What To Do If You Are Bursting With Inspiration?

Last night in my meditation group, we had some interesting discussions.

A few of us shared some common experiences since we’ve been practising meditation. These experiences include: the world in our eyes is so much different now; what took our interests before just becomes boring; and what was boring before now becomes interesting (such as being with oneself). We’ve noticed the change of attitude, world view, and consciousness in ourselves. However, there appears to be one common problem, which is: we are bursting with ideas and thoughts and become more eloquent on a lot of subjects. While this may not be a problem in itself; however, we find it hard to contain it all to ourselves, and we want to share! Again this may not be a problem in itself. The problem is: when we see other people still talk and act in the same old negative way, we want to help them! Again, this in itself may not be a problem. But in the process when we try to share our own opinions, we often find that this only leads to alienation of ourselves from our friends, colleagues and closed ones. Firstly, they think you are strange. The next minute, you both know that you don’t fit in any more as there is less 'common' languages.

Obviously this is not what one desires to achieve from meditation! As the ultimate goal from meditation is to find peace. By alienating ourselves from others, is certainly not creating peace.

I think this just brings up a very old issue of human being: we are so ego-driven! While we may have the best intention in the world (such as wanting to help); however, often we don’t know what’s the best way to help. In the name of helping, we often become critics because unconsciously we think we are better, wiser, or superior. We think we've embarked on a self-growth journey and have overcome a few obstacles and weaknesses, if shared, others would be enlightened. Still there is nothing wrong with that. The problem is, when wisdom and ego go together, it can become dangerous. It can create resistance on the helpee and frustrations on the helper. Tension can build up and destroy peace. This doesn't just happen to our interaction with people around us. Look at human history, how many wars and terrorisms were launched in the name of God? Although it’s easy to blame God, but the truth is: God never divides the nations, it’s human’s ego!

Everything in nature has its own cycle. when the cycle reaches a certain stage it will naturally initiate a change. Likewise, we all progress our lives in a schedule that suits us, most likely according to our experiences and stages in life. Nobody likes to be imposed on a learning programme when they are not ready. Sometimes the best way to help is to let it be, unless you are in the profession of helping people (say you are a counsellor or a therapist of some sort). In that case, people would come to you for help instead of the other way around!

When we have grown, and find our old friends uninspiring, instead of staying in the same group and feeling unfulfilled, we can start making new friends who are like-minded, so we can have more fulfilled friendships and inspire each other within that group. By staying in the same place and wanting it to change only causes frustration which certainly disturbs the peace.

Now coming back to the problem I mentioned at the beginning: what to do if we are bursting with inspiring thoughts and want to share?

My suggestion is: we can start writing! All of our thoughts can be expressed in writing. We don’t have to share our wonderful and exciting journey with the whole world. We can however share our thoughts privately (such as keeping a diary) or publicly (such as publish articles on line, or publish a book). Like-minded people will find you, one way or another, and share your thoughts and inspirations. From my own experience, the most fulfilling expression is in my writing. It’s a very intimate exercise, and it’s certainly very rewarding. I don’t need to go and look for an imperfect human being and tell him that he needs to improve. I just focus on improving myself. By improving myself, I am sure the world is a better place.

Life Is A Journey

I started keeping dream journals about two years ago. I am amazed at the amount of information and insight our dreams can reveal about ourselves. Over a period, I can almost identify a pattern, a trend and some common traits in those dreams which I know constitute my unique self. My dream journals is like an autobiography about myself. It tells all.

Today I was reading ‘The Complete Book of Dreams & Dreaming’. It’s thick book and has 666 pages. I read it from the middle (I seldom read a book from beginning to end). It talks about journey in our dreams. I was fascinated with what it has to say, as I’ve done so many journeys in my dreams. The book says:

The image of a journey is a very potent one in dream work. Any time the idea of a journey becomes apparent, it is to do with the day that we carry out our every day lives and how we move forward. Every step that we take towards understanding ourselves and the world we live in can be pictured in terms of a journey, and the dream that a person has reflect that movement.

The sense of having a complete journey - arriving home, touching down and so on - indicates the successful completion of our aims. The destination, when it becomes apparent, will give some ideas about the aims and objectives we have. Our declared hopes and ideals may not correspond with those we subconsciously have - our inner motivation may be totally different to our outer behaviour - and dreams will highlight this discrepancy. The exact nature of our objective is often not known to us until after we have confronted our obstacles and challenges along the way. It is often enough just to have an aim for that particular section of the journey.

I have perhaps done more journeys in my dreams than I have in real life. My dreams have taken me to China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Europe, Indonesia, London, Los Angelas, New Zealand and some exotic places I couldn’t identify. In my dreams I have travelled by bus, taxi, train and boat as well as on foot. Very interestingly, it seems the most popular transportation in my dream are bus journeys. Just to show you how I made my bus journey in my dreams, I’m quoting the following which is extracted from four different dreams, all associated with bus (bear in mind I haven’t taken bus for years in real life!!)

We were on a coach bus with a group of tourists. We sat at the front row in the bus on the left. There was a pair of ‘love birds’ sitting on the right front row. They were in their late teens or early twenties and appeared very much in love. They both wore a white T-shirt and green middle length pants – a very relaxed, harmonised and synchronised scene. We started talking to them, and found they were Chinese. We felt very comfortable with them after chatting away and decided to team up for the rest of the holiday journey with them, together with their baby - a big black Labrador.
(My dream journal dated 13 August 2004)

When I rushed out of my house into the street, I saw the coach bus with a full load of Olympic delegates driving past me. I waved at the bus and yelled for it to stop. The people on the bus saw me. The bus took a U-turn in a couple of minutes and stopped to pick me up. I got up the bus. There was only one seat left. Phew! What a fright I had that I almost missed the bus and ruined my chance to go for the Olympic Game!
(My dream journal dated 7 September 2004)

The bus turns up. But no way all the people can get on the bus. With the help of the two traffic police, people are lined up in a queue. But what a long queue! As the bus is already almost full, someone comes up with a creative solution, which is, to add an extra carriage to the bus. It turns out that this added part is a container-like carriage. We have to climb a ladder to get onto the carriage.

I am the first one in the line. By the time I get to the top of the ladder the bus has started. I look underneath and see my husband is right below me and a few other people still hanging onto the ladder. I am most surprised that in London a bus should take off with people still on the ladder.

The carriage is enclosed at the top, front and both sides . As I am facing the front, I can’t see anything. Suddenly I realise that I should pay attention to the streets sceneries since it is the first time I am in London. I manage to climb over the ladder and get into the carriage, and turn myself around so I could see the streets.
(My dream journal dated 22 July 2005

I walked to a taxi stand. God knows how many people were there queuing. By the time a taxi stopped in front of me, I had to push my way to get on cause there were so many crowds coming from nowhere trying to get on as well. Well I couldn’t care less as long as I got mine!

Several people got on the taxi as well. Well, it was not a taxi after all. It was a mini bus. I thought it was strange that we got a bus at a taxi stand. But never mind. I was letting the bus take me anywhere. I trust my intuition that the bus would somehow take me to the hotel.
(My dream journal dated 18 June 2005

According to the book:

A bus journey is the part of our lives where we are conscious of the need to travel and to be with other people. We perhaps have a common aim with them. Trouble with timetables, missing the bus, arriving too early, missing a connection. This means we are not in control of our lives and perhaps should sit down and replan how we wish to continue our lives. Getting on the wrong bus, going the wrong way. There are conflicting desires and we need to listen to our own intuition. This is usually a warning of a wrong action.

Looking at my dreams, none of them is bizarre. The bus trips in my dreams as quoted above, for example, are perfect manifestations of my reality - everyday, I embark on a journey, going towards a destination. In every journey, I interact with people. My bus sometimes arrives in time, sometimes not. I sometimes meet pleasant and interesting people on the bus, sometimes I don’t. Still, my journey continues. It appears that my inner journey (as manifested in my dreams) dances with my real life journey.

Why do my dreams take me to so many different places? This is because, I have never believed that I have limited means to be able to travel around the world. I have never believed that the world has limited scenery for us to experience and enjoy. I have never doubted that my dreams and goals are beyond reach. When our beliefs are colourful and limitless, so are our dreams. Our body, mind and soul are forever dancing together - at least in this life journey.

Nanny And Turtle

What has a nanny got to do with a turtle? You might ask.

Everything! After reading the following story, you'll understand why.

My 11-year old nephew Ray has always been an animal lover. He’s had cats, ducks, golden fish and turtles. If he is not living in an apartment, according to Joan, my sister, he would have had dogs.

At the moment, his pet is a turtle. Sadly ...

Last night Joan came home from work. To her surprise, she found that her recently employed live-in nanny was having dinner already, which was most unusual.

‘What are you eating, Ma?’ She asked.

‘Oh, I should tell you that the turtle died. I must have overfed this poor thing… I’d given it a lot of shrimps. And the next minute, it was dead!’

Standing there and watching what was in Ma’s plate, Joan started to shiver.

‘I thought that turtle is very nutritious, so I cooked it... It‘s very tender, do you want to try some?’

Stunned and speechless, Joan was still trying to comprehend what had just happened to his son‘s pet. This morning, the pet was still alive and now, it’s dinner...

Although a little upset, Joan knew that the important thing was to find a solution, rather than getting angry. Besides, it took her a lot of trouble to find this nanny from another province. she asked Ma to imagine what Ray would react when he returns home and finds that his turtle is no longer here.

Ma seemed suddenly realised that the turtle she was eating was actually a pet of her employer’s. The 52 year old nanny from the countryside started to worry. Very quickly she found a solution and offered to go to the market the next day to hunt for a replacement turtle. She was quite clear with the criteria of this turtle she would be looking for - a similar sized one, so that Ray wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Fortunately, Ray is having a holiday in Yu Nan province at the moment with his father and won’t return home until next week. At least she’s got some time to sort it out.

I was quite amused and couldn’t help laughing, when Joan told me this story today on the phone. At the time we were talking on the phone, she told me Ma was out hunting for a turtle. They’d already worked out a lie to Ray, say if the new turtle is bigger and Ray asks questions. They would tell him that the turtle has really grown during the short period he’s away, which he would probably believe.

‘What if the turtle is smaller?’ I asked, out of curiosity.

‘We’ll tell him that the turtle has given birth to a baby and died during labour. But the baby survived.’

...

I haven’t heard a joke like this one for a while, which made me laugh my tears out.


By the way, here's a picture of Ray. It was taken last year while he was in New Zealand. His two articles: 'My holiday in New Zealand' and 'My aunty's cat - Coco' were selected and published in a children's story book.

A Small World

Here is a story about how small the world is. I am sure we all have such similar stories to share. It’s a story from my friend Gary.

I think it was one Saturday I went for lunch at an Italian restaurant in Zhongshan.

A young Australian lady started to talk to me, after only say 15 minutes or so I discovered that she had been a trainee policewoman in the little town in England where I had just moved to SEA from.

Then even more amazing, one of my very best friends, my scuba diving buddy, who used to be a policeman too, had been her senior at the police station. How bizarre, I meet somebody in a little bar in China from the other side of the world, half way round the World who used to work with my best friend in England.

Is that weird or what? The lesson of this story is that the World becomes a smaller place by the day.

Similar story, I met a young children's nanny on a flight from Chicago to Birmingham, she was in the same school class in England and knew my niece - very small World indeed.

Unity Is My Politics

Last night at my Public Speaking evening class, we did some instantaneous semi-debate speeches. With the General Election coming in a few weeks, you can imagine what the topic was. Without having much time to think and prepare, I debated against the General Election. Here’s what I had to say in summary:

Voting is a turn-off for me. Voting to me, seems to do more damage than good. Voting, promotes divisiveness of the nation rather than peace and unity. Because when you vote for one party, it implies that you vote against all other parties. Since each party is focused on looking after particular groups of people’s interest and tackling particular aspects of the overall societal problems, when we vote for one party, inevitably some people’s interests will be compromised and some aspects of the societal problems will remained untackled (at least not with priority). May I ask: what determines which party you vote for? As far as I know, the determining factors are our personal interests! In other words, we think about what we can gain from that party.

What about what we can give? And which party is promoting that? None. To me, all parties are promoting that we should be selfish and should be focusing on what we want and what we need. And they, as they promise, can give us all that we want.

No party has an vision of bringing people together so everyone in the nation is passionate about and genuinely believes in giving and sharing, which is what humanity is about. As a result, I am against General Election.

Yesterday, I wrote a journal titled 'Peace is my religion'. Today, let me give this journal a collaborate title: Unity, is my politics!

A story from Joan

My sister shared with me the following story in her email. I thought it was a brilliant story so I'd like to share with you.

It seems that destiny is doomed. You know about a year ago before Mum went back to home town; I took her to a trip part of which included visiting a temple. We arrived at the temple on the top of a hill and were waiting for other tourists. A monk came and talked to me. He told me something about my past, future, etc. You know I never believe that sort of things. I only believe in myself. Now one year later, I start to form different opinions about what the monk said to me at the time.

I remember he said that I would go to the southeast orientation, and I should be careful with black man, and I will immigrant to New Zealand someday ... You know at that time I had no intention to change my life. I was also amused: how would I ever meet black man? No way! Strange enough he mentioned New Zealand. At that time I had just had a holiday from New Zealand. Of course I didn’t tell him that.

Shortly after my meeting with the monk I got a call from a lady, someone I met during a training course. She told me that one of her friends was recruiting a HR Manager for a new company and asked me if I would be interested. The rest as you know, I joined this company.

You know the company is to the South-east of my home. In this company, I get to see and work with so many dark skinned employees I’ve never seen in my life. Only now I start to think about what the monk said to me. It’s like he already saw my future.

Now the story comes:

Amongst the dark people (about 12-14 ), one guy is very black. He is also a very big man and looks almost like a black monster. He is an American Sri Lanka. Unfortunately he is one of those very difficult people. Everyone hates him and is afraid of him.

Because he has the power, he blames everybody without any hesitation and reason. Nothing pleases him and everything seems to irritate him. The anger between him and us just carries on and on. The same drama keeps being played.

Fortunately I'm coached by our CEO, a very wise man. I am very aware of how to avoid the escalation of conflicts between him and me. Still, this black man has never stopped cause me problems. When my phone rings and it is him, my heart would sink and my smile would freeze instantly. I know I must have done something wrong again…

Until one day I couldn’t take it any more. I burst out like a volcano. I had a huge fight with him. My voice was so loud that the whole office could hear. Yet no one was bold enough to interfere our fight or help us sooth down. I can’t remember what I said but I bashed his table and threw documents… The CEO, my boss, happened to be out of office on that day.

The following two weeks nobody in the office mentioned a thing about our fight although I was sure everyone heard it. I was not sure if my boss knew of this. I guessed so. Perhaps he hadn’t had a chance to talk to me about this.

Meanwhile, the cold war between me and the black man continued. We never talked in person. We tried to avoid any contact at all if possible. During our daily morning meetings where we must be in the same room, sometimes our eyes can catch each other, we would quickly move our eyes away...

I reported to our CEO about this incident eventually, and expected him to come back to me with some sort of a solution. But no. This case seems to have been dropped. I was aware that he didn’t want to blame either me or the black man. We are like his left and right hands. He couldn’t do without either.

After much consideration, I decided to write a letter, to my enemy. I am glad I did.

Now we are closer than ever. This doesn’t mean my enemy is a changed man. He of course still uses his same old way to talk to me and anyone. But I have learned how to deal with him now. If he uses professional words, then my response is professional; if he talks like in a dream, then my voice sounds like I am not awake; if he is crazy, then I'm drunk...

Despite the improvements, he still never gives up any chance to attack me. I, of course I always kick the ball back. One day he asked me: ‘Why do you always fight with me?’ My answer was: ‘Why do you always want hurt me?’ Then I smiled. So did he. Our fights continue, just in a more artistic way rather than a direct explosion.

Yesterday it rained really hard. I received an urgent call from this guy. Before he said a thing, I knew it must have something to do with the leaking problems we’ve had every time it rains. As usual, I dropped off everything, and rushed to his location. I examined the situation, talked to a few people and made some arrangements to fix the problems. All the time I kept smiling.

He knew what my smiles meant. He had boasted so many times before about the building project of the factory he was in charge, and how flawless the building is. He always claimed himself as an unquestionable expert on building projects…

He smiled too, and said to me: ‘you know, Joan, I never expect that everything is so different in china. Not only the ladies, but also the water. You know, in our Sri Lanka, when it's raining, the water is just like shower to the roof; but you China, the water is like arrow, unbelievable!!!’

Hope my story is interesting. Good night!

Joan

Peace Is My Religion

Believe it or not, we all come from the same place.

We might be Asian, Hindu, or European; we might be professors, teachers, engineers or salesperson; we might be children, adults, retired or elderly; we might be male or female; we might be parents, children, uncles, or sisters-in-law… whoever we are, we are not innately different. Not a bit. We all come from a place which has all the beauties you can imagine. It’s a place called bliss and heaven. In this place every being is a combination of love, happiness, peace, purity and wisdom.

How come we have become so different? How come we have so many problems, conflicts, hatred, unfulfilled desires and unattainable dreams?

This is because at some point, along the journey, we have abused our innate beauties God gave us. We lost faith. We didn’t believe these qualities were good enough. We didn’t believe God had given us all that we needed. Love becomes lust, purity becomes greed, happiness becomes attachments, peace becomes anger, and wisdom becomes ego.

We have become lost souls.

Recently, I have learnt that meditation and Yoga is actually the same thing. Prior to this, I only knew that Yoga is somewhat spiritual but I never truly grasped it. Now I realise, meditation = Yoga = remembrance.

All makes sense now.

Whether we practise Yoga or meditation, or take a particular religious path, it’s all about looking inside ourselves, listening to our hearts, accessing to our soul, and reconnecting to all the innate beauties which are our birthright - love, happiness, peace, purity and wisdom. We have had these qualities all along. Now, we only need to remember their existence. Because when we remember, we become. When we have made that connection to our past and lost memories, we can find our way back.

Peace is my religion. Light is my home. Love, is what I live for.

(Inspired by hubby. Because of my new found endless energy, passion and zest in life, he thinks I have found a religion. *grin*)

Toastmasters

When my company launched a new policy about holding weekly team forums, my first thought was: ‘Bugger! My dream of joining the Toastmasters club is over!’ The forum is held on 8:30am every Tuesday, which clashes with the Toastmasters meeting which also happens on Tuesday mornings.

I had agreed to meet Marlyn at 6:30 am in the Meditation Centre today, then we’d go to the Toastmaster’s Club together. Marlyn is my meditation tutor. I met her only three weeks ago!

I missed the opportunity to tell Marlyn last night that I couldn’t make the Toastmasters. The meditation class was divided into two groups and I was allocated to another group. By the time I finished my class, I was disappointed to find out that she had already left as her group had finished earlier. Since Roger, the tutor of my group, had Marlyn’s phone number, I kindly asked him to do me a favour to ring Marlyn and tell her that I wouldn’t come this morning.

I got up this morning. As usual I did half an hour of pilates before going out for my run. During my running, somehow I started to worry. 'What if Roger forgets to ring Maylyn? She would be waiting and waiting and getting worried about me!' Thinking of this, I made some adjustment to my running route and sprinted to the Meditation Centre.

I found her, thank God for that! Out of breath, I regrettably explained to her why I couldn’t go with her.

‘You can still come!’ She said. ‘We can leave the club early. I can drop you off at work afterwards.’

I didn’t think it’d work. I was on my running shoes and wearing only shorts. It must be about 6:45am and the club starts at seven.

‘Come on! I’ll drive you home. You can get changed in five minutes. We’ll make it. ’ She was very calm and relaxed. Not like me, getting anxious and stressed. Realising my stress was not doing me any good, I agreed to her suggestion.

Thank God I had had a shower first thing in the morning!

The following 15 minutes or so we had a mad rush. She drove me home, I got changed miraculously in a couple of minutes. At exactly seven, we walked into the club room.

It turned out that today’s meeting was special as there was a speech contest. It was very serious as three judges were ‘recruited’ from outside the club. Time was strictly controlled and contestants were not allowed to enter the room until it was their turn. The topic was: ‘What are your concerns in this general election?’

One by one, seven contestants did their speeches. Marlyn was amongst them. Six of them did a fantastic speech, which to me, was very professional. Three of them won prizes and every contestant received a certificate.

After a tea break, a ‘table speech’ was conducted, which was less formal. Four people delivered speeches which were just as good. I was not sure if those speeches were prepared or instantaneous though.

Just by being there, surrounded by a bunch of positive and enthusiastic people, I was amazed and inspired. My spirit soared every time people clapped their hands after the delivery of a speech.

This is definitely my kind of club!

I turned up at work in time. To my disappointment, the forum was rescheduled to 11am. Since there were only two board rooms and we had three teams to hold forums, our team decided to go for the later sessions. All the rush, anxiety … now seemed unnecessary. Hang on a minute… I changed my mind. It was actually good news for me, as I could now join the Toastmasters without having to worry about the damn forums at 8:30am!

To add icing to the cake, I talked to one of my colleagues about this club. I found out that my company reimburses the membership fees to the staff who belongs to this club. The company has all sorts of incentives and educational assistance programmes and this happens to be one of them.

A decision has been made.

Highlight Of The Day

We had our company’s annual financial report today, presented by our CEO. He is on his road tour to do forty presentations to all the branch staff nationwide. He has brought with him our Corporate Lawyer, his Business Advisor and his Secretary.

The presentation was over. I came back to my desk. Just when I sat down, the Corporate Lawyer, the Business Advisor and the Secretary walked to my desk. I thought they were going to ask me something. But instead, they just introduced themselves to me. We shook hands and they told me that they were on their way to Whangarei for their next road show. I wished them good luck as they left.

I was most amused as to why in an open office of forty people they came to see me, considering I don’t hold any high rankings. What’s even more amusing was that, the Corporate Lawyer said to me: ‘Ella, you are lovely!’ Everyone laughed as they walked away and I was speechless.

It may only lasted a minute, but it made my day!

Dance Your Heart Open

Last Wednesday I went to my meditation class. I was early. There was just one person sitting there, quietly. It was Marlyn, the tutor. I said ‘hi’, and found myself a seat to sit down.

A song was being played, very softly and gently, filling the room up with love and peace.

Dance your heart open, feel the love deep inside
Dance your heart open, let your love come outside...

I just sat there, quietly. It felt so nice and peaceful. I didn’t want to break the silence between Marlyn and me and start a conversation. To talk over a beautiful song like this didn’t feel right.

In that moment, a sense of serenity and solemnity emerged. It was a very familiar feeling. I began to search through my memories on when and where I had this feeling before. Ah I remembered! It was the same feeling I experienced at the funerals!

Like everyone else, I would go to a funeral a little early to be respectful. I would find the room filled with loving and peaceful music. Also I would find that nobody is talking. Instead, everyone seems pondering about something - perhaps about the meaning of life, perhaps about the happy memories they’ve had about the deceased, or perhaps about the love he has left behind, etc. That moment of silence, prompts everyone to realise, that death is a sure ending to all of us and whatever mattered to us before doesn’t seem to matter now. All the juggles and struggles, all the moments while we were busy chasing our own tails all come to an end. At the funeral, we realise that there is nothing more real than death. We ask such questions to ourselves: What have we got to take away when we leave this world? What has the deceased got to take with him?

The deceased may have made a few mistakes or upset a few people in his life. But every speech delivered is about what a great and loving soul he was when he was alive. Why? Because when we compare the flaws of a person to his achievements and love he’s left behind, we know that love can wipe out any unpleasant trivialities. In love, we are all forgiven. In love, we all find peace. In love we all rise above and beyond.

Dance your heart open,
Give your heart wing to fly
Dance your heart open
soaring into the sky...

The words went deeper and deeper into my heart, into my soul. I felt my heart was dancing with the music, flying and flying… It is true! There is no better dance than a dance with the heart! And there is no better moments than now, when we can open our hearts, let the lights in, and dance whenever we feel.

Meat, Or Vegetarian?

I didn’t have any shopping plan for today. But when I walked past that vege shop, I couldn’t help but stop to have a look.

I grabbed some bananas, oranges, tomatoes and Gai Lan (a Chinese vegetable). Even though I thought I’d finished, I just hang around. It was so pleasant just to be in the shop, looking at all those colourful and juicy fruits and vegetables, and smelling the aroma. The whole environment was so calm, relaxed and peaceful. There were a few customers in the shop. They all took their time to select what they wanted. And they all looked happy and relaxed. Maybe it was because today is Friday. At the checkout, the gentleman in front of me was merrily chatting with the checkout girl.

I suddenly realised something.

I realised why my weekly shopping experiences in the local super market were never the same. I never felt so relaxed like I did in the vege shop. There was one particular aspect in my shopping experience in the super market I always dreaded: I never enjoyed buying meat! If my husband was with me, I’d always ask him to sort out the meat so I could escape from the scene. If I was on my own, I would spend as little time as possible and get them done with. Every time I walked past the meat department, there was always something bothering me. My husband can tell you all about it - I was either anxious, impatient, annoyed, disturbed, or grumpy …for no reason. Somehow I always seemed angry upon seeing all those different kinds of meat lying there.

I realised for the first time, that those processed meat in the super markets have a different vibration from the fruits and veges. Although they lie there silently, they have been through various cruel and inhuman stages to get there. Their vibration therefore is very low because they’ve been hurt. (If we human beings are hurt and feel sad, our vibration would be low just the same.) That’s why the scene of raw meat has always been disturbing to me. It is hard to associate meat with peace, calm and love.

Shopping in a vege shop is different. The food is fresh produce from nature. Lots of love have been injected into them before they get to the vege shop. The vibration from those fresh produce is high. That’s why it is always a pleasant experience just to hang around them.

I discussed with my husband a few weeks ago about the benefits of becoming vegetarian. He did not object to the concept. He could see the merits of it but was concerned about the practicality. This is a blessing because after all, if we live together, our life would be easier if our tastes, likings and preferences on food are in tune. I believe if we could manage to make it practical, we could both do it.

Like everything else in our life so far, I think we can do it together on this. I will increase our consumption of vegetarian food and cut our consumption on meat . I will do it a gradual basis, with a view to become a vegetarian say in two years time. I believe a radical change on diet like this is better done gradually so the body system would not get confused suddenly.

I don’t like radical changes in life. But I like to be in tune. I think eating sensibly is one way of being in tune. I’ve already visualised myself of becoming an organic food person and somewhat an environmentalist in my mid-forties. Maybe this day will come sooner. Who knows?

If I Could Have Just One Wish

Yes! Yes! Yes!!

Hubby sat his exam today. He got an impressive 90%.

His Trader’s License will be sent to him in a few days. He has been dreaming his dream in the last few years. Now he is starting to live his dream! What a milestone!

It’s only the beginning. The real challenges are yet to come. Yet, to get this far, it has taken thousands of hours, tens of thousands of cash invested, piles of books, magazines and journals, many hobbies and leisure activities compromised … Oh, I’ve been there with him. People might think he is clever, smart or talented. While that might be true, I know that most successes involve no myths but hard yards.

Oh, he happens to be in a happy and romantic mood today, again. He’s just sent me the following poem – the second poem in a row:

If I could have just one wish,
I would wish to wake up everyday
to the sound of your breath on my neck,
the warmth of your lips on my cheek,
the touch of your fingers on my skin,
and the feel of your heart beating with mine...
Knowing that I could never find that feeling
with anyone other than you.

Me too, honey!

A Special World

I've just come back from my lunch walk. Someone has just sent me a love poem:

A special world for you and me
A special bond one cannot see
It wraps us up in its cocoon
And holds us fiercely in its womb.

Its fingers spread like fine spun gold
Gently nestling us to the fold
Like silken thread it holds us fast
Bonds like this are meant to last.

And though at times a thread may break
A new one forms in its wake
To bind us closer and keep us strong
In a special world, where we belong.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

It's from my dearest.

Miracle IV

(Extracted from my journal dated 29 March 2005)

...Beach is always a heavenly place for me as there are so many activities you can do. To me there is nothing more romantic than walking on the beach on bare foot in the moonlight with your lover and gazing the stars in the sky. It was such a beautiful and peaceful evening, especially when there was a full moon in the sky. I was totally mesmerised. Life was so wonderful! Marriage was so great! As a matter of fact, everything in life was so perfect! In the far distance we could see lightening from the thick white clouds. The lightening was like a golden rim flickering and lasted for about half an hour. On the other far end, the same flickering could be seen in the midst of chunks of dark clouds. All the lightening I had experienced before were accompanied by sounds but here we were on a wide open beach, watching lightening from both ends in stillness as if a mute button was on in the middle of an action movie. It was amazing!

Miracle III

(My journal dated 12 April 2005 - 'A Breathtaking Moment')

About three years ago I had a dream. In my dream I vividly saw this miracle of life – mirage. It was so amazing and real that I woke myself up from laughter – laughter of joy and total bliss. Three years later, I can still see the layers, the colours and the objects in that dream. How can I ever forget when something so beautiful and amazing came to me?

Last night I was driving home from work. It had been a foggy day. The fog can linger for hours, or days sometimes over here in the valley. I normally choose the alternative roads other than the motor way to get home, so I can enjoy the country scenary, which has become a form of therapy for me especially after a long day at work. After a turn, I noticed something different from the far distance on my right. I couldn’t differentiate the sky, the cloud, the fog, the hills or the houses … they were blended into one picture – a picture not up in the sky, but no attached to the ground either. It was a picture of a fairy land where you can only see from the movies after some special effect has been added. What made it more spectacular was that everything in the picture wore a shiny glow from the sunray. I thought Mother Nature had just created a wonder for us to view – a beauty of warmth, gentleness and subtlety. When you gaze at this wonder, you forget about all the worries, stress and daily hardship we face, at least temporarily.

It was like the mirage I saw in my dream three years ago but undoubtedly more beautiful this time. I was still in ecstasy long after I got home

I wonder how many people actually witnessed this wonder like I did last night. Perhaps, it was only me that could see it somehow? I am saying this because I have discovered so many times when I am amazed by the beauty of nature; other people were just oblivious of them.

This reminds me of what I read recently from the Horoscope. It said that Aquarius people have some special attachment to rainbow, which is exactly me. I can see rainbows in the sky just about every time after a rain and I get all excited about it as if it was a wonder nature puts on for me especially. I certainly have a special attachment and attraction to it.

It is said New Zealand is the most beautiful country in the world. I certainly think so. I love the clouds in the sky. I love the scent in the air from the trees, grass and flowers. I love everything nature has to offer in this country. There are many breath-taking experiences over here. You just need to live in the moment, noticing them and appreciating them.

Miracle II

(My journal on 1 June 2005)

Not a day goes by without reminding me of God's amazing love.

Today, for example, I felt God's greatest love. It happened when I was driving home after work. It was just after 5pm when the last bit of daylight was still lingering. On one side the sky was blue with a tinge of red which was very beautiful. I couldn't believe what I saw on the other side - the sky was divided by two distinctive colours - grey clouds and bright green and you could almost tell the line between the two colours. I was not joking. It was green! A blueish green. Until this day if anyone told me that the sky was green, I would have told her go get lost!

I instantly had an urge to take a picture of this beautiful moment. Too bad my camera was not with me. In a few minutes it would be dark and all these beautiful colours would disappear as if it never existed.

But I know it did exist. There was no doubt about it. Not only I saw a green sky, I was mesmerised by it, by the beauty and wonder of nature. I wanted to cry. I was amazed by the miracle that God created.

Miracle

I was walking down the street this morning, on my way to work. It was a nice fresh morning. You could smell the wetness in the air from the rain last night.

I turned into my favourite street – a street I called ‘birds paradise’ as it always had hundreds of birds singing at the same time. It was a short street. When I came to the end of the street and was about to turn into a main road, the sky opened in front of me. A huge rainbow was hanging there.

Amazing!

The rainbow was somewhat bigger than the other rainbows I usually saw as a curved line. It was a half circle, a full half circle. The colours were extremely bright. I started counting the seven colours, identifying them in the rainbow – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet … It was so beautiful! I was full of joy and excitement.

A strange thought came to me. I wondered if it was possible, that two rainbows occurred at the same time. I wondered if anyone had actually seen two rainbows at the same time. Theoretically it must be possible as the sub climate in two regions can coincide to each other, out of a rare chance. Upon this thought, I subconsciously looked into the sky at my front, back, left, and right to see if by miracle there was another rainbow somehow.

No. Of course not.

I day dream too much! That’s my problem!

The rainbow was behind me for about three to five minutes before I turned into another street. This time the rainbow was on my left again. This time, my eyes were wide open. I blinked and rubbed, blinked again and rubbed again. I couldn’t believe what I saw.

Two rainbows were in the sky this time! I saw a smaller, shorter and fainter rainbow parallel to the big bright half circle rainbow! It was like a baby rainbow, in the arms and care of its mother.

How could this happen? How could my thoughts a few minutes ago turned into reality right in front of my eyes?

'Was this a dream? Was I imagining?' I asked myself.

I looked at my watch. It said 7:44. Today is Tuesday, 9 August 2005. And I was on my way to work. The birds were still singing in my ears. The cars were driving past by me. And the feather-like drizzles were touching my face gently. No. It was definitely not a dream.

It was a miracle.

Heaven

It was Friday evening. I was on my way walking home. Hubby rung me from work to say he was going to be a little late. He also reminded me that he was going to his club meeting at 7:30 and needed to come home to get his car, so we might have to have a quick dinner. He told me that perhaps a simple and easy dinner such as sausages and eggs with toast would do.

It was uncommon for me to make dinner on a Friday evening as we normally either eat out or have take-away food. While I was in the kitchen by myself and with my radio on, I felt quite relaxed and excited. I carefully timed my cooking so that by the time hubby got home dinner would be ready.

A tingling feeling crawled in. It was a feeling of missing someone terribly, someone you have fallen madly in love with. It was a feeling combined with anticipation and excitement. It was a feeling hard to contain and wanting to burst. Although hubby would be home soon, I could not wait. I kept looking out of the window to see if I could find him. Every time I checked I was disappointed. I started to feel a little anxious and worried that if he didn’t come home soon he would be late for dinner and his club meeting. Oh I wanted so much, that everything in his life runs smoothly and perfectly. I wanted so much, to do everything for him and make him as happy as possible! Oh I was so much in love! I was terribly missing him yet I was terribly contented and happy with this man in my life. I love our life too much!

At that moment, the radio started to play Carpenters ‘On top of the world’. What a perfect song being played at a perfect moment! The song was like tailor written and sung for me, from the bottom of my heart:

...
Everything I want the world to be
Is now coming true especially for me
And the reason is clear
It’s because you are here
You’re the nearest thing to heaven that I’ve seen

I’m on the top of the world lookin’ down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I’ve found ever since you’ve been around
Your love’s put me at the top of the world

Something in the wind has learned my name
And it’s tellin’ me that things are not the same
In the leaves on the trees and the touch of the breeze
There’s a pleasin’ sense of happiness for me
...

I didn't need to doubt it. My world was so perfect. My husband, my cat, my job, my place, my family…and everything in my whole world, was so perfect. I felt as if I was engulfed by a massive love wave and I was inside a place of sheer warmth, safety and love.

By the time hubby came home, dinner was already on the table. We had a quick dinner. Before he left, he said: ‘I might be a little late. Would you stay up and wait for me?’ I saw a childish, reliant look in his eyes, like he was begging. ‘Sure. I’ll be waiting for you! You can tell me all about it (your meeting).’ I gave him a kiss.

We’ve been together for almost ten years! I like the fact that occasionally he would still be a little ‘clingy’ and reliant on me, not for big things, but for trivial things like this. We 'spoil' each other on such small things a lot. It makes us feel wanted, loved and safe.

This ordinary day, and this snapshot of my life, to me is a snapshot of a life in heaven. It is a blissful life because all there is and all you feel is one thing: love.

After hubby left, I turned on the TV. ‘Campbell Live’ was on. Tonight his show was about connection to the dead, medium and psychic stuff. He was interviewing a medium who was well known for having the ability to see the other world. It was all very interesting. At one point, Campbell asked her what heaven and hell is like and what kind of people resides in heaven and what kind of people resides in hell. She explained that heaven and hell is not a place where people are sent by someone. Rather, it’s a place people choose to go. For example, she said, she’d seen some murderers who had no remorse for what they had done got trapped in hell. On the other hand, she said, there were a lot of people in heaven who were ordinary people having a loving heart.

What she said made a lot of sense to me because I imagined that merciless murderers (and other evil souls) would not like heaven. Heaven would be too lonely for them as they would find no friends that can understand them and support them; whilst in hell they get to associate with souls that have the same low vibration which can make them feel at home. So in other words, even if they had a choice to go to heaven, they would refuse to go. Even if God sent them to heaven because their sins have been forgiven, they would come back to hell after discovering that heaven is such a boring and uninteresting place for them.

Now watch what she said next! She said that we already live in heaven. She said that those people who live in heaven often come down to earth and make connections with their loved ones. Therefore, if we enjoy our families and friends with a lot of love around us, we already live in heaven. This is what heaven is all about – loving family and friends, loving people around you!

While the medium might have been constantly challenged by sceptics on the grounds of ‘scientific proof’, she doesn’t need to convince me. I totally understand where she came from. I already know that I live in heaven. I already know that most of us already live in heaven. People just don’t have enough faith to believe it.

We must understand that, we’ve all worked our way to get to where we are now. This place right now is exactly where we belong and is the perfect place that suits us. We are not given more which we cannot take. We are not given less than we deserve. You don't believe it? Let me ask you these: have you ever heard of a person who has never trained to be an athlete was selected by accident to compete in Olympic Games? Have you ever heard of a person who cannot understand financial reports and human leadership was placed in a position of a CEO for a multi-national corporation? Or, have you woken up one morning and found yourself play violin proficiently yet you’ve never touched violin before? Of course you haven’t, because you haven’t done the path. And that’s why you are where you are now, in a place where you feel most comfortable with. Nobody just happens to be a CEO, an Olympic athlete or a violinst, just like no body happens to go to heaven or hell. Your environment is always adequate for you as it has the same wavelength to that of yours.

If you believe the Universe is all about energy and vibration of it, it’s only natural to believe that the same goes with afterlife. High vibration comes from high energy, which is sourced from love, kindness, compassion and all positive thoughts and actions. Low vibration comes from low energy, which is sourced from negative thoughts and actions.

It should be quite comforting to remove that uncertainty as to where we end up going after we die. We should not worry that we will be sent to hell by accident. Why not? Because everyday there are plenty of opportunities for every one of us to practise kindness, compassion and love to raise our consciousness. When our consciousness vibrates at the same wavelength as those in heaven, we connect with heaven. We find a heavenly feeling and we live a heavenly life.

Heaven is not a mysterious place. Heaven is love. It’s very simple. If there is enough love in your world, you should be living in heaven already. I already shared at the beginning of this article about my heavenly Friday evening. I am quite happy to share with you another heavenly moment in my life which happened yesterday morning. I was walking down the street on my way to work to catch up with my heavy workloads built up lately. I heard someone from across the street saying ‘good morning’ loudly. I turned around and saw a car yard sales man. He was smiling and waving at me! There was a busy four-lane street between us with many cars on the road. Yet he greeted me, a total stranger, with kindness! I waved back and smiled at him with a loud ‘hi’ so he could hear me.

This to me is life in heaven. I have experienced many moments like this in my life where people and things are not just names, occupations, genders, images or descriptions. They are love. The car sales person is love. My husband, my cat, my family, my colleagues, my writing, the air I breath, the water I drink, the music I play, the birds in the sky, the rain, the sun… are all love. They all form parts of heaven. If this is not the heaven you envisage, describe to me, what your version of heaven is. I would be interested to know.

It is so obvious: we already live in heaven! If you don’t believe you live in heaven already, that's simply because you haven’t given enough love to the Universe to make that connection to heaven, to receive abundant love from the Universe to feel heavenly.

Rather than looking for love; be love! Rather than looking for heaven; concentrate on giving love in all those tiny moments in life! You already live in heaven! You just don’t have enough faith to believe it!

Coping With Changes

When my husband and I made the decision to move to Auckland, he had a telephone conversation with his dad. That was the first time when dad learnt that his son was going to give up a 20 year career to pursue a different career for a life change. Prior to this happening, just about everyone else in our life had learnt about our decision and gave us their sincere blessings. However, we didn’t receive blessings from his dad. Basically he believed that hubby was doing great in his career and we were living a good life by all standards (well, I mean, by his standards). To risk financial loss and give up an already successful career for something called ‘passion‘, according to him, was irrational and crazy.

While life moves on and both hubby and I knew that we didn’t need approval from anyone in order to live our life, that bit of disappointment didn’t seem to have been reconciled. Hubby hopes that one day when he achieves his dream his dad would feel proud of him again. You see, we care about what our loved one thinks about us.

Not only hubby launched a big change in his life, I’ve had some changes too, to a lesser degree. Not only my career gives me a different perspective, there have been some subtle changes friendship-wise. A few months ago I decided to quit my favourite website where I was actively involved for about two years for another website for reasons I did not need to justify, like everything else I choose to do in my life, my friendship with the website host somehow suffered (for a little while). While I did not feel sorry for my change in life, I did feel sad that people don’t always give you their blessings when you decide to change. They like the old you to keep them at their comfort zone. To them, if everything has been working all right, why change? They don’t seem to comprehend why you need the change, just like hubby’s dad didn’t understand why we needed the change. Our change somehow caused some threats in him because that’s not what he would do if he was in our position. Therefore he was unable to give us his true blessings.

Recently I decided to make another change, which was to quit the website where I was actively involved in the last three months, again for reasons I did not need to justify. As you might have guessed, my friendship with this website host seemed no longer the same, perhaps for similar reasons in the above two examples. It goes to show that people don’t always give you blessings to pursue your dream. Some of them give you blessings only when you are being a person to their liking and suit their lifestyle, so to speak.

I know, this is not a perfect world. In this imperfect world, hubby still loves his father, and I still love the two friends who I once built a special bond with on the web. I would always be indebted to them for the inspiration I gained from the involvements I had with their websites. However, one must do what one needs to do. After all, I want to live my life.

Tests In Life

Around mid-day my telephone rang. It’s from my husband. I asked how he got on with his exam. He said he was not successful this time. He only achieved 73%.

I could sense over the phone that he was a bit disappointed. But by the time he got home in the evening he didn’t appear too worried. 'It’s a small test in life.' He said quite positively. 'Life doesn’t always give you want you want immediately. But eventually you’ll pass all the exams - every single one of them!' I was so glad that he didn’t let this temporary setback bother him.

As we often say, it’s life. No matter how eager or keen you are, you don't always get what you want. I mean, not in your planned schedule. but it's not the end of the world. He just needs to sit another exam. The only disadvantage from not passing this exam is that he still can’t trade, even though he’s got clients already. Without trading, it means he can’t earn a cent of his income. It’s annoying, but fortunately we are not pressured by his earning ability at least for a while.

I know it’s not fair. Because I know how hard he studied during the last few weeks. The thing is, I got ill last night. I woke up at 1am with an upset stomach. The next few hours I was going to the toilet like every five minutes, emptying my guts out. I must have caught a bug from food during the day. As a result, neither of us had much sleep throughout the night. He was quite worried about me. I managed to go to work today because I can't afford to become sick at the moment. However, the whole day at work I was in a ‘floating’ mode and the ability to concentrate and think was just not there. As to him, it’s very unfortunate that he had an exam to sit on this very morning and the exam requires 80% to pass instead of 50% or 60%. Had he had a good night sleep, could he have done better in his exam? Maybe. Or maybe not. Who knows?

Life is full of tests like this. You can spend a good deal of time and effort dedicated to something but unforeseeable circumstances occur, which interfere with your plan. You just have to start all over again.

We can only focus so much on what we can do. We can’t control the outcome. The result lies in the hands of the Universe. I am just so pleased and proud that hubby has such a good attitude towards life. Sure, life is full of tests like this. Eventually, we’ll pass all the exams - every single one of them. Very well said, my dear!

The Secret Of Looking Good

Sharon is an old friend of mine. We used to live in Napier both. Then I moved to Wellington and she moved to Auckland. The last time we saw each other was six years ago when I invited her to stay with me in Wellington for a holiday. Now since I have recently moved to Auckland, we are in touch again.

She came to visit me two weeks ago, when I saw her I was very surprised that she looked so good - so good that she actually looked much better than six years ago. She would be in her late thirties but she certainly looked younger than six years ago. Not only age hasn’t left any mark on her face, there was a healthy, shiny glow in her face which was not there before. We know, you can use expensive makeup or have facial surgeries to get rid of wrinkles or hide some marks, but one thing money can’t buy is the natural, radiant glow, as it is from within and is an indication of our inner health. I was a little curious about her ‘secret’ of looking so good; however, we were too busy catching up with each other’s life stories, I didn’t particularly ask how she managed to be so well kept.

Before she left, I said we should have dinner together one of these days and perhaps should have Yum Cha one day. Sharon told me that she is now a vegetarian. It is at that point I suddenly realised that it is no coincidence that she has a transformed image. I realised that her youthful and vibrant look has a lot to do with her vegetarian diet. She’s become a vegetarian for three years. She told me that since she became a vegetarian, she has found more energy and generally feel much better than her non-vegetarian days. She admitted though, the first three months were difficult to adjust such as feeling hungry all the time.

I have been interested in becoming a vegetarian myself but I haven’t done enough research or studies to gain enough knowledge about adopting a balanced vegetarian diet to take this radical step. To me it's a matter of timing and knowledge rather than a matter of yes or no. I know that many people have misconception about vegetarian that it is a nutrition-depriving diet which would compromise our health. I am not too concerned about that because many meat eaters don’t eat a balanced diet either! Junk food seems part of life. Have you noticed that hospitals are full of meat eaters? It is a fact that vegetarians generally suffer less illnesses and live longer. We must be aware that, whatever diet we adopt, always learn and choose the right way rather than the poorly informed way. There is always a smart way to go for anything in life. For example, exercises are good for us. But if we don't do it properly, it can cause injuries and damages to our body. It's how you do it that counts. Sames goes with vegetarian. Vegetarian is not as simple as avoiding meat and have less protein intake. Sharon gave me a few examples on how to achieve a balanced vegetarian diet including mixing seven types of rice together, when to eat garlic and onion and when not to, etc. She said that although each food has its own innate merit, combined together it might be a different story. In short, there is science in how to eat properly, especially for vegetarians.

Although looking good and healthy would be a strong motivator for me to become a vegetarian (one day), another important motivator, however, comes from my inner desire of wanting to be purified. I have a reasonably good fitness level and a well tone body. Weight has never been my problem. Becoming a vegetarian to me certainly is not about becoming slimmer. However, I am starting to feel stronger and stronger that the poison built up in our bodies from careless intake of food are causing harm in our thoughts and awareness which needs a cure. Becoming a vegetarian seems the natural way to go.

Seek, and You’ll Receive!

Now that I’ve settled down in my new place, I have been looking for meditation groups/courses. It’s been a couple of months since I had a group mediation session.

I’ve been paying attention to the local newspapers to see what’s available. The good news is that, meditation courses are popular these days and there is no difficulty at all in finding such a course. However, since I am new in Auckland and am still familiarising myself with the roads and suburbs, my primary criteria is that the venue must be close to where I live. The nearest meditation class, to my knowledge, is in another suburb which made it less appealing. However, to solve that problem, I planned to have a test drive to find that place last Sunday to get some ideas on where it is in case I did want to enrol that course. It turned out that I spent most of Sunday at work and got too tired in the end to stick to my original plan.

I was jogging in the neighbourhood yesterday. This time I took a different route which I had never taken before. Guess what I found? I saw a sign with a telephone number and an email address freemediationnow@yahoo.com. My eyes were immediately lightened up. The first thing I did when I came home from my jogging was to send an email to that address to request for more information.

I got a reply today. They offer ‘Raja Yoga’ meditation. They run evening class twice weekly and a new course each month. The current course started last night as a matter of fact. I am welcome to participate in this class or wait until next month if I wish to finish a complete course. They actually have a website: http://www.brahmakumaris.com.au

This is wonderful! Things seem to have turned up better than I had wished for! This place is just a couple of blocks away from my place. I just need to stroll over there. No stress. No driving around. How good is that! Although I haven’t attended this class yet, from the information on the website, I feel excited already as they seem to offer a range of personal development courses in Australasia.

The Universe must have heard my inner wish. And I am provided with what I had asked for. This just reinforced my belief which is: Seek, you will receive!

Birds Paradise

In Xinhui of South China Guangdong province there is a scenic site called ‘Birds Paradise‘ where hundreds of thousands of birds flock throughout the year. I have found a picture from the Internet which you can see on the left.

It was awe inspiring for an urban dweller like me twelve years ago when I visited that place. It gives you peace of mind in the midst of hustling and bustling city life. Now living in New Zealand, surroundings like the ‘Birds Paradise’ in Xinhui is everywhere. I remind myself everyday how lucky I am to be so close to nature.

When I lived in Wellington, there was a tree I walked past every evening on the way to my car park. It was not an ordinary tree. At that time of the day it always had hundreds of birds singing at the same time. I always enjoyed that mesmerising moment while I could just switch off from my congested mind and listen to the beautiful music from nature. Strangely every time I walked past that tree, somehow it reminded me of the ‘Birds Paradise’ in Xinhui.

Oh it just gets better. Now I get to walk to work everyday. The 15 minutes walk is the best therapy for me. Believe it or not I actually get to choose three or four different routes. There are two residential streets which have become my favourite streets. You must have guessed it by now why I love these two streets. These two streets are another Birds Paradise. The singing from birds doesn’t just come from one tree, but from different directions and distances. If you listen attentively, you will notice the different pitch, tone and rhythm which forms a perfect melody. It is better than any music created by mankind.

There is a special tree also in front of my office building which is the habitat for hundreds of birds. The moment I walk out of the office in the evening, I am reminded by these happy birds what a wonderful and free life I have.

Maybe I am a bird. This life is, already, a paradise.