When choices meet decisions

Some queries plucked from the air has been roaming in my brain cells... Beings, animals and plants are all living things; so what's now?

Plants has got the absence of the composition of the 5 elements, the 19 elements of experiencing pleasures & pains and soul. No mind, no choice & no decision; and move according to sensory elements.

Animals are always closely related to human beings. We are as amaze as by how some animals can behave like beings; just like how beings can behave like animals.

Both animals and human all has got choices... but animals don't make decisions and we do. Animals work their way to the most physical level of needs, whatever they can get and available at their convenience.
Me and you, we has got the power to decide from the list of options. What we want, what is good or what is not...

If there's an orange tree, with so many oranges. And if we can only pluck just one... this may happen:
We probably will climb all the way up just to pluck that biggest and heaviest one. That a decision we've made to put in the extra effort to climb.

For a beast, it'll most probably just reach out and pick out whatever is there. If it's sitting on the grass, it'll pick up the nearest orange that has dropped down from the tree. Even its bruised. There's choices... but no decision-making involves.

We are all blessed with choices and the power to decide. So that we can pluck that act exclusively for ourselves. We learn how to treat the people around us exclusively. And everyday will be a special one.

If we stand on the choice to behave like an animal. Naturally, we learn how to treat the people around like animals, taking them for convenience. Everyday will be as beastly monotonous. There's nothing wrong ... its a power we've used upon... the power to decide.

Beginning or Ending...sama-sama.

I hear street-walkers talking about getting into a brand new 2011. I hear how they are going to reuse their resolution list from 2010. And i wondered.
Whether its moving into the new or phasing away from the old, they're indifferent. Absence of the numeric of year, month and day... there's no beginning and there's no end--- we're moving in a cycle of changes and evolutions. The sun is still going to rise from the east and set in the west. But never a sunrise or sunset is similar.

Within this loop that we're operating, we decide to rise or set our plans and goals. There's no breakages, just the shifting of priorities of our choices. If we want to make something happen, we make it happen. If we want to stop, we stop.

We've been taking too much time waiting... for the bus or in a queue... And now waiting for the year to end into a new beginning. There's a fine line between being patient and wasting time.
We can wait for time to arrive, it'll. But time will not wait for us to make things happen... the second-hand will just keep tick-toking.

Behind time, we're wandering in the past. Ahead of time, we're fantasizing in dreams. Be on time, we're here.

seconds... minutes... hours... days... weeks... fortnights... months... years... decades... centuries...are man creations.

Boy plucking flowers. A story.

A boy is walking through grassland, thinking of picking up just one flower for himself. He plucked up one pink flower. " Maybe i can get something better", he walked on. Along the way, he pulled out those flowers that caught his attention at first sight. Gathering them all together at the other hand. There were few flowers left as he reached the other end of the field. 

As he thought he can then select the most beautiful among those he had collected; the flowers were dying, turning dull and drying up. And he threw them back into the grassland, went back with nothing.

We all want to have the goods in many worlds. But many of a time, we did it at the expense of others; un-intentionally. A teacher once said in class, " Don't worry about you falling down. we are smart enough to save ourselves, but not others. Careful with the people around you."

For the boy, he went back home with disappointment; which he'll recover with time. For the dying flowers, the boy had just put a full-stop to their colourful days.

What i learnt when i hike. Lesson #3 Beauty is not for the pockets

Along the way making our way up to the mountain top, we were blessed with beautiful scenery. Most of the time, i would be looking down at the crumbly path. Small little blue flowers waving and the morning glories smiling at me. When i lift my chin up, greetings from the clear blue sky and friendly Himalayas never fail to remind me that we are always part of the universe.

Of course, sometimes i would have silly fantasy that i could carry the mountains back to Singapore. Woken up by the fact that, its is best to leave them alone, soaked myself into such estasy. However cute the wild flowers are, pulling them out from their soil and pocketing them means ceasing their moments of glory. I would prefer to squat and look at them as long as i want.

I was fumbling with my camera, trying to get some good shots of what i've seen. And realised that, nature is just too much for capture with the lens. I shoved my camera into my bag, and just enjoy. I was the camera, my eyes took the shots, my brain kept it into films of images became great memories.

None of a true beauty can be bought and keep into any of our pockets. Not even a smile.
None of a true beautiful moment will happend twice, like the flowing river. The same river will not flow a second time, the way it has flowed for the first.
We are all beautiful, when in our natural way.

What i learnt when i hike. Lesson #2 Mind Your Own Business!

You and me, we all have got the same 24 hours every day. Why are there stillpeople begging for more time, others are using it just right and some others has got too much to spend?

During hiking, i couldn't stop talking. Being overwhelmed by the nature, i would talk to Shiya about the flowers, the clouds, the weeds, the stones, the sheep, the children....
For the first ten minutes, i would get some replies of acknowledgement. And slowly, i realised she could not be bother about me; but i was just keep talking.... maybe to myself or if the guide could understand me. When i turned around, Shiya was busy fighting her own war with the flights.

Shiya decided to ignore me... reserving energy for herself. Which is good:)

And we were minding our own business. She was sweating gracefully and i was making my own speech. We were both experiencing body tiredness, fighting with stamina, sudden gushes of cool wind...The fact is, we could not walk the path for each other, not possible.
Each of us has got a business to mend, that's a very personal experience.

Every single one of us has got the same schedule planner; where we will jot down our appointments. Take a look at your own planner, looking at just any one month of the year. How many of these appointments are for yourself, and how many of them are for others?

Though we are blessed with 24 hours a day, most of us like to give away part of our share. Ended up not having enough to reach our goal; and the lucky ones would have few more extra hours from others for themselves.

We are all running a business of our own. No other people should be able to tell your how it should be run, for they have their own business to mend too. You have a goal, a direction, a passion, an idea, a thought, a plan and 24 hours a day; now do it.

What i learnt when i hike. Lesson #1 Speak The Heart Langauge

Language is not a barrier, words are.

Last year, my younger sis got herself a position in a company after graduation. One day, she came home and told me, " When my colleagues greeted me How Are You?; before i could even open my mouth to answer them, the greetings was brushed off.... and next sentence followed closely: Could you help me to do something?"
Start getting use to it, more to come.

Which is a pity, so now How Are You don't really mean a greeting... its a prelude to the next question actually. However harmless this may look, it is a start of a practice of saying words that we don't actually mean it--- mis-communication.
We live in a world of broken promises. How many times have you told a friend you'll call them back, but never did? And it became a habit of losing credibility.
Living in this busy city, my ears has become numb.

A short hiking with Dhan and Prem ( guide and porter) in Nepal had been few great lessons for me.
There was one time, my travelling partner Shi Ya was telling me of removing her sweater. Before we turn to Prem, Dhan tapped Shi Ya and gesture that he can get her sweater onto Prems' backpack. We were amazed by their service. That's a WOW factor in customer service.

The humour of life is, though speaking a common tongue, we still get misunderstood a lot. Forgo the barrier of words, simple words get us understood better.
A hike had presented me few great lessons... act through your heart.
" Wow, the little yellow flowers are beautiful" and i meant it. " The mountains are huge" and i meant it. " The wind is cooling", i meant it. " i need water and rest" and i meant it too.

A heart language is not difficult to speak at all. With a little more awareness, realise that our facial expression and gesture always come first, then the mouth will articulate the words to describe.

Example: My legs are tired from the climb. I feel the aches, and i say it after. or...
I feel the hunger first, and then said that I'm hungry.

Experience first, then comes with the words.  
Experience is the truth in the heart. The word may be the truth or a lie.

Being truthful to oneself, is probably another good deed we can do for ourselves.

Are you a TOFI?

" Fattiness", has always been a topic for centuries. And different methods had been introduced to measure our health level. Weight vs Height, BMI and now the Skin Test. Still, loopholes are everywhere...

Fats is not a word for unhealthy, Slim is not a word for healthy. We are looking for Fit.
Aside from struggling being an apple or a pear; fats nowadays are pretty "educated". They know how not to be exposed.
What could scare us more, is when Slimness hides a deadly secret. When we look into the mirror, that reflect lies. That we are unaware of the excess "potential energy" we are containing inside the body. What you see, may not always what you get.

TOFI is a new tag for the generation. " Thin on the Outside but Fat Inside". Just like a wolf wearing sheeps' wools. Waiting to pound on you.

Let's look at the types of Fats, we have:

Subcutaneous fat--- goes underneath the skin
Visceral fat--- goes in the abdomen and surrounding internal organs ( internal/ central fats)
Cholesterol fat--- travels in the blood that has been metabolised by the liver. Low Density Lipids ( LDL) can form plaque, blocking the arteries.

More likely to be a TOFI if...
* You're a male. Genetically, men has more central fats for work
* You're post-menopausal female. Due to the drop of oestrogen hormone; that protects against central fats
* You're under stress. Reflex of "fight" leads fat to deposit centrally
* You're older. Fat tissue increases, lean body mass drops
* Family history of diabetes

Most of us can simply use a measuring tape to see how much fats we're carrying. Some with high internal/ central fat levels can only be detected with an MRI.

Eating in large quantity in every meal leads to increasing fat level. Eating in small quantity but high in calories, also leads to increasing fat level.
Any food, whether its fats, carbohydrates, proteins, ... if the input of the energy is not use, they will transform into fats. When the fats are stored for long, lead to stubborn fats.

Exercising and good diets are buddies for fit health. It is OK to be fat, but we want to be fit in order to experience the beautiful events in life.... comfortably.

In most time, we just rely on our eyes too much. And take delusions as truth. Which is dangerous... because we've no idea what's playing behind our naked eyes. All we need, is a piece of self-consciousness. Know what we put into our mouth.... without guilt--- earn for it.

A short note: When we choose to eat very processed food. We've also choose to exercise even harder to very unprocess them.

Research article  from Reader's Digest, January 2011, Singapore

Habits in the habitat

One can Never Ever Ever kick off habits, just like " A leopard never change its spots".

The nature of life is not like a digital camera--- snap and delete. We are all painters. Every stroke we decided to brush on the canvas creates an imprint ( samskara). And with multiple imprints, we create a picture... an event.

I remember when i was learning arts in school, i love acrylic painting. And i learnt that, in art, there is no such thing as eraser. If i made any mistake, instead of going on with the wrong colour; i simply wait for the paint to dry and brushes a new coat over. And keep putting it with a more suitable color, to the birth of the picture i wanted.

Before every act happens, is a series of imprints. Even a simple movement of brushing the hair off my face. My face feels ticklish by the hair, sense organ sends the information to the brain, the brain co-ordinates with the hands, and the hand swipe the hair away--- all in a split second. That how amazing our brain works!

Many of us simply say, " Oh, I'll kick this habit". But eventually, find it so difficult to make it happen. Why?

Habit is not something you can kick, not in a snap of finger and it disappear! We need to put in effort, not just effort alone.... painful effort.

Habits, though we can't simply wash them off; we can always add good habits. Top them up, diligently.
Just like how a drop of drain water merge with the ocean. How the ocean embraces the drain water. It's still there, diluted with the good ones. Once my band conductor said to us, " Even if a cut is healed. The scar is always be there. We can always scrub the dead skin, and lighten it.... with continuous effort."

I've personally seen couple of my friends who manage to put in great effort to stop their years of habit of smoking. They were very aware what leads them to smoke. Not always the fault of nicotine. But the habit of have a stick between the fingers... so they snack on Poky-stick!

Some kick off the bad habit of drinking. First by not stepping into places that sell alcohol. And replace them by drinking juices and exercising... which turn out making them feel better!

Just be aware. Be aware what causes unwanted act that leads us to do it unconsciously ( habit). Cut down and divide the impression before the act happen. And replace them with the good ones; or cease the creation of more impression.

If one could not even say "no" to yourself, what's more wanting to say "no" to others?

Our habits form our habitat. No change happens in a click. Injection. Break the vicious routine and inject new habits slowly with full of awareness.
As the famous Ashtanga guru always remind us, " Practice, practice, practice.... and all is coming"

Yes, the leopard will never change it spots. Because it knows that once spotted, always spotted. So it creates more beautiful spots instead...