Sleeping Beauty?

Everybody Dies, But Not Everybody Lives

This phrase hit me today and my thoughts wondered...

Yes, the one thing that is certain, we will die..
We just do not know
What, when and how
Some get their answers but most of us don't
Some struggle, some are eager and a lot are afraid
Most shy away from living
Hide in the past, busy with the future
Missing the NOW
When the time is UP
Then we SEE, then we HEAR, then we AWAKE
We then realise, how we've been ASLEEP through our life
But what can we do at that time
Just the thought of ... I wish, I would, I could, I want ...
Writhing and wrenching in agony and regrets
As the movie of life is playing in front of our eyes
Some are aware, some are not
When do I wake up
When is the BEST time?
When is the RIGHT time?

The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you

Don't go back to sleep

You must ask for what you really want

Don't go back to sleep

People are going back and forth across the doorsill where the two worlds touch

The door is round and open

Don't go back to sleep

Rumi

Eyes of Reality

We see, we look and we picture
In our words, we interpret
It is not always the same
Creating the difference of perspective and reality
The difference can be lethal, tolerable, painful or joy
It has been the source of war or peace
Inside and outside a man
All the pictures that man see, which one is the truth and reality
How to differentiate between the two
We could made it up and believe that is the truth that we see
Is it?
Or just a collection of experiences and stories
Ahh.. that question that made the thoughts running wild
It is like ....
Waking up in the middle of a pitch dark cave and desperately searching for any trace of light
The light that we hope would calm us down
That would lead to a state of tranquility
Hoping that, that light can bring us out of the dark
What do you see?
Am I in a dream? Should I wake up?
Will there be light when I open my eyes?
What do I want to see ...

Can a Bird Drives a Car?

This morning a thought came to my mind. I heard about this phrase about a decade ago. My coach asked me in my class at that time. "Can a bird drives a car?" Being really optimistic after our breakthrough of some of our beliefs, most of us including myself  said "YES!". She asked again, "Can a bird drives a car? This bird is very committed, optimistic, willing to do everything in it's power, dedicated etc ... so can a bird drives a car?" At this point, some of us sat back and had that doubt coming, logic sets in, torn in between reality and possibility.

Of course in our reality, a bird cannot drives a car. A car can only be driven by human. So no matter how much effort that is being put into it, a bird cannot drives a car. It's too small, the feet is too short, hands are too little. The car is built NOT for the bird to drive. Period. I remember applying this principle for competencies, selections, recruitment, appraisal and year end assessment.

That is the logic part, on the other hand, if we just entertain the non-logical part, the creative side of us... YES! A bird definitely can drives a car. There is 1001 ways on how it can be done. A long list of creative and humorous answers, some very inspiring too.

No right or wrong answer. Whatever the answer that you are having, it is just a thought ... just entertain the thought and let it flows ... it comes and it goes ... Have a Great Day ...

Busyness in Life

A word came to me this morning when I woke up. Busy... then I heard buzzing sound in my head... like a bee...  We are always busy, doing something, thinking about something. Some of us will make ourselves doing just about anything that we could put our hands of and our thoughts of.... Some use busy to avoid from facing up things in our lives. Some just couldn't stand, a still moment with self so they use it to keep them moving. Some use it because it is safe, it is comfort even though it is not what we want.

Though some are busy living life. Charting out what would be fulfilling in life,  finding passion. Living life with passion, making a difference to others, connecting with people that they care. Busy waking themselves up when automatic pattern and behaviour sets in. Busy connecting and learning to love unconditionally, working with themselves from within, learning, unlearning and relearning things in life.

The question is ...

Which one of these that we are so busy about?

Beware the barrenness of the busy life - Socrates

Perhaps what it takes is just to stop and have a look into what we are busy about. Maybe we have been using this busyness for a long time. Perhaps it's time to pursue the things that we always wanted to. Perhaps life is more than just getting ourselves busy... Look around and see what have we been missing out of in life... Those moments that we missed, we will never get it back again. Sometimes because of so many things that is happening in our life, we forget to see what and who is in front of us.

The busyness of one's life can only be stopped and managed by the person who's creating it.

Busy life

Space of forgiveness

It is not an act
It is not a doing
It is the intention and part of our essential being
To fore go the need to hold on to

In that space of forgiveness
Love and hatred cannot co exist
Forgiveness is willingness
It is in the acceptance and letting go
A desire arise to give love again unconditionally
It does not bound by past and history
It is not a have to but merely a choice

An epic battle between the glory of pride and a space of humility
Fierce and intense in the heart of a man
When ego subsides and love surmounts and conquered the space
It will be filled with passion and grace
A spirit of calmness and the rest fizzles through thin air
A space which is vast but yet filled
Overflowing and full of abundance
A feeling of whole and yet healing
And that is a space of forgiving...

Judgement

While I was talking to a lady just now, I realised something and I want to share my thoughts with you.

I met this lady a fortnight ago in an event. During this event she was not responding to me appropriately. My automatic reaction was to judge her. "Rude, inconsiderate, self-absorbed..." and the list continues... I also know a little bit of her background and that strengthen my judgement and the belief about her.
So today I met her again... and I heard other people's opinion and experience about her when she just entered the space for less than a minute.

It is just so easy to fall into judgement mode as we do it everyday and it becomes an automatic for us without even need to do a lot of work in judging. So we become a judgement machine. Ah, even the statement sounds like a judging statement.

Now the story continues, before I sat down and start talking to her, I noticed I have a choice to make here. One is to continue my judgement that I set before hand and continue the conversation. Second is to start on a clean page. I chose the second. Not easy as I noticed the opinions and judgements wanted to interfere into my mind. There were a lot of effort that I put in just to remind myself and stay vigilant on being present and compassion.

The result, as I listen to her and getting to know more about her, I realised that how wrong I was about all my judgements and my assumptions on her. She was not rude, she is nice and pleasant. She is not self absorbed, she remembered our first encounter. She apologised for being rude to me. I was humbled by that experience and by being wrong about my judgement. I forgave myself and moved on with our conversation so that I would be able to enjoy and create a wonderful experience for both.

My lesson and thought for today

Being aware about our thoughts and actions, requires us to be present with our mind and our emotions. It is important to be vigilant with our intentions and create what we committed to create. Along the way, if we wonder off, stop before it is too far, forgive if that makes you feel good again, laugh about it if you can, make a new choice in that moment and create new experience again.

Change...

When we speak about change. We can see different reactions from different people. Many people welcome change and many are against change. Psychologist, people in training field, human capital specialist, talk a lot about change. In fact in some culture of organisation and society, the word change is a taboo. You have to be mindful to approach change in certain environment and culture.

How do you feel when you hear and experience change? Change at work, change in relationship with people, change of feelings. How do you cope with change? Do you welcome change or you resist change? Why do we resist change? What are we afraid of if people change? Can we see the value of change itself? Have we forgotten that we are the product of consistent change in our life...

Are we changing for the better or become worst than before? Do people change? Some believes that people do not change... is it true? If people do not change, then why they have desire to change? Is it because it is a nice to have? "It is nice to change once in a while" ... could this be a conversation that we have within us or people that we are close with?

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird; it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely, being just an ordinary and decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.

C.S. Lewis

Two sides of a coin

There's a saying

There is always two sides of a coin

Everyone of us has a story. We create and tell our story everyday. One side of the story, we may tell people what they really want to hear, it will go through filtering, adding, subtracting so that it will become juicier and will serve our purpose. Maybe manipulating, getting attention, blaming or become a victim story etc.
The other side of the coin... Is where "What's the story morning glory is?" The real story, what actually happened, what did you do or did not do that created the result? What did you say or did not say that created the result? This side of the story is not easy to tell... As it requires us to take ownership and responsibility of what happened. We are part of the contributor to our story. Always... That means, this side of the story  that requires us to be responsible, leaves little room for finger pointing or blaming. We have to rise and becoming a bigger person to be able to see from this point.
So which side of the story that you tell? Which one would we prefer to listen? Which one would serve humanity? Which one would breed separation? Which one people love to hear? Which one you love to listen?

Which side of a coin that we use, to see our life everyday?

Staying sane in a drifted world

A thought came to me before I closed my eyes last night to sleep ... 

"How do I stay sane in the drift ..."

Most of the time, we just do more of the same but with different people and different place, different environment. Insanity, doing the same thing over and over again expecting different result ... So what can we do about it.
Maybe we are asleep while awake, deaf while hearing things and blind while seeing ... so we just form part of the drift. What does it take to stay awake? Maybe that's the key to be sane, to taste life as it is versus illusion that we create in our life.  Perhaps, part of the suffering that we experience is because of we also creating illusions and set the expectations that we know would not serve us ... Staying awake may requires us to be vigilant about our emotions, thoughts and actions. To always see possibilities and make new choices out of many that is presented in front of us.
I read this, this morning ... and it brought the sanity back in me ...
Thank you Maya Angelou and may you rest in peace as your contribution and legacy continues to serve human kind ...

Still I Rise - Maya Angelou

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don’t you take it awful hard
‘Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.

How are you feeling?

Today is another usual encounter that I have with people. I had glimpse of thoughts here and there. What caught my attention today was, when I asked this question "How do you feel now?" The usual answers would be :

• I don't know
• Feelings?! (Like a strange word)
• What do you mean?
• I don't have any feelings...
• Ok
• I feel .....
• Silent ....

My thought ... How could that happen? How could we have the hesitation to feel. Aren't we suppose to have feelings/ emotions, to feel... Have we lost it? Feeling is like a censor or a guide to us, becoming human. That is part of our emotional intelligence (EQ) (I think...). Some of us take sometimes to find words to describe feeling. I googled the list of word for feeling and I found that it's more than 150 words that could describe different feelings or experience that could express our emotions.

So how come we say that we have no feelings? Is it that we are afraid to feel? Have we numb ourselves? Or are we too busy to feel so we just let the feelings disappear ...  

When we come to the world, we are full of emotions and feelings even when we do not understand a word, we know how to express our emotions. Are we zombifying ourselves now in life? At what price?

How are you feeling?