Skyline

It was a pretty sunny Saturday in Sukabumi today. After days of rain, and hovering clouds. Pretty nice to enjoy such weather today. Besides a sunny day can also mean that my flowers will start blooming! Because thanks to the rain, the amount of flowers blooming has decreased a lot. So... Yes. Thank you weather. I hope you can continue being sunny for the next couple of days! That'd be lovely.

Anyway I was driving around my sunny hometown today with my sister and I kinda realised how much my hometown has changed. New buildings popped out. New shops closed, and new shops opened. Although it was pretty sad too, to find out that one of the shops I used to patronise a lot after school has closed down. Not sure why - but I heard that since the openings of a lot of minimart (we have Alfamart and Indomart here, no 7-11 in my hometown), people like to go there instead of these shops. 

It's quite sad really. Although yes, the openings of these minimarts have helped to improve our convenience. It saves our time because we don't have to make a trip down to the supermarket to get something (say a battery, or a drink etc). And these minimarts are sprawled across the city. Pretty convenient right. But I still do believe in supporting the local business. For me, whichever is most convenient, I'll go to it. Like today, the nearest shop I can find is one of those "traditional" shops. So I'll go there of course. I do hope that the sights of these shops won't disappear forever.

Anyway, it's the end of May now. Time to share the awesome music I discovered this month!

Great Music of May:

- Runaway by Aurora

- Hold My Hand by Jess Glynne

- Nothing Hurts Like This by Slo

- The Brae by Yumi Zouma

- Catastrophe by Yumi Zouma

- Pulang by Float

- Boheme by Deep Forest

- Foolish Hunger by wyd:syd

- Yesterlove by wyd:syd

- 90210 by Blackbear feat G-Easy

- Neon Love by Walla

- The Best of Us by Kid Astray

- Golden by Szymon

Song of the month: Runaway by Aurora

May is another awesome month of music discovery! So many awesome music discovered! Lets start with Aurora. I discovered Aurora from I think... Morrindie Facebook page. Her song "Runaway" was on their page and I clicked on it. Wow, she is such a young talent from Norway and she will definitely make it far! Her EP just got released this month and I'm totally loving it. At such a young age, she has a wonderful voice and her songs are definitely beautifully written. Runaway is my favourite.

I discovered Jess Glynee at V Channel once again hah. Her song "Hold My Hand" was playing and I just love the rhythm and feel-good vibes of this song. As for Slo, I discovered her song from Majestic Casual channel in Youtube. Another beautiful song, but well as the title suggests it's a sad song to be honest. But it's so beautiful, it hurts. Get what I mean?

I discovered Yumi Zouma from Morindie channel as well. Their song "Song for Zoey And Gwen" was on that channel and I love the feel of their songs! I'm not sure if they belong to dream pop or just indie pop. Love the "airiness" and the lightness of their songs. Remind of of a great summer evening after a great summer day. Great songs for roadtrips heh. The Brae is my favourite though! 

wyd:syd is an awesome band from Singapore. One of their videos "Foolish Hunger" was on my suggestion page in Youtube and I clicked on it. I didn't know they're from Singapore until I checked their Facebook page. I discovered the song 90210 from Soundcloud while I was streaming it on my laptop. I love the feel of the song once again. I rarely listen to RnB (if that's considered RnB) but this is exceptionally good. Maybe I should give more RnB a try hah.

I discovered a new Youtube Channel called IndieAir and they shared a lot of awesome Indie songs! Some of them include 101 by Walla and Diver by Kid Astray. Kid Astray is an awesome Indie pop band from Norway. I can't wait for their album to be released (with Diver in it!). Walla is another Indie pop band too. I love their song 101. Such a feel-good song to listen to! As for Golden by Szymon, I discovered this song from Morindie as well. An awesome, subtle Indie pop song.

Discovering music has sort of helped me to "shape" my liking for music. Although to be honest my general rule for music is that it sounds great, I love the feel of the song, and it's best if the song can form an emotional attachment to myself. Lots of people have asked me what kind of music I like to listen to. Well go and listen to Yumi Zouma and Szymon. For Indie music, this is the kind of song I love. But like I said I love a wide range of music. I don't want to limit my liking to a particular genre only. But I totally don't like rap, techno, trap, metal and music that are too loud or "rowdy" hah.

Alright that's all for now! It's the end of May already. Five months have passed us. FIVE Months! Can you believe it. June is going to be an awesome month because... A lot of my favourite artists are releasing their new albums! And Soak is going to release her first! Such an exciting month haha. Alright hope you guys had a Marvelous May! Here's to a Jubilant June people! :)

Paradigm

I came across with this word back in Sec 4. I can still remember it was in my English Prelim paper for comprehension, under the vocabulary component. We were asked to define paradigm in less than seven words and I really didn't know the meaning. If I'm not wrong I wrote it as thought, or lesson. Or did I even leave this question blank? I forgot. But yes, it's a powerful word indeed.

Paradigm is defined as mindset. Or the way we think about a particular topic or matter. The second time I came across this word is in one of Stephen Covey's book about the 7 habits of highly effective people, under the title "Paradigm shift". Which is a change in mindset. I think paradigm is a powerful word. It somehow shapes our thoughts, our way of thinking, and eventually our character.

Today I came across a thought - how a simple change in mindset about a particular matter can change the situation we are facing differently - for better or for worst. And hence I came up with this line:

"The distance between heaven and hell, is a mindset"

I am inspired by a Buddhist saying that we are the creators our of our own heaven and hell. And that heaven and hell is actually in our mind. Which is kinda true. I think we depict heaven as a beautiful paradise where everything is full of wonders and just simply nice. And hell as a horrible place to be where we suffer endlessly. Well I think heaven and hell is simply as a mental state that we face after we do something. And yes, it can be either a beautiful or horrible state to be in.

Say we did something bad to other people - we feel bad right? This is our "hell". The guilt, anger and hatred we face and we create, is basically the hell we enter. And if we do something good to other people, we feel awesome and nice! This is our "heaven". So it's true when they say you'll go to hell if you do bad things and heaven if you do good ones. Where we go after we die, nobody knows. But hey, heaven and hell already exists in our current life! So don't be afraid, we'll have a taste of them.

And heaven and hell, doesn't just revolve around actions. But it goes deeper into our thoughts. Say we suspect someone of stealing our stuff. We will feel annoyed, worried and suspicious of the person until we know the truth - this is our hell. But if we just let go and simply wait for the truth to suffice, without suspecting that person, we feel free and relieved - this is our heaven.

I feel guilty sometimes, for "disliking" someone just because they did something bad to me in the past. To an extent, whatever they do don't seem right to me. Which is totally ridiculous because this kind of feeling is totally unnecessary hah. And this is mindset. If we have a negative mindset towards someone, we'll go to our hell. And if we cultivate positive thoughts towards them - we go to heaven.

Happiness can be reached with a simple change of mindset. I used to be (or am still) a paranoid person. My friends know me the best about this. I used to feel scared and worried about things that have not happened. And sometimes it's killing me inside. But as time goes by, I learned to let things go. I learned that worrying about something doesn't help me in any way - but they torture me instead.

So yes, try to change your mindset a bit sometimes. You'll take an elevator ride straight to heaven from hell when you do this! But be wary too, that a change of your mindset might send you straight to hell.

Rich and poor

Just a short post today, something mind-blowing I learned from someone new I met today.

"Orang kaya adalah orang yang miskin atas keinginan, 

orang miskin adalah orang yang kaya atas keinginan"

Which translates to:

"Rich people are people who are poor of desires,

poor people are people who are rich of desires."

Change

Since Monday, I've decided to change a bit of my habit... 

Well I've been meditating everyday, and I usually meditate right before I sleep. But I realised two things: I will either get sleepy, or I will "rush" my meditation because I'm afraid that I can't sleep, or I will get little sleep. Because usually after I meditate, I will feel more awake and fresh hah. And also after doing a bit of research, meditating before sleep is bad because yes, your mind will put you to sleep haha.

So I've pushed back my meditation time to about an hour/an hour and a half before I sleep. Basically I read that well, just put aside some time every day for your meditation. It's actually okay to meditate before you sleep but yes, I find it hard because I feel like I'm falling asleep. And also, as for me, I put aside some time everyday to both meditate and chant sutras. Not bad, 30 minutes a day (15 minutes for each) doesn't hurt much right? Heh. And we have to do it every day.

Meditation is like working out. You know, when you work out to build muscles and stuff, once you don't work out for a long time, you have to start from zero. Same for meditation - just that we are training our minds! Although I've been meditating for almost a year now, I didn't really "stick" to discipline. Most of the time, I meditate 10 minutes a day. But sometimes, 5 or even... Zero!

And I realised when I do this for a few days, I find it more and more difficult to concentrate everyday. But once I train and discipline myself more to meditate longer, I get better everyday again. And like the other time when I went to Singapore in January, where I didn't meditate for 3 days, wow, it's so difficult to go back after I got back here. So yup, I've decided to put aside some time in the day to meditate. It doesn't have to be "proper", I can meditate when I sit too. Or even inside the car and stuff.

Try meditation! It's good for your mind, soul and body :)

Great 2 Years!

 Been a great 2 years

It's been two years since I graduated from Singapore Polytechnic. Two good years indeed. Time flies huh? It feels like yesterday when I was at SPCC taking photos with my lecturers and friends. I hope everyone is doing well, wherever you are. The guys are finishing their NS soon, the ladies are either studying or working now. I am proud of how far we have all come. I hope you're enjoying the things you do, wherever you are! Don't stress yourself out too alright, take ample rests.

So a year ago I wrote and asked myself, what will I be doing a year later? Well hmm I'm doing well. The flower business has been improving as well, since a year ago. My dad has always told me that every year, we should always try to aim for the better one. To be a better person as the person we were a year ago. So I suppose within this one year, I've made some improvements?

I went to Iceland. I have achieved my life-long dream. And what else...? There's nothing much I suppose. I may not make a great and vast improvement in the past year, but I definitely feel it's been an awesome 2 years here back at home. I felt that this year, I've never been busier. There are things to do, people to meet, and problems to solve. Maybe I have experienced the real life more and more. I remember back 2 years ago, when I just got back here. Everything seemed overwhelming.

The change in life, and rhythm from a student to an adult feels kinda overwhelming. But I'm getting the hang of it I suppose. Whenever people ask me how's my life here, I would reply with either "I'm doing good" or "Coping well here". Because to be honest I'm still coping here. Obviously much better now, as compared to the last 2 years. But still, there are some things I still can't let go of.

Five years ago I entered SP as a Biomedical student. I was a boy with such optimism, hope and wonderful visions about my future. It felt like I can do anything. I can become what I want. It felt like everything is going to work according to plan. I held onto my dreams. I grabbed my plans and I was just trying to live everything as close to my plans as possible. But life is never a smooth road. I met challenged, dilemmas and so on. I have to change my plans. I have to make decisions.

3 years ago I made a decision to return home. I have been battling this decision for years. But it was in the middle of my ITP that I decided to make this decision. I was still grappling with this decision of mine. Some of my friends told me to reconsider my plan. Because they told me I have a long way to go. Some of them, supported my decision because they shared the same thoughts as me. It was tough, but like that optimistic boy, I grabbed my decision tightly. And I just told myself to give my bestest effort in the last year of my education. It's my final push. My final chapter.

2 years ago I graduated from SP. After graduation day, this optimistic boy felt very lost. Who he was, three years ago was no longer inside him. Uncertainty, fear and many more emotions mixed inside him. He left Singapore for good, not knowing what's ahead for him. How life is going to be like. Uncertainty filled his heart. Questions filled his mind. But as time goes by, they slowly disappear. 

It was only until recently, that I regained this optimism back. I discovered that there are a lot of things I can do here. I found life's calling here. I found the calling, that I want to make my country a better place. I want to help people here. I want to make the lives of others better here. As of how, I am still not sure. I do have plans, and dreams. Everything seems to return to me once again. I am starting to become that optimistic boy again, like how I was 5 years ago.

Do I have any tinge of regret that I am not doing what I spent three years studying about? Nope. In fact I am proud of my years in poly. Not just study wise, but everything else. My CCA, my OCIP and LEAP team mates. I poured my heart and soul studying what I really wanted to study. I left SP with awesome results. What's there to regret really? What's there to be proud of? Everything.

In fact if there is one lesson I have learned through my three years in poly is that - you have to be so fucking proud of your hard work, your achievements and your journey. Not to an extent where you grow cocky. But just be proud of your hard work. Take pride in whatever you do. And give it your heart and soul. There are times when I feel that the only person who's proud of my diploma - is myself. And that's fine. And that's all I need to know. I am proud of my achievement.

It's been two years and there are things I haven't let go of. Although as days go by, I am slowly letting them go. Because I still have a long way to go. I still have bright days to say hi to, and stormy ones to brace upon. I still have things to improve, and I still have lives I want to change for the better. My country needs me. And I want to be a part of the people who make this country a better place.

You have a long way to go Adhi. So let go of these things slowly. We can do this.

Truth

 The truth

One of my favourite lines from a song, comes from Chvrches' The Mother We Share. It says:

"Cause if I told the truth, I will always be free" 

I don't really understand this line. But as I contemplated on it a lot, I understood it now. And it is indeed a pretty enlightening line for me. Do you have those times when you told someone the truth, but they don't seem to believe whatever you're saying? Or worst, they just created their own "version" of your truth. They don't seem to take what you told them. And they don't believe you at all.

Or sometimes there are times when you told someone the truth, but they rebut it with something else. On one hand, you feel annoyed because you've done whatever you can, you've told them the truth. On another hand, you will feel free. Because you have told them the truth and that's it. You don't have any guilt or wrong-feelings inside of your heart. The feeling is like when you tell your parents you did badly for a test. Yeah sure they may be mad at you, but you feel relieved in a way. There's nothing to hide.

From this line, I thought to myself this:

"I have told you the truth. How you perceive it, how you give it your own twist and turn, it is entirely up to you. But I have told you the truth, and I'm free"

I'm talking about this, because I'm currently facing this situation. Right now, in the farm, we have no flowers at all. We do have flowers, small and non-bloomed ones that is. A few of my customers went and asked if we can do a delivery and of course I told them right now, we are currently not able to do so because the flowers are too small. Thankfully some of them understand and they just kindly tell me to just inform them when the next delivery can be made. And I always do tell them.

But there are also times when some of my customers don't seem to believe my words. I'm not sure if they think I'm lying to them, or whatever the scenario inside their heads is. So at times I feel "bad" when I tell them we have no flowers when truthfully, we really don't have any. But then again I told myself why should I feel bad? When I have given them the truth but they can't seem to accept it in some way. Or they decided to take the truth in another different direction.

You see the hardest thing about having a business that involves living things/nature is that at the end of the day, they are beyond our control, no matter how much we tried to control them. Being trained in the science field, I tried to make sure that everything we do will yield the most optimum result. We plant the same amount of flowers every week, we calculated the time taken for these flowers to bloom, to make sure that there won't be a "gap" between blooming flowers. We gave them fertilisers, pesticides, and even a fertiliser which help them to bloom nicely together. 

So we controlled every conditions to make sure the flowers bloom beautifully. But give us 4 days of heavy rains and these flowers won't bloom no matter what. Because flowers need the warmth of the sun and adequate UV rays to bloom properly. So no matter how much we control the growth of these beauties, we cannot control nature at the end of the day. And there is nothing we can do. We cannot make an artificial sun, we cannot banish the clouds very time they gather above my hometown.

I have this motto in mind: We grow flowers, we don't make them.

Flowers are like human beings. We grow with our own set of characters and different physical forms. We don't really make and tailor human beings. That would be very scary heh. If I can control the weather, if I can make flowers instead of growing them, I would be the richest man on earth. I don't have to worry about the weather, and I will never ever have to tell my customers that our flowers are currently not bloomed yet. I would harvest the flowers everyday and deliver them everyday.

I am very sorry, that we cannot do these. After all we are dealing with living things. And we deal with living things beside this beautiful place called nature. Which sadly, we cannot control also.

Off-day

We're having a holiday here today, so it is pretty much an off day for us! I would say it was a pretty chill day, I have nothing much to do and yeah it feels kinda great to have such a day, after being busy every other day I suppose? I went for a funeral wake in the afternoon with my mum, then had lunch with my sister and at night, I went to the farm with my dad. That's about it! Pretty relaxing day isn't it.

The day was made "worst" thanks to the pouring rain that started in the late afternoon. It just seriously dampens my mood to do anything hah. In fact I went to have a nap TWICE can you believe it. But anyway, like I said, it feels nice to have a relaxing day like this. The past few days of the week have been pretty busy. Lots of things to do and such. I was so happy to wake up this morning with zero notifications on my phone. Unlike the usual days where I would wake up to like messages and BBMs and WhatsApps and stuff. Isn't it an awesome way to start the day? (Insert sarcasm here).

I always have this wish in which I can have a day in the week where I can unwind and relax. Like seriously a day dedicated to do this. But well it's kind of impossible so never mind. I decided to dedicate some time everyday to do this - and that's before I sleep. I would do whatever I want, but mostly I would just chill and listen to music. Read some interesting articles or videos on YouTube. I don't really want to be in a state where I have to be busy all the time. That's a nightmare. 

Anyway I've been watching Casey Neistat's vlogs since the first day he made it. And in one of his recent vlogs he was discussing how he doesn't like free-time, cause it made him unproductive. I am awed by his determination of making the fullest of his day. Be it running, doing work, creating movies and spending time with his family. But he said he doesn't like having free time. And it made me cringe a tiny bit - cause I'm the opposite of him, where I want to have free-time! Heh.

Well yes I do agree with him about the part in which we have to make the best out of our time in this life. To create things, and just be awesome really. But I suppose well, we have our own ways and definitions of "making the best out of our time in this life" eh? To me free time is an important time. And I need it everyday. And I don't use this free time to simply laze around and do nothing but well to just relax, unwind, before I get back to being occupied again. Well actually now I'm not sure what does he mean by "free time". Maybe it's a time where you literally do nothing?

Although well these days, I've been also trying to make my "free time" a more colourful one. Like currently I'm reading up a lot on the teachings of the Buddha. And in some days I draw things, edit some of my photos and so on. Mostly, I just need this free time to be alone. You already know why.

Alright stopping here for now. It was a nice relaxing day today. Pretty glad and happy to go through it :) Wishing everyone an awesome weekend ahead! Take care of yourself too.

Omen

So let me tell you something funny that happened today. 

I was lying on my bed just now in the evening when suddenly I heard this loud noise made by a lizard. As I looked up, I saw 2 lizards making out on the ceiling. And right as I tilted my head up... The one humping just fell gracefully from the ceiling directly on top of my head. I jumped out and that lizard leaped onto my table. And it was just chilling out for a while, maybe shocked, then climbed up the wall.

I was just staring at the lizard and... It was then chilling out on the wall hah.

So I told this incident to my mum and she told me that there was a belief that it's a bad thing if a lizard fell on you. And you have to chase the lizard or something. Well I did chase the lizard even though it decided on my table haha. And then I went to search on the net about the significance of this occurence and apparently... There's an Indian belief that having a lizard fell on you is a bad omen! Well depends on the different part of the body that it falls on. Some brings good omen.

Actually... I don't know where the lizard land on. But I do remember closing my eyes hah, cause I was just so shocked and scared and I just jumped out of my bed. So actually I don't know where it landed on. Although the lizard was on top of me, on the ceiling.

But oh well be it bad or good omen, lets not believe it fully that it will affect my life heh. I'll take it as a good omen because nothing bad happens to me and the lizard. The lizard survived the fall, and I survived the jump-out-of-bed incident. Perhaps he was shocked due to the fall, but he's alright.

I do believe in some superstitions but well, to let a superstition rule over your life, that is very bad too. I've always believed in the Buddha's teaching of the Middle Way - That there must be a balance between experiencing sensual pleasures and experiencing self-mortification. Basically don't hurt yourself, and don't enjoy yourself too much. That's why all I can conclude from this event is that the lizard and I are okay, and yay, happy days! Win-win situation right?

I think being in Asia, we grow up with a lot of superstitions. Although as we grow up, we realise that a lot of these superstitions are out of our logic. Like how can having a lizard fall on you gives you bad omen... Right? Sometimes I believe that superstitions are caused by a "placebo" effect. Like let say I really believe that having a lizard fell onto me a bad omen, and I will keep on thinking about this. And somehow, when bad things happen to me, I "blame" it on the lizard for giving me a bad omen.

I'll just stick with the Buddhist teaching. Don't add suffering to others and yourself. So let go of this "bad omen thoughts" because thinking about it just make me more stressed heh. Maybe I should pray for the lizard so that he can make out again and produce more babies hmmm.

Alright I don't know what I'm talking about hah. But yes, I hope I don't get any bad omen.

(Oh the irony)

Chanting Inner Peace

So it's been 3 good years since I discovered this wonderful song above. It is The Prayer (Chanting Inner Peace) by Ketsana and it is truly one of the most peaceful and beautiful song I've ever heard in life. I am a bit sad that I cannot find this anywhere on iTunes or elsewhere. I really hope that she will make it available for purchase somewhere. Because it is truly a beautiful song! Apologies first, but I actually took the song off Youtube - and have been listening to this song almost everyday since I discovered it. 

It has 880 plays on iTunes! And if I'm not wrong it has a thousand plays on my old iPod :P

Like the title of the song, it truly gives me inner peace. I really have to thank Ketsana for this song. This song has helped me to get through tough times, back when I was still in Singapore and up till now. When I feel angry or stressed, sad or frustrated, I would just listen to this song to find a "balance" to my emotions and yep, this song is able to make me stable again. There are times in Singapore where I would put this song on repeat for an hour. Just to calm myself down.

So thank you very much Ketsana for this beautiful song. It has helped me a lot.

Talking about chanting, I'm currently doing my third resolution of the year! Which is to start my mini-book of Buddhism. I've been reading up a lot on Buddhist articles the past few days and it is pretty much an enlightening experience. I've been a bad Buddhist hah. I'm currently on the Noble Eightfold Path, and just finished on the Four Noble Truths. These two topics are the Buddha's first teachings after he gained enlightenment. Well I have heard and briefly read about them but I've never gotten into such depths like what I'm doing now. It is never too late to start I suppose! :)

I don't think I've told you this, but I have also been chanting Sutras everyday for... About a month? Or two? I forgot actually. But yes, I've been chanting 大悲咒 (The Great Compassion Sutra) and (般若波罗蜜多心经 (The Heart Sutra, or Prajna-Paramita Sutra) everyday, three times for each Sutra. It is also another resolution of mine to memorise these Sutras so that I can chant anywhere. And I've memorised almost the whole Sutra :D If you want to do the same, just chant everyday. Effortless memorising.

Now come the question - Why chant?

Okay this is a question I've been asking myself too. It is said that chanting the Great Compassion Sutra helps to alleviate or even free the sufferings of all living things. And to be honest, this is my main objective for chanting the Sutra everyday. As for the Heart Sutra, like I once mentioned in a post last month, I love the wisdom of the Sutra, and chanting everyday is like reminding myself of the wisdom of Prajna-Paramita everyday too. Reminder not to cling to the 5 aggregates, and be free of suffering.

And chanting the Great Compassion Sutra also helps to invoke compassion within us.

You know I read somewhere that chanting the Great Compassion Sutra may also clear all your bad karma, even the ones you had from your previous lives. But... I somehow don't really believe in this? I mean from what I know, whatever karma we create, good and bad, will always be there once created. And it cannot be cleared, and of course we will reap the good and bad karma as time goes by too. So I'm not sure if we can really clear our bad karmas simply by chanting.

And I also read somewhere that doubting a Dhamma is considered a sin.... Oh dear don't tell me I'm creating bad karma by "doubting" the benefit of chanting. But anyway like I said, I don't chant the Sutra to "clear" my bad karma, but mainly to wish and help free other living beings from their sufferings, and to invoke compassion within me. If chanting the Sutra helps to cleanse my bad karma then of course, I am thankful for it. But these two are my main objectives for chanting.

But all in all, a few days ago I came upon a saying by the late Venerable Dr. H. Saddhatissa Mahanayaka Thero, who said that almost all Buddhist practices are nothing else but some form of meditation. And I think these words sparked a bit of enlightening flame within me. Come to think of it, I do feel that chanting is a form of meditation too? Where we sit down, quietly, calmly, and do nothing but chant. After every chanting session, I feel calm and peaceful. And my mind is "light" and fresh. 

I remember a wonderful saying by Shunryu Suzuki Roshi: "In meditation, leave your front door and back door open. Let thoughts come and go. Just don't serve them tea."

From this quote, I have this analogy for our minds. Our mind is like a house. And everyday this house is being visited by a lot of guests known as thoughts and emotions. Imagine having a lot of guests coming to your house throughout the day. You'll feel tired right? So... When is the time of the day when you don't have these guests in your house? It's either when you're asleep, or when you're resting. You can help your house rest, by meditating, and chanting! These two activities are the times in your day when your mind doesn't have guests. When your mind is finally resting.

And like I've always believed, our mind is a very powerful thing. By letting your mind rest, you're training and taming your mind. And by training your mind you can do some powerful things with it. So I suppose this is where the healing part of chanting comes from. Some Sutras are deemed to help alleviate sickness and pain, some are able to heal too. So in a way, you're "healed" and "blessed" and "blissed" not because you chant the Sutras, but because you unconsciously train your mind while chanting the Sutras, and yup, your mind helps you to "heal" your condition. 

But anyho, I am just a human being. These are just my thoughts and my opinion so they are definitely not a 100% correct and proven true. At the end of the day, the teachings that I found to be true are the teachings of the Buddha - The teachings which I seek refuge in. And the way I want to follow is the Boddhisatva's way. Where I hope to help free the suffering of all living things on earth. And hence, like I said previously, I hope I can help alleviate the sufferings of all living things by chanting the Great Compassion Sutra, and I hope I can get the wisdom of Prajna-Paramita by chanting the Heart Sutra. 

Alright that's all for now, time to chant the Sutras soon! May all living things be happy :)

Searching For Music

 I've been looking for this album for years

Okay so I was reading my old blog posts from March and I realised I didn't blog about one thing I was supposed to blog! Alright it's nothing much but it's a rather interesting story.

For as long as I can remember, while I was still in Singapore, I always went to bed with Channel News Asia turned on on my TV. After they go off-air, they would just air the news-reel with beautiful new age music in the background. I have always wanted to know the title of the songs they played. I used Soundhoud, Shazam etc and they didn't come with any result. I even emailed CNA and asked about the music used but they replied me with "It's for an in-house production, not for commercial use".

I was feeling really disappointed. So before I left Singapore for good, I actually recorded the song on my iPod just for memory keepsake. Until this year I stumbled upon that recording again, and I was just Googling "How to look for the title of unknown music". Most of the answers return with Shazam and Soundhound but I know they don't work. Then I read further and it says.... "Upload a video file of the music to Youtube and Youtube will tag the music used in the video". Voila, I found my answer.

I did that and... Yes! I got the title of the music used in the video. Turned out it is called Voice Ballet (A) by Kevin Malpass. I was pretty excited and went to iTunes store straightaway to look for it. I couldn't find it, and so I turned to Google. And... My hope was crushed once again. The CD was released in 2000. 15 years ago! It is not available digitally anywhere. But then I saw someone selling the album on eBay and I just went to get it right away, and I got the CD about a month later!

I was feeling so happy, to finally get the music I've been wanting to get so badly for years. I was listening to the album on my Discman and man, it felt like I was back in Singapore. Those late nights, falling asleep to these songs. The songs in the album is only some of the music used for their off-air news reel though. Some of the other songs come from another album, which I don't know what. I totally regretted not recording the other songs used. But anyway, Voice Ballet (A) is my favourite.

Okay here's the only video reference of the song that I found in Youtube:

Voice Ballet (A) by Kevin Malpass

Used in some winery (?) video 

Okay, some of you might freak out to know the distance I would go to get my favourite music. But yes, this is the distance I would go to. And don't even ask about owning a physical form of the music. I will fight for it even harder! :P This is by far the "furthest" I went to get my favourite music.

Can you believe it's May already! Time flies isn't it. It's the first of May and we do celebrate Labour Day too. So it was a "day off" for me but hey, like I said, there's no such things as a day off for me hah. In fact I was settling some delivery today. But nevertheless it is a pretty chill day for me. A gloomy one too because the hometown was just covered with thick grey clouds hmm.

We've been enjoying three days of blue skies and sunshine though.

Alright, here's wishing a Marvelous May ahead for everyone! Seriously can't believe we're almost halfway into 2015. It feels like it just started yesterday. Have a great weekend people.