MEET YOUR MENTOR

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

The world is a classroom and life an education. You paid your entrance fee the moment you emerged from the womb and you're here whether you like it or not. You're going to pass out from this classroom like each and every other student, no matter how you perform in your studies.

Whether you get good grades or not is a matter that's entirely in your hands. You decide. If you graduate from this class, you walk out with your head held high, knowing you've made yourself a role-model for future students to emulate.

If you flop, you still leave -- but with a bitter taste in your mouth. You'll know you've not only failed your exams, you've also failed yourself. And you'll wonder what was the point in attending the class in the first place when you have nothing to show for it.

While you're here in this classroom, you have the best of all teachers to instruct you in the art of living. His name is Experience. In the teaching profession, he's the best around. If you can't learn from him, you're totally incapable of learning. It's pointless trying to look for another instructor.

Your teacher is often harsh. His mode of punishment frequently involves a lot of pain. That's understandable because the course you've enrolled for is no piece of cake. Your teacher really has no choice but to teach you the hard way.

While you're here in this class, the best thing you can do for yourself is to learn everything your mentor has to teach you. That way you'll not only derive the highest benefits from the course you're taking. You'll also save yourself a lot of unnecessary grief as long as you remain in this classroom.

UNLOCKING THE DOOR

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

If you're very sick and in great pain, the best thing you can do for yourself is to imagine you're perfectly well and in tip-top condition. This may seem ridiculous at first glance. How can one imagine such a thing? The pain is very real and you're suffering it now.

You can and you must imagine you are healthy. At such times you need such mental conditioning. Do you think dwelling on your sickness and the pain will do any good? You'll only let them dominate your mind to the exclusion of everything else.

The real healing is generated inside your head. Your brain sends the command to effect a change and your body obeys. That's the principle along which a placebo works. A placebo is something harmless with neutral properties. When you take it, believing it is an effective solution to your problem, you send a message to your brain along the same lines. Your mind goes about its work directing the appropriate bodily response and the cure is brought about.

There are countless examples of how our minds control our bodily functions. We shed tears when we are emotionally overwrought, we salivate if we dwell on food under certain conditions, and we sweat when we experience intense fear.

Think of fire-walking. It appears to be a physical impossibility, yet it's done. If the mind says yea, Nature herself won't say nay. There countless other examples of the power the mind wields over the body, but you shouldn't need any more convincing.

If you are ill, tell yourself you are well. Say it out loud if you want to. Don't say you are going to get well. If you propel a thought into the future, no matter how near, it will keep on going forward. What you wish for will always stay one step ahead, in the future, and will never come about.

Use every ounce of your imagination in visualising yourself in perfect condition. FEEL strong and healthy. BE happy. Don't let doubt or any negative thought creep into your mind. If it does, push it out, gently but firmly. Unlock your mental door to your own healing. If countless others have done it in the past and are doing it now, YOU can do it too.

POSSIBLE HORIZONS

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Helen Keller, American author and humanitarian, was born blind, deaf and dumb. As a child she had the good fortune to have for a governess Anne Sullivan, a remarkable young woman who chose to see possibilities instead of limitations.

Using the sense of touch alone, Anne Sullivan taught Helen Keller how to read and write. More than that, she showed her protege how to come to terms with life and make the best of whatever assets the latter possessed. Helen Keller grew up to be an outstanding human being who was a source of inspiration and encouragement to thousands.

Let's now look at ourselves. We may have our own set of handicaps and disadvantages. Life may not have been as kind to some of us as it has been to others. But let's ask ourselves an honest question and try to provide an equally honest answer. Has the going ever been as tough for any of us as it was for Helen Keller?

Let's survey the landscape of our lives. The horizon seems so very far away and we wonder if it can ever be reached. As we ponder, let's recall Helen Keller. She never posed herself that question. She merely plodded on until she reached her destination.

KEEPING UP ILLUSIONS

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Is it important to you to keep up with the Joneses? Do you always try to keep pace with your contemporaries by acquiring all the things they have? Are you obsessed with upgrading your lifestyle so that it is at par with theirs?

If your answer is "yes" to all those questions, you're being unjust to yourself. How so? Because you're probably making a good many sacrifices you don't have to. You're putting yourself to unnecessary expense and wasting your time and effort trying to achieve something which is of no consequence at all.

You have to remind yourself that how the Joneses live their lives is really no concern of yours. When you acquire something for yourself, it should be because you really want or need it. Not because you feel you MUST have it to create a suitable impression.

And while you're trying to hold your own in this spirit of competition, does it ever occur to you the Joneses may have problems with which you're not burdened? For all you know, they may be wishing they were in YOUR shoes. Externals tell very little. That's why comparing and competing are exercises in futility.

You have no reason at all to try to "keep up" with anybody. You don't have to prove anything to anyone. Just live your life and enjoy what you have. That way you'll be really fair to yourself and to those who depend on you.

THE WELL OF LONELINESS

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

If you constantly feel lonely, you have to take stock of what's going on in your head. Loneliness, like any other emotion, is a frame of mind, nothing more. You cannot feel lonely unless you convince yourself you are so.

Being alone and feeling lonely are two different experiences. You can be all by yourself and not feel lonely. On the other hand, you can be in the company of people you know and still suffer the pangs of loneliness. It all depends on the messages you are feeding yourself.

More often than not, loneliness springs from boredom and idleness. There's no cure more effective than activity. Find something to occupy BOTH your hands and your mind.

Negative thinking, which in turn leads to self-pity, is another source from which loneliness springs. This frame of mind is insidious and you have to guard against it. If left to fester too long, it can turn into manic depression, which robs you of logical thought and self-control.

To offset your dejection, try counting your blessings. Don't say you've nothing to be grateful for. Consider yourself fortunate to be able to read. Millions can't. Some can't even see!

Do this simple exercise and see the amazing results it brings. Write down all the things you have. Start with being alive. Next, note down the exact time you had your last full meal. It wasn't several days ago, was it? Keep on extending your list. After writing down each item, ask yourself whether EVERYONE in the world possesses that same thing. I think you get the idea.

The loneliness you feel is like water you draw from a well. The water is brackish and unfit for drinking. Unfortunately, it's from the well you yourself have dug. Fill up that well before thirst prompts you to drop your bucket into it again. Go and look for that spring of fresh, clear water that will truly quench your thirst.

Loneliness and desponency are not formidable demons. You gave them form and substance. You can snuff out their existence anytime you want to. Do it and lead the fuller and happier life you're meant to.

THE SIXTH HAPPINESS

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Way back in the fifties, Hollywood released a very entertaining and enlightening movie entitled "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness". Its story is based on the biography of Gladys Aylward, a Christian missionary who held the rare and noble conviction that we are all accountable for one another.

When she arrived in China as a young girl, Gladys Aylward worked in an inn which catered to muleteers. The establishment bore a very unusual name. It was known as the Inn of the Sixth Happiness.

Gladys was told the Chinese wished everyone the five joys -- wealth, longevity, good health, virtue and a peaceful death in old age. When she asked what the sixth happiness was, the answer puzzled her. It was not something she expected to hear. It was not even an answer at all but a statement. Each one had to decide for himself what the sixth happiness meant to him.

You have to ask yourself the same thing too. The world you live in is that Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Like an inn, it is but a temporary abode. During your brief sojourn here, what is the greatest prize you seek, apart from the first five blessings?

Let's put it this way -- if you were granted only one wish, what would it be? Think well before you give your answer. It will tell you what values and standards you place upon yourself. And it will give you an insight into the person within you -- the REAL you.

 

THE FINGER THAT POINTS

Article by

KAYSOON KHOO

Do you ever notice that when we point with the forefinger, the other three point right back at us? It tells us something. It reminds us we shouldn't be too eager to point the accusatory finger at another.

We all tend to pass judgement on someone else at one time or another. We draw a conclusion and arrive at a vedict. We base our estimation of the other party on the conclusion we have arrived at. Sometimes (and this really awful) we don't even verify the facts but merely form an opinion through hearsay.

Perhaps what we should do the next time we tend to play judge is ask ourselves whether it's any of our business what kind of person the other party is. Are we accountable for him in any way? If not, why are we so busy trying to evaluate his character, morals and ethics? It's nothing but a waste of our mental effort, which may be put to better use --  like making an honest asessment of OURSELVES and putting to rights anything which does not conform to our own high standards.

We should remind ourselves that we too may be judged. Those with religious convictions should remember there's a Higher Judge whose decision is never biased. In any event, let's all just bear in mind that when it comes to delivering judgment, there's always a court of law to perform that function. We really shouldn't bother!