailor our own happiness. We are responsible for our own happiness. Just learn to respond positively to stimulus, manage expectations and make your own decision. Only when we observe these three guidelines, we can truly create happiness that we want. Now, go out there and make your own happiness. Go!

Cheers!