Although I'm not a christian, I find this story very encouraging:
The Fern & the BambooOne day I decided to quit...
I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality...
I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the woods, and decided to have one last talk with ‘God’.
"God", I said. "Can you give me one good reason not to quit?"
His answer surprised me...
"Look around", He said.
"Do you see the fern and the bamboo?"
"Yes", I replied.
"When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.
I gave them light. I gave them water.
The fern quickly grew from the earth. Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo."
In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful. And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed.
"But I did not quit on the bamboo".
He said. "In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.
In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed.
"I would not quit."
He said. "Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant.
But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.
It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.
I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle."
He said to me. "Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots.
I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you.
Don't compare yourself to others."
He said. "The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both make the forest beautiful."
"Your time will come, "God said to me. " You will rise high!"
"How high should I rise?" I asked.
"How high will the bamboo rise?" He asked in return.
"As high as it can?" I questioned.
"Yes." He said, "Give me glory by rising as high as you can!"
I left the forest and brought back this story. I hope these words can help you see that God will never give up on us.
Never regret a day in our life.
Good days give us happiness.
Bad days give us experiences.
Both are essential to life.
Keep going...
Happiness keeps us sweet,
Trials keep us strong,
Sorrows keep us human,
Failures keep us humble,
Success keeps us glowing.
FairnessWe always use fairness as an excuse if things don't go our way. How many times have we heard people saying "It's not fair!" if the outcome is to their disadvantage? And how many times have we heard of the same thing if the outcome is to our advantage?
We tend to use fairness as an excuse. When we just zoom into the small picture, perhaps some things seem unfair. But if we look at the larger picture, actually everything is fair. Today's effect is the previous day's cause.
There's no way to escape from cause and effect. U can't get something from nothing. Even if u want to win lottery, u must at least go and buy it.
Dreams
Everyone should have dreams . When we were young, dreams were limitless. We can just declare our dreams to everyone without any shyness, without any hesitation. Nothing is impossible in our dictionary. We live for ourselves at that time.
But as we grow up, we tend to disbelieve in ourselves. There's always a doubt in our abilities. We start to think "We can't do it", "It's impossible", "It's very hard". We're afraid to declare our dreams for fear that other people will laugh at us. Dreams become something so far away. It is laid with so many obstacles. We live for others more than we live for ourselves.
At different part of our lives, we have different responsibilities upon us. Perhaps when we were young, we can just ignore everything and work towards our goals. But when we grow up, we have more responsibilities and there may be a need to compromise some of our dreams. I am not talking about giving up the dreams completely, but just to modify and change a bit. In life, we always gain some things and lose some things. Prioritise everything. What is more important, what is less important. End of the day, no matter what happens, live a life without regrets.
How many of us actually go to the bank to physically see our money safely inside? Or is money just a number in our bank book? Is it just conceptual of is it physical?
How many of us actually see our bosses or our company taking our salary, in note form, to the bank to deposit into our account? Or is it just a change of the figures in the bank book. If it's just a change of the numbers, then where is the actual physical money?
Actually, money is only an I.O.U from the government. It is a "contract" that says that that government owes you money. In other words, If u have a $10 note, it just means that the government owes u $10 worth of gold, as most countries' currency is pegged to gold (except for the US and some other countries). That's y in the notes, it has the words "Legal Tender" printed on it. So money, as in notes, is actually just a piece of paper of I.O.U from the government. The real money is the gold that is behind every piece of notes.
So end of the day, the I.O.U that we carry in our wallets everyday, doesn't worth as much as the government is willing to recognise it.
The Velocity of MoneyThe average people park their money in one place and forget about it. Their money will degrade over time. Inflation, will corrode the value.
Money in banks earns a pitiful interest. It is one of the safest thing to do if one does not know what to do with the cash they have. However, they must keep in mind that money in the bank, with the tiny interest, can never beat inflation, which is to say that the money will get lesser and lesser in value over time.
Some people park their money in investment tools. They chuck one lump sum of money and then forget about it. The old time saying of "invest in long term, diversify" may or may not be true. There's always a common saying that on average, the stock market goes up by 10% each year. I beg to differ. It all depends on when u get in and when u get out. If u chuck one lump sum of money into an investment tools and forget about it, it's the same as forgetting u ever had that money.
Money should have velocity. The faster it is, the lesser the risk. It should be dynamic and always on the move. The faster it moves, the more money it can generate, and the lesser the risk. How many people got caught in the stock market crash and lose their fortune? There's a lot. Because instead of moving their money out when the situation is bad, the money remains static in the losing stock and goes down with the whole market.
Going to Taiwan in 65 more days!! How I hope time will travel faster. This time I'll be there for unknown period of time. Just bought an air ticket on the 15th Nov. That's the only confirm thing. Nothing else. Haven buy the return ticket yet.
While in the midst of planning for my trip, I got to know a very wonderful Taiwanese friend. While talking to her via msn, I found out that we have actually many similar interest. We're both into photography, and also into wealth management, aka investment and trading. Really happy and fortunate to know her. Perhaps we can exchange ideas about wealth management.
Another thing about her. Although she already married, she has not lost her goals yet. She knows what she wants. Well, she's coming to Singapore in nov with her husband. Can't wait to meet them in person.
Why do u work? To earn money. Why do u need money? To survive. If u can dun wok and can have money and survive, plus freedom, will u still work?
Wrote this in my facebook and there are many comments. A lot of people thought that I'm talking about passion in work. Actually I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about purpose and mindset.
When it comes to working for money, a lot of people just follow the flow. If we ask our parents why do they work, they'll say to earn money. And subconsciously, we follow that, and accept that we must work in order to earn money. But is that really the case? Is working the only option out to get money?
Perhaps I would say that the majority of people will say that working is the only way out. Cos they've seen their parents done that, did that and they survive. Actually there are a lot of opportunities out there. You just need to open ur eyes wide and find them.
