Time for myself

hmmm.... Time for myself. Recently, mel have been preaching to me about spending some time with your inner self. HUH? i have been spending a lot of time with myself, especially on the go while on the bus and walking, i am constantly reflecting. However, today, i manage to set aside some time to do some reflection, alone in the corner of the room. it is only then i realise the importance of spending time with yourself, not doing anything but resting your mind. This allows me to refocus on my goals and reflect upon the past few events. Few things that i reflected upon:

1) i will need to be selective of my clinches now. My scouter always say, "when you were young, it seems like your social circle grows every year, however, when you gets older, your social circle becomes smaller." I began to understand the wisdom in his words. No point been a phantom in the group and hope to drift from groups to groups. Commitment. Without that, you belongs no where although you may seems to be everywhere.

2) Full of programmes = a more fulfilling life? Begin to question this equation. Used to think that i should do as much as i can during this holidays to make it a more fulfilling one. However, I have begun to burn out and start to feel the fatigue as a consequence of jam packing my holidays. need to review my programs for the month of July and August.

On a side note, realised that i actually enjoyed art and craft. Did 3 projects during this holidays.
2 of which are as shown below. Last one to be revealed soon. =)

Samurai: OG Mascot for NUS SPorts Camp

Something for the outgoing ventures.

Photos for NUS Sports Pre Camp!!

2 books

Managed to finish 2 books recently: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom and Pour your heart into it: the starbucks story by Howard Schultz. Both books are inspirational in their own right and I will recommend both of them to you guys. Both books narrate about their journey: his journey during the twilights of his years and his journey to success as an entrepreneur respectively. Will like to write about my reflections on the former.

Tuesdays with Morrie:
Few passages I quoted from the book:

1) Yes, I said, but if ageing were so valuable, why do people always say, “oh, if I were young again.” you never hear people say, “I wish I were sixty- five.”
He smiled, “You know what that reflects? Unsatisfactory lives. Unfulfilled lives. Lives that haven’t found meaning, because if you’ve found meaning in your life, you don’t want to go back.

This is so true. How many of us really live our lives to the fullest. How do we define a satisfactory and fulfilled life? Adding war trophies to the rack? Getting many certificates? Getting a lot of recognition? Can all these goes into the grave with us? Will we be remembered after we have passed on.


2) “The truth is, you don’t get satisfaction from those things. You know what really gives you satisfaction?”
What?
“Offering others what you have to give.”
“You sound like a Boy Scout.”

Beginning to read Rovering to Success by BP too. Coincidentally, they focus on one central theme: Happiness derived from helping others. It is the joy of helping people that will make one’s life complete. So what do I benefit from helping people? What sorts of returns do I get? Sadly, if you are looking for material things, I guess you will not find it here for helping people, voluntarily. For me, the reward is seeing all these young men and women growing up to be useful citizens and living a fulfilled life. And the satisfaction derives from this is what I can bring with me into my grave. The legacy that I created will live on, even if I have passed on.


3) “Why do you think that it’s so important for me to hear other people’s problems? Don’t I have enough pain and suffering of my one?
“Of course I do. But giving to other people is what makes me feel alive. Not my car or my house. Not what I look like in the mirror. When I have my time, when I can make someone smile after they were feeling sad, it’s as close as healthy as I ever feel.

Words of a dying man suffering from ALS. He was losing controls of his body parts and eventually when the lungs stop to function, he will die. But still, Morrie was still helping others with their problems. Why then me, a healthy person, do as much? Look at the following picture. How do you feel after viewing it? What if you are the one to create this image =)


4) “Still,” he said, “there are a few rules I know to be true about love and marriage: if you don’t respect the other person, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. If you don’t know how to compromise, you’re gonna have a lot trouble. If you can’t talk openly about what goes on between you, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. And if you don’t have a common set of values in life, you’re gonna have a lot of trouble. Your values must be alike.
“And the biggest one of those is values, Mitch?”
Yes?
“Your belief in the importance of your marriage.”
. . . . .
He ended the subject by quoting the poem be believed in like a prayer.”LOVE EACH OTHER OR PERISH.”

I agree with him absolutely. Below is the person that I will want to marry and care for the rest of my life. Have you found yours yet? Something that I have discovered is LOVE is not the euphoric feeling you have when you feel for someone for the first time. It is the lasting feeling of excitement of seeing each other even after 8 years into the relationship. It is when you help each other to achieve each other’s dreams will then come the LOVE. And this love do not confine to you and your spouse but also to those around you. That includes your families and friends as well.

Just want to end off this reflection of mine: to derive life’s greatest happiness, help others!

Disclaimer: these are my views and if it conflict yours, read it for pleasure sake then =)

Laptop's up

Finally, my laptop is up. Being away from it for the past three weeks was a terrible experience. Many interesting events to blog about but unable to do so due to technical glitches.

Events for the past 3-4 weeks:

Thai Trip
it was an eye opener trip for me. Get to coach alongside with professionals from around the region. Learnt a lot from them.

Group Camp - OHANA
6 months of hard work finally pays off. Some good and bad comments about the camp. Nevertheless, if we want to attempt to do something different, we will invite those naysayers as we put our heads on the chopping board to digress from the norm. Thus not really bothered by the negative comments. Well done ventures and rovers for making the camp a success.

LIVE! OPS (YISS)
was sick but managed to pull it through. Good partnership with Ain, who happens to be yelian’s friend too!

Pre Sports Camp (NUS)
managed to get out of my comfort zone to mingle with the rest of the people on the second day. it was like a total change in personality between the first and second day. The OGLs are really a fun bunch of people and hope to facilitate with them soon.

DVLC (click here for photos)
it was a great experience. The HCI ventures’ initiative and enthusiasm really amazed me. I believed it inspired the dragon ventures too. It was a truly good learning experience for us.

Community Service at LCSS
Thanks Xue er and Raine for organizing this community service. It was my first time working with kids and they are really a bunch of lovely kids to play with despite the fact that they can drive you nuts at times.

Yalos Chalet
am not very close to the yalo’s crew but this chalet enables me to forge a closer friendship with many of them. Although we know each other since secondary school, this is the first time that I have decided that they will be part of my life for they are part of mel’s. Thus will take effort in developing these friendships.

Venture Chalet
I will hope that the venture unit will resemble that of TSB, where relationships just do not stay within scouting context. Will like to get to know the ventures better and the chalet did just that.

Kayaking Courses (junior Power/ 1 star)
it felt so good to coach with an old friend once again. The kind of mo qi you developed over the years really makes the coaching session an enjoyable and fulfilling one.

that's basically what i did for the past one month. Too much things to write if were to blog everything down. Thus decided to summarise and move on to blog about more recent events.