1/02/2015

TODAY is The First Day of the Rest of Your Life.


Do Things Differently in 2015.

“Insanity is when you continue to do things the same way and hope for a different set of outcome or results.” - Albert Einstein

The season for new Resolutions has come again.  Never mind that countless earlier ones over the years were not executed or successful.  We just love New Year Resolutions, as if their main object did not lie in fulfilling them but to fail in them.  Like promises, some were kept, while most others must fail or be broken.  Seriously, we want to CHANGE, but HOW?

WHY DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE?
For many reasons, obviously.  Mostly from a deep dissatisfaction of the status quo. You do not like your appearance; your career sucks; your boss is not sensitive or understanding; your lack of progress in relationships; have no close friends; no boyfriends or girlfriends; cannot afford that dream car or dream house or dream gadgets; cannot have what other people have; unhappy most times; unloved rest of the time; no one to love all the time; loneliness; depressed; want more of anything; want less of others; don’t like being sick or weak or medicated; having to depend on the unwilling; trapped in an unhappy marriage; stuck in an unhappy home; abused; beaten; hungry; cold; poverty; wars; diseases …. An endless list.

For most people, the reasons for change are more mundane and personal. You want to look better, more desirable and more beautiful. Modern marketing of personal and life-style products makes you feel too fat, or too thin, or too tall, or too short, or facial features non-symmetrical; eyebrows too natural, eyes not at same level, nose not in the middle of your face, your ears unbalanced, one foot bigger than than the other, one leg longer, another arm too short, one hand bigger, mouth not aligned with face, unshapely body, breasts too high or too big or too small or too ‘different’ or not enticing enough … well, look at Nature where beauty emerged and flourished in diversity, differences and NOT symmetry or same-ness.       

Remember you were born an Original, why strive to live like an Imitation?

Yes, Becoming Yourself is to be Different already.  Self-esteem is the best defense against the encroaching forces to make you an imitation of what other people want you to become. 

Truth is, the dissatisfaction with oneself has little and nothing to do with one’s appearance.  It lies in our desire to be loved and to have a lover.  The journey through life is essentially a journey of love.  It is a journey along visible milestones of errors as one struggle to escape the end of otherwise meaningless existence.  One quickly discovers that paradox, ambiguity, chaos, absence and silence as central to the human condition.  

Many lapse conveniently into the comfortable understanding of the human condition as one where we are all in a perpetually suspended state of incompleteness, in an endless search of that elusive Happiness.   The urge for “more” and “better” becomes quickly the justification for the pursuit of selfishness, thinly disguised as the noble accumulation of material wealth and prosperity, in the hope of locating the happiness which satisfies the ultimate true meaning and purpose of life’s existence.  Sadly, but expectantly, “more” and “better” can never deliver the promised Happiness. The pursuit for life’s purpose hence degenerates into itself as the end.

In 2015, Resolve to Do Things Differently – Unlearn, Relearn and Learn to Discover Love and True Happiness.
This begins with a mental transformation to complete the awesome task of becoming your own realization.  Stop occupying space and wasting oxygen, but be the change you want the world around you to become.  Seek only the approval and encouragement of loved ones.  Other people’s opinions do not matter, seriously.  Open an inner Dialogue with yourself and affirm your individual uniqueness and significance.  You also have to acquire the habits to unlearn, relearn and learn – which are the the skills-set of learning agility.

Yes, flexibility and adaptability are the personal tools to engage the human conditions of paradox, ambiguity, chaos, absence and silence.  Affirming yourself strengthens your self-esteem and facilitates the building of close and intimate relationships with those around you.  Self-esteem empowers you to nurture and develop in others a greater capacity for love and for you to receive their love in turn.  When we are at our best self, we readily share without fear or limit to bring out the best in others as well.  Invariably, we also discover and rediscover Happiness at the end of such sharing of ourselves.

Go forth to Love and Share, to Discover Yourself and the Secret of True Happiness. The Secret of True Happiness lies in the creation of Happiness in the Life of Others 

Kopi Level - Green

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year RB. Its hard to read your post on the first day of work. Too cheam for morning reading. Need more coffee to get the brain working.

Chua Chin Leng蔡镇龍 aka redbean said...

Good morning and Happy New Year to you and all.

This post is by Assoc Prof Michael Heng. So needs to tune to a higher frequency: )

Mikospace said...

OMG, my friends of RB!
Let's resolve to be UNHAPPY with just common ground in 2015;
Let's aim for HIGHER GROUND, man!
I remember my Platoon SGT's "advice" on Day One at Tekong back in 1974: he said "I am NOT here to make you Happy; You wanna be Happy, Go MAKE YOURSELF Happy!". My First and Best Lesson from the SAF! Be Happy and go spread some around ...

Anonymous said...

"The Secret of True Happiness lies in the creation of Happiness in the Life of Others."

I think that is only so by coincidence or chance lah.

Because nobody will aim just to create happiness in the life of others only, tio bo?

If others are also happy, good lah. If not happy, doesn't matter lah, as long as they don't affect or threaten my own happiness, which will always come first, 2nd and 3rd.

Anonymous said...

"If not happy, doesn't matter lah, as long as they don't affect or threaten my own happiness,..."
Anon 10:26 am

So if the "not ready to be govt" Sinkie opposition is no threat to PAP, then daft Sinkies not happy doesn't matter to PAP lah, tio bo?

Goh said...

//Remember you were born an Original, why strive to live like an Imitation//

I always ask my mei mei why call herself Michelle Heng when her original name Heng Sxx Cxx sounds meaning and better.
End up seperated.
Happy 2015 to all.

Goh said...

Sorry.should be' sounds meaningful and better.
End up separated. '

b said...

What is happiness? Guess it means different things to different people.