Stay true to yourself

Quoted from the Republic of Singapore Navy,

"

"Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship."

Look to the stars, fix your eyes upon your goals and dreams. And let the truths and values by which you live, guide your life.

Though it may be tempting to follow the passing lights of easier paths, stay true to your dreams, and to yourself.

And you'll eventually find yourself in that higher place you set out to be.
"

Harness the power to change your life

Life is always in your control!
Accept what you can't change. Change what you can. 

Life is an adventure

"Consciously and deliberately appreciate the blessings and abundance in your life. 

Breathe deeply, embrace the stillness, and keep your heart open. 

You are exactly who and where and what you are supposed to be. 

Find your treasures." 

~ Creig Crippen

You are in full control of how your life will turn out. Make use of that power. =)

Let love be your message

=)

Your fate is in your own hands

命運是在自己手裡，

不在別人嘴裡。

Your fate is in your own hands, 

Not in someone else's mouth.

~Jimmy Liao

Everyone is living in their own dream, don't let the words of others dictate how you live your life. Choose your own path. =) 

Wisdom and strength is within you

"Promise me you'll always remember: You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think." 

~ A.A. Milne

If you're feeling turbulence in your heart today, don't panic, don't judge yourself.  Remember that there is a source of wisdom and strength within you that you can always tap into, if you are willing to accept it. Don't think so much, just follow your intuition. Follow what your heart is telling you. There is nothing to be afraid of. =)

My wish

For all beings to be alleviated from suffering,
For all to be embraced by love,
For all to recognize that we are all brothers and sisters in this world,
May there be joy and peace in this world.

Namaste.

Mission Blue

Sharing a piece on an inspiring woman fighting for the ocean, a place that is always close to my heart. 
http://blog.ted.com/2014/08/15/mission-blue-chronicles-ocean-champion-sylvia-earle/

And of course, a meaningful excerpt:

"In the end, what are the takeaways from Mission Blue? That following your passion makes for an exciting life; that sometimes you have to go against the grain to make a difference. And finally, that we’re all interconnected on this planet, which means that we all need to be mindful of the consequences of our choices."

=)

Follow your heart [part 2]

My best friend posted this today, 

and soon after I saw this!

I love how little coincidences happen sometimes ^_^

[Book] Buddhist Boot Camp

Recommending this book by Timber Hawkeye, a collection of concise chapters on basic Buddhism (yet secular) principles with 'the intention to awaken, enlighten, enrich and inspire' (and does exactly that). 
He covers the following topics: Mindfulness, Love and relationships, Religion/spirituality, Understanding, Success, Anger, insecurities and fears, and Living in Gratitude.

Every chapter ends with a meaningful quote, of which I will provide some examples:

"I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become. "
~Carl Jung

"If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author, and every day you have the opportunity to write a new page." 
~Mark Houlahan

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly." 

~Richard Bach

"Humility doesn’t mean thinking less of yourself; it means thinking of yourself less." 

~C. S. Lewis
"If you recall the happiest moments in your life, they are all from when you were doing something for somebody else." 
~Desmond Tutu

It is a short and worthwhile read. Perhaps it will change the way you live your life, who knows? =)

A happy life

=)

Who are you?

“The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation. You are not discovering yourself, but creating yourself anew. Seek therefore, not to find out 'Who You Are', but seek to determine 'Who You Want to Be'.”

~ Neale Donald Walsch

Gratitude

"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is “thank you,” it will be enough." 

~Johannes Eckhart

And the funny thing is, the more you thank life for what you have, the more life gives you to be thankful for.

Courage is...

A quote shared by my friend, A! =)

"Courage doesn't always roar. 

Sometimes it's a quiet voice at the end of the day saying, I'll try again tomorrow."

~ Mary Ann Radmacher

Take time to do what makes your soul happy!

Often we're caught up in the daily grind, rushing around. Remember to slow down, reflect and do what makes you happy! Better still, do what you like, or like what you do, then it wouldn't be 'work' anymore =) 

Happiness is...

"All the happiness in the world stems from wanting others to be happy, 

and all the suffering in the world stems from wanting the self to be happy." 

~Shantideva

in other words, love ^_^

What you perceive, you attract

"What you love, you empower.

What you fear, you empower.

What you empower, you attract."

is a famous quote (though source unknown) that describes how your thoughts may attract a particular quality of life.

In this post I will write about my hypothesis regarding the attraction of what one perceives, and how one might be able to change one's reality by changing one's perception.

Let's suppose that the world is comprised of energy interacting with each other. Our brain (for whatever reason it is in existence) converts the energy around us into what we perceive, in order to create an entity separate from other energies, a creation of an individual. This was suggested at by neuroscientist Jill Bolte Taylor at her TED talk about her stroke experience (her left brain perceiving thoughts and solid matter, her right brain perceiving the world as energy). If what we perceive is not real and only created, then our so-called reality can be created by what we perceive. Similarly, as the double-slit experiment with electrons suggest, what is observed depends on the observational device. We only observe what we look for. Hence, we can be the creator of our reality for tuning what we look for. It has been suggested in several spiritual teachings that when we look for abundance and good things, we create abundance and good in our reality. When we think about what we do not possess (ie. focus on lack), we create lack in our reality. 

If indeed the world is comprised of energy, one can rationalize the abovementioned concept with the superposition principle. To give an example, an assumption must first be made, however, about the quality of energy. Let’s assume good thoughts have high vibrational frequencies, and bad thoughts have low vibrational frequencies. The intensity of the thought or emotion is represented by its amplitude. By the superposition principle, there is an additive effect when two waves coincide. A standing wave (resonance) occurs when two coinciding waves are in phase, and have the same frequency and amplitude. When the waves are exactly out of phase, they cancel each other out to zero. Everything else is in between. One can then do a thought experiment and imagine two waves, both of different frequencies, coinciding. The resulting wave comprises of both frequencies, with the higher frequency wave superposed atop the lower frequency wave. The resulting wave then has a larger amplitude than either of the original components, but the base amplitude depends on the lower-frequency wave. Therefore, if you imagine our thought processes to take the form of energy of a particular frequency, then what we attract (or resonate with) depends on our current frequency. If our frequency is low, then we will resonate more with low frequency waveforms. Even if we encounter high frequency waveforms, the higher frequency wave can only be added onto our low frequency, perceived as intermittent sparks of happiness. If our frequency is high, however, then we will resonate more with high frequency waveforms. Even if we encounter low frequency waveforms, it will be only perceived as an undercurrent. 

In resonance, the amplitude (this can be thought of as emotional intensity or intensity of the situation) of the wave doubles. Hence, possessing a high frequency waveform in our thoughts allows us to more intensely experience the same high frequency waveform incident from our experienced environment. In a way, this is somewhat like attraction. Put in other words, we attract what we think. 

The good thing is, since our brain perceives what our reality is, we also have the power of choice over our perception, and change our reality accordingly.

Why worry?

When faced with a challenging situation, why worry? Worrying takes up precious energy that can be better spent at thinking up solutions to the problem. If there isn't a solution at the moment, worrying won't help you find one anyway. So don't worry, and relax! Just do your best. =)

Being in a state of love

In which I write about my second enlightenment.

To be in a state of love, to be a being of love, is to be energetically open. Keeping the heart open, no matter what happens. To be energetically open is to accept anything that you experience, yet to let it pass through you as well. This way, there will be no resistance to life. When you are energetically open, you will gravitate toward situations or people of high vibrational frequencies*, and move away from low frequencies. Even if you cannot move away from the low frequencies, you are stable in your core; the lower energy cannot affect you, it will simply pass though you because you do not let yourself be influenced by it. You are present.

Your ego will resist this process by attempting to take over with the manifestation of the pain-body**, through incessant thoughts and negative emotions. However, if you stay present, and keep your body and energy open, you will be able to observe the pain-body as simply a physical manifestation, and not identify with the thoughts or emotions. You are not your thoughts or emotions. Only then will the pain-body be transmuted into love. Only by acceptance and fully feeling the pain-body can this transmutation take place. Darkness cannot rule over light. 

The important thing to do is to keep the heart open. Love, no matter what happens. Do your best. To love and to be open is to be accepting. That way you will learn to have no expectations. You will release the desire to control others, what they think, how they feel, what the outcome should be. You will trust the universe/fate/God, that what happens is meant to happen; everything happens for a reason. To bring about joy or to teach you, so that you can be guided to a better state of being/consciousness. You trust that the universe has good plans for you, and that things will come at the right time. To be trusting, and to be open, to be love, to be accepting, you see the good in the world. You appreciate and are thankful for everything. Your core purpose is to love. Yes, love, even when it hurts. However, when you open your heart to the pain, the pain will be transmuted into peace. 

When you are energetically open, you will no longer feel the need to love yourself, or to love others, or to be loved***. Because you are open, every statement, every motion is one of love. There are no needs anymore. You are accepting of yourself (loving yourself), accepting of others (loving others), and you don’t need to be accepted (no need to be loved in return). There is no more effort involved. You are open to every experience. Because you know that behind every moment is good intention. You are doing your best. You no longer feed the ego, you no longer have a self to maintain, you no longer have a self to love. You act from a deeper place. You are secure in what you do. You don’t have to judge yourself or anyone. There is nothing to judge. When others judge you, you know that it is not personal. It simply passes through you, you don’t have to succumb to the low energy.

You are unafraid. You emit love, receive love, release the received love as love. Live and let live; love and let love.

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"The most important aspect of love is not in giving or the receiving: it's in the being. When I need love from others, or need to give love to others, I'm caught in an unstable situation. Being love, rather than giving or taking love, is the only thing that provides stability. Being love means seeing the Beloved all around me.

I'm not interested in being a 'lover.' I'm interested in only being love. In our culture we think of love as a relational thing: 'I love you' and 'You are my lover.' But while the ego is built around relationship, the soul is not. It wants only to be love."~ Ram Dass

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*At high vibrational frequencies, you experience joy and peace. Some people recognize this as good, happy, or lucky situations or people. And yes, miracles do come true ^_^
** Taking reference from Eckhart Tolle's use of the word (from "The Power of Now", and "A New Earth"). This describes the part of an individual that usually brings about emotional pain, which usually also takes the form of physical pain. It is the result of past experiences, and attachment to thoughts.
*** Although this is the ultimate goal, one first has to go through the process of learning to love oneself and others. This is not a single-step process and there is no short-cut; one has to learn through moving up the ladder of consciousness. First have a love relationship with yourself, before you realize one day that there is no self to love.

Additional Note:
You don't have to follow every word I say; after all, language is limiting, and my words are only a sign post. However, if you are receptive, you will discover what I mean, and how to implement it, in your own way. Trust in the universe/God, and it/He/She will show you in its/His/Her own way that only by relinquishing control, you gain more control over what you desire.  Yes, life is ironic that way. =) However, always know that you are loved and protected. Just open your senses to the signs. Be thankful, and life will give you more to be thankful for.
Also remember to always be humble. When you get complacent, thinking you've got it all nailed down, life will always find a way to show you otherwise. The lesson will repeat itself until you learn what you are supposed to learn. Love and presence (which is what meditation really is) is a constant practice. 

If interested, you can read about my first enlightenment here.