HOLD ON

HOLD ON
A Pueblo Indian Prayer


Hold on to what is good,
Even if it's only a handful of earth.

Hold on to what you believe,
Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.

Hold on to what you must do,
Even if it's a long way from here.

Hold on to your life,
Even if it's easier to let go.

Hold on to my hand,
Even if someday I'll be gone and away from you.

Hold on ...
Because it's the only way anything worthwhile may be attained.

SWIM OUT TO YOUR SHIP

SWIM OUT TO YOUR SHIP

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Some people complain that opportunity never comes their way; or, when it does, it comes too late. The timing is always wrong. They look at people who make it, people who succeed, and put it down to luck. Or they ascribe it to the intervention of some divine source who practices favouritism.

Having drawn that conclusion, what do they do? They sit tight on their behinds and commiserate with their fate. And while they're frittering away precious moments in this useless manner, their ship comes in and goes back out to sea again without their even being aware of it. Which is to say, opportunities come and go for them and they remain blissfully ignorant.

Opportunity is nothing more than a favourable circumstance for you to achieve something. It's not always recognisable. Sometimes it plants itself right before you and you're not even aware of its presence. You have to learn how to recognise it so that you detect it as soon as it appears on your horizon. And you have to grab it without delay or hesitation. Opportunity is extremely volatile. It's like a bird that perches itself on a branch for a very brief moment. Even as you watch, it flies away, sometimes never to return.

An opportunity that allows you to attain or achieve something worthwhile is like a ship that sails into port, carrying merchandise specially for you. Sometimes that vessel calls frequently, and if you take the trouble to unload its cargo, your life is enriched.

But sometimes that ship does not come in. Opportunity seems to stay aloof from you, a stranger who does not wish to make your acquaintance. When this seems to be the case, there is only one thing you can do about the situation. You have to go out and look for what you want. You have to swim out to your ship.

Opportunties are everywhere. They take many forms because life is infinite variety. If you cannot find the type you're looking for, it could be due to any number of reasons. Perhaps you're looking in the wrong places or approaching the wrong people. Perhaps you're not going about it the right way. Whatever the reason, keep on looking.

Sometimes something quite different from what you anticipate comes your way. Consider the alternative that presents itself. Perhaps it might work better for you than what you've been searching for.

At other times you have to create that opportunity which will not come to you. Consider your situation, take stock of what you have, and put on your thinking cap. Ask around if you have to. You'll come out with a formula that works for you.

Opportunity has a strange habit of coming halfway to meet you when you go in quest of it. The harder you search for it, the closer it draws towards you. It's like a fair maiden who likes to be courted. If you display guts and determination, she's impressed. Opportunity and that fair maiden have one thing in common. Faint hearts never win them.

So stop waiting for your ship to come in. You might have to wait forever! Swim out to meet it -- against the tide, if you have to!

LADY LUCK AND DAME FORTUNE

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Lady Luck and Dame Fortune are very unreliable females. Their claim to fame lies in being totally unpredictable. If you have a habit of constantly depending on them, you had better change that habit.

Why are some lucky, and some not? If we knew the answer to that, all of us would be rolling in clover. It's the kind of question frequently asked by those who deem themselves "unlucky". Those who constantly hope Lady Luck and Dame Fortune will smile on them and change their circumstances for the better.

If you're one of them, here's a piece of news for you. Lady Luck and her sister are very perverse females. They show the least interest in those who pursue them the hardest. Which is to say, the more you depend on luck, the less likely luck will knock on your door.

It's also said that when Dame Fortune drops in on a fool, she seldom stays for dinner. That's a facetious way of saying that if you don't know how to properly utilise good fortune when it comes your way, your luck will soon run out and you'll be left as you were.

Always banging on luck in being impractical. It's good to be optimistic and hope for the best, but you should always conduct your affairs in such a manner that you're prepared for anything that comes your way.

If things aren't going well for you, chances are you are at fault and luck has nothing to do with it. Of course there's no denying that many successful people are what they are because they happen to be in the right place at the right time. But is not possible that maybe, just maybe, they decide where they want to to be and fix the most opportune time to be there?

Look at luck with different eyes. Tell yourself you're lucky, however little you may think you have. There's always someone somewhere who has less. Again we fall back on the method of feeling grateful to stifle the complaints against luck, fate and chance.

In any event, you're lucky to be still alive. Every breath you take gives you an opportunity to re-shuflle your thinking process and take another step towards where you want to go. If you have that much mettle and that much backbone, you're creating a condition that just might induce Lady Luck and Dame Fortune to pay you a visit. Good luck to you.

YOU MAKE IT HAPPEN

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

You make things happen in your life. They don't just happen by chance, or fluke, or a perversity of fate. You bring them about. By your thoughts.

The brain constantly creates energy. This energy is what gives you and the world you perceive, existence. The minute the flow of this energy stops, your existence also stops. So does the material world, as far as you are concerned. That's why a man is only certified dead when he's pronounced brain-dead.

When your thought focuses on something, their frequency and intensity sends forth the energy that brings about its manifestation. There is no line to divide good and bad, right and wrong. It is like turning on a hose. Whether the water that gushes forth is used to water the plants or flood the living-room is something that lies in the hands of the person holding the hose. Which is to say, you create what YOU want in your life when you use the power of thought.

You'll probably argue that you don't deliberately will nasty accidents or unpleasant events to happen in your life. You don't, not consciously. But, without knowing it, you do it another way.

You focus on the result of what adversity brings. You dwell on grief, disappointment, pain, worry, anger and a whole host of other things nobody wants in his life. When you generate these emotions, you lay the foundation for the physical phenomena that will result in them. The more frequently and intensely you entertain these feelings, the faster you bring about that occurrence you do not want. Whatever happens to you is but the culmination of your efforts in paving the way for it to happen.

Lay a different kind of foundation. Build yourself a home of joy, not a house of pain. Watch your negative thoughts. It's extremely difficult, if not well-nigh impossible, to keep track of every single thought that goes on in your head. You can't cross the Atlantic by swimming. You need a ship. Your feelings are your ship. Lift them up and they'll provide the right kind of soil for the seeds of your thoughts to grow in.

There are countless ways in which you can give yourself an emotional lilt. Sing a song, recite positive affirmations, be optimistic, pray, think of someone you love or something you really enjoy doing. Philosophise if you have that bent. Whatever you do, control your moods. You may not find it easy at first. Persist. Insist. Don't let circumstances or your environment dictate how you should feel. You're the charioteer. Hold those reigns and decide where that vehicle should go.

Brighten your moods and the corresponding thoughts will follow. Then see how the pattern of your life changes. And you'll know that you're using your mental energy the way it's meant to be used.

GIVING WHAT IS DUE

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Are you one of those people who find it very difficult, almost impossible, to praise another? If you are, you're not alone. Neither do you belong to the very few. If you use your eyes and your ears, you'll know that a good many people have this drawback.

When you see someone do something which is praiseworthy or commendable, don't be a miser with your praise. Be that person your child, you student, your employee or that subordinate -- or anyone else for that matter -- don't be relucant to show your approbation.

A word of praise is an acknowledgment of another's skill or ability. It is also a very powerful encourgement and goes a long way towards motivating him to do even better. Reflect on how you yourself feel when another tenders you sincere praise.

If you incapable or extremely relucant to utter that word of praise or pay that compliment, you have to look within yourself and ask yourself why you are so.

An employer might imagine praise breeds self-satisfaction in his staff and encourages them to slack in their efforts. He couldn't be more wrong. That pat on the back will spur them to greater efforts and achieve more excellence.

A mother may feel praise will spoil her child by making him feel smug. She too is dead wrong. It will instead provide her child incentive to obtain more approval from her in future.

If you too have these misconceptions you simply have to rid yourself of them. Motivational writers like Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale stressed the importance of demonstrating one's appreciation, approval and admiration to those who deserve them. Observe it in yourself. Would you go out of your way to disillusion a person who has just expressed his high estimation of you?

There might be another very unattractive reason why you dislike rendering praise to another. Deep down you just might be jealous of the other person's ability or skill or talent. You probably feel threatened and insecure. That might explain why you refuse to acknowledge his superiority to you in a particular aspect or field.

If such is the case, you owe it to yourself to outgrow this smallness of self. If a person is better than you in a certain respect, no amount of denial on your part is going to change that. Acknowledge that fact, be glad for that person and tell him so. When you are capable of doing this, you can give yourself a pat on the back because you too are deserving of praise.

TURN ON THE MAGIC

 

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Amidst the stress and hassle of everyday living, you often feel as if you need to take a long vacation to help you unwind. Unfortunately, sometimes you are unable to do that because of financial contraints or a myriad other reasons.

A vacation is only a temporary relief -- or reprieve -- however long it lasts. When it is over, you still have to return to the toil and moil in the pursuit of your livelihood or the fulfilment of your duties.

What you may not know is that, amidst the fog and smog of frenzied living, you can tune in to a channel which is like a breath of fresh air. It is a part of your mind which is capable of easing and soothing you and keeping you sane and balanced.

Just learn how to pick out sounds and convert them into music in your mind. What sounds? Sounds your ears hear everyday but which you never pay any attention to. A baby's gurgling, a mother calling out to her child, someone greeting another, someone using the word "please", another saying "thanks", the wind blowing over your head, a bird chirping, the clattering of crockery while the dishes are being washed, your father singing off-key under the shower, your husband snoring on his side of the bed -- the list goes on ad infinitum.

To convert those sounds into music, all you have to do is open that valve in your mind which lets magic flood your being. Tell yourself life is beautiful, despite everything that happens. Tell yourself no one's perfect, but everyone's special in his own way. Let a lilting ditty run through your head, even if it's only "Jingle Bells". Hum under your breath.

Sprinkle your life with stardust. Once in a while recall the happy times of your childhod. See lovers strolling hand-in-hand and remember that love is as perennial as the grass. Send out your good wishes to the world. Just say, "I wish all beings well" -- and MEAN IT!

Don't laugh and don't be cynical. Do it and see your world turn into a fairyland even without Disney's assistance.

SHED THAT LOAD

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Two monks, one with seniority and the other a novice, were about to wade across a stream when a pretty young damsel called out to them. She, too, wished to cross the stream but she didn't want to get her shoes and skirt wet. Shyly, she asked if one of them would carry her across.

The senior monk instantly bent down and asked her to climb on his back. The novice monk was aghast. Monks of their order, being celibate, weren't supposed to deliberately make physical contact with a woman. How could the other, despite his seniority, disregard that injunction and lift that girl on his back in that unseemly manner?

When they reached the opposite bank, the senior monk put the girl down and she went off after thanking him. The two monks then continued on their way in silence for the next hour or so.

All the while the novice monk continued to seethe with indignation at what his senior had done. Finally, he was unable to keep his feelings bottled up any longer.

Turning to his companion, he demanded, "Brother, how could you bring yourself to do what you just did? It's against the rules of our order! You should NOT have let that girl ride on your back! Didn't you feel her body press up against yours?"

The senior monk looked at his junior in surprise. "But I let her down more than an hour ago," he said, "and I've not given it another thought! Are YOU still carrying her in your mind?"

Sometimes when we pass judgment on another and voice our disapproval, we have to take a good look at ourselves. We have to examine our innermost feelings and ask ourselves in all honesty one important question. Deep down inside, are we that faultless after all? Are our motivations, and our intentions, that pure?

Being perfectly honest with ourselves is not easy. We are always so full of excuses for our own shortcomings and so ready to condemn those we see in others. If we're like that novice monk, we have a load to unburden. And it's not someone on our back. It's an even greater load deep within us that retards our growth as humans.