I have always been drowned with the motivating notion of being the best in the school, district, country and world. This tenet was the gospel truth and no disputing it and I have operated as such in every endeavor that I do.

However, recently I was introduced to one that is almost contradictory to this by a man called Dewitt Jones (pun: Do It) in his video entitled “Celebrate What Is Right In The World”. He is a photographer for the National Geographic and his self awareness and revelation came from his many assignments for the National Geographic.

In this video he shares with the audience his discovery through meeting various people in his journey why is it important to be the best FOR the world.

When I saw this, it dawned on me that wanting to be the best IN the world has a lot to do it my ego where else being the best FOR the world is all about contribution and community. It is selfless!

Yes. I might be the best IN the world but am I the best FOR the world? I might not be.

Then there is the fact that in being the being IN the world only allows one in that space. However, there can be many in the being the best FOR the world.

Furthermore, coming from being the best FOR the world empowers everyone to continue being and striving for the greater good and not giving up. It is a vocation not an destination! It is a journey, a role, a function, a habit, a way of life, a life style. I can give all my best and be the best FOR the world without having to be the best IN the world. It is a communal effort not a solo effort coming from abundance not scarcity.

So from now on I shall be FOR and not IN.

This is the phrase I learnt yesterday in my Accelerated Learning Practitioner Certification. It lives in the context of producing results deliberately and not by coincidence. This will require knowledge and skills provided you are first clear that you really want to get the result.

So start with desire, find the knowledge and practice so that you have the skills. Only then you results will be by design and not by chance.

One of my favorite books is The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. In the book there is a phrase he uses; Personal Legend.

Funny how a phrase can stick to you like super glue and for me this is one of those.

What I got from it is that “I need to make my own way in life. Only I, travel my own journey; paving my own path along the way.”

The question is, at the end of my life, what is my story going to be? Is it going to be a legend that others can learn from or not? The choice is entirely mine to make.

My words: Talking about context vs content in my trainings… and eternally practicing it in my life made me realize how important context is. It might come in many words and phrases such as mood, platform, base but the context (again that word) is still the same. Here is a story I found in the net that remind me again how important my context is.

An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining, so one morning, he instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.

”How does it taste?” the master asked.

”Bitter,” spit the apprentice.



The master then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake, and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”

As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the master asked, “How does it taste?”

”Fresh,” remarked the apprentice.

”Do you taste the salt?” asked the master.

”No,” said the young man.



The master explained, “The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things… Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”

We hear and use these words often and associate them as positive words. This is due to the perspective that results are good; and so it effective. By the way, good also falls into this category.

However, the true meaning for these words are  quite neutral.

Effective just means producing an intended or expected result, while results means an outcome that is produce by action. Therefore, if we are trying to avoid something and we actually avoded it, then we actually have an effective result. If we are angry and people doesn’t come near us, we are actually are producing an effective result. So why do we say we are not being effective when we actually are?

Why are we playing with these so called confusion?

It lies in the heart of our ability to improve. If we see some of our outcome as results and so are not, we will forever have an option to ignore some that we don’t like with an excuse that it is not my result. If we see effective as only positive, we will once again have an option to hide behind another excuse that we didn’t intend to have out outcome!

Realizing that we are always effective because actions we take and our ways of being inevitably produces a predictable outcome and what ever the outcome is, is always a result we now can’t run away from being responsible… always for everything that happens in our life. This fact is what scares us because we still want to hide and avoid and procrastinate.

At the end of it all, it is stlll a choice.

Since early in the year I have kept diligently a journal and I write in it daily. I have also started to include in my journals ideas that I have. What I have noticed is that whenever I pen down an idea I have; however absurd it might sound, my mood actually changes. I feel light; sometimes funny, energized and at certain times a sense of hope.

I have come to the conclusion that an idea written is worth 10 ideas in the head. There is magic that happens when you are articulating it on paper. It is like an elixir of positive mood.

And in the realm of practicality, the more ideas you churn out the higher the chance that one of it will come to fruition.

So I say, go pen them down; those ideas you have. I am resolute to do so.

The new centre feels like home. I love the energy here, whether when I am all alone or when it is filled up with people. My house is my home because I fell rested, tranquil and peace. The centre feels like home because I fell passion, energy and creativity here. I guess the saying that goes “Home is where the heart is” is indeed true. 

Since having the centre I now have two homes for both is where my heart is 🙂

“I am not good at ….” All of us can easily continue this sentence effortlessly and in fact can rattle of a list of this statement for a multitude of things. Let’s examine this for a bit.

Is this statement true? Well, to some extend; depending on the situation, this can be somewhat true. However, for most of the time this is untrue! At best, it is said in despair or hopelessness and the saddest part of it all, this statement becomes a way to avoid or as an excuse to stop us from doing or being a certain way.

For those that choose to use this statement as a way to avoid or as an excuse, there is nothing that can be done because they have chosen so. However for those that says this statement in despair and hopelessness, be enlightened that this statement is only true if you have not learned and practice those things that you are saying you are not good at. If you have not, then it is just a believe… a limiting believe!

I just read an inspiring and uplifting blog by a dear friend of mine; Al Jazzura and it dawned on me how important it is to share the wisdom & learning of another human being. This thought has brought up the publisher in me.

In publishing, copyright & intellectual property are two phrase that are almost synonymous with the word publish. In this world called publishing, the intellectual property of an individual is safeguarded zealously. It is the very essence of a publisher & an author’s raw material from which their commerce is made. In this instance, sharing is not something you do by default. And in this stands my conundrum.

On one hand there is the liberalization of knowledge and wisdom, while on the other is the commerce of it all. How do you reconcile both? This has been a fundamental struggle even to a publisher since their first intent is to educate.

The answer? Well, there is no answer. The debate still rages on and personally I do not think it will ever be resolved. And maybe in that is where the answer lies. 

As my ex has enlightened me year ago “Why the need for an answer? Will an answer changes what is already happening?”. So, maybe for the sake of knowledge and wisdom, this battle must rage on to keep it valuable and relevant for all time.

Making it all free might devalue it while paying all for it will make it inaccessible. This tussle now makes it perfect for us to appreciate knowledge and wisdom.