Doing Time (For The Things You Never Did)

Julya Oui/Doing Time/1
Doing Time
(for the things you never did)
by
Julya Oui
vergilya@gmail.com
Better Lecturer
I wished I could have been a better lecturer.
I would have liked to teach you about happiness
instead of how to scan with Photoshop.
I would have liked to teach you about self-reliance
instead of designing a logo in Illustrator.
I would have liked to teach you about appreciating
the beauty of the skies and wonders of the earth
instead of making you work for the marks and credits
which mean nothing in the end.
I would have liked to teach you kindness
to share with your friends and neighbors
instead of showing you how to use In-Design to lay out a page.
I would have liked to remind you of your strength
and help build your confidence
instead of reminding you of the late fees that will get you in
trouble.
I would have liked to share some time talking about the world
and you
instead of conditioning you to belief that success solves
everything.
I would have liked to be a little more understanding and be
more compassionate
when you didn't hand up your assignments

instead of black marking you and comparing notes with the
other lecturers.
I would have liked to tell you it's okay
to have chosen a course that doesn't suit you,
to be at the bottom of the class,
to feel like you don't belong
because ultimately you can change your path and future
instead of scaring you with rules and regulations.
I would have liked to listen to your dreams
and know what your passions are
instead of ranting all the time about other things that don't
matter.
I would have liked to open you to a world of possibilities
where nothing is impossible when there is love
instead of locking the door,
confining you to your space and leave you to fend for yourself.
But I believe nothing is too late.
Not in any sense.
Although back then I was conditioned,
just like you
I am now awaken
and I know you will be too someday.
And for all those times
you have been a teacher to me
as much as I have to you.

For my erstwhile students who were
as much of a teacher to me as I was to them.
And for the Psychnet Art Therapy group of gifted people.

contents:
Waking up on the Wrong side of Fate 12
Clutter, Cluster, Hoard and Buy 22
The Shape of Dreams to Come 29
The Ballad of the Narcissist 43
When Reality Bites the Dust 69
In the Quietest Moment of an Illuminated Mind 81
The Journey of a Reluctant Strategist 109
Educating the Innocent Scholar 121
Chasing the Wild and Nameless Wind 143
The Worries of a Venerable Warrior 159
Sustaining that Losing Luster 174
Simplifying the Spirit Within 203
End of Daze, Begin to Amaze 246
The Birth of the 5E Principles 269

The first thing to do is to wake up.

If you still haven’t woken up
you can either choose to go back to sleep
or come out of the darkness.

Aren’t you just so tired
of it all?
Everything you do,
everything you are
and everything you believe in?
Don’t you think it’s time
to fight the fight,
fire the spirit
and join in the march
for the long battle of awakening ahead?

You’ve come to a stage of realization.
You want things to get better, not worse.
You feel like everywhere you turn
leads to another dead-end.
Life is as bad as it gets.
Enough is enough.
And the next step is
to do something about it
or you could be doing time
for the things you never did.

When you are ready
the world will be in your hands
to mold,
to destroy,
to create,
to love,
to hate,
to believe in,
to deny,
to ignore,
to appreciate.
When you are unhappy
life is telling you
to change your direction.

Even after reading, knowing and realizing
a whole lot of things
you may still not be awaken.
Transcendence is about
connecting the past
not ignoring it,
affirming the present
not dismissing it
and envisioning the future
not avoiding it.

Waking Up From the Wrong Side of Fate
Have you ever woken up feeling lousy about everything
even before the day could begin?
Was there a time you wished things were different?
While forcing yourself into a routine act of doing what
you have to do, do you dream of a better way to spend your
life?
Every once in a while something deep down in your guts
tells you things are not the way it should be, and you know
it’s true. You try to manage them and hope everything will get
better but they don’t.
Soon you begin to hate the way circumstances revolve
around you and circle about you like vultures waiting for a
kill. You want out. You’ve had it. But when you look at the
mirror you keep telling yourself it’s easier said than done,
so you leave this awful feeling to fester for another day.
And it goes on and on like a never-ending spiral. Another
day, another time, and another season is all you want to care
about. But then, they come back. Like a creepy horror story,
they come back. Sometimes in full force. Sometimes, little by
little. But if you are finally shocked out of your system by
an event, a situation or an incident, you are now awaken from
the nightmare you were once running around in. No more, you
say. No more.
Fate, as we all know it, is in our hands. Although some
events cannot be altered for whatever universal laws that we
cannot comprehend, there are some things, especially our lives
that can be controlled. We have a choice. An incident is an

incident, whether we judge it to be good or bad, it’s how we
handle it that makes it easier or harder to accept. If you
take a walk alone and start observing life around you will
notice that everything that you see has its proper place and
function. You sometimes wonder about yourself. Where do you
fit in the scheme of things? Of course there is a difference
between thinking yourself insane and thinking about steps to
take to the next level of life. One will lead you to self-
destruction and the other will take you to a place where
possibilities are abundant.
Whatever situations you may be in right now, there are
ways to address the inevitable and the unforeseen. Mainly it
takes some courage, some humility and some optimism to set
the course back onto the right path. You can wait for the
inspiration to come in the form of a muse and you can wish all
you want from the genie in the bottle. But if you refuse to
acknowledge even the smallest of things, you will always wake
up from the wrong side of fate and you will be asking yourself
the same question for the rest of your life. The question you
ask may be similar with the next person who asks it but it is
never the same. It only makes sense to you and the answers are
always there waiting for you to discover. The only thing is,
you have to ask the right question.
Fear may stop you from carrying on. Fear may stop you
from asking too many questions. Fear will only incarcerate
you in the prison of your own body while it fools you into
thinking that it’s comfortable and safe, when in truth it is
draining you from your will and desire to be the best of what
you can be.

If you are awaken, you can fight it. You can pick up the
pieces and forge your strength from every bit of yourself that
you can harness to go against all odds. But if you are still
half asleep in the bosom of your self-denial, all the muses
and genies in the world will make no difference. And as long
as you are contented to be lulled in the arms of slumber, just
remember that you might wake up some day and realize that your
time has been served.

Succinctly
1. Wake up to a different music from now on. Instead of the
usual routine do something different when you wake up.
Change your diet, readjust your time and schedule to one
that gives you something to look forward to.
2. Wake up with hope, with enthusiasm, with faith, with a
burning desire to do something wonderful.
3. Meditate. Spend quiet time with nature. Observe life. Lis-
ten to your heart.
4. Unburden yourself from your stringent values and princi-
ples. Just accept yourself without reservations.
5. Accept everything and everyone else for what or who they
are and stop being the judge, jury and executioner.
6. Quit from anything that brings you down.

Nothing is as bad as we make them to be.
Nothing is as good as we want them to be.

You can never change a man
to become any better than what he wants to be.
If his desire is to commit crime
then he will be a criminal.
If his desire is to stay poor
then poverty will cling to him forever.
If his desire is to be down, sad and broken
he will be showered with misfortune.
But if he desires to try, to aspire and to endure
he will be successful in every way.
We may think it’s his destiny to be so
but in truth it is because
he desired it so full-heartedly
it eventually became his reality.

When you know yourself
you will know the meaning of life

We know it’s time to approach
life from a different perspective,
a different angle,
and a different ideology
when we get
tired,
bored,
frustrated
and
miserable.
If you think life is full of
pain,
frustration,
anger,
hatred,
loneliness,
emptiness
and depression,
don’t you think
it’s time to do
something about it?

If you are not open to
suggestion,
criticism,
advice,
change
and evolution,
you would be as redundant
as the day you decided you were not worth it.

Clutter, cluster, hoard and buy
The idea of having a storage room or area has been around
since the dawn of mankind when excess dinosaur meat had to
be stashed somewhere. It’s simply a depository to keep the
extra things we buy for a rainy day, the paraphernalia we had
gathered over the years and have yet to use and of course the
collectible mementos that are too sentimental to discard. So
this little room is fatted up like an animal for a festivity,
which of course gets bigger and bigger as days go by. Soon,
the good old times roll on and newer inventions take the place
of our defunct knickknacks that live in this special room we
assign them to and suddenly every item we used to have become
miscellanies by default.
And all the years of accumulation have taught us one
thing and that is the fear of confronting the cleaning up.
The thought of coming face to face with all our past, be it
sad or happy, send shivers down our spine. Where do we begin?
To start by opening the door to that dimension is harrowing
enough to say the least . It’s been so long we have even
forgotten what lives there anymore. If we are fortunate, the
undertaking might exhaust us for a day, if not, it might take
as long as our yearning for nostalgia comes to pass.
The necessity for clearance is inevitable if we want
to make more room for improvement. To avoid doing this
will take us a longer time to realize what we are looking
for and what we will be missing in life. By clearing up
storerooms, wardrobes, garages and every other likely
places of accumulation, this formidable act will eventually

open up spaces and avenues we never knew existed. Although
physically it may be demanding to get things straighten out,
psychologically it also creates new possibilities and diverse
probabilities.
A neat and orderly table, room or space may seem like a
somewhat insignificant undertaking compared to the many other
considerable things we have to do to get by every day. But the
fact of the matter is the improved version of our disheveled
world will definitely help with the progression of our lives.
Leaving the mess for a hired hand to spiff up may be a common
practice for everyone, but this fairy tale approach will get
us nowhere. It is not only inconsiderate but irresponsible.
The less we accumulate, the less our burdens will be.
Think of moving house and you’ll know how to respond to
that. Life in the twenty first century has become undeniably
versatile, convenient and immediate, so if you are encumbered
by the entire shipment of your past you won’t be able to
sail the seven seas to explore the other side of life. The
deadweight that you carry will take you only as far as you can
tolerate it. But once you learn the art of letting go, you
will be freed from the many unwarranted obligations that have
no place in your life.
Ultimately, when you really sit down to consider, there
is nothing as important as the life that you are holding in
your hand. Everything else is inconsequential if you fail to
make this life a memorable and adventurous journey. And on
this pilgrimage, if you cling on to the baggage you lug around
like an impoverished vagabond, you will forever be begging for
more to fill up your sack of sinking treasure. You can clutter,

cluster, hoard and buy all you want but while you are manag-
ing the excessive load on your back, many others would have
already gone on to experience life on the next level. And you
might be left behind to pick up the fragments that you once
thought were precious to you.

Succinctly
1. Look around you. Have you come to a stage where every-
thing you own is just another big mess eating up your liv-
ing space? So deal with it. Dig into it. Start by getting
rid of small items and things you have no need for. If you
don’t know what to toss away imagine this: in case of fire
what is the most precious thing you would want to take
along with you?
2. Give away, donate, sell or barter your stuff, be generous
whenever possible.
3. Make room. Make room. Make room. There is no excuse whether
you live alone or with company in a large house or a tiny
domicile or if it’s fully owned by you or you’re just pass-
ing through.
4. Shop less so you will accumulate less.
5. Recycle, reuse and reduce whenever possible to produce less
waste.
accumulation leads to congestion
congestion leads to indolence
indolence leads to procrastination
procrastination leads to indecisiveness
indecisiveness leads to confusion
confusion leads to frustration
frustration leads to ignorance
ignorance leads to repetition
repetition leads to accumulation

Everyone needs space.
It is always better
to step out of your circle
than to stay
within its perimeters
suffocating all the time.

If you have a store room,
chances are, it’s already full.

The Shape Of Dreams To Come
Everyone has a dream they want to make come true at some
point of their lives. It could be a simple wish for something
small and desirable or it could be something great and life
changing. Whatever the dream, there is not one that cannot be
actualized for any reasons. But if the dream is not born of
passion, but of fantasy or hallucination, then it will not
amount to anything much.
The dream I am talking about has a focus, a direction,
and a life of its own. It’s not one of those fly by night
I-want-this-now but I-don’t-think-I-want-it-tomorrow kind of
a wishful desire. It’s the ambition that fills your entire
being with wonderment and challenges you to go beyond your own
understanding that makes you want to pursue it even more. If
you are already awaken and find that there is no such vision
in your life, it’s only a matter of time that something will
eventually reveal itself to you. So how does one discover his
dream when there is none that exists in the first place?
Don’t deny yourself anything. Trust your instincts and
learn to listen to your inner voice. All the answers are
waiting to be heard and understood by you. See the signs
around you. What makes you you? What drives you to be your
best? What strikes you like a thunderbolt and makes you want
to go on doing it where you will never stop for anything? If
your conviction has the passion of water, enthusiasm of wind,
fervor of fire and the integrity of earth, then this desire
needs to be nurtured.
Despite obstructions from people who are out to ruin

your imagination, if you are still willing to sacrifice every
ounce of your blood, sweat and tears to make it come true,
then you’ll know what your heart truly wants. It’s the kind
of aspiration you know you can attain even when everyone else
says you can’t. And you can feel it like a burning fire that
cannot be doused.
But this is going to be a long and laborious journey.
You will feel like giving up at times. You will want to cry
out your anguish and wallow in self-pity. You will want to
throw it all in and say you can’t do it. You will be told that
you’re going nowhere with this, that you’re a failure, and
you’re not cut out for it.
In the end you surrender and join the rest of the dream-
killers to stalk for new virginal preys you once were. But
somewhere inside the irregular beat of your heart, you know
that euphoria of being alive when you do what you do best. You
want to go back to it. You want to confront your adversaries
and hang on to your beliefs. Without this desire you can’t
survive the test of time. And with all your heart and soul and
mind, you will know that this is what you want, this is the
shape of dreams to come and it will be yours if you want it
bad enough.
Once you’ve made it real for yourself, you will find that
there is more than just a single dream in a single thought be-
cause dreams do not end. They mature and take new forms and
they take you on a voyage that goes deeper within where ev-
erything that you are and everything that you can be will be
manifested. We are made to endure the most grueling trials and
insufferable afflictions and nothing can stop the human heart

from beating if it doesn’t want itself stopped. You are stron-
ger than you think. But first, to even come close to realiz-
ing your dream, you have to know it through and through and be
ready to pursue it like you’ve got nothing to lose.

Succinctly
1. If you don’t think you have any dreams you want to make
come true take some time off alone and list down everything
that you would like to do. Once you’re done check it again
and prioritize what you want to do most.
2. If you associate your dream with fame, fortune and glory
you may be in for a big disappointment. Just because every-
one else is doing it doesn’t mean you have to do it. You do
it because there is this desire burning inside you, there
is this passion making you restless and there is this voice
that invokes you.
3. One of the ways to determine what your dream may be is to
ask that inevitable question: would you die trying? In oth-
er words, would you die for your art? Regardless of whether
you get paid for doing it, acknowledged or revered, if you
know deep down in your heart, body, soul and mind that this
is what you want then there’s no stopping this dream from
becoming your reality.
4. With this belief start charting your success by enrolling
in a course related to it, strategizing a self-taught pro-
gram, be an apprentice to the master and spend the next few
years of your life honing yours skills through and through.

Anything can be yours with
constant innovation,
development of skills,
determination to progress
and devotion to the purpose

Dreams are steps you take
to your final destination.
You can’t stop once you’ve started.

It you want to make your dreams come true
you have to think it,
work at it,
and be it.
Dreams don’t die.
If they do then they are not dreams.
They could be
a wishful thinking,
a devious plot
or a sugar-coated fantasy
born of self-centeredness.
A dream is not a wish,
it’s hard work to get to
where you are going
so that it will take you
one step further
to where you ought to be.

Everything leads to something in the end.
Try not to miss it.

Every time you learn something new
you change.
Every time you change
you evolve.
And every time you evolve
you take a step
to higher grounds
and get a better
perspective of life.
If your idea of pursuing a dream
is to make everyone else suffer for it,
whatever you do will eventually collapse.

Imagine getting no support from anyone.
No trust, no faith, no energy.
You are at sub level zero.
But deep down inside
there is something your heart desires,
something your mind believes
and your spirit endures.
Even when it is hard,
when it makes little sense by human standards,
and it doesn’t seem like it will pay off
and you still want to do it,
you’ll know this is what Passion is all about.

If you have passion without compassion
you are only fooling yourself because
it’s merely an obsession.
If you have compassion without passion
you are also fooling yourself because
it’s merely an obligation.
Having one without the other
is like having a heart without the soul.

To know your dream
is to know yourself through and through
of what you are made of
and what you will make of yourself.

The Ballad of the Narcissist
A dead-end is not the end but few of us recognize that.

A dead-end in our lives simply means we’re going the
wrong way. Although the logical thing to do when we are caught
in a cul de sac is to remain calm, most of us will panic first
before anything else. Most people would choose to immerse in
their own aggravation or melancholy and lament of being lost
rather than finding their way out. This ego trip that we take
consumes most of our lives without us knowing it. The energy
that it depletes out of us is enormous and its demand for
our attention, time and strength is expensive and extensive.
By the time we are finished there will be nothing left but a
misconception of how to sustain our existence.
Ego is nothing more than just an artificial design of
ourselves created from the expectations, comparisons and
assumptions of everyone else. The first time someone burst
our innocent bubble is the time when we were shoved into a
world where the concept of being better is always good. This
deception will carry us over our teenage years and to the
time when adulthood thrives on it. Being competitive is so
great that lives are at stake once we lose. And from society’s
faultfinding eyes we create a superfluous shield to protect
ourselves from being sidelined and dismissed.
Being misinformed and misled by families, friends,
celebrities and media we become the social monster that is
always afraid of what people will say or think of us. It has
become so important it’s as though our lives depend on it.
With this false imagery enshrouding us we continue to upkeep
the person that we’re not in order to survive. Soon this other
clone takes over and we begin to wonder why we lose our will
to live, to achieve and to aspire. When we are not who we

really are this carbon copy world will soon crumble and the
‘I’ will eventually go down with it.
The danger of egocentricity can make us arrogant, self
righteous, inconsiderate, prejudicial and domineering because
we always feel we are better than everyone else. But the
opposite of it can also cripple us with cynicism, ignorance,
self-deprecation, low self-esteem and pessimism. Either way
will still lead us to a deadlock or a standstill in our
development. Once ego has a taste for blood, it will not stop
until we are dispirited, broken and displaced.
If we can look in the mirror and like who we’re not than
we can only fool ourselves for as long as we are blind. But
this blindness will be lifted up at the most inconvenient time
to show us the clarity of our true selves at some point in
time. Until then, you can continue to sing the ballad of the
narcissist to yourself so long as you remember it’s only as
good as it sounds to you.
If we can learn not to place ego in our lives in the
forefront we will continue doing what is true and sensible to
us. If caught in an unpleasant situation we can walk away and
not waste time trying to prove anything to anyone. We will
have no excuses, habits or bitterness that will keep us con-
fined and restricted. Even if we come up against some other
dead-ends in our jobs, relationships or dreams, we can keep on
moving until we find the way out. But if we dwell on our inflat-
ed pride we could remain lost and continue singing this uni-
versal song like everyone else or until truth makes a jarring
sound.
Succinctly
1. We are so full of it when it comes to doing something that
needs a little more brain work. Most of us would rather not
think and leave it to someone else to do it. But living
this way is also a sure-fire way to a miserable death. So
start thinking and start making decisions.
2. Get out of the pit and think of others for once. You’re not
the only one who feels this way.
3. There is always a way out of anything. Even in the worst
case scenario you can still find your way home.
4. Give yourself some time to sulk and brood but get out of
it when your time is up. By controlling your down time you
will be able to rebound faster in the future and have more
up time.
5. Watch a movie, read a book, help someone who can inspire
you out of your misery. Keeping to yourself all the time
serves no purpose.
6. Why do you need to be arrogant for? Does it make life any-
more worth living?

If you are always afraid of what people will say
you will always talk gibberish.
If you are always afraid of what people will think
you will always be a thoughtless person.
If you are always afraid of what people will see
you will always be arrogant.
If you are always afraid of what people will hear
you will always want to tell lies.
If you are always afraid of how people will feel
you will always want to be pretentious.
If you are always afraid of what people will do
you will always make wrong decisions
and justify them with your ignorance.

When in anger there are only
two ways to settle it.
To keep being angry
or to let it go.
To keep being angry
you have to think
of all the bad things
that come with it,
dwell on the idea
of justice and vengeance,
and build up enough hatred
to last a lifetime.
To let go
you forgive
and gradually forget.

Everyone wants someone to apologize,
but no one wants to admit they’re wrong.

When you are truly nice to someone,
no matter what happens,
you will still be nice.

If you always feel
that there are things
beneath you,
you will never get
to the bottom of them.

When you are bitter with your life
because you can’t see beyond your feet,
you will never take another step
for fear of tripping.

You can blame your past all you want
but that will never change the future.

Do you sometimes think the whole world
is an imagination
and your life is just a dream?
If you do you can choose to make it magical
or you can choose to make it a nightmare.

The drama that we put into life
is enough to make a low budget,
bad acting, cheesy
day time soap opera
but we still do it anyway.
Doesn’t it make you
wonder why?
Life is always telling you things.
If you are ready
everything will be revealed.
If you are not
you will always be the one
burying yourself with unnecessary work,
blaming others for your failures,
avoiding the truth,
and hiding from the light
that shines on your ugliness.

Fear breeds
lies,
insincerity,
insecurity,
cowardliness,
accusations,
ignorance,
cynicism,
distrust,
delusions,
misconceptions,
guilt,
indecisions,
and the list goes on and on.

Greed makes us hasty,
haste makes us greedy.

Let’s talk about bad habits.
Generally they can be summed up into
two classifications.
Possession and obsession.
If you embrace them in your life
you will always want things
for the sake of wanting them,
and you will always need things
for the sake of needing them.
Without either one
you will have
two less baggages to carry.

Don’t keep nodding you head
and say ‘I get it’
when you are not even lifting a finger
to doing it.
Indecisiveness makes us procrastinate,
procrastination makes us indecisive.

To find yourself in the darkness
you have to find others in the light.

Having a bad habit
is like pampering yourself
with the toy you never had
when you were a child.
You will never give it up
until you mature.

Just because you are in pain
it doesn’t mean everyone else
has to feel it too.

If you are the kind of person
who talk too much,
think too much,
or worry too much,
you can be sure
you are not a very creative person.
You are just paranoid.

Even love can’t save you
if you have expectations that are
tagged with requirements.

If you can admit that you have failed
that is the first step to success.
If you stay at being a failure
then you are acting cowardly.
If you can acknowledge your weakness
then you will know your strength.

What are the top three problems for you
personally, locally and globally.
And what are you doing about it?

Once you’ve got an ego to entertain
you won’t have time for anybody else.

When Reality Bites the Dust
Who sets the rules of reality anyway? Who makes them up
and distributes them for the rest of the world to follow? Are
they just perceptions or are they what make us real? Some of
these questions may have crossed our minds at one time or
another and any definition is as good as no definition because
in the end we all set our own reality. We see what we want to
see, we hear what we want to hear and if we find a community
who shares our convictions we would gather like flocks of the
same species. Sometimes starting a new persuasion, sometimes
fighting for the same cause and sometimes clustering close
together to find a sense of belonging.
The external world, as we know it, is everything that
our five senses say they are. But in a blind man’s world his
reality is not based on what we perceive as real. How could he
know beauty as we do? If falling in love is about gazing at
someone who looks good to us then how does a man without sight
fall in love? If we limit our reality just based on these five
senses then our vision of life falls short of what we truly
are and what we truly can be.
If your reality is full of expectations, then you will
always expect something to happen for you. If your reality
is centered on chaos then that is exactly what you’ll have
to deal with. If your reality is surrounded by darkness then
everywhere you go and everything you do will be in gloom.
And if your ego clings to you like a parasite then you will
always try to impose your reality onto the next person beside
you because you want them to go to where you are going, feel
what you are feeling and share your fears of what is real to
you. The iteration of ‘get real’, ‘be realistic’, or ‘reality
check’ can be heard almost every time when someone talks about
wanting to get out of the system but not being able to due
to constraints and commitments. Is this the kind of reality
we want to live in? To be dictated by the limitations of our
shortsightedness, deafness, insensitivity, blandness and
anosmia?
In this great expedition of our brief momentous life we
could choose to make our own opportunity or we could choose
to be opportunistic. To synchronize our opportunity with our
belief is to explore uncharted regions that are remote and
hard to get to. But to be opportunistic one just has to jump
onto other people’s successes, believe what they believe in,
feed on their energy and stay in the shadows for as long as
the light doesn’t reveal your true intent. To everything that
we decide to do the cause and effect will follow us wherever
we go.
Camouflaging yourself in the cultural and traditional rituals
may allow you ample time to ignore your silent persecution.
But in the long run, it would only amplify your fear to be
independent and will turn against you when the time comes to
adapt to new environments and shaking off old habits. As the
world’s reality bites the dust, another will appear according
to some leader’s perverted view. Whether you embrace it with
your heart and soul or you remain inert is a matter of choice.
If life is not working out for you would you accept it for
what is or would you restructure your own reality and recreate
a new path towards your destination? It all goes back to
knowing where you are coming from and where you intend to go
because reality is, after all, a state of mind.

Succinctly
1. What is real to others may not be real to you. Make your
own choices and decisions.
2. Don’t base your reality on something as unreliable as the
five senses. Go beyond that and into something more pro-
found.
3. Spending more time with nature and by yourself will give
you a better sense of reality especially when you are not
bombarded by commercialism, sensationalism and egocentrism.
4. Make things real for yourself because anything is possible
and you don’t have to wait for anyone to do it for you.
5. You would be amazed to find that you are not alone. You are
not insane. And you are not being foolish. Just be con-
scious of your surrounding.

No one is totally sane,
no one is totally insane,
we have to be both
in order to have balance.

When you know you’ve worked so hard all your life and have
nothing to show for it maybe you’re not working on the right
thing. Experience and age doesn’t mean you will progress and
achieve all that you want to, it just means you are growing
older. You have to choose your direction and take the first
step no matter how great or small.

Wherever you are,
however you are,
it is never too late.
But if you insist
that it is,
then you are defeated
by the world’s oldest excuse,
fear.
Not everyone is meant to have greatness
but everyone is meant to be great.
You are always great
in the eyes of those
who love you.

Miscommunication is the art
of blabbering without knowing
what you are talking about.

Everything is senseless
until we make sense of them.

Everyone wants a solution
but few want their problems solved.

You look at people with
your suspicious eyes,
judgmental heart
and narrow mind,
and you ask why
you are stressed out all the time.

If you have never lifted a finger,
used a bit of your gray matter,
or hurt a little
to get what you want,
what makes you so sure
you’ll do it
when you have the time and money?

In the Quietest Moment of an Illuminated Mind
If we consider ourselves valued by what we do in life
that’s how much we are worth. But if what we do give us no
sense of purpose then our value will depreciate as time goes
by and soon there will be nothing left but emptiness and a
whole notion of what we could have been. In the different
environments that we are exposed to people around us would
have already contributed a huge amount of influences according
to the merits we deserve and the credit limits we are entitled
to. This will in turn measure where we stand in the eyes of
the world based on our assets and liabilities, mensa score and
level of acceptance.
Being a best selling author, a world-class celebrity or
sports person, a renowned leader or an eminent business tycoon
may elevate your status from the rest of the world but other
than that what else can glory do for you? In time everything
fades and saturates away no matter how great it was once upon
a time.
If our achievements are meant to please others or to climb
a rung up the ladder to stardom then there’s a greater chance
that we’ll be here today and gone tomorrow. So what do we
do to find a credibility to last us a lifetime? Basically, if
we trust our instinctive nature, we wouldn’t have to worry
about how much we measure up in the eyes of the world. To know
what we are really intended to do we have to come back home
to ourselves and the answers are all there in the quietest
moment of an illuminated mind. The real answers are like a
dormant volcano awaiting the right question to trigger its

indisputable force. Given time and patience, there are more
surprises in ourselves to discover than we believe we possess.
Although we are not always placidly in the midst of a Zen
discernment, unless one chooses a life of total submission to
nature, we can still find time to access our inner being. The
culture of distraction is almost as inevitable as resigning
ourselves to the state of mind we are so used to. Everyday
passes by without a thought if we are set on autopilot, and
once we allow it to go on we might lose ourselves along the
way.
Self-discovery is an act of courage that we seldom see as
life nurturing but it does save a lot of time running around
in circles wondering about how everything else in the universe
spins. The mind set that we have right now may not belong
to us solely especially after getting bludgeoned by outside
regulations and modifications but it doesn’t have to remain
rigid and outmoded. Things change. People change.
At an age where time is pliable and knowledge is accessible
there is nothing that we want that cannot be acquired. You
just have to be responsible for the things you ask for and be
ready to accept the consequences where they are concerned. To
deny yourself of this personal quest is to call it quits and
wait for a slow death in a long walk. What you used to be is a
story as old as the mountains and long gone like legends. What
you are now is more important as you walk into the light or
darkness in the transitioning of another day.
The inner journey is the longest and most gruelling but
getting to know yourself is greater than anything else you can
ever imagine.
Succinctly
1. You can choose to be your own worst enemy or best of
friend. No one can make you hate or love yourself as much
as you can.
2. If you are self destructive there must be a reason why you
hate yourself so much.
3. Confidence, self esteem, self worth can all be reclaimed
even if you lost it or never had it in the first place.
4. If you realize the pattern, people who are nasty are people
who despise themselves so much that they have to take it
out on others.
5. If you started life on the wrong foot you have to take a
step to a new direction if you want to see any improve-
ments.
Blaming someone else for your misery
lasts only for a moment,
after that,
you’re on your own.

The four I’s of blindness:
- inconsiderateness
- irresponsibility
- impatience
- ignorance
There’s a difference between
optimism and ignorance.
One is to never give up
and the other is to always give in.

If you think acting
serious, responsible, mature,
considerate, docile, tolerant,
generous, courteous and wild
come with an age tag,
then there will forever be
generation gaps,
miscommunications
and misunderstandings.
If you’re the kind of person
who gets agitated easily,
it’s not the things or people
around you that make you feel that way.
It’s the turmoil within you that
makes you perceive everything
in a distorted fashion.
Education teaches you to be the best
but ironically conforms you to be average.
They tell you to be like everyone else.
To wear the same clothes,
to think alike,
to work hard for the money,
to accumulate your wealth,
to adhere to culture,
and continue the tradition.
If you accept yourself to be average
everything in your life will be just that.
Your circle of friends,
your loved ones,
your philosophies,
your life
and you future generations.

The Back Seater
watches the world fall apart
from a safe distance
and keeps his hands clean
from involvements, attachments and commitments.

The Noisemaker
is someone who complains a lot,
enjoys exposing other people’s weaknesses,
does not want to find solutions,
so full of himself
and yet so empty inside.

The Sheep
is a follower who has
a low self esteem of himself
and everything around him.
Doesn’t believe in contributing
because he believes he has
nothing to contribute.
Discover your talents,
find out what gifts you have.
You will never know what you can do
until you give it a shot.

The definition of distraction is simple.
You are distracted simply because
you are not happy with what you are doing.
Now the question is...
why are you not happy?

If you are inefficient
you will always be:
running late
getting lost
misplacing things
wasting time
be unproductive
losing your cool
covering up your trail
justifying failure
and instigating others
Wouldn’t it be easier to
solve everything by just being efficient?

Nothing fills up an emptiness
better than
a good understanding
of who you are,
what you are
and what you want to be.

The amount of offence you take
measures how much you hate yourself.

If you are not a good listener,
talk less.
If you are not a keen observer
ignore less.
If you are not a responsible person,
take on less.
If you are not considerate,
instigate less.
If you are not hopeful,
succumb less.
If you are not generous
expect less.
If you are not who you are
complain less
and discover more.

There are three kinds of people in this world:
Those who know.
Those who don’t.
And those who couldn’t be bothered
either or.
There’s a thin line between
being a millionaire
and a million-ass.
You’ll know what you are
when you get there.

If you think you don’t have the patience
think about the time when you were in pain
but now it’s gone.
Think of the time when you wished you were older
so that you could be on your own.
Now you are.
Think about yesterday when someone said or did something
that made you feel so small.
It is over.
Think about the decisions you made.
Right or wrong, good or bad,
you already made them.
If you start something now
and forget about how to reach it,
you would have already completed it.
And you say you don’t have the patience?

One of the reasons
why we hate ourselves
is because
we are pretending
to be someone we’re not,
and that’s why
we’re so disgusted by it.

The worst form of rejection
comes from deep within.
No one can deny you
worse than you can.

If you can name one instant
where you rejuvenated yourself
without the aid of anything or anyone,
you can have a million more
just waiting to be explored.

Being self-righteous
means to only
see with your eyes
which you claim to be from
the god you created
for your convenience.

You are who you are
and you don’t have to be sorry about it.

you know you’re spoilt when:
- you expect everyone else to do the things that you’ll
never do
- you are inconsiderate, impatient and irresponsible
- you feel life owe you big since you had it bad
- you have this rule about being seen with only certain
kinds of people
- you envy someone who has more than you do, which he or she
doesn’t deserve, and you feel it’s not fair
- you make ugly faces at the things that irritate, repel and
disgust you for everyone to notice
- you look at other people’s unfortunate situation and say
‘thank god it’s not me’
- you can’t appreciate a good thing when you see one
- you think people fall into categories they shouldn’t get
out of
- you value things more than people
- you have excuse for everything that you despise
- you are better than anyone else because you think you are
Imagine a world without money.
Where will you go?
What will you do?
Who will you be?
Will you still have dreams?
Do you want to continue doing what you are doing?
Will your values change?
Do you want to remain the same?
Will you be worth anything?

The Journey of a Reluctant Strategist
Plan ahead and strategize but live life as spontaneously as
you can. Planning is the destination; living is the journey.
It’s well and good when we live our lives day to day and
follow where the river flows. But this constant downstream
rush, with an occasional stagnation in puddles and pools, can
sometimes get to us when we see the splash going nowhere but
down. If our lives are a series of cascades flowing down in
descending degrees then life is nothing more than an existence
that plunges over one obstacle after another until it reaches
the end. The idea of going with the flow is usually the case
with most of us. That means to go where the rest of the crowd
are going without instinct or intuition. At first it may seem
logical or practical until we begin to question ourselves
consciously or unconsciously.
This can be a problem if we are not ready to take the
plunge. But if we start with little steps and a well thought
out plan the progress will be gradual and endurable. But then
again, as wise as it may seem to map out life in advance,
things may not always work the way you want them to. It may
differ by only a few marks or it may swing out of tangent from
the intended path. Whatever the case, life usually takes the
lead.
When things go awry, life is simply rerouting us to gather
the things we need to complete our journey. Don’t miss out
on the opportunity by ignoring what may seem insignificant
because every chance that comes your way can be beneficial. If
you spend your time looking at the big picture you might miss
out on the small visions. Everything and everyone is like a
jigsaw piece that is needed to put together what you have been
looking for all your life.
The agitation starts when we want something so bad and
nobody is giving it to us. While some people turn to self-
destruction, others will choose to take without consent.
Either way, when you think about it, will bring everything
to a halt and turn you into that nasty person everyone
wants to talk about. It’s not about other people giving you
opportunities that will only work, it’s about making your own
and pursuing it with faith.
A running river stops for no one. You can drift down like
a flotsam, you can swim in it like a fish or you can maneuver
yourself through like a channel and they all lead to the ocean
in the end. By just merely looking beyond a few steps farther
than where you are, you will be able to avoid deceptions and
distractions that were never there in the first place. And to
make things happen for yourself you can start by avoiding the
journey of a reluctant strategist and start by sorting out
your plans.
Succinctly
1. Just like everything else in life it takes a few tries to
get things right. Sometimes ten, sometimes a hundred.
2. You need not attend a course, have a high IQ or be among
sages to chart your life’s plan. You just need a piece of
paper, a pencil and a vision.
3. Planning a little saves you more time and energy than walk-
ing about listlessly looking for something to do.
4. Planning also helps eliminate boredom.
5. Planning doesn’t mean to go by the book of hard and fast
rules and not allowing any spontaneity and detour when the
moment calls for it.

Never turn a bad thing away
if good can come out of it.

If all the forces are working against you,
the only thing to do is to be calm.
Relate to it,
don’t justify it,
understand it
and drift with it
until you find a solution.

If we allow the rules
of life to govern us,
we will never experience
the laws of attraction.

Managing your days with a must do list
is always easier
than to leave it to chance.
Without that you will
frequently be listless.
You can keep saying
it’s not time
for you to change or evolve,
and you would rather take things
at your own pace;
the only thing is,
how many more paces have you got left
before you surrender and say,
‘It’s too late anyway’?

If your plan doesn’t work out,
then you are not doing something right.
Go back to the drawing board,
restructure,
restrategize,
recall.
If you don’t even plan,
how would you know
where it went wrong?

You don’t have to be a rat
to be in the race,
you can still be very human.

Some people need to be pushed to succeed.
Some people need to be coaxed to succeed.
Some people need to suffer to succeed.
Some people need to feel fear to succeed.
Which one are you?

You have to see the world for what it truly is
and you have to be who you truly are,
that way, no matter what,
you will always be happy wherever you go.

Educating the Innocent Scholar
To be able to start learning something new we have to begin
by getting ourselves ready to go back to being a student. If
we walk into a room with that pseudo wise old adult attitude
of ours, we will get nowhere fast. Knowledge is everywhere
we seek them out. We can learn something from a fallen tree
on the ground or someone’s spoken word, a line we read from
an article or the way an empty stomach cries, the silence of
a vigil or the cacophony of an incredible song. It’s how we
embrace our everyday lives that make it easier or harder for
us to become a willing apprentice. We could spend incalculable
amount of money and time in seminars, courses and sessions
with the greatest speakers and gurus ever bred, but it’s not
going to do us any good if our minds stay below freezing
point. The more we turn away from life’s instructions, the
more we will fear the unknown.
The true education comes not from what a sage or a fool
tells you but how you use that comprehension to lead you out
of your darkness. Anyone can follow the rest of the world
chasing after something that isn’t there but only one with an
inquisitive mind and a restless heart can find meaning to his
existence. Learning the ropes from experienced and successful
people is one of the ways to grasp immediate know-hows about a
specific subject but it still has to be fine tuned according to
your needs. But beware of the con artist who knows a lot about
everything but doesn’t really know anything about something.
To allow yourself to be superficial in many topics of interest
will eventually expose you like a Mister or Miss-know-all who

knew not a thing. Fooling other people about how well-read you
are is simply a waste of time, a loss of self respect and an
act that has no purpose.
The learning process of any discipline is a serious
undertaking if amelioration is on your mind. Things will
always start off difficult and arduous at the beginning but
in the yearning and hungering of your desire, as time goes
by, everything will fall into place as though you never even
lifted a finger. Thus, working smart is about liking what you
do, be curious about what you need, and be passionate about
all your wants. You only work hard when you have no other
choice but to do it for the sake of doing it.
To learn like a child you would have to shed off all stigmas
that are attached to you like mosses that have gathered.
Growing older doesn’t mean you hold a degree in wisdom.
Educating the innocent scholar is a task that calls for open-
mindedness, humility, contemplation and devotion, without
which nothing can be accomplished.
Although much can be extracted from professional masters,
the person next to you may even have a heap full of free
erudition if he is willing to part with. Be a good listener
and you will hear the secrets being revealed to you. Be a
good observer and you will see the signs and messages all
laid out in front of your eyes. Be sensitive and you will
be begin to appreciate everything without having to judge,
justify or discriminate. Don’t be too hasty to reject things
that casually pass you by, you’d be surprised how much you can
learn from even the tinniest and most insignificant thing, and
that is real education.

Succinctly
1. Learning from your mistakes is one way to improve yourself.
But if you repeat it again, no one will be the wiser and
stupid is only as stupid does.
2. A lot of things can be self taught you just have to have
the discipline. Without discipline you can’t even learn
from anyone else.
3. Baby steps is always the way to go. Jumping into a new ven-
ture of educating yourself may start like a conflagration
and end up in smoke.
4. Nothing is truly wasted. Every life’s lessons become steps
that take you to greater heights.
5. Being a teacher and a student is always interchangeable at
different intervals of your life.

Depending on others to make you a better person
goes only as far as your knowledge can take you.

To do anything cleverly
you must first understand it
in all aspects
in order to foresee the problems,
envision the direction
and accept the consequences.
If you know nuts about it, give it up.
Otherwise go to the extend
of knowing every single thing
there is to know before you begin.

If you don’t want to do something
- leave it.
Don’t throw a tantrum,
make a ruckus,
drop a sarcasm,
or dramatize the situation
just to get attention
for your pitiful yourself.
You’re not making yourself
look any smarter.

If someone wants to
cheat you,
anger you,
find fault with you,
just let him.
He can only do as many times
as you allow him to.
In the end,
false prophets,
bias judges and
mindless fools
are all that they are.
You don’t have to
turn yourself into one of them.

Boredom is not the end
but the beginning
of a creative journey
to discover life.
It is better to cry while doing something good
than to cry of self-pity.

If you are running
a business,
a career
or your life
at a loss,
you better wake up to stop this
arrogant,
presumptuous
and narcissistic
mannerism of yours
and listen to reason.
But if you are adamant
to the point of being blinded
that’s your own egoistic downfall,
don’t drag anyone in with you.

Be good at what you do.
Not 10%. Not 50%.
But 100% of your best time, energy and spirit.
If you still feel what you are doing is a waste of time,
then whatever you are doing is not right for you.

If your life is based on
distinguishing what is good
and what is bad all the time,
chances are,
you will never know the difference.

We must always remember
that the pie we will have to eat someday
is going to be tasteless,
unappetizing
and downright agonizing.
What better time
to eat a little now
than to force mouthfuls of humility
down our throats later.

Imagine happiness
and you will have joy.
Imagine love
and you will be showered with affection.
Imagine freedom
and you will stand on independent ground.
Imagine success
and you will achieve glory.
Imagine hope
and you will have faith.
Imagine equality
and you will be charitable.
Imagine taking the first step,
and you will have your reality.

The mind is a fantastic library.
Spend some time going through the
periodicals, journals and letters.
You’re bound to find some answers.

When a problem comes to you,
after you’ve tried all ways to solve it
but it still doesn’t work,
walk away.
Life is showing you one of two things.
To iron out the issue,
or to take a different route.

If you see a difficulty as a problem
then it will always be a problem to you.
But if you see it as a challenge
the solution will
always be at hand.
There are signs everywhere
if you wish to see it
and wish to make something of it.
Just be conscious.
An unsuccessful man’s rants
are always the same.
- I can’t do it
- If only I could
- I don’t know how
- Why me?
- Why not me?
- Maybe someday
- I don’t care
- That’s who I am
- It doesn’t concern me
- I’ll deal with it when I come to that stage
- I’m not interested
- Be realistic
- I don’t stand a chance
- I prefer to go with the flow

If you are that kind of a person
waiting for a promotion,
waiting for a raise,
waiting for a bigger bonus,
waiting for recognition,
you will be
one of those people in the world
who is always waiting.

Nothing is wasted,
salvage.
Nothing is wasted
if you don’t want it to be.

You can only win
when you are ready to lose.

Chasing the Wild and Nameless Wind
To go after what you want most in life is like chasing the
nameless wind. You can’t catch it or embrace it. Although
you can’t see it you know it’s not an illusion. You can feel
it all over you, like a powerful force or a gentle caress.
Sometimes it blows away altogether and you know it will be
back. But if you lose your imagination for it you might never
feel it again. Finding ways and means to pursue your dreams is
an act of faith. You will have to withstand the worst weathers
on top of the aggravation you get from all other sources. One
of the main reasons people give up is the fear of failure. On
this road of life, there are millions waiting at the side to
tell you it’s a fallacy to go after something you strongly
believe in because they have been shaken up to this reality
that tells them so. But this reality that they talk so much
about is also tainted with vanity and megalomania. They would
rather discontinue their journey and douse themselves with
manufactured splendor than to struggle to find the missing link
in their lives.
A lot of things may seem senseless at some point of your
life until you try and make some sense of them. If you
leave it to chance, chances are, you will never truly know.
Something that drives us to make decisions and taking risks
without knowing the facts and figures can be an intuition. A
gut feeling. An instinct. Or even foolishness. It’s up to you
to distinguish what is what because in the end you can’t hide
from your own true intention.
To keep on track, as though you’re chasing the last train

home, you have to build up your stamina to plough through
every single obstruction that can cripple you one way or the
other. Determination can be an ugly word when you are not at
peace with what you are doing. Half way through this journey
you may have doubts and disorientation at the crossroad. But
it is not to say that we have to give up our preposterous idea
of a dream. Another byway may actually open up to take us to
a new edification that might help affirm our quest, or it might
also reveal to us what our true desires are from our original
purpose when we first started the adventure.
While this dreary road is a solitary expedition, there
is no reason why elation should be denounced. To go on this
pursuit we don’t have to engage ourselves in the vow of
silence, poverty or chastity, unless of course if we want to
by choice. The people and things around us are all connected
through mental, emotional or spiritual links and it would be
irrational to shut them out when they are the very ones who
are our teachers. Once in a while you might get to feel a
breath of fresh air, or a light zephyr brushing through your
hair; these are intimate gestures to remind you that what
you cannot see doesn’t mean they are not there and what you
believe in will always be true to you. You can still try and
identify it or give it a name, but what good is it when you
know a rose by any other name will smell just as sweet?

Succinctly
1. If you think your existence can only be proven by a piece
of paper then that is your only pursuit in life.
2. Going after something you love is the second longest jour-
ney you will ever have to take but you and I know that it
is going to be worth it in the end.
3. The first longest journey is to find out who you are, what
you want and what you are meant to be. Your pursuit will
only be clear when you know.
4. It takes a lot of courage to go after something that you
have no idea if it is the right thing or if it can work.
5. The best way to know if what you are pursuing is what you
truly want is to measure it against gain and glory or fame
and fortune. If you have none of those will it still mat-
ter?
When you’re ready for success
all the elements of the world
will help propel you to the right direction.

There is nothing wrong in pursuing
fame and fortune.
But if you lose yourself
along the way,
would it be worth all the money
and all the publicity
that made you who you’re not?

It’s not how much you read
and it’s not how much you know.
It’s how much you do
or don’t that matters.

You can keep on chasing
the success you hunger for.
But it’s the people and moments
you left behind
and missed along the way
that will make a difference.

People want to be mediocre
because they don’t want to do
great things that involve
creative thinking,
risk taking
and to be a target for criticism.
They prefer to be
on the safer side.

If money is all you seek,
money is all you get,
so don’t complain.
The people you despise
are your driving force to succeed.
The people you love
are your inspiration to overcome.

One of the things
people are afraid of
is to admit defeat.
Pride plays such an
important role
that people forget
it’s okay to lose sometimes.

The man who pursues
is the man who gets.

There comes a time
when you just need to shut up
and do it.
Your subconscious holds more information
than you think you know.

If a man can help someone be successful,
a man can also make someone be unsuccessful.

You can only see what’s up ahead
if there is nothing beside you.

The Worries of a Venerable Warrior
And then the time comes around when you feel like you’re
burning out. It’s too much. You want to just get away from
everyone and everything, but you won’t give in, or at least
not yet. So how do you survive this onslaught? How do you
recharge and not have to carry the worries of a venerable
warrior to dramatize your anxiety? There are as many ways to
unwind as there are types of therapeutic remedies. Anything
that you do in a congenial setting for your body, mind and
soul has healing qualities that can rejuvenate you back into
shape. A simple walk in the park, needlework, handcrafts,
painting for pleasure, writing, cooking, car washing are
just some of the simple activities to perform without much
complication.
Other forms of restorative solutions can include meditation,
prayers or various holistic approaches. All of them have one
central focus in common, which is to nurture us back to our
catharsis. Nature, on the other hand, has always been an
inherent source of providing energy, in whatever forms they
may be, and it has much more to offer in terms of therapeutic
supplements. Resting under the shady foliages of a tree,
cooling down in a stream of icy water, or observing its
unique network of life are some excellent ways to loosen up
and just relax. Even a tiny plot of garden is bustling with
activities for us to discover or enhance if we have the green
thumb for it. If that is not your predilection perhaps other
forms of light entertainment can also alleviate you in your
time of angst. Music and movies have a great deal of influence

on us more than we realize. By watching an uplifting movie
or listening to an edifying song it can help us liberate our
moments of fear and solicitude. We can even go to the extend
of playing musical instruments to soothe our apprehensions
while we’re at it. All these resolutions are a matter of being
able to take time off from the reality, which we are subjected
to live in, until we find our own space and time. There is no
need to cower from the rest of the world because it doesn’t
appeal to us and the journey of the warrior is a treacherous
one masqueraded with abstractions.
In dreams, our subconscious unveils our secret lives and
hidden sensations but they are also answers to the many
questions we ask. If our worries are unfounded it is better
to discard them while we can before they accumulate into
something that which cannot be controlled. The troubles in
our heads are most of the time extrinsic and superfluous. They
serve no purpose whatsoever but to bog us down with the many
concerns of unpredictability of future events. The more one
thinks about the ‘what ifs’ and be afraid of it, the more our
time will slip away through our fingers. This kind of anguish
that we attach ourselves to will only cause more panic and
desperation. When we give ourselves in to such dramatization
we will only get disoriented and end up making erratic
decisions even on the simplest of things.
Perhaps you might claim that you never wanted to be a
warrior in the first place, but by nature we all are in our
timid or valiant ways. The moment you disrobe yourself from
being a warrior you would have already given up the fight.
And the fight is not the war with outside forces, which you
feel are devastating your existence, but the battle that you
struggle with within so that you can bring out only the best
in yourself.
Succinctly
1. Depression is made worse with your guilt or anger from un-
resolved issues of the past.
2. If you find yourself burning out fast like a candle, the
only thing to do is to find another source of energy or find
that kind of fire that never burns out.
3. Worrying about a whole lot of things can be reduced by dis-
connecting what is unnecessary in your life.
4. When you feel like giving up look out for the little mir-
acles that come your way. They are the ones that will keep
you going.
5. Your frustrations with the world can make you cynical, sus-
picious and unbearable. Find your way out of this recurring
vicious cycle. Making it hard for yourself will get you no-
where.
It is easier
for you to achieve anything
if you have
the mind of a warrior,
the heart of a adventurer,
and the soul of a seeker.

Our body is nothing more
than a form of restriction.
We judge everything by the way someone
looks, feels and appeals to us.
But if you can live life beyond this limitation,
you can do anything.

Adaptability takes you to distances
you can’t imagine possible.

There will come a time when
you will grow old,
you will take second place,
you will bow to the younger generation,
and you will take a back seat.
Are you prepared for it?

Everyone has a self destructive mode.
We can either choose
to activate it,
let it lie dormant until the end of days
or
defuse it.
When you are confused,
when you are uncertain,
take time off to be alone.
Be one with nature.
A calm moment
of pensive thoughts
can reveal more things to you
faster than unnecessary distractions.

The world is evolving
if you look at it positively,
the world is ending
if you look at it negatively.

When you believe that everything is connected
you will trust your instincts like a child.

Life gets you where you want it to go.
Let it go, don’t hold back.

It’s about asking the right question.
Instead of asking ‘why me?’
one should ask
‘what do I want from this?’

To recognize the upside
you have to know the downside.

Sustaining that Losing Luster
When you have come to the end of your dream or quest or
mission, what next? Do you throw in the towel and say my
job’s done and you get ready to retire? It could be a very
self destructive act if the idea of retiring means to stop
functioning, and something stops functioning only when it’s
broken. A warrior’s journey does not end even after the battle
is over. As we step up onto the next level of life, there will
always be newer things to look forward to and more ideals to
embrace. Living is an on going process despite what we do in
the little corners of our world. It doesn’t have to be a mind-
boggling project or a life changing event that we have to
perform to make us who we are, it could be something small to
endorse us throughout the journey of life. Anyone can make it
big if the passion is strong, but after the biggest show on
earth we still have to go back to where we came from and to
who we truly are. Will that be sufficient to sustain us for the
rest of our lives? The completion is almost too easy compared
to the maintenance which is hardest to upkeep.
Through rough use and daily routines we become immune to
the fact that everything breaks down sooner or later, even us.
As we all know, giving care to what we treasure can prolong
the durability of its lifespan. But how does one extend the
shelf life of the human kind? First of all, health is one of
the utmost important features of a person to determine his
will to fight the fight or go with the flow. By understanding
your own appetite for survival you will naturally find ways and
means to proceed to making things happen for yourself; like

starting a new venture or project, or taking up challenges
that have values and significance to you. But if you are lost
for ideas or stamina, start by doing something that which your
heart desires. Perhaps something that you’ve always wanted to
do but never had the time, patience or finance to do it. Even
pottering around a garden to germinate life is worth more than
most menial tasks.
The whole idea is to persevere in life and not keep it on
a short-term lease. A lot of us rush through half our lives
chasing the wild and restless wind and then we all stop when
the wind dies down. When everything comes to a stand still,
events and experiences that had made us great or celebrated
slips away like a forgotten dream. Sustaining the losing
luster is an on going performance to feel alive again. To
allow our ego to tell us we have sufficiently improved and are
abundantly learned will do nothing but smother our existence.
By the world’s standards, the ineffective and unproductive
will always be cast aside and ignored. But a lot of us fail
to realize that nothing is really broken, everything can be
repaired but no one wants to take the trouble. Age doesn’t
break a person down but the idea of aging does. So is the idea
of the ego who could never compromise.
If we are able to accept change and the fluctuating rhythm
of our lives we can ride through the waves with more ease and
calm. Knowing that our prominence in the eyes of society is a
brief encounter will also prepare us for the sudden paradigm
shift so we won’t be lost among the misplaced generation.
There will come a time when we have to stop asking ourselves
where we are going and just keep on going as long as we can.

If whatever you are doing now is of no importance to anyone
else except your big boss who is raking in the goodies,
then how much more important will you be when you become
negligible?
Succinctly
1. Everyone grows old some day and if you forget that you may
end up hating the things that are about to come.
2. Prepare yourself for the long haul. Whatever you do now
will only show when you grow older.
3. Youth never goes away. The child in you will always want
what you want and love what you love.
4. Applying revitalizing products on your skin will make no
difference if you are bitter, old and angry inside.
5. If you love something you will always keep it brilliant and
shiny, so why not yourself?

Never be afraid to ask.
You will know what you want
and what you need
when you are awaken.
But you must be willing
to hear the answer.

When you’re both arguing all the time
isn’t it obvious you need
the space and time
to be apart?
A little distance
between two intimate people
can sometimes be the best remedy.

Friends go out to have fun,
lovers go out to discover
and spouses just go out.
If you can be all three
to each other,
wouldn’t you have more reasons
to be together?
Life should be filled
with little celebrations ... always.
Not when the calendar tells you to,
not when someone insists on it,
not when you have the means,
not when you’re lonely,
and most of all,
not when you need to.

Don’t fool yourself,
you’re the best con artist
you’ll ever meet.

Take a day off if you feel
your life falling apart.
Breathe.
Smile.
Live.
Appreciate.
Let go.
If your life is falling apart
it’s because other things need to fall into place.

Wanting to start a family
is not like buying a pet.
Other than being responsible,
loving,
protective
and
committed
you can’t just drop it
by the roadside and hope it survives.

I like to be with people
who are happy with their successes,
who need no excuses for them,
and are appreciative
of all things large or small.

How to make a beautiful day ...
Be quiet if you’ve got nothing good to say
Look at the clouds and skies and watch the rain
Look at the trees shadowing the sun
Avoid listening to hurtful nonsense
Close your eyes and breathe deeply
Have a fresh fruit or vegetable juice
Caffeine and nicotine less
Do a little side stepping while you’re showering
Think of something positive to do for the day
Watch the tree tops dancing in the breeze
Read a beautiful verse or line or quotation
Eat less
Notice something different in your everyday routine
Keep away from the papers
Complain less
Harbor less anger
Listen to songs that make you happy
Take matters into your own hands
Reminisce on a joyful thought and smile
Think of someone who loves you for who you are
Remember love can overcome,
truth shall prevail
and patience will get you everything, every time.

If you are so easily swayed
by dynamic speeches,
harangue sermons,
and mystical messages,
you may never hear
what your inner voice sounds like.

Love between two people
can only be understood by them
no one else should interfere.

If you need to justify someone’s character
by defending his qualities
then something is terribly wrong with this person.

Keywords that will take you far, or at least one step further:
In the mean time
In your pursuit for happiness, wealth, fame and greatness,
what are you doing about now. In the meantime, are you doing
everything you can to make life work?
Everything and everyone is connected
Whatever you say or do or decide affects the future in small
or large doses. For every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction
Karma or what goes around comes around
Like a boomerang, what you swing out swings back
There’s a reason for everything
If you can see beyond your current state of affair, you will
know that what is happening to you now will have a consequence
later which will serve as a guide post
Read the signs
Life has nothing to hide. It shows you everything if you are a
keen observer
Ask the right question
We only ask ‘why?’ but not ‘why not?’
Nothing is a coincidence, nothing is random
They are only because we arranged them that way

Laws of attraction
The simple truth is, we attract what we want
Trust your instincts
Your five senses may present to you a distorted picture but
your sixth sense will tell it like it is
Everything vibrates at molecular level
In other words we are all the same. From single cell organisms
to nature to the universe.
Letting go
Whatever that is troubling you. Whatever anger, resentment,
grudge you are holding back, if you let it all go, you will
lose nothing but a bunch of worries you never needed in the
first place.
Be in control
The best we can do for ourselves is to be in control of what
we can and not lose it on what we can’t.

Have compassion, not sympathy
Have faith, not ignorance
Have truth, not denial
Have sincerity, not suspicion
Above all have love, not conditions

If you are at peace with yourself
nothing really bothers you.
If you are not at peace with yourself
the weather will be against you,
the environment will not suit you,
the world will be upside down
and the entire nation will have a bone to pick with you.
Even husbands and wives
should have separate time out rooms
for the simple fact that
everyone needs their own privacy.

When parents punish a child
to teach him right from wrong,
does the child have the right
to punish their parents
and teach them the same thing
when he grows up?

If you think retirement is when
you stop working completely,
start enjoying vacations immensely
and take long uninterrupted hours
doing nothing,
don’t you think
growing old is
simply devastating?
A man who believes he has succeeded
without the help of anyone
has never truly been alone.
A man who believes he has succeeded
because of the help of everyone
is afraid of being alone.

To have a long lasting relationship
both parties must be successful
in the own right.
For an unhappy, defeated person
to lean on the other is a burden
that will devour
even the good things between them.

If you are lethargic and jaded now
imagine what you will be
in ten years time.

Family is not people you live with
under the same roof.
They are not bloodline
that flows through yours.
It’s the people you take into
your heart that makes a true family.

You can only see victory
if you never give up.

Simplifying the Spirit Within
If we insist that life is never that simple there will
always be responsibilities, commitments, obligations and a
whole volume of do’s and don’ts to get by everyday. If life
is not that simple what about death? Does it end all the
complications in the instant that we die? If it does then our
entire life would be such a shame and such a sham to culminate
to something so mundane don’t you think?
Why does life have to be complex in the first place? We
could regard quantum physics as bewildering or we could take
love as something paradoxical and unfathomable. This, again,
brings us back to how we perceive or make our own reality. If
we entangle it with sophisticated doctrines and labyrinthine
theorems, we would never hear the end of it no matter how we
try. Yes, life may be a struggle but it doesn’t have to be an
incarceration laden with guilt, torment and anguish. The need
for one generation to pass on the inconsequential suffering to
the next should not be entertained anymore. To recreate a war
for the younger generation to experience is undeniably absurd
and this will only perpetuate the distorted hypothesis of
segregation. The time we spend to unravel the intricacies of
being human has taken too much energy away from us. It’s time
to walk away and begin the process of simplifying the spirit
within if we want a life that is beneficial and sensible.
Life has so many wonders that we sometimes just want to
grab everything we see and claim them to be ours the moment we
get the chance. But being the forgetful beings that we are,
everything will lose its glamour once we see glitter on other

newest attractions. There are so many areas we could look into
to simplify our lives. It could be the ostentatious fashion
we are bestowed with or the extravagant cuisine we dine in or
even the flamboyant life extraordinaire we are so used to. By
prioritizing we don’t have to go to the extend of being frugal
and be poverty driven. It just has to be simple. And it’s
our choice to know how far it goes so as not to oversimplify
and adopt the excuse for being randomly inconsiderate. One
of the easiest ways to balance our needs is to disconnect
ourselves from mind numbing games people play and envision our
future with a clear conscience. You can beat the system. You
can reorganize your strategy. You can do whatever the world
doesn’t tell you to do. And the least you can do for yourself
is to trust your natural impulses.
The moment you can see things for its simplicity, you will
never again be bored of the little, the much or the none,
from a global perspective or a personal point on view. As
you approach the end of your journey, you will realize the
less baggage you have the better for you to carry on. With
needless distractions, undesirable habits, trivial affairs and
precarious assumptions you picked up on along the way perhaps
its time to molt and begin metamorphosing. The heavier your
load becomes the harder everything will seem. Make things easy
for yourself and you will make things easy on yourself. After
all, wherever you are going from here, you will need nothing
else but your own truth, belief system, flaws, faults and
faith. And that itself is already quite a load.

Succinctly
1. The simpler your needs become, the simpler your life will
be.
2. When you think about it ‘luxury’ makes everything compli-
cated. From your relationships to your desires to your ca-
reer to the very core of your existence.
3. The funny thing about people is they know eating well is
good for them but they still want to indulge in rich and
expensive food where they still have to pay for it later.
4. If you think having a simple life is for the simpleminded
then you will never get out of the ramifications you already
trapped yourself in.
5. Look around your self-claimed territory and you will real-
ize how simple or complicated your life is.

If you keep reminding yourself
of a good time way back when
you will never enjoy future moments that are to come.

Everyone wants their lives to be
complicated and full of drama
because they believe
having a simple life
constitutes lack of ambition.

If you don’t have any buttons
for others to push
you would always walk away
a happy person.
There are only so many scenarios
the way our lives could wind up in.
Whether you are
the control freak,
the lame loser,
the raging rebel,
the indifferent individual,
the cunning conniver,
or the peaceful warrior,
you would already know
how it is going to turn out to be,
unless you decide to give it a twist.

As long as there are
battle of the sexes,
there will always be casualties.

All the beauty in the world
will do no good
if love is hidden in the shadows.

You have to look at the big picture of life
and remember it’s the small things
that make it up that way.

It’s the little things that count.
It’s the way you stub your cigarette on the floor,
it’s the way you discard
a piece of paper, a plastic, or thrash.
It’s the way you react
or maybe it’s the way you act.
It’s the way you count your money,
or maybe it’s the way you make your money count.
It’s the way you spend time with good company,
or maybe it’s the way you are good company with your time.
It’s the way you watch TV,
or maybe it’s just the way the TV watches you.
It’s the way you forward emails,
or maybe just the way you write a mail.
It’s the way you accumulate contacts,
or maybe it’s just the way you make real friends.
It’s the way you talk about the ‘shoulds’
of should be done,
or maybe it’s just the way you do things
without the ‘don’ts’.
It’s the way you skim through things
and walk in darkness,
or maybe it’s just the way
you talk of dreams
and see the light.
And all these little stuff
are the ones that will make a big picture.
It will turn out the way you piece them together.

You can choose to blame
the full moon,
your bodily functions
age, gender and ethnicity
or even the painful past,
your distraught present
and indecisive future
for being the way you are.
But if you can ride over them,
even if they were true,
you would be unique
because you are beyond influence.

Life is boring
only when you are

The more you deny something that is true
the more idiotic you become.

If you listen to what everyone says
all the time
you will be reduced to nothing
but another speck of dust
underneath their shoes.
If you don’t listen to what people
have to say at anytime
you are still a speck of dust
floating in the haze.
But if you listen and then
think for yourself instead
then you will be the dust collector
who knows how to clean up the dirt
everyone else left behind.

Sometimes, people who
disrespect you,
make life difficult for you,
are a thorn in your side,
obnoxious in every way,
are the ones doing you a favor.

If everyone is equal,
why do we need a leader then?

Everyone has equal opportunity
to do anything they want.
Some want to be nasty,
some want to suffer,
some want to stay poor,
while others want to succeed.

Equality is meant for everyone
but not everyone wants to be an equal.

Change
is a two way street.
It goes back and forth.
Evolution
is only one direction
that goes a full circle.

If you need to explain yourself
to someone you love
then it’s not even love
in the first place.

If your family’s concept is based on scarcity
you will always have too little
If your family’s concept is based on abundance
you will always have too much
If your family’s concept is based on principles
you will always feel obligated
If your family’s concept is based on being carefree
you will always feel neglected
If your family’s concept is based on love
you will always parallel it with hate
If your family’s concept is based on insecurity
you will always be afraid
If your family’s concept is based on status
you will always be pretentious
for there is not one guiding post that can balance itself
in any form without the other.

Everyone grows up trying to make
the other feel bad about himself/herself.
It’s how we begin life.
By being judgmental.
But once we step out of that tradition
we will see that it needn’t be so.
But the hardest part is
the stepping out.

When your end draws near
would you be able to say
‘it was one hell of a fight!’
or would you regretfully imagine
what it would have been like.

Who are we to forgive
when we are no better or worse
than anyone else.

A self righteous person
has a lot to say
when he is doing good,
but a wise and sincere person
does good without having
to say a single word.

The saddest thing is
when you don’t know
how to do the smallest of things
to harvest the greatest of results.

Your greatness is judged only by others.
If you were marooned
on a deserted island,
your greatness would make no difference
to a monkey or a coconut tree
because nature is unbiased
to what or who you are.

If you grow old prematurely:
- you become cynical. You will think that things will never
change for the better, people will always be their same
sorry self, the world is a terrible place to be in and there
is nothing you can do about it.
- you hang on to the ‘used to be’ because you don’t progress
and evolve with time. You will always focus on how things
used to be much better when you were younger and you refuse
to accept everything that is here today, and you want things
to go back to what they were because they were good for you,
or at least you think so.
- you will feel as though you have lost a wonderful
opportunity in the past without giving anything a chance now
because you are too tired to start all over again. You would
rather sit and brood about what you could have been.
- you envy the younger generation because they have better
and more convenient lifestyles that is problem free, and you
fail to realize problems also come in different forms.
In the first place, no one needs to grow old.

We need
routines and rituals,
obligations and commitments,
rules and regulations
to run our lives.
Without these programs
we are handicapped.
How are we ever going to evolve?

In the end nothing really matters,
whether one is consumed by cancer,
gets jilted by a lover,
won a lottery,
made the headlines,
won a battle
or
dies alone in a dingy little room.
It all comes back
to one single question,
‘were you happy with how
you managed your life’

Every once in a while
it is always good to go back
to the roots of humility.

Your intentions are what makes
a situation, an action or an idea
positive or negative.
When you are truly sincere
you don’t need to justify yourself
to anyone,
at anytime,
for anything.
if your top priority is money, you will always be afraid, in
debt and trying to make ends meet
if your top priority is love, you will always be selfish,
obsessed and hurt
if your top priority is yourself, you will always be lonely,
frustrated and disoriented
if your top priority is beauty, you will always be
superficial, artificial and inconsequential
if your top priority is blind faith, you will always be
distracted, guilty and judgmental
if your top priority is leisure, you will always be
dissatisfied, angry and empty
if you don’t believe in having priorities you will always be
lost, aimless and sorry
if your allow priorities to change with time and open your
eyes you will know what to do
and if you know priority is not an obsession or an
obligation you will live life they way you’ve always wanted
it to be.
And you will be happy with the people and things surrounding
you because you know in the end life is about living and not
just a set of priorities

Getting married
is such a fine and dandy idea.
It’s like a fairy tale with a happy ending.
One can be assured of
a long term companionship,
have a secured contract for everlasting love,
be able to share each other’s burden,
be able to create a lineage of generations
be able keep the tradition going for the sake of all mankind,
be ensured that there is regular
copulation rituals as and when it is needed.
It will also eradicate
the empty place of your heart
that is borne out of loneliness,
and there is a great sense of adventure to embark on
so that you can be at par with everyone else who is doing it
so you won’t get left behind.
There are a lot of compromises and sacrifices
in a relationship,
are you ready to get none of the above?

Nothing is random.
Everything we do is planned
consciously or subconsciously.
To understand what patience is
pick up a pen and write,
pick up a pencil and draw,
and pick up a brush and paint.
If the end result satisfies you
then you’ll know how much of patience you have.

The time has come for us
to realize we can optimize
our ability in shorter hours
than spend an entire day
wishing that we could.

If you are sincere
truth will reveal itself to you
everywhere you go.

There are three kinds of people in this world.
Those who casts stones,
those who turn away
and those who get hit.
Which one are you?

Anyone who can take a vow of silence
for just one day
will achieve more than he ever could
in a lifetime of loquacity.
You will never know the whole truth
because no one will ever tell you
everything you want to know.

End of Daze, Begin to Amaze
Once the celebration is over there are usually tons of scrap
and waste left behind for someone else to clean up after.
This simple tradition has been going on for as long as mankind
has been around. Everyone wants to party but no one wants
to tidy up because we feel someone else should do the dirty
job. But the truth of the matter is, there won’t always be
someone around to do it. If everyone refuses to do their part
and consider some things beneath them then where would the
human species be? The idea of ‘every man for himself’ doesn’t
apply anymore in this age and time. We know, from the past and
through experiences, that whatever we do now will affect what
is to come. Being unawakened is like being a spoilt brat or a
conditioned zombie. You don’t know what is going on most of
the time because you choose to be ignorant and you don’t care
who cleans up your shit because you can afford to leave it
all around. But time will catch up with you. And so will your
conscience. Allowing yourself to continually be preoccupied
with a set routine of distractions will only prolong and make
matters worse for yourself. If there’s a restlessness in you
that cannot be satiated or when your perfect world suddenly
feels a little cramp, this is the sign that is prodding you to
get ready for change. If you choose not to be ready you may be
swept away and drown in the tidal wave of the awakening.
The time has come for you to end of daze, begin to amaze.
Each time you take from someone or something, there will be
a time to give back or return in kind. And you know this,
whenever you feel a sense of unfulfillment or dissatisfaction,

it is not about accumulating more things to complicate your
life with. It is the ironic condition of giving away or giving
back that will clear your path to your destination. If you
have taken with respect and kindness you will be given back
the same. If you have taken with force and inconsideration,
you will get what you deserve. You can sit in your glow of
enlightenment but it will not light up even the darkest of
night if no one is affected by it.
If you arrived here by chance it is harder for you to see
how the big picture was made. But going through the motion of
trials and tribulations doesn’t have to make you a bitter and
worn out person either. It is not always about you, you and
you. When you take a step out and look beyond the valley of
your home brewed misery you will see that there is a lot more
to life than just your ego trying out assorted problems for
size.
Moving forward with a new and better understanding about
the world around us will lead us to options with a grander
dimension. There are some people who want this life to be as
miserable as possible and there are those who just want to
celebrate it to the fullest while they can. At a molecular
level, everything vibrates. Nothing stays still or remain
stagnant. What about your life?
Without a prejudicial mind and a discriminatory heart your
soul will embrace other people’s fire and nature’s abundance
with love. While only a small crowd of people in this world
want to take, plunder and steal every chance they get there is
also other people who want to contribute back their compassion
and passion to make this world a remarkable home.

Succinctly
1. If you don’t give back voluntarily to complete the cycle
after taking something you may have to pay back later in a
more inconvenient manner.
2. A lot of people like to share their troubles but not their
possessions. But the thing is, the more open you are to
sharing the more stress free your life will be.
3. Joy is only infectious if you leave them behind wherever
you go.
4. Set yourself free, in mind, body and spirit, from self de-
structive habits and antagonizing harm and everything else
will fall into place.
5. How miserable is that when you like only a few things in
life?
Feeding your Ego will only get you constipated.

10 most difficult things to do in life:
1. to forgive sincerely
2. to accept the truth humbly
3. to give generously
4. to love unconditionally
5. to believe in ourselves faithfully
6. to abstain willingly
7. to nurture confidence positively
8. to take control of situations calmly
9. to discipline ourselves consistently
10. to understand non judgmentally

Some people behave as though
they own the world.
But how many are actually
doing something about it
to make it better place?

No one is born bad.
They just get sidetracked and distracted
along the way
and become everything
they are not meant to be.

You can ignore something and say
‘it doesn’t concern me’
but you must remember
that everything in this world
is connected by an unseen force
that will affect you sooner or later.

Many of us like to admire
new inventions, creations,
technologies, and ideologies.
But how many of us would turn around and say,
‘I would like to contribute my skills,
talents, strength, love or passion
to make it better?
Everything can be turned into something
if you have the patience to endure it
and the will to believe it.

Guidance and compassion is more effective
than accusation and punishment.

When you truly want to help someone
you have to allow him
to turn out the way he wants to.

It is not how long that you live that matters
it is how richly that you did.

The world may seem
like a horrible place
at times,
but that’s what people say
when they want to avoid
contributing their
love, time and energy.

Both men and women
have equal amount of
deep seated emotions
and personal demons.
It’s the way they handle them
that distinguishes
masculinity and femininity.

Everyone knows they will die someday.
What made them
great or mediocre,
wealthy or poor,
ecstatic or miserable
will eventually end.
And yet only a handful
want to believe
that they are mortal.

What’s the difference between
having an idea that will
eliminate poverty,
improve living conditions
and preserve the environment
and an idea that will make you
abundantly rich beyond your imagination?

Why do we allow sociopaths
to ruin our country,
run our lives,
dictate our future,
then complain about it
and continue to let it happen?

If everyone uses their thinking power
to solve one problem at a time,
imagine what the world would be like.

There are people who go all out
to make the world a better place
and there are people who just want
to make it bad in every way.
If there is a Utopia
who shall we bring?

It’s what you wanted.
You chose this life.
No matter how difficult it must seem now
you must try to remember why you chose this life.
Before time,
before you were even born,
you already knew you chose this life
because you wanted something out of it.
All you have to do is to try and remember
why you chose it and then go on with your life.
You will achieve nothing and feel nothing
if you choose to forget.
Once you can overcome this fear,
you will be able to
understand the situation,
unravel the complexities,
endure unbearable pain,
realize your dream
and love beyond limitations
and you will be among those who know.

Once you see everyone as your equal
you will never be
too arrogant
or too humble.
Expectations make us who we’re not.

The Birth of the 5E Principles
While teaching numerous students from all kinds of back-
grounds and various levels of abilities I realized there was
some kind of a pattern or methodology that worked very well
for everyone in general. After fiddling with words to describe
my chance discovery I came up with the 5E Principles, which is
not a hard and fast rule about everything but more of a guide-
line, that can be applied in almost anything and everything.
When a fresh student steps into a classroom I remember I
used a lot of scare tactics to put them in their place. I was
told from the very beginning that this would help curb any de-
viants from getting to be too smart. After a long ritual of
instilling fear on my students I began to step back a little
and knew it was not something I personally liked doing. Time
after time I gauged students who came in with different de-
grees of self confidence. Some, with as little as none, some
with a bagful of them. And it is through a lot of trials and
errors, and after about 15 years of teaching my students are
the ones who enabled me to figure out more about life than
I knew ever how. From the simple lesson of learning how to
smile and relax to the complex didactics about life itself,
they gave me the chance to gather my confidence and courage to
set my own life straight. Every bit of their energy became my
strength and ability to put these words together.
These guidelines employ the same function in projects that
ranges from art to self taught education, relationships to
personal journeys and any other kinds of endeavors if you know
how to apply it.

The 5E Principles
The 1st E - Express
The 2nd E - Explore
The 3rd E - Establish
The 4th E - Execute
The 5th E - Esthetic

The 1st Principle - Express

Get in touch with yourself by expressing through
art, music, performance or any other ways to find out
what is it that you want and who you really want to be.
The 2nd Principle - Explore

Experiment, examine and explore your way
to new discoveries to widen your scope and perspective.
You will never know what suits you or is compatible
until you try it.
The 3rd Principle - Establish

Find a focus and learn by observing everything around.
Determine your strength and weakness
but know that they are interchangeable.
They can be very powerful tools
for construction or destruction.
The 4th Principle - Execute

Compose your life with a strategy, a plot, a goal,
an aim, an objective or direction.
Challenge the norm and question life.
The 5th Principle - Esthetics

Once you learn how to communicate all of the above
it will be easier to generate
new ideas and appreciate diversity.
As this project or event draws to a close,
restart from the very beginning.
Suggested reading:
1. Future Shock (and the rest) Alvin Toffler
2. The Celestine Prophecy James Redfield
3. The Alchemist (and many more) Paulo Choelho
4. The New Revelations Neale Donald Walsch
5. The Invitation Oriah Mountain Dreamer
6. Dear Animals: We are sorry Shira Tamir
7. The Lesson of the Moth Don Marquis
Suggested viewing:
1. The Story of Stuff (http://www.storyofstuff.com)
Anne Leonard
2. http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/ Nick Vujicic
3. Cinema Paradiso Giuseppe Tornatore
4. Mr. Nobody Jaco Van Dormael
5. Collection of David Attenborough
6. The Girl who lives in the Dark Luke Campbell
7. The Age of Stupid Franny Armstrong
8. Earthlings (if you’ve got the guts) Shaun Monson
9. Revolutionary Road Sam Mendes
10. Pane e Tulipani Silvio Soldini
11. Casomai Alessandro D’Alatri
12. Muriel’s Wedding P.J. Hogan
13. The Shawshank Redemption Frank Darabont
14. Mr. Holland’s Opus Stephen Herek
15. Das Wunder von Bern Sönke Wortmann
16. Hotaru No Haka Isao Takahata
17. Hachikô monogatari Seijirô Kôyama

Doing Time (For The Things You Never Did)

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Julya Oui/Doing Time/1

(for the things you never did)

I wished I could have been a better lecturer.

I would have liked to teach you about happiness

instead of how to scan with Photoshop.

I would have liked to teach you about self-reliance

instead of designing a logo in Illustrator.

I would have liked to teach you about appreciating

the beauty of the skies and wonders of the earth

instead of making you work for the marks and credits

which mean nothing in the end.

I would have liked to teach you kindness

to share with your friends and neighbors

instead of showing you how to use In-Design to lay out a page.

I would have liked to remind you of your strength

and help build your confidence

instead of conditioning you to belief that success solves

I would have liked to be a little more understanding and be

when you didn't hand up your assignments

instead of black marking you and comparing notes with the

I would have liked to tell you it's okay

to have chosen a course that doesn't suit you,

to be at the bottom of the class,

to feel like you don't belong

because ultimately you can change your path and future

instead of scaring you with rules and regulations.

I would have liked to listen to your dreams

and know what your passions are

I would have liked to open you to a world of possibilities

where nothing is impossible when there is love

instead of locking the door,

But I believe nothing is too late.

Not in any sense.

Although back then I was conditioned,

just like you

and I know you will be too someday.

And for all those times

you have been a teacher to me

as much as I have to you.

For my erstwhile students who were

as much of a teacher to me as I was to them.

And for the Psychnet Art Therapy group of gifted people.

Waking up on the Wrong side of Fate 12

Clutter, Cluster, Hoard and Buy 22

The Shape of Dreams to Come 29

The Ballad of the Narcissist 43

When Reality Bites the Dust 69

In the Quietest Moment of an Illuminated Mind 81

The Journey of a Reluctant Strategist 109

Educating the Innocent Scholar 121

Chasing the Wild and Nameless Wind 143

The Worries of a Venerable Warrior 159

Sustaining that Losing Luster 174

Simplifying the Spirit Within 203

End of Daze, Begin to Amaze 246

The Birth of the 5E Principles 269

The first thing to do is to wake up.

If you still haven’t woken up

you can either choose to go back to sleep

or come out of the darkness.

Aren’t you just so tired

Everything you do,

everything you are