Lasting Memories

I wanted to blog about this yesterday but as usual, I was very busy with work so I couldn't blog. Anyway yesterday I received the shocking news that one of my drivers, who had been working with us since my grandfather's days, has passed away. His name is Mang Iyan (or in English, Mr Iyan) and he's been working with us for such a long long time. Although he retired a few years back due to his poor health and vision. I was so shocked, because he's someone very close to me (and us).

He's the person who drove us to school back in kindergarten and primary school, and fetched us home. He works for my mum at her shop but on a daily basis, that's what he usually did. He is also the driving "teacher" for all of us. I remember him teaching me driving back in 2009, driving around empty places in my hometown, teaching me how to park and so on. I'll always remember his advice about not freaking out whenever you drive haha. Just be alert, but don't panic too much.

He was also a man with wise advices and great humility. I remember when I was about to study in Singapore, he told me to make as many friends as possible from Singapore and all around the world. He told me one day, they will be your good friends and hopefully we can all help all one another, both in Singapore and in Indonesia. And that's the reason why I have so more Singaporean friends than Indonesian friends back when I was still studying in Singapore haha.

It's quite sad to hear about his passing. But knowing his condition, and how much he's been suffering and struggling with respiratory issues, I know that his time is coming very soon. I've been applying and learning the Buddhist's teaching of impermanence. So yes I'm sad that he's gone but at the same time, I'm feeling sort of relieved that he doesn't have to go through more pain anymore :(

My dad always says when someone pass away, what's left of the person is nothing else but the sweet memories you have of that person. But sometimes in life, we meet people who gave us nothing else but sweet memories. Mang Iyan is one of them. So thank you Mang Iyan for your hard work and dedication. The sweet memories we share will never be forgotten, till I part with this earth.

Selamat Jalan Mang Iyan

Karma And His Friends

Something really interesting and funny happened tonight. It's so so... Weirdly amazing hah.

So I was taking a walk with my dad and brother in law along this path when I actually almost stepped onto a snake. A venomous snake! It was a braided krait, you can Google it. So yes, I almost stepped on it. Like the snake was literally below the sole of my right feet as I was about to take a step on the ground while walking. If my brother in law didn't warn me, I'll step on it right away.

My brother in law warned me so thankfully, I leaped in front with my left leg and I was further away from the snake. The snake then slithered away to another place.

Okay here's the interesting part. As some of you might know, I am a "slipper" kind of person. I love slippers, and I wear them like everytime, and everywhere. I rarely wear shoes, only wearing them for formal events, concerts or when I travel. However just now, right before I left home to go for this walk, I just suddenly told myself to try using this new shoes that I just bought. Like out of nowhere, with no plans and anything, I just changed to my new shoes and left home. It's just a sudden wish.

So can you imagine if I actually didn't wear shoes and wore my slippers instead? If I really stepped onto the snake :O And another interesting thing was that I decided to change my short pants to long pants. Same, no plans and anything, I just have this thought of wearing long pants for the night.

It's so amazingly bizarre to be honest. All of these only came to me after I reached home from the walk. It dawned upon me how and what if I actually didn't wear the shoes and long pants, and what if I really stepped onto the snake! Well it may and may not bite me. But the what ifs are there.

Just thankful for all of these chain of events. I hope this is part of a good karma that I cultivated for becoming a vegetarian haha. The snake was really cute though. It was small, about 40cm long, but it has black and yellow stripes. I did a search at home and it turned out to be venomous, yikes!

Well, just do good things, and good things will come to you. Be kind to one another, animals, human beings, and other things around you heh. Karma and all his friends are around us.

Imperfections

Let me say something first before I begin this post. Alright just giving a head's up, I miiiiiight not be able to achieve my goal of blogging 10 posts a month in this wonderful month of April. You'll find out why soon enough. Hence, I'm trying to blog as much as I can to hit my target! And I'm doing so by doing the blogging prompts that I was talking about back at the beginning of the year. So here goes.

10 April - Imperfection // Imperfections - in things, in people, in places - add characters in life. 

Tell us about an imperfection that you cherish.

To me I find imperfections beautiful. Since young I'm always told how we all live in an imperfect world, and that there's nothing perfect in this world. As I grow up, I learned to rephrase this saying. I believe that we live in a perfectly imperfect world. The imperfections in this world are the things that make this world, this life a beautiful beautiful place. Life wouldn't be fun without them either :P

Okay I'm not sure about the "imperfection" in this context, in this question. Is it an imperfection that I have? Or is it any imperfection in general? Let's talk about both! 

One imperfection that I cherish in life is impermanence. The fact that nothing is permanent in this world. It has become my motto - that impermanence keeps me going! Woo woo. I think impermanence is an important aspect in this life. It taught us to give everything that we can, because we won't live forever. And it also taught us about hope, how we shouldn't lose them in times of despair because tough moments won't last. Only tough people do! Can you imagine if some things are permanent?

I used to think that some things are permanent in life. Like... Memories, friendship and so on. Well it really depends on how you see it. Memories are permanent so long we're still in this world. Once we die, we'll be forgotten, and so will our tales. Unless we save the world and we'll be remembered by generations to come heh. Friendship is also quite tricky. I regard some of my friendships as still "going on". Although we rarely talk and so on. But the fact that we always click when we talk, I still regard this friendship as something that is still "going on" in life. So yes, still can be considered as permanent.

Well, I think once you have accepted impermanence in life, you can go anywhere in life. With courage, with bravery, happiness and serendipity. This is why I am so amazed by the Buddha's principle of existence, which its first one is impermanence. Now I kinda fully understand the meaning behind it.

As for an imperfection that I have... Hmm I'm not sure. I am an amazing person, and I have no imperfections. I am fabulous baby *snap snap snap*. Okay just kidding hahaha. I would say an imperfection that I cherish is my "poor" sense of fashion. Let me be honest with you. I've been wearing the same clothes that I wore since my poly days! I'm serious haha. So some of them are 3 to 5 years' old. And the only time I will shop for clothes is when I'm overseas/in a concert/Chinese New Year.

My dad once said if everyone on earth is like my dad and I, we'll only need about 100 clothing factories around the world. Like maybe 2 - 3 clothing factories per country or something. I don't know why but ever since I graduated from secondary school, I really lose interest in "getting new things". Be it clothes, stationery and so on. This is why my pencil case remains the same from sec 3 - poly year 3, I use the same bag for poly, the only time I got a new bag was in year 2 because I broke my old bag.

I can still remember how during ITP, my boss actually asked if I needed new clothes because he realised that I've been wearing the same clothes for the same day every week haha. He was like "Do you want some polo tee? I have some SP polo tee given by SP and if you need it just come and look for me okay". I was just trying to contain my laughter so hard inside. Then I decided to buy a few more clothes and rotate my clothes like once in a while. But well, for the duration of ITP, I only have 9 shirts!

So yeah, these are some imperfections that I cherish. Well yes I do agree that there are some imperfections that we shouldn't cherish in life. They are imperfections that would cause harm to others and yourself. So don't worry about your imperfections. They can be beautiful sometimes :)

Have a great week ahead people!

100/365

Today is the 100th day of 2016! Can you believe that. Okay I need to stop asking myself (and you) whether you believe that time is flying so quickly! But yes, 100 days of the year is gone and we have 266 days more to go. How's everyobody's year going so far? I hope everything is okay, and that you're in track with you resolutions and goals for the year! Well mine is going great so far...

Because today marks the 100th day that I've become a vegetarian :D

This is the longest ever duration in my life that I go without meat. And tell you what, I can definitely live without it! Mwahaha. The past 100 days have taught me that really, I can live without meat. Just don't take away rice and chilli from me :P I've been doing really well so far. Still enjoying my time in the toilet egesting undigested food with the help of lots of fibers teehee.

Well to be honest with you I am feeling normal. I don't feel "healthier" or "better" in some sort (except the egesting of undigested food part). I didn't lose any weight... As I was hoping haha. Well I did lose weight in the first month but after that I went back again. But here are some health improvements that I felt throughout these 100 days. Well something that I've noticed in myself as well.

I feel that I fall sick less? Okay I did catch a flu and sore-throat back in January like after I returned from Singapore. Usually I feel very horrible when I'm sick, and it takes quite a long time for me to recover. But this time round I recovered rather quickly, within 2 days or so. And then after that... I can't remember anytime else that I actually fall sick. I hope that's a good thing!

I was reading online about how this is normal. Because perhaps before I was a vegetarian, I didn't receive enough nutrients to keep my body strong. And now that I've been eating lots of vegetables and fruits, I received the right amount of nutrients, and thus keeping my immune system better?

Secondly I feel that my mood become better. More like... I become less moody, and I feel that I can control my emotions better I suppose. Perhaps this is because of my meditation as well. But again, I was reading online about how a diet rich in plant-based food help to improve hormonal balance in the body. That keeps your emotion levels checked, and make you become less moody.

Thirdly, this one is the same thing experienced by Vithya - I feel more energised! This is something I noticed the most throughout my day. Okay here's the thing, usually I'll feel very sleepy after lunch. I even usually take a nap before doing work after lunch. And sometimes I'll even nap before lunch! Because I usually feel sleepy and groggy. But I realised after a month of being vegetarian, I have more energy and I feel less sleepy. Which in turn also helps my sleep quality at night :D

Fourthly, I never experience constipation ever haha. 

Fifthly, this is not a great difference but I feel that my face clears up. Usually I get huge pimples every month. Now I usually just get one or two, tiny ones! Not sure if this is something to do with my diet, but like as a saying goes, what you eat can determine your outside beauty mmhmm.

But nevertheless, what I'm happy the most is that...  (Almost) No animals have to be killed to give food on my plate. And that's my goal out of this lifestyle change - to decrease the amount of suffering in this world. Even though I'm not a vegan, and I still consume eggs and dairy I hope I play a tiny role in this world. I really want to be a vegan. But I'll wait until I live by myself or something.

You see the thing is I don't really care much about the benefits I get out of being a vegetarian. I'm happy as long as I can help to reduce the suffering of these animals. Whatever I get in return for doing so, I take it as a gift from nature heh. So I may not lose weight, I may not feel wonderfully special and stuff. But well, less animals have to die because I don't eat meat! So yep.

I hope you can join me in this veggie merry-go-round! You can always begin with meatless Mondays :D

Wings Or Walls

April is here! Can you believe it. It's the 4th month of the year and time is flying very very... Alrighty. Well March went by pretty okay-ey in my opinion somehow. Anyway yes I am still determined to write 10 posts every month so another new month, another new challenge! But bring it on baby, we can do it. Today was a rainy Saturday. I really really wish I can see some blue sky and sunshine. Was reading the news about how March will be a very wet month, and April will mark the beginning of the dry season. Yes about the first part, not sure of the latter!

I just hope that last year's dry spell will not repeat itself. It's very very annoying hah.

The weather is as predictable as life. So, it's super unpredictable haha. Also added with global warming, the weather can be pretty weird. I really have a love-hate relationship with the weather. But like what I learned last year, it's best to keep the weather as the weather, and work around it. Instead of feeling annoyed and stressed about how weird it is. Because mother nature knows best.

Today I came up with a thought that's kind of interesting. 

"Our mind is a beautifully terrifying thing. 

It can give you wings and set you free, 

or build walls to keep you imprisoned."

Sometimes we believe in something so strongly, that we seem to forget every other thing and really keep us imprisoned with that belief. That thought, keeps us away from knowing the truth and keeps us away from the revelation of other things. On the other hand, sometimes we believe in a thought that sets us free, that become a key to open doors that are closed for a very long time. 

Our mind is a very powerful thing, and I've experienced this in my 24 years of existence. How a person's mind can shape his/her world. And I think this is the whole purpose of meditation is to train our mind. For an untrained mind will create wings and build walls as and when they want, but a trained mine will do so at the right place and at the right time. Mindfulness, is the key!

Isn't it scary when you think about how some thoughts will never leave your mind? They are being trapped inside with nowhere to go. And at the same time it's wonderful to know that some thoughts can set you free forever. So be careful with your thoughts, and your mind. They are beautifully terrifying.