It's quite amazing to see a series of happy and sad events happening in less than 2 months.
It started with my father-in-law diagnozed for cancer. He passed away 4 weeks ago and exactly 7 days later, my colleague got married. Then for exactly 7 days again, my sister-in-law gave birth to a baby girl! All in all, I saw sickness, death, wedding and birth. (could this be the new version of the 4 sights that Buddha saw?)
Is this a cycle? Would sickness be the next thing to happen again? I'm not sure about that. But one thing I can be very sure of is that there will always be a mixture of happy and sad events. And above all else, what I'm even more sure of is that what we are happy about today can be the very reason why we are sad tomorrow.
Simply put, every event comes neutral. But with our own perspective, we generate an emotion out of it. This emotion can be so strong that we manage to keep the bad side of the event out of the picture for the time being.
When we celebrate a birth, there has to be death. And death is in itself a new beginning of another event. Hence, it's not really negative when we think of the bad side but it's more of thinking NEUTRAL.
By thinking neutral, we still can continue to be happy, not so much because we forget there is a sad part to it but more because we appreciate the event and capture the moment. Above that, we are happy because we are able to appreciate the beautiful nature of ups and downs.
So, when there's a down side in your life now, don't despair. It’s so happen you are on the down side of the see saw. Things will change soon as we ride this see saw.
So, have fun riding the see-saw in this playground called life!
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Corporate heaven...is there such a thing?
Most working people have split personalities. How can we tell? They behave so differently in their personal life from their working life. Some can be a loving father at home but a monster at work. Some are such educationists to their kids but yet never want to learn anything new at work.
Many have found a good reason to justify the way they behave. "Have to earn a living, right?" In other words, who cares about the methods and behaviour as long as I can get what I think is noble?
Equipped with this reason, many justify why it's ok to lie at work, 'tah pau' toilet rolls for home use, gain trust from bosses by supplying office rumours.
We must understand that in the works of karma or in the eyes of god: lying is lying while cheating is plain cheating.
If lying 100 times 'earns' you a big slap, it doesn't matter whether it comes from work or from private life because lying is still lying. Hell doesn't differentiate unwholesome actions from work or home.
When we say we want to lead a quality life, it doesn't mean only our private life. It should encompass work life too. We spend at least half of our waking hours at work. Our colleagues see us more than our family. Any compromise in work life simply means 'a life half lived'.
What shall we do? It's quite simple actually. Extend to your office as a part of your private life (what?? Sleeping during work hours?), and also extend your work life to the home (you mean continue to work at home? No way!!)
Hold your horses please! It doesn't mean we do it physically and literally. It means we need to equip our minds and our environment with the common fundamentals that we can apply at work as well as at home.
We have neighbours at home. Do we have one at work? Do we know anyone in the next office? We review our business quarterly. Do we review our personal progress?
In short, identify the positive values that we practice at work and extend it to our home. The same goes to the positive family values we have at home. If punctuality is a big thing at home, extend this value to work.
Once we are able to merge work and home, our split personalities will gradually disappear. 'We become ourselves' again.
So go ahead, make yourself at home...in the office!
Many have found a good reason to justify the way they behave. "Have to earn a living, right?" In other words, who cares about the methods and behaviour as long as I can get what I think is noble?
Equipped with this reason, many justify why it's ok to lie at work, 'tah pau' toilet rolls for home use, gain trust from bosses by supplying office rumours.
We must understand that in the works of karma or in the eyes of god: lying is lying while cheating is plain cheating.
If lying 100 times 'earns' you a big slap, it doesn't matter whether it comes from work or from private life because lying is still lying. Hell doesn't differentiate unwholesome actions from work or home.
When we say we want to lead a quality life, it doesn't mean only our private life. It should encompass work life too. We spend at least half of our waking hours at work. Our colleagues see us more than our family. Any compromise in work life simply means 'a life half lived'.
What shall we do? It's quite simple actually. Extend to your office as a part of your private life (what?? Sleeping during work hours?), and also extend your work life to the home (you mean continue to work at home? No way!!)
Hold your horses please! It doesn't mean we do it physically and literally. It means we need to equip our minds and our environment with the common fundamentals that we can apply at work as well as at home.
We have neighbours at home. Do we have one at work? Do we know anyone in the next office? We review our business quarterly. Do we review our personal progress?
In short, identify the positive values that we practice at work and extend it to our home. The same goes to the positive family values we have at home. If punctuality is a big thing at home, extend this value to work.
Once we are able to merge work and home, our split personalities will gradually disappear. 'We become ourselves' again.
So go ahead, make yourself at home...in the office!
Monday, June 06, 2005
Everyone is right (then who is wrong?)
There was this humorous zen story about some monks (monks again!!?)
2 monks were arguing on a contoversial topic. After a long debate, they still couldn't determine who was right. So, they decided to ask their master to decide.
When the 1st monk presented his viewpoints, the master quickly agreed that he was right. The 1st monk was satisfied and showed the 2nk monk a 'l-told-you' look.
The 2nd monk was shocked and explained to the master why his views were right and the 1st monk was wrong. The master, after pondering for a moment, also agreed with the 2nd monk! The 2nd monk also felt satisfied as truth finally prevailed.
At that time, there was also another monk that was attending to the master in the room. This monk was most shocked as he couldn't believe his respected master actually agreed with the 2 monks despite they had opposing views.
He agitatedly asked the master, "How can Master support 2 opposing views? Don't you think you are misleading your disciples?"
The master, without any hesitation, replied "You are right too!!!"
If you think this story is humorous, then that's how funny we are at times. All try to insist that their opinions are right which I believe we really are, based on our own perspective, background and what we view as priorities.
Many have heard of the saying 'seeing is believing'. However, do you know that each person that looks into a mirror see different images depending on where we stand?
To demonstrate our priority can make us feel so right, try answer this question:
"If you have $100,000, will you donate to an orphanage or an old folks home?"
No matter which organization you go for, you are RIGHT. Some argue that the orphans have a better future hence they should donate to orphanage. If that's true, what about letting the old folks have a good end since they have not much time left?
So, which one now? Still orphanage? Still old folks? Go with your priority. That's right. Just remember one thing: If you choose orphanage, don't argue with those who donate to old folks because...
You are right
They are right
I'm also right!
2 monks were arguing on a contoversial topic. After a long debate, they still couldn't determine who was right. So, they decided to ask their master to decide.
When the 1st monk presented his viewpoints, the master quickly agreed that he was right. The 1st monk was satisfied and showed the 2nk monk a 'l-told-you' look.
The 2nd monk was shocked and explained to the master why his views were right and the 1st monk was wrong. The master, after pondering for a moment, also agreed with the 2nd monk! The 2nd monk also felt satisfied as truth finally prevailed.
At that time, there was also another monk that was attending to the master in the room. This monk was most shocked as he couldn't believe his respected master actually agreed with the 2 monks despite they had opposing views.
He agitatedly asked the master, "How can Master support 2 opposing views? Don't you think you are misleading your disciples?"
The master, without any hesitation, replied "You are right too!!!"
If you think this story is humorous, then that's how funny we are at times. All try to insist that their opinions are right which I believe we really are, based on our own perspective, background and what we view as priorities.
Many have heard of the saying 'seeing is believing'. However, do you know that each person that looks into a mirror see different images depending on where we stand?
To demonstrate our priority can make us feel so right, try answer this question:
"If you have $100,000, will you donate to an orphanage or an old folks home?"
No matter which organization you go for, you are RIGHT. Some argue that the orphans have a better future hence they should donate to orphanage. If that's true, what about letting the old folks have a good end since they have not much time left?
So, which one now? Still orphanage? Still old folks? Go with your priority. That's right. Just remember one thing: If you choose orphanage, don't argue with those who donate to old folks because...
You are right
They are right
I'm also right!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)