My last dinner in Langkawi is indeed God’s gift. It was a reward for the effort we have put in as a training team. We had one of the most delicious simple dinner ever.

After dinner my mind wandered away and was trying to make sense of what just happened.

The place we had dinner was hardly 5 minutes away from our training hotel, 2 minutes away from the airport and we pass by it every morning to have our breakfast just a couple of door away. Last night being the last night of training all of us were tired yet wanted to unwind with a nice dinner. On instinct we decided to go to the area nearest to our airport to look for something to eat before our flight.

As we near the place, there was another brightly lit restaurant opposite this unassuming stall. We nearly went there but instead unanimously we all decided to go for this quint unassuming stall.

Upon aligning from the van, lo and behold laid out in from of us is a selection of fresh seafood, well cleaned waiting to be chosen to be cooked in gulai there and then; with a free flow selection of ulams on the side.

Everyone agreed at the end of the meal that it was the perfect capstone to or trip.

The dinner could have gone unnoticed and became just another dinner if we all have not been in appreciation. When we came from appreciation, a simple meal now becomes a gift; a reward.

Therefore, God’s gift or reward is there all around us. We just need to look for it with the eyes of gratitude.

A Futile Exercise

“Change is the only constant” is a phrase that is quite commonly heard. This is indeed true. There has been and will always be enormous changes in our life. Since it is part and parcel of our life, it will be a futile exercise to avoid or even try to avoid change. The only effective way we can handle change is to manage ourself when change happens. Be the one to manage change instead of allowing change to manage us. If the later happens, we lose all control of determining our outcome. We will be a victim of the consequences of change as oppose to being the one dictating the consequences of change on our life. We will become powerless if we allow change to dictate us. We need to respond to changes and avoid reacting or avoiding change.

Three Components for Change to Take Place

If we decide to respond to change responsibly, how do we do this? Before that, let’s see the three main component that is important in order for change to take place. Understanding these factors will allow us to plan for the changes better.

The three components needed for change to take place are: The Mind, The Heart & The Path. The mind is needed to provide the logical reason why change is needed, the heart provides the emotional reason why change is needed while the path will give us the process and way towards change. All these three components need to be congruent to each other for change to take place. If even one of these component is not aligned, it will be hard for change to take place..

This trinity is akin to The Rider, The Elephant and The Path; The mind being the rider, the elephant being the heart while the the path being the path. In this trinity, the most powerful is the elephant. However string the rider is (logic), the elephant (emotion) will win even though the path to change is right in front of our eyes. This give us a clue on how to respond to change. We first need to be certain of our feelings and emotions about the change. If it i strong, we will be able to make the change happen. Just like the elephant, it will find a path or stomp a path once it decides too. Contrary to common believe, the logic as the Rider is not the most prevalent driver. However logical the change is, if the heart doesn’t want it, the elephant wins.

Regardless, the best solution to change is when all three components are congruent or aligned to change. This lesson now gives us the clue to respond to change.

When we respond to change, make sure we all for it emotionally and that we have analyzed the situation and have come up with a way to respond or handle the change.

Without purpose there is no focus – RJB

“If You Want A Different Result, Change Needs To Happen”

“If You Don’t Stand for Something, You’ll Fall for Anything” – Malcolm X –

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learnt in this trip of mine is the downside of not wanting to be prejudice.

I don’t want to presume that there are people who are less capable than me for example the rate of learning absorption. This to some extent is because that will make me a ‘bigot’ or prejudice. I am content with this view until now.

In reality, there are levels. That is a fact. There are people who are not as fast or as strong or as big. Therefore, treating everyone equal in everything has its good and bad. There need to be a fine balance and a clear context in equality.

Me treating a slow learner because I don’t want to prejudice him, is somewhat prejudicing him. He needs a very different development program and path. If I treat him as a fast learner, I will do an injustice to him.

All this makes me appreciate even more the saying that goes “Too much of a good thing is bad”.

From now on, I shall be in moderation and respond to changes and situation as and when at at its true value which is determined my many factors including those that are determined by me alone.

Since the start of 2013, I’ve been keeping a routine of journaling every morning. Actually the resolution is to journal everyday. It is just that I find the mornings to be the best time for me to journal since my journal is not just about what has happened but more for affirmation and visioning work for the day. It is also a routine that allows me to sharpen my creativity by journaling in all form such as sketching, typo-ing, rhyming etc.

And this morning, I had a rude awakening. I was looking for my journal to do my routine when I realized that I have left it in my room 30 minutes away from the training venue. What surprised my was that I had a pang of anxiousness while I was searching for it in the training room.

It dawned on my that this routine is only 52 days old and I am already attached to it; subconsciously! I can only imagine what it would do in 5 months time. I started to think that compassion is indeed a very powerful way of being when dealing with personal growth because people can be so attached to many thing in a relatively short span of time, what more habits and routines done year in and year out.

This got me thinking and deciding to not be a slave to my routines. 

I shall faithfully journal daily for it is good for me. I am pretty sure it will be a routine and habit for me before long. Yes, will develop and have this routine yet the routine will never have me 🙂

I always get butterflies in my tummy at the beginning of the first day of any training. I use to fight it and try to suppress it saying to myself that I shouldn’t feel this way and wonder when will I ever overcome this.

Over time I have realized that these butterflies will never go away. What I need to do is get them to fly in a formation rather then haphazardly.

I have also come to terms that I will never be cured of this condition. This realization is now coupled with the perspective that I will not want it to ever go away because I realized that if I ever not get nervous, it will mean that the training doesn’t mean that much to me!

So, my nervousness comes from a good place. It comes from the place of care. Care for my craft, care for my participants, care for doing my best, care for learning and care for making a difference.

Are there other ineffective care in the mix? Of course! However, I shall not give energy to those. I choose to give energy and nurture those care that will serve me.

Nervousness is thrust upon you and it is up to us to choose our response.

One of my favourite quotes of all time.

It is simple and profound; what a quote should be.