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A Pattern for Success?

Dr. Henry Cloud wrote this article called "Deja Vu People" describing how a particular way of doing things, leading to a successful life, is potentially achievable for any person, regardless of people's backgrounds and makeup, genes or histories, race, personality type, economic background, or IQ. He observed that patterns of success do not reside in any one type of person. These patterns transcend all backgrounds, talents, and limitations. Thus, they exist on their own and are available to all of us. They are not things that one person "possesses" and another does not, like a talent. Instead, we can all learn these patterns that work every time and lead to better lives. The truth is that no one is excluded. If you were not born with these patterns in place, you can learn them. He wrote, "My belief is that once you do, life will never be the same."

Herein lies my challenge. I have found that I've actually picked up this belief... in the midst of my personal struggles throughout this and last year, I actually believe too that I can learn this pattern of success. And after repeated failures, dreams that didn't work out, ambitions that flew into the air, hopes of becoming a better person, I believe that the only way I can get above myself is to learn a new pattern of living. The battle for me is in the mind. Positive versus negative thinking. A balance of Confidence versus Fear. What is it that sets people apart from others? That gives them the boldness to pursue what they want in life? To know what they want? and to be sure of their footing?

In Proverbs 3:6 we read "... in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." So, I confess that it is indeed a difficult task to do each day, coz we are so prone to forgetting the Lord's Goodness and reality. If we acknowledge the Lord and seek His guidance for every detail of our day, our path will be straight, no matter what happens. And so, amidst this long holiday - a self-reflection time and refreshment... I await great things. And battle out the worst of enemies - myself, inhibitions, lack of energy, lack of ambition...everything that hinders me from living out a successful life that I so desire.


Be Careful Where You Get Your Counsel
Dr John C. Maxwell

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall he like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
Psalm 1: 1-3

The brilliant first psalm contrasts the righteous and the wicked. Leaders, take note because the difference between the two seems to be where they get their counsel! Observe how a foolish leader can be led astray by a corrupt inner circle:

1. The leader begins to browse for the wrong counsel.

2. The leader begins to listen to the wrong voices.

3. The leader joins the wrong inner circle.

A wise leader meditates on God?s word day and night. Note the results of receiving counsel from the right inner circle:

1. Stability

2. Inward nourishment and refreshment

3. Fruitfulness and productivity

4. Strength and durability

5. Success

Salzburg!!! The hills are alive...

It's just 10 days... and life is so much more meaningful. It's awesome. And totally refreshing to see the other side of the world... to get out of Singapore. Honestly, I was once a global-phobic.. but now I wanna embrace "Globalism" or rather, being a "citizen-of-the-world"! It's so nice if people could adapt easily and to understand different cultures. In London it was ok, people all rushing about, no one gives a damn of who you are.. hehe.. In Austria? it was a different thing.. Me and Ruby were probably the one or two singaporeans there?? A Rare breed.. and we had a Great time being stared at by everyone and not understanding a single bit of German in Austria.. but thank God.. the sights were absolutely fabulous... so much.. so much to tell about..

I am so thankful for this experience.. seeing all the churches in Austria and London.. beautiful and historical.. you just stand in awe looking at all those stained glass and paintings. It makes God come alive, it makes history seem so appealing, and you'd just want to immerse yourself in the culture. It's no wonder people from these countries know so much of their history (I suppose) - coz its so rich to start with. Comparing with Singapore? We've got not much to boast about. Nothing spectacular.

Perhaps the grass is greener on the other side. Well, its always the case. Am now dreaming of the snowy mountains and the beautiful hills of Salzburg.. and might wanna learn German too one day! (even though it sounded really bad when we were there.. all we could say was Ya (yes) and danke (Thanks).. )

Funny thing in London on the last day was that I got recognised by a Singaporean family! Hahah.. they just passed by and the mum asked me.. are you from Singapore? I was quite glad to see some fellow S'poreans and was like "YES!" haha.. so I do have a distinct Singaporean look? Dang.. i wanted to look more Japanese.. but then again.. can't make it lah.. Japanese are petite, have curly hair.. and a distinct fashion. mwahahaha! And on this day? I was wearing a plain T-shirt very singaporean like. Another funny thing.. I met my friend from CS - Farah at Buckingham Palace in London!!

And and well well.. I lurve the musicals we watched in London.. Joseph & The Technicolour dreamcoat, and Blood Brothers. Splendid. And what about Food? No complaints.. the pastries are soooo delicious and we had ice cream every day in Austria!..

Did I mention that we also managed to touch a little bit of Germany and Slovenia? Coz they were bordering on Austria and so we passed there a bit. And we did this Toboggan ride in Austria which was so cool - you sit on a flat board with a lever in the centre.. a pulley pulls you to the top of the hill by a hook on the back of the board (so u go up backwards).. then u transfer ur board to a ramp which goes down like those water rides except you can control the speed with the lever on your board.

Too bad the weather was so cold, if not we would have done some water rafting in Salzburg.

Oh yeh.. I'm now quite ok with the Underground. The Train System in London.. initially was like a blur duck following Ruby around mindlessly... haha.. Anyway speaking about ducks yeah we did see a flying duck at Schloss Schonbrunn (Beautiful Fountain Palace) at Vienna!

As for Graz, we met up with Pauline! I got a shock seeing her Dreadlocks.. cool cool... am so impressed.. It's totally out of my imagination to be able to do something like what she's doing. Planning to work in a farm? Work overseas? That's still out of my comfort zone. Anyways, we had a great time with some of her friends from Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia, and tasting her apple strudel and pasta...Wow! She's now a great cook! hehehe! We also went to the countryside winery - Buschershank - where we had cold cuts and wine!

Anyways, just a interesting bit from today as well.. the final day, in London, Ruby and I went to the Tower of london.. and there was this really entertaining talk of the history of the Tower.. where we found some stories behind the phrases to get away "Scott-Free" and Humpty Dumpty and the Three Blind Mice! These nursery rhymes didnt' come about just like that.. there was some History behind it!

And so well.. I shall get down to reading all those booklets and brochures that I bought.. History and explanations behind stuff inside the Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, etc etc. Good way to spend my time now that I'm with Ju in Cambridge.. and can't disturb her coz exams coming soon.

Now, I definitely wanna travel to more places! Around the world!! Way to go! :P

FMA Rocks!

Full Metal Alchemist rocks!!! Coming to the end of the anime series.. its getting better and better! Man this is one show I'd be taping while I'm away.. can't miss the final episode!

Cool Inspirations..

Bible Bytes (from RickWarren @ pastors.com)

"Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 5:16 (NASB)

"God is able to make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others." - 2 Corinthians 9:8 (LB)

"The generous prosper and are satisfied; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed." - Proverbs 11:25 (NLT)

Quotes:

"He who waits on God loses no time." - Vance Havner

Upsetting art dream

I had a dream last night which left me crying this morning! It goes like this.

I was in an art class.. arrived back late because of "recess" that we had.. was with 1 friend.. and that friend kinda sat in the back row (4 chairs, other 3 were filled).. leaving me to sit somewhere else.. first row was filled, so I sat in the second row alone? the chairs were arranged in a messy curved order, so there's kinda lots of irregular space in between chairs and tables.. so I pulled my table to the right farthest side of the classroom (we were at the right side of classroom in general). I sulked.. feeling all alone. I remember seeing TNT sitting somewhere in the middle back of the class, and he saw what I did.

Then the teacher was talking about something.. (art maybe) and I remember being very very angry because he was blabbering about nonsense and to me it was not art. Then suddenly everyone began to paint, and I realised that I was not too sure of what to paint, so I frantically asked around-what are we supposed to paint? The ppl behind me said "a lost beanstalk". Okay.. so I proceeded to paint.. but only after a very angry glare at the teacher. It seems I said something to the teacher and he didn't like me, because it ended with me getting up to paint really angrily, feeling that i'll show this teacher what really is art.

While painting, I dunno why I painted a fortress from top view.. and put inside the fortress some "poisonous stuff" which was supposed to be let out into the fields (where the lost beanstalk lay). I drew a scorching sun, and it was hot, dry and arid.. then I was supposed to paint the lost beanstalk, but time was running out.. and it didn't seem to fit in.. (Then the picture changes, its now from the bottom view up rather than top view down). Then I realise that there's a pond near the fortress, and I try to make footsteps and ripples in the water (to show that the lost beanstalk had actually jumped into the water). Then I realised that the paint I used was so think that my brush had to swirl right thru the layers, and that it couldn't harden or dry.. with that I had to stop painting and submit. So fine. Looking at it, it was quite cool to me, and upon stepping back to look at the painting, it somehow had now light pillars from the sun upwards (plastic thin poles emitting light - so it now looks like a 3D structure rather than a painting.. ). I thought it was really cool, though unfinished, and though abstract and maybe no one would understand it, I thought it was MY creation after all.

Anyway, the teacher clearly didn't like it. So I wondered I'd fail this after all. Anyway, so I had to go. I was with Esther. I wanted to take a picture of the work, but didn't have camera. Walking out with Esther I asked her if she had, and yup she did. So she said hey lets take a picture together too.. but outside the glass window was reflecting behind us, and we couldn't take the pic, so I rushed in. But only to find that the whole installation was gone (the teacher prob threw it away). People were instead, taking pictures with some statues next to the pics, as if it never existed. Then I ran around the whole place. It was now a hindu garden, with white statues of the hindu deities. I thought to myself, wow these hindus really pray, what about me a Christian? Then I ran one round and still couldn't find the installation... being pretty flustered and upset, I stopped and broke down to cry. And so I woke up..

Dream analysis:

Sitting alone - from the feeling of being alone, and having no true friends. Being alone has been a theme in my life from young - so while I do have friends now, there's an inherent loneliness inside my heart. Perhaps, only that God can fill.

TNT - I seem to think he knows something about me that I don't know, because he seems to know some psychology and receives messages from God and it seems that he's always watching over my personality development..

Angry with Art teacher - This is probably the real hidden me. If I really hate the teacher, I switch off. I also hate following if something doesn't make sense, or is totally conformist. I like to create new things, and methods, and Art to me, was a symbol of freedom and creativity. This reminds me of me in kindergarten, when I refused to sing along with the rest of the class coz I thought the song was stupid. I sang my own song. What about today? Perhapd coz of the recent event with a priest whom I disagreed with his way of doing things, and could not find a reason for following his "order" and so I sulk and get angry but have to follow all the same, cos he's older, and he's a priest!

The topic being Art - I seem to be great at art in the dream, when I have a blank piece of paper, I have to think: How to draw/paint the object I want to paint.. and its cool. On the paper, I even tried a new formula.. using something I saw at an art gallery at Paragon,.. thick oil paint on the canvas, creating a very rough texture and not spreading the paint out but dabbing onto it to create the peaks and troughs. I was painting the sun.

The painting of the fortress - I dunno why this came about at all.. haha

Lack of time - usually in paintings, I am very slow.. like in exams I always have lack of time to finish what I'm writing.. a common theme too in my busy life.. I always need "more time!"

Painting cannot dry - this is reminiscent of my mosaic workshop which I went to just yesterday morning.. I had to leave the glue to dry and come back another day.. so perhaps.

The creation - thinking this is MY masterpiece even though people may not understand... I thought also of God of how he thinks each of us are his masterpieces. Everyone of us. Who cares whether people think its ugly or not,.. God loves us all.

The disappeared installation - This left me feeling totally regretful, angry, vindicated, under-appreciated, and alone once again. These feelings caused me panic to run around frantically looking for the lost item. Only to sink in despair realizing that it was really gone. I don't know what event in life causes me to feel that way.. but I believe it could be a lost friendship during the Primary 6 -- Sec 1 transition, when I cried for days after the realization that I have moved to secondary and have "lost" a friend in primary school sunk in. I felt my friend (who didn't contact me at all) had forgotten about me.. I didn't know then, that i could simply clarify and contact her first and I wasn't smart enough to know how, and I wasn't daring enough to confide it in anyone.

So then. What a upsetting dream but it tells me lots of things? about myself. :) Like how I so do want to take up art one day again, and how I actually like to be free and non-conformist..?! haha.. and that how some pains from the past still have to be settled.

Going for A HoLiDaY~!! Yippee!!

I'm going for a holiday!! A super long holiday! A holiday a holiday a holi-holi-day!!!

Well.. the stuff to get done before I go is freeking me out in one way, so many things to get settled.. but the trip is all so worth it.... time flies by so fast, its already reaching May 15! Yup i'll be flying off to London on May 15th and be back on July 3rd! Will visit Austria and Pauline! Then back to London and off to cambridge to camp in wif Ju and then we'll go touring together! yoo hoo..

All I wanna do is have some fun! aNd Bum around.. really... do nothing.. I dun even care if I don't get to see many things.. I just wanna bum around.. backpack around.. be a wandering traveller.. that sounds great isn't it? hehhehe....

A carefree lifestyle...

Happily sunburnt...

TIOMAN! I miss tioman.. just went there over the weekend.. it was a really simple short trip... great to get a tan and go snorkelling.. oh u shld just see the fishes.. but what i loved? was the ramlee burgers and the bumming lifestyle.. think Beach Boys.. just going out and snorkelling everyday (even though we got just about 1 day of it)... Dang.. it's not enough!

Anyways.. here's some pics to keep all of u updated! Can't wait for Europe next! Austria.. London.. who knows what new sights await me...!








This is an upcoming talk in Holy Spirit Church @ Thomson. Come come come!
BTW.. poster is designed by... ME! :P