Sometimes in life, it's hard to keep ur heads above water when everyone is dragging u down. Our perceived mindset, or thoughts can be distorted, either ours, or theirs. But end of the day, we must still fight and say "I've tried my best!"
What is right? What is wrong? It's all with reference to the society. As we grow up, we're all molded to what others want to see in us, or what the majority of the people do. The odd one out, is always discriminated and out-casted, not that he is wrong, but he is "perceived as wrong" compared to the rest of the society.
Sometimes, reality strikes right in their face, but they still defend their distorted beliefs that they r right, just because they're taught since young of that belief. Times have change, but these so called beliefs have not changed since the birth of mankind.
Repost from my previous entry:
The only difference between a happy person and a depressed person is how they respond to disasters.
Imagine u have just had a wonderful afternoon at the beach with a fren. When u return home, u find a huge truck-load of dung has been dumped right in front of ur door. There are 3 things to know abt this truck-load of dung:
1. U did not order it. It's not ur fault.
2. U're stucked with it. No one saw who dumped it, so u cannot call anyone to take it away.
3. It is filthy and offensive, and its stench fills ur whole house. It's almost impossible to endure.
In this metaphor, the truck-load of dung in front of the house stands for the traumatic experiences that are dumped on us in life. As with the truck-load of dung, there are 3 things to know about tragedy in our life:
1. We did not order it. We say "Why me?"
2. We're stucked with it. No one, not even our best frens can take it away.
3. It is so awful, such a destroyer of our happiness, and its pain fills our whole life. It is almost impossible to endure.
There r 2 ways of responding to being stuck with a truck-load of dung. The first way is to carry the dung around with us. We put some in our pockets, some in our bags, some up our shirts. We even put some down our pants. We find when we carry the dung around, we lose a lot of frens. Even best frens dun seem to be around so often.
"Carrying the dung" is a metaphor for sinking into depression, negativity or anger. It is a natural and understandable response to adversity. But we lose a lot of frens, because it is so natural and understandable that frens dun like being around us when we're so depressed. Moreover, the pile of dung gets no less, but the smell gets worse as it ripens.
Fortunately there's a second way. When we r dumped with a truck-load of dung, we heave a sigh, and then get down to work. Out come the wheelbarrow, the fork and the spade. We fork the dung into the barrow, wheel it around the back of the house and dig it into the garden. This is tiring and difficult work, but we know there's no other way out. Sometimes, all we can manage is half a barrow a day. We're doing something about the problem, rather than complaining our way into depression. DAy after day we dig into the dung, day after day it gets smaller. Sometimes it may take several years, but the morning does come when we see that the pile of dung is gone. Furthermore, a miracle has happened in another part of the house. The flowers in our garden are bursting out in a richness of colour all over the place. Their fragrance wafts down the street so tat the neighbours, and even the passer by, smile in delight. Then the fruit trees in the corner is nearly falling over, it's so heavy with fruits. And the fruit is so sweet; u can't buy anything like it. There's so much that we r able to share with our neighbours. Even passer by get a delicious taste of the miracle fruit.
"Digging the dung" is a metaphor for welcoming the tragedies as fertiliser for life. It is work that we have to do alone: no one can help us. But digging it into the garden of our heart, day by day, the pile gets less. It may take several years, but the mornign does come when we see no more pain in our life and, in our heart, a miracle has happened. Flowers of kindness are bursting out al over the place, an dthe fragrance of love wafts way downour street, to our neighbours, to our relations and even to passers-by. Then the wisdomtree in the corner is bending down to us, loaded with sweet insights into the nature of life. We share those delicious fruits freely, even with the passers-by, without ever planning to.
When we have known tragic pain, learnt its lesson and grown our garden, then we can put our hands around another person in deep tragedy and say"I know". They realise we do understand. We show them the wheelbarrow, the fork and the spade. If we haven grown our garden yet, this can't be done.
I started off with an idea of giving back to society. Of educating people of the stock market after seeing so many pple getting in and got burnt. Of cos, trading is still my main line. Somehow along the line, the idea of charging them comes in. Then afterward thinking of wanting to be like Keane, earning what is worth of an average person's annual salary in 2.5 days.
That became my goal. And the ways to do it, by starting from home ground- the school. The final objective- To be like Keane.
Reached the first hurdle... Was talking to frens and they recommend me to give a talk to students instead of teachers, reason being:
1) more challenging to handle
2) credential
3) min entry level
4) can earn more
I understand what they r getting at. But to be frank, I take this as a training ground for me to talk to public in future.
1) Challenges- I'll be handling adults in future, so I see no point to talk to students. When talking to students in an assembly atmosphere, end of the day u're managing them, trying to get them to keep quiet instead of delivering the lecture across.
2) Credential- I think it builds a better credential to tell people I'm giving talks to teachers rather than to students in future when i go public.
3) Entry lvl- true, to give talks to students, there's no need any qualification. Any tom, dick or harry can do that. But it doesnt serve my purpose of public seminars in future.
4) Earn more- Actually I even dun mind giving free talk right now to teachers. I'm actually taking it as a exchange of ideas, to build confidence, to get experience of what I have to handle next time when talking to adults.
This so called company, to me right now, is just a training ground for me. The main thing is not profit. Of course if there is, it's a bonus. It is just a intermediary to the final objective.
Read a book which says that in order to attract money, u have to give it away for good cause. And in my msn tag, I wrote "Give me the means to donate 1 million to charity" and after that, I got a business plan.
I went for a seminar a few years ago which charges about $3000 for a 2.5 days seminar. In that room, there is about 50 people, which means to say that that speaker earned about $150,000 for that 2.5 days. $150,000, which is equivalent to the annual pay of most people.
I wanted to give talks to the public, to educate them about the stock market, because I see many people who went into the market without any knowledge and get burnt. Already did the slides out, just need to fine tune them. After that, I'll approach the schools to give a lecture to the teachers. This is to build up my confidence and build my capital for the subsequent talks to the public. I also need to register a company as I feel that it reflects better if u have a company than an individual. I need someone to help me make calls to schools to arrange for a meetup for me to present my ideas to them as I dun like to call and I am lazy.
I want to use my 1st million to generate my 2nd million. And I'll donate my 2nd million to charity. And with that 1st million, I'll generate another million. The 3rd million, I want to set up a scholarship for students. My emphasis will not be those academically strong students, but those who possess the millionaire mindset.
The first step is already there.. mentally... need to materialise it....
