On Human Stupidity

Calvin, my favourite comic character, pondered on this:

With the wave of frivolity which has entered my life recently, I cannot help but wonder on the same thing. 

The play is unrehearsed and everybody is ad-libbing his lines.

It's hard to feel whether we're in a tragedy or a farce.

They sound just right. :)

And we do not need to be Albert Einstein to muse this - Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.

Bucky on Humanity, Integrity, and Transcendental Meditation

Here is a remarkably inspiring session between Mr Buckminster Fuller (Bucky) and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi where they talked about the universal basis of the life of individual and cosmos.

The basis of this exchange:

Bucky said he first started to explore the untapped faculties of the human mind in 1927, which is when he first began investigating meditation. However, he was not impressed with what he learned because he concluded people were meditating for their own personal advantage, rather than to help the world.
Bucky’s impression changed dramatically 44 years later when he met Maharishi at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

It came as a great delight to me in meeting Maharishi to learn that he, in his studies, had discovered that in the very earliest recorded thinking in India, that the meditator was exploring these faculties … on behalf of his fellow man.

And Bucky revealed the “great news” of the time:

What is really news is that there have people contemplating and isolating themselves for thousands of years, not apparently trying to bring the advantage to the many except in mysterious ways. I am sure what has made Maharishi beloved and understood is that he has manifest love. You could not meet with Maharishi without recognizing instantly his integrity. You look in his eyes, and there it is. 

I would like to say to the news media that the great news is that America has its arms open for the truth, love, tenderness, compassion, and the only way we can know the truth, is through our mind. And the world is demonstrating in this wave of inspiration by Maharishi, its yearning and its determination for humanity to survive on our planet. 

Very deep forces are operative here, the forces of the great intellect of the universe itself. This is the news. It is not easy to report this kind of news, but this is the news.

Watch these videos for more of the exchange.



It takes quite an effort for me to understand fully the exchange between Bucky and Maharishi, both are Enlightened Masters. Perhaps, someone can help explain more to me in the comment section. Thank you in advance.

And again, in the simplest term, what transpire is love and love is all that is real, as taught in A Course in Miracles.

"Love does not conquer all things, but it does set all things right."
- Excerpted from A Course in Miracles

Know Thyself

Have you try any personality tests? 

I have tried Myers-Briggs Personality (MBTI) and Dominance-Influence-Steadiness-Conscientiousness (DISC), Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI), Audio-Visual-Kinesthetic and even some animals categories - Hare-Tortoise-Owl-Squirrel. I have also done my Enneagram test 2 months ago and re-did my DISC profile (And I got different profile result this time). In Enneagram, I am called a Four - The Individualist from the nine personality types. Below is one of the reminder note for me as a four.

The overall keynote of Fours is subjectivity. In order to keep their sense of self alive, Fours need to have a personal and emotional resonance with their experiences. They therefore "take everything personally," and for better or worse, often invest meaning or find intention where there is none. Notice today when you are taking everything personally. 

Thus, this is my favourite prayer to help me when I am taking things too personally until it hurts:

Dear God, please help me. This is it. Right here. There is where the sword enters my heart. This is where I blow it every time. 

I read occasionally what it tells about my Greek Zodiac (I am an Aries) and Chinese Zodiac. Recently, I also have my BaZi profiling done on my career and relationship. BaZi tells me when are the years I most likely to find my pot of gold or find the right man to have a relationship. It seems I need to be a bit more patient for both.

Now, I wonder how much I traverse the road of knowing myself. 

How many more tests out there that are attempting to tell us more about ourselves but also put us in different categories?

If there is only one certain distinction that any test can tell for me, I would be categorised to those who always need to find out about things. (Now, you can take a guess at my DISC personality). Sometimes I feel I am taking it too broad, may be shallow. Sometimes, I think I am diving too deep. I am constantly curious - I accept that fact. I am really passionate about learning. I feel alive when I am gaining knowledge and become wiser.

But I found the more I learn, the more I know that I know nothing. Okay, that came from Socrates. It is a proof that wisdom and generalised principle can really transcend space and time. I am talking about what Socrates believe more than 2000 years ago is still applicable up to these days. It certainly resonates with me and I think it does with a lot of people.

Perhaps when we meet a divine and transcendent guru, and we ask him questions, most probably we will NOT get direct answers. A lot of things are neither black nor white. A lot of things are not set in stones. It comes from where we are looking at it. A Course in Miracles says Only Love is real. All others that are negatives are just illusions. And we are surrounded by illusions until we surrender to love. And I just learnt from Money and You program that Clarity Leads to Power. I know now that no matter how complex things are, there are always some generalised principles that govern everything.

I do not need to know everything to know all things.

I think I am getting it. Things are getting clearer for me. I am really starting to know myself. I don't really know it, but I can feel it.

How about you? What do you think? Do you know yourself?

Marianne Williamson on Relationship, Creativity, Leadership, and Divine Compensation

I hope I would look as gorgeous, fabulous and healthy as Marianne Williamson at the age of 61. She emanates wisdom and vitality. She is not afraid to speak fast or to wave her hand passionately - perhaps attesting to being peaceful does not mean you cannot be passionate as well. She advocates love, and an avid student and teacher of A Course of Miracles (ACIM).

There are 3 resources that I would like to share with you, my fellow reader:

1. Her "Return to Love" book, a classic.

I have a copy of this book "A Return To Love" by Marianne Williamson. Those who had looked at my worn and crumpled copy would think that I did not value it. But I love this book. And that is also why I carry it around and re-read it whenever I can.

Its lesson is very powerful. It reminds me to surrender, to forgive, to focus on now, to heal, to let go of fear and ego, to be peaceful and most of all, to love.

While its most famous quote is "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.", I really like the myriad of prayers offered in the book, especially in the times when I deviate from love.

Dear God, please help me. Heal my mind. Wherever my thoughts have strayed from love - if I've been controlling, manipulative, greedy, ambitious for myself - whatever it is , I'm willing to see this differently.

Dear God, you know, and I know, that I have more potential for neurosis in this area (relationship) than in any other. Please take my attraction, my thoughts and feelings about this person and use them for your purposes. Let this relationship unfold according to your will.

Dear God, let me see this person through your eyes. 

Dear God, please help me realize that I am someone wonderful. 

Dear God, please help me. This is it. Right here. There is where the sword enters my heart. This is where I blow it every time. 

Dear God, I surrender this situation to you. May it be used for your purposes. I ask only that my heart be open to give love and to receive love. May all the results unfold according to your will. 

2. Another powerful interview on relationship

There is a interview with Marianne Williamson on the topic of Shifting within our
relationship. You can access here in this link.

She touched on holy-isolation, in which two parties who separate can mean that the physical proximity is no longer the highest container for their mutual soul growth, and this is not a failure in relationship. Relationship is eternal - our bodies separate, minds are eternally connected. And it's our own path that we're asked to vigilantly monitor, not someone else's. This actually rings well with the teaching of Ho'oponopono.

3. Her video lectures.

Below is a video on YouTube where Marianne discuss on creativity, leadership and divine compensation at GoogleTalk. More video lectures can be find on her official website.

At around 35th minute, one of the audience brought into discussion about a belief that our actions do not really matter; what matter is our consciousness. Marianne was obviously quite appalled with that belief - It does not matter what we do? With 17 thousands children and 15 thousands adults starving to death everyday and billions of people living on $1.5 or less a day, there are so much things we can do.

Yes, spiritual study does not mean we just sit around, clear our consciousness and meditate. It also means to take action to give love. Namaste.

How to Improve Decision Making Skill

My friend asked me whether I have any advice on how to improve decision-making skill. And I started asking myself these:

How good am I in making decisions? Had I been making good decisions in the past? 

One word stared straight at me. FAILURES.

Failures = Bad Decisions. There have been many big failures in my life. It took me a long while to recuperate - mentally and emotionally.

But I had a better equation now. Failures = Decision to Learn = Courage to make mistakes. Yes, I have chosen at many times to learn the hard lessons from the bumpy roads in my life.

I had made decision in my past to learn the lessons from life. But now, I have made a decision to win and to love. So my friend's question came just right on time as I also need to improve my decision making skills.

Here are a few decision making strategies that I feel can help.

1. OOC/EMR Decision Making Process from Anthony Robbins

I never quite get down to try this decision making process. But in terms of making big and important decisions, I think it is good to go through this process.

2. From the book "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. 

I am not advocating to make decision in a blink - the power of thinking without thinking, the first two seconds decision making or the gut feeling. But this gives us a very good perspective. Sometimes, we already have made a decision in a blink. But we somehow tell ourselves we need more data. Perhaps, it is really good to trust our gut feelings. Perhaps not - it really depends on our level of mastery and the circumstances.

What really stands out for me in "Blink" is a study done on married couples, where they videotaped their conversations. From there, they used the different criteria to predict whether the couple would divorce in years to come. There are certainly a lot of things that can make or break a marriage, but the result was astonishing. It just came down to one criteria - whether the couples have contempt for each other.

My point is there are massive data and thousands of criteria for us to make decision, but usually the key important criteria is just a handful. And that's what we need to focus on. The rest is just noises and are not really important.

I used to break off with a guy because we just seem not able to get together well. Then, I asked both of us to envision how our old age will look like. I envision an old man and old woman lovingly holding hands walking together. He envision an old man alone, sitting on a chair, being at peace. That tells a lot about his value system and my value system in terms of partnership in life. Neither is right or wrong, but to be together, our values system has to align with each other.

3. Is it Love or is it Fear?

From A Course In Miracles and Return to Love (Mariane Williamson), I learn that a lot of things we do and decision we make, either we are driven by love or driven by fear.

Why do we not do the work we love?
Why do we stop from taking that action which will bring good change to our life?
Why do we stop going to the gym, eating healthy food and getting enough sleep?

All I am saying is use LOVE to make the decision instead of fear, and as Paulo Coelho put it, once we make the decision, the universe conspires to make it happen.

Love itself is a decision. We make decision to love ourselves and others, to be happy, to heal and be healed, to change.

Fear is the darkness. Love is the light. We do not get to the light through endless investigation of the darkness. The only way to the light is through entering the light. (From A Return To Love)

Albert Einstein famously proclaimed "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it". It means that if we are to make a decision of a problem solving at the same state when we created the problem in the first place, we will never be making a good decision. When we create the problem, we are in the darkness or in the fear. Thus, we need to go to light and the love to make the decision on how to solve it.

So, let's our decision-making to be driven by love, instead of fear.

How to Stop Missing Your Ex

Your inane hand reaches out to the phone for a hundred times. No! Don’t call him! Your mind shouts at you. You realize you need a better deterrent …… besides breaking your phone. Filled with determination, you change his contact name to “Do Not Call !”. Ingenious, you tell yourself.

But you find yourself helplessly texting him later.  So, you change his contact to “Do Not Call or Text!”.

Then, there is another problem. He continues to pop into your head regularly. Sometimes it seems like he is peering through your skull, examining your brain like a doctor. Finally, you scream at him. “Get out of my head! Don’t you dare come without my permission!” . He answers innocently and impassively “Actually, I never ask to be here”. And you know that is very true. You do that to yourself. So, you resort to feeling stupid and out of control.

Maybe you have done nothing of that sort before. But I did ALL of those.  

Why is it so difficult to control your emotion and act sensibly when you are going through a breakup? It is like you are walking on the rope between 2 cliffs with no safety harness. You are not willing to fall and die, yet you know it is so easy to overthrow your balance. Keep walking! It is almost there to Safety! Your soul tells you. Yet, you cannot even see the finishing line. It is all cloudy and blurry. How long do I have to continue like this, you ask.

Until you can imagine you already reached the other cliff, the safe haven of joy. And feel like that too. Yes.

Imagine Your Future Healed Self!

Thus, I would like to share with you 2 personal recipes that I created to walk through that rope to the other cliff. I guarantee no falling and you’ll even enjoy the walk on the rope like you are walking on a beach!

1st Personal Recipe: 1-2 Year from now, this won’t matter that much as now.

I asked myself these series of questions in my mind.  I crafted these based on the NLP language pattern and these had helped me a lot to put me in a new perspective. But try this with care, as it messed up my mind a little last time, until I became much smarter.

What would it be like in the future, 1 to 2 years from now, when I have already gotten over the infatuation, that I no longer see him as my desired object, now in the future, as I look back and see what it was like to have had that problem of being so infatuated with him without any valid reason, as I think about it now.

Didn’t I have an infatuation before? And after 1 or 2 years I totally know it was actually an infatuation even though when I was in it, I did not know and thought it was love and he was the one?

Didn’t I ever break-up with someone and be totally fine after that?

I know I will get over the feeling soon. Why wait?

I will know one day in the future, I won’t see him or feel anything like I am feeling now? Why not put myself in the future now and look back?

Right now, as I am going to be in 1 or 2 years later, I am feeling completely neutral towards him.

I shall set myself free. And I set him free.

2nd Personal Recipe: When I am 80 years old, I know I’ll treasure the experience with him

I got this idea from the animation movie, Howl’s Moving Castle. (By the way, I absolutely, passionately, and fabulously love Studio Ghibli. Watching its movies was one of the most amazing things that I treasure in my life.)

In this movie, Sophie was turned into an 80-years-old woman by a spell cast by a witch. She was therefore forced to embark on a new journey to find the cure. Despite hunching, wobbling, wincing while walking through the tough journey, she found that at her age, there was nothing she could be afraid anymore. Sophie then met Howl, a very handsome guy whom she met once and was very attracted to. But accepting the fact that she was 80 years old, she did not even think about any mutual attraction. She then focused on doing what she needed to do to stay alive, find the cure and be as happy and normal as can be- that includes cleaning Howl’s castle, having a fun time with another lovely kid – cheekily but motherly and sitting by the beautiful lake, drinking tea. That was a very serene scene that I like the most. And she even became feistier – maybe that will happen when one does not care about other opinions.The story ended when she realized she really loved Howl and would do anything for him without hoping for any return. Maybe because of the unconditional love, she broke the curse and turned back to her own youthful self.

So, I imagined what would be like an 80-years-old like Sophie. It made me feel immediately, things that matter a lot to me now, will not matter so much when I am 80-years-old, and I will treasure the experience. I also know that when I am 80, I am going to look back at this heartbreak episode and laugh at myself so hard that all my teeth will come loose.

In fact, the 2 personal recipes I shared here not only work for your heartbreak, but it can work for anything else in your life when you are feeling  negative – sad, angry, foolish, etc… Try these out!

Namasté.

This is reblog from http://f5bulous.com/2013/01/23/how-to-stop-missing-your-ex-and-beating-yourself-up-my-personal-recipes/ 

A Great Inspiration from an Amazing Kid

It is not every day we run a race, speak in public or pitch to a client. We probably struggle and stumble a little in the quest to win - either a race, a speech contest or the million-dollar deal.

But for Matt, as shown in this video, we can easily be tearful and inspired by how hard he worked to finish his race; and the love and support shown by people around him. Love is indeed the greatest gift in the world.

Miraculous Relationship Meditation

A few friends said they do not like meditation because they are impatient or some even feel the moment of quietness is actually more stressful.

I am still learning how to quiet my mind. Thus, I usually opt for guided meditation because at least my mind can concentrate on a thought. It is easier than not thinking at all.

Join me in this meditation of Miraculous Relationships - a journey designed to increase the peace, joy and well-being in your life.

Registration free at www.chopracentermeditation.com. Namaste.

A Course In Miracles

The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance. The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite. A Course in Miracles, T-in.1.

Are you feeling homesick?  A place where you run free and feel loved ...?

Have you lost your way to your kampung?  A heartfelt place of laughter and kindness ...?

Are you ready for the day-to-day systematic practice of happiness?

(For Miracle Mondays at Zest Cafe, Bangsar South, check it out here.)

If you’re ready ... this is the Course.  It’s the way to your kampung, where you can leave all your anxieties to return to a place of inner peace and joy. 

A Course In Miracles is a self-study day-by-day guide to practice right-mindedness thinking.  At the end of the Course, you will realize that happiness has just slipped your mind.  Now, it’s calling you to remember ...

All the Course asks of you is an open heart, an expansive mind and the willingness to be vulnerable.  First of all, let yourself be fully committed to happiness.  To fulfill your wish to experience miracles, you are required to read the Course on your own.  And to get you started, commit yourself to three sessions of blissful learning, facilitated by Chee Wah, today.  

These three sessions, each 2 hours, will include:

Session #1: What the Course says? - an introduction to the 669-page Text.

Session #2: Why 365 lessons? - an introduction to the Workbook for Students

Session #3: Who are Teachers? - an introduction to the Manual for Teachers.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR: THAM CHEE WAH

In 2001, Chee Wah joined the Novitiate Program as a Buddhist monk with the objective to understand the balance of body, mind and soul.  A few years later, he came across A Course In Miracles and started a journey of self discovery by reading two pages of the text each day and practiced the 365 lessons from the Workbook for Student.  Committing to a discipline, one day, two pages and one lesson, he managed to complete the Course in one year.  To have a deeper understanding, he started from page one all over again.  Since 2005, he continues to read the Course regularly. 

By request, he starts to share the principles from the book and practices its philosophy of right-mindedness thinking.  Opportunities knocked.  Doors opened.  He was invited to speak at many seminars and conducted various workshops based on the Course.  In 2008, he began penning his thoughts and authored the book “Invite Freedom Home - Creating A Meaningful Life and Live Life with Passion”. The book is the #1 Bestseller on Popular Bookstore’s Self-Enrichment category.  

Why I want to commit to the Course?  By Susan Lim

I have a lot of questions about inner peace, love and happiness.  I immersed myself in the teachings of the Law of Attraction as popularized by “The Secret” and “Abraham Hicks”, learnt Neuro-Linguistics Programming (NLP) and Hypnotherapy, Buddhism and a variety of self-development materials.  But somehow I still find myself in the dark trying desperately to look for directions and a sense of purpose in life.   I am fearful of almost everything: old age, immaturity, failure, mediocrity, having insignificant dreams and even fear of not achieving my dreams at all.   Constantly, I dreaded the idea that I’ve either not loved or I’ve not been loving enough.  I am just paralyzed with fear.

I first heard of A Course In Miracles when I read Marianne Williamson’s Return to Love.  I know I have to explore the Course and that is when I stumbled upon inspire.fm.  It was such a delight to know that locally, in Malaysia, Chee Wah is teaching the Course.  Immediately, I know I need to reach out to him to help me understand the Course.

I hope through ACIM and the generous sharing from Chee Wah, I can discover what my fear is and to find my inner peace, love and happiness.

DETAILS:

Organized by: TalenCloud

Contact Person: Call/SMS Susan Lim

3 consecutive Mondays:

12, 19 and 26 August, 2013

7.45pm to 9.45pm

Venue: 

Menara Mutiara Bangsar

8-0-13 Ground Floor, Jalan Liku

Off Jalan Bangsar

59100 KUALA LUMPUR

Your Contribution:

RM30 per person per session

**There will be practice of silence from 7.45pm to 8.00pm.  Do be punctual.**

Interview with Dr. Hew Len – Ho’oponopono

Have you hear about Ho’oponopono and Dr. Hew Len?

Dr. Hew Len was a psychologist who healed a ward of mentally ill criminals using Ho’oponopono.

More on this story here:
http://rosariomontenegro.hubpages.com/hub/How-Dr-Hew-Len-healed-a-ward-of-mentally-ill-criminals-with-Hooponopono
http://www.wanttoknow.info/070701imsorryiloveyoujoevitale

In this interview, Dr. Hew Len explained to us:
Data is what is running us. It is at the root of what we experience. Change that within yourself and the outer world changes. Most of the time we are using dead information.

And take 100% responsibility!

Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for your life means that everything in your life – simply because it is in your life – is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire world is your creation.

How do you heal yourself with Ho’oponopono? Three steps: by recognizing that whatever comes to you is your creation, the outcome of bad memories buried in you mind; by regretting whatever errors of body, speech and mind caused those bad memories, and by requesting Divine Intelligence within yourself to release those memories, to set you free. Then, of course, you say thank You.

• I love you.

• I'm sorry.

• Please forgive me.

• Thank you.

Suffice it to say that whenever you want to improve anything in your life, there's only one place to look: inside you.And when you look, do it with love. 

How to be Single and Happy Again Workshop

Are you in the slippery slope of a difficult relationship, going through heartbreak where you are on an emotional rollercoaster or are you over your heartbreak but find something is still holding you back?

The pain of heartbreak is very real. At some points of our lives, we experience this mind numbing and heart wrenching feeling. But do you know that with learning some techniques to deal with this, you are not only able to get over this faster, but you may get through this healthier, stronger and wiser?

Using NLP, hypnotherapy and other healing techniques, we would help you get through your heartbreak with a new sense of connection to yourself and to the world.

Ask yourself these few questions:

• Do you replay every little detail over and over again in your minds, trying to somehow get the pieces to fit – but you still cannot make sense of it?
• Do you keep thinking and missing him so much?
• Are you feeling depressed?
• Do you find it hard to move on and always find things that remind you of him?
• Are you setting up protective barriers for future relationship in hope to protect yourself from future heartbreak?

Join this 3-hours workshop and you will learn how to settle this unresolved feeling, smooth the passage of lost and develop a finer mind, body and soul. Register at  http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6863834915

Learn how to be single and happy again. Learn how love can heal.

“Eventually, you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is”  – Gary Zukav

Date: 27 July 2013 (Saturday)
Time: 10:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. (Registration: 10 – 10:30 a.m.)
Location: Wiseed Meeting Center, Tropicana

Our Facilitator:

Dr. Alvin Teoh is no stranger to break-ups and heartaches. But every time, he successfully picks himself up and brings himself to a higher level of enlightenment. Along the way, he has counseled many women on relationship issues and lifted many souls to a healthier realization of their potential.  He has been a trainer since 2001 and his programs are known for its fun and happening activities.

He is also the author of the book entitled “How to Hypnotize Your Husband before someone else does.” His mission in life is to bring out the hidden beauty and bliss in every woman.

Dr. Alvin is a Certified Practitioner of Neuro-Semantics (NS), Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Hypnosis & Time-Lines recognized by Dr. Michael Hall’s International Society of Neuro-Semantics (ISNS, USA). He is also a Certified Practitioner of NLP under Dr. William Horton’s National Federation of NLP (NFNLP, USA). He has been a professional Trainer since 2001. Dr. Alvin has also been interviewed on Red.FM and Capital.FM. In his free time, Dr. Alvin also does complimentary make-up for friends.

This workshop is presented to you by:

   

Location of the training:

Wiseed Meeting Centre
A-G-10 Blok A,
Merchant Square @ Tropicana,
No.1 Jalan Tropicana Selatan 1, PJU 3,
47410 Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia

GPS coordinate: 3.133397, 101.599566

Tel : +603 78869280
Fax : +603 78869279

Register for this event at:
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6863834915

Life of Pi – The Spiritual Adventure

When I finished watching Ang Lee’s film Life of Pi, I immediately jumped on the book like the hungry Richard Parker and Pi after being stranded in the sea for 227 days. I wanted more than what I had just gotten from the movie.

I could not agree more that the cinematography was stunning beyond any description. I said this, not only because I could save the effort of raking my dictionary to search for some divine words to describe it, but even that would not do enough justice. I also loved the soul searching and faith testing plot punctured with some humour. When the curtain went down, I was too stunned until I was literally transfixed in my chair, wondering what the hell was going on the screen for the past 2 hours. Maybe my brain was too slow for the 120 frames-per-second technology?

Thus, my journey on the award-winning and best-selling book began.


As with my previous experience, I had mostly enjoyed the books better than the movie adaptations. I believe the movie version of “Eat, Pray, Love” and “Memoir of Geisha” did not do the book justice. Elizabeth Gilbert and Arthur Golden are both astounding and amazing in their storytelling. But “Twilight Saga” movies are better because of Robert Pattinson. But despite Stephanie Meyer’s creativity, I still prefer Elizabeth Gilbert’s witty and bewitching style. Even as a Twilight fan, I bemoaned the fact it dragged quite a bit in the movie as much as in the book.

But Yann Martel is a marvel and a true master. He is superb and spectacular in his story telling and twisting.His words are never dull even when he was describing the slowest animal on the planet. He made the zoo came alive and all the animals jumped up and down for me. Yann Martel has a gift to make the mundane memorable, routine enjoyable, eccentric comprehensible, and the norms questionable.

I especially like the idea of the general perception that animals should be roaming free and wild in the jungle instead of being caged and restricted in the zoo. If that is the case, do we humans want to be chased out of our houses and roam freely in the jungle, expected to be eaten at any seconds? His metaphor is right on and it begs to challenge all our conventional thinking. And what about the uniqueness and differences between all the 3 religions that Pi embraced? Pi quoted Mahatma Gandhi  on All religions are true and asked a question comparing nation and passport respectively to God and religion –  If there is only one nation, won’t all passports will be valid?

And of course, one will never contemplate in a million lives to be stranded on a boat with a Bengal tiger. But instead of being a foe, the tiger became a saviour in the sea of emptiness. It is another metaphor for us to embrace our darkness because it can be our saviour and teacher when accepted as part of us. (By the time, I completed this post, I just finished reading “The Shadow Effect – Illuminating the Hidden Power of Your True Self” and I realized this statement is very true)

And with most fictional books and movies, the ending gave us a twist and dwell on the uncertainties that are open to our interpretation based on our individual belief. I feel Life of Pi delivered this feat in a unique and truly successful way. Just a tiny speck of uncertainties, the ending was fulfilling and also left a question to ponder on.

Life of Pi, as I conclude, is a quest for freedom, told in a refreshing and emboldening way.

Since reading “Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, I felt I probably won’t find another great storyteller who seems to be able to weave the depth of spirituality into a story of an adventure in life.

Life of Pi changed my thought.

This is also posted to http://f5bulous.com/2013/01/14/life-of-pi-the-spiritual-adventure/

[Dear Dr. Sus] The Best Relationship Advice Ever!

Dear Dr. Sus,

I am in deep shit and I need your advice.

My girlfriend gave me an ultimatum and said she would leave me. She claimed I always do not make an effort to connect and care for her, thus I do not really love her. I do not know what she means. I called her, texted her and went out with her. I bought her dinners and gifts, brought her to watch movies, went shopping and to any place she wanted me to go.

She insisted despite I had done all these things for her, I did not do them CONSISTENTLY EVERY DAY!!! How can I have all the times to do that every day while I need to work, socialize, eat, play, pee, shit, masturbate and watch football and all other sports? I really think my girlfriend is making an unreasonable demand.

I attempted to call her every day. But whenever I called her, she talked and talked for hours, in what seemed like an interminable conversation. When I excused myself to go to watch a football game, she said I always love football more than her. Why do women always like to put always in their statement? I really don’t understand. When I said I need to go out for an appointment, she asked who I was meeting. I usually say Alex, George or Christian but they were actually Alexandra, Georgeann and Kristen.


There was one time, I slipped and told her I was meeting Kristen. I then have to tell her Kristen is my 50-years old aunty who just got back from Canada. Of course, I did not tell her Kristen is actually a hot 36-24-34 chick whom I often socialize in the pub.  I don’t know why she has to make me create all these stories and names. Do you know how stressful is it for me to keep track of everything and try not to give her too much information for fear I will say something that does not correlate with all the stories I created. Why do men always have to do all the works and answer all questions to please their girlfriends?

I also have tried to text her every day. I often asked her how she was. She replied in very long paragraphs starting with “Dear Diary”. I do not know why she had to tell me things in such details. I don’t really care whether her friend, Bobo got dumped by his boyfriend, unless Bobo has unusually large breasts. If Bobo has that (large breasts), she did not tell me. Then she asked how my day was. I told her in less than 3 words  - Fine, Great, Not So Bad, etc. and she started to ask more and expected me to reply to her. And this became an endless ping pong. Sometimes, I purposely let the ball go off  – STOP ANY REPLY. After all, what am I supposed to respond when she told me her cat was constipated. But she said I always ignored her and did not care for her and her cat (always again!!!). My female friend advised me, in regards to the constipated cat, I should have said –  Yes, I understand how it feels. My dog was just neutered yesterday. But I don’t have a dog!

How am I supposed to know what to say even when I want to say nothing? Can’t women understand that men need space and peace? Why can’t she allow me to have my space and peace?

Should I dump her and get a new girlfriend?

Yours truly,
Man-In-Trouble.

Dear Man-In-Trouble,

Yes, you should absolutely dump her and get a new girlfriend. I strongly recommend you to get a cat as your girlfriend this time. A constipated cat may be even better since you do not need to clean up her shit so often.

The benefits are endless. You don’t need to call or text your cat. Ever. You can speak of Georgeann, Alexandra and Kristen in front of her and she will not pull a whisker. I bet you can train her to do all the things that your girlfriend has been doing for you. Beware though, cat like to bite on things. So, don’t put anything in her mouth that you don’t want her to chew on. If she steps into your space when you do not want her, like when you are watching a football game, you can always lock her up in the cage and let her meows all she wants while you turn up the TV volume to the maximum.

I am sure, by this way, you will be able to get more space and peace in your life.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. Sus

About Dr. Sus:

Dr. Sus is a relationship coach who helps you solve your relationship problems with unproven, untested and outlandish but very sound advice. Her Dr. title was not due to a doctorate degree, but she used to Play Doctor while in a psychiatric hospital where she was admitted as a patient for 5 years after killing her neighbour’s cat. In 2013, she was discharged from the hospital and started the “Dear Dr. Sus” column where readers with unsound minds continue to seek advice from her.

Blog posted at http://f5bulous.com/2013/01/07/dear-dr-sus-man-who-wants-space-and-peace/

Color of My Voice

On an average day, we have about 70,000 thoughts. A staggering 4,000 books are published daily. The World Wide Web is growing a billion pages per day. There are over one billion Facebook posts and 2.7 billion likes/comments per day. 294 billion emails are sent, 864,000 hours of videos is uploaded to YouTube and 2 million blog posts are written daily.

And today, I contribute one blog post to the world. One in the 2 million posts. I wonder what kind of value I add to the world. How insignificant it might be. I wonder why F5bulous sisters even bother to start this blog site. Why are we even adding our voices in a world where everybody can’t stop talking?

My voice is not sharp, nor blur. 

I am not even a proficient and efficient writer to begin with. I write like I am swimming laps in an Olympic-size pool. I never learn properly how to swim, my strokes are clumsy, and I have to stop to take my breath every three metres. It takes me hours to reach the other side with tremendous effort, and then realizing I have to swim back in the opposite direction. And most of the time, I end up where I start.

 Despite this, what I worry greatly is what I want to write about. What if I cannot find my voice? What if I cannot find something I can stand for? I do not want to be a copy of others. No matter how much I like Anthony Robbins, Paulo Coelho and Abraham Hicks, I do not want to be them. I want to be ME. And I want to be more than just the look; although I am thankful to be bestowed with some physical appeals but I am certainly not a bimbo. (FlamboyantG used to overstate that I am a danger to both men and women. I wish!)

So, I often stare at a blank page in my computer. Do I want to write about the male species, the fire and spice in my life? Do I want to write about spirituality, femininity or just my mortal experience? Do I want to write about my corporate life, my love life or the fact that I don’t seem to have a life? Do I want to expose my multi-faceted, multi-layered, eccentric personality without sounding insane?

My voice is not black or white, nor truth or lie.

I have been through a lot in life (up, down, broken, fallen, inane). Sure, I can offer some advices, maybe write some posts like the 10 ways not to get dumped, 20 not to get cheated, 50 ways to heal your heart, and 9 ways to get promotion in your jobs. After all, I have been dumped, got cheated, healed my heart, and got promoted many times. However, I am not inclined towards giving advice or tips. Not because I am stingy and reticent. I just feel I am in no place to offer any advices. Things that I have done, they have either worked for me or NOT. They may work for me, but not for you. They may work at certain times and circumstances, but not all the times and scenarios. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, as the saying goes. My own personal belief is this – No one really knows how it works in life at all times. Some just pretend to know better. Listen to gather perspectives but do not believe blindly. 

So, don’t believe what I am telling you here. I am not lying, and I swear I will try to be 100% open and honest except if that really hurts someone. But what I am saying is what I am telling you are through my lenses of how I view the world. It is going to be filtered and distorted. So, if I say a guy is very cruel, the next thing you’ll see is he is guiding a blind old lady across the street. Beware though he might be kicking her off when no one is watching. When I extol someone, she might just be average on your scale.

And the more I learn, the more I find I know nothing, as Socrates put it.

My voice is not bending, nor straight. 

I do not want to be led by the nose. I do not want to be coerced, controlled and cajoled. I am the oak that want to challenge the wind. I am the rebel who wants to challenge the conventions. I want to have lots of love, fun and hot sex. I want to be who I want to be, even at times when I do not know who I want to be. But I’ll try.

I hope you would like to know me better. If there is nothing else I can offer, I offer you my stories, sincerity and passion.

If while you are reading my post and there is one thought, just one thought that you are receiving from me and it makes you a little more enlightened, enlivened, empowered or just entertained or aroused, then I am successful among the 2 million posts.

I think that’s what I want to achieve for F5bulous.

 ** Please note the statistic is not from the latest source. 
Image Credit: Infinity by Max von Wening


Notes: I am also blogging at http://www.f5bulous.com or http://f5bulous.wordpress.com
This is also posted under http://f5bulous.wordpress.com/2012/12/31/the-colour-of-my-voice/ 

Heartbreak – Then and Now

Heartbreak sucks.

When my mum threw away my beloved Little Pillow which was with me for 17 years, I was insanely heartbroken.

Little Pillow to me was like an iPad to kids nowadays. Even the size was so alike. But Little Pillow was lighter, fluffier and wouldn’t break down when I threw him around. Little Pillow was cuddly and balmy and as the cliché goes, I slept with it, play with it, eat with it, pee with it, shit with it. I was obsessed with its smell so much that I insolently forbid my mum to wash it except the several times when I wetted my bed. By the time I was 17, my mum have gotten very worried. Though I was not carrying Little Pillow around then, but I swore we would be together till death did us apart. I was even planning to bring Little Pillow to my marriage bed. My mum said that would be shameful and tried to persuade me to dump Little Pillow. I retorted that my future husband wouldn’t mind – probably the start of my distressing and disastrous journey with men, my poor evaluation of which got me into trouble, REALLY BIG trouble.  My smarter mum eventually threw Little Pillow when I was out in the college.

When I realized that, I was devastated. In a million years, I wouldn’t have expected him to disappear without saying goodbye. Still, the feeling of the unwilling separation aka being dumped was salt to my broken heart.

I certainly had an experience of being dumped. It sucked the energy out of me and I got drained and thrown down to a dark deep dirty well and left alone, afraid and clueless how to get out. But it was also at these times, I learnt to live with the darkness, see clearer despite the darkness and find ways to reach the light beyond the darkness. It was a mind-boggling, spiritual and soul-searching experience that made me grow into a better person.

It was easy to launch angry birds at the other parties, reveling on their falls and explosions into the thin air. But my most recent heartbreak taught me more about acceptance, forgiveness and self-worth. And because I gain all my self-worth and forego my pride, I was able to see my own mistakes I made in the relationship that were causing the problem (I’ll share more on this in later posts). Of course, if he was a relationship guru like Anthony Robbins or Dr John Gray, we probably would be able to swerve the winding paths without overturning the car. But he was just a man who was trying to take baby steps in a relationship and was not prepared to handle the emotional flood. I was foolish. He was obtuse. We would have made a wonderful albeit odd couple.

Like the Little Pillow episode, I have gotten over it and moved on with my life. One thing for sure about heartbreak is time always heals. But another more important thing, as Gary Zukav said, eventually you will come to understand that love heals everything, and love is all there is.

I love falling in love,
Susan

Stay tuned for more on heartbreak and how to heal. And love.

Notes:I am also blogging at http://www.f5bulous.com or http://f5bulous.wordpress.com
This is also posted under http://f5bulous.wordpress.com/2012/12/24/heartbreak/