FOCUS

In our lives, in order that we have continuous learning, we need to have FOCUS. These are the elements that will help to push us to move out of our comfort zone. Time and tide waits for no man, they say ... and I say even the sun will grow dark and gray at the times we least thought of.

Friends - one of the most important priorities that we all have as human beings. Maslow listed this as our security needs. Let's face the fact : as normal human beings, we need to feel belong to certain social groups or circle of friends. We need to build our self esteem among our acquaintances even. Out of the numerous strangers and acquaintances we have made, there will be those who will stick closer than a brother in times of adversary.

Opportunities - the most rarest yet the most anticipated element is perhaps opportunity. The most used keyword to describe the competitiveness of the 21st century is NETWORKING. With the proper networking setup, we will be somebody in our society. Networking here refers to people that come into our lives to help us to succeed.. to some these are the angels who will help earn their 1st millions!! One golden principle : never underestimate the people around us for blessings always come in the form that we least expect of.

Credibility - as we witness the advancement of human technology, we also witness how people misuse or even abuse the power and authority given to them. These are the people who belong to White Collar circle. As such, we need to build our credibility among our circle of contacts, more so if we are in the professional field. It is difficult to stand up for what is right, but it is a fact that we need to make our voice heard in the places where wrong seems right.

Unity - the power of unity lies in the collective effort of everyone involved, yet not many of us realise this. Weaker animals know that if they stand together, they could even fight off a roaring lion!! It takes time to build trust or even to earn the trust and respect of one another. However, once we have it, it becomes part of us. United we stand, divided we fall. Being united is one way to manipulate crises into opportunities.

Stability - a house can only be strong if the foundations are solid and stable. This is similar to our lives. Our foundations of beliefs, value system, principles of life and worldview must be strong and stable. We cannot afford to let our mind be bombarded with trashes, unrelated info, unidentified or unfiltered resources. The world is progressing in technology but are we really safe ? What an irony.. we are advanced in the physical infra-structure but not advanced in our moral. So, unless we have an ANCHOR in our lives, our lives will be tossed by the waves of the world.

To recap, we need Friends, Opportunities, Credibility, Unity and Stability.

Beggar's Chicken

When my colleague asked my to join her to eat the special dish, I thought there is such dish in Malaysia? And the answer is yes!! The only problem is distance.. it is about 1.5 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur. And the roads leading there can be misleading sometimes. But, fortunately we found our way there.. in fact, we were the earliest to reach there.

Dinner serving time was 6pm, but we arrived there 5.35pm. Generally, it was a well thought dinner fellowship. For the first time, she joined me and my other colleagues. Spending three hours there was really worth it and we were actually the last crowd to leave.

For those who want to try the special dish, follow this link http://beggar-chicken.spaces.live.com/

ANTS ... Lifelong Learning

Was just browsing through some photos, especially from the recent ANTS. Really miss my squad members and some of the Officers. It seemed like the experience is still very much fresh in the mind. The camp was no doubt one of the best that I ever organised before. Not so much on the activities but more on the coaching and learning experience that we each had. Initially all that we could think of was to have it intra-state, but it turned out to be inter-state event. Fortunate enough that we had enough coaches and observers for a small group of learners.

Now that they are back to their individual companies to serve and contribute, we as Coaches could only hope that they will be of better help to the Companies and will continue to grow and mature as they learn to be more effective leaders. After all ANTS not just an acroynm for
Advanced NCO Training School, it also means Active NCOs To Strive for the better running of BB Coy!!

Finally I have found you

Well.. life's sure has all its surprises and full of His blessings. I would say this is the best gift ever that God has given. Not that all other gifts are not the best.. but this is definitely one of the best. After waited for years, even some hiccups here and there, but I'm finally glad that she is the one. Though still at the foundation, working at it one by one, bit by bit, I believe God has it all planned in His best time. All we need to do is to wait and see. What is next is to continue to give thanks and pray. Really looking forward for that great day ahead ..

Are we just shadows ?

How many times have you heard the saying that "You're just like your ..... "? People tend to compare us with our parents, siblings, friends, relatives etc. Guess that is the way the society value our competitiveness. Many times, we would feel pressured so much that we actually under performed and later crying over split milk. So how do we overcome this? God knows how...
The only way is to live out of the shadow .. Soar High And Dive Over Waves ..

Since we cannot escape from it, we just Soar High. When we are Soaring High, we are heading towards our goals, our focus and our aims, not set by others. We are just elevating ourselves from the pressure. Be an eagle that sill soar across the dark clouds of expectations and unreasonable demands.

When there are times Soaring High does not solve the problem, then we just Dive Over Waves. It is futile to go against the Waves of comment, feedback and criticisms; we just Dive Over Waves.

Be a dolphin that will Dive Over Waves across the oceans of humility. Life's a humble beginning in anyhow we want to see it and experience it.

Thus, Soar High And Dive Over Waves .. reckon? ^+^

Rain or Shine

Sometimes we do hear whether it is rain or shine, what must be done, must be done. At times, I would just add in the complementary phrase "Be it crooked or straight, by hook or by crook" .. How many times that we tend to procrastinate not to finish our given task on time regardless of how important or unimportant it is. All it needs is just we do our part to finish the task and move on.

Today was the day where my youths went out to support a charity bazaar. Our stall was doing free health check, specifically blood pressure, sugar level, BMI and cholesterol level. It turned out that all of us were enjoying ourselves apart from just doing community service. It rained though but we were not affected as our stall was in the sheltered area.

On the other hand, there were some people who just procrastinate. Things that were supposed to be done, not only left undone, it went unnoticed. I asked my students to clear their desks before leaving for a 1-week break, a few just went off without doing their given task. What was said in the classroom went on deaf ear. Deaf ear meant trouble, asking for books to be sent to recycling centre. Worse still, I found one "white elephant" in the mess left behind.

The Heart vs The Mind

Today's devotion from the Our Daily Bread talks on the heart. Jesus talked about it is not what goes in man's mouth that make him unclean, but it is what comes out of the man's mouth. A well said phrase : every time our mouth speaks, our mind parades.

Coming to think of it, sometimes we tend to get carried away by what we want to do, what to say, and the list goes on. Thus, the words went flare and emotions went berseck. Why all these are happening, one would asked. How should it be dealt with? To face them or to run away or to soar higher? At times, the thought of giving up comes along, but then every time that thought comes along, the heart sends out the signal "What about those who really sincerely wouldn't want anyone to leave?"