Impermanence Part 2

Today is mth end. So got a bit of time to do some contemplation. So one of the question I thought about is impermanence. Why does impermanence exist? How it come about? In economics, we often talk about how an economic model reach an equilibrium, so can equilibrium be achieved?

Here are my thoughts on these questions. Impermanence means changes happen everytime. So what are the sources of impermanence? Well I can think of two sources. First is environment changes for instance weather, tectonic movement and so on. The second source is we human ourselves.

The weather is always changing on this earth, that is why we have the four seasons, we have the heat wave, the wind, the flood and so on. We know that the land we live on is actually shifting every nanosecond. Just that the movement of the land is so minute we cannot feel it at all. These movements will cause emotions in us humans and we human will change to accomodate these physical changes in the environment. Which bring me to our next sources which is that caused by human.

We human have wants and needs. We human evolves because we want to better satisfy our needs, for instance standing on two feet so that we can travel faster and see further to get food so that we can survive. We humans are able to be all over the world because we are seeking land and food. We farm the lands, hunt animals causing changes in this Earth because we want to satisfy our needs. When we farm lands, started irrigation and build our own house, our basic needs are met and we move further down the chain of needs and eventually our wants that evolves into the Past to the present world. Airplanes, ships, railway, internet are a result of impermanence or changes that we humans want and create.

With these two sources in mind, you can see the whole world are like dominoes that are going in all direction and criss-crossing each other. One of the dominoes was toppled since don't know when and a domino effect has been carried out since then. You can see from here that our actions due to our wants and needs has caused actions of others as well, and their action will cause other action by other people and this domino effect carries on and on.

So you see, there is no way you can stop changes. It just carry on and on and will not stop at all. What we human can then do is to anticipate what could happen and prepare for it. When when something unexpected happen, see if you can improve the situation, if cannot then do nothing and not let your emotions be swayed too much by the unexpected.

So far these are my thoughts on impermanence. Your comments?

Cheers!

It's been a while

Just notice that I have made more than 100 post in this blog of mine. Haha, times really flies. This blog is going to be one-year old soon. So many things have happen for this year. Who would have thought that I would have changed job? Who would have thought that I would be working with my former classmate (for three months)? Who would have thought that Singapore is really that small and you have a colleagues that only lives several blocks away from me? Who would have thought that.....

Haha, the influx of a wave of such questions gives you a very clear look into life and that is nothing is predictable except for death and taxes. So why the need for fortune telling then? Many a times we have seen in a drama that the person scolded the fortune teller, "If your predictions always comes true, you do not need to tell people's fortune anymore." Sounds contradictory but it is true. Anyway, its been a while. I wonder if enough medicine has been applied or not? Hahaha!

It has been a while since I practise the Secret. The feeling of happiness and great confidence is back again. Everytime I do visualization, it really brings a lot of happiness to me and motivates me to carry on what I am doing because I know what I am doing is moving me towards what I want to achieve in life. My only wish is to have that special lady join me soon so that we can create more value and use these value to value-add to other people's life through business and charity. Helping people to enjoy the gift of life and not feel sad about it.

Anyway, enjoy the weekend while it lasts! Cheers!

Going with the Flow

Haha! Finally come out of the hole already. :D So happy, haha, takes a bit of effort but I finally show who is boss. :P

In my previous blog, I have said that I have discovered something about the concept of "Letting go" meaning, letting go of a certain Want. Very simple actually. This wisdom I am sharing can serve as a benchmark of "letting go".

The key to executing this wisdom in your 'letting go' process is to be able to see your thoughts, again going back to being mindful and to be mindful, it can be achieved through meditation. Ok shall not hold the readers too long. Very simple, look at all the decisions that you have made. Does your Want actually influence it? For instance, when you like someone you will try to "coincidentally" bump into her. Your actual actions and movements were influence indirectly by her. This is not letting go, this is actually holding or grabbing it even tighter and in the end, there is no peace of mind, because you keep on thinking how to go about meeting her "accidentally", putting in great effort, swimming against the flow.

If you know that she usually go for lunch at this time and will pass through a certain place. You will do your utmost to make sure you appear at that particular place and time and when the result you received at the end is not up to your expectations, you become disappointed. For instance, she have a meeting but you do not know so you kept on waiting at the particular place and time, but all your effort went down the drain.

This is swimming against the flow. You try to 'force' things to happen. To go with the flow, just do what you need to do. If the opportunities turns up 'naturally' without you making too much of an effort, for instance you happen to be at this particular place and you know she might be passing through in a minute or two, then GRAB the opportunity. And she does not turn up, don't be sad or disappointed. At least you did not make too much of an effort and did not lose out too much. :P Continue to go with the flow and you might end up at the destination that you want to be. Just keep on noticing and grabbing the opportunities that comes along.

So, look at your decisions and see if it is influenced by your wants. If it is, you are not letting go and not going with the flow. Hope this wisdom helps!

Cheers!

Singing Blues

Feeling blue today. I seem to have slipped into a hole and cannot come out. Tried as much as I could but I cannot move myself out of this hole. Sianz. I know what is going on lah. But I guess I need some time to adjust myself a bit.

There are a lot of signs out there to tell me to just go with the flow. Yes, you saw that right, go with the flow. There are things to be happy about and one of them is I have advance a step in understanding what is going with the flow. Yes. A slither of wisdom I intend to remember for the rest of my life. I believe in impermanence but my love life seem to have stuck there 'permanently' at least in the near future. Sianz.

Anyway, this situation makes me contemplate. What if all our Wants are satisfied, would that make all of us happy? I know I am an economist so such situations will never happen. But I think this is a gd question to ponder abt. If all our Wants are satisfied, what will happen to us?

Well, here are my thoughts on it. It would make all of us lazy, do nothing all day. The human race would not advance since there is nothing to motivate us to improve ourselves. But if we get what we want, would there be peace all round, no more war? Does that mean there will never be any sufferings again? Does that mean that all people can leave peacefully with each other? Because looking at all the violence and sufferings in this world, it is because of our Wants. Your thoughts on this?

The minute you have Wants in life, you are bound to suffer. Why? Very simple. To get what we want, we have to sacrifice something. We have to make an effort to achieve it. And making an effort to achieve it is never simple and it causes 'pains'. And when you did not get your Wants, you then keep on complaining about it. You complain about other people not giving it to you, you complain that you make an effort already how come you still did not get the result you want. You ask Life why it does not give it to you when you are such a nice person and never commit a crime or harm people in this life? Yes, I do complain as well, but hei I am a human being rite? But of course this does not give me an excuse to keep on complaining since I cannot change the fact that I am a human being.

I only have one simple Want that I hope Life can satisfy or at least make it easier for me, the rest of the Wants I am prepared to work hard for it because I know I can achieve them when I put my mind to it. Last time I use to think that finding a job is as difficult as finding someone dear because both are like jigsaw puzzle, you need matching pieces but then because of the recent job hunt, my opinions have changed. With the correct skill set, I can find a job quite easily. And you can expand your skill sets to make yourself more 'demanded'. Finding someone dear is more difficult because you cannot be expanding your characteristics right? If someone is looking for one who is humorous and smart, it is very difficult to 'groom' such a person, right? And there is the emotions side to satisfy as well. It is like a multiple dimension jigsaw puzzle and the right piece needs to make sure ALL dimensions must fit.

Well, I have no idea when my situation would change, but I really hope it will change soon. I am really tired that there is no changes in that particular department. I tried hard but there is still no changes. Life, just satisfy this Want please!

Sharing Joy and Laughter

Hmmm..... wanted to go back home early today but alas, it was raining heavily and with strong winds somemore. So no choice, I went back to my office to wait for the rain to stop or become lighter. So inside the office, I chatted with one of my colleague who is going to Taiwan soon. Then I remember I brought photos of my Taiwan trip, so I suggested looking through the photos so he has a better idea about the place. As we are looking through, more and more colleagues joined in. Haha, one of them is the 'joker' of the group, a 'joker' where many of us love to hate, haha! Anyway, we have a lot of fun looking through part of the collection.

During the sharing session, I gain back the joy of travelling again. I really miss travelling. Have not gone on a long trip for quite a while already. The excitement of seeing something new, the excitement of learning something new, the excitement of understanding how things works. Yes, I think I really need the excitement again, but alas, have to wait for a few months before I can go on a long trip. There are so many countries that I want to visit but so little time and money. Sure wish I can become a professional speaker, so that I can travel around the world sharing my knowledge and get paid at the same time.

I think my enthusiasm about Taiwan is so great that it makes some of my colleagues excited about going there. Maybe Taiwan should get me to be their tourism ambassador for Singapore. Crossing my fingers and hope that I am able to achieve my goals and travel around the world, to see how wonderful this world is, to soak in every culture that took thousand of years to evolve, to enjoy the nice delicacies that have evolved since the discovery of fire.

But I must say I have mixed well with my current colleagues and it makes me realise that to be able to mix well into any group of people is to be someone who is always happy (or looks happy) and is able to spread laughter and joy around. Be willing to share as well and not be too stingy or particular about details.

Last Sunday's outing seem to have touch a soft spot in my heart. Shifting my focus to my love life, again is if there is anything to talk abt. (I have not been looking at that area of life for the past three months already.) Haha! These few days, I have tried not to focus on it, but the thoughts seem to come in like tsunami. I really hope I can find someone dear to share my life with but again, I may seem desperate but I will still uphold the standard that I want to maintain. :P Although there are people who are entrepreneurs and are single but I feel that I my success is not complete at all if I do not have a happy marriage. No no, it does not mean that I want my success to be complete that is why I want to find someone dear. I just want to find someone to share my success, laughter and joy with. In return, a person who can lend me support when I needed. Friends can do that but I feel that the support that my 'partner' can give will be the next level. The level that can motivate me to achieve more. I just feel that I am at a bottleneck now. There is just that much I can achieve, that much effort I can put in, that much motivated at the moment. Sigh!

For now, must try my best to change my focus.

Cheers.

Lonely and Tired

Very fast, the weekend has past and tomorrow is Monday. Well to me it really does not matter cos I do not really have a rest day since during weekends I also work on my websites, networking with friends or catch up on my reading.

But these two weeks is really very tiring. Because now I am on my own and the person whose duties I am covering has gone on maternity leave. So basically because I do not have a proper run through of all the duties that need to be done for the start of the month, when I realise that something needs to be done, I am basically a firefighter, have to fight out the 'fire' fast and furious so basically has been very tired. But looking at the bright side, because one of the female colleague live near my place so I have the honor of her company to go back home several times the last two weeks. Haha, all I can say is she knows how to dress, and if she can pay more attention to her diet, she will be very beautiful. But hei not everyone so lucky to have a company of a nice lady when going back right? So I am lucky lah! :) Anyway, coming back to work, thank goodness I am able to manage my emotions well otherwise I am sure anyone would have gave up and scream or curse and swear if they go through what I am going through. For me, I just smile and do it lor, cos I tell myself, if I am able to go through this process without sinking into negative emotions, I am sure my emotional muscle will turn up even stronger and I succeeded! Cheers to that! Yeah! Hopefully next week would be better! Haha! Maybe I will have the company of my colleague again next week, haha!

I should count myself lucky because the working environment is quite good. The physical environment might not be as good as my previous stint at the research centre, but the human environment is still the same. All the colleagues are friendly and helpful, especially my 'neighbour' and my supervisor. My 'neighbour' is the person that is handing the duties before she handed over to the colleague I am covering. So I am glad that there is someone to lend support and help while I am busy fighting fire.

Ok let's tackle the 'lonely' part now. My good indonesian friend's gf came down to visit him so he arranged to meet up another good friend of mine at Causeway point for dinner. He ask me to come along so I oblige since I wanted to eat the delicious Murtabak again. But alas, when I reach there, the stall was closed :( because it was Hari Raya Puasa. Haha, public holiday, weekdays and weekend might not make any difference to me but it does for others. :) So me, my Indonesian friend and his gf, my good friend and his wife were having dinner at Causeway Point anyway. I think those that are smart would realise something. I seem to be the odd one out. Haha! Yah I kind of realise it when I accepted the invitation. So you can see I am 'lonely'.

The situation set me thinking though. Looking back what happen in my love life, if there is any to talk about, life there is really tough. I guess I was picky also lah. I hold on strongly to a belief that if I do not choose one that is good, I might actually regret and ruin my future. So if that is the case, there is no one else to blame for the state I am in. And sometimes when I meet the 'right' one, I will also self-destruct, just like last time. Well what to do, because I care about my ego too much. As much as I wanted to find someone dear to share my life with, I still must be patient, even if I run out of it, to look for the right one. But I also realise what I have done wrong last time, so I must correct my mistakes and make sure it does not repeat itself. And also have to realise that even if I do not let my mistakes repeat itself, it does not guarantee anything. Oh well, that is life. But making the best effort is within my control and I decide to do that. Succeed or not, well cross all my fingers on that!

Cheers!

I want I want

This is going to be a long blog entry so please bear with me. Today I am going to talk about our WANTS. Take note ah, wants is something we can actually do without and still survive. For instance a 42 inch flat plasma TV, a Nintendo Wii, an iPOD and many others. These are things we can do without and still survive. Let's do an experiment. Take out a piece of paper. Now put down the one thing that you would like, if all resources are available to you.

Have you written? Nope, ok lah, if you do not have a piece of paper and pen or too lazy to take it, think of something you want now. Again take note ah, it is Want, not Need. Done? Assume that your first wish is granted. Now put down the second thing that you would like, if all resources are available to you. Done? Assume that your wish is granted. Now write down the next thing that you want, if all resources are available to you. Done? Great, Assume that your wish is granted. Haha, feel like Santa Claus. Anyway, write down or think of the next thing that you want. Please keep on continuing such a process until you have come to a point where you really cannot think of anything that you Want. Continue to reading the blog only when you have reach the end of your thought process.

Done? Or you feel too tired of thinking about it because there does not seem to be an ending soon? I have the same thought process as well. I want this Book, I want that book, I want to travel here, I want to travel there. I want a beautiful wife. I want a competent wife. I want to eat the best food here and the best food there. I want to go and watch so and so concert. We all have unlimited wants. You will notice that we really cannot satisfy all the wants that we have. It is like filling a bottomless hole with dirt, you cannot see it being filled to the top at all.

Now if you notice, it is a source of unhappiness for us. Now first thing first, I am not advocating that you should not have wants. Our Wants will drive us to new heights and help us reach our potential, there is no way you can deny its effect in your life. Why it is a source of unhappiness is firstly we are always constraint by the resources that we have, as such we cannot get what we want easily and thus we are disappointed if we do not have it.

Now if you are so attached to having your wants satisfied, you might take drastic actions that you regret later. For instance, shoplifting of the things you like, or back-stab your gd friend so that you can satisfy your wants. But such actions will make your Satisfied wants short lived, in the sense that the amt of happiness you derived is very short and small. If we are able to control out Wants and not let it affect our life, we can lead a happier life. If we focus too much on the Wants, we can ruin our life if we do not maintain a balance state of mind towards it.

Ok that is for the first part of this blog. Next part now.

As most of you know I am studying Buddhism (when I have time lah :P) One of the practise of Buddhism is meditation. Why meditation? Well to keep ourself focus and mindful every moment. To learn to stable our mind, understand how our minds works and able to identify thoughts as and when it comes. So recently I took up meditation. Well not a regular practitioner of meditation but I can feel the benefits of it. First benefit, I am able to think faster and better now. My thoughts are more focus on the particular activity I am in now. And most of you'll know my activity is usually reading, so I am able to absorb better now. I am not kidding.

Second benefit is I am able to stand at the side and look at my train of thoughts. What I mean is that I am able to stand at the side and watch my thoughts and have thoughts on my thoughts. Haha! Sounds complicated right? Let me give an example. Supposedly, there is something I like, so "I like XXX" is a thought. And to go deeper into this thought would be answering the question, "Why I like XXX?" You are able to find out more about yourself this way. Beats taking all the psychological test that you find on magazine. :P You are able to look at your thoughts and understand why you have them in the first place. Once you are able to understand their existence, you are able to see yourself clearer and learn to control yourself better by controlling your reactions to thoughts.

Doing meditation let's me become more mindful abt the conversation I have people, be more careful in what I say and able to assess what should be said, at split seconds to other people but a longer process in my mind. :) Sounds unbelievable but it is the truth.

I strongly urge all readers to learn meditation. I really benefited greatly from it. Due to a change of working environment, a circle of events is happening again and I am able to see the whole thing happening clearer and know how to react to it better through being mindful (which is through meditation). Haha. It is just my Wants at fault again. Haha!

There is something else to share but I guess I live it to another time.

Cheers!

Focusing on the Present Moment

If you guys can refer to my past blog entry on Time. You would have know that we are always in the present moment. Never in the future nor in the past. What we do in the present moment, will build a future that will become our Present.

So what type of future do you want? The type of future that you want would be tied up to your purpose in life. Now if you ask me what is your purpose in life, I cannot answer you. The only purpose of life I know is mine only. Once our purpose in life has been determined, we can set the goals that we need to meet to achieve our purpose in life. If you look from another point of views. Goals are actually accomplishments that you achieve in a certain Present moment that is coming in at a particular date in your lifetime (I hope it is a particular date otherwise there is something wrong in your goal setting :P) Other Present moments that come after the Present moment have the accomplishments that gives you the resources to help you move to the next Present moment where you achieve your next goal. These 'cycle' carry on until you reach your purpose in life.

Now if that is the case, how can we achieve the purpose of our life? Let me give u a very simple advice. Focus your full attention and energy on the Present moment. From the Present moment we are in to the Present moment that we achieve our purpose in life, there are a lot of Present moments in the middle. If you do your best in all of them, focus your attention and energy on all of them, then we can truly said that we tried our best to achieve our purpose in life. And with the right strategy implemented and right goals set, there is no way you would not achieve your purpose in life. And even if you just missed it, you can at least tell yourself truly that you have achieved your best.

How do we know we have done our best? Very simple, each and every moment that you are in, you let ALL your thoughts and effort focus on it. Effort wise we know because we can see our tangible result. As long as there are tangible result, we can say we have put in effort. But to say that we have put in our full effort, it is our thoughts that determine it. Many a times when we are doing a task, our thoughts will lead astray. Let me give u a simple example, when you are writing your report, I am sure most of us are listening to music. Do you dare to say that this sentence "Hmmm.... my favourite song is on." or something of similar nature never cross your mind? Or when you are at your job, suddenly this thought come to your mind "Oh later must go and buy bread for breakfast." If you have such thoughts, I dare say you are not fully focus on the job at hand. Haha, I am not a saint as well, I too have such moments as well. But please use this as an indicator to show how focus you are. Try to reduce such thoughts to the lowest minimum. There is absolutely no way you can reach a level of zero thoughts unless you have controlled your mind well through meditation.

Focus your FULL attention at each and every Present moment and you can touch your conscience and say that you have tried your best. The next stage would be moving towards the goals you have set and achieve your purpose in life.

Cheers!

Please write your anger down.

"There are three types of people in the world. What three?

One who is like carving on a rock, one who is like scratching on the ground and one who is like writing on the water.

What sort of person is like carving on the rock? Imagine a certain person who is always getting angry and his anger lasts long, jut as carving on a rock is not soon worn off by wind, water or lapse of time.

What sort of person is like scratching on the ground? Imagine a certain person who is always getting angry but his anger does not last long, just as scratching on the ground is soon worn off by wind, water and lapse of time.

And what sort of person is like writing on the water? Imagine a certain person who, even though spoken to harshly, sharply, roughly, is easily reconciled and becomes agreeable and friendly, just as writing on the water soon disappears".

This is written with reference to a discourse in Buddhism.

Cheers