Do.

Act.

Be.

Don’t hold back.

What’s stopping you?

Everything that you need will be granted.

Believe.

Seemingly Inadvertently but Realistically Precessionally.

Everything that needs to happen will happen.

Find the flow.

Use the flow.

Grow the flow.

Find the magic that resides deep within.

Let that be manifest.

Go forth. Be the light you need to be.

That you were meant to shine.

Shine Forth.

Brighter than you ever thought possible.

Don’t hold back.

There can be no darkness.

As long as there is light.

Be that light.

That beacon in the night.

That steadfast flame.

The energy of love.

That essence of integrity.

Shine.

Aho!

“Stand Up For Singapore and join in at 8:22pm 9 August 2009 for the pledge.”

I’ve been in Singapore now since 1987 — that’s 22 years.  That’s a long time.  Singapore is 44 today, which means I’ve been around for half the time that Singapore has been independent.

It’s a fine place to live, no pun intended.  It’s pretty much home to me now.  And it’s definitely come a long way.

For a nation this size, for everything that it’s not, it’s got a lot to be proud of.  And against all odds, for all that it doesn’t have, there are many achievements to be counted.

Granted, there’s always a lot more that we can want, but if we ever step back to see the forest despite the trees, the big picture is an impressive one.

Singapore has done a grand thing.  It has created a stable and safe environment to live.  There is an abundance of opportunities for business.  And the future is not left to chance. 

For all the complaints that we have, we forget that for a nation this size, there is a lot to be grateful for.

We were having dinner, watching the parade on TV. At 8:22pm, my Singaporean friends stood up, with the rest of the nation and recited the pledge, unreservedly.

“We the citizens of Singapore,
pledge ourselves, as one united people,
regardless of race, language or religion,
to build a democratic society,
based on justice and equality,
so as to achieve happiness,
prosperity and progress for our nation.”

The little train that could.  Believe it.

A darn fine country, this.

Along upper thomson
Fully furnished with attached bath.
Includes SCV, Broadband Internet, maid cleans once a week.
$1000 a month nett, includes utilities.

Have you been half asleep?
And have you heard voices?
I’ve heard them calling my name.
Is this the sweet sound?
That calls the young sailors
They might be one and the same
I’ve heard it too many time to ignore it
There’s something I’m supposed to be

Someday we’ll find it
The rainbow connection
The lover, the dreamers and me

Kermit

Once in a while we get moved and reminded.  On how much we decide we want to do with this life, in this lifetime.

We know some of these people. Some who will do grand things and others who will do not so grand things but inevitably change the lives of people in ways more profound than we can imagine.  They keep the human race moving forward.  They inspire us and move us.

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

Marianne Williamson

“Our true purpose may forever remain obscure to you but if you commit yourself to the highest advantage of others, you can assume that you are fulfilling your true purpose.“

Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller

Same thoughts echoed in different ways.  Do the grand thing to the highest advantage of others.I believe deep inside we all simply want to do our best.  It will never be perfect.  But that’s the entire point.  To take that journey, and in the process, discover the person that I can become.  And the contributions that I would have made along the way.

And that would be sufficient.

Then again, a large part of it is very much determined by how we respond to each circumstance that we encounter, and how determined we are to come up on top, to overcome the most difficult of challenges.  But more than that, how we have to continue to acknowledge with humility, that we cannot get complacent either when we have overwhelming success because as much as it may be what we think we deserve, it’s definitely a lot more than we need.  In either case, count each as a blessing and another lesson in life, preparing us for far greater things to come.

Along the way, we meet great people along the way who will spur us on — nay-sayers who will provide the challenges and supporters who will keep us going.  And recently, inspiration in the form of Jerome Tan and Wendy Kwek who run the EAP (Entrepreneuer’s Action Program) and people I met at the program that I will like to acknowledge — there’s always so much to learn.

And I continue to be amazed each day.

So the secret is believing that good things do happen and that they can happen for you, and they will happen.

“Look at what’s happened to me.  I can’t believe it myself.  Suddenly I’m up on top of the world.  Could have been somebody else…”

Enjoy these moments, for many they will be.

Friendships don’t need a reason.  They are who life throws at us.

They reveal themselves when the time is right.

For a grander purpose.

But we have to look, or they will pass us by.

But it’s been 20 years since I left that city. 

I think I live an unexpected life.  I grew up with grandma, not unusual in itself, but hardly typical.  Looking back, I see my life as a whole series of coincidences and accidents of circumstance, there aren’t any significant parts of my life that could have been planned, that have made as much difference as the parts that have happened, unexpectedly.  I’ve been lucky though, I think that things could have turned out worse.

I was having a conversation with my uncle, the closest person that came to being a father to me, over the weekend — someone whom I have great respect for, whom I will say has been an extremely strong influence as well — in a series of conversations that had evolved through the years, that has gotten closer, bridging a “generation-gap” that had not been less apparent when I was growing up (sometimes I’m not sure if I have “grown-up”, but another discussion for another time), when he said “Adversity builds character”, as we discussed how life can be strange a lot of the time. 

That’s a phrase that I use, for myself and to people who sometimes come to me about “problems” that they have.  It’s all about our response. We decide how we want things to work out.  Not always in the way we would like, but unexpectedly, in a way that takes us a little further in life. 

I attended a Feng Shui workshop a couple of days ago, on how Feng Shui and our elements influence our lives.  At the end of the day, it seems that our lives are influenced a lot by our element, and time of birth, that sets of an entire series off events to be woven into a tapestry of life to come.  Some people are “luckier” than others, right time, right place.  Others have more challenging deals.  What is intriguing, is when two people who are born on the exact same date and time, who should for all reason have been given the same “luck bucket” whose lives turn out totally different.  It’s the unexpected life.  Two people can get the same luck-bucket but how they use it is entirely dependent on each of them.

We grow up shaped by expectations — our own and those that are imposed on us by well-meaning people around us.  We spend half our time fulfilling these expectations, and the other half resisting.  Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t.  But nothing ever prepares us for un-expectations.  Seemingly totally random events that cross our paths, sometimes when we are busiest meeting or resisting an overwhelming set of expectations already.

Sometimes good, sometimes not, but in either case, we are unprepared.  They are the little branches that fall into the stream that we have to jump over, and the roaring waterfalls at the edge of a mountain.  What do we do?

We ride them out.  

I’m sure we all have our stories to tell about these “unexpectations”.  Both the windfalls and the tragedies.  The joy, and the tears.  We don’t prepare for them because often, we can’t. 

I’ve had my share of unexpectations. Both good and bad — they have definitely been interesting and I don’t think I can really complain about how life has turned out.  I’ve had my share of tears but I’ve also had my share of “Look at what’s happened to me, I can’t believe it myself. Suddenly I’m up on top of the world, could have been somebody else.” moments.

I’m sure all of us have.  Be glad for them.

And everytime I think that life is really being unfair, I remember my gratitude stone and am really glad for my unexpected life.

It’s only a heavy piece of rock, because it carries for me, the weight of my world.  It’s there because whenever I am challenged by life, this little piece of rock reminds me to be grateful — reminds me to count the one blessing that I am most thankful for, amongst the many little blessings that I have in my life.

That I am alive, to be challenged.  To be thankful for the people around me, thankful for the circumstances that are stretching me to respond, thankful for the lessons that I will learn along the way, thankful for the difficulties that will give me the necessary experiences that can only prepare me for even greater challenges.

Thankful that I have my health, thankful that I have my wits, thankful that I have even have this day to wake up to.

When I start to look for the one blessing that I am most grateful for, and can’t really decide which of the many blessings could possibly be the best, I am thankful that I even have blessings to count.

I don’t remember to be grateful a lot of the time, and it’s difficult to be sometimes with the hurdles that seem to come along.  When situations seem impossible, when there doesn’t seem to be resolutions to these situations.  The mind gets clouded and we despair.

There are times when we want to sit in a corner to cry, when we wonder how things could turn out so badly.  Times when everything seems impossible.  Times when we try so hard but nothing turns out the way we want them to.  Times when everything that can possibly go wrong, that will not only go wrong but bring you levels of wrongness that you never imagined possible.

And this little stone would nudge me.  Deep in my pocket.  To look for the one blessing and to remember to be grateful.

And magic happens.

And I realise that the things that I am grateful for, have more often than not, been preceeded with difficulties that I didn’t think I could get through either.  Things work out, in strange ways.

And with each challenge, thankful for the new paths that life would have lead me and new people that I would meet, and understand better the people who would have stood by me.  Thankful that I would discover a little bit more about who I am and what I stand for.

So yes, I am grateful.  Grateful for the paths that are created. For the people whom I have met.  Grateful for my family who have been there.  Grateful for all the difficulties that life has ever shown me.

It’s just a stone.  But it’s not any piece of stone.

This little piece of stone that sits in my pocket, carries with it, all the blessings of my life.  And if there’s anything I will wish for you my friend, is that you will find a little piece of stone that will become for you, the gratitude stone that mine has become to me.

Happy Year of the Rat!

The boy pondered at the question for a moment.

“I don’t know.” He replied.

“Why not?”

“Am I hanging on to anything?”

“Are you?”

“Hmmmm…”

He stared out of the window into the still night.

“What’s the alternative?” He asked, “I am making changes, you know.”

“I didn’t say that you weren’t. I merely asked if you are still hanging on to the irrelevant.”

“But what’s irrelevant? As long as they matter, they are still relevant, no?”

“But are they still relevant to you?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, then so be it. As long as you know.”

“Okay.”

“Do the new displace the old? Do we need to let go of old things if we are to embrace the new?”

“They can co-exist.”

“Can they?”

“Sometimes, yes. But that’s not the issue. The issue is one of relevance. Whether they are still relevant to you.”

“I do not fear the unknown. Nor the unfamiliar.”

“I know you don’t. You can be quite adventurous.”

“Okay.”

“Why do they still matter?”

Pause.

The boy thought about that question a little.

“They just do.”

“So if they don’t you will have no problem letting go?”

Pause.

If nothing else, the boy was honest.

“I’m not sure. I won’t know. It’s too hypothetical.”

“Hypothesize.”

He knew that he was stuck.

“Okay. I’m afraid to let go. Because I don’t know what happens after that. I don’t know what will happen if I do.”

“Fair enough.”

“So what do I do?”

“I don’t have answers for you. I am not here to give you solutions.”

“Oh.”

Pause.

“So why did you ask me if had problems letting go?”

Silence.

He knew the session was over.

He stared out of the window into the starless night and fell into a dreamless sleep.