Take them all, they are all yours.

If one day when you look up into the sky, a spit slapped on your face, don't be angry. Have you forgotten? It is the same saliva you'd once spited at the sky.

If tomorrow when walking on the street, you stepped on a dung, don't get irritated. Have you lost your memory? It is the same dung you'd once threw.

If today when taking a stroll at the park, you got hit by a stone, don't be annoyed. Don't you remember? That's the same stone you'd once thrown.

If one day when you look up the sky, rain droplets fell on your face. Look again, you may see a stretch of rainbow. Have you forgotten? The prayer of gratitude you'd made for every beautiful day.

If tomorrow when walking on the street, people are smiling at you, don't be amused. Have you lost your memory? Its is the same smile that you'd been wearing on your face.

If today when taking a stroll at the park, flowers are blooming cheerfully, don't be surprised. Don't you remember? That you'd once scattered the seeds of the flowers.

i am in a loss for laughter and cry, for i witnessed the cycle of sow and reap. Wants are coming, and also the unwanted. For i've planted them years ago, how can i forget? And today, all are coming back to me.

Soiled by my own dung, wounded by the stone thrown with my hands, spited my own face. Take them all, for they are my fruits.

Pray my own prayer, smile my own smile, smell the flowers i'd once planted. Take them all, for they are also my fruits. 

Commitment or faith?

Two years ago, a mother told me, " You know, my son told me he wanted to go baptist. Silly right? He's only 21 year old. I told him not to commit anything  first. Go and play and do whatever he wants outside, and then baptist when he's in retirement age". My jaw dropped.

Whether we are talking about commitment or faith here, both are standing on the same line. Commitment was once a positive word, has now become otherwise. We neither like to follow rules, nor getting stuck into any tradition. Because this requires long, painstaking staying power, unquestionable faith.

We like to question and doubt our own faith. We take it when we're down, and put it aside in most times. To question faith is the same as asking your parents, " mama, papa... do you love me?".

Commitment has lose is meaning, overused commercially. It may be misunderstood as " following the tradition blindly and boring". And we start becoming fleeting everywhere, hopping around... busy searching for this thing call " happiness".

Steady and firm. A committed person has no fear of heavy responsibilities and challenges in life. A person with faith has got no extra time for useless "pleasurable" activities. One who leads life with dignity and integrity, all thanks being committed to life values painstakingly.

An interrupted class

Unaware and rude, draws a fine line at the centre.

I was on the verge of chasing people out of the studio today. Was in for a lunch-time yoga with a group at their premises; after a good 45 minutes of physical challenges, i settled the student for savasana. Anyone who has been to a yoga class, the last 10 minutes of peace and relaxation is definitely a good treat.
The room was dimmed, "corpse" all over the ground.

Suddenly, a couple of office staff swung open the studio door and banged to close it; spoke loudly at the doorway. Couple of visits was made, by the same staff. Probably waiting for their next function in the studio. I sat there and watch.
I would lock the door if only i can.

At the very last attempt, one of them came in and tried to walked across the room. Despite the music at the background, instructions from me to the group and twice " Excuse me, we're having a class now" to the intruder, she did not respond... or unaware of our presence... or just being rude. One more time, i'm going to chase you out.
She walked a few steps in... my heart was shouting, " Gosh! Don't step on anybody!".

Before i sprang myself up from the ground, her friend at the door who stood there for some time, suddenly realised that we were there, shouted, " Hey! there's a class!".

Thanks, you manage to bring 10 corpse in the room to life.

So much for " Courtesy".

Just the matter of don't and want.

" So, what do you want?" this is probably one common question asked.
" I don't know yet" this is probably the most common way answered.
Is it a very pressing matter to know what we want? Hmm... maybe. I've a story to share, here we goes...

There was a very talented craftsman, who does very good curving out of wood blocks and rocks. Whatever animals he curved, the piece of art look so real and alive. He got well-known of his skill; and one day, the king invited him to his palace and wanted the craftsman to curve something out from a huge rock.
Few weeks of work, the craftsman presented the rock elephant to the king. " Oh my!" Thought that was a real elephant, the king got a shocked. Later to realise that it was the same rock.

" Where did you got your skill from? How did you manage to make the elephant look so alive?" the king asked, impressed.
The craftsman said, " I learnt it from nowhere Sir. I saw an elephant in the rock you gave me and merely just removed what's not part of the elephant."

I may not know what i want in life sometimes. But I surely know what i do not want.

Because you are my valentine...

Mum is very particular about salt and sugar intake in all our meals; strictly no sugar in any of her dishes and always stand by natural taste of sweetness from the ingredients. I used to think there's not big deal with the intake of salt and sugar, not anymore.

One of my relative we visited during the festive was diagnosed for diabetes and kidney failure. The fact the  she could still walk out of the room and talked to us was all history. We went into her room, i sat down beside her bed; she was sitted with a back supporter. Looking frail, she gave us a little smile.

Both feet were badaged, and she told me very direct that her nails had started dropping off and rotting. She complained that the arthrities in her knee and finger joints has been torturous. Most time, woken up by the overwhelming discomforts, with 2 hours of sleep daily. I held her hands, wrinkled soft skin over stiff hard bone. I looked into her eyes and felt a sudden crunch in my chest.

I may not understand how much she's going through, but i'm fully aware of what causes it. As much as my ability allows me, i'll nag on the important of daily diets to my beloved ones. Not because i'm afraid them becoming a burden to me, rather not wanting them to become a burden to themselves.
There are things we voice out, becase we care; becuase they are our valentines.

A single conversation can change our life. And that's why it's so important to who we are connecting with. There are so many things we has yet to understand, but don't misunderstand.

White or black?

I was watching the news, and got pretty woken up by how so many people are throwing their lives away; when at the same time, so many people are striving so hard to live by minutes. One fight after another for the magnifying of differences in acts of anger.
Whatsoever that people are arguing on the existence of the Heaven and Hell, is right in front of our eyes. The Earth is just a stage for these plays.

Why blood fight for differences when we can turn to similarities? Some people create differences to break the community, and some dissolves them for unity.
Like the Chinese uses white pepper, and the Indians uses black pepper. No point arguing which is better, because they are from the same pepper plants.

"To live in the world and be intolerant of another's race, religion, customs and colour is like being born an eskimo and having an aversion to snow"

~Sri Dhammananda

A story: When Socrates met his teacher

There's a saying in Malay:

" Kesal dahulu, jangan kesal kemudian"

It means: " Regret beforehand, don't regret afterwards."

During his younger days, Socrates visited a brothel and as he was coming out of it, he saw his teacher passing by. The young man was embarrassed and tried to sneak away, but the teacher accosted him and asked why he was trying to avoid him.

Socrates replied that he was ashamed of what he had done. His teacher advised, " You should have been ashamed of your actions before you entered the house of ill repute. Then you would have avoided doing the deed which you are now ashamed of."

Vice is easily learnt without a master,

whereas virtue requires a tutor.

Good habits are difficult to acquire

but easy to live with.

Bad habits are easy to acquire

but difficult to live with.

~ Ven.Dr.K.Sri Dhammananda

Its easy to splash a bucket of paint on the wall mindlessly; 

But it takes a lot of effort to clean the mess off the wall.

Are you a good actor?

When others are good, we can also be good.

When others are no good, it is easy for us to become bad.

An aristocratic rich widow, well known in high society for her benevolence, had as housemaid who was faith and diligent. One day, out of curiosity, the maid decided to test her mistress to find out if she was honestly good by nature or if it was merely a pretence put for the sake of appearance in her fortunate high society surroundings.

The the following few mornings, the maid got up quite late, and the mistress chided her. Repeatedly, the mistress abused the maid and struck her with a sick thus hurting her.

News of this incident spread around the neighbourhood and the rich widow lost not only her reputation but also a faithful servant.

Similarly, in this modern society, people are kind and modest when their surrounding conditions are good and satisfactory. When condition change and become unfavourable, they become irritable and angry.

We are all and surrounded by great actors and actresses, and got lost in the midst "perforamances".

Every morning, take some time and look into the mirror. Look at the reflection, look into your own eyes... are You still there?



Would you re-live your history?

Is there any one piece of your history, that you would want to re-live?

Maybe...

Then i would have miss the part when i flung my exams with my other good friends, that now we wold not be able to laugh at the same piece of joke that we share. Crying home thinking to get scolding from my parents; i would not know that parents worry not for the results, but if i was getting too sad.
I would miss the part to draw & paint for all i like in my repeat year. I would miss that turning point, that shake me awake.

Probably...

Then i would miss having an experience of having a stable job, income and sense of security. I may forgo the lessons of working in racial harmony. I would have miss the laughter from a bunch of "ma-chik" and chatting up with tourists over the counter. I would have miss experience toes numbness from running in heels. I would have lose opportunities on operations and managements, blessed by my boss. I would miss that second turning point, that pushes me to a zone of uncertainties.

Likely...

Then i would have miss a great chance to manage my health and educating my family. I would not realised how much effort i have to put in, to work for myself. I would have miss those falls from headstands, were not that painful. I would have not know how much sweat, aches and struggles i need to go through if i want a change of a better life.
I would not touch the excitement of living with an unstable income and work schedule. I would have miss roaming around the island, even all the way to Tuas. I would have miss to see that in every being, lies a child.

Would i want to re-live...No. Life's like a coin. In every situation, there bound to have two-sides. While one part of the world is seeing the sunrise, the other part is moving into darkness. In that darkness, the stars reveal. When the time comes, we'll too see the sunrise.

Our past makes who we are today. And today we can decide who we want to be tomorrow. We have to fall to rise, no matter which stage we are at... take them. Every moment is a lesson learn.

Just the basics!: Enlightenment Monday 5! - Embarassing Truths!

Just the basics!: Enlightenment Monday 5! - Embarassing Truths!: "I am reading a book about the Mahatma's work at Sabarmati Ashram (for those who're wondering - Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader and a truly..."

Home-brewed Ginger Chai!

A trip from India, i brought back the habit of drinking ginger chai. With rainy cool weather these days, ginger drink is one of a good way to keep ourselves a little warm.
Ginger, one of a common ingredients use in Ayurveda herbal treatments.
Not to misunderstand that ginger causes heatiness in our body. Consuming small amount of ginger daily helps to neutralise our system.

I love home-brews, and ginger chai is in my list... this is how it goes:
1) chopped/smashed some gingers into small pieces
2) boil them in a pot of water
3) turn off the fire, add some tea leaves. Cover the pot, 5-10 mins to brew
4) pour into cup with a sieve
5) instead of white sugar ( from India diets), a healthier choice: honey, Jaggery sugar

If you're going for the normal chai ( with milk), add condense milk... its sweet enough; you can spare the sugar.

More on the medical benefits: http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/10-health-benefits-of-ginger.html 

I'm on trial & error to get this version of Ginger Chai as close as to the ones i drink in India. Play around with the proportion. Injecting some of my diet choices to my family... and now my mum has started asking for Ginger Chai!