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Monthly Archives: October 2021

Walking meditations

October 31, 2021
30 Day Challenge, Connecting, Personal Change, What I'm reading
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Where are you going?

Going nowhere during quarantine? How about travelling inward.

Mindful of each breath. Mindful of each step. Mindful of each thought.

Today we have so many technologies, the mobile phone, whatsapp, zoom. But do we really connect? We forget that our mind and body are connected. “Our body is here but our mind is somewhere else. We easily get caught up in our work, our plans, our anxieties. Our breadth is the bridge connecting our body and our mind.”

Meditation can be taken out of the retreat and into the kitchen and the office. Thich ask “How can we practice in a way that removes the barrier between practice and non-practice.”

A friend does walking meditation between business appointments, walking mindfully between buildings and as a result his meetings are often pleasant and successful.

Meditations do not need to be around a mandala or even in a maze. They can be part of our daily life.

May I

May You

May They

May All Beings

“How to See”, “How to Walk”, “How to Connect”, Series by Thich Nhat Hanh

This is Matisse

October 29, 2021
30 Day Challenge, What I'm reading
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Work cures everything.

Can I reinvent myself the way Matisse did and yet maintain a signature style?

From La Danse to the cut outs, there remains a fluidity of design and vibrant colors.

Matisse paintings are not … things but energies. Are incentives to us to effect action. They represent nothing but impel us to create in the direction of the force, which they exercise.

This book has intrigued me to spend time imitating his line drawings and cut outs. As well as inspired me to travel and take in different sights to reinvent myself as he did. Absorbing energy from his travels.

Are you surrounded by what “radiates a rhythm through which energy flows.”

Recommend: 🦋🦋

Category: Famous Person

Around the world in 80 books

October 27, 2021
30 Day Challenge, Coaching, What I'm reading
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As I was walking to the neighbourhood stores, a thought struck me. What if I do the boring stuff, ie visit the same place 30 days in a row.

I started thinking, what if I visit the library, 10 mins walk away and borrow a different book every day.

And so my adventure begins, without taking a flight. Of course I can borrow eCopies from the digital library. But physical store has the pleasure of flipping through aisle by aisle.

Road less travelled, expand my mind. Books I normally will not pick up. Easy to read.

The first book I found using “coach” as key word was “Vladimir Putin: Life Coach”.

Seeing with new eyes

Except for what I read from American newsfeed, I do not know much about Russia. Granted, I studied history in school, have visited Siberia twice and been on trans-Siberian railway.

Written tongue in cheek, eg “Show your gentle side”. To win respect, you must be ruthless. To win love, you need to show a soft side. Putin’s approach is to help his country’s cutest animals at every opportunity.

He’s been photographed feeding a baby elk outside Moscow … and shaking hands with a walrus in Vladivostok.

Be more Vlad. If you’re known as a workplace meanie, show your colleagues you’re actually quite nice by booking a day off and hiring a professional photographer to join you on a trip to the petting zoo. Then share the photos far and wide with plenty og squidgy emoticons. Be sure to wait at least twenty minutes before returning to your hardass persona. (Sears, p119)

Rob Sears, the author, writes comedy. I cant wait to read his book on “The beautiful poetry of Donald Trump”. I can see how this experiment of picking up books I normally would not read, will help “re-imagine me” as Humour is not on my resume. If I were to teach “leadership topics”, this book will help inject a bit of humor on the complexity of leadership behavior.

#coach #humour #Russia #80books #TIME #Treasures #NLB #leadership

Highly recommend: 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

Category: Humour, Leadership

Alchemist

October 23, 2021
creativity, Happiness, Tour
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Alchemist is a man’s hope to transform ordinary metal to gold.

In the California gold rush, number of gold miners who found gold were few. But those who made a living, selling ordinary items like food, jeans, coffee, turned ordinary into gold.

Today, the only precious item is energy and time. With energy we can transform two ideas such as curry and pastry into curry puff. Pies which are baked in ovens are deep fried for the South East Asian palate.

Golden Potatoes and curry transformed into curry puff

Ordinary egg transformed into volcano gold by controlling temp and time

The only way out is through

October 12, 2021
Coaching, creativity, Personal Change, poem
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Yesterday I conducted a coaching demonstration.

I struggled.

Striped bare.

Wintry cold.

Naked.

Thank you for the feedback

Oysters cry

Cliched Caterpillars die

Wrapped in White

I wiped away tears of humiliation

I am an island

For whom the bell tolls

Today I celebrate my weakness

In my weakness

I will be made strong.

I can see no way out but through

For whom the bell tolls?

It tolls for me.

Dont feel sorry for me.

At Tajimaya during Restaurant Week

Tip: Best cure for feeling sorry is to celebrate. And feed off another’s creativity. Shout out to the young chef who cooked tis meal. Notice the handcrafted mushroom from radish.

Onward

October 5, 2021
Culture, Happiness
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I have been singing the Singapore national anthem for years and recently embraced its beauty.

“Majulah, Singapore” means Onward, Singapore.

Such a beautiful wish for a young nation struggling to its feet in 1965. No blaming. Looking forward

To a nation of immigrants, Zubir Said, the composer of the anthem described his inspiration from a Malay proverb “Di mana bumi dipijak, di situ langit dijunjung” (“You should hold up the sky of the land where you live”)

Zubir is also remembered for his composition “Semoga Bahagia” (“May You Achieve Happiness”) which was aimed at primary-school students, advising them to work hard for their future. 

As we celebrate Children’s Day this week, let us remember that Happiness is not about doing well in exams but the many qualities expressed in Zubir’s song. A life worth living.

Majulah,

Joanne

Source: Wikipedia